August - SAWines Online

We had South African wines from SA Wines Online presented by Kevin Gallagher & Melanie Melvill. Kevins the MD and has been importing SA wines for ever, and Melanie is the marketing director.

All the wines are well priced for the quality, although perhaps at the top end of the “everyday” budget. They all come from the main SA wine area around Cape Town, but given the size of SA, this region covers a wide variety of climatic conditions.

Kevin and Melanie can talk for South Africa, and gave us a good evening

The wines were:

Graham Beck Brut NV - £12.99

Buitenverwachting Sauvignon Blanc 2012 £10.49
Moreson Chenin Blanc 2011 £10.30
De Morgenzon maestro white 2012 £14.99
Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2010 14.49
Laibach Pinotage 2011 £12.79
Allesverloren Shiraz 2010 £12.19
Springfield Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 £13.69

The whites were OK, although I was dissappointed with the De Morgenzon – which is a blend of Rhone white grape varieties – at 14.99 it felt expensive to me.

The Reds for me were a whole lot better and the star wines for me were the Pinotage and the Cabernet Sauvignon

www.sawinesonline.co.uk

July - Majestic Wines

Kevin, the manager from Uxbridge majestic, kindly offered to do this tasting. As we've had some "off-piste" tastings recently, we decided to go back to some more "classic" wines - all but 1 from France. The Riesling, I insisted on, because it's not very often we get to see good German Riesling.
 
We had:

• Ayler Kupp Kabinett Riesling (£9.99)
• Pouilly-Fume 2010, Jean Vincent (£9.99)
• Chablis 'La Collegiale' 2011, Laroche (£11.99)
• Pinot Gris Reserve 2011, Zind Humbrecht (£12.99)
• Berne Grande Recolte Rose 2012, Chateau de Berne (£8.99)
• Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2010, Nicholas Potel (£8.99)
• Chateau de Sainte Gemme 2002, Cru Bourgois, Bordeaux (£9.99)
• Rasteau Pallieres (Cotes de Rhone) (£10.99)

 

I have to admit to not being a great fan of classic French Wine - but several members disagreed with me. I really liked the Riesling and the Pinot Gris, others found them too sweet. I found the Pouilly Fume and the Chablis to be a bit thin - others raved about them. The Pinot Noir was agreeed to be pretty ordinary - you really do have to spend money to get a good one these days.

I think, however, there was general agreement on the class wine of the night, which was the Rasteau (Was Cotes de Rhone, now an appelation in its own right) - It was very very good.