Confessions of a Wino

I visited Spain for a weekend recently, and tried a few wines with various blends of Viura, Malvasia and Verdejo.  Not many left an impression, to be honest.  I have a friend who doesn’t drink Spanish wine unless from Rioja.  I think that is a bit binary.  For example there are some great Albariños from Galicia, and Ribero del Duero is hardly shy in getting their punters to part with large sums of wonga for their best wines…  But I take his point that Rioja is perhaps more consistent, whereas other areas require discretionary selection.

This bottle, like Don Quixote, came from La Mancha, unless I’m a daydreamer.  I found it in the “Spain and Portugal” section of my wine rack and it was part of a Sunday Times Wine Club (Laithwaites) “Crisp refreshing whites” case (about £60 the dozen).

I am not sure what to conclude.  At the price, it is OK.  As a party wine it would go down a treat if you chilled it to 3°C or below and served it to Sancho Panzas or ASBOs.  As a serious wine compared to any other Sauvignon or so called “crisp dry white”, I found it a little too citric and perhaps best suited to the tartest of lemon dresed shellfish, rather than as an aperitif.  However, if you are a donkey houghty type, wake up and smell the gooseberry.  You never know, you might like it!

At the time of writing it is still available from Laithwaites at £5.67, and as you can probably tell, I have never read any Cervantes.

Is wine tasting an art, a science, or just a personal experience?  One of the great things about keeping this online wine diary is the opportunity to look back at what I thought of different wines.  The first time I tried Trinity Hill 2006 Sauvignon Blanc I tasted gooseberry as the prominent flavour with apricots and grapefruit in the background.

 

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In line with most reality TV shows where the presenters go back after 12 months to see how the subjects are coping with their new Russian blind dog, I always like to taste a wine more than once.  It’s like going back to the scene of a crime to see if Gil Grissom has worked out that you were the perpetrator – exciting.

I have just re-tried Hunters Sauvignon Blanc 2006.  I liked it last time but I claimed there was too much gooseberry .  Well, this time I still got the gooseberry but so many more complex flavours like peaches, passion and other exotic fruits.  A bit like dipping into a coconut but finding ice cream with the awful milk, or prising open an oyster to find a pearl necklace already assembled.

I much preferred Hunters this time.  Just goes to show that you should give everything in life a second chance.