Matetic
Corralillo
Merlot/Malbec
2005
14.5%
Chile
Had this kicking around the cellar for the last half a decade and for no good reason other than a bit thirsty decided to crack it open. This one was from 2005 when it used to be imported by Oddbins, when I used to work there, back then. Obvs that's a bit of time ago and even I can't remember the complete percentages. However, you can pick up the Winemakers blend which I believe replaced this bottle.
The 2006 is 67% Merlot, 17% Cab Franc, 10% Merlot and 6% Pinot Noir.
The 2009 is 40% Merlot, 28% Syrah, 20% Cab Franc, 12% Malbec.
I just got that off the internet - you can grab the Winemakers Blend in Majestic these days.
Now I'm pretty sure this vintage ain't any of them combos but it is a beaut. There's a wonderful depth to it as it's opened up over the evening. The balance is sublime. Full bodied and rather rich with lashings of deep dark chocolate, morello cherry and berry fruit, a subtle lick of vanilla and warm integrated spice that all arrives in a very orderly fashion. Like the best guests at a house party. The Malbec adding the floral notes, the Merlot giving it the fruity edge. The finish is long and drying and the tannins are firm but friendly. It's very soft but the structure is tip top. I seem to remember that this was a biodynamic/organic winery if memory serves.
The cellaring seems to have improved the integration of the elements - it is a long time ago back before I ever bothered with tasting notes but I vaguely remember the Malbec being more dominant and the overall vibe being a bit youthful and stalky. However, that may just have been a memory of another Matetic offering - so that's a completely reliable assessment! Whatever, this is a very lovely wine, with such a smooth and more-ish finish. I'm going to have to snap up a bottle of the Winemakers blend and see how that compares.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Cocktail 1
Recently I worked up some cocktails for a hen-do. After a little fact finding I found out that the bride-to-be really liked cherry and was a fan of Italian cooking. There's a whole load of extra info that necessitated the need to use some jam jars too. This one was intended to be clean and fresh, to be drunk in the warm outside in the early afternoon. I'll post the other ones later.
Christina's Basil and Lemon Fizz.
Serves 2.
1/2 Orange
1/2 Lemon
Basil
4 Vodka
2 Limoncello
2 Blood Orange Juice.
Soda Water
Jam Jar
Half orange and lemon and cut to a couple of segments. Add 6-8 Basil leafs. Muddle them all in a large glass or shaker.
Add Vodka and Limoncello and Orange Juice.
Add a few cubes of ice and shake.
Taste and adjust the balance as needed.
Fill jam jar half with ice. Add 3-4 Basil leafs. Top up with ice.
Screw on lid and quick shake to bruise the basil but not to pulverise it.
Double strain the liquid and half fill the jam jars.
Top up with soda water.
Quick stir to mingle the drink.
Garnish with lemon and orange slice with fresh basil leaf in between.
There's a slight variation where you can add some triple-sec if the balance isn't to your liking but that's up to you guys.
Here's a picture of me during some intense research.
Christina's Basil and Lemon Fizz.
Serves 2.
1/2 Orange
1/2 Lemon
Basil
4 Vodka
2 Limoncello
2 Blood Orange Juice.
Soda Water
Jam Jar
Half orange and lemon and cut to a couple of segments. Add 6-8 Basil leafs. Muddle them all in a large glass or shaker.
Add Vodka and Limoncello and Orange Juice.
Add a few cubes of ice and shake.
Taste and adjust the balance as needed.
Fill jam jar half with ice. Add 3-4 Basil leafs. Top up with ice.
Screw on lid and quick shake to bruise the basil but not to pulverise it.
Double strain the liquid and half fill the jam jars.
Top up with soda water.
Quick stir to mingle the drink.
Garnish with lemon and orange slice with fresh basil leaf in between.
There's a slight variation where you can add some triple-sec if the balance isn't to your liking but that's up to you guys.
Here's a picture of me during some intense research.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Plantation Panama 2000
Nose - Sweet fudge and toffee. Thick and chunky. Herby. Thyme. Touch of bbq fish or more like Paprika crisps. Young pineapple.
Taste - Continues the same themes as the nose. Light dusting of spice. Eucalyptus (as stated on the label) shines through. A touch toasty. Slightly wooded vanilla. A hint of bitter. A lick of smoke.
Recently
I quite like the fact that the last few posts I made were when slightly under the influence. I guess it is called Jeffdrinks for a reason. Obviously they are a complete mess - the Smith and Cross one lacks capital letters and any reasonable punctuation for a start. I suspect that it was just a draft I decided to publish. And why not. The Blair Athol I certainly did consume with my friend Alex last night. And I do remember it being a lot more sherried than the last time I had it. But then maybe the last time I had it was at the distillery, and that was a wee while ago now. Certainly very tasty though. I've been thinking about restructuring the blog anyway. Now I'm involved in helping out the whisky sheffield peeps http://whiskysheffield.wordpress.com/ then maybe this should be more about what I drink and also used to tell what has been going on in the tastings that I run. Also some more pictures too. Now that I've learnt to steal them off the internet!
Friday, 17 August 2012
smith and cross
instant and unmistakable aroma of unripe and then rotting bananas says that this is a jamican rum through and through. and then you know full well that there is probaby only one distillery that could produce this and that is the pots at hampden. longpond may have the column stills to give your rum a certain lightness but the dunder and the depths mean that it has to hampden. it's almost sickly in it's approach, it's like a rum on steroids. too beefy too concentrated. it's a classic example where it's not about the abv strenght but about the esters. about the long fermentation that;s built in the the flavours. about the pot still that makes it oh-so heavy. like the jap doom rockers. sustined deep distort chord
there;s the sweetness and the pungency
it's been described as camabert which in the scheme ofd things isn't that really far off the mark
its a lot-it of loathe it rum (although I'm personally not convinced that the second categoryt exists for this rum) - ok it's full bodied and if you hate strong flavours then this is not for you. but it's esters mean that it can pretty much resist anything flavour wise - bbq smoke and chilli yeah this rum will beat it down and then give it a warm hug before seeing it on it's way. It smells amazing but it smacks you around the mouth quite considerably. That's the beauty.
it's always going to come over the top, this one. the alchol is pretty on top too. but no matter what you've eaten or what you've drank this is going to wade through your palate. now i
thick treacle, and huge custard.
it's
there;s the sweetness and the pungency
it's been described as camabert which in the scheme ofd things isn't that really far off the mark
its a lot-it of loathe it rum (although I'm personally not convinced that the second categoryt exists for this rum) - ok it's full bodied and if you hate strong flavours then this is not for you. but it's esters mean that it can pretty much resist anything flavour wise - bbq smoke and chilli yeah this rum will beat it down and then give it a warm hug before seeing it on it's way. It smells amazing but it smacks you around the mouth quite considerably. That's the beauty.
it's always going to come over the top, this one. the alchol is pretty on top too. but no matter what you've eaten or what you've drank this is going to wade through your palate. now i
thick treacle, and huge custard.
it's
Blair Athol
Well apparently this is the 12 YO F&F.
But it's so dark.
So much more sherry than I remember it to be.
There's a lot going on, on the nose we decide.
Sherry. Xmas Cake, Nuts and lots and lots and lots of dried fruit.
Hazelnuts, Frangepan, Dates.
On the palate it's a lot more subtle.
Gentle waves with no real spice kicking in.
Mocha, coffee.
We've been given this blind and so we can chalk out what it's not.
Well it's deeply, deeply sherry for a start and it doesn't have anywhere near the body of a Glenfarclas. Nor the spritely layers of an Aberlour.
It doesn't begin with a glen or start with a "m".
So slightly tumbled when it's a Blair Athol.
Now this is a distillery I've visited before but, as above, I so don't remember this profile. At all. Nowhere near like the ones I've got stashed away.
In any case, the nose is sumptuous. Deep, complex, inviting and layered. Maybe the palate fails to live up to that nose but it's steady and holds no surprises. Perhaps a tad short but everything that is there is worth the money. I would have thought more a Mortlach than a Blair Athol personally but then I didn't pour it. A great, possibly classic nose that doesn't live up to it's promise on the palate.
I'll go find out if it's a F&F. But I'm still not so sure.
J
But it's so dark.
So much more sherry than I remember it to be.
There's a lot going on, on the nose we decide.
Sherry. Xmas Cake, Nuts and lots and lots and lots of dried fruit.
Hazelnuts, Frangepan, Dates.
On the palate it's a lot more subtle.
Gentle waves with no real spice kicking in.
Mocha, coffee.
We've been given this blind and so we can chalk out what it's not.
Well it's deeply, deeply sherry for a start and it doesn't have anywhere near the body of a Glenfarclas. Nor the spritely layers of an Aberlour.
It doesn't begin with a glen or start with a "m".
So slightly tumbled when it's a Blair Athol.
Now this is a distillery I've visited before but, as above, I so don't remember this profile. At all. Nowhere near like the ones I've got stashed away.
In any case, the nose is sumptuous. Deep, complex, inviting and layered. Maybe the palate fails to live up to that nose but it's steady and holds no surprises. Perhaps a tad short but everything that is there is worth the money. I would have thought more a Mortlach than a Blair Athol personally but then I didn't pour it. A great, possibly classic nose that doesn't live up to it's promise on the palate.
I'll go find out if it's a F&F. But I'm still not so sure.
J
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Run Tasting - Black Tot Day - July 31st.
Black Tot day tasting.
On July 31st 1970 the Royal Navy halted the rum ration for the sailors. An institution that had started around 1655 and at one time included a ration of half a pint of rum daily. For this reason July 31st is known as Black Tot Day and lovers of rum celebrate all over the globe by consuming a (responsible) quantity of rum.
The idea behind this tasting was to explore the various island styles that make up a typical Navy rum blend (so focusing on the English speaking islands) plus with a couple of extra nods to the French and Spanish style.
With rum, fermentation is predominantly where you build your flavour and distillation is where you select which bits you keep and which you leave out. I wanted to show different approaches to fermentation i.e. short vs long and also different approaches to distilling i.e. technological advanced, highly scientific approach vs traditional and also huge industrial style column stills, tiny wee column stills and ancient wooden coffey and 200 year pot stills. Included within all that was a few variations on maturation and cask usage.
This particular tasting was to be augmented with a couple of extras. First, if you had a smart-phone you could look at pictures of the different stills and distilleries as I had uploaded some pictures from google images to this blog (see below and sorry that I've not credited the original photographers - if I can find who took them originally I will, promise). And second, I purposely left out Pusser's Blue Label from the tasting selection as I gave people the option that if they bought one across the bar then I would give them a Ron Zacapa 23 for free. Thus fulfilling the part of actually drinking a proper Navy rum on Black Tot day, and also seeing if the audience could then recognise it's component parts that they had drank earlier in the evening. The Zacapa allowed me to talk about Solera ageing and give a nod towards the Spanish style of making rum. Also it was a nice one to end the evening on, especially as the Rhum Agriciole and Guyana and Jamaican Hampden would have been a little bit harder work. One of the Guyana Mezan bottles was sent incorrectly so I had to do one on one night and the other on the second - that's why there are two listed for number 4.
The tasting was king of divided up into drinks pairs with 1 and 2 being the easy drinking, 3 and 4 being slightly more challenging and un-rum like, 5 deeply pungent and 6 going down the Navy route and with 7 to sip a a nice reward.
Good reactions across both nights. Obvs. Zacapa came out as a winner. Everyone liked the Trinidad - but then what's not to dislike? The Foursquare was a love or not that bothered. For those who liked a bit more complexity the Mezan's were winners and for those who were into single malts the Agricole was an eye-opener. I was fairly pleased that people got into these slightly more tricky styles. The Jamaican was a love or hate and no where in between. But I did guarantee that I thought that after the tasting they would forevermore recognise a big estery Jamaican pot-still if ever presented with one.
Here's the list in full. As always some tasting notes and more information on the distilleries to follow sometime in the late future. (If you going to rock up some tasting notes then should at least consider these drinks in some depth and that takes a bit of time.) Still they will get done one day.
1. Plantation - Original Dark - 40% - Trinidad & Tobago (Angostura)
2. Foursquare - Rum 66 - 12 YO - 40% - Barbados (Foursquare)
3. Trois Riveries - Cuvee du Moiln - 3 YO - 40% - Martinique (Trois Riveries)
4. Mezan Guyana 1990 - 20 YO (Single Cask) 40% - Guyana (Versailles Pot Still at Enmore)
4a. Mezan Guyana 1998 - 13 YO (Single Cask) 40% - Guyana (Savalle Column at Uitvlugt)
5. Smith and Cross - Plummer and Wedderburn Pot Still - 57% - (Hampden, Jamaica)
6. Pusser's Blue Label - 54.5% - British Virgin Islands (Admiralty Navy Blend)
7. Ron Zacapa 23 - 40% - Guatemala
On July 31st 1970 the Royal Navy halted the rum ration for the sailors. An institution that had started around 1655 and at one time included a ration of half a pint of rum daily. For this reason July 31st is known as Black Tot Day and lovers of rum celebrate all over the globe by consuming a (responsible) quantity of rum.
The idea behind this tasting was to explore the various island styles that make up a typical Navy rum blend (so focusing on the English speaking islands) plus with a couple of extra nods to the French and Spanish style.
With rum, fermentation is predominantly where you build your flavour and distillation is where you select which bits you keep and which you leave out. I wanted to show different approaches to fermentation i.e. short vs long and also different approaches to distilling i.e. technological advanced, highly scientific approach vs traditional and also huge industrial style column stills, tiny wee column stills and ancient wooden coffey and 200 year pot stills. Included within all that was a few variations on maturation and cask usage.
This particular tasting was to be augmented with a couple of extras. First, if you had a smart-phone you could look at pictures of the different stills and distilleries as I had uploaded some pictures from google images to this blog (see below and sorry that I've not credited the original photographers - if I can find who took them originally I will, promise). And second, I purposely left out Pusser's Blue Label from the tasting selection as I gave people the option that if they bought one across the bar then I would give them a Ron Zacapa 23 for free. Thus fulfilling the part of actually drinking a proper Navy rum on Black Tot day, and also seeing if the audience could then recognise it's component parts that they had drank earlier in the evening. The Zacapa allowed me to talk about Solera ageing and give a nod towards the Spanish style of making rum. Also it was a nice one to end the evening on, especially as the Rhum Agriciole and Guyana and Jamaican Hampden would have been a little bit harder work. One of the Guyana Mezan bottles was sent incorrectly so I had to do one on one night and the other on the second - that's why there are two listed for number 4.
The tasting was king of divided up into drinks pairs with 1 and 2 being the easy drinking, 3 and 4 being slightly more challenging and un-rum like, 5 deeply pungent and 6 going down the Navy route and with 7 to sip a a nice reward.
Good reactions across both nights. Obvs. Zacapa came out as a winner. Everyone liked the Trinidad - but then what's not to dislike? The Foursquare was a love or not that bothered. For those who liked a bit more complexity the Mezan's were winners and for those who were into single malts the Agricole was an eye-opener. I was fairly pleased that people got into these slightly more tricky styles. The Jamaican was a love or hate and no where in between. But I did guarantee that I thought that after the tasting they would forevermore recognise a big estery Jamaican pot-still if ever presented with one.
Here's the list in full. As always some tasting notes and more information on the distilleries to follow sometime in the late future. (If you going to rock up some tasting notes then should at least consider these drinks in some depth and that takes a bit of time.) Still they will get done one day.
1. Plantation - Original Dark - 40% - Trinidad & Tobago (Angostura)
2. Foursquare - Rum 66 - 12 YO - 40% - Barbados (Foursquare)
3. Trois Riveries - Cuvee du Moiln - 3 YO - 40% - Martinique (Trois Riveries)
4. Mezan Guyana 1990 - 20 YO (Single Cask) 40% - Guyana (Versailles Pot Still at Enmore)
4a. Mezan Guyana 1998 - 13 YO (Single Cask) 40% - Guyana (Savalle Column at Uitvlugt)
5. Smith and Cross - Plummer and Wedderburn Pot Still - 57% - (Hampden, Jamaica)
6. Pusser's Blue Label - 54.5% - British Virgin Islands (Admiralty Navy Blend)
7. Ron Zacapa 23 - 40% - Guatemala
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