Wine » Spain

Ricard with Cuvee 735

Pleasures of the flesh with Ricard and Dani

The charming Ricard Sariola joined Dani and I to celebrate St George’s day with a wing rib of beef. Roast beef is about as English as things get and so am I! We also tasted Riesling, Burgundy and a selection of heroic Mourvedres. Truly we are serious chaps to undertake such an engagement for Monday [...]


Vinos Ambiz Garnacha 2010 with Scotch eggs

A natural wine

Some may recall, on my post about natural wine, a brief discussion with Fabio of Vinos Ambiz in which he agreed to send me a bottle of his wine as long as I was brutally honest about it. This post is the culmination of that bargain. I agreed to be honest, Fabio, and I most [...]


Fino Tres Palmas - interesting but not the most enjo... no, not slightly enjoyable

I cannot encapsulate this drink – read the note

Even as a regular Sherry drinker and incredible fan, I cannot possibly summarise the drinking experience this wine presents in a sentence. Head down the page and the note will make all clear. Just so you know: this is a Fino Sherry bottled at ten years old when, we are told, the growth of flor [...]


Many thanks to Andy Singer for having no idea I've stolen one of his jokes - click this image to go to his site

Three cheap wines I love

When I mention my interest in wine to a new acquaintance I am rarely surprised by the responses I hear. Sadly, the most frequent reaction is for someone to adjust their face to a woefully tiresome expression and say, in a tone more appropriate for accusing someone of farting in their granny’s face, “Oh you [...]


Pinot Noir 'Rachel' 2008, Seresin is merely drinkable yet over-priced

The staggeringly lacklustre and pitifully acceptable

Sometimes you fancy something different, happens to us all, and so you shop outside your normal parameters. Of course, this is a path fraught with danger and the peril of heinous suffering. We all do it anyway. The Albarino was the only white wine, beyond Sherry, I have found I could reliably manage to tolerate [...]


Some of the wines we sampled

An evening’s drinking rarely leaves me this impressed

Once again it was our pleasure to host Peter Sidebotham (of Hand-Picked Burgundy) and Peter Palmer (the Black Sea wanderer) at Elitistreview Towers. We drank quite mind-bogglingly well, but I was a tad dejected that three weeks off the sauce whilst in hospital has done my historically epic tolerance no favours at all. I was [...]


Manzanilla La Gitana from Hidalgo

Summer drinking for the illuminati

Right, let me make one thing entirely clear from the start: Sherry is a fortified wine that comes from the Jerez area of Spain. There is definitely no such thing as British Sherry, Cyprus Sherry, Wodonga Sherry or any similar variety of filth that the mendacious purveyor of sordid dross might try to coerce you [...]


Guy modelling Crozes-Hermitage 1983

Mature Crozes-Hermitage, unfeasibly good Rioja, Chambolle-Musigny and red Sancerre

As I lack a comprehensive cellar laid down by wine-loving parents I do not try properly mature wines as often as I would like. Consequently, when Guy and Peter came around on Tuesday night for a sedate blind-tasting session it was quite a treat to try a couple of wines that were definitely ripe for [...]


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Manzanilla is so refreshing

Hidalgo make one of the most affordable and one of the best Manzanillas. Stick a bottle in the fridge and when it is chilled enjoy its refreshing vivacity. Manzanilla la Gitana, Bodegas Hidalgo A fresh nose with a slightly salty aroma, there is something of the sea about this nose. It is quite nutty too [...]


Red wine and red meat

Hawksmoor’s wonderful red meat provided an excellent foil for solid Syrah and Grenache last night as we dined to celebrate the birthday of our chum James and also my birthday. I shared a 1.2kg prime rib of beef and it was totally brilliant meat. Really amazing, so much flavour and such a wonderful texture. The [...]

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