More notes from ages ago... Spain tasting at the WSET Centre.
1. Tinajas de la Mata, Bodegas Bernabe Navarro
Didn't note the vintage
Medium gold colour. Semi-cloudy appearance (unfiltered). Medium strength oxidative aroma. Floral. Very complex. Almost cider-like nose.
Dry, high acid. Quite light body, but complex aftertaste. More apple fruit on the palate than on the nose.
Very good. This would be an enjoyable aperitif wine. Very interesting.
Price: GBP 12.42
2. El Bon Homme, Rafael Cambra, 2010
DO Valencia
Pretty deep purple colour. Somewhat watery rim. This smells like a young red wine - blackcurrant, vanilla. Something savoury overlaying this though.
High acid, medium body. Surprisingly high tannin. Decent length.
Good, but not amazing.
Price: GBP 10.95
3. La Tremenda, Enrique Mendoza 2010
DO Valencia
Deep purple colour. Medium(+) fruit intensity. Meaty, savoury notes overlaying the black fruit. Somewhat stewed fruit - presumably very ripe grapes.
Medium(+) body. Juicy fruit. More likely to age than the previous wine. High tannin, very fresh. Good concentration. Pepper. Silky mouthfeel.
This is very good. Felt like it had ageing potential.
Price: GBP 11.95
4. Altico Syrah, Bodegas Carchelo
DO Valencia. Didn't note the vintage. 100% Syrah
Opaque red wine. Inky.
Almost port-like nose (spiritous)
High tannin, high(ish) acid. Fairly simple character.
Enjoyable, but wouldn't seek it out. Much less refined than the previous wine.
Price: GBP 12.99
5. Doble Pasta, Cien y Pico
DO Manchuela. Vintage not noted (again!)
Inky purple colour. Medium intensity. Woody, with vanilla notes. Also some blueberries and cherries.
Spicy finish. Medium body. High tannin. Only 13.5% abv. Smooth mouthfeel on initial attack, but pretty searing after a while. This gets too much.
Price: GBP 11.45
6. P.F. 2010, Bodegas y Vinedos Ponce
DO Manchuela
This is made from the bobal grape.
Pretty deep purple colour. Watery rim. Green pepper, herbal notes. Some vanilla.
Smooth and silky on the initial attack. Serious tannin comes through after a while though - very fine tannin, even if a lot of it. Intense and mouthfilling. High acid.
Price: GBP 15.90
7. Mestizaje Tinto, Bodega Mustiguillo, 2011
Deep, almost opaque purple. Modern-style nose.
Smooth, juicy fruit. Very balanced. Complex. Very interesting.
Price: GBP 11.95
8. Felipe Gutierrez de la Vega, Casta Diva, Moscatel 2009
DO Alicante
Honey-coloured. Nose has intense orange and floral notes. A little "grapey". Very clean. No botrytis.
Honey and apricots on the palate. Fresh, good acid. Well balanced. Intense. Sweet, but not at all cloying.
Very nice.
Price: GBP 18.90
Showing posts with label WSET. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WSET. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Saturday, 21 November 2009
WSET Success
Over the last few months Adam and I have both been doing the WSET Advanced Course as evening classes in Bermondsey Street. A few weeks after taking the exam the results arrived. I was pleased to discover I'd got a distiction in all elements of the exam.
I knew the syllabus quite well so this was not too surprising; however, I was surprised about the blind tasting part. After the exam most of the rest of the people on the course had a consensus about which wine it was, and I had put down something else. I was worried that I might have made the schoolboy error of tailoring my tasting notes to what I thought the wine was, but apparently not. Annoyingly we never found out what the wine was though.
Far more surprisingly, Adam and I were both invited to the Scholarship exam. This is where they invite the best 30 results in the country down to London for a viva on the Advanced course syllabus.
This was long enough after the exam that all the short-term memory knowledge had gone, So... back to the revision. The scholarships available are pretty tasty, but almost without exception are only available for people who work in the wine trade. Hmmm! Nonetheless, I still had fun on the day.
We've since found out the results. Adam and I both won the Decanter Magazing Prize along with one other person. Since this prize and the Vintners Bursary are the only ones we qualify for as dirty non-wine-trade people I was quite happy with this.
Structure of the viva:
The 30 students being examined were split into three groups, one hour apart. We went into a room where there were 10 tables with examiners behind them. We were randomly sat at tables (which one we sat at was decided purely by the order in which we walked into the room). A bell rang, the examiner turned over two cards each with a question on them and were had to choose one to answer. The bell then rang again after which we had five minutes to talk about our chosen question. Five minutes is not very long at all, particularly for some of the questions upon which it would be possible to write entire books (eg Differences between the wines of the North and South Rhone!). After this, we moved to the next table and started it all again.
1. Wine & Food or Spirits
Annoyingly, the question I got on Spirits was about the production of Islay Whisky, something I hadn't really revised. So I was stuck with a question on the pairing of food with wine.
2. Rhone or Germany
Both questions were very doable here. In the end I went for the question on the Rhone Valley. Almost impossible to answer in time.
3. New World vs Old World
Both questions were along the lines of "describe the following styles of wine". I went for the Old World question (SW France and Bordeaux), but either question was very doable.
4. Burgundy/Alsace or Sparkling
The B/A question was about different grape varieties in the regions. I went instead for the question on the methods of production of sparkling wine. I had a lot to say about this, but was rather unstructured in my rush to get it all in.
5. Italy or Spain
I went for a question of describing three wines from Piedmonte. Threw in a cheeky Moscato d'Asti as one of them since they didn't specify still wines.
6. Vinification vs Viticulture
This one was difficult. Both questions were hard. One was on vineyard pests. The other was on the various alterations which are possible for a winemaker to make to a wine both pre and post fermentation. I went for the second question but I think that I didn't do too well here.
7. Vinters Interview
This was probably the most annoying part of the whole viva process. This was to determine who gets the Vinters Bursary. Since this was the only winery visit prize which was open to people not in the wine trade this was an important stand to perform well at.
However, when the people from the vintners trust discovered that I was not in the wine trade and wasn't interested in transferring to the wine trade there was a noticeable drop in their interest levels. This was cemented when they discovered that I work for a bank(!) One of them made a snooty comment about bankers bonuses. Ho hum. I don't quite understand the rather snobbish attitude of the wine trade to people who work in financial services - who do they think is buying all this overpriced bordeaux and keeping their industry going? :o)
8. Tasting
By this stage I knew I had no chance of a Vintners Bursary so was beginning to just relax and enjoy myself. With fortuitous timing this coincided with the wine tasting round...
A blind tasting of two wines. Five minutes is not really long enough to get through all the points in the WSET tasting schema so I had to rush. One of the wines was clearly a very good pinot noir and I would have definitely pegged it as a Burgundy. However, we were told that both were from the same region and there was no way that the other wine was a Beaujolais. It had quite an intense flavour, noticeable tannin, was well balanced and tasted pleasant. So I pegged them both as being from the Loire - one a PN, one a Cab Franc.
Oh dear, I later discovered that they were both from Burgundy and that it was indeed a Beaujolais. My prejudice against Beaujolais worked against me.
9. Eastern Europe vs Something else (I forget)
Let this be a warning to those who try to question spot in this viva. Eastern Europe was indeed examined. Since I had gone to the trouble of learning it quite well I went for that question. Rather surprisingly, I think this may well have been one of my highest-scoring rounds. I had to rush to fit in everything I wanted to say about the 5 regions asked about. Helpfully, one of the regions was Tokaji and another was Santorini.
10. Fortified wines vs Something else (Can't remember)
My question was about different styles of Sherry. I think I acquitted myself well here too.
Advice to anyone else who gets to the viva stage:
I knew the syllabus quite well so this was not too surprising; however, I was surprised about the blind tasting part. After the exam most of the rest of the people on the course had a consensus about which wine it was, and I had put down something else. I was worried that I might have made the schoolboy error of tailoring my tasting notes to what I thought the wine was, but apparently not. Annoyingly we never found out what the wine was though.
Far more surprisingly, Adam and I were both invited to the Scholarship exam. This is where they invite the best 30 results in the country down to London for a viva on the Advanced course syllabus.
This was long enough after the exam that all the short-term memory knowledge had gone, So... back to the revision. The scholarships available are pretty tasty, but almost without exception are only available for people who work in the wine trade. Hmmm! Nonetheless, I still had fun on the day.
We've since found out the results. Adam and I both won the Decanter Magazing Prize along with one other person. Since this prize and the Vintners Bursary are the only ones we qualify for as dirty non-wine-trade people I was quite happy with this.
Structure of the viva:
The 30 students being examined were split into three groups, one hour apart. We went into a room where there were 10 tables with examiners behind them. We were randomly sat at tables (which one we sat at was decided purely by the order in which we walked into the room). A bell rang, the examiner turned over two cards each with a question on them and were had to choose one to answer. The bell then rang again after which we had five minutes to talk about our chosen question. Five minutes is not very long at all, particularly for some of the questions upon which it would be possible to write entire books (eg Differences between the wines of the North and South Rhone!). After this, we moved to the next table and started it all again.
1. Wine & Food or Spirits
Annoyingly, the question I got on Spirits was about the production of Islay Whisky, something I hadn't really revised. So I was stuck with a question on the pairing of food with wine.
2. Rhone or Germany
Both questions were very doable here. In the end I went for the question on the Rhone Valley. Almost impossible to answer in time.
3. New World vs Old World
Both questions were along the lines of "describe the following styles of wine". I went for the Old World question (SW France and Bordeaux), but either question was very doable.
4. Burgundy/Alsace or Sparkling
The B/A question was about different grape varieties in the regions. I went instead for the question on the methods of production of sparkling wine. I had a lot to say about this, but was rather unstructured in my rush to get it all in.
5. Italy or Spain
I went for a question of describing three wines from Piedmonte. Threw in a cheeky Moscato d'Asti as one of them since they didn't specify still wines.
6. Vinification vs Viticulture
This one was difficult. Both questions were hard. One was on vineyard pests. The other was on the various alterations which are possible for a winemaker to make to a wine both pre and post fermentation. I went for the second question but I think that I didn't do too well here.
7. Vinters Interview
This was probably the most annoying part of the whole viva process. This was to determine who gets the Vinters Bursary. Since this was the only winery visit prize which was open to people not in the wine trade this was an important stand to perform well at.
However, when the people from the vintners trust discovered that I was not in the wine trade and wasn't interested in transferring to the wine trade there was a noticeable drop in their interest levels. This was cemented when they discovered that I work for a bank(!) One of them made a snooty comment about bankers bonuses. Ho hum. I don't quite understand the rather snobbish attitude of the wine trade to people who work in financial services - who do they think is buying all this overpriced bordeaux and keeping their industry going? :o)
8. Tasting
By this stage I knew I had no chance of a Vintners Bursary so was beginning to just relax and enjoy myself. With fortuitous timing this coincided with the wine tasting round...
A blind tasting of two wines. Five minutes is not really long enough to get through all the points in the WSET tasting schema so I had to rush. One of the wines was clearly a very good pinot noir and I would have definitely pegged it as a Burgundy. However, we were told that both were from the same region and there was no way that the other wine was a Beaujolais. It had quite an intense flavour, noticeable tannin, was well balanced and tasted pleasant. So I pegged them both as being from the Loire - one a PN, one a Cab Franc.
Oh dear, I later discovered that they were both from Burgundy and that it was indeed a Beaujolais. My prejudice against Beaujolais worked against me.
9. Eastern Europe vs Something else (I forget)
Let this be a warning to those who try to question spot in this viva. Eastern Europe was indeed examined. Since I had gone to the trouble of learning it quite well I went for that question. Rather surprisingly, I think this may well have been one of my highest-scoring rounds. I had to rush to fit in everything I wanted to say about the 5 regions asked about. Helpfully, one of the regions was Tokaji and another was Santorini.
10. Fortified wines vs Something else (Can't remember)
My question was about different styles of Sherry. I think I acquitted myself well here too.
Advice to anyone else who gets to the viva stage:
- Be in the wine trade. If you are not, consider taking up a Saturday job at your local Majestic/Oddbins/etc. This is probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve your chances of winning.
- Don't try to question spot. Even the most unlikely areas come up. Eastern Europe, Vinification and Viticulture. etc etc
- If you are a pretty girl, flirt outrageously with the people at the Vintners Interview stand. The interviewers are all old men who have ultimate discretion on whether to give you a grand to go on holiday in a wine region(!)
Monday, 11 May 2009
WSET Extra Study Class - Round 2
Vesevo
Fiano di Avellino DOCG
Vendemmia 2007
Pale, lemon with watery rim. Clean with medium intensity. Fresh, zesty and floral. Youthful - smells as though it should be massively refreshing and crisp... This is borne out on the palate. The nose had more stone fruit than the palate which was definitely on the citrus side of things. Youthful on both nose and palate. Medium body, acid. Medium-high flavour intensity on palate, which is more intense than would be expected from the nose. Good length for the style of wine, medium length for a general white wine. A very good wine of its type.
Vigneti di Foscarino
Soave Classico (DOCG)
2006
My first tasting note was dead mouse. Not an auspicious start! Corked. Damn!
Particularly annoying since (i) the only other time I've had an expensive Soave (Pieropan) it was very interesting and (ii) this was my disappointing contribution to the evening.
El Quintanal, 2006 Vendimia Seleccionada
Ribera del Duero
Medium-high intensity. Nose developing interesting savoury aromas. All of us agreed on a definite smoky-bacon crisp aromas (frazzles)! Definitely something smoky and meaty. Plenty of vanilla. Fruit was slightly jammy cherries.
Medium bodied with medium acid and surprisingly low tannins. Relatively short. However, opened up very nicely. The savoury flavours which dominated in the beginning gave way to caramel after an hour or so..
Good, but a little disappointing. The smoky notes were overpowering on the finish and the rest of the flavours were too short. Drink now.
Marques de Caceres
Reserva 2001
Rioja DOCa
A little googling suggests that this is not far off the current release (2002 seems to be current) so they obviously err on the side of caution with meeting the minimum age requirements for a reserva. Plenty of vanilla on the nose with red cherries. Surprisingly young-tasting given the age, but not that surprising when one considers the fact that this is only recently released. Medium-high body, acid, flavour intensity and length. Tannins a little less than would have imagined given everything else. Black fruit on the palate, but a little unbalanced on the finish, which is dominated by oak.
Good, ready but can age. Probably needs more time for the oak to integrate properly. Although, having said that, the Ribeira showed better than this after an hour or so.
Castillo de Calatrava
1998 Gran Reserva
Tempranillo
Quite restrained on the nose, but with lots of complexity. Some savoury spice (cloves?), showing reasonable development. Far more fruit on the palate than on the nose. Really ripe fruit on the palate. Medium-high acid `and tannin, medium bodied. Mainly red fruit. Good length.
Very good, ready but can age.
E Pira & Figli
Vino Barolo
1967
Superb! Definitely the highlight of the night. When it was being decanted it was met with sceptical looks by those who doubted the aging power of Barolo. Admittedly, the colour would not inspire confidence in someone who has not had one of these before being the colour of a 20-year old tawny port and quite cloudy as well. However, the nose was phenomenal. There was plenty of smoky, tobacco, tar, violets, savoury/meaty characters. Plenty of development, as you'd expect from a 40+ year old wine. Every time we smelt this wine it was different. Still lots of tannins and acid, even after all this time. Well balanced until the end.
Subtle, complex and long, with the flavours coming in waves. This is what Barolo is all about.
Alberto Longo Primitivo
Salento (Puglia)
The suggested tasting notes were getting somewhat silly by this stage with this wine being declared "a breakfast drink". Maybe for Winston Churchill it would be, but I think I'll stick with coffee... at least during the week! There were lots of interesting aromas - I thought it smelt of good-quality BBQ sauce. Others thought tomato and Worcester sauce. Medium acid. Tannins were quite high (medium+ in WSET language) but very soft and very ripe. Lots of bitter black cherry with meaty savoury notes. Quite a lot of complexity, well balanced with good length.
Adam thought "outstanding" and whilst I wouldn't quite go that far it was very good.
Lusitano 2007
Alentejo VR
Portugal
Bitter cherry, smoke and eucalyptus on the nose. High, rough tannins. Quite a shock after the smooth (but high) tannins of the previous wine. A bit too short - the fruit character died very quickly and the mid-palate is quite hollow. Having said that, there is an earthy aftertaste which hangs around for a while. The tannins are out of balance and not sure the acid is high enough to age it long enough for them to integrate properly. However, with a steak I'm sure it would be good.
Fiano di Avellino DOCG
Vendemmia 2007
Pale, lemon with watery rim. Clean with medium intensity. Fresh, zesty and floral. Youthful - smells as though it should be massively refreshing and crisp... This is borne out on the palate. The nose had more stone fruit than the palate which was definitely on the citrus side of things. Youthful on both nose and palate. Medium body, acid. Medium-high flavour intensity on palate, which is more intense than would be expected from the nose. Good length for the style of wine, medium length for a general white wine. A very good wine of its type.
Vigneti di Foscarino
Soave Classico (DOCG)
2006
My first tasting note was dead mouse. Not an auspicious start! Corked. Damn!
Particularly annoying since (i) the only other time I've had an expensive Soave (Pieropan) it was very interesting and (ii) this was my disappointing contribution to the evening.
El Quintanal, 2006 Vendimia Seleccionada
Ribera del Duero
Medium-high intensity. Nose developing interesting savoury aromas. All of us agreed on a definite smoky-bacon crisp aromas (frazzles)! Definitely something smoky and meaty. Plenty of vanilla. Fruit was slightly jammy cherries.
Medium bodied with medium acid and surprisingly low tannins. Relatively short. However, opened up very nicely. The savoury flavours which dominated in the beginning gave way to caramel after an hour or so..
Good, but a little disappointing. The smoky notes were overpowering on the finish and the rest of the flavours were too short. Drink now.
Marques de Caceres
Reserva 2001
Rioja DOCa
A little googling suggests that this is not far off the current release (2002 seems to be current) so they obviously err on the side of caution with meeting the minimum age requirements for a reserva. Plenty of vanilla on the nose with red cherries. Surprisingly young-tasting given the age, but not that surprising when one considers the fact that this is only recently released. Medium-high body, acid, flavour intensity and length. Tannins a little less than would have imagined given everything else. Black fruit on the palate, but a little unbalanced on the finish, which is dominated by oak.
Good, ready but can age. Probably needs more time for the oak to integrate properly. Although, having said that, the Ribeira showed better than this after an hour or so.
Castillo de Calatrava
1998 Gran Reserva
Tempranillo
Quite restrained on the nose, but with lots of complexity. Some savoury spice (cloves?), showing reasonable development. Far more fruit on the palate than on the nose. Really ripe fruit on the palate. Medium-high acid `and tannin, medium bodied. Mainly red fruit. Good length.
Very good, ready but can age.
E Pira & Figli
Vino Barolo
1967
Superb! Definitely the highlight of the night. When it was being decanted it was met with sceptical looks by those who doubted the aging power of Barolo. Admittedly, the colour would not inspire confidence in someone who has not had one of these before being the colour of a 20-year old tawny port and quite cloudy as well. However, the nose was phenomenal. There was plenty of smoky, tobacco, tar, violets, savoury/meaty characters. Plenty of development, as you'd expect from a 40+ year old wine. Every time we smelt this wine it was different. Still lots of tannins and acid, even after all this time. Well balanced until the end.
Subtle, complex and long, with the flavours coming in waves. This is what Barolo is all about.
Alberto Longo Primitivo
Salento (Puglia)
The suggested tasting notes were getting somewhat silly by this stage with this wine being declared "a breakfast drink". Maybe for Winston Churchill it would be, but I think I'll stick with coffee... at least during the week! There were lots of interesting aromas - I thought it smelt of good-quality BBQ sauce. Others thought tomato and Worcester sauce. Medium acid. Tannins were quite high (medium+ in WSET language) but very soft and very ripe. Lots of bitter black cherry with meaty savoury notes. Quite a lot of complexity, well balanced with good length.
Adam thought "outstanding" and whilst I wouldn't quite go that far it was very good.
Lusitano 2007
Alentejo VR
Portugal
Bitter cherry, smoke and eucalyptus on the nose. High, rough tannins. Quite a shock after the smooth (but high) tannins of the previous wine. A bit too short - the fruit character died very quickly and the mid-palate is quite hollow. Having said that, there is an earthy aftertaste which hangs around for a while. The tannins are out of balance and not sure the acid is high enough to age it long enough for them to integrate properly. However, with a steak I'm sure it would be good.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
