UPTON WINE CLUB MEETING

The February Wine Club meeting was an energetic and very informative evening by Simon on the wines of California.

During the early part of 20^th century America had a very healthy wine industry nearly all concentrated in California, and then prohibition. The wine industry was decimated and there was a 94% reduction in wine production. Moonshine however did very well, as did organised crime. But the story has a happy ending and from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s wine production revived, and in many peoples opinion America has become one of the great producers, and consumers of wine.

Simon devised the evening so the members could taste two wines of the same grape variety and compare. The first was a Carltidge and Brown Chardonnay from the wine society, and a Brown Ranch Chardonnay. The first was very smooth and buttery with a hint of oak, and the second a much fresher and fruity product. Both of these wines where liked by the group. Then we hit the reds, and did they pack a punch. The two Zinfandel’s where both very palatable but the second, a Joseph Swann Stellwagen, was exceptionally powerful and should not be drunk near a naked flame, for fear of combustion - 15.5% proof!

The two Pinot Noir where good and the second of these, a Sainsbury Pinot Noir from Majestic, was favoured. The Cabernets where again considered to be very palatable, and strong on flavour with not too much tannin these were the wine society’s Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon and a Mondavia Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

The evening was well received and we would all like to thank Simon for his hard work in producing such an insight into Californian wine. Next month it is Derek and the wines of Portugal.

Chris Traynor

WINE CLUB MEETING JANUARY 2010

Hello and a happy new year to every one at the wine club and thanks again to the tremendous support, nearly 50 of you signed up for this months meeting, nice to see a few guests as well. The wines this month were from South Africa, and presented by Frankie and Kevin with aplomb, and plenty of vigour. We had 9 wines to taste from a Petit Blanc to a wonderful Shiraz. The first Wine of the evening was the Vondeling Petit Blanc, made by Mathew Copeland a very nice pleasant to drink white, unwooded and at £5.99 a bargain, followed by a wonderful Viognier, a good example of this grape but Viognier is not to everyone’s taste, and has a more complex taste, dry and fragrant but with a bitter after taste at times. I love it but not everyone does, but an excellent example of the grape variety.

The reds started off with a good Pinotage, an excellent example of the wine, not a complex wine but a pleasant taste, and I venture to say could even be served slightly chilled, for the summer similar to some Beaujolais’s.

The most expensive wine of the evening was the Sterhuis Astra Red at £21.99 this is a dear wine a blend of Merlot and Cabernet, I did not feel this was worth the price tag, expensive as so little is produced only 125 cases, but the general opinion was not worth the money.

The best wine of the evening by far in my opinion and several other peoples was the Manley Shiraz, produced in the Tulbagh region of the Cape, this is a deep complex wine with good lasting flavours and should be savoured, and at 14.6% a very alcoholic beverage. All the wines where sourced from the Naked Wine company, which is an online organisation, if you need to know more please speak to Kevin and Frankie.

See you all next month when Simon will be running away with the budget with Californian wines, hope to see you all there.

Chris Traynor

November Meeting

The wine club had a change of venue for this event, very different and extremely cosy, we had more people attend than at any other time so thanks for your support. The evening was entertaining and informative as ever. Ian Hewson attended with his annual presentation of wines for Christmas. He began with a Picoul de Pinet 2008, from the Languedoc, this was an extremely pleasant white, refreshing and light, good with seafood especially crustacean. The Champagne that followed was equally well appreciated, although some felt that it did not last long on the palate and the bubbles disappeared rather too quickly to make it a classic. We then compared the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Southern Lights with the Jean Reverdy Sancerre 2008. There was a pretty even split among the members, as to preference if it helps the Sauvignon was £3 dearer. The next revelation was a very nice Cabernet Sauvignon from Castilla Spain, I personally liked this wine, but in a blind tasting I do not think I would have recognised it as a Cabernet, very smooth more like a merlot, but very nice none the less. The piece de resistance was the Ribera del Duero Reserva Bodegas Valduera, in my humble opinion, the best wine of the evening, delicious, but a little pricey at £23!!! - but you get what you pay for as they say. The final wine was a desert wine from Australia very spicy and wintery but very popular, a few of us decided to purchase this Seppeltsfield Rutherglen Muscat Cellar No 9.

Hope to see you all next month on the 9^th for Williams take on Champagne.

Chris Traynor

Well here we go again I hope every one has rested their vital organs over the summer, by that I mean your taste and olfactory senses, for the next wave of aromas and flavours to hit your palates. We would like to welcome all old members who have rejoined and a special welcome to new members. I hope that they will have as much fun as we have had over the past few years. The first meeting was a sampling session to try to tell the difference if any between the same grape varieties, produced in different countries or different areas in the same country/continent this proved as challenging for some of us as ever, but enjoyable. The next meeting will be on the wines of Spain, as we have not visited them for several years. I do hope people will come as from personal experience the Spanish wines have improved over recent years. And I hope people will be pleasantly surprised.

Chris Traynor

The wine club had a wonderful evening tasting some very interesting Chilean wines, discovered by Derek. As you are all aware Chile is that wonderful South American country with two great growing elements the sea and the mountains. Running between the two are plenty of valleys that have wonderful micro climates. These help make Chilean wines some of the tastiest and reasonably prices wines around. Derek had managed to acquire three whites and five reds, all of which went down well, what a surprise; we managed as ever to get through the lot without much effort. We are slaves to our taste buds at the wine club! I have added the list of wines below. Hopefully see you all at the next meeting which is the Call My Bluff evening, which is always great fun with prizes!!!

Chris

It was a very welcome return for Sarah Eccles, the first time she has visited us this year. The subject wines of Italy, which as you will be aware, has more grape varieties, than most of us could possibly remember, or need to know. The most important issue being that this was a Credit Crunch tour around Italy, so most of the wines where quite affordable, ranging from £5.99 to £9.99.

The wines came from across Italy from Piemonte in the North to Puglia, Calabria and Sicily in the South. The vineyard in Campania, near Naples takes its production so seriously that they have their own weather station in the grounds, which is solar powered.

The reds where generally preferred to the whites which at times tasted a little thin. The preferred wine on our table was the Marco Porello, Barbera D’Alba DOC Mommiano 2007, from Majestic, £7.99.which all agreed was the most rounded in flavour.

All the wines where from Majestic and Sarah thought that their selection from Italy was good. The best value wine of the evening was Monaci, Copertino , DOC 2004 £5.99, which was very good value.

So hope to see you at the next meeting in March which is earlier than normal on the 11^th of March, Simon will be talking about Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.

Chris Traynor

It was nice to see Ian Hewson of the Wine Man Ltd, Streatly on Thames, again at the wine club. This has now become an annual event and a very welcome one. He was introducing us to some new ideas on wine for Christmas, and his choices where indeed interesting. Especially the Scharzhofberger Riesling 2003

Bischofliche Mosel. Ian recommends this light wine as an aperitif before dinner, low alcohol content is always useful if you still have dinner to finish, especially in my case.

The other remarkable wine of the evening was the Central Otago Pinot Noir 2006 Wild Earth, from New Zealand this was the most glorious wine I have tasted in a while. Smooth complex and very satisfying on the pallet, several of us went away a few pence lighter, despite the credit crunch, but looking forward to Christmas!!

The next wine club meeting is on SPARKLING WINES, so we hope to see plenty of villagers to enjoy this fun evening.

Chris Traynor

It was nice to see so many members at the wine club meeting on the 15^th of October, plenty of familiar faces and lots of new ones, 44 wished to attend, this called for extra wine to be ordered, and plenty of merry members.

The evening tasting was on the Wines of Provence and South West France, well travelled by many an English foot.

The wines started off with an exceptional desert wine Chateau Jolys, 2004 Jurancon Curvee Jean 13% Waitrose £10.99. This is a lovely wine, and John on the committee raves about it quite indecently, makes a girl blush.!

The wine is produced by leaving the grapes to shrivel and thus concentrate their flavour, and sugar content. Some times the grapes are harvested individually, that takes great patience and a strong pair of glasses, and the harvest can last from October until January.

One other interesting way of producing desert wines is the ice method. This method allows the grapes to be harvested at below 8 C, before hand picking, with a good pair of gloves. The frozen grape produces exceptionally concentrated juice, but the catch is 80% less juice than a normal grape, hence the price between £37-£50 even more in Asia where it is extremely popular. Canada has cornered the market, something for the more sensitive lumberjack to do.

The reds where very nice on this occasion especially the “ Black Wine of Cahor” a very medieval label, this is a very famous wine, and can be very full bodied, and powerful, sounds a bit like the new James Bond, not that I am a fan.

Please feel free to join our interesting, entertaining evenings at the wine club by contacting Mike or Fiona on 850989, or 851001.

We hope to see more people from the village.

Chris Traynor

Dates, topics and Speakers have been arranged for the Wine Appreciaton Meetings for the next 5 months.

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Details of the April and May Meetings…

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