Celebrity Wines

I've never been one to go run out and buy a product just because a celebrity endorses it. I drank Gatorade and wore Nikes because they felt good not because I wanted to be like Mike.
Now a days it seems that the wine industry is attracting more star power with the likes of Drew Barrymore, Emilo Esteves (thank God Charlie isn't working there), bands such as Train, Queensryche and more buying up land or partnering with actual winemakers and or vineyards.
About 6 years ago, I read in Wine Spectator magazine that Maynard J Keenan from the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle was starting his own vineyard in of all places Arizona. Craziness, but oh so intriguing. Again I'm not much for celebrity products especially in the wine industry. But the idea that this rock star was undertaking this project in of all places Arizona caught my interest. How good could it be but above that how serious can he be. I delved into some more research. Saw a few online interviews and read a crap load of articles. How bad can the stuff be? I found an online store that sold the wines here on the east coast so I placed an order for a few bottles. Upon arrival, excitement and nerves set in. What if it completely sucks? After all this stuff was not cheap by any means at $30 to $50 a bottle. My boss who is very skeptical of anything outside of California and Italy laughed at me.
Opening the first bottle of the 2007 Caduceus Primer Paso, a blend of Syrah and Malvasia, it was like a thick piece of velvet ! Again, the boss is intrigued but doubting. Wine Spectator eventually scores it a 91. Not bad at all.
On an evening out to dinner with my boss and coworker I b g another bottle, this time the 2006 Caduceus Naga a pseudo Brunello style big red. Without telling anyone what it was, the boss takes a sip and says "What's that? Is that a Brunello?" No it's from Arizona, actually the grapes at the time are sourced from California. He was fooled!
I was hooked on the wine not because I'm the biggest Tool fan in the world but I believed what this guy was doing out there. Instead of using his star power to just market the brand, he was working the vineyard, picking and planting, bottling, racking, e .
Then the movie/documentary came out, "Blood Into Wine" where you could see what he was doing. Then the shot hit the fan and his legions of groupies wanted the wines.
I had the very fortunate opportunity to meet Eric Glomski, winemaker and Maynard's partner, and host a wine dinner in Connecticut with him. Great guy with a great philosophy and attitude in creating wine in an area not known for it. That summer I got the opportunity to attend a concert in NYC and host a back stage wine tasting for about 50 to 60 A Perfect Circle fans. To much of their dismay, I was not as big of a fan of Maynard's music. The look of horror and comments I got!! In turn I asked everyone, " would you be drinking and buyin this wine if it wasn't his? No! So I'm the reverse of you all. I enjoy and respect what he is doing out in Arizona with creating an entire industry and economy based around wine and I like his music." I earn some respect and understanding. Maynard comes out with inconspicuously and everyone is silent and start struck. I have to admit I was as well.
I stand behind the wines because yes the wines are good despite what a lot of critics and wine snobs say. I believe in what Maynard is trying to accomplish out there and respect his opinions and direction. I wasn't here when the first vines were planted in California, but I feel like I'm witnessing the beginning of another region on the cusp of being a recognized wine producing area...and the wines are damn good if you can get them.

Revisiting A 2001 Priorat

Every Saturday this year, I walk around my store and find the most obscure old bottle I can to pop open for sample. It's a good chance to see how the wine has progressed or declined since I initially bought it. Tonight's pick was a 2001 wine from the Priorat region of Spain known for their Rhone style like red blends. Something this old you know is going to throw some sediment so it's a great idea to stand it up gently to let it settle.
Once I uncork this beauty and get it into a glass, the alcohol is still dominant on the nose, but that soon dissipates over the next 10 minutes to bring out this very floral bouquet of a field of lavender. Upon first sip you get a lot of earthy mushroom, mid palate is that jammy fruit and then the spicy finish follows. Those flavors change drastically over the next 2 hours with each pour. At one point the nose changed into something that resembled a reduction sauce of high grade Balsamic from Modena.
Color was that dark crimson red but when you held the glass at an angle and up to the light you could see that faint brown edge. This was 80% Carinena & 20% Garnacha. Still showing great for 12 years old but it's time is inevitably coming to a close. I would definitely grab a bottle of this for the next dinner party and wow your guests...they'll think you pulled this outta your cellar for the occasion. More importantly you all can see how the flavor profile changes over the course of the meal. At $50-$60 a bottle it's definitely not an everyday wine to be opening. Parker rated it 95 points if that helps make the decision for you. I'm a huge fan of wines from Priorat for their similarities to French Rhone blends. Usually bottles range from good at $20 to spectacular at $75-$100.

Domaine La Fage 2011 Novellum Chard

In the beginning of my wine education, I never had the liking for domestic Chardonnay. Too oaky, no character, no depth. It took some time for me to venture into white Burgundy territory and taste what real Chardonnay is before it gets juiced up on Red Bull and spray tanned. Following the lead of a friend who was more affluent in French wine than I, we drank through several different bottles. You can't begin to understand the concept of terrior until you sip and savor several wines from Europe particularly France and Germany. Having a someone direct you through the maze of wines from France helps tremendously. Pure terrior driven, flavor filled Chardonnay is something to try especially when trying several from different regions of France to see how the soil and climate influence what's in the glass. As with most whites, do not drink them ice cold as you will not taste any of the nuances intended. When I conduct my Wine 101 class, I always throw out French Chard as my first wine every student tries.

"How many people like Chardonnay?" I ask and usually only a handful raise their hands.

"what do you think this is?"

Generally people guess Pinot Grigio or Sauv Blanc. When I unveil that the wine in question is in fact Chardonnay everyone's mouths drop.

French Chards, for me, have layers of minerality, body, crisp acidity, green apple and/or peach notes and that flavor just keeps developing as the bottle gets lower in volume.

So, a few weeks ago I had to track down a bottle of French white for a customer's gift giving basket. The criteria was French, white, under $15, over 90 points, no Muscadet or Vouvrey or Alsace. Ok?? This is what I found, the Domaine La Fage 2011 Novellum Chardonnay. I knew it would be great, why? Again with the wine clues, the importer was Eric Solomon of European imports.

Here's The Wine Advocate's review...

"The outstanding 2011 Novellum competes with some of the finest Macon-Villages wines one can find. It is made from 100% Chardonnay (from 25- to 30-year-old vines), aged three months in a combination of Burgundy barrels (30%) and stainless steel tanks (70%), and, somewhat innovatively, is aged on Viognier lees which gives it a honeysuckle and white peach-scented nose. There is also a salty sea breeze character reminiscent of the crushed oyster shell-like note my colleague David Schildknect often detects in Loire Valley whites. This crisp, fresh, medium-bodied Cotes Catalanes exhibits lots of earthy/terroir characteristics. Readers should think of it as a brisk, zesty, authoritatively flavored Chardonnay from the cool, alluvial soils on the banks of the Aigly River"-WA 7/12

Stainless steel gives that clean zip for me at least while aging it on the Viognier Lees intrigued me. Mrs. Wine Snob and I opened the bottle last night over a thrilling game of Temple Run our son received from Santa. Fresh from my pseudo wine cellar (my basement) the bottle was a little chilly, so we popped it into the fridge for another 10 minutes. Once opened and then into glasses the magic starts to unwind. The color is a slight golden and when you swirl it into the glass you can see a little viscosity on the edge. The nose comes off with that green apple and ocean air. On the palate, the acidity opens your taste buds to the green apple and minerality I like to refer to as "licking a wet stone". The wine does have body and because of aging it on the lees, you pick up a little of that honey suckle of Viognier. The finish is long and lasting. A tremendous value at $12 by leaps and bounds. If you can find another retailer that has this then buy it by the case! We were both in heaven with the quality. Even though I work in the wine biz, my wife is the one who turns into the wine snob/critic when I open bottles. Funny how that works, but it works.

I wish more consumers would get off their high horse and at least try more French Chardonnay. I'm not saying abandon all domestic Chards, I'm just saying expand your palate and see what else there is to offer! How boring a wine world it would be to ONLY drink Kendall Jackson and J. Lohr all the damn time.

Out on the Town, New Haven

I don't get out much. Job and family will do that to you. But when Mrs. Wine Snob and I hit the town for our date night we live it up. On a recent Sunday afternoon we attended a show at the Shubert Theater. My gift from the wife, tickets to the Rat Pack Christmas Show, turned out to be a lovely evening. After the show we decided to use a couple of gift certificates from Xmas 2011 to Barcelona. I got this love hate thing going on with Barcelona. First time I went there the food and wine were delicious. The next time I went was for a distributor sponsored wine tasting and I was less than impresses with the spread they put out. Understandably that it's not a fair judgment all considering that it's just a trade tasting for us retail and restaurant people. My next visit with the group was a late Friday night after work for a drink with some friends. Did you see the clues there? Late, Friday, night...needless to say as I was walking down Temple St and I was happened to be the recipient of a 9 volt battery to the head by some Jersey Shore wanna be doing a drive by yelling profanity out the car window. Stay clear on college nights. Nothing of any fault of the restaurant's. It's either New Haven has changed since the last time I went out or I'm getting too damn old. Steer clear of Friday and Saturday nights when school is back in session.

Ok, let's put it all behind us. Sundays at Barcelona are half price bottle nights. Score! Sundays around 5PM in December are also a great time because with Yale gone for the semester, New Haven is a ghost town. We sit at a corner high top and order several tapas while I look over the extensive wine list. It's a novel. Barcelona's wine director, Gretchen, is sharp when it comes to wines from the Iberian peninsula. My feelings anytime I see a wine list at any restaurant that is the equivalent of the the entire Lord of the Rings series is that it's just too damn much. Kudos if they turn over that much variety but Damn!! that's a lot of inventory tied up especially with such esoteric varietals and regions. You really have to know your wines, but again this is where the staff and Gretchen's tutelage comes in. The staff is heavily quizzed on what is what when it comes to wine and also pairing those wines with food. Ask your server since they have tasted everything on that menu. 

After much deliberation I selected a Txakolina (sp) which is a very esoteric white wine from the Basque region located between France and Spain. The taste is something like Portuguese Vinho Verde and Spanish Albarino, light, a little acidity, minerality and crisp green apple. The waitress even gets a kick outta pouring the wine. The wine goes really well with the plate of hummus and warm pita chips, but not too tasty with anything else which is fine because I'm more thrilled to be drinking the wine on it's own. As we move onto the entrees I order another bottle, but this time I go for a Mencia from the Bierzo region. One of the up and coming regions turning out top quality highly rated red wines that over deliver for under $20. The taste is something of a cross between Washington State Merlot and Loire Valley Cab Franc. The wine is delicious as is the smoked duck breast I order. The pairing this time is a home run. My wife's Filet Mignon also nails the wine pairing. We top it all off with dessert and cappuccino. 

 The waitress we had that particular evening was one of the absolute best I've ever had at restaurants more exclusive than Ibiza. Again it's a testament to the training and wine knowledge passed down from management. As it was now 6:30-ish and the restaurant began to fill up with young hipsters, it was time for the old folks to get back home. 

Definitely without a doubt this place deserves your undivided attention. Go to Costco and purchase $100 gift cards for only $79.99 and order a half price bottle of wine. If you are in doubt about what to eat or drink ask ask ask! Tapas are good but in comparison to say Ibiza Tapas in Hamden, Barcelona's are just ok. Ignacio Blanco is a hard act to follow, but food like art or wine can be interpreted many different ways. Entrees are well worth the $20+ price tag as I had to be fork lifted outta there. I will tell tales of this terrific culinary date night for years to come!

Point System Shennanigans

I've spoke about the wine rating system or famously called the "Parker Point Scale" in previous post. I'm not a paid wine critic, so this is just opinion but the recent wave of wines scoring 90+ points that I've been sampling have been utter crap to put it bluntly. The descriptions that are laid out for the masses are so twisted and misconstrued as if meant as fodder for mindless sheep looking for something other than sweet reds or Moscato. Even when sampling the wines to customers, they first read the description and say "no, I don't like full bodied reds as the description says...oh wait this isn't full at all!" like I've said before, you can interpret a wine in many ways as your taste buds are subjective to what you like and what you can relate the sensory workout to. But c'mon some of these recent scores and description are so way off that they are basically pissing on us without having the courtesy to call it rain. Do they think we are all mindless zombies shopping in a post apocalyptic wine store? Sorry, just an epic fail! I drank a 92 point Garnacha last night that cost $8 expecting more than what I got. It baffles me. To each there own. Find an in store wine person that you trust to navigate you towards something good. If they say "Well it's rated 90+ points by blah blah from the Wine blah blah" then veer off the road. Ask them what they've been drinking lately as I'm sure it's something off the beaten path and very interesting. I can't stress enough to form your own opinions about what you taste. You don't have to agree with the critic or reviewer. Going back to that 92 point Garnacha... Honig 2007 Cab scored 92 points and was delicious. How do you compare the two? It's apples and oranges to put those two in the same category or even against other Garnacha scoring more or less! Shenanigans!

Breaking Down Rioja

Here's a quick lesson in wines from Rioja...
Rioja is not the grape, but rather the wine taking it's name from the region of La Rioja, Spain. Rioja is further subdivided into three zones: Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa.
Wines from Rioja are a blend of several different grapes. A typical blend will consist of approximately 60% Tempranillo and up to 20% Garnacha, with much smaller proportions of Mazuelo and Graciano. Each grape adds a unique component to the wine with Tempranillo contributing the main flavors and aging potential to the wine; Garnacha adding body and alcohol; Mazuelo adding seasoning flavors and Graciano adding additional aromas.
Rioja red wines are classified into four categories. The first, simply labeled "Rioja", is the youngest, spending less than a year in an oak. A "Crianza" is wine aged for at least two years, at least one of which was in oak. "Rioja Reserva" is aged for at least three years, of which at least one year is in oak. Finally, "Rioja Gran Reserva" wines have been aged at least two years in oak and three years in bottle. Reserva and Gran Reserva wines are not necessarily produced each year.
Got all that? Now get out there and sample!

Wine Words & the 5 S's

This is where the intimidation starts, but remember they're just words! Throw that dictionary out the window!

When you're in a room full of wine drinkers, inevitably you will hear the "one-upper" say something along the lines that the wine has tremendous structure, elegant nose or showing excellent potential. Maybe you'll see someone holding the glass of wine up to the light to check out the legs and color or making funny "sucky fish" faces as they take a swig. All of this nonsense does have a purpose, BUT if one goes to tremendous lengths to over exaggerate each motion and comment then it's all done for show. All of the adjectives that they use are just words. To each their own. Use what you know to express what you are tasting, seeing and smelling. There are no wrong answers. I can remember one person telling me that a Chardonnay we were tasting reminded her of drinking out of a garden hose in the middle of summer. Does that ring a bell with anyone? It's definitely more understandable across a large group of people rather than talking about the minerality and clay soil composition, right?

When we taste wine, we go through a series of 5 steps. This isn't an exercise routine...well in essence it is when it comes to fine tuning your senses, but it shouldn't be a spectacle for everyone to be witness to. Simple..in, out, done...no more than 10 seconds. Use words you can relate to and understand.

1. SEE...literally look at the wine in the glass. Is it red, gold, yellow, pink, purple? What shade of color are you seeing? Is it cloudy, dark? To a greater length you can also see how old the wine is. Red wines will have a brown edge to them. White wines will be more golden, like apple juice, in color. Hold the wine up to the light or against a white background.
2. SWIRL...this takes some practice. DO NOT WEAR WHITE! Seriously, if you're not used to swirling your wine in the glass you'll end up wearing it. Start with the base of the glass on a flat surface holding it by the stem and give it a little swirl. What you're doing is getting the air in and allowing the wine to wake up and breathe, aerate and give off it's aroma or nose. Think about if you were stuffed inside a bottle for years, you would need a good shaking to wake up too. Also, look at the wine while it's spinning. Does it look watery, does it have viscosity? This will give you some hints before you actually get it in your gullet.
3. SNIFF...get your nose in the glass. Take in the aroma of the wine. Yes it does smell like alcohol, but train yourself to get past that. Fruit, flower smells are easy. Reds usually lean towards berry fruit, chocolate, earthy/dirty (I'll explain later), oak. Whites go towards citrus, butter, oak, herbal, etc. Remember, it's what you are smelling. I opened a red once and it smelled like movie theater buttered popcorn. Hey it's my nose!
4. SIP...the best part! Don't gulp or shoot it. Put a small amount in your mouth and swish it around. Not like mouthwash, but gently ease it around the interior of your mouth coating your tongue all over. You'll now taste what you thought you were smelling. How much body does the wine have? Is it watery or light? Is it big, bold and dry or light, fruity, sweet? Also, while sipping the wine suck in a little air which will bring out more of the flavors in the wine. This is the "sucky fish" face my wife loving makes fun of when I do it.
5. SAVOR...slowly swallow the wine and savor the flavors as the ride comes to an end. What do you taste after the wine is gone? Does that taste stay to hang around? That's the finish and the length of the finish. When someone says that the wine has a long finish this is what we are talking about.

Now put all of that together and you are tasting wine like a pro! Remember it's what you see, smell and taste. You can use all of the BIG words you want, but if no one understands you or no one can relate to what you are saying then it's a wash. So I say keep it simple, understandable and relative. My colleagues and peers would think otherwise, but being too technical brings us back to the snobbery. If it taste like grape juice then so be it.

The more you really take the time to think about all the flavors and smells the more things will come to mind. One wine critic uses the best adjectives when he rates a wine. "This tastes like Trix cereal on a Saturday morning." I love that he's not afraid to tell people what comes to his mind first. Be confident, this is not the SAT's. There is no right or wrong answer. If you taste something like the fruit juice left over from eating a fruit cocktail snack pack then say it with confidence! "This red wine tastes like mocha covered cherries dammit!"

You'll be surprised at how many people agree with you. 9 times out of 10, people are just afraid to say anything for fear of being ridiculed. But c'mon we're all adults. It's wine and it should be fun to share ideas and understand what everyone else is thinking. After all, it is an experience to drink a great wine and remember what you tasted with a group of good friends. class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;">