年明け最初のこのセミナーは会場も内容もとても豪華です。今回はテイスティングセミナーが2つありましたので、両方に参加。ソムリエ協会ではこういった勉強の機会を定期的に開催しています。
まずはシャンパーニュのデュバルレロワの醸造責任者のお話を伺いながら、ドザージュ(補酒。シャンパーニュの製造過程における容量と甘味の調整のことを指す)する前のシャンパーニュを4 ヴィンテージ、2008, 2005, 2003 と2002年を年代別にテイスティングしました。
I participated in the first seminars of 2016 held by the Japan Sommelier Association (JSA) and everything in the ballroom was gorgeous and shiny. There were two seminars that day and I attended both. JSA holds seminars on a regular basis for their members, so that members can stay in touch, brush up on their skills and keep abreast of the latest information coming out about the industry.
The first seminar was on Duval Leroy, the champagne maker. The lecturer was the person in charge of the champagne making process. After learning about the winery, we got to taste four different vintages of their champagne from years 2008, 2005, 2003 and 2002. All of them were before dosage. Dosage is the final process of making champagne, when the vintner adds back the sweetness and alcohol that was lost in the production process.
It was my first time to do what is called vertical tasting with champagne. Vertical tasting is when you taste one wine varietal from the same producer through several vintages. It is a way of experiencing just how unique every year can be in the world of a particular wine. Very interesting!
Please look at the picture above. Any idea what they are? They are all SAKE! The second seminar was a SAKE tasting seminar presented by JSA? That's new! Mr.Tasaki explained to us that the increasing demand of SAKE abroad is a result of the growth in the number of Japanese restaurants every year. Alcohol is served by sommeliers in most foreign countries, and they have been trying to gather information about how to express the characteristics of SAKE but SAKE tasting is not expressed the same way that wine tasting is in Japan. So JSA has begun to categorize SAKE and develop a tasting chart that will allow a common language to develop in the world of wine to understand and express the world of SAKE.
2020年のオリンピック、和食の無形文化財登録など、日本酒にまつわるキーワードは前向きでいいですね。先日長野で日本酒の輸出について話し合ったばかりだったので、私にはとてもタイムリーな話題でした。
Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Our Japanese cuisine, WASHOKU, was registered as a intangible cultural heritage. The keyword for SAKE seems pretty positive. This lecture was very timely for me, as I was talking about exporting SAKE with SAKE makers in Nagano just last week.
So, I bought this book titled "WASHOKU And Wine" and got Mr. Tasaki's signature. Yeppiiiii !
この本、日本人の食習慣と和食、日本酒やワインなどのアルコールの位置付けという視点からのアプローチで目からウロコものです。外国人に説明するのに重宝しそう。
The book is about the Japanese eating habit of WASHOKU, and the role that SAKE and other alcoholic beverages play in our eating habits as compared with the eating and drinking habits of people in European countries. What it says in the book was eye-opening for me. Much of what's in the book gives you that Aha! feeling. This is going to be my text book when explaining Japanese food to foreigners. Glad I got this book!