XX CLUB TASTING NOTES
106thSESSION, OCT 2nd 2013
(1)Presidential Champagne Louis Roederer
This wine is without doubt one of the very top non vintage Champagnes. Its elegant complexities come from the barrel ageing of a high proportion of the blend, together with at least 4 years' maturation in bottle before disgorging. 12% alcohol £classified
(2)Alpha Zeta Amarone
A favourite from the previous session, please refer to tasting notes March 2013.
£24.99 Noble Green Wines.
(3) BLEASDALE POTTS’ CATCH LANGHORNE CREEK VERDELHO 2008
With the same team of Bleasdale winemakers, the Verdelho grapes were harvested early in the season, before a nasty heatwave hit South Australia.
The grapes grow in vineyards above the level of Langhorne Creek’s annual floods.Widely grown in Portugal,especially the Douro valley and Madeira, the grape is now finding a niche in Australia particularly Langhorne Creek as well as the HunterValley region and the SwanValley.Verdelho is a moderately vigorous grape that produces small oval berries with a high skin to juice ratio.
Australian versions of Verdelho are identified by their intense flavours with hints of lime and honeysuckle in addition to the “oily” texture that often develops.
The grapes for this wine were hand picked from 85yr old vines in the cool of the night to preserve their freshness, and. a splash of Sauvignon Blanc is added. A low temperature, slow fermentation is used to capture and retain fresh fruit aromas and flavours. The resulting wine is crisp and refreshing and of zippy acidity with fragrant orange blossom, kiwi fruit and melon aromas, along with ripe citrus and pineapple flavours, and it has a dry and unwooded style.
The lively fruit on the palate and refreshing crispiness require it to be drunk young, which is why it appears in the October listing.
12% alcoholScatchards £8-99
(4)Deen de Bortoli vat 5 Botrytis Semillon, 2008 Australia
Classic noble rot giving a smooth luxurious finish.
£8.49 (half bottle) Noble Green Wines.
(5)William Pickering Port
William Pickering, 20-year-old Tawny Port, Quinta do Noval, Port Blend. Blended especially for Berry Brothers and matured in oak for 20 years, the sweetness in this fine mellow Port is beautifully balanced by the richness of the fruit and the maturity from the wood; rich and nutty, it would be heavenly with chocolate-based desserts.
Alcohol 20.5% £26.95 Berry Brothers.
(4) TOKAJI ASZÚ 5 PUTTONYOS 2001 HUNGARY
The original meaning of the Hungarian word aszú was "dried", but the term aszú came to be associated with the type of wine made with botrytised grapes. The process of making Aszú wine is as follows:
Aszú berries are individually picked, then collected in huge vats and trampled into the consistency of paste (known as aszú dough).
The must is poured on the aszú dough and left for 24–48 hours, stirred occasionally.
The wine is racked off into wooden casks or vats where fermentation is completed and the aszú wine is to mature. The casks are stored in a cool environment, and are not tightly closed, so a slow fermentation process continues in the cask, usually for several years.
The concentration of aszú was traditionally defined by the number of puttony of dough added to a Gönci cask (135 litre barrel) of must.
From winemaker Akos Kamocsay, comes this mixture of late harvested and botrytis affected blend of 70% Hàrslevelú and 30% Furmint grapes from a 20year old vineyard, situated in Tokaj, where the rivers Bodrog and Tisza meet.
The name Furmint derives from “froment”, a French word for wheat, given the wheat-gold color of its wine.Louis XIV called Tokaji "Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum" - "Wine of Kings, King of Wines."
The clock is decorated with Furmint grapes
Vineyards in Tokaj
11.5% alcohol Marks and Spencer £16 (500ml bottle)
(5) TAYLOR’S LBV PORT 2003
One of the oldest and most famous Port houses, Taylor’s has survived over 300years. It is the last, totally independent BritishPort house still in operation,based in Oporto, and run by descendants of the Fladgate and Yeatman families, partners in the firm since 1830.
Grapes are sourced from top quality vineyards in the Cima Corga and Douro Superior and after picking are fermented over 36hrs, at warm (30 deg) temperatures to extract colour body and flavour. Fortified spirit (grape spirit=brandy) is added to end the fermentation leaving the wine sweet. Transferred to barrels for maturation, it was blended from wine of a single year
Full bodied and bursting with clean red fruit aromas, intense, with a long, spicy finish.
Because it is an LBV, all the sediment is in the barrel, so no need for the decanter!