2005-06-24

TN: The Boulders Petite Syrah '03

Stelvin closure, produced by McManis Family Vineyards.

Appearance: very dark, opaque purple.

Nose: strong and well developed, fruity and alcoholic. ?!vinegar? Something green. Wet privet hedge?

Palate: dry and fairly soft, full bodied with some velvety tannin. Dark berries. A long finish of fruit acid and Spangles, with a vegetal quality.

Conclusion: a good mid-quality wine, drinking now or keeping for a year or two or three. (14)-15/20.

2005-06-23

Rully in a hot year

Les Champs-Lins, vielles vignes AC Rully. Vinifié, élevé et mis en bouteille par Vincent Girardin à Meursault, Côte d'Or, under cork.

In other words, full on chardonnay from one of the top producers, but not necessarily all his own grapes. Rully is in the Côte Chalonnais, the disparate here and there vineyards between the Côte de Beaune and the Mâcon region.

Rully has for long been a favourite wine appellation, a little bit more expensive than the Mâcon which I usually go for, but with a worthwhile steeliness. This bottle is distinctly richer than other Rullys I have tasted. There's oilcloth, hot toasted wood, even a mild allspice character to the nose, surely all signs of the extreme nature of the '03 growing season. The palate is immediately rewarding, full and ever so slightly sweet, then with the steeliness coming through. The finish gets a slightly bitter twist in, and lasts for ages. Woohoo, top white bourgogne for not quite top prices. Actually, I don't know the price of this un, but I'm still giving it 16/20.

2005-06-20

Hallucinatory grass and home made lemonade

Hey, it looks very green... Oh no, hang on, that's the bottle, it's actually fairly yellow, albeit going watery at the rim. And the nose is big, aromatic, but I'm over the sauvignon blanc-a-like notion I had about this wine last year, so it's becoming clear that any grassiness is psychosomatic grassiness. So what is that nose? TallAsAVan does bang on about white pepper, but that isn't quite it, or it isn't all of it. Never mind, let's taste it and come back to the nose.

Watery, medium bodied, very very refreshing. Like home made lemonade - icy-fresh-water-&-lemon-juice-refreshing. But by golly, there is a wee bit of white pepper in there, especially in the finish, which is long and very satisfying. This is a good one. Back to the nose. It remains hard to pin down. Maybe a touch of caramelised sugar. It's a good un. Salomon Groovey gruner veltliner 02004, under cork, 15/20, from the Kremstal region of Austria to you via Oddbins for £6.49.

PS after a full glass of this the pepperiness comes through more clearly. Nice one, TallAsAVan.

2005-06-08

PG Tips


  • drink it well chilled
  • goes nicely with various pasta dishes
  • very good party wine, as it is medium in all respects, hence has wide appeal
  • perfect for summer evenings


We have evolved a mildly complicated system for eating pasta here. In the past some of us have had strong prejudices against certain pasta sauces and in favour of certain others. Owing to stubbornness, or habit, and despite losing those prejudices, we continue to have our pasta in at least four different finishes whenever we do eat pasta. Whilst not entirely convenient, it does allow me to report that Prima Gusto pinot grigio / trebbiano 02004(synthetic closure) goes fairly well with a blue cheese and sweet pepper sauce, rather better with a basic olive oil, black pepper and parmesan, better again with a tomato and green olive (but mainly tomato, the olives are a token presence) sauce, and is only passable against strong cheddar / white sauce. All sauces were served over penne (thank goodness we don't have any more than four hobs on the cooker).

The Prima Gusto is a light to medium bodied dry white wine, with a lime-y, citrussy nose,and wet-pebbles, minerally palate, from the north east of Italy, and is mainly made from pinot grigio, which is called pinot gris in France, grauburgunder or ruländer in Germany, malvoisie in Switzerland (also in parts of France, although that hardly counts since the French also use malvoisie as a synonym for maccabéo, bourboulenc, clairette, torbato, and vermentino), pinot beurot in Burgundy, szürkebarát in Hungary, and cabernet sauvignon in Scotland. The EU has finally stamped out the Alsatian practise of calling it Tokay Pinot Gris, which was itself a retreat from Tokay d'Alsace. Not that anybody was ever likely to confuse Alsatian pinot gris (not even vendange tardive) with the Tokaj of Hungary, but thus do we erase history, the better to remistake things.

Aaaanyway, to get back to the wine, it was a good match for the food, but really it went best with the beautiful summer evening. In fact I think it got an extra point because of it. Prima Gusto: 14-15/20.

This is my contribution to Wine Blogging Wednesday #10. You can read all about it here, thanks to Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox.