What I drank this Christmas

I'm currently having a dry January, so I thought I would reminisce about some of the fabulous wine I drank this Christmas. 

I always find that everyone tends to splash out a bit more over the Festive Period (including me!) and this one was no exception. So I thought I'd make a little note of all the ones I enjoyed the most.

At the beginning of December, I wrote about how I'd ordered the Christmas mixed case from Naked Wines. Without a doubt, my standout bottle from the hamper was the Hacienda Don Hernan Rioja Crianza 2012. Smooth, fruity and full of vanilla. We all absolutely loved it and I loved having something so rich and dark coloured in my glass. And, not too expensive at £13.99 a bottle.

Many of you may have read that I got married in Italy. My brother, who has fabulous taste in wine, bought all of the wine for after the meal. And, as usual it was all delicious. He'd originally been to Greve in the Chianti region to buy the wine, but on New Year's eve he produced two bottles of the red as a surprise for my husband and I. What a treat. The Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva was as yummy as I remembered, all fruity and rich and brought back wonderful memories of our wedding day. Available from Berry Bros for £24.99. 

It wasn't just red wine that I particularly enjoyed. I had quite a few delicious bottles of white wine too. My favourite was almost certainly this bottle of Saint Clair Pioneer Block Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Marlborough which is £19.99 from Majestic. It just tastes expensive and I can assure you it is worth the extra pennies (and you get it a bit cheaper if you buy six bottles or "mix six" as they like to call it). Dry, elegant and packed with gooseberry fruits. Seriously slurpable. 

I can't talk about Christmas wines without mentioning a fizz. I drank a lot of very poor sparkling wine over Christmas, I really don't know why people buy cheap Champagne, because IMHO, it is nearly always rubbish. You're much better off buying a Prosecco or English Sparkling wine. As an example, I was sent a bottle of Valdobbiadene Prosecco Spumante DOCG as part of my membership of the Aldi Wine Club. At £7.49 a bottle, it is an absolute steal. Light, fresh and creamy - you honestly wouldn't guess this was so reasonably priced nor from a no frills supermarket. I also really enjoyed the Sacchetto Prosecco Col de L’Utia Brut 2015 from Naked wines at £14.49 a bottle.

Finally, a sticky! On New Year's Eve, we enjoyed the William Pickering, 20-Year-Old, Tawny Port from Berry Bros (£26.95). A fairly sweet and nutty port, with notes of caramel. Dangerously drinkable. We had a lot of fun drinking it with our Port Sippers from Hintons Home. I'll review these in a later post, but they are fab! 

Anyway, these were just a snapshot of the wines I drank over Christmas. And, as my birthday was just before, I can assure you, there were many, many more! My liver hurts! Hence why I am now having a dry January! Did you have any wines over Christmas you'd like to share? Just let me know.

I went to Majestic to buy a bottle of wine.... And bought 2!

Yes, that's right, I went to Majestic and didn't have to buy six bottles of wine. 

Majestic has recently merged with Naked Wines and new CEO, Gormley, is making a whole load of changes at the wine retailer. The first of which is to scrap the ridiculous rule where you have to buy six bottles of wine! 

Anyone who reads my blog will know that I am a big fan of Naked Wines. If you are interested in them, you can read all about them here. So, if I'm going to buy in bulk, then I generally buy them from Naked Wines.

But, I really like some of the wines in Majestic and I'd much rather buy from there than a supermarket. Which is why I am absolutely delighted that they've ditched their six bottle rule.

So, I went into the Salisbury branch of Majestic today. It's perfect for me because it's on my usual afternoon dog walk and they let me come in with the dog (and the baby!)

I think the store helpers all thought I was a bit mental because I must have said about five times how excited I was that I could now buy single wines. But, there are very few places to buy wine in Salisbury (outside of supermarkets) and I'm nearly always on foot with the dog and six bottles is too many to lug around. And, it was a silly rule anyway.

The great thing about Majestic is that they always have a selection of wines open to try. And, you can come in and help yourself. No pressure, no hard sell. The dog and the baby love it.

The tasting counter at Majestic Salisbury

You can look on the website for your local branch and it will tell you what wines they have on the tasting counter. This week, they had a selection of Malbecs (as well as some white wines, a whisky, a rum and a brandy) that I was really keen to try. 

When I walked in, the trainee manager, Luis, welcomed me. He was really friendly and explained to me about the new pricing structure. Basically, you can buy individual bottles, but you only get discounts if you buy six. They call it "mix six" and it basically means that you'll get at least 10% off if you buy six or more bottles.

The labels are a bit confusing because they display the individual price and the "mix six" price. So they explained it to me three times when I was in the store. But I guess it is new and people will get used to it. 

I really like Malbecs and they had four on tasting. The Definition Malbec 2014, the Marcelo Pelleriti Malbec 2014 Valle De Uco, Mendoza, the Argento Malbec 2014 Mendoza and the Villa Nueva Malbec 2014 Mendoza.

The Malbecs that I tasted today

My favourite was definitely the Definition Malbec. The Definition range is Majestic's new own label range which they launched in September. But, it's certainly not a cheap white label. To give you an idea of the price, it costs £11.99 a bottle of £7.99 a bottle if you buy six. 

The Definition Malbec is from Argentina and is rich, plummy and chocolatey and easily my favourite from the day. I also bought a bottle of the Villa Nueva Malbec which was also lovely, but perhaps less punchy. I intend to do a blind taste testing with my husband tonight to establish whether I really did make the right decision or if my eyes were swayed by price.

I'll let you know the results.