A selection from a recent Le Mistral tasting

For years and years, the restaurant I manage has had a monthly wine club descend into its private room, each member, bringing a bottle or two from their personal cellar, covers it with a sock/tin foil or paper to hide its identity, and relinquishes it to the group.

Each is tasted blind and guesses of its country of origin, grape variety, producer and vintage are all thrown around the table until we arrive at it's true identity.

Until last year I was only a spectator at these events, serving up the food and hospitality, now, happily, I am no longer on the outside looking in.

It's always hard to know what to take along, and how my bottle will stand up to what everyone else brings. I have only been amassing my modest collection for a year or so, whereas most of the group have been collecting for decades, so it can be tricky to find something of interest and worth. It doesn't need to be expensive or incredibly old, but as long as it provokes some conversation, a wine will generally be well received.

The Foundry, Grenache Blanc 2010. Stellenbosch, SA.

The Foundry is a project in its infancy but comes from a pretty decent producer from Stellenbosch and its surrounding areas- Meerlust. They seem to specialise in a few Rhone white varietals including Roussanne and Viognier too.

This wine is very aromatic, pungently smokey to begin with, but this blows off reasonably quickly. What follows is oak, a custardy, vanilla nose, with bundles of tropical fruit; maybe it was a bit too cold but the nose just didn't quite fill the glass. The palate however was very pleasant, lots of cakey smoothness. Great dryness and refreshing citrus acidity fills your mouth, with a very slightly honeyed finish and wooded notes. 




Domaine De La Borie Blanche. Terriors D'Altitude, AOC Minervois La Liviniere 2008.

70% syrah, 10% grenache and 20% mourvedre. Typical of the region, but what made this slightly different was that 20% of the syrah had been fermented through carbonic maceration, which was evident, certainly in the nose of this wine. It was weighty, and powerful with a degree of alcohol, but underneath was some lighter fruit and herbal notes, and possibly some menthol too. The dominant fruit on both the nose and palate were blueberries and black currant, but some cherry and strawberry sweetness came through every so often. 
Also on the palate was a great deal of tannin and stewed fruits, and prune. This wine was a bit soupy, and heavy, possibly needs some time to lighten up and for all the aspects to come together.

Joseph Swan Vineyards, pinot noir, Russian River Valley CA 2006.

Swan Vineyards are a great small winery based in the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, producing great things, at reasonable prices too. 
This wine had a really perfumed nose of light, sour cherry, earth, oak and some other mild fruit fragrances, with some mouth wateringly tangy cranberry right at the end. This follows through onto the palate, great redcurrant acidity and red fruit characteristics. Some of these characteristics say this could be a chunky, modern Burgundy, but the giveaway is just the mildest hint of alcoholic heat, which makes this absolutely delicious!