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There are those who cling to the 'romance' and 'tradition' of popping the cork prior to imbibing. Then there are those who think such 'romance' and 'tradition' are ridiculous if these totems potentially mean stinking, spoiled wine. Both camps have valid points. I'm a sentimental, shmoopy sucker for the romance involved in popping the cork. But then, If I've dropped 40 or 50 clams, and my just-popped bottle of wine smells like a box-full of soggy, old Boys Life magazines, I set up camp amongst the pro screw-cap crowd.
Must the wine lover chose between faulty corks and sterile Stelvins when it comes to bottle closure? Would that there were a closure, which could preserve in an aesthetically appealing manner. Thank the cosmos for Vino-Lock. This glass stopper is much prettier than a Stelvin and, of course, more reliable than cork oak bark cylinders.
Just a few weeks ago I took home the first glass-stopped wine to appear in the wine shop. I loved it. And the wine wasn't too bad either.
Cusumano IGT Sicily Merlot 2006 ($12) - A simple, exuberant Merlot made more appealing by its aesthetically cool glass stopper. This inky-purple wine offers scents of cherry jelly and baked strawberry. Its flavors a simply tangy fruit. Cusumano Merlot is nothing if not pleasant and eager to accompany pizza.
Itching to try the latest flavor rage in wine coolers? It came to my attention recently that many people don?t know that wine coolers are simply flavored malt liquor. It surprises me even more that that info itself doesn?t seem to mean much to many people. What?s wrong with pina colada flavored malt liquor wine coolers? Well, nothing, unless you want to drink more than one or two. If you?re anything like me, more than one or two wine coolers will leave you with hangover symptoms later on that day or the next.
If you really want a strawberry daiquiri or pina colada, why not just buy the fixings to make those mixed drinks? Of course if you?re on a budget it?s probably better to just buy the wine coolers. But if you?re planning a big party or otherwise have a bigger drink budget, I strongly suggest making your own mixed drinks rather than buy a huge lot of wine coolers. Malt liquor is notorious for producing headaches and all the other hangover symptoms.
Mixed drinks don?t have to be all that expensive to make either. If you plan ahead a little you can decide on a few different mixed drinks to have on hand at your next party and save some money by using the same base liquor. For example, rum is a great liquor for fruity drinks. Pina coladas, daiquiris and many other drinks call for rum, so that?s a great standby as far as liquors for mixing go. And of course vodka is a good all round liquor that can make many types of less fruity drinks. So, a trip to the liquor store to purchase a bottle of vodka and a bottle of rum will yield all kinds of mixed drink options.
There are some excellent bartender and drink mixing websites out there that can help you make the most of your next mixed drinks occasion. There are even websites where you can input all the ingredients you have on hand and it will spit out a list of drinks that you can make. Webtender.com is just such a site. Go to http://www.webtender.com/cgi-bin/imbselect to input your available ingredients. Chances are you?ll be surprised to discover all the possible drink combinations using only the ingredients you have on hand.
Once again, I’m pleased to say that this little blog has been chosen as a finalist in the Winery Blog category of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. Steady, here’s the sales pitch: if you like what you’ve read here; if you have learned or laughed or even just shaken your head in utter disbelief because of this blog; if you can admit to your friends and colleagues that you do read this blog, then would you vote for it? And while you’re at it, would you ask those same friends and colleagues to vote, too??:) Take a look at the other deserving finalists in this category (many of which are my own faves), and in the other categories as well. There’s great stuff happening in the wine blog world—this is your chance to check it out!! Voting starts March 21 & ends March 28. Click here to vote.
When you click on the "buy now" links found all around the WineLog website, you are taken to a page that will show you one or more links to sites where that wine is sold. Buying wine through these links is a great way to stock up on the ol' ...
I've just finished going through a clutch of Hollick reds. I always think of them as one of Coonawarra's better producers, though clearly in recent years they've invested more and more in the nearby Wrattonbully region. I tasted through the following wines:
... and I was expecting that the Hollick Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 would come out clearly on top. It didn't. Indeed it wasn't even a Coonawarra wine that I preferred the most.
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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.
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.
menu selection . Visualization and pre-planning are the keys to a smooth flowing and disaster-free evening. Begin buy selection a set of recipes with which you feel comfortable. When creating a complete menu, mix recipes that can be fixed in advance with those that need to be prepared or finished during the party.
A few days ahead of the dinner, spend a half hour during your commute to work (or whenever your mind tends to take a cat nap) and focus on the number of guests, the food, the cooking facilities, and the working space in which you will be cooking. Picture yourself preparing the dishes you intend to make and serving them in the manner you have chosen. If the act of visualizing the preceding steps causes butterflies in your stomach, select alternative recipes, simplify the menu, and/or plan to do more of the cooking in advance.
If you are a certified dinner party phobic attempting to overcome your anxieties, select a recipe that can be prepared earlier in the day, i.e., a curry, and serve it with a simple salad of baby greens. Buy a finger food and a dessert or, more simply still, ask two guests to bring them. In so doing, you can put the mental block of food preparation behind you and focus on the deep-rooted source of your phobia.
pre-production . It's not always possible, and never crucial, to prepare all of the food during the last 90 minutes before your guests arrive, or in their presence. Most of my recipes can be prepared, at least partially, one day in advance. The flavors of some foods, such as soups and curries, actually improve after sitting for a day. Other foods can be prepared in advance and frozen -- although I confess to having little experience in this area because the freezer section in my aesthetically pleasing fifties refrigerator functions exclusively as a frost factory.
The corollary to food improving with time is that some foods lose their zest if prepared too far in advance. Before serving any food, taste it. If necessary, "refresh" it with salt, pepper, lemon and/or a generous portion of the same herbs that were used originally to flavor the dish.
sizing the servings . Unless you have specifically asked how hungry individual guests are, it is desirable to make all portions equal. The first phase of portion control takes place when shopping for ingredients. Sometimes a little hardball may be required. For example, if you were to request twelve 1-inch-thick salmon steaks from your local fishmonger, he would probably cut them from a single salmon. Unfortunately, the cut from the middle of the fish can be twice as wide as the cuts nearest the head or tail. There's always almost another salmon "in the back" and you must stand your ground to get what you need. After all, you are the customer and, per the retail credo, that makes you always right.
To avoid running out of food, prepare a little extra -- even at the expense of having leftovers. When planning for casual parties where additional guests may drop by, or arrive in tow with your invited guests, it's always wise to prepare extra portions of the main dish. At least be sure to have lots of something i.e., salad, bread, veggies, etc.
If you are assembling plates for a seated affair, don't let any plate out of the kitchen until you are certain that you have enough of everything to complete the remaining dishes.
timing is everything . Having settled on a menu and decided which items to cook in advance, slide back into the visualization mode for a moment and imagine that it's 15 minutes before showtime. Will everything be ready at the same time? Are the garnishes prepped? Did you put the rise on?
Return to the present and create a "critical path" by establishing the sequence in which each dish needs to be started, refreshed or reheated. When in doubt, scribble out a running order and stick it on the refrigerator.
When showtime arrives, wait until the last minute to put the finishing touch on delicate foods. As a rule, begin steering your guests toward the dinner table before tossing the salad, adding shrimp to a sauce or steaming vegetables.
the accelerated assembly line . Assembling a large number of plates quickly is a challenge for professional chefs and amateurs alike. Before you begin, think about how you would like the food to look on the plate and how the colors, shapes and textures will interact. Create a blueprint in your mind and plan to assemble each plate identically. Then:
Have all the food and garnishes ready to be dished out
Have the appropriate serving utensils in hand
Set the (warmed) plates out on the available counter space
Confirm that all of the guests are seated
Make up the first plate according to the blueprint in your mind
Then, with the help of one or two guests-cum-sous-chefs, dish it all out as quickly as possible, assembly line style. (If you have a cassette deck in your kitchen, play the William Tell Overture)
Wipe any drippings from around the edge of the plates with a clean dish towel and check that garnishes are in place before allowing each dish to leave the kitchen.
space oddity . Oven space, counter space and refrigerator space are valuable commodities when cooking for large groups -- and another reason to keep the menu simple. A shortage of counter space is the most common hindrance in a small kitchen. Sometimes a little ingenuity is required to convert dead space into a functional prepping area. Cover the sink with a cutting board, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it over the stove's burners (heat off, please) and clear the decks of any appliances or items that are not required for the meal, i.e., the juicer, toaster, bread maker, coffee maker, coffee grinder, kettle, cookie jar, popcorn maker -- I think you get the picture.
the grill drill . The advent and popularity of propane gas grills has significantly reduced the inconvenience factor of grilling. If you are using propane, refill your tank before the party and/or keep a spare tank -- a party is a bad time to discover the gas gauge is broken.
I still swear by real hardwood charcoal (often available only in mesquite), which I believes provides the best grill flavor. This may stem from my difficulty in conceptualizing how petrified lava rocks can duplicate the smoky flavor of natural wood.
When grilling with real charcoal, light your coals 30 minutes in advance. Extra charcoal may be required to keep the fire burning, but it beats fighting to get the coals lit while you're famished dinner guests cheer you on. Never use starter fluids to light your coals. They make food taste like a gas rag, not to mention being one of the worst known air polluters. Use crumpled newspaper, ideally in combination with the very politically correct starter chimney.
Whether you have chosen gas or charcoal, beware that grilling for 6 to 12 people can require a surprisingly large area of grill space -- especially if you have chosen to accompany the entree with grilled veggies. Be prepared to grill your food in shifts, or borrow a second grill so that all of the food can be cooked at once.
help! i need somebody . Once your guest list hits the double digits, the sheer volume of people becomes an impediment to merely "winging it." In most cases, guests will be willing to lend a hand or even arrive early to help, though occasionally circumstances may make this inappropriate or undesirable. In these cases, you might consider outside help. Help comes in the following flavors: bartender, sous-chef or general kitchen assistance. Consult a friend who uses help, check the Yellow Pages or hire the kid next door.
Hiring one person to assist with the prep, cooking and cleanup can make the difference between enjoying yourself and feeling like the "help" at your own party.
if you can't stand the heat... . Throwing a dinner party is supposed to be one of life's little pleasures. But there is work involved. Hard work. Even the most enjoyable parties have their trying moments. Compose your own cooking mantra and repeat it to yourself with Buddhist fervor whenever the inevitable disaster rears its ugly head. Not only will this save you untold aggravation, but it will start you down the path toward an understanding of the true Zen of cooking.
The best thing about this very moment is that I am in my own bed. Finally. After camping out for five days at Vinitaly and then taking to the road for another week in northern Italy, I came home exhuasted and relieved. Airplanes filled with sick children coughing for eleven hours must have broken down my resistance. A week in the office trying to put together a series of wine seminars across Texas and then a very important dinner for an important Italian winemaker, almost broke me. I spent a weekend alternating between duties at wine dinners and laying on my couch trying to prevent getting any sicker. But come Monday I was stung. Maybe it was a little flu, or a cold or allergies, whatever it was, I should have sat the week out. Instead I took to the road. Dallas on Monday, Houston on Tuesday, Austin on Wednesday and San Antonio on Thursday, with a quick flight back to Dallas for a private and very upscale event for Riccardo Cotarella at the home of a friend in Highland Park and sixty of his closest friends and family.
Last Sunday I knew I was sunk. I had driven off the wine trail onto a shoulder, and it was leading me straight into the gates of hell. But what could I do? I was scheduled to work all week with my colleague and friend the Master Sommelier, Guy Stout. Four days, four cities. The show must go on.
I had no voice. I emailed a friend whose wife is an opera singer, a coloratura soprano. She is very protective of her voice. So I asked him to have her send me her remedy for a sore throat with no voice and the need to perform. Her email was priceless, and someday I must reprint her remedy, for it is alchemy and genius.
I proceeded to go forward. Monday was upon me. Our meeting with salespeople went well enough. That lasted for an hour and was fairly low impact. The challenge would come in the afternoon when we would be doing a ninety minute presentation and a lot of talking.
Time out. I don?t usually talk about these things. I call these kinds of posts ?mommy blogs.? See what I did, see who I talked to, see my wonderful life. I usually stick to topic. But lately I have heard from a lot of folks about how wonderful my profession and life is. And it is. But not without some downsides as well. Many hours, lots of work and when one wears themselves out, burn on through it. Don?t stop. Not very glamorous.
So I was suited up and sounding like Barry White. Dallas went well, plenty of folks showed up; it was an SRO(standing room only) kind of day. Around 5:30 I was dragging and someone suggested I go home. One stop first. A friend with MS needed some wine for her MS charity event planning meeting. So I rounded up some bottles and took them to her penthouse. And then home and straight to bed.
8 PM and it is still light out. But in eight hours I must get up and catch a plane. So I forced myself down and hoped when I awoke I would feel better.
No chance. But I'm on a 6:30 AM plane, anyway. If I wanted to feel bad about my plight I saw two other colleagues at the airport who had come from way out in the suburbs to catch their flights as well. So no tears for me.
I have a friend who I rarely see, but it seems lately we are on the same plane to Houston. We both started out about the same time in the wine biz and we took different paths. But it is always interesting talking to him about the big Napa Valley wine business. Lots of correlations.
Houston. 7:30 AM. 80°F and 90% humidity. I should have brought more shirts. On to the morning meeting.
First one went well. The afternoon one started later and I found myself on a hotel room laid out trying to regain some strength. I was taking a mixture of antihistamines, zinc, aspirin, nose spray, cough drops and cough syrup. I was up, down, soft boiled, poached and rendered. I felt like crap. Thirty minutes to showtime.
Seventy folks filed in and my spirits were raised. I talked as long as my voice held out and then I handed the program over to Guy. A friend in the audience told me later that he saw my voice trail off and disappear as I handed the program over to my colleague.
2 days down ? 2 to go
After flying to Houston and doing a full days worth of program we loaded up the car and headed to Austin. I have taken that Houston to Austin road three times this year and I am beginning to really like it in a country and western song writing kind of way. As we headed into Austin, missing dinner with any number of Italian winemakers who had descended upon the capital, we rolled into the hotel and bagged it for the night.
Austin. We had two great days and we got cocky. A decent enough session with our staff and then on to the trade function.
Austin isn?t like anywhere else. There?s no predicting what will or won?t work. We set up the room, decorated the tables for 50 and opened up scores of great Italian wines. And then we waited. And waited.
Earlier we had rolled out for a quick lunch of tacos, chased with a bottle of Kerner. In plastic glasses, over ice. Had we offended the wine gods? This was Austin, was that so wrong?
Finally we started. Seven brave souls made it to the event. Along with double that amount of wine suppliers and staff. I had no voice and my emotions weren't too high, but I belted out a program that was one of my best. I gave it 120%. Later one of my friends showed up and lifted my spirits. I was really down. Guy wasn?t feeling so masterfully wonderful either. But we soldiered on and packed up the car and headed to San Antonio.
A nice meal at Luca and a glass or two of wine and we were three days down and one to go.
San Antonio ? Thursday 9 AM ? there must have been 45 salespeople in the room. Guy and I did our thing and afterwards several salespeople came up and told us we had made a difference for them that day. One old boy brought tears to my eyes. Something that I said about just making a note to have an answer to the question, ?what?s new?? really pushed his button, in a good way. Yes, they liked me, they really liked me. On to the afternoon seminar.
Meanwhile Guy drove us, on the way, to an aggie store where he returned some ridiculously expensive pesticide. I had been traveling in his car for two days with this ultra concentrated poison that cost $200 a gallon?
In the poison store that had these wonderful posters with detailed drawings of ants and bees and sharpshooters. Down to the hairy backs on the big headed ants. Weird, but wonderful, in a macabre way.
Finally we made it to the last venue in time to get a call that my alarm back home is on and the alarm company won't call the police because I haven?t updated my permit info. All this while my phone/blackberry is crashing every five minutes.
So I lose it. I call my son and neighbor to go over and check it out. Seems that Dallas was having some serious April weather and the power was out. Small favors.
The afternoon seminar, the last one before heading back to Dallas for the Cotarella event. The restaurant had set the room up as if only seven people were coming to this one. No, no, no. Eventually 15-20 people showed and we averted a disaster.
I started the event off knowing I would have to bow out early and get to the airport. Around ten minutes past the time I should have stopped, Giulio popped his head in and got me out to the car. Along the way he made conversation about things, trying to ease my worry.
Airport. In time. Phone dead. Catch plane. Ears clog up and stay clogged up. I?m never gonna get well.
A hard landing in Dallas and a quick dart to Highland Park to prepare for the Cotarella event. I am dead tired. I am grouchy. But the show must go on. Clouds were gathering. Would our wonderful Italian al fresco event be forced to move inside? Please, please, please, don?t rain.
Riccardo showed up looking tired too. We were the walking wounded in search of the illusive bella figura. But we grabbed each others arms and headed for the stage. Just like Bing and Bob. We killed ?em. They loved it. Almost done.
Finally about 9 PM Riccardo looks like I feel. He stands up and says good night. Thank you, Riccardo, we can all go rest up and get ready to pitch our tent another day.
That?s a peek into a week of the glamorous wine life.
For some people, the storage and acquisition of wine is more than just a hobby, it is an art.
Wine connoisseurs all know that the proper storage of wine is important to its final flavor. Once it is already bottled, wine will still mature and gain body and flavor. Proper care should be taken when handling wine, or else its potential for greatness will go to waste. To keep their wine well preserved, the discriminating connoisseur will choose a proper wine rack.
How to Buy a Wine Rack
The Build Wine racks can be made of so many different materials and styles. You should consider which material and style fits your need and preference. You could have wood, glass, alloy, or metal racks. Some people try to choose materials that match their living rooms. There are a variety of styles of wine racks, find one that if convenient for you. The popular styles include counter top racks, diamond bins, cabinets and others.
The Essential Elements A good wine rack will ensure that the following elements are strictly controlled. Light, humidity, temperature, stability. If you want to keep your wine well preserved and ready for ambush party, you need to make sure they are not exposed to light, moisture, extreme temperatures and shaking or vibration.
Cabinet wine racks are good at keeping wine bottles safe. They can emulate the conditions at a wine cellar best. These condition include moderate humidity, cool temperatures, and little light
We try to control the humidity so we can avoid getting the wine cork from accumulating moisture. This will lessen the chances that the wine will get contaminated or oxidized. Keeping the correct humidity or appropriately moist environment will keep the wine cork damp, reducing the chances of contamination and/or oxidization. Warm conditions will accelerate wine aging. You have to keep this in mind when you consider which wine rack to choose.
Things to Remember Don’t place wine cellars above or near refrigerators. Refrigerators generate heat and this heat could ruin you wine collection. Buying and installing a good wine rack would be useless if that happened.
Your rack has to be smooth enough that when the wine bottles are put and taken, they will not get scratched and damaged. Bottles and labels are also important parts of the overall value of wine.
A wine cellar is great but not necessary to store your wine in the correct environment. But since not everyone can afford a wine cellar or has space enough for one, you could opt for a wine rack instead. Wine racks function a lot like wine cellars, but they are smaller and are more accessible. They are also a lot cheaper and easier to install.
Believe it or not, ultraviolet light can affect and ruin wine. That’s the reason wine cellars are so dark and that’s why you have to keep your wine in a dark safe place. When you store your wine bottles, make sure they are stored sideways; this ensures that the wine is always in contact with the cork to keep it moist.
Once again we cannot express how important it is to maintain the right conditions for your wine to mature nicely. Your wine rack system has to maintain the right amount of humidity and temperature to keep your collection going. Bear in mind that wine is something you keep for a long time. Keep your wine racks pumping a temperature range of 55-60° F. Also make sure the humidity is in the 50% to 75% range. Adjust these settings according to the needs of your wine.
Start Planning for Your Wine Rack Now! Well, now you have pretty much gotten everything in order. When a party comes crashing through, you can whip out the grade A wine and celebrate to your hearts content. Pour out the good times to the tune of the compliments and admiration your friends will throw your way all because of your fine wine rack.
About the author: For more great wine rack info and advice check out: http://www.rack-hq.com
Tasted by bmarshall. Nice cali Pinot here. I remember tasting it when it was a little younger and it had a little heat... but it has mellowed and is drinking nicely now. Red fruits (cherry and strawberry) with some earth and oak on the nose and palate. Not overly complex. Medium, and almost full, bodied on the palate with a nice, lingering finish. (89 pts.) - Tasted 5/16/2008. [FIND IT!]
First Press - the UK wine trade’s first fully-interactive Ezine, has just launched featuring an interview with JancisRobinson. First Press has been produced by Nicky Burston of World Wine Agencies. It has a lifestyle look and feel and is easy to download, or email directly to friends. Issue 1 of this new quarterly features wine celebrity interviews and podcasts, up-and-coming news and events and includes a prize draw for tickets to Old Trafford.
Recently Tom Wark posted a piece on Fermentation titled On Dogs, Wine & God that compares wine characteristics to the traits that are bred into dogs. Quoting one of his commenters, wine blogger Arthur Z Przebinda of Redwinebuzz, Tom says: "What makes a Doberman a classic example of the breed? The way it best displays the traits and characteristics that define the breed," then goes on to point out that over time dog breeders have bred out or in certain characteristics based on evolving breed standards, that the same thing has happened with wine, and that's perfectly OK.
The Doberman is a perfect example, since the Dobes of today are bred to be companions more than the protector that German tax collector Louis Dobermann created in the late 1800s. Today's Dobes are bred to retain all the qualities Herr Dobermann was after ? intelligence, power, speed, and ease of mainenance ? but with a more tractable temperament suitable for a family dog. Similarly, some wines that were previously unapproachable or challenging have been changed so that they can be enjoyed by a larger segment of the population. In each case, there are curmudgeonly traditionalists and those who embrace the new style, and their viewpoints are equally valid.
This seems like a good way to segue into an introduction to our newest staff member here at WineCanine, a 10-month-old Doberman named Hobbes. Hobbes came to us through Southwestern Ohio Doberman Rescue, which had him in a foster home in Louisville, Kentucky. Hobbes was named Sirius by SWODR and apparently had been called Buster at one time, judging by the name on the leash that he came with. We had originally gone down to meet a red Dobe named Calvin, who, with his long tail and natural ears, looked quite a bit like our Red, who passed on in late March. Calvin was nice, but this young, fawn-colored fella turned out to be a Weim lover. So, we went down to look at Calvin, but ended up with Hobbes.
Hobbes has been very interested in learning about everything in the kitchen, so after a brief training period he will assume the position of WineCanine's official ChowHound.
I just received an email from RadCru announcing a live chat (text, audio, video) with the winemaker and owner of Tobacco Road Road Cellars. The chat takes place today, March 26th, from 2:00 - 3:00pm EST. If you're interested in getting in on the chat, go to www.tobaccoroadshow.tv. It looks ...
Mr Riggs is a brand that made a splash when it first appeared a few years ago but – as much sub-consciously as anything – I always thought it would hit and run pretty fast, and disappear after a few vintages. I say this even though the wines have generally been very good. And well packaged. And reasonably priced. Maybe it’s just me, but the brand name itself just seemed to have gimmick written all over it.
Or it did. Now it doesn't. It’s good to see that the brand is still alive and going strong. In terms of quality, the following wines are the strongest bunch I have seen under this label.
I find myself about to debunk a product who?s claim I do not altogether doubt. The Eisch Glaskultur company of Germany has released a line of stemmed crystal that they claim ?aerates beverages within minutes.? Their packaging states ?A wine poured into a Breathable Glass for just 2 to 4 minutes will show signs of aeration equivalent to the same wine that has been decanted and aerated for 1 to 2 hours.?
Since I am on the record for saying that ?breathing? is a wine myth, I can hardly fault a product that claims to do nothing, and succeeds. Of course the implication that they are using to sell glassware is that this stem will improve your wine tasting experience. This is what I set out to test.
Let me start by clarifying my positing on wine breathing. I have conducted various experiments over the years and the results have not done much to make me a believer. I am not saying that there is no difference from a wine that is decanted for an hour or two from a recently opened bottle, I am just not sure the difference is either significant, or difficult to reproduce with a few good swirls in a glass.
The premise is that allowing a wine to breath opens it up. It has a very poetic sound to it, except that wine does not respire so much as exhale. Wine vents volatile compounds into the air. The whole glass swirling thing is about releasing these compounds to make them easier to detect.
To say that a sitting wine improves is to say that these volatile compounds were in present in too great a number to begin with. This is certainly true with some wines that have off odors or excessive volatility, and in those rare cases I highly recommend a forceable decanting (so the wine literally chugs out of the bottle and splashes violently into the decanter).
If the wine was sound to begin with, it by definition was not excessively volatile. Vinegar is wine with way too much volatility, as an extreme example. Few modern wines you open will be vinegar-like. Some other off odors, such as the wet rotten leaf smell of a wine that has undergone malo-lactic fermentation in a bottle, may be reduced by decanting. A wine that went through MLF in a bottle will usually be slightly sparkling as well.
The experiments I have conducted include opening a bottle and tasting it blind against another bottle of the same wine which had been opened and or decanted some time before. The decanted wine may well have a different aroma and taste, but after a few minutes of swirling either wine, the differences balance out.
For the Breathable Glass (BG) I created a simple experiment. So simple that I concede that I do not have definitive proof of my hypothesis. On the other hand, it is simple enough that anyone can try it.
I put the same wine in the BG and another tall, well shaped glass and let them sit for four minutes without touching them. I then poured both wines into identical tasting glasses and tasted them blind. I did the same test again, only this time I swirled each of the wines reasonably evenly for 2 minutes before switching glasses and tasting.
In neither case did the wine from the BG exhibit any significant aromas or flavors that varied from the wine which had been poured into the regular glass. Therefore I can state unequivocally that I did not find anything remarkable or impressive.
My wording here is deliberate since Ronn Weigand who is one of the few combination Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine is quoted right on the packaging as saying ?I was especially impressed - Remarkable!?
The test I conducted were designed to be easily verified by my peers, and as always I urge them to do so. What I didn?t do is almost as important as what I did.
I did not test a wine that had been in the BG for 4 minutes against the same wine that had been in a decanter for two hours, as per the claim on the package. I did not run a spectroscopic analysis to determine if the crystal makeup of the glasses was richer in oxygen, the mechanism cited for the claim. I didn?t do many things, but I did what I did, and I didn?t find a difference.
The Breathable Glass line is fine crystal with a good feel to it, and at $20 a stem it is not outrageously priced. I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond, and it is because it is being marketed to the main stream instead of to wine geeks that I felt compelled to try it.
My advice is to save your money and buy one of the $4 stems right next to it on the shelf, unless you like the feel of the glass and it is in your budget. Just don?t expect miracles.
Oh, and the title of the blog is indeed a nod to Robert Lynn Asprin?s entertaining Myth-Adventures series. I know a few of you were dying to ask.
Beth and I have been itching to enjoy any of the Spring days lately that are actually warm and wind-free, so when we saw that not only was the weekend going to be warm, but that the Clayton Art & Wine Festival was on deck, we picked up the Pug ...
"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...
This wine is hot pink. Don't believe me? I took a picture of it against the white backdrop of my GE dryer just to prove it.
You might ask yourself, "what is the point of hot pink fizz?" It's a good question. This is not a delicate rose, or a shell-pink sparkler, or anything subtle, profound, or even particularly memorable.
This is a "Whazzat?" wine. "What the hell is that stuff?" is most likely to be the question your guests and loved ones ask when you pour it. You can tell them that it is a gently fizzy frizzante wine from around Venice made from a grape that few have heard of called Raboso. I know, I know. Your cousin Marge doesn't care about that stuff, but it is the right answer. Raboso is a tannic monster with deeply-colored skins which helps to explain why it is so violently pink. It also explains why this wine has some serious grip to it, for all its foofy fizziness.
The NV Incanto Frizzante Rose is one of those wines that you have to have a lot of wine confidence to drink in front of other people. It's hot pink color, aromas of cherry, and tiny bubbles will be enough to make friends think you've lost your mind. But trust me, you haven't--especially if you are drinking a well-chilled bottle while eating a spicy pepperoni pizza on the deck on a warm, early summer Friday evening.
It has all the tannins of a dry red, the refreshing quality of a sparkler, and the crispness that you want on a warm day. There is a dry aftertaste, which just confirms this is no candy wine. But the combination of dryness, bubbles, and tannins makes it the ideal partner for pizza with spicy toppings, appetizer plates loaded with salumi, olives, and cheese, or just plain sipping on a warm afternoon.
You can get this unusual wine at Trader Joe's for around $5.99. At that price this is very good QPR, and it will set you back far less than the pizza or the gas required to pick the pizza up. These days, who can ask for anything more?
Firstly I'm having further problems with my blog which go back to the previous problems I had. Up until this morning everything was working, then Typepad went down and when Typepad came back up my blog decided to be silly. So you may have problems assessing a page and you will have a problem leaving a comment. If you remove the words "my weblog/" from the browser bar comments will work.
I hope to sort it out soon. It couldn't have happened at a worse time.
We have one more participant to A Taste Of Yellow.....and that brings us to a nice round number of 180. From Chuck in San Francisco at Sunday Nite Dinner the 180th entry is Spicy Corn Salad. Sorry no photo at this point.
There was a time, when as a teen, I listened to music for hours each day. Then came children whose sleep took precedence. Music became something peripheral and half volume. The quieter it became, the less I listened.
For years I begrudgingly consumed commercial radio (on my way to and from work). It made music even less enjoyable. Predictable and bland. A filler and a distraction rather than anything substantive or enjoyable.
I've grown more particular with age, harder to please and less tolerant of formula and packaging. Despite this, I find that again I'm listening to and enjoying music, mesmerised by the beauty, frailty and power of some songs.
I imagine it's the same with wine. I have friends who once had a passion, but for whatever reason (health, children, money, spouse) they have lost interest. If they do drink it's the routine and mundane that passes their lips. A sure way to extinguish any remaining spark. Soon all wine becomes the same, an agreeable liquid that no longer excites. . .
Tecnorati
Must the wine lover chose between faulty corks and sterile 
Here's a sure sign that Spring has actually arrived, and that Summer is on the way: The local farmers markets are beginning to stir. 
The best thing about this very moment is that I am in my own bed. Finally. After camping out for five days at Vinitaly and then taking to the road for another week in northern Italy, I came home exhuasted and relieved. Airplanes filled with sick children coughing for eleven hours must have broken down my resistance. A week in the office trying to put together a series of wine seminars across Texas and then a very important dinner for an important Italian winemaker, almost broke me. I spent a weekend alternating between duties at wine dinners and laying on my couch trying to prevent getting any sicker. But come Monday I was stung. Maybe it was a little flu, or a cold or allergies, whatever it was, I should have sat the week out. Instead I took to the road. Dallas on Monday, Houston on Tuesday, Austin on Wednesday and San Antonio on Thursday, with a quick flight back to Dallas for a private and very upscale event for Riccardo Cotarella at the home of a friend in Highland Park and sixty of his closest friends and family.
Last Sunday I knew I was sunk. I had driven off the wine trail onto a shoulder, and it was leading me straight into the gates of hell. But what could I do? I was scheduled to work all week with my colleague and friend the Master Sommelier, Guy Stout. Four days, four cities. The show must go on.
First one went well. The afternoon one started later and I found myself on a hotel room laid out trying to regain some strength. I was taking a mixture of antihistamines, zinc, aspirin, nose spray, cough drops and cough syrup. I was up, down, soft boiled, poached and rendered. I felt like crap. Thirty minutes to showtime.
After flying to Houston and doing a full days worth of program we loaded up the car and headed to Austin. I have taken that Houston to Austin road three times this year and I am beginning to really like it in a country and western song writing kind of way. As we headed into Austin, missing dinner with any number of Italian winemakers who had descended upon the capital, we rolled into the hotel and bagged it for the night.
Finally we started. Seven brave souls made it to the event. Along with double that amount of wine suppliers and staff. I had no voice and my emotions weren't too high, but I belted out a program that was one of my best. I gave it 120%. Later one of my friends showed up and lifted my spirits. I was really down. Guy wasn?t feeling so masterfully wonderful either. But we soldiered on and packed up the car and headed to San Antonio.
Finally about 9 PM Riccardo looks like I feel. He stands up and says good night. Thank you, Riccardo, we can all go rest up and get ready to pitch our tent another day.
Recently Tom Wark posted a piece on Fermentation titled 
"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...