The September Edition
Hello to members old and new!
Another month rolls around which means another, delicious box of wine, cheese and charcuterie.
This month, we are celebrating some of the finest products from our close friends in Spain.
Whack the playlist on with the button below and let’s get going.
Wine Tasting
How to taste wine
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
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
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).
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
vinas del jaro Sembro
Name: Vinas del Jaro Sembro
ABV: 14.5%
Grape: Tempranillo
Country and Region: Spain, Ribera del Duero, Valladolid
Winemaking: Traditional
Tasting notes of Blackcurrant, Red Cherry and Oak.
The Sembro ticks all the boxes – Ribera wines are more full-bodied and this wine comes from single estate grapes aged for 4 months in French new and second-use French oak barrels for a youthful yet textured wine.
Blackcurrant, red cherry, a hint of liquorice with smoke and cedar tones. Soft and velvety tannins. Beautiful.
Sweetness (dry to sweet) 1-5: 3
Acidity (low to high) 1-5: 2
Tannin (low to high) 1-5: 3.5
Body (light to full) 1-5: 4
Producer
vinas del jaro
Viñas del Jaro is the heart of the Vinedos Iberian operation.
The winery lies in a very prestigious neighbourhood, nearby Pesquera and Vega Sicilia. Unlike a lot of its neighbours though Viñas del Jaro can claim to have won Decanter’s most coveted award – that of simply ‘the best wine in the world’.
The Sembro vineyards are in the lower part of the property. Protected to the north by a hill and facing the Duero River to the south. Sandy soil, with some clay and limestone content. Vines are 22 years old.
Buying grapes from grape growers in Ribera is commonplace, but Jaro can boast buying theirs from Vega Sicilia!! These (extremely) high quality grapes see 4 months ageing in new and old 300l French oak casks before 6 months further in bottle.
Cheese 1
Martin Txiki smoked Idiazábal DOP, cured
Age: 3 Months Minimum
Country + Region: Spain, Basque Country
Milk Type: Ewe
Pasteurised: No
Strength Of Cheese: 3
Style Of Cheese: Hard
Texture: 4
This smoked cheese has a dense, slightly dry texture. A gently smoked aroma gives way to a light sweetness balanced by the fresh acidity of the wine. The finish is clean and elegant.
This iconic smoked Basque cheese is made exclusively with raw Latxa sheep’s milk with a minimum of three months of maturation.
Cheese 2
Smoked San Simón da Costa DOP
Age: 45 Days Minimum
Country + Region: Spain, Galicia
Milk Type: Cow
Pasteurised: No
Strength Of Cheese: 3
Style Of Cheese: Semi-Soft
Texture: 3
Shaped in the traditional cone mould when whole, smoked on birch wood and cured for a minimum of 45 days.
It has a semi-soft close texture with a mild smokey flavour and melts beautifully. This smoked flavour complements the oak notes of the wine wonderfully.
San Simon is produced using pasteurised cow’s milk from local herds, before being transferred and shaped in the traditional San Simon cone moulds. It’s then smoked on birch wood for 60-90 minutes and cured for a minimum of 45 days.
Cheese 3
Tetilla DOP
Age: 15-20 Days
Country + Region: Spain, Galicia
Milk Type: Cows
Pasteurised: Yes
Strength Of Cheese: 2
Style Of Cheese:
Semi-Soft
Texture: 3
This cheese has a lightly acidic and buttery aroma, a dense smooth, semi-soft paste, and a good balance of lactic and creamy flavours. This light creamy taste pairs perfectly with the body of the wine. P.S, if you manage to save any, it is particularly good in a cheese toastie.
The green fields of Galicia, in the far north west of Spain, are known for the quality of their pastures from which come some of Spain’s best known cows’ milk cheeses including Tetilla DOP, the region’s most iconic cheese.
Charcuterie
The Deli Society Sarta De Chorizo Iberico
The Deli Society partners with artisan producers that put animal welfare first.
Country & Region: Spain, Salamanca
This chorizo comes from the famous and iconic Ibérico pigs. These pigs are certified free-range and roam free across Le Dehesa in Spain foraging and gorging on acorns, which creates a nutty flavour in the meat.
Cured in the pure air of the nature reserve Sierra de Francia, Salamanca Spain without nitrates and then mixed with DOP Pimentón de La Vera. The result is a truly unique smoky, nutty flavour that can only be achieved with this Iberian breed.