Martín Códax Albariño 2011

I developed a taste for Albariño in Galicia when I completed the Camino de Santiago by bike in 2003.  It did give the wine an unfair advantage, being the drink I celebrated the fact that I no longer had to cycle every day during the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe, but I like to think it was just that it's really good wine that's flavoursome and refreshing.

The Martin Codax brand is a reliable source.  They opt for a clean fresh varietal approach, no messing, no blending, no aging, no oaking.  They ferment the wine, let it sit around in its own residue for a bit, bottle it and ship it.  There's sometimes the very slightest hint of pettilance, but that sits well with its acidity, bringing that citrus flavours to life, without overwhelming the soft green herbiness and sweet peachy goodness within.

The alcohol level is about 13% so it's easy drinking and won't knock your socks off if you want a second glass, or a third if you've been out on your bike all day, just don't get back on the bike afterwards.

This wine has for me a very firm sense of place, it reflects the cooler shores of north west Spain, rather than the summer heat of Rioja and Navarra, it's fresher, lighter, but just as good.

Majestic carry it for about £12, but it's usually available on offer or in some sort of multibuy for £10.

Fremondo Greco Sannio 2012

It was Eurovision final night last night, so like every right thinking European we printed out our superfan score sheets, stocked up on snacks, turned our taste-o-meters down to zero and settled in for a night of weird and wonderful entertainment.  As the contest took place in Malmo this year, we couldn't drink host-country wine, so we celebrated Vincenzo Nibali's excellent form in the Giro with an Italian wine instead.

Greco comes from the area around the bay of Naples, where it is hot, but the people are cool.  Italy's Eurovision entry appeared to be cheating - they'd entered a sharp dressed handsome man singing a well written pop song - no wacky dancers, curious instruments or wardrobe malfunctions.  What is the Eurovision world coming to?

The wine itself was good.  A pale colour, smelling of sweet fruit blossoms.  It was crisply dry, with a much fuller body than I'd anticipated.  The sweet blossom had a honey tinge which sat nicely with the squishy ripe peach flavour of the wine, which lasted well.

This is a new addition to the Majestic range, and the first batch seems to have sold out, perhaps because they were offering 20% off if you buy two bottles as part of a mixed case.  I did, and I'd do it a
gain.

Juliénas 2009 Georges Duboeuf Flower Label

It's springtime in Britain, finally.  Pale and pasty people are staggering out of their houses and into their

gardens, with only a slight squelch underfoot.  Plants are growing and weeds are thriving.  For some reason this time of year puts me in the mood for Beaujolais.  It may be because Deboeuf has trained me with his Flower Labels to equate blooming with buying Beaujolais, but I prefer to think it's because Beaujolais expresses springtime with every swig.

Juliénas adds that extra touch of romance by claiming that it's the region where the Romans first planted vines in Beaujolais, naming the area after Julias Caesar.  I'm a sucker for historical links to wine.

This one is sweet, well, it's not dry, and its not actually sweet, but for a European red it's pretty sweet.  It's a full on fruit bomb of fresh berries squished up with some blossom still attached, but not in a sickly kind of way.  There's something quite grown up in there, spicy to an almost festive degree.

For £9 this is a good buy.  I'll buy more.

Zinification Shiraz Zinfandel 2011

I have a confession to make, I love Zinfandel.  Sadly if you say that in England people may think you mean White Zinfandel, the wine of choice for people who don't much care for wine, but will drink it if it tastes more like a still strawberry alco-pop.  Red Zinfandel can be heavenly, but it grows in California.  Whilst I may pray for rain in California so the grapes can grow and they can make more wine it won't do me much good.  By the time wine has been made and shipped across the USA and then across the Atlantic, and then had import duties, excise duties and taxes added, even the most mundane Zinfandel can be prohibitively expensive.

This bottle has a fun label.  That's rarely a good sign, and had me fearing that it may be aiming for the White Zinfandel crowd.  It's a rich dark red, and it smells, well, like Shiraz really.  It's a bit more blackberries than raspberries, and the spice is perhaps deeper than the light black pepper tang I'd hoped for.  If there was a Venn diagram of pure Shiraz and pure Zinfandel I guess this would just about pass for a warm climate over extracted Zinfandel of rich black pepper and super ripe blackberries and blackcurrants, but I suspect that's all coming from the Shiraz, there doesn't seem to be much of the lighter, fun raspberry fruitiness of a scrumdiddlyumptious cooler weather, lower yield, lovingly crafted Zinfandel, but hey, I paid less than a tenner for the bottle, it came with a fun label, and it tasted pretty good.  It is perhaps my fault that I had excessively high hopes for the bottle, not the wine's fault for not being something entirely different.

I'll try and keep my Zinfandel cravings in check til I'm next in the USA, I'll only be disappointed or bankrupted otherwise.

Marks & Spencer Toque Virtuoso Sauvignon Blanc 2011

Another weekend, another Marks & Spencer 'Dine In' offer, although the offer that this wine came with was a few weeks ago.  I have a confession to make - I don't always drink the wine that comes bundled with the meal offer with the meal bundle.

I tend not to think 'Spain' when looking for a Sauvignon Blanc.  I think of the cool hillsides in the Loire I've cycled through where the Sauvignon Blanc grows in the rain, or what I imagine to be similar sites in New Zealand.  Spain just seems too sunny for Sauvignon. Blanc.

The difference did come through in this wine, it was dry, but with less acidic bite than I might expect from a classic Sauvignon Blanc.  The feel was rather smooth, and the flavour more tropical than a typical example, although rather sparse, more light rain on a mango tree rather than cat's pee on a gooseberry bush.

It wasn't my favourite, but it was pleasant enough and unlikely to offend anyone.  Perhaps the 70's style label should have given me a clue, it was wine for people who are willing to give wine a go but don't want anything too winey.

Domaine Gau 2011 Shiraz Viognier

Weirdly, this Languedoc wine calls its Syrah Shiraz.  I suspect that is to appeal to drinkers more used to buying new world varietals.  I also suspect that that is a profitable strategy.  People know what Shiraz Viognier is, and that makes it easier to buy than a Languedoc or D'Oc labelled wine.

This example was pretty good, and didn't have to travel half way around the world, so a smidge more cash could be spent on the grapes in the bottle rather than their bus fare to England.

At 13% alcohol it wasn't as bold as a similar example from Australia might be, but it tasted good.  There was a dark fruity pepperiness balanced by what felt like a squeeze of stone fruit sweetness.  It hasn't made it onto a must-drink list, but I'd drink it again, with a smile, and would be a good choice for outdoor summer dining. £8.50 seems only a little steep £7.50 would be spot on.

Marks & Spencer Monferrrato Chiaretto 2011

I don't often go looking for wine at M&S, I tend to view it more as an underwear provider, or a lunchtime sandwich takeaway shop.  I'll admit that does seem like a strange retail combo.  Now and then they have tempting offers in the food department for "Dine in for two - A main dish, a side dish, a dessert and a bottle of wine for £10".  As the main I'll usually choose is a couple of salmon fillets or a piece of haddock, it doesn't leave a lot of change from £10 on its own, although I think the £10 deal is a loss leader designed to encourage you to pick up overpriced prepared veg and whatnot whilst you're there.  For that reason I don't expect a lot from the wines thrown into the offer, and they're usually first in line for risotto duty.  This wine was pink, which does give seafood risotto a little festive flair.

This wine needs to be cold, very cold, but once it is, it's actually not bad.  It has a little sweet strawberry on the nose, and it is a delightful salmon colour.  It's zippy and fresh with a good zing of acidity and something minerally, but not like French flint, more like the silica that makes Italian mineral waters taste so good.  It comes from the area around Lake Garda in the north, and I'm sure if I drank it on the shores of Lake Garda on a warm summer evening it would be transcendental, in the kitchen of an English Midlands house on a snowy March evening, it was fine.

The regular M&S price for this wine is £6, which is OK, it puts it pretty much of a muchness with supermarket pinks a notable notch above the white zinfandel shelf.  When it comes in at effectively ~£3 as part of the M&S Dine In offer it's a good choice.

Carmen Steven's Angels' Reserve Chenin Blanc 2012

Chenin Blanc isn't my favourite grape and South African Chenin Blanc would not make it on to anyone's Desert Island Wines list (everyone has one of those right?).  This bottle came in a mixed case and we had it on a night when we were making seafood risotto.  That way a large glass goes into the dinner so if the wine isn't super it doesn't feel like a waste.  This wine wasn't super, but it was a lot better than I'd anticipated.

It had something of a peaches and cream flavour too it, not strong, perhaps more peach blossom and evaporated milk, but enough to mark it out as a wine with a smidge of character.  I'd expect to pay £5-6, but it's priced £7-9 so with a whole world of wine to choose from I'd try something new, because I like to keep trying new wines, but if you're looking for something that's quite nice and unlikely to be hated by anyone this is as good a choice as any.

Chateau Saint Martin de la Garrigue Coteaux du Languedoc Rouge “Bronzinelle”

I'm tempted to call this one "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy", partly because it is all of those things, partly because that's one of my favourite albums, but mostly because it's fun to say.  Go on, give it a go.  This wine has lots of everything.  It has a lavender, herby fruity smell, and an arresting purple colour.

The taste of herbs and lavender don't really carry through to the taste because you're smacked upside the head by fat fruitiness and a sweet reminder of the childhood delight of liqueur chocolates, then there's something that if I knew what I was talking about I might call cigar-box, but I don't so something tobacco-ish, but in a positive way, rather than a cheap roll-ups kinda way.

I liked it a lot.  It wasn't sophisticated, it wasn't fancy, but it was wine that tasted like someone had made it to be enjoyed, with home cooked food and loud friends.  Expect to feel happy paying £15 for it.

Domaine Jordy Tentation 2009

Another evening in over Christmas, another wine from Languedoc.  This one was a beautifully festive dark red.  It smelled of woodland, in a positive way, oak and freshly kicked up leaf mould rather than mushrooms.          Although dry, the fruit and spice combined to give it a sweetness, something reminiscent of cinnamon bun with granny's damson jam.  Perhaps the 13.5% alcohol was kicking in at that stage, but that's what it reminded me of.

There was a good wallop of oak which combined with the wines own ripe tannins to give it a bit of backbone.  I really enjoyed this wine and thought it well worth the £10 price tag.  It's not a huge producer, but it is worth looking out for if you're in the mood for something a little different from the high street standard choices.

Domaine Pierre Cros Minervois Rouge Vielles Vignes 2009

It's been a while, but I've finally found time to catch up on a few favourites from Christmas.  The big upside of Christmas is plenty of relaxed time at home (or someone else's home) to chat and huddle up in the warm and enjoy some wine.  Domaine Pierre Cros Minervois Rouge Vielles Vignes 2009 fits that bill perfectly.  It's a beautiful rich colour, which works particularly well under Christmas lights.

It smells warming, if such a thing is possible, like gently stewed plums.  There's more blackberries and damsons and all things autumnal in the flavour, along with something almost clove-like, although I may have been allowing the Christmas cheer to get the better of my tastebuds.

I'm told it's wine from hundred year old vines, which adds a touch of romance, imagine how many evenings those vines have brightened up with their fruit.  Here's to their next 100 years.

Mixed Tape Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Malbec 2008

So it's starting to look like there's an '80s music theme to my wine drinking.  This mixed tape wine label made me smile.  There was a time when creating the ultimate music mix, with just under 90 minutes to work with was an all consuming obsession.  Choosing the right songs was only half the battle.  Once you'd selected the exact right tunes from a good selection of bands, with some new music, some delightfully retro, some unashamedly populist, and just enough obscurity to maintain cool without crossing the line into insufferably hip, you then had to decide the running order.  Banging up a Spotify playlist just doesn't feel the same.

So, back to the wine.  In some ways it felt retro too, from back in the day when I graduated from Hungarian wines, drained from the EU wine lake and bought on the cheap from Sam's Mini-mart, to Australian wines, which were, in comparison, the height of student sophistication.

This wine has power-ballad written all over it, whilst not quite turned all the way up to 11, it's clearly dialled up pretty high, with flavour and alcohol fighting it out for supremacy.  At first I found it a little overwhelming, but after a while it settled down, or I did, and the flavours won out.  I think it might benefit from another six months to grow up a bit in the bottle.  I have another which I'll leave for a while, and next time I'll likely decant it and give it a chance to settle before drinking, I'm sure it will be worth it.