December 2016. World of Wine from the WIne Society

This month we had our very own John Denman presenting wines from around the world from the Wine Society.
For thoe who don't know about the Wine Society, its a non profit members society, dedicated to wine. Its bee  in business since the 1800's. It costs £40 to join, and you get £20 off your first order. They do some great wines and great prices.
Membership would make a great gift to a wine lover.

The wines were:
1) Spain - Cava Conde de Haro Brut. £12.50
2) South Africa - The Society`s South African Chenin Blanc. £6.95
Stellenbosch 2016
3) Germany - Ruppertsberger Honeburg Reisling Kabinett 2015 £6.95
4) New Zealand - The Society`s New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc 2016. £9.95
5) Italy - Red Lambrusco. £10.95
6) USA - The Society`s California Old-Vine Zinfandel 2013 £8.95
7) Lebanon - Hochar 2011. £11.95
8) France - Rivesaltes Vin Doux Naturel - Parce Freres 1998 £14.50

Best wines: The Hochar was very good, as were the Chenin Blanc and Riesling, but the steal of the nigh has to be the Zinfandel. Excellent value.

November 2016 - Wirra Wirra wines from Gonzalez Byass, Ben Wyse

An excellent evening, presented by Ben Wyse of Gonzales Byass, who don't just do sherrry – these are from Wirra Wirra in Australia

The wines were:

Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise White 2015: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Amazon.co.uk

Wirra Wirra Adelaide Chardonnay 2014: RSP £12 Cheers Wine Merchants, Divine Wines, Hennings Fine Wines

Wirra Wirra 12^th Man Chardonnay 2015: RSP £19 The Wine Society, Hennings Fine Wines, Cheers Wine Merchants, Bin 21, Harper Wells, The Wine Chambers, Winos (Oldham)

Wirra Wirra Mrs Wigley Moscato 2015: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Cheers Wine Merchants, Bin 21, Hennings Wine Merchants, The Wine Chambers, The Vineyard (Dorking), The Whalley Wine Shop, Mmm & Glug (Newcastle), The Oxford Wine Company

Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Red 2014: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Amazon.co.uk

Wirra Wirra Adelaide Shiraz 2014: RSP £12 Hennings Fine Wines, Divine Wines

Wirra Wirra Church Block 2013: RSP £13.50 Waitrose, Ocado, Tesco.com ‘wine by the case’, Morrisons Cellar, The Wine Society

Wirra Wirra Woodhenge Shiraz 2013: RSP £19 thedrinkshop.com, Cheers Wine Merchants, Divine Wines

Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer Cabernet Sauvignon 2009: RSP £40 Cambridge Wine Merchants, Vagabond Wines, Abbey Fine Wines, H2Vin, The Wine Chambers, Cheers Wine Merchants, Vinea (Liverpool)

All good wines, I rather liked the first 2 whites – but the last wine is truly a great wine. Yes, it is £40, yes, i'm not going to drink it as an everyday wine, but it could well be the best wine you've ever tasted.

October 2016 - Austrian Wines by Sam Owens, Le Verre Gourmand

This month we had Sam Owens of La Verre Gourmand, who also has a Wine bar called "Thirsty" on the Chesterton Road in Cambridge presenting Austrian Wine

We had 

1. Gruner Veltliner - £12.30
2. Artisan Sauvignon Blanc - £12.10
3. Allram Riesling - £25.60
4. Artisan Halbturn (Chardonnay) - £25.30
5. Artisan Zweigelt - £12.60
6. Artisan St laurent Pure - £12.60
7. Artisan Neusiedlersee Zweigelt - £17.60
8. Artisan St Laurent Reserve. - £17.60

Now, Austrian wines are a bit niche, and a couple of them were a touch on the pricy side, but the lower priced ones were very good. For me the 2 stars were the Artisan Zweigelt and St Laurent Pure. Both reds, both of a lighter style - comparable to the best Beaujolais and Valpolicella Ripassos. 

A very good evening with a full house of 45 people - including 5 new members (we must be doing something right) we even had to crack open the 3rd bottle of each wine.

Century Wine Club – September

Its getting more difficult now – with >75 varieties down I'm moving into the edges of my knowledge.

In the last month I've had:

White

An Italian Wines from Campania made from Fiano/Falnghina/Greco grapes

A Tesco Sicilian Fiano

A Greco Di Tufa – Triplica

A Pinot Blanc (easy one this) Alsace. Kuhlmann-Platz. Caves de Hunawihr

Red

An Aglianico - Lava, Terre del vulcano. Beneventano region

A Negroamaro - Feudo Dei Tari, 2013

A Primitivo - Natale Verga,, Puglia 2014.

So thats 7 new varieties this month, and I still have a bottle of Furmint in the fridge. Next week I'm off to Madeira, so hopefully a couple of new varieties there, and in October we have Austrian wines at the Society – 2 or 3 more there I hope.

Total right now – 27/9 – 79 varieties.

September 2016. VIlla Maria NZ WInes

This month we had wines from Villa Maria in New Zealand, Presented by Paul Raper the UK Marketing Manager. A very good speaker, and clearly enthusiastic about the wines – very worth listening to.

The wines were:

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Marlborough £9.

Villa Maria Reserve Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (AWATERE) £13

Vidal Reserve Chardonnay 2015 Marlborough £14

Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2013 Marlborough £16

Esk Valley Merlot/Cabernet/ Malbec 2014 Hawkes Bay £14.50

Vidal Reserve Syrah Gimlett Gravels 2013 Hawkes Bay £13.50

Villa Maria Reserve Merlot 2013 Hawkes Bay £19

Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling 2013 Marlborough 37.5c £17

All prices approximate – it all depends where you buy it

I'm going to get into awful trouble here: I really liked the Sauvignon Blancs – both excellent examples of NZ SB's – I actually liked the cheaper one best; but most of the rest didn't do an awful lot for me. I know I am in a minority as most society members did like them.

My problem with them is that (if this makes any sense) they are too well made. All very clean, fresh, elegant wines, but I suppose I tend to like “earthier” wines. I did like the Esk Valley Blend, and did order some.

So if you like clean, fresh, well made, elegant wines then these are for you – at a price.

Best of all, at the end, we got a very nice discount on the wines for a single order. I ordered 9 bottles!

WIne Century Club

This is a fun idea I was introduced to by one of our speakers back in May (I think)
Its an online thing www.winecentury.com
 for people who have tried 100 different wine grape varieties, and others interested in the concept. Includes membership information and event listings.
They have a liist of varieties you can download with perhaps 300 varieties on there (I should count them)

So I set off in May, used the backlog of wine society wines since January and have got to about 60 right now. It starts getting tough past about 50, once you've done  Syrah, Chardonnay etc....
I'm going ot try giving monthly updates:
In the last month (August) I've been to the alps, so added

Roussette de Savoie
Jacquere (Apremont)
Mondeuse

Plus

Pinot Meiniure (Champagne - on the way to the Alps)
Godello - Portuguese (our August tasting)
Emir - Kavakidere Turkish Fizz from my wife's aunt (we may have given it to her!).
Catarratto - My daughter
Avesso - Portuguese (our August tasting)
Albariño -  Portuguese (our August tasting)

Total now 67 varieties. 

August 2016 - Oakley Wines, Portugal

This month we had Nick Oakley of Oakley Wine Agencies (www.oakleywineagencies.co.ok) who is sometimes known as “Mr Portugal” in the trade. OK so he is my brother, and I'm biased, but it was still a great evening.

Nick brought along a selection of wines, all easily available to the general public.

We had 40 – 42 people along, pretty much a full house, so the noise grew throughout the evening

He brought along:

• Morrison’s Signature Douro white. 12.5% £8.00 - Pretty decent.
• Cazas Novas Vinho Verde (Avesso) – The Wine Society. 12.5% £7.45. Also pretty decent
• Xastra Godello, Bierzo, Spain – Adnams & The Merchants Vintners group. 13.5%. £9.50. Didn't like it. Rather acid for me.
• Casal de Ventozela Alvarinho, Minho, Portugal – Majestic. 13% £8.99. Good. 
   
• Xastra Mencia, Bierzo, Spain – Adnams & The Merchants Vintners group. 13.5% £9.50
• Asda Extra Special Dão 13%. £5.50. A real steal. Very good at this price
• Ramos Reserva, Alentejo (Majestic) 14%. £6.99. Also a real steal. Very good at this price
• Morrison’s Signature Douro red. 13.5% £8. Decent enough.

For me, the best VFM were:

White - Cazas Novas Vinho Verde

Red - Asda Extra Special Dão AND Ramos Reserva, Alentejo (Majestic)

The Ramos is a lot better than the Dao, I have drunk a lot of it (have to keep the family in business!) and I would recommend it to anyone.

July 2016. Laithwaites Wine Quiz

An excellent evening presented by Adam from the Beaconsfield Laithwaites

Well, I'm always hesitant about things like wine quizzes, as they can easily deteriorate into "which was the best St Emilion Vintage" type questions. Which are no fun.

This wans't one of those - in fact very cleverly done. It was split into 2 parts - one was a printed out sheet with about 15 wine questions which we could complete as the evening went on on, the second bit was a lot more fun.

The normal 8 wines were presented, blind - teatowel round the bottle. For each wine, 3 "Truth or Bluff" envelopes were handed out. Each of the 3 envelopes had a plausible description of the wine "I am a Viognier from Souther France etc..etc... " type of thing. And we had to guess the true wine/description. 

 Our overall accuracy rate was maybe 75%, reasonable, but not great, as there were a couple of jokers in there.**...    

The wines were:

Cremant de Bourgogne: Prince de Dulphey Brut Reserve - £14.99

Leitz Eins Zwei Dry: Riesling Rheingau** - £14.99

Stellenrust Heritage Collection (South Africa) Chenin Blanc 2015. £10.49

Dog Point (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc 2015 -£19.99

Jean Leon (Spain, Penendes) 3055 Merlot 2011** £12.79

Massivo Nero D'Avola 2015 - £7.19

Textbook Rack'n'Roll (USA) Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 - £18.40

Peter Lehmann The Pastors Son Shiraz 2014 - £12.79

** These were real wild cards. The Riesling tasted like no other German Riesling I've ever had.. and the Spaninsh Merlot – plenty of head scratching

And for the quiz – a prize of a decent bottle of fizz was eventually won by someone with an excellent 85% or so score

Adam also kindly brought along a decent red and white to go into the raffle.

A very good evening all round.

June 2016 - Wines from Aldi and Lidl

This month was wines from Aldi and Lidl, presented by Jean and Freda. Jean knows a huge amount about wine and is endlessly informative, while Freda knows little but is endlessly entertaining, as befits a retired schoolteacher.

So, are the wines any good?

Broadwood Folly Sparkling – Denbies, England. Lidl £14.99

• Pretty decent fizz, a champagne subsitute, but not the cheapest.

Gewurtraminer 2014. JP Muller. Lidl £7.99

• A steal – Very good for a very good price

Chenin Blanc. Chateau de Fesler, Loire. Aldi £9.99

• Not sure – not really a bargain

Marsanne. Jean Claude Mas, Sud De France Aldi Exquisite collection. £5.99

• Definitely worth the money.

Pinot Noir 2015 Wairarapa, New Zealand. Ali £6.99

• A very good pinot noir for just 7 quid – a bargain

The Cape Red Stellenbosche 2015. Shiraz/Grenache/Cab Sauv/Mourvedre Aldi £5.99

• OK, bit run of the mill perhaps

Minervois La Laviniere. Shiraz/Grenache/Carignan Aldi £9.88

• Not really a bargain.

Montbazillac. Domaine de la Maletie 2013. Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc/Muscadelle. Lidl £7.99

• Another bargain. My daughter even went out at the weekend and bought some.

We had an excellent turnout of about 38, and a really fun evening.

May 2016 - Swiss Wines

May 2016. Swiss Wine from Ben of Alpine Wines

Ben is clearly an enthusiast, and his talk was full of fascinating detail about Swiss wine, with always just another interesting fact....

The wines, as you might expect from Switzerland, are expensive. Very expensive. This might explain why they export so little (1.5% of their production) or it might be because they drink them all because they are very good. Very, very good.

Chasselas Suisse 2012. Cave de la Cote, Vaud - £12.22

Doral 2013 Cave Cidis, La Cote, Vaud - £16.20

Petite Arvine de Fully. Maitre de Chaise reserve special 2013. Provins, Sion Valais - £30.40

Oeil de Perdrix (Pinot Noir) 5/9 2009 Cave de Geneve, Geneva £18.16

Pinot Noir Suisse 2011, Cave de la Cote, Vaud £12.22

Gamay de Chablais Vaudois 2009. Badoux vins, Aigle, Vaud £18.04

Gamaret-Garanoir 2012. Uvavins, la Cote, Vaud £16.79

Merlot Ismaro 2010 Delea, Ticino £16.80

My favourite would be the first, the Chasselas, a not unreasonable price for an excellent well balanced and rounded wine.

They are all quite unusual, like nothing you've had before – in a good way, so I would recommend you steel yourself and splash out. You won't be dissapointed. (Whether you can afford them in the long term is another rmatter). Give them a try.

All available from www.alpinewines.co.uk

April 2016 - French Wines under £10

The challenge - to find decent french wine for less than a tenner a bottle. Well, with a little cheating, we managed it. All from local supermarkets & wine stores.

Sparkling
Cremant de Jura – £7.50, Aldi

White
Muscadet. Chateau de Tourmaline, Sur Lie – £6.49 Majestic
Picpoul de Pinet – Mark. £6.00 Tesco's Finest
Gewurztraminer (Languedoc!) – £9.89, Laithwaites

Red
St Chinian Red - Terrasses de Maylene – £8.49 Majestic
Vin de Pays de L’Herault – Carignan, Paul Mas – £8.99 Majestic
Les Gravieres Crozes-Hermitage 2014 – £9.98 Waitrose*
* Was 25% off, and then 5% more for 6 bottles - normally over £13...

Dessert
Muscat de St.Jean de Minervois – £6 per 1/2 bottle, Sainsburys

Cremant de Jura - one of many Cremants you can get, and a snip at £7.50 if you want some fizz, but without breaking the bank
Muscadet - that old traditional standby, we dont see much of these days, but at £6.50, definitely a bargain, and well worth trying.
Picpoul de Pinet, something of a new kid on the block, and a bit trendy - nothing too fancy, but definitely a good glugger.
A Gewurz from the languedoc - I'm a big fan of Alsace gewurz, but this didn't match up - a noble effort nevertheless.
St Chinian Red - A good sound wine
Paul Mas Carignan - a single varietal Carignan? Very worth drinking.
Les Gravieres Crozes-Hermitage - A touch dissappointing, at £13 would be overpriced.
Muscat de St.Jean de Minervois - A Vin Doux Naturelle. OK it was over £10 the full bottle, but thats the thing with dessert wines, they aren't cheap.






All in all we had 38 people show up, and a very good night was had..

March 2016 - Spanish Wine. Luiz Sanz Estrada

A somewhat dissapointing evening, although with an excellent turnout. Luiz Sanz Estrada of devinos www.devinos.co.uk presented a selection of wines from his range.

Unfortunately we only got 6 ½ wines rather than the usual 8 – the 7^th and last wine ran out!

The wines are all on the pricey side, although as they are all quite unusual, it's hard to get a feel for where they should sit, price-wise.I certainlly didn't feel any were real VFM.

Sherry: Fino Gran Barquero NV £8.99/half

Cava Marta Reserva 2012 – Xarello, Macabeo, Paralleda (Penedes) £10.99

Alma de Unx 2012 – Garnacha Blanca (Navarra) £12.49

Tragaldebas Rufete 2013 – Rufete (Sierras de Salamanca) £14.99

Regoa 2011 – Mencia, Albarello, Others (Ribeira Sacre) £12.99

Calmelo Rodero Crianza 2013 – Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon (Ribera del Douro) £17.99

Cuva Vella 1980 – Moscatel of Alexandria £24.99

February 2016 Richard Bost – Croatian Wines

Kabola Re Brut 13% NV. £22.00 (Sparkling)

Pilato Malvazija Istarka 2014 13% £12.60

Ilocki Podrumi Grasevina Select 2014 12% £9.95

Ilocki Podrumi Grasevina Premium 2014 13% £12.90

Pilato Teran 2012 13.5% £14.70

Vinarija Dingac Plavac 2012 13.5% £9.85

Vinarija Dingac Dingac 2009 15.5% £18.60

Kabola Muskat Momjanski 2013 12% £12.95/50cl

Some interesting wines here – The first is a top of the range sparkling, with a price to match, but it can hold its own with other top sparklers. The Malvazija was a bit thin and not well liked. The 2 Grasevina's were both reckoned to be pretty good, which isn't bad for what used to be known as Laski Riesling!

The reds were also good, I liked the Teran and the Dingac Plavac, but really did not take to the Dingac Dingac, but that may just be me, as many did like it – at 15.5% it is very powerful.

The last wine was a perfectly pleasant light desset wine which can hold its head up amongst its peers..

For me the best of the eveing were the 2 cheapest, the Grasevina Select and the Dingac Plavac and with 15% off on the night, are even better value

New Year Party 2016

A good evening was had with some good value wines bought before Xmas at 33% off.

They were:

Sparkling Wines
Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur NV from the Loire Valley, France Chenin Blanc grape
Bouvet Saumur Rose, Brut NV from Loire Valley, France Cabernet France grape

White Wines Casal de Ventozela, 2014, Vinho Verde from North West Portugal Arinto grape
Errazuiz Suavignon Blanc, 2014 from Aconcagua Valley, Chile Sauvignon Blanc grape

Red Wines Porta 6, 2012 from north of Lisbon, Portugal Blend of Tinta Roriz, Castelao & Touriga Nacional grapes
Santa Rita Medalla Real Carmenere 2012, Colchagua Valley, Chile Carmenere grape

Plus a sticky or two (details to follow)

All from Majestic