Pinophiles Part 5: Wooing Tree

Out Of Madeira? We've Got Just The Thing

Our last stop in Central Otago was Wooing Tree, its namesake being the almost-controversially-removed Oak (?) dotting the vineyard's nucleus (under which several Otago natives claim to have been conceived.) While our first four visits were confined to cellar door tasting rooms, Wooing Tree's viticultural foreman Geoff Bews marched us out amongst the vines for a up-close crash course on Pinot plants.  The first "ah-hah!" moment was Geoff's explaining the wiring system employed at most cool-climate vineyards.  Instead of letting the branches flare out naturally, farmers will weave the vines into a row-long loom of wires.  This is called VSP, or "Vertical Shoot Positioning"; it facilitates airflow throughout the vineyard and concentrates growth to the fruit bearing shoots by exposing the heart of the plant to more sunlight.

Before the jump and more technicality...for whatever reason Wooing Tree inspired Cael, Rick, and Scott to spontaneously "Erin Warner":

Bubble's Depot

West Baltimore's #1 Champagne Grower/Distributor

Professor Carleigh penciled in an ace for our bubbly class/tasting: Master of Wine (http://www.mastersofwine.org/) Steve Charters: France's resident Champagne connoisseur.  Layer Charter's poetically contemptuous British accent onto his encyclopedic Champagne knowledge and what do you get?  A meaty sparkling wine blog with insider info worthy of Bud Fox.

Champagne is about 100 miles east and a tad north of Paris, according to Steve it's about as far north as you can go and still find well-grown sparkling wine grapes.  Reims and Epernay are the commercial hubs; grapes grow on the region's remaining farmable acres.  Google maps "Reims" and look to its Northeast countryside...seriously.  "Why...so....serious?!''- Heath Ledger.  Because for one, it's the ideal setting for growing sweet, acidic renditions of the 3 sparkling wine grapes: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Mernier (more on the second reason later).  Champagne's cool, slow, long summer ripening period is this perfection's scientific explanation.

For some comic relief before the rest of bubbly and the jump, I offer the following exchange between Scott and Carleigh at our aromatics tasting:

Dr. Carleigh: "What do you think the Austrians put in their wine, besides sugar, to replace the lack of alcohol from fermentation?"

Scott: "Sugar."

Dr. Carleigh: "No, The correct answer is antifreeze."

Old Spice Women's Division: Meet Your New Female Spokesperson

A photo blog of Aussie Kim at the final a few weeks ago (all my lampooning aside, she's a wicked awesome athlete: great sport who played an excellent match) -

Set 1 - First Serve - Pits running at full speed

Final Serve - It's like MJ's vitiligo, might as well splash some water on the neckline and go 100% coverage.

Biff Tannins

              

                 

Don't confuse Biff Tannen (L) with tannin (R), he might just choke you

FINALLY, after three weeks of tasting white wines we've moved on to reds.  As our first day tasting reds, we began with a discussion of tannin.  Most of us had never heard of it, but we all know what it is.  You know that a wine has tannins when after a sip your mouth puckers up and you’re left with have a dry, rough feeling.  You'll almost inevitably run your tongue over your teeth.  It’s not a good thing.

But what causes it?  Tannins are a natural preservative found in the leaves, stems, and seeds of grapes.  They can also be found in oak barrels (particularly new ones) used for storing/aging wine.  They give red wine its color, structure, body, and age. Some grapes (thin-skinned grapes and those grown in hotter climates) have more tannin than others and, obviously, some wines (younger wines and those that have had more contact with oak) have more than others.  As a wine ages, the tannins crystallize and stick to the side of the bottle and are left behind after you pour.  They also manifest themselves in the deposits left behind in the bottom of a bottle of red wine. 

In attempt to perfect tannin levels, vineyards try to harvest their grapes at the optimal ripeness.  Wineries can manipulate the extract of tannin through different maceration techniques (maceration is the term for the process by which a winery keeps the skins, seeds, and stems in contact with the juice during fermentation in order to extract their color and flavor).  Maceration creates some chemical reaction that reduces tannin (sorry, that’s all I’ve got on that; I think I got a B- in 10^th grade chemistry).

Vino after the jump