Waipara Hills Pinot Noir 2008

Last Friday in Superquinn I picked up a Waipara Hills Southern Cross Pinot Noir Central Otago 2008 - €12-00 reduced from €15-99. This was a Gold Medal winner in the International Wine Challenge 2010. I've been trying to broaden my wine palate in recent months by drinking a lot more white (and even the odd rosé) and also by trying to get into Pinot Noir.

In my, albeit limited, experience you have to pay a tidy sum for good Burgundy, the cheap stuff, like cheap Bordeaux, is simply not worth it. The obvious alternative is to look to the New World. I know there are some excellent Pinots from Oregon, Washington and the cooler regions of California but I never see them over here.

The obvious next stop is New Zealand. The wine at left is from the Central Otago region which seems to be the up and coming place for NZ pinots. In the glass, this wine was much darker than expected; a lot of NZ pinots I've had recently have been very light in colour and delicate, almost weedy to taste. This was more full bodied, still medium to light but with some substance.

There was some nice plummy flavours and Herself got some oak (according to the website this spends 7 months in French Oak), and some gentle spiciness. On the whole this was a nicely balanced and elegant wine. At this price its well worth a punt.

According to Decanter - Wiapara is the new Marlborough, who'd a thunk it?

Second Lastly - I got a couple more of the delicious Pink Elephant Rose in Superquinn - €5 a pop, anticipating a lovely sunny Saturday, looking out the window at the lashing rain makes me realise I should never mess with the weather gods.

Lastly - I'm giving up Beer (not Booze - what am I, crazy?) for the next month as an experiment to see if it has any effect on my ever expanding waistline, so if I'm in bad form you know the reason why.

**Update - I'm back on the beer. It's a long story but basically I'm going to be stressed with work and work related travel for the next while and doing this without the crutch, and in fact, comfort, of a pint is not on the cards at the moment. I hope to return to this worthy goal once things have settled down.

Superquinn - Rosé and the rest

As a member of the Superquinn wine club I got an email recently about how various of the wines they sell had got on in the International Wine Challenge 2010, consequently they are having an Award Winning Wine sale with some very attractive wines at reasonable prices. So off I popped.

First thing I saw on arrival in the wine section was a man giving out free samples of a Rosé. I know Rosé can be drunk anytime but if you are like me, you only ever drink it on holiday. I have fond memories of eating sardines washed down with some delicious Minuty rosé on the beach in Cannes (before the crash, of course).

It turned out I know the man (long story). The wine itself is Pink Elephant, from Portugal. I had a taste and liked it. Crisp with some nice acidity and not too sweet, the way I like my Rosé. I got a bit of a shock when he told me the price - €5. I bought a couple straight away and we tried one later with our fish supper - very pleasant it was too. The wine claims to be ideal for spicy food and this seems to prove it.

I also picked up some other reds on sale. From left to right they are:

Pink Elephant Rose 2009 - €5 - As described above

Penelope Sanchez Grenache Syrah 2009 -€8 - Took a punt on this.

Waipara Hills Southern Cross Pinot Noir Central Otago 2008 - €12-00 reduced from €15-99 - Gold Medal winner in the International Wine Challenge 2010

Vina albali Gran Reserve 1999 Valdepenas - €6 - Silver, Best In Class in the International wine and Spirits Competition 2007. This wine is probably very tired at this stage (being 11 years old), and given that it is priced to move, but you never know.

Ch Camplazens La Garrigue La Clape 2007 - €12-00 reduced from €15-99 - "Trophy" in the International Wine Challenge 2010 (not pictured). I was given a 2004 of this last year and liked it. The 2007 was very different; big, bold and fruity.

We are entertaining tonight so I bought more of the Pic Saint Loup, which is a bleedin' steal at €9-99.

It's a kind of seaweed - apparently.

Last week I tried one of Superquinn's own brand range, to whit their 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which myself and herself both liked a lot and at a tenner it's great value. Given that a) we drink very little white and b) almost no NZ Sauvignon Blanc at all, I decided to pick up the above wine in O'Briens, it's a Durvillea Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008, €14-99 reduced to €11-99, for comparison purposes.

I liked this a whole lot, Herself claimed to prefer last week's SQ offering but pffft. This was a nicely balanced wine, lots of gooseberry fruit and medium bodied and it went very well with a packet of Chilli flavour coated peanuts* (her accompaniment, not mine). I noticed on the label that this wines is produced by Astrolabe, who also make an Atrolabe Voyage Sauvignon Blanc, which I am always seeing in O'Briens and has been recommended to me many times.

As fate would have it I was at another b'day do on Sunday and the white wine being served was none other than the aforementioned Astrolabe. It may have been the fact that I ruined my palate with chili dip and beer beforehand but I think I preferred the Durvillea, it seemed more rounded and complex in style. What the differentiator between these wines is I couldn't get from the website, btw.

* On a similar theme, do you know what goes really well with a Gin and Tonic? Meanies, that's what.

The Last Day of Summer

I suspect the above title is probably true so it's just well we spent last Sunday sitting in the sun drinking wine. Herself, the in-laws, June & I sat out for the afternoon happily tippling, well, all except June and Granny G who were driving, boo.

June had brought the Rosé, at left, from a wine shop in Lucan (June - which one?) and it was very pleasant. I can't go into that much more detail as, while I remember it being delicious, I couldn't tell you what exactly I liked about it. That probably says more about my lack of wine experience with Rosé than about the wine itself. I only ever drink Rosé on hols, typically during the day and that's the best (and probably only) time to drink it.

After a little of this (very little left!), which we had with a BBQ'd butterflied leg of lamb from The Market*, we finally got around to opening the last of the three wines I bought in Molloys last week.

Name: Oyster Bay Pinot Noir

Year: 2007
Price: €16-49
Notes: This is one of the more expensive wines I've bought of late. As I explained I've left Burgundies/Pinot Noirs largely untouched. The style isn't really my bag but I decided to take a punt on this as I'd tasted it before and remembered liking it. This was a lot fruitier than I remembered and I suspect is equivalent to the New World Shiraz vs Old World Syrah in that the NZ style is fruitier and more upfront that the Burgundy equivalent. I liked this, but I didn't love it and it's not cheap. Give it a go if you like this style, its well made and moderately complex for a New World wine.

*The Market is a posh-ish shop just opened in Belarmine, they have a cracking butcher (Lawlors) and I'm gonna go back and try a few of their wines.

Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2006

I recently had a bottle of the iconic Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc and while I really liked it I thought that €30 was perhaps a little steep. I have similar feelings about the Chardonnay. I really enjoyed it (it was a gift to Herself), I don't think I could justify spending €30 on it. Perhaps that's because we drink much more red than white, I don't know.

Name: Cloudy Bay Chardonnay

Year: 2006
Price: approx €30
Notes: This has it all flavour-wise, the fruits, the minerals, the oaty, biscuity undertones all harmonious in the glass with a long complex finish.

Rating: 7/10 (loses 1 for price)

Note: check out the overly floral and typographically challenged O'Briens review of the above here.

Les Maulins Bales Sancerre

This is a bottle I've had for a couple of years, have always assumed it would be nice, based on the label alone, which looks classy.

Name: Les Maulins Bales Sancerre

Year: 2006

Price: ?? ( I suspect €16+)

Notes: Its been a while since I've had a Sauvignon Blanc that wasn't from the new world, and I had got it into my head that this would be fuller, softer than its new world cousins. As it turned out the wine was a little disappointing, a little thin. The classic citrus notes were present, but on the whole I wouldn't buy this wine if I could find a decent NZ* version around the same price.

Rating: 5/10

*Had the famous Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc for the first time recently, it's all true. However, would I pay €30 for it? Nope. But I'd happily drink it.