We've Lost the Plot

For our June Tongham Tasters’ evening we picked the best evening of the year so far and sat outside and had a fantastic late spring BBQ. It was a beautiful Friday night and it was Hazel’s evening, the last of our nine regulars to host an event. Rosé wines were the main theme of the tasting but when the barbequed fore-rib of beef was served we opened some lovely red wines from the South West of France. We were blessed by our best turn out so far and eleven of us tasted, ate and chatted until late into the evening.

In order of preference after voting, here are Hazel’s wines and our collective views on them. Scores are in the order: John E, Jill, Hazel, Steve W, John S, Kathryn, Sheila, Steve S, Clive and Jane.

1. Marques de Montoya Cava Rosé Brut. 2009, £10.99.
The most expensive wine of the evening got six of our eleven votes as the best wine of the six provided by Hazel. This pink fizz was described as quaffable by Kathryn and as crisp and clean by Clive. On the other hand some of us including Ian described it as lacking in complexity. It was at least reasonably dry. The scores out of 20 were 9.5, 14, 13, 10, 10, 14, 13, 10, 14 and 14. Good basic pink fizz.

2. Calvet Rosé D’Anjou 2009. £6.99.
This wine got three top scores and another five top three placings. It was rather a surprise when the wine was revealed to be a Rosé D’Anjou. Hazel thought it was the sort of wine where you could sit and drink a whole bottle in the garden. Sheila found it a bit sweet and John E thought it a bit flabby. Ian described it as spray tan from St Tropez – obviously he thought it was from Provence. The scores were 10, 10, 13, 12, 11, 14, 9, 10.5, 12 and 14. A pink to consider but not analyse.

3. Connubio Blush Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2010. £6.99.
Only one top vote but ten had it in their top three and thus in some ways the most popular wine of the evening. Definitely one to drink on its own, it didn’t pair well with food. Most described it as a “glugger”, but what else would you do with Pinot Grigio? It smelt and tasted floral – perhaps Elderflower but Sheila found it slightly syrupy. Scores were 12.5, 10, 11, 10, 11, 8, 8, 9.5, 13 and 13. A quaffable blush.

4. Taste The Difference Petit Chablis 2009 Sainsbury. £7.99.
This chardonnay from Burgundy got very mixed reviews. It got a first, second and third but three had it in last place. The best taste comparison was rhubarb but it went down hill after that via “wet cats” to “dog ****”. John E thought this wasn’t a good year but drinkable – Jane totally disagreed that it was drinkable. Scores were 12, 8, 10, 8, 12, 11, 5.5, 7.75, 13 and zero! Not recommended by most of the team but as John S said, perhaps we had all lost the plot by the time we got to this wine.
5. Turning Leaf Vineyards. Pinot Grigio, California 2009. £7.79.
Turning Leaf isn’t a favourite brand for wine connoisseurs and it didn’t even do well at our rather low brow evening. An initial nose of marmalade and honey it got rather bland after that. Scores were 12, 10, 8, 8, 10, 13, 6, 6.5, 10 and 11. Not worth the price.

6. Domaine de Sours 2010 Bordeaux Rosé. £6.99.
This 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon wine did not impress. It had an unusual colour that some described as pharmaceutical or domestos pink. Sheila really made an effort but couldn’t love this wine. Steve W identified some fizz which doesn’t always go down well in a still wine. Scores were 7, 8, 8, 6, 7, 11, 7, 7.5, 11 and 6. Don’t confuse this with a good bottle of Chateau de Sours rosé, as this is quite frankly awful!

Following these wines we moved on to a couple of cheapish French supermarket reds that went down very well. At only €4.99 and €5.99 we can heartily recommend Grande Reserve D’Or 2007 Cave de Crouseilles Madiran and Chateau les Bouysses 2004 Cahors respectively.. They go down well with a nice piece of beef. After that we opened some more wines but nobody can remember what – aren’t we meant to be a serious wine tasting group?!

It just remains to thank Hazel and Steve for hosting a truly great evening and to look forward to some of our forthcoming evenings this summer. Next up is a celebration of French wine and food on French National Day – Thursday July 14th and an Old World versus New World wines comparison on Friday August 12th. In September six of our regulars will be competing to see who can bring along the best under £10 wine. We should have some better wines at these three events but will we enjoy ourselves as much? Come along and find out. All these events wiill be in Tongham, Surrey and you are welcome to join us whether we have met before or not. Click on wine circle at the top of the page about how to join in the fun.