Tag Archives: alcohol

Champagne Taittinger Brut Reserve NV Review

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When it comes to champagne it is hard to beat Taittinger. This Brut Reserve is renowned for it’s golden yellow colour and has hints of fresh fruit, brioche and honey. It is a delicate, fresh and elegant wine. With good bubbles that are not too full on. It is consistent and fine but with great depth. This is a champagne that is excellent for the moment, but also could be drank everyday (if only). It also makes an excellent aperitif. A truly wonderful champagne.

taittinger-reserve-brutnvchampagnereview

Enjoy with: grilled & roasted white meats, fish/shellfish and perfect as an aperitif or with canapes.

Available from Ocado, Tesco, Amazon and Waitrose

 

Contino Reserva 2007 Wine Review

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This is a very classic red wine, ruby red in colour and clean with a fruity intensity. It has hints of strawberry, blueberry, vanilla and balsamic.

Established in 1973, this was the first Rioja region wine to be made in a single vineyard. Contino Reserva 2007 has great depth and flavour. It is medium bodied and stays on the tongue long after in a nice way. It is light with fresh acidity and silky tannins. This is a delicious wine, perfect for even fussy wine drinkers. It is pricey, usually more than £20 per bottle but worth splashing out on for a special treat. Available from Tesco and Waitrose.

fresh acidity, red wine, wine review

Goes with: grilled & roasted red meats, casseroles/stews, mature strong cheese and roast suckling pig.

 

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2013 Review

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Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2013 is a sophisticated wine. Probably why they served it at the BAFTAs. Don’t let that stop you enjoying it regularly. This wine is perfect for every occasion. This wine is a brilliant, easy-to-drink sauvignon blanc. Perfect for every occasion. It is vibrant and has nuances of gooseberry, passion-fruit, fresh lime and melon.

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2013 wine review

This wine is polished and pure with a good, long finish and with no horrible aftertaste. A good way to describe this wine is yummy. A good fail-safe for dinner parties too.

Enjoy with fish/shellfish, salads & picnics, mild creamy cheeses and grilled seasonal vegetables and seafood

Drink from now up to two years. ABV: 13%

Available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s

 

Gallo Family Vineyards Summer White Wine Review

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Gallo Family Vineyards Summer White is quite a wonderful thing to review in the spring, as it gives you a reminder of what summer is, a very vague memory at the moment.Gallo Family Vineyards Summer White Wine Review

The sweet wine’s grenache grapes have been ripened in Californian. The wine tastes like a lovely summery day in California. The wine has cherry and raspberry flavours and is light, crisp and confident.

Lighter and fresher in style than other white wines and with an alcohol content of only 5.5% volume; it is much easier to just enjoy without getting too drunk. Light in body and alcohol content with a wonderful freshness. It is also fruity with delightful flavours of ripe apple, pear and citrus. There are also subtle and gentle floral notes.

It is only 60 calories per 100ml and 75 calories for 125ml so it’s gentle on the waistline.

I loved this summery white wine. It is not acidic and doesn’t have a horrible aftertaste. An impressive summery white.

Goes with: Indian cuisine, pasta, fish, light white meats and dishes, and salads.

Gallo Family Vineyards Summer White has an RRP of £6.99 and is available from UK retailers including ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op. For more information please visit www.gallofamily.co.ukor Facebook page www.facebook.com/GalloFamilyVineyardsUK

 

Funkin Cocktail Mixers Review

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We love cocktails at Frost and upon receiving these cocktail mixers, or mocktails if you want to go sans alcohol, we were very happy. Especially as you don’t usually have all of the ingredients in your kitchen when you are in the mood for one. Well, problem solved: you just need one of these.

cocktail mixers funkin reviewAll Funkin cocktail mixers are 100% natural and contain only sun ripened fruit, so all the goodness and natural flavour is retained, meaning you can enjoy a wonderfully delicious mocktail by just adding sparkling water and ice!  They are fruity and fresh.

Choose to bring a taste of vibrant Rio to the cold streets of Blighty with the Funkin Brazilian, a tropical blend of mangoes, passion fruit and oranges with Amazonian Guarana, the ‘super seed’, which contains twice the energy of coffee beans, giving you a delicious natural energy kick: this tastes amazing and really gives you a kick. Great for energy and fun. Excellent taste.

Alternatively, opt for the nation’s most popular fruit to bring the taste of summer flooding back and try Funkin Strawberry Daiquiri. a flavour recently voted one of the UK’s favourite cocktails*.  (brilliant and tastes great. Not artificial) And complete your marvellous mocktail collection with the Funkin Mojito, made with the highest quality Persian limes blended with the freshest limes for a sharp, refreshing taste.(tastes like a proper Mojito, we added some rum and the taste was amazing)

The Funkin team travels all over the world sourcing the very best ingredients to ensure you enjoy the best tasting drinks. Each Funkin cocktail mixer has been created in consultation with some of the world’s best bartenders, with no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or additives.

These mixers are great, they don’t taste artificial and they are fresh and fruity. We were surprised at just how great they tasted. Very impressive for something that comes out of a carton.

The full Funkin range is available nationwide at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co-op, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Majestic Wine, Harrods, Ocado, Amazon, DrinkShop.com

 

Errazuriz The White Blend 2011 Wine Review

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This wine is new for us: a blend. Some of us were a bit befuddled by the concept and unsure what to expect. In fact, we were sent three wines from Errazuriz and this was the overall favourite. (The others were Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc: also good). The Blend 2011 is a blend of three different grapes: Roussanne (55.0%), Marsanne (30.0%) and Viognier (15.0%). All from the Aconcagua Valley. It is 13.5% Alcohol and you can drink now or two-to-five-years from now.

The Blend White. errazuriz

The main thing about this wine is it’s uniqueness; it has typical Roussanne aromas like pear, honey, hawthorn, almonds and honeysuckle. The wine has plenty of flavour and complexity. It does not have that terrible aftertaste a lot of white wines have. Greenish-yellow in colour, the wine is also fresh. We’re a fan. Delicious.

Enjoy with: pizza, pasta, casseroles, stew, mild creamy cheeses, oriental food.

 

Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay 2011 Wine Review

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Errazuriz AC Chardonay2011Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay 2011 is a high-quality, sophisticated chardonnay. It is not sweet, It is dry with a smooth texture. It tastes great and has lots of exotic, tropical stone fruit in the form of apricot and peach, along with touches of quince and honey. It has white floral notes accompanied by a hint of truffle.

The wine is a pale yellow color with greenish tints. The grapes are 100% Chardonnay and naturally occurring yeast in the grape skins are used instead of cultivated yeasts. There is also a taste of oak due to the subtle use of 10% French oak. This is a well balanced wine. There is also a rich creaminess.

The intense fruit and acidity ensures it has great cellaring potential but enjoy it within the next two-to-five years to let the further integration of oak and fruit.

Enjoy with grilled or roasted white meat, fish/shellfish, pizza, pasta, salads and mild, creamy cheeses.

 

£14.95 from  majestic.co.uk

Cune Barrel Fermented 2012 Wine Review

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cunebarrelfermented2012We have been lucky enough to review a lot of wine and this Cune Barrel Fermented 2012 is one of our favourites. A fresh and balanced wine which doesn’t have the terrible acidity that lesser white wines tend to have. Although this is a young wine it still had the class and refinement of an older wine. A lot of effort has been put into this wine and you can tell.

A manual selection of grapes are picked at their optimum point of ripeness. Once in the winery, the grapes are cold macerated for 6-8 hours to creature more structure and flavour to finish the wine. The grapes are then lightly pressed and the juice transferred to new American oak casks for fermentation for between 15 to 20 days at cellar temperature, between 16 and 20 Celsius. The wine is tasted until it is at it’s optimum moment to rack and bottle.

100% Viura, the dry white wine has a toasty richness and is balanced by crisp, fresh, citrus characters.  A soft, aromatic wine that goes beautifully with poultry dishes, smoked fish and makes a particularly good partner to paella.

This wine is now a favourite of mine and I will be buying it again. It is fresh, crisp, dry and has a wonderful citrus character. Great flavour.

RRP £9.49, Waitrose, Christopher Piper Wines, Eynsham Cellars, Luvians