Chris, on Wine
Welcome to my wine cellar, where I tell you about the wines I’m thinking, drinking, and sometimes cellaring.
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I’m passionate about wine! I’ve been enjoying and collecting it for over 50 years and I’ve built several home wine cellars during that time.
I started this blog to share my thoughts on the wine that I’ve been drinking. I’d welcome your comments … Chris Miley
Champagne Charles Dufour Bulles de Comptoir #9 Tradition, 12% alcohol
This ninth edition of the Bulles de Comptoir, called Tradition, is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 10 Pinot Blanc. The vines are located in in Aube region, some way from the traditional Champagne heartland. 80% of the wines come from...
Bodegas y Viñedos Juan Manuel Burgos, Avan Tinto, 2018
The colour of this Bodegas y Viñedos Juan Manuel Burgos Avan Tinto is deep dark red with a purple tinge. The nose is intriguing with new discoveries in every sniff: plums, spicy oak, chocolate, savoury/earthy notes and some light toffee oak. It’s...
2019 Pike’s Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
Pike's 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon is from the Polish Hill River region of the Clare Valley in South Australia. This Pike's SBS is a really versatile wine to drink with some of the mildly spicy food we enjoy here in Penang. It has the citrus...
Two Quintessential Barossa Reds
2018 Grant Burge Miamba Barossa Shiraz, 14.5 % Deep dark impenetrable red black colour, intense nose of pepper spice, plum and chocolate. Palate as above, ripe plums, chocolate, liquorice and slightly grainy but soft tannins become more integrated...
100 Point Wines from Argentina – who knew?
Well, it’s one thing to be invited to share some 100 point wines for a friend’s birthday, but quite another when said friend not only provides the 100 pointers, but cooks a Michelin star quality meal to go with them. That two of the 100 point wines...
2017 PAUL MAS Estate Languedoc GSM, 14.0%
This Paul Mas Estate Languedoc GSM can currently be found at the new Straits Quay wine shop, Zen's Wines and Spirits. The colour is a deep dark impenetrable red with a purple rim. Enticing nose of ripe plums, or even spiced plums, and chocolate,...
Non-Gin Cocktails
In previous blogs we've looked at how to brighten up your basic G&T, and then we followed up by looking at some gin based cocktails. Here we look at some of our favourite non-gin based cocktails. Try some out, and please leave any comments in...
A Few Gin Based Cocktails
Part Two Of Getting Creative With Your Essential Isolation Item, Gin. A few of our favourite gin based cocktails. All measurements are per person. Ratios here are just what we have come up with to make it how we like it; you can have some fun...
Big Guns Blazing at this Bizarre Birthday
Since we could not invite people to come in to help celebrate my birthday, and we could not go out to a fine diner, we managed to bring the finer diner to us. Enter Indigo, the restaurant part of The Blue Mansion here in Penang. Delivered to...
Get Creative With Your Essential Isolation Item: Gin
PART ONE Alone and in lockdown, you have wisely stocked up on the essentials – wine and gin. So much gin, and so much time. Here are a few ideas on how to add some variety to the wonder spirit. Hopefully you’ve also stocked up on limes and lemons,...
Stand in Soiree – Lowdown on the Lockdown Wine Tasting, 18 March 2020
In these times of lockdown, lockout and occasional lunacy, the axe fell on our scheduled tasting event at our regular haunt, Vantage Wine. We took the sensible step of gathering a few essential items, and hunkered down for our own lockdown wine...
Winesave Pro, The Ultimate Wine Preserver
I’ve been using the Winesave Pro now for just on one year. in that time l’ve used not quite three canisters. I’ve been a wine collector, writer and consumer for many years, and now that we reside in the tropics I also mix a range of cocktails. What...