Plastic Cups to Taste Wine

August 15th, 2008 by Terry | Posted in Wine Festivals/Events | No Comments »

My first trek to wineries in Ohio was met with some disappointment with the tasting experience at two wineries. These winery tasting rooms serve their wines in small one ounce transparent plastic cups. Fortunately the third winery I visited used glass stemware. I realize that using plastic cups is a money saving practice but it does a disservice to tasters. Transparent cups make it difficult at best to judge a wine’s color and the color of the wine along the edge of the wine. These small cups also limit the wine’s bouquet.  You can’t stick your nose in the cup or you’ll hit bottom and your nose is likely going to over shoot some of the cup if you place it along the top. One’s tasting is limited to the taste and after taste of the wine. I like to look at a wine’s color and smell the wine then swirl the wine and smell several more times before tasting it.  Unfortunately I am biased against wine served in small transparent plastic cups. My first thought is “What are they trying to hide?”

The vast majority of wineries use ISO stemware. There are a few wineries that use fine stemware.  The ISO type stemware levels the playing field. It allows one to compare wines from different wineries taking the vessel out of the picture. However I applaud those tasting rooms that use fine stemware. Several of the tasting room visited in Oregon, Italy and Ontario use fine stemware. Fine stemware enhances the tasting experience. It also enhances one’s ability to detect faults in the wine.

What type of vessel do you like to taste wine from?

The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace

August 13th, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Books | No Comments »

I finished The Billionaire’s Vinegar over the weekend and was delighted with it. Have you read it? What did you think of it? Below is my brief description without giving too much away.

The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the world’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine Author: Benjamin Wallace
Crown Publishers, 2008

This recently published non-fiction piece of work is a delightful real-life mystery. Did Thomas Jefferson cellar wines in Paris and were these the bottles found and ultimately auctioned or sold to the public? Who engraved Th. J on the bottles? When and how was the engraving done? Searching the history of Thomas Jefferson’s interest in wine and relating Michael Broadbent’s success in discovering old wines in England, Benjamin Wallace traces the purported discovery of Thomas Jefferson’s bottles in Paris and an auction in 1985. Discover the relationship between Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Broadbent and Rodenstock as well as other influential people and their interest in old wines. Learn how these auction houses and individuals along with other wealthy influential individuals began with an interest in old wine that later became a competitive match. Discover vertical wines and other tastings that lasted not for hours but for days. Can one really determine the age of a bottle of wine? Wallace is able to weave history, culture and science into an intriguing well-written mystery. This is definitely a fascinating book.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano

August 11th, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Destinations/Agri-Tourism/Lodging, The Taste of Wine | No Comments »

Friday night we enjoyed dinner at the Tomato Palace in Columbia, Maryland. We decided to order a bottle of wine. While browsing the wine list, we noticed it was definitely weighted toward Italian wines. This shouldn’t be surprising as the restaurant is an Italian restaurant. Still, I was disappointed that the restaurant did not have any local wines but had one from Napa Valley. The greatest point about the wine list was that it listed a wine from Mormoraia in Italy. It was the 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano. We had visited Mormoraia and stayed in one of their apartments in 2007. It was a delightful and relaxing vacation. The rooms we stayed in were converted into Tuscan-style rooms which were originally a convent. We were allowed to meander through the vineyards and in the distance we could see San Gimignano with its renowned towers. For more information go to Italian Vineyard Destination.

Vernaccia is a grape that grows well in the San Gimignano immediate area. The grapes produce a lovely white wine with a fruit nose. The 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano paired well with our dinner of crab cakes and vegetables. The wine was fruity and medium bodied. It brought back fond memories of our stay in Mormoraia. We visited an exceedingly small wine museum in San Gimignano, Museo del Vino Vernaccia di San Gimignano that is devoted to the Vernaccia grape. As you travel, look for unusual grape varieties and be sure to check them out.

Grapevine Countertops

August 8th, 2008 by Terry | Posted in Destinations/Agri-Tourism/Lodging | No Comments »

If you have a few grapevines in your backyard, what do you do with the vines you prune off?  Sarah O’Herron and Ed Boyce, owners of Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt. Airy, Maryland tackled that question this past winter. They do however have a few more than a couple of grapevines. Their vineyard has thousands of vines planted on 22 ½ acres. That’s a lot of pruning. Sarah and Ed are about to open a tasting room on the estate in a few weeks. They are using sustainable practices to build the tasting room and much of the material came from the estate. After learning about a countertop manufacturer in Minnesota, Shetka Stone, that makes countertops from consumer waste paper, they decided to send the company some of their grapevine prunings and ask them to see what they could come up with.

The result was an awesome countertop with pieces of grapevines, grape seeds and skins. The countertops will be used in the Black Ankle tasting room. It is beautiful and my immediate thought was how much I’d like to have this as a counter top in my kitchen or bath. You can actually take the time to stare at the countertop identifying the parts of a grapevine that was pruned off.

With the numbers of wine enthusiasts perhaps Shetka Stone should market their grapevine counter tops to consumers.  I would certainly love a piece in my house.

Shetka Stone: website
Black Ankle Vineyards: website

August Newsletter from Wine Trail Traveler

August 7th, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Wine News/Commentary | No Comments »

Wine Trail Traveler publishes a monthly newsletter. Topics include anything related to wine, wineries and vineyards. This month’s newsletter focuses on visiting wineries near to home. A review is included of Garlic Mike’s restaurant in Colorado where a wonderful food and wine pairing occurred. It was a terrific dinner, ambiance and conversation. Are you looking for a Shish Kabob recipe? Check out the recipe from Cottonwood Cellars. The August newsletter can be viewed at http://www.winetrailtraveler.com/newsletter/newsletter.html.

If you have any ideas you would like added to the Wine Trail Traveler newsletter, let me know by adding a comment to this blog.
Cheers!
Kathy

Muscadine Wine

August 6th, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Wine and Food | No Comments »

Last night for dinner, we decided to experiment with a food and wine pairing. We chose to have a sweet wine with dinner as one of our family members likes a sweet, white wine. Our choice was Midnight Magnolia from Duplin Estate Wines in North Carolina. According to the label this is a Mid Harvest White Table Wine. A member of the muscadine family (V. rotundifolia,) Magnolia is an early, bronze grape, suitable for juice or wine. Midnight Magnolia is medium to heavy bodied and semi-sweet on taste.

For dinner we were having tacos and all the fixings. I know what you’re thinking why in the world would you pair a sweet wine with tacos? We like to experiment with pairings and usually they work out because we are drinking a wine we like. However, in this case the body of the wine was too heavy and the wine was too sweet. Most likely a dry white wine would have enhanced the flavor of the tacos. What food mismatches have you tried?

“Acquired” Taste of Wines

August 5th, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in The Taste of Wine | 1 Comment »

How many times have you been told a wine is an “acquired taste?” Traditionally many wine connoisseurs say that consumers start drinking white, sweet wine and gradually move on to red wines. For myself, I started with sweet fruit wines, and now I can appreciate a dry, red wine with an Italian dinner or sizzling steak, hot off the grill. However, when I want a wine to sip and relax with, a sweet fruit wine is my favorite. I suppose one could say I “acquired” a taste for dry, red wines.

More specifically, two other wines come to mind when I hear the words “acquired” taste: Scuppernong and Rechina. While visiting wineries in North Carolina, we discovered Scuppernong. Scuppernong does not grow in colder climates and has a foxy taste to it. Some, including myself, believe it has a similar but different taste than Niagara. Wineries we came across continually proclaimed the health benefits of Scuppernong wine due to its high antioxidant levels.

In Virginia, we discovered Rechina, an Americanized version of Retsina, at Mediterranean Cellars. It was unique with a resinated character. We talked to a neighborhood wine storeowner and were told that it is an “acquired” taste. If you have a chance, give it a try.

Tasting wines can be a great adventure. When you have the opportunity, try different wines even though you might be told they have an “acquired” taste. Sipping a variety of different wines opens up your taste buds from the mundane everyday wines to the exotic and makes tasting wines an adventure. Have you tried Scuppernong or Rechina? What wines have you had that you believe have an “acquired” taste?

Apologize for Linking Sweet Wine?

August 4th, 2008 by Terry | Posted in The Taste of Wine | 1 Comment »

Whenever we gather with a group of friends discussion eventually comes to wine. Almost apologetically someone mentioned that she has tried many wines and prefers to drink only sweet wines. Most of the others in the group indicated that they would drink sweet wines although the preferences were to drier reds. Why would one need to apologize for drinking what they like?

Part of your wine journey is to search for the wines you like. If you keep an open mind along the journey and try many different wines, what types of wine you enjoy is a personal choice. No one has a right to tell you not to drink any particular wine. If you like a sweet wine then drink a sweet wine. If you like a dry wine then drink a dry wine.

Most wine and food pairing charts are suggestive in nature. Often the suggestion is to drink what you like. Although there are sound reasons behind the suggestions in wine pairing charts, what you like trumps all of those suggestions. Challenges arise when two or more people share a meal and they each have their own wine favorites. Look at this as an opportunity to try something new and different and see how the food and wine complement each other.

You also have an opportunity to explore different wines by visiting wineries in your community and as you travel. Most wineries have tasting rooms and you often can taste a wide range of their portfolio. Other tasting rooms limit tasting to five or six wines, if you go with another person you can double that number and share. When in a tasting room, don’t limit yourself to the types of wine you know you like, explore other wines. If you don’t like them, that’s fine. The experience is your wine journey. Wines that you don’t like are just as important as wines that you do like. There are always surprises. I am not a big fan of a single varietal Cabernet Franc. I like it in a blend but not as the single variety. While visiting wineries in Ontario, I had the opportunity to taste Cabernet Franc icewines. They were wonderful. So I discovered an exception.  Be open to discovering exceptions.

Buyer Beware

August 1st, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Wine Festivals/Events, Wine News/Commentary | No Comments »

An article on Decanter.com this week discusses the temperatures in stores where wine is sold. In particular, the article is referencing England. Here in the United States, we also seem to have difficulty guaranteeing that wines will be kept in a controlled environment.

As one winemaker said to me, “I can almost guarantee that the wine is good when it leaves the winery door, but not what happens to it once it leaves.” What happens if the truck breaks down on a hot summer day between the winery and the delivery point?

You have probably noticed that wine stores vary a great deal. Some are established to just sell wine and beer off the shelves. Others are knowledgeable and seek to have their customers return time after time. They are concerned about protecting the quality of the wine.

On the downside, we became aware of a store that did not have air conditioning in one room and yet was storing bottles of wine there that were worth several hundred dollars. It would be sold to some unsuspecting customer.

How do you protect yourself? Whether you purchase wine in a grocery store, liquor store or winery, if it has a wine fault, return it. Wine faults include wine that has an aroma or taste of rotten apple, glue, vinegar, soap, onion, cauliflower or moldy cardboard (cork taint.) After tasting the wine, if it has a fault, return it to the place of purchase. Leave the rest of the wine in the bottle. It looks a little suspicious if you return an empty bottle saying it’s corked or has some other fault. Where did the wine go? Just because you don’t like a wine doesn’t mean it has a fault. It’s not fair to others if you return a wine just because you don’t like it. What do you do when you discover you have purchased a wine with a fault?

Sustainability in the Vineyard

July 31st, 2008 by Kathy | Posted in Wine News/Commentary | No Comments »

A recent article in Wines & Vines talks about what the Central Coast Vineyard Team is doing in terms of sustainability. In part, the CCVT mission statement states they “will identify and promote the most environmentally safe, viticulturally and economically sustainable farming methods, while maintaining or improving quality and flavor of wine grapes.” Certainly, these are very laudable goals.

In 1996, CCVT established a Point System for vineyards to help the growers monitor their own progress towards sustainability. By 2002, members began to discuss the idea of changing to a third party evaluation.

The result of these discussions and planning is the establishment of a pilot program this summer. By following standards, providing documentation and submitting to a third party auditor. CCVT is hopeful that by 2009, wines labeled with “Certified Sustainably Grown” fruit will be available for consumers.

Obviously, a lot of work has gone into this sustainable vineyard concept. How much will it add to the cost of a bottle of wine? Are consumers willing to pay more for a bottle of wine labeled “Certified Sustainably Grown?”