Four Seasons at Las Colinas Master Sommelier James Tidwell is alive and well in Japan.

Last week I spoke with the James Tidwell, the Master Sommelier at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. It was a few days before he left for a three-week trip to Japan. He planned to spend time at the Four Seasons in Tokyo before heading out to tour the country which included a stop in Niigata to tour some sake breweries. When I learned of the earthquake and tsunami, I emailed him and didn’t hear back until minutes ago. I’m happy to report he is fine. He is in the Kansai area (Kyoto-Nara-Osaka) which is south and inland of major damage. James has had some communication with the Four Seasons in Tokyo and the staff is okay but phone lines are down and they have not been able to communicate with their families. Developing.

1)The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition (DMNWC) has added TexSom, the country’s only organization that produces a yearly conference for sommeliers, as a “co-presenter and production partner”. TexSom was founded by James Tidwell (Four Seasons) and Drew Hendricks (Pappas Bros. Houston) and the annual event draws sommeliers and wine experts from all over the world. The DMNWC founder Rebecca Murphy says, “The reach of this extensive network of wine professionals broadens the impact on sales [of medal winners] far beyond the greater Dallas market. It’s invaluable exposure for a wine.” Judging will be held at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas February 20-21 and gold-medal winners will be announced in Salut! published by The Dallas Morning News on March 24. The general public will have the opportunity to sample the award-wining wines at the Dallas Wine and Food Festival on April 13-17.

2) Anybody remember chef Jordon Swim of Food Creates Community? He was actually a front-runner in the underground dining, long-table craze. He popped into my inbox this morning to say: “We are kicking off the year with a night filled with friends and flavors gathered around the bountiful table. The night will feature 5 courses sourced from the best of the area and prepared with passion for taste and nourishment. We will be back in the Lakewood community and offer two seating’s (6 and 8:00pm) on Saturday February 26. RSVP here.

The last weeks I have had the opportunity to taste some great wine, often when I least expected it.  I noted the fantastic Leonetti we had at dinner the other night.  That was just the tip of the iceberg of the wine enjoyed over the weekend at the TexSom conference and more.  Some options have been sent for editorial consideration, others I just love.

Brenda and Clay Cockerell came over for dinner the other evening and (to my delight) brought some of their extraordinary Terrior Coquerel. A very French style Sauvignon Blanc filled with subtle citrus, with solid minerality and herbal notes.  The Terrior is all estate grown fruit from their vineyard in Calistoga, and aged in new French oak for 8 months.

When the Sigel’s on Inwood closed last year I stocked up on some great wines, including a 2004 Kenneth Crawford Blue Fin Syrah from Santa Ynez Valley which we opened Sunday night.  Aged 18 months in French oak, this is an extremely easy drinking Syrah filled with bright fruit flavors.  I love a Syrah with smoky, meaty notes that many of them have.
This one is not that, and instead is a juicy, but not jammy, blend of blackberry, black cherry and blueberry with black pepper and earth on the finish.  A delicate, delightful wine.

We grilled steaks the other night and served them with a simple Caprese salad.  To pair with it we tried a few different selections including a 2005 Clos Du Val Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon.  Wow indeed.  86% Cab, with a hint of Merlot blended in to round out this powerful wine.  Black fruit blended with coffee and spice with subtle hints of chocolate and nutmeg.  A restrained 13.5% alcohol level allows the flavors of the wine to come out without masking it with high alcohol levels.  The Stags Leap District of Napa Valley really exemplifies why Americans love California Cabernet so much and this is an excellent example of that.

We also tried a solid Italian option that evening as well with our steak and salad, which was a tasty pairing. 2006 Villa Antinori Rosso Toscana IGT.  Created from some of Tuscany’s best appellations, and completely made of Antinori estate grown fruit, this blend of predominantly Sangiovese, with 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Syrah is a balanced and refined wine filled with blueberry, blackberry and subtle hints of caramel.  Some Italian wines can be a bit harsh or overly tannic.  This is a spot on example of good Italian wine, at a price that won’t break the bank (about $23 retail.)

The TexSom Conference had incredible wine at both the sessions, as my colleague Andrew Chalk, posted earlier, and at the Grand Tasting Monday night.

One of my favorites was in a session about the wine of Washington State.  The session’s lessons on topography, and how the soil of a vineyard above a floodplain will give completely different characteristics to the soil of a vineyard below a floodplain, even if those two pieces of land are right next to each other, was insightful.  TexSom organizers James Tidwell and Drew Hendricks brought in Dr. Kevin Pouge Pogue PhD, a professor at Walla Walla Community College Whitman College, to discuss the land that makes the vineyards of Washington State so different and the soil so expressive.
And then we tried some wine.

One favorite winery in the region continues to be Spring Valley Vineyards.  We tried the 2007 Nina Lee Syrah, named after the wineries mother who successfully ran the family ranch for 21 years on her own after her husband died.  Only 500 cases of this Syrah were made from 100% estate grown fruit which truly expresses the vineyard.  The philosophy, like many winemakers in this region, is to let the fruit stand on its own and represent Walla Walla.  Slight minerality and earthy notes are wrapped with bright cherry, and blackberry jam flavors.

At the Grand Tasting over 100 wines were poured, and some were just stellar.  Hanzell Vineyards, one of the oldest (and finest) in Sonoma County makes two spectacular Chardonnays and one luxurious Pinot Noir.

Hope Family Wines was there pouring both their excellent Treana White and Treana Red, but also a new (or re-introduced) Westside Red – a Rhone style blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache, this wine is 100% estate fruit from Austin Hope’s vineyards in Paso Robles, CA.  Not what you might expect from a Rhone style wine, this one definitely has attitude – smoky, spicy and juicy all in one balanced blend.  Very drinkable on its own, but can see it with a big plate of ribs just as easily.

My favorite on the night had to be the Poetry from Cliff Lede in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley.  I wrote about Rocca Family Vineyards last week.  Cliff Lede is directly across the street from their Grigsby Vineyard, and is just a beautiful, tranquil winery.  I visited the winery a few years ago over Thanksgiving and fell in love with both their peaceful, art filled gardens and their huge, inviting fireplace in the tasting room.  Then add a rock star Cabernet to the mix and you have happy guests.
Poetry is their signature wine, deep black fruit with licorice, leather and floral hints.  Dried figs, black cherry and plum flavors are mixed with creamy chocolate and cedar. Silky tannis lead to a long finish.  I am such a fan of the 2006 Napa Cabs and this one shines as one of the best I have tasted recently.

And finally, we saw a dreadful movie last night…just dreadful….so to make the evening not a complete bust we stopped into Veritas Wine Room on the way home for a quick glass.  Little did I know we were in for a taste sensation.  The highpoint for me had to be the O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.  Only 2500 cases made of this bold wine of predominantly Cab with hints of Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Cab Franc and St. Macaire blended in to round out the flavors a bit.  Add in 20 months in French oak and you have a ripe cherry, currant and black plum wine filled with structure and harmonious elegance.

UPDATE: Kim Pierce has deets.

Gordon Burns and Eric Hervé are scientists with ETS Laboratories in St. Helena, CA. They normally spend their time analyzing wines for wineries and other clients for signs of spoilage. Today, they deliberately doctored eight glasses of vodka with the smell of eight common wine flaws detectable through smell alone. The vodka essentially acted as a solvent for the aromas. The audience of 300 wine professionals got to guess, from taste alone, what the flaws were.

Jump for the curious results.

Burns and Hervé explained that most flaws fall into four categories: microbial spoilage, oxidation/premature aging, reduction/sulfides, and environmental. To get a sense of what to expect, the first glass had vodka alone, diluted to 12% ethanol by volume (about the alcohol level of table wine). This served as our reference point for the aroma of the base spirit.

The next seven samples contained the nose of one of the flaws. (Boy, take that sentence out of context and it makes no sense.)  We had to determine which was which. I have summarized them in a table below as some of them have words too long to fit in my brain.

When you taste wine, see if you can detect these aromas. Although they are regarded as flaws, they aren’t necessarily unpleasant to everybody. For example, honeycomb or roses are pleasant smells, they just shouldn’t be present in wine. Also, different people have different sensitivities to off-odors. Different people will detect these aromas at different concentrations. Some  concentrations are very low. For example, TCA (Trichloroanisole) is detectable by the average person at concentrations of 8 parts per trillion. To put that in perspective, Burns said that a quarter dropped over the combined land area of North and South Dakota amounted to covering 1 part per billion of the land. While you check the chart, I’m going to get a drink…

Vines in Nemea, Greece

The final session at Texsom yesterday was a tasting of eight wines from Greece. When I first heard this I almost cut out early. I have never had a good Greek wine. They give me memories of alcoholic, flabby, simple fruit bombs.

However, it was a good thing that I stayed. The wines presented were the biggest surprise of the day. Six of the eight were red, and they were the stars. However, each reflected the grapes from which it was made. Two of the best were wines made from Nemea, a region noted for its wine making by Homer (who may have described them as ‘yummy’).

Jump for the glorious details.

Gaia Estate

2006 Gaia Estate Nemea (approx $18 retail)

Skouras Grand Cuvee

2006 Skouras Nemea “Grand Reserve” (approx. $25)

These wines are great substitutes for Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, or Merlot. Have them with steak or barbecue.

The grape  is, Agiorgitiko, an ancient Greek variety colloquially known as “Blood of Hercules.” Herein lies the problem facing Greek winemakers:  Greek wine and grape names are frequently long and hard to remember which makes it hard for winemakers to education consumers and distributors. It’s a little easier for the wines of Nemea–Agiorgitiko is the only red grape allowed  so when you buy a wine from Nemea, you know the grape to expect. Greek wine makers might also consider putting the English-language name of the grape (St. George) on the label in English-speaking markets. In the meantime, look for these labels pictured above as a useful starting point.

Last year, TexSom organizers  Drew Hendricks and James Tidwell whooped it up at TexSom in  Las Colinas. Yesterday, they did it again.

Andrew Chalk spent all day Sunday at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas, Texas. No he wasn’t lounging by the pool, he was hunkered down in a conference room along with a couple hundred wine professionals who trekked to Dallas for the Texas Sommelier Conference (TexSom).

Organized by the Texas Sommelier Association, the intensive two-day session attracts some of the best national palates in the wine industry. TexSom offers public and to-the-trade sessions to “promote professional wine service standards, outline paths for further wine education and certification, and to raise public awareness about the professional standards and certifications for sommeliers.”  The organization also sponsors the “Texas’ Best Sommelier” competition—and if you have ever attended a seminar at this event, you’ve surely noticed a few nervous competitors wandering the halls waiting for interview sessions with some of the great masters of American wine. Their reward?  Scholarships for professional certification courses.

Anywhoo, the conference room was without WiFi for most of the first day so Andrew Chalk really had to work to find a connection with more than wine to file the following reports of his first day at TexSom below the jumperoo.

ChalkTalk:

It’s 9 a.m. on Sunday morning and I am in the ballroom at the Four Seasons Resort and Club at the 2010 Texas Sommelier Conference (better known as TexSom). This is perhaps one of the bestnational wine conference of the year. I am here to learn–this conference takes a no bullshark approach to wine. At the same time,  I am also looking for wine finds, and during the course of the sessions, we are able to taste unusual wines.

Today, the large ballroom  is full to capacity. The task of engaging the audience early on a Sunday morning falls to four experienced Master Sommeliers. Their job is to lead a master class on Chardonnay. We taste our way through eight wines from six different countries. My lasting impression is how different Chardonnay can be depending on where the grapes are grown and how the wine is made. I make my first finds. Two standouts available around town are worth looking for: 2005 Kumeu River “Mate’s Vineyard”, Auckland, New Zealand and 2008 Hanzell, Sonoma Valley, California.

*****

ChalkTalk:

The afternoon session concentrated on the French regions of Gascony, an area of France that lies to the south and west of Provence. Jewels included a 2007 Coullioure Domaine Mas Blanc “Junquets.” Coullioure is a recent Appellation Controlee (designated wine growing area) sandwiched between the Mediterranean and the Spanish border. It is so small that it is often overlooked. The red wines are made from what are often called the ‘Rhone varietals’ of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, plus some minor grapes. This wine was far and away the most popular in the flight of eight that we tasted. It is a muscular, aromatic red that would pair well with barbecue beef or roast lamb.

****

While we wait for WiFi and Andrew’s updates, you can peruse some of the posts from last year’s coverage of TexSom.

Here.  Here. And here.