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!
Impromptu Reflection On My Favorite Subject – Amarone
This blog post was not planned for today – nope, had totally different ideas in mind. And then the comment arrived on one of my older posts (click here to see it). And the comment was more of a question, which definitely stroke a chord – someone was looking for that perfect Amarone moment, exactly the same way as I was trying to replicate mine…
Yes, I responded to the comment, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to reflect on the magic of Amarone – and practical impossibility of re-creating that magic “at will”. That full-bodied, perfectly dry but rich, voluptuous and perfectly balanced (you will have to forgive my use of double-perfect wording) which I experienced only once (I’m talking again about 1997 Le Ragose Amarone) – was almost never replicated in any of the wines I had. The only two which come close were 2001 Masi Mazzano Amarone Classico, and believe it or not, 2000 Carlisle Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. I have one wine on my “must try” list – Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone – which must be magical based on what the others are saying, but this wine would really require a [very] generous sponsor…
Out of curiosity, I decided to check on the classic Amarone at the Wine Spectator web site – there are only 11 Amarone which have “classic” rating (95-100 points) throughout all the years:
| Wine | Vintage | Score |
Release Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2005 | 96 | $105 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 2004 | 96 | $NA | |
| Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Monte Ca’ Bianca | 1997 | 95 | $NA | |
| Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Monte Ca’ Bianca | 2004 | 95 | $70 | |
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2003 | 95 | $64 | |
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2007 | 95 | $75 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 1998 | 95 | $480 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 1997 | 95 | $370 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 2003 | 95 | $425 | |
| Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Mazzano | 1999 | 95 | $120 | |
| Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico | 1988 | 95 | $NA |
As you can see, Wine Spectator is not much of a help…
Have you ever experienced the magic of Amarone? Do you have a favorite? Let me know! 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!
Following Wines Til Sold Out – Wow, That Was One Marathon!
About a week ago, on Wednesday, August 8th, Wine Til Sold Out … yes, did it again. It was their “Super-Wednesday” sale, which usually takes place once in 3 month. That was one “no holds barred” event, I can tell you. And I don’t even mean the prices, which are usually unquestionable at WTSO, I’m primarily talking about the speed at which wines were disappearing…
90+ different wines were sold, in the total quantity of more than 72,000 (!) bottles. I managed to get only one of the wines, and three times I was … yes, late (the most upsetting one was when wine disappeared while I was entering my credit card info!).
Anyway, in case you missed the event, I got it all for you here – well, most of it, as some of the wines went too fast (hmmm, I think I already said that). As usual, here is the guide to ratings: WS – Wine Spectator, WA – Wine Advocate, WE – Wine Enthusiast, W&S – Wine & Spirits, ST – Steven Tanzer, JHN – Jonathan H. Newman, WRO – Wine Review Online, RP – Robert Parker, JS – James Suckling, JH – James Halliday.
Enjoy!
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!
Craving Acidity
I’m not complaining – complaining is futile, as things always can be worse than they are. I’m just stating – this is not my kind of weather. I don’t like it. I don’t like this stuffed hot air, so dense that it can be cut with the knife.
Don’t think cutting air with knife would be very effective. I guess there are better tools for making that hot stuffy air less noticeable. One of the best ones I know is acidity. No, I don’t mean rubbing myself all over with the slice of lemon, or drinking copious amounts of the lime juice. Of course I’m slowly nudging towards the main subject of this blog – wine. And one of the wines which possesses this refreshing, “hot-air-cutting” acidity is Muscadet from Loire.
Suggestive Labeling? Yes!
I realize it more and more now – I’m a sucker for a good wine labels. Yes, I know – don’t judge the book by its cover. Of course. But the first thing you see when you look at the bottle of wine is a label. Considering sheer number of wines in the average wine store, label is critical element of the wine’s success. It has to attract your attention. It has to seduce you. It has to promise you a great time. It has to be memorable. And the label has only a fraction of a second to make this all happen.
While visiting Cost Less Wines in Stamford, this is exactly what happened. Something caught my eye – the label I never saw before. I grabbed the bottle – and then there was another, and another, and another. A special project from Barton and Guestier – The Pairing Collection. If you remember Entwines, the joint project by Food Network and Wente, The Pairing Collection wines represent the next step – a very suggestive name and the picture on the front label, and the recipe in the back, and even QR code to take you to the specially designated The Pairing Collection web site – how cool is that?! Well, you be the judge – here are the labels.
Chops & Burgers Bordeaux red AOC:
Salmon & Trout Bordeaux white AOC:
And the back label:
Lobster & Shrimp Muscadet Sèvre et Maine AOC:
and here is the recipe for you:
Cheese & Crackers Beaujolais Village AOC:
Chicken & Turkey Côtes du Rhône AOC:
So, what do you say? Do these labels speak to you? Let me know! Cheers!
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