Pic 'n' Mix

(see the bottom of this blog for top tips on how to buy good wines under £10)

Merriment before the wine tasting even begins *

We had our twelfth Tongham Tasters wine tasting get-together this month to complete our first year of existence. The event promised quite a lot as we had six of our regular tasting team buying wines up to the value of ten pounds to compete to see who could buy the best wine. Reality was something different and it highlighted the difficulty ordinary wine drinkers have in purchasing wines. In this respect it was highly interesting and as usual the company was excellent and we had a great time even if some of the wines were decidedly weird!

So what wines did we try, why did our six team members pick them and which did we prefer. As usual we present them in descending order of preference with individual scores out of 20 in the order John E, Ian, Clive, Jane, Sheila, John S and Steve W.  Prices quoted are what our team actually paid and are often after receiving a discount.


1. Marlborough Springs Sauvignon Blanc, 2010, New Zealand white 13%, Sainsbury £6.35
Clive selected this one because he thought that a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc would stand a good chance of being a good quality and popular wine. This was a tactic that worked and three of our tasting panel of seven voted this their favourite wine of the evening and everyone had it in their top four. It was one of cheaper wines as Sainsburys had it on special offer when Clive bought it. A number of us including Ian and myself identified this as a NZ Sauvignon Blanc, although it didn’t have the power and fruitiness of many examples. Flavour comments included sherbety and elderflower. Scores were 14.5, 11, 19, 12, 9, 15 and 14. This was a pleasant wine at the offer price, if not particularly complex or exciting but at less than seven pounds you shouldn’t expect too much. New Zealand wines are almost always a safe bet if buying wines in your supermarket, particularly at prices just over the ten pound mark and are thus well worth buying in 25% off promotions.

2. Vina Taboexa Rias Baixas Albarino, 2010, Spanish white, Waitrose £9.99
Ian surprised us by not bringing along something from the Wine Society. However, he did pick a popular grape variety and bought it in a good supermarket for wines and went right up to the price limit. This wine had the best bouquet of any we tasted on the night and had a nice flavour but in the mouth its petillant character was not appreciated by most of our tasters. The fizz was too extreme for most of us and detracted from its lime and stone fruits flavour. Scores were 13.5, 13.5, 12, 14, 13, 13 and 10. If you don’t mind a slight fizz in your white wine this could be a wine for you.

3. Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Languedoc Grenache Syrah Carignan, 2010, French red 14%, Sainsbury £5.88
Sheila adopted the very good tactic of buying one of Sainsbury’s normally excellent Taste the Difference range. It was our cheapest wine of the evening as it had been bought whilst on offer. Most of the team thought it was a Californian Zinfandel or perhaps an Italian Primitivo. John E eventually got that it was from the Languedoc and it had that characteristic sweetness of that region allied to the pleasant colour you get in a Grenache based wine. Score were 9.5, 12, 13, 15, 12, 12 and 11. This is a red wine for those with a sweet tooth but not terribly exciting and not one of the best of the Taste the Difference range – why not try the Barbaresco red or the Gruner Veltliner white, I had them both this week and they are very pleasant.

4. Premiere Vouvray, 2010, French white, Londis £8.47
Steve selected a wine he had served a number of times at is daughter’s christenings; always a good tactic to pick a wine you have tried before. Jane wondered if this was “one of those dreaded Pinot Grigios” but Ian quickly identified it as an off dry Chenin Blanc. Flavour comments ranged from Steve’s rhubarb and custard, to John S’s melon and pear to John E’s pear and marzipan with a hint of lime. Although it was off dry it had reasonable acidity but perhaps was just a little bland. Score were 11-, 10.5, 16, 10, 9.5, 10 and 11. A safe bet to serve your grandmother at a party.

5. Ritu Viognier, 2010, Indian white, Waitrose £6.99
Jane brought along a wine that had been recommended by Olly Smith on a recent Saturday Kitchen on TV. She also thought it would be interesting to see how one of Waitrose’s new range of Indian wines would do in a blind tasting. Using press recommendations is often a good tactic but Olly had recommended it with a curry and we drank it on its own. As soon we started to sniff this wine there were loud exclamations from around the table. Oohrr!! Said Ian, good grief! said John E, tastes like Indian whisky said Steve W, which was quite a good guess. Ian again guessed the grape variety and flavour comments ranged from clove and dried mango to Christmas pot pourri. John E thought it might taste quite good by the time you got to the third bottle! Steve actually quite liked it but was relatively alone in this opinion. Score were 8+, 8.5, 12, 10, 8, 11 and 11. This wine needs a curry to hide its differentness.

6. Chateau Musar, Hochar Pere et Fils, 2004, Lebanon red 14%, Majestic £9.99
John S had adopted the admirable tactics of buying from a specialist wine retailer, spending up to his limit, buying a wine from a well respected producer and selecting a red that had aged. So how come it came last? I think we must have got a rogue bottle, although I note from the Majestic web site that at least one other customer thought it foul as well. The smell and taste was of the sort of plastic cement that you make plastic kits with when you are a kid. Truly bizarre smell and taste for a wine; it was like sniffing glue and tasting fried blackberries. Still, Clive, the sage of Tongham, says we mustn’t grumble! Scores were 8.5, 8.5, 13, 12, 8.5, 10 and 12, Hopefully, John’s second bottle will taste better.

This month Clive welcomed us into his home and conservatory and Sarah cooked us some really nice home grown and cooked tomato and basil soup and we had Tongham bakery bread and also some roll mop herrings. It was difficult for Clive to match the food to the wine as everyone brought the wine along on the night. Following this evening we will return to our usual tactic of one person buying all of the food and wine for most of our evenings. We must say thanks to Clive and Sarah for their hospitality and well done Clive for winning our little competition.

Thank you also to John S who brought along a Wine Nosing Aroma kit for us to try.  It was fun but we found after our six wines we quickly found it difficult to detect the more subtle aromas; no problem with the manure aroma funnily enough!

So what lessons can we learn from our team’s successes and mistakes? What would my top ten tips be for buying good wine under £10 a bottle?

• New Zealand wines are very reliable - dont forget we will be having a New Zealand Wine Tasting Dinner in Tongham Village Hall on Saturday November 19th.
• Supemarket own-brand wines, especially Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, represent good value for money.
• Waitrose and Marks and Spencers offer, perhaps your best chance of picking up an interesting bottle of wine if shopping at a supermarket.
• Buy from supermarkets when they are offering their 25% discounts.
• If spending up to the £10 limit then on line retailers and specialist shops probably give you the best chance of high quality and value. The Wine Society, Fromvineyardsdirect, Majestic and Laithwaites are all worthy of consideration. The supermarkets seem to be concentrating on the lower end wines at present.
• If buying in specialist wine shops ask for the staff’s recommendations. If buying on- line look at the customer comments.
• Following press recommendations can help you make a decision and take the stress out of wine buying but not all will be to your taste. Picking out the medal winners can also be a tactic that works but remember that most producers don’t enter these competitions.  Otherwise why not attend a wine group like ours and buy the favourite wines you taste.
• Don’t buy wines from expensive areas like Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo and Sancerre if only paying £10 or less, you will normally be disappointed.
• Avoid the big advertised brands although if you want to play safe some brands like Wolf Blass and even Jacobs Creek can be well made wines.
• Be wary of just buying a bottle because of an attractive label or buying wines where the value is too good to be true.

Follow two or more of these recommendations and you may be on to a winner. Also remember that wine tasting is an adventure and trying different wines is exciting but sometimes they will be a disappointing bottle or two; this is just part of the adventure.

We start our next 12 months of Tongham Tasters with another visit “over the border” into Farnborough, Hampshire where Ian will be hosting our “Joy of Ceps” evening on Saturday 15th October. Theme will be wines to serve with your foraged mushrooms; he has also asked Jane to cook a Tarte à l’oignon so there should be some good food for our Tongham and Farnborough gourmets. Knowing Ian, there should be some interesting wines for us as well. In November Sheila will be hosting our TT evening on Thursday 10th whilst we will be having a Christmas party theme on December Saturday 12th. January 13th will see another Farnborough event with John S presenting New World wines for the New Year. If you would like to join us you would be most welcome – click on Wine Circle at the top of this page for more details.

*Thanks to Clive Greenfield for the picture at the top of this blog post.