All White on the Night

Our first tasting of 2013 took place as usual on the second Friday of the month but I had inadvertently organised a little trip to the Sancerre/Menetou- Salon area and thus missed it!   However, the show must go on and Clive and the other Tongham Tasters managed well without Jane and me.   Perhaps, this is why this report is a little scantier than usual.  From all reports this was another great evening, particularly if you were a fan of white wines.  All six wines were Sauvignon Blancs and originated from various parts of the globe.  The job of our seven person tasting team was to rate them and guess which part of the World they came from.  As Sauvignon Blanc is grown in many parts of France as well as New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Australia, California etc etc, this was not an easy task.  Would Clive’s choices live up to Sauvignon Blanc’s reputation as a  crisp, dry and refreshing wine (although sweet examples are also available) .

A small select group for our January tasting

Some warming watercress and potato soup

The evening was organised by Clive and Sarah with most of the usual suspects in attendance.  Food pairings experienced in the evening included homemade watercress and potato soup, smoked salmon on oat biscuits, goats’ cheese and Tongham Bakery bread.  The wines tasted are noted below in descending order of preference:

1. Vina Maipo Reserva Sauvignon Blanc Valle Central 2012, Chilean White 12.5% , Sainsbury £9.99
This wine was voted top wine by five of the seven attendees.  Apparently there were some honey notes to the taste.  Ian and Jill had this down correctly as a wine from Chile (and these two tasters also ended up the best in the country of origin competition - well done!) but the rest thought it was from New Zealand or Australia.
I’ve had this wine before and can definitely recommend this as a sub-ten pound Sauvignon Blanc.

2. The Township Winery Philippi Sauvignon Blanc 2010. Western Cape South African White 12.5%, Virgin Wines £9.99
Six of our tasting team put this in their top three wines, although nobody rated it as their top wine of the evening.  Apparently, there were hints of honey and sherbet.   South Africa is definitely an up and coming country for Sauvignon Blancs and they have done quite well in our tastings before.

3. The Doctors Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Marlborough New Zealand White 9.5%, Virgin Wines £9.99.
Steve thought this New Zealand wine was the best of the evening but most rated it number three or slightly below.   It was an unusual wine in that it was only 9.5% alcohol by volume rather than the normal 12.5% and is marketed as a possible lunchtime drink. The team thought it an enjoyable wine but it did not quite live up to what it said on the label in terms of taste – the label said "amazingly pungent".

4. Montpierre Reserve Vin de France Sauvignon Blanc 2011, South of France White 11.5%. Sainsbury £8.99.
This was Jill’s favourite wine of the evening but John thought it too reminiscent of cat’s pee, which is a typical Sauvignon Blanc characteristic. For a basic French wine it didn't do too bad.

5. Kiki Marlborough 2009 New Zealand sparkling white. Virgin £11.99
This is one of a growing band of sparkling wines that are not made by the traditional Champagne method but that just have CO2 added like Coca Cola or other soft drinks.  Jill and Kathryn quite liked it but the rest had it firmly at wine number five .  Steve thought it a bit sweet.  However, a pleasant opener to toast in a New Year’s tasting.

6. McGuigan  Bin No.316 2012 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Australian White 10.5%. Sainsbury £7.99.
The bargain price wine of the evening, it was also unanimously the least popular.  Some felt it tasted vinegary and could be used as a condiment for your chips and other felt it tasted watered down like a spritzer.  The less said the better, perhaps we got a rogue bottle as this was a trophy winner.

So thus ended another interesting tasting evening and one of particular interest to lower alcohol white wine lovers.  Well done to Clive and Sarah.  Next month on Friday 8th February our tasting will be an evening for lovers of bubbly as Sheila will try to wow us all with six sparkling wines.   This will be another Tongham event, so if you want to join us, look in Wine Circle at the top of this blog for full details.  Hope to see you there.

PS.  Whilst the team were enjoying Clive’s choice of wines, Jane and I were supping a particularly good Sauvignon Blanc – A Domaine Minchin La Tour Saint Martin Menetou- Salon, well worth looking out for.

Goats' Cheese is always good with Sauvignon Blanc

Smoked salmon can also work well

As usual thanks to Clive for the photos and also for most of the report this month.