In attendance: Amy, Carlos, Alex R, Martin and Stephen
This was the second Wine Wednesday. There is no blog for Wine Wednesday One as it was only today we realised that our break-up-the-week-by drinking-nice-wine-and –eating-nice food lunches would be perfect for the Bancroft Wines’ Blog.
Initially, conceived as an apology to me by Alex and Martin (don’t ask what they did), Wine Wednesdays have blossomed at a phenomenal rate. Only week two and almost double the attendees.
Perhaps as justification for bringing a second bottle of wine, perhaps just because they are good company, we invited Carlos and Stephen to join us, The Original Trio. Whatever the reason, it was the right decision. They provided some fascinating wine knowledge and some pretty interesting chat too.
As always we headed to the Maltings Café on Tower Bridge Road, appealingly a five-minute walk from the Bancroft office and crucially with a Bring Your Own Wine policy. It is a real find for us.
The two bottles in attendance were:
2006 Riesling, Clos Windsbuhl, Zind-Humbrecht
2008 Barbera del Monferatto, Albarola, Tacchino
Martin very kindly provided the Riesling from his own ‘cellar’ whilst the Barbera was provided by the Bancroft team.
Over our delicious lunch of lamb for the boys, pasta for me, the boys discussed wine. It was unanimously felt that the Riesling performed very well as a palate freshener ahead of the main course. It offered a nose of lemon sherbet and honey; the palate retained a delightful freshness and a taught, linear character. The full bodied, weighty house style of Zind-Humbrecht was perhaps slightly lower key than previous examples that we had experienced but one thing was for sure; it was a truly delightful opening wine!
The Barbera just so happened to go extremely well with the lamb’s tomato based sauce, thanks to the variety’s tell-tale freshness. It was the right wine at the right time and all of the components were perfect. At times like this it is easy to understand that a bottle of £50 wine isn’t always necessary. The Barbera would probably cost no more than £25 on a restaurant list and ticked all of the boxes.
Carlos was tempted by pudding but satisfied with cheese; especially the promise of a ‘mystery cheese’, which had turned up from Zucca (the sister restaurant, just down the road). A challenge had been set. Upon the arrival of our plentiful cheese board, we all concluded that it was definitely some sort of goat’s cheese but couldn’t get much further. Helpfully, Stephen mused that it maybe sheep’s cheese. Less helpfully, Martin commented that it looked like a brain!
All that in 90 minutes, what’s not to love.
Written by Amy Ramage, Opus Trust
Luigi Tacchino wines are available from Bancroft Wines, please visit our website for more information
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