No, it can't be....

No, it can't be, I don't like Syrah...


Summer is almost upon us, and the Wine Club has it's May meeting.    This was a meeting that surprised, pleased and made members reconsider, but how so?

You could say, and you'd be right to say it that is not that easy to be original on how to offer wines to the Wine Club in a new and though provoking way, well our speakers did that in spades.

Our speakers, John and Louise gave a great presentation, history of the areas where each wines had been made, the countries both 'Old World and New World with the question, quite simple really, what are the grapes?  All very simple and to an extent you may think obvious but no one was able to get close to the the correct answers.

Our collective hats got off to Louise and John, a brilliant job well done.

So the wines:

Here they are

and yes, the eagle eyed will see that they are all the same, or rather all the reds are Syrah/Shirraz and the whites, including a sticky are Sauvignon Blanc.

The aim of the evening was to answer the question, what grape variety is in this bottle in the wines we were tasting.  Only one person thought the first three wines, the whites, were all Savy Blanc, I guess that tells us something about the how the mind works - to assume that we would be drinking a variety of grape types and not just one grape.  What it also tells us is that the French idea of Terroir is alive well and can be seen very well with an test of this nature.

What of the wines, the whites were good, all good, what a kind grape it is.  (I can now say this given I now know what is in the bottle!). A surprise thought was the fact that it is more than possible to make a sweet wine from the grape. For many that last wine was both the most interesting but also the best, especially so when taken with a slice of Lemon Drizzle cake, yes it's a tough life.

The red were all good but for this taster at least, the pepper overtones on one or two two the wines confirmed the reason for not caring for Syrah, but others were just sensational. so the prejudice is totally unfounded.  The lesson of the night.

The details, as drunk:


All wines bought from The Oxford Wine Company


White and Sauvignon Blanc

1. Loire Valley. Domaine du Haute Perron /2106 @10.99. 12.5%
2  Marlborough Sound.  Mortoin Estate 2017 @ £9.69.  12.00%
3 South Africa, Franschhooek Frenschoek Cellr 2017 @ £8.75. 13.5%

Red and Syrah/Shiraz
4 Languedoc - Roussillon. Domain de lea Baume. 2016 @£ 10.99 14%
5 Western Cape.  Stellar Winery 2016 @ £8.99 13%
6 Barossa valley Magpie Estate. 2105 @£13.75. 14%

Sticky
7 Germany Pfalz  Oliver Zetter 2015 @£15.95 (50cl) 7.5%

Date of next meeting
July 27th