Our evenings started up again for the New Year with Kim and Theresa presenting a range of supermarket wines which have won top wine awards...
These proved to be fantastic wines at reasonable prices and we sampled two white, two rose and two reds. These proved to be very popular and the evening was rounded off with a tasting of homemade sloe gin!
The Wines
WHITE
Gold Medal Winner Leitz, Rudesheimer Rosengarten Riesling Kabinett GERMANY 2012 (Waitrose £13.99) 10%
Rheingau’s vineyards are planted on the steep slopes on the Tanus Hills around one of the few points the Rhine flows from East to West. Rheingau’s cool continental climate helps create the perfect conditions for growing some of the world’s finest Riesling.
The original walled Rosegarten vineyard in the town of Rudesheim on the banks of the Rhine is exclusively owned by Leitz.
Tasting Notes: This delicious off dry Riesling has white peach and apricot flavours and will perfectly accompany Asian and spicy cuisine, fish and salad... or simply enjoy as an aperitif.
Gold Medal Winner Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Semillion, Hunter Valley New South Wales, AUSTRALIA 2006 (Sainsbury £7.99) 10.5%
It’s not often the opportunity arises to taste an aged Semillon for less than £10. Semillon is an underrated variety and some of the best come from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. The wine is fermented using natural yeasts and, after one month, the wine is stabilised and filtered. No oak treatment is used to ensure pure fruit expression. The wine is then bottle aged to gain complexity.
Tasting Notes: It has lovely intense lemony, nutty, toasty flavours with some honeysuckle floral notes and a bit of pithiness. This wine is impressive and good value for money. It is toasty, fresh and mature with focused acidity and notes of lemongrass and cream soda and a long, un-oaked finish.
International Trophy Winner Commanderie de Peyrassol, Cotes de Provence FRANCE 2012 (Majestic £9.99 for two) 12.5%
Commanderie de Peyrassol was founded in 1308 by the Knights Templar. In addition to 80ha of vines, it also shelters 2500 olive trees, 200 oak truffles trees and a private hunting area with deer, hinds, mouflons (wild sheep) and wild pigs. This wine comprises Cinsault, Grenanche and Syrah grapes.
Tasting Notes: This dry rosé has a spicy warmth to the fruit, lifted by refreshing acidity and a peachy edge. Notes of strawberry predominate, with background notes of white pepper.
ROSE
Regional Trophy Winner Lawson’s Dry Hills, Pinot Rose, Marlborough, NEW ZEALAND 2012 (Wine Society £9.50) 13%
The grapes were harvested, crushed and held on the skins for up to forty eight hours to extract colour and berry fruit flavours from the skins. The must was then pressed, settled and fermented at low temperatures with an aromatic yeast strain to emphasis the bright fruit characters found in the grapes.
This wine is made to drink whilst young and fresh, perfect with a light lunch or just by itself. A good food match would be cold meats, chicken salad, summer BBQ
Tasting Notes This wine has a beautiful deep pink hue and displays highly attractive strawberry aromas. The palate is crisp, dry and elegant with good length and concentration. An abundance of fresh berry fruit flavours show this wine’s varietal origins.
RED
Regional Trophy Winner Cotes du Rhone, Villages Seguret, Rhone FRANCE 2011 (Morrisons £4.98) 13.5%
Tucked against the hillside to better protect its vines, Séguret offers wines that match its geographical site. Well-built and structured to stand the test of time. Unusually charismatic, they jealously give up little parcels of their history.
Tasting Notes Cotes du Rhone Villages - the highest quality of Cotes du Rhones wines - is an absolute classic. Made with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes, it's jam-packed with loads of raspberry and red fruit aromas and warm, heathery, herby flavours and a hint of pepper. Also sweet, berry, cherry, plums, spicy flavour, stylish, elegant, long finish, good structure. This Cotes du Rhone Villages is a great wine to match with other powerful flavours. It would really hit it off with some good old comfort foods - meat stews, cauliflower cheese or steak and kidney pie.
Gold Medal Winner Pasico, Old Vine Monastrell-Shiraz, Jumilla, SPAIN 2011 (Sainsbury £5.99) 14%
A stunning wine from the 'new wave' Jumilla region of south-eastern Spain. It is located in the north east of Murcia region, close to the town of Cieza and Yecla. It tips its hat to the classic regions of Spain but delivers a whole lot more. The blend of Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre) and Shiraz (aka Syrah) grapes make this a real blockbuster of flavours. Rich dark cherry and plum fruit is abundant and all wrapped up in a twist of spice.
Tasting Notes The nose delivers a punchy blend of red fruits and old oak. Concentrating harder, the fruits arrange themselves a little better and come out as dark cherry, followed by ripe bramble, but the almost earthen scent of oak remains a constant in the middle ground. Taste delivers what the nose promised but in a surprising smooth texture. Cherry is still very much at the forefront and is given further dimension by the supporting red fruit.
