TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 7 - Loire Cabernet Franc Reds

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

The Chateau at Azay-Le-Rideau

 Apart from its beautiful Chateaux, the Loire Valley is, perhaps, best known for its white wines; the Muscadets, the Vouvrays, the Sancerres and Pouilly Fumés etc. So its hidden gems, which are must less known in the UK, are the red wines which we will discover this week.

LOCALITY
The best area for growing red wine grapes in the Loire is arguably the area around Chinon and Bourgueil. These are the Cabernet Franc growing areas. Red wines are also grown further up the Loire around Sancerre and Menetou-Salon but here they use Pinot Noir as in Burgundy. There are other red wine areas and red grapes grown in the Loire but we can on the whole ignore them as we either don’t see them often in the UK or they are frankly not very good.

VARIETALS
The top red grape grown around Saumur, Bourgueil and Chinon is the Cabernet Franc Grape. Here it normally is used in single varietal wines where as in Bordeaux it is used just as part of a blend.
As mentioned above, the Pinot Noir grape is used around the upper Loire.
Malbec, often called Cot locally, and Gamay are also popular grapes grown in the region but don’t often produce wines of distinction.

Vineyards and Chinon Castle

THE WINES
When I lived in France I was often surprised to find that the red wines of Chinon, Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil were the favourite wines of friends and colleagues. I also found them very popular in the bars and restaurants of Paris where I lived. This surprised me as I had hardly come across them in the UK. These 3 AOCs  are amongst the best expressions of the Cabernet Franc grape in the world. However, you will also find Cabernet-Franc in the Saumur and Anjou AOCs. Be aware that the Anjou wines may contain grapes other than Cabernet Franc.

Drink always and you'll never die!

I have spent much of the last ten years visiting, for business, Bourges, which is very close to the wine areas of Sancerre, Menetou-Salon and Reuilly. Here they grow Pinot Noir for their red wines. They are too light for most English tastes but I have grown to appreciate them. For reds I would recommend Vincent Pinard and Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre and Domaine Philippe Gilbert in Menetou Salon. However, you will probably need to visit the area to obtain them.  They are also becoming quite expensive so you might wish to consider a less expensive AOC such as Reuilly - Domaine Pascal Desroches is great value in this appellation.  2009 is a good year for Loire Pinot Noirs so do consider them.

THE TASTE
When grown in the Loire, the Cabernet Franc grape imparts a leafy, raspberry flavour to the wine often tinged with tobacco and pencil lead. It is these last two flavours that make the wines of Chinon and Bourgueil a favourite of mine.

When Pinot Noir is grown in the Loire Valley it tends to produce a lighter more delicate wine than when grown in Burgundy, a bit like an Irancy.

TOP TIPS
• The wines of the Loire are good summer reds and are pleasant chilled. When chilled they can often be paired with fish. I tend to like to chill these wines and let them gradually warm up during the meal. This way they often pair well with starter, main and cheese courses.   The fact that they are good chilled means that if you find the wine you buy disappointing then chill it and you might end up pleasantly surprised.
• The Cabernet Franc reds can be good value in France, so don't forget to buy them if visiting the Loire or any French supermarket.

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week you need to buy and try any Loire Cabernet Franc red wine from Chinon, Saumur-Chamipgny, Saumur, Bourgueil or St Nicolas de Bourgueil. You might want to try one of my recommendations below as otherwise they are not easy to find:

Waitrose – Le Paradis Chinon 2009, ESAT Les Chevaux Blanc, 13% - reduced to £6.99 in Farnham but going up again to about £9 on the 15th February.
or, Waitrose – Chinon Les graviers 2009, Complice de Loire, 12.5% - £10.99
Or Laithwaites - Couly Dutheil Chinon La Closerie 2007, about £12.
or if on a budget, Sainsbury’s - Domaine du Colombier Chinon 2003 – about £6
or Waitrose – Les Nivieres Saumur 2009, Cave de Saumur, 12,5% - £7.49
You might also consider a trip down to Les Caves des Pyrenes in Guildford to see their selection (but you need to buy a mixed case of 12 wines).
Normally, also to be found at Majestic but none when I was writing this in early February 2010.

WINE REVIEW
I was lucky enough to find four different Lore Cabernet Franc reds in my local Waitrose this month. On the internet I often read of people saying they can’t get these wines in UK supermarkets – they are looking in the wrong supermarket! Here are my reviews of the four wines I bought and tried:

Waitrose – Les Nivieres Saumur 2009, Cave de Saumur, 12,5% - £7.49.
On the first night I tried this wine I was not impressed. There was some blackcurrant but otherwise it seemed rather bland. I then chilled it down and it was rather good as a chilled red and went well with the Boudin Blanc (a skinless chicken sausage to the uninitiated) and the steamed lemon grass sea bass. There was some left over and after a day, even when at room temperature, it had gained the acidity that was lacking in its balance the first night. So this scored somewhere between 11 and 13 out of 20.

Waitrose – Chinon Les graviers 2009, Complice de Loire, 12.5% - £10.99

This wine was much more what I was looking for, but rather pricey. I enjoyed this one straight away. It has a nice acidic balance and even that pencil lead or slateyness that I love. It has the lightness one would expect and a pleasant softness. Rather nice! This we had with a grilled sirloin steak and it would go with any simply grilled meat or chicken. I scored this wine 14+ out of 20. The store led me to believe this is new to the Waitrose range – a welcome addition I would say. Look out for this when they are doing their 25% discounts.

Waitrose – Domaine De La Croix De Chaintres 2008, Saumur Champigny, 12.5% - £10.49
Another wine that was rather disappointing for the price. Very soft and light with reasonable flavour but no real wow factor. I scored this 13.5 out of 20.

Waitrose – Le Paradis Chinon 2009, ESAT Les Chevaux Blanc, 13% - reduced to £6.99
Another nice Chinon and at at this reduced price (down from about £9) rather good value.  A light wine with very good balance and a typical Loire Cabernet Blanc taste.   I scored this 14+ out of 20.  Probably my recommendation to buy out of the four wines.  Rather an ethical wine as well. as this is part of the ESAT scheme that enables disabled people to get work in local industry.  From the Waitrose website I note that this is a cooperative wine made by a New Zealand winemaker trying to create a fruitier style of Chinon - it works for me.

FOOD PAIRINGS
Cabernet Franc is generally quite an all-rounder.
A good cheese wine, particularly hard cheeses.
As a relatively light wine it goes well with chicken and sometimes even fish.
It will also pair well with any simple grilled red meat. Not enough flavour to stand up to strong sauces.
Loire Pinot Noir is light and thus suits chicken and pork dishes. Chilled this will also match some fish dishes, especially salmon.


COMING SOON
Next week we continue our wine tour of the Loire Valley and discover the great Chenin Blanc whites and sparkling wines of Vouvray and surrounds.

If you missed the early weeks of this course, which covered Bordeaux and Muscadet, it is not too late to catch up.  Just click on French Wine Course at the top of this blog for easy links.

TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 5 Bordeaux Sweet Whites

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
Nearly 90% of wine produced in Bordeaux is red but the region is also very well known for its sweet wine wines, especially Sauternes.

LOCALITY
Most of Bordeaux’s better sweet white wine is produced on the left bank below Bordeaux near the Graves region. The best are produced in the undulating hills close to where the cooler Ciron river merges with the warmer Garonne. This terroir produces the early morning mists that leads to the noble rot. Other sweet wines are produced in the Entre-Deux-Mers region we discovered last week but with different AOCs on the label which we will discuss below.

Chateau d'Yquem in Sauternes

VARIETALS
The main white grapes grown in Bordeaux for sweet wines in order of preference are the Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grape varieties. The Semillon grape is particularly valued because of its thin skin that makes it susceptible to noble rot or botrytis. Noble rot is a mould that shrivels the grape up until it is almost raisin like and leaves the grape juice as a very concentrated liquid.

THE WINES

Bottles of Sauternes and Cadillac

The two most famous Bordeaux AOCs for sweet wines are Sauternes and Barsac. These were classified back in 1855 and the top wine was Chateau d’Yquem and others were given the right to put Grand Cru Classé on the label. I remember asking my mum back in 1976 what her favourite wine was, as I thought I might buy her a bottle for Christmas. Unfortunately, having worked in the wine trade, she replied Chateau D’Yquem and at that time the £16 price per half bottle was completely out of my price range. It would seem quite a bargain now but the price of good sweet wines can still be off putting. However, there are less expensive and but still potentially good, sweet AOCs on the left bank such as Cerons and Loupiac.

In the Entre-Deux-Mers region just on the other side of the Garonne river from Barsac and Sauternes you get the sweet appellations Cadillac, St Croix du Mont. and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux. These can be well priced and thus variable but in a good year or from a good producer are well worth trying.

The better wines will improve with age and after 10 to 15 years will be at their peak.

THE TASTE
The taste of sweet white Bordeaux can vary in terms of use of oak, the richness and proportion of the different grape varieties. The weather also makes a difference as a successful end product depends on the early morning mists to cause the noble rot and sunny afternoons to ripen the grapes. A really good wine will demonstrate a rich, perhaps honeyish sweetness but cut through with an amazing acidity to create the balance any good wine requires. Many people think they don’t like sweet wine but when they try a good Sauternes or Barsac they are thrilled by the acidic balance. It is no surprise that many of my wine friends actually profess to liking Sauternes more than any other wine.

TOP TIPS
• A darker more golden colour can often distinguish a better sweet Bordeaux wine. Remember, sweet Bordeaux are sold in clear not green bottles so that you can really see the colour before you buy.
• Don’t just drink sweet Bordeaux with pudding or other deserts. They go equally well with many savoury food pairings.

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week you need to buy and try any sweet white Bordeaux which might include one of my recommendations below. Most of these wines are sold in half bottles and this is often sufficient. Do try with different foods to really get excited about the food pairing possibilities.

Waitrose – Waitrose in partnership by Chateau Suduiraut 2006 –Sauternes – about £14 a half bottle
or, Tesco – Tesco’s finest Sauternes 2004/5 – about £13 a half bottle.
or if feeling flush, Oddbins – Chateau Filhot 1999 Sauternes – about £19 a half bottle.
or, if on a budget, Sainsbury’s – Premières Côtes de Bordeaux – about £4 a half bottle.
or, if on a budget and you want a whole bottle, Tesco - Premières Côtes de Bordeaux - about £7.

FOOD PAIRINGS

Tandoori chicken makes an unusual but effective pairing

Starters –The classic starter pairing for Sauternes or similar wines is Foie Gras. The sweetness goes rather well and is the liquid equivalent of a sweet chutney. However, if you don’t like Foie Gras or want to be more adventurous why not try with a spicy Tempura starter or even tandoori chicken. A sweet Bordeaux can be an amazing wine pairing for lightly spiced food as it gives you an incredible afterburn across your palate that is really unusual. Crab and other seafood can also work well.  For more information about the tempura pairing click on this link Tempura, Tempura!

Main Courses – The classic main course pairing for Sweet Bordeaux is duck a l’orange. The orange flavour makes it a great pairing and the acidity of a Sauternes can cut through the fatness of the duck. This is another you must-try. Duck breast with orange sauce is really easy to cook if you follow the recipe that accompanies this blog. If this isn’t your cup of tea then try with some lightly spiced Indian food – Tandoori or Tikka chicken both work well.

Cheese – One of the best pairings for Sauternes is Roquefort Cheese. You might also want to experiment with other favourite blue cheeses or even hard mature cheeses. Experiment – it's fun.

Desserts – Most desserts other than chocolate work with Sauternes. If you are a chocoholic then try a white chocolate and orange dessert, perhaps served with Langue de Chat biscuits. Probably the classics are Crème Brulee or fruit tarts or orange pudding. However, why not try with cheesecake or a baked apple with cinnamon.

COMING SOON
Next week we continue our wine tour of France by visiting the Loire Valley. Whereas Bordeaux wines are dominated by blends, most Loire wines are single grape varietals…….
If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up - just click on the link below:
Week One – Bordeaux Basics
Week Two – Right Bank Bordeaux Reds
Week Three – Left Bank Bordeaux Reds
Week Four – Dry White Bordeaux

TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 4 - Bordeaux Dry Whites

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
Nearly 90% of wine produced in Bordeaux is red but as Bordeaux is such a large producing region we cannot ignore the whites. Next week we will cover the famous sweet white wines such as Sauternes, and this week we will learn about the dry whites.

LOCALITY

Vineyard in the Graves area with Sauternes in the distance

Bordeaux is near the Atlantic Coast and thus the Bordelais  need a dry white wine to go with the seafood and abundant river fish of the area, even if they don’t normally fetch the same prices as other Bordeaux wines. If you ever go to Bordeaux do try the eel which is a local delicacy – it was something I really enjoyed when I went there, although as it is often cooked in red wine it can go with a red wine pairing as well.

VARIETALS

 White Grapes growing in the Graves AOC

The main white grapes grown in Bordeaux are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and most Bordeaux dry whites are a blend of the two. Sauvignon Blanc can bring the classic gooseberry or citrus flavours but also grass and cats' pee. Semillon also brings grassy tastes, honey and a heavier oily texture which cuts the acidity of the Sauvignon Blanc. The third main white grape in Bordeaux is Muscadelle which normally is a smaller portion of the blend. Muscadelle brings a grapey taste to wine.

THE WINES

The two main dry white producing areas are Entre-Deux-Mers and Graves/Pessac Leognan. You will also find white wines under the generic AOC Bordeaux label. The wines of the generic appellation and Entre-Deux-Mers tend to be relatively cheap and unexceptional, but they are improving. The whites of Pessac Leognan and sometimes Graves can be gems. However, some of these gems can be quite pricey. There are other lesser known dry white Bordeaux appellations including Premieres Cotes de Blaye which contains the bland Ugni Blanc grape as well, but you will rarely see these wines in the UK or in French supermarkets. Most white Bordeaux are for drinking young but the finer Pessac Leognan can age well.

THE TASTE

The taste of dry white Bordeaux varies from a basic dry wine, through to something fresh and full of flavour, and on to some interesting complex wines. It depends on the price you are willing to pay. Due to the blend with Semillon the white Bordeaux are different to the Loire Sauvignon Blancs and depending on your taste you may find this a good or bad thing. For foodies this adds some interesting complexity for wine and food pairings.

TOP TIPS

• You can tell dry from sweet white Bordeaux as normally the dry is sold in green bottles and the sweet wines in clear bottles. Otherwise the dryness or sweetness may not be obvious to someone who is not familiar with French AOCs.
• The white wines from the Graves and Pessac-Leognan appellations tend to be more consistently good than those from the Entre-Deux-Mers and generic AOC Bordeaux appellations.

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week you need to buy and try any dry white Bordeaux which might include one of my recommendations below:

Waitrose – Chateau Saint Jean des Graves 2008 –Graves – about £9
or if feeling flush, Waitrose – Chateau Tour-Leognan 2008, Pessac Leognan – about £14 (link)
or if you want something cheaper, Waitrose –Dourthe Grands Terroirs 2009 – about £6 (link)
or look out for AOC Bordeaux or Entre Deux Mers in your favourite supermarket or wine shop.

FOOD PAIRINGS

 
Have these dry white Bordeaux wines with fish or seafood. Why not try with trout baked in the oven?

COMING SOON
Next week we discover the sweet wines of Bordeaux with a particular emphasis on adventurous food pairings.
If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up
Week One – Bordeaux Basics
Week Two – Right Bank Bordeaux Reds
Week Three – Left Bank Bordeaux Reds

TonghamTaster's Wine Tasting Course Week 3 – Bordeaux Left Bank Reds

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

Evidence of our research!

For our third week we are on to some of the best red wines in the world – the wonderful Medocs from above Bordeaux and my favourite Graves from below Bordeaux. These are the wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon blends that the rest of the world from Australia to Chile and California try to copy.

Locality
These wines are from the left bank of the Gironde estuary and Garonne river above and below the city of Bordeaux.

Varietals
The left bank wines tend to be dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, although some Chateaux and appellations also contain a significant amount of Merlot. Other grape varieties that are allowed and used include Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Not all the wines will have their grape varietals on the label; if not visit the website of the Chateau and you may get more detail.

 The Wines

Where better to start than the Haut Medoc which covers the area from St Estephe south to Bordeaux. This area contains many of Bordeaux’s most famous Chateau and all but one of the 1855 classification of classed growths. This classification was based on wine prices at the time and tried to determine the best left bank wines. Because the quality of wine is at least partly determined by position of the vineyard it is still relevant today. Haut Medoc is an AOC itself but its general area also contains many other famous AOCs such as Pauillac, Margaux, St Julien, Listac-Medoc, Moulis en Medoc and St Estephe. These wines can be magnificent but often expensive and need ageing to be at their best. North of the Haut Medoc is the Medoc which tend to be wines of slight lower quality.

Most of the Cru Classe wines tend to be irrelevant to the normal wine drinker due to their inflated prices which can be hundreds of pound a bottle. However, this region can still be of interest to us and good quality and value can be had from the Cru Bourgeois designation which is on the labels of over 200 Medoc Chateaux. As usual it is a guide that cannot be totally relied on but I find that you usually get reasonable value for the price from most Cru Bourgeois wines. The designation includes top examples such as Chateau Chasse-Spleen which are rated Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels, through examples like Chateau Maucaillou which are rated Cru Bourgeois Superieurs, to examples such as Chateau Haut Canteloup which are just labelled Cru Bourgeois. You will find examples of Cru Bourgeois in wine shops such as Majestic and occasionally in the supermarkets, most notably Waitrose which has an excellent selection of French wines.

The other main area of left bank Bordeaux reds is the area south of Bordeaux. This is the gravelly area called Graves. Most of the top expensive wines from here come from the AOC Pessac-Leognan which is the area very close to the city and suburbs of Bordeaux and contains the classed growth Chateau Haut-Brion. There are also 16 Grand Cru Classe de graves within the Pessac Leognan appellation which date from a 1950’s classification rather than the main 1855 classification. The other wines, outside of Pessac-Leognan, are just classified AOC Graves. Whereas the Medoc region produces almost entirely red wines, the Grave regions also produces white and also sits very close to the sweet white producing areas of Sauternes and Barsac. The red wines of Graves have a subtlety different taste to the Medocs, a juicy, soft and earthy taste that many people including myself really like. There are also some great up and coming Chateau such as Villa Bel Air that taste really good without costing over £25.

The Taste
So what should we expect from these left bank Bordeaux reds. The Cabernet Sauvignon will give the wines a classic blackcurrant and even minty taste, the Merlot will add black cherry and plum and the Cabernet Franc some raspberry and tobacco. The younger wines will be very tannic and thus astringent but this will soften with age. Age will also bring on the non-fruit flavours such as leather. These wines are not always as approachable as new world wines or the right bank Bordeaux reds and it may take you a while to appreciate them.

Red Wine Ageing in the Graves - Chateau Plantat

Top Tips

• If looking to buy a left bank Bordeaux red you can often get quality and value by buying a Chateau with the Cru Bourgeois designation on the label. Good quality and value wines can also be obtained from the Graves AOC.
• Most good Bordeaux need at least 5 years ageing and sometimes 10 years before drinking. Some cheaper Bordeaux can be drunk younger after some aeration.

Homework
Unfortunately, your homework this week could cost a little more but you should find the experience rewarding and you will only learn by tasting. Do buy and try one of the following wines or pick a Cru Bourgeois Medoc or Graves wine of your own:

Majestic – Chateau Griviere 2001 – Cru Bourgeois Medoc – about £12 or £8 if you buy two bottles.
or Majestic – Chaeau Lachesnaye 2002 or 2004 – Cru Bourgeois Haut-Medoc – about £10 or £7 if you buy 2 bottles
or if you don’t want to buy 6 bottles (as Majestic require a minimum buy):
Waitrose – Chateau Moulin Riche 2006– Cru Bourgeois Saint Julien – about £18
or Waitrose – Chateau Haut Nouchet 2005 – Pessac Leognan – about £14

Food Pairing
The wines of the left bank are great with food and particularly lamb so try this with any lamb dish from roast lamb to lamb chops. I’d particularly suggest a nice mint and parsley encrusted rack of lamb, still pink in the middle. Enjoy!

Coming Soon
Next week we are on to the dry whites of Bordeaux.
If you have just caught up with our wine course it is not too late to catch up:
Week 1 Bordeaux basics

Week 2 Right Bank Bordeaux Reds

Tongham Taster's Wine Tasting Course Week 2 – Bordeaux Right Bank

The pretty town of St Emillion



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 we cover the Right Bank reds of the Bordeaux region.
  

Locality

 Bordeaux is near the Gironde estuary where two rivers, the Dordogne and the Garonne, join. The left bank of the Gironde and Garonne is the most famous part of the Bordeaux region that we will be covering next week. The right bank of the Dordogne and Gironde also contains some famous names such as St Emillion and Pomerol. In between the Dordogne and Garonne rivers is the area known as “Entre-Deux-Mers” or literally between two seas; this area is well known for cheap whites but nowdays also produces some good reds that we will be covering this week as they fit in well with the right bank wines. Very often the right bank wines are known as “Libournais” after the nearby town of Libourne.


Varietals

Like last week’s generic appellations, the right bank red wines are Merlot dominated but many also contain a significant amount of Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Wines

Although, I tend to regard most of the Bordeaux generic wines as somewhat safe and unexciting, there are some good value gems as well as expensive stars on the right bank. Lets start with the good value gems – The Cotes of Bordeaux. These wines are well worth trying, particularly if you get one recommended to you and are normally much better value than other Bordeaux wines. These appellations include:



• Cotes de Blaye

• Premieres Cotes de Blaye
• Cotes de Bourg
• Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux
• Bordeaux Cotes de Francs
• Cotes de Castillon

Grand Cru Classe St Emilion



Perhaps, the best known wine on the right bank is St Emillion. These are quite variable due to the different soils but can be excellent. The better wines are labeled Grand Cru, the best wines Grand Cru Classes and the very best Premiere Grand Cru. It should also be mentioned here, the St Emilion contains the wines of the garagistes – the micro-wineries who produce expensive boutique wines. I once spent €60 on a bottle and it was very good concentrated wine but this price is normally outside of my budget. The village of St Emilion itself is beautiful and well worth visiting. As well as the wine of St Emillion there are the wines of its satellites:

• Lussac-St-Emillion
• Montagne-St-Emillion
• Puisseguin-St-Emillion
• St Georges-St-Emillion

These wines are very variable but I have a soft spot for St Georges-St Emillion as I had a bottle on the night I got engaged to Jane (following a bottle of Champagne on the Pont Neuf in Paris). At the other extreme is the Roc de Lussac sold by Sainsbury’s which I don’t like at all.

Next to St Emillion is Pomerol which is a smaller appellation and has some very expensive wines such as Chateau Petrus and Chateau Le Pin. Pomerol can be very good but some better value can be obtained from Lalande-Pomerol. Other value wines from the right bank can be had from Fronsac. Other appellations you might see on red wine bottles includes Graves de Vayres, which is not to be confused with the left bank Graves, and Ste-Foy Bordeaux.

Taste
So what should we expect from these right bank Bordeaux reds? Being Merlot dominated you can get the flavours of plum and black cherry. Sometimes they are balanced with Cabernet Franc and its classic tobacco and raspberry flavours, or sometimes Cabernet Sauvignon with its blackcurrant flavours. Unlike the generic appellations, these wines are usually oaked. Eleve en fut de chene indicates oak on the bottle. Many of the wines improve with age and expensive ones should not be drunk too young. Unlike the left bank wines the wines of St Emilion and other right bank wines have a softness that many find appealing and are more approachable when young.

Top Tips
So to this week’s top tip is to look out for value wines from Cote de Bourg, Premieres Cotes de Blaye and Cotes de Castillon.

Homework
So your homework this week is to buy and try one of the following wines:

Majestic – Chateau St Colombe 2004 Cotes de Castillon, about £10 or £7 if you buy two bottles
or if you don’t want to buy 6 bottles, Co-op – Chateau L’Estang 2007 Cotes de Castillon, about £9,
or if you want to splash out Morrisons – Chateau Cardinal Villemaurine 2002 St Emillion Grand Cru, about £11,

Now which St Emilion do I like best?

or Waitrose – Seigneurs d’Alguilhe 2006 Cotes de Castillon, about £11,
or if on a budget, Tesco – Finest St Emillion 2008, about £8

If trying the younger wines, pour into a jug before serving to aerate the wine a little.

Food pairings
Like most French wines these Right Bank reds are good with food. This week, why not try them with roast beef or some lamb chops or perhaps an escalope of veal.

Coming Soon
This is part two of a year long introduction to French wines. Next week we will do the Left Bank red wines of Medoc and Graves, with yet more homework!
Go back to our January 1st entry for basic generic red Bordeaux.

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.

TONGHAM TASTERS FRENCH WINE TASTING COURSE

During the next 52 weeks, I’ll be doing a weekly blog on the wines of France, gradually covering the main wine regions. If you follow the course over 2011 you’ll gradually learn the basics of French wine. The blogs will be short and to the point. The best bit is that I’ll be setting you homework each week – a bottle of wine from the region to buy and try. This way you can gradually catch-up on the Tongham Village Hall wine tastings you may have mixed over the years. The wines will all be available in UK supermarkets or national wine shops such as Majestic so anyone in the UK should be able to do their homework diligently.

So what do we have to look forward to over the next 12 months -

Sancerre Pinot Noir Grapes

January - Bordeaux

February – Loire Valley

March - Languedoc-Roussillon

April - South West

May - Rhone Valley

June - Provence

July - Alsace

August - Champagne

September – The East, Jura & Savoie
October - Burgundy
November - Beaujolais & Macon
December - Vins de Pays

And this month :

January week 1 – Bordeaux Basics
January week 2 – Bordeaux Right Bank
January week 3 – Bordeaux Left Bank
January week 4 – Bordeaux Dry Whites
January week 5 – Bordeaux Sweet Whites