VIRGIN TERRITORY

Enjoying wines and conversation in Clive's conservatory

Our April 2012 monthly tasting saw one of our best get-togethers yet; nine of us enjoyed Clive’s hospitality and some very interesting wines.   The theme was “Democracy and Discount: buying quality or selling quantity?” but what would this mean?   We soon found out!    Clive had selected six of Virgin Wine’s most popular wines that had been scored highly by their customers. Did we agree with the Virgin customers? – read-on to find out.

As usual we present Clive’s Virgin wines in descending order of our preference.  All were blind tasted and the scores are out of twenty.   Scores are presented in the order John E, Jane, Steve S, Clive, Sheila, Ian, John S, Chris and Andy.  Prices are quoted before the 31% discount Clive received for buying this mixed case.

1. Perez Cruz, Winemaker’s Selection, Cabernet Syrah 2009, Maipo Alto Chile, Red 14%- £19.99

Almost everyone, except me, spotted this was the most expensive wine, Steve immediately saying that he smelt a £20 note as he poured the wine!  Six out of nine of our tasting team voted this their favourite wine of the evening. A number of our tasters thought that this bottle had everything they wanted in a wine. It had a very dark colour and a peppery aroma and taste.  It was a little bit sweet especially with the cheese we tasted it with.  Scores were 14.5, 20, 12, 19, 12.5, 14, 16.5, 13.5 and 13.  I thought this was a great wine for most wine drinkers but to lovers of Old World wines the taste was slightly too sweet.

2. Equera, Bodega Vista Alegra, Garnacha Cosecha 2010, Rioja Spain, Red, £8.99

With three top votes from our die hard Old World wine enthusiasts, this was a light coloured red with an aroma of chocolate, vanilla and toffee.   The wine was very smooth on the palate but perhaps it lacked a little oomph.  Opinion was divided as to whether it was French or Chilean and most of us thought it was a Merlot or Cabernet Franc blend – how wrong we were!   Scores were 13+, 19, 11.5, 17, 10.5, 14, 14, 14 and 14.  A very pleasant light Old World style wine and well priced.

3. Seraph Reserve, Sauvignon Blanc 2010, AOC Touraine France, White 12% - £10.00

Our favourite white wine of the evening totally fooled us and nobody identified it as a Sauvignon Blanc.  It proved popular because of its unusual taste and quite interesting complexity.  It had a taste of pink grapefruit with some hints of metallic minerality.  It also had some fruit gummy acidity and some figs and plums on the nose.  Perhaps, on the minus side, it didn’t have enough body for some of us.  Guesses as to its origin included Spain, Rhone Valley or Italy but nobody guessed it was from the Loire.  Scores were 11-, 17, 10.75, 18, 7, 11.5, 11.5, 12.5 and 11.  An unusual Sauvignon Blanc worthy of consideration.

4. Beneficio Cellar Reserve, Mclaren Vale, Shiraz 2008, Australia, Red - £17.99

This wine was another very dark coloured red with a smell of morello cherries and fruit gums.  The taste was extremely sweet and jammy.  It could have been a port or sweet Italian red but again wasn’t!   Scores were 11.5, 17, 11.25, 18, 11.5, 13, 14, 12 and 10.5.   Maybe this would be a good after dinner wine or a match for blue cheeses.

5. The Lost Arrow, Chardonnay 2010, Western Australia, White - £9.99

This wine had a very light colour but a big taste.  Most of us thought it had a taste of Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of Semillon.  Again we were wrong and maybe the hint of melon should have told us this was in fact a Chablis like New World Chardonnay.   It had a very small amount of spritz and a touch of sweetness associated with New World Wines.  Scores were 13-, 16, 10.5, 15, 11, 11.5, 8, 11.5 and 13.   This was a Chardonnay for those who don’t like big buttery wines.

6. Devils Peak, Chenin Blanc 2011, South Africa, White - £8.49

It is amazing how often we end up with one dud wine and this one was our dud of the night, making one wonder if it was a rogue bottle.  The taste and smell was very much of pear drops or Strepsil cough sweets. It needed food and paired reasonably well with fish cakes but still wasn’t great.  Scores were 7, 11, 9.5, 13, 6, 9, 8.5, 5 and 9.  Not one of our favourites.

Clive (right) reflecting on his excellent evening

So ended a very interesting wine tasting with a number of wines that we both loved and that also fooled us!  At £10 a head, it was great value too.  Well done to Clive for organising such a good evening (he also took the photo at the top of this blog post).  The food went well with the wines and we had everything from Tongham Bakery bread, hummus, carrot and celery, fishcakes and a selection of sausages and cheeses.    We hadn't tried any wines from Virgin Wines before but perhaps we should try some more following our experience at this tasting.

If you fancy joining in the fun of our monthly wine tasting evenings click on Wine Circle at the top of this page.  We are still trying to organize a May date in Tongham but we will be back around the midsummers weekend in June in Farnborough.  Dates will be published on our Wine Circle page when fixed.