WSET Diploma

Overcast diamonds: Domaine Latour-Giraud 2011 “Genevrières” Meursault

Domaine Latour-Giraud 2011 "Genevrières" Meursault[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

The first time I’ve had a Premier Cru Burgundy was in WSET Intermediate class years ago – it was the Latour-Giraud 2008 Meursault-Perrières. Looking at my notebook, I don’t seem to have much to say about it. I mean, good for you if you’re bedazzled by young and amazing white Burgundy at age 19, but I guess I needed more convincing.

The second time I’ve ever had a Premier Cru Burgundy was in WSET Advanced class, where it looks like I was really unimpressed. Just earlier this year I realized how amazing it was that I tried a Meursault and I back-pedalled hard, but retrying this helps me understand my past self.… read more

WSET Diploma

Black Swan: Joseph Burrier 2012 “Sur La Roche” Pouilly-Fuissé

Joseph Burrier 2012 "Sur La Roche" Pouilly-Fuissé[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

If Chablis is the personification of pristine and pure Chardonnay that tastes of river stones and crisp fruit, with a balance of concentration and finesse that needs time to blossom, then Pouilly-Fuissé, at the other end of Burgundy, is a ballsier expression of quality white Burgundy.

More obvious fruit, here, with crushed pears and applesauce rather than freshly sliced green fruit, along with a vivacious touch of something Bed Bath & Beyond-esque, like a soapy lemon-lime candy. It’s the Black Swan to the White Swan we tried earlier in the flight. It’s just more willing to do MDMA on Sunday night but still have its shit together to do ballet the next morning.… read more

WSET Diploma

Audrey Hepburn: Domaine Tortochot 2010 Chambertin Grand Cru

Domaine Tortochot 2010 Chambertin Grand Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

This was spectacular. Apparently only two cases were directly brought into the province, and they went quickly. A great price, from what I can tell, but I’m not gonna pretend that I’m a huge connoisseur of Grand Cru Burgundy. Like, if you were to open one in my presence, I’d definitely force us to light candles and do a Gregorian chant before uncorking it.

Pinot Noir from the Côte de Nuits, of the north half of the Côte d’Or, is said to be more structured, deeper, perhaps darker in its fruit, and have a protracted maturation window compared to the wines of the Côte de Beaune. So, compared to the lighter Savigny-Lès-Beaune we had just before, this wine exuded more dark fruits, more brooding notes in the form of forest floor, mushroom and leather, and some oak, where there were well-integrated murmurs of mocha and sweet spice.… read more

WSET Diploma

“There’s Too Much Love” – Belle and Sebastian: Phillipe Girard 2010 “Les Lavières” Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru

Phillipe Girard 2010 "Les Lavières" Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

The next two wines we tasted were both Pinot Noirs from two different halves of the Côte d’Or – this one was from the Côte de Beaune in the south, while the next one was a Chambertin from the Côte de Nuits in the north.

Lighter and more driven by flowers, strawberries, and red cherries compared to the Chambertin. It’s often said that Pinot Noir from the Côte de Beaune creates wines that are lighter, fruitier, and prone to earlier maturation than that of the north. Much more pure in fruit than the basic Burgundy we tried a couple of wines before, if you were to compare the first wine to blurry vision à la Velma losing her glasses, and then this wine to putting on a stylin’ pair.… read more

WSET Diploma

White Swan: Domaine Christian Moreau 2012 Valmur Chablis Grand Cru

Domaine Christian Moreau 2012 Valmur Chablis Grand Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

Chablis, to me, is the pinnacle of perfection: not so much in a sense that it’s a wine that’s perfect and orgasmic, but more the fact that it strives to be something so pristine, crisp, calm, and complex, not unlike a snowflake.

The White Swan i.e. Nina Sayers comes to mind, where perfection is bitingly found but the wine is almost too young and needs lots of time to develop. Crisp notes of mineral, green apple, pear, a hint of oak (purportedly), cream, and something reminiscent to Loire Chenin that’s very wool and mushroom-like are found on the nose, and the palate reverberates the flavours with more intensity.

There’s a beautiful juxtaposition of young richness and brisk acid; a concentration of flavours that have lots of finesse.… read more

WSET Diploma

A scratched Frank Sinatra record: Vignerons de Buxy 2012 Buissonnier Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noir

Vignerons de Buxy 2012 Buissonnier Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noir[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

Not bad, at first glance, but then wildly simple when compared to the Savigny-Lès-Beaune and Chambertin. Much more charming on the nose than on the palate, where simple red fruits, earth, and a bit of flowers and vanilla were a bit more shrouded and quiet on the palate.

Similarly to the first wine, there was a bit of sulphited character that was more evident compared to the other red wines in the flight, but it also could have been so because of the lack of intensity. Not really noticeable until we did a side-by-side sort of thing.

Sort of like a faded Sinatra record, where there are hints of allure but you don’t really get the true magic of the grape.… read more

WSET Diploma

Staff paper: Louis Latour 2012 Bourgogne Chardonnay

Louis Latour 2012 Bourgogne Chardonnay[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

We kick off our Burgundy sesh with two basic, well, Burgundies, in order to prime our mouths and ideas as to what Burgundy is and what the basic examples taste like compared to more premium examples.

Neutral, but irritatingly so. We kept samples of this wine when we tasted other whites, and it seemed like this wine had just a bit more of a sulphited character (matchsticks et al) in comparison – though perhaps it was just the lack of concentration on the nose that made it more evident.

I’m bad at picking up oak, but apparently there were bits of it on the nose, along with mineral, vague hints of green fruit, green apple, pear, and citrus.… read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône

I’m so behind. Too many things!

I recently attended a Blind Tasting Seminar led by the Guild of Sommeliers. Geoff Kruth MS and Jennifer Huether MS led the whole shindig, and we tasted six wines: a Sancerre, a white Crozes-Hermitage, a Rias Baixas, a Chianti Classico, a Saint-Estèphe, and a weird hipstery Morgon from Beaujolais. More on that in another post! It was legitimately exciting! So many exclamation marks!

guildsommtasting

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!!!

A friend texted me soon after to join for a sparkling wine event at Marquis and so I did, and all was well in my soul.

In the same week I attended a big dinner that had way too much wine and beer, but the gods did not think it appropriate to cast a hangover on me, and instead I felt rather okay the next day.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Soldier’s Poem” – Muse: Lucien Barrot 2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Lucien Barrot 2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône]

Just from the looking at our flight of five, it was obvious that this was the most aged from the orange-tinged garnet hue, but I’m pretty sure everyone pegged it as Châteauneuf-du-Pape because it was the last wine (including myself, perhaps). The most kingly appellation in the southern Rhône can offer some level of variety like other southern Rhône blends, allowing something like 13 different grapes (18 including mutations) into its wines, with top producers varying their recipes dramatically. Château de Beaucastel, for example, is known for making a Châteauneuf-du-Pape with all of the allowed varieties, while Chateau Rayas makes one that’s virtually a Grenache clubhouse.

The most evolved wine of the bunch of course had more leather, nuts, spice, and earth to match the stewed and dried fruit.… read more

WSET Diploma

Cancelled plans: Brunel 2012 “La Gardine” Côtes du Rhône

Brunel 2012 "La Gardine" Côtes du Rhône[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône]

In our flight of a rosé (obviously Tavel, being in a Rhône-themed class) and four reds, this was the penultimate wine of our tasting. Everyone in the room had the middle three muddled up because they were the most similar. Perhaps three levels of Côtes du Rhone blends, we all thought.

I surmised that this was the lowest quality out of the three middle wines we tasted. In the wine’s defence, it probably tasted washed out because of the two bulkier blends before it. I thought it was less than ordinary at only the acceptable level: though it had peppery fruit on the nose, the palate just seemed less vibrant and rather light despite the high alcohol, like someone decided to go to a party and then cancel right when it started.… read more