How singularly fortuitous - I tottered round the corner to get a loaf of wholemeal and a gallon of milk in for the coming week, and hey, presto! my convenience store, now slowly morphing into 'Cocovino' or fain wain and chocolates, was holding a closed wine testing. Unable to read the sign regretting their closure for two hours, and obviously looking like a typical dingbat OAP, they unlocked the portals and I was admitted. Well, sports fans, I can tell you that Chez Kriz is well stocked now with two delightful white wines:
Mocen Verdejo Viura 2006 from Rueda, Spain at £7.49 a bottle, and Picpoul (which I misheard as 'Pitbull') de Pinet, La Croix Gratiot 2005 from the Languedoc, France, at £8.29 per bottle. They are fresh, fruity and light, no acidic tang at all, and didn't set off my proclivity for a nasty case of indigestion after a few sips of vino. I managed a half glass each, before setting out for a very light, but definitely not thin, Alasia Roero Arneis 2005 (the Arneis being another grape I'd never 'eard of), from Peimonte, Italy at £7.85. I've decided to reserve buying the latter until it gets really hot, as it's the sort of wine you can sink in merry numbers round a barbie or over a cold lobster salad in the gazebo.
Before falling flat on my patootie, I also tried a red, Douro Red, Quinta da Crasto 2005 from Douro in Portugal, at £8.99. That is a beaut - soft, full, no peppery flavours, just a really velvety quaff, pretty sturdy, would go with hearty meats including game. I'll get that one in when any red wine friends pitch up.
So, there's Chelters sorted - a whole side of Scottish smoked salmon, two delightful white wines to gently sink during the afternoon, an assortment of interesting cheeses and some Italian olive breadsticks to nibble in between. I'm actually beginning to look forward to it now!
Mocen Verdejo Viura 2006 from Rueda, Spain at £7.49 a bottle, and Picpoul (which I misheard as 'Pitbull') de Pinet, La Croix Gratiot 2005 from the Languedoc, France, at £8.29 per bottle. They are fresh, fruity and light, no acidic tang at all, and didn't set off my proclivity for a nasty case of indigestion after a few sips of vino. I managed a half glass each, before setting out for a very light, but definitely not thin, Alasia Roero Arneis 2005 (the Arneis being another grape I'd never 'eard of), from Peimonte, Italy at £7.85. I've decided to reserve buying the latter until it gets really hot, as it's the sort of wine you can sink in merry numbers round a barbie or over a cold lobster salad in the gazebo.
Before falling flat on my patootie, I also tried a red, Douro Red, Quinta da Crasto 2005 from Douro in Portugal, at £8.99. That is a beaut - soft, full, no peppery flavours, just a really velvety quaff, pretty sturdy, would go with hearty meats including game. I'll get that one in when any red wine friends pitch up.
So, there's Chelters sorted - a whole side of Scottish smoked salmon, two delightful white wines to gently sink during the afternoon, an assortment of interesting cheeses and some Italian olive breadsticks to nibble in between. I'm actually beginning to look forward to it now!
