WSET Tasting Group

So it looks as though the WSET advanced course I'm doing is developing a side-project involving even more drinking. Six of us from the course are now involved in a regular tasting group. The rough idea being that on Mondays we drink wines from the region we will be covering in class the following Wednesday. One of the people on the course works at The Groucho Grill and so she organised the tasting to be held there.

This Wednesday the class will be covering Bordeaux and the South-West of France so we all brought along a bottle from one of those regions to compare. The wines covered were all very interesting as was the way in which they opened up over the course of the evening. Since we were at the Gaucho we compared the French wines to a couple of the Argentinian wines from their list. The Argentinian wines were much more restaurant-friendly in that they were drinking nicely from the moment the cork was pulled whereas the Bordeaux wines took a while to open up. Having said that, after they had opened up most of them were pretty damn good.

Merlot Dominated
1. Calvulcura 2004, Argentina
60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon
Fairly pronounced nose with lots of ripe black fruit. Quite jammy and concentrated. At first this wine was a total fruit-bomb with some spicy wood. After a little while some of the more vegetal notes come through - particularly green pepper. Quite high acid, medium tannins and noticeably high alcohol. Medium-high body with similar intensity of flavour. The only flavour on the palate not expected from the nose was chocolate. This is very good but would improve with age.

2. Chateau Moulinet 2005, Pomerol
From the beginning the aroma profile on this wine was very rich, spicy and inviting. However, at first the palate was very woody and the tannins were out of balance with pretty much everything else. However, once the wine opened up everything tasted more balanced and there was plenty of fruit. Very good, but far too young (a bit of a theme over this evening)

Cabernet Dominated
3. Chateau Ferriere 2004, Margaux
The fruit was quite hidden, but came more to the front after it had been open for a couple of hours. The mouthfeel was very smooth with tannins, acid and body all being sort of mediumish. The flavour profile was quite intense with plenty of tart fruit. After the wine had opened up there were very noticeable and quite concentrated coffee aromas - to the point that it was reminiscent of a concetrated coffee liqueur like Kahlua.

4. Chateau Ferrande 2005, Graves
On the nose this started with a fairly strange aroma. Something quite earthy and mineralic. Wet stone? Then fruit was quite cooked. Something quite vegetal also. Very tannic, but quite fine tannins and pretty high acid. On the palate there is plenty of black fruit and something a little dusty. Plus a fair amount of oak. Decent length. Very pleasant as it opened up. So, again, needs plenty of time.

5. La Reserve de Leoville Barton 2004, St Julien
The best of the wines tasted on the night. Subtle and complex with blackcurrant, herbs, blossom and something quite perfumed on the nose. Also orange peel which was unexpected. The tannins were high, but still felt soft. Body and alcohol were medium. The flavour intensity on the palate was medium-high with fantastic length. Outstanding on the night; however, had taken a fair amount of time to open up. When this was first opened we decanted it and it hardly gave anything on the nose but over time it became awesome. This wine really highlighted the futility of ordering a young bordeaux at a restaurant - if you just pulled the cork and started drinking this you'd have been very disappointed with a wine which eventually showed itself to be excellent.

Malbec Dominated
6. Cedre Heritage, Malbec, Cahors
Normally Cahors would not mention the grape variety on the label. Presumably this indicates that the minimum concentration of malbec here was 85%. Lots of American oak on the nose with plenty of coconut. The fruit was black and quite intense. No ceder notes at all, which was slighly surprising given (i) the name and (ii) the picture of the ceder on the label. Something quite savoury on the nose - smoky bacon? Definitely meaty. Some herbal notes - perhaps tarragon? Aniseed? A quite complex and interesting nose. High acid and tannin with intense flavours. The most prominent flavour was tomato - a flavour which all of us identified and were pretty bemused by. Not fresh tomato either, sort of a concentrated tomato-based pasta sauce. Weird, but good. Palate was very nice, but a little 1-dimensional considering the complexity of the nose.

7. Rupestre 2004, Cafayate
Like the Argentinian wine tasted at the beginning, this was pleasant and drinkable from the outset. However, unlike the Calvulcura, this wine went through massive changes in the glass. At first the main aromas were wet leaf, mushroom ketchup and freshly picked tomato. A little black pepper. Then the smoky flavours came through later, then leather, then green pepper and finally more traditional fruit notes. This was weird and complex but very good.

Food
After this we had plenty of wine left... and a raging hunger. So four of us who stayed behind after the tasting shared a steak sampler and polished off the rest of the wine. The steak sampler is where you share four different steaks - a superb idea. Never before have I had fillet, sirloin, rump and rib-eye all in one meal. The wines of the evening were all very much improved by pairing with the meat. Can't recommend highly enough.