Taste Wine Like a Professional - audio

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X003 - Taste Wine Like A Professional.  (click to play, right-click to save)

Transcript:

People I speak with are always looking for the secret that will make them suddenly understand wine. 

Unfortunately there isn’t one secret, but the most important skill is making the tasting process second nature.  

1. Look.  Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle between a light source and something white, preferably a table cloth.  Take a good look at the color.  Eventually you start to learn color profiles for various types of wine, but for now just admire the color.
2. Smell.  After gently swirling the wine in the glass, take it immediately to your nose.  Make sure that the top and bottom of the glass touch your face.  It will really expose the aromas.  We call this “doing a header” into your glass
3. Taste.  Take the wine into your mouth and let it roll all around the inside.  Each part of the tongue tastes differently and this will allow you to full grasp the flavors.
4. Aerate  or slurp.  Without losing control, take a small amount of air into your mouth, into the wine, and let the air out through your nose.  This releases any hidden flavors.
5. Swallow or spit.  Once you have swallowed or spit the wine, notice what happens to the flavors.  Great wine will linger and change flavors.  Poor wine will disappear almost immediately.
6. Lastly and most importantly – Think.  This is all important, because you take a mental snapshot of the wine and compare it other wines from the same producer, of the same vintage, of the same grape, or the same region.

This all may seem very awkward and you will tempted to back to chugging it down, but it is like typing or driving a car.  This eventually become second nature and you’ll be tasting like a pro in no time.

The content of this page is copyright Austin Beeman.  However...

The Audio was recorded at Star105FM (105.5 in Toledo, Ohio)
The Audio was paid for by Walt Churchill's Market.

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Back to Bordeaux

“Those grapes were probably sour anyway.” – Aesop’s Fables

It is easy to dismiss the wines of the Bordeaux with our own version of sour grapes. We pretend that just because they are too expensive for everyday consumption, that Bordeaux isn’t the world’s most important wine region.

But, of course, Bordeaux is exactly that as even a simple wine tasting will show.  The following wines were tasted at Walt Churchill’s Market.

Chateau Branaire-Decru 2007 Saint-Julien.  $74.99 OH Retail

Classic Bordeaux nose of meat, smoke, and earth.  The palate is cassis and herbs.  Again the word I use is classic and distinguished.  Medium bodied with with a solid and lengthy finish.  Really surprised that this wine is drink so well at this young age.

Chateau Lagrange 2007 Saint-Julien.  $74.99 OH Retail.

A candied, fruit-roll-up nose, but pleasantly astringent on the palate.  A style of Cabernet that really shows a vine flavor profile.  A very strong and persistent finish.  This is a wine with decades in front of it.

Marojallia 2003 Margaux.  $79.99 OH Retail

This was a wine I’d never tasted.  The first ‘garagiste’ wine made in the Margaux appellation.  It was certainly more modern-styled with a black-purple rim and intense blackberry oak throughout.  It seems to be the same wine today as when first bottled.

Chateau Canon-la-Gaffeliere 2003 Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe.  $75.99

Bright red color.  Intense smoky nose.  Very barnyard with earth and cassis in secondary roles.  Very complex flavors here.  A serious wine for serious wine people.

Other than notes about these specific wines, this post is a call for each of us to step up to the plate and make sure that good Bordeaux is a serious part of our wine drinking lives.

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Vertical Tasting - Domaine du Clos Frantin Gevrey-Chambertin 'Les Murots' (2004-2008)

For the serious wine geek, a title I proudly assume, there are few things more delectable than a vertical tasting.  On March 26, 2011 at Walt Churchill’s Market, I was proudly able to  host a vertical tasting of Domaine du Clos Frantin Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Les Murots’ from Albert Bichot.  We tasted the vintages 2004 through 2008 inclusive.

Domaine du Clos Frantin is extraordinarily well situated for a Pinot Noir producer.  They are located in the Cotes de Nuits with vineyards in the storied French villages of Flagey-Echezeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée and Vougeot.  Our wines to taste were the Gevrey-Chambertin of ‘Les Murots.’

Despite the excellent terroirs, Clos Frantin was seen as an underperforming winery until acquisition by the large French Negociant Albert Bichot.  All five wines were would taste came from the Albert Bichot era.

Let us get to the wines

Domaine du Clos Frantin Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Les Murots’ from Albert Bichot.

All wines $55.99 Ohio Retail.

Vintage 2008.  Very red color – strawberry jello water.  Red fruits and spices.  A light bodied wine that is clean and correct Pinot Noir.  Feels slightly closed and in need of time to open.  Not surprised considering the age of the wine.

Vintage 2007.  Darker color here.  Raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, and bread on the nose.  Subtle green elements and superb acidity.  Pine nuts and blackberry flavors.  An under-ripe, lean, and interesting.  For fans of very unusual Pinot Noir expressions.  Definitely a food-friendly wine.

Vintage 2006.  Nice color, similar to 2007.  Aromas of pine and fresh mint.  Reminds me of a Winter’s day.  Great delicacy to the aromas and the taste.  Red fruits abound with also the flavor of their skins.  A very complex and interesting wine that will only improve with age.

Vintage 2005.  Darkest color by far here.  The most interesting hints of aromas working their way up through blackberries on the nose.  Slightly candied fruit.  Fullest bodied of the wines with a strong Pinot Noir varietal character.  Very long finish with lots of changing flavors.

Vintage 2004.  Orange red color.  Cherries and quince on the nose.  A palate of gummy bears and Campari.  Despite my comments here, this is a really good wine caught in awkward stage

I’m always impressed to see how the same wine can be so different with just a one year vintage change.  I definitely recommend picking up any of these wines if you can find them.  If you’ve tasted these Burgundies, please leave me a comment with your impressions.

Wine Tasting Tips

This content is available as an audio podcast MP3.

X002 - Wine Tasting Tips (click to play - right click to save)

Transcript

Wine tasting is one of the best ways for a new wine drinker to build a lot of experience in a very short period of time.

There are, however, a few rules that I recommend following at Wine Tasting.  And these rules aren’t based on any sort of wine snobbery, they to make your wine tasting experience better.

 
1.   No perfume or cologne.  Tasting subtle flavors in wine requires a clear nose and palate.  Be clean, of course, we don’t want unpleasant odors, but even the smallest dab of perfume or cologne will ruin your palate and those of everybody else.  Just don’t do it.

2.   Be open minded.  Wine Tastings are about expanding your tastes and experience.  When one says “I like sweet wine” or “which one is the Chardonnay?” You defeat the purpose of having a tasting.  Don’t be ashamed if your taste in wine is very limited at first – it will grow with experience.

3.   Don’t rinse your glass with water. In fact, don’t rinse it at all.  If the host of the tasting has put the wines in the right order, each wine with completely eclipse the previous.  Water just dilutes the flavor of the next wine in line.

4.   Hold it in your mouth until the flavors stop changing.  One of the truest tests of wine quality is how many different flavors are released.  Low quality wines might have one flavor that fades quickly, whereas great wines will continue to change flavor over one or two minutes.  Don’t just slurp it down – let it reveal itself to you.

Lastly – Write it down!  Taking a picture with your cellphone might help you remember what you liked, but writing down your impressions is a better idea.  I favor a wine journal, but  that is a topic for another day.


The content of this page copyright Austin Beeman.  However....
The Audio was recorded at Star105FM (105.5 in Toledo, Ohio)
The Audio was paid for by Walt Churchill's Market.