November 2012 - Brian Oakley, Auswineonline

Brian Oakwell of auswine online www.auswineonline.co.uk presented a set of boutique wines from Western Australia.

In order we had

Flametree NV Sparkling - £18
Mishmash Margaret River White - £15
Forest Hill 2010 Chardonnay - £18
Forest Hill 2010 Riesling - £15
Embers Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 - £13
Forest Hill 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - £18
Amelia Park 2010 Shiraz - £18.50
Amelia Park 2010 Cabernet merlot. £20

The Flametree sparkling was pretty good, and around about a fair price. The Mishmash - a blend of Sauvignon, Semillon, Chardonnay was OK, but I think one can do better att that price. The Chardonnay was quite interesting, as its the new unoaked, fresh crisp style, but still 14% Alcohol, without the in-your-face old style heaviness. The Riesling - I'm still looking for a good non German Riesling. I love the good German rieslings, but cannot find them outside Germany!

The reds however, were terrific. All well balanced, fruity, but still up at 14% alcohol (so presumably no cheating by dealcoholisation)  For me, the star was the first one - fruity, fresh, but still full bodied and well balnced. I may even buy a case!. The others were also pretty good, but for absolute VFM the Embers Cab Sauv gets the vote.

October - 30 years of UWS

So, the big event. All ticket, a full 50 people showed up to taste wines at £30 quid a bottle. Who's brilliant idea was that? Mine as it happens - was it a success - I'm not sure, it was a top of my head, spur of the moment thing.

Anyway, after the 25th celebrations when classic world wines turned into top french wines, I was wanting to get great wines from around the world - you know - Argentinian Malbec, a top Riesling, or a late harvest Gewurtzraminer perhaps. We didn't quite get that, as we were limited by who we could get to speak, and although we were lucky enough to get Mike Ritchie MW of Morenos, it did mean we got a Spanish dominated selection, with wines from Sicily, Australia and Chile to finish

Vino Tondonia Bianco Reserva 1992 - £23.07 + VAT
V3 Vinas Viejas Verdejo 2008 - £22.50 + VAT
Cosme Palacio "1894" Bianco 2008 - £37.33+ VAT
Mauro 2009 - £24.00 + VAT
Cosme Palacio "1894" Tinto 2007 - £37.33+ VAT
Duca di Salaparuta Duco Enrico Nero d'Avola 2006 -  £37.33+ VAT
Penley reserve Cab Sau 2004 - £31.52 + VAT
Altazor 2006 - £22.65 + VAT

Although it was an excellent evening, I'm afraid my taste buds just aren't £30 a bottle ones. I did struggle to taste the difference - as Sainsbury's might have said. Don't get me wrong, some of them were very good, but for me, not worth £30.

If I were to choose, I'd go for the Mauro 2009, the Penley reserve and the Altazor - good tasty reds.
The Nero d'Avola was still quite tough. The Vino Tondonia is a classic Old style oxidised Rioja - quite sherry like - but definitely a particular taste.

September - Wines of Virginia

Yes, that's Virginia in the USA.  James Dare of New Horizon Wines (jamesdare@newhorizonwines.com) presented a bunch of quite pricy wines from Virginia. Apparently its quite a decent sized wine area - there are something like 200 wineries on the guide he gave us, and I assume there must be more.
Anyway, the wine - 3 Whites, all Viognier, and 5 reds, Cabernet franc x 2, Petit Verdot and 2 blends. Prices ranged from £15 to £21 per bottle. I'd like to say it was all great, but I can't say as I'd just hd my Tonsils out the previous week and could not really taste a thing. However, from all the slurping and general yum yum sounds, I think they hit the spot generally.
Are they worth the money? Thats for you to decide - they are available through new horizon wines, so if you want to try some, contact them direct. www.newhorizonwines.com

August - Supermarket Wines

Well, I have to say that I really don't understand people at all. The commitee presenting basic Supermarket wines from Majestic, Morrisons, Sainsburys and (I think) Waitrose, should not, on the face of it, be a "must attend" meeting.
So, what do we get - the best turnout of the year so far - 37 members showed up - to produce the most raucous evening we have had for a while. I don't think any of the wine presentations by Me, Esther, Christine & Jean exceeded 5 minutes, and lets be honest - we aren't the worlds greatest speakers, but the evening went with a bang.
A good time had by all AND we made a very good profit to go into the coffers for Octobers 30th celebration

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