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This is a wine that never disappoints. Year after year it delivers a true Tuscan character and excellent value. An enticing combination of cherries, pomegranate, spices, vanilla, just the right acidity and delicate tannins lead to an excellent finish. 90

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Provence is often overlooked by companies that offer traditional wine tasting tours, in spite of the excellence of its wines. If you’re a true wine lover and wine fan, this beautiful location in France offers the most fascinating scenery and, not to mention, some of the best vineyards around.

In Provence, as everywhere in the Mediterranean, you’ll find the people full of warmth, spontaneity and a “joie de vivre”. As you will soon discover, any of these master oenologists (winemakers) will be delighted to introduce you to the wines they have become famous for; and share a little of the region’s history with you. In Provence your days will be filled with sunshine and warmth, and lush nights, scented with jasmine, lavender and wild thyme – whether you stay in a bustling, crowded metropolis with all the modern conveniences, or a turn-of-the-century country guest house filled with 17th and 18th century antiques. However, little do outsiders know that winemaking in Provence is a serious business. Many of the winegrowers here have won the rights to include the prestigious “AOC” designation (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) on their bottles of wines. This label assures the buyer of a guaranteed vintage from the designated region. In order to win the right to become designated as an appellation wine, winegrowers much pass rigorous tests and inspections.

If you are thinking of traveling to the south of France in the near future, think about including a trip to one of the vineyards of the 60 winegrowers in the “Cotes de Provence” region. A small, yet beautiful area, it takes in the departments of the Var and part of the Bouches-du-Rhone.

Located in the heart of Provence’s winemaking region, the “Maison des Cotes de Provence” boasts an outstanding selection- of appellation wines. The Cotes de Provence winegrowers are experts in utilizing traditional methods when harvesting and bottling their wines. Their deep respect for the soil, the climate and the different varieties of grapes they use comes through in the quality and taste of each bottle.

During your visit to Provence, you can also arrange to take a wine tasting course at one of the vineyards where you will learn a complete understanding of wine: its robe (color), its bouquet (perfume), its body (strength) and everything you need to know about service, conservation and more. Not only will you be able to taste the finest wines, but you will also learn invaluable winemaking tips you can’t learn elsewhere.

For the true wine lover, Provence is definitely a place to visit – both for the fantastic wines and unforgettable scenery!

Don’t listen to what all the self appointed wine buffs and wine snobs say it’s what you like that counts.

It’s not what Mr X, Mrs Y or Sommelier Z says but what you personally enjoy that matters when it comes to wine. Taste is individual to you and must always be treated as such.

If you like really “unsophisticated” sweet German wines such as those 70s standards Liebfraumilsch or Hock (which incidentally almost put a whole generation off drinking wine) then that’s great.

Feel free to carry on drinking them but make sure that you take the time to carry on experimenting with other wines of a similar nature or perhaps a different style of your preferred grape.

If you like a white Burgundy, such as the steely Chablis, then you may also like other wines matured in metal casks such as a Sancerre.

If you enjoy a nice Sauvignon Blanc then take a look at a South African Chenin Blanc. But don’t put yourself off by scaring your palate through trying completely new and perhaps a bit ‘left field’ choices immediately.

Work up to these experiments. Try the more obvious ones first. If you go from a nice oaky Australian Chardonnay to a Gewurtztraminer right away you might never appreciate the subtle pleasures of the German speciality, which is a bit of an acquired taste for most people though it can be dynamite paired with the right foods.

And when it comes to teaming wine with food then the same rules apply. If you like your oysters with a full-bodied claret rather than a dry white or a champagne, then that is great too.

White wine with fish dishes is the accepted combination worldwide but now many people are realising the delights of eating a ‘meaty fish’ such as tuna with a light red wine.

However do bear one thing in mind : the ‘rules’ have evolved over time and reflect the preferences of millions of palates over many generations of fine dining. Like the classics of fiction, the classic combinations of food and drink are exactly that for a reason they have proven to be superior over time.

So by all means experiment but don’t ignore the tried, tested and recommended combinations as they have stood the test of time very well indeed.

As with everything in life, the only way to learn is to test. So you’ll have to move out of your comfort zone and risk the odd bad choice in order to move up to the next level of wine enjoyment.

Yes you may love Californian Pinot Noir but it’s important that you stop buying it every week simply because you know that you like it and that it’s a safe choice. You need to branch out, as this is the only way you will find something even better than your current favourite.

And believe me, I’m sure it exists among the many thousands of wines available worldwide. The best way of branching out is to start buying mixed cases of wine, typically a dozen bottles of red and white wines and simply try each one out.

And it’s particularly useful to make some tasting notes as you open each one so that you can keep a note of exactly what it was, where it was from and which variety of grape it was and so on.

And don’t forget to note precisely why you liked or disliked it. Was it the citrus fruit flavours on the tongue, or was it the creamy vanilla oakiness that really made it for you?

Did the light fresh aroma contribute to the enjoyment? Get it down on paper before you open the next bottle, as tomorrow your recollection might be a little hazy!

So you must experiment a bit, but don’t go for a complete extreme to what you normally drink right away.

Go for similar varieties at first and you are less likely to put yourself off progressing and expanding your taste in wine.

And remember, the only one who can tell you what wines you like best is you yourself so, whatever the combination, be sure to enjoy it.

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In a hot August afternoon, we visited the Pelter winery. Being a long time admirers of their Gewürztraminer and sparkling wines we had high hopes of the visit. Well, that was easy – the hopes were exceeded. In addition to their outstanding whites, we were happy to taste the outstanding quality of the reds. One of the nice aspects of the visit was a children friendly staff and environement that enabled us to enjoy tasting wines with 3 energetic boys. So friendly that our eldest son considers this visit among the highlights of his summer vacation.

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Although millions of people across the globe enjoy wine, very few of them know exactly what it is about a particular wine that they enjoy. By understanding each of the different components of wine, you can quickly establish the parts you prefer, and therefore choose your next bottle with more confidence. Sugar Sweeter wines have more sugar than dry wines. During the fermentation process a lot of the natural fruit sugar is fermented.

However, in some wines, residual (remaining) sugar may be higher and therefore a sweeter wine is produced. Alcohol Most people know that one of the key components of wine is alcohol! Alcohol is fundamental to the taste of wine. The alcohol volume most wines range between nine and fifteen per cent. Fortified wine can be as high as twenty per cent alcohol. Tannin Tannin comes from the skin of grapes. Therefore, tannin is much more fundamental as a taste component in red wine than in white.

Too much tannin in a wine is not a good thing and can result in the wine tasting spoiled. However, tannin helps to preserve a wine, which means that some wines can be kept for years and even improve with age. A small amount of tannin is also a positive taste characteristic to regular wine drinkers, if a little over-whelming for novice wine drinkers. Water All wines contain water that has been extracted naturally from the grapes from which they were produced.

Very rarely, if ever, would extra water be added to a wine. In fact, some wines will be criticized for being excessively watery if the other flavors are not sufficiently powerful. Acid Acid found in wine balances against the residual sugar that is left after the fermentation process has finished. There are three key types of acid in wine, tartaric, malic and citric. All of these acids are found in varying quantities in the skins of grapes. Alcohol may react with bacteria within the wine to create acetic acid; this is not generally a good thing as too much acetic acid will make a wine taste more like vinegar than anything else!

Fruit This is what tends to differentiate one wine from the other. Fruity tastes are what we look for in a wine and different grapes will produce a myriad of fruit flavors. It is the combination of tastes that makes each wine unique and special. Carbon Dioxide During every fermentation process, carbon dioxide is produced. Most of this is normally released, however, in some wines a degree of fizz can be left in a wine to add a little extra to an otherwise very ordinary wine.

Of course, in sparkling wines, the carbon dioxide is retained and is fundamental to the taste. Oak No longer an essential component of everyday quaffing wines, oak barrels are still used on occasions to add a vanilla, oaky flavor. Oak barrels can add an extra dimension to plain wines that will make them much more saleable and enjoyable. All of these components make the wine that we see in our glasses. Next time you pour yourself a glass of wine, take some time to think about which elements are supporting your enjoyment, and which you could do without.

There are basically two parts to Wine Tasting, first is ‘What are we looking for’ the second is ‘How are we looking’. We’ll start with the How, and move on to the What. Traditionally the seven steps to sampling wine are: see, sniff, swirl, smell sip, swish, and spit. This is the process we see tasters going through at the table and in wineries.

The first thing we want to do is see that the color of the wine is good. Put some light behind the glass and look for clarity. Fogginess is a sign we probably want to be careful with. Rusty colors in a white wine are another sign that we probably don’t want to put it in our mouths. That might seem a bit crass but let’s keep in mind what we are looking at here.

The act of Wine Degustation didn’t get its start at high society dinner tables as a way to see what was good with lamb, and what is better with beef. Wine Degustation came into being as a method of deciding what was safe to drink and what might be poisonous due to bad storage or aging processes. While today these tasting methods are less defensive, since modern methods of wine making produce safer wines, some wines you may get to embrace were bottled 100 years ago, or even 200. Some red wines are so dark you will be lucky to see anything through them, but we still want to take a look. Some of the more obvious signs we want to look for are brown, muddy, orange or other non-winelike colors.

It is not uncommon to see bits of cork floating in a glass of wine, just try to make sure that it is cork. After our eyes are satisfied, we try our nose. Recall that taste is more or less an olfactory sense. With practice we can tell a great deal about a wine from its perfume. A good whiff at the very least will give you an impression, or preview of what to expect from the wine when we taste it. The obvious impressions to look out for are: does it smell like wine? Is the overall fragrance fresh or foul? Anything strange about it?

Our next step, the swirl, enhances our ability to evaluate the first two steps once more. The swirl is to get some of the wine onto the surface of the inside of the glass. Wines are generally not oily or syrupy. The liquid should slide off the side in an expected manner. Also with the wine spread out on the surface, it should be easier to get a better sample of the fragrance it presents. Which is what we do now, but this time we inhale it slowly. No quick sniffs.

We bring the fragrance into our nose with a smooth steady inhale, letting our mind go through the stages of the bouquet with a more examining course. If our nose is still interested then we move on to taking a small sip. Just enough to get a taste on our tongue. You will notice here a bit more of the cautionary tactics in the wine tasting steps, but there is a bit more benefit really than just making sure that we didn’t miss something painful in the previous steps before we commit to a good mouthful.

Taking in just a taste allows our mouth to get a quick preview and some expectations. There is also the fact that many concoctions, not just wine, taste a bit different when taken in small sips rather than mouthfuls. So we are still interested, and by this time we are sure whether or not we want to commit to a real taste, so we take in a mouthful. Not only do we take it in, we swish it around like it was mouthwash, letting the liquid coat every part of our mouths and gums.

Allowing the wine to be heated up by our body temperature. Some tasters even gargle a bit with the wine, because our taste buds are everywhere in our mouths. The last step is spit or swallow. Not much to say about that, but it is a choice to be sure. If this is the only wine or one of two or three you are going to be tasting tonight, swallowing might be an appropriate option.

But if you are at a winery and going through 6 or 7 wines, spitting is probably your best option. Otherwise every wine is going to start tasting “swell” and you might as well just have a few glasses rather than try to go through the steps. What are we really looking for through all of this? There are many aspects of wine, and each vintage and type has its nuances. There are some over all basics though we can start out with. Oakiness – Some wines have a ‘oak’ flavor.

There really isn’t another way to describe it. You have to taste it, but once you do you can pick it out. The flavor is generlly from either from the Aging barrel or oak chips Sweetness – The process of some wines allows a greater amount of the natural sugars from the grapes (Or fruit) to remain without being processes into alcohol.

So a sweetness, and sometimes a fruity taste remains from the amount of residual sugar Tannin – A wine stressing tannins would be described most of the time as dry. Tannin is the bitterness from seed and skin of the grape and is effected by carbonic maceration and Maceration Above all, the real test is Did you like it. Your tastes are just as valid as anyone else’s and life is too short for wine you don’t like. Enjoy.

1. Try something new and you might be surprised. Let the staff make suggestions. Compare the wines aged in steel to those aged in oak.

2. Take Notes especially if you are gone all day. Most wineries offer a list that will assist you on keeping track. When you get home to your local wine shop, you will appreciate having a cheat sheet.

3. Visit during off season. November through May is an excellent time. You might be only one of the few guests all day, so the staff can give you some extra time.

4. Ask Questions. Winery staff love to be engaged and help educate. They are trained to know a lot about the wines you taste.

5. Eat the crackers. They help you clean your palate and absorb the alcohol.

6. Don’t just stick with the big-name wineries. Check out some of the smaller ones in the area.

7. The nose, knows. Try not to use too much perfume or aftershave. The aroma of the wine is half the fun of tasting.

8. Call ahead for large parties. If you call ahead some wineries will even arrange cheese and fruit trays.

9. Be patient. If you prefer to visit during the peak seasons, you will have a great time tasting, but it may take a minute or two for the staff to serve you.

10. To test for a really good wine, swirl it around the glass. Legs or tears are what is left trickling down the glass after swirling. The stickier and longer the legs the better the quality.

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I started collecting wine just as the tremendous 2000 vintage was being released, and so before I even had much experience with Bordeaux, by almost pure chance, my first serious Bordeaux cellar purchase was a couple bottles of the 2000 Pontet-Canet. How exciting its been to watch the ascendance of this 5th Growth since then, and how lucky I’ve felt to have those bottles in the cellar, with all the talk of Pontet-Canet having become a “super-second” with the 2005 vintage, and even the lesser vintages becoming more expensive than the 2000 was on release. The story of this chateau is well-known now: its location right next to Mouton-Rothschild, and how it was considered one of the top estates in the early 19th century; its slow decline to rock-bottom during the Cruse scandal of the 1970s; and finally how the Tesseron family painstakingly revived it over two decades, preparing it for its meteoric rise that started in the mid-1990s. Given my experience with the 1970 (below), it is clear that even at its lowest ebb, there was greatness lurking here. I’ve had the pleasure to taste more wines from Pontet-Canet than from any other Bordeaux estate, and the style has become familiar: dense, dark, tarry, firm. Some say Pontet-Canet now resembles St.-Julien more than Pauillac, and they may be right, but what it is for certain is a great example of a modern claret that has not sold its soul like many others.

A couple weeks ago, I organized a wine dinner featuring the 1970 and the 2002 vintages of the Grand Vin, and the 2000 of Let Hauts (which in a vintage like 2000 is practically a grand vin itself):

Chateau Pontet-Canet, Pauillac 1970
Base neck fill. Medium-dark garnet; good color! Very nice old Bordeaux nose, savory, and with glycerin showing. A succulent palate, with cherry/raspberry, cassis, and a bit of tar. Medium-full bodied. Opens and grows very nicely in the glass. Still has good fruit, with nice tone and structure; one can sense the intense 1970 structure this would once have had. Near the end of its very mature prime, but can probably hold at this level for a few more years; this wine is in great shape for its age. Quite a treat, and a consummate match to Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourgignon! Excellent (87 – 90). [7/9/10]

Les Hauts de Pontet-Canet, Pauillac 2000
Medium dark ruby. Nose a bit funky and not much on the palate at first, but with time in the glass, it opens beautifully. Cherry/raspberry, cassis, tar/dark fruit, lots of mineral, hints of herbs, and hints of pencil lead. Succulent. Compared to the 1970 Pontet-Canet grand vin tasted just before, this drinks like a much younger version of the same wine, and seems to confirm the similarity between the two vintages (how nice to get to compare the two). In addition, nearly equal in quality to the 2002 Pontet-Canet grand vin tasted just after. Approachable now with air, but better in 3 – 5 years, and should drink nicely until 2020 or so. 2000 shows its depth here! Excellent / Exceptional (89 – 91). [7/9/10]

Chateau Pontet-Canet, Pauillac 2002
Decanted 2 1/2 hours, and needed further time in the glass to open (nose a bit funky at first). Opaque ruby. Excellent, dense, rich nose. Cherry, blackberry, cassis, tarry/leathery notes, a hint of roasted herb/tobacco, and a hint of pencil lead/mineral. Full bodied, ripe, and dense, with good tone. Needs time, perhaps another 5 years, and shouldlast last until 2020 – 2025. Quite an impressive performance from this maligned vintage, and for under $40, a very impressive value as well. Exceptional (90 – 93). [7/9/10]

And as chance would have it, I had also had the opportunity to taste the 2003 in May:

Chateau Pontet-Canet, Pauillac 2003
Decanted for over an hour. Dark, warm ruby; impressive color. Great nose!!! Black cherry, blackberry, juicy red currant, cassis, some floral notes, and a touch of citrus, with tobacco, a hint of pencil lead, mineral, roasted herbs, roasted meat, and espresso. Ripe, but not overly so, and there is a LOT of tannin hiding underneath. Has 2003 warmth, but with the tannin, density, and acidity to balance it. This is a wine you need to swirl in your mouth to perceive how well constituted it is under the ripe fruit. Approachable now and very pleasurable to drink, but will only get better, and I dare say it will achieve a more classical Bordeaux balance in its maturity. Has up to 20 years ahead of it; when will it hit its peak? Not sure – perhaps in 10 years. A lot of potential here. Extraordinary (93 – 95). [5/13/10]

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This wine helped in resolving a long standing family dispute over wine. For years, my wife claimed that Bordeaux can’t meet the standards of our favorite wine region: Piedmont. Knowing her taste, the main point was around how Masculine are the wines (or the more feminine/elegant nature of a lot of Bordeaux wines that we had). Comes Talbot 2001 to show that the combination of masculine and elegant wines is not unique to Piedmont or Italy in general.

Chateau Talbot, St. Julien 2001
Started with excellent fruit: blueberries, black current later reveled earth and minerals with just a good hint of green notes. Masculine wine with an excellent elegant finish. Excellent / Exceptional (89 – 91)

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The red grapes of the central European countries, are an unusual lot, with combinations of flavors that most find at least perplexing, and some find off-putting. I for the most part have enjoyed my occasional meeting with such varieties as Blaufrankish and Zweigelt. Last night, I had for the first time a grape that to my palate is the most unusual of them: a St. Laurent, from Austria. It happens that Zweigelt is actually a cross of Blaufrankish and St. Laurent, so I’ve now met the “whole family.” In short, a positive experience and an excellent wine. I’ll be happy to have St. Laurent cross my path again, though I confess I might not seek it out.

Zantho, St. Laurent, Burgenland 2006 (Austria)
My first experience with this grape. Dark ruby. A rather stinky nose, but with some excellent components, notably showing the same wet gravel and tobacco notes that one finds in Haut-Brion, with dark fruit, a faint whiff of flowers (roses perhaps?), and a very prominent note of lemon. On the palate, cherry, dominate notes of tart lemon/citrus, dark, tarry plum, a faint hint of flowers, then very earthy wet gravel and tobacco notes. Medium-full bodied. The combination of prominent lemon acidity with a generous earthy character pushes the limits of conventional balance, but there is good quality and character in this wine, with excellent aromatic components. On the balance I like it quite a bit, and in its best moments I would give it an Exceptional (90 – 93) rating, but one does have to make some allowances, and meet it on its own terms. Drink now. Excellent / Exceptional (89 – 91). [6/9/10]

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