Me, a wine critic???

Well, yes, it's true.  I have been asked by my friend Michel Bettane to participate in the selection process of the newest Guide Bettane & Desseauve, a comprehensive guide to French wines, that will include 1500 wineries and 7-8000 wines.  Last week I tasted over 200 wines from the appellations of Costières de Nimes, Côtes du Ventoux and Côtes du Luberon.  These are not appellations you see very often in the US, but I was pleasantly suprised at the overall quality of the wines.  There are so many people making good wine out there these days, and so much to be discovered. It's a lot of fun. Though, you can imagine tasting 70 wines in one sitting is exhausting, you take a lot of breaks, eat a lot of baguette and drink a lot of water! 

This is how it works: Each appellation has on organizational body that contacts all of the producers within the appellation. They are asked to send samples of their wines (3 different cuvées max, 2 bottles each. )  A tasting is then organized at their headquarters where all the wines are tasted blind.  I take notes and then decide which wines will be "pre-selected" for the book.  Once all of the selected wines have been revealed I am given the second bottle of those wines to taste again at a later date with Thierry Desseauve.  Together with Thierry we will select the wines and wineries that will appear in the guide.  At this point I will go visit the individual wineries, taste through their entire line of wines, then write up the text that will be in the book, including tasting notes of the wines, information on the winery, etc!  It's a huge endeavor, but so very exciting. I am one of seven people in France that they have retained to help them with the enormous job of writing a wine guide for all of the appellations of France, something 2 people alone could never do!

This week I am tasting Tavel, Lirac, Vacqueyras, and Côteaux du Tricastin.  After Christmas, Thierry Desseauve is coming to taste at Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, and Cairanne (I am planning on going along too) and then we will attack the huge job of tasting all of the Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages wines.  A huge job, but somebody's got to do it!