Whole Foods Galleria October Wine Tasting 2011

Now that Angela Ortmann (aka STLwinegirl) has taken over wine classes at Whole Foods, I went to taste “Up and Comers of the Wine World”. I typically don’t attend strictly wine classes as I prefer food pairings, but Whole Foods was generous enough to provide an aged gouda and one of my all-time favorites, Epoisses, as well as chocolate truffles for dessert! Of course all of these treats went best with the red wines since they can stand up to the drier wines.

Another reason why it worked out well for me is because we got to try three white wines out of the five total, although I should quickly note that they were all dry whites, so even the pickier wine tasters enjoyed the wines.

We started with a Gruet Blanc de Noirs from New Mexico, which I had just learned about last week at Home Wine Kitchen. I was surprised to learn that wine is now made in all 50 states these days, even Alaska! (Ice wines) I also learned that New Mexico has the longest wine growing history in the states dating back to the 1700s. This wine really surprised me because it was a sparkling wine but did not have that many bubbles like the name implies and was quite dry.

The next two white wines were similar in that they were dry and crisp with a lot of fruit on the nose. We tried a Opala Vinho Verde from Portugal and Indaba Chenin Blanc from South Africa, who has an opposite harvest season since they are in the southern hemisphere. The wine we tasted was harvested in February of this year!

The first red wine was a Apaltagua Carmenere from Chile, which tastes somewhere between a Merlot and a Cabernet. This was smoother than the Pueble del Sol Tannat from Uruguay, but again, the strong cheeses were the only way I could handle such dry red wines.

In addition to teaching classes at the Galleria location, Angela will also be offering classes out west in Town and Country, who will host the next class. Next up is a “bubbles” tasting on November 8th, and then back to the Galleria on November 16th for a food pairing with a “fall comfort food” theme.

Resources:

Epoisses = http://www.cheese-france.com/cheese/epoisses.htm

Whole Foods Galleria = http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/st-louis/

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com/

Wine and Cheese French Edition

I was super stoked when I walked into the class and saw that we would be having some of my all time favorites: Pouilly Fuisse and Epoisses!

Since this is the French version of the wine and cheese series put together by Angie Ortmann, aka STLwinegirl (http://www.stlwinegirl.com), I was really hoping that we could actually have some champagne but we had a Francois Montand Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine instead. There were few bubbles in it, which seemed strange, and it was quite tart. This was a paired with a St. Angel Triple Crème and they both tasted rather barnyard altogether.

Luckily, my favorites saved me since next up was a Bucheron Chevre with my favorite Chardonnay-style wine, Clos Reissier Pouilly Fuisse. It doesn’t have the oak or buttery taste of a California Chardonnay and instead there is more crispness and flavor, which helps cut through the thick, creamy cheese.

One of my all time favorite cheeses, Epoisses, is a small wheel with a creamy center. Since it was still fairly chilled, the cheese was not as oozing as I prefer it to be after it sits for awhile, but it still stood up well against the Jadot Marsannay, which is made from the Pinot Noir grape. The cheese by itself is quite pungent so it really helps to have a wine with some bite to it so they both calm each other down.

The Mimolette is French’s version of cheddar, which was aged for 18-months. Unfortunately, I don’t think this was old enough, meaning not sharp enough, to stand up to the Eschappe Bel Bordeaux, a very dry wine made from the merlot grape.

And for dessert, a Blue d’Auverge was paired with a super sweet Chateau Gravas Sauternes, which could have been dessert all by itself. The blue really did not calm it down enough to make it drinkable for me.

Since it’s the holiday season, there aren’t any more classes planned for awhile but I’m sure things will pick right up in January!