Defining a style, a question of patience, commitment and passion

The winery i work for has produced its first vintage in 2003, and i arrived in NZ with the 2004 vintage being bottled. Although my role is in sales and marketing, I worked with the winemaker in 2005 and was bottling the wine, which got me to understand about the bottling process, without touching the wine in the cellar though. In 2006 we changed winemaker, and from there i stopped bottlings, and have been part of the blend tastings, and diverse experimentation tastings with the winemaker, his assistant and the viticulturist. I have been lucky enough to have tasted quite a bit before i started working with this winery, and that the winemaking team welcomed me in their tastings and blending decisions. I am sure it is something not so obvious in lots of wineries, but here my opinion was taken into account for both what it was in terms of pure tasting and what it needed to be from a commercial point of view as well.

Therefore, it's been now 5 vintages that we work on understanding the characteristics given to both our sauvignon blanc and our pinot noir by first the different soil types of the estate, and then different other components such as different coopers (which we now have defined which ones suit better our wines and styles), different finings, different closures (cork, screwcap, which degree of sealing etc.) etc.
The second important point for us was to determine 3 styles, corresponding to our 3 labels, which also correspond to 3 price points, and in the end 3 different terroirs (or almost). Starting from scratch, to succeed in determining these 3 labels is a fantastic story we write vintage after vintage, for we have to understand what we get from nature first, and then try to integrate the different components listed above (and more indeed), and finally define 3 different profiles. We wanted 3 wines showing one identity but with 3 syles that we defined through natural differences. To be more precise, the clays would give a sort of richer wine, while the gravels would be generally finer. That was the base of our styles.

It is now very exciting to see that after trying different blends from different soil types, or at different proportions, we finally defined our 3 styles. Today we were tasting the final blends of pinot noir 2009, the objective of the tasting was to see the wines before and after fining.
But finally it is rewarding to realise that we have defined these 3 styles, and that they show the identity, the philosophy of that one winery and its terroir. It is obvious on the nose and in the mouth that each wine corresponds to its label, and that it is in the continuity of last vintage. Blind, you can classify them per label. The identity is generally elegance, subtle fruit rather explosive fruit bombs, rounded mouth, femininity rather than big extracted wines - and it is true for our both varieties. But we managed to decline this identity in 3 styles, 3 labels, 3 different price points - and this with the same work in the vineyard (same yielding, same ripeness). It is a question of precision on the tastings, and blending propositions back and forth, and it is above all a question of time... patience has a good reward though. I have of course to add that this was possible because the vineyard is worked to show natural characteristics (or terroir), and that the style of wine we wanted to produce was first defined in the vineyard.

This winery brings its new lots of joy to me, everyday, not one excepted - since 6 years. It is for me such a beautiful story to be part of, this story is being written right now and i love being part of drawing these lines one by one.

Raw Nature savours

I have experienced a savour i never particularly paid attention to today - rosemary sap. I add some simple pasta with herbs, and just went in the garden to pick up some fresh rosemary and cut it as is on the pasta, without any cooking of the herbs.
The flavour of the rosemary is well-known to everyone, but thist ime as the herb was really fresh and raw-uncooked, the flavour of the sap was present. It is a lovely feeling to taste nature, to taste these raw flavours that are not specifically savours of traditional cooking but precisely of raw nature.
One of these i would love to experience is earthiness. Not as you find it in a wine, which shows earthy savoury characters, not raw forest floor, this lovely aromas you smell when you walk in a forest after the rain. Not mushroom, no, that complexe forest floor after the rain full aroma.
I hear your sarcastic thoughts: the best way is maybe to put my nose in the forest floor and eat whatever dirt comes to hand. Wouldn't that be too simple and actually not enjoyable? Not what i'm after.
But i'm sure they would be a way to produce these kind of 'raw nature' savours in an real food experience (or experimentation). Let me know if you come close to something like that...

Wine ... Food, a love I nurture

Haven't been writing for a while on this blog... Thinking about it, i believe that i haven't had much fantastic wine experience this year in fact. Sad, indeed! Again, if i look deep in my memory, only food memories come up...

I actually had my best food experience so far in a restaurant in San Francisco US. it was fantastic from the beginning to the end, i promised myself i would write an email to the chef, but didn't... Anyway, fresh seafood, like you dream of! first experience of sea urchin, simply cooked, with few alguas, a drop of mayonnaise (sounds very basic, but no it was not!) - yes, mayonnaise sounds weird, but it was quite amazing. First, the urchin was extra fresh, the iodine of the urchin was very present, the mayonnaise was just bringing that touch of sweetness and great balance to the whole. then i had a bouillabaisse, when i saw it coming, came also disappointment because it was not at all the traditional french dish i was expecting. But finally, absolutely no regret - i must also say that the waiter told me in advance it wouldn't be the french thing - again the fish and seafood were so perfectly cooked and the flavours simple ans sophisticated at the same time. The clams were not quite crunchy, not quite too cooked, they were tender and had kept all their flavours, and so were the schrimps, and the fish. the whole secret of that whole meal was in the freshness of the seafood, and the respect of the original flavours of each of the seafood/fish and this by cooking every piece in perfect timing. It was also fantastic because all the dishes were outstanding, not only one thing, but the whole food experience! Gosh, i wish this restaurant was down my road! www.swellsf.com

What else, great herring in Belgium... it doesn't sound very appealing, but the flavours were this time around very strong and delicate at the same time. fresh herring with white wine, fresh onions and herbs, lemon. The herring was actually raw or more precisely soaked in a brine, nice balance between the strength of the flavours, the acidity of the wine and lemon - the onions were nicely bringing zing and opposite crunchy texture to the quite fat herring. Quite a delicate fish in fact - but still, it was lucky i didn't have anyone to kiss afterwards!

Aah, and there was also the bugtail in Brisbane Australia, to die for. Bugtail is apparently the speciality of Queensland, it is a kind of freshwater lobster or crayfish. So the bugtail was cooked in a pan with garlic, and it came on a freshly made ravioli of spinach and ricotta, on a creamy broth with peas. Amazing combination of delicate flavours, none overwhelming the other, and the combination of textures...! The soft of the ravioli pasta, the tender although firm of the bugtail really did work well together. The filling of the ravioli was quite small actually, and that was good because it delievered the texture of the pasta perfectly and just added few more flavours to enjoy, but the soft thin pasta was the centre point gathering all the other elements.

I have a good memory of Wine & Food match... In Sancerre France, i tried for the first time a Reuilly AOC, which is made out of sauvignon blanc. i thought, all right, nice savvy, i had a good goat cheese salad, and was forced to have dessert (work lunch, i had to be polite and nicely accompany my guests). I first ordered an apple tart, but there was none left, so my choice went to creme brulee, but there was only liquorice creme brulee. So there it was, i had a liquorice creme brulee with a glass of Reuilly sauvignon blanc. Amazing! Once again, on its own, both the creme and the wine were good, but you wouldn't lose your sleep on it. But together, a complete harmony! The minerality of the sauvignon and the citrus flavours were totally completing the liquorice flavours, and the difference between the onctuous creme brulee and the zingy sauvignon was just not clashing at all! The liquorice was actually lifting the creme brulee to the freshness of the wine. I should try this with NZ sauvignon and see if it works... good thing with the Reuilly was that it doesn't have too much fruit, but more minerality and floral aromas, so it's more on the gentle side of sauvignon, compared to a Sancerre on flint that would be more strict, or an NZ that would be more explosive. Anyway, it's worth trying!

There are other moments i enjoyed wine or food this year, but specifically for the moments or company, not particularly the wine in itself or the food for itself. More about why i didn't write at all about wine this year later on...

W&F match - Spices experimentations, new track

I try here and there different W&F matches. One of the last ones that got my attention:
A dish with cumin (lamb) with a glass of 2006 sauvignon blanc from Marlborough. Obviously one of the sauvignon from that region that can gracefully age, nice minerality, but good round and weighty mid palate, with a slight sweetness most certainly enhanced by the roundness. Going quite well with the cumin, more than the lamb in itself actually. The sweetness was almost not perceptible when drunk on its own, but once matched, that's where it was revealed. Interesting. In terms of minerality, it was matchiong quite well, as it was not the fresh flinty minerality but more the warmer type (like chalk), therefore accompanying the cumin flavour rather than making a sharp distinction.

Maybe that is one of the new tracks i have to follow - matching spices with wines. Maybe they would somehow play the role of aromas in a wine, when the tannic structure, the acidity and the alcohol would have to be paired with textures, acidity of your dish.
Just random thinking, but i'll pay a specific attention to 'studying' that.

If you have some special experimentation on the way, or interesting W&F match experience, post them so we can share! We never learn better than when we can compare and talk.