A Wine Blog with a Focus on Fizz, Alsace and Australasia
Cava has an image problem. The vast majority of bottles sort in the UK and Ireland are mass-produced, by-the-numbers plonk. Even though it’s made by the more expensive – and generally higher quality – traditional method, Cava is generally seen as being in the same “party-drink” class as Prosecco. To be honest, neither cheap Prosecco… Continue reading Classy Cava [Make Mine a Double #30]
The Christmas Wine Sale is in full flow at Irish supermarket chain SuperValu. I’ve picked out 10 bargains which you should consider popping in your trolley this festive season. For transparency, note that these were either samples received recently or previously this year. 1. Gran Troya Cava Brut NV If you find most affordable Proseccos… Continue reading Top 10 SuperValu Xmas Sale Wines
As we roll on towards the festive season, despite the pandemic. many of us are starting to plan which wines we want to have in stock for drinking over the Christmas period (Christmas don’t care ’bout Covid!) Here are five wines that you should consider this Yule: Disclosure: bottles were kindly sent as samples, but… Continue reading Five Festive Flagons
Five Fantastic Sparkling Wines – Guest post by Frankie Cook Here are Five Fantastic Fizzes from Marks & Spencer to put some zip into your life! They include Cava, Champagne, Kiwi fizz, Crémant de Bourgogne and English sparkling wine (for which ESW seems to be the new TLA). La Cave des Hautes Côtes Crémant de…… Continue reading On Your Marks, Get Set, Pop! – Five Fantastic Sparkling Wines
SuperValu Ireland currently have their Spanish wine sale underway, running until Wednesday 4th March. Here are a few of the wines included that I have tasted in the past and would be putting in my trolley in the next week: Martin Codax Albariño (€12.00 down from €17.99) Paco & Lola Albariño (€12.00 down from €14.99)… Continue reading Sweet or Dry Fortified? [Make Mine a Double #51]
When restarting the DNS Wine Club tasting calendar after the summer break it has become a tradition to start with wines that members have enjoyed on their holidays. It’s always a nice and relaxed event and gives a far more idiosyncratic range than is the norm at DNS. September 2019 had us meet and taste… Continue reading DNS Holiday Wines 2019
After a brief pause, we now head back into the Frankly Wines Top 10s, this time to “Value Whites”. There are no hard and fast criteria for inclusion (apart from being a white wine, obviously), but the majority are among the less expensive wines to be found on the shelves in independent off-licences, off-licence chains… Continue reading Frankly Wines Top 10 Value Whites 2019
Very few co-operatives are talked about in the same revered tones as Produttori del Barbaresco (“Producers of Barbaresco”, known as “Produttori” for short). They have something of a cult following, and in good vintages their nine single vineyard (or “Cru”) Riserva wines are eagerly anticipated. In fact, the single vineyard wines are only released when… Continue reading In Praise of Co-operatives – Part 2 – Produttori del Barbaresco
Although red wine is the king in northern Spain – especially going west / south west from Navarra, Rioja, Ribero del Duero, Cigales and Toro – there is an outlier: Rueda and its refreshing whites. Established as a Denominacíon de Origen (DO) as recently as 1980, Rueda is now established as an ultra-reliable source of… Continue reading A Splash of Refreshing White in an Ocean of Red [Make Mine a Double #40]
Last – but no means least – of our awesome foursome from Spit is GrapeCircus. Enrico’s wines are the most “edgy” of the whole gang (if you’ve got a moment, some are edgier than U2’s guitarist walking along the side of the Cliffs of Moher watching Tom Cruise film “Edge of Tomorrow” on his Samsung… Continue reading To SPIT or not to SPIT (Part 4 – GrapeCircus)