Turning
From Wine To Water Is No Small Feat
The
tasting and aroma wheel I was given at the
American Water Works Association’s
Best of the Best water competition looked
vaguely familiar, but that’s where
the similarities to wine evaluation stopped.
This past Monday, I was, ahem, tapped to
be on a panel of judges that would decide
which water utility in North America had
the best tasting tap water.
“Sure!”
I said to the nice man from the AWWA who
asked me. “That sounds like fun.”
Now,
I have been evaluating wines professionally
and in an academic environment for longer
than 10 years. During that time, by my rough
calculation, I’ve tasted between 10,000
and 13,000 wines. I’ve also judged
at numerous wine competitions and ran the
tasting program for a once glorious wine
magazine. Heck, my palate has been tested
and certified by the august Society of Wine
Educators.
“Water
tasting judge?” I thought to myself.
“How hard can this be?”
Hard.
Really hard.
When
one evaluates a glass of wine, it’s
really a process of deconstruction. You
carefully take the wine apart using your
eyes, nose and tongue. Is it clear or cloudy?
Are the aromas appealing and appropriate
for this type of wine? What flavors and
sensations do I detect and do they work
in harmony? How does the wine feel in my
mouth?
Deconstruct
a glass of tap water? Deconstruct what?
Here’s
a recap of my tasting notes for the finalists
that I judged in the tap water competition:
Crystal clear. A nearly imperceptible aroma
of chlorine and a similarly vague chlorine
aftertaste.
This
critique could have stood for any of the
five plastic cups in front of me.
With
wine, for better of worse, there’s
something to react to. There’s quite
a lot actually. Too much acid or not enough.
Too oaky. Too alcoholic. Lacking fruit.
Corked. Oxidized. Excessive sulfur or tannins.
The tasting wheel that I’m most familiar,
designed by the distinguished wine scholar
Ann C. Noble, lists hundreds of things,
good and bad, that can be smelled and tasted
in a glass of wine. There are few absolutes
in wine, but without exception every wine
ever made has something on that wheel.
Gertrude
Stein was probably on a water judging panel
when she said: “There’s no there,
there.”
In
fact, this utter lack of “there”
moved me to ask the moderator if they typically
get a consensus of which entrant is the
best water. She replied to me—and
to the crowd of 75 water industry professionals
attending the AWWA’s Annual Conference
and Expo at the Georgia World Congress Center—that
indeed judges do generally agree on a winner.
The
finalists before me represented the results
of dozens of regional competitions and along
the way groups of judges picked out enough
distinguishing features that allowed these
five to float to the top.
“Maybe
their water tasting wheel will be my lifesaver,”
I thought. As I took a gander this tasting
aid, it had more general characteristics
in the center, just like the Noble wheel,
with more specific terms toward the outside.
Unlike the Noble wheel, descriptors ranged
from swimming pool, bleachy and aquarium
to fishy, marshy and septic. OK, there were
some crossover terms, such as earthy, grassy
and rotten eggs (excessive sulfur), but
these were great exceptions.
With
or without the wheel, I was sunk. Great
water, and I mean really great, championship
water like the five samples in front of
me, does not really have anything in it
to speak of. That’s what makes them
winners. Clueless as I was, I nevertheless
picked number four for top honors, which
turned out to be from the City of Blythe,
Ga., near Augusta. It tied for third with
the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District
(Intermountain) from Utah. Grand Forks Water
Utility from North Dakota came in fifth
and Mal Paso Filtration Plant from Puerto
Rico came in second. The winner, as determined
by the panel of six judges, was the Louisville
Water Company from Kentucky and Tennessee.
So,
I think I’ll stick to wine. As a water
judge, I’m just all washed up.
The author with daughters
Elise (left) and Erika at the source of
some pretty good tap water, the Kensico
Dam in Valhalla, NY.
Originally published June 11, 2008, in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Resurrection Of Spanish Wines
Generalissimo
Francisco Franco is still dead. And as far
as the Spanish wine industry is concerned,
that’s remains good news. It may have
been almost 30 years since Chevy Chase poked
fun at the long-reigning and long-dying
Spanish dictator on “Saturday Night
Live,” but the positive effects of
this ruler’s passing continues to
this day.
The
strong socialist arm of Franco kept most
winemaking innovations and investments out
of Spain for most of the 20th century. And
while Spain made a lot of wine during his
regime (and still does), it was…a-hem…a
little rough and rustic. But when you have
a 5,000-year track record in fine winemaking,
you’re entitled to an off century
once in a while, right? (Think Chicago Cubs
here.) But since the late 1970s and early
1980s, Spanish winemakers have been rediscovering
their noble past.
The
Rioja region shined first with some incredibly
inexpensive wines that won awards left and
right. Others, like Ribera del Duero and
Priorat, followed as worldwide interest
and investment awoke this sleeping winemaking
giant. We’re now seeing a third wave
of wines from relatively unknown areas.
What
follows is a primer on some of these regions.
I left out Rioja, as it is a story unto
itself. I’m also excluding Rueda and
Galacia, predominantly white wine regions,
as I wanted to focus mainly on red wines.
I also kept out the various sherry wines
from Jerez as my editor has prohibited me
from writing a book here.
RIBERA
DEL DUERO
Vineyards
in this north central part of Spain sit
2,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level, which
makes for some chilly nights, even when
the daytime temperatures reach in to the
high 90s. Wine grapes love that kind of
weather. And when we’re talking red
grapes in Ribera del Duero, we’re
talking tinto del país. Or is it
cencibel? Or tinta de toro?
One
of the challenges of Spain’s winemakers
is agreeing on what to call tempranillo,
its iconic national grape. Every region
has its own name for tempranillo. Typically
winemakers blend tempranillo with other
grapes since tempranillo often needs a little
something for it to shine. In Ribera del
Duero, for instance, tempranillo typically
gets a splash of spicy hot garnacha.
Bordeaux
varietals, such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot
and malbec also call Ribera del Durero home,
but unlike some other emerging Spanish regions,
winemakers have been growing these varieties
since the mid-1800s. And one of these makers
would be Vega Sicilia, which makes one of
the world’s most expensive and respected
wines, Unico. Vega Sicilia, an enigmatic
Spanish winery, was making exceptional wines
before El Generalissimo was even born.
PRIORAT
The
next time you want to impress your date
(and spend more money on wine than you’re
used to), ask your wine server for a bottle
of wine from Priorat. This mountainous wine
region southwest of Barcelona may be tiny,
but it is making some of Spain’s most
exciting wines.
The
grape here is cariñena, or at least
it used to be. Disease nearly wiped out
most of this native grape. More recently,
winemakers have been planting international
varieties like cabernet sauvignon, syrah
and merlot to great acclaim. In fact, in
2001, Priorat became only the second wine
region, after Rioja, to be awarded the status
of Denominación de Origen Calificada,
Spain’s top wine classification.
MONSANT
As
Priorat was rising to its superstar status,
the Montsant region, which forms a horseshoe
ring around Priorat, was creating a little
star dust of its own. In late 2001, it was
given is own distinct Denominación
de Origen, Spain’s second highest
quality level. This young wine region is
still trying to figure out its identity.
Like Priorat, we find plenty of international
grapes, such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot
and syrah, but with a fair amount of native
grapes like garnacha, monastrell, cariñena
and, of course, tempranillo.
The
one thing that Monsant has going for it
that Priorat does not is the relatively
bargain-basement prices for its wines.
NAVARRA
Just
east of Rioja in northeastern Spain sits
the region of Navarra. Here, in addition
to a fair amount of tempranillo, we find
red wines made from garnacha grapes. This
may well be the ancestral home to garnacha,
which in other parts of the world is referred
to by its French name, grenache. If you’re
looking for a decent red wine, look here.
If you’re looking for a great pink
wine, otherwise known as rosado, look for
“Navarra” on your bottle.
MURCIA
Perhaps
the latest and most intriguing Spanish wine
regions to re-invent itself is Murcia. Rugged
and mountainous, Murcia is located south
of Valencia, somewhat inland from the Mediterranean
coast. Yecla, Jumilla and Bullas are the
most recognized subregions.
Growing
vines here is like farming on the moon.
There are two types of stones in the vineyards
of Murcia, big and boulders. What little
soil that exists here finds the monastrell
grape planted in it. Monastrell is perhaps
more widely known as mourvèdre and
in the wrong hands creates yucky, tannic
wines that are high in alcohol.
In
Franco’s time, this is the type of
wine you found in Murcia. And honestly,
there is still quite a lot of this old-style
wine produced here. But, with increased
use of modern winemaking techniques and
moderate additions of non-native grapes,
such as syrah and cabernet sauvignon, we
find delicious, original wines. I was particularly
enamored by the wines of Jumilla, which
remain remarkable bargains despite the ever-soaring
value of the euro.
There
are other Spanish wine regions, such as
Tierra de Castilla y León, that are
finding a new footing as money and technology
find their way into the winemaking process.
A recent sampling of 23 non-Rioja red wines
found me scratching my head as to which
ones to share with you. Most were enjoyable
and several were quite delicious—quality
so high that it might bring ol’ Generalissimo
back…or at least have him turning
in his grave.
2005
Vall Llach, Idus, Priorat, Spain
•
$55
•
Two Thumbs Way Up
•
Wow! Amazing aromas that reminded me of
black cherry and raspberry with a touch
of black truffle. It had an earthy, truffle-like
quality on top of black berry, black cherry,
coffee and chocolate flavors. Even more
rich as it opened up.
2003
Valdubón, Crianza, Ribera del Duero,
Spain
•
$22
•
Two Thumbs Up
•
Unique aromas of fennel, black cherry, tarragon
and mocha. This a food wine’s food
wine with medium-bodied flavors of mocha,
cola, black cherry, dried cherry and hint
of earth.
2005
Bodegas Bleda, Divus, Jumilla, Spain
•
$22
•
Two Thumbs Up
•
Engaging aromas of bright raspberry, talc
and a gamey quality. Different but not unpleasant,
it had flavors of chocolate, raspberry,
candied apple and butterscotch.
2004
Trapío Monastrell, Yecla, Spain
•
$29
•
Two Thumbs Up
•
Intriguing aromas of smoky black cherry.
A smooth, quaffable wine with concentrated
flavors of coffee, black berry and chocolate-covered
cherries.
|
