Feb 2023. Australian Wines by Duncan Ross of Berkmann WIne Cellars.

 

An Excellent presentation by Duncan Ross of Berkmann Wine Cellars who are a wine importer, serving mostly the On-Trade. https://www.berkmann.co.uk/

These wines are a selection of their Australian portfolio.

Duncan is actually a New Zealander, and gave us a great presentation. We had a full house for this evening, at the maximum room capacity.

At the end Duncan asked for an impromptu show of hands as to how we might score the wines. It was comforting for me to find that my scores were in line with overall consensus. 6 very good wines, but 2 wines that did not quite hit the spot.

As Berkmann supply the on trade, the wine prices are the wholesale prices. If you were to find them retail the price might well be around 15% higher + Inflation which is rampant right now!

White Wines:

Deakin Estate Viognier 2022 – 12%, £9.60 

7.5/10 – A lighter style viognier, not as “oily” or pungent as most.

Jade & Jasper Fiano Unico Zelo 2021 – 12.5%, £15.60

 

6/10 – Not everyone's favourite, sadly. Rather acidic. An Italian variety selected to need little water.

Wattle Brae Eden Valley Riesling – Langmeil – 11.5%, £16.60

8/10. A classic Riesling, with a tiny bit of classic petrol on the nose/palate. Should last 10 years in the bottle.

Lethbridge Chardonnay 2019 – 14%, £28.40

8/10. A classic mature White Burgundy style, quite oaky. Should be compared to Mersault or similar.

Red Wines

La La Land Pinot Noir 2021 – Langmeil – 12.5%, £11.20

6/10. An extremely light P-N, almost a rosé. Not widely liked.

Brash Higgins Gr/M - Grenache/Mataro 2018 – 14.5%, £20.70

8/10 Mataro is AKA Mourvedre. Easy drinking, not too hefty.

Clementine Cab/Merlot/Malbec/Petit Verdot 2017 – Woodlands - 13.5%, £18.00

8.5/10. Hefty but well balanced. Excellent, but maybe just lacking that magical something.

Shay's Flat Vineyard Shiraz – Tournon – 14.5%, £15.35

9/10. Inky and super hefty. The evenings star wine.

Costs going up

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the cost of membership and meetings has gone up.

Sadly, the world has changed since the society started and the days of Free wine, free speakers etc. are well and truly gone. And prices have gone UP.

A simple example: We used to get quite a few speakers, often wine shop owners or big suppliers who'd come along for free, as publicity, the only cost being the wine. So (at todays prices) you'd have say 24 bottles @£10 = £240 spread over 40 members - £6 per head. Happy days. Even some evenings where the wine was supplied FOC as part of their marketting budget.

Now, they charge. Money is tight. People have to make a living.

Now, it is much more like: Speaker charges £200 to come + wine, so £440 - £11 per head. And if you work out the time involved in putting together a tasting + travel time + fuel, £200 is quite modest, and is often more. 

And of course, £10 for wine is an OK price point, but fairly run of the mill. If you want something a little more upmarket - £15. So its easy to see how that £240 has become £440 and can easily be £600. 40 x £15 = £600 so £15 per head, not £6!

So the committee have taken the tough decision to up the meeting charge the £15, the membership fee likewise. 

It's tough out there.

New years Party Jan 2023

December 2022, Desert Island Wines

 

So, a presentation from society members of their own “desert island” wines – i.e. the one and only wine that they would be happy to have on their desert island. Rather bizarrely several presenters claimed that the wine they were proposing wasn’t actually their favourite. Make of that what you will!

As these are all wines chosen individually, it would be churlish to criticise any of them. After all – the best wine is the wine you like the best.

The Wines

1) Verdejo. - Rueda, Beronia, Spain

13.5%, £9, Waitrose

A very straightforward spanish white.

2) Arinto – Vinho Verde. Casal de Ventozela, Portugal

12%, £8, Majestic

A vinho verde with a little extra something. Good value- Note, the Arinto, not the Alvarinho

3) Gruner Veltliner – Winzer Krems, Austria

13%, £9, Majestic

A very good example of a Gruner Veltliner. Excellent as white wine spritzer in the sunshine

4) Gewurztraminer – M&S Cave de Turkheim.

13%, £10, M&S

A lighter example of a Gewurz.

5) Madiran – Domaine Laougue Camy, France

14%, £11.50, Wine Society

Classic beefy red

6) Zinfandel. Apothic Red. Gallo. California.

13.5%, £9, Waitrose or Sainsburys

The jammy end of the scale – quite a lot of residual sugar.

7) Nero d’Avola, Nero Oro Reserva, Sicily, Italy

13.5%, £11.99, Majestic

Classic beefy red

8) Mavrodaphne of Patras, Greece

15%, £6.95, Waitrose

An excellent sweet red, a steal.

November 2022. Wines of Portugal, Peter Freeman

 

An excellent presentation by Peter with a selection of easily available and affordable wines.

Most of these wines are widely available, and so there are a range of prices,

1 Vinho Verde “Por do Sol” NV 9%, £5.95, Tesco

Loureira, Pecorello, Arinto, Treixadura, Azal

Light, fresh, very pale and with some fizz to it. Great fun.

2 Lisboa “Porta 6” Branco 2021 12.5%. £6.50 - £9.00. Everywhere

25% Arinto, 25% Viosinho, 25% Viognier, 25% Chardonnay

Widely available, but perhaps a bit too similar to so many generic whites in this price bracket. Perfectly fine though.

3 Peninsula de Setubal Pegoes 2021. 13% £10.00. Majestic, Wine Soc

Arinto, Verdelho, Chardonnay, Antão Vaz, Fernão

Quite Oaky, but not overwhelmingly so. I have some of this in my wine rack right now – it is a good wine.

4 Lisboa “Porta 6 Tinto” 2021. 13.5%. £6.50 - £9.00. Everywhere

50% Tinta Roriz, 40% Castelão, 10% Touriga Nacional

Probably the most sold Portuguese wine in the UK.

5 Douro Tinto “Altano” 2020 14%. £10

Touriga Franca,Tinta Roriz,Tinta Barroca

Very smooth. Deep red/beetroot colour.

6 Barraida Tinto Quinta do Encontro 2015 13.5%. £11. Delicias UK

80% Baga, 20% Merlot

Various opinions in the room. A very mature wine – I found it quite earthy, others really liked it.

7 Moscatel de Setubal Casa Ermelinda NV 17% £13. Delicias UK

Moscatel Roxo

Well liked. Try it.

8 Late Bottle Port Symington Estates 2016. 20%, £12. Tesco

Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Francesa

A bargain. Great quality for the price, if you are a Port lover.

My 2 top selections would be the 1^st and 7^th Wines. The Por do Sol would make an excellent party wine, fun, light & fresh. Distinctly not serious, but who cares? And the Moscatel de Setubal Dessert wine is seriously different, something unusual and very very good.