What a beautiful label. I hoped that the wine itself will be just as amazing, but that wasn’t the case. I should have checked the ABV before buying: it’s alarmingly high at 15%. That explains a lot.
My friend András collected a bunch of 2014 reds from Bordeaux many years ago, when they were on the market. It was now time to open them he thought a few weeks ago, so we asked our little wine club if anyone was interested, and let me tell you that I rarely seen such interest from people – we were a bit too many at the end. I cannot understand why Bordeaux is unfashionable on the market as it’s still a favourite of real wine lovers. Me included. And these 2014s were really superb, I loved most of them. My favourites were the Ch. Phelan-Segur, the Ch. Gloria, the Ch. Figeac and the Ch. Chasse-Spleen, all rather medium-bodied and elegant. Continue reading
If you ask me, the most dynamic red wine region of Hungary at the moment is Szekszárd. Ahead of others, they moved early from oaky, heavy reds made mostly from Bordeaux varieties to the indigenous kadarka and kékfrankos – and let’s add bikavér to the list, which is based on the former two. Continue reading
From the three Cotes du Rhone wines reviewed below, two have an ABV of 15% – hardly a surprise yet I’m still not prepared for it. As the years pass, I tolerate high alcohol less and less, and I crave balance more and more. Check out that Yannick Alléno & Michel Chapoutier bottling, it gets things right – still ripe at 14% yet not heavy or clumsy!
The San Zenone Chianti distributed in Aldi is one of the cheap reds I buy every vintage. At 4€ it’s really a basic, simple quaffer, but it is usually decent and it’s not easy to find affordable chianti in this country (Hungary) and I’m always thirsty for sangiovese. And this 2024 is something else. Continue reading
