There are many things to do to prevent “leftover” wine from going bad, but to check out what I believe to be the most practical/easy/EFFECTIVE way to do it, check out one of my favorite YouTube videos…starring….ME 
What to do with “leftover” wine
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Stop wasting wines
Friday, January 25th, 2013Viruses & phoney wine
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010OK, I have slacked of late. Based on my blog stats it seems I slacked SO much that I have even lost some readers. I hope you will forgive me and come back for my uber compelling wine prose. I’m full of excuses. It is my busy season (50% of kosher wine is sold in the 4-8 weeks leading up to Passover). I’ve been traveling all over the place – I’m actually writing this from Logan International Airport in Boston (my flight is delayed or I would not have even had a chance to write it). And about 20 minutes into a post this past Sunday night, my computer was taken over by a nasty virus that my fabulous IT guy has not been able to fix (yet – I hope).
But you don’t want excuses. You want action. The latest wine related story of interest relates to FAKE PINOT NOIR. Huh? What is fake Pinot Noir? When I was working in Napa winemakers told me about “hiding” merlot in their Cabernet, but here it seems bulk wine producers were actually trying to pass off a merlot (blended it seems with Syrah) AS ACTUAL Pinot Noir.
The wine in question is E&J Gallo’s “Red Bicyclette”.
Apparently Gallo paid these 8 growers & bulk wine producers from the Southern France Languedoc region in excess of 7 million Euro for said fake wine. On the bulk level that amounts to…well, a lot of cheap wine. Oh, and this scam had apparently been going on for over 2 years. So if you had this wine – you might have been PINOT-ed!
Whether it is fake expensive Bordeaux, fake Brunello or fake Georges Duboeuf wine, it seems pulling the wool over unsuspecting wine drinkers is easy enough. Apparently testing wine to determine exactly what it is can be difficult, costly & inaccurate.
This makes me think more and more that if you tell consumers that a wine is highly rated or very expensive that they will (as has been scientifically proven) believe that it is a good wine. I’m not saying you can give a regular wine drinker crappy wine and expect him to believe it is a first growth Bordeaux. But I do believe that it is further proof that the line between a very good and what some call “great” wines is a very thin line indeed.
Happy who knows what the heck you are drinking wine tasting!
WTG
Bad wine – what to say (or not say)?
Sunday, January 31st, 2010We live at a time when there is lots of good wine on the market. Modern technology and competition have respectively both enabled and forced wineries to make wines of high quality. Even the cheap (budget) wines out there are drinkable. But what about those are just plain bad? As a wine writer and aspiring wine V-logger how do I handle the issue of reviewing a bad wine? How do the PAID wine critics face themselves after announcing to their readers that someone’s hard work is crap?
For the most part, I have tried to follow the old adage; “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. If I thought a wine was bad, I would simply say NOTHING. Don’t write about it. And even if I thought a wine was mediocre, I might write the positives about the wine, and skip the mediocre parts. But does this hurt my credibility? Can I be taken seriously if I only have nice things to say? What of the controversial wine panning? Dare I potentially burn bridges out there? Will I piss people off if I say that I think their wine sucks?
An argument can be made for both sides. But I think the reality is that I can not play both sides of the fence. And things have gotten even murkier…I am now working within the industry for an importer/manufacturer/producer of wine. Even if I managed to somehow remain unbiased, I think my employer would be pretty pissed if I had anything bad to say about their wines. And they would have every right to feel the way they did.
Moving forward, as I figure out how to VLOG (uploading & editing video can’t be THAT hard, can it?), I will start regularly popping corks (twisting caps) on bottles that have been sent to me over the past few months. Though I am sure these people aren’t gonna thank me if I have less than complimentary things to say, it will be hard to hide my expression on video. So I guess that will keep things REAL.
And as to the wines I work with, well, I’ll try to include a disclosure of sorts as the industry is attempting to move to greater transparency & I believe I must play by the rules if I want to maintain professional credibility.
On an only somewhat related note, I would be remiss if I did not mention a big event taking place tomorrow night. I have helped out a bit in the planning of this event. It is the big KOSHER RESTAURANT & WINE EXPERIENCE. This is the 4th year this annual event is taking place. This year there will be about 20 food purveyors to go along with the 40+ wineries. The response has been tremendous. Looks like another sellout. Shoot me a message and introduce yourself if you will be there. We’ll have a drink…on me;)
Happy Wine Critic free wine tasting!
WTG
Road to recovery
Monday, November 2nd, 2009It has been 10 days since surgery and all seems to be going well. Pain is subsiding, I’m not in a cast & I get my stiches out in 2 days. Is it possible I may be able to bath like a human being again soon?? I understand that if I commit to babying the wrist and remaining in my wrist gaurd that the doc may not require a new cast. WOOHOO!!! Two handed showers, here I come!
So wrist stuff is going well Wine Tasting Guy, but what up with the wine????
Plenty of wine stuff to discuss. And staying close to the heart, it is all Israeli wine related.
This past Friday night I opened up a couple of Bordeaux style blends from Israel. Both were from the 2003 vintage and both considered to be top notch wines from value wineries. I’m excited to report that both were showing complex secondary characteristics and were drinking quite beautifully.
Though the two have nothing to do with each other (Israeli wine & mevuhal), I just heard about some new MEVUSHAL Israeli wines hitting the market. Anyone who has followed my posts over time knows that I take issue with mevushal (flash pasteurization) wines (why would anyone want to heat up a wine?). That said, for caterers & restaurants, places where ONLY mevushal wines are allowed, new quality Israeli offerings are welcome news. I’ll report more as soon as I’ve had the chance to try them.
Finally I want to let you know about a wine tasting event TOMORROW night. Some information about the event can be found here. In a nutshell I’ll be leading a tasting of high end, small batch Israeli wine. Hard to find wines from Saslove, Sea Horse & La Terra Promessa wineries will be tasted. And as an incredible bonus, Chef Eran will be pairing these Mediterranean beauties with his exquisite cuisine. The tasting has only 5 spots left (as of this writing) so please RSVP ASAP if you’d like to join us.
Happy two-handed Israeli wine (dare I say even mevushal) tasting!
WTG
NON-wine alcoholic options for Passover
Monday, April 6th, 2009Here is an interesting article written in the LA Times about your alcoholic options (outside of wine) for Passover. Oh, and the author quoted some guy in his article who seems real excited about the kosher for passover tequila. Wonder who that guy could be…
Happy Passover (tequila/vodka) tasting!
WTG
Grocery store wine in NY State
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009I spoke with an industry contact recently who told me how busy he has been lately. I told him I was happy to hear about his being busy as I believed that was an indication that business must be good. He proceeded to tell me that he is working with a coalition to oppose a proposal to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.
He made me aware of some lobbying efforts taking place in Albany on February 25th against the proposal and encouraged me to speak out against the proposal.
More information can be found on their website “The Last Store on Main Street”.
I must admit that I am not sure how I feel about all of this. I have heard arguements advocating both positions and they each make sense.
That said I am a big advocate of the little guy and believe that a part of the economic crisis we are presently facing has to do with large corporations/banks spending frivolously to expand and put the little guy out of business. I have seen what this effect has had on commercial real estate prices in NYC and this legislation seems to perpetuate this trend.
While massive selection at the big liquor stores is nice, and low prices one can expect in supermarkets (should the proposal pass) are welcome, I do think that this will make business even more challenging for the mom and pop shops and if this forces their closure I will miss them and their personal charm a great deal.
Please get informed about this important pending proposal either via the “Last Store…” webpage or any other means. And then contact your elected officials and make your voice heard.
Happy initiative taking and wine tasting (purchasing) the way YOU want it!
WTG
TV Time – part 2
Friday, January 9th, 2009so TV Time part 1 was dominated by TV talk. And I really want to get away from any non-wine related writing. That said, I can not resist a quick follow up. After doing some wine sales out in Brooklyn this week I stopped by some friends who moved out to hipster Brooklyn. It is a cool area and they have a great place. And it was really good to see them and their young daughter.
BUT, I write about the experience as my visit came with a bonus. They had just a few days earlier purchased a new TV stand. Which means WINE TASTING GUY got a TV stand hand-me-down!!!
And following up on the wine, I did in fact open the Spanish Garnacha last night. It was NOTHING like the Australian Grenache. The Spanish wine (a 2005) was awarded 91 points by Robert Parker. So yes, it was VERY extracted. It was a little “hot” as well (“heat” is a term used when the alcohol in a wine in high and out of balance with the rest of the wine). It did have nice fruit, but overall it is a wine style that I have gotten away from of late.
A final note about the wine is that there were large chunks of sediment. While this is not unusual for a wine that was likely unfined & unfiltered, to have such large chunks in a relatively young wine seemed a bit unusual. It is possible that the bottle I opened came from the end of a bottling “run”.
Have a fabulous weekend everybody & happy different varietal wine tasting!
WTG
Size Matters
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Back from the holyland, hence the UN-holy title. Fear not, Wine Tasting Guy’s mind is not in the gutter. I’m speaking of wine glasses.
While tasting wine at several wineries (and in some people’s homes) in Israel I noticed people serving wines in small glasses. Size is relative, but I’m a believer (though not all would agree) that bigger is better. More room to swirl, more room for the aromas to linger and easier to tilt the wine so that you can observe and appreciate the color.
In addition to size, good wine should be drunk out of out quality glasses. There are tons of quality glasses out there nowadays. No, they don’t have to be hand blown glass. No, they don’t have to cost $50/glass. But they should be thin glass bowls (I prefer tulip shaped) and they should not have a rounded lip. The lip of the glass should be straight so that the wine runs directly down into your mouth.
Although the power of suggestion is one I fervently try to avoid I have heard MANY people say that wine simply tastes BETTER out of better glasses. And you know what… I agree.
SO, you can imagine my disappointment when I tasted wines at some of the Israel wineries out of cheapo glasses. If an artist was to display their art don’t you think they would use the best frames, light & background possible? Then why wouldn’t the wineries want their wines shown in the best glasses.
I know, good glasses can be expensive. And the good glasses break VERY EASILY. And there were many wineries that DID serve their wines in good glasses. But given how strongly I feel about Israeli wines I would like to see ALL wineries pouring their wines out of the best (and most cost effective) glasses.
Happy quality wine glass wine tasting!
WTG
A night of firsts & lasts at Yankee Stadium
Monday, September 15th, 2008This post is just barely wine related, but I’ll squeeze in some quick wine references. You see, tonight was a night of many firsts and at least one last.
My night began at an event at the Israeli Consul General residence. The Consul general hosted an event for a new organization called Toda (Hebrew for “Thanks”). The goals of Toda as I understand them are to encourage Israeli geared charitable organizations to collaborate with one another. My role at this event was to talk about the Israeli wines at the event for those who were curious and in general to play Wine Tasting Guy. It was a very nice event, I met the Consul General for the first time, and I even left with a small bottle of wine I was determined to sneak into Yankee Stadium.
I left the Consul General’s residence on the Upper EAST Side and took the 4 train up to the Stadium. My first time in Yankee Stadium was about 25 years ago and for the last 12 years I have been going to about 20 games a year with my good buddy Mike. Tonight was the FIRST time I ever took the 4 train from the Upper East Side to Yankee Stadium.
Coming from the event I was dressed in a suit. I was already late and there was no time to change. So I went to the game in my suit. First time I EVER wore a suit to Yankee Stadium.
I arrived at the Stadium a little late following the Toda event but I was SUCCESFUL in sneaking in my bottle of wine. I wonder the last time someone drank a bottle of wine in Yankee Stadium…let along an Israeli wine. Tonight was my first time getting (or trying for that matter) a bottle of wine into Yankee Stadium.
The game went well. The Yankees won. Xavier Nady hit a home run (he did the last time I blogged about a Yankee game as well). Joba pitched the 8th & Mariano pitched the 9th. There are now officially only 6 games left to be played at Yankee Stadium. And for the Wine Tasting Guy…all indications are that it was my last time in the house that Ruth built. I was very sentimental when I left. I actually did NOT want to leave. I stuck around for about a half an hour after the game. After all these years of going to games I usually have a routine whereby I watch the last pitch and dash out the gate. And I’m home within half an hour. Tonight I was amongst the last to leave and I did not get home until about an hour and a half after the game ended.
Tonight was my LAST time in the ORIGINAL Yankee Stadium.
Happy sentimental wine tasting!
WTG
Home wine making
Sunday, September 7th, 2008I love what I do. Name it, if it is wine related I am working on it. Amongst those things that I am doing are making small batches of wine with a pair of friends in one of their garages. Whenever people hear that I am making my own wine they comment how “cool” it is. Yes, it is cool, but it is not nearly as romantic as people expect it to be. It is A LOT of hard work!
We started our Sunday out early, heading to a wine making shop that sells everything anyone needs to make wine. We bought most of our equipment last year so this morning we pretty much only needed to pick up the fruit – nice ripe Cali grapes. We tasted all the varietals they had and ultimately decided on Cabernet Sauvignon (real original, I know) and Sangiovese (the Italian varietal that makes wines such as Chianti or Brunello). I was a little concerned that the cab might be a little underripe, and sure enough that seems to have been the case. If I were a real pro I would have brought a refractometer (a cool little telescope looking device used to measure sugar levels) to test the sugar levels in the grapes. But sadly I did not. Fear not, the Sangiovese was GREAT – or so I hope. I guess we’ll either make a super Tuscan like blend (Sangiovese together with the Cab) or come up with some other alternative. Could be worse…
SO we got back with our newly purchased fruit and started crushing & destemming with a machine that looks like the one above. Basically, it gently crushes the grapes and removes it from the stems, leaving what is known as “must”. We measure out some sulfites to add to our “must” and leave it in open containers before adding the yeast. And then we wait…
So basically, today consisted of lifting heavy crates of grapes. Getting sprayed with grape guts. All while surrounded by bugs on a grape-sugar-high. Oh, and a whole lot of cleaning.
The exciting part was actually bottling last years batch. Last year we made a Zinfandel batch & a merlot batch. Partly for simplicity sake and partly because it worked, we blended the two batches for a Zin/merlot blend. And you know what…it is not half bad! We bottled a whole bunch of it and even put on our fancy labels. Now I’ve got about 5-6 cases worth of wine I’ll be drinking and giving away for a while. Now THAT is fun…
Happy home made wine tasting!
WTG
