Viti-Culture

Whites - Served too cold?

2006-11-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic article about how white wines are often served so cold that most of the flavor is chilled right out of them.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/white-wine-too-darn-cold

I've found this to be true, personally. Very often, when I'm served a good white wine straight from the fridge or ice bucket, it's at it's best on the last couple of sips at the bottom of the glass because that last bit of wine has had time to warm up. I don't keep my whites in the food fridge anymore, instead I keep them in the small wine fridge with my reds, set at 55 degrees.

Appellation Visualization

2006-09-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

I've been reading some wine books here and there, and without naming any titles, I have to say that one of the unfortunate common problems is that the maps are really, really bad. It's a pretty frustrating situation.

I've played around a bit with Google Earth, and I think it could be a tool to create better appellation maps. There are plenty of benefits - you can show various climate data, like rainfall or temperatures, and you can put them in layers that you can turn on and off, depending on how you want to see the map at that moment. You can travel around a place to get a real feel for the topography. You could even map various types of soil, or which vines are most commonly grown in an area, or just communities for collaboration - because let's face it, no one is going to be able to map the whole world of wine by themselves.

I bet the folks over at Appellation Americawould be interested in this, among plenty others.

Whoa, in the midst of writing this post, I see that someone has already thought of this idea (I should have known!)

How wonderful!

2004 Dyed-in-the-Wool Sauvignon Blanc - Tasting Notes by PointedView

2006-06-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is another guest wine review by Katharine, aka PointedView. Many thanks to Katharine for her tasting notes!

Point of Origin: Marlborough, New Zealand: Estate grown

Initial impressions:
Clean and fruity.

Nose:
Light lime, with grassy notes. Perhaps a touch like lime leaves.

Color:
Pale, new straw.

Alcohol content:
12.5%

Tasting notes:
The label says to expect gooseberries, passionfruit, and lime, but I only got one of those three. I taste a hint of lime, but the prominent flavor seems to be a pleasant taste of pear with just a hint of tartness. My tasting partner agreed. The tartness dissipated somewhat as the wine warmed to room temperature, leaving fuller, rounder fruit notes with apple and, yes, okay, passionfruit accents. Still no gooseberries, however! I taste no oak whatsoever.

Mouthfeel:
Light and zippy.

Impressions after being paired with food:
We didn't pair it with anything, but I bet it would be nice with goat cheese.

Price:
The wine was a gift from my oenophile father, but from web research, I'd estimate from between $10.99 to $13.99.

Would I buy it again:
Yes. It's refreshing and easy to drink on a 94 degree day like today, and it's only June in Georgia! It's a nice Sauvignon Blanc to keep on hand. Besides, it's hard to resist the cute sheep on the label.

Big brother bartending

2006-04-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

A British town has begun to demand fingerprints of pub patrons.

Voluntary, eh? Voluntary if you want a beer, I guess. I'm sure everyone is comfortable with the police having a database of how often, what and where they drink. How long until they inform your boss of how many pints you had last night? Or your health insurance provider? Hush, hush, go along quietly, this is for your own good.

Respect

2006-04-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of my new job is instant wine "cred" whereever I go. I know that it's undeserved since I'm still so new to the world of wine, but I'm reveling in it nonetheless. My last job, when explained, drew nothing but blank stares, mostly because it was one of those industries that most people don't ever really think about. When I got this job I was immesely proud, because I knew how good the place was - but I wasn't expecting this reaction from the rest of the community. It's been so fun to walk into any wine shop or tasting in the city, and have folks tell me what a great place it is to begin a wine career and then ask me to say hello to any number of the people working there. Everyone in this town knows my boss. When they found out where I worked at the last tasting I went to, the presenter dug up a good bottle of Fino sherry for me to try - but that's another post. Anyway, I feel that my career has really gotten started off on the right foot. Now it's nose to the grindstone to move it forward!

Speaking of Hugh Johnson...

2006-03-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

I'm reading his bood The Story of Wine and enjoying it immensely. One thing I didn't know: women in Mesopotamia and some other ancient cultures were very involved in the wine industry. The Code of Hammurabi even refers to wine merchants as being female.

The specific passages:

108: If a [woman wine-seller] does not accept [grain] according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water. (1)

109: If conspirators meet in the house of a [woman wine-seller], and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the [wine-seller] shall be put to death.

(Puts all this talk about modern women becoming powerful in the wine industry into some perspective, doesn't it?)

On a related note, here's an interesting site that provides a description of many types of ancient Roman wine. While I would love to taste the ancient stuff for curiosity's sake, it sounds like modern wine is far better!

Huge Johnson Found!

2006-03-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

Hehehe, I know what you're thinking. But, once upon a time there was an excellent wine blogger who went by the handle "Huge Johnson" as a play on the name of a famous wine author "Hugh Johnson" and a fun poke at the huge egos that can sometimes be found in the wine world. Anyway, one day his blog just up and disappeared, and then I got busy, etc... Only now have I found his blog again, and I'm so excited. You can now read him as "St. Vini" of The Zinquisition.

He's one of the best wine bloggers out there, so what are you doing here? You should go there!

Crushed Violets???

2006-03-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

Here I am, returning after another long spell away from this blog. This time the delay was caused by dealing with a new job - in my pursuit of work in wine, I now have a job as a bartender at a very nice restaurant with an excellent cellar and wine education program for its employees. Hooray!

Let's see, what else has happened... On one of my walks recently I picked some violets and crushed them and smelled them (all the while feeling guilt for destroying them!) Having smelled them, I can't say that I understand the smell descriptor of "crushed violets" that I read so often about wine. Which is funny, because so many other smell and flavor descriptors that as a neophyte I would never have expected in wine have been spot-on, like "mint" or "cola" or "bacon."

Alcohol as Sacrament

2006-02-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

I love this article about the followers of John Frum on Vanuatu, a group of tropical islands in the South Pacific.

From the article:

For centuries, the natives on these isolated islands were farmers and fishermen who created a culture based on polygamy, ritual dancing and the drinking of kava, a powerfully intoxicating beverage made from the roots of a plant. Around 1900, Raffaele writes, Christian missionaries, mostly Scottish Presbyterians, banned polygamy, dancing and kava drinking, which made life on the islands a lot less fun.

One night in the late 1930s, a group of dissatisfied native men gathered in secret and drank large quantities of kava, hoping to receive a message from the spirit world. And they did: An ethereal white-clad white man named John Frum appeared to them, urging that they throw away their money, stop attending Christian churches and return to their ancient ways.

I only wish the flavor of kava sounded more appealing!

Non-Vintage Champagnes

2005-12-16T04:43:00.000-08:00

This quote about non-vintage Champagnes really brought home to me what marvelous alchemy a non-vintage Champagne can be, and how radically different it is from other styles of wine:

"Why non-vintage Champagne often ends up as the Rodney Dangerfield of the wine world, never getting the respect it deserves, may be related partly to its lower price and partly to ignorance. What other quality wine is prized for broadening rather than narrowing its geographic base, for combining wines from several years, fermenting them twice, issuing them without a vintage date and, in perhaps the greatest aspect of Champagne's magic, combining both red and white grapes to form a single, balanced entity?"

The quote is from an old article, so feel free to skip the marketing notes about selling and buying Champagne at the turn of the millenium. The quote can be found about 1/4 of the way down the page where it begins to get really interesting. If you don't know much about Champagne, this is an excellent place to start.

http://www.thewinenews.com/decjan9900/cover.html

Where's Huge Johnson?

2005-12-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite wine blogs is Huge Johnson's World of Wine. Normally, when I talk about a wine blog, I link to it... but Huge's blog is gone! In its place there is another blog. I noticed this a while ago and figured it was some kind of Blogger bug, but since it has persisted for some time, I'm getting worried. What's happened to Huge?

Huge, if you're out there, I miss you!

Wine Storage Woes

2005-12-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

So, my mother went out and bought 2 cases of Champagne for my wedding. I don't know what she got, but I trust the lady at the wine shop where she got it. (I honestly don't want to be picky, and it's a lovely thought for a gift.) What we would be drinking was quickly overshadowed when Mom told me where she had put it - in the garage. Argh!

Our garage goes through massive temperature fluctuations every day. Because it is warmed by the sun during the day, but not during the night, it gets warmer than the high temperature of the day, but just as cold as the low temperature every night. It can be 70-80 degrees in there during the day and 25 degrees at night. She wants to leave it in there until May! Argh! I tried to explain to her that the wine would be much, much better off in our basement (which is temperature-controlled along with the rest of the house) but she complains that the wine is heavy and refuses to move it. I could move it inside of 5 minutes, but I'm 400 miles away, and I simply can't take the time to drive there until after the holidays.

She seems to think I'm just being a pain-in-the-ass control freak bride. I just don't want to serve our guests ruined Champagne for the wedding. I've really, really tried to be nice about planning the wedding with her, but this comes just after I put my foot down about another thing she wants to do with the wedding that I felt was totally unreasonable. Now she thinks I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining.

I'm hoping the wine can take a few weeks of the temp bouncing until I can get down there and move it. Or maybe I can convince her to move it or someone in the city to come over and help her...

Big retail and interstate shipping

2005-12-01T23:23:00.000-08:00

A good article on Costco and direct shipping.

The logic of the argument against direct shipping (as summarized in the article) boggles my mind.

"Costco says that under the court's ruling, it too should be allowed to buy directly. The state argues that the Supreme Court's ruling isn't applicable because it didn't deal with the enormous quantities at issue in the Washington case.

If Costco and other retailers are allowed to buy wine and beer from out-of-state wineries and breweries, Hankins suggested, then convenience stores would be able to order deeply discounted fortified wines and beers from shady establishments in other states. The distribution system in Washington helps track what alcohol is coming into the state, he argued."

I don't buy any of this. Not for a second. Let's see, what are the arguments here.

1. Alcohol is dangerous and needs central control - (what about the children?!)
2. Costco is different because it's big.
3. Inexpensive wine, beer and liquor are a terrible thing.
4. Those alcohol people rub me the wrong way.

There are plenty of other industries that ship legal but controlled substances between states that don't require mandatory government- approved middlemen. How exactly is it that the distributors are checking IDs? They aren't. The distributor system has nothing to do with keeping alcohol from minors.

And frankly, just because someone is selling fortified plonk doesn't mean they are "shady." Petty insults do not buttress Mr. Hankins' flimsy arguments.

Mr. Hankins insists it is the volume of wine that Costco ships that is the real problem. Still, Mr. Hankins insists it is the volume of wine that Costco ships that is the real problem. Really?

Of course, the white elephant in the room is tax collection. This is an effective angle the distributor lobby uses with state governments. Along with the arguments of MADD and various religious groups, you will see the tax collection argument spring up again and again, and it's not there as an afterthought or by mistake. (The Supreme Court didn't buy the idea that tax/policing would be impossible though.)

The funny thing is that the state governments are more likely to get the full amount of tax out of a big player like Costco than they are thousands of tiny operations, simply because Costco is big and hard to miss. Bigger operations are also going to be easier to police and track because their supply chains have to be so organized, etc. (On the flip side of the tax argument, I wonder if all the mandatory markups of the middlemen have the effect of increasing the base price of a bottle, and therefore might increase the amount of tax in some state codes?) The distributors and the states they've successfully lobbied can't go after the small operations, because the Supreme Court ruling was clearly about small wineries. Plus, it's the big retail outfits that will really hurt the distributors. They don't care a hoot about some Mom 'n Pop shipping a case or two here and there. Imagine Wal-Mart (or Sam's Club, which does sell alcohol) wading into this fight. That's the real reason that being big is different.

Non-wine blogger posts on non-cork closures

2005-12-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

The American public's awareness of cork issues and the good quality of new wine packaging styles is growing. Here is a post from Instapundit (a very well-known and high-traffic blogger - well over 100,000 hits/day!)

Instapundit also mentions Professor Bainbridge's excellent wine blog.

It's nice to see that the word about non-cork closures and single-serving packaging is getting around.

Cocoavino

2005-11-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

One of Viticulture's hedonist friends has drawn her attention to the Cocoavino website - a place where you can buy such delicacies as:

"Drunken Figs" - Chocolate-covered organic figs filled with vintage port and creamy organic dark chocolate

"Black Magic" - From Central Italy comes a love potion, a saffron-tinted spicy liqueur made from over 70 different barks and herbs and named after the witches, or strega, who first concocted it. Here buttery caramel lures fresh pumpkin with a splash of Liquore Strega and dark chocolate. In a spin and loving the spin it’s in—our dear pumpkin might never be the same again.

The treats all sound delicious, and would make for some excellent holiday gifts for your own hedonist friends.

Wine Blogging Wednesday

2005-10-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Lawson's Dry Hills - Marlborough - Pinot Noir - 2002

Here's a New World (New World in the context of wine, anyway) location that I had not heard of growing pinot noir - New Zealand. Apparently New Zealand has been getting serious about making good reds, particularly pinot noir.

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this bottle, and to be honest, I'm not too sure of my findings.

The first note: the bottle has a screw cap closure, which is unusual at this price point ($20) in the United States market, but not unusual in New Zealand, where the industry is rapidly switching to screwcaps.

(My own emotions on the screwcap issue are complex, but on the whole I'm in favor of them.)

This particular seal was damn difficult to open by hand, and so I had to use a knife to cut the perforations around the bottom of the cap. Annoying, because isn't the screw cap supposed to make getting to the good stuff a snap? I enjoy the cork-pulling ritual, but no longer needing to carry a toolkit to get to your wine is part of the point in leaving cork behind.

So, I poured. Now, the gentleman at the shop had warned me to let this wine breathe for an hour before drinking. So I had fair warning that it wasn't at its best 3 seconds after opening. Still, the smell of sulfur really frustrated me. (It wasn't a good sign, and I'd been really looking forward to this bottle.) Beyond that, the wine smelled a bit harsh or coarse, and too alcoholic. (The label says 13.5%, which sounds reasonable, but I could swear the alcohol level seems higher.) So, worried about what would happened next, I resolved to wait an hour and give the wine a fair shot.

It's very clear, and a deep ruby color. The nose: honestly, there wasn't much to smell aside from the alcohol, tannin and a just a little bit of vanilla and berries. It's indistinct, kind of muddled. Tasting, there's a lot more tannin and spice than I expect in a pinot noir (and maybe my expectations are incorrect! but if you'd told me this was a syrah, I'd believe you), and the tannin itself is, well, harsh. I like a chewy red, but this is more acrid. Even a little acrid edge I can enjoy, but this... maybe it's the sulfur I smelled at the beginning that put me off, but I think of the smoke of a match that's just been put out. Not bad entirely, but not really what I was looking for in my wine. Let me put it this way... my eyes were burning, kind of the way they do when you chop onions. I want to like this wine, and it's got its decent qualities, but it's kind of unbalanced. It has a nice syrupy medium-to-full body mouthfeel, and there are tantalizing hints of vanilla and berries in the middle of all the rough and sharp edges. The finish is spicy, earthy and very herbaceous. It's not without it's good side.

So, why is this wine the way it is? Well, I wish I knew... I have to admit the ignorance of a young wine drinker here, but I'll hazard a few gueses. Maybe the wine needs more age to soften it up? I did notice that there is a ring of very tiny bubbles around the edge of the liquid against the glass. After 3 years in the bottle, there can't be any fermentation still happening, can there? Maybe the source of the sulfur smell was some kind of yeast issue? Reading some of the good reviews of this wine, I feel expecially terrible for not liking it all that much. Maybe it just needs the right food pairing to take the edge off.

This web page mentions causes of both sulfur problems and carbonation issues. Perhaps these are some of the issues with this bottle. (Or maybe this is all in my head, and I'm just not a pinot noir fan?) Wine is so subjective, and even more so when you're inexperienced. I wish I could just pay for the bottle and then open it in the store and share it with the wonderfully knowledgeable owner. Ah, that would be a fun afternoon...

A chuckle

2005-09-27T23:47:00.000-07:00

An amusing anecdote in an old article in The Economist, about Robert Parker:

One wine merchant, asked if he can think of any other person who exercises such power over a market, pauses for a while and then says, “Alan Greenspan”.

How do wineries plan for the arc of the open bottle?

2005-09-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

We've all noted that wines change dramatically after the bottles are opened. Often they need a little time out in the air. I've noticed that every now and again I even prefer a red on the second day. On the 3rd day it's often still drinkable, though past its prime, and the 4th day it's time for the drain.

I wonder, do wineries plan for this? I suppose hitting it's peak the same night after it's out of the bottle is probably the preferred timing of such things, but I admit, the second-day peak delay is something I kind of like. I'm the only wine-drinker in this household, so there's no way the bottle gets finished in one night. I like the idea that "leftovers" can actually be better. It's something to look forward to - "I wonder what that cab has done with itself while I was gone? I'll taste it tonight and find out!" Sadly, sometimes it's a dud.

It does seem to me though that there might be a market out there for wines for sale in varying portions. Personally, I would love to see single-glass portions, perhaps in little boxes, like juice or milk. The price of single servings would mean that it would be a lot easier to try new wines, since the money risked would be a lot less. Note that this advantage would disappear if buying single-serve packages was priced similarly to glasses of wine in a restaurant. Asking 5 dollars for a glass when the bottle is 10 is going to offend people. Single servings would make wonderful sense if they were priced proportionately to the regular bottles. I bet a lot of single women (growing wine demographic!) would love this.

Edited Later to Add: Huge Johnson is way ahead of me on this single-serve packaging thing.

Seeking Wine Sages

2005-09-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

So, it's time for a career change, and I've been considering doing something related to wine. I'm not sure what yet. I've sought out advice from a successful wine shop owner, and done a bit of reading here and there, and the consensus seems to be that wine, like any career, takes knowledge and experience from as many points of view as possible. To that end, I've got to try out as many different wine-related jobs as possible over the next couple of years. Production, marketing, wholesale, retail, etc, all are points of view to understand in the business. I'm going to start by getting a job in a wine bar, and trying to get a part-time job (either paid or as a volunteer) at a local winery.

It's a bit daunting - wine, unlike a lot of other professions, really can't be learnt from a book. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good books out there! But tasting is a necessity. And to taste, and to really experience and learn about wine, you've got to travel. Since 10 dollar bottles are a stretch on the budget right now, intercontinental wine tours seem difficult to arrange. My hope is that I'll get a job that exposes me to opportunity. (And pays the bills, let's not forget that!)

Does anyone out there have advice for a fledgling wine employee?

2001 Paraiso Chardonnay

2005-08-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is another guest wine review by Katharine, aka PointedView. Many thanks to Katharine for her tasting notes!

Initial impressions:
Creamy pineapple notes balanced by vanilla (oak).

Nose:
Peach and vanilla, almost like peach cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream. My tasting partner said the same thing.

Color:
Pale honey.

Alcohol content:
13.2%

Tasting notes:
The thing I really liked about this wine was its balance. I am very tired of this new wave of California Chardonnay that's all acidity and fruit with no depth. I like a little oak with my Chardonnay. Not to the point where it's the only thing you taste, mind, but just for balance. This wine was barrel-aged for 11 months, and it had good balance between its tropical fruit and oak flavors.

Mouthfeel:
Full bodied; pleasantly rich, but not overpoweringly so, with a medium finish.

Impressions after being paired with food:
We had a lovely light summer meal of cherries, white grapes, chevre, crackers, salami, and gazpacho. In my experience, it's rare that a wine pairs well with gazpacho, but this one did, and the flavor was startlingly rich and fulfilling. It almost tasted like scotch with the gazpacho. Sometimes it's amazing how food and wine can change one another's character, and this was a dramatic transformation. Never would I have thought a Chardonnay could taste peaty and, well, scotch-like. I liked that, and I also liked the way it changed back when paired with the fruit and cheese.

Price:
$13.99 at The Fresh Market.

Would I buy it again:
Absolutely. I enjoyed this wine. It was refreshing to find a nicely balanced Chardonnay after several disappointing bottles from different producers. I don't know if the 2002 will be as tasty, but there's one way to find out.

Web site:
http://www.paraisovineyards.com/

-- Reviewed by Katharine, aka PointedView

It's been a while...

2005-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

And I miss you all!

I apologize for the long absence. A number of things caught my attention: getting engaged, planning a wedding, buying a house (we close on Monday), and changes in work scheduling.

I'm even looking for work in wine, moonlighting in retail, helping customers choose wine. It sounds like the perfect fun job to pick up a bit of extra money, get me thinking about and tasting wine frequently, and to get to know people in this area. In any case, look for lots more entries here soon!

2000 Apollonio Terragnolo Salento Primitivo

2005-05-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

This is a guest wine review by Katharine, aka PointedView. Many thanks to Katharine for her tasting notes!

Initial Impressions:

Nose: Slight mineral, earthy characteristic with a bit of dried cherry and spice.

Color: Deep, dark purple, edging into garnet.

Alcohol content: 14.50%

Tasting notes: Primitivo is believed to be an ancestor of the Zinfandel grape planted in California today, but I definitely don't taste the same jammy fruit characteristic of that grape in this wine. Perhaps it's the terroir, but the berry notes, while definitely present, and even big, seem tamed a bit: the sour cherry and currant syrupy aspect is balanced by a hint of pepper and earthy spice.

Mouthfeel: lightly tannic, medium-full body. Medium-long finish.

Impressions after being paired with room-temperature aged Manchego cheese:
The wine mellowed the sharp edge of this hard sheep's milk cheese from La Mancha, Spain and brought out the nuttiness. This wine is often considered to be a good pairing with Parmigiano-Reggiano, so I felt rewarded by the cheese-wine synthesis that happened with the slightly salty, nutty Manchego.

Price: $15.99 at The Fresh Market.

Would I buy it again? I might well do so if I were fixing a robust Pasta Puttanesca, and if I happened to find it on sale for $7 - $9. It's table wine: not much complexity at all. I can't consider it a good value at $15.99: there are much better wines on the market in this price range.

-- Reviewed by Katharine, aka PointedView (http://www.livejournal.com/users/pointedview/)

Standing Up for Sweet Wine

2005-04-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm more than a little cranky tonight. It's been a really tough day, lots of arguments at work and in social and family life as well.

So, since I'm in the proper mood, here's a little rant that needs to be gotten off my chest.

What the hell is so wrong with sweetness in wine anyway? Look, I'm not talking about selling grape juice spiked with high fructose corn syrup with a touch of alcohol dumped in, but I'm getting a little tired of the assumption that sweet means bad, that liking a sweet wine is an indication of an infantile or ignorant palate.

Okay, so I'm actually worked up about this because I got stuck with a bottle of truly awful Gewürztraminer after a horrendous day. I'm snubbing a nearly full glass of it as I'm writing this. How did this happen? Well, it's painful to admit, but it happened because I let the anti-sweetness snobbery guide my choice. So, shame on me!

Where did I absorb such notions? Well, to start, I've heard over-and-over again the disdain held for little old ladies who want to drink sweet red wine and then proceed to get completely schnockered. I heard about them in the wine-tasting rooms of the Biltmore (where apparently whole busloads of them pull up, gulping down every free taste they can get). I've heard about these same ladies in various blogs, and I've heard about them from wine merchants. I never hear about them spoken of in positive tones, that's for sure. And yes, from the sound of it, some of this behavior is pretty annoying.

Humans like sweetness. Before you can get a baby to like any other flavor, you can get them to like sweetness. Saltiness follows, and then sour, and then bitter. This is why things like beer and coffee (both have bitter components) are aquired tastes. And, if you think about it, having an educated palate means you have acquired tastes. It means you've paid enough attention to your senses that nuance, elegance, and adventure in the form of the use of a wider range of flavors appeal to you, and that you can make sense of and appreciate more types of things.

I think the problem with sweetness is this: Liking something that is sweet is a no-brainer, for most people. So, a lot of people who are not paying attention to their wine at all will like sweet and be repelled by dry or tannic wines. But, an educated palate will notice the interplay between flavors much more, and place greater importance on this interplay than on the levels of the most basic building block flavors. This is the basic theory behind all wine and food pairing, and anyone who's stumbled on a great combination (chocolate-dipped strawberries), or a terrible combination (toothpaste and orange juice), begins to understand the importance of context. And, sometimes, there are wines that simply require some level of sweetness to properly showcase their flavors.

I'm not saying that a good dry gewürztraminer can't be done. Honestly, I don't know enough about the varietal to be able to say. But I do know that the dryness is a big reason this particular specimen disappointed me so thoroughly. (Its smell of canned fruit cocktail didn't endear me to it either.) However, there were some floral notes and some honey and tangerine that a touch of sweetness would have brought out, and the wine would have gone from yucky to, well... not great, but acceptable.

And, I admit, there is a part of me that reads articles describing marketing strategies like these that assume women are, well, what I said earlier: infantile and ignorant. Of course this offends me, and I don't want to be anything like most of the women in the article. For instance, this quote: "I saw 'Sideways,' " she said. "I thought, man, I've been drinking merlot all these years. I'm an idiot!"

She doesn't like merlot because of Sideways? Good. More Pomerols for me. But I admit: loathing her so much meant that my judgement got clouded. To truly be her opposite, I should have intelligently bought good wine instead of trying to artificially cultivate a refined image.

(And, well, to be fair, I thought the joke was pretty funny, but I can't imagine avoiding merlot because of it.)

Hat tip: I found the article on Professor Bainbridge's blog.

Bickering is Dull and Uninformative

2005-04-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, to be honest, I haven't read any of David Shaw's wine columns. I have no idea of he's any good or not. I also know that he writes on more political topics, but no comment there either. This column, cherry-picking quotes from Shaw's columns, strikes me as pretty unfair though:

Wine is an expensive hobby. (But let me tell you, I'm so glad my hobby isn't flying planes! I've got a friend who's taking pilot classes, and he's spent over 6 grand in the last year. Ouch!) I can't afford what Shaw can put into his hobby, but if I could spend 60+ dollars on bottles on a regular basis, I would. And frankly, there's no shame in not being able to afford it either. Taking good care of yourself and having fun while living within your means is something that you can be proud of, no matter what your income. Also, can we get over the blogger/journalist feud already? (And this more far-reaching than just the wine blog community...) I read blogs all the time, I read papers all the time. I read them because I like information and commentary, not because I like infantile bickering about who's better. Reading the cranky scribblings of bloggers and journalists, journo-bloggers, and blogo-journalists, (all of whom I like) taking swings at each other has gotten pretty tiresome. How 'bout some substance instead?

I can't help but think the columnist is just picking on Shaw because of his own personal issues related to money and the blogger/journalist feud.

How to choose a wine shop?

2005-04-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

So I learned last week that my local wine shop is going to be sold. The owner wants to move on to doing other things, the store is profitable but he wants to do something else in life. On the one hand I understand, but on the other hand I'm just crushed because he's been a wonderful guide to me, and I just don't know where else I will go for wine. Total Wine has a huge selection, but the staff just don't know all that much about wine generally, and though it's not their fault because the selection is so huge, they don't know much about what is on the shelves either. The little wine shop was great because I could stop in, tell him my budget and what I was in the mood for, and usually get a mini-lecture about the grape, region, and method. The advantage of a place like that over a huge place is that your salesperson has tasted every single thing on the shelves. This kind of service is absolutely valuable to me, and worth paying another buck or two on the bottle because I don't buy nearly as many bottles that don't fit my tastes.

I'm also reacting to it personally too... I'm still new in the city, and the wine shop owner was really the first person that I talked to with any regularity. It's a bit sad to see the first friendly face leaving.

Anyway, all this means that now I have to shop around for a new wine shop. Maybe that will be a good thing and push me to learn more about wine opportunities in my area.