Anything But Chardonnay - Really?

The first event of 2024 proved to be very unusual - whites only. As far as I am aware this was a first for the wine club, not least because every wine was a Chardonnay. 

The host for the night was Sam Newman, one of the clubs many talented members. Sam takes her wine seriously and has recently received her first qualification in the subject.

It was a fascinating evening with many lessons to be learnt which should prompt us all to think before responding to a waiter by saying, "I'll have anything but Chardonnay".

The welcome wine was a Champagne:

Thereafter the wines were presented in pairs. Throughout the evening Sam asked the guests to indicate which of the two wines in each pair they preferred, and finally to choose their overall favourite. As might be expected there was absolutely no consensus! 

The first pair consisted of two French wines, a Pays d'Oc and ...

a Beaujolais Blanc

Next we were introduced to an Australian and ...

a Chilean Chardonnay

The third pair came from South Africa and ...

California

Another wonderful evening of wine tasting and fellowship was had at the wine club!

The club (generally) meets on the last Friday of every alternative month (January, March, May, July, September and November). 

The next meeting will be on Friday March 22, 2024 (rather than the last Friday of March which is Good Friday). 

New members are always welcome. You do not need to be a wine expert, but just be interested in exploring wines from around the world. The March 2024 meeting will be an exploration of high altitude South American wines. 

The Italian Job (It blew the doors off!)

 

The July 2023 Freeland Wine Club session proved to be yet another fascinating night during which we were introduced to an excellent selection of wines from the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy.

We were also introduced to an excellent selection of English cheeses. It is not often that the cheeses raise as many complimentary comments as the wines. However, the combination that Charles Dall’Omo presented to the club in July did just that.

Charlie is the cofounder of San Martino Wines, an online wine company that specialises in importing and distributing wines from northern Italy.

Charlie  orchestrated us through a selection of excellent wines on the night which were very well received.

These included

 

3 sparkling wines:

- 'Prestige' Pignoletto Spumante Brut,

- Ortrugo Frizzante

- 'Gino Friedman' Lambrusco Sorbara (a rose)

A still white 

- Pignoletto Superiore, 

2 reds

- 'Primo Segno Sangiovese

- 'Longiano' Sangiovese Riserva

 

and a beautiful desert wine

- 'L'Appuntamento' Malvasia di Candia Passito 

The wines are all available from the San Martino Online Shop.

San Martino can be followed on Facebook and Instagram.

The cheeses on the night were:

- Wigmore - a sheep milk cheese

- Rachel - a goat milk cheese

- Ticklemoore - a goat milk cheese

- Colston Bassett Stilton

Like the wines - highly recommended.

Tasty Wines

 

Another welcome to Toby Chiles, our most popular host as evidenced by the turnout on the evening. Toby had arranged for the wines to be blind-tasted, including the welcome sparkling wine which turned out to be a Moldovan Radacini Blanc De Noir. Blanc De Noir, of course, means a white wine made from a black grape, in this case Cabernet Sauvignon.

Thereafter the purpose of the blind tasting was to prevent preconceptions of the wine before tasting it. Each wine was paired with a carefully selected food item (or two). This was not food-wine pairing in the normal sense of which dishes go with which particular wines. Instead, it was an exploration of how food can influence the flavour and feel of wines. Therefore, we tasted each wine on its own before tasting it with the matching food item. Just for fun, before the wine was revealed, Toby asked if people wanted to guess the wine. 

The wine and food combinations were:

White Muscat (Samos Vin Doux, Greece) with Pate

Gewurztraminer (Cave de Turkheim, France) with Boursin Garlic Cheese

Chardonnay (Bread and Butter, California) with Smoked Mackerel & Horseradish Pate

Malbec (Dada Art 391 Fina Las Moras, Argentina) with (i) salt and (ii) salami (high fat content)

Shiraz (Bird in Hand, Australia) with (i) Cheddar and (ii) Parmesan

Fortified wine (Moscatel de Douro Cadao, Portugal) with (i) blue cheese and (ii) dark chocolate

The pairings were very carefully chosen by Toby. Unfortunately, I was so engrossed in understanding the impact of the food on the wine I forgot to take notes. However, Toby very kindly filled in the gaps in my memory.

In respect to the Muscat and the pate, the sweetness of the Muscat cuts through the richness and the fattiness of the Pate to balance it out.

With aromatic wines of lower acidity, such as Gewurztraminer, the heat and flavour in spices like garlic (hence the Boursin) and chilli is lifted and/or tempered by the wine.

Creamy or buttery wines, such as Bread and Butter Chardonnay, are rich in flavour and body, so the food accompaniment also needs to be rich either because of the sauce, or the main ingredient, in this case, smoked oily mackerel blended with crème fraiche, cream, lemon and horseradish to give it extra flavour and body.

For Malbec, salt reacts with tannin to soften the effects and thus the wine tastes smoother. The same is true for Salami, but with salami fat is also present which softens the tannins in wine further. Hence the reason that salty snacks and charcuterie go so well with red wine.

Red wine with high tannins, such as Shiraz, reacts favourably with hard cheeses to enhance the flavour of both the wine and the cheese, the richer the hard cheese, the more heightened the effect. Here a 30-month aged parmesan is taken to new heights. Conversely, soft cheese flavours are killed by highly tannic wines.

The sweetness of fortified wine matches and enhances blue cheese through a reaction between sugar and the penicillin mould on soft salty cheese. While, the high alcohol content of the wine tempers the bitterness in dark chocolate.

Bill (Club Chair) gives the vote of thanks.

May 2023 Tasting Notes

 The blog is to follow. 

In the meantime here are the tasting and wine-food pairing notes from the evening.

Blind Date

Yet another excellent night at the Freeland Wine Club was had on Friday 31 March. 

Mark Stuart-Thomlinson was our unexpected host, having to step in at short notice. He has hosted a number of wine nights and always treats us to an evening with a twist and, as expected, this evening was no exception. 

He introduced the members to 7 wines; 3 white and 4 red, but they had to be tasted blind. 

Club members were given a number of little slips of paper. On each were the details and a photo of a grape. These served as clue and members had to select the slip of paper that contained the grape of the wine that they were tasting at that moment.

It has to be said that it was impressive how many of the wines were correctly identified; it showed that there really is an remarkable wine knowledge amongst the members of the club.

The welcome wine was a Gewürztraminer.

The second wine was a Viognier, which was paired with a delicious stilton.

The final white was an unexpected Sauvignon Gris, paired with an equally unexpected chilli cheddar.

Sauvignon Gris is an obscure grape that originates from the Bordeaux wine region where it was originally known as Fie Gris. It is thought to be a mutation of Sauvignon Blanc. The grape came close to extinction during the phylloxera epidemic and these days it makes up only 2% of the vines grown in Bordeaux. It is also grown in Chile, Australia and New Zealand.

The grape is generally used for blending and, in France, AOC law dictates that wineries are not allowed to bottle it as a single varietal and those few wineries that do have to label the wine as a generic white Bordeaux. Based on the wine we tasted, Sauvignon Gris is best left for blending! 

The first red was a good old fashioned Cabernet Sauvignon.

This was followed by a good old fashioned Spanish Tempranillo.

The third red as a delicious Australian Shiraz.

And finally, to the delight of many of the red wine drinking club members, we were presented with an excellent Malbec. It's difficult to go wrong with an Argentinian Malbec.

Our thanks to Mark for yet another fascinating exploration into the world of wine.

Old World - New World

The guest host for the January 2023 Freeland Wine Club evening was Graeme Woodward. 

Graeme is the co-founder and co-owner of the independent wine merchants Grape Minds. Graeme and his co-owner, Michael Jelley opened their first shop in Summertown, North Oxford in December 2018 and have gained a strong reputation for their range of over 400 quality wines and their excellent, personal customer service. They also sell nearly 100 spirits and over 50 varieties of beer. They opened their second shop in Wallingford, south Oxfordshire, in September 2021. Although they have an internet presence, their focus on individual customer service means they do not sell online. 

More details can be found on their website (grapemindsdrinkalike.co.uk). They are also on Facebook. Graeme and Michael host a number of wine appreciation events at their stores, details can be found on their events web page.

We were welcomed to the evening with a 2018 Italian Opere Trevigiane Serenissima Brut. This is a sparkling wine made with the Metodo Classico, in French known as the methods traditionnelle, and is the method used to create Champagne. It is a blend of Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) and Chardonnay and is produced in Piedmont, Northern Italy and was a delicious start to the evening.

During the rest of the evening, we tasted 8 different wines. Graeme added spice to the evening by hosting a blind tasting although he was kind enough to tell us which wines we were tasting: 2 Sauvignon Blancs, 2 Chardonnays, 2 Syrah/shiraz and 2 Bordeaux-style red wines. For each there was an old-world version and a new-world version. We had to decided which was which. Michael took us through each pair of wines and showed a considerable knowledge of the wines he was presenting, and of wines in general. It must be a real delight visiting his shop and seeking advice.

The two Sauvignon Blancs were a Spanish Adaras Lluvia Blanco from the Almansa region and a Pā Road from New Zealand’s Marlborough region.

The two Chardonnays were a Burgundian Domaine de Château Pierreclos Macon Pierreclos and a Drovers Hut Chardonnay from Australia.

The two Syrah/Shiraz were a Delas Saint-Esprit Côtes-du-Rhône and a Growers Touch Shiraz from Australia.

The two Bordeaux "blends" were a Château Balac Haut-Médoc Cru Bourgeois and an Oh! Merlot from Oneiric Wines from South Africa. The merlot was a bit of a cheat - it was a Merlot varietal, but Merlot is a classic Bordeaux grape, so we'll forgive Graeme that.

Yet another wonderful evening was spent at the Freeland Wine Club. Well done to the organisers, and also to Graeme Woodward - and thank you for an excellent selection of wines.

A Night Exploring Pinot Noir

The host of our September evening was Martin Marais, one of our club members.

Martin generally prefers full-bodied reds, such as Merlot, Syrah and Malbec. However, at the beginning of the year he decided to broaden his wine horizons and explore Pinot Noir wines. So, for seven months he only bought Pinot Noir wines and ordered it in restaurants. He also read everything he could about the grape and wine, and visited Burgundy (the “birth place” of Pinot Noir) where he visited domains in Rully and Beaune to do some tasting.

The night was an opportunity for Martin to tell us what he had learnt.

The first thing Martin explained was the character of Pinot Noir wine. It is:

• Medium bodied and medium dry
• It has an alcohol content in the range 11 to 13.5%
• It has medium tannins and good acidity, although some vineyards add white wines to increase acidity, which can also increase the laying down period of the wine. Pinot Noir wines age well and can be laid down for up to 10 years.

 Martin explained that Pinot Noir can have pronounced earthy (mushroom/leaf litter) flavours, especially the old-world wines. While an earthiness is present in new world wines, they tend to present more red berry flavours and be more full-bodied.

The “ideal” drinking temperature is at the lower end for red wines at about 14^oC, with Malbec at 16^oC, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carménère and Syrah at 18 ^oC.

Cheese Pairings include Semi-hard cheeses such as Gruyère and Comté or more pungent washed-rind cheeses such as Epoisses and Reblochon.

Martin presented two Pinot Noirs to allow members to experience the differences between old-world and new-world styles; one from France and one from New Zealand.

Pinot Noir has been given the nickname “The Heartbreak Grape”. This is because;

• It is a difficult and finicky grape to grow
• It is thin-skinned, which makes it liable to damage
• Its berries are tightly clustered making it prone to disease
• It is very fussy about the climate in which it grows, demanding a cooler-climate, limestone-rich clay soils, that drain easily and deep soils through which the roots can grow for water
• It generally delivers lower yields than other red grape varieties

Therefore, good quality Pinot Noir wines often have a higher price tag, indeed it produces some of the most highly priced varietal wines in the world; half of the world’s 50 most expensive wines are made with Pinot Noir.

Regardless of all its foibles, Pinot Noir is still a popular grape to grow and is in the top ten (9^th) grapes grown by area in the world. The primary producer of Pinot Noir wine is France, followed by the USA, Germany, Moldova, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and Austria. Some of the Pinot Noir wine areas of greatest reputation are listed below.

Pinot Noir literally means ‘black pine cone’, which is a comment on its shape and colour. It is French in origin, from Burgundy and is one of the oldest grape varieties. It was widely grown by Cistercian monks in Burgundy who used it as a Communion wine. When the monks dispersed to establish new monasteries, they took vines with them and thus helped spread the variety across Europe.

The grape has around 300 synonyms, the German grape Spätburgunder is in fact Pinot Noir. It has also spawned the most clones (nearly 50) amongst the more well-known commercial grape varieties. A clone is a genetic mutation of the parent vine. Clones that have developed from Pinot Noir include Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meunier and Frühburgunder. The latter is an early fruiting variety which, as a result, is increasingly grown in England and Wales where it is known as Pinot Noir Précoce.

The grape tends not to be used to create red blends, but is famously used in sparkling wine blends, most notably Champagne.

However, it has been cross- fertilised with other grapes, resulting in famous grape varieties such as Chardonnay (Pinot Noir x Gouais Blanc) and Pinotage (Pinot Noir x Hermitage - more commonly known as Cinsault).

August 18th is International Pinot Noir Day.

Pinot Noir is a versatile wine for pairing with food not only as a still red, but also because it is made in most styles of wine:

• still white
• sparkling white
• still Rosé
• sparkling Rosé (a speciality of English vineyards)
• still red
• sparkling red (another speciality of English vineyards)
• dessert wines

Although a red grape, its thin skin makes it capable of producing very clear white wines. The fact it has been around for a very long time also means wine makers have had ample time to experiment with it.

There more wines were presented as examples of the wide range of styles that Pinot Noir can be used to make. 

An English white. It was accompanied by Black Bomber (an English Cheddar) 

French Rosé. It was accompanied by Old Amsterdam (an aged Gouda) 

An Italian Franciacorta. It was accompanied by Cornish Yarg (a nettle wrapped hard English cheese)

Franciacorta is a small wine-producing area in Lombardy in northern Italy and is famous for its high-quality Méthode Traditionnelle sparkling wines, which are widely regarded (especially in Italy) as the country’s finest sparkling wines. It is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and limited amounts of Pinot Blanc, whilst Champagne uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Franciacorta production is only 1/10 of that of Champagne and only a small proportion is exported due to its popularity in Italy. 

In addition, a dessert wine from Oregon was presented but not tasted (it was too expensive).

Martin’s conclusions of his exploration of Pinot Noir were;

• Exploring Pinot Noir wines is an adventure
• Each bottle is a different drinking experience
• One needs to explore them to find those that one likes
• Price does matter – one needs to spend a bit more to get the quality
• New world styles are fuller bodied
• Hungarian and Romanian are fuller bodied than Western European styles

Of the thirty or so Pinot Noirs Martin tasted, he recommended two:

• a Californian (Bread and Butter)
• a Romanian (Călușari)

Martin's overall conclusion was that he would be sticking with fuller-bodied red wines … although he would continue drinking the Pinot Noir/Hermitage cross called Pinotage, a South African speciality. It was accompanied by Morbier, a French semi-soft cows' milk cheese, and it was an excellent finish to the evening!