Trapiche Malbec 2007

Wow. Its been an awfully long time since I drank this. I'm not surprised I can never find it. For €10 you are getting a 20-30 Euro wine. It reminded a lot me of Penfolds Bin 389 - which is about €30. Maybe not quite the complexity but pretty damn close. Wow.

Name: Trapiche Malbec

Year: 2007
Price: €10-99
Notes: Fabulous at the price. Big, fruity and quite New World initially, this has layers of flavour, complexity and balance that most New World wines would kill for. Don't buy it if you can find it though, leave it for me. I'm going to do a post soon on this style of wine which renews my faith in the new world, and its ability to produce, at a reasonable price, good solid well balanced wine.

Note: As you can see from the picture Robert Parker likes it too, not surprising I guess.

Next: Rosé in the garden, Pinot Noir in the lounge.

Molloys Wine & Beer

Went down to Molloys on Thursday as promised to see what I could find of the wines I used to get when I frequented it, back in the day. I picked up the following (L-R):

Oyster Bay Pinot Noir 2007 - €16-49. This, as you can see was not cheap, but it should provide a reasonable alternative to expensive Burgundies as mentioned in the last post. I've had this once before and really liked it so here's hoping its worth the cash.

Vitae Sangiovese 2006- €12-50. We used to drink an awful lot of this and loved it. I was a bit apprehensive on opening this last night. oftentimes you come back to a wine you loved and are disappointed, either your palate has changed, see this post, or the wine isn't as good as it used to be. We were not disappointed. The bitter cherry flavours were in abundance, along with some other fruit, and it had a decent level of complexity and a long finish. Again, another wine I'd recommend with food, rather than without.

Trapiche Malbec 2007 - €10-99. Another old family favourite. We used to drink this by the bucket load but I have been unable to find it in a long time. This was my first Malbec, I can't remember if I bought it on spec or on a recommendation. Either way I'm hoping it won't disappoint.

I also bought a couple of "premium" beers to try from Shepherd Neame, both a snip at €3-29. I drank the Spitfire last night and it was indeed delicious. The blurb on the site says "In the mouth, the finely balanced flavour opens with a blast of rounded malt before the rousing, almost spicy hops follow through to provide a complex, multi-layered finish." Sounds about right to me.

I'll try the Bishop's Finger tonight and let you know, it's 5.4% abv as opposed to the Spitfire's 4.5 % abv so we'll see if that is a noticeable component in the mix.

**Update - The Bishop's Finger was delicious, stronger (duh) and a little more fuller flavoured than the Spitfire.

Comments - replies

Thanks to all of you who gave commented so far and specifically...

Anonymous French Wine lover - I don't review a lot of Burgundy, mainly because, like Bordeaux, the good stuff is expensive and even then you need to know exactly what you are buying to avoid being sold a pup. Much better value are NZ Pinot Noirs which I am starting to get into, I got one earlier in Molloys (details in the next post). The best value French wine at the moment, IMHO, is in the Rhone and the Languedoc.

Michael - Thank you for your kind words.

Brain - I will try that wine the next time I'm in M&S. For the record, I prefer a nice Single malt with a Cohiba.

As promised I went to Molloys and got some wine and posh beer - details to follow.

6 Months Old...

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the blog was 6 months old yesterday, all 96 posts of it. I make that 16 posts a month or on average one post every 2 days or so. I think that's reasonably prolific.

This brings me to my next point - I need feedback. After this long you should know what you like about the blog and what you do not. Don't spare my feelings, be as critical as you like - either in the comments section or mail me.*

*I promise I won't edit the comments - well not too much, anyway.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Last night we entertained June, BigNose and BigHead (the names are a long and not very interesting story). We started off with a bottle of Moet to celebrate June's XX birthday (actual age has been redacted). The trend at the moment seems to be for Cavas, Proseccos and sparkling wines so it was a nice change to have some proper bubbly. I am sick of Prosecco, just because you can buy it for a tenner doesn't mean you should.

Anyhoo we followed the shampoo with a couple of these, one of these, one of these, this Malbec, and then we tucked into the 16yo Highland Park. I should really comment on all the wines but to be honest it's all a bit of a blur. I've reviewed them all before and they were all pretty much unchanged, now leave me alone I need several days sleep.

Kudos to herself on the Tajine, btw, very tasty. And the mini apple tarts on Brioche - yum.

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.

Molloys, Cheap Beer & The Sad Tale of the Adelaide hills

Have just come back from Molloys in Ballyogan. I used to get wine here regularly back in the day but for no good reason I haven't been in ages. I wasn't there to get wine as I have a few stragglers from recent trips that need drinking first. I was there for some beer, cheap beer. Molloys duly obliged, 4 cans of Karpackie for €5. I've had this before, it's not fabulous, but if it's cold it gets the job done.

Molloys will be the venue for my next purchases of wine. They stock the divine Trapiche Malbec, the yummy Vitae Sangiovese and the expensive but lovely Mara Valpolicella Ripasso (June, I brought this to your BBQ - Did you like it?)

On a crappy and unrelated note I will be unable to attend the Adelaide Hills wine tasting this Thursday due to circumstances beyond my control. I was looking forward to it but will hopefully make the next WineAustralia tasting.

M&S Corbieres

This is the third of four wines purchased (or free) that I got from M&S on Saturday. I had this with a wee piece of St Agur, also from M&S. They have just started, as far as I know, selling cheese in 75g packs, the perfect size for a cheesy nibble for one.

Name: M&S Corbieres

Year: 2007
Price: €9-49
Notes: I liked this a lot, but I can't say why. It was well balanced, moderately fruity with a decent finish. But I didn't get that that much more from it. It could be me or it could be the wine. I think I need to do a proper wine course, I done a few social ones, but I think the time is right to do something more structured and educational, BE - are you ready?

Marks & Spencer Wines

In June in this article John Wilson of the Irish Times rated sub €8 wines from a number of retail chains and M&S came out best, so I decided to try some. I haven't reviewed any wines from M&S as it is not especially convenient for me although I do like the food. In this case we decided to try the meal deal or whatever they call it whereby for €12-50 you get a main, a side, a dessert and a bottle of wine.

It turns out there is a limited range of items in each of these categories and when we got to the meal deal wine section there was only one red available - Le Froglet Shiraz 2008 (at right in picture). I suppose I should have been wary given that they had branded this a Shiraz rather than the usual French Syrah, but as it was effectively free I saw no issue in at least trying it.

I decide to give the Shiraz a fair go and decanted it for an hour or so before trying it. Initially there were two dominant flavour, harsh oaky tannins and blackcurrant. these flavours did not meld at all, they were just there, two peaks of taste dominating the skyline. There was no balance or roundness here although we gave it another half an hour but it didn't improve so I poured it down the sink. I'm not sure who this wine is aimed at, people who like Aussie shiraz will hate the oak and people who want A French Syrah won't be happy either, looks like there ain't no such thing as free lunch. Note: the list price of this wine is €7-99.

So we had to open another M&S wine. I chose the Popolino Rosso Sicilia, a cheeky €6-49. No grape varieties are mentioned on the label but according to someone on the interweb, this is made from Nero D'Avola and Sangiovese. This had the classic bitter cherry flavours initially and not much else but we persevered and after a while this rounded out into quite a decent wine, the bitterness receded and some fruit come to the fore along with some acidity. All in all, quite a pleasant wine, once decanted and great value at €6-49.

The other two wines I got were a 2008 Montepulciano D'Abruzzo at €9-99 and a 2007 Corbieres at €9-49. More of these anon.

Friday LiveBlog - Cave de Rasteau Signature Cotes du Rhone

Another Friday, another LiveBlog. This time with the second of two wines bought last week in O'Briens.

9-30pm - Have just arrived back from our local hostelry, where they have just converted their pizza restaurant into a Steak-on-a-stone place. They serve you a barely cooked fillet on a piping hot stone platter and you slice pieces off and cook them yourself. Sounds dubious but with a nice piece of meat this was rather good. Anyhoo - I forgot to decant the wine before leaving the house so I've just done it and had a first taste. Herself is "not overly fussed", I'm undecided as yet. Initially it has the "Cotes Du Rhoney" flavours - let's see how it develops.

10 pm - I like this - it's a little light but pleasant drinking. It appears that this wine is made by the same mob that make the Ortas Rasteau , also from O'Briens, which is very tasty. Herself says its opening up a bit but tastes a bit "new worldy" - hmmmmm. We are now 42 minutes into Nick & Norahs infinite playlist, its not bad for a chick flick. Also speaking of "42", happy birthday to a certain reader of this blog.

10-40 pm - This is developing some depth of flavour and complexity at the end of the bottle. Its not a fabulous wine by any stretch but its decent, well priced and if you are a Cotes du Rhone fan you probably won't do wrong by this.

11 pm - I'm on my last mouthful and the wine has developed some tannins at last, not too much just a little dryness at the finish to complement the fruit, spices etc already present. It has evolved into a properly balanced wine, not one for the neophyte, but anyone with a yen for this style of wine should not be disappointed.

Here endeth the post - 1:19 into Nick and Norah, moderately charming and inoffensive - not unlike the wine.

First Whiskey Audit

Apologies for another Whiskey post but I figured a blog is a good place to do an inventory, which I intend to do on a sixth monthly basis.

Single Malt Scotches (L-R)

Bruichladdich Moine Mhor (3 different years)

Desc: A strong (50%) dram, sweet and peaty. A special edition which was a gift from Herself. Works well with a drop of water.

Remaining: 0.8 bottles

Lagavulin 16yo

Desc: My favourite Islay. Smooth and smoky and very peaty.

Remaining: 1.4 bottles (thanks MP!)

Highland Park 16yo

Desc: A delicious all rounder from the Orkneys. I regularly press the 12yo on non-whiskey drinkers as a good starting point. Curiously, as much as I love the 12yo and the 18yo the 16yo is a little disappointing, a little light, perhaps my expectations were too high.

Remaining: 0.6 bottles

Glenmorangie Original 10yo

Desc: The Classic from the 16 men of Tain. Recently rediscovered this and fell in love anew. A couple of others in the range I'd like to sample from the recent tasting.

Remaining: 0.1 bottles (dang!)

Talisker 10yo

Desc: Another all rounder, this time from the Isle of Skye. A lightly peated, spicy malt that I also give to guests.

Remaining: 0.5 bottles

Blends & Other bottles (L - R)

J&B

Desc: A present from June, an occasional change of pace from the single malts

Remaining: 0.8 bottles

Woodford Reserve

Desc: A present from MP, an impressive bourbon. Light years ahead of Jack Daniels et al. Although not as smooth as a single malt.

Remaining: 0.5 bottles

Lark Distillery SingleMalt.

Desc: A present from JP & MP all the way from Tasmania. A different and slightly less refined malt from our Antipodean cousins, another nice change of pace.

Remaining: 0.5 bottles

Bushmills Malt 16yo

Desc: A nod to my own heritage, a big warm sweet whiskey.

Remaining: 0.4 bottles

Bushmills Malt 12yo

Desc: Haven't opened this yet although I expect good things after the 16yo

Remaining: 1 bottle

Il Meridione Nero D'Avola

This is the second of three wines I got in O'Briens Beacon on the weekend.

The only remarkable thing about this wine is how unremarkable it was. Like the Tesco Finest Nero D'Avola, this was a little bit disappointing.

Name: Il Meridione

Year: 2008
Price: €9-99
Notes: There was nothing at all wrong with this wine but even drinking it I couldn't describe exactly what is was I liked or didn't about this wine, or even what the major flavours were. It just was what it was. Not one I'd buy again.

Next: Another OT Whiskey post