Shepherd's Pie at Night, Wines a Delight.

Enjoying the wine and food!

Our May date had to be brought forward which meant that unfortunately a couple of our regular tasters couldn’t make it, and Jane decided she was on a diet and so didn’t join in.  However, we still had a good crowd of eight wine enthusiasts around to see what wines would pair well with English food such as shepherd’s pie and cheddar cheese.  Each of our tasters was asked to bring along a wine that would go well with the food I was cooking for the evening – how good were the wines and how well did they pair on our Friday English Supper Night.

As usual, all wines were tasted blind and are presented below in descending order of preference with scores out of twenty, shown in the order – John E, Clive, Andy, Chris, Steve W, Steve S, Sheila and Sarah.  Prices are what our team paid and may be special offers.

1. Gerard Bertrand Minervois Syrah/Carignan 2009, French Red, 14%.  Waitrose £8.69.

Top wine of the evening was picked by Sarah and was the reliable choice of a Gerard Bertrand Languedoc red wine.   It was a pleasant blend of Syrah and Carignan grape varietals and had a dark red colour.  I thought it tasted quite New World but Steve S disagreed and proved correct about its origin.  This wine got three top votes and everyone had it in their top four.  Despite Clive’s view that it had an aroma of bakelite, it paired extremely well with the shepherds pie.  Score were 14, 19, 13, 14.5, 13, 13.75, 12 and 15.  A perfect match for our classic English lamb and mashed potato dish or the French version a Hachis Parmentier.

2. Lyngrove Collection Pinotage 2010, Stellenbosch South African Red, 14.5%.  Budgens £7.81.

We had not had a wine from Budgens before but it did well in this tasting and was the cheapest wine of the evening as well, so good value.  This was definitely a New World wine and had a concentrated taste with raspberry and a hint of leather.  However, it didn’t pair particularly well with either of our English dishes but got two top votes and another three top three positions.  Scores were 14.5, 20, 14.5, 14, 10, 13.25, 11 and 12.  A pleasant value South African red.

3. Ramon Bilbao Single Vineyard Rioja 2009, Spanish Red, 13.5%.  Majestic £8.74.

This was a Rioja that doesn’t taste much like a traditional Rioja.  We got aromas of liquorice and chocolate from Steve S’s wine.  It went very well with the mature cheddar cheese that we served and scored two top votes including mine.  Scores were 14.5, 17, 13, 14, 9, 13.5, 10 and 14.  A wine to consider for your cheese course.

4. Macon-Villages La Cote Blanche Cave de Lugny 2010, Bourgogne French White , 13%.  Sainsbury £7.99.

Steve W went out on a limb and brought along a white wine to pair with our evening’s food.  It actually went extremely well with the mature cheddar so don’t always be boring and serve red with cheese.  It deservedly got one top vote and two second votes in an evening dominated by red wines.  Someone thought it was “too good to be French!” but there were wrong, as this is a white from Burgundy.  Despite one person’s guess of Sauvignon Blanc this is a Chardonnay and is typical of the Macon region and appealed even to those in our team who apparently don’t appreciate Chardonnay, rather like a Chablis really.   Scores were 12, 14, 13, 14.5, 12, 11.75, 9 and 17.  A good value Burgundy white worthy of your consideration.

5. Domaine Jean Bousquet Malbec 2010, Mendoza Organic Argentinian Red, 14.5%.  Abel & Cole £8.62.

Chris and Andy brought along two wines from the home delivery organic grocer, Abel & Cole.  This proved to be the better of the two and scored four top three votes.   It was a powerful fruity concentrated wine with hints of burnt rubber, liquorice and toast.  As for food pairings, it went extremely well with olives.  Nobody guessed it was a Malbec but it had a slightly sweetish flavor.  Scores were 11.75, 17, 14.5, 13, 11.5, 13, 11.5 and 16.  A wine to pair with green olives at a South American evening. 

6. Malbec Les Comes Cahors 2009 Georges Vigouroux, French Red, 14%. Tesco £8.99.

Sheila brought along the second Malbec of the evening and only one of our team really liked it.  It did, however, improve after a while but didn’t pair well with the cheese.   It was a smooth wine with relatively low acidity and a floral perfume.  Scores were 8, 13, 12.5, 11, 9.5, 11.75, 12.5 and 11.  A rather disappointing supermarket red.

7. Domaine du Faucon Dore La Souche 2010, Cotes de Rhone Biodynamic French Red, 13%.  Abel & Cole £10.50.

Our most expensive wine of the evening actually finished in bottom place as nobody had it in his or her top five wines!  Funnily enough, cheese really improved it and it went well with our mature cheddar.   Scores were 8.5, 13, 11, 10, 9, 9.5, 8 and 13.  A soft French wine but not good value at this price.

Concentration as the wines are scored!

The cheese we served was Ford farm Coastal rugged mature Cheddar from Costco - rather good I think.

…and so ended our twentieth monthly Tongham Tasters’ wine evening.   This was another fun and good value evening.   Next month we will be in Farnborough to try Ian’s midsummer wines on Saturday June 23^rd at 8pm.  Sheila will be hosting back in Tongham on Friday July 19^th and we hope to have Chris and Andy lined up for another Farnborough evening in August.  September and October dates will both be in Tongham with Jane doing the first and Steve S the second of these events to look forward to.  Click on Wine Circle above if you want to know how you can join in the fun –newcomers to our wine evenings are always welcome if they enjoy good wine, good food and good conversation, and remember the average cost per person is only £10.

John’s Top Tips for a healthy and tasty shepherd’s pie –

·      Drain the lamb mince in a colander after browning to reduce the fat content.

·      Add plenty of carrots, celery and onions to the mince to get some of your five a day and to add texture and flavour.

·      Add some chicken stock, herbs, Lea & Perrins, salt and pepper for extra flavour and to replace the lamb fat you discarded.

·      Cook the meat and vegetables in the stock for 45 minutes to an hour, before adding the potatoes, to make it nice and tender.  Remember to taste and add seasoning if necessary.  Let it cool a little before putting on the topping.

·      Add butter, salt, pepper and milk to your boiled potatoes before mashing to ease this process and to add more flavour.

·      After carefully putting the mashed potatoes on top of the meat, go over the top with a fork to create lots of edges that will become brown and crispy when put in the oven at a high temperature.
For other wine suggestions for shepherd's pie -why not try a Cabernet Franc or a Merlot.  Then again maybe a pint of English bitter might be the best match of all. If like Steve, with his white wine, you want to be adventurous why not try a Tavel Rose.