Wine

[worm]

No. You were trying to tell me that Australia made decent wines by saying you'd drunk wine Tizer and it was refreshing.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Tonight Matthew, I shall be drinking a 1996 Rioja Gran Reserva and eating homemade spicy Pizza (cheeseless of course!).

[The Nal]

I have a bottle of Rioja Reserva Contino 2004, but I am totally off the drink.

If anyone wants it I can pass it on at a festival, as my mates in Manc don't drink, and I will be buggered if my son is getting it

[Atlanteanlost]

For Port and Stilton lovers:

[greenfairy43]

So's Tizer*.

* has anyone else noticed that Tizer is all natural ingredients now? It tastes nothing like Tizer. It should taste of e numbers and make your fecking eyes glow.

[The Nal]

Two wines Im guzzling down these days

Glen Carlou from South Africa (The "Classique" is delish)

http://www.glencarlou.co.za/

Norton Malbec from Argie

http://www.norton.com.ar/

Both pricey, but worth it.

[worm]

Two wines Im guzzling down these days

Glen Carlou from South Africa (The "Classique" is delish)

http://www.glencarlou.co.za/

Norton Malbec from Argie

http://www.norton.com.ar/

Both pricey, but worth it.

[The Nal]

May give the Malbec a whirl. Had two bottles of it last night (not that brand though).

[-pogo-]

[Wooderson]

Michel Schlumberger from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County CA. Best Cab ive EVER tasted. Winemakers are also totally cool. Complete hippies. The tour they took us on was as enriching a wine experience ive ever had.

Yum Yum Yum

[Steve P]

I'm taking the good lady to a posh restaurant near us for her birthday. You know it's a posh place when they've got a 45 page wine list

LINK

[Huevos y Bacon]

I'm taking the good lady to a posh restaurant near us for her birthday. You know it's a posh place when they've got a 45 page wine list

LINK

[The Nal]

Aldi are selling a VERY nice Barolo at the moment for £8.99. Really, really good.

I love how its 8.99 in the UK but its 15 euros here. (Conversion should be 9.95 euro)

[worm]

Aldi are selling a VERY nice Barolo at the moment for £8.99. Really, really good.

I love how its 8.99 in the UK but its 15 euros here. (Conversion should be 9.95 euro)

[worm]

Its time to get some wine in for christmas, so I'm on the lookout for some nice buys.

I've been drinking some Bourgogne Pinot Noir recently, but got a bit bored of it - they all seemed to be getting a bit, meh! I'm gonna stick the New Zealand stuff from now on. I really enjoyed 'Twin Islands' Pinot from NZ - me and my sis got through two bottles at a pub quiz in London a coupla weeks ago. £23 quid a pop - I f**king hate the markup in boozers! - finished off with a couple of Woodford Reserve bourbons ... I didn't feel the cold that night!

Regarding this:

I'll check it out, cheers.

[The Nal]

Silly tasting note generator!

Twisted and aggressive Pinot Gris. Attacks with wart ointment, plump bongwater and traces of Mars Bar. Drink now through eternity.

[LusciousLucy]

Oooh, there's a wine thread? Bloody marvellous. Let's get this thing properly resurrected with sensible talk if possible?

If I am right in thinking, following an interview at the WSET offices yesterday, I will be working at the International Wine Challenge in about 6 weeks times. This means 7 weeks of unloading 5000 crates of wine, handling 11,000 bottles, assisting at the grand 2 week tasting and getting to taste a fair few of them myself at the end of the day and going home with a haul of around 150 bottles personally. I say right in thinking as I am pretty sure the interview was just to meet me to decide what work I would be doing in the team rather than it being an interview for the job at the first stage. The guy seemed to indicate I was hired already which is brilliant as this job will seriously open some doors for me.

47 wine producing countries represented this year with judges on the panel such as Oz Clarke and Tim Atkin MW and Micheal Broadbent MW. All team members will have the chance to meet and talk with the judges and learn from them.

Not a bad result considering just 4 months or so ago, I had an epiphany experience where I realised I wanted to get into the wine trade professionally. I have spent every day since October reading about wine, learning about wine, blagged some big London trade tastings in the past couple of weeks, started my Intermediate WSET Certificate last weekend and spent 7 hours in Vinopolis yesterday. My dream job has just been advertised too and I'm applying next week.

I partly want to get into the trade to be part of the push to educate younger people (the Millenials as they are called in the biz - folk born between 1977-1990) into not being fearful of wine and to understand it better than just 'I only like that grape' 'I only drink French' etc attitudes. There are over 1000 grape varieties for starters that make wine. Open your mind a little, reach into your wallet occasionally, read a bit, learn from people and listen to advice from time to time, be daring and try something new, you might be surprised you find something very special you did not expect.

I specifically chose wines from countries like Uruguay and grapes I had never come across until yesterday at Vinopolis. The most interesting being a NZ red blend from a vineyard called Waipara West. It stood out for starters because it was a blend with no grape name visible on the front label. The nose was of wet tomato leaves and black olives and yet the wine has the taste of blackcurrant boiled sweets (without the sweetness). Sounds weird, was challenging at first but wonderful to drink.

May this thread have some life in it again.

The big name brands (especially from Oz and Cali) and the way supermarkets display their wine wares have a LOT to answer for. Which is a shame because there are millions of good wines to drink out there.

[smog]

Supping on a nice red from Graves tonight. God I love living in France

[LusciousLucy]

Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2008.

IWC Gold Award winner. A an Aussie Shiraz but not as you know it. The vines are grown at a reasonable altitude for an Aussie red (480m) which lends itself to producing a blinder of a Shiraz with a difference. Its a Shiraz but not like what you would expect at all. Absolutely lush, stunning nose and worth the £12-14 it costs from a range of good wine stores.

Smog you are a lucky man living in France.

[the real new messiah]

Don't know much about wine apart from what i like myself but we have just started selling 3 choirs on our wine menu and it's selling quite well and getting some good feedback three choirs May Hill & the rose

[worm]

Palmprint is a good jammy red that I discovered last week. There's better, but this one was just so fun that I'd thought I'd mention it here. Incidentally Paulevs, it's a Shiraz.

[worm]

Its a good shout ... I was drawn to it by the label from about 12 feet away, so when I saw it was an aussie shiraz, I was sold. Its pretty decent!

[LusciousLucy]

WSET course yesterday allowed for bringing home the remains of an M&S Crozes Hermitage - not bad for a French Syrah, Laboure Gevrey-Chambertin 08, again not bad for a Pinot Noir (the Chilean we tasted as an alternative was very uneventful), Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz 08, ok, but not great and KnappStein Clare Valley Riesling, again...ok but a bit meh.

Conclusion, the people supplying my WSET Intermediate course are not doing a fab job picking out particularly great/nice wines for the tastings but at the end of the day, we are already picking up good tasting techniques and learning a reasonable amount.

I did enjoy the Sancerre we had for the Sauvignon Blanc tasting experience, the first I have actually found I liked, all the recent ones I have tasted were all very meh indeed. The Ned Marlborough was reasonable but nothing to really shout about.

In this age of people going crazy for NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, what is YOUR favourite that you have come across?

My best find is Greywacke 2009, which at £16 a bottle, is pricey but a very good example of a very good NZSB

[grumpyhack]

I find that these days you rarely get a bad bottle of wine. There's a lot of good everyday drinking in supermarkets for a fiver or less. But it's still hard to find that really exceptional memorable bottle. So the question is where do you buy your wine?

[worm]

I find that these days you rarely get a bad bottle of wine. There's a lot of good everyday drinking in supermarkets for a fiver or less. But it's still hard to find that really exceptional memorable bottle. So the question is where do you buy your wine?