CRACKING THE LANGUEDOC

One of the very dark Languedoc reds

As Steve has a small house in the Languedoc and visits there regularly, I pretty much insist that he presents us wines from the Languedoc when it comes around to his turn to do the tasting.  In any case the wines of the Langeudoc are always popular and represent good value, even if the prices of some are creeping up.   In his previous tastings Steve had felt that he hadn’t quite done the Languedoc justice; would he manage it for our July tasting and really crack the Languedoc?

Steve opens the wine whilst Jane smiles and I concentrate

The were nine of us gathered around his dining room table one Friday night in early July to judge Steve and his wines.  As usual we blind tasted the wines and had to guess which of the six wines presented did not contain a local varietal.  The wines we tasted are presented in descending order of preference and all scores are out of twenty using the original Tongham Taster scoring system that rates the wines on look, small, feel, taste, length and wow factor.   Scores are presented in the order Clive, Ian, Kathryn, Andy, Chris, Steve S and Yvonne.  I managed to lose my and Jane’s score sheets so they are not presented.

Plenty of Tongham Bakery bread to soak up all that strong wine

1. Mas Gabriel, Cuvee Trois Terraces, 2011, 100% Carignan Noir Vielles Vignes, French Red 14.5%, direct from the producer €10.00

Four of our team had this as their favourite wine and everyone had it in their top three.   Clive smelt this wine and immediately identified that is wasn’t a beer!   I thought it was a Syrah but as usual got it wrong.  Some felt it had the aroma of brambles with some caramel.  It was quite dry and astringent.  Scores were 15, 12.5, 12, 12.5,14, 15.75 and 16.  A very nice wine from a grape that is rarely used as a single varietal.

2. Domaine de l’Arjolle, Cuvee Zinfandel 2010, French Red 14.5%, direct from the producer, €12.00

A close second was the non-Languedoc varietal – Zinfandel.  It also had four who voted it top but another four had it in their bottom half.   Thi s wine had a lot of vanilla oakiness but reasonable acidity to balance this.  The taste was of stewed plums with just a hint of sweetness from the fruit.   Scores were 17, 13.5, 11, 10, 10.5, 15.5 and13.  A very pleasant wine and an unusual varietal for the area.

3. Chateau de la Liquiere, Vielles Vignes, AOC Faugeres 2011, French Red, direct from the producer,
€8.90

Making it a clean sweep for the red wines our third favourite wine was this nice Faugeres.  It was a gloomy Goth coloured wine that was astringent with lots of tannin.  It was complex and balanced.  Five of us had in our top three wines.   Some thought it was spicy but it could have been the chorizo that some of us were eating.  Score were 16, 12.5, 8, 10.5, 9, 13.75 and 12.5.  This wine is 45% Carignan, 35% Grenache, 10% Syrah and 10% Mouvedre.

4. Mas Gabriel, Cuvee Clos des Papillons 2012, French White 13.5%, direct from the producer, €13.50

Mas Gabriel not only produced our favourite red, they also produced our favourite white.  It was an unusual grape varietal – Carignan Blanc, something that most of us hadn’t tasted before.  For some of us it was similar to Picpoul de Pinet and had a good dose of acidity and then a lingering dryness.  There appeared to be a slight natural fizz rather like in an Albarino. Scores were 13, 10.5, 12.5, 10.5, 11, 11.75 and 12.  Mas Gabriel is obviously a property worth visiting – Languedoc here we come!

5. Chateau de la Liquiere, Cuvee Les Armandieres 2012, French White, direct from the producer, €6.40

This cheeky little wine with a mineral taste and floral smell had some lemon sherbet grip in the after taste.  It turned out to be 30% Roussane, 25% Grenache, 20% Terret, 10% Viognier, 10% Bourboulenc and 5% Marsanne.   Scores were 14, 11.5, 12, 10, 13.5, 14 and 11.

6. Chateau Roquette sur Mer, La Clape, Cuvee Arpege 2011, French White 13.5%, direct from the producer, €8.15

Unfortunately eight of us voted this our least favourite wine of the evening.  Steve said it tasted much better in the Languedoc.   I found it a bit flat not quite but almost pear drops and some thought it resinous or bitter.   It had a very dry aftertaste with some citrus.  It turned out to be a Bourboulenc and Roussane blend.  Scores were 10, 6, 11, 9.5, 8.5, 9.5 and 9.   Kathryn, our white wine lover didn’t vote it last and it reminded her of Dandelions so there is some hope for this wine.

Yvonne's excellent cheese straws

A very interesting selection of wines and some interesting grape varieties; Steve you definitely cracked the Languedoc!   As usual we had a good selection of Tongham bakery bread, crackers, meats and cheese.  Yvonne had made some delicious cheese straws that matched the wines extremely well.  We also tried some dried figs that went quite well with the Zinfandel.

Dried figs from the Languedoc

Clive at the other end of the lens

Next month we meet on Friday August 9^th for a “regulars only” event where we will spend the kitty we have built up over the last year on some mature Reserva and Gran Reserva Riojas dating from 2004 back to 1984.  A "must" for lovers of old red wines.

Team we need someone to take over from me after August and someone to host  the September, October, November and December tastings.  Volunteers please!

If you are interested in visiting Mas Gabriel, it is a small organic wine domain located in Caux.   It is run by an English couple, Peter and Deborah Core so you won’t have any language problems here.  They have a website www.mas-gabriel.co.uk that is worth a visit if you can’t get to their domaine.   Many thanks to Steve and Yvonne for introducing their wines to us and for hosting another really enjoyable evening.

As usual - thanks to Clive for the additional and superior photos attached to this post.

Yvonne pours the wine for Chris

Steve prepares the table

A POSTCARD FROM PORTUGAL

Our June Tongham Taster’s evening took us to a country that is ignored and forgotten by so many wine drinkers - Portugal.   Whilst still remembered for its fortified wines, its other wines, with the exception of, dare I say it, Mateus Rosé are little known.   Ian and Kathryn were our excellent hosts and they took the easy but ultimately winning option of getting all of their six wines via The Wine Society’s “The Portugal Exploration Case”.   Our only disappointment was not trying one of Cliff Richard’s wines – a rousing chorus of “we’re all going on a summer holiday” or “the young ones” would have really made the evening!

As none of us know very much about Portuguese wines we didn’t actually taste the wines blind, it would have made no difference to our marks or comments.  Instead Kathryn provided us with tasting notes on all six wines plus a wine from the aforementioned Senhor Richard.  We just had to guess which of the tasting notes went with each wine; a much more difficult task than it might sound when they are filled with typical wine critic verbosity such as “a hint of Burgundian style struck match” or “constrained and buttressed by the tight apple”.

Unusually we were marking the wines out of ten using a different system than usual and which developed slightly over the evening and which was not used consistently around the tasting table.  Scores below are in the order John E, Kathryn, Ian, Jill, John S, Andy, Clive, Jane, Sarah and Chris.  The wines are presented in our descending order of preference with the food we served with them:

1. Campolargo, Alvelhao, Beiras, 2011, Potuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £10.95.

This was our postcard from Portugal and indeed a postcard, most unusually, forms the label.  This wine is from the Bairrada region of Northern Portugal. But is different from the robust reds that traditionally come from this area.  It was an easy winner with our judging panel despite initial comments such as wafts of toilet cleaner or menthol –not something I got at all, I have to say.  Perhaps they meant fresh summer flowers and hay meadows; sounds much better doesn’t it.  We found it light to medium bodied , slightly sweeter than the other reds but very nice taste and some complexity.  Four of our panel voted it the top wine of the evening and another five had it in their top three.   Scores were 9,7,8,9,7,6.5,8,7,10 and 7.25.   A pleasant summer red that could be good on its own.

2. Terrenus, Branco, Alentejo 2010, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society, £10.95.

This blended wine from inland Southern Portugal received top votes from two of our judges and another five had it in their top three wines.  It had a citrus, oak and minerality and tasted relatively similar to some oaked Sancerres I had tasted recently.  We found it perhaps lacked a little aftertaste although the tasting notes from The Wine Society suggested the opposite.   Score were 7.5,8,9,7.5,6,7,9,7,9 and 7.5   This is a wine for those who don’t mind a little oak in their wines as long as it is balanced by fruit and minerality.

3. Valle Pradhinhos, Branco, Transmontano 2011, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society,

£10.95

Another white came next and many thought it was better than the one above but quite a few didn’t like this wine at all and hence the placings.  This wine had a big citrus nose, perhaps reminiscent of grapefruit and again good minerality with perhaps some oak and saltiness. Another wine that reminded me of Sancerre although it is a blended wine and comes from the Upper Douro area of Northern Portugal.  We tried this wine with a lovely prawn pasta dish and the dish improved the wine.   Scores were 6.5+,8.5,7,9.5,7,5,8,9,5 and 8.  A lovely wine to have with your barbequed fish this summer.

4. Alfrocheiro, Grande Escolha, Tejo 2008, Portuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £14.95

This wine had that big New World red smell and looked lovely in the glass.  We found brambles and cherries in its fruit flavours and a good level of acidity.  One person thought this their favourite wine of the evening and another six had it in their top three.  Scores were 8-,7,8,8,7,6,8,9,7.5, and 6.    The acidity would make this a good match to slow roasted pork belly.

5. Verdelho, Alentejo 2011, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society, £8.95

This was the first wine we tasted and it made a great start to the evening.  I thought it tasted like some Italian whites only better.  It was perhaps a bit flat tasting and thus came towards the bottom of our three good whites.  We had this with some Olive Oil Tortas from Waitrose and green grapes and they were an excellent wine accompaniment.   Scores were 6.5-,7,6,7,6.5,6,8,5,6 and 6.5.   If you like the white wines of Italy or Spain, give this one from Portugal a try.

6. Porta Velha, Tras-os-Montes 2010, Portuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £7.50

Although this wine came in last place and was the only wine that nobody put in their top three, it was probably the best sixth place wine we have tasted over the last three years of Tongham Tasters.  Perhaps too soft it was a little flat and uncomplicated.   However, it did have a nice raspberry or strawberry aroma and some acidity to match with food.  We found it went well with figs.  Scores were 7-,7,6,6,5,5,8,5,7 and 4.5.   A Portuguese alternative to a joven Rioja as it is made largely with Tempranilla to drink young.

Our food menu for the evening

Overall this proved to be a very consistent bunch of wines and absolutely not a dud amongst them.  However, perhaps no really amazing star either.  The food was gorgeous and novel.  A great evening – congratulations and thanks to our hosts Ian and Kathryn.   Obviously, we all ought to be adding Portuguese wines to our shopping list – join the Wine Society or visit a good quality wine specialist or pop along to your local Waitrose.  An observation from some of us was that the labels didn't help sell this wine to foreigners like us who are not experts in Portuguese wine.

Tortas and green grapes - a great combination with a Portuguese white

Well done to Clive who did spectacularly well compared with the rest of us in matching the wines with the Wine Society descriptions – he obviously has a great palate.

Our Portuguese prawn pasta dish

Thanks to Kathryn for the delicious food that accompanied the wines.

Merriment accompanied the first white

Next month we end our exile in Farnborough and return to our roots in Tongham.  Steve will be presenting us six wines from the Languedoc region of France on Friday July 5^th at 8pm in The Street, Tongham.  Don’t forget that we welcome old and new comers equally so if you would like to join us, click on Wine Circle to find out more details.

An aperitif before the main tasting 

August will be one of the special evenings where we blow the budget and use up some of our kitty.  It will be an evening of older and more expensive wines than normal.  So our regular tasting team need to put Friday August 9^th in their diaries.  The theme will be Reserva and Gran Reserva Riojas.  Included will be a mini vertical of three wines from the eighties and nineties.  This will be a mainly red evening and will be accompanied by traditional Rioja accompaniments like roast lamb, Manchego cheese, Serrano ham, chestnut soup and mushrooms.   If it’s a warm summers day, which is unlikely in England, we will try to lighten up some of those ingredients.  This evening will be hosted by John and Jane in Grange Road, Tongham.

Many thanks to our hosts

At our next evening we will need to plan September through December, so team come up with some ideas.  In October it will be our third birthday as a wine tasting group.

We ended with Portuguese custard tarts - delicious! 

As usual thanks to Clive for most of the photos.