But Now I See

Is there anything that impresses a wine drinker about a sommelier more than does the blind tasting, when a sommelier successfully guesses what the wine is without seeing the bottle? (Providing that the wine drinker knows what a sommelier is. A friend of my mother thought that I had become a citizen of Somalia.)

Blind tastings are one of the rites of passage for any sommelier. Our program at Algonquin had no less than 10 and as many as 15 blind tastings in every class. And six blind tastings on every exam, when it really counted. After a while, either you became adept at blind tastings or they relegated you to Cs or Ds.

But if you want to see just how challenging a blind tasting can be, head over to the Wine Align site to catch their new video series, “So, You Think You Know Wine?”. In each episode, four of Toronto’s most respected (or prolific) wine reviewers put their reputations on the line in 4-minute blind tastings. It’s schadenfrohen fun to see these top-notch reviewers struggle and rationalise their way towards – or away from – guessing what the wine is. It’s a great way to learn how a wine is analysed. Some episodes reinforce one of the basic tips that our profs gave us: your first instinct is usually right.

One suggestion for improvement: bring back Sara d’Amato, who brings a different, and welcomed, perspective than does having 3 middle-aged guys...like me.

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My Picks: Vintages Release ─ July 23 2011

This week’s major theme at Vintages is the signature grape varieties of Italy. For a new wine fan, understanding Italy can be a challenge. Full of indigenous varieties, many of which aren’t grown anywhere else. But that’s the fun! So much new stuff to try. And every year there seem to be more new varieties that Italy is exporting. Maybe confusing...but rewarding. I found 3 of the 22 featured wines worth recommending, all of them whites.  I remember an old wine book from the 1990s that stated that Italy made no good white wines.  Ah, how that has changed!

The minor theme is cool climate Chardonnay. Regular readers know that I don’t recommend too many Chardonnays…unless they happens to come from a lesser-known region. And that’s the case with the one that I’ve picked from Tasmania. Devilishly good.

But (surprise) I found another cool climate Chardonnay worth your consideration. Strangely, Vintages’ blurb about cool climate Chardonnays does not include one of the wine world’s most famous (but lately overlooked) cool climate regions – Chablis – even though they have a very good Chablis in the release. I’m sure there’s an explanation…

Organic & Biodynamic

LA CAPPUCCINA 2010, DOC Soave (Italy); #81489; Price: $13.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Garganega. Macerated on the skins, then fermented, followed by aging on its lees (spent yeast) for six months in stainless steel tanks. Organic since 1985. Many of us still think of Soave as an insipid wine (the Pinot Grigio of an earlier generation), but a good Soave is ideal as a refreshing aperitif or with antipasti.

CHÂTEAU LA GROLET 2009, AC Cotes de Bourg (France); #126615; Price: $17.95; 12.7% ABV
A blend of Merlot (70%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (30%). Hand harvested. No chaptalisation. Fermented with natural yeasts. No fining. Certified both organic (ECOCERT) and Biodynamic (Demeter).

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

JOSEF CHROMY CHARDONNAY 2009, Tasmania; #162982; Price: $29.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Chardonnay from northern Tasmania. Hand harvested. Barrel fermented in French barriques (one third new, the rest 1 and 2 years old). Aged 12 months in oak, then 12 months in bottle.

LOIMER TROCKEN GRÜNER VELTLINER 2009, DAC Kamptal (Austria); #142240; Price: $18.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Grüner Veltliner, the signature white Varietal of Austria. Hand harvested. Short maceration. Fermented in steel tanks. Aged on its lees for 4 months. Fresh, great acidity...makes a wonderful aperitif and is perfect with grilled trout.

LA CHABLISIENNE FOURCHAUME 2008, AC Chablis 1er Cru (France); #656835; Price: $28.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Chardonnay…but what a Chardonnay! Fermentation, Malolactic fermentation, and aging on its lees for 15 months all takes place in a combination of tanks and small barrels. From one of the biggest and best wine co-ops in the world, with over 300 growers.  The winemaker describes the wine as “feminine and floral”. Please, please, please let it age until at least 2014! It’s worth the wait as the citrus and buttery aromas mature yet the wonderful minerality will still be there.

TERREDORA LOGGIA DELLA SERRA 2009, DOCG Greco di Tufo (Italy); #983197; Price: $17.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Greco. Fermented using cultured yeasts, then aged on its lees in stainless steel. No oak. Another great summer sipper, and will match well with grilled fish or chicken.

MARCO FELLUGA MONGRIS PINOT GRIGIO 2009, DOC Collio (Italy); #230623; Price: $22.95; 13.2% ABV
$23 for Pinot Grigio?! Well yes, when it’s from Friuli in the northeast of Italy. An ideal climate to produce great minerally, pleasantly bitter white wine: tucked in between the Adriatic and the Alps with warm sunny days and cool nights. Cold maceration on the skins with fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Aged on its lees for several months. Try it with grilled tilapia.


Reds

TABALÍ RESERVA ESPECIAL SYRAH 2008, Limari Valley (Chile); #213538; Price: $19.95; 14.5% ABV
100% Syrah from the Limari Valley, way up north (hot) but only 29 km from the Pacific coast (cool). Sounds ideal for Syrah! Hand harvested. Cold maceration for 8 days. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks, with a further maceration afterwards. Aged 12 months in 100% French oak barrels (70% new, 30% second use).

HENRY FESSY 2009, AC Moulin-â-Vent (France); #233924; Price: $21.95; 13.5% ABV
100% Gamay. Hand harvested. Unlike much of ordinary Beaujolais, this cru Beaujolais (Moulin-â-Vent is one of 10 cru) does not use carbonic maceration, where they ferment whole bunches of grapes in closed vats. Instead, they use standard red winemaking techniques, including a short maceration. But no oak. You may want to save this for an autumn meal with roast game and mushrooms, or with Thanksgiving turkey. Or if you can’t wait, try it chilled with beer-can chicken.  Don't miss this 2009 Beaujolais!

CHÀTEAU DE NAGES JT 2007, AC Costières de Nîmes (France); #736876; Price: $20.95; 14.5% ABV
A blend of Syrah (95%) and Mourvèdre (5%). Hand harvested. Pre-fermentation maceration for 3 days, then fermentation, followed by further maceration for 30 days. Blending, then aging in French oak barrels (1/3 new, 1/3 first use, 1/3 second use) for 12 months. Bottled without filtration. JT stands for José Torrès, founder of the vineyard, located in south-west Rhone, just on the border with Languedoc. Definitely a wine to put away for a winter stew.  Great year!


Rosés

DOMAINE MABY LA FORCADIÈRE TAVEL ROSÉ 2010, AC Tavel (France); #701318; Price: $16.95; 13.5% ABV
A blend of Grenache Noir (70%), Cinsault (10%), Grenache Blanc (10%), with Bourboulenc, Carignan, Clairette, and Mourvèdre (a combined 10%). Short maceration of one day for a typically Coho pink colour. Fermented and aged briefly in stainless steel. A classic. I agree with Vintages: A great match for gourmet sausages, grilled pork chops or barbecued chicken legs.

BARON DE LEY ROSADO 2010, DOCa Rioja (Spain); #117283; Price: $13.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Tempranillo from Rioja Baja. Hand harvested. The juice fermented in contact with the skins for about 8 hours, using the Saignée method. No oak.

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Recommended Reading: A Hedonist in the Cellar

A few months back, I read Bacchus & Me, a collection of columns about wine that novelist Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City) originally wrote for House & Garden magazine back in the 1990s. I wasn’t impressed. Collections of magazine columns can often be repetitive as this one was. (I expect an editor of collections to eliminate repetitions, inconsistencies, and other faults that are excusable when writing month to month, but irritating when collected within a single set of covers.)

McInerney just seemed to fall into the wine writing gig.  The magazine editor was a friend and, in his editor’s circle, McInerney was the guy who knew more than anyone else did about wine.  Colour me green.  Many of the essays came across as unsophisticated, yet snobby and self-indulgent. But perhaps I’m not the typical House & Garden reader. (House & Garden disappeared a few years back but Jay McInerney still writes about wine at the Wall Street Journal.)

But it takes more than one unsatisfactory effort to keep me from writings on my favourite subject. So I picked up McInerney’s second collection of essays, entitled A Hedonist in the Cellar.

It’s a much better standalone effort, showing a level of knowledge and appreciation that was missing from the first collection. It’s as if the first book was training camp and the second book was the playoffs. Maybe it’s because McInerney spends much more time writing about lesser-known wines and regions (“off the beaten track” if you will) that the columns have more appeal. You can actually learn something from this book!

He had me hooked from the first column, My Favourite White, where he praises Condrieu, a white wine made from Viognier grown in Northern Rhone. And he follows this up with an essay about Friulano, the food-friendly minerally white Varietal from Friuli in northeastern Italy, which we rarely see here in Ontario.  McInerney compares it to a blend of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.

He introduces (or maybe re-introduces) us to a wide variety of regions and wines, giving some overlooked gems their rightful appreciation.  Anybody who loves Sagrantino di Montefalco knows his stuff.  And in the section, Lovers, Fighters, and Other Obsessives, we meet some of the eccentrics of wine. My favourite is Michel Chapoutier (from the Rhone Valley) who is responsible for the two best quotes in the book:

The perfect match for asparagus is my competitors’ wines.

[W]hen one of his guests [McInerney, it turns out] struggles to identify the components of a wine’s bouquet in the tasting room he urges him to relax and just enjoy the wine. “If you think about it too much you can kill it. The brain is a pleasure killer. You don’t need to be a gynaecologist to make love.”

He (or his House & Garden editor) toned down the self-indulgency and snobbism from the first volume, and the sophistication, as should be expected, has grown.

Skip Bacchus & Me, go directly to A Hedonist in the Cellar.

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My Picks: Vintages Release ─ July 9 2011

This week’s release is interesting for a few things. Sure, there’s the theme: wines rated 90+, which features 28 wines that some reviewer somewhere rated 90 or above. It would be even more interesting to show what each reviewer thought of each wine. Bet there’d be some disagreements!

I encourage you to look beyond the scores for varietals or regions that you haven’t tried lately…or ever. To my surprise, I found 8 of My Picks among those top scoring wines. Goodies like Morgon (a cru Beaujolais), varietals that I've never heard of from Puglia and the Basque region, 2 Biodynamic wines, and a couple of New World Syrahs.  The other 4 are equally worthy of your consideration.

The rosés are disappointing this week, including a Bandol that comes in at 14.7% ABV! Try drinking that one out on the sunny patio; you’ll be gibbering in no time.

Biodynamic

COOPER MOUNTAIN RESERVE PINOT NOIR 2008, Willamette Valley (Oregon); #510750; Price: $29.95; 13.5% ABV
100% Pinot Noir, blended from 2 different vineyards. Fermented in stainless steel, aged in French oak (5% new). Certified Biodynamic by Demeter. Classic match: grilled salmon on a cedar plank.

DOMAINE DUSEIGNEUR ANTARÈS 2007, AC Lirac (France); #213082; Price: $19.95; 14.0% ABV
This wine has a lot going for it. A blend of Grenache (at least 40%), Syrah and Mourvèdre, each vinified separately with natural yeasts after 3 to 4 weeks of maceration in concrete tanks. No oak aging. No fining or filtration. Certified Biodynamic. And it’s from 2007, a wonderful year in southern Rhone! I’m going to try it with grilled lamb chops.

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

R DE RIEUSSEC SEC 2007, AC Bordeaux (France); #100891; Price: $22.00; 13.0% ABV
A blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Rieussec, owned by Lafite-Rothschild, is better known for its Sauternes but they make this wine from grapes that remain unaffected by botrytis. 20% barrel-fermented. Try it with some grilled lemon chicken.

FERRATON PÈRE & FILS LA MATINIÈRE 2009, AC Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (France); #127720; Price: $19.95; 12.8% ABV
100% Marsanne. Fermentation in stainless steel. Aged 10 months on its lees. Marsanne typically has floral and almond aromas, with peach flavours. You don’t know about white wines from Northern Rhone? Here’s a great (and affordable) chance to try one!

LEONE DE CASTRIS MESSAPIA VERDECA 2009, IGT Salento (Puglia); #221879; Price: $14.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Verdeca. Verdeca? It’s an indigenous grape traditionally used to make vermouth. But it’s another example of an under-respected grape that’s showing good potential. The winemaker touts its floral nose, with citrus and tropical flavours. Fermented and aged on the lees for 3 months in stainless steel. Drink this summer with grilled seafood.

GURRUTXAGA TXAKOLI 2009, DO Bizkaiko Txakolina (Spain); #240333; Price: $18.95; 10.5% ABV
A blend of Hondarribi Zuri (60%), Mune Mahatsa (20%), and Txori Mahatsa (20%) – No, I’ve never heard of them. All indigenous grapes grown in the Basque Bizcaya region (known as Biscay in France) near the Atlantic Ocean. I must try it! Fermented in stainless steel. Usually fizzy…think Vinho Verde. Known for its minerality. Drink now as an aperitif or with light seafood. Clams, anyone?

Reds

Compare and contrast:  here are 2 New World Syrahs, one from a Mediterranean climate, the other from a Maritime climate.  Which Syrah do you prefer?

CONCHA Y TORO MARQUÉS DE CASA CONCHA SYRAH 2008, Maipo Valley (Chile); #19042; Price: $19.95; 14.5% ABV
A blend of Syrah (96%) and Carmenère (4%). Hand picked. Aged 18 months in French oak. From the southern Maipo Valley, more famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon, but with an arid Mediterranean climate (just like the Rhone Valley), growing Syrah there makes a lot of sense.

LOMOND SYRAH 2008, WO Cape Agulhas (South Africa); #146464; Price: $19.95; 14.0% ABV
Grown just 8 km from the ocean in a cooler Maritime climate that yields a different expression of Syrah than does the one listed just above. Handpicked and hand-sorted. Fermented in stainless steel tanks for seven days, with 3 more days of maceration. Malolactic fermentation. Aged 12 months in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd use French oak barrels. Gelatine fining and filtration.

DOMINIQUE PIRON LES PIERRES MORGON 2009, AC Morgon (France); #231969; Price: $22.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Gamay Noir, a blend of 2 vineyards in the Morgon cru of Beaujolais. Manual harvest. 50% aged in a neutral (>3 years old) foudre for just a touch of oak. Morgon wines can age for considerable time (compared to other Beaujolais), even up to a decade in an excellent year such as 2009. Or just drink it now with some grilled merguez. For me, with the little cru Beaujolais that shows up at Vintages, this is the pick of the release.

JEAN-MAURICE RAFFAULT LES GALUCHES CHINON 2009, AC Chinon (France); #244798; Price: $16.95; 12.5% ABV
100% Cabernet Franc. No chemical fertilizers or herbicides. Maceration for 15 days. Aged in neutral oak casks (more than 10 years old) for 18 months. Fining with egg whites but no filtration.  Another region whose reds need more representation at Vintages.

RAMOS PINTO DUAS QUINTAS RESERVA 2007, DOC Douro (Portugal); #951301; Price: $21.95; 12.0% ABV (?)
A blend of Touriga Nacional (70%), Touriga Franca (25%), and Tinta Barroca (5%). Hand harvested from 2 different vineyards. Fermented in granite troughs and small stainless steel vats (a true mix of the old and the new of Douro). Malolactic fermentation in new and one-year-old barrels and hogshead casks (6,200-litre capacity), both French oak. Aged for 20 months. Fined with egg albumin. I’d put this down for a few years (2016?) to let the oakyness integrate into the wine. The winery website says the ABV is 15% but the LCBO says 12%. That’s a huge discrepancy, so there must be a misprint somewhere!

PLÉYADES RESERVA 2005, DO Cariñena (Spain); #214163; Price: $12.95; 13.5% ABV
A blend of Mazuelo (75%, aka Carignan), Garnacha (15%), and Syrah (10%). Fermented for 1 week, then maceration for 10 more days. Aged 12 months in American oak. From a woman winemaker (Ana Becoechea) working in a cooperative in northwestern Spain. A good match with any grilled meats, such as lamb or beef.

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