See below for what happened.........

A Vertical Tasting of Baco Noir Wines

Come and join the Grezliks, Bundorfs, and Willoughbys for the first-ever AWS-Detroit vertical tasting. We offer a selection of wines from the same winery and the same winemaker over a five-year period. This provides the opportunity to taste the effects on wine caused by weather and growing conditions as well as demonstrating how wine changes as it matures.

Baco Noir is a robust wine, best accompanied by food. Small tastes of three different full-flavored foods will be provided so that we can try some pairings. The tasting will include bread, with coffee and dessert later.

Aperitif

             Vineland Estates Winery 2004 Dry Riesling

The Baco NoirWines

2001 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir

2000 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir

1999Henry of Pelham Baco Noir

1998 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir

1997 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir

1997 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir RESERVE

We recommend that you bring several glasses for this event in order to compare the different vintages. Please recognize that you will be consuming alcohol and do so in a responsible manner.

The tasting will include bread and cheese with coffee and dessert later. Please bring your own glasses and recognize that you will be consuming alcohol and do so in a responsible manner.

Members  $19.00            Guests   $23.00

What Happened.........

Our co president, Ken Grezlik, has a very good collection of wines, among them the Henry of Pelham Baco Noirs, and he proposed that we take advantage of them in a vertical tasting. Since Baco Noir is a good acidity, soft tannin red and goes very well with food, our tasting included small portions of three dishes.

The tasting was organized and carried out by Ken and Margaret Grezlik, Tom and Nancy Bundorf, and Dan and Georgette Willoughby.

Tom described the history of the Baco Noir, starting with its hybridization from a vitis riparia grape and Folle Blanche, by Francois Baco of Bordeaux around 1894, as a viable wine grape following the virtual decimation of European vineyards by the phylloxera insect. He was a hero at the time, but grafting vinifera onto resistant rootstalk slowly replaced the hybrids.  A great friend of AWS, Philip Wagner, brought the so called French hybrids to America in the mid 1950’s, and another great friend of AWS, Karl Bailey, brought them to southwest Michigan.  Karl planted and sold Baco Noir grapes to our members.

The Baco Noir went to Canada about the same time and is still grown there in quantity. Henry of Pelham found it on their property when they began, and today their winemaker, Ron Giesbrecht, makes it from both new and old plantings, easily selling it to its many enthusiasts.  The wine is also made in many places in the United States, but is restricted by regulation in Europe and the vines may no longer exist there. 

Ken presented the tasting in three flights of two, the first having the 2001 and 2000 accompanied by Georgette’s Gyro; then the 1999 and 1998 with Nancy’s Meatballs in Marinara Sauce; and then the 1997 and 1997 Reserve with Margaret’s Slow Cooked Curry Chicken.  This allowed us to see how the wines tasted with a wide variety of foods, as well as to compare the wines with each other.  We all agreed that it was a food friendly wine, and in fact, may be best used that way. 

Henry of Pelham treats the Baco Noir seriously, utilizing low crop yields, late ripening, and aging in oak to produce a superior wine. Ken presented the winemaker’s notes and the varying climatic conditions for each vintage. They outlined the winemaker’s challenge each year to maintain consistency and quality when the weather did not. While the wines were undeniably very similar from year to year, the differences were there and some of our members were a bit surprised at them.

Henry of Pelham has a good terroir for the Baco Noir, and their winemaker has maintained his style for the wine for many years. The Baco is not supposed to age well over very long periods, and so one might think the younger wines would be better, at least due to steady improvement in growing and processing factors. But this was not so. In fact, there seemed to be some advantage to age.

Clearly, the best wine of the evening was the 1997 Reserve, which is believed to be one of the best ever made by Henry of Pelham. It was a fine example of what a Reserve should be. For the others there were no clear favorites.  They were evenly good, yet different.

Our attendees expressed great appreciation to Ken for sharing his cellar, and to the tasting committee for their very good foods and presentation of a vertical tasting.  We closed with coffee and biscotti by Margaret.