Jasper Morris MWs Ultimate Tasting

Japser Morris MW (pictured) of Berry Brothers and Rudd wine merchants wowed us with his hand selected 'Ultimate Tasting'. Brought to the museum for his final annual presentation after a 20 year association with John Richardson of the official wine society at the museum, we all gathered to face a 13 wine (unlucky for some) tasting delivered by Jasper with characteristic charm, wit and wisdom. With a tear in the eye and by the end, a raucous song in our hearts, the chink of glasses resounded around the room as we swirled and swallowed under Jaspers tutorledge for the last time. A few of the monthly wine clubbers were there to make sure that notes were taken. Share those notes below.


Grüner Veltliner Spiegel 2005, Weingut Heidler 12%alc

Appearance: A greenish tinge to this one.
Nose: latex, gum arabic
Palate: Aromatic yet full bodied despite only being 12% alcohol. It is dry with distinct pear drops. Here comes that latex, gum Arabic taste that I associate with Gruner Veltliner and a firm streak of minerality. Medium finish.
Conclusion: Costs £8.95 and so you cant complain at that price. Jasper tells us that the Grüner Veltliner grape is Austria’s darling and just too cool for school right now. It is selling like hotcakes in every fashionable New York bar and the wine to be seen with. Thought it was fairly good and gave it a healthy 12.5/20. That price means that we may be having this one again.


Isabel Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2005, Marlborough NZ 12.5%alc

Appearance: A little viscous in the glass.
Nose: Mown grass and gooseberry with a splash of sort of melon and peach.
Palate:The acidity gives you a hell of a lashing and there is that gooseberry and fresh cut grass. This is crunchy with good body and wet slate (minerality)..
Conclusion: Medium to long finish. We like this but have had better from New Zealand. It got a respectable 12/20 and will set you back £12.95.


Riesling Muenchberg Grand Cru 2003, Domaine Ostertag 12.5%alc

Appearance: Gold in colour
Nose: Citric Blossom
Palate: Acidity lower than expected and fruit riper than expected due to that hot year in Europe. This is rounded with the medium to full body. Found it rounded, had nectarines and other stone fruit. Got a juicy grapefruit in there too.
Conclusion: A biodynamically produced lovely from Alsace. As a rule, we don’t normally comment on the labels but this one was produced by the wife of the proprietor and very beautiful it is too. Based solely on what is INSIDE the bottle, it got a 15/20. However, at £23.95, this is really a steep price. Had we known that before we scored it, the score would have dropped like a stone fruit!


Bourgogne Blanc Oligocene 2004, Patrick Javillier 13%alc

Appearance: A pale wine
Nose: Low nose intensity
Palate: Strange artificial toffee taste. Rounded and soft. A simple wine but very drinkable.
Conclusion: This is produced from chardonnay grown on the brown chalky slopes below Meurseult. A a result, it is not classified as in the Meurseult appellation. The producer leaves the wine in the barrel on its lees for 12 months, then in a cement tank with lees for months which gives body and a smokiness to the wine. Liked the modern capsule avec vise (screwcap). Others liked this more than we did. Gave it a 12/20. At £17.95, there is no way we will be revisiting this one. Try something from 2005 at a better price from the same region.


Chablis Montee de Tonnerre 2004 1er Cru, Domaine Droin 13%alc

Appearance: Pale gold
Nose: Intense pretzel smell.
Palate: A little brioche, apple and slate. Much sharper minerality and higher acidity than last as is expected. I like the balance of butter and fruit here. The acidity cuts through the butter but the minerality is a little too pronounced for us.
Conclusion: Producer ages in new oak, old oak as well as the expected steel barrels. It gives a good complexity and is a good one for ageing. Got itself a 14/20. Will cost you £19.95 and there are only 16 bottles left at Berry Bros & Rudd. If you are feeling a bit flush, go ahead.


Beaujolais Vieilles vignes 2005, Domaine Alain Chatoux 12.5%alc

Appearance: Wonderful bruised purple velvet.
Nose: Blackcurrant and a weird rubber smell (the latter means that there has been some reduction going on. Drop a copper coin in the glass and it reverses it. Clever!)
Palate: Soft blackcurrant, residual sugar and rounded light tannin.
Conclusion Better than some from this region. It got a 12/20. It is pretty simple gamay raised on acidic sandstone soils. £7.75 a bottle. Cheap as chips.


Beaune Pertuisots 1er Cru 2002, Jean-Yves Devevey 13%alc

Appearance: This Pinot Noir is garnet in colour indicating some age and semi opaque.
Nose: Typical wild strawberry. Not overripe.
Palate: Strawberry but dominated by earthy notes. Tobacco, humus, medium acidity but tannins taste surprisingly young.
Conclusion: 14/20 because we love the gentility of Beaune pinots. £24.95, however. Not one for the student budget.


Pulenta Gran Corte 2004, Argentina 14%alc

Appearance: Rich dark colour.
Nose: Black cherry and plum jam.
Palate: Black cherry and rounded with gentle vanilla. A little rubber lurking (reduction? Try the coin trick). Still plum jam in the taste and a bit of pencil?
Conclusion: £15.50 for a bottle of Bordeaux blend. You can get a good Bordeaux for less, however. But we like its muscles and gave it 14/20 but don’t like the price so much.


*Hewitson Old Garden Mourvedre, 2003 Barossa Valley 15%alc*

*STAR WINE*

Appearance:Bluey purple and opaque. Inky. Yum!
Nose: Blueberry and plum.
Palate: Gosh this is yummy. Can taste the fruit on the nose but there is earthy truffle in there too . The fruit is bursting through and there is a chocolate streak. Tannins are just a supple joy and will allow ageing too.
Conclusion: There is a 100% mourvedre from the oldest mourvedre vines in Australia (from 1833). The price is £18.50 and to be perfectly honest, we would pay up without complaint. 17/20. Big fans. STAR WINE OF THE TASTING. The sort of wine that Robert Parker would like.


Quinta de la Rosa Reserva, Douro 15%alc

Appearance: Rich and dark.
Nose: Menthol. A sort of Vick’s Vapour Rub to it. Burnt wood.
Palate: Smoked currants, a touch of red fruit and good acidity, more tannin than last with some oak.
Conclusion: Needs a bit of food to manage the tannin and Jasper says that it goes well with grilled sardines. Got a generous 16/20. £19.75.


Pintia 2003, Toro 14%alc

Appearance: Completely opaque.
Nose: Coffee and blueberry.
Palate: Coffee, chocolate and violets. There is superb blueberry up front. Nutmeg in there too. Tannins are high but ripe and a touch of banana too.
Conclusion: Lovely. 16.5/20. £23.95 makes this temperanillo silly expensive. You could fly to Spain for that!


Jurançon Séléction des Terrasses Domaine Larredya Moelleux, 2004

Appearance:Gold in colour and legs.
Nose: Pineapple and apricot flowers.
Palate: Tamarind at the front of the taste. Acidity is high and balances the sugar beautifully. Medium bodied and a good finish.
Conclusion: Liked this as did Henry the IV, apparently. It is a late harvest wine with manseng grapes picked in November. Love the fact that it is just 11% alc. Can lay it down for more complexity but we liked it there and then. £11.95 per bottle.


Berry Brothers 1999 Gran Cru Champagne 12%alc

Appearance: Fine bubbles and all that good stuff.
Nose: Ripe red apple,nut and toast.
Palate: As on nose with some wild white flowers. Heavy pinot noir body. Bit of a Bollinger copy.
Conclusion: Its ok if you like Bollinger styles of champers. £24.95 per bottle makes it cheaper than non vintage bottle which is a bargain. Gave it 14/20. Just notgreat fans of the style.

SIX WINES, SIX CONTINENTS

Adrian Glover (pictured) is perturbed by the demands of his arduous journey to bring the finest wines from 6 continents to us at Wine Club.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Smells like smoking a cigar in a chicken shed” said Tori Herridge (pictured) on the subtleties of this weeks STAR WINE.

Up hill and down dale. Galloping across the plains, sleeping beneath the stars and ravaged by the driest of deserts but they still came. Not for a Milk Tray ad campaign but to touch down at wine club with six fine wines from six vast continents. This months wine club saw volunteer vintellectuals Adrian Glover and Tori Herridge deliver a glorious clutch of vino from across the globe. Only they knew what we were about to taste as the blind tasting began. We drank down our wine with associated tales of beauty, horror, history and war as each bottle told its own tale from the glass. But enough of this tomfoolery. When laid bare, what did wine club really think? In Vino, Veritas! Share our tasting notes below.



CONTINENT: NORTH AMERICA

CUVEE NAPA MUMM BRUT (NON VINTAGE) SPARKLING WINE 12.5% alc. £10.99

Appearance: Medium Gold in colour with a distinct pink element. Medium mousse (bubbles).
Nose:Very biscuity nose and we are getting bruised over ripe apple.
Palate: Hello Summer. Strawberries and summer pudding fruits. Acidity isn’t very high which doesn’t help with the sugar, the alcohol causes a bit of a burn on the throat and this one has a fairly light body. The finish is short and there is more residual sugar than we would like in a Brut champagne.
Conclusion:This wine tastes better than many at twice the price. It is a chardonnay/pinot noir blend and so lacks some of the sophistication you might get with the typical champagnes produced in France (the French blend with pinot meunier in addition). When in Napa last year, we were told that pinot meunier was quite difficult to grow in the Carneros region where much of the champers is produced in California. Wish it was less sweet but this is a solid effort for the price and not a bad one to sip in the Summer. We gave it an 11.5/20 for personality which makes it somewhere between commercially acceptable and good. David Lees liked the ‘phlegmy bubbles’.


CONTINENT: EUROPE

CHAPEL DOWN FLINT DRY NON VINTAGE 11.5%alc £5.99

Appearance: Straw coloured and quite pale.
Nose: Medium intensity on the nose. There is a massive amount of elderflower and a very pronounced smell of petroleum.
Palate: Fruit is not too concentrated but we licked up mouth puckering lime and peach and rose petal water. Aromatic. David got ‘privet flowers’ and I got a touch of grapefruit. Short to medium finish. Super high acidity. This thing doesn’t know what it wants to be. Aromatic but piercing and citric. Out of balance.
Conclusion: When we had this, we thought that the petroleum and peach made it a sure fire old style Riesling but nope. The grape is Bacchus and the wine was from right here in England. But by the time we found out, it was too late as we had already given it an 8/20 putting it in the deficient category. Get yourself a cheap south American plonk. This is like drinking a cup of petrol and then eating the glass.


CONTINENT: AUSTRALASIA

9TH ISLAND PINOT NOIR 2005 13.5%alc £8.99

Appearance: Dark but translucent and considerable legs for a pinot noir.
Nose: Raspberry, cassis, violets and the insides of our noses burned a little. Not a great sign.
Palate: Leather, earthy and young crunchy red fruit on this one. A little astringent, high acidity with the distinct ferrous flavour of blood in the mouth at the end.
Conclusion: We checked to make sure that Adrian wasn’t decanting glasses of AB rhesus negative to the group but no, this Tasmanian pinot noir actually tastes like sucking the blood from your hand through a leather glove. It is a basic wine but some in the group liked it. Got an average rating of 10.5/20 which puts it in the commercially acceptable category.


CONTINENT: SOUTH AMERICA

LUIGI BOSCA RESERVA MALBEC 2004 14%alc £8.99

Appearance:Ruby red. The boys got very excited about the legs on this one. In fact, they were so pronounced, David said that he got more skirt than leg.
Nose:Violets and cassis.
Palate:Cassis, vanilla, prunes. Richard found it had a sensual texture and so as he smiled we knew our Pam was in for a good night! Adrian found it ‘bouncy castle soft’ and I have to agree. The tannins were supple. Burns the throat though and has a sharp burnt toast taste at the end. This is not balanced at all. Medium finish but then burnt tastes seem to hang around longer than they should.
Conclusion: Voluptuous at first and then burnt carcinogen for some whilst the bitter aftertaste didn’t bother others in the group. 13/20 overall which means it is a good wine but I am not so sure. We have been a bit generous with this one I think. None of chocolate that we like from malbecs. Shame!


CONTINENT: ASIA

CHATEAU MUSAR 1999 14%alc £13.99

STAR WINE OF THE TASTING

Appearance:A sedimentary wine. We wondered if someone had trawled the bottom of a lake for this one. It was cloudy when first poured but settled down nicely. It is brick red in colour indicating some nice age.
Nose:Low intensity on the nose. Some found it a little farmyardy but the key smell was mercapto ethanol with a touch of smoke.
Palate:A medicinal iodine smell in the background, fig, licorice, rustic but supple tannins, more earthy than fruity. Another few sips and we were getting wood smoke, a slightly perfumed sandelwood and through that full body came PARSNIPS. Yup, Tori said the word and we all said “that is what it is!”. Lingering finish and wonderful acidity means that this could be kept in cellar even longer (if you could stand to be without it).
Conclusion:This wine demands your attention. It is not muzac that you can keep on in the bakground. It wants to be the centre of attention. Not that it couldn’t stand up to some food. This wine is powerful and triumphant and a real credit to the Lebanon. Chateau Musar is a unique wine made by Serge Hochar in the Bekaa Valley, 12 miles north of Beirut near the 18th century castle of Ghazir. The grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Carignan, Grenache and Mourvedre i.e. the southern Rhone meets a little Bordeaux. The wine ages well (10yrs recommended by producers) and is only made in years when the area is not being soundly bombed. During times of real unrest, they can find nobody to process the grapes. We loved the wine and then we loved the story. A resounding 16/20 puts it in the excellent category. Go to Sainsbury’s and BUY SOME IMMEDIATELY.


CONTINENT: AFRICA

KLEIN CONSTANTIA ESTATE WINE
VIN DE CONSTANCE 2001 14.8%alc £28.00

Appearance:Deep golden colour.
Nose:Apricots and quince.
Palate:Apricot, butterscotch, sweet melon and candied pineapple. The acidity is huge and cuts through that sugar (135g/l) very well. Every sip brings a new flavour. The massive acidity will allow you to cellar this one for a while. There was a maple flavour that some didn’t like. You really need to have this one ICE cold.
Conclusion: This wine is a recreation of what was once produced in the Konstantia vineyards of South Africa starting in the 17th century. Steeped in history this wine was written about by Baudelaire, Charles Dickens and in Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote that a heroine should try a little Constantia for ‘its healing powers on a disappointed heart’. Napolean downed more than a few bottles whilst he was in exile in St. Helena but phylloxera decimated the vineyards of the Muscat de Frontignan grape (Muscat blanc a petitis grains) in the 19th centruy. In 1986, Simon van der Stel re introduced the wine to the world and has been scooping up some solid reviews and high scores ever since. We gave it an average of 14.5/20 for excellent but were disappointed with the price. Almost 30 pounds for 50cl (a ¾ bottle) is not on in this day and age. You can get some sensational dessert wines for half the price. Love the history, tasted good but at this price, it is more of a novelty wine than one I intend to drink again. David loved it and gave it a 17.

Join us next month for more wine fun with "Wine in the Movies".

Supermarket Sweep

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Tastes like Paris Hilton's wet chihuahua", Harry Brenton (pictured) draws a delicate picture of Sainsbury's own label Chablis.




Symptoms? A vague scratching sensation at the back of the eyes, severe attention deficit and a compulsion to swirl, sniff and savor every liquid from port to porridge. Prognosis? You wont last another year without a visit to the underground laboratories of THE WINE CLUB.

In our ceaseless attempts to democratize the world of wine and throw the doors open to its secret garden, wine club is back with gusto.

In April, HARRY BRENTON, wine club's very own bon viveur (Chateau Haut Brion for breakfast) and maverick (with fish!?!) lay down his poker chips and donned his mortarboard as he led us through merchant own brand wines.

We learned that in recent years, the supermarkets and wine merchants up and down the land have noticed that there is a pretty profit to be had from wine sales, if they control production of the wine. Supermarkets control some 70% of wine sales that take place in the UK. A commitment to producers that output high quantities of wine at low cost has sometimes lead to supermarkets turning quite a blind eye to quality. Would they take the same tack when their name and reputation is on the bottle?

Perhaps, Sainsburys Taste the Difference range, Tescos Finest range, Harrods Wine Dept or the 17th Century-founded patriarch of all wine merchants, Berry Brothers and Rudd of St James, Mayfair could produce a wine at reasonable cost and high quality that might compete against leading wine brands like Moet & Chandon. Perhaps Harrods could outcompete the retail goliath, Sainsburys? With labels obscured, palates aquiver and every sense in vibrant agitation, Wine Club took its first drink of 2007!

Share our wine notes below.


MOET & CHANDON NON VINTAGE BRUT IMPERIAL CHAMPAGNE

APPEARANCE: Clear pale one to start with. A yellow gold colour and medium mousse and lasts a while.
NOSE: Low to mid intensity on the nose. Pear, a little bread and soft melon.
PALATE: A liitle off dry to us which is not a winner in a champagne for anyone over the age of five. Pear, lemon, not enough acidity to rid of us of this cloying sweetness. It did say Brut on the label and so we cant work out why there appears to be so much residual sugar in this one.
CONCLUSIONS: This is a basic to good champagne which the group thinks one can drink alone or better still, not at all. 9/20 was the overall score and when the label was revealed, some were shocked to learn that this fizzy was a Moet & Chandon, the makers of Dom Perignon. Clearly, this wine was not up to snuff and is in no way worth the £22.49. 12% alcohol.



TESCOS BRUT CHAMPAGNE YEAR 2000 VINTAGE

APPEARANCE:Pale gold with a green tinge. Good mousse.
NOSE:Quite intense on the nose. Yeast, red apples and a touch of wet earth.
PALATE:Higher acidity than the last, braeburn apples, soapy, fuller bodied than the last. Some nice vanilla. Short to medium finish. Love the feel of that on the tongue but wouldnt mind a few more features.
CONCLUSION:Alcohol is 12% like the last but still burns. A bit out of balance on its own. Try it with some food. Canapes perhaps. We first tasted this award winning wine a year ago and we still like it. This sparkler earned itself an 11/20 and rings in at £17 per bottle which is good for a vintage wine.



SAINSBURYS TASTE THE DIFFERENCE CHABLIS (produced by Jean Marc Brocard) 2006

APPEARANCE:Clear yellow wine. Very pale.
NOSE:Erm....a strange amyl acetate (thats a paint solvent to you) emanating from here. A haunting floral smell. Haunting as it reminded much of the group of their dead granny's soap.
PALATE:Gentle acidity, Debs was less than impressed with the lack of fruit concentration, David got Juicy Fruit bubble gum and more amyl acetate, John described it as 'OILY FILTH' and where the hell is the mineral hallmark of a good chablis?
CONCLUSION:Much of chablis is machine picked and so grapes cannot be hand sorted to increase quality. Therefore, picking from good vineyards which dont torture their vines to overproduce dilute grapes is fairly important. Winemaking 101. Clearly, the producer didn't care and so neither do we. 7/20 and they want £9 for it. I think that we will gracefully decline!



HARRODS CHABLIS DOMAINE DE BOIS D'YVER 2004

APPEARANCE:Pale straw colour. A wee green streak.
NOSE:Medium intensity on the nose. Hazelnut, dairy and minerality.
PALATE:We like this dry one. Moderte acidity keeps it crisp but there is a green apple, some dandelion, wonderful woodiness and yes, there it was....that wet slate taste of minerality.
CONCLUSION:Gushed over this one. We are in love. This is leagues better than Sainsburys Taste the Difference Chablis. There is a heck of a difference. A very well made wine and get this, it is yours for £11.95 per bottle. Great value and we give it 15/20. WINE OF THE WEEK!!!



BERRYS' RIOJA TORRE DEMONTALBO, CRIANZA, BODEGAS AMEZOLA DE LA MORA 2001

APPEARANCE:An attractive garnet colour.
NOSE:Beautiful nutmeg and vanilla.
PALATE:Unctuous red and black fruit fill the mouth. Tobacco creeps through, vanilla can be a little full on (aged in French and American Oak), good acidity and wonderful spice from cinnamon and nutmeg. Want a longer finish.This is a smasher.
CONCLUSION:Very good quality wine , 13% alcohol and just £8.99. What a treat. A sexy number which goes down easy and just bursts from the bottle. Average score of 14/20. We left this in the glass for a while and it started to give us much more. The wine is made in the Rioja Alta which produces the most outstanding Rioja.
Berry Bros is the place that where Napoleon used to buy his wine, where there is still a letter on the wall from the owners of the Titanic apologizing for the lost consignment of wine that lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and where they certainly haven't sullied their name by associating it with substandard wine. If you want a slice of heaven, try their own brand Sauternes (tastes better than bottles at twice the price).



TESCO RESERVA RIOJA 2002

APPEARANCE:Crimson.
NOSE:Wow! Truffles, mushrooms, strawberries. Promising?
PALATE:Wimpish acidity, strawberry and fruity, lower body than the last rioja. It tastes a bit oxidized. Just dead in the mouth and a mercifully short finish.
CONCLUSION:This is just lifeless. It just tastes awful. This is the first rioja that i have had that i really disliked. Others were kinder about it. Overall, the score was an overgenerous 11/20. It costs the same as the last and has 13% alcohol. Our advice, get yourself down to Berry Brothers and don't look back.

Well, there you have it. Harrods wine dept and Berry Brothers Wine merchants are star performers. Tescos will serve you rather better than some of the name brands for champagne but if it is Old Lady's Soapy Filth that you are after, Sainsburys Taste the Difference Chablis is the one for you!

Join us in May for more fun with wine.

For our Wine Tasting Notes of 2006 use the following address.
http://alcoholic-synonymous.blogspot.com/
Blogspot wont allow us to edit it anymore but we can still read it.
This page is edited by Annette Lee