Wow! How we have missed these tastings!

Last Thursday, 24th of March, was the first Rotterdam Wine Lovers tasting we had for a while… a long while! How good it was to see familiar people coming to the tasting and the chemistry was instantly back. It felt as if the last tasting was 2 weeks ago instead of let’s say 2 years!

Wines lined up

Old versus the new world

The official theme was old versus new, and we managed to surprise a few tasters. With our seemingly weird choices and tasting order. However, during the tasting everyone felt that the order wasn’t that “wrong” after all. Of course, there were mistakes, but these made the night even more fun. I could have said that I made the mistake of switching one of the information sheets intentionally to see if anyone would notice that the taste of the wine didn’t match the information. But it was an honest mistake and indeed it was spotted that there were discrepancies in the notes. So… there’s nothing wrong with the quality of the taste of our members. 😊

We won’t be boring you with tasting notes but what we will do is share the wine list with some short remarks.

Gezelligheid kent geen tijd (not translateable)

Okay so here’s the wine list of the night

Novello MezzaCorona 2021 from Italy
(this wine was served lightly chilled)
Chosen because of the name on the label to revamp the tastings after Corona. And it is a new wine from an old country.

Shiraz Signature Spier from South Africa
(this wine was served lightly chilled)
Chosen because this Shiraz is surprisingly a lot more subtle and light than you would expect it to be.

Paniza Tinto Garnacha en Tempranillo 2020 from Spain
Chosen because it comes from the oldest wine region in Spain, this Paniza is a full-bodied wine for a very reasonable price.

Carmenere Reserva Bouchon 2018 from Chile
Chosen because we felt the need to add a wine from South America, you could pair this wine with Chili Con Carne!

Les Sorcières Vacqueyras 2020 Appelation D’Origine Proteger from France
(a biological wine)
Chosen because it comes from France still the best example for old world wines. This wine is a perfect alternative for famous Côtes du Rhone wines like Châteauneuf du Pape which is getting insanely expensive.

Naturally we had some bites in this case from iberica la Española

And the wine list goes on…

Normally we have 5 wines to taste but this time the job was harder, much harder! The attendees had to taste 8 wines. These 3 extra wines were brought in by our mystery guest Ben. Ben is one of the owners of 2 island wines a relatively new company that specializes in wines from Down Under, a perfect addition to our theme “Old versus the new”.

So how did this 2 island wines story start?

Well, a “Kiwi” and an “Aussie” walked into a Dutch bar and they decide to stay... forever. The end!

Ben and Scott two guys from respectively Aotearoa and the Northern Territory know a thing or two about New Zealand and Australia wines. They decided to start importing wines from Down Under that are not available in Europe yet. The do so by directly dealing with the vineyards and their winemakers. They have some great wines in their program and serve an nice amount of Michelin star rated restaurants.

Here’s Ben from 2 island wines showing us where this “new“ world actually is

To finish the list we tasted these wines that Ben from 2 island wines brought along.

Pinot Gris Mission Estate 2020 from New Zealand
This Pinot Gris displays the typical fruit characters you would expect mostly pear and apple and a hint of citrus.

Sauvignon Blanc The Agreement 2021 from South Australia
Ben brought this one especially since he knew about the theme “new wines” and that we would taste the Novello. This young wine has an obvious floral bouquet and harbours tastes of lemon zest, kiwi, and melons.

Shiraz The Gaffer 2019 South Australia
This red one is a stylish, fat, juicy and long tasting vintage filled with deep red and dark berries and an elegant spiciness. “The Gaffer”, named after the winemakers grandfather, is a full-bodied Shiraz that is exceptionally well balanced.

We enjoyed Ben’s company and his wines so much that we will arrange a follow up tasting with more of his wines later in the year.

Save the date!

We urge you to markup Wednesday the 25th of May in your calendar because that is the date we set for our next event.

The good thing is that the next day is Ascension Day so probably most of you will be able to sleep in late after the event.

We will inform you later about the theme and location.

That just about says it all