Classic French Tasting @ 121

We had a full house, some new faces and a number of French Classic wines open in the shop last night.

We kicked off with the sparkly Baumard which is Pete's ideal aperitif. Fresh, zesty and crucially TASTY.

The Picpoul was a wee revelation..aromatic with an acidity to make you go weak at the knees.

The Cattin Pinot Blanc ticked all of the Alsace boxes and the Sancerre and the Rully were great.

And then we got into the reds...Nuits Saint Georges, Margaux, Fleurie and Vacqueryas! The Fleurie was by Potel Aviron from old vines (making for a bigger, richer wine) and would have gone perfectly with beef wellington. The Vacqueryas had a stinky blue cheese nose, and was the definition of power over elegance.

The favourite wine on the night was a tie between the Rully and the Vacqueryas, and the best value was undoubtedly the Cattin Pinot Blanc.

A groovy night all round, and only five sleeps till the Champagne tasting!

If you would like to attend some of our future tastings please visit our website www.inverarity121.com

Chairman of Islay's Gin Gang Loves Old Raj

We were lucky enough to have the Chairman of Islay's Gin Gang - John Bell in the shop and we couldn't resist letting him try our new favourite gin - Cadenhead's Old Raj.

The Old Raj gin is a rather special gin as it is the only one to be saffron infused which gives a lovely herbal kick. It is also one of a small number of gins that is bottling at 46% abv and we even have cask strength 'Navy style' bottle at 55% volume.

After trying them both Mr Chairman agreed that both were lovely but the 46% bottle was top tipple 'a beautiful gin, that when mixed with tonic makes one of the best drinks around'

.....and who are we to argue with the Chairman!

Tasty rose wine :)

Arguably the prettiest bottle in the shop from the lovely region of Campania in Italy (think Amalfi Coast, south of Naples). This dry rose has depth, character and complexity and is made using the local Aglianico grape. It's food friendly and de-lic-ious!

:)

Tell me why I don't like Mondays?

So statisically the third Monday of January is the most depressing day of the year - it must be true I read it in the paper! Luckly I have a way to beat the winter blues - Wine Tasting!!

We don't really open up wine on Monday but we have a possible large order for a future function and we were able to open up five bottles of wine that would hopefully seal the deal.

Some of what we tried....

Terres Fumees Sauvignon-2009 and Merlot-2009, both £7.99 and both from the warm Mediterrain terrior of the Carcassonne region within Languedoc.

The sauvignon has a fresh, fruity nose that has touches of gooseberry and a hint of dry spice. On the palate it's even softer with a lush off-dry note that makes this one very easy drinker. The merlot smelled warm and inviting, dark red currents and just a hint of bramble jam. To taste it's almost like juice with very little to suggest the 13.5% abv. and finishes with classic merlot charm of spices and lushness.

And to finish we opened a bottle of our own house claret - and my wine of 2010 - Chateau La Croix St. Benoit-2009, £9.99. The wine is an Inverarity exclusive and is one of the most accessible clarets I have come across. It's 75% cabernet franc and 25% merlot with the fruit coming form 30-40 year-old vines. The nose is quite big and beefy and laden with ripe dark berry fruit, blackcurrents and cigar box spice. The palate is softer and gentler but lasts for a lot longer than you would expect. Much of the same fruit as the nose but thats not a bad thing. For the value this was my wine of 2010 and it will take some thing special to stop this being one of my top recommendations.

Keep tasting.......tomorrow is another day

The Future of Whisky..........

The future of Whisky is now here in Inverarity121 - 185a Bath Street, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, Europe, The World!!

I might be guilty of some hyperbole in my time but it is your humble blogger's opinion that Kilchoman is the future of whisky -smalll scale, artisan, beautifully created, non-coloured, non-chill filtred and bottled at the right strength.

Kilchoman is one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland - a farm distillery none the less, on the beautiful Isle of Islay. They only opened in 2005 and have been causing waves ever since just by making great whisky in a very traditional way.

We have just recived our very first delivery of Kilchoman Winter Release... we got 2 cases in, but there are only 5 bottles left - and we even sold one to a very famous Scottish Celebrity - let's hope he drinks it! The collector in me wants to buy the rest and put them away - imagine buying an Ardbeg bottled four years after the distillery was founded. The whisky lover in me wants to buy the rest and drink it (responsibly) as there is so much flavour in there for such a young whisky. The peat dominates but in the glass there are some fantastic notes of nuts and vanilla essence and the finish just goes on and on. It is no wonder this is my main drink when at the bar of the Port Charlotte Hotel.

Come in and see us before we run out.......

Brave New World Tasting

Our first tasting of the year was a total sell out last night with over 20 guests sampling 9 wines - 2 bottles of each just to get around everyone.


As ever the aim was to be as informative as possible but still keep it informal. I'm sure that by the laughs had that everyone had a great time.




We started with a cheeky wee off-dry California rose that went down better than we thought it would. Then it was a round trip through the whites taking in New Zealand Sparkling, Argentina Verdelho, South African Sauvignon Blanc and finishing with Chilean Chardonnay. As interesting as they all were it was the Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc that was the most impressive for me - the ripe green fruit was right up your nose but the palate had a fantastic balance. This one can give any of the New Zealand Sauvignons a run for their money.


With the reds we started with a very soft, fruity, easy going Aussie Shiraz that lead perfectly into the Obvio Malbec from Argentina. The Obvio was a big, juicy, fruit pumping beast that was picked as the best value wine of the night and at £6.99 a bottle who are we to argue. Then came the last wines of the tasting Grove Mill Pinot Noir and the Meerlust Rubicon. These two produced the most discussion - the Grove Mill had quite a distinctive Burgundy-esque style but more red berry fruit and would be a good one on a blind tasting. The Meerlust Rubicon was a Cabernet/Cab. Franc mix that I would go for over most of the same priced Bordeaux's.


Question of the night: If all the vines in France have American root stocks does that not mean they are New World?


What we tasted in full...

Humbolt Coast Zinfandel Rose(USA)


Pelorus Brut NV(New Zealand)


Don Cristobal 1492 Verdelho-2008(Argentina)


Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc -2009(South Africa)


Santa Ema Chardonnay-2009(Chilie)


Dry River Shiraz-2009(Oz)


Obvio Malbec-2009(Argentina)


Grove Mill Pinot Noir-2009(New Zealand)


Meerlust Rubicon-2005(South Africa)





If you wish to attend a future tasting or set up a night of our own please visit our website http://www.inverarity121.com/ or call us at the shop on 0141 221 5121.

A Jura Kind of Afternoon

How to pass an afternoon while reading up for a wine tasting - an impromtu Jura tasting.

Two offerings from one of our top distilleries the Isle of Jura, the superstition and a single cask release from 2005.

For those of you who have never visted the 'Isle of the deer' it is well worth the trip over and the distillery is one of the must see distilleries of Scotland. The still room is magnificent and you will not believe the size unless until you see the stills.

Anyway.......

Jura Superstition is the slightly more peated version and is widley available. We found it to be such an approachable malt - while Pete was wishing he was sitting back in leather chair with a Romeo & Julietta cigar enjoying the mix of smoke to the peaty notes I was thinking more of sitting on a pier, near a peaty fire, as the fishing boats come in. Either way this is one very drinkable malt and I have to say so much beter than when it was first released. If you've not had this one for a while give it another try.

Jura-13 year-old Cask Strength was a completely different drink. Distilled 12th Feb. 1992 and bottled 20th May 2005, at 56.6% volume. The nose is quite dense with both touches of fruit but also a rather strong wood element, both fresh oak and old dunnage warehouses. With water there was a lot of fresh fruit and a lovely penny sweetie note but with a constant oaky edge. Pete felt it was tasty but the higher abv. dominated his enjoyment and I have to agree - when compared with the superstition this is not the best example of Jura. It should be repeated that this bottle was released over 5 years ago and is no longer for sale.

Keep tasting.....

Review: 3 Stones Riesling 2007

To prepare for the Brave New World Tasting tonight we thought we would try the 3 Stones Riesling 2007 from Hawkes bay in New Zealland. In order keep our highly trained senses of smell and taste trained to the top level I served this to Pete blind.

Pete's tasting note: On the nose lemon skins, slightly oily, touch of ripe sweet fruit. A little off-dry on the palate but very balanced and very drinkable.

For a blind tasting I have to say that he got the wine spot on. We will have on tasting for the rest of the day or until it runs out.

Pop in if you want to try it.

CAO Gold Maduro Review

The Maduro wrapper from Brazil adds a dark, sultry spiciness to this creamy, medium bodied cigar. One to enjoy with a strong coffee and a good book.

Hazelburn-8 year-old

Springbank but with a twist....

Hazelburn is the triple distilled single malt from those fantastic boys and girls down in Campbeltown. They only started producing this style in the early 1990's with a limited edition picture image.

This is one of the malts that I had always wanted to try but never really got around to. Boy did I miss the boat on this one - it is such a different malt to Springbank but I loved it. The triple distillation has added another layer of sweetness and taste.

We have one open for tasting if pop in.

On tasting now Inverarity Ancestral-14 year-old. A very easy drinking Speysider that has that classic sherry influence on the nose and plate.

Come in and see us...

theperfectsip is now the online blogspot for Inverarity121 the retail arm of Inverarity Vaults. The shop is located at 185a Bath Street, Glasgow and is run by comedy duo Peter Stewart and Andy Bell.

We will be posting up blogs of anything new that we feel you maybe interested in.

If you have any questions please contact us social@inverarity121.com or give us a buzz 0141 221 5121.