Spittoon: We Spit So You Can Swallow
The 24th Loire Valley Wine Trade Fair/Salon des Vins de Loire ran over three days (1st – 3rd February 2010) last week. In addition to the great and the good of this oft ignored region offering their ranges to taste the Fair also hosts the Le Concours des Ligers competition. [Tweets from the Fair can be read via the #loiresalon tag]
“This competition is run by the Union des Oenologues de France and the Loire trade bodies. For the past 15 years, it has rewarded the finest Loire Valley Wines. More than 2,000 wines will be tasted by 300-plus professional tasters.”
The gold medal winners were arrayed for sampling at the Palais des Ligers – a little side room to you and me – and while there I conducted a little tweeting. Rather than the ‘normal’ tasting note I endulged in a little creativity. This was inspired by a chat with Miss Bouquet. We both agreed that using traditional words such as acidity, tannin and so forth are an instant eye-glazing moment for the masses; so I decided to not use them.
As an experiment I’m not too sure that these ‘work’; do these notes inspire people to try the wines, more so than the traditional mention of body, length, various flavours? Does the 140 character Twitter restriction mean they are fine for that medium but not suitable for ‘proper’ notes?
With wine in hand and mouth they made perfect sense at the time…
wine_scribbler: stand by for some unusual-for-spittoon tasting notes direct from the #loiresalon
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon just when the marmite tribe are safely tucked up in the cave berry throwing starts Bois Moze Anjou Villages 05 Cuvee Jean Joseph [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Jean Christophe Misandeau Saumur Champigny 07 a slither of liver served on a dusty roof tile, how do they balance it on a pebble? [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Sabler Verts Saumur Champigny 06 Cuvee des Sages The Francs having a gay moment on the blackfruit beanbag [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Chateau de la Bonneliere Chinon Rouge 08 stirring the berry compote with a chard green twig or three [ Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon roche honneur diamant prestige chinon rouge 08 – stoned on strawberries [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Montgilet Coteaux de l’Aubonce Les 3 Schistes 08 single bee honey; poured over peachy peaches; pineapple et tangerine [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Moncontour Nectar de Montcontour Vouvray Doux 05 a teaspoon of pineapple juice sieved through adonis’ golden locks [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Gratien Meyer Saumur Brut Rosé – peachy cheecked milk maid frollacking in the hay barn; mind your head on the metal pale! [Adegga / Snooth]
wine_scribbler: #loiresalon Domaine de la Rouletière Vouvray Moussuex Brut 07 – bread rolling in spring meadowland; the pixie dust! the pixie dust! [Adegga / Snooth]
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We Spit... So You Can Swallow
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I like your Tweet notes; they have humour and humour is to be approved of.
You appeared to like the sparkling Vouvray. If you want to try an experiment which will surprise and please you no end then get a good bottle of sparkling Vouvray and stick it in the cellar. They age and… erm… improve? (is that really a suitable word for such a downright odd ageing profile) over very long periods of time and when you come to pop them the experience is remarkable and enjoyable.
I’ve had a 40 year old example from some unheard of producer that just took me to the moon and back with its panoply of damp, fungal and generally odd flavours. Three years ago I tried a 20 year old Huet sparkler and it really delivered the ‘weird but fine wine’-goods. Chenin Blanc is just such a serious grape variety which can produce many different styles of wine (all of which in the Loire smell of wet dogs)
I would suggest to any lover of Loire wines (who has a good cellar) that snapping up such wines and hiding them away will give you laughs and fun in many years time. They are generally dirt cheap, too.
Cheers,
David.
Hmmm. Tough question, this. As a general rule, the reason I am not even on Twitter is because I like my communications (both those I make and receive) to be more fleshed out – but I understand that me and my mammoth, unwieldy attention span are the exception rather than the rule
I like the humour and they are fun to read (and I suspect even more fun to write!) but not sure if they would stick in my head enough to make me go and sample a wine. I do like the “stoned on strawberries” one though…
I’d have to agree with Jeanne. They are fun to read but would they stick in my mind? It seems you have been heavily influenced by a certain Mr. B. I loved the “stoned on stawberries” too!