UWAC

15^th September marked the beginning of the Wine Club year with 36 members signing up for the evening, which kicked off with the AGM. Our Chairman Ian gave thanks to Ros Caffyn who has resigned from the committee (albeit she will continue to assist), and Brian Rippon was voted on.

The theme of the evening was blended wines, and members were treated during the AGM to a glass of Pinord Seleccion Brut Cava (Xarello, Macabeo and Parellada grapes), a light sparkling with refreshing citrus notes.

The first wine was an interesting and popular Italian white from Puglia, a Paolo Leo ‘Renèe Bianco Organic’ by Majestic. A blend of  Chardonnay, Fiano and Sauvignon Blanc, the tropical fruit notes made it a good summer drinking wine. We followed with a Portuguese Selected Harvest White , available from Majestic or Strictly Wine, from the Santo Isidro de Pegões cooperative on the Setúbal peninsula near Lisbon – good with food, a full flavoured wine with aromas of orange blossom and fresh fruits which worked in harmony with the oak spice. This pushed the blends to the limits with no fewer than five varieties, Fernão Pires, Antão Vaz, Verdelho, Arinto and Chardonnay.

The final white, also from Majestic, was the St Cosme ‘Micro Cosme’ Sauvignon-Viognier from the Rhône valley – aromatic and refreshing, with notes of apricot, lychee, grapefruit and mango.

The reds started with a wine found in most of the supermarkets, on offer at £7. ’19 Crimes Red’ by Treasury Wine Estates topped the list in a recent survey as the UK’s favourite supermarket wine, also the UK’s number one millennial wine brand. “It’s a taste you’ll never forget”, says the website, and some members agreed, preferring a little less sugar in their wine. Members heard about the app which brings the label to like when you point your phone at the bottle; the cash prizes for finding special corks, and the pop-up 19 Crimes tattoo parlour in London offering free tattoos…

The tone became a little more serious with a Buzet from Strictly Wine, ‘Sans’ without added sulphites. A Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from south-west France, it represented a good value option to similar Bordeaux wines a bit further down the Garonne river. This was followed by a Strictly Wine Rhône red – an opulent unoaked Grenache/Syrah/ Mourvèdre (GSM) from Domaine Combe Julière in Rasteau.

Members then heard about some of the challenges facing the wine industry, including global problems with shipping and haulage not to mention delays with customs clearance. Frost, hail, mildew, and fire damage have resulted in the worst French harvest in 50 years, while the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc harvest is 20-30% down at the same time as global demand has dramatically increased. In consequence this most popular of wine varieties will become more expensive and harder to find in the coming months.

The evening finished with a lovely Ribera del Duero Reserva (also Majestic) from the Bardos winery. This is a high altitude blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, with complex notes of dark fruit, chocolate and vanilla spice, a perfect end to a most enjoyable evening.

On 16^th October, we welcomed the return of Tim and Gill from ‘Joie de Vin’, who have now become an established feature of the Upton Wine Club annual calendar.  There was a good turnout of 34 from the village and there was a mood of eager anticipation for the forthcoming wines on offer.

The evening kicked off with a lovely sparkling wine, ‘Domaine Des Pampres d’or Cremant de Bourgogne’, which is from the South Burgundy area. It is made in the traditional method and is complex; it is especially recommended as a pair to canapes. It achieved much approval from the members!

The second bottle of the night was a Sauvignon, ‘Domaine de la chaise’, Touraine Chenoneaux Blanc, AOP 2016 (vegan)’. This was a rich full wine with exotic and citrusy fruit flavours, similar to a Sancerre. This wine particularly works well paired with oily fish or creamy sauces.

The third bottle was ‘L’Orfevre Viognier, IGP Cotes du Lot 2017’. This came with a note of peaches and apricots on the palette and Tim advised that it would go well with chicken and cheese. The latter was in fact confirmed by many on the night, as we were able to sample the delightful tapas on each table, which included some lovely strong cheese.

The fourth bottle, our final white of the evening, was the ‘Domaine Normand Pouilly Fuisse Les Crays 2017, (vegan)’. This wine is produced in the Burgundy area, with a limited production of 2500 bottles a year, as the grapes are handpicked from a small vinyard. The wine exudes rich aromas of exotic fruit, citrus and coconut and is very minerally on the finish.

Onto the reds. First up, the Domaine Pampres d’Or Cuvee Prestige Beaujolais Rouge, 2015 (vegan). This was a complex nose of rich red fruits with a slight hint of vanilla. It is an exceptional Beaujolais made from the estate’s best parcels of Gamay. This red goes very well with meat in sauce, cheese… or simply on it’s own!

The second red wine of the evening was the ‘Chateau Le Plantay, Cotes de Castillon, 2015’. This was a classic right bank Bordeaux, deep in colour and full and smooth on the palate. Again, another particularly appreciated wine of the night.

The next wine was ‘Domaine du Bon Remede Le Grange Delay Ventoux, from the Rhone Valley, 2017’. According to the notes provided by Tim and Gill, “ this is a wonderfully smooth full wine from the Southern Rhone, to the east of Chateauneuf- du- Pape. Awarded 97 points and a platinum medal by Decanter magazine, this is what they had to say about this wine:- A tremendously fruit intensity. Complex and immaculate. Enough to make you sit back and marvel!

The final wine of the evening was the ‘Chateau Montfin Cuvee Margot 2016 AOP Corbieres’ which is certified organic (my personal favourite!). This is a deep dark wine with intense red fruit and vanilla aromas. It is made from Syrah (60%), Grenache (25%) and old Carignan (15%). This wine is excellent with roast beef or mature cheese. This is an exceptional wine and a great wine to end a very enjoyable evening.

The Upton Wine Club started their fifteenth season in the newly furnished village hall this September. A great evening, with a touch of “ first day of term” feeling about it. To dust down the taste buds and remind everyone of the wide variety of flavours you can get from wine, the committee held a call my Bluff game. Three descriptions of wine were read out, with only one being correct. The audience simply had to guess the right one!

There was a wide variety of wines tasted, all mainly around the £9 – £12 mark. We use this as benchmark prices for the wines we taste as we feel it provides great quality wine for an affordable price. One of the principle purposes of our club is to give people the opportunity to try wines they may not have tried before. Look at the wines we tasted and if any look of interest give them a try!

Graham Beck Brut – A sparkling wine made from the same grapes used to make Champagne. Made in the same classic way as Champagne but you will pay significantly less! Well worth trying if you like your bubbles!

Definition Viognier – A grape grown all over the world and a must if you like aromatic, floral flavours.

Godello, Katia Alveraz – Not a well known grape but becoming very popular due to its versatility to pair with pretty much everything. Try it with fish to pick up on the citrus flavours.

Blind River, Savignon Blanc – A classic SB from Marlborough NZ. Full of herbaceous flavours and a must try if this grape is a favourite of yours.

Definition Pinotage – a big red wine, full of rich flavours of blackberry and raspberry. Perfect if you like strong bold flavours.

Morgon Chateau de Pizay – A Gamay grape with a fine fruity taste. Lots of blackberries and cherries and a silky smooth finish!

Viñalba Reserve Malbec – Another big red wine from Argentina. Full of dark fruit, cocoa and lip=smacking melted tannins. Perfect with an Autumn steak!

Revival Zinfandel – Picking up flavours of jam, blueberry and black pepper and a smoky finish. It is a lovely smooth red.

Carrying on the popular theme of wine with food, we had another great wine and cheese evening this month with some outstanding cheeses and very drinkable wine combinations.

We started with a lovely, high quality and drinkable Prosecco with a
delicious Gran Padano cheese followed by a crisp, dry yet very aromatic and pleasantly floral Greek white with some melted halloumi. A lightly oaked yet bright and fresh Chardonnay paired well with a beautiful creamy brie and a fragrant and full-bodied Viognier with a very indulgent creamy and complex Delice de Crème!

On to reds and we enjoyed a very fruity rich Sangiovese with Taleggio:
Typically a mild creamy cheese with an unexpected pungent aroma. Then a
very drinkable fruity Grenache from the Barossa valley in Australia. It was
brilliantly paired with a hard goat’s cheese affectionately named “Rustic
Rachel” after a lovely lady who apparently shared personality traits with this cheese (sweet, curvy and slightly nutty – wish we could meet her!) and
topped with a dark cherry to match the notes of the wine. A 100% Cabernet
Sauvignon from Argentina made from grapes grown in the very sunny region of North Mendoza went very well with a delicious mature Cornish Quartz cheddar.

We rounded off the evening with a tawny port paired with a robust Barkham Blue, a lovely classic combination leaving us wanting even more despite having had SO much!

Thanks to the Committee for pulling together some delicious and well
matched combinations. All in all it was a very sociable and relaxed evening.

It’s great to see both regular and new faces at Wine Club.

Lastly, don’t forget the Wine Club logo competition! Entries to Ian in time
for May’s meeting.

The theme of February’s Wine Club evening was the pairing of food and wine from the same country, with the added challenge of the foods being a little out-of-the-ordinary as far as wine pairing goes. First on the menu was a very tasty Peri-Peri chicken dish. This spicy dish from Portugal was matched with a very drinkable vihno verde, Casal de Ventozela (Majestic Wines, £7.99 as part of a “mix six” discount). There was general agreement in the crowd that the match worked well and was a good one to remember for the summer BBQ season. Then we hopped half way around the globe in one bound and landed in Thailand! Here we were met with Thai butternut squash soup, which although absolutely delicious proved to be a real challenge on the wine-pairing front! There had been valiant attempts to get hold of a Thai wine, but the gods were against it and so after much head-scratching the dish was paired with a 2017 Dr Loosen Riesling (£15.99 @ Waitrose) from the southern end of the Mosel valley in Germany, where the Riesling wines are more fruity and sweeter than their more northerly counterparts. Despite not being Thai, everyone agreed it was a great pairing and one to remember for the next visit to your favourite Thai restaurant.

Next we brought it back home to Blighty where we were served traditional fish ‘n’ chips, and to cut through the cholesterol, what better than the fine acidity of an English sparking wine: in this case it was Ridgeview Bloomsbury (£25.99 @ Waitrose). The fizz worked very well with the richness of the food and the citrus notes chimed well with the fish.

Of course, no globetrotting wine tour would be complete without a visit to France and here we were treated to a delicious pâté. The wine pairing here worked brilliantly and was a pinot noir from Burgundy (‘Les Pierres Rouges’ 2015 Louis Jadot @ Majestic Wine – £14.99 as part of a “mix six” discount). The richness of the food was balanced well by the lighter and slightly tannic wine.

Travelling back to the Iberian peninsula, Spain was our next port of call. Here we tasted sautéd chorizo and sweet peppers which were set off superbly by the higher alcohol and tannins of a rich Rioja (Hacienda Don Hernan Rioja 2016 @ Naked Wines, £11.99). Again one to remember for those looming summer months.

Next we jumped over The Pond and landed in South America: Argentina to be precise. Here we were treated to Morcilla (black pudding to me and you), which again proved to pose something of a challenge on the wine pairing front. However, after a little thought and a lot of help from the nice man at Majestic Wines, we found a very succulent Argentinian “Bordeaux” blend (Arraigo Benegas Single Vinyard Blend 2011 – £11.99 as part of a “mix six” discount) which did a better than average job of matching up to the food.

Heading north from there we entered the land of the burger (USofA) where that king of foods was paired with a wine which is one of my personal favourites – Zinfandel (F. Stephen Millier Black Label Old Vine @ Naked Wines – £10.99). A match made in heaven!

And finally, back to Spain to match one of the most delicious meringues that I and most others there had tasted, with a great example of a Floralis Moscatel dessert wine (Floralis Moscatel Oro Catalunya @ Waitrose – £8.25 per half bottle). A perfect end to a great evening!

NB: Special thanks to Maddy Langley for her to-die-for meringues. I swear there were scuffles for the last few!

Following on from the most expensive time of the year, but not kow-towing to dry January, the welcome theme for January’s village wine club was the January Sales! Interesting wines, significantly discounted by big retailers, were carefully selected by enthusiastic committee members looking out for a bargain!

We had a good range of wines from a light Spanish sparkling Cava to some contrasting whites including a WHITE Rioja (Kevin!), a refreshing dry Muscadet and an exotic fruity Australian Chardonnay. Very drinkable and good value reds comprised a New Zealand Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, a fruity Zinfandel, a meaty Chianti Classico and a classy Barossa Shiraz. All wines had at least a 25% discount on normal prices and are at time of writing still available!

In other news, would anyone be interested in having a go at designing the first Upton Wine Club logo?  Any entries would be very welcome and the prize for the winner will be your own T shirt with the newly designed logo on the front.  It will be an excellent addition to your wardrobe and very good for showing off around the village when the summer comes.

Meanwhile, coming up is our very popular food and wine pairing meeting. Please put Wednesday 20^th February in your diary and don’t forget to book! We would love to see you there. It was great to see some new faces this month; we hope very much to see you again next time for some great wines and hopefully delicious food. All welcome as ever.

This month’s Wine Club meeting on 12^th December saw our annual homage to Christmas, this year centred around wines to go with each and every course of Christmas Dinner: from a bone dry Cava with the canapés to a delicious tawny port for the stilton and nuts.  To highlight the Christmas Dinner theme an enormous dining table was laid out in the village hall and a small-but-perfectly-formed Christmas meal, including turkey with all the trimmings, was served to every person at what turned out to be a very popular meeting!

The first wine of the evening was a Cava: “Cava Conde de Haro Brut 2016” (supplied by The Wine Society).  This is a seriously good Cava from Muga in Rioja, fermented in bottle and aged for two years just like Champagne.  As already mentioned, it was a bone-dry wine and went very well as an aperitif with the canapés,

Next up was a Riesling:  “Stepp Riesling (Trocken) 2017”  (supplied by Naked Wines).  This is a very clean and crisp wine from Pfalz in Germany and complemented the prawn salad perfectly.  The vineyard has a high limestone content resulting in high calcium content in the grapes, leading to a delicate but persistent minerality.  It’s also dry and very fruity, packing “a punch of fresh flavours” according to one reviewer.

The next two wines, one white and one red, were both served with the turkey and there was much debate as to which accompanied it best!  These wines were:

“Domaine Coche-Bizouard, Meursault Ormeau 2013”   (supplied by The Wine Society).  This is a dry white Burgundy produced in the Côte de Beaune sub-region.  This is a lovely wine with nicely balanced acidity.  There’s definitely some peach flavours in there and also hints of oak and vanilla.  We also found out that even though this one was around £30 a bottle (it is for Christmas dinner, after all ), it offers very good value for money as similar wines usually cost around 50% more!

“Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru Lavières, Domaine Camus-Bruchon, 2008”   (supplied by The Wine Society).  This is a medium-bodied pinot noir wine from the Burgundy region of France.  It went very well with the turkey which isn’t a strongly flavoured meat and so needs a delicate wine which won’t over power it.  This wine is nicely mature (as shown by the orange colour at the rim), the fruit has sweetened on the nose, and the tannins are beginning to soften on the palate.  Gorgeous!

The penultimate wine saw the appearance of the long-promised “wine to go with chocolate” by Debbie Paul .  To meet this challenge Debbie introduced us to a Greek dessert wine, “Samos Anthemis”, from the island of Samos.  Luscious and sweet, this rounded muscat had sumptuous hints of honey and baked-orange aromas.  On the palate it’s sweet with apricot, caramel and nutty flavours. Perfect with tarte tatin, blue cheese or chocolate!

And finally, there was the “Oscar’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port”  (supplied by Naked Wines) to go with the selection of cheeses on offer.  This is an elegant, intense, long and delicious tawny port, and its balance and refinement could easily be that of a 20 years old port.  But no, just 10!

So often we go with what we know when it comes to selecting a bottle of wine.  This month we challenged Derek Whitmell, one of our club members to present 8 wine that were all unlikely to have been tried before and he did not disappoint!  Selecting some quality wines, all from the Wine Society (an on-line retailer who have experts recommend wines for us to try), he took us around the world to some different countries and some different grapes from countries we knew well.

Our first white was Vacqueras Blanc les Chefs d’Or 2016.  White Vacqueyras is rare yet this white Clairette blend is a speciality at Domaine Le Clos des Cazaux down in Rhone, a blend of clairette, rousanne and white grenache. This example is described as “Crisp, dry and perfectly balanced”, which goes well with oysters or fish.

Next was a Greek wine called Tetramythos Roditis Natur,2017. A whistle-clean Greek white. Slightly pink skinned variety of grape, commonly grown in Greece.  For those who were trying to pick out the flavours, they were looking for soft pear and pepper!  The Greeks helped spread wine to the rest of Europe so we have a lot to thank them for!

Our third whites was Mtsvane Georgian Dry White Schuchmann, 2017, (mtsvane  is pronounced ‘ma-ts-vay-nay’), a fresh herbal white made from the mtsvane grape.  It has a zesty freshness which would work well with your fish starter this Christmas!

We finished the whites with Tuercebotas Tempranillo Bianca, 2017, Rioja.  Many people will have tried Rioja, but few will have had a white Rioja made from the tempranillo grape (normally used to make the more common red variety).  This was a great alternative and it was nice to try a crisp white from a grape most recognised.

Reds were all equally intriguing and to save space I have briefly listed them below for reference:

Naoussa  Jeunes Vignes Thymiopoulos,  2016, Greece.  The grape was xinomavro  pronounced “tsi-noh-mavro”.  This one is worth trying chilled.

Hochar Chateau Musar 2015 from Lebanon. This is a blend of Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan.  The premier wine is normally around £28 per bottle so at just under £13 this is a good value wine (try it with a chicken tagine and apricots ).

Novac Sec, Prince Stirbey,  2015 from Romania.  This had ripe but fresh and juicy flavours which make it a very attractive red.

Lagrein Alto Adige, Hofstatter, 2016 from Italy.  Described as having a “bright vibrant, fresh, black-fruited bouquet and naturally sweet juicy flavour, with an appetising salty finish; and “A delightful example of this local north-east Italian speciality”. Lagrein is related to the more common  Pinot and syrah grapes.

October’s meeting saw the very welcome return of one of our most popular speakers, Tim North from Joie de Vin.    The business specialises in importing remarkable French wine from very carefully selected small producers that are not available in UK supermarkets.

It was inspiring to hear Tim’s enthusiasm about the individual suppliers he uses, about their environmental ethics and their very conscientious craft production methods.    Tim deals directly with each supplier and so avoids the usual overheads of the bigger traders.   His selectivity really shows in the quality of the wines.   In total, Tim showed us 8 contrasting wines.   Although a couple were more expensive than the usual we tend to see at Wine Club, they were very good value for what they were!

Tim purposefully avoided wines he had showed us before and the obvious “bar menu” wines like Sauvignon Blanc, giving us a refreshing change.     We started off with a lovely crisp refreshing Domaine Salmon Imperial Sparkling Brut.  Going on to  whites, there was a classic, crisp, dry Touraine Chenin Blanc 2014 with subtle oak notes, a really delicious, well balanced 2017 Pinot Gris from the Loire and a very complex 2016 Macon white Burgundy to rival the fine wines from Cote D’Or, also at a very fair price.  For the reds, there was a soft, fruity 2017 Touraine Gamay, an intense 2017 Cotes de Roussillon partnering beautifully with the paté, a very rich, smooth 2015 Lussac Saint Emillion and for the big showstopper, a wonderful rich red 2015 Pomerol, drinkable on its own but also great with meat or cheese.

All the wines were extremely drinkable and hard to put down and they seemed to go down a storm.  I personally enjoyed them all and would recommend a look at this business www.joiedevin.co.uk if you weren’t able to come along to the meeting.     Certainly, there were a lot of order forms going in at the end of the evening at the special discounted price!

The theme of March’s Wine Club meeting was the ever-popular Wine and Cheese (via the Pangbourne Cheese Shop) pairing.

We had 4 Uptonites each sharing a couple of their favourite wine+cheese pairings, and a very delicious evening it was! Pairings included:

1. a blushing pink New Zealand fizz with a lovely (and fat-free, if you don’t count the cream, double cream and crème fraiche ingredients) Delice de Cremiere from Burgundy.
2. a Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux matched with a, in the words of the presenter, “not at all dungy” Crottin goats cheese (judging by the reaction in the room, a definite Marmite item – I loved it)
3. a different, but nonetheless delicious Greek white against, what else, a rich Feta
4. a very drinkable Italian red from Verona married up with a rich Grana Padano cheese from the “heel” of Italy
5. a full-bodied Argentinian Malbec and a no-nonsense aged cheddar
6. a second succulent Italian red, this time from the south of the peninsula and complemented by a very well received, tomato leaf wrapped Pecorino cheese
7. a silky and absolutely mouth-watering Royal Tokaji (a personal fave, can you tell?) offset against a Montagnolo (a deceptively named, but gorgeous German blue cheese)
8. a lovely organic port paired with a powerful, but smooth and creamy Spanish blue cheese.

All-in-all a gastronomic night had by all !

You can find more info on these wines on our Twitter page, @UptonWine, Also, as a group of confirmed wine-ophiles (as opposed to wino-philes) we are really keen to spread the word as far and wide as physically possible (within Upton).

Next outing is on 18th April at 8.00pm when Majestic will be inundating us with a fab selection of great Spring wines. Give it a go, you know you want to!

If you decide to come along please do let us know so we can be sure we have enough to go around. You can contact us here:

@UptonWine / uptonwineclub.com / ian.langley@yahoo.co.uk