Medoc Wine Workshop

Asia Wine Service and Education Centre, Sheung Wan
9th December 2009

This seminar was a collaboration between the wine loving dudes at SOPEXA and the wine teaching dudes at the Asia Wine Service and Education Centre. I'd never visited the AWSEC rooms before and I was impressed with the professionalism of the setup. We were seated in a large classroom and provided with everything we needed to learn, as well as drink.

The seminar used resources provided by Medoc Wine Council that included a seemingly never-ending parade of powerpoint slides. Stephen Mack, the lecturer, did a fantastic job of making all this information digestible in an entertaining manner. The Medoc and its communes were explored in detail and eight wines supplied to emphasis the different aspect of the area.

The wines were a good cross section of different styles ranging from unoaked Cru Bourgeois to classed growths Chateau Kirwan and Chateau Grand-Puy Ducasse. While the rich and structured Chateau Kirwan Margaux 2005 impressed with its floral nose and potential for cellaring my favourite wine of the night was the Chateau Chasse-Spleen 2003. This drop from lowly rated Moulis was delightful with a complex nose rippling with blackberry, mocha, smoke and spice and plenty of black fruit and spice on its long, smooth palate. My night of tasting the wines of Medoc was an entering and engaging evening. I was impressed with Stephen Mack's knowledge of the topic and enjoyed the opportunities offered by a comparative tasting.