I should be packing for France. For over a year now, I’ve been researching the Rhone Valley, and how best to get to Châteauneuf-du-Pape to compete or cover the World Wine Tasting Championship slated to be held there 10/2/21. Should I fly into Lyon? Marseille? Nice? Toulouse? Deals to fly in to Geneva, Porto, and Milan also caught my eye– cities all closer to the Southern Rhone destination than Paris. But in early July, life got a little complicated when it came to the contest. And I may or may not be part of a lawsuit related to this. It’s been quite the roller coaster with Team USA WINE. And if I’m not competing, like I did in 2019 in the Loire, I’d really like to be there covering the story. I just checked flights from LAX!
Team USA Wine: Gwendolyn Alley, Sue Hill, Kristen Schubert, Lisa Stoll
We feel that the best team is one that can spend time together tasting which we are committed to doing.In 2019 we didn’t taste with our team mates and coach until we were competing in the contest and we know that contributed to our failure at the competition.
An Olympic relay team is put together with four incredibly talented athletes that train on their own and win their own races. In theory, they should make an amazing, winning team, right? The talent is there!
A relay race is not only about the speed of the athletes as they each take a leg and go around the track. Critical is that the baton flawlessly makes it to the next team member. This requires excellent communication as the hand-off of the baton is done in the blind. Athletes must learn how to communicate and build team camaraderie to have a successful hand-off.A team comprised of the fastest athletes, that only practices the hand-off with each other the day before the competition seems to have a predictable outcome. A dropped baton.
Confusing and exhausting!
- Taylor Robertson (1st Place 2019, 101 points)
- Jacob Fergus (1st Place 2019, 101 points)
- Lisa Stoll (1st Place 2018 124 points, 3rd Place 2019 59 points)
- (Lisa Stoll Partner pick of either 2018 partner Kristen Shubert or 2019 Elan Glasser)
- Kristen Shubert (1st Place 2018 124 points, 6th Place 2019)
- (Kristen Shubert partner Darcey Lucas Howard 2019)
- Gwendolyn Alley (2nd Place 2019, 92 points)
- Sue Hill (2nd Place 2019, 92 points)
- Gina Cook (2nd Place 2018)
- Christine Tanaka (2nd Place 2018)
Not surprisingly, Lisa chose Kristen.
And then it all took a dramatic turn.
Sue, Kristen, and I accepted our selection to be on the team — with caveats that expressed our concerns about the lack of practices and the impact of that on producing a winning team. Wine Acuity made unfounded and unkind accusations, illegally attempting to kick us off the team. My response has yet to be answered; Sue got an apology and a retraction. Lawsuits are being drawn up and filed.
- Kristen Shubert, WSET 3 with merit
Los Angeles County, CA (Chatsworth near Ventura County)
2016 Team USA: 3rd place with 100 points at World Challenge (with Ulf Palmnas)
2018 Team USA: 14th of 23 teams at World Challenge (with Lisa Stoll)
2018 US Open: 1st with 124 points (partner Lisa Stoll)
2019 US Open: 4th place
- Lisa Stoll, WSET 3
Ventura County, CA (Camarillo)
2018 Team USA: 14th of 23 teams at World Challenge
2018 US Open: 1st with 124 points (partner Kristen Schubert)
2019 US Open: 3rd place with 59 points
- Sue Hill, tasting room manager, Cantara Cellars
Ventura County (Meiners Oaks)
2019 Team USA
2019 US Open second place (92 points)
- Gwendolyn Alley, Slow Wine Guide Field Coordinator
Ventura County (Ventura)
2019 Team USA
2019 US Open second place (92 points)
So who is competing????
Why do we want to do this anyway?
On to taste some wine from the Rhone with this great group of world class tasters! (Missing” Kristen Schubert who was in Lodi getting Graciano — yes she’s a winemaker as well!)
World Class Tasters: Lisa Stoll, Gretel Compton, Gwendolyn Alley, Sue Hill
Tasters:
- Gwendolyn Alley, USA Wine Tasting Team 2019-2021
- Carrie Roberts, wine enthusiast
- Gretel Compton, Clos des Amis co-owner and co-winemaker
- Sue Hill, USA Wine Tasting Team 2019-2021
- Lisa Stoll, USA Wine Tasting Team 2018, 2020, 2021
- John Walsh, wine enthusiast
Instant Pot Chicken Cassoulet
Rhône Inspired Menu
Cassoulet is a peasant dish that takes three days to make, and with expensive ingredients like duck and rabbit, it can be quite expensive as well. But we developed a quick and affordable instant pot recipe that uses chicken drumsticks (recipe below).
- Selection of French Cheeses and pate from Trader Joe’s
- Arugula tomato salad with bacon
- Squash Souffle
- Chicken, Bacon, Sausage Instant Pot Cassoulet (recipe here)
- Chocolate Eclairs
Rhône Wines
- 2019 Kirkland “Signature” Chateauneuf du Pape
purchased at Costco $22 - 2013 Cave de Tain “Grand Classique” Hermitage AOP
purchased at the winery in France - 2016 Les Collines “Specially Selected” Chateauneuf-du-Pape
purchased at Grocery Outlet $15
2019 Kirkland Signature Châteauneuf-du-Pape
ABV 15.5%
SRP $22
Blend: 70% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 10% Cinsault
Lisa purchased this at Costco to use as a practice wine for the 2021 World Wine Tasting Championship scheduled for Oct 2 in Chateauneuf du Pape. She used her Coravin to provide samples for us to taste. We were all very impressed at how much this wine delivered for the price — that’s what a monster retailer like Costco can do. Some how I didn’t get a photo of this wine — and Lisa took it with her so she could keep practicing with it.
Color: Ruby, garnet rim, medium density
Aroma: Lots of perfume, rich, heady, rose petals, potpourri, jam and fruit, garrigue, Herbs de Provence.
Palate: Very smooth, nothing is overly grippy for such a youthful wine. Fruit and florals exemplify the typical GSM from the Rhone in France. There is a velvety quality to this wine. We would love to lie this wine down and revisit in a few years– and at this price you could buy a case!
Pairing: With the soufflé’s that was on the sweet side it held up nicely with the wine. Sue had a bite of mushroom brie on bread and it “knocked her socks off.” We all agreed it went really nicely with the cassoulet. However that being said, it was not my favorite wine with the meal. Gretel didn’t think the wine worked very well with the greens.
2013 Cave de Tain “Grand Classique” Hermitage AOP
ABV 13%
SRP ?
Lisa purchased this in 2018 from the winery when she visited during the World Wine Tasting Championship. She used her Coravin to siphon out samples for us to taste.
Color: Ruby, high density, rhubarb on the rim. It is a very dense wine.
Aroma: Dark fruit, interesting concentrated umami, balsamic, pomegranate, earthen, peppery, sarsaparilla, vanilla.
Palate: Acidity, bacon, pepper, very dry and tannic.
Pairing: Lisa loved the cassoulet with the wine which craves the richness in foods to tame the tannic beast with the tannins cutting the richness. It is also perfect with pate and triple cream brie. The richness with the Syrah works so well. The squash and soufflé’s and wine tastes like Thanksgiving. The bacon in the salad and greens works so nicely also with the wine.
2016 Les Collines “Special Selected” Chateauneuf-du-Pape
ABV 14.5%
SRP ?
purchased at Grocery Outlet $15
Blend: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault
Two days before we gathered to taste a hillside of Cotes du Rhone (which you can read about here),
I opened this wine to go with a test run of the cassoulet. Oh my what a delicious wine and pairing! I carefully corked the bottle and put it back in the wine fridge, confident that it would still be tasting well on Thursday.
And it wasn’t! I missed out on getting tasting notes from the crew because the wine just didn’t taste that great so we decided to give it a pass. I’ll try and add some notes later because I bought another bottle — which I will enjoy in one sitting!
Or perhaps we will open it Wednesday night when Sue and I get together for our weekly tasting and pairing and toast the gathering of World Wine Tasting Championship competitors as they begin gathering.
And of course wear my CdP vest as much as possible.
Read the story of how I acquired this vest near the close of a WILD NIGHT in Paris!
Swirl Sniff Sip Smile Sigh So?
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 
Truly a sh@! show at WIne Acuity. Kristen, Lisa, Sue and Gwendolyn are PAYING customers of this competition! Fees of $250 per team going to WIne Acuity. And this is how we have been treated! The organizer, John Vilja sending us unprofessional emails and kicking us off the team…..when he has no right to do so. He does not follow the rules set forth on the WIne Acuity website. In reality, only twelve people really care about this contest-and at any moment-Mr. Vilja may decide he has a personal issue with you(a PAYING entrant). At that point, he will “uninvite” you from the team. He tried to remove Lisa Stoll last year, in favor of Byancha(a third-place finisher at US Open). This year, three middle-aged and well-qualified ladies are listed as possible candidates in open emails, but in private emails-are told they are not eligible to compete. The team chosen(which was never announced publicly) is made up of men who placed next to last in the WWTC in 2019, and another man who finished with only 59 points in a US Open. (Kristen and Lisa had DOUBLE that score in the 2018 US Open competition.) The goal of WIne Acuity is to put forth the best team possible? Epic fail for 2021!
LikeLiked by 1 person
As we’ve talked privately, I agree! And every sordid detail and more is true. Unbelievable that Wine Acuity has yet to announce the 2021 team.
LikeLike