Sherry gives me a lot of pleasure. Here are three Palo Cortados that I’ve had open for a while. I did a contemplative comparative tasting of them. All quite different,…
Two nice ciders, and comments on the cider market
Enjoying these two ciders tonight, both from Herefordshire producer Westons. They’re quite widely available. Westons Old Rosie Cloudy Scrumpy 7.3% alcohol. Cloudy pale yellow in colour, this is dry but…
An ultra-low production English Pinot Noir
Clearing out my wine racks today to see what’s there and what needs to be drunk. Found my entire production of 2010 Pinot Noir. A single bottle. Let me…
Both Barrels Shiraz Durif
Pleasantly surprised by this Aussie red from Laithwaites. It’s made by their RedHeads studio winery in McLaren Vale, and winemaker Steve Grimley has cobbled together some Coonawarra Shiraz and some…
Another lovely Portuguese red from Quinta do Noval
One of my favourite wine countries: Portugal. Some great terroirs, and some inspiring wine growers. And lots of progress over the last decade. This red, the second wine from Quinta…
A lovely Portuguese red: Quinta de Sant’Ana Tinto 2011
I have written about the wines from Lisboa estate Quinta de Sant’Ana before, here. This is the new release of their Tinto, and it’s just such a lovely, drinkable wine. A…
A night out in Vilafranca with nice wine and beer
This weekend Vilafranca comes alive with the Vijazz festival. It’s basically a street party combining jazz and wine. Over 30 Penedes wine producers are taking part, and there are two…
My first look at Priorat
Had my first visit to Priorat yesterday. Remarkable how similar the soils are to the Douro, with schist, which here they call licorella. The similarity is also helped by the…
Some nice food here in Catalunya
So, I have been eating quite well over the last couple of days. Dinner on Tuesday evening was at Cal Ton in Vilafranca (www.restuarantcalton.com). Not flashy, but just very good….