A fun night of wine

Last Saturday was such a great night, another wine tasting with our friends. These nights are always fun but this time I added a bit of quirkiness. 

Learning more about wine is one of my hobbies. I'm always keen to know about where and how the wine was made as much as I enjoy discovering the aromas and flavours of different wines.

Unbelievably it's been 10 years since I first hosted a wine tasting for our friends, our tastes and wine choices have certainly changed.  I think everyone buys different wine now. 

That said some of our wine tasting on Saturday was blind which is always interesting to do so I did select known wines and brands. When you don't know the wine you have no preconceptions and are often surprised by your findings.

Throughout the night we had a raffle ... with a difference. Everyone was given a ticket as there was a prize per person and the last prize was the best one so you didn't really want your number to be drawn.

I have been busy with my crafting and after beginning with a bag of wine gums the next raffle prize was a wine waistcoat, the first bit of quirkiness.

Our first wine was one Hubby and I discovered on our recent holiday in France in Aldi on offer at just 2.99 euro, an absolute gem of a find.

Jules Larose Blanc de Blanc demi-sec sparkling wine is a Southern Rhone wine made from Colombard, Macabeo, Malvasia and Chenin Blanc. It's a very refreshing wine with fine bubbles and plenty of apricot and peach flavours. It is on the sweet side, we also brought home Jules Larose brut which I prefer but the demi-sec is delicious.

Our second tasting was a brand I have seen for a while in various stores but not yet tasted. Voga has such an usual bottle for wine, it's more like a water bottle. It has a cork closure with a screw top so the bottle can be resealed. The range is available in white, red and rosé which was our tasting bottle.

Voga Italia was a very light wine in colour and aroma. It was also light in flavour with notes of strawberries and red currants. This wine seemed to be a prime example of how we first taste wine with our eyes, from the bottle shape and light colour everyone thought it looked like weak squash and it was interesting that everyone struggled to find its flavours. Maybe this would give different results if tasted blind.

So the quirkiness continued with our first three whites ... all blind tasted. To everyone's amusement I had made wine bags from shirt sleeves and used the thin half of ties to make wine ties. I did change the buttons to be coordinated with the ties.

Our first white tasted blind was Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc. It was recognised as a New Zealand wine as its aromas were very prominent, as we're its citrusy flavours. A few in our Group knew it was Villa Maria, it was quite interesting to watch everyone guess, doubt themselves and guess again.

Our second blind tasted wine was Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay. After tasting the first wine most people correctly recognised the grape but the brand was new to many. Full of peaches and tropical fruit with a touch of oak as a Chardonnay should be.

Our third wine was given away slightly by its taller bottle and those who enjoy this grape quickly identified the wine maker. From the Mosel Valley Dr Loosen is a lovely Reisling with plenty of fruity crispness with a mineral edge.

Our special white was Paul Mas Marsanne, a new grape to most of the tasters. A fresh and citrus wine that also has flavours of vanilla, toast and marzipan. Needless to say it was the favourite white wine of the evening.

As well as blind wine tasting I had also prepared a quiz, a question relating to each wine. The biggest surprise when the answers were revealed was that in 2023 the amount of wine imported from France was worth 900 million pounds.

Our red tastings began with three blind bottles, again hidden by my shirt style bottle bags.

A favourite of mine and Hubby's as well as most others our first red was Les Dauphins Cotes du Rhone. We have all enjoyed this wine under its English label and for many years as Cellier des Dauphins. It's always a lovely wine made from Grenache and Syrah full of fruit with a hint of peppery spice, so nice to have a familiar wine to enjoy.

The other two reds were quite tricky tasting blind. Everyone said red wine was quite similar with flavours of dark fruits and spice in most varieties. Red wine number two was McGuigan's Gold Label Shiraz and whilst not everyone was convinced they had the right grape they all enjoyed the wine with comments of it being an easy drinker.

Our final blind red was a wine one of our tasters drinks quote often with friends, however tasting blind he wasn't quite sure if it was. The wine causing doubt was Casillero del Diablo Merlot. A subtle difference with this merlot was the edge of liquorice making it different to the other two blind reds.

We then enjoyed two reds knowing what they were, and they were both delicious. Piccini Memoro is an Italian wine I discovered many many years ago through Tesco Wine Community and later revisited on my wine forum Cuvée Reserve. Both are no longer live but my forum is open as there are some great wine reviews to read.

Piccini Memoro has great flavours and intensity, it isn't a style of wine we taste very often. This deep red wine full of cherries and figs with a hint of coffee and oak was enjoyed by everyone.

Our final red was the most expensive and the most popular top up although slightly too jammy for a few tasters. 1000 Stories Zinfandel from California has been matured in bourbon barrels which results in a hint of spirit on it finish. Full of flavours which included cranberry, prunes, toffee and herbs we all agreed this wine was a sofa wine to just sit, sip and savour.

I didn't offer food pairings with these wines as blind tasting is tricky without adding extra flavours. I did however make an Orange Drizzle Cake to have with our final tasting. Unfortunately I missed taking my own photo if this sweet Moscatel from Valencia. A full size bottle, unlike a half bottle of dessert wine, this was absolutely delicious. A light sweetness gull of tangerine flavours that matched perfectly with the cake. This wine is very versatile, it would make a good aperitif, perfect with desserts or on it's own very chilled with ftuit garnish. 

We had a super night, I think we'll be adding in a quiz and maybe a fun raffle at future tastings as it added to our night out.

After raffling another bag of wine gums and my quirky bottle bags our final prizes were a bottle of Mulled Wine, Oxford Landing Sauvignon Blanc, Oxford Landing Caberet Sauvignon and Jules Larose Brut Blanc de Blanc.

A super night with hopefully another before Christmas, it's always difficult to select wines as there are so many in large stores and independent shops. Suggestions are always appreciated, wines or themes, especially new discoveries.