Whisky and other wonderful things

(Yes, I’m back already. The bubbly disappeared rather quickly – funny how that always seems to happen, isn’t it? – and we found a bottle of red.)

From Chateau Ksara, Bekkaa Valley, Lebanon, no less. I think Lebanese wine is a first for me. According to the label on the back it’s “Issued from a well-ripened Syrah 55% and Carignan 25% base and held up with some Cabernet-Savignon 10% and Grinache 10% which confers an exotic concoction of spices and black fruits with clean acid and tannins.”

Well, let’s see.

Yeah, I get the black fruits, more specifically black currants. Loads of those on the palate. And spicy it is, cardamoms and cinnamon (without the sweetness one would normally associate with cinnamon, though, it kind of reminds me of Greek cooking), though dry, somewhat dusty ground spices, rather than the very fresh stuff. Not at all unpleasant.

The nose is something else, though. A bit gluey and what else is there is not very interesting.

An interesting aquaintance, but not a likely repeat.

British sparkling wine, no less, with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes. We drank another Ridgeview wine earlier in the year, but I did not take notes, so I can’t remember much beyond the contents of the bottle disappearing rather quickly. We’re fans of British sparkling wine, really, the quality seems to be very high for the price one has to pay, but it’s not exactly widely available over here – these from Ridgeview are from a (one-off?) consignement that suddenly showed up at Vinmonopolet and we naturally jumped at the chance to try them.

I’m on the mend from a cold, and have been putting off a few whisky nosing-and-tastings that I’m eager to get at because I suspect my nose is not up to it. Not the best start for bubbly-notes, either, but it’s been a long time since we had a bottle of bubbly and we have the perfect excuse in that I am now permanently employed as of 1st November (and back to a “proper” salary). I’ll note what I can, in any case.

The nose is fruity, with a pleasant sweetness, putting me in mind of tinned fruit salad. I also get a whiff of something which reminds me of Danish butter cookies.

Then for the taste. It’s hardly bone dry, but not too sweet either. I get lemon sherbet on the back of the tounge and something a little like pears as well. In fact, it’s very lemony. Nice, but not the best British bubbly I’ve had. It’s in a price range where we might conceivably buy it again, though, and there is nothing here to discourage me from doing so.