Nathalie - Reuilly

One mission of the cash conscious wine lover is to find wines that that deliver value for money.  One neat little trick that we have up our sleeve is to look for regions that border other well known (and well pricey) regions.  Tonight we have picked up a Reuilly, from the Loire, not a million miles away from the more well known AC of Sancerre.  Other ACs worth looking at from this little cluster include Quincy and Mentou-Salon (See Image)







Name                Nathalie
Vintage             2010
Country             France
Region              AC Reuilly
Grape               Sauvignon Blanc
Maker               Claude and Nathalie Lafond
% Alc                12.5%
Price                 £8.99
Source              Majestic

This is not your big ballsy NZ Sauvignon.  Loire whites tend to be a little more delicate and understated. This wine delivers pretty much as expected, typical Sauvignon notes of cut grass, gooseberry and maybe even some wild herbs and a bit of flint in this one. The girl can smell her best Verbena shower gel too.

This isn't anything amazing, but it is a fair price for a good wine and of a summer food friendly and elegant style of SB that is difficult to find anywhere else but the Loire; a region that keeps us going back for more.   Thanks Majestic, and cheers.

Pensionable Burgundy

Every time you get the Garratts to delve, to satisfy your desire for wines with age no one else seems to be able to supply, you take put your wine adventure into their hands.  Phil will curl his lip and suggest that it may be past it, we will usually partake, knowing his leanings towards caution, but sometimes our adventure is met with a bad un'. He who dares wins (in the majority of cases).

Name                Mercurey Clos Rochette
Vintage             1997
Country             France
Region              Burgundy
Grape               Chardonnay
Maker               Faiveley
% Alc                13%
Price                  ???
Source              Winos






Most of the time, it's a resounding victory, giving access aged wines at great prices. Tonight, a different proposition. When poured into the decanter, the signs weren't good. The cork was soggy, and the liquor in the bottle shared a hue with donkey urine. 

The Mercury it held, was past it to say the least. The perfume was woody and appley, and suggested sherry; a drink welcome in the household, but not characteristics we'd expect in a burgundy. 


Chardonnay fruit was no where to be seen, and there was masses of wax and  honey. A great wine adventure experience, no doubt. But a bottle that was at least half drunk by the drain, and not us. 


Not a good bottle of wine, but for me it is just as interesting, tasting a wine that has gone past it is a mostly rare thing these days in a world of supermarket wine shopping, where moat of the wine sold is too young.  It lets me understand the spectrum of age in wine, when a wine is too young, when it is just about there, and in this case when too old.

Hungarian beer showdown (pt II)

Hugarian beer part two.

Arany Aszock 4.5%   -  219 huf/ 70p
Very much like wife beater (stella artois) on the nose, and quite like that in the mouth, but heaps more drinkable, not being as fizzy, and having more malt flavour.

Dreher  5.2%  -  179 huf/60p
More hoppy than Arany Aszock on the nose, but really quite flat and dull in the mouth.

Steffl 4.5%  -  215 huf / 70p
A bit of eggy, stella on the nose. not good. Tastes a bit like stella, and a bit eggy. Not a world beater. 

Kobanyai 4.5% - 185 huf / 60p
Smells a bit like carling. tastes a bit like carling.

So, what have we learnt? Well, our lovely tour guide Anna told us today that if in Hungary, you want beer, you go to the Czech rep, or germany, or any other nearby place. Seems they acknolwledge that they don't do it as well as their neighbours.

The wine? We had an ok bottle of dry tokaji in the hotel, and 2 spectacularly bad ones from tescos (admittedly paying no more than around £3 each for them). A red pinot noir, with more residual sugar than you could shake a stick at. The girl couln't even grit her teeth long enough to finish the glass. Secondly a white, that just tasted like shit. Not good in any way either . The winner so far in the wine dept is a bottle of fizz; hungaria extra brut, that could just about stand toe to toe with a uk supermarket's especially bad cava. More work and research required here, clearly.

Happy new year everyone. Cleggton and the YL.

Hungarian beer showdown

We are in Budapest, a quick trip to Tescos provided these treats.   To save you tears in the hotel room, tonight I will be reviewing 4 sub £1 cans of beers. 

Ottakringer spezial - 219 huf / 70p 4.9%   500ml

The Dewsbury lass is a legend when it comes to tasting beers, she thinks this smells like like Kronenberg, the red can (french stuff).  It is a little hoppy on the nose, yet a little sweet, it smells like a brewery.  It carries the sweetness and hoppiness through on the palate, not too fizzy, an eating beer. 

The verdict:  Bad yellow tin/ Good beer

Kozel svelty - 149 huf / 50p  4.0%    500ml

Smells like farts and washing up liquid, completely tasteless with the exception of a little hoppy length.  Think Hungarian Bier des Flandres, maybe purchased from the John F. in Dewsbury.

Verdict:  Good can, nice goat, but nothing to like, nothing to dislike.  Maybe a bit stale tasting?

Schlossmuhle  -  108 huf / 30p   3.0%    500ml

This can of beer cost less than the same volume of Tescos own brand beans.  Result.
It smells of nowt, and tastes of very little.  Breakfast beer if ever there was one.  Not a bad thing, very refreshing.  You can taste the bubbles more than the beer.  A lot like fosters ice, but there I am showing my age.

Verdict:  Not really tasting of beer but pretty refreshing

Borsodi  -  169 huf / 55p   4.6%    500ml

Popular on draft in the Hungarian pubs.  Smells a little sherberty.  Sadly, an overly foamy head, sweet on the palate, a hint of maltyness, no real hoppy length, making it less refreshing.  This is getting towards the budvar space.

Verdict:  Should do better really, on the surface it seems more well bred.  In reality a little uninspiring

Overall winner here? The yorkshire lass likes the Ottakringer, as it reminds her of home. As for me, the Schlossmuhle really has a place in the world. So there you have it, Hungarian beer tasting, done. Will report on the wines if we get round to it.

A Happy accident, Saint Claire Pinot Noir

Sometimes in a mad rush of blood to the head I will go round one of my favourite wine retailers, find something exciting, maybe I had read a recent good review of a maker or a certain wine, and spend a lot more than I usually would on wine.  These bottles usually kick around the wine rack until I can find a "special occasion" to drink them on, by which point I have usually forgotten why I bought them in the first place.

Last night I was fishing for something different to drink out of the rack. I picked out the below, I remembered it was a little more than I would usually spend, but didn't recall it was quite this much more than I would usually spend, especially for weekday drinking.  Never mind, it was lovely and a treat on a week night.

Name                Saint Clair Pioneer Block Pinot Noir
Vintage              2009
Country              New Zealand
Region               Marlborough
Grape                Pinot Noir
Maker                Matt Thomson, Saint Clair
% Alc                13.5%
Price                  £17.50
Source               Majestic


This Pinot is absolutely lovely, really fruity, cherries and redcurrants,, with good herbal (but not farmyardy, like the french) maybe bramble leaves hints.  I am not going to go into detail, as to be honest I wasn't fully paying attention.

But I did love drinking this wine, it was so moreish, we could have drunk another bottle or two, which is saying something, usually one bottle of any wine is enough, and I am ready for something different.  This wine lingered tantalisingly after the, sadly, last mouthful seemingly to tease me that there was no more left.

Beautiful wine, will go on my "wine for special occasions list".  Writing about it has made me thirsty for more.

The Squids fist

Julian at Winos dug this one out for us at the shop, I didn't know what to expect, not having drunk much Sangiovese in my time.

Name                The squids fist
Vintage              2009
Country              Australia
Region               South Australia
Grape                Sangiovese 70% Shiraz 30%
Maker                Some Young Punks
% Alc                14%
Price                  £??
Source               Winos


Just a quick note to remind me how good this was.   The wine was rich, almost sweet, almost port like.  This also had a really complex herbal note (presumably brought by the shiraz), almost Rhoney, but a sub-note.  Very interesting.  I will need to add more sangiovese to my shopping list. 

The Laughing Magpie

We've been ill for a week.  Normal service has now resumed, what better to blow away the cobwebs than a nice, old Aussie.

Name                The Laughing Magpie
Vintage              2002
Country              Australia
Region               Mclaren Vale
Grape                Shiraz Viognier
Maker                D'Arenberg
% Alc                 14.5%
Price                  £?About 15?
Source               Winos

This old boy, threw a whole load of crud at the bottom of the bottle, usually a good sign of a light touch in the winery.  The wine is still quite purple for it's age, whilst showing a little of the bricky red of age.

MMMMMM.  This is lovely.  This wine is so rich, brambly and autumnal fruit compote.  With some eucalyptus, licorice and leathery bite,  It has mouth filling fruit and spice with a real length (with a bit of a boozy tail).

A really profound experience, no chance of this one passing you by; it's intense, delicious, and we reckon around about £15 so well spent. Makes the £10 - 12 that you pay for a box-fresh d'Arenberg so convincing, that we really ought to commit some real time and currency to this maker.