Wines: fine, cloudy, and winds light to variable.
These are wine labels that I've managed to soak off the bottles and
scan in. Any wines with labels I couldn't get off the bottles won't be
featured, even if they're really good. That will teach them. Feel free to
use your browser's "Find in Page" feature.
Whites
|
Reds
- This Louis
Latour
Ardèche is decent, French Chardonnay but it's not oaked, so I'd
rather pay a little bit more for the gorgeous Grand Ardèche, and I
haven't got the label
off that bottle yet.
- Virginie French Chardonnay is extremely oaky stuff. This
is a Good Thing. It's not quite so nice (or as oaky) as the South African
Backsberg, but I
haven't got the label off that bottle yet either.
- Sèvre et Maine Muscadet Sur Lie. The "Sur Lie" means the grape
skins have been involved. Nice, slightly pungent dry white wine which I
got from Asda in a spirit of scientific enquiry.
- Hornstein Gewurztraminer, from Alsace. This was 1997, apparently the
best year for Alsace Gewurztraminer that there has been since the
1940's. This is the sort of thing that it's best to drink without any food
to get in the way of it.
- Oh look, it's the 1998 Hornstein Gewurztraminer.
- Goldert Gewurztraminer, from Alsace. I don't really remember too much
about this: it was very very nice (lovely, honeyed, golden, feels like
it's sweet even though it isn't) but it kind of defeated the fish we
were trying to drink it with. It went really well with Chocolate Orange
though.
- Concha y Toro Gewurztraminer, from the Rapel Valley in Chile. I
really, really like this. It's a great afternoon drink, and it also works
well at breakfast (especially if breakfast is in the afternoon). Compared
to average Alsace Gewurztraminers, it's fresher, greener, cleaner,
slightly nicer and cheaper. Their other stuff is probably worth a try
too.
- Muga white Rioja. Smells like toast but tastes of whiskey. My Dad
said it was the nicest white wine he'd ever tasted, because it had
some character to it. That says quite a lot about the wines he'd been
drinking since then.
- Dr.
Loosen Riesling, from the Saar Valley. Yes, it's a German wine. It's
unfashionable so you'll get good value. Riesling is a very versatile grape
and in this case you'll get an intensely acidic, apple-ish wine that makes
your mouth tingle. It will overturn your prejudices. It comes in a
gorgeous, slim, blue/green bottle. Go and buy some.
- Green Point. It's sparkling white wine, and it's from Australia, and
it's what decent Champagne ought to taste like. Very nice indeed.
- Staffordshire Silver, made in England. Made at the Halfpenny Green vinyard,
actually. You can find this at the Warwickshire farmers' market. It's well
worth doing so, and you only need to buy two or three bottles a year to
support the English wine industry.
- El Velero, from Safeway, but a very drinkable Spanish wine it was
anyway.
- Grand Prebois was great stuff, but nobody bought it, so it went past
its best. That was a shame.
- This Chateau Musare, from the Lebanon, is scary. It tastes
different with every sip, with the peak being about 90 minutes after
you opened the bottle. Just about everything you can imagine is in
there, including some forgivable oddness. Possibly the wine
equivalent of blue cheese.
- Chanson Père & Fils, Cote de Beaune-Villages. A
great, strong French red wine. However, it's "gamey" rather than "fruity"
and I prefer the latter. I know a Lirac which is a great example of
that, but it's not featured here for an astonishing reason...
- Domaine Carras Limnio: the finest Greek wine that there is,
apparently. Nice and spicy. Go and buy some.
- Salice Salentino. I seem to remember that this was very nice, but I
gather that the price of Italian wines is being driven up by fashion and
poor harvests.
- You get half-litre bottles of Saint Plourat in service station in
Belgium. Not only is it really decent, and very cheap, wine but you can
keep the bottle to decant other stuff into.
- Okay, so this
isn't a wine...
- Intentionally left blank
- Okay, so I lied.
There are too many great wines I haven't got labels of. Californian
Zinfandels like Fetzer Barrel Select, Mitchell Grenache and Riesling
from Clare Valley (actually Mitchell sent me a pdf of the label of the
Riesling, but I've already given up with this page and it doesn't have
the same style as a scanned-in label peeled off the bottle), South
Australia. Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache, also Australian, works quite well
with mild or medium curries. Argentinian Torrontes, made by Etchart, bit
gewurztraminerish. Crianza Rioja. Backsberg... oh, I mentioned that,
didn't I? Er, Fleurie and Saint Amour, they're French...
er...
Links without context...
Copyright © 2000-2005 Danny Chrastina
Last updated: August 2000
Email: danny at chrastina dot net
