Screw Top Versus Cork – The Jury Is Still Out
Inadvertently, I run an experiment of cork versus screw top, and the results were interesting enough to discuss them here.
About a week ago, I pulled out of the cellar (which is actually a wine fridge) the bottle of 2004 d’Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz MacLaren Vale from Australia (14.5% ABV). As I confessed in my blogging addiction in the recent post, before the bottle is open, in addition to just regular anticipation of wine experience itself, now I have added anticipation of the possible blog post which can be written based on the wine experience.
Or not. There are many possible was for the experience not becoming a blog post. Too many things to write about, too little time. Or you just hit the “writer’s block”. Or the experience is not worthy of being captured. Which was the case with this Shiraz.
d’Arenberg is a well known Australian winery, which just celebrated 100 years last year, producing substantial range of typical Australian wines, such as Shiraz, Grenache, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and more. I had pleasure of meeting Chester Osborn, d’Arenberg’s winemaker in third generation, and even have couple of bottles with his signature in my cellar (by the way, what do you do with those signed bottles? I should make a separate post to discuss this interesting question).
Now, I didn’t know what to expect from this bottle of Shiraz. The Footbolt is one of the introductory level Shiraz wines from d’Arenberg, but that doesn’t mean anything. Cork is out (regular cork, just keep reading to see why it is important), and judging by the color alone, this wine didn’t reach its prime yet – dark ruby in color. But the nose and then the palate were inconclusive. Acidity would jump up and down with every sip, and while the wine had enough fruit, it was simply not getting together, definitely lacking the balance which is all so important for me in the wine. So, based on this wine alone, the blog post was not born.
And then yesterday I pulled out another bottle of d’Arenberg wine from the same vintage:
d’Arenberg Shiraz Grenache
2004 d’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache McLaren Vale (14.5% ABV) – a blend of 50% Shiraz and 50% Grenache . With the screw top. That was an “aha” moment. Same vintage as the previous wine – but wit the screw top – how different the experience will it be?
No “pop” of the pulled cork. Just a quiet “tsk-tsk-tsk” of unscrewing the top. In the glass, this wine looked like it was made yesterday – dark ruby, very concentrated color. From the get go, the wine showed beautiful fruit on the nose, ripe plums, equally supported on the palate with fresh fruit and energetic acidity.
About 45 minutes or so later, when I poured another glass, the wine tasted almost sweet – the thought was “what happened”? This was a totally a different wine compare to the way the wine started. Another half an hour or so – and we were presented with the new wine again – dark concentrated fruit, firm structure, tannins and acidity all summing up into a gorgeous balanced wine.
Wine ageing in the bottle is typically associated with the tiny inflow of oxygen through the cork. In case of screwtop, the oxygen doesn’t get to the wine at all. Thus my theory is that once you open a bottle under the screwtop, the very quick ageing process starts off, which takes the wine through the different “taste stages” in the rapid succession. Then at the same time, the wine is changing its taste in the glass no matter what, so may be that rapid taste changing has nothing to do with the way the bottle was closed.
Ideally, of course, I would love to compare two identical bottles (same wine, same vintage), only one closed with the screwtop and another one with the regular cork (I believe I actually read about some producers who are doing that). In this experiment, the Shiraz Grenache under the screwtop was a clear winner, but it is hard to tell what it has to do with the screwtop versus regular cork versus the two wines being just differently made.
I guess I can end this report with the words “to be continued…” – and I would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #60: Grape Trivia – Sangiovese
Sangiovese grapes close up from Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Yep, it is the time for the new wine knowledge test.
We are continuing our Grape Trivia series, and today we will talk about Sangiovese – one of the most famous Italian grapes. Sangiovese is typically associated with Chianti, but in reality, Sangiovese is one of the most planted grapes all over Italy. One of the interesting issues is that Sangiovese, similarly to Pinot Noir, is very clone-prone, so it is known in different places under different names, such as Sangiovese Grosso, Prugnolo Gentile or Calabrese, to take a few.
Sangiovese is black skinned grape with cherry-dominant, earthy and savory profile. Sangiovese is capable of a wide range of expressions, starting from simple food friendly wines from Chianti to the oak-loaded monsters requiring long ageing and long decanting, coming from different regions in Tuscany and beyond. Absolute majority of Sangiovese plantings are located in Italy, but the grape is also slowly becoming popular in the other regions such as United States or Argentina.
Now, to the quiz! I thought that Zinfandel was not a simple quiz to compose, but then I realized that it is even more difficult to create an interesting quiz all around Sangiovese. For what it worth, 5 questions are below.
Q1: Grape, blending partner mostly of the past, typically leading to Sangiovese wines becoming dull and unexciting.
Q2: What is Fiasco, and how is it related to the Chianti wines?
Q3: On some of the bottles of Chianti, you could see an image of the black rooster. What is the meaning of it?
Q4: Tuscany no doubts is the major source of Sangiovese wines. Can you name 4 sub-regions in Tuscany, producing great wines with Sangiovese as the main variety?
Q5: Name 3 leading regions in United States producing Sangiovese wines. For an extra bonus, add your favorite producer(s).
Have a great weekend, have fun and cheers!
Daily Glass: Of Wonderwall and Unwooded Pinot
How can you tell when blogging is becoming an addiction? When you drink great wine, you think about it in the terms of the blog post. And when you are not producing that blog post for whatever reason, you become upset and feel incomplete…
I don’t want to feel incomplete – who does? And to avoid that feeling, let me tell you about few great wines I experienced recently.
Last week, when it was hot and not crazy rainy as today (did someone up there forgot to turn off the faucet?), I walked into the wine store and told Zak that I’m in the mood for a nice bottle of Rosé. “Here”, he said handing me a bottle, “you have to try this”. Okay, I’m ready to try whatever Zak hands me with such a conviction. 2011 Haute Cabrière Unwooded Pinot Noir Franschhoek South Africa (12% ABV, $15.99) didn’t look like a Rosé, but hey, the proof is in the glass.
And what a proof it was! Light ruby color, the nose of strawberries, cranberries and onion peel (classic Rosé, huh?) – same on the palate – perfect substance, perfectly refreshing body – nothing wimpy, nothing sweet, only refreshing, light and exciting wine. This wine is produced by Achim von Arnim, whose blog is called Sun Soil Vine Man – which is also a motto of his winery. Tasting this unwooded Pinot Noir, I can say that his simple model works quite well. Drinkability: 8-
And then there was Wonderwall. First I tried 2012 Wonderwall Chardonnay Central Coast (14.9% ABV, $22/$17.60 for catalog members). These Wonderwall wines are produced by Andrew Jones, the winemaker behind Field Recordings wines, which I discussed many times in the blog – and of which I’m a big fun.
What is amazing about many Field Recordings wines is aromatics. Once you pour the wine into the glass, you simply can’t put it down – but not drinking, only smelling, and smelling and smelling. Some wines transform with their taste, and some just with their aromatics. Bright and beautiful fruit on the nose – together with fresh flowers. I experienced similar aromatics with some of the best Albarino wines – but not with California Chardonnay. Good amount of fruit on the palate, but tame, more controlled, balanced and perfectly weaved around acidity. When the bottle was finished (much faster than I would want to, unfortunately – this was my only bottle) – I smelled the bottle and it showed vanilla and touch of butter – but it was too late. I wish I had another bottle to try it at least in 3-4 years – oh well, may be someone will. Drinkability: 8
Then I had 2012 Wonderwall Pinot Noir Central Coast (13.9% ABV, $22/$17.60 for catalog members). To describe it in a few words, I would put it like this: from nose to palate – classic California Pinot Noir. Violet, cherries and hint of smokiness on the nose, cherries, cranberries and tart blackberries on the palate, all moving and evolving. On the palate, this wine is somewhat elusive, and it gives you a different perception with every sip. On the second day it showed bright, clean and assertive fruit, with mouthwatering acidity – you really want to give this wine some time (I will not, as again this was my only bottle). Drinkability: 7+
Before we part, I have to cite for you the words written on the back label of the Wonderwall wines:
“I’m unsure if it has been me, the grapes or the vineyards. There
has always been a barrier between me and the wine I wanted.
Finally, I have broken through the wall.”
That’s all I have for you, folks. And I feel better already. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Le Féret, En Premeur Tales, 1WD Giveaway and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #59, Grape Trivia – Zinfandel. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about California’s star grape, Zinfandel. 
I know many people prefer to answer quizzes in the Google-free form – however, this Zinfandel quiz was somewhat of an exception. Let’s move on to the answers.
Q1: It was established recently that Zinfandel existed in Croatia under a different name, at least from the 15th century. Do you know what was that name?
A1. This was actually a tricky question. People, I mentioned Crljenak Kaštelanski right in the text of the quiz – I was hoping that this would be enough of a hint that this will not be a right answer. If someone will look into Wikipedia, you will be able to find that “After years of research and DNA testing of vines from vineyards across the globe, a single 90 year old grape vine from the garden of an elderly lady in Split, Croatia, provided the evidence to show that Zinfandel was a Croatian grape that has been known as Tribidrag since at least the 15th century.” So the correct answer for the question #1 is Tribidrag.
Q2: While Zinfandel typically listed on the label, very often some other grapes are added to the blend. Name one grape which can be considered a traditional blending partner of Zinfandel
A2: Petite Sirah. Look at the information on many Zinfandel wines, and you will often see at least some percentage of Petit Sirah to be a part of the blend.
Q3: Pink Zinfandel was discovered by accident. Can you explain how that happen, and possibly use the proper winemaking term for the “accident”
A3: Oops, sorry, I should’ve being checking my writing. It is actually White Zinfandel, not Pink, of course – pink is just a color… Anyway, I see that many of you figured out what I meant ( I will still correct the question) – yes, White Zinfandel was discovered as a result of the accident, which is called “stuck fermentation” – all the yeast dies and fermentation stopped before sugar was fully converted into the alcohol.
Q4: Two California winemakers are largely credited with putting red Zinfandel wines on the wine map. Can you name them?
A4: Most of you mentioned only the wineries – and the question was actually about the winemakers. But thedrunkencyclist was correct mentioning Ridge and Ravenswood – Paul Draper of Ridge and Joel Peterson of Ravenswood are largely considered the pioneers of California Zinfandel.
Q5: Most of the well known Zinfandel producers still make other wines from the different grapes. But there is one winery in California ( at least that I know of), which make nothing but Zinfandel wines. Can you name that winery?
A5: Yes, this was a tough question too. Most of the famous Zinfandel producers – Turley, Ravenswood, Rosenbloom, Seghesio, Robert Biale, and so on – are all producing other wines in addition to their great Zinfandels. The only winery I know of which produces Zinfandel and nothing but Zinfandel is Wine Guerilla – it is not for nothing they are calling themselves “An Art and Soul of Zinfandel”. Take a look at their line up – they are currently offering 13 different kinds of Zinfandel – and nothing but Zinfandel.
Summing it up, we don’t have winners this week, and Jeff, a.k.a. thedrunkencyclist gets an honorable mention with 3 correct answers out of 5.
Now, to the interesting stuff around vine and the web!
Have you heard of Editions Féret? I have to admit that I didn’t, not until I read a Wine Spectator article called “The Book that Defined Bordeaux“. It appears that the book, now called Editions Féret, or simply Le Féret, which started exactly 200 years ago as 84 pages travel guide, and had grown to become a 2,296 pages bible, largely defined Bordeaux wines, starting from famous 1855 classification – it was that book which rated the wines simply based on their prices in 1850, which was taken as a foundation of 1855 classification. Read the article, I think it is quite interesting.
According the post on Dr.Vino’s blog, it appears that during En Premeur, a primary Bordeaux event where new vintages are presented, one and the same wine can be “processed ” differently for the different groups of tasters – Americans will get the wine exposed to more of the new oak, and the same wine for the French audience will be finished to have more subtle showing of the fruit. Is it true? I have no idea. But it gets a final product into an interesting perspective – does it mean that one and the same Bordeaux wine can taste differently depending on where you will buy it ( in US or in Europe)? Hmmm…
Do you like giveaways? Of course you do, who doesn’t? So assuming that you do, please go and check this post at 1WineDude web site – if you leave a comment there, you will get a chance to wine one of the 5 memberships in the French Wine Society. I think it is not a bad deal, huh?
Last but not least – mark your calendars for June 19th – and make room in your wine cellars and their equivalents. Yep – WTSO is doing it again! Famous Cheapskate Wednesday is coming into town on June 19th – for more information please visit WTSO web site (you can find link in the “Buying Wine section to your right) or click this link.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks – the glass is empty. But refill is on on its way. Until the next time – cheers!
Blogging as Life Happens – Hu Kitchen
One of the toughest questions I’m trying to ask myself all the time – is this experience worthy of a blog post? Things happen, you think they are important and you have to blog about it – but then new things come on top, and what seemed to be important doesn’t fell like that anymore. But it isn’t. Yes, we are moving along in life, and new experiences overshadow the past ones – thus it is important to capture things that happen as they happen, before they get out of site and out of mind.
Did I lose you already? Don’t worry, it is a short post, and I will bring you back.
I visited a very interesting place today – Hu Kitchen in Manhattan. What do you think “Hu” stands for? Hunan Garden, as many Chinese restaurants are called? Do you think it is actually a Chinese restaurant?
Nope. “Hu” stands for “Human”, and it is a place for the true and honest food. Gluten free. Refined sugar free. GMO free. But tasty. Very, very tasty.
I had breakfast Burrito. Here is how it is described on the menu:
That Almond butter + puffed Quinva Chocolate bar was one of the absolute best ever ( and I love chocolate, believe me).
Daily Glass: WTSO Wines – Mockingbird Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Just Add A Little Time…
As you probably know, I’m a big fun of Wine Til Sold Out (WTSO). As someone who consumes wine all the time, I greatly appreciate an opportunity to save money but still drink great wines – and that is what WTSO allows us to do.
A number of wines sold by WTSO are really of an unknown pedigree. Yes, when the wine is offered for sale at WTSO, you get all the info associated with that wine – winemakers notes, technical details, etc. – but quite often, nothing else can be found on Internet.
The Mockingbird Hill wines belong to that group. I know that my WTSO posts are quite popular, and Mockingbird Hill wines come up quite often among search terms in my blog stats (yes, I do look at that info). But when I searched for the info on Mockingbird Hill wines, I was unable to find much. So I decided to try some of the Mockingbird Hill wines and write the review on my own.
Our wine today is 2011 Mockingbird Hill Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley (14.5% ABV, $19.99), 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (according to the info on WTSO web site). I have to honestly tell you that the pop-and-pour model failed completely for this wine. Open the bottle, pour into the glass, nice ruby color, sniff and…nothing. Really, not much to report. The first sip left me disappointed – definitely wine, but very tight, maybe some underripe blackberries. So I decided to stop right there (yes, this was not a happy stopping with a sigh), pump the air out and put it aside.
The next day… What do you think happened to this wine on the next day? Well, in a few words – it actually became pop’n pour wine. Great inviting nose of the succulent berries from the get go. Cassis and blackberries on the palate, bright and fresh, acidity, tannins, all together in a perfect harmony. It is pretty incredible what little time can do with the wine… Drinkability: 8-
I would definitely recommend this wine – as long as you are willing to give it little time. Yes, you can cellar it, or you can decant it – it is your choice, but in the end, you will not be disappointed.
That’s all I have for you folks for today. Happy Monday and cheers!
Before The Time Runs Out – To Replace The Google Reader, It Is. Or – How Do You Follow?
If there ever be a contest for the longest blog post title, I would have a good shot at winning, don’t you think? It also shows that I can’t make decisions – as to what title is better, as the least. But then I know from the business world that huge number (majority?) of e-mails are not read past the first line, so one really needs to put out all at once…
Anyway, let’s move closer to the subject. As you probably know, Google announced the End of Life for their Reader as of July 1st – and I don’t know about you, but Google Reader was one of my tools of choice to follow the blogs en masse. With Google reader, it was easy to see what is new with the blogs I follow, and easy to focus on reading posts from one blog at a time. Yes, you can subscribe to follow most of the blogs via e-mail – possible, but considering how we all are inundated with the e-mails, it is easy to expect that many posts will just slip through the cracks – lots of e-mails will accumulate for “I will read it later” section, until one gets overwhelmed with amount of unread e-mails and then hits “delete all” button.
Just to give you an idea of how my Google Reader screen looked like, here is a snapshot:
My Google reader Screen – see how everything is grouped by the blogs?
So I started to ask around. I heard from my friend Patty of P’s 2013 Photo Project that she started to use Feedly, but has limited success. Then I asked my friend Kfir, who is The Guru of Social Media, and his advice was – well yes, try Feedly. So at last, I also decided to consult another friend who is close with billions of people (yep, Google search engine), and I found a web site called Replace Reader. This is what I saw there:
Replace Reader screen
As you can see, Feedly has #1 spot. But before going to Feedly (I have to make my own mistakes, part of my DNA, I guess), I decided to try Bloglovin – easy installation, quick sync with Google Reader, and voila. But I didn’t like what I saw too much:
Bloglovin reader screen
The reason I was not too happy with it? It resembles WordPress Reader, which only presents all the blog posts sequentially, sorted by day and time, and if you didn’t read the blogs for a few days (I know, you don’t believe this can happen to anyone – not to read blogs for a few days – OMG, the world is ending…) – but if you actually didn’t read blogs for a few days, good luck following up on what you read and what you didn’t read… This is my WordPress Reader screen, just to give you an idea:
So it seemed that trying the Feedly is inevitable. Download, install (it actually installs a browser plug-in, so you have to restart the browser). Sync up with Google Reader. The first view is a mess – it is called “Title only view”, and it is just a collection of blog posts sorted by date – nowhere near to blog-sorted Google Reader:
Feedly Title Only View
But – Feedly actually offers a number of different views – Magazine view is better, as it allows me to see the blogs I follow in more structured way:
feedly magazine view
See that list of the blogs on the top right side? Now I can see with single glance what do I have to read where. But the best view in my opinion is the one which is provided as “Index”
feedly index view
So I think Feedly with the Index view is what I’m looking for – hopefully it will help me to stay on top of my “follow” game.
Now, the big question is – how do you follow? I’m really curious to know what do you do to follow the blogs you want to read?
Also hope you had a good glass of wine before the new week starts. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #59: Grape Trivia – Zinfandel
Traditional gnarly look of old Zinfandel vines. Picture from Wikipedia.
And the new weekend is upon us, together with the wine quiz.
We are continuing the grape trivia, and we are continuing exploring the red grapes (let me know if you think it is the time to switch to the whites). Today’s subject is Zinfandel, an American star.
Zinfandel is the black-skinned grape, known as an early ripening variety and capable of accumulating very high levels of sugar – this is one of the reasons why you can often see Zinfandel wines with alcohol by volume levels easily exceeding 15%.
Story of Zinfandel is one of the most fascinating ones compare to many other grapes you can think of – considering the amount of genetic research which went into establishing the origins of Zinfandel, the amount of attention this grape received is pretty mind boggling. After many years of back and force, it is now established that Zinfandel and Primitivo (an Italian grape from Apulia) are two individual clones of Croatian grape called Crljenak Kaštelanski. As The Drunken Cyclist, a regular winner of these quizzes, pointed out in his own quiz a while back, both Zinfandel and Primitivo are considered independent varieties and should be listed as separate varieties on the wine labels of the wines in US.
Another interesting part of the Zinfandel story is that actual powerful and seductive Zinfandel red wines as we know them now, almost became extinct at some point due to the success of sweet and insipid Pink Zinfandel wines (but please pay some respect – Pink Zinfandel still accounts for almost 10% of wine sales in US).
And now, to the quiz! As the subject is very narrow (Zinfandel is not growing all over the world), enlisting Google as your helper is totally fine (not that it was not with any of my quizzes before) – but this is up to you, of course. In any case, even if you can only answer a few questions – please do!
Q1: It was established recently that Zinfandel existed in Croatia under a different name, at least from the 15th century. Do you know what was that name?
Q2: While Zinfandel typically listed on the label, very often some other grapes are added to the blend. Name one grape which can be considered a traditional blending partner of Zinfandel
Q3: White Zinfandel was discovered by accident. Can you explain how that happen, and possibly use the proper winemaking term for the “accident”
Q4: Two California winemakers are largely credited with putting red Zinfandel wines on the wine map. Can you name them?
Q5: Most of the well known Zinfandel producers still make other wines from the different grapes. But there is one winery in California ( at least that I know of), which make nothing but Zinfandel wines. Can you name that winery?
Good luck, enjoy your weekend and cheers!
Wine Gadgets: Pourers
As it was introduced a week ago (here is the post), we are starting to discuss a subject of the wine gadgets in the Thursday posts. Gadget post might not happen every Thursday – but at least you are about to read one now.
I don’t plan to rate gadgets – but I will tell you if I think you should own one. I will tell you what I like and don’t like. I will tell you why I think the gadget useful – or why I think it is not. I don’t really plan to acquire new gadgets just for the purposes of these posts – but this might change in the future.
Now, let’s proceed with our first gadget – The Pourer.
Even with such a simple accessory as a wine pourer, there are many many different types available:
- Standard pourer
- Measuring pourer – you mostly see those at the wineries and wine tastings. They allow you to dispense the exact amount of liquid with every pour
- Pourer/stopper combination
- Aerating pourer
I own a substantial number of pourers of different forms and sizes:
2. VacuVin Wine Server Crystal – my favorite, most elegant
Why would you want to use pourers? I see two reasons:
- Aesthetics of pouring wine into the glass. Somehow, I find it more aesthetically pleasing looking at the wine going into the glass when the pourer is used
- Cleanliness of the bottle, hands and tablecloth. Using of the pourer prevents the wine from dripping all over the bottle, which subsequently leads to round stains on the tablecloth (especially when you deal with the red wine).
Just so you can relate to what I’m offering here, compare this two pictures. First one – pouring wine just standard way:
Pouring wine. See that drip in the making?
and this one – pouring wine using Crystal Wine Server:
Pouring wine using Crystal Wine Server
Which one do you find more elegant (and I’m not even talking about dripping)?
Are all of the pourers the same? Not at all. Not all pourers will fit all the bottles (interestingly enough, some of the screwtops offer a particular challenge for pourers as they often have a bit wider neck than the regular bottles). Some of the pourers are more versatile, some of them less. Some allow an easy addition of wine stopper, and some just don’t. Some of them also can work as aerators, but I will reserve that subject for the time when we will talk about aerators.
If you look at the five I presented to you above, they are all slightly different. #1, VacuVin Black Wine Server will fit a lot of bottles, will be okay with most of the screwtops and will allow the use of any bottle stoppers. This is definitely an advantage.
I find #2, VacuVin Crystal Wine Server the most aesthetically pleasing. However, it might have challenges fitting the screwtops (might simply fall out of some of them), and has probably the shortest lifespan (the bottom cracks). No stopper can be used together with this pourer.
When it comes to #3, it doesn’t even look like a pourer, right? But this ring performs an important function of stopping the drips, so as far as I’m concerned, it is pretty much a pourer. And it will fit on majority of the bottles, which is also a plus.
Pourer #4 is a flexible pourer – it is more or less a piece of plastic which you can fold and insert into absolute majority of the bottles. Works similar to #2, classic pourer and of course it should be taken out when you will need to recork your bottle. The advantage is that it is quite universal and will fit various bottle types.
Pourer #5 is a pourer/stopper combination. It works quite well, but has limitations – it will not fit some of the bottles with the thinner neck. Otherwise it is simple and I think looks pretty good.
Bottom line: considering that pourers are inexpensive for the majority of the cases, I would recommend to have variety on hands, so you will be prepared to enjoy bottles of any forms and sizes in style, and without annoying drips.
Variety of pourers can be found on many web sites and in catalogs – here is selection which can be found on Amazon: Wine pourers
What do you think? Do you own pourers, and if you do, do you use them? Do you think they make sense or do you think they are just waste of the money? Comment away!
And now, to make it even more entertaining, I’m adding a simple poll here – with every new poll I will provide results from the previous one. Let me know if these are good questions or if you want to know something else.
Whew, and we are done here. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Ageing of California Cabs, Is 0.05 an answer?, and more
Meritage time!
As usual, we are starting with the answer to the wine quiz #58, Grape Trivia – Syrah. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about Syrah, a.k.a. Shiraz.
Q1: Where is Shiraz?
A1: Shiraz is a town in Iran (previously Persia) where supposedly Syrah was originated.
Q2: Which white grape often plays a role of blending companion for Shiraz?
A2: Viognier is often added to both Syrah (Côte-Rôtie) and Shiraz. In many cases you can see Shiraz Viognier written on the labels of Australian wines.
Q3: One of the appellations below can be removed from the list – can you tell which one and why? For the answer to count, “why” explanation is required
A. Cornas, B. Côte-Rôtie, C. Crozes-Hermitage, D. Hermitage, E. Saint-Joseph
A3: Cornas. While Syrah is the only red grape allowed to be used in all of the appellations above, all appellations except Cornas also allow addition of white grapes (Viognier or Marsanne and Roussanne) to the final wine.
Q4: About 100 years ago, Syrah was a popular addition to the wines of one well known region – now this practice is totally illegal by the appellation rules. Do you know what region was that?
A4: Bordeaux. Syrah was a popular addition to Bordeaux wine, providing the structure and flesh. Of course the practice is illegal according to Bordeaux AOC rules, but it is still quite popular in the other regions, such as Australia, where you can often find Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz wines.
Q5: Where do you think are the oldest in the world continuously producing Syrah vineyards are located? Can you guess the approximate age of the vines?
A5: Australia. It is very difficult to figure out who was first and who was not, as in the wine world, there are always multiple claims to the “first” and “oldest” bragging rights. Based on the information I came across in this forum discussion, the oldest Shiraz vines had being planted in 1846 in the Jacobs Creek area, and Schild Estate is producing the wine called Moorooroo Shiraz from those old vines.
And the winners are… The Drunken Cyclist (I think for 5 times in the row!). He got all 5 questions correctly – great job, Jeff! Very close right behind him (with 4.5 out of 5 points – very close in the area for Shiraz, but named a different country – is Barbie from Blindly Guessing Grapes. If you are not familiar with her blog – check it out, she is constantly challenging herself to taste and learn about different grapes, definitely worth your attention. Honorable mention goes to Red Wine Diva, who correctly answered 3 out of 5 questions. Great job all, enjoy your bragging rights!
And now, to the interesting stuff around the vines and the web!
First I want to mention an interesting post by Steve Heimoff, where he is talking about change in perception of what ageable California Cabernet Sauvignon is, from 1970s to today. Steve’s point is that back in the 70s, to be considered age-worthy, Cabernet was supposed to taste bad on the release – where this is definitely not the point now. Read it for yourself, and as usual, don’t forget to read through the comments section, as it contains a lot of interesting information.
Next subject is currently widely discussed in many alcohol-related blogs – NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) recently came up with recommendation to lower allowed alcohol blood limit to 0.05 (down from 0.08 which is currently the limit). Both Steve Heimoff and W. Blake Gray wrote blog posts about it, which you can read here and here, advocating the idea that just lowering of the alcohol blood level will not be the solution for DUI-related accidents. They both covered the subject quite well, so I’m not going to repeat all of their arguments – but I recommend that you will read their posts, as in the end of the day, this relates to all of us and our ability to have a glass of wine with the meal in the restaurant.
There is also something else I want you to think about here. My friend Emil sent me a very interesting link tot he blog post titled “Survivorship Bias“. The post is very (very!) long and has nothing to do with wine – it is however a very (very!) worthwhile reading. This post is talking about the fact that when we analyze the problem, we tend to focus on successful outcome only, and we forget to carefully look on all the failed results and dead-end paths (it is impossible to give you a good summary in one sentence, you will be better off reading the post). The connection here? I believe that most of drunk-driving accidents were caused by the people whose blood alcohol level was far exceeding 0.08, forget 0.05. Majority of the people involved into DUI accidents never thought of what the allowed blood alcohol level is – 0.08, 0.05 or whatever, so lowering the limit will only allow to collect more fines and get in the way of more people’s lives – but it is not going to address the problem itself and reduce the number of drunk-driving related accidents. By no means I advocate or promote drunk-driving, this is definitely a serious problem which needs to be solved – but in order to solve this problem, it should be analyzed properly first, and this is what I believe this 0.05 recommendation is lacking.
And this is all I have for you for today. I think you are looking at lots of interesting reading, and if you want to discuss any of this “news”, this is what the comments section is for.
The glass is empty – but refill is on the way. Until the next time – cheers!
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