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. 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."
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.
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Thursday
French Winemakers Lose Their Status
The Wino Club News: Wine Makers Riot in France
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
Wednesday
Wine and Music Pairing
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:
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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
Thursday
The Wino Club: Pinot Noir for Diabetics
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.
Friday
The Wino Club In Entrepreneur Magazine
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
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
Look for the following flavors or scents when tasting Grenache:
Earth Warm Flesh Dried Apricot Vanilla Sweet Wood
Blackberry Smoke Toast Tobacco Cherry Raisin
Menthol Blueberry Boysenberry Plum
