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