June - Sicilian Wines by Chuck Cramer

I’m afraid I lost my notes, so this is from memory.

Chuck Cramer from the Wine people presented wines of Sicily, from 2 producers, Miopasso and Santa Tresa. Chuck’s all the way from the USA, and has been in the UK for the last 10 years or so – is a highly entertaining speaker, and brought a very well priced selection of wine with him.

- Miopasso Grillo (W) 2012 Terre Siciliane - £8,99
- Miopasso Fiano (W) 2012 Terre Siciliane - £8.99
- Santa Tresa Rina Ianca Grillo Viognier(W)  2012 Terre Siciliane - £10.75 70% Grillo, 30% Viognier
- Santa Tresa  Frappato 2011 IGT Sicilia - £10.75 – 100% Frappato
- Santa Tresa  Cerusuolo di Vittoria 2011 £9.99-10.99 60% Nero D’Avola, 40% Frappato
- Santa Tresa Avulisi 2010, IGT Sicilia, £14.99 – 100% Nero D’Avola

Grillo is better known as the base grape for Marsala, and makes a very nice straight white – highly recommended.

The Fiano – I’m afraid Fiano doesn’t do it for me – I just find it bland, and perhaps a bit flabby.

The Grillo/Viognier blend is very good and does genuinely put together the best of the viognier and the Grillo grapes.

The Frappato grape gives a quite light red wine, maybe a bit like Gamay, and very drinkable. However, matched with the tannins and body of the Nero d’Avola gives a truly superb wine, while I find the pure 100% Nero d’Avola just too tannic.

So – my recommendations – the Rina Ianca white and the Cerusuolo red – try them, you will not be disappointed.

Stockists – www.planetofthegrapes.co.uk , www.lastdropwines.com , www.oxfordwine.co.uk , www.vintageroots.co.uk www.cambridgewine.com

 

 

Turkish Wines - Richard Bost

So, Turkish Wine, presented by Richard Bost, Wine Educator. I've been to Turkey a few times, and I have to say I never really thought of it as a great wine region – the best that could be said was that it was drinkable. Back in the early 1980's one of my friends described the Turkish Champagne as “Fizzy Diesel”. But that was then... Richard presented a good selection of Turkish wine, all well priced, with one top-of-the-range absolute cracker

Richard did say that 10 years ago he wouldn't have presented Turkish wine, but it’s come a long way – and indeed it has. Turkey is a pretty small producer, with very limited internal consumption, an average of 1 litre per head per year. It is a Muslim country after all. Much of the wine is for tourist consumption and export.

The general feeling was that the whites were good, competitively priced, but not perhaps stand-out. Worth trying if you feel like it, but not worth the detour. The reds had a couple of belters, the Kav and the Okuzgozu, with the consensus view being that the Kav was much better value – I’d rather buy 2 bottles of it than 2 of the other. But the Okuzgozu does bear comparison with other classy wines at that price.

The last wine - the Mahlep - was “Interesting” some liked it, I didn’t. It’s a dessert wine with wild cherry in it – those who liked it felt it was worth the money at £9.99. So if you want something different…

Whites

Kavaklidere Altin Kopuk NV (Sparkling) £10.99

Kavaklidere Cankaya 2011 £7.49

Diren Collection Narince 2009 £7.99

Rose

Pamukkale Anfora Trio Rose 2010

Red

Diren Collection Kalecik Karasi 2010 £7.99

Doluca Kav 2009 £10.29

Kayra Single Vineyard Okuzgozu 2009 £19.65

Dessert

Diren Mahlep £9.99

All wines can be got from Mark Hopkins at Taste Turkey -  www.tasteturkey.com

 

 

April - The AGM - Desert island Wines

Presented entirely by the Members and not a committee member amongst them, this was a fun evening. The premise was "Wines you would take on your desert island" - think Desert Island Discs.
8 members brought along 8 very different wines - interestingly no actual white wines in there

We had

Laurent Perrier Champagne - Stanley Thompson
Sherry, Palomino Fino - Keith Clayton
Spatburgunden Leopold Schatzle - Bill Maton Howarth
Pinotage (South Africa) - Phil Miles
Zinfandel, Californian Old Vine - Harry Boote
Sangiovese, Israel, Golan Heights - Roy Abrahams
Rioja, Marques de Riscal grand reserva 2007 - Harry Kourtellaris
Rivesault ambre, Andre de Vilanova 1985 - John Denman

The eagled eyed amongst you will spot that it was all blokes - so in August (or the next "in house" tasting) the ladies will be presenting!!

March - Ray O'Connor

The speaker this month was Ray O'Connor http://www.rayoconnorwine.com/ who is (apparently) Irelands best wine export - well one web site I read said so, and as we all know, everything on the web is true.....
A great speaker, and well worth the fee, we had a good turnout, very good wines and a good evening. We were in our new venue for the summer while the Library is being renovated, and it was ...OK.

The Evening was based around unusual or less common grapes & wines - some weren't that unusual but there was at least one I had not actually heard of, so OK, something new....

In Order we had
Fefinanes Albarino - Rias Biaxas
Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal
Faldeos Nevados Torrontes, Argentina
Vouvray (Chenin Blanc) Haut Lieu Sec
Curto Barbera d'Alba La Foia
Koyle Reserva Carmanere, Chile
Guimaro Mencia, Ribiera Sacra
Saumur-Champigny, Clos de Cordeliers (Cab. Franc)

All from the Wine Society. It would be invidious to select a best wine as they were all very good, but the votes on the night as far as I can remember, was the favourite white was the Albarino, and the favourite red, the Ribiera Sacra.

February 2013 - Waitrose Fine Wines

Well, we were desperate - Esther had drawn a blank and been let down by several speakers, so I decided to give it a whirl, and present Waitrose Fine Wines between £10 and £15 per bottle. The logic being that its the kind of price we might not normally pay, but would spend on a special bottle

All were selected from the racks at Waitrose Ruislip, although I did cheat on one.

The wines were

Leitz Rudesheimer Rosegarten Kabinett (Rheingau) - Riesling 2011. 9.5%

DeGrendel Cape Town.- Sauvignon Blanc 2011 13.5%
Hahn St Lucia Highlands 2010 (California) Chardonnay 14%
Gewurtztraminer – Paul Blanck 2011 13.5%
Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore. - Recchia 2009 14% Vol
Chateau Reynella 2008 Shiraz 14.5%
Blason du Rhone - Chateauneuf du Pape 2010 14%
Brazin Zinfandel Lodi (California) 2009 15%

I cheated on the Reynella, as it was £15.99, but I like it..

Generally, all good, but the De Grendel was a touch dissappointing, as was the Blason de Rhone - which was reduced from £21 to £14.

The star wine was the Reynella - very worth grabbing if you see some.

January - New Years Party

A good do, excellent turnout, and several new members.
Tony stocked up on the wines (except the stickies) before Christmas, to get some great deals - A Cordonieu fizz to start, then a Zalze Chenin Blanc and a Gerard Bertrand Viognier. For the reds, a Gerard Bertrand Minervois and a Portillo Malbec were good.
Pudding wines were a little more difficult, as Tony found that post-xmas, the range of stickies is much reduced, so we had to put up with (??) a very nice Elysium and that old standby, Mavrodaphne of Patras, which is always great value.

December - Wines of Uruguay

Well, what do YOU know about uruguayan wines? I expect you knew they made wine, but have you ever tasted any? Me neither. Well, my wife had some uruguayan fizz before Christmas at a wine bar in the city, but can't remember the name. So that doesn't count.
Anyway, Carla of Wines of Uruguay  www.winesofuruguay.co.uk brought along 8 wines - and they were good.
Some very different grapes and blends, starting with the whites -

VDV Estival 2009 - Gewurtztraminer/Chardonnay/Moscatel - £11
       A very unusual blend - similar to the Torres Vina Esmeralda - went down very well. The Gewurtz is picked ripe, with the Chardonnay picked only just ripe, to give a fresher taste. Unoaked
Bodegones Fume Blanc - Sauvignon Blanc/Sauvignon Gris - £12
      Very Oaky, aged in new Oak, would go very well with food. Reminiscent of those big Australian/Californan Chardonnay in the 90's
Marichal reserve - Pinot Noir/Chardonnay - Slightly pink, basically a still champagne. Very clean and Fresh


And the reds

Bodegones Cabernet Franc 2010 - £9.
    An absolute steal at this price. I did buy 3 bottles - which vanished on Christmas Day. I cannot recommend this one highly enough!!

De Lucca Tannat Libero 2010 - 95% Tannat, 5% Nero D'Avola £12
    Quite Chewy, Fairly, but not excessively tannic. Very dark, almost black

Marichal Reserve Tannat 2011 - £13
     Wines of Uruguay's best seller.

De Lucca Rio Colorado 2008 - Cabernet Sauvignon/Tannat/Merlot - £19
     Very powerful, very tannic. They only make this wine in good years. 2009/10/11 are missing. Made again in 2012.

Alcyone Tannat Dessert £19/500ml. Another best seller.
     Made by the Marsala method, infused with herbs

All in all, an excellent evening. The wines, great quality, fantastic value...