In 2031 it will have been 200 years since legislation was changed to allow game birds to be shot from 12th August - more on this after the wine review.
With the game season now well under way - grouse kicked off this time last month, partridge at the start of September, and soon pheasants will be joining the menu in many restaurants - a few options on what may accompany these magnificent dishes seemed appropriate.
I like drinking Rioja with game. Therefore, a collection was ordered from The Wine Society, and three wines stood out:
1 - Viña Ardanza Reserva 2016
Wine Society - £26.00
Although they made 600,000 bottles of this brew, the quality level is still superb. A classic Rioja made from 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha, it has significant length with a very appealing velvety palate married to a nose that is warm and attractive adding notes of dried fruits, tobacco and a hint of chocolate. Aged in barrel - 36 months for the Tempranillo, and 30 months for the Garnacha - with grapes from 30-year-old vines, the integration is harmonious and the blend works exceptionally well. 2016 was an excellent year, and even with near drought conditions, the level of fruit is neatly balanced with well defined acidity and intense flavours. Will easily continue to improve for another five to eight years. Made by La Rioja Alta winery, this wine sits in a stable of products that all ooze quality.
2 - Finca Nueva Gran Reserva 2010
Wine Society - £28.00
Described by The Wine Society ‘Proper old-school Rioja’, however, I would beg to differ. This wine is definitely plummy with a lot of forward fruit, even given that it was harvested in 2010. Aged for the two years in 50/50 French and American oak barrels that also gave it spicy notes intermingled aged with the If you like your grouse well hung, then the abundance of red fruits in this wine would certainly hit that brief.
3 - CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva 2015
Wine Society - £46.00
Richer, darker, with more intensity that the Viña Ardanza. Additional complexity. Stylistically, in the same vein. 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo. Dry farmed, 40-year-old vines from smallish plots. Two years in oak. Perhaps a tad more vanilla on the nose and palate, but with the same velvety texture and silky-smooth finish. Drinking now, but will keep for another decade.
Game Act 1831.
The purpose of this 1831 bill was to repeal the Game Act of 1773 that had originally forbidden the hunting of game between 12th August and 10th December. This established 'The Glorious Twelfth' as the start of the shooting season for red grouse in the United Kingdom, and has its roots firmly established in Victorian Times.
Dubbed by some the 'New Year's Day of hunting', it marks the start of the 121-day grouse shooting season
The biggest surge in popularity for grouse shooting came in the 1850’s during the Victorian era. The introduction of widespread railway networks across the UK suddenly allowed more people than ever to reach the moors. Teamed with the advancement of ‘breech-loaded’ shotguns, which allowed easier and faster re-loading. As a result, the bags from a day’s shooting in those days were enormous.
During the mid-1800s summers, as parliament dragged, politicians chafed at the bit to get away to the grouse moors of Northern England and Scotland. There was a strong assumption that parliament would not, indeed, could not, sit after 12 August.
Why did it become such an obsession? Was this simply a reflection of the age where the participants of country sports enjoyed exercising their passion for slaughter and more importantly enhancing their reputations as marksmen? Probably. Combined with the status of grouse shooting as the ultimate elite sport: the colossal investment required in land and labour to maintain a grouse moor was the preserve of the wealthiest aristocrat, industrialist or plutocrat, or, indeed, of the monarchy. Some things never change!
