Author Archives: Tracy

Cookies & Wine

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Yes, usually one enjoys cookies with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. However, last week I had occasion to pour wines, alongside a collection of cookies. I assure you that these cookies deserved to be paired with wines instead.

The culinary creation of Lior Lev Sercarz, these cookies are truly works of art themselves. Under the banner of La Boite a Biscuits, Lior uses unusual flavors in his cookies such as fig, elderflower, ouzo and lavendar. Inspired by the season and a chosen artist’s interpretation, the cookies, or rather biscuits, combine confection and culture into one. The accompanying tins feature the artist’s work and are collectible.

Last week, I had the opportunity to pour wines for a new importer, Sherbrooke Cellars, at a gallery opening. I poured three wines to gallery guests while they enjoyed not only a wonderful art show, but also an assortment of luxury cookies.

So what does one serve with such a grand selection of sweets? I had three wines to offer the attendees: a small grower Champagne (Champagne Charles Ellner Cuvee De Reserve NV), a Bourgogne Blanc (Jacques Bavard Bourgogne Blanc 2006) and a Pouilly-Fuisse (Challet Pouilly Pouilly Fuisse 2005). As it was hot summer’s evening, most guests were drawn to the Champagne, but as Lior is French, there were several other French people in attendance, who seemed more drawn to try the white Burgundies. While I did not personally taste the wines in concert with the cookies, I am confident that all, especially the Champagne, were an excellent match given their high acidity to counter the sweetness of the biscuits.

I did have a chance to taste a few of the cookies (the servers came around with the tins when things were slow) and they were quite lovely. However, at $65.00/box, you certainly don’t want to dunk them in milk.

Wine Goes to the Movies – Part II

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In a recent posting on the Spirit World, I wrote about the prominent attention that wine is receiving on the big screen. In that article, I mentioned the movie Bottle Shock, which retells the tale of the 1976 Judgement of Paris. At the time I wrote the article, I had not yet had the opportunity to see the movie, but that oversight has been rectified thanks to a screening several weeks ago (Thanks, Vicky!).

I went to see this movie thinking that I wasn’t going to like it since I was not only familiar with the true story that inspired the movie, but also had attended one of the re-creations held by Acker, Merral & Condit in 2006. The Acker event was wonderful, with Steven Spurrier (creator of the original event) in attendance along with George Tabor (author and the only journalist present at the original event) and Christian Vanneque (one of the original judges and, at the time, sommelier at La Tour d’Argent).

However, I was pleasantly surprised at the screening. The plot line was relatively true to reality with only a few, minor inventions. At a Q&A with the writers after the screening, they explained the need to focus on only a few characters. In this case, they chose to feature Jim Barrett and Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena and in doing so, provided the audience with a rich portrayal of this father and son duo. The scenery, filmed from a helicopter, is quite stunning, showing off the vineyards in all their true spendor.

As a testament to the writers’ abilities, I found myself caught up in the excitement upon the Paris pronouncement that Chateau Montelena had won, despite being aware of this eventual conclusion. Overall, I was glad that I had decided to see the movie over my initial prejudice.

DWS — Done, with success

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As I have chronicled previously, I have been pursuing the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s rigorous course of study leading to the Diploma of Wine & Spirits (DWS). This two-year program comprises 6 units, which essentially covers all aspects of the wine and spirit industry from production to sales and marketing.

In April, I submitted my final two papers — one on the history and current outlook on wine co-operatives and the other on the supply and demand issues regarding Champagne. Since the papers are submitted for a specific deadline and are then sent to London to be graded with submissions from students from all around the world, the turn-around time is a bit long.

Finally, I received notification last week that I had earned a Pass with Distinction on my co-opertives paper, which included a case study on Nicolas Feuillatte, and a Pass with Merit on my Champagne paper. Then, earlier this week, I received a second letter acknowledging my successful completion of the full credential and my right to use the post-nominal, DWS, after my name. I am one of 6 to have completed the Diploma this cycle and one of 20 for the year (within the U.S.).

I am proud of my accomplishments and, while I will not rest on my laurels — the world of wine is always changing and thus requires continuous study — I am looking forward to taking a break from formal study. However, I do anticipate a return to pursue the Master of Wine credential at some point in the future.

~Tracy Ellen Kamens, Ed.D., DWS

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

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OK, yes, to a certain extent, every day is the first day of the rest of one’s life. So why is today different? Today is my first day as a full-time wine professional. Up until yesterday, I had been holding onto that "pesky" day job while I launched Grand Cru Classes, working in the evenings and on weekends.

However, as I am continually reminded, life is fleeting. We may live to be 100 (in my case, I hope not — 85 is fine with me) or depart life much earlier, regardless of our best intentions. Consequently, it was time to take a leap of faith and turn my full attention to my career in the wine world.

It is all at once scary and exciting, but already I am seeing the benefits of my decision. First, it was a pleasure to have slept in this morning; well, I admit that 8:00 AM isn’t all that late, but it was nice not to have to be anywhere by 9:00 AM. Next, I am confident that I will not miss my hour-long commute to the office.

And, speaking of the office, now everyday is "Take Your Dog to Work" Day. I love having Annabelle around as my muse. Other perks include wine with lunch — somehow my previous employer it didn’t seem apprpropriate to bring a bottle of wine with my sandwich (can’t imagine why :-] ). And, it will be much easier to attend trade tastings and events — no more rushing out of the office in the middle of the day.

Finally, I am looking forward to having more time — more time to build the business, more time to write (not least of which to post more frequently than once a quarter) and more to read. Just in time, too, as the August issue of Decanter has just arrived and I haven’t quite finished with June.

Of course, this rosy glow may fade a bit come August 1 when my usual monthly paycheck isn’t directly deposited into my account. But, for now I’ll just enjoy the ride.

Grapes: The Forbidden Fruit?

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The tenor of recent news items regarding wine seems to signal a growing shift back toward the temperance movement. Costco’s loss in their legal battle to purchase direct from wine producers continues to send the message that retailers (and consumers) need to be protected from purchasing alcohol by our three-tier system. Related issues with wineries and retailers still remain in the courts.

Even more appalling, the French newspaper, Le Figaro, was issued a fine for printing an editorial article on Champagne without the corresponding disclaimer about the potential harmful effects of alcohol usually reserved for advertisements. These and other stories continually place wine (and other alcoholic beverages) in the position of being inherently evil. Similarly, articles published in the UK press are admonishing Britain’s middle-class for drinking too many alcohol units and characterizing them, with a single broad brush, as problem drinkers.

In his article, "The Wine Industry of Australia 1788-1979," Gerald Walsh provides a historical account of the total abstinence and temperance movements of the 1880s and 1890s in Australia  and notes that, in 1875, the Dean of Melbourne, "even went so far as to say that the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden must have been the grape!"

Historically in America, efforts to control drinking have gone to the extreme, with Prohibition, which banned all alcohol, as a prime example. With a seeming resurgence of this mindset, it will be interesting (and perhaps troubling) to watch the tide as it continues to shift in this regard.

Investment Analysis

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Depending upon your en primeur agent, you should be receiving your 2005 Bordeaux futures sometime this summer. As noted previously, we purchased several wines for this much hyped vintage back in July 2006. The current (March 08) issue of Decanter has two articles from its tasting panels featuring this vintage — one on St.-Emilion and the other on the Cru Bourgeois (the classification of which, by the way, will be reinstated in 2009).

The panel was generally pleased with the wines and I noted that one of my Futures picks was listed among the Recommended wines with 16.4 points (of 20), just shy of their cut-off (16.5?) for Highly Recommended. The wine in question, Chateau Beaumont of the Haut-Medoc, received a very nice tasting note, noting that it should be held for 5-10 years and that there was more to come from this wine. The entry heralded the wine as a good value and listed the price at 8-9.5 British Pounds per bottle.

I was delighted to read the news and was compelled to look up our pending inventory to compare. We had purchased a full case, which we have listed at $12.50/bottle. A quick currency conversion indicated that the price in Decanter was $16.00-$18.85. But, what was it going for in the U.S.? I did a quick search on Wine Searcher and found the wine listed at $19.99/bottle at Star Liquors. Wine Library had it listed as out of stock, but their website also showed a sale price at $19.95 from $26.95/bottle.

Consequently, at an average price of $19.00, my investment has increased by ~50%, which I must admit, is much better than I have done in the stock market lately. So, I’m feeling good about the purchase. Of course, I didn’t buy the wine as an investment, but as Sherry-Lehmann has had my money since July 2006 (and the Bordelais have had Sherry-Lehmann’s money), I’m pleased to see that I wouldn’t have been any better off in investing my money elsewhere and buying the wine upon release instead.

Decanter did not include Chateau de Fonbel, of which we also bought a case, among its St.-Emilion tastings, but Wine Searcher and other internet searches yielded similar price increases for this and the other handful of bottles we purchased. I am looking forward to taking delivery of the wines in July, but will have to continue to wait to try them, or at least the Beaumont, for another few years, by which time the wines should have continued to increase in complexity, if not value. A wise investment indeed!

Booze on a Cruise

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I recently took my first cruise vacation, which had some interesting experiences when it came to wine.

The wine list was an adequate mix of Old World and New World wine regions, with no particular strengths. However, we were a little surprised that there were no vintages listed with any of the wines. For some of the wines, we didn’t really care, but for others, we asked our server to confirm the vintage before placing our wine order. We surmised that this omission might be due to a need for flexibility in the ship’s inventory, but while it was annoying to have to ask, the information was correctly provided and there did not appear to be any deception going on.

Another surprise, but quite pleasant, was the fact that the ship used quality crystal stemware (Schott Zwiesel) for its wine service.

The mark-up appeared to be reasonable (we estimated it to be about double the retail price), especially considering that you are a captive audience; you can’t go elsewhere to buy wine. In fact, you can’t bring wine on-board. Your luggage is screened upon boarding and any alcoholic beverages will be seized until the cruise ends. I think that you might be able to pay a $25.00/bottle corkage fee to release your wine, but the policy does explicitly state that no alcoholic beverages may be brought onboard. 

On the second night of the cruise, we ordered two bottles of wine with dinner — one white and one red. At the end of dinner, neither bottle had been finished, but we were able to have the restaurant store our wine for us, with the ability to retrieve it at lunch or dinner, in any of the ship’s restaurants. This was a nice feature since there weren’t any half-bottles on the wine list.

We generally ordered wines in the $30-$50 range, but our one big splurge was a bottle of semi-mature Bordeaux, 1996 — our anniversary year– which we enjoyed on our night in the French cuisine specialty restaurant. It was probably not the wisest idea, but we got caught up in the sentimental moment. After our sixth bottle purchase, the seventh bottle, priced at or below the average price paid for the initial six wines, was free.

We had requested to see the ship’s wine cellar, but upon making an appointment to meet the beverage manager, were informed that the cruise line’s policy did not permit guests to visit the back-of-the-house areas. Consequently, we were unable to get information on turnover rates or on how the wine is stored with respect to countering the ship’s vibrations. However, I did find an interesting wine rack accessory product on the web — bottle retention straps — which the manufacturer touts as useful on cruise ships and in earthquake-prone areas.

Wine casting

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I am excited to announce that the first of my podcasts, hosted and produced by Lorre White, the Guru of Luxury, has been posted to Podango! These podcasts will make up a series of 12 in total, with a new one posted each month. This first video features a general overview on how to serve and taste wine.
See: Wine Podcast

For that Sparkling Personality

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My Valentine’s Day-inspired article on sparkling wines has just been "published" on Wine Sediments. This article provides an overview of the different production methods used to create sparkling wines and notes some of the more affordable options for those who love bubbly.

Your WSET Study Buddy

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I have received a number of inquiries from fellow WSET Diploma candidates about their studies. As I suspect that these students are not alone in their questions, I am sharing the following advice.

Unit 2 (Viticulture and Vinification) is the first unit presented and a prerequisite for moving ahead with the other units. Your knowledge on this unit is evaluated by a multiple-choice exam that is very challenging. You really need to study and prepare to recognize and understand detailed information to pass this exam as the answer choices provided do not lend themselves to easy guessing.

If possible, I would suggest that you take Unit 3 (Light Wines of the World) before Units 4, 5, and 6 so that you can complete this most challenging unit before moving on. Do NOT study for Unit 3 at the same time as you study for Units 4, 5 & 6 unless you are masochistic, unemployed or are just plain crazy : )

Units 4, 5 and 6 can be taken concurrently, although you may find it a little easier to balance your study load if you take only two of the three at the same time. Unit 4 (Spirits) is generally more challenging than Unit 5 (Sparkling) or Unit 6 (Fortified), but everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. I think that it is helpful to keep in mind that these units differ from Unit 3 in that they focus heavily on differing production methods. If you take these exams in November, start studying in the summer to provide yourself with a lengthier study period.

The format for Unit 1 (Coursework Assignments) is being revised. If you are working under the previous format, I would suggest that you submit only one paper at first so that you can use the feedback provided from that paper to guide you in completing the other assignments.

As for hints, study aids, etc. , I suggest the following:
1) Review questions from all of the past exams (see WSET website – DWS student section) – this will familiarize you with the types of questions you will find on the exams and you can use them as practice questions while you study. These are essay exams, so you should also practice writing out answers under simulated exam conditions (closed book and timed).

2) Review the annual Examiner’s Report from past exams (see WSET website – DWS student section) – This will provide you with some idea as to what kind of an answer they are looking for, along with information on how to answer the tasting portion as well. This also helps you identify what traps to avoid as the Report comments on mistakes made by students, many of which are repeated time and again, much to the chagrin of the examiners.

3) Comparative taste as much as possible, preferrably under blind conditions. For example, I was a self-study student for Unit 6, so I purchased 8 different fortified wines and tasted them all blind in a single tasting session. The study guides have suggested wines with which you should become familiar.

4) Participate in the DAPS program if it is available to you (they will send you practice questions, which you answer under exam conditions and send back for feedback).

5) Review the questions and answers in the study guide – they just might show up on an exam.

6) If possible, find a study group and meet weekly to taste flights of wine as well as to review information, clarify points of confusion and keep you focused.

7) Commit the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting to memory, so you make sure you comment on all aspects of the wine and don’t lose points on the exam. I would suggest that you take all of your wine notes in this fashion between now and then to practice, especially since you need to get this down to 5-10 minutes per wine.

8) Organize your notes on index cards and carry them with you whenever possible. You can then review your notes while waiting for elevators, commuting on public transportation, standing on line, etc.

9) Do not wait to the last minute to study. There is too much information, especially for Unit 3, so you really need to be studying and reviewing the material over several months.

10) When in doubt, always return to the 6 factors (climate, soil, annual weather, grape variety, viticulture and vinification) + legal & trade structures and market issues.