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A sell-out crowd of Hip Tasters gathered last Friday eve @ Sugar Cafe downtown to partake of The Salty & Sweet Tasting, this year's first official HIP TASTES event! Enjoy these snaps of the crowd, including this first of me (right) with my sis Claire,the original Hip Taster. Cheers ;)
Monday blues? Here at Vin Vini Vino, we've got Monday Hangovers, a weekly dose of headaches, hangups and how-not-to's. Consider it your worst-case-scenario guide to wine. Grab an aspirin - we'll try not to yell.
OK, so this weekly feature hasn't been so weekly lately. Frankly, I haven't been all that snappy with the posts, either.
Like any passion (cross-stitch, anyone?), wine has a habit of getting lost in the shuffle when the stampede of daily life comes barreling through. We've been painting our office, landscaping, working, entertaining. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
But how do you pick up with your passion once you find the time again?
How do you get inspired? How do you find the energy?
If wine is your cup of tea, er, juice, you go to the store. That's right, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Even if you have a cellar full of drinkable bottles, shelf browsing can be quality time. There's nothing like a few hundred brand new, shiny bottles lined up like soldiers to remind you that there's a world of wine out there - and that what you've tasted wouldn't fill a bucket.
Something to try at every turn. Single-varietal gamay, beerenauslese, pinot blanc from Sonoma, muscat, ripasso, Douro, Kongsgaard, vernaccia.
For the first barbecue of the season last weekend I prepared some lamb chops and opened a bottle of La Morera de Montsant 2002, a Priorat D.O. by Cellers Pasanau. This turned out to be an excellent match. The bottle was offered to me by Joan Gómez Pallarès, the man at the keyboard of De Vinis Cibisque. We had met for a lunch in Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress last February.
I have always loved the packaging on Xanadu wines. That ambiguous golden dragon that looks like a knarly old vine really appeals to me. This is a blend of 73% Margaret River and 27% Frankland River shiraz. Dragon is a recent addition to the Xanadu range. It sits above the Secession and below the Estate in the portfolio.
Aromas of crushed boysenberry, cherry jam, spice, meat, pepper and toasty vanilla oak. On the palate medium bodied with fresh fruits of the forest, pepper, spice and meaty toasty oak. Dry quite assertive tannins and very fresh acidity. Good flavours but suffers from some hardness.
I like writing about imports but it always frustrates me how limited they are (in terms of availability) and generally how expensive. As a reviewer it can feel like I’m spending a lot of time writing for a very, very small number of people. When a box of affordable imports from Australian retailer Vintage Cellars came in though I jumped at it; this is more like it. Vintage Cellars has put a lot of time and energy into its quaffable import range in recent years and it shows. These wines are generally good, available and not expensive. Tasting through them was like a quick trip around the world. There are a couple of real bargains here.
Wine2.0 Facebook group. Its definitely an association that has potential but I wonder if the FB group that was created for the purpose of perpetuating Wine2.0 hasn’t done a disservice to the movement itself.
What I have found in the past is that FB groups are simply glorified bulletin boards. A community needs interactivity, networking opportunities, offline events, party hats, balloons…ok, maybe not party hats and balloons but you get my drift.
So, on day 2 of my reign (or is it 3?) here is what I find - the group is still active (there are still people joining), but it won’t be for long. What I also find is this - the group needs a purpose. Here are some suggestions:
* Create a standard for wine entries that facilitates eCommerce
* Become a resource for wine companies to learn about web technologies
* Create a venue to review new companies and award the best company with funding or business or both
I’m completely open. There is alot of potential there. I guess a basic tenet of the group will be to promote and evangelize the use of Web2.0+ technologies throughout the wine industry.
The Boscaini family have been the owners of the Masi Winery in the Veneto region of Italy for six generations, and specialize in the production of Amarones and Reciotos. In 1964, Masi rediscovered and refined the technique of double fermentation using semi-dried grapes, essentially updating the style of Amarone by using new vinification techniques. Their Amarones are now considered ‘new world’ in style, and indeed, Masi has even established vineyards in Argentina, using the same vinification processes with the Malbec grape.
Join us as we talk with Sandro about the unique method of apassimento, a process of drying the grapes for over 3-months, and hear why Masi isn’t making your father’s Amarone any more.
Thank you to the judges Andrew at Spittoon, Susan at Food Blogga and food photographer Lou Manna. From all the fabulous photos you contributed to LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow they selected Helene at Tartelette as the winner. Congratulations Helene you will be receiving a copy of Lou's book Digital Food Photography. Thank you to Lou and his Publishing Company for their kind donation.
Beverage giant Diageo is enjoying the burst of free publicity that its Crown Royal whiskey got when the campaigning Hillary Clinton downed a shot of it in an Indiana bar.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Diageo is using the incident to promote one of its smaller brands, Jeremiah Weed Bourbon Liqueur by sending bottles of the sweet, 100-proof beverage ? reportedly a favorite of fighter pilots ? to the three major presidential campaigns.
While Crown Royal hails from Canada, Jeremiah Weed is at least made in the United States, in Connecticut. (So it's not really Bourbon ? ask any Kentuckian.) It's not likely to happen, but it's fun to speculate about what would happen if Hillary's beer-and-a-bump, just-folks strategy catches on. Nothing breaks the ice like a little Tequila followed by jello shots....
1992 Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz Cherry, raspberry and some leather and earthy elements to the nose. There is a delicious sweetness to the palate that is well countered by savoury nuances. Very enjoyable. 90/100
2000 Besserat de Bellefon Grande Tradition Champagne Cheesy and toasty nose. Rounded mouthfeel. Lacks depth and finishes short. 83/100
2002 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling Lemon, orange peel and some toast aromas starting to develop. The palate is long and full, with incredible intensity. This wine holds so much future potential. 93/100
1978 Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion Tobacco, bramble, ash and smoke on the nose. The tannins are fully resolved, leading to a medium bodied palate with soft fruits and good aged character. Very pleasant to drink wine at its peak. 89/100
1996 Chateau Léoville-Poyferré Youthful nose of blackberry, spice, cassis and cedar. Intensely tannic on the palate, but the structure is good and this is going to improve greatly once the tannins soften and it takes on additional complexity. Needs time. 90/100
1981 Chateau Musar Cherry/kirsch, smoked meats, earth and honey. The palate shows amazing fruit sweetness that is balanced superbly by aged earthy, spicy characters. Complex and long. If this was deconstructed too much you may be able to pick out many faults, but amazingly all mixed together they have achieved harmony. 94/100
2000 Hochar Père et Fils Horsey, with earth, raspberry and a touch of VA. The palate is sweet and soft, it is quite drinkable but looked very simple in comparison to the older Musar had before. Will probably show better given time. 87/100
1995 Antinori Tignanello Cocoa, blackcurrants, graphite and cedary nose. Lovely medium bodied, savoury palate with excellent balance. 91/100
1991 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon A bold nose, with tobacco, cassis and blackberry. The youthfulness of the wine is evident on the palate as well, with primary fruit still dominant. The tannin structure and overall build of the wine is such that I think this has the potential for greatness. 92/100
2004 Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Barbarine Must be close to 10% viognier in this, but it did not bother me as it did some others at the table. Very pretty nose, with lifted fragrant floral notes, apricot and pepper. Long and rich in the mouth with some spice evident. A little bit young still tonight, but very nice anyway. 90/100
2004 Tyrrell’s Shiraz Cabernet Vat 8 Earthy, with some raspberry notes as well. Bright, red fruited palate with some earthiness coming through in the background. Tannins are bold, but should settle with time. 88/100
1998 Pfeiffer Tokay Auslese Caramel, toffee and apple aromas. Medium body and sweetness. Ready to drink now, it could do with some more complexity but I don’t think it has the structure to age much more. 85/100
1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Auslese Passionfruit, spice, peach and pineapple aromas. Lovely, lingering sweetness to the palate and it just has the acid to keep it fresh and balanced. This style of wine is right up my alley. 93/100
1995 Hétszolo Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos Honey, coconut, pineapple and maple syrup. Rich, honey like palate, but with excellent complexity and acidity. Fantastic length, this was a great wine to finish the evening with. 93/100
There are lots of things going on in my life these days. Very busy times. But for now, its a good busy…
My second daughter is due any week now (officially March 4th, but the last Dr visit said the baby was already 6 lbs and Kelly is petite so she won’t be in there too much longer…).
In my life I find I draw inspiration from many places. Usually my family and friends. A few weeks ago the wine community inspired me. I’m hatching an idea. I’ve spoken to a few of you about it and I’ll more than likely speak to a few more. But for now, I’ll use the pages of WLT to chronicle what I’m doing with my idea and its evolution.
Its amazing the what the meshing of a passion with a profession can accomplish. Its a powerful thing when that gets match with inspiration.
For those who have been around the wine blog-o-sphere for a few years, the Caveman's blog was a gem. Bill Z. offered world class wine knowledge with a down-to-earth attitude. Like many blogs (this one included) the Caveman posted less regularly, and then poof! it became frozen in time (kind of like Han Solo in Empire).
Well, my pal Bill, the Caveman, is back and writing for the Montreal Gazette. It's good to see his voice is being appreciated by those lucky folks in Quebec.
"It was my first evening back working the floor as a sommelier. I was invigorated after an exceptional week touring and tasting wine in France's Languedoc-Roussillon. My second table that night was a couple from France, so I started going on and on about the place, even recommending to them one of my favourite wines from the region. They looked at me and said, "Yes, it's beautiful there, but we would never drink their wines."
I'd like to point you readers to an interesting post by Clark Smith, at his GrapeCrafter blog, about Natural Winemaking (yes, capitalized) and the role of yeasts in the winemaking process.
Clark spent some time recently at a wine industry event where panelists and the audience discussed the definition of what Natural Winemaking actually is. It comes as no surprise to me that the group couldn't achieve consensus around a concept that remains, as far as I am concerned, a broken metaphor (vinegar is natural, wine requires technological intervention).
One particular sticking point arose out of a discussion surrounding the use of commercial yeasts. Many proponents of Natural Winemaking, including those that practice Biodynamic winemaking eschew commercial yeasts in favor of the yeasts that are found on and around the grapes, citing their role in the concept of terroir. Some do not.
Smith, in particular, seems to favor commercial yeasts for all the reasons that winemakers usually do: they prevent stuck fermentations, they allow the winemaker more choices in how, where, and at what temperature the fermentation process takes place, and finally they avoid the sometimes nasty odors and flavors that can be byproducts of some natural yeasts.
Smith goes on to make quite an interesting argument, however. He alleges that those concerned with the expression of terroir are actually better served by commercial yeasts than by so called "wild yeast" or "native yeast" fermentations. By virtue of eliminating or reducing the aromas and flavors that are merely byproducts of the yeast itself, Smith argues, the terroir is more likely to shine through. The implication being that native yeasts actually obscure terroir more than they create it.
I'm entirely ambivalent about commercial yeasts in winemaking. I've had phenomenal wines made both ways. Frankly, most of the time I (and I would venture, most wine lovers) don't know what kind of yeasts were used in the wine I'm drinking. I recognize that 50 years ago, there were no commercial yeasts on the market, but I also accept that there were an awful lot of wines full of Brettanomyces and other uglies that made for unpleasant drinking.
What do you think? Yeast as terroir or yeast as tool?
I somehow weaseled my way into a Vegan cooking class this weekend to give a talk about organic wines. Shameless self/company promotion? Why do you ask!
SO, if you have nothing to do between 1:30 and 3 on Sunday, December 2nd, feel free to register to learn how to cook all sorts of yumminess (which is, apparently, a heavily-used wine descriptor) sans animals or animal by-products. I don't claim to be vegan (as the mountain of cheese in my belly can attest) but I do agree with the principles of it all.
Anys.
Come to Shakti Yoga Studio at 220 Lexington Ave this Sunday to hear me and to get your vegan feedbag on. I think it's $20 per person. Call 716 884 YOGA to register. I'll be the one with a cork in my hand stinking of butter.
The much-promised, overly hyped Riesling Review has now arrived (brought to you by Mylanta)
Jill, Yulia, P-Cat, and myself (Jay) converged at Boozer Headquarters (my place) last Wednesday for the Riesling blind tasting. P-Cat's writing a column for a local newspaper and needed to taste through a bunch so we decided to make it A Thing. We each got a bottle from a different geographic locale, figuring the areas that needed representation were Germany, Alsace, Austria, New York, and Australia (don't blame me for the last one, ok?)
AND, since we live the malt liquor lifestyle, we tasted them blind, each bottle wrapped lovingly in two layers of plastic bags. Ghetto super star, that is what we are.
Here are my rather lame notes:
Wine #1: Apricot, honeysuckle, rose petals on the nose; palate is lime, tangerine - stones, touch of cream, but thin.
Wine #2: SULPHER! Yikes, burned my nose hairs. V pale in glass. Diesel, swampy nose. Palate of bitter green orange, lemon zest, pink grapefruit. Long finish due to acidity.
Wine #3: Light, aromatic greens - fresh, sweet grass, white flowers, honeydew. Melon-apricot palate with stone minerality and balanced acidity. Yum.
Wine #5: Swamp water. Grape-lemon pucker candy. Sour Patch kids. Yuck. We no like.
Results:
1: Paul Blanck 05 from Alsace (score 1 for me!)
2: Grosset 05 from Australia (upset of the CENTURY, folks!)
3: Domaine Wachau 06 from Austria (amazing value - our favorite, hands down, at only $12.99)
4: Fritz Haag 05 Kabinett from Germany (which we all guessed because of the residual - oops, sorry, forgot it was supposed to be a dry Riesling tasting..)
5: Red Newt Cellars 06 Reserve from NY State (surprising only in that is sucked so badly for the money - tasting like bad NYState wine, so I guessed this one immedately...)
It was interesting too in that every wine except the Red Newt was screw cap. Go figure.
Still not a huge fan of Riesling, especially since I tasted all these the night before some serious food poisoning that had me leaving pieces of myself roadside throughout the state for the next two days and I can't help but link the two incedents.
Argentine wines are not as well-known in North America as those of Chile, but the areas just below the Andes Mountains, such as Mendoza and San Juan, produce excellent, red wines, including Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Malbec, a red wine grape that is at its best when grown in Argentine soil. Learn more about the wines of Argentina in this video from Geobeats.
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A magnificent Malbec! It picked up a trophy at the inaugural Wines of Argentina Awards held in Mendoza in 2007, having wowed the international panel of judges - included among them wine expert Jancis Robinson, who gave it an impressive 17 out of 20. This mulberry and spice-flavoured red wine was made by Herve Fabre, who was originally involved in the Bordeaux wine trade, before he and his wife fell in love with Argentina and moved there to establish a boutique winery. Herve's experience in producing top quality wines shines through in this tremendously rich, silky-smooth wine. Ripe blackberry and bramble aromas merge seamlessly with spicy oak and vanilla flavours. Full bodied, yet seriously smooth and warming. This 89 Parker point wine is sure to survive for many years to come. Definitely a wine to enjoy with fine food ... try it with rare roast beef or a juicy steak.
"Wonderfully succulent, rich berry fruit with hints of spice box." (Parker). A must-have wine from this superb estate, once provider of the second wine of Cos d'Estournel. "Blackberries ... herbs ... hints of spices." (Wine Spectator)
As fans of this famed winery will know, Cheval Blanc is the benchmark in great St Emilion. Awarded a near-perfect score of 99 points by Wine Magazine, this 2001 vintage doesn't disappoint. A wealth of concentrated fruit and a subtle use of oak make this a wine of accomplishment that will continue to evolve for years to come. "Silky, pure-fruited and smoothly (violet) perfumed with high ripe, silky tannins. Fabulously serious wine that grows on the palate." Wine Magazine
As fans of this famed winery will know, Cheval Blanc is the benchmark in great St Emilion. Awarded a near-perfect score of 99 points by Wine Magazine, this 2001 vintage doesn't disappoint. A wealth of concentrated fruit and a subtle use of oak make this a wine of accomplishment that will continue to evolve for years to come. "Silky, pure-fruited and smoothly (violet) perfumed with high ripe, silky tannins. Fabulously serious wine that grows on the palate." Wine Magazine
Tecnorati
I have always loved the packaging on Xanadu wines. That ambiguous golden dragon that looks like a knarly old vine really appeals to me. This is a blend of 73% Margaret River and 27% Frankland River shiraz. Dragon is a recent addition to the Xanadu range. It sits above the Secession and below the Estate in the portfolio. 
Beverage giant 
