Meeting No 35 April 12th 2011

The "challenge" this month was to taste two similar wines from the same area and Dave and Mollie had chosen two wines that represent an area of France that up until now, has probably been under represented in our tastings – Bordeaux. Bordeaux has a long history of exporting wine to England and it was the Plantagenet kingdom, covering England and much of France from 1152 to 1453, which encouraged wine trade between the regions. The standard style of Bordeaux wine has not always been deep red. It used to be closer to a rosé, hence the French clairet, meaning pale. As the taste for clairet developed in England, the word was adopted and gradually anglicised to "claret". In the Late Middle Ages, a claret meant a spiced wine-based drink produced by pouring heated wine, usually a red, over a bag containing a mix of spices. It was similar, and often identical, to hypocras a spicy wine drink often attributed to Hippocrates. Spices that were specific to medieval clarets include anise, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon and fennel. The meaning of "claret" has changed over time and now refers to a dry dark red Bordeaux.
Our first wine was a La Garderie Claret at £4.15 from Morrisons. The wine did not receive consistent scores across the group and overall the score was below average at 6.7. The appearance was a nice bright wine of medium intensity, a very pleasant nose with quite a strong bouquet of plums and black berries. The taste was well balanced, smooth and a light to medium wine with quite a long lasting flavour of plums of dark fruits and was a very easy drinking wine.

The second wine was a Prestige Calvet, Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 at £10.99 –also from Morrisons. On this occasion the more expensive wine did reflect the price paid and this was a high scoring wine, with consistent scoring across the group, receiving an overall score of 8.2 – only just below our highest score of 8.3. The winemakers of J. Calvet state they have created this red Bordeaux wine with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet from the best areas of Bordeaux. Harvested at full maturity, the grapes are vinified to extract full aromas and soft tannins. Part of the blend has been aged in barrels to give a very pleasant smokey and vanilla taste. A new taste for Bordeaux!

The next meeting is at Pat and Brians, May 17th, 2:00pm