Tasting Riesling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).