Cheese Pairing

Very often I am giving a particular name of cheese to pair with a wine. I have to give a few more details about that matter.

Most of the time, I will then mention that this pairing has been recommended/proposed to me by one (or two) of my good friends from the “Cheese-Fromagerie” Department from the store I was tasting in. More than nine times out of 10 I have approved myself these pairings, founding them indeed extremely good.

Only a handful of times I have disagreed, and I must say, these girls have been extraordinarily patient with me, by being understanding and proposing new cheeses/pairing. They have tremendously helped me, by picking great cheeses to pair with my wines, have made my tastings more lively, made me discover new horizons by making me tasting new cheeses that I had no idea of, as well as given me loads of informations about them.

Well, I think it is only fair that I name them both on my next posts instead of talking vaguely about the "Cheese-Fromagerie". So here it is, the Head of the Cheese Department is named Treva and her always smiling colleague is Angela. Thanks to you both for training me on Cheeses, I really appreciate it!

My notation on the wines I taste...

Some of my followers have asked me, lately, to shade some lights on my process to give a notation on a scale of ten, for each wine I taste and what exactly motivate that number, rather than another one?

Well that's a big challenge, to explain how I make up a number... Let me try to explain, here is more or less my process, I try to compare wines:

. first of all, from same price range ( a basic varietal wine won't ever compare with a wonderful Romanée Conti, anybody knows that!).
. then from the same region or sub-region.
. then grapes used to make it.
. then, if I have already tasted that particular "Terroir" and if I know anything about it, I try to compare and see if the wine I am tasting is somewhat expressing what it should.
.then at the very end and only then, I add to all these considerations whether I like or not how the wine is expressing itself.

PS: It is very subjective to give a notation to a wine, has every body has a different palate and experience in the matter, I try to do my best to explain, what I like and why, but at the end, it is my particular taste and not necessarily everybody will agree with it.

If while reading me, you notice that on the non-subjective info given (i.e.:Technical Data and Geographic location) I am somehow mistaken, Please, don't hesitate to contact me, I will correct the error, after further investigations.

For those who read "My Wine Tastings Notes", a big thanks!

Bad News

Due to health circumstances, we lost our sweet baby girl, Selene Emilie Ajot, a week before her due date, in August the 15th, 2006. This tragedy has severely shocked and shaken my husband and me.

I'll be back into wine tasting shortly from now. Thanks for your comprehension.

Great News

Due to my 1rst pregnancy, I haven' t been tasting any wine lately, that's why there is no new post since a while. Delivery date due in late August.

thanks for your comprehension.

How does it work?

Really simple, for each wine I will give a complete description (sight, smell and taste) of what I know and also what I thought about it, as well as a score on a 10 scale and the usual observed price found in retail shop! When possible, technical data, food pairing and aging potential will be added. I just hope that will help you find new wines you never tried and have a good time sharing them with friends!

Hello world!

Welcome to Virginie's Wineblog.

Here you will find a lot of interesting notes about wines, as you are a beginner or a connoisseur these notes will allow you to share my experiences and discoveries among the wide world of wine. Wine is a vast subject of course, some will say a lifelong work to know everything, as there is so much thing changing everytime everywhere. But I have no pretention to know everything, perhaps just to be a little bit more enlighten than some other people because I'm a professional wine taster, so I thought I could share with you all what my job has made me discover.

I have to say that I do not consider my notes as the only truth. As wine is a matter of taste and most important of your own taste and since everybody as a different one some people might be not agreed with what I wrote.

More likely, I'm considering my notes as a "traveling journal" recalling what I have tasted and what I have thought of these particular wines at this precise moment!

Cheers