November 2023 - Alsace WInes, Lindsay Oram

 

Wines of Alsace, presented by Lindsay Oram. Lindsay is an old friend of the club, a Wine educator who lives just down the road. She’s probably presented to us at least half a dozen times over the years, and is always welcome.

As you’d expect with Alsace wines, the majority are white – in fact only one red today. Pinot Noir.

All the wines bar one are from the Wine society who have a selection of about 30 Alsace wines, which has to be one of the bigger ranges. 

 

Cremant d'Alsace Cuvee Julien, Dopff au Moulin. 12%. £14.31

Classic French crémant, Pinot Blanc & Auxerrois. Other blends are available. A decent crémant. Certainly worth a go.

 Edelzwicker Special Cuvee Joseph Cattin 2021. 13%. £9.25.

Edelzwicker is a “Noble blend” of typically Muscat, Gewurz, Pinot Gris, Riesling. Quite aromatic with some sweetness and usually a little cheaper than varietals. Also worth a go

 Pinot Blanc, Cave De Turckheim 2022. 13%. £8.95

Good stuff at this price.

 Muscat Classic Famille Hugel 2021. 12.5%. £12.95

To be honest, I was disappointed. I have fond memories of 30+ years ago drinking plenty of Muscat, which I’ve always had a fondness for. Maybe its me. 

 Riesling Roche Roulee Domaine Zind Humbrecht 2019. 13%. £21

A full bodied Riesling, will age until 2030. Excellent.

Riesling, Furstentum AC Grand  Cru Paul Blank 2019. 13%. £27.99 (Waitrose)

A full bodied Riesling, will age until 2030. Excellent. But £28? I’d have to think very hard…

Pinot Noir Classic Famille Hugel 2020. 12%. £13.50

Not terribly impressive. Which is a pity.

 Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives Cave de Turckheim 2020. 13.5%. £20 (500ml)

Sweet, Dessert wine, Powerful. However, for me, I always like the “ordinary” Alsace Gewurztraminer – this is too much for me.

 

October 2023 – In house tasting – mystery wines from The Wine Society.

This month, something different. Sort of a blind tasting, with a difference, presented by Keith D, one of our 3 Keiths. All the wines were selected from the Wine Society.

The way it worked was as follows – all the wines were covered up, so when poured we had no idea what was what.

Keith gave an introduction to each wine, passing over a selection of information about the wine, the producer, the geography, the soil, maybe some clues as to the grape.

We had to identify (guess) the wine – Country, region, type. Keith gave plenty of clues, so it was often possible, with some knowledge, to narrow the options down a lot. Actually a very fun evening.

The wines were (all The Wine Society):

·         Cremant de Loire 2020. 12%. £13.31

·         Vinho Verde 2022 12% £7.25

·         Muscadet sur Lie 12% £8.25

·         Marlborough (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc 12% £11.50

·         Australian Shiraz 2020 13.5% £8.95

·         The Society’s Claret 2021 £7.50

·         Exhibition Rioja Reserva 2018 14.5% £17

·         Exhibition Barolo 2018 14.5% £28

So, how easy was it?

Wine 1, clearly a sparkling wine and the clues pointed to being a Cremant. I narrowed it down to  Loire/Bourgogne/Jura. So close, but no cigar.

Wine 2, Obviously a Vinho Verde – that spritz, the shape of the bottle, the clues. A slam dunk for me

Wine 3, One of the clues was the grape variety – Melon de Bourgogne, a dead giveaway, so I knew but otherwise I was pretty clueless. 50/50

Wine 4. The nose and taste were a dead giveaway. A classic NZ S-B. Yep

Wine 5. Got close. Guessed an Australian GSM or similar, so again, no cigar.

Wine 6. The clues and taste said claret. And I thought I reckon this is the Wine Society’s basic claret. Yep!

Wine 7. The clues and taste said Rioja. So – Yep.

Wine 8. Tricky. Very mature. Very pale. Many of us guessed Pinot Noir. But Barolo? Totally wrong. Not even a sniff of a cigar…

So, I suppose 5 or 6 out of 8 in total. A few others did better, many didn’t. But it doesn’t really matter, it was an excellent evening. And some very good, value for money wines. Look up the Wine Society.

 

September 2023. Italian WInes by Jessica Summer, Mouse&Grape

September 2023. Italian Wines presented by Jessica Summer of Mouse and Grape. 

Www.mouseandgrape.com Jessica is a local girl, from Pinner no less. Like many her career got badly messed up by Covid so took the brave step of setting up on her own, specialising in Wine & Cheese matching. Tonight, we skipped the cheese and got a presentation of well priced Italian wines. She’s also a Wine Educator, WSET qualified. 

 Whites: 

When in Rome, Organic Grillo 2021. Sicily. 12.5% Box Wine £26/3bottles. 

Waitrose Box Wine! Absolutely fine. Some sweetness on the palate, similar grapey nose to a Moscato, but actually dry. The idea of box wines is that you don’t have to finish the bottle, and it keeps. I’m not sure this one would last long. Very drinkable. 

Soave, Gianni Tessarii, Garganega 2021. Veneto. 12.5%. £13.50. Mouse & Grape

 Soave suffers from overproduction – I can remember when it was everywhere. That leads to lower quality. I’m afraid this wasn’t one for me. 

Waitrose Blueprint Gavi, Cortese 2022. Piedmont. 12.5%. £9.49. Waitrose. 

Gavi – the Cortese grape is known for being very high yield, so it needs good management to make good wine. This is a good one. Best served very cold. 

Rose: 

Bardolino Chiaretto Rose, Corvina, Molinara, Rondinella. 2021, Veneto. 12%. £9.50. M&S.  

A decent alternative to French Rose. 

Reds: 

Barbera D’Asti. Luca Bosio, Barbera 2021. Piedmont. 13.5%. £11.95. Mouse&Grape.  

Comes out rather like a Pinot Noir. Aged in barrel, with a touch of tannin. 

Santodeno Sangiovese Appassimento, Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. 2022 Emilia Romagna. 14%. £11. Sainsburys. 

The wine of the night. Powerful, well balanced. Smooth.. 

Terre di Faiano , Organic Primitivo, 2021. Salento. 14%. £9.99. Waitrose.  

This was specially selected to be under a tenner, and a decent wine BUT it is one of those wines that flatters to deceive. First mouthful is good, but it quickly becomes all a bit too much – Jammy & overpowering. Might be a good food wine. 

Canti Asti, Fratelli Martini Secondo Luigi. Moscato. Asti. 8%. £9. Sainsburys. 

This is a light, sweet wine from the Muscat grape. Refreshing chilled.

August 2023. Romanian Wine, Andrew Walker, Solaris WInes.

 

Romanian Wines, by Andrew Walker, Solaris Wines. 17 August 2023

This months presentation was on Romanian Wines. Romania is a fairly large producer of wine – about the same as Portugal. It has been making wine since pre-Roman times. However, as it was and still is a relatively poor country together with the malign influence of communism, it has struggled in the last century due to lack of organisation and investment. That is slowly changing, and is now starting to make decent wines which can be succesfully exported. Nonetheless, the majority of its wine production stays in Romania. An interesting point if you are a rare grape hunter (like me!) there are quite a few Romanian native varieties, not at all well known in the west. There are 4 here.

Andrew has been in the Wine trade for many years and relatively recently decided to set up on his own as Solaris Wines www.solariswines.co.uk/

Romanian wines we see in this country tend to be more the bulk/budget pinot noirs at the large supermarkets. These wines are the other end of the scale, premium wines.

White

Prince Stirbey Brut Rose (sparkling, Grape - Novac) 2013. 12% £20

Prince Stirbey Cramposie Selectionata 2021 13% £14

Oliver Bauer Rhine Riesling 2018 11.5% £16

Sweet White

Prince Stirbey Tamaioasa Dulce 2021 10.5% £16

Red

Oliver Bauer Pinot Noir 2019 14.5% £20

Prince Stirbey Novac Sec 2019 14% £18

Prince Stirbey Negru Dragasani Rezerva 2018 15% £18

Prince Stirbey Merlot Rezerva 2012 14.5% £28

Top wine of the night – The Negru Draganasi rezerva.