Yearly Archives: 2011


A quick trip around a set of Pinots from The Wine Society. Think I should have been sent the wines in this case offer but there was no Momo and the Kumeu River instead. Anyway… Kumeu River Village Pinot Noir, 2009, Auckland (£8.95 The Wine Society) Smells good, with cherry […]

Wine Tasting Video: New Zealand Pinot Noir


Had an email last year from Tara Devon O’Leary, aka The Wine Passionista. ‘I am looking for your personal experience of the one wine you tasted in 2010 that remains on your mind for how it surprised, impressed, stirred or impacted you.’ Tara’s from London but has lived in various […]

Every Wine Tells a Story


Marques de la Concordia Rioja Crianza 2004 (£18.99/150 cl Majestic) Gentle soft wine, with warm vanilla, cinnamon, juniper and slight ginger spice notes pepping up relaxed wild strawberry and orange peel flavours. S(-) Legaris Ribera del Duero Reserva 2004 (£20.99 Oddbins) A fuller, richer style than the Rioja, with slightly […]

Wine Tasting Video: Rioja, Ribera del Duero & Priorat



Jacob’s Creek Reserve Riesling 2010, Barossa (£9.99 Booths) Perky young wine, floral aromas plus a dusting of icing sugar, also lots of sappy citrus flavours and pithy minerality. Good now but has at least 5 years ahead of it. S- Jacob’s Creek Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Adelaide Hills (£9.99 Tesco, […]

Wine Tasting Video: Jacob’s Creek’s new Reserve range


Bodegas Monteabellón Verdejo 2009 (£12.50 Quaff Wine Merchants, Berry Bros & Rudd) White Bordeaux meets white Burgundy, with the musky pear skin and smoky tinned pear of the former and the creamy minerality of the latter, just let down by a slightly bitter finish. B Bodegas Naia K-Naia 2009 (£9 […]

Rueda – seven excellent whites


Hunter’s Miru Miru NV, Marlborough (£13.95 Jeroboams) Nice solid, toasty style, quite winey, shows pineapple and apple flavours with notes of chocolate limes and wafer biscuit, ripe but still refreshing and refined. S(-) Cloudy Bay Pelorus NV, Marlborough (£13.99 Harvey Nichols, Waitrose, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Philglas & Swiggot, Majestic […]

New Zealand Sparkling Wines – and very tasty they are ...