Last January, the UK based wine writer and Committee Member of the Circle of Wine Writers, Christine Austin, suggested that we apply to the organization housed in England. Having had several people offer a similar suggestion for over a year, it seemed ridiculous for us not to get off our hides and do something about it. So, we figured we’d experiment a bit, where I would apply and test the waters, followed by Ryan’s application soon thereafter.

As taken directly from their website:

The Circle of Wine Writers is an association of authors, broadcasters, journalists, photographers and lecturers who are professionally engaged in communicating about wines and spirits. It was founded in 1960 by the late Cyril Ray and now has more than 280 members and, although most of the membership is based in England, the Circle has members in countries around the world.

The objectives of the Circle of Wine Writers are:

* to improve the standard of communication about wines, spirits and beers
* to contribute to the growing knowledge and interest in wine
* to promote wines and spirits of quality and to comment adversely on faulty products and dubious practices
* to establish and maintain good relations with the news media and the wine trade
* to provide members with a strong voice with which to express their views
* to provide a forum for the exchange of information
* to provide a programme of workshops, meetings, talks and tastings

A month has now passed, as seen by the lush green blanket of leaves hanging right outside my office window, and I have just received my very first packet of information including not only a description of the Circle’s turbulent and exciting past, but also their February and March newsletter chalk full of tasting notes, wine trips and commentaries. To be honest, it was a little strange to receive a newsletter consisting of approximately 27 pages of double-sided text stapled together. Repeat: a stapled newsletter. If I didn’t know better, I could have easily mistaken it for one of a dozen reports I handed in during my high school years, complete with a yellow cover printed with their grape and feather quill pen logo.

Funny newsletter aside, I’m truly honored to be apart of this very prestigious organization. While looking down the list of their 280+ members from all over the world, I think I’m one of only a handful of bloggers, while the rest have enough print publications under their belt to fill my office library. It’s a bit daunting to see my name next to, or even near, those of Jancis Robinson, Hugh Jackson and John Radford, but then again, it gives me a goal to work towards I’m sure over years, they’ll teach me a thing or two, or twelve, about wine.

My only other hope is that the Circle will incorporate more social networking tools into their website. With such a vast amount of wine knowledge, I think it would be worth their while to make the members more easily accessible to one another.

Cheers,
Gabriella

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Part of becoming a connoisseur of cheap wines is knowing where to look for them. I’ll share with you one of my little secret places I attempt to seek out cheap wine: the “Reduced for Quick Sale” shelf at your local supermarket. At Meijer, my local super-mega-ultra-store, this shelf is usually located in the bottle return area. Not a very pleasant place to be searching for wines, but just think of it as a treasure hunt! You may find a bounty of cheap wines that you never knew existed.

While picking over the wines yesterday, a cartoon label caught my eye: Big Daddy Vineyards Merlot. I picked up the March 2002 vintage for about 6 dollars.

Why was this reduced for quick sale? Was it worth enduring the stench of the bottle return area to bring home this wine? Yes, yes it was. It’s almost sad that this wine traveled all the way from Argentina to end up in my bottle return area.

Big Daddy knows how to make a good cheap wine. Believe it or not, the first attribute of this wine I picked up on was the light hint of bacon. Mmm bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon? Big Daddy loves it, that’s for sure. Look at that belly! On top of the bacon was a strong berry with a leathery taste.

If you’re looking for a full bodied cheap red wine with a lot of character, give the Big Daddy Merlot a try.

Rating: 8/10 - High score for originality
Price: 6.00
Place of purchase: Meijer
Vineyard Info:
Big Daddy Vineyards
Mendoza, Argentina
www.bigdaddyvineyards.com

The always erudite Eric Felten bemoans the Mimosa, “the official semi-alcoholic drink of brunch” as “an ordeal.” True enough because of OJ from a carton and cheap, off-dry bubbly. Then he spells out his recipe for success with the drink: freshly squeezed orange juice and good dry champagne.

In my limited cocktail making, I have come to learn that the fresher and better the ingredients, the better the cocktail. But I’ve also learned that there really aren’t that many great wine cocktails. While I agree in principal with Eric’s suggestion for the Mimosa makeover (though his suggestion of Veuve Clicquot is hardly the driest champagne around in these days of brut zero), I can’t bring myself to put OJ in my Bollinger (his second, and much better, champagne suggestion). If I have a fresh OJ and a glass of fine champange I’d rather enjoy them separately and never the twain shall meet. For me, it’s a nice dry cava or prosecco that is the best way to go with the fresh OJ in a Mimosa.

What do you say? Is the Mimosa where you’d put your Bollinger?

Image: istockphoto

The danger of a post such as this will be the fact that some of you, and perhaps the people concerned, will believe that I am simply whining. But let me assure you, though I am slightly disappointed, I am far more astonished at what seems to me to be a level of rudeness and arrogance that is thankfully rare in the wine world.

Monday afternoon, April 28th, the Oakville Winegrowers Association put on a tasting of wines grown and made in Napa's Oakville AVA (American Viticultural Area) for the trade and the media. Such tastings are quite rare for many reasons, but perhaps among them is the fact that many of the wineries in Oakville are quite simply the top wineries in Napa. These folks don't have any problem selling their wines out every year for hundreds of dollars per bottle. Needless to say, they don't have a lot of extra wine laying around for tasting. Many do not have public tasting rooms at all for this very reason.

However, most of these wineries, like the vast majority of their peers in Napa understand that their relationship with the trade (retailers, restaurateurs, distributors, the press) is important both for their own livelihood as well as the livelihood of the wine region as a whole. Which means that every once in a while they get together and throw a big tasting to allow members of the trade and media access to their hard-to-find wines in a comparative and easily accessible setting.

The Oakville tasting this week represented a fabulous opportunity to taste some legendary wines from some of Napa's best producers. Among them was Screaming Eagle, the cult wine of cult wines. This small producer is widely known for making some of the highest rated, most expensive, and hardest to get wine in America.

Frankly when I saw that Screaming Eagle would be pouring at the tasting, my first reaction was surprise, since I had never heard of them pouring their wines at such a large trade event. My second reaction was a warm feeling of approval. I was proud that they were going to support their appellation and their fellow winegrowers, and I was personally looking forward to tasting the wine for the first time.

But I never got to. And neither did hundreds of other members of the trade and media.

After about 20 minutes of pouring at the tasting, having only brought a few bottles, Screaming Eagle was out of wine. So when I arrived to the tasting about 30 minutes late, I found this:

An empty table, surrounded by stunned members of the wine community -- winemakers, wine buyers, sommeliers, marketing consultants, and other winery owners, all of whom were nonplussed at the blank table. Actually, not all of them were nonplussed. Some of them were pissed.

Now you might be thinking, well, they ARE the ultimate cult winery. They don't make a lot of wine, and their wine is so expensive, they can't really afford to just stand around and pour their wine all day long at this tasting.

To which I say: tell that to the following wineries, all of whom poured their wines for nearly three hours to everyone who wanted it at the tasting:

Harlan Estate. Production: 2100 cases. Release price: ~$700
Bond. Production: not sure, but low. Release price: ~$400
Futo Wines. Production: 200 cases. Release price: $250+
Dalla Valle. Production 2000 cases. Release price: $250+

The first people I ran into when I got to the tasting were a couple of winemakers I know who make wine elsewhere in the valley. They were leaving the tasting and told me that they had gotten to the tasting right when it started, and they still hadn't gotten a chance to taste the Screaming Eagle. They were shaking their heads in amazement.

So what is the point of all this?

The point is that there are wineries who understand that they're part of a community, and behave as such. And then there are those who don't.

I can't tell you how many tastings for both the trade and the public I have been to where Bill Harlan and Bob Levy are pouring the Harlan and Bond wines for all comers. There is no economic reason for such wineries to appear at these events. Most of the people who taste their wines in these settings will never be able to get their hands on a bottle anyway. Yet they are there, because they are supporting their industry, their appellation, and the trade itself.

For Screaming Eagle to agree to participate in this tasting and then to show up with only enough wine to last 20 minutes is just downright rude to the point of being offensive. It says very clearly that they pretty much don't give a damn about anyone.

That's fine, of course. It's their prerogative. But I find it quite ironic that for two hours after they abandoned their table, the two folks who came to pour Screaming Eagle were still wandering around, tasting everyone else's wines, almost none of which ran out until nearly three hours into the event.

Shame. I'm sure I'll taste Screaming Eagle someday, but I wonder if it will ever be able to overcome this bad taste I have in my mouth?

I found a really great site for custom wine racks. I found wineracks.com and I absolutely cannot decide which design I like best. They have a selection of smaller capacity wine racks that can store three to forty eight bottles of wine.

Wineracks.com has wine racks in both wood and metal. I?ve found several that suit my current needs and several that I wish my needs would suit! Some of the different styles are just simple stackable racks that assemble without tools. There are other wine racks that are elegant, solid oak racks with tabletop and stemware storage.

The twelve bottle modular wine racks are made of pine and can be configured in many different ways. There are kits available to add and expand these wine racks. Wineracks.com has this item listed for $22.50.

The Cha Cha Wine Racks sold by wineracks.com are made of colored plastic. They snap together with clips and come in four colors. The colors that the components for these wine racks come in are orange, light blue, green and white. Each color is sold separately for $22.50.

I was particularly taken with the Lisbon wall wine racks. They are black wooden wine racks that hold both bottles and stemware. Wineracks.com has the Lisbon wall wine racks listed for $69.00.

I am pretty sure that I do not want the Accordia wine racks that wineracks.com have for sale. My mother had one that looked like this when I was growing up and I always thought that it was ugly. I much prefer any other style.

The Bali fifteen bottle wine racks were inspired by contemporary Indonesian style. I like the wavy look of these wine racks. The price for the Bali wine racks is $96.00. These come in a natural color. There are also twelve bottle Bali wine racks that are $72.00 in either crimson color or black.

I do believe that my favorite wine racks have to be the cellar cubes. Wineracks.com has the cellar cubes in both unfinished Pine and Mahogany. The Mahogany cellar cubes sell for $59.95 and the Pine cellar cubes sell for $34.95. These wine racks require simple assembly and the holes are pre-drilled and the hardware is provided.

GREAT GOLD MEDAL FOR CHILEAN WINES.

In order to reaffirm its prestige, Chile gained 9 Great Gold Medal by its wines. These distinctions were gained in the "Concours Mondial de Bruxelles" finalized in Lisbon the 23 of April.

These great prizes corresponded all to wines of the Carmenere variety. The Carmenere has its sanctuary in Chile indeed. An historical event: in the middle of century XIX the phylloxera attacked the Old World and she destroyed the vineyards. An agriculturist came to Chile from France and helped to develop the Carmenere. That man of Bachelet last name also turned out to be the first ancestor in Chile of Michelle Bachelet, president of the country today .

Now, by the excellence of his carmenere, received Great Gold Medal: Aresti Chile Wine (Valley of Curico), two for Casa Silva Ltda. (Valley of Colchagua), Siegel S.A. (Valley of Colchagua), Misiones de Rengo (Valley of Rapel), Santa Helena S.A. (Valley of Colchagua), Casa Tamaya S.A. (Valley of Limari), Ventisquero (Valley of Maipo) and Viu Manent (Valley of Colchagua).

We present here the detail of some of these good wines.

ARESTI RESERVA CARMENERE 2004 - ARESTI CHILE WINE LTDA. (Curico Valley) - Great Gold Medal
Deep colour. In nose opened fragances are outlined of spice as cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa as well as fragances of fruits of berry and cassis. Highlighting the fruit for on the fragances of wood. It fills well the mouth with a sweet touch proving to be balanced with good persistence. More information in the web.

SELECCION CARMENERE - SANTA HELENA S.A. (Colchagua Valley) - Great Gold Medal
Deep ruby red in colour. On the nose, ripe red fruit aromas combine with spice and chocolate notes. Strong volume and structure. On the palate , with sweet tannins, red fruits aromas combine with spice and vanilla notes. Good final persistence. More information in the web.

MISIONES DE RENGO RESERVA CARMENERE - MISIONES DE RENGO S.A. (Rapel Valley) - Great Gold Medal
Deep colour. Intense, with notes of the spice, as the black pepper and the cinnamon. We find also black fruit as the plum accompanied of exquisite aromas of black chocolate and coffee. Young, soft, fresh wine. Mature and long tannins. Notes of spice interlace harmoniously with notes of smoke and candy. End agreeable and pleasant taste. More information in the web.

All the awarded chilean wines

All the awarded argentine wines

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.

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Keller Estate's Syrah-based 2007 Sonoma Coast Rose is a delight. I'm always searching for a rose from California that's not too pink and not too sweet (not to mention a lot of fun to drink & great with food) and this one fits the bill just right. Made for the winery founder's 75th birthday, this medium pink-hued quaffer offers up delightful aromas of watermelon Jolly Rancher candy (always a favorite), caramel, chamomile, rose water and a kiss of pink grapefruit...

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Chinese wine will conquer the world in terms of volume and fine wine, a recent study suggests.

According to the Future of Wine report, drawn up by London-based wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR), China, which is already the world's sixth largest producer, will lead the world by the year 2058.

The report, which predicts the state of world of wine in 50 years, also says China will ?rival the best of Bordeaux?.