Jingle bells, Jingle bells...

In your head did you read the title or sing it .. bet most of you sung it, so here is the chorus to get you in the Christmas spirit (I know you like to sing, its like being at choir practice sometimes in the wine club !)

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

Thats enough for now, full version at the end..

Jacqui & Nick were the hosts of this years Christmas special, we braved heavy rain and high winds to get to them but it was worth it.  I think I speak for all of us, we had a really fun time, leaving after midnight.

Host Hummers in love

We all dressed up for the evening, some of the chaps in Black Tie & ladies in evening dress, well it is the party season.. shame we didn't get a group photo.

As you know, if you have followed the Blog for a while, we dress the bottle of wine in a Christmas theme, Mick and I went for a musical theme..which tied in nicely with Jacqui's table setting with the musical crackers, more about those later.

I have to say though, awful poor show chaps with the bottle wrapping this year.. two out of six bottles dressed and the other four.. well.. two in poundshop Santa outfits (if you paid more you were robbed), one in a bottle gift bag with a token bauble hanging from the handle and one that had hoped to become a cracker but apparently looked like a five year old had done it so it came naked..

Mick won  with his multi tasking bottle, the four hours making it paid off, I am sure he couldn't have done it without Karens help (for those that know Karen will be rolling on the floor laughing now)  not only dressed in an advent calender theme under each flap were one of the 12 songs of Christmas, we had to guess the song and year, by humming the tune..someone thought this would be a good idea (?).. Mark is a super hummer (or so he told us!!) it was very funny.

I am a winner (again)

Now those crackers, inside were whistles with numbers on the base and a music sheet, the 'idea' is the Conductor (Steve) calls a number out and you blow your whistle, sounds easy but no it took us a number of false starts then we were away, needless to say no tune could have been recognised if you didn't know at the start what it was supposed to be, the funniest part was when Mark got the giggles and couldn't stop.... then he couldn't stop blowing his whistle.  Luckily when distracted with a glass of wine he lost his whistle.  I found out Sunday his sister in law had removed it ..ha ha ha.. well done !

The wine plays little part in the Christmas wine club get together its more about fun and games, we started with a bottle of refreshing Processco, apparently there are 2 million bubbles in a glass, or was it a bottle ?? (As read in readers Digest by Terry so it must be true) we then had a couple of bottles of red one from the Lebanon which was past its best, a Rioja that wasn't too bad.  We had been asked to bring our favourite wine what we actually bought was whatever was handy in the wine rack.

We played our favourite game, don't know what its called but should be something like 'Give it to me now' ..thats the present, nothing else.. the host buys wine related gifts and wraps them up, we all get a strip of raffle tickets, if your number comes up you have whichever present you like, collecting as many as you can, taking from others as you please..  you keep what you end up with... we are like children we all go for the biggest & heaviest until someone mentions the smallest is probably the best one... I haven't made it sound fun but it really is.

After the yummy food was eaten, teas and coffees drunk the Secret Santa gifts were handed out and as always Mark had to be stopped from opening his, this is the man that doesn't like Christmas, you'd never know it with the eagerness over his gift each year.

Now the bit you have been waiting for.. Jingle Bells the full version

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh yeah

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

Well time to stick a cork in it, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  See you all then, although no-one seems to know who is hosting January ?????

Bye S x
 

Wines for Christmas

Christmas Wine

There are several classic dishes served at Christmas including:

• Ham
• Turkey
• Roast Beef
• Winter Vegetables and roasted sides including gratin and casserole

Since Christmas has several traditional variations, make your wine match the main protein dish.

Selected Christmas Wines

Wine with Roast Beef

• Carmenere A medium-bodied Chilean wine with herbaceous qualities similar in style to Cabernet Franc
• Nero d’Avola A full-bodied Sicilian wine that is often compared to Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
• Cabernet Franc An herbaceous medium-bodied red wine probably more famous for the regions that produce it such as Chinon in Loire Valley, France.
• Aglianico A high tannin bold red wine from Southern Italy that’s very savory and herbaceous.
• Tempranillo Look for ‘Reserva’ Tempranillo from Rioja or check out the awesome Spanish wine value region called Ribera del Duero
• Sangiovese Sangiovese is known by many regional names, keep your eyes peeled for Montalcino Rosso, Vino Nobile de Montepuliciano and, of course, the opulent and tannic Brunello di Montalcino. Learn to read an Italian wine list/label
• Merlot Blends An outstanding alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon (and usually quite a few bucks cheaper) is Merlot. This a great opportunity to seek out a 7+ year old Bordeaux Superieur
• Cabernet Sauvignon Blends For value, look into the 2010 vintage in Argentina and Chile for some excellent Cabernet-based blends with either Carmenere (in Chile) or Malbec (in Argentina)

Wine with Ham

• Rosé Wine The classic region for great dry rosé is Provence. Learn more about Provence wines (including the famed Bandol).
• Grenache or Garnacha Grenache has the fruitiness to stand up to inherently sweet ham. Many American producers are making outstanding Grenache in Paso Robles
• Côtes du Rhône Blends This wine is actually a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Seek out the 2010 vintage.

From Wine Folly.

The Double Dare..

It was tough this month just what title to give this post, there was just too much choice..The Double Dare, What 'this' week, All shiny & New, There is late & there is LATE, Delights of Italians, Don't tell the Greek.. the  list was endless.. and these 'possibilities' all occurred before the wine club met !

The hosts, Terry & Karen and their super 'shiny & new' kitchen..but lets start at the beginning of the week... there were a few emails and texts floating about from those who were expecting to attend the wine club, all wondering what wine would the host ask us to bring, had we missed the email ??  . 

Then the email arrived: (It wasn't pink, I just changed it to make it stand out, I mean who would write in pink..far too fluffy )

Well yes, better late than never I suppose. Sorry about this but Terry and I had wine club at ours on the calendar for next weekend - not this one. However, all is not lost, we have juggled around and it's now this Saturday (16th November 2013) from 7:30 pm.

Bring an Italian - I'm quite partial to them - and also bring an Italian wine. Some white some red we leave it to you to liaise amongst yourselves.

Pick from the list:-

Food will be

a) available, just about, if you're lucky

b) something from a tin with some bread - maybe flageollini e crostini con tomate

c) something you can't read or understand

d) possibly all of the above

What this says about you.....

If you picked a) you are a serious pessimist

if you picked b) you are a realist

if you picked c) you have self confidence issues

if you picked d) you couldn't care less so long as there's wine

Please let me know if you can come. I think Karen and Mick can't - but hope to see the rest of you (and your Italian).

Ciao....

Karen xxxx

 

As you can imagine, the Bring an Italian (!) started a stream of innuendo resulting in Jacqui ending with 'don't tell the Greek'... so the tone was already set for the evening before we got there..

 

Huh..What would their neighbours have thought if the eight of us arrived and Terry & Karen were out with their 'other' friends.. us all loaded with bottles of wine, chocolates and a Tiger (we'll get to that in a minute).. (a) would they have called the Police saying there was a rowdy gang trying to get into their neighbours house (b) invited us round to party (c) set the dogs on us or (d) mugged us for the goodies.

 

Now about that Tiger (still before the wine club) somehow or other & I am not quite sure how it began but Mark said he might wear his Tiger onesie, then I dared him to, then someone 'double dared' him, then money was offered (to Children in Need) if he wore it... now the thing is..Mark LOVES his Tiger suit & couldn't believe that money was being offered to get him to wear it, he would have done so with virtually no persuasion at all.  He did wear it (he'd probably had it on since two in the afternoon).. Terry offered him a bowl of milk rather than a beer on arrival.. it was funny ..

 

So we picked Tiger Mark up & Linda to go to wine club, we arrive at their house, Geoff had barely stopped the car, Mark leaps out & rushes to the door, like an excited puppy or should I say cub .. leaving Linda to struggle with the bags etc... the words.. world Marks own.. spring to mind !

 

 

 

The evening begins.. six of us arrive & have drinkies and a catch up, Linda  having been shown the lovely new kitchen does a splendid job as a presenter showing others the benefits of all the great storage space.. she could be on QVC ! 

 



Terry & his very clean ovens



Now if you are following closely, you will notice we are still two short, yep, Jacqui & Nick, there is nothing unusual with them running late, happens all the time (sorry J & N but it does)..gives us all time for an extra drink whilst we wait... then we waited & waited & waited..even checked at the front door in case the bell had not been heard.. but no, nowhere to be seen, then we start to worry that something serious has happened to delay them, the concern grew with each passing minute... then ding dong.. relief its them...thank goodness they were both fine.  Well actually.. Nick was very frazzled.. (the norm too) they had been delayed.. Jacqui couldn't find the right nail varnish, Nicks fault apparently, giving her the wrong one when she asked the first time...poor Nick I hear you cry.... (Whoever has Jacqui for Secret Santa..please.. buy her a selection of colours !)  The question is, how late is too late after all 'there is late and there is LATE'

 

Jacqui did say later that Karen & Terry are usually her late buffer but their house so they were already there, although saying that.. they might not have been !

 

Now onto the wine, that's why were were together, well, actually that's probably secondary these days, its more about good company than the wine.. So now the Italians we brought along, sadly, not the human kind, although one wine description said smooth dark & ravishing !

 

 

 

Wine One - Albastrele Pinot Grigio 2012  13% from Laithwaites

 

We thought - Light in colour, needed to be colder, slightly sweet floral taste, mineral hints

 

Laithwaites say - Pale straw hues, dry & rounded, aromas of peach, lime, grapefruit with a minerally citrus character

 

Five voted this the favourite of the evening.

 

Wine Two - Dino Soave 2012

 

We thought - Pale, little bouquet and a bit rough around the edges

 

The bottle - A medium dry white from the Veneto region of Italy

 

Wine Three & Four - Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2012 from Tesco Finest range £7.99

 

We thought - Really Yummy !!!

 

Tesco thought - Smooth dark & ravishingly juicy .. Mmm mmmm

 

Five voted this their favourite of the evening

 

Wine Five - Barolo 2009 13.5%

 

We thought - Dark tawny edges, flavours of cherry, harsh mouth drying tannins, not popular

 

The bottle - Didn't get a chance to read it & too small on the photo.. doesn't matter as we didn't like it !

 

 

With the wine delicious roast meats and vegetables with an Italian flair followed by scrummy desserts.. that new kitchen makes great food ..sorry, Karen & Terry make great food !

 

Limoncello Ice cream served in lemon wedges

Eventually the conversation got round to the Christmas wine club and secret santa presents, for fun we asked around the table what people would like, all fishing for ideas I suspect... was it helpful (nope).. Some of the answers..Linda, last year a charity water donation gift card something similar again would be nice (honourable).. Tiger, he needs some Tiger feet, Nick a Dewalt battery a mere £80 does he realise we don't all chip in & Steve, no, he doesn't want any lemons.. Jacqui & I didn't say but maybe we need glasses as we both used Steves  all evening.

 

All in all a fun evening brought to a close when the Tiger needed a cat nap.

 

Time to stick a cork in it.

 

Bye X

 

 



 

 

A Red Herring

October wine club was hosted by Mark & Linda, we were to taste Linda's favourite, Pinotage.  Now, Linda and I had a brief discussion about whether Pinotage was actually a grape in its own right, we thought it was & is unique to South Africa, after all we should know by now, we do belong to a wine club and for roughly the last 10 years, thus surely making us experts (now rolling on the floor laughing)..

 

About Pinotage -

They vary in style from young & fruity (like some of us) for example Beaujolais, with bubblegum & banana flavours, thats the wine not us, to rich (none of us) dark meaty & smokey (any of us ?) Many have an element of earthiness about them (could be a couple of us). They all have good depth, structure, character & are well balanced (naturally all of us).

After a glass of wine & general catch up we took our places around the table, the high & the low (more about that later).  Mr Micheal 'Malbac' than proceeded to tell us that actually Pinotage was a blend of two grapes.. Pinot Noir & .. before he could add the second we all said 'tage', you can see already how the evening was going to progress..no, no he said its Pinot Noir & Cinsault.. well, now, I am thinking could Linda & I have been wrong, he did sound quite sure (or say something with enough conviction & people believe you), it will become clear why & where this Red Herring came from when we get to his wine.

So, back to the high & low end of the tables, Nick pointed out the difference in height and said the low was for the little people and if that was the case why was Mark the tallest of the group sitting perched at the end on the highest chair ??  Could it be that he having just returned from the second leg of his Pilgrimage in Spain, felt the need to watch over his 'flock' from above and bestow his knowledge on 'taste'  how the different parts of the tongue taste different flavours, or I think that was the gist of it., also announcing we'd all be playing a game later (really ?!?)

Pilgrim Mark

I suppose we should be grateful that he didn't bring another way to drink wine, discovered on the trail, to our evening.. using a scalloped shell instead of a glass to take wine from the fountain (although I did spot a 'box' of wine on the windowsill, maybe that was to be the party game)

You can read his adventure on his Blog www.blistersrus.wordpress.com

I digress, whats new I hear you cry, get on with, stop being a Ronnie Corbet (is that one T or two T's ...)

One & Four - The Vineyards £3.99 13.5 % Tesco

We thought: Bright red in colour, cherry & plum flavours, clean & crisp for a red.

The bottle blurb: Big, bold red berry spicy plums (not Micks plums again, surely)

ending with a dry chocolate finish...

Mr Malbecs wine

Number Two - Houdamond 2012  14.5%  £10.49 from M & S

Everyone voted this the best of the evening by far.

We thought: Deep rich purple red colour with a lovely aroma. Full flavours of prunes, vanilla and black cherry, we loved it, worth the money.

The bottle blurb: Vibrant purple colour (Mick contests this, although thinking about it he is colour blind red & green) Packed with cassis and black cherry & a hint of spice.

 Pinotage is South Africa's very own grape variety, developed there as a successful cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault vines in the 1920's.  (Now you can see where the red herring originated)

Today it is prized for its wonderfully fruity aromatic character. This is 100% Pinotage, hand-picked from bush vines in the Stellenbosch area of the Western Cape, was aged in American oak barrels to add further depth of flavour and structure.

Three - Stellenrust 14%

We were all to busy eating our way through a delicious chicken & rice dish and slurping this wine (yes, it is a wine term) that none of us made any notes apart from ' too busy eating'

Bottle blurb: Rich raspberry aroma, fresh autumn berry fruits & chocolate smoothness.

Five - Fleur de Cap £8.99 from Morrison

If any of you are thinking where is wine number four,

it means you skimmed the above rather than reading it !

Very disappointed with this wine I bought, the price did not reflect the contents, it was very poor, the term that is often used to describe poor Pinotage is rustic..

Terry said this translates to 'rough'

The bottle blurb: Aromas of clove & vanilla, flavours of black & red berry.



Six - Simply Pinotage 13.5% Tesco

A classic ' rustic' Pinotage !!

Bottle blurb: Big bold red berry & dark bramble fruit notes ending in a dry chocolate finish.

The wines were tasted, the food was eaten, the chocolates were passed round and the tea was drunk... it was time for party games, half the table were up and keenly waiting in the other room the rest of us made no attempt to move (high table group of rebels..guess which group I was in).

Mark made a couple of attempts to get us to join the others, finally deciding on, just turn the lights off.. with our wings clipped we dragged ourselves to join the others for a word game (whoppee do) turned out, despite our reluctance to be quite good fun.

This brought the talk round to the Christmas get together, which will be at Jacqui & Nicks this year, expectations are high, all expecting fun and games.  Secret Santa envelopes were handed out, once again I have a toughie :(

All in all a splendid evening.

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

Hubba Bubba

Tough choice write the Blog or play with my new shiny white iphone, naturally the Blog won over...

Or the truth .. the old SIM card was too big so tried to adapt the old SIM but have broken it, so now have no working phone at all... :(

So back to the Hubba Bubba, now you are thinking whats the connection with bubblegum & wine tasting..well, the cherry tasting Tempranillo reminded me of hubba bubba.. so there you go, simples !

A little background to this months choice (my choice) Tempranillo -

A Brief History of Tempranillo

Proof of wine in ancient Spain was discovered in 1972, when archaeologists unearthed a mosaic of the wine god Bacchus at Baños de Valdearados in North-central Spain. Tempranillo may well have been the wine shown in the mosaic because it has been in Spain since 800 BC.
Who Brought Grapes to Spain? The Phoenicians brought wine to Southern Spain. Tempranillo originated from this area so it’s quite possible that Tempranillo is related to ancient Phoenician species in Lebanon. Tempranillo now grows most commonly in the Navarra and Rioja which are about 300 miles West of Barcelona, Spain.
Sources
International Tempranillo Day is November 8th – see www.tapas.org for more information
Find out about Spanish Wine on Catavino.net
Tempranillo on wikipedia
On with the tasting we were looking for:
Tempranillo Characteristics
FRUIT: cherry, plum and tomato
OTHER: leather, tobacco, vanilla, and clove
OAK: Yes. Commonly 12-18 mo. in American or French Oak

A full house at our wine tasting this month, five bottles tasted and compared to Sangiovese & Cabernet Sauvignon, which Tempranillo is supposed to taste similar too.

Dining room chairs were juggled and an extra table added to squeeze us all in, the food was antipasto style, nice and easy to get ready in advance.

First up, Las Primas Gran Famila  100% Tempranillo 2012 13% £4.49 (half price) brought by Karen & Mick, this was a well received fruity wine, with spicy berry hints and flavours of plums and cherries.  Generally more like the Sangiovese, although not all agreed.  Karen & Terry brought along the identical bottle although paid £6.49 for it a week earlier, strangely it tasted completely different.  Mick said we were all Pl*****s..yes, he did put that in writing !

(BTW its 24 hours on, my new iphone is still not up & running, SIM sorted, nice man at carphone warehouse salvaged what he could to get it in the new phone, connected to itunes sync'd info BUT no WiFi here at work so have to wait until I get home to finish off the set up.. Before anyone says anything to the Boss, I Blog in my lunch hours)

Number two, Lagunilla Reserva 2007 Rioja 13.5% A blend 80% Tempranillo & 20% Granache.  This wine was aged in American oak barrels. A lovely cherry red colour. Toasty aromas and mild forest fruit flavours, soft tannin with a long finish. This was my favourite wine of the evening, and the rest of the group. Although, saying that, not a record breaker, most of us gave 7/10 and one 8/10.

Next up, Marues de Alarcon 2010 13 1/2% from Marks & Spencer, that's bought from, they weren't actually at the wine club, it was brought by Steviepops & partner. A tempranillo blended with Shiraz.  A medium bodied wine giving black cherry and mulberry flavours, except none of knew what a mulberry tasted like..we generally thought it was quite a harsh tasting wine, to put it bluntly it was bit 'rough'.  Also tasted like hubba bubba too.

Last up, Navarra Tempranillo 2012 ( I can't read the name on the label, text to jazzy) a budget wine from Lidl at £3.70 brought along by Jacqui & Nick, for the cost it wasn't bad, it would certainly get drunk at a party. Deep red colour is about all that was notable, or nothing else was noted !

The evening passed in a generally hum of chit chat and laughter.

Being the host, we got one load in the dishwasher as everyone was leaving but this the balance waiting for us in the morning...

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

Sound like a true Wine Buff

Barolo (barr-oh-low)           A big robust, long-lived, red wine from Piedmont, Italy.   Brunello di Montalcino (brew-nel-lo dah mon-tal-chee-no) A very long-lived and exquisite red wine from Tuscany, Italy.   Burgandy (burr-gun-dee) Famous wine area in southeast France, known worldwide for excellent red and white wines.   Cabernet Sauvignon (ka-behr-nay so-veen-yohng)           Famous red wine grape varietal. Its origin is from Bordeaux, France.   Chardonnay (shar-doh-nay)           Exquisite white wine grape varietal. Its origin is both the Burgundy and Champagne districts in France.   Chenin Blanc (shay-nan-blawnk)           Excellent white wine grape varietal. Its origin is the Loire Valley of France where it goes by the name of Vouvray, first introduced commercially in the USA by Robert & Peter Mondavi around 1955.   Chianti Classico Riserva D.O.C. (key-aunt-tee)           Superb red wine from the Tuscany area of Italy. It is known worldwide as a good wine with most pasta and meat sauce dishes.   Fume Blanc (foo-may-blawnk)           French name for Sauvignon Blanc white wine grape varietal. First introduced commercially in the USA by Robert Mondavi around 1966. Fume Blanc has a crispy, smoky, rocky finish.   Gattinara (got-tee-nah-ra)           Outstanding red wine produced in the Piedmont area of northern Italy. It’s very long-lived and needs proper aging.   Gavi (gah-vee)           A crispy, dry excellent white wine from the Piedmont area of northern Italy. Gavi is named after a German princess. It is superb with fish or chicken dishes.   Gewurztraminer (guh-verts-tra-mee-ner)           This wine is an excellent Alsatian white wine grape varietal with aromatic aroma and bouquet and a totally dry finish. Great with barbecue!   Merlot (mare-low)           Red wine grape varietal with origins in the St. Emilion and Pomerol parishes of Bordeaux. This noble grape produces a medium-bodied or lighter style red wine.   Nebbiolo (neb-bee-o-low)           Famous red wine grape varietal from Italy. It is said to be the “anchor” for the great Italian red wines.   Pinot Grigio (pee-no-gree-geo)           Noted Italian white wine grape varietal, it produces a very light and delicate white wine. Try the new Danzante by Robert Mondavi and Marchesi de Frescobaldi.   Pinot Noir (pee-no n’war)           Very famous red wine grape varietal, it produces the great red Burgundy wines of France.   Riesling (rees’ling)           Famous German white wine grape varietal that produces low-alcohol, fresh and fragrant German Moselle and Rhine wines. The grape was discovered by Benedictine monks in 1775.   Sangiovese (san-ge-o-vay-zee)           Excellent Italian red wine grape varietal. It is the basic grape, along with others, for Italian Chianti. In California, it produces a softly dry, excellent red varietal wine.   Sauvignon Blanc (so-vee-yohng-blawnk)           A French white wine grape varietal, it is found both in the Bordeaux and Loire Valley wine areas of France. Its attributes include a light, dry, crisp taste.   Semillon (say-mee-yohng)           Another fine French white wine grape varietal, its origin is Bordeaux, France. Both France and California blend it to make superb dry or sweet wines.   Spatlese (shpate-lay-zuh)           German wine term that means the grapes are late harvested. The sugar content in the grape is higher than in a normal harvest and produces a sweeter wine.   Syrah (see-ra)           A very famous Rhone Valley of France red wine grape varietal, used in both Chateauneuf du Pape and Hermitage- both superb-quality Rhone wines.   Zinfandel (zin-fan-dell)           Excellent California red wine grape varietal with its origin in Apulia, Italy, which is geographically the “heel of the boot” of Italy. Zinfandel is a clone of the Sangiovese grape.

 

From Great American Guide to Fine Wines, Victor L. Robilio, Jr., 2002