9-21 Wine tasting in parts Unknown- NC

I find it a unfortunate that some people remain closed minded about new wine producing regions. A few years ago, when I was in Houston for Thanksgiving, I asked my family if we to take a day trip to the Texas wine country with me. Everyone was happy to tag along except my dad and my youngest sister. My sister had a great excuse, A&M (her school) was playing Texas that day. That was HUGE! I'm pretty sure they lost, but at least my sister didn't feel like she wasn't supporting her team. My dad claimed to also have serious ties to the outcome of the game, but while he was investing quite a bit of money in A&M at the time, it was pretty evident when it came time to tasting what we brought back with us from our tasting trip that my dad had some ulterior motives for staying home. While we also sipped on our Texan juice, he decided to pop open a Silver Oak (aka serious Napa Cabernet). To be fair to dad, he's a lot more open now, but I'd like to claim credit (Dad, you can agree by commenting below). By the way, the winery we visited that day was Messina Hof. The winemaker there had worked at BV in his past, which was the reason for my interest. They have a nice restaurant and a fun, cozy tasting room. The wine we liked enough to bring home was called Paulo (eponymous of winemaker Paul Bonariggo). Now that was quite a few years ago (like maybe 6), but they still make that wine and its still winning awards in Texas.

So when I recently found myself in North Carolina, which happens to be one of the first wine producing regions in America - stunted by Prohibition, I was ecstatic when it was suggested that we visit one of the local wineries. We were staying in Winston-Salem (better known for a vice of a different sort), but nearby Lexington, NC had one of Wine Enthusiast's top 25 wineries in America, Childress Winery. Childress is owned by race car driver Richard Childress. Now before you go on making any comments about a winery owned by a race car driver, I will remind you that in Napa the Andretti family has a winery and in Sonoma we've got serious race car traffic at Sear's Point. And besides, I also know of a few veterinarians and dentists that own wineries, which is just as strange.

My friend Kelly and I were accompanied to the winery by her husband and mine, along with their son. All of us newcomers walked up to the winery a bit amazed at how beautiful the place was. They'd had a Tuscan-inspired architect from Georgia (the only non-local part of the whole establishment) design an appropriately themed estate. Kelly had given about 100 (or maybe 1000) disclaimers on how the wine probably wouldn't be very good, but I still had an open mind, and if nothing else the setting was gorgeous. The estate was surrouned by rolling hills and vineyards, live music was playing outside, and the sound of laugther and clanking glasses was everywhere. This ambience is something I will give much more credit to non-Napa wineries for. There is a bit of glory in not being the premier wine region in the country, something enjoyable and laid back about just being good to drink.

And the wines (at least most of them) were good to drink. We tasted two of the three categories of wines Childress makes, the Classic and the Varietal. While none of us had much of a liking for the Classic wines (the least expensive), we found just about every one of the Varietal wines to be tasty, and of good quality (I was really the only one judging that). The Varietals were all very reasonable priced as well, between $9.99 and $19.99 at the wineries price (which is often the most expensive you will find a wine). I had a special taste for the Sauvignon Blanc and the Sangiovese. Both wines were dry, which is usually the first fault of any young (newer) wine region, the wines often having a bit of residual sugar (the wine word for sweetness). The Sauvignon Blanc was also light and zippy with lots of citrus and melon and a hint of herbs. The Sangiovese was smooth with a nice black cherry flavor and a good finish (meaning it lingered a bit). We decided to skip the Signature tasting, but were assured by a very knowledgable host that they were the best (well of course...). I was very impressed by the education and enthusiasm of all of the staff, from the tasting room to the tour guide. The woman who poured for us had just returned from 2 weeks of career development in Napa where she visited something like 40 wineries. The woman who guided our tour answered a few of the tougher questions I asked (like how does sugar % in grapes compare with brix-which is the term I am most familiar with to describe the level of sugar in grapes). The tour guide was also genuinely excited to have someone from Northern California on the tour, and introduced me to the winemaker to further my dialogue. I was also very impressed by the wineries focus on being "green", which they pushed during the tour. I learned how bad synthetic corks are for the environment compared to screw caps (who knew!). They claimed cork was 50/50, good and bad, better for recycling, but not necessarily good for the trees it comes from.

We took two bottles home. We'd only brought enough packing materials (a two bottle styrofoam box) for that many (and have no room in our apartment for any more). We bought one of the Classic wines that we liked just enough, the white, because of the race car themed label and capsule (the metal foil on the top of the bottle) and a bottle of the Varietal Sauvignon Blanc.

I've been to tasting rooms in almost as many states as I've been to: Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New York, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and of course California. While I wouldn't say that I've had anything better than the wines of California, Oregon and Washington, I will say that I've had some good wines in all of them, some very interesting wines at some of them, and a great experience every time (and I spit!)

If you're in NC, you have to try some wine made from Scuppernog or Muscadine. They are two regionally native grapes that are wild throughout the area we visited. The wine isn't good, but it's wierd enough to be interesting. By the way, Napa doesn't have any native grapes that they make wine from...

8-17 Reasons not to be the drunk taster in the bunch

First, let's all look back at the few (or many) things we've done that we wish we could forget, or forget again in some cases. I think its safe to say that for most of us who have occasion to imbibe, our least impressive moments have been when we were way past tipsy. Its enough to make us all rethink that next drink.

Here are some examples from my days working hospitality at the winery:

One Saturday, we had a guest come in to return 3 cases of wine. When asked why, he claimed that he had accidentally bought the $800 worth of wine yesterday. He said he had come in hoping to buy just one, but they were all so good. I remembered him from the day before; he and 3 buddies came in late in the day for a tasting. They had finished a week of business meetings and taken the day off for some wine tasting. BV was their fifth stop of the day and I could tell they had enjoyed each one to the fullest. Five wineries, a tasting at each, let's say conservatively that's 3 two ounce pours per winery, or 6 ounces of wine. A glass of wine is 4-5 ounces, and they'd probably had 30 ounces of wine, so that's over 6 glasses or 1.5 bottles. Their taste buds were shot. Even two-buck Chuck would taste great after that much vino!

Another Saturday when I was greeting people at the door, a young man came in with a beer in his hand. He'd already tasted so much wine that he'd made the switch to a new bevvie and was so far gone that he'd obviously forgotten he was in wine country and not Vegas. When I kindly told him that it was illegal for him to bring in an outside beverage (not to mention illegal to have been walking outside with an open container), he took another swig. I then asked him to either leave the building or throw it away. He tried to argue with me, but could barely put together a sentence. Noticing that my slight build was not very threatening to this guy, one of the wonderful gentlemen I work with came over to give me a hand with him. He escorted him to the trash can, but our stubborn drunkard refused to throw the beer away. This all led to a call to the police and the guy being taken away in a cop car. Napa jail is no way to end a great day of tasting.
Last but not least of the best of the worst stories involved a group of ladies tasting for a bachelorette party. About half way through my pouring for them, one of the girls noticed that someone was missing. After they checked the bathroom, and the gift shop and the parking lot, someone decided that they might have left her at the last stop. We called down the road to the last winery they'd visited, and sure enough she was there. Their limo driver went to pick her up and the other gals finished the tasting. It turned out that she had slipped into the bathroom during their tasting at St.Supery and actually fallen asleep in one of the stalls!

A positive thing to note, but definitely no reason to get drunk on your next Napa visit is that winery staff do sometimes end up benefiting from the drunker guests, as drunk people are often more generous and lively. I received an invitation to be someone's date at a wedding, a $50 tip from a group of men who has done the free tasting, an offer to use someone's time share with all the contact information scribbled on a napkin, one marriage proposal, and many, many invitations for dinner and drinks.

I kindly refused all of these, of course, except that $50 tip! Who could blame someone who makes $11.13 an hour?

There are a few important take away from this little diddy:

1)Winery staff are legally forbidden to pour for you if you are drunk. I had to deny serving a few folks in my day, and it looks very embarassing!
2)Someone has to stay sober and drive, and I say the rest of the crew should buy that person a bottle or two for their trouble. You can still taste, just spit! You'll look so "wine snob" if you are a spitter.
3)By really tasting instead of drinking, you'll be better suited to decide which wines you like enough to buy on your trip and your head will be happier after it!

5-26 Listening to your own Advice

There's a new wine shop in my neighborhood; erase that, there has been a new wine shop in my neighborhood for probably a year (or even two) now and I haven't taken the time to pop my head in yet. This is very bad form for someone who considers herself a wine lover. I think my neglect stems from a time when I went in to one of the other wine shops within a few blocks of my house and was disturbingly offended by the owner. He made inaccurate and disparaging claims about BV, the winery I used to work for, and left me feeling like my wine knowledge had been discredited. I guess it took me awhile to face another wine shop owner within the proximity of this guy. Silly me.

Within moments of stepping into this new wine shop, I felt welcome. The owner, a cute, petite women, came from behind the counter and introduced herself to me as Katie. She asked me if she could help me find anything, and after I told her that I was just browsing, she versed me briefly on the shop, "whites here, reds there, almost everything Italian, except the last three rows over here from Austria and Hungary," and left me quietly to my search. I chose an inexpensive Italian white, and when I brought it to the counter she told me that it was a nice, light wine made from Vermentino, and also commented on the pretty label. I had liked the label (which is a perfectly good reason for choosing something to try in the inexpensive category) and thought the color looked promising (not too pale), so I was happy to hear it was one she liked. The price was also in the range I was focused on ($12), which made it a definite winner. I mentioned to her that I have a group of ladies over for wine tasting about once a month, and that we always try at least one inexpensive wine along with whatever I decide to pull out of my cellar, a.k.a., my 6ft wine fridge. This idea excited her into telling me about a red wine she had just tasted called Castello di Meleto, that was priced at about $10 retail. She had ordered the wine for the shop and said it should be on the boat headed our way as we spoke. Talking with her about my purchasing plans reminded me of the advice I've given to numerous friends, as well as advising ein this blog, that you should always feel comfortable asking the shop owner for advice on what to buy, no matter what the price range you're looking in, or how much you know about wine. Most shop owners are happy to help, so be sure not to get discouraged by one that isn't. If you happen to run into an unpleasant owner, head to the shop around the corner. If you don't live in San Francisco, the closest shop may be on the other side of town, but its worth the drive. If you happen to see a bottle of the Castello di Meleto, give it a try and let me know what you think. I'll have to wait until the ship comes in!

2-26 Old Wines, New Palates

Last week, my husband and I went to our first social, business dinner together. The French CEO of a young company had planned a feast at one of my favorite SF restaurants, paired with what we discovered to be delicious wines, and even though he wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy networking, I think he felt a little guilty indulging in the haute cuisine without me. Not that he hasn't been privy to many guilty dinners prior to this, but for the first time, spouses were invited.

After slowly sipping a martini during the brief cocktail hour (slowly, that is, to keep my wits about me) we were escorted to what appeared to be the Special Guest table in the center of the room. I don't know if this actually meant that we were special guests, or just that we were all not company employees, but let's assume the former. It was quite a mix of people. On my left sat two young technology focused gentlemen, across from me a distinguished and established French business man, and to my right the French lawyer for the host company and a midwesterner who loved to ski.

The fixed dinner menu and wine pairings were printed on long, slender cards in front of each of our place settings. I couldn't resist perusing mine immediately, even though the focus of the table was on business conversation (and snow skiing). The wine choices were from some of the best regions in France. The appetizer (a tuna tartare) was paired with a Condreiu, which is a viogner from the Northern Rhone, one of my absolute favorite wines. The next course (lobster bisque), came alongside a Puligny-Montrachet, one of the best Chardonnays of Burgundy (much different from California Chardonnay, crisp and a bit salty to go well with the shell fish). The main course (sturgeon and veal cheek) was accompanied by a Vosne-Romanee, which is a Pinot Noir from Cote de Nuit in Burgundy (known for its soft, elegant flavor, making it a great complenent for both fish and meat). All of the wines were balanced and beautiful, and the food was delicous!

As we moved further into the meal, the conversation turned from the business at hand to the food and wine in front of us. The technology guys were very interested and curious about it all, where, as I would have expected, the distinguished Frenchmen were very knowledgable. At the end of the meal, we were joined by a young New Zealander who introduced Zinfandel into the conversation and began talking to the technology guys about their thoughts on the wine. Both of the techie gentlemen, with their newly introduced palates, claimed to like them, but found them to be a little weak. Both Frenchmen, having older and more experienced palates, found the wines to be superb. This all made me think about how differently the old world (Europe) and the New World (everyone else) view wine. Americans typically like their wine "big", meaning full of flavor and body, while Europeans like their wines "balanced", soft and elegant. This has always seemed to me to be completely in line with the way the two cultures view wine differently, Americans for pure consumption, and Europeans as a complement to food.

So the lesson for everyone here is that if you like your wine big and bold, stick to the American, NZ, and Australian stuff, and drink it young. Americans tend to drink their wine they day its purchased (85% of wine is consumed this way), so winemakers make it so that it can be, at least at the reasonably priced level. If you want to see how well wine can complement a meal, try a French wine, but keep in mind that the French like their wine soft and elegant and this typically comes with age. They don't make their wines as drinkable early on.

PS. My only digression during dinner was an attempt to show the knowledgeable Frenchmen my "hand" map of France. When I worked at a winery in Napa I used the back of my hand to teach people about the regions in France (and as evidenced by this particular evening, I'm still known to do so from time to time). I could tell the Frenchmen were less impressed than your average middle-America tourist at my self described, brilliant tool. I think I actually saw them biting their lips to fend off laughter. I guess I'll stick to domestic students from now on.

France on (my) Hand:

2-15 Mocktails

One of my good friends emailed me her first ultrasound a few weeks ago and I decided it was time to carry out a plan I'd been devising for a few months. The ideas began whirling through my brain late last year when my husband and I were talking about how soon we'd like to try to get pregnant (which came along with little jokes from him like "I don't think I will get pregnant", but I digress). I started reading about all the things I should not be consuming in preparation for having those little ones growing inside me. Of course, pregnancy should be a wonderful time in our lives, not a time when we are focused on all the things we can't have, so in honor of our friend getting pregnant I decided to have a non-alcoholic cocktail party instead of my regular "wine night" with the girls to introduce them to some alternative drink choices. The mommy-to-be was ecstatic. She is a little over three months along and is already professing strong desires to order something other than soda water when out and about.

I thought fajitas would make a good mocktail pairing, so all of the girls brought a portion of the meal and I devised 3 cocktails to go along. I wanted the drinks to be more inventive than margarita mix on the rocks, or cranberry and soda, so I broke the flavors of some common liquors down to try and find a replacement for them in the drinks. There's something non-yummy about the taste of alcohol that I needed to discover to make pregnant women feel like they were still part of the party.

My first attempt was the Margarita, or in this case, Mockarita. Since tequila is often described as having carmel and earthy notes, I decided to look for a flavor of tea that would somehow represent that (caffeine free, of course). The closest I came was a vanilla/hazelnut brew. The next ingredient to mimic was triple sec. Its a sweet liquor with an essence of orange, so to replace it I made simple syrup, steeped with orange rind (Simmer equal parts of sugar and water on the stove with the rind of an orange until all of the sugar is dissolved. Then, remove from heat and put the lid on until it is cool, so that the orange rind can leave its zesty flavor.) The only ingredient left was lime juice. I used some limeade and some straight juice. I ended up squeezing half of the orange that I had removed the rind from in there too, a tip I got from a favorite Margarita specialist. Here's the resulting recipe for a pitcher, which tasted a little like a Margarita crossed with a Long Island, but was still delicious.

Mockarita (serves 6)
1 1/2 c. limeade
1 c. lime juice
1 1/2 c. orange rind simple syrup
1/4 c. tea
juice from 1/2 of an orange
To serve, wipe the rim of 6 glasses with lime juice and dip in 1/2 of the rim in salt. Fill glasses with ice and then with this yummy baby-friendly beverage!

Since the cosmopolitan is another popular choice of ladies (although by some recent sources declared "out"), it was my next project. Vodka is a lot like water, but a little off tasting, so remembering a time when my mom had me sample the aloe vera juice that had become her new health kick (a watery beverage with a slightly bitter flavor) I picked some up at the local natural food shop. The triple sec was again replaced with my orange rind simple syrup, and the remaining ingredients are already alcohol free. Here's the recipe...also superb!

The Suburbian (a mock-Cosmopolitan for 6)
1/2c. cranberry juice
2 c. aloe vera juice
1/2 c. lime juice
2 c. orange scented simple syrup

Line the rim of 6 martini glasses with lime juice and dip in sugar (I like to use pink sugar if I can find it). Serve the bevvie in the glasses straight up.

The final drink choice was intended to make it easy for mommy's to order in a bar or restaurant. My intention is eventually to distribute this entire drink list to every bar I come in contact with, first in the bay area, and then where ever else my influence can reach, but until I become that famous, I wanted something easy for the alcohol free-set to order now.

The ginger and tonic (single serving)
1 part ginger ale
1 part tonic
Fill high ball glass (short drink glass) with ice and halfway with ginger ale. Top off with tonic and a squeeze of lime. Drop the lime in the glass. Whaa-laa!

I also enjoy cranberry and soda, pineapple juice and soda, or a plain old 7up when I'm ready to take it easy for the night. You can always request your drink in a fancy glass, which will also make it look and feel more like a "real drink". Ginger ale in a champagne glass is so much more delicious than ginger ale in a regular ol' cup...Really!

2-6 It Happens to the Best of Us

A friend unintentionally taught me a great lesson about glassware on Super Bowl Sunday. Not every event requires good (aka Reidel) glasses. Some of you may argue that not every event needs wine, but in my defense, I'm not the one who brought the wine. I was, however, very happy to accept a glass of it. I gladly sipped on the Sauvignon Blanc, from the very popular Marlborough (New Zealand), while talking to the other wine-drinking ladies, prior to kick-off. As soon as the football started being tossed around the field, we all crowded into the seats around the big screen. I set my glass on the coffee table and nervously watched it as different male guests clumsily passed by, waved their arms, and threw things at the television. I decided to move the glass behind me, safe from the rambunctious boys, and onto the windowsill. Safe, that was, until the jumping kitty cat made her way from atop the chair next to me, onto the sill, and beside my glass. Hmmm. There was no good spot for it. As I reached around to grab the glass, its contents mysteriously made their way onto the chair beside me and the floor beneath me, and the glass crashed to the floor...in pieces. All that care taken to keep someone else from breaking the glass, and I managed to do it myself.

And what was the score of the game? I had no idea. I'd spent the first quarter so worried about someone breaking my glass, that I hadn't paid a bit of attention to the TV, not even the commercials.

I felt horrible. That is, until the hostess told me she'd just bought the glasses at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $2.50 a piece. What a relief. At that moment I wished that I'd been able to tell everyone who'd ever broken one of my glasses the same thing. Lesson learned. Anyone who owns wine glasses should buy cheap glasses for occassions other than dinner parties.

Cheap glasses always share one characteristic that keeps me from wanting to buy them; they have what I call a "rolled" rim. What I mean by this is that the edge of the glass that you sip from is not sharp, its rounded, and thicker than the rest of the glass. This keeps the rim from chipping, but it makes it slightly less enchanting to drink from (in my view). That said, the smaller the "roll", and the sharper the edge, the nicer the glass will seem, even if it doesn't cost very much. However, its also true that the smaller the "roll", the more careful you have to be when washing it, but we've already discussed that issue, right?

So if you see a woman walking through Crate and Barrell testing the edge of each glass to her lips, that's me, trying to find my cheap glasses, and testing how sharp they are. As this is probably very unsanitary, I'm not recommending anyone do the same.

PS. I noticed the other day that Riedel is selling a line of glassware at Target. They were priced at 4 for 44.99, which is still over $11 a glass. They did have a sharp rim, but for the Super Bowl next year, I'd say go for the C&B glasses at $2.50.

1-30 The Truth about Cork

Lots of people who aren't obsessed about wine have still heard the many arguements about real and synthetic corks. In fact many of my friends who claim to "not know anything about wine" have noted to me that they have heard that natural cork (the old kind) is endagered and that's why wineries are moving to fake (synthetic) corks. While there are reasons to use synthetic cork, I just found further evidence that the depleting the cork forests (which reside mostly in Spain and Portugal) is not the most relevant one.

First and foremost, the making of wine corks does not involve cutting the tree down. The cork is made from bark that is shaved off the tree and after a long process of seasoning and boiling, is pressed into the finished product. The bark can only be harvested every six years, which has increased the price of cork as wine demand has increased, but the trees are not endagered.

I found further substantiation for natural cork production in the latest Pottery Barn Catalog (of all places). On page 15 they advertise a set of wine related products made from natural cork. The marketing blurb accompanying the products says, "Natural Cork is completely sustainable...But what few know is that its harvest is actually good for the environment. The demand for cork products ensures that cork forests...are protected, which in turn helps fend off erosion and protect a vast network of diversity". I stand firm that using this information not similar to validating which movie star is pregnant by reading US weekly. I'm sure Pottery Barn went to a vaild effort to make sure the statements they have made are true.

So natural cork is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Natural cork also provides a way for some air to get in the bottle over time to assist in the aging process. Natural cork does, however, have one problem and its called TCA. TCA is cork taint. Its a fungus that can grow in any type of wood in a humid environment if TCA is present. This reaction is what has occured when someone says a wine is corked. Corked wines are a problem because they make the wine taste less than perfect (in extreme cases, like wet newspaper). The percentage of corked wine produced is highly disputed, but in my experience, the average consumer doesn't even know when they have come across a bottle. The highly educated (wine-snob) consumer that can detect the taint, can return the bottle to the store or restaurant where it was purchased, so it has little affect on the inidividual in the end (as long as you have another bottle on hand if you happened to have opened a corked one at home).

So with cork taint possibilities and natural cork prices rising, synthtetic cork does have its place in the wine world. As long as you do not plan to age the wine (store it with the hope that the tannins soften and the fruit mellows), synthetic corks are a very effective wine closure, as are screw caps. Both of these wine closures allow little to no air to get into wine, which as I mentioned earlier, is essential to the aging process. Synthetic corks are also recycleable, so make sure they make it into the right trash can, will ya!