Xmas Wine Choice & Tasting - Live!*

Well it's Xmas again and I have have been tasked with choosing the wine for a number of festive occasions over the holiday season, given that I am now gainfully self-employed.

I popped into Garrett in Baggot St Wines and asked him to choose three reds for me to taste and ultimately pick from. The parameters were as follows; approx €15, not too light, not too jammy. I vetoed a Rioja early on and the three reds above were what we finished up on. Symmetrically and ecumenically we ended up with one French, one Spanish and one Italian.

The wines are as follows (l-r)

Carpineto Dogajolo Toscana 2011 - €13-99. Per Garrett this is a budget Supertuscan, with 70% Sangiovese and 30% "Other". A Supertuscan at this price would indeed be a find.

Camille Cayran Vacqueyras 2011 - €16-99. The most expensive of the bunch so the one with the most to prove. I have had many lovely Vacqueyras since I started the blog so here's hoping.

Flores de Callejo Ribera Del Duero 2010 - €13-99. I'm in a Ribera place at the moment after some lovely ones, particularly in Pichet. (Martin Berdugo I think?)

And it's a blind tasting...for Herself anyway, Your Humble Blogger will attempt to forget, or fail to remember. I poured the three wines into my three decanters and numbered them and the wine labels, so I would know but she wouldn't. We started with a glass of Number 3.

Wine #3
Herself - finding it a bit tannic. Not impressed. [Guess - French]
YHB - I like it. It's complex but it needs more time to coalesce, probably a disadvantage in a party wine, where you would probably be serving bottles just after opening.

Wine #1
Herself - liking it a lot. She can "taste it all over her tongue". Ahem. [Guess - Spanish]
YHB - wildly different from #3, lots of cherries. Not sure it's a party wine though. Might be a bit "fancy" for some palates.

Wine #2          
Herself - Perfumed and lovely. Favourite of the night. [Guess - Italian]
YHB -  Yummy, my fave too. Full bodied and a little spicy.

Answers...
Wine #3 - Ribera
Wine #1 - Supertuscan
Wine #2 - Vacqueyras

 Herself picks most expensive wine shocker!

* Sort of live, I've been writing this for the last hour as we have been tasting.

The return of "that guy"... (Now Updated)

Howdy folks. It's been an awfully long time since I blogged at ya - 6 months to be precise. For me, the time has flown; I've been up to my furry bits in a complex IT project, which went live successfully last weekend. I still have a week to go, both tidying up and pissing up, but I should be home for good next week - woo hoo!

John Wilson's column in the Irish Times on Saturday mentioned that Dunnes are having a "Mediterranean Festival" so I stopped by their Beacon store on my travels today and picked up six reds from Spain and Italy. The French offerings didn't look particularly appetising to YHB so I passed on them.

I looked up the "Festival" on the Dunnes site for a bit more info, but the page isn't a "mind of information" as they'd say on DNS. Judge for yourself. I'd expect a minimum of a PDF or at least a more readable page. Superquinn's many and multifarious wine sales would seem to be the benchmark here.

Note: The display shelves in the shop show the notional "full" price but neither the receipt in my sweaty little fist, nor the Dunnes website can help me out in retrospect here.

Anyhoo - the six wines are:

Crossos Priorat 2008 (€12-99) - Any Priorat I've had to date I've really liked so...

Verdict - This is fantastic, big and bold - I need to buy more asap.

Arroyo Ribera Del Duero Crianza 2008 (€10-99 - John Wilson specifically recommended this so...

Verdict - Similar to the Barbaresco this was quite light in colour, but was quite fruity in a strawberry, New World Pinot Noir-ish way, strangely. Not unpleasant, but not something I would probably buy again.

Masseria Del Fauno Salice Salentino 2010 (€5-99) - I do like wines from here, they are tangy and acidic and good pizza/pasta wines IMHO, and at this price it's worth a punt.

Verdict - Only got around to this last night and it is a steal at this price, some nice acidity and a very well balanced wine for thsi money.

Il Burchino Toscana 2007 (€12-99) - This looked classy, beyond that, I don't know what to tell you. Tomás Clancy had this as his "One to Buy" last Sunday in the Turbine, although (see comments), this in not an uncontested opinion.

Verdict - We probably didn't give this wine the best opportunity by drinking after a hot Thai penang curry but even so it was pretty good. A solid chunky Tuscan, and decent value at this price.

Riva Leone Barbaresco 2008 (€9-99) - A Barbaresco for a tenner? Again, I pretty much had to. Also, Dunnes have a Barolo from the same producer for about 15 notes. Let's see how this ones goes first.

Verdict - Herself demanded another red be opened after the lovely Priorat and chose the Barbaresco. Disappointing. Quite a light colour in the glass and similarly lacking in flavour on the plate. Not offensive but a bit "meh" and not what was expected...

Campomagio Toscano 2006 (€11-99) - I hadn't intended buying two "Toscanas" [IGT] so here's hoping.

Verdict - Again a perfectly pleasant Tuscan, nothing to write home about but perfectly fine. For the extra Euro I'd buy the Burchino.

In conclusion, kudos to Dunnes for the wines, but their promotion and presentation could do with some work.

And yes - it's good to be back.

A couple of nice ones...

As I mentioned last week I got some very nice presents of wine from the guests at a BBBQ* we had recently. June's brother brought the above Super Tuscan a Malenchini Bruzzico 2003. This wine was lovely; inky purple in the glass and dark, supple and rich on the palate. In hindsight it would have gone very well with food, perhaps not pasta but something meaty.

To be honest, my exposure to Super Tuscans has been very limited so I can't tell you that this tasted like a Super Tuscan should. I would imagine if you take the cherry from the Sangiovese, and add some depth and fruit from the Cabernet Sauvignon you get what was in this bottle.

Next up is a wine from the Southern Rhone, Les Amis de la Bouissiere 2008, courtesy of BigNose. This is a Grenache, Syrah and Merlot blend, the last of which I think is a little unusual for this area? Either way, this was medium bodied and full of lovely "Rhoney" flavours. Very tasty.


* the extra B is for BYOBB

Local Supertuscans et al

It has been an interesting weekend here at Casa di Willie. Since the snow on New Years eve our estate has become periodically impassable to two wheel drive vehicles, like tonight after the slush refroze. On New Years day no non 4WD cars could get out at all, one in the eye for all the Eco-weenies, perhaps they have nowhere they need to go... (oooh contraversial!)

Anyhoo - the wine above is one Herself got in the new offie in the village, before Xmas for the not inconsiderable price of $19-95, a Brancaia 2006 from Tuscany. Reading the back label this appears to be a budget Supertuscan of sorts, with the usual Sangiovese, Merlot and Cab Sav. For this dough I'd expect a lot and while this wine was pleasant and well balanced, neither of us thought it was worth that money, unf. Herself had also bought a bottle for my oenophile elder Bro, so it'll be interesting to see what he thinks of it.

Lastly we are drinking the Lidl Chianti I bought earlier in the week as I write but firstly I should comment on the Lidl Vacqueyras I picked up at the same time and which we again loved, especially at the reduced price of €9-59, or some other odd amount, great value for a complex, dark, delicious old world taste.

Now the Chianti which was purchased for the piddling amount of €7-39. I didn't have time to decant this for more that about 10 minutes so when we first tasted it, there wasn't much going on and to be honest at this point in the proceedings, I wouldn't have been upset if this had stayed as it was because generally, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. However, after an hour or so this opened up and started to taste quite pleasant and Chianti-ish. If you like thsi style you could do worse than have a punt on this.

NOBby and Big Ears

Had a lovely evening yesterday at NOB and BigEars house in the country, well not really the country but Meath. We had a large selection of wine both provided by our gracious hosts and brung along by June, BigNose, and BigHead. The occasion was to celebrate June's "Hitchhikers Guide" birthday and a good time was had by all, although I'm not as good at Wii bowling as I think I am, particularly at 1-30 in the morning after all the wine below.

We started off with a home town favourite, a Rioja, specifically a 2004 Marques de Riscal Reserva, which I really like and never disappoints, with lots of vanilla and oak.

Next up was one of mine. I had brung along a couple of bottles of the Malbec at left from Oddbins, Herself had bought one for a girly night and liked it so I got a couple to go with the beef I was told we were having. As with a lot of recent wines I initially thought this was a "two pronger". I envision two prongs of flavour and a gap in between. The two prongs being fruit and tannins, but no harmony or balance to the wine. I expect this was not unrelated to the wine not having a decent chance to breathe and it did improve over time. Although that time was short as each wine was swiftly dispatched by the thirsty mob.

Next up was BigNose's contribution to the evening, a Tour Des Gendres Bergerac 2007. He wasn't impressed with it but I though it was a fine if a little dry, but perfect with food. Off to Italy with us next for a Villa Antinori 2005, as supplied by BigHead although he denied brining it, for some reason. This could be described as an affordable Supertuscan, with some red berries, soft tannins, a well balanced and delicious wine all round. They also make the Santa Christina Sangoivese which I see everywhere and this appears to be the next wine up from that.

Next up was June's wine and I think, the star of the evening for me. There were a number of d'Arenburg wines knocking about on the night ( I gave June a bottle of 2005 The Sticks and Stones), and she in turn brought along a 2001 Bonsai Vine, a Grenache (70%) Shiraz (25%) Mourvedre (5%). This was quite jammy and sweet with a very New World style, light years from its Rhone cousin. I have previously opined that a wine that jammy can only work if the sweetness is balanced by some depth and structure, and this was. Not only that, this wine felt very well made, if that makes sense. As usual d'Arenburg doesn't disappoint.

I think that was it on the wine front, there was also Baileys liqueur and some Quilmes beer from Argentina that was nice but bloody expensive from Oddbins. You think I'd have learned after the Krombacher mentioned in the last post.

Our Sunday night wine, an own-brand 2007 Minervois, was brought to us by Marks and Spencer, the number 7 and the letter Q.

Much fun in Powerscourt.

After six wonderful years, or something, myself and Herself decided to splash out and go to Gordon Ramsay in the Ritz Carlton in Powerscourt and also spend the night there. Normally such an undertaking would be prohibitively expensive but with a little help from an elder brother (Cheers Ro!), we were able to get a very good deal. Note: this post is quite a "foodie" post so if that offends you - leave now.

Our wine adventures started earlier than expected when, after a little snafu with our room, we were presented with a complementary bottle of red and some chocolates (see above). The red was a Beaune Premier Cru - Les Bressandes 2006 from Domaine Pavelot. As I mentioned here I haven't a huge amount of experience with Pinot Noirs and Burgundies in particular.

However the moment we opened this we knew it was something special, it was an order of magnitude nicer than the NZ Pinot Noir. It was fruitier than I expected, and it had more body than expected, lots of complexity and a big finish. After savouring most of this bottle we made our way to Gordon Ramsay where we opted for the Prestige menu as described here.

I'm going to document it here as that link may change.

• pre Amuse bouche nibbles - Yum.
• Amuse bouche - (Mackerel) - Also Yum
• Pressed foie gras with Waldorf salad and spiced bread * - Hmmm
• East coast lobster and salmon ravioli with lemongrass sauce ** - Divine
• Sea bream with confît leeks and cauliflower velouté - Yes
• Roast Connemara Hill lamb, ‘boulangère’ potatoes, rosemary jus *** - Double Yes OR
• Assiette of Hereford beef with green asparagus,girolles and hollandaise sauce - More please
• Pre dessert (Triple layer fruit thing in a glass) - Lovely
• Pear Williams baba - Very Full at this stage but Yes
• Petit Fours & Coffee - No Room left at all now.
• Two slices of special Happy Anniversary cake courtesy of our hosts - lucky I'm not petite.

We also opted for the Prestige wine package where the Sommelier choses wines for each course (as denoted by stars).

* Gewuerztraminer, Meyer-Fonné, Alsace, France. A moderately sweet wine (not as sweet as a Sauternes) but delicious with this course.

** Chablis Vincent Sauvestre, Burgundy, France. We had this with the Ravioli and the Bream. An understated wine, minerally, refined and delicious.

*** Dievole Broccato 2006 (?) Italy. My first real Super Tuscan. A big inky, oaky wine with some lively fruit that went really well with the lamb(Herself) and especially well with the beef (me). I suspect this has a lot of aging in it and would be dynamite in 4/5 years.

At this point we got chatting to our lovely Somellier Nicole, she happened to have a couple of other bottles from this producer open and she generously gave us a tasting of the Vendemmia, a Chianto Classico and the Novecento, a Chianti Classico Riserva. The first of these was lovely but the Riserva was a corker. Alas, these are not currently available in the 26 counties.

All in all - a cracking experience with a level of service that I have not seen in a long time. Friendly, efficient, knowledgeable and helpful without being intrusive plus a food/wine experience second to none. My (very limited) experience of Michelin Star level food says that you should go for the tasting menu if you can afford it, you get lots of different foods in managable portions, and usually what the kitchen does best.

**Update - Just realised I never reviewed the Carianne below after drinking it on Friday. The micro review is - NO. Drinkable, but very average, not worth a tenner. Drinking the Fitou now - review to follow.