Restaurant Show ’09 Earls Court

We came, we saw, we… Well read the blog for the results. Monday afternoon we collected together the paraphernalia and ingredients for the trip to London to compete in the Gastropub Challenge in the Restaurant Show ’09 http://www.therestaurantshow.co.uk/page.cfm/link=106 We were invited to enter as either or both the Garrick’s Head pub and the King William pub. We entered as the King William http://www.kingwilliampub.com/ with a team comprising staff from all three pubs in the group. 

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 After dropping most of the equipment at Earls Court 2, see previous picture, we headed to leafy Clapham to drop off sleeping stuff and Charlie and Amanda’s children with Granny. After a short walking tour of south London, thank god for GPS, we arrived at the Anchor and Hope, The Cut, Waterloo, London (seems they have no website), to drink a pint or two, eat, drink a glass of wine and discuss the final plans for the competition the next day. Without turning into a reviewer, all grand on the Anchor and Hope’s product: nice beer; sensible no reservation policy; good wine (same supplier as us http://www.lescaves.co.uk/ ); fairly bright service considering they were heaving on a Monday night; and most importantly great ‘gastropub’ food. Collectively we had smoked whitebait, smoked cod’s roe, a whole crab, charcuterie and a rather super salt beef broth, ‘just’ to start. Then shared a superb slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with Dauphinoise potato. A bottle of Grüner Veltliner with starters, then a surprisingly zingy Beaujolais with the lamb (turns out neither of these from Caves de Pyrene).

Morning of the competition and London traffic crossing the Thames was grindingly slow as ever, so we were last to arrive at the competition. The arena comprised four equal kitchen and dining spaces for four teams of four; two chefs and two front of house. The competition was http://www.millbrookinnsouthpool.co.uk/index.asp ; http://www.thecrookedbillet.co.uk/ ; http://www.theploughwavendon.com/ ; and us http://www.kingwilliampub.com/ . The teams all said hello and good luck, this was a ‘friendly’ and the organisers were very helpful, introducing us to three runners from Westminster College who pointed us in the right direction or ‘ran’ off to get us missing bits n bobs. As previously posted, I was pretty nervous, as I imagine all of us were. We had a bit of time to get our bearings and switch on the ovens etc. The start was 10.30 so no cooking or laying up ‘til then. Each team had two hours to cook and serve a main and dessert to twelve diners (three tables of four) with two more servings for the judges.

Nice aprons! Chefs got jackets, we got monogrammed aprons, so named and logoed  the event began. We were issued our wines from our sponsors, Brown Brothers, so in the fridge with the bubbles and whites. Table cloths went down; napkins were folded; cutlery placed; glasses buffed and repositioned for maximum sparkle; menus placed in our rough-hewn display blocks, then turned and turned to be facing just the right direction; cold-pressed rapeseed oil placed centre table as our emblematic local fine product. Chefs chopped; creamed; ice-creamed; seared; sautéed; sausaged; butchered; boiled; dirtied bowls and handed washing up to me, which I judiciously handed to Jason to wash up. 

Each team’s fourth person got the lofty title of ‘gopher’, i.e. washer up, they formed a bond in the backup area swapping detergent and scrubbers until the hot water duly ran cold halfway through service. All the while judges noted and ticked away, marking each team for hygiene, professionalism, communication, organisation and efficiency. Our tables looked nice, but had we gone a bit pared down? The tables of the other pubs had a bit more flare and finish. Also we hadn’t quite got the right end of the stick regarding wine service, having brought the correct glasses for what we would recommend, but weren’t going to serve. Turned out we were serving the provided wines, had we got flutes? No! Thankfully the sherry schooners were miniature flutes, it made a talking point.

 Midday neared and guests/judges started to arrive. We were being scored on greeting, seating and service. So charm and natter I did. The rules did not permit any wine or food service ‘til 12.30, but what to do with already sat guests whilst they had a talk from Paxton and Whitfield Cheese? Quick word with the compere and rules bent, of course any pub wouldn’t have sat customers without serving a drink. Out came the bubbles, Brown Brothers Prosecco (no I hadn’t ever seen Prosecco from outside Italy before either) and ‘Restaurant Show’09’ water.

 Service time beckoned and hopefully I’ll get all the menus emailed back from the other pubs to include in the next entry.

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Restaurant show

Very nervous

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Restaurant Show '09 Earls Court

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Restaurant Show '09 Earls Court

Just unloading at the show. Back tomorrow morning to compete.

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WSET 2 part 4 – Côtes du Rhône

The river Rhône flows south from the Swiss Alps to Marseille on the Mediterranean. Swelled on its route by many tributaries, this mass of water has not only carved a deep cleft through the rocks between the Alps and Massif Centrale, it has an effect on the climate on those banks. The appellation runs from Vienne in the north in a thin corridor down the banks of the river, fanning out west to Costière de Nîmes and east to the boundary with Provence at the river’s delta. Any wine produced within this can carry the name Côtes du Rhône.

 

map courtesy of Wikipedia.

For photos of the area, follow these links: and

Geographically the region is split in two. The Northern Rhône runs along the steep slopes of the gorge from Vienne to just south of Valence. Principal cultivation is on the granite right (western) bank, the only exceptions being the left bank granite outcrop of the Appellation Contrôlées of Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage, and the satellite appellations of Clairette de Die and Châtillon-en-Diois on the Drôme tributary. The Southern Rhône is everything south of Montélimar, now recognising the Mediterranean influenced Costière de Nîmes as its western limit. In addition to the general umbrella appellation Côtes du Rhône, within the Southern Rhône there exists another term Côte du Rhône-Villages, which is then appended by one of the 95 ‘villages’ names. This defines the wine production as a step up from the general category but on which is not from within one of the strictly regulated Appellation Controlées.

Northern Rhône

In the northern Rhône four grapes dominate. Red Syrah, and the whites, which only make up four percent, Rousanne, Marsanne and Viognier. The Côte-Rôtie, literal translation ‘the roasted coast’, with its nearly unscalable, south facing slopes, benefits from the Rhône’s reflective qualities, magnifying the sun’s ‘roasting’ effects. Almost exclusively Syrah is grown here, but Viognier is also present in small quantities; a small percentage of its juice is sometimes added to Syrah’s to increase the aromatic qualities of its red. Condrieu’s equally difficult terrain is not the only cross the region bears, as Viognier is a notoriously stubborn and finicky vine to grow. It is unusually grown in pairs in a tapering shape here. Condrieu’s single variety white is very much back in vogue with demand outstripping supply now, where once its vineyards were near abandoned. The area St Joseph is now long and thin, having expanded the AC in 1969 to over 40 miles long. Having endured criticism for the dilution this caused to the quality of some of the cooler climate, riverbank grown reds, the Rousanne and Marsanne whites are some of the most prized of the locality. Limited to just 130 hectares, Hermitage is the big star of the northern Rhône. Almost every available plot is put aside to vines. Traditionally the boisterous red that the region produces was so sought after that some Bordeaux reds were termed ‘hermitagé’, i.e. actually beefed up by small amounts of imported Hermitage red. Hermitage is 100 percent Syrah and is intended for maturation, even the fruit led examples. Enveloping the appellation is the much larger Crozes-Hermitage. Reds from here can rival Hermitage, or can be full of blackcurrant fruit flavours that are better younger. Like St Joseph on the opposite bank, Crozes-Hermitage produces Rousanne and Marsanne whites, these are substantial in flavour, if not in production quantity. Those two white grape varieties feature exclusively in the golden sparkling wines of the most southern appellation of St-Péray. The sparkling and still whites of the tiny Drôme appellations utilise Clairette and Muscat grapes instead. Cornas completes the appellations of the northern Rhône; its reds, though consistent, don’t carry the cachet of its near neighbours.

Southern Rhône

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so famous, so instrumental, so why? Geographically at the centre of the southern Rhône, it was here that Baron Le Roy became the first wine grower to delimit an area of land to exclusively produce Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1923. In doing so the Appellation Contrôlée system of France and Denominazione di Origine system for elsewhere in Europe began its development. This delimiting was not merely a system of marking boundaries for the villages’ grape crops. The grape varieties that were permitted into each named appellation and methods for growing, harvesting and vinification became law in 1935 and 1936 across all of France’s wine production areas. Grenache was brought to the area as Garnacha, while the southern Rhône was under the Kingdom of Aragón’s rule until the mid-seventeenth century. Grenache dominates both Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s blends as it does most of the wine production of this area of the Mediterranean. Almost always bolstered by the sterner Syrah, thirteen varieties are permitted; Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise and Cinsault then in smaller amounts Vaccarèse, Picpoul Noir, Terret Noir, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Roussanne and Picardan. Only Château de Beaucastel and Clos des Papes use all in their blends.

Surrounding Châteauneuf-du-Pape are the Côtes du Rhône Villages. These fine ‘parishes’ of wine producers are named on the appellation. Certain larger ‘villages’ have become ACs in their own rite. Most famously: Gigondas; Vacquerays; Cairanne; Beaumes de Venise, even more famous for its Muscat dominated sweet wines; Tavel and Lirac the torch bearers for the regions rosés.

Eastwards towards Provence lies Côtes du Ventoux; southwesterly towards Languedoc is the more Mediterranean Costières de Nîmes; both their reds and rosés are lighter in style. Beyond these ACs a great deal of the general Côtes du Rhône appellation is grown within a broad band of quality and styles.

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WSET 2 Part 3 – Riesling

Sugar and acid, Riesling has bundles of both. Going right across the range of sweetness and acidity is both Riesling’s trump card and Achilles’ heel. 

image: Ripe grapes of Riesling. Photographer: Tom Maack, Riesling grapes and leaves. Rheingau, Germany, October 2005. Source: Wikipedia.

If wine circles are to be believed, then those in the know revere Riesling above all the white grapes. It has the required sugars to either leave residual sweetness in the wine and remain low in alcohol, or after the impact of Botrytis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botrytis_cinerea the noble rot, deliver high alcohol sweet wines, and also be able to deliver dry wines. Temper this with its mouth-watering acidity and its ability to produce balanced, fine white wines that then can be matured to improve them, and it’s easy to see its appeal. To the untutored, though, what to expect of a Riesling has seen its popularity waver. Compound this with the name being used, for a while, to refer to a group of lesser grapes; further confusion with Welschriesling and Riesling Italico not being Riesling (The Germans and Alsatians are keen for these varieties to adopt Rizling for these grapes); and its easy to see how this fairest of fine grapes has had mixed reactions.

The vines are resistant to frost, so make Riesling good for early winter pruning, and more importantly able to survive in regions that cannot support other varieties. The bunches are small and compact and are prone to coulure and botrytis. This vulnerability to botrytis and the plant’s resistance to frost actually give it the ability to enable the harvest for Eiswein, where the grapes are picked late in the year while actually frozen. The resulting juice that is extracted without the crystals of water being melted is super-concentrated and the resulting Eiswein is prized, and priced, as a supreme luxury drink.

Yields can be high and growth vigorous without undermining the quality. The grapes ripen late, so while vines have been lost from certain areas due to this, they have often been reinstated where warmer microclimates enable full ripening. Juice from under-ripe grapes produces a characterless wine, therefore a decline in vine numbers. Over the last half century this selective replanting has resulted in better Riesling wines.

Origins

In the Rheingau, Mosel and Baden regions, mentions of Rieslings date back as far as the middle ages. Confusion exists for exact dates due its similarity of spelling to the other native ‘Räuschling’ grape. By the middle of the fifteenth century it is recorded throughout the wine producing areas of south western Germany, then only slightly later in Alsace.

Territories

A strong candidate in the cooler northern European wine regions of Germany, Alsace, Luxembourg, Austria, Alto Adige in Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and then on into central Asia. Surprisingly, Riesling was the biggest white grape grown in Australia until Chardonnay took over very recently in 1990. The total hectares grown continues to increase, though, as new areas introduce the variety. Present in New Zealand and America, it is in Ontario, Canada and New York State, USA that production of Icewine has led to a surge in popularity again of Riesling.

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WSET 2 part 2 – Grenache

Fruit, think Grenache, think fruit. Growing in three grape colours, Noir, Gris and Blanc, the varieties are used in red, rosé and white wine production. It buds early, so can be prone to coulure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulure,  ripening late, so needs areas with long growing seasons.

 
image courtesy of Josh McFadden  

Also known as Cannonau or Tocai Rosso on Corsica and Sardinia, it is more often seen as Garnacha, simply the Spanish spelling. It has a close relative Grenache Poilu or Velu, that is also called Lladoner Pelut or Garnacha Peluda depending which village you’re in.


Showing out in the prized rosés of Tavel, Lirac, Provence and Navarra, and the whites of the Roussillon, Grenache is AC named in many southern French sweeties. Single varietal Grenache red wines are generally fruit led. They can make reds with tannic elements if the vines are old and stressed, but it’s as the bearer of fruit flavours to blends that Grenache is most widely used.

As a vine it’s a tough fruit, resisting phylloxera in the nineteenth century, so making it much favoured when European vineyards were being replanted. The mostly bush grown vines can survive, even prosper, in dry, hot and dusty conditions. Until Shiraz took over in 1970s, it held the number one spot in red grape production in Australia. Unlike in many European territories where it had been removed, Grenache vine numbers have not diminished, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have simply had more new plantings.

Origins
The kingdom of Aragón, Spain, spread Garnacha vines with the expansion of their realm until the mid seventeenth century.  East to Duero, south to Valencia, north into Roussillon and west to the Mediterranean islands. Curiously it was not planted in the Aragón region of Rioja (I know you’ve heard of it), until the twentieth century.

Territories
In Europe its northern most situation is the northern Rhône. Not permitted in the mix with Syrah in the top end ACs, it has a presence elsewhere. It is top banana though in the southern Rhône, I’ve already mentioned the rosés of Tavel and Lirac. The most famous red, Châteauneuf du Pape, is synonymous with Grenache, as are the surrounding blockbuster ACs. It is the lead grape, but generally has a supporting role from Syrah to add much valued tannin and substance, as well as a large cast featuring Carignan, Mouvédre, Cinsault and more, up to thirteen in some. There is so much down there it’ll have its own post. Neighbouring Provence and Languedoc Roussillon for whites, rosés and reds. Then over the border to north east Spain, where as Garnacha, it is a solo star of the Navarra rosados; for the past century adding fruit to the harder Temperanillo in Rioja; and as the headline grabber in the ever more popular Priorat blend.

In Australia it holds its volume, if not its poll position, where due to irrigation its flavours can become somewhat dilute. In California it has its place as ‘White Grenache’ rosé that I sense it blushes slightly from. Those ‘Rhône Rangers’ there  are thankful for that somewhat dubious patronage as it has allowed Grenache vines to mature in the Californian vineyards, where it may have been uprooted for more modish varieties.

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WSET Lesson 2 Part 1 Syrah

A black grape that is small and thick skinned, so juice extracted from Syrah* grapes and skins has a good helping of tannins (we know already how vital these are to red wine). The vines are late budding, so they don't fall foul of climatic troubles early in the growing season. They are fairly disease resistant, except for Chlorosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorosis  that can affect the rootstock. Syrah needs warmth to ripen, in a warm area this will happen by the middle of the harvest season, again avoiding the troubles the climate can wreak on later ripening grapes.

image courtesy of user Bethling at wikipedia (CC-BY-2.0)

 

 

The red wines produced from Syrah are always full-bodied, always tannic and exhibit characteristics of dark fruits, black pepper and spice aromas. The exclusively Syrah classic Northern Rhône wines of Côte Rôtie and Hermitage are big boys whose tannins take years to soften. In Australia it is called Shiraz and is typically grown in warmer conditions, so the resulting wines have more fruit characteristics, but are no less well built.


Origins
The disparity of the name illustrates the unanswerable question of Syrah’s origins. Although synonymous with the Rhône valley, it was definitely an introduction. The variety has been traced back to Shiraz in Persia, where it still grows. Archeological exploration has shown wine production in the Rhône area for over two millennia, though this is unlikely to have been from Syrah. If the variety had been introduced by the Greeks then it would have borne the name of Shiraz in the first century BC. If the Romans had introduced it two and a half centuries later it would have taken its name from Syracuse where the legions were based. We know it was the Romans who introduced Viognier to the region. By the third century AD Syrah was much in evidence in the Rhône, growing wild having seeded itself beyond the confines of the vineyards.


Territories
As a variety it dominates the Northern Rhône, being the only red grape allowed into the Appellation Contrôlée red wines of the region. Viognier, the perfumed white grape, is the only other addition permitted (only up to 5%), and only as juice for co-fermentation. Blending of red and white wines after fermentation is outlawed across the world. As Shiraz it is dominant in its other great territory, Australia, where it constitutes 17% of red grape production. Sold as a single varietal right across the quality spectrum, it is often successfully blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the past three decades Syrah has increased in popularity across the globe. Particularly heading south down the Rhône, where its strong flavour backbone has made it the major blending variety with the principal variety of the region, Grenache. From there its popularity spreads in all directions around the Mediterranean, particularly as a single varietal Vin de Pays in Languedoc. California has increased its planting of Syrah mostly down to a loose collective named the 'Rhône Rangers' http://www.rhonerangers.org, whose practice of emulating the Old World wine making styles bucks the established trends of the region.


*not to be confused with North American Petit Sirah, although small amounts of this grape are permitted in the blends of Rhône Ranger wines.

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WSET Lesson 1 part 5

Keeping it
There are leftover ends of wine in my household, honestly, but should you not be going down the Nigella route of freezing your wine leftovers for gravies, then how to keep it fresh?
There is nothing as great as a freshly opened bottle for white and rosé wines, and those reds open for the correct breathing time cannot be beaten. Once open contact with oxygen makes the wine oxidise and spoil. This is a big problem for restaurants and bars offering wines by the glass, an inconvenience for the domestic drinker who only fancies one or two from the glass per evening.
Whites and rosés resealed and popped back in the fridge are fine, generally, the next day. Reds are usually less happy. A trick for home drinking is to pop the cork back in and pop them in the fridge too. Remember to take the red out of the fridge a good while before drinking it if you want to continue drinking it ‘à chambre’. Getting it in the glass will get it back to room temperature quicker.
Sparkling wine is fizzy because there is CO₂ dissolved in it. This stays in solution in the bottle because the cork prevents the gas escaping. The small air space in the bottle becomes pressurised so no bubbles can escape from the liquid. It is true for any sparkling drink in whatever container; beer kegs do a similar job. This is why a cage is fitted over the cork of bottles to stop it being propelled out, or a crown cap is used. The pleasing sensation of sparkling drinks is those bubbles of CO₂ coming out solution over your tongue, and why they invariably make you burp.
Exposed to the atmosphere those bubbles continue to escape until the drink is flat.
 
This Champagne stopper does a good job to keep the fizz in the sparkling wine by forming a seal at the neck of the bottle that prevents any gas escaping from the bottle. As the CO₂ comes out of solution and becomes gas, this causes pressure to build up in the bottle. Once the pressure of the gas in the air space equals that of the bubbles, no more bubbles come out of solution. The arms hold the seal in place otherwise it would be propelled off. This is a good solution if the bottle is to be used fairly quickly. The more airspace there is in the bottle the less effective the preservation, as some fizz is lost into the air space every time the seal is broken.
There is an old wives’ tale that a silver spoon in the neck of the bottle helps preserve the fizz. That debate continues: http://blog.kumkani.com/?p=730
CO₂ is heavier than air, so within that enclosed space the CO₂ actually forms a barrier between the wine and any oxygen, so preserving it for even longer.
So, this is a fine solution, but not a perfect one. The Verre du Vin http://www.bermar.co.uk/
preservation system is altogether better. This system has a secured seal again, but pressurised CO₂ is then pushed in so very little CO₂ escapes from the wine. This works for beer, cider, and even non-alcoholic minerals. Of note here, pressurised air wouldn’t work, as the presence of oxygen would spoil the wine.
The rather slick Verre du Vin site also shows the vacuum system for the preservation of still wines. The absence of oxygen in contact with the surface of the wine would mean that oxidation is greatly slowed. For domestic situations http://www.vacuvin.com/Vacuum_Wine_Saver_215.html is great. These systems are good, but have a flaw in that the airspace is mostly empty in the bottle, but is not an absolute vacuum.
By far the best system is to flood the airspace above the wine with inert gasses to exclude oxygen contact. Many systems are on the market and more are being developed.
This concludes my round up of lesson one. In my next posting I shall move on to lesson two where we shall learn about Syrah, Grenache and Riesling grapes and the areas these are synonymous with.

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WSET 1 tasting notes 6 – 2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos,

Hungary 12%, £28
http://www.royal-tokaji.com/
Colour: clear – pale ­– gold
Nose: clean – pronounced – honey
Palate: sweet – medium acidity – no tannins – honey, pear, caramel, pineapple – long length
Conclusions: exceptional

Understanding the label
2000 the vintage – legally the same for both the base wine and the aszú
Royal Tokaji Wine Company the producer
Tokaji Tokaj is a village in Hungary. The ‘i’ translates as ‘from the region’ around.
Aszú a Hungarian term for a dried or raisined grape
5 Puttonyos this’ll take some explaining.
Puttonyo translates as ‘hod’, the carrying device. Their hods hold approximately 27l. The addition of an ‘s’ grammatically adds an ‘ed’.
So this wine is ‘5 hodded’.
‘Hods of what?’
Aszú of course.
‘So 135l of aszú per bottle?’
Errrmmm. No, it’s per Gönc.
‘Ok, errrmm?’
Gönc is a 136l barrel in which the base wine (non- aszú) has the puttonyo of aszú added to it.
Just so now that it’s not absolutely clear, this is not actually how it physically happens anymore, but the levels of concentration for the juice is still measured this way.
Tokaj was very highly prized all around the old world. Devastation by phylloxera, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Second World War, and Soviet Communist domination saw Hungarian wine deteriorate. The annexing of areas of Tokaji by Slovakia and Poland could have seen the demise of the prized wine, however it was not so. Individual producers had continued with the complex traditions of its viticulture and vinification.
Hugh Johnson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Johnson_%28wine%29 founded the Royal Tokaji Wine Company with other investors. The very pleasing results are now prized all around the world.

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WSET 1 tasting 5 2005 Radcliffe’s Barolo, DOCG Piemonte

Italy 13.5%, £19.49
Colour: clear – medium – garnet
Nose: clean – light – spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried fruit
Palate: dry – medium acid – high tannin – liquorice – short length
Conclusion: (poor) acceptable
I didn’t manage to bite my tongue despite having swilled wine all around it. Radcliffe’s is the own label of Threshers. After swallowing up many a chain to become the behemoth of the UK wine retail industry. ‘Lower your glasses and surrender your sips. We will add your biodynamic and retail distinctiveness to our own. Your (retail counter) culture will adapt to service us.’
Average room temperature is 20–25°C, to detect assimilation of a retailer an early sign is its internal temperature rises to 39.1°C. Nice to see the basic rules of wine storage ignored by the largest ‘independent’ (non-supermarket) retailer. Its leaders expressed disappointment on losing trade to the supermarkets. I say no more. After the sad demise of the Nicolas franchise in the UK, it is heartening that Oddbins is back in family hands.
So little to say about this actual bottle of wine that should promise a whole story.
Understanding the label
2005 vintage
Radcliffe’s the ‘producer’
Barolo is a wine style from Piemont, Italy
DOCG the top categorization of Italian wine
Barolo is not just any old wine style ‘the wine of kings, the king of wines.’ So called for many reasons.
Not only one of the finest of wines, it is said to be the greatest example of wines made from the Nebbiolo grape.
Beloved of the local Torino nobility, but additionally within the Barolo region the Verduno, Roddi and Serralunga d’Alba estates were in possession of the Italian royal households in the nineteenth century. This historic patronage, whilst a good spin, would mean nothing if the wine didn’t continue to deliver.
Piemont, Italy, is often compared to France’s great Burgundy. The regions within Piemont a great interlocking mass on the map. DOC statuses were marked in 1936, the same era as the ACs were being marked in France. DOCG status awarded to the finest Barolo estates in 1980.
As a style it is a big wine, the flavours whilst the wine is young too big to sit comfortably in a glass together. Most Barolos are aged for several years, up to several decades for the finest, the aggression dies down in the dominant flavours so the whole thing sings harmoniously. There is so much about Barolo, its fine traditions, its modernisation, its unique microclimates, its various ‘terroirs’ (what is Italian for terroir?). I’ll just pop this link in as it leads to many, many more: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/ocw/CH270.html

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WSET 1 tasting 4 – 2008 Valpolicella, Allegrini, DOC Veneto

Italy, 13%, £8.95
http://www.allegrini.it/allegrini_it
Colour: clear – pale – purple
Nose: clean – pronounced – black cherry, bread
Palate: dry – medium acidity – low tannins – medium body – black cherry, red fruits – medium length
Conclusion: acceptable
No hoopla for this more than functional example of a Valpolicella.
Understanding the label
2008 vintage
Valpolicella is the wine style. Like the Soave before it has to be made in Veneto, Italy.  Again it states both of these. It is primarily made of the Corvina grape.
It’s a DOC of Veneto

Like French Beaujolais, Valpolicella can be enjoyed lightly chilled. In addition to the light style there is Recioto, made from dried or raisined grapes, which is sweet. Almost by accident this led to the Amarone style.
In the mid twentieth century quality had diminished, the name had become diluted, and the price had fallen below viable production in the historic zone between Sant and Verona. The creation of a DOC in1968 encompassing the historic zone, that now carries the label of Classico, and the valley along the river Po right up to Soave country revived the Valpolicella name. Additionally the Valpaneta is another region of high regard.
Like its neighbour, Soave, the 2005 application for DOCG status resulted in tighter rules. It has been the Recioto and Amarone styles that have garnered the attention. They are limited to the traditional hillside vineyards; they have the inclusion of the Rondinella grape limited to 5–30%; and have excluded the Molinara grape that is seen as an interloper even in the light style.
Additionally more quality styles are now ‘Ripasso’, translates simply as ‘repassing’. The wine is passed over the grape skins to bolster the flavours. Valpolicella is enjoying an invigorating rebirth currently.

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WSET 1 tasting notes 3 – 2007 Gewürztraminer, Wunsch et Mann, AC Alsace

France, 13%, £10.99
http://www.wunsch-mann.fr/
Colour: clear – medium – gold
Nose: clean – pronounced – perfumed, clove
Palate: medium – (high) low acidity – no tannins – medium body – ginger, ripe apple, rose petal – medium length
Conclusion: (very good) good
Ok, so a bit of a favourite for me. The room was divided. What was concluded, with our personal preferences put aside, was it was a good example of type for the money spent.
Understanding the label
2007 the vintage
Gewürztraminer the most unpronounceable grape variety name for a Brit.
Wunsch et Mann the producer
AC is ‘Appellation Contrôlée’
Alsace the region of the named country France
Gewürztraminer is a pink-skinned variety of the Traminer white grape family, originally a native of the Tyrol region of northern Italy. The addition of the ‘Gewürz’ from the German word for 'spiced', used here to mean perfumed, is applied to the descendant grown mostly in the Alsace region of France and sparsely in the neighbouring region in Germany. Fragile to grow and low yielding it produces a highly perfumed wine with low acids. Drier styles and wines from higher yielding crops have been criticized for weaker character.
AC is short for AOC, Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. This is the French mark that led to the creation of all the other European QWPSR. Following three devastations of the European vine stock in the late nineteenth century, the greatest being from the Phylloxera insect, many old and established regional wines became almost unavailable. An influx of cheaper, inferior wines to plug the gap led to many French regions drawing up classifications to differentiate themselves from these as production recovered. By the 1920s Baron le Roy of the Châteauneuf du Pape region drew up further codes limiting grape varieties, farming practices and ABVs for each region’s producers. Hence 1936 and 1937 is when France’s major appellations date the introduction of their controls. Rules within them are tweaked, but rarely majorly altered. The model was adopted in the European QWPSR marks and similar practices exist in the other major wine producing parts of the world.
Alsace as an appellation is unique in its climate and culture. Having been part of France, then Germany, and fought over back and forth throughout history, culturally it is between the two, and more importantly distinct from them both. The same can be said for its distinctive wines.

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WSET Lesson 1 Tasting 2

2005 Kanu Chenin Blank, WO Stellenbosch, South Africa, 14%, £8.65
Colour: clear – medium – gold
Nose: clean – pronounced – kernel, oaky
Palate: off dry – medium acidity – no tannins – medium body – grapefruit, peach, honey – medium length
Conclusion: acceptable
Many more aroma and flavour sensations going on here. We are introduced to an oaked wine, a wine matured in the presence of oak. I’ll go into more detail about oak and wine in a whole post later. I’ll just leave it as a new dimension here.
Understanding the label
2005 vintage.
Kanu is the producer.
Chenin Blank being the Afrikaans for Chenin Blanc.
WO is the ‘Wine of Origin’ mark, established in 1973 it is similar to the QWPSR marks used in the EU. The area it refers to is Stellenbosch, the centre for viticulture in the named country, South Africa.
Chenin Blanc is a grape variety native to the Loire valley, France. Also called Pineau or Pineau Blanc there, it is late budding and late ripening. This makes it an awkward grape to grow in the damp environment of the Loire. The resulting wines have a honeyed/ damp straw quality to the characteristics, yet are quite highly acidic.
In the New World Chenin grows more vigorously. If yields are too high the resulting wines can be nondescript. In South Africa the grape is sometimes called Steen. It makes up 17% of South Africa’s vines. Used as a base for basic dry table wines; for better quality single-varietal wines; for sparkling wines; fortified wines; even as a base for spirits.

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WSET Lesson 1 Tasting 1

2007 Soave Classico, Rizzardi, DOC Veneto, Italy, 12.5%, £6.95
Colour: clear – medium ­– gold
Nose: clean – (medium) light – (thinners) elderflower
Palate: dry – medium acidity – no tannins – medium body – grapefruit, pear – medium length
Conclusion: good
Starting out gingerly we were congratulated on picking up quite so much character from one of the lightest of wines. Alun did comment that it actually had a bolder character than Soave often has. Its accessible price tag led to the unanimous conclusion of ‘good’ for what it was.
Understanding the label
2007 is the vintage, the year the grapes were harvested.
Soave is the wine style. It has to be made in Veneto, Italy. If you didn’t know this already the label tells you where it’s from clearly anyway. It is primarily made of the Garganega grape. EU law allows it to include other grapes, which ones continues to be more regulated.
Classico means the grapes are from a specific area of hillside above the Adige river. Rizzard is the producer.
This is an important element of reading Italian wine labels its mark of QWPSR (Quality Wine Produced in a Specified Region).
DOC — Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which this one is, there is also
DOCG — Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
Then it tells us which DOC it is from, Veneto. A bit more information on Veneto (http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a2008090526.html).
The country of origin: Italy.
Finally the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) in %.
Veneto was awarded DOC status in 1968. This meant wines from certain areas that exemplified the style of the region could use this denomination. The major grape variety used has to Garganega, other grape varieties are allowed to make up 30% of the wine. Trebianno di Soave (known as Ugni Blanc elsewhere), Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco could be added to the DOC. Trebianno di Toscano has become excluded from the DOC. It often makes up part of ordinary Soave, many of the grapes for this now are grown in the alluvial plain of the riverbed rather than the traditional hillside terraces. We tasted a Classico, this is a specific hillside region. There are other hillside regions to the east, which are ‘steely’ in taste as the soil is volcanic. The hillside regions to the west are limestone and warmer so give have more forward, upfront, ‘sunny’ flavours.
In 2002 DOCG status was awarded to certain areas. The rules became even stricter for the DOCG and led to a specific system of naming: From the Classico zone, Classico Superior; from Recioto di Soave, Soave Superior; from other regions Soave Colli Scalegeri Superior. Whilst holidaying in Rome a DOCG Soave pleasantly surprised me. I wasn’t expecting so much flavour having become used to the much thinner examples we are so often served in the UK.

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WSET Lesson 1 part 4 (8/9/09)

First tasting of the course. 

Each lesson we are tasting six wines. Having done lesson two I think the tastings will tie in with the grapes and regions covered. Lesson one we got a grab bag of diverse weights and characteristics to illustrate some of criteria of the Systematic Approach. http://wsetglobal.com/documents/ic_sat_22.06.09.pdf
 
We were asked to put down what we thought. As our first tasting we had little to gauge our findings against. I shall be writing my results in italics where they differ from the rest of the group, or are simply way off the mark. I’m going to put the ‘real’ results in Roman. Alun, our tutor, gently coaxed us back to reviewing what we had written initially once we had a few tastings done. ‘Have another sniff of the first one.’ Light – Medium – Pronounced means little without experience of each.  A group vote showed what most of us had arrived at, then a comparison with the textbook answer. This hands on, eyes, nose and mouth on, part of the course is really, really good fun.

I’ll put the results from each tasting into the same format as our class notes. Without repeating parrot fashion from the course book, I’m going to run through how we get to the results.

Read the bottle. Seems obvious, but until lesson two I’d no idea how to really understand German wine categorization. Each tasted wine I’ll roll off what I’ve discovered about what the words on the label mean. There are initials and terminology to de-code, numbers and dates to consider. It’s all beautifully paraphrased here http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-label-eu.htm
 
This will tell you what to expect, or at worst hope, to find in the bottle. Also another number to consider, in lesson one this was done after tasting, the price tag. Not knowing this first time round we were not far off the mark going in blind. Once we’re all more experienced the pricing point will be key. The expectation from this will determine whether it gets poor-acceptable-good-very-good-outstanding at Conclusion stage.

50ml into the ISO.

Look into the glass. That white background important here. Clear or dull, also if any little bubbles, spritz. Look from above to measure the Intensity.
See all the way through = Pale
See to the stem = Medium
Can’t see to the bottom of the bowl = Deep
Tilt the glass to 45° to assess the colour.
Swirl! Glass on the table, round and round, get the wine moving, air through it, aeration.
If it’s stale smelling then it’s off. Many ways it can go wrong here.
Intensity, we’ll learn to measure this with experience.
Aroma Characteristics is where Jilly Goolden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilly_Goolden got us all laughing some years back. Now we’re learning this actually fairly standardised vocabulary to express our findings.

Into the mouth. Keep it at the tip of the tongue to test for Sweetness, I’m really struggling with this. Then spit, an inebriated palate is a clouded palate.
The second sip is held in the mouth, air drawn in over it. An exhale through the nose then more air drawn in. This slurping sounds fairly ridiculous done anywhere other than a tasting.
Acidity, felt along the sides of the tongue and the amount of saliva stimulated.
Tannin, like in strong tea, coats the teeth and gets a unique tingle.
Body, this is all about the wine’s sensation, rather than a sensory reaction.
Flavour Characteristics, we’re going poetic again like the Aroma Characteristics.
Spit
Length, what lingers on.
We are all were repeating this to try and pick up all these fine points of tasting.

Conclusions, sum it up very succinctly.

So this is the how, next few posts are the wines we tasted.

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WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 3

Wine Service

'Has it been chilled? Can you pop an ice cube in it?'

If, like me, you serve wine & food to customers for a living then this question will be as familiar as the statement 'Ooh the soup's nice & hot. ' Yeah, I've spent my whole career, as has the chef, ensuring I can put a bottle of wine in a fridge & the chef a saucepan of soup on a stove. So what else am I to learn from my WSET about wine service? Chilled wine has a place, as has the degree of chilling. Wine has an optimum placing, both arriving in its best receptacle as much as what next to.

Food fridges generally are set to 2-5ºC to ensure food is kept in its best condition for as long as possible. Drinks fridges not so cold. The coolest these should be at is 6º.
bettertastingwine has conveniently posted the matrix http://www.bettertastingwine.com/serving_temperature_chart.html so I'll not simply repeat, but it is of note that the fuller the wine the warmer the service temperature. The light chilling of paler reds has become more common practice in the UK now. I shall be less keen with the ice bucket for the fuller whites, also our snugly warm room temperature is way too warm for even the biggest reds, it'll be 1/2 an hour on the doorstep for the home service of these this winter at home.

I can open a bottle of wine, well practised, but there are a host of options for getting in there.
.

My preference is the little green chap 2nd left bottom row, the waiters' friend. My nemesis to his right. I've never tried the twin prong, so still have things to look forward to then. This image is from http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm who conveniently has a lovely selection of wine glasses too & some sound advice on their care. I particularly like this quote 'If, like me, you don't particularly care to handle your delicate crystal glasses after consuming more than one serving, then thoroughly rinse the wine residue out of the glass and clean it in the morning when your motor functions are more stable.'

One opening rule of some importance is the safe opening of sparkling wines. After ripping off the foil top, unwinding the cage, keep a thumb over the cork, turn the bottle away from people, hold at 30º take a firm hold of the cork & with the other hand turn the bottle. The force of the gas pressure in the bottle will send a cork away from you at dangerous speeds, but not a bottle away from the cork at noticeable pressure. If the fizzy has been a bit shaken up on its way to your hands, as the house Champagne seemed to have been on its way to http://www.graze-restaurant.co.uk whilst I was there, then the covering of the cork with a clean tea towel, then holding it through that, prevents the cork shooting out of your control & covers any lively activity after that. Done with flourish this looks professional. Sparkling wines always go back in the ice bucket to keep them cool, so a tea towel around the neck to dry the bottle is obligatory wherever it's being served.

So looking professional with wine service, there's a code of practice here. Show the bottle of wine to whomever has ordered it. The oldest gentleman is not necessarily this person these days, & the 'host' has often had the most botox so determining the most senior is treacherous in dimly lit service spaces anyhow. This is for them to read the label. I have been thankful of the 'host' paying attention here on many occasions. Offhand 'I'll take the Pinot' could result in many a wine of many colours coming to the table, once they've said yes it's their issue. The other important thing they're reading is the vintage. Vintages run out, wine suppliers could tell the restaurant they've moved on, but this may not yet have been updated on the wine list. For certain wines this is significant, let the discerning customer make this choice. They get to taste the wine, only 50ml or so. They can say yes or no at this point. It could be wrong in any way, off, tainted, too young, or simply not typical of type. Whatever, it is my rule is to not serve it if the customer doesn't like it, each restaurant has its own feelings on this. Pour everyone else's glasses before returning to the 'host's'. How much? Well, in the ISO glass it was filled to the point where the bowl is widest, its safe to use the same rule with the glasses on the dinner table.

Breathing, not just whilst you're at the table, but the wine too. Whites & rosés don't need it, but, as I was corrected, ALL red wine opens up with some breathing, even the lightest Gamays. The more mature reds will need it to pour off the clean wine away from the sediment. The bottle must have settled for a day or so, so no shakey shakey on the way to the table. Best to decant away from the table after tasting. Do it against a light source, the romantic traditional way is in front of a candle. This is so you can watch the wine as it pours into the decanter, then as the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle stop pouring, this little bit is for the stock pot, not the wine glass. Even non-sedimented reds open more after decanting. It's the aeration that gets oxygen into contact with the wine, so allowing aromas to come out. This makes a huge difference to very tannic reds as after a while the fruit aromas become more pronounced. There is an optimum time for this, so more than a few hours is generally too much. If there is something up with the wine, especially brett taint, then it becomes more apparent as the flavours develop. Double decanting is sometimes done to speed this aeration up. In some establishments the bottle is cleaned out & the wine returned to it. What makes no difference is simply opening a bottle of wine. The surface area at the neck of the bottle is too narrow to have any impact on the wine. If all you're to do is let the wine breathe, pour a little into a glass, the customer's hopefully, so the surface of the wine is in the body of the bottle.

Which glass for what? Beautifully shown on http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm The best shape, like the ISO, is a tulip shape. This is to maximise the surface area of the wine in ratio to the enclosed area above. Max your olfactory stimulation this way. The air above the wine is where the enjoyment all begins, so don't generally fill the glass above the 2/3's mark. The mid 20th century fashion for Champagne in Coupés was a bit of sacrilege, Marilyn had generally spilt most of it whilst tripping over anyway. The progress of the bubbles up through the Champagne imbues them with the wine's flavour, so the longest route gives the most aroma. The flute always wins. The white & rosé glass is slightly smaller & tighter than the reds' to concentrate their aromas. The 'bowls' for red wine allow all the bigger aromas room to dance. Fortified wine glasses are smaller again, not just as the measure served is less, but as they have higher alcohol present that vapour should be allowed to dissipate to accentuate the fruit & floral aromas. Sherries & brandies too have their respective glassware that bring out their best attributes.

So there's the synopsis for bottle service, how about the 'by the glass' customer? Here there has been great debate on size. The Paris goblet? So beloved of Sharon Watts for a swift shot or 2 of Gin Angie-style when she needed a lil stiffna! That's really the best use of this 70's wine service globe, 125ml GS (Government Stamped) mark nicely eroded by the glass-washer over long reuse. There is no reason to have nasty glassware for glass service of wine. Any glasses can be sent off to get the GS, or wine can be measured before pouring into the glass to comply with licensing law. So again it's back to how much?

125ml was the standard glass of wine size for many a year, then 175ml appeared as large. As our habits changed & eating out became more normal 175ml took over as the norm. This resulted in 250ml becoming large, pushing the 125ml definitively into being small. This is all well & good for choice, though few establishments offer all 3 sizes. Problems have arisen with compliance with due diligence as a licensee as wines have increased in ABV (Alcohol by Volume) through the late 80's & 90's. Without going all maths teacher, I don't have the cardigan range, if wine were sold in 1 litre bottles the maths would be easy.
Wine at 8% would have 8 units in 1 litre. Wine is sold in 75cl bottles, so multiply the ABV * 0.75 to calculate the units of alcohol in a bottle. In this instance 8 * 0.75 = 6 units. Confused?
Well, that's easy, so how many units in a 'glass' of wine? This is very important for people counting their units, usually drivers. Wine from this bottle in a 125ml glass = 1 unit; in a 175ml glass = 1.5 units; in as 250ml glass = 2 units.
With no 'standard' for a 'glass' of wine the discerning or conscientious customer has a raft of questions to ask. More importantly the average ABV for most wines sold in the UK is upwards of 12%, that's at least half as much again as illustrated. With 175ml taking over as the 'standard' it pushes units consumed well over 2, even with food, dangerously close to a driver over the limit of their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). This is what is used to measure the levels of ethanol in blood that causes intoxication. The speed of alcohol becoming ethanol in a person's blood stream is affected by gender, health, weight, recent food intake, personal absorption & metabolism just to name a few factors. So how large measures of wine should be served in & at what ABV to be responsible licensees is a hot topic.
'How much til I'm over the limit mate?'
'Just step in this medical examination chamber adjacent to the restaurant & I'll let you know after an hour of tests!'

You've the wine in the desirable glass at a size you are comfortable with, now you'd like food with it. Unless drinking the wine on its own or finishing it before food then compatibility is pretty important for complete enjoyment. Many people choose wine after choosing food, or choose wine that will partner many food styles to keep everyone happy. I like a G&T before dinner so I can choose the wine after food choices. This restaurant http://www.ilsanlorenzo.it/ won me over on their approach by presenting 1st the aperitif menu, the only wines being by the glass; then food menu; then & only then the wine list.

There is great debate in restaurants over food matching, especially when 'taster/grazing/degustation' menus offer a matching wines option.
It seems the golden rule on incompatibility is oily & salty foods don't partner tannic red wines well.
I'm going to run through the prescribed matches in the order of the Systematic Approach;
Intensity - Intensely flavoured food = Intensely flavoured wine. Not to be misread as heavy or rich.
Sweetness - Sweet food, also salty = Sweeter than the food sweet wine. Use the sweeties also with salted nuts & oily patés.
Acidity - Acidic food, also salty food = Acidic wines. Many tastings will show high acidity, that watering mouth feel.
Tannin - It's the red meats here = Tannic wines.
Body - Lighter flavours = Lighter bodied whites & reds. Often the steamed meats with light sauces. Intense,creamy, rich foods = Full bodied whites & reds. This is where the seared meats, creamed potatoes & slow-roasted foods partner the chewy wines.

This is a bit of an over simplification perhaps, but as I get through the tastings I shall note the classic pairings, as I cook I shall try some of these out myself too.

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WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 2

The senses are being tuned, so how about the wine?


 Now I could have gone a right old rant after grabbing a bottle on the way home from last week's class from Martin McColl, only to get it home to find it had already started the journey to making a lovely red wine based soup whilst being stored for sale. Heat & any wine ain't a good situation whilst it's still in the bottle.

This beautiful shot of a natural cave cellar in Bekaa, Lebanon isn't available in every dwelling. The environment that the wine is stored in is very important for its preservation.

Wine, obviously, is stored in all sorts of larger vessels whilst in production, however when finished it needs to be transported. A lot of progress has been made over the centuries in the vessels that wine is stored in. From the pottery, leather, wood or metal vessels in ancient history through various bottle shapes, many looking remarkably like modern port decanters, through to the now almost universal 75cl glass bottle. Here there is a great range of shapes that almost always in the old world are synonymous with a specific region. I will be learning region by region further along in the course, so will get to grips with the whys & wherefores of that along with the tastings of the regions. When on holiday in Var it's always fun to take along the 4 litre plastic container to fill up petrol station style with the local young rosé, but this container is only good for wine you're having within a day or 2.

Long term storage of wine is always done in bottle, & has been for a couple of centuries. These generally are in a dark coloured glass to keep light away from the wine, though for younger wines, often the whites & rosés, the glass is now clear to allow the drinker to see the colour of the wine. The bottle needs a closure of some kind to keep the air out & wine in. For the last few centuries this has generally been cork. Cork was a good solution in terms of success then, now it is being agreed nearly universally that cork itself presents too many problems to be the ongoing number 1 closure of choice.

Cork is a natural product. It is harvested by stripping the bark from the Quercus Suber, a sort of oak. This process doesn't harm the tree & is repeated every 9 years from the tree's 25th year. The tree only grows in certain climates, between 100m & 300m above sea level; annual rainfall between 400 & 800mm; temperatures never falling below -5ºC. The coastal margins of the Mediterranean have traditionally seen it grown, though areas of the new world are put aside to its production. Cataluña had been the centre for its production. It still remains a major producer, but during the Spanish civil war Portugal stepped in to become the European cork producer, now growing 30% of that market. With much of the manufacturing process centred south of Oporto, Portugal now processes 50% of the world's cork. Much imported from the European western Mediterranean & also north African regions. Algeria having been Cataluña's major rival before cultural shifts there in 1960's.

Cork goes through various processes before becoming a stopper. Cork is porous, so is cut at 90º to the growth to minimise any gaps. Bacterias & fungi are present in its structure, to help kill these it has been bleached with chlorine based bleaches. Other processes are now being explored, the major reason being the presence of TRICHLOROANISOLE. This compound will probably be cork's final undoing as it has been found that the bleaching isn't where it becomes present. Despite this drawback there is much in cork's favour; the trees are an environmental bonus, their acorns a cornerstone in feeding the finer end of pig farming; 90% of the time they form a perfectly good barrier for keeping the wine in; they are flexible, so when factors unfavourable to the wines good storage cause the wine to expand or contract the cork maintains the air seal. The major rival now to cork is the STELVIN, steel-vin (wine), screw-top favoured by many a British supermarket, or the synthetic, plastic, cork. Occasionally glass stoppers are used, there are all sorts of pros & cons for all the closures. Progress, research & development continues on all of them.

Transport is obviously never going to be a friend to wine, but the minimum of heat, light & vibration during this is a bonus. Bottles are good for this, but it is often during transport that any of the closures are compromised. The stelvin has an Achilles heel in that a strong knock can break its integrity so making a hole letting wine out & air in, or even a momentary loss of air seal that lets air in. To this end more finished wine is transported in bulk containers & bottled at, or near to, the country of sale. I am looking forward to a visit to Constellation's Avonmouth bottling plant in 2 weeks time. Bulk transport actually is good for wine, however I will be putting in a link here where the provenance of some wines has been 'flexed' due to political market forces in the Balkans.

So the wine's in the bottle. It has a closure. Now where is it going? The cellar! I don't have a lovely cave for my wine, nor do most of us. The key thing for wine storage isn't the appearance, but stability.

Cool & constant; within a temperature range of 10º to 15º, not within a day, but within a year. Cellars had obviously been the best for this as the ground worked as a great insulator to the day's & season's changes. It is the expansion & contraction of the wine that pushes & pulls on the closure that crucifies most wine. Constant refrigeration is bad too as it causes corks to contract. That air-seal integrity is what is paramount for maturation of many a stored wine. In the age of climate control the storage cabinets that can be placed anywhere that allow wine to be stored longterm where no cellars are available.

Lying down; for bottles under cork, the wine stops the cork drying out, so doesn't contract, maintaining that air-seal. The problem here is if the cork has any nasties in it then they are going to get into the wine. The damp nature of cellars again being a bonus for keeping the airside of the cork moist. With the modern closures of stelvin, synthetic & glass the reverse applies. Bottles are stored upright without the wine in contact with closure, so minimising any potential contamination from it. The synthetic is still viewed with suspicion in certain circles for its potential tainting by long contact with the wine, so it may become disregarded for long term storage. Stelvins have had extensive ongoing research & development into their ability to be complete or breathable seal for the long term storage of wines.

Darkness; natural & artificial light adversely affect wine. Not only does it cause heat, but light can cause unwanted chemical reactions in the bottle. This is why traditionally wine bottles were dark coloured. Wines served young obviously don't hang around long enough for the presence of light to affect them, so hence the ever increasingly light coloured or clear glass bottles around as we drink more young wines.

Vibrations; not for imbuing an extra cosmic element to the wine, but the wine should be still. Changes go on with wines made for maturing in bottle that cause particles to form in suspension, these either should remain motionless there, or should settle out. Railway arches or old freight yards near still operating lines, or depots near major roads, are not the best places for long term wine storage, despite the arches having other cellar-like bonuses.

Most of us aren't in the privileged position to be laying down fine wines to mature for a number of years or decades, or to be choosing which part of the cellar has the least light for the re-building of the racking. Many of us are storing wine for a while though & so often it's in the kitchen, which couldn't be more unsuitable as cooking causes the temperature to sore & plummet. Lounges are often poor homes too if they have heating or fires. Funnily it's the hoover cupboard under the stairs off of the un-heated hallway that wins in most modern homes.

I'm off again to heat up my kitchen for some lunch. Next blog will have getting the wine out of the bottle at the right temperature, into the right glass, then a little on how to keep it happy if it's being saved for later.

WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 1

So here is where I begin my learning

http://wsetglobal.com/qualifications/22.asp

I was issued with a box of 6 of the Industry Standard Organisation, ISO, Tasting Glasses. "The most important tool for a wine taster, when correctly used, is capable of revealing any secret of a wine."

Many forms of wine glass are drunk from. Many are specifically designed to enhance the characteristics of certain wines. To this end many are named after the wines they are most synonymous with. As I learned that the same wine drunk from 2 distinctly differently shaped glasses can taste dramatically different, I learnt that smell forms an enormous part of wine tasting, more on that later. So to have a standard method of tasting all wine a standard glass for the tasting process was agreed upon in the early 1970s. Here is a full article on the ISO Tasting Glass http://www.diwinetaste.com/dwt/en2002113.php

The ISO Tasting Glass is where the wine will be considered by the wine taster's senses. The process adopted by all wine tasters is called "The Systematic Approach to Tasting."

I am learning this at Intermediate Level & within that there is a very specific vocabulary used. Like any profession there is terminology & language that really only makes sense to people within that profession or with an interest in it. Engineers know what a gasket is (gas-filled basket?); sailors know which way port, starboard, poop & galley would be on a boat; chefs can tell a chiffonade from brandade; so the wine world has its own language too. All the words are familiar, but their usage is controlled so everyone in the industry, or around it, knows what each refers to.

So within this systematic approach I shall be 'approaching' all the wine that enters these glasses in the prescribed way.

Preparation for tasting;

The room, yourself & company should be odour free. No perfumes, no traces of strong flavours including tobacco & toothpaste.

Natural light, preferably north facing, with a white background. (We had ghastly fluorescent lights in anti-glare configuration in a corporate blue room belonging to Constellation. )

50 ml is poured.

There are 4 sections of results;

Appearance; Nose; Palate; Conclusion

The WSET have a matrix that you follow to get your results.

http://wsetglobal.com/documents/ic_sat_22.06.09.pdf

It is within this that the language becomes so specific, i.e. for colour descriptions for red wine; purple, ruby, garnet, tawny: the smell of wine in good condition; clean/un-clean: length on the palate; short, medium, long. These being very specific times of the taste remaining in your mouth, & even which of the tastes lingering.

The role of the glass becomes more clear as the lesson progresses. How light moves through this exact amount of wine. The 1st thing is looking at the wine's clarity, the 2nd its density. Obviously this standard volume of wine to look through is the only way to make this process uniform. This is even before the more convoluted smelling & tasting.

Glad to say extensive tasting of wines before made me the most vocal when it came to the 6 tastings as it was an area I'm very comfortable in. Conversely the complete novice, Angelika, had as much of interest to add as her palate was completely fresh to all the taste sensations from the wine. Learning which terminology to use where is going to be learned, or more fundamentally re-learned differently by me, to match to specific characteristics for all our senses on this course.

Next blog i'm going to relay the bits about wine storage, service & appreciation from the lesson. I'm also going to paraphrase the 1st 6 tastings we did.

Now I'm off to reheat my duck & lentil soup from last night as I'm famished. It was the only way to use up the ruined Campo Viejo Rioja that was undrinkable from the day before. More on wine storage, Martin McColl, later.