Posts Tagged ‘French wine’

E. Guigal Wine Tasting at the Mesa Grill

May 12th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

J & P Wholesale proudly presented the E. Guigal wine tasting at the Mesa Grill.  Philippe Guigal, the estate’s oenologist, and Eve Ryckewaert, E. Guigal’s marketing manager, personally presented E. Guigal’s current vintage and new wine releases at the tasting.  For those who don’t know, E. Guigal is both a wine grower and a négociant.  The E. Guigal estate has vineyards in Côte Rôtie, Condrieu, Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage and Saint Joseph.  All other AOCs (Appellation d’origine contrôlée) are not estate-grown.

The turnout for the E. Guigal wine tasting was incredible.  Almost everyone in the industry (locally speaking) was present or represented.  Dana Hanusova, Mesa Grill’s sommelier was my tasting partner for this event.

Wine Reviews and Wine Tasting Notes:  My Top 6 E. Guigal Wines

The following are my wine tasting notes on and brief wine reviews of my top six picks at the E. Guigal wine tasting:

Condrieu “La Doraine” 2006

This 100% Viognier is aged for 9 months in new oak barrels.  This white wine has a complex bouquet with the aromas of acacia, linden, apricot, white peach, roasted almonds, and a touch of vanilla.  Rich, full-bodied, nicely rounded, and well-balanced, this was one of my favorite white wines at the tasting.  Ready to drink.

Ermitage Ex-Voto 2001

I was told that this wine is only made in the greatest vintages.  This 95% Marsanne, 5% Roussanne is aged for 18 months in new oak barrels.  It seemed to me, though, that this wine has the characteristics of wine aged a lot longer in new oak.

This white wine has a complex bouquet and the aromas of acacia, peach (almost white peach), quince, honey, oak, toast, clove, vanilla, and roasted almonds.  It is very rich and fatty with a long spicy finish.  This wine should be ready to drink after 3-5 years.

St. Joseph “Vignes de L’Hospice” 2004

This 100% Syrah is aged for 30 months in new oak barrels.  This deep-red wine is ruby colored with purple hues.  It has the aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, a hint of prune or overripe cherry, wood spices, coffee, leather, oak, vanilla pod, and toast.  Well-rounded, it has big yet elegant tannins and a long and smooth finish.  Ready to drink.

Cote Rôtie “La Turque” 2004

This 93% Syrah, 7% Viognier is aged for 42 months in new oak barrels.  This deep-red wine is ruby colored with dark hues.  It has the aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant, morello cherry covered with dark chocolate, violet, coffee, spicy wood, maybe even truffle, oak, vanilla, and toasted seeds.  It is full-bodied, elegant and well-rounded with an unctuous texture and a lingering finish.  This wine should be beautiful after 3-5 years.

Côte Rôtie “Château d’Ampuis” 2004

This 95% Syrah, 5% Viognier is aged for 38 months in new oak.  This ruby-red wine has a complex bouquet, with the aromas of raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant, prune, dried herbs, violet, and hints of vanilla, coffee, toast, and smoke.  Medium-bodied, elegant and well-structured with no overpowering tannins, it has a nice and lengthy finish.  Ready to drink and will age well in the 10+ years to come.

Côte Rôtie “Château d’Ampuis” 2000

This 95% Syrah, 5% Viognier is aged for 38 months in new oak.  This garnet-red wine has a complex yet delicate bouquet, with the aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant, maybe even raspberry, prune, musk or leather, dried herbs, violet, hints of vanilla, and toast.  Medium-bodied, well-structured with good tannins, it has a smooth finish.  Ready to drink.

That’s all for this wine tasting.  Cheers!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Wine Tastings | Print This Post Print This Post | No Comments »

Wing Lei Blind Wine Tasting

April 09th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Another blind wine tasting came to pass.  This time, it was held at Wing Lei, the Chinese restaurant at the Wynn Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.  The Wing Lei’s stunning décor provided a perfect foil to the wine tasting event.  Diego, Wing Lei’s sommelier, graciously welcomed all of us.  Master Sommelier William Sherer of Aureole Las Vegas, the event’s mainstay Master of Ceremonies, presided over the tasting proceedings.

All French Reds Allowed except the Most Popular Red Wines

This blind tasting was all about French red wines, but there was a twist.  All French red wines were welcome except Bordeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone.  Now what kind of wine tasting is that?  A great one, if you ask me, as it put everyone’s knowledge to test.  Due to the stipulation that the popular French red wines be excluded from this tasting, we were left mainly with selections from Alsace, Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, South West of France, Corsica and Provence – in other words, French red wines we rarely drink.  For me, it was this that made the Wing Lei blind tasting very interesting.

Placing Wines in Blind Tasting

In a blind wine tasting, you need to recognize particular characteristics or aromas if you are to successfully place a wine.  For example, if you smell the aromas of strawberry, raspberry and rose in a particular wine, you’ll have to place each of the aromas in turn.

You know that strawberry is an aroma that is characteristic of Loire Valley and Languedoc-Roussillon wines.  Raspberry is another scent that is present in all Loire Valley and Languedoc-Roussillon wines.  Based on the aromas of strawberry and raspberry, therefore, you can say that the wine can come from either Loire Valley or Languedoc-Roussillon.

The rose aroma is the deciding scent.  If you know that the scent of flowers like rose and violet are a characteristic of Loire Valley wines but not of Languedoc-Roussillon wines, you will be able to make the correct call:  the wine can only come from the Loire Valley.

This process of elimination sounds simple.  However, it takes lots of practice to perfect this strategy – hence the importance of taking the time to train your nose.  This is, in fact, only a small part of the methodology I use when trying to place wines at blind tasting events.  The wine’s color, viscosity, and alcohol content, among others, also have to be assessed and evaluated, especially when you cannot decide based on the aromas alone.

A Blind Wine Tasting Exercise

The following is a small exercise that explains how I evaluated and placed a particular wine at the Wing Lei blind wine tasting:

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

Wine Analysis:

  • Red wine, ruby in color with pinkish rims, clear, and bright:  these characteristics put this wine in a 2004 to 2005 vintage bracket
  • Clove, dark chocolate and smoke:  these characteristics suggest that this wine is of the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region
  • Blackberry:  this hints that the wine is probably a blended wine, possibly a blend of Carignan and/or Syrah varietals and quite possibly some Grenache grapes, too
  • Meaty in mouth with medium to medium plus acidity:  these characteristics suggest that this may be a wine from the Corbieres AOC

Result:

2004 Sainte Eugenie

AOC:  Corbieres (Languedoc-Roussillon)

In a nutshell, that is how it’s done.

The next Tuesday night blind wine tasting has been scheduled.  It will feature classic wines from all over the world.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it to that tasting as I have wine tasting events to attend in Switzerland and Italy.

I will update you on my trip soon.  That’s all for this wine tasting!  Cheers!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Wine Tastings | Print This Post Print This Post | No Comments »

Wine Tasting: Vin Sauvage’s What’s New in Bin 2008

February 05th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Steve Morey of Vin Sauvage presented “What’s New in Vin’s Bin for 2008,” a wine tasting event that was held at Louis’s Osteen’s new restaurant, Fish Camp, in Town Square. Approximately 30 different vineyards from various countries (e.g. Germany, Italy, France, Chile, Argentina, and the US) were represented. The atmosphere was great, and most of the city’s sommeliers were present at the tasting.

Gator Meat in a Wine Tasting; No Kidding!

One of Vin Sauvage’s sales representatives asked me if there was anything I found really intriguing in the tasting. Well, I had to be honest. The wines were really great – no surprise there – but it was the alligator meat that truly stood out.

As soon as I arrived for the wine tasting, I was served alligator meat. They did warn me that it was gator meat, but I did not take the warning seriously. I thought it was just a joke, you know? As I munched on, however, I realized that it was no chicken I was eating.

I don’t think I have ever had gator meat before this event. In truth, gator meat was not so different from chicken meat, but it was fattier and seemed almost like a hybrid of chicken and fish.

Now back to the really important stuff – wines.

Wine Reviews and Wine Tasting Notes

There were a lot of fine wines featured at this tasting, so I couldn’t possibly write wine reviews on all of them. As I usually do, I will discuss only a few of the wines I really liked. This time, moreover, I’ve decided to organize my favorite wines’ list by country of origin.

Wines from Italy

Italy was represented by no less than 16 different properties.

Fortediga Sodamagri

Wine tasting notes: Carlo Lavuri came all the way from Tuscany to present Fortediga wines, made by no other than Carlo Antonini’s son, Alberto. Fortediga Sodamagri, a 2005 Syrah from Maremma, Tuscany was the highlight of the Fortediga selection. Even though this wine is still young, it shows great structure, hence, great potential.

Selvapiana Vin Santo

Wine tasting notes: This dessert wine was a true delight. This wine, a 1999 blend of Trebbiano/Malvasia of Chianti Rufina, Tuscany, has golden amber tones and the aromas of dried apricot, roasted almonds, honey, and caramel. The Vin Santo is incredibly rich and complex but well-balanced with a lingering finish. It is very well-priced, too, considering the amount of work that goes into making this wine.

Wine from France

France was represented by an American. Yes, that’s right! His name is Bob, and his wine is called Vin de Bob, which obviously means Bob’s wine. Bob is a banker-turned-winemaker. This just proves that anything is truly possible these days. Bob makes a solid wine from Bergerac (Cabernet Franc), but only time will tell how Bob’s conversion to winemaker works out.

Wine from the US

2006 Cote de Crows

Wine tasting notes: Among the wines from the US, Morgan’s 2006 Cote de Crows caught my interest. This Syrah has a beautiful nose and is well-balanced. In the quality-to-price category, 2006 Cote de Crows is a great deal for all.

That’s all for this wine tasting. Cheers!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Wine Tastings | Print This Post Print This Post | Comments Off