BUBBLY BARGAINS

Jane revealing one of our blind tasted bubblies

Now that most of our monthly wine tasting evenings have a theme, we decided that it would brighten up the dreary month of February by having Sheila organise an evening of sparkling wines.  What a good choice we made!  Being a natural bargain hunter she organised her shopping to coincide with the Christmas and Valentines Day 25% off and other special offers.  Thus for just £85 she was able to serve us 4 interesting (not supermarket bargain basement) champagnes and two other interesting sparkling wines.  I added an extra bottle of something a little different and voila with some nice nibbles and food bites that Sheila had prepared we were set for a great Friday evening for ten of us in Sheila’s cosy conservatory.  I particularly enjoyed the excellent Parmesan biscuits that Sheila had baked and the cheeses including a Shropshire Blue, a Lake District Cheddar and an Austrian smoked. Jane has a recipe for similar parmesan biscuits on her blog - very tasty!

So which bubbly bargains, that Sheila selected, can we recommend for you?  They are presented below in descending order of preference with scores out of 20 in the order of John E, Clive, Chris, Jill, Kathryn, Sarah, John S, Sheila, Jane and Andy.  All were blind tasted.

1. Waitrose Blanc de Noirs Champagne Brut NV, French Sparkling White 12%, Sheila paid £20.99, the normal price at Waitrose.

Supermarket Blanc de Noirs Champagnes are always the ones to go for as they represent great value and have a fuller flavour that many of us appreciate.  This was a real cracker and five of us voted it the best wine of he evening and nobody had it in their bottom three.  Very, very nice with a beautifully powerful taste.  Scores were 16, 17+,14.5, 15.5, 14, 18.5, 12.5, 14.5,11 and 11.  If you can afford bubbly around 20 then go for this one.  This wine is made by the excellent Alexandre Bonnet in Les Riceys.  Click here to read about les Riceys.

2. Lanson Rose Label Champagne Rosé Brut NV, French Sparkling Rosé 12.5%, Sheila paid £23.75 rather than the normal £35.99.  Available widely.

A ladies’ wine with its pretty pink label, it did not disappoint in the taste department.  It has a really beautiful salmon colour with some almond complexity on the palate and a good astringency to make it a food wine.  A few didn’t appreciate the aftertaste and although five had it in their top three wines, another five had it in their bottom three.  Scores were 15.25, 16, 9, 12, 6, 15, 10, 15, 18 and 10.  A pleasant rosé if you can get it on special offer.

3. Philippe Michel Crémant Du Jura Chardonnay 2010, French Sparkling White 12%, Sheila paid £6.99 in Aldi.

What a cracking bargain this Crémant from Aldi was!   Four of our team rated it in their top two wines of the evening.  I thought it tasted good and slightly different from the Champagnes even though it was made of Chardonnay one of the three main Champagne grapes.  It was not complex and had a pleasant if slightly rough edge to it.  However, at this price in the UK it was totally amazing.

Scores were 12.25, 17, 13.5, 14, 13, 14, 11, 11, 13 and 11.5.  I expect this has totally sold out as the press quite rightly recommend it.

4. Tesco Finest Premier Cru Champagne Brut NV, French Sparkling White 12.5%, Sheila paid just £11.25 rather than the normal £19.99 in Tesco.

This was the first wine we tasted and I said at the time that it was a great way to start and if the wines improve as the evening goes on then we are in for a great tasting – prophetic words as three of the next wines were better!  This is very pleasant Champagne made by the Union cooperative from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes from Premier Cru villages in the Champagne region.  It won an IWSC gold in 2012 but we thought it very pleasant but not that special.  Scores were 14, 15, 12.5, 11, 15, 10, 12, 14.5, 10 and 11.5.  Amazing value when on special offer.

5. Tsarine Cuveé Premium Champagne Brut, French Sparkling White, Sheila paid just £14.99 rather than the normal £25.99.  Available widely.

This wine is worth buying just for its interesting bottle shape.  A classic branded champagne, which tastes great but not that special compared to some others we tasted.  Our team rated it everything from No.1 to No.6 so it just shows how tastes vary.  Certainly a great bargain at the price Sheila paid.  Scores were 12.5, 15, 13, 14.5, 7, 18, 13, 10, 10 and 10.  This is very reliable brand in a very pretty bottle.

6. Carod Freres Clairette de Die, Methode Diose Ancestrale, Cuveé Symbiose Tradition, French medium sweet Sparkling White.  I paid €7.48 in Auchan Boulogne.

This was the joker I added at the end f the evening to go with Sheila’s chocolaty dessert.  It worked surprisingly well with the chocolate but this proved to be a wine that our team either loved or hated – three of our tea had it in their top three but another three had in in last place.  Well worthy of consideration if you like slightly sweet sparkling wines.  This one was very fruity and reminded us of pineapples.  It was not too sweet for most palates.  Scores were 13.5, 16, 12, 15, 14.5, 9, 8, 11, 18 and 11.  This is an interesting dessert wine or an aperitif for those with sweeter palates.

7. Tesco Finest Prosecco DOC Brut by Bisol, Italian Sparkling White.  Sheila paid just £6.37 rather than the normal £8.49 in Tesco.

This wine was very distinctively Prosecco with its pear like taste.  Dry but a nice full flavour if a little innocuous.  If you like Prosecco this is a good one to go for.  Scores were 9.5, 12, 9.5, 9, 9, 13, 11.5, 13, 10 and 9.5.  It would appear that our panel don’t really like Prosecco!

Thus Sheila has bucked the trend where people are buying less Champagne and more Prosecco because they are seeking value under £10.  Our tasting suggests you might be better off looking for the special offers and Crémants.  Even though we tasted a silver medal and highly rated Prosecco it finished bottom of our pile.  Perhaps that shows how good all of the wines we tasted were!  A big round of applause for Sheila for a fantastic evening.  I don’t think anyone could have presented us such an interesting selection at that price.

Sheila gave us a nice spread of food

Our host - Sheila

Next month we are going to Farnborough in Hampshire for an evening of red wine – three wines chosen by wine experts up against three wines chosen by our very own John Spreadborough; who will come out on top?    This should be another great evening at which you are welcome to join us for great wine, good food and sparkling conversation.   As usual it will be £10 on the door to share the cost and will start at 8pm on Friday March 8^th.   Details about how to join in the fun are to be found by clicking on wine circle above.

As usual, thanks to Clive for most of the photos accompanying this blog.  Especial thanks to Sheila for putting on a great evening.

Counting the bubbles

How many glasses have I had?

How much did that cost?

Clive at work on the photos

CHAVIGNOL – WHERE ARE THE GOATS?

Continuing an occasional series on my favourite wine villages, although strictly speaking Chavignol is not a village but a part of the town of Sancerre.  However, with a church, a hotel, restaurants a cheese shop and some of the best Sancerre producers around, the casual observer wouldn’t care about the official status.

Chavignol is not just part of the Sancerre wine AOC but is also famous for its goats cheese – Crottin de Chavignol.  Apparently, many years ago there were many goats in Chavignol but nowadays although they make goats cheese there, the milk is imported from the surrounding area – the Goats Cheese Chavignol AOC being particularly large (550,000 hectares) compared to the “village”.   However, even in the surrounding area you rarely see goats as they are mainly kept in sheds.   Never mind though, the goats' cheese is excellent!  Visit the excellent cheese shop Dubois Boulay if in the area.

Gerard Boulay

One of the reasons that I love Chavignol is that it contains a number of my favourite Sancerre producers – namely Gerard Boulay, Serge Laporte and particularly Henri Bourgeois (although there another dozen or so other vignerons in the hamlet.  I particularly like their wines that are produced on the Chavignol slope – La Cote Des Monts Damnes.

According to the sign in the village the "Les Vignerons" in Chavigniol are;
Lionel Aldon
Louis Boulay
Pierre Boulay
Henri Bourgeois
Hubert Brochard
Cotat
Alain Delaporte
Vincent Delaporte et Fils
R.Fontaine (le Caveau)
Serge Laporte

Gerard Lelievre
Michel Lesimple
Yves Martin
Mme Francois Milon
Georges et Rene Moreux
Roger Moreux
Andre Neveu
Frederic Neveu
Bertrand Paillard
Claude Thomas
Noel Thomas
Pascal Thomas
Paul Thomas
Edmond Vattan
Christian Veron


 The local hotel, owned by the Bourgeois family, also has the same name as the famed Chavignol slope La Cote Des Monts Damnes.  .We stayed there last April on my birthday and I can definitely recommend staying there for the weekend.    The food in the restaurant is also very good and is worth going to even if you are not staying in the hotel.

View towards Sancerre from the Cote des Monts Damnes April 2012

View towards Sancerre from the Cotes Des Monts Damnes July 2011

During our stay at the hotel we had a tour of the vineyard, winery and a tasting conducted by Raymond Bourgeois.  The tour was extremely interesting and lasted a couple of hours after which we tasted over sixteen different wines and bought a few cases of our favourites.   The wines of Henri Bourgeois that we thought worth buying after our tasting and paid good money for were:

Le MD de Bourgeois 2002

La Bourgeoise 2008 Sancerre Pinot Noir red wine
Henri Bourgeois 2010 Pouilly Fume Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Le MD de Bourgeois 2002 Sancerre  Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Le MD de Bourrgeois 2010 Sancerre  Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Etienne Henri en barriques 2000 Sancerre oaked  Sauvignon Blanc white wine
La Bourgeoise 2009 Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Les Baronnes 2010 Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Sancerre Jadis 2002 Sauvignon Blanc white wine
La Bourgeoise 2002 Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Les Bonnes Bouches 2010 Sancerre Pinot Noir red wine
Vendange de la Saint Luc 2007 Sweet Sauvignon Blanc vin de table
Bel Echo 2010 by Clos Henri Terroir Broadridge New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Clos Henri 2008 Marlborough Pinot Noir New Zealand red wine

You will note that Henri Bourgeois also has vineyards and a winery in New Zealand.  Many of the Michelin star restaurants in the UK now seem to stock these wines - local to Tongham try them at Steve Drake at the Clockhouse Ripley; they have an award winning wine list and fantastic cuisine.  They also have them in my favourite wine bar in Bourges - le Nez de Vin.

Excellent Hotel in Chavignol

Here is a link to the hotel website - La Cotes des Monts Damnes

As I am writing this blog in February 2013 I am tasting the 2002 Le MD de Bourgeois - absolute nectar, complex, minerally, wonderful aged Sancerre with slight honey notes - who says white wines need to be drunk young!   I could easily compare it favourably to a more expensive Burgundy white.

The famed vineyards of Chavignol

The wines of Chavignol are part of the AOC Sancerre and as such are either made with Pinot Noir grapes if red or rose or with Sauvignon Blanc if white.  The best Chavignol wines are the whites made with grapes from La Cotes des Monts Damnes - this would be a Premier Cru if in Burgundy.

For those that aren't able to get to Chavignol, soak up some of the atmosphere through the pictures below:

Hope you enjoyed this tour as much as we did. Merci Monsieur Raymond Bourgeois.   Here is a link to the Henri Bourgeois website.   Chavignol is a little hamlet that I am unlikely to tire of.

All White on the Night

Our first tasting of 2013 took place as usual on the second Friday of the month but I had inadvertently organised a little trip to the Sancerre/Menetou- Salon area and thus missed it!   However, the show must go on and Clive and the other Tongham Tasters managed well without Jane and me.   Perhaps, this is why this report is a little scantier than usual.  From all reports this was another great evening, particularly if you were a fan of white wines.  All six wines were Sauvignon Blancs and originated from various parts of the globe.  The job of our seven person tasting team was to rate them and guess which part of the World they came from.  As Sauvignon Blanc is grown in many parts of France as well as New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Australia, California etc etc, this was not an easy task.  Would Clive’s choices live up to Sauvignon Blanc’s reputation as a  crisp, dry and refreshing wine (although sweet examples are also available) .

A small select group for our January tasting

Some warming watercress and potato soup

The evening was organised by Clive and Sarah with most of the usual suspects in attendance.  Food pairings experienced in the evening included homemade watercress and potato soup, smoked salmon on oat biscuits, goats’ cheese and Tongham Bakery bread.  The wines tasted are noted below in descending order of preference:

1. Vina Maipo Reserva Sauvignon Blanc Valle Central 2012, Chilean White 12.5% , Sainsbury £9.99
This wine was voted top wine by five of the seven attendees.  Apparently there were some honey notes to the taste.  Ian and Jill had this down correctly as a wine from Chile (and these two tasters also ended up the best in the country of origin competition - well done!) but the rest thought it was from New Zealand or Australia.
I’ve had this wine before and can definitely recommend this as a sub-ten pound Sauvignon Blanc.

2. The Township Winery Philippi Sauvignon Blanc 2010. Western Cape South African White 12.5%, Virgin Wines £9.99
Six of our tasting team put this in their top three wines, although nobody rated it as their top wine of the evening.  Apparently, there were hints of honey and sherbet.   South Africa is definitely an up and coming country for Sauvignon Blancs and they have done quite well in our tastings before.

3. The Doctors Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Marlborough New Zealand White 9.5%, Virgin Wines £9.99.
Steve thought this New Zealand wine was the best of the evening but most rated it number three or slightly below.   It was an unusual wine in that it was only 9.5% alcohol by volume rather than the normal 12.5% and is marketed as a possible lunchtime drink. The team thought it an enjoyable wine but it did not quite live up to what it said on the label in terms of taste – the label said "amazingly pungent".

4. Montpierre Reserve Vin de France Sauvignon Blanc 2011, South of France White 11.5%. Sainsbury £8.99.
This was Jill’s favourite wine of the evening but John thought it too reminiscent of cat’s pee, which is a typical Sauvignon Blanc characteristic. For a basic French wine it didn't do too bad.

5. Kiki Marlborough 2009 New Zealand sparkling white. Virgin £11.99
This is one of a growing band of sparkling wines that are not made by the traditional Champagne method but that just have CO2 added like Coca Cola or other soft drinks.  Jill and Kathryn quite liked it but the rest had it firmly at wine number five .  Steve thought it a bit sweet.  However, a pleasant opener to toast in a New Year’s tasting.

6. McGuigan  Bin No.316 2012 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Australian White 10.5%. Sainsbury £7.99.
The bargain price wine of the evening, it was also unanimously the least popular.  Some felt it tasted vinegary and could be used as a condiment for your chips and other felt it tasted watered down like a spritzer.  The less said the better, perhaps we got a rogue bottle as this was a trophy winner.

So thus ended another interesting tasting evening and one of particular interest to lower alcohol white wine lovers.  Well done to Clive and Sarah.  Next month on Friday 8th February our tasting will be an evening for lovers of bubbly as Sheila will try to wow us all with six sparkling wines.   This will be another Tongham event, so if you want to join us, look in Wine Circle at the top of this blog for full details.  Hope to see you there.

PS.  Whilst the team were enjoying Clive’s choice of wines, Jane and I were supping a particularly good Sauvignon Blanc – A Domaine Minchin La Tour Saint Martin Menetou- Salon, well worth looking out for.

Goats' Cheese is always good with Sauvignon Blanc

Smoked salmon can also work well

As usual thanks to Clive for the photos and also for most of the report this month.