We’re celebrating all things Spanish this month with a special offer and a very tasty tasting.  Following on from the great success of last months tasting with Adi Badenhorst, we are delighted to announce that Karin Nyland from Familia Martinez Bujanda wineries will be heading to our shores for a bite sized tasting on Saturday 18th May.  Very reasonably priced tickets are required and can be purchased by clicking here.

Karin’s family have vineyards in Rioja, La Mancha and Rueda and we are offering 15% discount on these wines to get us in the mood for the tasting and indeed for the summer that is surely just around the corner..?

You will find deliciously refreshing white wines in the Rueda region.  We love them with seafood – with a bowl of steamed mussels or mackerel pâté on toast.  A glass of Finca Montepedrosa Rueda would be the kind of thing any guest would be delighted to be welcomed with when they pop round for a glass of wine and a chat.

La Mancha in central Spain is a vast arid landscape right in the centre of Spain where the high altitude keeps things cool enough at night for grapes to thrive.  Here, the family acquired land for Finca Antigua winery and they make fantastic value red wines.  The land they bought was home to old vine international varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, as well as Tempranillo which is the key grape in Rioja.

Finca Antigua Tempranillo
Finca Antigua Syrah
Finca Antigua Cabernet Sauvignon
Finca Antigua Merlot
Infinitus Ecologico: a modern blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah.

Most people’s first encounter with Spanish wine will be with a Rioja and these are such classic, elegant wines that we turn to them time and again.  They go brilliantly with the kind of food we love to eat (perfect with a roast dinner) and represent fabulous value for money.  These round and soft vanilla scented wines are so appealing, and offer great choice to wine drinkers who can choose from the youthful and fruity Joven wines to the mature, harmonious and integrated Reserva wines.

Vina Bujanda Crianza
Vina Bujanda Reserva
Finca Valpiedra Reserva

We think there is something for everyone in Spain.  Cheers!

Our Top 10 Spring Wines Under £10 features a selection of the best value wines we are recommending for this season. 5 whites, 5 reds, all delicious and all under £10.

Reds

L'Ameillaud Vin De Pays D'Orange 2011, Vaucluse, £8.50
A blend of grenache, syrah and carignan, It is an intense dark red colour. Aromas of plum lead on to a robust palate with cherry flavours supported by well-rounded, soft tannins.

Secateurs Red blend 2010, South Africa, Normally £9.95, with 15% off now £8.45
Full on, succulent wine which is full of energy & character – a blend of several varieties produced from old bush vines. Brilliant for BBQs & parties or just as an after work relaxant!

Artadi Laderas El Seque 2011, Spain, £9.50
A full-bodied, hearty wine at a very affordable price. This quintessentially Mediterranean wine shows ripe fruit and balsamic freshness. A delightful partner to barbequed meats!

Corvo Rosso Nero D'Avola 2010, Italy, £9.99
Velvety flavours of red berries, oak, spice and a slight trace of chalk in the finish. A great accompaniment to meat pastas and full-flavoured fish.

Mourgues Du Gres Galets Rouges 2010, Rhône valley, £9.99
On the palate, spicy red and black berry fruits come beautifully together in a wine that is perfectly balanced. Will go wonderfully with meat dishes such as duck, steak or game.

Whites

Domaine Bellier Cheverny 2011, Loire Valley, £10.00
Better than many cheap Sancerres, this is a fresh and succulent sauvignon blanc, with a bright note of tangerine and a dry finish. Is very fish friendly!

Sartarelli Verdicchio Classico 2010, Italy, £9.75
Textured and rich with ripe mango fruits and orange zest. Definitely one to try with rich fish dishes or chicken.

Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap White 2011, South Africa, £8.95
The Wolftrap White is taking the world by storm. With only the third vintage bottled it has become a rising star of the JN portfolio.

Lascaux Domaine Cavalier Blanc 2012, Languedoc, £8.99
Citrus fruits and grapefruit on the nose are followed on the palate by a fresh, aromatic mouthfeel unrepinned by tingling acidity. Drink this wine within 2 years and accompany with sushi or shellfish.

Mourgues Du Gres Galets Dores 2010
The wine is crisp, fresh and full. Galets Dorés makes for an excellent aperitif. A good companion to veal and poultry dishes and cheeses such as cantal and goats cheese.

Our Easter highlights invariably revolve around 2 things – roast lamb and chocolate. Not together I hasten to add, but an Easter weekend without suitable quantities of each would be somewhat incomplete.

For those of us who plan our meals around what we want to drink (nothing to be ashamed of there) an occasion like this calls for a good bottle of red wine. My personal preference is for a Spanish Rioja; the weight, structure and tannin of a Rioja is perfectly suited to lamb. Marques de Murrieta Reserva is an absolute classic – this has all the typical hallmarks of Rioja, soft, well-integrated fruit and a warming vanilla finish from the oak ageing. Artadi’s Vinas de Gain is a different style; it’s not aged as long so the fruit plays a more dominant role with the French oak subtly adding complexity and depth. Paco Garcia Crianza is somewhere in the middle, lots of ripe fruit and a lovely vanilla finish.

Traditionalists would argue that Bordeaux is the perfect match for roast lamb. No arguments here and your choices are almost endless. Ch Mylord, Ch Chollet, Lamothe Bergeron, La Gravette de Certan and d’Aiguilhe all offer excellent value for money and will work perfectly with a roast dinner. Bordeaux wines are predominantly a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. They are elegant wines, which means they’re not bursting at the seams with bold fruit flavours, they are more subtle and have interesting earthy and spicy flavours too. Good Bordeaux wines aren’t aggressively tannic or full bodied, they’re medium bodied with smooth tannins and this is what makes them so well suited to roast meat – it’s the same with Rioja. Happily both wines have moderate alcohol so you won’t be floored after a couple of glasses at lunchtime!

If your Easter lunch is more likely to feature a roasted bird or some fish, a white wine will be the order of the day.  We’re all drinking our new Macon Lugny from Domaine St Denis.  This is the perfect springtime wine and it goes spectacularly well with roast chicken.  It’s refreshing and elegant and satisfying – perfect white Burgundy actually and just as good with fish as it is with chicken.

Now to the tricky part.  Wine with Easter eggs is not is an easy match; in fact wine with chocolate is generally pretty tricky.  Milk chocolate and creamy chocolate is a bit of a wine disaster – Andrew Quady’s Elysium is your best bet - this unusual wine is just the job and has a very loyal following indeed.  If your dessert features dark, bitter chocolate a red Vin Doux Naturel such as the sublime Fagayra Rouge is the wine you need.  Heaven.

What Easter treats will be featuring at yours this year?

My taste in wine has evolved somewhat over the years and it seems to follow a particular pattern.  I stumble across a wine that I love then I drink around it - I look for wines made from the same grape(s) or from the same area to try to really understand what it is that I loved about the original bottle and how to find more wines in a similar vein.  This is how the whole world of wine has opened up to me - in little pockets which lead on to other little pockets.  Admittedly there have been a few horrors along the way but at the end of the day it's a labour of love and I'm happy to persevere.

Part of the fascination of wine is the huge variety of wines out there to be discovered.  There is always something new to learn, something else to try, but with such endless possibilities available we sometimes need a nudge - a reason to try something new or a hint that something is just what we're looking for.  We all love recommendations so we've put together some mixed cases to inspire some new discoveries.  The wines are grouped together by style; the essential characters of the wines are the same but there is enough variation between them to keep it interesting and varied.  All the wines are great quality and very enjoyable.

Light whites (available as 6 or 12 bottle case) are wines that are fresh and fruity with no oak (for the 'anything but chardonnay' people).  These are very easy-going white wines that can be drunk alone or with food.  If you love the fruity nature of Sauvignon Blanc and the delicate freshness of Pinot Grigio then these are similar in character and well worth a try if you’re looking for something new.

Sumptuous whites (available as 6 or 12 bottle case) are rich, generous and broad flavoured.  These white wines have more body and fullness than light whites.  Because they have more depth and flavour they go really well with food and will stand up to roast chicken or pork or even cheese or creamy dishes.  Some of these wines will have been aged in oak barrels but the oak is never overpowering – it supports the fruit and gives the wine a savoury, warming edge.  Chardonnay would generally fit into this category as do the gorgeous wines of Alsace and there are some fabulous blends to discover too.

We’d love to hear what you think, what’s your style?

The Cookery School at James Street South with JN Wine will host a Taste of Italy: a tasting tour of the Italian Wine Regions and a light Italian themed forked supper. After a sparkling aperitif, Jane Boyce Master of Wine and Fine Wine Manager at JN Wine will guide you through 6 specially selected wines from Italy. These have been specially chosen to showcase the best of Italy – the classic and the new-wave of winemaking Italian style. This will be followed by a fork supper.

Date: - 29 March 2012
From: - 7.30pm - 10pm
To Book Tel: - 028 90 434310
Email: cook@jamesstreetsouth.co.uk

Tasting at JSS Cookery School with Renae Hirsch of Henrys Drive

Share
Tweet