http://www.tesco.com/winestore/controll ... R=13890896

£66 buys 2 bottles of the supposedly excellent 2007 Cloudy Bay ( normally £25/bottle ) + 2 bottles of Montana's Letter Series sb made only in ' an exceptional vintage ' ( £18/bottle ) and 2 bottles of the hit and miss Jackson Estate 2007. ( £9.99/bottle )

Jackson Estate can be the equal of any Marlborough sb but it can be the lamest of wines too.

Yeah, I looked at that deal.....But

On the basis of your last recommendation - You are allegedly, the Malborough SB guru around here......and we have all agreed that 2007 Malborough SB is the "tete de chien"

So......I went an bought another 6 of the Reach 2007 for £35, another 6 of the Montana Reserve SB 2007 for £36 and 6 of the Saint Joseph, Northern Rhone, west bank slopes for half dosh at £38.94, all online deals and free delivery over 99 quid orders.
I recon that was a better deal, since the In-store prices were all at full chat when I went to get cheap petrol on Saturday.

Anybody esle tried that St Joseph ? it presents very well....ha ha,.except the Selected by Tesco writing on the label

2006 St Joe, Cornus, St Peray is a classic early maturing vintage in that neck of the woods....Is Tesco's offering a good'un for the money though ??

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Duncan

Hi Duncan.

You must try 1 bottle of the 2007 Sileni ' The Straits ' as well (Tesco). It's just over a tenner so not cheap but it's soooooooo beautiful and quite restrained for Marlborough.

I can't help you with the reds i'm afraid....not my thing. I have bought my Christmas wines though. We have red wine lovers coming for dinner who only drink white if it's oaked Burgundy. What plonkers ! So i've got 2 Jean Marie Bouzereau Meursault 2004 £10/bottle. Jadot 2000 Pinot Noir £7.50 and 2 Yaldara Estate Shiraz Cabernet blends £10/bottle.

I fear that i'll be told that the Meursault needs more time but the Jadot should be nicely gamey after 8 years. I do of course have plenty of Sauvignon in reserve just in case I don't like any of the above.

Cote d'Or is one of my areas of experience.

1st - HOW DID YOU GET that Bouzereau Mersault for 10 quid ? You'd better own up now.

The Bouzereau family run a notable domaine business in Mersault, they live there, and Michel Bouzer*** does make a 1er Cru "Les Charmes" which is in the £35 bracket in a good year.

As for your guests, They aren'y total Plonkers if they are going to extract 2 bottles of this Mersault out of you, which is normally £17 - £20 range last year.

OK, 2004 whites succeeded much better than next door reds of Auxey and Volnay. 2004 is shorter lived for the whites but much nicer that the reds for similar village wines for similar money. Reds were better in the Cote de Nuits villages in 2004.

My advice, give them one of the Mersault's and keep the other for 2010. You can test this theory when you open the 1st one, leaving the other in your store If it has sufficient body and fruit - save for a another year. The 2004 whites have a certain freshness for the Beaune end of the d'Or. It may not be over oaked anyway, good Mersault producers knew that they couldn't over do the oak for the 2004 harvest.

That's my 2 pence worth of Bull poopie.

Thanks for the NZ SB advice

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Duncan

Ok. We'll keep one back and give them a decent Chablis instead. I got them from Tesco. They had it on a ' whilst stocks last ' basis. ( In store only )

They didn't last long.

I am expecting oatmeal, hazelnuts and butter.....as opposed to oak and fruit. I once had a St Aubin from Oddbins that was astonishingly intense with oak and peach.

Stunning stuff if you like that sort of thing but too rich for me.

Mr G, you may have got it right 1st time without my intervention. I looked earlier today, Decanter say drink 2004's now. Best 2004 whites were Mersault, Auxey Duresses, and St Aubin. They describe that freshness I was alluding to, as a "racey accidity". Enjoy

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Duncan