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Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Fake Wine Again? Noooo, US is #1!, Douro Greatness
Krug Grand Cuvee Brut
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #102, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 6.
For the long time, the grape trivia series was focused on the single grapes. But now we are stirring things up, so all the questions in the quiz are about blends (well, even if it is a blend of one ), as most of the wines in the world are actually blends. This time, the focus of the quiz was on bubbles. As usual, there were 5 questions in the quiz.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: French sparkling wines produced outside of the Champagne region are generally called Crémant. Today, the Crémant wines are produced in most of the well known regions in France, each region imposing its own requirements on the winemaking techniques. For one of sparkling wines below, if it is identified as Crémant Blanc, it is required for at least 50% of the grapes to be Chardonnay. Do you know which wine has this requirement?
a. Crémant d’Alsace, b. Crémant de Bordeaux, c. Crémant de Bourgogne, d. Crémant du Jura
A1: d, Crémant du Jura – According to Crémant du Jura AOC requirements, Crémant du Jura Blanc should be made with the minimum of 50% Chardonnay grapes.
Q2: Among other reasons, complexity of sparkling wines comes from the extended time the fermented juice have to stay in contact with the yeast (it is also called aging on the lees). Sort the list of the sparkling wines below based on the minimum time required for the non-vintage wine to be aged on the lees, from the longest to the shortest:
a. Cava, b. Champagne, c. Franciacorta, d. Trento
A2: The right sequence is Franciacorta (18 month), Champagne and Trento (both 15 month), Cava (9 month)
Q3: Dom Pérignon, a benedictine monk, largely considered to be the father of Champagne, had a very significant impact on creation the Champagne as we know it. From the list below, what do you think was Dom Pérignon’s major claim to fame?
a. He created the Champagne bottle, b. He discovered the Méthode Champenoise, c. He created the riddling table, d. He mastered the art of blending to improve the taste of the resulting wine
A3: Most of the stuff surrounding Dom Pérignon is made for legends, but there is some level of consensus that he was the first person to perfect the art of blending, so the correct answer is d.
Q4: Below is the blend composition of the sparkling wine – can you name it?
Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Mauzac
A4: Blanquette de Limoux in Languedoc is using all three grapes. Technically, it can be also a Crémant de Limoux – again, I should’ve phrased the question better to avoid a possible double-answer. Still learning.
Q5: As tomorrow is the Mother’s Day in US, here is probably an open ended and debatable question, but: Who would you call the Mother of Champagne and why?
A5: As I said, this can be debatable, but my choice would be Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, also known as Madame Clicquot, who pioneered drier Champagne style and invented the riddling table, thus enabling commercial production of Champagne.
When it comes to the results, we had excellent participation and we have the winners! Gene Castellino (no web site), Jennifer Lewis (no web site) and Jeff the drunken cyclist all answered 5 questions correctly and thus they are the winners of this wine quiz round and get the prize of unlimited bragging rights! All of them also provided excellent, very detailed answers – very well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
It is truly mind boggling to see the level of wine fraud increasing together with the popularity of the wine in the world. Dr. Vino has a number of latest and greatest updates to support this “mind-boggliness”. First of all, you can learn that Kurniawan’s lawyers are trying to appeal his “guilty” verdict based on the facts that he loved wine and his victims were rich! I can’t even comment any further here, the level of absurdity is more than I can tolerate. Then Dr. Vino brings up the article in Decanter magazine, where you can find out about fake Bordeaux being made on the offshore boats in China. Lastly, another very recent development involves The White Club, an exclusive $25K membership outfit centered around luxurious and … fake wine! Again, for all the mind-boggling details, here is your link.
United States in #1 wine consuming country in the world! There is a good chance that you already read this, as this urgent news update is coming through all the wine-related news outlets, but in any case, according to just published data for 2013, United States is now the #1 wine consuming country in the world, by total volume (not per capita). It is also interesting that consumption in US increased, while the wine consumption in the world was down 1.7% in 2013. I will let you read all the detailed numbers on your own – here is an article from Jancis Robinson web site, and here is the one from Wine Spectator.
While everybody know Portugal as The Port Producer in the world, I think Portugal is actually the rising star in the world of the regular, non-fortified wine. I’m glad to see that I’m not alone, as Matt Kramer, probably my favorite wine writer, shared his excitement about Douro wines in his feature column in Wine Spectator. I wouldn’t help anyone by trying to recite what Matt Ktramer wrote about the Douro wines, so I would highly recommend you will read his article on your own – it is definitely worth your time. But I would gladly accept any comments you might be willing to share on the subject – please don’t be shy.
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, WTSO Cheapskate Marathon, #MWWC9 Vote, Algeria Wine and French AOC
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #101, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 5.
For the long time, the grape trivia series was focused on the single grapes. But now we are stirring things up, so all the questions in the quiz are about blends (well, even if it is a blend of one ), as most of the wines in the world are actually blends. As usual, there were 5 questions in the quiz.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: White wines of this region are considered to be some of the best white wines in the world, and they are made out of the blend of Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. Do you know what region is that?
A1: Hermitage. A region in Northern Rhone, which produces magnificent, long living white wines from Marsanne and Roussanne grapes.
Q2: These wines, made out of primarily Grenache and Cinsault, sometimes with the addition of Syrah and Mourvedre, can be only made as Rosé. Can you name these wines?
A2: Tavel. Of course when thinking about classic Rosé, Provence probably comes to mind first. But Provence allows production of not only Rosé, but also of both white and red wines. Tavel, on the other hand, while much lesser known to the majority of the wine-consuming public, is one of the oldest AOCs and solely dedicated to the production of only Rosé wines (no other wines are allowed).
Q3: Can you continue this sequence? Explain your answer:
Amarone, Vin de Paille, Vin Santo, ?
A3: This was somewhat of a difficult question. The point of the matter is that all the wines mentioned are made out of grapes which are dried out after the harvest, for at least 3-4 month. So the next wine which can be added here is Valtellina Sfursat, which is a dry wine from Norther Italy, made out of Nebbiolo grape which is dried out before pressing for at least 3-4 month.
Q4: This famous Spanish wine is always made out of the Monastrell and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The primary wine typically has 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Monastrell, and the second label has the blend proportions reversed. Can you name both wines?
A4: El Nido and Clio. El Nido ifs the flagship wine of Bodegas El Nido in Jumilla, which is traditionally made with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Monastrell. The second wine from Bodegas El Nido, Clio, is made out of 70% Monastrell and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Q5: What is common between Château d’Yquem and Vega-Sicilia, outside of the fact that both make some of the world’s most famous wines?
A5: Both wineries only produce their flagship wines (Chateau d’Yquem and Vega-Sicilia Unico) in the best years – both have a number of years when the top wines were simply not produced.
When it comes to the results, the participation was a bit less than a few last times. Nobody was able all five questions correctly, so we don’t have a winner. Oh well, there is always the next time…
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
Only a few weeks ago, WTSO glued thousands of people to their computer screens for the day with the Magnum Marathon activities. And now they are doing it again. Tuesday, May 13th, starting at 6 AM Eastern, new wines will be offered at the $7.99 to $18.99 range, every 15 minutes or sooner if the previous wine will sold out. All the new wines will be announced only on Twitter. Free some space in your cellar and make sure your credit card has some spending room too. Happy [value wine] Hunting!
The Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #9 has concluded, and now it is the time to vote. The theme of the challenge was “Fear”, so you can find 25 fearless entries at this link. Once you done reading them, you can vote here. The voting is open from now until Monday, May 12th. The winner will be announced on May 13th.
Ever had or even heard of Algerian wine? Me too. But it turns out that only 50 years ago, Algeria was the … number one exporter of the wine in the world! Just to give you an idea for how well they were doing, Algeria was exporting twice (!) as much as France, Italy and Spain combined! While this was quite unexpected to me, it was still not the most interesting fact related to the Algerian wine industry. What is even more fascinating in my mind, that the French AOC system was largely created to protect the wine consumers in France and around the world from the flood of French-associated wine, which was actually not made in France. I don’t want to recite the whole article, so here are the sources for you where you can learn more. The original article appeared in the Journal of Wine Economics, and then W. Blake Gray provided an excellent “Cliff notes” narration for the same where you can learn all the basic facts – both definitely worth your time.
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Wine Blog Awards!, 2013 Bordeaux and Rioja, #winechat tonight
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #100, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 4.
For the long time, the grape trivia series was focused on the single grapes. But now we are stirring things up, so all the questions in the quiz are about blends (well, even if it is a blend of one ), as most of the wines in the world are actually blends. As usual, there were 5 questions in the quiz.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: True or False: Even if the bottle of wine states the vintage and is made out of 100% of the same grape, there is a very good chance that the wine is still a blend. Explain your answer.
A1: True. Now, this proved to be a very difficult question. Not the “true or false” part of it, of course – but practically nobody (with one exception) managed to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why even if the wine is made out of 100% of the same grape, it is very likely to be still a blend. If wine technical data says that it is made from 100% of Chardonnay, for example, there is no way that any other grapes where blended in. However, have you seen the words “30% malolactic fermentation” or “aged in 15% new French oak barrels”? For the most part, the wine you get in the bottle is the blend – the blend of wines from the different barrels, the blend of wines fermented with different yeasts, or somehow else differently processed. Also (as it was correctly noted in one of the answers), the wine can be made from exact same grape, but be a blend of different vintages (up to 15% allowed in US wines).
Q2: This white grape is known to produce beautiful, delicately perfumed wines. In some appellations in France, it is also the only white grape allowed to be blended into the red wines. Do you know what grape it is?
A2: Viognier. While it makes great wines on its own, it can be blended with Syrah in Northern Rhone or Shiraz in Australia to change the bouquet of the resulting wine.
Q3: What is common between Cabernet Franc, Riesling and Vidal?
A3: All three varietals are used to produce Icewine in Canada.
Q4: Which one is missing?
Rondinella, Corvina, Molinara, ?, Croatina, Negrara, Oseletta
A4: My intended answer was Corvinone, as the grapes listed above are all used in production of Amarone wines. However, I learned quite a bit myself from the answers, and I understand that in Amarone, similar to all other regions in the world, there is an effort to bring back to life many indigenous varieties, thus Forsellina, Pelara and Rossignola would be also all correct answers.
Q5: I’m drinking a delicious French white dry wine, made out of Clairette and Roussane. What AOC designation this wine most likely has?
A5: Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Some of the best white wines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape are made exactly out of the combination of these two grapes. It is possible that such wine would be produced in just a Côtes du Rhône appellation, however, it would be rather expected to see Marsanne as part of the blend, which is a lot easier to produce than Roussanne. However, Marsanne is not allowed in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines.
When it comes to the results, I’m very happy with participation in the quiz. However, there was only one full answer for the question #1, which is proven to be most difficult. Thus we don’t have the grand winner(s) this time around, but I would like to definitely acknowledge Gene Castellino (no web site), Julian of vinoinlove and Jennifer (no web site) who all correctly answered 4 questions out of 5. I also would like to acknowledge Steve of Caspernick blog, who provided a good explanation for the question #1. Thank you all for playing, well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
Once again it is the time for Wine Blog Award nominations! This is an 8th annual Blog Awards round, where the best wine blogs are getting their peer recognition. There are 9 different categories for the Wine Blog Awards, so there are plenty of opportunities to get your favorite blogs acknowledged. Here is your link for the Blog Award nominations. And if you like what you read in this blog, I would greatly appreciate your nominations! Note – there are less than 3 days left – nominations are closed on May 2nd, so hurry!
Looks like 2013 vintage didn’t fair too well in some parts of the Europe. Here is an article for you, explaining why 2013 Bordeaux are better be avoided (in a few simple words, it is all about price/performance). Also, 2013 Rioja doesn’t seem to be the vintage to really look forward to – it was rated as “Good” by the Rioja DOC counsel, which is behind “very good” and “excellent” ratings which were given to most of the recent vintages. Of course the things can be worse – there are possible “satisfactory” and “average” ratings, which are even lower than “good”, but those are assigned very rarely. Well, as usual in the average vintages, you need to look for the better producers – as an example, La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi from 2003 vintage (also rated “good”), was an outstanding wine. Here is the link for the Decanter article where you can read more on the subject of 2013 Rioja.
Last, but not least – new #winechat tonight! This time the subject is the Rhone and Zins of Cline Cellars. I think everybody know Cline Cellars from California as a Zinfandel producer, but looks like we are in for some interesting surprises tonight (Mourvedre, anyone? Marsanne/Roussanne?). To join the #winechat, just click this link at 9 PM Eastern time/ 6 PM Pacific, and you are in! For more information about past and future #winechat events, please use this link for the #winechat FaceBook page. Talk to you tonight!
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Wine and Biodynamics, Rioja Week in New York, Water Witching and #winechat tonight
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #99, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 3.
For the long time, the grape trivia series was focused on the single grapes. But now we are stirring things up, so all the questions in the quiz are about blends (well, even if it is a blend of one), as most of the wines in the world are actually blends. As usual, there were 5 questions in the quiz.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Sangiovese is the main grape used in production of Chianti. By itself, sometimes it might lack the intensity of the color. For a while, another grape was added to Sangiovese wines specifically to enhance their color. Can you name that grape?
A1: Colorino. It was popular addition for a short while, but now only very few producers still add it.
Q2: I’m blending together Xarel-lo, Macabeo and Parellada. Which wine I’m most likely making?
A2: Cava – the Spanish sparkling wine. These three grapes are generally a classic blend for a Spanish Cava.
Q3: In the past, this white grape used to be blended into the Chianti wines, and now its use is simply prohibited in some of those Chianti wines. Can you name that grape?
A3: Trebbiano, a.k.a. Ugni Blanc, a.k.a. Malvasia Fina (be careful – just using the name Malvasia is incorrect). It used to be a required grape in the Chianti blend, which was leading to diluted, dull wines. Since 2006, Trebbiano use is banned in Chianti Classico wines.
Q4: You can say whatever you want, but Bordeaux and Burgundy are the hallmarks of wine world, and everybody try to measure up to them. Name two regions in Italy, one sometimes compared to Bordeaux, and another one to Burgundy.
A4: Tuscany is often compared to Bordeaux, and Piedmont, or to be more specific, Barolo wines, are often compared to the Burgundy. While Tuscany/Bordeaux parallel is more of the terroir/climate based, the reason for Barolo/Burgundy comparison lies in complicated Vineyard/Sub-zone/Cru/Parcel system of wine identification in Barolo.
Q5: Name the missing grape: Crljenak Kaštelanski, Primitivo, ?, Zinfandel
A5: Tribidrag. All the listed grapes are close relatives of Zinfandel, with Tribidrag being recently discovered as direct predecessor of Zinfandel.
When it comes to the results, we had a great participation in the quiz, and we have a winner – Julian of VinoinLove, who correctly answered all 5 questions! Julian get the coveted prize of unlimited bragging rights. Also (no web site), Jeff a.k.a.the drunken cyclist and Mario Plazio (no web site) are all answered correctly 4 questions out of 5, and they get the honorable mention. Well done, everyone – and we are going to continue blending things up for a while.
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
Last week’s #winechat was all about Biodynamics – we were talking about the wines of Youngberg Hill, the winery in Oregon, were the wines are made using biodynamics. I understand that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the concept of Biodynamics, with all the cow horns, bladders and water manipulations – but a lot of it makes sense if you think about the whole approach holistically. I want to share with you a great article from The Oregonian, which explains in detail how biodynamics works in the vineyard.
Rioja is coming to New York City! Starting Saturday, April 26, there will be a whole slew of events taking place all over the city – seminars, tastings, grand tasting, wine and tapas event and more. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the vibrancy of the magical Rioja – here is your link for all the information regarding the Rioja festivities. I will be attending the trade tasting and seminar on Thursday – drop me a note if you plan to be there as well.
Heard of water witching? It appears that Marc Mondavi, a son of the legendary winemaker Peter Mondavi, not only makes wine in California – he also possesses special abilities to find water under ground, using set of two special rods. Whether you believe in the water witchery or not, this video and the blog post are quite interesting.
Last but least for today – don’t miss the #winechat tonight! Last from the Oregon Pinot Noir series, tonight we will be talking about the wines of J Wrigley Vineyard – #winechat is easy to join on twitter, just follow the #winechat hashtag, and they are always fun! 9 PM Easter/ 6 PM Pacific – don’t miss it!
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, WTSO Magnum Marathon, #MalbecWorldDay, Can Wine Critic be Objective?, Pinot Noir #winechat
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #98, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 2.
For the long time, the grape trivia series was focused on the single grapes. But now we are stirring things up, so all the questions in the quiz are about blends (well, even if it is a blend of one ), as most of the wines in the world are actually blends. As usual, there were 5 questions in the quiz.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: This grape was created as a cross between Cinsaut and Pinot Noir. Can you name the grape?
A1: Pinotage, the famous grape of South Africa
Q2: Take a look at this list of the grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, ?, Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris. Two questions:
a. Name the missing grape
A2a: Pinot Meunier. Listed above are the names of all grapes allowed to be used in the Champagne region in France, so the missing grape is Pinot Meunier
b. What wine is made most often by blending some of these grapes?
A2b: Champagne!
Q3: Which grape is missing?
– Tempranillo, Garnacha, ?, Graciano
A3: Mazuelo. This is the list of the grapes typically blended in production of the Rioja wines.
Q4: This dry red wine from California is related to famous Caymus, and made out of the unknown, secret blend of grapes. Can you name this wine?
A4: Conundrum. The famous Caymus wines are made by Wagner family in California. The same Wagner family produces the wine called Conundrum, both white and red, where the exact composition of the blend of grapes is kept secret.
Q5: Carménère to Merlot is the same as Douce Noir to ?
A5: Bonarda/Charbono. Carménère grape (originally from Bordeaux), was mistaken for Merlot for the very long time in Chile. Similarly, the popular Argentinian grape Bonarda, which happened to be identical to the Charbono grape in US, was actually the almost forgotten french grape called Douce Noir in Savoie region.
When it comes to the results, I’m glad to report that again there was good participation in the quiz. We also have a winner – Wayward Wine , who correctly answered all 5 questions, and thus gets the coveted prize of unlimited bragging rights. Jeff the drunken cyclist and Suzanne of apuginthekitchen get honorable mention for correctly answering 4 questions out of 5. Well done all!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
WTSO is on it again- the time has come for the famous Wine Til Sold Out Marathon! Mark April 22nd in your calendar – it will be go big or go home day – WTSO Magnum Marathon. Starting from 7 AM Eastern until midnight, WTSO will be offering wines in the 1.5L or 3L format. Each wine will be available for 30 minutes or until it will be sold out. All new wines will be announced only on Twitter, so make sure you follow @WTSO if you want to get real time notifications about new wines.
Do you like Malbec? There is a good chance you do, as many other people around the world. Just two easy references for you – shipments of Argentinian Malbec to US increased from 1.9 million cases in 2008, to over 4 million in 2013. Argentinian wines are also most popular wines among people of 25-34 years old in UK – for more interesting details on Argentinian Malbec, here is an article for you to read. Why all of a sudden we are talking about Malbec in the news section? Because tomorrow, April 17th, is Malbec World Day! Get the bottle of your favorite Malbec, pour the glass and join the celebration! Oh yes, and don’t forget to tweet about your favorite Malbec using the #MalbecWorldDay hashtag.
With hundreds of thousands of different wines produced around the world every year, we need to have some guidance as to what is new, what might worth our attention, what might not. This is where the wine critics come into a play – to help us navigate that ocean of wine by writing the wine reviews and rating the wines. Here comes an interesting question – can the wine critic be 100% objective, or can her work be influenced by personal preferences? Here is an interesting post on Jamie Goode’s wine blog, which raises this question – be sure to read the post and all the comments, it is quite a lively discussion.
Few more updates regarding the #winechat (if you are not familiar with the concept of #winechat, here is the blog post which will explain it). Last Wednesday, the #winechat was focused on Lenné Estate Pinot Noir from Yamhill-Carlton AVA in Oregon. Continuing the Oregon Pinot Noir theme, the subject of tonight’s #winechat is biodynamics of Youngberg Hill vineyards. The next week’s #winechat subject is wines of J Wrigley Vineyards from Willamette Valley in Oregon. All #winechat take place on twitter on Wednesdays at 6 PM Pacific/9 PM Eastern time. You can always participate using the #winechat hashtag. Join the conversation, it is fun!
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, 25 Top Selling Restaurant Wines?, Winery of the Future, #MWWC9 Theme, #winechat and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #97, Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 1.
While this quiz is still a part of the Grape Trivia, it is slightly a new twist on the grapes – the questions are centered on the concept of blends, to stir things up a bit. Despite the fact that we are almost at a hundred of posts in the quiz series, it was still a learning experience for me – not from the point of view of the content, which is always a part of the learning exercise – but from point of view of being able to state the questions correctly to make sure there can be only one correct answer to that question. Read on, and you will see what I mean.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Which grape is missing?
– Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, ?, Petit Verdot
A1: This was a very easy one – yes, this is a classic Bordeaux blend, so the missing grape is Malbec.
Q2: Wines of this region, made out of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, considered some of the best white wines in the world. Can you name that region?
A2: This is the questions which was supposed to be phrased better. I believe my expected correct answer will work here, but mostly as a technicality and not because it is squarely one and only answer. So the correct answer here is Pessac-Léognan, a region in Bordeaux, which produces both white and red wines, but their dry white wines, made out of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, are long living and spectacular ( and equally expensive). Number of people put Sauternes as an answer for this question. Technically, the wines in Sauternes are made out of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes – thus technically, Sauternes is not the right answer. However, most famous Sauternes, Chateau d’Yquem, is made only from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, thus it is hard to say that Sauternes is a wrong answer. Have I asked about “some of the best DRY white wines”, Sauternes would have to be excluded.
Q3: This wine might be the biggest officially sanctioned blend of the grapes in the world. Do you know what wine is that?
A3: Again, precision was a bit off on this question. Yes, the correct answer is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a region in the Southern Rhone in France, which allows up to 18 different grapes, both red and white, to be blended together, and there is a number of producers who do exactly that. Again, the word “dry” would help, as one of the answers was Port, where technically 82 varietals are allowed to be used in the appellation – however, the best Port is typically made only out of 6 grapes as the most, so Port is not the right answer here. Another suggested answer was Valle d’Aosta, a region in Italy which allows 19 different grapes to be used in production of the wines – however, the question was about grapes blended together, not just allowed to be used in the appellation.
Q4: This simple wine is classified as a field blend. This is probably best known European white field blend wine. Now:
a. Can you explain what field blend is?
A4a: Come to any (almost any) vineyard, and you will be able to see the rows of vines, all clearly identified – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, etc. All the grapes harvested separately, pressed and fermented separately, and then blended together into the final wine as winemaker deems necessary. And then there are exceptions to this separate processing of the grapes. Such an exception is a field blend. Different grapes are growing together, sometimes without clear separation between different vines and grapes. All those different grapes are harvested together, pressed and vinified together, so don’t ask for specific percentages on the label, or even for the names of the individual grapes. Such field blends can be found in Portugal (many of the simpler Port wines made as field blends), Austria, Alsace and probably other places.
b. Can you name this wine?
A4b: My intended answer was Gemischter Satz – a white wine, a field blend produced from the vineyards in the Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC, which is located within the city limits of Vienna, Austria with the total vineyard area exceeding 1,700 acres. This is a dry, simple white wine, which should be made from at least 3 different white grape varieties, harvested and pressed together. It seems that Gemischter Satz wines are getting more popular as of recent, so here is the link where you can read more about them. Some of you said that the answer is White Port, which can be also made as a field blend, so again, I should’ve being more careful with the wording of the question – but right now, White Port also is an acceptable answer.
Q5: This wine, one of the most famous in the world, is often made from 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Merlot. Do you know what wine is that?
A5: Chateau Cheval Blanc, one of the most famous Bordeaux wines in the world, uses Cabernet Franc and Merlot to make their wines. The ratio is not always 70/30, but conceptually it is enough to help you to come up with the right answer.
When it comes to the results, I’m glad to report that there was a very good participation – the subject of blends definitely was less intimidating than those rare single grapes we got into. We have two winners today – the drunken cyclist and Connoisaurus both answered all 5 questions correctly, so they get the prize of unlimited bragging rights. Well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
Wine & Spirits magazine compiled the list of 25 top selling wines in US restaurants. According to that list, the #1 top selling restaurant wine in US is Cakebread Cellars with an average price of $86.48, followed by Jordan ($101.57) and then Duckhorn ($90.29) – here is the link for you to find more information. I would be really curious to know how many of you would consider ordering any of these wines in the restaurant especially at these prices (I wouldn’t). It will be also interesting to understand how the list was compiled, as the claim is that the information comes form the wine directors of the restaurants, and how many restaurants employ wine directors? Anyway, it is always interesting to take a look at the numbers.
We all know that winemaking is an art. But there is nothing wrong in bringing the technology to help the artists to make better art. Wines and Vines published a very interesting article, talking about the tools which are either already available or might be available to the grape growers and winemakers to help them make better wines.
Are you afraid of any wines? Do you get butterflies in your stomach as you open the door of your wine cabinet? Do you think any of the wines in your cellar hold some scary secrets? Is your hand trembling when you pull the cork out of the bottle, as you don’t know what might be hiding behind that cork? Well, it might be the time to face your fears – Jeff, a.k.a. The Drunken Cyclist, announced the theme of the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #9, and as you probably guessed it, the theme is … Fear. Please take a look at this post for all the important dates and rules.
It is so interesting how far the wineries and wine consortia would go to protect their names. In majority of the cases, it is the big guy going after the small guy, like Duckhorn Vineyards from California suing Duck Walk winery on Long Island, or the French INAO going after Fairview winery in South Africa to protect Côte-Rôtie against Goat Rotie. Latest case – now all local in France – is Mouton versus Mouton. Château Mouton Rothschild, first growth from Bordeaux, is suing winemaker Laurent Mouton from Burgundy, who had being making wines under Domaine Mouton label for 4 generations, to stop Domaine Mouton from using their own name on the label. Why now? I have no idea, but – for more details, here is the link for you.
Last but not least for today – there is an interesting #winechat talking place tonight, in the Twittersphere next to you, at 9 PM Eastern time/6 PM Pacific, and your participation is greatly encouraged. If you are not familiar with the concept of #winechat, here is the blog post which will explain it. Today’s #winechat is the first out of three talking about the wines of Yamhill-Carlton AVA in Oregon, and the wine which will be discussed today is Lenné Estate Pinot Noir. Yes, I know, short notice – but, if you have time, join the #winechat and learn more!
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, April Fools Roundup, Win a Trip To Sonoma
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #96, Grape Trivia – Alicante Bouschet. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about the red grape called Alicante Bouschet, also known in Spain as Garnacha Tintorera.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: True or False: according to the 2010 data, Alicante Bouschet is one of the 15 most planted red grapes in the world?
A1: True. In 2010, it was the red grape #15 with 38985 acres planted worldwide
Q2: Wine Spectator calls wines with 90-94 ratings “Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style”. True or False: There are no Alicante Bouschet-based wines rated as Outstanding by Wine Spectator.
A2: There is a number of Alicante Bouschet wines with the WS ratings of 90 and above, so the answer is False.
Q3: Alicante Bouschet makes a very popular addition (albeit in miniscule quantities, about 5% or less) to some of the very well known and popular California varietal wines. Can you name two of those popular California grape varieties?
A3: Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. Because the quantities are really miniscule, you would very rarely read about addition of Alicante Bouschet on the back label – but many producers do add the grape.
Q4: Below is the list of countries growing Alicante Bouschet/ Garnacha Tintorera. Based on 2010 data, sort that list from the biggest area plantings to the smallest:
a. Chile, b. France, c. Italy, d. Portugal, e. Spain
A4: The right order is Spain (19551), France (4957), Chile (4228), Portugal (3322), Italy (645), so it is e,b,a,d,c
Q5: Which one doesn’t belong and why?
a. Carlisle, b. Francis Ford Coppola, c. Ridge, d. Turley
A5: All wineries in this list produced at least once single varietal Alicante Bouschet wines – with the exception of Turley, which only uses Alicante Bouschet for blending.
The only person who attempted to solve the quiz was Suzanne of apuginthekitchen – she definitely deserves an honorable mention for the effort! The next week we will change gears – for a little bit, we will be talking about the blends instead of single varietals. After all, most of the wines produced in the world today are blends – so blending the grapes together hopefully will produce more courageous responses on your part.
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
First of all – happy past April Fools day! Yesterday was April 1st, and the number of bloggers took advantage of that fun day, and wrote interesting, witty and funny blog posts. Here is a small collection for your enjoyment:
Joe Roberts, a.k.a. 1WineDude, wrote a hilarious piece about Robert Parker and Wine Advocate apologizing for their raunchy behavior as of recent – yeah, you can only dream of that stuff on the April 1st… Here is the link for you to read. Dave McIntyre, the wine columnist for the Washington Post, wrote an excellent post about the end of wine blahgging – you can read it here. Harpers, a wine and spirits trade publication out of UK, shared an excellent article about bee-o-dynamics and use of the bees to improve aging of the wines – very cool idea, hopefully someone will look at it for real!
Few years back, I was happily reading all the April Fools day posts, and was absolutely convinced I can never write anything of that nature. Then I took a stub last year, and I liked it (ohhh, it actually makes me uneasy to say that I like my own writing). And I felt that I had to do it again this year, so this was the news update I posted yesterday. There is a mix of things in my post – yes, Coravin technology allows you to taste the wine without opening it, but while someone might be dreaming of the computerized wine analysis technology, that actually doesn’t exist. Yes, while Burger King indeed offered to supply the food for the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian wedding, the Korbel so far was not involved (hmm, may be they will like my idea, though?).
This finishes my April Fools day post roundup – if you came across something hilarious, please share in the comments section.
So, how about all paid Sonoma Wine Vacation for you and three of your friends? Yes, you can have it – if you win Underground Cellar Sonoma Winecation Getaway. Underground Cellar is the new concept wine selling site, where you can participate in the bidding for the rare wines directly from the wineries, and once you win the bid, you even have an option of upgrading your wine! I didn’t have a chance to try it yet, but it sounds very cool. In the effort to promote their new concept, Underground Cellar is sponsoring the Sonoma Winecation getaway – please use this link to enter the contest – who knows, you might soon be heading to the Sonoma county for the fun time!
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, #MWWC8 Time to Vote, Bordeaux 2013, Wine-y States, When Wine Critic Attacks
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #95, Grape Trivia – Tannat. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about the red grape called Tannat.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Tannat was the reason for one specific winemaking technique to be invented relatively recently. Do you know what technique is that?
a. Malolactic fermentation, b. Micro-oxygenation, c. Carbonic maceration, d. Reverse osmosis
A1: Micro-oxygenation was developed in the 1990s specifically as a method to soften otherwise harsh Tannat wines to make them more approachable while young.
Q2: True or False: Tannat is primarily harvested by hand and not by the machine. Provide an explanation for your answer.
A2: True. Tannat is primarily harvested by hand, but not because of the hilly terrain. The machine is generally harvests the grapes by shaking the vine – Tannat grapes are growing in such a tight bunches and attached to the vine so well that shaking simply doesn’t help, and the grapes have to be harvested by hand.
Q3: Name 3 grapes, often used as blending partners when Tannat wines are produced in France
A3: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Fer are often blended with Tannat in Madiran.
Q4: Wine Spectator calls wines with 90-94 ratings “Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style”. True or False: There are no Tannat-based wines rated as Outstanding by Wine Spectator.
A4: False. There are quite a few Tannat based wines with the 90+ ratings from the Wine Spectator, with the 2001 Montus Bouscassé Madiran La Tyre having the highest rating of 94.
Q5: Tannat ripens at about the same time as Cabernet Sauvignon. Assuming you have Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon which are both slightly underripe, which grape would you make the better wine from, Tannat or Cabernet Sauvignon? Why?
A5: Slightly underripe Tannat doesn’t show those aggressively green notes as Cabernet Sauvignon does, so all other things been equal, Tannat has a better chance of producing more palatable wine.
Talking about the results, two people played in this round – Bill of Duff’s Wines and Julian from Vino in Love – they both correctly answered four questions out of five, so they definitely get the favorable mention. Well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
First of all, the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #8, with the theme “Luck“, has concluded. Now it is time to vote for your favorite entry! While Kara The Sweet Sommelier was the host of #MWWC8, she is using Blogspot as her platform, which apparently doesn’t allow the inclusion of the polls in the blog post, thus Jeff a.k.a. The Drunken Cyclist hosts the poll on his blog. Click here to read all the entries and cast your vote in the poll. Don’t delay – the voting will close by the end of the week.
It was a very difficult growing season in Bordeaux – Mother Nature threw a tantrum (or a few) – cold spring and hailstorms definitely took its effect. Now winemakers facing a tough dilemma. The 2013 vintage is expected to be of a medium quality (despite all the tantrum’s), so it would be necessary to reduce the selling prices across the region to be able to sell the wines. At the same time, the crop was small, so reducing the prices will definitely affect the small and even medium producers. Well, En Primeur tastings will take place soon, and this is where the prices will be set – for more information please read this article on the Wine-Searcher.
Dr. Vino published a very interesting map in his blog. This map outlines the wine consumption in the United States on the state by state basis. Dr. Vino also took all the wine numbers a bit further – he also included the map of state’s electoral votes from the 2012 elections (democrats versus republicans), as well as the map of income per capita in all 50 states. There are some interesting correlations between all three maps, but I will leave it for you to make any type of conclusions as you will see fit.
And last but not least is latest feud in the wine critics world – which is mind boggling in my opinion. The wine world is huge – there is enough space for all the people who wants to professionally review the wines, and its okay to have a difference of the opinion. But Robert Parker and his company, Wine Advocate, apparently don’t think so. In the fight for the dominance of the opinion, it seems that Robert Parker lashes out at anyone who promotes the wines less bombastic than his palate requires. Last week, Robert Parker attacked Eric Asimov ( New York Times wine critic) and Jon Bonne ( San Francisco Chronicle) for conducting the tasting of the wines which were not to his liking. You can read a general overview of the issue here, but then you need to turn to the blog post by Dr. Vino. After the legal attack from the Wine Advocate lawyers, Dr. Vino had to drastically modify the content of his blog post, which you will be able to see here. And lastly, here is an excellent summary by the W. Blake Gray, explaining the reason for the “vicious attack” . Even if you largely ignore all the wine critics populace, I think this story still worth a few minutes of your time.
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – #MWWC8 Last Reminder, Water into Wine – A Hoax, Corks and Twist Caps, and More Wine in Numbers
Meritage time!
Last weekend happened to be way too busy, so I had to skip the traditional wine quiz (no worries, it is coming up next Saturday). However, I have tons of interesting stuff around the vine and the web, so let’s get to it.
First and foremost – do you feel lucky? More precisely – do you feel wine-lucky? Then share your luck with the world – and you have only few days left to do it. Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #8 is almost over – the submission deadline is Sunday, March 23rd, thus you have only about 4 days left – start typing. So far 7 blog posts had been submitted – here is the post by the #MWWC8 host, Kara The Sweet Sommelier, summarizing current status.
Remember I wrote recently about The Miracle Machine, the device which promised to almost magically create wine out of water and a few ingredients? Turns out, The Miracle Machine was simply a hoax – but it had its purpose. The goal of that “project” was to bring attention to the organization which actually has a very important mission – providing drinkable water to more than billion (!) people in the world, who have no access to the clean and drinkable water. The name of the organization is “Wine into Water”, so playing on the “water into wine” was almost warranted here. I think the “increased awareness” mission was successfully accomplished – here you can find more information about both the hoax and the Wine into Water project in itself.
To cork or to screw top? That is the question! The debate is still ongoing, and the jury is still out – aesthetics, spoiled wine, proper wine aging, consumer education – all is at play in the back and force dialog about corks versus screw tops. Here are few interesting links for you. Here you can find a short video of the winemaker explaining why they switched back from the screw top to the cork. On the same subject, here is the link to the blog post at The Wine-o-scope, which critically analyzes findings of the research on the corks versus screw tops. To rephrase, I would say that this blog post is attacking the research findings – and I actually have a lot of problems with the number of statements in the blog post, which I expressed in the designated comments section. Anyway, it is well worth your time, so go read it.
Two more interesting pieces are more or less related to the subject of wine in numbers. The first one is about wine in Big Numbers – here you can find the link to the post about who is who in the US wine market. If you like the numbers, this post is for you. You will find out that three leading companies in US produced more than half of all the wines in 2013, and you will also find out that company number 1, Gallo, makes more wine than bottom 26 producers. Is this very important information for the oenophiles? Probably not. Is it fascinating? I would say yes. Again, take a look for yourself.
The last one for today is the article in the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) wine blog about Tasting Room Survey conducted by the SVB jointly with Wine Business Monthly, on the subject of profitability of the tasting room operations of the wineries – full report will be published in May. According to the survey, it appears that on average, 35% of the tasting room visitors don’t buy anything. Those people are called “melon squeezers” (read the article for full explanation of the term – in the nutshell, these are the people who touch the fruit but don’t buy it), and the article provides suggestions as to how to get rid of these annoying “melon-squeezers”. Even more fascinating than the article itself are the comments (there are lots of them), some of them suggesting that people must buy something if they visit the winery and that visitors have to buy the wine even if they don’t like it. To make it clear and simple, I’m peeved by this article and especially taken in conjunction with the comments, but I don’t want to end up with the huge rant in this blog post, so I will leave it up to you to read and come up with your own opinion (the rant might still be forthcoming).
And we are done for today. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, #MWWC8 Theme, Water into Wine???, Wine in Numbers, About Champagne and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #93, Grape Trivia – Norton. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about the red grape called Norton.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Which of the following are synonyms of Norton?
a. Cynthiana, b. St. Croix, c. St. Vincent, d. Virginia Seedling
A1: While looks standard, this was a tricky question – did anyone noticed the plural on the “synonyms“? The correct answer here is Cynthiana and Virginia Seedling – both are synonyms for Norton, even though it seems that Cynthiana might be a slightly different clone rather than identical grape under a different name.
Q2: The winery in which state holds the trademark The Real American Grape®:
a. Arkansas, b. Missouri, c. Pennsylvania, d. Virginia
A2: This phrase was trademarked by Chrysalis winery in Virginia
Q3: Norton is an official State Grape of:
a. Arkansas, b. Mississippi, c. Missouri, d. Virginia
A3: Norton is a staple of wine production in Missouri, so yes, the correct answer is c, Missouri.
Q4: Norton grape generally classified as:
a. Vitis Aestivalis, b. Vitis Cinerea, c. Vitis Labrusca, d. Vitis Vinifera
A4: While there are some competing opinions, it seems the Norton is generally classified as Vitis Aestivalis (Summer Grape), which according to definition in Wikipedia is a “species of grape native to eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Vermont, west to Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas”.
Q5: As you know, Riedel is the best known wine glass maker, which creates wine glasses designated for different varietals. True or False: Riedel makes a special varietal glass designated to Norton
A5: Riedel created a Norton-specific glass (a stemware, to be called properly) in 2009
I’m glad to report that we had good participation in this quiz. Nobody was able to provide a full answer to the first question – but then again, it was somewhat of a tricky question so I’m accepting the partial answers here as well. Thus we have three winners – Suzanne from apuginthekitchen, Kirsten The Armchair Sommelier and Julian from Vino in Love – they all get the prize of unlimited bragging rights. Well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
First of all, the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge, now in its 8th reincarnation, has a new theme. As announced by Kara The Sweet Sommelier, winner of the round #7, the new theme is Luck. You might need some luck to connect it to the wine, unless you have a lucky bottle, lucky cork or may be a lucky corkscrew – but in any case, put your lucky hat on and start writing. For all the details, including submission and voting timeline, here is the link to Kara’s post.
Remember Jesus? Yep, The One. Supposedly, he was able to make wine out of water, and this was definitely the miracle. So the new startup, called The Miracle Machine (hint, hint), intends to do exactly that – bring that miracle to all of us, mere mortals. A special device, a little bit of magic and, of course, an iPhone to control the magic, and the founders promise the wine which will rival Screaming Eagle, all done on your kitchen countertop, at a fraction of a fraction of a price. You can read more about the miracle device and watch the video here – as for me, I will take my chances with the local liquor store.
Number junkies, rejoice – I have a new set of numbers for you. As many times in the past, they come from Mike Veseth, who writes the blog The Wine Economist. The point of the numbers is really to illustrate the economic concept called disintermediation, which here has to do with a simple question – how many people does it take to produce a bottle of wine? Some wine businesses prefer to own vineyards, and the whole process of winemaking, and some are “outsourcing” as much of the process as possible to the other specialized businesses (like mobile bottling line, for instance), and this is what disintermediation is all about. The numbers are very interesting, if you think that it takes 4,000 people at E&J Gallo Winery to produce about 85M cases of wine worldwide, and then it takes only 95 people to produce 1.7M cases at Bogle Vineyards. But – take a look for yourself here, I think this is a very interesting read.
Next up – a very interesting article by Jancis Robinson, talking about what the wine drinkers are asking to have more and more in Champagne – in a few words, the demand is to have Champagne more complex (longer aging time on the lees), and more dry (like no added sugar at all). Of course you are better off reading it for yourself here.
Last, but not least at all, I want to bring to your attention an article about wine serial entrepreneur, Charles Banks. I’m always fascinated by the stories of the people who are told that they better give up, and they achieve their best results despite all odds ( Charles Banks was told that asparagus is all he can hope for to grow on the patch of land he acquired – and he managed to produce a great wine on that patch of land). I suggest you will find 5 minutes in your busy day and read this article – definitely worth your time.
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
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