Sunday 28 October 2012

French Quiz Answers


Wines from the Sud-Ouest contain unusual varietals.
1.  Which French wine region has traditionally always included the grape varietal on the label?

Answer - Alsace has always included its grape varietal on the label such as Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer, Sylvaner, Muscat, Pinot Blanc etc.  You might award yourself quarter of  a mark for Muscadet which is an alternative name for Melon de Bourgogne its grape varietal.

2.  Pouilly-Fumé and Pouilly-Fuissé come from different wine regions.  Which ones?

Answer - Pouilly-Fume is next door to Sancerre in the Loire Valley and produces great Sauvignon Blanc.   Pouilly-Fuissy is one of the Macon appellations in Burgundy and produces great Chardonnay,

3.  Which French wine Region contains the first Appellation Controllée and which was it?

Answer - The Rhone Valley contains the first Appellation Controllee which was Chateauneuf-du-Pape in 1935.

4.  In which French wine region do they grow Pinot Meunier as one of their three main grape varietals?

Answer - Pinot Meunier along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is one of the main Champagne region grape varieties.  It is particularly popular in the Marne Valley.

5.  Which French wine region grows Merlot on its right bank in clay soils and Cabernet Sauvignon on its left bank in gravelly soils and then blends them with other varietals?

Answer - Bordeaux.  St Emilion and Pomerol grow Merlot and Medoc and Grave concentrate on Cabernet Sauvignon.  Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot are other varietals grown in Bordeaux.


Some of the many vines in the Languedoc.
6.  Which is the largest of the French wine regions in terms both of size and bottles of wine produced?

Answer - The Languedoc is the largest region.  It is bigger in terms of product than large countries such as Australia.

7.  Which French wine region uses unusual grape varietals such as Fer, Gros and Petit Manseng and Colombard in its wines?

Answer - The Sud-Ouest or South West is a very varied region including Bergerac, Cahors, Madiran and many other disparate appellations contains these and may other unusual grape varietals.

8.  Which French wine region makes the unusual sherry like Vin Jaune wines? 

Answer - The Jura is the region that contains Vin Jaune including the amazing Chateau Chalon which unusually is sold in 62cl bottles.

If you scored six or more marks, well done.  Award yourself the prize of coming to a Tongham Tasters' evening.   If you score less than six, you need to learn more by coming to some Tongham Tasters' evenings.



Vertical Take-Off

Harrier jump-jet at Dunsfold




On Friday November 9th we have our next Tongham Tasters' wine evening.  It will be entitled Chinon Vertical Take-Off.   It will feature our first vertical flight i.e. the same wine but from different years.    These will be wines from the well respected Chinon producer Olga Raffault and will be her top cuvee - Les Picasses and we will be tasting a 2002, a 1998 and a 1990.  We will also be featuring wines from top producers such as Wilfried Rousse, Couly-Dutheil and J-P Druet.   In all we will have wines from at least six different years but I'll add a few more if we have a particularly large attendance.

As well as featuring different producers and different years we will be featuring the two different styles, light and medium, and also oaked and unoaked.  We will also be serving one of the wines chilled to show how this suits this particular appellation.   Thus we will be fully exploring Chinon just as we did with Chablis in our recent Chablis Uncorked evening.

As usual we will be serving our wines alongside some matching food to make a complete evening.

If you want to become one of our tasting team for these lovely Loire Valley Cabernet Franc red wines give John a call on 07717 876743       or email me at tonghamtaster@gmail.com.    The evening will start at 8pm.  Remember that we welcome any newcomers to our evenings.
We will have at least six Chinon wines in our display!

Sunday 14 October 2012

Andean Adventure

Jane shows off the new kitchen
Last night we held one of our biggest wine tasting dinners at Tongham Village Hall with sixty four in attendance for the opening of our brand new kitchen.   Many locals were there as well as some from Ash, Farnborough and Guildford.  We even had visitors from Ascot, Bedford and Manchester!

We had 8 courses as follows:


1  Sparkling White from Chile - Casilliero Del Diablo Brut Reserva NV Chardonnay - Waitrose £7.49 - served with Prawns, Kidney Beans and Guacamole with Tortilla Chips

2  Floral White from Argentina - Fairtrade Torrontes 2011 - Waitrose  £5.39 served with Smoked Salmon Ceviché.   You can find the recipe for the ceviché by clicking here.

3  Dry White from Chile - Tabali 2010 Chardonnay  - Waitrose £8.61 served with Avocado Salad with Chicken and Red Peppers

4   Red from Chile - Terra Noble Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 -  FromVineyardsDirect £8.95 served with Terrine of Lamb, Corn & Peppers with Chimmi Churri Sauce

5   Red from Chile -Carmenere Gran Reserva 2009 -  FromVineyardsDirect  £11.45 served with  Chilean Chicken, Corn & Potato Chowder

6   Red from Argentina - Valle Las Acequias 2007 Malbec - FromVineyardsDirect  £9.95 served with Beef Braised in Red Wine with Gremolata

7   Red  from Argentina  - Clos de los Siete 2009 Malbec, Cab Sauv, Merlot, Syrah - Waitrose £10.49 served with Cheese - Manchego, Mature Cheddar, Cashel Blue

8   Coffee served with       Dulce de Leche Pionono (Caramel Swiss Roll)

The red wines were the star of the evening, that is apart from Jane and her food!    The Carmenere Gran Reserve was particularly good and the Clos de Los Siete was a great match for the cheese.   I also loved the Chardonnay which was quite restrained for a New World wine and the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon that was relatively light and easy drinking but with a nice complexity.

Our guests learnt quite a bit about Argentine and Chilean food and wine.   

Chilean Wine

On the west side of the Andes, Chile is the ninth largest producer of wines in the World and even more important as an exporter where it ranks No. 5.  Wine has been produced since the invasion of the Spanish in the 16th century but only really became serious in the 1980s when French grape varieties were imported and then the industry quickly grew.  The most common grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenere but most international varieties are grown here. White varieties include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. As Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, the harvests are between February and May.

Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon tends to have a soft easy drinking style.  Carmenere is actually an old Bordeaux variety that is grown little anywhere except in Chile and more recently China.  Most Chardonnays are in the New World oaked style.  Sparkling wines are only just beginning to become a significant part of the Chilean wine portfolio.  We will be trying examples of all of these wines tonight.

Argentine Wine

On the east side of the Andes, Argentina is the sixth largest producer of wines in the World but as much of it is made of pink grapes and is only drunk locally, it ranks just No. 8 as an exporter.  Again the Spanish brought wine making to Argentina in the sixteenth century and it started to become serious in the 1990s.

Malbec is the most widely planted premium grape variety in Argentina, followed by Bonarda (a Piedmont grape now rarely grown in Italy) and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Of the white grapes, Torrontes is the widest grown.  Almost all of the Argentine vineyards require irrigation from the Andes.
The influence of the Andes on the wine

The Andes Mountains help wine growers by providing water from melting snow for irrigation and by creating a large temperature difference between day and night that adds acidity to the grapes.  The Andean foothills also have less extreme temperatures than the plains which is good for the vines and increasingly vines are being planted higher up to gain this advantage.

Chilean Food

Chilean cuisine come mainly from Spanish influences but often using local ingredients such as avocados, sweetcorn, quinoa and potatoes as well as more exotic produce.  Like most South American countries there is also a heavy influence from other European countries and the Middle East on the cooking in Chile.  Thus olives are grown in Chile and used in their dishes.

The country’s long coastline means that seafood and fish are common in their diet.  Ceviche is a common method of preparing fish where the “cooking” is done by citrus juice rather than heat.  In Chile, grapefruit is often used to make ceviche. 

Argentine Food

Argentine food uses a lot of beef and barbequed steak is the national dish.  Short ribs and pork are also popular ingredients. 

There are many Mediterranean influences in the cuisine but particularly that of Italy and Spain.

Chimmi Churri sauce is very popular and is normally made of herbs, garlic and vinegar.  In Argentina chilies are rarely added to this sauce but elsewhere they might be.

Dulce de leche is a sweet milk-based spread used in many desserts in Argentina. 

Special thanks to our sponsors who provided raffle prizes that enabled us to raise money for the maintenance of our Tongham Village Hall.    They included:

BA and Iberian Airlines     
Wines of Chile
The White Hart Tongham    

Thanks to Clive Greenfield for the photos, John Telfer for organising the raffle prizes, Chris and Andy Wall, Bob Monk and many others for their tireless help before and during the evening.  

Many of our Tongham Tasters helped out. Find out more about us below 

TONGHAM TASTERS

We meet every month, normally on the 2nd Friday.   We share the cost of the wines and food and this averages out at £10 per person per month.

Our most recent tastings have included:
September – Chablis Uncorked which included everything from Petit Chablis to Grand Cru Chablis and even an incredible 1983 Premier Cru Chablis.
October – Six French Wine Regions which included lovely wines from Burgundy, Beaujolais, Loire, Bordeaux, Languedoc and the Sud Ouest.
Next month on November 9th we will taste 6 red Cabernet Franc wines from top producers of Chinon in the Loire Valley and it will be a vertical tasting to include six years between 1990 and 2008.
In December we will be having our Christmas party and in January we will taste six Sauvignon Blanc wines from around the World.

If you are interested, talk to John Etherton 

John’s contact details are:
Phone – 07717 876743
E-mail – tonghamtaster@gmail.com

We welcome new members to our group which holds it tastings in our homes in Tongham and Farnborough

               

Chilean Smoked Salmon Ceviche Recipe


A refreshing and appetizing starter.
A ceviché for those who don’t trust the curing of raw fish by citrus juice or for those who cannot obtain beautifully fresh raw fish.
This recipe contains typical Chilean ceviché ingedients like grapefruit juice, chilli and garlic.
Smoked Salmon ceviche ready for serving at our Andean Adventure
For 2 starter portions or 3 to 4 taster portions.

Ingredients and food preparation:
1 garlic Clove – crushed
Half a not too hot red chilli – finely chopped
Half a not too hot green chilli – finely chopped
2 spring onions – finely sliced
Juice of half a lime
Juice of half a grapefruit
Zest of half a grapefruit
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
6 mint leaves – finely chopped
Twice (in weight) as much coriander leaves – finely chopped
1 glug of olive oil
125g of smoked salmon – cut into 2 inch by 1 inch pieces
30g of mixed baby salad leaves

Method:
Put all of the prepared ingredients except for the salmon, grapefruit zest and baby leaves into a bowl and mix.
Add the salmon to the marinade and stir.  Leave for 30 minutes.
Place the salmon and marinade onto the leaves and add the zest.  Serve immediately.

A good wine pairing for a Sauvignon Blanc or maybe a Riesling or a Chardonnay.  It also works well with the Argentine Torrontes that we served it with at the Andean Adventure.

Photo by Clive Greenfield.

Monday 8 October 2012

FRENCH TEST



Which French region did the wine come from?
For the first tasting evening of our third year as a wine tasting group, Steve decided to examine us on our blind wine tasting abilities.  He told us that there were nine main French wine regions, which were:

Alsace (and Lorraine),
Champagne,
Burgundy (of which Beaujolais is a major sub-region)
Loire Valley,
Rhone Valley,
Bordeaux,
South West (a hotch-potch including everything such as Bergerac and Gascony and the Pyrenean appellations)
Languedoc,
Provence.
He might also have added Jura, Savoie and Corsica making twelve in total.

He was going to serve us six wines from these regions and we had to guess which wine came from which region.  We would get bonus points for the precise appellation area, year etc.  If this sounds easy, it wasn’t!!!   Following our success the last time Steve had tested us, he had decided to make it more difficult. 
Down to the serious business of tasting

So what did Steve serve us, which were our favourites, and how well did we do?   The wines are listed below in our order of preference.  Scores are out of twenty and are presented in the order John E, Ian, Kathryn, Clive, Sarah, Jane, Steve S, Chris and Andy who were our nine pupils to be tested for the evening.  As stated earlier we tasted all wines blind.
We can smile!

1. Domaine Masse Pere et Fils, Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Reserve Speciale Vieilles Vignes, 2011, French Burgundy Red 12.5%, Auchan €8.39.
Seven of us nine tasters reckoned this was the best wine of the evening.  It was light in colour and also light and fruity in taste.  Its smoothness also won a few over.  A very good value burgundy Pinot Noir that is definitely worth buying at this price if you over the other side of the Channel.   Scores were 13.5, 12.5, 13.5, 15, 14, 15, 10.5, 12.5 and 11.5.  Not bad scores for a wine at less than ten Euro.

2. Chateau Lacaussade Saint Martin, Trois Moulins 2011, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux, Semillon Sauvignon, French Bordeaux White 13%, Auchan €5.39.
This wine had one top vote and seven of us had it in their top three.  This was a very dry wine that tasted like a bog standard Bordeaux or Bergerac white early on but as the evening went on developed interesting tropical fruit flavours.  These later flavours completely threw most of us and we changed our minds and thought it was a Chardonnay but were wrong.  Scores were 11.5, 12, 12, 15, 13, 10, 11, 10.5 and10.5.   Our big Sauvignon Blanc fan and official photographer Clive loved this wine.  A great value white.

3. Chateau Saint-Go, Saint Mont 2010,  Tannat, Pinenc, Cabernets, French South West Red, Auchan €6.90.
This very dark wine had one top vote and most had it in their top four.  It had good acidity, which meant it went well with the food but it was not fruity enough for some of us.  The fruit it had was dark berries.   I thought this was a Cahors Malbec but should have got this as we used to buy quite a lot of this from Auchan.  Scores were 13, 10, 13, 13, 12, 13, 15.5, 8.5 and 8.5.  Another good value red if not universally loved.

4. Bastion de l’Oratoire, Fleurie 2009, French Burgundy (Beaujolais Gamay) Red 13%, Majestic £9.60
Three of our tasters had this in their top three but the rest had it in their bottom two. This wine came in the bottom half of our evening’s wines because it had very little concentration of flavour.  The flavour it did have was good and included dark forest fruits, chocolate and dates figs or prunes.  It seemed a little coarse on the palate. We were torn whether this wine was a Syrah or Gamay.  Scores were 9.5, 12.5, 9, 10, 5, 15, 15, 7.5, and8.5.  As you can see from the scores this was a wine that divided the team.

5. Domaine Drusse, Cuvée les Coteaux 2011, Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil, French Loire white, Auchan €5.95.
Again three had this in their top three but the others were less sure.  Again the problem was depth of flavour and it was watery thin to some of our team.   Those who did like it, did so because it was light, fresh and smooth with some spice and parma violets in the bouquet.  Scores were 11.5, 7, 10, 13, 11.5, 14, 7, 10 and 9.5.  Another wine that divided the team but good value for lovers of light red wines.

6. Domaine les Quatre Amours, Cuvee Olga 2011, Roussanne Chardonnay, Vine De Pays d’Oc, French Languedoc White 14%, Direct from the producer at €10.
This wine was dry and had nice acidity but its coarse mouth-feel and oily taste put many off.    Some identified some nice tropical fruits once it had been open for a while but others though it tasted “like someone had pissed on a camp fire!”   Scores were 9.5, 10.5, 11, 12, 7.5, 4, 8.5, 7.5 and 10.5.  For some reason this interesting wine didn’t really perform on the night.  Rather like people wines don’t always perform as predicted and temperature, food, atmosphere, method of pouring etc and even the glass can make a big difference to the experience. 

In terms of how well we did in the test, I think it is true so say that most us failed miserably and need to continue coming to Tongham Tasters for a few more years in order to expand our wine knowledge and tasting abilities!   Steve’s prize for our top taster of the evening went to Ian.  Well done to Ian, who won a nice bottle of wine.  

Steve served us some Interesting wines considering all six came in at under £40!   Steve also served us some lovely bread sticks, Saucisson, Salami, Chorizo, olives, carrot and celery sticks, mature cheddar, Osau Iraty, Comte and Manchego, all from Waitrose so high quality stuff!   Well done Steve who as usual made us all have a very good and enjoyable evening.

Steve happy after his evening
Next month there will be no need to guess the grape variety or region it came from, as all will be exactly the same.  I will be serving six red Cabernet Franc wines from Chinon in the Loire Valley.  We will taste at least six different years from at least three different top producers. Included in this will be a true vertical tasting of the same producer’s top cuvee from three different years.  To join us on Friday November 9th in Tongham for our Chinon Vertical Take-Off evening, call John on 07717 876743 or email me at tonghamtaster@gmail.com.  This November evening will feature higher cost wines than normal as the budget is expanded from our normal £60 to £90 for the six wines.  We will add a wine and some more to the budget if we get a particularly large attendance.   Come and find out why some wine connoisseurs think that Cabernet Franc is the best of the main three Bordeaux grape varietals when not blended.  Rather like our recent Chablis evening, one not to be missed!

During our third year we are going to have most of tastings as themed nights.  Coming up soon are our Christmas party at Ian & Kathryn’s place in Farnborough on Friday December 14th, and Sauvignon Blancs from around the World at Clive and Sarah’s in Tongham on Friday January 11th.  Later in 2013 we are planning evenings focussing on sparkling wines, Rhone blends, wines of the Languedoc, Australian wines and wines that pair well with pizza.  Remember we always welcome new members so consider joining us at one of next tastings.

If you want to take a French Test, answer the following questions.  Answers will be in a blogpost next week.

1.  Which French wine region has traditionally always included the grape varietal on the label?
2.  Pouilly-Fumé and Pouilly-Fuissé come from different wine regions.  Which ones?
3.  Which French wine Region contains the first Appellation Controllée and which was it?
4.  In which French wine region do they grow Pinot Meunier as one of their three main grape varietals?
5.  Which French wine region grows Merlot on its right bank in clay soils and Cabernet Sauvignon on its left bank in gravelly soils and then blends them with other varietals?
6.  Which is the largest of the French wine regions in terms both of size and bottles of wine produced?
7.  Which French wine region uses unusual grape varietals such as Fer, Gros and Petit Manseng and Colombard in its wines?
8.  Which French wine region makes the unusual sherry like Vin Jaune wines?
Not Aliens but blind tasting bottles!
and at last some of Clive's photos of the evening -

Don't make me laugh when I'm tasting!
Ian with his prize
The ancient sport of wine wrestling!
Tongham Taster makes his notes