It’s a grand title, but that’s the focus of our new wine tasting seminar at the Italian sommeliers association, and we’re already halfway through. This post is in case you thought I was no longer talking about wine, but I figure I need to expand my focus a little and mix wine with food with life.
In some ways I came back to Italy with my priorities a little out of whack. Number one, go to wine tasting seminar on “i grandi vini bianchi”, and number two, get married. Perhaps not quite but there was a reason to get back in February at least for the first evening of the wine tasting seminar.
It involved an evening of sauvignon blanc from the Loire, and nothing short of remarkable for me. I will go out on a limb and say the vast majority of New Zealand sauvignon blancs leave me unimpressed and many of Australia’s don’t quite make the grade either. To be sure, they are two very different creatures, the French and New Zealanders, but I was thrilled with the elegance and acidity of the Loire sauvignon blanc. What’s more, I finally got to understand what that overused English description of “cigar box” is all about. It might be overused but it’s certainly accurate.
Last night, we moved locations and tasted the world’s greatest chardonnays from the Cote de Beaune in France. Unfortunately the example from 1989 didn’t have much success among the punters, but for the rest it was truly a great experience. More on the Italian chardonnay ring-in later.
Coming up for the next two evenings in the seminar are rieslings from Alsace and bringing it home in May is Chablis. We won’t have strayed from France, but then with the wines on offer, we really don’t need to. An example of some of the wines tasted so far:
Dider Dagueneau Poully Fumé Buisson Renard 2002
Nicolas Joly Coulèe de Serrant 2004
Louis Jadot Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 1997
Baron Thenard Montrachet Grand Cru 2006
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