Dark & Complex..

Dark & complex really sums up the Bordeaux wines we tried on Satuday evening except for the white one, for obvious reasons !   In fact the white was so light many of us thought it was water, the taste didn't offer much more, there were hints of melon & citrus in this Sauvignon but really quite disappointing, however it was still voted as okay, it came in 3rd of 5.  Sorry getting ahead of myself here...

Lets begin again, hosted by Jacqui & Nick 10 of us made the long dark trip out into the sticks through the road works and diversions.. (Yes, of course it was worth it !) there we met our hosts and their two guests Kenton and Sandrine, who we found out was French so we expected great things from her !

If our notes are correct all the wines were from the Left Bank of Bordeaux, see previous Blog if you wonder why I am mentioning it... talking of the theme for the evening, a few slapped wrists for those that didn't read the detailed brief Jacqui sent out, naughty, naughty and maybe if more had, some of you would have done better in the surprise quiz on Bordeaux wines !  I am feeling smug here, as I came first with my wine tasting buddy for the evening Lemsip.

So to re-cap, we started with the white mentioned above then we hit the red, number 2 & 6 were the same wine, for once most of us managed to find them very similar in tasting & aromas. Chateau David from Sainsbury £6.49 The grapes are the traditional Bordeaux selection of Merlot, Cabernet Franc & Cabernet Sauvignon. A nice deep coloured wine, summer fruit flavours with structure & complexity...don't you just love that about French wine so often missing in those ever popular New World offerings. The bottle says, well actually the bottle doesn't say because a bottle can not talk, although some of you might have heard the odd bottle calling "drink me drink me", opps sorry side track again...

The high point of the evening apart from the handmade chocolates(we'll get to those later)was a bottle of Margaux, not an actual big bucks Margaux, we thought it must be an Aunt Margaux or something, well that was Kentons suggestion, anyway, bought from a wine merchant in Canterbury by Sandrine, your expectations are already high I can tell... Well rightly so, this was a pricey wine for our group, it came in at £23, I have to say & most will agree it was worth every penny!

So a little about the VERY nice Bordeaux, La Bastide Dauzac Margaux 2007 ~ Basics first, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Cabernet Franc This wine had an attractive aromas, tastes of sweet black fruit with some tannin, complexity with a smoothness an overall success.

Chateau Dauzac was once regarded as one of the 'lost chateaux' of the Medoc. Over recent years the rather unknown Dauzac has seen significant change thanks to new ownership of Andre Lurton Who has managed the property since 1992. Dauzac is gaining a reputation for good quality wine. I would buy this again, not for everyday, maybe when one hosts the odd dinner!

So does this mean the French do actually know something(more than us) about wine ?!?! The whole of France was represented by Sandrine in our eyes, as you can tell..

I think this proves once again than it pays to spend more on French wine to get the good ones.

The other highlight to the evening was the yummy(technical food term) handmade chocolates, Sandrine makes them, she has a shop in Canterbury.. All in all I think we can say that Sandrine is more than welcome to join us again, she can bring Kenton too!

Sandrine also explained how locals would buy wine, you take along your big container to be filled with wine, return home where you would decant it yourself into bottles and seal them for future use..she remembers having bottling sessions. She told it better than me, but I'm sure you can picture it. Someone did say it was similar to us making homemade wine and beer from kits.. I think not!

So to sum up Bordeaux wines, it's an extensive region & up until a few years ago made more wine than Australia. The best examples are keenly sought after and among the worlds finest wines.

What you will notice when buying Bordeaux under £10 is that most of it comes from The Gironde Department in South West France, these are generally basic Bordeaux wines that are best drunk young, that doesn't mean drinking for young people !

One final note, this wine club was selected for Marks love of Bordeaux wine (Mark of the tiny pumpkin fame) the ironic thing was he only scored 3 out of 10 in the quiz with Linda helping him.. He skimmed the email Jacqui sent, so hadn't brushed up on his Bordeaux knowledge, had no idea of the concept or theme of the evening. (Jolly poor show I say) I suppose at the end of the day, like most of us he just likes to drink it not talk about it!

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

PS Going to make pumpkin soup this weekend with my pumpkin

Fireworks !

This weekend the wine club will be hosted by Nick & Jacqui the choice is Bordeaux with a nod towards the Gunpowder Plot.
The brief from Jacqui ~

The story of Guy Fawkes and the plot to displace Protestant rule by blowing up The Houses of Parliament is a well known tale. In a nod towards the classic story of bonfire night and the struggle between the left and the right wings( we did Halloween early so why not do Bonfire Night late!)let us take the opportunity to  educate( can hear you all laughing now - since when did we learn much at our monthly meetings other than what fun a group of people can have with a few wrapped bottles of wine!) ourselves using the contrast between wines from the Left and the Right Banks of Bordeaux.

As a very broad generalization, Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux's second-most planted grape variety) dominates the blend in red wines produced in the Médoc and the rest of the left bank of the Gironde estuary. Typical top-quality Chateaux blends are 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc & 15% Merlot. This is typically referred to as the "Bordeaux Blend."

 Merlot (Bordeaux's most-planted grape variety) and to a lesser extent Cabernet Franc (Third most planted variety) tend to predominate in Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and the other right bank appellations. These Right Bank blends from top-quality Chateaux are typically 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc & 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.

If you can't quite remember the Gunpowder Plot from your school days, ( some while ago for most of us), click the link below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_robinson_01.shtml

Doubles

Doubles ? ?You are thinking, aren't doubles normally associated with spirits.. Well yes they are and no we didn't do double tastings of the wine, well some of us did.. say no more ! We did unknowingly have two bottles the same but more about that later.

Doubles, we had two Karens, Jackie and Jacqui and two Terrys then the two events, wine tasting and the big pumpkin competition.

Let's start with the Pumpkins, plenty of excitement as couples produced the pumpkins that they had been growing all summer, although I am not quite sure how some could be excited with their offering, just joking you all did very well..

There were three good sized ones all quite similar, we were quite proud of those, there were two smaller but again similar in size, then there was Marks cutie one, so small that it didn't register on the scales, imagine the laughter, yes we are a cruel and a harsh bunch that take no prisoners when it comes to competition...we had to get out the small kitchen scales to get it to register the 10oz, it's not all bad though it did have the best colour a deep orange.

The three of us with what we thought were good size pumpkins were feeling quite smug..then... Terry and Karen arrive, the car is reversed up to the house to unload...not a sign to inspire confidence in us.. They produced or should I say Terry had grown a whopper, we all thought he would however we didn't expect it to be quite so large.. 3st 4lb 2oz ! It did as expected cause a great deal of excitement..so Terry cleaned up with the prizes for weight and girth.

We did have a couple of other prizes, pumpkin most like it's owner went to Mick..a little rough around the edges (we love you all the same!) the prize for the most enthusiastic went to Mark, he really did deserve it, his pumpkin just didn't deserve him!

Here's how we did:

Terry and Karen. 3st 4lb 2oz. 55"

Nick and Jacqui. 12lb 8oz. 34"

Geoff and I. 11lb 2oz. 31"

7lb 4oz. 32". Bit of a light weight for it's size

Karen and Mick. 4lb. 25"

Terry and Jackie 3lb. 22"

Mark and Linda. 10oz. 12". They say it's not the winning but the taking part!

This cutie was probably most talked about, described as cute, sexy, pocket size, travel size, boob size (well some peoples) or were we all just trying to make Mark feel better after we laughed at the weigh in..funny, Linda had managed to disassociate (is that a word? If not it sounds as if it should be) herself from the little orange offering.

It was fun now onto the wine..

So let's start with the wines, we started with Sparkling wine (after all we can't call it champagne can we) from Chapel Down winery in Kent. A Pinot Noir Chardonnay 12.5% £24.99 ~ A light sparkling wine with pronounced red fruit character and rounded, honey notes on the palate and some of us felt a hint of apple. Fizzy in the mouth but little fizz in the glass and no mousse.

Now those paying attention will notice the strange order of wines as we go through.. I am unusually spoilt for choice with so many notes this time, don't know what came over us...

We then had a Merlot from Turner Road 2009 13.5% Deep ruby red, aromas of jammy plum and that old favourite 'wellie boots'. Hints of toasty oak, red cherries.

This was followed by shock horror a Pinot Noir, needless to say it proved only mildly popular with only one person marking it over a six but nice enough to leave an empty bottle at the end of the evening. Quite smooth and ripe cherry flavour. Redwood Creek 12.5% 2009 however this was the best wrapped bottle of the evening our guests Terry and Jackie got ten out of ten for the beautiful handmade Indian paper they used.

A Ruby Cabernet 2010 12.5% from Marks and Spencer, juicy red colour and jammy aroma, fresh and fruity taste with a clean fresh finish with maybe a hint of smokiness and a bit more tannin than some of the others.

Now things go a bit array and we have a white, I think in all the excitement with the various pumpkins arriving, (obviously not by themselves) 'people' forgot to mention their wine was a white and should for one thing have gone in the fridge and followed the sparkling. However, it faired quite well, Miwok Ridge Sauvignon Blanc 2010 12.5% Fresh and crisp, aromas of citrus fruit plenty of grapefruit and lemon flavors, this wine came in second.

I have to point out that Geoff needs a lesson in wine swirling, he was far too enthusiastic and sploshed it (I am sure thats a wine term) over my new trousers, lucky it was a white lucky they weren't Ralph Lauren trousers (from experience never wear anything too good to our wine club if you do someone will always pour wine over you, they will of course say it's an accident but who knows).. not that I have any RL trousers in case you wondered, maybe you didn't, oopps starting to go on a tangent as usual!

So after the surprise of a white appearing amid the reds, low and behold another white, not only that it turned out to be a double, exactly the same as the one before..can you explain this (I am sure Lawrence could if he had been there)at least half the group thought it was a Chardonnay completely different in colour and taste, it was identical same year etc .... So how do you account for that and the scores on the doors were very different for the two...I suppose it could just mean most of us STILL are rubbish at wine tasting, no there must be another explanation.

We finished the tasting with the winning wine of the evening, Karen M said we would never guess the grape and guess what, we didn't, I don't think we have had it before, some smartie pants will probably correct me on this fact. A very smooth deep purple Petit Verdot 2010 13.5% aromas of raspberry and ripe blueberry, flavors of liquorice and subtle spice with well balanced tannins. This wine was the most popular by far.

Oh just one other thing can our guest Terry let me have the breakdown of his special 'codes' on the tasting sheet... All numbers no words ! The only thing I can make out he voted his own wine the best...

It was as always loud, great fun and good to be with friends.

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

The picture of the debris following an evening of wine tasting, actually the picture doesn't quite capture the extent of the carnage !

Pumkins

The Pumpkin Competion final is only 11 days away...

Who will have the biggest ?

G'day

A week late with the blog this month, I have been so busy catching up, I know you feel sorry for me.. But don't I have been chilling out in the South of France for a couple of weeks. I have to say it's a bit pricey down there EXCEPT for the wine( thank goodness ) a nice Bordeaux pitched in under a fiver... Shame we flew otherwise I would have brought a few cases home.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand, this months wine tasting. Australian was the hosts choice for September, always drinkable. Just seven of us at the get together so we tasted three and a half bottles, where does the half come from you ask.. That was Terry as he was half a couple this month he brought a half bottle of delicious dessert wine, well not half a bottle of dessert wine but half bottle size if you see what I mean, more about that wine later.

First off was a Verdelho 2009 12.5% smooth fresh tropical fruits and vibrant the bottle however had been over wrapped so it took a while to see what the label looked like !

Second up was a Semillion aromas of gooseberry, melon and floral notes. Quite a subtle wine.

Third a Shiraz which caught us all out, no-one recognized it as a Shiraz, the tasting notes combined for this wine come out as a fruity little tart!! Made me smile anyway..

We liked all these wines we couldn't pick a clear winner from them.

Then we tried The dessert wine, a clear winner by far but the question is does it count, or does it matter, it was a Semillion 2005 10% smooth smooth smooth, a must buy. Someone did suggest the it would be yummy poured over good vanilla ice cream, now there's a thought.

Seven at this meeting as I said above, three tasting sheets filled in and four who all agreed that blank was best !

Next month the Pumpkin Competion comes to a head, who will have the biggest, who will have the heaviest, some people were being very cool and not disclosing details of their progress. Pumkins were discussed at one point at the same time Mark text to say stop talking about his...just how did he know that when he was miles away ?? Spooky...

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

A Tall Tasting

 A Tall Tasting, those that know Lawrence will get the title ~

Those on the ball will notice I am a day late with this months Blog. I do have a really good excuse. I took part in Race for Life on Sunday morning. I walked the race as opposed to run, not because I had a hangover but through injury… although I did have a tiddly headache, I think it was the second Limoncello after midnight that pushed me over the edge !

So you can already guess it was a good get together, great hosts, great wines, great company and a great honour, Lawrence Page came to our wine club and talked us though his selection of wines, he met the brief, wines under £10 and delivered superb good value for money wines.

So lets get started, the first thing we were asked to do was NOT drink the wine, we are a bit on the keen side normally. So we went through the correct process of checking the clarity & colour learning what the differences meant (you are shocked we were learning) followed by the old swill & sniff, there is probably some posh term for this.  Then we learnt how to taste by rolling the tongue and breathing air over, easier said than done,  it produces a lot of giggles coughs & splutters then finally as Ingrid said “Can we drink it now” so we did..

First up was Riversdale Sauvignon Blanc 2010, a real wake your senses up wine, looked pale & clear, aromas of peaches & nectarines and so zingy on the palate, absolutely loved it.  We all agreed it was suited to drinking alone, I don’t mean without friends, although if you prefer to why not… opps digressing as usual… what I meant is without food.

No.2 770 Miles Chardonnay 2010, now we all admitted to having preconceptions about Chardonnay, heavy, buttery and oaky etc.  well how wrong can you be, this was a delight and proved very popular among the group and a favourite of Lawrence & Ingrid. Crisp dry with a hint of pears & vanilla, personally I didn’t get the vanilla, others did.  Mark thought cloves too, so this wine although nice (that famous wine term) was my own least favourite maybe because I don’t like cloves.

No.3 Macon Lugny ‘Les Genievres’ 2009 again another very pleasant surprise.  A family owned & run highly respected wine producer in Burgundy..sorry my notes stop there (yes I do take notes, teachers pet & all that !) . anyway back to this exquisite, well exquisite might be too much, but you get my drift, 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… needless to say I will be buying more of this one.

Now onto the reds, we started with a Pinot Noir, Lawrence had read our blog and noticed our negative comments on the Pinot Noir we had in the past… so could he change our minds & prove that Pinot is worthy of the hype it gets in Decanter (it’s a wine mag for those that don’t know).. when I saw the list of the wines earlier in the week, this is the one I was really itching to try. No it didn’t cause a rash !

AND… yes it was a smooth wine with plum & black cherry notes but it still has that ‘thin’ feel to it, someone said they felt it was neither red nor white wine.. however all said and done we DID like it just not as much as the others, so I think Lawrence proved it was worthy of another chance. 

Oh I suppose you would like to know what it was Neptune Point Pinot Noir 2008 from Malborough New Zealand.

No.5 Kleindal Cabernet sauvignon 2009 (Joint Winner) normally we would be a bit tiddled by this stage and have eaten food to ‘ruin’ our ability to taste the wines properly but Lawrence kept us on the straight and narrow, he poured the wine in sensible measures and only let us eat dry crackers. A superb deep dark blackcurrant coloured wine, soft tannins and tastes of black cherry and currant, a touch of cigar smoke (odd but yes it was there) and vanilla this was a very good wine, again South African isn’t a wine that has come across that well in the past. 

Finally No.6 last but not least, in fact, the joint winner of the evening Lomas Carrera Camenere 2009 from Chile. A country that is always a firm favourite with our wine club, many a raucous evening has been had drinking Chilean wine. This wine from a respected winery was delicious, dark purple in colour, ripe berry aromas and big on taste.  Carmenere was a new grape to us and worth pursuing further I think.

So to sum up an education and tour of six superb wines, proving that the oldest wine merchants in the country know a thing or two about wine !

Just one slight worry, Linda wondered what the slop jug would taste like, I know the wines were good but…

Thank you Lawrence for sharing your time & experience with us, you never know we might be able to twist your arm to join us a sometime in the future.

The evening ran on late into the night, the wines revisted (more bottles opened) delicious antipasto and finally a few liqueur tipples to end.

 Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S

Aroma Wheel

A useful tasting tool from http://www.aromaster.com/