What the Wine Society says:

"It’s always a special pleasure to see our own livery staring back at us once the bottle bags are removed at our Wine Champions tastings, and this ripe, fragrant montepulciano – the first of six Champions from Italy’s outstanding 2015 vintage – was a popular performer. Vibrant and versatile everyday red. 

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the seldom overpriced but frequently variable wine made from the eponymous red grape variety on Italy’s Adriatic coast. At its best it is flavoursome, deeply coloured and delightfully fruity. Most of the wine here is produced at winemaking co-operatives.

The Society’s version is made by the Roxan co-operative, known for their special relationships with 700 individual growers who, unusually in a co-operative set-up, are given a significant amount of input into the final wines. While up to 1,000 hectares of land is farmed, less than 10% of the grape yield in each vintage is actually bottled by the co- operative which keeps quality control reassuringly strict. These are smooth, stylish wines at the price. The winery itself is located in the town of Rosciano, near Pescara, and each bottling tends to be drawn from vineyard-specific sites.

Buyer Sebastian Payne MW recalls that The Society first looked to buy wines from the Roxan co-operative after Edoardo Valentini, the brilliant but eccentric local winemaker and one of the most influential figures of his generation, sold his surplus grapes to it. Valentini was fiercely secretive, shunning wine critics and the wine establishment in general, yet this particular co-operative was the only one he trusted to turn his grapes into good wine. He died in 2012, but his son continues his estate, and upholds his father’s trust in the Roxan co-operative."

What we say:

One of the first bottles I bought from the Wine Society and it's one of their most popular wines apparently. We had this as a family and I very much enjoyed it. We drank it with bolognese and it went down a treat; not a sweet wine but what I think of as a classic red. 

​Buy again. 

We made these the other night. Just a nice way to make your sausages a little more exciting. If you burn the dish like we did, the best bet is to soak it and then if it still doesn't clean, fill it up with boiling water and some washing up liquid and then boil it in the oven. That does the trick.

Elena and I went here for a meal a few weeks ago now. It's a little restaurant in Greek Street, which is close to Leicester Square/Tottenham Court Road tube station. There's a cheeky cut through on Manette Street (google it). We had a really nice little meal. You cannot book and the restaurant is small so you have to be aware that you might not get a seat. However, if you are lucky, as we were, then you can expect to enjoy a funky tapas-esque meatball extravaganza. 

In terms of the food, their christmas special dish was fab and quite fun and a bit different. The other huge standout was their brownie with I think candyfloss (sounds weird, tasted divine). 

Top evening. 

What the Wine Society says:

​"About the wine:

A deeply coloured, richly textured, full bodied Languedoc red. The flavour is of a very ripe, dark, fruity blackcurrant and blackberry with a touch of oak. 

Family-owned for many years, this domaine of 60 vineyards produces some of the region's finest carbernet-merlot blends. The Teisserenc family have experimented and innovated for many years now, and farm their many and varied plots sustainably, having earned Terra Vitis certification for their environmental thoughtfulness. Paradoxe Rouge is a blend of Mediterranean and Bordelais varieties, grown on sandy-silty and stoney soils and hand-harvested well into October. Now to 2023.

Wine and Dine:

An excellent time to revisit the art of the daube be it lamb or beef, enriched with olives, orange peel and the extra kick of dried provence herbs. Bursting with deep southern warmth and ripeness, this dark, sweet, velvety red is aso the perfect match for an aubergine stew (see SocietyGrapevine.com)"

What we say:

Germanic came to stay the other day, which was lovely. On the second night, we met up with Elena and we all went skating at the Natural History Museum (unsurprisingly I was terrible but eventually nearly got the hang of it - the other two were pretty good - I was impressed). We then returned and cooked some burgers together. We had a lovely evening and Elena provided some rather splendid apple cake and ice cream! Niiciceeee.

First thing to note about this wine is the bottle. Funky as. The only issue I discovered was that the neck of the bottle is a tad wide for some bottle openers but this really is not a big issue and where there's a will to open a bottle, there is a way!

I personally thought that the wine was nice - it was not too strong and we all seemed to enjoy it with the burgers. At 14% it is quite strong but you don't really taste it as you can do with some wines (if that makes any sense).

Good stuff. Personally think I prefer something a little more "robust" #winewords #technicalterm #basicallyIMeanStrong.

What the Wine Society says:

"Unearthed from a cellar in Vernou, this fully mature Vouvray is chenin blanc in the old-fashioned style, with earthy, mushroomy quince and crab-apple flavour, and a certain soft-pillow charm. It may go on for years yet but our recommendation is to drink it now."
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What we say:

I bought this for Elena and I as it was the oldest bottle I could find and thought it'd be fun to try something a little older than we are. We had a lovely evening in London and gently made our way through the bottle with some home made curry. 

The wine itself is golden in colour and is much sweeter than I was expecting. However, this made it thoroughly drinkable. It was a great evening and would buy this again for something a bit funky.

(As always, shout out to Will and George who are still kayaking! Go check their page out: here).