3/30/2024 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

The label says "bottled after two years of ageing partially in oak barrels" but it's hard to believe this has had any ageing in oak at all. Raw and sour with little or no fruit, this is easily the worst Chianti Classico Riserva I've ever tasted. Even as a basic Chianti it would be a disgrace.

2/27/2024 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Fresh and lively with a hint of creamy richness. Bramble and strawberry fruit and a little bit of spice. Delicious although admittedly quite expensive at £19.99.

2/24/2024 - Paul Dove wrote:

Fresh green-leaf style. Some fruit. Not terrible.

1/25/2024 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Loved the 2020 vintage, so this was a big disappointment. Very little fruit - sharp green pepper and heavy oak flavours dominate. Not nice at all. Too young to drink, a duff vintage or just a dodgy bottle? Probably the latter as most professional reviewers seem to like it.

1/25/2024 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Still a bit young but already very flavoursome with a lovely balance of cedar, mint and blackcurrant. Full, powerful style with layers of flavour. When the oak gets fully integrated it'll be delicious.

1/21/2024 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Cooked tarry fruit and smoky graphite flavours. Not much fun unfortunately, especially given its price tag.

1/11/2024 - Paul Dove wrote:

If you like stalky, green and sour, this is the wine for you!

12/15/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Dark fruits and dark tannins. Slightly rustic, rather than elegant, but undeniably tasty. Reminded me not so much of Bordeaux but a well-made Cahors like Clos Coutale. Perfect for a hearty winter stew.

12/11/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

This is really good. Fresh and mineral with pronounced acidity, but not lean or short-flavoured. Lots going on. Red and black fruits, floral notes, sour plum, fig, spice, orange peel, dark chocolate and a lifted balsamic finish. Touriga Nacional 50%, Tinta Roriz 30%, Syrah 20%. 10 months in French oak but - unlike quite a few Portuguese reds - nicely integrated and everything's in balance. Around £15 in the UK.

11/29/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Very decent, inexpensive, medium-bodied claret with subtle fruits and a dusting of spice. Elegant and satisfying.

11/19/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Sweet red fruits, fine tannins, silky smooth palate with a little bit of spice but otherwise few earthy or savoury notes. This is the kind of soft easy-going 'modern' (usually right-bank) claret that normally I would find very boring. But it's nicely done with sufficient freshness and acidity to keep it balanced and elegant.

11/16/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

New vintage for this often coarsely rustic but always interesting and authentic Lidl staple. And it's a definite thumbs up with nice cherry fruit, pretty rose petal and violet aromatics, dusky tannins and spice and a hint of leather. Still quite rough and rustic but, this year, in a good way.

11/5/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Thin and raw with little fruit and a harsh oxidised finish. Tastes like the very cheapest supermarket Chianti but at more than double the price. Pity because it's been really good in previous vintages.

10/17/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Fresh and minerally with some nice chewy tannins. Quite lean for a Merlot-dominant Bordeaux with 12 months in oak - tastes more left bank than right. But the deliciously ripe blackcurrant fruit and subtle hints of caramel and forest-floor notes more than compensate.

10/11/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Soft and plump - perhaps a little bit muffled - but with some quite nice cherry and strawberry notes along with mushroom and graphite.

10/4/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

This is just excellent for an entry-level CDR. Balanced and satisfying with a surprisingly long flavour. Really can't fault it.

8/26/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Plump, luscious, round mouthfeel. Lovely tangerine and peach fruits. But unfortunately there's insufficient acidity and a flabby, cloying sweetness ultimately dominates.

8/14/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

This wine is always on the rough side of rustic - sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. This year, unfortunately, it's rough as hell with searing acidity and little in the way of fruit. Lidl's increasingly unreliable MW winetaster Richard Bampfield scores it 92 points. Yeah, right...

8/12/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Another soupy claret with zero acidity or structure that tastes of tomatoes ... what is going on? Is it something to do with global warming?

8/4/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Deliciously rich and rugged Lebanese red at a bargain price. Long, concentrated, spicy, tarry, bramble fruit flavours. Delicious with or without food though this is no simple quaffer. Easily my wine of the year so far. Perfect balance of tannin and acidity, perfect balance of sour cherry and ripe blackberry fruit with more earthy/savoury flavours. Incredible value. Did I mention how good this wine is?

8/2/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Refreshing and pleasant enough but I'd hoped for something richer and more characterful. Low ABV of 12.5% should perhaps have been a warning.

8/1/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Soft-textured and medium-bodied with plenty of cedar, spice and blackcurrant. A little bit soft and gentle on the palate (too much merlot in the mix?) but lovely typicity. Bargain at £8.

7/20/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Simple, spicy, short-flavoured quaffer. Pleasant enough summer drinking but on the bland side and horribly overpriced in the UK at £12 a bottle. Thymiopoulos usually offers far better value - e.g. his excellent 'Jeunes Vignes' cuvee which is just a little bit more expensive but offers far more flavour and typicity.

7/19/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Unbalanced and hot with alcohol. I'll think twice before buying this once reliable cuvee again. The 15% ABV should have been a warning but I wrongly thought Guigal could still come up with something elegant and palatable.

7/6/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

A delicious tapas wine. Honest, unoaked, unconfected Old World style. Quite high acidity and restrained fruit flavours - cherry pips rather than cherry jam - but nicely balanced and excellent with food or as a refreshing aperitif. Incredible value.

7/4/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Asked for a Nebbiolo d'Alba at my independent wine shop but was talked into buying this Dolcetto instead. Hmm, ok, and actually superficially it's quite appealing with a pleasant anodyne flavour, nice weight and some modest blueberry and chocolate notes. But very low acidity and zero tannic structure means the texture and mouthfeel is flabby and dull. It's obviously blended to be yet another smooth and silky crowd-pleaser to appeal to New World palates. Disappointing and absurdly expensive at £17.

7/3/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Fresh and supple but with a slightly unlovely tomato taste and scent like you sometimes get with Greek reds. Acidity is very low and tannins very soft, so there's little in the way of structure. Hmm, will see if this improves tomorrow. (Jancis Robinson reviewed this only a few months ago calling it "attractively mineral, stony and sappy". If only - that sounds interesting. Matthew Jukes is much closer in his review when he calls it "silky". Trouble is it's too silky for its own good with all the interesting edges and Left Bank typicity smoothed away by ageing in new oak.)

6/21/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Very much a modern tamed style of the traditionally fierce tannat grape. Nice weight and smooth creamy texture with a little bit of prickly spice and attractive blueberry fruit. Not bad but lacks the concentration and structure which were the hallmarks of old school Domaine Berthoumieu.

6/2/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Amazing entry-level unoaked red from this estate which I prefer to the more expensive oaked version. Very, very good with nice ripe black cherry and dark berry fruit perfectly balanced by an appetising acidity. So delicious - I can see why it got a gold medal from Gilbert & Gaillard. Quite similar to a well-made Nebbiolo d'Alba.

5/26/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Smooth, ripe and undeniably tasty Greek red albeit in a somewhat glossy New World style. By the following day some nice tomato leaf flavours emerge and there's more of a sense of place, but even so it does seem a bit expensive for what it is (£16). I think I'd prefer the unoaked version which is significantly cheaper and I suspect has more Greek typicity.

5/18/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Good texture and weight, but sour and short-flavoured.

5/9/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Simple but delicious

4/22/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Tasted promising when first opened - tightly-wound and fairly inexpressive but with some nice restrained dark fruit flavours, garrigue/licorice notes and a promise of richness. But by day 2 it tasted coarse, acrid and fruit-less. Even worse on day 3. Very odd for a Languedoc red to fall apart in this way,

4/16/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Nice dark fruit and spice with a touch of liquorice on the finish. Quite sturdy and tannic. Needs food to open up. Good value at £6.99, Waitrose

4/15/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Poured straight from the bottle,this is very approachable and pleasantly fruit-forward with a soft strawberry profile more redolent of Grenache than Syrah (which is the main grape here). Trouble is it also tastes very watery and dilute and ridiculously simple for its £18 price tag. After three hours breathing this still tastes pretty feeble. The following day the same. Perhaps it will "put on weight" in the months to come. But at the moment, a waste of money and a big disappointment.

4/3/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Fresh and spritzy but without fruit or flavour. Dilute and watery mouthfeel that belies its 14% alchohol level. Feeble stuff but at least it wasn't flawed by volatile acidity like the 2018 vintage. £12.99, Waitrose.

4/3/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Outstanding and beautifully-balanced budget CdR. Savoury and authentic with lovely berry fruit, some peppery spice, good acidity and structure. Finish is a little short but incredible value at under £5.

4/1/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

The 12% abv should have been a warning (especially when it was 13.5% last year). But, hey-ho, you live and learn I suppose. The French malbec typicity is evident - but the taste and mouthfeel is harsh, lean, short-flavoured and with very little fruit. Mean and scratchy even with food. I can only assume 2021 was a terrible year for the region. £9.50.

3/28/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Fresh, unoaked style. Plum and red cherry. Slightly sweet and medicinal. Just about drinkable with food, but very disjointed, and again there's that saccharine finish. Would be interesting to know how much residual sugar this has. Big disappointment and poor value at £8.99.

3/28/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Like a lot of inexpensive Bordeaux, this would have been so much better without the clumsy use of oak.

3/20/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Deep-flavoured and delicious, elegant and balanced. Incredible value (£8) for a supermarket wine.

3/3/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Clean and refreshing but very little personality or flavour. Calling it 'Feast' adds insult to injury. There are so many characterful Greek reds but this isn't one of them. Poor value at £11.99

3/2/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

This is excellent. Very central Italian in personality with the expected sour cherry tang and acidity you'd expect from Chianti. But apparently this is from the Montepulciano grape which explains the slightly plumper, mellow mouthfeel and plummy blueberry flavours. I much prefer this to the vanilla oak flavour profile of the more expensive Riserva version. £7.50 from the Co-op.

2/7/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

If I tasted this blind, I'd say it was a simple but tasty Barbera from Piedmont. Savoury and herbaceous but with enough tart black cherry fruit to make it fun and appetising.

1/31/2023 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Thin and acidic with a lean scratchy mouthfeel and very little fruit. Sadly, the chickens scratching around in the dirt on the label are all too appropriate. Difficult to believe Famille Perrin have anything to do with this mean-spirited effort. £7.50.

1/15/2023 - Paul Dove Likes this wine:

Rich and intriguing without being over-oaked. Cherry and dried fruits. Quite high acidity, perhaps a bit of VA, but nice Old World style to this. Bargain.

1/6/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Decent balanced Rioja with nice dark fruit and subtle oak. Not very memorable but inexpensive and good with food. James Suckling and International Wine Report both scored it 92 points. Hmm...

1/4/2023 - Paul Dove wrote:

Lovely, savoury, hedgerow flavours and liquorice finish. Great terroir and interest to this wine. But there is no fruit. Will it return? Or has it dried up? Better with food but still too dry and earthy to be really enjoyable.

12/28/2022 - Paul Dove wrote:

Fresh and elegant but very restrained flavours. Perhaps it will open up one day, but disappointing at the moment. £14.50

11/28/2022 - Paul Dove Does not like this wine:

Very disappointing from the usually reliable Cellier des Dauphins. Spicy Rhone typicity, but harsh and fruitless. £7 in UK, but this wine would disappoint at half that price.