The Wino Club

2009-06-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Spent last weekend at the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival (http://www.tvbwf.com/) and it was fabulous! Almost 30 wineries, over 200 vendors, and 2 fantastic balloon launches both mornings.
The evenings were filled with music from both country and rock artists including James Otto, Lonestar, Chuck Wicks, Survivor and Sugar Ray. And there were also evening balloon glows set to music both nights. What could be better??
It takes over 700 volunteers to make this event happen and I am so appreciative of the efforts in making this event a success!
If you have not checked out this event yet, you need to put it on your calendar right now for the first weekend in June 2010. It will be bigger and better with a newly constructed amphitheater...woohoo!
See you there:)

The Wino Club: Temecula Wines

2008-08-23T08:50:00.001-07:00

Temecula wines compete with each other and some great quality was found. What I'm most excited about is the Grenache Rose, which Peter Poole of Vitis Consulting explained as a truly new experiment for this valley. This Barbie pink wine was surprisingly not sticky sweet, but well balanced, dry and crisp with beautiful color and fruit. So good in fact, it tied for first at our own Wino Club meeting!

Winners of the fourth annual Temecula Valley Wine Society Competition have been announced.

South Coast Winery’s 2007 Semillion and 2007 White Proprietary Blend “GVR” tied for Best of Class (Whites). Additionally, its Non Vintage Sparkling Syrah “Ruby Cuvee” and 2007 Genache Rose were awarded Best of Class in their respective categories.

Stuart Cellars Winery’s 2005 Meritage “Long Valley Red – Unfiltered Estate Bottled” and Thornton Winery’s 2005 Proprietary Red Blend “Cabernet/Merlot” tied for Best of Class (Reds).

The big winner, voted Best Wine overall, was Mount Palomar’s Non Vintage Solera Cream Sherry.

Article from the Valley News.

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The Wino Club: Sake Making

2008-08-18T06:13:00.001-07:00

I really have been fascinated with Sake lately and the ongoing debate that Sake is more like wine in tasting palette and like beer in the fermenting. This article from The Daily Yomuri Online explains how the fermenting is getting more and more wine-like:

Three sake brewers are using old wine barrels to age sake in attempt to stop a decline in what is regarded as the national tipple.

Sake kept in wine barrels carries slight hints of white wine in its flavor and brewers hope it will prove to be more pleasant to the palate. Although the amount produced by this unorthodox method is still small, some kinds have sold out, and its popularity is growing.

The brewers also are targeting the overseas market, riding an international boom in Japanese cuisine.

Other brewers plan to use wine barrels to age their products.

The barrels being used are of French oak and were used for making white wine by Katsunuma Winery Co, one of the leading wineries in Katsunumacho, the center of Koshu (Yamanashi) wine production in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Gochouda Brewery Co. in Ureshino, Saga Prefecture, started storing sake in the barrels in autumn 2006. Koichi Hasegawa, 52, president of Hasegawasaketen store in Koto Ward, Tokyo, acted as a mediator between the winery and the sake maker. Hasegawa, who also is a client of Katsunuma Winery, thought the mild scent of Koshu grapes would work well in sake.

Hishitomo Brewery Co. of Shimosuwamachi, Nagano Prefecture, and Sumikawa Brewery Co. of Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, followed suit in April 2007.

Wine barrels are usually thrown out after five or six years of use. The sake makers select barrels used for three or four years and keep their top-quality sake in the barrels for several months.

The sake makers are still working through trial and error as the taste differs slightly according to the season and barrel conditions. "The barrels have worked well with the sake, making the most of the delicate flavors," Hasegawa said.

Japan Airlines started serving one of the wine-barrel sake brands in its first class cabins in June 2007. It has proven popular with foreign passengers, according to the airline. The sake makers plan to export the sake to the United States starting later this year with shipments to Britain and Taiwan sometime later.

The sake makers hope the sake also will go over well with younger Japanese consumers, who are more accustomed to drinking wine than older customers.

"If sake loses popularity, Japan's alcohol culture, including wine, won't grow," said Shigeyuki Hirayama, executive managing director at Katsunuma Winery Co.

For the full article read here.

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The Wino Club: Russian Wine

2008-08-18T06:08:00.001-07:00

Many articles come across my desk, but one touting the upsurge of fine Russian wines that also happen to be naturally organic intrigued me.

The problem is, I have never seen a Russian wine available to even begin to qualify this statement. Most of the wine making history of Russia consists of high regulations and the inability or means for vintners to bottle their own product. The wine is organic not because of environmental choice, but because of the lack of funds to buy pesticides. And let's face it, from what I've heard, Russia had been producing for decades wine that could hardly be called that. Not that I don't believe in second chances and a new resurgence of quality.

With that in mind, I don't see that many Russian wine makers will be able to fund the cost of marketing and shipping their products to the United States and have not heard of many importers rushing out to Russia to import. It would be most interesting to see the development of a new world product coming from this European nation. Perhaps it will take less time than English wines to make it here to the States?

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The WIno Club: Female Winemakers Take over Spain

2008-08-05T06:18:00.001-07:00

When I read this article in the Wall Street Journal I laughed so hard at one of the quotations from a female wine maker that I had to post it up here. It appears that female entrants into the University to study the art have increased 40% in the past few years. They have found a niche in Spain's wine world that accepts and nurtures them, but it of course is in the one region of Spain where they produce nothing but white wine, Albarino to be exact. Of course the women end up in this region over the more masculine Rioja areas right? Here's the best quotation ever:

Some in the industry try to insult us by saying the Albariño is a wine only for women," says Luisa Freire Plana, a winemaker at Bodega Santiago Ruiz. "But I think it's a wine that is too complex for some men."

Funny.

The article gives a great history of the region and profiles a few of the women heading up the wine making in this region. I will definitely be looking for some Albarino to taste soon - on the drier side for me with crisp lemony flavors and the minerality of the nearby ocean. I highly recommend you read the original article posted here.

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The Wino Club: Cleavage Creek

2008-07-18T07:37:00.001-07:00

We don't typically promote one wine over any others and I have to admit that I only just ordered this wine and have not tasted it yet. But sometimes it just doesn't matter. Cleavage Creek Cellars in Napa, California, features a different survivor on every bottle of wine and donates 10% back to breast cancer issues. It's worth a taste just to know you can be socially responsible and drunk at the same time - love that!

Welcome to Cleavage Creek, a winery that’s passionate about celebrating life and fine wine. Owner Budge Brown and Cleavage Creek are dedicated to making exceptional wines and to fighting breast cancer. 10% of the gross proceeds of all wine sales will be donated to breast cancer research. Enjoy the fine wines of Cleavage Creek and be a part of an effort to beat breast cancer.

Check out their store at http://www.cleavagecreek.com

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The Wino Club: Temecula Winery Wins

2008-07-12T09:20:00.001-07:00

People in Northern California laugh at our claims of having a wine country in Southern California. Even though we have a good number of active wineries here, they snub their noses at the quality of our wines. And to be honest, they used to be correct. Used to be. Our vintners here have been working on not only the quality of product but on the perception that we are a sub-prime wine growing / producing region.

Our sincerest congratulations goes out to Jim & Maggie Carter for the preponderance of awards issued to them and mostly for kicking some Northern California butt at their own competition. Here's the article:

Vindicated at last: Temecula winery takes top honors at California State Fair

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 11, 2008
By JEFF HORSEMAN
The Press-Enterprise

A Temecula-area winery took home top honors from the California State Fair this week, winning a trophy as the statewide competition's premier winery and capturing almost 40 medals.

South Coast Winery won the 2008 Golden State Winery of the Year honor at the fair's Commercial Wine Competition, fair officials announced Friday. It is the first time a Southern California winery has won the award.

The winery beat out 647 others for the trophy. The competition took place last month in Sacramento.

The Golden State Winery honor recognizes the winery that wins a significant number of the highest-level awards.

South Coast's wines won seven gold medals, 13 silver medals, four bronze medals, 12 Best of Class honors and one Best of Region award. Twenty-three of the 36 wines South Coast entered won a medal.

"There's only a handful of wineries that enter that many and do that well," said Mike Bradley, chief bureau of exhibits for the fair.

About 2,900 wines were entered in the competition, which fair officials say is the oldest in North America. The first competition took place in 1855.

South Coast Winery owner Jim Carter said the win was unexpected but proves the winery's commitment to quality.

"We're on the right track," he said. "We're producing wines that Southern California can be proud of.

"It shows the grapes we have here in Temecula are equal to the grapes in other areas of our state."

Opened four years ago, South Coast is one of the region's larger wineries, manufacturing about 60,000 cases of wine a year. South Coast also has a resort and day spa.

Ray Falkner, president of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association, said the award is a "great boon for our entire region.

"This really ... gets a lot of wine writers and distributors and aficionados to pay attention to our region," he said.

With about 30 wineries, Wine Country is small compared with its counterparts in better-known regions in Central and Northern California.

The region's wines have suffered from a poor reputation in the past, but Temecula winemakers have banded together to improve quality. They have entered competitions and invited wine critics to Temecula to taste their product.

Reach Jeff Horseman at 951-375-3727 or jhorseman@PE.com

ttp://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_swine12.47fcd6f.html

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Calories in Wine: Wine News

2008-07-07T06:56:00.001-07:00

I came across this article and while this site isn't really about calorie counting, the link to the carb chart was quite interesting. I also have to agree with Mark Fisher in I'm having a hard time imagining wine bottles with nutritional labels and I'm having a harder time reconciling why anyone would take the time to lobby for it? Perhaps they are on a diet and just not drinking enough wine.... make sure you check out the link on the poster!

By Uncorked | Monday, July 7, 2008, 07:29 AM

The ever-so-helpful folks at the Consumer Federation of America have come up with an Alcohol Facts Poster that compares all kinds of alcoholic beverages based on alcohol content, calories and carbs. The poster analyzes the 26 top-selling domestic and imported alcohol brands, from good ol’ Bud Light to Beringer Chardonnay.

And why, pray tell, would the consumer group do this? Well, it’s lobbying in Washington D.C. for a government-mandated “standardized and complete alcohol label” to be slapped on every bottle of alcoholic beverages, according to the federation’s press release.

The alcohol info is also “designed to help consumers follow the Dietary Guidelines’ advice that men limit their consumption to two drinks a day and that women restrict their consumption to one drink per day,” the news release says. And I don’t know about you, but I live my life according to the federal government’s dietary guidelines. Don’t you? Doesn’t everyone?

Anyway, here’s a quote from the release:

“Right now, consumers really have no way of knowing the most basic information about alcoholic beverages,” said Chris Waldrop, Director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America. “It’s time to end the confusion so consumers can make informed and responsible purchasing and consumption decisions. We’re making information available today on some of the top selling brands, but the federal government needs to require standardized and complete alcohol labeling on all alcoholic beverages.”

While I’ve never really monitored my carbohydrates intake beyond watching them go into my mouth, it was a bit surprising to see the difference in carbs between one serving of chardonnay (0.8 grams) and cabernet (5.0 grams). Perhaps I’ll put that on my list of things to worry about someday.

What do you think of this report, and the factors behind it?

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wine/entries/2008/07/07/cutting_carbs_f.html

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French Winemakers Lose Their Status

2008-07-03T05:14:00.001-07:00

When I saw this article I just started to laugh. I love French wines but I also know that many of the premium classifications are decades, sometimes centuries old so I don't give it much heed. I am also not a collector - I am a drinker. Paying $30 more per bottle because it is a Classe A makes no sense to me then the Nin du Pays (Country Wine literally) is similar in flavor and a fraction of the price. So I LOVE that St. Emilion is eliminating the rankings. It means more affordable wines for all and a more balanced approach to newer wineries who can sometimes produce a better wine than the centuries old pedigreed wines.

Collectors should rush out right now and pick up the last of the fancy stuff before its gone! But remember,just because the label is gone doesn't mean the insides of the bottles are any less delicious.

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - "Just as we are about to start putting the 2006 vintage into bottles, we have to cancel all the labels and all the cases and re-do them," said Christine Valette, owner of Chateau Troplong-Mondot, recently awarded the second highest rank of St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe.

"I am in shock. The team at the chateau is in shock. I never imagined this could happen," added Valette, who said she has spent the last 20 years working toward winning the prized title.

The ranking, which applies only to the St Emilion region and is reassessed every 10 years, consists of three classifications -- Premier Grand Cru Classe A, Premier Grand Cru Classe B and Grand Cru Classe.

The court said it was cancelling the St Emilion classification because it believed the system used to rank the wines after a tasting was not fully impartial.

The A category has only ever been awarded to two chateaux, the much sought after wines of Ausone and Cheval Blanc, while examples from the B category include chateaux Angelus, Clos Fourtet and Troplong Mondot.

The rankings are estimated to boost the price of the wine by about 30 percent, and thus also affect property prices.

A spokesperson for the St Emilion Wine Union (Conseil des Vins de St Emilion) described the situation as "serious."

The Union is awaiting a decision from INAO (Institut National des Appellations d'Origine), the government body that manages French wine classifications, and the French Agriculture Minister as to whether they will appeal the ruling within the allowed time period of two months.

But legal sources said an appeals process could take up to two years.

For many in Bordeaux however the situation without the St Emilion classification system would be impossible.

"The whole situation is ... idiotic and absurd, they can't stop the 60 or more chateaux that have the rankings from using them," said Jean Baptiste Bourotte of Audy, a Bordeaux wine merchant who had just heard the news.

"I don't see how we could sell the wine."

http://news.sawf.org/Lifestyle/51601.aspx

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The Wino Club News: Wine Makers Riot in France

2008-06-26T08:45:00.001-07:00

Here are some wine growers who take their business seriously. The economy may be tough, but rioting wine makers gets our award for peculiar news.

Wine growers throw stones at riot police after a demonstration in Montpellier, southern France Wednesday, June 25, 2008. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Claude Paris

MONTPELLIER, France - Winemakers in southern France have burned two police cars and vandalized supermarkets during protests to demand government aid.

Vintners in France's Languedoc-Roussillon region have been protesting plummeting prices for their regional wines as well as rising fuel costs.

Top regional official Cyrille Schott says protesters broke windows at the courthouse in the city of Montpellier. In nearby Montagnac, protesters wielding baseball bats chased police from their vehicles and set the cars on fire.

Schott says protesters damaged four bank buildings.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/06/26/5993016-ap.html

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Wine and Music Pairing

2008-06-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

So just in case food and wine pairing hadn't gotten too complicated, now we have to pair the wine with music too? What happened to just drinking? This article was from the BBC:

Playing a certain type of music can enhance the way wine tastes, research by psychologists suggests.

The Heriot Watt University study found people rated the change in taste by up to 60% depending on the melody heard.

The researchers said cabernet sauvignon was most affected by "powerful and heavy" music, and chardonnay by "zingy and refreshing" sounds.

Professor Adrian North said the study could lead retailers to put music recommendations on their wine bottles.

The research involved 250 students at the university who were offered a free glass of wine in exchange for their views.

Brain theory

Four types of music were played - Carmina Burana by Orff ("powerful and heavy"), Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky ("subtle and refined"), Just Can't Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague ("zingy and refreshing") and Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook ("mellow and soft")

The white wine was rated 40% more zingy and refreshing when that music was played, but only 26% more mellow and soft when music in that category was heard.

MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS

Cabernet Sauvignon: All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones), Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)

Chardonnay: Atomic (Blondie), Rock DJ (Robbie Williams), What's Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner), Spinning Around (Kylie Minogue)

Syrah: Nessun Dorma (Puccini), Orinoco Flow (Enya), Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis), Canon (Johann Pachelbel)

Merlot: Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding), Easy (Lionel Ritchie), Over The Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)

Source: Montes wines

The red was altered 25% by mellow and fresh music, yet 60% by powerful and heavy music.

The results were put down to "cognitive priming theory", where the music sets up the brain to respond to the wine in a certain way.

"Wine manufacturers could recommend that while drinking a certain wine, you should listen to a certain sort of music," Prof North said.

The research was carried out for Chilean winemaker Aurelio Montes, who plays monastic chants to his maturing wines.

Mr Montes said: "It was therefore a natural extension to link with Heriot Watt and to scientifically determine the impact that music has on how wine tastes."

Previously, Professor North conducted supermarket research which suggested people were five times more likely to buy French wine than German wine if accordion music was played in the background.

If an oompah band was played, the German product outsold the French by two to one.

Their story came from here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7400109.stm

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The Wino Club: Pinot Noir for Diabetics

2008-01-17T12:51:00.001-08:00

Looks like people can be part of the Wino Club and be healed at the same time! According to this medical study, Pinot Noir can have some positive effects on sufferers of Diabetes. I just want to know if I can sign up to be a part of a drinking-based study.

The Wino Club In Entrepreneur Magazine

2007-11-16T05:16:00.001-08:00

We've been busy here at The Wino Club... see us in the November issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. There's a great picture of us in the print article so check it out but we've included it here just so those readers who are more digitally inclined can enjoy the whole experience - it is a darn good picture and we wouldn't want anyone to miss it.

To read the article on line, click here: The Wino Club in Entrepreneur Magazine.

In the next couple of weeks we will be posting a TV interview we did on KZSW as well. Told you we've been busy!

Wine Tasting: Grenache Grows Up

2007-11-16T05:15:00.001-08:00

We're taking a detour in our wine tasting at The Wino Club in November from talking about Rhone wines to jumping into Grenache. Now the departure is not a great one, since all Rhone wines contain some Grenache, sometimes up to 80%. However, Rhone wines tend to look at this grape as a blender, used to either compliment other varietals or if alone as a nice dry rose.

We have another opinion. Grenache is bold and strong without overpowering the palette. It has enough to sink your teeth into without hitting you over the head. Grenache is so much more than a blending wine and is our new favorite stand-alone varietal - sorry Red Zinfandel.

It all happened by lucky accident and a bargain shopping find. Our personal Wino Club was doing a special tasting of wines of Australia with specific instructions to avoid the traditional Shiraz. I was searching for my pick when I came across a store that was closing and everything inside was half off, including the wine. You don't have to tell me twice! I had a shopping cart filled up in no time. There was one bottle I picked up just because it made me laugh and it was inexpensive enough to buy as a joke ($5 on sale). It is a wine called Bi@#h (I'm not spelling it out because it's not a nice word). It had a pretty pink label and looked novelty for sure. It also happened to hail from Australia and incidentally was 100% Grenache.

Well this little wine went up against 13 bottles worth $17 and up and won. And not just won but was the first wine ever to be voted for nearly unanimously by all 15 women in attendance, all of whom have very different palettes. We were onto something.

Grenache happens to be the most widely planted grape varietal in the world. It is low in tannins and pale in color with a nice soft pinkish-purple hue. If picked early it is used to make rose wines. If allowed to ripen slowly in a hot and dry terrain then it turns into a soft yet spicy wine with a relatively high alcohol content of around 15% competing against Red Zinfandel. Yet unlike Zinfandel, found only in California where oak prevails, Grenache originated in Spain and then moved to be a major grape in France, Australia and yes, California as well.

As a stand alone wine it is full bodied, juicy and earthy. It has a beautiful berry jam start with nice heat and earthiness on the back end. As a blending wine, it offers a backbone to harsher varietals, lending low acid and low tannis for balance.

Wine Tasting: Grenache Tasting Tips

2007-11-16T05:13:00.000-08:00

Look for the following flavors or scents when tasting Grenache:

Spice Black Currant Dried Fruit Pepper
Earth Warm Flesh Dried Apricot Vanilla Sweet Wood
Blackberry Smoke Toast Tobacco Cherry Raisin
Menthol Blueberry Boysenberry Plum

Wine Tasting: Super Tuscan or Chianti?

2007-10-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

I admit it. Chianti brings to mind straw covered bottles with dripping wax candles glowing in them on a table covered with a red checkered cloth. Right? It is not a quality wine that comes to mind. That's not to say that there aren't some fine Chiantis now, but is there a difference between a Chianti and a Super Tuscan?

Chianti has a very interesting history, moving from the bastardized blend of red and white grapes in the 1970's into a wine made almost entirely from Sangiovese, changing the laws requiring white grapes to be used in the Chianti formula. The new laws provide a 15% blend of red grapes outside of Sangiovese. It is still a struggle by wine makers to decide whether to label their blend wines as a Super Tuscan or a Chianti.

Super Tuscans really do try to appeal to a more International palette. They tend to be big, bold and have a new oak flavor. These wines are not 'drink with spaghetti' style wines. They are not even what I would peg as an old world flavor due to their lack of subtlety. However a good Super Tuscan can be a great blend that I personally love sipping on when the evenings just start to turn crisp.

A traditional Chianti is meant for eating. True to the Italian lifestyle, this wine lends itself to food, thus it's drinkability and reputation as a spaghetti wine. It is high in acid, balancing out the tomato sauce, and low on tannins. It is actually compared more with a Pinot Noir than a Cabernet Sauvignon.

The blends are about the same for both wines so I guess your preference really comes down to what you need your wine to function as. If you're sitting around drinking with friends, reach for the Super Tuscan. If it's a family dinner with wine, pull out a Chianti. Either way, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Some of the Chianti's even come in the straw bottles if you're so inclined.

Wine Tasting for A Cause

2007-10-01T10:40:00.001-07:00

It's October and that Means Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Buy The Wino Club Party Kit today and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to Michelle's Place, a breast cancer resource center supporting women under 40 so often ignored in the fight against breast cancer.

Go to The Wino Club for your kit today and help save a life!

Sangiovese Wine Tasting Tips

2007-10-01T10:39:00.001-07:00

Sangiovese wine is all about tasting the rustic and savory flavors of earth. Look for the following flavors or scents when tasting Sangiovese:

Fresh Cherry Sun Baked Earth Spice Clove

Licorice Thyme Wood Toast Dried Orange Peel

Leather Chocolate Dried Cherry Sour Cherry

Buy Wine Now

2007-09-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

I was reading the local paper and there was an article in the finance section entitled "Autumn Bargains". I love shopping. I can spend all day looking through stores so the name of the article was the first thing to entice me. What intrigued me further though was that the author, Marshall Loeb, took the art of shopping to a new level.

Shopping is a cyclical sport. For instance, in Southern California, buyers send us fall clothes in August when it is 100 degrees outside - like a nice wool sweater looks even remotely tempting. However, all of the cute summer clothes go on clearance and we can still wear them for several months. Makes sense right? That's the premise of the article.

In a nut shell, September is a great time to buy cars, holiday airfare and, yes WINE. The reasoning for the wine went :

"Last year's harvest begins arriving in stores in September. Because of the surplus of vino, winemakers face heavy competition and bottles tend to be priced to sell"

Intrigued, I found that BevMo has started their 5 cent sale and my local wine shops also seem to have some bargains. I don't know if I will remember the cycle next year, but I am excited that October is a great month to buy jeans and November to buy sneakers and wedding gowns.

It was an odd little article but it comes down to this - look around at your favorite wine stores right now and it's possible that you might find some bargains. I wonder if there's a tequila or beer season too?

Wine Tasting: Wine Fights Kidney Cancer

2007-09-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Wine tasters everywhere rejoice when reports come out about the fabulous health benefits of drinking wine. I am no exception. Darcy and I are both very involved in the fight against cancer and spend a good deal of time volunteering for various cancer organizations. In fact, part of the proceeds from the sale of The Wino Clubtm Wine Tasting Party Kit go directly to Michelle's Place, a breast cancer resource center helping women under 40 who are otherwise ignored in the fight against breast cancer.

That said, we are especially aware of any reports we find correlating the benefits of wine in relation to cancer. We've determined in our most non-scientific way that wine is cancer fighting gold and you should consume as much as possible of it.

According to the British Journal of Cancer:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug. 25 Drinking wine or beer may reduce the risk of kidney cancer, a Swedish study found.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm surveyed 855 kidney cancer patients and a control group of 1,204 people, The Local reported. The study found that people who drink 22 ounces of alcohol a week are 40 percent less likely to develop kidney cancer.

Professor Alicja Wolk said consuming at least two glasses of red wine each week -- or the equivalent of white wine or beer -- appears to have a beneficial effect.

So go ahead. Drink up. O.K., 22 oz a week isn't a full weekend of debauchery, but it's a good start! We figure that if at 22oz a week our odds are 60%, then if we drink more the odds of getting cancer, at least of the kidney variety, go down proportionally. Makes perfect sense to us.

Wine Tasting with the NRA

2007-09-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of those ideas that just odd enough that I had to stop and re-read it several times in the Press Democrat. The National Rifle Association has launched a monthly wine club (NRA Wine Club) to help raise lobbying funds to bear arms. Their tag line is "Now you can support the 2nd amendment with every wine you buy". They are also touting that their wine club seeks out the boutique wineries in California that aren't readily available or accessible.

Now no press is bad press and I'm sure that I am helping their cause just by linking to their club here, but I'm a little concerned that we have a portion of our society purposely combining alcohol and firearms. As a marketer however, I think it's just plain, well, smart. The idea might turn me off personally but you just have to appreciate the simple genius. Martha Stewart brand wine. Single portion bottles. Wine tasting at Disney World. Wine competitions at fairs. None of these things would be automatically paired up in my brain. And yet someone thought of an idea and had the gumption to follow through.

This type of fund raising will work on a National level and will have a huge grass roots following from NRA supporters. It will also help out some of the smaller wineries here in California. Disturbingly, it's actually a win-win.

Sideways Clip for Wine Presentation

2007-09-18T12:39:00.001-07:00

While the techniques aren't perfect here (put your nose a little further from the side of the glass so you can smell more than alcohol), it really does look a lot like our wine tasting club! Except that we're a lot cuter. See our club consists of both experienced wine drinkers and novices. We do teach each other techniques and tricks and yes, I have confiscated gum from some of them as well. This post is just for the fun of it so enjoy!

Wine Tasting: Scientific Proof That Your Nose Lies

2007-09-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

Ok - we all do it when we taste wine properly: we stick our noses right on that glass and smell. Right? That's our introduction to the wine, the first step in learning more about it and deciding to have a romance or a spit (the horror). Well according to an article posted in the Telegraph UK, scientists have decided that wine tasters are, well, full of it.

But now there is scientific evidence to suggest that wine buffs may just be talking rubbish, or at least that they greatly overestimate their own ability to pin down a wine's particular aroma.
Today a US team publishes hard evidence that people smell the world differently because of their genes.
The findings suggest that those who claim to pick up rich aromas from fine wines may owe more to genetics than to any great expertise.

Now I admit that when our friends are tasting wines together, we suggest scents to each other and then we can smell them. But to say that wine tasting is subjective? Absurd! OK not really.

Any wine taster of merit will admit that one person's palette differs from another. Why would our noses be any different. The best part of wine is that whatever we think about a wine is correct! It adds to the experience.

Perhaps another quote from the article states it best:

The Telegraph's wine buff, Jonathan Ray, commented: "Shock horror! So there is scientific proof that wine lovers talk rubbish. Doesn't everyone after a glass or two?
"How does one describe what scrambled eggs tastes like, or smoke smells like, without comparing them to something else? So it is that we wine lovers might describe a wine as tasting of truffles, leather, game and rotting veg. Well, dammit, that's what old red burgundy often resembles. It certainly doesn't taste of grapes."

Therefore, I'm not too concerned that scientists say we're full of rubbish. That's the point isn't it?

To read the whole article, go here.

Wine Tasting: Birthday Wishes

2007-09-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my wine tasting wish for my birthday. You see, it's my birthday today and I'm so excited. I always make a point of letting everyone know that it's my birthday well in advance so sorry for the late notice. It's a courtesy really to make sure people know how many shopping days are left but this present to me will be free.

This year I am asking for some certificates for the local wine shops so I can stock up on some great wines. Now my taste is not expensive but it is refined. I understand that you can get some beautiful wines on a budget (remember Spainish wines under $10?).

So here's what I'm asking you for: If you had a budget of let's say $100 and you wanted to get some great wines for drinking - not storing because I don't have the patience for that, what would you buy?

Post up your comments because I could use a little help here and I'll consider your contributions a perfect birthday present!

Thanks and Happy Birthday to Me!
-Stacy

Wine Tasting: International Awards

2007-09-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

Can you image tasting 9,358 wines from around the world? Well that's just what the judging panels did at the world's largest blind wine tasting contest. What made this contest rather unique was that the winners were not always from the categories you usually associate with major contests. There was for the first time a sake winner, a long debated wine category. They had a special category touting three trophies dubbed IWC Planet Earth awards: champion of sustainable, one of organic and one of biodynamic. These winemakers not only produce fine wine but also put the planet at the heart of their wine making activity.

So, without much ado, the winners were:

Champion Red and Champion Sustainable: Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2005, Bald Hills Vineyard, New Zealand.
Champion White: Beaune Clos des Mouches Premier Cru 2005, Chanson Père et Fils, France.
Champion Sparkling (Daniel Thibault Trophy): Charles Heidsieck, Champagne Charlie 1981, Champagnes P & C Heidsieck, France.
Champion Sweet: Vin Santo di Capezzana 2000, Capezzana, Italy.
Champion Fortified: Lustau Almacenista Fino del Puerto Cuesta, Emilio Lustau, Spain.
Champion Sake: Tsurunosato 2005, Kikuhime & Co Ltd, Japan.
Champion Organic: Hans Tschida, Sämling Trockenbeerenauslese 2005, Austria.
Champion Biodynamic: Champagne Fleury Millésime 1996, France.

While I don't have a list of all the wines entered, I did notice that there is a lack of American wines (both North and South). And instead of pinning in in the whites, New Zealand won for both the Champion Red and the Champion Sustainable. Interesting.... That may be the one wine I look up to purchase on this list, although I am a sucker for the white champion as well. OK, maybe one of each although I would like to taste the sake. OK I need to stop now before my cellar gets over full again.

For more information on the contest results, click here.

The Wino Club: Wine Tasting Party Kit in the News

2007-09-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

We have fantastic news. Our wine tasting party kit, The Wino Club, is going to be in 'Entrepreneur Magazine' in November (so it should be coming out sometime next month in October). We are so thrilled that a magazine of this caliber deems us worthy of even mentioning. I have to say that I have been reading this magazine faithfully for some time. Every single issue is dog-eared on almost every page with good ideas to build a business or things I personally want to check out.

So when we were contacted by them to be featured a couple of months ago, oh my gosh! Our wine tasting party kit has only been in production for a year (Happy Anniversary!). We're doing great on word of mouth sales, selling to friends and friends of friends around the country - a truly grass roots campaign. We've been picked up wholesale in several stores and wineries and have made it to Amazon.

Selling a product is just so much different than the service industry. My business partner Darcy is by day a Financial Advisor with Smith Barney and I am by day a Reverse Mortgage Specialist. Designing and making these kits was a labor of love for us. We based them on our own personal wine tasting club who has been meeting every month for several years now. We packaged up our proven formula for success for sale. Funny thing is, we made it to help our club get a little smaller because everyone started wanting to join. It was a defensive maneuver to help others make their own clubs so we wouldn't have to taste 20+ wines each month!

We had the final fact checking done yesterday by the editing department at 'Entrepreneur Magazine'. I called Darcy after I got off the phone and said, "Wow, it's really happening!".

When it comes out we'll be sure to post the links so everyone can go give it a visit and say 'I knew them when...".

Wine Tasting: Brits Gone Wild?

2007-09-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

With all of the tasting posts going up throughout the wine blog-o-sphere about wine tasting gone wildthis summer, first about New York, then about my hometown of Temecula, I thought I'd toss this one into the mix. It seems that British teenagers, specifically girls have been hitting the sauce earlier and earlier. Girls as young as 12 are being diagnosed as alcoholics with cirrhosis of the liver.

In fact, one in five 15-year-olds in England drinks at least seven units of alcohol a week - the equivalent of almost a bottle of wine. In some parts of the country one in eight 12-year-olds is drinking this heavily.

Binge drinking is also to blame for more than 4,300 teenage pregnancies, 11,500 expulsions and suspensions from school and 5.5million lost days of schooling each year.
Drunk British girls are among the most violent in the western world. Previous studies have shown that 15 boys and girls under the age of 16 drink themselves into A&E wards every day, with some downing more than a bottle of vodka in a single session, and that drink-fueled British girls are among the most violent in the western world.

So what does this mean? It means that a few drunken wine tasters in Temecula and New York don't look so bad now. I'm not trying to make light of these are staggering statistics for underage drinking. But it does put things into perspective a little doesn't it?

I do have to applaud the statistics from the same article that stated:

More than a million men drink more than 50 units of alcohol a week. With a bottle of wine containing nine units, this is equivalent to almost six bottles or two bottles of spirits.
In 2005, Britons drank a staggering 6.5 billion litres of alcohol at an overall cost to the economy of £20 billion.

This reconfirms my desire to visit here but makes me wonder whether I will be bringing along my teenage daughter or not.

For the full story, go here.

Wine Tasting: Where Are We?

2007-09-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

We're not out wine tasting that's where! We are still recovering from a long four day weekend where no blogs were posted, nothing was updated, and our hits fell down the ladder with equal conviction.

The temperatures here have been up to about 115* and it's too hot to go outside. My son came down with a 24 hour flu on Friday and then felt fine enough to go play football in the sweltering heat on Saturday. I came down with a sore throat yesterday and I'm still suffering, taken to odd bits of passing out from time to time. Youth bounces back so easily.

Funny thing is, I didn't feel like writing all weekend. I love to write and to read all of the postings. This morning I logged into by bloglines to see that I have successfully ignored 642 posts these past four days.

I guess I just needed a mental break.

We were not alone in the need to take a little break. One of our blogging mentors announced today that she's going into semi-retirement. She won't be writing anything for a while so she can get her life back (full story here). Now let me say that Cat is a young chick and she's fried already. What hope do I have? Again, making me feel a little old.

There were several posts I've read today with bloggers taking off the long weekend from writing. It seems to be in the air.

Never fear. Daily postings will resume tomorrow!

Wine Tasting: Rugby, Wine and Rankings

2007-08-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Remember the Rugby and Wine post we did a little while back for the International Wine Tasting that Ruarri at Grape Thinking is doing? (It's o.k. - click here for a refresher). Well my husband and I have been watching all of the Rugby World Cup warm-up games which have caused a little shift in the rankings.

The top 10 teams going into the Rugby World Cup 2007 will be:

#1: New Zealand
#2: Australia
#3: France
#4: South Africa

Argentina has been bumped down a notch by Ireland (ya!) but so sad for the world of wine tastings in our house... looks like we're stuck drinking from only four nations. :)

Well what about our wines from here in the States?

Listen, I dumped Argentina for being 5th. Don't even get me started on the United States and their pathetic showing in the warm ups when they lost 6-10 to Munster (yes like the cheese). They are ranking in at 15 but I'm not expecting great things this year as they show little knowledge of the basics of the game - not even looking when they pass and let's not talk about the simple kicks missed.

Therefore I pledge to not drink any American wine in the month of September despite it being California Wine Month (there Joe, feel better now about being a month early?). I will be drinking and reviewing wines from the top four until we're left with two.

Look for our reviews here and at Grape Thinking for more fantastic picks - they're going to actually be in Paris for the games. Too much.

Marketing Wine for Women

2007-08-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

I don't normally get bothered but this has been gnawing at me for some time. Please just stick with this little rant.

Let's start with the facts. Did you know that 60% of the wine sold in the United States is to women? So if we start there, logic dictates that the wine market is already on target with its products. If women are already buying a good deal of the wine, why would marketers suddenly change their market to better accommodate them? We already like wine.

Why are the marketing companies shifting their focus? We don't want to be pandered to. We want to learn and grow into sophisticated wine drinkers. We DON'T want to buy Italian wines labeled 'Mommy's Time Out' and we don't all want lower alcohol roses. I have girlfriends who wouldn't touch a white wine or rose if their lives depended on it (unless it was going to go to waste and that's a totally different conversation). And other friends who love the heat that comes from a high alcohol Zin (yours truly included).

Hello?

We're being sold special PMS chocolates (ok this one makes sense, never mind) low taste, I mean low carb, beer and femine rum (yes it exists - pink label and all). So if it's pink we'll buy it? Novelties. Do we really want our wine to be a novelty too?

I think that as women develop as wine drinkers, and we are seeing so many more women enter in to the male dominated profession of wine directors and makers, we don't want the experience cheapened. How can we be taken seriously as winos if we're interested in too sweet shallow gunk with the tasting depth of a SoCal rain storm?

So my plea is this. Leave male verses female out of wine and concentrate on making better wine.

Beer vs. Wine Tasting

2007-08-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

Beer verses wine is a question that puzzles us here at The Wino Club most days. Honestly, Darcy and I are severely uncomplicated people. We're the type of friends who would be just as happy opening up a bottle of MGD as a bottle of the finest wine as long as we were hanging out with other cool friends.

So this event intrigues us. On September 27, El Bizchocho Restaurant at Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego is hosting a six-course beer versus wine dinner.

Diners will taste a sampling of wine and beer with each course, then fill out a card noting their preference. At the end of the meal, which will include, among others things, hamachi, soft shell crab and lamb dishes prepared by chef Gavin Kaysen, the results will be tallied and announced. Championing wine will be sommelier Barry Wiss, who presides over the restaurant's cellar of over 1,600 selections. On the suds side, Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing Company, the folks that produce the artisanal Stone Pale Ale, Stone Smoked Porter, and Arrogant Bastard Ale. The two will select the pairings in their respective categories. To reserve a spot, contact the restaurant at: (858) 675-8550. The price is $125 per person.

For more information, click here.

We highly recommend that our friends check out this link as the date of the event falls right in between my birthday and Darcy's birthday (call us if you need us to remind you of the exact dates). Tickets might be a great way to recognize our birthdays, don't you think?

The Wino Club Expands to Facebook

2007-08-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

We're bloggers here. I didn't know how much I would love blogging about wine though until we moved from obscurity to having so many hits each day. It's so much nicer blogging when you know you're not talking with yourself. Thank you to all of our faithful readers who check in with us daily.

It felt the same way when I discovered Facebook. I've been taking a blogging class online and one of our assignments a couple of months ago was to set up a profile there. I've met amazing people and received a camaraderie that we fellow bloggers experience together as well.

Then it hit me - I'm going to make a group there that's all about wine tasting. There are several collective applications on Facebook that are for finding and tasting wine, but no real forum where we can discuss, well, wine stuff. I put up the group around midnight last night and as of 8AM this morning we already have 18 members so I think we're doing pretty well.

If you are already a Facebooker, check us out at The Wino Club Collective. If you have not seen Facebook, setting up a profile is free and can be set up here. Beware though, it's addictive!

Pairing Raspberry with Chocolate

2007-08-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with wine but yum... M&M is going to be releasing a limited edition "RaZZberry" flavor. Pairing raspberries with chocolate. Brilliant. I haven't seen them hit the stores yet but they do have a funny commercial on their site here. Don't even get me started on the new Dark Chocolate M&M's.

Now we just need to find the perfect wine to go with them... any suggestions?

Wino Club's Wine Journey

2007-08-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

I was reading a post last night by a fellow blogger at Rockss and Fruit where Lyle was complaining that the big wines he used to favor and subsequently built his cellar around just don't make the grade anymore. And it got me to thinking about Darcy's and my wine journey.

There was a day when wine was just another drink. Two-buck-Chuck did the job just fine. Bunko was Drunko and the number of empty bottles at the end of the evening meant the difference of walking on the sidewalk on the way home or trying to find home. It was a beautiful place to be.

Then we started our own wine tasting club a few years ago with a bunch of friends and for a while we continued our naive tasting experience. Our palettes developed a little and we outgrew Two-buck-Chuck but weren't quite knowledgeable to venture much beyond our safe California wines. When Darcy and I started making our Wino Club Kits (shameless plug: a party in a box with instructions and materials to start your own monthly wine tasting club with friends) we started taking wine classes and certification courses in wine and the business of wine.

And our wine tasting world exploded.

Suddenly we knew what Chardonnay was meant to taste like and how the complexity of a wine was so much more important than the initial pop. And the more GOOD wine we drank, the pickier we became. And it's getting worse. I was at a party last evening and just couldn't drink any of the choices available because, well yuck. My palette doesn't crave yuck. It wants yum. So I drank beer. It seemed the better alternative (I may have to cancel my upcoming beer tasting classes though because I need some naivety in my palette).

It is horrible to go from one preference to another. We have to morn that blissful ignorant day when a glass of Two-Buck-Chuck hit the spot. And don't get us wrong, it's not that the more expensive is better. Some of our favorite wines are under $10. We don't need to reopen the debate about the State Fair again - it's not about that. It's about a subtlety of flavor that at an earlier point in our palette development just didn't matter. Now we're wine snobs. How horrible!

For me personally, I guess I will just have to serve the stuff I've outgrown for my friends who are still blissfully ignorant. I can't serve it to my Wino Club but my Drunko group will drink anything. Sorry ladies, but I can't let even bad alcohol go to waste!

About That Wine Bottle

2007-08-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever really looked at the shape and color of your wine bottle?

Honestly, I think most bottles are beautiful. Our friend Terry at Keyways Winery used a whole assortment of them in the small bathroom window for privacy instead of a window treatment (if you don't remember how obsessed I was about her bathrooms, please look to the archives because her facilities are brilliant!).

But it's not pure aesthetics that drive the vintner to her choice of bottle. This is an article we found posted by the Wine Lady (don't you just love that?). She gave a concise lesson on wine bottles that I'm not soon to forget and although she did leave plenty of disclaimers I think that generally she hit everything head on.

The colors of the bottles are clear, blue or couple of different shades of green and brown. White wines come in all the colors while red wines only come in a couple. Wine does not like light so dark bottles are required for them. Red wines are the ones that can stay in a cellar for years, so they need dark colored bottles to keep out the light. Whites are usually meant to be consumed young, thus the reason for clear or light green bottles. Rieslings usually are sold in blue or brown bottles. Those colors represent certain areas of Germany. For example, brown bottles represent the Rhine area and green bottles the Mosel area. But this is just tradition, and is not always true.

The shapes of the bottles can usually tell you two things. One is where the wine is from. Think about that blue bottle of Riesling, tall and narrow with no shoulders. It is from Germany and it is an off-dry, or if you prefer, a sweet wine. Again, not always true. I have a green, tall and narrow bottle. It is from Portugal and is semi-off-dry with a bit of bubbles. Now picture a bottle of Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. That style of bottle is called Burgundy. Pinot Noir is less tannic and can be fruity, as well as Chardonnay. Those are the two grapes they grow in Burgundy. The bottles with the high shoulders are called Bordeaux bottles. They have high shoulder to help hold back the sediment when decanting the wine after it has aged. The wines sold in those bottles are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc. Again, these are the typical grapes grown in Bordeaux. They have more tannins. It is the tannins that fall out and form the sediment the shoulders hold back.

Not many people notice the bottom of the bottles. Again, the next time you are looking at a bottle of wine, pick it up and look at the bottom. A Riesling will not have a punt. An expensive Merlot or Cabernet will have a deep punt. The punt is there to collect the sediment from the tannins falling out. It is there for the same reasons the high shoulders are. Rieslings are not meant to be aged, so no need for a punt. You will also notice the difference in the depth of the punts.

We would like to thank Sara Cujak of Fond du Lac, owner of Cujak's Wine Market, 74 S. Main St. for her full article please click here.

California Wine Month Declared by Schwartzennegger

2007-08-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of the harvest and California Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger has declared September to be California Wine Month for the third year in a row. On their new website, set up in honor of this great PR moment, the Wine Institute shows their enthusiasm by posting the actual proclamation that you can download. They even have California Wine Month tasting mats that you can print up for your celebratory event.

Go visit the site and see their calendar of events for a fun way to get a taste of California.

Cork, Screwtop or ZORK?

2007-08-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

No, we are not talking about some imaginary creature from Dr. Seuss (although I think I may need to re-read "There's a Wocket in My Pocket" again just to be sure). The Zork is a new method of sealing and re-sealing your wine.

That's right: the Australians are at it again. Australians are at the cusp of every maverick wine making tool and gadget. Screw tops have long been used there for their superior seal and airtight portability that eliminates corked, or spoiled, wine. Screw tops also don't have the environmental implications of the Cork closure. What screw tops lack however was the romance of hearing that 'pop' provided by removing the cork.

Never fear, the Zork is here (yes, I saw Underdog this weekend). It has the same airtight seal of the screw top. It's easy to remove requiring nothing but you hands and unlike swollen corks, is easy to re-insert into the bottle to save your wine. And the best part? It 'pops'. And if you're worried about the environment, it's 100% recyclable.

At this point, we'll only be seeing the Zork on the mid-priced wines in the $15-$40 range although it is sure to trickle down into the lower priced wines as the production becomes more cost effective. Will you see it anytime soon on your higher prices wines? Probably not... can you see it now? You're in a fine restaurant ordering $100 bottle of something nice, being offered the Zork to sniff? Right.

For a really cool video and information go to Zork's Website here.

Happy tasting!

Wine in American Restaurants

2007-08-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

We read a lot about wine and wine news every day (remember the post about our bloglines?). When we came across this survey result, we had to stop and re-read. Winemetrics LLC conducted a survey of 10,000 restaurants across 20 States and came up with some pretty amazing results. We personally have not been able to read the report - we don't have a copy primarily because it costs $299 which would buy a lot of wine. However our friend Alder over at Vinography was able to give us a sneak peak:

... this survey goes a little deeper, and offers up the following additional tidbits of interest:
The top 100 brands represented on American wine lists actually include 15 French wines, 7 Italian, 2 Australian, and 1 Chilean.
I never would have guessed these numbers. If you had asked me I would have thought that one or two would be French (remember Mouton Cadet?) and there would be likewise be only one or two from Spain and Italy as well. I assume the wines from Australia is Yellow Tail, and probably Rosemount or some other Penfolds brand. I don't have a good sense of what the Chilean wine would be.
Other top selling brands include Caymus, Cakebread, Sterling Vineyards, Veuve Clicquot, and Clos du Bois
This was interesting to me, mostly because several of these tend to be more expensive wines, certainly more expensive than all the wines on the top 10 brand list. The survey goes on to report that the largest number of wines consumed in restaurants cost between $25 and $39, but the article referencing the survey doesn't say what percentage of all the wines consumed is represented by this "largest number." I assume it is less than 50% as they didn't use the phrase "the majority."

Americans drink twice as much red wine as white, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir being the two top choices, trailed by Merlot in a close third. The top white wine is Chardonnay.
I guess this is not so surprising on any front, though I wish I knew what the number two white was. Any guesses? My bet is Sauvignon/Fume Blanc, with Pinot Grigio trailing with a distant third place.
To read the full story click here.

Wino Club Tasting Winners

2007-08-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last night our Wino Club met and we tasted Meritage. It was an odd pick for a 90+ degree day but we went with it. Our Hostess LV Vinton picked it so who were we to complain?

Our club members brought 11 wines and we tasted a total of 9 wines because of duplicates. This was one of our smallest club gatherings ever and yet oddly enough we drank nearly all of the wine. There were definitely empties as proof that it was a well liked wine. Either that or I forgot my pour spout so the tastings got a little larger than usual (oops!).

The winner of the evening was tough to determine and we had to (emphasis on HAD to) re-taste the top two to make the final determination.

First Place, Double Gold Medal goes to Estancia 2004 Meritage out of Paso Robles. This wine was brought by Jan Duran, picked up at BevMo for just under $30.00. Why did she pick this one in particular? She's a big fan of the wines coming out of Paso plain and simple. This blend is 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 9% Petit Verdot. The nose, as with all of the Meritage we tasted, was very dense and took us a long time to draw out. What we did get was dark fruit of black cherry and plum, tobacco and cedar. What we tasted was a perfectly balanced and well rounded wine that we worth the re-taste for sure.

Now the wine we brought was not a Meritage (rebels) and we did not win (although we were in the top 3). It was Chateau des Annereaux 2003 Bordeaux from Lalande-de-Pomerol (Girande). We picked it up for our Meritage tasting as an example of what the Meritage Association was basing it's blend on. However we also couldn't pass it up at Cost Plus for $22 especially when we read the blend. Uniquely different for a traditional Bordeaux, the mix was 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The mix of the Cab Franc in there made a huge impact on the flavor and color of the wine. Even with the 70% Merlot this wine had a meatiness that I wasn't expecting. It was a great wine for the price point but I need to go on record that it did not have the flavors typical to a Bordeaux.

We were all very happy with our winner - thanks goes out to LV for hosting our wine tasting party this month and we're looking forward our next Wino Winner!

Sincerely,
Stacy & Darcy
The Original Winos!

Wine and Cheese

2007-08-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little tip today about pairing wine and cheese. There are entire books dedicated to how best to pair up this wine to that cheese. I've seen cool wheels and gadgets that make putting these items together easy and have been sorely tempted to buy them for our wine tasting parties.

I don't like to make my life more difficult than it has to be though. Most cheese are salty or acidic that make matching them, well, hard. So instead of making sure you have the right cheese with the right wine, add a 'bridge' food. Fruit and nuts help bridge the gap in the palate so you can serve the wine you want with a cheese you like.

Simple right?

Fantasy Wine

2007-08-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

I don't have high hopes of becoming a wine investor anytime soon. It's not the output of money that puts me off, although anything over $40 is spendy on something I'm consuming. No it's the not opening the bottle that gets me. It's the waiting. Being a typical American consumer / wine drinker I think that's quite normal. I have a small wine rack that holds about 12 bottles and it's my quest to always keep it full. Consequently that means frequent replenishing because I actually drink the bottles I put in there.

But with a free budget (meaning other people's money) to buy any wine as an investment online, could I just walk away for two years to come back to check on my profit? It's wine investing without the stress of looking at your unopened bottles beckoning to you "open, open, open," like a Mervyn's commercial.

Hold tight because Decanter Magazine runs a game that lets you do this. I believe it is full for the 2007 investment (winners to be posted in 2009 if you remember to check back) but those lucky players were given 10,000 pounds to buy a portfolio of wine. There were 25 different wines and to pick and choose from until the monetary allotments were spent. In 2009 their wine portfolios will be assessed and a winner will be determined.

It's like Fantasy Football for Winos and a really, really cool idea. The downside is that I have immediate gratification issues (did you read the first part of the article?) and could never wait two years to find out if I'd won or lost. If I had that sort of patience, I would actually buy the wine itself and wait to drink it, or sell it for that matter.

To read more about the rules and to find the lists of past winners go to Decanter Magazine here.

Wine in Paris Au Naturel

2007-08-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Wine, Naturally
Forget brasseries. Paris is enticing epicureans with a new wave of wine bars.

Not quite as seductive as it sounds but while flying to Denver, I noticed a good many articles about wine in the Hemispheres Magazine on United. I only sit still if I'm reading and the book I brought lacked the 'must read' quality I had found in my Harry Potter book so I started flipping and came across this article:

Evidently the newest rage in tasting wine in Paris is wine that reflect only the terroir and wine making without any additives. No we're not talking just organic/ We mean to the extreme of letting the bubbles occur completely natural in the bottle. Will these wines be exported to the United States - highly doubtful. So unless our next trip on United takes us to Paris (World Cup Rugby this year would be a great gift!) I won't be trying these wines any time soon.

For the full story go to Hemispheres Magazine here.

Darcy & Stacy,

The Original Winos

Rubgy and Wine

2007-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Now we never really correlated the Rugby World Cup and Wine... we love beer too and figured that Rugby and beer were a natural pairing, right? Then we received this email and we can't wait to start tasting.

Dear Stacy,

Thanks for your comment on our site! In the spirit of internationalism and world events – Grape Thinking is hosting the World Cup of Wine in September 2007 in honour of the World Cup Rugby in France this September. Basically, countries came to play Rugby in the same way that they came to learn the craft of winemaking – and the tradition comes from a long line of cultural sharing, and the World Cup Rugby represents a celebration of shared culture and the in these troubled times, is a demonstration of the world in union: different cultures and countries all playing the same sport and celebrating unity in diversity.

The World Cup of Wine 2007 aims to show how wine merely represents a facet of internationalism – and it is things like wine, rugby, food, literature and music that bind this world together – and for this reason they should be celebrated. We wish to do this by encouraging people to try wine from the great rugby playing nations and to then submit reviews to us.

Grape Thinking opens its pages to wine bloggers and enthusiasts from the 1^st of September 2007 to Sunday the 30^th – and we will feature reviews, bottle shots and pictures of wines from Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina that are e-mailed to Ruarri@grapethinking.com – all in all, we aim to feature in excess of 180 reviews.

Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina are not only some of the world’s great wine-producing nations: but they are also great rugby nations.

Stacy, I’d like to personally ask you if you would like to submit a few wine reviews for the event. We will have a draw at the end of the event – and all the reviewers who submit will be entered into it. At the end of the month, the winner of the draw will be in the running to wine a bottle of wine from each one the featured countries.

If the Grapethinking team can be of any help to you, please be sure to let us know.

Also, if you have any comments, requests or suggestions in regard to the event or anything else please let me know.

Stacy, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cheerz,

Ruarri

With an invitation like this, how can we not participate? We are looking forward to watching some awesome Rugby (alas only on t.v.) and drinking some great wine in the wine blogging community. Thanks go out to Grapethinking for the invite!

Passionate About Wine?

2007-08-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Our post today is a bit less about wine and more about, well this whole blogging thing we're doing here. There are thousands and thousands of blogs in the world right now, making it more and more possible to not only get the information you need on any topic but to make it an ongoing education that's fun.

Case in point, if you enjoy reading this blog we would like to encourage you to visit the links that we have posted along the right side of your screen. These are some of the best wine blogs we have found and we keep in touch with what's going on in the world of wine by reading them regularly.

I know that most websites don't encourage people to visit their competition, but the Blogosphere is different. We Bloggers are like a giant community of people with similar interests, in this case wine. So surf away and support our fellow Winos! We subscribe to all of their feeds and we're hoping a few of them will interest you as well.

Our 'techy' trick to making sense of all of these blogs? We have Bloglines installed. It is a free program that enables us to subscribe to many, many blogs and then flip through the new posts within minutes without necessarily having to go to each site every day. You can use it for our blog too :) Check it out by clicking here. Then when you subscribe to any blog (like ours - there's a button on the right that you hit to subscribe) it will post the feed into your Bloglines each day so you can see who has updated their content and you can read the posts on your Bloglines screen. It's a great time saver AND a great way to learn about wine.

Have a great time... we'd love to hear about which blogs were your favorites! And if you find some you think should be added to our site, post the link in the comments area and we'll take a look.

Thanks and happy blog surfing!

Stacy & Darcy,
Original Winos at http://www.thewinoclub.com

Decanting Your Wine

2007-08-11T08:05:00.001-07:00

Your table is elegantly set and you bring out the crystal decanter filled with a gorgeous red liquid. How fancy are you?

News flash – you may just be creating more dishes to wash.

When we're talking red wines, you should let an older wine breathe a little before serving but there are only a couple of reasons you want to actually decant:

1. You are not patient (not many of us are) and you open up a wine that’s not quite mature. What the heck does that mean? It’s probably still too tannic (and not in a good way). You’ve tasted this wine before undoubtedly – the one that made your tongue pucker? Give that youngie some air. Pour it with vigor into the decanter and swish it from time to time to help mellow it out. You’ll still have a wine high in tannin, but the extra air you just provided it should help turn it into a very drinkable wine.

2. Sludge. Yes, unfiltered wines or aged wines that have settlement should be decanted VERY SLOWLY. Don’t loose the flavor or scent, just watch to filter out the particles. It is helpful to hold up a flashlight or candle (going back to being fancy) and look for the settlement before it enters into the decanter.

There are many in the wine world who think that decanting is an essential part of enjoying fine red wine. Perhaps I don't drink enough collector-level wines. But for the most part, decanting is an extra step that delays my tasting time!

Temecula Winos Gone Wild

2007-08-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

O.K. seriously. Here's a story brought to our attention by fellow blogger Marisa D'Vari at A Wine Story about our little wine country here in Temecula, CA. I thought the epidemic was prevalent only on the East Coasts (see Lenndevours for details on this story) but evidently I was wrong.

Here is a top news story on CBS posted a couple of days ago.

I cannot say that I have not noticed drunken tours going through town, but when you have paid for a designated driver the tasting automatically turns into more of a pub crawl. We have over 20 wineries here in town. Even if some are banning the tours many are not. Locals wishing to avoid the chaos pick the smaller wineries. Do the tours make tasting a miserable experience? Absolutely NOT. People watching is as much fun as tasting the wine. I would object more if the tours were self directed with drunk drivers on the road.

Any thoughts on how Temecula compares to other wine regions? Is Napa Valley really so sophisticated as to not hold limo tours? I personally know of a group of friends that visited 11 wineries in one day with 24 people. Chaos? You bet. It's to be expected!

Naked Chardonnay for Wine Blogging Wednesday

2007-08-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

O.K. so we're a day behind... did you read the last post about being on vacation? Anyhow, we did taste a Naked Chardonnay for Wine Blogging Wednesday and even though it's Thursday, we can't be left behind, can we?

Stats: Novellum 2004 Chardonnay Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes, imported by Eric Solomon/ Europesn Cellars.

We went to France in the region of Languedoc for a country wine (Vin de Pays) and spent a whopping $5 on this $10 wine because we have a store near us closing down. SCORE! This unoaked Chardonnay was definitely higher in acid than a typical Chardonnay, even one from France. It had a distinct nose with scents of stone, banana, burnt sugar, walnut and citrus. The finish was not long but was a nice crisp white wine with a beautiful golden Chardonnay hue. Serve it up with some spicy Thai food and you've got a bargain of an afternoon wine on your hands.

By the way, did you notice the Americanized label with the varietal listed instead of the region? It took us a couple of takes to really understand how European wines are adjusting to the times eh?

Check out all the wine recaps at Lenndevours!

Wine in Colorado

2007-08-09T06:33:00.001-07:00

Did everyone miss us? Darcy and I both went on vacation at the same time. Darcy went out to Key West, Florida to visit her brother and family and I went to Denver, Colorado to take the kids to see my mom. My mother and her husband don't really drink so I was considering myself on sabbatical. Funny thing is that I just could not take a complete wine break.

It was an odd thing to be driving away from the Georgetown Loop Railroad and run into a winery. Yep. Middle of Colorado and not a vine to be seen and on the side of the road was a charming little winery called Canyon Wind Cellars.

Turns out the vineyards are 200 miles away in Palisade, Colorado along the north bank of the Colorado River at 4,710 feet in elevation. Their mantra, from wine maker Robert Pepi is "Taste what world class winemaking does for the wonderful grapes of Western Colorado."

O.K.. Four free tasting - how can I not? They offered the usual suspects with a couple of twists I found enjoyable. Of course there was a Rose since it is so hot right now. It was more of an American Rose tending more on the sweet side of blush. Their Chardonnay was twist one. There were two Chards: one oak and one not. Twist two was the wine I bought: 2005 Petit Verdot. It was such a little seen varietal that the uniqueness of it drew me to want to pack it up in my suitcase (which may be why they searched it and then lost it for a few hours, delivering it to my home unscathed at midnight).

This wine has some weight and structure to it for sure. According to their descriptors... “…a dark, rich wine with exceptionally deep color, great weight and structure. Aromas and flavors of violets, dark berries, and black cherries abound with a hint of bacon. Enjoy with hearty game or spicy Cajun food!”

Bacon? mmmmmmmmmm. Actually I did detect a leathery smell and flavor, perhaps tanned bacon? Anyhow, I'll be letting this one sit of a couple of years to tame it down and let some of the flavors mature. It will remind me of a Colorado winter because it's not one I'm going to be drinking in the middle of summer for sure!

My mother bought the Rose, but since White Zinfandel is her favorite wine it was not shocking. Please don't get me started.

So next time you're in Colorado I would encourage to you to stop in at one of their two locations. Their web site is http://www.canyonwindcellars.com.

Happy tasting!

Chardonnay: The Queen of Whites

2007-07-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

When it comes to white wine, there is no white grape grown as much as Chardonnay. Therefore it is the most well sold grape varietal in the whites as well. It has a reputation for it's big yellow buttery oakey impact and can be temperamental to pair with food because of its big pow.

But guess what? Chardonnay does not have to have that big oakey flavor. You see, New World vintners make it so because the American palettes have asked for it. I guess it's a 'Bigger is Better' mentality (which applies to a lot with the exception of gift boxes right ladies out there?). In reality, Chardonnay is all about the winemaker. Many wine makers consider Chardonnay a blank slate capable of becoming anything the winemaker wants, from crisp and cool steely dryness to huge oak and butter.

So when you pull down a bottle of Chardonnay, what can you expect? Well, if it's a typical New World Chardonnay (which means everywhere but Europe), then expect that big bold flavor. It's like the Cabernet of whites. The exception would be a naked Chardonnay, meaning it was made in Steel rather than Oak. Then we're getting closer to the crisp dry wines found in Chablis, France where Chardonnay is made in steel or used oak barrels. Yum, let's talk about French Chardonnay now.

White Burgundy, not to be confused with any other label with white in it (like White Zinfandel) is not a blush wine. It is 100% Chardonnay and is worth every drop that comes from the bottle. By far Stacy's favorite white wine to drink, it can be quite a shocking taste experience for a Chardonnay drinker for it has a crisp richness instead of the heavy flavors of the oakey Chardonnays. They have a zing to them with nice toffee and honey at the end.

I would like to encourage you to taste a New World Chardonnay, most likely a California one and then taste a Premier Cru (meaning top quality and it will be listed as such on the bottle) Burgundy, preferably from Chablis and taste the difference. Email us your results please or post your comments on our blog under Chardonnay at www.thewinoclub.blogspot.com because we'd love to hear from you!

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,

Darcy & Stacy

P.S. to show our commitment to the cause, this post was written with a cold glass of Chablis in our hand!

Wino Food Pairing with Chardonnay

2007-07-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

A special thanks goes out from us to our friend Leah Di Bernardo of Delyte's Fine Food Company. Check out her web site at http://delytes.com for her fabulous food and catering services. She is also the proud owner of The Castle found at http://www.thecastlebandb.com. Check out both sites for some of the most delicous food in town, Slow Food to be more exact (see her site to find out what that means and it doesn't mean the crock pot). Leah is also a fellow Rotarian and a very intriguing woman with great stories. Please be sure to support her!

Cooking your fish on a cedar plank is a method of cooking and smoking salmon that has been used for many years. Make sure to use natural cedar. The salmon is Slow Cooked which produces a rich, smoky flavor.

Cedar Planked Salmon

Yields- 6 servings

PREP TIME is about 20 minutes

COOK TIME is 15 minutes- "watch your fish!!"

INGREDIENTS

* 24x8x1 inch untreated cedar plank

* 6 (4 ounce) fillets salmon

* Fresh/Organic Dill

* 1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns

Quick Marinade- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 tspn dijon; 1 tspn REAL maple syrup; 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup ale (beer), 1 chopped garlic clove (whisk or blend in cuisinart.

Pour marinade over salmon, marinating for 20 or so minutes. Add fresh dill to the top, covering the entire fish. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap) **use a Pyrex or ceramic pan.. NO METALS

DIRECTIONS

1. Submerge untreated cedar plank in water. Soak approximately 12 hours, or overnight.

2. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Place prepared plank on the grill, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cover grill and heat plank 2 to 3 minutes, until dry. Adjust grill temperature for medium heat.

3. Arrange Salmon on the plank, with dill still atop fish. Top with ground black peppercorns, and a smidge of sea salt

4. Cook salmon, covered, 10 to 12 minutes, or until opaque and easily flaked with a fork.

Chardonnay Quick Tasting Tips

2007-07-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Chardonnay is all about the winemaker. Look for the following when tasting and smelling this varietal:

Flint
Stone
Melon
Banana
Butter
Burnt Sugar
Green Apple
Nuts
Peach
Vanilla
Butterscotch
Citrus
Pineapple
Apricot
Smoke
Caramel
Pears
Honey
Ginger
Oak
Nutmeg

Wine for the Pairing Impaired

2007-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

So at the end of the day, I am working out the kinks with a nice glass of wine and my laptop and decide my brain needed a break (the wine helped in the decision making process) so I started Stumbling!

Before you start judging me (it was only 1 glass), I don' t mean tripping and falling. I mean I have an application on my computer called Stumble! (http://www.stumbleupon.com). It's a great tool for rating sites and it learns from what about my interests are and picks out random pages it thinks I might be interested in. Think of it as the automated features found in TiVo except for web pages. When I need a brain break or I'm doing research, it's fun to see where it takes me.

Long story short, the first two Stumbles brought me to great wine blogs I hadn't read before. Then on the third try I got confused so I stopped to write this. What I found is a series of wines made to perfectly pair with typical American food fares. This bottle is 'Wine That Loves Roasted Chicken' and was on a website with some very well thought out food pairing notes for each of the wines. The wines included perfect pairings for (or Wine That Loves...) Roasted Chicken, Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Pizza, Grilled Steak and Grilled Salmon.

Brilliant marketing really, beautiful bottle, great writing on the site, although I was disappointed that the varietals used in each of the wines were lacking. I'm not sure it was on purpose but I'm thinking that based on the branding they are doing, it was.

Now, I'm sure this will create some knee jerk reactions. Please share your thoughts on this one. My brain is having a wrestling match between the wine snob, the admirer of good ideas and the instant gratification American. Who do you think wins this fight?

For their site, go to www.winethatloves.com.

Wine and Art of Temecula

2007-07-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

From time to time there is a local artist who captivates what it is like to live here in the Temecula Valley in Southern California. Stephen Eldred has some beautiful photos posted on his website at www.thefineartofphotography.com that I would encourage you to check out. This is one of my favorites entitled 'Peppertree and Vineyard'. Thank you Stephen for allowing us to share your image on-line!

Bad Wine

2007-07-25T19:21:00.001-07:00

It has actually happened to me twice in one week. The first was at our Wino Club to one of the Rieslings. Tonight, I had a beautiful Premier Cru White Burgundy chilling. There is a cool summer breeze flowing outside on the patio and I'm ready to relax. I open up the beautiful foil and I see it. The cork had visible signs of foil rust, if there is such a thing. The cork had turned a beautiful shade of burnt umber. Beautiful on anything else but a cork of course. Ever hopeful, I took a chance and opened it up and unfortunately confirmed my fears: the bottle was corked.

Corked wine means that somewhere along the road the cork no longer provided the proper air seal and the wine spoils and goes bad. My beautiful Burgundy was not even fit to make a vinaigrette. When you open and pour any bottle, if it is corked you will know it. Don't blame the wine. The corked Riesling last Thursday tasted like rubber bands, an odd flavor for this particular varietal if I must say so myself. I don't always trust my nose because some wine actually does smell bad, can we talk about petrol and cat pee? But there's no tricking my eyes (yes, the bottle level had dropped by an inch as well but I kept on hoping) AND my mouth which definitely did not care for the sour flavor that ensued.

The saddest thing was that it was my last bottle of white anything. It's been so warm that I've been plowing through them until I was savoring this last bottle before my next trip to the wine store. Now I have nothing and will have to revert to my natural ways and pop open an ice cold beer!

Winning Riesling Wine

2007-07-24T06:24:00.001-07:00

Our personal wine club tasted Riesling this month. Actually we tasted 16 Rieslings this month and I can't even tell you the sugar rush that that experience brought on. My little heart almost burst when the last wine of the evening was a Spatlese!

Needless to say, there can be only one winner at the end of all of that tasting and ours was 2006 Clos du Bois Riesling. So why do I have photos of two bottles? Keep reading and my thoughts will become clear.

2006 Clos du Bois Riesling can be referred to as a basic, not too sweet Riesling. On the nose we detected honey, ginger and tangerine. Upfront flavors of ripe fruit come rushing out at you although the citrus punch finish ends the flavors quickly leaving a high acidic ending, pithy almost. This is not a complicated wine. It is a mainstream wine hailing from the Santa Lucia Highlands in the Monterey Valley and at around $12 a bottle you can serve it to anyone on a hot day. Thanks to Lisa VanEssen-Vinton (owner http://www.services4success.com/) for bringing it!

Winner out of the way now I can add my two cents. Wine is a completely personal experience so I can honestly say that although our club voted fair and square, I preferred the second place wine and will buy it for the fridge, thus the second photo.

It was the 2005 Dr. Weins-Prum Riesling Kabinett hailing from Wehlener Sonnenuhr in the Mosel-Sarr-Ruyer region in Germany. That was a mouthful and so was the wine. I love Kabinett and Troken Rieslings hailing from Mosel-Sarr-Ruyer in the first place with their drier fruitiness than typically found in American Rieslings. This particular Riesling had a nice full nose of peaches and apricots, jasmine, green apples, minerals, and surprisingly cinnamon. This QmP rated wine did not let me down on the palette either. It had well rounded sugars, leaving the fruit to do the talking with an elegant almost pineapple finish. Unlike the Clos du Bois which hits you all at once, it had a nice full flavor that left me asking for one more sip to figure it out. And I took multiple 'one more sips' and revisited it at the end of the evening just to see if my palette had changed after the tasting as it sometimes does. But my first impression was consistent with my last. And for around $17 it's one wine I can definitely recommend checking out.

In the Wineries

2007-07-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

We would like to send out a BIG thank you to Terri Pebley, the only female winery owner in the Temecula Valley, for hosting Feminita Vita! this weekend. Designed to support fellow women business owners and to kick off their first wine created for women, Keyways Winery opened their newly remodeled doors to The Wino Club (she's a brave woman!). We have to tell you that the transformation of this winery is spectacular. I drank extra water just so I could hang out in the restroom and check out the beautiful pounded copper stalls.

Thanks again Terri and Keyways Winery for a fantastic weekend of music, shopping and wine. For more information on this winery, go to http://www.keywayswine.com .

Winos Give Back

2007-07-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know that women under 40 are ofter ignored in the fight against breast cancer? A younger woman (uninsured) who finds a lump also finds that the state will kick in with support once she is fully diagnosed. This means that she will need to pay out of pocket for all of the test procedures before hand, a proposal that most of these women can't afford. In comes Michelle's Place. Michelle's Place is a breast cancer resource center based in the Temecula Valley, California. They support this group of women who are otherwise ignored. The host of services and support they provide are inspiring and is truly a grass roots effort that continues to grow in our community.

It seemed only natural that part of the proceeds of The Wino Club kit be donated to their cause. Their Director, Kim Goodnough, is also a great friend of ours and a member of our Wino Club so we might have been coerced a little as well (in a good way).

Here we are at Kim's home after she hosted our wine tasting group presenting her with a check for $330 for Michelle's Place. Every little bit helps right? We understand that the photo is not the best but we had a lot of sugar in us at the time, having just tasted 16 Rieslings. Our results of the tasting will be posted tomorrow so stay tuned! To find out more about Michelle's Place go to http://www.michellesplace.org/.

Wine Blogging Wednesday - Spain Under $10

2007-07-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Imagine the front of a Syrah, earthy and gamey, with the finish of a Zinfandel, black cherry spice and heat, and you’ve got the Luzon Verde 2005 from Jumilla, Spain. We’ve been reading so much about the newer trend of organic wines that when we saw this wine we killed two birds with one stone. Finca Luzon is known for putting out perfectly dependable red wines out of Spain and this one is no exception. At 100% Monastrell, or Mouvedre, it is a bit unusual. Normally a blended varietal, it stands alone here and does a bang up job.

Honestly, the smell is not so pleasant as we immediately note a dirty sock floating around in our glass. It is definitely meaty with some tart fruity undertones of gooseberry and blueberry. The color however is an absolutely beautiful dark solid purple.

The tannins, normally quite high in this varietal are tamed out nicely, perhaps because of the tank fermentation used. The best part of the tasting was the duplicity of wine. It really does start out gamey and full and then rolls seamlessly into a spicy heat with a black cherry or red licorice finish. And let’s talk about the 13.5% alcohol. If Syrah and Zin had babies, this is what it would be.

This is an unbelievable value at under $10. Wines of Spain just went up a notch in our belts this afternoon sipping this bargain.

For more information on the upcoming Wine Blogging Wednesday, tune into http://lennthompson.typepad.com/lenndevours/wine_blogging_wednesday.html and a big thanks to this month's coordinator at http://www.wine-girl.net/. Happy tasting!

Sauvignon Blanc Down South

2007-07-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

We’re going far South, as far South as vineyards grow in fact, to the Beautiful coastlines of New Zealand. New Zealand is a New World wine producer, and in fact was only legally allowed to sell wine in bottles sometime the 1960’s. These two beautiful islands were formed via volcano making their soils high in minerals. Most of their production here, as opposed to Italy, is white, a full 75% in fact. They produce many wines (Chardonnay is their most planted grape varietal) but it is their Sauvignon Blanc that put them on the wine maps.

If you have ever tasted a Sauvignon Blanc you still might not recognize one coming out of New Zealand. It can only be described as having an aggressive herbal vibrancy that’s like freshly cut grass. The high minerals in the soil, the chilly climate, abundance of rain and the proximity of all the vineyards to the ocean (about 80 miles at the furthest growth) make their grapes prone to mold and can lead to under-ripe tasting wines. But it also leads to one of the crispest Sauvignon Blancs around.

Technology is the New Zealanders’ best friend. When I say that this wine growing region is New World, they take it to extreme. There are no oak barrels or deep wine caves here. The grapes are mostly picked by machines and are grown on special trellises to avoid some of the mold issues in their dense canopies. Large steel tanks give an almost sterile look to the wineries here but it is what drives the bite in their green fruit.

It is hard to avoid using the term green with this Sauvignon Blanc. Just a quick look at New Zealand and all you can see is green amongst the steep slopes. But there is also some beautiful fruit like kiwi and passion fruit that lend to the wild nature of this white.

The best part of course is that you can buy fantastic Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand starting at about $8. I personally look for wines coming out of Marlborough on the cooler South Island although 40% of the vineyards are located on the Northern Island from Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Auckland.

Have a favorite Sauvignon Blanc? Post it here for us please because as summer gets going in full steam we’re going to need some good refreshment!

Happy tastings and we’ll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Stacy & Darcy

Sauvignon Blanc Quick Tasting Tips

2007-07-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sauvignon Blanc is all about clarity of flavor but don't go into it thinking this is a mild mannered white wine. Look for the following when tasting and smelling this varietal:

Melon Kiwi Pear Asparagus Fig Smoke

Hay Gunflint Grass Bell Pepper Gooseberry

Green Tea Musk Herbs Lemon Cat Pee Grapefruit

Red Wine and Cancer

2007-06-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

We know that our red wine is healthy for us. But the newest research actually had touted that it may be the cure for certain cancers as well.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry released a study in May stating that there is an antioxidant in red wine that actually killed human leukemia and lymphoma cells. How exciting is that breakthrough in the world of cancer research? Most importantly, how great do you feel to be a wino? Scientists tested the effectiveness of C-3-R (anachronysm for something you really don't want spelled out), which comes from the pigmentation chemical in the red grape skins and wine, on different types of leukemia cancer cells. The C-3-R produced peroxides that essentially killed off the cancer. Within 18 hours, all of the tested cells were dead. When they tested this on healthy cells, the cells remained undamaged. What this means is that the C-3-R kills off the bad and leaves the good, something that does not happen in radiation and chemotherapy where all cells are damaged.

I will be waiting anxiously for more news as their testing moves on from lab to animals. Hopefully this will be the huge breakthrough in cancer research that we've been waiting for.

Online Wine Tasting

2007-06-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

The world of wine blogging is fantastic to explore. There is a veritable hoard of information out there, from wine reviews to random rantings, some written more soberly than others. Some blogs post new articles almost daily while others lie as dormant as the wine they are collecting. But there is indeed a group of avid winos out there who are prolific and enthusiastically support each other in their pursuit of great wine.

Thus we come to Wine Blogging Wednesday. This is a blog tasting. That's right. A wine assignment is posted on Wednesday and then by a certain deadline everyone blogs about the wine. It certainly is one of the most creative ways I have seen to join forces with other winos and experience wines that may be passed up. One such tasting was boxed wines (sorry I missed that one, not) and last month was on Washington Cabs. There have been 34 tastings done so far since 2005 which is amazing for an online community.

This month the assignment is wines under $10 from Spain. Interested in finding out more? Go to http://lennthompson.typepad.com/lenndevours/wine_blogging_wednesday/index.html for the details. Make sure to check in here for our pick. I'm definitely in for $10 and since we've been requested by the coordinators to avoid Rioja it's going to be a special challenge!

Happy tasting! Please let us know if you participate in this tasting because we'd love to hear all about it.

The Wino Club at Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

2007-06-07T05:50:00.001-07:00

How much fun did we have this weekend at the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival? Darcy and I split our time between chatting with great people at our own Wino Club booth and volunteering our time to the festival in the VIP booth pouring up some great wine.

We were able to raise $230 for Michelle's Place through the sale of The Wino Club kits as well as from the sale of special coasters donated to them for this purpose. On top of it we raffled off a beautiful basket that was won by Samantha Edwards of Corona, CA. Congratulations.

Huge thanks goes to our INCREDIBLE friends and fellow winos who helped us out all weekend long and a special shout out to Diana Fox of Fox Interiors who completely rearranged our booth after we had it all set up. She made it way better let me tell you.

Looking forward to next year's event already. Hopefully you can come out for the weekend and say 'Hi' to your fellow Winos.

Wine Tasting Tips

2007-06-01T06:32:00.001-07:00

Learning to taste wine is a complicated art, but learning about the wines themselves, or at least learning to sound like you know what you are doing, is easy when you read the articles on this blog.

read more | digg story

Tasting Riesling

2007-06-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

Summer Calls For Riesling

Riesling is a wine that calls for warm days for sure. It is in it's best crisp and fruity and can range from somewhat dry to extraordinarily sweet. How can you tell the difference? Here in the New World, there's no way of telling except by trial and error. Darn, you have to taste a lot of wine. Sorry about that, not.

Riesling is high on acid and sugar and low on alcohol. It is usually a pale color, ranging from clear to a light wheat tone. It is great to clear the palette with and is floral and fruity. The most intriguing thing about this varietal though really is the range of flavors and characters this wine can embody. Not too many grapes range from a dry wine to sweet desert wine as easily as Riesling.

I have to profess that I am not historically a huge fan of Riesling. It's not that I don't care for white wines because my wine rack is filled with a variety of varietals (that's just fun to say). It is just that the Rieslings that I have tried have been too sweet for my taste. Then I started buying the imports. Riesling is best grown in cooler climates and the coldest wine growing regions in the world happen to be in Germany and Northern France, Alsace to be more specific. Their Rieslings have a beautiful crisp fruitiness that hit the spot for sitting poolside on a hot summer day. Paired perfectly with spicy Asian food, a personal favorite of mine, these imports have become a favorite go-to white for me. Plus the price points for a quality Riesling import are amazing! They can be remarkably inexpensive making it a non-guilty pleasure.

In the New World, fine Rieslings come from Washington State and even parts of New York State. For me though, it's the Old World that has my heart with this grape, perhaps because I can tell what I'm getting into by the bottle. Alsace in France has some beautiful Rieslings, as do 3 major regions in Germany, Mosel-Saar Rower, the Rheingau and the Rheinhessen.
There are 2 distinctions on the rating of the wine or winery. If the bottle has listed QbA, it means 'Quality by Countryside' and is a country wine. This is a step above a non-rated wine and means the grapes came from various vineyards and while it is a quality wine, it is not necessarily estate grown. QmP (Qualitatsweim mit Pradikat) means simply quality with pedigree. It is obviously a higher quality than QbA, and both are letters or phrases to look for when finding a good wine.

So my first trick is location (3 regions in Germany or Alsace are my favorites). My second trick is to check the quality on the German wines and my third and most important trick is to figure out how sweet or dry the wine is going to be. I don't like sweet wines but love the fruitiness that a bone dry Riesling can offer. On the label, Kabinett or Trocken means it's a dry wine. This is the one I will buy; in fact I will choose a QbA Kabinett over a QmP Spatlese any day. Spatlese means it is a select pick, is picked later and is slightly sweeter. Auslese is a desert quality wine. Don't buy this for drinking large quantities because you might get sick. Trockenbeerenauslese or TBA which is sweet and luxurious and a true treat, again in small portions.

I would like to encourage you to taste both New World and Old World Rieslings this month. Email us your results please or post your comments on our blog under Riesling at www.thewinoclub.blogspot.com because we'd love to hear from you!

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Riesling Quick Tips

2007-06-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Riesling is all about balance. Look for the following when tasting and smelling this varietal:

Apple
Pineapple
Flint
Talc
Fennel
Petrol
Ginger
Kiwi
Tarragon
Slate
Wet Stone
Peach
Honey
Jasmine
Grapefruit
Minerals
Juicy-Fruit Gum
Orange Blossom
Lime
Apricot

Food Pairing with Riesling

2007-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

A BIG Thank You goes out to our friend June Evans, Manager of Blazing Noodles at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA for the beautifully paired recipes for beautiful Riesling. Their distinct Asian flair matches perfectly with this crisp cool wine. For their full menu listing, go to http://www.pechanga.com/documents/dining/BlazingNoodlesMenu.pdf

Blazing Noodles Recipes

Dynamite Wings

Ingredients:
1 cup Sirirachai chili sauce
1 cup Vinegar
¼ cup Sugar
8 Breaded chicken wings

Directions:
Blend the chili sauce, vinegar, and sugar until completely combined.
Fry the wings until crispy.
Heat pan or wok until hot add teaspoon of oil to cook the sauce. Toss in the wings to coat. Garnish with chopped green onions to serve.

Steamed Fish with Ginger Soy Sauce

Ingredients:
½ cup Soy sauce
½ cup Chicken stock
1 tsp Sesame oil
2 tbsp Julian fresh ginger
1 tbsp Sugar
½ oz Sliced shitake mushrooms
½ oz Julian onions
2 oz Spring mix
8 oz Sea bass filet

Directions:
Add soy sauce, stock, sugar, half of the ginger, and sesame oil to a sauce pot bring to a low simmer.
Put the filet on a plate, pour the sauce over and top the fish with the mushrooms, onions, and ginger steam for 8 min. for med-well.
Plate up: place spring mix in the middle of the platter put the fish on top and pour the sauce around the rim of the plate, garnish with chopped cilantro to serve.

For a fantastic weekend destination, you really should try coming out to Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA. Their restaurants, like Blazing Noodles, are world class and Temecula has so much to offer fellow winos, from Old Town to wine tasting at our 30ish wineries to the night life at Pechanga, including special concerts, a comedy club and night clubs. Go to http://www.pechanga.com/home.asp for more information on how to book your trip to our beautiful nexk of the woods and be sure to stop off at Blazing Noodles first!

Merlot Wine Tasting

2007-05-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Smooth Tasting Merlot

Think of velvet and fruit combined and you'll be pretty close to Merlot. Merlot is a red that is approachable for even the novice. It lacks the harsh tannins found in Cabernet Sauvignon, is fruitier in general (noted as plumy) and has a shorter maturation period. It is predominantly described as smooth and fleshy.

Found all over the world, the predominate producers come from Bordeaux St. Emillion, Pomerol, Italy, Switzerland, California, New York State Long Island, Washington State and Chile. Don't expect all of the versions to be straight Merlot. Merlot lends itself to blending well because it smooths out the harsh tannins of many of the bolder wines. For old world wines, Merlot is always found in combination. In France, it is like an insurance policy. Their blends get higher in Merlot during a bad season for Cabernet because it is generally picked earlier before trouble starts. Only one wine from France is 99% Merlot and is one of the world's most expensive wines, Chateau Petrus from Pomerol. In Chile there is no telling if you are really drinking 99% of any varietal because of their lackadaisical labeling laws.

If you are dabbling with a Bordeaux wine, you are drinking Merlot blended to perfection. This is where your geography lessons really come in handy. Bordeaux is blend wine, combining Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (a few others for good measures but let's not complicate things). The two grapes thrive under different climates however and here's where knowledge of the land comes in handy. The Boudeaux hailing from the left bank have a higher proportion of Cabernet while the right bank hails higher in Merlot. Get your maps out folks. It's all about what grows better on the coastal side with forests and fog (left) or has an unprotected shorter growing season (right). What you get is a beautiful wine that collectors go nuts over.

So back here in the New World, Merlot has had its ups and downs but definitely stands on its own now. Napa Valley vintners were the first to start recognizing Merlot as a stand alone grape. Because it is a fruitier wine, it balances well as a mid-level intensity wine. This means that it lacks the boldness of a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Zinfandel and is softer and rounder on the palette.

A word of caution however with Merlot. Where this grape is planted makes all the difference. A GOOD Merlot should be soft and full, but many of the wines produced in California are harsher than they should be. Again with the geography? Yes. This is a geographically sensitive grape. A Merlot from a hot area has all the softness of a knife. Look for coastal regions. This is one of the reasons Washington State (9check out Walla Walla) and Long Island have been having some success with the varietal so keep that in mind when evaluating your Merlot.

Email us your results please or post your comments on our blog because we'd love to hear from you! There is a button at the end of each article that you can press to post your comments. You can also email this article with the button next to it. Most importantly, subscribe to the blog because we update it all the time.

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Merlot Food Pairing

2007-05-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Wino Food

A BIG Thank You goes out to our friend Chris Baily, Owner of Baily's Fine Dining and Front Street Bar & Grill in Old Town Temecula, CA for the beautifully paired recipes for beautiful Merlot. They are so easy and so delicious anyone can make them. They are also perfectly paired with Merlot, since it is one of the ingredients in all three recipes.

Make sure to visit their website at www.oldtowndining.com. The absolute coolest thing about these restaurants is it is a two in one! You enter into Front Street Bar and Grill where the bar offers an amazing list of wines and beer, have a meal perfect for the day time on their patio or go upstairs for fine dining at its best. It could be a whole field trip in one!
Put out some beautiful crostini and you are all set to fly with these three easy appetizers!

Cream Cheese Tapenade

Ingredients:
3 Cups Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons Garlic, Peeled
2 Tablespoons Shallots, Peeled
½ Cup Merlot
1 Cup Kalamata Olives, Pitted

Directions:
1. Place Olives, shallots, garlic in a sauté pan and lightly sauté until tender.
2. Deglaze with Wine
3. Place all in the food processor including room temperature cream cheese and blend until smooth.

Red Onion Confit

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Cups Red Onion, Julienne
1 ½ ounce Merlot
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 ½ ounce Red Wine Vinegar

Directions:
1. Heat the butter in a medium pan on low and scrape the milk solids off the top.
2. Pour the butter back into the pan and add onion. Sauté until softened.
3. Stir in the honey and cook the mixture until the onions are caramelized.
4. Add in the remaining ingredients and reduce for about 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Mushroom Duxelle

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Butter
8 Crimini Mushrooms chopped
½ Shallot peeled and chopped
1 ounce Merlot

Directions:
1. Heat butter in pan, add shallots and sweat until transparent. Add wine to deglaze pan
2. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until lightly browned.
3. Add chives and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Let cool before serving.

Don't forget to visit Baily's or Front Street Bar & Grill time you're in the Temecula and say hello to Chris. He is a fellow Rotarian and is known to serve up some mighty fine wine to our winos!

28699 Old Town Front Street - Temecula - CA - 92590
951-676-9567

Merlot Tasting Tips

2007-05-02T04:49:00.000-07:00

Merlot Quick Tips

Merlot is all about softness and sensuality. Merlots come from all over the world, from Bordeaux, St. Emillion, Pomerol, Italy, Switzerland, California, even Long Island. It has moderate tannins, high alcohol and little acid. Look for the following flavors and scents when tasting this wine:

Blueberry Blackberry Cherry or Black Cherry
Plum Prune Black Pepper
Cigar Box Mint Toffee
Vanilla Cocoa Coffee
Spice Chocolate Mocha
Leather

Networking With Wine

2007-04-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

We know this is not a business site but we can’t resist thinking outside of the box every once in a while.

Creating your own wine tasting club can be a very powerful tool for business people who want to build their business with referrals and relationships. When most people think of a business networking group, they think of business cards and handshaking, 10 second commercials and dry chicken.

When most people think of a wine tasting party, they think of getting together with a few friends and spending the evening together enjoying wine and good food.

Which do you prefer? Obviously you have a kit in your hands so the answer is already apparent.

People refer business to people they know and like. Getting to know your referring partners and meeting with them regularly is the best method of building a great business relationship. This is why the best business groups meet regularly, either weekly or monthly.

Now imagine that instead of dressing in your business finest and passing out cards for a couple of painful hours, you were to toss on a pair of jeans, toss back some great wine, leave your cards in the car and still generate referrals?

The relaxed atmosphere of a wine tasting party makes the relationship building phase of networking painless. By meeting in each other’s homes instead of at a hotel or restaurant, you’ve just moved from business relationship to friend. Forming a wine tasting CLUB rather than just throwing an occasional party creates a consistent presence with one another to reinforce those relationships.

There is one really great advantage to this format as well. We’re not tax professionals here, but if you are building a networking group that just happens to be called a wine tasting club, wouldn’t that qualify as a business expense? So go for the good cheese and some special napkins. You don’t have to make it a gourmet event (remember this is about relaxing with one another), but please skip the American cheese slices on Ritz crackers. These are business professionals you are inviting to your home and you want to leave them with a good impression. The wine will help a lot with that, but it doesn’t hurt to put in a little bit extra.

The same rules apply to a business wino club as to a regular wino club. There is one rule we would like to repeat here because in business it can be a fatal trap. Invite Business People You Like. That seems like an obvious thing to say, but when building a social business network, personality actually weighs in more than occupation. You may know of a person who is a great potential business referral partner but they are just so boring. Don’t invite them. This may sound counter-intuitive but keep reminding yourself that an exciting group will generate more community interest than a stuffy one.

If your club is fun, it will attract more dynamic business people. You’ll have people begging to come. Go the www.thewinoclub.com to order your own kit today to start networking smarter (and have a way better time doing it).

Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris

2007-04-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Other Pinot

Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio is a good change of pace for most of our clubs who are heavy on the reds. The grape itself is actually a relative of Pinot Noir so you red lovers should feel right at home here. Actually, the grape has the same DNA but mutated long ago to grow in a different color. Add that to your trivia bank. However don't expect to smell much because this wine is surprisingly low in aroma so you're going to have to hunt for the bouquet.

This wine varies greatly from region to region. Some prefer Pinot Grigio from TreVenezie in Italy. It is light and frivolous and easy to drink. There's nothing serious about this wine at all, it's just a great bottle to open up for a picnic. It is consumer friendly however and is sure to please most palettes. Italians are big red drinkers as a rule so their attention is usually spent perfecting that science. Don't get us wrong, it is good if you are hot and thirsty but not expecting much complexity.

Pinot Gris from Alsace, France has a much more complex flavor. The whites from Alsace tend to be taken quite seriously as one of the only wine regions in the world that produces predominantly white wines. The only red grape varietal grown here is its cousin, Pinot Noir. To note, Alsace was one of the first wine regions to list the varietal on its wine bottles, rather than the region as done in other parts of France. They also frown upon blending their grapes, taking a pure version of a wine to heart. Their Pinot Gris is dry and sweet as are most of the wines from the region. This means basically that you are drinking a nice crisp fruity wine with a full bodied flavor.

Pinot Gris also comes from Oregon where they were made popular in the early 1990s. Their Pinot Gris is spicy and would be a great pairing to Kathleen's Pear salad below. It is a very food friendly wine and would be a safe bet when bringing your hostess a gift on a sunny day. It was a natural for Oregon, a huge fan of Pinot Noir, to grow this relative. While it is not their top produced white wine, it is one of the favorites from Oregon, thriving on the cooler temperatures for a fuller wine.

So the moral of the story is Pinot Gris, or Pinot Grigio from Italy, has many faces. In a tasting, please try wines from all three of these regions because you really will taste the difference. We laugh in our club because we all have very different palettes and we naturally gravitated towards wines of a different region on this tasting. Email us your results please or post your comments on our blog under Pinot Gris at www.thewinoclub.blogspot.com because we'd love to hear from you!

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Pinot Gris Food Pairing

2007-04-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wino Food

A BIG Thank You goes out to our friend Kathleen , Owner of The Plantation House Restaurant in the Wine Country of Temecula, CA for the beautifully paired recipe for this crisp wine. Her Polenesian cuisine is a perfect match for the tart highlights found in Pinot Gris.

Make sure to visit their website at www.goplantationhouse.com. They are currently taking Easter Sunday reservations so hop on that quickly by calling 951-694-6088. For Groups, Catering, & Marketing call 951-694-2853. They do a lot of special events so be sure to join their email list at theplantationhouse@ca.rr.com.

The Plantation House Restaurant Pukalani Pear Salad

As the weather continues to get warmer, it is time to bring out those summer salads! The Plantation House Restaurant in Maurice Car'rie Winery has featured this summer salad since they opened a little over a year ago and it has fast become a favorite. Served with a beautiful Pinot Grigio, this Spring salad will make your tastebuds pop when the combination of goat cheese and the raspberry vinaigrette hits your mouth!

Kathleen Leonard, Owner

Recipe
1 Bag of mixed field greens
1 whole ripe Pear
½ cup of whole Macadamia nuts
¼ cup Goat Cheese
¼ cup Raspberry Vinaigrette
*We can't give you our recipe, but Girard's Walnut Raspberry Vinaigrette will be a fabulous substitute!

Wash Field Greens and set aside. Take whole macadamia nuts and place on a clean counter and crush them with a rolling pin. Set oven at 350 degrees and spread nuts out over a baking sheet. Put in the oven for five minutes until toasted. Then set aside to cool. Core fresh ripe pear and set aside. Place the mixed greens in a salad bowl to assemble. Toss the cooled macadamia nuts, goat cheese and Raspberry Vinaigrette salad dressing over the salad mixture. To finish, plate each salad individually and then thinly slice the pear over each salad. Put in the refrigerator before serving or serve immediately.

**You may consider adding sliced chicken breast or grilled shrimp to make a heartier salad.

Don't forget to visit The Plantation House Restaurant next time you're in the Temecula and say hello to Kathleen. She is a fellow Wino Club Member and deserves a toast.

Pinot Gris Quick Tasting Tips

2007-04-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris Quick Tips

Pinot Gris is all about REFRESHMENT. There is very little to no aroma to be found in this wine and it is almost clear in appearance. Look for the following scents and flavors when tasting this wine:

Orange Blossom
Lemon
Butter
Pear
Apple
Chalk
Mineral
Almond
Steel
Flint
Honey
Honeysuckle

Look for great Pinot Grigio or Gris coming out of Venezie, Alsace, Germany, Oregon and California.

Fruity, Sweet or Dry Wines

2007-03-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

There is often terminology thrown around that is, well, not incorrect but misleading. That is when it comes to Sweet, Fruity or Dry. Here's our attempt to clarify a little:

Fruitiness – Do not mistake fruitiness with sweetness. Tasting a beautiful dry Riesling might have a very fruity flavor and smell, but the sweet residual sugar is down to 3%, verses a very sweet Reisling as a dessert wine still carries the same fruitiness but the residual sugars are several times the amount, sometimes over 40%. A wine can carry fruit essence without being sweet. In fact, wine is made with fruit to consider that there will always be some element of fruitiness in every wine, just different types of fruit and different levels. A very fruit forward wine might be a bold Zinfandel that tastes like a cherry pie. That is not a wine that anyone would ever confuse with a sweet wine, is it?

Sweetness & Dryness – A wine can be dry and fruity or sweet and fruity but not sweet and dry. Sugar in the grapes when grown is converted to alcohol in the making of wine. If almost all the sugar is converted to alcohol, the wine is dry. If only some was converted, the wine has left over sugar, or residual sugar and is considered sweet. Understand?

Wines of Chile

2007-03-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

It's Getting Chile in Here

Grab your hats because we're going South to the beautiful wine making region of Chile this month. Chile is considered a New World wine making region but oddly enough, or not surprising depending on how you look at it, the wine making here was perfected by the French. I'm not going to give a history lesson here but it's important to understand that the wine of Chile was started by wealthy Chilean land owners who then imported French wine makers to create the wines. Chile is the 3rd largest importer of wines into the United States and their wines can be an incredible value. This is probably because they don't have to pay for their water since it comes down directly as the snow melt from the Andes Mountains (that's a joke, really).

Chile does make some nice crisp white wines, primarily Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. While Chardonnay is produced in mass to import to the United States (as our white of choice for the moment), Sauvignon Blanc has gained ground in their production levels and is now more widely grown than their Chardonnay. Their blush wine is getting also some recognition - labeled Rosa, which might just be the wine of choice for those lovely Spring days we're anticipating any time soon.

Beautiful reds come out of Chile as well: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenère. Cabernet has been the grape of choice for decades and reigns supreme. The best region for their Cabernet is the Maipo Valley in the North-Central portion of this skinny country. Quick warning: their Merlot is not always what you expect. Chilean Merlot is often blended and sometimes not even Merlot. It can be Carmenère. There is no way of telling and often even the wine maker isn't quite sure. Chile is also producing some great Syrahs which have won awards in the past over their coveted Cabernets.

So the rules of winemaking are relaxed here but their labeling is even more so. We've got all the basics like who, what, when and where. However, the only way to tell a high quality wine from a table wine might be the price. Don't turn your nose up to a great $10 bottle of wine from Chile however. Your guess can be a great one.

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Wino Food Pairings

2007-03-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

A BIG Thank You goes out to our friend Scott Kendig, Executive Chef at Bing Crosby's Restaurant and Piano Lounge in Rancho Mirage for the beautifully paired recipe for these exotic wines from Chile.

Make sure you visit their website at www.Bingcrosbysrestaurant.com, and the address is 71-743 A Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270.

It really is the buzz of the Desert Area so be sure to call ahead to reserve your seats.

And by the way - the recipe is so simple that anyone really could do it... thanks again Scott!

Scott's Pork Brochettes and Shaved Fennel Salad

1 or 2 pork Loins
Cumin Coriander
Brown Sugar Mace
Fennel Spinach
Red onion 1 minced garlic clove
Salt Pepper
Vinegar 2 minced shallots (small)
Oil Lime juice
Sugar

Cut the pork loin into strips. You can either use a dry rub or add a little Olive Oil for Marinade

Combine 1/2 cup Cumin, 1/2 cup Coriander, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, and one pinch of Mace. Either rub on pork strips or Add a 1/2 cup of oil and slather the strips.

Let sit over night.

Put Pork on skewers, BBQ and serve with the beautiful fennel salad.

Chopped Fennel Salad:

(Amounts used are dependant upon how many guests. (use your best judgment)

Shave or chop the fennel. Julienne the Spinach. Shave Red Onion. Mix in a bowl and toss with the simple vinagrette and you've got a goumet salad!

Simple Vinaigrette:

1 part lime juice
3 parts oil
1 clove minced garlic
2 minced shallots (small)
Salt and Sugar to taste
Mix together well and pour over salad.

Don't forget to visit Bing Crosby's Restaurant and Piano Lounge in Rancho Mirage next time you're in the Palm Springs area and say hello to Scott... tell him how much you loved his recipe as seen in at www.thewinoclub.com!

Wine to Buy from Chile

2007-03-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

With wine from Chile, there is no real way to tell from the bottles what wine is quality and what wine is not. You could look to sources like the wine magazines but that takes a lot of time and effort. Well worth it if you like reading the rest of the magazine as well.

Our recommendation for quick and easy? Go to http://www.winesofchile.org/ where they have a list of winners from their competition in January. It also has some fun events that are worth reading.

Interesting tidbit to make you sound REALLY smart, the winner this year was actually a Sauvignon Blanc, the first white wine to ever win this award.

Wine Trivia - Terrior (Wine Wino)

2007-02-12T22:04:00.001-08:00

Terrior is a term which is thrown around lightly but in truth is something quite profound. Terroir is a widely used phrase that holds true in some parts of the world more than others. A French phrase that is not translatable but simply put refers to is the land’s imprint on the grape and ultimately the wine. In California, where winemakers can take wines from throughout a widely varied County or area, the wines become more a process of the winemaker than of the location of the grapes so terroir is not as much of a factor as the terroir of Burgundy or Bordeaux where each region truly produces specialized wines typical of only their territory that reflect the land and character found in the region.

Case in point - have you ever had a wine with a distinctly minty flavor? That might have come from the Eucalyptus groves that grow in the area near the vineyard. If an wine growing area is surrounded by these groves, odds are that the distinctly minty flavor permeates all of the wines grown in this region, thus marking the terrior of those wines.

Wine Club Tasting Winner

2007-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Kim Kelliher of the Grapeline for this winning submission from her Wino Club. We love hearing about the winning wines from all the clubs out there so please submit them to info@thewinoclub.com.

As a side note, Kim and her husband own 'The Grapeline', a tour company specializing in wine tasting tours of the Temecula Valley Wine Region. Their luxury vans have taken many a wino from winery to winery and we were fortunate enough to take a field trip with them last summer and they took great care of us. To get more information on their services, please refer to the link at the end of her write up. Thanks again Kim for your write up!

Zin Alert! We tasted 22 Zinfandels during our most recent Wino Gals get together in the Temecula area. The resounding winner? Tobin James Cellars 2004 Zinfandel “Dusi Vineyard.” With rich fruit and berry aromas, and an intense ruby color, this Zin is bound to impress! Cherries, berries, jam: it has it all! And then it really gets your attention with a nutmeg & peppery finish. The bad news is that Tobin James of Paso Robles has sold out of the 2004 vintage. Good news is the 2005 is just about to be released! Meanwhile, you almost can’t go wrong with Zinfandels from Paso Robles. Also scoring well among the Wino Gals were Zins from Bianchi Winery and Peachy Canyon – both of Paso Robles. Then, there’s my personal favorite: Opolo. The winery produces usually three or four different Zins at a time, from various vineyards, and I’ve never tasted one I didn’t like. Cheers to Paso!

Cheers!
Kim Kelliher
The Grapeline, Inc.
ph: (951) 693-5755
fx: (951) 693-0274
email: kkelliher@gogrape.com
website: www.gogrape.com

Wine and Food Pairing for Champagne

2007-02-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

Think of any food you would normally eat with beer and try serving your bubbly with that. That's right wine and food snobs of the world, the refreshing taste of the bubbles goes well with Thai food, sushi, sausage, gumbo, and generally all spicy savory items.

Don't forget to serve some chocolates as well at your party, but it's good to keep your food pairings unconventional!

Wine Club Tasting Tips on Campagne

2007-02-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

Sparkling Wine Fast Facts

Instead of looking for specific varietal characteristics (since that would be almost impossible if there are 40 unlisted grapes used in the first place), here are some tips on what to look for in terms of bottle labels for drier to sweeter wines… the higher the sugar, the sweeter the wine so pair your food accordingly.

Brut 1.5% Sugar
Extra Brut 1.2% – 2% Sugar
Dry 1.7% Sugar
Sec 3.5% Sugar
Demi-Sec 3.5% - 5% Sugar

Wine Club Tasting Tiny Bubbles in Champagne

2007-02-01T06:13:00.000-08:00

Tiny Bubbles – Tasting Sparkling Wines

Yes, romance is in the air and February beckons for a tasting of sparkling wines. Champagne from France and Sparkling for the rest of the world is technically how to refer to this beautiful celebratory wine. We tend to save this beverage for celebrations here in the United States but we’re here to tell you that as a Wino, every day you wake up is cause for celebration. In Australia, 20% of the wine sold is sparkling: they know how to celebrate down under.

Really, Sparkling Wine comes with a wide variety of characteristics. From sweet and indulgent to dry and crisp, there is no standard fix for a group of people. The sweeter wines go beautifully with desert offerings while the crisper, drier versions are great paired with a meal, especially sushi – or truly decadent with potato chips. Trust a fellow Wino on that one…

True Champagne is from the region of Champagne and they are very protective of that label. The primary grapes used there are Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. In California, bubbly is a blend of 20 to 40 different grapes! That takes quite a chemist to know how to pull that many flavors off. Each wine producing nation around the world has their own special formula, but many do use the original Champagne method of making the wine. And by the way, don’t go looking for a vintage on any French Champagne… only 3 vintage wines come out every decade.

What about Pink Sparkling Wine? It’s not just for Mary Kay parties. The skins of the Pinot Noir were in the base wine or the Pinot Noir was added in the second fermentation which is what give the rosè its color. So don’t think of the rosès as a chick drink. They are in fact quite complex and can be dry and crisp or .

Pouring a Sparkling is a little challenging. We know and we feel for the pourer at this party. We also have confidence that a good Wino can figure out how to pour but we want you to know that the glasses make all the difference in this tasting. Check out http://thewinoclub.com/wino.fast.facts.html and read to section under Wine Glass 101 for our tips and suggestions. Happy tasting and we’ll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Stacy & Darcy

Wine Trivia - Burgundy (Wine Wino)

2007-01-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Burgundy is a wine region in central France - not a color and not a red wine. It really is a misunderstood term since many people don't event know there is a white Burgundy. It is an imported wine only since it refers to the region in France rather than to a varietal of grape. The principal grapes here are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but with several different domains (areas) such as Chablis and Beaujolais.

The climate is temperate and unreliable but does not usually frost. Because of past revolutions, properties are sometimes split into small vineyards, sometimes as small as two rows, this makes the purchasing and blending of grapes very important.

A fine red Burgundy is made of 100% Pinot Nior and a fine white Burgundy is made of 100% Chardonnay. Both are beautiful wines and well worth the adventure of tasting. Expect to spend upwards of $30 to $40 a bottle and considerably more for the premier collectables.

One that lists ‘Premier Cru’ on the bottle is of finer quality and one which lists ‘Grand Cru’ is of the best quality.

Now What? (Wine Wino)

2007-01-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

You already bought the kit…
Want a reason to use it?

The Wino Club™ is a Wine Tasting Club Starter Kit that goes beyond a normal wine party kit. It includes all of the materials and instructions to start a monthly wine tasting group with up to 40 friends.

So you have received a box for a gift or gifted one to yourself. Now what?

If you’re asking us that question then you probably have not read the instructions inside your box… but that’s o.k.. You can start by picking a day that works for you in the next 4 weeks. Don’t push it out further than that because then you’ll forget that you even have the kit and your club will never get started. Trust us – just commit to a day, pick your wine and then invite your friends.

A tip on picking your wine for the first party… you can go with our suggestions each month and then print out the newsletter for your members for tasting tips at www.thewinoclub.com/newsletter.html . Afterwards, we highly recommend that your club members subscribe to the newsletter themselves since it is free!

Make sure you have your members sign up to host a month. We find that they are more compliant after the tasting!

After your first meeting log into our site at www.thewinoclub.com and post your party comments on our blog or email us some photos of your group and we’ll post you up.

Thank you so much for joining The Wino Club! We know you’ll love it!

Sincerely,

Darcy Jones & Stacy Nelson
Owners and Original Winos

P.S. Don’t have a Wino Club kit? What are you waiting for – fun doesn’t just make itself you know? Go buy one right now and start your journey of wine and laughter with friends at www.thewinoclub.com.

Syrah – Hurrah (Wine Wino)

2007-01-08T21:21:00.000-08:00

O.K. - cheesy rhyme. We know. But it’s finally a new year and the winter chill is in the air. So when we think about comfort soups and stews, we automatically thought of serving up some earthy Syrah or Shiraz.

This is a funny wine varietal because it has two very distinct styles – that of the Old World wines and that of the New World wine. We could spend our time right now discussing the merits of both types of wine. The debate would be long and lengthy and would be bound to offend someone (and we’re strictly non-confrontational here). So forget it. We won’t tell you which one is better. But we will tell you that they are different.

Old World Syrah comes from France, primarily from the Northern Rhone (Hermitage and Cote-Rotie). A trick to identifying Old World wines, especially those from France, is to know your regions. If the red wine you are picking up comes from the Northern Rhone, Syrah is the red grape grown there even if it does not list Syrah on the label. Shiraz is the New World equivalent of Syrah and comes from Australia, South Africa and California.

You will notice that in the Cheat Sheet for Syrah / Shiraz, there are two lists that don’t look like the same wine. You could schedule two separate parties for each because they differ so greatly. If you are really adventurous go for it in one evening.

Now – have you picked up your party kit yet? Better log in now to buy it today so you can start your own tasting club this month. We’ll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely, Darcy & Stacy

Syrah / Shiraz Quick Tasting (Wine Wino)

2007-01-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

This wine has a heavy pigment, high tannin, high alcohol and definitely needs time to mature. It is all about HERBS and SPICE.

For Old World Syrah, look for some of the following scents and flavors when tasting:

Spice
Lavender
Black Pepper
Musk
Mole Sauce
Game

For New World Shiraz, look for some of the following scents and flavors when tasting:

Blackberry Jam
Vanilla Bean
Baked Earth
Smoked Meat
Chocolate

Don't forget to check out this month's tasty food pairings for this wine on our newsletter available at www.thewinoclub.com.

Wine Trivia - Tannin (Wine Wino)

2006-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Need clarification on some wine terminology to start sounding more like a wino?

Tannin... Have you ever eaten a seeded grape thinking is was seedless and the bitter seed taste wrecked the grape’s sweetness? That was tannin. We highly suggest you just try eating some grape seeds and you will never misunderstand tannins again. Good tannins add to the complexity (definition coming soon) and depth of the wine and create structure for the wine. Unripe, young tannins can taste bitter and will make your tongue pucker up. Properly balanced, tannin acts as a preservative and is the main reason most reds need to be aged some. It comes from the seeds, skins and stems of the grape and are found mostly in red wines. A wine heavy in tannins is referred to as 'Tannic'.

Want more wine trivia? Go to www.thewinoclub.com .

Wino to Go (Wine Wino)

2006-12-27T08:04:00.002-08:00

Holiday parties are on… don’t forget to bring a hostess gift!! That’s right. Ms. (or Mr.) Manners says so! We’ve picked a few well rated wines which won’t break the bank to go on your list of quick grabs sure to impress. Our favorite store is of course Cost Plus for their array of international wines and inexpensive pricing (and some bottles just look impressive). But, for most, this list of wines should fit the bill no matter what your host or hostess is planning for the evening…

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Season… and by the way, have you bought your friends and family their gifts yet? Why not buy them a Wino Club kit? It’s the perfect gift that will give back to you assuming they invite you to join their party. Go to www.thewinoclub.com for more information...

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

WHITES

Beauregard 2004 Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay $25 RATED 89 Volume and roundness with classic oak flavors to smooth out the edges. Santa Cruz Mountains, CA

Meridian 2005 Chardonnay $10 RATED 87 Hero on a budget… a smartly styled coastal chardonnay with a crisp cool flavor from the Santa Barbara County. Paso Robles, CA

Peay 2004 Viognier $34 RATED 94 Made by a woman vintner, this wine is fermented in 5 year old French oak and is a beautiful wine with loquat and litchi flavors. Sonoma Coast Annapolis, CA

Hall 2005 Sauvignon Blanc $20 RATED 90 Acidic dryness with a tart lime and green apple crispness. This has no oak at all, making it a classy sipper. Napa Valley, CA

Santa Barbara Winery 2001 Lafond Vineyard Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc $16 RATED 95 This is a very sweet wine… perhaps for a cookie exchange? Just a thought. This is described as an apricot-infused crème brulee (yum). Santa Ynez Valley, CA

REDS

Orogeny – 2004 Green Valley Pinot Noir for $30 RATED 94 It’s a great deal on a thoroughly enjoyable Pinot with a great rating You’d better like your host to bring this one. Delfina, Orogeny, Santa Rosa, CA

Rodney Strong 2004 Pinot Noir $19 RATED 88 Easy to find and not expensive… it’s a smooth sensuous wine with a dry silky texture. Russian River Valley, CA

Ballentine 2002 Pocai Vineyard Merlot $22 RATED 92 Clean, sweet and savory with delicate strawberry flavors. Napa Valley, CA

Steltzner 2003 Claret $18 RATED 90 Based on a Cabernet Sauvignon, this Bordeaux style blend is a great price for a Napa Cab of this quality. Napa Valley, CA

Alexander Valley Vineyards 2003 Redemption Zin Zinfandel $25 RATED 92 Give this biggie some time to breathe and you’ll be smacking up some beautiful fruity flavors inside this rich wine. Dry Creek Valley, CA

Zinfandel Fast Facts (Wine Wino)

2006-12-27T08:04:00.001-08:00

In a nutshell, in case you don't want to read the full posting about Red Zinfandel, this wine has a dense pigment, high tannin, high alcohol and good acid. You will find the aroma enticing with the scent of spice and dark berries. Look for some of the following scents and flavors when tasting:

Raspberry
Black Pepper
Blackberry
Raisin
Nutmeg
Clove
Cinnamon
Cedar
Anise
Tar
Vanilla
Jam
Spice
Boysenberry
Plumy Fruit

The Holidays are Coming – Are You Ready to Zin? (Wine Wino)

2006-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Red Zinfandel is an irreverent wine made primarily in the irreverent New World atmosphere of California. There are no heavy restrictions on experimentation and therefore, winemakers here are able to really cut loose.

Now, the inexperienced wine drinker wrinkles their nose at the mere suggestion that they drink Zinfandel because of the sweet pink version made popular in the 1980’s. Pink wines are no longer considered chic here in the United States but that trend single-handedly saved the Zinfandel grape from being ritualistically ripped from vineyards throughout the state. And for the Red Zinfandel lover – that would have been a travesty.

A ‘Big’ Zinfandel can have 15% to 17% alcohol. Depending on the age you will find that some Zinfandels have a light fruity flavor and others are deep with tannins for aging. This is a smooth drinking red with a whollop. So many of the bottles you will find will be fun to buy even if you have no idea as to the quality of the wine. There’s Cardinal Zin and 7 Deadly Zins (one of my personal favorites if for nothing else the back of the bottle is a great read) and many more aptly labeled vintages.

If you see the designation of ‘Old Vines’ on the label, it means that the vineyard did not pull everything out after the pink boom. It is actually one of the oldest grapes in California and historically comes from a Croatian grape. The grapes will be more mature and more intense in flavor because the older the vine is, the less it produces but the more concentrated the grapes become.

Enjoy your Wino this month.

And don’t forget to visit our website at www.thewinoclub.com. There we have some great food pairings for Zinfandel and you can subscribe to our newsletter to get this news emailed to you each month.

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Welcome to The Wino Club Press (Wine Wino)

2006-12-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to launch our official website at www.thewinoclub.com that we just had to blog about it. If you like to drink wine then this blog will enhance your knowledge about this beautiful juice. If you don't like to drink alone and like to hang out with friends then we encourage you to buy one of our kits and start your own Wino Club today.

In our blog, we'll be talking about a different wine each month so be sure to subscribe. We will also be posting our podcasts in the next couple of weeks so you can take our pearls of wisdom on the road with you. Please send us your questions... and you could win a free wine holder.

-Darcy & Stacy