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| | The Complete Grape Growers Guide. |  | | A Complete Guide For Growing Grapes. Converts Very Well At A Reasonable Price! Growing Grapes And Making Wine Is A Very Popular Topic Right Now.
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| | Fool-Proof Wine Values. | | | Learn How To Easily Find Wines Of $50 Quality For $10 Or Less. Impress Friends With Your Expanded Wine Knowledge. Eliminate Your Dependence On Wine Salespeople. And Take The Hassle Out Of Buying Wine.
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| | Making Wine From Home. | | | A Fun And Very Informative Book On Home Wine Making. The De Facto Standard For All Home Wine Enthusiasts With Recipes, Advice And Tricks.
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| [05/01/2008, 18:38] | May Wine Events | | 
May is filled with wine festivals and other wine events as the weather warms around the United States. Here is just a sampling:
- San Luis Obispo, CA - May 1-4 - Roll out the Barrels
- Cleveland, OH - May 2-3 - Cleveland International Wine Show
- Orange Beach, AL - May 2-4 - Southern Breeze Wine & Culinary Festival
- Livermore, CA - May 3-4 - Downtown Livermore Wine Festival
- Charlotte, NC - Mary 7-10 - Charlotte Wine & Food Weekend
- Anderson Valley, CA - May 16-18 - Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
- Paso Robles, CA - May 16-18 - Paso Robles Wine Festival
- Sonoma Valley, CA - May 17-18 - Passport to Sonoma Vally
- Keuka Wine Trail, NY - May 17-18 - Keuka in Bloom
- New Orleans, LA - May 21-25 - New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
- Newport Beach, CA - May 23-25 - Newport Beach Food & Wine Festival
- Banff Springs, Canada - May 31 - Banff Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival
- Santa Cruz Mtns, CA - May 31 - Santa Cruz Mtns Vintners Festival
(photo courtesy of the Charlotte Wine & Food Weekend) See full article.
Related Entries:
Napa Valley Nabbing Wine Drinkers? - 10 September 2006 April & Easter Wine Events - 05 April 2007 Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival - 30 August 2007 March Wine Events - 25 February 2008 
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| [05/14/2008, 08:01] | Interview with the Ancients | |  I took a walk in a quiet place. In it, there were many souls from ancient times. They were from Greece and Italy, Sumeria and Egypt, Persia and Etruria. The voices were silent but the souls were coming through loud and clear, on a Friday afternoon on the eastern edge of Central Park.
I had just interviewed a gentleman about his life, his book and things Italian. But we didn?t quite make a connection. How could you do anything in 15 minutes, except perhaps to size each other up like two bulls in a ring? Not that it was that kind of encounter. I left feeling the need to reconnect with my roots, so I hopped on a subway and headed back a couple of thousand years, to interview the ancient ones.
 Q. What were the wines like when you were living?
A. They were dark and musky, and warm. They tasted a little like sour water sometimes and at other times sweet like rose petals.
Q. Who made the wine in your community?
A. We had families who passed the trade down from generation to generation. There were families, like in Chaldea, who had been working with the grape for hundreds of years.
Q. Who among you were the first to taste wine?
 The fellow in profile speaks
A. When we first tasted it, it came about by accident. One of the servants had left a vase of grapes lying around in a cool dark place and forgot about it. Several weeks later one of the porters was walking around and smelled this sweet odor. He had it brought up to the dining area and we all took bites out of this fruit we knew, but it tasted very different this time. And the juice in the bottom of the vase we all took sips of. This was something we had never experienced before. So we instructed the porters to pick more grapes and let them sit in the basement in the same manner. That was the first time we had seen it.
Q. How did the news of this travel?
A. Slowly at first, but after 400-500 years pretty much everybody in the known world had an idea of the transformative powers of the grape.
Q. And the merchants, how did they fit in?
A. At first, it was seen as a religious ritual, so the merchants stayed away. A tribe of women eventually wound their way through the empire, setting up trade with the Egyptians.
Q. Many times we hear that the Greeks brought wine culture to Italy. Who knows about that in this room?
 An Etruscan princess answers
A. We had already started with the grape before the Greeks arrived. We had been going on for several hundred years. What the Greeks did was to bring some new grape types with them, but not superior to the ones we had been cultivating for 500 years.
Q. It seems Ancient Romans loved wine. Poems were written about it, buildings and temples were erected in honor of the god of the grapes.
A. That all is true, but keep in mind we had very little to eat and drink. We were often sick and food went bad quickly. Wine kept, and it kept us well and our bellies full. And it made us happy.
Q. Did the grape have anything to do with the expansion of the Empire(s)?
A. Other than it went where man went? Of course when we conquered Gaul or the Huns or the Britons, we would plant vines and keep the local people collected and subdued. Wine had a part to play in the civilizing factor of the wild tribes.
Q. Last Question. If you were around today, what kind of wine would you like to see? What would you make?
 An older Roman answers
A. Listen, I would round up some of my soldiers and head to Toscanium and set that land straight. I?d bring them back to the Jovian roots and light a bloody fire under their feet. And by all the power of Jupiter, we?d bring them back to the flame of truth and all that is holy about the miracle the gods have sent down from the heavens in giving us grape with which to make this precious wine. Anyone caught disrespecting the gift of the gods would be crucified and struck down, their family sent into exile. To go against the Divine Immortals is the worst sin one could commit against the pantheon that rules our ancient souls.
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| [04/08/2008, 19:28] | A Great Question from a Reader and Why Argentine Tempranillo is Suddenly on the Horizon | | I would like to thank Earl, who posted comments and the following question on my recent Tempranillo in the Americas post: ?Why was there such a long interval between introduction of the vine into Argentina and exportation of varietal labeled wine?? Here are some important factors to consider: It?s important to recognize the fact that culturally, there is a stark contrast between the way in which wine has been regarded in Argentina versus our very international, varietal-minded, label-aware atmosphere where getting to know the world?s wines is something many people have expressed interest in doing. Fine wine production for the gentry, in terms of seeing wine as a prestige cultural/material good simply wasn?t priority for Argentines until fairly recently. While it is true that many progressive vintners have been dabbling in exciting varieties in the past few decades (after the familiar 19th century French varieties arrived), the very first vines in the 16th century were planted by monks and priests near their newly built monasteries and church compounds in order to provide wine for masses and other celebrations. In some of the official correspondence that Spanish monks had to regularly exchange with royal authorities in the 1550?s to justify expenditures and building projects, the planting of vines was mentioned briefly and only in passing?the degree of pomp we would show in describing how we installed a light bulb today. Certainly, my modern concerns would be: Which varieties were planted? Surely this mattered to the priests, right? Not really, since in the letters they mention the generic Latin term for all wine-producing grape varieties, ?vitis vinifera.? Records of colonial correspondence available at the Archivo General de Indias (Seville) indicate that a certain priest named Juan Cedrón (late 1550?s) first wrote of planting various types of Spanish vitis vitifera needed to carry on with life in the Argentine Northwest. The correspondence indicates that Cedrón was in charge of settling to the south of Santiago del Estero, Spanish settlers? first outpost after leaving their stronghold at Cuzco. As settlers made their way in a southwesterly direction, they encountered the dry, elevated Andean foothills of today?s provinces, the first of which is interestingly named La Rioja, then San Juan, and then Mendoza. In terms of answering the above question about which varieties were planted, there are some interesting parallels we can draw between Northern and Southern hemisphere Spanish colonization patterns and viticultural practices. Since Valdepeñas from La Mancha was considered to be one of the finest expressions of Tempranillo by 16th century Spaniards, this is precisely the name used in correspondence to introduce the variety into Nuevo León (México) and the area that encompasses California and parts of the American southwest. In the 16th century, Spaniards didn?t refer to prestige wines by variety but as Italians did at the time, according to their region or commune of origin. On a whole and as is evidenced in classics such as Don Quixote (1605), Spaniards enjoyed drinking ?Valdepeñas? and not ?a really nice Tempranillo,? as we would say in the U.S. today. If we take these considerations into account, it is a very well-sustained assumption that Tempranillo made its way across the Americas alongside Spanish settlers given that it was the red variety of choice. Other varieties planted for other styles of wines (acidic and sweet whites, etc.) in colonial times were Criolla Chica (also known as Criolla Sanjuanina) , Pedro Ximénez, Cereza, Muscat, Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano) and ?mónica? as it was known in Sardinia, Sicily and Spain (the famous ?Mission? grape introduced by Spanish Jesuits in 16th century California). Tempranillo (then referred to as ?Valdepeñas?), alongside the abovementioned varieties was cultivated at the Andean foothills for home consumption since the 16th century. Much trial and error ensued, and areas with relatively higher elevation and dry weather (La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza) and select areas in Mexico (including present-day California) became prime for producing these wines for settlers? purposes. Here are a couple of additional ideas to support the hypothesis that Tempranillo was one of the original vines planted in the Americas. Ethnographically speaking, a great deal of Spanish settlers in the early conquest of the Americas included an overwhelmingly large number of natives of the following Spanish regions where Tempranillo was the most important red variety?the provinces encompassing Castille and La Mancha such as Avila, Ciudad Real, Albacete, Badajoz, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Toledo, Salamanca and Madrid. It?s also important to keep in mind that in terms of actual planting area, Tempranillo vines are of relatively low incidence on a worldwide scale, with Argentina being second only after Spain, of course. Earl, I?m afraid that your question still hasn?t been fully answered: Why is it that Tempranillo has been around in Argentina since the 16th century yet the world hasn?t seen any exports of ?fine wine? versions until the early 1990?s? Wine globalization and the consumer trends that underlie it have shown the potential to create some sink-or-swim imperatives for wine producers to expand production of different varieties and innovate in the vineyard. In fact, given many recent trends, it is likely that this projected consumer has developed tastes and accumulated enough disposable income to not want to consume the kinds of table wines that Argentines don?t mind. How does the Argentine producer see this consumer, who needs an ?international? style of their table wines? Well, the customer is someone who most likely lives abroad, and because he does not likely come from a culture were wine is a major part of his cultural identity, he is perhaps well educated and would like to learn more about wines and adopt other interests that can be considered, pardon the term, a bit bourgeois. While I don?t entirely see it the way Argentines see it because I grew up between both cultures and thus, can see each point of view, this is more or less the situation. To answer your question, let?s think of timing and marketing. Who do many Argentine and Chilean producers wish to please? Why do the ?Wines of Argentina Awards? even exist? Spanish wines in the U.S. market at least, have really become fashionable in the past four or five years. Americans have been very receptive to various styles of Tempranillo-based Spanish reds and South American producers have realized that for the first time, the North American market is genuinely thirsty for different expressions of Tempranillo (this relic left by Spanish settlers, as far as Argentines are concerned). What do I make of this all? The ambiguity created by the correspondence of priests such as Juan Cedrón in the 1550?s regarding vitis vinifera has unfortunately opened the gates to opportunists. One such example of opportunism can easily be seen by an article I came across in a major Spanish daily?s wine section (El Mundo Vino). In the article titled ?Argentine Wine is Not Only Malbec,? by Harold Heckle, Juan Carlos Rodriguez Villa of the venerable Finca Flichman in Barrancas (Mendoza), claims that Tempranillo vines are a relatively new phenomenon in Argentina and that it was precisely his grandfather who visited Spain and subsequently introduced the variety to the Argentine wine industry in 1940. Although the Familia Zuccardi website does not make claims this sensational, they still care very much that today?s North American grape-variety-hopping, cosmopolitan Gen. Y-wine consumer regard them as pioneers in the Argentine industry when it comes to traditionally European varieties that exclude the Bordeaux and northern Italian varieties that pan-European immigration brought to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
And so, I walk down the aisles of many American retailers and see bottles of Argentine Tempranillo from producers I?ve never heard of, from the conventional Mendoza winery all the way through La Rioja, San Juan and down into Neuquén and even a general Patagonia appellation. The same question comes the mind for a native Argentine like myself?under which rock have all of these wines/producers been and why are they suddenly available now on shelves dominated by oaked Catena Chardonnays and endless rows of Malbec? Makes one think? | | | |
| [11/18/2007, 15:34] | UnScrew This | | The much-promised, overly hyped Riesling Review has now arrived (brought to you by Mylanta) Jill, Yulia, P-Cat, and myself (Jay) converged at Boozer Headquarters (my place) last Wednesday for the Riesling blind tasting. P-Cat's writing a column for a local newspaper and needed to taste through a bunch so we decided to make it A Thing. We each got a bottle from a different geographic locale, figuring the areas that needed representation were Germany, Alsace, Austria, New York, and Australia (don't blame me for the last one, ok?) AND, since we live the malt liquor lifestyle, we tasted them blind, each bottle wrapped lovingly in two layers of plastic bags. Ghetto super star, that is what we are. Here are my rather lame notes: Wine #1: Apricot, honeysuckle, rose petals on the nose; palate is lime, tangerine - stones, touch of cream, but thin. Wine #2: SULPHER! Yikes, burned my nose hairs. V pale in glass. Diesel, swampy nose. Palate of bitter green orange, lemon zest, pink grapefruit. Long finish due to acidity. Wine #3: Light, aromatic greens - fresh, sweet grass, white flowers, honeydew. Melon-apricot palate with stone minerality and balanced acidity. Yum. Wine #4: Diesel, wet stones. Sweet apricot, honey. Wine #5: Swamp water. Grape-lemon pucker candy. Sour Patch kids. Yuck. We no like. Results: 1: Paul Blanck 05 from Alsace (score 1 for me!) 2: Grosset 05 from Australia (upset of the CENTURY, folks!) 3: Domaine Wachau 06 from Austria (amazing value - our favorite, hands down, at only $12.99) 4: Fritz Haag 05 Kabinett from Germany (which we all guessed because of the residual - oops, sorry, forgot it was supposed to be a dry Riesling tasting..) 5: Red Newt Cellars 06 Reserve from NY State (surprising only in that is sucked so badly for the money - tasting like bad NYState wine, so I guessed this one immedately...) It was interesting too in that every wine except the Red Newt was screw cap. Go figure. Still not a huge fan of Riesling, especially since I tasted all these the night before some serious food poisoning that had me leaving pieces of myself roadside throughout the state for the next two days and I can't help but link the two incedents. Screwed indeed. | | | |
| [01/01/1970, 02:00] | 1998 Pinot Gris Rangen SGN, Zind Humbrecht, 750 ML - 149.95 | | | 98-100 points Tanzer: "Deeper orange color. Pure botrytis aromas of apricot, orange marmalade, quince jam, honey and licorice. Moderately viscous, but brilliantly delineated. Near-solid texture and perfect balance. Features an extraordinary high-wire act of 160 g/l residual sweetness and 11.5 g/l acidity, but here the alcohol is a more substantial 14.6%. This may well develop in bottle for 50 years." | | | |
| [05/14/2008, 02:49] | A rating system at last | | | Many's the time someone has said or written to me, "You need some kind of rating system." Because ecstatic babblings and lots of exclamation points and CAPITALIZED words aren't precise enough. OK, I succumb. When I review or just write extensively about a wine, I will henceforth and forthwith tack on a rating at the end. The reasons for the delay are many. The main one is that no system I've ever come across suits me as a person. The way I taste, what I taste, what the wine tells... | | | |
| [02/07/2008, 11:16] | Ponderings on Points, Amarones, and Arias | | I have been traveling back and forth across the country for the last two weeks and have been working long days for months. In between flights and endless delays in  airport waiting lounges, I try to make study time for my WSET exam coming up all too soon in a few days. After a grueling, four-city tour, tonight I feel justified in picking something special to celebrate a clean desk and being home. A bottle of Amarone is definitely appropriate. The bottle I decide on is an Amarone Negar 1961. Yes the vintage is right, 1961. It was a great year for Italian wine in 1961 ? rain and sun in perfect balance. John Kennedy was president of the USA. The Berlin Wall was under construction. Maria Callas was 38 and at the height of her career. Sophia Loren was starring in El Cid, and I was all of nine years old. The label is a little worn and torn. The fill level looks promising ? still mid neck ? although there is a little sediment. The cork seems to be okay ? solid and removes easily without crumbling. Should I decant and risk adding too much air? I pour a glass to see what has happened to this 40-something wine. The color is amazing ? dark red, with a little orange and brick red on the rim. The nose is equally remarkable ? still lots of fruit left on the nose, black cherry with truffle, and a little sherry oxidization odors in the background. A few swirls of the glass and the oxidative aromas disappear. The taste and finish on this wine is surprising, still full of black cherry,  truffles, and forest floor with a finish that lasts for minutes. The tannins are like silk, and there are not enough descriptors to describe the mouth feel and full body. The acidity must be holding this wine together. Now, there is a caveat to this story. We both love Amarone, so there is a built in basis here. But points and ratings have no relevance to this wine. It is, quite simply, a great wine. It is like the Callas aria playing on the stereo ? powerful yet filled with grace and finesse. It is an Amarone at its heights. Yes, 1961 was a good vintage year for Italian wines. I am going to lay down some bottles for the future.
Susan?s Note: This Amarone is a perfect example of why Frank and I both hate the point system. Is this a 98 or only a 97 point wine? After all, how do you define the difference of a single point? Or has this venerable liquid actually achieved the enviable position of 100 points despite its initial hint of oxidation? It is only two additional points after all. And if we were to rate it as a 98, would that make it comparable to the 2004 Cabernet Blend IX Estate from Colgin Cellars that received a 98 point nod from Robert Parker? Hmmm, let?s see. A three-year old blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petit Verdot from Napa Valley versus an Italian Amarone with almost half a century of love, care, and passion in its provenance. Somehow, the comparison just doesn?t work ? although I suppose one day, some scientist, somewhere in the world, will come up with a formula that proves you can actually make a meaningful comparison between apples and snow peas. (Photo of Maria Callas dated 1960, only a year before this wine was produced.) | | | |
| [10/17/2007, 00:07] | Pinot Gris - A Wonderful Grape Mutation | | Pinot Gris is a grape varietal that is a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape. The Pinot Gris vine appears similar to the Pinot Noir, but it produces a grape that is coppery gray instead of the dark violet of Pinot Noir. In fact, the only certain method of differentiating the vines is by the fruit that they produce. Researchers have found that the DNA structure of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir are virtually identical.
The Pinot Gris grape produces a delicious white wine with a rosy platinum color. This wine captures a perfect balance of acidity, fruit flavor and sweetness. | | | |
| [11/22/2007, 14:52] | Not Good with Turkey | | This time of year the wine lover is inundated with T-day wine recommendations..."German Riesling is perfect with turkey"...."A Beaujolais is a sure bet on Thanksgiving"...."Burgundy, both red and white are ideal on your Thanksgiving".....etc. etc. I for one am tired of staid poultry & stuffing wine pairing suggestions. How about something different to eat and drink on Friday - the day after turkey day? May I suggest a Vermentino, not from the sardinian coast, but from Lodi, California. Who knew the California version of this hefty-spicy-herby-citrusy grape could be so true to its Italian roots? After racking up mo' mo' credit card debt on Friday, take the edge of with a plate of turkey enchiladas paired to Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 ($10). It will be the best wine-food match you will sample all week. 
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| [11/19/2006, 07:26] | What You Should Know Before Buying a Wine Rack | | 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
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| [05/15/2008, 03:39] | Mouton Cadet (White) 2006 wine review by (PB) | | 
This lightly golden Bordeaux smells like a wonderful Riesling or Gewürztraminer on first sniff and then evolves quickly to a Sauvignon Blanc blend. Peaches and grassy notes are very nice on the swirl with flowery bouquet.
This wine is 40% S. Blanc 50% Semillion and 10% Muscadelle and it tastes precisely like what it is. This wine comes in at $7.50 and is food friendly, and okay as an aperitif. Raise a glass to be sure. | | | |
| [06/13/2007, 08:47] | Double blind dinner of a lifetime | | | …Big Boy style Rob had been planning this event seemingly all his life, and twelve very fortunate guests were invited to the private room at Cru one innocent Spring evening for this once-in-a-lifetime event, making me the resident Chesire Cat. For those of you that might not know or forget, double-blind means you do not know [...] | | | |
| [08/09/2006, 02:03] | Leelanau Cellars Autumn Harvest | | | 
Another summer is quickly coming to an end, and I hope everyone got a chance to visit their favorite local vineyard for a tour or a wine tasting. The highlight of my summer is always being able to visit the northern Michigan wineries. This summer, I got a chance to go up to the Leelanau Peninsula several times, and each time was memorable. Leelanau Cellars is, by far, my favorite place to visit up north, especially because of the tasting experience. You don’t feel limited of how many wines you can taste, and the staff working the tasting room are VERY knowledgeable and friendly. I left with about 16 bottles of wine the last time I visited! If you are looking for some odd fruit wines, this is the place to go. The wine:
I shared a bottle with my new roommates in Grand Rapids. All three of us loved it. Matt: “Delicious with chips and dip”
Casey: “It would be a good winter wine. Surprisingly smooth!” I enjoyed this 5 dollar bottle of wine with a thin-crust pizza and it was great. The wine was rich, and had a lot of flavor. I could taste the typical hints of cherry that most Michigan wines boast. Summary: Great job, Leelanau Cellars! I look forward to coming back next year!
Rating: 9/10 - Excellent!
Price: 5 bucks
Winery Information: Leelanau Cellars
Leelanau Wine Cellars
12683 E. Tatch Rd
(County Rd. 626)
Omena, MI 49674
(231) 386-5201 | | | |
| [05/14/2008, 02:54] | Chateau Guiraud-Cheval Blanc 2005 wine review by (PB) | | This Bordeaux Cotes De Bourg wine is another 05 value. It has a black cherry hue with tight fruit of black cherry and some raspberry notes with minerals and steel.
In the mouth this wine is sweet with some tannic structure, bready notes but needs to open. With breathing it is a tad hot but nice flavors and body with good structure and a good food wine. Buy this wine and two more to lay down for another year and reap the rewards. All this for only $14 so raise a glass to a great vintage! | | | |
| [11/29/2006, 08:30] | Tsuki no Katsura Junmai Daiginjo Nigori Sake, Kyoto | |  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. |
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Kalimna has always been a favourite of mine. I even persist in calling it Kalimna (R) which is now apparently is a trademark! Now that is comes with a stylish embossed screwcap the urge to buy and cellar is even stronger. That being said the last vintage I stashed away was the 1998…but this is certainly a contender..although the outstanding 407 may consume the Penfolds budget for this year. That being said (again), I have not tasted the 389 as yet….that is a job for tomorrow.
This is another great wine from the