December 2023. South African Wine - Belinda McLaughlin and Phil Miles

 I wasn't there - on holiday so can only report what the wines were;

• Lady Alice cap classique mcc rosé. 100% pinot noir
• Melck’s sauvignon blanc 100% sauvignon blanc
• Isabella chardonnay. 100% chardonnay
• Alberta Annemarie merlot. 100% merlot
• Ronnie Melck shiraz. 100% shiraz
• Martin Melck cabernet sauvignon. 100% cabernet sauvignon
• Melck’s blended red. 45% shiraz, 35% merlot, 14% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc
• Ben Prins cape vintage. Blend of: tinta barocca, tinta roriz, tinta francesca, souzao

November 2023 - Alsace WInes, Lindsay Oram

 

Wines of Alsace, presented by Lindsay Oram. Lindsay is an old friend of the club, a Wine educator who lives just down the road. She’s probably presented to us at least half a dozen times over the years, and is always welcome.

As you’d expect with Alsace wines, the majority are white – in fact only one red today. Pinot Noir.

All the wines bar one are from the Wine society who have a selection of about 30 Alsace wines, which has to be one of the bigger ranges. 

 

Cremant d'Alsace Cuvee Julien, Dopff au Moulin. 12%. £14.31

Classic French crémant, Pinot Blanc & Auxerrois. Other blends are available. A decent crémant. Certainly worth a go.

 Edelzwicker Special Cuvee Joseph Cattin 2021. 13%. £9.25.

Edelzwicker is a “Noble blend” of typically Muscat, Gewurz, Pinot Gris, Riesling. Quite aromatic with some sweetness and usually a little cheaper than varietals. Also worth a go

 Pinot Blanc, Cave De Turckheim 2022. 13%. £8.95

Good stuff at this price.

 Muscat Classic Famille Hugel 2021. 12.5%. £12.95

To be honest, I was disappointed. I have fond memories of 30+ years ago drinking plenty of Muscat, which I’ve always had a fondness for. Maybe its me. 

 Riesling Roche Roulee Domaine Zind Humbrecht 2019. 13%. £21

A full bodied Riesling, will age until 2030. Excellent.

Riesling, Furstentum AC Grand  Cru Paul Blank 2019. 13%. £27.99 (Waitrose)

A full bodied Riesling, will age until 2030. Excellent. But £28? I’d have to think very hard…

Pinot Noir Classic Famille Hugel 2020. 12%. £13.50

Not terribly impressive. Which is a pity.

 Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives Cave de Turckheim 2020. 13.5%. £20 (500ml)

Sweet, Dessert wine, Powerful. However, for me, I always like the “ordinary” Alsace Gewurztraminer – this is too much for me.

 

October 2023 – In house tasting – mystery wines from The Wine Society.

This month, something different. Sort of a blind tasting, with a difference, presented by Keith D, one of our 3 Keiths. All the wines were selected from the Wine Society.

The way it worked was as follows – all the wines were covered up, so when poured we had no idea what was what.

Keith gave an introduction to each wine, passing over a selection of information about the wine, the producer, the geography, the soil, maybe some clues as to the grape.

We had to identify (guess) the wine – Country, region, type. Keith gave plenty of clues, so it was often possible, with some knowledge, to narrow the options down a lot. Actually a very fun evening.

The wines were (all The Wine Society):

·         Cremant de Loire 2020. 12%. £13.31

·         Vinho Verde 2022 12% £7.25

·         Muscadet sur Lie 12% £8.25

·         Marlborough (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc 12% £11.50

·         Australian Shiraz 2020 13.5% £8.95

·         The Society’s Claret 2021 £7.50

·         Exhibition Rioja Reserva 2018 14.5% £17

·         Exhibition Barolo 2018 14.5% £28

So, how easy was it?

Wine 1, clearly a sparkling wine and the clues pointed to being a Cremant. I narrowed it down to  Loire/Bourgogne/Jura. So close, but no cigar.

Wine 2, Obviously a Vinho Verde – that spritz, the shape of the bottle, the clues. A slam dunk for me

Wine 3, One of the clues was the grape variety – Melon de Bourgogne, a dead giveaway, so I knew but otherwise I was pretty clueless. 50/50

Wine 4. The nose and taste were a dead giveaway. A classic NZ S-B. Yep

Wine 5. Got close. Guessed an Australian GSM or similar, so again, no cigar.

Wine 6. The clues and taste said claret. And I thought I reckon this is the Wine Society’s basic claret. Yep!

Wine 7. The clues and taste said Rioja. So – Yep.

Wine 8. Tricky. Very mature. Very pale. Many of us guessed Pinot Noir. But Barolo? Totally wrong. Not even a sniff of a cigar…

So, I suppose 5 or 6 out of 8 in total. A few others did better, many didn’t. But it doesn’t really matter, it was an excellent evening. And some very good, value for money wines. Look up the Wine Society.