Hi Winos!

As I’ve got older my weekends have calmed down. It used to be pub, bar, club, wherever would let me in at 2AM. These days I prefer to take a more relaxed approach; a nice meal with a couple of good glasses of wine, home early and open a good bottle. I like it that way. But its not going to fly this weekend.

This weekend I will be visited by a monster from over the Irish Sea… so I apologise now to anyone who has to see me on Monday; it won’t be my fault, it will be Damo’s fault! I am going to try and educate the beast, take him to some of the brilliant wine bars London has to offer; besides, I only have 5 more weeks myself in the capital! So wish me luck… I may write to you next week.

Oh, and I’ve added a seasonal section that has nothing to do with wine, just my reviews and ratings of this year’s Xmas sandwiches!

​New post

I can’t take credit for this one, I merely contributed to this fantastic post by The Thirsty Kitten on one of my favourite topics; Riesling. I particularly like the fact that my comments are “seconded” by Robert Parker Jr!!

http://thethirstykitten.com/2014/11/07/for-the-love-of-riesling/

#newwinethisweek

I have gone for one of my favourite grapes from one of my favourite wine regions this week; let’s go to the Northern Rhone and explore some of the best red wines in the world… and some great value ones too!

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/2014/11/10/newwinethisweek-week-45-syrah-northern-rhone/

Supermarket wine

I hope you got a few great bottles in the Sainsbury’s 25% off last week? This week I’ll focus on Tesco who are giving customers 25% off when they buy any 4 bottles until 25th November. Let’s start with a few premium bottles that you may choose to adorn your Christmas table with, including a couple of Bubblies that are already on promotion:

Taittinger Brut Reserve NV Champagne (£31.99 was £36.99)
Mumm Cordon Rouge NV Champagne (£26.49 was £33.49)
Finest Premier Cru NV Champagne (£15.99 was £19.99)
Castillo San Lorenzo Rioja Reserva 2007 (£15.99)
Cave Saint Desirat Saint-Joseph Cuvee D’automme 2011 (£14.99)
Finest Chablis Premier Cru 2011 (£13.99)

And for more everyday drinking, head straight for the Finest range:

Finest Viña Mara Rioja Gran Reserva 2007 (£10.00 was £11.49)
Finest Chianti Riserva 2011 (£8.99)
Finest Külapëlli Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenère 2013, Chile (£7.99)
Finest Crozes Hermitage 2011 (£6.69 was £9.99)
Finest Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu 2013 (£6.49)
Finest Douro 2103, Portugal (£6.00
Finest Pouilly Fumé 2012 (£11.99)
Finest ‘Tingleup’ Riesling 2012, Western Aus (£9.99)
Tesco Finest Vermentino 2013, Sicily (£7.99)
Finest Albariño 2013 (£7.49)

Wine events

A great Christmas pop-up from Nyetimber and another chance for you to sign up to the Wine Car Boot – just do it!

Nyetimber Tasting Room
From 27th November to 13th December – various prices
39c Jermyn Street, St James’, London SW1Y 6DN
Nyetimber English Sparkling Wine is bringing a taste of West Sussex to London with it’s exciting new Pop-up venture this festive season. By day the temporary St James’s space will allow guests to discover the award winning range of Nyetimber wines through Masterclasses, which will include special sessions focusing on vertical tastings of multiple vintages of Classic Cuvee and Blanc de Blancs.

http://nyetimber.com/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pop_up_campaign

Wine Car Boot 4 – £10
Friday, 28 November 2014 from 14:00 to 22:00
Old Spitalfields Market, 16 Horner Square E1 6EW
If you only go to one wine more event in London this year make sure it’s the fourth Wine Car Boot! Wines will be poured by Vinoteca, Borough Wines, Berry Bros & Rudd, Vagabond, Theatre of Wine, Lea & Sandeman, The Sampler, Newcomer, Roberson, Vin Vixen, LDN CRU, Passione Vino, Winemakers Club, Handford and Spitalifields locals Bedales and Uncorked. Plus loads of food options too!

http://www.winecarboot.com/

For a glimpse of what to expect, I wrote an article after my visit to Wine Car Boot 3:

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/2014/06/14/wine-car-boot-simply-a-brilliant-day-out/

Wine in the news

The 10 most expensive bottles of wine in the world would cost you £39,040:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/the-10-most-expensive-bottles-of-wine-in-the-world-would-cost-you-39040-9851969.html

There’s a lot of Villa Maria wine available in UK supermarkets; they win lots of awards in NZ:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/10724923/Villa-Maria-tops-wine-show-awards

The magnificent WineFolly explains wine ratings:
http://winefolly.com/tutorial/wine-ratings-explained/

It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Day next week… will you be playing?
http://www.vivino.com/news/beaujolais-nouveau-day

The film Sideways is 10 years old!
http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/10/ten-years-since-sideways-made-pinot-a-film-star

Michel Chapoutier elected as Cotes-du-Rhone president… should be fun!
http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/587704/michel-chapoutier-elected-cotes-du-rhone-president

And Lidl has the best value wine out of the UK supermarkets (love their Picpoul and Soave)
http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/lidl-best-value-supermarket-for-wine-says-new-app/373418.article

Xmas sandwiches

To those of you who think that it’s too early to start celebrating Xmas, you are totally wrong. Xmas should start the day the kids go back to school after the summer holidays… like it used to!
One of the reasons I feel so strongly about this is that I love it when the Xmas sandwiches appear on the shelves. As usual I will be trying them all… but this year I’m going to tell you all what I think (M&S won last year, Pret the year before). First up it’s Tesco:

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/xmas-sarnies/

Light relief

As you know I never like to offend anyone much), and if there is a chance of it happening I merely blame it on my Dad… well thanks again Dad, and we’re only mocking the Irish because Damo is coming to visit! (PS. Great job in thrashing the Springboks at the weekend!)

Somewhere in Ireland…..

The mother-in-law arrives home from the shops to find her son-in-law Paddy in a steaming rage and hurriedly packing his suitcase. “What happened Paddy ?” she asks anxiously.
“What happened!! I’ll tell you what happened. I sent an E-mail to my wife telling her I was coming home today from my fishing trip. I get home…. and guess what I found? Yes, your daughter, my wife Jean, naked with Joe Murphy in our marital bed! This is unforgivable, the end of our marriage. I’m done. I’m leaving forever!”
“Ah now, calm down, calm down Paddy!” says his mother-in-law. “There is something very odd going on here. Jean would never do such a thing! There must be a simple explanation. I’ll go speak to her immediately and find out what happened.”
Moments later, the mother-in-law comes back with a big smile.
“Paddy. I told you there must be a simple explanation …..she never got your E-mail!”

The boring stuff

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Cheers and have a great weekend!

Wine Geek

confessionsofawinegeek.com
[email protected]
@winegeekconfess