Wine Group
Liddington and Wanborough Wine Group
This is a small group of enthuistic wine drinkers. Six couples meet monthly at a couple's house. The host chooses the wines - usually 3 white followed by 3 red - and a theme for the evening. Past themes have included Regions, Specific Grapes, Weather, understanding Taste Buds (from a doctor) etc. The host provides a salad and the other couples bring a hot/cold plate of their choice.
It usually starts very seriously and then gets silly as the evening develops. Nothing new there then!
This group has its full complement of members and may not have a vacancy for another decade or so. However, if you want to set up a group they would be delighted to help you.
LATEST RECOMMENDATION
The theme this month was to explore acidity in wine. Our hosts had an amazing chart of the acidity levels associated with the main grapes. We tasted water with variations on acidty so we could educate our taste buds before drinking the wine.
Of course, the association between grape and its expected acidity and the wine itself is not exact, as winemakers play with the constituents, but it was a great learning experience in how much they play and deviate from the base.
The recommended wine this month was from Oxford Wine.
PREVIOUS RECOMMENDATIONS
The theme for the evening was Bourgomne.
Using the PC we started with a description of Bordeaux wines on a video and then, as experts, we proceeded to pour cold water on everything that the American with a French accent had to say. Goodness we have come a long way with our wine group!
The wines tasted were:-
Meursault - Bitouzet Prieur - 2006 £20.90
Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru 2002 £20.00
Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru 1996 £15.00
Gevry Chambertin - Georges Lignier 2005 £23.00
Nuits St. George Jean Chauvet 2005 £22.50
Beaune Vallet FreresPpremier Cru £26.00
The third white was a brave purchase - a 1996 Premier Cru for £15? There was a warning that this wine was old and discontinued but it was worth a shot at the price. We haven't tasted a truly bad wine for some time and we couldn't even complain that it was corked so we agreed that £15 for a Premier Cru was warning enough! A sympathetic description was that it tasted like "re-heated bathwater at the end before you pull the plug" - wonderful! Wine enthusiasts are in a class of their own when it comes to descriptions.
The first red was excellent and is recommended, the second was too young and even further decanting made little difference to the tannin and the third varied between supple and subtle but would do better after 5 to 8 years. But then we would not have been able to afford it!
The evening degenerated into a discussion about the mis-use and abuse of adjectives by wine critics with a cry for a new language and a simple numbering system of 1 to 4.
All in all, it was a cracking evening in a difficult area. The consensus was that Bordeaux wines might be more interesting if we paid £40 a bottle now and we waited another 8 years. David said he would put 6 wines down on that premise as he is one of the youngest and we all worked out silently what age we would be then and said nothing . . .
Wine of the Month
We recommended the Gevry Chambertin for the web site and is available from Arkells.
Another brave evening as we explored an area we knew nothing about - Georgia!
The process of creating wine actually started in this area several millenia ago and even today they use half of all known varieties of grape. We knew none of them.
It is clear that the Georgian's taste in wine is different to ours and we assume it is an acquired taste. One evening cetainly wasn't enough to catch up with them. Each of the six wines were interesting and we had fun trying to relate them to known grapes within our experience.
Wine of the Month
We honestly could not recemmend any of these wine.
This month, we had a presentation from the glass manufacturer, Riedel. We were concerned more about the wine glass and its impact on tasting than on the wine. This was a big surprise for all of us - the glass makes a huge difference! Serious wine drinkers should have four different glasses as a minimum (all of these are from the VINUM range):
- Montrachet/Chardonay (6416/97)
- Burgundy (6416/07)
- Sauvignon Blanc (6416/33)
- Bordeaux (6416/0)
We did taste several wines (and a brandy and whiskeys) and we have two excellent recommendations which can be sourced in Majestic. The first is a Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Ned (a mountain vinery in Marlborough, New Zealand) which had loads of fruit and retails at £9.99 or buy 2 for £6.99 each - great value! The second is a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Montes Alpha at £10.99.
A great-value-for-money Gavi white from Araldica La Luciana in north Italy. It is a fresh, crisp, aromatic dry wine from Cortese grapes and is an astonishing £5.99 from The Co-Op.
The other wine is a whopping £30 but it is exceptional. It is from the Tuscan estate of Talenti - Brunello di Montalcino.
Note the name- we have seen it for less than £10. If you find it let us know, please!!!
We were entertained by Cape Wine & Food. The recommended wine from six tasted is Phileo Shiraz. This wine, as indeed most of the wine from this importer is from a small, little known vineyard.
In a tasting of great South African wines it was a stunnner - lots of fruit and a big nose. Enjoy!