WINE: Expand your knowledge and increase your appreciation by following Mary Dowey's four-week wine course - beginning with a comparison of the Viognier and Marsanne grape varieties.
Last autumn our four-week wine course for beginners triggered a long stream of enthusiastic e-mails. Many readers knuckled down to work, often sharing the effort of buying textbook bottles with a group of friends, who took turns to provide supper afterwards. For all of you eager 2003 students, and anybody else who knows a bit about wine and wants to progress, here is a brand new course at a slightly higher level. Don't worry - it's not nerdy. As usual, the main emphasis is on enjoying wine and having fun.
Each week we'll compare two of the less familiar grape varieties - starting today with Viognier and Marsanne. Instead of considering each one in isolation (as was the case with the grape pairs on the beginners' course), sample them side-by-side so that you can spot their similarities and differences. I am recommending two wines to exemplify each grape, but don't plunge into despair if you can't track down all four bottles. Settle for one or two, and maybe ask your local wine merchant to suggest substitutes for the others.
This time, to make your discoveries more relevant (and help with all those post-tasting suppers), I am suggesting a few foods to go with each grape variety. Every week there will also be a nugget of insider information to bring you up-to-date with key trends in wine today. You'll notice that, as you are advancing in knowledge and discriminatory technique, the prices of some of the wines featured are a little higher than before. This will provide plenty of scope for debate on the most heated wine topic of them all: is it worth that price? It's amazing how bottles can magically empty while arguments rage. Enjoy, enjoy!
ESSENTIAL KIT
Let's recap on what you need to get started:
A set of six ISO wine tasting glasses (about €30 from leading wine or kitchenware shops). Tulip-shaped, these trap wine's all-important aromas, so you learn more easily.
At least one and if possible two different bottles of wine made from each of the grapes discussed in pairs each week.
A white tablecloth or white paper as a placemat - so that you can see the colour of the wine clearly.
A small notebook. Give a page to each wine you try, jotting down its name, the region, the producer's name and the vintage. Next come your impressions of the colour, aroma, palate (or taste) and your conclusions.
BRUSH-UP ON TASTING BASICS
NOSING AHEAD You learn an enormous amount about a wine by sniffing it and analysing its aromas before a single drop passes your lips. So get into the habit of swirling a small amount of wine in a tasting glass and writing down all the smells it reminds you of, no matter how bizarre. (Elastoplast? Tar? Pencil shavings? Elements such as these are not unusual, as well as the more common fruit and spice aromas.) Try to remember the key smells of wines made from a particular grape, and you will build up what is known as a "palate memory" - the ability to link wines together in your mind.
NOW TASTE Take a generous mouthful and swirl it all around the inside of your mouth, sucking in a bit of air at the same time (to maximise the flavours). Then either swallow it or spit it out (spitting is not impolite in wine circles - quite the opposite), thinking about the flavours precisely. Are they in harmony with the aromas, or a complete shock? Simple or quite complex? Nasty or delicious?
THE LONGER THE BETTER The length of time the flavours of a wine linger on the palate is an important yardstick of quality. (Approving tasters talk about "good length" or a "long finish".) Always assess this when you are tasting.
MOVING UP A GEAR
GRAPE 1: VIOGNIER
CLAIM TO FAME The tiny Northern Rhône appellations of Condrieu and Château-Grillet produce heady, sensual white wines with this grape (at suitably highprices).
PLUS Currently trendy (see Insider Info) and distinctively different.
MINUS Can be flabby, even a bit syrupy, and doesn't usually keep well, so drink young.
CHEAT LIST OF SMELLS, FLAVOURS, TEXTURE Apricots, peaches, lemon, weighty in glass, mouthfilling.
WHAT FOOD DOES IT SUIT? Rich seafood with sweet flesh (lobster, crab); foie gras; Chinese dishes with chicken, fish or pork.
TWO TO TRY
Etoile Filante Viognier, Vin de Pays d'Oc, Domaines Virginie 2003. See Bottles of the Week. Heggies Vineyard Viognier, Eden Valley 2003. From Cabot & Co, IFSC; Corkscrew, Chatham St; Vintry, Rathgar; Martha's Vineyard, Rathfarnham; Bourkes, Cabinteely; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; Grape Escape, Lucan; Chester Beatty, Ashford; Thomas Woodberries, Galway and others, about €16.99.
It's interesting to compare these two well-crafted Viogniers. The southern French example has delicate nuances of peaches, pears and lemon and is sprightly on the palate, combining a smooth texture with tangy acidity. (My guess is that it was acidified.) The Australian, made from the grapes of a single vineyard which is now owned by Yalumba, the first major company down under to embrace Viognier in a serious way, is a much richer wine, with enticing floral and peachy notes and spicier flavours, pointing to a spell in oak. Both have very good length.
GRAPE 2: MARSANNE
CLAIM TO FAME The Rhône revival is pushing it into the limelight (see Insider Info).
PLUS Unusual, and it can age magnificently.
MINUS Can lack acidity and be flabby.
CHEAT LIST OF SMELLS, FLAVOURS, TEXTURE Honeysuckle, pineapple, lemon, almonds, rich, full-bodied.
WHAT FOOD DOES IT SUIT? Chicken or pork stir-fry; butternut squash risotto; creamy curries.
TWO TO TRY
Virginie Marsanne, Vin de Pays d'Oc 2002. From Oddbins, €8.69. Château Tahbilk Marsanne, Goulburn Valley 2001. See Bottles of the Week. Here is another intriguing Old World/New World duo. The Languedoc Marsanne is a lovely, uncomplicated wine to enjoy right away, with its fragrant honeysuckle aromas and juicy lemon freshness. The Australian - made, incidentally, from the fruit of by far the oldest Marsanne vineyards in the world - tastes of riper, more tropical fruit and feels weightier in the mouth, without being blousy. I bet it will age better, too. Tahbilk is famous for its longevity.
THIS WEEK'S INSIDER INFO
Since the 1990s, the entire wine-producing world has been deeply in love with the Rhône. California's Rhône Rangers were in on the act early - delighted to experiment with grapes which offered alternatives to ubiquitous Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Since then, plantings of red Rhône grapes such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Carignan have expanded all over the globe - to a much more marked degree than their white equivalents, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne (although these are also on a bit of a roll).
Australia has always had Shiraz, of course - but only recently has Shiraz/Syrah begun to generate serious excitement in countries such as South Africa, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand.
These are all warm climate grapes, yielding wines with ripe flavours and luscious textures. There's nothing lean or mean about them. That helps to explain their popularity.