The Joy of Ceps

et voila un risotto aux ceps dans leThermomix

For the first get-together of our second year of Tongham Tasters we were back in Farnborough and the highlight of the night was to be some home cooked foraged ceps in butter. We were also going to have a risotto of ceps and Jane brought along a beautiful Alsation tarte a l’oignon. Finishing off the evening was some interesting mature goat’s gouda. Definitely a night for us foodies and knowing Ian, we would be treated to some interesting wines as well. In fact he introduced us to three wines from The Wine Society and three wines fom Majestic, which represented some favourite wines that would match the food for the evening.To see which wines we preferred read on. As usual we present them in descending order of preference and with the scores out of twenty in the order John E, Clive, Ian, Steve S, John S and Jill. Jane and Kathryn also joined in our evening but didn’t score the wines.  Ian overspent a little on the wine and food but a great evening at £10 each for us all.

1. The Society’s Exhibition Chianti Classico 2007, Italian Red 13.5%, Wine Society £11.95
Five of our seven judges voted this their top wine of the evening. It had a strange initial nose of cheese or woollen carpet but this chunky spicy tannic wine with dark berry fruit and liquorice was just what everyone fancied at the end of the eveining. Scores were 15, 18, 14.5, 12.25, 13 and 15. A lovely warm Tusacan wine with Sangiovese as its dominant grape but I suspect something else as well. Would go well with some nice Italian food – shame the Society have sold out of this!

Wild ceps waiting to be sauteed

2. The Society’s Exhibition Central Otago Pinot Noir, 2009, New Zealand Red. Wine Society £12.95.
This got five top three votes with its strawberry bouquet and cherry taste. It had us guessing whether it was Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc or a Cru Beaujolais. Certainly very pleasant and I nearly fell of my seat when Ian said the price was £7.50 but he had got it wrong and it was nearly £13! Unfortunately, The Society has sold out of this one as well.  Score for the record were 13, 16, 15, 13.5, 12.5 and 12.   It went well with the ceps dishes.

3. The Society’s Verdicchio Dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico, 2010, Italian White 13%. Wine Society £5.95.
A number of our team quickly identified this Italian white – well done team! It had a citrussy lemon flavour and again proved very popular and is good value at this price. Scores were 14.5, 14, 14.5, 13, 10 and 12. This is the sort of wine that makes the Wine Society’s £40 lifetime joining fee worth paying.   A nice match for the hummus served with this wine.

4. Martin Codax Albarino 2010, Spanish Galician White 13%. Majestic £10.49
This wine was Steve’s favourite of the night but most of us identified it as Italian or as a chardonnay. We all preferred it to the previous month’s Albarino as it didn’t have too much spritz. There was some minerality with hints of tropical fruit, peaches and almonds. Scores were 13, 14, 13.5, 14, 11.5 and 13.

Jane's suberb tarte a l'oignon coking in the oven.

5. Trimabach Pinot Blanc 2007, French Alsace White. Majestic £10.49
This wine got only two top three votes and was probably too dry to be served with the tarte a l’oignon. It was another wine that appeared to have a cheesy nose, this time Jane identified camembert. Scores were 12.5, 17, 11.5, 12, 10 and 11. Very much of the dry Trimbach style this was the first time I had had a Pinot Blanc that did not go well with food.  Perhaps, try as an aperitif.

6. Domaine Chevalier Pere et Fils Ladoix, 2007, French Red Burgundy Majestic £15.99

This was not a bad wine at all but the overall standard of the evening left it in a disappointing last place and it was the most expensive wine of all! Nobody had it in their top three and four had it in last place. It had the typical strawberry and cherry nose of a pinot noir and there was some oak as well. When I tasted this later in the evening it had opened out and I am sure we would have enjoyed it more if we had decanted it. Scores were 10+, 15, 10, 12.25, 11 and 11.

So this turned into a resounding triumph for the wines from The Wine Society, particularly the exhibition wines. A very enjoyable evening of food and wine. Many thanks to Ian and Kathryn for their hospitality. Ian's cooking of the ceps in butter was top class and Jane's cooking went down well as usual.  Next month we are back in Tongham to sample wines selected by Sheila. This will be on Thursday November 11th. Steve S has volunteered to choose the wines for our February evening on a date yet to be selected. In between we have our December party and another trip to Farnborough.

Detail of Kathryn's beautiful table centrepiece

Enjoying our 13th get-together

If you want to join us for our tastings please click on Wine Circle above to find details of how you could join in the fun of our interesting food and wine experiences.

....and finally off into a Pinot Noir sunset!