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
Alta Pavina Citius Pinot Noir
Name: Alta Pavina Citius Pinot Noir
ABV: 14.5%
Grape: Pinot Noir
Country and Region: Spain, Castilla y Leon, Valladolid
Winemaking: Traditional
Tasting notes of Redcurrant, Cranberry and Vanilla.
Pinot Noir from Spain? Yes. It works. Bright cherry red in appearance with a lovely velvety mouthfeel. Strong red berry aromas with flavours of redcurrant, cranberry and vanilla. This is a real interesting example of a classy pinot noir, with potentially slightly more body and tannin than your average PN.
Sweetness (dry to sweet) 1-5: 3
Acidity (low to high) 1-5: 2
Tannin (low to high) 1-5: 3
Body (light to full) 1-5: 3
Producer
Alta Pavina
The Ortega brothers Deigo and Hugo are the madmen behind the planting of Pinot Noir in Valladolid, Castilla y Leon.
Pinot noir, otherwise known as the ‘Devil’s Grape’ due to the fineness of its skin. This makes it extremely delicate and challenging to produce but entrepreneurs Diego and Hugo have tackled this obstacle head on. The Ortega brothers’ Pinot Noir is unique in the world, as it preserves the DNA of the delicate variety, but it has its own unique identity.
A pioneering project just outside the Ribera del Duero, making the best Pinor Noir since 1985.
The secret is the cool influenced vineyards at 1000 metres and the expertise onboard of one Claude Bourguignon, the soil technician of THE Domaine Romanee-Conti. The brothers are gaining a reputation for making the first Pinot Noir of its kind in Spain.
The wine is bottled at the property after 18 – 24 months ageing in French oak.
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 vanilla 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.