What we drank at the weekend

I know some people were interested in my wine ramblings before Christmas, so I thought I might while a way a moment or two by letting you know what Helen and I drank over the weekend. I will put prices and suppliers etc so you can take a punt if you feel so inclined.

For Friday aperativo we had a bottle of Soave Classico made by the Pra Brothers in their Coll San’ Antonio vineyard in Italy.

This is fast becoming one of my favourite white wines. I suggested it to Jamie Broughton last year and I know he was knocked out by it. It is full of melon and pineapple flavours but shot through with a mineral acidity that means it is in no way cloying or sweet. It is balanced, structured and wonderful. You can buy it from Knightwick wines for about £9.

We were supposed to be going out to the pictures and for a pizza, but Friday was so horrible, we stayed in and ordered a curry with which we drank:

Chateau du Moulin Rouge 2004. This is one of my favourite wines and is made in the village of Cussac Fort Medoc about twenty kilometres north of Bordeaux. I have been there a couple of times and enjoyed the hospitality of the Ribeiro family who this year let us taste the 2006 out of the barrel, which was fascinating. The 2004 is still very young and a bit raw but is full of classic claret cassis flavours (alliteration anyone?) but was a bit overpowered by the curry! I bought this en primeur through 1855.com for about £7 a bottle. If you ever see this for sale in this country, particularly from the 2000/01/03/05 vintages, buy it. It is great value and a really good introduction to the wonderful world of claret.

For Saturday aperativo we drank Veuve Olivier a rose from the Aldi that cost £3.49. It was a good party wine and a perfectly pleasant way to kick off a Saturday night, but I wouldn’t form a queue to buy it.

While playing poker I drank Porton Viejo. This is available from Laithwaites by mail order for about £7. You have to be careful with Tony Laithwaite. None of his wines are bad, but not many of them are particularly good either. This one is fantastic and I recommend it to you without hesitation. It is made in the Rapel Valley in Chile from Cabernet Sauvignon and tastes like blackberries sucked through bonfire smoke on a cold November evening. Wonderful.

On Sunday, Helen was forced to go to Tesco because they are the only stockists of a particular brand of lip protector that she favours. She softened the impact of this unpleasantness by picking up a bottle of St Joseph for us to have with our Sunday lamb chops. St. Joseph is one of the Rhone Valley villages entitled to its own appellation and is capable of producing big, bold beautiful Syrah based wines that are all pepper and spice. Like most things from Tesco however, this was hugely disappointing: insipid, thin, struggling and tired. It was very generous of Helen to shell out a fiver for it (down from £7) but I am afraid it wasn’t worth it.

More again soon! Izod