Life is too short to drink bad wine

In the steep hills north in  the Rhone valley there is a small appelation which is called Condrieu. Here the rare grape of Viognier is grown. A grape not well known to many people but which gives a fantastic wine when grown here. It is a full bodied white with a very pronounced and overwhelming smell of flower, peach, apricot, tropical fruit etc. The taste is dominated by ripe fruit, medium acidity and a long finish. Very good to outstanding quality. This is not a white for the fainthearted as the style is rather opulent. But with 2 year old Comte it is the perfect match. Cuilleron (manager) has many different styles. The wine is pricy and rare to get hold of. Condrieu 2014 "La Petite Cote" Yves Cuilleron ca 30€ or 400 nok

Barbera is a very user friendly grape variety. It can go with many dishes due to its low tannin level and pleasant acidity. Barbera has quite often a very dark purple red colour which is very pleasant to observe. The nose is filled with ripe red and dark fruit, cherries and some herbs. On the palate it is full bodied with lots of fruit and also delightfully refreshing acidity and some very soft tannins as well. Many producers from Asti claim that their Barbera is better than those from Alba as the Barbera in Asti are grown on the best plots while in Alba they grow Nebbiolo on the best plots. Food for thoughts at least and I must say that I have many times been very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Barbera from Asti, this one being no exception. Barbera d'Asti 2014 La Vigna Vecchia Cossetti Clement&Figli Ca 15€ or 180 NOK

Brane Cantenac is one of my favourites from Margaux in Bordeaux. Part of the 1855 classification as a second growth it has managed to keep and improve their standards since Henri Lurton took over in 1992 (very bad vintage btw). The harvest of 2014 took place between 22 September and finished on 17 October (my birthday :)) and approx 38% of the grapes were used for the Brane Cantenac. The mix this year was 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. 70% of the wine spent 18 months in new french oak. Two elements helped the Cabernet Sauvignon to reach the level of a great vintage in 2014 : the grapes grew less after the rain in the summer and they began ripening earlier. The extension of the ripening cycle, due to their growth stopping earlier than the Merlot, allowed them to benefit magnificently from the sunny late summer season. The high quality Merlot from the plateau, incorporated in smal...