Best Wine For Christmas Dinner

Best Wine For Christmas Dinner

3 Wines for Christmas Dinner If you are hosting a large Christmas Day gathering and needing wines that will suit the majority without breaking the bank, then pop into your local Majestic Wines and grab this trio. For bubbles, the Bouvet Samur is a Loire value “Champagne alternative” for a welcoming aperitif and perfectly suited to a smoked salmon based starter. The Planalto Douro Reserva 2020 is a simple but elegant dry Portuguese white that will drink perfectly with all…

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Best Bottle of Port for a Christmas Present

Best Bottle of Port for a Christmas Present

Wine of the Week Quinta De La Rosa – 20 year old Tawny Port – Duoro – Portugal There is plenty of discussion about “how long will a bottle of port last once opened” but when buying a bottle of port as a gift the question you should really consider is what will the recipient want to do with it? The answer to this question helps to define the Best Port for a Christmas present. Port is made in a…

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Best English Rose Wine

Best English Rose Wine

Wine of the Week 2019 Cradle Valley Rose – Rafthfinny Wine Estate – Sussex – England I am a very big fan and supporter of English Wine, I’ve sold it, I’ve harvested for it, I’ve bottled it, I’ve foot trodden it and I’ve been stung by a few of it’s typically angry English wasps! I have also tasted and drank from a fair few of England’s producers and having discovered Rathfinny only recently, I can strongly recommend it’s wares, this…

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Best Cava for Christmas

Best Cava for Christmas

Wine of the Week 2019 Codorniu Cava – Sant Sadurni d’Anoia – Spain Cava is the the unsung hero of sparkling wine, it is Spanish “Champagne”, it is made in the same Traditional method as Champagne, it is superior to Prosecco, it represents fantastic value for money when compared to both of them. This 2019 vintage Codorniu is my recommendation as the Best Value Cava for Christmas. Unlike gas induced fizzy wines (such as Prosecco) sparkling wines that are Traditionally…

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Best Small Bottles of Wine – The Co-op Ramon Rioja Reserva

Best Small Bottles of Wine – The Co-op Ramon Rioja Reserva

Wine of the Week 2014 Ramon Rioja Reserva – Haro Rioja Alta – Spain. Sometimes on a “school night” you can get caught up in the mindset of not wanting to open that nice bottle of something or other because you only want one large glass and that’s when those smaller bottles can come in handy. The problem is that the vast majority of the single glass small bottles are really not that good and should be avoided, so when…

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Best Wine with Chinese Food – Morissons Falanghina

Best Wine with Chinese Food – Morissons Falanghina

Wine of the Week 2020 Falanghina – Campania – Italy A Friday night Chinese takeaway or a home stir-fry can be a thing of beauty and I happened on this pairing by pure chance and not by any refined planning. This simple Italian wine is the perfect partner and the best wine to pair with Chinese Food. The Lemony citrus works very well with seafood and the acidity cuts through those slightly oily, deep fried prawn toasts and spring rolls….

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Wine of the Week – LIDL Rasteau

Wine of the Week – LIDL Rasteau

2019 Rasteau AOP – Southern Rhone – France The relatively “vino-anonymous” village of Rasteau in the Southern Rhone has its wine making history and reputation mostly due to the high quality, small volume fortified wines that it produces in light Sherry and Madeira styles known locally as Vin Doux Naturels Rasteau. For many years it’s red table wines were hidden within the Cotes du Rhone Village dynasty and only in the mid 1990’s was it allowed to be a named…

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Wine of the Week – Majestic S&R

Wine of the Week – Majestic S&R

2018 S&R Douro DOC – Douro – Northern Portugal The Douro in northern Portugal is a designated UNESCO World heritage site and has been growing grapes since the Romans built the amazing terraces that line the 100 or so miles of the stunning Douro River and valley, to get a feel for the beauty of the region take a look at the image on the home page of this website, this is a photo I took on my last visit…

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Wine of the Week – Morrisons Chianti

Wine of the Week – Morrisons Chianti

2019 Vecchia Cantina Chianti – Tuscany – Italy For my first ever blog recommendation I found this Italian classic hidden away on the bottom shelf in Morrisons proudly wearing a DOCG label around it’s neck. Let’s address the DOCG thing…. Italian wine classification is broadly similar to the French AOC system (Appellation d’Origine Controllee) a set of rules and regulations that define and govern where and what you can do in order to label your wine something specific. I’m sure…

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