China ascending

In Greek mythology, Zeus (clearly no fool) delegated the task of choosing the fairest of three goddesses— Hera, Athena and Aphrodite—to Paris of Troy. This first “Judgement of Paris” set the stage for the Trojan War and eventually led to the founding of Rome.

The second Judgement of Paris rocked the wine world in 1976. Six Californian cabernet sauvignon wines were blind-tasted against four top-drawer Bordeaux wines; six Californian chardonnay wines were set against four iconic white Burgundies (also Chardonnay). And, to further muddy the waters, all the wines were of different vintages. Each judge set his or her own tasting criteria; the only requirement was to score the wine—one being the lowest, to 20 being the highest. The results were startling: many of the judges scored the American wines higher than the French wines. While these findings did not diminish the French wines, it brought the focus of the wine world squarely on New World wines. And the results also underscored the profound difficulties of blind-tasting wines. Master sommeliers will attest to this being a most difficult task that embraces a great deal of knowledge along with a soupçon of luck.

Although it is often said that lightning does not strike twice in the same place, earlier this week it did just that: on October 9, a team of Chinese won a taste test in France. The Chinese wine tasters managed to identify 12 wines, both red and white, without seeing the bottle or label; they identified the country of origin, the varietal, the vintage, the producer and the geographical area of these 12 wines. (The French placed second and the Americans placed third.)

It was not surprising. The huge middle class population of China has discovered a passion for wine. Clubs are devoted to wine pairings and wine tastings; indeed there was a great contest to select the Chinese team. Second only to Spain, China had almost two million acres of land in 2015 dedicated to growing grapes to produce fine wines destined primarily for domestic consumption. Don’t forget a Chinese red wine took gold over French wines in 2011. It stands to reason, therefore, that Chinese wines will soon take their rightful place within the wine world.

THIS WEEK’S PICK
This week I tried two new releases while picking up some beer at Barley Days.

• A seasonal Pumpkin Bock is produced by Barley Days’ brewmaster Brett in collaboration with Elora Brewing’s brewmaster Alex. Flavoured with all the spices usually found in a pumpkin pie, this lager is really refreshing. Be careful though: bock beer has a higher alcohol percentage—one can be enough.

• The other beer, Hot Rod, is brewed with smoked brisket in the boil. It would be perfect to accompany a Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich, as opposed to a cherry coke.

Both are available at the brewery, located just west of Picton on the Loyalist Parkway. The cost is $6.50 per 500ml bottle.