Sainsbury's House Claret

This is a non-vintage budget claret from Sainsbury's. I will eventually work my way through this range, as I'm curious to see if any of them would make a good everyday wine.

It's dirt-cheap and to be frank it tastes dirt-cheap. I wasn't expecting a world-beater, but I'm not sure it even tastes like a claret. It could be any number of things. It's drinkable, but have it with food and stick to the one bottle.

Sainsbury's

House Claret

Bordeaux, France

£3.79

2/5

Chateau Liversan Haut-Médoc 2007

Someone recommended this - was it you Marc? Anyway I grabbed one while it was still on offer in the Waitrose French Wine showcase.

Despite the dodgy vintage it's a pretty good wine. To be honest it would hold its own against wines twice the price. Our tasting club recent did a Bordeaux tasting, and several of the £25 bottles just weren't that exciting. Tom reckoned that Haut-Medoc is the best left-bank appellation if you want a bargain. Recommended.

Chateau Liversan

Haut Médoc 2007

Bordeaux, France

Waitrose

£8.99 (£11.99)

3/5

Chateau Palmer 'Alter Ego' 2004 Margaux

A big thanks to my sometime co-blogger Tom for bringing this over. It's on offer at Sainsbury's for just under £30. This is the second wine of Chateau Palmer, a third-growth Bordeaux.

The full price of almost £45 is over-inflated, as it can be obtained for about £35, but to be able to pick up a single bottle for this price is convenient.

It's a lovely wine. Lush fruit-driven, good structure. Cedar mainly, a bit floral. Long finish. Complex and elegant. If you want to splash out, this is a good bet.

Chateau Palmer

Alter Ego 2004

Margaux, Bordeaux

Sainsbury's

£29.99 (£44.99)

4/5

Wine Society Sampler

I mentioned the other day that I bought a bunch of stuff from The Wine Society. Because it's been a rather hectic past few days (not too hectic for wine though), I have managed to try a few more of these wines, but haven't managed a neat and tidy post for each.

So I'm just going to mention them here, along with a few thoughts about each one. They were tasted in various states of sobriety, but I do remember which ones we got excited about and which ones were duds. Here goes:

The Society's Claret (NV). £5.95. It's tempting to turn your nose up to a non-vintage claret, but why? Blending different vintages hopefully irons out the rough spots, and produces a consistent, affordable and drinkable product. This is relatively decent, a good mix of fruit, tannin and drinkability. I wouldn't call it thrilling, but that's OK. 2.5/5

The Society's St. Emilion 2006. £9.95. This was OK, probably about what you'd expect for a tenner. More refined than the NV Claret, but not sure I'd buy it again simply because I think there is better value out there. 3/5

Chateau Bois Joly Cotes de Castillion 2005. £7.25. This is probably what I'd go for if I were to buy a load of Claret. This right-bank appellation punches above its weight for the prices it gets. Good vintage, lots of tasty sour-cherry fruit and grippy tannin. 3.5/5

The Society's French Full Red NV. £4.95. Tastes cheap, is cheap. Not terrible, but not my thing really. 2/5

Grant Burge Benchmark Shiraz 2008. £5.95. This was delicious. It was one of the ones consumed fairly uh, late at night, but I we all loved it. Not your typical woody, boring Aussie Shiraz. This was wildly fruity with a touch of oak. Should cost more than this, but I'm glad it doesn't (and I'm hoping it doesn't sell out). Bonus half-point for great value. 4/5

Hilltop Estates Cserszegi 2009. £4.95. This idea with this was to find a good cheap aromatic white. Advertised as 'between Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer in style', this sounds like it would be right up my alley. It isn't. It's sour, dilute and just doesn't taste very good. 1/5

I've got a couple of others to try yet, and will hopefully be able to post 'normal' blog entries about them.

Chateau Simard St. Emilion 1995

A rare indulgence here. A 15-year old St. Emilion from Sainsbury's. I've mentioned it before, but my Sainsbury's has a 'fine wine' section, and I trust it - they have pretty good stuff in there. We decided to splash out on this - it was a good vintage and it was affordable (in a special occasion sense).

I was actually a bit hesitant when it came to opening it - I thought it might be over the hill or disappointing. My fears were unfounded though - I thought this was in really good shape for a 15-year old wine. Only just starting to turn brown, it had a good core of fruit and was actually quite fresh. I will say it has quite a strong cedar character - is that something you either like or dislike? I always notice it - and I'm not sure it's my favourite Bordeaux characteristic, at least not if it's dominant.

Anyway, it's drinking quite well, so if you like right-bank claret with bottle-age maybe you should check this out.

Chateau Simard

St. Emilion 1995

Sainsbury's

~£20

3.5/5

Prestige de Calvet Bordeaux 2008

Here we have Sainsbury's latest offering in the supermarket half-price Bordeaux arena. Why do I do this to myself? The answer is - for every few crap wines in this price/offer category you will unearth a genuine bargain, but you have to try them, or at least I do, because I don't get free wine sent in the post for me to try (yet).

This wine isn't really all that bad. Yes, it's thin and has very little nose. On the palate it has a pronounced capsicum character, something not unknown to Cabernet (Sauvignon and Franc). It's relatively smooth and inoffensive, but for Pete's sake - £9.99? I didn't pay that obviously, but still...I don't know why I'm surprised, we see this time and time again, we know that it's never worth the full price, and usually not worth the sale price.

Hopefully I've tried this so you don't have to. Again, it's not terrible. If it were £3 or £4 I'd say it was worth the money.

Prestige de Calvet

Bordeaux 2008

Bordeaux, France

Sainsbury's

£4.99 (£9.99)

2/5

Chateau de Roques Puysseguin-St. Emilion 2005

I picked up this right-bank Bordeaux from Thorold Wines, a local shop which was fortunate enough to feature in this month's (April 2010) Decanter magazine. The subject is a feature on independent wine shops and their place in the community following the collapse of First Quench (Threshers/Wine Rack).

I was looking for a Bordeaux, and Daniel Thorold, the proprietor, actually recommended some 2004s, but I stubbornly choose this 2005 on the basis of the vintage. I think I should have listened to him, because I found this a bit lean and austere, which I wasn't really expecting. In truth I think that's what the shop owner was trying to tell me. It had a tarry nose and good grip, but I think it would have been nicer with Sunday lunch, rather than homemade burgers.

Chateau de Roques

Puysseguin-Saint Emilion 2005

Thorold Wines

£12.95

3/5

Chateau Clerc-Milon 2004

I ordered a case of this wine almost exactly 2 years ago, after it performed well in a Decanter tasting. This a 'fifth-growth' claret from Chateau Clerc-Milon in Pauillac, an estate owned and operated by the Rothschild family.

It seemed a good buy - a 5 star rating in the Decanter tasting, reasonable price (about £22/bottle at time of purchase) and reportedly not needing a huge amount of cellaring time (2010 was the start of the recommended drinking window).

This is the 3rd bottle I've had from the case. This is a 'proper' Bordeaux, where the fruit, tannins, structure and elegance all come together and present a very classy wine.

As some of you may know, this blog focuses on value, so a few words on that. The price of this wine has gone up to between £35 and £40 per bottle. Do I think it's worth that? My answer to that is: it's worth it if you can afford it. I think it's worth the £22 I paid for it, and that's because I can cellar it and drink it when I like.

It's hard to find good, elegant claret without breaking the bank, and sometimes you just have to pay for it. 2004 is an above-average, but not outstanding vintage, and it just may be the last affordable one, precluding the frankly ridiculously-priced, hyped-up 2005 vintage. This 2004 may possibly be looked at as a bargain.

Chateau Clerc-Milon 2004

Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

Millesima

£21.66 (Jan. 2008)

4/5

Chateau Grand-Jour Cotes de Bourg 2007

I haven't bought one of these half price Tesco clarets in a while, and after the first sip I remembered why.

This was an impulse buy from my local Tesco 'Metro' while I was on a milk run. I was having steak for dinner and saw this for £6 (from £12.48) so figured 'why not'? Why not is because it's not any good. It's dilute, boring, and overpriced, even at £6. It's also a 2007 which wasn't a great vintage. I haven't tried any other vintages of this wine, so I don't know if that is to blame or not. Either way, steer clear.

Chateau Grand-Jour

Cotes de Bourg AOC 2007

Bordeaux, France

Tesco

£6 (£12.48)

2/5

Chateau de Pitray 2005

This is Chateau de Pitray's 'Grand Vin', and has been a mainstay at Majestic for some time. It's a reliable, fruity right-bank claret from the Cotes de Castillon appellation.

I made sure I got some of this when it appeared on offer (£1 off, I'm such a cheapskate), as Majestic are now on the much-heralded 2005 vintage.

I wish I bought more than 2 bottles, as I really like this wine. It has piercing cherry fruit and elegant tannic structure. Perhaps the finish could be a bit longer, but hey this is sub-£10 claret - I'm not complaining, and it's a classy wine.

Chateau de Pitray 2005

Cotes de Castillon AOC, Bordeaux, France

Majestic

£7.99 (£8.99)

3.5/5

Tasting Report: Decanter world fine wine event

The Decanter world fine wine encounter took place on the 21st to 22nd of November 2009 in London NW1. This was a serious tasting in itself with nearly 100 producers including Chateau Palmer, Craggy Range and Chateau Leoville Poyferre involved. In addition to that there were also Masterclasses held on the various days. I was lucky enough to be invited to the event as well as a Masterclass tasting of Chateau Angelus, by Didier Marcelis of Chateau Serilhan (incidentally, himself producing a lovely St Estephe... to be reviewed in the future).

By the end of the event my tastebuds were on fire and my mouth ringing with acidity from the wines. So none of the reflections below will go into any detail. I just want to sum up what is an excellent event that is well worth the ~£50 ticket. Keep your eyes pealed for the next events including a French fine wine event in February.

So here are some highlights (not by any stretch of the imagination exhaustive):

Fleur de Bouard Lalande de Pomerol (2006 and 2005). The difference between the 2005 and 2006 Bordeaux vintages is incredibly apparent. The 2006 is fruity and opulent, already great to drink. The 2005 by contrast is reserved and much softer, displaying more balance but too closed at the moment. In the long run this will age far better.

Chateau Angelus Premier Grand Cru Classe St Emilion (2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000). What a wine. It lives up to its reputation and delivers a beautiful balanced fruit and cigar box palate with flowers and spice. Sounds overblown? Well yes, but some wines deserve it. Something that was really striking was the consistency through the vintages, each year showing very similar characteristics. I guess this is what happens when you only select the very best grapes. On the otherhand, the 2000 was showing less predominance of spice and was both mellow and opulent.

Chateau Leoville Poyferre Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe St Julien (2004). Cigars and spice again come through on this classic left bank Bordeaux. Its also got berry fruits and plenty of tannins. They were offering it at £32.30 and this seems a great price.

Chateau Phelan Segur St Estephe (2004). By now my tastebuds are starting to drop but I can still taste the wonderful violet sweetness and balanced tannins of this wine. This punches above its weight.

Chateau Palmer Troisieme Grand Cru Classe Margaux (2001). What a wine. Great smell of flowers and fruits and a delicate balance of violet sweetness and tanins. Wonderful lingering finish.

Chateau Beychevelle Quatrieme Grand Crus Classe St Julien (2000). Coffee and cassis on the nose, violet and dark coffee taste, this is a seriously intense wine. Fantastic (you can tell my taste buds are now at deaths door)

Alpha Estate Macedonia, Greece. Here I tasted the Xinomavro and the Estate Red (both 2007). I was very impressed. I don't trust my palate enough at this point to give even a cursory description but these were very well balanced and full bodied wines showing the kind of progress that some in the Greek wine industry are making. This seems to be one of the rising stars of Greece, along with Kyr Giannis. Definitely one to look out for.

So if this list of just some of the excellent wines on offer at this event hasn't convinced you to go to the next one then I don't know what will!

Chateau d’Aiguilhe – Comtes de Neipperg Cotes de Castillon 2004

Cotes de Castillon... I love this place! Spend a few pounds extra on a bottle and you are normally in for a treat. Living in the shadow of its St Emilion neighbour this appellation does not quite have the same cache... and is the better for it. It represents value for money on a right bank of the Gironde that is often overpriced.

I opened this to reveal a wonderfully dark purple wine with a nose perfumed with vanilla, blackberries, spices and even violets (yes, I am getting carried away). This is wine that you want to sit and chew and chomp over and again in your mouth till your teeth go black. It’s bursting with flavour with that perfumed nose coming through initially with a long bitter chocolate finish.

I love Cotes de Castillon even more now.

Chateau d’Aiguilhe
Comtes de Neipperg
Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux, France
Online/Winedirect
~£18 (2005 is £23 from Winedirect)
4/5

Waitrose Good Ordinary Claret 2008

As the weather turns colder I'm getting cravings for Bordeaux. Besides the usual stuff at Tesco and Sainsbury's, I haven't seen too many good deals on claret. Between that and the fact that 2007 was a poor vintage I haven't really bought any recently. I've been sticking to Rhone and Australia.

On a complete and utter whim I decided to try this bottom-rung claret from Waitrose. How bad could it be? 2008 was a decent vintage, and Waitrose has a good team of buyers, why not give it a try? It's only £3.99 after all.

Well, it's ordinary. I don't know about 'good'. It's not bad. It tastes like the kind of wine you'd get served in a pub as the house claret, but only you'd be paying £3.99 for the glass instead of the bottle. It has some fruit, but it's a bit thin. It's drinkable but not terrible. Would I buy it again? Yes, but only if I needed to, and I'm not sure why that would be.

Waitrose

Good Ordinary Claret 2008

Bordeaux AC, Bordeaux, France

£3.99

2.5/5

Bellefond la Rose Pauillac 2000

I purchased, and drank, this bottle a few weeks ago. I wasn't in any hurry to blog about it because I bought it in Brussels (at the same time I bought this), and drank it with a couple of friends. It wasn't the first bottle of the night, and I registered that it was good but that's about all.

However there are a few interesting things about this bottle for me. It was purchased in a Belgian supermarket, where the choice of French wine is miles better than you would get in a UK supermarket (although they aren't so great on other regions). It's from an appellation that has the most number of first growth estates than an other Bordeaux region (source: Wikipedia). It's from a great vintage (2000), has some bottle age, and it only cost 10€.

This is one of those times where, geeky as it may seem, it pays to have a vintage chart on your person. Thanks to my handy Wine Society wallet-sized vintage chart, I was able to make an informed decision. If it was just an average vintage, and sitting around since then, I would have given it a miss.

I suppose I should mention something about the actual wine. It seems to have been produced by a co-op called Cave de Vignerons de Pauillac for a supermarket group called Delhaize. Apologies for that crude interpretation - that's all I could gather from the label and a quick Google.

Since I don't have any tasting notes (except that I noted it was quite good), the moral of the story is that it pays to carry around a vintage chart!

Cave de Vignerons de Pauillac

Bellefond la Rose Pauillac 2000

Some supermarket in Brussels

10€

3+

La Chapelle de Pitray, Côtes de Castillon 2006

I've tried, and enjoyed, the 2005 vintage of this wine. The 2006 vintage has left a mostly negative impression on me. I found it thin and watery, and just generally short on character.

Perhaps I've been drinking too much Aussie red lately, and am just not used to claret's subtleties. I don't drink a lot of this kind of wine in the summer, and I find I have to chill it. Our flat gets quite hot in the summer, generally reflecting the outdoor temperature (it's 25C today, outside and in). Either way, it's not an ideal red wine drinking setting, and I find it takes some of the enjoyment away.

Chateau de Pitray

La Chapelle de Pitray 2006

Côtes de Castillon AOC, Bordeaux, France

Majestic

£5.99

2/5

Baron de Courcelle St. Emilion 2007

Here is another claret bottled for Tesco by the negociant Yvon Mau. Whenever you see a half price claret at Tesco, chances are it's a product of Yvon Mau.

The wines are usually decent, if unspectacular. This is regularly around £15 from Tesco, but it's now on offer for £7.49. It's a Right Bank blend of 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. It has some green pepper character and isn't terribly concentrated or long. It'll do as a decent, everyday-type claret though.

I'm a bit annoyed by the back label: "From the excellent 2007 vintage...". 2007 wasn't an "excellent" vintage, it was average and inconsistent for the right bank, so that is basically a complete lie.

Anyways, sometimes these half price deals can be a great bargain. This one however is not, and under no circumstances should you pay the full price of £15 for this wine. I'm giving it a 3 on quality, but if price (or morals) were a factor it would be less.

Yvon Mau

Baron de Courcelle St. Emilion 2007

St. Emilion AOC, Bordeaux, France

Tesco

£7.49 (£14.99)

3/5

Chateau de Sours Rosé 2008

If Carlsberg made rosé...

For whatever reason, this rosé has garnered the praise of the late writer Auberon Waugh. I don't really know anything about him, so I'm not going to pretend to. However his words are immortalized on the back label of this wine: "Probably the best rosé in the world."

I started buying this wine 2 years ago, and felt that it was pretty decent then. This summer (2009) however, I've been sampling a lot of different rosés. Some are boring, some are too red, and some are too expensive. This still tastes great, and perhaps this is a good wine to help all you Merlot-hating Sideways fans remember that this grape deserves its reputation. Actually, maybe Pomerol or St. Emilion would be better for that, but this is a start.

Chateau de Sours

Rosé 2008

Bordeaux, France

Majestic

£6.99 (£8.99)

3.5/5

Dourthe No. 1 Bordeaux Blanc 2007

Fancy a Sauvignon Blanc but without the high prices of the Loire, the grimness of Chile (at least the lower priced ones), or the exaggerated cat's pee and gooseberries of New Zealand?  Then look no further, as you can get just that from Bordeaux, of all places.

Under £6 (on offer) and does everything you ask of it.  Do yourself a favour and drink more white Bordeaux.

Dourthe

No. 1 Bordeaux Blanc

Bordeaux, France

Waitrose

< £6

3/5

Roc de Lussac, Lussac-St. Emilion 2007

This wine is frequently on offer at Sainsbury's for half price.  This time it's on for £5.99, marked down from £11.99.  This is a right-bank Bordeaux from the appellation Lussac-Saint Emilion, just a few kilometers northeast of St. Emilion.

I find that with these offers, the wine is usually worth the marked down price and I wouldn't be caught dead paying full price, and that is the case here.  An argument could be made that I'm just used to these offers, but then I could argue back that a lot of wine is overpriced, so either way I win.  I'd say this one is OK for £6.  It has a decent nose - a bit of cherry fruit, perhaps a bit of greenness, and the palate reflects this with a hint of fruit and some chalky tannins.

If you're a French wine lover and like the perception of getting a deal, go for it: it'll do OK with your sirloin steak.  If you're looking for something special, give it a miss.

Roc de Lussac, Lussac-St. Emilion 2007

Bordeaux, France

Sainsbury's

£5.99 (£11.99)

2.5/5

Madame de Rayne Sauternes 2005

(as part of a fine wine tasting)

This is the second wine of Chateau de Rayne-Vigneau. There is an excellent write up of this producer here.

This was the final wine of our fine wine tasting (see previous 5 posts). I thought it was a good wine, but it didn't blow me away. There are other, much more affordable dessert wines that I'd recommend before this one, and not just because of the price.

I actually found the shop I bought it in more interesting - The Grape Shop on Northcote Road near Clapham Junction. It's a very small shop and their selection is limited, but I actually chose to buy my wine there instead of the more well-known Philglas & Swiggot down the road. I thought the proprietors at The Grape Shop were very helpful and engaging, in contrast to their counterparts at Philglas & Swiggot, who seemed more interested in hearing about someones recent trip to Hungary than helping their customers. I was in there again today and two of the staff were eating their (smelly) lunch in full view of the rest of the store. A bit of a turn-off.

Anyways, despite their smaller store, The Grape Shop also manages to stock a few interesting, affordable wines, some of which are personal favourites. This Copertino is one, along with a Barolo from Araldica (who produce affordable Piedmontese wines), and several wines from the Alsace co-op Cave de Turckheim (I picked up a 2005 Grand Cru Gewurztraminer for about £13).

Chateau de Rayne-Vigneau Madame de Rayne Sauternes 2005
Bordeaux, France
The Grape Shop
~£29
3/5