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| Wine Faults: A Master Class |
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| Tuesday, 17 October 2006 | |
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Reported by Dawn Harvie If you missed this event, you missed a great one! I have to say that this was one of the most interesting and informative events held by the Guild. Dr. George Soleas, Vice President, Quality Assurance, and Leonard Franssen, Manager, Quality Services, walked us through six wine defects and several common aroma descriptors. Dr. Soleas gave us a rundown of the work done by the Quality Assurance (QA) department. The LCBO has sales of wines, beers, and spirits from 60 different countries, worth $3.5 billion annually, and every product is tested by the QA department. Approximately 400,000 tests are done annually on 16,000 products. The QA department has earned an international reputation and the laboratory has dual ISO accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 9001:2000). The QA Certificate of Analysis is accepted around the world. The QA department performs three main services: chemical analysis (for contaminants, cork taint, preservatives, sugar, acidity, etc.), sensory evaluation, and packaging and labelling reviews (including shipping container examinations and consumer label reviews). More about the QA department can be found at http://www.lcbotrade.com/programs_qa.htm. The first fault we examined was volatile acidity which we learned is usually the result of acetic acid and ethyl-acetate. The acetic acid component often gives a “vinegar” odour while the ethyl-acetate has more of a nail-polish remover odour. Cork taint (or 2, 4, 6-Trichloroanisole (TCA)) has a musty, mouldy odour and usually comes from cork closures. We learned that agglomerate corks are the worst when it comes to cork taint and that synthetic corks and screw caps are okay for short term storage. 2, 4, 6-Tribromoanisole (TBA) usually comes from surfaces in the winery (barrels, the building, etc. and sometimes the plastic and natural corks). It had a really dirty, stinky shoe type odour. This odour, if not too strong, will dissipate with time on occasion and can be treated in the winery using copper sulfate. If you want to check to see whether the fault is TBA, add a penny and if the odour dissipates, it probably is! Mercaptans smell like really rotten eggs or stinky cheese. And brettanomyces is most often caused by contamination of barrels. It had an odour of fermenting manure, iodine, and/or sweaty horse. Dr. Soleas and Len Franssen provided bottles with an extra bit of punch to the flavour to help us work on our aroma descriptors and it was impossible to miss them! Black pepper, bell pepper, raspberry, coffee, herbaceous/grassy, and citrus. The one aroma that was a little hard to detect was the cassis/black currant, but it was nice to have the opportunity to have a better idea of what the aroma profile is. And then we had a chance to taste four decent wines! The first wine was classic Sauvignon Blanc: cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush, lemon, hints of pyrazine, and acid. Everyone got New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc right off the bat. It was in fact the 2006 Oyster Bay at about $18. The second wine was a very nice red with pepper, a touch of menthol, and smoke on the nose, with lots of cherry, pepper, some earthy notes, and white chocolate in the mouth. It turned out to be the 2003 Trius Red from Hillebrand for about $20. The third wine was earthy, with light raspberry notes, and a touch of sweetness on the nose. On the palate, it was quite aggressive up front with slightly green tannins, acid, and coffee. It was the 2002 Cabernet/Merlot blend from Château de Charmes for about $18. The last, the 2003 Fontari Chianti Classico, had great fruit (sour cherries), dates, and clove and had nice tannin/acid balance with notes of coffee, cedar, and chocolate. It was a really interesting tasting. Thanks to Karen Richardson-Norris for her part in arranging this amazing tasting. And thanks to Dr. Soleas and Leon Franssen for visiting us here in Ottawa and providing an incredibly informative and interesting tasting. And Dr. Soleas has promised to come back to explain the whole tasting process! That’s an event to look forward too!! |
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| Moderation |
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 The National Capital Sommelier Guild strongly supports moderate and responsible consumption of wine and spirits. Guild dinner events allow a designated driver to attend at a reduced price. The designated driver will not be served alcohol. Guild tasting events provide and encourage the use of spit buckets. |
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