Life is too short to drink bad wine

Off to Antibes for Easter holiday. Two cases of wines purchased from Patrice Rion in Burgundy in order to reduce the stress factor. First off was the Nuits St George Vielles Vignes (22€) from 2008, the year my favourite English football club was promoted to the Premier League after no less than 26 years in the wilderness. Pale medium red colour with lots of red berries and a beautiful balanced taste. Lovely stuff and perfect with pale meat. Then on Sunday it was the FA Cup semi final with Stoke in it for the first time since 1972. Wine of the day was Chambolle Musigny 2008 (24€),a seductive beautifully raspberry/strawberry sensed wine,  great stuff stuff for special occasions and for those who appreciate the finesse of life. And what a combination: the ugly duckling of Premier league was in fact a beautiful swan just like the Chambolle Musigny which in the demanding promotion year of 2008 turned out be be excellent, delicate and wonderfully balanced. Five star wine...

This 2005 is one of the few reasonable 2005 Bordeaux wines that can be found in the shop. A great year and perfect with the Easter lamb this year , or the next 10 years... Deep dark red colour. Nose packed with blackcurrent, vanilla and jam (just borderline being Australian...). Lovely velvety big body with fruity and smooth tannins which leads to a solid mouthful. Very hard to dislike the wine and the price, borderline low/medium price range 205 or 12-15 € in country of origin. Not be mixed up with Solitude from Chateauneuf du Pape. Domaine Solitude 2005, Pessac Leognan, the best vintage so far??? DOMAINE DE LA SOLITUDE - le vin

If you come across a wine made by Zind Humbrecht in Alsace just buy it. All the wines from this domain are of great quality so you will never be disappointed but be prepared to pay. Low yields, late picking and biodynamic create wines worth dying for. So also this Riesling Turckheim from 2007. Pale yellow/green colour and a lovely nose with apples, yellow plum, flowers and minerals. Dry wine with lots of fruit and a lovely mineral touch. Rich with great acidity. Lovely. Riesling Turckheim 2007, medium price 260, an elegant Riesling by Zind Humbrecht. Domaine Zind-Humbrecht

Easter is approaching and in many places lamb is on the menu. 100% Sangiovese in this traditional Chianti. Lots of nice cherries, leather with hints of tobacco on the nose. The wine is fullbodied in a gentle way with a nice integrated acidity. Quite a good length and well balanced aftertaste. Easy to drink due to lots of fruit as well. Perfect with lamb dishes. Chianti Classico 2007, Castell'in Villa, low/medium price 200, quite a concentrated Chianti with good aging potential as well Castell'in Villa Wine, Chianti Classico, Riserva, Santacroce, Poggio delle Rose, Vin Santo

What a wine! I happen to buy a six pack of this wine back in 2008 for about 22€ per bottle and after trying it yesterday I regret I did not buy more. It is perhaps not too late get hold of this wine as the 2008 can be purchased for around 20€ and the 2009 for around 30€. Beautiful dark red colour with a just delicious smell of chocolate, sweet cherries and red berries. Wonderful but it there is more to come: the taste is quite a fleshy, full bodied mouthful packed with seductive velvety fruit and tannins. It is indeed a flamboyant and  very concentrated wine. Stunning for this price! Clos de l'Oratoire 2004, St Emilion, buy whenever  you can ....but dont forget to drink it too. Medium price 20 to 30€. Clos de l'Oratoire is located on Saint-Emilion's north-east slope.The 10.32 hectares of vines grow on Fronsac molasse covering a layer of sand with a clay subsoil. This terroir is ideally suited to the blend of Merlot (90%), Cabernet Franc (5%), and Cabernet Sauvignon...

Wine # 1 Medium dark red with brown rim. Shy smell of old cherries and wood. Strong alholic taste with good length and acidity. Not brilliant but drinkable. Panel in doubt, talks about Priorat and stuff like that. Torres Gran Coronas Penedes, 144 NOK, Score 16,20 Good ordinary wine Wine # 2 Clear dark red colour with purple rim. Smell of dark berries, cherries and vanilla. Not very unlike the last one. Well balanced taste filled with cherries and good acidity and quite a long balanced aftertaste. Panel in doubt about where and the grape. Still Penedes or maybe now in Priorat? Vinha Pana 2005, Beiras by Louis Pato , NOK 345 stiff price for the quality, grape is Baga. Score 16,80 Luis Pato wines official website Wine # 3 Medium dark red with brown rim. Long legs. Dried fruit and wood, figs. A big solid wine with dry aftertaste. Perhaps lacking a bit of fruit? A very nice wine but wood is too dominant perhaps? Panel misses out completely, didders between souther...

Wine # 1 Dark red, brown rim. Smell not very attractive and perhaps too old? No fruit left on the taste. Medium body and length but certainly over the hill? An old Bordeaux again Robert? Amarone 1997, Casterna Pasqua, 15€, Score 14,80 and to be forgotten Wine # 2 Dark red with brown rim, dark berries, cherries, coffee, dark chocloate and jam. Fruity with lots of body not much acidty and medium long and slightly bitter taste. Another Amarone ? Amarone 2000, Il Sestante by Tommasi, Score 17,40, Price 250 DKR TOMMASI VITICOLTORI GRANDI VINI AMARONE RIPASSO RECIOTO CLASSICI SPUMANTI BRUT Wine # 3 brilliant dark red with purple rim. Fresh red berries. Apparant acidity and lots of fruit on the palate. Silky. No tannins and long well balanced taste. Easy to drink but difficult to guess. Pinot Noir ? No! Totally lost then. Grapes are Corvina 60% and Rondinella/Corvirone 40%.... Pieropan? What the f*** is that? Ruberpan 2003 by Pieropan, IGT near Valpolicella, 1...

Domaine Chevalier 2002  Panel circulating in Burgundy. 2002 bad vintage in Bordeaux and wine has smell of flowers, dried fruit and vanilla. Soft elegant aste with nice body and good length. Score 17,60 Domaine Chevalier 1999 Dried fruit again, dark red colour with hint of brown rim, dark berries and roses on the nose. Drier and firmer tannins, less acidity but still lovely and smooth with long well balanced taste. Score 17,50 with panel still in Burgundy although one drifting to Piemonte. Domaine Chevalier 2006 Darker red than previous, dried fruit, rose and fresh dark berries on the nose. Long taste, but somewhat bitter although with integrated tannins. Panel now lost or still in Burgundy or drifting from Piemonte to Pomerol. Score 17,60 Domaine Chevalier 2001 The best wine of the evening! Dark red with lovely dried fruit and plus forrest smell. Longer taste than the others, soft elegant tannins, well balanced. Score 18,10 with panel split between right bank and Burgu...

Fancied a bit of Riesling the other day and came across a dry version from Germany by Peter Jakob Kuhn in Rheingau. This guy has changed style over the last 20 years and started biodynamic viticulture. Lovely pale green/yellow colour with attractive nose of ripe apples and petroleum. The taste is extremely fruity with good well balanced acidity and hint of minerals. It is bone dry but feels nearly sweet due to the enormous amount of fruit. Beautiful and very yummy wine indeed. Riesling Trocken by Peter Jakob Kuhn, wonderful Riesling at medium price, 20 to 30€. Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn - Start