January 10, 2006 - Jack

Chicago Wine & Food Festival

This event was put on by Sam's Wines

October 21-23, 2005
(My visit was on October 23, 2005)

Chicago Food & Wine Festival

Grand Tasting
This is just a sampling of the hundreds of wine available for tasting.
I focused on the foreign wines. (The previous day there a large Reserve tasting.)
I was particularly impressed with Lucien Albrecht's wines.

2004	Bodegas Agapito Rico	Carchelo Monastrell	Jumilla	I like.	$13	1-3
NV	Lucien Albrecht	Cremant D’Alsace		Ok.	$16	2?
2003	Lucien Albrecht	Pinot Blanc	Cuvée Balthazar	Well done for Pinot Blanc.	$12	2?
2004	Lucien Albrecht	Pinot Gris	Cuvée Romanus	Med-long finish.	$16	3+
2003	Lucien Albrecht	Gewϋrtztraminer	Reserve	Smooth. Very Gewurtz-like	$17	4+
2001	Lucien Albrecht	Pinot Gris	Cuvée Cécile	100% estate Old Vines. Nice tartness. A winner. Super food-friendly.	$23	4+
2001	Finca Allende		Rioja	Good acids, good flavor.	$27	1-2
2001	Anura Vineyards	Pinotage				0-1
2004	Bodegas Borsao	Tres Pios	Campa de Borja	Appealing.	$11	3
2002	Bouchard Pere et Fils	Beaune du Chateau	1er Cru		$30
2003	Candelaria	Selection de Terroirs	Estate Carmenere Colchagua Valley	Nice!
2002	Achaval Ferrer	Quimera	Mendoza	(Cab/Malbec/Merlot)	$30
2003	Clos Saint-Georges	La Sanglarde	Châteauneuf-du-Pape		$65	3
2003	Jean Gagnerot	Chablis	1er Cru Vallons	Nice.	$80	2-3+
2003	Guelbenzu	Azul	Ribera del Duero		$16	1-2?
2004	Hermanos Lurton	Viuro Verdejo	Rueda			1+
2001	Osoyoos Larose	Le Grand Vin	Okanagan	Very appealing.		3
2001	Le Macchiole	Rosso	Tuscany	Good Acids	$31	2-3+
1998	Massolino	Margheria	Barolo	Very good value.	$45	4-6
2003	Montes	Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha - Alpata Vyd	Colchagua Vly	Good. Need to Try at home.	$18	2+
2003	Montes	Syrah Alpha - Alpata Vyd	Colchagua Vly	Stinky nose.	$18	2+
2003	Bodegas Emilio Moro		Ribera del Duero	Very good now. Great acids. $30		3-4+
2004	Mount Riley	Pinot Noir	South Island	Lots of acids. Next to no Pinot taste.	$16	0
2003	Movia	Ribolla	Brda	Good, but hard to judge as it needed more opening time.	$25	?
2000	Bodegas Muga	Reserve – Seleccion Especial	Rioja	Serious acids.	$35	3-4
2002	Pasanau	Ceps Nous	Priorat	Acids dominate.	$25	0
2004	Planeta	Le Segreta	Rosso	Okay.
2002	Santa Rita	Cabernet Sauvignon Medalla Real		Great nose. Complex, good finish. Will buy.	$20	4+
2004	Paolo Sarocco		Moscato D’Asti	Good		1-2
2003	Domaine Serene	Pinot Noir	Yamhill	Yum. Smooth. Acids. Showing so well!	$30	4-6

In addition, there were 35(!) seminars you could attend, each lasting an hour or so.
Here's my notes on the three I was able to get to...

Italian Wine Merchants
Revival of Classic Italian Wines
October 23, 2005
Hosted by Sergio Esposito
(The quotes below are his...he's a great speaker, too. These wines were great, too!)

2002	Movia	Sauvignon (Blanc)	Brda	“(A group of) Chicago sommeliers picked this wine as the one (out of 25 wines) which paired best with asparagus." "Movia cultivates natural yeasts.""Bottled by gravitational pull of the moon, so wines are clear even though they are unfined/unfiltered." The wine warmed up a bit and showed very nicely. Was great at the end of the tasting, which continues to tell me that Movia wines always need at least one hour of opening time. $25	3-6 (3 for now, 3 to age)
2001	Montevertine	Rosso	Toscano	Has a nice purity. Hmmm. Sangiovese and Canaiolo. $38	3?
2000	Paolo Bea	Sagrantino	Umbria	Pronounced “Be-ah.” This a great wine. Balanced. Smooth acids. Drink 5-25 years? $76	6+
2000	Bartolo Mascarello	Barolo	Piemonte	Young. Tight. Nebbiolo. $85.	2-3?
1997	Quintarelli	Ca’del Merlo	Veneto	Sergio described it as “leaps out of the glass.” Appealing nose. This is good juice! Big. "Quintarelli waits for natural fermentation to stop." $72	12
2001	Sartarelli	Verdicchio Balciana	La Marche	Wow! Has more of everything. Big taste, acidic finish. I want to try this in 3-6 years. $28	3?
1959	Ferrari	Solaria Jonica	Puglia	Smooth. Balanced. Nothing not to like. Not too alcoholic. Primitivo. (Only 400 cases made.) I definitely want a bottle! $140	1

Louis/Dressner Selections Tasting
Real Wine with Joe Dressner
Authenticity, Terroir, Vigneron & Pleasure
October 23, 2005
(Joe is great speaker - try to get to a talk of his some time!)

2004	Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier)	Muscadet-sur-Lie		In granite soil. Great nose. Clean, refreshing, lemony.		1-2
2002	Domaine de Roally	Mâcon	Montbellet	2 years fermentation. Unoaked.	$20	2-3
2002	Domaine du Closel	Savennières	Jalouise	The Chenin Blanc vines soil is mostly schist.	$25	2+
2004	Clos Roche Blanche	Touraine	Gamay	This is a clean, nice, food wine. Small not big. It has a delicacy to it and smooth acids.	$15	3+
2003	Pierre & Catherine Breton	Bourgeuil	Les Galichets	(“1947 was the great vintage.”) Biodynamic. “Will age forever.” Big - not appealing now.
2000	Mayr-Nusser	Alto Adige - Südtirol	Lagrein Riserva	Big taste. I like! Very different – need a bottle to evaluate better.	$20

Artisanal Cheese & Wine Tasting
Hosted by Max McCalman

Evaluating Two wines with Six cheeses
This was a very good talk except for too much on cheese safety
(which had nothing to do with the topic).

Wines (both I was familar with - excellent food wines):
1. 2004 Dr Loosen  Riesling Kabinet  Graacher Himmelreich   Bin 36 Cuvee
2. 2003 Telmo Rodríguez  Toro  Dehesa Gago 'G' (Tempranillo)

Unfortunately, there was so little wine in my glasses, that it was next to impossible to perform the tasting comparisons. Too many people, way too little wine! (1-2 oz of Tempranillo, less than an oz of Riesling.)

Cheeses
1. Ibores: Dry. Chalky feeling. Spicy, tongue burning, acidic finish, like I find Appenzeller to be - a good match with the Rielsing, not so with these Tempranillo.
2. Aseitao: Semi-soft. Pleasant.  The Tempranillo was okay with it.
3. Roncal: Yum! Dry flakey. Get Some! Good with the Tempranillo.
4. Grayson: Good. Very good with the Tempranillo.
5. Piave: Wow! Really Yum! Okay with the Temrpranillo.
6. Fourme D’ambert: Not for me.

Max made some generalities for Cheese & Wine pairings:
  •  Soft Cheeses – Try with sparkling wines
  •  Sheep Cheese – Red or Sauvignon Blanc
  •  Goat Cheese – Usually best with white wines

Max suggested when creating a cheese course, serve/eat in the following order:
  •  Mild to Strong
  •  Young to Old
  •  Soft to Hard
  •  Alternate Types
  •  Contrast
  •  End with Blues

When doing a cheese and wine tasting, Max said to:
  1.   Assess the wine first - start to finish
  2.   Assess the cheese alone
  3.   Taste the two together but wait for the finish

He also addressed three main considerations for choosing cheeses:
  •  Terroir
  •  Organoleptic Profile
  •  Sapidity

One last note: The more umami in a wine the more successful it is with cheese.