Acidity-Glossary Term of The Month

Acidity-

 I can imagine anyone reading this has a basic concept at least of what this refers to in general. With wine acidity plays a part in red and white wines. For reds it helps with balance, whites it imparts the crisp fresh aspect of the wine. If you do not have that "right amount" of acidity wines are unbalanced and makes them not the most desirable to drink.  Acidity balanced nicely with the fruit and a number of other components of the wine be it red or white making  the moment of drinking a wonderful, delightful and most enjoyable experience.

Marcus Padulchick

Wine and Your Health

For anyone who has read a newspaper, been on line, turned on the radio or flipped on the TV, I suspect you have heard at least a sound bite or two about the health benefits of wine. Sometimes we can take the idea of a benefit and turn it into a detriment.  The saying goes "everything in moderation" certainly hold true for wine. Enjoying a glass or two of your favorite red wine can be great for your overall health but can easily shift in the other direction by increasing consumption.  I am sure most of us have a clear understanding about the issues of over use of any form of adult beverage. What I wish to address in this post focuses more on the potential health issues from drinking wine that has potentially dangerous pesticides. I am not looking to single out any particular region but I must comment on the number of individuals who I know personally that have adverse reactions to consuming wine imported from Chili. I comment here on Chilean wines simply because of the concern I have for my friends, family and colleagues who have had multiple health problems from consuming these wines.  Am I saying everyone should stay away from Chilean wines? Not at all. Is it my personal opinion based on observation that there is or could be a potential issue with these wines? Let me simply state, be mindful of the wine you drink not only in the amount you consume but also in what potentially could have been sprayed as well. . (Look for my post on "Organic Wines" in a post in the near future.

By Marcus Padulchick

What could have been, may have been, must of been

I was sitting and pondering what could have been, may have been, must of been my first experience with wine. It came to me as a distant image that certainly must have been stored deep within assorted jumbled memories of a day long past. I was with my grandfather walking amongst the trellis as the vines hung full.
I remember him taking a small pair of what appeared to be small shears with a pointed end and he would move with system and method down each row cutting away at the clusters of grapes still green but with ever so slight a blush of blue and purple. I can step back into that moment and feel the sandy soil around me feet, the buzz of wasps and hornets, the sounds of a bluejay high in a old apple tree that sat just East of the small area of grapes, too small to respectfully be called a vineyard. But here we were tending to what would eventually become wine. Homemade of course, large dark bottles of it,not those 750ml baby bottles you find today. They were hefty, dark, solid and seemed at least in that moment 5 lbs each. I suspect looking back now they were far less impressive than I had imagined. Tasting the grapes from the vine to sipping a swallow no more of delicious, aromatic nectar from an old jelly jar began my journey some 40 plus years later.

...Marcus Padulchick

Vertical Tasting Notes

Simi Landslide Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

2001    93 rating    Drink or Hold 
This 11 year old wine is continues to drink fabulously.  Although near it's peak, this wine will continue to hold it's own.  Wonderfully balanced with a nose of smoke, cherry, charred oak and vanilla.  The mouth is beautifully soft and round with notes of cherry, raspberry more smoke and cedar notes.  If you are fortunate enough to own or find any of these bottles they are sure to please.

2005    92 rating    Drink or Hold
Another beautifully crafted and balanced wine.  Showing notes of cherry and oak, this wine still possessed a very earthy nature that leads me to believe this wines best years still lie ahead.

2006    90 rating    Drink or Hold
A beautiful and complex wine showing a more fruit forward quality.  The wine has a sweet nose of hard candies, toasty oak and cedar box with tones of raspberry and plum.  These fruits turn soft in the mouth and give way to big smokey tannins and nuances of leather, tobacco and black pepper.  A good solid effort by the winery.

2007    88 rating    Drink or Hold
This wine possesses smoke, cedar and shades of black and red fruit on the nose.  It is very creamy in the mouth with hints of smoke, earth, raspberry and leather.

2008    89 rating    Hold
This opens with beautiful scents of raspberry and cedar.  The tannins still remain firm and dry.  In the mouth this wine was very closed showing an herbal quality of rosemary or bay leaf and nice raspberry fruit.  Give this wine 3-5 years of cellaring to show it's potential.

By Tom Cook

Vertical Tastings

At a recent get together with friends, the topic of vertical wine tasting came up.  They were intrigued about what it meant to do a vertical wine tasting and why you would do them.  In my effort to find more reasons to drink wine and educate my friends we will examine some of the reasons to age wine.  We will discuss the history of Simi from Sonoma County, California and examine the Cabernet from their Landslide vineyard.

What is a vertical wine tasting and how do you do them?  A vertical wine tasting is simply a wine tasting of wines all from the same vineyard but of different vintages.  You then taste the wines in vertical order from oldest to youngest.  You taste the  oldest wine first and not last because it will be the most delicate and subtle.  The youngest wines will be Bolder and harsher.  If they were tasted first they could mask the flavors of the older wines.

To understand the merits of a vertical wine tasting, you must first understand why you would age or cellar a wine.  When my friend asked me this he wanted to know what happens to a wine as it ages; does it taste different?  The short answer is yes.  In the same manner that most wines are different from one vintage to the next; they are equally different as they age.  Imagine if you will the conversation you might have with a 6 year old, and then again talking to the same person in their 20's, 40's and 60's or even older.  As the person ages, the conversation gets more complex, more elegant.  Wine evolves in much the same way, and just like the person it too eventually dies or turns to vinegar.  Well how do I know how long to age a wine?  If only we had crystal balls, this would be an easy question to answer.  Some people prefer conversation with the 20 year old, and some the 40 year old and so on.  My best advice is to find a reviewer who's tasting notes or style you agree with.  Then follow their cellaring advice as well until you find a median age or style you enjoy.  Or you can buy several bottles of the same wine and keep opening them in 6 month intervals.  Take careful tasting notes and compare them over the life of your collection.

So now we circle back to the same question; why cellar wine?  Have you ever gone to a restaurant, looked at the age of some of the bottles and then looked at the prices?  Don't they usually get more expensive the older they get?  If the wine didn't get better. why would they bother to keep it for so long? Reason #2 for aging wine, they increase in value.  Why then are some wines made to be drunk young and some wines made to age?  Sometimes it is because of the type of grape used in making the wine, other times it is due to the quality of the juice used to make the wine.  How the winemaker handles the grapes is also a factor.  The longer the winemaker leaves the grape skins in contact with the juice during the fermentation process, the more tannins are extracted from the grapes.  In turn, the higher the ability of the wine to age.

The wine we chose for our vertical tasting was Simi Landslide Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Landslide Vineyard is a 170 acre vineyard in the southern Alexander Valley.  The Landslide Vineyard has numerous soil types and microclimates that were created by an ancient volcanic landslide from nearby Mount St. Helena.  This diversity of soil type and topography result in a varying bud break, flowering, veraison and harvest times in the different vineyard blocks.  Along with these complexities, Simi has planted nine different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec.  To see how these factors translate into the bottle, please read our tasting notes. We tasted a 5 year vertical from the Landslide Vineyard starting with the 2001 vintage.  We then tasted the 2005-2008 vintages.  My friends were quite shocked to taste how different each vintage was.  This was a true testament to the diversity of the vineyard site and grape selections

Simi Winery has a long and varied history as well.  Started by Giuseppe and Pietro Simi, two immigrants brought to California from Tuscany, Italy by the gold rush.  By 1876 they had settled in San Fransisco and started Simi Winery.  When they discovered Sonoma County it reminded them of home.  In 1881 they moved their winemaking operation to Healdsburg in northern Sonoma County. In 1890 they completed construction of Simi's first stone cellar; built into the hillside from native basault for natural insulation.

Early success led them to double the size of their cellars in 1904.  Tragically both brothers died shortly there after within four months of each other; leaving Giuseppe's daughter Isabelle to take over management of the winery at the age of 18.  Isabelle Simi married banker Fred Haig, together they ran the winery until Prohibition began in 1920 forbidding them to sell wine.  Although they were forced to sell most of the vineyard property to save the winery itself; they continued to produce and cellar their wines for the 15 years Prohibition lasted.  When Prohibition ended December of 1933 they were ready with a large stock of perfectly cellared wines to sell.  They celebrated by planting a grove of redwood trees around the winery that still stands today.

Isabelle established Simi's first tasting room the following year out of a 25,000 gallon Champagne tank.  Isabelle continued to run Simi Winery until 1970, when she retired and sold the winery at the age of 84.  Simi returned to it's beginings in 1982 by acquiring the Landslide Vineyard in Alexander Valley.  In the following years Simi continued to acquire estate vineyards in both the Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley.  These changes have in part lead to the critical acclaim today that is Simi Winery

Tom Cook

"wine is sunlight held together by water"

              Galileo Galilei



#SimiWinery, #SonomaCounty, #Cabernet, #LandslideVineyard, #AlexanderValley, #RussianRiverValley

To Beaujolais or not Beaujolais

In this edition we take a look at a wonderful assortment of summer wines. If you are like me, you know red wines are not only to be enjoyed three months out of the year, and whites for the other three.  To start, we taste through a flight of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais‘.  Do they deserve all the hype that has garnered the 2009 vintage, or not.  We promise to find out.  Next, we taste a mixture of Zinfandels.  Not the sticky, sweet wanna be “white” version that has become synonymous with the word zinfandel; but the dark red brooding variety that barbecues beg for.   Finally, we round out this edition’s tasting’s with a quirky mixture of white wines that prove to be anything but ordinary.  There is not a chardonnay or pinot grigio to be found here.

I must state that Beaujolais’ are one of my favorite wines, but unfortunately, it is also one of the most misunderstood wines of Burgundy.  In the 80’s the region kicked off mass marketing campaigns to sell it’s Beaujolais Nouveau’s. So successful was this marketing, that now every year on the third Thursday of November; designated “Beaujolais Nouveau Day,” we look for the release of these wines. Grapes for Beaujolais Nouveau are harvested in August-September, fermented for a short time and released right before Thanksgiving complete with a race to get them to market.  These wines are intended to be consumed before the new year and not aged at all. Beaujolais wines, made from the same Gamay grape are quite different.  These wines tend to be food friendly as well, light in body, fruitful  and have a firm acidity.  The biggest difference is the ability to age.

Beaujolais is the southernmost and largest district in Burgundy.  It accounts for about 50% of all wine production in Burgundy. The district can be divided into three major appellations; Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, and Cru Beaujolais.  About 50% of the district’s wine production comes from Beaujolais.  About half of this is sold as “Beaujolais Nouveau.”  Beaujolais-Villages produces about 25% of the district’s annual production.  The remaining 25% of wine production comes from the Cru Beaujolais.  This zone is situated in the northern third of the Beaujolais District and is considered the best terroir for the Gamay grape. Cru Beaujolais is made up of ten communes or villages.  These villages are: St-Amour, Julienas, Chenas, Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Regnie, Cote de Brouilly and Brouilly.

The 2009 vintage in Beaujolais was one of the best the region has ever seen,  or was it?  I seem to recall George Duboeuf; one of the top producers in Beaujolais; making similar claims about the 2003 vintage.  When the 2003’s were released, I tasted many bottles and put away a small amount of my favorites.  I only wish I was smart enough to put away more. Duboeuf claimed that the 2003 vintage was unlike any he had ever experienced.  The wines were touted as having great aging potential.  My experience had been that although Beaujolais were wonderful food friendly wines, their potential for longevity was very short lived.  George was right! These 2003 have been nothing short of amazing, and the better bottles are just coming into their own now.  If you are lucky enough to find a bottle, what a treat for thanksgiving dinner.  So what about 2009, can lightning strike twice so close together?  Duboeuf claims 2009 is “The Vintage of  a Lifetime.”  I would have to agree.  While some of his top wines are not pleasant to drink today, their futures will be talked about for a long time to come.

While Beaujolais have always been a favorite of mine, I hope you will welcome them into your daily regiments as well.  Take them on a hike with a loaf of bread and your favorite cheese, or try them with grilled chicken.  In this edition we reviewed eight of George Duboeuf’s wines.  All of the wines were truly wonderful in there own way.  The Beaujolais-Villages is probably the best indicator of the quality of the vintage as it can be made up of wines from the entire region.  It’s nose held a symphony of aromas that eluded to what lay ahead. While soft and quaffable in the mouth, it left me wanting more of what the nose had to offer.  The real gems were the Morgon, and the two Moulin-a-Vents’.  Two were cellar selections, and one was ready to take to the party.  The Moulin-a-Vent, Domaine des Rosiers would be a fine addition to any affair.  For full tasting notes on all the wines tasted,  please read through our review section.  Have a wonderful summer.

Tom Cook

Summer Sparklers

As I have gotten older, there are still certain things that bring out a childlike exuberance within me.  Sparklers still touch off that excitement for me  Not the ones from our youth that gave us 30 seconds of bright light, and left you holding a glowing metal rod.  I'm talking about sparkling wines, that awe-inspiring elixir from every great celebration.  In this issue we review 16 sparklers and discuss the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine.  We need to break the myth though, that Champagne and sparkling wines are all expensive and only to be enjoyed on special occasions.  In fact, they are almost the perfect food wine and can be paired with anything from sushi to steak.  My favorite pairing I have ever heard suggested is Krug Champagne and popcorn.  It may seem far-fetched, but tastes great together.

What is the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine.  While all Champagne's are sparkling wines, only sparkling wines from the Champagne region of France may be called Champagne's.  A wine with "méthode Champenois," or "méthode traditionnelle"  on the label means it is a sparkling wine that was produced in the traditional Champagne method.  In Champagne three traditional grape varieties are used; Chardonnay (white), Pinot Noir (black), and Pinot Meunier (black).  Sparkling wine production around the world uses a varying list of grapes differing from country to country.  In the United States, Pinot Blanc (white) is sometimes added to the mix for Champagne style sparkling wines.  The Loire Valley of France uses Chenin Blanc (white) in its cremants.  Germany uses Riesling (white) and Elbling (white) in its sekt.  In Italy, Muscat (white to near black), Brachetto (black) and Prosecco (white) are used for spumante.  Spain uses Xarel-lo (white), Macabeo (white), Parellada (white) and sometimes Chardonnay (white) in its cava.  In Australia they even use Shiraz (black).

Let us explore  some of the common misconceptions about Champagne.  Dom Perignon; born Pierre Perignon in 1640; did not invent Champagne.  He is also not responsible for the famous quote: "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!" after tasting his creation for the first time.  The quote appears for the first time some time in the late 19th century in a printed advertisement.  Dom Perignon did try to develop methods to avoid refermentation of wine within the bottle; but so did all other winemakers in cold regions.  Wine making practices of the era would sometimes leave the fermentation process incomplete as Fall weather would cool the cellars.  Come Spring time, as the weather warmed up, the fermentation process often restarted within the bottled wines causing them to explode.  The process did not become controlled and desirable until early scientist's like Chaptal refined the process.

Why is this all important to understand sparkling wines?  For the simple fact that Dom Perignon is synonymous with Champagne due to marketing.  We think of all sparkling as Champagne.  We assume it to always be expensive and don't dare open a bottle except as a celebration.  All again due to marketing and perhaps music videos.  Be daring... open a bottle of sparkling wine for dinner tonight or at your next barbecue.  I give you permission, you'll enjoy it.  And by the way, our top pick in this tasting is Varichon et Clerc Blanc de Blancs "Privilege."  It is a French sparkling wine produced in the méthode traditionnelle, and can be found for around $10. For full tasting notes on all the wines tasted,  please read through our review section.

Tom Cook

"Champagne!  In victory one deserves it; in defeat one needs it."                           
        ~Napoleon Bonaparte