An evening at Majestic

We have recently discovered there is a Majestic wine shop in Leicester - and it's close to the station :-) We always visit Majestic in Calais when we're in France but have not here at home as we didn't know of a shop nearby, now we do ....

... although nearby is a 30 minute train ride. Hubby and I caught the Cross Country to Leicester (using our Two Together Railcard made a huge difference to the price). We usually have a little something on a train ride but this time it was a pastie to line our tums, yum yum.

Perfect timing arriving at Majestic at 2 minutes to the 6 o'clock start. Abraham (assistant manager) greeted us a glass of Mud House Sauvignon Blanc and we had chance for a quick browse around until everyone arrived.

There were just 8 of us tasting and all six wines had been poured ready so the table was just a mass of white & red wine glasses. 

Abraham was very good at explaining all aspects of tasting, growing, bottling and food matching. So much still to learn - wine tasting is a great hobby.

We first tried a France Touraine from the Loire (I was a happy bunny straight away) followed by a French Chablis. Although this was a £20+ bottle, Chablis is not a wine I enjoy, I'm not a Chardonnay girl and if I do drink it I prefer a well chilled Italian or a New World oaked Chardonnay, which was our third white. I didn't take note of the exact labels and now I can't remember them - oops. 

Next up 'bubbly' Monopole Heidsieck 2007 Gold Top. A beautiful vintage, golden in colour with a biscuity nose and smooth taste with small bubbles. Nicolas Feuillatte is still our favourite but the Monopole was lovely. 

Three reds next starting with a rioja which dried my mouth completely, I nearly asked for a glass of water but luckily had some white left ! The next red was a French Bordeaux, another good wine which evoked memories of our holidays in France. 

The third red was Yalumba Cabernet Sauvignon - a good wine, best of the three reds but we both said we prefer their Shiraz. 

Finally Abraham brought out a range of nibbles - cherry tomatoes, mature cheddar cheese, chorizo, smoked salmon, spicy crisps and chocolate brownies. We had great fun tasting food matches  and non-matches  with a few top ups too. 

There was no hard sell or even mention of if you'd like to order ...etc ... it was a great night. We'll certainly be keeping a watch on Leicester's events page. 

We did buy three wines:

Mud House Sauvignon Blanc

Mud House Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand, lovely and crisp, full of fruity notes, better when chilled (when poured) than room temperature (after in glass for an hour)

Argento Malbec

Argento Malbec 2013 Mendoza - full of dark fruit, hint of spice and vanilla, quite smooth - I only had a little taster of this but it was lovely.

Cotes du Rhône

Cotes du Rhone 2013 Leon Perdigal - we've had this before, a great example of a CdR, neither too light or too heavy so suits us both, full of dark fruits. 

All three were on offer at £6.66 when you buy two or more bottles - free delivery too which is good as a little heavy to take home by train.

Majestic Leicester have a great events calendar on their web page - their next wine course is 24th September.

We had just under an hour for our train home which was perfect time for a bite to eat at The Parcelyard, a Steaming Billy pub next to the station. We had their Thursday special, burger and a drink. We both had the special burger with pepperoni and cheese - their thick cut chips are amazing. Hubby had a glass of Shiraz and I had Malbec which we both thought the best match but the Shiraz was nice too. 

Our food came almost straight away (we had said about catching the train) which gave perfect time to enjoy our meal and be on the platform in time for our train home. 

Thank you Cross Country Trains, Majestic Wines, The Parcelyard and my lovely Hubby Nick for a great night out. 

Chateau Hearnden - a new

I used to make wine before the children were born and when they were young. It became too time consuming with a young family and so my hobby lapsed but now I have decided to have another go.

Being as today is a Bank Holiday we invited our Mums and their other halves over for a buffet and a very special wine tasting - Chateau Hearnden trio.

I best just explain for my facebook friends as I often have different names for what may seem the same location - so .........

Chateau Hearnden is my winery - located at ......

Masion Hearnden which is home

Gite Hearnden is our holiday caravan in Wales

Chateau Hearnden trio

Dandelion wine - a very dry wine with a dandelion floral fragrance and a sharp finish. It does need a few more weeks to fully clear.

Rhubarb wine - a full nose of rhubarb and a lovely rosé hue. A sweeter wine but not a dessert wine. A slight fizz and lots of flavour - the favourite.

Elderflower wine - a dessert wine with a floral nose, quite syrupy and excellent with Eton Mess.

Before we enjoyed the buffet and wine tasting we visited St Laurence's Church at Ansley as it is their Flower Festival. This year I took part and did an arrangement. The festival is on the theme of Gold s it's its 50th anniversary; my piece however was just a corner fill for the old chairs and piano. I quite enjoyed it.

The light wasn't very good today with the weather being so awful but I managed to get a few photos.

My arrangement

I have been quite quiet in blogland lately but September and October are going to be busy, busy, busy so this is a heads up for 'over blogging'. We have a wine tasting in London, holiday in France, visit to Lille, Round 4 wine tasting at scouts and a holiday in Turkey !

On a sad note we lost our lovely Ruby a few weeks ago. She was a rescue dog who has had five full and lively years with us and we miss her so much.

Me and Ruby Rose

She loved being on the beach with Nick

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