Chateau Giscours 1995

My friend opened a bottle of this wine the other day at a wine shop. He had been purchasing some wines and asking my wife and I for some advice, and in the end he opened up some bottles he bought for immediate tasting, including this 20 year old claret. Not being one of the better known stars of the Margaux appellation, this aged Bordeaux was really charming that day.

This wine showed a dark ruby rim encircling dark core, and a sweet fruity acid plummy nose wafted from the bottle. The palate was sweet slightly tannic and fruity palate, going onto a soft acid tannic backbone giving good support. Nice now and still capable of giving much pleasure for some years yet.

YCHDA wine dinner 2015

As I blogged a month ago, I had set the theme for this dinner to be cost effective drinking. The wine list turned out to be exclusively from France and Spain, covering a champagne, a Sancerre, even a red Bordeaux (from Listrac) and a couple of Southern Rhones (a Gigondas and a Chateauneuf du Papes). The Spanish ones include the Bodegas Castano Solanera VV 2012 I blogged about previously, and the Englora of which I had previously blogged about its second wine ( as being more value for money).

Well on the night, the champagne was well received (and familiar to some) and the Sancerre though not typical was pleasing enough, and matched the fish appetizer well. As for the clash between the French and the Spanish reds, quite a few like the Fourcas Borie. Others plumbed for the Englora but more for the Solanera. It wasn't as if the Rhones were not appreciated, but just that those that were previously were considered the wines of the night.

Stumbling upon some serious Sauternes at a local supermarket

I went to one of the bigger branches of one of the top 2 supermarket chains near my home and saw a couple of very interesting half bottles on their shelves. Of course no one there realized what these were, and they have not even got the price labels for the wines. I had to ask someone to take it to the cashier to scan it for the price. Needless to say, having established the price of the wine, they were quite amazed that anyone would be interested in half bottles at that price. I thought the price was nonetheless reasonable and these bottles have found their way to my home.