Wines with Christmas Dinner

So I thought we would try some different wines with each of our courses for Christmas Dinner this year. 
With only my dad and I really that interested in wine, it meant thinking about what would go with our courses, alongside what we both enjoy.


I made a bold tasting starter of Port and Stilton pate, which was always going to be tough to match a wine with, so I went for a Sancerre (2014 from Davy's). I thought the high acidity of the wine would cut through the richness of the pate, and pleasingly it did.

We had a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and despite decanting a rather nice Chateau Neuf du Pape (2011 from Waitrose) an hour before dinner, we were a little disappointed with it. Whilst it was smooth and had much of the flavour you would expect, it was not full bodied enough for my taste, or indeed for the meal. It just didn't stand up to the food - and I don't even eat any of the pork products (pigs in blankets and stuffing balls).

We paused for a while before dessert and dad and I had a Pinot Noir I had bought him back from California in 2013. Neither of us are massive fans of Pinot Noir, but this was fab! The best I have tasted. It benefited from a couple of hours decanting and packed a real punch whilst be smooth and having lots of black fruit flavours with some delicious earthiness. Autry Cellars is a tiny winemaker, producing approximately 1000 cases a year, so if you are in the area (San Luis Opisbo), I would suggest you go take a look. It won't be like any other wine maker you have ever been to! 

Half way through our dessert  of trifle and a chocolate bomb (a few hours later), I suddenly remembered that we had a Sauternes in the chiller: L'or du Ciron Sauternes (2012 from Marks and Spencer). It was lovely. Apricot tones with a hint of orange and silky smooth, yet still high levels of acidity. Even mum enjoyed a few sips (although my sister pulled lots of faces showing her displeasure - philistine). I am pleased to say it didn't all get drunk, so I will be serving it with NYE dessert as well...

So overall I was pretty happy with the choices I mad, just the CNdP that wasn't the right choice. I will find a better one for next year!

WSET Level 2 results

So my results came through on 23 December. I picked them up from downstairs in my block of flats after a night out and scuttled up the stairs to open them in the comfort of my home.

I was really nervous as I opened up the envelope, and you could have knocked me down with a feather when I got the result.

I passed with distinction! I got 88%, which I was really surprised about. I was pretty sure I had 6 questions wrong so thought it was pretty likely that I had another couple wrong as well, but obviously not.

I was really chuffed with the result, texted all my wine loving friends and called my parents (who I insisted gave me a round of applause when I arrived at theirs on Christmas Eve!)

I will be looking to do my Level 3 WSET in 2016.

Level 2 exam - ARGH!!!

So I did my WSET Level 2 exam a couple of weeks ago now, and only now do I feel I can talk about it in an open forum...

No I am joking. It wasn't massively hard, but it was definitely much harder than the test papers I had been practising on for the past couple of weeks. I know I made some stupid errors on things I knew, but there were a couple of questions where I just hadn't retained the specifics characteristics on that grape from that climate. There were also some questions where I talked myself out of my original gut instinct - NB never do this!!!

I know I haven't got the highest mark but fingers crossed that I got a pass/half decent mark.

I would thoroughly recommend the WSET courses. They are informative and fun. Even with the basic wine knowledge I now have, I realise that is way more than most people, and feel I can make better choices when buying wine both in the store and in bars. If I fancy a bottle and they also serve it by the glass, I now always ask for a try, so I don't end up with something I am not very keen on.

I'll update the blog when I get my result and will start thinking about if I want to do Level 3. My feeling at the moment is yes, but if I have scraped a pass on Level 2, that might turn into a no...

A couple of wines bars worth a look

So I have been spending a bit of time in Davy's wine bars of late, when I haven't been revising for my WSET level 2 wine exam (tomorrow - ARGH!!!)

I have already written a post on The Boot and Flogger but recently went wine tasting at the enomatic machines at Davy's Wine House on High Holborn, approx 5 mins walk from the tube.

More expensive per taste than the Sampler, and less choice, it's still a great way to try different wines before you buy them, and it actually influenced some of the wines I ended up getting on my last Davy's order.Pop in and stay upstairs to try the 40 odd different wines. Downstairs is a large lovely bar, that gets very busy on a Friday night! I have eaten here once and the food was pretty darn good.

I also went to their Greenwich bar 'Davy's Wine Vaults' over the past week - 1 minute walk turning right out of Greenwich station. A large traditional higher end style pub, (with the shop a couple of doors down) with dining and plenty of booths to tuck yourself into on a wintry afternoon! We stayed for a lovely bottle of Shiraz, and the staff were happy to let us try a couple of French reds before plumping for the bottle from Oz. The only disappointment was that they didn't have any in the shop when we went to get some more to take home.

So the Boot and Flogger is still my favourite Davy's to date, but you can guarantee a warm welcome and knowledgeable staff at Davy's wine bars.

I might see if I can try and get to all of them. I do have a loyalty card after all...

New Wine Tasting - Kaiken Malbec Reserve 2013

Friday night at the British Museum meant a 3 course meal and a bottle of Argentinian Malbec (a particular favourite of my dinner date and I am rather partial to it myself!)

Obviously being in a restaurant it wasn't particularly cheap, but the RRP is around £6.99.

For this price I would say it's a real bargain. With a touch of Black Forest Gateaux about it, chocolate, vanilla and plum came together with some black fruits and high tannins. ABV was 14% and of course it came from Mendoza.

I really enjoyed it, and don't eat red meat, but imagine it would be sumptuous with steak/a stew.

Have a look here for more details of the winery: http://www.kaikenwines.com/ingles/reserva.html

Cheeky Dessert Wines in Winchester

Away for the weekend with a friend of mine, we decided to stay in our hotel on the Friday night and eat and drink there.

We enjoyed our meal, but the most interesting part of it for me was the flight of dessert wines after the meal for a very reasonable £5 for three.

We were too full for dessert so ended up having them with cheese and crackers, but they were all a very pleasant way to end the evening, sweet with high acidity and lots of flavour. Also they were very generous pours for a flight!

From left to right:

• Late Harvest Sauvignon (La Playa) Chile
• Red Muscadel (Rietvallei) South Africa
• Orange Muscat and Flora (Brown Brothers) Australia

3 minute wine school

Whilst doing some Level 2 revision today, I came across the 3 minute wine videos from WSET.

Covering some of the major wine growing regions and countries of the world, they are 21 interesting bite size tutorials (all around 3 minutes) on some of the best wines, which wines go with which foods, and they may help change your mind on some potential prejudices you may have had (e.g. against German wines or Chardonnay...)

Have a look - it's 60 minutes of your life which will be well spent:

http://www.wsetglobal.com/3_minute_wine_school/default.asp