Californian Wine - Marlow Wine Society Tasting

Some of my favourite wines come from California, but good ones are hard to find in the UK because the Americans tend to keep them for themselves, so when we do get them they tend to be at two extremes, gorgeous but pricey, or just plain rubbish. When Marlow Wine Society invited me to join their Californian tasting I jumped at the chance to find a new gem. The tasting was hosted by the delightful and insightful David Rittenhouse.

We started by sampling some Chardonnay, ooh yum! I loved the Saintsbury Chardonnay from Carneros. Bright lemon hue, with butterscotch and vanilla on the nose. Yummy and buttery with medium acidity and notes of brioche on the palate. £22.99 from Majestic, which I think is pretty reasonable for a wine of this quality.

The room disagreed with me, they much preferred the apple and soft bread aromas of Kirkland "Signature" from Russian River. Russian River is normally my go to region for Californian Chardonnay, but this was poor quality - the wine was unbalanced and simplistic. At £11.50 from Costco I felt this was overpriced.

After a disappointing Pinot Noir from Saintsbury (it's hard to impress me with a pinot!), we were introduced to a Merlot that had far more complexity than we were all expecting. With blackcurrant, cherry, plum, liquorice, vanilla, black pepper and tobacco, Redwood Road have done a great job producing this wine, Bravo! At £11.49 from Laithwaites its a great buy. The film Sideways may have given Californian Merlot a bad name, but I think its time for a comeback.

The Liberty School Syrah (Old Butchers Wine Cellar £16.99) was quite nice with warming hot cross buns and blackcurrant jam flavours, but the Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel won the room over with its beautifully balanced tannins and acidity, full body and complex flavour profile. Black plums, leather, cigar smoke, caramel and pancakes with a hint of brandy. Everyone was surprised by the price - £17.99 from Majestic this was voted wine of the night. I was really pleased they like it because I serve Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel at my Princess and the Pinot pop up wine bar in Marlow.



To find out more about Princess and the Pinot and our pop-up wine bars please visit www.princessandthepinot.com

Tasting practice for WSET Advanced #1

I have just started my WSET Advanced and I'm super excited!! There is a lot more work with this level than the Intermediate, and rightly so, but after Class 1 it is a little daunting. The tasting is more sophisticated and the book twice as thick, I need to get studying... and that means drinking, ahem, I mean tasting wines too.

Badger is my initial support group (until I find others), and he has set me the task of tasting one white and one red per week without knowing what it is, so I can practice. This is what I tasted today:

Medium intensity, lemon yellow, clear  appearance.
Nose: Clean, lemon rind, yellow apples, honey, blossom, sand, I'm getting something oakey but can't put my finger on it... maybe its not oak, maybe its tropical fruits instead, yes mango and passion fruit.
Mouth: medium- acidity, medium+ body, dry, medium+ alcohol, pronounced, but short length.
I'm getting golden delicious apples, mango, papaya, passion fruit,almond  skin, apple juice from concentrate, honeycomb.
Quality: Acceptable, mid-low price (I haven't yet learned the correct terminology and I'm doing this blind) so I'd guess £8-11, definitely Chardonnay (I got that from the first sniff), from Chile... wait, no Central Valley California.

Right, what is it?
Hahn winery, Chardonnay from Monterey 2012, 14.5% and £14.

Blimey! Not bad for a first go, I'm not as rusty as I thought. Now, i would tell you what I got wrong or what I missed, but I need to move on to the red. Good game, good game.