Vinoble 2004: tasting on your knees
Vinoble 2004: tasting on your knees
Ver mensaje de GastronautaPicture this: four days and three nights (eight sessions, of which I could only attend six) in Jerez de la Frontera (in Cadiz, the Southernmost province of Peninsular Spain), drinking 206 of the most outstanding sweet and fortified wines imaginable. The wines poured included the most extreme styles you can conceive: from 4,4% Tokaj to 22% amontillado, from 2003 eiswein babies to venerable 150-year-old Oloroso, from pungent salty manzanilla to decadently sweet botrytis syrup, from chilly Canada to torrid Córdoba; instead of oak and fruit the delighted words of praise highlighted sugar and acidity…
The venue was as usual the ages-old Alcázar and gardens, in unbelievably good shape. The weather was good enough, averaging 25ºC in mild pre-summer temperatures. Only the hours around noon proved somewhat trying for high-alcohol examples. The three-hour lunchtime rest was justified to some extent, for I can hardly imagine what it would have been like to be there at 16:00 with a 22% alcohol amontillado… The Alcázar provided a wonderful microclimate with its gardens, tents, and fountains. Never in the course of the four days did a bit of shade become a scarce luxury, and in fact the Palacio de Villavicencio was put to good use. No single room ever seemed to be empty, and it wasn’t necessarily the “Standing room only” type of thing; many a time did we sit by the open windows and write our TNs on conveniently-placed coffee tables. The people were mostly professionals, but a decent bunch of real fanatics managed to get in too… There’s where the fun was. I can’t count the excited phonecalls I received from friends who were tasting something dramatically good one floor above or below where I was. True internet comradeship at its best…what a riot we are!
The wines: I suspect we were just short of 600 different wines available. 206 in six sessions sounds a lot given the lot of walk and talk between the stands, but it’s under 9 wines per hour, and you bet you don’t want to rush through your generous pour of Eszencia 1993!
Which reminds me I haven’t even teased you a little with mouthwatering names. Nothing could be easier: 30, 50, 100 and 150-year-old sherries including unbelievably sticky PX, Disznókö all the way down (read “up”) to Eszencia 1993, ditto for Pajzos, Alsace VT and SGN, Loires from 1997 and 1990, BA, TBA and Eisweine from all over Germany (including examples from the early 1990s), and in general every grape that has ever been graced with botrytis, every style implying arrested fermentations, every conceivable sweet perversion.
Enough? Ye ain’t seen nu’in’ yet! I deliberately avoided the official tastings, the food pairings, and every other timeconsuming event, but there was organized action to spare, only I would have needed a week-long Vinoble to indulge in these “Taste Laboratories.” The queuing was tough, and you didn’t want to stand still in a place like that. Besides, the entire town was effervescent with Vinoble side-effects. Restaurants all over Jerez were offering their most creative tapas, and even special menus to be paired with different Sherries. For example, we literally hijacked “El Gallo Azul” for three different meals: one formal lunch and two tapas dinners. 7-course pairing menu at lunchtime cost us 32€ per head, water, Domeq wines, taxes, and gratuity included. And the wines were no cheapskate selections: the fino was La Ina, the palo cortado Capuchino VORS (over 45€ per bottle at retail). Our favorite tapa there was the award-winning Martini glass filled with whipped potato purée, caramelized onion, boletus and tuna cooked in amontillado sauce. I had five of those in three visits… The tapas selection included some 30 different choices, all priced 1,80€. Our final night we had six per head with some La Ina and ended up pretty satisfied (for about 15€ per).
Vinoble 2004: tasting on your knees (II)
Ver mensaje de GastronautaSherry was beautifully and comprehensively represented, both in the official Sherry D.O. room and in private stands. A few absences, particularly Osborne, were notorious, but we found even better alternatives!
Germany had a decent presence, and above all the selection was truly great, often with mature (well, maturing) examples. Austria was decent too. Hungary was glorious. France appeared in every other stand, with superior marks for SAPROS: Le Club des Vins de Botrytis (everything a grown-up can desire other than sex).
Port was miserably underrepresented. The IVP had a meager selection, and SOGRAPE was virtually the only house to do their homework properly. Italy was such a pleasant discovery. I got a most illustrative tour of the country from the rep at the Meregalli stand. Other countries—that I sampled—included Slovenia, Japan, USA (Quady), Canada (Pillitteri), and Australia (just Penfolds and Lindemans, a shame that there was not a single Rutherglen producer). I had to skip at least another six countries, particularly those from South America, from lack of time.
Ever the fetishist, I returned with some corks; not as many as I would if I had been able to pick, but sweet and fortified equals small pourings and fewer corks available. The souvenirs correspond to Disznókö Eszencia 1993, Pedro Romero Prestige 50 Palo Cortado, Chateau Pajzos 6* 1999, and Folie Pur 1999.
There were hundreds and hundreds—though never too many with these glasscoating wines—of Riedel Vinoble stems. A tad too high in search, I suppose, of elegance, they’re easy to get used to: after four days using them I’m finally back home with Kreydenweiss Andlau Riesling 2000 from my everyday glass (416/15) and it feels clumsy and heavy…
An inherent difficulty in any sweet-and-fortified event, let alone one of this magnitude, is that you shouldn’t wander around sampling things indiscriminately, but rather follow a fairly strict itinerary in order to avoid unnecessary palate fatigue. It proved impossible. To begin with, I tried to arrive even slightly before the time every session. The ice buckets were barely being distributed then, and it would take a while before the precious cubes operated their alchemy. So I’d invariably walk upstairs to the D.O. Sherry room and try a dozen assorted VORS Sherries before going down again. At other times you wanted to begin with Germans and you found the table collapsing under a dozen different people in the process of discovering that Riesling is a white variety and such things. So off you went, to put an undecanted sample of 2000 Vintage Port between your tongue and palate… Not that I have any claim to knowledge of all the regions present there, but hey, at least I can spell botrytis! In any case, the best anecdote about “slightly disoriented” attendants was told by Silvano García, a young Jumilla winemaker recently graced with 93 points by RParker, who saw a group of young and apparently very gender-sensitive women scolding a winemaker for offering them…only sweet wines!! I wonder how many more must have asked for a hearty Ribera del Duero…
I could not close this introduction without thanking the organizers for not playing difficult with the Press accreditations, and the superior level of professionalism displayed throughout by all the staff. At the last minute, as I headed for the train station with my sarcophagus-sized suitcase, the head of the Press Bureau kindly offered to share her taxi, for it was Saturday afternoon, already scorching hot, and even the cabbies were sleeping their well-deserved siesta.
How bad is the envy!!!! ;))) (v)
Ver mensaje de Iñaki BlascoThe best wine fair in the world...
Ver mensaje de GastronautaI only know Spanish wine fairs but I doubt there is a better wine fair in the world. Really, the wines and environment are something completely unique. What unforgetable four days!... Now, we need some time to put our tasting notes and impressions in the keyboard. I agree with the excellent abstract introduced by Gastro. Now we want the first chapter... :-)
Re: Vinoble 2004: tasting on your knees (II)
Ver mensaje de GastronautaSo, you liked the Folie Pure! I had it in Barcelona monday before the Vinoble and was just shocked! Also the guy, Patrice Lescarret is amazing! In 1999 he made his own essencia, le Graal, with something like 600+ grams of RS and less than 5% alcohol.
This is a must visit first time in the region (Gaillac).