Tasting wine

Visiting a wine-fair is hard work. You have to know what you want to taste or to discover. A wine fair is more than only tasting wine it’s also about tasting rare and strange spirits from countries you never thought of. It’s meeting people from all over the world . You have to listen to one or two symposia about wine or spirit, the story  of a company or how the world around wine and spirits is changing. The older generation of wine makers were mainly focused on making quality wines. That’s important, but nowadays you also need marketing. As I see it you need to have a leading figure at your company like a michelin star restaurant is known by the name and reputation of it’s chef. Some good examples are the French actor Pierre Richard (owner of) from Château Bel Evêque (Corbières, France), Sandro Bottega from Bottega SpA (Italy),  or Philippe Faure-Brac, best sommelier in the wold in 1992, for his ‘Bistro du Sommelier’ in Paris. These people are role models for me because of what they have achieved in the world of wine and Pierre Richard also as an actor.

Pierre Richard Wines – Domaine de L’Evêque – Corbières Maritimes
Bottega Spa – Winery, Cellar and Distillery since 1977
Le Bistrot du Sommelier Paris – Philippe Faure-Brac Meilleur Sommelier du Monde

Nowadays wine, like gin, wodka or beer, can be produced almost everywhere.
The most unusual wines I have ever tasted were a sparkling wine from India and wines from Thailand. Were they any good? No, but it was an experience tasting them.
Tasting a wine and judging it from it’s color and it’s aromas is difficult. I think it also helps if you know the vintage year, the general style and the grape varieties of the wine area. I love to go every year (in February) to the private tasting from a 100 wineries from the Bordeaux area in Wine Paris. Wine Paris is one of the leading fairs in Europe. The young Bordeaux ‘Grand Cru Classé‘ (for example from 2023) are not very pleasent yet. That‘s because of the tannins in the red wine; they can taste bitter. The good tannins come from the skin of the grape and from wooden barrels. Tannins are essential for structure and aging potential in red wines. They are polyphenols (substances), in for example chocolate, tea, pomegranates, walnuts and red wine, and they are a natural defence mechanism. They can help to fight free radicals in your body.

For me tasting Bordeaux ‘Grand Cru’ wines is always a learning proces. Over the years I had the luck and pleasure to visit several Bordeaux chateaux and taste their wines. Some of the Bordeaux wines you can keep for a long time, as long as you keep them well preserved in as special wine cabinet.
My next favorite wines are from the Champagne area. The Champagne area lies in the region ‘Grand Est‘. Tasting Champagne is a bit easier. The quality of a Champage depends of the size of it’s bubbles. The best or finest Champagnes have small bubbels. Another qualification for a good Champagne is how long (in seconds) you can taste the bubbels in your mouth. There are many good Champagne houses from cooperaties, family houses or even the bigger firms. I must say I became very fond of
Nicolas Feuillatte (a large cooperation), Piper-Heidseck/Rare (owened by Epi) and Taittinger (owned by the family Taittinger) .

On Wine Paris ninety-one Champagne Wineries joined together to make the area ‘Champagne de Vignerons’ in cooperation with ‘Le Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne’, from the Champagne areas:
‘CÔTE DES BAR’, ‘CÔTES DES BLANC’, ‘MONTAGNE DE REIMS’ and ‘VALLÉE DE LA MARNE’.
But I must say there are are also nice sparkling wines in the Alsace region, in the Languedoc-Roussillon (Blanquette de Limoux and Crémant de Limoux) in Germany and in Italy.
But I have certainly more regions in France or wine countries on my wine list I like to taste and discover.

Note: Piper Heidseck (2011), and Rare Champagne (2018) are owned by the EPI group (Européenne de Participations Industrielles); a luxurious French investment group. They also own Charles Heidseck (2011).