This week I'ave been mostly drinking...

Susan Ross, Logistics Manager

We all had a fabulous tasting with the brand ambassador for Innis & Gunn on Thursday evening in our retail shop.  However, rather than go home with an armful of beer for the weekend, which I think I’ll leave until nearer Christmas and stock up for some gifts and guests, I decided to try a couple of wines I haven’t yet managed to – we are in the enviable predicament that we are so spoilt for choice, it is a bit of a headache choosing which wine to take home for the weekend, never mind the potential headache once its drunk!

So the choice for Sunday dinner was Camillo De Lellis Biferno Rosso Riserva Doc.  All of our shop customers rave about this wine, and now I know why.  It is a great wine without the great price ticket.  It’s Italian, from the area of Molise which is one of Italy’s smallest and least developed wine regions, and this wine oozes rustic charm. Jammy on the nose and smooth and deep in flavour – a perfect pairing for Sunday Roast.

My other choice, and again, one I’ve chosen to bring in to sell in our shop but hadn't actually got round to tasting it yet was Miopasso Fiano and I definitely needed to try this one - I’m a great lover of Italian and Spanish wines, to me they offer something a little different from the norm and Fiano is no exception to this.  I wasn’t disappointed!  Fairly deep in colour, quite golden, so I was expecting it to be perhaps a bit heavy, however, no, it was quite light in texture with loads of fruit: peachy and pear flavours, with a nice crispy and refreshing finish.  

Clive Holroyd, Database Manager

We're having a cracking Autumn in this part of the world. Although a handful of trees are bare there are many nearly in full leaf and a few of those are even still showing some greenery, so a stroll round the Perthshire hills will reveal a glorious panoply of greens, browns, reds, oranges and golds. Then there's the air - crisp, cold and clear; breathing it makes you feel extra alive and the clarity highlighted by the low sun means you can literally see for miles. Amazing. Now where was I? Oh yes, wine. I start craving hearty chunky soups and stews at this time of year- we had a delicious butternut squash and paprika soup at the week-end and I think that venison haunch in the freezer will work really well with some freshly picked hedgerow fruits which are in abundance at the moment. Something full and fruity is called for on the drinking front and as luck would have it, Russell's just put a full and fruity mixed case on our website.  I chose a bottle of the VinaApaltagua Huaquen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva Chile 2010 from said case. I've already tried and enjoyed the Carmenere from the same producer so expectations where high, and I wasn't disappointed. Most tasting notes mention strawberries but I got more black and redcurrant in a full and generous but not overpowering drink from an all too small bottle. Maybe I should have bought the whole case after all.

Dianne Barrie, Company Administrator 

This week I ‘ave been mostly drinking…whisky. Yes, that’s right, whisky! Since tasting the Old Perth some months back when it was re-launched at a tasting in our retail shop, I have started to “get in to” whisky. I am, of course, far from what could be described as a very ‘educated’ whisky drinker, but I am starting to become a little more familiar with the differences in whisky styles produced in different regions of Scotland. I have to admit that I do have a preference for the softer, sweeter, fruitier whiskies – I find that I haven’t quite developed a palate for the heavier smoky, peaty styles…yet. Anyway down to this week’s choice, which I learned was actually named after a long lost distillery that once produced whisky just up the road from here between Milnathort and Forgandenny! That distillery was Stronachie. Established in 1890, the distillery finally closed its doors in 1928 when, like so many others, was forced to close following a slump in the whisky industry after the First World War.  Only four bottles of the original Stronachie from the actual distillery existed, and the story of the name's revival started in 2002 when Dewar Rattray (now A.D. Rattray) bought a bottle of Stronachie from 1904 at auction. They decided to try and recreate a whisky from this lost distillery and distribute it once again. A sample was taken from the 1904 bottle which A.D. Rattray tried to link to characteristics of a distillery still in operation - Benrinnes Distillery in Speyside, which now supplies the whisky that goes in to Stronachie. I tried the 12 year old, which I found to be lovely and rich with a very enticing honey nut flavours. There is also a slight touch of smoke on the palate from this whisky, but for me this seemed to bring out the fullness of the endnote flavours of toffee, which were almost Muscovado sugar-like in quality. A very enjoyable dram.