Sorry June...

Firstly the good news...the Salomon Groovey Grüner Veltliner 2009 from Oddbins (€11-99), which I got in honour of our Austrian visitor, was quite delicious; crisp, tangy and a little spicy. We lashed through the two bottles I had bought, I wished we'd had more to go with my delicious smoked mackerel pate, which no-one ate apart from YHB, alas. I must have unique tastes.

Our guests brought a selection of wines and I shall be reviewing them as I drink them. First up is a Tesco Barolo 2005. June brought this along and was keen to know if it is any good. I have seen this in the shop and have been tempted, but it's a pricey wine to take a punt on. Tesco are very good at the moderate priced own brand reds, but can they do it with a wine from a "premium" region?

The answer is - not this time. I believe this bottle was corked, but not in the normal way. I read an article on the web somewhere recently that said there are four (I think) main ways a wine can be "corked", caused by different factors and with different effects on the taste. This wine was very sharp, almost fizzy on the tongue and very acidic. After almost five hours in the decanter it had lost some of it's harshness and you could maybe get some idea of what the taste should have been.

There's no way this wine tasted as the maker intended, ( I know Barolos historically have been huge tannic beasts, requiring much decanting, but this was not the issue here), so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and endeavour to try it again in the future. Sorry June.

Mostly Tesco, Barolo and a suggestion of Ikea

Lots of updates to get through so let's not dawdle.

We drank the 2nd of three cheapo wines bought from Aldi (I'm drinking them (mostly) so you don't have to), it was the 2003 Vina Decana Reserva 2003 and it wasn't bad. It had the standard Rioja oaky, fruity flavours. Although there was something not quite integrated in the taste which I couldn't put my finger on. Still, at €7-39, Rioja drinkers could do a lot worse. We are sampling the bizarrely cheap (€4-29) 2008 Montepulciano tonight, I'm sure your prayers are with us.

As I mentioned last post I picked up a couple of rib-eyes in Aldi, for the not inconsiderable sum of €11. Happily these were delicious, Herself thought perhaps they could have had more flavour but they were very tender. We had these with the wine above which was a birthday present from June, a Marchesi di Barolo 2000. I liked this a lot, it was a big, full bodied beast. Lots of fruit , a decent structure and a nice lengthy finish.

Tesco in Dundrum consistently have a better selection of wines than the flagship Merrion Centre for some reason, so I headed that way today and picked up a bottle or three (at left). I should really, from a blog perspective, have gone for three wines that I have never tried before but...meh, I'm lazy. Left to right, they are-

Ogio Primitivo 2008 - €5-99. I enjoyed this the last time I drank it and at €5-99 (still), it's a no-brainer.

Tesco Crozes Hermitage 2006 - €10-85. I generally like wines from here and Tesco are pretty consistent in quality so here's hoping.

Tesco Valpolicella Ripasso 2006 - €8-35. Loved this last time at €10-69, so €8-35 is a steal.

Lastly, phew, we ventured onto DNS for various reasons and ended up in Ikea on Sunday. I was keen to try the famous meatballs for a fiver and I must say the food there is good, solid and unspectacular but main courses of pasta, meatballs, fish and chips etc, all for around 5 quid is quite a bargain, but I digest... The main reason for the visit was to replace the decanter Herself broke during the week, we bought two of them (one is a spare and can also be pulled out at large dinners for effect). Again, great value at €6-99 each.