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!

Questions that Matter

At the end of wine shows, I always have people who attended the show telling me that they didn't understand anything about what they were drinking. So why didn't they ask questions? Their response would be that they didn't know what questions to ask. Here are some questions that you can ask winemakers to give you a better understanding of the wines you are drinking.

1) Are you organic or bio-dynamic? This questions allows you to understand more about the producer's farming practices. I am in the camp that it doesn't matter as long as the wines are good but some people are not a fan of pesticides and herbicide sprays leeching onto the grapes.
2) How old are your vines in this drink? The older a vine, the better the quality, say 50 years and above. Usually around 5 to 15 years is still considered young.
3) What is the climate of your vineyard like? Cool climate can mean that you can expect light, delicate characters in your glass and high acid while warm means you get jammy fruits and high alcohol wines.
4) Is your vineyard on a hill? What is the exposition of your vineyard? Vineyards on a hill facing south are the best vineyards in the northen hemisphere as they recieve the most sun and get lots of drainage. It depends if grape varietal needs a lot of sun to ripen. For the southern hemisphere, it is north facing.
5) Has your wine seen any oak? What type of oak and what % of new oak? How long has your wine been in the barrel? Oak gives a different flavour dimension to the wine. The magnitude of the cedary taste comes from the % of new oak. The longer it is in barrel, the more oak it soaks up if it is new. For red wines, oak is needed to mellow out the texture of the wine to smoothen it. USA oak gives a more vanilla and dessicated coconut taste and french gives are more spicy, clove-like, new furniture aroma/flavour.
6) How long do you recommend I age this wine for? What is the oldest vintage you have tasted that is still looking good? It is good to get a winemaker's opinion on the longevity of his wine. High acid, lots of tannins or high alcohol are signs of a wine's aging potential but getting better as it ages is a different story.
7) What food do you usually eat with the wines you produce? This allows you to understand how wine from a specific geography marries with eating habits of a region.
There are many other questions those are more technical and unless you are at a wine school, it would be more useful to you.

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.

The Dictators of Order

The first time I was in Burgundy, I drank a Pinot Noir from a producer and decided to try the Chardonnay. I was told that after tasting the red wines, I shall not be served the white. Today, at FHA2012, I was told that after tasting the "better" wine, I am not allowed to go back to the "lower" quality wine. Who made those rules?

Frankly, I am sick of having the dictators of wine-order tell me how I should drink my wine. As the evaluator, I should decide how I want to assess my wines. If I don't like the taste of your wine, it doesn't matter how I drink it, or which order I drink it in.

You learn that the order of tasting is white, red and then dessert wines. After tasting reds, the tannins will affect your tastebuds for the white. That is why you don't drink big barossa shiraz, then a white wine or oaked chardonnay, then a flavourless unoaked light wine. Basically, it is about progressing from a lighter-bodied wine to a fuller body. If your chardonnay has the same body as your Pinot Noir (which is possible), let me drink it!  I know many people who can't taste whites after their reds. Luckily, I don't have such a problem. I know how to keep the tannins on my tongue and off the gums and the sides of my cheek. Drink a little water. I am good to go again.

As for quality, they say it is wrong to mix the "bad" after drinking the "good". You are doing the "good" wine injustice. Well, shouldn't they be pleased? The "wine labelled as bad that you just served me should taste better with the "good" wine I just drank. Ask a winemaker; he will say all his wines are good because he made them. Ask a distributor; he will say the one which is more expensive. Robin Goldstein & co disagrees.

"Our results indicate another reason for why the average wine drinker may not benefit from expert wine ratings: he or she simply doesn’t like the same types of wines as experts. This is consistent with Weil (2001, 2005), who finds that even among the subset of tasters who can distinguish between good and bad vintages, or reserve or regular bottlings, they are as likely to prefer the “better” one as the “worse” one. Unless they are experts, individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. Our results suggest that non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreciated by experts."

At a wine show with thousands of wines, it is poor strategy to taste wines in a particular order because you simply lose track of which wine you have drunk from each winery. The most pratical way is to taste the whole range from the winery and move on because:
1) you spend more time with the winemaker.
2) you understand the winery better after you have tasted the whole range.
3) chances are that you will be caught up with other wineries and you probably won't return to taste the remaining wines.

References:
http://www.wine-economics.org/journal/content/Volume3/number1/Full%20Texts/01_wine%20economics_Robin%20Goldstein_vol%203_1.pdf

Southern Rhône Wine Dinner 14/04/12

It was a saturday night. Spirits & expectations were high. I was bringing in wines to show to a group of my sisters' friends who are wine & food lovers. Two wines was paired with each dish. I am a big fan of 2 wine pairings with a meal to give people a chance to compare two different wines side by side and experiment for themselves which goes better with the food. It gives them a point of reference and also more fun, more drunk. In addition, different elements on the dish can go better with each wine. My sister cooked all the meals.

First Course: Red bell peppers stuffed with couscous and shaved iberico ham.
Wines: 1) Elodíe Balme 2010 Côte du Rhône, grenache syrah carignan 14.5% unfiltered& 2) Elodíe Balme 2010 Côte du Rhône, "Champs libres", Roaix village, Grenache. Mourvèdre 14.5% Both wines cannot be bought in Singapore. Elodie is a young and talented winemaker based in Rasteau.
Wine 1 had aromas of toasted strawberries, roasted capsicum, pepperoni and oregano fading to a more prunish nose. Flavours of dark aniseed with a firm structure. There was bitterness in the  back that faded away eventually. Brilliant with the food.
Wine 2 was meaty and exotic. It smelled of coriander, soya sauce used for steamed fish and then sweet sarsi. Flavours of strawberries, cherries, chestnuts and a nice chalky texture.

Second Course: Pan-roasted Lamb with Ratatouille.
Wines: 3) Le pointu 2007 Chateaunuef-du-Pape, "Cléments", 15% & 4) Domaine les Goubert, 2004 Gigondas, "cuvée Florence" 2004,14.5%
CDP means the pope's new castle and gigondas means the land of joy. Although seperated by a river, both produce wines with the same grapes. The soils are different as Gigondas has more schisty limestone than CDP. Le Pointu is not found in Singapore but Domaine les Goubert is carried here.
Wine 3 had a nose of roasted tomatoes on its stalks and later developed to a honeyed and light confectionary aroma with hints of floral. Flavours of coffee, honey and well integrated acid shines through to a rasin finish.
Wine 4 had a nose of coffee, truffle, and mineral. Its flavours were pronounced and powerful, savoury, meaty, soft, silky tannins, finishing with a big burst of flavours in the end. Some did not find this wine smooth because I did not decant this wine to get rid of the sediments, giving the wine a gritty texture. Note to self: Decant if it is an old wine with sediments. Don't be lazy! I was told wine 3 went better with the Ratatouille and the wine 4 with the lamb.

Third Course: A platter of goat cheese, saint nectar, and beemster with dried apricots and chocolate truffles.
Wines: 5) Domaine Faverot 2005 cotes du luberons, cuvée du général 14% & 6) Clonakilla 2009, Canberra, Shiraz viognier, 14%Domaine Faverot is not available in Singapore. The last wine was not French but Australian using the Northern Rhone style. It is available in Singapore.
Wine 5 was earthy and full of redcurrants. It reminded me of dark chinese herbs and cloves.
Wine 6 had aromas of ginger, oak, rose water, and red candied cherries. The palate had some jasmine characters, white pepper, tints of coffee and cedar. A very long length with an apricot finish. However, I felt the 2008 was better as the wine lasted longer with the oxygen compared to this one. After an hour, it was a skeleton with little flavour but charry oak.

It was good night ending on a high note. Everyone was pleased with the wines and the food. As for me, I enjoyed all the wines except the Clonakilla. It was a letdown because I know it can do better. 2009 was an extremely hot year with heat waves that produced low acid. I suppose that has to be accounted for but with a cool climate like Canberra, it is beneficial for them to give riper grapes aka more flavour. It was expected to be better than 2008! What happened?

*I am sorry that I went over the 5 minutes of promised reading time. But this rule is excluded for events.

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?