Subtle differences in wine

August 10th, 2008

I have been nice and busy the past few weeks. And while I love being busy, it means sacrificing sleep (sleep is for the weak) and falling behind on my wine reading. I spent a good chunk of my Sunday today playing catch up – and yes, I am still WAY behind. Nonetheless, there is so much interesting stuff going on in the wine world. Gary Vaynerchuk vlogging about Israeli wines that are not kosher certified. Laurie Daniel writing about all the wine books that have been released of late (at least 3 by NY based wine industry professionals – one of whom I have had coffee with). Paul Gregutt for the Seattle Times writing about white wines of Oregon (all under $20). A San Fransisco Chronicle article about Italian varietals in California (I have had some amazing Napa Sangiovese). An Eric Asimov NYT piece about Greek wines.  All great reads, but I must admit that my eyes began to feel like they were busting out of my head…

computer eyezz

But finally, the post that really got me thinking was Wine enthusiasts’ “unreserved” blog post by Steve Heimoff “Stocalism, or why everything tastes like everything else“. Read the rest of this entry »

Tough life – Wines of Loire Valley

August 8th, 2008

You know, the life of a wine industry professional is real tough. Going out to taste wines, being given samples to taste, speaking with winemakers – some of the coolest people around – let me tell ya, I don’t know how I do it.

Last night I had the arduous task of tasting through some wines made from Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley with some contemporaries.

Loire Valley

We started with a sparkling wine, the Vouvrey Brut, Pinon NV. I’m still figuring out exactly how to better assess sparkling wines, but this one did have a nice chalky minerality and crisp tight bubbles – or so I think. Apparently these are desirable sparkling wine characteristics and that darn power of suggestion can be really influential.

Following the “bubbly” we tried 5 still wines. Read the rest of this entry »

Selling Wine – Must you love what you sell??

August 6th, 2008

I’ve recently begun to work with a wine distributor. As part of my work I visited a store that is among the distributor’s top customers. I spent a good amount of time with the general manger at the store and I noticed that he wasn’t carrying a certain wine. The GM explained that while he is a big fan of most of the wines this company distributes, this particular wine, a Viognier, is not to his liking.

Which led to my homework for tonight. I’m pretty sure that I had previously tried the wine in question, and I remember liking it, but I wanted to re-taste it. Based on this producers track record and my strong affinity for just about all of their wines I was sure that it would be a case of my disagreeing with the GM. After all, I do believe that all of our palates are unique, and just because I like something, doesn’t mean this GM has to. Then again, if I felt strongly enough about the wine I decided that I would encourage the GM to try stocking the wine again – that although it was not to his liking, it was a nice wine and his customers would surely enjoy it.

Well, sure enough the wine was not much to my liking either. OVER OAKED…

oak barrels

Read the rest of this entry »

Robot Wine Tasters

August 4th, 2008

The future is here.  Robot wine tasters have arrived…

robot drinking

Fear not wine critics, they are not after your jobs.  Rather, as reported in “Machines Like US – Science News“, these robots, developed in Barcelona , Spain have been  designed for quality control.  It is actually a handheld “electric tongue” that through the use of six sensors can help to determine the grape variety and vintage.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?!

Happy ROBOTIC wine tasting!

WTG

Chambers Street wines follow up

August 3rd, 2008

Ahhh, what a day. Made my way to Yankee Stadium this afternoon during what is the final season at the original Yankee stadium for a game against the Anaheim Angels who have in recent years dominated the Yankees. The Angels won the first two games of the 4 game series and the Yankees won yesterday. So today the Yankees needed a win to salvage a split of the 4 game series. Things started off poorly as the Angels jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Seemed like the beginning of another long afternoon at the stadium. But a solo HR by the newest Yankee; “Pudge” Rodriguez followed by some timely hitting by another recent Yankee acquisition, Xavier Nady and the stadium was rocking as the Yankees managed 8 runs over three innings to take an 8-5 lead. Two outs into the top of the 8th inning and things seemed great as Yankee reliever Edwar Ramirez was cruising. But in the blink of an eye the Angels loaded the bases and New Angel Mark Texiera hit a grand slam – Angels lead 9-8. On this day however Xavier Nady was not done and a 3-run homer plus some other clutch hitting and the Yankees scored 6 in the bottom of the 8th to retake the lead, 14-9, that would prove to ultimately be the final score.

Yankee wine

Following a great baseball game I went to the gym for a quickie workout and then went shopping to pick up some stuff for dinner. Quinoa with mushrooms. A salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, hearts of palm & yellow corn. And for the main, a pistachio crusted tilapia. Read the rest of this entry »

Wine Buying Deal – Chambers Street Wines SALE

July 31st, 2008

Chambers St Wines is “a shop that indulged their love for naturally made wines from artisanal small producers (that stocks) very, very few brand name (wines).”

Chambers St wine

They do find some amazing wines at Chambers and starting tomorrow you can get (many of) their wines at 20% off!  The deal is basically that it is a moving sale.  See article here.

If I make it there as planned tomorrow and pick up any winners I will attach those recommendations to this post.  In the meantime though, go visit their site and browse their unique and hard to find selection.

Happy Chambers St Wine Tasting!

WTG

Dumbing down wine – has it gone too far?

July 29th, 2008

Those of you who are long time readers know that I really can not stand the remaining pretension that exists in the wine industry. The truth is that aside from select snooty restaurants or the occasional stuck up sommelier it seems to me that A LOT of the pretension that ONCE existed within the wine world seems to have become “socially incorrect”. Even those who think they are brilliant wine connoisseurs seem to hide any possible holier-than-thou attitude.

“I’m not drinking any f*cking Merlot!” Giamati

But at what point is this ANTI-PRETENSION going TOO far?? Read the rest of this entry »

Drink Red Wine and Live Better (but not longer)

July 28th, 2008

This according to the website of the medical journal Cell Metabolism (as per Wine Spectator online).

Yet another article about resveratrol and its benefits. This one seems to contradict others that suggested that resveratrol extends life expectancy. Here the “researchers said the compound helps keep the bones, eyes, kidneys, heart and other muscles in mice healthier as they age, though without increasing the animals’ overall lifespan”.

wine health - 2 glasses of wine

The study compared the effects of resveratrol to those of another life enhancing therapy – caloric restriction (CR), Read the rest of this entry »

Wine & Temperature

July 27th, 2008

I have written about these wine storage and serving issues before, but I figured I’d re-print this short article written by a favorite wine writer of mine – Laurie Daniel.

Wine temrature

IN YOUR CAR: Put it in a cooler or other insulated container. Read the rest of this entry »

Champagne Granita

July 26th, 2008

Champagne is simply sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wine is also made in regions all over the world. In Spain it is known as Cava while from Italy it is Prosecco. Here in the good old US of A, it is known simply as Sparkling wine or as my friends in Napa like to call it “bubbly”.

I don’t write a lot about sparkling wine and I must admit that I still have a lot to learn and much palate training to be done when it comes to sparkling wine. That said, I HAD to write about this frozen drink concoction. “Champagne Granita” (which can also be made from any sparkling wine) is made simply by freezing the bubbly together with some other sweet liquid (varies depending upon exact recipe – see below) and scraping up the frozen stuff (shaved ice) just like the ices they sell on the street (at least here in NYC). From there all you need to do is add your favorite garnish (berries, mint, cut fruit, etc.) & serve. Yummy…

Champagne Granita

The food network has a great recipe by Bobby Flay here, while other variations can be found on the Global gourmet site or Cocktail times.

What a delicious looking way to beat the summer heat!

Happy frozen bubbly tasting!

WTG