Archive for December 2010

Home Archive for December 2010

Many years ago I was reading a book by an Englishman who had been a very successful wine merchant turned novelist, and he had one of his characters insist that the only way to drink champagne was ice-cold and out of a chilled pewter tankard. I must admit that the idea immediately intrigued me. I realized the problems with this – the champagne would have to be imbibed fairly quickly, before the bubbles dispersed and it went flat. Now, I would never in good conscience suggest guzzling champagne, but I have to admit I tried it and for a few years it became my chosen method for drinking sparkly.

The other problem for some would be the pewter. Once upon a time the lead in pewter could and often did cause anything from gout to lead-poisoning, but there is no longer any lead in pewter these days. No, the problem for some would be any flavors imparted by the pewter. Personally I found this negligible, but the alternative of course would be to use glass tankards.

Years later, after almost forgetting my little tankard foible, I happened to be staying at The White Hart, a hotel in Devonshire, England. It was a very old hotel, parts of which dated back to the fifteenth century, and had an adjoining pub. I went in to the pub for lunch and guess what they were serving? Champagne in pewter tankards! The difference was that they served it in half pint tankards rather than the imperial pint ones I had once used. This worked well – you didn’t have to drink quite so quickly - and of course if you were in the mood for more you could simply order another half pint.

Now, I’m not saying this is how you should always drink champagne, but I am saying that there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with these things. Try it, even if it’s just as a conversation piece, the next time you have some friends over. And if the idea of using champagne this way seems something of a sacrilege to you, remember there are many excellent and fine cavas, proseccos, spumantes, and sparkling wines available at your local ABC Fine Wine and Spirits.

So let me raise my tankard to you and wish you all a very Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year! Cheers!

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Coast

Visiting with a friend of mine at a Christmas party last week, we got to talking about some good wines and the friends we enjoyed them with over the past twelve months. As I was driving around town yesterday and started thinking about the places and people that were a part of my wine experiences this past year, the first thing that came to mind was how fortunate I am to have such a great group of friends and co-workers that share my love of food and wine. I was invited to a few memorable wine dinners and traveled to a number of beautiful wine regions for work, though it didn’t always feel like work.

I had dinner with a couple of dear friends, Vince & Holly, in March. Anytime we get together it is always fun and the wines we enjoyed this year with the roast tenderloin were very good: wines like the 1989 La Mission Haut Brion and ’89 Lynch-Bages. Vince has always been of the mind that great wine is meant to drink and share with his friends and has always been extremely generous.

I had an opportunity to travel with Bill Stobbs, a contributor to this blog, and a few others to Tuscany in the spring and visited the properties owned by Bruna Baroncini, a very fascinating woman who is producing some incredible Rosso, Brunello and Reserva wines from her Poggio Castellare property in Tuscany. While there, we had a chance to do something one morning in the tasting room at Castellare that doesn’t happen too often: we were able to taste through the last six vintages of Bruna’s Reserva, 2004 through 2009, with the winemaker. To see the difference each year made on the character of the wine was a real treat. After that we sat outside in a courtyard under a linen canopy and had a lunch of Italian meats, cheeses, olives, wonderful tomatoes, and bread that you dream about, all washed down with delicious Tuscan Rose. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing and we were surrounded by the sights and sounds of Tuscany. A great lunch!

These were a couple of the terrific wine and food experiences for 2010 and hope to have some more in 2011. If you have any to share, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

I love this time of year. Our stores are full of shoppers looking for help with their wine selection and I am always eager to help them make a good selection. This is not always easy as many of our holiday guests visit us only once a year and are not really sure what they are looking for.

Last week I had a sweet older Italian woman ask me where the "Italian Champagne" was located. Technically there is no such thing as "Italian Champagne," so I knew this would take a bit of probing to get her what she wanted. After a short question and answer session she was soon on her way with what she came for.

When most people think of Italian wine they generally don't think of sparkling wine...but they should. Italy produces more different kinds of sparkling wines than any other country in the world. In fact, Italy has been crafting sparkling wines since Roman times, long before Dom Perignon was making Champagne in France. From light, off dry Proseccos to the classic Franciacortas, Italian sparking wines are varied, tasty and quite often affordable.

Prosecco

This light sparkler, from the Veneto region in northern Italy has exploded in popularity recently. It is light and refreshing with hints of melons, pears and almonds. Prosecco is made from a grape of the same name and is excellent paired with Florida's seafood.

Asti

Asti (no longer called Asti Spumante) is both the name of a town in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and the sparkling wine. Asti is light and slightly sweet with a lovely peachy quality, made from 100 percent moscato grapes. It has a high acidity which helps to balance out its sweetness. Asti is ideal paired with Gorgonzola cheese and by itself as an apperitivo.

Moscato D' Asti

Moscato D' Asti, too, is made from Moscato grapes. It has fewer bubbles than its Asti cousin. This wine is light and crisp and relatively low in alcohol, about five to seven percent. Drink Moscato D' Asti with traditional Italian biscotti.

Bracchetto

Bracchetto is a ruby red sparkling wine made from the Bracchetto grape. The wine is festive and light with hints of strawberry and cherry. It is excellent when paired with fruit and cheese.

Italian sparking wines are generally less expensive than their French and California counterparts. They are perfect for holiday toasting and have a crisp inviting character all their own. So come in and let us help you find that perfect, "Italian Champagne."

--Paul Quaglini, Wine Supervisor, SE Florida

I’ll admit it up front – the joys of the holiday season and my British background still brings out the Dickensian in me at this time of year. Corny as it may sound, I love the atmosphere, the traditions, the music, the food, and the wines that associate themselves with Christmastime. In my mind I put aside the stress and crass commercialism that so often overtakes the season and imagine I’m enjoying a steaming bowl of punch with Mr. Pickwick in a snowy 1830’s London inn.

So - anyone for Posset? Posset is a very olde worlde hot drink, a kind of early version of eggnog, made of milk curdled with wine or ale and then spiced. It can be traced back to the 15^th century, and may derive from an earlier similar concoction called Caudle.

Shakespeare mentions it a number of times in his plays. From The Merry Wives of Windsor we have: “Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset tonight at my house”.

There are hundreds of varying recipes for Posset. Here’s one called My Lord of Carlisle’s Sack-Posset from 1671 ---

“Take a pottle of Cream, and boil in it a little whole Cinnamon, and three or four flakes of Mace. To this proportion of Cream put in eighteen yolks of eggs, and eight of the whites; a pint of Sack. Put in three quarters of a pound of sugar into the Wine and Eggs, with a nutmeg grated, and a little beaten Cinnamon; set the Bason on the fire with the Wine and Eggs, and let it be hot. Then put in the Cream boiling from the fire, pour it on high, but stir it not; cover it with a dish, and when it is settlede, strew on the top a little fine Sugar mingled with three grains of Ambergreece, and one grain of Musk, and serve it up.”

Sounds pretty rich and very sweet to me! It should be mentioned that Sack is an antiquated wine term for a white fortified wine, originally somewhat sweet, from Spain or the Canary Islands. Later it became synonymous with dry sherry. Of course this recipe would be only enjoyed by people with money. The poorer people made their posset from ale instead of wine, and thickened it with bread.

A well-made posset has three layers. The uppermost (known as ‘the grace’) is an aerated foam. The middle layer is a smooth, spicy custard to be eaten with a spoon. And the bottom layer is a pungent alcoholic liquid traditionally drunk through a straw-like spout in the posset pot.

As well as being a warming winter drink, posset was also said to be a remedy for colds, sleeplessness, and minor ailments.

I was going to write about another holiday drink, but that will have to wait until my next blog on December 31^st. In the meantime let me raise my posset pot and wish you ---

A joyful, safe, and loving Holiday season to one and all! Cheers!

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Coast

Another good choice for a holiday wine gift can be one of the many sweeter styled dessert wines. One of the first wines that come to mind are the Eisweins (Ice wines) from Germany, Austria and Canada. These wonderfully sweet, rich wines are produced from grapes that are naturally frozen on the vine and then pressed before they thaw, not as easy as it sounds. The frozen little balls are pressed into delicious juice that is extraordinarily sweet, with great balance because of the natural acidity. The sugar level of these wines is approximately 26 to 30 percent sugar by weight. The wine can also be extremely long-lived due to the presence of this acidity. Germany may be the most famous producer of these lovely wines, but Canada is now the largest maker of Eisweins in the world. At your favorite wine shop you may also see wines called Vin de Glacier; these are wines from frozen grapes, but cannot be classified as an Icewine, because the grapes are frozen in freezers, not naturally frozen on the vine.

The Bordeaux region in France also produces one of the great sweet wines of the world, Sauternes. Produced in the Graves region of Bordeaux, this wine is comprised primarily from the Semillon grape, but also includes Sauvignon Blanc and some Muscadelle. What makes this wine so special is a naturally occurring mold called Botrytis cinerea, a.k.a. the “noble rot”…which doesn’t sound so appetizing, but believe me, these are some of the finest wines in the world. This mold makes the fruit shrivel, leaving nothing but drops of extremely sweet, concentrated and very delicious juice. These vineyards are sometimes harvested many times, picking only the grapes that are at just the ripeness and “mold” level to produce the best wine. The finest producer of the wines of Sauternes is Chateau d’Yquem, officially classified as Premier Grand Cru. A couple of years ago a few of us visiting Bordeaux took a wrong turn on an access road and found ourselves being escorted off the property by a security car. Seems we took a turn into the vineyards of Ch. d’Yquem…oops. Some other notable and much less expensive Sauternes include Chateau Rieussec, Climens, Guiraud and Lafaurie-Peyraguey. At some time in your life, please treat yourself to a bottle of one of these unbelievable wines.

You will find other great dessert style wines from around the world such as Vin Santo from Italy, Tokaji Aszu from Hungary and Muscat wines from Australia, France and California, to name a few. These are all great gifts, but you can always have a few bottles at your house to enjoy any time the occasion arises.

Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

For the record, harvest 2010 is now officially in the books. By now, the perennial holdouts for the title of last grape picked (a.k.a. dessert wines) have already been carefully secured, even in the most obscure appellations. It’s a safe bet that in the Niagara Peninsula for example, the very last row of grapes destined for Canadian Ice Wine (or German Eiswein from the Mosel for that matter) are picked, crushed, and fermented. It’s now left to the talents of the winemakers to make the most out of what Mother Nature has provided.

At this juncture, it would be premature to proclaim victory or admit defeat in any winery’s case. Even in tough vintages individual producers can excel. Nonetheless, certain generalizations regarding the outlook for this vintage can be made.

And so here’s the scoop on Portugal and Spain in 2010. The initial assessment of the vintage as a whole is that it may be very good for both.

Portugal’s most famous DOC, the Douro, overcame a damp winter deluge courtesy of a very hot and dry summer. The winter rain was actually beneficial as it came on the heels of a three-year drought. Going into 2010, the grape vines were unduly stressed and the above average rainfall allowed them to reset. July and August was completely devoid of precipitation. This was followed by a mild albeit occasionally moist September and the few lingering showers delayed part of the harvest. The area’s top grape, Touriga Nacional, did particularly well and produced musts with very good sugar levels, colors and aromas. The early prediction in the Porto DOC is that this may not be a declared vintage port year but may be good enough to produce some excellent Single Quinta ports. Only time will tell.

In the top appellations of Spain, all concerned are equally pleased with the results of their harvests. Northern Spain had a wet and cold winter, but warm summer days combined with cool nights to positive results. Preliminary reports indicate prospective wines with balance and ripeness. It appears that quality of the Tempranillo picked in Rioja and Ribera del Duero was high with the berries featuring fresh acidities. The only bad news was that the harvest was small; a result of spring rains during flowering reducing grape yields. The white wine regions of Rueda and Rias Baixas also seemed to fair well. Here too ripe, clean and healthy grapes were picked under optimal conditions.

We won’t know precisely how good the wines of 2010 will be in Iberia for several months but the buzz right now is noteworthy. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated.

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida

The enjoyment of wine sometimes involves a number of little rituals which to the outsider can seem a little pompous and even downright strange! We have the ritual of sniffing and inspecting the cork after opening the bottle. We have the weird cabbalistic symbolism of passing the port decanter to the left – well, actually the host pours the port to the person on the right, then pours his own, then passes the decanter to the person to the left; the decanter must then go around the table, each person pouring his own, and must never come to rest on the table until it returns to the host. (I don’t think anybody really knows the full reason behind this one!)

We have corkscrews and wine keys, some resembling antique torture devices, for every possible occasion. Not to mention decanting devices that come right out of Rube Goldberg!

We have wine glasses for every style of wine. Glasses for reds and glasses for whites, glasses for just about any wine region or grape variety you can mention.

Fashion statements, I suppose, can become rituals, too. Note the wine charms that were so popular at wine parties a few years ago. And now I’m beginning to see wine koozies – Woozies I believe they’re called – that cover your glass much like a koozie covers your bottle of beer. (I think I’d better reserve my judgment on these and just say if you want to have fun with them – go ahead and enjoy! – there are worse things you could be doing.)

As far as I’m concerned, I can and sometimes do involve myself in these little rituals if the situation demands. But at home I prefer to keep everything as simple as possible. I use a simple ‘waiter’s friend’ wine key. I use only either Bordeaux or Burgundy glasses for all still wines, plus champagne flutes and, because I love sherry, sherry copitas. That’s all. Nice and simple, no?

But I do have one wine ritual which I recommend to anyone who loves wine. It originated in Italy, I believe, but you see it more and more in the wine world at large. It’s called preparing (or seasoning, or sometimes priming) the glass. This simply means that you pour a little wine in your glass, swirl it around to coat the inside, then pour from that glass to the next and swirl, and so on down the line. At the last glass you pour that dash of wine out, and then fill the glasses with a normal serving. Now you’ve prepared the glass for the wine – it’s a baptism of sorts! – but also removes any extraneous cupboard or soap odors from the glass, and I swear it helps bring out the aromas of the wine.

With the holidays coming up, I’ll mention one other ritual I have. For special occasions when I’m pouring really great wines I keep a silver or gold oil-based pen handy. When the bottle is finished I note the date and the occasion on the bottle and have everyone there sign it and make comments if they want to. Then it goes up on a top shelf with the other memorable bottles from parties past.

So what’s your ritual?

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Florida

As we work our way toward the end of another year, the traditional surge in sparkling wine sales has begun. This time of year the sale of any and all wines with bubbles exponentially increases with each passing day leading up to New Year’s day. As I spend more time in the stores and have much more interaction with our guests I see that not much has changed when you are approached and asked where is your “Champagne” section? This usually leads to a game of 20 questions to try to figure out if they are asking for true French Champagne or one of the many sparkling wines produced throughout the world. The word Champagne has become synonymous with any wine that contains bubbles much as all tissues are called Kleenex and pain tablets Aspirin. So, narrowing down just exactly which sparkler they prefer can sometimes take some tact and patience. I usually use brand names to help figure out what they are hoping to find. By asking if they are looking for Haton, Moet, Clicquot or maybe something from Korbel , Cooks or Martini & Rossi it helps to avoid any possible embarrassing moment or I would rather direct them to the lesser priced sparkling section and have them either say thank you or I was hoping for a fine French Champagne. Better to have them shop-up than to look a little embarrassed to ask for the Andre instead of the Bollinger. I have heard an employee, when asked where the Champagne section is located, ask the guest “do you want the good, French Champagne section or the cheaper California kind”. Helpful yes…tactful no.

This a really good opportunity to introduce people to some of the terrific sparkling wines from around the world. Something on the drier side like a Cava from Spain, one of the delicious sparklers from Italy such as the Extra-Dry Prosecco from Collalto, a beautifully balanced sparkling wine from the Limoux region of France along with all of the choices we have here in California i.e. Gloria Ferrer, Scharffenberger, Schramsberg and the reliable Korbel.

For you who like your bubbles a little on the sweet side you can try a Moscato d’Asti from Northern Italy like the ones from Ca D’Gal or Umberto. These wines are Frizzante which is the Italian way of saying effervescent. Italy also makes a Brachetto d’Acqui that is a fizzy red wine with flavors of raspberry, strawberries and other red fruits. Anyway you like it, dry or sweet, this is the traditional season, ‘though anytime is a good time for giving and drinking bubbly wines. So, go visit your local Wine Guru and have him show you around the “Champagne” section.

--Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

Like many people, I enjoy trivia. I enjoy searching for little known and unusual factoids that are completely irrelevant to just about any occasion and absolutely never come up in the course of general conversation. Are you the same? Well, here’s some of the wine trivia I’ve come across recently ---

The first American Viticultural Area (or AVA, which is an officially designated American fine wine area similar to an appellation in France), approved in 1980, was Augusta, Missouri – of all places! The largest AVA is the Texas Hill Country which, at over 15,000 square miles, is larger than both Vermont and Massachusetts.

The wines from Sainte Genevieve, which we sell here at ABC, come from the largest winery in Texas, and are jointly owned by the French wine company Domaines Cordier and the University of Texas. They are named after a fifth-century French nun who became the patron saint of Paris.

A hybrid is created by hybridizing one or more American vine species with the European vinifera vine (e.g. the American-French Seyval Blanc; or Vidal Blanc). A cross is created by breeding two varieties from the same species of vine (e.g. Pinotage = Pinot Noir + Cinsaut; or Scheurebe = Silvaner + Riesling).

While most California methode champenoise sparkling wine producers use Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and occasionally Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc for their wines, Korbel uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc, and French Colombard. In 1970 Chenin Blanc was the most popular white wine made in California.

The first known wine review was written by the Roman Pliny the Elder, who rated the vintage of 121 B.C. as “of the highest excellence.”

The first vineyard in Florida was established in 1562 in Jacksonville. The wine produced was made from the Scuppernong grape. Scuppernong was also used in what was probably the first branded wine in the U.S.A. It was introduced in about 1835 and was called ‘Virginia Dare’, after the first child of English parents to be born in America. The oldest still existing winery in America is the Brotherhood Winery in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. It was founded in 1839 as Blooming Cove and produced sacramental wines. The winery was bought out in 1885 by a former member of a disbanded commune called The Brotherhood of New Life, and named the Brotherhood Winery.

The wine business in California (with a $52 billion dollar economic impact) is bigger than the Hollywood film industry (a mere $30 billion).

The average price for an acre of unplanted vineyard in Napa Valley is $200,000. (In 1970 the price was $5,000.) It will take another $20,000 an acre to plant, with no return for three to five years.

In 2009 more than 20 million people visited the California wine areas, which makes them California’s second most popular tourist destination (after Disneyland).

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Florida

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Brew Hops & Wine Stops

A Happy New Year and a Tankard of Champagne!

Champagne for New Year's: Veuve Clicquot

2010 highlights

Sparkling Wines of Italy

My Number 1 for 2010

Another new wine to try!

Anyone For Posset? And Other Holiday Treats….

Champagne Perrier-Jouet

Sweeter can be better…

Adventures in Paris

2010 Harvest: Portugal and Spain

Big reds and bubbles: wine for the holidays part II

"Trulli" yours, Marie...

Wine rituals

Dubois Nuits St. Georges

Tiny bubbles…

Prosecco for your party

Odds and Ends

Big reds and bubbles...and other holiday traditions Part I

Wine Temperatures

Wine trivia

Exploring Burgundy: Lequin-Colin