Purple Teeth - Discover. Drink. Discuss.
Follow me here
  • Purple Teeth Wine Services
    • Wine Tasting
  • Blog
  • Wine & Food
  • Advertise/Sponsor
  • Other stuff

Instantly Delicious

22/11/2014

2 Comments

 
PictureCline Ancient Vines Zinfandel 2011 from Majestic 15% abv. Prices will vary
I'm beginning to realise that Chateau Purple Teeth has "house style".  I poured a glass of a previously untried bottle on a damp Tuesday night.  Mr Purple Teeth's immediate reaction: "That's instantly delicious".  
Could I have predicted this reaction?  Sure.  But I still keep bringing other wines to the table to keep stretching the palate and expanding our horizons.

It seems that the readership have recognised the house style too.  An American social media follower suggested trying this wine, and they were clearly bang on the money.

The Cline Old Vines Zinfandel may not be bang on trend in the general market with it's full thrust of 15% abv.  The trend to lower alcohol bottles seems set to continue as more of us tipple midweek at home.  I ought to have noticed that before opening the bottle on a Tuesday. The office coffee machine took a beating on Wednesday.  On the plus side, the wine is deep and satisfying so there's no real need to pack away a second glass.  

Picture
Sustainable agriculture and eco-efficiency appeal
Picture
I assume this wine is a lot cheaper in the US if they suggest cooking with it!
PictureThis bottle was £19.99 reduced to £14.99 as one of Majestic's regular offers
In many ways it's pretty simple. Big, bold and brash, just like our archetypal American.  There's more to this wine than Shallow Hal though.  It's got hidden depths.  

As a 2011, the jammy fruitiness that some Zins suffer from has reduced. The tannin comes to the fore, adding a drying note that, if missing, would lead the wine to feel sweeter in style. 

For me there are notes of dry bitter cocoa, perhaps mocha.

I may have picked it out as a new world Malbec if I'd been asked to taste it blind.  
And that's despite tasting about 15 Malbecs in the previous week or so.



Picture
"Very quaffable," was Mr Purple Teeth's verdict.

Our "go to" Zin is a few pounds cheaper, the Lodi Ravenswood Old vines (available from The Wine Society at £9.50 and Majestic at £11.99 but the last batch I bought was £8.99 on the promo). 
It's been a while since I've blogged about it - the currently available vintage is 2012. 
While we have had a bottle or two recenty, we hadn't made notes. The easiest way to describe it is the cheaper wine is a bit sweeter/fruitier on the nose.  Is the Cline wine worth an extra £5 or so? The Purple Teeth Jury is out - we may have to arrange a side by side tasting.

Cline describe their wine as intensely fruity with black cherry and strawberry. Perhaps it was at bottling. Now, what they describe as hints of dark chocolate are more prominent. But think the unsweetened, powdered cocoa, and perhaps there are some used coffee grounds. There's lots of tannin and a full body, but although it's pretty drying, it's very well integrated.

This is as easy to enjoy as a day in the California sunshine, but as dark as a Valley Girl gone bad. (Think Winona Ryder in Heathers).

If you like aged Malbec or good Zin, it's worth a punt at the discount price, but don't pay full whack. And don't keep it too much longer as the fruit won't last forever. 

And if you're still drinking White Zinfandel.  Try something new.  A bottle of red, or perhaps this pink Moscato.
Cheers!


2 Comments

Fiano fun

4/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture13% abv £7.50 Majestic (if bought as part of offer)
This is my first ever review of a wine picked up from Majestic.  There is no denying the ambition of this chain. More and more Majestic retail stores are popping up on high streets and they've invested a lot in their online store.

Now that you can pick up just six bottles at a time, Majestic are picking up some of the supermarket share & some of the more traditional wine merchant share, with convenience becoming more their selling point.

I'd popped in to buy a couple of wines recommended by fellow wine fans, and I'll review those later, but my local branch didn't have them in stock.  No problem. They sourced them from another nearby store and delivered to my door at a specified time the next day.

So what of the offering...

PictureWatch out for the "fresch" and crispy acidity
I picked up a bottle of Fiano, continuing my Italian theme. The Surani Peitriariccia from Salento was £7.50 a bottle if bought with another wine on the same promotion.  There were some peachy aromatic notes, a nice mouthfeel body & pleasing acidity. Would it please a Sauvignon Blanc fan? I certainly hoped so, because I managed to convince a chap in store to pick up 2 bottles for his wife when he couldn't decide how to fill his box of 6.  This is, however, not Sauvignon Blanc drink alike. It's more subtle, though there are a range of flavours, these were not best expressed immediately on drinking from the fridge.
It's not especially complex, and the flavour, dissipates quite quickly. The flavours are much more discernible if you can have it once it's been out of the fridge for half an hour or so.  It's refreshing & Mr Purple Teeth said it was just what the doctor ordered after a long day.  It's got a silver medal from both Decanter magazine and the International Wine Challenge, so, if you've never tried a Fiano, this seems like an inexpensive  and low risk way to sample the grape variety.


My opinion: it doesn't make sense to buy any full price wines in a Majestic store.  This wine was priced at £9.99 and I got it for £7.50 by buying 2 wines within the same offer.  Just a week or so later it's now on offer via the Majestic online store for £8.99. The offer of a 25% saving for buying 2 still applies, so at £6.74 it's a more appealing price point to try something new. And, I think  a fairer reflection of the price of this wine from the south of Italy.  £10 could get me much more wine quality elsewhere.  
Like arch-nemesis Naked Wines, Majestic have hit on a way of making us feel like we've got a bargain.  Savvy shoppers will certainly never pay the inflated price that's on offer and indeed, in Scotland, wherever a multi-buy price is offered in England and Wales, this will be the single-bottle price.  Much as supermarkets such as Tesco have been accused of creating an expectation of half price wine offers by unnaturally inflating the shelf price for limited times and in certain stores (see here) , Majestic are training customers that their "real" prices, aren't really real. 
While it's always nice to feel like you're snapping up a bargain, I would much rather that retailers charged a fair price for all the wines all the time, so that any offers are strictly limited to "real" bulk purchase, over-stocks, bin-ends or seasonal promotions.  

Nevertheless, I'll review a couple more of my Majestic purchases in the near future and continue keeping an eye out for real wine value for you wherever I spot it.  This week I've stocked up on 25% off of some of my favourite wines through Ocado (making The Hedonist Shiraz  £10.50 rather than £13.99, the price they now charge as normal, almost the price I started buying it at several years ago). 

What are your views on wine pricing?  The average price of a bottle sold in the UK is very little over £5 a bottle, of which around £2.75 is tax and duty.  If you can afford to pay a little more, you usually get more for your money.  But what drives your purchase?

Cheers!


0 Comments

    Purple Teeth

    My name's Heather and I've been enjoying wine for over 20 years. I'm the 2013 winner of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Rhone prize for oustanding students at the advanced level.
    My mission is to share my passion for the myriad varieties of fermented grape juice, hopefully inspiring you to try something new, or to host  a Purple Teeth wine party in your own home or business.

    My blog mainly features wines you should be able to find on your local high street or online, and occasionally, I will review restaurants, travel and other forms of alcohol, since my qualification covers spirits too.  I believe it's important to enjoy the calories and the cash we spend on alcohol, and I hope my guidance can help you reduce the risk of making a bad buy.
      
    When I'm not drinking wine, you'll find me on the dance floor where West Coast Swing is my dance of choice. Socialising with the friends I've made there from all over the world has also brought me new adventures in alcohol!  And just in case you're interested, I also write a blog called Confidence Within.  You'll find it at heatherharrison.weebly.com


    Remember to enjoy wine sensibly...
    For a woman, 2-3 units per day is the recommended maximum allowance.  This equates to around one standard "pub measure" glass of wine:
    175ml of 13% alcohol wine is 2.3 units (and a scary 140 calories).  
    You'll find all the facts you need about safe, moderate drinking at the www.Drinkaware.co.uk site. 
    Purple Teeth supports safe drinking. Never drive or operate machinery after drinking alcohol.

    Get notified of new blogs

    * indicates required
    / ( mm / dd )
    Email Format

    Archives

    February 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    June 2018
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.