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A brace of cheapie Asda reds
With the current anti-alcohol tax regime, is it still possible to sell a bottle of wine at £5? Asda thinks so. They pointed me at a handful of recent Extra Special selections in their range in the £5-6 price bracket. Looking for something to go with fresh Yorkshire Spring lamb chops, I pulled out these two...
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Vinsobres Domaine Chaume-Arnaud 2009
Rhone wines can be easily overlooked, and yet many rival the finest Bordeaux, as anyone who has tried Hermitage La Chapelle will tell you. This Vinsobres comes from the Southern Rhone, is inky in colour and robust, spicy, tannic and plummy in taste. It’s a George Galloway of a wine. Feisty, intelligent, slightly unbalanced and...
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Niepoort, Redoma, 2006
Most people think of Portugal and think of Port. But, when it comes to table wine, this is an outdated view. Dirk Niepoort is a pioneer of new Portugal. Fabulous non-fortified wines made from indigenous grapes that I can’t even pronounce, let alone spell. I first discovered his wines in Lisbon in 2009 at EWBC....
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WART award for the Three Acres
The serving temperature of wine is so important to its enjoyment that 267 members joined a Facebook group dedicated to the subject. As the owner of said page, I appoint myself Chief Evangelist and poster boy for raising awareness of the Wine at Right Temperature (WART) campaign. Part of my duties include throwing brickbats at restaurants...
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Perfect Beans-on-Toast recipe
As any good chef will tell you, good cooking starts with good sourcing. Assuming that you are an adult, the single most important ingredient you need for this dish is Branston Baked Beans. The other essential component is a bottle of Tuella, Douro, 2006 vintage if you can get it, which should be opened and...
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Chénas, Château Bonnet, 2010
I’ve had a massive, Rowan Gormley style, fallout with Virgin Wines. Having restructured (read less favourable terms) their “Wine Bank” offer, I had the temerity to request the closure of my Wine Bank account. After three emails and two phone calls still no joy. So, no more Virgin Wines. I am storming (or maybe mincing)...
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Dujac, Morey-saint-Denis, 2006
If you are ever in Manchester and fancy a decent glass of wine, Hanging Ditch is my recommendation. The only negative is that, even in this alco-city, where poor restaurants barely survive next to pubs, bars, lounges and drinking dens, Hanging Ditch has the temerity to close at 8pm, even on big nights. On the...
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Yali, Three Lagoons, Carménère, 2008
When I am in a really good mood, my Opus Dei style self-flagellation is a mooch through the wine aisle at Sainsbury’s. Brings me back down to depression with a bump. Yard after yard of unremitting boredom. Branded wines at prices that, once you have removed duty, VAT and cost of shipping, indicate an investment...
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Is Riedel right about wine glasses? Château Filhot taste test
The venerable Austrian wine glass maker, Georg Riedel, has made a mistake. I know this to be a fact because I have just done a taste test on a bottle of 2001 Château Filhot, I've been saving for a while.
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Peter Luger Steak House, New York
When you’ve been serving steaks since 1887, you’ve probably learned a thing or two. The legend of Peter Luger in Brooklyn hangs over most steakhouses in the world like a godlike presence. Observe, salivate, copy, hope. No matter the rumours of crusty service, the fact I had to make 23 (yes, twenty three) phone calls...
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Charmes-Chambertin, Armand Rousseau, 1995
I’ve had mixed experiences with different vintages of this wine. For example the 1996 was not great, and the 1998 was OK but not worth the money. The oldest of the batch I bought from the Wine Society was a 1995, advised to be drunk by 2011. Oops. It’s 2012. Better get the corkscrew! But,...
