Its all Greek to me!

For our November 2011 Tongham Tasters evening we were back in home territory following our October trip to Farnborough. It proved to be another fun evening of good wine, food,conversation and laughter.  Our host was Sheila. She had gathered together six wines and some food from Waitrose. What would our six intrepid tasters think of them? Find out below with scores out of twenty in the order John E, Sheila, John S, Steve S, Jane and Ian. As usual the wines are presented in descending order of preference. All were tasted blind so that we could test our lack of wine tasting skills and score them without prejudice.

1.. Organiki Tsantali Cabernet Sauvignon Private Collection 2006, Greek Red, Waitrose £8.99. 14.5%

Two Thirds of our tasting team had this as their top wine of the evening and everyone had in their top three wines. It was a very smooth tasting wine with some raspberry, tobacco and herbal flavours. Ian wondered if it was from Portugal and John E wondered if it was an Argentian Malbec. Jane complained that she couldn’t taste the sunshine! John S spotted that it was a Cabernet Sauvignon but nobody guessed it was from Greece. Scores were 13, 13, 17, 15, 17, and 16. This was a Greek red that we can definitely recommend for slightly under £9.

2. San Leo Vino Spumante Prosecco Aromatico Brut NV, Italian Sparekling White, Waitrose £8.99. 11%.
The other third of our tasting team voted this sparkling wine their top wine. Only John E didn’t really rate it at all, and he was also the only one to identify it as a Prosecco. It has a nice bouquet and Ian thought it had lots of umph! Quite a few thought it was chardonnay but they were wrong. Scores were 10.5, 16.5, 13, 13, 18 and 14. Most of the team rated this a good sub £9 sparkler.

3. Neethlingshof Estate 2011 Stellenbosch Gewurtztraminer South African White, Waitrose £6.99. 13%.
Both Jane and Ian wondered if this from the Alsace. Others wondered if it was an Italian Pinot Grigio. With a slightly smoky taste, it was in fact a pleasant South African Gewurtztraminer from this year’s vintage. Everyone had it in there top four wines and the scores were 12, 16, 12, 12.5, 14, and13. Another good buy white wine at this price.

4. Waitrose Seriously Plummy Grande Reserve Maury, French Dessert wine, £9.99 for 37.5ml, 16%.
With some wondering if it was Spanish or Californian, John E confidently said it was French and a 100% Grenache Vin Doux; for once he was right! Steve S said he thought it was well made. What was absolutely certain was that it went perfectly with chocolate; Sheila thoughtfully providing us with some 85% cocoa chocolate pieces. Scores were 11, 12, 12, 10.75, 15 and 15. This sweet red wine is an absolute must for chocoholics.

5. Champteloup Selection Rosé d’Anjou, 2010, French rosé wine, Waitrose £6.99. 11%.
John E confidently announced this wine was a white wine, somehow totally ignoring the cough mixture colour! Sheila though it had not a lot of flavour, John S thought it floral and Ian described it as rose hip syrup. Not a popular wine with no top four votes, the scores were 10, 10, 9, 6, 8 and 11. Probably one for those who don’t really like wine!

6. Chateau Musar 2004 Gaston Hochar, Lebanese Red wine, Waitrose £18.99,
Although there was some taste of blackcurrants there was also an unpleasant taste of glue in this light coloured red wine. Nobody really liked it and when we unveiled what it was we found out it was a similar wine to the Lebanese wine that bombed at our tasting a few months ago. Scores were 8.5, 8, 8, 8.75, 12 and 8. I wonder if it tastes better and you decant as they instruct on the bottle. At this price we wouldn’t bother trying.

Thanks to Sheila for selecting these interesting wines. I particularly appreciated the Greek red and the Maury. With the wines Sheila served some cheese, Polish sausage, bread crackers and a selection of dips. Her conservatory proved another great location for one of our tasting sessions.

Next month is our Christmas party on Thursday December 15th in Grange Road Tongham. Three of our group will be competing to find out who can produce the best mulled wine. We will also be having a raclette cheese dish served with some Savoie and other French wines. If you want to join in the fun, click on Wine Circle at the top of this blog. Cost will be slightly more than the normal £10 for our December evening but everyone is welcome if they have an interest in wine, food and socialising.  Before this we have our New Zealand wine tasting dinner in Tongham Village Hall for which we have already sold out our 57 tickets.  See you there!

TT Wine Tasting Course Week 1 – Bordeaux Basics

Old Bus in Bordeaux 2003

Bordeaux is one of the most famous wine regions in the world and some of its wines amongst the most expensive and sought-after. The red wines are perhaps the most well known but the sweet whites are also amongst the World’s best. However, Bordeaux actually covers the whole gamut of wine so you can get Sparkling wine, Rose and dry white as well. They also do Bordeaux Clairet which is a wine in between Rose and Red.

The red wines of Bordeaux are often known in England as Claret but this is not a term used very much elsewhere in the world and rarely do you see this on a bottle in France. It dates back from the time when Bordeaux wines being imported into the UK were considered a lot lighter than the dark wines of Gaillac - Clair means light in French.

Bordeaux Vineyeard 2003

The basic Bordeaux reds are labeled either AOC Bordeaux or AOC Bordeaux Superieur. The AOC Bordeaux tends to be supple and fruity and not very full bodied. They can be very pleasant easy drinking or sometimes rather disappointing. Many basic House Clarets will be from this appellation. The AOC Bordeaux Superieur can be more concentrated, complex and powerful but again are a mixed bunch. Don’t expect the same that you would expect from an expensive Medoc.  

The grape varieties used in these basic Bordeaux reds can be Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and occasionaly Malbec or Petit Verdot, but most are Merlot dominated. These basic reds are generic in that they don’t have to come from any particular part of the Bordeaux region – they could be a mix from many vineyeards. The famous Bordeaux comes from specific areas such as Saint Emillion or Saint Estephe. Thus these basic Bordeaux have the labels of  cooperatives and very often brands or supermarket own labels. Prices, however, can be affordable.

Bordeaux is in the south west of France on the Atlantic Coast and the maritime climate protects it from the extremes of temperature. The soil types and terrain are very variable, thus contributing to the different characters of different AOC Bordeaux wines.

Your homework this week is to buy and try a bottle of basic Bordeaux red. My suggestions are in descending order of preference are:

Waitrose – Calvet Reserve 2009 Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon about £6
or Marks and Spencers – Classic Claret 2008 AOC Bordeaux about £7
or if budget conscious - Sainsbury’s – House Claret NV about £4.

NV = Non-Vintage or a mix of different years.

2009 was a good year for Bordeaux wines, probably the best since 2005.

AOC = Appellation d'Origine Controllee

Don’t expect too much but this will show you what a basic Bordeaux or Claret tastes like. You need to taste to understand. Try with food such as a roast dinner, pork chops or even hamburger and chips (no need to be posh when drinking cheap claret).   In  my view the typical house claret is for less adventurous drinkers but in past times when the Euro was weaker it could provide an everyday reliable easy drinking red wine. 

Next week – understanding the terms Right Bank and Left Bank and what to expect from Right Bank wines such as Saint Emillion.

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!