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Christmas Wine II

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2011 Ar Guentota Malbec. I bought some 2017 EP from L&W which arrived earlier this year. While I was wondering if it was too soon to try one over Xmas, A. Client dumped some of these - so I took one.

Very good it is too. A little bit of oak, a decent amount of fruit and tannins under control. Is it as good as the similarly-priced Riccitelli Vineyard Selection? I don’t know. Possibly… I’ve forgotten. Can I remind myself, please?
 
There are gems lurking within Algerian Coffee Stores (ACS) if you take the trouble to seek them out. My own predilection is for the loose teas in jars that line half of one wall. I have imported some teas from India, but ended up prefering to buy from ACS.

My experiments with tea blending commenced at university, (Bristol U. early 1960s), when a good friend who was from India (Bengal) recomended blending Darjeeling with Assam. My current mixture is own blend of ACS's Darjeeling Makaibari (3/4) with Assam Bukhari (2nd flush)(1/4)- by no means the most exotic stocked by ACS. ACS let you sniff as many open jars as you like before purchasing.

I brew this tea in my 1950s Brown Betty. The teapot is kept warm while brewing for 3 minutes using my own 'home design and made' green velvet cozy lined with a bronze fancy quilt. This cozy is topped with a pleated quadrangle. It keeps the heat in well in cold weather. My 1960s red velvet (simple) cozy is still going strong, for use in summer.

I don't shun English mixtures. Nor Irish. ACS have some in stock, which are hard to find elsewhere. One I regularly use- stocked by many supermarkets- is Yorkshire tea RED loose- not their most expensive or exotic blend. Very uplifting at breakfast. Yorkshire Tea is one of the few things I agree with Rishie Sunack on.

I cannot say anything about ACS's coffee. I hate coffee- hate the smell, hate the taste- everything about it. I think I have only drunk 2 cups in my entire life. Ugh!
 
mandryka said:
Any thoughts about whether any of these are interesting? (Not the Ouzo or retsina and preferably not the Alpha Estate 'One' Merlot-Tannat, 2016, given the price. ) They look like they are all available by single bottle for pick up. Even the stuff at Gerrys (where admittely I don't have a lot to lose by just trying) may be interesting for the daube, if a glass for me while cooking is drinkable. Next time I'm near Soho I'll pop in.

SEARCH. Gerry's Wines & Spirits - Buy wines and spirits online at gerrys.uk.com

Search results for: 'alpha' (maltbyandgreek.com)
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I don't think either of those Tsantali Nemea or Naoussa offerings are particularly interesting, but they could give you an idea of what an entry level Xinomavro or Agiorgitiko tastes like, when made by a competent winery like Tsantali. I tasted both at a wine fair in Athens in 2015: they didn't knock my socks off but were OK. I don't know the others but would tend to avoid. Tsantali makes much better wines than those.

I've had 2 bottles of 2008 Alpha One in the wine fridge since 2015, waiting to put some "cellar" time on them and open them for a special occasion. I live in hope but have no actual experience of the wine. The reviews are good (plus a label on the wine says Mr Parker has estimated it as a 91, doh). It looks as if the formula has changed, as the ones I have are 100% Merlot. I'm also waiting for my more ordinary Merlot/Syrah/Xinomavro 2011 blends to get rounded by age, as I found them a little underwhelming when last tasted 5 years ago.
 
I used to shop in ACS regularly up until the early 2000s, but I decided that they had descended into mediocrity.

There are better places to buy tea, their open jars are invariably stale and off their best.

eguth said:
I cannot say anything about ACS's coffee. I hate coffee
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Their coffee tends to be a certain over roasted style. It is ok, but there are way better places.

I was in there a few weeks ago, and IMO they are living off their reputation.
 
PsB said:
I don't think either of those Tsantali Nemea or Naoussa offerings are particularly interesting, but they could give you an idea of what an entry level Xinomavro or Agiorgitiko tastes like, when made by a competent winery like Tsantali. I tasted both at a wine fair in Athens in 2015: they didn't knock my socks off but were OK. I don't know the others but would tend to avoid. Tsantali makes much better wines than those.

I've had 2 bottles of 2008 Alpha One in the wine fridge since 2015, waiting to put some "cellar" time on them and open them for a special occasion. I live in hope but have no actual experience of the wine. The reviews are good (plus a label on the wine says Mr Parker has estimated it as a 91, doh). It looks as if the formula has changed, as the ones I have are 100% Merlot. I'm also waiting for my more ordinary Merlot/Syrah/Xinomavro 2011 blends to get rounded by age, as I found them a little underwhelming when last tasted 5 years ago.
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I must say, when I lived in Greece, I never once had a good unresinated wine which came out of a bottle with a label and a cork. There was plenty of lovely easy to drink rustic wine which came out of a carafe with a bit of tissue paper stuck in the top, taken from a barrel in the back room.
 
gintonic said:
I was in there a few weeks ago, and IMO they are living off their reputation.
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That particular street has become a gay village, and so has changed character. People would go there in the past in search of delicious things to buy and eat at home. Now it's a place to party. There's no reason for Camisa and probably the coffee store to sell quality now, the market don't care like they used to.
 
gintonic said:
I don't understand why that seems to matter
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Because the people are there to party and meet friends, not to buy food too cook at home. The use of Old Compton street has changed.

Ryness has gone. There used to be a bookshop and a pasta shop, all gone.
 
mandryka said:
I must say, when I lived in Greece, I never once had a good unresinated wine which came out of a bottle with a label and a cork. There was plenty of lovely easy to drink rustic wine which came out of a carafe with a bit of tissue paper stuck in the top, taken from a barrel in the back room.
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How long ago was that?
 
PsB said:
How long ago was that?
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Ha, a long time ago. I lived there in the early 1990s, in Rhethymnon. It's true that when I go back now, it has changed beyond recognition and I have to search very hard for an old style taverna or ouzeri!
 
mandryka said:
Ha, a long time ago. I lived there in the early 1990s, in Rhethymnon. It's true that when I go back now, it has changed beyond recognition and I have to search very hard for an old style taverna or ouzeri!
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Nice. Never been to Crete, it's one place I'd like to see at some point.
Crete makes good wines now, with proper corks and all the trappings.
 
PsB said:
Nice. Never been to Crete, it's one place I'd like to see at some point.
Crete makes good wines now, with proper corks and all the trappings.
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Beautiful Island, I was there in 1989 with my wife and daughter who was only 9 months old, my wife was five months pregnant at the time too, we stayed near Agios Nikolas.

Spinalonga, a former leper colony/island is well worth a visit and so too is The Palace Of Knossos.

There's a great movie about Greece and Crete, The Two Faces of January which is set in Greece in the early 1960s, Knossos is all but abandoned at the time according to the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Faces_of_January_(film)
 
gintonic said:
have you returned recently? We went in 2016 for 5 days. What a tourist ridden dump. I cannot think of a single redeeming feature.
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Yes that's my opinion too and it pains me, because I knew what it was like before EEC subsidies to develop tourism flowed in to the island. On the other hand, some of the people -- those with the right connections -- are better off.

Part of the problem is that they chose to develop low cost tourism, so the coastal towns get flooded with cheap package tours from Macedonia and Bulgaria and Albania and . . . Inland may be a better option, I've never really explored it.
 
Chania has a lovely harbour. I used to watch them fish by torchlight there.

It’s just that the coastal towns are much more developed for tourism than they used to be. Part of what that means is that they are more “international” in feel - bars and restaurants and hotels like you can find anywhere in Europe. It’s lost a certain cachet for me. But if you’re going on a family holiday on a budget and so need well managed and affordable resorts, it’s much better than it was. I should say I haven’t been back to Sitia for years, so that could be OK.

Last time I was in Rhethymnon I searched and searched for somewhere where I could get a glass of raki and a plate of butter beans and little baked potatoes, maybe play some backgammon, listen to some Cretan music, like the old days. Or maybe get some rusks and wine. In the end I found one, a good one with a view of the sunset - but I had to go a bit out of town to find it.
 
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