ITs Food

When I think of Rioja, I always picture this bottle in my mind.

The classic wired body and clouded glass. I have fond memories of this wine, I seem to remember that the 1981 was excellent. So, did the memories flood back…?

The wine is made by Bodegas Faustino in Northern Spain. The vineyard has been arount since 1861 when Eleuterio Martinez Arzok moved to Oyon and bought a palace and vineyards from the Marques del Puerto. Faustino I was first launched on 1960 along with Faustino V, VII and Don Faustino.

I remember rioja’s as being quite high in tannin’s rather than the “soft, silky, mellow” mentioned on the back. I drank it with a nice Ox Tail stew, good strong meaty flavour. My tasting notes said…

Urgh, bad bottle? No, but not great. Tannins, but also maybe sour? Not smooth at all.

I disliked it so much I drank very little. What did it taste like the next day?

Nope, just as bad

Oh dear, that was not good. The wine had no smoothness at all and had a distinctly sour aftertaste. I hosestly thought it could have been a bad bottle but it wasn’t quite bad enough. I’ve given bad wine a second chance before but at over £10 a bottle someone would have to send me a bottle for free!! With decent reds from the New World available at <£10 it’s only a matter of time before disappointing Old World reds like this one die out. One Star.

Faustino I Gran Reserva Rioja 1996

Grape: Tempranillo 85%, Graciano 10%, Mazuelo 5%
Alcohol: 13%
Guide Price: ~£14 (Sainsburys)
I bought this wine at: Sainsbury’s (instore)
ITs Food Rating: One star

Regular readers will be shocked to hear I drank an “old world” wine the other day, La Petite Fessardière Muscadet 2006. In a moment of madness I bought this Muscadet and a Sancerre (review to come).

I was initially attracted to the wine by it’s Ecocert certification (pages in English). This means the wine is made from organically grown grapes, not a bad thing in my book.

A muscadet should be crisp with fruity hints of apple, lime and melon. Interestingly the wine is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape, known just as Melon in some places. Apparently this wine uses the traditional “sur lie” method of production to add extra freshness.

So, what was it like. Wine tasting notes time!

…fresh, quite fruity, no real flavour though, no depth, feels like it’s been bottled too early…

That just about sums it up. Maybe it’s just that I have become accustomed to wines with more flavour and depth but this wine was too fresh for me. It tasted like it needed a few more months to mature BUT that’s how it was supposed to taste I reckon, that was from the “sur lie” process is all about.

I didn’t like the wine so I’m going to give this wine 2 stars. It’s not that this is a really bad wine, but all I can base these reviews on is my opinion. That’s the great thing about wine, someone’s Highfield is someone else’s Blossom Hill!

La Petite Fessardière Muscadet 2006

Grape: Melon de Bourgogne
Alcohol: 12%
Guide Price: ~£4-£5
I bought this wine at: Sainsbury’s (instore)
ITs Food Rating: Two stars

I bought a case of wine through Majestic the other month made up of mostly new wines (plus one old favourite). The Adobe Merlot was recommended by majestic staff so I got a couple of bottles. You all know I like Merlot and this had the added bonus of being Organic as well. Chilean Merlot? You can’t go wrong can you?

Interestingly, they sent me two different styles of bottle.

I think this is just down to a brand revamp but there may be some subtle difference. I’ll ignore it though and treat them as one wine.

Adobe is made by Emiliana who have a very strong ideal of organic produce and biodiversity.

In 1998 our company contributed with excellent vineyards from the valleys of Casablanca, Maipo and Colchagua, in order to incorporate them into a handling of organic and bio dynamical agriculture, giving birth to Emiliana Orgánico, a unique project in CHILE and pioneer in Latin America.

This project is the result of the search of the maximum quality, through productive processes, which are shown in the final product, around the concern and respect for the ground, by sustainable agriculture, minimizing the artificial processes and the use of synthetic products, fundamentally seeking to anticipate the illnesses before treating them, which implies a very delicate work on each plant.

Under the Organic concept, the vineyard is considered to be a living resource, with an own balance that must be preserved. Because of this, the ground nutrients are generated in the same field.

The Emiliana Orgánico spirit is sustained in the caring and absolute dedication for the vineyard and the strong commitment for the environment, achieving like this the maximum Terroir expression, preserving all the grape’s peculiarities and obtaining a result of extraordinary quality.

A very welcome stance on organics. Well was the wine any good? In a word… no. My notes tell me:

…not nice, not smooth, overly harsh for a merlot…

Oh dear, I like my Merlot’s smooth and fruity with a bit of body. This had body but it was disappointingly harsh with or without food. Poor quality for a £5 Chilean Merlot.

Adobe Merlot 2005

Grape: Merlot
Alcohol: 14.5%
Guide Price: <£5
I bought this wine at: Majestic (online)
ITs Food Rating: Two Stars

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(Sorry for the bad photo, my trusty Nokia N80 seems to have let me down on this occasion.)

Bad wine, don’t you just hate it? I’ve often said that you can’t buy a bad New World wine these days, especially an Australian Merlot. Seems like I was wrong.

Okay I know the bottle of Hardy’s Varietal Range Merlot 2005 I picked up isn’t “premium” but it should have been a decent glug. Should, it wasn’t. A harsh tasting excuse for a Merlot. Really, this wine isn’t worth wasting a full review on. It tasted bad with and without food and was completely disappointing.

I expect more from Hardy’s. One star.

Hardy’s Varietal Range Merlot 2005

Grape: Merlot
Alcohol: 13.5%
Guide Price: <£5
I bought this wine at: Sainsbury’s (instore)
ITs Food Rating: One star