Chaps,

Mr C on wine pages has given this Asda Extra Special Old Vine Garnacha 2013, Spain wine of the week.
£5.00 seems a good shout for mid week.

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

Rich,

How mature is that wine, I know it is very cheap, but is it ready ? Are Mr C's comments related to the price value, rather than the wine experience ? If you try, please let us know.

Rich,
Have you tried a bottle of the Mark Hoddy, Un Vent de Folie, Cotes du Roussillon villages 2011 yet ? That we bought in the Laithwaites January sales. If you have, you may find that you never ever want to go back to bulk supermarket fodder.

I know I'd much rather pay the extra £4 When on offer, and drink a Grenache (Rhone blend) that is in an entirely different league. Let me know what you think. I now think at the price point, that the ready 11's from boutique wine makers in the Languedoc are topping the richness and pleasure of the Southern Rhone '07s.

We are all praying that Budget Day, today does not bring more wine tax to suffer - here's hoping.
My plan is to drink Better, and maybe less this year - here's also hoping

Cheers.

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Duncan

Dunc,

Hi, enjoyed the Hoddy Folie a while back never entered it into CT to show a note or score and cant recall of the top of head.
Just added a 300 bottle wine rack in the cellar as I have too much wine upstairs now so decided to miss the Asda.
Chris at work had a bottle last night and said it was ok once it had some air time.

Just picked up 4 of these which should be drinking well now and for a few years 2001 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone.

Richard

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

That is in another league again . . .

The Henschke Shiraz has wonderful reviews, more so, for recent vintages - for those who haven't looked it up, this wine is generally over £400 a 12 bottle case.
Rich, did that '01 have cork stoppers. I notice new vintages seem to have screw caps. I won't ask you how much you shelled out for the 4 bottles.

I just can't get my head around buying a wine over £30 with a screw cap. Why . . . .

BTW, the last bottle of Church Block 2011 screw cap was pretty dire, and the last glass was assigned to the drains. I really don't understand why there was so much bottle variance, others in the six were generally ok'ish. Waitrose want £13 a bottle for it now - IMHO, mad marketing hype, perhaps based on superior vintages. Tesco were correct in dumping it for £6 a bottle.

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Duncan

Dunc, funny enough I opened my last church block last night and drinking the remaining half now.
I think mine are better than yours , maybe storage or heat damage on case ? This bottle is OK tonight as not paying it much attention more to relax and unwind. Drinkable but not a wine I will return without trying first.

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

Glad it's working OK for you. Perhaps I had dodgy screw caps.

I'm drinking old vine Sangiovese, the 2012 vintage - 60 -80 year vines 'they said' on a clean skin label, so don't know the producer. This bought from the Laithwaites January sales.

Very wholesome also concentrated, and real varietal character, a good Chianti Rufina - dark & deep, cocoa and black cherry, some plum.

Cheers.

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Duncan

Dunc can recommend the Mule from m&s very morish indeed, bought on Mel's note a while back.
Will buy again for sure.

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

Cheers Rich, I will definitely look-out for that.

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Duncan

Cheers Richard,

I bought half a dozen Mule, as well as the 2012 Hay Paddock reserve syrah, a new private vineyard classified as Auckland. If you 'google maps' the Island, you will see that it is to the west of Auckland, in the Firth of Thames bay, about 6 kilometers off shore at its nearest point to the mainland, The North Island.

For an M&S clearance punt, I reckon it could be rather interesting. The 2010 vintage won some Oz Awards when pitched against their cool climate shiraz . . . . so here's hoping. The vineyard was planted up with imported expensive Rhone root stocks, and then grafted stocks were raised on site to fill several hectares, they say.

The wine has got the right provenance for a start-up, and the terroir also sounds interesting. Will report back

Notes:
This powerfully elegant red wine is from a single vineyard estate on New Zealand's beautiful Waiheke island.

Hay Paddocks is now sold-out online - but the stores may have some.

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Duncan

Dunc, had my mule and perricone arrive today the others including the Hay arrive tomorrow.
Let me know your thoughts on the mule when you open one.

Richard

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.