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| The Wall of Wine in action |
The objective of the Wall of Wine was to drive a rigorous data-driven analysis of the wines we drank based on empirical evidence and plenty of Blu Tack. Well, we didn't quite get there, but amazingly, nor did it descend into a drunken Pin The Tail On The Donkey. Divided into two teams, we tasted blind and used the Wall (TM) to guess the prices (Y axis) and score the wines in terms of how much we linked them (X axis).
The wine descriptions below are lifted from either the wine merchant or producer's websites, and the cheeses lean heavily on Wikipedia. Verdicts are the panel's own.
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| Careful deliberation |
A. Franciacorta Brut 2007 Fratelli Berlucchi (12.5%, Lombardy, Chardonnay & Pino Bianco 90%, Pinot Noir 10%) £22.00, The Bottle Apostle
Thanks to the ambition and vigour of then young winemaker, Franco Ziliani, the Berlucchi winery has become the primary name associated with Franciacorta DOCG. The region has adapted the Champagne model with invariable ascendancy. Endless foaming mousse, doughy and creamy aromas rounded with creamy almonds.
B. Prosecco La Marca Treviso Extra Dry NV (11%, Treviso, Prosecco) £8.49, Majestic
Made from Prosecco grapes grown by a number of growers on the hills and plains around Treviso, close to Venice in northern Italy. Soft pressing is followed by cool fermentation in stainless steel, for delicate and fresh fruit flavours. Pale and elegant, with a subtly perfumed bouquet, and youthful pear, melon and citrus fruit characters. Retains a little hint of sweetness which balances the crisp acidity and persistent fizz.
Parmigiano Reggiano, 2 year (£35/kg, The Deli Downstairs)
Coloured light straw to yellow straw, Parmigiano Reggiano has a granular, soluble and crumbly structure. The cheese is made from grass-fed Cow’s milk, and is aged for a minimum of 12 months. Produced near Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna – only cheese produced in these provinces may be labelled “Parmigiano-Reggiano” under the European PDO protection.
Our Verdict
I wanted to try a pair of non-Champage sparkling wines to try. Both wines were really great. The Franciacorta was more aromatic and floral than the Prosecco, and everyone guessed correctly that it was going to be the more expensive wine - however, opinion was divided between which was nicer, so the Prosecco La Marca Treviso represents really good value as a very tasty sparkling wine at £8.49. Both went extremely well with the cheese - and I'd go further and say that the combination worked so well because they each brought out different qualities in the other, and I think you get something special by having them together. Our top seasonal tip is definitely to serve a bit of parmigiano reggiano or grand pardano with your fizz this Christmas!
Round 2 – I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas (and a better name for this round!)C. Sancerre Comte Lafond 2009/2010 Ladoucette (12.5%, Loire Valley, Sauvignon Blanc) £23.00 Majestic
Ladoucette is one of the top Pouilly-Fumé producers and this is his marvellous Sancerre. Pale golden-green. Remarkable and aromatic intensity on the nose. Floral notes of white flowers such as hawthorn, acacia, old rose, and elderflower. This is backed up by blackcurrant buds and wild flowers. It is lively on the palette, with very pleasant acidulous characteristics prolonged by light fruity notes. Full and refreshing, it is dominated by flinty stones and chalk typical of fine Sancerre wines.
D. Kings Fumé 2009 Stanlake Park (12.5%, Thames Valley, roughly 25% each of Ortega, Regner, Scheurebe and Bacchus) £12.00, Stanlake Park
The owners of Stanlake in the second half of the 20th century were the Leighton family, of which Jon Leighton had the vision to create a Vineyard in the late 1970’s, which became established as Thames Valley Vineyards. Under winemaker Vince Gower, the estate continues to add to its reputation as one of the best in England. Kings Fumé is named in honour of King Charles 1st who donated a special window dated 1626 in Stanlake Park. The wine is aged in French Oak casks. Soft vanilla oak and buttery fruit characters are perfectly integrated with hints of fresh garden mint. On the wine list of the Dorchester Hotel in London.
E. Cloudy Bay 'Te Koko' Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (13.5%, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc) £30, Majestic
The 2007 Te Koko is an intriguing and alternative style of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Aromas of lemon thyme, mandarin blossom and stone fruit combine harmoniously with ginger spice and nutty savoury tones, underlined by exotic tropical notes. The many-layered palate is creamy and textured, balanced by a clean, mineral acidity. The wine has excellent persistence of flavour and intensity.
Manchego La Mancha (£25.50/kg) with Dulche de Membrillo (£26.50/kg, both from The Deli Downstairs)
Manchego is a sheep’s milk cheese made from sheep of the Manchega breed, which is aged between 60 days and 2 years. Manchego has a firm consistency and buttery texture, which varies in colour from white to ivory-yellow and the rind from yellow to brownish beige. The cheese has a distinctive flavour, well developed but not too strong, creamy with a slight piquancy, and leaves and aftertaste characteristic of sheep’s milk. Dulche de Membrillo is a sticky, sweet, reddish hard paste, made from quince fruit, sugar and water and cooked over a slow fire. It is sweet and mildly tart and often served with Manchego cheese. It is sometimes known as a “fruit cheese”.
Our Verdict
The whites included a couple of surprises. Firstly, the Cloudy Bay Te Koko was extremely disappointing. Far and away the least appealing to any of our tastes - which is a shame as it was a pricey bottle and the Cloudy Bay reputation meant I was expecting something really special. Not one for anyone's Christmas Stocking! The Sancerre was fantastic, and though not cheap I would say it was worth it and scored pretty well on the Wall.
The coup of the evening, though, was the Kings Fumé. My friends Ali and Laura introduced me to Kings Fumé and had it as the white at their wedding. It nearly didn't make it onto the list as it was difficult to source, but I visited Ali, Laura and some other friends in Wokingham a few weeks ago, which was only a 10 minute drive from Stanlake Park in Twyford, so I popped in and picked up a couple of bottles. Interestingly, people's mind's changed on the Kings Fumé during the tasting - from initial excitement at the nose and taste, through a phase of 'I'm not so sure'... and then after a little bit, a general consensus of really liking it. After that, when we went through the wines, people were VERY impressed that it was an English wine, and then EVEN more impressed that it was a very good English wine at a sensible price. Its a bit difficult to source without getting a case - but I think we're going to get a case between the Wine on Wednesday crowd and share them out as it is a very good wine with the added kudos and interest factor with it being English!
The manchego and membrillo were a perfectly good accompaniment to the whites - but it certainly wasn't as good a pairing as the sparkling wines with the parmigiano reggiano as the combination of wines and cheese didn't really do anything special.
Round 3 – Seeing Red
F. Domaine les Yeuses 'Les Epices' Syrah 2008 Vin de Pays d'Oc (13.5%, Languedoc, Shiraz) £8.99, Majestic
Not far from the Mediterranean, Domaine Les Yeuses is near Mèze in the Languedoc region. Jean-Paul and Michel Dardé work together with winemaking consultants to ensure the best results from the soil, vines, grapes and climate. It has wonderfully spicy, perfumed Syrah fruit and an elegant softness and roundness which mark it out as a wine of quality. The finish is long, with an intriguing bitter-sweet pepper note.
G. Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2009 (16.5%, McLarren Vale, Shiraz) £25.00, Majestic
Matured in American oak, The Boxer Shiraz has a very deep garnet-purple colour and intense blackberry, liquorice, tar, menthol and cocoa bean aromas. Very full-bodied and with medium-firm fine-grained tannins and generous, warm-berry flesh, it is nicely balanced by crisp acid, finishing long (91 points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, www.erobertparker.com). Mollydooker use nitrogen to protect their wines from oxygen so that they can reduce the amount of sulphites. When the wines are young, the nitrogen tends to flatten the fruit flavour of the wine (nitrogen effect). Shaking the wine releases the nitrogen (you can hear it hissing if you hold the bottle to your ear after doing the Shake) and the full flavour profile is restored.
Cabrales D.O. (£31.00/kg, The Deli Downstairs)
Artisan cheese from unpasteurized cows milk, sometimes blended with goat and/or sheep milk –though all of the milk comes exclusively from herds raised in a small zone of production in Asturias, in the mountains of the Picos de Europa in Spain. The cheese is aged in limestone mountain caves with a high relative humidity, which favours the development of the penicillium moulds that produce the veins in the cheese. It has an extremely strong flavour which can be very complex when made with mixed milks.
Our Verdict
Firstly, I have to 'fess up and say that I only picked the Cabrales as a bit of a joke. It is not one for pairing with the reds, but it is by far and away the strongest and wierdest-tasting chesses I've had in a long time (at one of the Bottle Apostle/Deli Downstairs wine & cheese evenings). The cheese makes the inside of your mouth crawl and go squeaky - it is a most bizarre sensation, and I thought I should share the experience with the Wine of Wednesday lot. I'm sure they thanked me for it.
The two syrah/shiraz were night and day. Les Epices was certainly not a bad wine, but thin and pale compared to the stonkingly strong The Boxer (I'm assiduously avoiding writing anything along the lines of 'that wine packed a punch', etc etc). I'd wondered whether a well-recommended wine like Les Epices might prove a barginous surprise - but it couldn't touch a beast like the Mollydooker. And The Boxer is a fantastic red wine; rich, chocolatey, warm, and I think worth the price tag as a very special Christmassy red.
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| The final walls |
H. Il Passito di Corzano 2000 Vino da Tavola (11%, San Casciano, Trebbiano 80%, Malvasia 20%) 375ml bottle £36.00, Bottle Apostle)
Since the introduction of the DOC “Vin Santo del Chianti” in 1995 this wine is not allowed to be labelled with the denomination “Vin Santo” as the alcohol level must not be inferior to 13% by vol. Manual harvest, followed by the grape clusters being hanged and dried for 5 months. Fermentation in small oak barrels (caratelli), matured in the barrels for 8 years. Tastes of fig, raisin, grape.
I. The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc 2010 (10.5%, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc) 375ml bottle £12.49, Majestic)
Botrytised grapes have been specially selected from amongst the vines of the Waihopai River vineyard to make this wine. The fermentation process takes a lengthy 6 months and extracts huge flavours from the shrivelled berries. Intensely sweet, yet balanced with a mixture of crisp citrus and fresh melon flavours, and as such, never cloys. Lingers long on the palate.
Taleggio (£25/kg, The Deli Downstairs)
Taleggio is a washed rind and smear-ripened Italian cheese (meaning it is smeared with bacteria or fungi, often from an older cheese). It has a strong aroma, but its flavour is comparatively mild with an unusual fruity tang. Its crust is thin and studded with salt crystals.
Our Verdict
Nish was quick off the block in identifying the Il Passito as Vin Santo - but unfortunately lost out on a technicality (see the description of the wine)! The Il Passito is a lovely dark, sweet grapey wine - a very good desert wine and I liked it a lot. The Ned was far paler than the Il Passito, and far sweeter and more citrus fruity, compared to the complexity and depth of dark fruit, grape and current taste of the Il Passito.
However, the desert wine round provided far and away the best pairing of the evening: Il Passito with Taleggio. Taleggio is a cracking cheese in its own right - rich and thick and creamy. Put it together with the rich sweet Il Passito, and you have an absolutely fantastic combination. They contrast and build on each other, bringing out flavours and sides of the wine and the cheese that neither can show on its own - and in my opinion shows how a proper cheese and wine combination should work.
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