Majestic Recommendations

 

I was putting together a list of recommendations for Christmas wines for my parents. They tend to use Majestic, an why not, good service and free delivery. Here are the best offers I could find, nothing earth shatteringly out of the ordinary but all excellent value at under £10

Red Bordeaux all £7.99

Château Bessan Ségur 2008 Cru Bourgeois, Médoc

Château Grivière 2004 Médoc, Cru Bourgeois

Château Méaume 2008 Bordeaux Supérieur (From their anniversary party)

 

Red Rhone (syrah)

Côtes du Rhône 2010 Vidal-Fleury (£6.99 - excellent value)

Guigal Cote du Rhone (£7.99)

 

Americas

Great Chilean Chardonnay (£6.99)

Quality Cab Sauv (£7.99)

Californian Cab Sauv (8.99)

 

New Zealand

The Ned Sauv Blanc (£6.99)

Fairleigh Estate Sauvignon Blanc (£5.99)

 

Fizz

Processco (£8.99)

 

Riesling

The Lodge Hill Riesling 2012 Jim Barry, Clare Valley (£9.99)

 

French White

Burgundy Chardonnay (£6.99)

Brindisa Eatery Review

An occasional diversion to give you my thoughts on memorable meals. I have been a regular at the Brindisa stall in Borough market, enjoying their chorizo and pepper sandwiches and taking home the occasional ham ( yes, a whole ham). The arrival of some good news met my wife treated me to lunch at the Brindisa tapas restaurant. We started with a selection of iberico, Serrano and iberico de bellota ham, melting, creamy and salty, this was joined by a small plate of Bricks de Morecilla, small slices of black pudding wrapped in filo pastry and fried. The later was a new one for me and a wonderful mouthful of yumminess. I washed this down with a delicious Amontillado seco Napoleon, dry, rich and nutty, slightly chilled and very easy to drink.

Next up my wife opted for a signature dish, and seasonal, wild mushrooms on toast with truffle oil and shaved manchego cheese. Whilst the flavour, toast and cheese were generous, the mushrooms where not. I opted from the deep fried Monte Enebro goats cheese with honey and beetroot chips, it was utterly delicious but better suited to dessert as the honey emphasised the sweet creaminess of the cheese. I loved the balance of the salt cod and orange salad, with boiled egg and onions; salt, acid, sweetness all working harmoniously. The wine list has an extensive selection of wine by the glass (125ml) which mean you can play around with a different combinations, a small glass of a £50-60 bottle is not something you will see in many places. I chose a Pazo Senorans 2011, Alborino/Rias Baixas, full, aromatic and wonderfully balanced with great acidity and minerality.

It is fair to say that the generous portions would have made this a satisfying lunch as it was but the sight of black rice with fried squid and a further dish of pork belly with quince jam was too tempting and justifiable. I washed this down with a wonderful Valenciso Reserva Rioja 2005, soft and round but with strong dark fruit. You can eat quite modestly at Brindisa but go there with a sense of occasion and hungry eyes at your peril

Super Champagne

We all know that champagne is supposed to be fabulous but we are too often let down by expensive acidic fizz from this eponymous region. What is really letting the side down is the cheap “diffusion” ranges from the Grand Marques, their top stuff is justifiably expensive. Heidsieck Rare is one of life’s real treats but try a certain wine famous of its very dark label and you will feel very disappointed with the bang per buck. You don’t have to spend lots or be disappointed with bulk champagne  for the masses. There is a hidden secret in Champagne and that is grower champagne, artisan producers who can control volume and quality. They don’t have marketing and the sponsorship budgets of a small country to keep up the illusion they the bottle you buy because its supposed to be good, is actually good. Grand Marque champagne really can be a Emperor's New Clothes con-trick.

The Champagne Warehouse specialises in grower champagne, it is unlikely that you will have heard of any of their brands, “Quality Behind the Label” this their motto. Founded in 2000 by Tony Stones, they have the distinction of being the first wholly internet retailer to hold an alcohol licence. In a monastic-like atmosphere I tasted a range of wines, none of whichI had tried before but which surprised me with the consistent quality and, now, having seen the prices extraordinary value. They offer a number of Cava and Processcos but having tasted these after excellent champagne they were somewhat over-shadowed. Top producers from  the day included Roger Legros from Prouilly north of Riems, Jannison et Fils in Verzenay, Montagine de Riems and Charles Ellner from Epernay

Roger Legros Brut £24.99

Predominately Pinot based, pale with a steely gold colour, balanced nose with a reductive edge, lots of layered fruit, hint of blackcurrant jelly.

Roger Legros Rosé £23.99

Onion skin colour, caramelised apples with strawberry, light brambly fruit with soft acidity

G Tribaut Grand Cuvée Spéciale £29

Chardonnay from 2006 and Pinot Noir from 2008, this wine is clean, dry and fresh with pears, quince and sweet Mirabelle fruit. Great toasty mouthful of boiled sweets and cleansing acidity

Charles Ellner Brut Integral £29

60/40% Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from old wines, 2003 and 04 this is great, fully reductive toasty brioche steely apple acidity, great balance and a long, mouth cleansing finish.

Charles Ellner Cuvée de Réserve £25

Chardonnay dominated wine from 2003/04 wines, this has rich brioche from 6 years on its lees. There is flint and soft fresh leafy fruit. A great wine 

Charles Ellner Premier Cru £28

Again this wine is mostly Chardonnay with 9 years on lees, it is mostly the 2002 vintage. It is pale gold, rich reductive almost honeyed, it has nose of delicate honeysuckle, lemons, flint, brioche and Mirabelle plums.

Charles Ellner ‘Seduction’ 1999 c£35

Only 200 bottles of this antique style are produced in exceptional years, the Chardonnay is aged in oak prior to bottling and it spends an incredible 11 years on its lees. It is bright rich straw colour with a reductive/brioche flavour, think tarte tatin, quince and patisserie. Great length and a hint of burnt lemon. Incredible!  

Jean-Paul Morel Carte Noir £24

This Pinot Noir led wine is pale straw with a full brioche nose. Rounded apply freshness with gooseberry/greengages, a fruit led fizz, its very classy. Reminded me of sherbet dips with a liquorice stick.

Jannison et Fils Brut Traditional c£24

Pale gold, fizzy pear nose, an explosion of bright fresh fruit; pears, quince and English apples. Perk acidity. Wow!

Janisson et Fils Grand Cru Rosé £33

Pale orange/pink, rich toasty nose boiled strawberry, dry finish with dark fruit shadow. The best wine of the day. Truly excellent

Chocolate and Wine, Easier than you Think

There can be few better ways to start a Monday morning than tasting chocolates from Britain’s best chocolatier, William Curley matched with exquisite wine from the South of France. However, that was how my week started on a wet and miserable autumn London morning, the warming sweet wine of the South were to warm the palate and chocolate got the dopamine flowing.
Sarah Jane Evans MW under took some exhausting research to show the range and versatility the vin doux naturels of the South of France. Whilst the grapes and style of the wines differed, the production shared one common approach, the fermentation of the grape juice is stopped by the addition of grape spirit; the exact same method used in the production of Port. The addition of the spirit raises the alcohol to a level that kills off the yeast and retains the unfermented sugars in the must. The high alcohols and sugars lead to robust wines that have can be long lived but additionally, show more delicate charms whilst young. We tasted some delicate whites and some wood and bottle aged wine as well as solera aged wine. The later is blend of wines of different ages, like Sherry, the producer will keep a library of wines and will blend these vintages to give fabulous complexity and consistency.

The wines were matched with a range of pastries and chocolate.

Domaine Barroubio Muscat de St Jean de Minervois  AOC Languedoc £12.50( Wine Society)

The first food match was a small fruit tart, with crème patisserie on a short pastry base. The wine was pale straw in colour with a hint of green, it was fresh and smelted of lemons and elderflower. The mouth-feel was soft and warm with peaches, apricots and butterscotch. Nice acidy to deal with the crème, serve cool but not too cold. It was suggested that this might  suit some Christmas mince pies too! For  another excellent Muscat de St Jean try this one from Alizarin Wine

Clos de l’Amandaie, Les Menades 2008 Pay d’Oc IGP c£30

Our pastry was a delicious mini Paris-Brest (named in honour of the cycle race), crisp choux pastry filled with praline cream and red jam.  The wine chosen had a pale golden colour with rich, darker edges. The smell was sublime, roasted oranges, apricots and barley sugar, slightly reductive. The flavour was equally wonderful; intense orange peel with apricot jam and brioche.

Domaine Cazes, Ambré 1999, 16% Rivesaltes AOC, Roussillon £15

This biodynamic wine benefits from 7 years of oak aging and brings a complexity not dissimilar to tawny port. A mixture of Grenache blanc and gris grapes, it was matched with a dark chocolate granache with crunchy praline. The wine was dark amber, the colour of old wooden chairs. It had a heady, nutty aroma with rich dried apricots and peach. The flavour was a fresh but dense, dark and citrus. The combination with the chocolate brought out the orange notes in the mouth.

Domaine Coume du Roy, 16.5% 2008 Maury AOC, Roussillon

We are now looking at some of the red sweet wines of the south, the port parallel becomes stronger, but the French wines have a freshness and are lighter in alcohol. The Coume du Roy is a dense, deep purple colour, slightly cloudy at the edge with a dark, brambly jammy nose; lots of new leather, cassis and raspberries. The flavour is simpler; sweet cherries and liquorice. Paired with a cassis and hibiscus granache in a  crisp dark chocolate shell the flavours suddenly boom into my mouth, an explosion of cassis that reduces the already soft tannins and tastes altogether less sweet.

Domaine de la Rectorie, Cuveé Parcés Frère 2010, Banyuls AOC, Roussillon £17.60

A sliver of crystallised grapefruit peel encases in crisp dark chocolate and coated in nibs of cocoa bean, delicious in itself but the wine provided a contrasting experience that made each more exciting. The wine was a dense ruby colour with a hint of purple at the edges. The fruit was almost medicinal but varied; prunes, damsons, cherries and raspberries. Balanced with soft tannins and big alcohol, a smooth finish. It matched the cassis and hibiscus granache too, melding into the flavours of each.

 Domaine Vial Magnères, Al Tragou 1986, Banyuls Rancio AOC, Roussillon £35

While ‘Rancio’ may not sound appealing to English ears, there is a real treat in store for those to venture into this bottle. The winemaker does everything he can to spoil this wine, oxygen, extremes of heat and bright sunlight all conspire to produce a dark amber wine with rich, burned apricot  and walnut flavours. The is a tawny-like mix of oxidised citrus, and furniture polish, its all very complex on the nose, not dis-similar to good Armagnac. Yet, the taste is light, fresh toffees and orange/citrus acidity. The young fortified wine is transferred to large, basket-wrapped glass containers known as bonbonnes, they are only 3/4 filled to allow air contact and left out-side in the sunshine for a year. The heat extremes and oxygen madeiraize the wine. This extraordinary wine was drunk with a gourmet Jaffa-cake from William Curley and was a super match, bringing out the big, burned orange peel flavour in the wine.

les Vignerons de Maury, Solera 1928, Maury AOC, Roussillon £19

Rich, dark brown, burned caramel colour (a shade we might call Gavin Henson), an orange rim. A dense dry finish, toasted hazelnuts with orange peel and roses, great crisp acidity and soft tannins. This went very well with the chocolate praline granache, it highlighted the nutty flavours in both items. I am happy to say I have a bottle of this in my wine cupboard!

Argentina

Few countries have such as firmly established food and drink stereotype as the red wine/red meat image that Argentina offers. I had to settle for a homemade burger at the end of this week’s tasting but there were plenty of excellent reds and even a couple of great whites on offer. Argentina is the fifth largest wine producer and has a stronger domestic wine culture than its South American neighbour, Chile with 70% of production being drunk domestically. This has seen an interesting positioning of Argentina on the British wine-shop shelf. Whilst Chile clearly produces some excellent top end wines, we are very familiar with it in the value section of the supermarket. Entry level Argentine wines are consumed at home, leaving the export market for mid and premium range wines and the £10+ range sees plenty of excellent and distinctive offerings.

The country seems to have established Malbec as its flagship red and manages to produce world class offerings, bigger, fruitier and bolder than those found in Cahors in SW France. However, the most widely planted red is Bonarda, an Italian variety, this has largely been used in blends but is increasing becoming a featured grape as the price of Malbec grapes rises. Bonarda is a lighter wine than Malbec, with softer red fruits making it easier drinking and better suited to a wider range of foods or even on its own. As investment in  and experiments with its production grows, look out for more premium examples of this distinctive wine. As for white wine, Argentina has a poster girl in the Torrontés grape, I have often found this overwhelming aromatic and flabby or acidic but my mind has been changed; when it is good, it is very good. Peach, pineapples, grapefruit, almonds all combine to give a aromatic experience that is familiar to all Alsatian wine lovers and give an extra option in matching Asian food to wine. The industry view is that it either peoples most favourite or least favourite grape, the wine world’s Marmite!

There is a lot of virgin territory yet to be opened up in Argentina, land is cheap and plentiful in the foot hills of the Andes. Rainfall is low but there is abundant irrigation from the mountains. It was interesting to speak to a number of French producers who had established themselves in the  Mendoza region, they see the potential and recognise the low cost of land compared to their home land makes compelling business sense.

Some Wines I Enjoyed on the Day

Torrontés 2011 Trapiche £11.99 Cambridge Wine Merchants

The Torrentes that turned me, peachy, aromatic with lovely balanced acidity

Atamisque Assemblage 2007 £26.99 Tupungato, Uco Valley, Hennings Wine Merchants

A heady mix of the the ‘Argentine Blend’, 50% Malbec and 25/25% Cab Sauvignon and Merlot. Highly perfumed with rich blackcurrant and mint leaves, Liquorice and cassis, dense but soft black fruits in the mouth big but gentle

La Chamiza “Martin Alsina” 2008 Mendoza c£20

Fantastic concentration from the this 100% Malbec, great minerality with minty leafy notes and liquorice, quite medicinal, super staying power

Blend de Seleccion, RJ Vinedos 2007

The 60/40% blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is wonderful, a classic Bordeaux nose, rich blackcurrant fruit, cedar, leather. Great firm tannins and balanced acidity, a very good now or to keep.

Sophenia Synthesis The Blend 2008, Tupungato, Mendoza £30

A 70% Malbec blended with 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, this is a special wine, dense dark fruits, with leather and chocolate, the tannins are soft but this is a yummy wine.

Sophenia Roberto L, 2008, Tupungato, Mendoza

A 5* wine, the ‘Argentine Blend’ of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Whilst the year is stated as 2008, this is blend of vintages, mostly ‘08 but with wines back to 2002, it gives it incredible depth  and complexity. Spice, pepper, intense black fruit and leather arm chairs.

Urban Uco Tempranillo 2011 O. Fournier, £9.50 El Cepillo, Mendoza

Fournier should know how to make great Tempranillo and is fantastic value, this clean fruited Tempranillo is a crisp glass of red lushness. Enjoy now and in quantity

Alfa Crux Malbec 2008, O. Fournier £29.50 Uco Valley mendoza

A big dense black fruited wine, a little spirity  and almost Port-like at 15% alc, but delicious all the same. Lots of exotic spice and dark plumy fruit, approachable now or will keep a couple of years.

O. Forunier 2006, Uco Valley Mendoza

Another 5* wine, this is astonishing, 50/50% Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, aged for 20 months and popping an incredible 15.5% alc. Great complexity and deep, deep black fruits and spicy leathery flavours. All this and great balance too.

Pascual Toso Alta Reserve Syrah 2009, Barrancas Maipu, Mendoza

A IWC silver medal winning wine and its easy to see why, imagine a big Barrossa Valley Shiraz but with bags of finesse; spicy, jammy big and tangy

Great Southern French White

Bordière Nord Marsanne voigner 2011 PGI Pays d'Oc £6.49 at Majestic Wine

Another bargain from Majestic that shows the raising quality of southern France, the label boasts of a marriage of new and old world styles and I can see what they mean. This white wine is greenish gold in colour with a heady aroma of peaches and almonds with a nutty note from the Marsanne grape. There is plenty of sweet citrus flavours, particularly tangerine with tropical pineapple too. The flavour is full, opulent and aromatic; imagine peaches and cream eaten with a wooden spoon. Its very good, fresh, crisp and rich.

Bargain of the Week

La Vieille Capitelle 2009 Côteaux du Languedoc, £5.99 for two at Majestic Wine.
The dependable ex-rugby player Gerard Bertrand is responsible for this excellent wine, drunk with some gusto at an afternoon BBQ, it was firm and fruity. A surprising amount of complexity for its price, very approachable. Buy some now before it goes or the price goes back up.