Newcastle Spring Wine Fair
Ξ April 18th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ A Day at a Time, Wine News |
A chilly evening in April saw the 4th Newcastle wine fair, a twice yearly event in Sprint and Autumn put together by Chris Powell of the Newcastle Wine School with local wine retailers or merchants. I’ve only missed one so far and look forward to one of the biggest wine events in the North East of England (don’t get too excited, we’re not exactly overrunning with events up here!) and a chance to see if there’s any new and interesting wines I can try out.
This year we had 6 stalls offering 41 wines, plus Chris’s “mystery wine”, his regular blind tasting competition (which I always manage to get badly wrong). From the National retailers there was Majestic and Oddbins with a good mix of Old and New World styles.
Representing the local retailers was Michael Jobling with a purely French selection, Fenwick with a range of classic varieties from around the world and a newcomer to the Fair, Tyne Wines who had an interesting French only, Beaujolais dominated table.
Wholesalers Liberty Wines was the last of the tables, with their, mainly Italian & Australian, choices available through local retailer Richard Granger.
The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly as the room filled up; about 130 people attended this year, a little down on previous events but still enough to mean some waiting at the most popular tables. 
I’d come with 2 friends from work and they headed for the wine while I quickly checked the list to see what my “must haves” were going to be before heading into the fray and going straight for the Sparklers (as most people did). This year there were only 2 on offer – the Wafflart Rose Champagne at Tyne Wines, and a Prosecco Conegliano Valdobliadienne at Majestic. The Champagne was light and dry with good fruit, but the Prosecco was really just a glassful of froth and did nothing for me.
Onto the whites, and Fenwick had the Katherine’s Vineyard 2005 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay (Cambria, California), this was heavily oaked but the overwhelming flavour was vanilla, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a vanilla hit from any white before! It was a nice wine from the same producer as one of last year’s better offerings (the Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir). Majestic had another oaky Chardonnay, the Vergelegen 2006 from Stellenbosch with a lovely toffee taste, in sharp contrast to the Tyne Wines combination of the 2007 Domaine des Arbins Beaujolais Blanc and their Domaine Bois d’Yver 2005 Chablis Premiere Cru. I don’t know if it was the earlier memory of the two oak-monsters but I preferred the creamy-but-dry Beaujolais to the steelier lemon and lime mix of the Chablis (which was still a very good wine).
The two best whites on the night were unexpected for me, one being a variety I hadn’t tried before and the other being one I don’t usually drink. Andy from Liberty Wines poured me my first Greco di Tufo, the Vesevo 2007 from Campania – with a rich aroma, complex, fruity and well balanced it was the best by far……until the ravings of my 2 friends brought me to the Oddbins table later in the evening and had a taste of their stunning Blind River 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Aroma and taste were immense on this wine, gooseberry and cat-pee nose, a large attack of rhubarb in the mouth, all of which perfectly suited my palate on the night. I usually avoid Sauvignon Blanc as my partner hates the bitterness that often comes with the variety, but I think even she’d appreciate this one.
Back to Tyne Wines for their Beaujolais selection, a simple 2007 Rose and 2006 Villages Rouge from Domain des Arbins, plus a 2006 Morgon from Domaine de l’Eglantine. The Morgon had tannins and complexity to last a few years, but more enjoyable on the night was the Beaujolais Villages, bursting with Raspberries.
The red wines in general were a mixed bag, with all of the well-known varieties represented. Most unusual was the Agiorgitiko in the 2006 Gaia Notios from Nemea in the Peloponnese, Greece. This had a spicy, slightly green nose and was very smooth in the mouth, a light-medium bodied wine and not bad for my second new grape of the night. I’m not sure if it was palate fatigue, or maybe I’m just heading in a new direction, but the 2 big reds for me on the evening were both what I’d loosely call “Fruit Bombs”. First was the 2004 Grant Burge Old Vine Shiraz on the Fenwick table, rich, juicy and complex, but this was beaten by Peter Lehmann’s 2003 “The Mudflat” Shiraz Muscadelle at Oddbins. 
This was richer and juicier with a superb smooth roundedness, I’m guessing from the Muscadelle in the mix. Claire from the stall held up the delicious 2007 Blind River for a Kodak moment and the red on the table behind me was the Gaia Notios which somehow ended up at my home!
So Oddbins had the 2 best wines (for me at least) – and with their five other wines, including an Austrian Grüner Veltliner and a Tasmanian Pinot Gris, all being solid examples this meant that the corporate retailer came out best on the night. Even though Liberty Wines had the Greco di Tufo and a couple of nice backups (the Gran Sasso 2006 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the 2006 “Willunga 100” McLaren Vale Grenache) I’d say they were just nudged into 3rd place by a consistent selection from Fenwick, although I didn’t have a chance to try their Croft Pink Port, with it all gone by the time I looked for it! I’ve already discussed Fenwick in an earlier R.O.T. post and it is a store I like going into, so it was a nice opportunity to photo some of their team this evening 
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It was a good evening of wine tasting and over the course of 3 hours I managed to cover 37 of the different wines. This is less than the 40 I had at the first ever Fair in 2006, but since I hadn’t discovered spitting by that point the hangover the next day was unbelievable. This time the spit buckets dotted around the room were well used and I left the room upright, relatively clear headed and a readable set of tasting notes!
As for the Mystery Wine? It turned out to be a Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre blend from the Languedoc. I’m not going to embarrass myself by revealing my guess here, suffice to say I kept up my impressively bad record. I wasn’t even on the same continent and didn’t get any of the grapes (even though I also chose a 3 variety blend!). I still have a long way to go in Blind Tasting!
Greybeard.
