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Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Better Blog Writing, Useful Blogging Links amd more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start from the answer for the Wine quiz #52, The Oak Trivia. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions related to the oak usage in the wine making.
Q1: True or false: American oak typically imparts stronger flavor than the french oak?
Correct answer: True.
Q2: There are 5 major forests in France from which the oak is used in the wine making. Oak from which forest is considered least suitable for use with the wines and more used in production of the Cognac?
A. Allier
B. Never
C. Limousin – correct answer. Limousin oak is often used for production of Cognac
D. Troncais
E. Vosges
Q3: Troncais forest was planted by the order of Napoleon. Do you know what was the intended use of the oak trees from that forest?
Correct answer – shipbuilding. Yes, this is what oak originally was intended for.
Q4: True or False: The use of Oak chips is illegal in France?
Correct answer: False. in 2006, European Union approved usage of the oak chips in winemaking process, and it also became legal in France. Here is the link to one of the articles on the subject.
Q5. True or False: When barrels are made from the trees in the same forest by the same cooperage, all the barrels will be identical and will impart flavor of the wine in the same way?
Correct answer: False. It is possible that every plank used in the barrel will be coming from different side of the forest. When charred, all the planks can be charred unevenly. Thus there can be significant difference in the impact on the wine between the different barrels.
There were quite a few answers provided, and it seems that everybody did a very good job. Question #4 proved to be the culprit – nobody expects that oak chips can be used instead of oak barrels in France, right? But they actually are – since 2006 adding oak chips is legal in France. The armchairsommelier got closest to the winning with 4 correct answers. Both armchairsommelier and foodandwinehedonist also correctly answered bonus question – the logo in the picture belongs to the Williamsburg Winery, which makes very good wines (if you ever in the Williamsburg area in Virginia, make sure to visit it). Eatwithnamie gets an honorable mention as she participated in the quiz for the first time.
And now, to the interesting stuff! Today, it is not so much about the actual news, as much as it is really an interesting information around the net which deserves attention.
First, this past Monday was April Fools day, so [rather as expected] there were a number of interesting posts of all kinds. I liked (sorry!) my own post with various wine news, including new Target and Walmart wines, CocaTour cocktails and DudeChuk joint venture. Then there was an excellent piece from OmNomCT blog about Munchies Brewery ( I think those guys are onto something). And then there was a story from Wining Daily about Billionaire’s Vinaigrette, which I pretty much believed…
Next I want to bring to your attention a couple of very useful resources for all of us bloggers. I follow the blog called Eat and Sip in the City which is written by Michelle Levine and it is all about food and wine happenings in the city of Boston. Michelle also has a regular post called “Worthwhile reads from the web this week”. In her last post, I found two interesting references. One of them is called “33 Unusual Tips To Being A Better Writer“. You might jump at the tip number two, but overall, I think those tips make a lot of sense, and I’m definitely aware of some which I clearly need to enforce for my own good.
Another link in Michelle’s post was for “Food Bloggers: 150+ Links to Everything You Need to Know” – I didn’t have a chance to go over it in detail, but it seems to be a great collection of useful information.
Here is an interesting piece of infographics for you – Corkage fees facts and figures – you can compare corkage fees in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as by the type of cuisine – I think this is very interesting info.
And the last note for today – profile of Amarone producers in Decanter magazine. I understand that this is an article from 2007 – but if you are an Amarone junkie like myself, it is very interesting to see all the different producers being presented in this article.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Round and Around WBC and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start fromt he answer for the Wine Quiz #51 – Hiding in the plain sight, part 2.
In that quiz, you were supposed to identify as many wines/wineries as possible in my fictional writing. Here is the same fragment, with the actual wines shown in bold and underlined:
– Hey, Gloria, Mr. Giribaldi is here. You really have to tell me if you are going to Sicilia with him. The ticket will cost only $890. Your aunt Elena and cousin Ben will be excited to see you. Your great-grand aunt Olga is turning hundred! Everybody will be there. Remember Livio, the blue eyed boy? He was such a little angel… Anyway, he is coming with Virginia, and I’m sure you will have lots of catching up to do.
– okay, mom, I will go. By the way, if you see Kay, tell him that I’m through with him.
Now, in the order of appearance:
Chateau Gloria – Famous French winery from Saint-Julien
Mario Giribaldi – winery and winemaker in Piedmont
Vega Sicilia – legendary winery from Ribero del Duero, Spain
La Rioja Alta “890” Gran Reserva – one of the top wines from La Rioja Alta
Elena Walch – great winery and winemaker in Alto Adige region
Olivier Cousin – rebel natural wines wine maker in Anjou area of Loire
Ben Ryè – spectacular sweet wine produced by Donnafugata in Sicily
Olga Raffault – great winery in Chinon
Turning Leaf – Vineyard in California
Hundred Acre – a cult wine from California
Livio Felluga – great Italian producer from Friuli
blue eyed boy – name of the Shiraz wine from the great Australian producer Mollydooker Wines
Ballet of Angels – white wine produced by Connecticut winery Sharpe Hills
Virginie de Valandraud – second label of legendary Château Valandraud (had a mistake in the spelling – should be Virginie and not Virginia, sorry about that)
if you see Kay – red wine from Lazio region in Italy, produced by Jason Woodbridge
Whew, this was a very long answer. I guess it was a tough quiz, as there were not that many players, but – I can tell you for sure I had lots of fun putting it together. VinoInLove came up with 10 good answers, even though many of the names he came up with didn’t match my intended answers, but as I mentioned in the description of the quiz, this will be still qualified. Thus VinoInLove is our winner, and Frank from WineTalks get honorable mention for coming up with 5 right answers. Great job!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine web. I got an e-mail from Wine Bloggers Conference, and it lead me to the collection of noteworthy information on Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) web site. First, a few weeks ago I got an invitation from WBC to complete the wine blogging survey, which I did. Preliminary results are already available here, and you can learn there a few interesting things. For instance, it appears that average wine blogger has 3,418 follower on twitter – I guess I’m well below of an average wine blogger, as I have less than one third of that number. Another interesting fact is that less than 19% of the wine bloggers had being blogging for 6+ years. Anyway, check it out for yourself, and if you didn’t take the survey, you still have time to do it ( you can found the link on that same page with preliminary results). WBC site holds other interesting links – for instance, here is the link for so called Citizen Wine Blogs in America ( which includes both US and Canada) – the WBC web site is definitely worth exploring.
Another important news is that the call for nominations for 7th Annual Wine Blog Awards is now open! It will be open until Sunday, March 31st, so if anyone thinks this very blog worth a nomination, you can do so using this link (needless to say that I will be forever grateful).
Moving on, I still have a few interesting things for you. There are new wines on the market from the state of Washington, produced by Paul Gregutt, who you might know by his blog called Unfined and Unfiltered. The wines are produced under the label of Waitsburg Cellars. While I’m sure it will be difficult to find those wines, at least you can enjoy the descriptions coming under the theme called The Aromatics.
While this might be an old news for many of you, but it is interesting to see that now Parker is suing Antonio Galloni for the breach of contract. The world of wine, as everything else under the sun, becomes anything but boring once the big money start talking. Not sure if wine lovers will benefit, but the lawyers will be able to afford a few extra bottles of Petrus.
Last for today is a local update. I added a few links to the blogroll for the blogs I follow, and I also created a new link category called Wine Travel. American Winery Guide, To-Tuscany, Winerist and Napa Now are the four web sites listed there. If you have a blog or site dedicated to the wine travel, please let me know and I will be glad to add it to the blogroll.
It was a long post – but the glass is finally empty. Enjoy your Wine Wednesday and until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Following Steve Heimoff, and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #50, Hiding in the plain sight.
In the quiz, you were presented with the little fragment of fiction where you were supposed to find as many wine names as possible:
– Hey, Justin, see that skinny girl standing there?
-Which one, the one in the “to the rescue” t-shirt, almost naked?
– No, the other one, with the cupcake in her left hand.
– Ahh, that is Patrina, she is one of the three girls in the Bryant family, the middle sister. Let me introduce you.
– Hey, Patrina, please meet my friend Kris – he is the worshiper of Orpheus, the poet.
As you can see above, now all the wine names are bold and actually linked to the available wine info, so you can check them out. There are 14 wine names plus a little curve ball – Left Hand is the name of the beer brewing company. And I have to honestly admit that I learned that Ahh is the wine name only from thedrunkensyclist‘ s answer, so I guess that should make him a double-winner here. I’m glad to mention that this was a very successful quiz, with many answers.
And the winners are (drum roll, please)… thedrunkensyclist, who identified 15 wines and gets double-award for exceeding expectations. Both armchairsommelier and Zak get honorable mentions – they both did very well. Now, I can’t decide if I want to repeat this quiz trying to focus on European wines, or the wine names with the numbers in them – but you will be the first to know. Decision, decisions…
And now, to the interesting stuff around the web. This time around I came across a number of interesting posts by Steve Heimoff, an editor for Wine Enthusiast magazine. The first one is about the coveted subject of the wine world – terroir. In this post, called The End of Terroir, he is talking exactly about the whole concept of “terroir” and whether it is real or not. The debate is endless, but for me, terroir, or “sense of place” is something I always look for in the wine (I rarely find it for real, in most cases I only think I do) – and looking for that “sense of place” is a part of enjoying the wine, so I will continue doing that no matter what the general consensus is.
His next post is about the California wines and whether they can taste too sweet, which I’m sure they do for many of us, at least from time to time. No need for me to comment here, but it is an interesting read.
And the last one from Steve Heimoff posts relates to the restaurant experience, and the power of Sommelier’s suggestion (or not). How many times have you being in the restaurant, asking for the wine recommendation? How many times did you actually end up taking that suggestion? Did you enjoy the pairing after all or did you dislike it? Hmmm, I think this might make it for a nice poll (note to self). Anyway, read the post, I think it is interesting.
And that now leads us to the last post I want to share with you for today – this one is written by W. Blake Gray and it talks about unwanted but related part of the restaurant experience – corked wines. What do you do when you come across corked wine in the restaurant? Do you actually drink it? Enjoy it? Send it back? Again, I think this is an interesting subject for the whole blog post.
Okay, we are done here. The glass is empty. But another pour is on the way. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Too Hot and Too Cold, Grading Wine Ratings and more
Meritage time!
I think I have a lot of interesting stuff for you , but – let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #48, Let’s get a little technical. Considering that I got only one response to the quiz, I can only guess that I went too far – even though I really didn’t see it that way – my hope was that everybody will try to answer at least something – it is definitely fine to say “I have no idea” – makes it as good of an answer as anything else.
Anyway, in that quiz you were supposed to match wines in the list with some of the technical terms, and as a bonus part to explain what the terms mean. These were the terms presented: Appassimento, Estufagem, Flor, Malolactic fermentation, Noble Rot, Solera, Vintage. Here is the list of wines with the relevant terms and explanations:
A. Cabernet Sauvignon – this was a curve ball, as I warned you. None of the given terms are really associated with this wine.
B. Champagne – Vintage is only declared in the exceptional years
C. Chardonnay – Malolactic fermentation is often used to produce softer-tasting Chardonnay
D. Jerez – flor, solera
E. Madeira – Estufagem
F. Port – Vintage is declared only in exceptional years.
G. Riesling – Noble rot
H. Valtellina Sfursat – Appassimento – in production of Valtelina Sfursat, Nebbiolo grapes are dried before pressing, sometimes for 100+ days.
I. Vin Jaune – flor
All in all, VinoInLove gets an honorable mention, both for the courage and for providing a number of right answers. Also, this quiz forced me to add a feature to this blog which I wanted to do for the long time – a Wine Glossary! Now, instead of providing explanation for all the terms one by one, I can simply refer you to my new Wine Glossary page. And as it is new feature, I would love to hear from you – comments, yay, nay, suggestions – anything and everything goes!
And now, to the news!
Boy, so much stuff happens when you get away from the Reader for a while. Some of my “news” might not be new for you at all, but – I still would like to share it here.
First, I found this very interesting article by Dr. Vino, who writes for the Wine-Searcher site – the article hits close to home for all of us who gets wine shipped to them ( and who doesn’t nowadays). Do you know how your wine was stored during the shipping? Was it exposed to extreme heat or extreme cold? Both can equally destroy your wine, but for more details go read the article.
The next interesting article again comes from Dr. Vino and it is dedicated to all the number addicts and Champagne aficionados ( I know I have a few among my readers, but I will not name names). Want to know how many bottles were made, consumed and broken (okay, I’m pulling your leg here) – take a look at this post.
Can you name the wines which are produced by the iconic Spanish winery, Vega Sicilia? Unico? Yes, of course. Valbuena 5? Very good. How about some Rioja? No, no Rioja from Vega Sicilia? Well, there is now – two Rioja wines called Macan and Macam Classico from Vega Sicilia, and it looks like they might be even affordable (well, for now, anyway) – but of course, not available in US for now.
Do you know who Antonio Galloni is? If you do, great. If you don’t – you soon will. Antonio Galloni left Wine Advocate (surprise, surprise, after Wine Advocate was essentially sold to the group of Asian investors) to start his own web site. Get ready to look for the new abbreviation next to the wine ratings – AG, I guess. For more details you can click here.
And now, this mention of the wine ratings is a great segway to our last news subject for today – a very interesting Wall Street Journal article by Lettie Teague about the value of wine ratings and overall perception of good and bad wines. Would you actively seek 88 point rated wines, or would you go out of your way to drink only 95+ pointers? Robert Parker alone awarded last year 78 100-point ( perfect! ) scores, where Wine Spectator awarded … zero. Is 100 points losing its value as it becoming a lot more readily available, or famous Robert Parker’s palate is faltering? The article raises a lot of interesting questions and definitely is worth reading.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, OTBN, WTSO Marathon and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start from the answer for the Wine Quiz #47, Frost and Grapes. The quiz was about Icewines, and you had to answer four questions in that quiz:
1. Briefly explain what Icewines are, including required conditions for harvesting of the grapes.
2. Which country is the biggest producer of the Icewine? As a bonus question, narrow it down to the specific region in that country.
3. Name two most popular white grape varieties for production of the Icewine.
4. Name the winery which pioneered Icewines made from the red grapes. Name that grape as well.
I’m happy to report that Wine and History, VinoInLove and The Winegetter all correctly answered first three questions (quick recap: Icewine is made out of the grapes which freeze on the vine and temperature reaching -7C or -8C depending on the region; leading Icewine world producing region is Canada, and then Ontario produces about 70% of Icewine in Canada ; Riesling and Vidal are two of the most popular white grape varietals used for Icewine).
With question #4, I dug myself a hole I promised not to get into many times before – all the questions about “pioneers” and “firsts” have lots of competing claims and no conclusive and confident assessments from the trustworthy sources. Thus the pioneering portion of the question will be left outside of assessing results of this quiz, and we will only take the grape variety, which is Cabernet Franc. Just as a side note, based on my search, the pioneering winery is either Pelee Island or Inniskillin – you can find 2002 Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine still available for purchase via Wine-Searcher, and 2002 Pelee Island Cabernet Franc won gold medal at one of the wine competitions in France according to the article on Wines Of Canada website.
And it means that both Wine and History and VinoInLove are the winners of the Wine Quiz #47 and they get unlimited bragging rights as a prize.
Now, to the news! First and foremost, OTBN is coming up very soon. Who knows what OTBN stands for, please raise your hands! Duh, I can’t see your hands. Okay, never mind. OTBN stands for “Open That Bottle Night”, and it is a special event created by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, a couple who wrote Wall Street Journal’s Tastings column for 12 years ( their column was my main reason to subscribe to The Journal – ever since they stopped writing it at the end of 2009, it never was the same). They started the OTBN events in the year 2000 with the purpose of giving people the reason to open that special bottle they had being holding onto. OTBN always takes place at the last Saturday in February. Thus this year OTBN will be falling on Saturday, February 23rd – and here is a great article from the Palate Press, talking about John and Dottie’s love story of 40 years and OTBN still going strong. Whatever your plans are for the February 23rd, don’t forget to open that special bottle, and either leave a comment or write your own blog post about that special experience.
Now, value wine lovers, rejoice, and make room in your cellars (whatever you call “the cellar”) – WTSO Cheapskate Wednesday will be taking place on February 20th – get ready to go a bit crazy, if you want to put your hands on the good stuff. During last Cheapskate event WTSO sold 90+ different wines, in the total quantity of more than 72,000 bottles during the 18 hours – some of the wines only lasted one minute or so. Here are couple of most important points, taken from WTSO announcement:
- Cheapskate Wednesday will run from 6am to midnight Eastern Time.
- We will be posting offers every 15 minutes (or sooner if an item sells out).
- Every item will be priced from $7.99 to $18.99
- The only method of notification for EVERY item will be Twitter
Set your alarm clock and practice your mouse and keyboard skills, you will need them. Also make sure you have all the ordering information (including CC number) on file with WTSO – I didn’t, and I lost a few interesting wines while I was typing in my information.
And now for the “local news” – I will be on vacation next week! Which means that:
- there will be no weekly wine quiz for the next two Saturdays
- I will miss the Cheapskate Marathon
- I will miss the OTBN event – so I will have to do my personal OTBN at one of the upcoming Saturdays
- I (most likely) will not be able to reply to your comments and comment on your posts
- But you will probably still see some posts from me, considering that scheduling will work well in WordPress
That’s all I have for you for today. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Wine Events and Wine Reviews Gone Overboard
Meritage Time!
Let start with the answer for the Wine Quiz #46, Where in the World. In the quiz, you were given the picture of the vines and information about some of the grapes growing in the area, and you had to identify what wine region it can be. The grapes where Riesling, Chardonnay, Cortese, Viognier for the whites, and Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah for the reds.
This was definitely a hard quiz, and the picture of the vines was not very suggestive. Considering that today winemakers in all regions experiment with all possible grapes, it was quite difficult to put things together.
Three people got pretty close to the right answer – Barbie Jean H. Messa (by the way – check out her blog – she is onto a very interesting project), The Drunken Cyclist and PSSquared took us to California, and both DC and PSSquared got very close to the exact region in question, but the right answer is Temecula Valley – thus we have runner ups, but don’t have a clear winner…
Actually, I have to thank The Winegetter for the idea for this quiz. He asked me where the background picture for my blog was taken at:
This picture was taken at Mount Palomar winery in Temecula Valley – and the reason I didn’t use this exact picture was the fact that I actually already used it once in the Wine Quiz #7 – so I thought to play on the same region, but with a different picture.
Now, to the interesting happenings on the vines and in the glasses. First, it seems that wine events of all sorts are popping out everywhere at a mind-boggling pace. If you are a Riesling lover and you live in a close proximity to New York, there will be whole big event celebrating Riesling wines – Rieslingfeier will include a variety of different tastings taking place all over New York on February 15 and 16.
If you interested in attending the New York Wine Expo, taking place in New York on March 1-3, 1WineDude has a special ticket discount code for you.
How many times have you come across wine reviews where after you read, your only reaction can be expressed through the short but powerful abbreviation WTF? W. Blake Gray started tracking those reviews in the new feature in his blog called Bad tasting note of the week – take a look for yourself and see if you would want to drink that wine (based on the review, I’ll pass).
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. Happy Wine Wednesday and don’t forget to open something good. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Results of Book Giveaway and a Rant
Meritage Time!
Let’s start from the answer for the Wine Quiz #45, an Easy One. In that quiz, you were supposed to answer 3 easy questions, and then simply talk about your favorite wines and wineries. All of it with an ultimate goal of leaving the comment so you can get the new wine book called “Rock and Vine” to be shipped to you. Free. And you know what – before we get to the answer and the results, let me get the rant out.
I don’t get it. So the free book (5 copies) was offered, pretty much for anyone who would care to leave a comment in the blog. According to the stats from the WordPress, the post had total of 56 views – and only 4 people left comments. Are people not reading books anymore? Did the people who wanted the book were too shy to leave a comment? Was it something I said (or didn’t say)? I’m puzzled… Honestly, I was not looking for the book giveaway as a cheap publicity shot, to attract more followers or something – I simply don’t do it. So as I said already, I’m puzzled – and if anyone want to offer a theory or explanation or simply tell me that I’m too dumb to get it – be my guest. End of the rant.
Now, let’s get to the wine quiz answers and the winners. We have two winners of the wine quiz and 3 winners of Rock and Vine book giveaway – Jeff (The Drunken Cyclist) and Oliver (The Wine Getter) are the winners of the wine quiz ( they got 3 out of 3 questions right) and both of them plus Emily (@WineMuse) are the winners of the book giveaway!
Now, if you want details, here are the first 3 questions with the answers:
1. In the famous movie “Sideways”, where (in which region) the action took place, and what were two grapes which Miles was so adamant about (one positive, one negative)?
Answers are Santa Barbara, Pinot Noir and Merlot – you can read more here.
2. Which grape is referred to as “The Real American Grape”?
Norton. By the way, Oliver, this is not my designation : ) – this designation is actually trademarked – here is the link.
3. What Judgement of Paris was all about and when did it t took place (provide short description)?
Judgement of Paris took place in 1976 and it was a blind tasting event where French wine critics overwhelmingly preferred California wines over similar French wines, which put California on a world-wide wine map. Here is the link for additional reading.
And the last two questions were:
4. Name three US wineries which you visited, want to visit or at least drunk the wine from
5. Thinking about your favorite wines, name one of them ( any one of them). As a bonus, provide short description and may be explain why is it one of your favorite wines.
Let me just quote the answers:
Emily (@WineMuse):
4. Failla, Varner, Littorai most recently
5. Whatever is in my glass at the moment 
(but really, I do like all the wines mentioned above. They are extremely well-made and unique. I also really like & respect the people that make each of them)
TheWineGetter:
4. Chateau Grand Traverse, Brys Estate and Left Foot Charley – all Traverse City based wineries whose wines I have tried but never visited. This year is the year!
5. One of them would be the 2001 Poliziano Vino Nobile Asinone which I tried in their tasting room in the fall of 2005. The wine just hit me completely unexpectedly with its depth and earthiness and was so far above the regular vino nobile that Poliziano produces. It was just incredible. (I have to name a riesling, too! Sorry. One of the many was a 1990 Vereinigte Hospitien Erdener Prälat Auslese which we had at a birthday party for Nina. The wine was dark amber in color and I have never come across such a vanilla a yellow fruit bombs in a riesling again.)
TheDrunkenCyclist:
4. I have visited Clos Pepe, Littorai, and Freeman Wineries (among countless others).
5. One of my favorites wines is the Clos Pepe Pinot Noir. The wine is phenomenal, but above that, it is made by Wes Hagen, who is one of the true characters in the wine business today.
One last note – there are still 2 books I can give away. If you want them, leave a comment or otherwise send me a note over the next two days – first come, first serve…
That’s all I have for now, folks. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Orange Wine Bad or Good?, Kegs of Wine, New Wine Magazine and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #44, What is in the numbers. In the quiz, you were supposed to identify what the numbers 100%, 75%, 85% and 95% mean all together and by themselves. As VinoinLove mentioned, it was a difficult quiz – I have to agree with him – but he cracked it nevertheless! So, yes, VinoinLove is a winner of the wine quiz #44, and here is the answer.
All the numbers are taken from the definition of American Viticultural Area (AVA):
100% – If California is specified on the label, 100% of the grapes should be from California (it is interesting to note that California is an exception – it is 75% for all other states).
75% – a grape source requirement for all other states
85% – a vintage designation requirement – if a vintage specified on the bottle, at least 85% of the grapes should be coming from that vintage. Interestingly enough, until 2006, the requirement was 95%
95% – has two meanings. When specific AVA is noted on the bottle (Napa Valley, for example), at least 95% of the grapes should belong to one and the same vintage. Also, when vineyard is specified on the label (for instance, To Kalon), at least 95% of the grapes should be sourced from that vineyard.
Care to learn more? Here is the link for you.
And now to the wine news. I found few of the interesting articles I want to bring to your attention. First, what do you think of orange wine? It’s being very much discussed subject for the past 2-3 years. You get orange wine when you ferment white grape in contact with the skin for a prolonged period of time. The resulting wine is typically quite distinguishable. With the popularity of course comes a controversy, a fad, chick and all other usual things. Here an article from SF Gate covering this subject of the orange wine. It is an interesting read, especially considering that the article starts with total bashing and ends with literally a praise for the orange wine. Do you have your own orange wine experience? If you do (or even if you don’t, but have an opinion), please share it in the comment section.
When you are in a bar or a restaurant, do you prefer beer on tap or in the bottle (well, of course assuming there is a decent selection of beer on tap)? My personal preference is beer on tap, as it is usually tastes fresher. Now, how about wine? On tap or in the bottle? What, never heard this question before? Coming to the bar near you – Wine on Tap. May be it is the time for you to get prepared? Here is the link for you with some good wine on tap suggestions. Let me know if you already experienced any of the wines on tap – I had not so far, but bused on the recommendations in the article, really would love to.
January 2013 was inaugural month not only for the US President, but also for the new wine magazine called By The Bottle. Magazine is available in electronic format only, currently for iPad with Android version coming soon. I just wrote the review about the first issue, which you can find here.
In the love of all the Top Ten lists and Statistics of all sorts, here is a list of Top Ten Wine Regions in the world, according to Wine Folly. Read, analyze, discuss, make conclusions – do whatever you usually do with numbers.
I think the glass is empty – will refill in a week. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Plonk in the Headlines, Gambero Rosso and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #43, Which One Doesn’t Belong. In the quiz, you were given a list of 6 well know Burgundy wines and you were supposed to identify the one which shouldn’t be on the list and explain why. Same as last time, we have exactly the same two winners – both vinoinlove and thedrunkencyclist were able to correctly identify that Clos de Lambrays shouldn’t be on the list of Grand Cru Monopoles. Monopole essentially is a single appellation in Burgundy which is owned by single family/winery. Clos du Tart, La Grand Rue, La Romanée, La Romanée Conti and La Tache are all Grand Cru Monopoles ( they all have their respective single owners), but tiny portion of Clos de Lambrays has its own separate owner, which makes it unqualified for the “Monopole” denomination. Congratulations to our winners, they are doing great winning the second quiz in the row – will see how long their winning streak will last, but for now they definitely got the unlimited bragging rights.
And now, let’s move on to the interesting stuff around the grapevines. First, the upcoming presidential inauguration created a lot of waves (rather a small tsunami) in the wine world, by selecting Korbel undrinkable plonk as a sparkling wine of choice, and also calling it a “Champagne”. Considering absolutely astonishing availability of great sparkling wines (authentic!!!) made in this country, from New Mexico to California to Virginia to New York, I can only raise both eyebrows (I would raise more if I would have it) at this selection. For a better coverage, you should read what Dr. Vino and Chris Kassel have to say about it. I truly hope that this selection is not indicative of what we should be expecting here in US of the next four years…
What do you think of a blind wine tasting? Do you think it is humbling? You bet. Do you think it is educational? I’m sure it is. But don’t take my word for it – here is an interesting article published by the Wine Spectator and talking about blind tasting experience – I think it will be well worth of your time.
Last but not least – Italian wine lovers, rejoice! Thanks to Stefano from Flora’s table, we now know that Gambero Rosso, one of the most respected and prestigious Italian wine guides, will run the wine tasting events around the US over the next few weeks. For more information about Gambero Rosso events, please visit Stefano’s blog.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty – but refill is on its way. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Random Vine Happenings and more
First Meritage Time of the 2013!
Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #42, Common Traits. In that quiz, you were supposed to identify what can be common between five different wines and/or wineries. I’m happy to report that we have two winners – both vinoinlove and thedrunkencyclist correctly pointed out to the fact that all of those wines use Merlot either as the only or very major component. I also have to note that I’m very impressed with the excellent in-depth analysis conducted by VinoinLove (you can see it in the comments section of the quiz post). As usual, both winners get unlimited bragging rights as their prize.
And now, to the news! Looks like that Natalie MacLean scandal (stealing of the wine reviews etc.) keeps reverberating throughout the blogosphere – here are two recent blog posts on the subject – one from Joe Roberts (a.k.a. 1WineDude), and another one is from Chris Kassel of Intoxicology Report. Both posts are great and if you didn’t read them yet, you really should.
Next, I want to bring to your attention an event coming up in about two weeks in New York. Stefano from Flora’s Table blog posted about Vinitaly International and Slow Wine 2013 taking place in New York city on January 28th. Please check Stefano’s blog post for more information about those events.
Last but not least I want to mention an interesting post by Mike Veseth from Wine Economist blog. This blog post is talking about choice of wine available to today’s wine consumer, who makes those wines and where the wines are coming from. The post is a bit technical, so you will need to pay attention while reading it. That blog post also features a “wine universe” picture you can play with (zoom in, zoom out) – definitely very interesting to see.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – Cheers!
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