I got an invitation from Tim Johnston of Juveniles (ex Willi’s Wine Bar) to a tasting of screwcapped wines he organised in Paris on Monday. Since screwcaps are such strange beasts to most French people I asked him how it went and here is his reply:
Unfortunately, there was another big tasting on the same day and many of the big hitters, even amongst those who had expressed an interest in "screws", didn't show. I think that Parisians get blasés at this time of the year – too many big tastings. The wines were all terrific, with some styles that don't necessarily appeal to the French.
One of the reds where we had both screws and corks of the same wine – the corker was corked (from Wirra Wirra), which was perfect. David [Gleave of UK wine importer Liberty Wines] said that he thought I should organise one every six months and eventually we would get there. Matt [Thomson, described on the invitation as ‘Célébrissime Winemaker NZ’] is a perfect person to have commenting on wines, since he can almost pick out corked wine before you have opened it!
I was interested by Jacques Vivet's comment, saying it was without a doubt one of the most interesting tastings of the year (he has a wine school and so is an important feature of the Paris Scene). He said he wasn't really surprised about the turnout, as for many it is still a bit early, although many people say "oh yes we DO understand". Half of the people who did show up were foreigners of one sort or another and the only big restaurant sommeliers there were from Le Cinq and Aux Lyonnais, who did enjoy the wines, with certain reservations about some of the styles (New Zealand Sauvignon being too tropical fruit! – what's new). The event was positive in a small way and when my wine list goes screws and synthetics it will make it easier!
I must say I thought the famed sommelier of Le Cinq, a bit friend of Tim’s, was a big fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (see Drinking wine for fun)?
Juveniles, 47 Rue de Richelieu, Paris 75001 is a very relaxed wine and tapas bar with a much more innovative range of wines than most places in Paris – as witness this experiment.
