June 21/11: Chateau des Charmes Equuleus Vertical Tasting and Dinner

 The Time and Date: June 21, 2011  4PM to 10 PM

The Event: Chateau des Charmes winemaker's 9 wine Equuleus vertical tasting followed by a winemaker's dinner, all conducted by Paul Bosc, Jr.

The Venue: Ritz-Carlton

The Target Audience: clients and media

The Availability/Catalogue: all of the newer wines are available, the older vintages of Equuleus (known then as Cabernets) came from the Chateau's library. Equuleus is only made in the better years.

The Quote/Background:  Bosc spoke on the wines, climate, and grapes used (even those years when the wine was declassified). Each year is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 25% Merlot. The vineyard has always been the Paul Bosc Vineyard (first planted in 1983/84) on St. David's Bench. The wine was first produced in 1988 as Cabernets, and we had the 1991, 1994 and 1995. Under its new name, Equuelus, we had the 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2010 (three different barrel samples from the pre-blended cellars).

 

The Wines: All the wines showed extremely well; they are capable of long aging.

 

**** Four Stars (91+ in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Chateau des Charmes Cabernets VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 1995

-Chateau des Charmes Equuleus VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 2005

-Chateau des Charmes Equuleus VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 2010

 

***1/2 Three and a Half Stars (88 – 90 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Chateau des Charmes Cabernets VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 1994

-Chateau des Charmes Equuleus VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 2002

-Chateau des Charmes Equuleus VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 2007

 

*** Three Stars (85 – 87 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Chateau des Charmes Cabernets VQA Paul Bosc Vineyard St. David's Bench 1991

 

The Food: The winemaker's dinner began with flutes of Chateau des Charmes Rose 2008 Sparkling wine (Silver Medalist at OWA). All of the wines tonight, from the tasting through reception to dinner, came from the Paul Bosc Estate vineyard on St. David's Bench. We began with heirloom tomato and Ontario mozzarella salad, basil pesto, white balsamic (Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2010 PB Vineyard, *** 1/2), followed by butter poached lobster, spring risotto, crisp bacon lardons, fine herbs (Château des Charmes Chardonnay Paul Bosc Estate 2007, ****). The main course was porcini crusted filet mignon, garlic whipped potatoes, root vegetable, Equuleus shallot reduction (of course, Château des Charmes Equuleus 2005, ****). Dessert was vanilla crème brûlée, marinated berries, lemon sorbet (Château des Charmes Riesling Icewine 2007 PB Vineyard). The dinner was created by Chef Andreas Schatzschneider.

The Downside: we started a half-hour late.

The Upside: all the red wines were constantly changing in the glass.

The Contact Person: Michele@chateaudescharmes.com

The Marketing Effectiveness/Execution of the Event(numerical grade): 91.

 

Chimo!  www.deantudor.com AND http://gothicepicures.blogspot.com