Recent tastings with Mike

Food & wine matching seminar

Mike was over in Newquay earlier this week doing a food and wine matching workshop with students at Newquay for Excellence Training. After taking them through an exercise in how we taste generally and then how to taste wine specifically, they were introduced to four characteristically defined wines.

Chateau Peyruchet, a Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux: clean and refreshing with green apple freshness in the mouth. Lightly floral and fruity on the nose. Really worked with the soft goat’s cheese we ate.

Wombat Hill Classic Reserve Chardonnay from S.E. Australia. Lush vanilla oak nicely balanced by a rush of citric fruit. Some weight in here, but not overpowering.

Domaine Astruc Pinot Noir, Languedoc. Grown in the Limoux foothills, this wine shows off Pinot Noir very well, almost unexpectedly given the southern aspect of the vineyards, but the protection from the Pyrenees keeps the area a bit cooler. Light tannins are hardly evident in the juicy mouthful where red berry fruits dominate the palate. Very good with prawns and chilli dipping sauce.

Vina Herminia Preferido, a semi-crianza from Rioja, was used to demonstrate the effect of American oak on red wines. The 8 month aging imparts just enough robust wood flavours to show how it works without overpowering the freshness of the grapes.

All of these wines are available in our shop.