I know, I know, I've been neglecting my site. I apologise. Sometimes, though, it's so much easier to post a review on Instagram than it is here; I love that about Instagram, the quick snap and the review in the comments. I feel like you get more information from me that way than you do here. This is a place for cocktail recipes and more in depth chats about wine I feel. Maybe you like the reviews here? You tell me! We've definitely been drinking probably more than we should, but I blame lockdown. Things are hard right now, and finding small nuggets of joy in each day is the way to get through. We get joy out of having a glass of wine, so there are times when we have several. Bottles. Anyway, I digress. I thought that I might do a little round up of just a small selection of the wines we have tried recently and have scored them out of 10 just for fun. First up, this Lucien Lardy Vigneron Beaujolais-Villages "Vignes de 1951". We were sent this by Jascots Wine Merchants (thank you again!). An unpretentious simple Beaujolais which does exactly what you would expect a Beaujolais to do. 100% Gamay and planted on steep slopes and small hillsides; this is a light and fruity wine. Notes of red fruits (raspberry and strawberry) along with some darker fruits like blackberry. There were some subtle savoury characters, perhaps some bitter chocolate or tobacco, and just the slightest grip of some rounded but nicely structured tannins. Not my favourite Beaujolais-Villages I can't lie, but you certainly wouldn't be disappointed if you got this at a pub or restaurant. It's very drinkable! 6.5/10 Next up, Prieuré Saint-Côme Chablis. This one came via Theatre of Wine, and is a really really wonderful example of just how good Chablis can be. I won't start here on a rant about Chardonnay (I've written an article about it for a magazine and I'll let you know as and when that is published), but honestly, Chablis is one of the best things to happen to the Chardonnay grape. This one is fermented and aged in stainless steel, is not oaked (typical of Chablis) and has a wonderful gravelly mineral flavour - the terroir in the Chablis area is well known for this and this is why the wine has such a distinctive savoury note to it. I tasted citrus (lemon & grapefruit) and also honey and apple. A really stunning wine and one I will definitely be buying over and over. 9.5/10 Now we come to what I am classing as the star of this 4-act show. Another Chardonnay, this time from Hungary. The Kovács Nimród Monopole Battonage. Made in a classic Burgundy style, this is a truly delicious wine. Battonage is the process of stirring the lees (or yeast which is formed during fermentation) through the wine. This wine is aged in small barrels made from French, Hungarian and a very small amount of American oak. The lees ageing provides a wonderful creamy, yeasty, almost brioche note to the wine and alongside this, there are flavours of citrus, honey and orchard fruits. This one was another Theatre of Wine purchase, and honestly a real show stopping crowd pleaser. Phenomenal. 10/10 Lastly, we head to France for the Roc' Ambulle Pet Nat Negrette. This is a natural, organic, sparkling pink made from Mauzac & Negrette grapes. Pet Nat, for those who don't know, is short for pétillant naturel and basically means naturally fizzy. The wine is bottled before the primary fermentation is complete and without any additional yeasts or sugars, allowing the final throes of fermentation to happen in bottle creating this wonderful tongue tingling sparkle. This is unlike the champagne method in which the wine undergoes a second fermentation in bottle. Because it is a natural wine it did contain some sediment, which although doesn't affect the flavour, it did, on the last mouthful, impair my enjoyment of the wine. It can sometimes be beneficial to decant natural wines, (perhaps through cheesecloth or muslin), to remove this sediment, but I do love a natural wine. This one was nice; a lovely shade of pink akin to a rose lemonade (mmm, rose lemonade, I quite fancy a glass of that right now actually) and was perfectly pétillant. It had notes of strawberry and a pink grapefruit acidity on the nose and the palate offered up candied strawberries and juicy cherries. I think I said in my Instagram post that both of these flavours had been subtly kissed by a rose in bloom. Yes, this is a very wanky thing to say, but I stand by the description as I think it works. Plus, I'm reviewing wine, and that can definitely be considered a wanky 'profession'! A lovely example of a Pet Nat, and certainly very quaffable, but can't say it was massively memorable. 7/10 Well, there we have it. Just a short round up of some of the wines we have been getting into recently.
I'll try not to neglect this too much, but, despite lockdown, life does still manage to get in the way somehow! Let me know in the comments what other content you might like to see both here and over on Instagram. Until the next time my imbibing friends...
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