More on wine on Food & Wine Finds

It seems from the stats that there still is the odd person stumbling across this blog so I'm pleased to tell you that I've started a new blog called Food & Wine Finds which will cover drink as well as food. See you there!

Time to call time for the moment

Apologies to those of you who have started following this blog but I'm finding it hard to keep up in addition to my other commitments so afraid it'll have to be put on hold for the moment.

I'll try and put up the occasional post about drink on The Frugal Cook and you can read my thoughts on food and wine pairing and beer and food matching on www.matchingfoodandwine.com
and on Twitter.

And, who knows, maybe I'll pick it up again in a month or two . . .

Bye for now!

The great mineral water rip-off

Despite the reaction against bottled mineral water I still drink it in preference to tap. (Long explanation that could take up the whole of this post but basically I worry about the residues of drugs and other chemicals that it's carrying)

But there doesn't seem much justification for the discrepancy in prices between the heavily promoted brands and the supermarket own brands. I'm not saying they don't taste different - they do - simply that I'm not prepared to pay five or six times as much for a water I like than a water that is maybe a little more bland but perfectly refreshing.

Take San Pellegrino, for instance. A sparkling water which currently sells for 87p for a 750ml bottle in Tesco - or 11.6p per 100ml. You can buy 2 litres of Tesco's own Ashbeck Mountain Spring water at the moment for 33p or 1.7p per 100ml. If you put ice (made with still mineral water) and a slice of lemon or lime in it, it's delicious and a fraction of the price.

I will buy a branded mineral water I like when it's on special offer. Tesco currently has Evian for example at 60p for 2 litres which works out at 3p per 100ml, again, more expensive than an own brand equivalent but much, much cheaper than the £2 odd that you will pay for a medium-sized bottle at garages, stations and sandwich shops. (It's well worth buying a pack of six small individual bottles from the supermarket then keep on filling them from a large one once you've drunk the contents. And I always try and carry a bottle with me so that I don't have to pay the outrageous amount they charge in hotel mini-bars)

Interestingly there's a report in Le Figaro today saying that even the French have cut down the amount they're spending on mineral water and I'm sure the same is true of the UK. So where do you stand? Has the credit crunch made you give up your mineral water habit or change the type you buy or have you always drunk tap?

A good weekend to buy whisky

One of the new rules of supermarket shopping is to buy what everyone else wants - or what the supermarkets think they want. Those are the things on which there are the best deals.

In case it's escaped your notice tomorrow night is Burns' Night so the special offers this weekend are on on haggis, swedes and whisky of which the latter is by far the most appealing.

I've just spotted Grants, a perfectly decent brand on sale at Somerfield* for £10.49. Tesco, according to mysupermarket.co.uk has got Bells for £11.92 instead of £13.97 (surprisingly undercut by Ocado which is only charging £11.20 for it) and Talisker for £21.93 instead of £26.93. And Sainsbury's has got Famouse Grouse for £11.

All these brands of course are quite a bit dearer than the supermarket own brand whiskies which cost as little as £7.83 for Asda Smartprice whisky. I haven't got an ASDA nearby so can't tell you if it's any good but Martin Isark of supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk gives it 9/10. My view would be that's great for a cocktail or a toddy but if you're drinking it neat go for the Grouse - or the Talisker if the budget will run to it.

*Have just spotted on the Somerfield site that they also have Glenmorangie for £17.99 instead of £27.99, a whopping £10 discount which beats the Talisker deal. Probably not in all branches though.

A great sherry bargain

Amid the shelves of identikit bottles that now fill the average supermarket wine aisle it's incredibly exciting to come across a genuinely interesting drink: an authentic Spanish cream sherry made by the very respectable Lustau company for Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range.

Of course it's not selling otherwise why would they reduce it from £9.99 to £4.99, quite amazing for a sherry of this class and a full size bottle at that. You may, of course, be put off by the words 'cream sherry' but don't be - this is on the edge of being dry but with all that yummy squishy raisiny flavour that makes sweet sherry so delicious. It's almost like liquid fruit cake.

When to drink it? Well towards the end of or after dinner, I suggest - with blue cheese or dark chocolate or even with vanilla ice cream. There don't seem to be that many bottles left so snap it up while you can. RATING: *****

Two under £4 reds

Just as the average spend on a bottle of wine was creeping up, the credit crunch has brought it crashing down to earth with a bump again and the sub £4 price point seems more important than ever. I've seen a lot of wines over the last few weeks discounted 'by 50%' to £3.99 but would take that with a pinch of salt. They may be good value at £3.99 but they weren't worth £7.99 in the first place.

My eye was caught the other day by a Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon in Tesco at just £3.32. Now that's a blast from the past. When I first start drinking wine, long before the days of New World supremacy, Bulgaria was the source of some of the best cheap and cheerful drinking. So how does it compare now? See below:

Tesco Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon, Reka Valley £3.32
There's no vintage on this bottle which is always a bad sign (unless it's a bottle of fizz) though not half as bad a sign as the lurid Borat-like scene on the label. And those who have got used to the intense blackcurrant flavours of Chilean Cab, for example, are going to be in for a disappointment. It's drinkable - just - but frankly is more useful as a cooking or mulling wine. There's far better value drinking in Aldi and Lidl. Give it a miss. NO RATING.

Vineyard X Garnacha 2007, Borja (£3.98 a bottle or 3 bottles for £10, Threshers, Wine Rack)
Snap up this offer before the nanny state decrees that we can no longer have our 3 for a tenner deals. (Do they intend to ban offers on crisps and chocolate, I wonder, to prevent obesity?) It's a marvellous example of a modern Spanish red - exuberant, soft and juicy - at a terrific price, even at the one bottle rate. Knock back with any robust pub-style grub or a plate of tomatoey pasta or pizza. RATING: ****

A lovely, pure perry

We had supper with a food writer friend, Andrea Leeman, on Saturday night who’s researching a book on food and drink in Gloucestershire. To kick off the meal she produced a bottle of Day’s Cottage Perry which is made from such romantic sounding pears as Brown Bess and Blakeney Red.

I like perry in theory but am often disappointed by it. Either it’s too sweet, too weak and wimpy or too funky and farmyardy, but this was just essence of pears - pure and unadulterated. You could easily drink it instead of a white wine. In fact I’d infinitely prefer it to most wines of that price (£4 a full size (75cl) bottle).

The great thing about drinks like cider, perry and beer - along with foods such as bread, pasta and rice - is that most of us can afford, even if only occasionally, to buy the best there is - something that doesn’t apply to wine, whisky or meat, for example. Life’s little luxuries, I call them.

You can buy Day’s Cottage products in Bristol and Stroud’s weekly farmers’ markets or direct from the website at applejuice.care4free.net