Traveling Light Relay

One of the Rieslings we had in GINI 11 is Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Sainte Catherine Riesling from Alsace.  First, I want to decode the words here.  Domaine Weinbach is the producer. Schlossberg is castle hill in German. Cuvée is same as the English word Reserve.  In Rhone Valley, producers produce special, deluxe lots of wine or a lot of wine from a specific grape variety that they bottle separately.  These lots are often referred to as cuvées. ((Wein-Bauer, Inc.)) So I guess Sainte Catherine is the name of the reserve lots.  According to the producer’s website, it situated half way on the Schlossberg slope. ((Domaine Weinbach))

I have always thought Alsace is a region in Germany, because Riesling is well-known in Germany.  Alsace is part of France, but it was part of Germany before.  In fact it changed hands a few times.  Riesling is probably best of Alsace’s varieties.  It is clean, apple and lemon scents, and it can smell like petrol (in a good way they say)

The other Riesling we tried was Joh Jos Prum Riesling Spätlese Graacher Himmelreich Riesling.  Another decoding is needed.  The producer is Johann Josef Prüm (Joh Jos Prüm).  Spätlese is Late Harvest in German.  Himmelreich is the name of the vineyard, which is in a town called Gracch.  So the word Graacher on the label is to Graach as New Yorker is to New York.  Finally, the region is called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (MOE-zul Zahr ROO-ver).  The Saar and Ruwer rivers are both tributaries (streams) of the Mosel, which is the main river in this region. ((Immer, Andrea. Great Wine Made Simple, New York, 2000. Pg 246-247))  Riesling from Mosel is often described as floral, racy, elegant and finesse; very much like perfume.

One thing I failed to mentioned in my previous post was that our 2nd bottle, Domaine Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Champ Gain, is a Chardonnay. There is two way to know this, the hard way is to do a bit of research (internet, library books), the easy way is to ask Vincent W. Well, I did both, not that I doubt Vincent’s wine knowledge, but doing research is kinda fun. Looking at the wine label, Domaine Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Champ Gain, I know one word only….

It turns out, Domaine Etienne Sauzet is the name of the producer (I have no clue if it is well-known). It was called “benchmark Burgundian Domaine” ((Justerini & Brooks: Etienne Sauzet))As for Puligny Montrachet, it’s a town “where many feel the finest dry white wines in the world are produced” ((Burgundy Wine Company: The Wines of Puligny-Montrachet)) Wow… now I know Vincent only get the good stuff. And I’ve read similar comment about Puligny Montrachet in different sources (internet, books) So where is this place… in Burgundy of course, being a Burgundian wine.

Burgundy wine can be divided into two groups, classics and the rest. Under the classics (and the best), there are the Cote d’Or and Chablis. Chablis is almost all Chardonnay, but that’s not where Puligny Montrachet is; it’s under Cote d’Or (means “golden slope”, referring the slope where the vineyards are found) (( Immer, Andrea. Great Wine Made Simple, New York, 2000. Pg 169-172 )) Cote d’Or can be divided further into two area, both name after a major town, Cote de Nuits (Coat duh NWEE) and Cote de Beaune (Coat duh BONE). So… Puligny Montrachet belongs to Cote de Beaune. (Big deal…) Finally, Champ Gain is the name of the vineyard…

So here it is, Domaine Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Champ Gain, I know what it means now. (Pronouncing it is another matter)

Since the last time I wrote, which is more than 4 months ago, we had 4 more wine tastings.  So we have been consistently drinking, but I have not been consistently writing.  So I have quite a bit of catching up to do here…

We had GINI 11 back in May 11, at Vincent W’s place.  Since we were having white wine this time around, we figured we would like some seafood to go with it, so we ended up getting sashimi/sushi.  Originally we were going to have some Italian red wine, but since Vincent M, a big fan of Italian Red, couldn’t make it, we postponed those red wines until GINI 12.  Anyway, here are the white wines:

1. Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Chardonnay 2004 (Niagara)
2. Domaine Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Champ Gain 2004 (Burgundy)
3. Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Sainte Catherine Riesling 2005 (Alsace)
4. Joh Jos Prum Riesling Spatlese Graacher Himmelreich Riesling 2003 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany)

During the 4 months that I was not writing, Andrew actually set up another blog to make notes for each wine we tried in GINI tastings.  <http://www.seatourist.com/gini-wine-tasting/> Since he is doing a great job with the taste notes, I’ll get lazy and not writing taste notes.  But I would post the results of voting for our favorite wine of each tasting.

The GINI Chardonnay/Riesling Index
We ranked the bottles 1 to 4, add up the numbers, whichever one has the lowest score is the best.  Here is the list of participants: Aaron, Alex, Andrew, Kwong C, Kwong T, Naomi, Rita, Stephanie, Vincent W.  Looking at the results, there was no clear winner; in fact 3 bottles got the same score, and the 4th one was just 2 points off.

Canada’s greatest pinot noir, that’s how one newspaper columnist compliments wines from Le Clos Jordanne.  It just happens that first wide release of their debut vintage is on the same day as our wine tasting day.  So we tasted 4 bottles of Pinot Noir from LCJ’s 3 different vineyards.  Two of the bottles are from the same vineyard, Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard, but one, called Le Grand Clos, is created from the vineyard’s best parcel.  So accordingly it is more expensive, priced at $60 as opposed to $35 for each of the rest.

We actually weren’t all that sure if we can try all 4 bottles, because there are not that many around; only 470 cases of 6 were made for Le Grand Clos, the most expensive one.  Even for one of the $35 ones, Claystone Terrace, only 798 cases of 6 were made.  But because of the hard work of Vincent W and Naomi, we got all 4 bottles.  Unfortunately, they could secured one of each only.

We did have full meal this time; in addition to the rotisserie chicken Andrew brought over, my parents prepared some soup and Taiwanese sasuage.  My dad even prepared some Chinese “Kung-fu” tea for us, but that’s after we finished our wine.

Also this time we did blind tasting.  Since all 4 bottles are from the same winemaker, same year, we thought it might be a challenge for us inexperience drinker to find the differences between them.  Thankfully that is not the case; in fact they came from 3 different vineyards.  And so there are 2 bottles from the same vineyard.  Hence another challenge to ourselves is to identify which two are from the same vineyard.  Finally, we also want to identify which one of them is the especially expensive one.

Bottle #1 was the La Petite Vineyard; and we all thought it is decidedly inferior to the rest.  Maybe it has resemblances of Canadian wines, which is we were looking for.  Reviews had been noted that LCJ is actually more like the Old World than the New World.  Bottle #2 was from the Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard.  This is one of the two that come from the same vineyard.  Most of us didn’t think that would be the case.  That’s probably because it was bottle #3 and #4 that really stand out.  Most of us thought #3 and #4 were from the same vineyard; both of them were so good they were like those nice Burgundy.  But in fact it is bottle #4, Le Grand Clos, that is also from the Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard.  #3 is from the Claystone Terrace.  We actually saw the area map of where the vineyards are.  Although they are all close to each other, but because of the area’s microclimate, climates differs in such small area.  Hence the wines were not all the same.

It turns out that it was #4, Le Grand Clos, that is the most expensive one.  Vincent W noted that it is the finish that distinguishes Le Grand Clos from the other ones.  But given that most of us like both Claystone (#3) and Le Grand, Claystone is definitely a better buy.  But it’s going to be hard find now. –KC

The GINI Le Clos Jordanne Pinot Noir Index

Dad’s Chinese Kung-fu Tea never fails to impress

Back to my old self, next wine taste is coming in less than a week, and I have yet to write an entry for the previous wine taste.  But what is worse is that I don’t remember much from GINI IX.  I do remember turnout was low, so few people that we can only tried 3 bottles.  I also did not take the pictures myself, as I forgot my camera; so all pictures came from Naomi’s camera.

Unlike previous times, we did not have full meal to go with the wine; but our host Andrew did prepare some nice snack (sushi, crackers, cheese), and of course we cleaned them up quite good. Not only did I not take any pictures, I didn’t write down any notes while trying the wines.

For bottle 1, it was 1999 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay Carneros.  Right the way, Naomi tasted a little salty/buttery.  She was wondering how could it be, since she has not had any of the snack.  I myself didn’t taste much of buttery, maybe a little bit. Our 2nd bottle is 2004 Saintsbury Chardonnay Carneros.  I found this one refreshing and more oaky (or buttery?)  I guess I enjoyed this one the more.

Our last bottle is 1999 William Fevre Chablis Premier Cru Montee De Tonnerre.  I believe this is my first time having Chablis (although we did try a white Burgundy before).  It is I have looked up what the WSJ writers have to say about Chablis:

Chablis is one of the natural wonders of the wine world, but it’s not appreciated much in the U.S. Partly that’s because, for a long time, winemakers slapped “Chablis” on the label of every cheap, generic white that had the misfortune of being bottled. And partly that’s because Chablis, at one point, was a chic “glass of white wine” at cocktail parties, and it suffered because Chablis, which has lovely acids, is never at its best without food.

Chablis is made from the Chardonnay grape, but it’s very different from most American Chardonnay. It’s dry and clean and somewhat austere, with crisp, flinty tastes. Some have a taste of minerals and, in the best ones, there’s an intensity of fruit that makes them seem almost tight. Most notably, there’s a little something in the “nose” and the taste that we always refer to as sourness. We know “sour” doesn’t sound very attractive in reference to a wine, but think of a perfectly ripe, very fresh lime drizzled over a crisp, savory slice of Granny Smith apple and you’ll get the idea. ((Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Jun 8, 2001.  pg. W.13))

In their article, they actually tried 1998 William Fevre Chablis, and they were quite happy with it.  Unfortunately, not many of us like our 1999 William Fevre.  Maybe we just prefer the American Chardonnay. –KC

The GINI Chablis/Chardonnay Index

We don’t even know when our next GINI going to be, and I’m writing this blog (What’s going on??)  Actually I’ve meant to write as soon as we had our last tasting, but somehow I just rather to write something else.  I was more excited than usual coming to this wine taste, reason being, I was bringing one bottle from my “collection” (all of 3 bottles)  I have this Pinot Noir I bought about one year ago.  I bought it because I read it in a wine column from the Wall Street Journal.  The column was describing their wine country trip in Napa Valley.  So of all the wine they mentioned, LCBO carried only one of them, the Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley.  It wasn’t cheap, well above $40, but I bought two anyway.  I gave one to my dad, and to my surprise, he finished rather quickly, and I didn’t even have a sip.  I can only assume that it was good, him finishing it so quickly.

We had this wine taste on December 29, a Friday night, so naturally we had dinner as well.  To go with Burgundy and Pinot Noir, we went with rotisserie chicken.  We were gonna have Swiss Charlet, but Aaron read an article from Toronto Star, recommending a BBQ place and calls it the best rotisserie chicken in Toronto area.  The place is called “Joe Boo’s Cookoos” and it’s actually in Thornhill.  It was indeed very good chicken.  BTW, thanks to Kwong T for providing his place, allowing us to eat and drink.

We went back to the blind tasting this time, so all bottles with brown bags covered up.  We just know one thing before hand; bottle number two had a broken cork in it (first time happen to us!) So we ended up having to decant the wine (to avoid getting the cork while drinking)  But Vincent W says that you don’t usually need to decant Pinot Noir/Burgundy.

First bottle is a Pinot Noir from Oregon.  A few of us were quite certain of it while blind tasting.  It is the youngest of all, and It was quite fruity and acidic; it didn’t taste much like other Pinot Noir we had before.

Second bottle was a Burgundy, the one with the broken cork.  The reason we tasted Burgundy with other Pinot Noir is that most wines from Burgundy are made from Pinot Noir.  There is a few things to learn from looking at the label.  One thing is that French for Burgundy is “Bourgogne”.  Another thing is that, in most cases, the more specific the place, the better the wine.  So in our case, Givry is the name of a village, quite specific.  1er Cru, or Premier Cru, indicates the status of the wine; only 10 percent of all Burgundy’s wine.  It ranks second to Grand Cru, which represents fewer than 2 percent of Burgundy wines.  I also found out that the terms are reversed in Bordeaux, with Premier Cru superior.  A few of us thought this one was quite different from bottle #3 and #4, so we speculate that this one is my California Pinot Noir, not Burgundy.  I’m not sure how others tasted this bottle, leather is the only one thing came to my mind.

Third bottle is the one I brought, Sebastopol Vineyards Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir.  I read it somewhere that a lot of wine drinkers had their first revelation about wine with Burgundy.  I think this might be the case for me, except it’s not a Burgundy, it’s Russian River Pinot Noir (close enough?)  This was my first time being so decisive and say, “this one tastes really good”  And apparently quite a few others agreed with me, looking at everyone’s rankings.  But I’m still not totally sure, as that one great taste only happened to me a couple sip; I wonder if it’s the way I’m drinking it.  In any case, I’m glad that I really like that taste… that indescrible taste.  I re-read the column in WSJ, I realize they describe it perfectly; soulful tastes of truffles and strong tea.  Yes! That’s what I tasted.

Finally the last bottle is a Burgundy.  Nuits Saint Georges, name of another village, is also Preimer Cru (I believe)  Truth be told, I was so impressed by the previous bottle, I kinda forgot about this one. –KC

The GINI Burgundy/Pinot Noir Index