Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited to a launch of the new Baccarat Collection of glassware which claims "……to reveal the complexity, richness and subtlety of wine better than any other glass yet created."
That is some claim and from producers of some of the finest glass one can buy, a claim which had to be taken very seriously. Unfortunately last night I was double booked, so not bearing to miss this glass launch I telephoned the PR company who were organising it, and asked if I might be a bit late. There would be no problem as it was a totally informal tasting and I could arrive late.
The launch was in the Connaught Bar which I think used to be the cosy American Bar at the superb Connaught Hotel, and to match very fine glass, very good wines and delicious canapés were served.
Things must have been going an hour and a half when I arrived, and it was clearly in party mode, with everyone very mellow, lots of wine being poured and wonderful canapés being served in abundance.
I fought my way to the table where the glasses were being filled by a young sommelier. This was my first glimpse of the new glasses, beautifully thin, crystal clear of wonderful purity, and quite angular and modern, but very elegant.
There are four glasses in the collection, champagne, white wine, red wine and a spirit tumbler. Good wines were being served to show off how the glass works.
Now before I comment on these glasses, I must confess to being a lover of fine glass, and I have probably far too much, from finely engraved eighteenth and nineteenth century glass, as well as good modern glass. When I was first married I bought a whole suite of Baccarat Perfection, a big goblet and a smaller glass, very plain and simple, but wonderfully thin and such beautiful clarity . That I still have all of them (except one of the smaller glasses which was dropped,) is testament to their strength, and we have used them a huge amount. The Perfection goblet is so strong and so thin that you can squeeze it gently and watch it bend--- don't try this with any front row forward or boxer friends , they might just squeeze too much!
I love the Perfection range for the way the wine enters the mouth from the wafer thin lip of the glass, and it's wide mouth sends the wine to the front and the side of the mouth, giving a very precise but balanced sensation of the sweet fruit, tannin and acidity.
I tend to use them for Bordeaux with firm tannin, as it doesn't accentuate the tannin above the other important tastes. This glass is not so good for Burgundy, somehow it neglects the fruit in favour of other taste elements.
There is however one problem with the Perfection range, and that is being straight sided one really has to work hard to get at the nose, a more tulip shape would help, but as you might expect Baccarat do have such a glass.
Tasting wine out of a good glass is for me, as a musician, much like listening to music on a good high fi. The old paris goblet (which should have been banned for any wine drinking) or cheap manufactured glass is like an old radiogram, where you have to struggle to hear anything and never get much detail. Whilst a fine hand blown thin lipped glass is like a good hi-fi, where different shapes can accentuate different things, turning up the treble is like accenting acidity, whilst turning down the base might be like depressing the alcohol. It is
most certainly the case that drinking out of very fine thin glass allows the fine detail of a wine to be captured, listening to say a Beethoven symphony, one wants to hear every instrumental part forming the whole masterpiece.
Hand made crystal glass, although very expensive compared to the now very good machine made glass one finds from eastern europe, is far better, thinner, stronger and brighter. There is in my view little comparison when you have experienced the real thing, and remember I started with Baccarat Perfection.
So to the Chateau Baccarat range, first the Champagne flute. I did not see which Champagne was being poured but from the nose it was clearly a top house and possibly a deluxe cuvee. From the nose it seemed a young wine.
The effect of the glass was to provide an extremely precise nose and aroma, so precise in fact that any flaw (if there had been) would be exposed, and it seemed to bring out above all and amongst other aspects of complexity, the youthful citric character.
I would guess that this would be a wonderful glass for an older Champagne, as the glass kept the bubbles tightly concentrated, and mature aromas from an old wine would be sublime together with keeping the brightness of the citric character.
Then I tasted. Now this was academically interesting, as whilst I felt the nose was giving quite a clinical impression of the acidity and complexity of the wine, the palate was even more so, very concentrated bubbles, all the minerality and acidity, and pretty unforgiving even for what was clearly a very fine Champagne. So I asked the sommelier for an ordinary wine glass, and drinking from that the bubbles were more dissipated and gentler, the fruit and brioche character (yeast autolysis) became more apparent, giving more balance. Somehow the Chateau Baccarat glass was for me like being in a tasting room wishing to analyse the wine, whereas out of an ordinary wine glass there was more hedonistic pleasure! My conclusion, great for mature champagne , but add another glass to the range equally fine but nearer an ordinary wine glass in shape.
Next the white wine glass. Now here I was on cloud nine, this glass was superb for the Chablis served, without even thinking about what the wine was, this glass produced the essence of a pure crisp flinty mineral young Chablis, and yet its delivery into the mouth also produced the fruit as well as the lovely acidity. A great glass for white Burgundy and dry full white wines, I am not sure about aromatic wines, but then I can only guess it would also work very well. This glass has ten out of ten.
The argument about the shape of these glasses is explained in the attached video and diagram. The wide bottom allows the aromas to escape and develop, the sloping sides dampen the effects of alcohol volatility, generally a good thing as modern wine making tends to favour higher levels of alcohol than thirty years ago, then the small elongated mouth of the glass concentrates the aromas and produces great precision. I can see that this is all true, and for some wines this might be absolutely the right thing.
Then I came to taste the red wine served, and I had a big problem.
The red glass is bigger, quite rightly to allow the aromas more space; and on the nose the precision was great, bang, young Bordeaux, good but not top class. Lots on the nose to give a sense of place, but again little hedonism, little warmth or fruit. Now why was this, was it the vintage, possibly, or did the wine need to breath more? Or did this wine need the "benefit" of showing a bit more Bass line (alcohol)? Did it need a little more body and less rib cage and structure, more resonance?
Then I tasted, and my worst fears were brought home, this glass was portraying a good quite ordinary Claret as exactly what it was, and moreover it was somehow highlighting the tannin when tasted by sending the wine straight to the back of the tongue. I only wish I had my Perfection there to make a comparison. Now you would think that a wine class that showed a wine "exactly as it is" would be something that a Master of Wine would rave about, and yes it is true I would far rather taste out of this glass than the ISO standard tasting glass if I was doing an academic tasting. The ISO tasting glass by the way has a similar small mouth, but is clearly not fine glass. But then wine is not all about academic tasting is it? Surely wine is about pleasure, getting the best from the enjoyment of the food and the wine which has been crafted for our enjoyment? Sometimes, and certainly on an evening at The Connaught with good company great food and lovely wines, I slide painlessly into hedonistic mood, and I noticed the other guests had too!
To use my music analogy again. I remember the first time I went to The Royal Festival Hall in 1967, how precise and sterile the acoustic was, it was hard work for both players and audience. Now work has been done to give more warmth of sound and it is universally thought to be a massive improvement.
That being said, I would guess that an old Bordeaux which will have far less tannin would be very good, and a good Burgundy young or old would be great from this glass.
In white wines there are three main components, fruit, acidity and alcohol, with in sweeter wines a fourth being residual sugar. It is clear to me that these glasses master the delivery of these aspects. In sparkling wine it is the same but the flute shape accentuates acidity above other components and for young champagne the bubbles are captured so well they tend to dominate in the mouth, making flavour capture harder. In red wines the four main components are fruit, acidity, alcohol and tannin. It is the way the glass handles tannin that gives me the difficulty, the small mouth of the glass projects the wine to the part of the mouth which tastes tannin first, so such a wine seems to be over tannic.
So my conclusion was firstly bravo to Baccarat for taking the subject very seriously. Secondly, I would add two further glasses to the range, one for young champagne and one for young tannic red wines.
Lastly, it is a joy to look at and drink out of such masterful glass making, the purity and thin strong fine rims do give wonderful definition to a wine, but unless you are going to drink the very greatest mature vintages, these glasses are for me…. dare I say it… highly academic and a touch clinical! But then these are very expensive (£64 a glass, £360 for six) as they should be, so why not drink your £2000 a bottle wines like Cheval Blanc '47 or Haut Brion 59 from them?! I wish.
Oh I forgot, the spirit tumbler for scotch or cognac, (I had a lovely Armagnac), works brilliantly, it doesn't have the elongated mouth, so the aromas can wallow, and the spirit is delivered into multiple parts of the mouth giving a lovely complex mixture of sensations, and at £41 a glass a snip?
Christopher Burr MW. February 29th 2012.
PS I have just been sent a list of the wines and food, which I include just to make readers jealous;-
I have to admit that sometimes I get things wrong.
I don't know if it is because Warden Abbey Vineyard is on my doorstep in Bedfordshire, so perhaps I took it for granted. Or possibly because as it was planted with germanic cross bred varietals back in 1986 (or perhaps I should say re-planted as it had been a vineyard planted by Cistercians up until the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536), and I am a great lover of the riesling; I turn my nose up a bit at most of these clever hybrids and crossings. Or maybe because I was brought up when the dreadful Liebfraumilch was being shipped in vast quantities from Germany, made so often of these cross bred varietals, then left with a huge dollop of residual sugar to mask a multitude of at best dull flat boring tastes.
Perhaps I am just an appalling wine snob, or perhaps on my first tasting of these wines some time ago they were not as good as they are now.
Anyway, last week I met Sir Sam Whitbread, the owner of the estate on which Warden Abbey sits and whose wife Jane was instrumental in the project, and he encouraged me to come along to their Christmas fair and taste the recent vintages.
I was also keen to talk to Derek Smedley who as a fellow Master of Wine has advised the Whitbreads on the vineyard since it's inception twenty five years ago, and Sam said he would be there.
I have to say from being the worst sceptic about English wine, I have now become a great fan. Sparkling wine was really what changed my view, particularly when I saw how good the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir based wines have turned out. The quality and I dare say price and therefore profitability of these sparklers has undoubtedly had an improving influence on the still wines. It is the case that with our duty and VAT, English still wines which need to be £7 plus a bottle to cover overheads, were not very profitable and they were difficult to sell against a multitude of good quality and often cheaper imports. If sparkling wine subsidises making better still wines, then so be it , good.
I have no reservations in saying I was impressed by the Warden Abbey wines; I tasted the whole range from the 2006 to the 2008 vintages. They were clean and well made, with pure natural fruit flavours, reasonable body, and good fresh acidity. They all had the green apple and grapefruit aromas one associates with English wines. For me the malic apple says cool climate England, and grapefruit says sylvaner (Warden Abbey has the Muller Thurgau a cross between riesling and sylvaner). I particularly liked the Abbott 2008 for its very bright acidity on the finish and clean purity, and I bought some. The sparkling wine from 2007 was also very good, with some minerality and good body, and I could see it would make a good party wine, and with it's Eton pale blue label I can see it catching on in all the right houses!
There is also a blend of all the grape varietals on the estate called Celebration, made just in 2006 to commemorate 20 years. It immediately grabbed me how fresh this was for a five year old wine, showing how well these wines can last, I would judge with a tad more residual sugar than the other wines and being a bit richer in flavours, I can see this being a wine with more general appeal than my rather purist approach, favouring purity and high acidity.
I know it has been hard work to get to this point for Warden Abbey, and it has probably cost a few bob also, but it is clearly worth it. The Whitbreads should be congratulated on their persistence. Bedfordshire folk should be proud of their local vineyard.
Quietly I would love to see a trial of a few pinot blanc, chardonnay and even pinot noir plants, just to see what turned out. I suppose it might be folly and a bit of an indulgence and my old MW friend Derek Smedley would say I was completely wrong to even think about it. I don't mind being proven wrong again and then nothing ventured…….!
Christopher Burr MW December 2011
PS to read move about this vineyard and the delights of rural Bedfordshire see http://www.wardenwines.co.uk
Now the fifth largest wine producer in the world, it wasn’t until the 1990’s we started to see Argentine wine exported for the rest of the world to enjoy. Nowadays a mouth watering Malbec or a fresh glass of Torrontes are a wine tasters staple, but nothing can compare to acquainting your taste buds to the local flavours quite like visiting the vineyards themselves. Here are three of our favourite places to stay on a wine fuelled trip to experience a truly unique Argentine wine experience.
Cavas Wine lodge
Sitting just 30 minutes outside of Mendoza – Argentina’s most famous of wine regions – Cavas Wine Lodge is nestled beautifully between 900 of Argentina’s finest Bodega’s (Vineyards). Worth the
trip for the stunning setting alone, this chic boutique hotel has a truly fantastic wine cellar showcasing 250 carefully selected wines from the local region. And for those wanting to find a new way with wine, Cavas Wine Lodge even offers a range of amazing wine based spa treatments – Crushed Malbec Scrub anyone?
Vinas de Cafayate
Cafayate is a lesser known yet stunningly beautiful wine region in Argentina’s North West region in the province of Salta. This up and coming region is becoming famous for its delightfully crisp Torrontés with help from the low humidity and mild weather of the valleys. Stay at Vinas de Cafayate, our favourite hotel at foot of the majestic San Isidro Hill, and the perfect base to visit the best wineries in the area - from the traditional and prestigious Etchart to small and premium wineries such as Finca Las Nubes de José Luis Mounier and El Porvenir.
I received one of these to try and can confirm it most certainly is a capsule... it is also very good at keeping wine fresh that little while longer between daily glasses!
Wine collectors know all too well the challenge of removing old and crumbly corks in aging fine wine bottles. Even with the best corkscrews, it is never easy to completely remove the corks in one piece. This calls for a better corkscrew and the Durand takes up the challenge.
The Durand is a full patented corkscrew designed to remove old and fragile corks from prized vintage wines. It has been tested by wine lovers and sommeliers and the general consensus is that they do remove the cork intact.
If you have any feedback on these openers then please let us know in the comment feed.
Last week I attended a Decanter Education Event on ‘Understanding Bordeaux’ hosted by Steven Spurrier. For those of you who don’t know Steven Spurrier, let me tell you that as well as being an authority on wine of the highest level, he’s also had a Hollywood film made about him – enough said?
I didn’t have a chance to ask him his opinion of the film, Bottle Shock, or whether he felt that Alan Rickman had portrayed him well. I didn’t have a chance to ask because when Steven Spurrier takes the time to talk to you about Bordeaux, it’s time to listen: to listen and learn.
Spurrier is part of a family tree of wine authorities that stretches back to the great Harry Waugh and includes the masterful Michael Broadbent MW. His encyclopaedic knowledge of Bordeaux, its people and its vines, is imbued with this depth of understanding and tradition. However, what makes Spurrier so well worth listening to is that he easily blends this perspective with pithy, three or four word assessments of the wine that are unfailingly accurate.
In the evening, we were shown the full spectrum of Bordeaux, both in the wines we tasted and in the full sweep of information that was shared along the way. Not only was Spurrier able to (off the cuff) list the significant vintages in Bordeaux going back to 1929, he also shared with us the scope of change in the area over that period and the reasons for the recent, dramatic improvements in the wines of the area. I’m normally the first to head for the door when I hear a list of years and vintages, but Spurrier brought this to life and made it memorable and fun to hear about.
We began by tasting a white Bordeaux, before moving on to the reds, the main event: a trip through the communes of Margaux, Pauillac, St Estèphe, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol, St Emilion and St Julien and vintages from 2005 to 2001.
As a guide to the wines, Spurrier shared his distinction in describing the tastes and flavours of grapes. To him they are either spherical or vertical.
A spherical profile describing a grape that is rich, plush, fruity and round – such as merlot.
A vertical profile describing a grape that is firm, elegant and higher in acid – such as cabernet.
It’s a useful reference point when tasting wines that are blends of those two grapes to see how one cedes the stage to the other and the impact this has on the wine – whether it’s a slightly austere wine with hidden power or a more obviously fruity, opulent wine.
The wines were all well chosen and supplied by The Wine Society – membership of the Wine Society is still one of the best investments you can ever make in wine. My personal favourite was the Chateau d’Angludet, Margaux 2005 – delicate, perfumed and harmonious – which says as much about my love of Margaux as anything else. The ‘best’ wine of the bunch was the Chateau Trottevielle, St Emilion 2001 – lovely sweetness and concentration – narrowly outclassing the Chateau Langoa Barton, St Julien 2001 which was perhaps still a little young.
To finish we were treated to the excellent sweet Sauternes Chateau Suduiraut 2007 an amazing wine which had the ‘honey and fire,’ that marks all great sticky wines and according to Spurrier, it also would make an excellent breakfast wine – who am I to disagree?
As we pored over the wines, Spurrier guided us, opening doors of understanding as he went. At one point made a remark about an experience he’d had when he was learning the wine trade, only to stop himself and state that he is still learning the wine trade. Modest words indeed and sincerely said. I’d offer that if Steven Spurrier is still learning the wine trade, then we all are; we can all continue learning. If you want to take the opportunity to accelerate your learning, then wine courses are an obvious route to take and I’d suggest that you go and grab yourself a ticket (if you can get your hands on one) to an event that he hosts – not only is it fun, it will save you lots of time!
I got a call the other day from a friend of mine, Rob, who wanted to know what wine he should order when he takes his new boss out for dinner.
He was in a bit of a bind: he wanted to choose something suitable, impressive even, but he didn’t want to spend too much money and added to that, his boss is a bit of a wine nut. I also know, because he’s told me, that in his industry (advertising) knowing how to choose a good wine is seen as being important.
His question, pulls into focus one of the potentially most awkward elements of going out for dinner. How do you pick the right wine from the abundance of choice that a modern restaurant will offer.
It wasn’t always this way. Big wine lists once existed only in the province of fancy restaurants. Neighbourhood restaurants and brasseries (…my spellchecker suggested I change that to brassieres) tended to have less choice than they have now.
The first restaurant I worked in, when I was a student, had only four wines on the list. There were a pair of French wines – red or white – and a pair of Californian wines, again red or white. The service of wine was very simple. When someone ordered wine, they’d always try and order the French (which was cheaper) and our only job was to persuade them to buy the Californian wine (which was more expensive.) Once we’d sold them the wine, we had to get it, take it to the table, take the cork out, leave the bottle on the table, un-poured and basically run like hell.
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As unfamiliar to me as the word claret was, I had anticipated that I’d have to use it. Using it seemed to confer a certain savvy, it hinted at time spent by the fireside at a grandfather’s knee and gave the impression that the user was familiar with sixth form meals at public school and had spent time in the clubs of St James’s.
I could live with using the word claret, even though at first it only tripped awkwardly forth. Luncheon was another matter.
I just didn’t get it. We didn’t have breakfast wines, so why have luncheon ones? The only way to get over my reluctance to use the word would be through some form of behavioural therapy – where I’d use the word and in the process get used to using it. For that to work, however, I’d have to get round the word first and I’m admitting now that I couldn’t. I could never get the word out. Until, that is, yesterday.
Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited to a launch of the new Baccarat Collection of glassware which claims "……to reveal the complexity, richness and subtlety of wine better than any other glass yet created."
I have to admit that sometimes I get things wrong.
I have to say from being the worst sceptic about English wine, I have now become a great fan. Sparkling wine was really what changed my view, particularly when I saw how good the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir based wines have turned out. The quality and I dare say price and therefore profitability of these sparklers has undoubtedly had an improving influence on the still wines. It is the case that with our duty and VAT, English still wines which need to be £7 plus a bottle to cover overheads, were not very profitable and they were difficult to sell against a multitude of good quality and often cheaper imports. If sparkling wine subsidises making better still wines, then so be it , good.
Now the fifth largest wine producer in the world, it wasn’t until the 1990’s we started to see Argentine wine exported for the rest of the world to enjoy. Nowadays a mouth watering Malbec or a fresh glass of Torrontes are a wine tasters staple, but nothing can compare to acquainting your taste buds to the local flavours quite like visiting the vineyards themselves. 
Vinas de Cafayate 
I received one of these to try and can confirm it most certainly is a capsule... it is also very good at keeping wine fresh that little while longer between daily glasses!
Wine collectors know all too well the challenge of removing old and crumbly corks in aging fine wine bottles. Even with the best corkscrews, it is never easy to completely remove the corks in one piece. This calls for a better corkscrew and the Durand takes up the challenge.