Striking a balance... (Session 8 - 24th January 2009)

Today we had the pleasure of hosting freelance journalist Fionnuala Synnott to sample Still waters with some rather eclectic wines (well, 3 of them):

Meursault “Clos du Cromin”, Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur 2006 Burgundy (Chardonnay grape)

Grappoli del Grillo, Marco de Bartoli 2005 Sicily, Italy (Grillo grape)

Terra do Gargalo 2002, Monterrei, Galicia, Spain (Treixadura, Godello, Dona Blanca grapes)

Corse Calvi “Clos Culombu”, Domaine Culombu 2007, Corsica (Vermentino grape)

Fionnuala (I have to concentrate when spelling her name!) was delighted to find that the Irish spring water was her mother's favourite from her home county. I am sure that this didn't influence her scoring!

She also made some very astute observations regarding the scores, commenting on how the score of 6-9, rather than saying 'harms elements of the wine' should be altered to reflect/accomodate when a wine is unbalanced as a result of the introduction of water to the palate. Roberto and I agreed and this has now been included in our ever evolving score sheet.

Nicolas was away, which meant that not all of the wine was finished. Since I normally take the empty bottles with me for potential future photo opportunities, someone had to finish off the wine...ah, well!

Happy New Year! (Session 7 - 17/1/09)

Today, Godfrey Spence was again the guest. It is a pleasure that with his experience, this new concept should be of such great interest.

With Sparkling waters we tried:

Rueda, Herederos del Marqués de Riscal 2007 Rueda, Spain (Verdejo grape)

Rias Baixas O Rosal, Valmiñor 2007 Galiçia, Spain (Albariño grape)

Nuragus di Cagliari “Pedraia”, Cantina Santadi 2007 Sardinia, Italy (Nuragus grape)

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Domaine de la Janasse 2007 Rhône Valley, France (50% Grenache, 25% Roussanne, 25% Clairette)

The Nuragus proved a wonderful wine, whose prominent characters made it difficult to find a water which 'enhanced' it. Having observed this though, there were waters that harmed the character too, which demonstrates the value of a 0-20 system of scoring as relevant when appreciating wines in a dining environment.

Still Waters - League Table

The tastings and scores to date have revealed that there are some waters, so far, that are far better suited to a larger number of white wines than others.

The key scores here are 16-20. These are waters that enhance the taste of the wine and as such are recommended for consumption alongside the particular wines.

If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see that, of 16 wines, the English Well water is currently leading the way with 11 recommendations, with Danish Artesian and Irish Spring waters with 8 recommendations each.

We shall hopefully begin to analyse trends with this information in the coming months, particularly with regards to the question of what determines matching suitability - the grape variety or the terroir.

A look at our scoring sheets

The scoring sheets are a fairly straightforward affair. I have enclosed an image here so that you can see what we complete during 'Minerals & Terroir' sessions.

We used to include a column on the sheet marking 'yes/no' scores, but as detailed in the previous posts, that has now been rendered unnecessary by our evolved scoring system, which is largely self explanatory.

This also means that the tastings should be more straightforward, with less time spent paused for jotting notes - unless additional or expectional observations are recorded.

suSpence and revelation! (session 6)

Our guest to the latest tasting session was freelance wine tutor and author, Godfrey Spence. 

With vast experience in the wine trade, Godfrey was curious to understand what I had been trying to tell him for weeks about 'Minerals & Terroir' in frustratingly limited 'wine speak'. Nevertheless, with the true spirit of a wine enthusiast, he agreed to come along and lend his observations.

The wines for today, white again, were to be tasted alonside still waters. Roberto's selection was:

• 2007 “Flor de Gewürztraminer”, Bodegas Laus, Somontano, Spain
• 2007 Scheurebe Trocken, Weingut Wittmann, Rheinhessen, Germany
• 2007 Torrontes, Finca el Retiro, Mendoza, Argentina
• 2007 “Tiara”, Niepoort, Douro, Portugal (Grapes: Rabigado, Codega, Donzelinho, Viosinho, Cercial)
  

Once again the English Well water showed well alongside the Danish Artesian. Curiously, the Scheurebe was a very difficult wine to enhance, with the inimitable English Well water best complementing the wine.

Interestingly, the Australian Rain water also transformed the taste of the Torrontes into cassis - like Ouzo or Pastis. We don't yet know why this is, but it is something to look into at a later date.

Of 16 wines, we can now see the most recommended waters are the English Well, Danish Artesian and Irish Spring. We can also see the the English Spring matches wines with the fruitier wines - the Muscat, Gruner & Gewurztraminer. Once we analyse these results for trends, we should hopefully understand the nature of these successful (or unsuccessful) pairings. 

It will be fascinating to discover whether the waters match universally well to grape varieties and their characteristics e.g. high acidity, or whether it is the unique terroir of the wines per se which is the determining factor.

Importantly for credibility, Godfrey found the exercise fascinating and having conceded that he was previously unaware of how water may have affected the taste of the wine, is now fully supportive of what we are setting out to acheive - a greater understanding of water/wine combinations to benefit and enhance a gastronomic environment. I'll invite him to post his comments on here, which should be very interesting to read, from a third party perspective.