A snake once came to my wine tasting but not last Saturday which was Glug’s end of year tasting day. The rules are simple at our tasting events as there are none. All our wines are lined up, customers open what they wish and make of them what they will. They liked these two; The Universe (this has happened before) and Goat Square Reserve Ziegenmarkt Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021.
Tastings, well I’ve attended a few and learnt enough to thank the grape and those ancient horticulturalists and winemakers that made wine happen. We taste all the time with our foods and drinks but oh how opinionated and fussy we have become in this time of plenty. Multiply this many times and you are in today’s wine world. A place where a simple pleasure has become distorted and where a small group believe careful study will reveal life’s meaning.
And what are we to make of those long, laborious tasting notes listing all the foods we eat. Why not this; another feeble, dilute, cool climate effort as nutritious as distilled water.
Tasting lesson number one is stay the course, weigh up the taste with the price and look for wines with flavour as in the new Fareham Estates Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2022.
The wine world is consumed with tastings and giving opinions. A small group believe their opinions are more important than those of others and a few believe you should pay for their opinions. That is silly as the pleasure is developing your own skills. You progress by attending tastings and thinking about each wine. For each wine file a note in your head.
A quick guide for your first formal tasting.
A. Before you taste neutralise the background noise:
- ignore the subjective influences being the label, price, variety, district of origin, and the thoughts of opinion makers-so be calm and neutral.
- humans are different, tastes vary as do skills and acquired knowledge. Know your limitations as no one is a hero in this game.
- begin with a deep breath and remind yourself, I approach this tasting with humility and caution, and I will be fair with comments.
B. At the tasting I use this process.
- I find the sense of smell, the aroma or bouquet for older wines, is more sensitive than the palate; so swirl and inhale a few times.
- for reds the spot test gives useful clues, such as concentration, age and rate of age, so place a drip on paper next to the glass.
- sip a good amount and coat your mouth and if promising push this over your gums around the lips and hold. Let the sensation build. To feel and rate the concentration drink a little.
- a masked wine with zero clues is a daunting experience so avoid snap judgements.
C. Show judges know the vintage and variety with value not considered. Your task is much harder as the best tastings are masked tastings, no clues, no prices – you are on your own.
And now for the snake
Now an example of a tasting, from the early 1980s, ending in a staff member threatened to kill me. I was in China on tea business and visited a large, old-fashioned department store in Shanghai. The liquor department included traditional Chinese medicines, and was astonished with the reptiles in bottles embalmed in Chinese wine. I purchased a snake in a striking pose, fangs bared.
Now all tastings benefit by the wines being served masked (poured from bottles in bags or wrapped in foil), no clues, no prices, with each person to comment. This is humbling and brings out the best and the worst. So, staff gathered at my home for the regular tasting and I commented that they were to keep an open mind as some difficult wines may or may not have been included.
The event was professional with good discussions though the medicinal wine did not rank well so I made soothing noises about its degree of difficulty. The wines were eagerly unmasked then the staff exploded in uproar as the medicinal bottle, being half empty had magnified the snake as if it was rising from the bottle. The mild manner Tom Kelly then stood and yelled, ‘I’ll kill you Farmer!’
The Xmas tasting made me reflect on how much the Barossa has changed as being partial to Barossa Rosé I had six to choose from, unheard of just 10 years ago. You will enjoy Goat Square Barossa Valley Grenache Mataro Rosé 2024 and Kitts Creek Barossa Valley Grenache Mataro Rosé 2023.
