Raso del Cruz Tinto 2010, Cariñena, Spain

This little gem from M&S offers up lush, fragrant raspberry coulis from its syrah fruit as well as some curranty and prune notes and a touch of milk chocolate. With the savoury, slightly meaty garnacha and sweeter, violet-tinged syrah in lovely balance it is quite a simple but elegant drop, particularly when chilled down a little. Pleasingly crunchy, fresh tannins and bright acidity complete a bargain bottle at £6.99. Lovely

Bolney Estate Pinot Grigio 2011, Sussex, England

2011 was a very unusual vintage in the UK, with many vineyards reporting record ripeness levels thanks to very low yields and an extended Indian summer. In practice, in the UK this means that winemakers were widely able to make still wines without chaptalisation and/or de-acidification, which are unfortunately necessary in our climate at times. Of the three main Pinot grapes, Pinot Grigio is firmly in third place in the UK in terms of plantings behind its siblings Pinots Blanc, Meunier and Noir due to its later ripening and unsuitability as a sparkling wine grape. It only really makes great wine in Alsace and in isolated pockets of Northern Italy, and I'm not sure the UK will be challenging these top wines for now.
This is quite a charmer on the nose, with its sweet red apple, peach blossom and even a bit of the perfume of fresh strawberries. The palate reminds me of fresh lemonade with its tangy acidity and gentle pear-like sweetness. It is primary stuff, all fruit/sugar/acidity, much like many of the northern italian wines. A tipple, and one that could spark a whole piece about still wines in the UK - but that's for another day! I look forward to tasting some more wines from the 2011 vintage, but this is a very solid start.

Some contrasting London beers

London is awash with microbreweries. It's a city with a proud brewing history, and I'm really excited to taste some of the new beers popping up from my neck of the woods. Three breweries here; first the notes, and then I'll offer a few general opinions.

Camden Town Brewery Pale Ale
Quite gentle on the nose - honeyed, with bitter herbs, lemon zest. Lightly moussy feel to drink, not big flavours here but nice persistent citric hops. Pretty good.

London Fields Brewery Pale Ale -
Quite a cool, clean beer, aromatic with orange zest on the nose and with a slightly smoky maltiness and gentle floral hoppiness. Really like this, and very drinkable at 3.9 %.

Redchurch Brewery Great Eastern IPA
Ok, this is 7.7% and is very different in style. Big fruit aromas here, with stewed plums red berries, and an interesting green-ness that reminded me of celery. Powerful, persistent delivery of complex flavours and malty sweetness on the palate, which really carries that savoury hoppiness through. Really enjoyed this beer, even if it is a bit of an extrovert.

London Fields Brewery Hackney Hopster
Peaches and pineapple, quite floral and fresh. Hops certainly dominate but it doesn't quite carry through as a balanced beer - feels a touch hollow and finishing very bitter. Some refreshment factor, but I think the Pale Ale is a better brew.

Redchurch Brewery Hackney Gold
So the IPA isn't a one off....darker and richer on the nose than I was expecting. 5.5%. These are quite big interpretations of the styles on the label. The fruit is rich and ripe, almost raisiny. It's bold and mouthfilling with a pleasing marmalade sweetness and a long, quite delicate finish. Very convincing, tasty beer, but not what I was expecting from a 'Gold'.

Forgot to make notes on the London Fields Gold. Just drank it. Probably a good sign.

I've had the Camden town beers before, and I'm afraid I don't think they're in the Premier League of London breweries. My impression is that they're focussed on taking on the big brewers in bars and pubs, particularly on the lager front, and good luck to 'em frankly. I did quite like the Pale Ale, but it was probably my least favourite beer here.
Redchurch and London Fields breweries have very contrasting 'house' styles - the Redchurch beers here were both big and bold. Not session beers, these. The Hackney Gold was my pick of the beers - alcohol and sweetness can be flattering in any drink, but I think the flavours here were complex and interesting. I thought the Hackney Gold was a bit heavy-handed, though. After this I really enjoyed the London Fields Pale Ale - their 'house' style is obviously more bright and aromatic.
One final word - value. Poor, in this bottled format. Running a brewery in London is not going to be cheap, but £2.70 retail for a 330ml bottle represents a lot of cash for, well, small beer. All these beers (apart from the Camden town) were bottle conditioned, and I'd have liked to have seen them in full bottles (as with the LFB Pale Ale), but that would have pushed the price up to the same sort of price you'd pay per pint in a pub. The logical conclusion has to be; find a pub that serves these beers well and try them there. That's next on my agenda.

Masseria Del Feudo Chardonnay 'Haermosa', Sicily

It's been quite a wine-free few weeks. Time to make amends.
This is an organic chardonnay from inland Sicily, cultivated at 480m above sea level. I came across it as the importer, Paola from Harmonicande, had a few bottles open from this producer in Bottle Apostle down the road. The Chardonnay really stood out for me, as well as quite an unusual bright young Syrah.
There's some real class on the nose here, which reminds me of French apple tart with just a touch of warm nutmeg spice and vanilla to sweeten the deal. Perhaps someone let a few slices of pineapple slip in too. It doesn't veer towards buttery or mealy though, staying clean and quite chiselled on the palate, which has just enough in the way of acid structure to hold it together with the help of a pithy and quite savoury backbone. I really like this - it's elegant and pretty serious. Probably the best Chardonnay I've had from Italy (a small catergory I'll admit).

Anton Bauer Gmörk Gruner Veltliner 2011

Very attractive sweet clementine and under-ripe melon on the nose, touched with fennel seed, cool cucumber and lime. And yes, it is slightly white peppery, which I don't find in all gruners. The cool and calm approach continues on the palate, which carries a touch of that clementine sweetness, with vermouth-like herbs and some peppery savour. It's not hugely complex or driving on the palate, and I have a question in my notes as to whether it feels a bit lacking in acidic zip. It's good, in quite a laid-back way.

Niepoort LBV 2004

This was one of the first wines I bought from the Bottle Apostle, my local wine shop in Hackney, back in 2009. Previous experiences of this wine had indicated that it would enjoy a bit of time somewhere cool and quiet, and since we had just acquired the use of a cellar, I put it down there for a few years. I have had a Niepoort LBV that was aged too long post-bottling before, and I've also had one that was almost like drinking a young vintage port, so 8 years from harvest seemed to be a decent compromise.
It came up at first all animals and cooked blueberries, but this is not a wine to pop and pour....after a couple of hours it came to life with big roasted walnuts, dried cherries and more blueberry and prune sweetness, dusted in nutmeg. There's lovely presence to the palate, which still says 'young' wine with its forward fruit character, yet the warmth of walnut and fudge is just creeping in. This is a LBV in a different league to most!

Volg Weinkellereiein Nach 7 2003, Switzerland

This is an extraordinary wine from the freakishly hot 2003 vintage in Switzerland from Pinot Noir. Only 1 barrel was made. It is made in a Madeirised style, and comes in at 17% alcohol.
The nose begins with something like sweet dried strawberries and toffee apples, followed by the richness of walnuts and dried unsulphured apricots. It's really wonderfully aromatic - you wouldn't necessarily pick it as Pinot from any varietal flavours, but it there is something quite ethereal and complex about the aromatic profile. There's a beautiful feeling of fresh sweetness to the palate, with walnut and dried fruit sweetness going hand-in-hand with elegant red fruit acidity. It carries the richness and opulence of the style with an alluring freshness and lightness of touch. Stunning