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Welcome to the same look, same style, old and unimproved version of the wine90 blog, London edition. I'm back, I'm home and I'm absolutely cream crackered (dats Cockney for Knackered innit). That being said it's good to be in Blighty. The sun is shining, the chicken shops are a plenty and the range of wine and wine shops in my little corner of SW London is plain OFF THE HOOK. I'm talking big major wine shop FACING specialist vintage wine shop just past the station and if walking in that direction bores me, I can about turn and hot foot it down to Sainsburys. What a world we live in eh?

For those in the know, (well actually a recap for those not in the know) I have spent the last few days travelling from Venice, via Milan, Mont Blanc, Geneva, Gex, Reims to make my way back home to London after 3 years in Italy. During that time this blog was 98.4% dedicated to Italian wines. From today it'll be more like 33.3%, as I continue to bring wines from all over the world into my tasting history.

The original idea was to get a few shots while on the road. Sadly, all I managed to get were shots of the road.

While in Gex I found myself amongst the pressing throng of the Gex Bleu cheese festival. All roads into Gex, bar one, were shut down for the benefit of the 2 table exhibition of one of, as it turned out, my least favourite blue cheeses EVA. If you do ever find yourself in Gex, you're probably lost.

So through the twisty terrain of the alpine foothills in Jura I began thinking about the next wines to appear on the blog, and after careful consideration opted for wines I already owned that were pretty similarly priced. Photo above... Not Gex neither.

So here they are. The truly honoured first wines of the same old Wine90 London Edition. Chateau Gloria 1995, Pio Cesare Barbaresco 2003, Chateau Doisy-Vedrines 2003 and from the new world (fan fare, toot toot toooooooot) Ridge California Lytton Springs 2005 a mostly Zinfandel wine with some Petit Sirah and Carignane playing wing men.

For those with concerns for my personal health, this was something of a party and not just a regular Sunday's drinking sesh.

Chateau Gloria 1995 - PASS - £25

Still very dark purple. On the nose notes of cherry, but heavy on the earth. Smooth texture with both lower tannins and acidity levels than expected, not giving off a lot of fruit, it felt closed down. Finish was average. Clear quality but the lack of fruit on the nose and the palate is telling. 86 Points

Pio Cesare Barbaresco 2003 - BUY - £30

Light ruby and transparent in the glass, the nose was an all Piedmont affair with a real Barolo nose plus a smattering of floral notes. On the palate the wine is still quite tannic but balances ok with the acidity. Superb mid palate of violets and sweet spices. Long pleasing finish that was a tad too hot but didn't take away from my enjoyment of the wine. 91 Points

Chateau Doisy-Vedrines Sauternes 2003 - BUY - £20

Golden yellow in the glass with a sweet (and I mean SWEET) nose of honey, creme brulee and custard. A mid bodied wine with good acidity and extreme sweetness, nice length to the finish. Good bargain Sauternes. Turned to sickly quickly but that is a 75cl you see above. 90 Points

Ridge California Lytton Springs 2005 - BUY - £20

Sitting deep purple and hue-less the Ridge California Lytton Spring would fool no one in a blind contest, maybe we have some Petite Sirah and Carignane here but this is true blue Zinfandel USA. Blackcurrant, Ribena Berry nose for weeks with a touch of spice too. Mouth filling and big on the palate, heavy blackcurrant on the mid palate the wine is super well structured, 14% alcohol not a problem. 92 Points

Passing the Chateau Gloria only for drinking today, I'm sure this wine needs another 10 years in bottle and if you can wait that long, then £25 investment for a 1995 Bordeaux from such a respected producer is actually a BUY situation. For drinking today? The worst wine of the 4.

Lastly, for anyone else who drinks their wines with Jelly Babies, I can say, with no shadow of a doubt, that by mixing the black and red Jelly Babies together you get a perfectly complimentary food match for Pio Cesare Barbaresco. Those with a sweet tooth will enjoy Jaffa Cakes and Sauternes. That's it Gals and Pals and by jove, it's good to be home.

Where can I buy this wine? (Ridge California Lytton Springs)

Europeans - Weingarten Eden - €26

Americans - Vingo Wine - $26.99

Brits - AG WINES - £20

Australians - Stephen McHendry - AUS$64

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What's the best thing about your town? Tried any of these wines? Blue cheese - nectar of the gods or food of the devil?

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...

Well, the time has finally come for me to bid a fond farewell to Italy and turn my back on exclusively reviewing Italian wines. It's time to spread my wings, broaden my horizons, put myself about a bit and enjoy the variety that London has to offer. Will I miss being woken at ungodly hours by construction work? Eating pasta and pizza for each and every meal? Being charged for things I didn't buy? Not so much. I will miss the people, I will miss the sun and scenery and I will miss the fabulous prices you get on Italian wine which I will not enjoy in Blighty. We get stuffed on every import and unless I can attune my taste buds to Chapel Down and Camel Valley *stifles the bile* then I will just have to embrace the variety even if it comes at a cost.

So hello to French wine, Greek wine, German wine, English turpentine and all the other pleasures that await on that fair isle I'm growing increasingly proud to call home. My first love is, and will remain, Italian wine and I shall represent the Italian wines most frequently on the blog. So tomorrow I start my journey, leaving Venice, past Milan, up through Switzerland, past Geneva and stopping in Gex. On Saturday we make our way through a twisty and frightfully dangerous piece of Alpine terrain and through to a hotel outside Reims and then Sunday morning I take the cinder line Eurotunnel to Folkestone and wind up in London about 11am. So anyone wishing to take me out has the full gen. Monday I'll be back blogging my celebratory Sunday wines so be sure to stay tuned.

As promised today I'm going to dig out the "best and worst" wines of my 3 years in Italy. They might not be the highest scoring but they are wines that, for whatever reasons, have stuck fondly in my memory bank. For Jill, the Petite Verdot I was telling you about last week.

Castello di Verduno Barbera d'Alba Bricco del Cuculo 2006 - PASS - €14
Nice colour, hues were lighter than expected for a 2006 Barbera. The nose, was giving me very little of anything, not the merest hint of fruit, just a very sugary winey artificial nose that did nothing for me. The mouth feel was ok, uninteresting tannins, extremely acidic, I can't think of anything positive to say, I wouldn't use it in a cooking sauce. 73 Points

Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot 2004 - BUY - €10
Dark purple in the glass, very deep intensity. A little timid on the nose but aromas of spice, berries and cherries with the most intense smell profile being blackberries. Shockingly refined and balanced on the palate denoting a classier wine that the price, some nice fruit on the mid palate. A really enjoyable and easy drinking wine. The lack of intensity on the nose is the reason this missed 90 points. Perfect for dinner parties. 89 Points

Bruno Giacosa Dolcetto d'Alba 2006 - €10 - BUY

A dull dark purple/violet with interesting ruby reflection, full bodied to the eye. Knockout nose, so strong that the glass had to be left for 30 mins. Characteristic nose of cherries and vanilla, very clean and with just a hint of spices and pepper. Full out attack on the palate, medium body, good acidity and balance with a mid length finish of berries and a touch of plum. Smooth with balanced tannins. Decant for a minimum of 1 hour. 89 Points

Ceretto Barolo Bricco Rocche 2000 - BUY - €49

Mid ruby red in the glass with slight change in tonality at the edges. An opulent and feminine wine whose nose and palate flow perfectly, great balance. Aromas of strawberries and walnuts, really impressive nose with a second wave nose profile of vanilla. The palate is a joy, mid bodied with super rich and silky tannins. The wine is not forceful, its a truly beautiful, seductive wine with a good 30 second finish. 95 Points

Villa von Steiner Lagrein 2004 - PASS - €9

Fantastic penetrating dark purple, all the way thru, what hues? ink black vino. The nose just stinks, wet rocks mixed with onions, soil, even horse manure, I mean this nose is seriously unpleasant and here is where the wine can play mind games with you. The immediate mouth feel is gorgeous, black fruits and such a soft silky mouth feel, you begin to forgive the manure, and then it comes back in the mid palate and you lose all fruit, it turns acidic and very plain and uninteresting and then it gives you a really long finish of this foulness, and you think, "what the hell happened". A confusing wine, but for that I have to give it some kudos for being so interesting. 82 Points

Arnaldo Caprai Rosso Outsider 2005 - BUY - €30
Sits ruby red in the glass and colour consistent on the tilt. Another stand out nose, really an occasion where words can´t describe the intensity of the aroma. Sensational nose, make a kebab out of a wet pencil, blackberries, cherries and strawberries and wear it as a mustache for a week, you´ll get close to a quick sniff of this wine. Majorly exciting for nosehounds. The palate is also knockout, still very tannic, needs time but super potent, super soft a really intense wine experience. 95 Points

So that's a wrap. All that's left to say is goodbye to all my ex-pat friends who read this blog, my poor old parents whom I dragged to Italy and then deserted and a fond farewell to the bureaucracy, bills and speeding tickets that financially crippled me. That's ungrateful, I'm kidding, Rome is still my favourite city in the world, I still want to retire to Todi and no city offers as much "seat of your pants" fun as Naples. It's been a blast!

So long Silvio and thanks for all the fish. *wipes away tear*

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What do you love (or hate) about Italy? Will you still read this blog when the dirty foreign wines creep in?