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French Wine Explorers Wine e-Newsletter
www.wine-tours-france.com - April, 2004

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This month's wine explorations:

Answering Your Wine Questions: Judging the Age of a Wine
New Best of Bordeaux Dates - Sept. 5-11, 2004
Wine Tips: Wine with Asparagus
Last-minute booking discounts: 10% Off
Upcoming Wine Events in France

Answering Your Wine Questions: Judging the Age of a Wine

Got a question about French wine or wine in general? Just send your question to me at info@wine-tours-france.com. If I pick your question to answer in the e- newsletter, you'll get a gift certificate for a $250 discount on the tour of your choice.

Craig V. from Tallahassee, FL asks: "Some people say they can tell the age of a wine just by smelling it and looking at it. This seems impossible to me - are these people for real?"

I know it seems unbelievable, but it is actually possible to take an educated guess about the age of a wine just by looking at it and smelling it. The look of the wine and the smell of the wine are the first two steps in wine tasting, and they give very good indications about the age of the wine:

The Look: as wines age, their color changes. White wines tend to deepen in color from pale yellow to deeper yellow, and finally to an amber-like color as the color molecules (flavonoids) become oxidized. Even in the nearly hermetic environment of a closed bottle, this very tiny amount of oxidation does goes on. Red wines contain two color molecules: flavones (yellow color) and anthocyans (red color). In their youth, the red color molecules are much more concentrated than the yellow ones, giving the wine a violet or pink-tinged red color (similar to the color of red grapes themselves). As they age, the anthocyans combine with tannin molecules and fall to the bottom of the bottle, creating the deposit you often see in bottles of red wine. With fewer anthocyan molecules present, the yellow flavone molecules can be more readily seen. With time, the color of the wine changes from pink or violet-red to true red (tomato color), and finally to orangey or brownish-red. So the color of the wine can actually give you an idea as to whether the wine is young, middle-aged, or old.

Another visual indication is the gradation of color at the edge of the glass. If you tilt your wine glass to the side, you'll see that there is a ring around the edge where the color degrades from the color in the center of the glass to a nearly clear color as it meets the glass. In fact, what you're seeing at the edge of the glass is water - wine is 80-90% water, after all. In young wines, the color degrades rapidly near the edge, and there is a fairly wide band of clear water forming a ring around the glass where the wine touches the glass. As wines age, the gradation is much more gradual, and it is often difficult to see any clear water at the very edge. This is a VERY subtle thing to see, and really more of a parlor game than a serious way of judging the age of a wine, but I thought I'd mention it just for fun.

The Smell: young wines tend to smell mostly of fresh fruit, flowers, fresh minerality (like chalkiness or flintiness) and fresh vegetal smells (cut grass, fresh vegetables like green pepper, etc.). As wines age, particularly in wines that are vinified to be aged (meaning that they favorise the development of complex aromas later in life rather than fruitiness early in life), other aromas develop. We call these Tertiary Aromas, or aromas of aging. The fresh fruit aromas becomes cooked for jam-like fruit aromas, and finally dried fruit aromas. The vegetal aspect becomes less pronounced, and aromas of forrest floor, mushrooms, tabacco, leather, gaminess (barnyard) or truffle appear. The minerality can become more pronounced and more earthy. By identifying the aromas present in your glass, you can get a pretty good idea whether the wine is young, middle-aged or old.

You can see that the Look of the wine and the Smell of the wine give you good clues as to the age of the wine in question. When you combine the clues you find in the Look AND the Smell, you can start making some educated guesses as to the exact year of the wine. Of course, you need to also know something about the wine itself to be able to determine the exact year of the wine. "Old" is a relative term - some wines are old when they've been in the bottle for 3 years; others are "young" at 10 years. If you know the appellation and the producer, you'll be in a better position to judge the exact age. It's also helpful to actually TASTE the wine - it can be impressive to guess the age of a wine just by looking at it and smelling it, but most professionals will go through all the steps of analysis (Look, Smell, Taste) to be able to make a truly educated guess about age. And remember, it really would be only a guess - if it really only took an objective set of criteria to be able to judge the exact year of a wine, winemakers wouldn't have to print the vintage on the bottle!

Join us for one of our scheduled tours to learn more about wine tasting techniques as you taste at some of France's best estates, while enjoying fabulous dining, luxury hotels and the beauty of the French wine country.

New Best of Bordeaux Tour for 2004 - Sept. 5-11

Our Best of Bordeaux tours have been so successful this year that we've decided to add another tour to our schedule. The dates are September 5-11, and the itinerary includes a combination of First Growth other Classified Growth chateaux, as well as other top-quality chateaux in Péssac-Léognan, Saint Emilion, Pomerol and Sauternes. We've decided to break from our luxury tour mode for this tour, and include comfortable 3-star hotels to make the price particularly attractive - just $3595 per person, double occupancy.

We'll have the itinerary and full details shortly. We'll be happy to send them to you as soon as we hav them - just contact us and let us know!

Wine Tip: Wine with Asparagus

At this time of year in France, all the top restaurants offer lovely asparagus dishes, as this Springtime favorite becomes available in the French markets. Asparagus is certainly delicious, but it's particularly difficult to match wine successfully with it. It tends to give a metallic or bitter taste to whatever wine is served with it. One of the prime rules of food and wine matching is that the food should show the wine in its best light, and vice versa. When a particular food makes wine taste bad, that's a problem.

You need a wine with sweet fruit aromas to counteract the metallic or bitter tendancy. Asparagus has a distinctive taste, but not a strong taste, so the wine has to be distinctive without being strong. My choice would be a young Sauvignon Blanc-based wine, like a white Sancerre or a white Bordeaux like those from Péssac-Léognan in the Graves subregion. The fresh vegetal aspect and fruitiness of these wines matches well with the distinctive vegetality of the asparagus. If you're serving your asparagus with a creamy sauce, opt for the Péssac-Léognan, particularly one that is very round and fat. Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte white would be a good choice, for example.

An interesting alternative wine would be a Condrieu, the 100% Viogonier wine from the Northern Rhône Valley. This very fresh and fruity wine would also counteract the metallic, bitter tendancy, adding some nice, delicate apricot, peach or pinneapple flavors to the mix. A good one to try is by Les Vins de Vienne, one of the Northern Rhône's most dynamic young négociant firms.

Last-minute Booking Discounts: 10% OFF

Take advantage of some exceptional discounts on two of our tours this Spring.

Join Robin Garr of WineLoversPage.com and I for our Burgundy & Champagne tour, May 24-30. You'll taste at some of the best producers in Burgundy, and some of Champagne's most prestigious houses (both large and small), while enjoying luxury hotels, fabulous dining and fascinating cultural sightseeing. Save over $400 per person with our 10% discount, bringing the final cost of this luxury tour to only US$3955 per person, double occupancy.
On our Bordeaux Prestige Tour, June 1-5, you'll have the extraordinary opportunity of visiting some of the most famous chateaux in the world, while enjoying luxury accommodations and sumptuous meals. Meet renowned winemakers, hobnob with famous chefs, and get an insider's view of the Bordeaux wine scene, while tasting the much talked-about 2003 vintage in barrel tastings. The 10% discount brings the price of this prestigious tour to only US$4135 per person, double occupancy.

We have just 3 spaces left for Burgundy/Champagne, and 6 spaces left for Bordeaux Prestige, so reserve your place today! Contact us for more information.

Upcoming Wine & Food Events in France:

April 30-May 9: Foire de Paris (Paris Trade Fair), Paris (Porte de Versailles Exhibition Halls, 15th arrondisement). Wine and food producers from all over France - the biggest annual fair in Paris. For more info: http://www.comexpo-paris.com 33 (0) 1 44 13 17 17.
May 8-9: Côte de Bourgs: 100 Chateaux open their doors for tastings. For more info: www.cotes-de-bourg.com, info@cotes-de-bourg.com.
May 10-16: Fête du Pain (Bread Festival), Paris 12th arrondisement (Bercy Village). Exhibitions and festivities surrounding the making of bread, the staple of the French diet. For more info: http://www.pidf.com, BERCY VILLAGE, 28, rue François-Truffaut.
May 21-22: Chocolate Days, Bayonne (Southwest France). The Jews fleeing Spain found refuge at Bayonne, and with their knowledge of chocolate, Bayonne became the chocolate capital of the South-West. Exhibits, tastings. For more info: infos@bayonne-tourisme.com, http://www.bayonne-tourisme.com.
May 22: Fête de la Vigne et du Vin, Chateau Val Joanis, Pertuis (Provence). This famous winery opens its doors for a day of tastings and an antique car exhibit. For more info: info.visites@val-joanis.com, (33) 04 90 79 20 77.

Spring is prime time for visiting the vineyards of France. The wineries are open and happy to welcome you, and you'll see the vineyards "springing" to life as the flowering happens and the leaves appear. We'll be happy to design a customized, private tour for you this spring in the region of your choice.

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Contact Us

I'm always available to answer your questions about our wine and culinary programs, our company, and wine in France in general. Don't hesitate to contact me at info@wine-tours-france.com, or toll free at 1-877-261-1500.

Best regards,

Lauriann Greene-Sollin, Sommelier-Conseil
President/Founder

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FRENCH WINE EXPLORERS
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