Bolivia? You're kidding!

Toby Chiles, we owe you a great debt of appreciation.

The first meeting of 2017 needs to be 'Box Office' and so it was, we were lucky enough to enjoy both a greatly skilled speaker but also a presentation that gave members both expertise and knowlege.

We had an introduction to different wines, wines that we almost certainly would not have tasted without being introduced by Toby.  We  also learned very much more about the matching of wines to food types.

So, Toby a B I G thank you, you did great job which we all  enjoyed and came away  more skilled then when we arrived - perfect!

One of the themes for the night was the point that when we buy wines we perhaps should walk past the usual and move to wines that are outside of our personal comfort zones. What did Toby mean by this?   He suggests that we need to look out for wines that are not from places we associate with wine making, places like, India, Mexico, Bolivia.  Sometimes made with grapes we may have never heard of.   His rational behind this is the fact that the market for wine is highly competitive and few outlets are going to risk placing poor wines on the valuable shelf space.

Well that is the background but what was the results?

All the wines were tasted blind, and none of the wines were classed as poor. On the contrary the standard was high and all intersting.




The wines:

The Greek Atlantis wine, Lime and pears dominate, followed by off sweet finish.  (M&S @£12:00)

The Romanian Paparuda Feteasca Regla, here we a have an example of a dry white wine that has a burden to carry if you are trying to sell the wine. One of the things which wines need to have is a name that is at least recognisable, and a grape that is likewise, at least familiar, now, who has heard of the Feteasca Regala?  But here is a very good dryish wine, partly aged on American Oak for £7:00 per bottle   (www.slurp.co.uk)

Now to the UK, the Dart Valley and off dry with loads of fruit. - very impressive.  £11.00 from www.hawkeshaedwines.co.uk.

India, too hot to grow grapes for wine making, well yes but only too hot at low levels, up in the hills it's fine and this wine was a real surprise, and lets be honest, when does M&S disappoint?  They sell this good wine bursting with mango, and gooseberry and made from Sauvignon Blanc.   £8:00   M&S


Wines tasted and compared, judged with and without foods, and my oh my, what a difference salt or sugar can make, how the tannins fade with fatty sausage, how the white wines make soft cheeses sing and make hard cheese and the wine become tasteless.   This last point quite amazing.

We also discover how good or not so good we are at smelling and defining what we are smelling. It seems that about 1 in 7 or 8 can identify a smell, Caramel and for most lemon was easy but then of the remainder of the smell tests most of us were without a clue, again something of a shock. This leading us to conclude we all live in our own world or bubble when it comes to tasting, so if it works for you, that's fine.  

We had two quick quizes, trivia on wine, congrats to Dan and Louise:

The semi final.

After a number of impressive whites it was now into the world of tannins, Uruguay, Macedonia, Mexico, Bolivia.  All very good wines, and more that  that, intersting wines, and what a great thing to offer up, blind with friends over food?

The Bernard Magrez Elegancia, sadly not longer available in the UK just now.

A Mexican Malbec, vibrant, would be good with red meats.

M&S £7:00

Bolivia, really? Oh yes and very good indeed. Another M&S find at £11.00 

A very good red, loads of black fruits. 

Back to Europe for the wine from Macedonia, a robust merlot, but a well mannered wine. 

M&S £7:00

The meeting would not be complete without a 'stickie' and what to eat with the same. Surprise, surprise, would a blue cheese be good, or maybe high cocoa chocolate, not good but fantastic. Both food and wine made better. 

The hit of the sweetness and the depth of flavours, beautiful, and this from Portugal.  A Moscatel, Amazon.  £13.00 for 75c cl. 

Now a date for your diary, the next meeting will be a week later than normal, APRIL 7.  The wines of Portugal.

...But once a year...

The Club's November meeting always seems to mark the start of the Christmas season.

All through the year we members of the Club work hard with a never ending quest to improve our knowlege of wines and also to enjoy new wines.  At this year end meeting  the emphasis changes, here we want to enjoy some good wines, of course, in good company, naturally,  and maybe stretch our collective minds by tackling some brain teasers.


The evening is a great example of the self-help attitude that the members of the club relish.  All the foods are brought along, amazingly without much planning other than the general guide, please bring 'finger foods'. Amazingly we end up with a great selection of foods and all of a high, high standard.

Then there are the wines, and here we did a sneaky thing, we put all the wines into carafes and asked the question, what are we drinking, answers please made into scrabble words and yes you only have the tiles needed, no spares and yes you need to use all those tiles.

Lots of head scratching and hard work resulted in everyone, or every table resolving the question, What is it?


All very impressive and challenging, and for this we must thank Chris who put in a lot of work , thought and effort in making this work so well.

But what were the wines?  We wanted to have wine that was in some way special and that was suitable to go with a wide range of foods.  This is what we had::


The 'Fizz" was the Cremant du Jura, a Chardonnay fizz from that area of France, all agreed that this was a fine choice and a very good wine, all the more so given its modest price at under £8.00 per bottle. Oh yes and nice bottle as well!  (Available from Aldi £7.29)















The white wine was another popular wine  and a steal at the price, a wine not commonly known and often talked down but one that suited the evening well. Light yet with some fruit.  This was from the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Range, Verdicchio..  Normally available at £7.00 but currently on offer at £6.00.













For the Reds we bought via Majestic Wines, following a wine tasting at the Witney branch we sought something that was slightly 'off piste' but with a strong character.  The Emilo Moro hit the spot and how. A succulent and rich red, made with the Tempranillo grape, subtle tannins and bags of black fruit.  Highly recommended.  (Majestic @ £16.99)

















We added a 'stickie' to the list of wines and ours was the De Bortilli Botrytis Semillon 2013.  How was it, as ever, some loved it to bits,  others, were more muted and no thank you. But that is how it is with such wines, those that love them love the depth flavour and the luscious taste, this one was not quite up there in terms of quality, maybe a 6 out of ten type wine. (£10.00 per half bottle - Majestic Wine Warehouse)

The Usual Suspects

A resume of the coming years programme was shared, this will kick off in January with the very able and knowledgeable wine expert, Toby Chiles, the date of the meeting is JANUARY 27.  All the other dates and full programme will follow when confirmed.

In the meantime a few shots of the evening:

Germany has no Reds

Just one of the many misconceptions dispelled last night at the Wine Club was that Germany does not make red wine in quantity and quality.

Let me explain, at our meeting of the Wine Club for September, we were very fortunate in having a presentation by two members who know Germany and know German wines well.  Renata and John have strong connections to the vineyards of Northern Germany stretching back over many years.

We enjoyed the wines from one vineyard, the vineyard of Burggarten in the Ahr region of Germany.

How last night was special though was that, in addition to some cracking wines, we were treated to a tour of the area by description and photographs.   Within the Club we are very lucky in having members that have intimate knowlege of wine areas, great knowlege of the wines and a passion for both, John and Renata were able to share both last night.

In the past we have had meeting where German wines have been discussed, the issue is for those from the UK  getting hands on German wine, the fact is that only small amounts are shipped to the here. Partly because most German wines are drunk at home and partly because German wines have a reputation that stretches back to the days of the dreaded warm, overly sweet "Blue Nun' wine that many people now associate with German wine.  Our speakers bought the wines we drank last night back via motor car.

In fact the wines of Germany are both varies in type and of high quality and, yes comes in other colours than red!

The first three wines were white.

Of these the first was also the most popular wine of the evening

The Weissburgunder was a very fine wine indeed. Not dry, not sweet, great overtones of fruit. Perfect for drinking with friends in the summer or any season.

The Grauburgunder was good but was overshadowed by its illustrious proceeding wine. 

The final white was a classic Mosel Riesling, and what a cracker that wine was. A textbook taste, if one can have that with the Riesling grape. Spot on as they say

The raffle winners were lucky enough to have wines that we have seen before, wines that were part of the presentation of Wine Labels

The reds were all based on the Pinot grape but not all Pinot Noir, only the last wine, and to many the best Red of the night.

The burning question of the night is "Where can I buy these very good wines, and the very good answer is that you must drive to the Ahr region of Germany and visit the vineyards.  You would be sure of a great welcome and enjoy a very good weekend in the area. John was telling us that it takes just nine hours (door to door) to get to the area. Although he didn't mention it I'm suspecting that english is available widely.

AOB

Date to the next meeting, November 25th.  Our 'social evening and 'pot luck' supper.

Brilliant speaker, brilliant wines.

July 2016, remembered for many things not all of them good but one thing that is good is the weather, at last Summer has arrived. The hottest day of the year was on the Tuesday just past and for the Wine Club's evening meeting a wonderful Summer's evening could be enjoyed.  One of those evenings that  are very special and somehow very English.  This feeling made all the more so by the village cricket teams playing within earshot of our open windows, so the sound of leather on willow and not accompanied by warm beer as immortalised by John Major but this time accompanied by some very special wines.

The Wine Club has been very fortunate over the years by having some very good speakers with some very good wines to speak of. This was very much the case last night when we were indeed fortunate. After all how many wine lovers have had the pleasure of hearing a New Zealand wine maker speak and discuss New Zealand wines.  Our indebtedness is owed to both Louise Kelly, she is the Aunt to our speaker for the meeting so a big thank you to Louise for asking your nephew to speak last night.

Lee Winston is clearly someone who loves his job and loves the work and the industry that he has chosen to be part of. Lee is a winemaker in New Zealand.    He gave superb talk of the wines and the background to the wine industry of New Zealand.

When organising the evening Lee was very specific about the types of wines and which vineyards the wines should be sourced from.

So Lee, if you get to read this, THANK YOU, a great evening, and one that all the members we remember with pleasure for many years.

In addition to great wines great cheeses, but let me first go through the wine choices.

Lee was telling us some facts about the NZ wine industry, for example 80% + of wine exported is the Sauvignon Blanc grape based wine, and when we think of NZ it's that type of wine we often think of.  Its a wine that is loved by the Brits but strangely when made in New Zealand tastes just so very different from the French offering.  Lee though, quite rightly thought we all will know the wine so  instead we were treated to some great Riesling as the first wine.

What a very good choice and bottle of wine. As most members know, here is grape that is something of a chameleon in the hands of the wine maker, sweet/ dry, high/low alcohol. oak, non oak and a wine that can be very different dependant of the methods of production and, as the French may say, the terroir.

This Riesling, a wine not often though of as one coming from NZ was a cracker, the first of many.

Just the right side of dry and just the right amount of Riesling taste, sorry but this is the only way I can think of describing this wine.

This one of two from the Villa Maria estate, a companion wine to the Savvy Blanc that they make, another good wine, perhaps a label to buy when you see it.

Also the lowest cost wine of the evening at c£8.50 / bottle.

I should just add that all the wines came via the net, none available in the local high street.  The two firms that can supply one or both were:

http://winedirect.co.uk

and   http://www.waitrosecellar.com

Both offer a good delivery service.

The cheese we ate with this was a local cows milk cheese called St Eadburgha, a beautiful Camembert look a like but not from Normandy but from Hook Norton.   This cheese came from the cheese man who sells at the market in Witney on Thursday and most Saturdays.  He consistently has a great range and well priced cheeses - he can offer good guidance to if you want to buy.

On to wine number 2, A chardonnay from New Zealand, whatever next, whatever next indeed, well form this vineyard that would be a Gewurztraminer.

The Chardonnay was superb, I know that many shun the grape, too many headaches after an over-oaked number perhaps, this was smooth, a great flavour and a delight. Highly recommended.

The cheese seller of Witney Market put us on to a wonderful Goat Cheese to go with the Chardonnay, mild, soft, a perfect companion to the wine.  This will take you to the cheese makers web site.

http://fermiers.terredeschevres.fr/liste-des-producteurs-fermiers/article/gaec-la-barotiere  and while adding web sites this is the site of the cheese seller http://www.openairfoods.com/


Now to wine number three, the Gewurztraminer, this was one wine where the experience of knowlege of Lee really helped, how many know that this wine is available, let's be honest the grape is a little unusual even from 'Old World' producers but in New Zealand, well its hardly grown is the truth of the matter and very little is exported.  The best wine of the night, well that is all down to the individual choice, but this was very popular indeed and more so as very unexpected.

The cheese here was that old stalwart for the club, the triple cream  A French cheese that is known as the boyfriend loser, it seem that some men will prefer this to the girlfriends, well maybe but a cheese that is made with full cream milk and added cream as well, Yes, very good too!  A Waitrose availability.

During the break we had a small presentation of Wine Trivia, and then on to the Red Wines.

The first of these was the Pinot Noir

This is often called the other signature wine from NZ, boy was this a good choice, all the great characteristics of this wine type was here in spades, just superb. 

The cheese was Epoisses, a very pungent smell but a very good taste as well.  Available from Waitrose.

Red Wine number two was a Merlot / Cabernet blend from Hawkes Bay.  A blend that is liked by many, a good blend as well, this was an evening when all the wines can be recommended.   This one to have with the hearty meal.  The cheese was the award winning Caerphilly, again from the market.  Exceptional.

The last wine, a  Syrah, a grape that for some can be too 'peppery', but  not here, another stunning example. Coupled with a Montgomery Chedder, aged and lovely, The combination brought an end to an exceptional evening of wines and cheeses and a great look at the NZ wine industry. All very good!

AOB

Wine labels, Martin Marais gave a great talk on  this subject and mentioned that if you had some unusual labels to share then send them across, so here is the first of the unusual wine labels, so a big thanks to Carol and Phil, this is a wine from Madeira. Great label!

Have a great holiday if you are about to depart, and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting which will be SEPTEMBER 30th.  John and Renate will be sharing with us their favourite German wines.

Bruce Hammersley

Email link below.