It was a cold Wednesday wine club night
this month but with the prospect of trying
some very different wines, we had a record
attendance for January, with 30 people
coming along. Natural wines, including
organic, biodynamic, and no-sulphite wines,
are simply ones that have far less
intervention in the growing and production
process. You may sometimes see a cloudy
wine, which simply means it has not gone
through the filtration process nearly all the
wines we drink have experienced. The
result can be a very different tasting
wine….and we found some wonderful
examples!
To start the evening, we had a delightful crisp and refreshing sparkling rose
called Lia Pet-Nat, from a small vineyard just outside Logrono, the capital of
Rioja region. If you see Pet-Nat on a bottle it simply means the wine has
gone through a natural fermentation process in the bottle using nothing but
the natural sugars from the grape. The fresh fruit taste of apples and pears
worked very well with some welcome cake that was brought in from a
member, who was celebrating their 50th Birthday – we’ll mention no names
but you know who you are
Our first white of the evening was a blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon
Blanc called Basic Instinct. Produced with minimal intervention, from the
Languedoc-Roussillon region of France where the clay soils contain the
perfect retention of water, allowing the Mediterranean climate to create
some wonderful citrus flavours with exotic fruit and crisp green apples. Well
worth a try with or without food!
Our next wine was an unfiltered, cloudy wine called “No es Pituko”, Chilean
slang for “it ain’t fancy”. To make a wine from such “simple” minimal
interventions does take great talent, and this really was a great example.
The grape variety was Viognier and if you like that then definitely one to
try, unlike any other viognier you have experienced! The dry long
Mediterranean summers create a really vibrant peach and tropical fruit
flavour – we wanted to try something a little different and this didn’t
disappoint!
Our final white for the evening was an Australian wine from a vineyard just
by the Frankland River in Western Australia. With the climate being kept at
a moderately cool temperature (hardly ever going above 30 degrees!), the
grapes are allowed to enjoy the sun for much longer without being too sun
kissed! The Fiano grape produces a rich flavour of quince and fig with notes
of tropical peach. Worth trying on these cold days and drifting off to
somewhere warmer!
Our first red was an orange wine! If you buy on looks alone then you would
not fail to be attracted this wonderful deep orange wine, made by allowing
the skins and seeds from multiple grape varieties, macerated for three
months, far longer at this stage of the process than most wines. The result
was a very floral wine on the nose and if the colour orange had a taste, this
would be it!
The first real red was made from the Braucol grape from the Domaine
Gayrard, towards the South of France. Not a common variety but said to
originate from the Carmenère family. This wine has been hand harvested
from very old vines, which enjoy the clean living of no herbicides or
insecticides being used during the growing season. The dark-skinned grape
produced a lovely wild blackcurrant grape flavour loved by many on the
evening.
Our next red was a Grenache from Chateau de Campuget, 17km south of
Nimes, made without sulphites and from sustainably cultivated grapes. If
you like Grenache wine then this was well received by the members, very
fresh and crisp clear cherry flavour!
To finish the evening we had a Malbec produced by an innovative up and
coming wine producer called Emmanuel Rybinski. With a small parcel of
land in the Cahors region he has been practicing organic production of
grapes since 2015. With this wine we sampled a rich plum and berry wine –
perfect for that winter stew!
Next month we are asking what we mean by “value for money”. With such
a wide range of wines to try, are you getting what you expect from behind
some of those prestigious labels? If you would like to come along or want
more details, please see our website: www.uptonwineclub.com
Ian Langley
If you would like to come along and see what we are all about then please
do get in contact at mail@uptonwineclub.com

The Upton Wine Club was established nearly 20 years ago. Yes, it’s primary purpose was to broaden the knowledge of wine for anyone interested. A very close second however, was to allow the residents of Upton to catch up for a “bit of a social”. The December wine club was a great example of that!
For the past few years, rather than the usual presentation of 8 wines for our members to try, we put on a festive dinner and with nearly 60 people attending, we were just about at capacity!
In true village spirit, people arrived early to help set all the tables up. A core team from the committee had prepared the food and set to task, putting the village kitchen’s facilities to stretching point to get all the food out!
Over the course of a very enjoyable few hours, we enjoyed prawn cocktail starters, a full turkey roast dinner, which was finished off with sticky toffee pudding and mince pies! There was plenty of wine to accompany the food topped of by wonderfully rich and smooth Pedro Ximenez sherry to pair with the pudding –“Christmas in a glass”, which if you have never tried it is a must (provided you like the taste of Xmas pudding!).
The evening was made all the better with a high level of chat throughout the hall, lots of good spirit from many in helping get the food out to everyone, a few raffle prizes to add a bit more fun to the evening and to top it all, Rob and Fiona singing live between courses to keep everyone entertained, whilst the kitchen became a hive of activity with food preparation!
For this meeting at least, the wine took a back seat, whilst the members of the wine club and their friends enjoyed a great Christmas get together –proof, if it were ever needed that wine is so much more than just a drink!

Ian Langley
If you would like to come along and see what we are all about then please
do get in contact at mail@uptonwineclub.co

It was great to see over 40 members and several guests come along to the
November wine club, where we enjoyed a comparison of some Crémants
followed by a few Ports. Crémants are French sparkling wines, made with
differing grapes (which gives you a different taste depending on the region)
but all made in the same style as the much more expensive champagne (i.e.
a second fermentation in the bottle)!
First we tried a Poulet & Fils Crémant de Die. The principle grape variety
here was a less well known Clairette Blanche, which gave it an apple torte
taste. Went down well with some members but less so with others, which is
great as the point of the club is to help you decide what wine is right for
you!
Next we tried a Cuvée Royale from Limoux. Made from 70% Chardonnay,
this was compared to champagne by some members, maybe because the
same grape can be found in both?
Next was a Crémant de Bordeaux. Unlike the other wines, this was made
with predominantly from the red Merlot grapes, which would have been
difficult to spot as just the white juice from this grape was used in
production, leaving a crisp white sparking wine, with some brioche and
apple notes to taste.
We then moved on to a Crémant from the Jura region, Domaine do
Montbourgeau. This was a 100% Chardonnay sparkling wine, bone dry and
with some wonderful floral and summer fruit taste. Perfect if you want to
try something a little different to Prosecco!
Our last Crémant of the evening came from the Alsace region. A Cuvée
Julien Dopff au Moulin. This was made by blending equal amounts of the
Auxerrois and Pinot Blanc grape. The result was a wonderfully fine bubble
sparkling wine, with hints of quince and white flowers.
If you do want to try something other then a Cava or Prosecco this Christmas
then any one of the above would be a wonderful alternative and at a price
far more affordable than Champagne!
To finish the evening, we looked at three Ports, the first being a late bottled
Port from the Wine Society. A perfect wine for Christmas, that pairs with
most strong cheeses for an end of meal or just evening treat!
Next was the Society’s Exhibition Crusted Port. Crusted Port is made in the
style of a vintage wine (grapes from one year) but will use grapes from
various harvests over several years. This was a great value wine with ripe
plum and blackberry notes – delicious.
Our final wine was a 10 year old Tawny Port, again from the Wine Society.
This has some ageing in oak barrels, which gave it a lovely smooth finish,
perfect with a bit of stilton!!
Many thanks to all those who made some food to go along with all the wines.
And special thanks to Giulia for making a surprise (but very welcome)
birthday cake all could share with the Chairman!!
On Wednesday 14th December the wine club will be hosting a Christmas
dinner and wine evening for just £15! If you would like to come along and
see what we are all about then please do get in contact:
mail@uptonwineclub.com
Hope to see you there!
Ian

There was a good number of regular and – equally pleasing – new members
at the October Wine Club meeting. All had come to see Michael Jelley from
this specialist wine merchant in Summertown and Wallingford talk about
some of his favourite wines from across France.
Armed with a little bit of knowledge, you can make some wonderful
selections on wines for very good prices. Our first wine was a great example
of this. If you like Sancerre wines but don’t enjoy paying a premium, then
try the Bellevue Touraine, also from the Loire Valley, but not far from the
Sancerre region. The same Sauvignon Blanc grape but at a fraction of the
price!
Next, we went to North Burgundy, where we tried Domaine Besson Chablis.
This was a wonderful wine from a small vineyard that produced a
Chardonnay wine with very crisp non-oaked tones. Perfect if you like the
grape but don’t enjoy the creamy buttery taste offered by some wines from
this grape.
In contrast then, for our next white, we went to the South of France, where
we tried a Champ des Nummus Chardonnay from Limoux. This wine had
been exposed to some ageing in oak barrels, that allowed it to react with
oxygen to create some wonderful buttery notes, synonymous with some
wines made with Chardonnay grapes.
Our final white for the evening was a Chateau Lapuyade Jurancon. A really
unusual wine, made from grapes harvested late in the year. This has given
each grape the maximum amount of sun, turning the wine a wonderful deep
yellow colour that you would normally expect from a sweet wine. If you like
dessert wines but find them a little too sweet then try this, with some
wonderful butterscotch and honeysuckle flavours coming through.
Our first red of the evening was a real crowd pleaser. A Julienas Cuvee Six
Beaujolais Villages. Made from the Gamay grape, this is a very affordable,
good quality wine that has soft tannins and a very refreshing red berry taste.
Perfect if you have a large number of guests over and are likely to get
through a few bottles!
Our next wine was not something many had tried often, if at all. A red wine
from the Sancerre region. Reds from this region are typically Pinot Noir and
the Berthier Sancerre was a really good example of a light red wine from
that region. If you are a fan of Pinot Noir and want to give your guests
something a little different then try this.
The next wine we tried came from Bordeaux, a Château des Gravières
Bordeaux Superieur. A typical Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend that
provides you with that classic black cherry, Oak taste that you would expect
from this region. A good price and one definitely to try if you like wines
from this region.
For our last wine of the evening we tasted a wonderful GSM (Grenache,
Syrah, Mourvedre) blend from the Côtes du Rhône region. The Domaine
Dionysos ‘La Devèze’ was wonderfully smooth with deep red fruit flavours
and a touch of spice. Great for Christmas!
The Upton Wine Club is there for residents from our village who enjoy wine
and simply want to find out a little more information, try something
perhaps a little new and socialise with some of your neighbours! If you are
interested in coming along then you can find out all about us at:
contact@uptonwineclub.com

This month saw the 17th Annual General Meeting of our highly popular club.
Ian Langley presented the accounts before thanking Susan Ryan for her
many years of service, who is standing down from the committee. Ian then
welcomed Di Rabbetts, who is joining the committee in the role of treasurer
and membership secretary.
The theme of the evening was Wine Awards, and every wine tasted had won
some form of award whether a medal, a high number of points, or been
commended by a wine professional in the press. The wines were presented
by Ian together with Brian Rippon.
To accompany the AGM, members were treated to a 91 point Graham de
Beck Blanc de Blancs (Majestic, £15.99), a biscuity traditional method
sparkling chardonnay from South Africa, which had a slightly mixed
reception. However, all of the following wines met universal approval of
the members. The first white of the evening was a crisp Villa Noria Picpoul
de Pinet (Strictly Wine, £10.99) which Jamie Goode rated at 90 points.
Members thought it was an extremely good and pleasant example of a
Picpoul – a wine from a very small appellation of which 65% is exported,
more than half of that coming to the UK. That was followed by a fascinating
but equally delicious ‘mountain’ blend, Terra Alpina Organic Bianco
(Majestic, £10.99) made with grapes from Hungary, Italy and the Pyrenees.
Although most examples of Falanghina come from Campania in southern
Italy, the next wine was an organic example from Puglia, Bella Verità (M&S,
£9). It showed the usual delicious characteristics of citrus blossom aromas
and apple and pear flavours. The final white was a Marcarini Roero Arneis
(Majestic, £12.99), a lovely and complex version of the Arneis grape from
the Roero hills in Piedmont.
The reds started with a lovely Pinot Noir from Chile, Matetic Estela Lunar
(M&S, £12 – but found in Didcot at £9, reduced to clear!). Awarded 92
points by Decanter, this was a delicate wine with notes of cherry and sweet
spice. Matetic regularly win awards for being one of the top 100 wineries or
producing one of the top 100 wines in the world, so this was an absolute
bargain – especially considering that their wines tend to sell for twice this
price. The next wine was even more of a bargain – a Montepulciano
d’Abruzzo from the Tesco Finest range. This has won gold medals, the
Montepulciano trophy and the Great Value Red Wine trophy. Normally £7, it
was on offer in September at £5.25 when you buy 6 bottles of wine.
Brian then presented a red from Strictly Wine, a Tikveš ‘Cuvee Methodius’
Vranec (£8.99) from the Republic of North Macedonia. This is a deeply
coloured red wine revealing vibrant aromas of blueberries and blackberries,
with hints of chocolate and cocoa – winner of a silver medal at the
International Wine Challenge. Finally Ian showed an unusual wine from
Portugal, an Alicante Bouschet (M&S, £8). This grape not only has a red skin
but also, unlike most red grapes, a red pulp –called a teinturier. Although
now virtually unheard of, it was until the start of this century the 12th most
planted red wine grape in France! Decanter gave it 91 points and (alongside
Matthew Jukes) recommended trying it with lamb.
The evening was enjoyed by all, who commented on the quality of the
wines. Perhaps there is something to wines that have received an award
after all…
Our next meeting is on 19th October, when we welcome Grape Minds to
show some of their wines in a Tour de France. If you’re interested in
joining us, please drop us a line at contact@uptonwineclub.com

The third wine club meeting of the 2022 calendar took place on the usual
third Wednesday of the month, on 16th March. Attended by approximately 20
of our club members, this was a smaller turnout than usual, which meant
slightly more generous samples of the delicious wine on offer throughout the
evening (and more headaches the next morning, perhaps!).
The theme of the night was “The Judgement of Paris”; for those unfamiliar
with the wine connection to this phrase (as opposed to the story from Greek
Mythology), the Judgement of Paris was a wine competition organised in
Paris in May 1976 by Stephen Spurrier, a British wine merchant, and his
colleague Patricia Gallagher, in which French judges carried out two blind
tasting comparisons; one of top quality chardonnays and another of red
wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from
California). In every category, the Californian wines came out top, which
greatly shocked the judges, as France was at the time considered to be the
foremost producers of the world’s best wines.
And so, to the Judgement of Upton. Eight bottles of wine, including four
white and four red, and half from France and half from California, were
brilliantly presented by the dynamic duo Ian Langley and Brian Rippon, from
the wine club committee. Over four rounds, two bottles at a time were
sampled and compared by being labelled as A and B, to enact our own blind
tasting. The wines were all supplied by the Wine Society and were similarly
priced, so the task was to see which one’s members preferred.
Round 1 involved two Viogniers: a 2020 McManis Viognier from California and
a 2021 Grignan-les-Adhemar, Viognier from Domaine de Montine, in France.
The Californian is a rich, velvety white wine with peach, pear and apricot
aromas and could be paired easily with fish curry, prawns, scallops or a
melon starter (random!). The French wine, from Southern Rhone, is a
creamy, full- flavoured Viognier with peace and exotic guava flavours. Very
ripe and full-flavoured, it is said to go perfectly with fish or duck pate. With
only 45p separating the two wines in price (£11.95 and £11.50 respectively),
both wines present good value for money.
Round 2 involved two Chardonnays: a 2020 Bogle Vineyward California
Chardonnay and a 2020 Domaine Andre Bonhomme from the Macon-Villages
Vielles Vignes in France. The Californian is 50% aged in American Oak for
eight months to give a rich vanilla and nutmeg spice. The other half is aged
in steel to retain the fresh peach and lemon character. It is 14.5% alcohol
and priced at £12.50 and is best paired with children dishes prawns and beef
carpaccio. The Domaine Andre Bonhomme (13.5%) is a ripe yet refreshing
burgundy with aromas of white peaches and a balanced palate with a long
finish for a wine of this price (£12.50 also).
We then moved onto the reds. Round 3 involved two Pinot Noirs: The
Society’s Exhibition Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2019 (Californian) and a Reuilly
Rouge ‘Les Demoiselles Tatin’, from the Domaines Tatin in France, 2019.
The former is a vibrant and bright red fruity wine that you’d expect from
the fog-cooled yet sunny Sonoma Coast in California. At 13.5% in alcohol
volume and £14.95 in price, the wine goes well with rabbit dishes, roast
beef, veal and cold meats. The French wine is a delightful Central Vineyards
Pinot Noir from a ripe Loire vintage. Again, another one that can be paired
with cold meats, rabbit and veal, but also with ham, salmon and wild
mushrooms. Versatile and a snip at £12.50.
The final two wines of the night were of the Cabernet Sauvignon and
Cabernet Merlot variety. The first was a 2015 Chateau Tour Saint Bonet,
Medoc (13.5%), a ruby-red coloured, medium- bodied wine from a
consistently good Bordeaux estate; it has a bouquet of cassis and cedar and
is made from Cabernet- Merlot grapes. The second wine was the 2019
Californian Pedroncelli Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon (14.5%). This
wine has blackberry, blackcurrant and mulberry flavours which are wellbalanced by subtle cedar and vanilla notes. Both wines are great value
(£13.50 and £11.95 respectively) and on the night, were paired with pieces
of delicious chorizo.
A vote by a show of arms was undertaken throughout the evening, with the
Californian wines overall coming out on top again, although there was of
course some divided opinion! A fantastic, informative enjoyable evening
was had by all.
Natalie Morgan