Reviewed by
Mary
We’re passionate about the amazing European ‘old world’ red wine. That’s why we founded The Grape Reserve; to enable other wine enthusiasts to discover unique and innovative red wines.
Join our monthly wine club and we’ll send you 2 bottles of outstanding red wine, along with some helpful tasting notes and food pairing suggestions. All of this for just £24.90 per month.
I do love wine! The Grape Reserve specializes in Old World red wine, and this is a great opportunity to try out a couple of delicious bottles!
The bottles are delivered boxed, and contained in these incredible padded pockets. It’s a really efficient way of protecting glass.
There’s a nice little booklet introducing you to the club.
There’s also some excellent advice about how to taste wine.
The wines themselves have separate cards. The information is detailed enough to be useful, and gives you pointers for what to look out for. There are also food pairings…
And recipes on the other side!
Now the wines
Il Faggio. Abruzzo, Italy 2016.
This Montepulciano wine was absolutely delicious. (As you can see, we drank most of it before I remembered to take a picture!) It was fruity and slightly spicy, and while it was light enough to make it very easy to drink, it a excellent depth of flavour.
Gran Domino Crianza. Rioja, Spain 2013.
I always love tempranillo wines, and this one is no exception! It’s not quite as fruity as the first wine, but still very smooth and pleasant to drink. After it had been open a couple of days I found the fruit flavours came through a little more.
I’m normally less keen on red wine in the summer, but these two were extremely easy to drink despite the heat! I am a huge fan of fruity reds that don’t have a lot of tannins, and these fit the bill perfectly.
My husband and I both enjoyed these bottles, though be both preferred the Il Faggio. If I ever saw it in a shop I’d definitely buy it again, because it really was delicious. Even on a warm summer evening, when I’d normally be drinking white wine, it worked perfectly.
I also liked that one of the bottles (the Il Faggio) was a screw cap, mainly because they’re easier to deal with than having to mess around with my semi-broken bottle opener!
The value of this box, at £24.95 including delivery, is pretty good. You can find both bottles online, but when you factor in minimum order sizes (at least 12) and delivery charges (around £7 – 8) then the price for this box is more than acceptable. Of course, you also get your tasting notes and recipes! It’s a really good idea to include a little guide on how to taste wine, how to look at it, smell it, and taste it. Lots of people enjoy wine but wouldn’t necessarily know these little details.
I think wine subscriptions are a terrific way of taking your a little bit outside your comfort zone, and allowing you to really think about what you’re drinking.
By Evelyn 
