Superquinn Italian Wine Sale

A little bird, my friend June in fact, let me know on Friday that Superquinn was having an Italian Wine Sale, and they never told me! Anyhoo, after a lovely weekend in Kelly's in Rosslare, en famille, we all ventured down in search in bangers, spuds and Vino.

I bought four reds, seemingly at random, as detailed below and pictured above. I know they were all reduced but I don't have the brochure to hand and the receipt only showed two of the four reductions, for some reason.

Emotivo Montepulciano 2011 €8-00 (reduced from €11-49)
Superquinn Classic Collection Chianti 2012 - €7-00 (reduced from ???)
Santa Christina Toscana 2011 €10-00 (reduced from 12-49) 
Sammicheli Chianti Riserva 2009 €11-00

I'll be drinking them over the next few days  but tonight we start with the 

Santa Christina Toscana 2011. I'm not trying to damn this wine with faint praise but it was very...easy drinking.Some nice acidity and fruit, well balanced and no food required to enjoy it. Decent value for a tenner.

Emotivo Montepulciano 2011. We're not loving this. It's a bit vegetal both on the nose and to taste, in a not entirely pleasant way. But, given our shockingly precarious financial situation, there'll be no more pouring wine down the sink. I even went to Lidl tonight and bought 6 bottles of cheap red (of which more anon).

Part 2 is here

Superquinn Classic Collection Chianti 2012
As with the Santa Christina, this was a tasty "easy drinking" little vino with some subtle cherry fruit and a little acidity. Its not going to knock your socks off if you are an Italian wine buff, but is very good value as priced and should be liked by most folks.


Sammicheli Chianti Riserva 2009
This was definitely the pick of the litter, a classic Chianti with lovely plummy fruits, and some nice complexity at the finish. Definitely a buy at 11 europes.

Next Up - I continue my voyage down the plughole with the first two IPA semi-finals.

A Lidl Troika

There has been a lot of chat, speculation and scuttlebutt recently about bailouts, bank debts etc, and how our German partners in Europe are viewing our aspiration to move our Bank debt off our books and onto the ESM's. With that in mind I decided to revisit our local branch of our favourite German discounter LIDL and see what they have on offer from France, Spain and Italy.

Lidl Chianti 2011 - €4-99
The label reminds of the famous Lidl Montepulciano which I have purchased for a variety of negligible amounts over the years and it was always decent. So I was not surprised that this Chianti was drinkable but that's literally all it was. If I wasn't poor and/or blogging it, I think it would have gone down the sink.

Lidl Vacqueyras 2010 - €9-49
As the most expensive of the three I  was expecting something good here.  In 2009 I had the 2007 and I really liked it. Reading that review I can't help but be disappointed with the 2010. While it was decent; rich and fruity, it didn't have any of the complexity of the 2007 and the finish was a bit - meh.

Cepa Lebrel Rioja Crianza 2008 - €6-99
I loved the Reserva of this and I had the Joven (drunk) one night and I think I liked that too, so I figured it was time to check out the middle sibling - the Crianza, and very pleasant it was too. It didn't have quite the depth of flavour or complexity of the Reserva but it is a very decent Rioja at this price. However as the Reserva is only 50c dearer (or it was when last I bought it), it's a no-brainer for me.

So there we are, 1.5 out of 3, it beats 6-1 I suppose.
I, for one, welcome our new Teutonic overlords...

A Molloy's Quartet

From looking at the blog it appears I haven't shopped in my local Molloy's for about a year. The quality there has been variable but always worth a punt so these are the wines I picked up. Three are new with the Trapiche Malbec being an old favourite of ours, although we haven't had this vintage before so here's hoping.


Moulin De Gassac 2009 - €6-99
Tor del Colle Montepulciano Riserva 2007 - €7-99

Trapiche Malbec 2010 - €10-39
*Update* Hmmm - we used to like this wine a lot, maybe 5 years ago, now; not so much. "It's not you, it's me", might be appropriate here. Our tastes may have changes more then the wine, I found this a little sweet and cloying, drinkable but not great.


Chateau Du Donjon La Pujade Minervois 2010 - €11-99
*Update* The most expensive wine of the bunch and well worth the price, this one. The back label made lots of grandiose claims IIRC (alas I threw it out), but these were pretty much borne out by the product, which was a tad unusual. Lots of interesting flavours, chocolate not the least. I'll be getting more of this.


Updates to follow as they are drunk with the Minervois currently in mid-decant.

Mystery Amarone and a welcome arrival.

Just a quick post from out foreign like. We had the wine above on Saturday night, one of our guests ( I think it was BigHead) brought it along recently. It was a Cantina Di Soave Amarone Della Valpolicella Rocca Alata 2007 and delicious it was too. It started off with some nice acidity and a little cherry fruit and over the next couple of hours it developed into a wine of some depth and complexity, with some gentle tannins creeping in at the finish.

On the local front, a new Gastropub opened up in Stepaside village, The Wild Boar along with its its sister restaurant The Box Tree, which is due to open November 1st. Both are courtesy of the man behind One Pico, Eamonn O'Reilly. Before the Amarone above, we ventured down there with Little Bill (tm); I had drawn the short straw and was driving, so no wine for me. The service was friendly, and a little haphazard, but the food was a revelation. Top quality nosh at rock bottom prices, my pork belly main with [stuff] was €11 while Little Bill's (tm) fish and chips (€7-95) was crisp light and gorgeous, freshly battered and something I'd have been well happy with myself.

I can't report much on the wine front, there was no wine list to be seen, only a few wines available by bottle and glass on the specials board. Herself had a glass of the Montepulciano with her fantastic rib-eye and it was perfectly fine. I'm sure the wine list issue will be resolved with the opening of the main restaurant and I'm looking forward to going back.

More random wines on Special offer from O'Briens

After returning from Hols, I decided to partake of one of my favourite wine pastimes, which is going to O'Briens in the Beacon and randomly picking three reds on special. I have done this many times and the results are generally good. From let to right they are...

Gerard Bertrand Pic Saint Loup Coteaux du Languedoc 2008 (€9-99 reduced from €14-45). No idea what grapes are in this but I like the look of it.

Ramos Tons de Duorum 2008 (€9-99 reduced from €12-99). From the acclaimed winemaker Jose Maria Soares Franco, apparently. We drank this on Sunday and it was OK. Drinkable but not memorable in any way. I didn't really have my blogging hat on, I apologise.

La Piuma Montepulciano D'Abruzzo (€7-99 reduced from €9-99). Hmmm, this could be a bit "cheap and cheerful". We'll see.

Cheapest Wine EVER

Before I talk about wine of the title I should mention that I finally managed to snag a bottle of the Superquinn Classic Collection Valpolicella Ripasso 2008 (€10). Ever since I read Kevin Ecock's review of the entire range, I have been looking for this wine. I liked this wine, it had some lovely dark cherry, some nice dryness and a bit of depth. Unfortunately, to my palate, the Tesco Valpolicella Ripasso has a little bit more flavour, depth and complexity, for about the same money.

In honour of Lidl's 10th birthday in Ireland, there were various beers and wines on special offer. Grafenwalder lager (4.8%) is always agreeable especially at the bargain price of 99c.

The Lidl Montepulciano 2009, was in fact the first wine I ever blogged on, way back in March 2009 (it was a 2007 back then). I liked it then and I like it now. It's not a fine wine by any manner or means but it's perfectly drinkable and at only a fiver, quids in. The discounted price is now €3-29, yes, THREE EURO TWENTY NINE CENTS, ONLY.

Since I first recommended this wine, there has been much debate among friends, in laws etc, and there has been some hate put its way, and some praise also. My take on it is this, spend the three freakin' euro - if you think it's piss - what have you lost? We are drinking the first (of two) right now that I bought and after two hours in the decanter (recommended), it's perfectly fine.

Just for giggles, I also picked up a Lidl Pinot Grigio 2009 by the same producer, Squiggle Squiggle (see picture) for the modest price of €5-39. I'll let you know how it turns out.

So far so average...

To date we've had the first two of the four reds I got in Sainsbury's last week.

We started with the Sainsbury's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2009 which cost a whopping £3-49. Throw in the exchange rate and you're looking at a wine that would cost approx. €4-50 down here, so expectations were low. This wasn't bad. It was medium bodied, fruity in a slightly cheap and fizzy way, but perfectly drinkable. I don't think I'd serve it to guests, but as a cheap (the operative word) everyday drinking wine it is perfectly fine.

Next up was the Piccini Chianti Superiore 2008 - this cost me £7-99, which is pretty good given that I saw the standard (green label) Chianti in Tesco for €15-99 today. Unfortunately this was corked. I'm not an expert in detecting this taint but I knows it when I tastes it, and this was tainted. Apparently you can remove TCA (the chemical responsible for the taint) with Cling Film (other brands are available).

Lastly we also popped open a Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 over the un-seasonably warm weekend, Herself has gone mad for NZ Sauv Blanc so this was the latest version to be sampled. Also, this was a present so I can't quote a price, but I'd say it retails for around the €13 mark. I have to say I really enjoyed this, initially I though it a bit light and fruity but it grew on me as I sat on my fat ass in the sun, eating delicious cheesy NI-sourced Quavers.

Next up - A Whiskey Post.

It's grim 'Oop North'

Well, I'm back. After an odyssey north to the "six counties" as they used to be known. Just inside the six counties if truth be told, the picturesque town of Newry. We needed some Gin, Vodka, Baileys (for Herself only, I assure you), so I figured I'd check out the wines and the whiskeys (which will be a separate OT post).

There wasn't quite the selection I had been hoping for but I think the prices justified the purchases (when you add in the 1.22 odd exchange rate). The wines I got are as follows (L-R)...

Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel 2007 - £8.99. This is supposed to be very nice if very fruity wine and a bargain as priced. Tomas Clancy in the SBPost loved the 2006, check out the article here.

Chemin Des Olivettes - Coteaux Du Languedoc 2008 - £6.39. This won a Gold medal in the decanter world wine awards and sounds like a meaty treat. I don't kn ow who the Winchester Wine School are but this is what they thought...

"One for the Worzel Gummidge fans: this is a rustic, wonderfully gnarly style of wine with flavours of wild flowers, ripe cassis and sweaty horses. Like I say, not for everyone…but the meatiness makes it very food-friendly in a classic southern French way. 7/10"

Piccini Chianti Superiore 2008 - £7.99. I have had a couple of Chiantis from Piccini and all have been very good, see here. So high hopes for this one. The bog standard Chianti (orange label) was there also at about £6-50.

Sainsbury's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2009 - £3.49. They had load of own brand wine so I picked out this as a sampler. I'm not expecting much but for about €4-50, it's definitely worth a punt.

All your hangovers are belong to us

It's Saturday morning again, and as per usual I'm blogging and minding the nipper while herself sleeps off the manflu. I'm hungover but it's OK, I have an excuse - I was out drinking last night.

It was a race night to support sending some guys somewhere*, or something.

There are two long posts I have been thinking about doing for a while. The first is a sort of best wines you can get in each Supermarket while the second is a post about the various things that wine reviewers claim to be able to taste when reviewing wines and my own abilities or lack thereof. However, both of those would require energy and industry, neither of which I am replete with at the moment.

So a few word on a couple of wines I picked up this week. The first is the famous Lidl Montepulciano, famous for being indecently cheap at €4-25. I first reviewed this about a year ago at the dawn of this blog when it cost a heady €5-25 and I liked it then. Since then I have had it a couple of times and it's always been drinkable, not much more than that, but for the price of a pint how much more do you expect?

Next up is a white that I think is on special in Oddbins. Its a Burgans Albarino 2009 The in-laws bought a few because of the name and when offered one I could hardly refuse. The Oddbins blurb is here. Sounds like the kind of white you'd drink on a hot summers day, so here's hoping today turns out nice.

We are not going on the winetrip/holiday this year to Bergerac, but I am going to ask BE to pick me up a couple of dozen of the local brew. It's always a risk having someone else buy wine for me as I am so picky but BE and I go way back in wine.

*It was these guys

Something for the weekend?

The wedding, I'm happy to say, went well; the weather held off, mostly, and the wedding wines seemed to go down smoothly, particularly the red. Initially I thought the white (Bougrier Sauvignon Blanc AC Touraine 2006) was a little sharp but it suited the seafood starter well. The less said about the curious incident of the allegedly punctured tyre on the wedding car the better.*

The wines at left were all bargain wines I got in O'Briens during the week. Left to right they are:

Emotivo Montepulciano 2008 - (€7-95 reduced to €6-99) - took a punt on this. Have just tried after an hour in the decanter and it tastes a bit cheap and cheerful. I'll persevere for another while to see if it improves any.

**Update** - It improved, but barely. Herself initially refused to drink it. A rare stinker from O'Briens, however cheap it was.

Ferraton Cotes Du Rhone Samorens 2007 (€11-45 reduced to €9-95) - Have bought this many times and it does not disappoint. A huge bargain. Will buy more for tomorrow night.

**Update** - Bought two more and they did not disappoint. The third was open for a day before I finished it and was quite delicious at the end.

Protocolo Tinto 2007 (€8-45 reduced to €7-95). I previously raved about the 2007 here and the 2006 here. I'm afraid to say the last couple of times I've had the 2007 I've found it a little jammy, it's still well made and has more strings to its bow than the fruit but for now I can't get past the sweetness, perhaps its needs more time in the decanter as it definitely had a smidgin more balance in the last glass.

On a whiskey note my formerly only Brother-in-law showed up at the wedding with a bottle of Highland Park 16yo for me - Many thanks JMP. And as we were left literally holding the babies at 2am on the night of the wedding we felt it incumbent on us to break the seal, and extremely tasty it was too (the whiskey - not the seal)

*Its official - I'm a tool.

Lied to again...

Firstly, a report on the Villa Augusta Montepulciano D'Abruzzo I got in The Market (€12-99). As much as I loved this label, the wine inside was a little disappointing, and not what I remembered from many years ago, story of my life really. Anyhoo, this wasn't bad, just not that great; it had some nice bitter cherries and some acidity but not much beyond that. It needed something structure-wise to balance out the flavours.

Next up - Bottle Shock, the movie, (spoilers ahoy!) which allegedly tells the true story behind the 1976 Judgement of Paris in 1976, and in particular the Californian winery Chateau Montelena, which triumphed over the assembled white Burgundies. In the wine world this was a big deal with the upstart Californians humbling the grand French Chateaux. In a word - Don't. Alan Rickman is brilliant as ever but the rest of the movie sucks ass. Its cliched, bland, formulaic and boring and Chris (Captain Kirk) Pine's wig is risible. Oh and in the love triangle, guess who gets the girl - the tall, tanned surfer dude or the short, dark Mexican?

Lastle, I was down in Superquinn in Blackrock, picking up some bits for the belly, pork not mine for a change, and I happened upon the Domaine Gres St Vincent, Cotes Du Rhone Villages 2008 (€11-55), which I have unsuccessfully tried to purchase in various Superquinn French wine sales and always gets good reviews. We had it last night and we liked it a lot. I didn't have my blogging hat on so I can't tell you any more but, it was very pleasant.

At long last Aldi

Although the Aldi website tried to divert me from their Rathfarnham store by claiming it is located in Clonskeagh, I finally made it there tonight. On the food front, after a quick peruse, I reckon there isn't a huge difference between it and Lidl, although Aldi's stock may be marginally "classier".

Anyhoo, I bought three bottles of red (along with some never-before-seen German beer, and there were many kinds of this), at left an even-cheaper-than-Lidl 2008 Montepulciano (€4-29!!), at this price the wine in the bottle is worth an about 20 cent after Govt. duty.

In the middle is a 2003 Vina Decana Reserva from Utiel Requena (€7-39), they also had Crianza from the same producer but at this price I reckon I can spring for the Reserva. Will try this over the weekend with a couple of rib-eyes, also from Aldi.

Lastly, a 2008 Toro Loco Tempranillo, also from Utiel Requena and priced to move at €4-99. We were having take away pizza for dinner ( Four Star - thin base is the only way to go), so I unscrewed this, no decanter*, and poured. Probably not the best way to drink a cheap wine but you know what, I know what I hate, and I don't hate this. It's young, fruity and while I wouldn't serve it at a posh dinner party, it's quite drinkable and at this price it's decent value.

*My lovely and practical Ikea decanter met with a sharp end earlier on in the week, courtesy of Herself.

Lidl Montepulciano to Bombay

After our traumatic move back to the mountains we couldn't be arsed cooking so we opted for the best Indian food available in Ireland (IMHO) - Bombay Pantry. Our nearest is on the Grange road, right beside a big Lidl which fortuitously was still open when I arrived to collect the hot curries. I had literally 3 minutes so I ran in and grabbed three bottles of the Lidl Montepulciano (€4-79)!!.

I have tasted it a couple of time before here and here. It's pretty decent and at this price, its a no-brainer. They are also selling Tyskie for €1-43 a bottle - very good value.

Last post I mentioned that we had bought an own brand Minervois in M&S, it was OK, drinkable but not memorable, I'd do a full review but I can't be bothered, it's late and I'm back to work in the morning. Gah.

It's about lots of things...

It's Sunday evening and it's been an eventful few days in the booze related life of YHB. Firstly I should update on the three Tesco wines bought last week.

Tesco Vina Major Ribera Del Duero 2005 - €10-09

Had this first of the three. Initially I wasn't overly impressed with this, there was a lot of fruit but not much else. However in the last third of the bottle it all came together with some fine structure and balance and I was reminded of my other cheap Spanish fave Protocolo, which is high praise indeed.

Bellicia Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2007 - €8-19

Not great. Lots of acidity but not much else. Even at this price I wouldn't bother.

Tesco Vacqueyras 2007 - €7-99

I loved this the last time. Alas, we drank this last night and I daresay my heart wasn't in it , coming as it did at the end of The Hangover (tm) - see below, I will have to try this again to do it justice, as at this price, it should be a steal.

The Hangover

I suppose I should accept it an as occupational hazard, if you are going to drink and blog about it, occasionally you will come a cropper. I can't blame Allpay, who provided me with some of the fuel for the flames of my misfortune. He generously showed up at my humble abode for one of our irregular poker games with a bottle of the whiskey at left, which was delicious btw, and kudos to him for spending 20 minutes in Heathrow duty free getting expert advice on what to buy.

This was not the big mistake I made, which was to buy Tyskie Polish beer at 5.6% to drink during the cards. Normally I buy regular Vitamin H at 4.3% in a vain effort to stay moderately sober and not lose my drunken ass (BigNose - Vodka & Lucozade anyone?).

Anyway - yesterday (Saturday) was a long painful experience which, counter intuitively, got worse as the day progressed, until a couple of hours restorative kip was the only way to soothe my pounding head and queasy stomach. After this and a hot Thai take away (Kanum on Mespil road- very good btw), my taste buds were shot so this may account for my lack of appreciation for the Tesco Vacqueyras.

Finally, I know it been a long haul, but we are just finishing up another bottle of the Domaine la Brunely Vacqueyras, from the Superquinn French wine sale. Damn - it's still really tasty. I think there's a couple of days left in the sale, if you are in the neighbourhood, please buy some.

Tesco - More wines

Well, one of the advantages of living in our city pad is the proximity of both Oddbins and Tesco. As I noted last time, Tesco Baggot St sometimes has a great selection of wines. Tonight was no different, there were many wines I would like to have bought, but I settled on three...

Tesco Vacqueyras 2007 - €7-99

Last time I sought this I loved it and it cost €12. I has decided to buy only wines I hadn't tried before but this went by the board when I saw this for €7-99. A huge and spicy bargain at this price.

Tesco Vina Major Ribera Del Duero 2005 - €10-09

Have just started this and will review anon, worth a punt to get a decent Ribera at this odd price.

Bellicia Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2007 - €8-19

Another punt here but at this price its definitely worth a shot.

M&S Montepulciano

The last of four wines we got last weekend in M&S.

Name: M&S Montepluciano D'Abruzzo

Year: 2007
Price: €9-99
Notes: I didn't give this a long time to decant, for various reasons, so this was a little bitter at the start, not unpleasantly so, though. After a while the fruit began to come through, Herself said cherries but I think I got some raspberry. Either way the wine became more balanced and there was a little tannic kick at the end. While the wine was well structured I still found it a little bitter and think that this would go best with food rather than as a stand-alone tipple. Still, not bad at the price.

Note1: Before we opened this we opened Lidl Sangiovese di Romangna, which as predicted was pi$$, down the sink it went.

Note2: We had some good news on Wednesday so I cracked open a bottle of the 2005 Chateau de Clotte that I brought back from France in May. It was delicious - the big struggle for me is not to drink the rest of this and the Chateau Guillou now. I'd really like to see how they age.

Lidl & The Wine Odyssey

Last night involved sampling the wedding wines for the upcoming nuptials of BE and also a family dinner for my lovely mother-in-laws XXth birthday (Hi G! -Am I still in the will?). The night ended up with pints of Guinness and a battered sausage but that's another story.

Anyhoo - we started off the party (hosted by Herself's sister SB) with the Lidl Grand Cru St Emilion. This was OK, a little unrefined but pleasant enough, although if you are a Bordeaux fiend like me then this will probably not be your bag, but hey, your mileage may vary. It goes for about €9.

We then moved on to the Lidl Montepulciano which I reviewed previously here. Everyone loved it, it was possibly better than before, big and bold and is still only about €6 - go buy some.

A quick spin across town and we were re-tasting the wedding wines, I'm not sure what we would have done if they hadn't been up to par, but luckily they were.

The white - Chapelle d'Alienor 2005 proved to be oaky and unusual, but nice. It'll make a nice change from the usual Sauvignon Blanc.

The red - La Fleur d'Armens - 2006 was very tannic initially, although it had been open (but not decanted) for an hour. The tannins softened after a few minutes and the fruit came through. This should be a good match for the beef. GG drinks a bottle a week and swears by it so...

Next: Bought a Rasteau Cotes Du Rhone Villages on special offer for €7-99 in Dunnes tonight, will drink tomorrow and revert.

Lidl - Vino Nobile Di Motepulciano

This is a review of the Vino Nobile Di Motepulciano I bought in Lidl yesterday, mistakenly thinking it was a cheap wine at €5-29 when in fact it was a moderate €11-99. It had the DOGC seal at the top which in my limited experience means it shouldn't stink. So while I seem to be unable to read a price correctly, I reckoned yesterday that this would be a decent wine, and so it was.

Name: Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano (No Producer name)
Year: 2005
Price: €11-99
Notes: Very nice. Initially it tasted like a decent Chianti, with some strong acidity, some fruity undertones and a surprisingly big, smooth, lingering finish. At €5-29 this would have been a absolute steal, at €11-99 it's still decent value and would be lovely with pizza, pasta etc.
Rating: 7/10.

Lidl Montepulciano

This is the review of the first of five bottles of Lidl wine I bought on spec last week, with a view to seeing if any of the cheap plonk on sale there is drinkable.

Name: Montepulciano D'bruzzo (Illegible producer name)
Year: 2007

Price: €5-29
Notes: Very Italian, quite bitter with very little fruit. But if you like this style of wine then you can't go wrong for a fiver.

Rating: 6/10