How a Professional Wine Tasting Runs

Dateline: 03/06/00

Wine expos and festivals are drawing more and more wine drinkers, who go to enjoy the variety of wines and the conversations with the winery owners. Along with the general events there are usually more secretive "experts tastings," where by invitation only the winemakers and press can examine the best wines the region has to offer. I was recently invited to the experts tasting at the Cuvee in Niagara, Ontario, and would like to share my experiences "behind the curtains"!

First, the location. The tasting was held at the Queen's Landing, a top-of-the-line hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Tile and inlaid wood floors, crystal, sculptures and fresh flowers lined the long corridors to the ballroom. The ballroom was set up impeccably as if for a wedding. There were ten large round tables, with 8 people at each, plus a head table with six tasters. Most individuals were dressed rather well, with a few black silk dresses and bow ties in evidence.

Each place was set with 9 tulip-shaped glasses partially filled with Chardonnays, a glass for water, and a small plastic container for spitting into. This may sound a bit disgusting, but it is done very discreetly. If you did really drink all of the wines you tasted, you would be dancing on the tables by the end of the morning :). And yes, this began at 10:30am. So much for drinking before lunch!

When the first "flight" began, there was silence as each person slowly worked their way through the series of wines from left to right, tasting each, swishing it in their mouths, examining the flavors. There were creamy Chards, buttery Chards, mangoey Chards, green apply Chards. Some had strong flavors, some mild. There were no comments until near the end of this section, when one writer quietly asked the rest of the people at the table if there was something wrong with "Wine #6". He thought it had a slightly corked flavor, but none of the rest of us could sense that. He later recanted and found the wine was fine.

The person running the tasting, from the Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, now went through each wine, asking for a show of hands to see which was favored. There were hands up for every wine, showing how much personal taste plays into evaluating a wine. He then asked each of the four featured guests at the head table to discuss the wines we had tasted, and give their opinions. Wine #9 was the clear favorite, with a strong aroma and complex flavor. One taster commented that two of the wines tasted more French than Canadian.

Finally, the unveiling. Sure enough, the two that the taster had begged were indeed ringers - a 1997 Chablis Vaillons by Jean Dauvissat and a 1997 Puligny-Montrachet, Les Perriers Etinne Saucet ($95/bottle). These were all beaten by #9 - a 1998 Malivoire! It was quite a good sign that the Ontario Chards were easily in the same range as these two delicious French wines.

We took a 1/2 hour break, talking with the various winemakers and grape growers that were present, as they cleared out the first flight and set up the second. The second was only 7 wines, and soon we settled down to taste them. Again, the quiet, the clink of glasses and the swirling of wine. These wines were the 'better wines', and where the first flight had quite a bit of variety between the wines, these in the second flight were much more similar to each other. There was still coconut, wood butter, melon, toast, and other interesting flavors.

The show of hands, again, was pretty spread out amongst the seven wines, each having its admirers. This was not true when the MC went to the tasting table, though. Although their favorites were diverse, each panelist in turn panned wine #5. "One dimensional," "boring," and even "could only be served with dodo tartare" were the comments as each spoke about the wines tasted. Everyone in the room wondered which poor winemaker would be so publicly humiliated when the names were finally read.

The list of names then were gone through. The 1997 Thirty Bench did extremely well, as did the 1998 Southbrook. Then they reached #5. It was a 1997 Rosemount Estates Show Reserve! It was the ringer! Everyone had disliked the Aussie entry, while quit enjoying the various Ontario wines it was judged against. Yet another victory for the wines of Ontario.

The tasting over, many hung around for the large buffet that was served after, to ward off any alcohol headaches induced by so much wine in so little time. We, however, headed out - there were still many wineries to visit in Ontario, and little time to do so!