Little ole wine drinker me (us?)

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And lesser known Italian reds:

from right to left,
2023 Monte Schiavo Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, Marche 13% - lacrima is the grape variety, native to the Marche region. (I thought it might have been from Alba, as in Barbera d'Alba - wrong!). Soft, fruity, soft tannin, hint of violet and raspberry, delicious. A very pleasant surprise.
2022 Casal Farneto Cimaré Rosso Piceno, Marche 14% - a blend of montepulciano and sangiovese. Much richer, fuller bodied, more chianti like. Dark red fruit, hint of spice, 'oak matured' and wears its high abv well. Well-made, excellent with any dish with a little or lot of red meat.
2021 Casal Farneto Luigiprimo Rosso Piceno , Marche 15% - oh dear, this was awful. It is not often I cannot drink a glass of wine. Far too big boned, too much alcohol, too much tannin and too much oak. Not balanced, barely any fruit. Even with cottage pie, I struggled. Gave the second bottle to a neighbour who likes this sort of thing!

Marche is the region east of Umbria, next to the Adriatic in central Italy, known mostly for the white wine verdicchio. A good area to visit if you like avoiding hordes of northern euro tourists, especially Brits. Rosso Piceno is usually reliable, unlike the last wine above, not typical.

 

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Lovely warm, sunny days calls for lovely, chilled whites as aperos. Both from Italy, like those in post #240.

2021 Chiesa del Carmine Indigeno Trebbiano, Umbria 13% - this was much better than expected, I would usually avoid trebbiano as it is often thin, weak and bland. I visited Umbria last year and discovered there are different versions of trebbiano all over Italy and in Umbria producers usually grow a better version. This had an intensity and length of flavour that was very appealing.

2022 Tenute Tomasella Friulano, Friuli 12.5% - zesty yet with depth, long, very good.

 

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And this from Romania.

2022 Jidvei Iluziv, Transylvania 12.5% - another pleasant surprise! Fresh and fruity; good; hints of sauvignon blanc perhaps. Modern , attractive label but tells us nothing! So look at other label and almost the only english words show the blend to be sauvignon blanc, riesling italian and muscat ottonel. Strange but worked fine.

 

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For those of you who enjoy strong, big-flavoured reds (13.5% abv), especially Italian, this is an absolute bargain.

Available from the Co-op at only £8.00, see here, or the Wine Society for £9.75, "A blend of montepulciano, aglianico and trebbiano grapes traditionally grown in Molise, south of Abruzzo in Italy. This combination has created a rich, cherry-scented wine with the aglianico grape adding some blackberry notes. It has spent 18 months in large oak barrels, giving a touch of vanilla on the finish."

Most folk would walk right by because it has no famous region or grape variety on the main label. The vintage is 2019 and is nicely mature. To find a wine over 5 years old at this price, this good, is astonishing. Highly recommended.

 

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For those of you who enjoy strong, big-flavoured reds (13.5% abv), especially Italian, this is an absolute bargain.

Available from the Co-op at only £8.00, see here, or the Wine Society for £9.75, "A blend of montepulciano, aglianico and trebbiano grapes traditionally grown in Molise, south of Abruzzo in Italy. This combination has created a rich, cherry-scented wine with the aglianico grape adding some blackberry notes. It has spent 18 months in large oak barrels, giving a touch of vanilla on the finish."

Most folk would walk right by because it has no famous region or grape variety on the main label. The vintage is 2019 and is nicely mature. To find a wine over 5 years old at this price, this good, is astonishing. Highly recommended.
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If you buy 3 bottles on a weekend or bank holiday you get a fiver off at the coop till June 26.

 

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If you buy 3 bottles on a weekend or bank holiday you get a fiver off at the coop till June 26.

Thanks for this...fill yer boots!

 

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Last night, polished off a lovely, refreshing Vinho Verde and wanted something to go with chilli salmon, new potatoes and green salad on the side. Rosé - yes, I know just the bottle. But not having tried it before, a trusted pink also chilling in the fridge as back up.
Well, this was superb, cannot recall having a pink like it.

The Heretics Blowhorn Pale Rosé 12.5%
The small print at the bottom of the label reads " Premium. Barrel Fermented. Pinot Noir Rosé". Nothing about where its from or the legal bits.
Second label:

"Wine of England" from the Crouch Valley, Essex. Astonishing. I had heard of a few producers making still english wine but not of this quality and my first from essex. For those of you near the Crouch Valley, you are in for a treat over the next few years as more chardonnays and pinot noirs come to market. However, you will need a full wallet, this retails for £29. Too steep for me but maybe just about worth it? This is serious wine. The good news is I have another bottle!

 

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Summer weather calls for summer wine; various Vinho Verde:

2023 Azevedo Loureiro/Alvarinho 12% - lovely, extremely refreshing, proper vinho verde or 'green wine'. Loureiro and Alvarinho are the 2 best grape varieties and alvarinho is the portuguese word for the spanish albariño.
2023 Quintas de Melgaço Portal do Minho (PdM) Alvarinho & Trajadura 11.5% - light, very slight spritz on tongue tip, hint of 'greenness'; ok, especially at 28° outside!
2023 PdM Loureiro 10.5% - mildly disappointing, was expecting better
2023 PdM Alvarinho 12% - even more disappointing, was expecting better; a shame, win some, lose some!

 

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Purchased these on our recent trip to Tuscany after an afternoon’s wine tasting at the hotel’s vineyar.

 

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Purchased these on our recent trip to Tuscany after an afternoon’s wine tasting at the hotel’s vineyar.

Let us know how you get on with them.
Cannot see the labels clearly enough, whereabouts is the vineyard?

 

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The vineyard belongs to the Hotel Sovestro in San Gimgnano. It’s the town that used have all the towers.
I hope it tastes as good as did at the tasting. Our neighbours who we went with have already made in roads on the bottles they brought back and say🍷🍷🍷👍

 

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Some more whites in this glorious summer weather, as heat increases again and back to vinho verdes!

2023 Zeni Vignealte Soave Classico, 12.5% - oh this was supremely good, just how Soave should be. Soave, like many popular regions from a few decades back e.g. chianti, beaujolais, muscadet, went through a rough patch from being too popular and corners were cut, are now back on song. I wonder if this particular one is partly because it is from the Classico area, where rules tend to be a little stricter.
2022 Altos de Torona Loureira, Rias Baixas 12% - another very, very good wine. Not surprising, top notch grape and this region in Spain is producing wonderful wines.
2023 Castillo de Perelada Obsequi, Empordá 12.5% - garnatxa blanca and sauvignon blanc blend, Empordá is the region (in Catalunya). Was looking forward to this as Perelada usually make good wines. Very disappointing. No depth, little flavour. Shame. Fantastic looking bottle!

 

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Just bought 4 bottles of this in the Super U in Saverne where we are holiday. I did the trick of buying a couple from the section which looked like the locals had been going for it. I then picked up 2 from offers bin, turned out to be the same wine.😂😂😂 It’s not too bad better than my usual recent experiences with French wine. I have been known to by Italian in French supermarkets.