Wine Recommendations

Depends what you are going to eat with it !

We had steak this evening and finished off a bottle of Primitivo passimento. The passimento indicates sun dried grapes as you would get in an Amerone which is one of the Worlds great wines.

We had a Salice Salentino with the cheese compte - always riserva if you want a "big" wine
 
chickenrunner said:
Chilled red? That's nowt in wine crime terms. I well remember returning from holiday in France, where I had watched people gently sipping glasses of red outside bars in sunny town squares, to a first match of the season at the Riverside. One of Teesside's sophisticates was in front of me at the bar. He ordered a bottle of red and a bottle of white ....... "and a pint glass, please". I watched as he proceeded to pour both into the glass making the Riverside's very finest rose. :rolleyes:
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Sounds like my brother in law 😄
 
Aitoraitorapuddycat said:
try a wine called apothic it’s a Californian red rich and smooth really is nice Tesco &.morrisons sell it it’s around £8
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Do you know what, just thinking now, for all the years I’ve drank wine, I can’t remember a time I’ve picked up a Californian one. I have regions I naturally purchase for certain grapes without thinking (New Zealand Sauvage Blanc(Marlborough), South Africa Chenin Blanc, Argentina Malbec. I might make a point next time I’m out.

Ive actually just had a Naked delivery this week which has been put away for holiday with the in-laws. There’s a 2014 Lebanese cab sauv in there I’m looking forward to.
 
Paarmo said:
If you like a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc try a French copy called Kiwi Cuvee . 2 for a tenner at Morrisons . It flies off the shelves as soon as they re stock .
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Interesting that the French have fought to protect Champagne, but happy to use Kiwi to sell their products.
 
My favourite white is probably Boschendal’s Grand vin Blanc. It’s pretty hard to find in the UK, but you can pick up their Grand Cuvee in Tesco, which is their export version, and still pretty good. They do an excellent blanc de noir as well, if your feeling all sophisticated
 
Should add in here it’s a shame English wine hasn’t been mentioned so far. We produce some great stuff in this country now and conditions and soil in the SE is similar to that of Champagne in the 80’s apparently.

English Bacchus is a fail safe option for still and nice and dry if you’re a Sauv Blanc fan.

Also over the next 10-20 years as conditions continue to warm, there’s a good chance Pinot noir will become of a high enough standard, there’s a few vineyards starting to plant acres of it, so confidence must be there.
 
Jos I'd like to drink more English wine. It has a couple of problems one of which is cost and the second is climate. We are currently not quite warm enough.

Think what chaos could occur if we don't tackle climate change - whisky production would have to move to Iceland. Greece and Turkey become deserts. southern Italian reds disappear, champagne made in Sweden, Sherry in Bordeaux, Bordeaux in the midlands of the UK Beaujolais in Newcastle and Teesside
 
Rishworthian said:
Jos I'd like to drink more English wine. It has a couple of problems one of which is cost and the second is climate. We are currently not quite warm enough.

Think what chaos could occur if we don't tackle climate change - whisky production would have to move to Iceland. Greece and Turkey become deserts. southern Italian reds disappear, champagne made in Sweden, Sherry in Bordeaux, Bordeaux in the midlands of the UK Beaujolais in Newcastle and Teesside
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Rishworthian said:
Jos I'd like to drink more English wine. It has a couple of problems one of which is cost and the second is climate. We are currently not quite warm enough.

Think what chaos could occur if we don't tackle climate change - whisky production would have to move to Iceland. Greece and Turkey become deserts. southern Italian reds disappear, champagne made in Sweden, Sherry in Bordeaux, Bordeaux in the midlands of the UK Beaujolais in Newcastle and Teesside
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I agree on the reds front, I don't think we will be producing big reds any time soon, but I disagree on the white/sparkling front and the awards we've won globally are testament to that. But yeah cost is an issue. I will buy my local vineyards wine If I see it, but you are looking at about £12 a bottle, so it definitely isn't something I'd want to be drinking a couple of bottles a week of. I visited Camel Valley a few years ago and had a tour which was great. We'd stayed in the Camel Valley and I only clicked on the last day it was a mile down the road, so we went. Really keen to do a week around Kent/Sussex now and tick off a few of the big ones down there, some of them have some amazing restaurants on-site too.

Yeah, it is sad knowing that is likely going to be the case, and we're going to lose a lot of the historical wine appellations due to CC. I read an article a while back about the employment rates in the UK wine industry were expected to grow massively over the next few years, which is obviously one positive by-product of that for us in the UK.
 
Jos some truth in your remarks but where we currently excel is fizzy dry wines. We do not quite get the ripeness into the grapes to make good still wines. The fizzy wines get some sugar added for the secondary fermentation and that is what makes them so good / respectable

The guy at Leyerthorpe ? near Swillington on the outskirts of Leeds does a very respectable fizz but I can buy cheaper champagne not to mention the Italian fizzes and Cava which are significantly cheaper. I've yet to taste anything I liked from Holmfirth either

Penny black from the vineyard in Staffordshire is ok and still but not better.

I'm happy to take suggestions for good still English wines and give them a whirl. Proof of the pudding is in the drinking in this case
 
I enjoyed one at weekend. Asdas extra special maltec 2 for £10 at the time. Tasted nice and just right amount if strength. I was happily tipsy and no headache or chemical taste. Will buy again
 
Rishworthian said:
Jos some truth in your remarks but where we currently excel is fizzy dry wines. We do not quite get the ripeness into the grapes to make good still wines. The fizzy wines get some sugar added for the secondary fermentation and that is what makes them so good / respectable

The guy at Leyerthorpe ? near Swillington on the outskirts of Leeds does a very respectable fizz but I can buy cheaper champagne not to mention the Italian fizzes and Cava which are significantly cheaper. I've yet to taste anything I liked from Holmfirth either

Penny black from the vineyard in Staffordshire is ok and still but not better.

I'm happy to take suggestions for good still English wines and give them a whirl. Proof of the pudding is in the drinking in this case
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You are correct there, re the sparkling dry and that was what I first had, a bottle of Nyetimber which started my curiosity. Re still whites, the range we can grow you are correct is limited, but I absolutely love Bacchus, which grows really well here. I'm lucky to live in Southern England and have a few Vineyards in driving distance, which makes a nice alternative to a pub beer garden after a drive out on a sat/sun.

Funnily enough, the only English white I didn't like was a Yorkshire based one, I picked up from a farm shop just north of York. Layerthorpe sounds familiar but unless he's had a reband (quite possible) the label was very different and had a big Yorkshire rose on it. edit - it was this vineyard, I wasn't too keen on. But then again it was only one bottle so who knows - http://www.leventhorpevineyard.co.uk/wines.html

I've linked through to a few of my favourites that I have tried (all Bacchus) if you want to try them. You sound like you know your wine, so would be keen to know your thoughts, especially if it is that you haven't had a Bacchus previously but have had bad experiences with other grape varieties.

https://www.camelvalley.com/shop/2018-camel-valley-darnibole-bacchus - There is a cheaper 2019 Bacchus but linked this due to 2018's conditions
http://www.chafor.co.uk/our_wines.html - You can get from Waitrose if you do an online shop. (they had a nightmare with late frost last year so as far as I'm aware, no 2020 harvest at all, unfortunately)
https://www.chapeldown.com/collections/shop-all/products/bacchus-2020 - Think you'll be able to get from Waitrose and maybe some other supermarkets.
http://www.cotswoldhills.org.uk/about/ Made by the Royal Ag Uni -tbh other than their online shop, not sure where you'd buy as I picked up in a wine shop in Broadway.
 
Leventhorpe ! I stand corrected - Maybe layerthrope is a street in York ! His fizz is terrific but expensive The still wines can vary. I did have a couple of bottles of I think the Maddy Angevine that were respectable but I don't have a similar story of the Seyval. I might have the names the wrong way round. that however is not a guarentee. The red I don't like nor have i found anything British red that I'd buy again ............. sadly

I have tried the Chapel down now I look at the lable. I either didn't like the price or the wine as it has never been replaced.

Currently all my reds are from Puglia. Virtually all the whites are a medium Bordeaux getting the best out of an Ungi Blanc grape, better known in its Italian incarnation Trebbiano. We have some under cultivation in Staffordshire but its not doing well. It's too high and too cold to give a good yield and a certain lack of care doesn't help. there's a few bits of champagne and some italian Pignoletto from Sainsburys - not exciting I'm afraid. Most of the wine has come from House of Townend in Hull

A good job we're all different

I'm due in the Cotswolds in September so I'll keep a look out for Cotswold hills. Nytimber is pretty good and consistent but I find Leventhorpe has just a bit more character / flavour
 
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