Picking a bottle of wine in a shop or restaurant can be daunting, especially if you don’t know what all the terms mean. In this session, Matt Irwin DipWSET will decode some terms that commonly appear on French, Italian and German wines. These tips will help you to determine quality, style and flavour profile so you can make better choices when ordering or purchasing European Wines.
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Hello and welcome to the W bite-size seminar on 10 Clues on how to choose a great European wine welcome to everybody the wine and spirits education trust is the world’s leading provider of qualifications and courses in wines Spirits SAR and now beer W has over 50 years experience in designing and
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Provider my name is Matt and I’m very excited to be talking about 10 Clues as to choosing a great Europe and wine before we start I’m in Sydney Australia and I’d like to acknowledge the gator people from the aora nation who are the traditional custodians of the land where
I am today I would also like to pay my respects to all Elders past present and to the children of today who are the Elders of Tomorrow I’ve been working for w as the AP development manager for Asia Pacific for the last 12 months but prior to that
I’ve been teaching W courses for over five years with a number of different providers all throughout Sydney I completed my diploma back in 2019 in wine and spirits and I have been working in the wine industry for over 15 years as an Italian wine importer wine educator and working in Hospitality as
Well today we’re going to be talking about 10 Clues that can give you the Step Up on how to choose a great European wines sometimes European wines can be quite confusing because they don’t name them after the varietals that they have like we do in Australia or America like cabinet saon
Or Mero they’ll name them after the place that they come from but a little bit of research can really go a long way and help you make great decisions for your European wines and normally these things can be found on the labels of the wines and it’s just deciphering those Clues to
Allow you the insight into making choices that get you a better quality wine now those 10 Clues we’re going to go through France Italy Spain and Portugal today and I hope you go from this seminar and then you can take it into a restaurant or into a fine wine retailer
And use these Clues to step up your game and choose a bottle that maybe you haven’t tasted before and have the confidence to be able to do that my first clue today is from France and in France they use the word Village villages on their label now yes they do
Name them after a village but this is when they have the word vages on the label there’s a few regions in France that do this like B the maon the maon is in the south of burgundy where they do fantastic Chardon and the coat derone now these
Are regions that will have a particular style of wine they’re a large region so you can get some areas which may not be the best at growing grapes and others which are the famous villages which have the better soil the better Exposition the better um slope and it’s these Villages that combine themselves
Together into a smaller area and they’re considered the more Superior Vineyard areas it’s a smaller better soil better area that they give you the Clue by attaching the name vages on the side side of it so you might see boet vages or maon vages or coat durone vages next
Time you’re in a bottle sh in a wine store have a look for these and maybe go for the one that has vages because you can still find these wines at very good price points that’s my first clue another clue which isn’t as big on the label
Is domain excuse my French I know I’ve got an aussy accent I’m doing my best with it and I can hear all of those French people laughing at the moment or you can be looking for the same MH this means this wine has been bottled at the estate but more than that it
Means it’s being made and matured so it’s gone from grapes into wine it’s aged in the cellar maybe in some barrels or maybe in some um concrete Vats or maybe in some aora if you’re getting really uh into the new age of making wines and it’s being bottled by that
Producer in the same site now this clue will tell you that the producers has had greater control over the entire process sometimes people will just buy juice or buy wine and then bottle it themselves under their own name but if someone who’s taken the care to take
Those grapes all the way into wine and then mature it and then put it into the packaging the bottle that they want kind of gives the clue that they care a little bit more they have greater control about it and that the wine itself possibly could be of better
Quality they print it on the label and sometimes they print it on the cork as well this is my second clue to choosing a great European wine we’re staying in France for our third and this is where bre bour comes in now this is a classification that talks about on the
Left Bank the madok of Bordeaux on the madok are some of the world’s most famous villages s AEF Margo s Julian and in this they had a classification In 1855 to rank these estates this classification is still valid today but those Estates have changed so they’ve brought put in this
Brew bouro classification whereby somewhere between 240 to 260 producers are within this classification that are just below that 1855 classification it’s reviewed every 5 years to make sure that the quality of the wines and the producers stay at a high level and they’ve got three te of
Levels the bottom level of crew bouris then crew bouris Superior and then crew bouro exceptional every single one of these wines are of very high quality but it isn’t as well known as the 1855 classification so here’s a chance to explore a very good quality to excellent quality wine without having to spend
The hundreds sometimes thousands of Euros to be able to purchase the wines of the madok true Bourgeois you can see is that symbol on the right hand side of the screen sometimes it’s on the label but look for the words more importantly and that will give you the clue as to
Finding a great European wine from the Left Bank which often times is predominant in cabinet saon with some Merlo cabinet Fran and some other red wines as well we’re moving out of France now and we’re moving into Italy and my greatest clue for Italy is classical Classico is only in some of
The regions but they are the most some of the most famous regions in Italy you see in Italy when a region became famous they kept on expanding the land out where you could grow those grapes and make those wines and still call it that famous Wine’s name like kianti Suave
Vella once it got to the stage where it was almost diluting the and there was a big difference between those from the original area and those from the newer areas some of these classifications decided to do a Classico Zone the most historic or Central area where the wines became
Famous often it’s the best land for growing The Grapes has the best soils has the best slopes has the best Direction now we can look at these wines and instead of buying a Kean we could possibly buy kianti Classico knowing that there are some tighter rules tighter regulations and better quality grapes
Being used to go into those wines Suave Suave Classico is’s a massive difference between these two the soils of suave Classico those volcanic soils give the gargan grapes there’s beautiful texture to them and I highly advise trying a Suave Classico next time you’re at the wine store or at a
Restaurant because it’s Those Grapes that really made this wine famous other famous classicos in Italy are valella and this is a larger region as well some people think Ah valella that’s not the greatest wine try one from the Classico area that’s your clue to find a
Better wine viio de castella dii has a Classico or vietto has a Classico and even one down in Calabria chiro which used the gallopo gra if you exploring through Italian wines check out Classico Now we move into Germany now Germany I’m talking about is the VDP the
Verban DEA Prat Vine G now this is an association of producers who have classified their Vineyards together and as a group by consensus have said we have the great Vineyards of Germany now not everyone’s in this classification and not all of the best sites are in this
Classification but the ones that put VDP on the label and have that symbol on the top left hand corner which is that black eagle with the six grapes in the center they’re very proud to be a part of the VDP system there’s strict grape growing and wine making regulations and
It depends on the region that they come from as to which grapes and which regulations they can use now within the VDP system they actually classify their Wines in a pyramid um system as well their lowest level which is still good quality from a good producer is a Goods
Vine VDP Goods Vine This is often times the winery’s calling card so they want to make sure they’re not going to make their Winery name not be good be known for good quality so even though it might be the lowest tier it still has excellent quality wines but I think the
Key to VDP without spending lots of money is the Ed Vine now they come from a single Vineyard and sometimes these Vineyards are the top level Ur and grog Vineyards this is the producer saying I am showing you what this Village can do and how good the wines from it can
Be once we get into urag and grog that’s when we are single Vineyards that are classified heading into Spain and clue six and seven were Crea and reserver and these are the requirements of the winery to how long they should mature their wines for in the Sellar now I think
These are the two most exciting areas for Spanish wine at the moment because they allow the producer freedom to do the best things with their grapes to be able to craft the best wines now you see with ktha you have six months in Barrel but often times they’ll go longer
Because they have to remain in their sell it can be in the barrel or in the bottle for a minimum of 24 months now you don’t want too much Oak in your wine the six months might work maybe a little bit more cuz you’ve got some structure
Maybe 12 months months so often times they won’t leave it in there for the full 24 they’ll take some of that time to age it in bottle so these wines are really ready to drink and got a little bit of structure and and interest in them as well then you’ve got reserver
Now reserver they have to age for 12 months but they have to in Barrel that is but they have to keep it in the cellar for 36 months now often times these wines are ready to be enjoyed when you buy them and they’re not as expensive as Grand reserver they
Sometimes can be a little bit too long in barrel and being aged for too long whereas reserver and kaantha they are those kind of gems in the middle yin’s a little bit too young Grand reserver very serious but a clue to finding a good Spanish wine is going for Crea or
Resera now if you’ve got some money to spend a little known category known as Pargo now this is the highest category in Spanish wine law and it was only created 20 years ago we’ve got igp doo do calificada which is just a couple of regions rioka and
PRI but then you’ve got Paro which is a few Estates special Estates that uh all of their production is slowly within that one geographic area all of the grapes all of the wine making all of the maturing all of the bottling and they wine will show quality and characteristics that are essentially
Or exclusively due to where they’re from together with some human intervention like wine making and then also cultural factors like what grapes have they been growing there for a very long time now there’s not a lot of Paro wines so this clue really is if you see one maybe look
For something that’s going to be a little bit more exclusive a little bit more expensive but these are the best of the best Estates within Spain clue number nine we go to brute and we’re going to sparkling wines this time now brood as many people do know means
Dry and when there’s less sugar in the wine there’s less ability for the wine maker to hide a lower quality wine you see brute wine is anything up to 12 gram of residual sugar per liter so there’s still a little bit of sweetness in there but once you go up to
The sweeter level which can be confusing at extra dry now we’re talking between 12 and 17 gram of residual sugar so you’ve got quite a bit of sweetness in there it doesn’t seem as sweet because that bitter carbon dioxide bubble will balance out that sweetness if it’s brute
And often times we do have lower residual sugar levels than 12 gram maybe it’s 6 gram or 8 gr you need a little bit but not a lot now in prco I certainly know that the quality wines come at brute level the extra dry seem to hide themselves a little bit behind
That Sugar whereas The Brute can show you very good quality fruit that has started that has uh created this wine so my tip or clue for sparkling wine is look for brute rather than extra dry especially when we’re talking prco my final clue for choosing a great
European wine and we head to Portugal and we can’t forget fortified wines my clue here is in Port it is lbv which means late bottle vintage port now these will stay to Vintage on them but unlike other vintage ports you’re not going to have to wait
10 15 20 sometimes 30 years for the port to be at its best like a vintage cany a late bottle vintage port they aged in the cellar for sometime somewhere between about 4 and 6 years in the cast before they bottle it so these grapes
That they use to make Port can be quite tanic a lot of tannin in them that needs time in a barrel or in some type of maturing vessel to be able to soften those tannant and they’ll do that for you in a late bottled vintage port vintage ports are often bottle between 1
And 2 years and they’re asking you to do the Aging in your Sellar for the extended period whereas the lbv ports are going to be more approachable at a younger age and can be found at better price points than say a vintage port they also filter them for you so you’re
Not going to have a buildup of sediment if you don’t like your sediment or you don’t have a decanter near you to be able to um make that wine a little bit clearer so that is my 10 clues for choosing great European wine there’s going to be a feedback
That’s going to pop up survey which I’d ask you to fill in don’t worry about the technical issues um we will be replaying this edited without the technical issues on our uh YouTube channel uh on the u w event Hub on YouTube and we will email
The link to you once we’ve edited it as well if you want to know where to study wct you can find out more about our qualifications and all of the locations where we where the courses are offered through our over 800 course providers by using the we to study tool on the
Drop-down menu of w global.com and we’ve got some upcoming seminars there’s one for alumni so people who have studied with the diploma shifting gears taking it from wine tasting to beer tasting with our master cicerone murella and for all we have the rum bite size coming up on April 30th uh
Which everyone can enjoy delving into the wonderful world of spirits um I’d like to thank you for your time and hopefully you’ve been able to get some interest and get get 10 Clues to choosing a great European wine before we go does anyone have any questions at
All let me have a look and see if we’ve got some questions here fortunately I don’t have access to the questions prior to my Dropout so I wonder if there are some questions I did have a question from someone who emailed it in ask asking about the storage of
Wine in restaurants and if we will be able to have the restaurants somehow state that they’ve been stored in some type of temperature control I think that’s a great idea but unfortunately there’s no regulations that need to do this so at the end of the day it’s going
To be up to you to ask the W um the restaurant if there is some uh great temperature control that is happening for their wines on site our question here how does crew bouris stand against the old classification from the 1800s can a wine be labeled both crew
Bouris and have the old classification as well no they wouldn’t do that the crew boir is a newer classification for those perer for those Winery Estates that aren’t within the old 1855 classification that classification hasn’t changed a lot there’s been some movement up and down but there’s been a lot of new Estates
That are able to grow fantastic grapes since 150 years ago so the crew Bourgeois classification is able to um give that distinction to a larger number of really good producers within the madok another question I recently tasted Vine scho vad re Ling 2019 it’s the
First on the sweder side it was my first reasing it was intentionally made sweet how is it made sweet did they add sugar no they didn’t add any sugar but what they would have done is they would have stopped the fermentation prior to all of the sugars being fermented into
Alcohol so I believe that wine if it had have had a little bit of what we call residual sugar so that is the sugar that has been left after the fermentation um then you can have uh the lower alcohol probably at around about 9% 10% maybe 11% so they want to have
That residual sugar in there to balance that very high acidity that um very high acidity that you can uh find in cool climate reasing ESP especially so it is a why making tip and one last question I’m going to be starting my w level two in a few weeks
Excellent I’m very excited for you what do you think is the best strategy to memorize a large amount of complex information on wine production regions and areas as well as grape varieties and flavors do some work before the course starts I highly recommend delving into that that textbook having a good read of
It all the way through so you have a basic understanding go into each of your classes with an open mind and use the wine tasting to solidify the information a lot of students find that they will do me Theory memory Theory memory and then do the tasting but the two should work
Together because it’s as your brain is taking in that information in terms of the theory and then you have a wine that will oh it does have that flavor or that does have that acidity oh the acidity level is because of that climate it will allow you to one enjoy the course a
Little better but also making sure that you solidify that information through that wine tasting as well don’t see them as separate is my biggest tip use them together to be able to um make the information easier to understand last question I’ll throw it in here lbv Port can I know from which
Vintage absolutely they always State a vintage on there um that’s the whole key to it they are telling you what vintage is is from and that’ll be on the front of the label all right I’m going to sign off now and I thank you again for Jo uh
Coming into this web uh this bite-size webinar and I will see you out there hopefully in a w course soon thank you