October - Portuguese Wines, Nick Oakley

This month was presented by my lovely brother Nick who trades as Oakley Wine Agencies in Colchester. I've been told he's known as "Mr Portugal" in the Industry. Nick doesn't sell direct, so the wines can be got from a variety of places.
Anyway, he brought along 4 Vinhos Verdes and 4 Duoro reds. You may not know, but Vinho Verde comes as varietals from half a dozen different grapes - so we had

Casal de Ventozela – Arinto 2013 - £8.50, Halifax Wine Company
Casal de Ventozela – Loureiro 2013 -  £8.50, Halifax Wine Company
Quinta de Curvos - Alvarinho 2013 - Not available in the UK - Yet.
Cazas Novas – Avesso 2013 - £9.99 - Red Squirrel Wines

These were not typical Vinhos Verdes, as VV is evolving, away from the rather astringent, effervescent green wines we are familiar with, to much more rounded wines - and these are great examples.

 

Tons de Duorum 2012 - £8.50, Tanners
Pomares, Quinta Nova 2010 - £8.99, The Wine Society
Quinta Nova Colheita 2011 - £10.50, The Wine Society
Duorum 2011 - £12.99, Tanners

Of the Reds, the Quinta Nova appeared in the Times last Saturday, recommended by Jane McQuitty no less..

September - Spanish Wines from Valladolid

Earlier this year, several members of the society went on a 6 day trip to Valladolid to investigate the vinyards & food of the region. Valladolid is at the centre of 4 different wine areas, so the group got to see a couple of producers in each region.
They brought back a selection of wines, plus managed to source some others from the UK - Majestic and Berry Brothers were mentioned. Some of the wines are NOT available in the UK.
The talk and the wines were presented by Phil Miles with a selection of photos of all the producers and vinyards and restaurants.

The wines were:
Cordoniu Seleccion Raventos - Sparkling, Catalonia (W)
Group Yller 2013, Rueda, Verdejo (W)
Jose Pariente 2012, Rueda, Sauvignon Blance (W)
Alfredo Santamaria Valvinoso 2013, Cigales, Rosado (Ro)
Alfredo Santamaria Crianza 2008, Cigales, Tempranillo (R)
La Legua Roble 2012, Cigales, Tempranillo (R)
Alfredo Santamaria Trascasas 2010, Cigales, Tempranillo (R)
Groupo Matarromera Crianza 2010, Ribera del duoro, Tempranillo.(R)

The Rosado rose is well worth trying, as are the 3 Cigales reds. It may be my tasebuds, but the last red - a £25 per bottle job, available from Majestic, was way too tannic for me. There were those who really like it.

August - French wines, Paul Roberts of PLB group

Once again, I wasn't there - Holidays....

I'm told it was an excellent evening, very well attended. the wines were:

 

Chateau Des Eyssards Merlot-Cabernet Franc

Chateau Des Eyssards  Sauvignon-Semillon
Picpul di Pinet Domaine Montrouby
Laurent Miquel Privee Viognier
Laurent Miquel Privee Syrah
Sancerre Les Princess aux Collines
Jerome Quiot Cotes du rhone
Ch Dupray St Emilion
Chateau Partarrieu "Le Mayne" Sauternes 2012

Mostly available from Monopol a new wine shop on the Farnham road nr Slough (opposite the Sainsburys)

 

July, Majestic Uxbridge - Australia & New Zealand.

We had wines from Australia & New Zealand presented by Kevin, the excellent manager from Majestic Uxbridge.

I couldn't be there due to my Daughters graduation, but I'm told it was a good evening.

For the record, the wines were:

Whites -

Invivo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, £9.99

De Marisco 'Kings Thorn' Pinot Gris, £9.99
Peter Lehmann Clare Valley Riesling, £8.92
Wakefield Eden Valley Chardonnay £9.74

Reds -

Peter Lehmann 'BVS' Barossa Shiraz, £9.99

Hamilton Block Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, £9.74
Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir,
Mt Difficulty  'Roaring Meg' Central Otago Pinot Noir - £18

June - Wines of Italy

Italian Wines, Presented by Jean Stephen.

Well, it was the same night as England played Uruguay (and lost) so a turnout of 22 people was reasonably respectable. Jean had stretched the budget to squeeze in both a Barolo and an Amarone, which was nice.

The Wines

San Leo Prosecco DOC – Waitrose £10.49 – this is a nice prosecco, without the “banana” flavour you often get with cheaper prosecco.

Gavi DOCG 2013 12% - Aldi £5.29. An absolute steal. A good example of a Gavi, could easily be mistaken for a £10 bottle

Inycon Fiano IGT Sicily 2013. - Waitrose £7.79. I'm afraid I'm not keen on Fiano, as what others find to be smooth and well balanced, I just find bland. Sorry...

 

La Stelle Vermentino di Sardenga DOC 2013 13% - Waitrose £8.99. On the the other hand, this one is a good, fresh VFM easy drinker. Recommended

Sette Vigne. Vino Italiano 2010 14% - Waitrose £7.99. Well, from the label, you might possibly imagine its any old left over grapes all shoved in together – 7 grapes from 7 areas of Italy.. Well, you'd be wrong - its all good, and again, recommended. It is a special, so you might not see it regularly.

Barolo DOCG 2010 13.5% - Waitrose £16.99. Oh dear. Still quite tough – it is young and cheap for a Barolo, so I'd give this a miss. Save up another £5 get a better one.

Cantina Di Negra. Amarone Classico DOCG 2011 15% - Waitrose £17.99. Very good, but for £17.99 so it should be. Personally I'd spend £12 on a valpollicella ripasso

Vin Santo DOC 2008 17.5% - Waitrose £9,99 (½ bottle). Vin Santa is a strange fish – taste wise a sort of a cross between sherry and madiera. I'm not keen on it, but many were, so if you are looking for a different dessert wine, give it a whizz.

May 2014 – Vinalba Wines from Argentina

  The wines were presented by Abi Mitton (formerly Abi Sykes) of Buckingham Schenk  www.buckingham-schenk.co.uk/ , who are an off trade wine importer supplying supermarkets, off licences and wholesalers. We had a good turnout of about 35 people, almost running out of chairs, for a good evening.

All the wines are from Vinalba which is a large Argentinian producer; most of the wines can be found in Majestic, one in Asda, and I’m not sure where the Rose can be found as I didn’t note it down. Sorry about that.

 The Wines 

Torrontes Selection 2013 – Mendoza. £7.99, Majestic 

Chardonnay reservado 2013, Mendoza. £8.99. Majestic 

Rose 2013. Syrah/Grenache, Mendoza 

Malbec/Syrah 2012, Patagonia. £6.50, Asda 

Malbec reservado 2012, Mendoza. £11.99 Majestic 

Cuvee Couture Malbec/Touriga £11.75 Majestic 

Fifty Fifty Reservado 2012 Malbec/Cabernet/Sauvignon £11.99 Majestic 

Malbec Gran Reservado 2011, Mendoza. £15.99 

The whites are both fine; if you want something a little out of the ordinary, go for the Torrontes, as its got a good balance of fruit and freshness, unoaked, and just a little residual sugar.

The Rose was OK, but the problem with all Rosés is that they are very location sensitive – lovely in garden on a sunny afternoon, less so in the library on a Thursday night… 

The reds were all good, but the star buy in terms of VFM has got to be the Malbec/Syrah from Asda, which is definitely a steal at £6.50. 

Also worth trying is the Malbec/Touriga which blends one of the top Argentinian grapes with one of the best Portuguese.

April 2014 - the AGM, and supermarket wine

For the AGM, as usual, we did a committee tasting. 8 wines from 8 different supermarkets. To see whats out there. Budget, a tenner a bottle or thereabouts.

1.       Aldi – Cremant de Jura, Chardonnay. £6.50. Excellent value for money – a real bargain.

2.       Marks & Spencer – Riesling. Derting Estate, Durkheimer. £9.99. Not the greatest, could do better.

3.       Tesco – Clare Valley 2010 Semillon, Tim Adams. £10.50. I cant remember much about this one, so I suppose it was OK.

4.       Asda – Cotes de Rhone, Vinsobres. £7, down from £10.50. Pretty decent for seven quid, less so for over a tenner.

5.       Lidl – Valpollicella Ripasso £8.99. Excellent Value & worth chasing down. Waitrose also have a Ripasso at the moment for the same price.

6.       Sainsbury’s – Jumilla, Carta Roja (NOT Rioja) Grand Reserva 2009. £6, down from £9. A decent wine for £6, and maybe worth £9.

7.       Waitrose – Errazuriz Max Reserva £12.99. Excellent and worth it

8.       Majestic (Should have been Morrisons) Rustenberg Straw Wine (dessert wine) £12.99 per half bottle.

It was good evening, only spoilt by a low turnout of only 20 members.  But at least plenty of wine left over at the end.

We also voted to put up the meeting fee to £8.50 from £8.