The Rhone Ranger

For May Chris decided to be our Rhone Ranger and select some Rhone wines and an imposter for us to

The lovely red colour of a Chateauneuf

taste at our Tongham Tasters’ monthly wine evening. In fact it was more of a Farnborough Tasters’ evening as there were six from Farnborough and only two of us travelling up from Tongham for the night; the rest of our regular group being on holiday or recuperating.

The Rhone Valley in France provides some of the World’s best value wines as well as some expensive well-known big name wines such us Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  What would Chris manage to serve us within the tight budget of £60 for six wines?  In the end she was indecisive and served us seven lovely wines.

As usual we tasted all the wines blind and scored them out of twenty.  The wines are presented below in descending order of preference.  Scores are presented in the order John E, John S, Jane, Jill, ?, ?,?,?.  The prices quoted are what Chris paid after discount (she got 25% to 30% discount on many of the wines!).

1. Arc du Rhone, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 2011, French Red, Waitrose £12.62.

Clear favourite of the evening with half our team voting it top and most of the rest voting it highly was an amazing value Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  It tasted more mature than a 2011 and obviously had a popular taste, although for me it was a little thin.  Scores were 10.5, 15, 15, 14.5, 14, 15, 12.5 and 12.5.  During the 25% off season this is definitely worth considering but it is not as big a wine as some of its AOC.

2. Domaine De Trois Pierres, J.Boulard, Costieres De Nimes, 2011, French Red, Waitrose £6.92.

A wine that split the crew a little was this very reasonably priced little number from Waitrose again.  Three of our team voted of their favourite but myself and some others were less impressed. This was very popular with some due to its raspy mouth feel and black cherry taste.  For me it was a supermarket wine for the masses with little to distinguish it.    Scores were 11, 13.5, 16, 15, 12, 18, 11 and 11.5.  For most of us this was a real hit and thus you should consider buying a bottle.  Certainly this AOC is known for good value wines.

3. Domaine des Garrigues, Lirac 2011, French Red, Majestic £8.49.

Five of our team had this wine in their top three of the evening.  This wine had a definite astringency with some tannins and a blackberry taste that gave it a little sweetness on the palate.    Scores were 13, 14, 12, 14, 13.5, 14, 10.5 and 12.  Another good scoring wine from this AOC that is just across the river from Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

4.  Jean-Luc Colombo, La Redonne 2011, Cotes De Rhone, French White, Waitrose £9.25.

A surprisingly good white Rhone wine at under £10 was La Redonne which was a blend of Viognier and Rousanne grapes.  It fooled most of us because of its unusual tall bottle shape and taste and thus most of us thought this the imposter and some of us were convinced it was a Picpoul de Pinet.  It was a real citrus tasting refreshing wine that would make a great aperitif or seafood wine.   Scores were 10, 9, 12, 11, 10.5, 13, 11.5 and 11.5.  A nice little wine and definitely one to try if you find many of the Rhone whites rather flat.

5. Les Hauts de Pavieres, Cave De Tain, Crozes Hermitage, French Red, Waitrose £10.44.

This was my favourite wine of the evening but half the team voted it in last place which caused much merriment!  For me it was a typical 100% plummy Syrah at this price from this AOC.  Although I liked it, as did the other John,  the others found it boring and lacking in acidity.  Scores were 14, 14.5, 13, 10.5, 10, 14, 9.5, and 10.  A wine to consider if your name is John or you are a syrah/shiraz fan.

6. Chateau Guiot Rosé, Costiere De Nimes, French Rosé, Majestic, £6.92.

This rosé wine was a very pleasant cherry tasting Rhone wine that some of u thought might be a Tavel or Lirac.  A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, it was not universally loved, however, and thus came near the bottom of a very good selection of wines.  Scores were 13.5, 10, 15, 8, 9.5, 16, 10, and 9.5.  Definitely a rosé to consider at this price.

7. Domaine Sainte Rose, Le Marine Blanc, Marsanne-Rousanne 2011, IGP Pays D’Oc, French White, Majestic £7.99.

Five of our team had this in last place and only one  person had it in their top four.  Some thought it had a coconut aroma and others found it woody with little freshness.  For me it was a typically flat Southern Rhone White although in fact this was the imposter and came just outside the AOC.  Scores were 9.5, 8, 14, 9, 7, 14, 8.5 and 10. Not a favourite with us I’m afraid.

After this great selection of Rhone wines, it was no surprise that Chris got a round of applause.   She also served us some lovely food to pair with the wine including a great cheese board, meatballs, saucisson and venison sausage.

Another great Tongham Taster’s evening and we can now look forward to our Portuguese evening on Saturday 22nd  June.  If you want to join us click on Wine Circle for full details.  Our June evening will again be in Farnborough, Hampshire but hosted by Ian and Kathryn.

 

An excellent cheese board

No need to thank Clive for the photos as he was on holiday!  Thus you have to make to with my lesser efforts.

Thank you Chris and Andy for hosting a lovely wine tasting evening.  Well done for selecting such a good range of Rhone wines and managing to afford one of the big AOCs in the ones you presented us.

KANGAROO PIE BRINGS AN END TO AN ERA

The kangaroo before he ended up in the pie!

What was billed as the last of our big fund raising wine tasting dinners in Tongham Village Hall was held last week.  Again we raised about £1000.

Thanks to all who attended and made it a great evening.

 The menu, ably cooked by Jane and Chris was:

1. Cheese Scones, tomato jam and herb cream cheese – Wolf Blass Red Label Brut Sparkling Wine – an unusual but great way to start the evening.  Thanks to Matt Tebbutt for the recipe.

2. Seafood and rice with a curry dressing – Telegraph Station Semillon Dry White 2011 – showing off a reasonably priced fragrant dry version of the varietal and a dish showing off the Australian love of seafood and eastern flavours.
3. Butternut Squash Soup – Coombe Farm Yarra Valley Chardonnay Dry White 2011 – an unrestrained soup with chilli heat paired with a very old world style restrained Chardonnay (perhaps reminiscent of a Montagny).
4. Smooth Pork Paté and Melba Toast – Coombe Farm Yarra Valley Cabernet Merlot red wine 2008 – A nice rich pate with toast named after Dame Nellie Melba and a very good fruity wine that her descendants make.

5. Kangaroo Pie – Tim Adams Clare Valley Shiraz red wine 2009 – a kangaroo dish (meat sourced from Osgrow.com) that everyone loved paired with what was many of our guests favourite wine of the evening.
6.  Mature West Country Farmhouse Cheddar – Jim Barry The Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon red wine 2009 – A beautiful cheddar served with one of my favourite value Australian red wines.
7. Smashed Strawberry Pavlova with lime and mango coulis – De Bortoli Tesco Finest Dessert Semillon 2008 – A play on Eton Mess paired with a sweet wine that most of our guests really loved.
8. Anzac Biscuits - Coffee or tea - lovely sweet coconut biscuits to end the meal.

Imagine cooking eight courses for all of these people!

So ends a series of wine tasting dinners that started in April 2006 and has covered many of the worlds great wine regions.  From memory and some notes we have done:
Languedoc Rousillon and the South West of France (April 2006) – Raised £200 – 36 attendees
The Loire Valley (May 2007) – Raised £110 – 21 attendees
Bordeaux (February 2008) – Raised £204 - 32 attendees
The Rhone Valley (June 2008) – Raised £351 -37 attendees (first one with hot dishes)
Beaujolais and Macon (November 2008) – Raised £365 - 39 attendees
The rest of Burgundy (February 2009) – Raised £560 - 54 attendees (first one that was not a buffet)
Alsace (October 2009) – Raised £479  - 50 attendees
Champagne Gala Dinner (September 2010) – Raised £1,241 - 51 attendees
Spain and Tapas Fiesta (February 2011) – Raised £1,018 - 50 attendees
Italy – (July 2011) – Raised £330 - 36 attendees
New Zealand (November 2011) – Raised £1,013 - 62 attendees
The Mediterranean (March 2012) – Raised £ 378 - 32 attendees    
Andean Adventure, Chile and Argentina (November 2012) - Raised £818 - 64 attendees
Australia (April 2013) –Raised  £1,009 - 61 attendees

The hall now looks great compared to seven years ago!

Bob

So fourteen tastings in seven years.

Thanks to everyone who has been so vocal in their thanks for our efforts, helped create a good community spirit and have supported us in this fund raising of over £8,000 (excluding gift aid).  Special mentions must go to Bob Monk who has been a star with his support over the years and also to Christine, Margaret and Chris who have helped in the kitchen, Carol for selling the raffle tickets and to Patricia and many others who helped with the waitressing and Ruby, Jane, Jeremy and others who have helped with the set up.

Jane making the smashed pavlova dessert

It has been gratifying in these 7 years to see Tongham Village Hall change from a neglected under-used building to a beautiful and successful hall that is now used almost everyday of the year.

Jane got to sit down occasionally

It has been challenging over the years finding wine and food to hit a tight budget so that we could charge an affordable price (between £10 and £25 but with £35 a head for our Champagne Gala dinner) and raised money for the hall.  Also fun and gratifying but everything has to come to an end.

Jane bows out on a high!

Don't worry Tongham Tasters still continues and our next monthly wine tasting is next Friday.  Click on Wine Circle to find out more.    Thanks to Clive Greenfield for taking and contributing most of the pictures above.

PIZZA EXCESS

Jane making the pizza

Jane was the sommelier, chef and host for our April 2013 wine tasting evening.  She chose the theme of
“Wine and Pizza” and had obviously done quite a bit of research into unusual pizza recipes and the best pairings to go with them.  Thus she served us six different pizzas and six different “good value” wines for our nine-person judging panel to rank.  Read on below to see how she did:

As usual we tasted all six wines blind to prevent any prejudice entering the results.  All scores quoted are out of twenty and the wines are presented in descending order of preference.  Scores are presented in the order John E, Ian, Sarah, Kathryn, Clive, Steve S, Chris and Andy.  Prices are the aproximate prices that Jane paid and included some special offers.

Jane brings in one of her pizzas

1. Edmond Bourdelat Rose Brut Champagne NV, French Sparkling Rose 12%, from the producer €18.20.

This was our first wine of the night and as well as accompanying the pizza was to celebrate my birthday.  It was a copper coloured rose and with some orange and peaches on the palate was excellent champagne.  Jane paired it extremely well with a Salmon and Crème Fraiche pizza that she used to eat in a kosher restaurant in Las Halles Paris.  Six of our nine-person panel voted this their wine of the night and it was about twice as expensive as any other wine.  Scores were 15.5, 15, 19, 19, 18, 13.5, 15 and 11.25.  It was definitely a hit with Kathryn who finished the bottle.  It is made from 20% Chardonnay and 80% Pinot Meunier with a 14% dose of Pinot Meunier red wine to give it the colour.  Definitely one of the top small producers, shame they only sell in France.  Here is a link to their excellent website should you be in the area.

2.Tesco Finest Chianti Riserva 2009 Antonella Conti, Tuscan Red 13%, Tesco £6.00.

Easily the best red of the evening for most of us was this value Chianti that paired very well with a Pepperoni and mozzarella pizza.  This wine was big on flavour and proved a great finish to the pizza selection.  Six of us had this wine in their top two wines of the evening. Scores were 14, 14, 17, 11, 18, 16.5, 13 and 11.   A real hit and a great priced pizza wine.  Normal price is around £8 and can be bought on-line by clicking here.

3. Old Vine Selection Tempranillo Extemadura 2011,  Spanish Red 14.5%, Tesco £6.49

Most of us thought this was an Australian red and it certainly had a warm climate flavour.  Jane paired this with a Chard, cherry tomato, wild garlic pesto, aged gouda and parmesan pizza.  The big flavours were of both food and wine were able to stand up to one another.  One of our team liked this the wine the best and most had it in their top four wines.  Scores were 13, 13.5, 11.25, 10, 14, 14.25, 10 and 12.  Andy’s favourite, he liked the good full taste.

Cutting the pizza

4.  Chianti 2011 Wine Selection at Asda 2011, Italian Red 12.5%,

  Asda £5.00.

This was a very soft tasting wine with a good fruity bouquet.  Jane paired this with an excellent Pancetta lardons, mushroom and tomato pizza. All of our team had this in their top four wines and Clive had it as his favourite.   Scores were 12, 12, 11, 11, 18, 13.75, 10.5 and eleven.  Most of us thought it was Spanish but this is still a good  £5 pizza wine.

5. La Piazza Nero D’Avola – Sangiovese Mineo Family 2011, Sicilian Red 13%, £5.

Some described this wine as smoky and cheeky.  I felt t had that cheap red wine taste and it was definitely helped by pairing it with the three cheese and caremelized onion pizza.   One of the team had it in their top two wines but the rest had it in their bottom two.  Scores were 9.75, 9, 7, 10, 14, 8, 8 and 11.5.  Appreciated by Andy but the rest of us would give this one a miss.

6. Rawnsley Estate Chardonnay New South Wales 2011, Australian Dry
White 12%, Tesco £5.00.

Our tasting team rarely appreciates chardonnays apart from Chablis and thus no surprise that this finished last.  Jane had paired this with a white three-cheese and Marsala pizza topped with rocket.  Most though the wine was a rather disappointing and it may not have been helped by the pizza being rather sweet.  Scores were 11.5, 9, 9, 11, 14, 7.5, 9.5 and 9.  Too bland for most but white wine lover Kathryn had it her top three.

For dessert, Jane served us with some Mango sorbet paired with a 2005 Montlouis dessert wine.  Then we had coffee and chocolates to round off an excellent evening.  Jane's smoked salmon, Pepperoni, and Mushroom pizzas were particularly appreciated. As usual she spent a lot of time cooking, ably helped by her trusty Thermomix.  You can view many recipes on her blog which can be found by clicking on Why Is There Air.

All smiles as everyone anticipates the pizza

Coming up next month on Friday 10^th May is Chris’s Rhone Rangers evening in Farnborough.  Then we remain in Farnborough in June on Saturday 22nd  for Ian and Kathryn’s Portuguese night.  We are back to Tongham for Steve S and his Cracking the Languedoc evening on Friday 5^th July.  On Friday 9^th August, I will be presenting another Fine Wine evening featuring some mature Riojas.  As usual, everyone is welcome to join us as long as they enjoy good company, wine and food.  Full details in Wine Circle above.

As usual, many thanks to Clive who took most of the photos.  Well done to Jane for another excellent evening.

Jane bringing in the blind tasting bottles

One of our favourites - Pepperoni Pizza

Smoked Salmon was also popular

Who says they don't want more pizza!

PRO-AM NIGHT

Would John come first or second?

Keen golfer John S decided to go for a Pro-Am theme for his red wine night.  He considered himself the amateur and sent three wines he had selected to four wine professionals to suggest another three wines of the same type and in the same price range.  They were also asked for a food pairing.   Not all of the wine professionals replied and some ended up sending their ideas in too late.  So it ended up as John Spreadborough versus The Wine Society.  Big thanks to The WineSociety for joining in our fun.  They are frequently recommended as being the place to obtain the best value wines in the UK.  Read on to see who won this exciting play-off.

This was another of our frequent trips over the border into Farnborough in Hampshire and ten of us gathered as the tasting panel to judge the three wines put up by each contestant.   Being John, he had selected two New World Wines and one Old World wine.  For once we didn’t get a South African wine but he put up two Australian wines and one from the increasingly fashionable Cru Beaujolais area of France.

As usual, to ensure no prejudice, we tasted all of the wines blind.   There was the usual lovely food to go with it: we are old school and believe that wine and food should be taken together.  The cheese selection was well judged for the red wines and there were lovely blinis topped with beef and horseradish and much more besides.

A great cheese board of cheddar, Manchego and Cornish Yarg

Scores below are out of twenty according to the TonghamTaster rules and are presented in the order John E, John S, Kathryn, Sarah, Jane, Jill, Clive, Chris, Andy and Steve S.  Wines are presented in descending order of preference:

1. Willow Bridge Dragonfly Cabernet Merlot 2011, Australian Red Wine 13.5%, The Wine Society, £8.95

This was a wine that all of the team apart from me loved.  Four of the team voted it their best wine of the night.  There were comments like “An instant I like you”,  “Welcome home”, and “I could exist on this”.  This really is a big, chunky, spicy winter warmer from Australia.  For Old World die hards like yours truly it was far too powerful and not a pleasant experience, however, this is what most UK consumers are looking for.  Scores were 11.25-, 13, 14, 13, 14, 14, 16, 15, 11.5 and 10.75.  So the New World Cabernet Merlot challenge was one by 6 votes to four to The Wine Society.  This bottle from Western Australia is a great example of the value wines they offer.  The Wine Society recommended to have this with Chorizo and this paired well.  It was also good with our Cheddar, Manchego, Cornish Yarg cheese board.

2. McHenry Hohnen Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2011, Australian Red Wine 14.5%, Majestic Wine Warehouse, £11.24 reduced to £8.99, selected by John.

This was a very similar wine to the Dragonfly but was just pipped to the post.  However, three of the team voted it their favourite wine of the evening so one definitely to consider if you like big powerful Australian red wines.  This one also comes from Western Australia rather than the more ubiquitous South East.  Scores were 9.75, 12.5, 15, 14, 16, 13, 15, 14, 11 and 10.  Another wine for those who love those from hot climates.

DB 2011- A very light Pinot Noir

3. De Bortoli DB Pinot Noir 2011, Australian Red Wine 12.5%, Majestic Wine Warehouse, £9.99 reduced to £7.99, selected by John.

This was a very light coloured red indeed but proved the favourite for Steve and me.   I was initially prejudiced by its colour and relative apparent lack of flavour but it eventually won me over.  This is a summer wine and is made by a very respected Australian producer.   Like most of the wines we tried on our pro-Am night, it completely split the jury and some found it “a nothing wine” and “quite sweet”.  Scores 10.5, 12, 10, 11, 9, 11, 11, 8.5, 11.5 and 11.5.  A pleasant light quaffing wine that won John S the Under £10 New World Pinot Noir challenge to bring him evens with The Wine Society after 2 holes and with just one to go.

=4. Marks and Spencers Fleurie 2011, French Red Wine 13%, Marks and Spencer, £10.99 reduced to £10.00, selected by John.

Clive thought this was the best wine of the evening with its nice fruity aroma, purple colour, smooth feel and fruit gum tang.  Others thought it thin and weedy! It was placed everywhere between first and last place by our team.  As a Cru Beaujolais it benefits from not having some of the characteristic unpleasantness of Beaujolais Nouveau or ordinary Beaujolais plonk, but it proved too light for some tastes.  Scores were 13.75, 10, 9, 8, 11, 9, 16, 13.25, 10 and 10.25.  A very pleasant Gamay wine but perhaps a little flat on the palate and not a wine that will be loved by all.

=4. The Society’s Exhibition Fleurie 2011, French Red Wine, The Wine Society, £8.95.

Five of our team had this in their top three wines of the evening and late comer Ian said he would have voted it tops.  Being the same AOC and the same year perhaps it is not surprising that this wine was very very similar to the one from Marks and Spencer.  Some of us felt it didn’t have such a nice mouth-feel but others seemed to prefer this harshness.  It was perhaps slightly darker and was also very tangy.  In the end we decided to call it a draw between these Beaujolais wines.   Scores were 12.25, 8, 8, 11.5, 12, 9.5, 15, 10.5, 10.5 and 11.25.  A good value wine to explore why the experts are saying we should be drinking more Beaujolais.

Detail on the Maycas label

6. Maycas Reserva Pinot Noir Limari Valley 2012, Chilean Red Wine 13.5%, The Wine Society, £9.95.

Almost every one of the wines in our evening tasting got a mixed reception with some loving them and others not liking them so much.  This wine, however, proved much less popular than the rest.  It got comments such as “boring ordinary wine” and “smooth but unpleasant hints of cough mixture”.   It is a very tough challenge to find a good Pinot Noir under £10 and this wine proved the rule.  I found it tasted OK on the first sip and had more weight than the De Bortoli but I quickly found it relatively uninteresting and it seemed to go down hill the more you tasted.    Scores were 10, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 13, 12, 10 and 9.25. 

...and the winning two wines are....

So our challenge ended up as a draw.  Well done to John for matching the experts and well done to The Wine Society for putting up some great value wines.



Majestic Wines also put in some suggestions and we tasted one after our main challenge.  It was their Wirra Wirra Church Block 2010 Cabernet Shiraz.  Many though this was the best Australia wine we tasted all evening and normally retails at £12.95 before discounts.  Thanks to Yapp Brothers for also replying but too late to include them in the tasting.

Lovely canapes

Thanks to John and Jill for hosting us in their beautiful new kitchen-diner and presenting us some lovely wines and food.  Us usual, this was very much appreciated.   Thanks also to everyone for coming and making our Tongham Tasters’ Wine Evenings such sociable fun affairs.   Next month on Friday 19^th April we are back in our home village of Tongham and Jane will be presenting us some home cooked pizza and a random selection of wines so that we can try and determine without any pre-conceived ideas which pairs best.  As it is close to my birthday, I will open up something special at the end of the evening to celebrate.   As usual we welcome newcomers to our evenings so do join us if you like good wine, good food and great conversation.

We will also be doing one of our charity wine tasting dinners at Tongham Village Hall on Saturday 27^th April.  The theme is Australian wine and we will have seven for you to taste, paired with some quirky Australian inspired food including Kangaroo Pie!  Cost will be £25 per head in advance.  We will all be trying one sparkling wine, two dry whites, three reds and one sweet white.  Some big names including Tim Adams and De Bortoli and some lesser known smaller producers.  I am threatening this to be the last of our big 60 person wine dinners so this may be your last chance to try my creative menus and Jane’s excellent execution of them in the Village Hall setting.

Do join the team for our next tasting

To join us at any event, wither email John at tonghamtaster@gmail.com or call me on 07717 876743.  For more details about us, click on Wine Circle above this blog.  Hope to see you all again soon.

Our team chat and judge the wines

Ian joined us late, after badminton, and enjoyed the exhibition Fleurie

Thanks again to John with a great idea for a tasting and for serving us some different New World wines.  As usual thanks to Clive for taking some fun pictures and allowing us to publish them on the blog.