The Whites

Following part 1 of our Xmas 2009 Wine list (The Reds) we now move on to The Whites, The Fizz and The Stickies.

Amayna Sauvignon Blanc Barrel Fermented 2006

Amayna Sauvignon Blanc Barrel Fermented 2006

A surprise, the most expensive Sauvignon Blanc I bought wasn’t from New Zealand, it’s Chilean. This wine is a Barrel Fermented SB which means it will be slightly more complex than a young SB. I imagine this is like a Cloudy Bay Te Koko. Notes on this “92 point” wine can be found here. Price: <£20 from Hailsham Cellars.

Highfield Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Highfield Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Well, it just had to be here didn’t it? We skipped the 2008 SB (long story) and are waiting for the 2009 to come into stock. This is our all time favourite SB and in our eyes it beats Cloudy Bay when young. We don’t need an excuse to drink this wine, it’s excellent and I urge you to try it if you like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Tasting notes here. Price: ~£12 from Barrels & Bottles.

Yalumba The Virgilius Eden Valley Viognier 2006

Yalumba The Virgilius Eden Valley Viognier 2006

Viognier is a complex wine when done well and apparently the 2006 harvest was excellent. This is a real unknown for me and I’m pretty excited to try it. This wine should be at it’s best around now, I’m just not sure what to serve it with. It’ll be complex and not weedy so it can take some fairly hefty food with it but I don’t want to overpower it. Maybe this may be a good white accompaniment to our New Years Eve 7 Hour Slow Roasted Shoulder of Pork (bone in)? Notes on the wine here with tasting notes here. Price: <£20 from Hailsham Cellars.

Trimbach Gewürztraminer 2004

Trimbach Gewürztraminer 2004

I love a good Gewürztraminer! It was one of the first wines I really got into. A good Gewürztraminer will have that lovely lychee, fruity taste which starts sweet and ends dry(-ish). Perfect aperitif wine or served with Asian foods. Not sure when we’ll have this but we definitely will be opening it over the festive break, nice and chilled. I’m actually excited whilst I write this down… Some wine notes here. Price: <£12 at Hailsham Cellars.

Massaya Silver Selection White 2005

Massaya Silver Selection White 2005

When you mention Lebanon and Wine I think Château Musar. Their red has been one of my all time favourite wines for ages. We opened some 1991 recently for ITs Food Jnr’s 18th and even with my poor quality cellaring (i.e. a cupboard in a leaky conservatory) it tasted great. But, we’re in “The Whites” section aren’t we? Well we have tasted a Château Musar White before and declared it “…a white Red wine” it was so heavy. But I digress, this isn’t about them, this is about the Massaya Silver Selection White 2005. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, there aren’t many details about this white so this is a pure “trust my brother” wine (which, of course, I do!). Price ~£12 at Hailsham Cellars.

The Fizz

Moët et Chandon Nectar Imperial

Moët et Chandon Nectar Imperial

Over the past few years I have given up on Champagne and moved onto Prosecco. I find Prosecco easier to drink (smaller bubbles!) and when done well can beat many a Champagne hands down. It’s also cheaper with a good bottle costing less than £10. But, I’ve got to admit, I like Moët et Chandon Nectar Imperial. It’s fruitier and slightly (only just) sweeter than most dry Champagne which I find makes it far more enjoyable to drink. This will be our tipple as we open our presents on Christmas day. The Moët website is one of those terrible Flash sites where you can’t link to a specific page but it’s fairly easy to find a nice video of tasting notes for the Nectar Imperial from their Chef De Cave. Price <£30 at Sainsbury’s.

p.s. In case anyone needs to know the only other Champagne I like is Laurent Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut!

Cloudy Bay Pelorus Vintage 2005

Cloudy Bay Pelorus Vintage 2005

A New Zealand champagne? The other exception to the “I only like Prosecco for fizz” rule. Cloudy Bay Pelorus is a really nice example of a “sparkling wine” from the New World. This will be our “Happy New Year!” fizz; the time you want something quite bubbly and tasty to awaken those taste buds as you welcome in the New Year. Notes on the wine can be found here with tasting notes here. Price: <£17 at Majestic.

The Stickies

De Bortoli Show Reserve Muscat

De Bortoli Show Reserve Muscat

We first discovered this “fortified wine” about 3-4 years ago at the BBC Good Food Live Show. De Bortoli had a stand there and Mrs ITs Food (who is a BIG fan of Stickies – sweeter “dessert” wines) thought she’d give this a go. “Liquid Christmas in a glass!” is how she declared it. It really is unique, a delicious after dinner drink and especially good for those who don’t like Port. Tasting notes are here. Price: <£10 at Majestic.

In fact there is another wine to put here but as it’s a surprise for Mrs ITs Food a blog post about it would give the game away somewhat!

And for afters…

All that remains is for us to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and festive season. We may blog a little over the break, especially if any of the food and drink is very good (or very bad)! If we don’t though, have a great time and we’ll see you in 2010.

Torbreck The Struie 2006

I decided to splash out this year and spend a little extra on our Xmas wines. I spoke to my brother who knows far more about wines than me and asked him to suggest a decent red wine to have with the Xmas Turkey. I was looking for more than the Supermarket “premium” wine which usually costs £10-£15.

One suggestion soon turned into a few more and before I knew it I had an 18 bottle order with Hailsham Cellars. Adding this massive order to some wines I already had plus some extras from Majestic and Sainsbury’s means that this year we have an excellent selection for the festive season.

Some of the highlights this year are as follows…

Torbreck The Struie 2006

This is the main wine chosen for our Xmas lunch. This 100% Shiraz will help cut through any “fatty-ness”. At 14.5% it’s a heavy duty red which you really need with the calorie-fest that is Xmas lunch. Tasting notes can be found here. Price: ~£24 (Hailsham Cellars)

Ridge Geyserville 2005

Ridge Geyserville 2005

You will probably know I’m currently a HUGE fan of Zinfandel. I was unable to source any Turleys Old Vine Zinfandel so the classic Ridge Vineyards were chosen for their excellent Geyserville. It’s a blend of 77% Zinfandel, 17% Carignane and 6% Petite Sirah, some simple tasting notes available here. Prince: ~£24 (Hailsham Cellars)

D’Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2006

D'Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2006

Another BIG Shiraz, this time from D’Arenberg. I had some of their Laughing Magpie a while back and was not too impressed so this wine was only bought after being described as “fantastic” by my brother. We will see! Tasting notes are here. Price ~£24 (Hailsham Cellars)

Bodega Catena Zapata Catena Alta Malbec 2005

Bodega Catena Zapata Catena Alta Malbec 2005

It says a lot for Argentinian wines when the most expensive wine I bought was an Argentinian 100% Malbec. A lot of you may have picked up a cheap Argentinian Malbec in the past but may have not seen many/any premium brands. This again is a BIG red so I think this will possibly be our New Year wine to be served with a 7 Hour Slow Roasted Shoulder Of Pork (bone in). Simple notes on the wine available here. Price ~£27 (Hailsham Cellars)

Grant Burge The Holy Trinity Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre 2003

Grant Burge The Holy Trinity Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2003

Moving into slightly cheaper waters now (or should that be wines?). I liked the sound of this blend of 39% Grenache, 36% Shiraz and 25% Mourvedre. It’s suggested that this is matched with strong game so I may have this with some nice venison or duck, I’m looking forward to trying this. Tasting notes are here. Price <£15 (Hailsham Cellars)

Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2007

Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2007

It was at this point that I realised my brother liked his Shiraz! I love that the notes for this wine mention Macclesfield! I doubt it’s the one I’m thinking of. Probably a “back-up” wine but I’m interested to try this some time over the festive season. Price <£15 (Hailsham Cellars)

De Bortoli Yarra Valley Shiraz Viognier 2006

De Bortoli Yarra Valley Shiraz Viognier 2006

Yes, ANOTHER Shiraz for the person who prefers his Merlot’s and Zinfandels…! This time it’s mixed with Viognier which should add some subtleness to the wine. Perfect with lamb I reckon. Wine info here. Price <£15 (Hailsham Cellars)

Coming next…

The Whites, The Fizz and The Stickies…

We’re recovering from a very busy month work wise (thus the low post count and the missing next part of our Fat Duck review). To get things going again here’s a new wine review!

I saw this wine on offer at Sainsbury’s at the weekend. Reduced from £9.99 per bottle to £4.99 per bottle with an extra 5% off if you buy 6 or more. Whilst I laugh at the £9.99 price (this is probably a £6-7 wine), £4.74 per bottle is an absolute bargain.

Most of you know I love McGuigan wines and have been looking for a replacement for their great Gold Label Shiraz for a while. I cooked some lovely local pork sausages and served them with roast beetroot, new potatoes and lightly cooked runner beans and pointed cabbage in butter.

This is a good Merlot. It has the smooth plummy-ness and mellow, warm finish. I wrote:

Nice, mellow, smooth. Not quite top notch, lacking some complexity. Good though.

It doesn’t quite rate as a 5 star wine. It’s an average wine at £9.99 and would warrant 3 stars but the current pricing at Sainsbury’s puts this solidly in the 4 star region.

McGuigan Bin 578 Merlot

Grape: Merlot
Alcohol: 13.5%
Guide Price: On offer £4.99 (£4.74 for 6+) at Sainsbury’s.
I bought this wine at: Sainsbury’s (instore)
ITs Food Rating: Four stars

A “quicky” wine review for you all today. I got a couple of bottles of McManis Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 in a mixed wine half case from Tesco.com.

McManis Family Vineyards are based in California and this wine seems to be another “Tesco exclusive”. As usual I expected a simple gluggable red with maybe a bit of extra “harshness” as it’s one of my least favourite red grapes, the mighty Cabernet Sauvignon.

As our article about wine bottle design is getting quote a few hits it’s worth noting I quite like the label design. There are maybe a few too many fonts in use but there’s a nice use of colour and the back label is very neat including one of those removable “buy me next time” tabs.

So, what was this wine like? Well. it was okay. Just okay. Not really drinkable on it’s own (like most CabSavs) and fairly decent with food. It wasn’t too harsh and overpowering although I felt rotten the day after drinking it (although that wasn’t wine related… hopefully!). To use an Internet-ism, it was just a bit “meh!”. It didn’t knock my socks off but it was a decent enough wine, 3 stars.

McManis Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 13.5%
Guide Price: ~£4-£7
I bought this wine at: Tesco (online)
ITs Food Rating: Three Stars

The other weekend we did a blind tasting of 2006 Sauvignon Blanc’s from Highfield & Cloudy Bay. These are two of my favourite wines (Highfield being the better of the two) and both scored 5 stars.

Both wines were lightly chilled and served before and during a meal. Over time a Sauvignon Blanc will “mature” and lose some of it’s “zingy-ness”. The fruity side of things will still be there but there will have been a mellowing of the flavours and the wine usually tastes a little less dry.

Above you can see Highfield on the left and Cloudy Bay on the right. The Cloudy Bay was a darker colour than the Highfield but only slightly.

Highfield Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – The wine still retained a lot of the zingy-ness you’d associate with a quite young wine. There was very little mellowing of the flavours and the wine could have passed for a much younger wine. This was our favourite “before meal” wine.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – The Cloudy Bay had mellowed much more than the Highfield, there was a more complex flavour and the wine tasted very different to a “young” Sauvignon Blanc. This was our preferred wine to have with the meal.

In conclusion, both wines had aged well and tasted great. The Highfield still tasted very young and made a perfect aperitif wine whereas the Cloudy Bay had mellowed over time and went very well with food. Surprisingly in this case I think the Cloudy Bay was the better wine *you all know my love of Highfield). So, Highfield wins when it’s younger, Cloudy Bay wins when it’s older.

Coming soon, Cloudy Bay & Highfield 2007 Taste Test…