Swiss Pinot Noir Society dinner, 14th June

On Friday evening, G and I walked over to the Savile Club for another SPNS dinner. ACC was absent this time but we had a special guest, H, so six were present as usual.

Having resisted the temptation to pre-load with a sneaky G&T before leaving home, I was outraged to discover that certain people had been guzzling pink champagne in our absence. However, this fizz from Black Dog Hill provided by P and H quickly made up for it. G summed it up nicely as "extremely pleasant, light quaffing fizz". It was from 2014 so had a little age which suited it well, and this winery is in the South Downs. One often hears about how the south of England is going to be the new Champagne, or possibly is already, but sadly with prices to match. Not this time! There seems to be a discrepancy between how much P told us it cost and how much it is on their website (£28.95) but all I will say is they definitely found a good deal.

G must have been hungry as we quickly moved upstairs and had a bottle of the club's Pernand-Vergelesses while waiting for our starters, which was from Jean-Jacques Girard and a good example of the genre. Then it was on to this Ovens Farm Rose 2018, also provided by P and H. This had a fruity nose and was a very enjoyable easy-drinking summer wine, prompting visions of lying in a hammock etc. It came as quite a surprise to discover that this winery is in Lincolnshire, close to where P and H live. Another win for English wines!

Moving on to the reds, G had brought along this Chateau Ksara Annaya 1946 Vin D'Antique, from Lebanon, knowing that T is quite a fan of their rose wines. This was interesting! It was a dark brown colour and there were some doubts about it initially, but then we reframed it and found it reminded most of us of a fortified wine - dry oloroso or marsala. Hints of eucalyptus were detected, and T thought that something about it could still be found in the modern wines.

We then had two more conventional reds, both pinot noirs. T brought along a 2016 from Louis Guntrum which was relatively light, juicy, fruity and vibrant. It was perhaps not the most serious wine I've ever tasted, but was a pleasure to drink. Thank god it wasn't like the German reds we had a few years ago which I wrote about here.

D had brought along this 2016 pinot from Brys Estate which is in Michigan. I don't think I've ever had a wine from Michigan before so this was a new experience! It was fuller-bodied than the German wine, fruity, elegant and smooth, with a hint of spice. We all enjoyed it and I suspect it would age quite well if D has any more.

My contribution was also from the USA, this Ravines Late Harvest Vignoles 2013 from the Finger Lakes. We tried this at the winery a couple of years ago and I immediately thought of T who is a big fan of sauternes. It was an absolutely beautiful colour and had that lovely thick gooey texture. It was concentrated, marmaladey and had a great finish. D described it as apricot nectar. Judging from their website, it still seems to be available, so maybe more can be obtained in due course if anyone is going that way soon...

As the Ravines was only a half bottle, and we fancied cheese as well as dessert, G ordered a half of Smith Woodhouse 1980 from the club wine list. This also went down well, with baked plums, black cherry and liquorice all present and correct. G, who is becoming quite a port expert these days, felt it could have done with a longer decant, but somehow we coped.

Thanks everyone for another very enjoyable and educational evening!

SPNS dinner, Tues 14th October

On Tuesday night, once again we gathered at the Savile Club for the next instalment of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. To recap the rules, everyone is supposed to bring along a bottle which is not massively expensive but interesting.

I found the group sitting in the courtyard necking this Paul Pothelet champagne, provided by P. It wasn't familiar to any of us, but was apparently a grower champagne which had been bought in France after some sort of accident involving knocking over boxes in the shop (!) The consensus was that it made a good aperitif - zingy, fresh, light, floral, citrussy and generally gluggable.

Since there were seven of us present on this occasion, the fizz didn't last long so we moved on to my contribution, this Osborne Sibarita 30 year old oloroso, which I got from the Wine Society. Earlier on, G and I had debated whether this should be served as an aperitif or with cheese - in the end I think it was both!

It had an intensely nutty nose and was very dry with a great finish. Generally it went down pretty well, with the notable exception of T who decided it wasn't his thing at all - never mind eh... The chemist present detected tones of liquorice and acetone and there were comments that it would have benefited from some nibbles. It would probably have been perfect with a pecan nut or two, so I must file that idea away for future reference because I expect to order some more in due course. The WS also sell a 30 year old Palo Cortado from the same producer which may be the next thing on my hit list.

Then we moved upstairs where a host of goodies was waiting for us. With our starters we had this 2009 Bernkasteler Doctor Spatlese riesling from Wegeler provided by G, which he picked up at Frankfurt airport. For me this brought back happy memories of the Bernkastler Bratenhofchen which was an early purchase of mine, about 15 years ago, made by Deinhard (NB not to be confused with Die Hard).

The Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard is in the Mosel valley and is reckoned to be one of the best vineyards in Germany This wine was medium-sweet and I think everyone liked it. G got pears and apricots on the nose, while T's comments are hard to decipher even at this relatively early stage in the evening but seem very favourable. It went down easily and would have had a considerable future if we hadn't drunk it already. Memo to G: next time you're in Frankfurt airport, fill your boots!

Alongside this, we also drank this Chateau Ksara Sunset rose 2011, from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, provided by T who describes it as his favourite affordable pink and I could see why. It was aromatic - T said lavender, D got flower petals - very interesting and quite different from a normal rose. Good stuff, with a long finish.

With our main courses we had this Cote de Brouilly 2011 from Domaine du Chateau de la Valette also provided by P. This was considered good, with intense black and red fruit, but some felt that it might improve with age. 

We also had a red wine that I failed to take a photo of - sorry! This was from South Africa, La Vierge pinot noir 2011 provided by ACC. The failure to take a pic is particularly annoying as it had a striking label. I have found it on the internet instead:

ACC thought it was fantastic for a New World wine, and I don't think I'd have guessed it was New World if I'd been tasting it blind. It had good pinot style and reminded me of a Cote de Beaune burgundy. But it seems that once the bottle went round the table it received mixed reviews and there was a feeling that it, too, was perhaps on the young side. We like 'em old and mellow at the SPNS...

And that was what exactly we got with the last wine of the evening, this 1966 Noval tawny port bottled in 1984. It went down very well with the group, with descriptions of molasses and dried figs - it was sweet and smooth. G was particularly inspired at this stage and has written "Harris tweed with leather patches".

So there you have it, for those who read this blog to find out what they thought about things. We ended up sitting in the courtyard again with the aid of the snazzy heater activated by a red button on the wall, and the great snuff horn was brought out, before sadly being knocked over. I did take a photo of the carnage but it wouldn't be seemly to put it on a respectable blog like this. Shortly after that, we were marched inside to avoid further rowdiness, which was probably just as well.

This evening was particularly in the spirit of the SPNS, I think. Thanks everyone!

Further wines from around the world

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we got a mixed "Off the Beaten Track" case from the Wine Society recently, and a few more of these have now been drunk, so I need to report back on them using the blog as my external memory drive and then I can forget about them and take the bottles to the bottle bank. 

Starting with the white, here we have an Alella from Marques de Alella, 2010. This is Spanish and the WS described it as "a delicate and refreshing wine, full of charm and appeal". We opened it on Wednesday night as I needed anaesthetic to get me through episode 1 of the 8 disc box set of Jason King which G asked me to get for him. Warning to G: I'm going to need something stronger in future to cope with the purple dressing gowns, medallions, moustaches and turquoise cravats - some Felettig marc might do the trick.... Back to the white wine. My verdict: bland and completely uninteresting. Half the bottle went down the sink last night as I was too bored to drink it. It would normally cost £7.50 a bottle but they have inexplicably sold out, probably to saps like me who bought it as part of the mixed case. Perhaps I'm being harsh - it wasn't actively unpleasant.

The rest have all been reds. The label on this one is hard to read - it's a Cote Roannaise 2011 from Domaine Robert Serol, made from gamay. At just 12% alcohol, this was light and I hardly noticed it slipping down. It was perfectly pleasant and cost £7.95 but I wouldn't dash back for more.

This Chateau Ksara Reserve du Couvent 2009 was more like it. This is a syrah-based blend from the Lebanon. I've been a big fan of Chateau Musar in the past, but this didn't have that tarry, baked quality that Musar does. It was impressive and would be a great barbecue wine. Good value at £7.95. I'd have it again.

This was a red from Hilltop Estate in Hungary. I think G liked it more than I did - for me it had "bottle that is going to be hard work to finish" written all over it, although we did manage to force it down somehow. It has a high proportion of cabernet sauvignon and was perfectly accomplished but somehow rather boring and "international", for me. It's only £7.25 though, which makes it good value. I'd have guessed it would cost more than that.

Finally, the star of this particular batch, for me - as the Inverse Law of Labels would predict. This is Kalecik Karasi 2009 from Vinkara in Turkey. As a bona fide wine snob I would assume that Turkish red would be rough and undrinkable except possibly in a Turkish restaurant along with well-charred offerings of some sort. In fact this was juicy and vibrant. The WS notes refer to cherries and redcurrants and for once they are accurate. It was appealing and the kind of thing I think my family would like or would be good for a party at work. I'll almost certainly get some more in due course, although at £8.50 a bottle it was relatively expensive compared to some of the others here.