After four years that I've
been working in the wine trading company, it's difficult to count the number of
the tastings that have organized or visited. Wine fairs, with their endless
kaleidoscope of wine brands, visits and presentations of the winemakers, trips
to the wineries. Over the years I have tried hundreds of wines, thousands of
times used the word "tannin", "full bodied", "nice
balance of acidity", "long finish", "palate".
Its rapidly increasing popularity over the last years and its status of the «luxury» segment at the same time, made it incredibly fashionable to be keen in wines. Suddenly everyone who had some knowledge about the wines, started to consider themselves celebrities (I'm not an exclusion, unfortunately). So, it took me some time to understand the simple truth: whatever in the wine industry your role is (winemaker, marketing manager, journalist or blogger), you never stop to learn when it goes about wine.
Why am I writing all this? Ah, yes, it’s because of the last week’s White France wine tasting in a lovely area of Monbijouplatz at the «Vins & Cognac" boutique. Sean, its owner, has been living in France for many years and his theoretical knowledge, supported by practical experience, made this tasting very lively and exciting.
Here are its main points:
1. For those who didn’t know, Bergerac is not only the name of a novel’s character, but also a name of the wine region located on the South West of France. Wonderful region, which has been fated to compete with the Great and Powerful Bordeaux (just to make things more clear, to compete with Bordeaux when it goes about wine, is pretty much the same as for an motor car constructing company to surpass Mercedes or for a tailor to emulate the success of Dior). It happened because the Bordeaux wine region boundaries were delimitated in the XX century, establishing the new limits on the Gironde department borders. And since the wine merchants in that area after the change of administrative borders, were focused on selling the wines under the official brand of Bordeaux, it’s been a tough time for Bergerac winemakers.
The regulated grape varieties - Semillon, Sauvignon Blan, Muscadet are allowed to be blended with Ugni Blanc and Chenin, producing dry white wine with a nice body, complex flavor and a long, pleasant finish.
The wine we have started with, Chateau Tourmentine Bergerac Passionnement (50% Semillon/50% Sauvignon) expressed perfectly the main terroir characteristics of its region, opening with the complex aromas, fruity and nicely balanced palate and capturing with a long pleasant aftertaste. This wine should be drunk as an aperitif (which we did) otherwise it could match perfectly to salads and fish.
2. The next tasting destination was Champagne. Honestly, there is so much being told and retold about Champagne, that, it makes no sense to describe it – everyone has tasted this wine at least once in his life, and the name of the area it originates from, is known even by those who deal with wine on the daily basis as much as the average person deals with astrophysics. As for our tasting sample, it was Charles Lafitte Brut Millesime 1999. The wine opened with soft floral aromas (acacia, privet and passionflower), a bit harsh at first on the palate, with the time in a glass it softened, evolving honey notes of acacia, getting more round and complex. The aftertaste was long, clear, revealing well “pronounced” dried fruits’ notes.
One fact about Champagne (or better to say its attribute) that perhaps never occurred to you... The well-known "mushroom" shaped champagne cork was not specially produced for the sparkling wines format. The standard cork is being used for all wines (no matter still or sparkling), but the pressure in the bottle with sparkling wine causes the formation of the cork "cap" over the bottle’s neck.
3. From Burgundy to the Loire Valley, to Domaine Bideau and their wine - Giraud Grand Mortier Gobin Cru 2012. Loire Valley with its 300 castles is one of the French main treasures (please forgive me for banality).
Four Muscadet appellations are producing the same name grape variety, also known as Melon de Bourgogne. It gives light, fresh, dry wines, varying from the walnut to peach or, even, sometimes honey shades. This wine’s quite neutral flavor accentuates perfectly the taste of seafood and slakes your thirst. Our wine proceeded from Muscadet de Sevre-et-Main appellation (the central area that produces the largest number of quality wines). Giraud Grand Mortier Gobin Cru 2012 hunts you with the white fruits and notes of lime, good balance of acidity, moderate body and mineral palate - a great wine to enjoy with a seafood.
4. Alsace - another region that we moved to after a short break. Oh, those breaks, they are so tricky... When there is a break and the glasses are full with wine, people start losing their interest to sorting out the notes, finding the aroma peculiarities and searching for mineral hints in their glasses, preferring a relaxed chat to other people in the room. And here is the crucial moment to test yourself on the dictatorship skills, cutting of the democracy in the room, saying strictly and loudly "Everybody sit down" or "All rise!” (especially, if there are no chairs in the room), “We are starting the next wine” ... But Sean was nothing of the dictator, so we continued talking relaxed, alternately rushing to the table with snacks and sipping our delicious Gewurztraminer for some time :).
So, back to Alsace ... The vineyards of Alsace have been changing their jurisdiction many times going from the French governance under German and back to French. No wonder that German grape varieties like Risling and Gewurztraminer are coexisting here with the French Pinot Gris and Muscat. In our case, the Alsace wine was presented by Gewurztraminer 2012 by Willy Gisselbrecht. It was a nice, light wine with a traditional flavor of exotic fruits, rose petals and spices, easy drinking thanks to its light and fresh flavor that matches so well with foie gras or blue cheeses.
5. Well, what kind of tasting of French white wines without a sample from Burgundy? There is no such tasting. Quite predictably the “star” of our program came from this region, it was - Domain Alain Guyard Marsannay "Les Etales" 2012. Crispy fresh, mineral, perfectly balanced - a fine example of the high-style Burgundy (and, surprisingly, the example of the low price), and there is nothing to add to that.
6. The last tasting sample was by Domaine Sarda - Malet Muscat de Rivsaltes 2011. The town of Rivesaltes (which literally means "high banks") gave its name to the natural sweet wines area of production, which was once confined to its outskirts, and now includes a significant part of the Roussillon. Produced here sweet wines are soft, nervous and creamy. This rich sweet (not less than 100 g / l) wine full of ripe grapes aromas is made out of of Muscat and Muscat of Alexandria grape varieties. During the aging process it acquires notes of honey and candied fruit (especially apricots) aromas.
Well, hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed tasting. Special thanks to Sean for organizing it!
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