*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from L’Ecole.
As some of you may know, this year’s North American Wine Blogger Conference is in Walla Walla, Washington. I’m still working out the details to see if it will be a possibility for me to attend this time, but in the meantime, I’m trying out some wines from Walla Walla, this month thanks to the folks at L’Ecole. I’ve only had a few Washington State wines, and even fewer from Walla Walla, so I’m happy to be able to expand my tasting a bit and bring you something different. First up is the 2007 L’Ecole No. 41 Estate Syrah. The wine retails for $36, had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.8% alcohol by volume.
Big meaty pepper dark fruit wrapped in some smoke tinged with herbs. Yum. Talk about voluptuous. Meat, pepper, spice, black fruit, plums, blackberries, earth, and herbs showed on the nose for me. In the mouth plum and blackberry fought for attention with spice, pepper, leather, anise, earth, and some creamy notes rounding out the palate. At first this showed really tight for me and it needed a couple hours in the glass to really open up into it’s chewy big fruits.
Flattened glass bottles on display at the Diablo Glass School in Roxbury.
About once a month — including tomorrow, Saturday, February 27 — the Diablo Glass School in Roxbury transforms into the hippest place in Boston to have a glass of wine.
The glass school, located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, regularly opens its doors for public wine tastings. The twist is that, as guests sip their wine, they also watch professional glassblowers demonstrate how a wine glass is made.
“I jumped on it like white on rice,” said Jen Thurber from her seat in the audience at a recent event. As soon as she heard about the wine and glassblowing combination, Thurber invited Sarah Clark, a wine-loving engineer who works for a glass manufacturer. “It’s the perfect place for us to be,” Clark said.
“People come to the wine events from all over the city, from all different walks of life,” said Emily Lombardo, studio manager. “We give them something to watch, and something to drink, and a place to be social.”
Throughout the evening the audience flows back and forth from the “hot shop,” where the furnaces are located and the glassblowers perform, to the “lab,” the separate room where Josh Eaton and Susana McDonnell pour the wines.
Eaton and McDonnell are also experienced glassblowers, and they run Terroir Wines LLC, a Cambridge-based importer of French wines from small producers. Eaton introduced the concept of pairing wine tastings with glassblowing demonstrations as a way to showcase his own wines. The idea took off, and for each tasting Eaton now pairs with a local retailer to handle orders from the audience.
Eaton coordinates the evening’s wine program so the audience can shift focus from wine to glassblowing and back again. He’ll pour two samples of 2004 Lamblin & Fils 1er Cru Chablis, for example, one from Fourchaumes and the other from Beauroy, so that the audience can compare and contrast the same grape from two different localities of the same producer’s vineyard.
“We want people to learn something, and we want them to have a really good time,” Eaton said. Normally he opens between 10 and 15 wines for each event but he always ends with what he calls a show-stopper, such as a 2005 Jaboulet Vercherre Pommard. “Inevitably, he said, “when people place their orders they’ll go for these.”
Inevitably, too, people are drawn back to the hot shop and the choreography of the glassblowers. Studio manager Emily Lombardo smiles. “The wine events gives us as glass artists the chance to be rock stars for a day.”
I made a promise to myself, that I would eat only good raw foods. It’s been like a roller coaster ride since September 1st, 2009 when I initially made the decision. And looking at the calendar, it’s nearing my June 2nd goal date and I’m not losing anymore weight, in fact I’ve gained.
So, now it’s down to the wire to curb my spontaneous and bad eating style. Being back in Florida, I’ve been monitoring what and how much I’m eating. My juicing is a staple two times a day and I’ve been taking my Barley Max once a day. I’m actually thinking of beefing that up to two times a day.
Since Tuesday, I’ve eaten Minestrone Soup and Salad at Olive Garden for lunch and then I made a Layered Vegetable Salad for dinner. Wednesday I had lunch with Mike and his daughter at a pizza shop and of course I had Pizza with a twist. I asked for two slices of pizza with Onion, Broccoli, Mushrooms and NO CHEESE with a Greek Salad with NO CHEESE. Dinner was at Carrabba’s Restaurant where I had an Insalata Furilluci Salad with Grilled Eggplant, Roasted Red Bell Peppers, Olives with an Oil and Vinegar Dressing. I also ordered Rigatoni Martino with no meat and cheese (Mike and I shared that!). Thursday I ate the left over Layered Vegetable Salad for lunch and then it was back to another Carrabba’s Restaurant where I had the Insalata Furilluci for dinner and we ordered Bruchetta for appetizers. I have to admit, I did indulge with four pieces of bread and both evenings I had a small carafe of wine.:(
The Misconception: Wine is a complicated elixir, full of subtle flavors only an expert can truly distinguish, and the more expensive it is, the better it tastes.
The Truth: There is little correlation between price and taste of wine, and wine experts are fooling themselves into believing they can pick up distinct flavors.
You scan the isles in the liquor store looking for a good wine.
It’s a little overwhelming – all those weird bottle shapes with illustrations of castles and vineyards and kangaroos. And all those varieties? Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet – this is serious business.
You look to your left and see bottles for around $12; to your right you see bottles for $60. You think back to all the times you’ve seen people tasting wine in movies, holding it up to the light and commenting on tannins and barrels and soil quality – the most expensive wine has to be the better one, right?
Well, you are not so smart. But, don’t fret – neither are all those connoisseurs who swish fermented grape juice around and spit it back out.
Wine tasting is a big deal to a lot of people. It can even be a professional career. It goes back thousands of years, but the modern version with all the terminology like notes, tears, integration and connectedness goes back a few hundred.
Wine tasters will mention all sorts of things they can taste in a fine wine as if they were a human spectrograph with the ability to sense the molecular makeup of their beverage.
As you may have figured out by now, most of this is pretty much total bullshit.
In 2001, Frederic Brochet conducted two experiments at the University of Bordeaux.
In one experiment, he got 57 wine experts together and had them taste one glass of red wine and one glass of white wine. He had them describe each wine in as much detail as their expertise would allow.
What he didn’t tell them was both were the same wine. He just dyed the white one red.
In the other experiment, he asked the experts to rate two different bottles of red wine. One was very expensive, the other was cheap.
Again, he tricked them. This time he had put the cheap wine in both bottles.
So, what were the results?
The experts in the first experiment, the one with the dyed wine, described the sorts of berries and grapes and tannins they could detect in the red wine just as if it really was red. Every single one, all 57, could not tell it was white.
In the second experiment, the one with the switched labels, the experts went on and on about the cheap wine in the expensive bottle. They called it “complex” and “rounded.” They called the same wine in the cheap bottle “weak” and “flat.”
Another experiment at Cal-Tech pitted five bottles of wine against each other. They ranged in price from $5 to $90. Similarly, the experimenters put cheap wine in the expensive bottles – but this time they put the tasters in a brain scanner.
While tasting the wine, the same parts of the brain would light up in the machine every time, but with the wine the tasters thought was expensive, one particular region of the brain became more active. Studies are continuing to explore this.
Yet another study has tasters rate cheese eaten with two different wines. One they were told was from California, the other from North Dakota. The same wine was in both bottles. The tasters rated the cheese they ate with the California wine as being better quality, and they ate more of it.
What this points out is the nasty beast of expectation.
Expectation, as it turns out, is just as important as raw sensation. The build up to an experience can completely change how you interpret the information reaching your brain from your otherwise objective senses.
In psychology, true objectivity is pretty much considered to be impossible. Memories, emotions, conditioning and all sorts of other mental flotsam taint every new experience you gain.
In addition to all this, your expectations powerfully influence the final vote in your head over what you believe to be reality.
So, when tasting a wine, or watching a movie, or going on a date – some of what you experience comes from within and some comes from without.
Expensive wine is like anything else that’s expensive, the expectation that it will be taste better makes it taste better.
Restaurants depend on this. Actually, just about every retailer depends on this. Presentation, price, good marketing, great service – it all leads to an expectation of quality. The actual experience at the end of all this is less important. As long as it isn’t total crap, your experience will match up with your expectations.
Your expectations are the horse, and your experience is the cart. You get this backwards all the time because you are not so smart.
The Wine; Mas Belle Eaux Le Coteaux, Coteaux du Languedoc
Mas Belle Eaux Le Coteaux Coteaux du Languedoc
Tasting notes:
This refined, elegant red from the south of France has an enticing aroma of pepper and sage, with flavors of raspberry, kirsch, red cherry and hints of garrigue. The pure, minerally finish ends on a meaty note. Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre.
Terroir: well drained slopes made up of Villafranchian gravel.
Vinifi cation: fermentation in temperature controlled concrete and stainless steel vats. Long maceration for 30 to 40 days.
Ageing: 15 months in French oak barrels, 1 to 3 years old Winemaker’s comments: a dark, intense colour. On the palate, the wine is round, supple and full-bodied. The aromas of black fruit and spices will be a sheer lasting delight for the taste buds. It is best laid down for 2 to 10 years. It will go very well with wild fowl (duck, woodcock, pheasant, etc.), spicy dishes and cheese. My favourite: it was absolutely delicious with a fi llet of duck and pan-fried cèpes.
Recipe Pairing: Jalapeno Hens
Serves: 4; ½ hen per serving – You can ask you butcher to split the hens for you before you take them home. If you do it yourself, use kitchen shears or a sharp knife and cut through the breastbone, just off center. Then cut through the center of the backbone.
Ingredients:
2 1- to 1 ½-pound Cornish game hens, split lengthwise and skinned.
½ cup jalapeno jelly.
1 orange, cut into slices (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Rinse hens and pat dry.
In a small saucepan, heat jelly over low heat until warm.
Place hen halves, cut side down, in a single layer in a shallow roasting pan.
Spoon about half of the warm jelly over the hens.
Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Baste with jelly and cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning.
Continue roasting 15 minutes or until hens are tender and no longer pink.
To serve, spoon remaining warm jelly over roasted hens and, if desired, garnish with orange slices.
Calories 282
Protein 37 g
Carbohydrate 14 g
Cholesterol 104 mg
Sodium 99 mg
Total Fat 8 g
Saturated 2 g
Polyunsaturated 2 g
Monounsaturated 2 g
This is a very nice wine, paired with this recipe you will be sure to impress with this fantastic match. From my table to yours.
Did I mention that I’ve been keeping tasting notes for several years now? Don’t get concerned; I won’t share them all here. But I thought this particular selection would be of interest to others like me looking for good values in wine. I had this quite recently, too.
Vineyard: Sunrise (by Concha Y Toro)
Wine: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Appellation: Central Valley – Chile
Price: $7.99
Notes: Nice apple and lemon with a hint of grass. It was surprisingly flaccid in the mid-palate for me. Perhaps I should give it another go just to be sure I wasn’t having an off day. Not a particularly bad wine; in fact not at all offensive. Just not a very interesting wine for my taste. Of course, given the very reasonable price, you could do worse.
Important: I am not a professional sommelier or wine connoissuer. I have taste buds, however, and know what I like. Please do not consider my thoughts to be an endorsement or diminution of any particular wine. You should always judge for yourself as likes, dislikes, and taste are very subjective.
Food and wine pairing experiences are now commonplace at all of the better restaurants in Sedona. But how about a film and wine pairing? Sedona Adventure Tours and the Caduceous Winery are doing just that to celebrate the premiere of the film Blood into Wine at the Sedona International Film Festival this week. If you ‘get into’ the film you can then get into the wine tasting room in Jerome and not get into trouble on the drive back to Sedona.
Sedona Adventure Tours comfortable vans will pick you up in red carpet style at 1pm, right at Sedona Film Festival central. You will immediately discover how nice it is to enjoy the scenery while someone else does the driving. And you get an interesting narration to boot. Funny how even old timers can learn a few new things about Sedona and the Verde Valley. Thirty minutes later you will arrive at Caduceous where some truly excellent wines await your palate. If you like, there is some time to browse around Jerome as well.
Following this leisurely afternoon repast, with you and yours in rather splendid relaxation, you will be chauffered back to Harkins, arriving about 4pm. And the whole evening is open for more films, more fun and more…
Sedona Adventures offers a whole range of interesting tours in the Verde Valley. Our Water to Wine Tour features a ‘Funyak’ float on the Verde River followed by wine tasting at Alcantara Vineyards. The Sedona Nightlife Tour offers personal chaffeur service to all of the best nightlife in town. And our full day Jerona Wine Tour visits all of the wineries in the Verde Valley, enjoyed at a leisurely pace. For more information visit, www.SedonaAdventureTours.com or call 928.204.6440.
Barbera Meeting blog contributor Tom’s Wine Line graciously has graciously shared a PDF of his article on Barbera, published in the current issue of Decanter magazine (special Italy supplement).
Here’s an excerpt:
Relatively low tannins and high acidity distinguish Barbera, giving its sour cherry/berry fruit a bracing raciness, and making it super food-friendly. Carlo Revello, winemaker at the family firm, explains his affection for the variety: ‘Maybe it’s a generational thing. My father used to drink Dolcetto every day. My brothers and I prefer the fruitiness and acidity of Barbera.’
The Gourmet Gals met again yesterday. This time the group had the arduous task of deciding which of the five gourmet creations paired best with our Sonoma Zinfandel. The food pairings considered were Pork Loin Wellington, Chicken Portuguese, Stuffed Grilled Flank Steak, and Marinated Grilled Flank Steak. The hands-down winner, Chicken Provencal al la Jacqueline, was created by Gourmet Gal Jacqueline Butler.
So what do we do if we have fabulous creations that don’t match with the said wine? We pop more corks and let the sweetness or acidity of the food guide us to other Cline wines. With an ample variety of options, a good match is never too far from our grasp!
Here’s the recipe:
8 chicken thighs
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 28-oz can chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
3 zucchini, chopped
3 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
1 cup green olives, sliced
Bunch of parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp Herbs de Provence
1 cup Cline Sonoma Zinfandel
Salt and pepper
Remove as much fat as you can from the chicken (partially frozen makes this task easier). In a large skillet, heat olive oil and brown chicken pieces on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Remove chicken and place in slow cooker. Pour chopped tomatoes and bay leaves over chicken. In same skillet, fry onions until golden, add chopped garlic along with all other vegetables, herbs and Cline Sonoma Zinfandel. Add salt and pepper. Toss until veggies are coated then pour entire mixture over chicken in slow cooker. Place cover on cooker and relax. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours. Serve with buttered pasta of your choice.
You can also bake this dish in the oven if you don’t have a slow cooker. Just follow the same directions, using a large ovenproof casserole dish. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1-½ hours.
About the Cline Gourmet Gals
The Gourmet Gals is a group of Cline employees who have a love for wine and food. We meet periodically to share recipes and creations that pair well with our wines. The goal is to find the perfect match; our creations can be found at http://www.clinecellars.com/haveittonight.
Mushrooms are amazing. They are so versatile. They are endless is variety and fantastic of flavor. The tastes can range from mild and meaty to intense and luxurious. Some mushrooms, like the truffle, are prized culinary ingredients. But mushroom can really add interesting complexity to any dish. I like to let mushrooms shine and but them in the fore front of a dish.
My standard mushroom of choice is the cremini or baby bella. These are great mushrooms to cook with or to eat raw. The hold up well to any cooking technique and and lots of flavor to soups and sauces. Although sometimes considered a base mushroom to support bigger flavors from more expensive mushrooms like porcini or morels, cremini mushrooms can also stand on their own. They are great to stuff and to marinate. While button mushrooms tend to be a little less expensive than creminis, their flavor is pretty non-existent.
One of my favorite dishes is chicken marsala. While it doesn’t give it away in the name, this is a very mushroom forward dish. The mushrooms are complemented well by the sweet, fortified wine and the richness of the butter. Actually you can make this dish with chicken, pork, beef or even tofu. You can even take the sauce and combine it with ricotta cheese and stuff ravioli with it. It’s a simple recipe, but it is so rich and satisfying.
Chicken Marsala serves 2
2 6 oz portions of chicken
2 cups cremini mushrooms sliced
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup marsala wine
salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons heavy cream, optional
Heat a sauté pan and add in oil. Season chicken and sear in the pan. Let cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add mushrooms to the pan and let cook. Don’t move the pan. Seriously, let the mushrooms brown and without moving the pan. After a minute or so stir the mushrooms and then let cook without moving the pan for another minute. When the mushrooms are brown, add in the marsala wine and garlic. Let the wine reduce by half and add the chicken back to the pan. Cook until the chicken is cooked through. Turn off the heat and plate the chicken leaving the mushrooms in the pan. Add in the butter and swirl until the butter is incorporated into the wine sauce. If you want to add the cream, do it now. Pour over the chicken and serve.
This whole meal will take about 15 -20 minutes. Delightful! Pairs with red and white wine, but I prefer a merlot or carmenere.
Two weekends ago, I was asked to participate in the Shreveport-Bossier City Convention and Visitor Bureau’s Mardi Gras Media Tour. I do some Shreveport-based writing for a newer travel website called VisitSouth.com, and I was fortunate enough to have the lovely ladies from the CVB contact me to participate. I’ve got to admit, it was a really enlightening experience to see my own city from a different perspective. I toured the highlights with a group of other writers from around the country, and we broke bread at some outstanding restaurants.
Wine Country Bistro & Bottle Shop (herein known as “Wine Country,” for the sake of brevity) was one such restaurant. The atmosphere that night was festive and happy–smack dab in the middle of Mardi Gras season, we had just come from the Krewe of Centaur’s Float Loading Parade and were still a bit buzzed on cheap beer and Jell-O shots. Wine Country’s other diners that evening were feeling similarly jovial–some were celebrating birthdays with gag gifts and cake, while others were simply decked out in plastic beads, enjoying the season. It was indeed a great night to be out, and an especially great night to be a Louisianan.
Michael Brady, the executive chef at Wine Country, made a brief appearance to speak with us personally before showcasing some amuse-bouche that weren’t on the menu.
Generally speaking, an amuse-bouche is an unlisted appetizer of sorts, meant to be more of a tiny glimpse into the chef’s style than a formal course. We began with a fried pickle chip topped with herbed creme fraiche, which was followed shortly by a scallop atop bacon grits with an apple-bourbon puree. These two little bites made it pretty evident what Chef Michael’s aim is at Wine Country–to remove southern food from backwoods stereotypes and fancy it up a bit using the type of ingredients that most of us are more likely to see on the Food Network than in our local grocery stores. This is a cause I can get behind.
A fried pickle chip sports a jolly cap of creme fraiche
After much deliberation, I picked the shrimp and grits for my first course at Wine Country. A southern staple, I thought the dish would showcase what the restaurant is all about. While the shrimp themselves–large and plentiful for a first course–were a touch overcooked, the grits were outstanding, with an ultra-heady smoky hit from the andouille sausage floating happily in the dish.
Shrimp and grits...like two ships passing in the night.
My companions ordered the veal sweetbreads and fried green tomatoes (respectively) for their first courses. I had never had sweetbreads before, and was eager to try them. Sweetbreads are traditionally the thymus gland and the pancreas of a calf, and now that I’ve tried them, I only have a few key anatomical features to sample before I’ve successfully eaten an entire cow. But I digress. Served in a roasted red grape and tarragon butter emulsion, the sweetbreads were actually sweet, but not cloyingly so. The texture, I was interested to discover, is somewhere between the Indian cheese paneer and tofu. Not my favorite dish, but certainly not because it was poorly prepared. The execution was comfortable enough for a beginner like myself.
The fried green tomatoes were just that. We’ve all had them.
A breaded monument to the south.
Some people adore them, and some people merely feel apathetic towards them. I am sorry to say I fall into the latter category, but I am glad to say that the connoisseurs among me were quite pleased with them. I’ll admit, the presentation was a far cry from the Whistle Stop Cafe.
The main event finally arrived, and I was genuinely looking forward to my trout amandine. The trout itself, crispy and cooked just to finishing, was served in its natural habitat, a deep pool of butter. Enjoyable? Without a doubt. But even I, a seasoned fan of saturated fats (in moderation, contrary to the content of this blog) found that much butter to be overwhelming. I wrapped up about half of it to bring home. (Fear not–it was enjoyed thoroughly the next day.)
When dessert time finally rolled around, the crowd at Wine Country had thinned considerably–but in the name of journalism, we pressed on. Some varietal of South African white was still flowing freely through me (sorry, folks–I’m not a wine blogger, but I’m getting there), and I foolishly agreed to help my neighbor finish his dessert, a berry crumble with buttermilk ice cream. A refreshing end to a meal of Dionysian proportions, I think I was satisfied until well into the following afternoon.
Wine Country is an excellent option for date night, girls’ night, or a small party. The wine flows freely, and Chef Michael Brady has managed to strike a balance between comfortable southern cuisine and high-end ingredients that would impress any uptown girl. Dinners range from $8.50 for half portions to upwards of $30 for fresh fish.
Leave the kiddies at home and linger over a few plates at this tucked-away eatery for an unexpected weeknight date (the menu changes daily, making use of seasonal ingredients, so be sure to check their website). Don’t forget to hit the bottle shop on the way out to bring some of the magic home with you.
Wine Country Bistro & Bottle Shop
4801 Line Avenue, Suite 14 (attached to Pierremont Mall)
This is a recipe I got while in Sonoma at my FAVORITE winery – Mazzocco. Great wine and great food! This was the place we got to barrel taste and go into their vineyard and get a lesson on how to prune vines. I can’t wait to go back. I bet it’s so beautiful there right now…ahhh good times!
This is so super simple (yes John it really is!)
3 parts soy
3 parts teriyaki
3 parts red wine
1 part pineapple juice
Skirt steaks
(I used one steak and 1/3c soy, teriyaki, and wine and about a 1/4c. juice)
I make it the night before and then flip it once in the morning. Cook it on the BBQ to your liking – I like Med Rare. about 6 minutes per side. That’s all so easy huh!
Here are a few side ideas:
Grilled Veggie Salad Roasted Ranch Potatoes
You can also turn this into an appetizer by thinly slicing the meat and placing on top of sliced baguette pieces…YUM YUM.
Jennifer Wilson from Manchester, New Hampshire.
When asked what inspired her design, Jennifer replied, “The inspiration for my design came out of a loss of a close family member, actually. It is holidays such as Valentine’s Day that remind us most of the ones we love and who have ‘stolen’ our hearts, be they family, friends, or significant others.”
In her spare time, Jennifer designs logos and websites, but for a more steady income, she’s a bartender, where I’m sure she sees lots of labels. She enjoys many different wines but truly loves Zinfandels! She admits to trying just about anything but when buying for herself, she chooses by label design. Jennifer loves to spend time with her son, who will be 4 years old in March of this year. They like to go to the playgrounds near their home and spend time with their 1-year-old Yorkshire Terrier.
Jennifer wins our Grand Prize package of
Vintage Cellars 12-Bottle Thermo-Electric Countertop Mini Wine Cellar
12-Bottle Assortment of Windsor Vineyards wines featuring her winning custom label
Set of 6 restaurant-grade Ultima Bordeaux Glasses
Vinturi Wine Aerator
Fuchsia Laguiole Corkscrew
Eisch No-Drip Duck Decanter
1st Place Winner
Juan Gaurdino from Santa Rosa, CA.
Juan is man of few words and his label is the proof. He simply wanted to come up with a Valentine’s Day label that was fun and simple to read.
When not designing labels, Juan likes to spend time with his family and friends, drinks red wine and enjoys working on his house and on old cars.
Juan wins the 1st Prize package of
12-Bottle Assortment of Windsor Vineyards wines featuring his winning custom label
Set of 6 restaurant-grade Ultima Bordeaux Glasses
Fuchsia Laguiole Corkscrew
Taste of California Wine Education DVD set
Handpainted Vintage French Slate Art
2nd Place Winner
Audrey Martin from San Francisco.
Audrey is really excited to be a winner. Her design was inspired by the fun and kitschy aspect of Valentine’s Day—from the utterly sweet to the poignantly silly.
When she’s not designing labels, Audrey works as a psychotherapist and has a private practice in San Francisco. She likes to drink Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah and enjoys going to wine bars, playgrounds, art galleries, and hanging out with her husband and fun-loving two year-old son—not necessarily in that order.
Audrey will receive our 2nd Prize package of
Windsor Vineyards 2001 North Coast Brut and Flutes Gift Set
Bacchus Champagne Bucket
Box of Artisan Chocolate Truffles
Epicurean Champagne Stopper
3rd Place Winner
Joyce Kerrigan from Chantilly, VA.
Joyce was snowed in over the weekend, watching her daughter and husband play with Valentine’s conversation hearts and she decided to create a label. She took a photo, did some research on some wine terminology and created the label as a play on words between wine terminology and the shared love of wine.
Joyce is the owner of Sharkbunny Design & Products for Marketing Communications. She loves the Windsor Vineyards Zinfandel as well as painting, illustrating, photography and hanging out with her daughter.
Joyce wins our 3rd Prize package of
Orange Laguiole Corkscrew
Set of 4 Riedel O Tumblers
Handpainted Vintage French Slate Art
Fan Favorites
Congratulations to the winners of our Valentine’s Label Design Contest. However, the contest isn’t over yet. We’re giving away a set of 6 monogrammed Ultima wine glasses for the label design that is gets the most “likes” from our fans until the end of the day this Thursday, February 18, 2010. Just click on the Facebook link on the right, go the photo album entitled, Choose Your Favorite, browse through the labels and click “Like” to vote for your favorite design. If you aren’t already a fan, you’ll need to become our fan to vote. Designers: get your family and friends in on the action and have them vote for your label.
To everyone who entered a design in our contest, we thank you. It was wonderful to see all the creative labels submitted. To everyone who commented or voted for their favorite designs, we hope you are inspired to make a label of your very own for your next wine order. Remember, the custom label is FREE with your wine order and there is no minimum order.
I was sitting on my couch reading My Life in France by Julia Child and drinking a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau when suddenly my wine spilled onto my new pink upholstered chair! Horror upon horrors! I immediately ran to the kitchen for a towel to blot, and managed to remove some of the wine. I then tried to rinse out the stain with water, but much to my dismay a rather odd green colour resulted. I then took the cushion off of the chair to read the cleaning instructions and it clearly states not to use any water based cleaners on the chair. Shit! Double shit!!! I’m calling Ethan Allen first thing tomorrow morning to explain my rather embarrassing situation. Hopefully they can recommend some kind of cleaner or service to remove my now green-tinged favorite chair.
From now on I’m drinking wine only while seated completely upright on my leather bar stool, with no upholstered/electronic items within spilling distance.
Wine is one of the few food products where the choices are endless. There is so much to consider: Grape variety, region, price — um label design…C’mon, admit it — you’ve purchased a bottle purely based on the label…it looked expensive or familiar or was so ugly you couldn’t resist the gag…But can a label really help guide you to purchase a bottle whose wine you will really enjoy and happily drink again? Or is the wine label design for distinction only … graphics to help the wine compete with the other bottles surrounding it? How many people don’t know a thing about wine, except they love to drink it? So when planning our latest taste test, we wondered “how do those people select a bottle of wine?
Three rules we followed for our blind taste test series: 1. 20 dollar limit. 2. only label must influence purchase. 3 red wine.
Once the bottles were assembled, all participants filled out a simple questionare describing their individual reactions toward each label’s aesthetics. The bottles were then covered and 3 were randomly selected for the first blind tasting. The bottle that I bought was called REVOLUTION (a french table red) The aesthetics reminded me of the great Julian Schnabel movie with Javier Bardem “Before Night Falls”. Imagine, me and Mr. Bourdain, drinking the Revolution with other artists who joined Castro’s rebels. We would gather and perform, make more wine, recite poetry and go to jail, all in the name of art and free expression! I just couldn’t resist. And it was 19 bucks… so it must be a sure thing. I could already taste the delicious combination of tropical dreams, sexy nightmares and rebellion.
After the reveal ..I was shocked that the wine that NO ONE (including me) liked the taste of or would buy was my sweet Revolution! I pleaded with everyone “por favor, have another taste!” I tried to seduce the group with my purchase rationale and the price point…Nada. We so wanted to like it, but sorry..The revolution will not be televised.
“…good wine is a good familiar creature if it is well used.” Othello
“Give me a bowl of wine. In this I bury all unkindness” Julius Caesar
“A man cannot make him laugh – but that’s no marvel; he drinks no wine” Henry IV Part 2
Shakespeare weaves wines wonderfully, doesn’t he?
I’ve had a wine-ful couple of weeks, oh yes, I really have. The funny thing is, I was so busy, I didn’t even think (or have the energy) to jot down extensive notes. What you’re going to get here is an enthusiastic summary of some of my adventures, and adventures they always are when you have marathon wine sessions.
IsraWinExpo – an underling’s perspective
Held once every two years, this is undoubtedly the largest and most important wine event held in Israel. For three days, industry folk, journalists, and important beverage import/export reps from around the world meet Israel’s wineries. In the evenings, the general public is admitted to this massive dream of a national oenological “fashion show.”
In other words — it’s important, it’s intense, and it’s really fun.
Day 1 - I worked the afternoon-to-night shift at the Galil Mountain Winery “booth,” if you can call it that. Wineries spend a lot of money on their setup design, like a mini movie set or theatre design. The first day is open to industry only — and I can tell you, it’s a lot more fun to work with this crowd. No annoying folks with no wine knowledge looking to get drunk (“hey, you got some red wine?”).
We served 11 out of Galil’s 14-wine collection, including the 3 flagship wines – a really wide and generous variety. The 2006 Yiron, the well-known flagship of flagships, was understandably a favorite. Every year the winemaker tweaks the percentages – the 2006 is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 5% Syrah – aged 16 months in new French oak barrels. The newbie of the bunch bunch got rave reviews — the 2006 Meron — 78% Syrah, 11% Cab, 11% Petit Verdot, and also aged 16 months in new French oak. If people demanded the Yiron, I almost always got them to agree to taste the Meron as well. I predict that within a year or two it will be as well regarded and popular.
The other Galil wine I’d like to tell you about is the 2009 Rose. Not many are made in Israel, and of those that are, I think many are semi-dry (at least the ones I’ve fallen upon). Ours is very very dry. Exceptionally aromatic, flowery, inviting, it’s crisp, fresh, and has a well-balanced acidity. I’m not a real expert here, but I love that I can identify and enjoy what I sense is a strawberry flavor. I’m always interested in how wines are made, and granted that making rose is not as clear cut as making a straight white or red wine, a while ago I looked into how this is done. If memory serves, there are three main rose methods:
The first (and the least legitimate/accepted) is blending a red and white wine together.
When using a red varietal, leaving the skins in for a short while during fermentation (as little as a few hours), then removing them entirely. You get some rosy color, and then the wine usually continues fermenting/aging in the method of a white wine.
As a byproduct of making a red wine – fermentation of red varietals begins, and a little ways into the process, some of the liquid is drained out, pinkish in color, of course, to be used as rose. The rest continues normally to create a red wine.
Galil’s Rose is interesting (or maybe not, as I’m not too well-versed in world roses). Made with Sangiovese (the bulk, around two-thirds), Barbera, and Pinot Noir — only the Barbera and Pinot Noir give the wine its color. The Sangiovese grapes are crushed immediately, separated from the skins, and fermented in the method of a white wine. The Barbera and Pinot are bled (saignee), and a small bit drained from the bulk of what is destined to become red wine. The white Sangiovese and the pink Barbera and Pinot are fermented separately. I’m wondering how common this method is. Will have to look into it at a later time. What I do know is that Galil does not put out a Sangiovese. All they grow must go into the Rose.
The Golan Heights Winery, my other winery, pulled out all the stops. Such a beautiful display — they mounted dozens of barrels, lay down a granite brick flooring, and hung three antique chandeliers. I was so busy I didn’t have a lot of time to hang there — but I was smuggled some 2001 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon and one of my favorites — a 2003 Katzrin Chardonnay. I do love my oaky buttery barrel aged whites. The older the better.
Golan Heights Winery booth from behind
Day 2 – I had an even more hectic and more exciting day helping out with private tastings. The international sales reps and PR folk of Golan Heights Winery and the Galil Moutain Winery (its daughter winery) had round the clock individual meetings with distributors and journalists. My task was to keep track of more than 20-30 different kinds of wine, make sure they weren’t corked or spoiled, have them at the correct temperatures, and present them in order during the meetings. This was more than a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. Highlights/lowlights include:
Having less than a half our to chill 5 premium white wines, dessert wines, and our best sparkling wine — including the time it took me to locate ice!
Dealing with a couple potentially very very slightly off bottles — had to defer to head vintner to make the decision b/c I was unsure — scary! — but it turned out I was correct, so I don’t feel so bad.
Rushing around assisting two different people in simultaneous interviews — one organized and very demanding (12+ wines for a 40 minute session), one very scattered and hence had to try to mind-read.
Being flirted with by slightly creepy older American southerners – heads of beverage companies, mind you — and having to keep a straight and professional and even pleasant demeanor.
Getting to taste each and every Galil Yiron from the first vintage to the present. Getting to taste every wine that I wanted from the dozens I had ready and available, actually.
Taking some prominent people through the entire flight during my free time. Just because.
Meeting and speaking with really interesting and accomplished wine writers (!), including Blake Gray, who was really nice and a pleasure to kibbitz with.
Having 5 bottles stolen from my huge lot of 6+ cases while I was running around — a miracle/disappointment for me that I even noticed, as I had just packed the boxes up at the end of the day, and was hence able to recognize gaps where there were none before. Felt horrible, but the winery told me it wasn’t my fault, it was a microscopic drop in the bucket, and not to worry about it. Makes you angry at humanity for a moment, though.
Not knowing what to do with the remainder of what I know are exceptionally expensive bottles (for Israel) that were only 15-40% drunk. I finally told a girl who worked with the sponsoring body — the Israel Export Department (or something) — that there was a whole case of half-drunk bottles, and to place take and distribute to the workers as she wanted. She thankfully jumped at the opportunity, and hence my heart was happy.
And I think I’ll stop here. This has turned into a mega-post, and I congratulate all of you who have kept up with me. I hope you were able to attend the Expo, and for those who didn’t, keep your calendar open for 2012. It’s such a fun time. I’d love to hear about your impressions, too, so drop a line.
Well, to start it off I could barely breath this morning I was so stuffed up and congested. The Theraflu worked pretty well though and as the day progressed I got a little better. We had to go grocery shopping today which is one of my least favorite things to do because we usually go to wally-world. The place is always packed and is a bitch to move around it – even the super sized ones. So today – I decided we would go to publix. It was a much nicer, slower paced store. The people were friendly and the help was…believe it or not…helpful. I think we will be making more trips there and less to the big blue building with cranky folks.
Anyway, I have been wanting some fish for a while – but Jo is NOT a fish eater. At all. But for me, for valentine’s day she made me some salmon. It was so good There was even a swirl of fresh crabmeat in it…like a pinwheel. My only contribution to dinner was some fresh squash which I put olive oil over, sprinkled some garlic powder on it and topped it with a little parmesan cheese. Pretty good if I do say so myself! We accompanied this with some wild mushroom rice and voila’…a romantic dinner
We also bought some organic granola bars and granola pieces for our yogurt. We are really trying to break out of our comfort food box and try new things…yay us! We paired this lovely meal with a bottle of white wine…a pinot grigio. Let me just say we know crap about wine which is why when we got the bottle home and had no opener – we went full lesbo on that cork and used a power tool. Oh yeah, that’s how we roll. Here is a pic lol!
Even though I felt like death warmed over today – she still found a way to make me feel sexy – even though I KNOW I wasn’t. We didn’t buy gifts for each other – we just spent the day together talking about the wedding and cooking and just enjoying each other. It was wonderful…and isn’t THAT really what the day is all about.
You would expect something like this anywhere in France or in Italy, but in Austria?
I have heard about the outstanding collection of wines from all over the world from many people living in Vienna before, but I always dismissed it thinking - yeah, we have heard this, everything what is in my city is the best, as I caught myself in stereotypes.
It is useful to study a psychology sometimes and a lecture from social psychology made me to realise, that stereotypes are just blocking from experiencing something new and even constrain our personal freedom. So I went to see this “unbelievable cellar” as one wine loving taxi driver said on my way from the airport.
The wine cellar at Palais Coburg is a must see for every wine enthusiast or even for a curiosity seeker.
I have made a short video there so have a look. I am sure after seeing this you will pack your suitcase in a minute and head for a weekend in this charming Austrian capital.
I began as just a pupil and now I consider myself an ignoramus in relation to anything that has to do with matters of the soul, of the heart, of emotions,of the human condition, of relationships, of love. I have experienced an abruption that made me wish I was an aborted child that never was, and worst of all, I knew all along that the abruption was bound to happen, and yet it came as abrupt as ever.
There is some weird uncanny feeling that is always attached to the inexorable incidents that happen to us. It is as if they have been prophesized by someone playing a lyre, enchanting us with a voice so sweet it lulls our reason, yet awakens our mind to some future event, which we know about, and yet only perceive as part of reality when it happens. Like the knowledge of death. Such feeling of abrupt loss does not go unparalleled with a feeling of missing or yearning or nostalgia. Even now as I write this I can still remember and force myself to smell the fuming smoke of cigarettes, the sour sliced lemon peels; I can force myself to taste sour red wine, the stale nuts, the dryness of the air; I can force myself to hear the clangour of glasses, the background muzak (was it a lyre that was playing?), the gossip from the table next to me, the laughter from the table in front of me; I can force myself to visualize tequila glasses with salt icing on their tips, drunken people all around, some of them looking happy, others looking sad, the bartender washing shot glasses in a hurry and pouring more tequila into them, and in the middle of the pub, a girl in white who just came in, looking around with a lost look on her face, trying to radar any friends of hers; In that moment of bedazzlement, I can still feel the bottomless pit I created for her to fill.
But what good is nostalgia for me now? It does not help at all. It makes me remember what happened and what did not happen. It makes me a slave to my past memories which stand entrenched inside every cavern of my brain like a strong unmoving boulder. So I want to embellish my memories with fantasies and dreams. I want to confuse reality with desire. I wear my knight’s armour, arm myself with my pen and ink, and quixotically begin to alter my reality. I stride the many hills of my memory and intoxicatingly begin to draw colours upon the now-jaded memories. Will the alteration of the past, albeit just in my mind, change my present? Or my future?
Could she love me again? Will she hate me? Did she call me my name?
Yes, I remember now. She called my name and I turned my head. She wasn’t calling for me, of course, but it was my name, so I turned, I waved, she smiled awkwardly, but she approached me. Her friend did not come, but I was there, I had a seat next to me, she sat with me on the table. It was a long night of wine and intoxication and it passed so quickly. Ah, how I loved her.
What happens now? Where does my quixotic journey of love take me after a night of intoxication which I cannot remember? Where does Dionysus promise to take me as I follow him, drink after drink, gulp after gulp. What happens next after I’m drunk on his red wine? Did I kiss her lips, divine? I know.
He takes me to orderly Apollo, his arch enemy, his nemesis. Apollo drains the wine out of me while playing on his golden gay lyre, prophesising my orderly death. My wine flows and the thunder in my mind rages, neither in hatred nor in grief; a rage of a more profound spectre upon the soul. The rage of abruption. Abruption leaves you silent with no clues, no knowledge of what happened or what went wrong. Abruption is someone slitting your throat, abruption is a cyanide pill. Dionysus ruined my Apollonian memories and I am left with nothing but fake embellishments which leave me castrated, stoned and rotted with yellow mould like an ancient, forgotten, originally-white marble statue. I am a petrified statue aiming at a confessional mime which I shall never be able to utter or communicate.
…all this while, I thought was describing the hell of a writer.
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Having a party at home and want to offer good wine without breaking the bank? It’s easy. You most certainly have a few options, you can get the huge 1.5 liter bottles or the large box wines, or you can impress and get easy drinking, compatible wines that even your most wine loving guests can appreciate.
When shopping for a wine to serve at a party, I am looking for good flavor that works with most foods, something readily available, good value and something that appeals to the majority of my attendees and I don’t want to spend more than $10 a bottle! I think Cabernets from California’s Central Coast fit this bill. While there are quite a few out there, I think the Cupcake Cabernet Sauvignon offers the right balance. It’s fruity, yet earthy, with a touch of vanilla and mocha and a silky smooth finish making it very easy to drink. Not only that, it tastes elegant with cheese, filet mignon, right up to honey based desserts! And for those drinkers who stick to wine all night, they are in for a real treat.
Since not everyone appreciates reds, you may also want to offer a nice white that proposes similar style. I like Ruffino’s Lumina Pinot Grigio. It’s a lively, medium body white wine that presents citrus and pear flavor and even a slight bubbly feel on the palette. Again, this makes it very easy to pair well with almost any type of food from light to heavy and is sure to appeal to any white wine lover. My guess is that with the growing popularity of these two wines, they won’t stay around the $10 price point for too long, so you may want to take this opportunity to host your next event with these fine wine options
When Econo Man and I moved to Boston, he was delighted to discover that we were within walking distance (OK, it’s a long walk, but still) of a Trader Joe’s that sells alcohol. I was less excited. I’m a fan of Trader Joe’s foodstuffs, but I had never lived near a Trader Joe’s that sold alcohol, and my only experience with wines at Trader Joe’s was an acquaintance at Cambridge who was so obsessed with Charles Shaw Cabernet (aka Two-Buck Chuck) that he brought a bunch of bottles back to England with him after visiting his family at Christmas, insisting that this wine tasted like a $50 Cabernet. For the record, it does not.
But the wine selection at our Trader Joe’s has consistently impressed me. I had been under the mistaken impression that Trader Joe’s only sold its own brands of wine, but our Trader Joe’s stocks some of my favorite labels, like Hogue Fumé Blanc, Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, and Cono Sur Carmenere, at absolutely fantastic prices. And, Two-Buck Chuck aside, I have to admit that some of the bargain-priced labels at Trader Joe’s deliver great bang for your buck. Here are three Italian wines from Trader Joe’s that Econo Man and I have really enjoyed.
Zonin Prosecco
We served this on New Year’s Eve, and our friends absolutely adored it. We did too. Like most Proseccos, it’s a gentle, refreshing, citrusy sparkling wine, one that will appeal to people who don’t usually like champagne. But it’s also chock-full of flavor and not watery or boring like a few other Proseccos I’ve had. For $6, this wine earns two huge thumbs up.
Il Valore Sangiovese
I’ve written in the past about how much I enjoy carafe wines, simple reds that are food-friendly and will go with almost any meal. Italian Sangiovese is one of my favorite carafe wines, and I was delighted to find a $4 Sangiovese on the shelf at Trader Joe’s.
This wine has one drawback: it’s quite “hot,” which is wine-speak for “wow, you can really taste the alcohol!” This one benefits a lot from some breathing in the glass or being poured through a wine aerator. But once it’s had some time to breathe, it’s a good everyday carafe wine, not overly sweet or fruity like many inexpensive wines.
Archeo Nero d’Avolo
People. I cannot believe this wine costs $5. This smooth, gently fruity, beautifully structured red wine is sippable, approachable, and simply yummy. I’ve had bottles four times this price that weren’t nearly as enjoyable. If you see this at your Trader Joe’s, buy it immediately.
Acetic Acid
All wines contain acetic acid, or vinegar, but usually the amount is quite small–from 0.03 percent to 0.06 percent–and not perceptible to smell or taste. Once table wines reach 0.07 percent or above, a sweet-sour vinegary smell and taste becomes evident. At low levels, acetic acid can enhance the character of a wine, but at higher levels (over 0.1 percent), it can become the dominant flavor and is considered a major flaw. A related substance, ethyl acetate, contributes a nail polish-like smell.
Acid
A compound present in all grapes and an essential component of wine that preserves it, enlivens and shapes its flavors and helps prolong its aftertaste. There are four major kinds of acids — tartaric, malic, lactic and citric–found in wine. Acid is identifiable by the crisp, sharp character it imparts to a wine.
Aftertaste
The flavor that stays in the mouth after swallowing wine. Also known as a wine’s finish, this flavor can be buttery, oaky, spicy, tart, bitter, etc.
Alcohol
Ethyl alcohol, a chemical compound formed by the action of natural or added yeast on the sugar content of grapes during fermentation.
Appearance
Refers to a wine’s clarity, not color.
B
Balance
A well-balanced wine is a primary goal of the wine maker. Such a wine blends all of its components gracefully: the fruit, tannin, acid, and sugar. A wine’s balance may only be realized after some aging.
Body
The impression of weight or fullness on the palate; usually the result of a combination of glycerin, alcohol and sugar. Commonly expressed as full-bodied, medium-bodied or medium-weight, or light-bodied.
Bottle
Glass bottles are the most common containers for storing wine. Glass is ideal because it does not affect the wine in any way, even during extended periods.
Bottle Sickness
A temporary condition characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines (usually fragile wines) are shaken in travel. Also called bottle shock. A few days of rest is the cure.
Bouquet
A French term for the aroma of a wine. The bouquet is often the first indicator of a wine’s quality during wine tasting. Aromas may include fruit, spice, and other smells associated with a particular grape variety, region, or condition of the wine. The bouquet of a Merlot, for example, will often contain aromas of raspberry and cassis (black currant).
Breathing
Allowing a wine to mix with the air. Aeration occurs by pouring the wine into a larger container, such as a decanter or large wineglass. Breathing can be beneficial for many red wines and also for some young white wines. Chemically, breathing enables oxygen to mix with the wine, which hastens the aging process. If a wine stands open for more than 12 hours, it will begin to turn to vinegar as the oxygen continues to work. Whether to let a wine breathe before serving depends on the wine. Contrary to popular belief, it is not always beneficial to let older wines breathe prior to drinking, as this can cause them to “turn” – or go bad – before dinner is over.
Brilliant
A clear and bright – as opposed to cloudy – appearance.
C
Capsule
The protective metal or plastic sheath over the cork and neck of a wine bottle. The capsule keeps the cork from drying out and admitting air into the bottle.
Cellar
A storage area for wine, not necessarily underground. A cellar is the best area to keep wines for aging. Ideal conditions are darkness, controlled cool temperature, and high humidity. Bottles should be stored on their sides to keep the corks from drying out.
Character
That which makes a wine distinctive. A region’s winemaking tradition, soils, and grape varieties combine to produce a wine’s character.
Clarification
The process of removing cloudiness in the wine by filtration and/or fining.
Cloudy
The opposite of clear or brilliant. Possibly the result of sediment being stirred up during transportation.
Cloying
Overly sweet, and lacking the correct amount of acidity to give the wine balance.
Cold Stabilization
A clarification technique in which a wine’s temperature is lowered to 32° F, causing the tartrates and other insoluble solids to precipitate.
Cork
Corks are produced from the bark of cork trees, which are grown mainly in Spain and Portugal. Corks are airtight and have for years been the best way to seal wine bottles.
Corked
An expression meaning the wine has gone bad. Implies an unpleasant, musty, moldy smell imparted by a flawed cork. Cork can contain bacteria that will cause “off” flavors in the wine. Quality cork manufacturers bleach and process corks to minimize the chance of a bottle being “corked.” Unfortunately, almost one out of twelve bottles will have some off, corky flavors. It is for this reason that alternative wine bottle closures have been tested in recent years, but the use of non-cork closures has been resisted by traditionalists. Any closure that seals the bottle airtight is a perfect one for wine. Contrary to popular belief, cork does not – or should not – let air into a wine bottle over time. It is intended to create an airtight seal.
D
Decanting
A process for separating the sediment from a wine before drinking. Accomplished by slowly and carefully pouring the wine from its bottle into another container.
Dosage
In bottle-fermented sparkling wines, a small amount of wine (usually sweet) that is added back to the bottle once the yeast sediment that collects in the neck of the bottle is removed.
Dry
Having no perceptible taste of sugar. Most wine tasters begin to perceive sugar at levels of 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.
E
Enology
The science and study of winemaking. Also spelled oenology.
Ethyl Acetate
A sweet, vinegary smell that often accompanies acetic acid. It exists to some extent in all wines and in small doses can be a plus. When it is strong and smells like nail polish, it’s a defect.
F
Fermentation
The process by which yeast converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide; turns grape juice into wine.
Filtering
The process of removing particles from wine after fermentation. Most wines unless otherwise labeled are filtered for both clarity and stability.
Fining
A technique for clarifying wine using agents such as bentonite (powdered clay), gelatin or egg whites, which combine with sediment particles and cause them to settle to the bottom, where they can be easily removed.
Finish
The key to judging a wine’s quality is finish, also called aftertaste–a measure of the taste or flavors that linger in the mouth after the wine is tasted. Great wines have rich, long, complex finishes.
Fragrant
A fragrant wine is very aromatic and flowery. Common wine fragrances are floral, spice, and fruit aromas such as pineapple, blackberry, peach, apricot, and apple. The variety of the grape is primarily responsible for a wine’s fruit fragrances.
Fruity
A fruity wine is one in which fruit flavors dominate the aroma and taste. Often these wines are easy-drinking and light.
G
H
Hazy
Used to describe a wine that has small amounts of visible matter. A good quality if a wine is unfined and unfiltered.
Herbaceous
Describes a wine that smells or tastes grassy or green. Often a characteristic of wines made from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes. Can also be found in very young wines that will change flavor as they age. Primarily a function of the grape variety, not soil or climate.
I
J
K
L
Lees
The deposits which gather at the bottom of the carboy during winemaking (also known as trub).
Legs
The viscous droplets that form and ease down the sides of the glass when the wine is swirled.
Length
The amount of time the sensations of taste and aroma persist after swallowing. The longer the better.
Light
A term used to describe the body or color of a wine. A light wine is usually easy to drink and not high in alcohol. Muscadet is a light white wine. Beaujolais is an example of a light red wine.
M
Mature
Ready to drink.
Mead
A wine, common in medieval Europe, made by fermenting honey and water. Recently mead has enjoyed new popularity. Wine makers now make flavored mead.
Méthode Champenoise
French term for the method used to make champagne, which is fermented in the bottle. French champagnes and many other sparkling wines are produced using this traditional French technique. The monk Dom Pérignon is credited with inventing this method.
Mulled Wine
Red wine that has been mixed with sugar, lemon, and spices, usually including cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Served hot.
Must
The unfermented juice of grapes extracted by crushing or pressing; grape juice in the cask or vat before it is converted into wine.
N
Nose
The character of a wine as determined by the olfactory sense. Also called aroma; includes bouquet.
O
Oak
The most popular wood for constructing barrels. Oak imparts flavors and tannin to wines during the barrel aging process; home winemakers can also accomplish this by using oak chips or powder.
Oxidized
Describes wine that has been exposed too long to air and taken on a brownish color, losing its freshness and perhaps beginning to smell and taste like Sherry or old apples. Oxidized wines are also called maderized or sherrified.
P
Peak
The time when a wine tastes its best–very subjective.
pH
A chemical measurement of acidity or alkalinity; the higher the pH the weaker the acid. Used by some wineries as a measurement of ripeness in relation to acidity. Low pH wines taste tart and crisp; higher pH wines are more susceptible to bacterial growth. A range of 3.0 to 3.4 is desirable for white wines, while 3.3 to 3.6 is best for reds.
Q
R
Racking
The practice of moving wine by hose from one container to another, leaving sediment behind. For aeration or clarification.
Residual Sugar
Unfermented grape sugar in a finished wine.
S
T
Tannin
Substances in must that give wine a tart taste. Occurs naturally in stems, skins, and pips of grapes.
Tartaric acid
The principal acid in wine.
Tartrates
Harmless crystals of potassium bitartrate that may form in cask or bottle (often on the cork) from the tartaric acid naturally present in wine.
Trub
See Lees, above.
U
V
Viniculture
The science or study of grape production for wine and the making of wine.
W
X
Y
Yeast
Micro-organisms that produce the enzymes which convert sugar to alcohol. Necessary for the fermentation of grape juice into wine.
Z
Glossary of winemaking terms from grapestomper.com
This very special evening will see wines from five premier Chateaux of Bordeaux, as presented by Peter Althaus, our host and pioneering sommelier & vintner. He will lead us on a journey of education and entertainment, enlightening us with stories from the past as well as the present – on all things Bordeaux.
Further adding to this sensory escape will be Australian violinist Peter Tanfield, who will provide accompaniment with his own inspired interpretations of works by Johan Sebastian Bach.
And your sense of taste will be satisfied with a five course dinner from the elegant surrounds of ‘di Mare’ restaurant. If anyone has been to one of our Art Series events, you know you will not leave thirsty and most certainly will be entertained!
Five Chateaux, Five Courses, Five Senses – US$185++ per person on 27th Feb 2010.
Jennifer Celio’s Open Studio and Art Sale was wildly successful! Thank you to everyone who participated in every way. Both Jen and I are extremely grateful for your attendance, your assistance, your purchases and your support. There were about 60 people in attendance and Jen sold 30 pieces during the open studio and then lost a final one during a poker game later in the night!
Mixx D'meanor
Janz Planz provided (among other things) the spread of delectable delights for this event. The menu was:
Hummus and Pita Wedges
Butterfly Dip with Tortilla Chips
Cheese Platter with Fruit, Nuts, and Crackers
Jicama Sticks with Lemon and Seasonings
Wasabi Peas
Kourambiedes (Greek Almond Shortbread Cookies)
Rrrrosa’s Pancito
Athenian Bruschetta
We also had 5 kinds of beer, a syrah, a shiraz and two chardonnays available along with an assortment of sodas and coffee and water.
Bon Vivant Savant, Louisville’s premiere dining and events club, has partnered with La Catalana to bring you an fabulous evening of food, fun and flamenco.
The purpose of the Wine & Wisdom is to elevate the traditional wine dinner to the next level and create a full cultural and/or educational experience where the food and drink are more of an enhancement versus the focus of the overall event.
WHEN: Friday, February 12 6:30pm
WHERE: La Catalana Restaurant, next door to Havana Rumba
COST: $35 + tip for BVS members, $45 + tip for non-members*
*if you join that evening, the $10 event fee will be applied toward your membership fee
Call Jo @ BVS – 502.287.2772 or email for RSVP You may also purchase through the button below which will include a small service charge. BVS members should contact me directly.
Our evening starts with a conversation with Domino, the owner of La Catalana and will cover the dining traditions of northern Spain. At 7:00, we’ll take over the front of the restaurant for a VIP view of the flamenco performance all while enjoying a delicious dinner of tapas, paella, sangria and more. If you speak Spanish, or have been wanting to practice, this is the evening for you as most of our delightful hosts are all native speakers!
MENU
Tapas:
Huevos rellenos (stuffed eggs with tuna)
Tortilla de Patatas (Potato tortilla/omlette)
Mejillones Tigres (Tiger Mussels)
Berejena a la Parmesana (eggplant parmesan – some of the best I’ve ever had and I’m not a huge eggplant lover!)
Main Course:
Traditional Paella
Black Rice with seafood
Dessert:
Peras al Vino (Pears in Wine)
Pitchers of Sangria and non alcoholic drinks included
Additional wines and cocktails available with special pricing for our event
Many people when they drink a bottle of Chianti, or another Tuscan wine, do not know the story behind that glass. Very often you can read some information on the label, but this informations are limited.
For this reason the best way to know a wine is to visit the winery that produce it. In Tuscany and in Chianti many wineries offer to wine lovers or tourists, the opportunity to make a wine tasting at the winery and the tour of the cellars.
This type of visit and tasting allows the customer who buys the wine to speak directly with the owner, knowing the history and compare their own tastes with the decisions of the winemaker
Often, a wine tasting in Chianti is accompanied by some snacks with typical products of Tuscany. Wine in Tuscany is not only a product of the vine, but the result of our history, a culture that has been handed down for centuries and especially the passion of many men and women who do this work.
As I type the beginning of this post, I’m sitting at a table overlooking the pool in my uncle’s Jumeira garden, with Max (The Best Dog In The World) at my feet and the UAE’s annual allowance of rainfall hanging overhead in the form of dense, black clouds.
This, the first leg of my journey to New Zealand, is the furthest I’ve travelled alone since a trip to Newquay in 2004. The journey, all told, could have been much worse. Part of me had anticipated that Anita and my parents would have to physically drag me from my room where I’d been holed up for a couple of days pretending to pack while indulging in some ill-timed nesting activity.
Though driving to airports is always a stressful exercise for the Kenny / Berry family, this part of the journey went smoothly. My parents were even thoughtful enough to make our parting at the security gate as unheart-wrenching as possible. Mum, for example, insisted on answering most of the security check-in questions for me. Dad did his bit to alleviate the agony of farewell by telephoning me during my traditional Customs frisking and bag search to enquire (at a level audible both from the tinny telephone receiver and from beyond the security barrier 50 metres away) what kind of gear I was smuggling this time.
Duty-free was a rush for flip-flops and earplugs and so the only chance I got to panic properly was in the toilets at the departure gate before boarding. The litre of Gordons in my hand luggage suddenly seemed very tempting: it was lucky for its intended recipients that I didn’t have a straw (I’m not entirely without class). Once on the plane, my escape options were even more limited. Admitting I was scared and asking to disembark was out of the question. Too embarrassing. Claiming to be wearing explosive pants might have helped me save face, but would ultimately have ended in jail, or at least some pretty searching questions from men with guns. I was stuck with travel and adventure.
Despite having flown quite a few times before, I still get excited by plane trips. The take-off is always pretty hideous (just what is it that keeps a plane, you know, up?) and I do like to have a window seat, to keep an eye on the wing and its enduring partnership with the plane. But once they turn the seatbelt sign off and start handing out the tiny, tiny biscuits, long-haul flights become a glorious excuse to sit back and do nothing for a while without feeling guilty. I’m also very much in favour of taking advantage of the full range of ‘complimentary’ beverages on offer. (In case you were wondering, the inverted commas indicate the extremely non-complimentary nature of said beverages in the greater context of the enormously expensive air fare). Nothing soothes the nerves better than two or three mini bottles of wine – which,by the way, you can also use to pretend you’re a giant. Impress your friends by drinking halves of beer to achieve the same effect.
The absolute best part of flying is the in-flight entertainment. As well as the capering of air stewards, most airlines now provide touch-sensitive computer monitors in the back of each seat that allow you to watch films as and when you like. My plane also had video cameras displaying views from the cockpit and of the landscape below, so that in the unlikely event of a crash, you can observe the details of your impending death in full colour. All my flights are with Emirates, who have an impressive selection of films, television programmes, games and music – check out the link and let me know your recommendations for my next flight on Monday, a twenty-hour marathon to Auckland.
I ended up watched Julie and Julia, which I loved, without really being able to explain why. Meryl Streep’s shimmering exuberance coupled with her character’s silly voice probably had something to do with it, as did the extensive and entirely luscious food pornography. I also watched Up (for the second time) and cried like a child throughout (again). If you haven’t seen it, do so now. It’s life-affirming without being sugary, fanciful without being ridiculous, and hilarious while remaining terribly, truthfully poignant. Go.
What else? The meal was chicken. It was ok. There was a madman sitting behind me and several air stewardesses on board who deserve medals for their restraint with cutlery. So much for travelling. The plane landed in Dubai just after midnight and I was was greeted by my uncle and his wife, and at their home by Gina (a twenty-something dog; like Boggins, terribly sweet but suffering from many ailments of the bottom), Binti (a traumatised desert dog who spends much of her time pretending not to exist), and Max.
I’m finishing this post after dinner and a neighbourhood drinks party at which I broke a statue belonging to the host, sitting in the living room with Max. It’s hard to express just how amazing Max is. He’s always pleased to see you, even if you did knock something over that can probably never be mended or replaced. He’s actually always pleased to see pretty much anyone, including people who spit on him in the street. He senses when people are unhappy and capers for their amusement. He becomes positively hysterical at the sight of round objects, and earlier today charged and head-butted a parked car because he believed the ball to be in its vicinity. (It was. I threw it there by mistake.) He likes to jump into the swimming pool with all four legs splayed out, and then uses the ladder to get out. He once broke his tail by wagging it too hard.
His head on my left foot, Max is lying in an anatomically improbable splay designed to afford his testicles maximum contact with the cool tiles of the floor. My foot is becoming decidedly moist. Max, at this moment, is behaving singularly unattractively, but I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world. Max is The Best Dog In The World and a more than adequate incentive to begin my travels.
*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Quivira Winery.
The Dry Creek Valley that is. Whenever I open a wine from one of the wineries we visited on our honeymoon, it makes me very happy. Especially when that wine is consistently one I love. Quivira has been one of my favorite wineries since our first visit back in 2006. We’ve been club members since 2006 too, so we’re always enjoying Quivira wines. Tonight we opened the 2007 Quivira Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. It clocked in at 14.9% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for $20 from the winery.
On the nose I found chocolate, black cherry, plums, spice, pepper, cranberry, vanilla, and cream. I loved the nose on this one. Yum. In the mouth I got cranberry, black cherry, spice, pepper, plums, and berries. I found the wine to be quite dark with a smooth finish. I think this would have been great with the herbed parmesan rack of lamb I made a couple weeks ago…
Running EXE applications on Xandros Presto? No problem!
WINE is an applicatin that creates compability layer to execute Windows applications on systems from Linux family.
Many users of Ubuntu, Fedora and other linuxes use it to create Windows-like environment “inside” their system.
The idea of WINE is to “emulate” (since Wine Is Not an Emulator) crucial parts of Windows needed to use apps from that system directly in linux.
So, when You right-click on .exe file and select “Open with Wine Program Loader” it’s opened just like it was Windows (the only difference is that You can not harm Your system when You open a file containing a virus )
WINE is evolving fast and if an application is not fully compatibile with it, developers try to find workaround.
And it is worth using…the trick is that WINE gives You only those part of Windows that are needed to run apps. So, when You run .exe file under WINE (in most cases) it works with better performance! One of the best exaples is Adobe Photoshop family. You can open more files in the same time, filters work faster and the program is more stable. I use Photoshop 7 on WINE only – the difference is huge (20 photos opened simultaneously under Windows and 80 (!) under WINE). According to WINE WIKI “Photoshop 5 through CS2 and CS4 install and work pretty well on wine. Photoshop CS3 has some issues but most things work.”
You can find WINE in the “Desktop Enhancements” category in the Xandros Presto Application Store.
This post comes from our old blog (check it out here) from Cory, a well-read if not exactly optimistic soul, posted in June 2008.
I recently read a book entitled “The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives” by Leonard Mlodinow, who was co-author with Stephen Hawking on one of his many books about the great cosmos. The title refers to a pattern that molecules follow when they’re bouncing around and how despite it’s erratic look, it’s actually a fairly predictable movement when you take into account all the natural laws and mathematics that govern supposedly random behaviours. The basic gist of the book was this: ability and talent are pretty much irrelevancies-successes and failures in any arena follow a simple probability. Life is pretty much a coin flip either way and the outcome is pretty much unknown. It could be heads or tails. a film could bomb or be a huge hit. stock X could make you a ton of money or bankrupt you. There’s no way to truly know. But the way people are wired to assess means we *think* that these things are predictable and that there are reasons beyond randomness for the success of Energy Drink “a” over Energy Drink “B”, for instance. What really works in these trials isn’t as mentioned above necessarily talent or ability but simple perseverance. Keep trying and you’ll succeed. The simple law of probability guarantees it.
Leonard Mlodinow, author of "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives"
So what does this have to do with wine ratings? well, Leonard Mlodinow, besides being a mathematician, is also a wine geek and he devotes one of the chapters in the book to the example of wine ratings. He discusses the creation of the 100 point scale that virtually every wine publication now employs to judge its wines and how inherently flawed that sytem is, based on one really simple fact: your tastes are different from anyone else’s. Your opinion of any wine is just as valid as any magazine’s. He cites a nice example of how one magazine named Wine X (i forget the actual wine) their absolute best wine of the year and and awarded it a 100 point score but a rival publication named Wine X one of their absolute WORST wines of that year, awarded a mere 32 points or so (which is an abyssmal score, BTW). Same wine, same year, same everything, ASIDE from the panel of people assessing the wine’s supposed quality. If it truly was an “exceptional” wine, then the scores SHOULD have been the exact same across the board (in every wine magazine that rated it.) But there were tremendous disparities.
The sad part of this is that as a society of consumers, we need those ratings to feel like we’re making the “right” choice. I see this so many times. People are afraid to buy something that isn’t well-reviewed, or are really afraid that there’s a huge difference in quality between a chardonnay that scored 90 points and one that got, say, only an 88. But there isn’t. I used to think that way as well. If someone tells you something is good, you’re more inclined to think that way as well. Simple psychology, simple human communication. But we need to throw that way of thinking away. It’s defeatist. YOU know what YOU like better than anyone else. We can’t be afraid to try new things. It’s hit and miss, like tossing a coin. sometimes you’ll like the weird $8 wine that catches your eye, sometimes you’ll despise it. You might end up pouring out the $85 bottle you bought and going with a $10 “backup” that you had on the rack ( i’ve done this myself!) When i help people with wines these days i always try to impart the fact that tastes are radically different and unique, and that a wine that i love may be a wine that you end up hating, and vice versa. I try to make people aware of that and hopefully to have a little more confidence in just trying something to try it. Reinforcement of YOUR opinion isn’t really all that important, because it’s YOUR opinion.
don’t be afraid. the magazines and the ratings aren’t the law. they’re almost nonexistent.
What is it about AMAZING cheese and sublime wine that makes me want to roll around on the floor giggling like a schoolgirl? This weekend I had my sister (a sommelier and my brother in law… a “bama” fan) in town. Yes they spent some time at the rose bowl guzzling beer and yelling insults at the longhorns, but we also had some killer food and even a special bottle of wine from just down the road. Prior to having them over for dinner we had to take them to the Beverly Hills Cheese Store, which is not only my favorite store in the world, but a disseminator of all things heavenly. Beverly Hills is not the place to head for any sort of soul growth by any means, but this store saves the entire zip code. As the door cracks open the hit of funk is horrible for the uneducated, but warming and safe for me. Layers of cheese are holding you back from the counter and the well versed mongers stationed behind. A hint at your curdled goal will lead you down a path that will crisscross countries, ages, textures, tastes and terroir and end up with a hole in your wallet, but a full belly and a big smile. They are well versed not just in cheeses but cured meats, wines, and other epicurian delights like truffle salt. After about an hour of tasting and talking we wandered out the door with some beautiful cheeses and some Bellota Pata Negra. If you have never given your dominant arm for a taste of Pata Negra, please do. Imagine the finest acorn fed cured ham in the universe and then multiply it by 100000000000. The softness of the mouth feel is only surpassed by the fat that sticks to your lips…but that is where the high priced flavor is! The bag in my hand was heavy with La Tur, Epoisses, midnight moon, romano coated in rosemary amongst others. Epoisses is my all time favorite cheese. The stink can drive some people off, but I flock to it like no other.
These cheeses and a super bottle of 2003 Beaune 1er Cru Les Vignes Franches from Domaine Rebourgeon-Mure, a pinot that just made the cheeses sing, got the juices flowing and the conversation jovial. Dinner was some thick juicy pork chops that i brined all day and finished with a mustard cream sauce, pureed carrots with thyme and butter, roasted sun chokes and crispy kale chips. This was super yummy, but the local vino was amazing. A 2005 Moraga estates red, that comes from right here in Bel Aire (more on Moraga later).
Regardless of the sublime food and drink, it is the people that share it with you that make the meal. Having family come West is always a treat, and I am lucky to have one full of people who love food.
A very easy to drink Pinot Noir. Soft on the palate, with very fine velvet tannins. A strong raspberry and plum taste yet delicate enough to announce a subtle oak flavour.
Not outstanding, but an easy to drink Pinot.
Tasted Feb 2010
Twin Islands Pinot Noir
http://www.twinislandswine.com/
Marlborough Twin Islands Pinot Noir 2007
First released in 1992, Twin Islands Marlborough Pinot Noir offers excellent
full flavoured wines at great value. Fruit is sourced from selected vineyards
in the Marlborough region which enjoy excellent ripening conditions for
flavour-development in Pinot Noir.
Twin Islands Marlborough Pinot Noir 2007 is bright ruby in colour with a vibrant aroma of
raspberry and spicy plums. The palate is medium bodied with soft tannins and a subtle oak
influence. This wine is ready to drink now but can be expected to gain more complexity over
the next 12-18 months.
This wine is great drinking now or over the next two years.
Winemaking/Viticulture
This wine is produced from 100% Marlborough Pinot Noir fruit, grown on selected vineyard
sites in the Wairau Valley. All the fruit was processed in our specialised Pinot Noir winery
using principles of minimal handling and gravity flow. A period of cold soak prior to
fermentation allowed extraction of only the soft water soluble tannins. After fermentation
the wine underwent a period of oak maturation prior to blending. This wine is made with the
Twin Islands philosophy of producing fruitful, ready to drink wines with immediate appeal
and impeccable pedigree.
Technical Information
Vintage : 2007
Region : Marlborough
Winemaker: Clive Jones
Alc/vol : 13.5%
Titratable acidity : 6.8
What can I say? I just love the wines coming out of Châteauneuf-du-Pape! The 2007 vintage will last for a very long time in the bottle, but they are very approachable now. I invited my friend Geoff over for dinner to get his opinion on this incredible wine. It was decanted for an hour. We ate steak au buerre rouge (A.Bourdain’s recipe) cooked in a cast iron pan. I also cooked porcini mushroom risotto. The combination released some very interesting flavors. Lots of dark berry flavor, black pepper spice, some licorice on the finish, and hints of herbs.
We received our 2 bottles on Friday! Sorry no pic this time but here’s the info:
Red: EastDell Estates 2006 Merlot Reserve
Winemaker’s tasting notes: A deep purple in colour, this wine exhibits a raspberry and plum nose with bell pepper, rosemary and cedar aromas pushing through in the background. Nicely complex with layers of black cherry, tobacco and tart cranberries and blueberries competing for a full finish. Very approachable now, but given time in the cellar the upfront tannins will soften and this wine will continue to mature.
White: Cave Spring Cellars 2008 Gewürztraminer
Winemaker’s tasting notes: An intensely aromatic nose with scents of ginger, lychee, rosewater, orange blossom and a hint of comb honey; the front-palate is luscious, and just off dry, rolling in the middle into rich, expansive spice and marmalade flavours that carry into a lingering, cleanly balanced finish of orange peel, clove and ginger.
We already opened the red. It was just OK…we’re still dreaming about the 2006 Merlot from Ravine and when we attend the “Days of wine and chocolate” in NOTL in February, we’re considering picking up a case…
I’m looking forward to the white – it sounds wonderful!
You scan the isles in the liquor store looking for a good wine.
In one experiment, he got 57 wine experts together and had them taste one glass of red wine and one glass of white wine. He had them describe each wine in as much detail as their expertise would allow.
In psychology, true objectivity is pretty much considered to be impossible. Memories, emotions, conditioning and all sorts of other mental flotsam taint every new experience you gain.
Did I mention that I’ve been keeping tasting notes for several years now? Don’t get concerned; I won’t share them all here. But I thought this particular selection would be of interest to others like me looking for good values in wine. I had this quite recently, too.
Congratulations to the winners of our Valentine’s Label Design Contest. However, the contest isn’t over yet. We’re giving away a set of 6 monogrammed Ultima wine glasses for the label design that is gets the most “likes” from our fans until the end of the day this Thursday, February 18, 2010. Just click on the Facebook link on the right, go the photo album entitled, Choose Your Favorite, browse through the labels and click “Like” to vote for your favorite design. If you aren’t already a fan, you’ll need to become our fan to vote. Designers: get your family and friends in on the action and have them vote for your label.
Wine is one of the few food products where the choices are endless. There is so much to consider: Grape variety, region, price — um label design…C’mon, admit it — you’ve purchased a bottle purely based on the label…it looked expensive or familiar or was so ugly you couldn’t resist the gag…But can a label really help guide you to purchase a bottle whose wine you will really enjoy and happily drink again? Or is the wine label design for distinction only … graphics to help the wine compete with the other bottles surrounding it? How many people don’t know a thing about wine, except they love to drink it? So when planning our latest taste test, we wondered “how do those people select a bottle of wine?
The other Galil wine I’d like to tell you about is the 2009 Rose. Not many are made in Israel, and of those that are, I think many are semi-dry (at least the ones I’ve fallen upon). Ours is very very dry. Exceptionally aromatic, flowery, inviting, it’s crisp, fresh, and has a well-balanced acidity. I’m not a real expert here, but I love that I can identify and enjoy what I sense is a strawberry flavor. I’m always interested in how wines are made, and granted that making rose is not as clear cut as making a straight white or red wine, a while ago I looked into how this is done. If memory serves, there are three main rose methods:
There was even a swirl of fresh crabmeat in it…like a pinwheel. My only contribution to dinner was some fresh squash which I put olive oil over, sprinkled some garlic powder on it and topped it with a little parmesan cheese. Pretty good if I do say so myself! We accompanied this with some wild mushroom rice and voila’…a romantic dinner 
Bon Vivant Savant, Louisville’s premiere dining and events club, has partnered with La Catalana to bring you an fabulous evening of food, fun and flamenco.
What can I say? I just love the wines coming out of Châteauneuf-du-Pape! The 2007 vintage will last for a very long time in the bottle, but they are very approachable now. I invited my friend Geoff over for dinner to get his opinion on this incredible wine. It was decanted for an hour. We ate steak au buerre rouge (A.Bourdain’s recipe) cooked in a cast iron pan. I also cooked porcini mushroom risotto. The combination released some very interesting flavors. Lots of dark berry flavor, black pepper spice, some licorice on the finish, and hints of herbs.