Old World versus New World Wines

In the left hand corned we have the Old World.....

Do you prefer the wines of the traditional wines making countries such as France, Italy and Spain, or do you prefer the wines of the new boys such as Australia, Argentina and Chile? Can you even tell the difference? For our next Tongham Taster’s evening on Friday 12th August we will be investigating the differences between old and new world wines. John E will be selecting 3 red grape varieties and providing us with an example of each from the new world and old world. Which will have more power and more fruit? Which will be more food friendly? Come and find out with us from 8pm in Grange Road, Tongham, Surrey.  Six wines will be blind tasted and food will be provided to help us test the wines in real conditions.



As usual we will share the cost, which should be around £10 a head which will include tasting 6 wines and having a simple 3 course supper. This month we will be throwing in a birthday cake and desert wine for free to help Jane celebrate her birthday! Sound like fun? Give John E a ring on 07717 876743 Or email tonghamtaster@gmail.com. We welcome new members, so if you enjoy tasting wine, give us a try!

If the weather is warm we will be tasting outside or if we are having a typical English summer’s evening we will retreat indoors. Numbers are limited to a maximum of 14 but we usually have about eight or nine of us sharing some good wine, food and conversation. John reckons he has selected six stonkingly good red wines, but you can be the judge of that if you join us on August 12th for another Tongham Tasters’ wine evening. Find out more about us by clicking on Wine Circle at the top of this page.

Ceps foraged last week

..and in the right hand corner, The New World!

If you can’t make this event, here are some other dates for your diary. On Thursday September 15th we will be competing in Poyle Road, Tongham to find out who can bring along the best £10 or under bottle of wine. Then in October on Saturday 15th we will be in Farnborough to discover The Joy of Ceps with our resident Ceps maniac, Ian, and seeing what wines go well with mushrooms. If you are into long range planning then another date for your diary is Saturday November 19th when we will be have another Tongham Village Hall Wine Tasting Dinner – New Zealand wines and Pacific Rim cooking.

Untl then...... cheers!

The Other 49 States of America

A Pinot Noir from NY

You would be forgiven, if you visited a UK supermarket, for thinking that California was the only state of America to produce wine. Even if you visit a specialist wine retailer, you are unlikely to be offered the wines of more than two states. In fact all 50 states of the USA have wineries with North Dakota being the last to join the club in 2002. The wineries in many of these states concentrate on making wine out of fruit and vegetables other than grapes, and very often the wine never leaves the state, but nevertheless there are many places all over the USA making good wine out of grapes nowadays. If you click on this link, Fifty States of Wine, you will find an article from Time magazine by Joel Stein who describes tasting wines from all fifty states and he only found six of these undrinkable and twelve bad. That leaves 32 states producing drinkable wine. If you look in Hugh Johnson’s excellent annual Pocket Wine Book, you will find he describes the wines of about two dozen states. So why can’t we buy them over here?

An excellent selection of wines to taste in Richmond

The answer is that you can in many cases but need to go on-line to the very specialist wine merchants. Yesterday evening, we attended a very interesting wine tasting of American craft wines organised by David Swaddle of tasting Sessions in Richmond upon Thames. He had brought along Sue Chambers who has a specialist wine company importing the wines of Long Island situated in New York State. We tasted seven very interesting boutique style wines all available in the UK. So what did we taste and where can you get them:

VIRGINIA
I was particularly taken by three wines from Virginia which is an east coast state just below Washington DC now producing many excellent wines. These wines were produced by a winery set up be Gianni Zonin in 1976.

Barboursville Vineyards, Viognier Reserve, 2009. £23.50 from Famous Wines.
This 100% Viognier has no oak and is also not very sweet. Quite different from many Viogniers as it is not particularly full-bodied. Big notes of citrus and very much to my liking.

Barboursville Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009. about £20 from Famous Wines.
Lovely bouquet, big blackcurrant flavour, some good tannins, this is a lovely Cab that would match well with roast lamb.

Barboursville Vineyards, Cabernet Franc, 2008, about £25 from Famous Wines
Nice vanilla notes on the nose, the taste is initially slightly sweet with berry, currants and cherry fruit flavours. Another lovely wine.

OREGON
I have been a fan of Oregon Pinot Noirs for some time and have also tasted wines and visited a winery in Washington state, so I already knew that the Pacific North West produced lovely wines.

FIresteed, Pinot Gris, 2008, about £15 from Good Wine Shop
A nice pineapple aroma, this was another very citrus flavoured wine with nice acidity and a good length. One of the nicest Pinot Gris/Grigios I have tasted in a while.

Albarino Wine Crystal

CALIFORNIA
In the UK we often get the big brand Californian wines so it was nice to taste a more artisanal product. This was from a biodynamic producer.

Bonny Doon Vineyard, Ca’ del Solo, Albarino, 2008, about £16.25 from Good Wine Shop.
This had a nice green/gold colour and not too much acidity except on the finish. You needed to really move it around your mouth to get the best from this wine. Very pleasant again.

NEW YORK
Funnily enough, I had been in New York state the week before and tasted some wines from the Finger Lakes region. I had been impressed how some of the Pinot Noirs from the area were improving. On this evening, however, we were concentrating on the wines of Long Island. I have to admit, I didn’t know they produced wines on Long Island!

Channing Daughters, Sauvignon Blanc, Mudd West Vineyard, 2010. £16.99 from Wine Equals Friends.
Very clear appearance, lime and lemon on the nose, it is a bigger fatter wine than most Sauvignon Blancs. Nice lemony taste.

The Lenz Winery, Estate Selection Merlot, 2002. £21.99 from Wine Equals Friends.
This was the hit of the evening with most people at the tasting, proving that Merlots are coming back in fashion having been hit sideways by the film of that name. It had a good bouquet of cherries and plums and a big warming taste. This is certainly a wine you should consider trying and buying. Sue is just setting up her web site but you should be able to get to it soon on www.wineequalsfriends.com. Currently you can visit her facebook page with a similar name.

So my conclusion from this excellent tasting is to try some more wines from some more US states. I would also recommend a visit to one of the Tasting Sessions evenings in Richmond.  Why not surprise the guests at your next wine evening or dinner party by serving them craft wines from Long Island and Virginia – be ahead of the trend.

Irancy,a little known Burgundian jewel.

Vines and fruit trees above Irancy

Irancy always has a special place in my heart as it was the first ever wine I tasted with Jane back in 2002.   It is a light Pinot Noir red wine from the northern reaches of Burgundy near Auxerre and not far from Chablis.   Occasionaly the wines also contain the local grape - Cesar.   The best producer is Colinot and I have enjoyed their wines a number of times over the years.  If in Chablis, you can also buy Irancy from many of the Chablis producers such as J-M Brocard.

It was only recently that I finally visited the village and it is quite pituresque so I would recommend a detour if in the area.  It is only a small village and won't take long unless you decide to taste all the different producers' wines.  There is a viewpoint above the village to take some nice photographs. Some of my snaps accompany this blog.  Do try the wines of Irancy - we often cool them down and let them warm up over the course of a meal so that it will suit fish, meat and then cheese.

The Irancy vines with the church and village in the distance.

Driving through the narrow streeets of Irancy

The best Irancies have a lovely strawberry flavour with a hint of plums.  Very enjoyable to drink on its own, it can accompany many dishes that are not too powerfully flavoured.   The first occasion I had it was with langoustine lightly smoked over rosemary and then lamb with tapenade.  Both matched surprisingly well but then the company was excellent that day!

The wines can age well but never seem to last that long in my house!

If you look hard enough you may find this wine in the UK but go to the specialist retailers rather than the supermarket.

Bonne Fête

Jane in beret with gougeres

With a reasonable sum in the kitty, we decided to splash out for our July Tongham Tasters event and spend more on the food and wines. As it happened to fall on French National Day, we decided on a French theme for our food and wines and were blessed with two French friends joining our group for the evening. For this evening and also for the one in September we have changed our format and had six of our group bring along one wine each rather than have one person buy all six wines.

We were blessed with great weather again and ten of us sat outside on a glorious sunny evening for conversation, wine and food. The extra budget made a big difference to the wine and we had a great tasting. Rankings, comments and scores for each of these lovely wines were as follows. Scores are out of 20 and are in the order John E, Ian, Clive, Steve S, John S & Sheila.

1. Domaine de Tariquet, Les Dernieres Grives, Vins de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne, 2008, Sweet White, Wine Society, about £14. 11%
Everyone had Ian’s choice of dessert wine in their top 3 wines of the evening and this made it the winner. It was served with a lovely Apricot tart and some Eiffel Tower and musical note shaped biscuits made by Dominique. The wine was not very sweet and matched well with our dessert. Certainly not cloying, it had a hint of rhubarb and custard and also some honey. The grape variety was Petit Manseng from the South West of France. Scores were 14, 17, 17, 14.75, 16 and 15. This was a lovely good value wine, from the Wine Society, that would match many not too sweet desserts or perhaps Foie Gras.

Jane shows off the jambon persillee

2. Maison du Tastelune, Savigny-Les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Vergelesses, 2007, Red Burgundy, Marks and Spencers, about £19. 13%
Four of our team voted this their top wine of the evening and it was my favourite red wine we have had at Tongham Tasters so far. My choice, I was extremely happy that it tasted so good. I am a great fan of Beaune reds and choosing a 1er Cru tends to guarantee something good. This particular Pinot Noir showed an unusual amount of concentration and a really lovely flavour. Although this wine is close to £20 it is actually an extremely good value Burgundy red for a wine of this quality. It had a lovely berry fruit with herbs flavour and a good length. We served it with Jambon Persillée, which is a lovely Burgundian potted ham. Scores were 15.5, 17.5, 16, 16.25, 16.5 and 15, We highly recommend a trip to M&S to get some of this gorgeous wine.

3. Oudinot, Medium Dry Rosé Champagne, NV, Marks and Spencers, about £18. 12%.
With 5 top three votes and one person having it as their winner, this wine had us guessing if we were tasting a Cremant or a Champagne. It was in fact an extremely well made rosé champagne with delicate bubbles and a lovely strawberry taste. This particular one is off dry and would actually go well with many desserts. We had it with Gougeres which are cheese flavoured choux pastries. The scores for Sheila’s choice were 14, 13.5, 16+, 11.5, 12 and 14. A good quality fizz for those with a sweet tooth or for those bored with dry champagne.

The chese stall in Chablis where we bought the cheese

4. Mas de Cynanque, Acutum, Saint Chinian, 2008, Red Languedoc. From the producer, about €12. 14.5%
In any other evening this big Syrah dominated wine would have probably swept the board and on this occasion still managed 5 top 3 votes with one having it as their winner. Steve S had popped down to the Languedoc recently and brought it back for us to try. It was a big mouthful of dark berries, had the typical Languedoc sweetness and also, as John S pointed out, a hint of saltiness as well. John E eventually indentified this as a St Chinian. As well as the 60% Syrah, this wine was 20% Mouvedre and 20% Grenache. It was very smooth and we wondered how it might age? On the night we served it up with some artisanal cheeses from the Savoie area of France – a trio of cave aged Comté, Abondance and Beaufort d’été Scores were 14,5, 16.5, 16.5, 17, 14.5, 14.5. If down in the Languedoc this summer, why not pop along to St Chinian and get some!

Clive carefully pours the Bordeaux

5. Chateau du Gazin. 2008, Canon-Fronsac, Red Bordeaux, Waitrose, about £8. 13.5%
Clive brought along by far the cheapest wine of the evening as he paid only £7.99. It is thus perhaps not surprising that it came behind most of the more expensive wines and only got one top three vote. On its own it didn’t taste that good but with the food, a Boeuf Bourguignon, it went down extremely well. Steve S identified it first as being Merlot dominated and most of us thought it could do with a few years before drinking. The wine also contained small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Scores were 14-, 11.5, 17, 12.5, 15 and 11. If you can pick this up at this price you might consider this as a partner to a stew or a roast.

Serious tasting in progress!

6. Domaine Gerard Thomas, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru, 2009, White Burgundy, Majestic, about £19, 13%.
There was no bad wine during this evening but one wine always has to be our least favourite and for this evening it was the dry white that John S brought along to accompany our Rillette du Lapin (a coarse homemade rabbit paté that Jane made). I was quite confident that it was a Chablis but was wrong as usual! In fact it comes from further South and is a little appellation in the Cotes de Beaune area. A Chardonnay, it is oaked and had quite a green colour. Starting off with a yeasty aroma the wine had big notes of citrus. However, it was not a style that our team appreciated and got no top three votes – perhaps it was a little young and needed more acidity to offset the oak. Scores were 12, 11, 16, 10, 15 and 9, We would find it difficult to recommend this wine with its big price tag.

Dominique's biscuits

Thanks to our team for providing such interesting wines and food for this great evening celebrating France’s National day with some of it’s excellent food and wine. Particular thanks to Jane who provided us with some excellent food for the occasion and to Dominique who provided the wonderful dessert.

Our next evening is on Friday 12th August when we will be celebrating Jane’s birthday. As Jane is from the USA and most of the rest of us are firmly from  Europe, we will be having an Old World versus New World wine tasting – 3 different grape varieties with one of each in New World style and one in Old World style; can you tell the difference and which do you prefer?. In September we will be trying to find the best wines under £10 and in October we will be discovering the Joy of Ceps and what wines match well with mushrooms. If you want to join us for any or all of these evenings, then give John a call on 07717 876743 or email tonghamtaster@gmail.com.

Clive's Photo Shoot of our Italian Evening

Enjoying our Italian Food and Wine in Tongham Village Hall

John waxing lyrical about Italian wines

Jane happy but tired after delivering 8 courses

Thanks to Clive Greenfield who took these nice pictures of our "Italian Wine in Seven Easy Sips" evening at Tongham Village Hall.



Breaking all of the Rules



I can always see both sides of an argument and although I am interested in wine and food pairings it always amazes me how other factors such as the weather and the people you are with play just as big a part in successful combinations. One thing I can’t stand is mini-Hitler waiters in restaurants telling you what you must drink; I like listening to their advice but in the end decision must be mine. I remember one beautiful summers night in Paris when I was out dining with two friends and we had all decided that a bottle of Rosé would be just the thing; the waiter point-blank refused to serve it to us as we had all ordered a steak – ridiculous!

Last month I was on my usual monthly trip to Bourges in France, the weather was beautifully hot and the town was literally buzzing with the Fete de la Musique. With some difficulty I found a restaurant that wasn’t fully booked – the Louis XI which serves some of the best steaks in France. By this time I was feeling rather hot and after ordering my rare steak and chips, I ordered a bottle of Quincy to refresh me. The waitress politely asked if I knew that Quincy was a white wine and I replied in my best French that of course I knew that and it was what I wanted. At this point I hadn’t twigged that I had ordered a steak and white wine!

The wine came first and I began to enjoy one of my favourite white wines – a nice grapefruity Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley near Vierzon. Then the steak arrived and I realised what I had done. However, with a true adventurous spirit I decided to see if steak and white wine really are such a disastrous combination. Imagine my surprise when the two worked together perfectly. So how come I broke all the rules and still enjoyed a great wine and food pairing experience? Firstly, I was eating and drinking what I fancied on the night. Secondly, the weather was really warm and completely suited the drinking of white wine with almost anything. Finally, I had an unusual garnish to my steak – anchovy butter and olives – and this helped the steak and white wine combination no end.

Try breaking the food and wine rules sometime, you might be surprised!

Storming the Bastille

On July 14th Tongham Tasters’ will be celebrating French National Day by trying 6 French wines, each selected by a different member of our tasting group. We would love you to join us, but spaces are strictly limited to 14 and as we have a lot of interest for this one give me a call or send an email early to guarantee your place. Food will be more substantial for this event and we will be having a starter, main course and dessert, all following the French theme. If we are lucky, Jane and Jean-Michel will have taught us how to sing La Marseillaise by the end of the evening! Venue as usual is Tongham, this month in Grange Road.

A reminder of the wines we are having at this event and who is buying them:

Sheila - A bottle of Champagne or other French sparkling wine up to the value of £20.
John S - A bottle of dry white Burgundy or Loire wine up to the value of £18.
Myself - A bottle of red Burgundy up to the value of £20.
Clive - A bottle of red Bordeaux up to the value of £15.
Steve S - A bottle of red Rhone or Languedoc wine up to the value of £12.
Ian - A bottle of sweet white dessert wine from the Loire or Bordeaux up to the value of £15.

In addition, I will put a few bottles in reserve as it looks like we are going to have a good attendance again this time.  Hopefully, Jean-Michel is bringing along one of Dominique's lovely desserts.

If you want to join in the fun just ring John on 07717 876743 or email Tonghamtaster@gmail.com. Remember we equally welcome faces old and new, so give us a try. As usual we will be sharing the cost of the evening which may be slightly more than the normal £10 for this evening.

Future Tongham Tasters wine tastings wil include "Old World versus New World" in August, "Best Wines Under £10" in September and "The Joy of Ceps" in October. Do join us!

Tongham's Italian Wine and Food Evening

Last night we had another successful wine tasting evening in Tongham Village Hall. Again we raised over £400 for the upkeep of the hall and had a fun evening of Italian wine and food tasting. Judging by their comments our three dozen attendees had a great time. Whether you attended or not you might be interested in what we tried:

1. SPARKLING WINES
Prosecco is the well known sparkling wine grown produced in the area around Venice in North East Italy. About half the price of Champagne it offers great value and a different style – softer, more fragrant. It makes a great aperitif or can accompany fish or seafood. We are serving one at just under £10 a bottle with some Parmesan Sables (biscuits) – Prosecco Spumante Collalbrigo Brut. 11% (FromVineyeardsDirect.com). Prosecco indicates the grape variety and you can find still versions. Spumante indicates that it is sparkling. Asti, which used to be called Asti Spumant, is made with Muscatel grapes and comes from North West Italy. It tends to be sweeter and can be great with rich deserts or for those who prefer a sweeter aperitif. John’s notes on the Prosecco we tried: A really superb dry Prosecco which is much more champagne like than most. I highly recommended that you try this good value sparkler.

2. WHITE WINES
With Pinot Grigio, Italy has found another internationally popular wine and it is now one of the most popular white wines in the UK. It is a very different style to the Alsace Pinot Gris which is made with the same grape – the Italian version is dryer. Most Pinot Grigio, however, is rather bland and flabby and thus it is worth looking out for other Italian white wines. In the last few years, Gavi has become popular again having also gained a following in the 1980s and this is made around the town of Gavi in North Eastern Italy from the Cortese Grape. We are serving a lovely £8 one from Tesco’s Finest range – Gavi Fratelli Martini Socondo Luigi SpA DOCG 2010 12.5%. Other Italian white wines to look out for include Soave and Vermentino. You will be enjoying our white wine with a Baccala Mantecato – a creamy dish of cod served with Italian bread. John’s notes on the Gavi we tried: This was my favourite of the many Italian white wines we tried during our research but it had a mixed reaction on the evening.

3. PRIMITIVO RED WINE

Primitivo is a grape variety grown in Puglia in South Eastern Italy and is an identical grape to the popular Californian Zinfandel grape. It has a high alcohol content and tends to have a ripe fruitiness. Normally best drunk young, we are breaking the rules tonight and serving you a delicious one from 2004 - Casa Catelli Primitivo Puglia IGT 14%. John’s notes on the Primitivo we tried: Showing sign’s of age but lovely and smooth with some power but relatively little complexity. It went down well with most of our guests.

4. NEBBIOLO RED WINE
Nebbiolo is the grape variety used in making the great red wines of North West Italy – Barolo and Barbaresco. Although, these are great wines this varietal is used virtually nowhere else in the World. The wines tend to be tannic but a softer style that is easier to drink young has become popular in recent years. We are serving you a £10 Corsini Barbaresco DOCG 2007 14% from Waitrose, with a selection of meat antipasti. John’s notes on the Barbaresco we tried: For an under £10 Barbaresco this was very pleasant and accompanied the meat anti-pasti very well.

5. SANGIOVESE RED WINE
Sangiovese, a grape variety from Tuscany, produces much of the other high quality Italian reds – notably Brunello Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Styles and quality vary tremendously. We are serving a rather unusual wine which is non-vintage wine produced from two years of over-production (2005 & 2008) by a good Brunello producer – Rosso del Palazzone vino de tavola Montalcino 13.5%. This should match well with our main dish of the evening, a Tuscan beef stew and give you a very good idea what an expensive Sangiovese wine would taste like but at under £12. John’s notes on the Sangiovese we tried: this was the star of the evening, the sort of wine that brightens up your whole day, a very nice example of what some might call a “Baby Brunello”. It accompanied Jane’s excellent Tuscan beef and bean stew superbly. Great value, buy some before it runs out.

6. SUPER TUSCAN RED WINE
The title “super” means that the wine is made with international grape varieties rather than just the traditional Italian grape varieties or at least breaks the blending rules. The wine we are serving comes from near Bolsgheri where the famous Super Tuscans of Sassicaia and Ornellaia come from. It is a Casa Catelli Toscana IGT 2008 13.5% FromVineyardsDirect.com. This lovely complex wine should match well with our lovely Italian cheese course. It contains Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese grapes, was aged for 14 months in French oak and costs about £10. John’s notes on the Super Tuscan we tried: Very nice £10 wine that gives you a big hit of blackcurrant, and went well with the cheese (Parmesan, Pecorino and Tallegio).

7. SWEET WINES
We must not ignore the sweet wines of Italy which include Vino Santo from Tuscany, Recioto della Valpolicella from North East Italy and Marsala from Sicily. Tonight our final wine will be a £7.50 Pellegrino Marsala Superiore DOC Garibaldi Dolce 18% from Tescos. Marsala has rather fallen out of fashion and now seems to be used more in cooking than for drinking. This is rather a shame as Marsala makes a great desert wine. Ours is made in the west part of Sicily from Catarrato, Grillo and Inzolia grapes and matured in wooded casks for at least two years. We are serving with the classic Italian dessert – Tiramisu. John’s notes on the Marsala we tried: Surprise hit of the evening, went well with the desert and many appreciated it as it wasn’t too sweet or cloying.

Thanks to everyone for their generosity with the raffle prizes and kind comments. Special thanks to Bob Monk for his help during the evening and loan of the fridges. Our lovely Parmesan and sundried tomato bread came from the excellent Tongham Bakery.

If you enjoyed trying these wines tonight, why not join Tongham’s wine tasting group “Tongham Tasters” that meets monthly (normally on the second Thursday or Friday of the month) to blind taste six wines. Next events are on Thursday 14th July and Friday 12th August. Contact John Etherton on 07717 876743 or email tonghamtaster@gmail.com if you want to join in the fun. Cost is shared by those attending and includes food and wine and is a maximum of £10 a head. Find out more at tonghamtaster.blogspot.com and click on wine circle.

Seven quick wine facts about Italian wines:
1. There are more grape varieties in Italy than anywhere else in the World (over 2,000)
2. Most Italian wines need food if you are going to appreciate them.
3. DOC is the Italian equivalent of the French AOC.
4. DOCG is meant to be slightly superior.
5. Classico often indicates the best area within a DOC or DOCG.
6. IGT is the equivalent of a French Vins de Pays and can be very good wine.
7. Vino de Tavola is ordinary table wine or a good wine breaking the normal rules.