winecritic's Xanga

That Time: Holiday Wines

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:46:42 GMT

My goal to 'blog' my classes sure went out the window quickly, no?

Someone, probably the only person who reads this (Helllllloooooo the 'other' Rachel), asked if I was going to put up suggestions for holiday wines. And I thought "hell yes", mostly because I had just purchased wines for my class on... EASTERN EUROPE.

Which may be home to the most PERFECT FOOD WINES, ever.

I'm not exaggerating. And I'm sure a few French people want to slap me right now, but I'd punch em right back (hello, HAND BALL!), because I speak the truth.

Every year I have a basic run down that tends to get really wordy. So let's review a few things I try to remind us all when purchasing wines for the holiday season:

Our holiday meals are BIG--I've never attended a holiday gathering that consisted of salad and brown rice. While there have been salads and brown rice in the meal, they tend to be salads full of things (blue cheese, fruit, nuts, heavy cream-based dressings) and the rice is usually stuffed into something (pork loin, turkey, oysters, with some sort of heavy cream-based sauce). These are big meals with flavors all over the place and tend to be quite sweet. Remember this when buying your wine.
Think of your audience. You LOVE red wine and aren't ashamed to drink it with your overly dry turkey breast. Good for you! However Aunt Mildred loves the white zin and Uncle Bob will only drink Coors Lite, but he might go for a boxed wine because wine shouldn't be more than the glass you're drinking it out of.
Don't be scared of 'the untraditional'--pairing red wine with white meats and fish, white wines with red meats, having sweet wines with dinner, drinking pink wine, and consuming copious amounts of sparkling wine.
A fancy bottle of wine might impress the hard to impress in-laws--but if you go to a wine shop and someone tries to sell you bottles of wine over $25 for your holiday meal, remind them; it's the holidays. You need lots of booze to survive it.
I know some people--but i'd venture to guess it to be no more than 10% of the population--do their entire meal all by themselves and arrange it in courses. But the rest of us, who are not Martha Stewart, rely on Cousin Anna to bring the apple pie and Aunt Tessy to bring Great-Grandma Pearl's sweet potato dish...so it's hard to figure out exactly what the meal will taste like. And while we all tend to sit down for a meal--it can quickly disintegrate into a fiasco. Kids running around, people wondering what the football score is, someone falling asleep--therefore planning a timed, 'coursed' meal is just not going to happen. And what does this mean? Trying to 'pair' the wine is impossible. Instead think about buying a collection of wines to plop on the table and let people help themselves.

Ok. The basics. Done.

So why Eastern European wine?

They're really mellow, earthy, fruity and full of body without ever being too big. You need wines that have nice flavors, but are just simply easy-to-drink. Quaffing, as we say. This goes with the above statement of it being impossible to 'pair' wines on Thanksgiving or any other holiday dinner. You want wines that are yummy and completely forgettable. Which may sound rude to these wines, but to me that makes the perfect 'food' wine.
They're exotic, but affordable. Want to impress someone but don't want to pay the money? Well, pull out a hard-to-pronounce bottle of wine from Bosnia-Herzengovina and I guarantee you they'll be hard-pressed to have too much of an opinion on it, until they taste it. If they're a true wine lover they should be excited about trying something unusual. If they're snobby? Guilt trip them into enjoying the beautiful wine that's come out of a war-torn country.
It's REAL old world wine. We talk about old world wine and new world wine--well this is wine that's been made that way for a very, very long time. Eastern Europe (Georgia in specific) is the literal birth-place of wine. And some of these countries haven't changed their technique much. There's something very comforting about these wines. Kind of like someone giving you an old quilt that their great-great-great-grandmother made to keep you warm. It's unfamiliar. Might smell a little weird...but you wrap up in it and it's not just that it's warm, for some reason you FEEL the generations in that blanket. Same with the wine. These wines are not complicated. there are not 'layers' of this and 'subtle notes' of that--but they seem oddly familiar. And wise.

So if those three things haven't got you interested one final thing to say: Every bottle I purchased (and they were all hits at the wine class) was $12.99 or less.

Interested now?

If you are, check out Blue Danube Wines. I should've done this earlier because now it's too late to get the wines for Thanksgiving. But I have ordered from them, they eat the shipping cost (cool!) and were very speedy. Just a note--if you DO order from them it suddenly feels as if it might be some sort of internet scam. But have no fear. I purchased a case--no problems. I endorse them.

So what to do if you don't want to order them? Check out their website anyhow, the most advanced website devoted to Eastern European wines that I've found. And look for ideas to ask your local wine merchants--see if they've got any of these wines. It's easier to find Hungarian wines on the shelves these days and Croatian wines are also popping up more frequently. Wines we had for the tasting and loved:

Citluk Herceg White 2007 (Bosnia-Herzegovina) $10.95
A white blend made from native grapes that seems to be made in old wooden barrels? Just a guess--the wine is slightly oxidized (which means it can have a sour smell, someone described it as sauerkraut), but once it's on your palate that goes away quickly. Full bodied, beautiful and tasting of apricots and honey. It's not as sweet as you'd think--but the slight sweetness, honey notes and full bodied mouth feel lend it to being a perfect wine for the holiday meals.
Plantaze Vranac 2007 (Montenegro) $12.95
A red wine made from the original Zinfandel--Vranac. This was the class favorite. Big, bold tastes--fruity with out being too fruity (think aromas of sour cherries). There were also nice earthy notes--extremely smooth finish.
Dingac Vinarija Peljesac 2007 (Croatia) $12.95
I purchased this red wine because it said 'semi-dry red' on the label and I was hoping for a sweetish red wine, which is quite common in eastern europe, and is a good example a 'true' old world wine. However this was not sweet at all. In fact if there was any residual sugar, I'd be surprised. Instead, made from a grape related to Zinfandel, this wine was light, floral notes as well as soft fruit.
Patricius Red Lion 3 Puttonyos Tokaj Azu 2006 (Hungary) $19.95
Ok, not under $13, but go to any place that sales wine and I bet you'll find a Tokaj--the most famous and well known wine to come out of Eastern Europe. And I bet you it's at least $40. I won't get into it here, but there are different styles of Tokaj, different price points, and different ways to make it. The stuff we tend to see here is sweet--and just prepare yourself for it--sherry-like. It's made by incorporating a fungus (botrytis), which gives sweet wines a somewhat bitter or sour note. May sound weird--but that's a good thing when you're making a wine with so much sugar. Just like a little lemon in your apple pie is good. Botrytis also slows down the fermentation of wine, therefore these wines are fermented in open batches for an extremely long time. This is where the sherry comes in--oxidized. The result? Thick, sweet, and a lot like honey. Very good, very special and very, very hungarian. If you are in the market for some sort of sweet wine to go with your dessert that's special...this may be it. This was good, a classic example and at least half the price of other Tokajs. I served it with apple strudel--wonderful.

As an End Note:
Ok, a bit exotic and difficult. But see if you can't find these wines? And if you're in Cali--stop by Blue Danube wines; they're doing really cool things. Also, I haven't had a great many, but I can say every Eastern European wine I've had from the cheap Bull's Blood to the expensive Slovenian Cabernet Franc, has been good. Nothing has knocked my socks off--but it's all been quite tasty; and that's what we want for our holiday dinners.

Just take a gander at your favorite wine shop and see what they have for eastern european wines. You may find something.

Next--and soon--easier to find wines for the holiday.

Shiraz: It ain't from Iran

Fri, 29 May 2009 14:38:54 GMT

There's a town in Iran called Shiraz and they (Shirazians, Shirazites?) were known for their wine (could still be known for their wine, I have to admit my knowledge of Iran is limited and I've had exactly 0 bottles of Iranian wine in my life).

This, combined with the various names for Syrah, lead to the belief that it came from Iran via the Romans.

Not true.

Syrah is a native french grape, a cross between two almost extinct grape varietals: Duerza and Mondeuse Blanche happening sometime around the 1st century.

The romans DID indeed seem to like this grape and it seems that the grape migrated from the lower Rhone to the upper Rhone and across southern France, wherever the Romans were. Now, let's fast forward through history:

* In the late 1600's the French Huguenot's fled france for South Africa taking grapes with them.
* In the mid 1800s Syrah had established itself in Northern Rhone in villages such as Hermitage and the great debate began on who produced the best wine: Bordeaux or Northern Rhone. British investors were the catalyst for such a debate.
* In 1831 a Scotsman by the name of James Busby took grapes to Australia, among those: Syrah
* During the 1970's California producers become interested in the grape
* Early 80's winemaker David Lake suggested that the owners of Red Willow Vineyard in Washington State get a few vines of syrah from Joseph Phelps in Napa.
* During the late 90's Syrah/Shiraz took off; including finding a home in Washington.

Syrah/Shiraz (and just so we're clear, Shiraz is a bastardization of Syrah--but call it whatever you want) is now grown in over 20 countries, it's the third mostly planted red wine grape in the world and is to Washington what Cabernet is to California.

It's come a long way with a confusing history--but sadly it seems to be loosing steam due to it's over-popularity.

But more plantings of Syrah in Argentina, Chile, Spain and Italy are piquing people's interest. One is also seeing critics raving about Northern Rhone wines in the same breath as Bordeaux. And, finally, if you read a wine rag and flip to the Washington section the dominate grape? Syrah.

Next: Syrahs to try

Que What? : Grape of the Month Intro

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:38:29 GMT

Each month I teach wine classes at a local winery. This month: Syrah.

Last month: Chenin.

After the class I blogged a much shorter version of the class with wines to try. I think it's a good way to keep this blog going (and if people happen to have attended my class--thanks for checking out my blog, too--here's a refresher).

So, I'm going to have a wine of the month--focused on the wine that I have for my class.

Here's my introduction. Next Blog will be history of, following modern history/viticulture information and finally (ah finally) a list of wines to try.

I'll do this in a matter of days--but rather than writing one REALLY long blog a month, I'll break it up as I go.

On with the Intro...

Ah, Syrah. Or Shiraz. Or Scyras for that matter.

When I worked the retail circuit, there were two camps of customers regarding syrah. Loved the stuff--but we're mostly talking the Aussie kind. Or couldn't stand it and wanted to avoid it completely.

Why? Because unlike last month's grape (chenin), there has been a Syrah (Shiraz) craze in all the wine mags. It began in the late ninety's and has finally dwindled away. Shiraz: the aussie darling of the wine world that's grown a wart and most people are completely appalled by that wart therefore won't even bother looking. Other's don't even notice.

Really poor way of saying people got tired of it. Got tired of the big fruit bombs from Downunder as well as tired of the 'hype'.

There's a good reason for it. We tend to overdo things when it comes to wine. When something's hot, it's hot--and that means you're going to see the same wines at every restaurant in town, in your friend's wine cellars, and most importantly, in those dang wine mags.

Then, collectively, we move on. In the retail circuit we're constantly trying to guess the next wine fad. Sometimes we see it coming and are actually excited about it (riesling), other times we're a bit surprised and don't quite get it (Aussie Shiraz).

Now, you may be thinking that I don't like Syrah. Or Shiraz. Not true--one of my favorites. And if I'm looking for a good value with a bbq or lamb dinner--if I don't head to Italy, I head to Australia.

But, this is where I didn't get the fad, or understand it completely.

Firstly, drinking Australian wine was fine, but people wouldn't even think about drinking French wine--it's unamerican.

Secondly, Aussie fruit is really, really distinguishable--and while different wineries do different things, they're still fruit bombs dispite valiant efforts not to be sometimes. It's hot down there. Syrah likes heat--this isn't a bad thing. It just means they tend to taste an awful lot alike. Wouldn't you want to diversify your options (apparently not looking at most american's stock portfolios...)?

Thirdly, the damn focus that never went away. It was all about Australia for so long (still is), one would be surprised to find that Syrah is grown in 20 different countries around the world. A lot of people still don't know Shiraz and Syrah are the same thing.

So, if you fall into either of these camps (like Shiraz but that's all you know or are sick and tired of the stuff), hopefully I can broaden your horizon over the next couple of blogs. Or, if you'd just like to learn more about Syrah and are interested in trying a few--stay tuned.

The "Lost" Wine Grape

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:25:46 GMT

One of the most widely cultivated grape in the world (it thrives in places like Brazil and Mexico as well as France and California) is also one of the more difficult wines to find on a grocery store shelf.

I call it the lost wine. Or the 'white merlot'.

Most of us have seen Sideways and I'm sure I've talked about this before, but let me review:

Great movie. I just hate that it affected the wine industry so much, and in a negative way. The line when Miles exclaims "I'm not drinking anymore fucking Merlot!" hit home with a bunch of people. The wines snobs laughed heartily and thought "here, hear" while other red wine drinkers laughed, uncomfortably thinking "But I like merlot..." After that movie, and to this very day, Pinot Noir sales have soared, and merlot is finally, slowly, making a come back as a good wine.

But even prior to that movie and Mile's dramatic disdain for Merlot, Merlot had a bad rap for the most part.

In the 70's and early 80's it was overproduced in California. It was easy to grow and took off like wildfire. Then, when people began actually drinking red wines (white, or pink wines were more the fashion back in the mid to late 80s) this overproduced, easy drinking, non complex merlot proved to be a hit. And because there was a lot of it, it was cheaper than, say Cabernet Sauvignon.

By the late 90's wine snobs poo-pooed that style of merlot, stating the grape was unsophisticated, dull and bland. Nevertheless it was still a hit with the general population.

The popular movie was a final blow to poor merlot.

But! Merlot is great, one of my favorite grapes (when done correctly--I agree I've had a lot of dull, bland and unsophisticated merlots but some of the best wines I've ever had were Merlot based).

So, while I've just spent a few minutes writing about Merlot, that's not the grape I'm talking about...no no..the grape in discussion today is Chenin Blanc.

Chenin grows vigorously (although has its fair share of viticultural issues--which I won't get into because most people don't care about bunch rot and early bud break) and has proved to be a good grape of choice in areas that are generally too warm for most wine grapes (the above stated Brazil) as well as finding homes in cooler regions (France's Loire Valley). Because it's easy to grow, disease tolerant, soil tolerant nature it took off like, um, something else (don't want to use that wildfire term again and am drawing a blank on another expression) in California in the 70's and 80's. And, that's when light, slightly sweet, white wines were very popular.

It was the perfect grape.

But, then, tastes changed and people moved away from sweet wine (and in a lot of cases white wine in general). However, Chenin did not disappear, instead it found a home in jug wines. And to this day is still one of the most widely cultivated grapes in california, but the majority of it finds it's way to bulk, bad wine.

In my home state Chenin production has gone downhill dramatically. There were almost 300 acres of chenin planted in 93, in 06 (the last year of production reports available--they're done every three years) there were only 160 acres.

Most growers were pulling it out due to lack of demand and the bad image the wine had in general.

Here's the thing, though. Chenin makes beautiful wine. It's style is best observed in an off-dry (meaning a touch of residual sugar, so yes, slightly sweet) wine. The nose on good chenin should start off with a strange damp straw aroma followed by a plethora of fruits ranging from tropical (guava, papaya, kiwi) to more traditional (peach, apricots, pears, melons) with a back drop of honey or honeysuckle. There's also spice notes in most of clove and nutmeg. Not only is the nose beautiful, but the palate should meld all those flavors together into a rich, lush wine.

It's lovely. And it makes it really easy to pair food with it: spicy asian, light beef salads, traditional turkey dinner...it all works.

Luckily two places have continued to produce really good chenin: South Africa where it's known as Steen, more commonly, and the Loire Valley in France--particularly in Vouvray.

The other really cool thing about Chenin is that it has high acidity for the grape, meaning it makes excellent, dry, sparkling wines or you can go the completely other route and make extremely syrupy dessert wines with it as well. It's even made into port-like wines and brandies.

If you're interested in trying some Chenin, and you should be, look for these:

First from the Loire and the home of Chenin--Vouvray, Domaine le peu de la Moriette from Domaine Pichot. Very consistant, classic and lost of honey flavors. I just had the 2006--delicious.
Ranges in price from $13-$17

Also from the Loire, but Anjou area, is Domaine Baumard's Carte Turquoise which is a nonvintage cuvee of Chenin and Cabernert Franc. It's a very dry, delightful sparkling.
Price range $19-$25

Mulderbosch is one of my favorite producers from South Africa, period. But one reason for that is that there is actually access to it. Mike Dubrovic is the winemaker and he's quite good with white wines. Each year the Chenin, or steen, is a bit different. I just had the 07, which had 11% barrel fermented (in new oak) and 8% late harvest Sauvignon Blanc added to it to give it an off-dry finish. The 08 sounds even more interesting with 30% barrel fermented in new american and hungarian oak.
Price $13-$17

This blend from Pine Ridge is very, very nice. Lots of fruit, a touch of sugar, and very food friendly. The 07 is a blend of 80% chenin and 20% viognier. A good example that California is still making some good chenins and not putting it all in their bulk wine production.
price $10-$15

Finally, a representation of my home state, and more importantly, my neighbors. This chenin is one of the drier ones I've had recently, but the fruit flavors are still very lively. McKinley springs also makes a late harvest, sweet, dessert chenin that's very good and very affordable. They (family run opperation) all happen to love Chenin, so they have a vineyard block of chenin that was planted in 1981--they never pulled it out because they all liked the grapes, even when they couldn't sell it. However, while I highly recommend this, they're fairly young and their distribution is just in the major markets, not nation-wide, yet.
price $13

Go to Wine Shops

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:59:12 GMT

In these tough times, it may seem counter-intuitive to go to a wine shop to find good deals on wine. One would most likely turn to the internet or big warehouses.

Don't.

Unless that warehouse is a wine shop. There are a few out there.

Practice what you preach, so I'm going to begin by saying that I've been ordering a lot of wine from wine.com. Some of their pricing is great. But their wine selection is very standard. What that means is that it's stuff that most people could find at any grocery store that has a good selection.

If you're looking for really great deals and something different, please go to a wine shop.

One reason why I buy wine online is because I live in the middle of freaking nowhere. An hour away there is a local wine shop that can fulfill most of my needs--whether he actually has items in stock, or he can order them from a distributor.

Yesterday I went to pick up a case of wine from him.

Wait. Let me pause a moment here. I sound like a lush. My wine needs. A case of wine. Um, yeah. I teach monthly wine classes, thus my need to order/purchase cases of wine on a monthly bases.

So, when I went to pick up my case of wine from him we started chatting nonchalantly about this topic. And it made me realize a lot of people don't understand that wine shops are actually great places to find wine deals. I think most people are intimidated by the shops. Or assume it's not the best deal.

Wrong.

Now, my one caveat to this is that grocery stores and warehouse stores (costco, sam's club) buy enough of certain kinds of wine where they are indeed the best deal--but your choice is limited.

Reasons to go to a wine shop:

Most wine shops operate on the basis that people are buying wine in the $15 range--meaning they have a huge selection in that range, and it'll basically be a no-miss. I shouldn't say that. You may not prefer that style, but I'd be shocked if the wine was actually bad. If it's corked--take it back and they'll replace it.
People who have wine shops have a real passion for wine and get excited about new wines/unusual finds. If you want something different go in and ask; they'll find something fun for you to try.
You can taste the wine. Usually there are wine tastings offered at wine shops--meaning you can actually try the wine prior to buying. The majority of grocery stores do not offer this, nor can they (pesky state laws).
Much easier to special order. If you find a wine that you love but it's hard to find, go talk to a smaller wine shop. Just be prepared to accept that great wine you had in Paris may not be available in your local market.

Now, because wine shops can be intimidating (my friends in Seattle live just down the street from a nice little wine shop where the guy is kind of an ass. Wine people can be, and I'm used to it--but not everyone is. One reason is that we all get tired of questions. But don't be intimidated by it, dudes. Please), here are a few tips to make your experience more enjoyable.

Be excited: Seriously. Your upbeat attitude and enthusiasm about finding new wine is refreshing in this industry.
Know what you're looking for even when you don't know what you're looking for. A lot of people come in asking for a good, inexpensive red wine. You've got to be more specific than that. Think of some of your favorite red wines (Australian Shirazs, Argentine Malbecs, Washington Cabernets) and say that's what you like and that you're either looking for something completely different and you're up for something daring--or that you want something similar but maybe from a different country or region.
Give a price range. Don't just say inexpensive because to some people inexpensive is $20, other's it's $5. Keep in mind that it is everyone's job to up sale. I never did. I take that back. I'd have my type that I'd upsale to--most of the time I actually down sold--meaning showed people a much cheaper wine than what they were expecting. But small wine shops are a bit different because you're most likely talking to the owner. So if you're going there not wanting to spend more than $15, ask for something maybe around $10. If you're really okay with $20, say $15--see my point. Or be prepared to simply say, "really, only $15, not $17".
Be realistic--especially about pricing. While i think wine shops are the best place to go, if you're looking for $10 or under bottles, just be prepared to get what you pay for, or that there might not be any choices for you. The wine shop I use here locally, doesn't have anything under $13--wait, that's not true. Maybe just one option. It's because he doesn't have enough foot traffic to justify it. But, doesn't mean he can't get it. If I called him and asked for a case of some $6/bottle wine--he'd do his dardnest to find it and sale it to me as a special order (there's no mark up on that). Leads me to number 5.
Keep up relations. Go in often. Go to wine tastings. Don't feel like you have to buy something every time you're there tasting (but doesn't hurt), get so they know you. Know your tastes. Know your price range. It's fun to be able to find some $10 bottle of wine that you know one of your customers will love.
And, finally, for the love of god, don't be stupid. If you go in saying something like "I had this great wine with dinner last night--do you have it?" I'm not joking when people have been that vague about wine they recently had. What? I was there with you? Funny, don't remember. Some people can't even remember what color the wine was. If you're really trying to find a wine, please, please do some research about it before you show up saying "I think it had a white label...but maybe it was blue". If you go in saying "I'm looking for the 2005 Clos la Coutale, it's a Kermit Lynch selection--do you have it or know which distributor has it?", they'll be very excited to help you since you know the key parts to the wine--but even if you can just give the damn winery name you're ahead of the crowd. That said, if you truly don't know and didn't pay attention--instead of trying to find the EXACT same wine (but here's a tip--if you did have it at a restaurant, call the restaurant and see if they have a wine list handy and have them list the wines in the price range you paid for it--see if any ring a bell), describe what you liked about it and ask if they have a suggestion for something similar in the $10-$15 price range.

May seem like a lot of tips/rules to shop somewhere, but it'll go a long way to take the intimidation factor away--and hopefully take away the snobbiness of the wine shop steward as well. All these tips will help make you a better wine purchaser as well.

As Seen on TV

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:38:50 GMT

This morning, as every morning, my mother was watching the Today Show. I happened to be in the process of lacing up my shoes and putting on my dirty work clothes when a wine segment began--they said something to the affect of "have chardonnay tastes but a beer budget?"

Ahem.

The expert they had on is someone whom I normally would pay attention to, I've read a book co written by him that I absolutely adored. And, yes it was a wine book, not some book on something entirely unrelated to wine.

But I'd give his wine choices a D. You know, if I were a teacher and could grade such things. Actually if this were true, my life would be sweet.

Anyhow back to what I saw: bad, bad wine--and he was quoting pricing that's really hard to find. If you live in a large city with some competitive wine prices (NY, LA, Houston), you may be able to find these deals. He also mentioned Costco--but their choices are limited and while their pricing is good they don't specialize in 'cheap' wine. They specialize in good values--wines that usually are around $50-$20 that they price between $10-$30. In other words, the wine pricing he was quoting: good luck finding such deals.

His first wine was Charles Shaw--good old two buck chuck from Trader Joes. I don't have a problem with this wine and it's only $3, maybe $4 some places. But every time I've had it, it's been pretty bad. I'm picky, though, so I really would rather spend a few more dollars for something different or use my three dollars on a good bottle of Belgium beer.

But I know a lot of people who love CS, and good for them. Good for you. As we used to say, it's perfect for you, not good enough for me.

I thought the CS was predictable; it was the rest of the wine that he was promoting that was horrible. He mentioned magnums, then held up a really bad bottle of Chianti. He mentioned boxed wines and had this horrible vin de pays from France. Then he ended with the statement that it's okay to splurge on wine every once in a while because it will give you pleasure: good wine delivers.

Or some such bullshit.

Then held up a bottle of Dom Perignon.

So let me just reaffirm what I'm good at: Finding cheap vino.

Also, let me say that I don't think he's an idiot, but it's obvious a distributor has his back pocket.

Private label wine can be good (Trader Joes, Costco, etc), but often times not the best deal. I'm always suspicious if they won't say who's actually making the wine. One reason why it's such a good deal is that they're purchasing extra juice for sale from various wineries. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's absolute shit. That's why one bottle of two buck chuck won an award and the bottle I had this summer went straight down the drain (not good enough to cook with). See if you can't find out where it's coming from before you buy it.
Avoid chianti if you can't spend at least $10/bottle on it. Those basket woven magnums? Most of them are quite horrible these days: Southern Italy and Sicily are where the wine deals are in that country. Just look for cheaper sangiovese from some other part of Italy in leu of that cheap chianti. Trust me.
There are some really good box wines out there now, and sometimes it doesn't seem like the best deal because they are around $25/box. But that's three bottles of wine--so about $8/bottle. That's great. The other good thing is that the wine actually keeps for a while in a box, once it's been open, verses a bottle--where you're lucky to get three days of decent tasting wine. But I really would avoid vin de pays box wines. A lot of those cheap box wines from other countries are made in a very fast fermentation process. That's fine if it's drunk 'fresh'--or if it's shipped properly. But cheap wine is going to be shipped cheaply, and those box wines taste like shit in the end. Look local (american--for us americans), or for the aussies. They know how to do box wines.
And finally, jesus, of course splurge on wine every once in a while if you can afford to do so. I have always done so and I've never made much money. A bottle of wine that I love that costs $50 is totally worth it, to me. This isn't the case for everyone--so if you don't fit this category, stop reading and keep on keeping on with your two buck chuck. But if you really do appreciate wine, and are willing to pay $50-$150 for wine every once in a while, great.

But for fuck's sake: THINK. I've got nothing against Dom Perignon. It's quite good. But it's $110-$160 and is one of the wine's world most over charged wines: Champagne. Buy some sparkling from the US that's awesome (Schramsberg--their Mirabelle Brut Rose' just got great reviews and it retails for $25 for example), or there's a ton of non champagne european wines that are wonderful (Cava's from spain--Naveran Reserve is $19), Alsace (Lucene Albrecht Rose is $18), Loire--range in price from $10 to $20 and often awesome. But here's the real kicker for $50 (sometimes a bit less) you can get AWESOME small grower (meaning more of a hand made product) champagne--yes real champagne from France. Why not do something like that instead of spending twice as much on some name.

What I'm saying is with these tough times, do a bit more research and find something cooler in that price range. You may be surprised and find something cheaper and better than what you'd normally drop $100 on.

Anyhow, that's all I've got. Just a rant and explanation why I thought his wine choices were stupid.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll give you some real tips? I'll think about it.

Meanwhile: Cheers--happy drinking and happy wine hunting.

Happy Holidays

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:01:51 GMT

Hope whatever you celebrate is filled with good food, friends and of course, good drinks.

We celebrated our Christmas yesterday, on Christmas Eve. We're a mixed family of believers who never go to church, regular church goers (including sunday school), agnostics, and atheists. But we've always celebrated Christmas by getting together, exchanging drawn-named gifts, giving to the youngsters and enjoying a meal that's usually a bit 'nontraditional'.

This year I made borscht the way in which my college professor told me it should be made (although in his version he uses cabbage and prepared corned beef), yellow split pea soup, and beer bread. My mother made sour dough rolls. My sister laid out a spread of various cheeses, pickled items and crackers. My brother in law smoked salmon that day (delicious).

For dinner we had all local wine. A red rhone blend from Milbrandt Vineyards. A dry Riesling from Chateau Saint Michelle, which is honestly one of the best wines I've had the entire season. I've had it a few times now, and every time I drink it I'm amazed at it's balance, fruity flavors, and perfectly dry finish. Great food wine, I take that back. Great wine, period. We also had a Sauvignon Blanc from CSM.

But the highlight of our drinking came after dinner. I'm a subscriber to Saveur and enjoy the magazine quite a bit. I rarely, if ever, actually make one of their recipes, rather I enjoy the magazine for its articles (something a lot of the other food magazine miss, in my opinion--they inundate you with recipes but rarely really write about food). There was a good article about punches.

A few years ago, I got in an online argument about mint juleps. Long story and boring, I'm sure. But in proving myself correct, I had to do a bit of research and what i found was that cocktails didn't come into being until the mid 20th century.

I'm sure most of you know this. But it was a bit of a shocker to me. I always envisioned southerners siting on their porches, drinking mint juleps while their slaves, you know, slaved away. One of those images of our past that's horrible, yet intriguing (to me anyhow--just the obvious wealth vs poor).

Southerners (and others) did indeed drink mint juleps, but it came from pitchers. And that was the way in which many people drank 'cocktails'. They weren't singularly made drinks, but punches made in bowls or pitchers. It was common to mix a punch to take on picnics. I liked that idea.

Fast forward to a month ago when we got the new issue of Saveur to find an entire article devoted to the lost art of punch making (and we're not talking those highly sweet punches with sherbert floating on top found in the bottom of churches after various community gatherings). The author shared three recipes, some dating as far back as the 18th century (I believe, I don't have the magazine in front of me). I decided we should make one of these punches for an after-dinner drink. I did, and it was delicious. I recommend it highly, and I'll share my version as I didn't read the directions properly and realized that a pineapple syrup was to be made, taking 8 hours. In the end, it worked out well as my sister-in-law is highly allergic pineapple, so she was able to enjoy this punch with the rest of us. Also, the recipe called for things that are impossible to get in my area, so again the modified recipe is something that most people should be able to get, therefore make.

Modified Regent's Punch
Ingredients:
3 lemons
2 oranges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 green tea bags
2 cups boiling water
1 cup brandy (cognac if you've got it--but it's not worth it to spend the extra $$ on it in this mixture)
1/2 cup dark jamacian rum
1/2 cup arrack or cachaca (the rum used to make mojitos--if you can't find either arrack [south east asian liquor] or cachaca, or feel the need to spend the bucks on a slightly expensive alcohol you could just use white rum or vodka)
2 bottles brut sparkling (again no need to spend major bucks on something fancy, but don't use cooks--this is the main part of the punch so get something decent. We used Domain St. Michelle's brut sparkling [retails from $11-$8], but a nice cava from spain would work well, etc.)
freshly grated nutmeg

Method:
1. Make simple syrup by combining 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water and heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Set aside (or if you've got really cold temperatures like we do--put outside).
2. Using a vegetable peeler, or very sharp knife (but be careful), peel the rind on the oranges and lemons--careful not to peel the pith away (the bitter white part of citrus). Place the peels in a motor, or in a strong bowl and use a muddler with 1/2 cup sugar to muddle the peels. The citrus oils will breakdown the sugar so you should end up with a slushy mix of sugar (that's orange and yellow in color) and rinds. Place this mixture in cheese cloth or a very fine strainer and set aside.
3. Juice the oranges and lemons
4. Seep tea bags in 2 cups boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove teabags.
5. Place cheese cloth or fine strainer in/over a very large bowl (or punch bowl if you've got it). Pour hot tea over strainer to dissolve the sugar (may have to do this twice to get all the sugar). Toss rinds. Add simple syrup, and fruit juices to the tea and citrus-infused tea. Place outside (or in fridge) to cool mixture.
6. Once mixture is cool, add alcohol. (works best if alcohol is chilled as well).
7. Garnish punch with nutmeg and large blocks of ice if you're not keeping it outside (like we did), or in the fridge. Use as large pieces of ice as you have -- or plan ahead and make large blocks of ice from the bottom of milk cartons, etc. These will not melt down as fast and water down your punch.

Serve, Drink and enjoy!

If you want the 'real' recipe, go here.

The Top 100...brought to you by

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:11:13 GMT

Wine Spectator.

We recieved the Top 100 issue in the mail about a week ago. Usually I glance at the Wine Spectator when it comes and ad it to the pile of magazines I'm not interested in. Other people in this household always flip to the back to see which of our neighbors got reviewed and what their scores were.

I could give a flying fuck. EXCEPT: it's powerful to get reviewed by the big guys, like WS. Even if your review is somewhat poor--people read this rag and remember names (like i said, even if it's bad). So if one of our neighbors gets reviewed and it's pleasant to good, I'm happy for them.

I'm not a fan of Robert Parker, but at least with his Wine Advocate, you kind of know what you're getting. If you like big, punch you in the face with a tad of sugar, red wines you'll like his reviews because you think similarly. Also, even though I think a lot of the wine snob revolution came from him, he's also done a lot to educate common folks on wine, in general. It's just too bad that he became a figure that could make or break a winery; one person shouldn't be able to do that.

Wine Enthusiast reads like, oh, I dunno, the Cosmo of the wine world. Kind of glitzy, airheady--and already covered.

Then there's Wine Specatator. More reviewers, which would lead one to think that they'd be more objective, no? It's curious then that wineries that advertise with them often, recieve high scores, often.

Their Top 100 list is always a befuddlement to me as well. They claim that it has to do with over all consistancy from the wineries. And that they try to get new things on there.

But, yet again, wines that scored a measly 90 (still a good store) get on the list while wines that scored 95, did not. If it's the consistancy game, that's fine to a certain extent. Some vintages really are superior--for whatever reason, maybe they ahd a visiting winemaker?--shouldn't those wines be on the top 100 list for the year it was reviewed?

2008's Top wine is Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley 2005. This wine retails from $65-$80, however now that it's the top wine, expect those prices to go up.

I applaud WS for choosing a wine that's boarderline affordable for the general public. However, I've had this wine. They gave it a 96, the wine below it they gave a 97. See the my problem? Also? It's not THAT good.

It's good. But it's not great. Did they put this at the top of the list to, finally, put a Chilean wine at the top? Or, could it be, that I see Casa Lapostolle ads in WS very, very often?

Conspiracy therories, I know. But it's true.

Meanwhile, I don't disagree with a lot of their choices for the top 100. And I myself have not had all of these; nonetheless I'll weed out some of my favorites. However, once this list comes out, good luck in finding any of these wines in the store. Even the no. 100 wine. It's ridiculious the power this list has.

That said, I'm doing a riesling class next week and ordered wine number 56, unaware it'd be chosen as a top wine. Thank god, I already have it in my hands.

no. 11 Chateau Clerc Milon (France-Pauillac) 2005 $57 -- this was one of our favorites when the 05 bordeaux's came out. And while not cheap, deffiantly cheaper than others in the same league.
no. 22 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva (Italy) 2005 $63 -- I'm a big fan of the Avignonesi line in general. This I have indeed purchased when the occassion has called for it, knowning it'd be worth the 60 some odd dollars.
no. 25 Andrew Will Champoux Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills (WA State) 2005 $58 -- Andrew Will's wines for me come and go. Some years they're outstanding, other years they're okay. I'd be more okay with this if they didn't tend to always float around the $50 price mark. However, their cab-based cab blend is always great. Plus, I have to promote it as it's the vineyard that my parent's planted.
no. 34 Condado De Haza Ribera del Duero Crianza (Spain) 2005 -- $34 Like chocolate in your mouth. Seriously good stuff. I believe that they're oraganic, if not biodynamic farm. I could be wrong, though, and i'm not doing any research to double check this.
no. 39 Perrin & Fils Gigondas la Gille 2005 (France--Rhone) $27 -- love this wine. Syrah based, chewy cherry notes with an almost meaty quality. Very good value for something special.
no. 48 DeLille Doyenne Aix Red Columbia Valley (WA State) $37 --very lovely red blend with beautiful red fruit notes.
no. 54 Robert Eymael (Monchof) Riesling Kabinett 2007 (Mosel Urzig Wurzgarten Germany) -- $22 I like Riesling. And I really dig this one. Beautiful apricot aromas with a clean slate finish.
no. 55 Yalumba Viognier Eden Valley (Australia) 2007 $19 -- I think yalumba was listed on my bargin deals for the holidays. I'm sure I didn't include this one because it's more expensive, but it is really beautiful. Yalumba is also the oldest family owned winery in Australia.
no. 56 St-Urbans-Hof Riesling QbA Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2007 (germany)-- $15 I remember first tasting this wine like it was yesterday. Not the 07 vintage, but I believe it was the 05. The distributor brought it in, had me taste it and went on and on about how it was very good. I nodded my head in agreement and then stated "It's quite spectacular, really, but we have too many high-end rieslings as is". He then said "you can retail it for $13". My jaw dropped and I bought five cases. It was a hand-sale item for sure, but once I sold a bottle, we had return customers. I'm glad to see them getting some recognition. And, yes, this is the wine i chose for my riesling class.
no. 72 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Alsace 2006 (France) --$24 if you can find this, well done. A coulple of years ago various wine writers were giving this riesling high reviews. I went in search of it (again not same vintage) and finally found some. At that time it was only $14 (see what happens with good reviews). Once I tasted this ultra-dry, beautifully fragrant wine I knew what all the hub-bub was about. If you can't find it, but want to try a dry riesling from alsace (which you should want to try), look for Trimbach.
no. 77 Duval-Leroy Brut Champagne NV (France) -- $38 We sold this for $30. Again, it was one of those moments where I tasted something good, but shook my head no since at the time it was unfamilar to most of us tasting it AND we had enough high-end champagnes (meaning over $50). When I was told we could sale this for $30, even $28, we put it on the shelf. Really outstanding--way better than any of the big guys (Moet, Vueve, etc)
no. 100 Konzelmann Vidal Niagara Peninsual Ice Wine 2005 (canada) -- $55 This should be way higher up on their list, but obviously I have issues with the entire list. Really great ice wine and a quarter of the price that german ice wines tend to cost (and better!). They're also smart--they bottle in liquor airplane bottle size--we sold those for about $11 and it was perfect for one or two people to share with a bit of dessert of some sort.

Beware of the Wine Clubs

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:17:39 GMT

I'm going to let you all in on a little insider secret that many of you may have figured out; beware of the wine that's being promoted.

Usually not from individual wineries. If you love their wine, do join their wine club. If you can afford to commit to such and thing, you're going to start to see some really great deals as a wine club member, I predict. It's already a tight market, but it's become a market strong-hold for many wineries. So they're doing even more spectacular things to keep their club members happy. Or if they're discounting a wine, you can ususally taste it at the winery to see if you like it and ask them flat out why it's half off. Usually they're trying to get rid of inventory for new inventory and the like.

So ignore actual wineries on this entry. I'm talking about stores, magazines, and I think even some restaurants have started wine clubs.

My mother has been a member of the Sunset Wine Club for about four years now. In the beginning she was happy to receive more CA wine than WA or OR (although the wine club supports all west coast wines), because, living in WA it's too easy to find the good WA wines. Something different, she thought.

But, every time I came to visit she'd warn me if I went to open a bottle of unknown California wine stating "Oh, that's from the Sunset wine club, it might not be any good".

And, usually, it wasn't.

We like good wine, but we've also made our own wine, been friends with people that make their own wine on their way to starting their own winery, tasted wines from aspiring winemakers from community college or extension programs...in other words we're very objective about the wine we taste. We'll drink pretty bad wine because we'll think about things we may appreciate about it. The aroma may be fantastic, the body is unbalanced...or it tastes surprisingly good given that it smells like nail polish remover.

That said, there have been many bottles of wine from the Sunset Wine Club that we absolutely cannot drink. Horrible stuff. As in not just objectively bad wine, but flawed wine that's bad wine. Wine that will not age, will eventually taste worst than it does now; may taste like dirt in a bottle. As in actual dirt, not nuances of dirt.

Before I go any further let me put forth this disclaimer. My mother has subscribed to Sunset since I can remember. Some of the best meals we've had have come from sunset recipes. Our favorite gardening book is the Sunset Gardening Companion. We like this magazine.

But their wine club sucks.

Whether or not you've had a similar experience with joining some wine club from some 'neutral' base (ie, not a winery), I'm sure you have HAD a similar experience in choosing wine yourself. Walking through the grocery store and seeing a huge display of some wine, maybe with a catchy label--but if not a catchy label a great merchandising scheme so that you notice it. Maybe it's on sale. Maybe it's just a good deal, period. Maybe all the store employees RAVE about it.

So you buy it. Take it home. And it tastes like shit. You think? Well...maybe it's okay. It seemed to be highly recommended.

Having been one of those people that attemtped to design said merchandising schemes to get you, the consumer, to purchase a bottle of wine, I can tell you that a lot of the times, the more clever and impressive the merchandising scheme the worst the wine.

The harder we had to make it appealing to sale it, um, you can guess it; the worst the wine.

I had some great customers who would grab a bottle of wine from such a display and say "Okay, any good?" knowning full well that 70% of the time I'd shake my head no. Usually, for us, those big displays were wines we were forced to sell. Wines that were bought on a corporate level, at a highly discounted price for great profit margins on our end. The reason they were sold at cut-throat prices to us? Usually that the wine wasn't any good to begin with so the distributors are looking to unload the wine.

We weren't the only ones to take them up on it. We'd see similar deals around town. Or sometimes, I'd fly from Austin to Washington State and see THE SAME deals in a completely different part of the country, in a completely different wine shop.

And, having seen some of the wine that filters through the two monthly bottles from Sunset, I know they take part in that game as well.

So just beware. Ask about wines that are promoted. But that said, yes, 20% of the time the wine was good--sometimes great. For whatever reason it wasn't selling for the distributor (sometimes a really poor name or label would kill wine sales--or it was a new wine that needed to be pushed hard to gain recognition, but it was a good new wine). And I'd say about 20% of the wine that my mother and father have had from Sunset has been decent to pretty good.

It's not all bad. But it's about smart shopping. And as money gets tighter, it's nice to know some of these tips. I made my mother discountinue her wine club membership with Sunset, telling her "It's not going to get any better, eh?"

What we Did for Thanksgiving

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:17:31 GMT

We did Turkey. Oh, yes we did.

And nothing fancy. No heritage turkey. Wasn't fresh, the frozen, on sale, slightly scary kind.

But it was damn good.

our menu:

Turkey (roasted, stuffed with rosemary, slathered with olive oil)
Gravy made from turkey juices and chardonnay
Mashed potatoes with borsin cheese
Buttercup squash roasted in Riesling
Carrots and celery sticks (always at our house, always)
Sourdough dressing, cooked separate from the turkey, heavy on the sage and rosemary
Rice cooked with nuts, spices, dried fruit and rosewater
Green beans, steamed, buttered, salted and peppered
Roasted Beet and Shallot salad with walnut dressing
Homemade french and french-sour dough rolls
Cranberries--which has to be the easiest thing in the world to make. I only adjust mine by adding some grated, fresh ginger to it.
Corn and Oysters (something I've always hated, but my brother loves. This year he took the recipe and made it his own by adding raman noodles, hot peppers, and curry. The only other person who ate it was my mother and said it was good, I'll just take her word for it)

Desert:
Homemade apple pie from home grown apples with whipped cream. I hand-whipped the cream and got soo excited at some point, for some reason, while whipping that I lifted the whisk in excitement and sent a spray of whipped cream all over the kitchen. In other words, I ejaculated.
Homemade spiced and candied nuts
Homemade toffee

Our Drinks:
Domaine Ste. Michelle Extra Dry Sparkling
03 Maryhill Sauvignon Blanc (still good, we were worried about the date on this one)
03 Gold Digger Cellars Dry Gewurztraminer (so-so, a bit oxidized. Should've drank it last year, they've changed their name as well.)
1978 Chateau Lascombes (good! Defiantly needed to be drunk now--fruit was still there, as was that cool, older wine quality of earthy/medicinal herbaceous flavors. Color was quite brown, but exceeded expectations)
1999 Villa Mt Eden Pinot Noir (quite nice)
2001 Columbia Crest Reserve Syrah (good, although a lot of the fruit seems to be gone and it reminded me more of a men's cologne than a wine, this wine was not decanted, it should've been)
1999 Bridgewater Mill Shiraz (the best wine on the table. Very good, well balanced, nice fruit, shocking acidity that's not found in a lot of australian wines--just great.)
2000 Fairwinds Limburger (bad. left with some residual sugar, which I'm not completely down on sweet reds. I love port, see below. But when it's done poorly, or perhaps by mistake--fermentation died before it should've--it comes off unbalanced and flat. It's a shame. The grapes come from the vineyard that my parent's planted)
NV 10 year Martinez Fine Tawny Porto--no clue how old this is. Obviously at least 10 years old, but I think we've had it for at least 10 years ourselves. It was DELICIOUS. Soft, chocolaty, fruity. Yum.
and
1 bottle of pumpkin spice beer left over from Halloween, drunk by my niece after we warned her it wasn't that good. She agreed. My brother finished it for her.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yourselves.