Manchester Guild of Sommeliers

29-Nov-10 - Back to Manchester to speak to the Guild of Sommeliers about the wines of Castilla y León at the behest of the regional government export department. Rather threatened by the fact that the train was two hours late (somebody committed suicide by jumping in front of it, apparently) but the guests weren't fazed as it was an end-of-the day tasting anyway, and we started and finished an hour late. Some fab wines including double gold-medal-winning Peíque from Bierzo (£10 a bottle!) and Malleolus from Ribera del Duero (£26). The long-list they had sent me included Pesús from Bodegas Sastre but this was delisted when they discovered that it retails in the UK at £225 a bottle. Most unusual was probably the Bornos late harvest, a sweet Verdejo from Rueda (£10 for 50cl). The average price of the seven wines we tasted was £12.43. I may have said this before, but I still think that for diversity, interest and sheer value for money, Castilla y León is currently the most exciting region of Spain and (hurrah hurrah!) They're doing it, for the most part, with indigenous Spanish varieties and not the ubiquitous Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay etc. Stayed overnight at the Britannia Manchester, probably the worst  hotel I've stayed in for a long time. See if you can spot my review at www.tripadvisor.com.

Remember that you can usually find wines at www.wine-searcher.com
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