Errazuriz are a rapidly becoming a benchmark of solid Chilean quality wines - a brand that can balance quantity of production and quality.  I am always pleased to open a bottle.

'Kay, Syrah Syrah: Errazuriz Max Reserva 2009 Syrah from Chile

Never more so than this evening.  After a trip to the butchers this afternoon where I picked up a fine array of minty lamb chops to have with fresh curly kale from Kent, what better accompaniment than a bottle of Syrah (see photo above).

The aromas evoke dark fruits like black cherry and currants with spices; all very autumnal.  The colour is deep ruby red as one would expect.  It's a good mouthful of wine with relaxed tannin so I'm not left smacking my lips in search of water.  It is, as one would imagine, a food wine.  This is good news for me as I have decanted some to savour with the meat and also tipped a little into the oven dish.  

Due to a good all round balance, this wine could be stored for a few years... but what's the point?  Crack it open and get stuck in.  

I notice on Classic FM they're offering wine and music pairing tips.  Well mine for today is this Errazuriz Max Reserva '09 Syrah with Carlos Gardel's tango 'Por Una Cabeza'.  There's a lovely version on Nicola Benedetti's album, 'The Silver Violin'.



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Climate change podcast

Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces. 

 

As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.

 

 

Britain’s lamentable exit

On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.

I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!

 

Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.

 

Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.

 

The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.

 

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