When the Countryside Faction returned from getting married, they brought me a bottle of this, as a Thank You for looking after their house and animals. They had spent a mini-honeymoon in Lyme Regis; it wasn’t a completely random bottle of wine.
For those of you who are wondering why they are called the Countryside Faction, it’s because they live in the countryside. Duh. Also, it’s a reference to early twentieth century Mongolian political history that amuses me. Look it up yourself. I’m not going to do all the work for you. Or read my book on the period, The Lama Question, in which I do explain it. (Shameless self-promotion over.)
Back to the wine for a moment: It’s a blend of three grapes, one of which, Solaris, I’d never heard of before. That’s always something that interests me – a new grape or two to try.
In the glass
Clear, very pale, lemon. It’s really, really pale. Any paler, and it could be mistaken for water. Or maybe it is water, and I just did a bad job of cleaning the wine glass from last time. It’s intriguing to me just how pale it is. Apart from that, it’s sort of wine-looking.
The nose
A faint hint of hay, or something similar. Since TY is in the Big Smoke, and the Countryside Faction is in the countryside, I don’t have anything more to add, lacking a guest taster / smeller. I’m pretty sure the smell is there, though, since hay isn’t a smell I’d readily imagine, I imagine.
The palate
Dry, some zing from the acidity. Light body, but on the heavier side of light. But still short of medium. Not as light as I was expecting, given the colour. The initial taste is citrus. Lemon and lime, leaning towards the lime. Either way, it’s almost aggressively citrus, but that works with the acidity. It has a medium-length finish. Of melons.
I had it with mussels and fries. They were the skinny sort, so I can’t call them chips. Anyway, they went very well with the wine. It’s definitely a seafood friendly wine.
It’s nice. Refreshing. Drinkable. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and the actual experience leaves me pleasantly surprised. I’d drink this again.
Rating
Yummy overall. Visually, It’s Wine. The new Unusualicity scale hasn’t been formalised yet, but this would get a mention on it. Not so much for taste, but the simple fact that it’s from Lyme Regis, and has a grape I hadn’t heard of before in it.
Sustainability
Not much information. The back label says they use a ‘minimal intervention, whole bunch pressing method.’ The grapes are from Dalwood Vineyard, who have no information on sustainability, etc.
The technical info and such
11.5% ABV Madelene Angevine, Solaris, Seyval Blanc. Gift from the Countryside Faction.
As a note, the label says ‘Madelene Angevine,’ not ‘Madeleine Angevine,’ but the grape is known by both names, the latter being perhaps a bit more common.