In September I gave a talk to The Tuesday Club in Pézenas about the 2017 vendanges. Jeff bottled some Cinsault and Cabernet Sauvignon for me, the latter still fermenting. When I opened a bottle at the talk it overflowed because of the CO2 being produced. Well, on Saturday I opened the other bottle and I did say it might produce a lot of foam so I opened it over the sink. In fact all but about 5cm of the bottle flew out of the bottle and went everywhere. The power of fermentation! Thank you to Linda and Iain for helping to clean up. I can say that the wine which survived was very good!!
On a cleaner note. I don’t often buy wine from the high street these days. However, I read a report about a Georgian white vinified in amphorae or qvevri as they are called in Georgia. As orange wines have been one of my highlights of 2017 I decided to buy a bottle. Well, it was really good. Made from the Rkatsiteli grape it had a lovely long flavour of pear and apple with nice tannins and real character. Hats off to Marks & Spencer, I went back and bought some more bottles.
amarchinthevines 
December 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm
Very reasonably priced for a qvevri wine, I thought. Then I read on the M&S website “The grape juice and skins are fermented together, then partially matured in large clay jars known as Qvevri that are buried in the earth for several months, developing the wine’s rich, unique style”, which reads to me as “AFTER fermentation, SOME of the wine is put into qvevri for maturation”. However the label distinctly says the wine is fermented in qvevri. Regardless, if the wine is good, it is good. Heck, I even sometimes drink wine that has been nowhere near a qvevri 😉 I’d love to try some, but doubt it would be available in my local M&S. Anyway, thanks for bringing it properly (I may have vaguely heard about it before) to my attention.
And wow what a mess! Did you manage to all the red wine marks out of the ceiling?
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December 5, 2017 at 8:12 am
There is certainly confusion in the detail Steve. As you say, however, at the price and with 25% off for 6 bottles (can be mixed) it’s a good pnce for a wine I enjoyed. There is a red version but that seems to be online only. It’s good to see Georgia making it to the mainstream.
The ceiling will need to be repainted, the blind replaced. Whoops!
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December 5, 2017 at 10:14 am
Absolutely on the Georgian wine, Alan. (Just tried to “like” your comment but don’t think it worked)
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