Tasting with Altitude -- Aliot is the High Flyer

 We just received news that our 2006 Aliot was entered in a high-altitude tasting in a private jet hosted by Tom Harrow, budding James Bond of the Wine World, and came away with Flying Colors (tee hee).  The point was to "explore the effects of altitude and cabin pressure and air condition on olfactory and gustatory appreciation.  A select group of wine, travel, luxury and lifestyle journalists were invited to make up the panel."The good news was that unlike most other entrants, the Aliot came out unanimously first for the white, both on the ground and in the air!  only the Bollinger Grande Annee 2000 could make the same claim, putting us in some darn good company : ).  Here are some notes from their write-up:

"The altitude or more likely air pressure and quality accentuated the oak influence in the wines: – For the Bollinger and Aliot this worked in their favour as the wines increased in structure without losing the rich autolytic character of the former or the ripe spicy fruit of the latter.  The Bordeaux however saw some of their fruit recede, especially after breathing for two hours, and on the second tasting at Altitude the Cantemerle was rather reedy and dried out, and the Pape Clement  showed a disassociation between its fruit core and the toasty French oak in which it had previously been wrapped.  The conclusion suggested is that new-oaked reds do not benefit from being overly aerated before consumption in this environment.Fruit:Starting from the premise that air is a conduit for aroma and flavor, and surmising therefore that the quality of this ‘vehicle’ would affect the ‘ride’ it was not surprising that conditions in a pressurized cabin deadened the palate somewhat, flattening flavours and masking the more subtle and secondary characteristics of the wines generally.  This was particularly evident with the lighter, more elegant wines:  The Gruner (which in fairness did not show particularly well on the ground either) struggled to make any impression in the air, and the Valmur’s clean austerity became rather punctilious at 9000ft.  The clear winner among the whites on this occasion was the Aliot, whose mid-palate weight and structural amplitude refused to be cowed by the conditions".

Of course, this set my pride soaring, but the commercial realities of having to put a little start-up winery on the map quickly bring me back down to earth!for the full article and links to the video, click here.