A few dancers enjoying the samples The latest Purple Teeth tasting was again at Pontins Southport resort as part of a dance weekend. Sharp-eyed readers will remember a post from February where a broadly similar group of dancers each shared a wine they enjoyed. This time, we decided a theme was in order, so we paired up to purchase wines of the same grape, one at as low a price as possible, and the other at around £15 - ideally around a £10 price difference. We agreed to taste them blind with only the bringer knowing what the grape was, and which one was the priciest. This was a real taste test! We also had a non-wine drinker in our midst who couldn't understand why wines could be so differently priced. Let's see if we convinced him...
Los Vilos (£6.95) & Saint-Veran (£12.50) from Tanners Wines First out of the blocks were Simone and Heather. They chose their wine at Tanners and opted for Chardonnay since it comes in a variety of price points and styles, and since some of our party claimed they are ABC (anything but Chardonnay), it was too good an opportunity to miss. Wine 1 (Saint-Veran) was poured alongside Wine 2 (Los Vilos). How would our intrepid taste panel fare? From what I can remember (and when you read the rest of this you'll understand why things got a tad hazy), no-one leapt up from their chair screaming "it's chardonnay". The first wine tasted rich with tropical fruit notes. The second had much more in the way of vanilla, cream, and full bodied oakiness. We took a poll and it was around 10 to 5 in favour of the Saint-Veran which is a French Burgundy from just outside the Pouilly Fuisse region, and bargain priced at £12.50. The Chilean wine at £6.95 had it's fans, but it was a bit heavy on the oak for many, and lacking in some of the complexity of the cleaner Burgundian version. So - more expensive was the first winner....
Snapper Block (£9.72) & Saint Clair (£19.72) from Spirited Wines Franck and Sheena came next, with a reputation to uphold having brought some of the favoured wines to the last tasting. Wines 1 and 2 were poured for side by side comparison. It was pretty clear to me from the first sniff and slurp of wine 2 that it was a Sauvignon Blanc in the herbaceous, grassy, green style which I'm no longer a fan of. But could the first one, ripe with tropical fruit and complex mineral notes really be the same grape? It was possible, though I was a little nervous of sticking my neck out having tricked the group with a Sauvignon Gris last time...
But Sauvignon Blanc it was, and all the way from Marlborough, New Zealand. This was a bit of a surprise as this pair both showed French wines last time. Again, the preferences were 10-5 in favour of the pricier version which was Saint Clair Pioneer Block 18 (2011 £19.72), with the more instantly recognisable of the two being Snapper Block (2011 £9.72). You can always rely on this pair to go above budget. I love them! And it was nice to find a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a bit more character and distinction than the general crop, though as to whether I'd shell out close to £20, the jury is out. Both wines came from Spirited Wines.
But Sauvignon Blanc it was, and all the way from Marlborough, New Zealand. This was a bit of a surprise as this pair both showed French wines last time. Again, the preferences were 10-5 in favour of the pricier version which was Saint Clair Pioneer Block 18 (2011 £19.72), with the more instantly recognisable of the two being Snapper Block (2011 £9.72). You can always rely on this pair to go above budget. I love them! And it was nice to find a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a bit more character and distinction than the general crop, though as to whether I'd shell out close to £20, the jury is out. Both wines came from Spirited Wines.
The Rosé selection - from dire to delightful As it was summer, I opted to please my Rosé loving reader, and go for a Rosé pairing, though in fact I went for a triple, mainly because 2 of the wines had come at no cost to me, and I wanted to be a little tricky. I poured the first 2, admitting that I hadn't stuck to my own brief and these wines weren't actually the same grape at all, but as Rosé is so seldom drunk by this crowd, I wanted to go for variety. Never before has the 1 litre spittoon had to be emptied before the end of the proceedings, but after around half a sip of wine 1, it was suddenly almost full. Two of our taste panel felt they "could drink it" while it was declared hideous by everyone else. The mystery wine turned out to be the Blush Pinot Grigio on offer behind the bar at Pontins. Not a great advert for the wines they're selling, nor for the wines of Sicily. There are definitely better Rosés out there, and though I'm no fan of Pinot Grigio, I have no idea how a white grape became such a violent pink colour. There was no indication of what it was mixed with - but hopefully not food colouring, even though that's how it appeared. The second wine had a rather more delicate hue, and a pleasant body and flavour. My notes are sketchy here, but I think the third Rosé was preferred by around 12 of our drinkers, though a few seemed to switch to the second (a Veneto Merlot Rosé which is predominantly sold on-trade in hotels and bars for around £16 a bottle, making it probably worth around £5 retail). Our third wine came from Alfred the Grape (around £12) and was Turkey Flat (2010), a Barossa Valley blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and two other grapes which escape me now as I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the back label, and already my note taking was suffering. I'd chosen this one as it had won a Gold Medal at the Sommelier Wine Awards in 2011 and indicated strawberry and vanilla in the tasting notes. I don't think we converted anyone to the joys of Rosé but on the plus side, we managed to establish that there are eminently drinkable versions out there, which are just right for a summer evening. And luckily, I was able to pass on the remnants of the bottles to my Rosé loving reader, but without the Pontins special, of course.
DiVranac from DiBonis with Roger showing us how much he loved it For my next trick, I presented a bonus wine. I revealed little, except that this red was nearer in price to either £5, £10 or £15 and asked my panel to guess what it was. I didn't take an exact count but precisely no-one guessed £5 and I think the jury was split almost 50/50 in guessing that this was either £10 or £15 wine. All the guests said they'd buy it, and all seemed to really enjoy it. Partly this could have been relief at finally hitting the reds and washing away the Rosé, but examination of the spittoon saw little to none of this poured away and the wine was voted a winner. I indicated I'd drunk it several times recently and this bottle was showing particularly well, inviting guesses. No, it wasn't Pinot Noir, and nor was it Shiraz. Dr Hannah proved herself the one paying most attention to my blog and facebook adventures and correctly identified it as a Serbian wine. It was the 2009 DiVranac from DiBonis. The price question was a bit of a red herring since it's not currently on sale in the UK, but when I revealed that it would probably be priced somewhere between £5 and £10 after import duties and taxes, my crew were ready to order a few cases. I'm still hoping a wine importer will hear my praise and help me out with bringing these wines to the UK market. Failing that, I may have to bite the bullet and change career path as near unanimous praise like this doesn't come along very often from this crowd - especially when it included someone who previously didn't like wine at all.
Booths Alsace Pinot Noir (£12.99); Tesco Simply Pinot Noir (<£5); Chapel Hill Pinot Noir (widely available £5.49). But trust me, £4 is too much for the Tesco one! Moving onto the reds, Kevin and Hannah won the right to go first, by indicating their wines should probably happen early in the proceedings. Had I been thinking straight, this could have given me a hint as to what we were about to sample, but, after a very long journey, no real dinner and 8 wines so far, my powers of deduction were fading fast. Like myself, they'd opted to bring 3 wines, however, unlike me, they'd actually purchased all of them. Wine 1 compared to Wine 2 was far rounder, considerably smoother, showed a bit more oak age and had depth. Wine 2 was destined to mostly end up in the spittoon. Wine 3 fared reasonably well, but no-one could really identify the grape. Was it just that we had all swallowed more than we'd spit? Or, were these 3 wines unusual for their type? There was a winner, though I can't declare by what majority as notes declined rapidly around this point. The first and favoured wine: Alsace Pinot Noir (2009) from Booth's at £12.99. I was not the only one to be surprised by the depth of colour and lack of strawberry notes, perhaps because of the oak aging, or perhaps something unique in the vintage? The second, and almost univerally despised wine was Tesco's "Simply" Pinot Noir at around £4.50 a bottle. This tasted much more burningly alcoholic than it's 11.5% abv would suggest, was non-vintage and from New Zealand. It was pretty unpleasant and if this was my first introduction to Pinot Noir, I doubt it would have ever come close to being in my "Top 10" grape varieties... Wine 3 was £5.49 and in keeping with recent themes, was Hungarian by Chapel Hill. It's available in several supermarkets. I had a bottle of their fizz to try last week but didn't get round to it, and I'm now less afraid after tasting this one. Clearly it didn't leap out of the glass as a Pinot Noir and it lacked some of the complexity of the Alsace one, but given it was less than half of the price, it did a creditable job, and I didn't pour it away, despite the fact I'd recommended we pour away more than usual if we ever wanted to hit the dance floor. When will I listen to my own advice?
Co-operative Valpolicella (£6.50); Amarone (£16.99) Sarah and Roger decided we should sample Valpolicella, which is made from a blend of 3 grapes: Corvina, Molinare and Rondinella. Both were purchased from The Co-op and one was a basic own-label 2012 classico style (£6.50), while the other was an Amarone della Valpolicella 2009 (£16.99) with a Decanter "best in show" award. There's a good guide here to what makes these 2 wines so different so I won't try to do better. I've favourably reviewed Amarones before so I was pleased to guess this one, particularly as I'm not huge drinker of Italian wines. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive wine won hands down. That's not to say the cheaper wine was undrinkable, but the depth of colour, flavour and body was far greater in the Amarone. I really recommend this type of wine to go with red meats when serving with fruity sauces or sweeter side dishes such as braised red cabbage, squash or sweet potatoes. It gives an impression of sweetness even though it's fully fermented to dry. This particular example was 15% abv but the alcohol was very well integrated and there was no burn at all. Another win for the higher priced wine.
Juan Gil wines available from allaboutwine.co.uk Lory and Mark poured their 2 wines without spilling a drop - a remarkable feat by this stage in the proceedings. There was a story to go with them, much of which has been lost in the memory, but revolving around clandestine meetings in the countryside with tiny wine merchants named Trout. I love the commitment to finding just the right wine pairing for the event. There was talk of having bought wine in France but having been unable to fit it in suitcases so here we were, with, what several of us guessed, was Monastrell, the same grape this duo had brought last time (without any coordination in advance!). This time we were again treated to Juan Gil which Lory had brought last time, but this time comparing a 4 months oak aged (2009) with an 18 months aged version (2011). The jury was split here between the £8.99 and the £12-£18 version almost 50/50. Perhaps this was because they were both powerful and the "less aged" version actually had the advantage of 2 more years in the bottle, which, with the benefit of a cork closure will bring some of the same qualities as the extra time in the barrel. It was great to try this wine again, and I was pleased to note that a bottle of Priorat on my wine rack has been made by the same winemaker. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on that with you as soon as it's time to open a £25 bottle of red. Meanwhile, I think the Monastrell is a winner with this crowd and you'll be happy with whatever you can afford to spend. I must try a few more French Mourvèdre wines (the same grape) to see whether it's just a great grape all round, or is really suited to the soils in Jumilla.
£4.50 plays nearly £20 - it's no contest really... Finally, David and Stephen had opted to let me do the buying for them. And there was a story for these also, revolving around my first introduction to the more expensive of the wines. Sadly, I think I delivered this in some kind of bizarre accent. Yes, too much wine had been drunk.
Dear readers, drinking too much is not big and it's not clever, but occasionally it can be fun, though it plays havoc with your dancing! (Many of our dance partners on Friday night didn't quite get the dance they were expecting. Apologies to everyone I danced with!)
Our final wines were a Sainsbury's basic £4.50 Tempranillo and a Pesquera Ribera del Duero (100% Tempranillo). The Pesquera has been a favourite of mine for some 15 years and this one (purchased for €16.50 in Frankfurt airport duty free shop) didn't disappoint. The 2009 is available more readily from Tanners at £18.95. At the risk of sounding repetitive, my notes here are very sketchy, but again, I think the more expensive went down best. The Sainsbury's House is drinkable though, which at this stage in the evening wasn't just down to diminished tastebuds, but the fact that many of us like Tempranillo as a grape, whether it be in a simple youthful Rioja or a grand, aged fine wine like Vega Sicilia.
Totting up the totals, it seems the more expensive bottles won the day rather convincingly, and let's remember this was all blind tasting. That's not to say that all the cheaper bottles were undrinkable. The DiVranac was a much loved bargain compared to some of the pricier wines. And our non-wine drinker realised that paying more can be worth it, and seemed to be becoming a convert by the end of the evening.
Dear readers, drinking too much is not big and it's not clever, but occasionally it can be fun, though it plays havoc with your dancing! (Many of our dance partners on Friday night didn't quite get the dance they were expecting. Apologies to everyone I danced with!)
Our final wines were a Sainsbury's basic £4.50 Tempranillo and a Pesquera Ribera del Duero (100% Tempranillo). The Pesquera has been a favourite of mine for some 15 years and this one (purchased for €16.50 in Frankfurt airport duty free shop) didn't disappoint. The 2009 is available more readily from Tanners at £18.95. At the risk of sounding repetitive, my notes here are very sketchy, but again, I think the more expensive went down best. The Sainsbury's House is drinkable though, which at this stage in the evening wasn't just down to diminished tastebuds, but the fact that many of us like Tempranillo as a grape, whether it be in a simple youthful Rioja or a grand, aged fine wine like Vega Sicilia.
Totting up the totals, it seems the more expensive bottles won the day rather convincingly, and let's remember this was all blind tasting. That's not to say that all the cheaper bottles were undrinkable. The DiVranac was a much loved bargain compared to some of the pricier wines. And our non-wine drinker realised that paying more can be worth it, and seemed to be becoming a convert by the end of the evening.
There are plenty of good quality wines out there at <£7, but with tax on a bottle coming closer to £2.50, the chances of finding a great one are becoming slimmer. We cannot all afford to drink £15 bottles every night of the week, or even one night of the week, but what I think we proved here is that, in general, if you choose to pay a little bit more than usual for a wine, you'll probably be rewarded with something of greater complexity and depth of flavour, with a longer finish, more integrated alcohol and find yourself wanting more.
Meanwhile, Purple Teeth will continue to seek out supermarket bargains. On my last case load there was nothing under £10 a bottle. I got my bargain by buying during a 25% off special offer period bringing those £10 wines down to a reasonable £7.50. There are ways of getting more bang for your buck, you just have to take the time to figure out what you believe is worth the investment. Go to as many tastings as you can, open your mind, try things blind, share with friends. This will help you come closer to finding your ideal wine price point, grape and style.
Meanwhile, Purple Teeth will continue to seek out supermarket bargains. On my last case load there was nothing under £10 a bottle. I got my bargain by buying during a 25% off special offer period bringing those £10 wines down to a reasonable £7.50. There are ways of getting more bang for your buck, you just have to take the time to figure out what you believe is worth the investment. Go to as many tastings as you can, open your mind, try things blind, share with friends. This will help you come closer to finding your ideal wine price point, grape and style.
If you're interested in hosting a Purple Teeth Wine Tasting party for friends or family, for a special occasion or just to learn more about wine, do get in touch. I promise, you don't have to feature in a drunken blog photo!
Meanwhile, experiment. I'd love to hear about your bargain finds and favourite fine wines.
Cheers!
Meanwhile, experiment. I'd love to hear about your bargain finds and favourite fine wines.
Cheers!
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