Two Pinots from The Co-op

Two wines from the Co-op's Truly Irresistible range

Like Kate Middleton, Pinot Noir is the more famous of a group of oenological sisters - Pinot Gris / Grigio is Pippa; the flighty, more obvious, less-classy one that flirts with the best man.

Truly Irresistible Pinot Noir from Casablanca in Chile, this is perhaps the second thing from south America that you would associate with the Co-op. Burgundian nose with ripe red fruits and farmyard; sweet, ripe, slightly stewed red fruits, soft, juicy texture and a pleasant finish with some warmness. A good, ripe entry-level no-tears Pinot.

Rather like a Fiat 500, it's intended to be instantly appealing, thoroughly enjoyable and inexpensive.

It's light enough to sip on its own; match with tuna carpaccio, duck or quail.

Truly Irresistible Pinot Grigio - made by the award-winning Yealands in Marlborough.

Golden sandy yellow, citrus and musky pear skin.

Ripe orchard fruits, sweet pineapple pieces,  baked apples and a hint of sweet spice and beeswax. Vibrant, savoury and persistent.

Good.

A versatile food wine, match with full-flavoured antipasti, such as roasted peppers or asparagus wrapped in pancetta.

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Yealands tasting

Two Big Co-op Reds

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Greek Drama - The Final Act: Nico Lazaridi

Two final wines from Nico Lazaridi, provided by The Greek Deli

These two Magic Mountain wines from Nico Lazaridi are the most impressive of the six I have tasted and really rather superb.

With international grape varieties and techniques, they have no particular Greek personality - but are just excellent wines in their own right. Tasted blind, I would probably guess at them being from some progressive French chateau in a classic region such as Bordeaux or the Rhone in a good year.

They have an Old World precision, restraint and food friendliness but are also technically very well made indeed. With plenty of stuffing, they feel substantial with significant aging potential.

Magic Mountain White 2012

Golden sandy yellow; pineapple, apricots and some musky sweet spice.

Sweet ripe dried pineapple and apricot pieces, ripe honeydew melon and baked apples-and-pears sprinkled with spice; rich and succulent, concentrated with mouthwatering, zippy lime freshness and the sweet vanilla of some new oak.

Elegant yet substantial; deft and harmonious. A modern classic; will surely improve with age.

Very Good.

Match with rich, Alsatian-type dishes such as roast pork or tarte flambee.

Magic Moutain Red 2008

Dark purple in the glass, complex nose of ripe dark berry fruits, roasted spices, undergrowth and leather; sweet, ripe elderberry and black cherry fruits, vibrant acidity and pepperiness, underpinned by a savoury minerality.

Very fine, ripe and persistent tannins - some firmness on the finish.

At six years, it is drinking nicely now and feels just ready and harmonious - will improve and evolve for more years to come.

Very Good.

Match with plain roast red meat, such as lamb, beef or venison.

The wines are also available in Cambridge at The Olive Grove.

Other related articles
Greek Drama - Nico Lazaridi
More Drama

Links
Nico Lazaridi - website, twitter, Facebook
The Greek Deli - website, twitter

Virginia Wines Dinner‏

A dinner with Virginia Wine

 

One of the original colonies and the state in which Thomas Jefferson tried but failed to make wine for over three decades, Virginia is now the fifth largest wine region of the US.

 

Think of US wine and big, blowsy Californians spring to mind - over in Virginia, however, they do things a little differently.

 

Maybe it's the old world heritage, but Virginia wines are more nuanced and less in-yer-face. And this applies as much to the grape varieties as to the styles; you will as easily find Viognier, Cab Franc and Nebbiolo as Chardonnay and Merlot.

 

My first encounter with Virginia wines was a couple of years ago - they still haven't broken into the mainstream, and perhaps may never fully do so, but they continue to raise their profile over here, championed by Chris Parker of New Horizon Wines.

 

The ideal role model for Virginia Wines is Austria - small-scale, quality-led, cool-climate wines whose recent history is measured only in decades.

 

These are wines to be hand-sold to enthusiasts, to compete with the world's great wine regions in value-for-money terms, not slugging it out on the supermarket shelf with the BOGOFs from some arid corner of inland Spain, South Africa or Australia.

 

The stand-out wines for me from the dinner were:

 

Breaux Vineyards 2006 Nebbiolo from the most northerly of Virginia's vineyards, classical aged complexity with balanced freshness. Good.

 

Veritas Vineyard 2013 Viognier fermented in stainless steel, aromatic, delicate and fresh. Good.

 

Barboursville Vineyards 2010 Octagon M/CF blend, fresh, precise, concentrated and mineral - Pomerol-esque, will age. Very Good.

 

Williamsburg Winery 2010 Adagio CF/M/PV blend: still youthful and rather closed up initially, this is all about texture and structure. Dense and concentrated, but opens up with time in the glass. Very Good.

 

Other related articles

Virginia Wines at Circle of Wine Writers

 

Links

New Horizon Wines - website

Virginia Wine - website, twitter

Two Big Reds From The Co-op

Two big red wines from the Co-op

The Co-op has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons: being "ungovernable", being run by an allegedly drug-taking ex-minister, banking black holes.

However, back in the real world of day-to-day stuff, it remains a venerable and unique British institution and, despite everything,  has not lost focus on getting the basics right, such as having a good wine range which has also impressed Victoria Moore.

Yalumba Barossa Old Bush Vine Grenache 2013 (£10.99) from vines planted in 1898, spends nine months in 2-6 year-old American and Hungarian oak; pale translucent ruby, complex aromas of warm roasted spices and red fruits.

Sweet, ripe cooked red fruits, a touch of cool mint and just enough juicy acidity to keep it the right side of jamminess, propped up by some toasty, peppery oak. Dense, concentrated texture and savoury, persistent finish.

Big, blowsy and come-hither, but underneath it all, quite classy - it is a Nigella of a wine.

Match with barbecued meats or roast lamb with garlic and rosemary.

Chateau Capitoul Languedoc 2012 (£7.99) La Clape is a rocky, scrub-covered outcrop in Languedoc between the Mediterranean and Narbonne.

Syrah/Grenache/Carignan blend. Dark purple, intense nose of oaky spice, dark berry fruits, hillside herbs and leathery gaminess.

Supple, custardy texture with perfectly ripe tannins and sweet vanilla spice; dark, elderberry and plum fruits with some pepperiness. Long and savoury with a warming, spicy, persistent finish. Deft - with heft.

Good.

Match with darker game - pheasant or venison.

Both wines provided for review.

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A Co-op Languedoc
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Image credit: Nigella http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/00369/SNN1003F_369617a.jpg

Rubis Chocolate Wine

Rubis chocolate wine - a well-intentioned present

- Do you want a flake in that, love?
- Ta!
Boddington's advert, early 1990s

Growing up in the '70s, a trip out was special if it involved an ice-cream - specifically, not the hard stuff that was wrenched out of a tub by a burly arm, but the white, piped, super-soft stuff that came out of a nozzle from the ice-cream van.

It would be extra-special if the ice-cream was also drizzled with variously coloured syrups - supposedly, strawberry or chocolate, but most likely a mix of pure sugar and food colour to "suggest" a flavour that was never really there.

That, essentially, is what this Rubis chocolate wine is like - syrupy chocolate sauce. With alcohol.

An "indulgent blend of fortified tempranillo wine and premium chocolate flavour", it smells - reeks, actually - of cheap, industrial chocolate extract (that'll be the "premium chocolate flavour" then) and tastes of alcoholic syrupy nothingness.

It has no redeeming features, yet seems to have garnered an IWSC silver.

If you want to have alcohol and chocolate together, the best matches are dark, bitter chocolate with whiskies or brandies and an espresso on the side.

Successful wine matches for chocolate are rare - either a ruby port or the port-like Banyuls.

A sweet Uruguayan Tannat that I tried at Hotel du Vin will also work.

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Gallo Summer Red

On Classics - Typicity and Quality‏: Two Wines From Morrison's

Two classic wines from Morrison's

A classic wine - like a classic dish - is a traditional standard, as instantly recognisable as steak-frites or crème brûlée.

With no element of surprise or innovation, classics are judged by the quality of execution, by how well they are made. Familiar and reassuring, they impress most by being flawless, utterly fault-free.

These two wines from Morrison's score well for typicity - they taste pretty much like they should; the Chablis has orchard fruit, zippiness and a leesy-savoury depth, the Barolo has good fruit and structure with a mellow, aged gaminess. Both have a decent weight and length.

However, they score less well for quality of execution; they feel as if a little clumsily made even if from mostly decent base materials - the Chablis lacks precision whilst the Barolo is somehow not quite fully knitted together.

Overall, not a bad effort and not without ambition, but somehow not quite there either - an encouraging optimist might call them promising, a stern pessimist disappointing. Of the two, I'd personally be more inclined to go back for a bit more of the Barolo.

Chablis £9.99, Barolo £14.99 - both provided for review.

Other related articles

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Links

Morrison's - website, twitter

More Greek Drama: Nico Lazaridi

Two more wines from Greece's Nico Lazaridi, based in Drama - provided by The Greek Deli

Both these wines from Nico Lazaridi, based in the Drama region of northern Greece are precise, well-balanced and technically faultless; they are impressive, enjoyable and very well made indeed.

Are they distinctively Greek? No, not really. Does that matter? Not especially. In style they are perhaps more modern classic French than anything else - in a pleasing-but-serious sort of way. If you want something typically Greek - i.e. not mainstream in style - look elsewhere and go for a linear Assyrtiko or a surly Xinomavro.

The Black Sheep 2013 a white Bordeaux blend of Semillon and Sauvignon; golden sandy yellow with aromas of melon, tropical citrus and musky peachskins.Ripe, citrussy pineapple with a waxy, lanolin texture and aromatic zestiness - long, savoury and accomplished. Very well-balanced with nothing out of place.

Drinking nicely now, will age. Very Good.

Match with roast white meats, such as chicken or pork, or meaty white fish.

25 Years 2010 a Bordeaux blend of Cab and Merlot, vibrant ruby-garnet; blackcurrant, plum, coffee and tobacco aromas. Sweet, ripe black cherry and plum fruit with fresh acidity and roasted spices with a savoury minerality reminiscent of a good Medoc. Fine, gentle and perfectly-ripe tannins. Very long and well-rounded with a firmness on the finish.

A little closed up on first opening, it improves over the course of a couple of days, so will repay decanting or cellaring. Very Good.

Match with roast red meats or game.

Available in Cambridge at The Olive Grove.

Other related articles
Greek Drama
Greek Wines at Circle of Wine Writers

Links
Nico Lazaridi - website, twitter
The Greek Deli - website, twitter