Baron de Hoen - Reisling Burgreben

I'm watching last week's Torchwood and need something to calm my nerves as death stalks the corridors of a hospital. My legs ache after a workout at the gym earlier this evening.
Winter is back with a vengeance, a sprinkling of snow on the hills I can see from the office window. It's been a long and decidedly stressful day. Too much work, not enough time.......

Anyway, back to business. I've opened a bottle of Vin d'alsace riesling from the cellar.

It's golden straw in colour, a rich sunshine yellow. It's strong on the nose with tropical fruits, lychee's and honeysuckle.

I take a sip, sucking in air to release the flavours, they burst on to my tongue, nectar and grapefruits. Acidity is high as it slides down my throat. It has great length that leaves a lingering citrussy coating on the tongue.

After a few sips I melt in to the sofa and let my aches, pains and stresses of the day melt away.

Available from Nicolas, £9.25

Cantina Zaccagnini - Montepulciano d' Abruzzo 2003

The sky is clear and there's a stiff cold November breeze. We dart from our apartment on Horatio Street to La Foccacia a small bistro in Manhattans meat packing district close to the hum of Village life. The welcome is warm and friendly and the place is full of locals. We slowly take off our layers and settle down to peruse the menu. The wine list has many wines, some familiar but plenty of new faces too.
After a 7 hour flight from Edinburgh and a tinge of jet lag hanging over me I plump for known territory. I don't think I've ever had a disappointing Montepulciano d' Abruzzo. This one is from Cantina Zaccagnini. This cantina produce a great many different wines and have some award winners in amongst them. 2003 was a hot year in Italy but successful as the montepulciano grape can stand the heat with excellent results. The Il vino dal Tracetto was as expected. The solid familiar deep red and the aroma of stewed damsons and suet pudding. It's dry, smooth east drinking wine and I wish there had been a chocolate on the dessert menu, I just love this wine type of wine with dark chocolate.......
It's not fancy or complex and as I said there were no surprises, a perfect wine for this occasion.

As I'm finding with most Italian wine producers Cantina Zaccagnini has a cool website: http://www.cantinazaccagnini.it/

There wines are inexpensive and can be bought from:
http://www.thecellardoor.it/

La Serre 2006 Sauvignon Blanc - defining modern France

At least that's what it says on the label.

It's Saturday night and friends we haven't seen since leaving NZ arrive for a flying visit, a visit that coincides with the Scotland v NZ game in the Rugby World Cup.
We choose a small restaurant on the Lothian Road that appears to provide every type of eastern promise......Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian...........I'm surprised that a Riesling isn't on the wine list, a great match for this type of food.
At £12.95 a bottle La Serre is cheap but I wouldn't say cheerful, more quite happy.
Originating from Southern France it's not too green and is quite different to the NZ SBs our guests are used to.
We catch up on news and gossip from NZ and predict the scores for tomorrow's match, all in all a great evening. We are last to leave the restaurant and head home amongst the loud and vibrant party goers of the city.

Tasting notes:
It's not a powerful on the nose but you can detect subtle ripe white fruits.
On the palate it's dry but not tart with a hint grass but powerful white fruits such as pear and melon.