The 2020 Morgon Cote du Py from Jean-Marc Burgaud. Anyone who thinks Beaujolais is a light red wine should try this - rich and concentrated with a great structure and lovely tannins. Outstanding value at £15 from TWS
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Yes, I read a report on the Beaujolais region recently regarding the affect that climate change and warmer growing seasons are having on recent vintages. The main affect was that the typical lighter Beaujolais style has changed to a fuller bodied wine with more fuit concentration. Thiere was really no decree whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, it just ‘is what it is’, and cyclical weather patterns (or increasingly hot weather patterns) will alter the grapes and the resultant wine style.
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Burn Cottage “Moonlight Race” Pinot Noir 2021
Has a label like an 1850s acid trip but tastes excellent. Really beautiful supple fruit, dark berries, cherries, mushrooms and spice. Their entry level wine but one if the best Otago Pinots I have ever had.
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A fun label and a very nice Sangiovese, perfect accompaniment to a Monday night pasta. We bought it in Waitrose.
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Every once in a while, a wine appears which seems to defy all logic when it comes to taste versus price, and this is certainly one of those.
Duca di Sasseta, Terre Siciliane, Nerello Mascalese, 13.5% vol., from Lidl.
A very pleasant everyday red, with a hint of liquorice in the background, and, at £6.99 a bottle, the only question is “How on Earth do they do it?”
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I once took a bottle of, this, Ben Glaetzer’s Amon Ra, to the “Paulée de Meursault” a sort of BYO par excellence in Burgundy, where you are no-one unless your ‘Tache comes in a Jeroboam, everyone is pissed by the time the Champagne is finished, and wine from more than 300km away is ‘étranger’ in every sense.
For a laugh.
And we did laugh, and a couple of quite-celebrity Burgundian winemakers really liked it. I sent the photos to Ben and he was made up.
Happy times.
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Sad news in the world of wine today with the announcement of the death of Jacky Blot. (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups/ Domaine de la Butte)
Jacky propelled Montlouis-sur-Loire, and the need for its existence, and the Loire in general, and Chenin Blanc, of which he was undoubtedly a master, to heights no-one else really has ever attained. His ‘Triple Zero’ sparkling wine is probably the best example of its kind made by anyone, ever. And it’s not often you can say that of something.
I had no idea he was anywhere near as old (75) as he was. Like his wines: so full of life, so energetic, so marvellous. A great winemaker who changed his, if not the, world, and all for the better. RIP
And this only days after the death of Guy Bossard of Domaine de l’Ecu, in Muscadet, who I am sad to say I never met, but whose wines also had and have the capability to move people. And somehow captured where Muscadet was going and of what it was capable. RIP
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I seem to have quite a few mid- naughtiest bottles of Amon Ra in the cellar. Not sure if I am still up to bruising Barossa. But May just try one as an experiment.
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Dinner with some friends in Leeds over the weekend. He professed himself keen to understand South African wine so I offered to bring a few bottles and he did the menu.
The Louis Roederer was a great start - a few years since disgorgement and drinking beautifully. The Alheit Cartology was excellent. The 10% semillon contributed texture to balance the Chenin fruit and acidity. The Lismore reserve Chardonnay would have not been amiss n any premier Chardonnay tasting.
The Cab from BlankBottle blends cuvées from False Bay to Ceres, with altitudes from 50m to 550m and great fun. Columella is always a banker - predominantly syrah and increasingly difficult to buy at sensible prices. Finally the other Constance, this time from Groot Constantia which was originally the location for the wines of the 18th and 19th centuries before phylloxera.
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Haven’t seen any dessert wine in here. May be just an occasional choice over a coffee. This one from Niagara is perfect with a crème brûlée.
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One of the best.
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Lovely selection there - v jealous!
Two favourites. The beringer goes well with most red meat and, dare I say it, grilled sea bass. It also appears in the discount rack.
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Making room in my cellar and came across a couple bottles of this claret (cht. Vieux clos st Emilion, 2011). It’s a bit worse for ware bit still has a fruity nose, some tannins in the background and a pleasant feel in the mouth - not a great wine but enjoyable with a piece of skirt steak.
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A Californian chateau! A relatively cheap wine but a very pleasant experience if you give it a couple of hours to breathe.
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‘Local’ red on Ithaca. No other information except that it’s a blend of, yes, local grapes. Thin and uninteresting. 6€ for a half litre.
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I am envious, always wanted to visit Ithaca …
A glass of local red, in a tavern , in beach overlooking the Ionian on a warm spring day …
Lovely
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If it’s anything like the Peloponnese where I go every year, the wine is sold by the kilo - a half a kilo or full kilo of house wine!
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I’ve only seen that in one taverna.