You can't tell a wine by it's cover

How often do we look at the label on the bottle of wine before we open it?

Well it seems quite a lot and this is something that the marketeers of wine are fast realising. The label draws us to the bottle particularly when we buy a wine on impulse.   For our Club's meeting though we move on from the impulse buy to another level, not so much about the wine but very much about the label.

Within the club we can now look back over the various meeting and realise that we heard a number of very good speakers and speakers that bring their own nuances to the area we are all interested in, wine and it's enjoyment.

Martin Marais last spoke to us about his own family connections with South Africa, a terrific talk and at the meeting tonight he gave another excellent talk, but this time it was more about the outside of the bottle than the contents inside.

Martin once again a big thank you...

What of the wines?

Before the wines a word about the cheeses and the welcome wine, the writer of this Blog has just returned form the Loire region of France and was able to bring cheese and also some wine. The starter wine was a Loire Sauvignon Blanc. A very acceptable glass as well. The cheeses were also from the region. 

The first wine had the most startling of labels, more Hammer Horror than a relaxed wine. In fact the wine was Italian wine and made with an Italian Grape.   

The wine was just fine, an easy drinking wine and with the added advantage of us to taste a grape variety that was a first for the club. 

And the label,  

The wine is one of the Co-op 'irresistible' range.  

The next wine had a less startling label, in fact a fine label. 

 From the sellers web site:

A lovely white wine from Maison Williams Chase this is an expertly made blend of Vermentino (Rolle) and Viognier.  Called "Papillon", French for butterfly, the name alludes to the metamorphosis which takes place producing a truly special wine after months of skilled and delicate work.  William Chase obtained the small domaine of Chateau Constantin in 2012 and are producing innovative and very enjoyable, first class wines overseen by head winemaker, Dale Clarke.   The grapes for Papillon come from old vines planted on the highest point in the domaine where the terroir has a rich minerality surrounded by undisturbed forests and local Herbes de Provence.  

Those that buy William Chase Vodka and / or Gin will know the name. 

The last white has, by comparison a more subtle label but on closer examination a very interesting one:

A great label and a great wine, this the grape that some love some hate, the Riesling Grape, but this bottle comes a long way to be with us, the wine grown and made in Washington State by the Charles Smith organisation.  

A very good wine as well. 

The cheese we had the Whites were all soft, a Camembert type as well as a sheep and a goat cheese. All well received and a good matching

The red wines were a mix of surprises, The General wine that was almost chose itself given Martin's connection with South Africa.  The wine label was linked to the Boer War, the wine called The General from the  Boer and Brit was from South Africa's Stellenbosch region, it was a Bordeaux-style blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Aged in French oak, a delicious, full-blooded wine.

Martin made no secret of his love of Malbec so the eye-catching label designed to leave the buyer no confusion over what he or she was to buy, an Argentinian Malbec, what it tastes of and what to eat with the wine.  This from the Co-op again.

The penultimate wine had a relatively boring label until one looked more closely, Chinese writing, yes a first for sure, a Chinese wine from Wuhia Valley. 

The question is, what of the wine. Not the star of the evening for sure. So best described as 'interesting' but better wines out there. 

The final wine, a South African Pinotage, was the best of the reds, but this is a wine that split the membership, for some just brilliant, for some OTT.  Best buy to try.

Its label was a clue, it did somehow give a chocolate feel, comforting, warming and a good wine to have reading a book by the fire - not unlike a chocolate bar!  

In summary - what did people make of the labels, did they help in choosing wine?  

Here there was little consensus, they gave no clue as to the wine so as an aid to choice no. Did they encourage the buyer, well oddly for some yes, the Vampire seen in the Grecula wine may have done just that but for as many if not more it was a barrier to the purchase. It was hard to take it seriously. Where does that leave us, well I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder, the OTT label may help in taking you to a wine but would not help in making the decision, in fact probably stop you from buying.  Male or female, it seemed to make little difference. 

All in all a very good, different and enjoyable evening. A very big thanks you to Martin.

AOB

Date of the next meeting 

JULY 22nd 

Guest Speaker.  LEE WINSTON -  NEW ZEALAND WINE MAKER.

Bordeaux, from the man who knows

January 29, and the first meeting of the Freeland Wine Club for the 2016 season.

Now Dear reader we have a lot to cover here so I am going to ask you to have a good read of the Blog, not only the review of the very impressive meeting but also what to look forward to in 2016 and the The Wine Club.

The first meeting was all about the wines of Bordeaux.  This is the area of France with a huge output of wines, not just wines but world famous wines of great quality.  It came as a surprise to hear of the historic background to this. For this we need to go way back, to the marriage of Henry the second to Eleanor of Aquitane in 1152.   Its fair to say that drinking water back then was something of a dangerous sport so beer and wine was the chosen drink with maybe some cider.

With the marriage the part of France we know as Bordaeux became part of England and was the obvious place to get your wine from, in many ways things havn't changed, as a nation we still love French wines and the Bordaeux wines especially. The name, Claret has become part of our language, itself a corruption of the Bordaeux wine, Clairet.

We were fortunate in having both a great speaker for the night but also an expert, a well recongnised international expert on the wines of the area, Keith Grainger.  Keith is a consultant wine maker, author, broadcaster and educator.  What he is also is a very accomplished communicator.

Normally on the Blog following our talk at the Club I will write a review of each wine, give its vitals, where you can buy, cost, grape etc. For this talk something different, here we heard of the broad sweep of the history, politics, heritage, the wine types, the main grapes and the soils of the Bordeaux wines.

When people mention the area it is often in hushed tones and the price per case may be discreetly mentioned. And yes they can produce some wines that are eye wateringly expensive but the vast majority are wines are for the majority to drink, people who will spend between £7.00 and £15.00 for a bottle. For such people, and that will mean most of us, that gives some great choices and styles. It was this choice and style of  wine  and wine production we were able to hear of and to taste.  Keith brought with him three whites, and four reds.

Lets talk about the styles and taste of the first two Whites, and here was a perfect of example of the range of styles available. The first wine was a fresh clean Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon (10%) blend. A very good wine, fresh, easy on the pallet and very good with light foods, fish particular.

The other white was so different, a blend of the same grapes but held on oak, and a wine that was not for me but for others the preferred wine of the two. So a good start to the evening, a range of styles very evident and giving the buyer a choice, a real choice of which way to go when choosing. This theme of, variety, came up often in the talk and discussion. Given the 7,300 different chateaux and the 10,000 different wines this won't come as any surprise.

First of the Reds followed, in fact we tasted four reds, all of the same vintage , 2011, all with very similar blends, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carbernet Franc. Surprise surprise, they were all the same but also all different, more tannin here, less oak there, softer on the nose with this wine and more fruit of that one. Confirming Keith's notion that the wines are highly varied in style. 

All the reds were classified under the fairly recent classification, Cru Bourgeois. This is a classification that may awarded each year to the wine of a Médoc Chateau . The property will have been inspected and if it is accepted as eligible, it may present its wine each year to a panel for blind tasting. Only wines that pass this test will have the label (of course) and such a wine will be to a defined and high standard.

The final wine of the night was a sublime sweet wine, also the bargain of night. This was a 1998 Sauternes. My goodness, this along with a cream 'blue' cheese was something very special.  It seems the wine is available at that famous wine merchant M&S at the spectacular price of £13.00 for a full sized bottle. 

Sniffing:

We all think we can tell the difference between strawberries and pineapple don't we?  Well we don't! 

Between tasting wines we were asked to identify various fruit smells, not easy!  The lemon smell most could choose, also the vanilla but of the others, very few were able to even guess. One stand out winner was Renata and John, and an apron was theirs as winners:

All in all a great evening, well presented, enjoyed and well received. Many thanks to Keith for doing such a great job and also to David for finding an arranging the evening.  

In fact David was a great help in all sorts of ways, here checking the wines.

The Club was able to pass monies to Sue Hall for the Heart Foundation as a result of the raffle. Sue is to host an open house at her daughter's home on Friday of next week, for more detail drop me an email.

DATES for  the diary:

March 18th     Eynsham Wine Cellars Presentation

May 27th      Martin Marais, The label tells all, or does it?

July 22nd      New Zealand wines by a New Zealand wine maker

September 30th    German Wines

November 25th   Social Evening 

Now The Fourth Time

Dear Reader, so many things come as surprises when really they shouldn't be so. With the Wine Club the surprise has been that we have just enjoyed our fourth end of year bash.  My, doesn't time fly? Yes, as members know, the last meeting of the year is the pot-luck supper and end of season wind down.

As is often said, '...and how was it for you?..." well for this Blogger it was very good.   In the company of good friends, having to endure a Champagne tasting while selecting from a choice of great foods. Oh and did I say taking part in good but not too competitive quizes all based upon wine?

So yes, a great night was had by all.

We started with a glass or two of welcoming Champagne and here the mysteries of the evening began. I should explain. We thought that it would be good to have a tasting but not as we normally do it with our eye on the measure and the taking suitable of notes etc. On the occasion we would simply have a selection of the best that Epernay has to offer and come to conclusion as what was the better wine, the most enjoyable wine.

More of this anon.

First a very big thank you goes to all of the members who arrived on possibly the worst night of the year clutching a great variety of very good food.  Many thanks.

Then what of the Champagnes?

As you may know reader, this time of the year is the time of the great wine discount, and particularly, the great Champagne discount. The market is awash with Champagne and there are some great offers out there but are the Champagnes as great?  So for this evening  purchases were made of four Champagnes, ranging in price from £48.00 to £10.99.  All but the Aldi wine were discounted.

They came from, Aldi at £10.99,  Sainsbury at £17.00, M&S at £32.00  and Majestic at £48.00.

Here they are:

Aldi @ £10.99

Sainsbury @ £17.00

M&S @ £32.00

Majestic Wine Warehouse @£48.00

All the bottles were concealed and we tasted while eating for the most part, during the evening everyone was asked for their choice as favourite.  So Dear Reader what do you think we would find? Intriguing no?

The most popular and by a hair's breadth was the M&S wine.

No2 was the Aldi and the least expensive.

No3 was the Pol Roger, and the most expensive.

No4 was the Sainsbury Blanc de Noirs. Mid way on price.

I know, a most un scientific test but one cannot help but say, a very interesting result. 

What else did we do on this night?  We had quizes on the subject of wine and winemaking.  our thanks go to Martin Marais, he did great job, we all enjoyed failing to answer many questions and not being aware that China has more vineyards than France. 

Also a big thanks for those that snapped up spare bottles at our auction with the monies from the sales going to the charities working in Syria. 

A brief look to the diary for next year, here are the dates:  

More details on the programme to follow when confirmed.

January 29th.  The Best of Bordeux Wines

March 18th

May 27th

22nd July

30th September

25th November

And now some snaps:

To all our readers, have great a Christmas and a sparkling and wonderful New Year, and good imbibing folks!

An Evening in Provence

Even the name is evocative, Provence, we all think of sunshine, of foods and, for the members of the Wine Club, wines.  So it was for this meeting of the Club that we were very fortunate to have as our guest speakers and long time visitors to Provence, Jayne and Dan, presenting.  The title, wines and foods of Provence.

They were able tell and allow us to taste a very impressive selection of wines and foods of the region, but before a look at those a look at the speakers, Jayne and Dan Jennings, many thanks, you gave a great talk about 'your' part of France.

The evening started with a background to the wine industry in Provence, an area of Europe which has been producing wines and mainly Rosé wines for a very long time, back to the time of the Greeks no less. So here is an area with a very strong and robust wine culture.  Most wine is the Rosé type.

As such we enjoyed their Rosé wines and their reds, for the first time no white wines were available for us to taste , and quite right to as the white wines that are available are eclipsed by both the numbers  and the qualities of the reds and Rosé wines.  It seems that nearly 90% of wine is Rosé. This figure is coming back a little but really this is the area for Rosé wines, wines that have seen considerable sales growth of the last two or three years.

In addition to the wines we also enjoyed typical foods to accompany the wines.

In that part of France, the idea of 'Aperos' is a major social means of sharing food and wine with friends. Jayne was able to tell us how this works....what could be easier, Rosé and a mix of easy finger foods, tomatoes, saucisson, baguette and tapenade.   In theory  drinks before dinner, in fact this often extends to drinks rather than dinner. Sounds good.

The tapenade we made for the evening, it tasted just fine and the recipe for this is below.

The wines were very much of the area or terroir as the French would say. As mentioned the Rosé wines are THE wines of Provence, it seems fitting then to start with three of these wines.

The first, one of two this night from local cave in the village of Jayne and Dan, Plan de la Tour.

The Les Marquets and it's wine, La Reference. The taste and the lingering of that unique mix of flavours takes one back to Province. The warmth, the foods, the relaxation with friends. Yes all there in the bottle and the following bottles. A fine wine and a reasonable priced bottle - a great wine to start with. Accompanied by local foods. We were all in Provence now and enjoying a fruity, multi layer wine that stayed in the mouth well.   This a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault.  (We tasted a number of grapes that 'till now were unknown to us like this - Cinsault)

One of the major names of wine production in the area is the Domain Minuty, so our next tasting of the 2014 Prestige was very interesting, with a completely different blend, Mourverde, Tibouren and Cinsault - more new grapes again.  So how was it, well it was to some at least not as complex as the previous (half priced previous wine) but also very good. More subtle and with more fruit.









The last of the Rose's was the Sainte Roseline Cuvee de la Chapelle.

This a  blend but only just!  95% Mourvedre with a top up of Syrah. Different again, of course. A fine Rosé, priced at 17.5 € at the vineyard, and it has to be said quite pricey for a wine in France.  A lovely smooth and becoming wine with no bad habits.

The reds were a reflection of the climate and land, this is a tough area with poor and little soils, low rain and a great deal of sun. The reds somehow showed this in the flavours and taste. Good but robust wines.



The first was the from the local vigneron in the village, the supplier of our first wine. This a fine red, smooth and hearty, not meant in any way  to reduce the impression of quality of the wine, this was a cracker. Good to have with a good daube.

The wine: Les Marquets Rouge 2010

Interestingly this was  Cabernet and Syrah blend. A good length of flavour and just the right amount of Tannins. The wine has 12 months on French Oak.

Then back to the Sainte Roseline Vineyard to taste their  Cru Classe Red, 2010.  This was a fine wine, very smooth with a long finish. masses of fruit and a low level of Tannis. a blend of 70% Syrah and 30% Cabernet. This vineyard is one of the few (14) with the status of Cru. This wine and the  Rosé both enjoy such status.

So to the last wine of the evening, and for this we are back to the Minuty vineyard to enjoy, and enjoy we did the Rouge et Or.  Again priced at 20€ at the vineyard. A lovely wine, so silky but with a depth of fruit and a pleasant linger in  the mouth. This another 95% Mourvedre blend but this time with just a touch of Grenache.  Delectable!

The cheeses, all good came from The isle of Mull , can you believe as well as locally. One food that was very well recieved was the Tapanade. The recipe for this is:

TAPENADE

300g of stoned black olives.     Not in bottles, Waitrose do a small tub in the Essential range, also the Thursday Market has a good supplier.

2 tablespoons of Salted capers, rinsed and well drained

2 anchovy fillets

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 sprig of Thyme, just the leaves

c 4 Tablespoons of olive oil

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend to the consistency you want. It shouldn't be a smooth paste, leave some texture. 

It's very good with wine but also spread over lamb , fish or chicken prior to cooking.

Keep it in the fridge

(Ref: Alex MacKay - Cooking in Provence Headline Publications)

The mid meeting talk was on the subject of Technology - Blogs, Websites, and Apps, all good and all available for the wine lover. Apps do need a smart phone.

Here are the links to the Blogs.

Olly Smith, a very able and wine writer with hosts this interesting site with links to his Blog, Website, Twitter, etc.  He writes for the Daily Mail and is a regular on Saturday Kitchen. A raft of regular features as well as 'Wines of  the Week'

This will take you there:

Helen McGinn. The Knackered Mothers's Wine Club.

A very amusing Blog but always with two topical recommendations.

This will take you there:

Then brilliant Fiona Becket's Blog, the clue is in the title:

Matching Food and Wine

But much, much more than just that.

This will take you there:

Websites

Fiona Becket also rights for the Guardian, a very good article each week, but in addition the Guardian has a great Wine Site, masses of good stuff to peruse, as with the Telegraph, here the links:

Guardian:  This will take you there:

The Daily Telegraph: This will take you there:

The WOT WINE site is one that values wine via blind tastings by experts, all the methodology on the site.

This will take you there

APPS

The standout APP for use on the Smart Phone is the VIVINO App. 

Searches, info, suppliers, qualities, all from the label photo you send via WIFI.   In the Supermarket, in the restaurant, at your own home. A great way to build a database of your own wine buys.

All of the above are free by the way. All give access to great and current info. 

I have yet to try Olly Smith's App, I suspect this would be very good. He is someone who has embraces  technology and uses it well.

AOB;

Date of next meeting

The last meeting of the year is the Christmas Knees up, both statements untrue, we meet in November but it always seems to be the start of Christmas.  Also I don't think we do have our knees up but I can say its a very good social evening.

The date FRIDAY 27th November.

Those that have been to the evening in the past will know you are asked to bring a plate of food and instead of the usual format, we relax with some good foods and wines.

Thats all folks!