School Dinners - Tasting Notes

These notes are from a wine tasting held at my son's school on Friday 24th September 2006 (see how not to sell wine) - the vendor who hosted the tasting was selling all of the wines tasted and his prices are noted along with my thoughts and comments on the wines (scores using the "Parker" 50-100 point scale).

Vergelegen, Sauvignon Blanc, Stellenbosch, 2005, RSA £8.50 - Typical gooseberries, cut-grass kind of aromas, some cream; very dry in the mouth with some tropical fruits, reasonable finish. Reminded me of a well made NZ SB; good value for money but not something to go out of your way for. I noticed that this can be bought in Majestic for slightly less (86).

Domaine Fichet, Macon Villages, Terroir de Bergy, 2005 £7.50 - No appreciable nose to speak of, in the mouth I got resin and oak, clearly seen a lot of oak, not too bad some chardonnay fruit in there if you persist - average (84).

Errazuriz, Wild fermented Chardonnay, Chile, 2005 £9.95 - More to my taste, more Burgundian IMO, minerals with some oak, slight nose of burn rubber but not in a bad way, slightly sweet on the finish with good balance, would be happy to slurp this with the right food etc. (88)

Anekena, Ona White, Rapel Valley, Chile 2005 £8.95 - Nice chardonnay, not a huge nose some apple/melon, well balanced nice mouthfeel, some quince and slightly tropical fruits on the finish - not outstanding but a good everyday glugger (87)

Jean-Luc Mader, Gewurztraminer, 2004 £8.95 - Nice to see this in such a line up; typical GWZ, rose petals, turkish delight, good weight not too sweet nice balance and a nice finish, made a nice change to Chardonnay but I fear not liked that much by most people. Punching above it's weight I thought - but then I may have been influenced by the contrast more than the actual wine? (89)

Chofflet-Valdenaire, Givry, 1er Cru, Clos de Choue, 2003 £14.50 - Nice PN nose, cherry, animal, earth, quite high acidity but not overly intrusive, fairly light and short but pleasent enough, would be nice with food IMO (88)

Chateau les Graviers de la Brandille, Bordeaux Superior, 2003 £6.75 - Cheap Bordeaux from the incredibly hot 2003 vintage, light weight nose but got some fruit, reasonable for the price I suppose but nothing special - needs food (84)

Vicien, Malbec Reserve, Catamarca, Argentina, 2004 £6.95 - I quite like this varietal when done well, this one was reasonable, mulberry, dark fruits, earthy, quite tannic but not a strong finish, I would think this is made to be drunk straight away (86)

Domaine du Meteore, Faugeres, Les Orionides, 2005 £7.75 - Non-descript nose, got some fruit but hard to pin down, easier to pick out the Syrah and Mouvedre in the mouth, fairly typical of the L&R reds being produced now, nice, crowd pleasing and good value compared with some of the more pricey versions of this made in the S. Rhone, CNDP etc. would be nice with spagboll; (86)

Matetic, Corralillo Merlot-Malbec, San Antonio, Chile, 2003 £9.75 - Expensive for a Chilean red but fairly evident why on the nose, blockbuster hit of cassis, smoke, wood, black fruits very appealing, not so big in the mouth though quite tannic (probably improve with a few years on it), Merlot very dominant; seemed to be the most popular choice for dinner among the punters which was understandable it was certainly the most memorable wine from an "impact" point of view (88)

Kloovenburg, Shiraz, RSA, 2004 £10.75 - Again, expensive for an RSA red, not really tried many Rhone varietals from South Africa, some good ones about by all accounts but I didn't feel this was one of them, some spice on the nose but uninspiring in the mouth, quite restrained, balanced but not much on the finish, may improve but probably some better wines to be had at this price point from the N. Rhone (85)

For dinner I bought a bottle of the Vergelegen SB as we had a Thai chicken with rice - reasonable match, the wine held it's own against the spices of the dish (not that spicy). I'm tempted to make a joke about school dinners at this point, but (plastic seating aside) it was actually OK.