Month: January 2018

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New wines for 2018: some ” Organic” Bordeaux from Chateau Grand Francais as well as” Organic” Tempranillo from Dionisos

 

January 2018: New imports from Whirly wines

There have been a flood of new wines imported for 2018, so its a pretty exciting time at Whirly wines, 22 Ritherdon road, London, SW17 8QD, whether you are coming to the wine shop or buying wholesale for your restaurant. All the prices below are Ex Vat.

Bordeaux

My first “Organic and Bio-Dynamic” wines from this prestigious wine region. Unheard of, to be honest since they are pretty traditional here.  40 year old vines, Organic certified since 2002.

Chateau Grand Francais, 2015, “Cuvee Prestige”( un-oaked), AOC “ Organic” Bordeaux Superieur: 45% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc: clean, soft tannins, ripe berries plus a little cinnamon; modern Bordeaux: £14.95

Chateau Grand Francais 2015, Grande Cuvee ( Oaked )  AOC “ Organic” Bordeaux Superieur; 50% Merlot. 30% Cabernet sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc. Red cherry and black, fleshy and spicy. Modern day Bordeaux, juicy strawberry, blueberry on the nose, full of shine and brightness, sort tannins, with a creamy middle palate: £16.95

Cote de Duras

Chateau Molhiere: Terroirs de Duc 2015: new vintage of this Cabernet Franc and Merlot Stalwart imported, for many years now from close to childhood family cottage ; earthy, country red wine. £8.10

Languedoc

Domaine Ricardelle de Lautrec, Pay D’OC, “Organic and Bio”

Pinot Noir 2015: a new find that has been ringing well with many private and restaurant clients already. Its unusual to find Pinot Noir in Languedoc, hence this wine is bottled under AOC “ Vin de France”. Don’t let that put you off. Spicy and full Pinot, juniper and hedgerow berries. Exciting wine that represents great quality for the price: £11.50

Chardonnay 2015 ( un-oaked): Light fresh Chardonnay, not in anyway big and bold, in fact light and fresh. £11.00

Spain

La Tierra de Castilla, Valdepenas, PGI “ Vinos de la Tierra de Castilla”

Dionisos, “ Organic and Bio” Tempranillo 2015 ( aged in large amphorae clay pots, Roman style, please see the picture below). 100% Tempranillo, 13.5% alc vol, hand picked grapes, fermented with own wild yeasts in big amphorae pots, with thick walls in order to slow down the fermentation process.  Young appealing, deep and lively purple colour. On the nose great intensity and ripeness, fleshy and sweet red cherries. Milky enveloping notes on the palate with overwhelming energy. £13.00

Ribera del Duero

Meloso“ Joyen” 2016, 100% Tempranillo

An old favourite is back, beautifully rich yet sublime Tempranillo. This wine speaks volumes for this premium red wine region of Spain, surely take over from Rioja in that department, making wines fresher and easier to drink with no oak, which to me is a blessing. 30 year old vines, 14 days maceration with temperature controlled by water. 10,000 Bottles made, grapes picked 4th week in September; very light process of filtering and clarifying; £11.75

Ribeiro

Val de Souto

Wines made with oh so much passion by Jose Manuel Blanco Perez. His wines speak volumes for the small winemaker making wines oh so exquisite.

Val de Souto 2016: another old favourite. Godello, Triexadura and Lourieira. Jose Manuel Blanco Perez makes wines of passion; he puts his soul into the wines. He works his land 365 days of the year, he rarely takes a holiday, this is his life. This wine has lovely aromatic qualities yet is dry on the finish. Honeysuckle and clover honey on the middle palate. A pure delight. £11.90

Benedictus Fructus 2015

Albarino and Godello. Left on the Lee’s for 5 months so pretty big and rich yet still oh so easy and beautiful to drink. This wine exudes class. High aromatic intensity, due to being left on the lee’s with great harmony and balance. Citrus, mandarin and grapefruit on the palate with some floral notes too. Only 4,000 bottles made. £16.75

Italy

Verona, IGT Veneto

“Villa Aganoor”

From north west Italy and the home of Pinot Grigio some simple yet very well made wines for you for the front page of your list. With these wines i can offer you quality wines at a good price, around the £6.00 mark

Pinot Grigio 2016: weighty and complex PG, with apples and pears on the palate. A really pleasurable glass of wine. £6.25

Sauvignon Blanc 2016: clean, fresh zingy and lemony SB. Another simple yet very good wine for the money. £6.25

Merlot 2016: young, fresh perfumed Merlot, full of fresh young berry fruit. £6.25

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Wine tastings start this Friday for Australia day! Details on the ” Events page”; New wines imported in December 2017, plan your own wine tasting event or party at whirly wines in 2018…

A very happy and prosperous  New year to all my lovely customers! Its 2018 and its January and everyone has stopped drinking wine! Why oh why!  Drink less and drink better. Mr whirly can help you there, 95% of the wines I have here are from the smaller producer, its all about quality not quantity in your local wine shop in SW17. This at least gives me a little time, amongst my office full of end of year accounts, to write to you about some new wines that we imported just before Christmas and plan some fabulous wine tasting events commencing with  Australia day this Friday 26th January (details on the events page) then kicking off February, on the 1st,  with some really delightful new imports from Ribeiro, Ribera del Duero and Castilla de Manche, followed two weeks later when we will look at some other new wines from Bordeaux, some revolutionary ” Organic” and Bio wines from Bordeaux, which is a rare thing to find since the Bordelais don’t like change and are pretty set in their ways.

So if you are looking to plan your own private wine tasting this year then get in touch with Mr Whirly and we can arrange it for you. Prices start from £25 per person and we need 8 people minimum to make it work, but we try to give you as much as possible for that, 5 X 75ml measures and snacks too! Try to avoid Thursdays since this is when we have our regular ” Open” wine tasting.

In December we imported some really exciting new wines from Spain and France. Some old favourites like Val de Souto and Meloso from Ribeiro and Ribera del Duero and some new delights from Bordeaux, yes ” Organic and Bio” Merlot based wines from ” Chateau Grand Francais”.  All in all we imported twelve new wines with a range of pricing here in the shop from £8.75 up to £22.50. Let me, if I may, give you a brief synopsis of these new wines:

From Verona,  some simple yet delightfully made wines that drink very well from Villa Aganoor. Their Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot are all well made and have their own character and individuality and show that at this price point wines can be enjoyed. ( £8.95). From  Chateau Molhiere in Cote de Duras, their lovely soft Cabernet Franc/Merlot 2015.  Top wine, no oak, earthy and an old favourite and well priced at £10.50. A little north west of here, near St Emilion, some ground breaking ” Organic” Bordeaux from “Chateau Grand Francais“. I say this since its rare to find this new style of wine here in Bordeaux, since of all appellations in France, this is the most traditional.  Further South in Languedoc, and bottled under ” Vin  de France” the very exciting Pinot Noir 2015 from “Domaine de Ricardelle” as well as their Un-oaked Chardonnay. ( £15.50 & £14.50) The Pinot Noir in particular has been a great hit so far sellimng very well in the shop. Further south still, from Ribera del Duero, another old favourite, the juicy and delicious  Meloso Joyen 2016 Tempranillo, ( £14.50). Further south, below Madrid in the wide ranging ‘Castilla la Mancha` wine area, Dionisos are making some Amphorae aged ” Organic and Bio” Tempranillo, silky smooth and made in the ancient Roman way. Then finally north- west to Ribeiro, “Val de Souto”and the oh so passionate wine maker, Jose Manuel Blanco Perez, who makes wines of such feeling and intensity, being one of the smallest vineyards I work with. His Val de souto 2016 is Godello based with some Loureira and Trixudeira and his “Benedictus Fructus” is quality and beauty all rolled into one, 5 months on the lee’s Godello and Albarino.

For tasting notes on all these wines please look at the ” New wines” page, which will updated in the coming day (written 20.01.18).

I look forward to welcoming you to the Whirly wine shop soon. Remember, drink less and better and come into Whirly wines for your wines, since i can vouch for every single bottle of wine in the shop, its not a pick and mix here!

Mr Whirly