Wine on Wednesday: July 2012

In the true spirit of continued independence of the American Colonies, our 4th July Wine on Wednesday focused entirely on... British and French wines. Well, of course.

Vicky started us off with a lovely sparkling wine from the Camel Valley in Cornwall. It was fresh and crisp and very good - but I didn't make any tasting notes as I was too busy saying "hello" to people and playing with the Wine on Wednesday mascott, Caspar the Wonderdog.

In true Wine on Wednedsay tradition, weblind-tasted pairs of wines - but Vicky let us know that in each case, it was a show-down between a British and a French wine.

PAIR ONE - WHITES

Wine 1 was a much darker colour wine, just slightly floral boquet, and dry and minerally on the pallette. Wine 2 was a much lighter, really pale-looking wine, with a more heady nose (I got a tiny hint of vanilla in amongst the citrus), and a crisp, acid gooseberry flavour.

We were nearly unanimous in our guess that Wine 1 was English, and that the paler more sophisticated Wine 2 was French (we mostly thought it was too good to be an English wine) but Cath stuck to her guns that Wine 2 was probably the English one. We all preferred Wine 2 to a greater or lesser degree. Darren thought it might be a Loire Pouilly-Fumé, I thought it might be a Pino Gris.

However, we were all counfounded (except for Cath, who was just a bit smug)! Wine 1 was a French Sancerre (Domaine Vacheron 2011 from the Loire), whereas Wine 2 was an English wine: Chapel Down Bacchus 2010, the Bacchus grape being the closest English equivalent to Sauvignon Blanc, I guess, grown with grapes from Kent and Essex.

PAIR TWO - REDS

Both were very similar colour, but Wine 3 smelt rich, fruity and sweet, whereas Wine 4 had a much lighter nose - smelt like a UK wine we thought! However, upon tasting, the big strong Wine 1 was sharp, young, very acid and with a slight fizz - not as much as a frizzante and the fizz soon died away - all that led us to rapidly change our views and peg this rather disappointing wine as from the UK. The Wine 4 was a much more impressive prospect on tasting - tannin-rich, heavy, sour berry acid, far more depth and sophistication. So our votes swung round towards French – and it came to getting a bit more specific. Michael thought it could be a syrah; Darren and Nish thought maybe a Burgundy - and they turned out to be right.

Wine 3 was Glyndwr Red 2010, from a family run vineyard in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. The product description on the Waitrose website lists the grape varieties as Rondo / Regent / Triomphe d'Alsace, and says: "A red is still a rarity in Wales." "Long may that continue," said Vicky. Wine 4 was a Gamay grape - Bouchard Père et Fils 2010 Fleurie, Beaujolais, Burgundy, and very nice it was too.

PAIR THREE – REDS

I hope this was all just left over from the Jubilee...

As always, my tasting notes on the final pair of wines are slightly less thorough (and somewhat wine-stained!). Vicky had a couple of bottles of each of the wines, and its fair to say our ‘tasting’ turned into ‘drinking’ with the ones we liked! Wine 5 was light, acid, young, metallic – I didn’t like it very much, and guessed it was UK. The guessing it was UK wasn’t because I didn’t like it very much – just in comparison to the other wine, it was (in my mind) much more likely to be ours. Wine 6 was big heavy, tarry, heavy on berry and spices and a hint of liquorice. Michael & I decided Wine 6 must be a French Syrah – however Darran was fairly certain that Wine 6 was from the UK, even going as far as to guess the vineyard might be the Bolney Estate.

Imagine Darren’s disappointment (and mine and Michael’s delight) when Wine 6 was revealed to be a Languedoc Syrah. I thought this was a very good wine, loved its smoothness and richness – certainly my red wine of the evening. Wine 5 was indeed the UK wine - Bolney Wine Estate’s Dark Harvest 2009. After a quick audit and taste of Darren’s wine glasses, turns out Darren had his Wine 5 and Wine 6 the wrong way round – so he was spot on with identifying the Dark Harvest. Didn’t change any of our opinions that it wasn’t a particularly good when compared to the Balthazar Syrah 2010.

So another Wine on Wednesday with a strong British wine showing – though the Welsh red didn’t put in a very good showing in comparison to the Welsh white which we had a few months ago ((Monnow Valley Huxelrebe/Seyval Blanc: Welsh Table Wine 2007 – LINK TO POST).

THE WINE LIST

Sparkling

Camel Valley Brut 2010, Cornwall (Waitrose, £23.74)

Wine 1

Domaine Vacheron 2011 Sancerre, Loire (Waitrose, £18.04)

Wine 2

Chapel Down Bacchus 2010, Kent (Waitrose, £10.44)

Wine 3

Glyndwr Red 2010, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales (Waitrose,£11.86)

Wine 4

Bouchard Père et Fils 2010 Fleurie, Beaujolais, Burgundy(Waitrose, £10.44)

Wine 5