New wine tasting - Abbesse Sauvignon Blanc

So I haven't had a lot of luck with French SB in the past. Some I have had have just been horrid! But this is very pleasant and perfect for the hot summer days we have been promised this week in the UK.

The Abbesse SB is crisp (is there an SB out there that isn't crisp?) medium bodied, and more citrussy than it's NZ cousins - more lemon and grapefruit than limey.Tasting notes say grass and gooseberry although I didn't get a huge amount of that (and was pleased I didn't). But still, a lovely blend and overall feels like a sophisticated drop from the Loire Valley.

Perfect to take round to someone's for a light Sunday lunch (which is exactly what I did).
I got it in my case of 12 mixed SB from around the world, so it was £7.99 per bottle (RRP £8.99).

If you are interested in finding out more about this wine, go to the Laithwaites website: http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/product/Abbesse-Sauvignon-Blanc-2014/29773

Spanish wines and tasty tapas

So we went round to a friend's on a lovely summer's evening and got ready to try some Spanish wines as part of our monthly wine club.

As it was so glorious, we got to sit in the setting sun, whilst our friends waited on us hand and foot! They were super hosts and provided a smorgasboard of tapas with every wine. They are keen cooks, so we ate:

• olives
• tomato bread
• croquettas
• patatas bravas
• meatballs
• spanish tortilla
• hams and cheese
• Tres Leche (Mexican dessert) for afters.

In terms of wine we were 'treated' to a sherry to start. Whilst our hosts are big fans, the rest of us found the Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla a bit like paint stripper. I have enjoyed sherry when drinking it in Spain in the past, but it was much richer than this. Not my thing at all!!!

We then moved through various reds and whites, pretty much all of them with predominantly Spanish grapes and most of them from the north west part of the country.

The whites we had were:

Torres Vina Esmerelda, 2014: This was a Muscatel/Gerwurztraminer blend. The nose was honey and apricot and the wine very fruity. It was strange in that it was a dry wine, light bodied, but a very strong fruity flavour that was almost sweet! It wasn't for me at all and was my least favourite of the evening (bar the sherry) RRP was £7.49.

Montenovo Godella 2014: This was a Godella grape. This was dry, crisp, light bodied and reminded me of a SB with light tropical taste and mineral undertones. RRP was £12.49.

Albarino Martin Codax 2013: This was an Albarino grape. It was dry and medium bodied. I got tropical smells of banana and other tropical fruits, although the notes focused on honey and peach!

The reds (which I preferred, but still wasn't really blown away by) were:

Matsu El Viejo 2011/12: This was a Tempranillo. It was full bodied with a nose of cigars, and a taste of cherry and blackberries. I didn't get the nose of lavendar and graphite nuances that the tasting notes suggested. RRP was £25.

Vox Populi Bobal 2011: This was a Bobal grape (Spain's 3rd most popular grape variety). Lots of blackcurrant and a medium bodied wine. This was my least favourite of the reds. RRP was £11.99.

Conde de San Cristobal 2011: This was a blend of Tempranillo, Merlot and Cab Sav. This was a medium bodied wine, with hints of tobacco and blackcurrant and silky texture. RRP was £18.

Mo Monastrell 2012: This was a blend of Monastrell, Cab Sav and Grenache and was my favourite of the evening. It was full bodied with a lovely cherry, blackberry blend, with a hint of balsamic. It was 4 out of 7 of us favourites of the evening, and we all thought it was more expensive than it actually was. I put it at £15, but it's RRP was £9.99 from Waitrose.

So a lovely evening. I wouldn't say I am in any rush to go out an buy any more Spanish wine. The Monastrell was a little revelation, but it was great to try some new stuff and expand my horizons!

First day of my wine course

So I got up on Saturday, bright eyed and bushy tailed, excited to be heading into town for my Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) level 1 course. The organisation is based on Bermondsey Street, just behind London Bridge station, and as it's an area I don't often frequent, it was fun to go past the Shard, down some back streets and find some cafes and pubs hidden away...

The Shard looming over me...

The classroom soon filled up with approximately 20 people from various countries, all with the one desire to learn more about wine. The most dedicated had to be a young couple from Singapore who had arrived at Heathrow at 6am that morning, and were sat down ready to learn at 10.30am!

The tutor was very amiable and explained everything really clearly and the slides and interactive whiteboard worked really well. Whilst some of the course was quite basic, it was good to find out there were a fair few things I didn't know.

Never having paid much attention to French wine, and with a trip to Languedoc only a couple of months away it was useful to find out a bit more like which grapes are grown in Burgundy (white = Chardonnay and red = Pinot Noir) and Bordeaux (often a Cab Sav/Merlot blend and called Claret by the Brits).

I also had no idea that there were thousands of different grapes used in wines, or that the Chinese have just planted over 1 million hectares of vines. A lot of the south of China is in the same latitude as Europe and the US, so theoretically it could be good...in about 20 years time...

After lunch we got to get down to the tasting. We tried a white, rose and red. We learnt about when wines had high acidity you would call them crisp, and you could tell high acidity by tipping your head slightly forward when you had finished your mouthful, and seeing if you salivated underneath your tongue! Charming!

If a wine had a lot of tannins (obviously only red) then you would tell that by your tongue going dry on top. Interesting stuff!

The White was an NZ SB from Marlborough (Wild South). It was  12.5% abv, dry, very crisp, light bodied with plenty of lime and apples, with a hint of grass. RRP was £11.49.

The Rose was an NZ Merlot from Hawkes Bay (Esk Valley). It was 13% abv, dry, crisp with low tannin, light bodied with a great nose of strawberries. The wine tasted less of strawberry than the nose would suggest, but plenty of red fruit in there, including red currants. RRP was £8.99.

The Red was an Australian Cab Sav from Mclaren Vale (Chapel Hill). It was 14.5% abv, dry, medium tannins, full bodied with blackcurrant, black cherry and hints of spices and vanilla from the oak barrel. RRP was £15.99.

All 3 were pleasant, and as I wasn't driving, I chose to drink them rather than throw them away...I also got to snaffle the rest of the bottle of the Cab Sav to take home, as it was only going to go to waste.

We learnt about how to store wine and how best to open and pour for our guests. We also learnt about social responsibility and when too much wine becomes a worry (gulp) ...

All in all a really interesting morning, and I wonder if a fair few people will go on to do the level 2 course, as there were a number of questions we were asking that went past the level 1 course.

So this week I must go over everything I learnt and get ready for my exam next week...!!! Gosh I haven't done an exam for some time...ARGH!!!

What's in the mystery case?!

So I saw my parents at the weekend and took delivery of a mystery case from Laithwaites. 

I've never had one before, so in the interests of broadening my horizons and trying wine I might not normally buy, I thought I would give it a whirl. It's supposed to save me around £34 for a case (when added to another order of 12), and it could have a bottle up to £1000 in it!

Alas as I was transporting it from the car I managed to break a bottle. Fortunately it was a bottle of £6.49 plonk rather than a £1000 bottle, or the £22 Barolo I actually had in my case. (Although having since looked at the reviews of the Barolo, perhaps it wouldn't be been such a loss if it has smashed). 

Of course it was red plonk that smashed so made a bloody mess everywhere. Serve me right for trying to carry 6 bottles in one strong bag!

There are wines from Spain, Italy, France, Australia and Argentina, and grapes including Pinot Grigio, Semillion Chardonnay, Chadonnay, Italian grape Nero di Troia and a couple of other blends.

I will taste each of them over the coming weeks and months, and let you know how they taste, and if I will be going for a mystery case again...

New wine tasting - Sunday Bay Sauvignon Blanc

So as it's Father's Day tomorrow here in the UK and I thought I would cook my dad chicken in a creamy white wine sauce. So what better wine to use than my dad's favourite wine - a NZ SB!!!

I have ready a few articles over the year saying don't use cheap wine in cooking, use a wine you enjoy. And the late great Julia Childs once said: "If you do not have a good wine to use, it is far better to omit it, for a poor one can spoil a simple dish and utterly debase a noble one" 

So I put in a glass of Sunday Bay Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of NZ. This meant of course I had the rest of the bottle to enjoy on a rare Saturday night in.

The nose was quite 'apple like' I thought, whilst I was getting real hits of tropical fruits in the tastes. Think pineapple and passion fruit with a dash of grapefruit at the end. It's light, but still quite a bold flavour. 

It's very drinkable, and a great wine for summer. It's a nice drop both by itself and in the sauce I made. It went very well with the tarragon in particular and would be lovely as a lunch time tipple.

I managed to finish the bottle, but if you don't finish a bottle and don't drink it the next day, put the wine in ice cube trays and in the freezer. White and red wine ice cubes are great to put into spag bol, risottos etc, when you need a drop of wine...

I got it in a case of 12, which meant it was £8.99 a bottle. Normally it's RRP is £11.99 I would re-order this wine.

If you are interested in finding out more, go to the Laithwaites Site:
http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/product/Sunday-Bay-Sauvignon-Blanc-2014/29720

New wine tasting - Brent Stone Sauvignon Blanc

So despite saying that I always go for SB, and usually NZ SB at that, I did get a mixed case from Laithwaites last week of SB from around the world. I just happened to put a New Zealand one in the fridge the other night, so that's why I'm tasting ANOTHER NZ SB.

This is a 2014 and from Hawkes Bay in the North Island, as opposed to the more famous SB region of NZ, Malborough at the Northern tip of the South Island.

The nose I thought was tangy and citrussy. I didn't get a lot of gooseberry in the taste (which I was thankful for as I am pretty bored of that!) and found it very minerally and crisp. Undertones of subtle lime and pineapple I got, but the dryness made it very pleasing for me to just have a glass whilst binge watching the new season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix.

I think it would go great with a salad, light chicken meal, or light fish meal - nothing too creamy as I think you would just lose the subtlety of the flavours.

I got it in a case of 12, which meant it was £8.99 a bottle. I would re-order this wine.

If you are interested in finding out more, go to the Laithwaites Site: http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/product/White-PRD-White-still-wine/Brent-Stone-Sauvignon-Blanc-2014/29719

What about fortified wine?

So I was lucky enough to get a Harrods voucher for my birthday (thanks sis!) I rarely shop there, mainly because Selfridges is so much more convenient for me when I want to shop at an iconic London department store! But as I was in that part of town anyway, I thought I would pop in and see how I could spend my booty.

I wanted to get something that I would remember, so I thought what about a nice drop of port? It shouldn't be gone in a night like a bottle of wine would (unless I have some particularly greedy friends over!) and I can enjoy it over a number of months...that's the plan anyway.

So here it is in all it's glory. A 10 year old Harrods tawny port for £24.95. Once I've cracked it open I'll let you know all about it...

My blog name...

I should have said that the inspiration for the blog was this super old song from the awesome Dean Martin...Enjoy!

Getting a certificate for the love of wine

So I've done it! I have signed up for a short course (2 Saturdays for 4 hours each week) for the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust (WSET) level 1 certificate. I fear that it may be too easy for me, but as Maria Von Trapp was so keen on singing: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..."

The Trust runs courses around the world, that can put you on the road to being a sommelier...

A career change for me in the future?!

Find out more about their courses here: Wine and spirit education trust

I'll post back when I have been on my first session in a few weeks...