A quote from GK in April 2009: Clearly a comment based on price to quality
"Possibly my favourite wine from M&S is their Leyda Valley's Secano Estate Pinot Noir "

I opened a bottle of the 2008 in the week. I can't remember the offer price, but it was around the £8 mark.

The wine is aged for 6 months in French oak barrels. The pinot flavour is quite strong, and the colour of the wine suggests the skin of the PN grapes was allowed to mature to a deep and dark burgundy, as is common with new world, very sunny high altitide vineyards.

The wine on opening was fresh and a good mid palate flavour of ripe dark cherries and ripe mulberries. No strawberry as claimed. Good oak integration as well - not disjointed like some NZ ones at this offer price break, of £9.99

Not bad actually, not bad at all. A very full flavour, perhaps a bit too strong for me, but that is preference rather than evaluation or opinion. The wine did suffer a little from this odd finish that folks here say exists for not so good Chilean PN. There is a * faint bitter twist there on the end, like the old bottled 'cocktail' cherries in the 70's that were left too long in the pantry. It may be to do with the earth, the extra colour of the skins or The type of Pinot Noir root stocks that are favoured by Chilean growers. These vineyards are probably very young, so terroir complexity will be a decade or two before it appears in the wine.

The twist in the finish dissipated when I finished the wine on day 3 after opening, and I enjoyed a nice glass of Pinot noir, yes, nice indeed. The wine had hardly aged over this period and I did not keep it in the fridge, extraordinary that it should have remained so fresh.

I can't help feeling this wine could have matured quite well, it certainly was together, smooth as claimed, and not too soft, but enough structure and fruit to go on. One wonders if that end note *twist would have resolved itself ?

For the price and availability and this Leyda vintage '08, and, although a little sweet for me in style, one of the "good to better" NW pinot noirs consumed this year.

In particular - the wine was quite wonderful with a mature and expensive Carluccio's panatonne on 1st night of opening, excellent combo post supper or as a dessert serving.

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Duncan

Glad you enjoyed it duncan, the cases I bought were the '04 & '05, paid around £5 per bottle, I cant recall trying any of the later vintages but the positive reviews seem to hold up.

Yeah, I had not seen its reviews when I bought on spec, nor when I wrote that review. The wine has been in my rack for more than a year.

Susy Atkins likes the wine with Pork Belly - never had pork belly ?

Decanter silver and IWC award as well. The historic price for the '08 lists it as £7.49.

Had I known..... , I would have picked more of the 2008 for several years of ageing, and some volume discount. The last glass of wine was rich and satisfying ( 3 days from opening )

I should continue the experiment if I find a couple more '08s

Was 2008 fruit notable for PN grown in the Leyda ?

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Duncan

The region is still very young, the first grape harvest took place in 2001. Many in the industry believe it has great potential, particularly for PN & SB. One to watch.

Not sure about '08 but the vines should be starting to benefit from a little maturity I would imagine.

sorry, are you trying to tell me you've never had pork belly???!


Imho, cooked right, with a nice crisp crackling it is pretty much on par with a good steak or succulent piece of lamb
enjoyed it at a restaurant last week with black pudding braised faddish and apples, accompanied with new potatoes and spring greens
so good I was tempted to order it again! (50% off food thanks to toptable)

Never - not sure actually ? Well possibly. But, not knowingly as a special cordon bleu dish - no Shez. I've been eating poultry and fish for decades now. Very little red meat, twice a month or so I suppose

Free range pheasant is lush but rare, ostridge even, not that long ago, and fresh sea trout, or sea bass must be two of my faves, and of course the shell fish that turn Ba into a shivering wreck.
For curries, it is usually prawn or chicken madras. Very little mad cow or pork Shez. Lamb possibly, say 4 times a year, or so.
When offshore and sailing, I may eat more much bacon and pork bangers, and more carnivorous meals, even liver and bacon for the calories and sustainablility, and stuff like that.

My dear Misses is a vegetarian for over 40 years, but cooks poultry and fish beautifully for dinner parties and my suppers.

So - No pork belly from my recent memory

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Duncan

I was watching the game in the Pub on Sat night with a couple of friends, one of which returned from the bar with an armful of Pork Scratchings.

Now, I know what they are, I know how they are prepared, I also know they contain five times more salt than their equivalent weight in crisps and I certainly know my heart will not thank me for eating them.............. but, after a few pints they were absolutely delicious!