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.