THE MARIE PIERRE WINETASTING POST EVENT WRAP-UP

Sunday is the countdown to reality. A few hours and we are back to the hustle and bustle of the week day job. I always love to do exciting and motivating things on Sunday because they determine the note at which my week will commence. I decided to attend a winetasting at Michael Joseph Centre in Westlands, Nairobi. The event was organized by Marie Pierre. The companies that participated in displaying their wine were El Vino and The Wineshop.

Sommelier Juan Ignacio Cambil was at the El Vino station and sommelier Geoffrey Kariuki was at the Wineshop station. What made the tasting interesting is the fact that Juan and Geoffrey were personal friends and they liaised with each other to facilitate the tasting. They displayed their wine knowledge and they collaborated in answering the myriads of questions from the throng of people in attendance.

The once lifeless wine scene is Kenya is burgeoning at an alarming rate and people are interested in knowing about the brands of wine that they consume. They want to know what wine goes with our traditional food.  When I started this blog late last year, I got like 3 views and no comments everyday but this is not the case. People are interested to know more. Someone pointed out that very few people have done a food and wine pairing for Kenyan food and this is one of the reasons very few people in Kenya appreciate wine. Well I tried to do an authentic food and wine pairing here.

Juan Cambil is a respected Somellier and an expert in his field. He displayed his mastery of wine by taking us through a detailed tasting. We tasted five exceptional wines and I will review the tasting notes in subsequent posts. I even got a new favorite wine. The wines we tasted were

• Eresma Semiduce
• Abeso White Frizante
• Abeso Rose Frizante
• Abeso Red Frizante
• Carvida Tempranillo
  

The most exciting thing is that El Vino had not stocked this wine before and it had just been shipped for the tasting. Even the Sommelier confessed that he had not had time to do small tasting earlier on. They were selling the wine at a slightly lower price than the price that it would retail for at Chandarana Supermarket and Caribana Restaurant in Lenana Road. These are the two places that you can find the brands. The Carvisda tempranillo was the best wine I have tasted in a long time and it is definitely something I am storing away for a special occasion like an anniversary, family Christmas or my birthday. It had these undertones with an aroma of molasses. It reminded me of some sweets we had while we were younger, that were made out of brown sugar.

Geoffrey  Kariuki is our very own Kenyan Somellier. I even managed to sneak a small interview with him. Keep reading the blog for his amazing story. He has a relaxed demeanor and he talks with a certain mastery and confidence that keeps people interested in the wines. He works at the Wineshop at Piedmont plaza in Ngong Road. I had done a post on the Wineshop here. We were tasting the hardy VR collection of wine. This included:

• Hardys VR chardonnay 2011
• Hardy VR Shiraz 2011
• Hardys VR Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

The shop stocks a variety of wines from different parts of the world including Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, France, Chile, Italy and South Africa.

Kevin, Geoffrey and Sanjey from the Wineshop

Also in attendance was Kamal Kaur who was the MC for the event.

 I attended the event with a friend of mine who was indifferent about wine. I had hoped that by the end of the evening she would have changed her mind about wine and I have to say I succeeded in that. Sommelier Juan Cambil said that if you are new to wine it is probably a good idea to start with white wine because the reds have potent tastes and complex intricate aromas.

My friend Kendi- new winelover

Below are photos of the guests.

Here were the bitings that accompanied the wine. Cheers!!

Cheers

Photos by Akili Black and The Wine and Food Review

THE 'S' OF WINETASTING

My first winetasting was a tad embarrassing. I have never told anyone this story but once the wine was served, I jumped right into sipping. I’m glad it was not a professional event but I still got embarrassed all the same. No one saw me sip the wine (I hope) but I looked round and saw people smelling and swirling and that’s when I decided to observe and learn.
This is my 100th  post in this blog and I decided to write a great post that will set the stage for the direction I want the blog to take.

 Winetasting is a fun experience. It is great because you have to indulge all your senses.  I have become very passionate about wine this year and I have developed my pallet so that I can know what wine goes with what food. Being a wine enthusiast, (I don’t want to use connoisseur or sommelier because having that title needs certification). I have learnt a lot. Let’s just say I am in the journey. Today, I will explain to you what a great wine tasting experience should be like. I will also show you what to look for and how to uses your senses to get the best in the wine. A friend of mine recently asked me that I should do a post that sheds some light on the issue. Wine tasting is a process of many ‘S’.

Set the Stage

Winetasting can take place in different places. If it is an event, the organizers should make sure that they set the stage and the area is free of noise and interruption. The area should be clean with no smells or strong perfumes from people. The presence of strong smells and noise will inhibit the senses and hinder concentration respectively.

Serve

The organizers should make sure that they have a container where people can pour their leftover wine and the wine that they don’t like. One of the best winetasting plans is where there are tables with groups of people. This makes it easier to serve. The correct way of serving wine is serving it halfway in the glass to let it breathe. I will do a post on the glass ware. Whites, reds, sparklings and rosĕs are served indifferent glasses.

Swirl

Swirling is shaking the wine n a circular motion. Another reason why people serve wine halfway is to make sure that people don’t pour wine at the swirling stage. I wrote about legs and tears on a recent post.. Wines that have good legs are wines with more alcohol and glycerin content, which generally indicates that they are bigger, riper, more mouth-filling and dense than those that lack the legs.

See

There are many ways to use sight when winetasting. I did a post here. But just to recap, one should look at into the glass then hold the glass to the light, and finally, give it a tilt, so the wine rolls toward its edges. This will help one to see the wine color range. This also gives a clue on the depth and density. One method that I learnt was to try and read through the wine. Less dense wines will let you see through while denser ones won’t let you see through. It also helps you know the grape variety. Purple-black color comes from Syrah or Zinfandel, while a lighter, pale brick shade comes from Pinot noir or Sangiovese grapes. Another way to view wine is to view it against a white tile/white background. Wine should be clear and devoid of sediments and particles. If it has there were problems in fermentation, aging or the cork would be infected. Here is a cheat sheet on how to describe wine colour.

Smell

After swirling put your nose at the mouth of the glass and smell. Don’t merely stick your nose into the wine but hover around the top and decipher different smells. Let your brain process the smells and write down the different things you register. Get the aroma of the wine. Wine aromas range from fruits, herbs, wood and other scents. Smelling can help you identify if wine is bad. If it smells like an attic, damp clothes or damp newspapers (You know that smell) then the wine is bad.

Sip

 It’s about time you tasted that wine.  Take a modest sip and aerate the wine with your tongue. This initial taste is very important.

Savour

Next take a ‘generous’ sip and let the wine sit on your tongue. Register the taste as the wine is on the tongue, to the sides of the mouth and to the back of the tongue. Register the aftertastes if any. Apart from simply identifying flavors use your taste buds to determine if the wine is balanced, harmonious, complex, evolved, and complete. Keep it here for more tips and explanations of wine jargon like these. This information is great because it helps you know about food & wine pairings. It helps you get your favorite wines too.

 Now that you have these tips, do not embarrass yourself in case you decide to go for a tasting.