1968 Rioja
1968 Valoria, Rioja, Spain.
Picked up a couple of these bottles from an online merchant out of California. They were roughly $80-$100 or so each.
Upon opening, I noticed the cork was I’m really great shape which made think that this wine could have been recorked at some point. Wineries sometimes do this when their wines tend to live longer than their corks.
My first whiff of the the wine didn’t reveal very much. It took a while nut the wine did open up to showcase some very typical, old school Rioja characteristics: smoke, leather, some red fruits and a mild floral element.
The wine tasted unbeleivabley fresh. Way more so than I ever could have expected. It was soft and well rounded out from all of the bottle time. Most of the flavors carried over from the nose. There was a good amount of acid left in the wine which leads me to believe the wine still has a fee years left ahead of it still. I look forward to the next bottle and to trying different vintages from this house.
2003 Tardieu Laurent, Cornas, vielle vignes
I was eating dinner at the “L”, shaped bar of a restaurant in eastern Washington. Sitting next to a funny Frenchman and a curly haired fella named Bob who’s last name was also a first name. My plan was simple: food, a glass of wine and maybe some banter at the bar. I ended having a much better experience than expected.
The Frenchman had a bottle sitting in front of him. He had just poured some for Bob and they were discussing it. I eavesdropped with intent and curiousity. After a while I couldn’t take it anymore. “What are you drinking?”, I asked.
“This is Cornas!”, exclaimed the Frenchman. “Do you know Cornas?”
I did know a bit about the region located in the Northern Rhone appelation of eastern France. However, I didn’t know what I was in for.
So, I swirled and swirled and finally took my first whiff. POW!!!!! Punched in the face with smoke, bacon fat, olives, raspberries, BBQ potato chips, earth, violets, roasted meats. I ended up smelling it for about 20 minutes before I took my first sip. The sip that would start the slow painful process of draining my only glass.
The first sip was every bit as explosive and intense as the aromas. Everything I smelled carried over into the glass. This wine was a beast in a ballroom gown. Big and spicy yet elegant. Nice balanced acids and loads of fine grained tannins. Easily one of the most complex wines I have ever tasted.
I savored my ration as long as possible and then downed the last sip. I had written down the name of the wine so I could find it for myself. The Frenchman warned me that only 5 barrels were made……Instantly bummed but still hopefull. For the next two to three months I searched online and called various wine shops…. No luck. Until one day I found a full service wine dealer. They were able to locate two bottles!!!!! I took them without hesitation. There was one problem. The wine was still in France with four others awaiting shipment to the U.S. I water a few months for them to arrive. They have been in my wine fridge for a couple years now waiting for the perfect time. I hope it still tastes as good as I remember. I’ll let you know in a couple years.
Hot summer nights, cool summer whites (and rosés)
Hot summer nights, cool summer whites (and rosés) Part 1
As spring progresses and summer approaches many wine lovers are shedding their winter coats and transitioning from reds to rosés to whites. Unless you stay indoors all summer with the AC cranked, red wines generally make for formidable drinking during the summer months. People are spending more time outdoors soaking up the sun and the heat and are in need of something refreshing to pair with light summer fare. Crisp Rose´s and white wines are perfect for theses months and many of the seasonal dishes being prepared in cities all over the world(at least in the Northern Hemisphere). I know i for one am on that path and have no issues not looking back at the winter months. I have my summer stock in the fridge on standby ready for any meal……or maybe just a nice afternoon on the patio at some favorite haunts.
Here is a little guide and some info to help you through this summer:
Rosé:
I don’t often find my self purchasing too many pink items. Summer provides me with a perfectly good opportunity to do so. I’m not talking panties, I’m talking about what the europeans have been drinking forever: ROSÉ.
What is it?
Rosé is essentially a white wine made with red grapes. It has a little bit of color and a little bit of red flavor, but unlike a red wine, it’s perfect for ninety degree days.
There are two major ways to produce rosé. The first is a method known as Saignee (san-Yay). With saignee red grapes are crushed, placed into a fermentation vessel and the juice is allowed to sit on the skins for a matter of hours to a matter of maybe two days. The wine’s color is checked at fairly short intervals until the wine maker has the color he or she desires. When the desired color has been attained, as much as thirty percent of the juice can be drained off or separated from the skins. The juice is placed into a separate vessel and then endures a slow cool fermentation just as a white wine would until it has reached the desired level of dryness. The result is a copper to dark pink wine that should be crisp, refreshing and versatile.
What happened to the skins and the other juice?
Originally the saignee method was used to make a more concentrated red wine. By draining off the juice you attain a better juice to skin ratio which makes for a stronger, more intense and concentrated red wine. Since the red wine was the original focus of the saignee, I’m sure it took people a while to stop pouring the excess juice down the drain and use it for drinking and selling. In essence, wineries are able to craft a sellable wine from something they may have just dumped down the drain. Lucky for you, somebody figured it out.
White Zinfandel?
As much as I dislike admitting it, white zinfandel is in fact…….. rosé (of some type). As I mentioned earlier, rosé has been consumed by european communities for ages. At some point someone in America (we won’t say who) saw an opportunity and ran like hell with it. The end product was a sweet pink wine that would make anyones grandmother happy: “WHITE ZINFANDEL”. The dreadful white has been consumed by the gallons since its birth and doesn’t show any signs of death. It has single handedly created a stigma for pink wines. Most consumers see pink wine and think, “Eww sweet pink wine.” This image made even the most dry rosés a tough sell for a long time. As time passed some consumers caught on to what was really good and started buying and drinking dry rosé. After a while so much was being purchased that it became “cool” and you would hear things like, “Hey, I hear rosé is cool again,” or ” It’s making a comeback.” When did it leave? Given the wine boom of the past few years all wine has gained popularity, more people are educating themselves enough to be dangerous and many think holding a glass of wine at the bar will get them some action. Whatever it is, in conjunction with the value of the dollar, it has started driving up the price of rosé and all european wines and it sucks. Rosé is meant to be good, cheap, summer drinking wine. I wouldn’t suggest spending more than $15 on a bottle from Europe simply because you don’t need to. (Please excuse some champagne and sparkling.) For US wines you will probably be paying too much anyway because the majority of our wines are pricey anyhow. So no matter what the wine magazine tells you, don’t go spending $30 on rosé. You probably won’t be blown away and probably weren’t meant to be. Just remember they could have thrown it away just as easily as they bottled it.
If you have friends who are winemakers, my suggestion is a party. All you need is 20 people, 6 gallons of high octane rosé (un-bottled of course), some music and food is a good idea. Drink up, you will have a great night that you will remember for a very long time. Then you will thank me for it.
My Rosé rant is complete. Next we will focus on white wines for the summer in part 2.
Back from the dead
Greetings, I know I have been out of touch for a bit. A recent move to Portland, Oregon, a series of business trips, a drive across the country and starting a new life in a new apartment in a new city has its way of doing that to people. So, for those of you loyal followers of mine (you know who you are) I am back in action, Jackson.
In the past couple of months I have done market work in Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Los Angeles. In fact, I am on the plane back from Los Angeles to Portland right now.
It has been fun and irritating all at the same time. New places are always fun to explore and figure out, but that has to be balanced with work and settling in at home. I find myself missing my friends in Walla Walla just like I miss everyone in Chicagoland. You usually wish you could just have everyone with you, but you can’t and it sucks… oh well. Here is to the future.
Dos and Don’ts for the Tasting Room
Ok, so I’m not Emily Post, nor have a read any of her books. However, I have worked in a winery tasting room and a variety of other retail positions that have sculpted my view on how we should be treating each other and conducting ourselves in public situations. It is true that I am not a perfect model of public conduct one hundred percent of the time. (Most of us aren’t.) But I do make conscious efforts to treat people the way I would like to be treated and to act properly in most situations.
Given snobby people’s gravitation towards wine, the tasting room can be a breeding ground for snobbery, bad attitudes and people who think they are entitled to anything they want. The victims in this situation are generally the people working the tasting bar and certain wine novices who may ask an innocent question and be scowled or laughed at for it. For some reason, certain people think it is okay to laugh at someone or give them a hard time for not knowing the answer to a question. To me, this is ridiculous and uncalled for. In my opinion wine is a fantastic drink and has an amazing history that can captivate even the close-minded. To some it is merely a beverage or a means of reaching a drunken state. Whatever an individuals view is on wine, the fact that remains constant is that wine, is fermented grape juice and even though some wines can live for ages while employing the headiest of aromas and flavors which can lead to euphoric states……….It doesn’t deserve a pedestal. Just as a vast knowledge of wine isn’t a license to give somebody crap for not owning the same knowledge.
Here are some dos and don’ts for the tasting room according to yours truly. (If I come off like a jerk I’m sorry. It’s not my intent and I assure you many others share my view.)
DO:~ Keep an open mind to all sorts of wines. Why short yourself? Even if you don’t like the wine, you are expanding your pallet and broadening your knowledge.
~ Be friendly and respect everyone else in the room this includes staff and other tasters. The tasting room is a great place to meet people and make connections. Everyone is there to enjoy themselves: this includes you.
~ Take your time tasting through the wines. Pay attention to what you are smelling and tasting. The human mind can remember hundreds if not thousands of smells and tastes.
~ Ask questions!!! If you don’t know…ask. The only dumb questions are the ones we don’t ask. If someone gives a hard time, blow them a kiss and smile.
~ Give yourself adequate time to taste wine. If you are in a hurry, why are you out tasting wine? Nobody else needs to be rushed because you were a poor judge of time, especially staff. It’s not your place to make their job difficult; their bosses probably have that covered. Move along.
~ Relax and enjoy yourself. Wine is a social experience and is meant to be shared.
~ If you like it, drink it, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
~ Spit!!! Spitting is heavily encouraged. Drinking every sample will get you buzzed faster than you think. Once you’re intoxicated your palate will not be as sharp and most of the wines will taste the same. It’s a responsible act, especially if driving. Most wine industry folk spit, so why not you? It’s a respectable thing to do. If you aren’t driving and you want to get your buzz on then feel free, but remember to be decent. DON’T:~ Don’t rush; I will repeat this again. Wine tasting is something to be patient with and enjoy. If you need to get on a flight, or get to dinner then what are you doing at a winery? Rushing the staff or other customers isn’t going to help your experience. They will probably slow down just to spite you. Sit back, relax and enjoy your experience. Hell, kick off your shoes and go lay on the grass when you are done.~ Perfumes, colognes and other fragrances are great, but they are a no no in the tasting room. They make it very difficult for you and others to smell the wines. Since 90% of tasting is smell, you aren’t doing yourself or anyone else any favors. Please leave them at home if you are going wine tasting.~ More cosmetics that don’t help are lipsticks and lip glosses. Both items leave nasty stains on the glasses and it’s actually a pain to remove from the glass once its on there (especially if the glass gets washed without removing it first). Aside from the staining power most lip glosses are fragranced or flavored. This aroma will interfere with the wine’s aroma and you will find yourself asking why your cabernet smells like Kiwi Strawberry Dream. Do yourself a favor and wipe the stuff off before you taste. The tasting room associate who has to wash the glasses will be appreciative as well.
~ Wineries are not swap meets. Don’t try to haggle on the price. Most wineries offer volume discount and if you buy enough wine many of them will throw something in. You don’t argue the price at the mall or the grocery store, so what makes you thing you should get the wine cheaper. Wine is a treat and not everyone can afford expensive bottles. If you have the money and the intention of buying wine then you don’t really need a lower price. What would your response be if someone came into your business and told they thought they should get a 30% discount? You would probably laugh at them. If you want the wine, step up and buy it. People don’t open wineries because they like to give stuff away.
~ Don’t crowd the tasting bar if it’s busy. Everyone wants to be able to taste and everyone can if you allow them in. It works best and is most enjoyable when you get your sample and step back to taste. Give yourself some time with each taste. You will enjoy it more.
~ If your children are poorly behaved it might be best to leave them with the babysitter. While most people love kids, a tasting room may not always be the best place for them (especially if they like to touch and grab everything). Nobody wants to pay for a broken bottle of wine.
~If you end up drunk, don’t be surprised if you get cut off. Wineries take their liquor license very seriously and are not willing to lose their business on your account.
~ Don’t be obnoxious. It will get you cut off or asked to leave…. then you can go sit in the car like a scolded child. We all know how much fun that is.
~ Do not attempt to pour your own wine. It may be hard to believe, but tasting room associates get paid to pour wines for you. Not to mention that the winery can lose its license. I can’t imagine they would be too happy with you if that happened.
~ Don’t ask for a glass of wine if the winery doesn’t sell glass pours. Remember you are there to “taste,” not drink. Most places will let you taste a wine twice. If you want a glass of wine, buy a bottle or go to the bar. There are laws in all states that limit the legal amount a winery can serve you. Again, possible loss of liquor license. Don’t be a pest.
~ If bringing children to the winery, please don’t attempt to serve them wine. We are not in Europe or any other foreign country. If you want to serve your kids wine at home then that’s your business. If you haven’t already guessed, this could be a loss of license for the winery. Go figure.
~ Don’t tell the server how much to pour you. They will pour you the legal amount. If there is too much wine left then simply dump it out. Many people like to use the excuse that they don’t want to waste the wine. Nobody at the winery cares. The wines are written up as samples and written off for tax purposes. Why do you think we call them samples? It is difficult to pour a really tiny amount, most of the time it cause someone to spill the wines and then you truly waste it. Any wine tasted has not been wasted.
That’s about all I have for now. These are some pretty simple guidelines that will make your tasting room experience more pleasurable. Remember, wine is supposed to be fun and enjoyable for everyone. Let’s help keep it that way.