WINE TASTING AT BOWDON
You know that Spring has arrived when you receive the notice of an IW&FS Wine Tasting event at Bowdon Club, or to give it its full title, Bowdon Cricket, Hockey and Squash Club.
This year we were fortunate to have a tasting presented by David Connor of Sporting Wines. David has always had an appreciation of wine and made an early retirement career change. His interest in wines, especially those from Australia, developed into an enjoyable business. On his wine tasting and buying trips he has the final choice of the red wines and his wife, of the white wines, a mutually compatible partnership.
The wines we tasted were from the Perth and Margaret River Area. They were:
- Bellermine Riesling 2011 – A pleasant sharp wine with good acidity, some sweetness and traditional Riesling undertones.
- Harewood Estate Sauvignon Semillon 2010 – A Gold Medal winner in Perth. A dry wine with exotic fruit flavours of Melon, Mango and Lycees.
- Harewood Estate Unwooded Chardonnay 2010 – A pale wine with good length, a full mouthful and a good quaffing wine
- Harewood Estate Chardonnay 2010 – An oaked wine – golden in colour with buttery vanilla flavour with plenty of fruit and length.
- Bellarmine Pinot Noir 2008 – this was a wine for food, well structured with long tannins and good acidity.
- Mount Trio Shiraz 2008 – A warm nose and a peppery spicy taste with a hint of tobacco. It had good length and would go well with Lamb Rogan Gosh.
- Harewood Estate Shiraz 2006 – A Rhone style wine with good gentle velvety red fruits and a hint of spiciness. Elegant and together. Ready for drinking.
- Harewood Estate Shiraz Cabernet 2006 – This was a good chewy wine with long tannins and some spice noticeable - the men preferred this wine.
- Zarephath Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 – a good deep colour with good balanced tannins and acidity. Some softness indicated it would need drinking now.
- Harewood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 – This was a Bordeaux style of wine with a mature grip on the palate. At 14.5% it would go well with food.
- Moombaki Bordeaux Blend 2005 – translated means “Where the Moon meets the Sky”. The C. Sauv, C. Franc and Malbec hadn’t really blended.
- Mount Trio Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 – A wine with good balance and length and soft tannins – this was in the evening’s top 3 wines
Supper supplied by Gastronomy Delicatessen of Hale followed.
To say Sausage and Mash with green vegetables, Cheese and Puddings does not do it credit.
The Sausages were sourced from a local Goostrey farmer who makes the Gloucester Old Spot pork sausages to order. (He has won awards for the Best Pork sausages in Cheshire) – they were the best sausages I have ever eaten. They were accompanied by Butter Bean mash with Olive Oil and Orange Zest, and Broccoli and Green beans – Delicious.
Gastronomy has a passion for Cheeses and sourcing UK cheeses. They presented us with, Snowden Blue, Macclesfield White Cheshire and an Isle of Mull Cheddar accompanied by Fig and Almond cake – a well balanced trio.
Lemon sponge and a Lemon Cheese Cake followed – and were enjoyed by those who had a good appetite.
The wines served with Supper were Harewood Estate Sauvignon Semillon and Harewood Estate Shiraz.
This interesting tasting by an enthusiastic presenter made many of us put Perth and Margaret River on our list of “must visit” places.
The 37 members who attended thanked David of Sporting Wines and Annabel from Gastronomy most appreciatively in the traditional manner.
Tricia Fletcher