Sue and Peter Bathmaker hosted the tasting on 17 April using the theme ‘A Taste of Spring’. This was an interesting selection of three white and five red wines sourced mainly from the New World, and included some lesser-known grape varieties to test our palates and wine knowledge...
Sue opened the tasting with a bottle of Il Casone Glera Veneto (Glera is also known as the Prosecco grape). Made at the Cantina Sacchetto in Trebaseleghe, Italy this fresh, pleasant fruity little wine had hints of apple and pear flavours and a gentle fizz. (Beverley Bollons, £6.99). Next up was a Santa Ana Torrontes Vintage 2010 from Mendoza in Argentina. The Torrontes grape gave the wine a greenish colour, with golden hints. On the nose, roses and citric aromas could be detected while on the palate the wine had a fresh, crisp taste, with a balanced finish. (Hedley Wright, £6.99). The third white was an Echeverria Unwooded Chardonnay 2011 from Molina in the Curico Valley in Chile and this wine had fresh and gentle aromas of fruits and flowers with hints of pears and apples that lingered on the finish. (Beverley Bollons, £7.99).
The first of the reds presented by Peter was an Emiliana Novas Pinot Noir 2010. Another Chilean wine, this time from the Casablanca Valley, it was bright ruby red in colour with aromas of berries and cocoa. A fruity wine with soft and smooth tannins, it had well balanced acidity and a long fresh finish. (Hedley Wright, £9.99). Next came a Leaping Lizard Cabernet Merlot 2008 from Western Australia. Dark crimson in colour, the wine had a bouquet of blackberry, cherry and plum, with hints of violet. Racking to French oak barrels gave the wine a balanced rounded palate and complemented the rich plum, blueberry and chocolate flavours of the wine. The third red was a J Lohr Estates Wildflower Valdiguie 2010 from Monterey County in California. Two different winemaking techniques are used with the large-berried Valdiguie grape with the aim of preserving the grapes natural acidity and fresh fruit flavours. The wine has a remarkable similarity to Beaujolais, with enticing berry fruit flavours, a vibrant colour and soft tannins. (Hedley Wright, £10.99).
For our penultimate tasting we headed to South Africa and Peter presented a Spice Route 2008 Mourvedre from the Swartland region. A vibrant red colour, the wine showed aromas of bramble fruit, cherries, cracked peppers and cinnamon with lingering plum tomato and spice on the palate. (Hedley Wright, £7.99). The final wine was a Quasar Rioja Tinto 2010 from the Bodegas Ondarre, a winery in Viana about 10km from Logrono, the Riojas capital. On the nose, the wine had the leather and spice notes of a traditionally made Rioja while it was smooth and subtle on the palate, with strawberries and vanilla ice cream sustained through to a long finish with well integrated tannins. (Beverley Bollons, £7.50).
Altogether a very interesting selection of wines and grapes and our thanks to Peter and Sue for all the effort they put into making the evening such a success.
