We attended an event at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse sponsored by the French Wine Society on Halloween called “Which is Witch”. The gist is that there were five flights – two whites and three reds – which were poured blind and we had to guess which wine was which. This should have been relatively easy since they gave us a handout with descriptions of each wine poured in each flight, but me and my partner still only nailed 2 out of the 5 flights. It was rather humbling because there were complete noobies who did better than we did. Oh well, it ended up being fun anyway – following are the wines and their descriptions as provided by the FWS:
FLIGHT ONE
Les Carisannes Sauvignon Blanc 2006, VdP du Jardin: Although pale straw in color, this wine explodes with aroma. In this light bodied wine, look for pungent flavors of gooseberry and lemongrass with moderate acidity and a flinty, stony finish.
Ch. De Castelneau 2006, Entre-Deux-Mers: This wine is golden in hue. The nose speaks to light sulfides…roasted hazelnuts and toasted almonds. The wine is medium bodied and mellow with flavors of toasted nuts, melon and fig.
We got this one correct, although it would have been hard not to since the color and nose were contrasted sharply enough to make it a no-brainer.
FLIGHT TWO
Joseph Kaetzel Pinot Gris 2005, Alsace: The wine is full of tropical fruit…papaya, pineapple and Asian pear. It is smooth with low acidity and possesses a delicately perfumed, floral finish
Lieu-Dit “Les Pouhes” Saumur 2006, Loire: The nose is all minerals; the palate all apple blossom and unripe pear. This, too is smooth and low in acid. Look for a hint of straw flower in the finish.
Missed this one.
FLIGHT THREE
Dom. Chassagne Beajolais Villages 2006, Burgundy: Although this wine is red, the rim is pink and the wine is positively perfumed. The tannins are smooth as silk. The fruit hints of sour cherries with a floral scent reminiscent of iris. Many claim to smell bandaids in Beaujolais…for sure this wine will fix what ails you.
Tortoise Creek Pinot Noir, Languedoc: This pinot noir is more densely pigmented than its Gamay counterpart. The wine is red to the rim with an earthy aroma. The tannins feel like taffeta. They grip the palate softly. Look for ripe bing cherry fruite with just a touch of cinnamon to the warm finish.
The lighting was very poor so we couldn’t rely on that gimme…guess I don’t know my fabrics very will because the silk and taffeta all seemed kind of the same. We both quickly noted a band-aidy kind of aroma in one of the wines so we jumped on that and made our decision which turned out to be wrong.
FLIGHT FOUR
Dom. du Bois de Saint-jean Cotes du Rhone 2006: This red wine has black highlights and is red to the rim. The aroma hints of spiced plums. Look for the heady aromas of anise and Chinese cinnamon midst the deep cherry and rhubarb fruit. The finish is hot.
Dom. des Remizieres Syrah 2006, VdP de la Drome: Look for magenta highlights in this fruit bomb. The nose is all blackberries and the fruit follows through to the palate where it expands to include dense flavors of bitter chocolate and cocoa. The tannins have grip. The wine drinks like liquid corduroy.
Wrong again, although this time we were smart enough not to embarrass ourselves by raising our hands until we saw what everyone else said (when we did it on the last flight we were the only two in a room of about 25 who chose incorrectly, and it didn’t go unnoticed!!).
FLIGHT FIVE
Ch. Recougne Bordeaux Superieur 2004: Interestingly, the older wine looks younger in the glass; the rim is a rich Burgundy red. This wine is smooth…smooth as brushed cotton. The nose if full of leather, toffee and mocha. Look for a touch of cedar and a hint of vanilla bean.
Laplace Madiran 2003: Looks can be deceiving. The madiran has noticeable purple undertones…a sign of youth, but this wine is older than its Bordeaux counterpart. The nose hints of wild berries and anise. The finish is all sour cherry with sandpaper tannins. It is fruit forward but packs a punch.
Finally we redeem ourselves. The larger rim on the Bordeax was the first clue, and the nose was simply unmistakable as what I’ve come to identify as Bordeaux. I could fully pick up the leather and cedar.
Lisa Airey, Director of Wine Education and Certification for the Society for Wine Educators, hosted this event. This woman knows her wine and has a gift for imparting that knowledge to others in a very engaging and entertaining fashion. There was a showdown at the end between all those contestants who answered all five correctly; Lisa asked each of them questions regarding topics she had discussed during the tasting and the final one standing received free tickets to an upcoming wine event at the French Embassy. Fun time.
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