One for the red wine drinking dog lovers.

THE LAB 2014 LISBOA RED BLEND

This is a Liquorland own label that I found last week in their Broome store. The vintage, price and origin surprised me. The fact that it was a multi blend didn't - those Portuguese just can't help themselves.

It's a medium weight red in perfect condition with the promise of further cellaring rewards. It may be a little feral barnyardy for some tastes which is why I scored it a 4. I suggest grabbing a bottle and tasting it over 3 days. See what you think. You may be rushing back for more.

GRAPE VARIETIES: A quadruple blend of Castelao, Tempranillo, Shiraz and Touriga Nacional
REGION: Lisboa, Portugal
A/V: 13%
PRICE: $9
FROM: Liquorland
RATING: 4/5 from me

A LESS THAN OUTSTANDING WINE TASTING

So I grab a range of random reds from our first Lidl we visit in Italy. You've got to start somewhere so I chose price points.  From left to right these cost 1.69, 2.99, 4.99 and 13.99 euro . Alcohol levels seemed to go up with price. Once again left to right: 12%, 13%, 13.5% and an absurd 15.5%.

Sadly there's not much else to report. We opened the bottles and tasted them over three days. Nothing happened. The two innocuous cheaper wines stayed that way. The Valpolicella Ripasso stayed a charry unbalanced beast and the |Amarone remained a weird bottle of over extractive fruit.

It's sad when a retailer I enjoy gets it so wrong. In the absence of any on floor advice you run the risk of being very disappointed. Lidl also have their own label Barolo which I've found very disappointing.

A 2/5 rating is probably harsh on the cheaper two but generous for the others. Impossible to recommend any of these.

SOMETIMES YOU GET LUCKY

Lucky enough to be in France's vastly underrated Languedoc region, lucky enough to read an article recommending a visit to Chateau le Bouis and lucky enough to have a range of outstanding wines shown to us by the charming, knowledgeable Audrey. We've lost count of the number of Cellar Doors we've visited around the world but this experience, thanks to Audrey and the wines, was up there with the best.

In a truly impressive line up these four impressed us most. If we lived in Europe we'd be buyng dozens of them. As it is we're enquiring about shipping costs to Australia.  But for the time being we just bought a few bottles of each for some upcoming tastings we have planned.

All wines scored 5/5 from me. They're all quite different in their style with a variety of winemaking techniques applied to different combinations of varieties. This is reflected in their labelling which unusually lacks any common cotporate branding theme. 

2014 Cuvee R ... a blend of Grenache, Carignan and Shiraz [14% a/v] 9.95 euro

2014 Cuvee Zoe ... mostly Carignan that's gone through carbonic maceration [14.5% a/v] 12.70 euro

2011 Cuvee Arthur ... mostly Shiraz with 12% from old Carignan vines [14% a/v] 15.50 euro

2011 Cuvee K ... mostly Shiraz with 6% Carignan [15% a/v] 25 euro

You may struggle to find these anywhere but from the winery:

Chateau le Bouis

Route Bleue, 11430 Gruissan 
ph 04 68 75 25 25

                                                            contact@chateaulebouis.com

MORE CREDIT TO ALDI

If you're buying booze in Portugal or Spain it's daft to go past Aldi. Sure, there are gems everywhere but Aldi just have an outstanding range across all price points. Not just in wine. Their beers and spirits are equally impressive.
This is another stunning red wine to drink now or cellar. It's not a common blend but it works beautifully. It's on the upper end of medium weight with everything in perfect balance. Very highly recommended but not for the faint hearted.

FUERZA 2014 JUMILLA D.O.P.
GRAPE VARIETIES: Monastrell and Cabernet Sauvignon
REGION: Jumilla, Spain
A/V: 14.5% 
PRICE: 4.99 euro 
FROM: Aldi, Spain
RATING: 5/5 from me 

RIVALLANA 2014 CRIANZA RIOJA

Our third wine of Outstanding Wine Tasting Number Three was the youngest and the lowest on the pecking order of Rioja. It held its own on the first day and continued to evolve into a beautifully balanced, medium bodied red. On the third day it was at its best which suggests a far greater cellaring life than was originally intended.

GRAPE VARIETIES: 
REGION: 
A/V: 13% 
PRICE: 4.49 euro 
FROM: Aldi, Spain
RATING: 4.5/5 from me 

OUTSTANDING WINE TASTING NUMBER TWO

On the basis of the OUTSTANDING 2011 vintage Chateau de Fieuzal is our favourite Bordeaux producer. So how could we resist when we found these two wines on the shelves at E.Leclerc St Vincent Tyrosse.

CHATEAU DE FIEUZAL 2014 GRAND GRU CLASSE DE GRAVES PESSAC -LEOGNAN 
A/V: 13.5% 
PRICE: 23.90 euro 
FROM: E.Leclerc
RATING: 5/5 from me 


L'ABEILLE DE FIEUZAL 2015 PESSAC -LEOGNAN 
A/V: 13.5% 
PRICE: 18.20 euro 
FROM: E.Leclerc
RATING: 2/5 from me 

We tasted these over three days and the difference between the two was closest at the beginning. Even then the difference in quality was far greater than 6 euro. Then the gap just widened. Presumably the L'Abeille is a secondary label and I don't know why you'd bother. The 2014 is a class act that drinks beautifully on opening and just keeps improving. Definitely one for long term cellaring. The L'Abeille goes nowhere.

OUTSTANDING WINE TASTING NUMBER ONE

Chateau Bellevue Medoc : Vintages 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015
October 8, 9 and 10 - 2017

The starting point for understanding wine is drinking the stuff. We in the wine biz used to say "we had a look at that wine" or "have you seen it?".It meant have you tasted it? And that's just like drinking although you may spit. 

I can't see the point of spitting if you've only got four wines and you're planning to taste them over three days. This tasting was inspired by the opportunity to buy four sequential vintages of the same label. We wanted to see the extent of vintage variation and how the wines evolved once the cork was pulled.

The vintage variation was HUGE!

2012 was the strongest performer on Day 1. A little bit all over the place but a big opulent wine offered plenty of optimism for Day 2. Sadly it had fallen over by then and never got back up. If you have some, drink now

2013 was by far the lightest bodied and the biggest surprise. It evolved each day in a positive subtle way. Medium cellaring should be fine.

2014 was oak dominated and didn't show anything but oak for the life of the tasting.

2015 not surprisingly opened as a young wine and evolved really well each day into the best of the line up. Enjoy it over the next three years.

The wines were all around the 9.5 euro mark. I wouldn't jump up and down about any of them but for under 40 euro this was a priceless tasting experience.

GAYDA 2014 CHEMIN DE ROUGE

When I feel homesick a Languedoc red will usually cheer me up. While I get the impression that most of France view it as a lesser region I've always enjoyed the sun ripened Australian like nature of its wines. We tasted this one over three days and while it's a perfectly pleasant red we just hoped for more at this price.

GRAPE VARIETIES: 60% Shiraz 35% Grenache 5% Cinsault
REGION: Languedoc
A/V: 14% 
PRICE: 21 euro 
FROM: Cave L'Avant Garde Margaux 
RATING: 3/5 from me 

JUST BUY IT!

This is an outstanding red at an outstanding price. See how many you can fit in the cellar and then see if you can resist opening too many.

We tasted our bottle over three days and it was a struggle to keep putting the cork back in the bottle. With all the older premium Bordeaux's we've been tasting recently this was the only younger wine that screamed "Just wait, I'll get there." It has all the depth, balance and flavour intensity of wines more than twice the price. You could drink it now but we're thinking patience and restraint will be rewarded.

16 euro from Cave L'Avant Garde Margaux
5/5 Rating from me 

CHATEAU DOISY-DAENE 2014 GRAND VIN SEC BORDEAUX

This is another entry in the competition "How many different styles of Sauvignon Blanc do you reckon there are in the world?"
I used to think there were five. I'm now into double digits with this the latest addition and not one of my favourites. At its best it had qualities of a glorious aged Hunter Semillon but there was an oxidative character that I found distracting. I'm sure many love it but for me there are far better value at the price.

17.90 euro from Cave L'Avant Garde Margaux
2.5/5 Rating from me

FRENCH SUPERMARKET RECEIPTS CAN BE CONFUSING

So imagine this.

You go into your first ever Casino Supermarket [Villedieu-les-Poêles, Normandy] and are dazzled by the wine selection. So you grab a trolley load, more Cotes du Rhone, more rose and a few Appellations we're yet to taste.

Only one problem. The receipt makes it a tad difficult to work out the individual prices as it simply lists the CDR as "Cotes Rhone" and no surprise all the rose is just "Rose". Fortunately we only bought one each of the random Appellations.

Fortunately all the CDRs were around the same price so it made it possible to rate these wines.

All were between 4.8 and 4.5 euro, all 13% a/v and all were rated 4/5. There are others we've preferred during this tasting jaunt but none of these would disappoint. They all offer a mid weight palate with that unmistakable stalky Grenache character.

Les Vallon AOC 2014 Aux Galets Cotes du Rhone

Club des Sommeliers AOC 2015 Cotes du Rhone 

Victor Delauze AOP 2014 Cotes du Rhone

A BARGAIN GEM FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA"S MARGARET RIVER

There are some justifiably very expensive Cabernet Sauvignons produced in the Margaret River region. And then along comes this bargain gem. It's a perfect example of why the area is famed for this variety [it and Coonawarra are the regular star areas for Cabernet down under]. It's sumptuous and balanced, dripping cassis fruit flavours. Tannins and acid are all in the right spot. Oak is supportive and restrained with much less than many Aussie blockbusters. 
Drink now with plenty of breathing and over the next ten years.
This is a 5/5 rating at £9 - goes off the scale if you pay any less.
Outstanding stuff.




Ringbolt 2014 Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon £6.75 from Tesco on promotion
£9 regular
AUD$22 Dan Murphy Australia

Stolen Block 2014 Clare Valley Riesling

We were impressed with both the 2012 and 2013 releases of this but this is a step up in quality that easily qualifies it as BEST ENTRY LEVEL RIESLING we know.
The back label nails it:
"lifted floral bouquet of blossom and honeysuckle. With flavours of crunchy green apple, fresh lime and lemon, this wine is finished with crisp balanced acid."
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and a star at this price.

Dave agrees! Visiting from South Australia, he and his riesling fanatic wife bought a couple of bottles to share with friends at the local Thai. This photo is Dave returning for more.


Our Price: $9 per bottle by the dozen

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