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Julie & Neil Swift
We are both 51 years of age and have just had our first grandchild Zak. We live in the beautiful Peak District.
Julie is the main wine taster as she was the daughter of a publican, learning to appreciate good wines from an early age. Neil has worked in the same place as a Lab Technician for the past 35 years, he was a football referee but now spends his Saturdays assessing referees.
We are a very sociable couple who enjoy hosting and going to parties (most weekends!). My how time and taste buds have moved on from the Liebfraumilch days, although we believe it is making a comeback. Julie has collected menus and recipes from the 1970’s to the present day, the price of a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio was £3.40 in 1978 in Topo Gigios restaurant in London.
7 April 2011
SAUVIGNON BLANC CHILE ODDBINS 13.5% Screw Cap £5.99 Buy 6 for only £4.47 each – Save 20% Mixable Drink within 2 years This bottle has a lovely eye catching label depicting the mountainous Andes mountain range that would certainly draw your eyes to the shelf. The name Terra Andina means ‘Land of the Andes’ which [...]
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28 March 2011
SAUVIGNON BLANC GUIRLANDE LOIRE VALLEY FRANCE ODDBINS 12.5% Natural Cork £6.99 Buy 6 for only £5.59 each – Save 20% Mixable Drink young This wine takes us straight back to the Loire valley where Neil used to be the Chairman of the Twinning Society between Darley Dale (Derbyshire) and Onzain (Loire, France). We have many [...]
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22 March 2011
WHITE RIOJA SPAIN Screw Top 12.5% Oddbins (Buyers Choice case of 6 mixed) £7.49 Buy 6 for only £5.99 each – Save 20% Mixable Drink young within 21 months White Rioja is not a wine I am that familiar with, it is made from the Viura grape and I can honestly say this is not [...]
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22 November 2010
Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand Marlborough Estate Marks & Spencer Mixed Case £45 Screw Top 13.5% Picnic Time! The great outdoors beckons with this Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough Estate on New Zealand’s South Island. A little fact for you is that not one vineyard on the South Island is more than 80 miles from the [...]
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28 September 2010
CHARDONNAY BURRA BROOK 2009 AUSTRALIA SCREW CAP 13.5% MIXED CASE £45 Chris Murphy’s favourites Marks & Spencer Chris Murphy has been sourcing wine for M&S for well over 20 years. In the mixed case there was a selection of Chris’s all-time favourite wines from around the world. On opening the bottle there was no immediate [...]
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27 August 2010
Pinot Grigio Italy Marks & Spencer Mixed case £45 Natural Cork 12.5% This is a wonderfully-crisp, modern, aromatic, dry medium-bodied white wine from the Lombardy region in the North of Italy. The initial bouquet on the nose was of lemon and lime, pear drops and a hint of spiciness. I feel this is a well-knitted, [...]
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10 May 2010
Retailer: Tesco ABV: 12.5% Closure: Cork Price: Tesco Finest 2 for £10 on offer After watching James Martin on Saturday Kitchen on the BBC on Saturday May 1st and watching Chef Bjorn Van Der Horst cook a dish called Al cremate with a little gem, dandelion and watercress salad served with homemade aioli. They recommended [...]
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17 March 2010
ABV: 13% Closure: Screw Top Serving Temp: 10ºC to 12ºC Price: £9.99 approx Retailer: Naked Wines After unscrewing the bottle I took a ‘sniff’ and was hit in the nose immediately with the smell of pears with a hint of grapefruit. My kind of wine I thought and I was not disappointed. It is a [...]
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26 February 2010
Retailer: CO-OP (Wine of the month) Price: £3.99 Closure: Screw Top ABV: 11% Suitable for vegans A classic Sauvignon Blanc with the flavour of ripe gooseberries and green apples on the nose followed by a clean crisp acidity and a refreshing finish on the palate. I drank it well chilled with friends over lunch (toasted [...]
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18 February 2010
Producer: San Pedro Retailer: Sainsbury’s Closure: Screw Top ABV: 13% Price: Usually £7.99 but on offer at the moment 3 for £10 The flavours that came through on the first nose to me was of fresh cut melon with vanilla hues. On the first slurp it oozes crisp juicy yet soft in the mouth tropical [...]
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3 February 2010
Chardonnay is not one of my top 5 favourites of white wine so it was interesting to taste it mixed with Viognier, a wine I know little about. The combination was great, and not too over powering with flavour, even though the alcohol percentage was high for a white wine. I shared this wine with [...]
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