New Year Party

A good evening, with a good turnout, and excellent selection of food brought along by a great number of society members.

The wines

Sparkling
1. New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc. Split Rock 2014
2. French. Cremant de Limoux, Rose. Roche Lancour 2013

White
3. Peach Stone. Sicily. Grillo/Sauvignon Blanc
4. La Cabalie. French. Viognier blend

Red
5. Porta 6. Portuguese.
6. La Cabalie. French. Grenache Blend

Dessert
7. Lidl Tokay
8. Blandy's Duke of Clarence.

December 2016. World of Wine from the WIne Society

This month we had our very own John Denman presenting wines from around the world from the Wine Society.
For thoe who don't know about the Wine Society, its a non profit members society, dedicated to wine. Its bee  in business since the 1800's. It costs £40 to join, and you get £20 off your first order. They do some great wines and great prices.
Membership would make a great gift to a wine lover.

The wines were:
1) Spain - Cava Conde de Haro Brut. £12.50
2) South Africa - The Society`s South African Chenin Blanc. £6.95
Stellenbosch 2016
3) Germany - Ruppertsberger Honeburg Reisling Kabinett 2015 £6.95
4) New Zealand - The Society`s New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc 2016. £9.95
5) Italy - Red Lambrusco. £10.95
6) USA - The Society`s California Old-Vine Zinfandel 2013 £8.95
7) Lebanon - Hochar 2011. £11.95
8) France - Rivesaltes Vin Doux Naturel - Parce Freres 1998 £14.50

Best wines: The Hochar was very good, as were the Chenin Blanc and Riesling, but the steal of the nigh has to be the Zinfandel. Excellent value.

November 2016 - Wirra Wirra wines from Gonzalez Byass, Ben Wyse

An excellent evening, presented by Ben Wyse of Gonzales Byass, who don't just do sherrry – these are from Wirra Wirra in Australia

The wines were:

Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise White 2015: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Amazon.co.uk

Wirra Wirra Adelaide Chardonnay 2014: RSP £12 Cheers Wine Merchants, Divine Wines, Hennings Fine Wines

Wirra Wirra 12^th Man Chardonnay 2015: RSP £19 The Wine Society, Hennings Fine Wines, Cheers Wine Merchants, Bin 21, Harper Wells, The Wine Chambers, Winos (Oldham)

Wirra Wirra Mrs Wigley Moscato 2015: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Cheers Wine Merchants, Bin 21, Hennings Wine Merchants, The Wine Chambers, The Vineyard (Dorking), The Whalley Wine Shop, Mmm & Glug (Newcastle), The Oxford Wine Company

Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Red 2014: RSP £9.99 Ocado, Amazon.co.uk

Wirra Wirra Adelaide Shiraz 2014: RSP £12 Hennings Fine Wines, Divine Wines

Wirra Wirra Church Block 2013: RSP £13.50 Waitrose, Ocado, Tesco.com ‘wine by the case’, Morrisons Cellar, The Wine Society

Wirra Wirra Woodhenge Shiraz 2013: RSP £19 thedrinkshop.com, Cheers Wine Merchants, Divine Wines

Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer Cabernet Sauvignon 2009: RSP £40 Cambridge Wine Merchants, Vagabond Wines, Abbey Fine Wines, H2Vin, The Wine Chambers, Cheers Wine Merchants, Vinea (Liverpool)

All good wines, I rather liked the first 2 whites – but the last wine is truly a great wine. Yes, it is £40, yes, i'm not going to drink it as an everyday wine, but it could well be the best wine you've ever tasted.

October 2016 - Austrian Wines by Sam Owens, Le Verre Gourmand

This month we had Sam Owens of La Verre Gourmand, who also has a Wine bar called "Thirsty" on the Chesterton Road in Cambridge presenting Austrian Wine

We had 

1. Gruner Veltliner - £12.30
2. Artisan Sauvignon Blanc - £12.10
3. Allram Riesling - £25.60
4. Artisan Halbturn (Chardonnay) - £25.30
5. Artisan Zweigelt - £12.60
6. Artisan St laurent Pure - £12.60
7. Artisan Neusiedlersee Zweigelt - £17.60
8. Artisan St Laurent Reserve. - £17.60

Now, Austrian wines are a bit niche, and a couple of them were a touch on the pricy side, but the lower priced ones were very good. For me the 2 stars were the Artisan Zweigelt and St Laurent Pure. Both reds, both of a lighter style - comparable to the best Beaujolais and Valpolicella Ripassos. 

A very good evening with a full house of 45 people - including 5 new members (we must be doing something right) we even had to crack open the 3rd bottle of each wine.

Century Wine Club – September

Its getting more difficult now – with >75 varieties down I'm moving into the edges of my knowledge.

In the last month I've had:

White

An Italian Wines from Campania made from Fiano/Falnghina/Greco grapes

A Tesco Sicilian Fiano

A Greco Di Tufa – Triplica

A Pinot Blanc (easy one this) Alsace. Kuhlmann-Platz. Caves de Hunawihr

Red

An Aglianico - Lava, Terre del vulcano. Beneventano region

A Negroamaro - Feudo Dei Tari, 2013

A Primitivo - Natale Verga,, Puglia 2014.

So thats 7 new varieties this month, and I still have a bottle of Furmint in the fridge. Next week I'm off to Madeira, so hopefully a couple of new varieties there, and in October we have Austrian wines at the Society – 2 or 3 more there I hope.

Total right now – 27/9 – 79 varieties.

September 2016. VIlla Maria NZ WInes

This month we had wines from Villa Maria in New Zealand, Presented by Paul Raper the UK Marketing Manager. A very good speaker, and clearly enthusiastic about the wines – very worth listening to.

The wines were:

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Marlborough £9.

Villa Maria Reserve Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (AWATERE) £13

Vidal Reserve Chardonnay 2015 Marlborough £14

Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2013 Marlborough £16

Esk Valley Merlot/Cabernet/ Malbec 2014 Hawkes Bay £14.50

Vidal Reserve Syrah Gimlett Gravels 2013 Hawkes Bay £13.50

Villa Maria Reserve Merlot 2013 Hawkes Bay £19

Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling 2013 Marlborough 37.5c £17

All prices approximate – it all depends where you buy it

I'm going to get into awful trouble here: I really liked the Sauvignon Blancs – both excellent examples of NZ SB's – I actually liked the cheaper one best; but most of the rest didn't do an awful lot for me. I know I am in a minority as most society members did like them.

My problem with them is that (if this makes any sense) they are too well made. All very clean, fresh, elegant wines, but I suppose I tend to like “earthier” wines. I did like the Esk Valley Blend, and did order some.

So if you like clean, fresh, well made, elegant wines then these are for you – at a price.

Best of all, at the end, we got a very nice discount on the wines for a single order. I ordered 9 bottles!

WIne Century Club

This is a fun idea I was introduced to by one of our speakers back in May (I think)
Its an online thing www.winecentury.com
 for people who have tried 100 different wine grape varieties, and others interested in the concept. Includes membership information and event listings.
They have a liist of varieties you can download with perhaps 300 varieties on there (I should count them)

So I set off in May, used the backlog of wine society wines since January and have got to about 60 right now. It starts getting tough past about 50, once you've done  Syrah, Chardonnay etc....
I'm going ot try giving monthly updates:
In the last month (August) I've been to the alps, so added

Roussette de Savoie
Jacquere (Apremont)
Mondeuse

Plus

Pinot Meiniure (Champagne - on the way to the Alps)
Godello - Portuguese (our August tasting)
Emir - Kavakidere Turkish Fizz from my wife's aunt (we may have given it to her!).
Catarratto - My daughter
Avesso - Portuguese (our August tasting)
Albariño -  Portuguese (our August tasting)

Total now 67 varieties.