Trust me to find a way to get some heavy wine tasting into what should have been a tedious one week stint in Tokyo accompanying the wife on an observational study mission. On their 6 day itinerary was a one-day visit to FOODEX Japan 2009 and for lack of better things to do, I decided to join them in going to the exhibition. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quite a number of wine, beer, and sake companies with booths at the exhibit! So after dutifully accompanying the wife to a number of booths she had to see in the morning, I decided to separate and go on a mini-VinExpo experience in the afternoon.
First stop was the USA Pavillion which was just beside the Philippine pavillion where there was a booth featuring Oregon wines. I decided to taste only the reds:
Williamette Valley Pinot Noir 2007 - quite thin, highly acidic, didn't like this at all
Elk Cove PN 2006 - better nose, fuller than the Williamette, but with a tannic bitter finish
King Estate PN 2006 - best of the lot, cherry nose, better balance, but a bit hot
Then on to the Italian pavillion (largest of all the country pavillions exccept for Japan - it seems the Italians came in full force selling wines, cheeses, meats etc.). This is where I spent the most time. Among the wines I tasted were:
Le Bombarde Cannonau 2007 - very dry and hot, almost like sherry or liquour
Le Bombarde Cannonau 2006 - Better than the 2007, showing off more dried fruits (prunes) both in smell and taste
Leone de Castris Primitivo di Manduria 2007 - full and nicely rounded. tastes like a good Zin in an "old world" style
Leone de Castris Salice Salentino Riserva 2005 - Nose of berries and cassis. Starts sweet but finishes dry. Nicely rounded. This is a blend of 90% Negroamaro and 10% Malvasia Nera di Lecce, which spends a total of 16 months in new french oak barrels. Very good - my second favorite wine of the day
Leone de Castris Donna Lisa Salice Salentino Riserva 2004 - This is supposed to be an even better version of the "regular" salice salentino riserva, produced only in good years from grapes from selected vineyards and spending 18 months in 100% new French barriques. The guy at the booth said this wine got 3 glasses from Gambero rosso five times in the last 10 years. As expected, this was very full, almost thick, spicy and still very tannic. Needs several more years before it is ready.
Leone de Castris Five Roses - this is supposedly the first rose bottled in Italy, way back in 1943, using beer bottles brought by the liberating American forces. I found it a bit watery.
Balbi Soprani Barbera D'Asti 2006 - Typical Barbera D'Asti, Ready now.
Balbi Soprani Barbaresco 2005 - Fuller, deeper and more complex than the Barbera. Nicely rounded.
Balbi Soprani Barolo 2004 - Still tannic with an acidic mouthfeel. Needs more time to integrate but should be a very good wine maybe in five years or so.
Moroder Rosso Conero 2007 - This winery is owned by the Italian cousins of the pop artist/singer. The SOO (son of the owner) of the winery, Marco, who also serves as the export director was there to share his wines. The Rosso is made with 100% Montepulciano grapes and tastes a lot like a good Chianti, though less acidic (Rosso de Montalcino comes to mind)..
Moroder Rosso Conero DOC Riserva 2003 - A more powerful version of the regular rosso.
Moroder Ankon Marche Rosso, IGT 2001 - This is the Marche version of a Super Tuscan wine, made with a blend of 50% Montepulciano, 25% merlot and 25% cab sauv. The wine I tried was only the second vintage as they keep the wine in barriques for 3 years, 3 months in blending vats and another 2 years in the bottle before releasing. This wine had a great nose with berries, spices and even flowers. It has a slightly international approach, but has a long lasting but dry finish. A very good wine and my favorite for the day. My wife and three of her classmates on the study mission happened to pass by and Marco offered them glasses of this wine and they all loved it.
Cantine Marconi Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC (I neglected to note the vintage) - This is a dry red wine made from 100% Lacrima di Morro grapes and is not at all related to the Lacrima Christi dessert wine. The nose was very interesting - more like a white wine than that for a red. It smelled of rosewater and violets! The approach is more like a rose than a red wine, with a mouthfeel thats almost "fizzy". However, it finishes really dry. The closest taste to it would be the dry red wines from Duoro (made with the same grapes as Port but without the "brandy added). Very interesting wine.
Cantine Marconi Lacrima di Morro d'Alba Superiore Etichetta Nera (again I didnt get the vintage) - this is the reserve version and while it does not have the same intensity on the nose of roses and violets, it more than makes up for it with much more complexity and balance in taste. It is very nicely rounded and finishes extremely long. I wonder how they can get this kind of complexity considering that no wood is used at all in making this wine. A very interesting and good wine, my third favorite of the day.
At this point I was getting hungry, so I proceeded to the Spanish pavillion where practically every other booth had a jamonera and was giving away free tastes of various jamon. I had my fill of different jamons and now that I was able to have them head to head, I find that Bellota hams are the best tasting ones. I also managed to squeeze in a few glasses of cava from the Freixenet booth and their sister company whose name I cannot recall now.
After snacking on jamon and cava, I went to the adjacent Belgian pavillion where there was a large area where one could taste a huge assortment of Belgain beers (another weakness of mine). There were quite a number of people there, so I was only able to try the following:
Moinette bonde (draft)
St Martin blonde (draft)
St Feullien Cuvee de Noel (draft)
Floreffe bierre de Abaye
Brunehaus Terroir
Saison Dupont
St Amand
Biere du Mont Saint Aubert
My favoritees were the Floreffe for the heavy dark beer style, the Brunehaus for the light floral style, and the Saint Aubert overall.
By this time it was getting close to the 4pm meeting time for all of us to get together at our meeting place to get back to Tokyo. On the way I passed by the Hungarian pavillion in the hope of tasting some tokaji to cap off a great tasting afternoon. Alas, all they had were dry whites and reds. So at one booth I tried the Egri Bikaver ("bulls blood" which has a historical significance in terms of keeping Europe Christian in the face of Muslim invaders). I had greatly enjoyed Egri Bikaver at a similar trade show in Taipei a few years back and wanted to try it again. It may just be the particular winery I tried but this time I found the wine thin, acidic and rough - I didnt even bother to take note of the winery.
The limited time I had prevented me from getting to other pavillions where wine tastings were also available - at the Australian, German, and French pavillions as well as a whole section of the Japanese pavillion featuring only sake. But then again my taste buds were probably not reliable at that stage anyway.