My friend from college is doing a Masters in Wine program in Burgundy France, and was in town the past few weeks with her class, exploring Napa/Sonoma, Lodi, Central Coast, etc. First of all, how awesome does that program sound (except is all in French)? Secondly, her taste has definitely gotten notably more French--she brought the Champagne and caviar, in addition to a Cotes du Rhone, Zin blend from Ridge Winery in the Santa Cruz mountains, and Lillet--a much needed digestif. When she asked me what she could bring to our little Super Bowl gathering, i told her to bring beverages, assuming she'd go for the usual Corona or what have you. Well she really stepped it up a notch to say the least!
Champagne: fuji apple on the nose and palate. fresh, crisp, not overly nutty/yeasty. i actually prefer nutty/yeasty, but since we were having truffled caviar (as opposed to regular caviar) i thought the crisp and more subtle flavors were appropriate.
Cotes du Rhone: medium-light bodied, ripe cherry...and that's about it. Not a whole lot going on there. It was disappointing, so I guess it's no biggy that i can't remember the name/vintage/etc for you guys.
Ridge Winery Zin blend: I'm not sure what this one's actually called, but it was a blend of Zin (74%), Carignane (not sure what that is), and Petite Sirah. This wine was definitely the best (at least for my palate): full bodied, fruit forward, great tannic structure. It was the most interesting and satisfying. it was also the only new world wine. At this point, working for a company that imports wine from Argentina, I definitely prefer the new world, fruit/oak driven wines.
But I better force my palate to study the intricacies of the "more subtle" (aka: watery) flavors of French wine if I want to pass the sommelier exam!
Did she taste any Copa wines?
ReplyDeleteyes she did, and (of course) they were too big/bold/fruit-forward for her now french-wine-preferring palate.
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