I Need More Money

More money? With the exception of a handful of recent lottery winners, we could all use some extra cash to get those elusive gifts or selfish pleasures. What would you want if money were no object? An estate in France; a Lamborghini or Ferrari or two in the drive; or, perhaps, a private island in the Caribbean.
Me? I want to try some of the storied wines of the world: Chateau D 'Yquem, Margaux, Ridge Monte Bello, even the oft-overrated Opus One.
These names have the ability to conjure of dizzying, ethereal, and opulent bliss.
So, would anyone like to "loan" me a few hundred for the Opus or Ridge; how about a couple grand for the Margaux or Yquem? No? I'd let you have a sniff and a sip.
Well...I guess we could lower our expectations just a hair and settle for some amazing bargains:

1. Domaine du Banneret 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape (~$55) -- what a luscious, mouthwatering yet elegant and classic blend.

 2. Biltmore Reserve Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 (~$27) -- Fantastic now, but the tannins tell me a few years will yield many dividends.

3. Carmine Granata Mendoza Cab Sav 2010 (~$18) -- Yes! Another grape grows well in Mendoza Argentina. This Cab, to me, has a unique terroir of earthiness, along with the customary currant and blackberry. Throw in a bit of Malbec smokiness on the finish and I'm happy.

4. Domaine Rouge-Bleu Mistral 2009 (~$23) -- I know I've written before about this gem, and I shouldn't because they make such a limited quantity; but, it still blows my mind and mouth with a true "baby Chateauneuf" all-encompassing sensory trip.

5. Orin Swift Abstract (Red California Blend) 2010 (~$35-40) -- Had never heard of this one until our waiter at Knife & Fork in Spruce Pine, NC gave us a taste (you can see from the picture what happened next). It starts off like Old World barnyard, and drives home to a sleek modern finish. Elegant but not restrained.

These relatively low-priced gems will sparkle now or into the next decade. Let me know if you need more information on where to find these in your area. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and stay safe!

Labeling Yourself As A Label Buyer?

Face it, our brains are wired to look at attractive faces, cute animals, and stunning views. Marketing professionals have known this fact for ages and have played us for fools countless times. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of buying wine based on the label or fancy bottle! As in relationships, look past the trappings and get down to the substance of what's inside.

Here are some tips to help you:

1. Have an idea what you are searching for -- red or white isn't enough to go on.

2. If a gift, ask the wine merchant if they know what wines your friends like.

3. Read the back label! Many wines now have brief descriptions of the juice that lies within the bottle. There are also some that even have pairing suggestions.

4. The laws of the country of origin will dictate what information must appear on the label. Look for vintage information. If the year of harvesting is not listed, then it is a blend of more than one year. That doesn't signal a "cheap wine" necessarily -- champagne is typically listed as "NV" or non-vintage to indicate that the best of a couple of years' harvests have been used. Other wines will show no information as to year or NV.

5. What grape(s)? A common misconception is that blends are bad. Au contraire! Some of the world's best wines are blends of a few or many grapes. This one below is a great example:

This is a beautiful "baby" Chateauneuf du Pape! A customer of mine described the label as looking like it was made on MS Word, yet it is a perfect example of a somewhat cheesy label with a crazy good wine behind it. 

6. The sad truth is that a label is no indicator of quality. The cute, the absurd, the profane, the comical have all been used to bite the buyer's wallet. Use common sense and get all the info you can. Ask the merchant, ask your friends, Google it!

 

This must be what you turn to after tiring of Barefoot Cellars.

 

Opening & Closing Thoughts part 1

Do you remember the corkscrews of old? They screwed right into the cork just fine, but required a deft hand and considerable strength to yank the stopper out without damaging the cork, bottle, or your guests at the table. I even had one on my first Swiss Army Knife.

Did they really think you could pull a cork with that? Don't get me wrong -- it is a valuable addition to a survival kit and has many real uses beyond cracking open a Barolo while camping.

The corkscews/openers of our modern age have evolved by leaps and bounds. Here a few examples:

The basic "waiter's friend"

Finally! Some engineer/wine drinker got tired of using the non-leverage version and came up with something that almost always works.

Even better is the hinged prong version that stresses the wrist less.

This is my new favorite (thankful to Elizabeth and Bennett for the re-gifting). If you're opening bottles regularly, this is well worth the money. For starters, the base can be suctioned to the counter using the black plate as a pump. The two horizontal bars gently grasp the bottle neck while you perform a simple over and back maneuver with the single bar on the right. Voila! The screw is inserted and removed with little strain or effort. Remove the bottle and then repeat the clasping and over and back to remove the cork from the screw. I love this thing! A nifty foil cutter fits neatly into a small space in the upright.

Next week I'll cover closures.

Opening & Closing Thoughts Part 2

Last week I hurriedly discussed how we can all crack open our favorite wine. (However, I did stay away from the screw top so popular now...especially in Australia.)

So now that we have it opened, what next? We drink it of course! "But wait," someone says. "Don't we need to decant it, let it open-up and breath?" I just happened to open up my latest Wine Spectator to the letter section. There was a good bit of debate over this very question. Some decried the whole debate as so much erudite gobbledygook, while others go into painstaking detail about the ethers, esters and aldehydes coming to life as the hours unfold. I fall somewhere in between.
My take? Letting a good medium to full-bodied red (e.g. Cabs, Zins, Shiraz like the Mollydooker above, Chateauneuf du Pape, etc) breath for an hour or so will greatly enhance the subtle flavors hiding underneath the big fruit. The good news is that they should taste fine straight out of the bottle if you give the glass an obligatory swirl. Even a lighter-bodied Pinot Noir or Cotes du Rhone should benefit from a little time out of the bottle. Experiment with your favorite. This can be done in one or two back-to-back evenings; or, even better, on several different occasions, as long as you take good notes. With other tasters present, open the bottle, pour straightaway into the glass and swirl-sniff-sip and take notes on the aroma and taste. The next chance you get, open up another bottle of the same stuff and decant it for an hour (with a periodic swishing of the contents. Pour, swirl, sniff, sip, notate. See if all the tasters show that the wine has improved, and if so, to what degree. Then decide if it might taste even better with more time.
Ultimately, practicality and patience will dictate the day.

Now imagine the unthinkable -- a bottle doesn't get finished and you want to save what's left for tomorrow or beyond. What do you do?
As I thought about this, I recalled years ago that wine shops sold glass beads to pour into an open bottle. The idea was that the glass beads (essentially just marbles) would displace the fluid enough to allow little space for air, and therefore allow little oxidation to ruin the vino. I haven't noticed these in wine shops lately, so perhaps the vacuum pump sealer has replaced that method.

With a few pumps, the air is drawn out and the remaining wine should be good for another evening. There are many variations on this basic idea, including battery-operated vacuums to spare the tedious effort of hand-pumping. I certainly would recommend this basic under $10 system over using the cork or a basic bottle-topper for overnight storage.

If any of you have a expensive wine habit, and have a spare $300 to help support that habit, buy a Coravin! It is amazing and I've seen it in action and tasted what it can do. tool should change how wine shops sell, how wine sellers like myself sell to wine shops, and how the wine geek at home can have their wine cake and drink it too. The inventor's wife had learned she was pregnant, so he was left to drink alone for a few months. He was already in product design, and had invented some keen medical devices. Putting that knowledge to work, Greg Lambrecht decided to invent this gadget that has a surgical steel needle that inject argon to fill the ullage and then forces the wine to be poured out. The needle is so small that, when removed, allows the cork to simply return to normal. I tasted a Barolo at Table Wine here in Asheville that Josh Spurling had sampled from (it is never technically opened) over two weeks earlier. It was beautiful, and without a hint or trace of oxidation to my palate.

I would love to find one of these in my stocking this year!

In closing (pun intended), I still enjoy the fun short-term stoppers that are found everywhere. Here's my sentimental favorite -- bought on a trip to Venice with my lovely wife.

Ciao!

Power of Suggestion

Power of Suggestion

As I mentioned last week in "Tasting for the Masses," I do work part time at the most-visited winery in these United States -- Biltmore Estate Winery. In that capacity, I'm often asked "what is your favorite wine here?" I'm always quick with my three answers:
1. Whites? Biltmore Chardonnay Sur Lies -- aged 12-14 months in stainless steel on the lees providing a complexity that oak can't.
2. Reds? Biltmore Sangiovese -- the grape of Chianti, but a more luscious interpretation with a richness not unlike Brunello, with hints of oak, dark berries and a lingering chocolate finish.

3. The best Biltmore makes? -- I always direct guests to try the Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley 2010. An incredible Cab of epic proportions without overpowering the lucky taster. Full-bodied, velvety fruit with soft tannins that hint at aging potential, but great now!

I'm an "OK" sales person -- never pushy, honest, confident -- yet, it still amazes me what the power of suggestion can do. More people mark those wines on their list as "purchasable" than any of the other 33 wines and sparkling wines in our collection. Yes. They are really good wines, but peoples' tastes vary more than that. Some prefer the elegance of the Pinot Noir, or the funky barnyard-ness of the Cardinal's Crest Bordeaux blend, or even the somewhat middle-of-the-road stability of the Century Red; but, statistics show that our suggestions are taken very seriously. The effect of "you've gotta try this wine" is undeniable, and, to an extent, gratifying.

With that in mind, I want to solicit some suggestions from you folks out there. The marketplace will listen. I will listen. And, I will share this with the blog world. Please send me as much detail as you can: picture of the label, where you had it/bought it, price, varietal(s), vintage, region, appellation, vineyard if applicable. Of course, we also want to hear your tasting notes.
I'll post these in the coming weeks in this post under the heading of " Wining Fans' Faves."
For starters, here is a suggestion from Leah M.:

Woodyard Canyon Nelms Road Merlot 2009. Washington St. ~$22 (retail). Smooth and supple. Fruit-forward, but not in an overwhelming fashion like some Merlot's. Had it at a Seattle restaurant.

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone has a lot of suggestions -- have a great and safe week.

On Tasting for the Masses

I work part-time as a sales associate for the most-visited winery in America, Biltmore Estate Winery  (http://www.biltmore.com/wine/visit-the-winery). In my capacity there, I've had the great opportunity to meet people from all over the world -- both geographically and in their oenological awareness. Yesterday alone, I had folks who had never tasted wine -- ever (i.e. "what's your sweetest wine?) -- and I finished my shift with two people who had the most perceptive noses and taste buds imaginable. The one gentleman correctly identified several obscure grapes in some of our blends.This is not to make comparisons or draw judgments, rather to point out that the greater world of wine tasting needs to meet the needs of those extreme poles and the masses in-between.

Retailers who actually want to sell the wine on their shelves need only ask a question or two to determine what language to speak to the prospective customer.
"What wines do you typically buy for yourself?" Ms. Retailer asked.
"I like a nice Chianti," Dr. Lecter replied.
"Well that sounds nice, but have you ever had a Biltmore Sangiovese?"

Or perhaps the customer tells you "I'm more of a beer drinker, but my wife prefers wine. What would you suggest for me to try?"

The days of the snobby wine sommelier looking down his nose at the unsophisticated diner who didn't know his Bordeaux from a hole in the ground should be a thing of the distant past, as those of us in the wine world look to help the uninitiated explore their own palates, and hopefully broaden the consumers' enjoyment. Smile always, mentor and advise when needed, and thank people for taking the time to stretch their comfort zone a bit.

P.S. I did not want to imply that sweet wines were for the wine neophytes. There are are many nice sweet wines out there: Sauternes, Malvasia, ice wine, etc.

Wine, Words, and Why It Matters

I was listening recently to a book (Audible.com is a great way to fit books into a busy lifestyle and I find they stretch my mind and sharpen my focus), Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking by Michael Gelb. My first thought was that this was someone's attempt to justify their drinking habit, but I was quickly drawn in by the compelling evidence that the two subjects go hand-in-hand. Gelb's research seemed thorough and convincing -- that wine goes far beyond a mere chemical process in the body and brain, and attains a transformational awakening of the soul and it's voice.

I listened to that voice -- the one on the audiobook and the one in my head, as well as the one I always trust, that of my wife! Hence, this blog commences with the conviction that wine needs words. Those words can be about anything two or more people want to share while they enjoy a glass of God's gift of grapes' divinity; those words can also be the simple description one reads in Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast, or just on the back label of many newer offerings.

Have you ever been with a friend or loved one and come across a view so spectacular that neither of you could find the words to describe it? A few wines, too few in fact, can have that same effect; but, one word is often uttered quietly yet with great feeling..."wow!"

In an attempt to help you find the right words, I will offer a few tips and suggestions in my experience as a wine geek, wine seller, wine pourer, etc.

Tip 1: Tannins are present in both red and white wines, but since they come from the skins, stems and seeds, they are more present in reds. Tannins give great wines longevity and not-so-great wines a better chance to survive. Welcome the mouth-coating sensation as you would a scary movie on this Halloween -- you know it's coming, so just hold on and enjoy the moment.