Archive for the Tips & FAQs Category

“What is the best way to preserve an open bottle of wine bottle”

12. September 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

This is a question I have often answered but never really written about.
In today’s market, there are several gadgets out there to help preserve an open wine bottle. The most common of all is probably Vacuvin’s products. Place their vacuum stopper on the bottle and pump out the air. A vacuum is created inside the bottle and therefore the oxidation process is “halted or reduced”.
There are also the inert gas versions, where you replace the air in the bottle with an inert gas. The gas being heavier than air, replaces the air in the bottle, “blanketing” the wine. Put the cork back on and you are set. I know some of you are thinking I do not wish to purchase an expensive machine to preserve my wines. Well I have news for you; inert gas is probably the cheapest way to preserve wine. You do not need to buy a refrigerated inert gas dispenser! For $9.95, you can buy a can of Private Preserve (“the original inert gas preserver”) and get up to 120 uses! You can not only use it for wines, but ports, whiskies, olive oils and any other products stored in a bottle. It is so convenient and inexpensive. This is what I personally use. I am a firm believer that sucking out the air from the wine by creating a vacuum seal is only good for a day or two. The air eventually makes it way back in. Furthermore, it is believed that vacuuming the air out of the bottle also sucks out the bouquet/aromas from the wine when used repetitively on the same bottle. Finally, the stoppers need to be replaced once a year to keep their efficiency. That is why I made the switch to the inert gas. Have you ever tried to drink a whole bottle of an older sauterne by yourself? Nor have I. And as it is a wine that I do not drink all that often, I like to preserve it.
Well how long may one preserve a wine which has already been opened? For a long period of time. Some of my bottles have been open for months and preserved with inert gas. Oh one word of advice, make sure the cork you use does not breathe. If you put your cork screw all the way thru the cork, you can be sure that air will seep in. So keep that in mind.
For under $10 buck, only a “tête de mule” would not give Private Preserve a try!

Cheers!

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What are Rosé wines and how are they made?

9. June 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

I was asked this question today by my son and  I thought it would make a worthy subject to write about, especially that it is during summer month’s that one enjoys rosés the most.

Rosé wines are made of red grape varietals with the exception of rosé Champagne or rosé Sparkling Wines, which is also made with white grape varietals.  I say varietals because chardonnay is not the only white grape used to make sparkling wines.
However, there are some winemakers who add a little white wine to make a blend of their own in their still wine rosé. But this is not common practice.

About rosé wines:
The major difference is characteristic of rosé wines is that old world rosé tends to be more bone-dry as to the new world rosé, especially Californian rosé which is can be almost sweet with very similar characteristics as that of white wines. It is however important to note that today some Californian rosés winemakers make a fruity, elegant and almost bone-dry rosé wines, resembling those of the old world.  Sophia, by Coppola is such a wine.

TIP: It is important to know that one should drink rosés still wines young. 1-3 years of age. A good Rosés Champagnes with some age can be a real delight.

So how is rosé made?
Well there are several ways to make rosé wines.  The four which are most commonly used are often explained erroneously on the internet, worse even on some og the top ranked sites! I love the internet but it has become as big of an information highway as a disinformation highway. This is one of the reasons I started to blog. To try to inform you correctly. Anyway back to topic. The four approaches to making a rosé wine are bleeding, pressing, limited maceration and run off.

-Saignée or bleeding which makes the best quality rosés are made from the juice which was extracted by stacking the grapes up in a tank and letting the grapes own weight do the crushing. As the juice is in contact for a very short time with the skins, the color obtained by this technique is very pale, such as Gris de Bourgogne or a Rose from the Loire Valley. The wines are rich, fruity and have great freshness.

-Pressé or pressed is the technique of pressing the red grapes until the juice has the desired color. Once the color is reached, the winemaker stops the pressing. Only the juice pressed is used to make rosé.

-Limited maceration is the most common technique used in the making of rosé wines. They (the grapes or the skins more specifically) are left in contact with the juice until the winemaker decides that he/she is happy with the color and than transfers the “wine”  minus the skins to another tank to finish the fermentation process.

-Finally, the run off style is the process in which the winemaker removes the juice from the tank during the fermentation process of red wine and uses that juice to make the rose wine. This results in making the red wine left in the vat more intense/dark in color and a so-so rose in my opinion.

FYI: typical Provence rosé wines are mostly made using the same local blends as that of red wines. They are mostly made with Grenache and Cinsault varietals but are also known to be made from Mourvedre.

For my aroma hunters, the typical aromas found in rosé Wines from Provence region (Côtes de Provence, Côteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, les Baux-de Provence, Bandol, Cassis, Bellet, and Palette) are grapefruit, banana, strawberry, raspberry, redcurrant, almond, linden, cut hay…
If you wish to try a typical rosé from Provence, I recommend you “Mas du Fadan”, Côte de Ventoux, 2007.

Oh by the way a great bottle of rosé should not cost you more than $20-$25 unless it is Rosé Champagne!

Cheers!

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Wine ratings & personal preferences

22. April 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

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Aromas vs. Bouquet; what is the difference?

4. March 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

There is a distinct difference yet all too often confusing at times.  Even the most famed wine critics sometimes misinterpret these two.

 Aromas in wine come from 3 different categories:

Primary, which is the varietal aromas (from the grape type itself), secondary, which is the aromas which develop during the pre-fermentation and fermentation process (also called vinous) and finally the tertiary aromas which develop during the post fermentation process and maturing of the wine (in oak and/or bottle aging).

So the primary and secondary types of aromas qualify in the aromas class and the tertiary aromas are the aromas that classify for use as bouquet.

Bouquet is the smell and characteristic of wine, created during the post fermentation process and in the wine bottle itself.  Aldehydes and esters are formed during the oxidation of the fruit acids and alcohol in the bottle.  A bouquet takes time, actually years to develop.  A matured good wine will have a complex bouquet.  I have here listed a few aromas which are only developed during this process.  The following classify as bouquet aromas: prune, mushroom, truffle, cedar*, liquorice*, leather, toast*, roasted almond, roasted hazelnut, caramel, coffee, dark chocolate and smoke* to name a few.  For more information about aromas, please see the works of Jean Lenoir and his must have world renowned Le Nez du Vin kits.

A diligent wine critic will usually not use the word bouquet on young immature wines, unless it is of an exceptional vintage and has already started to show its bouquet prematurely.

 *typical aromas which develop when the wine was aged in new oak barrels prior to bottling.

Cheers!

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How to decant a wine.

26. February 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

I suggest that you first read “when should one decant a wine” before reading this article.

Now I know that you have seen wine decanted in many different ways, from carefully pouring the wine into the decanter or carafe to the wine host that turns the bottle up side down and dumps the wine without restraint into the decanter (I call it the Slam Dunk method).

Well you can do both, not just with any wines and the reason are the following:

Traditional method:

Your older finer wine, which has been patiently waiting judgment day, has probably formed plenty of sediments through out the years. For these older wines, it is recommended to stand the bottle upright a day or two before to let the sediments settle to the bottom.  Open the bottle carefully so as not to stir the sediments and make sure your decanter is clean and does not smell of stale air. Should you have a decanting cradle, place the bottle in the cradle, light the candle and remember that once you start pouring, do not stop until you see the sediments getting too close to the neck. We do not want to stir the sediments in this process as you will get less wine out of the bottle. Should you not have a decanting cradle, use a funnel (glass preferable) and light up a candle or have a backlight ready so that you can see through the bottle. Make sure that the candle is not directly under the bottle as it will darken the bottle and produce unwanted smoke. With a steady hand, pour the wine into the funnel or decanter,  should you feel that you do not need a funnel as mentioned above.  Once you see the sediment getting close to the bottle neck, stop. Let the wine rest for a bit (30-60 mins.) and serve.

My personal method for old vintage wines:

I start like the traditional process but a week in advance. I get my bottle from my cellar, let it set in an upright position for 2 days (away from light in general), open the bottle, place it on the cradle, light the candle and pour it in the decanter. I then wash the bottle, find a new cork if the one I just removed is too damaged, funnel all the wine but one small glass back into the now clean bottle, and spray inert aerosol gas (Private Preserve) in the bottle and put the cork back on. I now let the bottle settle in an upright position until I am ready to serve it in a few days. You might ask why would one do such a thing? I do this for two reasons: The first is to allow the wine to clear up even more, settling the smaller sediments which may have been stirred up during handling. The second and most important to me is to taste the wine for any faults. I would hate to find out on the big day that the wine was actually faulty and ruin the entire experience. And I can assure you that when you invite wine lovers to sample a special wine or wines and that they have been looking forward to it all week, you can down right ruin the event. Just shows you how much I really love fine wines.

Slam Dunk method:

This method is used on younger wines with no visible sediments to aerate the wine by almost breaking it up. This is a technique that I would use if I had to serve young wines with big tannins, which are still immature and closed up. I would then let the wine set in the decanter for at least an hour or two.  Note:You can now buy aerating gadgets which open up the wine even faster without having to dump the wine into the decanter. These gadgets do the trick.

Finally one last word of advice, when buying a decanter, make sure that it is functional and easy to clean. I was offered a beautiful decanter, which I never use as it takes me forever to clean and when pouring, the last ½ of a glass is wasted due to its design.

Cheers!

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When should one decant a wine?

26. February 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

This is a question my customers often ask and the answer is fairly simple.

Rule of thumb; one decants older reds, ports, madeira and fine older white dessert wines where sedimentation is obvious. Your everyday drinking wines need not to decanted. Consider it a ritual reserved for the finer and vintage wines.

I would say that there are three principle reasons to decant a wine:

The first and most important is decanting old wine or any wines where you can see sedimentation. You do not wish to serve a wine to your guest that is hazy, with bits of sediment “suspended” in the wine. This not only undermines the wine you just served but can actually kill a great wine.

The second reason is to aerate the wine. In this situation, we are talking about younger “closed” wines which need plenty of time to breathe. Be not afraid to open one of these wines up to 2 hours ahead. A word of caution, make sure the room temperature is not above 65-67 degrees in order not to accelerate the oxidation process. Older wines need less time (please read “how to decant a wine” for more information on this.)

The third reason people decant is purely psychological or for show. I am hosting a dinner party tonight, my budget is tight and I want to make great a impression, so I serve the wine in decanters hence my guest will think that I am serving them a great wine. Should you guest be wine challenged, you can get away with this approach.  I personally do not recommend it as most of these cheaper wines tend to loose the little bouquet they might have. A true bouquet can be smelled in a glass hours after it has been consumed (for more information about this, please read “aromas vs. bouquet; what is the difference”).

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How to pair Cheese & Wine

10. February 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

Wine is, with bread, cheese’s best companion. Most people think that one should drink red wine with cheese. That is not quite true. This age old theory comes from the routine that one should drink light wines before heavier ones. And as cheese is usually served before desert, people have been serving heavy reds with cheeses. The truth is that most cheeses are better accompanied with white wines.

In fact you can destroy the entire cheese experience if you pair the wrong wine with a cheese. So here are general rules for you to consider; choose white wines over red ones. Should you prefer a red stay in the light ones, Beaujolais and especially Burgundy wines balance well with the lactic acids found in cheese. In general lower tannin wines do much better with most cheeses too. Port is cheese friendly too.

Here are some pairing tips you should consider:

Soft Goat cheeses with Sauvignon Blanc (Fume Blanc) or cotes du Rhone
Hard Goat cheeses with Vin Jaune
Munster Family cheese with Gewürztraminer or Rieslings
Epoise with Marc de Bourgogne (liquor) or Chardonnay (from Burgundy)
Parmigianino reggiano family with champagne/sparkling wines
Beaufort with Ports (Twany)
Roquefort or blue cheeses in general with Sauternes or sweet desert wines
Gruyere with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
A Mild Cheddar with a Chardonnay and a Sharp Cheddar with older Rojas.

I compiled for WineAromas.com a list of over 80 cheeses from the world over for you to query at www.winearomas.com/info/cheese.html.

Again we all have our own tastes and I recommend you to experience and discover yourself what your personal preferences are! And I can tell you that you will have a lot of fun doing it and will give you an excuse to drink many wines.

Cheers!

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Faults in Wine

7. February 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

Today I was asked an interesting question. How does one learn how to recognize the faults in wine? That’s the million dollar question with a $109 answer.  $109 is the cost of a 12 aromas Faults Kit available at WineAromas.com that will ultimately help you recognize these faulty aromas. It is said that approximately 8% of all wines are faulty, yet less than 1% is returned to their point of purchase, why? Two simple answers. The first one is that you drank your wine without noticing the fault or you were not able to pinpoint that particular fault. The second is that you did not bother returning the bottle for one reason or another. The faults kit includes the 12 most commonly found faulty scents. It also comes with a booklet explaining how these aromas occur and whether you can avoid/rectify them. Now I must warn you that the faults kit does not smell good. With scents of vegetal, rotten apple, vinegar, glue, soap, sulfur, rotten egg, onion, cauliflower, horse, moldy-earth and cork, you will not be able to compare it to an aromatherapy session. 

The Faults kit is used the world over by winemakers, sommeliers, wine aficionados and some of the best schools offering a wine education program such as UC Davis. This is a worthy investment which I highly recommend.  Next time you are in a restaurant and believe you taste a faulty wine, you can call up the waiter or sommelier, should they have one, and explain your concern. A new bottle will be on its way. One very important tip, should it be the vegetal fault you uncovered, change wine all together as that particular fault occurs at harvest and most likely the entire batch of that vintage from that particular winemaker will be faulty.

Cheers!

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Do different types of glasses really make a difference?

29. January 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

YES! I will be happy to challenge any wine critic on this issue. Robert Hall once told me, “If the wine matters, so does the glass!”  And I can not agree more to that statement which also happens to be Bottega Del Vino’s Trademarked slogan.

When I first became interested in wine, my father played his part and bought me my first wine book.  I will not mention the author, as I am not in the business of offending people, however after I read the part where the author mentioned that a glass type (glass, pewter, plastic, crystal, tin cup, etc.) should not prevent you from drinking a wine, as it did not make much of a difference, I instinctively knew that that was a false statement.

In the mid nineties, I was invited to a tasting featuring Chateau Yquem’s wines, four vintages to be exact (at least that was what we were told). Four glasses were used; one for each vintage.  After sampling them, we started to talk about the different aromas we could smell, the differences in texture (very slight but noticeable) and the characteristic of the wines. When the host revealed that all four glasses were of the same vintage, I could hear the guests gasping and arguing that it could not be possible.  Not one person was thinking that we were drinking the same wine from the same vintage.  As a group, we were no amateurs which made it all the more embarrassing.   “How can this be?” asked one person.  “It is all about the glass and how the wine evolves in each differently!” replied the host.

Now let me explain to you in more detail why the glass does matters and what makes the difference. Each wine is different and reacts differently when exposed to air. The bouquet, the body and the structure of the wine react differently depending upon the type of glass it is poured into and also upon the shape of the glass.

So why does glass shape make such a difference? It is due to not only the opening of the glass, but also to its rim and its body. With a larger opening the wine is more exposed to air. This allows the wine to breathe, changing not only the wine’s bouquet but its structure. The rim acts like a vent, releasing or trapping the bouquet within the glass. When you sip the wine, a wider opening is going to aerate the wine further, revealing aromas previously not noticeable. Finally, after being more exposed to the air, the structural aspects of the wine will also change.  These changes will become detectable both in the mouth (or on the tongue more precisely) and also in the nose again. (This is the retro-olfactory process, meaning aromas develop or break open when the wine comes in contact with the saliva. Some aromas need liquid to become volatile.)

The entire process is actually more complex and would take a few pages to explain it in detail; however I will reserve the details for my first podcast (video) presentation coming soon so you will have something to look forward to.

I don’t expect you to go out and buy a set of new wine glasses for each type of wine that exists. I do, however, highly recommend that you buy one of each wine glass specifically designed for the types of wines you enjoy the most.  Because it is worth it and, most importantly, because you and your wine deserve it!

In conclusion:  if you are going to drink wine, drink it in a stem glass, crystal preferably, and if you have the option, use one that is best fitted.  This is my recommendation.  Unless you are the type to drink 2buckchuck.  If this is the case, then I don’t think the glass will make much of a difference and I don’t really know why you are reading my blog.

Cheers!

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Should one change glasses when drinking a different wine?

25. January 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

It all depends of the type of wine you are drinking. In general, you don’t drink red and white wines in the same glass. You can stick with the same glass if you are drinking the same wine (different bottle) or same varietal of wine. I do however recommend that one drink light bodied wine first and the more heavy-bodied thereon after.  If not, the heavier bodied wines will have more of an influence on the lighter bodied.

As a professional wine taster, when evaluating a wine, I will always use a clean glass. I do this even when I drink red wine followed by another red wine.  The same applies to all other types of wines.  After all, when you are done drinking a wine, you can still smell the aromas left in the glass. At tastings, I will try to change my glass as often as possible. In most tastings, you get one glass and have to make do with it. If that is the case, I will rinse my glass with bottled water whenever I feel it is necessary. The fuller the body, the more often I will rinse my glass.

At one tasting last month in Europe, I encountered a first. As I was poured a new wine into a glass I had already been using, the wine smelled faulty (onion). Not a scent you get too often and one you don’t miss out on. The interesting thing was that I was the only one to smell it. As I passed my glass to others, they validated my judgment and we started to investigate. It happened to be a phenomenon resulting from the combination of the new wine mixed with the wine I had been drinking previously.  The second wine never would have developed those particular aromas in a fresh glass.  I had never experienced such a dramatic example of the tainting of a wine due to the residues left in a glass. None of us ever had.  However being able to replicate that phenomenon validated my position that one should change glasses whenever drinking a different wine if possible. This is a recommendation I make to wine aficionados when drinking premium wines more so than to the main stream population.

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My Fellow Wine Aficionados!

15. January 2008 by Sebastien Gavillet.

After much deliberation and then some, I finally caved in to starting my own blog. Working in the wine education business for the last 7 years, and having been submerged into the wine world at a very young age, my friends, family and clients think that it’s only normal for me to share some of my knowledge, opinions, experiences and passion for wine and food with all of those interested in reading what I have to write. So here I embark on a new journey… Wine Blogging. Have questions? Shoot me an email and I will see if I can satisfy your curiosity. Let the journey begin…

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