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Burgundy tasting #2 – corked wine

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

I’ve written before about my wine tasting group. It is a great group consisting of some core members and others who join in on occasion. Within the wine group, our organizer Jeremy has created focused wine tasting sessions. Last month we did our first of what I hope is many double blind wine tastings. If you haven’t read about it you should. But things got serious a few months ago when we started a “Burgundy Wine Group” within our wine club/group/clique.

So last night was Burgundy tasting number two. There are those that say that Burgundy is the holy grail of wine. Yes, Bordeaux is still Bordeaux and probably more popular, but there is apparently something mythical, magical and even elusive about Burgundy. So to regularly participate in Burgundy tastings with friends in a comfortable environment is really a great thing.

Last night we focused on a specific region within Burgundy; Morey St. Denis. If I was a real Burgundy geek (umm – Jeremy) I could tell you about MSD, but I am not (at least not yet), so I can’t. Sorry.

But I can brag about the lineup. We tasted 7 wines last night. Two were village wines, 2 were premier Cru wines and 3 were Grand Cru wines. These labels are classifications given to specific vineyard sites with village being any vineyard located within Burgundy, Premier (or 1er) Cru being sites within Burgundy with a special status, and “Grand Cru” being the best of Burgundy. The wines we tasted were as follows:

Domaine Arlaud 2006 Burgundy
Henri (or was it Philippe) Jouan 2006 Burgundy
Domaine Francois Legros “Clos Sorbe” 1999 Premier Cru
Domaine Magniene – Les Millandes “Recolte” 1999 Premier Cru
Clos de la Roche “Virgile Lignier” 2001 Grand Cru
Clos des Lambrays – domaine des Lambrays 1998 Grand Cru
Clos des Lambrays – domaine des Lambrays 1993 Grand Cru

The wines were great. A lot of what I express as “pukey” smell. Probably not the most desirable aroma, but something I have come to expect and actually find quite interesting in Burgundys. But rather than get into tasting notes I want to bring up something I eluded to in the title. Corked wine. Yes, one of our wines was corked. It was one of the Grand Crus (not important which) and the group was pretty disappointed. I had remembered once before reading that TCA (the abbreviation for the infection “trichloroanisole” in corks that affects the wine and makes it a corked wine) can be removed from a wine with plastic wrap. Sure enough, as soon as I brought it up two other members chimed in that they had just read the same thing in the NY Times THAT DAY (what a coincidence!!!). Eager to further enrich my wine related knowledge I went with a fellow member downstairs to a convenience store across the street (a NYC benefit – they are everywhere and open virtually 24 hrs.) where we picked up a roll of plastic wrap. The mention of it in the NY Times instructed that the “dank flavor of a “corked” wine, which usually renders it unusable even in cooking, can be removed by pouring the wine into a bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap”. But I had remembered reading that you could simply crumble up some plastic wrap and throw it into the wine in a decanter – which is exactly what we did…

(thanks to Susan for the pic)

And sure enough – IT WORKED!!! Well, mostly. We were a bunch of skeptics and while most of us agreed that the cardboardy, dank smell was mostly gone, the wine’s integrity seemed to go with it. Kind of like the fountain of youth – just a little something unnatural about it. But pretty DANK cool nonetheless…

Happy TCA-free Burgundy wine tasting!

WTG

Tags: Burgundy, TCA, trichloroanisole, wine club
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TV time

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

It happened today. The TV that was a hand-me-down to me in either 1993 or 1994 has finally gone to TV heaven. It had been ill for about 2 years requiring some tender loving to get going. And about a month ago its condition seriously deteriorated and it showed signs of volume-less-ness. I have kept it on life support since but it became apparent to me the past few days that it was time to pull the plug.

I began researching a replacement for old faithful TV and found one I thought I could be happy with. It was more than a financially challenged wine industry GUY should be spending, but what the heck right, I’ll hagel and get a deal.

So while leaving a work appointment today I walked into an electronics store conveniently located right near my appointment. I went in and found the potential replacement. It was priced higher than a competitor had it priced and I told the salesperson. He offered to match it and I told him he should match it plus offer a further discount. Long story short, I got the TV and for about $80 less than the competitor.

I spent the evening setting it up. But this is just the beginning. Gone are the days when a TV is a TV. It is now plasma, Lcd, DLP, or who knows what. There are hertz to count, response times and endless features the TV makers are marketing. But the real kicker is what else one needs to buy to enjoy their new TV. First you must upgrade your cable box. Then you have to buy the right cables. Of course then comes the Blue Ray disc player for movies. Don’t forget the cable for that. And of course the speakers on these TV’s leave something to be desired so you must get a sound system to hook it up to.

I miss my old TV.

What, this isn’t my diary…I should be writing about wine??? OH YEAH…

I opened a 2000 Australian Grenache last night with dinner. It was blended with some Shiraz & Monastrell (not a variety I am all too familiar with). It was quite light. It showed its age with a brick orange color. Yet it still possessed huge fruit. It reminded me a lot of a fruit forward new world Pinot Noir. The artificial fruit thing gets to me. But I enjoyed this one. I think the age mellowed the fruit out a bit and the structure was quite nice. I have a Spanish Garnacha (Grenache) in my fridge I now have to open next. It is much younger – a 2005. But it can be a fun drill.

Speaking of which, wine is about having fun with friends, family & loved ones. Go out and get some wine & have fun with the special people in your life!

Happy Wine Tasting…while watching your new TV…

WTG

Tags: garnacha, grenache, LCD, Monastrell, Plasma
Posted in Other, wine tasting | 1 Comment »

Double blind wine tasting

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

This evening I participated in a FUN double blind wine tasting with members of my wine tasting club. Not to be confused with a triple blind tasting…

blindtaste

…where one does not know anything about the wine they are tasting and they are not even allowed to see the wine.

A double blind is when you CAN look at the wine but you are not told anything else about the wine.

Our group organizer (and frequent host) put together a list of acceptable varietals/regions and set the minimum price at $20. I suppose since we were working off a list of about 20 -30 varietals & regions that it was not a true double blind, but I tell you what – we sure were laughing at ourselves and having fun.

Anyway, each of 10 of us in attendance brought a wine that fit the list criteria, and brought it in a brown paper bag with a plain brown/tan rubber band.

brown-paper-bag-blind-tasting

We then numbered the bags and began the tasting with #1.

What added to the fun (besides the no pretension/expectation environment) was that we decided to score our tasting guesses (1 point each; per varietal, country & region) and tally total points. We each also kicked in $7, and the person with the most points won a bottle of wine.

So how did I do you ask? Let’s just say I could have traded in my “Wine Tasting Guy” moniker for “Wine clueless Guy”.

Of the 10 wines I successfully guessed two. But one of the two was the wine I brought (A Sonoma Syrah) (2 points), so I really only deserve credit for guessing 1 of 9, an Argentinian Malbec (2 points – but I was unsure and thought it might end up being a Chilean Cab).

Of the other 8 wines I scored ZERO on four of them. I thought a Washington Cab was a Grenache from Priorat, Spain (it seemed light to me). I guessed a (stinky) NY Cab Franc was a Spanish Rioja. I guessed a Gigondas was an Italian Piedmont Nebiollo. And I guessed an Italian Tuscan Sangiovese was a Burgundy. ZERO POINTS FOR ME.

Of the remaining four I guessed that an Oregon Pinot was a New Zealand Pinot (1 point), That an Italian Barbera d’alba was an Italian Sangiovese (1 point), that another Oregon Pinot was a Sonoma, CA Pinot (2 points – 1 for country and 1 for varietal). And that an Italian Chianti was an Italian Dolcetto (1 point).

So for those of you counting at home I scored 9 points. Two other guys scored 9 points…but someone scored 12, another 13, and the winner scored 14.

I was content with how I did, but (happily) realized I have a long wine journey ahead. And a fun journey it will be.

Happy BLIND wine tasting!!!

WTG

Tags: blind tasting, double blind, triple blind
Posted in wine tasting | 8 Comments »

Palate training with 1990 Grand Cru Burgundy

Friday, November 14th, 2008

As many of you already know, I got my start in wine when I went to Israel during the 2006 harvest and worked at a winery & in this winery’s vineyards. From there I went to Napa and worked at a large custom crush facility. Before returning to NYC I asked the winemaker whom I most respected and admired how I could speed up the training of my palate. Feeling a well rounded and critical palate was essential for me to succeed in the wine industry, yet recognizing that I was an inexperienced taster, I was seeking the secret to palate training. What I learned was that sadly there is no shortcut to palate training. With a shrug of the shoulder this world class winemaker told me “I’m sorry, there are no shortcuts, you must taste, taste, taste”. And with that, I embarked on a mission to taste as much wine as humanly (and financially) possible.

Which led me to “Meetup”. Meetup is a website that “makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face”. And through Meetup I became a member of a wine tasting group. It has now been a year and a half, and the core of the group is going strong. We have all learned A LOT together, and several of us have since transitioned into the wine industry.

I bring this all up as I recently attended the first of a series of Burgundy tastings. These tastings are with several of the original members of the wine tasting “meetup” club, and have become good friends.

On this night, we tasted Burgundy from Gevrey-Chambertin, a classified Burgundy region. We tasted 7 wines, although 1 of the 7 seemed to have been “off”. They ranged in price from about $50-$350 (although given our industry connections we did not pay full price). The $350 wine was a 1990 Domaine Jean-Claude Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru.

Amazingly, this 18 year old wine had a firm acidity, indicating many more years of life. It was a clear lite orange color, becoming almost peachy-pink at the rim. It had aromas of tart raspberry and mint and tasted of earth, mineral and berry. This gem had a nice long finish.

But my favorite of the night was the 1999 Dominique Laurent Mazis-Chambertin. This clear garnet wine with a slightly brick colored rim was fabulous. A very pretty nose of berries, perfume, flowers and limestoney minerals led to elegant berry and earth flavors on a beautifully round and subtle palate with a very long finish.

Happy Burgundy tasting palate training!

WTG

Tags: Burgundy, Meetup
Posted in wine tasting | 3 Comments »

Country specific wine tastings & Israeli wine recognition

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Not much time to write today, but I have gone to many wine tastings throughout NYC the past few years. Very often these tasting are Spanish wine tastings, or Italian wine tastings, or Chilean wine tastings – tastings that are specific to one country. I think this is a great way to promote the wines from that country, or even region as the case may be.

HOWEVER, most of these tastings tend to include wineries who are seeking representation in this country. And sadly most of the wines are pretty nondescript. Rarely have I had a truly BAD wine, but it is even less rare that I find a wine that really excites me. SO, are these tastings worthwhile? Is it worth my time? Does it help the wineries who pay a lot of money to attend, stay in hotels, pour their wine? I wonder…

Also of note lately is the recognition Israeli wines truly seem to be getting. At the aforementioned wine tasting I met a guy while tasting. He asked what I did and I told him that I work with and specialize in Israeli wines. He told me that he has been hearing good things about Israeli wines and proceeded to tell me about an Israeli Sauvignon Blanc he and others tried at a blind tasting that was the hit of a tasting.

Then, just yesterday I was in a coffee shop on the phone with someone discussing Israeli wines. When I hung up a woman who had obviously overheard parts of my conversation asked if I work with Israeli wines. When I told her that I did she told me that she had recently read an article about Israeli wines and that she has been hearing good things about them.

Pretty cool stuff kids. The gospel is spreading. Israeli wines are on their way into the mainstream. It may take a while longer, but it is starting…

Happy weekend wine tasting!!!

WTG

Tags: Israeli wines, wine tasting
Posted in Israel Wine, wine tasting | 1 Comment »

Size Matters

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Back from the holyland, hence the UN-holy title. Fear not, Wine Tasting Guy’s mind is not in the gutter. I’m speaking of wine glasses.

While tasting wine at several wineries (and in some people’s homes) in Israel I noticed people serving wines in small glasses. Size is relative, but I’m a believer (though not all would agree) that bigger is better. More room to swirl, more room for the aromas to linger and easier to tilt the wine so that you can observe and appreciate the color.

In addition to size, good wine should be drunk out of out quality glasses. There are tons of quality glasses out there nowadays. No, they don’t have to be hand blown glass. No, they don’t have to cost $50/glass. But they should be thin glass bowls (I prefer tulip shaped) and they should not have a rounded lip. The lip of the glass should be straight so that the wine runs directly down into your mouth.

Although the power of suggestion is one I fervently try to avoid I have heard MANY people say that wine simply tastes BETTER out of better glasses. And you know what… I agree.

SO, you can imagine my disappointment when I tasted wines at some of the Israel wineries out of cheapo glasses. If an artist was to display their art don’t you think they would use the best frames, light & background possible? Then why wouldn’t the wineries want their wines shown in the best glasses.

I know, good glasses can be expensive. And the good glasses break VERY EASILY. And there were many wineries that DID serve their wines in good glasses. But given how strongly I feel about Israeli wines I would like to see ALL wineries pouring their wines out of the best (and most cost effective) glasses.

Happy quality wine glass wine tasting!

WTG

Tags: Israeli Wine, Wine glass, wine tasting
Posted in Israel Wine, Uncategorized, wine tasting | 1 Comment »

What a Day! 2 Wine Tastings!!

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

I went away (within Israel) for the sabbath to a friend of the family. A wonderful woman and great cook it is always a nice shabbat when spent with her and her family. But it doesn’t hurt that she lives next door to a fabulous winemaker, who is also a brilliant & warm man and whom I am fortunate to call a good friend. After attending early services (started at 6:20AM – YIKES) we had a “kiddush” in the sukkah of the winemaker friend. For those of you familiar with the word kiddush when referring to the blessing over wine, I’m using the word here to refer to “a ceremonial meal served … following the recitation of kiddush at the conclusion of services, in which refreshments are served. Traditionally, this often includes cake, crackers, and fish.” BUT, this was no ordinary kiddush…and not just because we started drinking at 9AM…

This was a wine tasting kiddush, and the winemaker friend and his amazingly hospitable wife prepared all kinds of salads (made from home grown tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant and herbs), quiches, cheeses, cakes, etc to go along with the truly FABULOUS wines we were about to taste. There were 7 of us around the table and we were in for quite a treat. Since it was Sabbath I did not take tasting notes, but it is a day and wines I will not soon forget.

The first wine we opened was a 2006 Chateau Lafont Menaut Pessac-Leognan Bordeaux Blanc. Crisp, minerally, refreshing…great start!

Normally we might save special wines for the end, but we were about to open some elegant aged Bordeaux. And while they were the “stars” of the night, they are also wines that are not nearly as robust as they were in their youth, leaving them susceptible to being overpowered by younger, more tannic (and robust) wines – which is why we tasted them first.

So following the Bordeaux Blanc we opened a 1998 Chateau Monbousquet St. Emillion Grand Cru. WOW. At 10 years old, this Bordeaux tasted young! Excellent fruit and plenty of tannins. Some plums, great earthiness and a hint of mocha.

Up next was a legend. Maybe not from a legendary vintage, but…a Chateau Latour. The 1981…yes, I said 1981 Pauillac Grand Vin de Chateau Latour – what a treat! We were concerned that the wine might not be alive and drinkable, but fortunately we underestimated the staying power of good Bordeaux. Very much alive, this wine started off tight, showing nice prune & leather characteristics, eventually opening up to show fruit – all packaged nicely, silky soft and round. Its tannins and acid had dropped out over time, and this wine was quite soft. Maybe not everyone’s preferred style, but undoubtedly a special wine.

Our third red of the morning was a negociant wine. The 1996 Tardieu – Laurent Hermitage made mostly (or entirely?) of Syrah was very interesting. A 12 year old wine, I found it to be high in acidity. The acid will usually drop in a wine as it ages, so this surprised me. But I was told that 12 years is not old for Hermitage, and that it would soften with further aging. It did have a nice minerality and some subtle mocha aromas. A wine (Hermitage) I will definitely be re-visiting…

At this point it was getting a bit late (11AM and apparently people had lives to get to – you believe that?!) and with 3 wines left we opened up the 2 baby reds of the bunch. A 2003 Artadi Pagos Viejos Rioja and the 2001 Grant Burge “Meshach” Shiraz. These were fruit forward style wines. I don’t remember much about the Rioja aside from its up front fuit and nice earthiness. While the Meshach Shiraz was HUGE. It actually reminded me a bit of a California Zinfandel. It had BIG fruit and an almost sweet taste. But this was not a one-dimensional wine. It showed pencil shaving & cigar box aromas. Was well structured (especially for such a big wine) and went quite well with the cakes which by this time had been served.

A final treat was a dessert wine from Alsace. The Domaine Bott-Geyl Sonnenglanz Grand Cru Alsace dessert wine, made of Pinot Gris (and apparently given a 98 by Robert Parker) was a deliciously sweet treat. Its acid was present, which prevented any cloying sweetness, but it was so well integrated it was almost as if it wasn’t there. Very tasty and a special wine to finish things off with.

Assuming I haven’t lost you yet, there was another tasting. This one at a more normal hour (7PM). After the Sabbath I drove into Tel Aviv to meet up with a friend who I may work with on my Israel Wine Project. He has a beautiful apartment in a hopping part of the city and he had about 8 people over for some Israeli wines. I brought some bottles of local Israeli boutique wine and we had a lovely time. I talked a bit about each of the wineries, told them about the wine makers, and we then tasted the wines together. A lite Carignan based wine was casually enjoyed. A Sangiovese/Syrah/Cab Franc blend was intriguing and determined to be a great food wine. While the king, a Cab based wine (with 10% Merlot) was thoroughly enjoyed and drunk to the last drop.

Happy TWICE A DAY Wine Tasting!

WTG

Tags: Alsace, Bordeaux, Hermitage, kiddush, Rioja, Shiraz, sukkah, wine tasting
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Wines from Spain & my evolving palate

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

I (briefly) attended a “Wines from Spain” wine tasting today. I enjoy these tastings as they provide me with the opportunity to continue my palate training. But given how busy I have been lately I went today primarily to see a friend I have not had the chance to see for a few months.

Shortly after arriving my friend lamented that he did not care for any of the wines he had tasted thus far. Too big, fruit forward and in his opinion lacking structure. Having not yet tasted any of the wines I agreed with him that I had seen a trend of younger winemakers making wine in a more fruit-forward & extracted style.

To take one step back I must admit here, as I admitted to my friend, that I once very much enjoyed these BIG, fruit forward wines. At the time I very much liked the way the big fruit gave the perception of sweetness, almost as if I were taking a big bite out of a handful of blackberries. However, as my palate has evolved, I am presently a bit more into restrained wines whose fruit are (in my opinion) in better balance in the wine.

SO, we went to a few tables and tasted some wines. I did come across an old style Rioja – an earthy wine wine with some age and restraint – one that is definitely not fruit forward. In general, good interesting wines, but maybe too little fruit??? I also came across some of the aforementioned fruit bombs – big heavily extracted, almost Australian Shiraz style wines – not my thing these days. BUT, I also did find some wines that possessed fruit, but the fruit seemed well integrated. No, these are not the wines people often think of when thinking of classic Spanish wines, but it is a style that has become popular and that sells. And these wineries do need to consider the bottom line.

So, whether you like earthy, subtle Spanish Rioja’s, big fruit forward new world style wines, or some combination of the two, taste wines when possible and you will find a wine from Spain that will suit your unique taste preference.

Happy (whatever style you like) Spanish wine tasting!

WTG

Tags: fruit bombs, Rioja, Wines of Spain
Posted in wine tasting | 2 Comments »

power of suggestion – real or not & Amazon.com wine?

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

I poured wine at a retailer tonight. I generally try to stop from voicing my opinion about any wines I am pouring, but I often do find myself say things such as “its a real nice wine”. Having done as many of these tasting as I have I find the two opposite effects this leads to as quite interesting.

Often, the power of suggestion is apparently quite powerful and people agree that the wine is one way or another, depending upon what I imply.

BUT, almost as often I get people telling me that they do not agree with my take and tell me how they feel differently about the same wine.

I must admit that it is validating to have people agree with one’s opinion. Yet I am a big believer that we all have a unique palate, and I TRULY do welcome people disagreeing with my assessment.

What I have trouble understanding are either those who refuse to taste, feeling they are being “sold” or “coerced”. Or those who seem to disagree & demean a wine simply as a means of expressing their contrarian view or individuality.

If I have learned anything in the wine industry it is that we must possess a thick skin. Not everyone is going to agree & some might not even disagree politely. But it ain’t personal!

On a completely separate note, it appears more and more likely that Amazon.com is entering the online wine sales world. I keep seeing comments about the impending entree of Amazon into the wine business, but I’m not sure I know what the impact will be. Will they have low prices? Will they do things legally (and more expensively) like wine.com? Is it their infrastructure (shipping centers) that is going to allow them to ship wine to most of the 50 states and keep costs down? Will this perpetuate the debate over wine shipping and its surrounding issues? Will the supreme court be involved?? More to come on this topic I’m sure…

Happy wine tasting!

WTG

Tags: amazon.com, power of suggestion, wine tasting
Posted in Wine Industry, wine tasting | 3 Comments »

Trump event & Rally to STOP IRAN

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

I spent my day today at an amazing event. Eric Trump (yes, The Donald’s son) has a wonderful charitable organization that throws an event at the Westchester, NY based Trump International Golf Course to raise money for St Jude’s Childrens Charity. I was invited several weeks ago to sponsor a hole & pour wine at the event.

(pic to come)

I’m very proud to say that Hole # 10 was sponsored by the Wine Tasting Guy. Not only that, but they set up a wine tasting table for me (and a fabulous industry collegue from “Bacchus – Wine Made Simple”) right on the 10th hole. We poured some amazing wines from Israel and California and the guests LOVED THE WINES. The golf tournament went well for the golfers and there was a reception that followed where we poured more wine. It was a successful event and I was very excited to hear the positive feedback and be invited back next year. Among the many highlights of the day was when Ivanka Trump came by, tried, and LOVED an Israeli Syrah we were pouring. Sadly I missed her at the end of the event but I sent Eric with a bottle of the Syrah for her.

On a sadder note I am about to bring up a political issue. I try very hard to stay away from said issues on this site for a multitude of reasons. But this one is important enough for me to briefly mention. This coming Monday Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is coming to the U.N. and there is a “Rally to Stop Iran. The information can be found in the following flyer. I will be there and hope that anyone within driving distance of NYC understands how serious this evil man is about his intentions to “wipe Israel from the map” and will put the effort in to attend the rally.

rally flier

Happy PEACEful rally golf tournament wine tasting!

WTG

Tags: Eric Trump Foundation, Israel Wine, Israeli Syrah, Ivanka Trump, St Jude's Charity, stop Iran
Posted in Israel Wine, Other, wine tasting | 2 Comments »