Gerard in his cellar in Aix
This issue breaks new ground in that Gerard Gleize, of Aix-en-Provence, France will be making his first contribution. I first met Gerard on a golf course in Portugal in 1991. Although my golf game hasn’t improved in the past 18 years Gerard has managed to teach me a little about French wine during our many shared holidays in Europe and North America. Next week Gerard will be arriving for a holiday in Nova Scotia and during this visit I hope that I can teach him a little about the wines of Chile and Argentina.
Good News for Nova Scotians: In this week’s “Wood on Wine” columnist Sean Wood announced that Fuzion wines from Mendoza are soon to be carried by the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission. Those of you who live in Ontario already know of the phenomenal value of these wines. The Fuzion Red Blend is the single best selling wine in both Ontario and Quebec. I am told that workers in LCBO stores don’t even bother to shelve these wines; they just stack the cases next to the cash registers.
Wood and Tidings: I not only enjoy reading Sean Wood’s columns in the Chronicle Herald I also enjoy reading his articles in the wine magazine “Tidings”. In the last issue Sean wrote a very positive article about a Nova Scotian chef who runs a well-known restaurant in Wolfville. Let me start by saying that I ate there a couple of years ago and had a very good experience. Not so, however, when I took my sister for a birthday celebration last month. The four of us experienced bad food, terrible service and a wine list that must have been prepared by a “bait and switch” used car salesman.
To be fair the wine list had two sections, one of which indicated that the listed wines might be in short supply. I asked for one and was told they were out. I asked for a second and was told they were out. I asked for a third and was told they were out. I asked if they had any wines from that section and got a snarly response that I couldn’t decipher. I gave up and ordered a wine from the regular list. The waitress brought a bottle, but it was a different year than indicated on the list. I refused the wine and the waitress stormed away. Only after a lengthy interval and a lot of hand waving did she return. I ordered another wine from the regular list. When it came it also was a different year than listed. I gave up and drank the very mediocre wine.
Then, there was the food. My sister has dietary concerns and asked if one of the dishes could be prepared without the cheese-cooked spinach. “No, we only do it one way”, she was told, in an unpleasant tone. Betty and I both ordered the steak/frites medium rare. The steaks came medium, which would not have been such a problem, except they were served with fries so over-cooked that all the ends were black. Following very mediocre appetizers and even less than mediocre entrees we decided to forego dessert and look for an ice cream stand.
However, in case you are ever eating in Wolfville, you can get a very good meal at the other restaurant. It’s called Acton’s.
French versus Argentinian Malbec: Some of you may remember my attempt to do a blind-test comparison of a couple of Argentinian Malbecs against a couple of French wines from Cahors (the only wine from France which is predominantly Malbec). My methodology was less than perfect and left me with two possible interpretations, one that Argentinian wines were considered better (9 drinkers out of 10), or that my guests preferred to drink from Riedel cabernet glasses (8 out of 10). See the April “Whine” on how screw up your experimental methodolgy.
This, of course, all started when the NSLC indicated that they did not stock any Cahors because, they said, “ Nova Scotians prefer Malbecs from Argentina.”
Wines used in tasting
I challenged my readers to try the comparison and to report back. Four “Whine” readers from Toronto took me up on this and compared wines (see pictures of the labels) from Cahors and Mendoza. Here is what was reported:
The four of us sat down to eat, each with a glass on the left and a glass on the
right. We knew the wines that were being compared, but didn’t know in which
glass they were. We tried to not disclose our thinking until the end. Initial
observations were that they were almost indistinguishable, but as soon as we
started eating they became quite different. Everyone agreed that one had shrunk
to thinness and the other was seeming much heavier and flavorful. After the
meal, the wines became much closer again. 4 out of 4 were certain (and correct)
that the heavier wine was the malbec. 3 out of 4 (I dissented) thought it was
overall the better wine. No one seems to respect the subtlety of French
wines, although I admit that during the eating, the malbec held up better.
The most interesting thing was how much introducing food (I suppose, numbing
the sense of taste) changed the perception of the wines.
By the way, the menu was a mixed grill of chicken, rib eye, and veal sausage.
Gerard on Rose: This month Gerard Gleize tells us about a battle between French wine producers and technocrats from the European Commission. Reminds me of the fight a few years ago when the European Commission tried to force the French to pasteurize their cheese. Vive La France!!!
Here is Gerard’s tale: A Danish technocrat from the European Commission (the executive level of Europe’s 27 countries) in charge of agricultural questions decided to harmonize European legislation concerning rose wines.
First, let me say that there are two ways of making rose; one difficult and complex and one easy and cheap. The first method is described below. The second method simply mixes red wines with white wines. Actually, this is analogous to the two ways to make sparkling wine; the Methode Champagne (second fermenting in the bottle), or the short- cut method whereby carbon dioxide is simply pumped into bottles of white wine (Heikel Trocken anyone?)
Rose wines are fast developing popularity because they can be easily approached by new wine drinkers and also because they are easy, cool drinks on hot summer days. France is the # 1 producer of Rose in Europe (and most of those Roses come from Provence, which is my home.) It is forbidden to make Rose by blending red and white wines. Italy also makes Rose the hard way. Blending of red and white wines is considered a sacrilege.
On the other hand, the technocrat argued that importers of Rose (for example in China, India or Brazil) couldn’t tell good Rose from bad Rose (such as that produced in Australia and South Africa). In all probability she never saw a vineyard in her life and no doubt only drinks non-alcoholic beer. She did know a bit about marketing and argued that “if Europe wants to export to China, wine producers must be authorized to use the same methods as their competitors.”
But in France and Italy wine is not a product such as a camera or digital recorder. Wine, after all, has 2000 years of history and religious significance.
Real Rose is made only from red grapes. To get the Rose, the grower uses a special technique whereby the fermentation begins under very strict temperature conditions, similar to the temperature for fermenting white wine. The vintner watches very carefully and when the perfect color is achieved the liquid is bled away from the skins so that the color does not darken further. Fermentation continues and voila we have Rose.
At the beginning of the battle the French asked for specific labels for Rose in order to inform customers on the reality of what they were going to drink. Later the vintners lobbied to suppress the entire project. Aided by the Italian wine makers, the French vintners were successful in the lobbying efforts and the entire blending proposal was defeated. Now you can be assured the French and Italian Roses are real.
