English Wines Archives - Whirly Wines

Posted on November 19, 2017November 19, 2017 by Mr Whirly

Christmas Whirly wine mixed case offer & Smoked salmon from the Weald smokery, East Sussex….come in and order before the 7th December…..

Mr Whirly’s Christmas cases, chosen to match classic Christmas fare!

Half dozen

Amboise Tourraine, Bonnigal Vignerons, Limeray, Loire: richer than most Sauvignons from Tourraine since its been left on the lees for 5 months. Great match with smoked salmon.

Chateau Domaine de Viaud, Cote de Bourg, 2010, Bordeaux: soft tannins elegant Merlot based Bordeaux from Blaye, a mile across the Gironde from St Estephe. Wonderful with beef and cheese as well as most festive red meats and cheese

Azienda Marzuco, Syrah 2016, Castelvetrano, Sicily: Light, elegant Syrah, only 12.5 alc vol so very unusual indeed, normally Syrah is 14-15% alc vol. Wonderful wine with ham on Boxing day, it would take a little spice, if the ham has been baked in this way. Fruit led, red cherries with some soft black pepper.

Azienda Marzuco, Vermentino 2016, Castelvetrano, Sicily: The grape is from Sardinia but this is made in Sicily. Linear clean white wine with some mediterranean salt on the palate with ripe melon. Great with shellfish, fish or even Turkey.

Mas Rous, Muscat 2012, Cotes Catalane: dry Muscat, firm and grippy with some lovely orange zest on the finish. Great with goats cheese, Pecorino and Monchego.

Velenosi, Visciole NV, Marche, Italy: Old traditional way of making pudding wines in Marche, italy. They pick cherries in late Spring and make a syrup from the grapes then add grape juice from La Crima and Rosso Piceno grapes in September. Great freshness and acidity, you can really taste the red cherries. Perfect with Black forest Gateau ( the wine matches perfectly with chocolate)

Total: £92.50

Dozen

Domaine Robert, Limoux NV: cracking, crisp dry sparkling from Limoux near Carcassone, S. France,

made from Mauzac and a little Chenin. Great alternative to Champagne, made in the same way and not quite so expensive.

Azienda Marzuco, Vermentino 2016, Castelvetrano, Sicily: The grape is from Sardinia but this is made in Sicily. Linear clean white wine with some mediterranean salt on the palate with ripe melon. Great with shellfish, fish or even Turkey.

Amboise Tourraine, Bonnigal Vignerons, Limeray, Loire: richer than most Sauvignons from Tourraine since its been left on the lees for 5 months. Great match with smoked salmon on Christmas day morning as the lunch is prepared.

Graziano Chenin Blanc 2011, Mendocino, California: top end Chenin, not from the Loure, its home but from cool climate Mendocino in Northern California. Vanilla and cream bounce out of the glass. This wine is drinking beautifully for a 7 year old wine from California and shows that wines of this age can be made to last and develop in the bottle over this sort of time. Wonderful alternative to old Chardonnay.

Stefano Lubiana, Chardonnay 2016, “ Primavera” : another elegant wine from Lubiana, in the south of the apple isle, Tasmania, near Hobart. Oaked gently, cool climate Chardonnay of delight and wonder. Pick some quiet evening over Christmas and sit down and enjoy.

Willespie, Margaret river white 2011, WA: a blend Of chardonnay,Verdelho, Riesling and Semillon from one of the top wine regions of Australia: takes Pork ands spicy dishes oh so well.

Stefano Lubiana Pinot Noir 2013, “ Primavera”: elegant, fruit forward Pinot from Tasmania, one of the most exciting new world destinations for this elegant grape. Cool climate country down here. Strawberry and summer fruit notes with some spice and

Mas Rous, Muscat 2012, Cotes Catalane: dry Muscat, firm and grippy with some lovely orange zest on the finish. Great with goats cheese and Monchego.

Lillypilly Noble Blend 2006: Noble rot, blend of Semillon, Gewurtz, pineapple with orange blossom. Perfect sticky with a steamed ginger pudding or something similar.

Velenosi, Visciole, NV, Marche, Italy: Old traditional way of making pudding wines in Marche, italy. They pick cherries in late Spring and make a syrup from the grapes then add grape juice from La Crima and Rosso Piceno grapes in September. Great freshness and acidity, you can really taste the red cherries. Perfect with Black forest Gateau ( the wine matches perfectly with chocolate)

Total: £242.00

Weald Salmon, Flimwell, East Sussex

Whole side of Salmon unsliced: £45.00

Sliced side of smoked salmon: £48.00

Premier grade Gravadlax, whole side ; £52.50

Packs of 200 grams salmon: £12-14

Packs of 400 grams Salmon: £20-24

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Mr Whirly

Ritherdon road street fair, Thursday wines tastings and New wines arrivals over the next few weeks including 4 lovely summer rose’s and a handful of fresh, elegant whites…..

The Ritherdon road street fair proved a great success for all the shop holders on Sunday 22nd May. It was fabulous to see it so well attended; apparently about 4,000 people turned up to see the street in its prime with the bunting flowing from shop to stall to shop, what a colourful and exciting sight it was. Above is a shot of the Whirly wine shop with the new Aperitif bar ( serving 14 wines by the glass chosen from Mr Whirly’s carefully sourced list of 140 wines that he imports) and the even newer Ice cream stand in full flow! ( serving top quality Gelato and Sorbetto: salted caramel, Lemon, Vanilla, Raspberry, Mango and Chocolate at the moment). Do pop down soon, the little ones can have an ice cream whilst the adults have a little glass of rose in the sun! ( more photos will be added soon).

Talking of rose, some new wines arrive soon including a lovely rose from Chateau D’Azur in Bandol, to me the epitomy of Provence rose ( google Domaine Tempier and you will gist of what I am hinting at here) and also slightly further north in Provence the beautifully rounded and soft ” Harmonie 2014″ from Chateau de Majouliere near Villecroze which is one of the most beautifully rounded and soft Provence reds I have ever tasted ( Grenache and Syrah) and a vineyard I discovered on my travels in the south of France over 10 weeks in the summer of 2011. Also new in soon are some really lovely summer wines from “Domaine Tariquet” in the Gascogne that will be wines that hit that vital £8-10 mark in the shop. A lovely summer strawberry rose, a Vermentino and Colambard white which is a delightfully easy drinking wine for the Aperitif bar this summer; also some lovely un-oaked Chardonnay and a Reserve white that has been oaked a little. Top value wines and wonderful quality at the same time which fits in what I am trying to achieve at Whirly wines. Also in are two more rose’s from Molhiere in Cote de Duras ( to go with the existing wines here in the shop, their very dependable Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot-Cab Franc red. Chateau Pierrail in Cote de Bordeaux will also soon be showcasing their new 2015 rose as well as their unique and popular Sauvignon Blanc and Gris 2015 and some easy drinking, soft tannin Bordeaux reds, new wines for the list here in the shop. Lastly, from Macon ( yes some Burgundy for the shop shelves!) and the very talented winemaker Alain Normand in La Roche Vineuse, I have four new wines: his La Roche Vineuse red and white which are wines he has built his reputation on and are very much his pride and joy ( Chilled Gamay for the summer and some clean fresh Chardonnay, un-oaked) as well as some Pouilly Fuisse 2014 and some ” Roc de Solutre” Pouilly Fuisse 2012 ( did you know Pouilly and Fuisse are two separate villages?) So very soon these wines will start to feature on the Aperitif bar list as well as on the shelves, I am hoping my mid June so I look forward to welcoming you and whirling with you soon!

One other thing, I would like to start the Thursday tastings again, beginning with a tasting on the 9th June and then bi-weekly after that. I shall very soon post details on this first tasting so please keep an eye out for it in the coming days. The cost will be only £15 per person to taste 4 wines and I will need a minimum of ten people to make it work.

As soon as the new wines are in I shall look to post them on social media sites as well as on this website.

Looking forward to seeing you at the shop for an ice cream and glass of wine very soon.

Mr Whirly

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Mr Whirly

Made in England

Happy Friday to you all! It’s Holly here again. I arrived in the shop this evening to find a wonderful selection of English wines. I must admit that I have not tried many English wines, but have a great passion for all things local.

Nutbourne Vineyards in West Sussex is a family business, owned and run by the Gladwins. The winery was first opened in 2010 and now all Nutbourne wines are produced on site. They make between 40,000 and 60,000 bottles per year. Their winemaking is headed up by our consultant Owen Elias, who has won the UK Wine Maker of the Year several time. Owen has great expertise, and for ten years he was Director of Winemaking and Head winemaker at Chapel Down.

Nutbourne regularly wins awards, medals and trophies in both national and international competitions. They are clean, fresh, exciting and I think it is fantastic that we have such good quality wines right here in the UK! So do come and check their selection out at the shop.

Keeping on the English theme, we also have a brilliant beer from Harveys in Sussex. Harveys in renowned for its wonderful range of traditional cask ales. These ales are unpasteurised and known as the “champagne of beers”. We currently have ‘Blue Label’ which is well-hopped beer. It is a blend of four different ‘aroma’ hop varieties, which imparts a delicate bitterness, balanced by the sweetness of malt sugars. We love it at Whirly Wines! Perfect if you still need to stock up your alcohol selection over Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. I shall be taking a bottle of Lillypilly, “Fiumara 7” home to have with my Christmas pudding. It is proving very popular with anyone who tastes it in the shop!