The Rhone and Rhone wines

Beautiful wines and beautifully told, The Rhone Valley.


France, and the Rhone, for so many Francophiles, and Wine Club members, the area holds some of the most enjoyable wines.  Over the years we have enjoyed many French wines, Burgundian Wines, the Clarets and now that wonderful area of France that follows the Rhone from  the South of Burgundy, The Rhone Valley.

Such a joy to have a tour and to be guided by our speaker, Toby Chiles.  Toby spent a number of years working in Lyon in the wine industry.  It's as very clear that his knowledge of the beautiful wines of the Rhone Valley was extensive.

In addition to good wine we also had some very good cheeses matched to the wines, I will give more information about the cheeses later in this blog

First a big thanks to Toby, a great job again.....

And what of the wines?

First the amount, we had 10 tastings, the first of which we enjoyed as the 'welcome wine' as we arrived. This was a sparkling wine, from the tiny AOC, officially known as St Peray Mousseux AOC.   Truth be told not a wine known outside of France and the only sparkling wine made in the Rhone Vally area of production.

The Rhone valley area under wine production  is huge,  the biggest single market the UK, we love these wines. It seems that a bottle of Rhone wine is opened every 19 seconds. a lot of wine!

After the great start we move on to Organic white Cote du Rhone  and a Voignier

Both wines were very easy on the pallet with good levels of fruit from the Voignier particularly, what was very good was the chance to  to taste both wines side by side, the comparison was a good call, this coupled with tow soft cheeses added to the wines lasting impression

Then the reds:

A mini flight of three Cote du Rhone.  And a trick up the sleeve of Toby, all the same grapes, all the same blend but what, one from Aldi and a very low price, then one from,  wait for it, Australia, and then a true Cote du Rhone blend from the Rhone valley.  The classic blend being Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, commonly refers to as GSM (See Tempus two below - Australia)

What do people think, well the Aldi came in a clear third, then the French and Oz wines were just about neck and neck in terms of appeal. As Toby said when you are not sure what you have it's clear that the results of a tasting are not predicable.

Now the big guns, the most expensive wines are from the Croze-Hermitage AOC, so we enjoyed that wine as well a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and a Vacqueyras, all very good  but how much better they all would be enjoyed with friends and good food.

The concluding wine, a wonderful sticky, a Muscat de Beams De Venise. This available from Waitrose.

Toby chose the wines with his usual expertise, getting supplies from a number of sources, and details fo the wines and prices are attached.

The Cheeses.

At most Wine Club meets we enjoy cheese but normally bought from Waitrose, they have a great selection of cheeses and we bought from them this time as well, but also ventured into the Aldi and Lidl to test some their specialty cheeses. All cheeses were very good indeed. in fact, many comments on the cheeses and their quality.


So they were:

Waitrose:
Vintage Red Liecster
Goat Log
Triple Cream
Low Fat Seeded


Aldi:
Vintage Gauda
Gogonzola

Lidl
Vintage Cheddar.

The members ;

Toby officiates one of two quizzes, this won by John Onslow.

 AOB

The prospect of the second Wine Club tour to France, we hope to run a trip tho the Loire region in France, this will be in the summer, dates to be confirmed but if you are interested call me or send me an email via the Blog, see below,

Next meeting is  March 29.
The wines fo Brazil

Call this a Blog?

More a collection of pictures.

Here we go again, another year behind us and another knees up of the Wine Club.

Rather than the usual run down of what we have tasted more a collection of snaps of a few of the members enjoying themselves.

But maybe just a word about the wines.

We had four wines, three good ones it might be added. But the forth, well to be kind this was not a great wine.  For readers outside of the UK this needs to interpreted, what that means is that the wine was terrible.

First the goodies, members will be aware of the trip made by members to visit the Champagne region in the Summer, photographs were shown and the  Champagne was enjoyed.  All the comments were positive, but this was no surprise, lovely wines that we can drive to in a day.

Talk was made of the possible visit in the coming year to the vineyards of the Loire, more info on this to follow.

The foods were great, it is a surprise, not that the food is good but that we have such a mix.  No lists are compiled of what is needed. and yet we have great and mixed selection of good food to have with our good wines.  Many thanks to all involved in its making.

For the rest of the meal we had a choice of a Chilean red produced in massive quantity and sold everywhere often with big discounts.  Yes its the old favourite, Casillero del Diablo. Seldom disappoints and always highly recommend.  But did you know that the company produce over 22,000,000 bottle each years. Amazing.

 The white was a French Viognier, a real cracker:

 Can I hear asking though, what of the dog? Yes we had a poor wine, but what was it? Well it was a surprise as this was from he same store that supplied the French Viogner, yes Waitrose, their Chilean, box of white wine was thought to be very poor indeed.

 'nuff said!

As one of the highlight of the social calendar in the village it seems only right to add few shots of us all enjoying ourselves:

Our, joint, MC for the night, great job done!

and the foods eaten, what sort of a photograph is that!

Have a great Christmas and see you next year.

Bruce H

Wall to wall quality from the Southern Hemisphere

Late September and the seasons are now obviously changing from the hot, hot summer to the mellow days of Autumn. Sunshine still but that nip in the air as soon as the sun starts to fall.  The September meeting is the last of the year's usual meetings of The Wine Club and what better way than to see and taste wines where for the Summer is about to start,  New Zealand.  Most are familiar with the wines of this country but then mostly that would be Sauvignon Blanc, so this evenings talk '...Anything but Sauvignon Blanc...' was always going one to be looked forward to.

As has become the norm with the Blog I would like start by thanking our speakers, the husband and wife team of Bob and Wendy.

This is not the first time they have spoken to us, on the last occasion the subject was the wines of Southern Spain. That was a great selection of wines that have become favourites in the Bob and Wendy household because of time spent in the country, so it was with the New Zealand wines, wines tasted and enjoyed while visiting South Island.

Bob and Wendy, many thanks, a great talk and great wines:

Before speaking of  the wines, just a note about the overall impression.  Its almost bound to be the case that some people don't care for certain grapes, the infamous ABC people (Anything But Chardonnay), those don't care for Syrah, far too peppery for the me thank you or even Rose´, not proper wines etc.  But here is the thing, all the NZ wines where, without  exception of first class quality.  So even those with aversions to wine types were happy.

One of the issues of buying the wines of such quality is getting hold of them. The supplies are small and the demand tight. So the wine talk's title  was not able to be adhered to, The first wine was a Sauvignon Blanc as the wine types wanted was so limited that the SB needed to be included.  What a good job that was.

I guess we all are aware that NZ Savvy Blanc is often very often available with a high citrus level, fine in the summer in the sun but this grape can be used to produce much more amenable wines with great depth of flavour and with good length without the need wind up the acidity levels.

The first wine of the evening then was the Sauvignon Blanc 2016 from Nelson and available from Laithwaites at £15.99

Then followed the Bete Noire of grape types Chardonnay, oh yes this was lovely classic Chardonnay  taste, nose and length good.  A very impressive wine for the Chardonnay lover or not!

Hunters vineyard from Marlborough at £17.99 at Laithwaites

A surprising wine as this us made from Pinot Gris grape. Bob was able to tell us that this grape is the same as Pinot Grigio but that the terroir is the thing that makes the difference. You may be thinking that is just a load of nonsense, no such thing  anyway as terroir, well one only has to taste the Sauvignon Blanc from the New Zealand vineyards with high acidity levels compared  with a Loire wine made with  the same grape to know that terroir is alive and well and making its presence felt.

So of this wine, yes a lighter wine but very lovely and a pleasant and high quality wine to enjoy with friends as an apero perhaps. That is if you can find it.

Little Angel Pinot Gris 2016
at Hard To Find Wines.

And a great label!

So much for the wine wines and now a Rose´, always a little contentious, as many feel these wines lacks the body of a red and and is too bland for a white. Well, whatever, as they say this was not bland and had depth, maybe a little on the sweet side but all in all a very good Rose´.

Allan Scott Family Winemakers. Marlborough 2106 at £11.99 form Dylans Wine Merchants

If any red wine is a signature wine from New Zealand it has become that of Pinot Noir, given the very high price of Burgandy Pinot this wine is the one that bears comparison. A very good Pinot indeed. Soft, subtle, great length and all the good qualities that this grape can bring to the taste.  To have with suitable food this wine would be a winner for sure.

Walpara Hills Piont Noir 2016
Central Otago and available from The mInistry of Wines, @ £11.99.

And now, sadly the last wine, The La Starda Syrah, not Shiraz you may say, well there we are, all down to the Terroir it seems, and this was not too peppery, in fact a very well behaved wine with strength yes but not overwhelming.

Great wines, great quiz, did I mention the quiz, no I didn't well a very good quiz that kept us all on our toes.

A very good evening

Date of next meeting

November 30th. Further details in your inbox shortly.

B

Flying Over Burgundy

The July meeting of the Wine Club, gave us a hot night, an eclipse of the moon and a flight over some of the world's most famous wine country, Burgundy.

The Club owes a very large debt of gratitude to our guest speaker, the recently retired Wine Steward of St. John's College, Ian Sobey.

Ian has a love of wine, a love of French wine and a love of the wines of Burgundy.  As Wine Steward he was for many years the man responsible for the purchase of the many wines needed by the college to support it's various functions and hospitality needs.

Ian was went on to describe to us the history of wine and its place within the culture of hospitality at the College both today and in the past. He introduced us to the cellars, the old cellar dating back to the mid to late 1400's and the new cellar a mere 500 years old.

Ian, a mathematician, also shared with us the relative costs of of Burgundy wines over the years.

Our tour of Burgundy though was not just via the wonderful wines that he was able to introduce  but also a virtual arial  tour by courtesy of Google Maps and some great use of that technology.  This was great help in seeing how the vineyards are made up, or one should say, split up given the effects of land passing through families on death.

We saw also also the ability to drop down and look at the the villages and towns 'up close and personal' allowing Ian to share with us some of the great restaurants discovered over many years of visiting the area.

Ian, many thanks, it was a great evening and superb to understand a little more of both the role of wine steward and the wines of the region.

The Wines

We enjoyed two White Burgundy wines:

The first of the two Chardonnay wines was the St Romain Blanc, 2013. Now we know that Chardonnay has a reputation that many will not touch a wine made with the grape. That dislike is present in some of members but last night even the most strident ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) member was a little seduced by the soft and subtle flavours of these wines.  This was classic Chardonnay but with crispness and good length.

The second Chardonnay was still an obvious Chardonnay but now different,  a little more robust, with more fruit and softness. 

The red wines, all Pinot Noir.  The  grape that  is the most demanding of grapes to produce exceptional wine.  

All were subtle, with great length and begged to be drunk with suitable respect with good food and ideally with friends that appreciate the subtle flavours. 

The wines came in age order, the young, well hardly young when bottled 12 years ago, then the Volnay a 2001, followed by the Nuits St George Aux St Julien from 2000

The most obvious physical difference was the colour, we were told a function of time. The older wines showing a darker, maroon colour, one that one could not see through unlike the youngster where the typical Pinot soft colour was an immediate give away to the grape type. The flavours more pronounced with more tannin in evidence in the oder wines but also great length and flavour.  Oh yes a very good night!

The wines concluded with a non Burgundy sweet wine, a 2003, a Bordeaux in this case and from the Ch Brouset (2003).  To think that some people dislike sweet wine, how can that be, this was just gorgeous.

The, last wine served with white chocolate and dark chocolate.  The perfect end the to the perfect evening



Date of next meeting

September 29th.  South Island wines but no Savvy Blanc!

For those that want more info re the Oxford Wine Festival
go here https://www.oxfordwinefestival.org

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

European magic....

Yes, once again the Wine Club is taken to parts of the world where  wines are made and enjoyed but places unknown to us.  For this we are indebted to David Lloyd who once again gave a great talk and presentation. David has spoken to the Club three times now and each time the membership remembers his talk as being super good.  So it was last night when David took us into that area of Europe that we once knew as Eastern Europe.  Moldovia, Slovakia, Transalvania.  Not just the East of Europe but also Italy and the closest vineyard to our village here in Oxfordshire.

Many thanks David....

the consummate professional.


European magic

We talked about the magic of Europe's vintage - the oldest wine
evidence found so far is 8,000 years old from Georgia, Europe. Then we
talked about the magic of design, creativity and history.
Wine 1: Ryzink Rynsky (meaning Rhine Riesling) from winery at Krasna
Hora (this means beautiful mountain). The winery is on the slopes of
the old Poddvorov mountains in Czech Republic near Slovakian border.
Vineyard was originally founded in 13th C by Cistercian monks using
French grapes. Cost £13.50 a bottle (2015), available in UK from
London-based Basketpresswines.com
I chose a Czech wine to start given the number of milestones for the
Czech Republic in 2018, including 25 years since CR was founded
following the Velvet Divorce from Slovakia 1993, and 2018 is the
creation 100 years ago of an independent Czechoslavak nation.
Wine 2: 'Oxford Dry' from Oxford's nearest vineyard, Bothy Vineyard,
in Frilford Heath, which started in 1978 with German vines. Now it is
run by husband and wife team Richard and Sian Liwicki. Oxford Dry is a
crisp aromatic white, cost £9 from the vineyard and Appleton Stores.
Sculptures in the Vineyard will be held at the winery 8-23 September
2018.
We chose Oxford to talking about the importance of serving good wine.
Oxford's St Scholastica Day Riots in 1354 over poor wine being served
led to rioting for three days, with some historical accounts saying up
to 93 people were killed over this.
Wines 3 and Wine 4:
From Cricova Wine Caves in the Republic of Moldova. Over one million
bottles are stored here at any one time, in around 120 kms of caves.
8m bottles produced each year. Here, you not only see the amazing
quarried underground streets, but this is also home to the National
Collection, a museum of wine which houses the wines that Goering
amassed during WW2. A fascinating museum, with a signed note and photo
from Yuri Gagarin who comments it was harder to leave Cricova wine
caves than to leave space.
We tried a 2016 Feteasca Alba, white 12%, and a 14% red - Feteasca
Neagra. These wines are not normally available in the UK, but a huge
recommendation to go visit the caves.
Wine 5 - Bats Blood from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in
Romania. These mountains sit amidst Bran Castle, better known as
Dracula's Castle in Transylvania. Transylvania joined Romania exactly
100 years ago, and this Merlot wine (13.5%) is available from
batsblood.com at £10.95 a bottle. Beautifully presented, you can buy
this in a lovely display box - not the usual shape but actually in a
coffin - perfect for the dark magic of Europe! The wine is actually
produced by Hartley Smithers, Chief winemaker for Casella in
Australia, who spends part of his time in Romania.
Wine 6 at £12.99 a bottle is the Pipoli Anglianico Del Vulture, a
superb red with a distinctive taste produced from vineyards on the
slopes of Vesuvius, available from Eynsham Wine Celllars. The
Unexpected flavour complemented the book Unexpected Tales produced by
11 authors of OX29. Those at the wine club were encouraged to consider
writing for the 2018 Anthology of Short Stories, with a deadline of
30th June. All profits from the book go to Helen and Douglas House,
and more details are available from the Short Stories are fun website
https://martincmarais.wixsite.com/shortstoriesarefun

During the break between the reds and whites we had a fun but demanding quiz hosted by Martin Marais, as always the preparation for such things looks to be easy but we know that they take time and effort to work well and this worked very well. 

The reds were all very good, perhaps because of the contrast with the whites but all the wines went down very well, a straw poll of the wines listed the reds as being favourite. The Merlot and Syrah being particularly well received.

So David, I think you can look back on the night as being a great success, after the wines the members just wanted to sit and chat about the wines and the cheeses, all of which were bought from our local Waitrose. The selection of cheeses that have are always impressive, the Austrian cream cheese was the favourite but also the French cheese made with additional cream - those pesky French they do know their cheese!

Date of next meeting.  May 25th.