Our Wine Safari to Farnborough

The April Tongham Tasters’ wine evening was to be a safari through the wines of Africa. Our guide picked us up at quarter to eight in Tongham and we drove into the furthest depths of Farnborough. Judging by the street names we were in the French quarter, but the natives seemed friendly……

Having travelled extensively in North and South Africa, John S, our host for the evening put together a very interesting selection of North and South African wines for us to try. With most wines there was some interesting story to tell of how he had bought the wine in some Moroccan souk or visited this particular South African vineyard etc etc. John also showed great skill in not serving his white wines over chilled.

Serious drinking?

So how did our team rate John’s wines? In order of preference after voting, here are John’s wines and our views on them. Scores are in the order: John E, Steve W, John S, Jane, Steve S and Sheila.

1. Bellingham The Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc South Africa 2010 £8.80 Majestic Wines
Four out of seven of us voted this the top wine of the evening. The nose was of marmalade with some pepper and spice and over-ripe pear. One might have guessed it was an Alsace wine from the smell but the taste indicated something different. The slight sweetness but good level of acidity immediately had some of us recognising this as a Chenin Blanc. It also had a slight spritz. Jane went golly, gosh, wow! – difficult to get a higher accolade than that. The scores were 11,17,17,19,17,15, A majestic white wine from Majestic wine warehouse.

2. Beyerskloof Pinotage 2009, Western Cape, South Africa, £7.21 Morrisons.
All seven had this wine in their top three and two of us had it at the top of the ladder. It was spicy and slightly sweet and Steve S quickly identified the grape variety. This wine changed the perceptions for some of what Pinotage could be like. Scores were 15,12,16,15,15,15. This is a wine that will have a few more of us shopping at Morrisons for their red wine..

3. Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, 2010 £9.60 Majestic Wines
One top vote, two seconds and a third gave this wine our bronze medal of the evening. The most expensive wine of the evening as it is normally priced at £11.99 but is on special offer at the moment. Initially it had a heady floral aroma that quickly became more typically Sauvignon Blanc. Ian and Jane were quick to identify the grape variety. For John E it was not as dry as he would like a Sauvignon Blanc to be but he still felt it had great balance and enough acidity to carry the slight sweetness. Scores were 13+,12,17,17,12,13. If you are into New World Sauvignon Blanc white wine  this could be the wine for you.

4. Chateau Elissa 2006 Grand Vin de Mornag Tunisia £6.25 Le Bon Vin
The best North African wine of the evening was from a retailer few of us had heard of – Le Bon Vin Ltd who are based in Sheffield and have a website http://www.lebonvin.co.uk/. I suspect a few of us hadn’t tasted Tunisian wine before either. Steve W had it as the runner up wine of the evening whilst the rest of us had it at number four or five. Ian found its aroma fascinating and identified a childhood reminiscence of Extract of Malt amongst the tar and black treacle. Most of us identified liquorices in the smell of this wine that had obviously started ageing and was perhaps slightly past its peak and perhaps this is why Sheila identified cabbage water as well. Scores for this red wine were 12,13,11,13,9.5,11. The blend had us guessing and we didn’t identify it as a cabernet, merlot, syrah.

5. Mornag Magon Blanc Vermentino 2006 £5.74 Le Bon Vin
Another Tunisian wine from our Sheffield retailer, this didn’t impress as much as the South African whites. Some felt that it was typical of wine from a hot climate. The initial impression was that it might be Viognier and nobody identified the grape as Vermentino, which is best known as a grape varietal in Sardinia.. It went extremely well with John’s olive oil dip. Although it had a floral smell it was actually quite sharp. Scores were 12+,12,12,12,9,12. Apart from Steve S we had an amazing consistency or scores for this white wine!

6. Mdeaillon Cabernet Vin Vieux Grande Reserve 2004 Marocco €7.00 purchased in Marocco.
This wine split the group as it had a third place from John E but five of the group had it in last place. It had a smell of molasses and tobacco and the tannins were still evident despite the age. It had some sweetness but this completely changed once one had it with some Mediterranean hummus. This was a good lesson in food matching for us – the right food really improved this wine. Scores were 13-,9,11,10,10,9. A red Cab Merlot blend that went well with hummus.

Overall some interesting wines that showed Africa in a very good light and accompanied by some interesting Mediterranean food such as the hummus, olives and falafels. Well worth the trip to Farnborough – well done John.

Next month we return to Tongham for Tongham Tasters’ founder John E to show us five interesting Sauvignon Blancs from different parts of France. The evening will be rounded off by a nice glass of something red. The date for your diary is Thursday May 12th. Click on Wine Circle at the top of the page for more details – all are welcome.