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.
Earn $6.17 / Sale! %75 Commission! The Ultimate Resource For Anyone Who Wants To Learn How To Make Outstanding Wines & Spirits From Their Very Own Home!
Rob Rosania, a 38 year-old collector aka “Big Boy,” sold off around $5 million of his champagne and still wines at auction a couple of weeks ago. And yet he still remains one of the biggest collectors of champagne around.
This factoid from a recent Bloomberg article piqued my interest: Rosania owns 400 cases of the excellent champagne Salon 1996 (minus the five he sold at auction) out of a total of 5,000 produced. Poking around on the web revealed other sources saying that there were 8,000 cases produced. And these are six-bottle cases that we’re talking about. The champagne retails for $250 - $300 (search for the Salon 1996).
It’s a fascinating strategy for investing in wine. Rosania has somewhere between five and eight percent of this blue chip wine outstanding–and that percentage rises every time a cork of it is popped elsewhere. That’s probably a good percentage of the production to have to really benefit from a future price move yet not control the market entirely. It would be hard to take an equivalent percentage of a first growth Bordeaux wine since the production volumes are higher. All it takes is a big cellar and a cool $700k or so.
Even if the economy stagnates, wine such as this will probably always have buyers. Could it double in value in ten years? Even if it doesn’t Rosania can always have fun popping open the bottles of this fine wine with his saber.
I’ve tried a tasting-sized-pour of the 96 Salon and it is a brilliant champagne. In a wine investing video game, I might be tempted to adopt a similar strategy. If, in some fantasy world, you were going to take ten percent of a wine, which would it be?
From the days when North Americans had to face that difficult decision in choosing between two beers -- each marketed under a vast array of labels, natch -- came the odd habit of drinking one type of beer year round. Didn't matter whether it was 90 degrees in the shade or 10 degrees below sans wind chill -- ice-cold, light-flavored lager became our choice.
Well, guess what folks? We don't have to do that anymore!
The last 15 or so years of what most beer geeks have christened "the craft beer renaissance" have left us with a multitude of brews suited for every season and every occasion. With spring on top of us and summer just around the corner, it's worth looking at brews that make the best sense for the approaching hot months. They should be light but flavourful, refreshing but satisfying, cold and quenching but with more character than colored water.
Think two words: Wheat Beer.
In all of its American, Belgian and German incarnations, wheat beer is developing a fast-growing reputation in North America as a summer beer. And deservedly so. On a hot summer day, after having mowed the lawn or played a sweaty 18 holes, there aren't many pleasures that compare to a nice cold pint of well-made wheat.
But before you start thinking that wheat beer's just normal stuff brewed with wheat instead of barley, you should know that the grain is only part of what makes a wheat beer. In fact, typically only about a third to a half of the grain used in a wheat beer is wheat. The rest is usually good old malted barley. What's more, not all wheat beers are created equal. Not by a long shot.
There are three major styles of wheat beer: German hefeweizen, Belgian white beer and American wheat ale -- and two minor styles -- Belgian lambic and German Berliner weisse -- each different from one other and distinctive in character.
Hefeweizen/Weissbier -- Known by confusingly similar names ("weizen" means wheat, "weisse" means white), this style of wheat beer was once brewed only in southern Germany. Today, however, good weizens are brewed everywhere, from the United States to Japan to Holland to New Zealand.
Weizens are usually light to medium gold in color, seriously effervescent and often quite cloudy. The beer's haze is normal, a result of being bottle-conditioned or redosed with yeast before bottling. If you don't want the cloudiness -- and the B vitamins that go with it -- look for a filtered weizen designated "kristal." Otherwise, watch for the prefix "hefe" (as in hefeweizen), which means yeast.
The key to a good weizen is using a special family of yeasts that'll produce a variety of spicy and fruity aromas and flavors in the beer. Depending on the particular strain of this yeast, these brews can be clovey, peppery, banana-like or even bubblegummy. And while those may not sound like qualities you'd appreciate, in the right quantities and proportions they can make a bottle of wheat a truly beautiful thing.
White Beer -- Belgians are the innovators of the beer world. You've heard of the German Reinheitsgebot -- the Bavarian law that limits beer's ingredients to water, hops, malt and yeast? Well, the Belgians take a somewhat contrary position, incorporating almost everything but the proverbial kitchen sink in their brews.
White beer, also known as wit or biere blanche, is no exception. These beers are often spiced with coriander, orange peel and "secret ingredients" known only to the brewer. It's also made with a very healthy proportion of unmalted wheat -- as much as 50 percent of the total grain used -- which gives white beer a light and consummately refreshing flavor.
With spice and bitter orange in the brew, it should come as no surprise that these elements dominate both the aroma and taste of a white beer. The raw wheat also adds a level of tanginess, making the overall character crisp and invigorating, arguably positioning it as the ultimate brew for breakfast. Well, okay, maybe brunch.
White beers to look for: Hoegaarden White, Celis White, Blanche de Chambly, Blanche de Bruges.
American Wheat Ale -- Many North American breweries, particularly those that brew ales exclusively, use this style as their "starter" beer, designed to lure lager drinkers into the craft beer camp. In this role, the lightness and lack of bold character serves the American wheat style well.
American wheat ales will usually be lager-like in color and have a particularly grainy aroma. Since they're supposed to appeal to Bud and Miller drinkers, these wheat ales generally won't have a huge amount of character (think of a beer version of white zin) but may show notes of citrus or a small amount of spiciness. This is what many call the "thinking man's lawnmower beer."
American wheat ales to look for: Abita Wheat, Sierra Nevada Wheat, Grasshopper Wheat.
Lambic -- Back to those wacky Belgians. This time, instead of seasoning the wheat beer, they allow it to be fermented by wild, airborne yeasts. It's a completely unpredictable process that results in a tart, sometimes puckeringly sour brew. To provide some consistency, lambic brewers age the beer in wood for one to three years before blending it into a bottle-conditioned beer called gueuze. Or they'll add fruit to make kriek (cherry) or framboise (raspberry) beers.
Unless sweetened during bottling (which many are), lambics are definitely challenging beers. If your first reaction is to spit it out, you're not alone. But once you get used to the tartness, you'll soon find that they're filled with incredible complexity, wonderful flavors and astounding character.
Berliner Weisse -- Napoleon referred to this beer as "the Champagne of the north," and his wine analogy had its validity. Berliner weisse is fermented with yeast and select lactic cultures -- a process not entirely dissimilar to the malolactic fermentation employed in making some chardonnays. The result is a low-alcohol beer with significant, but soft, acidity.
Perhaps the most refreshing of all wheat beers, the Berliner can still have a slight bite (although the acidity is more likely to be tasted as a quenching dryness in most modern examples). And with a typical alcohol content of only 2.5 to 3 percent by volume, you've got little chance of it creeping up on you as you slake your thirst.
Berliner weisse beers to look for: Berliner Kindl Weisse, Schultheiss Berliner Weisse.
A Dozen Reasons to Drink Wheat Beer
Food:
Fruit salad -- weizen Scrambled eggs with freshly ground pepper -- white beer Grilled bratwurst and dunkelweizen -- dark weizen Creamy pasta salad with sweet red pepper -- weizen Steamed mussels -- white beer or gueuze Grilled whitefish -- Berliner weisse
Occasions:
Moderate heat, moderate activity -- cold weizen A sunny day, a picnic brunch -- white beer Hot, hot, hot weather -- cold, cold, cold Berliner weisse A Sunday softball game -- cold American wheat ale Waiting for the coals to heat up on the barbecue -- gueuze A romantic spot on a warm, rainy afternoon -- two champagne flutes of Belgian framboise
I did a search on Google Scholar for wine. A lot of articles were returned in the search result. At first glance, I could not figure out why these results had been returned. At closer inspection, the author of the first few articles had the last name of Wine.
RH Wine has written many articles in the field of biology. JJ Wine has authored many papers on Cystic fibrosis. RN Wine writes on topics in the field of toxicology. These are just three of the authors with results dominating my search for wine on Google Scholar.
I changed my search in Google Scholar from wine to red wine. The first scholarly article returned in my search for red wine was ?Inhibition of oxidation of human low-density lipoprotein by phenolic substances in red wine?. This article was published in 1993 in the British edition of Lancet.
An article entitled ?The red wine phenolics trans-resveratrol and quercetin block human platelet aggregation and eicosanoid synthesis: implications for protection against coronary heart disease? was published in Clinica Chimica Acta in 1995. There were five authors cited on this paper.
The American journal of clinical nutrition published ?Consumption of red wine with meals reduces the susceptibility of human plasma and low-density lipoprotein to lipid peroxidation? in 1995. This paper has been cited over two hundred times. The author credited with writing it is B Fuhrman.
There were over sixteen thousand results returned when I did my Google Scholar search for red wine. The article entitled ?Antiplatelet activity of synthetic and natural resveratrol in red wine? is another article that has been cited many times. The International journal of tissue reactions published this article in 1995 and now it has been cited 116 times.
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published an article in 1980 entitled ?Wine aroma composition: identification of additional volatile constituents of red wine?. The article has been cited five times. The author, P Schreier, has also written an article entitled ?Flavor composition of wines: a review?.
I'm in the mood for a throw-down. No more of this namby-pamby dancing around the ring.
A couple of weeks ago, I got slammed on the ropes for a comment I made about a post on Vinography. The winos over there are apparently pretty fond of their New World wines because, when I suggested that Old World wines might be suffering in the global marketplace because of what is simply an archaic (or nonexistent?) approach to marketing, damn. You'd have thought I said something about their mother.
"Absurd!" they said. "Wine that tastes like fruit, not boxes of cigars and pencil lead, appeals to US consumers," they proclaimed.
Hmmm.
I'm a U.S. consumer, and I'm a pretty even-handed gal. I like New World wines; I like Old World wines. I was trying to make a point about what I considered to be the glaring difference in the marketplace. I was trying to make that point independent of taste, because I tend to believe there's a place out there for both styles of wine.
But then I started to think about it, and I've decided, even-handed is for wusses.
I'm picking sides, and do you know why? It's not about technical quality. There are New World and Old World wines of technical brilliance. It's not about image. Image is surface; popularity comes and goes.
No, this is a matter of taste, and I'm coming down on the side of the Old World.
This is my battle cry for wines that taste like cigar boxes and dirt, seashells and truffles; for wines that taste like a location; for being able to tell the difference between chadonnays made 30 miles apart; for a wine that has structure without having an alcohol content of 15 percent; for a wine that isn't obvious; for a wine that doesn't cater to a soda-pop palate; for a wine that actually pairs well with food; for a wine that goes for elegance over brawn; for a wine that doesn't give it up on the first date - one that I've got to work for, one that tastes better the next day, one that could sit on the shelf and evolve for a couple of years, one with a little mystery.
Some wines from indigenous varieties, recommended by Angela Lloyd
When wine statistics are trotted out, Italy always arrives somewhere at the top of the global list: third in area under vine (849 000 hectares? in 2004), second in wine produced (5 300 000 000 litres) and per capita consumption (46.50 litres). Another figure that would also leave many other countries in its wake is the number of indigenous grape varieties in this land of the long boot.
Of course, the ubiquitous international quintet of cabernet, merlot, shiraz, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc? are also found in Italian vineyards, but the country's real strength lies in its lesser known varieties, many producing wines of great individuality and distinction.
Such varietal? diversity is as much due to Italy's geography as its history. Wine grapes are grown from 47º North, near the Swiss and Austrian borders and close to the Alps, all the way to 37º South, on the sun scorched island of Sicily, in climates both continental and Mediterranean. Historically, the Greeks, the mysterious Etruscans and of course the Romans themselves have all helped to develop the varietal mix.
The good news is that the Italians have now realised the worth of these grapes, from both quality and marketing points of view and much more is being done to promote the wines made from them.
Fortunately for South Africans, there are several good examples available here. Before recounting a few I tasted recently courtesy of importers Stefano Gabba and his son, Lorenzo, who run Melgab International, a word on the Italian system of naming the origin of its wines.
The DOC? ? Denominazione di Origine Controllata? ? system is modelled on the French Appellation? Contrôlée. This set of regulations covers such aspects as viticulture?, winemaking and labelling. As with the French AOC?, place names rather than grape names often appear on the label, the variety or varieties being implicit in such place name.
Less confusing is the Italian culture of enjoying wine with food, thus their focus is on creating food friendly rather than show winning wines.
The following quartet is a small representation of worthwhile examples of the lesser known Italian varieties available here.
Cantina? Lunae Bosoni Colli di Luni Vermentino 2006 12%R95.19 The Colli di Luni is a DOC on the Ligurian coast just to the east of Genoa. Both white and red grapes? are grown there; the whites based on vermentino with up to 10% other white grapes. This example has presence without showiness in its firm?, fresh structure?, good flavour intensity?, without being overtly fruity?, and dry? finish?. As its coastal situation suggests, vermentino and seafood are natural partners.
La Giustiniana Gavi di Gavi DOCG? Lugarara 2006R99.75 The 'G' in DOCG stands for Garantita, its purpose to identify the finest Italian wines ? 'guarantee' as opposed to merely 'control'. If it has gained credibility in the few number of DOCG's awarded, some have been seriously questioned, but overall it does confer an image of quality where awarded. The town and DOCG of Gavi are on hilly slopes in south east Piedmont, just to the north of the Ligurian coast. Cortese, the only grape permitted, was originally used as a base wine for Asti Spumante?. As a solo act, under the Gavi di Gavi nomenclature, it rose to fame in the 1960s, in the process becoming Italy's most expensive dry white wine. Burton Anderson's Wine Atlas of Italy describes the it as having a 'clearly refined scent and acutely dry flavour with pronounced acidity? countered by a vague sensation of fruit.' Elegant La Giustiniana's fragrance combines flowers and herbs; its fine, mineral? acidity lends a lightness of touch, and it does indeed end bone dry, and has just 12% alcohol?. Again, it is the ideal partner for Mediterranean's seafood bounty.
Damilano Barbera d'Alba 2006R118 The red barbera is known in South Africa, mainly from the version produced by Durbanville winery?, Altydgedacht, although now it also features on the lists of another two or three cellars. It enjoys much greater popularity in Italy, where it was the third most planted red variety in 2000. It is best associated with Piedmont, where it comes second only to nebbiolo in terms of quality. Characteristically high in acid and low in tannin?, the black cherry/berry fruit is fresh and succulent, spiced by the pointed acid. The Damilano family, whose barbera vines are between 30 and 50 years old, follow a traditional style?, aging the wine in older, large wood, which focuses on the wine's mouthwatering qualities and leaves it ready to be opened now. This is a delicious example that should go well with any spicy or rich dishes where the richness will benefit from the wine's cutting fruity acids.
Mastroberadino Radici Taurasi Riserva? DOCG 2000R269.04 Some of my favourite Italian wines come from the great red grape of Campania, aglianico (a corruption of Ellenico, the Italian word for Hellenic). Its worth is acknowledged beyond provincial borders: the 2003 version of this example of it has recently been voted one Italy's 50 greatest wines, as selected by 19 global authorities on Italian wine. A remarkable achievement, given the Mastroberadino family was the only producer to market an aglianico until the early 1990s, but they have been in the forefront of championing Campanian varieties for ten generations. Two important features account for aglianico's success in Campania: the volcanic soils (Vesuvius is a favourite tourist destination), and the vicinity of Taurasi, which lies around 500 metres above sea level on the elevated spine that runs down the centre of the country. Aglianico is an imposing wine, especially in its youth when it is noted for its fine, if ferocious, tannins, a feature which can see it age for decades. This Radici ? single vineyard? ? remains youthfully stern, its characteristic fresh acid backbone focusing and lengthening the deep scents and savoury flavours? of plums?, tobacco and bitter chocolate?. Despite its current austerity, a game dish or mature hard cheese should show off its great potential. With the Rand weakening, it also offers value for money. Patience will be well rewarded!
Prices quoted are wholesale, including VAT. If you find these available retail, expect to pay 30+% more. Click here for the Melgab website.
Ports vary in color, taste, and complexity based on the grapes used to produce them and the material used in the aging process. Among the most commonly found types of port are:
Tawny Port - Tawny port is made from red wine grapes, aged in wood. A reserve tawny is one that has been aged at least seven years. Tawny ports are usually light yellow in color and have a slightly "nutty" taste. Tawny ports made from a single vintage are called "colheitas" and indicate the vintage year on the bottle.
Ruby Port - Just as the name indicates, ruby ports are deep red in color. These are the least expensive ports and are made with red wine grapes and aged in stainless steel to preserve the color. Generally, ruby ports are aged from three to five years.
Vintage Port - The finest kind of port wine, vintage port comes from a single year's grape production. Not every year is declared a vintage year in Portugal and, as with fine Bordeaux or Burgundy wines, some years' growing conditions create a better product. Vintage ports are aged a maximum of 2 1/2 years before bottling.
LBV Port - LBV or "Late Bottle Vintage" ports were originally crafted to be vintage ports. However, due to lack of demand or other factors, they are left in the barrel longer than allowed for a vintage port. Generally, LBV ports are lighter in color and texture than the vintage cousins.
Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.
I’m in the process of closing down Wine Life Today the social bookmarking service and making it into my personal blog so that I can dedicate my time to creating real change and real value for the entire wine industry.
WLT is a two year old project that had a decent amount of success and even generated some advertising revenue which is cool. But I never intended it to be a revenue source as much as it was a learning experience. I LOVE the wine community and I spend tremendous amounts of time creating and learning from my creations/experiences. So I always thought that creating things for the wine world would be the best of all worlds - I could meet more and more people in the wine world all while having my creative outlet.
Recently, OpenWine Consortium, a brainchild of mine that was inspired by the need of some industry friends I met through my other creations (this blog and WLT), has emerged as an unmitigated success. With really no marketing whatsoever, it has garnered attention across all corners of the world, been written up in Wines & Vines magazine, signed up nearly 1000 members in less than three months, and really become something I can spend GOBS of time working on. Its special, it fills a need that the industry has, and most of all, its something I’m very proud of but believe it can be so much more.
I believe OpenWine Consortium is 10 times more useful at 1000 then it was at 100 in terms of affecting change in the industry. Real business connections are being made, value is being created through the exchange of expertise and advice, and new ideas are being spawned just through the interaction.
Guess what…I also believe that is OWC were 10,000 people is would be 100 times more useful and would create 100 time the value it does today. So I’m setting a goal for myself and the OWC community. The industry needs this site to be at 10,000 members from every corner of the globe to make it an invaluable place to be on the Internet if you are in the wine trade. This goal is SOOOO doable its rediculous. There are tens of thousand of wine brands and just an un-Godly number of service businesses that work with those brands and ALL the employees/owners/proprietors of all these businesses can benefit from the OWC community - the interaction, the community, the technology exchange.
So that is my goal today. I’m very proud that we’ve gained 1000 members. But I’m going to dedicate the time and effort needed to really move the needle in the industry and I hope others in the community who see the value will do the same.
I’ll start with something simple - a Logo that others can get behind. Some good friends have put time into creating a logo and I"ll get it out there soon. Look for the preview here.
What are some other things I can do? Partnerships with others in the trade, training to properly use OWC as a tool for trade associations, implementing the changes that the membership wants to see on the network.
Me and about 1000 of my industry friends should be able to make a difference so lets see where this takes us!
Cheers!
(almost makes me want to say "To infinity and beyond!"…but I’ll refrain)
[08/29/2006, 03:09]
Buenos Aires, wine and tango (1).
Almost a hundred of Argentine warehouses will expose your products in the biggest Fair of Wine of Latin America.
This event - Wines and Warehouses 2006 - removes to end for the sixth year in a row. It will be realized in the Fairground Land of La Rural, in Buenos Aires, between the 14th to September 16.
This meeting of the industry of the wine incites the interest not only of the consuming public, but specially of merchants and distributors, places and foreigners who have opportunity to analyze in an alone place the variety of Argentine wines, produced both by big companies and by the warehouses called "boutique".
In the last years the Argentina realized a deep review of your position on the international market of wines and, thanks to the joint effort of the local butlers, the positioning of the mark is fortifying country in the different markets. Provided that your wines expire with all the requirements of quality and being relied on, likewise, by two varietales celebrated, the malbec and the torrontés, the Argentina marks a difference and manages to differ from other countries producers.
Wines and Warehouses 2006 foresees the accomplishment of business Rounds, where the local producers will be able to make concrete economic agreements with buyers of the whole world.
Exhibitors' list:
Alta Vista - Bodegas La Riojana Coop.- Aristides - Lariviere Iturbe - Atilio Avena - Lavaque - Babco - Los Haroldos - Balbo Luigi Bosca - Barale Biurrun - Luis Segundo Correa - Bgas. Kaufman - Lurton - Bodega Altus - Morsella - Bodega NQN - Navarro Correas - Bodegas Borbore - Nesman - Bodegas La Guarda - Norton - Bodegas Lopez - Pcia. de San Juan - Bodegas Mayol - Porvenir de los Andes - Cavas de Santos - PR Argentina - Chacras del Sol - Putruele Hnos. - Chandon - R. J Viñedos - Clos de los Siete - Revista Club del Vino - Club del Vino - Dante Robino - Roca - Crotta - Ruca Malen - Del Fin del Mundo - Saenz Briones - Domingo Hnos - Sua - Don Cristobal - Telteca Winery - EAS - Tempus Alba - EAV - Terrazas de los Andes - El Rosal - Tittareli - Eral Bravo - Toso - Familia Nofal - Trapiche - Fantelli - Trivento - Fecovita - Valentin Bianchi - Finca el Retiro - Viña El Cerno - Finca Flichman - Viñas del Baron - Finca Las Moras - Viñas del Golf - Fincas Andinas - Vinecol - Flia. Schroeder - Wine 5 - Flia. Zuccardi - Xumek - Freixenet - Honda - Guime - YPF - Humberto Canale
2005 Roger Belland, Santenay 1er Commes A cork amalgum seal. Richly coloured. A super nose - immediately dark and wide with a faint twist of dark oak, then in an instant has lovely red-edged fruit and a dried cranberry note - yum. The palate is actually much more acid-forward than when tasted in [...]
BUYING AND STORING OLIVE OIL Choose containers that keep out light: dark glass, ceramic, even metal. With pricey oils, taste before you buy, and look for seal-of-approval initials such as DOP (Italy), DO (Spain) or COOC (California). Keep your oil tightly sealed; store it in a cool, dark place; and use it within two years (some say 18 months) of harvest, or one year after opening. Oh, and that plastic Jug O? Oil from the C word? Don?t go there. There?s inexpensive, and then there?s swill.
WHAT?S YA FLAVA? Fruity, peppery, buttery, appley, grassy, herbal, nutty? You?d think you were talking about wine. There?s actually similar flavor chemistry going on in olive oil and wine. Early-harvest olive oils taste greener and more pungent, like an herbaceous sauv blanc. The longer the hang time, the riper the fruit, the smoother the mouthfeel, the mellower the flavors. Late-harvest oils come across more like a full-tilt chard. Both can be great; it?s just a matter of what you like and how you plan to use it. (Uh, you are gonna use it, right? You want to decorate your kitchen counter, buy a bonsai.)
GOT AN EXTRA VIRGIN? The terms ?virgin? and ?extra virgin? really are more than just sexy sounding hype: they measure the percentage of harsh-tasting oleic acid in the oil (lower is better), which can translate to quality. ?Extra virgin? oils must have less than 1 percent acidity (many clock in below .5 percent) and require as much care in growing and production as boutique wines. Oils with up to 2 percent acidity earn the ?virgin? tag. Forget the sluts, er, oils over 3 percent. And also forgo ?light? olive oil: the only thing it?s low on is flavor.
IN THE KITCHEN, AT THE TABLE, ALL AROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH There?s a reason for the large variety of oils: different oils suit different purposes. Think basic wine pairing: match light with light and heavy with heavy. Use subtle oils on mild salad greens or as bread dips, or drizzle a bit on fish, chicken or simple desserts like fruit salad, pound cake or biscotti. Big oils can stand up to red meat - try the Tuscan trick of finishing off a thick grilled steak with a slosh of spicy, robust oil. Better yet, brush the oil on with a rosemary branch while the steak sizzles.
Sometimes the best cooking is no cooking at all. There?s nothing simpler or more satisfying than setting out three or four bottles of oil at the dinner table, along with your chosen vino, some good bread and a cheese or three, before, during and/or after your meal. (If everyone wears black you can feel really superior and Eurotrashy.)
TIPS FOR TASTINGS Tasting olive oil is a lot like tasting wine: you can stick to one country (Spain, Greece), one region (Tuscany, Sonoma), or one varietal (manzanilla, arbequina) and compare six or eight side by side. Or you can taste a random assortment, and maybe throw in a flavored oil that has citrus or herbs blended in. Add some cubes of chewy bread, little bowls or paper/plastic tasting cups and some easy-drinking wine. Kick back. Speak to each other in Spanish. Wait for Penelope Cruz to show up.
FOR MORE INFO Check out The Flavors of Olive Oil by Deborah Krasner (Simon & Schuster, 2002) and the Web sites of the International Olive Oil Council (http://www.internationaloliveoil.org) and the California Olive Oil Council (http://www.cooc.com). Or just Google ?olive oil? and click around the 50 million or so sites that come up.
OLIVE OIL TASTING NOTES
XX. Antara 100% Arbequina Olives Tarragona - Spain $16/750ml The Ellen DeGeneres of olive oils - easygoing, smooth and slightly nutty. Close to XXX.
XX. Nunez de Prado Extra Virgin Family Estates Crop; Baena - Spain $24/500ml Chris Rock hosting the Oscars - dark, intense and zingers start to finish (but you know what you?re gettin?).
XX. Caroliva Extra Virgin Estate Grown and Bottled; Andalusia - Spain $20/500ml Think a big, buttery chard on steroids. Rich gold color, soft, round and juicy. Close to XXX.
XX. Columela Picual and Hojiblanca Olives Andalucia - Spain $19/500ml Gael Garcia Bernal?s eyes - big, deep and dark. Touch o? pepper on the finish. Close to XXX.
XX. Gasull Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $22/500ml Cool deep-green bottle with a long slim neck. Purrs like Scarlett Johansson in a Ferrari: soft and elegant with a long, smooth finish.
X. Jordan Hand-Picked, Extra Virgin, From Italian Varietals Alexander Valley - Sonoma $25/375ml Kind of a bait-and-switch: starts out sweet and fruity, then morphs into a porcupine by the time it smacks your tonsils. Close to XX.
X. L?Estornell Extra Virgin, Organic Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $15/375ml Like Erica Christensen in most of her movies: all sweetness and light in the opening scene, but she grabs you by the throat in the last act. Close to XX.
X. Molino de Leoncio Gomez Extra Virgin, Unfiltered, Picudo and Hojiblanca Olives Cordoba - Spain $11/500ml Gotta hunt for the flavors at first, then they do the Big Bang in the back of your mouth. Close to XX.
XXX. Pons Extra Virgin, Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $16/473ml Yo-Yo Ma playing a cello concerto - rich, deep and resonant. Pale gold, medium body, with layers of fresh apple, almond and spice flavors, and a nice little kick on the finish.
XX. Poplar Hill 2005 Extra Virgin Spring Mountain - Napa Valley $20/375ml Light, airy, silky, delicate and balanced; buttery, hazelnutty and smoooooth. An obvious late-picked oil (check the harvest date!) that deserves nothing more than a chunk of good bread and a pinch of salt. Close to XXX.
XX. Skipstone Ranch Melina?s Harvest, November 2004, Extra Virgin Alexander Valley - Sonoma County $25/375ml Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby - brawny, punchy, ends with a surprising knockout.
XX. Soler Romero 100% Picual Olives Andalusia - Spain $18/500ml Why does this taste like nectarines, white pepper and grass? Starts fruity and sweet, then turns tangy on the finish. Slather some on sliced oranges with red onion slivers, lemon juice and salt.
X. Unio 100% Arbequina Olives Siurana - Spain $16/750ml The NZ sauv blanc of olive oils - spicy and green start to finish. Makes a great pesto with basil, anchovies and good parmigiano reggiano. Close to XX.
X. Zoe Extra Virgin Castilla-La Mancha - Spain $9/1-Litre Tin A tad rustic and rough, but a good value. Great for stir-frying veggies. Close to XX.
More gewurtz. The good news is that this is an excellent wine. The bad news is that it is sold out. I thought I would review it anyway because it is worth reviewing and you might spot it on a restaurant list somewhere or other. This is barrel femented in old French oak and left on lees for an extended period. All very interesting and artisanal.
Aromas of lychee, ginger marmalade, musk and roses. On the palate a lighter more delicate style with flavours of ruby red grapefruit, peach, lychee, ginger and spice. Distinctly dry chalky texture. Not a big fat impact wine like many but rather more subtle, spicy and lean. Finishes with spicy grapefruit flavours. A food style with style.
A hastily organised farewell dinner at Milsons in Sydney for a friend. My first time at this restaurant and both the service and food was excellent. I had the following;
Scallop and prawn filled zucchini flowers in prawn bisque with green asparagus, grape tomatoes and seeded mustard crustacean oil
?Cannelloni? of kingfish and blue swimmer crab with avocado, black sesame vinaigrette and coriander oil
Cherry wood smoked, 200 day grain fed beef tenderloin with fondant potato, baby green beans, aioli and red wine sauce with truffle oil
MV Krug (August 1989 Disgorgement): Light gold colour with very fine bead. Citrus, ginger and cocoa on the nose. Rich flavour to the palate, but also some very youthful, fresh characters. Not as advanced or complex as a couple of the other late 80s MVs I’ve recently had, but lovely all the same. 94/100
1995 Jacquesson Signature Brut (May 2003 Disgorgement): Very active bead. Lemon, toast, floral and some cookie dough aromas. Fluffy, creamy palate.Quite approachable, good length and very nice drinking but lacking in depth. 91/100
Tecnorati
More gewurtz. The good news is that this is an excellent wine. The bad news is that it is sold out. I thought I would review it anyway because it is worth reviewing and you might spot it on a restaurant list somewhere or other. This is barrel femented in old French oak and left on lees for an extended period. All very interesting and artisanal.