Monday 13 June 2011

We've Lost the Plot

For our June Tongham Tasters’ evening we picked the best evening of the year so far and sat outside and had a fantastic late spring BBQ. It was a beautiful Friday night and it was Hazel’s evening, the last of our nine regulars to host an event. Rosé wines were the main theme of the tasting but when the barbequed fore-rib of beef was served we opened some lovely red wines from the South West of France. We were blessed by our best turn out so far and eleven of us tasted, ate and chatted until late into the evening.

In order of preference after voting, here are Hazel’s wines and our collective views on them. Scores are in the order: John E, Jill, Hazel, Steve W, John S, Kathryn, Sheila, Steve S, Clive and Jane.

1. Marques de Montoya Cava Rosé Brut. 2009, £10.99.
The most expensive wine of the evening got six of our eleven votes as the best wine of the six provided by Hazel. This pink fizz was described as quaffable by Kathryn and as crisp and clean by Clive. On the other hand some of us including Ian described it as lacking in complexity. It was at least reasonably dry. The scores out of 20 were 9.5, 14, 13, 10, 10, 14, 13, 10, 14 and 14. Good basic pink fizz.

2. Calvet Rosé D’Anjou 2009. £6.99.
This wine got three top scores and another five top three placings. It was rather a surprise when the wine was revealed to be a Rosé D’Anjou. Hazel thought it was the sort of wine where you could sit and drink a whole bottle in the garden. Sheila found it a bit sweet and John E thought it a bit flabby. Ian described it as spray tan from St Tropez – obviously he thought it was from Provence. The scores were 10, 10, 13, 12, 11, 14, 9, 10.5, 12 and 14. A pink to consider but not analyse.

3. Connubio Blush Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2010. £6.99.
Only one top vote but ten had it in their top three and thus in some ways the most popular wine of the evening. Definitely one to drink on its own, it didn’t pair well with food. Most described it as a “glugger”, but what else would you do with Pinot Grigio? It smelt and tasted floral – perhaps Elderflower but Sheila found it slightly syrupy. Scores were 12.5, 10, 11, 10, 11, 8, 8, 9.5, 13 and 13. A quaffable blush.

4. Taste The Difference Petit Chablis 2009 Sainsbury. £7.99.
This chardonnay from Burgundy got very mixed reviews. It got a first, second and third but three had it in last place. The best taste comparison was rhubarb but it went down hill after that via “wet cats” to “dog ****”. John E thought this wasn’t a good year but drinkable – Jane totally disagreed that it was drinkable. Scores were 12, 8, 10, 8, 12, 11, 5.5, 7.75, 13 and zero! Not recommended by most of the team but as John S said, perhaps we had all lost the plot by the time we got to this wine.
5. Turning Leaf Vineyards. Pinot Grigio, California 2009. £7.79.
Turning Leaf isn’t a favourite brand for wine connoisseurs and it didn’t even do well at our rather low brow evening. An initial nose of marmalade and honey it got rather bland after that. Scores were 12, 10, 8, 8, 10, 13, 6, 6.5, 10 and 11. Not worth the price.

6. Domaine de Sours 2010 Bordeaux Rosé. £6.99.
This 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon wine did not impress. It had an unusual colour that some described as pharmaceutical or domestos pink. Sheila really made an effort but couldn’t love this wine. Steve W identified some fizz which doesn’t always go down well in a still wine. Scores were 7, 8, 8, 6, 7, 11, 7, 7.5, 11 and 6. Don’t confuse this with a good bottle of Chateau de Sours rosé, as this is quite frankly awful!

Following these wines we moved on to a couple of cheapish French supermarket reds that went down very well. At only €4.99 and €5.99 we can heartily recommend Grande Reserve D’Or 2007 Cave de Crouseilles Madiran and Chateau les Bouysses 2004 Cahors respectively.. They go down well with a nice piece of beef. After that we opened some more wines but nobody can remember what – aren’t we meant to be a serious wine tasting group?!

It just remains to thank Hazel and Steve for hosting a truly great evening and to look forward to some of our forthcoming evenings this summer. Next up is a celebration of French wine and food on French National Day – Thursday July 14th and an Old World versus New World wines comparison on Friday August 12th. In September six of our regulars will be competing to see who can bring along the best under £10 wine. We should have some better wines at these three events but will we enjoy ourselves as much? Come along and find out. All these events wiill be in Tongham, Surrey and you are welcome to join us whether we have met before or not. Click on wine circle at the top of the page about how to join in the fun.

Saturday 4 June 2011

A Month in Provence - TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 23

The 12 month on-line course to help you learn about French wines - Top tips on how to get value when buying them - Reasonably priced up-to-date recommendations of what to buy and try in the UK - Bringing you the best of Tongham Village Hall wine tastings.

INTRODUCTION
This week start our month in Provence. The well known rosés are our first port of call. Most of us must have tried them but how many of us know much about them? All of the Provence appellations make rosés but we will leave those of Bandol, Bellet, Cassis and Palette until the end of the month.

LOCALITY
Provence is in the South of France on the Mediterranean Coast. The wine area stretches from Nice in the east to Arles in the west. In the north it touches on to the Rhone Valley appellations. The region of course is very sunny with little rain but it does suffer from the famous Mistral wind.

VARIETALS
Perhaps once of the main reasons that few of us could name the grape varieties in a Provence rosé is that we don’t care – these are fun carefree wines, not serious wines for connoisseurs. The other reason is that they contain too many varietals to remember.
In the pink wines of Provence the main grapes are normally the common southern red grape varietals of Grenaches, Carignan, Cinsault, Syrah and Mouvedre. In some appellations you may also find Cabernet Sauvignon. However, there are many other permitted and used varietals, some relatively unknown outside the area and others imported from close by in Italy.

THE WINES
Just €3 in France and rather nice!
The largest appellation is that of Cotes de Provence. Over 75% of this appellation is the famous pink rosé wines. Much, but not all of it, is sold in the distinctive skittle shaped bottle. The wines vary from the relatively tasteless drink to be consumed without too much thought on a hot summer’s day to more serious rosés that some growers are now trying to produce. Colours also vary from a very pale pink hue to something much darker, sometimes with a copper colour. The style is normally dry.
Similar wines come from Coteaux d’Aix en Provence. The Coteaux de Pierrevert is one of the more inland appellations and its rosé tend to be very pale and light. Other AOC names you might see are Les Baux de Provence and Coteaux Varois.
These wines are for drinking young and very chilled.
Being made in the fashionable area of the South of France, and with the current exchange rate, these rosé wines do not often offer much value for money. I tend to buy mine in French supermarkets where you can still find something drinkable for three Euros whereas in the UK you will pay over six Pounds.

THE TASTE
Most of the wines are dry and gentle with a perfumed nose and just enough fruity taste to make them worth drinking. The fruity tastes are often of strawberry.

TOP TIPS
• Buy these wines during a trip to France rather than in the UK. On wines of this price the duty makes a big difference and the French are less willing to pay a big price for ordinary wines like this.

Not very good value at well over £6
HOMEWORK
For your homework this week buy and try one of this week’s Provence rosé wines, which may include one of the following:
.
Majestic -Château Saint Roch-les-Vignes 2009/2010 Côtes de Provence – about £7
Waitrose - Château de Fontlade, Aurelia Primae Rosé 2009 Coteaux Varois en Provence – about £8.
Waitrose - Esprit de Buganay Rosé 2010 Côtes de Provence – about £9
Majestic- Château Pigoudet 'La Chapelle' Rosé 2010 Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence – about £9

FOOD PAIRINGS
These wines go well with the garlic and olive oil cuisine of Provence. They are also good with much seafood and fish dishes – why not try with a Bouillabaisse. Finally, these are wines just for quaffing on their own or at a BBQ.

COMING SOON
Next week we cover the surprisingly good but less well known red wines of Provence. If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up. Just click on the French Wine Course link at the top of this page.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Italian Wine in Seven Easy Sips!

Saturday July 2nd should be one of the next dates to put in your diary. We are holding one of ourTongham Village Hall wine tasting dinners and this time it is time to polish up on your Italiano!

We will be serving you seven superb Italian wines chosen for you by John and a 7 course dinner cooked by Jane. The cost is just £20 each which is an incredible bargain in these inflationary times – but expect to have your arm twisted to buy some raffle tickets on the door.

As usual you will have fun trying Italian food and wine as well as participating in the active social life of Tongham Village.

Please book soon to avoid disappointment. Contact John on 07717 876743 or Jane on 07983 154295. Money is payable on booking. We hope to see you there.