by Tom Lewis
Of the things Ukraine is famous for, high up on the list are probably the Chornobyl explosion, periodic stand-offs with its overbearing, northerly neighbour, vodka and a book about tractors. Once "the bread basket of the Soviet Union", it is also known for its richly fertile "black earth". It is perhaps less know on the world stage for its wines which are, in all honesty, not world class and generally come from the south, especially the Crimean peninsula which is one of the few parts of the country that does not get too cold in winter for vines to survive. Most famous of these may well be Sovetskoye Shampanskoye, an excellent value, if undemanding, generic sparkling wine which, apparently, is still allowed to call itself Champagne for historic reasons.Less well known, but of more note are ...
by Tom Lewis
A few years ago, I took a drive holiday through Alsace and Germany; the best wines from that trip came from Paul Schneider in Alsace and Kirchengut Wolf in the Mosel valley.The general itinerary for the trip was Cambridge, Calais, Belgium, Alsace, the Black Forest, Heidelberg, the Mosel valley and back to Cambridge; Heidelberg is Cambridge's twin city which gave me one reason to visit it - the other is its beautiful castle overlooking the old town and river.Starting out from Heidelberg, we first drove along the Rhine valley before a cross-country dash to Traben Trarbach in the Mosel. The rolling countryside we drove through felt less stereotypically Germanic than the big industrial or Hanseatic cities one associates with the Bundesrepublik Deutschland - it was agricultural and neatly, gent...
by Tom Lewis
Champagne is a triumph in many senses - it is technically very difficult to make, requiring secondary fermentation in bottle with all the remuage and degorgement that that entails; before that, it requires the the making of a base still wine in a northerly and pretty marginal climate, no mean feat in itself.The finished product, with its fine bubbles, yeasty aromas and hints of brioche and toast is one of the great wines of the world and the consumption of it is usually also a triumph of some sort - a wedding, anniversary or significant birthday.But it is also a triumph of marketing and pricing strategy - Champagne is the sparkling wine for an occasion; you do not need to be a fan of motor sport to be familiar with the image of Formula 1 drivers dousing themselves with a magnum of Champagn...
by Michael Maletta
While conducting wine classes of different interest and educational levels at various locations, groups of people whose experience and knowledge vary widely influence the topics and approaches. But there is one constant in all my classes; something everyone who drinks wine should know, to help increase their appreciation. The basic five S’s of wine tasting (in order) which are:See Swirl Smell Sip and Savor (or Slurp if you prefer)I usually have students take a sip first before we go through the steps and just observe. Some will look at the wine and take a quick sniff on the way to drinking, but more just go right to sipping. Then, I ask “how did it taste?” After the initial reaction, we go through the exercise, concentrating on each step, emphasizing smell. I tell the students n...
by Gary Chevsky
[Please see the full original article with photos at the Iron Chevsky Wine Blog at http://www.chevsky.com/2010/08/elias-fernandez-of-shafer-vineyards.html]During my semi-regular pilgrimage to Napa Valley to visit favorite sights and restaurants, I stopped by Shafer for a taste and chat with Elias Fernandez. Son of farmworkers who moved to Napa when he was 2 weeks old, he grew up on this land, and is one of the few graduates of Mexican descent to have come out of the prestigious UC Davis enology program almost three decades ago. (Was the wunderkind winemaker Gustavo Brambila in the movie Bottle Shock patterned after him?)Before arriving to Shafer, my friend Sonia and I stopped for lunch at the Napa Valley classic - Mustards Grill. Paired with a dry California Rosé of Pinot Noir from Robert...
by Ptincalgary
SEARCHING THE SMALL STORESbig bargains in your corner wine shop?I work in a high level, high turn-over retail wine and spirit store. I also appreciate wines that are older than what you can find in high turn-over retail stores. Words cannot describe the bargains that you can find in the stores off the beaten track. When the great Bordeaux vintages of 1996 and 2000 came to the marketplace, little stores thought that they could be a slightly bit more streamlined for collectors (and neighbors), to prove that they could compete with more knowledgeable stores by purchasing these vintages. The vineyard volumes were good, the prices were what they were. Sadly, the big stores with big advertising budgets won. They charged what they felt that they could get, and their inventory on these wine...
by Rick Jelovsek
Have you ever had that experience in a restaurant or even at home? When should you send the bottle back in a restaurant or ask the wine retailer to replace the bottle? Fortunately, "bad wine" (as opposed to wine that is not very good) does not happen frequently with today's modern wine technology. However it still occurs and you will taste it on occasion.There is a difference between just not liking a particular wine and getting one that is "spoiled"; you should know the difference. Any purchased wine may have more tannins than you like or be more acidic (sour) than you prefer. It could be less sweet or fruity than you are used to but these are not reasons to send the wine back. Wine that is unbalanced to your taste in tannins, acid or sugar will not have off-smells; you will just notic...
by Karen Hardwick
Grape and GrainWe play a bit of a game in wine class midway through term. One of the ways of helping students remember the character of a grape is to describe it as if it were a person. Some are easy;Cabernet Sauvignon; The Victorian Dad of the wine world. Can be a bit austere but dependable, has backbone and improves with ageSyrah; masculine, dark, brooding, has a rugged charm a bit like Antonio Banderas in a glassRiesling; elegant, lean, classy, misunderstood, Audrey Hepburn perhaps?Chardonnay; How can I put this… a bit of a girl. She’ll play any part you ask her to, from lean and elegant to big and blousyAll this playing around with grape varieties got me thinking about Whisky. What type of person would the whisky in my drinks cupboard be and as wine lover would I like them? We are ...
by Carol A. Wilcox
One of the best kept secrets in the Southwest is the award winning wines that a handful of Arizona vineyards are making. Although modern wine producing in this state only began in 1973, these wine makers are the pioneers of an emerging Arizona industry and they’re already attaining critical acclaim for producing some of the most promising American wines in the country.Because the sun shines most of the time, coupled with cool nights and warm days, it provides an ideal climate to grow a variety of grapes for producing wine. The soil, which is enhanced by volcanic minerals, provides interesting and unique flavors that cannot be duplicated anywhere.In the southern part of Arizona in the rural towns of Sonoita and Elgin, there are several wineries. Three excellent wineries and tasting rooms ...
by Tom Lewis
Wine writers frequently seem to claim that food matching is more an art than a science - what I think they mean by this is that you cannot always predict whether a food and wine will match well together ahead of actually pairing them off. I agree with this to some extent but, whilst serendipity has its part to play in producing unexpected matches, with a bit of practice it's not that difficult to hazard a guess at whether a particular wine is going to match with a food.The first matching event I ran was a few years ago now - for that, I took a few "classic" food and wine combinations (Sancerre and goat's cheese, roast beef and Bordeaux) and asked people to see if they thought they were a match - that is to say, both the food and the wine were enhanced by being consumed together. For this o...
