Lets Play a Little Game – Here Is A Wine Quiz
1855. Exposition Universelle de Paris will be taking place in Paris. Emperor Napoleon III requests classification system to be created for best Bordeaux wines, to represent French wines at the Expo. Classification system is created by the wine brokers based on wine price and Chateau reputation, where all wines are classified in five Growth (Crus), with First Growth being the best. Only four estates became so called First Growth in the 1855 classification, and the fifth one was added more than a hundred years later.
Here comes the question – which First Growth Chateau was not a part of the original 1855 classification? As this quiz has no prize attached to it, I would definitely recommend that you will try to answer the question on your own first before you will be reaching out to Google for an answer – it is definitely more fun this way.
Have fun! Cheers!
Advent of Wine And Social Media
Someone can probably run a very interesting study as to why people blog. I guess that we [bloggers] have something to say to the world, and the Internet gave us an ultimate platform to deliver the message – I’m not sure if this explains the phenomena of mass social media, but I will leave that research to the professionals, and while they are working on the answer, I will keep blogging.
Another interesting question for me is how do we [bloggers] come up with the subjects for the blog. I’m sure that some people have a plan. My method, though, should be called an “opportunistic blogging” – I rarely know in advance what my next blog post will be all about, so I’m blogging as the life takes place. Consequently, the subject I want to discuss here was not planned in advance at all – the idea for this blog post was born after reading the post by Joe Roberts, a.k.a. @1WineDude, which was called “This Is Me Totally NOT Lightening Up On Wine And Social Media“. The best thing you can do is read the original post – but to give the main idea, the blog post is about wineries not investing enough into the social media, not engaging the consumers through the social media channels and not building up their respective brands.
This is definitely an interesting discussion. How much time and effort should wineries dedicate to the social media? I don’t have an answer to that question – just some thoughts. Twitter and Facebook are two major social media outlets for the task of reaching out. The question is – are you reaching out wine professionals or the consumers? If we are talking about the need for wineries to engage wine professionals in the restaurants and the stores, wine writers and sommeliers – yes, I fully agree with that, this is an important way to communicate with your immediate target audience. Trying to reach the consumers? How effective it will be, outside of delivering your message to the people who are already in your club or the mailing list? In the store which has hundreds and hundreds of bottles from all over the world, where appearance of the label is the first deciding factor for majority of the wine purchases, will your social media message help?
Actually, as I warned you, I don’t have the answers. For someone like myself, social network recommendations and discussions play an important role – this is where I learn about new wines and decide what I want to try. But what about the majority? I guess the full blown study needs to be engineered to assess how much of the social media engagement by the wineries will translate into the actual buying decisions. While we can only hope that someone will actually conduct such a study, I decided to compare some simple numbers for wine world versus general food products in terms of the number of followers on Facebook (FB) and Twitter (T).
Here are some numbers. First, for the brands: Beringer Vineyards – FB: 18K, T: 9K; Robert Mondavi Winery – FB: 20K, T: 5.8K; Francis Ford Coppola Winery – FB :15K, T: 4K; d’Arenberg Winery – FB: 6.5K, T: 3.6K. Now, for comparison: Barilla Pasta – FB: 48K, T: 14K; Breakstone’s (sour cream etc.) – FB: 50k; Pepperidge Farm -F: 22K, T: 9K. Food products do have an edge over wineries, but the gap is not very big.
For retail, my comparison will not be fair, but I still find it interesting. Wine world: BevMo! – FB: 28K, T: 2.4K; Wine Library – FB: 39K, T: 21K; WTSO.com – FB: 10K, T: 10K (very interesting exception with the number of Facebook and Twitter followers being practically the same). For comparison: Target – FB: 9.9M, T: 300K; Wal-Mart – FB: 13M, T: 150K; Amazon – FB: 3.1M, T: 229K. Okay, as I said, this will not be a fair comparison.
For publications: Wine Spectator – FB: 61K, T: 48K. For comparison, Glamour – FB: 680K, T: 160K; Wall Street Journal: FB: 461K, T: 1.55M.
When we are talking about publications, I can’t help it but to mention that there are thousands of the wine blogs – of the time of this writing, 659 blogs are registered with the web site called Vinography – and that is considering the fact that you have to request to be listed on the Vinography site. Interestingly enough but that leads back to Joe’s point about social media engagement from the wineries – there are only 72 winery blogs registered on Vinography site. Talking about wineries’ engagement, I want to mention a blog post by Steve Heimoff, an Editor of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, which was titled “Staying relevant: for wineries, it can be tricky” – while Steve’s point is not directed at the social media, I think that in today’s world, “staying relevant” includes great degree of social media connection and engagement for any business, wineries included.
I also want to give you a great example of the social media engagement – if you look at the picture, you can see @KingEstate printed right on the cork – this cork is from the bottle of a very good Pinot Gris from King Estate winery in Oregon which we had a week ago. If someone needs a proof that wineries are taking social media engagement seriously, I think we don’t need to look further.
Okay, enough is enough. It’s time to round up this post. I gave you a lot of numbers here – if someone knows how number of followers translates in to the actual sales, I would be really curious to know. That’s all, folks. Cheers!
Daily Glass: Perfect Simplicity
The idea behind “daily glass” posts was that they will be done, well, daily. This never materialized, so the Daily Glass posts take place really from occasion to occasion. Today happened to be one of those occasions – this wine was so nice and simple that I just had to write the “Daily Glass” post.
We brought this bottle of 2009 De Lavoie La Tourelle from Quebec, Canada last July. The wine is made out of St-Croix, Le Marechal Foch and Baco Noir grapes and boasts 12% ABV. It has hint of sour cherries and smokey almonds on the nose (the nose is reminiscent of a Pinot Noir). The wine has medium body and on the palate shows raspberries and gooseberries, hint of minerality and vivid acidity. The acidity lingers the longest, creating mouthwatering finish, uncharacteristic of a typical red wines – I’m sure this would be a perfect food wine, very simple and very easy to drink. Drinkability: 7+.
I have one problems with this wine though – I had only one bottle, and Canadian wines are hardly available in the States… That would be my only complaint. Cheers!
Lets Play a Little Game – Here Is A Wine Quiz
Okay, so I always wanted to play with wine quizzes – I think it is fun. I even tried a few times before, by creating polls on the side bar of this blog – this proved not to be poplar ( I think 0 responses means “not popular”). So let me try it again – here is little wine quiz for you. Okay, it is not about wine – but it is very closely related to it, so – have fun! You can answer in the poll or comment, or do both. Cheers!
Fine Wine Industry of New York Needs Your Help
It is mind boggling to me how many assaults on the free trade are rotating around wine industry. There are still many states which don’t allow direct shipment of the wine to consumers. Last year, we had to fight with HR 5034 and HR 1161, both greatly impacting consumer’s access to wine on simple and easy terms (no, it should be hard, and most of all, expensive, for you to buy the wine).
Latest in the chain of assaults – “At Rest” proposition in New York Senate, which is sponsored by two big wholesalers with the idea of forcing all wine distribution in the state of New York to go only through warehouses located in the state of New York. That would simply force many of the smaller fine wine merchants in New York, which use warehouses in New Jersey, to go out of business. Please contact your senator and make him or her to stop this insanity. Here is a complete text of e-mail petition which currently circulates the web – read it and sign it:
*********
Hi,
A critical issue to the very existence of the fine wine industry in New York has been brought to our attention and we wanted to make you aware of it. One of the largest liquor wholesalers is lobbying the State Senate to include an “at rest” provision in their 2012 budget. The practical effect of “at rest” means that only those distributors delivering product out of New York warehouses could legally sell you wine. Legislation such as this would affect essentially every wholesaler currently in operation other than the two biggest ones, since they almost all warehouse in New Jersey, including our company.
Imagine a landscape with only the two largest wholesalers remaining to work with. Selections would become painfully limited. Prices would most certainly rise. Service would plummet. Their pro-“at rest” argument (union warehouse jobs and revenue) is simply a veiled attempt by this wholesaler to destroy all of the fine wine wholesale competition, because m ost of your valued New York wholesalers would undoubtedly be forced to close their doors. We have contacted our State Senators to tell them that we oppose “at rest” in either legislation or budget language. We urge you to do the same before FRIDAY, MARCH 9th. Please contact your Senator to tell them you oppose “at rest.”
We thank you for your time, your attention, and most of all your support.
That’s why I signed a petition to The New York State Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo, which says:
“Dear Senator,
It has come to our attention that one large wine & spirit wholesaler is lobbying you to include “at rest” in the 2012 budget. They are claiming “at rest” will create revenue for the State. But, as a licensed, small business that buys from many wine distributors, I do not agree that it would create revenue. Instead, I believe that “At rest” would result in hundreds of closed businesses, including both wholesalers and retailers, and at least a thousand unemployed New Yorkers. As such the State would lose hundreds of millions in taxable revenues from passing this bill. The volume of wine sold in the State (and the accompanying beverage excise tax revenue) would severely decrease. Consumer selection would be limited and the price of wine would escalate with the costs inevitably passed on to the consumer. Moreover, the ancillary effects of the resultant higher unemployment, lower sales and income tax revenues collected, would further exacer bate the current economic position of the state, not improve it. With the above in mind, we urge you NOT to vote for “at rest” either in legislation or in the budget language.
Thank You
”
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
http://signon.org/sign/ny-state-senate-do-not?source=s.fwd&r_by=3057649
Thanks!
Best Wine Reviews Ever
Aren’t you tired of reading wine reviews about “hint of apple”, “cinnamon and clove”, “coriander and last year’s rain”? Especially when you can’t find that specific flavor profile in your glass no matter what? Today I managed to come across two wine reviews which were much easier to assess and appreciate.
First, here is review of the Corison Cabernet Sauvignon (not so widely known but excellent Cabernet from Napa Valley) by Joe Roberts, a.k.a. 1WineDude (@1WineDude on twitter): “07 Corison Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Sort of like owning a trained black panther; dark, piercing & gorgeous.“. How do you like that? Is this is the wine you want to try or what? I don’t know about you, but I will be glad to meet this black panther at any time.
And the next one was a review by Adler Yarrow, who has one of the best wine blogs called Vinography. Latest two posts in that blog are on the subject which is an ultimate treasure for any wine lover – wines of Domaine Romanee-Conti (DRC, as it is typically called). DRC wines are considered best of the best, in any vintage and any time. So I think all people who are serious about wine can be divided into two categories – those who tasted DRC wines, and those who are dreaming about it. I belong to the second group ( sigh). Adler Yarrow belongs to the first, and he recently tasted full line of DRC 2009 wines – you can find his detailed notes here. But one particular review attracted my attention. It was for 2009 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru Montrachet, the only white wine produced by DRC and considered the rarest of the rare. While the descriptions there allude to the usual taste elements such as nuts and apples, one sentence I think puts that review in a totally different prospective: “In the mouth the wine has an incredible texture that I’m prompted to describe as liquid sex, and gorgeously balanced flavors that…“. Once you read this description, do you really care about the rest of the grapefruits and nuts, or do you really get one pounding question in your head: “where can I try this wine”?
I’m really glad to find those reviews – now I got a frame of reference for my own reviews to aspire to. What is your favorite wine review, the one which forced you to resolve “nothing can stop me, I will find and drink this wine”? Anyway, while you are thinking, let me go back to my dreams. Cheers!
Knowledge or Wisdom? repost from Whisky-online
Today I came across a blog post which stroke a chord – whether or not you are in love with whisky, this will universally apply to all of us who takes keen interest in Wine, Whisky, Beer, Rum or anything else you strive to know more about, because knowledge enhances the pleasure… Here it is:
http://whisky-online.com/blog/knowledge-or-wisdom/
Enjoy!
Wines of United States
When you run a wine tasting, one of the great ways to keep people engaged all the time is to ask questions – trivia type and not. One of the simple warmup questions I like to ask the audience is “What do you think, how many states make the wine in the US? This sounds simple enough and goes into the “your guess is as good as mine” category. People usually start with some random number (trying to put sense into it, though), and sometime someone will say “all 50” – often just as a joke. Actually, it is the correct answer – for w while, all 50 states produce some wines.
So did you ever think of exploring and experiencing the wines of all 50 states? I’m sure you had California, Oregon, Washington and New York wines, but what about the other 46 states? Last week in Florida, I came across Lakeridge Winery Southern Red Premium Table Wine produced in Clermont, Florida. This wine allowed me to add one more grape to the grape count – Muscadin. And this wine prompted this blog post and the table which I would like to share with you, which lists my experiences with the grapes and wines of all United States to the date:
|
State |
Tasted Wine |
Visited Winery |
Comments |
| Alabama | |||
| Alaska | |||
| Arizona |
Y |
||
| Arkansas | |||
| California |
Y |
Y |
|
| Colorado | |||
| Connecticut |
Y |
||
| Delaware | |||
| Florida |
Y |
||
| Georgia | |||
| Hawaii |
Y |
Pineapple wine | |
| Idaho | |||
| Illinois | |||
| Indiana | |||
| Iowa | |||
| Kansas | |||
| Kentucky | |||
| Louisiana | |||
| Maine |
Y |
Y |
|
| Maryland | |||
| Massachusetts |
Y |
Y |
Truro Vineyards, Nashoba Winery |
| Michigan | |||
| Minnesota | |||
| Mississippi | |||
| Missouri | |||
| Montana | |||
| Nebraska | |||
| Nevada | |||
| New Hampshire | |||
| New Jersey |
Y |
||
| New Mexico |
Y |
||
| New York |
Y |
Y |
Fingerlakes, LI, Hudson |
| North Carolina | |||
| North Dakota | |||
| Ohio | |||
| Oklahoma | |||
| Oregon |
Y |
||
| Pennsylvania |
Y |
Y |
Chaddsford |
| Rhode Island | |||
| South Carolina | |||
| South Dakota | |||
| Tennessee | |||
| Texas |
Y |
||
| Utah | |||
| Vermont | |||
| Virginia |
Y |
Y |
Chrysalis, Williamsburg Winery |
| Washington |
Y |
||
| West Virginia | |||
| Wisconsin | |||
| Wyoming |
What is your experience with wines from 50 states? Can you count and share? It is definitely a fun exercise and might bring back some good memories while you are at it. Happy counting! Cheers!
Taste Expectations, Or Notes From The Blind Tasting
If you had been drinking wine for a while, I would expect that you have developed certain taste expectations. As you drink the wines from the different regions, you find that the wines from the same geographic locality made from the same grapes would have somewhat of a similar taste and style (yes, of course, I just described what is properly called Terroir without using the word itself). At some point, the associations between the origin of the wine and its expected taste become engrained in your mind. Looking at the bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, you are expecting to find bright acidity and citrus flavor profile even without opening the bottle. Looking at the bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon you are expecting to find a good amount of fruit with some explicit black currant notes and a probably good amount of tannins – note that I’m really trying to generalize here, but you got the point.
This is the way the wine was for a very long time. However, when you taste modern wines, do you have a feeling that your expectations are no longer valid and don’t match reality any longer? I have had this experience many times lately, when Amarone didn’t taste like anything expected (you can find my rant of pain here), or when unoaked Chardonnay tastes rather like Pinot Grigio – and there are many more examples of “taste confusion”.
Recently, I had another case of “broken” taste expectations – this time it was somewhat sanctioned, as we did a double (almost) blind tasting. The theme was set a bit ambitiously, as France and Italy. The “ambitious” part is coming from the fact that these two countries on their own have such a variety of wine production that it makes it literally impossible to recognize the grape or at least the style of wine (either one of those countries would provide a plentiful selection for a double-blind tasting on its own). Anyway, with the main goal of having fun with the wines, we actually had a great time.
We blind tasted 5 wines, which happened to be 4 reds and one white. For what it is worth, here are my notes as we were moving along:
#1 – Very nice, a bit too sweet. I think Italy, Super Tuscan/Barbera/Dolcetto
#2 – earthy, nice, little green bell peppers, roasted notes? Bordeaux?
#3 – France, nice bright fruit, good sweetness, not enough acidity? No idea about the grape.
#4 – interesting, lots of fruit, very nice – no idea.
#5 – great, round, good fruit – no idea.
While I understand that these a rather limited wine descriptions, would you try to guess what was what? Well, you can see the answers below in the picture (wines are set in the order we tasted them, left to right):
Here is an actual list: 2007 Comm. G. B. Burlotto Barolo Verduno; 1995, Chateau Haut-Corbin Saint-Emillion Grand Cru; 2009 Petracupa Greco di Tufo; 2005 Pascal Marchand Pinot Noir and L’oca Ciuca Brunello di Montalcino DOCG – now compare that with my guesses above…
In case you are curious – of course, we voted for the favorite – Brunello (#5) was a clear winner, with Greco de Tufo (#3) trailing it closely behind (one point difference).
Where is the case of broken taste expectations? Fruit forward, bright and loaded wine with well-masked tannins and almost non-existing earthiness, bright purple in color – 2007 Barolo? I’m very far from a Barolo expert, but this doesn’t match my expectations of Barolo, albeit well decanted. Even winning Brunello was quite uncharacteristic, lacking earthiness and tartness, the traditional Brunello bite. I can’t comment on Greco do Tufo (it was actually quite nice), and the only varietally correct wine was 1995 Bordeaux. Am I making too big of a deal from varietal correctness and taste expectations here? It depends. On their own, both Barolo and Brunello were good wines, but if I would order either one in the restaurant with the goal of pairing it with food, that could’ve been quite disappointing…
Okay, I can’t leave you with this sad impression of disappointment – it was not that bad at all. Also, we had a great cast of supporting wines, even with some pleasant surprises.
First, two sparkling wines. Chevalier de Grenelle Cuvee Reserve Saumur AOC, a blend of 90% Chenin Blanc with 10% Chardonnay was a very good, full-bodied sparkling wine, with good notes of apple and toasted oak. In addition to good wine, this was also a very special bottle – a magnum with the metal imprinted label. The second sparkling wine was even more unusual – Abrau-Durso Semi-Dry – a sparkling wine from Russia, made by the reincarnated famous producer of sparkling wines for the Russian Tzar (the original company was created in 1870). This wine had just a hint (a whiff) of sweetness, lightly toasted apple and nutmeg on the palate. Very refreshing and delicate. I suggest you will find a bottle and try it for yourself – there is a good chance you might like it.
And for the last surprise – 2002 Fontanafredda Barolo DOCG. Why surprising? If you will look at the Wine Spectator’s Vintage Chart, you will see that 2002 was regarded as a very bad year for Barolo, with a rating of 72 and recommendation of wines being past prime. I decanted this bottle at some time in the late morning, and by the early evening, when we actually drank it, it opened up very nicely – while it was lacking powerful tannins, otherwise, it was quite enjoyable wine, very balanced with quite a bit of finesse.
Play with your wine, get friends together and do the blind tasting – I guarantee you will learn something new about your palate, your wine preferences, and maybe even your friends!
Cheers!
Valentine’s Day Food and Wine Experiences
For many years already Valentine’s Day became our “home” holiday. What I mean is that we are not going to the restaurant – instead, we attempt to create the best possible experience at home. This past Valentine’s Day our attempt was quite successful. First, there was a Champagne. Ahh, what so special, say you, a sparkling wine? Well, we don’t drink Krug every day – Krug is our “special” sparkling wine, as both me and my wife fell in love with it 3 years ago, and nothing beat that ever since.
It was Krug Grand Cuvee Brut NV. Beautiful effervescent nose, with only a hint, a whiff of toasted apple, yeast and fresh bread – the same lightness on the palate, with perfect balance of fruit and acidity. Yes, I know, I fail to give you a critic-worthy description with lots of different elements of soil, the fruit and more – so you will need to take my word for it – this is The Champagne. Once you try Krug…well, you will continue to appreciate many other sparkling wines, but Krug will be the one you will crave. And if you care for my rating, I will put Drinkability at 9+.
Believe it or not, but Krug was only the beginning of amazing wine experience. The next wine blew me away in many senses. First, it was a realization of a dream. For the long time, I wanted to try Carlisle Zinfandel – consistently high ratings in Wine Spectator, great reviews – many factors contributed into making Carlisle Zinfandel an object of desire. I signed up for the waiting list for the mailing list, I asked around – all to no avail. Then a few month ago I saw a bottle on the Benchmark Wine Company’s web site, priced at about $30 – voila, I got the bottle. Now I just needed special occasion.
Special occasions are easy, right? Valentine’s Day is special enough for us, so the bottle of 2000 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley was opened. The description? One word – “wow”. Beautiful nose of red fruit and smoke (raspberries and blueberries plus a hint of smokiness, to be more precise). Perfect balance of fruit, tannins and acidity on the palate – more playful fruit, eucalyptus, cedar box, spices, tobacco – all components are playing together to deliver an amazing experience.
Here is one interesting note for you. Carlisle web site has a table which is called Drinkability Chart, which lists all the different wines from the different vintages and ideal drinking window for those wines. According to that chart, optimal drinking window for this particular Zinfandel was 2002 – 2005. Well, what can I tell you? If you got a bottle of Carlisle which you think is undrinkable – send it my way, and I will thank you profusely. And just to show you how much I loved this wine, I have to tell you that this is the first time I put Drinkability of wine at 10-! Here is the link to my ratings page – you can judge for yourself.
As you can see, the wines were great – but there was also food. This year we decided to do a Rack of Lamb. Rack of Lamb is a dish which we typically enjoy in the restaurants (especially in French Canada), but it is not that difficult to make at home (once you overcome the sticker shock of a good rack of lamb).
I need a lot of rosemary with my rack of lamb – and this is what we did. A little bit of fresh pepper, and lots of fresh rosemary – with addition of some fresh sage as well. Here is the rack of lamb ready for the oven:
There are couple of techniques which I started using lately when it comes to roasts – and I like the results so far. First one is preheating oven to 500F – temperature is lowered one roast is put in, but it is enough to develop a nice crust. The second one is not using any salt until the roast is done ( so only using finishing salts) – the rationale here is that salt is draining juice out of the meat so it is better to be put on at the last stage. So far I had being very happy with an outcome using these simple rules. After 40 minutes in the oven ( 500F to start, then lowered to 400F), here is the final result:
And here is plated version:
Yes, I know, I should work on presentation – you don’t have to tell me that. But the taste was great, and lamb also paired quite well with the Carlisle Zinfandel – to double the pleasure!
That’s all, folks, for our wonderful Valentine’s Day food and wine experience. It will be hard to beat it next year, so I can only wish tat the next year will be not any worse than this year.
Cheers!
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