Weekly Winedown #19 I Heart Pinot Noir

Welcome to the Weekly Winedown. Each week I selflessly drink wine for you and offer a review.
Please don’t expect anything professional, I consume a lot of wine but I’m no pro.

The only real ‘rule’ I’m putting in place is that the wine is to be under £8 a bottle. #keepitclassy.

I had to parent alone this week.
ALONE.

OK, maybe not all week.

Rory went away for a night – he was meant to, we hadn’t fallen out or anything.
At least I don’t think we had.
The work thing could have been a ploy I guess.
Coventry is miles away though.
No matter how much I’d pissed him off I don’t think he’d choose Coventry as the place of respite.

But it was work so that’s all by the by.

He went really early on Wednesday and returned Thursday night.
I had to do two get ups and two bedtimes by myself.

This is not my area of expertise!

Given that Rory does the whole getting everyone (except me) ready on a morning, I was not up for the challenge.
I did, however, completely survive.
We made it to school on time, everyone was dressed and I sported a full face of make up and washed hair.

I’ll be honest, I surprised myself.
I was dreading bedtime though.
That is usually when Aoife summons all her Sass power to use on me and when Seth decides only Daddy will do.

I can be stood there, right in front of him.
He will refuse to make eye contact and yell

“DADDY DRINK”

in a way not to dissimilar to Father Jack.

If I offer the drink he blanks me.
He tries to look round me, through me, any which way but at me.
Sometimes there’s a small swipe, the sort one would use when harassed by a fly.
When Rory offers the very same drink, it is received with delight then he pootles off to bed.

For once there was no sass and no shouting.
Just compliance.
We made it through!

In all seriousness though, I have so much respect for anyone who has to parent alone all the time.
After two days I was exhausted.
You deserve a massive medal for having to do it all the time!

Saying that, I believe I have earned my wine c’est soir!

I heart Pinot Grigio from Hungary. £5 a bottle, well, everywhere!
I have been super busy this week (justifying my existence) and so it was really late when I ordered my shopping.
That is the only reason I can think of for choosing this wine.

Not that I think it’s a crap wine – I don’t know.
Rather I usually find Pinot Noir a bit light so it’s odd I would choose it.

I think I chose it because it was Hungarian and in the right price range. Who knows?

The Label

Now, we all know I bang on about a nice, simple label.
Indeed, this is just that label
I ♥ Pinot Noir
Straight and to the point.
I also really like that the heart is made up of the company’s mission statement.
It’s a nice touch.

The Blurb

“Smooth and elegant, a lighter bodied wine full of sweet plummy fruit and a hint of spice.
Pinot Noir means ‘pine black’; down to its colour and the way the grape bunch is pine cone shaped on the vine!”

And that’s it.
That’s all the bottle says, it’s all the website says.
Though their website DID suggest using it as an ingredient in chocolate brownies – interesting!
They either ran out of stuff to say or they’re very confident in their product .

Plummy and spicy are both good words.
Who doesn’t like a spiced plum?

Hey ho, let’s go!

The colour, not as rich as I’d like. It’s a bright red like summer berries squash.
No one wants wine to look like squash. Unless you’re daytime drinking and pretending it’s squash.
In that case you’ve probably got bigger issues than the colour of your wine.

The scent is subtle, slightly woody but not a lot more to it.

I’ll admit, by this point I had mentally written this wine off!

The taste….It’s a little thin, Booooo.
I’d expect that from a Pinot Noir though.
It wasn’t bad though
The initial hit is plummy with a longer taste of red berries.
It’s a smooth wine, entirely drinkable.
Probably sweeter than I would like but again, the nature of a Pinot Noir.

I think this would even appeal to those weirdos people who don’t like red wine.
I would certainly try the other wines in this range.

Name – I heart Pinot Noir
Price – £5
Colour – Bright red, like squash.
Smell – Subtle, slightly woody.
Taste – Plum and red berries.
Goes well with – Nights with friends.
Overall score – 3.5/5