Crash! - A Ribera that isn't a Ribera - Liveblog!

So I bought some vino in Baggot St Wines, after congratulating Catherine on their recent Noffla win - Beer Specialist of the Year 2013. A Don Tiburcio Malbec 2008 (really good), a Bajondilla 2011 from Mentrida in Spain (last tried here), and the subject of tonight's liveblog! one Crash! Ribera del Guadiana 2011 €11-99 (I think...)

It comes from the Extremadura region in Spain and contains the following grapes: Garnacha Tintorera, Garnacha, Syrah and Tempranillo. An unusual blend, IMHO.

8-pm. Catherine had told me it was light and fruity and while that's not normally my bag I decided to take a chance. It has now been open and decanted for an hour and a half so here goes. Well, its light and fruity, natch. But its pleasant. No great depth of flavour but easy drinking and perfectly fine.

9-30pm Still light, fruity and maybe some little acidity now and maybe a little depth at the back end now.

11-00pm All gone and very nice all round. Would I buy it again? Probably not, but if you like this style of wine then fill your boots.

All right, Pilar?*

So I ended up in Molloy's** on the Ballyogan road tonight, on the way home from work; I had been instructed by Herself, under pain of extreme displeasure, to pick up some vino.

I have pretty much stopped buying Ribera, the stuff I have been seeing on the shelves is either expensive or is, and tastes cheap. So it was a pleasant surprise to see a 2006 Crianza for a mere €12-99. I have had some bad experiences with old Spanish wine of late, so it was a bit of a punt.

Long story short, this wine is rather good. There is quite a bit of acidity but also lots of nice fruit and a lovely finish. There's lots of life left in this old dog - see Molloy's page here. It appears from this page to have been reviewed in the Sunday Times back in May and was then well regarded.

That's two for two this week, btw. Last night Herself, with assistance from Garrett in Baggot Street Wines, chose a fantastic Argentinian Malbec, one Don Tiburcio.

That's all for a while, we are off to sunny Amsterdam next weekend, to celebrate Herself's no particular birthday, at all. I don't think we'll be drinking much wine; probably lots of beer and "coffee". Evening all.

*That's a very old reference, Marcoos.

**They have a cracking selection of craft beers, I bought a couple of Avalanche ales from Fyne Ales.

Seizing the Higher Ground

Hola, amigos. I know its been a while since I blogged at ya but the old Xmas was pretty hairy - in a good way, I should add. Lots of peeps home from abroad and some fun entertaining in Casa di Willie, with plenty of moderately priced champagne.

Anyhoo, we finally finished all the vino we bought, or got as presents so I dutifully, and with no ulterior motive, made my way down to Carrickmines and my nearest O'Briens. I picked up a couple of old favourites, i.e. this Jumilla and wonder of wonders some Amancaya. I'm supposed to be reviewing the Corbieres we drank last night but I'm actually sipping this Argentinian delight as I type and it's just wonderful. A fruity marvel.

So the wine I'm supposed to review is the bottle at left a Chateau Les Auzines 'Hautes Terres' Corbieres 2009 €11-99 reduced from €13-99. I tend to buy wine with "Corbieres" on the label because I tend to like most wines with "Corbieres" on the label. This was no exception. O'Briens website describes it thusly "it is has wonderful purity of ripe blackberry fruit. It is elegant and finely balanced, a seriously well-made wine"

I don't disagree, this tasted like a more expensive beast with lots of depth, some restrained fruit and a cracking finish. Even without the discount I'd be tempted. Another winner from Laurent Miquel, this man has a gift for producing reasonably priced and very solid Southern French reds.

Some bargain Spanish wines

So I'm looking for some reds for Xmas and also for our New Years eve extravaganza, so I  popped into O'Briens in Carrickmines and grabbed a couple of reds on special offer.*

Luzon Jumilla 2011 €10-99 link
The blurb from the site says:
"Made from 70% Mourvèdre and 30% Syrah grapes, this richly textured red is brimming with rich, dark berry and ripe plum fruit. A silky smooth wine that is as good on its own as it is accompanying meaty dishes. Quality wise this has the depth of fruit and myriad of flavours of many wines twice its price." 

I wasn't sure about this at first but it has been growing on me for the last hour; nice fruit, nice acidity, nice balance. It's not a massive complex wine, just solid everyday drinking. Good value as priced.

Cruz De Pieda Seleccion Especial 2010 - €9-99 (reduced from €13-99) link
The blurb from the site says:
"This is a revelation, we have tried wines before from Calatayud that overdelivers to this extent. Superb depth of sweet ripe black fruit, luscious with sweet spices and a long finish of that super-ripe fruit"

Yummy. Herself says it's nicely rounded, and I agree. This is definitely a balanced wine, like the man says, there is plenty of ripe fruit but it's not cloying and there is a lovely long finish.

I also got some nice beers. The first two below are two of my all time faves, the third is something I have wanted to try for a while but have never come across...

Goose Island IPA - €2-59
Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted €2-73
Anchor Liberty Ale - €2-79

* OBriens shop in Carrickmines needs to improve their selection of Whisk(e)ys. The Beacon shop puts it to shame.

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.

Liveblog! - Bertani Villa Novare Ripasso & Boots

It's been literally yonks since I live-blogged a wine and Herself is out with her girly chums so I'm all set do some blogging and babysitting. The wine in question is from O'Briens, and it's a Bertani Villa Novare Ripasso 2009 - €12-99 reduced from €17-99.

19:00 - The wine has been open and in a decanter for about 30 mins as I take my first sip. Lots of structure, some bitter cherries and a decent slug of acidity. Overall its OK so far. I am hoping some fruit develops over the next couple of hours.

So having finished my "interval" drink - a bottle of Young's Special London Ale, a bottle conditioned treat weighing in at a not inconsiderable 6.4% abv. I'm also half way through the blu-ray of Chronicle, and its pretty frickin' good so far.

So it's 21:00, and we get back to the vino. It has definitely evolved; it's a bit more harmonious. There's now a little bit of fruit peeping out from under the edge of the duvet, and the wine is working together nicely as a whole

So its coming up on 23:00, time for a last (official) taste, I'm going to save some for Herself for when she gets home. And what do we find...Well, it seems we have hit the apotheosis of this particular expression. We now have some nice tannins, a little bitter cherry, some other brighter fruit and a long finish. I'm not sure I'd pay 18 notes for it but as priced its very tasty, provided you have the time to wait for it to evolve or you could hyperdecant it, I suppose.

This land is our land - Nostre Pais and other stories

All wines on special from O'Briens...

Michel Gassier Nostre Pais Costieres De Nimes 2010 (Pictured) - €12-99 (reduced from €17-99) Link
Love, love, love this. Complex and rich but not too heavy. Buy it at this price. 

Volpetto Chianti Riserva 2009 - €9-99 (reduced from €16-99) Link
Herself drank most of this, I only caught the end of it and it was pretty decent, some nice bitter cherries and plummy fruit.

Jaspi Negre Monsant 2009 - €11-99 (reduced from €14-99) Link
I had forgotten how much I like this. Complex and voluptuous. Again, great value at this price.

On a housekeeping note, I have to apologise for a lack of posts of late. I have recently rejoined the land of the waged, and have been exceptionally busy in my new role. I haven't had a lot of time/energy for blogging, but hopefully this will get better as time goes by.

Tesco Teroldego

So after another day of bad news and crushing disappointments I ended up in Tesco. Fittingly, some might say.

Anyhoo, I wanted buy some dinner for me and the boy (Tesco Finest Pork and Chorizo meatballs - fantastic) and some cheap beer (Karpackie 5% - €5 for 4 500ml cans; cheap, strong and drinkable when cold). I came across the wine at left for the price of €9-99. I'm not sure if that's a special offer or not, sorry.

Apparently "The Teroldego grape variety, little known outside Italy, is one of its indigenous treasures, and has been grown in the Trentino region since the 14th Century." I really couldn't say, but after trying some new grape varietals in the Superquinn Autumn sale here, I decided to extend Tesco the same courtesy.

BTW, Wikipedia says this about the grape, and I found a (good) review from the Telegraph here; apparently it should be lightly chilled. Who'd a thunk it?

I intend to liveblog it tomorrow when watching a movie with m'lovely wife, Herself. Come back then and see what's in store. The excitement is palpable, oh wait, that's not excitement, that's my...

Wednesday update - so I've been quaffing this wine for an hour now and I kinda like it. It's got nice acidity and a little bit of tasty fruit. I suspect it needs food to really shine but it's decent on its own, and reasonable value at a tenner.

A Lidl Troika

There has been a lot of chat, speculation and scuttlebutt recently about bailouts, bank debts etc, and how our German partners in Europe are viewing our aspiration to move our Bank debt off our books and onto the ESM's. With that in mind I decided to revisit our local branch of our favourite German discounter LIDL and see what they have on offer from France, Spain and Italy.

Lidl Chianti 2011 - €4-99
The label reminds of the famous Lidl Montepulciano which I have purchased for a variety of negligible amounts over the years and it was always decent. So I was not surprised that this Chianti was drinkable but that's literally all it was. If I wasn't poor and/or blogging it, I think it would have gone down the sink.

Lidl Vacqueyras 2010 - €9-49
As the most expensive of the three I  was expecting something good here.  In 2009 I had the 2007 and I really liked it. Reading that review I can't help but be disappointed with the 2010. While it was decent; rich and fruity, it didn't have any of the complexity of the 2007 and the finish was a bit - meh.

Cepa Lebrel Rioja Crianza 2008 - €6-99
I loved the Reserva of this and I had the Joven (drunk) one night and I think I liked that too, so I figured it was time to check out the middle sibling - the Crianza, and very pleasant it was too. It didn't have quite the depth of flavour or complexity of the Reserva but it is a very decent Rioja at this price. However as the Reserva is only 50c dearer (or it was when last I bought it), it's a no-brainer for me.

So there we are, 1.5 out of 3, it beats 6-1 I suppose.
I, for one, welcome our new Teutonic overlords...

A couple of wheezy old geezers...

I have, on occasion, bought old Spanish wines which crop up in Supermarkets (mostly Tesco and Dunnes), every so often, at alleged bargain prices (< €10). I am almost inevitably disappointed; see here, here and infacta here

So today in Dunnes I spotted two potential old offenders and thought I'd try them out horizontally, so to speak. I opened and decanted both at 6pm and we (me and Herself) tried them at approx. 8 bells.

Castillo de la Pena Campo de Borja Gran Reserva 2003 - €7
Rich and fruity with a little acidic sharpness and maybe a whiff of THC TCA. This one is a blend of Garnacha and Cab Sav. Tastes old and tired and on further tasting it's definitely a tiny bit corked and/or unpleasant, so down the sink with it.

Castillo del Rey Carinena Gran Reserva 2006 - €7
Lighter in the glass than the wine above and with its own unpleasant characteristics. Allegedly a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha and Cab Sav. Its a bit sharp and may improve so I'm going to rebottle this and give it a day, on the off-chance, although I'm not hopeful.

Update - While this improved after 24 hours, there was still an unpleasant aftertaste to it so it also ended up down the sink...

In conclusion there's a reason these wines are priced to clear - TANSTAAFL.

However as I am careful by nature, I anticipated this possibility so I also picked up a Gerard Bertrand Tautavel 2009 - on perennial sale for €8, thank FSM, so we'll have that tonight.

Superquinn Autumn French Wine Sale 2012 - Updated

So I finally got down to Superquinn Blackrock today - I had been invited to the media tasting but couldn't go for work reasons - ahh the irony. Anyhoo, after a quick perusal, I decided to ignore the many (tasty) wines I would normally snaffle at sale prices and instead look to the new and unusual.
See below for pictures and descriptions of the rogues gallery I came away with.

UPDATE - we had a few punters back our temporary D4 pad after the Leinster game and we managed to polish off  4 of the 6 bottles in question. Updates are below...

Domaine De La Condamine l'Eveque Mourvedre Cotes de Thongue 2011 - €7.00
Never had a single varietal Mourvedre before - should be interesting.
Update - this was really, really tasty. Rich, warm and full bodied and everyone loved it. A bargain as priced.

Corsican Nature Pinot Noir 2010 - €8,00
Don't know what to expect here - pure punt.
Update - I have to assume this was faulty cos it didn't taste like a Pinot and it wasn't nice at all. I manged to get the last drunken guests to drink it though* so what do I know...

Domaine De La Condamine l'Eveque Petit Verdot Cotes de Thongue 2011 - €7.00
I think I had a pure Petit Verdot once before, possible from California, probably bought in the Co-Op in Edinburgh and I think it was pretty good.
Update - I had it on good authority that this wasn't as nice as the Mourvedre and thus it proved. Not bad and no one complained but it didn't have the warmth and/or harmony of its cousin.

Complazens Marselan Pays D'Oc 2011 - €10.00
Another new grape. "a little known grape variety that is a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache from the South of France. "
Update - Couldn't decant this as it was drunk on opening after the Supernova was found to be faulty. Initially I wasn't sure about this but as the night wore off I started to quite like this. Some unusual flavours but all dovetailing in seamless harmony. Not sure I'd pay full price but worth a look for a tenner. 

Domaine Des Grandes Esperances Supernova 2009 - €13.00
Despite my incipient penuriousness, I plumped for this relatively expensive item.  I read a review, which I can't now find, which bigged this up.  Also, love the label.
Corked - Alas. Was looking forward to this most of all of the six, so disappointed. 

Domaine Des Grandes Esperances Gamay Malbec Caberbet Franc 2010 - €8.00
Now there's a combo, from the Loire.
Update - This very green and stalky and divided opinion. Everyone thought  it was unusual; some people were happy to drink it, others not. I dithered initially but ultimately I decided it wasn't for me.

* It was quite late I and didn't want to sacrifice/open a nice bottle at that stage of the evening, so I moved onto Goose Island IPA (fantastic). If I'd had any complaints about the Pinot I would have complied and opened something but it didn't come to that 8-)

Back to Lidl for me (and some interesting Spanish wines)

After the unfortunate events of last Friday* I was in need of some cheering up so Herself bought me a couple of bottles of red from Baggot Street wines, which they have been promoting.

They are three reds branded "Matsu" (Japanese for "Wait") which a quick Googling revealed as coming from Rodinia Wines. I got the youngest "El Picaro" (2011) and the middle wine "El Recio" (2010).

All the wines come from the Toro region and all are made from Tinta de Toro which some more Googling appears to be another name for Tempranillo, the staple grape of Rioja and Ribera.

I even found a video for the three wines here.

The difference expressions come from different vines and are matured differently. The Recio is is described thusly:

"El Recio translates as 'the tough guy', and is a more serious, mature wine, made from the product of some of Toro's oldest vines, which are cultivated using advanced biodynamic techniques. 14 months in new French oak provide opulence and polish"

After decanting the Recio (€25-99) for a couple of hours we dived in, into a big fruity vat of wine. My initial thoughts went as follows: this was a good Rioja crossed with a good Aussie Shiraz with a not unpleasant alcoholic wash (14.5% abv). If that sounds odd, it was wasn't. It was quite delicious, but this is definitely a modern, fruit-forward kind of wine, not for those who prefer more austere old-world wines.

The Picaro (€16-99) is as follows:

"Picaro means 'rogue' or 'rascal', and this rapscallion of a wine is a youthful interpretation of the Toro region's style. The grapes come from mature vines of over 50 years of age, but the wine spends only three months in oak, preserving their natural fruit profile"

Well, this was completely different to its elder relative. If tasted blind I would have said this was a good Southern French Syrah, maybe an expensive one from Laurent Miquel. Loved it, even though it tasted like no Tempranillo I ever tasted. Silky smooth, slightly tannic and very classy.

*The thread holding the sword snapped...