Come winter, come cold

The joy of this season is among others the need for the heavyweights from the cellar. We tend to drink a lot of Shiraz, Syrah and Chateauneuf and other wines, high in alcohol, strong expression and the guts to deal with heavier, more robust foods.
Tonight it´s Roast chicken (organic), roasted winter veggies with oliveoil, honnie , salt and pepper with a lovely Aussie Shiraz , Massena "Eleventh Hour" 2002. Tasted this before this is the strongest showing, leading me to believe, that allthough many of these fruitforward bombs are easy to drink at release, they really benefit from a rest in the cellar. This one had a clean blueberry nose, but also with some pepper and marzipan thrown in. Full on the body, sweet but with splendid acid to balance. Long finish. Very enjoyable.
Shiraz works great with a lot of food in fact. Disregard the sceptisism regarding the relatively high alcohol, which is also found in a lot of Chateuneufs´and you find a wine suitable for strong flavoured food. The alcohol seems to assist the body of the wine adding power and persistence. Sweet food, spicy food alike, shiraz tend to supplement, even more than I initially expected. A killer for barbecues and evidently for strong winter cuisine as well.


We always get an urge for some mature Bordeaux, whatever the season. And having very good success with Leoville Las Cases 1991, we decided to go for a 1993. A horrible year in Bordeaux, Las Cases still showed it`s class and breed. In fact, I have a hard time remembering a bad Las Cases. Blood and iron on the nose. Iron and black fruit on the palate, a bit hollow on the middle and not the longest finish. But fresh, sufficient concentration, breed and so addictive and easy to drink. Not cheap, considering the vintage but nearly worth the price. Get the 91 if you can get it.