Valdivieso Single Vineyard Pinot Gris Reserva 2007

I was placing an order with Bibendum, and I decided to add a case of this on at the last moment. I really like Pinot Gris, and I've never had one from Chile before. This particular one also got a couple of favourable mentions from wine writers that I religiously follow. It's currently going for £9.99 per bottle, but I got it for just over £7 during Bibendum's summer sale.

One thing that was mentioned by these writers is that this is a food wine. I completely agree with that. It's a very savoury wine - the pear fruit aromas and oily texture hide a wine with a bit of a grip to it - it would be slow going without food to complement it. A crude way to describe it would be to say it has a bitter finish, but that makes it sound unpleasant, which it isn't. I found it a good match with cheese, especially the Ossau-Iraty.

An interesting wine for sure.

Oddly, the wine is missing from Valdivieso's website in the "Single Vineyard" section for some reason.

Valdivieso

Single Vineyard Pinot Gris Reserva 2007

Lontue Valley, Chile

Bibendum

£9.99

3.5/5

Spy Valley Riesling 2007

This is currently one of my favourite wines. I love the off-dry Riesling style, and this is a great example at a fantastic price. I got this from Bibendum during their 2009 summer sale for £6.60 a bottle. The wonderfully low price was somewhat tempered by the high cost of delivery (£15), so a group of us got together and bought 2 cases of 12.

Citrusy, off dry, good acid backbone and a characteristically kerosene scented nose, this is a perfect wine for drinking on its own or with spicy Asian food. Its low(ish) alcohol of 12% won't leave you overwhelmed either.

I also have some of the 2008 (from the Wine Society, and I have yet to blog about it) and although it's very good, it hasn't quite got the same character, in that it's lacking the kerosene nose. Perhaps this will come with age?

Apparently I'm not the only one that likes this wine, as both Bibendum and the Wine Society seem to be sold out.

Spy Valley

Riesling 2007

Marlborough, New Zealand

Bibendum

£6.60 (£8.99)

4/5