A Q&A With Master Sommelier Joseph Linder
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March is Washington Wine Month and to celebrate, Master Sommelier Joseph Linder from The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle was recently on hand to answer great questions from our fans on Facebook. One of 103 Master Sommeliers in North America, and one of only 176 in the world, Joseph is the ultimate wine expert.
To start off the celebration, Joseph showed us how to open a bottle of Champagne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxsQfj2t3T8
Joseph says that fine, true champagne should be served at a slightly warmer temp of 42-46 degrees F. This allows for the flavors to really settle on the palate. Also, the finer the Champagne the better it tastes being served in a white wine glass vs. a champagne flute. This allows for more surface area to allow the drink to breath and for you to gather in the aromas and bouquet of the beverage. Additionally, a lower end sparkling wine or cava can be chilled cooler and served at 39-41 degrees.
The Q&A was a great success, so we decided to share the 11 fan queries that Joseph expertly answered:
Question: Do you have Chateau La Fete Rothschild 1964?
Joseph Linder: We don't currently have the La Fete in our wine cellar, but in lieu of that particular wine, we do in fact carry a lovely 95 Chateau Haut Brion that you might enjoy.
Q: How do you remove a crumbly cork? Is there a tool?
JL: This is something that can happen when a cork is too thin or a cork screw is too thin and doesn't pierce the cork thoroughly enough. I recommend a tool known as an asho. This is a two pronged tool that will allow you to free up the remaining portion of the cork that is still left in the bottle and jiggle it out through the top. If your cork as crumbled down into the bottle with the wine, then I recommend taking a funnel and placing it over your glass with a bit of cheese cloth inside of it to decant and free the wine from the bits and pieces of cork.
Q: Last year I took an Introduction to Wines course, by the end of which my professor - after going over many of the "traditional" food and wine pairings - suggested that, at the end of the day, food and wine you like can always be enjoyed well together. What is your take on this, and how do you personally go about deciding what wines best accompany certain foods?
JL: This is a really commonly asked question. My simple response is "Drink the wine you love, with the food you love". Then again, please keep in mind that you might not be enjoying the wine or food to the fullest because the acidity and sweetness of either portion can be cancelled out by the other. For example, you have a dish of sole or a white cod and you really want to drink a solid Cab or heavy red; the meal with the wine, might taste just fine, however, the intensity of the red wine is sure to overpower the subtle flavors of the fish. Vice versa, the sole might have a lemon caper sauce and the acidity of the lemon juice will very well make the Cab taste more metallic then it otherwise would have. The three things to keep in mind about your wine selection when it pertains to food are: acidity, sweetness and intensity of flavors. If those levels sync with your meal, then the pairing will work beautifully. Hope that helps!
Q: Do you have an online source for the wines available at your properties? It would be great to plan the perfect meal along with a stay at one of your hotels.
JL: Great suggestion. We do have a wine list on our website (I have included the link to it here: http://bit.ly/gIT5fo). Should your travels bring you to Seattle, we here in The Georgian (our fine dining restaurant) have wine paring tasting menus. Additionally, I work in The Georgian nightly and assist guests in their wine selection process. Hope to see you in The Georgian soon!
Q: Where do the tannins come from in red wines?
JL: There are a few different elements that can contribute to the tannins in a red wine. It all has to do with the extraction process. When you press the grapes harder in the wine making process, you tend to yield more tannins from the skin of the grape as well as its seeds. It's important to note that some grape varieties have thicker skins than others. For example, Cabernet and Syrah grapes have smaller berries, giving you a small juice to skin ratio, giving you a heavier wine with more tannins then let's say a Pinot Noir grape, which has a larger berry and thinner skin. Additionally, the newer the oak barrels give up a lot more tannins then the older barrels, which can have a lesser effect on the wine.
Q: Why don’t I like tannins?
JL: Tannins are astringent and bitter to the palate which can be an acquired taste. Merlots might be a better wine for you or even a Malbec or Zin; these types of wines have lower tannins, lower acidity, and higher alcohol content causing them to be sweeter.
Q: I just love Chardonnay! What makes it have such a buttery taste and texture?
JL: Without going in to too much detail about the entire process that brings about this flavor, the short and sweet of it (pun intended) is that the process of malolactic fermentation allows for the acidity present in the grape skins to sweeten making it thicker and richer to the taste. For more information on the process, here's a wiki link that might help you a bit: http://bit.ly/2j3zsX
Q: We were at dinner one evening and ordered a bottle of wine that when opened the corked appeared to look as though it was "rotting." What does this mean and should the bottle be sent back when this occurs?
JL: It really depends on the age of the wine, being that if the wine is an older wine (let's say passed 7 years old) the cork will start to deteriorate over time. This doesn't necessarily mean that the wine is bad. You might want to decant the wine at that point and see if there is mustiness to the aroma and if there is, let it breathe until it has subsided. If it doesn't, this might mean that the wine did in fact go flat. If the wine is a more recent bottle and this occurs, there might be an issue with it and it's worth asking the wine steward to get another bottle or at least for his opinion on it.
Q: What do you do with the corks?
JL: Personally, I recycle the corks. Here at the hotel we collect all of the corks and donate them to a local children arts and crafts center that uses them for projects. If the cork is natural cork it's recyclable and organic material. The artificial/composite/plastic corks can either be recycled (check local rules about that in your area) or tossed in the garbage.
Q: When you buy a bottle of wine, how do you know when it's the best time to drink it? Can you let all wine's age a little before drinking?
JL: For more expensive reserves, you would only want to store for an additional 3-7 years. After that, there might be some major alterations that happen to the wine. For example, the fruitiness of a young wine will go away with more time. If you like that about the wine, it’s best to drink it sooner. I usually advise people to drink their wines sooner rather than later. So don't delay the gratification of a fabulous wine any longer and enjoy!
Q: I'm always trying to pick new wines but sometimes feel a little lost with the gigantic selection available. What are your tips for picking good new bottles? Are there regions that are better than others for certain types of wine?
JL: This is a tough one that I know many people struggle with. There are so many beautiful and attractive bottles out there, but it's what's inside that counts. There are great resources out there like Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator that rate wines annually and are nearly always suggesting the best of the best. If that is a little more costly then your budget would allow for I suggest researching Southern France, Spain and Portugal vineyards that are producing really great wines at a lower cost than most.
Here is one of Joseph's most frequent queries: are bottles with screw tops of lower quality than wines with corks? Check out the video answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tzcSq3JPg
How do you get the most out of a restaurant sommelier? One last video answer from Joseph:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-C1JU0JmSI
To start off the celebration, Joseph showed us how to open a bottle of Champagne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxsQfj2t3T8
Joseph says that fine, true champagne should be served at a slightly warmer temp of 42-46 degrees F. This allows for the flavors to really settle on the palate. Also, the finer the Champagne the better it tastes being served in a white wine glass vs. a champagne flute. This allows for more surface area to allow the drink to breath and for you to gather in the aromas and bouquet of the beverage. Additionally, a lower end sparkling wine or cava can be chilled cooler and served at 39-41 degrees.
The Q&A was a great success, so we decided to share the 11 fan queries that Joseph expertly answered:
Question: Do you have Chateau La Fete Rothschild 1964?
Joseph Linder: We don't currently have the La Fete in our wine cellar, but in lieu of that particular wine, we do in fact carry a lovely 95 Chateau Haut Brion that you might enjoy.
Q: How do you remove a crumbly cork? Is there a tool?
JL: This is something that can happen when a cork is too thin or a cork screw is too thin and doesn't pierce the cork thoroughly enough. I recommend a tool known as an asho. This is a two pronged tool that will allow you to free up the remaining portion of the cork that is still left in the bottle and jiggle it out through the top. If your cork as crumbled down into the bottle with the wine, then I recommend taking a funnel and placing it over your glass with a bit of cheese cloth inside of it to decant and free the wine from the bits and pieces of cork.
Q: Last year I took an Introduction to Wines course, by the end of which my professor - after going over many of the "traditional" food and wine pairings - suggested that, at the end of the day, food and wine you like can always be enjoyed well together. What is your take on this, and how do you personally go about deciding what wines best accompany certain foods?
JL: This is a really commonly asked question. My simple response is "Drink the wine you love, with the food you love". Then again, please keep in mind that you might not be enjoying the wine or food to the fullest because the acidity and sweetness of either portion can be cancelled out by the other. For example, you have a dish of sole or a white cod and you really want to drink a solid Cab or heavy red; the meal with the wine, might taste just fine, however, the intensity of the red wine is sure to overpower the subtle flavors of the fish. Vice versa, the sole might have a lemon caper sauce and the acidity of the lemon juice will very well make the Cab taste more metallic then it otherwise would have. The three things to keep in mind about your wine selection when it pertains to food are: acidity, sweetness and intensity of flavors. If those levels sync with your meal, then the pairing will work beautifully. Hope that helps!
Q: Do you have an online source for the wines available at your properties? It would be great to plan the perfect meal along with a stay at one of your hotels.
JL: Great suggestion. We do have a wine list on our website (I have included the link to it here: http://bit.ly/gIT5fo). Should your travels bring you to Seattle, we here in The Georgian (our fine dining restaurant) have wine paring tasting menus. Additionally, I work in The Georgian nightly and assist guests in their wine selection process. Hope to see you in The Georgian soon!
Q: Where do the tannins come from in red wines?
JL: There are a few different elements that can contribute to the tannins in a red wine. It all has to do with the extraction process. When you press the grapes harder in the wine making process, you tend to yield more tannins from the skin of the grape as well as its seeds. It's important to note that some grape varieties have thicker skins than others. For example, Cabernet and Syrah grapes have smaller berries, giving you a small juice to skin ratio, giving you a heavier wine with more tannins then let's say a Pinot Noir grape, which has a larger berry and thinner skin. Additionally, the newer the oak barrels give up a lot more tannins then the older barrels, which can have a lesser effect on the wine.
Q: Why don’t I like tannins?
JL: Tannins are astringent and bitter to the palate which can be an acquired taste. Merlots might be a better wine for you or even a Malbec or Zin; these types of wines have lower tannins, lower acidity, and higher alcohol content causing them to be sweeter.
Q: I just love Chardonnay! What makes it have such a buttery taste and texture?
JL: Without going in to too much detail about the entire process that brings about this flavor, the short and sweet of it (pun intended) is that the process of malolactic fermentation allows for the acidity present in the grape skins to sweeten making it thicker and richer to the taste. For more information on the process, here's a wiki link that might help you a bit: http://bit.ly/2j3zsX
Q: We were at dinner one evening and ordered a bottle of wine that when opened the corked appeared to look as though it was "rotting." What does this mean and should the bottle be sent back when this occurs?
JL: It really depends on the age of the wine, being that if the wine is an older wine (let's say passed 7 years old) the cork will start to deteriorate over time. This doesn't necessarily mean that the wine is bad. You might want to decant the wine at that point and see if there is mustiness to the aroma and if there is, let it breathe until it has subsided. If it doesn't, this might mean that the wine did in fact go flat. If the wine is a more recent bottle and this occurs, there might be an issue with it and it's worth asking the wine steward to get another bottle or at least for his opinion on it.
Q: What do you do with the corks?
JL: Personally, I recycle the corks. Here at the hotel we collect all of the corks and donate them to a local children arts and crafts center that uses them for projects. If the cork is natural cork it's recyclable and organic material. The artificial/composite/plastic corks can either be recycled (check local rules about that in your area) or tossed in the garbage.
Q: When you buy a bottle of wine, how do you know when it's the best time to drink it? Can you let all wine's age a little before drinking?
JL: For more expensive reserves, you would only want to store for an additional 3-7 years. After that, there might be some major alterations that happen to the wine. For example, the fruitiness of a young wine will go away with more time. If you like that about the wine, it’s best to drink it sooner. I usually advise people to drink their wines sooner rather than later. So don't delay the gratification of a fabulous wine any longer and enjoy!
Q: I'm always trying to pick new wines but sometimes feel a little lost with the gigantic selection available. What are your tips for picking good new bottles? Are there regions that are better than others for certain types of wine?
JL: This is a tough one that I know many people struggle with. There are so many beautiful and attractive bottles out there, but it's what's inside that counts. There are great resources out there like Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator that rate wines annually and are nearly always suggesting the best of the best. If that is a little more costly then your budget would allow for I suggest researching Southern France, Spain and Portugal vineyards that are producing really great wines at a lower cost than most.
Here is one of Joseph's most frequent queries: are bottles with screw tops of lower quality than wines with corks? Check out the video answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tzcSq3JPg
How do you get the most out of a restaurant sommelier? One last video answer from Joseph:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-C1JU0JmSI
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