Dunnes French Wine Sale 2014 - Final

Bless me readers, it's been six months since my last confession post. In that time I have been drinking wine as enthusiastically as always, I just haven't been blogging about it. Anyhoo, it seems to be the time for wine sales so I popped along to Dunnes in Cornelscourt after work today to see what I could find.

I had cut out the weekend columns from John Wilson in the Irish Times and Martin Moran (no link that I could find) in the Sunday Times and I tried to buy only their recommendations, but as with the last couple of years, each Dunnes store seems to only stock a random selection of the sale wines*. Three of the wines are recommended and two are pure punts.

(l-r)
Lorgeril 1620 Pinot Noir 2013 €10.00 (punt)
This was...OK. A bit thin and not enough oomph for a Burgundy fan but if you were new to Pinots and/or like your reds with a light and delicate(ish) touch, you might like this...

Les Vignerons Carignan Syrah 2013 €8.00 (recommended - JW)
Hmmm - a bit cheap and cheerful. Drinkable, but only just. If you cultivate expensive tastes, and I aspire to, this probably isn't for you. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Laurent Miquel Albarino 2013 €11.50 (recommended - MM)
Just finishing this off and its really good. Crisp and zingy with a super finish.

Cuvee St Vincent Cotes Du Rhone 2013 €8.00 (punt)
I'm not hopeful about this. For starters there is no punt in the bottom of the bottle, always a bad sign, and on the back it says "Dry, Fruity red wine". It's a bit thin and anemic in the glass; Nope - this one's going down the sink. It's all cheap sharp fruit with a lingering, slightly unpleasant and cloying finish.

Chateau Bois Petrus Bordeaux 2012 €11.00 (recommended - MM)
I had my doubts about this wine, in my (limited) experience it's impossible, in this country anyway, to get good Bordeaux at this price. But this was pretty damn good for eleven notes. Not top, classed growth quality, but full and solid and quite bold. I'm gonna buy more of this and maybe put a couple in the "cellar". May not improve much in a couple of years, but worth a try.

BONUS! (not Pictured)
Both gents had recommended the  Baron de Baussac Carignan but I couldn't find this so I plumped for an Alain Grignon Carignan Pays d'Herault 2012 - €8-50. After the rotten St Vincent, I'm gonna try this now. Just better than "cheap and cheerful" this. It's got some big fruity stuff going on - not all of it successful or integrated, but not bad.

* After buying the wines above in the Off-Licence section of Cornelscourt yesterday, I had to go to the main bit tonight for some groceries. I discovered a new wine section (to the very right of the store if you are looking at the checkouts from within the shop), which appeared to be dedicated to said sale and to contain all the wines...

Some January specials from O'Briens - Update 3

Every so often I go into O'Briens (normally he Beacon store) and I just pick up four or five of the reds on special. Previous example are here, here, here , here and infacta here. This Saturday being no different, I curtailed my exploration of my latest purchase,  a Faith Venus Hi Gloss, and with the boy in tow, I sallied forth to Sandyford, to negotaite the purchase of some vinous comestibles. This is what I came home with (l-r)..

Ars Nova Navarra 2007 €12.99 reduced from €17-49 link
Note: This wine is a blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Tempranillo and 20% Merlot.
On first sip I wasn't overly enthused about this wine. It tasted fruity and new worldy with that Cab Sav blackcurrant undercurrent I don't really care for. However, by the end of evening this wine was really working for me, granted it was approx 6 hours since I decanted/Vin Aired it, so some improvement was to be expected. It was still pretty fruity but the various grapes and flavours were all nicely integrated and it developed some pretty decent depth and complexity, if you have the patience to wait for it you'll probably like it, especially at the discount price.

Il Padrino Nero D'Avola 2013 €8.99 reduced from €10-99 link
Well it's cheap and cheerful as expected, but it's not bad. It needs food though and because of the acidity I'd suggest, predictably, it'd work work well with any tomato based dish.

Santa Tresa Nivuro 2009 €11.99 reduced from €18-49 link
This was fantastic, a lovely blend of the acidic Nero Davola and the smooth Cab Sav. A huge steal at this price. I went back to O'Briens in Carrickmines toight after dawdling for days but they told me it was all gone. I asked them was it coming back but they said they didn't know.

Cave de Saint-Desirat Syrah 2012 €9.99 reduced from €14-49 link
Yeah, didn't really care for this. It was very French. Some fruit and lots of acidity but it's not coming together for me, sorry.

Dunnes Wine Sale

I have to take Dunnes to task. I have been in three separate Dunnes over the last couple of weeks, looking for some of the wines that are part of their "Wine Sale". In each store they had maybe 5 or 6 wines (that I could find) and virtually no promotional material. Just some small placards attached to the shelves. Maybe I caught the end of the sale and stocks were low... They should take a lesson from Richard Moriarty in Superquinn. That's how to do a wine sale.

Anyway, I bought a few reds, some are from the sale, not sure which; it's late and I'm tired with a dicky tummy and a dodgy back so reviews are limited to six words apiece.

Marques de Almonacid Carinena 2009 - €9.00 (reduced from €12-50)
Fruity, light and pleasant. Not bad.

Poco a Poco Tempranillo 2012 - €7-50 (reduced from €11)
Cheap cheerful, but not for me.

Chateau Millegrand Minervois 2011 - €11-50 (reduced from €16)
Awful, down the sink with it.

Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Syrah  - €10-50
Cheap cheerful, needs lots of air.

Next Up - More Beer, probably.

Liveblog - Escudo Rojo 2010

Welcome to another liveblog. I tasked Herself with picking up a bottle in Baggot St Wines on the way home. Her mission was made more complex by the fact that both of us are literally* dying with the same cold, probably caught from Lil Sis at the big "do" this weekend. So whatever she buys has to cut through lots of icky stuff.

She returned with the wine at left, personally recommended by Garrett himself. It's a blend of Cab Sav, Carmenere, Syrah and Cab Franc, matured in French Oak for 12 months.

19-30: The wine has been open for 15minutes after being decanted via my VinAire into my Ikea decanter. First impression is fruit, lots of it and some vegetal notes, maybe from the Cab Franc. Hmmmm. I'm not crazy about it just now, its not bad just not my style. Let's come back in an hour, after some Bombay Pantry.

20-45: Better, much better. The vegetal flavours have subsided somewhat and the various fruity notes have all, mostly, harmonised, leaving an interesting wine. Gun to my head, I'd say a Cab Franc from the Loire. See you again for the final chapter in a little bit.

22-00: It has come together nicely in the end. I like it but I don't love it,  I think that's because while this wine is very well made, it's not for me.  Having said that it's often a good thing to drink a wine you wouldn't necessarily buy. Educate yourself, or something...


*Not "literally", but I think it's apt here.

Possible bargains from Tesco...[Updated]

It's a long and frankly uninteresting story but I had a half hour to kill today and was passing the Merrion centre so I popped into Tesco for some sausages and wine. Short story long, I knew we are due to have pasta tonight so I wanted something appropriate and Italian, hence the Chianti. The Syrah I thought I had tried and liked before so I took a punt on it.

Laurent Miquel Heritage Vineyards Syrah 2010 - €8. When I checked my records, I discovered I'd had this wine (albeit the 2008 vintage) a couple of times last year and liked it a lot, so kudos to my little grey cells for that one.

Update: This was very tasty, as expected. A classic French Syrah with bags of body and flavour, great value as priced.


Piccini Chianti Classico Riserva 2007 - €10. Tesco stock a sometimes bewildering array of Piccini wines, quite a few of which I have tried; and to date they have been pretty solid performers. I'm not an expert on Chianti but a Chianti Classico Riserva from 2007 for a tenner seems like a bargain to me. Also, I read somewhere that anything with a black cock on the label (see above) was a good indicator of quality, I just hopes this applies to Chiantis too...

Update: Cherries, cherries, so many cherries. Loads of bitter cherry flavour overpowered every attribute of this wine, unfortunately. There may be a decent wine lurking underneath but It's impossible to tell. Not recommended.

Trying Tesco

I haven't bought any significant amount of wine in Tesco for a good while; for the last while anytime I've been there shopping and have browsed the wine, I find there's very little I'd want to try. I used to drink a lot of their own brand wines, particularly from Italy and the Rhone. I guess I must have overdone it because I went off them, and to this reviewer's eye they don't seem to add new stuff that often.

Anyhoo, I was down in Dundrum today in a hurry and grabbed the three suspects in the picture at left. The top shelf in my "cellar" is empty apart from a Pink Elephant Rosé and an "invisible" bottle of Ogio Primitivo (long story, but at €6 odd in Tesco it's great value)

Note: I lost the receipt, so all prices are approximate.

We recently sampled one of Laurent Miquel's "Grandes Cuvées",  the  Bardou St Chinian Syrah 2007 (approx €12), on special from Dunnes and it was divine. I can't find this wine, a Heritage Vineyards Syrah 2008 on their website, so I am not sure where it fits into the Laurent Miquel  hierarchy. I'm enjoying a glass right now as Ireland struggle to come to terms with Slovakia. I'm rather liking this, it's not terribly complex but it is exceptionally well balanced and very tasty, another classic old world syrah.

Next up is a Piccini Chianti Reserva 2008 (approx €8), I had this once before in June's and loved so here's hoping, especially at this price.
**Update - eh, this was fine, not sure I'd buy again, even at this bargain price.

Lastly, a rule breaker. I have a rule never to buy cheap Bordeaux or Burgundy as it is never worth it. I bought a Chateau Haut Langlade 2008 (€10 reduced from €20) from the Montagne St Emilion region. If this is a genuine €20 bottle then this may be a good bet.
**Update - decent, but again nothing to write home about, more of a generic French red than any particlular Bordeaux-like qualities, but not bad for a tenner.

Assorted Nuts

First off I bought a couple of reds as part of Dunnes "Mediterranean Festival", to whit-

Laurent Miquel "Bardou" Saint Chinian Languedoc 2007 (?13-99?) - Fabulous. I think this was reduced from about 20 lids and that's probably a fair price. A classic old world Syrah; long, silky and complex. A steal at this price.

Florentina Chianta Riserva 2007 (?9-99?) - this was perfectly fine, a bit of nice acidity and OK value as priced but nothing special.

Poker with the Guys last night and no wine news as such ( I broke even on the last hand of the night - my palace* of tens beating a palace of nines and a royal flush and yes - this particular variant is a travesty of the great game of Poker, with lots of wild cards). Anyhoo, we had on hand both Glenlivet 12yo and Glenfiddich 12yo and decided to do a blind tasting.

Of the five who tasted, four of us preferred the Glenfiddich, with three of the four correctly guessed its identity (YHB was sadly mistaken). I had professed previously to not really caring for the 12yo Glenfiddich, but I really liked it last night. I guess sometimes it takes a blind tasting to show one the error of one's ways...

On the whiskey front I intend to post soon enough on my various purchases while commuting to Edinburgh, and the large range of moderately priced whiskies in the Airport "duty free", from which I made my selections.

On the wine front - we are rapidly working our way through the bargains from Dunnes and Superquinn, so I think a trip to Lidl/Aldi is called for, I haven't been in ages and also, I'm skint...

*Five of a kind

Variousity Blues

A few quick updates before Xmas.

As promised, I saved the Tappanappa for BE, himself and his lovely lady wife came over for a pre Holiday drink so I cracked it. I was expecting a lot from this. The winery is a joint venture between the Cazes family from Chateau Lynch Bages and the uh....Tappanappa people.

Anyhoo - another new world wine built on the concept of terroir. It is made up of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet Franc. Unfortunately we again fell victim to the curse of the Aussie Cab Sav. While it was nice very well made, this style is just not my cup of meat - all oaky tannins and blackcurrant. This was not an unpleasant wine by any stretch, just not my style.

Lastly, I had to do an emergency Xmas shop last night in Dunnes Ballyogan, unfortunately I couldn't find the Black Treacle, but I did get the parsnips. I decided to pick up a couple of bottles for general consumption (see left). A Cecchi Natio organic Chianti which was lovely last time, a Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Syrah, always bigged up in the papers, which we drank last night after the Tappanappa and which was OK, probably needs another try under fairer conditions, and lastly a nondescript Crozes Hermitage which we are drinking now and is very pleasant, well balanced and reasonable value at about a tenner.

Xmas eve tomorrow and a big wine day for us. Our first Xmas eve in this house some years ago we had some bubbly (can't remember which) and a 1988 Lynch Bages, which was spectacular. I have a Bollinger Rosé in the fridge and after that my favourite, but never tasted wine, a 2000 Lynch Bages. I have built this wine up so I hope it delivers...

Merry Xmas to one and all.

Marrenon Private Gallery - Grenache Syrah

At the "Tesco Wine festival 2009 " in the Merrion centre last Sunday I bought  a Private Gallery - Grenache Syrah from Marrenon in the Cotes du Loberon, reduced to €8-99 from €15-99.

Name: Marrenon  Private Gallery - Grenache Syrah

Year: 2008
Price: €8-99 reduced from €15-99
Notes: Another decent French wine. This showed the value of decanting. For various, frankly boring, reasons I was only able to decant this for a few minutes before drinking it. Initially this was 

thin and a little sharp with some French fruitiness to the fore.  However after a while the sharpness faded somewhat and some lovely Rhone-ish dark fruits became noticeable. As with so many recent wines, at the reduced rice its worth a punt but at €15-99 I'd find it hard to justify. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Rating: 5/10 (6/10 at €8-99)  

Note: apologies for the crappy quality picture.

Nugan Durif (Que?)

Had this on Saturday night. It's from Nugan in Oz and the grape is called Durif here but is better known as Petite Syrah (or Sirah). Not sure if this really is an Oz Shiraz in disguise but damn, it was good. Like pretty much all New World wines that I like, the fruity, jammy notes were not overpowering and there was good structure and a hint of tannins.

Can't estimate a price as it was a present from our guests along with a lovely Coto De Imaz rioja. If you like Penfolds Bin 389, Ridge wines etc. then this is for you.