Chateau de Pique

Chateau de Pique Tasting Room

A friend of mine called me up and said she had a great little girls after-hours planned.  She had a Groupon for a new tasting room called Chateau de Pique in Castleton. Knowing nothing about Chateau de Pique, I said sure.

The Groupon was a 10 varietal tasting for four (10 wines? wow!) with a cheese and fruit platter* in an adorable little train car. Nice enough. Gary is our tasting guide for the evening, and poor Gary is completely slammed with Groupon tables like us. He is adorable and accommodating, but I can tell he is new to the wine industry and I immediately feel for him as he tries to keep up with his tables' demands.

He gives us a brief history of Chateau de Pique, their wines, et cetera. Their winery and vineyard is in Seymour.  I notice that their tagline is "One of the finest wineries in Southern Indiana**"--uh oh. Still hopeful, I make my selections from their long list of wines (22 including port). I notice a lot of red flags on their list (for instance, lots of fruit wines and wines labeled "sweet"). Determined to keep an open mind, I choose a varied selection. I glance over at my friend Laurie (who is a knowledgeable wine consumer), and I detect a hint of doubt under her optimistic smile. We must press on!

Chateau de Pique Tasting Room

The Riesling was fine. It really was.  But for $15 the bottle it would never be my choice. The Traminette (a popular Indiana grape) was ok. The eight other wines we tasted were pretty terrible.  As I look at my tasting notes, each one has a word next to it that is not so nice.  "Hot" appears often (ie, all you taste is the alcohol), as well as "petrolly" (aka jet-fuelish), "too astringent," "as much oak as a tree," and "crazy smoky."  I have high hopes for the fruit wines, but they were so incredibly sweet I felt like I needed to brush my teeth immediately in order not to incur emergency dental bills.

Poor Gary, he did his best.  When we asked for a dump bucket, he was visibly saddened and I truly felt bad. But Gary:  if you are reading this, don't despair!  A little more time in this industry and your eyes will be opened to wine that will knock the socks off of your customers (in a good way). We tipped Gary well and left knowing we would never buy any wine from Chateau de Pique. Oh well, at least it was just a Groupon.  Cheers!

*I should note that the cheese plate was cubed cheddar and colby-jack with Ritz crackers and grapes. Oh well. 

**I do want to note that I have had some great experiences with Indiana wine, namely with Creekbend and Mallow Run wines.  Indiana wine is not California wine (some wineries do use California grapes, however, like Cateau Thomas).  Nevertheless, Indiana wine does have some good surprises.  I encourage you all to keep an open mind (just skip Chateau de Pique).

Blind Wine Tasting Party (on a Budget)

So this is a great party that I have done for my wine friends;  here's how it works:

I really like to isolate only one variable to make the tasting more of a conversation starter.  We'll do this one on price, but there are more suggestions below.  Ask everyone to bring a 750ml bottle of wine at a certain price point ($13-15, for instance).  Instruct your guests to stay within one varietal (Sauvignon Blanc for instance) or flavor profile (crisp, unoaked, white).  You provide a bottle that is significantly higher in price (say $35).  Put them all in numbered brown bags (of course you'll need to record which bottle is in which bag, but keep it to yourself). 

Hand out pieces of paper (if you want to go "overachiever" on this you can print them out with the numbers and lines for "notes" and a ranking of 1-x, the number of bottles you are tasting).  Give everyone a glass and have them rank each wine and make notes.  Tell them that there is one wine that is much pricier than the rest, and let them speculate.

The reveal is the fun part.  I ask each guest to reveal one bottle.  Entertaining guesses as to which is which before-hand is really fun too.  It's hilarious to see who gets what right.  I've done this several times where not one guest has correctly guessed the expensive bottle.  

Here are some more ideas:

*Everyone brings a bottle of merlot, for instance, and you research snacks that bring out the different flavor aspects of that varietal.  Make tasting notes according to how the wine tastes with the different snacks. You may be surprised how food can completely change the taste of wine!

This is a good resource for food pairing purposes:  http://www.gayot.com/wine/pairing/appetizers.html

If you have a more casual crowd (they like potato chips and salsa more than bacon wrapped dates), try this one http://archive.supermarketguru.com/page.cfm/page.cfm/283

*Each guest brings a different varietal (you assign).  Brown bag them and try to guess which bottle is made from which grape.  This idea is great to bring wine experts down to earth, and an approachable way to let wine novices try a spectrum of wine without any preconceived notions.

*If you have an expert crowd, focus on wines from one country (preferably not USA for interest's sake), or even one region.  You can provide snacks inspired by that part of the world.  Chile would be fun, for instance, or even the Loire Valley in France.

Cheers- and happy tasting!