Wine on Wednesday #2: Compare & Contrast

For our second Wine on Wednesday, Cath chose wines from The Wine Society's Guide To Tasting case, which gave a selection of pairs of wines to compare and contrast.  

1A. Sauvignon Touraine, Domaine de la Renaudie 2010 - Patricia et Bruno Denis (The Wine Society, £7.50)

1B. Three Terraces Sauvignon Blanc, 2010 - Marlborough (The Wine Society, £8.75)

2A. The Society's Unoaked Australian Chardonnay 2010 - McLaren Vale (The Wine Society, £6.50)

2B. Wither Hills Chardonnay 2009 - Marlborough (The Wine Society, £7.95)

3A. The Society's Beaujolais-Villages 2009 (The Wine Society, £6.95)

3B. Gaillac, Domaine de Pialentou, Les Gentilles Pierres 2005 (The Wine Society, £8.75)

4A. The Society's Exhibition Saint-Aubin, Domaine Henri Prudhon, 2008 (The Wine Society, £10.95)

4B. Château Pey La Tour Réserve 2007, Bordeaux Supérieur (The Wine Society (£9.95)

The tasting case came with some well-written tasting notes - but we tasted each pairing blind, with Cath letting us guess (often wildly!) about what the common thread might be between the two wines, and what the contrasting characteristics might be.

1. First Pairing

Sauvignon Touraine, Domaine de la Renaudie 2010 - Patricia et Bruno Denis (The Wine Society, £7.50)

and

Three Terraces Sauvignon Blanc, 2010 - Marlborough (The Wine Society, £8.75)

The first wine of the pair was paler, and had a lychee, grassy smell, compared to the second which was darker, and had a much bigger nose.  I thought I was smelling more honey and buttery notes - which lead me down the path of thinking it was probably a chardonnay.  The first wine was appley, crisp and clean to taste, and the second was much bigger, fruity, sweeter, with a pineappley taste.

I was surprised when Cath revealed they were both sauvignons - I think most of us were.   I preferred the Marlborough wine, but everyone else, Cath included, prefered the French, which was more sohisticated compared to the big brash flavour of the kiwi wine - which I still  preferred!  

I thought I'd have been able to identify a New Zealand sauvignon as that is what I often drink - but I didn't get the strong lychee or goosberry flavour from the second wine that I generally associate with them.

2. Second Pairing

The Society's Unoaked Australian Chardonnay 2010 - McLaren Vale (The Wine Society, £6.50)

and

Wither Hills Chardonnay 2009 - Marlborough (The Wine Society, £7.95)

Again, we tasted these blind.  The first wine  was crisper, lighter, and tasted slightly acid and sour.   We were eating along with drinking, and it was obvious that it would go really well with food.  The second wine was much yellower, and whereas I had thought the New Zealand sauvignon from the previous pair was buttery, this wine was clearly butterscotchy and - based on what I remember from one of the Bottle Apostle tastings I went to last year - I was much more comfortable pinning my colours to the mast and saying this was an oaked chardonnay based on the smell.  Nish was equally confident that it was new world, it didn't taste as "classic" or sophisticated as an old world wine.

Cath succesfully led Michael up the garden path when it came to guessing the wines - we was convinced because we had the same grapes in the first pairing, we probably wouldn't have this time and Cath did nothing to disabuse him!  But we weren't really surprised they were both chardonnays, and we had all got the second wine spot on (well, in terms of country, grape and oakiness!).

3. Third pair

The Society's Beaujolais-Villages 2009 (The Wine Society, £6.95)

and

Gaillac, Domaine de Pialentou, Les Gentilles Pierres 2005 (The Wine Society, £8.75)

Michael got the first wine immediately - and I'm still pretty impressed, as he described  it as bubblegummy which was exactly the word used in the tasting notes (which I therefore assume is quite characteristic of Beaujolais).  It was very chewy and zingy and would be a great wine in a hot climate.

The second wine had a deeper smell, darker than the beaujolais, and tasted heavily leathery, darker, tanniney.  Which allowed us to put our finger on the comparisons this  pairing was making between the younger Beaujolais, and the heavy tannin-filled Galliac - a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and braucol.  The more tanniny wine demanded food -it would have stood up well next to a big roast dinner - and the fantastic Rabot Estate 'Dash of Milk' chocolate Cath bought (Sea Salt and Caramel just edging out the Earl Grey chocolate as my favourite).

The tasting notes  mention how a tannin heavy wine will last longer, and mellow as the tannins soften.

4. Last pair

Some amazing cheeses from Brindisa

The Society's Exhibition Saint-Aubin, Domaine Henri Prudhon, 2008 (The Wine Society, £10.95)

and

Château Pey La Tour Réserve 2007, Bordeaux Supérieur (The Wine Society (£9.95)

As ever, my notes and recollections on the last wine or two get a bit vaguer.  Perhaps if we were tasting 'properly' and spitting the wine out that might help - but I'd rather drink the wine I'm tasting!

The Claret was definately richer, more complex - but I enjoyed the freshness of the Burgundy a bit more.  The last pair smelled similar; heady and perfumey and fruity.  The first wine was lighter, acid and very accesible; the second had a smokier tobacco and leather taste.  I don't know enough about French wines to be able to peg these, but Michael did, again.  He recognised the pinot noir of the first wine - which is what all red Burgundys are made of, and the second was red Bordeaux (Claret).  

Aftermath!