Do you believe we went from Germany to California to New Zealand in one evening! And we did some fine sipping along the way, too. On October 25, we tried our hand at distinguishing between wines grown in cool vs. moderate regions of the world. We started out comparing a 2006 Nikki Dry Riesling from Germany (cool climate) with a Bonny Doon Vineyard Pacific Rim Dry Riesling from Santa Cruz, California (non-vintage, moderate climate). Then we moved on to a 2005 Dashwood Marlborough Pinot Noir from New Zealand (cool climate) and a 2005 MacMurray Ranch Central Coast (California) Pinot Noir (moderate climate). The theory is that wines from cooler climates will contain flavors of fruits grown in the area such as apples and pears, in the case of whites, and red berries like cranberries and cherries in the case of the reds, while warmer climate wines would carry flavors of citrus and apricot or blackberries and black cherries. I brought along a number of different fruits to help us out. Even with the help, though, we had a hard time picking the cooler climate wines in a blind test, perhaps because the California wines actually came from cooler microclimates in the state. But we sure had fun trying.

So for our next trip, I think we’ll skip right to some chardonnays and syrahs where we’re likely to see a greater difference in the wines from various climates. We’ll compare a chardonnay from Burgundy with one from Australia and a syrah from Washington State with a shiraz from Australia. I’ll bring another complement of fruits to help us with our tasting.

To prepare for the class, you might review pages 79 through 101 of Andrea Immer Robinson’s book. And the tasting notes we’ll be looking at appear on pages 103 through 106 and 112 through 114.

I’m afraid I have to switch the class from the third Thursday again for November because I will be out of town on November 15. So, we’ll have to postpone our class until November 29. So please join us then at around 7:00 for another whirlwind tour of the world of wine.

See you on November 29!

Suzy Marquard