It was a good wine weekend to follow on from the good Tasting on Thursday night.

Friday saw a change of emphasis, when my wife and I went out to eat with my parents. The destination was a little Italian restuarant in Hinckley called Bar Latino. The food and atmosphere are both good and the man that runs front of house particuarly helpful. The olives to nibble while we deliberated over what to eat were accompanied by a really good Prosecco, plenty of flavour, green apples, citrus, with a nice touch of yeast.

The food (warm goats cheese salad, followed by pasta stuffed with butternut squash with hebs and a touch of oily sauce) was well matched with a good young Valpilicella Classico that was full of bitter cherry fruit and abundant spice - it no doubt had a touch of ripasso wine in the blend. A good night, shame I forgot to write down the wine producers' manes!

Saturday was spent in the garden. The evening meal was asparagus followed by organic lamb burgers that were so meaty, with fresh spring veg - new potatoes, broad beans and the ubiquitous carrots. This was followed with a small bit of cheese - a firm goats cheese laced with nettle. This feast was matched with various bits and bobs that I wanted to drink up. A glass of Abracadabra Blanc from Chemin des Reves as an aperitif, full of complex blosson, particularly accacia, and ripe white fruits like russet apples, with touches of peach and apricot. Then an old (2000) Cotes du Rhone from Domaine du Lindas, that is like a slightly rustic Chateaunef du Pape, lots of Grenache giving lots of berry fruit, with sweet spice - nicely complex and good with food. Domaine Raissac Merlot 2006, that was full of varietal charachter - fairly simple, but sometimes that is just what you want.

Sunday was another day of mowing and weeding and planting, but I was a bit more adventureous with the evening meal. We ate asparagras followed by wild mallard roasted with a sour cherry confit, boiled new potatoes, and roasted aubergine and courgette. The duck was great, full of flavour, and complemented nicely by the sour cherry confit. I confess it is a Delia Smith recipie, but in my defence, they work every time, they are uniformly at least good if a little unadvetureous, and when you find the best ones they bear repeating a few times. The wine was a treat - We drank a bottle of Domaine des 1000 Roses Cuvee Lea. It is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan. It is deeply fruity, with forest fruits, bramble, blueberry, touches of raspberry, strawberry and plenty of spice. It is carefully oaked, which adds to the complexity and interest, but is only discernable if you really look for it. Overall it is complex and great to drink. I suspect that it will improve for a number of years, even if it is lovely to drink now on the fruit.

Yesterday a day in someone else's garden looking rather than working was followed by a pizza with friends and another wine from 1000 Roses, but this time we drank the Cinq Seaux, their entry level wine which again is full of fruit, but more high toned, with plum and blueberry to the fore. It is fairly simple, but it really suited the simple food, and the gregarious company!

Best

Ian

www.aldebywines.co.uk

Ran a good tasting last night, at Coventry University Wine Club (if you are in the area and fancy joining in then contact Steve Smith at s.smith@coventry.ac.uk) About 30 people attended, and gave me the chance to present nine of my wines.

The inpression I was left with was that everyone enjoyed the evening and that quite a few people really liked quite a lot of the wines. I think the favourites were (with comments based on what I remember peple saying):

• Domaine Jordy Rose - "quite serious", l"ots of strawberry and raspberry fruit with a creamy edge", "lovely."
• Petit Saint Aunes Chardonnay - was compared to Padthaway Chardonnay from Australia, "well made", "great for food", "balanced, interesting complex flavours", "very good value for money"
• 1000 Roses Carignan Blanc - "fascinating", "oily textured", "complex"
• Mas de Valbrune, Pas de Deux - "young", "great depth of fruit", "complex, balanced, with great tannins", "crying out for roast lamb!"
• Plan de l'Om, Miejour - "Great fruit" (from the grenache IW), "complex, deep fruit flavours with good spice", "lovely balance, top wine"
• Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup, Guilhem Gaucelm - "fantastic"  ..... (But it should be at £33 a bottle! IW)
• Domaine du Grangeon, Cuvee Grangeon - people loved this sweet wine, describing it as "seductive", "too easy to drink", "complex, lovely apricot, peach, and honeied fruit, with a touch of spice"

These are just a sample of the comments, so you can imagine I am very pleased at the reaction. I think one of the comments that made a big impct on me concerned the variety of the wines I presented, I deliberately chose things as varied as a light fruity Pinot Noir,and a big, serious deep Cinsault based blend. And a Viognier (dry) to a Carignan Blanc. My list is obviously biased towards more usual Languedoc blends of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault, and a few Vin de Pays wines based on the regular international varieties. It did make me realise that my list is very varied, but I wonder if that is more by luck than judgement. All I did when selecting the wines was to piuck things that I would be happy to drink and that were made by good winemakers taking care over what they did

I suppose that all this does push me even further into my niche, but I don't care, I think that once people start to taste these wines they will realise that the quality and value for money is really great. Does anyone out there think that I ought to try to find some really cheap wines for my list,or should I not worry that my cheapest wine is just over £6?

If you haven't seen my site you can find it at www.aldebywines.co.uk

More soon - I promise!

Ian