Chateau Talbot 2010

I tasted this wine a couple of days ago, at a leaving party for a colleague. It was a special wine bought for him and he opened it and shared it with us. I have blogged about the estate some time ago, and the only other entry about Talbot was one about how well a bottle of the 2000 vintage fared after extending breathing.

The wine was a deep purple ruby with a sweet tobacco wood berry nose. It was sweet smoky woody and fruity on the palate with a touch plummy chanpimui aromas, that extended into an tannic slightly acid backbone. Nice wine which will probably evolve into something more interesting over the next decade or so.

A Turkish Sauvignon Blanc at the Club

This is a wine I saw at the Sports Shop at the Club the other day - a Sauvignon Blanc from Kavaklidere, the oldest and best known winery in Turkey. Now the Club does sometimes get adventurous when sourcing wines for its members, either as wine of the month in the bar and coffee shop, or for sale in the shop. I had blogged about a Mexican Merlot , a couple of Cuban wines (from a Cuba Italian joint venture) and a Thai wine amongst other wines with a difference I met here in KCC.

Apart from wines made from international varieties, Kavaklidere also produces wines from indigenous varieties such as Kalecik Karasi, Bogazkere and Okuzgozu, sometime blending them with better known varieties.

Carmenere in a white wine

I blogged about seeing some interesting wines at a local supermarket venture specializing in Tesco merchandise last year and finally got round to tasting this bottle, which some adventurous winemaker added a wine made from the pressed juices (colourless) of Carmenere to Sauvginon Blanc to create a white wine with a difference. If one tries to look up Carmenere to predict how this combination would work, one would be hard pressed to find a description of a white wine made from Carmenere by fermenting its pressed juices. I had no luck. Although the wine is not a straight forward Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, it was hard to put the finger on the contribution that the Carmenere had made.

The wine was a pale straw with a  fruity acid nose carrying a hint of citrus. The palate was dry acid and fruity, with a lemony acid backbone. A dependable white but nothing that special even with the contribution from the Carmenere.

Chateau Prieure-Lichine

The Prieure of the Chateau name indicated a monastic origin which goes back 1000 years and the Priory of Cantenac was producing wines of a quality that attracted similar taxation to the wines of Hermitage and Clos de Vougeot in the 15th century. Although the estate produced notable wines and were included in famous classifications of wine estates, it had fallen victim to phylloxera, then downy mildew and also to subsequent misfortune so that by the time Alexis Lichine acquired the vineyard in 1951, only 4 hectares of vineyard were left. The estate was rebuilt and renamed Prieure-Lichine and the wines produced now live up to what is expected of a 4th Growth.

Chateau Balestard la Tonnelle

This was one of the wines I tasted at a recent dinner, a reunion of secondary school mates, and someone had brought a magnum of this wine to share. The Chateau is one that I had seen from time to time, but nevertheless had not managed to tasted until the last weekend. The estate goes back to the 15th century and was named after Canon Balestard. The Tonnelle (or tower) also dates back to the same period. It had important fans even back then; the poet Francois Villon mentioned this wine in a poem of his and two verses of this appear on the label (making it look a bit crowded). Owned by the Capdemourlin family, the wines benefit from the touch of Michel Rolland who is consultant for this chateau.

Ch Haut-Bages-Liberal 2014

I had this wine for Easter Sunday dinner. The estate is one I had blogged about before. The grand vain of this relatively unfamiliar estate is selling in the larger branches of one of the two big supermarkets, so for an Easter treat, I thought I would get a bottle.


The wine was a deep ruby with a sweet berry fruit acid nose. The palate was sweet woody acid slightly fruity, with wood and a bit of tannins mid palate, spiced with some chanpimui (dried plum flavoured with mandarin peel). There was a touch of soya sauce savouriness in the finish. Unfortunately, it did not go that well with the rack of lamb that we had.