There are some bottles I pick up because I know roughly what I am getting, and then there are bottles like this. At £7.99 in Lidl, a 2019 Gran Reserva from Cariñena made with Tempranillo, Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon was interesting enough that I couldn’t really leave it there. Tonight it was going alongside a…
Sometimes there doesn’t need to be a food pairing or any great occasion behind opening a bottle. England were playing, I fancied a Rioja, and that was pretty much the extent of the decision making. Tonight’s bottle was the Hacienda López de Haro Reserva 2019, a Rioja Reserva that on paper should be right up…
There are some bottles where the price almost becomes part of the tasting experience!! This is definitely one of them. I picked up the Cepa Lebrel Reserva 2019 for £5.99 and opened it for a late September BBQ. Ribeye, Denver steak, minted lamb and sausages were all going over charcoal, so Rioja seemed a fairly…
I’ll admit it, I picked this bottle up with a little bit of wine snobbery already creeping in. Campo Viejo is probably one of the most recognisable Rioja brands in the UK. It’s everywhere. Supermarkets, pubs, restaurants, pretty much anywhere selling a few bottles of red will usually have some form of Campo Viejo knocking…
I picked this bottle of Siglo Special Selection Tempranillo Rioja up today to go alongside some lamb steaks, and on paper it felt like a pretty safe bet. Rioja and lamb is hardly reinventing the wheel, and Rioja has slowly become one of those regions I find myself gravitating towards more and more. Particularly at…
Aldi Specially Selected Rioja Gran Reserva 2019 Review Rioja Continues To Win Me Over Tonight’s wine was the Aldi Specially Selected Rioja Gran Reserva 2019, paired with minted lamb shanks, buttery mash, peas, tenderstem broccoli and cabbage finished with minted butter. I’ve got to be honest, coming into this bottle I was probably guilty of…
A Proper Friday Night Pairing Fish and chips night called for something refreshing and after enjoying the red from Marques de los Ríos previously, I spotted their Cava in Morrisons for £8.50 and thought it was worth a go. Sometimes these supermarket sparkling wines can be a bit one dimensional, but this one immediately showed…
A Wine That Punches Above Its Weight I opened this Morrisons The Best Albariño Calamata 2024 expecting a decent supermarket white wine. What I got was something that genuinely expressed where it came from. On the nose it was almost elderflower led with a muted peach note sitting underneath. Floral over fruit for me, which…
Some Bottles Are More Than Just Wine Every now and then a bottle comes along that reminds you why you fell in love with wine in the first place. This wasn’t supposed to be some grand tasting. It started with a barbecue at my mum and dad’s with Liv and Eden. The plan was simple…