22. April 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

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9. April 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

The tasting was hosted by Diego, Wing Lei’s sommelier. Wing Lei is located inside the Wynn Resort & Casino and its décor is simply stunning.

Willie, the tasting’s MC, had selected the tasting’s topic: any French reds, excluding, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone.
Now what kind of tasting is that? A great one if you ask me as it puts your knowledge to the test. Alsace, Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, South West of France, Corsica and Provence are about all of the possible selections. The most interesting thing, for me, about this tasting is how rarely we actually drink these wines.

This is where your knowledge comes into play. One needs to recognize particular characteristics or aromas to overcome such a challenge. I will give you an example of what I mean. If you smell aromas of strawberry, raspberry and rose in a particular wine, you know that strawberry is a typical aroma characteristic of Loire Valley and of Languedoc-Roussillon wines. Raspberry is present in all wines of the above mentioned regions so we can say that the wine is either from Loire Valley or Languedoc-Roussillon. Now we go to the next aroma, rose. Flowers scents such as rose and violet are characteristic of Loire Valley but not of Languedoc-Roussillon, hence the wine must be from the Loire Valley. It sounds simple but it takes lots of practice, hence the importance of taking time to train your nose. This is a part of the methodology which I use to uncover where a wine is from when blind tasting.
The color, viscosity, alcohol also play a great role, especially when you are at a tie break with the aromas.

Now a practical breakdown of a new wine:
Red Wine, ruby color, pink rims, medium viscosity, clear, bright with aromas of blackberry, raspberry, clove, dark chocolate and smoke, meaty in mouth with medium plus to plus acidity, not quite balanced.

Let’s analyze:
Red wine, ruby in color with pinkish rims, clear and bright puts this wine in a 2004-2005 bracket.
Clove, dark chocolate and smoke put it in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region and the blackberry hints us that it is probably a blended wine, possible Carigan and/or Syrah as varietal(s) and quite possibly some Grenache too.
Meaty in mouth with medium to medium plus acidity, maybe a wine from Corbieres AOC.

Result: 2004 Sainte Eugenie
AOC: Corbieres (Languedoc-Roussillon).

In a nutshell, that is how it’s done.

The next tasting will be classic wines from the world over. I will unfortunately not be attending that tasting as I will be tasting some wines in Switzerland and Italy! I will update you on my trip soon.

Cheers!

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8. April 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

This was probably SWS last call for Grape Nutz.  SWS is thinking to take Grape Nutz on the road. 
SWS facilities on Jones were just perfect for this kind of event.  The turn out was the most I had seen so far. It was almost like people knew that it was the last time they might be coming to SWS’s HQ for this event, paying their respect to the premises for one last time. Moet Hennessy USA was presenting their portfolio of wines.  New like old world wines were featured.
Seth Box, MH USA’s portfolio manager for their Italian wines presented Ceretto, Capezzana, Monsardo and Livio Felluga wines.  Seth used to be a winemaker at Ceretto, which explains his passion and extended knowledge when presenting Ceretto’s wine.  Ceretto makes an interesting blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Nebbiolo) called Monsardo.  Each variety’s vilification process is carried out separately.  First fermenting in steel for 12-15 days and then transferred into barriques for malolactic fermentation.  After the malolactic fermentation is completed, then only are the wines blended.  This wine has a rich bouquet of red fruits.  The wine displays a certain structure which is immediately noticeable in mouth and has aromas of strawberries, raspberries, fresh tobacco, and roasted coffee.  Oak (barriques) plays an important role as vanilla and spice flavors are present.  Well rounded with mellow tannins, this wine is very enjoyable just by itself and was the wine of choice for the most of the people present.

As usual, Ira Harmon had the generosity to introduce a few of us to something he called “special”.  A 2002 bottle of Wedell Cellars Edna Valley Chardonnay was uncorked. Once poured, one could immediately notice that this wine was unfined and unfiltered by its color.  On the nose, typical aromas found in new oak fermentation could be scented. Oak, lots of toast, roasted hazelnut, butter, new leather and other aromas all came together to created a popcorn/stinky new sneakers bouquet.  Overall well balanced, I was very impressed by this wine and would recommend it to anyone whom lives by the ABC rule (Anything But Chardonnay).  Don’t expect to find it at your local wine store; you might need to do a little research to find it. Ira finished the evening by pouring us a glass of Santo Domingo Albarradas. This mezcal, a distilled spirit from Mexico made from the agave (maguey) plants, has aromas of citrus fruits and bruised pears.  More tropical in mouth, with noticeable woody-spice aromas and a clean, dry finish. For those whom are not familiar with Santo Domingo Albarradas, it is located in the high Mixe region south of Oaxaca. In this sub-tropical climate, plants and fruits grow along the rushing mountain streams.  The production is limited due to the fact that all transportation is done by horses and burros.

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