Vina Fuerte Old Vine Garnacha 2009

Following on the last post in with the Grenache theme, this was the other wine I tried along with the Australian one. It was bound to be different, being Spanish and much younger, and it was.

It was deep red in colour and much fresher. It was a bit grapey, which is what you can get with warm-climate Grenache, but not overwhelmingly so. It was rich and had acceptable structure, but still simple and arguably one-dimensional. Not a bad thing though - a good example of affordable, good wine, although I wonder if the full price of £6.99 isn't a little steep.

Vina Fuerte

Old Vines Garnacha

DO Calatayud, Spain

Waitrose

£5.24 (£6.99)

3/5

Peter Lehmann Back to Back Grenache 2006

I felt like drinking some Grenache the other day, after a friend of mine and I were talking about it at lunch. It's one of his favourite wines and when I was in Waitrose later in the day I noticed they had a couple on offer. They were different enough from each other that it warranted buying both and trying them at the same time.

This Peter Lehmann wine is Australian and has some bottle age, while the other one was Spanish and quite young - an interesting contrast I thought.

The Back to Back tasted like a Peter Lehmann red. It reminded me of the Clancy's blend. Reddish-brown in colour, tomato character on the nose and palate, and I thought a bit past its best. Some sourness, but also some hints at the powerful fruit it possessed at some point. If you read the Clancy's post, I praise the wine, but in truth I bought some a few months after that post and I thought it was over the hill. I feel similar about this - what would it taste like a couple of years younger?

Peter Lehmann

Back to Back Grenache 2006

Barossa Valley, South Australia

Waitrose

£5.59 (£6.99)

2.5/5

Vega del Castillo Garnacha 2008

I decided to try this as a potential sub £5 good value wine. I tasted it at a Wine Society tasting, and as I've (stupidly) tended to do lately it was one of the last wines that I tried. I thought it was so-so, but something in that price range would have to be truly outstanding to impress me at the end of a tasting.

So I bought it anyway. It's better than so-so, but that's about as good as it gets. It has some perfumey, baked dark fruit flavours and a slight grip. It's not as rich as I expected, being a wine from old vines. I suppose you're not going to get much better than this for under £5.

Vega del Castillo

Garnacha 2008

Navarra, Spain

The Wine Society

£4.95

2.5/5

Domaine Pouderoux Vendange Mise Tardive Maury 2003

Maury is an appellation in the Roussillon region of France specializing in a Port-like fortified red wine. This wine is called "Vin Doux Naturel" and is in fact very similar to Port, the main difference being the strength and volume of grape spirit added in order to halt fermentation. The Wine Doctor has a good article on it here.

Maury, in particular, is supposed to be the wine to have with chocolate, if you're into that sort of thing. So that's what we did. Was it any good? I guess it was OK. It didn't really strike me as a magical flavour combination, but it was good enough.

It's recommended on the bottle that the wine be served at a temperature of 12 - 14 degrees Celsius. I may have had it a bit too cold, because I felt that the low temperature actually masked the flavour of the wine, and I appreciated it more when it warmed up to room temperature.

The wine itself reminded me of a non-vintage or LBV Port. I don't drink a lot of this type of wine, so it would be difficult for me to compare the two, but the Maury is perhaps a bit sweeter and lower in alcohol (15.5% compared to 20% for Port).

All in all a decent bottle, and despite what I said earlier, it is a solution to the "what wine do you serve with chocolate" conundrum.

Domaine Pouderoux

Vendange Mise Tardive Maury 2003

Roussillon, France

Waitrose

£9.99

3/5

Barcelino Catalunya 2005

Well this is interesting. The folks at Lidl have done it. They've found a very good wine and managed to sell it for under £5 a bottle, with pretty much no fanfare.

This IS a good wine, not like that other one from Lidl that I blogged about a few days ago. Lots of fruit, complex-ish flavours, good depth and if you don't mind, a bit of oak. A lot of spiciness too, probably from the 3 months of aging in American oak. I'm not normally a huge fan of oaky flavours, but it suits this very well.

This normally sells for £4.99 which is already great value, but right now it's on sale for £3.49, which is almost a crime. I'm stocking up.

Barcelino
DO Catalunya 2005
Lidl
£3.49 (£4.99)
3/5

St. Hallett Gamekeeper's Reserve 2007

This wine won the Australian "red rhone varietals under £10" trophy at the 2008 Decanter World Wine Awards. It's available in Sainsbury's and Waitrose, so I decided to pick up a bottle to see what all the fuss is about. Annoyingly, I paid £7.99 for it at Sainsbury's, only to find out that it's only £6.99 at Waitrose.

I'm starting to think I don't really like Rhone blends (that includes Chateauneuf-du-Pape). I don't really like the bouquet, it reminds me of cheap wine. I don't know if it's the grenache, or the warmer climates that produce these wines, but I'm usually disappointed. It's almost like the Shiraz/Syrah is being diluted with other varieties to produce a lighter bodied wine.

This wine has its moments though. It's well made, in that it's concentrated and flavourful. I'm also getting some minty, smoky aromas. I was all prepared to slag it off actually, but it has definitely improved in the glass over the past hour, with the powerful Shiraz flavours coming through. It is also keenly priced.

Interestingly, I also picked up a Waitrose own-label Barossa Shiraz, which is also made by St. Hallett. Looking forward to trying that one.

St. Hallett
Gamekeeper's Reserve 2007
Barossa, Australia
Waitrose/Sainsbury's
£6.99/£7.99
3/5