Striking a balance... (Session 8 - 24th January 2009)

Today we had the pleasure of hosting freelance journalist Fionnuala Synnott to sample Still waters with some rather eclectic wines (well, 3 of them):

Meursault “Clos du Cromin”, Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur 2006 Burgundy (Chardonnay grape)

Grappoli del Grillo, Marco de Bartoli 2005 Sicily, Italy (Grillo grape)

Terra do Gargalo 2002, Monterrei, Galicia, Spain (Treixadura, Godello, Dona Blanca grapes)

Corse Calvi “Clos Culombu”, Domaine Culombu 2007, Corsica (Vermentino grape)

Fionnuala (I have to concentrate when spelling her name!) was delighted to find that the Irish spring water was her mother's favourite from her home county. I am sure that this didn't influence her scoring!

She also made some very astute observations regarding the scores, commenting on how the score of 6-9, rather than saying 'harms elements of the wine' should be altered to reflect/accomodate when a wine is unbalanced as a result of the introduction of water to the palate. Roberto and I agreed and this has now been included in our ever evolving score sheet.

Nicolas was away, which meant that not all of the wine was finished. Since I normally take the empty bottles with me for potential future photo opportunities, someone had to finish off the wine...ah, well!

Happy New Year! (Session 7 - 17/1/09)

Today, Godfrey Spence was again the guest. It is a pleasure that with his experience, this new concept should be of such great interest.

With Sparkling waters we tried:

Rueda, Herederos del Marqués de Riscal 2007 Rueda, Spain (Verdejo grape)

Rias Baixas O Rosal, Valmiñor 2007 Galiçia, Spain (Albariño grape)

Nuragus di Cagliari “Pedraia”, Cantina Santadi 2007 Sardinia, Italy (Nuragus grape)

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Domaine de la Janasse 2007 Rhône Valley, France (50% Grenache, 25% Roussanne, 25% Clairette)

The Nuragus proved a wonderful wine, whose prominent characters made it difficult to find a water which 'enhanced' it. Having observed this though, there were waters that harmed the character too, which demonstrates the value of a 0-20 system of scoring as relevant when appreciating wines in a dining environment.