THE GOOD OLD DAYS

The winning wine

Our August Tongham Tasters evening was special in many respects. As Jane and I are leaving Tongham as soon as we sell our house it was a bit of a farewell party. Also Sheila was returning to the group after a period of convalescence.  For the first time ever we had fourteen of the regular tasters around the table.  We also blew the budget, and spent the remaining kitty on this event and had more expensive wines and a full ten course tasting menu, courtesy of Jane and her Thermomix, to accompany it.

Following the success of our Chinon and Chablis evenings I thought it would be a good idea to have another event where we tasted some older aged wines, and what better region to choose for aged wines than Rioja?  I lined up eight wines from eight different years with the youngest being a 2006 and the oldest being from 1984.  Included in this was a true mini-vertical of three wines of the same cuvee from three different years.

So how did our tasting group find the aged Riojas we served up to them and would they all still be in perfect condition:  For once we did not taste blind as I wanted everyone to appreciate exactly what they were tasting.  All scores quoted are out of 20 and are in the order of John E, Steve S, Ian, Chris, Andy, Kathryn, Steve W, Yvonne, Clive, Sarah, Sheila, John S and Jill.   How would some of tasters who tend to drink New World wines find these old traditional Riojas?  Woould the more expensive wines fare better?  Read on to find our favourite in descending order of preference.

Our Mini-Vertical of Conde de Valdemar

1. Conde de Valdemar, Gran Reserva Rioja 1984, Spanish Red 13%, Majestic £12.50.

Not an expensive wine as it came as part of a £75 case of six, the Rioja Vintage Explorer case – well done Majestic!  This proved popular as it had a big strawberry hit but had more acidity than the other wines in our mini-vertical.   Four of us (Chris, Andy, Steve W and Jill) voted it their favourite wine of the evening and another six had it in their top three.  However, Yvonne liked this wine the least of all.  We served it with some mature Cheddar cheese - a nice and classic match.  Scores were 16.25, 13.5, 14, 17.5, 14, 17, 12, 10, 17, 19+, 11.75, 15 and 16.5.  Amazing scores for a wine at this price.

2. Marques de Murrieta Ygay, Reserva Rioja1994, Spanish Red 12.5%, Majestic £22.

Just scraping into runner’s up slot was this lovely wine that reminded Ian that he had been in Rioja whilst this was being harvested in 1994 and he had bought some older vintages of the very same wine.  Whilst only two of our team (Steve S and John S) voted it their top wine, five of us had it in second place.  You could tell this was an old wine but it was a beautiful Strawberry and Vanilla Rioja.  it was perhaps slightly over-powered by Jane's wonderful Mushroom and Chestnut soup.  Scores were 16.5, 17.75, 18, 13, 10.5, 16, 13, 12, 19, 14, 12, 16 and 15.  Scores that indicate your £22 would be well spent on buying this to accompany your Sunday roast lamb.

3. La Rioja Alta 904, Gran Reserva Rioja 2001, Spanish Red 12.5%, Wines Direct £29.

I had billed this as the wine to beat as Robert Parker had given it a score of 96/100. It received three votes for the top wine of the evening (from John E, Ian, and Clive) and another three as second best wine.  It had a smell of oak and strawberries and then a big fruity taste and vanilla after-burn.   Beautifully smooth it had high acidity that made it a great food wine.  We served it with cumin and mint encrusted rack of lamb – yum!  Jane had slow cooked the racks and then cut them and grilled them to a pink perfection on the same grill as the chorizo – well-done Jane!   Scores were 17.25, 17.5, 18.5, 14.5, 11.5, 17, 10, 13, 20, 16, 10, 13 and 16.  Note that Clive scored this a perfect 20 out of 20.  Another weekend wine worth investing in.

4. Conde de Valdemar, Gran Reserva Rioja 1989, Spanish Red 13%, Majestic £12.50.

This was the second wine in our mini vertical and it had an oaky strawberry aroma and then a huge strawberry kick when you tasted it.  Mt complaint would be the lack of complexity, it was all strawberries and vanilla.  However, it proved quite popular and it received two votes for best wine of the evening (from Kathryn and Sarah) but also one vote for the worst.  We served this with two lovely Spanish cheeses from Tesco  –an Albacete Manchego and a Queso de Romero (rosemary encrusted). Scores were 15, 13, 13, 15.5, 13, 17, 11, 10, 15, 19+, 11.5, 13 and 13.5.  A lovely old wine.

5. Conde de Valdemar, Gran Reserva Rioja 1993, Spanish Red 13%, Majestic £12.50.

This was the first of the mini-vertical that we tasted and it had a nice strawberry smell but a big oaky taste.  For six of us it was our third favourite wine of the evening and thus up there with all the rest.  We served this with a chicken and pork Paella.  Scores were 15.25, 12.25, 12.5, 15, 12, 17, 9, 11, 18, 19, 10.5, 13 and 15.5.  Not a bad wine at all.

6. La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi, Reserva Rioja 2006, Spanish Red 13.5%, Wines Direct £13.50.

I had ordered a Crianza from Wines Direct but a Reserva turned up.  Who was I to complain?   It was Sheila’s favourite wine of the evening but it also appeared as someone’s least favourite wine.  It was very smooth and made for easy drinking with a cherry vanilla taste. We served this with some grilled Chorizo that was absolutely delicious along side Tongham Bakery’s Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan bread.  Scores were 14+, 15, 13.5, 10, 13.5, 15, 10, 10, 16, 15, 14, 12 and 14.  Good value crowd pleaser.  i have had a bottle since whilst on holiday in the Sancerrois and the Veauguians liked it as well.

7. CVNE Real de Asua, Rioja 2004, Spanish Red 13.5%, Wines Direct £47.

I thought I was buying a CVNE Imperial Reserva because the picture and description on the Wines Direct website was very confusing!   This is less of a traditional Rioja than the others.  It is an unusual and special cuvee from CVNE named after the brothers who founded the company and it is more in a modern style and it is not a crianza, reserva or gran reserva despite the high price.  It is made from top grapes that are given an extended carbonic maceration process of five months in oak.  It has a total of 15 months in non-traditional French oak and then 24 months in the bottle.  The result of this process split the team.  Yvonne and Jane thought it was their favourite wine of the evening but six of us, including myself, voted it our least favourite wine of the evening.   The accompaniment was some incredible Serrano ham.  Scores were 13.5, 12, 10, 8.5, 11, 12, 13, 16, 16, 10, 6, 8 and 10.  Not worth the price frankly!

8. Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia, Reserva Rioja 2003, Spanish Red 13.5%, Spanish Red 13.5%,

Wines Direct £22.50.

How does a wine this good came in eighth place?   It demonstrates the crowd-pleasing quality of the other wines I served.  Don’t let its position put you off this wine; it is still a good buy.  Steve S and Yvonne had it as their third favourite. Perhaps, it was too acidic for some but this also makes it an excellent food wine.  We actually served it with a tapas dish of green beans and garlic.  The wine has spent five years in oak and had the acidity to balance it.  It had the classic strawberry and vanilla taste of aged tempranilla. Scores were 14.5+, 16, 14, 10.5, 10, 9, 8, 12, 15, 9, 11, 12 and 13.  I scored this a very high 14.5+ which means I would definitely buy more even though it came last.  

There were no dud wines in this tasting, all were in good condition and all

The corks - some of which gave us some worry but all wines were OK

were beautiful and most of us found it really difficult to score them apart and put them into some sort of order.  All the wines were from good producers and price didn’t seem to matter.  It certainly seemed that the older the wines were, the more we appreciated them.  Interestingly, the slightly higher alcohol content wines finished in the bottom three.  Do look out for some of the older Riojas at your local Majestic Wine warehouse or elsewhere and give them a try.  I think this was a night that turned some more into traditional Rioja lovers – Ian, Jane and myself were certainly there already.

We are lucky t have a good local bakers ship

A huge thank you to Jane who slaved away in the kitchen to bring us a real feast to match our great Riojas.  From the opening lemon-scented Gazpacho we had as an aperitif to the lamb racks she really hit the top notes!   Then, she topped it all with a chocolate chorizo as a dessert to go with our coffee!!!

Thanks to Clive's excellent photos of the evening that appear below:

Jane serves her Lemon scented Gazpacho

Jane and John discuss the gazpacho

We raise a glass to our new life

We open the gifts from Tongham Tasters

Two Johns ready for the tasting

Jill shows us how to pour exactly 50ml each

Sheila shows ff a different style

...and John enjoys pouring another

Jane shows of her paella

Jane unwraps the chocolate chorizo

Very special heart felt thanks to the whole tasting team who presented Jane and myself with a going away present of two 2014 homemade calendars with memories of Tongham Tasters printed all over them.  Very much appreciated.  We will miss you all.

Good news is that the group is continuing and that they are giving each other bigger budgets for future.  Next up are Clive and Sarah who will be hosting in Tongham on Saturday September 7.  The following month the event will be in Farnborough at John and Jill’s place on Saturday October 12^th.   Also in Farnborough will be the November 9^th event to be organised by Ian and Kathryn.  We will bow out of 2013 with a 25% off bubbly extravaganza at Sheila's place in December.

The lovely eight Riojas that we tasted

Here are some Rioja wine facts that I presented to the group at the start of the evening.

TRADITIONAL  RIOJA  RED  WINE  FACTS
1	Rioja comes from a DOC region in Northern Spain
2	Rioja tends to represent the best value for aged wines in the world
3	Oak is a big part of the traditional Rioja taste imparting the vanilla overtones
4	Traditionally Rioja producers use American oak rather than French oak and this gives them a different character
	with perhaps more vanilla, more sweetness, less fruitiness and less harsh tannins.
5	Tempranillo tends to be normally over 50% of the grapes in a Rioja blend and sometimes 100%.
5	Other grapes used include Garnacha Tinto, Graciano, Mazuelo and sometimes Cabernet Sauvignon
7	A Rioja Crianza is a wine aged for at least 2 years of which at least one has been in an oak barrel
8	A Rioja Reserva is a wine aged for at least 3 years of which at least one has been in an oak barrel
9	A Rioja Gran Reserva is a wine aged for at least 5 years of which at least two has been in an oak barrel
10	Once released a very old aged Rioja should normally be drunk quite quickly
11	Today Rioja is split in two between the traditional Rioja producers and the modern Rioja producers who produce
	a fruitier new world style wine perhaps using less oak and more French oak.
12	Amongst the best of the traditional Rioja producers are Lopez de Heredia, CVNE, Muga, La Rioja Alta,
	Marques de Murrieta, Valdemar and Marques de Riscal.
13	A good traditional Rioja is not a big powerful wine but it will be smooth and complex. The flavours should be
	dancing across your palate.
14	There are three regions Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa.  Rioja Alta produces perhaps the best of the
	old style traditional wines.  Many wines are blends of all three regions.
15	The main fruit characteristics of Rioja tend to be strawberry or cherry but cedar, leather, coffee and spice tend to also be
	readily detectable.
16	Good Riojas have high levels of acidity that make them good food wines to match with lamb etc.
17	Poor traditional Riojas are flat, dusty and oxidised

We tried a wine with 96 Robert Parker points

January Wine of the Month

I wasn’t sure if I would do a Wine of the Month for January as typically I don’t drink in January. However, this year in January, there have been five occasions during which I haven’t managed to resist a tipple and I have tasted about 20 wines! A couple stood out as really stunning, including the Canadian Icewine I was telling you about yesterday.

A wine that brightened up my January!

However, my vote goes to a Spanish Rioja red wine which we tried whilst Jane was practising her recipes for the Tongham Tapas Fiesta which is being held on February 12th. This good value wine at just a tad under £10 from Marks and Spencer really wowed me with its powerful balance of berry fruits, vanilla and an underlying earthiness.  My score for this wine was 17 out of 20. Which Rioja? I hear you ask. The answer is Marques del Romeral Reserva 2005. As you will discover if coming to our Tongham Tapas Fiesta, a reserva Rioja is one that has been kept for two years in oak barrels and a further year in the bottle prior to release. If you like Spanish wines pop along to M&S and buy some of this, or pick up a one of the few remaining tickets for our Tapas Fiesta where we’ll be tasting another 7 Spanish wines, along with 12 Tapas dishes. Great value for £22.50 a head. If you want a ticket ring me on 07717 876743.

TONGHAM TAPAS FIESTA

Tickets are now on sale for our Saturday February 12th Spanish wine tasting dinner in Tongham Village Hall. Seven superb Spanish wines and twelve tapas dishes to taste should make for an excellent evening and represents tremendous value at just £22.50 per head. We should also be able to raise a few hundred pounds to help the continuing renovations of the village hall – hopefully you will notice quite a few changes since our gala champagne dinner last year.

In some parts of Spain they have Tapas festivals or fiesta during February as part of the lead up to Lent. This may be the first time we have had a Tapas Fiesta in Tongham.

As this is fiesta time, the emphasis this time will be on fun rather than formal so Spanish Tapas is ideal as it is little dishes made for sharing. Rather than black tie this time, we want some colour so wear something red and yellow – the colours of the Spanish flag. There will a bottle of wine for the best dressed person following this theme.

As usual we will include a large educational element so that you will leave the evening with the history of tapas and an introduction to the main Spanish wine regions. Wines will include Rioja, Priorat and Albarino and we will also be reintroducing you to Sherry.

We always sell out, so book early to avoid disappointment. As my mobile phone is broken at present, ring 01252 783447 or 07983 154295 for tickets. We need cheque or cash within one week of booking.

Don’t miss out on the Tongham Tapas Fiesta. Ring today!

September 2008

My wine of the month for September is an incredible value red wine at only £4.49 from Lidl (yes, Lidl!); it is Baturrica Tarragona Gran Reserva DO (both the 2001 or 2002 are available and excellent). I cannot remember a wine I paid under five pounds for in the UK tasting so good for a very long time. It tastes very similar to a Gran Reserva Rioja and has a good balance of oak and fruit and that lovely vanilla I seek in Spanish reds. The grape varieties are Tempranilla and Cabernet Sauvignon and it has been aged in oak for at least 24 months before further ageing in the bottle as part of a total 5 years minimum ageing. I suggest you go and snap some up today. We have already enjoyed 6 bottles of this wine and blind tasted it against Gran Reserve Riojas at three times the price with surprising results!

You find bargains like this by searching for wines from unknown regions; it is highly unlikely that you will find a wine from Rioja this good at this price. The Tarrogona wine region is best known for growing grapes for sparkling Cava and also for sweet red fortified wines, as well as being famous as the port that has shipped communion wines all over the world for many years; maybe church attendances would increase if they served this Gran Reserva instead!

Serve this wine with lamb; it can take quite strong flavours so why not try roast lamb stuffed either with black tapenade and garlic or alternatively perhaps stuffed with Chorizo, red peppers and green olives.

My white wine of the month is twice the price and can be puchased at £10.00 from Laithwaites. However, the wine is so beautiful it almost seems a bargain! It is a 2005 Vouvray Reserve Champalou. This is a slightly off dry white made with Chenin Blanc grapes and comes from one of the top producers in the area. This wine is a real pleasure to drink and shows off how good this grape variety can be when made as a dryish wine.

People are put off Vouvray because there is such a mixture of styles from dry to sweet and very often no indication on the bottle as to the style. However, this is a wine to change people's minds about this appellation.

If a wine of this quality was made in Sancerre or Burgundy it would fetch a much higher price, so thank God for unfashionable wine regions!

Serve this wine alongside a cold pea soup with crispy pancetta and seafood (langoustines, prawns or monkfish). I had this dish recently in Bourges, France and my wife Jane has managed to create an excellent version since I told her about it.

Talking about eating out we visited some lovely restaurants in August. Pride of place went to Raymond Blanc's Manoir aux Quat' Saisons; this was faultless and the wine sommelier very interesting as he guided us away from any wines we knew in order to give us new experiences. His suggestions of a Cuvee Frederic Emile Trimbach Riesling 2001, a Vins de Pays des Cotes Catalanes 2006 blanc, and a red Sicilian wine made entirely with Carignano grapes (Turrigoz 1999) were excellent. More local, Kei's new Chinese Restaurant in Runfold is excellent and we enjoyed a lovely Rioja rosé wine with our meal.

Later in September we will be making our six monthly pilgimage to France for the Foires aux Vins. The exchange rate is not so favourable at the moment but we hope to still pick up some good value French wines. Amongst those wines we will be searching for will be some Christophe Cordier Macon Charnay Vielles Vignes 2007 (€9.95 at Carrefour), Domaine du Clos de Fourchis Macon Aze 2006 (€5.75 from Auchan) and some Le Clos Delorme Valencay 2006 (€6.90 from Monoprix). We will report back in next months blog.

Also in next month's blog we will report on tasting a South African Pinot Noir at over £20 a bottle and let you know our wines of the month for October.

Our next wine tasting in Tongham will be in November just after the Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived. We will be featuring wines from Beaujolais and Macon alongside some of Jane's famous French cooking. Details next month.

Good tasting and do let's have your comments.