March 2014 - Carla Bertolotti - Wines of Uruguay

We've had Carla along before, trying single handledly to raise the profile of Uruguayan wine in this country. And its a worthy task - some very good wines, good value and not easy to find.

Carla brought along a full AV presentation of her trip last summer to Uruguay, to meet several of the winegrowers, and I know some of the members were very taken by the chance to see the actual people behind the wines. We had a great turnout - 40 people - standing room only (literally) as we only had 38 chairs!!

We had a couple of whites to start, then mostly Tannats, Uruguays top grape variety.

VDV Estival 2012 - 60% Gewurtztraminer, 30% Charonnay, 10% Moscato Bianco. 12.5% £11
Bodegones Viognier Vineyard Select 2011 - 13.5% £9.50

Bodegones Marselan Vineyard Select 2011 (Cabernet/Grenache Cross) - £9.50
Bodegones Tannat 2012 - £8
De Lucca Tannat Libero 2010 (5-10% Nero D'Avola/Sangiovese) - 13% £11
Bodegones Tannat Private collection 2010 - 13% £13
Marichal Reserve Collection Pinot Noir/Tannat 2010 - 13% £13

VDV Alcyone Tannat Dessert Wine 16% £19 (1/2 bottle)

First off, the Pinot Noir/Tannat blend was controversial - a veritable marmite of a wine - I certainly did not like it.
The Alcyone dessert was superb, christmas cake in a glass, all those usual descrptions - excellent.e
Whites - good  and good value
Reds - All good, and for me the best was the cheapest (maybe thats just me) but at £8, the Bodegones Tannat is a steal.

Get them all from www.winesofuruguay.co.uk

February 2014 - German wines by David Cooper

David Cooper came along to present German Wines – It was his first paying event as a wine educator and it seems all his training has paid off.

He presented some very unusual German wines, that you are not going to see in the shops – although they are available online at www.thewinebarn.co.uk

Unusually for a German tasting we had 4 whites and 4 reds.
In order:

Iphofer Kronsberg Silvaner Alte Reben Spatlese Trocken, 2011 – £19.99

Producer/Region – Wirsching, Franken 

Grauburgunder Sonett dry, 2012 - £14.50

Producer/Region – Dr Heger,Baden 

Chardonnay Spatlese Dry, 2011 - £13.90

Producer/Region – Gottelmann, Nahe  

Erbach Schlossberg Riesling Grand Cru (Grosses Gewachs), 2009 - £30

Producer/Region – Schloss Reinhartshausen, Rheingau 

Fellbacher Lammer Trollinger,2012 - £13.10

Producer/Region – Aldinger, Wurttemberg 

Estate Lemberger, 2012 - £11.99

Producer/Region – Aldinger, Wurttemberg

Estate Spatburgunder (Pinot noir), 2012 - £16.60

Producer/Region – Meyer-nakel, Ahr

Limburger IX Rotwein Cuvee, 2009 - £24.25

Producer/Region – Bercher, Baden

So first, the clunker – the Fellbacher Trollinger was fairly universally disliked. It’s a very light coloured red wine, with a rather unusual taste, so null points for that one.

The 2 best VFM wines were definitely the other 2 cheaper ones – The Chardonnay, I felt matched up to a good white burgundy, creamy with very good body. The Estate Limburger, a very deep red, Inky, with deep tobacco and cherry flavours also hit the spot.

The rest, all good, but at those prices, one might expect so….

New Years Party

What's to say. It was a party. The wines all went - more needed next year methinks... Food excellent, many thanks to Jean, Freda, Sybil, Esther, Mark, Christine and also Margaret and Carole.

The wines had all been sourced by Tony in December, to take advantage of the many 25 or 33% off offer there are before Christmas.  I have no idea what each cost,

In some sort of order

Fizz
     Sparkling Burgundy, Blanc de Blancs - cave de Lugny 11.5%
White
    Torrontes, Cafayet-Salta 2011 - 13.5%
    Wickham Fume 2011 - 12%
Red
     Vina Eguia, Gran Reserva Rioja 2004. 13%
     Cuvee Balthazar, Syrah 2011 (IGP Pays d'Oc) 14%
     Vinalba Reservado Malbec 2011/12 14.5%
Dessert
     Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel 11.5%

December - Spanish Wines by Phil Miles

Sorry this one is a bit late, but you know, Christmas and all that… The skiing was very good by the way..

Our very own Phil Miles presented this set of wines and promised some slightly off the beaten track Spanish wines. There were 3 whites, 5 reds, from a good variety of Spanish wine areas..

The whites were fine, the Albarino being very good, and oh so trendy right now. However, the white Rioja was way too oaky for me, but many others really liked it.

The reds had some absolute gems in there, and for me the Castilla La Mancha and the Artazuri Red both hit the spot. Both excellent value at the £10 mark.

The final wine, the Ribiera del Duoro Crianza 2009 was truly superb – and at £17.49 so it should be. Worth the money? Probably, but I’d rather have a bottle of both the Castilla la Mancha and the Artazuri red.

An excellent set of wines, and a very good evening .

The Wines

Caixas Albarino 2012 Martin Codax Rias Baixas. Galicia - 12.5% £9.99. Majestic

Rueda Blanco 2012 Marque de Riscal. Verdecho/Viura  - 13% £8.99. Majestic

Rioja Blanco 2012 Muga. Rioja. Malvasia/Viura – 13% £11.99 Majestic
Castilla La Mancha Torre de Barreda 2009. Tempranillo – 14.5% £9.95. Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR)
Artazuri Red 2012 Artadi. Navarra. Garnacha – 14.5% £10.25 BBR.
Laderas De El Seque 2010 Artadi. Alicante. Monestrel 14% £9.95 BBR
La Legua Crianza 2010. Cigales. Tempranillo. 13.5% £13.95 BBR
Cillar de Silos Crianza 2009 – Ribiera del Duoro, Tempranillo. 14.5% £17.49 BBR

November - New Zealand WInes - Julia McKie

Julia came all the way across London by tube to present these wines, and the journey wasn’t wasted.  Enotria  http://www.enotria.co.uk/  are originally an Italian wine importer, but now are much bigger and cover the whole world of wine. These wines are available from one of their subsidiary companies – www.greatwesternwine.co.uk

In order we had

Yealands Gruner Veltliner  £9.65
Mansion House Bay Sauvignon Blanc £8.45
Urlar Sauvignon Blanc £9.43
Trinity Hill Chardonnay £13.66
Urlar Pinot Noir £12.67
Carrick Pinot Noir £10.94
Trinity Hill Syrah £9.89
Trinity Hill Botrytised Viognier (37.5ml) £13.66

The Gruner Veltliner is the best example I’ve tasted, and better value than the orginal Austrian ones – definitely recommended. The 2 S-B’s were both clean and very fresh, and personally I found the Urlar (Gaelic for earth) too sharp for me, but the Mansion House, at £8.45 is very good value.

The Chardonnay was well made, but for many of us, too oaky. If you like a clean, oaky chardonnay, it would be worth trying. Now, I have to admit to being biased, as I have had too many dodgy pinots, but these one were fine. Not my thing, but many of the society enjoyed them.

The Syrah is also very good – if you are looking for an alternative to the blockbuster, hefty syrahs, this is one for you – elegant and powerful, without being overwhelming, again well priced.

And the final Viognier – a classic noble rot dessert wine, not at all like those other antipodean stickies was well worth trying

So, overall, a good set of wines, well priced, with something for everyone.

As a final thought, Freda, one of our members, a retired teacher, was moved to present the vote of thanks, because Julia was just brilliant.

 

 

October - Wines of Bordeaux, Vivienne Franks

Vivienne Franks presented Bordeaux wines, to try and persuade us that Bordeaux had turned over a new leaf, and the wines are now competitive again.

The wines were all by Dourthe, who are one of the major producers in the region. The majority are stocked by the Wine Society, with a couple from Waitrose, and one (the Sauternes) which isn't readily available in the shops.

In price they ranged from £8.99 all the way up to the rarified levels of £25. 2 Whites, 5 Reds and 1 Sauternes to finish

As follows

White
Dourthe La Grande Cuvee 2012 - £8.99
Chateau Rahoul, Graves 2010 - £16

Red
Chateau Pey La Tour, Entre deux Mers 2008 - £9.95
Dourthe Reserve, Montagne St Emilion 2008 £10.25
Chateau Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac. St Emilion Grde Cru 2005 £25
Chateau Rahoul, Graves 2008 - £16
Chateau La Garde, Pessac-Leognan 2004 - £22

Sauternes

Chateau Roumieu 2007

Overall – does Bordeaux hit the button - Its a tricky one, because the 4 “Expensive” wines, plus the Sauternes were all very good, but at those prices – they jolly well should be! I mean, I can see why people do rave about “top” Bordeaux wines, but they should be good, and I am not going to argue that one. BUT, the 3 wines at the £10 mark (8.99/9.95/10.25) were good, but not that good – I'm still personally convinced that I can find wines aqual or better, for £2 a bottle less.

So yes, you can get very good wines from Bordeaux – but you do have to pay for them.

September - Desert Island Wines (2)

Earlier in the year, we had a "Desert Island" wines, presented by members of the society, all volunteers. It was noted that all the presenters were male, so Esther took it onto hereself to persuade the ladies of the society to present their desert Island wines.

So we had

Jean - Cremant de Limoux £10.99
Wilma - Californian Viognier £10.99
Margriet - Scheurebe Kabinett Schatzle €7.90
Esther - Domaine Boyar Merlot (Bulgarian) £3.50
Sue - Californian Ravenswood Zinfandel £7.99
Maggie - Chateau Lussac (I think) St Emilion £12.99
Linda - Amarone £lots (I can't remember)
Sybil - Rutherglen Muscat £13.99

The stories behind most of these were fascinating, and apart from the Bulgarian Merlot, all the wines were great. The Merlot, however, was a nice reminder of those great days back in the '80s when Bulgarian wines were really good.

It was a great eveing, with a good turnout.