This month we had a full house of member and guest tasters, comparing and contrasting three wines from Australia with wines from the same grape from other parts of the world.
For the Chardonnay grape we tasted a Chablis Jean-Marc Brocard 2022 Grand Vin de Bourgogne from France and a McHenry Hohnen 2022 Laterite Hills Chardonnay from Margaret River in WA.
For the Riesling grape we tasted a Thörle Saulheim Riesling Kalkstein Rheinhessen 2021 from Germany and a Grosset Springvale Clare Valley Riesling 2022 from SA.
For the Sangiovese grape we tasted a Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico 2021 from Tuscany in Italy and a Coriole McLaren Vale Sangiovese 2022 from SA and finished with a Talenti Roso di Montalcino 2022, also from Tuscany in Italy.
It was hard work, but we managed to persevere (some better than others!) and get the job done! There was plenty of discussion and laughter and we achieved what we set out to do - the different characteristics of the Australian and European wines were easily identifiable. Overall preferences were with the French and German wines for the Chardonnay and Riesling, but the Australian wine for the Sangiovese.
And another great night was finished off with a bite to eat at Pirate Life