2023 Archive
November 2023 Meeting
Novembers meeting was at the Community Centre and the host was Jill Fletcher
There was an eclectic selection of wines. My surprise was the Cornish Sauvignon Blanc which was of a fine quality and a different style to most other Sauvignon Blanc wines tasted before.
October 2023 Meeting
This month's meeting was held in Christine's house.
The first wine we tasted was Elephant in the Room Prodigious Pinot Gris from South Australia. Available from Waitrose. £10-99 per bottle. Alcohol by volume: 12.5%.
Quoting from the Waitrose website "This Pinot Gris is rich but fresh- a really great expression of the classic Gris style. A monster of mouthfeel it's big on flavour and attitude"
The wine was well received by all group members and received a definite "Thumbs Up"
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Our
second choice of the afternoon was Fuori Porta White Sangiovese from the Emilia-Romagna District of Italy. This wine claims to be "A vegan-friendly white Sangiovese with refreshingly crisp and citrus notes"
ABV 12.5% Price per bottle £9-99 also from Waitrose
Fuorti Porta (meaning out of town) is the Italian expression for a day trip with good company, delicious food and wine.
Unfortunately nobody in the group was particularly enamored with the taste. The design of the label was considered to be the best feature!
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Finally we sampled a Found Zweigelt Vintage 2021 from Austria. Accornding to the publiciity provided by the 
retailer, Marks and Spencer this is "An exuberant fruity, unoaked red with flavours of cherry and forest fruits. Pairs perfectly with grilled meat and tomato dishes."
Zweigelt which is rarely grown outside Austria, originated from a crossing of Blaufrankisch and St Laurent in 1972. It now produces the country's most noteworthy red wines. The talented Ferdinand Mayr crafts this example exclusively for M&S. He recommends pairing with local veal and chanterelle mushrooms. Best enjoyed within 2 years of purchase.
Everyone present at the meeting enjoyed this wine, which tasted very smooth and was particularly low in tannings. At a price of £8.50 per bottle (when purchasing a case of 6) this was considered to be a good value bottle of wine.
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August and September meetings
Both meetings were held at the Community centre, which is proving a convenient location.
The August meeting hosted by Carl and Sue was outside, and proved to be great fun.
The wines had a Spanish feel, offering a selection of white and reds, Morrisons was the source but our challenge was to decide where in Spain they were produce. A fun job for a warm Monday afternoon
September came along very quickly for me as I was away a lot in September. We were inside and hosted by Pat.
The theme was Pink with the wines coming from Penhalligans. The favourite wine came from Bulgaria!
June meeting
Keith organised a visit to the Fowey Valley cidery and distillery. The visit gave us the opportunity to learn the secrets of small-scale artisan cider production and distilling. We learnt the apples specially grown for the cider came from an orchard at Golant on the banks of the Fowey River. All the other apples used are locally gathered then pressed for cider.
To me the most outstanding is the Vintage cider made in the same method as champagne not forgetting the local cider “brandy”.
Thanks to the Fowey valley team for a very welcoming visit.
Group 2 - 2023 schedule
Group 2 is now closed as membership became too small to be viable.
Group 2 April Meeting
We tried 3 wines
Wine 1
Roussanne VDIGP , Chassaux & Fils,
Wine 2
Vanita Negromaro, Puglia
Wine 3
Château Sénéjac 2019
Cabernet sauvignon (51%), merlot (30%), cabernet franc (11%), petit verdot (8%).
We played guess the price - most people were in agreement on the most expensive Château Sénéjac 2019 at £17.50, however several people really enjoyed the Negromaro from Puglia at £7.50.
March Meeting
The March meeting was hosted by Michael, trying some unusual wines all from Aldi and priced around £10
The three wines we tasted were from Oregon USA, South Africa and finally South of France. The Left Coast, an all-Estate Pinot Noir with body and complexity, a white wine for red wine drinker. Soft gold in colour, displaying aromas of honeysuckle, shortbread, and ripe pear. Its palate is rich and round, with flavours of dried apricots and pineapple, finishing with a dry mineral finish.
The second wine, Bon Afrique Clairette Blanche, 2021 was Clean and zesty with floral notes, pink grapefruit freshness and an intriguing savoury mineral complexity.
The final wine of the day we turned to a rich red.
Chassaux et Fils, Pézenas, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 2019. A Shiraz-led blend, it exudes dark fruited power with wafts of garrigue and black pepper. Brisk acidity and firm tannins.
In all a much appreciated selection.
February Meeting
Our February host were Alison and John who had just got back from a holiday in Argentina. So naturally we were treated to three Malbec bottles. The challenge was to guess which was to put them in price order. We were told the prices varied from around £7 to around £14.
It was clear to the group that the first we tasted a M&S Facon Grabado £7 didn’t come up to either the second a Las Dalias at £10 or last wine Salentein Barrel Selection £14. The overall favorit seemed to be the Las Dalias.
Another hard Monday afternoon successfully completed!
January Meeting
The year kicked off with some interesting white wines. Jenny had selected wines from Hungary and France. We started with the wine most people agreed was the best - a "Dry Furmint" from Hungary in the Sainsbury TTD range. This wine had a clean palate and wasn't too dry. Priced around £10 is good value.
The Gewurztraminer from Alsace was a good quality wine a little on the sweet side for most and to my mind a bit lacking in the aromatic style I would have expected. The final white from south of France was in an interesting bottle. It was a pleasant easy drinking wine.
We had a new member joining the group John Brook seen here with Nicola Tipton another mew recruit
As a final surprise Michael added a red wine from his favourite wine shop Aldi at £10. A beautiful rich aromatic red from the Duro. That hit the spot for many people. It helped to balance Jenny's fine selection of snacks and warm atmosphere.
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Fowey Valley Cider - 0ur Visit location for June 2023
2022 Archive
We will continue with a regular fixture of 3pm on the last Monday of the month
September Meeting
We had a good turn out at Michael's house with 11 members. We tried four wines with the aim to guess the price paid. The wines came from France and Chile purchased in either Aldi or the Coop.
We started with the white Châteauneuf-du-Pape which received a lot of positive comment. Followed by the Chilean Viognier of some distinctive class, with a richer taste. We moved onto the reds a Gigondas followed by Château Sénéjac Haut Medoc. We all appreciated the different wines but the majority priced the Viognier as the most expensive with some putting the Medoc as the cheapest. The facts were Châteauneuf-du-Pape was £12 Aldi, Chilean Viognier £9 Aldi, Gigondas £10 (reduced from £15) Aldi and the Château Sénéjac Haut Medoc at £17.50 Coop.
All were tremendous value but its clear taste and price are not necessarily linked
August meeting
On a warm afternoon we sat in Nick's garden to enjoy a series of fine red wines.
On a warm afternoon we sat in Nick's garden to enjoy a series of fine red wines. The choice moves from Italy a Valpolicella Ripasso followed by wines from Portugal Duro region, Argentina Malbec, Australia Cabinet Merlot, French Malbec from Cahor. They were all very pleasent and we had a detailed explanation from Nick on each wine. They all came from Sainsbury at around £10 each.
My vote went to the Valpolicella, with the majority preferring the excellent Duro wine from Portugal
July meeting
It was a cooler day when we met at Alison and John’s home. The offering had a Spanish theme with two red Riojas and two white Riojas. There were tasty snacks as well – including the chillies that might be hot or not!
As ever the taste for the wines varied – my vote went to the Marqués de Valido but we enjoyed them all
June meeting
Sadly, I didn’t make this event as it looks like it was “La vie en Rose”.
The theme was Rosé, with wines chosen by Alan and some really tasty nibbles produced by Marion. We had a very sociable afternoon with an interesting quiz on Rosé wines found by the May’s. The quiz became a competition between our hosts and the guests. In spite of “help” offered by Keith, the guests won by 11 to 1. It might have been 12-nil if the guests had paid more attention to the difference between Centigrade and Fahrenheit!
Thanks to Nick for giving the report and to Alan for hosting the event.
May meeting
The May meeting was a small turn out but still a lot of fun. We were at Michael's house to enjoy a Alsace Gewurztraminer, a Pinot Noir from New Zealand and a French Gigondas from the Rhone.
As ever we each enjoyed a different wine but everyone went home happy.
April meeting
This month was at Helen's house where a small group met to enjoy four interesting wines and some excellent snacks! We had a white two orange wines and a red.
They were all a surprise with most people not inspired by the orange wines. They were white really. The sweet red turned out to be very similar to PORT and great value.
March meeting
This month was al Fresco in Keith's garden with the theme of Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. Our challenge was to guess where they came from. In short no one guessed all the right answer and there wasn't any agreement on what was best! Business as usual.
February meeting
This month it was a smaller gathering on a very wet day in Couchs Mill. Our hosts were Sue and Carl Watts. We were warm, dry and well fed in a very comfortable cottage.
The wines on offer were in the £8 to £10 price range from M&S or Waitrose so not hard to find
They were:-
To my mind the first Voignier and the last blended red, from the Midi France, were my favourites.
The group again seemed be very happy, this is a fun job!
January 2022 meeting
This month we had a wine tasting at Eric's home. His poster says it al
The wines were supported by excellent snacks, I particularly liked the smoked oysters!
November 2021 meeting
This month we had a wine tasting at the new wine shop in Lostwithiel "Le Mistral". Quite simply it exceeded all expectations.
First review the tasting list:
The host Eddie with support of the team including Tristan Groubier, the son of one of their growers from Nuits-Saint-Georges and the Shop manager Sara Mumford.
After a complementary drink we set to on the challenging task of tasking 14 (yes at least 14 wines). All fell into the host’s categories of good, better or best. I wouldn’t try to compete with the expert descriptions and explanations but it was clear all precent were suitably impressed.
Overall, we had a wonderful time with a couple of the group investing wisely in several of Eddie’s bottles.
Good luck to Le Mistral the business deserves to thrive in Lostwithiel.
October 2021 meeting
This month the theme was the classics - as found in M&S. We tried a selection of white wine from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The Chenin Blance was the first up, then followed by a bold Barrosa chardonnay.
The group thought hard, but the there wasn't an outright winner.
Let's say although it wasn't a universal opinion but the favourite was the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
This wine showed its class as a clean grassy fresh wine - I might even buy a bottle!
Many thanks goes to Christine who was the host and the provision of excellent nibbles.
September 2021 meeting
The theme moved to something new and not too far away. The theme was "Cyder" from Somerset (Zyder frum Zumerzet). No ordinary cider but fine cyders made with 100% apple juice, using slow cold fermentation to release the residual sweetness of this humble fruit. That's what the people of "The newt in Somerset" say. We tried a range of single varietals and a fine cyder made by wine making techniques.
Nick or host guided us through 3 singe varietal cyders then a fine Cyder with an offering of Fowey Valley cider to contrast what we had tried.
Our host explaining with Eric testing !
The group considers
The empties tell the story. The groups seem to prefer number 1 Kingston Black cyder but I preferred number 2 the Dabinett cyder. Everyone agreed the Fine cyder was a wine quality drink, to be enjoyed with fine food. The local Fowey Valley cider was tried to compare with the other cyders. It was clearly for a different market.
The single varietals were all £9.50 and the Fine Cyder was £10.50, alcohol was around 6%. These drinks would make an excellent alternative to wine at a meal especially if you wanted taste with less alcohol.
August 2021 meeting
The theme for this meeting was "La vie en rose" at least that's what I thought.
It was all about the Pinks - mostly French with a touch of Aus.
We started with some fizz from Italy via Sainsbury. Prosecco based on Glera grapes with a dash of pinot noire.
We then tried a French Fronton a blend of grapes - a typical wine from the Midi.
We then moved much further south to try a wine of uncertain heritage but a pretty bottle from Australia.
When it came to the verdict on the wines all I could say was they were pink and ideal for a summers afternoon. The final vote was give in favour of the initial Fizz by some local wildlife.
July 2021 meeting
The theme for this meeting was FIZZ (not Champagne or Prosecco)
We were hosted by Alison with help from John (the waiter for the day) in a very sunny garden.
The fizz was a perfect choice for the day. The meeting was set up as a blind tasting of 3 wines. Naturally there was little agreement on favourite wines but the first and the last getting most voted of approval - the last seemed to be the overall winner.
The wines were revealed at the end as
Crémant de Loire Asda £9.00
Pinot Chardonnay 2019 Lidl £4.79
louis Bouillt Crémant de Bourgogne Sainsburys £11.00
June 2021 meeting
This was a get started meeting hosted by Michael Furminger.
We had a small group of 6 members sampling three wines
Looking at the table result it looks like the Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie was the favourite closely followed by the Pallafino from Biferno and the Uruguayan Tannat. The first two wines were from the Coop and the Tannat from Aldi. All great value.
Update 15th March 2020
February 2020 meeting
Picpoul De Pinet Les Canots £8.49
Wine of Southern France.Picpoul Blanc is an indigenous grape that grows around the shores of the Etang de Thau, near the Mediterranean sea. This bay is renowned for its oysters and "art de Vivre". This refreshing dry white displays lovely citrusy aromas on the nose, combined to well-balanced acidity and zesty finish.
Chatel Buis Montagny £12.99
Complex and very intense with exotic fruits, white peach and hazelnut with beautiful balanced spicy notes. Lemon thyme and mandarin orange notes, underpinned by a steely minerality and hint of vanilla
Paul Mas Reserve Languedoc Blanc £9.39
Wine of France.Paul Mas Réserve Single Vineyard Collection wines come from Jean-Claude Mas' vineyards in the Languedoc region in South of France. This distinctive wine is brimming with white peach and lemon flavours, with floral aromas and a pure mineral finish. This wine will complement spicy dishes, curries and smoked meats.
Georges Duboeuf Fleurie £10
This Fleurie has been made from Gamay grapes and carefully selected for the finesse and elegance of its floral, fruity aromas.
January 2020 meeting
We started the new year with three firsts for our meetings:
-we've never tasted 9 bottles in one session before
-we've never tasted alcohol free wine before
-we've never used spittoons until now!
To the surprise of the group Nick had decided to follow the trend of dry January. As there is no duty to pay on alcohol free wine he was able to source eight bottles within our ususal total budget. We were given three options to define our reaction to each bottle - spit, suffer or savour. The results are collated below.
Red
Eisberg Alcohol Free Cabernet Sauvignon, Morrison’s £3.50 reduced to £2.50 (Orange, Suffer).
Sainsbury’s Alcohol Free, £2.75 (Red, Spit).
Rose
Sainsbury’s Alcohol Free, £2.75 (Green, Savour).
Sainsbury’s Low Alcohol Merlot Rose, £3.50 reduced to £2.10 (Orange, Suffer).
White
Sainsbury’s Alcohol Free, £2.75 (Red, Spit).
Sainsbury’s Low Alcohol Sauvignon Blanc, £3.50 (Orange, Suffer).
Hardy’s Alcohol Free Chardonnay, Tesco’s £5.00 (Orange, Suffer).
Artis Alcohol Removed Chardonnay, Sainsbury’s £5.50 (Orange, Suffer).
Red 13.5% Alcohol
Morrison’s Côtes Du Rhône Villages, Bonus Reward
We were rewarded at the end of eight bottles with a very pleasant bottle of red which contained alcohol! Certainly a different start to 2020 - thanks to Nick for making us all think differently!
