The Wine Appreciation Society of Penrith held its November tasting at Roundthorn Country House on Thursday 30 November. On this occasion the wines were presented by Chris Leather of Stainton Wines, Kendal.
Chris’s theme was “Winter Warmers”. Picking up the Society’s acronym of “WASP”, he re-named his presentation, “Wow!”, or “Warmers of Winter”.
He started with an unusual white wine from Lebanon. The Bekaa valley, so frequently in the news for significantly less pleasant reasons than wine tasting, is one of the oldest wine growing regions on earth. Of course, Beirut was a cosmopolitan hotspot, long before Nice and the South of France came to prominence and, although the city is swelteringly hot at sea level, the Bekaa valley lies at 1000 metres above that and benefits from long cool autumns, allowing good “hang time” on the vines for the grapes. This Source Blanche 2014 from Chateau Ka is a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat: it exhibits floral and citrus notes with great depth of character: at 13.5% ABV, it retails for around £14.50. The members were, generally, very favourably surprised by the wine. They are all much better acquainted with the red wines from Lebanon, such as Chateau Musar.
By way of comparison, Chris introduced a South African white wine, a “White Blend” from 2014 produced by Chris and Andrea Mullineux in Swartland. The Mullineux organisation has won the coveted award of 5 red stars from Platters, the South African wine bible, and twice they have been named Winery of the Year in South Africa. This particular wine, which is, unfortunately, currently out of stock, is a blend of 73% Chenin Blanc, 13% Clairette Blanche, 7% Viognier and 7% Semillon Gris and is aged for 11 months in new and old oak. When it is available, it will retail at around £19.95.
Opinions among members were fairly evenly divided as to which of these two white wines was preferred.
As was to be expected, in view of the theme, Chris moved quickly on to red wines, starting with a 2015 Malbec Reserve from the Valle de Uco in Argentina. This was the only single variety wine of the evening. Produced by Francois Lurton at the Piedra Negra (or “Black Stone”) Bodegas, this wine is rated at 14% and retails around £14.95. The vineyard is located in the foothills of the Andes, in Mendoza, and benefits from being grown on low cropping vines, again, with long “hang time”. It is aged for 12 months in oak. Mendoza produces 70% of all the wine made in Argentina and Argentina is, itself the 5th largest producer in the world.
Since he feels that no general tasting of wine should omit a wine from France, Chris then presented a 2013 Faugeres from Les Bastides d’Alquier, also rated at 14%, but generally retailing at £26.95. This wine benefits from being produced in a small Appellation area near Beziers. It is a blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Grenache. Chris felt that this wine is still a little bit young and could benefit from being laid down for another year or two.
This brought Chris to the last of his unfortified wines, a 2012 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah and Petit Verdot produced, in Chile, by the Q5 Generacion winery (so called because the business has been carried on since 1892 by five successive generations of the same family). The members all commented on the dominant taste of blackberries on the palate, which was not generally very popular. The wine is rated at 14.5% ABV and retails at around £17.95.
Moving on to the first of two fortified wines, the members were invited to taste an unusual Sherry, known as “Palo Cortado” and produced by Emilio Lustau in Jerez. Palo Cortado cannot be created deliberately: it results from a production of 100% palomino grapes which fails to qualify as “Fino” but, equally, cannot be classified as “Amontillado” or “Oloroso”. It does however, exhibit characteristics of both the latter types of sherry. It is rated at 19% ABV and was popular with those members who like to drink sherry. Chris described this particular product as being trendy in the areas frequented by “Hipsters” – which is not believed to include Penrith!!
The seventh and last wine of the evening was a Tawny Port by the name of RP10 from Quinta da Ervamoira, produced by Ramos Pinto in the Douro Valley of Portugal and a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Roriz and Tinto Barroca grapes. On the nose, notes of orange, apricot and plum could be discerned, whilst, on the palate, the notes were of fresh fruit and wood. This wine is rated at 20% and retails at £26.50. Once again, Port is not to everyone’s taste, but those of the members, who do like it, felt that this was a good example – if you are prepared to accept the risks of drinking a wine with 106 grams of sugar per litre!
A vote of thanks was proposed by Colin Riley and, after the raffle organised by Bruce and Gwenda Armstrong-Payne, the members enjoyed a buffet prepared by the Roundthorn.
Anyone who is interested in joining the Society is requested to contact the Committee by e-mail on wasppenrith@gmail.com.
Wine Appreciation Society of Penrith 