The Wine School at Bon Vivant

On March 4th and 11th, Bon Vivant hosted a two-session seminar with Harold Toussaint of The Wine School. The task? To learn about major wine varietals. Two classes, twelve wines. Week one: whites. Week two: reds. The result? Twelve students with an increased knowledge of varietal characteristics and wine terminology.

Among the wines tasted were Riesling, Viognier, Gewürztraminer, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. With much swirling, sniffing, and sipping, the class learned how appearance, aroma, mouth feel, and finish characterize different varietals. And more broadly, the class discussed the impact of soil and climate on wine varietals. By tasting the same varietals grown and produced in different countries, students noticed the differences within one varietal. A French chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were remarkably more subtle than their counterparts from California and New Zealand.

And who better to learn from than Harold Toussaint? A Maitre Sommelier and founder of The Wine School, a business focused on wine education, he has an outstanding palate; he can look at, smell, and taste a wine and tell you its type, country and region of origin, and age. Participants in the class might not be at this level quite yet, but they’ve certainly been empowered to keep tasting and learning!

Keep an eye out for future educational events offered at Bon Vivant!

Price-Reducing Wine Innovations by Boisset Family Estates

You’re going to love Jean-Charles Boisset. Why? He’s hard at work reducing wine prices, without reducing quality. This might not seem possible, but Boisset Family Estates was named the 2008 “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine for a reason: they’re constantly developing cost-saving and eco-friendly ways to package wine.

Get this – of the total price you pay for a bottle of wine, only 10% is the actual cost of the wine. Yup, that’s right. The other 90% of the cost goes toward transportation and packaging. Boisset is working on making lighter and equally efficient packaging to reduce the cost of wine. He’s so far come up with five key innovations, which Bon Vivant heard him speak about at the recent Boston Wine Festival.

-The Tetra Pak carton used for Boisset’s French Rabbit wines is a one-liter, octagonal-shaped package with a screw-top
closure and label-free packaging. It’s fully recyclable and saves 60% on packaging costs.
-The PET bottle used for Fog Mountain wines is a recyclable, shatterproof plastic bottle, ideal for taking on picnics or boat trips.
-He’s made aluminum bottles that are great for Beaujolais, and they are continuously
recyclable. When used for chilled wines, aluminum bottles stay cold longer.
-A line of lighter glass bottles uses 460 grams of glass versus 600+ grams.
-Wine service by the glass has changed with DeLoach Vineyard’s Barrel to Barrel. Barrels contain 10-liter bags of Pinot Noir poured from a spigot in the barrel, which reduces packaging,
eliminates corkage, and delivers an extra liter of wine compared to a traditional 9-liter case.

Eco-friendly and wallet-friendly? Boisset Family Estates is definitely a wine producer to watch.

[photo from www.deloachvineyards.com]