This month's hosts were Julie and Jerry who had selected wines to go with cheese, which was available to try with the wines listed below ...
The Wines
Wine |
Description |
Price |
Score |
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La Marca Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Extra Dry DOCG 11% ABV
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Sparkling wine with a straw-yellow colour. La Marca winery is located in Oderzo, in the Veneto region. Its members own about 8,000 hectares of vineyards on the hills and the plain. Advanced technologies are used in the vineyards and the cellar to aid the continual improvement of wine quality. It is made using the Charmat method in which the secondary fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. Here, carbonation occurs biologically from the decomposition of sugar from added yeasts. The must then undergoes slow fermentation in pressurized, stainless steel tanks (autoclaves). To achieve the proper balance of flavour, aroma, elegance, consistency and fine perlage (effervescence), the wine is kept in these tanks from 20 days (frizzanti) to 3 months, and can go up to 6 months for Cuveè and Prestige.
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Majestic (Calais) |
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Domaine du Bosc Viognier 2015 IGP 12% ABV |
Textbook southern French Viognier: exotic, peachy and rich. Good with shellfish. Grown in the sun-drenched vineyards of the Pays d’Oc a few kilometres away from the coast, the combination of Mediterranean warmth and fresh sea air has produced this Viognier, smooth on the palate with touches of dried flowers and apricots. |
£6.75 Wine Society |
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Kuhlmann – Platz Gewürztraminer Cuvée Prestige 2015 13% ABV |
Fresh and open, with a pale straw colour and light body. Aromas of apricot and yellow plum, with hints of white rose. A gently sweet palate with firm acidity that dries and lengthens the finish. Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr was the first cooperative in Alsace and the third in France as a whole. The winery was built in the 1950s by the founding vignerons, who tended their vines by day and worked on the building by night, creating a winery that is still in use today.
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Majestic (Calais) |
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Cabalié 70% Grenache 20% Syrah 10% Carignan 2015 IGP 13% ABV |
Maury is one of France's hotspots for "thunderously powerful Grenache" (Andrew Jefford). So, if you're a fan of incomparably mouthfilling reds with moreish amounts of fruit and taffeta soft tannins, you'll love the region's flag-bearer, Cabalié. Typical quote from review: "When my time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil, this is the wine I want in that final glass. It is simply, utterly, indescribably fantastic." Its secret? It's crafted by Parker-praised winemaker Hervé Sabardeil in Maury, a southern French town with a 2,000 year old wine heritage. Taste Cabalié and you'd think it was bolstered with a splash of the local fortified vin doux naturel. But in fact its intensity comes from some of the oldest Grenache vines in France. Their stunningly concentrated grapes give Cabalié extraordinarily ripe, deep red berry flavours. Boasting 12 medals in five vintages, this legendary wine is in its element with a slow braised beef casserole.
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£6.99 Laithwaites |
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Black Stump Durif Shiraz 60% Durif 40% Shiraz 2015 14% ABV |
According to winemaker Alan Kennett (and thousands of Black Stump customers), when you combine Durif and Shiraz "magical things happen". Perhaps that explains Black Stump's splendid decade of popularity. The wine owes its name to a mythical outback landmark, now part of the Aussie language. An expression of the biggest, best, richest anything, "this side of the black stump" effectively means "in the known world". How appropriate for an affordable Aussie red of peerless intensity and popularity. Dark Durif - "the grape that takes no prisoners" (The Observer) - and impressively juicy Shiraz have a turbo charging effect on each other, creating a velvety, voluptuous, and irresistible style. Serve in large glasses with steak or a Sunday roast. As usual, winemaker Alan Kennett has pulled out all the stops to create another sublime 'Stump'. Before this Shiraz Durif came along, Durif was an experimental French grape relegated to history. Today it's legendary. One sip and you're smitten.
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£8.99 Laithwaites |
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Domaine de Cousseres Sauternes 80% Sémillon 20% Sauvignon Gris 2013 13% ABV |
Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wines. Due to its climate, Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence. Even so, production is a hit-or-miss proposition, with widely varying harvests from vintage to vintage. Wines from Sauternes can be very expensive, due largely to the very high cost of production. 2013 was apparently a good year for rot! |
Auchan |
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