Summary

At this time of year, we get asked two things. What wines we’d recommend. And will we wear silly Christmas stuff..?

So here you go – the double whammy, all wrapped up in a brand new format: Wine Blast Live, a 5-minute video-podcast, for your delectation.

Listen (or watch) as we try to gloss over our absurd festive attire while recommending our three top wines of the year, including a bargain option, the best wine we’ve ever tried out of a can (a white, as it happens), and a gorgeous red that represents a large slice of humble pie for Susie. 

Here’s the video:

Wines

Raul Perez La Vizcaina Bierzo La Vitoriana 2018, Spain

£25, The Good Wine Shop, Seckford, Vincognito, magnums at Justerini & Brooks (also in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore)

Banks Brothers Chardonnay No. 3, South Africa

£21 for 3 x 250ml cans, Banks Brothers

Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Italy

£8.50 on offer at Ocado, £9.99 Kwoff

‘It smells like walking through a damp forest on Christmas morning … and then you get home to the roaring fire and Christmas lunch cooking.’ Susie

Transcript

NB: Transcript auto-generated by Headliner

Susie: Hi, guys and welcome to our first ever Wine Blast Live: a five minute video podcast!

Peter: As you can see, we’ve dressed for the occasion. And if you can’t see, we are wearing ridiculous Christmas jumpers

Susie: and silly head-dress,

Peter: You wear it very well.

Susie: Thank you, my darling.

Now, we have no idea if this is going to work.

We’ve never done it before, but we thought it’d be a bit of fun.

And and a good excuse to have a drink.

As you can see, we’ve got the wines here because this is our Wine Blast Live about our wine of the year!

What you could be buying this Christmas.

Peter: As you can see, we’ve got the wines on the table ready to go.

But just to stay ahead of that, if you have any suggestions or questions that you would like to send in to see us deal with in this format, not necessarily wearing these clothes, please just send them in

Susie: Suggestions for outfits?

Peter: Yeah, better than this. Maybe what NOT to wear or not to say, but also just challenges. Fun wine challenges, anything fun ideas. Please send them in, Let us know. Put them in the comments below if you’re watching this on YouTube or just send them in, find us on Instagram, for example, Susie and Peter. Or send them into the Wine Blast podcast email.

Susie: Absolutely right.

Let’s get on with this one because we have got our big reveal! Our first wine of the year is La Vitoriana 2018.

Peter: For those who can’t see I’ve just taken off the Christmas jingle cover off the bottle, that’s really classy.

Susie: This is a red wine from Spain made by the brilliant Raul Perez, and it’s made from the Mencia grape variety.

And that is where the story starts.

Because I said on our podcast, where we asked you your favourite red wine grapes, I said, I wasn’t very keen on Mencia.

Peter: Wasn’t keen?! You said you hated it.

Susie: I was never that impolite But anyway, Job de Swart got in touch from the Netherlands and said I was wrong and he was right because he proved it to us by sending us very kindly a bottle of this La Vitoriana.

And we were blown away, weren’t we?

Peter: It was a very kind thing to do. And we were blown away. Not because of that but because the wine is just amazing.

It tastes like a cross between great Pinot noir and syrah and cabernet franc. It’s so perfumed, elegant but really lovely to get stuck into on the palate, tons of flavour.

Susie: To me, it smells like you’re walking through a damp forest on Christmas morning, and then you get home to the roaring fire and and the Christmas lunch cooking and all those gorgeous smells.

And it’s just this is the perfect winter wine.

Peter: Perfect Christmas Wine?

Susie: Perfect New Year wine. Perfect any time.

Peter: It’s £25 from the Good Wine Shop. Also, it’s Seckfords, Vincognito or magnums from Justerini & Brooks.

You can get it also in the US in Hong Kong, Singapore.

It’s not cheap: £25. But it’s worth so much more than that. Only 6000 bottles made. Raul Perez absolutely legendary producer, get stuck in, Wine of the Year: bang.

Susie: Or you could go for a white, which is in a can.

Would you believe, wine in a can: Banks Brothers Chardonnay and this is our second wine of the year.

Peter: This is not just wine in a can: it’s the BEST wine we have ever tried out of a can.

This is absolutely stunning.

You think great white Burgundy.

This is just superb, nutty, toasty savoury.

Really good.

Susie: Does exactly what you want from a really good chardonnay. Made by Newton Johnson, who are brilliant there in South Africa, it’s the 2020 vintage, and just this is the way forward for wines in cans.

Isn’t it?

Good wine and good stuff?

Peter: We dealt with this in a previous episode. WTAF alternative formats.

There’s some brilliant wines going into alternative formats. This is made by the banks brothers. Michelin starred restaurant owners in Yorkshire. We had a take away meal from them.

Susie: We did. We had home delivery, didn’t we?

Peter: These come in a nice little presentation box as well.

They’re not cheap.

£7 for 250 ml can is not cheap, but you get three of them and you know what? They’re worth it.

Susie: If you went to a pub and have a glass of wine that’s £7.

Peter: Cans are  good for the environment, of course. They’re lighter, so less carbon emissions to ship them. They can help limit your intake if you’re worried about moderation. And they’re recyclable.

Susie: banksbrothers.co.uk for those

Peter: Third Wine, final shout is Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato all the way from Sicily. 2019 This is gorgeous.

It’s great value.

Susie: This is really juicy, light bodied fun, and it really is a perfect summer wine. It’s joyful, just like summer summer in a glass. It’s light bodied. It’s light coloured. It’s slightly jammy. Juicy, perfumed, gorgeous.

Peter: It just lifts your spirits.

Sometimes we need that a ray of sunshine in our lives at this sort of winter time.

And this is that in a glass it’s absolutely fantastic and great value.

So it’s currently on offer in the UK £8.50 great value at Ocado.

Suisie: avocado?!

Peter: At Ocado. Not avocado. Also in independents eg Kwoff at £9.99. It’s also at vintage roots in other places, and you can pick it up in the US for about 11 to $14 which I think is great.

Susie: So there you go. They’re our three wines of the year.

Get buying.

They’re all good value.

Peter: Delicious.

Susie: They will see you through the winter.

They will indeed.

Peter: Thank you very much for tuning in and joining us and watching.

Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel at Susie and Peter on wine.

And if you don’t subscribe to our Wine Blast podcast already, please do, leave us a nice rating and review. Say hi.

But in the meantime, thank you.

Susie: And cheers.

Peter: Cheers.