The european wine experience

With a little fast talking I managed to receive a trade entry to a tasting of over 150 wines on Saturday at The Langham Hotel.

Well to be fair I am in the trade and I did do some serious tasting with half an eye to the wine list. But mostly I was interested and excited to try some lesser known European varietals and expand my knowledge and tasting memory.

I also donned my -very- grown up hat and spat. Something that would have been an anathema in times past but I seriously wanted to try as much as possible and I was cautious not to get drunk or reach palate fatigue too quickly.

And that takes some doing.

I've read about the trials of wine judging before but it can be hard to conceive that trying 100 wines in a day would be a hardship. I've been to large tastings before myself but usually they have been convivial affairs when I spat about 'half' the time and only really wanted to try a couple of wines in the whole room.

So this was something different.

I was also feeling out of my depth as Rich has had much more exposure to pricey European wines (and the mind that can remember hundreds of football facts seems pre-disposed to retaining things like tricky Burgundian vineyard names and vintage variations) so I was relying on him to steer me past the dross.

We tackled the whites first, we found ourselves in need of a break quickly, we ate cheese, we re-tackled the whites and ate more cheese and needed another break. It was hard going and it quickly became apparent that we needed to fly past certain tables and push on as palate fatigue loomed before we even approached the red wines.

We approached the red wines. We needed some air. We re-tackled the red wines and ate some cheese and needed some more air and then I gave up and had a Viognier and a glass of Ruinart. I'm not sure I did the reds justice.

There were definitely some stand outs from the day. Wines that are still lingering in my head.

A sexy, spicy Mosel Riesling counterbalanced by a lean one from Alsace. An off-the-wall Chablis and a cracking Vouvray. Some generous yet quirky wines from Languedoc-Rousillon and a Pinot Noir masquerading as a Malbec despite coming from the hallowed ground of Burgundy.

I'll gather my thoughts and notes.....