Clos Monistrol Cava Vintage 2005

Having posted several articles about Champagne I thought I’d offer up an alternative to this fantastic wine, that being Spain’s sparkling offer, Cava. There are many fantastic Cava’s on the market, but you do need to be careful as there are also many poor quality one’s out there. Cava for many years suffered with a very poor reputation for quality, however with the permitted introduction of Chardonnay into the blend, the quality and complexities of the wine have increased enormously. In fact, I would argue that a good Cava can be on par with a bottle of champagne, especially when you consider the average price point of each.

The wine I’ve tasted this week is Clos Monistrol Cava Vintage 2005. Pale lemon in colour, to the nose the wine was showing developing aromas of freshly made bread with a hint of green apple in the background. These flavours were again shown on the palate with an added touch of citrus and a refreshing acidity that are all perfectly in balance. I thoroughly enjoyed drinking this, though I am a big fan of Cava anyway!

If you enjoy the delights of champagne and are looking for an alternative, then this is one which I would highly recommend. Priced around £12 in most of the major supermarkets, it’s a great buy. The bottle I bought was on offer at £6, making it even better value!

The London International Wine Fair and DISTIL Trade Show

This week sees the London International Wine Fair and DISTIL Trade Show at ExCeL in London, one of the most exciting events in the wine industries calendar. As usual most major wine producing and importing companies from all over the globe will be there. These include Mentzendorff, Enotria, Emilio Lustau and Constellation, all of whom will be showing off their latest offerings for both the on and off trade.

Along with the actual wines, many of the wine makers will be there to talk you through their creations for the coming year; traders will also be able to attend master classes throughout the three days to really hone their tasting skills.

I got my pass and a copy of The Grapevine this weekend, and having studied it to find my route for day, the wines that have caught my attention so far include the new range from Brown Brothers, the latest additions to the Montes Alpha range and of course the fantastic range sherries that will be available to taste. Boy can I not wait till Thursday! Hopefully I’ll have plenty of tastings to put on here!

Campo Viejo Tempranillo Rose

A friend came over for dinner last week, bringing with him the customary bottle of wine. So I thought, why not write it up on here! (Something I am going to be doing more often, as I get in to this so bear with me!)

The wine in question was a bottle of Campo Viejo Tempranillo Rose 2007, not a wine I would buy myself, not being a big fan of Rose, but when it’s free who’s complaining?

Firstly, a bit of history for you; the Tempranillo Rose is the latest addition to the highly successful Rioja brand, Campo Viejo, and is produced from 100% Tempranillo which is Spain’s classic red grape variety. A very pleasant, youthful, refreshing wine it is bright pink in colour with the aromas of raspberries, strawberries and plums. Quite a simple wine, it showed the same flavours on the palate, and had a good balance between the acidity, sweetness and fruit flavour.

All in all, it was an acceptable quality wine, though nothing thrilling. Best drunk chilled on a warm summer’s day!

My Dream Job

Wow….I’ve found my dream job! California’s Murphy-Goode Winery is offering $10,000 a month for someone to eat good food, drink wine and live in a luxury home and blog about their experiences. The successful candidate will get a deluxe private home in Healsburg (which is within walking distance of their tasting room) as well as your return airfare.

In return all the lucky ‘winner’ will be expected to do is explore Sonoma County’s vineyards and embrace social media, buy posting weekly blogs, photo diaries, video updates and media interviews, as well as ‘tweeting’ and ‘facebooking.’ During your time out there, you also get the opportunity to create a special wine to mark your time with the company!

To apply you need to complete the online application (http://areallygoodejob.com/overview.aspx) and post a 60 second video about yourself….Oh and the closing date is the 5th June – good luck!

Now then where’s my video camera…

More Bad News for Champagne

Despite all the hype about the tasting of the world’s oldest bottle of champagne this week by Perrier Jouẽt, the industry has been dealt a blow with Moẽt Hennessy Champagne reporting a slump in their sales of 35% in the first three months of 2009, according to Decanter (you can read the full article here http://www.decanter.com/news/281561.html). Brands under the Moẽt Hennessy umbrella include some of the most luxurious champagnes like Moẽt & Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, Ruinart, Mercier and Krug.

Is this a sign that the global economic downturn has hit the luxury good market? Or could it just be a post-Christmas slump? And could this be why Louis Vuitton Moẽt Hennessy is rumoured to have held talks with Diageo about the possible sale of its wine interests? Though, I must stress this has been denied by both parties.