WineWorld French May Tasting May 8th, 2009

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Summary   It was a fabulous evening, with over 160 attendants. Throughout the nights, wine lovers hovered around the enomatic machines, sharing notes and favorites. Most bottles were depleted within an hour of introduction, keeping the staffs at LaVilla Bubble busy replacing bottles and tasting glasses.   We had not expected such enthusiastic pouring. We ran out of wines towards the end of the night and had to fetch more bottles!    Based on feedback from guests on the tasting:    Best Value:  Pesquie Quintessence 2005 was by far the winner!   Its aromatic nose with white flowers, sweet spices, and black fruits resulted in many repeated pouring.  It is no accident that the wine was rated 93 pts by Robert Parker; the pricing is the big, wonderful surprise ($180).     Best Palate: Mature vintages stood out on the best palate with their unmatched complexity. Chateau du Tertre 1996 received many mentions.   One guest mentioned that he had tried this wine 7-8 years ago, commenting that the '96 tasted much better with time and aging.           Best Nose:   No clear winner as I have received such diverse answers:   Pesquie Quintessence, Margaux, Coudoulet Blanc, Haut Faugeres, Henri Gouges, Chateau des Jacques, Janasse Chaupin, Bois Pertuis...  Preference for fragrance can be quite personal.  It is good to know that diversity exists!   Most Aligned with Manga Drops of God Impression:  Seven of the wines were featured in the manga Drops of God.   Sniffing and swishing, our guests compared the wines to our prepared tasting notes.   Of all the wines, St Cosme Les Deux Albion matches the description the best.  Warm on the nose, it is indeed reminiscent of Bali. More so, its exotic floral notes tie to the image of sensational dancers wrapped in sexy attire with aromatic flowers.   Janasse Terre d’Argile CDR Village would be the runner-up.  Fruity with sweet spices, it is approachable and not “edgy” – reminiscent of companionship in a friendly soccer game.     The Biggest Surprise:   Many were quite surprised by the Coudoulet de Beaucastel Blanc 2006.   It is dramatically different from the typical Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay nose.  Throughout the night, this wine received much praise for its beautiful aroma and complex palate.  One guest impressively identified Viognier a critical contributor to its floral fragrance.  Another guest described this as the best white he has tasted.      Most Desired:  Beaucastel 2000 and Margaux 2002 got a lot of attention throughout the nights. Many guests came just to taste these two wines by the glass. These wines are both quite young and require much waiting time. We decanted the first set of wines early afternoon, making the first set of bottles perfect for enjoyment.      As we didn’t expect such active refills from our guests, we didn't aerate enough bottles of Beaucastel and Margaux in advanced.  For guests who arrived later in the night and tasted the consequent bottles, their experience were slightly different from their friends'.  Without advanced aeration, swirling and waiting were needed.   Many guests ended up tasting the second set of wines before they have time to fully reveal their potential.  One guest shared her disappointment and asked us to further aerate the bottles to open up their bouquet.         Most Rapidly Depleted:  The winning bottle for the evening was Henri Gouges’ Nuit-St-Geroge 1er Cru Les Pruliers 2000.   We had two of these rare bottles. Both were depleted within 15 minutes of uncorking, leaving many wine lovers disappointed without a taste.     Last but not least, a big thank you to our members and guests for a fun and memorable evening!   Until our next tasting…

 

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