As a follow-up to my dramatic Philadelphia experience last year with wine tasting, I am quite happy that we have started the year off with another round of learning about this fine elixir.
At a recent charity auction there was a wine tasting class (that would come to your home) on offer - so we, and some friends of ours grouped together and bid and won this excellent offer.
The setting was quite comfortable. In the locale where we live, we have had yearly 'progressive dinners,' where the neighborhood visits each others' homes of dinner. So we are used to this. (Coming up - visiting each others' gardens). In any case the company was comfortable and we were ready for what was on offer this fine Friday. It was fairly clear, as always, I was lowest on the totem pole in terms of qualifications to say anything intelligible about wine (or other matters). But that always puts me in the position of being attentive and willing to learn.
Our sommelier was Jonathan Aslop the founder and head of the Boston Wine School. He is a wine writer as well and most recently published the 'Wine Lover's Devotional.'
As our offering to this fine table, we took some pakoras with us (just sayin'). I was hoping someone might ask whether pakoras went with white or red. But unfortunately, no. My answer, pakoras go well with anything whose chemical formulation ends with OH.
Our evening started with a champagne that was dubbed to be 'bubbling over.' It was a NV Domaine Collin Cremant de Limoux from Limoux, Landguedoc in southern France. Most of us, or at least I know of Don Periggnon as the purveyor of fine champagne. It turns out that the latter is from the northwest of France and being the more well known is pricier as well.
This one from Limoux was certainly full of 'spirit' and the table uttered a favorable murmur to start the proceedings.
The second wine that we tried was from Vienna, Austria. There was a guest at the table who was born and spent his first twelve years in Vienna. He had no idea there were vineyards in Vienna. This bottle was called the 'grape unknown.' It was a 2008 Wieninger "Gemischter Satz.' I liked this wine for its effortless grace (although it turned out to be a 'mutt among wines'). The reason for calling it 'grape unknown' is because the vinter mixed whatever grapes he could grow on his farm.
An interesting tidbit about farming in general, and vineyards in particular. For reasons of economics, the farmer wants to maximize the output from his farm. However grapes are particularly finicky choosing to grow here but not there. Indeed places in Burgundy France are expensive land or not, although they are right next to each other, depending on whether they are conducive to growing grapes. So the farmer tries this grape and that till he gets a combination of grapes that cover the farm. An in this case in Vienna, then proceeding to mix the grapes together. I asked Jon if there was any 'center of gravity' to this wine in terms of more of one grape than the other. And the answer was no.
We then turned our attention to the reds. Our start was a Pinot Noir. Immediately a discussion ensued at the table about the movie Sideways. This movie downgraded the merlot and upgraded the Pinot for real in the United States. I mentioned that in the movie there was one exquisitely (or excruciatingly) long single shot of a scene where the glory of the pinot is described by Paul Giamatti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz4oNmiiVVs
This pinot that we tasted was a 2005 Harrington "Brosseau Vineyard" from Chalone, Soledad in central California. I think of pinots as being quite delicate. This one was stronger and surprised me for being so.
We started moving up the strength scale with an Australian Shiraz. It turns out that this wine can be referred to as Syrah or Shiraz. The Aussies call is Shiraz. Interestingly Syrah was originally grown in old Persia, now Iran. We tried a 2004 Lost Valley "Thousand Hills" Shiraz from Australia. For my untrained palatte Shiraz starts to get into the Zinfandel territory. Rather than enjoying the wine, my mind immediately starts to wander towards a spicy full bodied Chicken Vindaloo. I sighed at that thought as I popped a pakora into my mouth.
From Australia to Italy. I have to say that while there are amazing wine growing regions around the world, I have fallen in love with Italian wines. I have fallen in love with its history already (you might know it from my write-up on the Roman Empire last year). I can't wait to fall in love with that country upon a more relaxed non-business visit. In fact my very first wine tasting ever more than a decade ago was an Italian Wine Tasting event held by the Italian Wine Merchants from New York at a conference in Phoenix, AZ (don't go there without a passport! :-) )
The Italians (Romans) had something to say about the French. During the days of the Roman Empire, the French territory was considered the backwaters. And when the French wanted to take grapes and grow it the Romans said, it will take you thousand years to grow it - and so it did - but, boy did it! (I am sure this is just a fun made up story - but it is fun...).
We tried the 2003 Cascina Morassino Barbaresco from the Piedmonte area in Northwest Italy. It was surprisingly smoky. But I have to admit have had better Barbarescos before.
We tilted from wine tasting to a terrific dinner of salad and fish. For dessert we had blueberry pie a la mode. And we tried a 2005 Concha y Toro sauvignon Blanc from Chile for a dessert wine. An MIT professor who is a bio-chemist asked the table, "Is it me or does this taste like diesel fuel?" Intimidated by his pedigree, I nodded meekly, while quietly letting my taste buds dance with the blueberry pie.
As we bid goodbye to Jon, with a suppressed hiccup, I resolved to visit the Brookline Liquor Mart and try an additional class or two at his adjacent wine school.
At a recent charity auction there was a wine tasting class (that would come to your home) on offer - so we, and some friends of ours grouped together and bid and won this excellent offer.
The setting was quite comfortable. In the locale where we live, we have had yearly 'progressive dinners,' where the neighborhood visits each others' homes of dinner. So we are used to this. (Coming up - visiting each others' gardens). In any case the company was comfortable and we were ready for what was on offer this fine Friday. It was fairly clear, as always, I was lowest on the totem pole in terms of qualifications to say anything intelligible about wine (or other matters). But that always puts me in the position of being attentive and willing to learn.
As our offering to this fine table, we took some pakoras with us (just sayin'). I was hoping someone might ask whether pakoras went with white or red. But unfortunately, no. My answer, pakoras go well with anything whose chemical formulation ends with OH.
Our evening started with a champagne that was dubbed to be 'bubbling over.' It was a NV Domaine Collin Cremant de Limoux from Limoux, Landguedoc in southern France. Most of us, or at least I know of Don Periggnon as the purveyor of fine champagne. It turns out that the latter is from the northwest of France and being the more well known is pricier as well.
The second wine that we tried was from Vienna, Austria. There was a guest at the table who was born and spent his first twelve years in Vienna. He had no idea there were vineyards in Vienna. This bottle was called the 'grape unknown.' It was a 2008 Wieninger "Gemischter Satz.' I liked this wine for its effortless grace (although it turned out to be a 'mutt among wines'). The reason for calling it 'grape unknown' is because the vinter mixed whatever grapes he could grow on his farm.
We then turned our attention to the reds. Our start was a Pinot Noir. Immediately a discussion ensued at the table about the movie Sideways. This movie downgraded the merlot and upgraded the Pinot for real in the United States. I mentioned that in the movie there was one exquisitely (or excruciatingly) long single shot of a scene where the glory of the pinot is described by Paul Giamatti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz4oNmiiVVs
From Australia to Italy. I have to say that while there are amazing wine growing regions around the world, I have fallen in love with Italian wines. I have fallen in love with its history already (you might know it from my write-up on the Roman Empire last year). I can't wait to fall in love with that country upon a more relaxed non-business visit. In fact my very first wine tasting ever more than a decade ago was an Italian Wine Tasting event held by the Italian Wine Merchants from New York at a conference in Phoenix, AZ (don't go there without a passport! :-) )
The Italians (Romans) had something to say about the French. During the days of the Roman Empire, the French territory was considered the backwaters. And when the French wanted to take grapes and grow it the Romans said, it will take you thousand years to grow it - and so it did - but, boy did it! (I am sure this is just a fun made up story - but it is fun...).
We tilted from wine tasting to a terrific dinner of salad and fish. For dessert we had blueberry pie a la mode. And we tried a 2005 Concha y Toro sauvignon Blanc from Chile for a dessert wine. An MIT professor who is a bio-chemist asked the table, "Is it me or does this taste like diesel fuel?" Intimidated by his pedigree, I nodded meekly, while quietly letting my taste buds dance with the blueberry pie.
As we bid goodbye to Jon, with a suppressed hiccup, I resolved to visit the Brookline Liquor Mart and try an additional class or two at his adjacent wine school.
2 comments:
great to get another 'installment'. i've been studying wine for a couple of years now and now can enjoy and appreciate your assessments!
hope all is well for you.
Sounds like fun.
Couple of comments:
- how was Jonathon Aslop? Like Frank (our wine guide)?
- Languedoc is a great new area for Champagne-like wines
- I hate the concept of ‘grape unknown’ – it will not be consistent from year to year
- In general, it sounds like you didn’t like the wines that much (barbaresco comment for instance). Who chose them? Did Aslop build a story around them?
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