Bordeaux tasting: what to expect after 5 years ? Part 1

Bordeaux wines are meant to age.
One could even say that great Bordeaux wines should only be opened after 20 years.
They can sometimes last for a century without losing their texture and aromas.

But people are like children. 
We can't wait. Having a magnificent bottle of Leoville Poyferré in your cellar is like waiting until the morning for Santa to give you your new Nintendo game : it is distressing.
And most of the time, you end up sneaking up in the living room to get of peak of what your presents will be before dawn.
Well it's the same for wine. Most of the time, you want just a little taste. Just that one time.
The problem is: there is no putting the wrapping paper back on. When you're bottle is open: you just have to finish it up.

So that is why people hardly get to try out really old Bordeaux wines.
In restaurants they are unaffordable, and in your cellar, well, in your cellar they just don't make it to that point in time.
Shame.

The trouble is that when they are young, Bordeaux wines can seem a tat too tannic, even austere from time to time. And it is not always easy to make out what their aromas deliver...which is a pity when you paid 50 euros for your bottle.

So here is an introduction to what you can find in a 5 year old Bordeaux wine. You know the one you should keep for 20 more years. 


I will start my tasting with a Saint Julien (Part 1 of this series) and we will go on through the whole Medoc region with tastings of the 6 appellations  (Saint Estephe, Pauillac, Margaux, Moulis, Listrac and Saint Julien).

Château Léoville Poyferré, 2004

Eye: Deep red, with hues of brown and orange. Very bright. 

Nose: Prune, black current (typical of Cabernet Sauvignon) and cherry (Merlot). The secondary aromas revolve around spices (hard to tell which at this point, but I think I can tell their is cinnamon). Then subtle notes of cedar and unsweetened chocolate make their way, translating the aging in oak barrels. 

Mouth: the mouth is fine and subtle. The tannins are soft, round, pleasantly balanced.This is typical of Saint Julien where soft tannins are a signature. 

How to recognize Saint Julien ? 


Go ahead and read my post on how to recognize aromas if you are a beginner at wine tasting: http://alamodeaujus.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-drink-wine-recognize-aromas-and.html

1. First try to know what variety you are drinking.
If you taste black current, cherry or prune their is a big chance that their is some Cabernet Sauvignon is your wine.

2. If this is the case and you know you are drinking a French wine, it is very likely that you are drinking Bordeaux. A Californian Cabernet Sauvignon would be very ripe and fruity.

3.  Now you know you are in Bordeaux. But from which appellation comes your wine? Try to focus on the mouth. As is described in my tasting notes, Saint Julien has signature soft tannins yet intense structure. You may also find mineral aromas (because of the gravelly soil). Saint Julien is an area of Medoc on the left bank of river and is formed of gravelly soil. Wines from Saint Julien can be recognized because of their smooth and harmonious nose. They combine a rich and solid mouth yet display subtle aromas.

If this is all in your glass of wine, then you can bet it will be a Saint Julien.
I know, it's easier to say it than to actually get it right during a blind tasting.

Do you like cat pee ?

Ok I know this title sounds a little blunt. 

Yet as you may see later on in my post, cat's urine is one of the most typical aromas of Sauvignon blanc or Cabernet Sauvignon.
That's right.
The wine you like to drink every Friday evening.

But no worries my friends, for it is not TRULY cat pee that you are smelling (just making sure for everyone).
No wine maker accidentally forgot to cover his wine barrels and let his cat take a little swim in them.

It's simply physics. Here is an interesting extract of an article taken from the "aromadictionnary" :

 Cats urine does exist in wine! Well its smell anyway. Caused by the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde compound p-mentha-8-thiol-3-one, this sulfur containing compound smells exactly like cat's urine when in a particular concentration range. When weaker, it exudes the herbal scent of lantana bush, whilst when strong, it has an aroma that can be likened to blackcurrants. And where do you find it? That's right, in the variety where wine tasters see it the most, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon (and of course in cat's urine).

There is actually an Ontario (USA) based estated whose labels revolve around the theme of cat pee and it's a huge success. I've never tried them yet though, but I certainly will in a near future.

To tell you the truth, although I knew the existence of Cat's urine in wine, I had never actually encountered it during my tastings. I didn't even know if I would recognize it when stumbling upon it...
(I know I said training your nose by sniffing everything you come across is pivotal to become a pro wine taster, but I've never actually stopped to smell cat pee. I apologize. I know what you are thinking right now : "AMATEUR !").

Yet when I put my nose over my glass of
Champs-Chenin, 2007, by Olga Raffault, there was no doubt possible.

Cat pee. Yep. The real deal. 
And the truth is : it wasn't THAT bewildering. It was even kind of nice in a way. A little herby to put it nicely.

So here are my tasting notes on this wine. We had it with a lovely seabass.

Eye : almost greenish, it conjures up freshness and herbs. 

Nose : cat pee (obviously), little notes of citrus and orange, maybe a bit of cut grass (which is a little stronger than the cats urine) and apple towards the end. 

Mouth : very acidic (too much for my taste anyway) which is typical of the chenin variety. The mouth is not extremely long however. 

What you should know about this wine however is that the Domaine Olga Raffault is one of the most famous estates of the Loire Valley. The range of prices for this wine is between 9 and 11 euros. What may be noticed is that this wine is a white Chinon, which is extremely rare (only 2% of Chinon wines are white as I mentioned in this article). It is made of Chenin, the white variety in the Loire Valley. It can be kept for years and will benefit from aging by becoming smoother and less acidic.

So this one was probably a bit young.

Then again, it allowed me to have my first taste of cats pee. Yey !

What to drink with cheese ?

Do you like camembert, comté, stilton, cheddar ?
And what about goat cheese, roquefort or vacherin ? Of course you do.

Like most French people, I'm a huge fan of cheese.

Look at this :

It looks good doesn't it ?

Well here is something that might startle you :


Cheese and Red wine just don't go together.
I know, this may shatter one of France's most traditional preconceptions, but the sad truth still remains.
Red wine + Cheese = not good. 

The red wine's tannins, its acidity and overwhelming power have a negative effect on the taste of the cheese.
I know this is a polemic issue. I might have the French Trade Union of Cheese makers who will try to pour tones of Camembert on my front porch to punish me for saying this.
This is my mere opinion and I don't expect to convince everyone out there.
However for me it is crystal clear : red wine and cheese are an insanity. 

So what will you drink with cheese will you ask me?
Very simple, my dear readers, there is a world of white wines out there, just yearning to be drunked with a nice little Stilton.

• For example, take a Goat cheese. 

Saint Maure de Touraine for instance. Well most of you, will have it with a soft red wine, fruity or herbal.
Big mistake.
Next time, try having the exact same cheese with a Chenin blanc from Touraine. Its acidity, freshness, even fruitiness will allow the Goat cheese to express its best aromas.
Sauvignon would also be a good choice.  Herbal aromas, grass, straw : a perfect match for this light cheese which often comes with a straw in its center.

Here have a bit of this Champ Chenin, 2007 by Olga Raffault. The tasting note will come soon.

• Next example: Comté. 

Comté is a rather salty cheese, a little nutty too. Drinking it with red wine will simply kill the subtle underwood flavours it exhales.
So go ahead and have it with a white Savagnin from the Jura region. I already wrote a note on these magnificent yet unfamiliar wines (Check it here).
The nuttiness and woodiness will be perfectly suited for the comté's salty texture. Honestly it is simply one of the best food and wine pairing I've ever tasted.

• Last but not least : Roquefort, Stilton Blue Cheese. 

You would think that with a cheese that strong you would need a REALLY tannic wine, something that can tame their power. Well there again, my friends, you would be wrong.
The sweetness of a dessert wine fits incomparably  well with blue cheese.
Try Sauternes, Barsac, Icewine, or Dessert wines from the Loire Valley like Coteaux-du-Layon, Bonnezeaux or Quart de Chaume (see my note on these wines which unfortunately remain a well kept secret). It will give a spectacular end to your meal and you may even move on to your dessert, it will ravish your guests trust me.

Have it with this lovely Coteaux-du-Layon, 2000, from Saint Lambert du Lattray. See my tasting note for the 2005 vintage.

So you see, I'm not saying you should not have red wine and cheese. It's a habit, and I must admit I love doing it. The most important thing to learn how to pair food and wine, is just to do what you like. There is no right and wrong. You're free to enjoy Château Yquem with French fries if that's what makes you happy. 

Yet I truly believe that to experience the greatness of cheese (it is the French person in me speaking here !), the subtly of their various aromas, you should really try having them with whites.
Trust me you won't regret it !

And if you have doubts on what you may try with your cheese, go ahead and ask me I'll gladly answer if I can!

5 steps to outperform your own nose

You want to know how to smell wine. You think it will change your life to be able to make a difference between blackberry and cherry in a Cabernet Sauvignon. And you are right my friend, for it will.

Luckily for you, the does and don't of wine tasting are not very complicated.
It will only take you 5 steps to learn how to use your nose perfectly.

1. Be daring. 
Don't hesitate to put your nose way down in your glass in order to get a full grasp of the wine's aromas.

2. Don't wear perfume. 
I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's one of the pivotal elements of a successful wine tasting. Try making a difference between strawberry and raspberry with Chanel 5 on you. It might be a little challenging.

3. Try not to have to much food around you. 
You may enjoy wine with your dinner of course, but having a Blanquette de Veau may give you the false impression that there is mushroom aromas in your wine. This pesto smell is not coming from your wine, it's your neighbors' pasta!

4. Smell everything you can. 
This is a critical point. If you don't build up your own database of fragrances you won't be able to remember what apricot smells like when you come across it. Don't hesitate to sniff everything you can: in your kitchen, in a garden, at a restaurant, at work even. Oh and also, don't forget to explain to people why you are putting your nose in their personal belongings, they could get the wrong idea...
You may check out my post on how to taste wine and recognize aromas. I've got a few tricks that may help you impress your friends! Click here. 

5. Try different methods. 
Only imbeciles never change their minds. If you realize taking a long and profound whiff of air doesn't work well for your, try something else. Go ahead and take small and quick breaths for instance. Also you may try to keep your mouth open when inhaling, it might help you to get more aromas.


So you see, tasting wine is really not that difficult.
The secret is perseverance and time.
You just need to train, taste, sniff, whiff, inhale, chew, spit, over and over, until you finally can call yourself a real wine aficionado.
If it were only about tricks we would all be contenders of Robert Parker or Michel Rolland.

So go ahead and have a glass! Cheers! 

How to select wines for your first beginners' wine tasting

As you may have read in my 7 steps to organizing a fabulous wine tasting -to view click here , it's easy to impress your friends with a few tricks and a little preparation.
You don't need to be a wine expert to show off. Trust me, my friends usually rave about my wine tastings for days and I can tell you I still have a LOT to learn.

So here are a few more tricks to make sure that you too are able to enjoy a great wine tasting.

1. The most important thing you do is select simple wines.


No need to go directly for a Romanée Conti just yet. You may settle for a 5 to 15$ bottle which I'm sure you'll appreciate.
What I suggest you should do, is buy one-varietal wines. It's hard enough to try to understand what the characteristics of Merlot are, so don't bother and buy an intricate assemblage wine ; you'd be completely lost (and worst of all, your guests would be lost too!).

2. Try to go for an all white or an all red tasting.


This will ease up a lot your task. First of all, you will only have so much aromas that you may find in these wines. For example, if you select only white wines, don't even bother to find strawberry or mushroom and stay focused on the typical white wine aromas like orange, lemon, pineapple, honey, nut, litchi, rose or pear.

3. Find stereotypical wines

What I mean by that is that should really try to find wines that display the typical aromas you would usually find in their varietal.
For instance, I would start out with a Chenin wine (not the most famous varietal, as it mostly grows in the Loire Valley in France). Chenin is a white wine that has the characteristic of showing very vivid acidity. So you would know, when tasting one that you would be most likely to end of sensing aromas of orange or citrus.
If your guests (or yourself!) have really never tried wine tasting before, it would probably come in handy to have flavors that are easy to recognize.

4. Buy a little bit of bread or neutral food, for people to chew on when they feel their mouth is starting to get numb.

Also I may add, that it could be useful if one of your guests has not have time to eat before. Once I organized a tasting in a rush and didn't have time to have a decent lunch. Well, I can let you guess that although it was very fun (for me at least), I ended up trying to convince my friends that red wine was actually white wine with tomato juice inside. Yeah, surprisingly enough the people I had invited to that specific tasting never really wanted to try it again ...

If you manage to get all this straight, there is no reason why your wine tasting shouldn't be a great success!

As an example here are the wines I tasted for a beginners wine tasting last week (red and white).

Chenin, Domaine de la taille aux loups, 2008
Vouvray

Pinot Noir, Les bons Ores, 2005
Chorey les Beaunes

Syrah, Domaine Gros, 2007
Minervois

Grenache, Syrah, Domaine de la Citadelle, 2003
Cotes du Lubéron

7 steps to organizing a fabulous wine tasting

So now you think you are good enough to deliver your knowledge of wines to others, huh?

You want to please.
You want to share.
You want to impress.
You want to show yourself and your friends that the money you've spent in wine tasting classes has not been totally meaningless.
But the truth is (and I know this because I've lived the exact same thing) you are terrified at the idea that it might just turn wrong.
What if the wines are not good?
What if people get bored?
What if you don't recognize a single aroma?
What if...

So you need some help. And luckily, as I've been there, done that, I can tell you that there are 7 very easy steps to make sure that your wine tasting will be a total hit.
Are you ready? Here we go !


1. Plan at least a week in advance and think about the people you are going to invite.

It may seem dumb, but I can assure you that a last minute wine tasting is never easy to tackle. All the more so if you've planned to drink wines that need to decant... you might just disgust your guests.
So you need to think in advance of whom you want to see at your little event. First of all, don't go for quantity. Having 50 people for a wine tasting may seem fun, but in fact you might end up with too much you can handle. Trust my experience when I tell you that 10 people is just about right if you want to keep good relations with your neighbors. Secondly, tell people in advance. Otherwise you might end up drinking all this wine alone with your cat and your grandma. That would be a pity.


2. Think about the wines you are going to taste in advance.

Yes I know, it's a shame because you will not be able to blind taste like the others. But on the other hand, you'll be very happy to have a little idea of what you SHOULD find in these wines if by any chance you can't smell a damn thing.
So my advice is to sacrifice yourself (I know noble isn't it)and ask your local wine seller if he knows 4 or 5 wines that would be adequate for an introduction to wine tasting.
And then, ASK FOR HINTS ON WHAT TO FIND INSIDE THEM.
If you have the time and feel a little unsure about yourself, you may even look those wines up on the internet to get a little feedback from the experts.


3. Open your wines in advance.

This is really important for red wines. White wines don't need this and should be kept cool until the beginning of the tasting. However remember to open up your reds in advance or you could encounter two hardships:
First, your friends will hate you for serving them something too tannic. All the more so if they have gum issues. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about (sorry granny).
Secondly, don't forget wines evolve with time and oxygen. So if you open your wine right before the first part of the tasting, by the time you get to step 6, the wine will have completely changed and it will ruin everything for you. No I'm not being over-dramatic.





4.(optional but much better) Buy le Nez du vin (if you haven't already done it).

To understand what le Nez du vin is check out my explanatory post "How to drink wine, recognize aromas ... and impress your friends ! ".
What you need to do during your wine tasting session, is begin by a little nostril momentum. You should select a few aromas (about 20) that may be found in the wines you have selected and tell people to sniff the little flasks of le Nez du Vin and try to decipher what smell they convey.
This is actually a very important element of a good wine tasting session. Most people can't make a difference between a strawberry and a banana (with their nose I mean !) so it usually really helps people to focus on their olfactory sense.
I truly believe this is a pivotal moment of a successful wine tasting so don't skip it !

5. Wine tasting per se. Finally.




After your little sniveling game, your friends will pretty thirsty and glad to start drinking. Use proper tasting glasses if you can and take your time taste each wine individual. After each wine, try to pause and have your friends explain what they felt. You should tell them that this part is actually important because there will be a little competition by the end of the wine tasting, and they will have to try to recognize which wine is in which glass.
Give you guests pens and paper so that they can jot down their impressions to try to remember later on what they tasted.


6. To be sure to win your friends over, you have to create emotion.

Competition and the promise of wining a bottle can be a very good way of having people remember your event.
People are like kids. They like to win. They like to have prizes. So you should buy an extra bottle to give it to the person who will recognize the wines you tasted the fastest. I know it sounds childish and stupid, but trust me: it works! People go crazy for a 3$ bottle of wine!

So do a blind tasting with our four wines in four different glasses dubbed 1, 2, 3 and 4. The person who answers the fastest wins the jackpot!
You'll be surprised how hard this game is actually. Most of the time, if you didn't open your wines early enough, they will have oxygenated and changed by the time the game starts. Also, if your friends didn't spit during the preceding tastings they might be having trouble staying focused by now...


7. How not to go bankrupt.

I promise that if you follow these 6 very easy steps, you are pretty sure to have a great time during your wine tasting.
The best thing to do (to avoid thinking about your diminishing bank account during the whole session) is to ask a little compensation (just the amount you paid to get the 5 bottles) to your friends. Try not to by Opus One or Château Margaux on your first try, people might be a little taken aback to pay 800$ for a friendly wine tasting session.

If you follow these simple rules, you'll experience the joy and fun of sharing something you love to do with people you care about. And you won't even get nervous about it.

How to drink wine, recognize aromas ... and impress your friends !

It was a few years ago, in a fancy restaurant in Paris. The sommelier delicately poured a crimson colored wine in my glass. The moment was tantalizing. The beauty of terroir. I leaned forward to taste the wine and tell him it was great. Everyone was looking. Waiting. Expecting me to sigh with ecstasy. So I did, of course.


But it was corked.
And I thought it was just a very heavy smell of mushroom. Or someone's bad cologne. Or my nose. Hell, I didn't have a clue.

Now I'm pretty sure this could happen to anyone who doesn't have any experience in wine tasting. And it's ok. It happens. It would just be a shame for you to spend 200$ on cork juice for your wedding day.
That's why I decided to deliver my experience of and show you with a little "how to" post, precisely HOW TO drink wine, recognize aromas... and impress your friends !

1. The first and most important thing you need to do is train your nostrils.
Nowadays our noses have just about all their core functions. They are meant to smell, whiff, sniff, snivel, inhale, and mostly identify. But that last action takes practice. You need to learn what a food or flower smells like and memorize this scent. It should be a game really. Each time you go out in a garden or stand in your kitchen (or someone elses !) just try to deeply inhale and sniff everything you can get your hands on.
Ok so you may look a little dumb if your friend stumbles upon you with your nose stuck in a jar of mushroom.
But remember one thing, it is for the greater good: you may have lost your dignity, but next time you drink a 10 year-old Burgundy, you'll know there's truffle in there.


2. The second thing you should consider is, well, cheating.
Fumbling around your friends kitchen may be fun once or twice, but what will happen if people start thinking your a kleptomaniac, or a utensil fetishist? There must be another solution.
Well, there is my friends, and I, in my immense generosity, will promptly deliver it to you. It is a well kept secret. The secret to learning quickly how to recognize different scents without loosing all your friends.
Here is my secret weapon to shine in society and impress my friends with my super smelling skills (I know it sounds very sexy):
Le Nez du Vin, by Jean Lenoir.
A kit of 54 aromas captured in little flasks (the basic fragrances you can find in wine)so that you can train your nostrils until they die. I do not work for Mr Lenoir, nor do I have shares in his business, but I still really recommend anyone who wants to learn how to taste wine to buy it.






3. Drink and taste as much as you can.
But mostly don't just drink, take the time to reflect and think about what you are drinking. Why do you like it ? or not ? What aromas are predominant. Do you smell fruits, flowers ?



So next time you sit in a fancy restaurant, and the sommelier comes up to you and asks you to taste, don't be scared, if the wine is corked, you're allowed to say so. Just think about your little flask and try hard to remember if it corresponds to the same smell. Before you know it, it'll come naturally and you won't even have to think about your magic kit !

Sunday afternoon tea

A little bit of sweetness in my world of Chicken and wine.
It can't hurt, and with the dreadful weather we've been having in Paris today, I just felt like hanging around home with a couple of friends.
Hanging around with food of course.

So here's a little improvisation that comes from the Kumquats I found at my local market this morning. I don't usually cook them, there are lovely just like that.

Chinon Wine Makers Fair

Do you know Cabernet Franc ?

I mean do you REALLY know Cabernet Franc ?

The only true way to discover this unusual varietal in its depths and idiosyncrasies is to taste it in a wine from the Loire Valley.
Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil and Chinon are areas that usually produce 100% Cabernet Franc wines and take pride in the specificity of this unusual varietal.