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.

What to drink with curry?

A week ago a good friend of mine invited me over for dinner. 

His specialty: a delicious Mauritian Curry. 

One of the characteristics of Mauritian Curry is that it is both sweet and spicy. 

Small raisins soften the spicy taste of peppers and exquisite chutneys help you cool off your mouth when you've just bitten a piece of green chili. It's an adventure: you never know on what you are going to end up. 

Although this is quite charming and delicious, it doesn't make it easy to find a good wine pairing. 

So when my friend told me I was in charge of finding a wine that would be well suited for his dish, my first reaction was: "ouch". Tough one. 

Usually when I cook a curry, I go for the only easy wine-food pairing I know for this dish:Gewürztraminer. 

Look it up on the internet if you want, if you type "what to drink with curry", you basically have this : 

• Beer 
• Riesling or Chenin
• Gewürztraminer

And it does work I must admit. 

1. The bitterness of beer blend well with the spiciness of the curry, and cools off the hottest chili. 

2. Riesling ior Chenin are also a good choice as their freshness tames the chili yet enhances the flavors of the curry with the overall acidity of the wine. 

3. Finally Gewürztraminer is both sweet and complex, rich and dense. It's not always easy to pair Gewürztraminer with food as each glass of this wine explodes with aromas of rose, lychee and spices (cumin mostly). Yet curry seems to work perfectly with it. The sweetness of the wine blends magically with the raisins of the curry. The cumin and pepper aromas mingle with the spices of the Mauritian dish. And the overall opulence of the wine disciplines this adventurous dish. 

Yet this time, I felt like doing something new. 

Living dangerously. 

Finding a wine I would usually not drink with a curry dish. 

So I went for a strong, spicy red wine from the south of France. 

A wine which would contrast rather than complement our food. 

A wine whose alcohol level would tame a sweet dish. 

Whose notes of toasted bread and spices would magnify the curry's sweet and sour aromas. 

A rich and supple texture with elegant tannins which would be in harmony with the opulence of the curry dish. 

Vin de P

And it worked out very nicely. 

I'm far from being a pro at making wine and food association but sometimes a little bit of imagination can help you find a new interesting combination. 

You shouldn't always focus on finding similar aromas in your wine and in your food. 

Sometimes contrast is the key. 

It can reveal a whole new dimension to your wine and to your food. 

Don't only concentrate on aromas, you should also take into account the texture and intensity of the wine and of the food to elaborate great associations that would not seem adequate at first sight. 

Domaine de L'Aigle, Pinot Noir, Gerard Bertrand, 2006

Languedoc-Rousillon

 Nose: Berries (black and red), pepper, clove, toasted notes

Mouth: supple and rich, well balanced however with surprisingly soft tannins for a Languedoc wine. 

Wine note: Chinon Cabernet Franc

I am in the Loire Valley for the week-end and decided to try a few new Chinon wines.

Most people don't really like Chinon. They think it is inevitably harsh and green.
And truthfully most of the time they are right. Chinon can have a very powerful aroma of Green Pepper and full bodied tannins that make it difficult to appreciate for the beginner wine drinker.

The trick is to serve it between 15° and 17°C and to open it up at least 1 hour before tasting it.
Most of all if it is a "hill" wine (and not a river wine), be sure to wait a few years before drinking it. It will soften the tannins.
And surely save a lot of pain to your gums. 


Yet sometimes Chinon wines will surprise you with their complexity and their fruitiness.

"Les Picasses", Château de Coulaine, Chinon, 2004 (100% Cabernet Franc ) came as one of these surprises.
A great wine to appreciate with lamb chops (like I did), red meat, mushrooms or roasted duck.

Here are my tasting notes:

Color: a bright ruby red wine which gives a hint of what we will be expecting...

Nose: intense black berries (Blackcurrent, blackberry) followed immediately by earthly notes like moist soil, mushroom and a herbaceous touch. After a while and if the wine warms a little you may also find some licorice and cigar box. 

Mouth: as expected the tannins are firm, rich but an interesting acidity counterbalances them well. 

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

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 !

Bourgogne mon amour

Today I went to Fouquet's for lunch.

To tell you the truth although it's a real institution in the world of French Brasserie, I had never actually eaten at Fouquet's before.
A diet coke for 15 euros; I can live without that.

Independent Wine Makers Fair

Twice a year the Independent Wine Makers Fair (Salon des Vignerons Indépendants) takes place in Paris.

It's quite an event, and the occasion for amateur wine connoisseurs like me to discover small estates that are hardly sold on the mainstream wine market.

I went there with a couple of friends to experience the frenzy of tasting wines from 9am to 5 pm in a gigantic garage-like hall that held approximately 1000 wine makers.

We started out spitting our wine, but by 2pm we had completely forgotten all about our spitting cups. So I'm not sure my judgment on the last wines we tasted is totally accurate...

In fact, I realized the following morning that I had bought 3 times as much wine past that time.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is because we got lucky and found the best estates towards the end.

26 years old, not a wrinkle.

Of course it's not me I am talking about.

I'm talking about someone special. Someone I met quite a while ago, during a dinner party at my parents' house in the Alps.

I'm talking about one of my first experiences as a wine lover.

I'm talking about Château La Lagune, 1983.