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Christmas Wine

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I’ve had a disappointing time with claret lately, so I thought I’d turn to my big(ger) guns.

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Third wine of Giscours, apparently. Left bank claret, CS/M, you know the score. I bought it prior to my adoption of CT so I’m guessing, but I reckon I paid about £12 in a French supermarket deal three years ago. And lovely it is too! Textbook, as Alan Partridge would have said. Decent affordable claret does still exist. It’s nice enough to make me forget tonight’s chill and still be sitting outside listening to the owls (and Bill Frisell) at 10pm. The only bottle I have, sadly - I can only assume more weren’t available. I’ll be looking out for later vintages in the autumn wine fairs.
 
^ What were you disappointed with ?
A 3rd wine of a 3rd growth but a great vintage. Plus you got it for about half UK price !
I can believe the French supermarket took great delight in marking down Penfolds but I didn't think they would be so rude to the likes of Giscours.
What is that gadget playing your music ?
 
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^ What were you disappointed with ?
A 3rd wine of a 3rd growth but a great vintage. Plus you got it for about half UK price !
I can believe the French supermarket took great delight in marking down Penfolds but I didn't think they would be so rude to the likes of Giscours.
What is that gadget playing your music ?
I’ve been unimpressed recently by 2015 Haut-Maurac and 2016 Les Hauts de Pez as well as a couple I didn’t expect too much from (and didn’t get it) Ch Quillet and Ch Boutillot.

It wasn’t an individual mark down, but an autumn wine fair offer. All the supermarket chains have them and they are pretty big events. There are usually a few unmissable offers, a good deal of dross and some already-good-value drinkable cheapies reduced to next to nothing (£2.50 - £3.50.) I picked up half a dozen bottles of Burn in Auchan last year for 20% off vineyard price and some 2015 Guigal Gigondas for £13. A list of dates has now been published for this year, so I’m working out the optimum time for the chevauchée. The lists of wines that will be on offer should start to dribble out in about a month.

That’s a Squeezebox Radio portable network player/streamer. In the picture it’s playing some Bill Frisell from Tidal.
 
Just as well I've never heard of them then ! I'm not brave enough to buy those sort of Bordeaux: it's a minefield.
Listing the wines on offer is jolly decent of them. Makes it easier for you to head straight for the trophies during the raid.
I started watching a review of the Squeezebox but when he said "the sound is really really good but not up to Bose" I stopped. Why not just use your mobile connected to a speaker ? For outside I use IPhone => Dragonfly => Beolit 17: superb sound.
 
I had expected more from the Haut-Maurac, as a Cru Bourgeois in a good year. I’d hoped for a something interesting from the Hauts de Pez as the second wine of a CB. The other two I were just punts, but I would have done much better sticking to the £2.50 - £3.50 bottles of Costières de Nîmes or Languedoc mentioned above.

Marchbanks Towers is fully LMS/Squeezeboxed so the using the SBR is quick and convenient. Grab it as you walk past, press button 6, unplug from the charger (with practice you hardly need to break stride as you do this) and you have four or five hours of Jazz 24 anywhere in the garden. Unless I’m expecting an important call I tend not to carry my phone everywhere with me on principle. Additionally I was disappointed with the amount of dropoffs I had when I did try using phone, earbuds and bluetooth. Ultimately quality takes second place to convenience for me when out-of-doors.

Oh, and cost is another reason. I bought this particular SBR from a forumite for £30 last month. In fact, as I now have two I should try out the facility of being able to set them up as a stereo pair. I’d forgotten they could do that!
 
I just don't think there is any good Bordeaux below £20 in the UK. Not that I know of. C'est la vie.
You remind me of a friend in the Alès area who was chuffed to take me to some hole in the wall selling wine for €2 a bottle: I'm not damaging my liver for that !
Putting the phone on mute so it doesn't interrupt the music works for me. I don't expect any important calls any more.
I had FIP for Jazz but I've downloaded Jazz 24 now. I'm out of memory space so might have to get a new one as it is about 5 years old but I'm hanging on to the 3.5mm jack.
Convenience over quality ? Bluetooth ? What kind of talk is this ? £3 wine is bad enough but this is a hi-fi forum MB.
 
You remind me of a friend in the Alès area who was chuffed to take me to some hole in the wall selling wine for €2 a bottle: I'm not damaging my liver for that !
Convenience over quality ? Bluetooth ? What kind of talk is this ? £3 wine is bad enough but this is a hi-fi forum MB.
Guilty as charged. My absolute standards in either field are not what they might be. In the right circumstances I’m happy to drink inexpensive wine (provided it doesn’t taste unpleasant) and happy to listen to music via less than top quality means (provided it doesn’t sound unpleasant.) It doesn’t mean I prefer to, though.
 
'Strange how potent cheap wine is', as Noel Coward almost said. I usually drink reasonably good, reasonably expensive wine. Mrs H once bought a bottle of 'own brand' Riesling from a local supermarket. It was undrinkable, and we poured it down the sink. After that experience, she let me buy the wine.
 
'Strange how potent cheap wine is', as Noel Coward almost said. I usually drink reasonably good, reasonably expensive wine. Mrs H once bought a bottle of 'own brand' Riesling from a local supermarket. It was undrinkable, and we poured it down the sink. After that experience, she let me buy the wine.
It’s much, much harder IME to find a decent cheap white than a decent cheap red. I’ve never worked out why.
 
It’s much, much harder IME to find a decent cheap white than a decent cheap red. I’ve never worked out why.

I have always thought so too. Although I remember liking fairly cheap Portuguese white wines, but I may have just been in a good mood on holiday there.
The UK having the highest tax on wine in Europe (except Ireland where they can expect miracles) doesn't help.
 
I have always thought so too. Although I remember liking fairly cheap Portuguese white wines, but I may have just been in a good mood on holiday there.
The UK having the highest tax on wine in Europe (except Ireland IIRC) doesn't help.

I was responding to your now deleted/edited last sentence, in fact it deleted my reply I was still constructing.
Anyway what do you consider to be cheap wine Wacko.?

I purchased a couple of bottles recommended from a BBC Saturday Kitchen prog. https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-gaillac-rouge-taste-the-difference-75cl

The first bottle was a little harsh, but after racking it it had greatly improved, and worked well with my freshly baked GF loaf, chicken remnants and salad.
I will be buying a few more.

I tend to agree though, some cheapos can be nasty, and plenty of expensive ones can be complete rip-offs, usually established producers living off past
glories.
 
^ I think £6.75 was exactly the break-even point where half your money goes in tax and the other half on the wine. So £3.37 less cost of bottle, label, transport, profit and it even has a bloody cork ! So how much is left for the actual wine do you think ?
Do you mean racking as in storing on its side ? Or do you mean decanting ? A 'harsh' young red will usually improve with some air.
I think you are on the right VFM track going into unusual areas like Gaillac and unusual local area grapes.
 
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^ By racking I mean on its side. May well try a decant when I get some stock.

We bought some delicious white from a chambre d'hote in Northern France. He had two, one was around 5e, the 13% one was around 7e. apparently the vines are dotted all over the village in small plots, how he maintains such quality at these prices is incredible to me, all hand operated ancient looking equipment too, huge skills.
 
Thanks Marcho for the Mildly Doolally film upstream about Cote De Rhone. Managed to spot a bottle in Booths which I'm working through. £12.50 though.
 
Thanks Marcho for the Mildly Doolally film upstream about Cote De Rhone. Managed to spot a bottle in Booths which I'm working through. £12.50 though.
Very much hope you enjoy it. The price has rocketed in the last few years, but it is still good value. The best bet is to wait for sales at Waitrose or Majestic or join the Wine Society. I thought I saw some in Tesco recently, but that could have been a psychotic moment.
 
^ By racking I mean on its side. May well try a decant when I get some stock.

We bought some delicious white from a chambre d'hote in Northern France. He had two, one was around 5e, the 13% one was around 7e. apparently the vines are dotted all over the village in small plots, how he maintains such quality at these prices is incredible to me, all hand operated ancient looking equipment too, huge skills.

Local knowledge. No tax on wine in France. No transport cost. Cottage industry with fully depreciated kit. No ageing: I read it can cost about €1 per year.
One of the reasons people retire to France; or used to before we 'took back control' to limit our own options.
 
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@Spike, if you like that, see if you can find some Milamore (think that's the current name, used to be Enamore) from Bodegas Renacer. Argentinean rather than Chilean, Malbec-based blend...
 
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