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From Russia (And Other Places) With Love: Premium and Super Premium Vodkas Tuesday May 7, 2002 Speaker: Harriet Lembeck, Wine Journalist and Educator In today's market the hottest spirits, especially among the hip and trendy, are premium and super premium vodkas. The cachet of ordering a Martini, Cosmopolitan or a vodka on the rocks by brand identifies the consumer as one who knows his/her libation. Vodkas are listed in the order of presentation. The 43 attendees were asked to vote for their three favorite vodkas. Prices listed are retail, full mark-up, in New York City. Notes are a combination of the speaker's and Kim Ginsberg's. Ms. Ginsberg is a wine consultant and a New York City based wine educator. This tasting dispelled some myths about Vodka! 1. For bulk produced Vodka such as these commercial products, the notion of "triple distilled" or "triple filtered" is a misnomer or hype. The process of distillation is a continuous one, recirculating the solution until all the alcohol is vaporized out. 2. The source of the Vodka (potato, wheat, sugar cane) does not affect the final product. When using a sugar product, the fermentation is direct from sugar to alcohol. When using a starch base, the fermentation is starch to sugar, then sugar to alcohol. After fermentation, to separate the alcohol from the water in the resulting solution, it is distilled - boiled. Since alcohol has a lower boiling temperature than water the alcohol vaporizes, leaving the water behind. The vapor is collected in tubes and cooled, the resulting condensation is collected, boiled again to remove even more water, and so on, until what is drawn from the still is almost pure alcohol, having no trace of its original source. 3.Imported Vodka may have up to 2½ % "various ingredients" added that do not have to appear on the label. However, American made vodka cannot have any "flavors" added; it must be, by law, colorless, odorless, tasteless. So, as we tasted, this "neutral" spirit was often anything but! 4. In order to better taste, really evaluate spirits, they must be diluted 50%. This opens them up and allows one to investigate the nuances. Wines Votes Full Retail $ Aperitif: OP, Sweden This is not a Vodka, but a liqueur. It is only 70 proof (Vodka must be at least 80 proof) and there are lots of flavors added -more than the allowable 2½ %. The aroma is a nice orangey, which continues in the mouth where lovely peach and apricot flavors are also noted. 1 (750ML) $24.00 Tanqueray Sterling, Great Britain Not too much aroma, very clean and neutral but with a definite sweetness in the aftertaste. 1 $20.00 Finlandia, Finland Very nice and clean. No nose. Pure neutrality. Finishes clean as well, no sweetness as in the Tanqueray. 14 $22.00 Stolichnaya, Russia A bit of a floral nose, often found in vodkas from Russia and Poland. Sweeter than the Finlandia with a lovely hint of vanilla. Very pretty vodka. 18 $24.00 Pearl, Canada A new vodka to many of us. The aroma of butterscotch and maple syrup follows through on the palate. The sweetness and flavor fade quickly, but the finish is very clean and pleasant. The mapley sweetness gives a roundness and smoothness to this vodka. 17 $25.00 Peconika, Long Island Remember, in America we cannot add anything for flavor or mouth feel. Made from potatoes and wheat. Clean and neutral in aroma and taste. Nice, but it does have a bite in the finish. 4 $27.00 Fris, Denmark Has an unusual fragrance - a bit savory like ham, salty, and a bit flowery. The taste starts out sweet and then finishes with the savory and salty profile. A creamy, smooth mouth feel but with a salty kick in the finish. 5 $20.00 Ston, Estonia The filtration through limestone probably accounts for the minerally and vanilla smell, except that the point of the filtering agent is to rid the vodka of flavors, not impart flavors to the drink. That is why, until the current craze of charcoal filtering, charcoal had stopped being used for some 20 years because it did impart flavor and corrupt the product. A little on the sweet side, typical of Eastern European vodkas, but it does have that interesting mineral quality. 8 $19.00 Belvedere, Poland An earthy and pungent nose. It tastes a bit sweet, flat and dull as it hangs in your mouth. Finishes dirty. 3 $35.00 Chopin, Poland Potato vodka with a moldy aroma. Harsh and dirty in the mouth. Moldy notes in the mouth and has a bite in the finish. 8 $35.00 Absolut, Sweden Wheat based. Smells earthy, a little malty and not totally clean. There are also peppery and rubbery nuances. They distill a clean spirit and then add grain extract for flavoring. 8 $23.00 Vox, Netherlands Grain based spirit that smells a bit of vanilla. Has a very strong bite in the back of the throat, a bit of a burn in the aftertaste and on the tongue. 1 $33.00 Grey Goose, France "Filtered through champagne limestone." Smells of licorice and a bit of citrus with lots of anise flavor. Not clean or neutral. The flavor shows licorice and notes of caraway. 22 $33.00 Wyborowa, Poland Rye based. Winter rye has a high starch content and is a spicy grain. This vodka has a spicy "top note," so they may add back some grain essence like Absolute does. Very sweet, vanilla, but finishes with a bite, a burn. Not smooth. 9 $18.00 Top