Minerale +++

A beautiful day again in Kingsbridge - just perfect for a chilled white on the beach!

Spaeking of beautiful days, I rounded off an afternoon's gardening on Sunday with a glass or two of Franzt Saumon's stunning Minerale +. This cracker from Montlouis, just nextdoor to Vouvray in the Loire valley is a great example of how well this area does Chenin Blanc. Rich and expressive but deliciously balanced and full of baked apple fruit.

My theme for this week is to work on a new idea - a Wine World Cup to run alongside the football one this year. Watch this space, it's going to be fun!

Impromptu tastings and Pimms for the weekend

Great little tasting yesterday evening at the shop - a bit impromtu but I think we might do something regularly on Fridays.
We tasted 5 wines from the Languedoc (well, the Provence rose is stretching the point a little but you know what I mean). Standouts were the Domaine Begude Limoux Chardonnay - very burgundian and totally classy for less than a tenner - Ollieux Romanis Corbieres (nice to see some restraint here, but no lack of seductive perfume and earthy minerality) and that lovely salmon pink rose.


Just to prove we've been listening, we've filled the Kingsbridge Pimms void just in time for a cracking BBQ weekend.

Sadie Family lauded as best in South Africa

Delighted to read this morning that a panel of top experts have chosen two of Eben Sadies as the best in South Africa: Collumela as best red and Palladius as joint best white. They're not exactly everyday wines, but Sequillo is a bit more accessible at £16 - and stunning too!
Read more on their triumph here: http://bit.ly/ag1ay9
On a contrasting note, we've had a nice extension to our spirit range delivered today - on or two more affordable bottles - Bells, Bombay Sapphire etc. Oh, and some cheeky cigarettes!

Chris

New wines galore

An exciting delivery of new wines arrived on my door this morning - here are some of the highlights:
Shaw and Smith Sauvignon Blanc - one of Adelaide Hills' finest.
Chateau Saint Baillon - delicious Provencal Rose - that gorgeous salmon pink colour!
Urbina Rioja Gran Reserva
Omrah Shiraz - from Plantagenet in WA
and the one I'm really excited about tasting.. Gianni Voerzio's Moscato d'Asti.

I also cracked open a bottle of Hecht and Bannier's organic Languedoc - a lovely perfume with real earthiness from the Carignan in the blend.

Right, I'm off home to drink fizzy sweet Italian stuff

Chris

Volcano ruins Red and White Tasting!

If I'd thought about all the things that would get in the way of our first in-store tasting, with James from Domaine Begude, a volcanic eruption in Iceland would have been some way down the list, just behind finding that all of our wines suddenly turning to water in the bottle. Grave news then that James has been caught up in today's flight cancellations so won't make it to the store next week for our Meet the Winemaker session.

The good news is that James will be coming back in early summer (barring any more natural disasters) so we'll do a proper tasting with him then.

In the meantime, we've got a consignment of his wines arriving next week, so bag yourself a sneak preview by popping into the shop for a bottle.

Chris

James Kinglake, Domaine Begude, Wine Tasting

James Kinglake from Domaine Begude is back in the homeland for a few days this month and will be visiting Red and White the Wine Store on Fore Street on Thursday 22nd April. He’d love it if you’d join us, any time between 5 and 7, for a quick chat and a taste of one or two of his delicious wines.

Begude are one of my very favourite wineries, owned by a couple from the South Hams who are living the dream in the south of France, making some of the best Limoux wines going – you may have tried their Chardonnay ‘Le Bel Ange’ which has been going down a storm in the shop.

See you there!

Chris


P.S. Drop me an email chris@red-white.co.uk to let me know if you can
come – I wouldn’t want to run out of wine!