The Wine on Wednesday’ers gathered on for a final time atop
Dalston Junction on 12th June – a final time there, at least, since Cath
and Dan were moving into new accommodation, with Dan and Sam taking that “living
together” step and Cath upgrading her view from the current panoramic view of
Central London to one of the sweeping Thames (not that any of us are in any way
jealous of these views). So as the sun
set behind the BT Tower, we journeyed once again into the world of viniculture.
Our host, Cath, told us early on that she was repeating a
theme that had already been used – since the aperitif was a sparkling wine from
Hungary, it was pretty clear that we hardy explorers were once more
investigating the lesser known reaches of the wine world (although the wines
were from fairly main stream stockists).
So starting with the sparkling wine – a Campanula Pinot
Grigio from Hungary
(available from Laithwaites at a bargain £8.99 a bottle). This was a revelation. Tokay is well known for its sweet wines, but
this was a Prosecco like stunner. It was
dry, citrus-y and really very, very nice. An excellent start to the evening.
We then moved on to the blind tasting – starting with a
Romanian white wine: Fontana Vecchia 2010 from Dealu Mare (again from
Laithwaites at £6.99). We struggled a
bit to place this, with suggestions of Viognier (which may be the new default
for “I can’t identify this white wine so say Viognier – I may not be right but
I will sound like I know something about wine”) and perhaps a not too acidic
Sauvignon Blanc. Actually the key grape
varieties are Feteasca Alba and Feteasca Regala (Feteasca meaning 'young girl's
grape' apparently!) so not surprising we didn’t get those. The actual wine was quite light, with a bit of
a fruity nose and quite pleasant without, in my opinion at least, having quite
enough of anything distinctive.
The second white wine took us back to Hungary – a Royal
Tokaji 2011 Furmint Dry wine. This was a
much more rounded wine, with hints of Chardonnay (and that is a good thing in
my book, if not in many others!). Majesticare selling this at £9.99 for a single bottle.
As they describe it “Well-defined aromatics comprising rich honey notes
and stone fruits on the nose. Plenty of acidity gives the palate crispness and
bite, with mineral tinges accenting the fruit-laden, exotic feel.” A bit full on, but again good.
Moving on to the reds, we managed to quickly identify that
the next wine was a Pinot Noir – it had all the characteristic qualities – that
distinctive cherry flavour and nose and light body. In fact it was a Paris Street Pinot Noir 2012
(£7.49 from Laithwaites) – so back across the border from Hungary into Romania again. A good alternative to a traditional Burgundy
Pinot Noir and at a reasonable price too.
We then moved on to an English wine – an Ickworth Bishop’s Reserve from Suffolk .
This was revelation – rich and full with
well balanced tannins and a depth that, frankly, you don’t often get from
English Red wines. It certainly tasted
like it had come from a much warmer climate. This was probably the wine of the night (and
not just for patriotic reasons). The
discussion of the wine, its origin and the ownership of Ickworth (historically
the home of the Hervey family), led to the quote of the night (sparing some
blushes), when Lady Victoria Hervey was described as “you must have hear of her
– she was a famous I.T. girl” (presumably her server maintenance skills are
legendary, along with her socialising, and I look forward to her guest appearance on this).
So congratulations to Cath for another wonderful evening and
onwards to July at Greg and Juliet’s (assuming the squirrels don’t eat any more
of the electrical cabling).
