To celebrate hand over of the new WC website an old bottle of Pauillac 1970 Croizet Bages still fruit, slightly burnt notes, liquorice, amazingly lively. Now onto the last bottle of Varoilles 1er cru Gervrey Chambertain 02…….
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Austrian Wines annual London tasting
Great tasting of Austrian wines today, really high standard of quality on show with some outstanding highlights: The wines of FX Pichler were stunning, those of Knoll as always, Brundlmayer, Domain Wachau also great greuners and rieslings.
I was stunned by the wines of Gritsch Mauritiushof which were complex and inviting having tasted the 2010s at the winery where they were very closed and austere.
Wieninger’s Pinot Noir Select 2010 was fantastic and the whole selection of Weingut Gesellmann red wines were brilliant. Finally I was delighted to find Weingut Schmeltz of the Wachau presenting their brilliant wines having visited them at their stunning wine tasting room in Joching a few years ago.
Brane Cantenac vertical tasting brainstorm
On Saturday November 9th, we held a brainstorm at the Curtis household on how to serve 11 consecutive vintages of Lurton’s marvellous Brane Cantenacs. A Smaragd Wachau Riesling kindly hidden from the night before and the Soli pinot provided the inspiration for the daring format. (Advice from Michael Schuster and Mike Ritchie MW not withheld.)
It was to be:
- Round 1: 2001 v 2008 ( age and elegance)
- Round 2: 2010 v 2011 ( Blockbuster V stuggling vintage – or so we thought)
- Starter: terrine pate with Brane 2004
- Round 3: 2003 v 2006 v 2007 ( hot years, cool years )
- Main: confit of canard with 2002 ( or meant to be)
- Round 4: 2005 v 2009 (blockbuster years)
Served as above and the crowd loved it. Lurtons optical sorter at nearly half a million Euro threw us with the 2011 v 2010.
The lovely Corinne from Brane helped the evening flow, and it would have been the perfect night except for the taxi driver dropping her at Charing Cross Hospital not Hotel!
Apologised profusely at the UGC tasting at the Royal Opera House on the 12th November and may well have sorted a joint Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte-Chateau Coutet tasting for WanderCurtis for 2013. Roll on the New Year, we will keep delivering.
Mock quiz night with neighbours
A really generous and delicious wine selection from our favourite, Swig wines. Highlights being Christine Buitenverwachting with sumptuous blackcurrant fruit and green pepper with savoury stiltoned notes. Decided not to serve the Barbera having been floored with a rather strong odour of cooked eggs and Rotorua like suphurous aromas. Settled with time, but time was of the essence, and this was dropped from the already adequate line up.
Pre-event blind tasting selection evening
Blind tasted a Cava/New World sparkler and champagne blanc de blanc.
Waitrose blanc de blanc just like tasting a mature chardonnay smokey toast buttery with lovely layers of biscuit.
The Cloudy Bay Pelorus was fresher, sparkly and quite beautifully made. The cava lost its fizz.
Two rhones, including an E.guigal, much loved by Kiran.
Rounded off with a Chateau Sudairaut ’05 and a Feiler Artinger dessert wine.
The wines for the Channing night are finalised!
WanderCurtis strategy meeting over three clarets
Chateau Moulin Riche 2005, Langoa 1997, Margaux 2000 – a fine way to celebrate Tuesday’s highly enjoyable outdoor Spanish tasting. Very thick rare ribeyes were a great acompaniment for this selection of Bordeaux’s, and seemed to clear the mind and the air as we decided on the future of the business.
We will continue the small format wine events but make it clear that we don’t intend to make a profit from these.They are primarily fun and educational. We will build on these and then have experience and knowledge to be able to offer a host of tastings on a more commercial level. We will start work on the Channing event, with the suggestion to run corporate events and expand our distribution list.
We have received samples from Bodegas Vizcarra and we are acting as agents to find JC and importer. We have a business meeting planned regarding our wine app.
We plan to go to Austria in September for our next wine tasting tour, and will do a small format educational event later in the year.
Piemonte, Italy wine tasting trip, May 17-20 2012
We visited some fine wineries in and around Barolo, many arranged by Roger Barlow of Gerrard Seel.
These included Paulo Scavino, Giacomo Conterno, Ascheri , Moccaggata and others.
We sourced the finest for our Piemonte tasting in June.
“Appreciating Wine – The Flavour of Wines Explained” by Phillip Hills
In preparation for our Four Decades of Bordeaux tasting, I reread an excellent book on wine by Phillip Hills called ‘Appreciating Wine – The Flavour of Wines Explained’. Although slightly technical, it gives an excellent explanation of what factors contribute to the aromas and flavours found in wine and in particular the aging process.
Hills is the first to admit that there are plenty of gaps in the scientific (biochemical) understanding of exactly what is going on. For instance, we don’t know what gives cabernet sauvignon its characteristic black currant flavour. Apparently it’s not the same stuff that gives black currants themselves their taste.
It appears that the tannins derived from the grape skins and pips and contact with toasted oak barrels account for most of the wine’s flavours and aromas and for the way that these change with age. This is particularly true of cabernet sauvignon.
Tannins are part of the group of chemicals called phenols which are smelly and often referred to as aromatic compounds. Small changes in these complex polymers can result in very different aromatic characteristics. As a wine ages, this is exactly what happens. The phenolic compounds change and combine with each other, many eventually becoming so large and heavy that they come out of solution and form the sediment that you find in older bottles.
The effect of this is to remove some of the harsher bitter tastes that ‘young’ tannins often have and also to remove some of the colour of the wine. By implication some of the primary black currant and fruit flavours are also eventually lost, and secondary more subtle flavours are either formed or allowed to come out from under the shadow of the young wine’s strong cassis, graphite and wood notes. Taking this to its logical conclusion, at some point the aromatic compounds may just retreat entirely.
For a wine to have good aging potential it needs good acidity because the acids play a part in the polymerisation of the tannins. They also change and reduce. From experience, I’ve noticed that wines which are too old offer fleeting interest and then seem to quickly oxidise. Apparently this is because there is not enough acid left to resist oxidisation.
Tastings in January and February
We have had a run of fine tastings, including the Bordeaux Index en-primeur burgundy, New Zealand annual trade fair, a Portuguese trade tasting at Lords and today, the Enotria annual event.
A highlight was definitely the ben Glaetzer Amon -ra. In fact, the whole range were magnificent, also Henschke wines and Trimbach gewurtztraminer. Not overwhelmed by the Italian selection, but met Fontanafredda and others in preparation for the Barolo trip coming up and have arranged some Sunday tasting. Also a pleasure to bump into the great Robin of Swig.
Christmas shopping at Bennetts Fine Wine – Chipping Campden, Cotswolds
It was with great delight that I fell upon Bennetts Fine Wine in the lovely town of Chipping Campden. Whilst the family were busying themselves way buying Christmas presents and coffee drinking, I luxuriated in the fantastic collection.
One of WanderCurtis’s favorites Kumeu River was represented in abundance as one of the first importers. I tried a 2008 Kumeu River pinot noir – smokey, rich, fruity and gorgeous with Christmas day roast beef and chicken in sherry and mango! Also went for Shaw and Smith M3 chardonnay 2008 – highly rated. This shop has a superb collection, and highly recommended to anyone passing through this truly unspoilt area of green rolling hills of our beautiful country.
Boxing Day evening was complemented by ‘The Caracal’, a South African Bordeaux blend – shared with my brother and washed down with Muga 2007. Another slightly blurry, very merry, antioxidant packed festive season.
Off to Bistro d’Aix in Crouch End tomorrow to investigate venues for our January ‘Four Decades of Bordeaux’ tasting.
WanderCurtis Wine 