Quai de la Lune

More mostly warm days and chilly nights, with less rain than usual for the month. That's not a reference to the growing season for this week's wine, its just an unnecessary update on what the weather has been like in these parts since we last spoke. It has been pleasant and ideal for spoiling a good walk so, for the golfers among you, you will be pleased to hear that my handicap index is bouncing around all over the place, rather like a well-shanked pitch, but that following my most recent outing I have finally understood how the game works and have cracked it. I may well become the oldest ever rookie winner of the Masters next year. This is, of course a delusion, much like the idea that I will ever buy a low-priced white wine that I could describe without using the word 'apple'.

Week Q (2021) Quai De la Lune Sauvignon Blanc 2019. £9.39 Waitrose.

Did the usual internet research on this one and found very little, either of the wine or the producer. On the back label it says it was bottled by Cie Viticole d'Aquitaine in Carbon-Blanc, which is in the Entre-duex-Mers bit of Bordeaux, but I found no information about them. My assumption is that they are likely to be a Co-op bottling wine made from grapes anywhere in Bordeaux. The wine has the Bordeaux AOC tag, but that doesn't narrow it down at all.

Labeled as Sauvignon Blanc it must be made from grapes at least 85% of which are that variety, but Waitrose's website also lists Semillon as a contributor and that must be the minor partner in the blend. This would be fairly typical of the white wines from Bordeaux.

Enjoyed this one with some friend's and some substantial nibbles, including a loaf of what I like to call 'delicious home-baked bread' (see here) on one of those chilly evenings following a warm day.

The bottle notes say it is good on its own or with the usual list of fish/chicken based foods listed on white wine bottles. I did read on one review that it goes well with Tofu. I would have thought absolutely anything goes well with Tofu, given you can't detect any flavour in the stuff, and quite probably even better without Tofu.

In our case it went well on its own and also with a (whatever I can find in the) fridge meal that turned into a Mediterranean influenced chicken thighs with leftover ratatouille, tomatoes, olives & preserved lemon 'tagine', served with roasted sweet potato.

What was it like? It was like a French sauvignon blanc. Green apples (Doh!), citrus, a bit herbaceous. Easy to drink, refreshing and pleasant.

Would I buy it again? I'll buy a moderately prices sauvignon blanc again and, if this happens to be the nearest then I might as well.

Primitivo

I am mildly surprised to find that this will be only the third red P in my collection and that the last one was seven years ago. I really must do better.

Several years ago The One and I were invited to dinner by some kind friends, just before they relocated to Eastbourne. Another good friend who grew up in the same seaside town often described it as the place that people go to, to die, and then don't. I'm happy to report that in the case of our dinner hosts he has been, to date, quite right. At least about the second clause. In a small world type of way, it turns out that the distaff side of our dining companions is, in fact, my other friend's cousin.  But I digress. I don't remember what meal was served, but I do remember the wine. This is because on tasting it, The One immediately demanded to see the bottle. This is rare as, apart from dessert wines and Vouvray (demi sec), not many wines provoke a truly positive response. That bottle was Pillastro, an award winning Primitivo available through Laithwaites and the many wine clubs who front that supplier, such as the Sunday Times Wine Club. This week we have the same grape, from the same region:

Week P (2021) Castellore Primitivo 2019. Aldi £4.99 

This is not the same wine. That one, still reasonably priced at £10.99 from Laithwaites, is more than twice as expensive and as I drank a couple of them (not together) within the last year I can confirm it remains a good choice.  Rich, fruity and comforting it has enough body and structure to accompany strongly flavoured foods or, with discretion, enjoyed over a game of cards. And there's another tenuous connection. 

Yet another friend (I'm at risk of sounding like I want to give the impression I have many friends; I certainly have more than I deserve, but am grateful for that) has over the last couple of years become a regular partner and opponent at the bridge table. His prior knowledge of the game has been invaluable in helping both The One and me slowly getting to grips with this captivating game which we started learning, without the very necessary coaching, a few more years ago. Our games together usually take place on a Friday and have a 'drinks and nibbles' break built in between rubbers two and three. It was on one such Friday that our friend recommended this week's wine.

I hoped it would turn out to be a bargain alternative to Pillastro, after all word has it that Aldi can be the source of some real bargains, especially either side of the £10-£15 price bracket. I read only this week that Aldi had been awarded 'Wine Supermarket if the Year' by the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC). This is indeed a prestigious achievement, even if I was on more than one occasion an associate judge in that competition! I had such dreams. In practice this is a different style of wine. Pleasant, easily drinkable and enjoyable but not as rich and satisfying. It is fruity, although lighter and less like the Californian Zinfandels that the Pillastro reflects. Zinfandel and Primitivo are the same grape, which also goes by the name of Crljenak Kastelanski in its native Croatia, and it is popular in Puglia, if you will pardon the alliteration.

Will I buy it again? Probably. At £4.99 it is very cheap and better than the price. Simple, enjoyable but not stunning.

Orvieto

The English Spring is demonstrating it's versatility this week with lovely warm sunshine interspersed with enough snow to make my golfing friend who lives in the other side of the big hill doubt that our course would be open. You could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me that he had awoken to nearly two inches of settled snow only ten or so miles from our home, which is a very tenuous introduction to:

Week O (2021) La Piuma Orvieto 2019. Waitrose £7.99

In Italian La Piuma means 'the feather', don't you know? Well you do now. One can learn so much from wine, even if none of it is particularly useful in day-to-day life. 

La Piuma is a brand and Orvieto is not a grape variety but a region that got a passing mention in my weekly wines back in April 2015 (Week G), when we tasted a single variety wine made from Grechetto. I noted then, as you will of course recall, that the variety was used in the wines from Orvieto where it is usually blended with Trebbiano and that is what we have here. Well nearly. This one also has as the third and least prominent blending partner which is Chardonnay.

It is a clean and bright looking wine and the immediate impression is one of melon with a suggestion grapefruit coming through in the finish. Emenently drinkable as an aperitif or with a meal. In our case it was both, the meal being a mushroom risotto with a side salad and a friend who was visiting from her home in the Lake District, because that's allowed now.

It's not a wine to rave about but it is very pleasant and, at the price, a very reasonable purchase.

The region is situated in central Italy with the town itself being in Umbria but the DOC area extending into Lazio. The latter province is, of course, where Romulus and Remus grew up in their vulpine family before going on to found the city of Rome. And that, coincidentally, is where we will be watching as our guest's daughter will marry her fiance in five months time, assuming that travel will be permitted. I hope so, because this is their fourth attempt to set and keep a date since a year ago.

Will we toast their health and happiness with wines from Orvieto? I have no idea but there could be many less enjoyable choices so I'd be happy.

Would I buy it again? Yes, but I won't seek it out as I still have too many other wines to investigate.

Nero di Troia

 Happy Easter!

Not a cloud in the sky today and a great day for socially distanced, small family gatherings. So the two of us gathered and enjoyed a roast leg of lamb that would have sufficed had the rest of the clan been with us. Not a problem; I do love a lamb sandwich. Our family gathering, in the style previously mentioned, is planned for tomorrow when the forecast weather includes the words 'sleet', 'snow' & 'cold'. It will be a Bank Holiday Monday after all, so I'll let you know.

It's a red week, as luck would have it, so the lamb was accompanied by:

Week N (2021) Maree d'Ione, Nero di Troia 2019. £8.79 Waitrose. 

This comes from Puglia, a region very nearly at the bottom of Italy where with The One and the bonus daughter I enjoyed a holiday a few years ago, staying in a Trullo. These are an unique style of building found only in the region and are sometimes described as being 'beehive' houses. We didn't notice any bees, but the bonus did find a small scorpion inside the mosquito nets around her bed one evening. Much hilarity.

This is not an expensive wine but Puglia doesn't have the cachet of, say, Chianti or Brunello and, therefore, there are bargains to be enjoyed. The first small pour from this bottle was used as sacrament in The One's on-line Easter service. I tasted it and decided that as the lamb would not be ready for several hours I would put to good use the decanting funnel that I was given by some generous friends a little over a year ago to celebrate my most recent birthday ending in a zero. One reason for our family gathering tomorrow is that The One will also celebrate the same significant birthday in a few days time, and I mention it here as to leave it unremarked would be rude. I think the decanting paid off.

The acidity I first tasted seemed more restrained and the more subtle, spice and perhaps hinted tobacco flavours seemed to have stepped forward to be recognised.  Auto-suggestion? Possibly. Whether imagined or not, the wine was well received and very much enjoyed.

Puglia is a warm region, with a lot of coastline, and the fruit gets plenty of opportunity to ripen fully. The tannins were not dominant and the 13.5% claimed abv felt about right.

We have had the grape before in January 2014 when it was labelled Uva di Troia on the front label, but referred to as Nero di Troia on the back. Banana, banana (that doesn't really work, but you get the idea). On that occasion it represented only 40% of the blend whereas here it is, as far as I can tell, 100%. Does this make it better or worse? I can't really say as my memory, usually good, is struggling to go back seven years with any real precision. What I can say is that this bottle was £10 cheaper and still enjoyable.

At present it is possible to buy a bottle of Beronia Reserva for £10 and that, as you may know, is a wine that I consider to be a banker. See Week B (2021).  It is probably a consequence of my evolving relationship with wine that leads me to think one of these and one Beronia has to be a better deal. 

Would I buy again? Probably, but I have a lot of other wines needing to be tried.