Next Tastings
Friday 30 July:
Australian wines
What did we have last time...
27 May: Summer wines
22 April: Portuguese wines
9 April: The Italian Job @ Mod31
18 February: Emmanuel Byilingiro Italians
22 January: Favourite Reds @ Mod31
13 January 2010: 4 wines and a foody feast
2 December: Festive Wines
19 November: Wines from South America
29 October: Aussie specials
10 September: Local Foods and Wines
23 July: Portuguese wines
18 June: South African Fair Trade Wines
21 May: Spanish sherries
30 April: Italian Wines
26 March: Credit Crunch time!
26 Feb: Welsh Wine
4 December: Festive Wines
13 November: Moroccan Evening
23 October: Wines and Cheeses
25 September
28 August
10 July
19 June
22 May
3 April
24 January 2008
13 December 2007
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Our tasting evenings allow you to taste a range of delicious items and have an informal discussion led by an enthusiastic expert and you will get 10% off all wines sampled on the evening and purchased or reserved within the following 10 days (allowing for both following Saturdays to be included).
Each evening will begin at 7:30 p.m. for a 7:45 p.m. start and tend to finish about 10:15 p.m. Only 26 tickets are available for each evening and must be purchased in advance to avoid disappointment and to assist in planning. Prices will differ depending on the range of wines and foods on offer. To book your place contact us on 01235 537405 or
Future Dates
What we had last time...
Thursday 27 May 2010: Emmanuel introduced a range of wines for the summer
- Jas d’Esclans Cote de Provence Rose with feta & spinach pakhoras
- Sparkling rose vini Giol Prosecco with chicken wrap
- Albet I Noya Xarello Classic with pasta salald with bacon and sun-blushed tomatoes
- Touraine Sauvignon Blanc Aumonier with chicken curry and cous cous
- Millton La Cote Pinot Noir with Brie de Meaux on oat biscuits
- Lignum Negre Grenache/Cabernet/Carignan with meringues and ice cream
Thursday 22 April 2010: Portuguese wines with Miguel
- Arca Nova 2009 Vinho Verde DOC accompanied by a tuna pate
- Cunha Martins 2009 Dao DOC white with parma ham and melon
- Lagoalva Reserve 2008 Tejo white with prawns cooked in whisky
- Roma Periera Rose 2008 Alentejo with chicken
- Animus 2007 Douro red with polenta and pine nuts
- Damasceno 2006 Terras do Sado with lamb and potatoes
- Monte de Ravasqueira 2007 with baked figs, almonds and meringue
- Quinta de Santa Eufemia Tawny port DOC Douro with lemon spelt cake
Friday 9 April 2010: The Italian Job @ Mod31
-
2009 Touchstone Pinot Grigio
with prawns in a seafood dressing on lettuce
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2008 Pizzini, Verdicchi dei Castelli di Jesi Pievalta Superior
with a porcini mushroom cous cous dish
-
2008 Jasci Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
with napoli and milanese salami and bresaola served with six day sourdough
-
2006 Cossentino, Sicilia Nero d'avola
with a range of Simple Supper pies - game, steak & kidney, Freerange chicken & mushroom, beef, guinness and ale
-
2008, Pizzini, Salento Tenuta del Barco Palmento Primitivo
with pecorino cheeses - dolce, truffata and peperonata
-
2008 Montalbano IGT Refosco/Merlot
with panettone cake and anacini biscuits
Thursday 18 February 2010: Emmanuel Byilingiro introduced us to a mixture of red and white Italian wines in his range. All organic and some also produced along biodynamic lines.
18th February
- Touchstone pinot grigio
- Pizzini, Verdicchio dei Castelli Di Jesi Pievalta Superiore
- Montalbano IGT delle Venezie Refosco/Merlot
- Jasci, Montelpuciano d'Abruzzo
- Cossentino, Sicilia Nero d'Avola
- Pizzini, Salento Tenuta del Barco Palmento Primitivo
- Buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil drizzled with Lunaiao lemon infused extra virgin olive oil
- Fish rissotto - with prawns, smoked mussels, smoked salmon
- Meat plate - napoli salami, Miano salami, bresaola with sun-blushed tomatoes
- Pasta dish - chicken, bacon, mushrooms in a stock and cream sauce over corali egg pasta
- Bruschetta - tomato ciabatta rubbed with garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, topped with morbiere cheese, pepperoni, capsicums and marinated asparagus
- Cheese plate - pecorino dolce, pecorino truffata, pecorino peperonata
22 January: Favourites Reds at Mod31.
- Jean Bousquet Pinot Noir with smoked duck on ciabatta
- Milton Vineyards Pinot Noir with mushroom stuffed pasta
- Omrah Pinot Noir with ketjap manis marinated chicken sticks accompanied by Kitson's peanut sauce
- Adobe Carmenere with sliced roast beef on six day sourdough
- A'Beckett's Estate Red with Cropwell Bishop blue stilton on oatcakes
- Rioja Crianza with a slice of stollen drizzled with dulce de leche and cinnamon icecream
13 January 2010: 4 wines and a foody feast at Abingdon Marina Residents Association.
A shorter evening than others with 4 wines and 6 foods on this occasion:
- Kitson’s fish terrine on little gem lettuce
- smoked mackerel on black forest rye
- smoked chicken breast with pesto on olive foccaccia
- Parma ham with sun-blushed tomatoes on spinach ciabatta
- Smoked Mozzarella and chorizo
- Kitson’s sticky toffee pudding
- Milton Vineyards Te Arai Chenin Blanc
- Milton Vineyards Viognier
- Jean Bousquet Malbec
- Jean Bousquet fortified Malbec
2009
2 December 2009: Festive Wines As promised, Andrew Higgs came back with a range of wines suitable for the festive season.
- NV, Champagne Marie Demets, brut £22
- 2008, Saint Veran, Domaine des Valanges £11.40
- 2008, Pouilly Fume Seguin Pere & Fils £12.50
- 2006, Chateau Fontareche Corbieres Rouge vieilles vignes £7.50
- 2005, Chateau Labadie, Cru Bourgeois Medoc £11.50
- 2004, Vina Amezola, Crianza, Bodegas Amezola de la Mora £12.00
- Potted Crab pate with walnut bread
- Smoked fish platter from Port of Lancaster with Bay Tree seafood sauce
- Jambalaya with chicken and prawns
- Lamb burgers from Field Farm Fresh baked in a tomato and lamb stock
- Red cabbage salad with bacon and beans and apple
- Carre du Berry cheese on mini toasts
All wines were adored with the Pouilly Fumé and the Corbières being the favourites by a fraction.
19 November: South American evening with the following wines
- N.V. Santa Bax Sparkling chardonnay/pinot noir rose 2005/7
- 2004 Cachapoal Valley Adobe Gewurtztraminer
- Casablanca Valley Novas Chardonnay/Marsanne/Viognier
- 2008 Jean Bousquet Reserva Pinot Noir
- 2005 Colchagua Valley Adobe Carmenere
- 2007 Jean Bousquet Malbec
- 2007 Jean Bousquet fortified Malbec
Of these two came out as easily the most popular and then there was a close third:
The Gewurtztraminer and the Malbec were tops and then the Santa Bax sparkling.
To accompany these wines we served:
- Mixed seafood paella - using Bomba rice and the paella spice mix
- "Bruschetta" - ciabatta toasted with a drizzle of olive oil and topped with a Mojo Picon sauce
- Chicken in a Mojo Canarion sauce with a spring onion and cheese sauce wrapped in a tortilla
- Argentinian beef stew with dried cranberries and seeds with potatoes
- Pecorino Dolce - wonderful Italian ewe's milk cheese
- Nutmeg icecream with Dulce de Leche - Argentinian toffee sauce
- Camaya chocolates - wonderful!
6 November: A Sparkly evening with Jill & J
A slightly different wine and food evening - this time being held over at Mod31 particularly for Mod31 customers, though others were welcome (future Mod31 customers perhaps?). As the title would suggest this we introduced six sparkling wines and foods to accompany them.
29th October: Best of the West! (of Australia that is)
Our wonderful friend Donna Rogers came back with a new range of Aussie specials.
- 2008 Saddle Creek shiraz/cab sav Austr red £6.50
- 2006 Hellfire Bay shiraz/grenache Austr red £9.00
- 2008 Omrah pinot noir Austr red £11.20
- 2008 Foundstone unoaked chardonnay Austr white £7.00
- 2008 Hellfire Bay chardonnay Austr white £8.70
- 2008 Omrah sauvignon blanc Austr white £10.00
We ate:
- Kitsons' Vegetable Terrine - with the sauvignon blanc
- Asian influenced fishcakes with haddock, potato, onion, chilli, coriander and turmeric - with the unoaked chardonnay
- Creamy chicken in cider with apple and onions accompanied by new potatoes - with the chardonnay
- Parma ham - withe the Pinot Noir
- Beef in black bean sauce with egg noodles with the shiraz / cabernet sauvignon
- Pecorino dolce cheese - with the shiraz/grenache
All the reds proved to be favourites with the Hellfire Bay being the favourite white.
Thursday 8 October: Emmanuel Byillingiro - New Zealand wines
- 2005 Gisborne Te Arai Malbec Milton Vineyard £12.00
- 2007 Clos St Anne Pinot Noir Milton vineyard £18.00
- 2008 Rock Ferry Sauvignon blanc £12.50
- 2007 Blanc de Noir Richmond Plains Nelson £11.50
- 2007 Gisborne Te Arai Chenin blanc The Milton £12.00
- 2008 Riverpoint Viognier Milton Vineyard £12.00
We ate:
- Smoked haddock with leeks, potatoes and cheddar
- Prawns in a cocktail sauce
- Panzerotti with salmon
- Chicken and capsicums in a Thai Yellow sauce
- Tortilla wraps with beans
- Rump steak kebabs marinated in ketjap manis
Favourite wines were the Rock Ferry sauvignon blanc and the Gisborne Malbec.
Thursday 10 September: Carol Nielsen of Brightwell Vineyards - Local Foods and Wines (and beers!!)
Carol Nielsen of Brightwell Vineyards, one of our most local vineyards, joined us for the evening to introduce us to her wines and another one and we thought to make it different we would also taste two local beers!
This evening was held in September to fit in with the 'Local Flavours' Festival - a 'celebration of food & drink in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire'. This is the first time Oxfordshire has been included in such a 'celebration' but already there are a number of events posted on the web-site www.local-flavours.net - have a look and see if there are other events that catch your fancy too. You'll see that Carol is holding vineyard tours on the 5th and 6th and the 26th and 27th which should be fun.
Thursday 23 July: Portuguese Wines
Miguel Leal from Casa Leal, another new speaker for us, introduced us to a selection of his Portuguese wines and a great evening was had by all.
The first, vinho verde, was the favourite white.
The rose, Pousio 2008, was very deep in colour and served well chilled - excellent!
Surprising to us the first red was also served chilled, and once again a surprise at the end as the tawny port was also chilled!
- Arca Nova 2008, D.O.C Vinho Verde (Loureiro and Pederna) £7.20
- Morgado do Perdigao 2007, Vinho Regional do Minho (Alvarinho and Loureiro) £9.70
- Quinta da Lagoalva 2008 V. R. Ribatejo (Fernão Pires, Arinto, Alvarinho, Verdelho and Sauvignon Blanc) £8.40
- Pousio 2008, Vinho Regional Alentejo (Touriga Nacional and Alfrocheiro) £8.40
- Claustro’s 2005, D.O.C Douro £7.50
- Cunha Martins 2007, D.O.C Dão (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro Preto, Bastardo e Jaen £8.50
- Quatro Caminhos Reserva, Vinho Regional Alentejo (Trincadeira, Aragonês and Cabernet Sauvignon, Aragones) £12.50
- Casa de Santa Eufemia Tawny, D.O.C. Douro £13.00
Thursday 18 June: South African Fair Trade Wines
An informal evening with a selection of South African wines all of which were Fair Trade and organic, some of which are also without the addition of sulphur.Dishes from across Africa were served as suggested by visitors from the African Children's Fund. They were in the UK for International Day of the African Child (16 June www.africanchildrensfund.org).
10% of all ticket sales were donated to this charity.
Thursday 21 May: Sherry
Annie Payne, one of our more knowledgeable wine enthusiasts took us through the delights of Spanish sherries from the driest of manzanillas to the ultimate sweetness of Pedro Ximinez.
Thursday 30 April: Italian Wine Philip Harrison from WineTraders (UK) Ltd joined us for the first time to introduce us to a small selection from their Italian range. He put together an interesting range of wines and we started the evening with an olive oil tasting to get in the Italian mood.
- Domaine de Labelle blanc £6.50
- Picpoul de Pinet £7.50
- Quoin Rock, sauvignon blanc £8.30
- Chateau Fontareche, corbieres, 2006 £6.30
- Torre de Bareda, 2007 £7.20
- Chateau des Antonins, 2005 £8
Based on our tastings on the evening the Picoul was the favourite white and the Torre de Bareda was the favourite red.
Thursday 26th March: Credit Crunch time! Good value wines as chosen by one of our favourite speakers Andrew Higgs from Richards Walford.
Thursday 26 February: Welsh wine! With St David's Day on 1st March we felt it was an excellent time to try some Welsh wine - and in particular some that we know is exceedingly good. Richard has produced some fine wines for us up till now and they were different and of low 'food miles' !
2008
Thursday 4th December: Andrew Higgs, one of our favourite speakers, with a selection of wines for the festive season.
Thursday 13th November : A Moroccan evening - tagine cooked foods and wines to match!
23 October - wines to go with cheese: Arthur Cunynghame, former owner of Paxton & Whitfield introduced us to a range of wines and cheeses. His book, The Cheesemonger's Tales, was also on sale.
Thursday 25th September: Brightwell Vineyards with Carol Nielsen.
Carol Nielsen, who runs and owns this local vineyard at Shillingford Bridge with her husband, came along to introduce us to her range of wines.
Thursday 28th August: Loire Valley wines. Richard Veale of Stevens Garnier Independent Wine Shippers introduced us to a selection of Loire wines.
Thursday 10th July: English Wines from A'Beckett's Vineyard of Devizes: Paul Langham the Director of a'Beckett's took us through his range of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines including the 2007 rosé which proved to be as excellent as the 2006 which won a silver medal at the English Wine of the Year Competition.
Thursday 19 June: Spanish wines with Colin Brooke-Jones
Thursday 22nd May: Germanic Wine Tasting with Donna Rogers: German grapes are used elsewhere than Germany. We tasted some produced in Germany, and others also.
Thursday 3rd April: Holiday Regions Tasting with Andrew Higgs of Select Vineyards
When we go off on holiday we often get the opportunity to taste different wines and wonder if we can get them at home. So, we thought we'd turn the tables and give you some ideas of wines you may want to look out for because you tried them here first and learnt something about them. As usual, Andrew delighted our palates with a range of hand-picked wines which we teamed up with suitable foods.
Wines
- 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Riccardo Falchini, Italy - white £7.30
- 2007 Auburn rose, Vin de Pays des Alpilles, Domaine de Lansac, France - rosé £7.20
- 2006 Vina Farnadas, Pazo di Vieite, Ribeiro, Galicia, Spain - white £9.00
- 2006 Rouge classique Vdp des Alpilles, Domaine de Lansac, France - red £7.20
- 2001 Gran Recosind, Crianza Tinto, Cellers Santamaria, Capmany, Costa Brava, Spain - red £8.40
- 2006 Chianti Colli Senesi, Riccardo Falchini, Italy - red £7.80
Food
- Smoked salmon curled into croustades with a little lettuce at the base and a smear of horseradish
- Breast of chicken marinated in sambal oelek, with a little ginger and garlic, sealed in extra virgin olive oil and lightly cooked before being wrapped in spring roll wrappers with sliced spring onions and shallow fried in tomato infused extra virgin olive oil
- Squid ink tagliatelle cooked for 7 minutes and vongole sauce (alrerady warmed through) mixed through and all tossed into a warm bowl
- Local leg of lamb diced and marinated for two hours in Nomu Lamb rub and a little oil. Cooked for one hour then beans (from a jar so already cooked) added. Further cooking for 20 minutes with a little stock also to blend all the tastes into one.
- Serrano ham with sun-blushed tomatoes served simply on lettuce leaves
- Red Devil and Ginger Spice cheeses from the Snowdonia Cheese range served on oat biscuits
24th January
Colin Brook-Jones and Jean Soubeyrand from the Olivier Leflaive estate in Burgundy discussed the Leflaive wines which are always excellent and amongst my personal favourites.
At the January wine tasting we tasted the following fantastic wines .....
- Bourgone Aligote, Olivier Leflaive 2006
- Bourgogne Blanc les Setilles, Olivier Leflaive 2006
- Rully 1er Cru les Clous, Olivier Leflaive 2006
- Montagny 1er Cru, Olivier Leflaive 2006
- St Aubin 1er Cru, Olivier Leflaive 2006
- Cote de Nuits Villages, Nicolas Potel 2005
....and ate
- salmon cooked with tarragon in white wine and butter
- pork & tarragon pate on six day sourdough
- amatriciana sauce in canneloni with spinach and ricotta
- leg of lamb cooked in Italian spices with new potatoes
- meringues (free range eggs) with fruit and crème fraiche
- cheese Conquerant and Bleu de Brebis
- crackers - charcoal and rye
- bread - ciabatta, rustic and o.m. rye on the table
13 December
Donna Rogers introduced us to a range of sparkling wines and food for the festive season
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