This Woman Knows How to WINE

Most everyone I know has made a volcano from paper mache with vinegar and baking soda to create the magma; but, how many of us, at the age of nine, tried to make wine using their grandmother's grapes? Sharon Fenchak did just that. (Oh! And she also made the volcano.)

"I've always been fascinated with fermentations," says Fenchak, one of the two Winemakers at The Biltmore Winery for nearly 15 years, "and the idea that yeast and bacteria can change things." That led her to eventually obtain a Bachelors in Food Science from Penn State, and a Masters from U.G.A.

Her early fascination with the science of transformation was further enhanced while stationed in Italy during a stint in the Army. Her family in Pennsylvania weren't really drinkers, so it was a bit of an eye-opener to see most folks in Italy drinking wine regularly with meals.

Sharon, with fellow winemaker Bernard Delille

But that just adds to the complexity of this woman. She is petite, physically fit, a huge football fan (you have to be if you've gone to both Penn State and the University of Georgia). She is not what one would picture as a winemaker at the most-visited winery in the U.S. .  One probably pictures Bernard Delille quite easily; after all, wine making is almost genetically encoded in older men from France, right?

The Biltmore Estate Winery

I am asked most everyday I work in the Biltmore Winery Tasting Room what my favorites are; Fenchak can't really name favorites, since she learned early on that wine is meant to go with food, and a favorite would all depend on what's cooking. "I am currently very pleased with our Biltmore Blanc de Noirs," speaking of The Biltmore Wine Company's award-winning Pinot Noir-based sparkling wine (methode champenoise). It recently received a 97-pt rating from the Beverage Tasting Institute, to go along with Golds at Lodi and Monterey competitions and a Double Gold at the Taster's Guild International Wine Competition. Impressive credentials, great sparkling wine, and at a great price (~$24.99).

Also on her "currently enjoying" list is the Biltmore Limited Reserve Malbec. Personally, I enjoy this rich and intense, yet smooth wine with a nicely seasoned roasted chicken.

When I asked Fenchak about creating a particular style in the wines (e.g. a South American or French Malbec), she quickly points out that the grape tells her what style it wants to be. These aren't South American grapes or French grapes, but Californian.
"The quality of the wine is the quality of the grape," Fenchak added. I took it that she also meant that for the particular style that is achieved.

 

A typical day for this winemaker is never typical. It all depends on the season. Imagine being a winemaker with not only 94 acres and six varietals to work with, but one that travels to California and Washington (among other areas in the U.S.) regularly to source the best varietals in order to offer over 30 wines in quantities approaching two million bottles a year! That is a lot to do, and she and Delille do it very well.



I hope, as I'm sure Fenchak and the entire Biltmore Wine Company hopes, that she will be continually fascinated by the transformation of making all these different wines for all the different people who cross over this special threshold in Western North Carolina.




Special thanks to the Biltmore Company for providing these photographs.

My Take on "2014 Wine Wish List"

Well, I raised a few family-eyebrows with my last post (Drinking & Religion: Divine Reconciliation), though most comments from cousins were made in an understanding fashion.
This post should be a bit more benign:

I listened with great interest to the following radio program:

The Sipping Point Radio: 2014 Wine Wish List

The host of The Sipping Point, Laurie Forster, and big-time blogger, Joe Roberts of 1WineDude.com, offered their top ten resolutions that they wish the wine world would adopt. We were sailing along beautifully through the list, including "Don't judge those who prefer Muscadine to Bordeaux." I tell the guests at The Biltmore Winery tasting room that they've entered a no-judgment zone. Biltmore offers a wide range of styles from a lightly sweet and light-alcohol Zinfandel Rose' to a beautifully-complex Tempranillo; but, we make 35 different wines for a reason -- they each have their fans, whether they've just enjoyed their first taste or they're seasoned grape nuts like me. As Roberts said, "can't we all just get along?"
Forster and Roberts went on to discuss the negative aspects of the numeric point scale (AKA Parker Points). While I agree that we need to take chances and actually look at wines with 89s as being great in spite of a mark below 90, I believe strongly that those numbers help beginners more than the well-wined to start their own adventure with a bit of a treasure map in mind. After all, any movie or book with a treasure map typically ends up with a chest of dust, or someone else getting to the prize before you. Enjoy the journey of discovery as you sample an occasional 94-pointer just for the heck of it. I also think of points in the same light as the prosaic descriptions that all of us in the biz are guilty of using. Linzer torte? Really? Those do help me focus on what I might find in my own mouth and nose.
Then, rather abruptly, they stepped on my toes. Forster suggested that the three-tier system (1. Winery/Producer, 2. Importer/Distributor, 3. Consumer) kept too many wines from the consumer as the distributors tend to work exclusively with the big-named conglomerates that foist Americanized wines on an unsuspecting consumer. I work for #2, the importer/distributor Robert Walter Selections, and we happen to focus on the small family-owned wineries of France, Spain, and Germany that have no interest in changing the vinification process to please the American palette. They are, for the most part, biodynamic and organic (though they are too small to worry with inspections and certifications).
We would hate to have the intention of our small business quashed by a few consumers who wanted to save a few bucks on a unique Cotes du Rhone. Importers/Distributors serve a necessary function in terms of legal issues of importing alcohol, providing U.S.-specific labeling, safely transporting larger quantities in order to keep the shipping costs at a very low per-bottle average, not to mention the poor winery that wants to make wine, not spend night and day taking hundreds or thousands of individual orders and packaging and sending a bottle here or a half-case there.
I'm sure it was not the intent of Forster, and Roberts, to say that all wine should be available directly to the consumer, but the suggestion that even a few offer that raises my hackles a bit. So, enough of that, and, as Roberts asked...yes, we can get along.

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.