Wednesday 24th January 2024 - St Cross College
For those who are unfamiliar with the ‘Call my bluff’ format, ‘en bref’ it is an evening of fun and involves a competitive viniferous guessing game. Each of the ‘wise men’ in turn describes the wine that has been poured then each table must guess which of the three is telling the truth. At the end of the evening the table with the most correct guesses wins. It probably took new members and guests a few minutes to settle into the rhythm of bluff and double bluff, however those familiar with the format, including our ‘Bluffers’, certainly pitched in with gusto.
Thanks to the generosity of our presenters in waiving costs and fees we have been able to make a substantial donation to the Club’s current charity, Flexicare, which provides support for families in Oxford with disabled children.
The following write-up aims to capture the humorous spirit of the evening rather than provide a detailed analysis of the six wines tasted.
Wine 1 – white, sparkling, dry
RB - started by describing the wine as an English cuvée, number 7, produced by Harrow and Hope on their estate
outside Marlow. Made from the classic champagne grape varieties and using the traditional method of production the flint soil gives the wine its stylistic identity.
MP - criticised RB’s description by saying that there was a time when being an MW actually meant something! It is of course a classic champagne MP declaimed, then went on to tell of the time when, as spiky-haired young man, wearing bovver boots and riding his motorbike, he had spent time with a woman in Paris whose name he has now forgotten, then worked on a small and underestimated organic estate in Champagne, hoeing the garlic that was used to spray the vines. The estate is just 2 hectares, and is situated on the Côte des Blancs. MW concluded by asking the audience – when was the last time I ever lied to you?
JP - described the wine as a 2017 Reserve sparkler made from 100% Chardonnay, which has spent 5 years on the lees. It is produced by the 1300-acre Trump Winery, owned by Trump’s son Eric, located on the US East Coast south of Monticello and discovered by JP when visiting his daughter in Washington DC.
The wine was revealed to be the 2017 Harrow & Hope Brut Reserve No 7 NV from Henry Laithwaite's Marlow estate. The fizz is based on the 2018 vintage, using Champagne's classic grapes and the traditional method to make a rich, biscuity, creamy peach fizz. This wine retails for about £25.
Wine 2 – dry, still white
JP - referred to Club members making a bee line for the best wines left over at the end of a tasting. With this in mind, one night when there was no snooker on the television, he snuck down to Aldi (trying to ensure he did not catch anything) and bought the cheapest wine he could find. He bought a bottle to drink himself, to ensure he did not kill all those present. The wine was described as ‘garbage from Spain’, 10.5º alcohol and retailing for £3.45. JP said he was not sure if it was made from grapes, but is certainly clean, short and simple – and not so dreadful as he might have thought. JP advised Club members to make their way to Aldi and queue for this ‘high quality beverage’.
MP - agreed in general with JP’s assessment but claimed it was ‘filth from Portugal’, obtainable at Sainsbury’s for £5.49. MP has a soft spot for Portugese reds, but not their whites, because of the hot climate, the wine’s low acidity and un-exciting taste profile.
RB - the wine advisor for Lidl, offered to drive members there. However, he described the wine as a prime example of the wine business ‘shafting’ the consumer, who are prone to buy anything that has the name Pinot Grigio on the label. This wine is from Sicily, the wrong place to grow Pinot Grigio, for the grape likes a cooler climate. The wine tasted has too much acidity and is too high in alcohol. It would not get near his tasting table at Lidl and was described as ‘like making love in a punt – fuckin’ close to water!’.
The wine was revealed to be the £3.45 from Aldi. With the total cost of the wine in the bottle estimated at 62p, JP said that the wine had no faults and was ‘not so bad as he thought it would be’.
Wine 3 – still red (served in short measures due to a faulty bottle)
JP – raising his eyes to heaven and struggling with a dud microphone, JP claimed St Cross should still be part of Pusey House, that we should be at prayer (instead of drinking wine) and that his ambition was to be ‘de-platformed’. The wine under consideration he said was another produced by the Trump Estate, a Merlot dominated Bordeaux-style blend. Pre-soaked, fermented on the skins and spends 18 months in ‘surrender monkey’ oak, made to be drunk young.
MP – declaring it to be a root day, MP told the audience he had been too nice to them and that at vast expense he had obtained a Sardinian grenache, made by a local woman (Frederica) who trained partly at Romanée-Conti. MP had discovered the wine almost by accident during a visit to Sardinia, during the course of which he bought all the unopened bottles stored behind a bar, rather than drink the only wine served by the glass – which was made by the bar owner. MP had been in search of a wine mentioned by Gabriele d’Annunzio – we were not told whether he ever found it. [For those unfamiliar with d’Annunzio I highly recommend Lucy Hughes-Hallet’s biography of D’Annunzio, ‘The Pike’. You simply could not make him up!] MP claimed we were the first in the UK to taste this wine.
RB – commented on MP’s description, saying it all sounded credible, however it was all narrative and said little about the wine. Following a MW trip to Greece, he (RB) was warming more and more to wines from the region. The wine under consideration is from the Peloponnese, from the central plateau, the elevation of the vineyards giving cool nights and the ferrous soil a minerality to the wine. Made from the Agiorgitiko grape by the well know producer Semeli, the wine is widely available in the UK and costs around £20.
Revealed to be from Sardinia and produced on granite soils from old vines, MP estimated the retail price of the wine at around £40.
Wine 4 – still red
MP – describing an MW trip to Bolivia, MP claimed to have bought some coca leaves to alleviate the altitude sickness. He ended up by accident in Peru and visited an estate called Tacama, famed for its wines and pisco. He arranged to have lunch with the lawyer/entrepreneur owner at a much sought-after restaurant called Central. More coca leaves were involved and on being asked if he wanted to buy any Tannat, MP responded that it was the best Tannat he had ever tasted and bought a container load. On reflection MP felt this was rather like asking someone to marry you, then on reflection wondering why one ever said that! MP urged us to buy a case.
RB – commented on MP’s accent and observed that on occasions MP sounded rather like Michael Caine. RB used to work with the Australian producer Brown Bros and that this wine comes from the satellite estate All Saints, run by members of the Brown family. The deep coloured rather tannic wine is made from a grape called Durif, also called Petite Sirah in California. Matured in some American oak, this wine will keep for some years.
JP – declared this wine to be another offering from the Trump Estate, 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and with some Merlot and Cabernet Franc. He also told us the audience he was lying!
The wine was declared to be a Tannat from Tacama, one of, if not the, oldest vineyards in S America – and MP did indeed buy too much!
Wine 5 – a still rosé wine with a heavily perfumed nose. (Again served in small measures due to a spider that had found its way into a decanter!)
RB – informed us that Greece is producing some exciting rosé, however Portugese Mateus Rosé still sells well and is not bad. However, this is not Mateus, it comes from Cliff Richard’s former estate in the Algarve, where they produce the award-winning Vida Nova. Made from Syrah and Aragones this is a flavourful wine but he feels this, the 2022, has lost some of its freshness.
MP – quoting Socrates, MP told us ‘an unexamined wine is not worth drinking’. This wine comes from Provence. Every so often an MW is paid to sit around drinking Krug, and when a billionaire living not a million miles from Oxford asked MP to fly to Provence to take a look at their new estate, he felt he could not refuse. The building was beautiful, with the winery ‘insanely kitted out’, despite being part way through a renovation process. MP claims it was the location for a royal honeymoon. The wine is a credible rosé at a price. A little secret?
JP – declared the wine to be Kylie Minogue’s rosé, which had been given a gold medal at a drinks industry tasting in 2021. He hoped not to offend us with a celebrity endorsement and claimed to have done his WSET Level 2 with someone from a warehouse in Leeds who knew Leigh Francis who wrote and starred in Bo’ Selecta, and also to know someone who once stood behind Kylie in a queue for an ATM.
This wine was indeed Kylie’s rosé, which is available from Sainsbury’s and at the time of writing is on offer for £7, reduced from £9 for a 75cl bottle (JP quoted £14.50). JP agreed the wine had lost some of its freshness.
Wine 6 – a sweet white still wine
MP – stated there are only three things certain in this life, being death, taxes and MP including an Italian wine in a tasting. MP told us of the first time he encountered Inama Soave, and that Stefano Inama used to make a sweet Sauvignon Blanc. MP was hunting for a sweet wine from the Veneto when he encountered Federica Nardello, in the Soave Classico area. This is a 2021 recioto, well made and matured in oak, with a little acacia oak also used. Priced at c£15 for a half bottle.
RB – Hungary makes wines that command respect. This is not a Tokaj, but is a late harvest wine made from Hárslevelü. A good example of a cheap white sweet wine and a lovely way to finish the tasting. This excellent wine (said Richard, who is, as you will remember, the Lidl wine adviser!) was available as part of Lidl’s Christmas wine offering at under £9.
JP – claimed this was not from a Tokaj winery but is from Vermont. Vermont has a tradition of hand-crafted wines and ciders. This one is made by a lady wine maker with tattoos, on a small scale, using for example demi-johns and natural yeasts. Made from the Brianna grape, a hybrid. Late harvested. Called the Loup d’Or after a local legend involving a golden wolf.
The last wine of the evening was a Hungarian wine, made by a top Tokaj producer, and was available at Christmas 2023 for £7.99. [At the time of writing the Lidl website lists a Szamorodni Edes 2017 for £7.49, available in store only.]
After a recount, the table having initially mis-recorded the names of the presenters, the prize for the evening was
awarded to Table 4 who identified 5 out of the 6 wines correctly.
HRE 25.1.24