I first posted this without a title...

I've been seeing a wine in Tesco my last few visits there and finally took the plunge today. Its a Finest Tempranillo 2009 from the Extemadura region of Spain. I've king of been spoiled on Spanish wine by the Alta Rio and rarely buy Spanish anymore. BTW has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of non-Rioja reds, particularly in Supermarkets? Give me a Toro or a Ribera for a change. Anyway, this was priced at a modest €9-99, so I gave it a go.

I also picked up a Tesco Nero D'Avola 2008 €8-69, I couldn't resist after having a lovely Nero D'Avola on the weekend. The last time I had this wine, it was the 2007 vintage and I wasn't impressed, but every dog gets one bite so I'm offering up my other cheek, so to speak.

What I hadn't noticed when I was shopping was that certain wines were part of a "2 for €12" promotion and lo and behold at the check-out I was pleasantly surprised by the saving (€6-68 to be precise). I didn't notice what wines are covered by this but if you are going down Tesco way it might be worth a look.

Olesya's Unpronounceable Wine bar

Ourselves and the Fabtastic Four (three as it turned out - get well soon H) went to Olesya's Wine Bar on Saturday to eat and to sample some of their 400 wines. Before I get into the wines (and there are a few) I should say the food was very good. We started with a deluxe platter for the table which contained lots of nice meats, cheeses pates etc and it was big enough for three husky gents and two petite but hungry ladies. The main courses were all very tasty with YHB devouring a juicy lamb shank.

As we intended to drink a few bottles we eschewed ordering by the glass and decided to start with a white of my choosing. I chose the unusually monikered Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne, which I quite liked but only received a lukewarm reception from the others, it reminded me of a less intense Clos Du Val Chardonnay. I liked it a lot in John Wilson's Aussie tasting last year but perhaps it's not to everyone's taste. (€25)

Next up another failure - Domaine Juliette Avril "Le Ventoux" 2008 (€31). I really liked this little gem, it was a little spicy, medium bodied and a little Chateau-Neuf-du-Papey, but was met with polite disapproval, although BE did grudgingly admit that it had developed nicely in the glass. I was 0 for 2 at this stage so I decide to play it safe and order an Argentine Malbec.

There was only one Malbec on the wine list so it was a bit of a hail-mary but I persevered and ordered a Finca Sophenia Reserve Malbec 2008 (€28). This was a huge change of pace from the aromatic Ventoux. It was a beefy, fruity, full bodied wine, with lots of character and the perfect accompaniment to a juicy steak. Alas none of had steak and two of us even had a meatless main (for shame BE).

We decided, for some reason, to go Italian next. Note: We looked at the Bordeaux, Burgundy and Aussie lists but didn't reckon we'd be able to get a decent wine at a reasonable price, particularly from the French regions. Anyhoo, we ordered a Birgi Nero D'Avola (€30) from Sicily. Wow. Lots of fruit here (BE reckoned rasperries) and long finish. We all loved this one.

Lastly (boo) we plumped for another Italian, a Donna Marzia Conte Zecca Primitivo (€30). I've just realised that due to only drunkenly photographing the fronts of the last two wines I have no idea what year they are. I loved their Negro Amaro, and while this didn't have quite the complexity of that, it was a very nice way to finish the evening (wine-wise anyway - shudder)

We didn't explicitly limit ourselves to bottles costing €30 but that's the way it turned out and it's a good test of a wine list that there would be several decent bottles to be had for around this price. I'm off to detox for a few hours.

Saturday morning, who's gonna play with me?

As is our Saturday routine, I'm in the kitchen drinking coffee and blogging, behind me Little Bill is watching his latest Movie (Alvin and the Chipmonks - Jason Lee must have some whopping gambling debts) and Herself is upstairs, catching up on her sleep. I wanted to write about something that has been exercising me of late, to whit, am I the only blogger in Ireland who reviews wines from the bargain/Supermarket/call it what you will section of the wine market here?

I'm not really sure what exactly I wanted to say beyond that, I don't know if the above is true and if so, does it bother and/or please me? Rather than bore you with some existential musings I thought I'd have a quick look around some of the non-commercial wine blogs and find some articles and bits of interest.

The image at the top of this post I took from this post on Sour Grapes, a comprehensive list of Irish wine blogs.

A humourous post on wines to be had in Leggs (we've all done it) from a blog I've only just discovered - My Grape Escape

A nice way to blow the wad in London , courtesy of Wine Perv.

A lot of Aussies reviewed on the Grapes of Sloth.

A guide to bluffing during Wine Tastings from The Grapefruit.

That's it for now - Ourselves and the Fabtastic Four are off to Olesya's Wine Bar tonight to sample some of their 400 wines (100 by the glass apparently), so I expect a hangover and some reviews tomorrow.

Something for the weekend?

The wedding, I'm happy to say, went well; the weather held off, mostly, and the wedding wines seemed to go down smoothly, particularly the red. Initially I thought the white (Bougrier Sauvignon Blanc AC Touraine 2006) was a little sharp but it suited the seafood starter well. The less said about the curious incident of the allegedly punctured tyre on the wedding car the better.*

The wines at left were all bargain wines I got in O'Briens during the week. Left to right they are:

Emotivo Montepulciano 2008 - (€7-95 reduced to €6-99) - took a punt on this. Have just tried after an hour in the decanter and it tastes a bit cheap and cheerful. I'll persevere for another while to see if it improves any.

**Update** - It improved, but barely. Herself initially refused to drink it. A rare stinker from O'Briens, however cheap it was.

Ferraton Cotes Du Rhone Samorens 2007 (€11-45 reduced to €9-95) - Have bought this many times and it does not disappoint. A huge bargain. Will buy more for tomorrow night.

**Update** - Bought two more and they did not disappoint. The third was open for a day before I finished it and was quite delicious at the end.

Protocolo Tinto 2007 (€8-45 reduced to €7-95). I previously raved about the 2007 here and the 2006 here. I'm afraid to say the last couple of times I've had the 2007 I've found it a little jammy, it's still well made and has more strings to its bow than the fruit but for now I can't get past the sweetness, perhaps its needs more time in the decanter as it definitely had a smidgin more balance in the last glass.

On a whiskey note my formerly only Brother-in-law showed up at the wedding with a bottle of Highland Park 16yo for me - Many thanks JMP. And as we were left literally holding the babies at 2am on the night of the wedding we felt it incumbent on us to break the seal, and extremely tasty it was too (the whiskey - not the seal)

*Its official - I'm a tool.

Into the West...

A couple of quick reviews of bottles bought in the last few days before we head off with Little Bill to the social event of the season "The Wedding"

Dino Sangiovese Di Romanga 2008 - €5-99. Rough, but we drank it (sigh). Not worth the money. Avoid.

Bethany Old Vine Grenache 2007 - Reduced from €14-45 to €9-95. Very jammy and much too sweet for me. Tasted more like a Shiraz to be honest and completely at odds with any Old World interpretation of this grape that you might be used to. The Label says "well textured palate and the long soft tannin finish". My foot. I couldn't find any tannins whatsoever. If you like this style of big unbalanced fruit bomb you'd probably be better off spending a couple of quid less (than the €14-95) on a proper Aussie Shiraz. I will admit, however, that their own G6 Shiraz while more expensive (€17-69), is a fine tipple and does indeed deliver a fruity red that has some lovely structure to counterbalance the jamminess.

Two cheap Italians

The title does not refer to the people, although I once witnessed four Italian girls sup one glass of Guinness for the entire evening, but to two cheap and cheeky Italian reds I just picked up in Tesco, Dundrum, and they are...

Dino Sangiovese Di Romanga 2008 - €5-99. Reduced, I think from €10-99, I have been seeing this quite a lot of late on offer and have finally taken the plunge. Could be a stinker but worth a punt at this price.

Ogio Primitivo 2008 - €5-99. I have had this a couple of times before and it is very good value at this price, although this is one of those discounts I'm dubious of, as I have never seen it at full price.

Lastly, we drank the Villa Novare Valpolicella Ripasso 2006 - Reduced from €18-45 to €12-95, which I had gotten over the weekend in O'Briens. Disappointed, we were. This was medium bodied, drinkable but the flavour was overly light and a bit washed out. Basically there was not a lot going on in this wine and at a nominal price of €18-45 for a Ripasso, I would have expected much, much more.

No hugs, no learning.

Well, I've come back from battering my hangover into submission in the gym and I have a few updates and reviews to share, so let's start with...

Clos Du Val Chardonnay 2006 . This was on special in O'Briens last week (€16-95 reduced from €22-95) and as part of my drive to drink more white I picked one up. It was interesting... Lar from Sour Grapes recommended it and said it was "Meursault style - butter, nuts and brioche." This wine reminded me of Dance. I can appreciate the skill and the effort involved but it does nothing for me; similarly with this wine, I can appreciate it but that style of buttery Chardonnay is not my cup of meat, however well made it may be. I have a Meursault gathering dust at the moment in my "cellar" and I reckon I'll have to crack it soon and compare.

After the Chardonnay I popped open a Renato Ratti Langhe Nebbiolo 2008, which I had gotten in M&S earlier. I really must wine shop there more often as they seem to have a large range at reasonable prices. I stumped up €14-99 for this and was not disappointed. Nebbiolo is the grape that powers both Barolo and Barbaresco and here in its cheaper incarnation it still packed a punch. Lots of cherry fruit, pleasingly fragrant and nice integrated if gentle tannins. Quite an uncommon taste but rather emotive, one sip and I was back in Rome (not literally of course) drinking overpriced, but delicious, Nebbiolo behind the Piazza Navona.

Just back from O'Briens in the Beacon, looking for bargains and I got the following...

Bethany Old Vine Grenache 2007 - Reduced from €14-45 to €9-95

Villa Novare Valpolicella Ripasso 2006 - Reduced from €18-45 to €12-95. I love Valpolicella Ripassos, a good one will give you near Amarone quality for half the price.

Lastly in the Sunday Business Post Today, Tomas Clancy in his "to try, buy and put by" sidebar, recommends next week's Wedding white (which I helped choose) as his "to try" choice. It's a Bougrier Sauvignon Blanc AC Touraine 2006, and he speaks very highly of it, phew.

His "to put by" is another old favourite of mine the Penfolds Bin 389, a fruity but well balanced gem of a wine, sadly priced north of €30 in this republic.

Birthday etc.

I've just realised I never posted on the occasion of the first birthday of this blog which was on March 7th. It was an "interesting" year professionally for me, at the time of inception finding cheap wine to drink was less an academic aspiration and rather more a necessity. Luckily that all changed soon after and things have been ticking along (touch wood*) since then.

A couple of observations -

1) I drink a lot of wine. I haven't, and don't want to, count the number of bottles I've been a party to over the last year. When you add in pints, tinnies and whiskey, I'm amazed I have any liver left. However, what's bad news for my liver is good news for you. I can't blog about wines I haven't drunk.

2) I've largely enjoyed writing this blog so far. For the most part it has not been a chore and it's also an excuse to drink. As far as creative outlets go, it ain't poetry but it beats tormenting our party guests with my lousy singing (All: woo-hoo!)

3) I don't drink/blog enough white wine. I intend to remedy this over the next few, hopefully sunny months. Suggestions please to the usual address.

Back to business - I picked up the wine at left in Tesco yesterday on a whim, a Costieres de Nimes 2008, it was reduced to €6-99 and it was not really worth that. While it was drinkable it didn't have a lot going for it and it had a slightly harsh tannic undercurrent that was a little off-putting.

We still drank it, but I wouldn't serve it anyone, if that helps to place it in the pantheon of my wine experience. If you are shopping in Tesco there's lots better for just slightly more cash.

* Its very unlucky to be superstitious

6 Monthly Whiskey Audit

It's that time again. I know this is supposed to be a wine blog but occasionally I feel the need to wax somewhat lyrical on the virtues of the grain as opposed to the grape. If you are not interested, the exit is that way...

The last time I did an audit the results were as follows, a lot has changed since then, I got a boat load of whiskey for my cough-th birthday and I'm delighted to say I've put a good hole in most of them. The Islays have survived best, I need to be in a certain place to approach these peaty monsters and most of the time a regular expression is what I fancy.

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: 0.6 bottles

Lagavulin 16yo

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

Remaining: 1.3 bottles (thanks MP!)

Bowmore 18yo

Desc: My new favourite Islay, even though I drink it only rarely.

Remaining: 0.8 bottles

Glenmorangie Original 10yo

Desc: The Classic from the 16 men of Tain. Have polished off a whole bottle of this since the last post. A very tasty everyday whiskey.

Remaining: 0.1 bottles

Glenmorangie Lasanta 12yo

Desc: This used to be called the Sherry-wood finish. I said this about it at the Glenmorangie tasting - "Quite fruity, but not overly so. Warming, taste all over the mouth and a very long finish. My favourite on the night."

Remaining: 0.2 bottles

Springbank "Longrow" Gaja Barola 7yo

Desc: A non-Islay peaty beast with a whopping 55.6% alcohol, this whiskey is delicious with a drop of water. This also spends the last 2 years of its life in Barolo casks. Who'd a thunk it?

Remaining: 0.6 bottles

The Balvenie Goldencask 14yo

Desc: A present from poker widow Allpay, it spends its last 2 years in rum casks which adds some lovely fruit and spice.

Remaining: 0.1 bottles

The Glenlivet French Oak Reserve 15yo

Desc: Another everyday whiskey, although I don't think this has quite the character of the Glemorangie

Remaining: 0.4 bottles

Blends & Other bottles (L - R)

Jameson Original

Desc: The standard expression. Had this recently at a neighbour's house and was very pleasantly surprised by it. Warm , spicy and intense.

Remaining: 0.9 bottle

Bushmills Malt 16yo

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

Remaining: 0.3 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: 0.4 bottles

Bushmills Malt 12yo

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

Remaining: 1 bottle

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

I made the list...

Sourgrapes has put together a comprehensive list of Irish wine blogs and I'm on it. Go me, again!

The list is here and is a good mix of the commercial, the expert and the enthusiastic amateur. Thanks for the inclusion.

**Update** The Clos Du Val Merlot was as good as last time. We had it with a couple of fillet steaks from Dunnes (pretty decent btw) and it was the perfect accompanyment. If you are a New World Merlot hater, its definitely worth a try. It changed my mind.

Savage Flowers

We're now back in our mountain home, herself is off in sunny Rosslare with "the girls" and I'm left here on my own to mind the chiseler. No better time to post on a few wine related tings.

As I mentioned last post I wanted to get into Oddbins on Baggot street and I was presented with the opportunity with the impending arrival of B&G for a spot of Thai food from Kanum, which by the way is as good as any Thai food I've had in Dublin and is pretty good value, but I digest.

One way that Oddbins falls down I find is in the cheapish €9-€13 bracket. Supermarkets, particularly Tesco have a myriad of decent, drinkable wines in this range, and most offies have a few bottles to be had for this money. If you are entertaining, on a budget, need to buy a few of something, you don't want to spend a fortune. Hence, Supermarkets clean up here.

Long story short I bought a couple of these - Chateau de Combebelle Les Fleurs Sauvages St Chinian 2007 (€13-99) and one of these for B, a Falerio Palastri Organic 2009 (a snip at €8-99).

Note, I really bought the red to be drunk after the Thai food, not with it. For the food I bought a case of 12 bottle of Veltins Pilsener (good value at €14), this proved to be a delicious hoppy treat and more than a match for the strong Thai flavours.

Anyhoo, the wine itself was very fine. Lots of spice, some nice fruitiness, a surprising, but not overpowering amount of tannins and a long tasty finish. As I mentioned above this is more than I'd normally spend on multiple bottles but I couldn't find anything else in the shop for less money that I thought would be decent.

Lastly, I have been tempted, ever since I tried one a few weeks ago, to buy more of the Clos Du Val Merlot from O'Briens. It's still on sale at the ridiculously cheap price (for the quality) of €16-95, so I bought one to have with a (hopefully BBQ'd) steak tonight. Lar from Sourgrapes suggested I try the Chardonnay also so I grabbed one of these also. Again not cheap at €16-95 (reduced from €22-95) but if the rest of the range is a guide then it should be worth it.

On a wholly OT note, I watched Zombieland last night. BEST CAMEO EVER.

Bordeaux 2009, and beyond

I've read a number of of interesting articles on the 2009 En Primeur tastings which have been happening of late and the first link is a very interesting comparison of Bordeaux vs Burgundy, which is of great relevance to me at the moment - I was raised on Bordeaux with narry a sniff of Burgundy, but any of the recent (expensive) Burgundies I've had of late have been divine - the full article is here.

Lastly a couple of links to interesting articles in the WSJ, here and here.

We're staying in our city pad (minding in-laws house) which as always means a trip or two to Tesco Baggot St and Oddbins. Let's see what I can find...