Montauk Club Wine Class

You may remember that many of our regulars couldn’t make it to our first spice tasting on July 19, and because we thought it so much fun, we decided to have it again on September 20. This time, I remembered to bring samples of nine actual spices that we could use to compare with the aromas and tastes of the wines. These were allspice, anise, black pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, ginger and nutmeg. Again we tried a 2004 Fahn Gewurztraminer Appellation Alsace Controlee and a 2005 Hook & Ladder Gewurztraminer from the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County. With the help of our samplers we were able to pick up cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg in these two whites. Then we turned to red with a 2005 Domaine Barou Syrah from Cotes du Rhones and a shiraz from Australia. (My bad, I forgot to write down the particulars of that one.) And we certainly got the black pepper flavor that we expected. Interestingly, the syrah seemed fruitier than the shiraz even though we might have expected the opposite from the old world vs. new world styles. After dinner, we finished up with the floral scents of the 2004 Borgo Reale Moscato D’Asti for dessert (only 5.5% alcohol, a good indication of sweetness). I did also remember to bring photos of the winery in La Rioja, with a Frank Gehry designed hotel attached to it, that Jim and I visited in Spain. On that tour, as well as tours of two other wine museums, we learned a lot about what goes into quality wine, and we tried our best to share what we remembered from our travels.

And now, speaking of foreign shores, or better yet, hillsides, we’re moving on to the flavor map of the world! We’ll be starting a new chapter (number four) of Andrea Immer Robinson’s book Great Wines Made Simple, learning about location, location, location. We’ll start our journey comparing a cool-zone Riesling from Germany or Alsace with a moderate zone one from Australia, California or Washington. Then we’ll pit a cool-zone pinot noir from Burgundy, Oregon or New Zealand against a moderate zone one from California. And guess what? We’ll have samplers of different fruits to help us out! Isn’t that neat?

Students, take note! There’s a bit of homework this time as we’ll be covering pages 79 through 101 and 106 through 108 of the book. Probably the best way to get through this tough assignment is to sit down with a glass of – you guessed it – your favorite wine.

Also – and this is important – class will take place on October 25 this month because there’s a fundraiser at the Club on October 18 (which all of you should try to attend). Class will start about 7:00 p.m. followed by dinner as usual.

See you on October 25!

Suzy Marquard