WSET Lesson 2 Part 1 Syrah

A black grape that is small and thick skinned, so juice extracted from Syrah* grapes and skins has a good helping of tannins (we know already how vital these are to red wine). The vines are late budding, so they don’t fall foul of climatic troubles early in the growing season. They are fairly disease resistant, except for Chlorosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorosis that can affect the rootstock. Syrah needs warmth to ripen, in a warm area this will happen by the middle of the harvest season, again avoiding the troubles the climate can wreak on later ripening grapes.

image courtesy of user Bethling at wikipedia (CC-BY-2.0)

The red wines produced from Syrah are always full-bodied, always tannic and exhibit characteristics of dark fruits, black pepper and spice aromas. The exclusively Syrah classic Northern Rhône wines of Côte Rôtie and Hermitage are big boys whose tannins take years to soften. In Australia it is called Shiraz and is typically grown in warmer conditions, so the resulting wines have more fruit characteristics, but are no less well built.

Origins

The disparity of the name illustrates the unanswerable question of Syrah’s origins. Although synonymous with the Rhône valley, it was definitely an introduction. The variety has been traced back to Shiraz in Persia, where it still grows. Archeological exploration has shown wine production in the Rhône area for over two millennia, though this is unlikely to have been from Syrah. If the variety had been introduced by the Greeks then it would have borne the name of Shiraz in the first century BC. If the Romans had introduced it two and a half centuries later it would have taken its name from Syracuse where the legions were based. We know it was the Romans who introduced Viognier to the region. By the third century AD Syrah was much in evidence in the Rhône, growing wild having seeded itself beyond the confines of the vineyards.

Territories

As a variety it dominates the Northern Rhône, being the only red grape allowed into the Appellation Contrôlée red wines of the region. Viognier, the perfumed white grape, is the only other addition permitted (only up to 5%), and only as juice for co-fermentation. Blending of red and white wines after fermentation is outlawed across the world. As Shiraz it is dominant in its other great territory, Australia, where it constitutes 17% of red grape production. Sold as a single varietal right across the quality spectrum, it is often successfully blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the past three decades Syrah has increased in popularity across the globe. Particularly heading south down the Rhône, where its strong flavour backbone has made it the major blending variety with the principal variety of the region, Grenache. From there its popularity spreads in all directions around the Mediterranean, particularly as a single varietal Vin de Pays in Languedoc. California has increased its planting of Syrah mostly down to a loose collective named the ‘Rhône Rangers’ http://www.rhonerangers.org, whose practice of emulating the Old World wine making styles bucks the established trends of the region.

*not to be confused with North American Petit Sirah, although small amounts of this grape are permitted in the blends of Rhône Ranger wines.

WSET Lesson 1 part 5 – Keeping it

There are leftover ends of wine in my household, honestly, but should you not be going down the Nigella route of freezing your wine leftovers for gravies, then how to keep it fresh?

There is nothing as great as a freshly opened bottle for white and rosé wines, and those reds open for the correct breathing time cannot be beaten. Once open contact with oxygen makes the wine oxidise and spoil. This is a big problem for restaurants and bars offering wines by the glass, an inconvenience for the domestic drinker who only fancies one or two from the glass per evening.

Whites and rosés resealed and popped back in the fridge are fine, generally, the next day. Reds are usually less happy. A trick for home drinking is to pop the cork back in and pop them in the fridge too. Remember to take the red out of the fridge a good while before drinking it if you want to continue drinking it ‘à chambre’. Getting it in the glass will get it back to room temperature quicker.

Sparkling wine is fizzy because there is CO₂ dissolved in it. This stays in solution in the bottle because the cork prevents the gas escaping. The small air space in the bottle becomes pressurised so no bubbles can escape from the liquid. It is true for any sparkling drink in whatever container; beer kegs do a similar job. This is why a cage is fitted over the cork of bottles to stop it being propelled out, or a crown cap is used. The pleasing sensation of sparkling drinks is those bubbles of CO₂ coming out solution over your tongue, and why they invariably make you burp.

Exposed to the atmosphere those bubbles continue to escape until the drink is flat.

This Champagne stopper does a good job to keep the fizz in the sparkling wine by forming a seal at the neck of the bottle that prevents any gas escaping from the bottle. As the CO₂ comes out of solution and becomes gas, this causes pressure to build up in the bottle. Once the pressure of the gas in the air space equals that of the bubbles, no more bubbles come out of solution. The arms hold the seal in place otherwise it would be propelled off. This is a good solution if the bottle is to be used fairly quickly. The more airspace there is in the bottle the less effective the preservation, as some fizz is lost into the air space every time the seal is broken.

There is an old wives’ tale that a silver spoon in the neck of the bottle helps preserve the fizz. That debate continues: http://blog.kumkani.com/?p=730

CO₂ is heavier than air, so within that enclosed space the CO₂ actually forms a barrier between the wine and any oxygen, so preserving it for even longer.

So, this is a fine solution, but not a perfect one. The Verre du Vin http://www.bermar.co.uk/

preservation system is altogether better. This system has a secured seal again, but pressurised CO₂ is then pushed in so very little CO₂ escapes from the wine. This works for beer, cider, and even non-alcoholic minerals. Of note here, pressurised air wouldn’t work, as the presence of oxygen would spoil the wine.

The rather slick Verre du Vin site also shows the vacuum system for the preservation of still wines. The absence of oxygen in contact with the surface of the wine would mean that oxidation is greatly slowed. For domestic situations http://www.vacuvin.com/Vacuum_Wine_Saver_215.html is great. These systems are good, but have a flaw in that the airspace is mostly empty in the bottle, but is not an absolute vacuum.

By far the best system is to flood the airspace above the wine with inert gasses to exclude oxygen contact. Many systems are on the market and more are being developed.

This concludes my round up of lesson one. In my next posting I shall move on to lesson two where we shall learn about Syrah, Grenache and Riesling grapes and the areas these are synonymous with.

WSET 1 tasting notes 6 – 2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos,

Hungary 12%, £28

http://www.royal-tokaji.com/

Colour: clear – pale ­– gold

Nose: clean – pronounced – honey

Palate: sweet – medium acidity – no tannins – honey, pear, caramel, pineapple – long length

Conclusions: exceptional

Understanding the label

2000 the vintage – legally the same for both the base wine and the aszú

Royal Tokaji Wine Company the producer

Tokaji Tokaj is a village in Hungary. The ‘i’ translates as ‘from the region’ around.

Aszú a Hungarian term for a dried or raisined grape

5 Puttonyos this’ll take some explaining.
Puttonyo translates as ‘hod’, the carrying device. Their hods hold approximately 27l. The addition of an ‘s’ grammatically adds an ‘ed’.
So this wine is ‘5 hodded’.
‘Hods of what?’
Aszú of course.
‘So 135l of aszú per bottle?’
Errrmmm. No, it’s per Gönc.
‘Ok, errrmm?’
Gönc is a 136l barrel in which the base wine (non- aszú) has the puttonyo of aszú added to it.
Just so now that it’s not absolutely clear, this is not actually how it physically happens anymore, but the levels of concentration for the juice is still measured this way.

Tokaj was very highly prized all around the old world. Devastation by phylloxera, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Second World War, and Soviet Communist domination saw Hungarian wine deteriorate. The annexing of areas of Tokaji by Slovakia and Poland could have seen the demise of the prized wine, however it was not so. Individual producers had continued with the complex traditions of its viticulture and vinification.

Hugh Johnson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Johnson_%28wine%29 founded the Royal Tokaji Wine Company with other investors. The very pleasing results are now prized all around the world. 

WSET 1 tasting 5 2005 Radcliffe’s Barolo, DOCG Piemont

Italy 13.5%, £19.49

Colour: clear – medium – garnet

Nose: clean – light – spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried fruit

Palate: dry – medium acid – high tannin – liquorice – short length

Conclusion: (poor) acceptable

I didn’t manage to bite my tongue despite having swilled wine all around it. Radcliffe’s is the own label of Threshers. After swallowing up many a chain to become the behemoth of the UK wine retail industry. ‘Lower your glasses and surrender your sips. We will add your biodynamic and retail distinctiveness to our own. Your (retail counter) culture will adapt to service us.’

Average room temperature is 20–25°C, to detect assimilation of a retailer an early sign is its internal temperature rises to 39.1°C. Nice to see the basic rules of wine storage ignored by the largest ‘independent’ (non-supermarket) retailer. Its leaders expressed disappointment on losing trade to the supermarkets. I say no more. After the sad demise of the Nicolas franchise in the UK, it is heartening that Oddbins is back in family hands.
So little to say about this actual bottle of wine that should promise a whole story.

Understanding the label

2005 vintage

Radcliffe’s the ‘producer’

Barolo is a wine style from Piemont, Italy

DOCG the top categorization of Italian wine

Barolo is not just any old wine style ‘the wine of kings, the king of wines.’ So called for many reasons.

Not only one of the finest of wines, it is said to be the greatest example of wines made from the Nebbiolo grape.
Beloved of the local Torino nobility, but additionally within the Barolo region the Verduno, Roddi and Serralunga d’Alba estates were in possession of the Italian royal households in the nineteenth century. This historic patronage, whilst a good spin, would mean nothing if the wine didn’t continue to deliver.

Piemont, Italy, is often compared to France’s great Burgundy. The regions within Piemont a great interlocking mass on the map. DOC statuses were marked in 1936, the same era as the ACs were being marked in France. DOCG status awarded to the finest Barolo estates in 1980.

As a style it is a big wine, the flavours whilst the wine is young too big to sit comfortably in a glass together. Most Barolos are aged for several years, up to several decades for the finest, the aggression dies down in the dominant flavours so the whole thing sings harmoniously. There is so much about Barolo, its fine traditions, its modernisation, its unique microclimates, its various ‘terroirs’ (what is Italian for terroir?). I’ll just pop this link in as it leads to many, many more: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/ocw/CH270.html

WSET 1 tasting notes 3 – 2007 Gewürztraminer, Wunsch et Mann, AC Alsace

France, 13%, £10.99

http://www.wunsch-mann.fr/ 

Colour: clear – medium – gold

Nose: clean – pronounced – perfumed, clove

Palate: medium – (high) low acidity – no tannins – medium body – ginger, ripe apple, rose petal – medium length

Conclusion: (very good) good

Ok, so a bit of a favourite for me. The room was divided. What was concluded, with our personal preferences put aside, was it was a good example of type for the money spent.

Understanding the label

2007 the vintage

Gewürztraminer the most unpronounceable grape variety name for a Brit.

Wunsch et Mann the producer

AC is ‘Appellation Contrôlée’

Alsace the region of the named country France

Gewürztraminer is a pink-skinned variety of the Traminer white grape family, originally a native of the Tyrol region of northern Italy. The addition of the ‘Gewürz’ from the German word for ‘spiced’, used here to mean perfumed, is applied to the descendant grown mostly in the Alsace region of France and sparsely in the neighbouring region in Germany. Fragile to grow and low yielding it produces a highly perfumed wine with low acids. Drier styles and wines from higher yielding crops have been criticized for weaker character.

AC is short for AOC, Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. This is the French mark that led to the creation of all the other European QWPSR. Following three devastations of the European vine stock in the late nineteenth century, the greatest being from the Phylloxera insect, many old and established regional wines became almost unavailable. An influx of cheaper, inferior wines to plug the gap led to many French regions drawing up classifications to differentiate themselves from these as production recovered. By the 1920s Baron le Roy of the Châteauneuf du Pape region drew up further codes limiting grape varieties, farming practices and ABVs for each region’s producers. Hence 1936 and 1937 is when France’s major appellations date the introduction of their controls. Rules within them are tweaked, but rarely majorly altered. The model was adopted in the European QWPSR marks and similar practices exist in the other major wine producing parts of the world.

Alsace as an appellation is unique in its climate and culture. Having been part of France, then Germany, and fought over back and forth throughout history, culturally it is between the two, and more importantly distinct from them both. The same can be said for its distinctive wines.

WSET Lesson 1 Tasting 2

2005 Kanu Chenin Blank, WO Stellenbosch, South Africa, 14%, £8.65

Colour: clear – medium – gold

Nose: clean – pronounced – kernel, oaky

Palate: off dry – medium acidity – no tannins – medium body – grapefruit, peach, honey – medium length

Conclusion: acceptable

Many more aroma and flavour sensations going on here. We are introduced to an oaked wine, a wine matured in the presence of oak. I’ll go into more detail about oak and wine in a whole post later. I’ll just leave it as a new dimension here.

Understanding the label

2005 vintage.

Kanu is the producer.

Chenin Blank being the Afrikaans for Chenin Blanc.

WO is the ‘Wine of Origin’ mark, established in 1973 it is similar to the QWPSR marks used in the EU. The area it refers to is Stellenbosch, the centre for viticulture in the named country, South Africa.

Chenin Blanc is a grape variety native to the Loire valley, France. Also called Pineau or Pineau Blanc there, it is late budding and late ripening. This makes it an awkward grape to grow in the damp environment of the Loire. The resulting wines have a honeyed/ damp straw quality to the characteristics, yet are quite highly acidic.

In the New World Chenin grows more vigorously. If yields are too high the resulting wines can be nondescript. In South Africa the grape is sometimes called Steen. It makes up 17% of South Africa’s vines. Used as a base for basic dry table wines; for better quality single-varietal wines; for sparkling wines; fortified wines; even as a base for spirits. 

WSET Lesson 1 Tasting 1

2007 Soave Classico, Rizzard, DOC Veneto, Italy, 12.5%, £6.95

Colour: clear – medium ­– gold

Nose: clean – (medium) light – (thinners) elderflower

Palate: dry – medium acidity – no tannins – medium body – grapefruit, pear – medium length

Conclusion: good

Starting out gingerly we were congratulated on picking up quite so much character from one of the lightest of wines. Alun did comment that it actually had a bolder character than Soave often has. Its accessible price tag led to the unanimous conclusion of ‘good’ for what it was.

Understanding the label

2007 is the vintage, the year the grapes were harvested.

Soave is the wine style. It has to be made in Veneto, Italy. If you didn’t know this already the label tells you where it’s from clearly anyway. It is primarily made of the Garganega grape. EU law allows it to include other grapes, which ones continues to be more regulated.

Classico means the grapes are from a specific area of hillside above the Adige river. Rizzard is the producer.

This is an important element of reading Italian wine labels its mark of QWPSR (Quality Wine Produced in a Specified Region).

DOC — Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which this one is, there is also

DOCG — Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.

Then it tells us which DOC it is from, Veneto. A bit more information on Veneto (http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a2008090526.html).

The country of origin: Italy.

Finally the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) in %.

Veneto was awarded DOC status in 1968. This meant wines from certain areas that exemplified the style of the region could use this denomination. The major grape variety used has to Garganega, other grape varieties are allowed to make up 30% of the wine. Trebianno di Soave (known as Ugni Blanc elsewhere), Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco could be added to the DOC. Trebianno di Toscano has become excluded from the DOC. It often makes up part of ordinary Soave, many of the grapes for this now are grown in the alluvial plain of the riverbed rather than the traditional hillside terraces. We tasted a Classico, this is a specific hillside region. There are other hillside regions to the east, which are ‘steely’ in taste as the soil is volcanic. The hillside regions to the west are limestone and warmer so give have more forward, upfront, ‘sunny’ flavours.

In 2002 DOCG status was awarded to certain areas. The rules became even stricter for the DOCG and led to a specific system of naming: From the Classico zone, Classico Superior; from Recioto di Soave, Soave Superior; from other regions Soave Colli Scalegeri Superior. Whilst holidaying in Rome a DOCG Soave pleasantly surprised me. I wasn’t expecting so much flavour having become used to the much thinner examples we are so often served in the UK.

WSET Lesson 1 part 4 (8/9/09)

First tasting of the course.

Each lesson we are tasting six wines. Having done lesson two I think the tastings will tie in with the grapes and regions covered. Lesson one we got a grab bag of diverse weights and characteristics to illustrate some of criteria of the Systematic Approach. http://wsetglobal.com/documents/ic_sat_22.06.09.pdf

We were asked to put down what we thought. As our first tasting we had little to gauge our findings against. I shall be writing my results in italics where they differ from the rest of the group, or are simply way off the mark. I’m going to put the ‘real’ results in Roman. Alun, our tutor, gently coaxed us back to reviewing what we had written initially once we had a few tastings done. ‘Have another sniff of the first one.’ Light – Medium – Pronounced means little without experience of each.  A group vote showed what most of us had arrived at, then a comparison with the textbook answer. This hands on, eyes, nose and mouth on, part of the course is really, really good fun.

I’ll put the results from each tasting into the same format as our class notes. Without repeating parrot fashion from the course book, I’m going to run through how we get to the results.

Read the bottle. Seems obvious, but until lesson two I’d no idea how to really understand German wine categorization. Each tasted wine I’ll roll off what I’ve discovered about what the words on the label mean. There are initials and terminology to de-code, numbers and dates to consider. It’s all beautifully paraphrased here http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-label-eu.htm

This will tell you what to expect, or at worst hope, to find in the bottle. Also another number to consider, in lesson one this was done after tasting, the price tag. Not knowing this first time round we were not far off the mark going in blind. Once we’re all more experienced the pricing point will be key. The expectation from this will determine whether it gets poor-acceptable-good-very-good-outstanding at Conclusion stage.

50ml into the ISO.

Look into the glass. That white background important here. Clear or dull, also if any little bubbles, spritz. Look from above to measure the Intensity.

See all the way through = Pale

See to the stem = Medium

Can’t see to the bottom of the bowl = Deep

Tilt the glass to 45° to assess the colour.

Swirl! Glass on the table, round and round, get the wine moving, air through it, aeration.

If it’s stale smelling then it’s off. Many ways it can go wrong here.

Intensity, we’ll learn to measure this with experience.

Aroma Characteristics is where Jilly Goolden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilly_Goolden got us all laughing some years back. Now we’re learning this actually fairly standardised vocabulary to express our findings.

Into the mouth. Keep it at the tip of the tongue to test for Sweetness, I’m really struggling with this. Then spit, an inebriated palate is a clouded palate.

The second sip is held in the mouth, air drawn in over it. An exhale through the nose then more air drawn in. This slurping sounds fairly ridiculous done anywhere other than a tasting.

Acidity, felt along the sides of the tongue and the amount of saliva stimulated.

Tannin, like in strong tea, coats the teeth and gets a unique tingle.

Body, this is all about the wine’s sensation, rather than a sensory reaction.

Flavour Characteristics, we’re going poetic again like the Aroma Characteristics.

Spit

Length, what lingers on.

We are all were repeating this to try and pick up all these fine points of tasting.

Conclusions, sum it up very succinctly.

So this is the how, next few posts are the wines we tasted.

WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 3

Wine Service

‘Has it been chilled? Can you pop an ice cube in it?’

If, like me, you serve wine & food to customers for a living then this question will be as familiar as the statement ‘Ooh the soup’s nice & hot. ‘ Yeah, I’ve spent my whole career, as has the chef, ensuring I can put a bottle of wine in a fridge & the chef a saucepan of soup on a stove. So what else am I to learn from my WSET about wine service? Chilled wine has a place, as has the degree of chilling. Wine has an optimum placing, both arriving in its best receptacle as much as what next to.

Food fridges generally are set to 2-5ºC to ensure food is kept in its best condition for as long as possible. Drinks fridges not so cold. The coolest these should be at is 6º.
bettertastingwine has conveniently posted the matrix http://www.bettertastingwine.com/serving_temperature_chart.html so I’ll not simply repeat, but it is of note that the fuller the wine the warmer the service temperature. The light chilling of paler reds has become more common practice in the UK now. I shall be less keen with the ice bucket for the fuller whites, also our snugly warm room temperature is way too warm for even the biggest reds, it’ll be 1/2 an hour on the doorstep for the home service of these this winter at home.

I can open a bottle of wine, well practised, but there are a host of options for getting in there.
.

My preference is the little green chap 2nd left bottom row, the waiters’ friend. My nemesis to his right. I’ve never tried the twin prong, so still have things to look forward to then. This image is from http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm who conveniently has a lovely selection of wine glasses too & some sound advice on their care. I particularly like this quote ‘If, like me, you don’t particularly care to handle your delicate crystal glasses after consuming more than one serving, then thoroughly rinse the wine residue out of the glass and clean it in the morning when your motor functions are more stable.’

One opening rule of some importance is the safe opening of sparkling wines. After ripping off the foil top, unwinding the cage, keep a thumb over the cork, turn the bottle away from people, hold at 30º take a firm hold of the cork & with the other hand turn the bottle. The force of the gas pressure in the bottle will send a cork away from you at dangerous speeds, but not a bottle away from the cork at noticeable pressure. If the fizzy has been a bit shaken up on its way to your hands, as the house Champagne seemed to have been on its way to http://www.graze-restaurant.co.uk whilst I was there, then the covering of the cork with a clean tea towel, then holding it through that, prevents the cork shooting out of your control & covers any lively activity after that. Done with flourish this looks professional. Sparkling wines always go back in the ice bucket to keep them cool, so a tea towel around the neck to dry the bottle is obligatory wherever it’s being served.

So looking professional with wine service, there’s a code of practice here. Show the bottle of wine to whomever has ordered it. The oldest gentleman is not necessarily this person these days, & the ‘host’ has often had the most botox so determining the most senior is treacherous in dimly lit service spaces anyhow. This is for them to read the label. I have been thankful of the ‘host’ paying attention here on many occasions. Offhand ‘I’ll take the Pinot’ could result in many a wine of many colours coming to the table, once they’ve said yes it’s their issue. The other important thing they’re reading is the vintage. Vintages run out, wine suppliers could tell the restaurant they’ve moved on, but this may not yet have been updated on the wine list. For certain wines this is significant, let the discerning customer make this choice. They get to taste the wine, only 50ml or so. They can say yes or no at this point. It could be wrong in any way, off, tainted, too young, or simply not typical of type. Whatever, it is my rule is to not serve it if the customer doesn’t like it, each restaurant has its own feelings on this. Pour everyone else’s glasses before returning to the ‘host’s’. How much? Well, in the ISO glass it was filled to the point where the bowl is widest, its safe to use the same rule with the glasses on the dinner table.

Breathing, not just whilst you’re at the table, but the wine too. Whites & rosés don’t need it, but, as I was corrected, ALL red wine opens up with some breathing, even the lightest Gamays. The more mature reds will need it to pour off the clean wine away from the sediment. The bottle must have settled for a day or so, so no shakey shakey on the way to the table. Best to decant away from the table after tasting. Do it against a light source, the romantic traditional way is in front of a candle. This is so you can watch the wine as it pours into the decanter, then as the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle stop pouring, this little bit is for the stock pot, not the wine glass. Even non-sedimented reds open more after decanting. It’s the aeration that gets oxygen into contact with the wine, so allowing aromas to come out. This makes a huge difference to very tannic reds as after a while the fruit aromas become more pronounced. There is an optimum time for this, so more than a few hours is generally too much. If there is something up with the wine, especially brett taint, then it becomes more apparent as the flavours develop. Double decanting is sometimes done to speed this aeration up. In some establishments the bottle is cleaned out & the wine returned to it. What makes no difference is simply opening a bottle of wine. The surface area at the neck of the bottle is too narrow to have any impact on the wine. If all you’re to do is let the wine breathe, pour a little into a glass, the customer’s hopefully, so the surface of the wine is in the body of the bottle.

Which glass for what? Beautifully shown on http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm The best shape, like the ISO, is a tulip shape. This is to maximise the surface area of the wine in ratio to the enclosed area above. Max your olfactory stimulation this way. The air above the wine is where the enjoyment all begins, so don’t generally fill the glass above the 2/3′s mark. The mid 20th century fashion for Champagne in Coupés was a bit of sacrilege, Marilyn had generally spilt most of it whilst tripping over anyway. The progress of the bubbles up through the Champagne imbues them with the wine’s flavour, so the longest route gives the most aroma. The flute always wins. The white & rosé glass is slightly smaller & tighter than the reds’ to concentrate their aromas. The ‘bowls’ for red wine allow all the bigger aromas room to dance. Fortified wine glasses are smaller again, not just as the measure served is less, but as they have higher alcohol present that vapour should be allowed to dissipate to accentuate the fruit & floral aromas. Sherries & brandies too have their respective glassware that bring out their best attributes.

So there’s the synopsis for bottle service, how about the ‘by the glass’ customer? Here there has been great debate on size. The Paris goblet? So beloved of Sharon Watts for a swift shot or 2 of Gin Angie-style when she needed a lil stiffna! That’s really the best use of this 70′s wine service globe, 125ml GS (Government Stamped) mark nicely eroded by the glass-washer over long reuse. There is no reason to have nasty glassware for glass service of wine. Any glasses can be sent off to get the GS, or wine can be measured before pouring into the glass to comply with licensing law. So again it’s back to how much?

125ml was the standard glass of wine size for many a year, then 175ml appeared as large. As our habits changed & eating out became more normal 175ml took over as the norm. This resulted in 250ml becoming large, pushing the 125ml definitively into being small. This is all well & good for choice, though few establishments offer all 3 sizes. Problems have arisen with compliance with due diligence as a licensee as wines have increased in ABV (Alcohol by Volume) through the late 80′s & 90′s. Without going all maths teacher, I don’t have the cardigan range, if wine were sold in 1 litre bottles the maths would be easy.
Wine at 8% would have 8 units in 1 litre. Wine is sold in 75cl bottles, so multiply the ABV * 0.75 to calculate the units of alcohol in a bottle. In this instance 8 * 0.75 = 6 units. Confused?
Well, that’s easy, so how many units in a ‘glass’ of wine? This is very important for people counting their units, usually drivers. Wine from this bottle in a 125ml glass = 1 unit; in a 175ml glass = 1.5 units; in as 250ml glass = 2 units.
With no ‘standard’ for a ‘glass’ of wine the discerning or conscientious customer has a raft of questions to ask. More importantly the average ABV for most wines sold in the UK is upwards of 12%, that’s at least half as much again as illustrated. With 175ml taking over as the ‘standard’ it pushes units consumed well over 2, even with food, dangerously close to a driver over the limit of their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). This is what is used to measure the levels of ethanol in blood that causes intoxication. The speed of alcohol becoming ethanol in a person’s blood stream is affected by gender, health, weight, recent food intake, personal absorption & metabolism just to name a few factors. So how large measures of wine should be served in & at what ABV to be responsible licensees is a hot topic.
‘How much til I’m over the limit mate?’
‘Just step in this medical examination chamber adjacent to the restaurant & I’ll let you know after an hour of tests!’

You’ve the wine in the desirable glass at a size you are comfortable with, now you’d like food with it. Unless drinking the wine on its own or finishing it before food then compatibility is pretty important for complete enjoyment. Many people choose wine after choosing food, or choose wine that will partner many food styles to keep everyone happy. I like a G&T before dinner so I can choose the wine after food choices. This restaurant http://www.ilsanlorenzo.it/ won me over on their approach by presenting 1st the aperitif menu, the only wines being by the glass; then food menu; then & only then the wine list.

There is great debate in restaurants over food matching, especially when ‘taster/grazing/degustation’ menus offer a matching wines option.
It seems the golden rule on incompatibility is oily & salty foods don’t partner tannic red wines well.
I’m going to run through the prescribed matches in the order of the Systematic Approach;
Intensity – Intensely flavoured food = Intensely flavoured wine. Not to be misread as heavy or rich.
Sweetness- Sweet food, also salty = Sweeter than the food sweet wine. Use the sweeties also with salted nuts & oily patés.
Acidity - Acidic food, also salty food = Acidic wines. Many tastings will show high acidity, that watering mouth feel.
Tannin - It’s the red meats here = Tannic wines.
Body - Lighter flavours = Lighter bodied whites & reds. Often the steamed meats with light sauces
Intense,creamy, rich foods = Full bodied whites & reds. This is where the seared meats, creamed potatoes & slow-roasted foods partner the chewy wines.

This is a bit of an over simplification perhaps, but as I get through the tastings I shall note the classic pairings, as I cook I shall try some of these out myself too.

WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 2

The senses are being tuned, so how about the wine?

Now I could have gone a right old rant after grabbing a bottle on the way home from last week’s class from Martin McColl, only to get it home to find it had already started the journey to making a lovely red wine based soup whilst being stored for sale. Heat & any wine ain’t a good situation whilst it’s still in the bottle.

This beautiful shot of a natural cave cellar in Bekaa, Lebanon isn’t available in every dwelling. The environment that the wine is stored in is very important for its preservation.

Wine, obviously, is stored in all sorts of larger vessels whilst in production, however when finished it needs to be transported. A lot of progress has been made over the centuries in the vessels that wine is stored in. From the pottery, leather, wood or metal vessels in ancient history through various bottle shapes, many looking remarkably like modern port decanters, through to the now almost universal 75cl glass bottle. Here there is a great range of shapes that almost always in the old world are synonymous with a specific region. I will be learning region by region further along in the course, so will get to grips with the whys & wherefores of that along with the tastings of the regions. When on holiday in Var it’s always fun to take along the 4 litre plastic container to fill up petrol station style with the local young rosé, but this container is only good for wine you’re having within a day or 2.

Long term storage of wine is always done in bottle, & has been for a couple of centuries. These generally are in a dark coloured glass to keep light away from the wine, though for younger wines, often the whites & rosés, the glass is now clear to allow the drinker to see the colour of the wine. The bottle needs a closure of some kind to keep the air out & wine in. For the last few centuries this has generally been cork. Cork was a good solution in terms of success then, now it is being agreed nearly universally that cork itself presents too many problems to be the ongoing number 1 closure of choice.

Cork is a natural product. It is harvested by stripping the bark from the Quercus Suber, a sort of oak. This process doesn’t harm the tree & is repeated every 9 years from the tree’s 25th year. The tree only grows in certain climates, between 100m & 300m above sea level; annual rainfall between 400 & 800mm; temperatures never falling below -5ºC. The coastal margins of the Mediterranean have traditionally seen it grown, though areas of the new world are put aside to its production. Cataluña had been the centre for its production. It still remains a major producer, but during the Spanish civil war Portugal stepped in to become the European cork producer, now growing 30% of that market. With much of the manufacturing process centred south of Oporto, Portugal now processes 50% of the world’s cork. Much imported from the European western Mediterranean & also north African regions. Algeria having been Cataluña’s major rival before cultural shifts there in 1960′s.

Cork goes through various processes before becoming a stopper. Cork is porous, so is cut at 90º to the growth to minimise any gaps. Bacterias & fungi are present in its structure, to help kill these it has been bleached with chlorine based bleaches. Other processes are now being explored, the major reason being the presence of TRICHLOROANISOLE. This compound will probably be cork’s final undoing as it has been found that the bleaching isn’t where it becomes present. Despite this drawback there is much in cork’s favour; the trees are an environmental bonus, their acorns a cornerstone in feeding the finer end of pig farming; 90% of the time they form a perfectly good barrier for keeping the wine in; they are flexible, so when factors unfavourable to the wines good storage cause the wine to expand or contract the cork maintains the air seal. The major rival now to cork is the STELVIN, steel-vin (wine), screw-top favoured by many a British supermarket, or the synthetic, plastic, cork. Occasionally glass stoppers are used, there are all sorts of pros & cons for all the closures. Progress, research & development continues on all of them.

Transport is obviously never going to be a friend to wine, but the minimum of heat, light & vibration during this is a bonus. Bottles are good for this, but it is often during transport that any of the closures are compromised. The stelvin has an Achilles heel in that a strong knock can break its integrity so making a hole letting wine out & air in, or even a momentary loss of air seal that lets air in. To this end more finished wine is transported in bulk containers & bottled at, or near to, the country of sale. I am looking forward to a visit to Constellation’s Avonmouth bottling plant in 2 weeks time. Bulk transport actually is good for wine, however I will be putting in a link here where the provenance of some wines has been ‘flexed’ due to political market forces in the Balkans.

So the wine’s in the bottle. It has a closure. Now where is it going? The cellar! I don’t have a lovely cave for my wine, nor do most of us. The key thing for wine storage isn’t the appearance, but stability.

Cool & constant; within a temperature range of 10º to 15º, not within a day, but within a year. Cellars had obviously been the best for this as the ground worked as a great insulator to the day’s & season’s changes. It is the expansion & contraction of the wine that pushes & pulls on the closure that crucifies most wine. Constant refrigeration is bad too as it causes corks to contract. That air-seal integrity is what is paramount for maturation of many a stored wine. In the age of climate control the storage cabinets that can be placed anywhere that allow wine to be stored longterm where no cellars are available.

Lying down; for bottles under cork, the wine stops the cork drying out, so doesn’t contract, maintaining that air-seal. The problem here is if the cork has any nasties in it then they are going to get into the wine. The damp nature of cellars again being a bonus for keeping the airside of the cork moist. With the modern closures of stelvin, synthetic & glass the reverse applies. Bottles are stored upright without the wine in contact with closure, so minimising any potential contamination from it. The synthetic is still viewed with suspicion in certain circles for its potential tainting by long contact with the wine, so it may become disregarded for long term storage. Stelvins have had extensive ongoing research & development into their ability to be complete or breathable seal for the long term storage of wines.

Darkness; natural & artificial light adversely affect wine. Not only does it cause heat, but light can cause unwanted chemical reactions in the bottle. This is why traditionally wine bottles were dark coloured. Wines served young obviously don’t hang around long enough for the presence of light to affect them, so hence the ever increasingly light coloured or clear glass bottles around as we drink more young wines.

Vibrations; not for imbuing an extra cosmic element to the wine, but the wine should be still. Changes go on with wines made for maturing in bottle that cause particles to form in suspension, these either should remain motionless there, or should settle out. Railway arches or old freight yards near still operating lines, or depots near major roads, are not the best places for long term wine storage, despite the arches having other cellar-like bonuses.

Most of us aren’t in the privileged position to be laying down fine wines to mature for a number of years or decades, or to be choosing which part of the cellar has the least light for the re-building of the racking. Many of us are storing wine for a while though & so often it’s in the kitchen, which couldn’t be more unsuitable as cooking causes the temperature to sore & plummet. Lounges are often poor homes too if they have heating or fires. Funnily it’s the hoover cupboard under the stairs off of the un-heated hallway that wins in most modern homes.

I’m off again to heat up my kitchen for some lunch. Next blog will have getting the wine out of the bottle at the right temperature, into the right glass, then a little on how to keep it happy if it’s being saved for later.