The Bordeaux Supérieur Château Roc Meynard is grown on calcareous-clay soils, with a strong dominance of clay. Its wines are structured and benefit a good aging potential. Thanks to a subtle winemaking process that strongly cares about wine balance and delicacy, those wines have a harmonious and complex expression.
The October Edition
Welcome to the October Edition.
The month where things start to get that bit darker and that bit colder. This does however mean cosy nights in with a glass of red and TDS sooo who’s the real winner?! (you).
This month we travel to the home of wine, cheese and charcuterie, France. Meeting some true artisan producers along the way.
Sit back, pour yourselves a glass of wine, get comfy, slow down and enjoy.
Wine Tasting
How to taste wine
appearance
Smell / Aromas
appearance
The first step of assessing wine is looking at it
Wine snobs like to talk about the legs of wine. In all honestly, this is a bit of a waste of time.
The wine legs (or tears of the wine as the French refer to them) can give an indication of the alcoholic content of the wine. But it’s so difficult to be accurate with a reading from legs,
So we say just read the label!
For appearance, we only ever find it useful to note something if the colour is completely out of the ordinary i.e. it’s a really dark rose
Smell / Aromas
The next step is to smell your wine.
Swirl the wine in the glass. Looks poncy but does release some aromas, and helps it not just smell like alcohol.
Broadly, smells can be broken into three categories.
Primary Aromas: grape-derivative and include fruits,
herbs, and floral notes.
Secondary Aromas: from winemaking practices and easiest to find in white wine. Examples include beer, cheese rind, or nuts.
Tertiary Aromas: from aging in bottle or oak. Normally savoury. Examples include roasted nuts, spices, vanilla, autumn leaves, tobacco, and leather.
Start broad. Is it fruity?
Red wine? Think of red, blue, and black fruits.
White wine? Think of citrus, orchard, or tropical fruits.
Once you’ve identified a scent such as citrus, you can now think if it’s more apple than lemon or more orange than lime.
This is all pretty personal to your own nose.
The same principle can be applied to floral and herb scents, but in our opinion, not many people can tell you the specific scent of geranium.
If you can detect herbs or floral notes, it’s a great start.
Wine Tasting
How To Taste Wine
Taste
Conclude
Taste
Finally you get to actually taste the wine. Funnily enough though, tasting is predominantly to detect the structure of the wine.
Body: Think how differently skimmed milk, full-fat milk and cream coat the mouth.
Acidic: How much does it make your mouth drool?
Tannin: An annoying word but an easy one to detect. Imagine sucking on a teabag and how dry it would leave your mouth.
That’s tannin.
Dry or sweet? Tannin can trick you to think there’s no sweetness in a wine. Stick the tip of your tongue in as the best detector of sugar (probably not the done thing to do in a restaurant).
Conclude
The final part of tasting a wine, is to come to a conclusion about it.
What type of wine did you just have and did you like it?
Was it too acidic or just a bit meh?
If you’ve just tried, for example, a Barolo, log that experience with that wine in your mind so that the next time you have a Barolo, you have a foundation of knowledge to judge it against.
The only way to really educate yourself is to drink more. Poor us.
Wine
Château Roc Meynard, Bordeaux Supérieur
Profile
Tasting
Scale
Profile
Name: Château Roc Meynard, Bordeaux Supérieur
ABV: 14.5%
Grape:90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc
Country and Region: Bordeaux, France
Winemaking: Traditional
Tasting
Tasting notes of Redberries, Blackberries and Liqourice.
One of the purest examples of Right Bank Bordeaux. This is a robust yet elegant wine with ripe red and black berry flavours enriched by dark spices and a touch of liquorice.
Scale
Sweetness (dry to sweet) 1-5: 3
Acidity (low to high) 1-5: 3
Tannin (low to high) 1-5: 3
Body (light to full) 1-5: 4
Producer
CHÂTEAU ROC MEYNARD, Vignobles Hermouet
The Maker
The Estate
The Maker
The Estate
Château Roc Meynard has been dedicated to wine growing around the hill of Meynard for centuries. The hill, adjacent to Fronsac, covers 90 acres, of which 65 are under vine. The estate produces mainly red wine, with only 5 acres of white varietals.
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Cheese 1
AFFINEUR WALO LE GRUYÈRE AOC EXTRA MATURE
Profile
Producer
Ingredients
Profile
Country + Region: France, Savoie
Milk Type: Cows
Pasteurised: No
Strength Of Cheese: 3
Style Of Cheese: Semi Hard
Texture: 3
Taste: Sweet and savoury with floral and fruity notes, but it is the silky texture with the crunchy crystals and immense flavour that set this cheese apart from other Gruyères.
Producer
French Gruyere cheese is made with the milk from cows that graze freely in the summer. In the winter the Gruyere de France cows are fed on fodder collected in the summer; with no silage permitted.
The colour of the cheeses pate varies with the time of year and the grasses upon which the cows feed.
Ingredients
Milk, Starters, Salt, Rennet, Water
Cheese 2
MORBIER
Profile
Producer
Ingredients
Profile
Country + Region: France, Franche-Comté, Morbier
Milk Type: Cow
Pasteurised: No
Strength Of Cheese: 3.5
Style Of Cheese: Semi-soft
Texture: 2
Taste: Morbier has a rich and creamy flavour with a distinctive line of ash running through it.
Producer
Previously, Morbier was made with a layer of morning and evening milk, but these days it is made from one batch of milk and the ash is spread over it to follow the tradition. The cheese takes about 45 days to 3 months for full maturation with a yellowish, moist and leathery rind.
Ingredients
Cows’ Milk, Salt, Starter, Rennet
Cheese 3
PETIT MUNSTER AU LAIT CRU
Profile
Producer
Ingredients
Profile
Country + Region: France, The Vosges
Milk Type: Cows
Pasteurised: No
Strength Of Cheese: 4
Style Of Cheese: Soft
Texture: 2
Taste: Simultaneously creamy and sweet, and tangy and spicy.
Producer
Originating from the Munster valley, the cheese is made from the unpasteurised milk of cows from the Vosges. Munster has a sticky orange rind, produced by continual brushing with brine for three weeks, and a smooth creamy texture.
Ingredients
Cows’ Milk, Animal Rennet, Salt, Starters
Charcuterie
Saucisson Sec Avec Truffle
A Bit About Me
A Bit About Me
The Deli Society partners with artisan producers that put animal welfare first.
Country & Region: France, Aveyron
Produced in partnership with a craft charcuterie maker in France that has been making Saucissons as a family for 60 years.
This Saucisson Sec has been produced to traditional standards with high animal welfare pork and infused with chunks of truffle for a truly delectable flavour. Bon appetit!
the pantry: chocolate & Honey
Coco chocolatier & thyme infused honey
A Bit About Me
A Bit About Me
We have partnered with COCO Chocolatier to provide you with the very best artisan chocolate.
Challenging industry norms, COCO Chocolatier begin the making of the chocolate at origin before passionately transforming it in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a result, more wealth remains within developing economies.
Finally, drizzle our French thyme-infused honey over your cheeses and saucisson to take those tastebuds somewhere new.