4/20/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Very good Saumur-Champigny with a lovely nose of red fruit, cedar and leather. Good balance, mouth-watering finish with sweet and sour notes which I love.

Quite expensive for this appellation - I have mixed feeling about this. On the one hand I think that these wines merit higher prices, on the other hand I can't deny that there are equally good Loire cab francs costing less.

4/19/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Spices and red berries on the nose; clean, well-made; medium acidity, medium body; finishes short. Nothing wrong with it, I don't regret buying it but it's not very memorable and the finish is a letdown. Even at this modest price range there are more interesting wines.

3/2/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

And here we are 4 years later, and it is indeed amazing. What a bargain Aussie semillon can be, if you have the patience.

3/2/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Bought 5 years ago for around €50. A comparative bargain, probably €100 today for similar quality. Fantastic wine.

2/23/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

This is the best-selling Rioja wine in Sweden. Is it any good? Well, it's alright. Personally I think that the oak is a little overdone, especially on the palate where the oak becomes a little harsh. On the nose the wine is quite nice.

2/17/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Pretty good for 8€.

2/16/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Rich, complex nose with apple, honey, lemon, wax, toast, goes on forever. On the palate: full-bodied, fresh, lemony, green apples, vanilla, slight bitterness. Hint of sweetness. Undoubtebly very good - perhaps a little too rich for my taste but I can see the quality.

2/16/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Red fruit, spice, forest floor. Very good with pork tenderloin, wild mushroom tart and a creamy sauce. Falls a little short towards the end.

2/9/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

A Vouvray in all but name. Bottled as Vin de France for bureaucratic reasons. The nose is wonderfully complex, on the palate dry, honeyed with yellow fruit. Good now but I would still suggest waiting a few years.

2/9/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Perfectly fine barbera. I'll probably never fall in love with the grape, but it's a good match with a lot of food.

2/2/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

The "OAK CASK" thing is not overdone as I feared, on the contrary the nose is dominated by dark fruit with some herbal notes. On the palate: good freshness and balance, the oak is there in the background. Delicious sweet and sour aftertaste. Will buy more of this.

2/2/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

This is a solid wine with good QPR. For my taste, it's slightly too developed (prunes) and although I appreciate the lighter style, it's a bit lacking in excitement.

2/2/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

85% pinot noir, 15% chardonnay. I have a soft spot for blanc de noir champagne, love this style.

1/27/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Really into its drinking window, all the hallmarks of Chinon. Decent for the price (27€), not quite enough tension and complexity to merit a higher score. I think there are better Loire cab francs for less money though.

1/20/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Stupendously good value for 7€ (!). I bought this looking for an inexpensive bottle to pull out when you want an after dinner glass of wine, and I think the quest is over.

1/19/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

This has developed nicely since I tried the first bottle in 2021. Time to buy some more Hunter Valley Semillon and forget about the bottles for a few years.

1/19/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

For the record, I bought this after watching Konstantin Baum’s review of the Wine Spectator Top 10. I agree with his rating, we liked it a lot and it’s really drinkable already.

1/13/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Complex nose with (dried) red fruit, spices and barnyardy notes. Delicious and ready to drink, perhaps not a deep wine but for ~23€ this shows that you can get really good value even from Burgundy.

1/13/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Very interesting nose, with yellow fruit as well as spice (white pepper) and green leaves. Palate is not as impressive but still a solid wine, very good QPR.

1/5/2024 - UrbanGrill wrote:

The sauv blanc characteristics are a little over the top but it's a pretty good wine for the price.

1/5/2024 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Rustic and a little old-fashioned, but pretty amazing quality and complexity for the price. Lots of dried fruit on the nose and palate, quite light in colour, rounded tannins, sour cherries. I feared that this would be oxidative but it’s not, just matured.

12/31/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Loved this, but it’s very young. 92 points with a lot of upside.

12/30/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Very drinkable chianti with all the hallmarks of sangiovese and quite a lot of oak. Not a deep wine but a delicious one, the bottle was emptied rather quickly.

12/30/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Mainly fernão pires, which is said to "produce wines with a spicy aromatic character, though often with delicate exotic fruity notes" according to Wikipedia. Pretty good description of what's in the glass. Very good value for the price (around 7€).

12/29/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Good young cab franc, clean red fruit, good freshness. Drank with pork chops, rice and wild mushroom sauce, nice pairing.

12/28/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

The nose is rustic with dark fruit and earthy, peppery notes. Medium-bodied and dry with good acidity and slightly harsh tannins. Not a complex wine but authentic and food-friendly.

12/22/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Good potential but at this price point there is some competition out there. Not quite there for me at this occasion.

12/22/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Deep colour, butterscotch on the nose. Creamy, zero dosage is no problem. We love this style of champagne.

12/15/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Good but not great. Bone-dry, still quite tart and with a bitterness that makes it a little unbalanced to my palate. I have another bottle; no rush to drink up.

12/9/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

This beaujolais has it all: typicity, lots and lots of fruit, acidity, embedded tannins and plenty of body. The first glass is really nice... But ultimately, this is a failure. The wine collapses from the weight of its overripeness and 15% alcohol, and I don't see how it could be saved by cellaring either.

12/8/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Excellent with pan-fried ribeye steak, roasted vegetables and bearnaise sauce. Didn't expect this to be as approachable already - I'll try to keep my hands off the remaining bottles.

11/25/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Decent fruit, structure for cellaring a few years, a little closed today. To me it lacks a bit of excitement for the price, I would go for the Vieilles Vignes -20 for €10 less, and being more approachable now.

11/24/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

This is a complex, complicated and often misunderstood wine. Not all Chinon is intended to be drunk early; Clos de l'Olive is definitely a "vin de garde" and is a baby at just 4 years old.

Dark blue-red colour. Complex nose with dark fruit (cherries, plum, even prunes) and decidedly savoury, spicy notes which remind me of bay leaf, lovage, black pepper and cloves. On the palate the wine is weighty, almost full-bodied, with astringent tannins, plenty of acidity and lots of red fruit. The finish is quite long, combines the fruity and savoury notes and leaves you with a mouth-watering feeling.

This is very far from a quaffable, easy drinker. Drink it with red meat or even better, leave it in the cellar for a few decades.

11/17/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Lots of sour cherries, some black currant, good acidity, medium-bodied, drinks very well but I have no doubt that it can be cellared for a few years. Would have liked a little more nerve, some spicyness or complexity for a higher score.

11/4/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

I’ve had 2017 and 2018 before and liked it, but this bottle was a letdown. No real lift, feels a bit tired. Pity.

10/28/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

I prefer more stuffing in my beaujolais, this has plenty of red tart fruit but is too one-dimensional for my taste. Not sure if I've ever had a Juliénas before, it's supposed to be one of the more age-worthy appellations so I am a little disappointed.

10/28/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Good balance and ripe yellow fruit. From my past experience this wine has sometimes required a few years of cellaring on release. The 2019 should certainly age well but I am pleased to find this so accessible already.

10/22/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Medium-bodied, slightly dry tannins with a sweet-and-sour finish. To me, this has an Italian feel to it. The wine goes well with red meat as long as the dish is not too heavy, also works great with mushrooms. I think that bolognese would be a really good pairing.

10/21/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

This is unlike any txakoli that I've ever tasted. They tend to be quite neutral, low in alcohol, refreshing but not very interesting. This is something else; very aromatic and fruity, slightly funky, ripe yellow apples, lemon, good acidity. I don't think it pleases everyone but I like it a lot.

10/14/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Nice, crisp, fruity wine with a silly name, but easy to remember. Would buy again.

9/23/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Eiswein-like acidity, with orange and lemon fruit. A great match for a creamy blue cheese.

9/9/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

This wine shows why you should drink more white bordeaux. Green, herbal notes from the sauvignon paired with the complex and enigmatic grape that is semillon. Really ugly label if I may say so.

9/8/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Very nice and drinkable - the back label says up to 15 years which is hard to believe. But good structure and sturdy tannins so why not.

8/12/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Silly name but a really good wine. Opulent, fruity nose with raspberries, spices and smoke. Fresh and dry on the palate. Don't quite know how to rate this as I haven't had many Lambrusco wines, but I'll definitely buy this again.

8/12/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

For a generic bourgogne blanc, this is surprisingly good stuff.

8/11/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

A solid bordeaux, but I wouldn't buy again.

8/11/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

Really good bottle. Not as impressive a few years ago, this needed some time to start showing really well.

8/5/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Decent, but very oaky.

7/28/2023 - UrbanGrill Likes this wine:

A really good bottle.

7/21/2023 - UrbanGrill wrote:

Holds up really well at 12 years of age and can definitely last 10-20 years as the producer claims. Drinks very well and improves in the glass. But there are much better expressions of the terroir and grape for a much lower price out there.