He
describes his tasting method as a system of “Five S‑es”:
See, Swirl, Smell, Suck and Spit.
“Does
the wine look like it should look?” is the first question Flatt
asks when he raises a glass to the light. He considers the wine’s
color and clarity at this stage.
Swirling
the wine in the glass lets Flatt check its viscosity and sugar
content, but more importantly, doing so allows oxygen to mix
with the wine and bring out all its different aromas. That leads
to the third S, smell.
Smelling
the wine is extremely important in describing the wine’s flavor.
“You can smell thousands of things,” Flatt explains, “but you
can only taste four–sweet, sour, salt and bitter. That’s why
the smell is the biggest thing about the wine. You notice all
kinds of things–fruitiness, earthiness, mineralization.”
The
“sucking” action (as opposed to drinking) is important because
it introduces more oxygen into the wine and releases “layers
of flavor,” Flatt says.
“What’s
the first taste,” Flatt asks himself when he’s tasting a wine,
“and the next taste and then the next taste?”
And
then, he spits it out. “You don’t need to swallow the wine to
taste it,” he says, describing a scene familiar to anyone who
has attended a professional wine tasting or seen the wine‑soaked
buddy picture “Sideways.”
“I
spit at work,” Flatt offers. “At home, I swallow.”
Identifying
the flavors is indispensable to the way Flatt creates his wine
lists.
“The
thing that sets our lists apart from most is that we do a flavor
profile of each wine,” Flatt says.
“Generally,
wine lists identify the name, the place and the year of the
wine,” he continues. “But unless you’re familiar with the wine
to begin with, what does that really tell you? Why pick one
wine over another? I think people are often scared to order
unfamiliar wines because they don’t know what they taste like.
”
Flatt’s
award‑winning wine lists help patrons make more informed
decisions when choosing a wine. Flatt’s list describes the flavors
and includes information on the wine’s grape variety and aging
history.
For
example, take a look at this entry for a cabernet from Flatt’s
list:
Chateau
Souvrain, Alexander Valley ‘02. Black cherry, plum, coffee,
cedar and chocolate.
You
can almost taste the wine by his words.
“Being
a chef,” Flatt says, “I’m used to describing the food–so I just
implemented that feature into my wine lists. It’s a lot of work,
but using the flavor profiles really pays off.”
A
case in point is a previously neglected and aptly named white
wine, Conundrum (California ‘04). After supplying the flavor
profile, which identifies “apricot, white peach, honeysuckle,
green melon, pear (and) creamy vanilla” flavors, Flatt says
sales of the wine increased by 50 percent.
“Because
people have an idea of what’s in it and what it tastes like,”
Flatt says, “the wine sells itself.”
Flatt’s
wine lists for both restaurants differ slightly to accommodate
the nature of the cuisine at each restaurant. The eclectic fare
at Tonto Bar & Grill is described as “New American” and
incorporates culinary influences from all over the world which
is reflected in a more regionally diverse wine list. Cartwright’s
is a gourmet steak, game and seafood restaurant with a wine
list more tailored to those entrèes.
Flatt
is in the process of revamping Tonto Bar & Grill’s wine
list and he intends to do likewise for Cartwright’s list soon
afterward. Flatt intends to broaden the variety of world wines,
including new wines from Chile, Austria, Germany and many other
countries.
The
current lists that garnered the Wine Spectator honor are heavily
dominated by California wines but Flatt is planning to compile
larger lists of more varied styles of wine. The lists will probably
grow by 20 to 30 labels, but Flatt knows his limitations.
“The
size of the wine list is dictated by the size of the cellar,”
he says. “You can only offer what you can store. If I could
build a huge cellar now, I’d add a lot more wines.”
It’s
an exciting time in the wine industry, according to Flatt, and
the new lists will reflect that. “More than ever, wine companies
are developing in new areas and the technology is following
right along,” Flatt explains. “Traditions are changing, especially
in Europe, bringing in new varietals and different blendings.”
“Old
World style wines” will be featured more prominently on the
new lists, Flatt says, because those types have “more structure.”
“There’s
more acidity, more tannins–you can taste the earth in these
wines. California wines are very fruity, so you don’t get a
lot of structure.”
One
stellar addition of this type that Flatt is especially excited
about is a Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc called Tenuta San
Guido “Sassicaia” ‘03. From Bolgheri, Italy, on the Tuscan Coast,
this $300 bottle of red is “probably the most sought after ‘Cab’
in the world,” says Flatt.
The
wine traces back to the vineyards of the Marquis Mario Incisa
della Rocchetta who is recognized as the first winemaker to
plant the Cabernet grape in Italy.
