Seductive and exciting Pinot Noir

Advantages: Great balance of value and quality, lovely delicious flavour
Disadvantages: Boring label, only at Marks and Spencer

...I really enjoy Chilean Pinot Noirs because of their clean red berry flavours and have of course sampled quite a few of them. One that has performed the best for me in terms of all round quality, value and sheer quaffability is Secano Estate Pinot Noir which is only available from Marks and Spencer for £6.99. It is made for M&S by a decent producer called Vina Leyda from grapes grown in the Leyda Valley. This area is an up and coming coastal area which is responsible for some very tasty Pinot Noirs as its cooler climate gives better ripening conditions for the temperamental Pinot Noir grape which produces better wine in moderate to cool climates. I first tasted the delicious 2006 vintage while watching the film Sideways in order to pay homage to the main character Miles and his love of Pinot Noir. I am sure he would have revelled in...

zallin 20.07.2007 (12.11.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Secano Estate Pinot Noir

Reserve choice of the Cono-Sur

Advantages: Elegant, widely available
Disadvantages: No strawberry flavours !

...I'm a huge fan of Pinot Noir wines and their sexy and easy going red berry charms. Frequently Cono Sur of Chile have come to the rescue when I craved an inexpensive fix of this delightful substance. Having extolled the virtues of Cono Sur's basic Pinot Noir I jumped at the chance of sampling of their Reserve Pinot Noir which promised an even greater level of sensual delight. I purchased my bottle, vintage 2006, from Tesco on offer at £4.99 (full price of £6.99) and it can also be found residing at Somerfield. Further delight ensued when I spied the emblem of a 2006 International Wine Challenge gold medal slapped on the bottle. Hopefully happy days would follow when the bottle was cracked at home ! Pinot Noir has began to excel in the cooler regions of Chile and this indeed come from the more temperate Casablanca valley which is...

zallin 07.10.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Cono Sur Pinot Noir Reserve

Stowells Pinot Grigio

Advantages: excellent value for money and fantastic taste!!!
Disadvantages: nothing major although a screw top could be handy.

...Stowells Pinot Grigio Chardonnay is an excellent bottle of wine which offers both fabulous taste and excellent value for money. Pinot Grigio is by far my favourite type of wine from the large range of Stowells wines available and this one is made in Italy. This wine is 12% in strength which is about average for a bottle of white wine. FLAVOUR This wine is a really full flavoured one with a strong fragrance and fruity taste that stays in your mouth long after you have finished each mouthful. It is a relatively dry white wine which is really tangy and smells truley beautiful. It is a great wine to drink either on its own as it has plenty of its own flavour but is also versatile enough that it can be enjoyed along with food to, I think being an Italian wine it goes remarkably well with tomato based pasta dishes. It tastes best when...

vonney1967 23.06.2007 (01.10.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Stowells Chardonnay Pinot Grigio

What's YOUR Bete Noir?

Advantages: A tasty and warming winter ale.
Disadvantages: Little aroma ~ a seasonal beer so availability is limited.

...We had rather a MERRY Christmas this year thanks to a polypin of Bete Noir delivered from one of our local breweries. ~~~THE BREWERY. Bete Noire is brewed by the Kelham Island Brewery, founded in 1990 at a purpose built site in Alma Street, Sheffield (next to the Fat Cat pub). Brewing began using equipment from the old Oxford Brewery and Kelham Island was the first new brewery to start up in Sheffield during the 20th century. In 1999, due to increased demand and production, the brewery moved to its present location very close to the old site. The old Brewhouse still exists as a visitor centre ~ tours can be arranged in the evenings for £4.50 a head and for that you will also get a beer. Kelham Island Brewery is now Sheffield?s largest brewery and has won many awards for their beers ~ the most famous and prestigious of them...

tange 03.01.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Bete Noire

Sexy and svelte red berry va va voom !

Advantages: Delicious, elegant flavours, refreshing
Disadvantages: Limted availability

...Burgundy is arguably responsible for wrecking more bank accounts and disappointing more expectations than any other wine region in the world. When you do hit upon a beauty then the joy is sublime and doubly so when it is actually reasonably priced. The reds which represent the epitomy of sexy and silky Pinot Noir are often a more risky bet than the whites which are made from Chardonnay. At the lower end of the price spectrum, generally below £12 or so, they can be thin, tart and uninspiring. However if you hit upon a winner they can be lively, elegant, sexy and uplifting. The key is to know your producer and if you come across a good one go for their regular, bog-standard Burgundy which will be labelled 'Appelation Controlee Bourgogne' and for Burgundy can be surprisingly good value for money. While pottering around in my local wine...

zallin 03.09.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2005 Jean-Jacques Girard

Desire Noir Desir

Advantages: Distinective French music at it's most brilliant
Disadvantages: At some point it has to end

...Long Live Noir Desir! Noir Desir is dead! Well, kind of. It?s probably not particularly PC to like Noir Desir as their charismatic singer, Bretrand Cantat is currently about to stand trial for manslaughter (of then girlfriend, actress Marie Trintignant), the story behind which is rather hazy; but this should not get in the way of recognising what an utterly sublime band Noir Desir were. It is very easy to dismiss European rock music and often it is pretty bad; mainland Europe flourishes in all other art forms but contemporary rock music seems to be one item that is missing. So it is just as easy to accept something slightly less than great as great because of general paucity of skill. Not so with Noir Desir and especially Des Visages des Figures, for this has to be one of the great albums. In truth I?ve been listening to...

No_name 13.03.2004 (26.03.2004) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Des Visages Des Figures - Noir Desir

Future Noir!

Advantages: Greatest sci-fi movie of all time. Need I say more?
Disadvantages: Slow pacing and thoughtful qualities may be a little tiresome for some.

...becoming a reality with every passing day. The multicultural LA of the future, with people falling over people on its busy streets, large screen billboard advertising and a permanent 'noise' from vehicles and pedestrian crossings is really no different from that of Piccadilly Circus, Tokyo or even modern LA. The perpetual rainfall and the lack of any real animals (all animals seen in the film are replicants) is also remarkably prescient in this age of environmental concern. If the setting is perfect for a future noir and it's burned out, down trodden, Marlow-esque detective to begin locating replicants then it's just as well Scott infused the film with depth to match the visual style. With Harrison Ford's monochrome voice over removed in the director's cut, and Ridley Scott re-inserting the original ambiguous ending and the inclusion of his...

clownfoot 14.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Blade Runner (Director's Cut) (DVD)

Discworld Noir , Discworld pants is more like it!

Advantages: Mindtwisting plot , Exccessive overdose of humour and the funniest characters around
Disadvantages: If you're a fan of Discworld 1 and 2 you may see this one as a horrible shock!

...The Discworld is back filled with dwarfs, trolls, Terry Pratchetts Witty original humour, trash graphics , the most complicated plot ever, and rock hard puzzle solving activities! For those whove played Discworlds 1 and 2 youll have been familiar with the persuits of our fun lil hero Rincewind the wizard his cynical wit and walking luggage. The bright coloured sprites and odd storyline Well say goodbye to all that and welcome woth Discworld Noir the Black "Erm..is that me or a tree" graphics beyond the repair of changing the contrast settings on your TV,Say Hi to the ugly and I mean ugly characters, and wave your middle finger to the most irritating of all controlls!The game lasted only bout 3 days anyway and the ending was soooooooo not worth it about as bad as the ending to Soul Revear (though without the fantastic game B4 it...

shortyinspace 13.08.2000 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Discworld Noir (PlayStation)

Essential Noir Classic

Advantages: Bogart, Grahame, the dialogue,
Disadvantages: Lack of English subtitles on special features

...THE FILM Three movies were made about characters operating in the Hollywood film industry in 1950. The first two, 'Sunset Boulevard' and 'All About Eve' went on to be both critically and commercially successful. The third, Nicolas Ray's 'In A Lonely Place' although less successful at the time is now regarded as a classic example of the film noir style which was first identified by Cahier du cinema magazine. The movie follows screenwriter and war veteran Dixon Steele (Bogart) who is suspected of murdering a coat check girl, but the testimony of a wannabe actress Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) keep the police from arresting him. However as Laurel falls in love with Dixon she begins to doubt his innocence. Meanwhile the police, in particular Dixon's ex army colleague Budd (Frank Lovejoy), continue to investigate him causing Dixon...

Pa8ax 08.12.2008 (29.11.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of In A Lonely Place (DVD)

Jew Noir

Advantages: Compelling, Dark, Stylish
Disadvantages: Esoteric

...have been the messiah... if he hadn't been so fond of heroin. Chabon is clearly channeling Chandler for much of this book. Raymond Chandler's sun-cursed LA is transposed into the snow-bleached streets of Sitka, Alaska. Philip Marlowe's world-weary malaise translates seamlessly into the syntax of middle-aged yid-cop, Landsman. The whole eco-system comes fully formed from Chabon's imagination and yet it feels like it has been in place for years. It makes sense even as the reader holds it up to the light and rotates it like a hologram, looking for flaws. Every Jew in Alaska plays his or her role and the class divide that powered so much of noir literature is easily recreated in the tiered system of Jewish religious observance. The non-religious (drug addicts, alcoholics, cops) are the metaphorical and sometimes literal poor, forever peering...

danielse 25.10.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon