If you'd like to join in, purchase the wine and submit your tasting notes as an email or as a posted comment.
I will reply and post our common notes with the next suggested wine the following week.
Let me know what you think.
This week's wine: 2005 Château Lagarosse, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, $15-$20/bottle ($14.99 at Esquin Wine Merchants).
Regards,
Arnie
]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry081020-2250582008-10-21T00:00:00Z2008-10-21T00:00:00ZThe Black Wine of Cahors
Such is the case with Chateau du Cedre's 2005 Cuvée Prestige Cahors.
Cahors has been famous for its so-called "black wines" since the Middle Ages. It's wines were in great demand long before Bordeaux became an important wine center, up through the 19th century. The Malbec grape originated here, where it is known locally as Côt or Auxerrois.
Du Cedre's Prestige is 90% Malbec and 10% Tannat, another local grape of southern Gascony. It is an impressive example of those truly "black wines." Staining the glass with its impenetrable dense purple color, the dark wine harkens you to an earlier, more primitive epoch when monks and bandits roamed the deep, dark, ancient forests. The aromas are brooding, smoky, bristly with the blackest of fruits in its feral embrace. On the palate, rich flavors of black berries, black plum, licorice, bitter chocolate are balanced by smooth but big tannins.
This wine will age for 5-10 years and goes well with sausages, goose and smoked game like wild boar. I'd enjoy it with well-aged Gouda cheese and a creamy Bleu d'Auvergne. ]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry081020-2218512008-10-21T00:00:00Z2008-10-21T00:00:00ZA Giant of Wine PassesDidier Dagueneau. Didier died piloting his small, light aircraft over the Cognac region Wednesday morning, September 17th.
His untimely death at 52 years of age reminds us that much in our lives is evanescent, even though it may seem rooted to our earth, bigger than life itself, with the expectation of permanence. His charismatic, rock-like presence will be missed. He leaves behind four children.
I met Didier for the last time two years ago in Seattle. He pretended not to speak or understand English so we spoke in French. He was pouring his wines, amazing, mind-breaking wines, mostly from Pouilly-Fumé in the Loire. His Sauvignon Blancs had hair on their chests; they were (are) giants just like their hirsute creator. Unlike him, though, they were meant to age. So in addition to pouring his new releases, including his stunning dessert wine "Gardens of Babylon (Les Jardins de Babylone) from the Jurancon, he poured 10 year old Sauvignon Blanc of his Silex and Pur Sang cuvées. Incredibly powerful and fresh, they were still puppies.
Didier's Silex is 100% Sauvignon Blanc, from old vines in flinty soils, aged in oak. He also made cuvees such as Pur Sang (Thoroughbred) and Buisson Renard They are beasts that can age for up to two decades. Without any formal training, Dagueneau made wines that transcended their appellations.
Didier was the fourth generation winemaker in his family. Prior to making wine, Didier left his village of Saint Andelain in 1978, aged 22, to spend 5 years in international motorcycle side-car racing. In 1982, he returned to the family home and family tradition - making wine. Racing never left his blood though. He later took up dog-sled racing, which consumed many of his Winters. He had won both European and World Championships. Not your typical vigneron.
Always following his own star, he tended vines and made wine his own way but with a deep respect for tradition. Practicing organic viticulture, he did nothing halfway, horse-plowing the soil, extensive labor-intensive de-budding and pruning, hand harvesting and pursuing very low yields. In the cellar, he aged his best wines in a combination of large barrels or foudres of 450 to 600 liters and the famous 350 liter elongated "cigar" barrels he designed himself. The cigars were disposed after one or two uses.
His intense non-conformity earned him the nickname, "the madman of Saint Andelain."
Dagueneau's extremely rare dessert wine is made from Petit Manseng, a local grape. This wine is from his property in Southern France's Jurancon region from a vineyard located in Babylone. Thus the wine is called, appropriately, "Les Jardins de Babylone" or the Gardens of Babylon.
I am amazed that, once news of his death spread, our phones rang off the hook with people calling for his very expensive wines. What a morbid rush to buy! For months, his expensive ($124.99) Silex Pouilly sat on our shelves. I tried to sell them by educating our customers but with little result – it’s not really unusual with very expensive, obscure white wines. Nevertheless, we at Esquin believed in his wines, always purchasing any new releases available. 2007 was his last vintage. We expect a healthy allocation once it’s released, perhaps in January 2009. I look forward to a contemplative tasting of Didier's last vintage.
Regards,
Arnie]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080918-2122492008-09-19T00:00:00Z2008-09-19T00:00:00ZWine Glasses and Tasting Wine
Premium glass manufacturers like Riedel, Schott, Eisch and others make many different kinds of glass; in the extreme, Riedel makes one for nearly every type of wine! As a wine guy, I have four different types of glassware: a Riesling, a Riesling/Zinfandel all-purpose, a red Bordeaux and a red Burgundy glass – oh, and Champagne flutes! That’s probably more than anyone needs. For most occasions, a good all-purpose glass is fine. Look for a Riesling/Zinfandel/Sangiovese glass – it’s great for reds and whites.
Use the stem and its base to hold the glass, avoiding holding the bowl. Holding the bowl adversely affects the temperature of the wine due to glass contact with your body heat. Swirl the wine while holding the glass on a firm base, like a table, in order to avoid spilling the wine.
To evaluate the wine’s color, hold the glass away from you at a 45 degree angle, preferable tilting the glass against a white table cloth or paper, in a well-lit room. This way, you can see all the wine at once in the glass allowing you to better assess the density of color and saturation of hue and the clarity of the wine. A clear wine is well-made (white wines can show bright stars of light below it) while a cloudy wine is a red flag; the wine may be unstable or have undergone an unintended secondary fermentation in the bottle.
Examine the color, or lack of it, of the rim of the wine or where it touches the glass. A clear rim indicates a young wine while, conversely, an orange, amber or brown rim may indicate stages of possible oxidation.]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080828-2211462008-08-29T00:00:00Z2008-08-29T00:00:00ZThe Thrilling Agony of Rinsing Wine Glasses
Let’s look at two types of rinsing: 1) Rinsing glasses after use and 2) rinsing glassware in order to serve more than one wine per glass.
1. Rinsing after use
For thin walled crystal or thin walled glass, it is best to rinse by hand. I recommend using a glass brush and minimal diluted detergent, using lukewarm water. Obviously, you’ll want to brush gently. Make sure all of the detergent is rinsed out. Let the glasses dry on a clean, dry cloth. To best polish glassware, steam over boiling water, then use a clean polishing cloth. To polish the bowl, cradle the bowl in one hand while polishing with the other hand. Never twist the bowl against the stem – something will break! To polish the stem or base, hold by the stem or base.
The problem with using a dishwasher is two-fold. You are more likely to break fine glassware and the glasses are more likely to contain detergent residue. If you must use a dishwasher, use only a tiny amount of detergent (gels or fine grain, preferably with glass guard like Cascade® with Shine Shield) and use cool water. Only wash glass with glass – never with plates or silverware.
Even a small amount of detergent residue can have a big impact on the wine therein. For still wine, residue can affect aroma and taste. Detergent residue can render sparkling wine, like Champagne, flat. The smooth surfaces of glassware absorb odors easily so smell the glasses before use, when they’re dry, for off-odors like soap, chlorine, etc. If detected, wash again!
By the way, lead leaches out of crystal when the glass is in contact with hot or even warm water. So no soaking and no hot water!
2. Rinsing for multiple wines
Sometimes, you are hosting a dinner or tasting and you don’t have enough glasses to provide one for every wine. What to do?
I do not recommend rinsing with water between wines; rather use wine to rinse. I believe that water residues can affect the taste of the wine, especially if the water is even slightly chlorinated. I also believe that there is a slight dilution factor and there might be a slight change in surface tension and mouth-feel of the wine. To be safe, rinse with wine. Use a tiny amount of the next wine to be served to rinse. This is also called “priming” the glass.
If you carefully order the wines to be tasted, you can minimize your rinsing. Go from white to red, from light body to fuller body, from dry to sweet. If you follow this order, you may not need to rinse at all. If you go from a hearty red with dinner to a white dessert wine, I recommend rinsing with a dry white or, if not available, then using water, providing a cloth to dry the bowl.
Priming Glassware
By the way, a small but growing number of high-end restaurants are having their sommeliers “prime” glassware by rinsing with a very small amount (half an ounce or less) of the wine to be served. They believe this improves the tasting experience by ridding the glass of impurities or possible off-odors. But I wonder if this is necessary if you properly clean and polish your glassware. Sometimes they leave the priming wine in the glass and then pour the serving over it. Why? Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of “priming”?
]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080826-1755242008-08-27T00:00:00Z2008-08-27T00:00:00ZTo decant or not to decant?
Decanting is done for two reasons:
- to aerate the wine
- to remove sediments, accumulated over time
The controversy revolves around the aeration of wines. No less an authority than the late Emile Peynaud, the great and influential French oenologist, has asserted that decanting should only be performed to remove deposits, and then just prior to serving. Peynaud felt that too much exposure to air diffuses a wines aroma and therefore some of the wine’s sensory attributes may be lost.
My experience, albeit with more modern, concentrated wines, leads me to feel differently. I’ve tracked the development of decanted wines over time in decanter, tasting periodically. I've found significant improvements in aroma and flavor development. So I decant young wines, even white wines, to aerate the wine to improve aroma and flavor development. It’s like ageing a wine instantly!
For my tastes, the issue is how long to decant. It’s largely an educated guess. Here’s a rough guide which should be followed with some caution (young wine = 1-3 years old, old wine is 10+ years):
Young Pinot Noir - 1-2 hours
Young Grand Cru red Burgundy - 1-4 hours
Young top tier classified Growth Bordeaux - 4-5 hours, first Growths more time
Old Bordeaux First Growth from great vintage - 2-18 hours*
Other old Bordeaux - 1-2 hours
Very old Bordeaux or top red Burgundy - less than 30 minutes**
Old California Cabernet - 2 hours
Quilceda Creek - 5-8 hours
It’s critical when decanting for aeration to check the wine periodically so you don’t overdo it. I’m frankly not satisfied with this guide as you need to have good knowledge of the particular wine to be decanted. It varies too much by producer and vintage for the above to be followed religiously. But it’s better than nothing! It will certainly horrify Sommeliers of Peynaud’s persuasion! For best results, ask your wine merchant or look up a reviewer’s tasting notes, if available. Big, concentrated young wines need more decanting time.
One other problem with decanting over a few hours is that the wine may warm up too much.
Double decanting is pouring the wine from bottle to decanter and then back to bottle, preferably after an hour or two in decanter. I prefer to double decant because it further aerates the wine, it is easier to pour wine from a bottle and because your guests can see the bottle and its label.
To double decant, you’ll need a funnel, preferably not plastic. Esquin sells an aerating funnel which I love and use – the Cascadia Wine Funnel. It has a big bowl (very important) and disperses the wine around the walls of the decanter.
If you decant to clarify or remove the wine of deposits, you'll need a steady hand and steady gaze, slowly and gently pouring the wine out of bottle so that the deposits are left in the bottle’s shoulder. To aide the process, a light, either a candle or flashlight can be used to track the movement of the deposits. Before such decanting, the bottle should be kept upright for a day.
As for decanters, there are many ways to go. I prefer the so-called ship’s decanter. With its wide, flat bottom, you get better aeration due to more of the wine’s surface area being exposed. But in a pinch, even a clean, dry water pitcher will do. Even small, carafe-style decanters are fine – especially when double decanting. When buying a decanter there’s no need to spend big dollars. You can find good decanters from $10-$50. We have a nice selection at Esquin.
What about all those gimmicks that promise to improve wine instantly? So far, I’ve had mixed results with Eisch’s so-called “breathable” glassware. The Nuance Wine Finer seems to work well.
Other approaches are less successful and get the “thumbs down”:
- Sphere oxygenating decanter - a mess which doesn’t work and is difficult to clean
- Rouge electric aerator – are you kidding me?
- Wine Fall aerator – questionable results, difficult to clean like the sphere
- Vinturi Wine Aerator – not yet tested by me but looks too violent on the wine and may be difficult to clean. I’ll check it out soon.
- deSign Wine Aerator – manhandles the wine, does not appear to work, expensive.
Since decanting seems to be a very personal, individual issue, I’d love to hear your thoughts or read your posted replies.
* I once decanted a 1982 Mouton for 5 hours. It wasn’t near enough! I should have decanted it at least 12 or more hours before serving!
** These wines are mature and may be quite delicate. They should be decanted, not for aeration, but rather to remove accumulated sediments and deposits, and just prior to serving.
]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080811-1516032008-08-11T00:00:00Z2008-08-11T00:00:00ZFall 2008 Class ScheduleFall 2008 Wine Class Schedule - All Sundays
at the Warwick Seattle Hotel, 401 Lenora Street
full details are available by clicking on the red highlighted link
Introduction to Wine Series begins January 4, 2009!
]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080728-0923362008-07-28T00:00:00Z2008-07-28T00:00:00ZLong-term storage of wine at home
The basement must be underground with at least one open wall against earth. This can provide an ideal place for wine storage as it should maintain cool, stable temperatures.
The ideal is 55 degrees Fahrenheit with 80% humidity. but I find wine pretty resilient. For long-term ageing, Try to keep it below 60 degrees year ‘round. I recommend you buy a wall thermometer to monitor the area.
Use only non-coated, unvarnished wood racking like redwood cedar or un-painted steel racking. I do not recommend long-term storage in cardboard boxes. Check out racking options and accessories at International Wine Accessories, The Wine Enthusiast or similar sites.
Other, higher-end wine storage solutions include sealed, controlled free-standing cellars (refrigerated wine cabinets) which you can purchase at the companies mentioned above. They’re great if you have an apartment, condo or lack a below ground basement.
For large cellars, you can hire a specialist, like Bellevue’s Apex Wine Cellars, to install a permanent cellar or hire a contractor to install the new Spiral Cellars at home. Often it pays to hire a cellar consultant to optimize your cellar design and budget.
Finally, you can always let me show you Esquin's first-class wine storage at our store!
]]>http://www.arniemillan.com/beta/index.php?entry=entry080704-1159382008-07-04T00:00:00Z2008-07-04T00:00:00ZKeep your wine cool in hot weather!
What to do, especially if you’re on a tight budget? Buy a picnic cooler, 48 Quart size is fine, if you don’t already have one. Not a Styrofoam cooler but rather a good, insulated, sealable cooler. They cost under $20 and they can hold up to 10 or more bottles. Next buy several re-usable ice packs, always keeping a few extra in the freezer. These ice packs cost under $1 each.
Change the ice packs at least every morning and your wine should remain cool during even Summer’s hottest days!