September's high notes

Unbelievably September is nearly over, what a lovely month it has been. Our holiday in Portugal with our two grown up children was a great way to begin my birthday month, it was so good to spend time all together.

Next month (I can't believe that's tomorrow) starts with a very special event for me; I have been chosen to be a judge in the People's Choice Wine Awards. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be asked to judge wine, quite a step up from reviewing which I have been doing for a few years. I have no idea which wines will be there or which I'll be asked to judge - I am so excited and feel quite humbled - thank you People's Choice Wine Awards.

So tomorrow we are off to Manchester for a few days, now Hubby has retired we have time to enjoy the trip rather than rush there and back. Of course I will be blogging about our time away but that's the future, this post is looking back over the wine's I have enjoyed in September.

The first bottle opened at home in September was aptly named 'Congratulations' as it was for my birthday. This bottle of Portuguese sparkling wine is from Adega do Cantor, Cliff Richard's vineyard which we visited whilst on holiday - a superb place with great wines.

Birthday bubbles 

There were plenty of fine bubbles bouncing around its golden colour. I prefer fizz with a biscuity taste - this was perfect, lots of toastiness without being overly dry. A great sparkling wine made in the traditional method, perfect for my celebration.

I do a little wine making myself using a very old paperback book that belonged to my Grandad. The book is in danger of falling apart but I love it and use it for all my wine recipes. My Grandad used to make wine out of anything grown in his allotment, nothing technical, in fact the instructions and ingredients are quite simple based mainly on just fruit/vegetables and sugar, not all wines have yeast added and I don't add any chemicals. It may take longer for the wine to clear and I'm not sure it would win any major awards but I enjoy making it and have received a few compliments from friends who have tried my vintages - Chateau Hearnden Elderflower 2014 is very popular.

Tea wine having its final racking - very technical !

Our bottles of wine come from various places; vineyards we have visited home and abroad, wine events, independent wine shops, nationwide wine shops, supermarkets, online suppliers and wines I am asked to review. We now have a Lidl store within walking distance and have been very impressed with their range of wine. Richard Bampfield is their independent lead wine taster and writes the tasting notes for their Wine Tour range. We enjoyed his wine walk at Love Wine Festival in Guildford.

By pure chance we visited the local store on our way home in the car, I'm so glad we did as they had many wines on discount at just £3.99. We purchased Hungarian sparkling wine, Spanish Priorat, French Picpoul, Austrian St Laurant and a Spanish Tempranillo. From our collection we have opened, and enjoyed the Hungarian sparkling and the Priorat.

Our Lidl collection

Vinya Carles Priorat -Spain 

Crimson in colour with scarlet highlights this red wine was full of dark fruits on the nose with slight oak notes; I was reminded of wooden wine crates filled with sawdust. Plenty of fruit in flavour with a hint of chocolate, some acidity on the finish with the oak providing some tannins. A very enjoyable red which would certainly suit a lamb or beef dinner.

Hungarian Tokaji - sparkling wine

This is a sweet sparkling wine that would be perfect with spicy Asian food, nicely chilled on a hot summer day or as the base for a summer cocktail. Medium sized bubbles danced in its golden colour leading to a peachy nose. The peachiness carried through in its flavour accompanied with other white summer fruits. It's always good to try new wines especially varieties of bubbles.

Priorat and Tokaji from Lidl 

Just out of interest last week the members of Cuveé Reserve wine forum saved their empties - it's easy to say 'oh we've had xxx bottles this week' but is that a true reflection or a bit of a guess? Hubby and I saved our empties and thought we'd had a fairly quiet drinking week - we had five empties which does not sound too many but is still over twice the recommended amount, especially if you add the beer and gin and tonics we may have also had.

Our week's collection 

I'm not sure about all these guidelines and I'm not sure we'll change as the wine we have we really enjoy, but it was very interesting to collect the empties. Our drinking is quite steady too, as in we don't abstain then have a large quantity other days, that said we don't drink everyday either. I have no idea which is best but I do believe deep down we all know how we feel after whatever we've had to drink and honesty to ourselves is the best policy!

Cuveé Reserve has a nominated wine each month for us all to taste and review. One of our members chooses a wine that is available from one of the main supermarkets and is under £10. This month our wine was Montagne St Emilion from Asda which was on offer at the start of September but then slipped up to a little over the £10. I do enjoy French reds, mainly Southern France and as yet have not found a Bordeaux that I really like. My Hubby is the same, we open each Bordeaux with anticipation only to find something missing. Unfortunately the same happened with this tasting, I didn't find any depth of fruit, only a little spice and Hubby, who enjoys oaked wine, did not find any oak or vanilla. oh well we'll keep looking. 

Moving slightly away from wine I'm a huge fan of chocolate beer and on our recent trip to France I discovered Barista Chocolate Quad by Kasteel - delicious but be warned it is 11%. So rich, so deep, great chocolate flavour, plenty of coffee too: I really enjoyed this beer, especially as I was watching Osprey's rugby on tv - it's a great life!

Chocolate Quad

Every Thursday on Twitter is #ukwinehour with Sorcha Holloway - an opportunity to chat real time with fellow enthusiasts, wine producers and suppliers. Next Thursday, 4th October, I have been asked to be one of the reviewers.

It will be Marco Ventrella who will be tweeting and answering questions about KWV Wines who are celebrating their 100th Anniversary. Last year at Love Wine Birmingham we purchased a lovely bottle of their Cape Tawny dessert wine, I remember being quite taken with all their range at the time, I do hope they will be at this year's Love Wine Festival.

KWV wine from Love Wine in Birmingham

It was quite a surprised when three KWV bottles were delivered for UK Wine Hour tasting, I was only expecting one. Petit Verdot is a little known french grape that I really like but as far as I know I have not tried one from South Africa, likewise with the Blanc de Blancs. Gin has always been a spirit on our drinking list, in recent years there have been many many more gins appearing with new flavours too. We both enjoy a gin and tonic especially in our Gin glasses. Thank you Sorcha for this great oppportunity, I'm looking forward to joining everyone on Twitter on Thursday.

KWV tasting bottles 

Gin glasses ready 

So that was my September with it's holiday sun, home wine making fun and wine discoveries. I have a feeling October will be just as exciting with the People's Wine Awards and UK Wine Hour both in the first four days and our river cruise not long after .... it will be a blog post fest!