Steven Spurrier’s Académie du Vin Wine Course_BLAD

About the Wine Course

❝ I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THERE’S REALLY ONLY ONE WAY TO APPRECIATE WINE, AND THAT’S TO TASTE AS MANY GOOD ONES AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN. I CERTAINLY HAVE. ❞ STEVEN SPURRIER

The Académie du Vin Wine Course was the brainchild of the late Steven Spurrier, wine writer, buyer, connoisseur and influential critic. In 1972, in Paris, Steven devised a series of classes that blended factual information with practical tasting experience, and which were structured so that students could build up their knowledge in a gradual, orderly way without becoming overwhelmed. Since then, the world of wine has greatly expanded, and though the scope of his course has widened almost unimaginably too, Steven’s founding principles remain true today: learn by tasting and comparing as many good wines as you can – and enjoy the experience! While theoretical knowledge is necessary to appreciate different wines (and the more knowledge you have, the more qualities you’ll find in any given wine), there is no substitute for direct experience of what individual wines taste like and why. Wines are as different and as varied as people. Given the same grape variety, soil, and heritage or appellation, they should be identical every year, all other things being equal. But all other things are not equal, from ever-changing climatic conditions to the personal preferences and idiosyncrasies of the

people making the wine. These differences are almost infinite, yet there are reasons for all of them that explain why any wine tastes the way it does.

Our approach at the Académie du Vin is to present the facts as objectively as possible and then to allow the wines to speak for themselves through comparative tastings linked by a common theme.

When the Académie du Vin was created in Paris in 1972, French wines still took pride of place at the top of almost every restaurant wine list. Fifty years on and fine wines are produced across the globe, the general quality having improved immeasurably – a fact acknowledged by Steven himself during the course of his extensive travels, from the wineries of Shandong to the haciendas of Uruguay, in search of the new and the promising. The greatest change in this book has been to broaden its scope to encompass the many new and dynamic wine regions explored by Steven – places that the curious can now join him in discovering. And yet at the heart of it all, France, with its skills and traditions refined over centuries, its classed growth Bordeaux châteaux and great Burgundy domaines (plus many more besides), remains at the top of the wine tree. For that reason, French wine continues to feature as prominently in this book as it did in the original – not to mention Steven’s own cellar.

We are proud of the heritage of the Académie du Vin Wine Course, which now ranks as one of the longest-running in the world. Steven’s wine journey was as long as it was remarkable. We hope that yours will be too.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

This book began life as the Académie du Vin Wine Course, by Steven Spurrier and Michael Dovaz, first published in the UK in 1983 by Century Publishing in association with Christie’s Wine Publications, and republished as a revised and updated second edition in 1990 by Mitchell Beazley (now part of Octopus Books Ltd). The material here has again been fully revised and updated for the 21st century, while endeavouring to retain the spirit and individuality of Steven’s original concept. Left Steven Spurrier and Nancy Gilchrist MW at a professional tasting at 67 Pall Mall in London, England, 2019.

The art of tasting

THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT APPROACHES TO WINE TASTING, WHICH MIGHT BE TERMED ‘TECHNICAL’ AND ‘FOR ENJOYMENT’. THEY DIFFER BOTH IN METHOD AND PURPOSE.

The principal aim of technical tasting is to assess a wine from a commercial standpoint. The taster firstly has to determine if the wine has any faults, and secondly whether it conforms to any standards of quality that may be claimed for it. During a technical tasting, the taster will answer a series of questions set out on a card that aim to make the entire process as objective as possible, thereby allowing fair comparisons to be made. For the same reason, all wines are generally tasted at a uniform temperature of 15°C, which is often too cold or too warm, but does at least help to level the playing field.

Above Tasting for enjoyment. Drinking wine is first and foremost about pleasure – but the more you know about what you are drinking, the greater that pleasure is likely to be.

Tasting for enjoyment is quite a different matter. The emphasis here is on enhancing the pleasure of drinking a wine by knowing as much as possible about it and understanding what its maker is trying to achieve. The wine must be tasted as fully and subtly as possible, and under the best possible conditions. From this kind of intelligent drinking hopefully comes intelligent buying – knowing that a wine is good enhances the pleasure of drinking it still further. Our experience at the Académie du Vin teaches us that the two approaches to tasting do, in fact, overlap. Professional tasters taste many tens or even

hundreds of wines every week. For non-professionals there is no need to go to these lengths – but equally, the more you know, the more you will enjoy. Acquiring technical expertise is first and foremost about mastering a series of operations that in time become almost automatic.

At this point, the taster can go on to appreciate the subtleties of aroma, persistence of taste in the mouth, and so on. A deeper ‘cultural’ experience of different wines takes longer to acquire and calls for a lengthy apprenticeship. It brings with it a knowledge of regional appellations and their characteristics, and an ability to discern the influence of different vintages. At an even more subtle level, it may make it possible to detect the hallmarks of particular winemaking styles and to assess the influences of grape variety, soil and climate.

Conditions for wine tasting

The only adjunct to the taster’s own skill and experience is the wine glass –although not, as we shall see, just any glass. The other important conditions relate to the health of the taster and the actual setting of the tasting. It goes without saying that the taster must be in good physical shape; a cold or influenza makes tasting impossible. The palate must be fresh and should have had no recent contact with spicy dishes, chocolate, mint, strong drink or cigarettes.

ISO WINE GLASS

Total height 155mm ± 5

Bowl height 100mm ± 2

Base/stem height 55mm ± 3

Diameter of top 46mm ± 2

Diameter of bowl at its widest 65mm ± 2

Thickness of stem 9mm ± 1

Diameter of base 65mm ± 5

Total capacity 215ml ± 10

Tasting quantity 50ml

The best time for tasting is around 10–11 in the morning, when the taster is wide awake and the senses are fresh and fully alert.

The setting is equally important. Ideally, the room should be quiet, well lit and well aired to banish any lingering odour of perfume, tobacco or cooking. It should have light or white walls and tables covered with white cloth, in order to fully appreciate the colour of the wine. The ideal temperature is 20–22°C, with a humidity of 60–70 percent. These conditions are about standard for any dining room in which fine wines are to be drunk.

Preparations such as these are, however, pointless if the glasses are unsuitable. Various sizes and style of wine glass for tasting have been studied by specialist bodies over the years and one has generally come to be recognized as the best – the glass shown above, which conforms to standards laid down by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Above Tasting from an appropriate glass (shown here, the ISO glass) will enhance the knowledge you glean from every sip.

The ISO glass is clear and relatively thin, and is suitable for tasting all kinds of wine-related drinks – champagne and sparkling wines; reds, whites and rosés; ports, sherries and other fortified wines; and eaux-de-vie made from wines, fruits and grains. The tulip shape retains as much of the aroma of the wine within the glass while still enabling the twin processes of oxidation and oxygenation to take place through contact with the surrounding air. The foot and stem make it possible for professional tasters to hold the glass without warming the contents, and make it easy to handle during the various actions that precede the tasting proper.

Appearance

THE GLASS MUST FIRST BE PLACED ON A WHITE SURFACE AND FILLED UP TO ONE-THIRD OF ITS VOLUME.

THE EYE THEN BECOMES THE FIRST ORGAN TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE TASTING OF WINE.

It is rare to find wines with faults that can be seen by the eye alone, but all tastings begin with an inspection of the disc, the robe, the colour and, finally, the ‘legs’.

The disc

The disc, or rim, is the upper surface of the wine in the glass. It should be examined from above, then from the side. The surface of the disc should be bright and free from all solid matter; if it has a matt appearance, this is a sign that all is not well – probably due to a microbic ailment. Lateral examination of the disc may reveal floating matter in the wine. The presence of these so-called ‘fliers’ is unacceptable, for it is a sure sign that the wine has been badly vinified and will therefore not age well. The best that can be said of such a wine is that it is ‘dubious’.

Deposits at the bottom of the glass are not serious, being generally made up of insoluble crystals of potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar). This is a sign that the wine has been subjected to a ‘cold shock’ after bottling and that the winemaker has not precipitated the bitartrates.

The results of these first visual examinations are described in very simple terms. Good wines are limpid, bright or brilliant; troubled wines may be dubious, opaque, hazy, milky, flocculent, dim or murky.

The robe

The robe is the colour of the wine, and is assessed for both hue and intensity. These two factors change together as the wine ages and often point to its condition and quality. The robe also helps to assess the vintage of a wine, whether white, rosé or red, and in the case of the latter, how long it should be kept. The hue of white wines ranges from pale straw to deep brown, and once again colour can be used to evaluate age.

Above Held at 45°, many wines are colourless at the edge but the colour always becomes more pronounced towards the bottom of the glass.

COLOURS OF WHITE WINE & ROSÉ

1-year-old Muscadet

A very pale, almost colourless, young white wine from an average year in the Loire. The colour may be a little fuller in a very hot year, but in comparison to other dry whites will always be among the palest.

4-year-old Napa Valley Chardonnay

Very similar to the Meursault (both being from the same grape variety), but softer still, with no green tinges. This is a ‘French-style’ Napa Chardonnay, relatively fresh and pale for a California white.

Bourgueil 1-year-old Touraine rosé

A very light Loire rosé from the Cabernet Franc grape. The ‘blush’ comes from the saignée process, whereby the colour is slowly bled out of the skins. Such wines should be drunk as young as they look.

1-year-old Alsace Riesling

Slightly fuller than the Muscadet, and a little firmer, with a faint touch of green. The pale colour denotes youth, but will intensify as the wine matures, with its natural acidity preserving its freshness for many years.

16-year-old Vouvray demi-sec

A white wine from the Loire displaying a much deeper, straw-yellow colour – intense, but still remarkably fresh and pale for a wine of this age due to the acidity of the Chenin Blanc grapes used to make it.

Bandol

1-year-old Provençal rosé

One of the best Provençal rosés, its pale salmon-pink colour due to a short amount of contact with the grape skins. The colour may lack intensity but the wine is likely to hold together well for some time.

4-year-old Meursault, Côte de Beaune

A softer, more buttery colour – still pale yellow but deeper and richer than the Riesling. The high quality of this wine, with good acidity to balance the fruit, has kept the colour young and fresh despite its age.

10-year-old Sauternes Premier Cru

The full, rich golden yellow of a very sweet wine from a top vintage, now approaching maturity. From this point on, the colour will deepen quickly to an amber gold, and after many more years to a burnt amber.

Côtes de Provence 1-year-old rosé

The alternative style of Provence rosé in which longer skin contact gives the colour more depth and intensity without any hint of wood ageing. Can be treated like a light red wine and should be drunk young.

The importance of colour

Colour is such an important factor in the wines of Bordeaux that one wellknown négociant made it his major criterion when buying. He painted the wall opposite his office white, and whenever he had to judge a wine he filled the glass and flung its contents at the wall. He always bought the wine that stained the wall – which needed regular repainting – the most deeply!

The story is not as eccentric as it might seem. Comparing the vintages of 2004 and 2005, or 2013 and 2014, would certainly have led the négociant to choose the better ones (2005 and 2014). Indeed, colour is so important that certain grape varieties, called tenturiers (‘dyers’), used to be planted solely for the purpose of colouring the wine, the best known being Alicante Bouschet.

The vocabulary used to describe the appearance of wines is one of analogy – flowers, fruits, woods and precious stones may all be used to evoke colour. In practice, some terms have become almost standard due to their frequent use. Intensity can be further qualified by words such as deep, consistent, ample, dense, rich, heavy; or alternatively by light, weak or poor. The description of hue is almost always accompanied by an opinion on how the wine is ageing – for example, by using such terms as fresh, sound, clear, true; or faded, over-aged, past its best, worn-out, oxidized, or maderized.

Although hue can be measured scientifically with a spectrometer, the taster’s eye remains the surest method of relating colour to quality. In the comparative method, four wine samples of varying degrees of colour intensity will be positioned in front of a light source and then assessed for quality.

The ‘legs’

What are known as the ‘legs’ are the subject of the third part of the visual examination of a wine. The taster inclines the glass or swirls it around so that the wine rises and then runs back down the sides. As it does so, it forms clearly visible smears on the glass known as ‘legs’ or ‘tears’.

This phenomenon is partly due to the difference in surface tension between the water and alcohol in the wine, and also to the presence of glycerols and residual sugar, which are higher still in viscosity and thus tend to ‘stick’. There is, however, no general agreement on how the degree to which a wine forms ‘legs’ affects its taste characteristics.

The Académie du Vin’s view is that the presence of the ‘legs’ is no guarantee of either balance or harmony. True, a poor wine that is weak in both alcohol and glycerols or sugars will be too fluid to develop ‘legs’; but equally, pronounced ‘legs’ may simply be due to an excess of these substances. On the other hand, a grand cru burgundy, which is legally obliged to attain a high level of alcohol to qualify for its appellation, will always form very marked ‘legs’.

COLOUR TERMS FOR WHITE WINE

A white wine that is generally light and watery in colour is described as being pale; one that has more intensity of colour is described as being deep. Pale, young wines are described as straw- or lemon-yellow – or, if they have a hint of green (eg Rieslings), as lemon-green. Richer or older whites with a tinge of orange may be described as gold or golden yellow –or, if they are very old, as amber. The latter is found mainly in deeply aged Sauternes and in Rieslings that have aged in the bottle over many years.

COLOUR TERMS FOR ROSÉ WINE

Rosé wine colours range from grey (only slightly coloured) to pink to salmon (where the pink has a marked tinge of orange).

The vocabulary relating to the fluidity or viscosity of a wine is more limited: watery, liquid, fluid, as opposed to heavy, syrupy, unctuous, oily, viscous, thick. The last three terms may also be used to describe a ‘sick’ wine, especially one that has been attacked by ropines – a rare bacteriological ailment that causes the wine to become unnaturally viscous.

COLOUR TERMS FOR RED WINE

A wine that is mostly red but dark with a hint of blue is normally described as purple; without any blue, it may be better described as ruby red. If there is a tinge of brown, the colour becomes garnet red –and if the brown tinges are more pronounced, tawny or even brown. Fruit-related adjectives are often employed to reinforce this terminology –strawberry, raspberry or cherry for light/ medium-coloured reds, blackberry, plum or blackcurrant for darker reds. Brownish tinges may be described as tawny or mahogany depending on extent.

Sparkling wines

Wines that contain less than 100 mg per litre of carbon dioxide (CO2) are referred to as still wines; wines that contain more than this are known by a number of terms ranging from effervescent to sparkling. The various intermediate degrees between still and sparkling are described as lively, pearly, moustillant and semi-sparkling, since carbon dioxide can be traced by the tongue from a level of 1.5–2 milligrams per litre of wine.

Wines that do contain carbon dioxide need special attention, as the presence of CO2 may be either a fault or a virtue depending on the wine. In a visual inspection, this effectively means examining the bubbles – their diameter, frequency and the rapidity with which they recur.

The bubbles may form a fine cream on the surface of the wine (champagne crémant), or a very thick ‘head’ composed of small bubbles, all equal in diameter but only lasting for a few seconds. (The transformation of groups of small bubbles into larger bubbles occurs only in beer.)

Once the ‘head’ has disappeared, the cream forms a ring – called the cordon – around the side of the glass. This remains there for as long as the bubbles are renewed.

The major champagnes are all better drunk mature than young, and none should ever be drunk too cold. In the context of a visual examination, the taster will be looking for an attractive pale colour and a constant flow of bubbles. Old champagnes will display certain changes in their visual characteristics: the customary palish colour will deepen to something close to gold, while the actual ‘bubbly’ quality will be less vigorous and lively.

COLOURS OF RED WINE

1-year-old Beaujolais

The fresh ruby red of a young Beaujolais. The Gamay grape should always have this look, neither too heavy nor too light, but appealingly fruity. In two years, the colour will have lost its youthful shine, as will the wine.

3-year-old Crozes-Hermitage, Côte du Rhône

A very deep blackberry red, to be expected from a young Syrah from a good vineyard and vintage. Just losing the opaque purple of its youth, the depth of colour shows the concentration of fruit. Will mature slowly.

11-year-old Volnay

A perfectly mature burgundy, where the intense red of the younger wine has matured to a full mahogany richness. The yellow-brown edge suggests that the wine is at its peak and will lose colour from now on.

1-year-old Chinon ‘Vieilles Vignes’, Loire

A very fine wine from old Cabernet Franc vines – a rich carmine red with tinges of purple at the edge. The purple will fade with age, but the firmness and intensity of the red will hold for many years.

3-year-old Margaux Grand Cru Classé

The vibrant, ruby red of a young top-class Cabernet Sauvignon, which will hold its depth of colour for longer than Merlot. This wine shows no sign of maturity and will still be an intense ruby in five years’ time.

11-year-old Margaux Grand Cru Classé

A fully mature First Growth from a good but not great vintage. The colour has lost its bluish tinges and is now a less opaque, more brickish red. The slightly paling rim suggests that the wine is at its peak.

3-year-old Volnay

The ruby red of a young Pinot Noir from a large vintage – seldom as rich or intense as that of Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah. A fruity-looking wine, but the fading at the rim points to a quickmaturing future.

4-year-old California Zinfandel

As intense as the Crozes-Hermitage – a rich, purplish red with no sign of age, promising plumminess on the palate and even tannins. This wine will lose its fruit very slowly, along with its opacity.

15-year-old Vacqueyras, Côte du Rhône

A mature red from a very good vintage in the Southern Rhône. The yellow-tawny rim shows that it is beginning to lose colour and fruit; it has the potential to last, but is most unlikely to improve any further with age.