Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone.

Thank you so much for reading Quentin Sadler’s Wine Page – I am very grateful and hope that you enjoy it. Certainly the steeply upward trend of my readership would suggest that you do.

To show my appreciation, here is a Christmas card for you.

I am still planning what I am going to drink with my turkey, but would be interested in hearing about what you are going to be quaffing over the Christmas holiday.

This year I have decided not to dig out prized bottles from my collection, but to concentrate on very drinkable, enjoyable wines that I have tried over the last 12 months. So, some of the star wines from these pages will be making an appearance at my dining table this Christmas and I will report back as to how it all goes.

So, enjoy the festivities and enjoy your wine.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Thoroughly modern Spanish wine

I recently attended a press tasting of Spanish wines entitled Spain on the High Street. There were lots of pretty good wines there, but sadly many of the reds failed to excite me.

That is not because they were bad or that you cannot get exciting Spanish red wines on the high street – you can. I defy anyone not to be excited by this wine, or this – they are both amongst my favourite easily obtainable delicious red wines of the moment. I would also give this a go if I was you, it isn’t in the same league and Aldi are not on many high streets, but the wine is amazing value for money. A little more pricey, but a great experience for Christmas would be this little gem of a wine.

So, perhaps the selection just didn’t excite me that day – however some of the whites were very good indeed and I thought that I would bring a few of the best value ones to your attention in the run up to Christmas.

Real quality on the outer reaches of Burgundy

Stephen Taylor (on right) with Pascal & Veronique Therain

When we think of Burgundy it is almost always the famous names that goes through our mind – names like Gevrey-Chambertin, Nuits-St-Georges, Chablis and Meursault. Sometimes I think this is a pity as there is a wealth of other, less famous areas that are well worth exploring. We are all on the look out for less expensive Burgundy that gives attractive drinking and some of these places provide precisely that.

Less famous than these are the wine districts on the outer reaches of Burgundy; Irancy, St Bris – this village applellation makes only white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc. There is also a host of areas that produce wines labelled up as ‘Bourgogne’ plus the name of their area or village; Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre, Bourgogne Côte Saint-Jacques, Bourgogne Coulanges-La-Vineuse can all be worth a try.

Cakebread – a great Napa winery

Wine makers and winery owners are usually engaging and interesting people and I have been fortunate enough to meet quite a few in my career. However one of the most agreeable and charming I have ever met is Bruce Cakebread, President and C.O.O. of Cakebread Cellars – the winery that bears his family name.

I was thrilled to meet him in Napa last year, I have always loved Cakebread wines, so a it was great to put a personality and a face to the wine. Bruce not only runs the family winery, but is also president of the board of directors for the Napa Valley Vintners.

Bruce Cakebread

I have been lucky enough to bump into him a couple of times since then and his wines always impress me with their finesse and elegance, so I thought it was about time that I told you a little about them.