Empty Glasses

Remember when your mom told you: “Don’t play with your food“? However, when it comes to wine, playing with it is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind. But it’s exactly what we were asked to do during a workshop I had the pleasure to attend this week.

The Who wants to play sommelier? seires aims to introduce the guests to the work fo the sommelier: understanding the wines, how they are made and how they pair with food to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The first workshop focused on the art of blending, through a highly interactive tasting and experimentation session.

The workshop started with a chance for the attendees to taste two rather classic blends: Bordeaux blends and Rhone blends from all over the world, which were used to split the crowd in two smaller groups based on their preference. I will remember the Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot blend from Mission Hill, which was a nice surprise for many as Canadian wines often start with a bad reputation. I will also remember The Stump Jump, an Australian Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvèdre blend, which I am grateful to have tasted there, instead of having bought a bottle…

I decided to side at the Bordeaux table, at which we were presented with three glasses of red wines, which were 100% Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Taken individually, they showed a nice representation The goal was to create a nice blend of these three wines, trying to play on the strenghts of each varietal to cover to weaknesses of others. While I usually like the Chinon Expression from Alain Lorieux, it seemed overly green and metallic compared to the others.

We were then asked to mix these wines to create our own blend, which was done in a playful mood by all, with varying degrees success. My initial blend of approximately a third of each wine was a total disaster. Matthieu Dugal‘s blend of two thirds of Cabernet Sauvignon and a third of Cabernet Franc was a pretty good hit. Vanessa Bell‘s instinctive mix of “a shitload of Merlot, a base of Cab Franc and a kickass of Cabernet Sauvignon” was also quite spot-on and generous. I finally managed to get a good result with equal parts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. This exercise teached us that successful blending is an art which requires a good dose of thought and a lot of failed attempts…

The last part of the night was a small two-course meal, both paired with the Cep d’Antan 2008, a blend of Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Malbec from Château de Bouillerot. On it’s own, the wine was pretty good, and kept improving throughout the night. It had the power from the petit verdot and the malbec and a subtle exotic touch from the carmenere. The wine was outshone by a beet soup to die for and a main course of juicy duck magret.

All in all, we had a great time: we played with our food and wine in such a way that we don’t do normally, drank good wine and had some interesting discussions (some of them about wine). I’d take that kind of night 7 days a week and definitely look forward to the next workshop in March 2011.

If you had 3 unidentified bottles coming at your door and you needed to guess the appellation of each of these three wines, would you be able to do so? This is essentially what Secret Wine asked us to do. Organized by the French communication firm Clair de Lune, this contest gathered 85 bloggers from around the world (around half from France and a couple from Canada) and offered a 3 day wine-tasting trip as a reward for anyone who would guess all three correct appellations… While the reward seems nice, most of the fun comes from the blind tasting, so I invited some friends over for supper and decided to challenge ourselves.

Without any clue, I decided to serve the wines in the numerical order, so it would be wine #79 first, then #390 and finally #714. They could also have picked 1,2 and 3 as numbers, but I figured it would have been too simple… In hindsight, it might not have been the best decision, as it turns out that #79 was the most powerful and #714 was the lightweight of the bunch. Oh well, such is the pleasure of tasting blind!

Right from the start, #79 came out strong with black olives, tapenade and quite a hefty dose of alcohol. We can also see it in the glass, thanks to is deep color and the say it clings to the glass. This is definitely a hot wine, with a long lasting finish which makes us think of the coasts of the Mediterranean. Mourvèdre, Grenache? We finally settled for a Faugères, but it could have been as easily a Bandol.

We then followed with #390, which seemed similar in color than #79, but was a bit more quite on the nose. It eventually opened up with a rather meaty character, garrigue and some dark fruits. However, what interested us mostly in this wine was the smooth tannins which made us go for a mostly grenache blend (with a fair bit of mourvèdre mixed in), from Côtes-du-Ventoux. We got none of the spice that seemed to be detected by some other contestants so we ruled out some appellations which are mostly syrah-based.

With #714, we were taken to a different location. Not only was it lighter in color and alcohol (not gamay-like, though…), it was also the more fruit driven wine of the three. So it must come from a cooler region and it was also the weaker wines of the three, with a much lesser finish than the other two, where it my have suffered from the comparison. Is it a generic Côtes-du-Rhône? An AOC Languedoc? In the end, it was a Pic St-Loup for us, but I was not convinced with the answer I put in.

In the end, it was a fun challenge and, as with everyone who participated, I eagerly wait for the unveiling of the results. Will I win the grand prize? Probably not. But I had loads of fun. And if someone has three other nice bottles to taste blind, I’ll gladly take the challenge again!

Before heading to TasteCamp 2010 in the Finger Lakes, we knew that we would taste some really good riesling. After all, the region is renowned for its whites and each winery has (at least!) a couple of rieslings in their portfolio.

The first bang of the weekend came right at the beginning of the first tasting, held on Friday afternoon at Heron Hill Winery. The 2002 Heron Hill Ingle Vineyard Riesling exploded with this petrol character that we love from older rieslings and was backed with some fruity character. At its peak right now, it drinks beautifully and is still fresh and crisp as one would expect from riesling. Poured along with the 2007, which was an unusually warm vintage in the Finger Lakes, we could really see where the 2007 is heading (and it’s the right direction!). At 15$ for the 2007 and 20$ for the 2002, they represent great values and set the table for the rest of the weekend.

After going around Keuka Lake, we ended at Ravines Wine Cellars, for our second riesling treat of the weekend. It is hard for me to pick just one, as we were treated with their dry riesling from 2006, 2007 and 2008. All three offerings show a clear and assumed style. These bone-dry rieslings (0.3% RS) are made for the long run as even the oldest of the three was still razor-sharp, with the structure and acid which will hold this wine together for years to come. The same holds for the Riesling Argetsigner Vineyard 2008, a single vineyard offering made of fruit from the land farmed by Sam Argetsigner, which we had the chance to visit the next morning. Clearly, a winemaker with a vision.

The vertical tasting of Fox Run’s rieslings gets my vote for the most educational event of the weekend. The first flight, composed of Reserve 2008, Dry 2003, 2002 and 2001 rieslings, and the second flight, made of Semi-Dry rieslings (2008, 2006, 2003 and 2001), really put forward how Finger Lakes Riesling ages with time. As with the Heron Hill Ingle Vineyard Riesling on the first day, these wines really show their full potential after 6-7 years. For the record, the Dry Riesling 2002 and Semi-Dry 2001 were my favourites.

To be ranked along the most intriguing experiences of the weekend was the tank samples which were poured at Hermann J. Wiemer. Drawn directly from the fermenting tank (photo from the New York Cork Report), we were given the opportunity to taste how the “HJW Vineyard” and the “Magdalena Vineyard” rieslings from 2009 were coming along. Not being used to wine at this stage, it was quite interesting. We could sense all the elements in there, but did not know exactly what to make of them. Given the rest of the lineup at this event, I’m sure that Fred Merwarth and his team will be able to put it all together.

Bottom line? They know how to make great riesling in the FInger Lakes. It’s the most consistent varietal which we were given to taste over the weekend and it keeps you asking for more…!

I anticipated TasteCamp 2010 quite a lot. Then came the weekend and it delivered quite well. We’ve had lots of fun, tasted through around 150 wines (to be honest, I have lost count at the end…), met plenty of really nice people, both wine-writers and wine-makers. To sum it up, it was a great weekend.

However, the harder thing to do is to come back home after such a nice weekend. So while I sort through my notes to make sense out of it, while my palate is recovering of all that riesling and while I get a couple of days to reflect on everything that happened through the weekend, let’s enjoy a visual wrap-up of the weekend.

With Day One of TasteCamp EAST 2010 drawing to a close, we can draw a quick conclusion: the Finger Lakes is really a land made for riesling, but it’s not then good thing coming out of this region.

During the course of the day, we’ve been lucky enough to have been treated with great care by the fine folks at Heron Hill Winery (who hosted the lunch and noon tasting which regroped many producers around Keuka Lake), at Ravines Wine Cellars (with an afternoon tasting of a large part of their lineup) and at Red Newt Bistro (who hosted the dinner and organized a tasting along with Fox Run and Anthony Road). I’ll come back with more details once I’ve decanted my experience, as there is a lot to say.

As one would expect, not all wines were excellent, but some have pulled ahead of the pack. I’m quickly thinking of Heron Hill’s Ingle Vineyard Riesling 2007, which after tasting the 2002 will make you wonder how long it will last. The dry rieslings from Ravines are straight, focused and have a clear plan in mind, which holds up remarkably well over the three vintages which were presented to us. I was also surprised by the general quality of the red wines presented by Red Newt, Anthony Road and Fox Run, not only the collaboration Tierce 2007 in red (and from 2004 to 2006 in riesling), but the Merlot, the Syrah (!) and the Cabernet Franc/Lemberger.

I am sure that Day Two will bring as much pleasure, discoveries and enjoyment. It will take me a while to sort through everything, but I can take one thing for granted: there will be lots to talk about.