July 2012 - Vinhos Verdes (Portugal)

A very good evening with a very poor turnout. We had only 20 people show up for Vinho Verdes, presented by Carolyn Bosworth Davies. Now, I know its a bit of a challenge to go for all one type of wine in an evening, but I've been to an entire evening of St Emilion, so it can be done. Anyway, the wines were really, really good. All of a certain style, very light, slightly petillant, very refreshing. The highlight for me was the red at the end; Almost black in colour, inky, with a very particular taste which I loved – a bit of sharpness, with fruit, and an great all round wine.

The bad news is that many of them are not readily available in the UK, which is dissappointing, but if you really hunt around you should find them. You WILL like them.

• Quinta da Lixa Loureiro 2011 - 11%
• Tapada dos Monges Loureiro 2011 – 12%
• Quinta da Avelada. Loureiro & Alvarinho – 11.5%
• Casa do Arrabalde 2011 Avesso & Alvarinho – 12.5%
• Morgadio da Torre Alvarinho 2010 - 12.5%
• Quinta de Pacos casa do Capitao-mor Alvarinho – 13.5%
• Eira dos Mouros (Quinta de Carapecos) – Rose. Touriga Nacional & Espadeiro 11.0%
• Casa da Tojeira. Tinto Tenente BernadoTouriga Nacional & Vinhoa 12%

Chris Scott of the 30-50 tasting company gave us a very entertaining evening. After the initial shock of finding there were only 6 wines, and a hasty renegotiation, we got started.
The objective was to show how complementary flavours match and alter the taste of wines.. We had smoked mackerel, very salty peanuts, sugar, dark chocolate, roquefort cheese. The smoked mackerel was used to show how acidity in wine cuts through the oiliness, the salt to show how that affects the preception of taste - a before and after. Sugar was added to the red wines to show it affects the tannic flavours (although I could not bring myself to do it). As an aside, that's why the chinese often add coca cola to red wine to make it more palatable (to them)
The highlight for me was the roquefort with the very sweet late harvest Chilean Sauvignon - heavenly....

6 wines - who cares - a very good evening....

May 2012 - Portugese Wines, Nick Oakley

We had Nick Oakley, of Oakleywines, one of the main specialists in Portugese Wine in this country. They act as agents and you'll see their wines in pretty well all the major supermarkets.

We had:

Reds

Tagus Ridge Reserve - Cabernet Sauvignon/Touriga Nacional 14% - Morrisons (Hatch End) £8.59

Ramos Reserva red – Trincadeira/Aragonez/Shiraz 13.5% - Majestic (Uxbridge) £8.49 (£6.99 for 2)
Casabel - Cabernet/Aragones 13.5% - Majestic (Uxbridge) - £7.49
Tagus Creek red. Shiraz/Trincadeira 13.5% - Tesco (Pinner Green) £6.29
Tagus Creek red – Cabernet/Aragones 13.5% - Waitrose £6.75
Touriga Nacional 13.5% - Tesco (Pinner Green) £7.99

Whites

Tesco Finest Vinho Verde. 11.5% - Tesco (Uxbridge) £7.29

Tagus Creek White - Chardonnay/Fernao Pires 12.5% - Tesco (Uxbridge) £4.79

The Ramos Reserva is well worth looking out - apparently its the best selling red wine in Norway, which is quite astonishing for a Portugese wine. The vinmonopolet specifically asked for the labelling, with the makers name (Joao Portugal Ramos).
The Tagus Creek white is also a bit unusual, as it's label is a bit naughty - its actually about 80% Fernao Pires, which gives it a unique taste, and at £4.79 is a steal

April 2012 - the AGM. Wines by the Committee

And so, the AGM. As usual, we did a committee tasting, with a selection of wines from around the world.

We had, the Whites:

Vouvray Demi-Sec 2009 Domaine Bourillon-Dorléans £7.99

Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2009/2010 Marlborough £6.99

Gavi di Gavi 2009 La Toledana £9.99

McGuigan Chardonnay 2007/2009 South Eastern Australia £7.99

And the Reds

Gestos Malbec 2009 Finca Flichman, Mendoza £6.49

Agentinian Fairtrade Malbec, Cooperative £???

Côtes du Rhône 2006 E Guigal £8.99

Rioja Gran Reserva 2002/2003 Casa del Comendador, Lagunilla £7.98

The Chardonnay was interesting, as we had (by accident) both a 2007 and a 2009 bottle – both picked off the same shelf at Majestic. The 2007 was more “old style”, oaky, full-bodied, buttery, while the 2009 was lighter and fresher. How much of this reflects changing wine making styles, and how much was due to the age difference is anyone’s guess.

The Rioja, at 10 years old, was definitely showing its age, with a real brown tinge to the colour. I thought it was past it's best.

All in all a good selection of wines – which is just as well, as they were our emergency wines, held just in case a speaker did not show up. It was time to drink them....

Also, we had a vote on the meeting fee – its been £7 for a few years now, and as we have burned through the £5000 we managed to accumulate 5 years ago, its now time to balance the books. So we have increased it to £8 per meeting. Its quite surprising how wine has shot up in price. It only seems like yesterday when you could get a good bottle for a fiver – now its more like £8 or so.

March - Casilliero Del Diablo/Concha Y Toro

Presented by Chris Horridge of Altus wines, we slurped down a range of the Chilean Casillero del Diablo wines.
Although these wines are well known and widely available, there were a couple of new ones I'd not seen before. In order we had
Brut Reserva Sparkling 2009 - £10.oo
Sauvignon blanc 2010 - £7.49
Chardonnay Casablanca 2009 - £7.49
Viognier 2010 - £7.49
Pinot Noir 2009 - £7.49
Carmenere 2009 - £7.49
Reserva Privada Cabernet Syrah 2007 - £10.00
Late Harvest Dessert 2008 £6.00 (1/2 bottle)

All good stuff. The pinot was pretty good - although as a non fan of pinot I passed on it, and I thought the chardonnay was only so-so.
Tempted by the offer of some jolly good discounts on the night, several of us bought some - I had some of the Sauvignon and Viognier, and the Cabernet/Syrah and the Carmenere.

All in all, a good evening - and a great turnout of 37 members.

Argentinian Wines

Given the hoo-hah currently going on with Argentina about the Falklands - blockading British ships and all that, should I make a commercial point and stop buying Argentinian Wine? Thoughts anyone?

February Meeting

Well, unfortunately I wasn't there (half term, kids), but those who were reported back that it was very entertaining. It was presented by the "Antipodean Sommelier" www.tazwines.co.uk. Esther even said that there was a Rose which she sort of liked - praise indeed!

The wines were

Black Cottage Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Marlborough
Awatere Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Marlborough
Black Cottage Pinot Gris 2010 Marlborough
Two Rivers Riesling 2011 Marlborough
Black Cottage Pinot Rose 2011 Marlborough
Cypress Terraces Syrah 2009 Hawkes Bay
Black Cottage Pinot Noir 2010 Marlborough
Mount Rosa Reserve Pinot Noir 2009 Central Otago

Several members put orders in...

Sorry I can't say more...