Sundry Summary Judgements

I noticed today that I have teased you (all tens of you) with the promises of opinions on various wines and then shamefully, not delivered. So here are some very quick reviews...

1) Some Lidl Wines from this post..

Lidl Cotes Du Rhone Villages 2009 - €5-99
Drinkable, but not great.

Lidl Chianti 2007 - €4-99
Piss, poured down sink.

2) Some white wines from the Superquinn €5 bin-end sale from this post.

Chalkers Crossing Hilltops Semillon 2008 - Nice, crisp and refreshing.

Il Nicolaio Soave Classico 2008 - Full and "luscious".

3) I meant to post on this but forgot.

Tesco Finest Alsace Riesling 2009 - €8-99 - Awful, tasted burnt and chemically. I hope this was "off" in some way, as it was undrinkable.

4) Bought a Puccini Memoro - €8-99 in Tesco yesterday. I've had a number of their wines and they have been generally good and are often on special in Tesco. I couldn't find a grape or a region on the bottle, and with good reason - It's a bit of a mongrel, using 4 different grapes (40% Primitivo, 30% Montepulciano, 20% Nero D'Avola, 10% Merlot de Veneto, from 4 different regions (Veneto, Abruzzo, Puglia and Sicily). I'm finding it a bit jammy in Shirazzy way, but Herself is loving it, so there you go.

5) Stocking up with plonk to bring to the sunny southeast, got a few random bottles in a Superquinn on-line shop plus another random few (including some of this) in Dunnes.

A fiver a pop - cheap for most things...(Updated)

A little bird (@SuperquinnWine) tweeted on Tuesday evening that they were starting a €5 a bottle bin-end sale on Wednesday, so being the bargain hunter (read: cheapskate) that I am I made a beeline* for Blackrock yesterday. Our little bird had also helpfully included some favourites to aid selection from the long list.

When I got there I was initially disappointed to see only a selection from the list present, but I guess this was due to space constraints. My disappointment turned to joy when I spotted a certain NZ pinot for a fiver which I really liked last time out.

The rest were all punts based on recommendations from @SuperquinnWine, so I reckon I'll soon discover if our tastes are similar.

Red

Waipara Hills Pinot Noir 2008 (left) - I got a few of these to entertain with on Saturday - here's hoping our guests (and I also) appreciate the subtleties of this wine.
*Verdict - had this on Saturday as an accompaniment to BBQ'd spatchcock organic chicken and I thought it worked well. Lighter than I remembered but still full of luscious fruits.

Roureda Llicorella Priorat 2005 - I'm on a Priorat kick at the moment and this guy liked it.

*Verdict - Disappointing and a little sharp at first but after a couple of hours in the decanter it really developed into a complex beefy treat, but it really needed the time (approx two hours)

Chateau De Sours Bordeaux Rouge 2007 - I never buy "cheap" Bordeaux, I've been burned too often, maybe it's because I was brought up on the good stuff - anyhoo, I'll stick my neck out once again on this.

*Verdict - Had this "late" on Saturday and it was drinkable but unremarkable.

White

Roureda Llicorella Blanc 2005 - A white Priorat, who knew?**
*Verdict -Me and June lamped into this while herself, "slim and strawberry blonde" apparently, was putting the war paint on. P yellow in the glass, it tasted (to us) somewhat like a good Aussie reisling, which was nice.

Chalkers Crossing Hilltops Semillon 2008 - Bought based on recommendation alone.

Il Nicolaio Soave Classico 2008 - Bought based on recommendation alone.

Also

Rare Vineyards Carignan Vielles Vignes 2010 - I quite liked this before (I thought I had blogged on this previously, but I can't find it, so I don't know what to tell you...) It's not in the sale but is available for a mere €6, so I grabbed a couple.

*Verdict - cracked a bottle of this last night while I was left home alone (sniff) and as before it was very tasty and I had to stop myself drinking the entire bottle.

*This is a myth, btw - bees zigzag all over the place.

**Obviously not me...