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.

Amarone - It means "I love you"**

After a couple of bottles of this Malbec at home and more at the in-laws posh "do" yesterday for the neighbours, I thought I would crack something a bit different, a bit fancier, one of the selection I got for my hmmm hmmm birthday.

This is the first Amarone I've had for a while and the first I've had a chance to drink with an eye on a review. This one from Brigaldara was opened for a good hour before drinking.

This was a muscular, finely tannic wine with some spicy raisiny fruit and very little acidity. As usual with a fine wine the balance and harmony of this wine impressed me hugely and add to that a lingering finish and there's not much more you'd ask for in a wine, perhaps if it was 20 quid cheaper! BTW this Amarone came in at a whopping 16% abv, although it didn't taste overly strong.

**Only kidding , of course it doesn't - full details of the Amarone/Ripasso process here.