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Weekly Wine Quiz #28: Where Is The Wine In This Picture?
This week’s quiz will be slightly different than most of the quizzes before – it will not be a multiple choice question. It will be more of a “what is it” type of posts which I’d done a few times in the past (here is one example for you, and here is another). This time, you will have to use the comments section to provide an answer.
Below is the picture which is very much relevant to wine – but this is up to you to figure out how. So this is the main question – how this picture relates to wine. For the bonus questions, all the particulars – what, where and even when. I understand that it is not an easy question – you can find some clues in my twitter stream @talkavino if you will look at my tweets over the last few days. Good luck!
Have a great weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Blind Tasting Escapades, Wine Books Review and more
Yes, it is still Wednesday somewhere! I’m actually on the west coast, so I have an excuse (okay, lame) for this post not coming out Wednesday morning, as usual. But let’s get to it.
First, the answer for the Wine Quiz #27 – This Whiskey Can’t Age Any Longer. Looks like this was an easy quiz, as most of you got it right – it is a high altitude and climate which don’t let whiskeys such as Stranahan’s to age for the long time. As Stranahan’s distillery located high in the mountains, if the cask will be left to age for 8 years, there will be nothing left in that cask (ohh, those angels…). Stranahan’s distillery is not the only one with such problem – Amrut, a very good quality whiskey from India, can’t age for longer than 3 years due to the same issue of altitude and climate. Located at 3000 ft in Himalayan Mountains in the tropical climate, Amrut whiskey rapidly disappears from the cask if kept for longer than 3 years. As a side note, even with [only] 3 years of age, it is a whiskey you don’t want to miss – if you are into the whiskey, of course.
Going into the interesting wine happenings section, W. Blake Gray had done it again – stirred the debate, I meant. Here is the post and here is related poll (poll is closed, but you can see the results), all about blind tasting by the wine publications, or may be not so blind? Read and decide for yourself – and be sure not to miss the comment section, as it has a lot of emotions brewing.
Joe Roberts of the 1WineDude fame reviewed some of the wine books which I think worth your attention – you can read his reviews here.
It is the harvest time in the Northern hemisphere, so of course there are lots of harvest news from all over. Decanter magazine gives you a good harvest run down for Europe and US (they expect the prices of California wine to go up – this is great, I think I missed the memo about economy being in the excellent state), and here is a take on California harvest from W. Blake Gray.
Last, but [may be] not least – did you have Pizza today? You should’ve, as September 5th was a National Cheese Pizza Day. Well, yes, I missed it too.
The glass is empty – Meritage is all gone for today, however full shipment is expected to arrive in a week. Until then – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #27 – This Whiskey Can’t Age Any Longer…
As you know, the subject of Whiskey is not foreign in this blog, so that is what today’s quiz will be all about.
Similar to the wine, whiskey is usually aged before it is released to the market. Again, similar to the wine, all kinds of wooden casks are used for that process of aging. Quite often used wine barrels become whiskey casks – you can see on the bottle “Port finish”, “Madeira finish” and many others – but this is not the point of this quiz.
Again, similar to wine, when whiskey is aging in the cask, it gains complexity and usually mellows down. There is nothing you can do to substitute time in this process of aging, so as you can expect, the older the whiskey is, the higher price it commands when in the bottle, but again this is not the point of this quiz.
Look at the whiskey shelf in the liquor store, and you will see a lot of bottles with the “age statement” on them – 10 years old, 12, 14, 15, 21, 25, or may be even 30 or 40 (I’m glad this post is not about prices). Typically the decision for how long to age each particular batch of whiskey is taken by the cellar master at the distillery, and whiskey is tasted along the way until it will be declared worthy of the release. But in some cases, external circumstances dictate the maximum age of the whiskey which can be achieved at the distillery, and nothing can be done to age the whiskey for longer. For instance, at Stranahan’s distillery in Colorado, whiskey doesn’t age longer than 5 years, and if they will try aging it until 8 years, they will have a big problem after all. What do you think can cause such a limitation?
Bonus question – explain what exactly happens with whiskey that it can’t age any longer?
Have a great long weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, WBC13, #CabernetDay, Blog Monetization and more
Is it only me, or these weeks are flying by, literally faster and faster? It only was the beginning of summer, and kids just went to school…again?!
Okay, let’s get to our meritage business – starting with the answer for Wine Quiz #26 – Extreme Wines, Part 2. Actually I think the question was not difficult, which is also showing in having many people chose the right answer – Tavel. While Jerez, Marsala, Vin Jaune and Vin Santo are all aged in the open barrels, Tavel, while famous, is a regular Rose wine from Rhone. Just for the quick heads up, I think the next quiz will still be along the same line of “wines and factors”, and then we will probably play with “wines and places”.
Going into the news, let’s start with the important one – believe it or not, but it is harvest time already! Many vineyards in Texas already picked they grapes, and California wineries are well on the way. Dr. Vino just had a great quiz regarding the harvest – try it on for a size, you might find the answer quite surprising.
Wine Bloggers Conference 2012 just took place a week ago in Portland, Oregon – but the wine blogging doesn’t take any breaks, and Wine Bloggers Conference 2013 is already announced – it will take place in Penticton, British Columbia (yep, in Canada), on June 6-8. As I missed the one in Portland, I will have to really think about this one now …
Steve Heimoff wrote a very interesting blog post (love the language, very colorful) about monetization of the wine blogs, which was triggered by the discussions at WBC12. Whether you are thinking about monetizing your blog or not, this will be an interesting read – don’t miss it.
Interested in exploring 100 top restaurant in US? You are in luck! Forbes just published an article about those 100 best restaurants, circa 2012, just to make your job easier. And if you need more information, you can go directly to the source – the full list at Opinionated About Dining website (while I have no comments about the list, the overall design of that OAD website looks very unappealing to me – but hey, the information should be still good, right?).
This is the end of my wine news for today. Ohh, wait, no – whatever you do, don’t forget the #CabernetDay day tomorrow! And if anyone needs help to finish that bottle of Screaming Eagle, or Bryant, or Harlan, or (tired yet? I can continue) anyway, you got the point – I’m at your full disposal! Okay, fine, for real – what are you going to open?
Happy Wine Wednesday! Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #26 – Extreme Wines, Part 2
Last week’s quiz was about heat, one of the “extreme factors” which adversely impact most of the wines, rendering them “cooked”, unpleasantly “hot” and lifeless. Among other “extreme enemies” of wine we also mentioned oxygen – while critical necessity for everything alive, oxygen can kill the wine, making it devoid of any flavor and by removing a notion of freshness and acidity from the wine.
However, there are many wines produced around the world with the help of oxygen. By allowing slow and controlled process of oxidation (while the wine is in the barrels), the wines gain complexity, develop some unusual, perhaps nutty and even salty flavors, which people tend to either love or hate.
Below you will find a list of wines (or wine types, to be more precise) which are all produced in oxidative fashion – except one. Do you know which wine doesn’t belong to the list below?
Have a great weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Wine Blog Awards, 1368 grapes, and more
Happy Wine Wednesday everyone! Hope that all the WBC2012 attendees recuperated by now and again consider wine as something enjoyable and not as a chore.
It is Meritage time, so let’s start from the answer for the Wine Quiz #25 – Extreme Wines. The question was about wines which are not destroyed by heat, but instead, are “made” by it. And the right answer is… Madeira! Madeira wine, which was discovered as a by-product of a long sea journeys of the wine barrels, is commercially made using the method called estufagem, where wine is heated up to 130F for at least 90 days. If you haven’t tried Madeira recently, you should, as the Madeira is currently in the process of revival, and it has a lot to offer.
And now for the sipping, errr – wine news section. Wine Blog Awards winners had been announced at WBC12 – here is the list. Congratulations to all the winners!
Decanter magazine just announced that Wine Grapes book is ready to be published. The book is written by Jancis Robinson and the team, and it provides information on 1,368 (!) wine grapes – looks like I got long ways to go in my Wine Century quest.
For those of us who missed Wine Bloggers Conference 2012, here is the summary by Tom Warks. I know that The Drunken Cyclist also attended WBC2012 – I will be very interested in reading his prospective on the conference.
Quick reminder for the upcoming wine holiday (NJVinoMan, please take notice : ) ): 3rd Annual Cabernet Day (#CabernetDay hash tag on Twitter) will be celebrated on August 30th – I hope you have enough time to decide on that special bottle.
That’s all for today, folks. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #25 – Extreme Wines
Most of my wine quizzes come about somewhat easy – “ahh, yes, that would make it a nice quiz” kind of revelation. Today, I was struggling. Must be the weather (or some other obnoxious, but definitely external factor). Anyway, I think this will be a pretty easy quiz for you – but it is better to stay with weekly routine than to look for excuses.
What is “extreme wines” you wonder? There is a number of “elements” which are considered extreme enemies of wines – heat, oxygen, extreme humidity or dryness, vibration and more. Out of many elements, heat and oxygen are probably competing for the crown of “Nemesis #1”, both rendering wine pretty much undrinkable.
Talking about heat specifically, when applied to the wine for some period of time, it makes the wine to taste “cooked”, removing any notion of fruit, acidity and balance from the wine. But – there are no rules without exception, right? There is one type of wine which is purposefully heated up in the process of winemaking, and heat doesn’t destroy that wine at all.
Do you know what wine is it?
Have a great weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, [Super] Wine List, and Blogs, Blogs, Blogs…
Surely these Italian wines will get you talking!It’s Meritage Time!
First things first – the answer for the Wine Quiz #24 – Bottles Big, Bottles Small. The list in the quiz actually included names of the wine bottles of the different sizes, only slightly mixed up between the different regions. While some of the bottle names are the same between Champagne and Bordeaux, some of the names are unique and are used only in one region, and not in both. The question was to find “one which doesn’t belong”. While Piccolo (187 ml, or one quarter of a bottle) and Methuselah (6L, equal to 8 bottles) are uniquely used in Champagne, it is Imperial ( also 6L, or 8 bottles) which is one and uniquely Bordeaux, thus the right answer for the wine quiz is “Imperial”. Whomever marked “Imperial” as the right answer, please pat yourself on the back – you got all the bragging rights for the right answer for the wine quiz #24. In case you are curious about all the bottles sizes and their names, here is a Wikipedia link for you.
Now let’s talk about interesting “news and such” I came across during the last few days.
There was (yes, unfortunately “was”, not “is”) a restaurant in Spain, called El Bulli – literally the best restaurant in the world, by the famous chef Ferran Adrià (also one of the best in the world). The restaurant closed last summer, and now, as I learned from Dr. Vino’s blog post, about 10,000 bottles from El Bulli’s wine cellar will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in the near future. Dr. Vino’s blog post lists also a link to the El Bulli’s wine list, but for some reason it didn’t seem to work for me. However – in case you want to see the wine list – here it is, 139 pages of goodness… Drooling is acceptable.
Wine Bloggers Conference, a.k.a. WBC2012, is opening in Portland, Oregon in two days. At that conference, winners of the Wine Blog Awards will be announced. It seems that the subject of the awards is heated up considerably with various bloggers expressing their last minute opinions. You can reserch the subject on your own, but here is the opinion of Joe Roberts (1WineDude) – I recommend checking out the blogs he is referring to – they look quite interesting.
Last, but not least, a few interesting posts from The Passionate Foodie blog. First, here is a advanced notice of the upcoming great food holiday – October is a National Cheese Month! Cheese is definitely one of my favorite (if not The Favorite) foods, and knowing that in October I will have an additional reason to eat it, makes me happy. Also, as The Passionate Foodie writes from Boston, he mentioned that The Cheese Shop of Concord will be celebrating its 45th anniversary on October 6th, by offering a number of cheeses at 1967 prices – if you are into cheese, you still have time to find a good reason to be in Concord, MA on that date (I don’t think I need a reason – I plan to be there).
Also in the same The Passionate Foodie blog, you can find a series of posts about Port, one of the [wrongly] under-appreciated but amazing wines – here are the links for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for you – well worth your time, I think.
That’s all I have for today’s Meritage. Don’t forget – it is always [Wine] [Whisky] Wednesday – pour something good into your glass. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #24 – Bottles Big, Bottles Small
How does Salmanazar of Chateau Petrus sounds to you? No, I didn’t lost it [yet]. Salmanazar is the name of one of the so called “large format” bottles. To be exact, Salmanazar bottle contains 9 liters of liquid, and it is equivalent to the 12 standard bottles, so even if such a bottle of Chateau Petrus exists, a thought of how much it might cost is plain scary.
There are many small and large format bottles. Small bottles are great when you just want a few glasses. Large bottles are great for parties and conversations, but they are also considered to be the best for aging of the wine. All those bottles of different sizes have their own names, and for some reason, large format bottles are often named after biblical heroes, like Salmanazar, Nebuchadnezzar and Solomon, for instance.
There are rules applied to the bottle naming, and those rules are different between the regions and types of wine. Below you can see the names of the various bottle sizes belonging to one and the same region – except one. Do you know which one doesn’t belong?
Have a great weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Cheapskate Wednesday, Wasps, Wine Lists And More
Indulge in fine wine at WineChateau.com and enjoy.
Meritage time! I hope you are thirsty!
First and foremost, the answer for the Wine Quiz #23, There is a Vineyard in UK. While there were not that many answers, there was a nice spread between different options. And the right answer is… Riesling! The rest of the grapes are growing pretty successfully in UK, except for Riesling, which is a bit strange to me – Riesling does just fine in the colder climates – Finger Lakes, Niagara and other northern areas are making excellent wines out of Riesling, so it is surprising that it had not being picked up in UK. Well, may be it will be the next big thing, following success of the sparkling wines, but at least it is not there right now.
Next important item to bring to your attention – lovers of a great QPR, rejoice! Today is Cheapskate Wednesday at Wine Till Sold Out. All wines are priced in the range of $7.99 – $18.99 and new wines are announced only on Twitter every 15 minutes or so – follow @WTSO for the updates (I think you can also subscribe for SMS updates).
The Wine Bloggers Conference 2012 is taking place next week, August 17- 19 in Portland, Oregon. No, I’m not going, but may be next year. Are you?
Do you like wasps and hornets? Yeah, I thought so. It turns out that they play a vital role in making the wines complex. How? Read this article if you want to know.
Do you remember Dr. Vino’s blog post about NY Post restaurant critic’s problem with the wine lists (they are too esoteric to his taste)? At this point that thread has 49 (!) comments (depending on when you will read this post, number of comments might be even higher). While the thread might be too long to read in its entirety (but still worth it), make sure to at least read the comment by the critic (Steve Cuozzo) himself – read it slowly and carefully, and warn people around that you might laugh hysterically…
Want to know who are the most influential people in the wine world in the past year? Now you can. IntoWine.com published its 2012 Annual “Top 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. Wine Industry” – note that the link will point you to the top 10 – you can navigate back using the links at the bottom of the page. I think this list is interesting – what are your thoughts on that?
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. Enjoy your middle of the week. Cheers!
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