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Remember I said to buy any 05 Bordeaux and give it s shot; there will be some real bargains to be found from this supreme vintage. This blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon is a cranberry jelly colored wine with a bouquet of fruity wood, and chocolate covered cherries. Nice.
In the mouth it is steely, a little tart tightly wound on opening and full of mineral flavors. BREATHE!
Really nice bouquet of ripe plum and a touch of cinnamon and pipe tobacco.
The palate is a bit tannic but this is a solid wine; give it two hours to air out and buy a couple for the under $10 price and put another year of age on it.
"An international consortium, drawn from FIVS membership, is developing a wine industry green house gas calculator which looks as all aspects of the wine supply chain"
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association will next week launch a new online tool is says will allow the industry to better assess how much of environmental impact transportation has on their operations. via FoodNavigator
Mon Feb 21st, 2005, London Who has not heard of Michelin star chef Nico Ladenis? Now retired, he has left his restaurants, including his famous Incognico, reminiscent of a Parisian brasserie, in the capable hands of his dauther and his hand-picked chefs.
A post inspired by the realization that you’re at a party and all of a sudden, you’re “that” guy. The wine guy that at once inspires interest and disgust. It happens without forethought, or even an ‘in place’ realization. After the fact, as you contemplate the evening, you think back and know that you’re guilty of providing too much detail-- you discussed cellar space, wine club memberships, bottle prices, climatic conditions and varietal nuance that completely goes over the head of your small talk partner. He or she just asked what you were drinking.
There have never been better Chardonnays on the market. I have been tasting dozens of them, and have these to recommend, most from the excellent 2004 vintage, and most from California. These are all excellent values, and, better still, none are over $30.
Although the Philipponnat family history in the Champagne region dates back to 1522, the recent history began when Auguste and Pierre Philipponnat settled in the Mareuil-sur-Aÿ region of Champagne in 1910. When Pierre acquired the steep Clos des Goisses vineyard on the southern flank of the Gruguet hill in 1935, he broke with the tradition of blending Champagne vineyards, creating a single-vineyard wine from a rather remarkable site that overlooks the Marne River. Charles Philipponnat, grandson of Auguste, is now President of the Maison and has overseen the creation of new wine making facilities and barrel storage.
Join us as Charles takes us on a walk (make that climb) of the five and a half hectare Clos des Goisses - which stood witness to the WWI battles of nearly 100 years ago. We also visit the cellars and barrel room, and disgorge some Champagne.
This is from Stonewell in the sub-region of Marananga. The winemaker is Barossa superstar Troy Kalleske and the executive producers are brothers Pierre and Bert Werden. The name JaJa is an acronym derived from the names of their four children - Jake, Andrew, Jordan and Alana. Bert has had another kiddy called Tara since so maybe they should call future releases JaJaTa…which sounds a bit like a cracker and could be wholly appropriate based on the quality of this first release.
Aromas of blackberry, plum, raspberry, aniseed and meaty malty coffee oak with just a suggestion of fresh mint. On the palate full bodied and packed with an array of lush blackberry, dark cherry and raspberry fruit backed with savoury meaty toasty oak. Beautiful ripe textural tannins here. The mouthfeel is outstanding. Finishes long with blackberry/raspberry and toasty espresso flavours. This is a classic Barossa shiraz offering deep yet vibrant fruit and altogether too much value for money.
How many times have you bought a wine based on a promotional price? Or bought multiple wines you didn’t really want because of a three for two type offer? We may be all falling for “artificial promotions” that are anything but a good deal.
There are some good quotes in the article from wine industry insiders confirming that what have long been speculated to be dubious “offers” are exactly that and give no real value to the wine drinker at all.
Wed Feb 23rd, 2005, Toronto MARK THE DATE! Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Sheraton Centre Toronto “To drink good wine is to enjoy the sunshine, warm and tender.” – Falstaff, (from the opera Falstaff) Would you like to spread some sunshine? Do you have vintage wines hiding in your cellar? Or are you looking to add to your growing collection? Searching for that '82 Rothschild? The COC's Wine Auction Committee is thrilled to be bringing this annual fundraising event to you once again in the Dominion Ballroom at the Sheraton Centre Toronto.
I keep bumping into the guy. First in the Bordeaux section, a couple of minutes later we?re both cruising through the Sauvignon Blancs of New Zealand. I head for Piedmont, and there he is ? again. We smile at each other over Cognac, one of those ?okay, this is either too weird or too funny? sort of smiles. But it?s not till we simultaneously hit Spain that we actually strike up a conversation.
Clearly, this man has a fairly upscale taste in wines. Not that I was actually checking out his purchases? much. I guess I just ?happened? to notice some of the bottles. Since he obviously likes all the same wine regions Frank and I do, I wanted to see if he chose anything we hadn?t tried. Not much under $40 will find its way to his table. So when I see him piling bottles of $9.95 Castillo de Monseran Garnacha from Spain into the now groaning basket, I can?t help myself ? I have to ask.
?One of the best deals going,? he tells me. Then he actually winks at me ? it?s a cute wink too. ?Just don?t tell too many people about it ? all the more for us.? A good natured laugh and he?s gone. What the heck, at the price, if it?s awful, I figure it will pour down the drain more easily than some of the pricier stuff that?s been know to suffer the same fate. I snag a bottle.
A couple of days later I?ve got a spicy chicken stir fry on the go, a quiet evening with just my book ahead, and uh-oh ? no Riesling to go with dinner. In fact, there?s nothing that seems to go with the food. I manage to catch Frank just before he goes into his meeting. ?Am I absolutely crazy or do you think the Garnacha might work??
Initially Frank?s not impressed, but after some deliberation, we decide it will probably be a more or less acceptable though not stellar pairing. With 12.5% alcohol, it?s at least not going to totally burn out the taste buds when it hits the chili spices on the chicken. I cross my fingers, open the bottle, and hope for the best. The kitchen sink is within arms reach.
The initial nose is surprising. Exotic spices ? cloves, allspice, cinnamon. There?s a whisper of anise and leather too, kind of like John Wayne strolling through the kitchen chewing on a licorice Twist. Later coffee and cocoa appear introducing a not unpleasant grittiness like riding through the desert.
And it worked with the chicken too ? as expected, not stellar, but not half bad. There was a complementary nature to the spices and just enough of fruitiness in the meat?s marinade to work with the wine. Alas, Tenderland Meats on Granville Island where I buy it aren?t parting with the secrets of all the seasonings they use, but they did confirm there?s allspice, cilantro, and sweet green chili peppers. I?m betting there might be a hint of papaya in there somewhere too.
Hopefully, one day I?ll run into the gentleman with the cute wink. I?d like to tell him he was right, this wine is a steal of a deal. And I wonder if he knows it also goes fabulously well with the chocolate Hedgehog from Purdy?s Chocolates that I had after dinner ? that pairing is almost stellar. Sorry, Frank, I guess it slipped my mind to tell you about the Hedgehog.
The Wine: Castillo de Monseran Garnacha 2006 ($9.95) - if you find their website, please let us know because we couldn't The Food: Chicken Chili Stir Fry from Tenderland Meats The Chocolate: Hedgehogs from Purdy?s Chocolates The Scoop: One of the best under $10 values going
by Martin Field Spirit House A group of us dined at the Spirit House in Yandina, a short drive south of Noosa. A spectacular setting, just like walking into a tropical restaurant in Bali or Thailand; complete with exotic flowers, bamboo, palms, and a central lake dotted with lotus leaves. Standout entrée ($19.50) was the ?Buddha?s Delight? a trio of beautifully presented savoury dishes, described accurately on the menu as ?Potato, pea and spinach samosa with coriander yoghurt; eggplant and banana chili salad with cassava chips; and Son-in-law Egg with sweet, salt and sour sauce. Address: 20 Ninderry Rd, Yandina, Queensland. Phone (07) 5446 8994.
FishEye Merlot caught my eye at the supermarket yesterday when trying to find a good cheap wine to pair with my pasta and chicken dinner.
Nice and fruity, I think the strongest aroma was plum. This wine was a good match to my dinner, and a good value for $5.89. I’d like to try their Cab one of these days.
Once a bartending necessity that reigned supreme in soda guns the world over, tonic water - and her friends club soda, Coke and 7Up - is fizzling in today?s hipster scene. What?s bubbled to the forefront? Energy drinks, which in a few short years have gone from mini-mart obscurity to VIP status behind the bars of even the hottest, Paris-Hilton-worthy nightclubs and restaurants.
As anyone who?s chugged Gatorade or Lucozade knows, energy drinks are nothing new. They?ve been around since the 1930s, are sold throughout the world and have traditionally enjoyed especially strong popularity in the Far East. (Think Pocari Sweat. Yum.) In their early incarnations, energy drinks were meant to quickly rehydrate the body and to provide energy through carbohydrates in the form of sugar. They were the savior of many exhausted athletes, lethargic kids with the flu and pathetically hungover frat boys.
In the mid-?80s, an Austrian businessman looking to cash in on the energy drink craze in Asia took the concept and gave it a decidedly modern twist. The result was Red Bull, a unique-tasting drink spiked with caffeine and the amino acid taurine, which pumps up the heart rate.
Red Bull?s slick silver mini cans, clever ad campaign and energy-boosting properties made it an instant hit among club-goers and those looking for a quick boost from something other than espresso (or a powdery South American import that might invite a sentence of five to 10). By the late ?90s, Red Bull was available worldwide, had taken up sponsorship of popular new extreme sporting events and was well on its way to becoming a pop culture icon.
Since then, the energy drink market has exploded. New entrants include Rockstar (which contains liver-rejuvenating milk thistle), Monster, Socko, Full Throttle, Hype, Bomba (which comes in four flavors), Roaring Lion, Go Fast, Atomic X and Boo Koo. (The entertainment value alone - ?I?ll have an Effen Boo Koo? - keeps us enthralled.)
Everyone from traditional soft drink marketers to celebs are getting in on the energy drink craze, scrambling to create new concoctions with fresh hype. Rap star Nelly is hoping to grab a piece of the market with his bright green, sweet sour-apple brew PimpJuice, which contains taurine, guarana and multi-vitamins. (No word on whether the nutrient properties of the drink will finally heal the boo-boo that lurks beneath his omnipresent Band-Aid. Or what test group approved of the name PimpJuice.)
Though all energy drinks are unique, they share in common some form of caffeine and sugar as key ingredients. Guarana, a natural source of caffeine, replaces the straight chemical in some brands. What gives energy drinks their rocket boost is the amount of caffeine and sugar they include: studies show energy drinks pack four times the amount of caffeine as soda and as many as 13 teaspoons of sugar in a single bottle.
Energy drinks also get an extra kick from ingredients such as ginseng and vitamins B12, B6, riboflavin and niacin. The most popular addition (and the one that put Red Bull on the energy drink map) is taurine, one of the most abundant amino acids in the body. It functions as a metabolic transmitter, has detoxifying properties and has been shown in studies to be beneficial to cardiovascular functioning. Mix these peace-and-love herbs and vitamins with some cutting-edge nutritional research, and the old standbys caffeine and sugar, and you?ve got yourself a recipe for a go-the-distance, 21st century good time.
Not long after these space age potions hit the shelves, smart consumers realized if energy drinks could keep them going as they burned the midnight oil or blasted through a road trip, they could put a whole new spin on a night of partying. Thus was born Red Bull-vodka. In the late ?90s, European drinkers started a new trend in cocktails by marrying the recently released Red Bull with vodka, creating a mix packing a potent alcohol punch and a lift of herbs and caffeine, and enabling drinkers to get maximum pleasure out of a hard-earned weekend night of raving or pub crawling.
As more energy drinks were born, more cocktails were created. Bars around the world now stock energy drinks as mixing basics and look for innovative blends to create their own signature cocktails. While most drinkers still prefer flavored vodkas such as Stoli Citros or Skyy Melon to add intrigue to their energy drinks, more innovative experiments are being undertaken every day: how about an energy drink/Jagermeister mix? Perhaps a little Johnny Walker Black? (Any carpet fluff you might ingest later will simply add to the...mouthfeel.)
If mixing isn?t your thing, consider an energy/alcoholic drink that comes straight from the bottle. Zygo is a peach-flavored vodka blended with so-called ?functional ingredients? taurine, D-ribose, guarana and yerba mate. Known as the ?morning vodka? with a 35 percent alcohol content, it hits the spot with partiers still pounding the dance floor at dawn. Sparks, a sickly sweet, citrusy concoction with taurine, caffeine, guarana, Siberian ginseng and a 6 percent kick of alcohol, is becoming a popular party alternative, as are MoonShot, a (believe it or not) lightly carbonated, caffeinated beer, and XXL Orange, which packs 8.9 percent vodka, orange juice and caffeine into a curvy plastic bottle. (Frankly, that sounds to us like what a pimp would really be juicing.)
In a culture that?s dancing as fast as it can, it seems energy drink cocktails are the perfect libation for the new millennium. And who knows, tonic and club soda might even make a comeback - thanks to the recently released Hi-Ball Modern Mixers line, which offers classic mixers enhanced by B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng. So grab a can of liquid energy, throw in the spirit of your choice and start channeling Don ?The Magic? Juan. And remember, it takes seven to make a stable.
Black Magic Bomba Energy Drink 1 1/3 oz. vodka 2/3 oz. triple sec 2/3 oz. lime juice
Shake vodka, triple sec and lime juice together. Pour into chilled martini glass. Top with Black Magic Bomba Energy Drink.
Warning: Consume energy drink cocktails in moderation. Caffeine is a primary ingredient in energy drinks and can, when combined with the dehydrating effects of alcohol, lead to feelings of dizziness and faintness. In some cases, sensitivity to caffeine can also raise blood pressure and trigger potentially deadly heart reactions. Drink responsibly.
This wine is wild and untamed! It has an exotic taste of berries and herbs, and is still quite tannic. After decanting, the wine softened a bit but continued to be chewy and dense. It also has a striking dark purple color, that looked beautiful in the decanter.
From a tiny region in Southern France, Bandol is made primarily from Mourvedre. The grapes are extremely ripe, but there's an underlying herbal tone that makes some of these wine taste almost wild and this is no exception.
I paid $32 for the bottle, and have seen it for as much as $40. If you're ready to do some exploring in France's lesser-known regions, look for a Bandol. And raise a glass!
Wed Feb 23rd, 2005, Los Angeles Cooking With Friends - SINGLE MEN NEEDED TO COOK Contact Robyn at http://www.dinnerwithfriends.la Wednesday–2/23/05 7:00pm-10:00pm $80.00 Cooking With Friends is back by popular demand and limited to just 12 lucky participants.
The guy next to me kept screaming “White Rabbit!” at the top of his lungs for the better part of two hours. It was a Jefferson Airplane concert in 1971 and the band, despite a change of personnel could not escape their hits. No matter how well they played that guy would only be happy if they played White Rabbit.
Last week, while attending a performance of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, a true jazz legend and creator of West Coast Jazz, the guy in front of me screamed “Take Five!”. It seems no matter how many decades pass that fans are more interested in hearing your hits instead of your music. In Brubeck’s case he has progressed far beyond his Take Five days and created am amazingly diverse body of work. Yet, even with all he’s done since Take Five was recorded in 1959 I’m willing to bet that the majority of concert goers were there to hear Take Five, which is probably the only jazz composition most could name from memory. Of course, I’m sure few of them knew that the piece they were screaming to hear was not written by Brubeck, but by the late, great Paul Desmond, who played saxophone for The Dave Brubeck Quartet when they recorded Take Five.
Winemakers face the a similar dilemma. Once you get a big score, your big hit, you can feel locked into that style. It takes great courage to evolve your style in a way you believe in instead of just playing the same old hit over and over again. What most consumers don’t understand is that a winemaker can be relatively unhappy with a wine even though it gets a high score. As difficult as it is to believe, behind closed doors winemakers are often amazed at a high score they’ve received. What happens if you get a 93 from Robert Parker on a wine you’re not particularly pleased with? Do you keep making that wine or follow your own vision?
Brubeck seems to have resolved this dilemma perfectly as when he did finally play Take Five for the crowd, it was not the Take Five of 1959, but a piece that reflected the talents of the current Dave Brubeck Quartet. While it started with the famous chords and catchy quintuple time, it soon evolved, in the great tradition of jazz, into a distinctive exciting performance with a personality all its own.
Great winemaking should take its cue from the improvisational spirit of jazz as each vintage is a singular performance that deserves its own riffs.
Cycling the Tour de France has been likened to running 20 marathons in 20 days. I?m pretty sure I couldn?t run one marathon in 20 days.
Yet there I was, under the blistering sun of Provence, slowly pedaling my way up one of the most dreaded, soul-crushing climbs of last year?s Tour: Mont Ventoux. What lured me to that beast of a hill was a longing to do more than just watch the Tour de France. I wanted to experience the Tour de France. I yearned to ride the very roads that, just hours later, would be chewed up by Lance Armstrong, Laurent Jalabert and Joseba Beloki. I wanted to white-knuckle it down the same hairpin turns, and be cheered on by the giddy spectators who?d camped out for days, waiting for that colorful tsunami of Spandex to speed by. Basically, I hungered for a taste of what the world?s most grueling sporting event really felt like.
That?s what landed me, my husband and 13 others on a Tour de France cycling trip with Backroads, an adventure travel company. The plan was to follow the last third of the three-week race as the riders whizzed their way past the lavender fields of Provence, up the mythical Alps and down the cobblestoned Champs-Elysées in Paris. Along the way, we?d stay in four-star hotels, consume obscene amounts of French fare and work off those calories by cycling 40 to 60 miles a day (except during the trip?s three rest days). We?d get to bike some of the most memorable segments of Tour de France routes. We?d also tackle short sections of last year?s course, a torturous 2,032-mile journey.
?How hard can this be?? I naively wondered as I sat on my couch, lazily thumbing through a Backroads catalog. ?It?s not like we?re doing the whole Tour. Just part of it.?
But that ?part? happened to be the part with the mountains. Big, colossal, mammoth mountains.
Even so, I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If the prognosticators were right, I?d be witnessing Lance Armstrong pedal his way into the history books, becoming the first American ever to win six Tours. I?d be right there, literally, on Armstrong?s road to victory. Mountains, shmountains, I reassured myself. I?m 34 years old; I take spinning classes. I?ll be just as good as anyone else on the Backroads trip.
I knew I miscalculated that last part as soon as I got a glimpse of the other Backroads travelers. Most of the men?s legs were shaved closer than mine. This meant there was either a disproportionate number of transvestites on the trip, or these were some serious cyclists. It turned out to be the latter, which meant my husband and I were destined to play the role of lanterne rouge, the red lantern that hangs from the back of a train. It?s Tour-speak for ?the slowpokes.?
But unlike the Tour, this was a vacation, not a competition. At least that?s what I kept telling myself as I crawled up Mont Ventoux, which I think is French for ?makes you curl up in a ball and cry for Mommy.? The 6,273-foot mountain juts out of the Provençal landscape like a giant tumor; and this tumor is anything but benign. Comedian and cycling aficionado Robin Williams summed it up this way: ?Even the mountain goats don?t like it.?
Ventoux is a relentlessly steep 13-mile climb to the barren, lunar-like summit, where exhausted British cyclist Tom Simpson keeled over and died during the 1967 Tour. As I started to wonder if the same fate might await me, a burly Frenchman with a moustache as big as my handlebars decided I needed a little pep talk.
?Allez! Allez!? he repeatedly shouted in my ear as I crept up the mountain in granny gear. My French friend was telling me to ?Go! Go!? which was what I wished he would do, since sweat was stinging my eyes, my legs felt like the beleaguered stage during ?Riverdance? and the last thing I wanted was a hairy cheerleader.
But his words pushed me on, if only to put a little more distance between me and his Burgundy-infused breath.
I?d hear the ?Allez! Allez!? refrain countless more times from the throngs of onlookers who?d staked out their spot on the mountain, waiting for the Tour to wheel by in a few hours. Folks like me were merely the warm-up act.
We all know the French are very good at some things (food) and not so good at others (war). But they?re extremely adept at the high art of tailgating. When they weren?t rooting on amateur cyclists like me, they killed time by sipping wine, nibbling on brie and baguettes, playing cards and painting riders? names on the street.
At my heady speed of 4 mph, I had ample time to witness all of these pre-race festivities. It became clear that, to the French, the Tour is much more than a sporting event. It, like Jerry Lewis, is a cultural phenomenon. Unlike Jerry, it?s easy to understand the Tour?s appeal. This is a race packed with more drama than a Jerry Springer show, and with at least as much potential for bloodshed. Catastrophic crashes. Drug raids. Cheating. Smack talking. Not to mention jaw-dropping displays of athleticism. It?s hard to imagine just how much pain these guys put themselves through until you?ve sampled some of it firsthand.
Mont Ventoux is a kick-in-the-teeth climb, even when you?re cycling it with fresh legs like we were. But the Tour racers had logged 120 miles that day before broaching the base of Ventoux. And they still managed to go up it faster than I went down it. How?s that for an ego-deflater?
It truly is a humbling experience to watch more than 150 Tour riders sail up the very road you just cycled. They make it look so easy. But your burning quads and aching back remind you that it?s not.
I thought cycling Ventoux would leave me too exhausted to cheer on the racers. But one glimpse of that Texan wearing the coveted yellow leader?s jersey had the effect of a dozen espressos. There he was. Lance Armstrong ? cancer survivor, cyclist extraordinaire ? about an arm?s length away from me, plowing up the very mountain that made my legs feel like overcooked fettuccine. Despite being chased by a pack of cyclists who wanted nothing more than to strip that golden jersey off his back and feed it to him in tiny pieces, he looked more serene than I do in a bubble bath.
Other racers gulped oxygen like frat boys chug beer. But Armstrong seemed to be barely breathing while he pumped his pedals like pistons. I knew I was watching an über-athlete in action. I had a front row seat at the Tour de Lance, and I?d earned it. At the top of my overworked lungs, I shouted the words I?d once heard from a wise, mustachioed Frenchman: ?Allez! Allez!?
"Like the always-chic little black dress, chocolate never goes out of style. Whether prepared in a winter-perfect souffle format, drizzled over ice cream during the summer months or tucked into a decadent truffle that's perfect any season, chocolate gets it right every time. Read on for tips on pairing wine with this timeless treat, as well as insights on some of the best spots to try your hand at wine and chocolate pairing in person...
Ports vary in color, taste, and complexity based on the grapes used to produce them and the material used in the aging process. Among the most commonly found types of port are:
Tawny Port - Tawny port is made from red wine grapes, aged in wood. A reserve tawny is one that has been aged at least seven years. Tawny ports are usually light yellow in color and have a slightly "nutty" taste. Tawny ports made from a single vintage are called "colheitas" and indicate the vintage year on the bottle.
Ruby Port - Just as the name indicates, ruby ports are deep red in color. These are the least expensive ports and are made with red wine grapes and aged in stainless steel to preserve the color. Generally, ruby ports are aged from three to five years.
Vintage Port - The finest kind of port wine, vintage port comes from a single year's grape production. Not every year is declared a vintage year in Portugal and, as with fine Bordeaux or Burgundy wines, some years' growing conditions create a better product. Vintage ports are aged a maximum of 2 1/2 years before bottling.
LBV Port - LBV or "Late Bottle Vintage" ports were originally crafted to be vintage ports. However, due to lack of demand or other factors, they are left in the barrel longer than allowed for a vintage port. Generally, LBV ports are lighter in color and texture than the vintage cousins.
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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?
If you read TechCrunch you would have seen a report on an Australian experiment to Twitter a wine tasting.
Twitter is one of those 'what is the point' geeky things that you either 'get' or you don't. You have the ability to send a short 140 character message to all of your Twitter friends. A message is called a tweet, by the way. While it began as a simple way to let everyone know what you are up to it has morphed somewhat over the last few months; well at least it has in my little group!
Now conversations rule the day, links to news and sites of interest with the TechCrunch story highlighted by fellow wine blogger
Tecnorati
This is from Stonewell in the sub-region of Marananga. The winemaker is Barossa superstar Troy Kalleske and the executive producers are brothers Pierre and Bert Werden. The name JaJa is an acronym derived from the names of their four children - Jake, Andrew, Jordan and Alana. Bert has had another kiddy called Tara since so maybe they should call future releases JaJaTa…which sounds a bit like a cracker and could be wholly appropriate based on the quality of this first release.
"Like the always-chic little black dress, chocolate never goes out of style. Whether prepared in a winter-perfect souffle format, drizzled over ice cream during the summer months or tucked into a decadent truffle that's perfect any season, chocolate gets it right every time. Read on for tips on pairing wine with this timeless treat, as well as insights on some of the best spots to try your hand at wine and chocolate pairing in person...
