Friday 28 December 2012

Boxing Day Wine

I was given a bottle of wine as a thank you this month, and I thought it would be good to have with the Gammon on Boxing Day. It was a Rioja from Baron De Ley vineyard, in the North Eastern part of Spain. It was from the 2006 vintage. Having been aged in new oak for two years, the colour was a deep rich ruby red.

The nose was full of stewed cherries, plums and cherry wood. The initial taste was rhubarb and worn leather. The stewed plums came back in, along with plenty of oak and spice. The finish was almonds and smooth cherries. Beautifully aged and once open, it seemed to get better and better.

A very nice thank you.

Thursday 27 December 2012

Wine for Christmas

Christmas time is always a time for indulgence. This year we are at home and don't feel the need to conform. So after morning mass, we get home light a fire, put the oven on and pop some bubbly.
The quaffing bubbly favourite at the moment is the cheap, but palatable, Sainsbury's Cava. It comes from Spain, from the Sant Sadurni region above Barcelona. It has similar qualities to an independent Champagne house, with biscuity aromas and apple flavours. Perfect to sip, while watching the children rip the paper from around China's finest plastic.

Friday 7 December 2012

When in Rome.....drink what the Romans drink



I was recently on a  in a pilgrimage to Rome. It was my first time to the city, but I have been to Italy before. We were staying at an old monastery called Villa Palazzola. It is on the shore of Lake Abano, as is Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's Summer House. This information proved useful, when I got left behind at the Catacombs and couldn't remember where I was staying. After a bus and Metro ride, I caught a taxi and did my best to explain to the driver where I was staying, using his stearing wheel as the lake. Laugh, i nearly did.....