Mirko - Christmas Tasting Table 2/11

Classic English Traditional Method Sparkling Wine made with love from succulent Chardonnay grapes, plucked by hand from Platon Loizou's vines in Hertfordshire at the moment of maximum lusciousness!

Country: England

Region: Hertfordshire

Grapes: Chardonnay

ABV: 12.5%

Food Match: antipasto of cured meats, soft cheese, green olives and grilled artichokes.

The Four Acres Estate is a small family run vineyard and orchard set on a hillside above the Ash Valley in Little Hadham, Hertfordshire.
After a lifetime spent in the travel industry, Platon Loizou decided that he wanted to get back to his Cypriot roots and fulfil a long-term dream of making wine. Since 2010 he has been out in all weathers, getting closer to nature tending his precious vines, nurturing them from saplings to maturity, bolstering his knowledge by consulting at every step with some of the best vinters in the country.

Saperavi is tipped to be the 'new Malbec' by a few well known wine critics. This ripe, Georgian red is full of red cherry and mulberry aromas and flavours, with layers of vanilla. Wonderful, soft rounded tannins with a long, juicy finish.

Country: Georgia

Region: Kakheti

Grapes: Saperavi

ABV: 13%

Food Matches: Red meat dishes, stews and casseroles, roast lamb or mature hard cheeses.

Read all about Penny's recent trip to the cradle of wine, Georgia in her blog here.

George Margvelashvili is the founder at Tbilvino Wines - where this delicious wine is made. Established 60 years ago, and over this period Tbilvino have become one of Georgia’s pioneering producers. Almost dormant at the end of the Soviet era, the winery was acquired by the Margvelashvili brothers, who set out to restore the facilities, and moved away from quantity to quality production.

Champions of Biodiversity and Sustainable Biodynamic Farming.

A hugely compelling wine. Deeply refined single estate expression showing bounds of character, finesse, length, breadth and structure - it really does have it all! A classically styled wine with notes of cassis and cedar. The seamless, elegant palate is encased by fine tannins.

A harmonious and integrated blend that combines the spiciness of the Syrah, the fresh fruits of the Petit Verdot and the juiciness from the Merlot. The beginning is fresh and fruity with good acidity, evolving into riper flavours and herbaceous notes, with elegant tannins and fine, bright acid in the finish.

Country: South Africa

Region: Stellenbosch

ABV: 14.5%

Grapes: 56% Syrah, 27% Petit Verdot, 17% Merlot

Organic, Biodynamic

Waterkloof Wine

WATERKLOOF estate was founded in 2004, ending Paul Boutinot’s persistent and uncompromising 10 year search for a vineyard site with the potential to produce truly fine wine with a defining sense of origin. Located on the south-facing slopes of Schapenberg Hill near Somerset in the Stellenbosch district of the Western Cape’s Coastal Region, Waterkloof shares its magnificent Atlantic views with free-roaming peacocks and other natural fauna and flora attracted to this haven. Certified by Demeter in 2015, their vineyards are of only a few in the Cape to boast official biodynamic approval and status. The estate has 56 hectares under vine and Tim Atkin’s Cape Classification currently ranks Waterkloof as 5th Growth level. With production around 165,000 bottles per year, Waterkloof make “honest wines” from their unique biodynamic coastal site. Respect for nature, traditional winemaking practices and minimal intervention are all key to their success.

Dry and clean, with some fleshy fruit characteristic from the red varietal. Really delicious and moreish. 

Country: Italy

Region: Lombardy

Grapes: Pinot Noir

ABV: 13%

Conte Vistarino Wine

Conte Vistarino are specialists in Northern Italian Pinot Noir. We're delighted to be working with this historic, highly regarded estate.

The Vistarino estate in Rocca de’ Giorgi, Oltrepò Pavese has been owned by the same family for hundreds of years. Carlo Giorgi di Vistarino introduced the Pinot Noir grape to the region at the end of the 19th Century, now his great granddaughter Ottavia is
taking the lead. Pinot Noir has become synonymous with the province, and by using state-of-the-art vineyard and winery technology, Ottavia is producing consistently high-quality, complex and elegant wines.

In the early 1990s, Magpie identified this special site - a single vineyard of Grenache and Mourvèdre. After an olympic blending exercise one night with the wine from here, they name the vineyard 'Clovella'. This wine is a heady embrace of dark spice; it's no coincidence that there’s a distinct clove note in this wine. Bright, fresh, textural in spite of 22 months ageing in older French oak. Soft, moreish and foody.

Country: Australia

Region: Barossa

Grapes: Grenache and Mourvedre

ABV: 14%

Food Match: Slow cooked lamb shanks or Fillet of Beef for a special occasion.

The label design inspiration is all about the meeting of mouths, that energy before lips meet, whether meeting a glass of wine or each other. Two varieties blending into one....

A super soft, fruity, but structured wine made from a blend of indigenous Portuguese grapes.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 42% Touriga Nacional, 31% Touriga Franca, 22% Tinta Barroca, 5% Sousão

ABV: 13.5%

Fresh citrus fruit and apple aromas, with liquorish and tropical notes...

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 56% Rabigato, 32% Gouveio, 12% Viosinho

ABV: 18%

Wonderful as a long summer drink with a slice of fresh orange and tonic...

Serve at 6 to 8 degrees centigrade

Bursting with citrus, passion fruit and pineapple flavours with great texture and a lingering salty finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 52% Rabigato, 48% Gouveio

ABV: 12.5%

Food Match: Fresh prawns, BBQ sardines, pan fried chicken breasts

Drink now, but will gain further complexity over the next 3 to 5 years.

Vegan/Vegetarian friendly

Using the superior 'méthode champenoise', this terrific sparkling cider has rustic, appley and smokey notes. A bottled the taste of an English summer.

Country: England

Region: Hertfordshire

Apples

ABV: 12.5%

The Four Acres Estate is a small family run vineyard and orchard set on a hillside above the Ash Valley in Little Hadham, Hertfordshire.
After a lifetime spent in the travel industry, Platon Loizou decided that he wanted to get back to his Cypriot roots and fulfill a long-term dream of making wine. Since 2010 he has been out in all weathers, getting closer to nature tending his precious vines, nurturing them from saplings to maturity, bolstering his knowledge by consulting at every step with some of the best vinters in the country.

This Port has a beautiful red gold appearance in the glass. Expressing aromas of dried cranberry, raisin and rich plum. As well as notes of cedar and Christmas pudding. 

On the palate this wine is lusciously balanced with flavours of candied orange peel and plum. Followed by a lasting, spicy finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca

ABV: 19.5%

A wonderfully complex and textured barrel fermented white Douro with a long, fresh and minerally finish. Made from four different indigenous grape varieties from very high altitude vineyards.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 46% Rabigato, 29% Viosinho, 24% Gouveio,1% Fernão Pires

ABV: 12.5%

Food Matches: Great with seafood or fleshy pan fried white fish dishes.

Jamie Goode in Wine Anorak: 12.5% alcohol. A blend of local white varieties from Pedra Alta’s highest plots. Complex and nicely restrained with taut lemony fruit and some notes of pear and white peach. Lively and precise with good acidity and nice purity, this has the potential to develop with time, and it’s almost Burgundian in style. 94/100 

Finished in Matusalém casks using only Palomino grapes and is aged for 12 years in Fino casks within a Solera system, where it develops a rich, unctuous profile full of ripe berries, sweet  spices and vanilla oak.

ABV: 36%

Quinta da Pedra Alta 'Alto' Tinto is a perfumed, hedonistic Douro red, made from parcels from our highest (Alto) elevations on the Quinta.

Aromas of red and blue fruits, with lifted bergamot and exotic spice notes. This is a rich, hedonistic wine, with an Indian ink mid-palate, and an Earl Grey finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: Touriga Nacional (92%), Sousão (7%), Fernão Pires (1%)

ABV: 15%

Elegance is our raison d'etre at QPA, which is embodied in our Vintage Port. Showing complex aromas of red, blue and black fruits, with chocolate, spice notes and lifted aromatics. This is a rich, restrained, elegant style of Vintage Port with a complex, seamless palate. 

Drink now to accompany Stilton or Gorgonzola, or cellar as it will gain further complexity over the next 20 years.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: Touriga Nacional (49%), Touriga Franca (27.5%), Tinta Roriz (13%), Sousão (9%), Tinta Barroca (1.5%)

ABV: 19.5%

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 

ABV: 18%

Wonderful as a long summer drink with a slice of fresh orange and a strawberry and  sparkling wine...

Midnight Spritz Recipe

• 40ml Blend N 12
• 60ml Dry sparkling wine
• 1 strawberry and 1/4 slice of
Orange

Pour Blend N 12 into a balloon glass containing a generous serving of ice. Top up with your favourite dry sparkling wine and then garnish with 1 fresh strawberry and a slice of orange.

A wonderfully complex and textured barrel fermented white Douro with a long, fresh and minerally finish. Made from four different indigenous grape varieties from very high altitude vineyards.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 46% Rabigato, 29% Viosinho, 24% Gouveio,1% Fernão Pires

ABV: 12.5%

Food Matches: Great with seafood or fleshy pan fried white fish dishes.

Jamie Goode in Wine Anorak: 12.5% alcohol. A blend of local white varieties from Pedra Alta’s highest plots. Complex and nicely restrained with taut lemony fruit and some notes of pear and white peach. Lively and precise with good acidity and nice purity, this has the potential to develop with time, and it’s almost Burgundian in style. 94/100