On Saturday I met my friend Ilkka Siren and was lucky enough to sit in on the filming of a historic episode of Viini TV. Ilkka had paired up with Franco from the Green House Seed Company and I was to witness the first ever wine and weed pairing. I have to admit to find it all a little unusual and weird but soon enough I was really impressed by the professionalism of this tasting.
Ilkka had picked 6 different wines which were to be paired with 6 of the 7 strands of weed that Franco had brought with him. As the filming started the boys first tasted the wines – with Ilkka explaining a little on every wine – they started with a Champagne, then an Assyrtiko from Santorini, a dry Muscat from Italy, a Bordeaux blend from South Africa, an amazingly ’63 indigenous Portuguese blend and the last wine was a 10 year old Tawny (port).
After the initial tasting of the wines, Franco talked Ilkka through the different weed strands and I was amazed to hear about all the different flavours (Franco even had a flavour wheel!) and then the boys chose their best matches by squeezing the buds and smelling them and comparing them to the wines. I hope to be able to post some footage – once the boys have finished the editing of the film and have sorted out the legals as this really was a tasting with a twist!!
Once the filming was done we all got to taste some of the wines which were paired with some awesome cheeses, olives and chocolates and off course a few puffs.
The 1963 Portuguese blend was voted as the absolute winner of the tasting – the wine had such depth and several layers adding to the complexity. On the nose there was a lot of dried fruit, sultanas and dates, some smokiness, cedar and hints of cigar and some stewed plums. To taste the wine was even more amazing, the tanins were velvety, the acidity was still crisp, the wine had a good mouth feel with flavours of dried and stewed black fruit, notes of vanilla and hazelnut and toastiness in the medium to long finish.
