Windows on Wine

Faith, Wine and Culture

12/28/2017

Stift Klosterneuburg

Wo Sich Himmel und Erde Treffen. . .Where Heaven and Earth Meet

Our first home exchange in Vienna was in Klosterneuburg, a small village north of the city. On a cold Winter's day, we decided to explore the local area instead of going into Vienna for sight seeing, so we went to the place "Where Heaven and Earth Meet". . .the Abbey at Klosterneuburg.

"Where Heaven and Earth Meet" is the motto of Stift Klosterneuburg, the home of Austria's oldest and largest wine estate. For over 900 years the vineyards of Stift Klosterneuburg www.stift-klosterneuburg.athave been under the auspices of the Augustine Monks. Some fifty monks live here and are all responsible for certain duties including that of a Wine Cellar Master.

The monastery of Klosterneuburg is important to the tourism and economy of lower Austria as well as providing various religious duties. This is a vast enterprise, containing three museums: one for the Abbey, another for the amazing jewelry and alter pieces, and of course the wine museum.

The cellar covers four stories and holds thousands of barrels of various sizes along with hundreds of thousands of maturing bottles.

Wine making is very seriously focused here and the cellar operation is as big and sophisticated as you will see anywhere in the world, If I were still studying wine I would be there in a heart beat.

The Wines Of Stift Klosterneuburg

Weissburgunder is known to most Americans as Pinot Blanc. It is a very versatile grape and is characteristically semi-dry. It should taste crisp (like biting in to an apple) and have a hint of earthiness. It's great with salty snacks like chips, crackers, olives and nuts. It also pairs well with smoked fish.

Chardonnay is improving dramatically in Austria. The ones we tasted gave hints of acidity, which is very common with cold climate wines. The wine is rich in flavor, sometimes with a hint of spice. In the USA and Australia, Chardonnay is usually matured in wood. This is rarely done in European Chardonnays. Maturing the wine in stainless steel vs wood, lends a crispness but without the oak and butter that many associate with Chardonnays. White meats and fish are usually the best pairings for Chardonnay.

Gewürztraminer (as the name infers) is usually thought of as a spicy wine. Gewürz is the German word for "herb" or "spice". However, it is not always spicy and the wines can be very versatile. Chicken, smelly cheeses, pates, desserts and spicy Asian foods are all good foods to pair with a Gewürztraminer. The sweetness helps counteract the spiciness of foods.

Grüner Veltliner Hengsberg is (in my opinion) the most important wine in Austria and is produced at Stift Klosterneuburg. One-third of wines made in Austria are from the Grüner Veltliner grape. You can easily get this wine in Europe, but it is less popular, and more difficult to find in the USA.

Total Wine www.totalwine.com has a wonderful web site, which makes selection and delivery fairly painless. I ordered some GV and am having it shipped to family members in California, with the hope they will save some for us to try when we are there! I am really excited, and looking forward to drinking some more of this wine!

Grüner Veltliner lends itself to pairings with the local dishes of Austria, in particular the Schnitzels and fish.

As with any varietal, the quality of Grüner Veltliner can vary, so here is what I look for:

It should appear almost like a ripe lemon (yellow with a hint of green).
The bouquet should be like a deep refined freshly picked quality apple, with a hint of honey and orange zest.
The taste should be silk with a hint of balanced acidity and a slight salty tang with a good after taste.

I would like to see more of you trying Gruner Veltliner and find out for yourself if you like it.

As we will be six hours ahead of the nearest time zone in the USA, we will be celebrating the beginning of 2018 before many of you. So we want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Healthy and Happy New Year! We hope to be toasting the New Year with champagne while overlooking Vienna's fireworks from the rooftop of our home-away-from-home.
Vienna is beautiful! HomeExchange is wonderful! Life is good!

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A Wine History Lesson

8/31/2017

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Quick - name a wine region.

Did you think of France, Italy, Spain, California, Australia, New Zealand, Oregon, Washington?

Did anyone think of Bohemia and Moravia? Probably not.

As we had the opportunity to be in the Czech Republic for two weeks, the wines of this area became intriguing to me. I found that most of the wines offered in restaurants were from Italy. Something was missing. I started searching.

A Long History Of Wines
Prague has been making wines since the tenth century, when Duke Wenceslas (that we know from the Christmas song as "Good King Wenceslas")* planted vines in the Prague Castle. The vineyards from that time are still there. They have undergone a restoration that took several years and opened again to the public in 2008 on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Saint Wenceslas. Today it is called The Saint Wenceslas' Vineyard, but legend calls this the "divine vineyard" or the "Lord's vineyard" and it is said to be the oldest vineyard in Bohemia. The history of the "divine vineyard" is inseparable from the Czech statehood and the adoption of Christianity.

If wine is the drink of kings, it was especially true in the Czech Republic and Prague in the fourteenth century. The spread of wine in this area was promoted by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (also known as King Charles IV). The king was a wine lover and during his reign the number of vineyards drastically increased. Charles grew up in France and was exposed to the growing and drinking of wines at an early age. He cared about the quality of the wines as well as the quantity. In his time, Bohemia experienced the cultivation of high quality vines.

In 1358 King Charles IV mandated that if you grew a vineyard in the city of Prague, you would be exempt from taxes and levies for twelve years. The size of the plots were 100 yards by fifty yards: a football field. Prague and the surrounding countryside became full of vineyards. By the end of his reign there were over 1,700 acres of vineyards in and around Prague.

Until the time of Charles IV, the grapes grown in the region were white and acidic. The new grapes that were planted came from France (primarily Burgundy and Champagne), Austria, Hungary, Italy and even Croatia. A new grape was introduced called "rout" - probably from the French word "rouge" or red. This was the beginning of red wines being grown in what is now the Czech Republic.

Recent History
Until the 1960s, the vines in the Czech Republic had been grown in the traditional or "bush style" for centuries. This style of growing grapes refers to vines that are allowed to grow free standing with no attachment to a trellising structure. The quality of the wines was not up to par with other regions of the world and no one was buying Czech wines. The winemakers began looking for the reasons they weren't producing good wines.

After visiting other cold weather wine regions, the Czech vineyard managers started using the "high training" of vines similar to other cold climate European growing regions such as the Rhine and Mosel and Alsace, This type of vine training refers to wrapping the vines around the horizontal wires stretched from poles at the end of each row. Training the vines to grow horizontally, exposes the vines, the leaves and the grapes to more sunshine. This method of vine training was founded in the South Tyrol in Northern Italy, and Austria - both very cold regions. Both state farms (which were owned by the communist government) and agriculture cooperatives (also owned by the government) in the Czech Republic made these changes which gave higher yields and ushered in the ability to use machines rather than manpower.

1948 - 1989 The Communist Era
For 41 years after the end of WWII, Czechoslovakia was under Soviet rule. During this time, the government nationalized farms, vineyards and any other viable enterprise and transferred private assets into public assets. The wine industry faltered.

Forests were destroyed, boundaries between family farms and vineyards were removed, and the vineyards became government property.

This NY Times article brilliantly describes what happened to Czech wine under Communism and how they came out from under this era to shine again.

To read NYT article, click or copy below link:
www.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/world/europe/czech-wine-moravia.html

In 1989, The Velvet Revolution brought an end to Communism. Once again, the ancient tradition of cultivating vines and making wines was revived.

After Communism
In 1996 European wine laws were translated into the Czech language, and the industry became more regulated which is a great thing for modern wine making. Once the new laws were implemented standards of wine making started to improve.

In 2004 when Czech became a member of the European union, they had to abide by the European wine laws. These wine laws are a combination of the French, Italian and German wine laws. One of the outcomes of this was that now they were restricted from increasing the sizes of vineyards. It also stopped the expansion of new vineyards. New lands could not be purchased and turned into vineyards. A vineyard could be planted only in areas that had been vineyards before.

This is Part One of my Blog on Czech wines. Part Two will cover our recent trip to the vineyard in the Bohemia region outside of Prague.

And Finally - Dining Out in Prague
We like food. We couldn't end a blog without sharing some experiences while in Prague. We ate out every couple of days, and have been very pleased with the restaurants in Prague. Two restaurants stand out for us. Marina Ristorante and Restaurace Stoleti have become our favorites for very different reasons.

Marina Ristorante was recommended by our exchange partner, and we have eaten there four times. It is a high quality riverside restaurant, with a mixture of Italian pastas and seafood. Every meal was good. The fish is fresh, the pasta is homemade, and the wine selection is superior, but mostly Italian wines. We ordered Champagne for my birthday lunch and it was from the Champagne area in Northern France, not to be confused with Prosecco which many restaurants try to pass off as Champagne. Remember - if it doesn't' come from the Champagne region - it is not Champagne!

Restaurace Stoleti is one of those hidden gems we love when we stumble across them. On our second or third day here, we were walking around Old Prague and trying to find a restaurant that wasn't a tourist trap. We walked further and further, until we stopped so Karen could check Google Maps and see where we were. As we stopped and leaned against a wall, the most wonderful smells came out of the restaurant next to us. We looked at each other and said, "let's do it"! Stoleti is old school, old country food. They have a beautiful salad with beet root that we shared and the Venison Goulash was one of our favorites. The last time we ate there we had a delicious fish called "Butterfish". The simple roast chicken was also wonderful. The Sauvignon Blanc we ordered with our first meal in Stoleti was from Italy and quite good. It was fresh, fruity and had a slight earthy taste that is found in European wines.

P.S. - Tipping
When Karen and I first started to visit Europe five years ago, many travel experts, including Rick Steves, suggested you do not leave a gratuity as it was already factored in. That is certainly not the case in Prague. The first question is "are you paying cash or credit?" The second question is, "will the tip be going on the card or cash?"

Prague is very European with regards to eating and drinking. One could say very Italian.
Cash is king here.

*Although Wenceslas was, during his lifetime, only a duke, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I posthumously "conferred on [Wenceslas] the regal dignity and title" and that is why, in the legend and song, he is referred to as a "king". Source: "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Wenceslaus". Newadvent.org. 1912-10-01. Retrieved 2015-11-18. From Wikipedia

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A British Celebration With A Fabulous French Wine

7/2/2017

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On Saturday, April 29th of this year, the Court of Master Sommeliers celebrated its 40th Anniversary in London with wonderful food and superb wines. It was a black tie affair and several of the original members were able to attend. Karen and I had just returned from Europe five days before, and we were not able to be in London, so we were celebrating half a world away in Naples, Florida on the same evening.

I was one of the founding members of the Court of Master Sommeliers and served as its President for over 20 years. I couldn't let the occasion go by without a celebration and a toast to the group. We decided to celebrate by inviting a few close friends for dinner. The dress code for the celebration was Florida casual, not black tie!

We had just spent three weeks in beautiful Provence in the French countryside so memories of lavender were fresh in our minds. The menu grew from the idea of using lavender in our meal and lingering over the meal the way the French people do. There was to be no hurrying through the meal and each course was meant to be savored and enjoyed with the wines being served. Karen developed our food menu and I chose the wine,

The Pairings
Smoked Trout and Egg Pie paired with Champagne - Nicolas Feuillatte - France
Endive Salad w/Cherry Tomatoes paired with Sauvignon Blanc from Whitehaven New Zealand   (the salad was accompanied by lavender goat cheese on a crostini)
Roasted Pork Loin w/Vegetables paired with Pinot Noir - Elouan - Oregon, Tempranillo - Juan Gil - Jumilla Spain, and the Chateau Pichon Longueville - France
(the pork was roasted with rosemary, garlic, onion & lemon
Assorted Cheeses w/Baguette paired with  Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port - Portugal
Honey & Lemon Posset w/Lavender paired withIce Wine from Inniskillin - Niagara Falls, Canada

The French Wine
Last summer Karen invited our friends from France to a "typical" American meal in our home while they were visiting Naples: fried chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans, cornbread, and banana pudding. To say thank you, they had brought us some freshly caught fish from our local bay and a bottle of wine. Hmmmm - not just any bottle of wine, but Chateau Pichon Longueville 2011 Comtesse de Lalande, a second growth and very special. It comes from a vineyard in the Medoc area of Bordeaux.

Second Growth is a designation acquired in 1855 when the top wines of Bordeaux were graded at an exhibition in Paris. There are five designations for growths. To qualify, it had to be pretty good then, and even better now.

For more information on growths:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855

The average age of the vines on which these grapes are grown is 65 years. The grapes are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc and Merlot. They are picked by hand and gently pressed before maturing in oak casks. They are then bottled two years later. Maturing takes place in the Chateaus' cellars and usually lasts for five years. By using this time to mature, it avoids the wines being drunk too young and protects the wine from forgery.

The first time I tasted this wine was in 1967 at a high end wine tasting held in a cellar under the Waterloo Bridge in London. I was hooked! That experience helped lead me to a study of wine.

I opened the bottle four hours before serving and paired it with Karen's roast pork, and some Dutch cheese. It tasted like velvet. That's not just any bottle of wine!

Thank you Max & Muriel de Paz and family for the gift of 🍷 is not forgotten.

The Champagne
Prosecco from Italy is the rage right now, but this was a special occasion and the best sparkling wine really does come from the Champagne Region in northern France. Although white, most Champagne is made from the Pinot Noir grape which is red. The grapes are crushed and the skins (which give wine its color) are removed. About $40 is the average price of a bottle.

The Sauvignon Blanc
The Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc was from Marlborough which is in the northern section of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the same price as most well known wines from this area which is around $17.

The Pinot Noir
Elouan - the Pinot Noir we drank is from the brains behind one of the biggest selling California wines: Meomi,. This brand was sold for $135,000,000 to the mega beverage company, Constellation Brands. They moved the company to Oregon and this is their new product. $20 a bottle.

The Tempranillo
Juan Gil - the Spanish wine, has a personal story behind it. Five years ago, we went to a wine bar in Naples and saw a Spanish wine on the list called Juan Gil. It was a 2007 vintage and was really beautiful. Karen described it as a taste explosion in her mouth. We tried to buy it locally and could only get the 2011 vintage. We bought a few bottles, tried one when we bought it and it was not even close to the 2017, so we kept the rest for later dates. It was well worth the wait. The cost is $15 to $20 plus the patience of waiting a few years.

The Ice Wine
This wine is from just over the border in Canada and made from the Vidal grape. The grapes are left on the vines until a cold spell causes them to freeze. They are then picked early in the morning and pressed. The juice is released and the frozen water remains. This ice wine costs $45 for a small bottle.

Dow"s 20 Tawny Port
A Tawny port from the Douro River in Portugal. These ports are matured in a different way than Vintage ports which are made in a particular year and aged for two years before bottling. Tawny ports are aged in wood for 10, 20, 30 and 40 years. In my view, twenty year old ports are the best value. Tawny Ports are much lighter than the very, very expensive vintage ports, some wine experts serve them chilled as we did. $60 for a standard bottle.

Wine and Food Combinations
The canapé was a delicious egg and onion trout pie. The original recipe called for caviar and was given to Karen by Norwegian friends years ago when she worked for Norwegian Cruise Line. We adapted it to use smoked trout instead of the caviar. Champagne always goes well with eggs. Fifty years ago when the staff of exclusive London clubs finished their shifts around 4:00 am, they had eggs and bacon before going home, and to drink - left over Champagne - usually the very good stuff.

The endive usually gives an earthy taste, add tomatoes which are acid, and then a pungent cheese. The lavender was very subtle. We tried to work out the many different flavor profiles, and bang! The crispy grapefruit/mango/peach/slightly fruity Sauvignon Blanc hit the spot.

Three wines with the pork probably needs an explanation. The reader may be thinking six and a half bottles of wine for six people is excessive. Only two wines were completely finished: the bottle of superb Bordeaux, and the half bottle of Iniskillin. These wines also mingled with the Port as the cheese was being served.

Here we go. . .the Juan Gil Tempranillo was outstanding with the pork as it was well matured and the flavor that came from the powerful Malbec grape was sustained by the sweetness of the carrots. Strawberry is said to be the flavor of USA Pinots and that flavor coming from the Oregon Elouan perfectly hit the fattiness from the pork loin. As the plates were cleared, the remaining star wine from Bordeaux was poured, and drunk on its own for about twenty minutes. It was superb: black currant nuances, slightly controlled earthiness, smooth with a mouth flavor of almost 30 seconds. Then along came the cheese and what little was left in the glass was paired with the matured cheddar and triple cream cheese.

The cheese tray had four cheese varieties: Cheddar, Triple Cream, Aged Gouda and Blue Gorgonzola. They were served with warm crusty baguettes and the Port, which was light, smooth and sweet. The Port had a nutty bouquet and a honeyed flavor, with a
chocolate / cinnamon finish.

The Dow's Port is in my view another great value, because you only need a couple of ounces. When the celebration is over, simply put it in the refrigerator for as long as six months.

At the end of the evening we had the lemon Posset, an old English dessert, easily made by mixing hot milk, honey and lemon. Karen flavored the Posset with lavender from Provence. The flavor was subtle and wonderful. One of our guests, took a bite and closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation! She said that she just wanted "to enjoy it". This medieval dish is often called Syllabub these days.

The Vidal grape (Ice Wine) we served with the Posset is often grafted with other varietals and is famous on the USA and Canadian border.

Many, many thanks to our guests for sharing the evening with us, the Court of Master Sommeliers for giving us a reason to celebrate and my wife Karen for producing this memorable meal.

Barrie Larvin, MS since 10-20-1970

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The Coffee Culture

2/1/2017

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I became a Master Sommelier in 1970 and was trained and educated in all things wine: wine service, wine selections and wine and food pairings. Sommeliers were hired in high end hotels and restaurants to serve the clients. Those were the days of suits and ties and nice dresses for fancy dinners.

Fast forward to today's world in which trends and tastes are much more casual. I am intrigued with the development of other types of "sommeliers" who inform us of the food combinations with coffee and tea. There are tea sommeliers, coffee sommeliers and even cheese sommeliers! Really?

The rise in popularity for coffee of all kinds, begs the question - is it worth spending as much money on a coffee as a glass of wine, and what is the fair market value? Some of us will drink a million cups of coffee in our lifetime. The investment in our palates is tremendous.

I have to admit I have been bitten by the coffee bug. Over the past two years of traveling in both Italy and France, we have learned that coffee is meant to be enjoyed in a leisurely manner. In Paris, where drinking coffee is almost an art form, we like to enjoy our coffee while sitting at the outdoor cafes and watching the people socializing with their friends.

With coffee there is the visual, the taste, the aroma and the correct time to drink it. All are important. In France, a nice lunch can last 2-3 hours and a good restaurant and server wants you to enjoy desserts, cheeses and coffees served in their proper order! Don't expect coffee with your dessert in France! They think we Americans "hurry" through our meals. . .and we do.

Se détendre (relax)! Have your cheese. Enjoy that wonderful dessert. Then finish it all with a nice café and maybe a ruby port, which is an every day port - you don't need to go fancy! You won't be hurried through your meal to make way for another party.

Our home exchanges in Nice and Paris both had Nespresso machines and I got hooked. My coffee of choice is now Nespresso.

The initial release of Nespresso to the market was 16 Grande Cru varieties. Sound familiar? Wine terms are now crossing over to coffee terminology.

Over the last three months Karen and I have tasted many styles of coffee and I am convinced that a good cup of coffee is just as enjoyable as a fine glass of wine in the right circumstances.

While in Paris, Karen said she was looking forward to using our french press when we got home. She tried it with two pots of American coffee when we returned home and has put away the french press. We now own a Nespresso machine. I'm a believer!
Karen - maybe?

Trying to buy Nespresso in France means a trip to a VERY upscale store. If you have ever gone into an Apple store to purchase something or get tech assistance, you will be familiar with the experience in a Nespresso store! You are greeted immediately upon entering the store by a young, perky and attractive person and given a bag with a logo to do your shopping.

I had researched before we went to the store so I thought I knew what I wanted to purchase. Once you give your order to the nice salesperson, you then queue up to pay and wait for them to come from some mysterious supply room with what you have ordered. To our surprise, what we ordered was 150 Euros worth of Nespresso. This is one of the dangers of not speaking the local language! We now have enough Nespresso to keep us going strong and jittery for many months to come!

I could NOT complain on the way home about the extra weight in our suitcases! At least not without getting dirty looks from my wife.

At the moment, I am an amateur coffee guy and find a fascinating link between our quest for the best of both wine and coffee without breaking the bank.

Starting small - I'm working on the tasting of three types of Nespresso coffees - all very different. All are Grand Crus.

Kazaar is a blend of beans from Brazil and Guatemala. The blend consists of separately roasted Arabica from South America. It has a high quality bitterness and creamy intensity texture. High intensity Grand Cru blend.

Volluto is a lesser intense blend from Brazil and Columbia only. It has a much lighter roasting and the flavors of a fruity sweet dessert. Low intensity Grand Cru.

Fortissio Lungo is a rich full bodied intense coffee, from a blend of West Indian and Latin American beans. Experienced tasters should be able to detect toasty cereal notes. Medium intensity.

"Grande Cru", "intense balanced" and "fruity" are all common wine terms, which have now been adopted to describe some coffees. As I drink a few cups of this dark nectar per day, I decided it was time to research.

At the bottom of this blog are my comparison notes on basic tasting comparisons between coffee and wine, as well as a brief tasting chart for coffee and wine.

As you start your day I am sure you have thought about, planned for or partially prepared your coffee the night before. I hope you think about your coffee and take time to enjoy it. The aroma is the most important part. Savor the aroma, then let the taste glide across your tongue. What are you tasting? How would you describe the taste compared to your favorite wine?

Below are tasting notes I developed for both wine and coffee. Interesting similiarities.
See if you can identify any of these in your next cup of coffee.

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Wine and The Holidays

11/21/2016

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I'm having fun writing this blog! I don't think I will become an internet sensation, but it is a lot of fun!

For almost 50 years I looked after restaurants and wine (usually at the same time). Now I find I am doing this blog more for me than the people who read it. I like to keep updated and interested in wine, as there are so many places making and selling wine these days! If you are enjoying the read, that is a wonderful added benefit for me.

It is almost Thanksgiving and we are in the middle of wine madness. A huge percentage of the yearly wine purchases take place between now and New Years. Over fifty per cent of the total wine purchases for the year are bought during this period. We all buy much more than we need during the holidays.

Obviously purchasing too much red wine is a better choice than too much white, as in many cases it will mature and might even taste better than the first time you tried it.

There is the likelihood of several bottles being left after the festivities are over, so keep them in top shape by laying them on their sides to keep the corks moist and in cool conditions (cellar temperatures 60 degrees and room temperatures 68 degrees). If you don't have a wine cooler or cellar, simply keep the extra wines in your refrigerator. For the reds, take them out of the refrigerator two days before you need them.

To make your wine buying as simple as possible, plan ahead and have an action plan. Impulse buying is a wine department's dream come true. Work to a budget and keep to it. Remember, you are choosing for your family & friends. Their favorites are not always the same as yours. Do not be intimidated by the buying process. I just read today of a billionaire who prefers $20 wines more than the $200 bottles.

My own Christmas purchases are likely to be as follows:

Grenache
This is a full bodied wine with high tannins. That "puckering" feeling that you taste from tea is the same feeling you get from wines that are high in tannins.

Try to pick the Grenache at least four years of age, open an hour before drinking and pair with foods with a high fat content and rich flavors. Goose and duck come to mind, as does lamb and a nice standing rib roast.

As we are more and more led to the heavy hors d'oeuvres and tapas type dining, smoked meats, smoked fish, hams and olives also make great pairings. Of course, do not forget quality hard cheese to finish your meals.

Some of these wine are 100% Grenache grapes and others are blended. Since it is a warm weather varietal, it has the potential to produce good value wines with a high alcohol content.

"Grenache is an unlikely hero of a grape. Until recently reviled or at best ignored in much of the world, it is the grape chiefly responsible for two of the world's more celebrated reds, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and, a more recent star, Priorat."
Excerpted from Jancis Robinson
http://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/grenache

Faustino Gran Reserva Rioja 2004
I have been looking for this Rioja in English wine stores and supermarkets as it is an old favorite. At twelve years of age it is just perfect for drinking. The price of £25 and the current exchange rate make this great value!

What to expect from this Rioja? Red berries on the nose, a spicy taste, full bodied with a lengthy flavor in the mouth. To find this wine In the USA, try Wine Exchange in Santa Ana, CA, Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge, MA, Total Wine and More, Bellevue, WA and Saratoga Wine Exchange in NY - you may be able to get 2001 from these sources which are even older than the one I am looking for.

Tempranillo
This is one of Spain's principal grape varieties, and is now grown in California and Washington. These grapes ripen early which is exactly what the word "temprano" means. They are thin skinned, and often blended with Cabernet. Tempranillo is usually matured longer than most reds, giving it flavors of toast, vanilla and smoke.

My own favorite red wine this year is Marques de Riscal Riserva from the Rioja region of Spain.

The vines were planted in the 1970's, and matured in American oak barrels for two years. Pasta dishes will work and lightly spiced chicken and/or casserole dishes, Mature cheese and quality hams also make a good pairing.

White Wines
For those dreaming of a white wine or a sparkling wine for Christmas, here are some recommendations:

Albariño - very popular in Europe, and available in forward thinking wine stores in America. The grape is thick skinned, ripens early, and is probably the best valued white wine grape in the market place. It has a light acidity and lower alcohol content than red wines. This makes it a pleasing way to begin a festive dinner. Drink these wines young, I prefer them less than two years of age. For those who drink European wines, Portugal also makes a great Albariño.

Parellada is the grape that produces Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine made near Barcelona. This grape is late to ripen and is a nicely balanced wine. Good with lightly salted nuts or chips if you are serving your guests some "nibbles" before your big holiday meal.

Storing Partial Bottles of Sparkling Wine
For years people in Europe have used a silver spoon to preserve sparkling wines. The handle of the spoon is inserted into the partially used bottle of champagne/sparkling wines helping to preserve them for a couple more days. (While you can find arguments for and against this method, Stanford University actually did a study in 1994 and found that putting the handle of a silver spoon into an open bottle of champagne preserved the bubbles.)

For the hard to buy for person on your list, why not give them a gift of a personalized silver plated spoon for their champagne? See picture below.

One of my suggestions (don't laugh) is to place aluminum foil over the neck of left over sparking wines. It works as well as the silver spoon and It will make your bubbly last another two or three days in a refrigerator. Remember - you can use the unused sparkling wine to make some nice sauces for chicken and fish too.

What Karen and I will be doing this Holiday Season: Thanksgiving will be spent just outside London near the River Thames having an Italian meal with our nieces, Tonya and Abby who are also visiting the UK.

Christmas will be spent in the West part of London having a traditional British Christmas Dinner in a good London pub.

For New Year's Eve the planning is still in progress, but it will be partly spent seeing Les Miserables near the famous Soho district. Then probably a quiet dinner - if there is such a thing on New Year's Eve.

From our hearts to you and your families, we wish you a. . .
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Joyous Kwanz and a Blessed Holiday!

Be Safe and Have Fun
While you are at home with family and friends it is a safer place to drink stronger wines. Alcohol is the component in wine that helps the balance. It is that warm flavor you get in the mouth, and the great moderator of heavily flavored foods. It is also the culprit that makes us do and say foolish or dangerous things! Pay attention to the alcohol content of wine. From 8% for some German Rieslings, Zinfandels up to 16% and Ports at 20%.

For that hard-to-buy-for-person on your guest list. Available at www.notonthehighstreet.com.

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A Brief History of Sauvignon Blanc & Its Journey Around The World

7/8/2016

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The Sixties - France
It was easy in "the good old days".

When I first started learning about the Sauvignon Blanc grape, it was described simply as "usually dry and not too expensive". At that time the grape was only grown in two major areas in France: Graves in Bordeaux and the central vineyards in the Loire Valley.* *

The Seventies - California
In November 1970 I visited the Napa Valley of California, which had about thirty wineries at the time. I was privileged to meet the great man himself, Robert Mondavi, who talked about the Fume Blanc, (his name for Sauvignon Blanc).

"Fume Blanc" was a name thought up by Mondavi in those early days because the name Sauvignon Blanc was hard to sell. At the time people wanted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon. It was one of the great marketing ideas of California wine making. The name change increased the sales of his Sauvignon Blanc dramatically, and was a huge financial success.

As a young man Mr. Mondavi had gone to France to learn about wines. He worked in Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. It was here that he was impressed with the wines of Sancerre, Pouillly Fume, and Blanc Fume. When he started his winery years later, he simply took the name of the latter and switched the words around. Unfortunately he never registered the name, and other California wineries also began using the name. If you go to the Mondavi website you can see that they make different styles of these wines ranging from $15 to $50, www.robertmondaviwinery.com/Fume-Blanc

The Eighties - New Zealand
In the Eighties I owned a small restaurant in the countryside of England. I was offered a taste of a new wine called Cloudy Bay from the South Island district of Marlborough, New Zealand. It was very different from the drier style of SB that I knew from France and California. I put it on the wine list of the restaurant and have purchased it everywhere I have worked since.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc has almost a cult following in many countries. You could say it is the standard against which all other SBs are compared. The initial wine maker was an Englishman named Kevin Judd, who made every vintage until he recently left the company to start his own winery named Greywacke. Cloudy Bay website: www.cloudybay.co.nz/our-wines/sauvignon-blanc/sauvignon-blanc-2012

During my research for this blog I found that most websites have sold out of Cloudy Bay. Do not despair! The best flavors from New Zealand SBs come from the young wines soon after they are imported. Look out this fall for the 2016 vintage from NZ. Don't pay over $18 and you should enjoy them.

Vintage starts in mid February in New Zealand.

Today
I am drinking my morning coffee, listening to Karen learning French, looking out at the blue skies, and hearing the birds singing. What a wonderful life we have. After working hard for forty plus years, we both appreciate and cherish what we have.

It is 9am, and one of our first activities is to finalize the flight details for our London trip in the fall. Why do I mention this? Because we are always looking forward to something! Short term, mid term, long term - whatever! So today it is. . .

Short term - Having lunch at Antoines in Nice.
Mid term - Going to Monte Carlo next Monday.
Long term - Planning a fall trip to the UK and meeting some of our favorite people.

Because I spent most of my working life in hospitality, I tend to anticipate what a restaurant will/won't be like. This can sometimes make Karen crazy because I critique restaurants while we are out! She tries to get me to take a seat facing AWAY from the kitchen and serving areas!

So here is my "anticipation" of Antoines. We know it is in the old part of Nice. It does not have a website, so I can't browse the menu. The wine list will most likely be a maximum choice of about thirty wines, the food will be very fresh, well prepared and tasty. The atmosphere will be great and all tables will be taken. Great expectations,

At 10:00 am and two hours to "knife off", my goal is to eat just two courses, have water only and stick to a budget.

6:00 pm. It's all over now...the goal? Well - who has a goal when eating good food, right? We had 3 courses and a bottle of wine! And went over budget! We are happy and walking it off!

We were on time for our 12;30 reservation. The place was almost fully booked, and eventually every table was taken. Food was passing by as soon as we were seated. It was "eye candy" to a hungry diner and the big seller looked like steak tartar. (Raw tiny pieces of chopped beef, mixed with a raw egg yolk, onions, parsley, capers, chopped cooked egg white and yolk, with Worcestershire sauce and tabasco added to spice it all up.) This dish is known all over the world, and has been on the menu of the last six restaurants, as has a form of ceviche, and a peach gazpacho.

Karen ordered the ceviche for her first course and generously shared half of it with me. One of the best ceviches we have ever eaten! I had fresh anchovies for my first course and wished I had ordered the ceviche.

The wine list had just under thirty wines: mostly white, some rose and just a few red. I paired our lunch with a 2015 Sauvignon Blanc from the Touraine, a sub district in the Loire Valley. I liked it because it was low in alcohol, high in acidity, and had an explosion of grapefruit, which is what we all associate with this varietal. It married beautifully with Karen's ceviche, my fresh anchovies, and a perfectly prepared piece of cod fish. Now you can see why I began this article with Sauvignon Blanc.

I believe too many of the wine drinking professionals pay little notice of the huge distinction between vintages. The wine we drank was nine months of age: young, and kept cool, making it very fresh in the mouth. The bouquet was very slight, with a hint of grapefruit and melon. There was a medium flavored hint of dryness, with a light acidity, making it perfect for the light, well prepared fresh cod fish. The wine also paired well with Karens braised pork cheek, which was incredibly tender, rich and buttery in flavor.

The condition of a wine is very much controlled by how far it travels and the temperatures experienced on its journey. I chose this wine because it was fairly priced, recently delivered, and was a French wine so would not have traveled far nor been exposed to hot temperatures. It was served in a chilled ice bucket before and during our meal. When you see wines standing up in a hot atmosphere beware, if they are there for a long period of time they will start to deteriorate.

Some websites give scores when rating restaurants, but my opinion will make no difference at all to this very successful venture. I can tell you with confidence; however, that I aim to be back within the next week. (Editors note: and we were.)

An important message for making restaurant choices as holiday travelers like ourselves:

Local knowledge is far better than websites that post reviews. In our case, we are extremely lucky! Our exchange partners, Michel & Gabrielle held our hands through our first 10 days in Nice by making reservations for us in places they knew to be excellent choices. This has saved us from making our own mistakes by stumbling upon a place, being hungry and just choosing it because it was "there". It has also allowed us to have local advise and not to rely on a rating from a stranger. We know that Michel & Gabrielle love good food like we do and have been so fortunate to have them recommend their favorite places!

2. The majority of restaurant staff are well trained, speak English, and are extremely
well informed about the menu choices. Most of the servers we have met are anxious
to practice their English on us and we, in turn, try to learn more French!

3. Limited menus and wine selections are usually good signs of fresh food and well kept
beverages.

Food Pairings for Sauvignon Blanc
I suggest white fish with light sauces for the New Zealand fruity styles, and the drier French types go really well with a rich, buttery flavor like lobster or goat cheese. This may seem counter-intuitive, but is a case of where opposites attract. This is why it paired so nicely with the dish of rich and buttery pork cheeks.

Tipping in France....Whatever you are told about tipping, remember that an extra five or ten per cent is considered a kind gesture and is much appreciated.

**For the wine experts who read this, Saint-Bris Sauvignon grapes are grown in a special appellation just south of Chablis in Burgundy. If you take wine examinations or enter competitions it is always a popular question.

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What A Difference A (Degree) Day Makes

1/23/2016

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Climate change has been in the news a lot lately - which it should be! Following is a quote from an article in The New York Times written by Hank Paulson. It sums it up very well:

"THERE is a time for weighing evidence and a time for acting. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my work in finance, government and conservation, it is to act before problems become too big to manage.

For too many years, we failed to rein in the excesses building up in the nation’s financial markets. When the credit bubble burst in 2008, the damage was devastating. Millions suffered. Many still do.

We’re making the same mistake today with climate change. We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked.

This is a crisis we can’t afford to ignore. I feel as if I’m watching as we fly in slow motion on a collision course toward a giant mountain. We can see the crash coming, and yet we’re sitting on our hands rather than altering course."

For the entire NYT article, click here.

Degree days are the way wine makers and others measure temperatures in the growing season. This is done by measuring the number of hours the temperature is over 50 degrees between April 1 and October 31.

The growing season usually begins in May with bud break - this is the time that growers are concerned with frost. June to September is the real growing season, when about 100 days of sunshine will produce fully developed grapes.

Climate is essential to developing a good wine, as every year is different - the weather changes the vintage - either good or not so good. The word "vintage" simply means from one particular year, it does not mean quality.

A good example of weather affecting vintages is to look at just 3 years in the State of Washington:

2010 was the biggest crop in history.
2011 - bad frosts in the Horse Heaven Hills district. Many vines were lost.
2012 beat the 2010 production by 10%

West Coast Wines & Climate Change
Global warming is real and it is happening now. If you chart the temperatures for the summer months: June, July & August from 1970 to 2015, the results in all 3 States are a clear upward trend.

State Ave Temperature 1970 Ave Temperature 2015
California 73.7 degrees 75.4 degrees
Oregon 64.0 degrees 66.7 degrees
Washington 63.6 degrees 66.9 degrees

The Future:

In the next 25 years the degree days in Willamette (Oregon) and Colombia Valley (Washington) are projected to almost double.
All of our Western wine areas now have a reduction of frost days. Oregon and Washington frost days have gone from 25 to 15.
Drought is a problem in all areas. California is the most significant.
More premium sites are being planted in Oregon, where a California climate is expected in years to come.

Wine Regions

Wine regions are determined by the number of degree days.
Regions are usually designated 1 through 5.
The measurement of degree days is known as the Winkler Scale.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are usually grown in Region 1.
Table grapes are grown in Region 5 which has almost double the degree days.

Hypothetical Ideal Growing Conditions:

Winter: Temperature between 28 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Below 28 gives the potential of vines dying.
Spring: 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit - helps with bud break in early spring. Increase of temperature towards 70 degrees as tiny seeds begin to form. Rain is required to add moisture to the ground.
Summer: 70 to 90 degrees. Bunches start to form around late June early July. Constant temperature is important, A variance of no more than 40 degrees is ideal. Too hot can effect the sugar acidity balance. A little rain is ideal, too many cloudy days hamper the growing season.
Harvest: 60 to 80 degrees during harvest Any rain now will dilute the sugars.

Challenges in growing seasons come from heavy rain, frost, snow, and severe conditions that could lead to replanting.

West Coast Wine Regions

California: California has a star wine area called Napa Valley which produces 5% of the State's volume and an even higher percent of expensive wines. There are distinct changes in temperature in Napa. I was in Napa in November, 1971 and it was cold and rainy every day. Forty years later I spent several weeks in the Napa Valley (November-December 2011) and I was sitting outside in cafes getting a light tan. I took a leather jacket that I did not use.
Oregon: In 2001 I was invited to Pinot Camp, a week long course that gives the trade an opportunity to learn the changes in viticulture and vinification. It was late June and we were issued rainproof jackets. It was wet, windy and very cold. The traditional salmon cooked on an open fire was transported inside to be cooked. Eight years later in 2009, Oregon produced one of its best vintages ever. Why? Weather is now warmer. That extra warmth makes the edge of just being under ripe to just being over ripe.
Washington: An average of two hours a day more sunshine than California and temperatures are more consistent. Chardonnay has been growing in Washington since the late 1970's. This past year, we opened a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay to have with dinner. We were pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Why? Washington is getting warmer. A huge expansion in Washington State since the beginning of the century has increased plantings by 50% featuring mainly european not so well know varietals.

Two Varietals
Varietals are chosen to suit soil types and weather. Let's talk about just two of them.

Pinot Noir

The name means pine and black. Thought to have been named because the grape clusters resemble pine cones. Cool weather grape. Grows well in the Carneros, Russian River, and the Central Coast in California. Also Willamette Valley in Oregon. The10th most popular grape in the world & 7th most popular of the reds.
Used in the production of sparkling wines. Hard to grow Produces light colored, thin skinned, medium bodied wines with low tannins. When young it has the aromas of cherries, strawberries and raspberries. When aging it can develop a barnyard smell that some experts call "complex".

Chardonnay

Green skinned and grown from England to New Zealand. The most popular white wine grape in the world and the 5th most popular grape in the world.
Sometimes the grape is called neutral because it picks up flavors from the soil variances and oak aging.
It is flexible and made in different styles, from lean and crispy to buttery and oak matured.
Grown in all western wine States.

Recommendations For West Coast Wines
Chateau St Michelle - Columbia Valley, Washington
Their 14 Hands brand offers excellent value. 2013 is the vintage to get. Their Chardonnay is a blend of Chardonnay, Riesling, and other white varietals. Chateau St. Michelle website has a video of the winemaker explaining the wines, and a detailed fact sheet including wine pairings. Click here for Chateau St. Michelle website.

Gramercy Cellars - Washington
Gramercy is a ten year old winery that should improve even more as the vines mature. A vine meets maturity between 20 and 30 years. Some whites produce for up to 40 years and up to 90 years of age for some reds. Older vines produce lower yields. They add character and complexity to the younger vines.

The following wines from Napa, Sonoma & Carneros are usually less than $15:
Chardonnay

Clos de Bois 2013 - Sonoma
Cameron Hughes 2013 - various vineyards
Picket Fence 2014 - Russian River in Sonoma
Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay - Sonoma
Au Contraire 2013 - Russian River in Sonoma

Pinot Noir

A - Z : Oregon
Meomi: Well advertised - available in many stores, selling over a million and half bottles a year. Produced in three California districts. The company that makes it does not own a vineyard. The success of this wine is due to the talents of the Wagner family, a well respected family of three generations. 92 Points Wine Spectator.
Elouan: Newly developed operation from the same stable that was responsible for Meomi's fame. Three wine regions in Oregon. Heavily advertised with a price point slightly higher than average. A goal of attaining over 90 points for each vintage.

Summary

Vintage: The wine of any given year.
It takes about a hundred days of sunshine to make a grape ripen.
Picking takes place when sugar levels reach the required level. Sun, rain, and luck are the three staples. It takes about a hundred days of sunshine to make a grape ripen.
Are ratings important? Is your palate and mood the same as the critics?
Scores by the critics are important to many consumers. The three most read wine critics are Stephen Tanzer (Publisher of International Wine Cellar), Robert Parker (The Wine Advocate) and The Wine Spectator which has about eight regular critics.
The best critic is your own palate

Buying wine can either be an enjoyable pastime or a difficult and intimidating chore depending on how you perceive it. I have been in the wine business for 50 years, but I still sometimes ask the person in the wine section for suggestions. If we like it, we buy it again.

Don't be intimidated. You only need an inquisitive mind, and a specific plan - or my phone number.

Good value is the key! Remember - it is all subjective!

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The K.I.S.S. Tasting….Keep It Simple & Sensible

12/24/2015

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The telephone rang. Would I like to do a tasting on Sunday - in 5 days? The day after we would be arriving in California in the middle of the night? And the day of the tasting we would see Star Wars for the first time in my life? Jason and Karen are huge fans of the Star Wars saga, so I was along for the ride!

To plan a tasting for a dozen people is usually a lot of arranging, researching, working on food combinations, etc. There would be no time for that. My idea for this tasting was to make it easy, do very little preparation, have others give their thoughts and ideas, and have the guests involved. So my focus was to do very little, and make sure it was still a success.

With eight hours to go here is where we were:
The food is in the fridge, the wines still sealed in the box, no research, no real plan, just a few notes on the back of a business card. I told one of the guests that I had spent just thirty minutes on this project.
I lied - it was 15 minutes.

I called the San Clemente Wine Company, (click here for link) three days before the event and spoke to Bob who helped me choose the wines. He then gave the phone to Stacy who owns the SCWC along with her husband Jeff and she helped me select the cheese and meats for the tasting.
Jason and his girlfriend, Niki, agreed to pick up the wines at the store and to make good use of their time, they also did a little tasting (not Spanish) while there! Good time management!

The key points I wanted to make with this tasting were:
No need to stress
People love to help and be involved
Does not have to be elaborate
Beer and spirits are made to a formula, and have usually met maturity
Unlike beer and spirits, wine changes due to weather and local traditions and practices
Year of production (vintage) is super important
Did you know that up to 60% of alcoholic beverages are sold in a six week period
(Thanksgiving until New Years).

It is now noon on Sunday with 5-1/2 hours to go before the tasting.
The case of wine is still sitting in our little rented condo facing the sea. What a glorious view! Our vacation plans - a nice glass of wine or two or three while enjoying the view and doing some California Dreamin'.
No time to research. No time to plan - we are on the way to see Star Wars. To my surprise, it was a great movie, and I stayed awake! Then we were treated to lunch by Jason at an Italian trattoria nearby. The clock was ticking! It was close to 5:00 pm. Just a half hour to go until the tasting. Case still sealed.
Thirty minutes before the tasting.
Just enough time to run into the grocery store for a few more food items to pair with the wines. Karen has to feel there is "enough food" for an army before she is happy. At this point we have decided to have foods similar to the snacks we were served in the bars in Madrid. Remember - we were pairing Spanish wines.
We arrive fifteen minutes prior to the time we had set to begin the tasting. I looked at my notes and saw the first thing I had written was, "make sure it is fun for everyone, including myself."

The K.I.S.S. Tasting
The first wine was a 2013 Bodega El Nido "Clio" from Jamilla.
Jamila is southeast of Madrid in Valencia. The wine is made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, with a touch of the Monastrell grape. It was the most expensive wine of the evening, and a very good value: $56.99
If I were a wine buyer I would buy as much of this as I could, If you can still find it, have no hesitation in trying a bottle. Wine is a very subjective: some folks love a wine, others may hate it. This Jamilla is one of the best wines I have used in a tasting this year. The San Clemente Wine Company has just two bottles left, it is about $60 a bottle and worth giving to that special person. Look for it in your area.
The second wine was a 2011 Jorge Ordonez "Avanti" from Ribera Del Duero
A good vintage with a little aging evident by a light rim around the glass.
This wine is easier to obtain than the Bodega El Nido. The attendees for this tasting were all from Southern California, so the San Clemente Wine Company should have this wine in stock if you liked it. You can also buy online from them.
The last wine was a 2010 Marquez De Murrietta Reserva from Rioja
The oldest wine in the tasting trio, the easiest to present, and a Reserva.
The third wine is always the easiest to present-the guests have a few glasses of wine in them by now!
Wine tasting veterans could see the wine was light in color around the rim (the meniscus) - a sign of aging.
From the Rioja region, one of the most respected areas in the Spanish wine making world.
It had a lot of tannin. I could tell this without tasting it because our tasters took cheese and ham, which softens that slight astringent feel on the palate.
So, after two hours it was over and we all had a great time. There were lots of good questions and everyone had fun. It was simple and easy.
You can have your own wine tasting by following K.I.S.S. - keep it simple and sensible!
1. Know your audience
2. Don't do it alone
3. Do not use too many wines - we used only 3
4. Make sure you have some simple food with fat (salami, ham, cheese) if doing red wines and
smoked fish, very creamy cheese, chopped eggs, and plain water crackers for white.
5. Have water for the guests
6. Encourage participation
7. Have fun

Our niece had arranged for the tasting to be at the home of her parents in San Clemente. They were gracious hosts and welcomed all of us into their beautiful home and incredible backyard. The perfect place for parties and wine tastings!
Thank you Carol and Michael! We were even serenaded by Carolers during the tasting! Merry Christmas!
Until next time - be safe, be polite, and have a wonderful New Year with fun tastings.*

Wine Calendar 2016
Want some fun? Here is my wine tasting/learning plan for 2016. I have no idea yet what form those tastings might take. It could be just Karen and myself. Could be with another couple. Could be a little party.
January: West Coast wines,and climate change.
February: Wine and Chocolate.
March: Case Study. The Billionaires Vinegar, the book that uncovers fake wines.
April: Spring is in the air. White wines except Chardonnay.
May: Planning a trip to the vineyard.
June: Exploring the wonderful wines of Southern France.
July: Wines for celebration.
August: The selections of Berry Brothers and Rudd, a very British Wine Merchant.
September: A Tasting in Taos with family.
October: A re-visit to the San Clemente Wine Company.
November: Fortified wines: Ports and Sherries.
December: A Pot Luck Wine Tasting.

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Dreaming The Impossible Dream. . .

12/12/2015

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I have enjoyed wine in many places over the past many years, and of course, in the last few weeks in Spain.

Believe it or not, Karen and I had never been on a tour of a vineyard and winery together. We have visited a few vineyards together, but they were not a "proper" tour. I knew we couldn't leave Spain without touring a good wine region. It was my first time to go as a paying customer and hers as a pretty good taster.

We could have gone to Ribereo de Duoro, or a local Madrid winery but we went to Don Quixote land: La Mancha! La Mancha is one of the largest wine regions in the world and a two hour trip south of Madrid.

We were smart enough to book a good wine tour with a company that offered much more than the usual tours. You know the kind - they stop for 15 minutes in 20 different places so you can "see it all"! We scheduled our tour with winetourismspain.com. (Click on link) _ Our personal wine guide was Raul, who made the day a pleasure from the time he picked us up until he dropped us off 12 hours later! If you are ever near Madrid, we highly recommend them! And ask for Raul!

In the morning we stopped at Finca Antigua (Click on link) which is one of the operations of the Familia Martinez Bujanda Group, established in 1889. This company has two other operations throughout Spain: Finca Valpierdra and Finca Montepedroso. All of the company's wines are available for tasting and purchasing at this one location. 75 percent of their production is exported. With the quality of their wines, the value pricing and the drop in the exchange rates I can see why they are exporting so much of their production.

This is not a "mom and pop" winery. They produce well over one million bottles of wine per year.

Visits to vineyards take the same format wherever you go in the world:

A look at the vineyards
The receiving platform for the grapes at harvest time
A de-stalking machine
Grape crushing styles
Fermentation vats, barrels and holding tanks
And lots of hoses and equipment.
Once you have seen that, you can taste wines. Three in most cases. Just by chance the tasting room is also a store, for your eyes to be bigger than your consumption levels.

I usually look for something different in a wine and I found it at this winery. There are five grapes known as the Bordeaux Blend. One of them, Petit Verdot, was available for tasting. 100% Petit Verdot-no blend. This is uncommon, as it is difficult to get this grape to taste good on its own. Petit Verdot is a blending grape. The one we tasted had a really subtle bouquet and a big leathery taste. It needed food, and was crying out for the country's top cheese, Manchego, which is made from sheep's milk.

Next was a visit to a castle and the famous windmills of Don Quixote's journeys. Then on to lunch to try dishes typical of the of La Mancha region. We chose from the daily menu. Karen had roasted partridge and I had lamb chops - both good meals. We enjoyed them with a glass of wine, good conversation with Raul and then off to winery number two - an hour drive away.

Mont-Reaga (Click on link) was the afternoon winery and my focus was on the Spanish labelling system.

Crianza on a label, confirms a limited time in a cask, usually made using a combination of American and French oak barrels.
Reserva on a lable usually means a minimum of eighteen months in barrel.
Gran Reserva - 24 to 36 months in barrel.

The star wine of the day was a deep red wine. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grape, matured in barrels for two years and further bottle aging at the winery for another four to six years.
This practice takes place in several wineries around the world, and means the consumer can drink the wine with proper aging. Mature wines taste much better than those drunk too young.

The Gran Reserva wine we were offered was Las Liras. It is 14.5% alcohol and tastes like a deep rich velvet nectar! Unfortunately, you cannot buy their wines in the USA. They will ship to you, but it is quite expensive. We brought a bottle home with us that we intend to enjoy for Christmas dinner!

Sidebar: Las Liras translates to "the lyres" which is a musical instrument. The winery has a lyre on display that was once owned by Napoleon.

Drinking and eating in Madrid was cheaper than the US. Karen's glass of vino blanco in most restaurants cost under three Euros, the same style in our home town of Naples FL is $8-$12. The world's wines are less expensive outside the USA. Bars and restaurants pay less tax than we do in the US and mark ups are lower.

I have an easy system for wine: my expectations are that quality and value be fairly equal - wherever you are drinking it.

When eating and drinking in restaurants in Madrid, our checks were about 30% less than at home. We purchased wine by the glass or bottle, for usually one-third of the price of Naples restaurants, bars and wine stores.

I would encourage you to try some Spanish wines. Karen's favorite is a Monastrell made by Juan Gil. We had a bottle of 2007 in Naples a few years ago and it was wonderful. It is almost impossible to find the '07 now. You might try finding the oldest vintage you can. We had a bottle of 2011 at a restaurant in Madrid and it was super. Not as good as the '07, but very nice. Look for it in Whole Foods stores.

We had a wonderful time at the wineries and a great time in Madrid. We we were sad to leave, but also glad to be home. What we won't be happy to see, however, is the price of wine on our next restaurant check!

Adiós y viajes de vino felices!

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Past, Present and Future: A Glass, A Case, Or A Barrel?

11/1/2015

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The Past:
The last time I purchased a barrel of wine was in 2003 in Carcassonne in the South of France. I purchased this at a charity auction at a price that approximated $12 a bottle. I had it bottled, shipped to a French port, then on to New York where it was picked up by Western Carriers and shipped to a State registered distributor adding another $3 per bottle to the cost.

The process took two years. First was the aging in the barrel, then bottling and then six months traveling. One reader of this blog tasted the wine and said it was the best of its type he ever had. Some of my friends took a few cases and it became their house wine. In less than three months the wine was consumed and people asked for more. No can do. It was unique.

The Present:
October 27th, 2015 in Madrid - We walked the local market next to our new home, purchased our fish and fruit, three types of cheese and a bottle of Otazu Chardonnay 2013 from Navarra in Northern Spain.

Wow Factor: The Otazu is the nearest thing in taste to the wine I had purchased ten years ago. The price is 8.70 Euros per bottle, about $9.60.

My tasting notes: Light golden color, mid-viscosity, evidence of sugar in the appearance indicating a warm climate, soft honey and lime nose, background of light spices, maybe cinnamon and coriander, a lean flavor with a citrus touch. We used a well flavored homemade fish stew for the pairing and it was ideal. A nicely flavored chicken dish would do the same.

Label tasting notes:
Otazu: Blanco Chardonnay. Color amarillo limon, limpio y brilliante. Nariz intensa, con notas citricas y fruta tropical. En boca se presenta fresco y amable.
Translation:
Otazu: White Chardonnay. Lemon yellow color, clean and bright. Intense nose with notes of citrus and tropical fruit. Fresh and pleasant on the palate.

Karen's tasting notes: She says she needs to try a few more bottles to make accurate notes for tasting.

The Future:
Karen and I have tasted over sixty different white wines during the last year, and along with a couple of friends, have agreed on a little grading system. One star means you would not want a second glass, two stars indicates you would buy a second bottle, and a three star rating means would you buy a case. I liked Otazu so much I would buy a barrel which is over twenty cases.

If you liked (or didn't like) a wine, the first question to always ask your self is "Was it the wine or the occasion"? In this case, it was the wine. The occasion was a simple afternoon at home. Although we enjoy those types of days - so maybe it was both.

Our first visit to the wonderful Mercado Chamartin, with its fresh fruits, meats and cheeses so brilliantly displayed was a trip to remember. We saw our fish cut as we directed, our cheese cut to the size we wanted, and our fruit checked by the store holder.

The wine was displayed with a bottle of this and a few of that - no piles of cases and crates - no end caps - no "two for ones" or special deals. The packaging was an art form and the service professional with a smile. This is where we purchased the Otazu. It was served perfectly chilled at 48 degrees Fahrenheit and served in a good quality glass.

Of course, we went back to the Mercado for the second and third bottle! (It stays fresh when opened for about four days in a fridge.)

Our next big adventure will be a wine tour of the local vineyards. It will be Karen and my first visit to a vineyard together. There is a Viatour tour which will cost about $150 each for the day trip, the reviews are excellent, and three vineyards are visited. The area is less than thirty miles away so I am contemplating doing it on our own. Will we find another perfect wine?

Best wine lesson so far on the trip? Spanish wine is 75% less expensive that at home, the food about half price, and the mercardos are an eye opening experience that we never tire of exploring.

Hasta la próxima: Recuerde que todos los momentos que te hacen feliz!

(Until next time: Remember all the moments that make you happy!)

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Windows on Wine(& Other Libations)

What is a Master Sommelier?﻿Following is excerpted from Forbes - June, 2013, titled: "World's Toughest Test? The Master Sommelier Diploma"﻿

Archives

Categories

Windows on Wine
(& Other Libations)

What is a Master Sommelier?
Following is excerpted from Forbes - June, 2013, titled: "World's Toughest Test? The Master Sommelier Diploma"