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Chateauneuf du Pape Tasting

One of my favorite wines so I didn't really need an excuse for a tasting when it came in one of my recent Laithwaites mixed cases.

Producer: Le Marquis, Cellier Des Dauphins

Region: Chateauneuf du Pape, Tulette, Drome, France

Vintage: 2009

Grape Variety: Blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, possibly others?)

Price: unknown (Laithwaites Four Seasons Mixed Case)

Appearance: Deep Ruby

Nose:  Clean, medium intensity aroma of red fruit (cherry and red plum), hints of blackberry and spice (pepper)

Palate: Medium tannin, medium acidity, medium bodied and full of flavour. The Grenache brings a wonderful rich red fruit cherry and plum flavour complementing hints of blackcurrant and complex spice flavours (pepper and cloves).

Conclusion: I have always loved Chateauneuf du Pape and this is a great example of a lovely wine.

Food Match: Drank this with a Game Stew (Venison and Pheasant) and Suet Dumplings served with Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts (made by http://aroundtheukin40recipes.tumblr.com/).  Not sure if this is officially a match that should work but I thoroughly enjoyed it!  

[ukwinescholar]

Italian Red wine Tasting - Barbera

I wanted something spicy and punchy to go with Mexican Tacos so thought I would give this a go.

Producer: il Bello

Region: Piemonte, Italy

Vintage: 2009

Grape Variety: Barbera DOCG

Price: £5.99, Waitrose

Appearance:  Medium Intensity with a Bright Ruby Wine

Nose:  Clean Medium intensity Aroma of Red Fruit (Plum) and Black Cherry, hint of Blackcurrant aromas with a rich spicy (pepper and nutmeg) undertones.

Palate: Dry wine with high acidity but low tannin. Full bodied rich spicy wine.  Black cherry and plum flavours balance out the spice of pepper, cloves and hint of sweet nutmeg.  Oaky smokiness also comes through.

Conclusion: Initially the acidity made the wine seem harsh and astringent but I left it to breath and then drank it with dinner and found it mellowed beautifully into a very rounded nice tasting wine.

Food Match:  Mexican Tacos with Spicy Red Salsa.  I think the acidity matched the spiciness and salsa really well and both complemented each other.

[ukwinescholar]

Sweet Red Wine - Surely Not!?

What better adventure to celebrate passing my WSET Level 2?

Producer:  Waitrose ‘Seriously Plummy’

Region: Maury (Appellation Protegee), France

Vintage: not stated

Grape Variety: 100% Grenache noir

Price: £9.99 (37.5cl)

Appearance: Clear deep garnet

Nose:  light aromatic – smells to me of winter spices and reminds me of port. A sweet earthy syrupy aroma with hints of mixed peel and reminded me of the raw mix of fruit cake (hope that doesn’t sound too weird)

Palate: high tannin, high acidity with a rich full sweet red fruit flavour of cherry and plum with an undertone of milk chocolate butteriness.

Conclusion: This was a really special adventure for me to celebrate passing my WSET Level 2 and I wanted something out of the ordinary.  This was a pleasant surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The notes from Waitrose say I should pick up ginger, orange and vanilla in the aroma (and I guess that sort of matches my initial thoughts of fruitcake and winter).  With the flavour it suggests mocha and cedar. I didn’t really pick that up but maybe others will.

Food Match: The producer suggests rich chocolate desserts, actually I drank it with a Vanilla Cheesecake and Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream.  To me it worked beautifully.

[ukwinescholar]

A Big Fat D - for Distinction!

There I was lying in bed this morning and thinking that it had been two weeks since I did my WSET Level 2 exam in London, and then I heard the letter box go and it sounded like something important as it hit the doormat.

There it was a big brown envelope containing my results!  I opened it with trepidation as I really wasn't sure how I had done.  What followed was a crazy excited dance round the lounge for the next 5 minutes - a Pass with Distinction!

It made me feel so proud of all the work I had done preparing for it - and I won't fib there was a hell of a lot of fun and wine drinking along the way!

It has spurred me on to continue this fantastic adventure and go for my Level 3 in the New Year.

Until then I'll enjoy the journey and I am back online with my tasting notes too.

As a celebration treat I bought a Sweet Red Dessert wine to try tonight - so check out the tasting notes (coming soon I just need to finish the bottle!)

[ukwinescholar]

Week 3 Tasting - Sweet Wine!

Over the years I have avoided sweet wines.  I once tried one which tasted so much like venos cough mixture that it almost put me off the whole idea for life.  However, week 3 of the WSET Course requires me to try it and instead of the traditional Sauternes I thought I would go for the Hungarian Tokaji - thoroughly scrummy!

Producer: Royal Tokaji Zrt

Region: Hungary

Vintage: 2007

Cost: £11.20 (250 ml)

Grape Variety: Tokaji (5 Puttonyos Aszu)

As an aside Puttonyos are indicators of sweetness in wine specific to the Tokaji.  The sweetest is 6 puttonyos but apparently even a 3 is sweet enough

Appearance: Clear Deep Gold

Nose: Clean, Medium, Stone Fruit (Apricot and then Peach) hints of jam and preserved fruits

Palate: Sweet, low acidity, full bodied, long length.  Tastes firstly of Dried Apricot then of Yellow plums with a sweet jammy quality.  There is a aftertaste of kernels (for me it was like the kernel of an apricot. my dad always cracked the nut and then put in the jam afterwards for flavour).

I drank this with a Lemon Posset and it found it went very well with the sharpness of the lemon and the jamminess of the wine complimented the sweetness of the pudding.

Honestly it was like drinking an alcoholic liquid jam without all the stickiness!

I did not do the cheese and apple test. But given it worked with the sharpness of the lemon posset (in my opinion) I think it works well with acidity.

All in all a punchy little bottle and it was a really fun experience which has convinced me to go out there are try more sweet wines.

[ukwinescholar]

Aromatic Unoaked White Wine

The second tasting for week two of my WSET Online Wine Course (I've got to say I am having so much fun thus far!  If all goes well with the exam in October I am definitely signing up straight away for Level 3!)

Producer: Gran Valle De Niebla

Region: Chile

Vintage: 2010

Grape Variety: Gewurztraminer

Appearance: Clear Medium Gold

Nose: Clean, Medium, Stone Fruit (Peach) and hints of Floral (Rose/Jasmine)

Palate: Medium sweetness, medium acidtiy, full bodied, medium length.  Tastes firstly of Tropical Fruit (Lychee) then the Stone Fruit Peach flavour comes in and finally theres the floral Rose tone afterwards. there is a mild aftertaste of black pepper

Overall its not my taste but I enjoyed drinking it.  I drank it as an aperitif as I wasnt sure how sweet it would be.

I forgot the cheese and wine test unfortunately!

[ukwinescholar]

Impromptu Spanish Wine Tasting

I should have mentioned with the first post of this week that I was very delayed with my wine tastings and homework for week 2! 

I spent the week on business in Marbella (Its a hard life I know!). 

The biggest highlight of the trip was visiting a wonderful restaurant by the Hotel we were staying at - http://www.elviriarestaurante.com/. Their wine list was superb and the waiter recommended a lovely Aljibes Cabernet Franc which was served chilled - that was a real first for me and I was very pleasantly surprised.

For me the wine had a perfectly velvety fruity flavour with a warm spicy finish.  Given our party ate a mix of Chateaubriaund, and Garlic Cod I was amazed at how well the wine worked with all of them.

Add to that a beautiful warm balmy evening with the sound of cicadas and good company, and it made for a rather wonderful evening

[ukwinescholar]

Light Bodied Red Wine

So week two's task was to drink an inexpensive light bodied red wine. Here's what I plumped for:

Producer: Vignale

Region: Italy, Valpolicella DOC

Vintage: 2010

Grape Variety: Corvina Veronese and Rondinella

Price: £4.74 (Waitrose Wines)

Appearance: Deep Ruby

Nose: Clean, Very Light Fragrance, Red Fruit (Cherry and Plum) but couldnt really pick out anything else.

Palate: Dry, medium tanin, light-medium body, medium length. Definite red fruit flavour with plums coming through first followed by cherry.  there was a definite smoky/tabacco aftertaste.

Overall a very light/soft flavoured wine which didnt have much impact but easy to drink.

I drank it with Slow Roasted Belly of Pork with Spiced Apple and Cider Sauce, creamy mashed potato, and spring cabbage.  The flavours all seemed to work well together although its not the most conventional combination! Neither flavour overpowered the other and both kept their identity.

Green Apple Test: This seemed to shorten the length of flavour and brought out the acidity and smokiness of the wine.  It had a much more pronounced effect than that sweet spiced apple with the meal.

Cheese: This certainly reduced the acidity of the wine but I felt it overpowered the flavour of the wine.  It brought out all the sweetness and creaminess of the cheese.