Have you seen the Panther or spotted a Penguin lately?

Hello Fellow Wine enthusiasts,

Sue and Geoff are in Spain, walking the walk, as part of the Camino De Compostella de Santiago. So I have stepped into Sue’s shoes to write the blog this month. Mark is also away in Scotland visiting his Dad. Nick’s replacement for the night was Una, a lovely friend of Jackie’s from way back to her university days.

So the numbers were down from the normal rowdy crowd. Stephen and Helen hosted the evening, even though they have recently moved into their new house. The food was very tasty starting with smoked salmon, followed by a delicious chicken curry, then South African apples stuffed with prunes and dates (yummy). Enough of my waffle, and onto the reason for this blog, the wine, which was South African. There are quite a few choices from Chenin Blanc, pinotage, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, to name but a few.

 We started with a white Sauvignon Blanc 2013 12%.  A few of us struggled to know if it was sauvignon or chenin blanc. Easy drinking at £4.00 from Tesco. (Normally £9.99)

Then it was onto our second white, which was in fact a Chenin Blanc. Very smooth and tasted a bit of honey with good flavour and depth.  This was from Sainsbury’s and cost £7.25.

This was followed by the first red of the evening, a very tasty Shiraz 2012 from Waitrose at 14.5% it was extremely drinkable. This cost £9.99.

I bought along my favourite Kumala Pinotage Shiraz red 14%, which the group agreed was easy drinking and tasty too. This wine was from Tesco and cost £7.99.

 

Even though the numbers were down we had some really interesting conversations from Panther spotting in Jacki and Nick’s paddock to spotting penguins whilst sitting at a computer screen. We also reminisced about some game shows from the 70’s.

Enough of this waffle, back to the important stuff, the wine.  The majority of us agreed that the two reds were the winners, but as Karen pointed out, hers was an excellent purchase, as some of the proceeds were invested back into helping the local South African people produce the wine.

I’m sure you will be glad to get back to Sue’s exciting blogging next month.  Meanwhile I`m putting a cork in it.

 

Linda

Sophisticated, Elegant & Sincere or in this case..Sancerre

Bit late with this months Blog, too busy walking the South East Coast, sounds more impressive than it actually was, although, I did manage to walk five consecutive days and just under 80 miles carrying a rucksack... needless to say, there was a glass or two of wine at the end of each day!

This month just six of us and two guests tasted some very 'nice' Sauvignon Blanc wines.  Our hosts Terry & Karen, allocated each couple New or Old World to see which we preferred.

As a reminder, the primary flavours (that's with a 'U', not without, as the American notes that we were given) found in Sauvignon Blanc are lime, green apple, passion fruit & white peach.  Generally, sophisticated and elegantly flavoured wine.

Guests, Chris & Nigel brought along a New World SB, it was very very pale, almost silver, no aroma to talk of but delicious clean peachy gooseberry flavours.  This was the winning wine of the evening (Brownie point for them)

Next up, Pouilly Fume, again very light in colour but with an overriding musty aroma. It was also extremely dry, it had a cork too, so no surprise it was an Old World from France.

Number 3 a Sancerre which had an odd fizzy tingle on the tongue, a bit like the sherbet lemon sweets, remember those ? It also seemed a little sweeter than the other two.

Finally, New World SB from New Zealand this one had a bit of a zingy tang to it and a slight spicy finish, it was a little too much, a bit of an overdone Sauvignon Blanc as some of the New Zealand ones have become.  Better without food was a common thought.

Terry & Karen as always were great hosts and served superb food, although Terry had a slight hiccup with his timings (unheard of) must have been that G & T he had at the start.  Note to group, do NOT give Terry a little drinkies prior to cooking !

Sorry for some reason photos won't upload, will try later.

The burning question the Wine Club are asking " How did Jackie & Nick get on together on the cruise, their first holiday together without their children & how did Nick cope with cruising " ???????  Find out in September, hopefully.

Time to put a cork in it.

Bye S x

Champagne Break

We have just returned from a break in the Champagne region of France. We linked up with Geoffs cousin Colin his wife Anne & daughter Alysia who are visiting from Australia.

 

We stayed at Les Barbotines B & B on the Paul Clouet champagne estate.

www.champagne-paul-clouet.com

 

It is a super place in the heart of the Montagne de Reims, with just five beautifully decorated  rooms in an old winemaker house.  We stayed in the yellow room, really comfy, light & spacious.

 

The breakfast was the best I have every had, staying anywhere (I am not one for cooked breakfast) beautifully laid table filled with jams, fruit, various breads, cakes, croissants and so much more, with a daily variation to it.  You sit round a large dining table with the other guests, we met and chatted with some great people.  Including a winemaker from New Zealand, very interesting.  www.tindallvineyard.co.nz  Their wine is available in the UK, the nearest to us is a wine merchant in Canterbury.

 

This area is littered with champagne houses big and small, you'd think you'd be spoilt for choice of where to go and taste, however its more tricky than you would ever imagine.  I am sure in Reims its easier but out in the small villages its a challenge. 

 

Lets say to start with its France, they don't like to promote their wares in the way America or Australia would for example, they are more discreet rather than brash and commercial.. so finding somewhere that actually looked opening and welcoming in Bouzy (great name) where we stayed was quite hard.  We did find Herbert Beaufort, and what a find he was.

 

He has a shop front for selling his wines, he does tastings and tours too, we sat with him round a large table and tried his champagnes whilst he talked passionately about them all, we liked him.  So the next day we returned where he gave us a private tour of his caves.  His champagne is also available at Marks & Spencer.

 

Herbert Beaufort

The courtyard from our room

We also visited the small picturesque village of Hautvillers on the outskirts of Epernay, where the Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon is buried in the simple village church. Lots of lovely views of the surrounding vines and countryside.  We ate at No.36 a smart  but trendy bistro / restaurant run by brother and sister, naturally with a champagne shop attached.  Here we had lunch and tasted a selection of six champagnes..its a tough life.

Champagne tasting at No.36

Views from Hautvillers

Hautvillers

The Brightlings

Also popped into Epernay the first evening for a meal stopping off for some champagne tasting first (naturally) !

We tasted all of these

Anne & I

Geoff & Colin

 

 

 

 

Chianti (all except one)

I can't believe another month has rushed by, where is the time going?  We were the hosts this month after some juggling and double booking (mention no names Karen) so we combined our dinner party with the wine club.  Luckily the four friends who were coming to dinner have been to previous wine club get togethers so know what a rabble we are...

 

Any of you who have hosted know that a major house clean is involved prior to guests arrival, not that anyone actually notices after a few glasses..so why did Geoff run his finger along the picture frame ?? ..Cheeky blighter!  ....  anyway, we had two friends staying over so I thought it would be nice during the day to take a stroll into Broadstairs have some lunch then wander back mid- afternoon still leaving myself time to prep the food etc, you know me, keep it easy, lots of antipasto. 

 

Geoff was at work so not around to help, if he'd have been home the grass would have been cut and the weeds attacked in the garden, you may be wondering why this is relevant...well, it turned out to be REALLY hot on Saturday and I thought it would have been warm enough to have the wine club outside in the garden all evening now that would have been lovely, but no we couldn't go down that route as the garden was an overgrown wilderness (we have also just returned from holiday so no chance to stay on top of the weeds, now trying to justify the state of it)...

 

Everyone turns up... where do they head...straight out into the garden for drinks !!  It was decided after I tried to explain the mess that in fact we were just going for a 'natural' style garden this summer.

 

Eventually dragged them inside to start on the wines & food. Ten of us found our seats around the extended table and tucked in, including a selection of cheeses picked up when we were in France.

 

Chianti : Cherry, cinnamon, leather, plum, raspberry, rose, tobacco

Chianti

 

 

1. Chianti Riserva 2009 13% from Lidl

 

My goodness was this full of tannin, felt like all the moisture had been sucked out of your mouth, way too dry & tart. We did notice leather, clove & pepper characteristics to this wine.

 

2. Chianti Riserva 2011 13.5% Sainsbury £6.99 on offer (£9.99)

 

Lovely and smooth almost velvety, very fruity.  The bottle said Sangiovese & 'other' grapes a bit like 'other' friends (in house joke familiar to some) how can they put other on the label, its as if they don't know & chucked anything into the mix !

 

3 & 5. Chianti Via Di Cavallo 2013 12.5% Tesco The winner buy a long shot

 

Smooth with notes of cherry, aromas of spice and leather, very drinkable...we easily polished off the two bottles.

 

4. Picpoul De Pinet 2013 12.5% Tesco

 

A white from the Languedoc region of France,  a very drinkable white, tropical fruits along with apple pears and a hint of lemon, a great wine for the summer.

 

So those on the ball will think 'white from France' not Chianti, well done for spotting it, but our two guests Robin and Karen brought it along not knowing its Chianti, we forgave them as it was so tasty.

 

Our other guests Terry & Jackie made an error too, well Jackie did, never ever wear anything good/special to the wine club you can guarantee that wine will get spilt over you, by someone else or yourself..although Jackies was a bit of a classic.. so for you Jackie this is how you read a wine bottle label:

 

1. Pick said bottle up

2. Hold in front of you upright & read front of bottle

3. Turn bottle around still keeping upright and read label on reverse

 

NOT

 

1. Pick said bottle up

2. Hold in front of you upright & read front of bottle

3. Tip bottle towards you in a downwards direction,

to read back label upside down

4. Yelp as wine pours from bottle onto lap !

 

5. Help required from those around to mop up

 

 

 

As you know we take notes, some of us are better at it than others, which category does Terry fall into (this is wine club Terry not guest Terry)

 

 

The red wine splodge proves he was actually there !

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening, we did try to keep going as long as possible, some of us making it until after midnight (a challenge as you get older)... one reason, the 'new' neighbours over the back were in their garden until 05:30 the previous day having partied through the night... (Keeping 'spill-it' Jackie awake)... and no, Jackie, being tired is not an excuse to pour wine over yourself !

 

As someone said it was nice having some 'other' friends included for the evening.

 

Time to stick a cork in it.

 

Bye S x

 

 

 

Short but sweet

Something a little different this month, seven of us met at the newly refurbished ASK restaurant at Westwood Cross.  Its getting to that time of year when we all start to disappear on various holidays and the get togethers get smaller.

 

Food was good but for the record not as good as Prezzo, which we had tried to get into but they were full, don't they know we are regulars..

 

Anyway we had a fun evening, plenty of chatting and laughter, not a late one as there isn't really anywhere close by to go on to.

 

Short & sweet and no pictures, sorry :(

 

Time to stick a cork in it.

 

Bye S x

 

Eastern European Wines

We entered into unfamiliar territory this month, venturing out to the sticks to Nick and Jacqui's in Minster.. joking, the wines were the unfamiliar territory, Eastern European.  I don't think any of us had high hopes for these wines, however, they generally were much better than anticipated.

I am pleased we all made tasting notes, well done, shame I forgot to pick them up at the end of the evening, well, not quite true, I did pick them up and then put them down again.  I had hoped they would be rescued by the hosts, sadly no, they disappeared into the depths of the recycling bin.

So from memory, now lets get those grey cells working -

• We tasted five wines
• We had two white and three red
• One was over £20
• One was Organic
• It was the first BBq of the year
• A Hollywood Superstar among us

There, see, not bad going for starters !

So, lets jump in with the food.  Although there was an item on BBC news last week about starting a sentence with the word 'So' apparently we do it a lot of the time, its not incorrect but we use it far to often, it is normally used buy academics when they are stating facts and making a point... So...

...the food, we enjoyed our first BBQ of the year, delicious chicken on Nicks special Greek rotating bbq, most impressive, although I felt not completely authentic as we were in the back garden.. don't Greeks normally congregate in the front ( I saw that on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, so it must be true, although they also covered their sofa in plastic and our hosts hadn't done that.. sorry digressing as usual).  Oh yes, forgot to say ten of us this month and numerous mosquito's !

We sat down to start the tasting with the a Superstar in our midst...

No photos please !

Actually it was just Karen, well not 'just' Karen, but Karen with her sunnies on, why I hear you ask, she said they were prescription so she could read with them, that old toffee, more ' don't I look so cool in my sunnies & Breton top '

Eastern European Wines

Wine One: From Turkey (don't tell Nick) Cloud Castle 2012 M & S £7.99 13.5%

A blend of Sauvignon Blanc & Narince (who's heard of that ??) the bottle read, gently aromatic, we though it had aromas of stale flower vase water (!) it didn't taste like that, luckily, more peaches and almonds. This one was not at all popular.

Wine Two: Lakeview 2012 Hungary 12% £7.49 Tesco

Gruner Veltliner again a peachy, apple flavours with hints of tropical fruit with a soft finish

Cloud Castle & Lake View Wines

Wine Three: Chateau Musare Lebanon 2003 From the Bottleneck for £21.99 Support your local independent shops but hey, don't pay the rent !

This one had to be decanted so we did, still had barnyard aromas (nice..not) it had a sort of savoury or was it unsavoury flavour and very dry, possibly hints of rhubarb. 

Nicks description of how dry about sums it up " Its like sleeping with your mouth open when you have a cold, then you wake at 4am with a very dry mouth ". 

Saying all that though, it did grow on some of us, like most wines do after a few glasses.

There was plenty to read about this wine so here's a link -

http://www.chateaumusar.com/MenuImages/Chateau_Musar_Red_2003_tasting_notes_37.pdf

Wine Four: Organiki Tsantali Greece 14% £8.99

A Organic Cabernat Sauvignon with strong menthol mint aromas, flavours of cassis, blueberries and cherries.

Wine Five: Paris Street 2012 Romania £7.49 from Laithwaites

A fruity, Pinot Noir with a French accent. Burgundy had better watch out, Laithwaites say.

This wine is made from hand picked grapes grown in the high altitude vineyards of Muntanea, north of the Danube. Unlike higher priced Pinot Noirs from Burgundy, it is very easy to appreciate, not least for mouthwatering aromas, ripe berry flavours and silken tannins. We liked this wine and a Pinot Noir, I know, shocking !

 

Transylvania, once part of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, was only incorporated into Romania in 1918. It has centuries of winemaking heritage, yet today you can find wineries as advanced as any in Europe thanks to international investment and expertise which has poured in recently.Paris Street Pinot Noir is named after a famous boulevard in a bohemian part of Bucharest, the Romanian capital often referred to as Little Paris

 

A good evening finally came to a close around midnight, nothing as enjoyable as time spent with good food wine & friends.

 

Time to stick a cork in it.

 

Bye S x

Darn good wines !

Darn good wines... well actually mostly ok rather than darn good.  This needs to be said with an American twang for full effect.

This month 10 of us met at Mark and Linda's to try some summer Rose Wines, shame the sun didn't think about showing its head all day :(

Rose wines (sorry can't get the little thingy over the 'e') are really suited to a relaxing afternoon in the garden in the summer or somewhere hot and sunny abroad, however, we opted for the dining room with plenty of delicious food for our tastings.

I hate to generalise (something I never do, ha ha) but really they were mostly all ok, in that general kind of way, Karen M wanted to use the word 'bland' but too harsh made her come up with another, after a number of no, not that word, no not that word either, we settled on inoffensive (seemed fair).

Rose Wines

 

To answer Micks question, how is this wine made pink, here is the answer from waitrose, which I am sure is correct rather than ramblings from all of us on the evening...and the Darn good American found on YouTube. Micks comment after hearing the Americans explanation was that Mick himself was a darn good chap (even if he says so himself) !

 

Rosé is generally made from black-skinned grapes. The main difference between rosé and red wine is the length of time the grape juice stays in contact with the skins, known as maceration. The grapes are crushed and destemmed, then left to macerate before pressing. The rest of the wine-making process is as for white wines.

The maceration time is influenced by the style of the wine but also by the grape variety. For varieties such as Grenache, it usually lasts 8-12 hours. For varieties with more deeply pigmented skins, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, the maceration time is usually shorter.

It is also possible to make very basic rosé table wine by blending a small amount of red wine with white wine. However, the only quality wine that can be made in this way, according to wine regulations within Europe, is rosé champagne. Even so, many champagne producers prefer to use the maceration technique rather then blending.

Styles of rosé

Styles of rosé wine are as varied as their range of colours, from refreshing medium-dry Loire rosé, to bone dry, powerful wines such as Tavel from the Rhône, to sweeter blush wines such as White Zinfandel, typically from California

Our wines:

 

What they had going for them was their delicate salmon colour none of the deep harsh pinks you sometimes get.  Most were dry (thank goodness).

The older 2009 Pinot Noir had a weird slightly musty smell, some thought toasty or toasty nuts (behave !) although still maintained a clean fresh taste.

The winner by far was the 2012 Sancerre at £9.99 french 12.5% bought at Tesco, this bottle emptied quicker than all the others, thank the Stones for bringing this along.

Sancerre

Now I am just reading my scribbled notes, that don't always make a huge amount of sense anyway, especially as the evening goes on but who knows what this is about, Terrys comment was "don't put anything in your mouth unless you know what it is " .... anyone throw any light on that little gem??? (sensible/non rude answers only please)

Sorry its a brief Blog this month but up to my eyes in work, saying that you may be very pleased its short this time.

Anyway time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x