Another Food Blog

This Lindemans Cawarra was a pretty decent south-east Australian Semillon-Chardonnay blend, in that order. It was a decent 13.5% and had quite an excellent nose – difficult to distinguish from some of the better examples from the same region. There’s a very helpful label on the back with two sliders showing how dry or fruity it is and how light or full-bodied it is. Both are at about sixty percent towards the latter, which you might find a good guide, although personally I think it’s only useful if the indicator is at one of the extremes or bang in the middle. I prefer to describe the flavours. In this case, the body was only lightly oaked but had good buttery depth, and hints of melons and background oranges. The finish was dry and quick, but left a decent tang, making you want more. Give it a go near a warm fire one night, so as not to drink it too cold.

This was a Chardonnay-Semillon blend from 2008, made by Heritage Road, with subtitle ‘Moonstone’. It was south-east Australian and 12.5%. There’s really only one thing to say about this wine: classy. Its flavours were so similar to a lot more expensive Burgundy whites that I was quite taken aback, having paid only £3.99 for it! The nose had those wonderful fresh-hay aromas so typical to this style, the body extended them to some extent whilst also cutting through a delicous toffee-butter flavour with some citrus, and the finish was lengthy and dry. I found mine at Sainsbury’s.

There are many things you can grill, ranging from a cheese-coated mushroom to the latter stage of a cheese-topped shepherd’s pie. My favourite is a chicken leg – drumstick and thigh together. From the fridge, this takes me, on my grill, about eleven minutes on each side, and I prefer to do the underside before the top, so that I end up with an appealing browned top at the end. This length of time also ensures it’s cooked throughout without drying it out, and I keep the oven door closed for two reasons: one, to maintain the heat on the underside of the chicken leg; and two, to keep in the oven some of the moisture that’s released. It works very well with almost any combination of herbs, but precisely where to put them is always tricky. I usually use leafy herbs that can be placed on top after cooking. And salt is almost an absolute for this dish, as without it, the blandness would be overwhelming.

This was new and quite novel rosé, it apparently (from the front of the bottle) being made entirely of Chenin Blanc. Knowing this to be impossible without false colouring (which might well be illegal depending on where it’s from), I made a cursory investigation on the back of the bottle. The label explained that just the smallest amount of Pinotage was used, too, which is jolly good, as South Africa, where this Cullinan View is from, makes both those grapes superbly. As you can see from the photograph, the wine was a reasonable pink colour, about middle-of-the-range. It was also 12.5%, which didn’t really quite cut through the low acid and slight sweetness on the body well enough for me, but the aroma was red berries and the finish dry, as I like it. Apparently, the wine maker had such difficulty convincing the Wines Standard Board that this blend was legal that it took him nearly eight months! Fortunately, it resulted in a relatively interesting wine, mostly like Chenin Blanc but with more roundedness from the Pinotage, in this case, from 2007/8.

Clearly the makers of this wine have something of a sense of humour, given the pun on the name. This one was a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, at 13% and from 2009 (nice and young – just how I like them). Although not from New Zealand, this was particularly similar to the better ones from Marlborough there, with that full tang which probably comes from it being so young. The nose didn’t quite leap out of the glass as one might expect, but was a subtler version of the usual, perhaps with more apple. The body threw apple out quite significantly, along with some lime, and some lemon, which was weird – I don’t usually find both lime and lemon on the body together. The finish had clear and cutting liquorice, and later a subtle pine-like flavour. Definitely a good buy at £5, but drink it soon!