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Reader Dag from Norway (Oslo rep-re-sents!) poses a question about Eiswein:

"May I raise a question after a discussion we had in Luxembourg recently, about icewein.

Must be picked at minus 7 degrees and pressed while still frozen.

But, I was once told that there is also something else happening to the wine stock at minus 7. That some ?elements? are withdrawn from the grape during this freezing process, which also contributes to the divine taste of eiswein. Therefore, real eiswein should/must be made this way ??

Have you heard about this process and which elements are withdrawn ??

Hope you have the answer.

Eager to hear from you.

Best regards from an eiswein lover in Norway."

Well, Dag.  Allow me to first refer you to a fun article I wrote a few years ago called, "Ripeness or Ruin."  It is my understanding that the divine taste of Eiswein is derived from the fact that the extract is devoid of most, if not all, water (since it's frozen).  Thus the extract is fruit-essence goodness (sugars, -ols, etc.), which apparently ferments slower than typical must.  Perhaps the combo of less/no water and slower fermentation adds to the otherworldly flavor of Eiswein.

Any Eis-experts out there care to chime in?

I’m in the process of closing down Wine Life Today the social bookmarking service and making it into my personal blog so that I can dedicate my time to creating real change and real value for the entire wine industry. 

WLT is a two year old project that had a decent amount of success and even generated some advertising revenue which is cool.  But I never intended it to be a revenue source as much as it was a learning experience.  I LOVE the wine community and I spend tremendous amounts of time creating and learning from my creations/experiences.  So I always thought that creating things for the wine world would be the best of all worlds - I could meet more and more people in the wine world all while having my creative outlet.

Recently, OpenWine Consortium, a brainchild of mine that was inspired by the need of some industry friends I met through my other creations (this blog and WLT), has emerged as an unmitigated success.  With really no marketing whatsoever, it has garnered attention across all corners of the world, been written up in Wines & Vines magazine, signed up nearly 1000 members in less than three months, and really become something I can spend GOBS of time working on.  Its special, it fills a need that the industry has, and most of all, its something I’m very proud of but believe it can be so much more.

I believe OpenWine Consortium is 10 times more useful at 1000 then it was at 100 in terms of affecting change in the industry.  Real business connections are being made, value is being created through the exchange of expertise and advice, and new ideas are being spawned just through the interaction.

Guess what…I also believe that is OWC were 10,000 people is would be 100 times more useful and would create 100 time the value it does today.  So I’m setting a goal for myself and the OWC community.  The industry needs this site to be at 10,000 members from every corner of the globe to make it an invaluable place to be on the Internet if you are in the wine trade.  This goal is SOOOO doable its rediculous.  There are tens of thousand of wine brands and just an un-Godly number of service businesses that work with those brands and ALL the employees/owners/proprietors of all these businesses can benefit from the OWC community - the interaction, the community, the technology exchange.

So that is my goal today.  I’m very proud that we’ve gained 1000 members.  But I’m going to dedicate the time and effort needed to really move the needle in the industry and I hope others in the community who see the value will do the same.

I’ll start with something simple - a Logo that others can get behind.  Some good friends have put time into creating a logo and I"ll get it out there soon.  Look for the preview here.

What are some other things I can do?  Partnerships with others in the trade, training to properly use OWC as a tool for trade associations, implementing the changes that the membership wants to see on the network.

Me and about 1000 of my industry friends should be able to make a difference so lets see where this takes us!

Cheers!

(almost makes me want to say "To infinity and beyond!"…but I’ll refrain)

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It’s not even January 1 and there’s an article about hangovers! Joan Acocella writes in the New Yorker about the phenomenon that Egyptians call “still drunk,” the Japanese “two days drunk,” the Chinese “drunk overnight” and the Danes “carpenters in the forehead.”

While drinking to excess without a resulting hangover might sound like something technology should have fixed by now (in a world of fat-free desserts, how could they not?), Acocella doesn’t suggest much in the way of a cures. But she does talk about various causes. To wit:

The severity of a hangover depends, of course, on how much you drank the night before, but that is not the only determinant…And what kind of alcohol did you drink? In general, darker drinks, such as red wine and whiskey, have higher levels of congeners?impurities produced by the fermentation process, or added to enhance flavor?than do light-colored drinks such as white wine, gin, and vodka. The greater the congener content, the uglier the morning.

Does that red-white difference ring true for you? What about “natural” winemaking? Partisans of sake often tout its purity and some even go so far to say that it doesn’t give headaches. I’ve never put that to the test.

And as to the cure, she suggests wearing sunglasses and moping around. Just kidding. Folklore often dictates the “hair of the dog.” But I’d steer clear of this morning-after twist from a Ukrainian in the story: “two shots of vodka, then a cigarette, then another shot of vodka.” She counsels to avoid Tylenol since it increases toxicity to the liver. For prevention, she points to advocates of drinking lots of water, a glass of milk or eating a meal prior to drinking. And, of course, consuming alcohol in moderation.

“A Few Too Many,” By Joan Acocella, The New Yorker

Quite an unusual combination for the Balkans, since Syrah is fairly rare in the region. Skovin is probably trying to follow the world commercial trends with this Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon combination, and it’s not doing a bad job. Syrah brings in the spiciness and the earthy taste, which brings memories of those strong South African tastes of Syrah wines. Cabernet softeness it a bit, so overall it’s a nice wine, but distinctively dryer than the famous Australian Syraz-Cabernet’s.

Rating: 6/10
Price: 400 RSD (5 euro)
Retailer: Super Vero

Technorati Tags: Macedonian Wine, Skovin, Shiraz, Syrah, Syrah Cabernet

I love Moscato over summer, the best are slightly sweet but the acid and spritz can be so refreshing. The generally low alcohol is also a bonus. With this in mind, I sought out 17 Moscato based current release wins from both Australia and Italy to taste and decide what I would be buying to drink over the next couple of months.

All wines were tasted blind over a couple of nights. Prices are approximate.

Wirra Wirra Mrs Wigley Moscato 2007:
Peach tinted straw colour. Really good visual fizz/bead. Lovely ripe peach and grape nose. Softly sweet on the palate, but the acid and bubbles come through and cleans the sweetness up in a wave, leaving the desire for another sip inevitable. Excellent.
Crown Seal. 5.5% alcohol. 500ml. $20 - 91/100

Cascinetta Vietti Moscato D’Asti 2006:
Very fine, persistent bead. Very pale straw coloured. Floral, spice, apricot and musk on the nose. Sparkles on the palate. Absolutely delicious.
Cork. 5.5% alcohol. 375ml. $22 - 90/100

Two Hands Brilliant Disguise Moscato 2007:
Pale straw colour. Fine, constant bead. Floral, citrus and musky characters shown on the vibrant nose. Very clean, crisp flavours. Good acid, only tastes lightly sweet thanks to the acid and spritz.
Cork. 7% alcohol. 500ml. $18 - 89/100

Marenco Scrapona Moscato D’Asti 2005:
Very pale colour. Good fizz with quite a bit of mousse at first. Musky, floral, lemon and lots of peach aromas. Light, fresh and clean palate with subtle sweetness. Very enjoyable, but a bit too short to be great.
Cork. 5.5% alcohol. 750ml. $33 - 88/100

Castello del Poggio Moscato D’Asti 2005:
Mid-straw colour. Great bead, very persistent. Intense nose of musk, pear, peach and honey. Sweetness is present but it is one of many dimensions rather than the only one. Acid cleanses the palate. Needs to be drunk now.
Cork. 5.5% alcohol. 750ml. $10 - 88/100

Tempus Two Copper Moscato 2007:
Straw coloured. Slow rising, fine bead. Blueberry, tropical fruit and passionfruit. The palate is dry, with only a very slight sweetness coming through. Medium length.
Crown Seal. 7% alcohol. 750ml. $20 - 87/100

Innocent Bystander Moscato 2007:
Pale pink colour. A bit yeasty at first, but that blew off quickly and showed strawberry, musk and citrus. Fine and persistent bead in the glass. Full flavoured palate, fresh flavour but maybe a little too heavy though. Fun to drink, but a glass was enough.
Crown Seal. 5.5% alcohol. 375ml. $11 - 85/100

Kay Brothers Amery Vineyards Moscato 2007:
Very pale, a tinge of yellow. Visibly fizzy only briefly on pouring. Nose is pretty closed, some grape and soft citrus notes only. Palate is dry and a little bit tart in comparison to some of the previous wines. I don’t mind the dry aspect and the acid is good, but there isn’t much depth to it.
Crown Seal, but with a cork inlay. 7.5% alcohol. 750ml. $17 - 85/100

Tosti Moscato d’Asti NV:
Pale colour. Bubbles only stay in the glass briefly. Apples and some floral aromas. Palate is a bit cloying on the front palate, the acid picks up a bit on the middle and the freshness improves as a result. Finishes a bit short.
Cork. 4.5% alcohol. 750ml. $20 - 84/100

De Bortoli Emeri Bianco NV:
Straw colour. Good stream of bubbles on pouring with some mousse. Lemon and floral aromas. Soft sweetness to the palate, with a touch of bitterness at the back.
Diamante Cork. 8% alcohol. 750ml. $12 - 84/100

Stella Bella Pink Muscat 2007:
Pink tinged peach colour. Strawberry, cranberry, cherry. Not very much fizz/frizzante. Very sweet on the palate, probably a bit too sweet, without the acid to back it up it ends up a bit cloying and doesn’t taste refreshing. Alright only.
Screwcap. 7% alcohol. 375ml. $18 - 84/100

Banrock Station Moscato 2007:
Light straw colour. Light fizz dissipates quickly. Nose shows apples and grapes. Simple palate, slightly sweet and with some crisp acid as well. Without fault, but also without any depth.
Screwcap. 5.5% alcohol. 750ml. $5.60 - 83/100

Brown Brothers Moscato 2007:
Straw coloured. Simple grape and lemon nose. Not much spritz. A tangy element to the clean tasting palate, just a touch of sweetness.
Cork. 5.5% alcohol. 750ml. $12 - 83/100

Long Flat Moscato 2007:
Bubbles only stay in the glass briefly and are gone. Straw colour. Blueberries, pineapple and lemon on the nose. Quite simple and sweet on the palate and it doesn’t really have the acid to counter.
Screwcap. 5.5% alcohol. 750ml. $7 - 82/100

Dan Murphy’s Cleanskin Private Bin Moscato 2007:
Coarse, lazy bubbles. Nose is mute and boring. Fair bit of sweetness initially but there is some acid that comes through afterward on the mid palate. Finishes very short.
Cork. 6.5% alcohol. 750ml. $7 - 80/100

Grant Burge Moscato 2007:
Muted, grapey nose. Palate is thin and dilute, no carry or even much flavour. Insipid.
Screwcap. 9% alcohol. 750ml. $12 - 79/100

Warburn Estate Stephendale Winemakers Reserve Moscato 2007:
Pale straw colour. Spritz dissipates straight after pouring. Nose is bland, some grape aromas, maybe a bit of peach and not much else. Palate is cloyingly sweet, lacks any vibrancy - misses the point of these wines.
Cork. 5% alcohol. 750ml. $10 - 78/100

California Pinot Noir lovers take note. Wine lovers with a free weekend, listen up. It's Spring, and the wine events are coming fast and furious. It seems like every week there's a new wine tasting to go to. But some are more worth paying attention to than others.

Anderson Valley is known for two things in California, and not coincidentally, it has more or less two major wine tasting events per year. The first, the International Alsace Varietals festival took place a few months ago, and I was sadly prevented from attending.

The second is the annual Pinot Noir Festival, which it looks like I'll also be unable to attend, much to my disappointment. But if you're a fan of Pinot Noir and you don't have plans this coming weekend, I seriously recommend it. It's definitely worth the three hour drive.

Not only is this a gorgeous time of year in the Anderson Valley, but the Pinot Noirs on offer include a few of the better ones in the state. This isn't a huge tasting, and consequently you'll find very few huge wineries there. Instead you'll find a bunch of small, dedicated growers and producers pouring their (mostly) small production wines.

The event includes a technical conference and BBQ on Friday May 16th. One of the guys speaking at the technical conference is John Winthrop Haeger, author of North American Pinot Noir, which is one of the definitive works on the grape. Saturday features the grand tasting and winemaker dinners, and those who choose to stay through Sunday can wander around to the many open houses hosted by the valley's wineries.

Participating wineries include: Baxter Winery, Black Kite Cellars, Breggo Cellars, Brogan Cellars, Cakebread Cellars, Copain Wines, Drew, Elke Vineyards, Foursight Wines, Goldeneye Winery, Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Gryphon Wines, Handley Cellars, Harmonique, Husch Vineyards, Jim Ball Vineyards, La Crema, Lazy Creek Vineyards, Londer Vineyards, MacPhail Family Wines, Madrigal Vineyards, Navarro Vineyards, Phillips Hill Estates, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Raye's Hill Vineyards & Winery, Roederer Estate, Roessler Cellars, Saintsbury, Scharffenberger Cellars, Standish Wine Company, Toulouse Vineyards, Williams Selyem and Zina Hyde Cunningham Winery.

The full conference details can be found on the event web site.

11th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
Grand Tasting
Saturday, May 17th, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Goldeneye Winery
9200 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
707-895-3202

The $85 tickets to the Grand Tasting can (and should) be purchased in advance online. The Friday technical conference will cost you an additional $100 (yes there is wine to taste at this event), and winemaker dinners vary in price.

If you are driving up for the event, I recommend giving yourself a bit of extra time to get there. Perhaps drive up in the morning and have some breakfast before the tasting.

Little kids go through a phase where they need to put everything in their mouth. I wonder what it says about me that I'm pretty much stuck there? I really enjoy trying out new wines and sakes, especially those that are well off the beaten path.

So when Beau Timkin, the owner of True Sake in San Francisco handed me this bottle and said "check this out" I couldn't resist. After all, it was the sake equivalent of....well.....(if you'll excuse what may be a somewhat obscure (to you) Japanese animation reference) Howl's Moving Castle.

This sake is:

1. Nigori - an unfiltered sake

2. Junmai Daiginjo -- the highest grade of sake, where the rice kernels have been polished to less than 55% of their original volume.

3. Nama sake -- unpastuerized, designed to be drunk very soon after production, much like Beaujolais

4. Sparkling -- yes, that's right. Sparkling sake. Not entirely common.

Can you understand my fascination? Even if you've never seen the phantasmagorical animation movie referenced above perhaps you can understand what a strange beast this sake would be.

Many people who enjoy sake even occasionally are familiar with the cloudy nigori sakes, as they are somewhat trendy and likely to be offered in most sushi restaurants that aspire to have anything more than just the standard hot sake on the menu. Nigori sakes are cloudy because minute rice particles (think flour particles) that are normally filtered out of the sake are left in. These bits of starch both make the sake milky white, as well as add a slight sweetness to the liquid because they contain sugars.

Most nigori sakes are considered to be somewhat rustic, harkening back to the beginnings of sake when, in fact, all sake was nigori sake, since no one bothered to (or had the technology to) filter it in the early days of sake brewing. Consequently nigori sakes do not tend to be premium sakes, which is to say that they are most often made from rice that has not been polished to the level required for premium sake.

So to see a Junmai Daiginjo nigori sake is quite unusual, both because it means that the brewer has gone to quite an expense to deliberately produce such a sake, and that the brewer is confident that such a sake merits such treatment, as the rice sediments that are left in nigori sake tend, on the whole, to mask some of the more delicate flavors and aromas that a junmai daiginjo sake has been made to possess.

Nama sake or namazake is the sake world's equivalent of Beaujolais Nouveau, or perhaps more accurately, fresh raw milk, which is unfortunately illegal in the US. Unpastuerized by heat, namazake has a different character that is cherished by die-hard sake fans as more rustic and "authentic" than commercial releases that go through the pasteurization and stabilization process.

And sparkling sake? Well, what can I say. Sparkling sake is just a oddball phenomenon. It has been made here and there by various producers over the last decade, but not with any regularity, nor with any real commercial strategy. It is perhaps best characterized as one big experiment.

If there is any brewery that isn't afraid of experimenting, it's the Tsuki no Katsura brewery in the Fushimi district of Kyoto in western Japan. One of the oldest and most regal of breweries in the area, it is single-handedly responsible for the fact that nigori sake even exists today as a commercial product.

As I mentioned, originally all sake was effectively nigori, as it went unfiltered. But sometime before the 19th century, many makers began to press their sake through mesh bags to filter out the sediment. When the "rules" for how to make sake were written in the 1800's and it became regulated by the government, filtering (or more accurately, pressing, as there is most often a final filtration after pressing) became part of the required regimen, and nigori sake effectively became illegal. One of the primary reasons for this was that the filtering process was when the government levied its taxes on sake makers. For perhaps understandable reasons, the government wasn't too keen on the idea of skipping that step for aesthetic reasons.

But nigori sake wasn't forgotten, and after decades of tireless lobbying, Tsuki no Katsura managed to convince the government to allow them to make nigori sake. How did they manage to get around at least two hundred years of precedent for pressing sake through a filter to remove solids? Well, in the end they didn't. They were still forced to filter their sake, but they convinced the government to let them use a filter that had holes in it about the size of golf balls. Apparently it took a couple of years of changing their production process so the government ministry that oversees sake brewing would approve, but eventually they did, paving the way for all modern nigori sake.

Today, Tsuki no Katsura is one of the largest producers of nigori sake in Japan, and is apparently breaking new ground by moving into the sparkling sake world as well. They also produce a range of standard sakes which are rumored to be decent as well.

Full disclosure: I received this sake as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Cloudy white to the point of being chunky, with a medium-strong effervescence, this sake has a yeasty nose with scents of bubblegum and malted milk. In the mouth it has a thick presence on the palate and about as much carbonation as some soft drinks. The flavors are cool and rainy, with a distinct flavor of wet paper, a light floral element, and a finish that is beer like with hints of yeast. I'm not sure if my sense of the beer-like flavor was influenced by the carbonation or not. Overall this is not a sake that does a lot for me, but it was a fascinating drinking experience and one worth trying just on principle, especially for those who are interested in sake.

Food Pairing:
Nigori sakes normally reward pairings with slightly more substantial foods than their lighter, more delicate filtered brethren. I'm not confident about it, but I might try pairing this sake with tonkatsu, the traditional breaded and fried Japanese pork cutlet.

Overall Score: 8/8.5

How Much?: $20 for 300ml bottle

This sake is not available for sale on the internet. You can give Beau a call if you're interested: 415.355.9555

The American wine industry is pretty excited these days. Sales are up, and the demographics are looking good: the youngest generation of alcohol consumers (known as the "Millennials") are much more interested in wine than any other generation before them, and there are a lot of them -- almost as many as the Baby Boomers.

In many ways, the Millennial generation has caused the wine industry to finally realize there's a market in younger wine drinkers, a group that has long been ignored by both the wine media and most wine producers. While the beer and hard liquor industries learned long ago that marketing to twenty-somethings was a golden goose of an opportunity, the wine industry has been slow to figure out that there was another market for their product besides old white men.

Change is coming though, as events like the upcoming Wine & Spirits Hot Picks tasting clearly demonstrate. Focused on folks under 35, this tasting of some of the magazine's top wines, hosted by some of Los Angeles' youngest wine professionals, will likely be a great opportunity for younger wine lovers to taste great wine, at an interesting venue, with lots of cool folks to interact with.

Frankly, I wish I had sought out more events of this sort when I was single. Now that I'm married, I realize that I probably could have gotten a lot more dates hanging out at wine tastings than I did hanging out at the rock climbing gym! Singles take note.

Wine & Spirits knows how to put on a good tasting, and the wines showcased are usually extremely high quality. Their Top 100 tasting is certainly one of the best events of the year in San Francisco, and one I try not to miss under any circumstances. That bodes well for this event, which I haven't ever attended, but which I certainly recommend as probably worth the $75 entrance fee.

Lots of different wines will be served, along with food from some of LA's trendiest restaurants, including Osteria Mozza, which I hear is quite the scene these days.

If some of you readers attend, let me know how it goes.

Wine & Spirits Hot Picks Tasting
Thursday May 22, 2008
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
MODAA Gallery
8609 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

Tickets are $75 and should be purchased online in advance.

Don't forget to wear dark clothes, drink lots of water, eat food along the way, and if you want to actually learn something.... SPIT!

More gewurtz. The good news is that this is an excellent wine. The bad news is that it is sold out. I thought I would review it anyway because it is worth reviewing and you might spot it on a restaurant list somewhere or other. This is barrel femented in old French oak and left on lees for an extended period. All very interesting and artisanal.

Aromas of lychee, ginger marmalade, musk and roses. On the palate a lighter more delicate style with flavours of ruby red grapefruit, peach, lychee, ginger and spice. Distinctly dry chalky texture. Not a big fat impact wine like many but rather more subtle, spicy and lean. Finishes with spicy grapefruit flavours. A food style with style.

Of hundreds entered, just 27 Cabernet Sauvignons earned top-honor Gold Medals at the recently completed 2008 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition,...