A POSTCARD FROM PORTUGAL

Our June Tongham Taster’s evening took us to a country that is ignored and forgotten by so many wine drinkers - Portugal.   Whilst still remembered for its fortified wines, its other wines, with the exception of, dare I say it, Mateus Rosé are little known.   Ian and Kathryn were our excellent hosts and they took the easy but ultimately winning option of getting all of their six wines via The Wine Society’s “The Portugal Exploration Case”.   Our only disappointment was not trying one of Cliff Richard’s wines – a rousing chorus of “we’re all going on a summer holiday” or “the young ones” would have really made the evening!

As none of us know very much about Portuguese wines we didn’t actually taste the wines blind, it would have made no difference to our marks or comments.  Instead Kathryn provided us with tasting notes on all six wines plus a wine from the aforementioned Senhor Richard.  We just had to guess which of the tasting notes went with each wine; a much more difficult task than it might sound when they are filled with typical wine critic verbosity such as “a hint of Burgundian style struck match” or “constrained and buttressed by the tight apple”.

Unusually we were marking the wines out of ten using a different system than usual and which developed slightly over the evening and which was not used consistently around the tasting table.  Scores below are in the order John E, Kathryn, Ian, Jill, John S, Andy, Clive, Jane, Sarah and Chris.  The wines are presented in our descending order of preference with the food we served with them:

1. Campolargo, Alvelhao, Beiras, 2011, Potuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £10.95.

This was our postcard from Portugal and indeed a postcard, most unusually, forms the label.  This wine is from the Bairrada region of Northern Portugal. But is different from the robust reds that traditionally come from this area.  It was an easy winner with our judging panel despite initial comments such as wafts of toilet cleaner or menthol –not something I got at all, I have to say.  Perhaps they meant fresh summer flowers and hay meadows; sounds much better doesn’t it.  We found it light to medium bodied , slightly sweeter than the other reds but very nice taste and some complexity.  Four of our panel voted it the top wine of the evening and another five had it in their top three.   Scores were 9,7,8,9,7,6.5,8,7,10 and 7.25.   A pleasant summer red that could be good on its own.

2. Terrenus, Branco, Alentejo 2010, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society, £10.95.

This blended wine from inland Southern Portugal received top votes from two of our judges and another five had it in their top three wines.  It had a citrus, oak and minerality and tasted relatively similar to some oaked Sancerres I had tasted recently.  We found it perhaps lacked a little aftertaste although the tasting notes from The Wine Society suggested the opposite.   Score were 7.5,8,9,7.5,6,7,9,7,9 and 7.5   This is a wine for those who don’t mind a little oak in their wines as long as it is balanced by fruit and minerality.

3. Valle Pradhinhos, Branco, Transmontano 2011, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society,

£10.95

Another white came next and many thought it was better than the one above but quite a few didn’t like this wine at all and hence the placings.  This wine had a big citrus nose, perhaps reminiscent of grapefruit and again good minerality with perhaps some oak and saltiness. Another wine that reminded me of Sancerre although it is a blended wine and comes from the Upper Douro area of Northern Portugal.  We tried this wine with a lovely prawn pasta dish and the dish improved the wine.   Scores were 6.5+,8.5,7,9.5,7,5,8,9,5 and 8.  A lovely wine to have with your barbequed fish this summer.

4. Alfrocheiro, Grande Escolha, Tejo 2008, Portuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £14.95

This wine had that big New World red smell and looked lovely in the glass.  We found brambles and cherries in its fruit flavours and a good level of acidity.  One person thought this their favourite wine of the evening and another six had it in their top three.  Scores were 8-,7,8,8,7,6,8,9,7.5, and 6.    The acidity would make this a good match to slow roasted pork belly.

5. Verdelho, Alentejo 2011, Portuguese white wine, The Wine Society, £8.95

This was the first wine we tasted and it made a great start to the evening.  I thought it tasted like some Italian whites only better.  It was perhaps a bit flat tasting and thus came towards the bottom of our three good whites.  We had this with some Olive Oil Tortas from Waitrose and green grapes and they were an excellent wine accompaniment.   Scores were 6.5-,7,6,7,6.5,6,8,5,6 and 6.5.   If you like the white wines of Italy or Spain, give this one from Portugal a try.

6. Porta Velha, Tras-os-Montes 2010, Portuguese red wine, The Wine Society, £7.50

Although this wine came in last place and was the only wine that nobody put in their top three, it was probably the best sixth place wine we have tasted over the last three years of Tongham Tasters.  Perhaps too soft it was a little flat and uncomplicated.   However, it did have a nice raspberry or strawberry aroma and some acidity to match with food.  We found it went well with figs.  Scores were 7-,7,6,6,5,5,8,5,7 and 4.5.   A Portuguese alternative to a joven Rioja as it is made largely with Tempranilla to drink young.

Our food menu for the evening

Overall this proved to be a very consistent bunch of wines and absolutely not a dud amongst them.  However, perhaps no really amazing star either.  The food was gorgeous and novel.  A great evening – congratulations and thanks to our hosts Ian and Kathryn.   Obviously, we all ought to be adding Portuguese wines to our shopping list – join the Wine Society or visit a good quality wine specialist or pop along to your local Waitrose.  An observation from some of us was that the labels didn't help sell this wine to foreigners like us who are not experts in Portuguese wine.

Tortas and green grapes - a great combination with a Portuguese white

Well done to Clive who did spectacularly well compared with the rest of us in matching the wines with the Wine Society descriptions – he obviously has a great palate.

Our Portuguese prawn pasta dish

Thanks to Kathryn for the delicious food that accompanied the wines.

Merriment accompanied the first white

Next month we end our exile in Farnborough and return to our roots in Tongham.  Steve will be presenting us six wines from the Languedoc region of France on Friday July 5^th at 8pm in The Street, Tongham.  Don’t forget that we welcome old and new comers equally so if you would like to join us, click on Wine Circle to find out more details.

An aperitif before the main tasting 

August will be one of the special evenings where we blow the budget and use up some of our kitty.  It will be an evening of older and more expensive wines than normal.  So our regular tasting team need to put Friday August 9^th in their diaries.  The theme will be Reserva and Gran Reserva Riojas.  Included will be a mini vertical of three wines from the eighties and nineties.  This will be a mainly red evening and will be accompanied by traditional Rioja accompaniments like roast lamb, Manchego cheese, Serrano ham, chestnut soup and mushrooms.   If it’s a warm summers day, which is unlikely in England, we will try to lighten up some of those ingredients.  This evening will be hosted by John and Jane in Grange Road, Tongham.

Many thanks to our hosts

At our next evening we will need to plan September through December, so team come up with some ideas.  In October it will be our third birthday as a wine tasting group.

We ended with Portuguese custard tarts - delicious! 

As usual thanks to Clive for most of the photos.

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!