I just knew Mr Michael 'Malbec' was a blip...

Eight of us tipped up for the wine tasting at The Stones, they were expecting six but we'll get to that later.

The brief was bring red & wrap it !  I knew all these years of wine tasting would turn us into wine buffs..just like I knew Mr Michael 'Malbec' with all the research he did in October was a blip, red & wrap it, is just what we'd expect, that said, we actually had a fairly good selection of half decent wines, with the hosts providing the most expensive however, it was proved that the more you spend doesn't always make for the best wine.

We started the evening in a slight state of chaos, two of the guest (you know who you are) hadn't let the hosts know they were coming until that morning (slapped wrists for you both) & then it was an answer phone message that didn't get picked up.   So I arrived and mentioned that they had emailed to say coming, needless to say, the messenger got it in the ear, whats that saying 'don't shoot the messager' .. well I have a few bullet holes in me.  So please please let the hosts know you will be coming as soon as possible & earlier in the week, or you may find yourself sitting watching everyone else eating, the food cannot always be stretched !

So after the table & chairs were re-juggled, plates & cutlery added & more glasses found and the hostess calmed down, we began the wine tasting.  There was a bit of a flash back to the Lawrence Page evening where he said we could only eat dry crackers whilst tasting the wine... someone had handed round the crackers & nothing else.. maybe those late people should have only had crackers... (sorry must stop going on about it)..

We started with a 2011 McGuigan Shiraz Viognier from Australia it was generally thought to be a bit insipid, most unusual for an Australian wine, turned out it was 12% too, which may explain it, maybe it was Bulgarian in disguise!

Number two by contrast (mine) was delicious and came out tops for the evening, An Italian from Laithwaites £7.99 Pillastro Primitivo 2010

The bottle said, well the bottle didn't actually say, as bottles cannot speak, sometimes you might think they do, when they keep encouraging you to have another glass, Jacqui hears them often (or so Terry said !) ...

Puglia, in Italy's deep south, is best known for big, smoky, exuberant wines made from its prized local varieties - Primitivo and Negroamaro in particular. This example is from Angelo Maci, a leading figure in the quality revolution that has occurred over the last two decades. Angelo made this wine purely from Primitivo - more commonly known as Zinfandel in the States. In southern Italy it produces fantastically rich, powerful reds with plenty of ripe fruit. A period of oak ageing has infused the wine's generous fruit flavours with notes of spice and vanilla. This weighty red has aromas of ripe raspberry and spiced plum with notes of cedar wood. Enjoy with game stews, cassoulet, pasta with a rich tomato sauce or a hearty lasagne.

The third, the most expensive at £11.99 was a Shiraz from Chile, real headache, blue tongue & teeth material.. sort of a herbally aroma and it tasted like the smell of germolene. It was full on and heavy, a bit too much for most of us, not all of us, some could handle it (ask Jacqui !)

Number Four a Cote du Rhone 2011, cheap apparently & tasted it, no more to be said about this offering.

Lastly, if you are on the ball, you may be thinking that was a bottle too many, Steve & I came without our other halves, so we could have shared but that would have taken planning, it was enough just to arrange to walk together (thank you Mick for offering to pick me up)... So.. anyway number five a very old Rioja 2005.. toasty vanilla flavours, long smooth finish.  Mick said "its alright if your Spanish, I suppose" well made me smile..

I usually stick to white wines so what was noticeable was how quickly your head feels swimmy drinking reds, particularly with those from Chile.

All round a good loud fun evening with tasty homemade cake to finish off with.

Some might think I am picking on Jacqui, not really, its just she didn't say the 'N' word once but had super quick reflexes at spotting and dobbing in those that did. 

So on the 'N' fines...

Me         £1.20    surely not

Mick           90p   kept saying he didn't want to be included, out voted though..

Karen S £1.20    Mick told her not to say anything (impossible)

Terry          80p   should know better

Jacqui        zip    she was too busy drinking.. :)

Nick            80p  Just for the hell of it I think

Steve          40p  Shocking

 

Our hosts..then...

 

Our hosts ..now..

 

 

 

 

NICE as in yummy not South of France..

We started the year with the a banning... harsh but necessary.. the word NICE has been completly banned from being used for any reason from the moment you arrive at the wine club until the moment you leave, it doesn't just apply to describing the wine, you just can't use it.

Well you can BUT there is a price to pay, for each time its uttered its a 20p fine, you might think this is cheap, but lets look at the stats, about an hour after arrival the 'N' word had been constantly used for one reason or another, finally we just couldn't bear it any longer. From that moment on we started counting..36 times it was then used knowing there was a 20p fine, we just couldn't help it, it was crazy it just popped out all the time.... so we'd all be broke if the fine was higher and we would have no money to buy wine and we couldn't have that could we !

 The 'Nice' Pot

Linda thought it would be good idea to donate the money to charity at the end of the year, as she was the biggest 'N' word culprit of the evening maybe we'll run with her suggestion.
(Terry & I thought a good bottle of wine..opps nearly used the 'N' word !!)
 
Ten of us attended another riotous evening with with delicious antipasto together with some different wines.

We were asked to bring any of the following:

Pinot Grigio its characteristics are straw yellow with pinky tinges, aromas fresh and fruity with pear overtones.  We brought the only Pinot Grigio sadly it was cheap but only vaguely cheerful, as with many Pinot Grigio wines I always feel they are lacking, this one from Tesco was no exception.

Gavi its characteristics are a delicate pale straw colour with highlights of green. Fragrant and fresh with floral, green fruit and minerally overtones. With a lingering length. Gavi was a new experience for us, we had two to try and it was generally agreed they were rather good, even Mark (Mr Bordeaux) had to agree.. he was particullary taken about asking his wife Linda if she enjoyed the lingering length (!) yes, Mark was being cheeky in fact this started him off, he was 'frisky' the whole evening, it was either brought on by his 16 mile walk in the cold earlier in the day or there must have been something in the water or his water.

Then we tried another new wine, Nero d'Avola, never heard of it. We had two to try and one of them came out tops for the evening.  Its a wine with light red colour with pink and purple hues, it has intense fruity bouquet with notes of strawberries, cherries, dried figs and raisins. Rich textured with layers of damson, plum and liquorice spice flavours, elegant but powerful, full rounded on the mouth.

Thanks to the hostess for all the detailed tasting notes for each variety.  Nick did try eating the 'tasting notes' as you know he will eat anything and everything, he said he has had tastier paper...

A good start to the year, plenty of laughs which is why its always great to get together.

There was talk of attending a 'real' wine tasting evening in March, so that should be interesting and apparently we are allowed to ask two questions each.. I think our table may be trouble !!

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

PS Linda said yes it was a lingering length (what can I say)


THE 'NICE' POT  ~

January Fines

Geoff 60p
Mark 80p
Nick £1 (paid)
Jacqui 60p (paid)
Terry 20p ~ Entrapment apparently !
Karen 80p
Linda £1.80 (£1.20 paid then carried on using the N word !)
Sue £1
Helen 60p (paid)
Steve zip

Round Robin

Round Robin (aka “boast in the post”) for WC 2012

  

Who cares about Tarquin’s progress at prep school – this is far more important – the WC “Round Robin” for 2012!

 

It has been rather a busy year for the Wine Club, so busy that some WCs were cancelled this year and some were missed due to family weddings and milestone birthdays.  Despite this, the usual fun and enjoyment was held!

 

January – Italian wines were the order of the day.

 

February – we had snow this month and the theme for this month was based on romantic St. Valentine’s .  We had hearts to wear on our sleeves to describe wines, e.g. “I am fruity and full of gas”, “Fairy tales, Sleeping Beauty and a long river” and “I still have my cherry (tones).”

 

March – We tried Merlot (pronounced “Marelow”) – some were actually very nice!

 

April - was English wine to celebrate St. George’s Day.

 

May was an “anything goes” theme – this applied to the wine, not the wine members acting strangely!  There was also a Chelsea FC theme to this one – they were playing some   important football game.  Some members contacted family members during the evening to find out the score – but we did not tell our hosts – despite the old saying that drink makes you talk!

 

June was a collection of wines from Commonwealth countries (themed around the Queen’s diamond jubilee).  I wish I could say the wine from India was lovely but that would be a lie.  We all know who is responsible for providing this, so no names will be mentioned.  Lots and lots of laughter occurred at this one for some reason.

 

July and August were missed – too busy watching the fabulous Olympic Games.

 

September – Chilean wines were drunk at this one but some members were missing due to a 50^th birthday celebration.  However, before this, some members attended a wine tasting event organised by Laithwaites at the Margate Winter Gardens with a total of 32 wines to try.  Needless to say, we did not quite manage to drink them all, but went back for seconds for one or two!

 

October – Wines from Argentina were the source for this one.  A quote from the blog: “Mick had done quite a bit of Google research and astounded us all with his knowledge of Argentina wine” – what a surprise!

 

November – Another family wedding prevented some members from attending which meant some of us missed out on the fashion show provided by Mark (refer to the blog for further info).  A lack of scoring sheets and pens were noted!

 

December – at the time of writing this has not yet been held but includes a best wrapped bottle competition, a quiz, swapping of the Secret Santa presents and a raffle.  All invited to bring their favourite wine.

 

Notes for 2013 – use a thesaurus - not all wine can be “nice” – some can be: agreeable, amiable, attractive, charming, commendable, delightful, likeable, pleasant, refined to name a few.  Actually, these are good descriptors for the WC members!

 

Beaten by a Golden Fairy

Eight more sleeps until Christmas Day... I keep asking myself where has the year gone...

We ALL (I know shocking a full house) made the December wine club on Saturday, the last one of the year, the biggy, the Christmas special, lots of extras running along side the wine tasting, our hosts had been working hard for sometime to make it extra special and they didn't disappoint. (Well one of them particularly)

We all turned up, dressed up... clutching Christmas cards, flowers & chocolates, the wine to be tasted that also had to be dressed as something Christmasy (White Angel, I thought was the best) and not forgetting the Secret Santa gifts.  Nick was 'confused' about what he was giving to who or leaving where until Jacqui helped him out with the top tip that the gift wrapped was the secret santa one and the box of chocolates not wrapped was for the hostess, you can see how he became confused (not !!)

We tucked into peanuts and Bernies delicious sausage rolls with a glass of wine until everyone arrived when we were ushered into the dining room for the frivolity to begin.

To start with there was a twelve question quiz, some questions based around the Blog, I am ashamed to say I only got four questions right, not that the others did much better, Karen S did have an excuse that she never reads the Blog (Mmmm what shall I put in here about her... after all she won't see it !!).  Top marks went to Karen & Terry who got 11, well done, Smartie Pants.

We started wine tasting with a bottle of Champagne brought by Jacqui & Nick, maybe if I had had a glass of that first I might have done better in the quiz... it was a 'nice' bottle of fizz (there was a round robin about the wines club with lots of other possible words to use but it never reached me..).. This DeVallois was 12.5%  traditional blend of Pinot Noir Chardonnay & Pinot Meunier, flavours of rich biscuit with notes of citrus & cream, we scored this one with 42 points

This bottle started the evening dressed as a Golden Fairy, shame no picture of this 'winning' outfit, I say this thought gritted teeth as it beat my White Angel (I do have a picture of that..ha ha ha)

This was followed by another champagne, Pol Monnett 12.5% again a blend of the three grapes, elegant & fresh although a couple of of thought it might be a little past its best, however it scored the same 42 points.  This bottle started the evening as a Post Box with a rather large Round Robin sticking out of it. (Thats a Round Robin letter not the feathered kind)

 

Round Robin Letter - Has its own page...

 

 

 

 

 

We then moved on to the red wine, its the one covered in holly in the picture there was also a little robin tucked among the branches, not real one of course, we decided this was a very Eco friendly dressing, from a very Eco friendly couple, the bottle had been taken to be recycled the following morning before I had all the details about this delicious wine. Our own stash of bottles takes us weeks of tripping over them before we finally get round to taking them to the bottle bank.. So Terry not only a smarties pants but an efficient one too.. We didn't get round to unveiling  them all on the evening, too distracted by all the other activities...  Anyway... this wine, an Amarone was very popular and received in depth comments like 'Yum',  Yummy; very oaky (ha ha.. if you know us, you will get this), very smart (?) & of course nice.  It was rasiny and full bodied and scored a big 52 points. Top wine of the night.

 

Now the next one was sooo disappointing, Micheal you really didn't step up to the mark this year... he has been the bottle dressing winner for a number of years but look at this years offering..

 

 

 

Its the sad knitted stocking one in the middle.. Michael had said he wasn't going to make the effort this year, (& he kept his word) let someone else have a chance to win (should have been the white angel), he said he wasn't competitive and wouldn't mind... Really ???, when everyone arrived with their creations he was most disturbed, well he only had himself to blame.. shouldn't go on too much because he did vote for my White Angel (that should have won ).  Not sure what this wine was, it was just too much effort to lift it from its warm stocking.. deep dark and with a long cork. Okay were the general comments it scored 40 points.  Nice Christmas tie though ... so not a total lack of effort !

 

 Actually looking a bit rosy cheeked there...

 

 

Next up was Rudolf, with his fancy fur body, again we didn't skin him to find out what was beneath but needless to say Mark & Linda brought this one, so no surprise it was red, good flavours but with a short finish, sadly though the lowest points just 38.

 

 

 

Last but not least The White Angel (should have won), our wine a rich ripe powerful red from Southern Australia called Clearskin 14.% 2009 bought from laithwaits, would be good with chips and steak, scored 44 points. She even had a nice haircut & make up on !

 

 



We then played a great rowdy game, basically taking (grabbing) presents away from each other all in the name of fun, all gifts sourced by the hostess & were wine related. Here is a Mark with his.. he is easily pleased !

 

 





 



 You know what they say about Christmas gifts and children, they are more excited by the wrapping well it applies to adults too....  but before I show you those pictures, look at these too sad bunnies..

 

 

Nick waiting for the wrapping and Karen regretting not reading the Blog or was it not ending up with a present at all ??  Nick looks happier in a moment though..once he has a box to play with !

 

 

 



 

 

Jacqui & I were very pleased with the chiffon wraps we received......what do you mean, they are the wrapping Tesco Finest use for flowers !

 

Next the big event of the night, the hand out of the Secret Santa gifts, there was an informal vote as to open now or save until Christmas day, Mark & Jacqui wanted now but the majority to wait won.. but Mark little devil, said he wasn't being told what to do & ripped his open with Jacqui following suit..what are they like. 

 

Mark & his gift, he loves things to dress up in but don't ask about the Vaseline !!

 

All in all a really enjoyable evening, here are a few more pictures..

 

 Eco Smartie Pants

 Happy now..

 Steptoe impression

 Ho ho ho..

 

Any finally 'Time for bed' said Zebedee at twenty to one in the morning,

we haven't had a late one like that for ages..

 

Well time to sign off, Merry Christmas to you all and best wishes for the New Year.

 

Time to stick a cork in it.

 

Bye S  x

 

PS I didn't really mind the Golden Fairy beating my White Angel...

 ~ note to self must start planning next years dressed bottle sooner

 

 

Drat & double drat a picture of the WINNING Golden Fairy has arrived in my inbox...

 

 

White Angel or Gold Fairy you decide.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 





Not a tart in sight !

A small gathering this month, just six of us, our hosts Mark & Linda, Geoff & I together with Jacqui & Nic. Although not many of us still loud at some points or was that Nic loud at some points !

We particularly enjoyed the entertainment, Mark dressing up in his walking gear and showing us all the paraphernalia he had bought for his April Camino...he's like an excited puppy... Nic just looked on in disbelief.. asking himself, why, why, why would you do that for a holiday..

Funny enough the wine selected was French (Marks favourite) turned out to be an excellent choice we had four (Jacqui brought two) really excellent wines one costing £16, it was worth every penny.

Now my notes on tasting are sketchy, Mark let me down, no paper, pens or tasting sheets, he came up with some excuse that he was cooking all day, I mean how long does it take to bung a stew in the oven !   Only joking Mark before you shout at the computer... it was, as expected an absolutely delicious Beef Bourguignon followed by tasty cheese and yummy desserts.

We started with a white, which I am pleased to say was very 'nice' I say this because it turned out I still have one in the wine rack from a previous wine tasting event hosted by the knowledgeable Lawrence Page.. it was: (taken from my previous notes, still think it was exquisite..)

Macon Lugny ‘Les Genievres’ 2009 A family owned & run highly respected wine producer in Burgundy..this exquisite, subtle wine, so smooth and rounded, gentle buttery lemons & smooth fruit made this my favourite wine of the night. I think if you went back to the sauvignon after this it would be a complete assault on the senses…

This was followed by the £16 (!) Henri Bourgeois Pouilly Fume "Jeunes Vignes" aromas and taste matched, lychee's & tropical fruits again we all decided it was very 'nice', we really do need to bring a Thesaurus along.

Purchased from a wine merchant in Canterbury who also kindly made the following notes.  Henri is based in Sancerre and is famous for the quality of his vines, this wine is from a new vineyard in Pouilly and he highlights this in his typical Henri Bourgeois style. It is organically grown 100% Sauvignon Blanc.

These two prove there is more to life than a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc !

We then moved onto the red, Le Coin 2010 Bordeaux £8.99 from laithwaites. At first a bit of a shock after the two whites, but with the meal it was rich & flavoursome. A mix of Merlot, giving that wellie boot smell although we decided this was expensive wellie boot smell probably Barbour or Hunters.. Merlot mixed with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The colour was an amazing deep purple, aromas of ripe plums, tobacco & spice. Tasted of damson and a hint of spice, making it a very 'nice' claret.  At 14.5% hangover material.

Then we tucked into the fourth wine, again a red, with a very unusual label (awaiting photo) Chateau Cosme St James "Little James" again from the Canterbury wine merchant. We thought this wine was very intense, thats the only note we have !  Here is a little input from the wine merchant:  Chateau Cosme is based in the Northern Rhone producing excellent Cote Rhone & Hermitage.  This is their 'quaffing' wine (his word not mine) made from Syrah & Grenache, a multi vintage blend made in a Solera system from 1974.  Jacqui explained that its made a bit like sherry, they keep topping up with different wine each year.. tasted fine though, went well with the cheese.

The whites and red were smooth and drinkable..not a tart in sight ! (See I do eventually link the title in)

We noticed once again how things had changed from the early wine club days when we would drink the last drop from every bottle and anything else the hosts had in their house.. but on Saturday on the table were some part drunk bottles as we moved on to coffee and herbal teas !!

Looking forward to the Christmas wine club with all its extras..our next hosts are hoping for a full house and an evening of fun.  Had better dust off the party dress.

Time to put a cork in it.

Bye S x

Mr Michael 'Malbec'

Well.... well, actually not, quite sickly in fact... not often I cannot make a wine club but this month I was too sickly to go out and have some fun and my kind husband stayed at home and cooked for me.. ah how sweet I hear you say, I think he is just making a point actually... I left him at home last weekend feeling very ill so he text'd me .. remember ' in sickness & in health' ..... so following that, he couldn't really go out and leave me could he ?!?..  so in light of this my Deputy Editor & photographer, Mark stepped in to do the Blog this month.

Needless to say I do jip in along his Blog.... renowned for jipping in as many will tell you... sorry can't help it..I am sick don't pick on me.

..And in true spirit of Blogging he managed to digress quite early on...

So without futher ado I hand you over to Mark ~ ohh one more thing there may be spelling mistakes, I acnnot spell tooday..don't pick on me I'm sick.

Hosted by Karen and Mick, we were treated to a couple of delicious Argentinian wines at this months gathering of wine ‘aficionados’ – yes I think we can use that descriptor, as Mick had done quite a bit of google research and  astounded us all with his knowledge of Argentinian wine (knock me down with feather!).

~ he is showing off (already) with big words.. 'aficionados' ...what is wrong with wine buffs ? what does he want the Editors job..

Also miss one month and Mick has me falling off my chair.. research ?????? whatever next

Apparently, according to our new resident Malbec expert -  Argentinians have been growing the French originated Malbec  grape since the 1990 – and 9 out 10 bottles produced in the country are consumed by the locals…it’s that good.

A little digressing now by Mark...

Oh yes – now here’s a funny story. I arrived straight from a Rotary charity swimathon (show off) and won the ‘what a berk’ prize for observation skills an hour before whilst  at the swimming pool…during a moments rest at the shallow end I got chatting to another fellow Rotarian who said he was from the Westgate and Birchington clan…  “I know someone at your Rotary group” I said… “Who’s that?” questioned the fellow swimmer….“Charlie Brightling is the guy I know, he’s the brother of my  friend  Geoff  – do you know him?”  This bit is a classic (!)  ”Know him, he said - I am him!

…I am Charlie Brightling – that’s me!...I went off to crawl under a rock contemplating how different someone can look in a pair of speedos and wet mop of hair. ..Next time keep your glasses on..

Anyway I digress, back to the important business of the wine tasting. The first was ‘Artesano de Argento’ (2011, 13.5%) from Tesco’s, great value at just £5 – Cherry hints, full bodied and really tasty.

 

 The second was a Malbec Cabernet blend  ‘Tupuncato’  (2009, 13.5%)  brought along by the couple with the well-stocked wine cellar,  this again had cherry hints but a more complex flavours and a long finish.

Finally, ‘Ortavida’ (2011, 13%) from Karen and Mick -  another red Malbec …still a little cold so perhaps not shown in its best light.

Overall we agreed unanimously that Malbec / Cabernet blended wine was the best.

A little known factoid (what has been drinking) (or myth perhaps) is that bottles with a deep dimple in their base are generally of better quality. As can be seen by the picture below – our chosen winning wine had a huge dimple…coincidence or fact – who knows….actually who cares, I hear you say…as long as it tastes good!

 .. Bottoms up !

 

That’s it I guess…time put a cork in it once again till next month

 

Thank you Mark you did well.

 

Bye Sx

 

 

... A Drought..

Well, FINALLY, six of us managed to get together for the September wine club, the last few months have been a drought, a drop of wine hasn't touched my lips since the last meeting in June.  (Now if you believe that then you may have also noticed rather a lot of flying pigs).

..Well, ACTUALLY, eight of us also managed to meet a few days earlier at a wine tasting locally by Laithwaites wine club, just a mere 32 wines to try, I managed 17 .. as you can imagine they were very small measures..   So a bit like buses really no wine club for months then like buses two come along at same time!  I think Karens shipment is due anytime...

So September wine club, it was hosted by me, the other half was called out before our guests arrived and returned when we were about to have pud.  Not that he could have sampled the wine anyway as he was on call and driving, sorry starting to ramble, old habits die hard..

Chilean wine was the choice, there were two whites and a red, first up our bottle of Vina Araya a Chardonnay Viognier 2011 13% packed with tropical fruits and hints of peach a good wine for £4.49 should have been £9.99. 

This was followed by Isla Negra Reserva (they make a nice sparkling) this was a 2012 12% Sauvignon Blanc, what can you say but very nice, plenty of gooseberry, grapefruit and lime flavours to pack a punch.  Well chosen by Nic.

Then we had the red, a Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 10% smooth and full of blackcurrant flavours and aromas.

Needless to say, notes were a little thin on the ground, although we did all put pen to paper, some more doodle that words..

Then as a treat or I thought it was, we tried a 2008 Massaya Classic red, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, a mixed blend that cost £12 a bottle that came via a top world leading Sommelier, (so I was told) well.... smelly..er... didn't taste any better than its aromas, it was ok'ish but certainly nothing to rave about.  Although Mick who wasn't at the wine club, managed to finish most of it up the following day.

In case you are interested there were some favourites from the Laithwaites evening:

A fab New Zealand Reserve sauvignon Blanc 2011 Babich, a drinkable Prosecco, Alessandro Gallici and a nice white rioga, Baron de Barbon.

So the drought is over, it was good to catch up and looking forward to the next one.

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

PS This came in from Jacqui ..

Quote for the blog

Jane( one of my business partners here) told me today that because of all the disparaging remarks about her tendencies to drink black tower she went and “ bought herself a bottle of expensive wine” and she hated it.

I said “oh dear” and tried to explore the reasons for her dislike and asked her the colour( she said red)  and then ( saying perhaps it was too complex a wine )asked her where the wine was from

I am sure you can guess the answer………………..

“ The off licence at  the corner “ she said innocently ……………

Is there any hope ? She had better come to the next WC…………………