An Alpine Christmas Party in Tongham

Savoie Wine label

Following a recent knee operation and not having drunk any wine for three weeks, I was badly in need of some Christmas cheer at our December Tongham Taster's Christmas party.   Finding dates that suited everybody proved impossible and thus we ended up having just seven along to our vaguely Alpine themed Christmas festivities.   However, it proved a good number for another really enjoyable evening (we caught up with a few more of our regulars the following week when we had a Jura wine and food tasting evening).

Our Almond Tart complete with TT logo

Four of the wines were from the Savoie region of France as was the main dish - a raclette, where you melt slices of cheese from the region over potatoes and charcuterie.   We also served three other wines including a rather more expensive wine than normal which was my Christmas present to the group.   The evening finished up with a mulled wine competition and a Santiago Almond Tart with Membrillo (we used Jane's homemade Quince jam) which Jane and myself made from Rick Stein's new book on Spain.

As usual we list below the wines we had in descending order of preference along with our comments and scores out of twenty.  Scores are shown in the order John E, Jane, Ian, Kathryn, Clive, Sarah, and Sheila.

1. La Rioja Alta, Vina Ardanza, Reserva Especial, Spanish Red 2001, 13.5%, Noel Young Wines £24.
Before the evening began I was wondering if this stunning wine would be appreciated but its quality shone through and it was easily the top wine of the evening and possibly the best in all fifteen TT evenings we have had so far.  Having said that it was also the first wine we have had costing over £20. Scores were 20-, 20, 16.5, 16, 20, 18, and 13.  All seven of us voted this the top wine of the evening, making it the first clean sweep we have had so far.   Comments were Wow!, smooth and silky, chocolatey - I really like it, very approachable, love it!, cedary nose.  Nobody guessed that it was a Rioja.  We can definitely recommend this as a special occasion wine and I think it is actually good value bearing in mind the quality.

2. Lingot Martin,  Bugey Cerdon, Methode Ancestrale, French Rose Sparkling NV, 8%, purchased in France.
The next three wines were very, very close in term of rankings. However, this wine got three votes as the second best wine of the evening.  This demi-sec sparkling rose was not loved by all and it would be probably best served with dessert rather than the pistachio nights we served it with on the night.  The wine is made from Gamay and Poulsard grapes and is low in alcohol.   Probably difficult to find in the UK but look it out for it if in the region or a French supermarket.  Scores were 12, 14, 9.5, 13, 16, 13 and 10.5.  Comments were Quite sweet but nice, tastes like strawberry's and cream, too sweet.

3.  Savigny Les Beaune, Premier  Cru Les Labieres, Vincent Sauvestre, Burgundy Red 2006, 13%, purchased in France.
This red burgundy Pinot Noir  that had been aged in oak for fifteen months was very pleasant but struggled in comparison with the Rioja and probably was not a great match for the food.  Scores were 15, 10, 12, 13, 19, 11, and 9.  Probably a little light for some and some found it slightly metallic.

4.  Les Hauts de Pavieres, Crozes Hermitages, Cave de Tain, Northern Rhone Red 2007, 12.5%, Waitrose, £10.
This co-operative produced Syrah also did well in terms of the voting.  One third of it had been oaked for 15 months.   Scores were 15.5, 17, 9, 12, 18, 12 and 10.   Not one of the best Crozes Hermitage from this very good year but still worth a try.  Some commented that it showed a slight sweetness.

5.  Prestige des Rocailles, Apremont, Pierre Boniface, French White 2007, 11.5%, purchased in the Savoie region,
I probably made a mistake with the whites in not serving them cold enough as the next day I tasted them again after 24 hours in the fridge and they showed more character.   This was one of the local Savoie whites that are often served with raclette.  Scores were 12.5, 12, 11.5, 9, 18, 11 and 10.5.  Comments included - a nutty taste, rather lemony.

6.  Cuvee Reserve, Adrien Vacher, Rousette de Savioe, French White 2009, 12%, Auchan €4.48.
This wen suffered from being served slightly too warm and immediately after the slightly sweet rose.  Thus it was voted by all seven of us as the worst wine of the evening.  Funnily enough it tasted great next day!   Scores were 11, 10, 8.5, 6, 14, 8, and 6.  Comments included - not a lot of taste there!

Raclette

Three of our regulars volunteered to enter a competition to see who could make the best homemade mulled wine.   Ian came up with a recipe that had been passed down the family over the years and contained Cabernet Sauvignon, Cointreau and other secret ingredients.  It certainly had the potential to be excellent but had perhaps been over sweetened on the night.  Clive used a BBC recipe on the web that included wine, sloe gin, cinnamon, satsuma and lemons.  It was very good, spicy and warming.     Jane used the cheapest possible wine she could find and a recipe from the Thermomix cookbook.  Probably the cheap wine let her down slightly and did not have enough body or sweetness but still had a lovely spiciness.   In the end we called it a draw!  

So ends 2011 and we look forward to some more Tongham wine tasting evenings in the New Year.  First event will actually be in Farnborough where John S will be introducing us to some New World wines for the New Year on Thursday January 12th.   Steve S will be hosting our February event,  Jane our March event and Clive our April event - all in Tongham itself.   Some great evenings to look forward to as we enter 2012.   Do feel to join us for any of these evenings if you live locally and fancy a sociable evening chatting and drinking wine. Click on Wine Circle at the top of this blog for more details.

Thanks again to Clive for some of the photos accompanying this blog.