Schools out for summer…

All of us gathered at Mark & Lindas for the last wine club before we ‘break’ for the summer…It felt like the end of term, spirits were high and our summer holidays are ahead of us… the weather was hot late into the night, the neighbours were already partying in the garden (we had some catching up to do).

The girls were in summery clothes & maxi dresses, we won’t mention Lindas underwear or lack of according to Mark (we’ll never know or need to know !!) the boys were all in shorts, we should have had a knobbly knees contest. That’s an opportunity missed.. or maybe not..

Spanish wines were on the agenda, very appropriate weather wise, did I mention it was very warm so warm we could have been in Madrid, no really, we have had a run of excellent weather ( I have to keep mentioning it, as you know the English always talk about the weather).

This is a funny clip about the hot weather and its so true…

Ooohh, my font has changed and it won’t change back

The plates of food had a Spanish flare to go with the four wines, two white and two red and a shocking result Mark actually ‘liked’ a white wine !

The evening was a very relaxed affair, no wine tasting forms to complete or doodle on (you know who you are), all very lovely BUT makes writing a Blog tricky, so I apologise now, I feel this post is going to be brief…although we chatted and laughed late into the night, many topics covered including our forthcoming holidays, everything from camping to cruising.  Lets hope Nick sleeps better when he’s away than he does at home, apparently his arms now get in the way !

We managed not to disturb the baby seagulls on the roof or upset their parents and avoid a swooping frenzy, if you’ve never seen agitated seagulls, beware, vicious is all I can say. Mark does an impression of baby seagulls popping their heads out of the nest (should have had a little video here) instead of sounding like spoken subtitles on TV.

I’m going to say we enjoyed all the wines but can’t remember if any particularly stood out this month. (obviously not) I know you are now thinking what a naff wine blog, sorry but the heats got to me and my memory is shot, I need a holiday !

When the first of us left at midnight (light weights) we said it felt like the end of school & we should be writing on each others shirts, at this point some looked at us as if we were mad, but I’m sure some of you know what I’m talking about.

So I think its time to stick a cork in it.

Happy holidays, see you after the summer.

Bye S x

Wine and Curry … yes really !

Happy New Year to you all….

We didn’t get off to a good start in 2017, Geoff and I have both been knocked for six with this chesty cough/sickness bug that’s doing the rounds. It really takes hold and gives no enthusiasm to do anything, so knowing we had the first wine club of the year proved a bit of a struggle, we just weren’t in the mood for deciding on the wine & the food.  The food particularly was the last thing I wanted to think about, even me, with my easy one pot specials, everyday style food (that most enjoy..I think ?!?) seemed too much trouble.

After spending a few hours in front of the TV (what else is one to do) then getting hooked on the Rick Stein foodie Weekend Break series, finally the drive to do something kicked in..hurrah..but then it was just what to do, we’ve been at it so long it was hard to come up with something fresh… eventually I threw the idea out there to Geoff, curry and wine, could it be done ?

Curry and wine I can almost feel you cringing as I type, there is a deep seated aversion to the idea of curry & wine but after some research (thank goodness for the internet) I started to realise it was possible, it was about picking dishes that weren’t too hot & spicy more along the lines of aromatic. Then these curries could be teamed with some of the more buttery/peach/apricot wines like Viognier.

I’d read that both red and green chilies, ginger, cumin, turmeric & garam masala are not remotely at war with wine, and unless the food is eye-wateringly hot (we’re talking vindaloo level), then there should be a perfectly familiar style of wine to enjoy with it. The general advice was to avoid the heavy reds, they need to be fruity & fresh. Other wines that are recommended and may work are Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, a not-too-oaky modern chardonnay and Aussie sémillon-chardonnay blends all have the right character.

I even read that there is a Greek(!) Viognier that held its own against tiger prawn curry & red pepper chutney – Domaine Gerovassiliou Epanomi 2013, gorgeous apparently !

Sharing a bit more of my findings with you – If you are into your fish curries I also read that they need something more delicate and refreshing. A crisp and young Italian white, clean and lightly citrussy, will match the delicate white fish and fresh green coriander but won’t clutter up things with any pesky complicated flavours. Gavi, soave or even a superior pinot grigio all work.

Michael Cervin Wine Judge, Restaurant Critic, and IntoWine Featured Writer said “Curry needs a wine to not compete with it, but to counter balance it. A Viognier does just that, taming some of the heat, but with decisive flavours.”

The other Top Tip was not to chill the whites too long – icy wine doesn’t suit these dishes. Instead, a short spell of 45 minutes in the fridge should just give a cool, refreshing edge to the wine without muting its flavours and aromas any further when next to the spices.

So with the help of my beloved Pinterest (1,400 followers to date..probably doesn’t impress you but I’m pleased) I was able to find some lighter curry dishes to go with the wines. There were a number of dishes so makes matching a wine a bit more tricky. So I consulted our local wine expert Lawrence Page and he recommended two and I bought another from Sainsbury.  The plan being to see which we thought went best with the curry.

Meal: Chicken tikka style curry, vegetable balti, bombay potatoes, lentil dhal, chickpeas, naan & rice none of which were too spicy. After spending a big chunk of the day cooking I thought, well if it tastes awful we can always pop down to the curry house at the bottom of the road!

I also ventured into the land of desserts, I rarely make desserts, however, having become addicted to the Rick Steins long weekends, the last one we watched he was in Thessaloniki and he made a really easy peach and honey filo pie, so give it a go I thought… could I find the recipe online anywhere, no… so I thought I’d watch the programme again on catchup but never got round to it, so I thought, I know I’ll wing it, risky (!) as I don’t do desserts.. all was well until it came out of the oven when it had a bit of a sad soggy look to it… so I wasn’t going to serve it, but the chaps insisted, it obviously tasted better than it looked as there was none left (lets hope they weren’t sick the next day…)

Wines:

Sainte Celine Premier Cru Chablis 2014 Northern Burgundy 13.5% £19

McManis Viognier 2014 California 14.5% £11.70

Irene Morals Chardonnay 2014 Chile 14.5% £10.27

Overall they all went with the curry, the Viognier scored the most with 5 of us finding it the best match, followed by the Chablis, the Chardonnay however was considered too busy in aromas & flavours and the only one at the end of the evening that had a bit left in the bottle. So in that respect we were right, on reading the bottle it mentions a slight oak aromas, butterscotch, butter, pineapple & vanilla, is there anything else they could through into the mix ??

Without the curry the Chablis was most popular with its elegant exotic flavours. It was random between the three wines who could guess which was which, so I’m blaming that on the curry … Someone wrote on their tasting notes confused.com !

When it came to the unveiling I asked Jacqui if she could unravel them, now that’s confused.com…

The selection of chocolates with the coffee looked like a tasting for animal poo samples, not that I have ever seen or been to an animal poo tasting evening you understand!!

As always its a lot of work preparing for the evening (I think we all think this, the good thing is its about 5 months before your next turn comes around) but everyone one seemed to enjoy themselves and that really does make it all worthwhile and around midnight they all  headed out into the freezing cold & home.

Geoff & I were only saying this morning, its must be 14 years since we started Wine Club Uncorked, now that’s not bad going.

In 14 years it must be the first time EVER that Terry and Karen arrived before the others, even they were impressed !!

Well time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

 

 

 

 

 

Elegant & complex -v- Spicy & juicy

 

Before I get started a couple of announcements…

Firstly Helen, the baby of our group, turned 50..

I know you are shocked I bet you thought we were ALL under 50

Happy Birthday..

Banners and bunting adorned the room.

AND, get your hats out everybody, Steve & Helen got engaged !!

Nope, not a picture from the evening, but a previous one, where they won a prize, although one would say they look just as happy with a box of chocolates!

Lets hope Steve didn’t combine the engagement ring as a birthday gift ?!?!

***

Our hosts for November were Mark and Linda, they were the first to try our new wine club formula, well not really a formula more of a change of direction.  We unanimously (well nearly) decided that instead of each couple bringing a bottle of mid-priced wine , the host would buy two bottles of wine to the value of £40’ish,  the irony was that Mark wasn’t keen on the idea, as he enjoyed drinking all the leftover half bottles during the following week..sort of a ‘hosting perk’.

The theory behind the change was that we end up leaving a lot of wine and maybe this way we would also get to try wines that we would probably not generally buy, unless it was a special occasion. Turned out it was much harder to buy wine over £15 per bottle than you’d expect, just proves where the supermarkets like to pitch in at.  Needless to say Waitrose to the rescue on this occasion. Looks like we might have to consult the local wine merchants for future meetings.  We’ll see how the formula works out after we have all had a turn at buying the more expensive ones, just to keep things fair.

Anyone make a guess at Mark & Lindas choice of wine…. yep. FRENCH.. but you will be shocked Mark had wandered across France away from his beloved Bordeaux to the villages of Burgundy. (Secretly jumping up and down, I’m a big fan of white Burgundy).

We started with a terrifically hard quiz on wines from the region, we worked in teams, Helen & Steve nearly had a domestic (could have been their first domestic when Steve disagreed with Helens answers and proceeded to do his own) needless to say a wasted effort anyway because they didn’t win (hah) … Terry and I did with an amazing 7 out of 10 !!  (That’s why I said it was a very hard quiz!!)

Onto the wines, as the wines were pricey I have added the official tasting notes for more detail because as you know we get carried away talking and eating.

Esprit de Chablis  12.5%  2014 £19.99 from Waitrose

http://www.waitrosecellar.com/fine-wine/esprit-de-chablis-premier-cru

We found this Chablis elegant and complex (as they say in the trade), it was crisp and lemony in a not too zesty kind of way and some gentle floral notes. It also had a minerally finish. We liked it a lot, most of us felt that it was worth the money.  I’d certainly pick up a bottle or two to have over Christmas.

The Official Waitrose Tasting Notes:

Chablis never seems to falter in popularity and this Premier Cru is a real style icon. It has been made exclusively for Waitrose by the Cave des Vignerons de Chablis. Elegant and complex, this superb crisp white is brimming with fresh, lemony fruit and honeysuckle flavour and has a fantastically steely, dry and smoky finish

The Chardonnay vines used to create this Chablis are planted on the right and left banks of the Serein River, in the Chablis Premier Cru terroirs on the famous Kimmeridgian soils. The wine was matured on fine lees in a combination of tanks and small oak barrels for 12 months to add a beautiful complexity of flavour.

Expert reviews Liam Steevenson MW · Waitrose Wine Buyer

Chablis is a wine region that holds many great memories for me. There are some wonderful winemakers and exceptionally stylish wines – it’s a real privilege to be able to work on wines like this. Here we’ve used grapes from some of the best premier cru sites in the region and I think it shows. There’s the smoky minerality that comes through in good Chablis, underpinned by some fantastically elegant citrus flavours and a gentle, rich, subtle florality.

This was followed by a delicious red:

Savigny-Les-Beaune  13% 2013 from Waitrose

I think we finally found a Pinot Noir that we liked, smooth and fruity with a nice amount spice. It was a rather nice bright purple colour too. Another on the Christmas buy list, I think my brother and Dad will enjoy a glass (or two of this !).

The Official Tasting Notes:

This is a super value village burgundy, and a big favourite with our team. The first wine we tried from Jean-Jacques when we introduced his wines some years ago, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Lightish in style, but supple and complex with perfume and spice, and juicy, sweetish red berry fruit. Drink 2016-2019

One of Burgundy’s oldest surviving family estates, the Girard story began in 1529, when Jean Girard began cultivating grapes in Savigny-Les-Beaune. This wine begins fermentation in stainless steel before transfer into mainly old French oak barrels. It is bright, clear and crisp, with delicate aromas of gunflint and oak toast, and a palate of citrus and gentle honeysuckle flavour.

The food was a beautifully cooked Coq-au-vin that had been on the go all day, a bit like Mark and Linda. Mark followed  an old recipe from a favourite cookbook, maybe we can get him to share it with us (that’s the recipe not the book).

We all had a lovely evening, apart from Karen, who Terry had left home alone with just a cold for company, the possibility, no the almost certainty, that there WOULD be desserts had won over the caring & sharing duties..

Well done chaps a good evening all round with very superb wines, well selected. (No pressure Jacqui for December)

Time to stick a cork in it for another month.

Biggy next month the Christmas get together, don’t forget those Secret Santa presents !

Bye x

 

 

Très Bien …

An evening of very good French wines at our house (in the new kitchen)… we used the Wine Folly tasting sheet, which at first makes you think, what the… then you realise it is simple and you could (if lazy) just complete the sad or smile face – wine-tasting-placemates

It was actually the first really warm evening we have had this summer, so drinkies in the garden, well bit of a building site still, rather than a glorious garden. I had to drag them in to start eating and tasting but to be quite honest when we get together now we really don’t need the wine.  By that I don’t mean we don’t actually need any wine, its more of we don’t need the actual wine tasting.  We are all pleased to get together for a good old chat, gossip and general catch up.  At each wine tasting now the host is always left with half bottles of wine that have to be finished up during the week.  As you can imagine this is a complete nightmare (not).

The thinking behind French wines was inspired by thoughts of wonderful holidays to be had in France, for us particularly Provence, maybe next year in our camper, blue skies, beautiful hilltop villages, colourful markets filled with fresh produce and plenty of sunshine.. get the picture…

The girls brought me lovely flowers including some happy looking sunflowers (so French) and some delicious biscuits that Jacqui just had to buy as French themed. It has now become our new biscuit tin.

Onto the wines:

Elegant Frog (Just had to buy for the great looking label & name)

Viognier 2015 13.5%  bought from Sainsbury £7.99

A very light coloured delicate wine  with gentle aroma and flavours – very good and VERY deceptive wine at 13.5% you’d be drunk and wonder why, with its innocent ‘elegant’ taste.

Pouilly Fume 2012  12.5% bought from Tesco around £10-£12

Zingy was the word that described this wine the best, bursting with citrus flavours a real contrast to the one before and we LIKED it.

Chablis 2013 12.5% bought from M & S £12

Oh, what a grown up wine this was, I mentioned this and was then told I couldn’t have any .. so I stood up screamed and had a right paddy until I got my own way !!

A creamy smooth wine, we were happy to have more, Nick, said he was happy to have ‘any’ (we don’t think he was talking about the wine.. nudge nudge wink wink).

Lastly a French red and no Mark in sight, but thank you Linda for bringing it and a real surprise at the unveiling, it was a Malbec, we didn’t guess that. Delicious rich and fruity and full of raisin flavours.

Malbec 2015 12.5% bought at Tesco £7.99 (Probably not rough enough for mark, that’s rough in the French rustic kind of way!)

What a really ‘nice’ evening.  No wine club in August, its summer so we all do so much more..life in the fast lane !!

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x

 

..And the heavens opened

We all received our invitation to celebrate The Queens birthday… at Jacqui & Nicks, tasting English wines or from the Commonwealth at a push.  I am sure our ‘actual’ invitations to the Queens birthday celebrations were lost in the post.

Wine Club in May = Nick and BBQ and we weren’t disappointed, Nick was out there grilling away the most delicious chicken.  Such a shame the heavens opened as we arrived and topped by some thunder and lightening..don’t you just love early summer in England.

We all managed to find an English wine, a few years ago this would have been extremely difficult but now you can pick something up at most supermarkets. Except ‘That Mark’, I think if we look back over the last few months there is a rebellious streak forming, of bringing along what he feels like and not what its supposed to be.  To the point Jacqui had given Mark specific instructions that French wines were not allowed this time.  So no, he didn’t bring along French he brought Australian, now I know you are saying but it said Commonwealth, but hey, he didn’t even try to get an English wine, he went into that well known wine specialist shop, Martell Press (a Stationary shop for those not local) and asked them where he could buy some, funny enough, they didn’t have a clue but did a nice line in pens !!  Had he gone to Aldi at the far end of the High Street he would have had the choice of three !  There was talk of black balling, detention, expelling and maybe banning him from French wines, his favourite, for a year.

We started with drinkies, dips and chats with a glass of fizz (English) really full of flavour, a 1503 Sparkling wine, or 1503 from St Pancras as we called it. Well it amused us !

This was followed by our Sparkling bought at Aldi (yep, just down the road from Martell Press). £14.99 – Denbies Broadwoods Folly , est. 1986 wines grown in Dorking Surrey the largest single vineyard in the UK (who’d have thought) I quite liked it, although it was more acidic than the 1503, it also had more floral notes and a much lighter colour.

Interesting wrapping on the next bottle, brought along by Steve & Helen, the wrapping all pink and black lace, the chain of thought was pants… as in knickers not it was pants as in horrid as in Henry.. follow ?!?

Anyway, the wine, Stopham Estate Pinot Blanc 2014 £15.99 from M & S. A light refreshing wine with delicate citrus notes ” a delicate English pear” as mentioned in The Guardian. We thought flavours of lychee and guava, that’s guava not guano as someone said, although maybe they thought it did taste like bat droppings !

Third up was Harbourne 2011, very local to us, a small family owned vineyard in Ashford, Kent. This wine reminded us of German wines mainly because of the bottle shape, which also made it look a bit dated.  It was a pleasant wine but they need some marketing help.

Then the Wolf Blass Chardonnay – a hate to say it but they are very drinkable from Wolf Blass.

We finished with a Chapel Down flint Dry 2014, no tasting would be complete without this brand making an appearance, probably the one most people know.  They certainly have their marketing covered.  It tasted like the smell of pink germoline, you know the pink gunky stuff in the little round tin. It tasted of blackcurrants and liquorice, we liked it.

 We ended the meal, some very heated debate and the wines with dessert and a particularly tasty Lemon Posset.

 

We have tasted English wines before:

http://wineclubuncorked.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_01_archive.html

Well that’s it for another month, a lovely evening.

Time to stick a cork in it.

Bye S x