Category: California

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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.

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

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

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.

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

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Mr Whirly’s Christmas cases!

Mr Whirly has hand selected cases of 6 and 12 with wines chosen to match classic Christmas fare!
From Blanquette Limoux whilst cooking to “La Roche Vineuse” Macon Gamay for the Turkey, to Lillypilly’s Fiumara No. 7 for your plum pudding, and everything in between, you are sure to find a wine for every course and every guest!
Discounted for a limited time only, until this Saturday 17th December

Half a dozen:

 

1. Blanquette de Limoux, Carte Ivoire, Domaine Fourn de Robert: 

unknown sparkling wine from south of Carcassone; top stuff and great to try something new!

 

2. 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.

 

3. 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

 

4. Alain Normand, La Roche Vineuse, Gamay 2014, Macon: lovely soft strawberry on the nose and palate and unusual that this grape is from Macon. Fabulous with turkey, duck and goose.

 

5. 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.

 

6. Lillpilly, Fiumara no 7, Leeton, NSW, Australia: Cross between a port and Pedro Ximenez A blend of special cuvee’s from over many years, this wine is the perfect match for Plum pudding on Christmas day!

 

Total: £93.50 With discount of 7%: £6.54 Total: £86.96

 

 

 

A dozen: 

 

 

1. Champagne: Remy Bernard “Carte Blanche” NV, Allemant: small bubbles, delicate and moussey. Top quality wine made from the three classic Champagne grapes, Pinot Noir and Me- unier and Chardonnay.

 

2. Blanquette de Limoux, Carte Ivoire, Domaine Fourn de Robert: unknown sparkling wine from south of Carcassone; top stuff and great to try something new.

 

3. 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.

 

4. Perusini, Pinot Grigio 2015, Friuli, N. E. Italy: Pinot grigio as it should be in the glass from Fruili, the top white wine region of Italy.

 

5. Mehofer, “Organic” Gruner Veltliner, 2015, Wagram, Austria: light in alc, only 10.5%, and wonderful wine for the start of the day! Apples and pears, simple yet perfect.

 

6. 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.

 

7. 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.

 

8. Alain Normand, La Roche Vineuse, Gamay 2014, Macon: lovely soft strawberry on the nose and palate and unusual that this grape is from Macon. Fabulous with Turkey, duck and Goose.

 

9. Bonfanti, DOC Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore 2014: small producer in Verona that makes very special wines indeed. Ripasso means two fermentations: rich yet sublime. Lovely Christmas day wine. New wine that has just arrived. 18 months in Barrel.

 

10. 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.

 

11. Lillypilly Noble Blend 2012: Noble rot, blend of Semillon, Gewurtz, pineapple with orange blossom. Perfect sticky with a steamed ginger pudding or something similar.

 

12. Lillpilly, Fiumara no 7, Leeton, NSW, Australia: Cross between a port and Pedro Ximenez A blend of special cuvee’s from over many years, this wine is the perfect match for Plum pudding on Christmas day!

 

Total: £195.00 With 10% discout: £19.50 

Total: £175.50

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Whirly wine Tasting, 27th October 2016: ” USA wine extravaganza!”

Whirly Wines Tasting

Join us on Thursday 27th October for our USA extravaganza! We will be tasting:

Amity, Gewürtztraminer 2008, “ Sunnyside Vineyard”, Willamette, Oregon

Amity, Pinot Blanc 2007, Willamette, Oregon

Zivo, Pinot Blanc 2011, Willamette, Oregon

Graziano Chenin Blanc 2011, Mendocino, California

Graziano, Zinfandel 2012, Mendocino, California

7-9pm

Whirly Wines

22 Ritherdon Road

SW17 8QD

Please book in advance: [email protected]

020 8672 2572

 £20 per head for five 75ml tasting glasses and snacks.

To keep up to date with our weekly tastings please visit

www.whirlywine.co.uk

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“Whirly Wine Tasting”, Thursday 30th June 2016…

“Mr Whirly” is presently in Gascogne on a “Whirlwind” wine tour of South West France looking for exciting wines from the smaller producer that really do “punch above their weight” at a sensible price. With the outcome of “Brexit” ( sorry to bring politics into this post!) and the fall in value of the £ this is clearly a priority over the next month and possibly years, who knows? I am in the middle of writing up my notes on this trip and this shall be posted on this website by end of play today, Wednesday 29th June.

Anyway onto happier things, tasting wines this week!! Below are the wines we shall be tasting, please double click on the link below and it will come alive!. Please do let me know if you can make it wont’t you since last week was the best attended so far with 12 people attending so we might need to stagger the bookings this week.

Thank you!

 

Mr Whirly

 

30th june tasting

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Whirly wine Thursday tasting 16th June 2016 and Fathers day wines….

Good Afternoon this showery Tuesday Afternoon.

Last weeks tasting went down was very well received so I am keen to keep the weekly Thursday Whirly tasting going every week throughout the summer and get more people involved.

Below are details of this weeks wine tasting, please  double click on the flyer to see full details of the wines we are tasting this Thursday.

I am very excited that the new wines from Alain Normand, that arrived today from Macon will be showcased this week. These wines are very much his heart and soul wines: he has nurtured these small plots of land on the hills and gullies surrounding the hamlet of “La Roche Vineuse” for many decades and they really do show off his skilled winemaking and quality of fruit that his vines produce, oh so beautifully. Macon is the “workhorse” of Burgundy and therefore it does not get the credit it deserves. But in terms of quality and price Macon offers something that its more illustrious and famous appellations just north of here cannot come close to competing with. His red is a Gamay ( being so close to Beaujolais he is able to grow this grape) and I shall be serving this fruit driven, summer wine slightly chilled this week.  It rocks let me tell you! His White is the staple white grape of Burgundy however, Chardonnay, but unlike most wines from Burgundy its not oaked and therefore very fresh and easy to drink.

Please book in advance by calling me on 0208 672 2572 from the hours of 11 a to 7pm over the next few days and I shall book you in for this weeks Whirly Thursday tasting, which promises to be fun and also informative!

Don’t forget its fathers day this weekend!

I also have some lovely wines for mixed half cases and full cases of wines, or indeed and single bottles, so please come in and talk to me soon to discuss what your partner and indeed you both might like to share over lunch on Sunday! In this week are some really special wines from all over France (  Cote de Gascogne,  Cote de Bordeaux,  Cote de Duras, Macon and Champagne) so there will be a lovely choice of 10 new wines to chooses from as well as over 130 wines already in the shop, hand picked and tasted by Mr Whirly for you to enjoy! See you soon!

 

Mr Whirly

 

preview

 

 

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Whirly Wine tasting – 25th Feb

The first Whirly Wine tasting on 25th February went down a storm with my wholesale clients! These included ‘Hakkasan Restaurants‘, ‘The Palmerston‘ in Dulwich, Balham’s ‘Lambert’s‘ and ‘The Exhibit‘, ‘The Hood‘ Restaurant on Streatham High Road and ‘The Begging Bowl‘ in Peckham.

The outstanding wines of the day were the Willespie Margaret River Red 2010 and White 2011 and Jean Michel Sorbe’s Quincy 2014. But to be honest, all 20 wines shown on the day were showing extremely well.

Don’t worry if you missed out, Whirly Wine’s is constantly sourcing exciting, individual wines from small producers from all over the world consequently we will be hosting another trade tasting at the end of the summer.

Mr Whirly

Here is the list of the wines tasted:

Bernard Remy NV, Allemant: “ Carte Blanche”, NV Brut: £18.30

“ Lemoss” Vino Frizzante Bianco, Non Filtrato, Ca di Rajo, Treviso: £7.50

“Domaine de Prevote”, Amboise. Sauvignon Tourraine, “ Les Tonnes Barils” 2014: £8.95

Jean Michel Sorbe, Quincy, Cher sur Loire 2014: £15.00

Luc Percher, Cour- Cheverny, Loire, VSIG Blanc,  Organic and Bio ,“ Racines” 2010: £13.25

Villa de Puppi, Friuli, IGT Venezia Giulia, Sauvignon Blanc 2014: £11.90

Luc Percher, Cour- Cheverny, Loire sur Cher,  Organic and Bio, VSIG Blanc 2012: £11.90

Veyovis, 100% Verdejo, Rueda, 2014: £9.45

Perusini, Friuli Colli Orientali, Friuli, Pinot Grigio 2014: £13.50

Perusini, Friuli Colli Orientali,  Friuli, Ribolla Gialla 2014: £13.60

Lillypilly, NSW, Australia, “Tramillon’ 2014: £10.30

Villa de Puppi, Friuli, IGT Venezia Giulia, Taj Blanc ( 100% Fruilano) 2014: £11.95

Graziano, Montevolpe, Redwood valley, Mendocino, USA,  Tocai Friulano 2013: £13.45

Willespie. Margaret River,  Western Australia, Margaret river white 2011: £11.90

Graziano, Redwood valley, Mendocino, USA, Chenin Blanc 2011: £13.40

Luc Percher, Cour- Cheverny, Cher sur Loire, “ Mosaique” 2011: £13.25

Zivo, Eola Amity Hills, Willamette valley, Oregon, USA, “ Whole cluster Project ” 2009: £32.90

Perusini, Friuli Colli Orientali,Friuli,  Refosco 2013: £13.95

Cobaw Ridge, Macedon ranges, Victoria, Australia, Shiraz- Viognier 2003: £25.00

Meloso, de calvo Arroyd, Tempranillo 2014, Ribera de Duero: £9.20

Graziano, Montevolpe, Redwood Valley, Mendocino, USA, Sangiovese 2010: £13.75

Willespie, Margaret river, Western Australia, Margaret River red 2010: £11.90

Velenosi, Marche, Italy, “Rosso Piceno Superiore” 2010: £24.75

Passing Clouds, Bendigo, Victoria, Graeme’s blend 2010: £15.95

Willespie, Margaret River, WA, Cabernet 2001: £45.80

Spring Mountain, Napa, USA, Organic Napa Cabernet 2009: £65.00

Graziano, Montevolpe, Mendocino, USA, Late Harvest Tocai Fruilano 2011: £16.45

Lillypilly, Leeton, NSW, Fiumara 7: £16.25

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J Vineyards, Sanoma County

Sanoma reaches from the Roche vineyard in the south of Sanoma Valley all the way up to the Dry Creek valley just south of Cloverdale on route 101. That’s a journey time of around 2 hours along small country roads and generally low valley floors, with the emphasis on heat. I’ve had some wonderful drives long these lovely little roads in my old Saab 900 Turbo Convertible, that I keep in San Francisco but the roof is always down and I wish one could go a little faster to keep the oppressive heat from draining all your energy. This is premier wine country; expensive wines. Names like De Loach, Flowers, Marcassin all spring to mind with their funky and ambitious winemaking skills. The Sanoma Mountain wine area offer some of the best wines available in the whole of California with an emphasis on Cabernet and Zinfandel. Further north in the famous Russian river region, even though the  vineyards are lower down on the valley floor, this is one of the coolest regions of Sanoma due to the fog and cloud cover that results from the closeness of this valley to the entrance of the river at Peaked Hill on the Pacific coast.

J vineyards is located here in the Russian river valley and its emphasis is on Pinot noir that ages consistently well over a 4-8 years.

Please look at the link below for me more detailed information on this vineyards location, topography and varietal focus.

www.jwine.com

SOLD OUT: I am hoping to re-visit Sanoma in the Spring of 2014 and look at some more of J Vineyards wines. I shall keep you updated as to my success with this.

Alc 15.0% vol

Mr Whirly says:

“ Now almost 6 years old this wine is holding up well. Some lovely Autumnal fruit of blackberries and Damson show through a tobacco and smoky haze.”

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Graziano Petite Sirah 2004

Mr whirly says:

“ I waited three years before I started to sell this wine since I thought it was too young and bold when I first imported it. It is now ready to go: still big but not as bold and the fruit has had time to relax a little. Give it a whirl, make sure you whirl hard and long!”

Greg says

“Mendocino is the largest producer of Petite Sirah on the north coast of California. Our Petite Sirah comes from several old vine vineyards and some new high tech vineyards scattered throughout the bench lands and hillsides of Mendocino County. The wine was aged in a combination of Eastern European and American oak barrels for twenty months that soften the tannins and add complexity to the wine. This wine offers deep aromas and delicious flavours of ripe blackberries, chocolate and spice. Typical of Petite Sirah, this wine displays rich, round tannins that lead to long, lingering finish.”

Alcohol: 15.5%

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Graziano Zinfandel 2006

Mr Whirly says:

“ From the furthest northern wine region in California high up amongst the Redwood’s, Greg Graziano has been making outstanding and affordable wines here for over thirty years. Soft and with a Bakewell tart middle palate, this wine defies its 15 % alcohol level since it is so well balanced and elegant. Mendocino is an up and coming wine region. Similar to the 2005 vintage with textured layers of Almond and sweet black cherry fruit, soft tannins and a generous mouth feel. Cool climate Zinfandel means that the wine is in no way “hot but cool and approachable.”

Greg says:

“ Our Zinfandel comes from eighteen different Zinfandel vineyards scattered throughout the bench lands and hillsides of Mendocino County. Many of these vineyards are still farmed by third and  fourth generation Italian-Americans. This vintage displays a rich dark purple garnet colour and deep aromas of black cherry, boysenberry, plum, spicy sandalwood with hints of toasty oak. Uplifting flavours of plum and earth combine to give this full-bodied Zinfandel a generous mouth-feel. Rich full tannins and balanced acidity lead into a long, lingering finish. “

Past vintages of this wine have been incredibly popular and I can assure you this 2006 vintage is the best yet.

Alcohol: 14.5%