Wine Tips From the Master - WSET Class 1 - Part 2

After a brief break (checking to make sure I hadn't spit Riesling down my shirt), the owner of Fine Vintage, James Cluer, Master of Wine, spoke to our group. He is an interesting speaker and I would be happy to have him as a teacher in a future course.

He talked about a few things but what stuck with me were his tips - and here they are:

• concentrate - really concentrate - on the first smell you have of the wine
• "two sips and you're out" - by the time you get to the third sip, your palate has become used to the wine and you will start to miss flavours
• move the wine up and down your mouth, and rub your tongue across the roof of your mouth to check for tannins

Then we started tasting some reds......

The first was purply and pale (I thought it was deep but realized that if you can see the page underneath on a piece of paper, it's pale). It was light in intensity and had lots of red fruits in it. It was high in acidity and had a short to medium finish. I also tasted tannins - but that was an error. The problem is that when you have had white wine and it is still on the palate, even a mild red wine will taste of tannins. "First red wine of the day, you will taste tannins."

This wine was a Bouchard Aîné and Fils  Beaujoulais from France which is made from the Gamay Noir grape. it was a 2015 that goes for $14. 

The wine we compared it to was actually garnet (sort of an orangey red colour) and was pale ( I was wrong again). Although the nose tasted of red fruit, once I tasted it, black fruits like cherry and baked prunes seemed to show up. It was high in tannins (blew the Beaujolais away) and high in acidity and was really full bodied. It had a long finish and was a very good wine. 

This was a Comm G.B. Burlotto Barolo - made from the Nebbiolo grape from Italy and was a 2011 - and came in at $86. 

Comparing the two, the Barolo was wonderful but would be more difficult to pair - it would need to go with a steak or some game. The Beaujolais, on the other hand, would pair with many things including some fish, chicken, pork, pasta and pizza! 

The next two wines were the same type of wine but differed rather slightly in quality!

The first was a clear, rather simple wine with some nice red fruit taste but with a rather short finish. This was a Chartron La Fleur Bordeaux from the Right Bank - so, it was merlot based. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just a bit simple - and so was the price, $14. Sorry, but I couldn't find a link for this winery.

Then we had a bottle of liquid gold. It was a Chateau Bonalgue Pomerol from 2010, also from the Right Bank of Bordeaux. This was a wine with colour so deep that it was difficult to tell what colour it actually was. It, too, was a merlot blend, It had a pronounced nose and tasted of black fruit, tobacco, and high tannins. It was far more complex than the other Bordeaux and had a great long finish.  This wine was one that I would love to drink regularly - unfortunately, I don't think I can afford the $115 a bottle price!

Our final wine of the night was a Sauternes - and it was a wine like I had never had before! This is because it had "nobel rot"! Noble rot or Botrytis is a fungus that causes grapes to partially dry out like raisins which lets them be very sweet. It was a clear wine with a pronounced nose (mushrooms, nectarine), sweet taste, and high acidity (I'm realizing that every wine that is sweet also has high acidity to keep it in balance).  It was suggested that this would be a great wine to have with something spicy. 

The wine was a 2003 Sauternes from La Chapelle LaFaurie-Peyrague and, although not quite my cup of tea (or cup of wine) I did appreciate the age and nice flavours the wine had. This was $33 for a half sized bottle.

Overall, my first class was great - I learned some new things about wine tasting and wine pairings but the real excitement for me was the 9 wine tastings. That is apparently something that only Fine Vintage does - extended numbers of wine tastings each class. The other thing they do is extend all of the classes from two hours to three hours - and I think that is a brilliant idea. Can't wait until next week!