Chapelle Lenclos Madiran 2001

Another Madiran from the Wine Society tonight. An interesting tidbit about the owner of this property - Patrick DuCournau was responsible for developing the technique of microoxygenation, where tiny bubbles of oxygen are introduced into wine in an effort to make it more approachable. One of the main grapes of this region, Tannat, produces wines that would obviously benefit from this technique.

The wine is still tannic, but I love it. The reason I love it is because I love structured wines, and this wine also has fruit. It's chunky, but also has a powerful dark-fruit nose and a rich, lingering black cherry finish. Great stuff.

Chapelle Lenclos Madiran 2001

Madiran AOC, South West France

The Wine Society

£10.95

4/5

Domaine Pichard Madiran 2004

I bought this several weeks ago, and when we went to drink it on the weekend, we found it was horribly corked. Luckily I had a second bottle, and that one was thankfully OK.

I wasn't sure of the returns/refund policy of the Wine Society. They are located in Stevenage, and I'm in London, so it's not really feasible to return a faulty bottle. Even more inconvenient was the fact that I didn't actually order this wine, the order was placed by a friend of mine (also a member). The order was placed over the phone in order to claim the 10% discount allowed immediately after tastings - we tried this at a London tasting of SW France wines, so there was no record of it (on our part anyway). If all this wasn't enough, the wine was no longer available and I wasn't even sure what I had paid for it.

No matter - I emailed member services, explained the situation, and a got a reply the same day stating that I had been credited with £9.50. Simply put, that is how to treat your customers.

The wine itself was lovely. Madiran to me seems like a cross between a Barolo and a Bordeaux. It has the structure and tarry character of a Barolo, but also the fruit and 'French' character (aroma, flavour) of a Bordeaux. The best thing of all is it lacks the price of both Bordeaux and Barolo. You can get good examples for £9 - £13. All this is thanks to the local Tannat grape variety (possibly blended with Bordeaux varieties). Tannat also produces good wine in Argentina and Uruguay among other places, although I've never tried a wine from the latter.

I really like this region and its wine. I think red wine should be structured as well as fruity, and obviously affordable. This region has it all. It just may well be starting to become my personal favourite wine region in France.

Domaine Pichard

Madiran 2004

AOC Madiran, South West France

The Wine Society

£9.50

3.5/5

Dona Paulina Chardonnay 2009

This is the last of my wines from the uh, budget-priced Dona Paulina range from the Wine Society. So far I haven't really enjoyed any of them, and this is no exception.

The problem with these cheaper wines is they don't have varietal character. This could have been anything. It wasn't offensive. It tasted like wine, but what kind of wine? Who knows? If someone handed me a glass of this in a pub I would have struggled - it could have been a Pinot Grigio, a Sauvignon Blanc, a blend, a Chardonnay, etc. It's just generic and boring.

Yes, it's cheap. Yes, it's not totally disgusting. For £2 more you can do much better.

Dona Paulina

Chardonnay 2009

Casablanca Valley, Chile

The Wine Society

£4.75

2/5

The Society's Chilean Syrah 2007

I'm becoming a fan of Chilean Syrah, especially from the northern Limari and Elqui valleys. It's more Rhone than Aussie Shiraz, and even at ridiculously low prices you get powerful, concentrated, characterful wines.

This example is from the Elqui Valley, and at £6.50 is a steal. It's a bit rougher around the edges than say the Maycas del Limari offering, but it's quite good, especially for this price.

Cliché tasting notes of these wines include black pepper and meat. I'm not sure I get that with this one, but I get what I think is a typical 'dark fruit' type character. Although these wines are 100% Syrah they remind me of southern Rhone wines from Lirac and Chateauneuf-du-Pape (which include Grenache among other things). Perhaps it's the high alcohol and ripe fruit. Either way, Chilean Syrah is good, and it's a new favourite of mine.

The Society's Chilean Syrah 2007

Elqui Valley, Chile

The Wine Society

£6.50

3/5

The Society's Corbieres

The Wine Society's own-label Corbieres is apparently a favourite with both Wine Society customers and buyers alike. In two separate advertising supplements (member's favourites and buyer's favourites), this wine featured prominently. It's main attraction seems to be value, obviously something that will get my attention.

I messed up again and threw out the bottle before taking note of the vintage (annoyingly, both the Wine Society website and the order confirmation email they sent don't specify the current vintage).

So...in all honestly I didn't really like the wine. It's OK - fruity and whatnot, but for me it's the wrong kind of fruit - raspberry and currants, along with a bit of bramble or hedge or 'garrigue' character, not something I'm really fond of. It's not surprising, reds from the South of France aren't usually my thing. For £6.95 it's not a massive bargain- there a lot of other wines I'd rather drink at that price, but I think this one's down to personal preference.

The Society's Corbieres

Corbieres, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

The Wine Society

£6.95

2.5/5

Wine Society Sampler

I mentioned the other day that I bought a bunch of stuff from The Wine Society. Because it's been a rather hectic past few days (not too hectic for wine though), I have managed to try a few more of these wines, but haven't managed a neat and tidy post for each.

So I'm just going to mention them here, along with a few thoughts about each one. They were tasted in various states of sobriety, but I do remember which ones we got excited about and which ones were duds. Here goes:

The Society's Claret (NV). £5.95. It's tempting to turn your nose up to a non-vintage claret, but why? Blending different vintages hopefully irons out the rough spots, and produces a consistent, affordable and drinkable product. This is relatively decent, a good mix of fruit, tannin and drinkability. I wouldn't call it thrilling, but that's OK. 2.5/5

The Society's St. Emilion 2006. £9.95. This was OK, probably about what you'd expect for a tenner. More refined than the NV Claret, but not sure I'd buy it again simply because I think there is better value out there. 3/5

Chateau Bois Joly Cotes de Castillion 2005. £7.25. This is probably what I'd go for if I were to buy a load of Claret. This right-bank appellation punches above its weight for the prices it gets. Good vintage, lots of tasty sour-cherry fruit and grippy tannin. 3.5/5

The Society's French Full Red NV. £4.95. Tastes cheap, is cheap. Not terrible, but not my thing really. 2/5

Grant Burge Benchmark Shiraz 2008. £5.95. This was delicious. It was one of the ones consumed fairly uh, late at night, but I we all loved it. Not your typical woody, boring Aussie Shiraz. This was wildly fruity with a touch of oak. Should cost more than this, but I'm glad it doesn't (and I'm hoping it doesn't sell out). Bonus half-point for great value. 4/5

Hilltop Estates Cserszegi 2009. £4.95. This idea with this was to find a good cheap aromatic white. Advertised as 'between Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer in style', this sounds like it would be right up my alley. It isn't. It's sour, dilute and just doesn't taste very good. 1/5

I've got a couple of others to try yet, and will hopefully be able to post 'normal' blog entries about them.

The Society's Vin d'Alsace 2008

Produced for The Wine Society by Hugel, this is a blend of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Muscat and Sylvaner.

Top-class producer, entry-level wine, but a good one. Not overly rich, but aromatic and refreshing. A good introduction to Alsace wine, but lacks the character of the individual grapes.

Like the bottle says, it would indeed make a good 'house white', but I wish it was a pound or two cheaper.

Hugel

The Society's Vin d'Alsace 2008

Alsace, France

The Wine Society

£7.95

3/5

Dona Paulina Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

The Merlot got a 2, this gets a bit more.

This has a little more depth to it, and we were saying things like 'it's not that bad', or 'it's OK'. Structured, dense and serious? Certainly not. Party glugger? Why not? Plus, it doesn't have any cheap and nasty flavours to it.

Quick note: it looks like the prices of these have gone up since I ordered last week - they were £4.50 then.

Dona Paulina

Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Rapel Valley, Chile

The Wine Society

£4.75

2.5/5

Dona Paulina Merlot 2009

Both Dona Paulina Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon get rave reviews from Wine Society customers. They are both under £5, and if the reviews are to be believed, ideal candidates for glugging or party wine (at least that's what I would buy them for).

I didn't really like the Merlot. Yes, it's fresh, fruity and juicy, but I just don't like the flavour - a bit of a cheap taste comes through, and my days of buying wine like this are pretty much over. However, considering you can pay £8 for something like this from the supermarket makes it good value. A lot of people like this sort of wine. I don't, not because I'm a snob but because I know I can get something I would enjoy much more for maybe another pound.

Dona Paulina
Merlot 2009
Rapel Valley, Chile
The Wine Society
£4.75
2/5

Chateau de Pena Cotes de Roussillon Villages 2007

Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging about a bunch of Wine Society wines I just purchased. Most of them are the low end of the price scale, as always I'm bargain hunting.

This one at £6.50 falls into my usual price range, and it delivers. Actually, I had a bit of a blocked nose while drinking this but I could still taste the quality in it. A lovely, very fruity aroma and lush, dark fruit flavours on the palate make this a very drinkable red. Low in tannin, it kind of fits in with that soft, easy drinking style that I don't really like all that much, but the delicious quality of the fruit makes up for it. Good stuff.

Chateau de Pena
Cotes de Roussillon Villages 2007
Languedoc-Roussillon, France
The Wine Society
£6.50
3/5

Emiliana Coyam, 2006

This is one of the better wines I've tried from Chile. First tasted at a Wine Society tasting a few years ago, it still gets my attention. It's a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Mouverdre from the Colchagua Valley, which is becoming increasingly known for it's production of fine reds. It's also made from biodynamic/organically grown grapes.

This is a complex and dense wine, and seems more expensive that its £9.95 price tag. It's very vibrant and fresh, and could probably do with a few more years in the cellar, but if you like big, chunky reds and don't mind a bit of a mouthful by all means drink now.

The 2006 has sold out at The Wine Society, replaced by the 2007. However, the price has gone up to £12.50. Shame - it was difficult to find a better red for under £10.

Emiliana S.A.

Coyam 2006

Colchagua Valley, Chile

The Wine Society

£9.95

4/5

Wither Hills Chardonnay 2008

This wine impressed me at a New Zealand Wine Society tasting a couple of years ago (not sure what the vintage was though). It stood out among a sea of Sauvignon Blanc, and I finally got around to buying some.

It's a fairly tropical expression of Chardonnay. What I mean by that is its main flavour signature is one of pineapples instead of the buttery oaky type that I normally prefer. Not normally my thing, but this has an intensity and richness about it that I really like.

Wither Hills

Chardonnay 2008

Wairau Valley, Malborough, New Zealand

The Wine Society

3.5/5

The Society's Exhibition Viejo Oloroso Sherry

At a recent Wine Society tasting I tried the 'Dulce' (literally 'sweet') version of this wine, which is a blend of PX and Oloroso sherries, not unlike a cream sherry. I asked what the difference between this 'Dulce' blend and a cream sherry was, and the answer was something to do with the ratio of the blend - I think a greater proportion of PX sherry goes into cream sherry. I wish I could be more precise, but it was the end of the tasting where everyone converges on the sweet wine table, and the guy pouring was busy trying to answer my questions while pouring sherry for pretty much the entire room.

Anyway, this the dry version of the wine. It is an old, aged wine, and is very concentrated and syrupy, but without any cloying sweetness. Typical flavours of nuts, but also some caramel and dark toffee - odd in a way without the sweetness, but good. I drank this mostly on its own, but I think it would be better with some sort of hard, mature cheese, after a meal.

This was made for The Wine Society by Sanchez Romate.

The Wine Society

Exhibtition Viejo Oloroso Sherry

Jerez, Spain

£10.95

3.5/5

Vega del Castillo Garnacha 2008

I decided to try this as a potential sub £5 good value wine. I tasted it at a Wine Society tasting, and as I've (stupidly) tended to do lately it was one of the last wines that I tried. I thought it was so-so, but something in that price range would have to be truly outstanding to impress me at the end of a tasting.

So I bought it anyway. It's better than so-so, but that's about as good as it gets. It has some perfumey, baked dark fruit flavours and a slight grip. It's not as rich as I expected, being a wine from old vines. I suppose you're not going to get much better than this for under £5.

Vega del Castillo

Garnacha 2008

Navarra, Spain

The Wine Society

£4.95

2.5/5

Sanchez Romate Maribel Amontillado Sherry

This very good dry Amontillado sherry is available from the Wine Society for the ridiculously favourable price of £6.50 a bottle until December 17th.

Amontillado sherry is a style of sherry that started off under a flor of yeast, but then was exposed to oxygen, either on purpose or because the flor failed to develop. The result is a darker coloured, nutty flavoured wine somewhere between Fino and Oloroso in body and richness.

I'm having difficulty trying to tell the difference between Amontillado, Oloroso, and Palo Cortado. All have been exposed to oxygen and all have a dark colour and nutty taste. Perhaps the Oloroso and Palo Cortado are richer and have more of those caramel flavours, the result of longer barrel age.

I'm really enjoying this bottle - I think it's actually the first Amontillado I've tried. It's great to have a small glass before dinner, or while I'm cooking. Also, being an oxidised wine, once opened it will keep for several days in the fridge.

This sherry is specially selected and bottled for The Wine Society.

Sanchez Romate

Maribel Amontillado Sherry

Jerez, Spain

The Wine Society

£6.50 (£7.50)

3.5/5

Bodegas Jiminez Landi Bajondillo 2008

I tasted this wine during a tasting of The Wine Society's Spanish range a couple of weeks ago. It was a hard wine to judge because it was one of the last ones I tasted (after numerous Riojas and Ribera del Dueros), but it stuck out for some reason and I ended up ordering a couple of bottles. In hindsight the reason was probably the low price and the fact that it was a blend, which may lend itself to a bit of complexity.

It's a blend of Tempranillo, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Méntrida region of Spain, which is in the province of Toledo in central Spain.

To be entirely honest, I don't much like it. It seems a bit dilute, with some grapey fruit character and some lingering tannin. It unfortunately also has that cheap smell/taste that I find so off-putting (I'm sorry I can't describe it better - a friend and I call it the 'cheap Cotes-du-Rhone' taste).

The tasting notes from The Wine Society describe it as chunky, powerful and intense, but I found it anything but. I actually think it's supposed to be an easy-drinking style, but why all the different grapes in the blend? They don't really lend much complexity - maybe that's why I feel a bit let down.

Bodegas Jimenez-Landi

Bajondillo 2008

Méntrida DO, Spain

The Wine Society

£6.95

2/5

Chamonix Rouge 2006

This wine was I thought was one the best under £10 bargains of a recent tasting of South African wines from The Wine Society. It's a 'Bordeaux blend' of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc.

With characteristics of sour cherries, capsicum and a bit of that South-African green rubberiness, it doesn't really taste like a typical Bordeaux blend, although that's not a bad thing. Overall it's soft and easy-drinking, and it has it's own, unique character.

Cape Chamonix

Rouge 2006

Franschhoek, South Africa

The Wine Society

£5.75

3/5

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico 2006

Trying this wine recently has sparked my interest in Chianti Classico. Quite often I buy 'normal' Chianti as a good value, food friendly table wine, but there is supposedly a big leap in quality between that and Chianti Classico. It's been years since I've had Chianti Classico (with the exception of the one mentioned above), so I figured it's about time I explore a little bit.

I am a member of the Wine Society, and while I was browsing the wines the other day preparing an order I noticed that they had this offering from producer Conti Capponi. This wine was recommended by Jancis Robinson in an excellent recent article on her website. What further endorsement does one need?

So how was the wine? It is a good, solid wine with a touch more perfume and grippy tannin than say good-quality supermarket, non-Classico Piccini wines. It's not a bargain at £11.25, but it's a fair price for a good Chianti Classico.

I just noticed that it has sold out at the Wine Society, but has been replaced by the Riserva version (for £16). This would have spent a bit more time in barrel - probably worth a try.

Conti Capponi

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2006

Tuscany, Italy

The Wine Society

£11.25

3.5/5

Antech Blanquette de Limoux Méthode Ancestrale NV

I first tasted this wine at a Wine Society tasting and it was one of those wines you just don't forget about. I included some in my next order, and I think it will probably be a regular for me.

This is an off-dry sparkling wine made from the Mauzac grape in the Limoux appellation in southwestern France. The wine is bottled in March, and fermentation occurs naturally in the bottle. The resulting wine is sweet and low in alcohol (6.5%). No disgorgement process occurs, which can apparently cause a cloudy appearance to the wine, although I haven't noticed this before (and haven't looked). The fermentation process seems to mirror that of the methods used by monks when sparkling wine was first discovered - bottling the must after the cold months of winter, fermentation taking place in the bottle in the spring and voila, sparkling wine.

This is a great match for fresh fruit-based desserts or pavlova. It really is a lovely wine, it has a nose and palate of fresh green apples, some sweetness balanced by tart acidity, and a dry finish. Not massively complex, but very unique and perfectly suited to the desserts mentioned above or an afternoon tipple.

This is produced by Antech, and there is a good profile of them here.

Antech

Blanquette de Limoux Méthod Ancestrale NV

Limoux AOC, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

The Wine Society

£8.50

4/5

Wine Society Tasting - Wines of South Africa

A bunch of us attended this tasting on Wednesday evening (October 14th, 2009). These Wine Society events can be good fun and enlightening - or they can be laborious. This one was something in the middle, as there were a lot of wines (around 30), and a lot of people (it was uncomfortably crowded). The ticket prices are quite steep at £27.50, but you get to taste around 20 - 30 wines in a lovely venue (usually some sort of guild hall). Usually there are wines from the whole range, from cheap and cheerful to high-end and expensive.

Overall I was impressed with the wines, especially the reds. The good stuff was in the £15 range, although there were a couple under £10 that I liked as well. Highlights included:

• Boekenhoutskloof. The Chocolate Block 2007 (£14.95) didn't impress so much, but the Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah varietals were lovely (£20 and £23 respectively). Boekenhoutskloof also produce the Porcupine Ridge label, which is an excellent value range that you can pick up in supermarkets.
  
• Chamonix. The Chamonix Rouge I thought was the best value wine there. For £5.75 you get an easy drinking blend of merlot, cab franc, malbec and cab sauvignon. If I was buying anything it would have been this.
• Kanonkop. At this point in the evening everyone was getting a bit fatigued, but that didn't stop these wines from impressing. Excellent Pinotage (£17) and Cabernet Sauvignon (£18) varietals, as well as a lovely blend - 'Paul Sauer' (£20). These wines were big, rich and complex and would also benefit from the cellar treatment.
• Quoin Rock. The 2003 Chardonnay was lovely - barrel fermented and bottle aged. For £9.95 it is a good deal.
• Tierhoek. The Tierhoek Straw Wine is a delicious sweet wine with a lovely nutty finish made from air dried Chenin Blanc grapes. Not cheap at £19 per half-bottle.
• Warwick Estate. I've tried Warwick Estate wines before - they're available at Waitrose (a Sauvignon Blanc and a Bordeaux blend called 'The First Lady'). 'The First Lady' was showcased here, and also a Wine Society own label blend - 'Exhibition Cape Blend' (£8.95). I liked The First Lady when I tried it from Waitrose, but here compared to some of the finer reds it paled a bit, but for £7.95 it's a good wine for the price. I don't think I tried the Exhibition Cape Blend...