The Edinburgh Wine Club

Tasting, Thursday March 15, 2007

 

Wine

Grape

Country

Supplier

Price

Comments

Ranking

Domaine de Valmoissine 2005 Louis Latour Pinot Noir France
(Provence, Burgundy style)
Henderson £8.99 Fairly flat, light fruit. Drinkable, good value but not outstanding for P.N. Turkish delight.  
Nativa Carmen 2003 Organic, wild yeast Cabernet Sauvignon
(oaked)
Chile Henderson £8 reduced
to £6.40
Mint (2 comments), marshmallows. Good legs (2 comments). Big, fruity, low tannin. Best wine of evening
Pirramimma 2003 McLaren Vale Petit Verdot
(oaked)
Australia Majestic £10 Light citrus nose, petrol, vanilla aftertaste. Sharp but well rounded. Rotting bananas nose, tannic.  
Zonte's Footstep
2006
Langhorne Creek
Shiraz/Viognier Australia Somerfield £7.99 reduced to £5.99
See note below.
Powerful, round, cloves. Sweet, soft. Feeble nose, good with spicy food. Third equal
Vacqueyras 2003 Laurence Feraud Grenache/Syrah /Mourvedre France (Rhone) Majestic £8.99 Dry old-world flavour. Spicy. Complex but disappointing with (this) food. Third equal
Lindemans 2005 Winemakers release Shiraz/Cabernet Australia Scotmid Nominally £7.99 but (b.o.g.o.f.= £4) Strawberries. Smooth. Sweetish. Stood up to highly spiced food. Best value
Heim Reserve 2004 Gewurtztraminer Gewurztraminer
(the only white wine of the evening)
France (Alsace) Henderson £10 reduced to £6.75 Light, floral. Less sweet than many GWS, goes well with every food except beetroot (though what does?). Second

Note: Zonte's Footstep: The wine was favourably reviewed in a recent Guardian piece, giving Somerfield's prices. That offer was date-limited and would have expired soon after, although I haven't been back to check. However Sainsbury's now have it at the same 'reduced' £5.99. An article I read recently (by a wine expert) stated that a 'reduced' price like this is the target price for which the wine is really made. That is, it would generally be poor value at the higher price. It may of course be excellent value at the lower one. This also applies to offers such as Threshers 3-for-2 (they simply inflate the prices), though possibly not David Henderson's lines or items listed as 'bin-ends'.

Food combinations: George asked me to repeat some comments here. They were simply from something I once read: that certain French red styles were harmonious with local food for more than accidental reasons. In particular, that the more tannic Bordeaux grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot) combined well with rarer meat (Grilled steak and lamb) due to a chemical reaction in the mouth, while the softer low-tannin Pinot Noir of Burgundy better accompanied long-cooked casseroles (daubes) and hams. By extension, the more peppery Syrah and Grenache of the Rhone would marry with spicier, more highly flavoured food from that region. I suggest though that the wines we tried that evening which worked best with spicier food, did so partly because of their apparent sweetness.

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