What Jose tasted last week – 18th February

Jose is our resident wine enthusiast and has kindly agreed to try lots of wines and give you his opinions. Jose tells it exactly like it is so good or bad Jose will leave you in no doubt as to what he thinks.

Lots of candid reviews of what Jose ate, drank and watched last week all wines are given a score out of 100.

Cotes du Rhone rouge cuvee des Prelats 2008.
from Louis Bernard ( Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre). My tasting notes say "Smooth, vanilla, fruit of the woods with slight sharp aftertaste. But I notice that the sales blurb is " Soft, juicy with classic strawberry Grenache fruit matched with Syrah's tell-tale peppery spice. Rounded, ripe and fruity with bags of character." But no, they're not different wines . I'll concede Soft and Strawberry

but don't remember any peppery taste.Suffice to say it's a lovely wine. As I'm an unreformed uncouth I had it with a lightly creamy soup of tomato , corriander and  carrot soup  followed by moules mariniere . Thus breaking a whole lot of wine drinking rules. But,hey, it worked a treat.( £7.65 ). Our postprandial second bottle brought out all the wine's smoothness without any distraction from food.My rating 78.

Abadia, Raimat, Costers Segre, Crianza 2006.
(Cabernet Sauvignon,Tempranillo, Merlot.) .A cheapo to savour (at the price you can serve it to all and sundry).I had this with my wife's traditional Sunday roast lunch -and there's none better. Although a  Spaniard, I taught this to my Liverpudlian wife ( a runner-up in the kitchen) but, of course, her roasts are now much better than mine .Juicy roast beef  with the crispiest potatoes,fluffy inside and fresh veggies.All locally sourced in South Oxfordshire. A glorious Yorkshire pud to set it off. [recipe to follow]. Ahem, back to the wine.....Costers del Segre is a Spanish DO (Denominacion de Origen) in north eastern Catalunya province of Leida .Oak-ish. Hints of cherry ,strong nose and strong aftertaste. A snip at £6.50. My rating 70

Monasterio de Santa Cruz Tarragona DO 2005 by Mario Garcia
An intense deep dark red . Bottle is silent on grape type so I guess it's a blend including Tempranillo and a good dose of the local Monastrell.  (I'm told it's Mourvedre in France,see the Cotes du Rhone above). Smooth and spicy it goes great with chorizo and rich foods. I often have this when snacking in front of the telly as I did when Barcelona (or should I say Messi) stuffed Stuttgart 4-0. Only it wasn't so much a light snack as a hearty meaty beef tomato lasagne. Bring it on. An absolute bargain at £6.00.My rating 70

Aloxe Corton 1er Cru 2007 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils.
From Louis Latour a pinot noir burgundy red with a welcoming inviting nose, delicate summer fruit. This is one of those wines that should be enjoyed in comparative silence and just savoured. I bought my youngest son a bottle to rub it in that he'd not bought me a birthday present. I don't think it registered because he phoned to tell me it was great and where could he get another or would I be sending him another soon. I refrained from insulting his pedigree and parentage ,given that it brought me into the reckoning. So I opened a bottle all for myself ( I long ago convinced my wife it's in her best interest to be teetotal- well, no competition then, init ?)  Great with beef, steak, most things really. Terrific stuff , and good for the the price, I paid £29 on a special offer, more usually it's about £32. Don't give it to the neighbours, save it for yourself.My rating 88

Harrods Premier cru champagne (by M Hostomme et Fils, Chouilly) 
I've mentioned this before and I keep thinking up good excuses (really any excuses) to have another. This week I had a great round of golf , so that's so exceptional it needed at least one bottle. About £29.90. Hints of citrus , peachy ,nutty taste.My rating 80