A right old rogues gallery agreed but all awesome people on Twitter, and winos I’d be happy to share a bottle of anything with any day of the week.
An online wine club innit. People drink the wines, the juice of the grape fruit, and write about them, so you don’t have to trawl through the shite ones in order to find the good stuff, therefore saving YOU time and monies.
No, YOU’RE welcome. No need to thank us. We’re making this sacrifice for the greater good.
This week’s theme: sink a bottle, responsibly of course, that cost you less than £8 and write some shizzle.
I hand you over to this week’s whine merchants.
1) Campo Viejo Rioja, Tempranillio 2010 by @therainbowbird
Alc: 13.5% – Cost : £7.99 (Tesco)
This Spanish wine comes in at £7.99, so just under the limit for the Whine Club, though it often seems to pop up on special offer.
I like my Rioja’s to be big meaty beasts, capable of putting a large dog to sleep fairly quickly, and I had high hopes for this one. At 13.5%, it ticks the powerful box, and the label tells me it will be ‘soft and velvety, and full of rich, intense aroma’s’.
My first sniff suggested Ribena, and wet hairy dog, so it wasn’t a promising start, though to be fair, my nose has never been that reliable since I inhaled deeply whilst sniffing a perfumed candle. Moving swiftly on.
This wine is strong, most definitely, but I didn’t get the promised softness, in fact, I found it a little on the harsh side, and not one for just quaffing on its own.
Once I got the cheese and crackers out it improved a lot, and made it seem less tonsil-dissolving, so I’d certainly buy it again, but next time to drink with food.
Unusually for me, I only had a couple of glasses, and it left me with a very dry, puckery mouth, suggesting quite high tannin levels. My husband loved it though, so I would say if you see it at a good price, its well worth trying. Just one word of warning though: it does seem to have quite amazing teeth and lip staining abilities!
- Rating 3/5 without food, 4/5 with food
2) The Naked Grape – Pfalz Riesling 2010 by @SJP72
Alc : 10.5% – Cost : £7.87 – £8.29 (Waitrose Direct/Ocado and others)
Continuing my one man mission to rehabilitate German Riesling (in your face Blue Nun), a little gem from the estimable Dr Ernst Loosen.
Bright and pale yellow in the glass. Clean, sharp and “minerally” on the nose – best way I can describe it is wet pebbles (go with me on this).
Crisp, light and off dry. Apples, apricot and honey with a bit of that classic riesling “chemical” taste (but in a good way – think pear drops).
Light enough on the alcohol front to slurp on its own but, as with a lot of riesling, a brilliantly versatile food wine. Great with seafood or fish but enough sweetness and complexity to cope with Asian food or a cheeseboard.
A bargain. Enjoy.
- Rating 4/5
3) Turning Leaf – Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 by @randompearlsof
Alc: 13% – Cost: £7.98 (Asda)
The first thing I appreciated about this Californian screw top was its colour. A nice deep red hue that suggested it would have some meat on it. After a swirl around the glass, the unquestionable aroma was, well, …..like wine. Which is much nicer than old socks.
Quite a fruity little number reminiscent of having red and black fruit pastels in your mouth at the same time, with a slightly bitter undertone of dark chocolate lurking there. Described as full bodied on the bottle, I’d tend to agree but it’s no monster either, so don’t be scared.
Doesn’t go well with salt and vinegar hula hoops, fact. Indeed if you are partaking of a nibble, then cheese n onion or ready salted may be more suited.
I went a little up market with my accompaniments on day two and can confirm it went down rather nicely with some smooth white Mull of Kintyre cheddar and cream crackers. I don’t think it would be out of place with some peppered roast beef either.
At the time of this review it was on special offer at £5 in Asda, bargain!
- Rating 4/5
4) Jacob’s Creek – Sparkling Rose by @citygirlnomore
Alc: 11.5% – Cost: £9.99 RRP – What I paid = £6.00 (using combination of 2 separate offers in local Sainsbury’s – but did have to buy 6 bottles)
Wanting to commence my first wine review with a Big Bang (or should I say ‘Pop’) I selected the Australian Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Rose as my wine of choice to add a little fizz to this review, especially with a big ‘Girlie’ night coming up. A bit of sparkle is the perfect antidote to get a party started, but how would this untried ‘pink fizz’ measure up?
Firstly for the ‘science bit’. The wine is a mixture of chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes giving it it’s attractive pink colour. There are undertones of strawberry and other berry flavours, BUT – what did I actually think?
I really wanted to love this, especially as I’d purchased six bottles, but I just didn’t. It felt too fizzy and in fact if I’d had just once glass, it would have been acceptable, but after two, I began to get heartburn and a little gassy (would not recommend if you’re out on a first date).
My personal opinion was that I was drinking cherry pop, rather than a £10.00 bottle of quality wine. Obviously it is not going to be in the same league as a good champagne, but there are better £10.00 bottles of pink fizz to be had, namely the Marks & Spencer Spumante at £11.49 per bottle, but often great deals to be had, or Hardy’s Crest Sparkling Rose at £9.96 a bottle, again shop around for better deals, both of which are a far superior offering.
- Rating 2/5
So, are you going out to buy some wine now? Do you have a thirst on? If so, we hope this has been useful and, if you do neck a bottle and want to let us know what you think, then you can do so a number of ways. Responsibly of course.
1) Join in the theme and post a comment in the comments bit in my down belows. Remember, the theme is anything for under £8 so we’d love to hear what you’ve been responsibly guzzling.
2) Or. blog about it on your site and join in the linky which is responsibly here.
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It doesn’t have to be wordy. Just the wine and why you liked it or hated it. Or even a rating. A rating of the wine or a rating of the responsible hangover it gave you the next day.
Have a good weekend my friends, and remember, as the birthday card says, “Life’s too short to drink bad wine.”
Now this is what community service is all about
Please drink responsibly.
And thanks again. LOVE your review.
You do come up with the best ideas! Another linky that I really want to join in on and will probably fail miserably to do so but if I do my wine will be safely under £8 (usually under £5) due to severe lack of money and Scottish ancestry (ie tight!)
Under a fiver will be a good one. And you can get some great wines on half price in supermarkets for that price.
Glad you plan on joining in. I’ll be running it for a few weeks.
Palo Alto Reserva – Cabernet Sauvignon / Carmenere / Shiraz 13.5%
Asda £5.98 (£4.98 offer)
This Chilean red is a mixture of three grape varieties, which begs me to wonder if they only had the dregs of a few other bottles left one day and decided to combine them all in some frantic attempt to make a glass to go with supper.
I’m not usually good with the nose, but this one actually does have a strong smell of blackberry / blackcurrant jam and looks absolutely scrumptious.
On first taste, the promise of all that lovely fruitiness comes through but then finishes a bit harshly and dries the mouth. Some might say it’s a bit rough.
Like most wines, I usually enjoy the second glass better (sometimes the third and fourth too) and this grew on me as I got further into the bottle. Either that or the alcoholic content made me think it was better. A bit like beer goggles I suppose.
On reflection, I think it may work better with food, a nice rich thick stew perhaps.
Not quite hitting my sweet spot, I will score it a middling 3/5 but if you like a dry finish to your wine it may be for you.