Madeline Puckette and Ruinart winemaker, Frédéric Panaїotis.
I walked into Orson Restaurant at 10:30am at the pounding 'bmp bmp bmp' of house music. Standing around in the foyer area were all the representatives from Ruinart, Hennesey & Moet, and Guildsomm.com. I was giddy and very early so I opted to dive in and introduce myself whole-heartedly. When I meet people in the wine business, I try to just be myself, there is nothing worse than putting a false-foot forward.
The tasting consisted of 4 chardonnays from major chardonnay growing regions, I nailed one but had a tough time creating all-vegetarian for pairings. When you blind taste, it's not just about getting the wine right, it's all the details that are scored (see my CoM tasting notes for Brancaia below). The winner has not been determined yet, and the competition was fierce!
Afterward the challengers all relaxed a little with a glass of blanc de blanc as Frédéric Panaїotis discussed the current state of chardonnay in Champagne and also current winemaking practices. Ruinart (and a couple other champagne houses) save a portion of wine that has undergone 100% malolactic conversion to add to the new cuvée right after the initial fermentation. Since traditionally it takes about a month to grow a proper malolactic culture, this technique saves precious time and energy as the wine does not need to be warmed back up.
Panaїotis was clearly passionate about wine as he invited us to reconsider "bitterness" as a valuable flavor on the taste palette. He indicated that bitterness, which is often indicated as a negative, can add subtleties and create a much better balanced wine. I did not feel that his Blanc de blanc was at all bitter upon tasting it, but, I have noted bitter characteristics on many highly rated wines.
For alcohol conscious people he indicated that wine and alcohols made from starch (potato vodka) affects the liver where as grain-alcohol (whiskey) and sugar-cane alcohol (rum) affects the brain.
With all this information floating around in my brain, I opted to taste 2 more glasses of Ruinart blanc de blanc....go liver!
I'm so glad someone mentioned bitterness as a taste quality for wine, because it's been discovered and prized in beer for some time. As you most undoubtedly know, I'm a fan of India Pale Ale (IPA), which, when done right, is incredibly and richly bitter. IPA's are all the rage out here in Portland, OR (Beervana). Aren't you impressed by how I got the subject of beer on a wine blog? Mom
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