I am a Naked Angel.

Eco Falls

Hahahaha only messing with you!

2006 Castillo San Lorenzo Rioja

Country: Spain
Region: Rioja
Grape: Tempranillo, mazuelo and graciano
Year: 2006

From the back of the bottle: “Richly flavoured and spicy, this classic Rioja combines ripe plum and dried fruit characters with cinnamon and vanilla. From selected tempranillo, mazuelo and graciano grapes. Aged 24 months in barrels of american and french oak. This wine will continue to improve in the bottle up to ten years from the vintage.”

Firstly I would like break down the grapes varieties one by one because I have only tasted one (that I am aware of) and never blogged about any. Basically I don’t really know anything about them apart from that they all end in the letter ‘o’ and lets face it, that isn’t going to tell me what to expect to smell and taste. So as per my standard default reaction I go straight to Wine Geeks (plural; the ‘s’ is important).

Come on down TEMPRANILLO! It is the most famous varietal in Spain. It ripens early. Takes well to oak. Good at ageing. Can demonstrate dried cherries, spices and black currants flavours and a wide range of earthy components such as dust, tobacco and black olives.

Come on down MAZUELO! Third most planted varietal in Spain. Ripens late. Tannic and acidic. Commonly used as a blend.

Come on down GRACIANO! Once very popular. Produces low yields. Can demonstrate black fruits, red cherries and red plums flavours.

So going back to the description on the back of the bottle they spot on:
Aged in oak – Check
Plum (found in both tempranillo and graciano) – Check
Dried fruit (from the tempranillo) – check
Spice (again, tempranillo) – check

Judging by the order in which the grapes have been listed and comparing the common flavours it would suggest that tempranillo is the dominate varietal in this wine.

But what did I notice when tasting? Well I can assure you that even the most timid wine drinker will pick up on the fact that it is aged in oak, the smell and taste is obvious and a favourite of mine. From looking at its dark burgundy colour and noticing the oak aroma I half expected a reasonable tannin, but though it’s a rich wine it is light on the tannin front. Again, this is something I like, I guess the tannin typically found from the mazuelo grape was not enough to power through. Saying this I did notice a subtle acidic edge which can come from this grape. It is the kind of acidity you get from a freshly picked blackberry, and the fruitiness from this brambley element balanced it nicely.

Spice wise I agree with the bottle, I did get cinnamon, but I also got another spice I was initially struggling to get. At this point I found myself in my kitchen head first in the spice shelf rummaging around and sniffing everything I could find. In the end I hit the jackpot; the winner was cloves. These spices are not my all time fave, but it worked well, so well that me and the other half polished off the bottle and three days later I bought a second one.

This wine it said to age for up to ten years in the bottle and has a 2006 vintage, hopefully I will manage to buy a bottle and not drink it long enough to test this statement.

Cute Prosecco Cork

I was given I bottle of prosecco for xmas from someone at work and I didn’t realise how it was sealed until Icame to opened it in the New Year.

Its presentation brought a smile to my face. The cork was held extra secure with red string rather than usual metal wire covered in foil one is commonly presented with. But even better was that the cork itself had a little picture of a cork opener on it. It presents its drinker with this image because unlike other bottles of prosecco, where the cork bulges out and over the bottle (to be twisted a pushed out of the neck) this one was like a regular wine cork; it was fully inside and level with the neck.

Though at first I was confused followed by amused, I was ultimately concerned and cautious. I thought “I am going to twist the opener into this cork only to press down on the arms of the opener and the whole thing go flying into my ceiling and get lodged?!”. I hesitated… but my love and thirst for this bubbly Italian beverage was too strong. Luckily it opened like a dream.

Wine Tasting 2012 – Bristol Wine Club

For Bristol…

Oz & James’ Big Wine Adventure

Oz and James’ Big Wine Adventure is informative, clever and inspiring and I have watched both series twice. I love this program and so do others, on imdb.com the show has received a 7.7 out of 10 rating, which is not too shabby.

The first series, which is made up of 5 episodes, aired in 2006 and saw the guys travelling around France. The second series, made up of 8 episodes, then aired the following year in 2007, and was filmed in California in the US.

If you are not familiar with Oz Clarke or James May, they are both TV presenters and experts within their fields, which are wine and cars. Oz Clarke (wine) was the presenter of BBC2′s Food and Drink and James May (cars) is one third of Top Gear.

The premise of the first series is ‘can Oz, the professional, teach James, the novice, about wine?’. This continues into the second series, however James is determined to prove that you can buy wine that is just as good as expensive wine without financially crippling yourself.

You can learn a lot from this television program, and it is funny to boot.

It Has Come To That Time In My Life Where I Need To Buy By The Case

I was chatting to my lovely Irishman the other day and we came to the conclusion that we are now old enough to buy by the case, and do so online to get it delivered.

We have been pondering the idea for a while and have been tempted many times in the past by various vouches you get in the post offering £40 off your first order. Just my luck that when I finally bite the bullet to buy in bulk I don’t get any offers for weeks! So off to Google I go to find the best site to use…

I search for: “buy wine online, UK”

The best results I find are:
EveryWine.co.uk
Laithwaites.co.uk
MajesticWine.co.uk
NakedWines.com
Slurp.co.uk
Tesco.com/Wine
VirginWines.co.uk
WaitroseWine.com

Now what factors I should compare to help decide the winner of my custom? The pressure is on.

Factors to compare:
* Variety
* Average cost per pre-mixed case
* Information & wine descriptions
* Special offers
* New costumer discount
* Website usability
* Delivery cost
* Deliver time

Watch this space for the winner!