On Developing One's Palate

Recently, Luke Tyler of Australia's d'Arenberg posed the following question via the company's Twitter account, @darenberg.

- does improving one's palate increase your enjoyment or merely reduce the amount of wine you can enjoy ?

At the heart of this question is the fairly fundamental idea of what makes us happy, so it is worth taking the time to unpick some of the issues.

As, say, a casual wine drinker, you may buy fairly ordinary wine at the supermarket and think it's alright; it doesn't cost you a lot of money and it's not spectacular, but then you probably don't know that as you've never actually had a spectacular wine before.

Indeed, you may even have had a theoretically superior wine and found you didn't like it as much as a more basic version because it was perhaps extensively oaked and therefore full of tannins and lacking in primary fruit.

If this is the case, you probably are the sort of person whom wine snobs rather look down on as having an unsophisticated palate.

But you are not alone and are in fact probably in the majority in this country.

In the days before I became a wine enthusiast, I remember trying bottles of wine that were supposedly special and finding I didn't much like them - whites that seemed too acidic, reds with too much tannin - and rather preferred cheaper, less-challenging, more fruit-driven wines.

At that time, I firmly believed that price was no guide to quality and that enjoyable wines could be had for not too much money at all.

These days, I'm less convinced by that argument, but I do still believe it has some merit even if it is not universally true.

The difference is that I have, for better or worse, developed a palate.

The flavours and aromas in a wine can be primary (up-front fruit), secondary (less obvious, more subtle fruit along with spices, tobacco, liquorice and that sort of thing) or tertiary (minerality, yeast, nuts).

As well as aromas, we also have texture and structure - texture being the tannins in a red, structure being the acidity.

Finally, there is intensity, complexity, finesse, elegance and balance.

With an unsophisticated palate, we are generally looking out for simple fruit and a sensible amount of balance - give us a fruit-driven, easy-drinking quaffer and we are happy; I know I was.

It is perhaps not surprising given our ancestry as hunter-gatherers that we react positively to the flavours of ripe fruit and have an instinctive inclination towards them.

But just as my children need to learn to hold a pencil and do their times tables, we can learn to take a more sophisticated approach to wine and appreciate the subtlety of secondary aromas or a dense tannic structure.

But there are pros and cons to doing this.

On the negative side, better wines usually are more expensive and developing a palate will inevitably mean that we find cheaper, more simple wines no longer as enjoyable.

Moreover, I'm not convinced that we actually enjoy better wines to any greater degree, but rather I feel that we merely enjoy them in a different way, perhaps with a different part of our brains.

It is, of course, actually impossible to quantify enjoyment in absolute terms, but my point remains - not more enjoyment but different.

So, it will cost more money, increase the number of wines you don't like and not increase the amount of enjoyment you get from a wine to improve your palate. So we could argue that ignorance is bliss.

And yet, and yet ...

It is in our nature as hunter-gatherers to compete - to outwit the woolly mammoth or wild boar into falling into a trap, to find the bush with ripe, juicy edible berries before the birds get them all.

This is the same drive that gave us Mozart's symphonies, the internal combustion engine and the PC. It is literally part of our DNA to challenge ourselves and strive for improvement.

Having been to a certain type of school and played a lot of sport, I am naturally quite competitive - perhaps more so than the rest of my family appreciates or finds appropriate.

And ever since I became enthusiastic about wine, I have wanted to know more about them, to try better wines and be able to appreciate them, to know what makes them so great.

It is, in one sense, a struggle for the acquisition of knowledge and experience, and perhaps it is no co-incidence that it started not long after I finished my last-ever formal exam as a Chartered Accountant over a decade ago.

As my formal studies for a career finally ceased, I found myself replacing that with informal study of an area of interest.

Developing one's palate, then is a bit like mountain climbing - it's hard work, cold and wet, with not much of a view when you get to the top; but we - some of us - still do it because it's what makes us human.

Despite living in as flat a place as Cambridge, I enjoy hill walking when I get the chance.

I'm sure a serious mountain climber would look down on me pityingly as never having experienced the extremes of climbing a mountain, but I choose to take things a little easier.

Developing one's palate is rather similar - overall, it's a Good Thing to do, but it's not for everyone and those that do have a go, do it to varying degrees.

The Master of Wine qualification, the highest level of wine accreditation, is held by only around 300 people worldwide and is therefore extremely narrowly held - much more so that my own professional certification.

Below MW, there are various WSET courses, tutored tastings and any number of local wine appreciation societies.

So, yes, developing or improving one's palate will most probably reduce the number of wines you can enjoy, cause you to spend more on wine than otherwise and perhaps mean that you will only enjoy wines in a different way - but for me, the journey so far has been worth it.

Main image credit: http://www.lux-limo.co.uk/limo-articles/wine-tasting.jpg

Launching the d'Arry's Cambridge Case

One evening earlier this week, I strolled into town to help Cambridge gastropub d'Arry's launch a "d'Arry's Cambridge case" of d'Arenberg wines.

D'Arry's manager James Storey had got in touch with me via my blog a few months back and was keen for me to come up with some ideas to help get a bit of a publicity buzz around what was central Cambridge's original gastropub, but which has fallen below the radar a little in recent years.

We started with a meal there and then came up with the idea of launching a case of some of the restaurant's most popular wines to take home or for delivery in the Cambridge area, backed up by a series of informal tastings in the restaurant's private dining area.

I was lucky to have good-sized group for the first event and a really interesting cross-section of people. For me, a typical audience for a tasting event is often people who enjoy drinking wine, but for whom it is not a major interest, so one keeps things as interesting and entertaining as possible without trying to cover too much ground in too short a time.

But with an ex-Oddbins manager amongst the audience, with a ready supply of retail-friendly stories to tell (most of which I'd heard before), I felt I was kept on my toes somewhat, but it actually proved very helpful to have someone to explain some of the subtleties of why adding a touch of Marsanne in the blend will enhance the nose, or why Mourvèdre (aka Spain's Monastrell) adds a degree of minerality due to its particularly deep root systems.

Also of note was a Frenchman who declared that on tasting a wine, he knew very clearly whether he liked it or not, but was not able to describe the style of wines he liked.

This confirmed a pet theory of mine that the French, amongst other wine-producing nations, seem to grow up with an almost instinctive knowledge of what makes a good wine but, as a nation, tend not to go in for the wordy descriptions and detailed tasting notes so beloved of Anglo-Saxon countries.

To me, this is because non-wine countries, such as the UK and USA tend to treat wine appreciation as something of a competitive sport rather than just a way of life.

We started with a Hermit Crab, a blend of Viognier and Marsanne - and encouraging people to swirl the wine in their glasses before sniffing deeply, sipping and slurping in some air brought about the almost-standard comments of "Wow ! It really tastes much better when you do that" of people who are not accustomed to doing this.

Peachy and apricotty on the palate, the wine also had a honeysuckle, floral nose from the Marsanne.

Next was a Stump Jump Riesling / Marsanne / Sauvignon blend with the focus and minerality of the Riesling, the nose of the Marsanne and just a touch of minerality from the Sauvignon.

Responding to a comment about the finish, my friend from Oddbins succinctly summed it up as short flavour characteristics but long on intensity characteristics.

The final white was a Lightly Wooded Chardonnay which proved popular, especially amongst those who do not like the overripe, overfruity, over-oaked pantechnicons popularly associated with Australia these days.

The first red was a Stump Jump Grenache / Syrah / Mourvèdre blend - typical of Languedoc and with lots of ripe plummy fruit and spice on the nose, it was an easy quaffer, but would also go well with barbecue food.

The d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache was a much classier affair with dark berry fruit and more in the style of a Rhone, with a dense, inky texture.

This proved to be our French visitor's favourite as he explained he likes "Cotes du Rhone but not Bordeaux".

The final red - a High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon, with plenty of ripe tannins and varietal bramble fruit and cassis - was not at all to his taste but was the favourite of one of the audience who was vegetarian, despite it being the sort of wine to match with meaty dishes like steak and roast beef.

If nothing else, this last point just goes to prove how personal matching food and wine can me, although I do note that Debra Meiburg MW, an ex-vegetarian who still sticks to fish and lighter meats, prefers (lighter) Burgundies to (chewier) Bordeaux to match with her food.

Overall, it was a great start to what will be a series of tasting events to launch the d'Arry's Cambridge case.

Perhaps it's the teacher in me, but it was great to see people trying wines and enjoying them as much as I do.

Recommended Wine

The quality of the d'Arenberg wines is quite uniform and they have a strong house style of being ripe and technically well-made, but not overblown.

For me, however, the most interesting wine of the evening was the Shiraz Grenache for its inky texture.

Tickets for the tasting events are £12.50 (with the price refunded against any purchases on the night) whilst the d'Arry's Cambridge case costs £60 for 6 bottles, a discount of almost 50% on restaurant prices.

The case is available available from d’Arry’s itself (01223 505015) or via delivery (£5) within Cambridge and surrounding areas.

Links

d'Arry's - http://www.darrys.co.uk/
d'Arenberg - www.darenberg.com.au

Three Wines From Joseph Barnes

A while ago, I went to see Charles Hardcastle of Joseph Barnes Wines in Saffron Walden and was very impressed with his range of southern French, Basque and Spanish hand-crafted wines.

At the end of our meeting, he gave me a couple of wines to sample in full and I opened them up at home the other weekend for some guests.

Bodegas Ameztoi, Txakoli di Getaria 2010 - £12.25

Very pale yellow in the glass, it smells of brine, seashells and wet stones.

On the palate, it is neutral, clean and fresh with lemony apples-and-pears acidity and gentle minerality.

With little primary fruit, it is all about lovely purity and focus. It makes a great aperitif or a wine for seafood or tapas.

Lovers of obscure grape varieties will be keen to learn that this is made from Hondarribi Zuri grape (aka Petit Courbu in France).

Cave de Saint-Etienne de Baigorry, Irouleguy Blanc 'Cuvee 'Andere d'Ansa' 2010 - £10.99


Aged in oak and made from a blend of 80% Gros Manseng and 20% Petit Manseng this smells curiously of take-away fish and chips, with a saltiness and aromas of malt vinegar, some oakiness, floral aromas and a touch of sour hay.

On the palate, it feels quite old school with buttery-creamy-sweet oak, nutmeg and cinnamon spice, toastiness and some oxidative character.

There are also floral aromas and long, apricotty, lemony acidity with more of the same on the finish.

This is much weightier than the previous wine and would match well with heavier fish dishes, such as smoked haddock or salmon mornay.

Domaine Du Meteore, Les Leonides, Faugères 2007 - £9.10

On opening, there is an intense nose of dark berries and tarry liquorice with garrigue herbs and hints of roasted dark spices and dark coffee.

Made from a mix of typical southern French varieties, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan, in the glass it is a dark cherry colour, but now running to a faded brick red with age.

The palate is juicy with more dark berry fruit, some vanilla sweetness and rounded acidity.

With a few years of bottle age, it has now gained a degree of harmonious mellowness and after a couple of hours in the decanter, the nose has faded a little and palate opened up showing more garrigue herbs, coffee and dark spices with lots of elderberry fruit and a smooth custardy texture and some grip on the finish.

To me it is like a young Mick Jagger - a brash, eclectic in-yer-face mix of things, but behind it all, actually quite sophisticated and respectable.

Food pairing is relatively straightforward - anything that matches the bitter, herbaceous herbiness will go well, so think rosemary and sage.

We found it matched superbly with starters of beetroot with rosemary cream cheese as well as asparagus wrapped in pancetta and a main of herby sausages.

Recommended Wine

All three are excellent wines and it's a bit "you pays your money and you takes your choice". However, taking price into account the Domaine Du Meteore represents superb value given its price of under a tenner.

Links

Joseph Barnes Wines - http://www.josephbarneswines.com/home.aspx

My earlier review of Joseph Barnes - http://cambridgewineblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/joseph-barnes-wines-saffron-walden.html

Viña Real Rioja 2008 Barrel Fermented

White Rioja is generally something of an also-ran compared to the region's more well-known red wines - rather like white Bordeaux.

Perhaps this is no co-incidence as Rioja became a home-from-home for Bordelais winemakers after the outbreak of phylloxera in the 1860s and they brought many of their techniques with them.

One of these was extensive use of oaking and traditionally, white Rioja was heavy and oxidised in an old-school sort of way.

Made from 100% Viura, this barrel-fermented wine from CVNE's Viña Real, however, makes more deft use of new American oak to add body and some vanilla sweetness without the heavy oxidative notes.

In the glass, it is a bright golden colour with a toasty, leesy nose.

The palate is lemony with ripe apples-and-pears acidity and a touch of pineapple.

There is some vanilla sweetness from new American oak and a savoury leesy fullness.

With a few hours' aeration in the decanter, the oaking becomes more prominent and interesting, the finish longer and more intensely complex.

It will definitely repay some cellaring or, if you open now, don't be afraid to give it a good couple of hours in the decanter.

Its relative neutrality, good acidity and a ripe savouriness makes it very food friendly and it will stand up to meaty fish, chicken or pasta served with creamy sauce - an autumnal wild mushroom risotto would be just perfect with this.

£9.49 from Majestic, Corks Out, The Clifton Cellars, Liquid Treasure, www.wine-studio.co.uk, http://www.everywine.co.uk/

Provided for review.

Links

CVNE - http://www.cvne.com/web/
Viña Real - http://www.cvne.com/web/bodegas.php?bod=2
Majestic - http://www.majestic.co.uk/
Corks Out - http://www.corksout.com/
The Clifton Cellars - http://cliftoncellars.co.uk/
Liquid Treasure - http://www.liquidtreasure.co.uk/
www.wine-studio.co.uk - http://www.wine-studio.co.uk/
www.everywine.co.uk - http://www.everywine.co.uk/

Steve's Grenache

With a book, a band and a wine to his name, Steve Hovington might seem like a walking game of charades.

Or, alternately, a polymath Renaissance Man.

However, a more apt metaphor perhaps is the dabbling gentleman dilettante as, by his own admission, he has historically struggled to find his place in life and make a success of it.

Having narrowly missed out on being a synth-pop star in the early '80s and endured the subsequent slow, painful death of any hope of musical success, he seems to fall into a decade-long, rainbow-chasing, procrastinating funk of not really doing much at all except ending up in retail.

Not exactly rock and roll, then.

But, somehow or other, a company all-expenses-paid wine-tasting trip to Chianti country seems to bring him back in touch with his inner rock-star VIP diva and he discovers a real interest in wine.

A couple of glossed-over job changes later and he ends up working for local independent Cambridge Wine Merchants and also one evening resolving to make his own wine.

With only the vaguely-defined end-goal in sight, he eventually arranges to "borrow" four rows of vines from Nicolas Berggasse of Chateau Viranel in the Languedoc for one year and sets about maintaining the vines, thinning, harvesting and treading the grapes, and making and bottling the wine - all by hand and all under both the tutelage of Nicolas and the sceptical eye of the Berggasse pater familias, Gerard.

Resisting the temptation to name his wine Chateau Mid-life Crisis, he labels it simply Steve's Grenache and then takes a couple more years to write and publish the book of the wine.

I went to the launch party for Steve's Grenache a few months ago at the Cherry Hinton Road branch of Cambridge Wine Merchants, where he was also showing some of the wines of Chateau Viranel whose vines he had borrowed and at the end, he kindly gave me a bottle of his wine and a copy of the book for review.

I also managed to track down B-Movie's back catalogue on Spotify to review all three together.

The music, early-80s futurist New Wave synth-pop, feels over-conceived and under-developed, more defined by its genre than genre-defining compared to the way that bands like Bauhaus or label-mates Soft Cell, for example, created a new and unique sound with their first albums.

And on first reading the book, I was also disappointed, most probably due to the weight of my own expectations.

I had expected to find a driven, creative genius with a skewed but insightful view of the world, compelled to express his vision through the power and poetry of his lyrics.

I had also imagined a world of private jets, outrageous riders, groupies and hangers-on and general, booze-fuelled excess.

But this is no Led Zeppelin or Guns 'n' Roses and what I actually got was a headmaster's son from the coal-mining area of the East Midlands with a A-level in design and a penchant for gimmicky outfits who had never quite got over Not Making It Big.

Instead of the visionary Romantic living the rock-star life - even if only in his head - I found someone a bit like me, someone in the real world with a family, a boss and financial considerations to make.

So no rock and roll and not actually that much about wine-making either, as much of the book is taken up with very practical details, such as buying trial vines at a garden centre, emailing old friends with his plans or coach journeys to budget airports to get to southern France.

It's all very middle class and grounded in reality, with key moments from his previous life told in flashback and only hints or snippets of the highs and lows of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle - radio interviews, wild fans and a final disastrous tour.

But reading the book a second time, I found it very different.

Neither a rock autobiography nor a how-to guide on wine-making, nor indeed a pastoral retreat in rural France, it is actually the story of a man pulling himself together in the middle of his life, accepting his place in family life and society and acknowledging that things hadn't worked out quite as well as he had hoped but getting on with it anyway.

Whilst a global hit record can make you famous the world over and touch the lives of millions (and the same is also broadly true of the world's greatest wines) scaling back your ambitions, accepting your fanciful dreams as just that, setting your sights on something far more modest (but actually more achievable) - this is the very stuff of the male mid-life crisis.

And so it becomes a redemptive tale - just not the one I had originally expected to find.

After borrowing the vines, taking instruction from a talented young winemaker, flying budget airlines and calling in a favour to transport the finished wine in a mini-bus back to the UK, Steve's redemption is not about finding love, friendship or material success.

It's not even really about the wine.

Rather, it is about him finding his place and re-gaining a sense of purpose, direction and ambition, starting something and seeing it through to the end - more Gordon Comstock than Mick Jagger.

At this point, the quality of the wine seems almost irrelevant - its function is as a spur to becoming focused again, to having a goal and making it a reality, to having a dream, yes, but one that can be achieved and is not inevitably destined to be a vague hope.

So, let's start by saying that Grenache from the Languedoc is something of an overblown, blowsy sort of grape generally - fun, but not exactly classy, it usually provides good fruit with aromas of plums, prunes and dark berries.

Purpley-red in the glass, Steve's Grenache shows intense fruit aromas of prunes, liquorice and blueberry and elderberry along with a touch of lavender soap.

On the palate, it is soft and perfumed, almost too perfumey for me, with more dark berry fruit and a baked character.

The texture is almost slippery and there is some softening grip on the finish.

Opinion on this was somewhat divided over dinner - the old-schoolers were somewhat underwhelmed (mainly, I think, at the lack of texture), whilst the modernists appreciated it for the fruit.

I feel similarly ambivalent myself - it is a good wine, superb for a first attempt, but unashamedly fruit-driven in style.

And whilst there's no shame in that, I would like to see a little more in the way of texture.

However, that's probably rather like telling a rookie F1 driver trailing at the lower end of the pack "It would be good if you could go just a bit faster".

In both cases, just the mere act of being there is no mean feat.

And how often is it that you get to drink the wine of someone you know and whose music you can listen to (and by the way, Cliff, AC/DC et al do not count) ?

Steve's Grenache is available in limited (and diminishing) quantities from Steve's Cherry Hinton Road branch of Cambridge Wine Merchants for £12 per bottle.

Links

Cambridge Wine Merchants - http://www.cambridgewine.com/
Steve Hovington on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/steve.hovington1
Chateau Viranel - http://www.chateau-viranel.com/
B-Movie (official site) - www.b-movie.co.uk
The Grape Escape on amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grape-Escape-Steve-Hovington/dp/1848765975

Marcel Deiss Alsace Nature 2009

I sampled this Alsace Nature from Marcel Deiss at the Boutique Wineries Tasting recently with Barry McCaughley from Barry James Wines.

On first tasting, I gave it a single tick, indicating "worthy of note", before adding a second and then a third meaning "really rather special" as I found myself appreciating its intense focus, minerality and purity.

I was impressed by the subsequent Deiss wines I tried but not as much as by the "entry-level" Nature (at £18, however, it is not exactly cheap - unless you compare it to the other Deiss wines).

For me, it was the best wine of the tasting and I arranged with Barry to do a more in-depth review of a single bottle.

At the tasting, I had concluded the wine was like a genre-bending cross of minerally Wachau Grüner Veltliner with a touch of oxidative fino sherry thrown in, so I was keen to see what a whole bottle would reveal.

On a hot evening in Cambridge, in a bit of a rush, I chilled the wine then opened and serving immediately with no decanting.

More than just a technical detail, this is quite key to getting the best out of this wine as, part-way through the meal, I asked Mrs CWB what she thought.

She pulled a face and said "It's alright, but a bit underwhelming ... this is the one with the glass stopper that you raved about, right ?"

And I had to agree - it was good, but would not blow anyone away on this showing.

For my part, I could feel it gradually improving during the course of the meal, becoming more like the wine at the tasting, but it was still a way off that and we both agreed it would almost certainly benefit from some air and so decided to leave the last 1/3rd of a bottle for the following day.

Re-sampling 24 hours later, we were both much more impressed; it had become bigger, fuller and more mouthfilling with a greater depth of flavour and I regretted not having had a bit more patience earlier.

I have written else about the effects of air and the disappointment in finding a bottle of reasonable wine suddenly turning into a stunner just as it is being finished off, having had aty that point the right amount of aeration during the meal.

So if you do buy this wine - and I really recommend that you do, especially if you like either crisp, minerally whites, dry fino sherry or the idea of a combination of the two - I do suggest that you decant for at least and hour before serving or, even better, eke it out over a couple of evenings to see how it develops.

As for a tasting note, I cannot add a huge amount to how it showed at the tasting.

Relatively neutral on the nose, without aeration it is crisp, lemony and merely very pleasant in a well-structured sort of way.

Greater exposure to air does not add to the nose and it remains quite neutral with little in the way of overt, primary fruit.

Instead, the acidity develops into something much more rounded, focused and prominent, but also mouthfilling.

There is also a greater depth of flavour; a combination of savouriness and thick-skinned phenolic ripeness with some tertiary, evolved, oxidative sherry-like characteristics.

The finish is longer now, too, with savouriness and minerality.

It feels poised, powerful and intense - but I am left searching for the right descriptive words.

It is on many levels an odd mixture of things, sort of New School-Old School; an organic, bio-dynamic field blend, neutral yet intense, old school in the vineyard yet technically well-made in a modern sort of way with little overt fruit and mostly tertiary characteristics.

It is distinctly "Austrian" in style and seems to hark back to a time when wines were not so fruit-driven, yet also feels modern and thrilling.

Just remember to give it plenty of aeration first to see it at its best.

Links

Barry James Wines - no website yet

1 Park West
40 Tanner Street
SE1 3LG

Marcel Deiss - http://www.marceldeiss.com/

Gauntleys of Nottingham at Boutique Wineries‏ Tasting

At the recent Boutique Wineries Tasting, I bumped into a brace of MWs at the Gauntleys of Nottingham stand - Tim Atkin who is currently busy with his Three Wine Men project and Julia Harding who writes for Jancis Robinson.

With mainly Rhône on show, I asked Tim which he had found impressive and he suggested I try the Nicolas Croze Côtes du Rhône Tradition 2009.

Made mainly from Syrah, but with a bit of Grenache in the blend, it showed red and black berry fruits with a smooth texture.

Next I tried a La Floriane Côtes du Rhône Visan 2009 made from 90% Grenache.

Normally a blowsy, fruity, in-yer-face sort of grape, in the right hands - and often in the Rhône - Grenache is capable of producing something altogether more restrained, sophisticated and classy.

This one was dark and inky with blackcurrant fruit, pepperiness and garrigue herbs, whilst the acidity is juicy and it has a lovely grippy texture.

The l'Echevin Côtes du Rhône 2009 has a higher proportion of Syrah (65%, with 35% Grenache) and shows blueberry, plum and liquorice fruit.

On the palate, it is peppery, dark and dense.

Recommended wine

Tim's suggestion notwithstanding, I recommend the l'Echevin Côtes du Rhône (£10.99) for its wonderfully dense, inky texture.

I would suggest either decanting or aging in bottle for quite a few years to see it at its best.

Links

Boutique Wineries - http://www.boutique-wineries.co.uk/
Gauntleys of Nottingham - http://www.gauntleys.com/
Tim Atkin - http://www.timatkin.com/
Julia Harding - http://www.mastersofwine.org/en/about/meet-the-masters/profile/index.cfm/id/c39b4c5c-724c-4e1e-ad5fd03686eb4547