Majestic Wine - What I chose

Hi there, and welcome to a quick midweek update on what I chose from Majestic wine. As usual, for a mixed-12 I followed my rules (see here:).

To be honest, this was fairly hard even following my rules given Majestic's huge range of wines. Something for every palate and pocket; they're well worth a look: http://www.majestic.co.uk/ . As I've said previously, they've just won the Wine Merchant of the Year in the Decanter awards (again). They seem to have good offers on "buy two bottles get £x-off " and regular 20%-off-region promotions, although if you're after something in particular, it may be a while before it comes around on offer.

Anyway, enough waffling, here's what I got:

1. Sparkler – Codorniu, Seleccion Raventos NV Cava £6.99. A seemingly good bargain here, highly rated by customers (4.5 stars).

2. Rosé – Lawson's Dry Hills Marlborough Pinot Noir Rosé £9.99. A Rosé from Marlborough Pinot Noir!? Yes. Should be a beauty.

3. The “off the wall” one – Chateau Musar 2002 £17.99. "A Chateau in Lebanon?", I hear you ask? Yes. Really looking forward to this one...

4. Something for the cellar (or wardrobe) – Clos de los Siete 2008 £12.99. A collaboration between famous wine consultant Michel Rolland and six other Bordeaux winemakers to explore the terroir of Argentina (hence the "Siete" or 7 - although one pulled-out and there are now six!).

5. Old World White #1 – Marques de Caceres, Rioja Blanco, 2009 £7.99. White Rioja normally goes for a lot more than this, but I thought I'd try it in search of value.

6. Old World White #2 – Verdiccio dei Castelli di Jesi, 2009 £7.49.Again, another potential bargain. We wanted to try the Verdiccio grape last time at Oddbins but forgot!

7. Old World Red #1 – Corona de Aragon, Shiraz, Carinena, 2008 £7.49. Never had a pure Shiraz from Spain before and this appeared to be a bargain hailing from the "up-and-coming" Carinena region of North-West Spain. Sun drenching should give it big flavour but hopefully they've tamed the alcohol?

8. Old World Red #2 – E Guigal, Cote du Rhone, 2006 £9.99. Probably one of the Rhone's most famous producers. His Cote-Roties and Condrieus go for very serious money indeed, well above my price point, however, this entry-level village wine should provide a glimps of the majic. Well, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

9. New World White #1 – Villa Maria, Private Bin Riesling, 2009 £7.99. Having really enjoyed this producer's wines in the past I thought I'd try the entry-level Riesling.

10. New World White #2 – Finca Las Moras, Viognier, San Juan £5.99. Real bargain basement here. From the San Juan province of Mendoza in Argentina. It could be a bargain or mass-produced guff. We won't know until we try...

11. New World Red #1 – Yarra Hills, Cabernet Sauvignon, Yarra Valley 2008 £7.49. Cool (ish) climate Cabernet from Australia's Yarra Valley. Again, a possible bargain.

12. New World Red #2 – Neblina, Carmenere, Central Valley, 2009 £5.99. Again, another possible bargain from Chile.

So that's it for the mixed-12. As you can see there's a definite theme of bargain hunting going on, most are well under £10 so should provide value drinking at the least. This is because I had to make room in my wallet for a few Christmas luxuries and some bottles for the wardrobe, ahem, I mean "Cellar"...

I also got:

Heidsick Gold Top Vintage 2004 Champagne for £20 - bargain.
Catena Malbec, 2008 - Always been enamoured with the adverts for Catena in Decanter magazine and wanted to try it. The Zapata goes for £40+ a bottle. I was a little more modest and kept to the 2 for £8.99 (normally £11.99).
Matetic EQ Syrah 2008 - Recent gold medal winning Syrah from Chile's Organic producer Matetic. £22. *Ouch*. But I will be putting this away for a (very) special occasion.
And lastly, some Vina Mayu Reserva Syrah 2006 - again, Gold medal winning stuff here for £11.99 a bottle.

So I'll let you know how we get on with these as soon as we drink them up.

Speak to you soon!

Cheers

WBFTF