Wine from Portugal....not one that many people head straight towards but there is a lot of really delicious wine coming from here at the moment. So, on my hols this year I decided to pit online wine club wines against one I bought in a wine shop to see which really hit the spot. All three wines we tasted were slightly different blends but all had the staple grape of Portugal, Touriga Nacional, somewhere in the mix. This grape is a full bodied lovely - a bit like Cabernet Sauvignon and works well in all sorts of blends. It's also eminently drinkable!    
The first wine we tasted, the Galodoro, (£6.99) is from Naked Wines which is a fab company. I have been a customer of theirs for years and their ethos is just fantastic. (More on wine clubs in my next blog posts but this one is a real fave and well worth the wait to join!) This one is a blend of 3 Portuguese grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was a gorgeous deep ruby red and smelt of bramble and oak. On drinking this was an absolute pleasure and in fact my favourite of the three. Really well balanced and smooth with tons of juicy cherry and blackberry flavours. An absolute treat.
The second, Alta Corte (£7.99) from Rude Wines was a funny old thing. Again a blend of grapes which included Touriga Nacional. A slightly more intense blood red and still very deep coloured, the nose was amazing....bramble, fig, leather, spice and oak promising a beauty of a wine....which it sort of failed to deliver on. The taste was fine, smooth and balanced, a touch of fig and cherry but really not up to the gorgeous bouquet. If I'd have tasted this on it's own I think I would have really enjoyed it but it paled a little compared to the other two.
Our third and final wine as the Ciconia (c £9.99), the only wine with Touriga Nacional as the main grape in the blend with added Tempranillo and Shiraz. I bought this from the absolutely wonderful  Bodnant Wine Cellar  (well worth a visit, great range and lovely staff, if you're around North Wales) but it's a bottle which can be found in quite a few places. Once again a lovely deep and intense ruby red colour and a nose of oak and spice with very little fruit but then on the palate this was super-fruity with some lovely raspberry notes coming through. 
Portuguese wine is a perfect pairing with cheese and indeed we polished off our bottles with an amazing cheese/charcuterie platter. I would fully urge you to go out and try a bottle if you haven't done already. You won't be disappointed; some gorgeous wine and generally extremely good value. Snap some up before others get in on it :-)

So this week I was booked for a tasting by a group of people who work in a secondary school; some teachers, some admin staff. I will admit to being rather nervous about guiding such a knowledgeable bunch though the world of wine. However, once we got started my fears were a distant memory; what a lovely and intelligent bunch they were. Keen senses of humour and eager to soak up knowledge (and alcohol!). 
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The highlight of the tasting, for me, was our white wine tasting. We were comparing a lovely light Picpoul de Pinet and a rather more heavyweight Gewurztraminer (both available from the wonderful people at Majestic). Most of the group had not heard of either wine so it was lovely to introduce them to these vastly different grapes. The Picpoul was tasted first and there were loud exclamations that people could smell cheese and much laughter before we decided that we could also smell lovely fresh citrus fruit. Once in the mouth everyone was pleasantly surprised. From such a fragrant wine the taste was crisp, light and extremely refreshing. On swilling like true connoisseurs there was a magical taste of green apple peel and the group agreed with me that this wine makes a lovely and refreshing change to yet another Sauvignon Blanc.
The Gewurtztraminer caused even more uproar. A massively perfumed and floral nose which caused many of the group to assume they wouldn't like it at all. On tasting, however, they were shocked by the dryness but fruity flavour. One taster proclaimed it to be 'lychee in a glass'. I love introducing people to this wine because it's such a love it/hate it one (Marmite anyone?) but there's no denying that if you like Thai or Moroccan food there are few wines better to pair with them, in my opinion. For many of tonight's group this was their favourite wine of the night! 

A few weeks ago I was chatting to a work colleague and his lovely partner about wine. On hearing that I knew a little bit about the subject they were keen to tell me about an 'orange wine' that they had tried but they were unsure what it was. I explained the process to them then confessed that I hadn't tried any myself. Last night they came round for a meal and, in the most perfect-guesty way possible, brought me a couple of bottles to try. Fantastic!

You will have to excuse me if you know a little, or a lot, of what I am about to say but it's important to understand that this wine, firstly, is NOT made of oranges! Let's look at the basics of wine-making. White wine is made with any grape, any colour and it is only the juice of the grapes that is fermented and so any colour which may be on the skins does not appear in the wine. Red wine is made of red grapes and the juice is left in contact with the skins. This adds lots of things to the wine, colour is the most obvious one but it also adds body and texture and tannins (these produce the gum-drying experience you have after drinking red wine, or tea!). Some red grapes with thin skins produce light intensity of colour - like Pinot Noir for example; some are big hefty grapes with dark colour and thick skins - step forward Cab Sav. Now orange wine is made with white grapes but, and here's the exciting twist, the juice is left in contact with the skins (and the pips and stalks and all) to produce an extremely unusual white wine which has body and texture. Generally these wines are from Georgia and are made in Kvevris, these are massive earthen pots which are buried underground while the fermenting takes place. They are also lined with beeswax which, I think, effects the taste of the wine.

This is not the most complex of wines but is refreshing and hearty at the same time. I'm led to believe that it's not the best example of orange wine you can buy; however it does have the advantage of being, I think I'm right in saying, the ONLY example that you can readily buy in a Supermarket - the lovely M&S. Do go out and buy some and let me know what you think! Now I just need to source the brandy that, apparently, is made from the rescued skin, pips and stalks at the end of the process - yum! ​

My lovely best friend has just returned from what looked like an amazing holiday, judging from the photos. She went to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands which, most of you may know, is volcanic with an amazing landscape. Although I'm fairly well-travelled I have never been to the Canaries at all so imagine how pleased I was when she came to see me last week clutching a bottle of the local red. She knows me too well! 
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We tasted this while my friend showed me photos of the vineyard. What a facsinating place! These are 'lava fields' which are made up from gravel like lava rock. They are so exposed and windy that the amazing old vines are protected by little personal walls. These are vines which have know no disease and look to be supremely well cared for. 

The wine that was grown here is from the Listan grape. Again another first for me having never drunk wine from the region or this grape. Excitement! 

So, I do my usual food shop at Sainsburys but have always thought that the Co-op is fantastic for wines so this month I thought I'd pit a couple of their entry level Cotes de Rhone against each other to see how they fare, both around the seven quid area! Have you seen that advert recently, 'Think Red, think Cotes du Rhone'? If you live in London it's on lots of buses and, I have to say, it's one that has really struck a chord with me because I genuinely think that a Cotes du Rhone blend is one of the best there is. In the wine world it's often called GSM and is a blend of some variation of Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre. It's a fab, and extremely drinkable blend and one that is supremely food-friendly. It's also a wine which you can buy at entry level and will often impress most people on a blind test (at a party/dinner party etc) because it's such a yummy - well tested blend. So, how do UK supermarkets go with this versatile and usual-winner blend? Let's get to it. 

I'm only just getting in my February blog post, it's been a bit of a month and much of my wine consumption seems to have been self-medicating rather than professional, hehe. This month, however, has seen some excitement in the form of me finding a wine that I had never heard of!  

I'm not an habitual M&S shopper but enticed by a 20% off 3 or more bottles I thought I'd have a browse when I came across this little lovely made from a grape I knew absolutely nothing about. Not only was this intreging from that point of view but also from the point of view that it was a Sicilian wine and I do know that they are producing more and more lovely wines over there! 

When I poured out the wine it was an amazing colour. Bright ruby red but extremely light in intensity of colour so it almost looked like cranberry juice or something similar. What I hadn't realised was that this grape always produces gorgeous light bodied and juicy wine.

The nose to this wine is full of cherries and red fruit with a pleasing sweetness like candied fruit. The taste is gorgeous with strawberry, raspberry and cherry but a touch of something like lavender which stopped it being too much like sweeties! It has a light body, light tannins and is gorgeously refreshing. It's one that I think even people who usually prefer white wine might enjoy.
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My fellow tasters and I thought that this wine was gorgeous as we drank it; on its own, however I suspect that it would be lovely chilled as well. It would certainly be fantastic with a burger - I think I may have found a new barbeque favourite in plenty of time before summer arrives! You can find it  here but I have also found bottles at Tesco - untried as yet but I think I'll definitely be giving them a go too!  Let me know if you try one first, I hope it's as good as the one above! 

This weekend I have been to the home of a lovely lady. She decided that her wonderful friends needed something a bit different for Christmas this year and so had booked and paid for a tasting for the 5 of them and written the date in their Christmas Cards. What a fantastic idea! Thank goodness none of the ladies were indulging in anything so anti-wine as Dry January so we had a whistle-stop tour through 2 fizz, 2 white and 2 red. Since, for many, it was their first experience of wine tasting we also went through the basics of tasting for each type of wine discussing appearance, nose, body, tannins, acidity and flavours.


Perhaps the highlight of the night, in terms of wine, were the two reds we finished with. The first was an absolutely lovely little gem from the Co-op called Zalze.  It's a new world red meaning that it has all the punchy flavours you expect from a South African wine. However, the really interesting thing about this wine is that it's basically a Rhone blend (Shiraz and Mouvedre) but instead of Grenache or Cinsault finishing it off it has Viognier, a white grape, lending it lightness, smoothness and a really interesting flavour. We'd just sampled a Viognier on it's own at this point in the evening so it was interesting to compare how little it could be tasted in this big, juicy red. The wine was smooth but really fruity with plum, blackcurrant and a hint of red fruit too. There was a hint of oak adding a grown-up feel to the wine. Generally it was extremely well recieved and since it's usually in the region of £8 from your local Co-op it's well worth a taste. 



We then finished the evening off with a gorgeous wine by Christian Patat called Appassimento. Unfortunately this is only available from Naked Wines, if you like wine thougth it's definitely worth checking them out. A fantastic company with a brilliant ethos which makes me smile every time I order from them...and their wine is fabulous too! Appassimento is a style of winemaking in which the winemakers use semi-dry grapes (this is used in the making of Amarone too). This gives the wine a rich, jammy, raisiny feel in the mouth and tricks your palate into thinking that there is sweetness there - almost like Port. This wine didn't disappoint, smoky and full of cherry, plum, fig and raisin flavours it was a gorgeous end to a relaxed and fun night. 

If you would like to treat one (or more) of your friends to a wine tasting, or even a voucher, please do get in touch if you are in the London area. We'd love to help! 
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So, one of my very good friends had bought two wines from Argentina just to try them and wanted me to help guide her through them - the problem being she lives a good 250 miles away from me. 
Thanks to the wonderful Co-op (do go and browse their wine section, it's lovely! http://www.co-operativefood.co.uk/groceries/wine/) I bobbed down and bought the exact same bottles as her and we had a fantastic time drinking wine 'together'. 
The first wine was a Merlot. This was the Co-op's own Fairtrade version and a 2014 vintage. We found this eminently quaffable. A lovely brick red in colour with a spicy and plummy nose. The taste was extremely refreshing for a red. Quite light in body and more acidity than tannins this was a wine that didn't really need food and can just be guzzled on a week night (good price too!) There is vanilla and cherry on the palate with a really sweet, fruity taste. Definitely worth a buy. 
The second was the Hereford Tempranillo/Malbec. This is a lovely light red in colour and hits you with a very grown up nose - cherry, leather, vanilla and a hint of boiled sweet. The taste is also grown up. Well balanced, with lovely grippy tannins, a real savoury note with hits of tobacco but with tons of black fruit too. This wine is a real find and I totally recommend you go and buy a bottle. 
On the night of the tasting I actually preferred the first, Merlot, - I was definitely in the mood to quaff. However we had the Tempranillo/Malbec the next night with our dinner of beef and good lord, what a find :-)