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