The Wine Appreciation Group

Leader:  Annie Scotney - wine@ashbyu3a.co.uk -

WINE APPRECIATION GROUP

The objective of the group is to widen the members’ experience of wines and all matters pertaining to wines. Annie Scotney is the leader of the group and coordinates meetings. We are currently tasting a choice of wines bought by a different member each month, usually with some theme to connect them. Those present at the tasting share the cost.

If you are interested in joining us please contact Annie at wine@ashbyu3a.co.uk.

We currently meet on the third Wednesday of the month at 7pm.

20th May

Ken brought along four South African wines for us to taste this month, one white and 3 reds.

We started with the white, a Stellenrust Chenin Blanc 2025. 12.5%, £10.50 from Sainsburys.
This had a quite pronounced pineapple, pear and lime taste yet it wasn’t too dry or acidic. A nice crisp taste which would be nice as an aperitive or with seafood or Oriental foods. Not an exceptional wine but certainly very acceptable. We scored it 7.5/10 on average with only one person scoring it as low as 6.

The next two were also from Sainsburys, a Merlot and a Syrah from the same company:

Journey’s End Bluegum Merlot 2023 14% £13 reduced to £11.
This wine had spent some time in French oak barrels but the tannins were soft and vanillary with elegant soft dark fruits. Slightly drier than stated on the bottle but very pleasant. It too scored 7.5/10

Third was Journey’s End Spekboom Syrah 2023 14% £10.50
This was also rich with dark berry fruits, very smooth and with no tannins but didn’t have that slightly spicy flavour one expects from Syrah/Shiraz. Again an acceptable red wine but not exceptional. It scored identically to the Merlot at 7.7/10

Lastly we tasted Bellingham Pinotage 2022 13.5% from Tesco at £11.50, marginally the dearest wine of the evening.
Pinotage is South Africa’s signature wine, but it can be divisive. Some love it, some don’t. It depends on what soil it grows on. This was very nice, smooth, darker than the previous two reds, with a good depth of flavour. All but one person liked it, they scored it a 6. (Interestingly each wine tonight got one 6, but each time from a different person). Overall it scored slightly higher at 8/10.

So, our wine of the month? I think it has to be the Pinotage. Not normally my favourite grape variety but I really liked this one.