Bellevue Hill Chardonnay 2007

So the Tour de France is hotting up. The Isle of Man has failed to become a major wine producing region and whilst I'm happy to keep toasting Cavendish with beer from his home island, I can't write up every bottle.

Cancellara is in yellow, but I only have one Swiss wine in the house and that has more of a novelty than taste appeal. Astana won the Team Time Trial today in quite some style, but again I have failed to stock up on wines from Khasakistan (but if you know where I can get some let me know).

I settled instead for an Australian wine. I don't think I'll be needing to save a bottle for the Champs Elysses. It was a good value example of a full on Australian wine, lots of peachy-melon fruit sitting comfortably under a warm layer of butter toffee. This wine isn't hugely complex or sophisticated, but it tastes good and it's easy to drink.

Dirler Riesling 2005

Germany took on England in the final of the European Under 21 Championship last night and I had neither English nor German wine in the house. A sad state of affairs. I opted for a wine from Alsace, the best I could do in the circumstances.

It was a good choice for a hot day. The Dirler Riesling was very dry with an almost savoury herbiness. The citrus was more grapefruit than lime and there was a petro-chemical element which became more obvious as the wine warmed up.

The wine was better than the game. I gave up at 4-0 and watched the tennis instead. Pass me a Pimms.

Poggio Nibbiale Morellino di Scansano 2005

We settled down to watch Italy play Egypt in South Africa for the Confederations Cup. It seemed sensible to have an Italian wine. It was great fun to watch Egypt win, sadly I didn't have an Egyptian wine to switch to.

We had a Poggio Nibbiale Morellino di Scansano 2005, which I'd picked up at the Berry Brothers Outlet store. It's made with organic Sangiovese, I don't normally seek out organic wines, but I certainly don't object to them.

This wine was dark and leggy, it smelled of rich black cherries and something slightly cigar-like. It has a fairly robust level of tannins, which sit well with the black cherry and damson flavours. This was very unlike the cheery cherry-pop Sangioveses I enjoyed cycling through Tuscany in 2005. It's more structured and sophisticated, unlike the Italian team tonight.

Chapel Down Pinot Blanc 2005

You may have just missed English Wine week, but never mind, you are allowed to drink English wine other times too, like maybe when England are playing a World Cup qualifier, even if it doesn't look set to be much of a contest (although the England cricket team might have said the same before their match against the Netherlands).

We had a Chapel Down Pinot Blanc 2005 during wine week to celebrate. It was crisp and dry with a little crisp apple, some tropical fruit and a light spiciness. It smelled of grapes, not something I think very often when smelling wine. It was good, but it did have something of a two level flavour, with tropical fruit seeming to be a slightly different slice to peppery grapes. I was intrigued and looked up the data sheet. It seems two yeasts were used for two seperate vinifications, with the resultant wines blended back together. Maybe that gave it the half time split.

I enjoyed it, but wouldn't have paid £11 if it wasn't English. English wine is getting better all the time, and some of it is quite outstanding. I've certainly had English sparkling wine which outcompetes many Champagnes. The problem it has is cost. Whilst bits of Southern England have the same bedrock as important bits of France, and now a more appropriate climate for wine production than those same bits of France, land prices remain offensively high. England is small and lots of people want to live in it. France is big and not many people want to live there, and whilst that remains the case, English wine will struggle to compete.

Villebois Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2007

The Loire valley has some odd things going on. New Zealanders have spent some time over there, making Sauvignon Blancs that have all the fruity exuberance you might expect from Marlborough with the flinty steel of the riverbanks. Villebois comes from the delightfully named Joost de Villebois, a Dutchman who is bringing some passion to Loire winemaking. His ethos is to maximise sun whilst minimising chemicals. It sound like a good idea.

The wine is pale and smells fresh, grassy and gooseberry-like. It’s dry with a good hit of fresh citric acidity. It has a reasonable body, more so than many Sauvignons and some grapefruit and gooseberry, but there’s a lot more fruit in there with candied pineapple and other exotic fruit. It almost tastes like it took a short break in Alsace. At 13.5% it does pack quite a punch, but as it’s so easy drinking it’s easy not to notice.

At £8 a bottle it’s a good alternative to a Marlborough Sauvignon with significantly fewer airmiles in Europe. Naked Wines are currently selling his wines and offering some good deals for new customers which are worth checking out. The 2008 vintage has just arrived.

Oak Leaf Chardonnay NV - Wal-Mart

On a recent trip to a Wal-Mart in North Carolina I noticed a bottle of Californian Chardonnay at $2.97. Curiosity got the better of me. I had to try it to see just what it would taste like. Our expectations were low so we picked up some plastic cups and headed straight to the Kinston Indians Minor League Baseball where we planned on drinking it. We hadn't thought that part of the plan through well as you can't take bottles, or the picnic we'd stopped at Wal-Mart for, into the ballpark.

So we saved the Chardonnay for a while. Curiosity being a persistent little fellow, we soon wasnted to try it. It wasn't what I expected. It had crisp green apples, melons and a bit of pineapple, toasted oak chips, and a little more sweetness than my European palate is used to in a Chardonnay but not an unpleasant way. The flavours were a little separated out, not totally chunky, but slightly askew. That was only a minor criticism for a $2.97 wine. It is not possible to buy any kind of grape beased wine in the UK for that money, and I've paid more than double that for far worse wines from New and Old Worlds.

Do I care that no-one wishes to claim these grapes came from their part of California? Do I care that there's not only a mix of vineyards, but there's also a mix of wines from different vintages? No I do not! Wine drinkers of America, don't be snooty! Stick a few bottles of this in a bug bucket of ice and let people serve themselves at picnics, barbeques and garden parties. They'll be happy and you won't be skint.

Eurovision Sparkle

It was the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend. For those of you outside Europe (or the Fererro Rocher serving neighbouring countries that join in) you missed a treat. It was a fabulous evening of craziness, wild frocks, LCD screens and cheesiness.

We thought it the perfect time to crack open a bottle of Sekt Mild we'd been given. It came with a golden label just for the occasion. It was pale lemon in colour with a fairly aggressive fizz. It didn't smell of much and the bubbles didn't calm down much in the mouth.

It tasted sweet with some citrus acidity which seemed to sit on a different table to the sugar. The taste was of bubble gum and toffee apples, not fresh ones, but ones which were accidently left to boil too long and go black. It really wasn't very good.

However, the wine curious teens gathering to score the Eurovision contenders on song, outfit, dancing, performance and 'novelty' loved the wine. They declared it to be lovely, 'like fizzy marshmallows' and 'the best Champagne (sic) I've ever tasted'. It's a worry but it seemed perfectly positioned to take the teen market by storm.

Ben Zuaique Selección 2005 Syrah Merlot

The nice people at Naked Wines sent us a bottle of Ben Zuaique Selección 2005 “Sirah y Merlot” so we gave it a go. The bottle looked pretty ropey, with a home-made looking tag on the collar, but there was a silver medal of some sort hiding behind it.

It was a deep, clear purple with thick lingering legs. It smelled clean with a medium full intensity, the aroma hinted that the wine was still developing. The dominant scent was of black cherry pie filling and a cinnamon pastry. I liked that.

It was dry with medium acidity and ripe, soft tannins. It had a medium-full body and intensity with alcohol at 13%. The black cherry pie filling was still there with some bramble leaves and something pleasantly meaty, along with caramel. The overall effect was rather like some individual plum parcels my mum used to bake, served with a cinnamon plum sauce. That flavour lingered well.

I really enjoyed the wine, and would not immediately have placed it as a Merlot-Syrah blend. It was different to a Rioja, but with some of it's smooth chewiness, and different from a Rhone blend but with some of its engaging spiciness. I'd buy it again.

Ben Zuaique Selección 2005 “Sirah y Merlot”

Bonjorne La Mancha Tempranillo Cabernet Rosado 2007

We were a little suprised to need a pink win last night. I had got a little ahead of myself and put a bottle of Bonjorne Rosado in the fridge hoping to drink some tonight to celebrate a Mark Cavendish stage win - it sounded kinda like Bonjourno. But against the odds Highroad won the opening team time trial and Cavendish stuck his nose ahead to become the first British rider ever to wear the pink leaders journey.

Bonjorne La Mancha Tempranillo Cabernet Rosado 2007 didn't smell of much, just a little citrussy and some curious processed meat. That isn't meant to be a condemnation, I used to like Spam. It tasted of strawberries and meat. My best guess was duck in a strawberry sauce, something gamey. We tried cooling it down with an ice jacket and giving it half an hour. It was a good idea.

Served very cold it was much better. It tasted like strawberry ice cream. The cool temperature noot only amplified the strawberry and killed the meat, it also seemed to reveal some malolactic creaminess.

It was a good Spanish rose, robust, flavourful and dry. At around £4.50 a bottle it was excellent value. I'm baffled as to why nasty 3 for £10 big brand Australian and Californian roses take up so much shelf space when high street retailers could sell good roses at affordable prices from Europe. Fools.

Trento DOC

Does anyone know where I can get Trento DOC in the UK? I suspect I'll want to celebrate with Mark Cavendish again today, and there's only so many pink wines I can drink during the Giro. I'd love to drink Trento DOC whilst watching podium celebrations. I suspect I could even open the bottles far more smoothly than him.

Aldeby Wines Launched

My wine studies buddy Ian has launched his own wine company importing wines from the South of France and selling them direct to consumers. Ian spent a year working down in the South of France really getting to know the wines, the producers and the people, and now he's ready to bring his favourites over.

Knowing Ian's tastes the wines he'll be showcasing won't be the cheapest he can find, but they will be very good wines at a reasonable price for what's in the bottle. I'm looking forward to buying my first case for the summer. If you want to have a look, it's Aldeby Wines.