The Wine Club enjoyed another entertaining evening this month. The theme this time was pairing cheeses with different wines and with all of the Committee members introducing the wines. All nine of the cheeses were purchased at Greys in Pangbourne and particular favourites were the Cerne Abbas which was paired with a Chardonnay (Alamos Catena, Mendoza ) and the Delice des Cremier (a soft cheese paired with a Pinot noir). The Stinking Bishop cheese had very mixed reviews although the dessert wine (Calcaia Muffa Nobile Dolce Orvieto ) with which it was paired was well received. The tawny port which ended the evening seemed a particular hit. On 22 June we will have the annual BBQ and, as places are limited, please book early to avoid disappointment.

Ellie Bunston

In the April Wine Club meeting Dermot Padden talked us through the wines of South Africa. All wines were purchased though Avery’s. My personal favourites were Vondeling Sauvignon Blanc (white) and Pioneer Range Pinotage 2009 (red). We learnt a lot about wine in South Africa including that vines started there from 1655, that SA is the 30th driest country in the world, and that it has 100, 568 hectares for wine production. In 2012 872.2 million litres of wine will be produced there. In recent years 40% of the vineyards have been replanted. There are 20 varieties of white grapes and 21 reds. Next meeting will see us pairing wines with cheeses , and each of the committee members speaking again. In June we hope to have fair weather for our annual BBQ!

Ellie Bunston

This month’s meeting saw each of the Committee members and two members showing their favourite wines. With eight different wines and eight different speakers it was a lively and entertaining evening.

The favourite white of the evening was a Villebois Pouilly Fume 2011 from Naked Wines, which was very popular among the group. This French sauvignon blanc proved to be more popular than the New Zealand sauvignon blanc also shown. The favourite red of the evening was an Argentinian Lunta Malbec 2010 from Majestic Wines.

Next month we are going to be exploring the wines of South Africa with guest speaker Dermot Paddon.

Ellie Blunston

The month of February saw Mike Collins give a tour of eight classic grape varieties – Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. We learnt that whilst a grape variety will be quoted on the label it is that of the dominant variety and can have other, unlisted grapes included; that, by law, the French can’t grow Riesling within 50 kilometres of the German border and that we are not to confuse Petite Syrah with Syrah as this is a name used in California and is not the Syrah grape!

The most popular wines seemed to be Kuentz-Bas Tradition Reisling (£8.95) and J Lohr Sevenoaks Cabernet Sauvignon from California (£12.50)- both available from the Wine Society.

We also found out about the Phylloxera bug that injects a poison to kill grape vines and that no insecticide can kill it. There is still a reward available from the French government on anything found to kill it!! France lost 6.2 million acres to the bug in the late 1800’s (only have about 2.3 million acres now).

Next month sees the committee members and two regular speakers showing some of their favourites wines (within budget!) and with eight speakers in the evening it should be an interesting affair.

New members are always welcome and there is an application form downloadable on the Upton Village website.

Ellie Bunston

The January meeting of the Upton Wine Appreciation Club was well attended when Simon Powell led a very informative evening on the wines of the Piedmont region of North West Italy. Simon has visited family in the area so has first-hand experience of this region which led to a fascinating talk about the wines and the area generally. Of the eight wines tasted the most popular ones seemed to be an Alasia Cortese white (£5 from Waitrose) and a Barbera D’Asti 2009 red (£5.95 from The Wine Society). Amongst the other wines sampled was a dry red, Ghemme 2004 loppa (£10.95 from The Wine Society) and a sparkling Moscato d’Asti 2012 (£6.50 from The Wine Society). We learned about the popular wines of the region which include Barolo and Barbaresco from the native Nebbiolo grape variety. As well as introducing the wines Simon gave us a brief history of the region and described his walks in the countryside, which varies from mountains to gentle hillsides to rice paddies.

The Club is very grateful to Simon for yet another entertaining evening.

For more information on the Club please see the page on the Village website where there is a link to a downloadable application form.

Ellie Bunston

Upton Wine Appreciation Club – December 2012 – Sparkling and Dessert Wines

Our annual favourites Fiona and Will were persuaded to do another talk on sparkling and dessert wines.

Fiona began with a theme of comparing Supermarket sparkling wines and described the process of tank and traditional method wine production with the aid of hand-outs for making sparkling wines and

First up was the Underraga Brut (12%) from Chile (£5.99 reduced from £9.99). A Club favourite and a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This wine went down well again with the members.

Sainsbury’s “Taste the Difference” Cava 2009 (11.5%) £10.49 was next up. Made by the “Methode Traditional” (the same process as Champagne). Made from Chardonnay, Macabeu, Parellada and Xarel-Lo grapes. You could really “Taste the Difference”! Citrusy and biscuity and I got cloves on the nose. I don’t think this one will be a Club favourite by some of the comments in the room.

Tesco’s Finest Premier Cru NV (12.5%) £14.99 reduced from £19.99. A blend of the classic and well known Champagne grapes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Fresh, dry and with a good mousse this wine went down well with the members.

Sainsbury’s Blanc De Noirs NV (12%) £18.00. Made from only the black “Champagne grapes” – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. A nice bright wine with a little yeast detected by my taste buds.

Bollinger Special Cuvee (12%) £32.00 Majestic Wines. Fiona explained the different Cru’s of Champagne and the hierarchy of the vineyards that grow the grapes for the production of Champagne. Fiona also explained that Bollinger along with other Champagne producers strive to produce the same wine year on year despite different yearly weather conditions and keep wine back year on year to blend for new vintages. Overall a nice wine.

With Fiona’s voice managing to get though the sparkling wines Will got up to show the sweet and stickies beginning with Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese, 2007, JJ Prüm (7%) £27.00 (The Wine Society). A good wine with a low ABV due to the fermentation being halted early to keep the sweetness of the wine. Went well with the mince pies made by Chris!

The sparkling Moscato D’Asti by Elio Perrone, 2011 (5%) £6.50 (The Wine Society) made by the “Asti Method” in the Piedmont region of Italy. Sweet chilled and fizzy an interesting wine.

Next was The Society’s Exhibition Sauternes, 2009 (14%) £ 18.00 The Wine Society. Made by the father and son team Pierre and Denis Dubourdieu in Barsac from 75% semillon, 20% sauvignon, 5% muscadelle this was the favourite of the evening. Will explained the intricate and time consuming process of selecting the rotting grapes bunches and even individual berries which goes in to making this wine and helps to explain why these style of wine cost as much as they do.

Finally Will finished the evening with Henriques & Henriques Malvasia, 10 years old Madeira (20%) £17.00 (The Wine Society). You could feel your teeth melt with this one! Nice sweet and sticky with a slightly dry touch which will go well with Christmas cake, mince pie and cheeses.

A big thank you to Fiona and Will for their research on the wines and preparation of the food to go with the wines and thanks to Emily for her help with the smoked salmon Blinis and Chris for her mince pies!

Hope to see you next month for an evening with Simon in the Piedmont Region of Italy!

Kevin Jacklin

Wine of the Languedoc and Roussillon with a Vertical Tasting of Domaine O’Vineyards O’Syrah ’06, ’07, ’08 and ’09

Virgile Joly Sauvignon 2011 – £6.99 (Naked Wines)

Subtle soft fruit flavours, all fresh apple and baked gooseberry with a slightly herbal edge.

Went down well with the majority of the members. The wine maker has a book named after him “Virgile’s Vineyard” written by Patrick Moon who inherits a vineyard and describes a year in the Languedoc with Virgile.

Bourboulenc, Domaine de Simonet, Vin de Pays de l’Aude, 2011 – £7.50 (The Wine Society)

The bourboulenc grape is an ancient Languedoc variety which probably originated in Greece. It is usually blended but this was a chance to taste it on its own. Fresh, vibrant with a twist of saltiness.

A bit of a mixed reaction but generally liked.

Côtes du Roussillon Blanc, Les Glaciaires, Domaine Gardiés, 2010 – £10.75 (The Wine Society)

A full and fruity white from the Roussillon made from Grenache, both Blanc and Gris, Macabeu and Roussanne.

A wine with a lot going on. The Macabeu and Roussanne giving it a different dimension!

Hegarty Chamans Blanc Minervois 2008 – £10.99 (£14.99)

A blend of Rousanne and Marsanne from the South of France It’s made under organic and bio-dynamic principles of the 27 day Moon cycle and includes no filtering and no artificial products.

A real “marmite” wine. Members either loved it or hated it! Frankie described some of the bio-dynamic principles which seem to border on the occult but seems to work!

PS – It was a “Flower” day when we tasted it.

Domaine O’Vineyards – O’Syrah ’06, ’07, ’08 and ’09

Although wine club is in its 7^th year this was the first time we’d actually done a vertical tasting largely due to the fact that it’s quite difficult to get more than 2 or 3 vintages of the same wine. However, most winemakers keep a stock of each vintage back for themselves to taste/drink each year and Liz and Joe O’Connell were kind enough to supply us with the vintages we couldn’t get hold of through Naked Wines so we were able to taste their O’Syrah from 2009 back to 2006.

The intention had been for Joe to take us through the tasting but unfortunately due to last minute unforeseen travel problems Liz and Joe couldn’t make it.

As we hadn’t run a vertical tasting before we weren’t quite sure what to expect and how much difference people would find between each year, but once we started tasting the wines it became clear that each year certainly had its own characteristics within the overall O’Syrah style.

We started with 2009 and worked our way back to 2006 and here are our / Joe’s notes for each vintage:

O’Syrah 2009

The Languedoc had only a few millimetres of rain from June to August, and temperatures and total hours of sunshine were higher than usual. In many places the harvest started two or three weeks earlier than usual.

• 2009 O’Syrah: Fresher, more fruit than we generally get from the Syrah. Easy to drink now and probably better in a couple of years. – Joe O’Connell

Most agreed that the wine is on the young side but well received. Needs a couple more years

O’Syrah 2008

A year characterised by a highly variable climate and summer drought, giving a small but healthy but quality harvest.

• 2008 O’Syrah: I find this vintage much more spicy and earthy than the 09. Much more typical of the “terroir”. Our Syrah is surrounded by fields of herbs of the “garrigues” – Joe O’Connell

Still a little young but beginning to mellow.

O’Syrah 2007

A mild winter and then a cool spring with rain. Summer was late with two freak storms in early June which provided one third of the annual rain in two hours! Summer arrived, but it was not the scorching heat wave of previous years or that everyone was expecting. Strong north winds moderated the temperature and nights were cool.

• 2007 O’Syrah: although similar to the 06, the 07 was more approachable from the beginning. and for me, is a little bit fresher. I have actually served it a bit chilled during the summer. The aging was done in 500 litre oak barrel, but it was the 2nd wine which probably explains the lighter fresher feel. This wine was served at the wedding of Michelin chef Jerôme Ryon (chef at Hotel de la Cité, Carcassonne). – Joe O’Connell

Voted the best wine of the evening!

O’Syrah 2006

Winter and spring 2006 bought rain to replenish the water table, flowering was on time and summer came with dry conditions and prospects of another hot summer. July was very hot and no rain. August evolved into a surprisingly below-average temperature month but without any noticeable precipitation. The ripening process became uneven during August, causing some concern, as grape varieties were ripening at different speeds and the harvest prospects looked worrying as to timing and quality but all turned out well.

• 2006 O’Syrah: extremely full bodied (earthy). A wine that at this stage continues to get better with age. Probably due to the aging in new 500 litre oak barrels that had been used for 8 week vinification of the 2006 Proprietor’s Reserve. Definitely a wine for food. – Joe O’Connell

The consensus was this wine was beginning to fade and should be drunk up!

Overall and interesting and informative evening and a promise from Liz and Joe to come over and speak on their wines soon!

Kevin Jacklin

The speaker at the October meeting of the Club was Derek Whitmell who entertained us with a tasting of the wines of the Southern Rhone. Derek last covered this region for the Club in March 2007 and identified a price increase of between 30% and 40% over the intervening period. As in 2007 all the 8 wines chosen came from The Wine Society at Stevenage, which has again won awards for National Wine Merchant of the Year and which has a growing number of members in the village. In 2007 Derek asked members to score each of the wines and this was repeated this time with some interesting results where we were able to make a like for like comparison. In particular the white Côtes-du-Rhône from Domaine La Réméjeanne scored much less well than previously whereas the red from Domaine Jaume was more popular.

The most successful wines of the evening were:

Whites, Lirac Blanc La Fermade 2011 from Domaine Maby @ £8.95 and Saint Péray, La Sauvagère 2011 from Paul Jaboulet Aîné @ £12.50. Reds, Côtes-du-Rhône du Friande 2011 from Domaine Jaume @ £6.50, Vinsobres Cuvée Référence 2008, Domaine Jaume @ £10.95, The Society’s Exhibition Gigondas, 2006 @ £12.50 and the most popular wine of the evening Rasteau, Domaine des Escaravailles, 2010 @ £7.95.

We are very grateful to Derek for all his hard work in respect of this most enjoyable evening.

Our next meeting will be on 21^st November when we will welcome a return visit from the team at O’Vineyards near Carcasonne in France. Liz and Joe O’Connell will be giving us a “vertical” tasting of one of their wines from the 2006 vintage through to the 2009 one, thereby letting us identify the differences created by the weather. There will also be 4 white wines from their neighbours. As a result of their generosity and some great negotiations by Kevin and Frankie Jacklin, this meeting will be at our usual rate of £5 per person.

Anyone interested in joining needs to complete an application form which can be found on the Upton Village web site or by contacting me on 850989.

Mike Collins

The Annual General Meeting was held at the start of the meeting on 19^th September, the first after the Club’s summer break.  The secretary, Kevin Jacklin, reported that the club had 66 members and that an average of 41 attended meetings during the past year when 75 different wines had been tasted.  Frankie Jacklin presented the audited accounts which showed that the club was on a sound financial footing. No increase in annual membership or meeting costs was proposed. Mike Collins, chairman, thanked the committee, the speakers and the members for all their support.   Ellie Bunston was elected to join the committee, replacing Chris Traynor who wished to stand down. The remainder of the committee continues unchanged.

Mike Collins introduced the wine tasting following the theme of “Let’s Try something Different”.

During the AGM we tried an Upton version of Kir Royale made from Undurraga Sparkling Pinot Noir (Chile) and Blackcurrant Schnapps (Germany) which helped to lubricate the formalities.

The subsequent wines were taken from parts of the world that had not been previously been explored in the Club’s tastings. Among them the following stood out:

A Goteoldal Single Vineyard  Pinot Grigio from the Hilltop Estate, Hungary (2011)  with a full ripe, and truly flavoured  pinot grigio, impressed the club and was at a reasonable price (£6.25).

The club has never before tasted a Valpolicella wine from Italy. This had gained a poor reputation through over exploitation in the years after 1968 when the DOC regulations were introduced.  Changes made in 2003 have reversed the trend. The wine tasted, Torre del Falasco, Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso, 2010, DOC, made a good impression on tasting, with the ripasso process adding complexity and concentration.  At £8.95, it was thought good value.  Since this wine was tasted blind, we were amazed that one cognoscenti present accurately identified the wine!

Massaya Classic 2009 from the Bekka Valley, Lebanon also impressed the club. This wine, 60% cinsault, 20% cabernet sauvignon and 20% syrah had been made with the help of experts from Burgundy and the Rhone in France and clearly showed their influence. At £9.95 it was well received.

The evening was brought to a close by a magnificent dessert wine, Seewinkle Eisiwein, 2008 made by Jana Klein in Austria from the Gruner Veltliner grape. The concentrated exquisite flavours stood out  and compensated for the very high cost of a wine (£20 for 50cl) which most of us would not normally ever taste.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 17^th October when Derek Whitmell will introduce wines from the Southern Rhone. Anybody interested in joining the club should contact Mike Collins (tel.  850989) or Kevin Jacklin (851404).

At the April meeting of the Wine Club Derek Whitmell presented a talk on the Wines of Australia and compared the present situation with that of three years ago. He had researched the current prices of some of the wines he selected for the 2008 meeting and had found that they were now between 13% and 35% dearer. It appears that most of the Australian wine, sold in the U.K., is produced by three very large companies, using a variety of labels and is shipped in bulk and bottled here for the supermarkets, which have 70% of the market. This wine is often referred to as “industrial wine”. Derek expressed his preference for wines made and bottled on site by small producers and had obtained these both from The Wine Society and also from Waitrose.

The first of the whites was a Semillon from Peter Lehmann in the Barossa Valley. This was only 10.5% alcohol and had a good clean taste. At £9.95 a bottle it was not cheap but would make an excellent aperitif especially if served in the garden on a sunny summer’s day. This was followed by a “blind tasting” of two chardonnays, the first was an oaked Australian wine and the second an unoaked one from the Macon-Vergisson area of France. It would have been easy to believe that these were from two totally different grape varieties such was the influence of the oak and it was enlightening to taste the one against the other. The final white was an excellent Pinot Grigio made by Brown Brothers and bought from Waitrose at £7.99.

The red wines started with another “blind tasting” between a Grenache/Syrah blend from Vacqueras in the Southern Rhone and a very similar one from Australia’s McLaren Vale. These were followed by a Shiraz/Cabernet from the Margaret River area of Western Australia – a powerful wine that needed to be drunk with food. Lastly we had a 2008 Icarus Shiraz from McLaren Vale purchased from The Wine Society at only £5.50 – an excellent wine which sold out within the first few weeks of being listed.

We are indebted to Derek for all his hard work and for providing us with such an enjoyable evening.

Mike Collins