Vintage Club Newsletter. Spring/Summer 1999
Dear Vcers
I do apologise for the tardiness of these newsletters which we have combined
into one double issue. Our son has become a black hole that seems to devour any
moment of time or energy that might otherwise be put to good use (such as typing
up VC notes). However, we are trying my best so do bear with us.
Well since I last wrote we have had two excellent Vintage Club tastings. The
first was a weekend away in a cottage in Brayford on the edge of Exmoor and the
second our annual tasting in Bath. Many thanks to everyone who came to these
tastings and I hope you enjoyed them. To those who didn't (didn't come not
didn't enjoy it!) I hope reading these notes will make you regret what you
missed and will encourage you to come along to the next ; speaking of which
although the venue has not been finalised the next tasting will be on October
9th so mark it in your diaries now!
We are still planning a Millenium trip to Champagne on the first Bank Holiday
in May. This will be based on renting a cottage/ Gite for 3-4 nights in the
Champagne region, a special Millenium tasting and a trip to a Champagne House.
Actual details will be sent out very soon and I will need commitments and
deposits from those interested. It would be lovely to get some of the older
members together again for this special occasion so do try and make it if you
can.
So without further waffle, the tastings.which Ed has very kindly translated
and typed....
BATH TASTING - June 1999 - Tasting Notes - compiled by Ed
The theme
was........Body Parts
- Ed & Chris - "Bone"
- Phooey, toasty, straw, honeyed -"poo on toast" Aged Riesling,
asparagus......Burgundy? Mark " Not a traditional white Burgundy from a red
producing area is it" Yep sure is, with a very obvious name to fit the theme
Beaune Clos des Monseneres Dom Pierre Labet 1995 £ 14-95 from Sainsbury's
- Mark- no theme
- Ed "it smells like a ladies Boudoir" Estery says someone. Steve -"Esters
Boudoir " Who is Ester? Conversation digresses to what a ladies boudoir
actually smells like - unfortunately there were no ladies present to pass
comment! Ouch that hurt! After discussing bathrooms and laundry we are back on
the wine -Gewurz? Riesling? Muscat? Well probably all three - it was on of
those funny Alsation blends
Alsace Reserve "La Pagone" Turkheim 1997 £ 4-58 from Tesco
- Mark-no theme
- Another confusing wine from Dr Masento - creamy on palate with undertones
of tropical fruit and new oak. Cinnamon, peachy -is it an unoaked Aussie
chardy? ( i.e. unaoked Aussie chardy = oaked anything else!) No, no, no one
could not be further from the truth - it was a Viognier from Long Island!
Macari Voignier Long Island 1998 USA Trade Fair 1999 £ 13.15
- Mark-"Blood"
- Yummy, gummy and sappy. Leafy, strawberries. very light acidic. Suggest
north Italian from Alto Adige i.e. Shiava? Well we were not that far away
distance wise but who could be believe it was the old classic VC wine
favourite Bulls Blood -more like Bulls Plasma! It is sad to see what was a
great chunky wine slowly being diluted into a rather watery red
Bulls Blood (Egri Bikovar) 1996 Hungary £ 3.99 from Tesco
- Roger-"Palm"
- Black current, smoky nose - a very obvious new world style but from where.
South Africa, California or Chile. Smooth ripe palate suggest Merlot. We were
on the right track it was one of La Palma's excellent range of reds - the
Cab/Merlot reserve.
La Palma Cab./Merlot reserve1997 Chile 5-49 fom Oddbins
- Jaqui-"Baldy"
- The pre-amble for this wine was a long discussion on the bee shortage -
don't ask me why! Boiled sweets, black currents Ed would prefer it to be
slightly chilled!! Italian like Sangiovese but not
Italian----------------------------------
Pomino Rosso Castello di Pomino DOC Marchesi de Frescobaldi Italy £ 10-00
from Oddbins
- Chris and Ed-"Mammary"
- Muscular wine with blackberries and black currents "Its a 96 from the
Maclaren Vale"-Steve Guy thinks Steve can do better than that and asks for the
box number of the vineyard Well this is obviously an Aussie monster which
takes on to discussions of making the next VC venue Steves garage ( where he
has a huge stash of Aussie wine monsters!)
Well this wine was most appropriately themed for Chris who was checking her
mammary's were topped up for young James's next feed!
Mamre Brook Cab.Shiraz 96 SE Australia £ 6.99 from Oddbins
- Steve - "Cxxt" (Censored)
- Steve decants and pours this wine to produce a good head-must be
Australian. Is it a Shiraz? - but not from the Nullabar plain! "I can't
believe how up front this wine is"-Philippa "Its in your face" All this leads
us to believe this is medium Aussie monster - complex and rather delicious.
Steve announces...."it is not Australian".....there is silence and total
disbelief Its Italian !@*% even more disbelief "So how does it fit in with the
theme then Steve?" - Steve sheepishly shows us the producers name on the label
- well what can we say.........."
Bastein Cuntrari Barbera 97 Italy £ 15.00 from Steves mate in Oldham.
(Willabys)
- Guy and Philippa - "toe"
- A very refined smoky Italianesque nose - a wine of fine pedigree. The
palate is tannic and structured but not overpowering the underlying fruit.
Possibilities of Barolo - too dry for Amarone Ah what about Brunello! - yes we
were close enough
Sangiovetto Vdt Colpibuono Tuscany 94 Italy £ 24-00 from Averys
- Mark -"Spleen"
- Minty claret characteristics showing through to leave little doubt of this
wine origins- some sweetness suggesting a ripe year. Age and maturity giving
the wine good complexity. Well it had to be the most coveted name of the body
parts theme -Chasse-Spleen of course Thanks very much Mark!
Chateau Chasse-Spleen 1986 Bordeaux - est value £ 40-00
- Steve - not themed
- Big young vibrant - excellent fruit balance and approachability for what
was obviously a young claret "buy me for a reason let the reason be........."
A bargain at twice the price!
Chateau Lynch-Moussas 1996 Bordeaux £ 14-99 from Oddbins
- Chris and Ed - "Bot"
- This one had em thinking - "maderised oranges, orange peel, smells of
Riesling" A delicately sweet wine with a pinkish hue showing botrytis
characteristics. After a few clues Mark finally sussed what it was -Pinot noir
in a very untypical guise!
Rongapai Botrytis Pinot Noir 1996 New Zealand £ 10-00 from vineyard
- Roger - "Ya Lumbar"
- Well the memories and wine notes were starting to fade at this point - my
tasting notes just had the name Roger against this final wine Well we can
still remember this wine to have rich sweet botrytis and a nice long finish.
Some thought it to be Bordeaux others just blankly stared at the ceiling.....
the wines had taken their toll
Yalumba Family Reserve Botrytis Semillon 1996 Australia £ 7-99 from Oddbins
Well that's all folks, I promise I'll write again soon.
Chris and Ed c.edmead@bris.ac.uk