Ahhh……. that´s better!

Caught in the act – Angela sneaks a quick snack

So let’s start with Peñin 2007 and his comment for our Castro Martin 2005 (this is lifted verbatim from the English version of the guide).

“Bright yellow with greenish streaks. Intense nose, green fruit, traces of citrus fruit flesh and fine herbs. Fresh palate, fruity, excellent structure, spicy background, good fruit/acidity balance.”

Translating a taste into words must be one of the most difficult things ever, and everyone has (and should have) their own vocabulary for doing this – one man’s cat’s pee is possibly another man’s freshly cut grass! The reason I say this is that I am always puzzled when an expression like fine herbs is used to describe our wine – personally this idea has never entered my head, which all goes to prove that all tasting is subjective and very personal.

As a former wine buyer Mr Peñin’s words that please me the most are “excellent structure”, as for me structure is probably the single most important factor in finding a good wine – having said that good fruit/acidity balance also helps!

The other day I received a gift from my bank in the form of a 2007 pocket diary. As usual the introductory pages are packed with all sorts of information including International holidays, dialling codes, maps and travel tips. This year however, they have added a wine vintage chart (albeit only for French wine regions).

Of course every wine drinker will understand the importance of a vintage and how it can influence quality, but in some cases I think that too little information can be a very dangerous thing. However well intentioned, the level of detail is always going to be very limited, and therefore prone to some misleading generalisations. For example, it is simply impossible to claim that every wine from Bordeaux, Alsace or whatever region, in a given vintage is outstanding, average or even poor. There will always be exceptions……..

I understand of course, that such a chart is only intended as a guide, but it is a shame to think that some perfectly good wines might be overlooked just because a tiny chart only gives the vintage two stars. (In a similar way journalists have been known to unwittingly write off an entire vintage at the stroke of a pen).

In addition to this comes what I call “the honesty factor”. I recently remarked upon a similar vintage chart compiled for Spanish wines – nearly every wine from every region was classified as good, very good or exceptional (not one poor wine in sight!) I will leave you to draw your own conclusions from this………

Another installment from the McCarthy’s soapbox series

I have to admit that I have mixed views about the true value of wine competitions, not because we don’t mind winning the occassional gong, but more because the award system itself is often wide open to abuse. I will explain…..

From experience I believe that it is very often the most obvious, young, full-bodied and over-extracted wines that are put forward to win awards. In the case of white wines this can be the wine that is laced with new oak, or one that perhaps retains a suggestion of residual sugar. Entries with any degree of structure, elegance, complexity or even bottle-age can quite easily be lost or overpowered simply because they are not fully understood, or their true underlying potential is not recognised. Of course these more ‘commercial’ styles have their place in educating the novice wine consumer, but on the other hand there should always be space for some award winning wines of subtlety and refinement too.

My second concern is that wine competitions have now become very big business – 1,000’s of wines submitted, with each bottle commanding a substantial entry fee, that can, in some cases, result in a generous profit for the organisers. At times, it must be said, there has also been an “over generous” quota of medals and certificates awarded (regardless of overall quality), simply to keep producers satisfied, justify the fee, and promote continued support.

Finally, there is the problem of the ‘doctored sample’……. Organisers of wine competitions invite producers to send their samples, and it is only human nature that a cellar would wish to submit their very best bottle. This being the case, some unscrupulous wine makers reserve a special tank or barrel of wine that is used exclusively for this purpose, and has nothing to do with the quality of the wine that ends up in your local wine shop. In this way, not only are the judges duped, but also the poor consumer is being cheated out of his bottle of the genuine award winning wine.

In saying all this I must emphasise that this is not sour grapes (pardon the pun), as we have been lucky enough to win our fair share of awards over the years. I guess that what I am trying to suggest is that medals and certificates can be misleading, and do not necessarily guarantee consistent or even outstanding quality.

I can assure you that an odd gold medal will not make our own wine taste any better than it already does! For us at least a great bottle at a reasonable price means so much more.

Another installment from the McCarthy’s soap box series

A thought for the weekend…….

“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, “It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”