Little ole wine drinker me (us?)

[Shadow]

More summer sun, more vinho verde:

This has to be one of my favourite styles of summer wines, always cool and refreshing. Sometimes with a slight spritz, sometimes not; do not mind either. A perfect apero and always good with anything from the sea or salads. Sadly these are the last bottles of my vinho verde, it has been a wonderful adventure.

Ermelinda Vinhos Gabia Loureiro 12% - good quality; fresh and elegant.
Adega Guimaraes 11% - good; very, very slight spritz that disappears quickly; light and fruity; produced by one of Sogrape’s* many outfits.
Quevedo Radiante 9% - very good; no spritz, clean and zesty; cool label !

*Sogrape is Portugal's largest producer by far; it has many companies under its umbrella ranging from cheap 'n' cheerful Mateus Rosé to the astonishingly expensive Barca Velha. The Azevedo a few posts above is also a Sogrape wine.

 

[Shadow]

A vinous miscellany:

2005 Moulin Touchais, Coteaux du Layon 13.5% - dessert wine from the Loire Valley; sweet, rich, superb balance, mouth-filling, long, very long; quite superb; hugely underrated and undiscovered; could probably last another 10 years easily
Yuli Chardonnay, Migdal, Moldova 13% - second label partly reads “moderate sweetness will satisfy lovers of semi-dry fruity wine”, possibly a translation of the Moldovan Cyrillic above the English. It went down the sink. Would not pay the £3.15 that I originally paid again! Interesting label though. No year indicated.
Luda & Mara White Cuvée, Tikves, North Macedonia 13.5% - another wine with no second label, so no information e.g. country of origin, vintage, abv, grapes etc. A search found country, abv and grapes - chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and viognier. Unlike the Moldovan, this was very pleasant, fresh and fruity, could identify sauvignon, a good apero.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

View: https://youtu.be/DVyhmKjj_Lo?si=pQhZMhDHMq2-lYAN


I've discovered this guy's channel on YouTube - straightforward reviews of supermarket wines. I've tried a couple of his reccomendations and they've been really good

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

View: https://youtu.be/DVyhmKjj_Lo?si=pQhZMhDHMq2-lYAN


I've discovered this guy's channel on YouTube - straightforward reviews of supermarket wines. I've tried a couple of his reccomendations and they've been really good

I like Tom, knows his grapes so to speak, and is funny and engaging. Also not afraid to promote and credit more affordable wines that most people can actually get hold of.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

A vinous miscellany:
View attachment 783090

2005 Moulin Touchais, Coteaux du Layon 13.5% - dessert wine from the Loire Valley; sweet, rich, superb balance, mouth-filling, long, very long; quite superb; hugely underrated and undiscovered; could probably last another 10 years easily
Yuli Chardonnay, Migdal, Moldova 13% - second label partly reads “moderate sweetness will satisfy lovers of semi-dry fruity wine”, possibly a translation of the Moldovan Cyrillic above the English. It went down the sink. Would not pay the £3.15 that I originally paid again! Interesting label though. No year indicated.
Luda & Mara White Cuvée, Tikves, North Macedonia 13.5% - another wine with no second label, so no information e.g. country of origin, vintage, abv, grapes etc. A search found country, abv and grapes - chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and viognier. Unlike the Moldovan, this was very pleasant, fresh and fruity, could identify sauvignon, a good apero.

Got a bottle of 2005 Moulin sitting in the wine fridge. You can still pick up much older vintages at decent prices too. Sweet and off dry wines; chenin, riesling, gewurztraminer are great value as nobody buys them. I have a reasonable collection of German riesling and wines from the Loire and Alsace. £15-20 will easily get you something amazing and with a bit of age to it.

 

[Shadow]

I've discovered this guy's channel on YouTube - straightforward reviews of supermarket wines. I've tried a couple of his reccomendations and they've been really good

Good stuff. Surprised he did not rate the Gavi. Tried it ages ago and on his ratings I would have given it a 'Pass'. But the Tesco Finest is better - see post # 157!
I have mentioned a few of Tesco's and Sainsbury's Finest and Taste the Difference lines and at the very least usually offer good value.

 

[Shadow]

Got a bottle of 2005 Moulin sitting in the wine fridge

Hope its not been there long...the cork will dry out! Or do you have a humidity control on the fridge too?

You can still pick up much older vintages at decent prices too. Sweet and off dry wines; chenin, riesling, gewurztraminer are great value as nobody buys them.

So true.

I have a reasonable collection of German riesling and wines from the Loire and Alsace. £15-20 will easily get you something amazing and with a bit of age to it.

Again, so true. I too have a few german and Alsace rieslings (and canadian!) sitting on the rack waiting for me. And a few Loire wines, picked up this year during a visit, but they are unlikely to last more than 2 years in this house!

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Hope its not been there long...the cork will dry out! Or do you have a humidity control on the fridge too?

It's a temp/humidity controlled fridge so I can keep everything in good condition. As I will never own a house with a cellar thought it was a worthy investment rather than being at the mercy of my garage!

 

[Shadow]

Cool labels!

2023 Vdg Antao Vaz, Alentejo, PT. 13.5% - simple and straightforward, lively fruit, zesty; good apero, would pair well with fishy dishes too; Antao Vaz is grape variety. Vdg = Vasco de Gama, as represented on the label !

2022 Voskevaz Urzana Muscat Vardabuyr, AM. 12.5% - first wine I've tried from Armenia and very tasty it is too! Floral and citrussy (not muscat-y); good apero and enough weight to work with fish, chicken, salad; very, very good; a risk picked up at auction but turned out to be a bargain at £5.25

 

[Shadow]

Winter warmers:

Kopke 10 Year Old Tawny, PT. 20% - Raisins, nutty, woody, smoky, so much going on and so, so long; excellent. Tawny is the best style of port IMO and so underrated. Kopke is port's oldest house, having been established in 1638!

2013 D'Oliveiras Sercial Madeira, PT. 20% - bought this in a job lot with the Kopke and other dessert wines, my first time drinking Madeira. Very rich (candied fruit, nuts), very long, sweet-ish, with a clean refreshing finish. Excellent with fruit cake! Bottled in 2024. A unique gift to the wine world but I'll be keeping my pennies for more tawny.

 

[stephec]

Cool labels!

View attachment 801883

2023 Vdg Antao Vaz, Alentejo, PT. 13.5% - simple and straightforward, lively fruit, zesty; good apero, would pair well with fishy dishes too; Antao Vaz is grape variety. Vdg = Vasco de Gama, as represented on the label !

2022 Voskevaz Urzana Muscat Vardabuyr, AM. 12.5% - first wine I've tried from Armenia and very tasty it is too! Floral and citrussy (not muscat-y); good apero and enough weight to work with fish, chicken, salad; very, very good; a risk picked up at auction but turned out to be a bargain at £5.25

With labels like that they'll be calling it craft wine and adding a fiver on to the price.