A Midsummer Night's Dream

Steve as Bottom

Whilst one of our usual number, Steve Williams, was brilliantly playing Bottom in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, ten of us had a great tasting session of wonderful food and wine combinations in Farnborough. We had seen Steve in the outdoor Lost For Words production at Woking College the night before but the weather wasn’t good enough for us to have a midsummer’s tasting outside at Ian’s place in Farnborough for our Saturday evening get-together.

Ian’s theme for our midsummer tasting was wine matched with food.  First we had two Sauvignon Blanc wines served with goat’s cheese and mushrooms on toast.  Our second two wines were served with a delicious but unusual red cabbage dish. Our  next two wines were served with a gammon and cous-cous dish.   Finally we had some cheese including French goats cheese, Bleu d’Auvergne and Cheddar.

So what did our tasting team think of Ian’s selection of wines that were mainly from The WineSociety.  As usual all wines were blind tasted.  Scores below are out of twenty and are in the order John E, Steve S, Ian, Sheila, John S, Jill, Chris and Andy.  Jane and Kathryn also ranked the wines but did not score.

1. Terroirs des Chateaux Forts, Domaine Rolly-Gassman, 2008 Alsace White, 13%, The Wine Society £10.50.

Our favourite wine of the evening, as it got seven top votes, was a Gewurztraminer dominated blend from France.  Although sweet it was well balanced with acidity.  The aroma and taste is of elderflower and orange peel and the wine has a slight spritz.  This wine was a good pairing for the gammon. Our team scored it 12.5, 12, 17, 13, 13, 15, 14.5 and 13.   A very pleasant wine that would go well with spicy food or be drunk on its own.

2. Saint Cosme, Cotes du Rhone, 2010 Rhone Red, 14%, The Wine Society £9.50

The only red wine of the evening was a very good Syrah from France.  Unusually for a Cotes du Rhone it was 100% Syrah and was dark and earthy. It got two top votes. Our team scored it 13.5, 13, 13, 12.5, 11, 10.5, 11.5 & 10.   This is definitely a wine for consideration and I think good value for a Syrah of this quality.

3. Conche y Toro Corte Ignacio Riesling, 2010 Chilean White, 12%, The Wine Society £8.25

This wine got one top vote and five other top three votes.  Like our winning wine it was quite sweet although this disappeared once we had it with food – an unusual wilted red cabbage dish with shrimps, mandarins, toasted nuts and Parmesan.   Scores were 11.5, 11, 15, 11.5, 13.5, 14, 10.5 and 11.5.  This is a food friendly Chilean Riesling.

4. Concha y Toro Corte Ignacio Coastal Rapel and Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc, 2011 Chilean White, The Wine Society £7.50

This wine got three second place votes and went well with our goat’s cheese and mushrooms on toast.  Although this has a sweet smell it had a very dry sharp fruity taste.  Scores were 11.5, 10.75, 13, 9, 10, 11.5, 13 and 11.5.  An excellent value Sauvignon Blanc. 

5. The Society’s Exhibition Sancerre, 2010 French White, The Wine Society £12.50

I found this wine more concentrated than the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and it improved over the evening and was more food friendly.  However, it wasn’t as popular with our team.  This wine was made by Serge Laloue in Thauvenay, near Sancerre, and he is a well-respected producer. Scores were 12, 12.5, 12.5, 6, 11, 12.5, 9 and 9.5.  Actually you don’t get better Sancerre at this price in this country.

6. Catena Chardonnay, 2009 Argentinian White, 14%, The Wine Society £9.95

This wine really split the team with four of us thinking it a Midsummer Night’s Dream and six a nightmare.  I thought it was a very interesting wine that developed well over the evening and had fruit, oak and cream.  Others thought it was over oaked. Scores were 12.5, 12.5, 12, 9.5, 11.5, 8, 6.5 and 8.5.  A wine you will either love or hate but good value for the connoisseur of rich oaked Chardonnay.

Unveiling the wines after the blind tasting

7. Cattin Freres Alsace Riesling, 2009 French White, Auchan €4.95

Every other wine got at least three top three votes but this had none.  It was the cheapest wine but proved rather uninteresting, especially for an Alsace Riesling. Scores were 10.5, 10.5, 11, 7, 9, 11, 10 and 10.  A reasonable and cheap glugger.

Gammon Cous-Cous

Last year we managed three summer wine tastings in our gardens but this year the weather has kept us inside.  Despite missing out being outside on a midsummer’s evening we had a very interesting and consistent bunch of wines from Ian and some very good food to go with it.  It is interesting how well sweet wines tend to do in these tastings and how poorly Chardonnay wines perform unless they have bubbles. 

Is Steve's acting career ready for take-off?

Our next Tongham Taster’s evening is on Friday 20^th July at 8pm when Sheila will be serving us six more wines in Manor Road Tongham.  If you want to join us you just need  £10 as contribution to the cost of the wines and food and to call John on 07717 876743.  For more details of our events and future calendar, click on Wine Circle above.  Anyone interested in wine, food and good conversation is welcome.

We had some Chilean and Argentinian wines tonight.  Wines from these two countries will also feature in our Andean Adventure, which is our next educational wine tasting dinner in Tongham Village Hall.  The date is likely to be sometime in October.

Thanks to Jane for the photo at the head of this post. 

A smile from John as we get a red wine at last!

Hope we see you soon.