[Joepicalli]

Southern Rhone wines mmmmm. Try Vaquerayas. I'm currently drinking Perrin et fils "les Christins" bught two cases of the '05 then remembered I had a case of '03 in bond so I took delivery of that and now have the comparison between the two... any night I want to be hungover. As it stands, though the drink by date of the '03 is 2009, I am finding it less enjoyable than the '05.
Btw CNdP is massively variable in quality and can be made with a mix of up to 14 different grapes (with Grenache being dominant).
If you are looking for Big reds (and they do seem to be popular here) you could do a lot worse than Bandol which is an appellation in the Var on the Cote D'azure.
Also Houdini please do give us the benefit of your living in Germany as while I do like the German wines I've drunk (dry reislings, and some lovely light pinos) germany really is a closed book to me.

[Houdini]

Of course Joe (but I believe Yoss is a big white fan also).

Whites, I wish I knew, but Fraudini's father really only touches German whites and calls Riesling The Queen of Whites.  It's Easter so I'll see and question him tomorrow.

For ages I only bought French/Portugese/Spanish reds but have discovered German reds to be very good indeed, esp Spätburgunder AKA pino noir.  It's more expensive than you would imagine, which is partly to do w/ Germany standards but also as an indicator of quality.  I found pricier German reds to be fabulous (comparing w/ French of a similar price).  As "Rhenish", German Pinot Noir is mentioned several times in Shakesperean plays as a highly prized wine.

[Houdini]

I found Perrin et fils "les Christins" 03 for 155 quid/12 (13  per bottle). 

I'll rarley pay more than €9/10 for a bottle (excepting port which is free from price restrictions *drool*) but here it's just not necessary to spend so much €5 is just fine.  I find it hard to compare on prices w/ you UK lubbers as wine is extortionate there.

[Joepicalli]

Matching wine w/ food.

Nice post

[Houdini]

I drank this w/ my Easter lunch and Russian pas'cha pudding, a silver prize winner, aparently:



It's grown here:





http://www.friderichs-wein.de/  From the Mosel region (a river off the Rhein)  55% of the crop are whites; but they also grow spätburgunder/pinot noir.  And make Eiswein too.  It's half-dry/slightly sweet.  Very drinkable.

Papa-Fraudini has it delivered at no extra cost every year or so (for orders over €120 or 36 bottles).  It's not to be found in shops.  You can have it posted, or smaller orders delivered at around €8 for 21 bottles.  Though he recommends their Ediger Feuerberg 2004 Riesling Spätlese (bronze prize winning wine)

The wine is stupid cheap as they sell themselves, make a healthy profit, do just fine w/ out shops.  Your average wine is sold @ c. €4.50 and their top wines (the hand-sort grape-by-grape types) around €10 per bottle.  They are extraordinary value and delicious to boot.  Myself and the Frau will be ordering a few dozen bottles of their spätburgunder.  And why not @ €4.50 to €5 inc. free delivery?

I'll be plum tuckered if you can get this in the UK (as I said before, Germans keep the best shit for themselves, and sell the rest.)

[Joepicalli]

I found Perrin et fils "les Christins" 03 for 155 quid/12 (13  per bottle). 

I'll rarley pay more than €9/10 for a bottle (excepting port which is free from price restrictions *drool*) but here it's just not necessary to spend so much €5 is just fine.  I find it hard to compare on prices w/ you UK lubbers as wine is extortionate there.

Don't bother with the '03 Perrin at that price it's a really lovely £9-£10 a bottle wine any further is a piss-take; and like I said in my earlier post I'm kind of worried about how the '03 is stacking up against the attack of the '05.

[andy_e]

HALT!

My aunt's parents own a vineyard in that area- He's called Robert Wagner and this is his website: http://www.liebezumwein.de/

Very good wine, all of it, I know because every time my cousins have christenings we go over to germany and eat lots of food and drink lots of wine!

[Houdini]

That's a lovely website.  Good to see a smaller firm paying a little more for decent pages.  The German-only is indicative of their customer base - but kinda annoying in these global times - there should be an English version too, as like most smaller winehouses, they rent appartments to tourists.

[webbo]

i have come to conclusion that my taste buds are knackered.i bought a couple of bottles of rioja to get in practice for next weeks trip to the spanish terrortries.again it was very disappointing compared to tonights bottle of blossom hill wine makers selection merlot.

[Houdini]

Rioja?  Just normal common or garden rioja?

Try a reserva, if that doesn't work hit the gran reserva.  I believe it's a matter of aging in oak that is the difference:  normal being short to gran reserva long.  I'd expect the gran to be darn oaky.

[Joepicalli]

i have come to conclusion that my taste buds are knackered.i bought a couple of bottles of rioja to get in practice for next weeks trip to the spanish terrortries.again it was very disappointing compared to tonights bottle of blossom hill wine makers selection merlot.

Nah don't beat yourself up- big fruity new world wines are instant and gorgeous. Put them up against food though and they begin to have problems. I've just done in a 2003 southern Rhone with pasta and a blue cheese and wild garlic source. It worked  brilliantly. Now i'm am on a Chilean merlot of death defying  fruit and weight ( casa Lapostelle) it is working beautifully as an after dinner drink but I cannot for the life of me think how I would pair it with food i.e. drink it as wine should be drunk. When you get to Spain the wine and food will meld perfectly, as they always do, as it should be.

[webbo]

Rioja?  Just normal common or garden rioja?

Try a reserva, if that doesn't work hit the gran reserva.  I believe it's a matter of aging in oak that is the difference:  normal being short to gran reserva long.  I'd expect the gran to be darn oaky.

it was muriel 2003 reserva.with regard to aging in oak,i thought the oak barrels was the new world way of getting the body into a wine and therefore cheating.i did hear though it was starting to become the in thing for european wines.

[Houdini]

I must step aside and allow a more learned pisshead to answer this one.  But would advice the purchase of a '99 or '00 gran reserva to contrast w/.

[webbo]

i must admit this was not that much of an informed buy  the said rioja was on offer in the market weighton coop reduced from £7.99 to £3.99.

[Houdini]

Seriously people MUST learn to ignore price (to a degree).  Trust your taste buds.  Shit! I pay €5 for a certain wine in France, €9.50 for the same wine in Germany, any guesses what that wine might cost in the UK?  Me neither, fuck it (and fuck the UK  ).

[webbo]

i do try to ignore the half price scenario that the supermarkets use to get rid of there crap stock.but i usually find the coop tends to be more genuine in its marketing.

[Houdini]

. . . the recently delivered case of Domain Tempier Bandol I've just had delivered . . .

Spill the beans Joe.  Plus would you please give an indication of average price (most pertinent).  You are UK based I think?

I've researched a little and this (or rather 02 03) is most expensive in US retailers - irrelevant, like . . .   Full breakdown, bitte.   

[Joepicalli]

. . . the recently delivered case of Domain Tempier Bandol I've just had delivered . . .

Spill the beans Joe.  Plus would you please give an indication of average price (most pertinent).  You are UK based I think?

I've researched a little and this (or rather 02 03) is most expensive in US retailers - irrelevant, like . . .   Full breakdown, bitte.   

I got this via The Wine Society, and split a case with Graeme Alderson. Its not cheap- £14.95 a bottle, and yeah I am UK based (Well most of the time , but that's another story).

[Houdini]

So, seems the Font season for people who don't like it baltic is well underway.


What's been drunk while you've been out there?  Don't say Leffe or protein shake.

[webbo]

i've changed my opinion about european wine having spent two weeks in tenerife,spanish wine is the way forward.the trouble is i can't remember what we drank other than the vineyard/maker was torres.i think my memorys gone due to being 4 days into sobriety.

[lagerstarfish]

Don't know, but it worked. Mr Sharpe and I both managed our second Fontainebleau, Font 7b+s. I think he might remember more of the details about what was drunk, as he knows more about this stuff.

[Houdini]

Torres.

Good wines, I've bought them here.  A 100% Temperanillo, I guess?

I'm drinking Spanish Shiraz/Syrah at the moment.  I do like temperanillo but favour the velvetier body of a good Shiraz.  Still has that acrid earthy Spanishness to the taste though.

[Jaspersharpe]

Don't know, but it worked. Mr Sharpe and I both managed our second Fontainebleau, Font 7b+s. I think he might remember more of the details about what was drunk, as he knows more about this stuff.

Can't recall any details. Meant to take some photos of the better ones but forgot was pissed. I remember a few botles of very palatable Sauvignon Blanc @ €3, a good Cotes Du Ventoux @ €2.16 (!) a Petit Chablis at about €8 that was nothing special and that fantastic red that Dancing John brought round which he'd pushed the boat out and spent about €12 on. Again I meant to make a mental note of what it was / photograph it. Unfortunately that evening I was too busy gathering evidence of abuse in Ukranian mental asylums.

[lagerstarfish]

The ECT rig in the kitchen worked a treat - I forgot about most of the abuse with only 30-40 minutes of being wired up to the mains.

[Jaspersharpe]

I was informed yesterday by Dancing John that the very good €12 bottle of red that we demolished was a Haut-Médoc. No further details were forthcoming. It was very nice though and would probably have been in the £25 region in this Godforsaken country.