I preface this article by reminding you that too much wine is dangerous!  When you have 9 engineers doing their attempt Harlem Shake, you know that perhaps the fun has gone too far. I've deleted the video evidence to protect the innocent, and to protect you from retinal scarring.  So, how did we get to this stage?
I was asked to run a wine tasting event for a friend's team meeting.  Don't worry folks, corporate hell hasn't frozen over.  The employees were staying overnight and chipped in to pay for the winetertainment themselves.  The event was held at The Copse, near Henley on Thames, which meant they could cook, and not have to worry about driving home, and I was asked to bring wines to suit the dinner.  Other than that, I had free reign, with an alcohol budget of between £10-15 per person.  
First, a word about the stunning venue. If you're looking for a place to host a party for a large number of overnight guests, this is a great place to consider.  It has a private cinema to seat 14, a 12 seater dining table and amazing bedrooms to sleep at least 11. It was a fine location for the wine tasting with plenty of glasses,  a dishwasher, and most importantly, no need for a designated driver!

Themes always add to the fun. The team work for a Spanish firm.  And it doesn't take much to encourage me to indulge in wines from Spain. Thus, the Spain versus Rest of the World challenge was on.  A this was an engineering team, I needed to bring numbers into it, using a scoring system for the first time. After all, it's not a challenge if there's no winner.  A score of 1 indicated, "this wine is not to my taste and I'm pouring it into the spittoon", whereas a score of 5 indicated, "I'll be rushing out to by a bottle of this tomorrow".

The tasters all enjoyed wine from time to time, but tended to have one or two favourites which they rarely deviate from.  And they were all keen to try new things, be challenged and up for anything - all the elements that make for a fun wine tasting evening.

Immediately testing the resolve to "try anything", I started the night with a traditional Spanish aperitif, the Manzanilla (a very light Fino sherry for those not in the know).  There was one non-wine-drinker in the company and I let him test it first. Gin & Tonic is about the only thing he will drink.  Surprising himself (but not me) he took a second sip, which is about as high praise as he's ever given a wine.  As for the rest of the group, I'm not sure any will be replacing their G&T with Fino any time soon.   Nevertheless, considering they are a non-sherry drinking bunch, I think we made some converts with 3 scores of 4 balancing out the 3 scores of 1.  Fino sherry is extremely dry, and I chose the Manzanilla style which is lighter, fresher and somewhat less yeasty/biscuity.  On the whole, I think it was just too dry for our boys, especially after they'd had a couple of Coronas.
Definitely, I did something to change sherry's "old aunt" reputation among these boys, and those that had tried sherry before found this one easier to drink than a traditional Fino such as a Tio Pepe.  Good result.  I got a litre in the  duty free shop in Jerez on my visit to the region last September for about 7 Euros.  Sadly in the UK a bottle will set you back over £10 (if you can get a hold of it).  It's worth it for a taste of the Andalusian seaside where this wine is aged and turned into a delicious sherry.
Total score 25/50, which I think is a bit harsh, but then, I am a sherry convert.  More on this another time!

Next up, we moved to another aperitif style - sparkling wine.  While Champagne is still widely drunk at celebratory occasions, sometimes we want fizz at prices that won't break the bank, making it okay to open it any night of the week.
So I decided to compare Spain's Cava and Italy's Prosecco which are both gaining in popularity due to their fresh, fruity flavours and bargain prices (compared to Champers).  
All the wines (except the Manzanilla) came from The Wine Society and this one was £7.50.  Cava is made in the same method as Champagne, but with different grape varieties (the fizz is created by a second fermentation in the bottle).  This one blends a little Chardonnay in with the traditional Cava grapes of Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel-lo and surprised our panel with it's refreshing, clean, crisp apple flavours and delicate mousse.  It gained 3 scores of 4 and the lowest score was a 2, with a few reconsidering Cava after previously having considered it would be sweet.  Total score 31.
In other news, I subsequently tried the Friexenet Cava Cordon Rosado (pink cava) in a mini bottle size and with a screw top.  While it did lose some of the ceremony, it's good to be able to enjoy fizz without the need for "an occasion" or even someone to share it with.  This one is full of strawberry and summer-fruit flavours so just right for that taste of spring we ought to be having around now.

The Italian Prosecco was first up for "Team Rest of World". It is £8.95 and was also in the dry Brut style. The manufacturing method for Prosecco is simpler and cheaper with secondary fermentation (to add the bubbles) happening in a tank rather than the bottle (like Cava or Champagne). The Glera grapes gave a summery, floral and aromatic taste with hints of violet and chamomile being mentioned.  Given these were engineers, I found the descriptive capability rather impressive!  There was only one score of 1 and one of 4.
With everyone else rating it at a 3, I guess this is a wine that doesn't stir the passions, but is also inoffensive and thus good to serve to a large group without fear of people actively disliking it. Total score 28.  Spain win the fizz challenge!

Now it was the turn of England to take on the Spanish.  It wasn't a blind tasting but I'm fairly certain that English Nationalism wasn't the reason the Chapel Down Bacchus (£9.99) was such a success. After all, we had Austrians, Scots and Venezuelans in the team. This is a complex white with a long finish and our engineers appreciated the depth and variety of flavours declaring it a great surprise. One sip of this left us all longing for summer, with its flavours of elderflower, grass and gooseberry.
If you love New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, you should definitely be picking up some of this Bacchus from Kent for your spring evenings (assuming spring ever gets here). The scoring was consistent around 4 with just one 3 and one 5.  Total score 40, making it the highest scoring individual wine.   Does this mean England is the winner? 
Perhaps it's time for our wine bars and restaurants to take Bacchus seriously? I really hope that this summer I will see more English wines on the wine lists of England.

Heading back to Spain, I poured a Fefiñanes Albariño (£15) which I first reviewed back in December. Is it any wonder this grape is growing in popularity, that's the 3rd mention in 4 blog posts from Purple Teeth.  Yes, I love it, but what did the public think? 
In restrospect, I ought to have served this delicate and elegant wine before the Bacchus. The English wine has a very strong flavour and long finish, thus tending to dominate the initial sips of Albariño.  Despite this, the elegant and serious Spaniard with hints of salty minerality stood up to the test.  It gained no score less than a 3 and five scores of 5 bringing it equal to the Bacchus with a total score of 40.  However, five scores of 5 is the most achieved by any wine on the night, so does that mean Spain wins?  It's a tough call and it's all down to the scoring methodology.  In West Coast Swing dancing, this wine would have beaten the Bacchus hands down, simply based on the highest number of first places. Yes, I admit, I'm biased. I love this wine - but at £15 a bottle, I won't be drinking it very often.  Do treat yourself to an Albariño this summer though.  It's like a cool breeze on a sandy beach.

And now it was time for the dinner to move from nibbles and crudites into the main course.  I'd been advised the meats would be lamb and venison and so my first thought was Rioja and Pinot Noir.  I correctly guessed, however, that many of the team would be very familiar with Rioja so opted for Ribera del Duero instead to represent Spain's reds. The Gavilán (around £10) is aged in French and American oak for 12 months which gives great flavours of nutmeg and vanilla.  Some tasters distinguished smoke and complexity, alongside a plummy fruit. I've had this wine several times, but it's been a while and I will be adding it to my reorder list.  Total score was 37, and again achieving a chart topping  five scores of 5.  The Leyda Pinot Noir (£10.50) from Chile also scored a 37 but with fewer top scores.  It was described as smooth, spicy, and lively by our increasingly inebriated engineers.  I found it to have bags of the expected strawberry flavours, good acidity and structure, and although light, it had enough colour and body to hold it's own with the meat fest. I could easily have served a second bottle of each of these with no complaints, but reviewing photos of the evening, it's probably as well that I didn't, especially as everyone had work to do in the morning...

Knowing that two tasting samples of red wouldn't be enough red to match a whole main course, I decided to bring out Team USA, represented by the Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel by Ravenswood (£9).  I first reviewed this back in November and it was much loved by my mother with a hearty red meat dish.  We were eating slow cooked, braised meats, so I thought I'd give it a shot. While it had the fewest top scores, it fared well with a total score of 36.  There was perhaps less sophistication in the scores by the 8th wine, but the comments were of mellow oaky notes of vanilla and toast along with a surprising balance of flavours and good integration of the high level of alcohol.  Was it at this point that the boys decided it was time to try the Harlem Shake, or did that come after the dessert wines? I can't quite remember, but I'm sure it's nothing to do with the Zinfandel coming in at a whopping 14.5% alcohol by volume.
Luckily, I was hosted for the evening at the Copse, as driving would have been a lot less fun than joining in.

And so it was onto dessert. We enjoyed a lovely French Apple Cake and an extremely dark, bitter chocolate tart, both lovingly prepared in advance by one of the team's wives.  I felt that these desserts would match better with the fortified style dessert wines, rather than the honeyed botrytised sweet wines I usually drink.
Representing Portugal and the final submission for Team Rest of World, we enjoyed a 10 year old Tawny Port (£17), which achieved a total score of 37.  It worked best with the apple cake.  Descriptive references are scant at this stage in the evening with such helpful terms as "sweet" and "wonderful" being written down. While I enjoyed it a lot, I prefer tawny ports which look less ruby than this example.  It still had fruit flavours, and I like the development of the caramel tastes that say, the Warre's Otima 10 year old delivers (around £10 per 50cl from Asda and other supermarkets).
Team Spain's final submission was back to the sherry region.  I am determined to convert the masses to the love of sherry, and this Oloroso Dulce (£11) style couldn't be more different than the Manzanilla we started with.  It's stickily sweetened with the Pedro Ximenez grape so it seems much sweeter than the port.  It paired brilliantly with the bitter chocolate dessert.  This was a match made in heaven.  Normally when faced with a chocolate dessert, I reach for Black Muscat, Banyuls or Maury, but no longer.  With extreme bitter chocolate, this sherry is your friend and ally.  Helpfully scoring another total of 37 but with four top scores of 5, this could just about claim the front place in the tie for the dessert wines.  

When the final scores were counted, we had a tie on the whites, a tie on the dessert wines, a tie on the reds, and Spain winning on sparkling but the Manzanilla the least preferred wine. It's far from a clear cut contest, but I'm going to say that with the highest volume of top scores (fourteen 5s versus six 5s for rest of the world), Spain is the winner using my west coast swing dance rules. If you've written off the wines of Spain as "just Rioja" it's time for you to reconsider.  There's a whole lot of exciting wines from the Iberian Peninsula, but don't rule out English wine either!

And if you like the sound of holding a Purple Teeth tasting event for your private party, then feel free to get in touch using the contact form, to discuss your requirements.  I'd love to help you and your friends discover your new favourite wine (and I'm even happy to drive home afterwards).   Cheers!

Red Velvet by Cupcake Vineyards.... How could a sweet-toothed gal like me resist a Lodi Zinfandel with a name like this?
I chose this wine as Wine of the Week since I've been travelling in the USA and in a rare supermarket opportunity, I spotted this wine, which I knew I'd seen in Marks and Spencer.  Sadly, I've not had feedback from readers this week.  Whether this is because certain branches of M&S  have sold out, or because at £9.99 it's a little pricier than the wines we normally use for Wine of the Week, I don't know.  Perhaps you can resist cupcakes more than I can?  Or maybe you're a little shy of sharing your views?  If you did manage to try this, please feel free to put your comments here on the blog.  

So what is special about this wine?  Firstly, it's an off dry red, which is pretty uncommon with most reds being decidedly dry.  How does it come to have some residual sweetness?  
The technical blah: when wine ferments, yeast turns the sugar in grapes into alcohol.  When the alcohol level reaches 15% abv the yeasts that convert the grape sugars into alcohol are killed off.  Most of the wines we drink achieve complete alcoholic fermentation at between 13-14.5% abv, making them completely dry as all the sugar is used up before the yeasts get overwhelmed. 
Our Red Velvet is 15% and those Zinfandel grapes have obviously benefitted from the awesome sugar producing powers of the California sunshine, so there was some sugar left over when the wine reached it's full alcoholic potential.  If you're looking for something different and want to drink your red wine with something sweetish, eg red cabbage, or fruit based sauces on venison, for example, then this one will help avoid that slightly metallic clash which can come from super-dry tannic wines meeting sugar in the mouth.  It's a bold suggestion, but you might find it's even okay with a small piece of dark chocolate.

What did I think of it?
Oddly, it's not as opaque as I'd expect from this kind of wine and medium bodied rather than thick velvety and full as we'd expect from it's name and variety. It is full of red fruits, raspberry and almost like a coulis, though obviously not quite as sweet.  It's easy drinking, and since it's made from regular Zinfandel vines rather than my favoured Old Vine varieties, it's a simple and pleasant wine, rather than rich and complex, despite coming from one of California's most treasured spots for Zinfandel, Lodi. After drinking a Sonoma Bordeaux-style blend, my friend tasted it, but found it too sweet and too different to make a fair judgement.  I'm guessing that as it's selling out, it's found it's niche already among ladies graduating from White Zinfandel to red wine.  But that's nothing to be embarrassed by.  Enjoy it as I did on a spring evening, outdoors if we ever get some sunshine, or simply tuck into it instead of dessert.

Next week, we will feature our firs white wine for Wine of the Week.  I've chosen Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference" Albariño.  At £7.99 it's friendlier on the wallet and at 12.5% abv it's also friendlier on the liver.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Happy Drinking!

Friends of mine will know that Hedonist Shiraz (the 2010 is currently £12.99 Waitrose) is one of my favourite Australian Shiraz's for making the occasion out of the wine... At 14% abv it packs a punch, but though there is a warming alcohol feel, it's definitely a balanced wine.  There's good acidity, well integrated tannins, and a big parcel of super ripe black fruit.  Balanced by new American oak, which adds a creamy texture and hints of vanilla and liquorice, we paired this with a tomato based prawn pasta.  There was a fair amount of chilli heat & also some sweetness from the peas and prawns, not to mention the tomato umami.  Perhaps a little unfair to any wine, it did somewhat flatten the fruit and add to the alcohol burn, but nevertheless, we enjoyed the rest of the bottle after dinner.  

In case you are thinking I'm drinking a bit too much these days, I'm studying for a tasting exam with WSET and as well as the theory, In just 1 week, I'll have to write detailed tasting notes and correctly identify wine, region and price tag.  These wines can come from anywhere and given I didn't correctly identify a Shiraz on the first blind tasting, it's fair to say I'm in need of the practice. Blind tasting is fun, but even the experts can get it horribly wrong sometimes, and for all kinds of reasons.  And the more you taste, the better your chances.
In addition, I went home to Scotland for the weekend so sent a delivery from The Wine Society.  I apologise that these wines aren't available at your local supermarket, but most of them are outstanding examples so I did want to include them. It also meant we shared more bottles and you might see some input from my family.

The Wine Society's Exhibition Riesling £11.95 (2011) from Alsace packs a punch for a white at 12.5% abv turned out to be a surprise hit for Mamma Purple Teeth.  As someone who did not have a high opinion of Riesling based on dodgy cheap German versions in the 1980s, she looked unconvinced when I suggested uncorking this with our fish dinner.  We drunk this mostly after dinner, which was ideal.  It washed away all hints of oiliness with such a refreshing high acidity.  It was literally mouth-wateringly juicy.  Mamma hinted at flavours of pear while I found red apple and grapefruit.  This was truly delicious and will be on the shopping list again.  Riesling is fast becoming Purple Teeth's white favourite. Why don't you give it a try if you feel like something refreshing and juicy.

This 2009 Ravenswood Old Vines Zinfandel is 14.5% from Lodi which is California's prime location for this grape.  I simply cannot believe that this is £8.95.  It was a total hit with the Purple Grape Scottish division and is one I've bought many times before and will definitely buy again.  Sadly, it does sell out.  There is a decent Vintners' Blend version for sale at £9.95 in Waitrose, though I haven't bought it recently so cannot vouch for it's similarity.  
This one was voted number 1 by Mamma, based on it's full and elegant body, chocolaty and nutmeg long finish and velvety smooth tannin structure. Ironically it was the cheapest wine of the week. It's got lots of lovely black fruit flavours - and it worked as a perfect pairing to a delicious and traditional Scottish Steak Pie meal.

The Society's Exhibition Rioja Reserva (2006) £12.50  at 13.5% abv is an elegant version that's spent at least a year in oak.  The website suggested decanting, but I'd managed to overlook this fact.  This meant the first tastes showed the need for air - so lots of swirling went on and the wine opened up to reveal a medium bodied gem, with ripe red fruit and vanilla oak flavours.  I think this one will improve a lot in the bottle if stored correctly, but nevertheless, it's elegance showed clearly as soon as we opened my Uncle's bottle of Faustino VII to follow. While the Faustino is a lovely fruity wine, and we'd really have enjoyed it had it been our first tipple, it showed as a much less complex wine, mainly focussed on red fruit.  Two bottles of Rioja between 4 on a Sunday afternoon was my kind of family fun. And that was before dinner.  I don't condone binge drinking, but honestly speaking, that's what we did this weekend.  It was a holiday, I suppose!

The Society's Exhibition Gewurztaminer (Alsace 2009) £13.50 at 14% abv is a fairly hefty white wine.  Alsace is the home of this grape, and nowhere else does it express as fully the joy of lychee, rose, and passion fruit - a floral, aromatic and fruity paradise.  It's exotic and a dry version (it can be off-dry or even sweet) and has fairly low acidity.  It may be a cliche, but I really enjoyed it with Chinese food, as did Mamma Purple Teeth.  I don't think she was as blown away by it as by the Riesling, but following on from those 2 bottles of Rioja, it wasn't perhaps given the fairest tasting. Oops!  What an end to the week.  


So, as wine weeks go, I think the preparation for my WSET Advanced exam on 22nd November is about as well advanced as it could be - at least at the practical level.  Still a LOT of studying to do on the theory, though.  I do hope you'll try some or all of these wines.  There's such a lot of styles here, I'm sure you'll find something you enjoy.