That's right, this week's mini tasting is your chance to wine a bottle of delicious wine!
We'll be tasting one wine blind, and the first person to correctly guess what it is will wine a bottle.
It's as simple as that. All you have to do is join us from 4pm on Friday or any time on Saturday, taste the wine, make your guess and hope you're right.
I wonder who will win...
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday Tasting Preview #5: Guggable Cab Sauv
Sadly for you, I'm not foolish enough to preview the competition wine, so here are my notes on one of the wines I've just brought in to refresh the 'everyday favourites' section of the shop.
Kintu, Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 £6
Although Red & White have sold this wine for some time, for some reason it's only just found its way onto the shelves of The Wine Store. Cabernet Sauvignon is the red grape that Chile initially built its reputation on.
In the reliable climate of the valleys between the Andes and Coastal mountain ranges, Cabernet Sauvignon ripens much more readily than it does in, say, Bordeaux, and gives fruit driven wines of eminent gluggability!
A vibrant ruby red, with red cherry on the nose and a palate full of forest fruits, the tannins here are soft and supple and the wine's retined a real freshness. Lovely, lifted red berry fruits on the finish round off a wine that may not the most complex or serious but is emminently drinkable, especially at (an increasingly rare) 12% ABV!
Tecchie Stuff: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in stainless steel with no oak.
Kintu, Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 £6Although Red & White have sold this wine for some time, for some reason it's only just found its way onto the shelves of The Wine Store. Cabernet Sauvignon is the red grape that Chile initially built its reputation on.
In the reliable climate of the valleys between the Andes and Coastal mountain ranges, Cabernet Sauvignon ripens much more readily than it does in, say, Bordeaux, and gives fruit driven wines of eminent gluggability!
A vibrant ruby red, with red cherry on the nose and a palate full of forest fruits, the tannins here are soft and supple and the wine's retined a real freshness. Lovely, lifted red berry fruits on the finish round off a wine that may not the most complex or serious but is emminently drinkable, especially at (an increasingly rare) 12% ABV!
Tecchie Stuff: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in stainless steel with no oak.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Friday Tasting Preview #4: Pretty Sancerre Rose from Andre Neveu
It may be just a little predictable, but I can never resist a drop of something pink at Valentine's day. Surely this is the one day of the year when a little bit of kitsch is allowed? I'm a dedicated dry rosé man though - noneof your "white" zindfandel here please - so this wine from the Loire valley should be right up my street.
Don't believe my tasting note? Join me at tonight's free Mini-Tasting from 5pm to taste it for yourself.
Andre Neveu, Sancerre Rosé, 'Le Grand Fricambault' 2009 £16
Most people imagine Sancerre to be an exclusively white wine producing area, but the reds and rosés from these vineyards can be equally successful. Indeed, the area was a flourishing Pinot Noir district in the 19th century and this is the grape that is now uses to make both styles of wine.
This single vineyard wine, made by the fifth generation of winemakers at family-owned Andre Neveu, is made using the 'saignée' method, which involves bleeding some wine from red wine fermentation vats after only a few hours contact with the skins and is the method used for nearly all rosé (with the exception of some champagnes).
This wine is all about texture and persistence. A charming salmon pink colour, it has a subtle nose with roses, strawberries and redcurrants on the palate but it's the mouthfeel that's really impressive. Bone dry, it manages to combine taut acidity with a rounded, full mid-palate and finishes with a burst of redcurrant fruits which seem to stay in the mouth forever afterwards.
Tecchie Stuff: 100% Pinot Noir from the Grand Fricambault, made using saignée method and rested in stainless steel tanks.
Don't believe my tasting note? Join me at tonight's free Mini-Tasting from 5pm to taste it for yourself.
Most people imagine Sancerre to be an exclusively white wine producing area, but the reds and rosés from these vineyards can be equally successful. Indeed, the area was a flourishing Pinot Noir district in the 19th century and this is the grape that is now uses to make both styles of wine.
This single vineyard wine, made by the fifth generation of winemakers at family-owned Andre Neveu, is made using the 'saignée' method, which involves bleeding some wine from red wine fermentation vats after only a few hours contact with the skins and is the method used for nearly all rosé (with the exception of some champagnes).
This wine is all about texture and persistence. A charming salmon pink colour, it has a subtle nose with roses, strawberries and redcurrants on the palate but it's the mouthfeel that's really impressive. Bone dry, it manages to combine taut acidity with a rounded, full mid-palate and finishes with a burst of redcurrant fruits which seem to stay in the mouth forever afterwards.
Tecchie Stuff: 100% Pinot Noir from the Grand Fricambault, made using saignée method and rested in stainless steel tanks.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Friday Tasting Preview #3: Great Greeks
My rather belated New Year's Resolution is to drink more interesting wines, so here I am tasting what most be one of the more unusual whites in the shop. Greek wine can get a bad press with the general public but this is a unique and exciting wine land with both brilliant wines and fantastic potential thhrough the application of modern winemaking techniques to ancient indigenous grape varieties.
Gentilini, Robola of Cephalonia 2009 £12.50
The white grape Robola is native to the Ionian island of Cephalonia where it is grown on vines trained low to the ground on mountain slopes. The british governor of the island Charles Napier (1782 -1853) described it as like drinking "a wine made from stone" - let's hope that this wine, made by one of two small but forward thinking family wineries on the island has a bit of fruit too!
Pale yellow in colour, this turns out to have a gently lemony nose with notes of grapefruit and just a hint of almonds. It's a realy refresher this - lots of acidity with a relatively neutral mid-palate which if anything expresses the stoniness Napier talked of. The finish has real crunch though and good carry with fennel, aniseed and more nuttiness. This may not be bursting with aromatics but I can just imagine polishing off a bottle with a freshly caught fish in some picturesque greek harbour, so bring on that Devon summer sunshine and away we'll go!
Tecchie stuff: 100% Robola from high altitude vineyards on Cephalonia. Cold fermented at 14 degrees celcius and kept well away from oak.
Gentilini, Robola of Cephalonia 2009 £12.50 The white grape Robola is native to the Ionian island of Cephalonia where it is grown on vines trained low to the ground on mountain slopes. The british governor of the island Charles Napier (1782 -1853) described it as like drinking "a wine made from stone" - let's hope that this wine, made by one of two small but forward thinking family wineries on the island has a bit of fruit too!
Pale yellow in colour, this turns out to have a gently lemony nose with notes of grapefruit and just a hint of almonds. It's a realy refresher this - lots of acidity with a relatively neutral mid-palate which if anything expresses the stoniness Napier talked of. The finish has real crunch though and good carry with fennel, aniseed and more nuttiness. This may not be bursting with aromatics but I can just imagine polishing off a bottle with a freshly caught fish in some picturesque greek harbour, so bring on that Devon summer sunshine and away we'll go!
Tecchie stuff: 100% Robola from high altitude vineyards on Cephalonia. Cold fermented at 14 degrees celcius and kept well away from oak.
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