Saturday, 12 February 2011

Strange wine making regions

I have had some great wines, some indifferent wines and some down right terrible wines - Mangosteen wine being top of the list. Some of these wines have come from unusual locations but this weeks was up there with the best.

If I asked you to name a county in North Africa that made wine those of you in the know would immediately say Egypt and you would be correct but how many of you would name Tunisia?

Apparently they have been making wine here for over 100 years starting whilst it was still a French Colony.

Matched against 2 French rose from Pays d'Oc and a Hardy's rose from Australia the Tunisian rose, made from vineyards growing in the Atlas Mountains stood its ground and amongst many of the tasters was voted as the best of the rose. Light in colour and subtle in flavor it is sure to go well with seafood.

These were entry level wines so now I am looking forward to tasting some of the better quality wines from the region.

We also had a French Merlot that tasted like a Cabernet Sauvignon and a South African Cabernet Sauvignon that tasted like a French Merlot. All in all a very confusing evening.

The wine of the evening? Definitely the Famille Castel Chardonnay 2008 from Pays d'Oc. Clean, crisp with great balance of flavours or a different taste from a Peruvian wine from Peru.

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