Beaujolais Villages ‘Combe aux Jacques’ 2012 Review

This wine is a ruby/purple colour and it has delicious aromas of fruits and a delicate freshness. The wine is ripe, savoury and juicy. It has raspberry and cherry flavours. It is medium bodied, reasonably priced and delicious. It also has a hint of savoury liquorice. Because this wine comes from Gamay grapes it can be drunk slightly chilled.

red wine review.

This wine can be drunk young but it will also age well for the next two-three years.

Enjoy with: slow-cooked pork belly, grilled & roasted red meats, salads & picnic, also perfect with pate, charcuterie or crusty French bread. Also ideal as an aperitif.

Available from Tesco, Waitrose, Budgens,

 

Champagne Taittinger Brut Reserve NV Review

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.

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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

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.

 

Errazuriz Pinot Noir Wild Ferment 2011 Review

Errazuriz Pinot Noir Wild Ferment 2011 ReviewThis Pinot Noir has the perfect balance between light and full, harvested in the first week of March in Aconcagua Costa. This wine comes from Errazuriz, which was founded by Don Maximiano Errazuriz in 1870. Over 140 years later, They are now one of Chile’s most important wine producers.

The wine has aromatic intensity and is fresh and elegant. It has good structure and typicity and the tannins have ripened well. It is a beautiful ruby-red colour and it has subtle notes of sour cherries, rosehips and wild strawberries. It also has a smokey side thanks to being aged for ten months in French oak barrels, only 13% of which were new.

This is a wonderful Pinot Noir: crisp, juicy and with depth. It tastes great and goes down well. Drink now or let it age over the next 4 years. Drink with roasted lamb, turkey or goose.

 

Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc Aconcagua Costa 2013

Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc Aconcagua Costa 2013 has great typicity and a refreshing mineral profile. It has complex intensity and touches of cherimoya, passion fruit, and lychee, along with a hint of green chili pepper.

 

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A light greenish-yellow, this wine is complex and elegant. It is refreshing and has an aromatic blend of herbal, tropical and citrus notes along with a touch of green chilli pepper, tomato leaf, fresh-cut grass, white citrus flowers, guayaba and passion fruit. You can tell why sauvignon is so popular, it is full of the kind of flavour that has made the wine so popular. A good, complex wine. Good for summer too.

Available from winesdirect.co.uk, Sainsbury’s and Tesco

 

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2013 Review

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

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

 

Put Fairtrade First: Great Products With A Clear Conscience

We have tried a range of Fairtrade products from Sainsbury’s and brought you a selection. Their fairtrade chocolate is amazing and the English Breakfast tea is a personal favourite of Frost editor, Catherine. Get your hands on some of the selection below.

This Fairtrade Fortnight (24th February – 9th March), enjoy a selection of treats and everyday essentials from Sainsbury’s, the world’s largest retailer of Fairtrade products. With over 800 Fairtrade products now available in store, £1 in every £4 spent on Fairtrade in the UK is spent in Sainsbury’s.

As part of Sainsbury’s commitment to Fairtrade, all of its bananas, sugar, own label tea, ground and roast coffee and Taste the Difference South African wines are Fairtrade certified, more than any other major UK supermarket. Sainsbury’s is committed to ensuring farmers get a fair price for what they grow and can invest in communities in developing countries such as Kenya or Columbia.

 

Everyday essentials

Sainsbury’s Fairtrade loose Bananas 

 

fairtrade bananas

£0.68/kg  Sainsbury’s was the first major supermarket to sell 100% Fairtrade bananas back in 2007, and nowadays sells an incredible 650 million Fairtrade bananas a year – that’s 1,200 every minute. Sainsbury’s Fairtrade bananas are sourced from farmers in Central and South America, the Caribbean and West Africa where Fairtrade premiums are crucial to many smallholders.

Great bananas to eat with a clear conscious.

 

Taste the Difference English Breakfast Teafairtrade english breakfast tea £2.14/ 80 tea bags Britons drink around 165 million cups of tea a day, so it’s refreshing to know that your everyday cuppa is supporting the communities in which it was grown. This Fairtrade tea is made from selected leaves from India, Rwanda and Tanzania. Sainsbury’s is the world’s largest retailer of Fairtrade products and all its own-label teas are now Fairtrade – including speciality teas. 

 A personal favourite of Frost editor, Catherine

 

by Sainsbury’s Original House Blend Coffee
 

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£2.29/227g
All Sainsbury’s own label roast and ground coffee has been 100% Fairtrade since 2009. Sainsbury’s coffee is sourced from across Africa and South America where Fairtrade premiums are now benefiting thousands of farmers, their families and communities in these countries every year.

 

Great coffee.

 

Tasty treats

Taste the Difference Fairtrade Sauvignon Blanc 2013

fairtrade wine

£6.99/75cl 

 

 

 

100% of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference South African wine is now Fairtrade, and this fantastic zesty wine was awarded a silver trophy at the prestigious IWC awards in 2013. 

This elegantly balanced wine is made with exceptional care to preserve the flavours of crisp lemon and lime, green pepper, gooseberry and tropical fruit notes. It’s made for Sainsbury’s at the famous Boekenhoutskloof Winery, which dates back to 1776, from carefully selected grapes harvested from the best vineyards in Malmesbury, Wellington, Robertson and Franschhoek. The fresh and intensely fruity flavours are particularly good with lightly spiced dishes.

 

A brilliant wine.

 Taste the Difference Belgian Fairtrade Milk Chocolate

fairtrade chocolate

 £1.40/100g Sainsbury’s offers a great range of Fairtrade Taste the Difference chocolate, helping to improve the livelihoods of thousands of cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire and the Dominican Republic.

Made for Sainsbury’s in Belgium, this luxurious milk chocolate is smooth and creamy without being too sweet, and melts in the mouth with a delicious caramel flavour.

 

 

Enjoy Sainsbury’s fairtrade products on their own, or try making these Fairtrade Banoffee Tarts at home

 

Banoffee Tarts Recipe

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A crisp pastry base filled with smooth, sweet caramel, and topped with bananas and cream…Naughty but so nice.

Serves 10

Preparation 40 minutes

Cooking 20 minutes, plus 45 minutes chilling time

Ready 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

180g Sainsbury’s British plain flour

120g unsalted English butter by Sainsbury’s, cold from the fridge, cubed

3 tablespoons Sainsbury’s Fairtrade caster sugar

1 medium British free-range Woodland egg yolk by Sainsbury’s, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

75g smooth dark chocolate by Sainsbury’s, melted

½ x 397g tin Carnation caramel

2 small Fairtrade bananas by Sainsbury’s, sliced

200ml fresh British double cream by Sainsbury’s

¼ teaspoon Fairtrade ground cinnamon by Sainsbury’s

2 teaspoons Sainsbury’s cocoa powder

 

Method

1.       Sift the flour into a large bowl. Lightly rub in the butter with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, then the egg yolk and water mixture, and use a round-bladed knife to bring everything together.

2.       Use your hands to form a dough, handling it as little as possible. (Alternatively, make the dough in a food processor to save time.) Wrap the dough in cling film, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

3.       Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C fan, gas 6. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 0.5cm, then cut into 6 pieces. Line 6 individual 10.5cm tart tins with the pastry and chill in the fridge again for 20 minutes.

4.       Line the pastry cases with baking parchment and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake ‘blind’ for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 2 minutes, or until golden.

5.       Pour or brush the melted chocolate around the inside of the tart cases and allow it to harden for 5 minutes in the fridge. Divide the caramel evenly into the pastry cases and top with the banana slices. Whisk the double cream until it forms stiff peaks, then spoon on top of the tarts. Dust with the cinnamon and cocoa powder and serve.

 

Cook’s tip:

This is delicious served with half-fat crème fraîche by Sainsbury’s.