RIJSTTAFEL with Riesling from Clare Valley (Grosset Polish Hill 2006). The lightly sweet kecap manis goes well with the sweetness. Also a good dish of ikan nila goreng with a sambal of tamarind and chilli — there’s enough acidity in the Riesling to go with the crispy fish, and the sweetness envelopes the hot sambal…
From Hugh Johnson’s Wine Atlas:
“Clare is isolated, and feels like it. Local wine producers are proud to be distant from the influence of fashion and big company politics. This is farming country in the hands of small farmers in the main who form an unusually cohesive group of wine producers. They were the first in Australia to agree to move to screwcaps in an effort to preserve the particular steely quality of their Rieslings. In the hands of literally dozens of Riesling producers as capable as Grosset, Kilikanoon, Petaluma etc, Clare Riesling has established itself as Australia’s most distinctive: firm and dry, sometimes almost austere in youth, but usually with a rich undertow of lime that can mature to toastiness after years in bottle.”
I’ve not tried any Eden Valleys — one relatively new one is Mesh, a joint venture between Yalumba and Jeffrey Grosset, Australia’s king of Riesling. According to Grosset, Eden Valley Riesling tends towards grapefruit while Clare Valley is characterised more by lime…
:) So fun to match and learn! Still don’t know much about wine, but I started off with Rieslings: the first time I could taste a difference between the cheap Muller-Thurgau Liebfraumilch and a QbA Riesling, which was fresher, with clearer fruit and citrus aromas, with a fine racy acidity and a far longer finish.
With the QmPs the purity of fruit flavour is greater, with a wonderful delicacy of touch yet at the same time an intensity of flavour. Mosel wines are crisper, with fruity citrusy flavours developing into oil with age, while the Pfalz (further south, with riper grapes and greater concentration of sugar and flavour) is melon or peachy, with sweeter fruit and fuller body.
In the late 19th and first half of the 20th C, German Rieslings were prized and priced as highly as the great reds of France. Its showcase is the northerly Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, home to a quarter of all of Germany’s Riesling. The best sites face south, to attract maximum ripening sunlight, ahave a steep gradient, and are sheltered from wind. The gradient makes the vineyards hard to work — younger Germans are unwilling to spend their working days in the open, fighting gravity, hunched over truculent vines….but the result is wines unique in the world for the combination of low alcohol, striking aroma, high extract and delicacy of texture. Due to the combination of acidity and extract, the wines can develop for decades in bottle.
Aussie Rieslings have a minerally raciness underlying the tangy, lime-accented fruit — the wines are less phenolic than those of Alsace, and less alcoholic than Austria/Alsace.
To try: Cloudy Bay late harvest Riesling for desserts.
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Sweet wines: The greatest of them all: Chateau d”Yquem and the finest Eisweins and Trockenbeerenauslesen, for desserts and foie gras, or blue cheese and liver pate.
The best sweet wines are made when fermentation stops naturally, either because the yeast dies or because the must is too concentrated to allow the yeast to work efficiently. There will always be a crisp balancing acidity, which will clean the palate, giving a fresh, lively finish.
In France, Sauternes and Barsac — just up river from Bordeaux, are the most famous of all sweet wine areas in France. The Semillon is concentrated by noble rot — porriture noble — and the balance is achieved by Sauv Blanc.
The temperatures in German cellars tend to be lower than those in most southern countries, especially as the harvest is later, so the yeast finds it even more difficult to work. The result is that many German sweet wines are very low in alcohol, 8 or 9 per cent is not unusual. This means the wines tend to be a little sweeter than a French equivalent picked at the same grape-sugar level, but the racy acidity makes for a lighter, less unctuous palate.
Tokay wines are also made from noble-rot berries, but are handled differently. The heavily botritic berries are kept separate from the unaffected ones, and the healthy berries are turned into must/wine and then the rotten berries added. The propotion added is measured in puttony, so the higher the puttonyos figure, the sweeter the finished wine.
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Speaking of Rieslings, here’s the full list of German wine categories:
1. Deutscher Tafelwein, or ‘German table wine’
This is the equivalent to vin de table. It must be produced exclusively from allowed German-grown grape varieties in one of the five Tafelwine regions. Region or subregion must be indicated on the label. The grapes must reach a must weight of 44°Oe on the Oechsle scale (5% potential alcohol) in most regions, with the exception of Baden where 50°Oe (6% potential alcohol) must be reached. The alcohol content of the wine must be at least 8.5% by volume, and concentration or chaptalization can be used to reach this level. They must reach a total acidity of at least 4.5 grams/liter. Tafelwein (without “Deutscher”) can be a so-called Euroblend, a table wine made from grapes grown in several European countries.
2. Deutscher Landwein, or ‘German country wine’
This is the equivalent to vin de pays, and was introduced with the 1982 harvest. Regulations are similar to those for Deutscher Tafelwein, but must come from one of the 19 Landwein regions, the grapes must reach 0.5% higher potential alcohol, and the wine must be dry (trocken) or off-dry (halbtrocken) in style, i.e. may not be semi-sweet. “Landwein” can also refer to German fruit wines.
3. Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA), or quality wine from a specific region.
These wines must be produced exclusively from allowed varieties in one of the 13 wine-growing regions (Anbaugebiete), and the region must be shown on the label. The grapes must reach a must weight of 51°Oe to 72°Oe depending on region and grape variety. The alcohol content of the wine must be at least 7% by volume, and chaptalization is allowed. QbA range from dry to semi-sweet, and the style is often indicated on the label. There are some special wine types which are considered as special forms of QbA. Some top-level dry wines are officially QbA although they would qualify as Prädikatswein. It should be noted that only Qualitätswein plus the name of the region, rather than the full term Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete is found on the label.
4. Prädikatswein, recently (August 1, 2007) renamed from Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP)
The top level of the classification system. These prominently display a Prädikat from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese on the label and may not be chaptalized. Prädikatswein range from dry to intensely sweet, but unless it is specifically indicated that the wine is dry or off-dry, these wines always contain a noticeable amount of residual sugar. Prädikatswein must be produced from allowed varieties in one of the 39 subregions (Bereich) of one of the 13 wine-growing regions, although it is the region rather than the subregion which is mandatory information on the label. (Some of the smaller regions, such as Rheingau, consist of one only one subregion.) The required must weight is defined by the Prädikat, and the alcohol content of the wine must be at least 7% by volume for Kabinett to Auslese, and 5.5% by volume for Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese.
The different Prädikat designations used are as followed, in order of increasing sugar levels in the must:
1. Kabinett: fully ripened light wines from the main harvest, typically semi-sweet with crisp acidity, but can be dry if designated so — ideal aperitifs, light and refreshing wines
2. Spätlese - meaning “late harvest”: typically semi-sweet, often (but not always) sweeter and fruitier than Kabinett. Spätlese can be a relatively full-bodied dry wine if designated so. While Spätlese means late harvest the wine is not as sweet as a dessert wine. Can age well.
3. Auslese - meaning “select harvest”: made from selected very ripe bunches or grapes, typically semi-sweet or sweet, sometimes with some noble rot character. Sometimes Auslese is also made into a powerful dry wine, but the designation Auslese trocken has been discouraged after the introduction of Grosses Gewächs. Auslese is the Prädikat which covers the widest range of wine styles, and can be a dessert wine. Ageing is essential.
4. Beerenauslese - meaning “select berry harvest”: made from individually selected overripe grapes often affected by noble rot, making rich sweet dessert wine.
5. Eiswein (ice wine): made from grapes that have been naturally frozen on the vine, making a very concentrated wine. Must reach at least the same level of sugar content in the must as a Beerenauslese. The most classic Eiswein style is to use only grapes that are not affected by noble rot. Until the 1980s, the Eiswein designation was used in conjunction with another Prädikat (which indicated the ripeness level of the grapes before they had frozen), but is now considered a Prädikat of its own.
6. Trockenbeerenauslese - meaning “select dry berry harvest” or “dry berry selection”: very rare, very sweet, very expensive wines made from selected overripe shrivelled grapes often affected by noble rot.
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Most people think we taste with our mouths, but the palate’s a poor organ to taste with. Much of our sensations of taste comes from our sense of smell. We do have “blind spots” in smells — about 10 per cent of the population will be “blind” to any particular pure smell: a function of anosmia, or smell blindness. Fortunately, the flavour of wine is made up of different components, so there will always be something to enjoy. The smell of wine comes to us intwo ways: first, physically and deliberately smelling the glass and second through retro-olfaction: experiencing smells via the back of the mouth when the vapour of the wine reaches the nasal cavity in the back of the mouth.
There are three things you should be looking for on the nose: cleanliness, intensity of character and the character itself. Some wines, such as Sauvignon and Gewurtztraminer, have a strongly aromatic character. Others, such as Soave and Muscadet, are far weaker on the nose. Allied to the fruit character is the development. Recognising development takes a little practice and experience, and is closely tied to the specific characteristic you smell in the wine. Wine is said to have three separate ranges: the primary aromas are those from the grape, the secondary from the fermentation process and tertiary from subsequent maturation.
Young wines have a vibrant, fruity flavour. It can be simple or complex, but it’s a smell of primary fruit. Development implies greater complexity, with layers of perhaps spice or leather. When very young, wine smells of the fermentation. We normally don’t get this unless we’re at a winery, but some such as Beaujolais Nouveau, if tasted on the release date, can have something of this left. After a short time this disappears and fruit aromas come to the fore. By convention fruit and fermentation smells are referred to as aroma, while maturation character is called bouquet.
It’s remarkably difficult to identify exact smells when you begin to taste. There are many instances of one country’s “standard” tasting notes being of no use in another. English wine literature describes Sauv Blanc as being like gooseberry. Markets in the Far East are full of all manner of fruits and vegetables simply not seen in the West, but equally the shopper here have never seen juniper berries. In the 1970s and 1980s, Alsace Gewurztraminer was always described as spicy — but never as tasting of lychee, today’s standard descriptor as lychees were hardly known in Britain at the time.
What we’re smelling in wine is a vast series of organic chemical compounds.
Some typical characters:
Chardonnay: banana, butter, butterscotch, citrus, creamy, green apple, lime, nuts, pineapple, timber yard, toasty, tropical fruit, vanilla, wood
Riesling: apricot, aromatic, floral, kerosene, lemon, lime, mineral, oil, petrol, rose petal, sealing wax, slately, steely.
Muscat: apricot, aromatic, bath salts, grape, peaches, perfumed, soap
Sauv Blanc: asparagus, blackcurrant leaves, catty, flinty, floral, gooseberry, grass, green apple, green fruit, nettles, tinned peas
Semillon: fat, oil, rich, toast, tropical fruit, waxy
Viognier: apricot, peach, ginger, spice
Pinot Noir: cabbage, compost heap, ethereal, farmyard, horse manure, raspberry, summer pudding, tinned strawberry, vegetal, violets
Cab Sauv: blackberry, blackcurrant, black pepper, cassis, cedar, cigar box, green pepper, leather, mint, oak, plums, prunes, Ribena, tea leaves, tobacco
Shiraz: animalesque, blackcurrant, dark fruit, earthy, hot fruit, jam, leather, medicinal, oak, spice.
Merlot: cherries, damson, dark fruit, plum, red fruit, rich, soft
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Every time I go to Mustafa’s I stock up on Ahmad loose leaf tea: I adore the Ceylon blend…Ceylon black tea is one of Sri Lanka’s specialties, with a crisp aroma reminiscent of citrus, and is used both unmixed and in blends. It is grown on numerous estates which vary in altitude and taste — there are five estates and five broad varieties of Ceylon tea.
* Dimbula is a region that is drenched by the monsoon during August and September. The best teas from this region are from the dry months of January and February. Dimbula is a Ceylon Tea noted for its strength and powerful aroma. The tea is recommended with milk.
* Galle is located in the southern part of the island. Tea from this region has regular-sized leaves and has a golden appearance when brewed. Galle tea is known for its gentle, subtle taste, and is recommended with milk.
* Nuwara Ellya is noted as the best quality Ceylon tea. The name means ‘Above The Clouds’. Tea from the Nuwara Ellya region has a bright flavor and the liquid has a golden appearance. Tea from this region is best drunk with little or no milk.
* Uva is a region to the east of the central mountains and produces tea with a mellow flavor. The best teas from this region are harvested between June and September. The Ceylon Tea from this region are copper colored, with a smooth taste and is complimented well with milk.
* Ratnapura is a region that produces low-quality Ceylon tea. The tea grown from this region is mainly used as part of blends, but some are also sold alone. Tea from this region has a long-leaved appearance and a gentle, smooth taste. They can be drunk alone or with milk.
“Ahmad Tea buys teas from Galle, which yields a golden liquor, scented aroma, and gentle taste; from Nuwara Eliya, whose bright and delicate tea is considered by many to be the finest in Ceylon; from Dimbula, which produces a tea that exhibits body, strength and a characterful aroma; and Uva, whose teas renowned for their distinctive mellow flavour, fine taste and beautiful aroma.”
We need to develop an atlas for tea in Asia ala Hugh Johnson, and the vocabulary for it.
