WINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Isn't wine photography difficult?!   For us wine bloggers it is rather a necessity but you need to take care or, as I have proved, the photos can be detracting.  Having looked at both my published and unpublished attempts I think I am beginning to learn through my own mistakes.  So what have I learned so far - 
Avoid Flash, except in very poor lighting, natural sunlight is best. Lighting can give problems with colour and unwanted reflections, so take care. A light box can help diffuse the light and also help with the next tip.
Be careful with the background as it can be distracting, use a plain background where possible.
Composition is important otherwise the picture will be boring. Consider an unusual angle or some foreground interest. Make sure there is a focal point of interest.
Dirty or damaged bottles or glasses are to be avoided, as the photo will emphasize these faults.
Elevate your picture to something special by trying to tell a story rather than just documenting a bottle, human interest is important.
Focus carefully. Use a Macro setting for close-ups. Use the focus to remove the distracting background.

Champagne at restaurant La Garenne, old Reims circuit France


Get to the right level when taking the photograph, otherwise the image may be distorted or look wrong.

Hurrying is a mistake. Take your time if you want a great picture and plan it in advance.

In-close shots often work well as they fill the whole frame with the subject.

Judder can cause a blur in low lighting conditions, so consider using a tripod.

Keep on trying. With digital cameras there is no extra expense from taking more shots, so try a few different angles, exposures, focuses etc.

Learn how to fix your shots after you have taken them by cropping them etc.

Hopefully you willl notice some improved photos over the next month and also you find these tips useful.   All photos taken on this blog have been taken with a compact Panasonic Lumix.  If any other Tongham Tasters want to have a go and send me in their wine photos - feel free and we wil publish them and give you credit.

John's October 2010 Wine of the Month

Because I really liked it and because it is easily available and great value, my Wine of the month is the Stork’s Tower Tempranilla-Shiraz Rosé, available in Tesco.   Great value at any price under £7.00.  This is probably by favourite Rosé, even beating the great Rosés of Bandol.   During the month I tried both the 2008 and 2009 and I scored both a very creditable 15/20, and our wine tasting group almost unanimously loved it. A lovely dry wine which would go well paired with salmon.  It has a beatiful deep quite dark strawberry colour colour and the berry tastes are lovely.   It comes from the Castilla Y Leon region of Spain in Northern Spain to the north west of Madrid.  The maker is Hijos de Antonio de Barcelo which is one of the oldest Spanish wine companies and is based in Valladolid. It is probably the first rosé with Shiraz I have really loved and the tempranilla gives it the great flavour of Spain.   This is a bit of a must for our next Tongham Village Hall wine tasting which will be on Northern Spain, to represent the rosés of Spain.  Don't wait until next summer to try this, try it at any time of the year either on its own or with food.  It would make a great party wine for Christmas and the new year!   They also make a red with the same name and grape varieties that I like a lot.  Their white is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo and this is not a blend I think works well even although I like each grape individually.


OTHER HIGH FLYERS

Mustang and Hurricane at the Goodwood Revival 2010.


Here are some of the other wines that I really appreciated this month but didn't get a mention in other blogs.   Perhaps, the highlight of the month was trying a Francois Raveneau Chablis; a real wow!   He is probably one of the very top Chablis producers and very difficult to find.  We were lucky enough for Hubert to open a bottle of 1998 Raveneau Montee de Tonnerre Premier Cru Chablis when we stayed with him last month.   It had taken on a slight colour with age but still tasted fresh and flinty.  If you want to buy a bottle in the UK it will probably set you back about £80.   We had this with a lovely Brocolli and Prawn salad prepared by Brigitte - for this recipe follow this link to Jane's blog.

Raveneau cooling on the window sill with Alfa
Romeo Mito in the background

Amongst the reds we tasted this month, another of Hubert's stood out.  It was a Bandol which is not an appelation well enough known in England but one of my favourites.  The one he served us was a Chateau Romassan Domaines Ott longue garde 2001 - it was excellent and exhibited all those concentrated mouvedre characteristics one would expect from a red Bandol.   I don't think it is easily available in the UK but I would recommend going to Waitrose and picking up a bottle of their La Bastide Blanche.

Continuing with the reds, we discovered another Spanish gem just yesterday at Majestic Wine warehouse, who I am pleased to see have reduced their minimum buy quantity from 12 bottles to 6 (we still ended up buying 19!). The gem was El Chaparral 2008 de Vega Sindoa Old Vines Garnacha.  It is by one of the top Navarra region producers - Bodegas Nekeas.   Made from the Garnacha or Grenache grape variety, which is a long way from being one of my favourites, this has bags and bags of fruit and is well balanced.  Many thanks to the very helpful staff at the Farnham branch of Majestic who recommended this.   This is another definite for our next Tongham Village Hall wine tasting as it also is from Northern Spain, the Navarra region being just to the east of Rioja.

Mention in this blog must also go to the excellent meal that Jean-Philippe and Stella served us consisting of a lovely Provence white ( Cuvee Amadeus Domaine de Camaisettee Coteaux d'Aix en Provence) served with an amazing seafood platter. With an equally amazing cheese course, J-P also served us a lovely 2009 Cru Beaujolais, a Domaine des Grands Cedres Fleurie, that proved how good 2009 Beaujolais can be.

I can't not recommend something New World, and I have to say I am increasing becoming a fan of McGuigan's Australian wines.  I like their top range wines and this month we tried again the 2007 Langhorne Creek Shiraz-Viognier and enjoyed it.  Look for this in Tescos.





November's Tongham Tasters' Get-together



Countdown to November 11th



Our next Tongham Tasters get together is at 8.00pm on Thursday 11th November. Ian will be buying the wine this month and he is going for 3 Rieslings (2 dry and 1 slightly sweeter) and 3 fruity reds from around the world – should be interesting. Rieslings are of course the white grape of choice for most wine writers – so if you want to understand why, come along. Fruit is the modern taste preference for reds after years of oak etc, so again we wait to see what Ian has chosen with interest. As usual we will be conducting a blind tasting of these 6 wines.





Please email tonghamtaster@gmail.com or ring John on 07717 876743 if you wish to come along to this month’s event and let us know a week in advance if possible. We appreciate everyone bringing along their own 6 wine glasses as this prevents one person from doing all the washing up or running out of glasses. Remember we only have 14 places available for each event so early notification will prevent disappointment.  As usual we will share the cost of the evening and it is limited to £10 per head.

As usual we welcome wine enthusiasts of all types and levels of experience from absolute beginners upwards.

Recipe for Mushrooms Feuilleté

(2 large starter servings or 2 light lunch servings)


We were surprised how many of you really enjoyed the mushrooms at the Champagne Gala Fundraising Dinner this September at Tongham Village Hall. In the absence of Jane sharing her recipe at present, here is a recipe I did one Valentine’s Day for Jane – it was very good, even though I say that myself. It is a good way of using up any left-over puff pastry. I was once a vegetarian and this developed my love of mushrooms and cooking them. This recipe shows you how to properly twice cook mushrooms and how to make a nice mushroom stock and also a mushroom sauce without cream. Credit must go to Paul Gayler whose excellent Vegetarian Cookbook taught me how to make a good mushroom stock; the version below is simplified a little. Also mention must go to Patricia Wells and her wonderful Paris Cookbook that first taught me the proper way to twice cook mushrooms à la Frederic Anton.

Shopping List
400g of Cheap Basic Mushrooms
2 Shallots or 1 medium onion
2 Tomatoes
1 large clove Garlic
1 bunch Parsley (preferably Flat Leaf)
Ready Made Puff Pastry
250g Chestnut Mushrooms
2 large knobs of butter

Store Cupboard Ingredients required (Check before you go shopping!)
Olive Oil
Tomato Puree
Soy Sauce
Salt & pepper

Step 1 – Make the stock for the sauce (this can be done the previous night if preferred)

Take 400g of cheap basic mushrooms and roughly chop.

Chop 2 shallots or one medium onion finely.

Peel and chop 1 large clove of garlic.

Roughly chop 2 tomatoes.

Cut the stalks off of a bunch of parsley and then chop the stalks.

Add one tablespoon of Olive Oil into a very large saucepan and bring to medium heat.

Add the chopped shallot and garlic and sweat for a few minutes until soft, without browning.

Add the 400g of chopped mushrooms, bring up the heat, and stir until they have gone brown and released their liquid.

Add the chopped tomatoes and a squeeze of tomato puree and the chopped parsley stalks.

Add a pint of water and turn up the heat.

Bring to a rolling boil and continue boiling for 25 to 30 minutes (it depends on the pan) until well reduced (it needs to taste quite concentrated).

Add 2 good slugs of soy sauce and stir.

Taste and season with salt, pepper and soy sauce as required.

Sieve the stock into another saucepan, pressing down in the sieve to ensure you get all of the good stock out of the vegetables and let cool. The contents of the sieve can be discarded as all the flavours have been cooked out. You will need the stock in Step 4.

Step 2 – Making the “Feuilleté”

Roll out the ready-made puff pastry.

Cut out 2 three-inch squares. Other shapes such as triangles or circles also work well. Make a smaller square, not cut all the way through, in each pastry square, to form a border.

Bake in the oven according to the instructions on the packet.

Step 3 – Prepare the Mushrooms and Herbs.

Take most of the parsley leaves, leaving a few whole to decorate the plate later, and chop (not too finely). Reserve until step 5.

Take 250g of Chestnut Mushrooms and thinly slice.

Fry the mushrooms in a little olive oil until they begin to lose most of their liquid.

Put to one side.

Step 4 – Prepare the Sauce

Take the stock you prepared earlier and heat in a small saucepan to just below boiling and then stir in a knob of butter; continue to stir until you have a shiny rich sauce. Taste and add seasoning if required.

Step 5 – Finish Cooking the Mushrooms.

Add a knob of butter to a frying pan and bring up to a reasonably high heat.

Add the mushrooms and stir whilst cooking for about 2 minutes.

At the end, stir in the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Step 6 – Plating Up.

Put the mushrooms on each plate.

Add some sauce to the mushrooms.

Place the puff pastry delicately on top.

Decorate with some whole parsley leaves.

Serve and enjoy!

Alternative serving suggestion - If you’re not a fan of puff pastry, serve on some toasted brioche or other toasted bread. If not a fan of Parsley then try Tarragon or Chervil. At this time of the year you could substitute any Wild Mushrooms for the Chestnut Mushrooms. If you have other mushrooms such as Shitake or Portabello use can these in the stock; they add more flavour but make it more expensive.

Wine Pairing – This goes very nicely with a Blanc de Noirs Champagne. Otherwise try a Pinot Noir (e.g. Burgundy, Oregon or New Zealand) or a Cabernet Franc (e.g. a Chinon or Bourgueil from the Loire). If you are a confirmed white wine drinker, try a Chardonnay.

Report on our October Launch Get-Together

I think I can say without fear of contradiction that our first Tongham Tasters monthly get-together was a resounding success. We had a great crowd of nine wine enthusiasts of different levels of experience – Jean-Michel, Steve, Clive, Steve, Sheila, Jane, Ian, Hazel and John – and both wine and conversation flowed throughout the evening, mingled with some food and laughter. Special thanks to bargain hunter Jane who assembled six interesting wines from Tesco’s during their 25% off wine fair and went way under budget so that the whole evening actually cost under £5 per person. Everyone put £10 in the kitty so that we could do something special at another date.

All wines were tasted blind. Below are the wines we tasted in order of popularity:

1. Storks' Tower 2009 Tempranilla Shiraz Rosé Vino de la Tierra de Castilla Hijas de Antonio Barcelo – normally £6.49 but Jane bought it for £4.87. Seven out of the nine of us voted this their best wine of the evening. John scored this a 15/20 point wine but Ian gave it 18/20. So it proved that we are not wine snobs and can appreciate a good Rosé which this definitely is. It is very similar to the excellent 2008 if you had tasted that this summer. We all agreed that this was a wine you could drink at other times of the year and Ian suggested this would be great with Salmon. Great value and well worth buying.

2. Crozes Hermitage 2007 Selected by Tesco Cave de Tain Silver Medal International Wine Challenge 2010 – normally £8.49 but Jane bought it for £6.37. One person voted this their top wine of the evening and four voted it their No.2 wine. John scored it only 11/20 but Ian gave it a more generous 16/20 so the jury was less certain on this – one of our team said they didn’t like it at all. Top marks to Steve who quickly identified what this wine was – suggesting that the right characteristics were there. A good value wine for lovers of French Shiraz.

3. Arrogant Frog Ribet Rouge Rural 2009 Pezenas Sud de France Vin de Pays d'Oc Bio Cabernet Merlot – normally £7.99 but Jane bought this for £5.99. Two of our enthusiasts voted this their No.2 wine of the evening and another 5 their No.3 wine, so it consistently featured highly in everyone’s list. John gave it 15/20 but Ian didn’t like this one and gave it only 9/20, proving that everyone has different tastes in wine. It certainly benefitted from breathing and got better as the evening progressed. An interesting organic Bordeaux blend from the Languedoc,which partly disproves my theory that silly named wines are not worth buying.

4. Tim Adams 2008 Semillon Clare Valley Australia – normally £10.49 but Jane paid only £7.87. Three of the team voted this their No.2 wine and two voted it their No.3 wine. John scored it 12.5/20 and Ian was in agreement scoring it 12/20. Perhaps rather disappointing scores for the most expensive wine of evening. However, a nice wine, if you like oaked Semillon, from an excellent producer; but most of us prefer the Tim Adams reds.

5. Argentina Reserve 2009 Chardonnay Fairtrade selected by Tesco – normally £6.29 but £4.72 in the wine fair. One of the Tongham Tasters voted this their No.1 wine of the evening and another two had it at No.3. John gave it 9.5/20 but Ian gave it 15/20 – this was a wine that definitely split the group into two; you either loved it or hated it. For Hazel it was another example of why she doesn’t like Chardonnay. However, others found some nice tropical fruits in this wine.

6. Altos de Tamaron Ribeira de Duero Tempranilla oak aged 2009 – normally £5.24 but Jane purchased for £3.93. None of the group had this wine in their top three, proving how difficult it is to purchase good wines in the £5 and under price range. However, it gave us a good laugh in arguing whether it tasted of mud or strawberries! John scored it 11/20 suggesting it was reasonable value but Ian gave it only 6/20 suggesting that it wasn’t drinkable.

It will be interesting to see if anyone can come up with such a popular wine as the Storks’ Ridge Rosé at a price of just £4.87 – Jane has thrown a challenge down!

The food we had with all this interesting wine from around the world, was smoked salmon and cream cheese pancake roulades, chorizo and cheddar pancake wedges, celery and carrot soup, cheddar cheese and pita bread plus cucumber, carrot and celery crudités.

This month we have featured the wine scores of John and Ian in our blog, but if you want your scores to appear here, come to our next Tongham Taster’s Get-Together at 8.00pm on Thursday November 11th. Good news is that we are not short of volunteers to choose the wines for the next 3 months. Ian has volunteered for November and is currently deciding between a theme of Rieslings, Australian wines or a bit of a mix. Sheila will provide some interesting wines for our December get-together, whilst Steve and Hazel are hosting our January evening.

Thanks to everyone for making our launch event such a success – cheers!

October's Get-together

Look forward to seeing you all at 8 O'Clock this Thursday. Jane has selected 6 interesting wines from Tesco's at their recent wine fare and got 25% off so it's going to be a good value evening.

John's Quick Italian Wines Review Part 1

As the theme for this month’s get-together is Supermarket wines I thought I’d join in the theme and review 6 Italian Red Wines we bought at this October’s Tesco's Wine Fair where you get 25% off if you buy 6 bottles or more. In part two of this review, I’ll be reviewing 6 more Italian Reds but bought from a specialist wine shop, and seeing which source gives the better quality wines and best value. In both of these reviews I’ll be using the Tongham Tasters’ 20 Point wine scoring system to rate the wines (see separate article). The wines were tasted on different days and were not tasted blind.

I picked Italian wines as I still have a lot to learn about them and thought this might be a good introduction. The 6 bottles of Italian wine I bought at Tescos cost an average of £6.17 (£8.23 before the 25% discount). This ties in with my general philosophy of ignoring most wines under £5 and trying to find value in the £5 to £15 range. With the discount I ended up paying less than I would on average, but would I like what I got for my money? In descending order of rating:

1. Barolo Cara Sant’Orsola 2005 £10.29 but £7.72 after discount (scored 14.5 Points)
The top wine of my 6 was no surprise as it was a Barolo, one my favourite Italian wines that is made with 100% Nebbiolo Grapes. Not the best Barolo I have ever had but well worth the £7.72 I actually paid. I believe Tescos also do some other good Barolos so let me know if you try some.

2. Montipulciano D’Abruzzo 2008 La Francese Tescos Finest (£5.99 but £4.49 after discount (scored 13.5 points)
This bottle was the one which I though represented the best value for money. It is an old fashioned style Montepulciano and thus has the emphasis on the Vanilla that comes from the oak rather than the fruit; thus not everyone's cup of tea. The wine is made by a Frenchwoman Gaetane Carron and hence the name of the wine.

3. Chianti Ruffina Riserva 2000 F Lu Grati Tescos Finest £11.99 but £8.99 after discount (scored 13 points)
The most expensve wine out of the 6 and another classic Italian Wine, this contains Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino grapes). This was OK but didn’t come across as good value It did have a lovely aged taste. Riserva is a wine that has been aged, usually in barrels, whilst Ruffina is a district within Chianti, Tuscany.

4. Piccini 2008 Supertuscan £6.00 but £4.50 after discount (scored 12 points)
Didn’t say the varietals on the bottle but I am going to guess Sangiovese, Cabernet Savignon and Merlot. This bottle rather reinforced my opinion that Supertuscan’s in this price range are not very special. However, at the discounted price might be tempted again.

5. Gran Conti Rosso del Molise Riserva 2005 £9.99 but £7.49 after discount (scored 10 points)
This wine is made from Montepulciano and Aglianico grapes and frankly I found it a big disappointment at the price. There were some tastes I didn’t find entirely pleasant.

6. Sicilian Nero D’Avola 2008 Cantine Settesoli Tescos Finest £5.09 but £3.82 after discount (scored 6 points)
I had seen some good reviews of this wine so I can only presume there was something wrong with the bottle I bought as it had a horrible aroma and taste.

One general conclusion I came to with these 6 Italian wines was that they would all benefit from a good aerating by using some gadget or pouring into a decanter. Overall a mixed bag and no real gems so it will be interesting to see if I can do better when buying 6 Italian Reds from a specialist wine shop.

Tongham Taster's Wine Scoring System

As someone who likes to remember if I liked a wine or not and whether I’d want to buy it again, a wine scoring system is appealing. For the last few months I have been experimenting with different methods and this is the one I am favouring at present. Personally I find systems that only give 5 points rather restrictive and ones that give over 50 points rather out of my judging ability range. I stumbled across the University of California wine scoring system on the web and after a bit of simplifying and tweaking came up with following system which I will continue experimenting with. By splitting up the scoring into a wine’s different attributes and by by putting down a description against each score it is reasonably easy to use. It also makes you consider the wine carefully rather than just slurping it down – this is another plus of trying to score wines yourself.

Look – 0 for Cloudy, 1 for a wine that is not very bright, 2 for a wine that is clear, has a nice colour and is brilliant.

Smell – 0 for off smells or corked, 1 if the wine has very little aroma, 2 for an average pleasant aroma, 3 for an intense complex aroma.

Body, Weight, Feel & texture – 0 for totally wrong feel & texture, 1 for not particularly good feel & body, 2 Average for feel & body, 3 above average, 4 for perfect feel & body.

Taste, Balance and Complexity – 0 for tastes off or corked or awful, 1 for not a particularly good taste, 2 OK but not well balanced, 3 Balanced but lacks complexity, 4 Balanced and Complex.

Length and aftertaste – 0 Poor aftertaste or no length, 1 Average aftertaste and linger, 2 Great aftertaste and linger.

How Much Did You Enjoy The Wine – 0 Ugh!, 1 Just drinkable, 2 OK, 3 Really quite pleasant, 4 Very good wine, 5 Wow!.

In this system it is acceptable to give half marks where you feel necessary or are undecided.

Overall this scores a wine out of 20 and exceptional wines get 15 or more, pleasant wines score about 12 to 14, and wines you want to avoid under 10.

It is always good to make a few other comments on your score sheet as well so you can remember the wine.   Once you've scored the wine note the score and the comments in a pocket size notebook that you can take with you when you are buying wine.

In the future we'll share some of our scores.  Until then, happy slurping!!!