Perth Area Wine Tasters

Tuesday 14th December 2010

Lachlan again set the Christmas Quiz and provided a blind tasting of the following wines which would see you through your Christmas dinner from the aperitif to the cheese.

Cremant du Luxembourg, Cuvée de I'Ecusson Brut, Bernard Massard, 2007 12.0%
Luxembourg has a long tradition of making fine sparkling wine. This is dry, fruity with a lovely biscuity finish.
Tasting Note: Lovely pale gold and steady stream of bubbles. Fine, lightly honeyed and very gently toasty. Clean, fruity peach and ripe apple fruit. Plenty of weight and a hint of richness on the palate, with quite mellow toast and fruit, but very crisp, quite fat lemony fruit and acidity comes through. Mostly Riesling and Pinot Blanc.
Christmas match: This is the perfect party aperitif, but also retains the finesse that makes it ideal for a toast. It's light but not insubstantial -so it would also stand up to nibbles and even a light fish starter.

Mas de Bazan, DO Cava J 11.5%
A traditional method Cava - second fermentation in bottle
Tasting Note: Brilliant golden colour, delicate bubbles and very well integrated. Initial dry clean citric aromas with apples and pears on a background of dried nuts. After a few minute reminiscent of cake/bakery. Creamy and elegant in the mouth. Nice finish. Mostly Macabeo and Chardonnay.
Christmas match: This is the perfect party aperitif, but also retains the finesse that makes it ideal for a toast.

The Wine Society's Chablis 12.5%
This domaine-bottled wine is produced by Jean-Marc Brocard in his cellars at Prehy.
Tasting Note: The Society's Chablis is produced from the 25 year old Malandes vineyard. This is a steep and stony vineyard situated on the hillside to the south of Montmains, exposed to the south-east, which maximises ripening in the cool northerly climate. All Brocard's wines are vinified in stainless steel tanks to accentuate the purity and freshness of Chablis and to avoid masking the aromas with oak. The Society's Chablis is pale in colour with green tinges. The aroma is understated, more mineral than fruity, and on the palate the wine is vinous but scored with crisp, steely acidity. The fresh acidity is the perfect antidote to salt, and so Chablis is an ideal partner for all manner of seafood and shellfish, especially oysters.
Christmas match: As well as being the ultimate classic match for smoked salmon, the apple on the palate and the crisp acidity also makes it an ideal wine to cut through Christmas ham. Any leftover would also be perfect to accompany goats cheese.

Catena Alta Chardonnay, 2007 14.0%
Adrianna Vineyard, Mendoza, Argentina. Catena Alta, a limited production of single varietal wines made from a selected few rows in the Catena family's vineyards, is the pinnacle of Catena's range. They are brilliantly made, possibly without peers in their homeland. These special barrels undergo a rigorous second selection at the winery.
Tasting Note: Exceptional barrel-fermented Chardonnay from a 1,400m-high vineyard. Taut and elegant wine of top quality. Decant 20
minutes before serving to develop the flavours.
This wine is remarkable from start to finish, beginning with an aromatic and complex nose of pear and apricot, almond and lemon cream.
Subtle hints of white flowers and warm, smoky notes follow. The palate is full and concentrated, with citrus, honey, vanilla, nutmeg and toast.
The wine has a wonderful viscosity, mouth coating and pleasantly creamy, but with an exciting streak of minerally acidity that leaves us
wanting more.
Vinification Details.
100% Chardonnay. 100% barrel fermented with natural yeast. 100% malolactic fermentation. Aged sur lies for 12 months in French oak,
50% of which are new. 2.65g/l residual sugar aging potential of +10 years
Christmas match: If you are looking for a white wine with enough power to stand up to Turkey and all the trimmings, then this is the ultimate match. The presence of oak will really give this Chardonnay a creamy oomph, and this is really an exceptionally-made wine so it should have enough complexity and be robust enough to complement all the usual accompaniments to a traditional Christmas dinner.

Cotes-du-Rhône, La Friande, Domaine Jaume, 2009 13.5%
General Info: There are some very unusual tricorn hat shaped fermentation tanks in the cellars of Domaine Jaume which were installed for the 2000 harvest. Claimed to be a perfect design as they allow greater contact between juice and the grape skins. Already, Jaume has noticed better extraction from the new tanks, compared with the traditional round tanks. The Jaume family do not take their grapes to the cooperative. Instead, they vinify fruit from their large 48ha vineyard in modern cellars carved into the hillside beneath their home. The Jaumes practise culture raisonee, the minimum use of chemicals in the vineyard. And Richard Jaume believes that minimum intervention in the cellar is the secret behind great winemaking. And these are extremely good wines. The simpler wines, such as the Cotes du Rhône Friande, emphasise fruit and juiciness. But the village wines, the Cotes du Rhône-Vinsobres, are more serious. The 1999 is a finely concentrated wine, a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. These are modern, fruit-driven wines but the wood is well integrated and the dusty tannins are typical of the Rhône.
Tasting Note: The Society has been buying from the Jaumes in Vinsobres since 1981, long before this under-valued village was recognised by Paris-based mandarins and deservedly raised to cru status; the Jaumes1 wines are now the best-selling red Rhones in their List. 'Friande' is a peculiarly French term which when applied to food describes something that is dainty, delicate and round - the perfect name therefore for this delightful red. 2009 was a great vintage in the south. This is full, soft and ripe tasting. A great tooting wine, fruit forward in style.
Vinification Details: Grenache & Syrah
Christmas match: Cotes-du-Rhône is the classic all-rounder for parties, proving a sturdy match for all buffet foods, and also has the versatility to match hard cheeses on the Christmas cheeseboard, as well as being perfect for goose and even turkey. This is particularly surprising when considering the very reasonable price of this bottle, but I feel this is why it deserves its place as one of their bestsellers.

Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel, 2008 14.5%
General Info: Benchmark dry red zinfandel from Joel Peterson - the "Godfather of Zin" - and his team at Ravenswood.
He has been instrumental in making Zinfandel it what it is today. A clinical microbiologist by day, Joel, who inherited an interest in wine from
his father, spent much of his spare time dabbling in winemaking with two single vineyard Zinfandels, 1976 being his first. Both wines
won 1st and 2nd place at a prestigious tasting in San Francisco in 1979 and this convinced Joel that he needed to spend less time in the lab
and more time in the vineyard. As he owned a limited amount of property, Joel started buying in grapes from single vineyards in different
counties across California.
Ravenswood now offer three different class of wines based on this philosophy - Single Vineyard (from a specific vineyard), County Series
(from a specific county) and Vintners Blend (a blend of several different types).
Tasting Note: In the glass the wine appears dark, inky red and is fairly opaque indicating a full body and depth. On the nose it is full of red
and black berry driven fruit with a hint of spice and vanilla from the oak. It is very smooth, dense and supple in the mouth - initially with a
very ripe/dried fruitiness but with a relatively uncomplex cocoa and black pepper spice lingering, hot finish due to its relatively high alcohol
content.
Vinification Details: This wine is actually around 80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Syrah. The grapes are harvested and spend 18 months in French Oak of which a third is new.
Christmas match: This wouldn't be the first wine we would think of to be a match for roast turkey, but it is a popular choice to accompany Thanksgiving dinners in the States. Again, when thinking about matching the stuffing, sauces, pigs in blankets etc, this has the right amount of substance to it, but it is also beautifully fruity on the palate, and the cranberry flavours are obviously appropriate to accompany the turkey. Other good food matches include dried and cured meats, pasta in rich, red sauces and most types of flavourful hard cheese.

Faraon Oloroso Seco, Hidalgo 18.0%
General Info: The 'Faraon' is the head of an Andalusian gypsy family.
Oloroso Seco Faraon is aged oxidatively for several years in butts of American oak. Grapes are sourced exclusively from their own vineyards
in Balbaina and Miraflores.
Matured in casks of American oak in a "solera" or fractional blending system in the coastal town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The maturation
is an oxidative process; no flor grows since the wine is fortified after Vinification. Then follows an average of seven years of ageing in cask.to
give a dry, complex wine.
Tasting Notes: Aroma: rich walnut, penetrating. Taste: full rich smooth flavour, yet dry and smooth. Blend of Grapes - Palomino Fino Residual Sugar - 0.5 g/l
Christmas match: Excellent with nuts in particular, but suits all pre-dinner nibbles. Similarly superb on it's own. Do not over chill in order to appreciate the more delicate flavours.

Henriques & Henriques Malmsey, 10 years old 20.0%
Christmas is unthinkable without the sweetest of Madeiras, but why wait until then? The cask ageing brings out nuances of figgy walnut with more than a hint of caramel and coffee. These characteristics go so well with good Cheddar. You don't have to drink it all at once: the opened bottle will keep almost indefinitely if kept in a cool place. Intense and deep-coloured malmsey. A gold medal winner at the 2009 International Wine Challenge.
Tasting Note: Christmas cake and flaming plum pudding on the nose with touch of burnt sugar. Intense and sweet in the mouth with a rich, caramel-like finish.
Tawny with some ruby at the core. Fenugreek and caraway, and all sorts of chocolate and caramel nuances, with fudge and intense dried raisin fruit. On the palate a really intense rich, concentrated fruitiness, with some fresh strawberry and black pepper notes, plenty of dried red fruits and fabulous orangey acidity that structures and lengthens the finish. There is a thick undertone of dark chocolate, and plenty more of the exotic spiciness, in a very long finish. Fabulous.
Christmas match: Well, where to start? As well as the cheddar mentioned above, this is beautiful with other cheeses including stilton as the sweetness offsets the saltiness of blue cheeses, but this is also the ultimate chocolate wine, (especially if the chocolate has nuts in it!) The Christmassy characteristics of this Madeira also mean it will beautifully accompany Christmas pudding and mince pies.