The Rhone Ranger

For May Chris decided to be our Rhone Ranger and select some Rhone wines and an imposter for us to

The lovely red colour of a Chateauneuf

taste at our Tongham Tasters’ monthly wine evening. In fact it was more of a Farnborough Tasters’ evening as there were six from Farnborough and only two of us travelling up from Tongham for the night; the rest of our regular group being on holiday or recuperating.

The Rhone Valley in France provides some of the World’s best value wines as well as some expensive well-known big name wines such us Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  What would Chris manage to serve us within the tight budget of £60 for six wines?  In the end she was indecisive and served us seven lovely wines.

As usual we tasted all the wines blind and scored them out of twenty.  The wines are presented below in descending order of preference.  Scores are presented in the order John E, John S, Jane, Jill, ?, ?,?,?.  The prices quoted are what Chris paid after discount (she got 25% to 30% discount on many of the wines!).

1. Arc du Rhone, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 2011, French Red, Waitrose £12.62.

Clear favourite of the evening with half our team voting it top and most of the rest voting it highly was an amazing value Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  It tasted more mature than a 2011 and obviously had a popular taste, although for me it was a little thin.  Scores were 10.5, 15, 15, 14.5, 14, 15, 12.5 and 12.5.  During the 25% off season this is definitely worth considering but it is not as big a wine as some of its AOC.

2. Domaine De Trois Pierres, J.Boulard, Costieres De Nimes, 2011, French Red, Waitrose £6.92.

A wine that split the crew a little was this very reasonably priced little number from Waitrose again.  Three of our team voted of their favourite but myself and some others were less impressed. This was very popular with some due to its raspy mouth feel and black cherry taste.  For me it was a supermarket wine for the masses with little to distinguish it.    Scores were 11, 13.5, 16, 15, 12, 18, 11 and 11.5.  For most of us this was a real hit and thus you should consider buying a bottle.  Certainly this AOC is known for good value wines.

3. Domaine des Garrigues, Lirac 2011, French Red, Majestic £8.49.

Five of our team had this wine in their top three of the evening.  This wine had a definite astringency with some tannins and a blackberry taste that gave it a little sweetness on the palate.    Scores were 13, 14, 12, 14, 13.5, 14, 10.5 and 12.  Another good scoring wine from this AOC that is just across the river from Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

4.  Jean-Luc Colombo, La Redonne 2011, Cotes De Rhone, French White, Waitrose £9.25.

A surprisingly good white Rhone wine at under £10 was La Redonne which was a blend of Viognier and Rousanne grapes.  It fooled most of us because of its unusual tall bottle shape and taste and thus most of us thought this the imposter and some of us were convinced it was a Picpoul de Pinet.  It was a real citrus tasting refreshing wine that would make a great aperitif or seafood wine.   Scores were 10, 9, 12, 11, 10.5, 13, 11.5 and 11.5.  A nice little wine and definitely one to try if you find many of the Rhone whites rather flat.

5. Les Hauts de Pavieres, Cave De Tain, Crozes Hermitage, French Red, Waitrose £10.44.

This was my favourite wine of the evening but half the team voted it in last place which caused much merriment!  For me it was a typical 100% plummy Syrah at this price from this AOC.  Although I liked it, as did the other John,  the others found it boring and lacking in acidity.  Scores were 14, 14.5, 13, 10.5, 10, 14, 9.5, and 10.  A wine to consider if your name is John or you are a syrah/shiraz fan.

6. Chateau Guiot Rosé, Costiere De Nimes, French Rosé, Majestic, £6.92.

This rosé wine was a very pleasant cherry tasting Rhone wine that some of u thought might be a Tavel or Lirac.  A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, it was not universally loved, however, and thus came near the bottom of a very good selection of wines.  Scores were 13.5, 10, 15, 8, 9.5, 16, 10, and 9.5.  Definitely a rosé to consider at this price.

7. Domaine Sainte Rose, Le Marine Blanc, Marsanne-Rousanne 2011, IGP Pays D’Oc, French White, Majestic £7.99.

Five of our team had this in last place and only one  person had it in their top four.  Some thought it had a coconut aroma and others found it woody with little freshness.  For me it was a typically flat Southern Rhone White although in fact this was the imposter and came just outside the AOC.  Scores were 9.5, 8, 14, 9, 7, 14, 8.5 and 10. Not a favourite with us I’m afraid.

After this great selection of Rhone wines, it was no surprise that Chris got a round of applause.   She also served us some lovely food to pair with the wine including a great cheese board, meatballs, saucisson and venison sausage.

Another great Tongham Taster’s evening and we can now look forward to our Portuguese evening on Saturday 22nd  June.  If you want to join us click on Wine Circle for full details.  Our June evening will again be in Farnborough, Hampshire but hosted by Ian and Kathryn.

 

An excellent cheese board

No need to thank Clive for the photos as he was on holiday!  Thus you have to make to with my lesser efforts.

Thank you Chris and Andy for hosting a lovely wine tasting evening.  Well done for selecting such a good range of Rhone wines and managing to afford one of the big AOCs in the ones you presented us.

KANGAROO PIE BRINGS AN END TO AN ERA

The kangaroo before he ended up in the pie!

What was billed as the last of our big fund raising wine tasting dinners in Tongham Village Hall was held last week.  Again we raised about £1000.

Thanks to all who attended and made it a great evening.

 The menu, ably cooked by Jane and Chris was:

1. Cheese Scones, tomato jam and herb cream cheese – Wolf Blass Red Label Brut Sparkling Wine – an unusual but great way to start the evening.  Thanks to Matt Tebbutt for the recipe.

2. Seafood and rice with a curry dressing – Telegraph Station Semillon Dry White 2011 – showing off a reasonably priced fragrant dry version of the varietal and a dish showing off the Australian love of seafood and eastern flavours.
3. Butternut Squash Soup – Coombe Farm Yarra Valley Chardonnay Dry White 2011 – an unrestrained soup with chilli heat paired with a very old world style restrained Chardonnay (perhaps reminiscent of a Montagny).
4. Smooth Pork Paté and Melba Toast – Coombe Farm Yarra Valley Cabernet Merlot red wine 2008 – A nice rich pate with toast named after Dame Nellie Melba and a very good fruity wine that her descendants make.

5. Kangaroo Pie – Tim Adams Clare Valley Shiraz red wine 2009 – a kangaroo dish (meat sourced from Osgrow.com) that everyone loved paired with what was many of our guests favourite wine of the evening.
6.  Mature West Country Farmhouse Cheddar – Jim Barry The Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon red wine 2009 – A beautiful cheddar served with one of my favourite value Australian red wines.
7. Smashed Strawberry Pavlova with lime and mango coulis – De Bortoli Tesco Finest Dessert Semillon 2008 – A play on Eton Mess paired with a sweet wine that most of our guests really loved.
8. Anzac Biscuits - Coffee or tea - lovely sweet coconut biscuits to end the meal.

Imagine cooking eight courses for all of these people!

So ends a series of wine tasting dinners that started in April 2006 and has covered many of the worlds great wine regions.  From memory and some notes we have done:
Languedoc Rousillon and the South West of France (April 2006) – Raised £200 – 36 attendees
The Loire Valley (May 2007) – Raised £110 – 21 attendees
Bordeaux (February 2008) – Raised £204 - 32 attendees
The Rhone Valley (June 2008) – Raised £351 -37 attendees (first one with hot dishes)
Beaujolais and Macon (November 2008) – Raised £365 - 39 attendees
The rest of Burgundy (February 2009) – Raised £560 - 54 attendees (first one that was not a buffet)
Alsace (October 2009) – Raised £479  - 50 attendees
Champagne Gala Dinner (September 2010) – Raised £1,241 - 51 attendees
Spain and Tapas Fiesta (February 2011) – Raised £1,018 - 50 attendees
Italy – (July 2011) – Raised £330 - 36 attendees
New Zealand (November 2011) – Raised £1,013 - 62 attendees
The Mediterranean (March 2012) – Raised £ 378 - 32 attendees    
Andean Adventure, Chile and Argentina (November 2012) - Raised £818 - 64 attendees
Australia (April 2013) –Raised  £1,009 - 61 attendees

The hall now looks great compared to seven years ago!

Bob

So fourteen tastings in seven years.

Thanks to everyone who has been so vocal in their thanks for our efforts, helped create a good community spirit and have supported us in this fund raising of over £8,000 (excluding gift aid).  Special mentions must go to Bob Monk who has been a star with his support over the years and also to Christine, Margaret and Chris who have helped in the kitchen, Carol for selling the raffle tickets and to Patricia and many others who helped with the waitressing and Ruby, Jane, Jeremy and others who have helped with the set up.

Jane making the smashed pavlova dessert

It has been gratifying in these 7 years to see Tongham Village Hall change from a neglected under-used building to a beautiful and successful hall that is now used almost everyday of the year.

Jane got to sit down occasionally

It has been challenging over the years finding wine and food to hit a tight budget so that we could charge an affordable price (between £10 and £25 but with £35 a head for our Champagne Gala dinner) and raised money for the hall.  Also fun and gratifying but everything has to come to an end.

Jane bows out on a high!

Don't worry Tongham Tasters still continues and our next monthly wine tasting is next Friday.  Click on Wine Circle to find out more.    Thanks to Clive Greenfield for taking and contributing most of the pictures above.