Archive for May, 2009

Wine Humor

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I attended the Lauber portfolio tasting the other day.  Unfortunately I was only able to spend about 2 hours there.  But I tasted a lot of wine, all of it good, and some of it quite interesting and worth seeking out.  I am working on my notes from the tasting and hope to have something written up about it soon.

But in the meantime I thought you might enjoy some wine humor that has been sent my way in recent days…

Happy (and humorous) Wine Tasting!

WTG

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine.. . and those who don’t.
As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
in beer there is freedom,
in water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) – bacteria  found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whisky or other liquor), because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember:
Water = Poop,
Wine = Health .

Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.

The  Hormone Guide
Women will understand this!
Men should memorize it!

Every woman knows that there are days when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his life in his hands! This is a handy guide that should be carried like a driver’s license in the wallet of every husband, boyfriend, co-worker or significant other!



DANGEROUS


SAFER


SAFEST


ULTRA  SAFE


What’s for
dinner?


Can I help you
with dinner?


Where would you like
to go for dinner?


Here, have some wine


Are you
wearing that?


You sure
look good in brown!


WOW! Look at you!


Here, have some wine


What are you
so worked up about?


Could we be
overreacting?


Here’s my paycheck.


Here, have some wine


Should you be
eating that?


You know, there are
a lot of apples left.


Can I get you a piece
of chocolate with that?


Here, have some wine


What did you
DO all day?


I hope you didn’t
over-do it today.


I’ve always loved you
in that robe!


Here, have some wine

Weekend wine work & “WHERE” wine starts

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Lets begin with “where wine starts” – well, it starts in the vineyard naturally.  Without good grapes it is said that not even the best winemakers can make a good wine.

Which leads to my escapades as a member of CLK Winery.  Together with 2 friends, beginning in 2007, we decided to make our own wine.  We took whatever grapes we were able to get our hands on in 2007 and made a Merlot/Zinfandel blend.  Believe it or not it seemed to come out OK.   Sure enough several months after we bottled (without any lab testing) the wine went through a secondary fermentation in the bottle.  Yikes.   Fear not, no exploding bottles.  We dumped whatever we had not yet drunk (or given away) back into the tank so that it could complete malolactic.

As to 2008, we really wanted a Cabernet.  Unfortunately, our schedules are pretty tight and we were forced to do our crush on a set specific day.  So we went to go by the grapes and sure enough there were Cab grapes – and we bought them.  Sadly though as soon as we brought them back to the (very psuedo) winery I knew we messed up.  Our grapes we not fully ripe and they we going to lead to a thin & green wine.

Well, yesterday was back to work at the winery.  Tasting, racking and overall seeing what we’ve got.

clk-wine-006b1

clk-wine-005b1

The 2007 blend seems to be doing well.  Some minor issues, but not a huge deal.  And the 2008 is shaping up to look like a sub-par batch.  Not that we expected otherwise, just disappointing.

I am writing about this less than positive experience as we all agreed that our first two vintages have taught us a good lesson.  Some bad decisions and no real winemaker could have been overcome had we started off with good quality grapes.  But beginning with fruit that was not the best, and combining that with poor winemaking – a recipe for disaster & something we will hopefully avoid.  As to our “special reserve couvee”… well, time to wake up from that dream.  Hey, at least we have lots of cooking wine!

Happy HIGH QUALITY VINEYARD FRUIT wine tasting!

WTG

Drink a Little Wine, Live a Little Longer

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Who doesn’t love the Dutch?!?  A recent Dutch researcher’s report noted that men who regularly drink up to half a glass of wine a day live about 5 years longer than those who don’t.

Does this mean that if we drink 2 glasses a day we live 20 years longer?  I’m just saying, half a glass of wine ain’t much…

Hey, with all this swine flu talk, I thought a report with its increased life talk could cheer a few folks up.

http://www.cvwine.com/sitebuilder/images/swine_wine_bottom_image-179x219.jpg

Seriously though, what is the big deal here?  Just another report claiming health benefits for wine drinkers.  Well,this study apparently lasted a whopping 40 years (from 1960 to 2000) with regular follow up of those being studied.

I know, there will be a new study out tomorrow claiming the opposite.  But hey, can’t a wine drinker feel good about his imbibing for just one day?!

Happy WEEKEND wine tasting!

WTG