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.

When we read about the 2007 vintage int he specialized press, comments regarding the quality of the crop in different regions of France could be summed up as inconsistent. However, one region was somewhat spared and produced some quality wines across the board is the Rhône valley, in France. Robert Parker has qualified this vintage as the best he’s seen in 30 years in the region. While one may (or may not) have affinities with him, that statement is a clear approval of the potential quality of its wines.

Towards the end of the 2010 Salon des Vins in Montréal, I stopped at the Delas table, knowing the producer only by its reputation. Delas Frères was established in 1835 and in led by Jacques Grange since 1996, which has been working closely with Michel Chapoutier for four years. But still. It was the end of the afternoon, my palate was not quite in top shape after tasting wine for the whole day, the person at the stand was seemingly bored and there were a crowd around. Not quite the ideal conditions for tasting wine.

For the technical people, this is a blend of 80% syrah and 20% grenache, fully destemmend and fermented in stainless steel vats. Around 30% of this juice will eventually see oak casks, but the majority is kept in stainless in order to preserve the fruit profile. Overall, around 400 000 bottles of St-Esprit 2007 were produced.

Despite of all this, the St-Esprit 2007 shone very bright and I decided to take two bottles back home. At a price point of 17$, the risk was not too high and the wine was tasting great. The choice was quite easy to make. Since some people live by ratings, this particular wine got a nice 90 from the Wine Advocate.

After the first bottle being returned as corked, the second bottle was tasting just like at the Salon: fresh, structured, very fruit-driven. Overall, it finds a real balance between structure and easy-drinkingness, which makes every sip really enjoyable. Case in point, the bottle was finished way faster than we had thought…

Not currently available as private import from Charlton-Hobbs, but I will surely keep my eyes opened if more cases come in our way.