Archive for February 29th, 2008

Vox Wine Lounge Blind Wine Tasting

February 29th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Two blind wine tastings in one day is almost too good to be true.  Apart from the Dierberg & Star Lane blind tasting which I discussed in the previous post, I also participated in the Vox Wine Lounge blind wine tasting.

Twice a month (every other Tuesday night), William Sherer, Master Sommelier and wine director of Aureole in Las Vegas, organizes a blind wine tasting for wine industry professionals.  Most of the participants to these blind tastings are master sommeliers, wine buyers and wine aficionados.  These events follow a set format.  At every tasting, one type of grape varietal or wine style is featured, and each of the participants must bring a bottle of the selected grape varietal or wine style.  The blind tastings are held on a different venue every time.

This week, the blind tasting was held at the Vox Wine Lounge in Henderson, NV.  Patrick Pretz, Vox’s sommelier, played host.  We owe him a great thank you for his wonderful hospitality.

The Blind Tasting Format

The Vox Wine Lounge blind tasting was different from all the other blind tastings I’ve been to.  I have participated in numerous blind tastings before and, in such events, the participants usually sampled and examined the featured wines then shared and compared tasting notes afterwards.  The Vox Wine Lounge tasting followed a different procedure, however.

Each of the participants was given a specific role at the wine tasting.  Every one had to examine, describe and analyze only one aspect of the featured wines be it color, nose (aromas & bouquet), taste (aromas), structure, origin, vintage, or producer.  For instance, one taster would sample a wine and assess it according to his aspect assignment (e.g. color); another taster would then sample the same wine and assess it according to the aspect assigned him (e.g. assess where the wine came from); and yet another taster would sample the same wine and evaluate it on yet another aspect (e.g. structure).  The whole thing sounds complicated, I know, but you’ll be surprised at how much fun this type of blind tasting can be.

Wine Tasting Results

The Vox Wine Lounge blind wine tasting was very successful.  It was very entertaining and, more importantly, very educational.  One truly learns a lot by working in a group and sharing knowledge and expertise with others.  In fact, working in a group also means greater accuracy as everyone benefits from the expertise of the other participants.

As a case in point, at the Vox Wine Lounge blind tasting, the group was able to guess the correct vintage of 60 percent of the 14 wines sampled.  More amazingly, the group accurately pinpointed the geographical origin of 95 percent of the wines.  Of the 95 percent, 50 percent was traced back to the correct region or area, 20 percent to the precise AOC or AVA and 15 percent to the actual wine producer.  The only two wines we failed to place were a Pinot Noir Cava (sparkling wine) from Argentina and a Pinot Noir from the Loire Valley in France.

My Vox Wine Lounge wine tasting experience definitely proves that one always learns more about a wine’s characteristics when discussing it openly with other wine professionals.

Get Set for the Next Blind Wine Tasting

The next blind wine tasting will be held on March 11th, 2008, Tuesday, at the Marché Bacchus in Summerlin.  The grape varietal for that tasting will be Chardonnay, and the wines can come from anywhere in the world.  Be creative and bring something everyone can enjoy.

That’s all for this wine tasting.  Cheers!

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Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards Blind Wine Tasting

February 29th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Nevada Wine Agents presented a California blind wine tasting event at the Company American Bistro in Luxor Las Vegas.  What a beautiful location!  My compliments go out to the chef for preparing and serving us such mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres at the wine tasting.

The Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards organized this blind wine tasting.  Five well-known Californian Cabernets were featured.  Naturally, this tasting was held to promote Dierberg & Star Lane wines and to show that their wines can compete against the wines of some of California’s most “reputable” wineries or winemakers.  Around 20 sommeliers and wine industry professionals attended the event.

At the end of the blind wine tasting, the Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 got the no. 2 spot although, on a price-quality scale, this cabernet sauvignon outperformed the rest and ranked first; at a third of the price of the other wines featured at the tasting, the Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon definitely makes for a great buy.  The first place went to the Hourglass Cabernet 2004.  The Caymus 2003, the 100 Acres 2004 and the Opus One 2003 ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively.

Personal note on blind tasting: When blind tastings are performed for the purpose of comparing wines of the same varietal and region, I like to see a more horizontal selection.  In my opinion, all of the wines featured at this blind wine tasting should have been of the same year as Star Lane’s Cabernet Sauvignon (2005).

That’s all for this wine tasting!  Cheers!

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How to Decant Wine

February 26th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

I suggest that you read “When Should You Decant Wine?” before you read this article.

You have probably seen wine decanted in many different ways.  You have probably seen wine being carefully poured into a wine decanter or wine carafe.  You have also probably seen what I like to call the “Slam Dunk” method of wine decanting; in this instance, the host turns the wine bottle upside down and, without any restraint, dumps the wine into the wine decanter.

So, which wine decanting method is better:  the careful wine pouring or the unrestrained wine dumping?  The truth is that you can do both – but not with all wines.  Some wines are better served by careful decanting; some are better served by the Slam Dunk decanting system.

Wine Decanting Tools

The following are the basic wine decanting tools:

The use of a decanting cradle is optional, but I highly recommend that you use one.  A decanting cradle will ensure a steady rate of wine flow, so you won’t stir up the sediments as you pour the wine.  If you disturb the sediments while pouring, you will get less wine out of the wine bottle.  If you do not have a decanting cradle, use a funnel instead; a glass funnel is preferred.

You also need a candle or any kind of backlighting.  This will let you see through the bottle as you pour the wine into the decanter.  When decanting, do not place the candle directly under the wine bottle; this will darken the bottle and produce unwanted smoke.

One piece of advice regarding wine decanters:  when buying a wine decanter, make sure that it is functional and easy to clean.  I have this really beautiful wine decanter that I never use as it takes forever to clean.  It is also so badly designed that the last one-half of a glass was wasted when I used it.

The Traditional Wine Decanting Method

Old and fine wines, while patiently waiting for judgment day, typically form plenty of sediments through the years.  If you are decanting old and fine wines, do the following:

  1. Two days before serving, take the bottle of wine from storage and let it stand upright.  This way, the sediments will have time to settle at the bottom of the wine bottle.
  2. On the day of serving, open the wine bottle carefully to ensure that you will not disturb the sediments that have already settled at the bottom.
  3. Before decanting the wine, make sure that your wine decanter is clean and does not smell of stale air.
  4. When the wine and the decanter are ready, place the wine bottle in your decanting cradle (if you have one), light the candle and, with a steady hand, start pouring the wine into the funnel or directly into the wine decanter.  Do not stop pouring until you see the sediments getting too close to the neck of the wine bottle.
  5. Let the wine rest in the decanter for a bit (30-60 minutes) and serve.

My Personal Decanting Method for Old, Vintage Wines

I use the traditional decanting method for old, vintage wines, but I like to start a week in advance.

  1. First, I take the wine bottle from my wine cellar then let it stand in an upright position for two days.  I make sure that the wine bottle is away from light throughout this time.
  2. After two days, I open the wine bottle, place it on the decanting cradle, light the candle, and then pour the wine into the decanter.
  3. I wash the wine bottle, find a new cork if the one I’ve just removed is too damaged, funnel all but one small glass of the wine back into the now clean bottle, spray inert aerosol gas (I use Private Preserve) into the bottle, and put the cork back on.
  4. I let the bottle stand in an upright position until I am ready to serve the wine a few days later

Why do I follow this intricate decanting process?  Why decant the wine then pour it back into the bottle a few days before actual serving?  I have two main reasons:

First, this decanting process allows the wine to clear up even more.  In the process of pouring wine into the decanter, the smaller sediments may have been stirred up.  My decanting method gives these sediments time to resettle.

Second, this process also gives me the opportunity to taste the wine and detect faults, if any.  I would really hate to find out on the day of serving that the great wine I told all my friends about is faulty.  Imagine holding a party for the express purpose of letting other wine lovers sample a special wine.  On the day of the tasting, you discover that the wine you’re planning to serve – the wine that is the main reason for the wine tasting party – is actually faulty.  In that case, you’ll have to find a replacement right away, and you probably won’t have time to decant your replacement wine properly.  A mistake like this can definitely ruin your party.

My personal method of decanting old, vintage wines is tedious, I admit, but it just goes to show how much I really love fine wines.

The Slam Dunk Decanting Method

The slam dunk method is best used on younger wines that have no visible sediments.  In this case, decanting is done mainly to aerate the wine.  The slam dunk method lets the wine breathe by almost breaking it up.

I use this wine decanting technique when serving young wines with big tannins, which are still immature and closed up.  After pouring the wine into the decanter, I let it sit there for at least an hour or two before serving.

Note:  You can now buy aerating gadgets (i.e. wine aerator) that you can use to open up wine.  These gadgets do the trick, and they work even faster than dumping the wine into a decanter.

I will end my discussion of wine decanting here.  I hope that you have learned something from this post and that the next time you’re serving and decanting wine, you will be able to apply the wine decanting techniques discussed here.  Cheers!

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When Should You Decant Wine?

February 26th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

My clients often ask me about when to decant wine.  The answer is fairly simple.

The decanting rule of thumb: You should decant older red wines, ports, Madeira, and fine, older, white dessert wines that exhibit obvious sedimentation.  Consider decanting to be a ritual reserved for fine wines and vintage wines.  Your everyday drinking wines do not need to be decanted unless they are too tight or closed up.  Please read “How to Decant Wine” and look for the section on the Slam Dunk method, the decanting procedure that is appropriate for younger, tight wines.

Decanting is usually done to remove sediments from old and fine wines.  This and two others make up the three main reasons for decanting wine.

When to Decant Wine:  Three Reasons for Decanting Wine

1.  Decant wine to preserve quality.

This has already been discussed above.  When wine exhibits sedimentation, you need to decant it.  How can you tell that sedimentation has occurred?  Check the wine to see if there are bits of sediment “suspended” in it.  These sediments make the wine look hazy.  Sedimentation not only undermines the visual quality of your wine; it can also kill a great wine.

In this instance, therefore, wine is decanted to preserve wine quality.  As mentioned above, however, wine decanting is actually crucial only in fine wines and vintage wines.

2.  Decant wines to aerate them.

Younger, “closed” wines, which need plenty of time to breathe, may also be decanted.  Wines of this type may be opened and allowed to breathe up to 2 hours prior to serving.

A word of caution: When decanting to aerate wine, make sure that room temperature is not above 65-67 degrees as this will accelerate the oxidation process.  Older wines need less aeration time.

Please read “How to Decant Wine” for more information about this.

3. Decant wine for visual impact.

People also decant wines for psychological reasons.  Wine decanters lend a touch of class and elegance to any dinner party.

Let’s say that you are hosting a dinner party tonight.  Your budget is tight, but you want to make a great impression on your guests.  What you can do is serve wine in a decanter, so your guests will think that you are serving them a great wine.

I personally do NOT recommend that you do this, however.  If your guests are wine challenged (i.e. do not know a lot about wines), then you can probably get away with it.  If your guests know their wines, however, this ploy will only make you look bad.  Furthermore, most cheap wines tend to loose what little bouquet they have when served in a wine decanter.  On the contrary, a great wine’s bouquet can be smelled in a glass hours after the wine has been consumed, in which case decanting does little harm.  For more information, please read “Aromas vs. Bouquet:  What Is the Difference?”

A wine decanter should really be used only when you are serving your guests a fine, old wine that will benefit from (or that will not be degraded by) decanting.

Cheers!

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How to Pair Cheese & Wine

February 10th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Wine, apart from bread, is cheese’s best companion.  Which is better with cheese, though:  white wine or red wine?  The following discussion will teach you the basics of cheese and wine pairing.

Red Wine or White Wine with Cheese?

Most people believe that one should drink red wine with cheese.  This age-old practice of pairing up cheese with red wine is actually the result of the dinner routine where it is customary to drink lighter wines before heavier ones.  Since cheese is usually served before desert (that is, late in the meal), people have been inadvertently serving heavy reds with cheeses.

The truth is that most cheeses are better accompanied by white wines.  In fact, you can destroy the entire cheese experience if you pair your cheese with the wrong wine.  In your next dinner party, use the following tips to help you correctly pair up cheese and wine.

Wine and Cheese Pairing Tips

As a general rule, serve cheese with a white wine rather than a red wine.  If you prefer red wines over white wines, though, stick with a light one.  Beaujolais and Burgundy wines do a great job of balancing out the lactic acids found in cheeses.

In general, wines with low tannin content also do much better with most cheeses.  Port is cheese friendly, too.

The following are some ideal cheese-wine pairs that 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
  • Mild Cheddar with Chardonnay
  • Sharp Cheddar with older Rojas

Wine and Cheese Pairing List

I have compiled for WineAromas.com, an extensive list of ideal wine and cheese pairs.  The wine and cheese pairing list includes over 80 cheeses from all over the world.  You can find this list at http://www.winearomas.com/info/cheese.html.

The above wine pairing guide and the wine and cheese pairing list at Wine Aromas are just general guidelines that can help you avoid cheese and wine pairing disasters.  We all have our own tastes, though, so I urge you to experiment with different cheese and wine pairs so you can discover for yourself what your personal cheese and wine pairing preferences are!  You sure will have a lot of fun doing it.  At the very least, this will give you the perfect excuse to sample different cheeses and taste / drink a lot of wines.

Have fun experimenting with wine and cheese pairs!  Cheers!

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Faults in Wine

February 07th, 2008 by Sébastien Gavillet

Today, I was asked an interesting question: How does one learn to recognize faults in wine? Fortunately, this is a million-dollar question with a $119-dollar answer – the 12-Aroma Faults Kit at WineAromas.com. This affordable wine faults kit is a great tool for anyone who wishes to learn how to sniff out faulty aromas in wines.

Why Do You Need an Aroma Faults Kit?

It is said that approximately 8% of all wines are faulty, yet less than 1% is returned at the point of purchase. There are two main reasons for this. First, there are those who drink faulty wine without noticing the fault or without being able to pinpoint the particular fault. Second, there are those who drink faulty wine, notice the fault, but do not bother returning the wine bottle.

The wine faults kit will teach you how to recognize faulty wine aromas. With practice, you will be able to determine whether or not a certain wine has a faulty aroma. You will also be able to recognize the particular type of faulty aroma present. You can therefore demand a replacement every time you are served faulty wine; thus, you’ll never have to drink faulty wine again.

The Wine Faults Kit

The wine faults kit is used the world over by winemakers, sommeliers, wine lovers, and some of the best wine schools like UC Davis that offer a wine education program. The 12-Aroma Wine Faults Kit, in particular, will teach you the 12 most commonly found faulty scents in wines. It also comes with a booklet that explains how these faulty aromas occur and how you can avoid or rectify them.

I must warn you; the faults kit does not smell good. It has the scents of vegetal, rotten apple, vinegar, glue, soap, sulfur, rotten egg, onion, cauliflower, horse, moldy-earth, and cork. Indeed; a faults kit session will never be mistaken for aromatherapy.

I highly recommend the faults kit to anyone who loves wines. It is definitely a worthy investment. The next time you are in a restaurant and detect a faulty aroma in your wine, you can call up the waiter or sommelier – should they have one – and you will be able to explain your concern in great and specific detail. This way, you can get a new, fault-free bottle of wine.

Important faulty wine tip: Should you detect the vegetal fault in your wine, change your wine order altogether. The vegetal 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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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!

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