Supermarket Senarios: Going French

I was over at Cold Storage Orchard Point. I was quite impressed as Orchard Point has a good range of wines including fortified, sparkling and dessert wines at some reasonable prices. They also have some aged wines at good prices such as 2004 Australian Chardonnay and Soave. Today, we will look more at the French. I recommend you to check it out as there are some good finds there.

1) Chateau Germain Bourgogne 2002 at $42.95. This is a Chardonnay from Burgundy at the lowest entry level. If you are into aged Chardonnay, you can expect something toasty, honey, figs and developed on the nose and heavier on the palate. This is a wine that can go well with salty nuts or even caramel ice-cream if the wine is chilled. For a Burgundy Chardonnay, the price is acceptable
2) Paul Jaboulet Aine Chateaunuef-du-Pape 2007 at $86.55. This price for a CDP is also quite reasonable considering that CDP in France can cost from 30 to 45 Euros. From previous experience in CDP, I expect aromas of wild cherries, pepper, stewed plum notes, soy or the other extreme of floral, cherry, confectionary & liqourice. In terms of body, it is medium plus bodied. This is a wine that can go with lamb dishes with rosemary and thyme.
3) Paul Jaboulet Aine Gigondas 2007 at $57.70. The grapes are similar as Gigondas but the climate is not as warm. The soils of Gigondas too is different as it is limestone at higher altitudes. In a blind tasting, it is not easy to differentiate between CDP and Gigondas. Given the price difference, I would pick the Gigondas over the CDP.
4) Paul Jaboulet Aine Muscat de Beaumes-Venise 2007 at $76.90. This is a wine that is sweet and alcohol has been added to it to stop fermentation. It is honeyed, sweet, grapey with floral aromas and peaches. Good as a starter with fruit salad or at the end of the night by itself. My only problem is the price is slightly too high when I can get half a bottle in France for 10 Euros.

My Choice: Gigondas is my pick for tonight. It isn't overly priced like the Muscat or CDP. Its flavour-profile can be similar to CDP but the quality can be better. I would stay away from the 2002 Chardonnay as there is no guaranteed that a village Burgundy can be aged that long. Most of the time, a village Chardonnay is meant to be drank young. 

Supermarket Senarios - Cabernet or Carménère

Today, we take a look at the shelves in Giant at Supermarket for some affordable swill. I'm thirsty for some red wine tonight. I just bought a steak which I am planning to fry in a pan full of butter. I am going to caramilize some onions first. Don't forget to season the steak with sea salt and cracked pepper. I am going to cook some potatoes in the oven with the rosemary and thyme.

We have:
1) Table Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. $17.90, South African from Stellenbosch. It's from a mediterranean climate, meaning the climate can get hot in the summer, up to forty degrees. I am expecting this Cabernet to be ripe, full-bodied, full of fruits and maybe some cigar box if it is oaked.
2) Deetlefs Cabernet Sauvignon from Rawsonville at $22.80. A South African from Breede River Valley in the Western Cape. The climate is almost similar. This one is at 14% alcohol so lots of heat and ripeness too. Rawsonville and Stellenbosch are not very far from one another but Rawsonville is further from the Ocean. I think this will be even jammier than Table Mountain. Not good to have a fruit bomb affect the wonderful flavours of steak.
3) Hemisferio Miguel Torres  Carménère from the Central Valley in Chile at $25.50. Carménère is a grape with lots of tannins too like Cabernet, but less harsher in texture. It is usually smells of cherries, smoke and earth and tastes of red fruit, tobacco, leather and dried herbs. If you don't like sometime as harsh as Cabernet, go for this.
4) Hemisferio Miguel Torres  Sauvignon Blanc from the Central Valley in Chile at $25.50. Grassy, herbaceous and probably bland in the mid-palate  just like other Central Valley examples. Not always a bad thing but at $25.50 for the same price as the red, forget it.

My decision: Go for stellenbosch. It's much cheaper than the Carménère and has bolder flavours with the steak. But if you like something softer and are willing to pay, the Carménère is good. Serving temperatures at 16-17 degrees Celsius. Forget the SB because SB doesn't work well with steak. Forget Deetlefs because if you want to go for that, you might as well get the Table Mountain.

Some concepts to grapple with Quality - Length

You have always heard that a key consideration in determining quality is length. The longer the flavours of the wine remain in your mouth after spitting or swallowing, the better.

Experience has taught me that a wine with long length does not necessarily make a wine better. It all depends on what flavours linger in your mouth? I have had wines which had undesirable bitter flavours lasting a long time. When evaluating quality, we have to look at the context in which the wine is being served. Is it to be drank by itself or with food? If by itself, then a long length is desirable but yet again there are exceptions.

The problem with a long length is that it makes the moment when you first taste the wine a pleasure. However, it can dilute the whole experience with the rest of the bottle. Flavour fatigue can set in and the next few remaining sips of the same wine may start to lose its appeal. Sometimes, a good wine is one in which you keep going back for more and more, like an addiction. Think of it as drinking very sweet apple juice and after a while, the juice tends to get flavourless. All you can taste is sugar and sourness. Or think bubblegum when after chewing for a while, the flavour disappears but in actual fact, it is still present in the gum. Too much of something can make it bad.

When eating food with wines, it is usually harder to appreciate the food as the backpalate flavours from the wine can come into conflict the flavours of the food. This is why I find a lot of wines that go well with food tend to wines from the low to mid-end price range. That is good news for most of us who can't afford to drink $50 bottle of wines daily. For example, a cheap bottle of highly acidic, Italain Pinot Grigio or Soave can suit flavourful dishes without overcoming the dish. Its acidity brings out more flavours just like squeezing a lemon on some dishes bring out flavour. If the acidic white wine had more flavour in the finish due to picking the grapes riper, fermenting them on skins or aging them in new barrels, those stronger flavours from the wine can still linger around and make each bite you take seem heavier due to a sensory overload.

Supermarket Senarios: Chardonnay Decisions

This week on Supermarket Senarios, I take a look at what's on the shelves of Giant at Vivocity. What should I drink for a Friday night especially when I have to make a decision on the spot without having taste the wines before? The chardonnays are all relatively young, from 2008 to 2010. The age difference is small between the wines so there is no point taking it into consideration.

1) HobNob Chardonnay from Vin d'Oc at $27. The Languedoc is at the south of France. It is a warm climate. I can guess that it has more fruit flavours due to the climate. The price is quite decent.
2) Route d'Or is also from the same region at $25.90.
3) Louis Jadot Chablis is a fresh and mineral style that usually doesn't see oak at the entry level. $43.95 is a normal price for a entry level Chablis  but it definitely doesn't taste $43.95 especially if it is likely not to have seen oak aging. This is just for the brand name that Chablis brings to the table. I am expecting a wine with more green apple and citrus fruit.
4) Louis Latour Ardèche Chardonnay at $27.50. Ardèche is near the Rhone Alps in the south of France, before Languedoc. The land can go up to 300m in elevation with chalk-clay soils. It is still relatively unknown outside of France. This is a style which has been aged in barrels and has undergone a transformation to palate roundness.

My selections: If you are thinking of having oysters and scallops tonight, go for the Laroche Chablis at $36.99. It is more reasonably priced than Loius Jadot and Loius Latour. But if are looking for a quaffer with more fruit flavours to go with your marinated herb-infused pork loin, go for the Route d'Or. It is cheaper than the HobNob. How much difference can $1.10 get you in perceptible quality? Feeling adventurous and don't mind spending $1.60 more? Then try the Ardèche. Limestone and Chardonnay are lovers. There is a tendency for limestone soils to produce elegant, and mineral Chardonnays. This may be more balanced between acid and flavours than the Route d'Or and Chablis. Remember to chill your Chardonnays in the fridge before serving them! Warm Chardonnays under the Singapore heat are no fun to drink!

Mind & Dine: Interesting findings

I thought today would be nice to do a short post on studies found concerning consumer perceptions.
1) Researchers in Britain found that when playing French music in a wine store, more French wine was bought and when German music was played, more German wine sales increased.
2) Patrons at a restaurant spend more money when classical, jazz and popular music were being played in the background compared to none.
3) People eating alone at restaurants eat the least. With one person, they eat 35% more than they do at home. With 3, they eat 75% more and with 7 or more, 96% more.

Heuristics - cognitive biasness
1) Priming - Your decisions are affected by the event that just took place. You read cards containing the words like apricots, oak, honey and pineapples. Then you go into a wine shop. You will be searching for an oaked Chardonnay.
2) Anchoring - Making a decision based on comparison to something. A $50 bottle of wine seems expensive when it is surrounded by $7 bottles but cheap when surrounded by $200 bottles.
3) Framing- Reaching conclusions based on the 'framework' within which a situation was presented. You go into a wineshop and you see your favourite wine. You will buy a bottle. But when you see that there is a limit to only 6 bottles per customer, you are likely to buy 4 or 5.
4) Expectations - The mind makes models of what it thinks will happen. When you drink a bottle of wine that you are being told cost $50, you will find that it tastes better than a bottle that cost $5, even if both wines were actually identical.
5) Arousal - People think differently depending on their state of mind. If you drink wine with a picture of a beautiful smiling woman in front of you, you will enjoy it more than when you have a picture of an angry man.

References: 1) Why we make mistakes: how we look without seeing, forget things in seconds and are all pretty sure we are way above average, pg92-93
2) The effect of Music in a Restaurant http://esf.ccarh.org/254/254_LiteraturePack1/Restaurant_Music_Wilson.pdf
3) Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, pg64

Professional tips for surviving Wine Shows

At wine shows, there are hundreds of wines to try but little time to taste them all. Here are some useful tips to have a meaningful day to survive a 100 wines day.

Survival pack:
1) White bread. The bread keeps your stomach filled and clenses your mouth.
2) 500ml of water
3) A notepad to write down notes or names of wines your like.
4) A map of the exhibition layout.

Increasing your stamina: Most people can do about 30 wines a day before they are exhausted. With practice and strategy, you can do more.
1) Keep the wine on your tongue. Do not let the wines get onto the sides of your mouth or gum. Have enough wine to cover the surface of your tongue. You need only about 15 ml of a wine.
2) Always spit to avoid getting drunk faster.
3) Be selective. Taste wines from the top range. If you like them, work your way down to the winery's entry-level range. You may find good wines at bargain prices.  
 
Narrowing  down options and reducing time by research:
1) It is always useful to know who will be at the wine shows. Select wineries or wines that you are curious about.
2) If possible, know where their stand is so that you can work out a plan to cover your desired wineries with minimal travel.
3) Prioritize which winery to visit first. Make a list of must-does and optional. Remember that the more you taste, the more fatigue sets in so seperate your must-does as well.
4) If there are too many customers being served at a stand, move on to another one so that you will not waste time by waiting till you get served. Go someplace less crowded and return later.

Maximising your learning: Many people taste wines at a show in the order of whites, reds and desserts. That means they will go to each winery for only the whites and then start over again with the reds. This makes the learning process confusing. My suggestions:
1) Taste by wineries. This allows me to understand the winemaking style of the winery better and I get more talk-time with winemakers.
2) Taste only certain grapes. This enables you to build a profile of how the same grape expresses itself in different regions.
3) Taste by style. For example, you only want to taste port styles or sparkling wines.
4) Ask the right Questions. This will allow you to understand more about the winery's devotion to quality. More on this shall be elaborated.

Internet dating & Wine

At supermarkets, it can be mind-blowing when one comes across endless shelves of different wine brands. The consumer is confronted with so many choices. Time is of an essence. What do we choose? Most of the time, it is the eye-catching bottle that has a nice label. The physical played the most part in making a decision. Sounds a little like me when I choose to hook up with a woman because of her looks without considering the goodness of her character. By the end of the night, the woman, just like the wine, disappoints.

An article was published in The Economist on February 11th 2012, titled “Sex and love”. Some interesting points brought up were:

1.   Internet dating sites offer a huge range of choices and a system that can help match your specifications as to what you are looking for in a partner. Thus, it assumed that finding a suitable long-term partner through the internet would be easier.

2.   Data suggest that we do not know what we want and that our preferences differ from our selected choice.

3.   When presented with a large volume of choices, less attention is paid to characteristics that require evaluation by both thinking and conversation. Instead, more attention is paid to the physical attributes.

This applies in the context of wines. With internet sales getting more popular, it still doesn’t solve the choice dilemma in supermarkets. There may be more misses than hits, even if you were to use the advanced search to narrow down your choices. This re-affirms the old adage that less is more.

Many do not know what wines they are looking for. Sommeliers get frustrated with such customers. You help narrow down their choices and they still don’t like the wines. Knowing what your preferences are requires time and opportunity to taste various wine styles. You know you like it when you keep coming back to it.  I love big oaky vanilla-flavoured reds and rich buttery chardonnay. What about you?