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There are a lot of things that I would like to change about wine in America. I'd love to lower the prices, reduce the influence of scores on buying patterns, increase consumption, broaden the varietal mix, and on and on. I've got a long list the next time any omnipotent being comes along and asks my opinion on the situation.
But if I had to choose one thing, above all else, that really needs changing when it comes to America and wine, I would choose to destroy the association between wine and the upper class. The fact that wine continues to be thought of as the beverage of the elite does more damage to the future of the industry in this country than any other phenomenon, in my opinion.
America, it must be said, did not get off on the right foot when it comes to wine. The religious zealots that founded this country were notorious teetotalers, of course. But those who followed the Puritans were Europeans of all stripes and colors, and most had a common familiarity with and appreciation for wine. Indeed, on the face of things, America could very easily have inherited their cultural predisposition for wine on the dinner table.
But it didn't for one primary reason. No one could get the damn grapes to grow right. Attempts were made for years with both imported vines as well as the many various native vines that got the early colonists so excited when they arrived. For a while, America was thought to have the potential to build a wine industry that would flourish by exporting wine back to continental Europe.
But even with the help of the many Huguenots and other wine savvy folks who arrived on American shores with no shortage of expertise in viticulture, very little progress was made. The climate was just all wrong.
Which meant that any real quantity of wine had to be imported, and that meant money, and therefore ensured that for the most part, the upper classes had the means to drink wine, and the masses made do with the products of the bountiful grains and apples that flourished here. In short, most everyone drank a lot of beer, cider, bourbon, and whisky, while the Thomas Jeffersons, Ben Franklins, and other early statesmen of America nursed their imported collections and did their best to encourage local efforts to make wine, but to no avail.
And so, if you'll forgive me squeezing and reducing a lot of complex history into a few sound bites, after about 200 years of this sort of social division, it's no wonder that, for the most part things just stayed that way. The industrial revolution widened the gap between rich and poor, engineering an even greater difference between the consumption habits of the upper classes and the lower classes. There were upswings of interest in wine, especially when people actually started to figure out how and where to grow grapes properly, but by then it was too late. Prohibition (and the rapid recovery of beer and whisky production upon repeal) put the nail in the coffin, and set the stage for people like Robert Mondavi to come along and make the valiant effort to remind everyday Americans that wine belongs on the dinner table every day. And they're still trying.
Meanwhile, wine to many people represents the intimidating, elitist, and snobbish rich. Sarah Palin's quips during the recent campaign about the wine and cocktail drinking elite perfectly illustrate the way that many people think about wine. So too do the many comments on a recent New York Times blog about the words that are used to describe wine. I can't tell you how sad it makes me to see how many people think that attempting to describe the flavors and aromas of wine is an exercise in pretension and snobbery.
But it gets even worse. It's bad enough that the average beer loving American (whoever that is) at best thinks that wine is really just for special occasions, and at worst believes that the people who drink it are rich, stuck-up, pedants. But unfortunately, a lot of wine lovers actually act that way.
In many ways the culture of wine appreciation in America encourages this sense that wine is a luxury for the knowledgeable few. We have the specialized stores. The pomp, ceremony, and mystery that surround wine in conjunction with fine dining. The astronomical prices of top wines in the market. And of course, we have the Big Boys. You know the ones I'm talking about, right? The wine assholes.
Men who feel like they own the province of wine are just the start of our problems. Worse are the ones who also like to reel off the great wines of the world they have drunk with the same gusto as they might bedroom conquests. These are the ones that recoil in horror at the thought of sharing a bottle of 1989 Lafite with their "know-nothing cousins from Des Moines" and instead prefer to save their best bottles for wine dinners that attempt to be the oenological equivalents of an evening with Annabel Chong.
But as much as I sometimes want to punch some of these people in the mouth, I don't see the wine snob as a clear perpetrator of the problem. They're just as much another symptom of the basic travesty -- that somehow we've gotten to the point where wine is far too special. And just as with anything that has cachet, wine in America has become something that many Americans think is only for certain kinds of people. Those wine people.
Of course, this rant of mine paints a rather stark, divided world, which belies the true reality of the marketplace. America is not just a collection of beer drinkers vs. wine drinkers any more than it is a collection of red states vs. blue states. And the country is slowly coming around to wine, thanks to many different factors, not the least of which are the backlash against carbohydrates and the media hype about resveratrol.
But we've got a long way to go to get to an American wine scene that I'll be satisfied with. There are a lot of myths to shatter, a lot of attitudes to adjust, and a lot of evil distribution monopolies to crush before Americans get used to having good wine on their tables every day. But perhaps most importantly, there's a lot of wine that needs to be shared among friends -- a lot of wine that needs to be enjoyed without the trappings of ceremony or status, but instead with the simple appreciation for the fact that we are all so very lucky for what we have.
Go forth and drink without fear, and spread the wine love.
When people often ask me how I "got into wine" I have a sense that they are expecting me to relate some story of a revelatory mouthful -- that one wine which struck me like a lightning bolt and sent me down the path to become the wine fanatic that I am today. Strangely, I possess no story like that about wine. I remember merely a pastiche of many special and prosaic moments with wine that have gradually led to me to the depths of my current passion.
I do, however, have a story like that about how I fell in love with sake.
It was the year 2000, and I was a Director of User Experience at Sapient Corporation, and I was asked whether I would be interested in going to Japan to help the company open an office there. Single at the time, with no pets or other obligations, I excitedly said that I would at least go on the initial exploratory trip, and would make my decision based on that experience.
The company planned to make its introduction to the market with the help of a partner firm, a relatively upstart organization that happened to be headed by several of the former top executives of BCG Japan. Our second night in the country, they took us out to what, at the time, was the best sushi I had ever eaten in my life in a private sushi club in Tokyo's Roppongi district. I knew that my job description that evening was going to involve the consumption of a lot of alcohol, but I didn't much care for beer. So when it was offered, I asked politely if I might drink sake instead. The CEO of our partner firm barked at the chef behind the sushi counter, and that's when it happened.
In my memory, the lights dim a little bit around the restaurant so that the sushi chef is bathed in the sole splash of bright light. He places a beautiful small wineglass on the counter, its bowl foggy with the chill of the freezer he has just taken it from. Then he turns slowly and reaches down below the counter to emerge with a huge brown bottle in his arms, its striking handmade paper label brushed with a stroke that resembles a huge number "2." My glass is poured and placed in front of me, shimmering and cool. And my first sip is like drinking a pristine glacial lake under a full moon.
I had the presence of mind to keep my initial outburst to something along the lines of "Wow, this is really good." But what I really meant was "Holy fucking shit, THIS IS SAKE?!?"
In that moment, I knew that I wanted to drink fine chilled sake for the rest of my life. I wanted to try as much as possible, as many different kinds as possible, and as often as I possibly could.
And that was my introduction to the sake known as Kubota Manju.
To put this in terms that might make more sense to wine lovers, here's an analogy: until that point I had been drinking sparkling wine from a box (heated up in the microwave, I might add) and then someone poured me my first glass of properly chilled Krug Champagne.
Kubota Manju is produced by a brewery known as Asahi Shuzo in the Niigata prefecture of western Japan, and it may well be the most well known fine sake in the world. Asahi Shuzo was founded in 1830 and is the largest producer in Niigata prefecture, and therefore one of the largest producers in all of Japan. Just as the massive Champagne houses who manage to strike a fine balance between making huge quantities of product at a very high quality, elevated further by a globally recognized brand, so too has Asahi Shuzo managed to turn Kubota into the Cristal of sake. The brand of the drink has eclipsed the people who have made it.
Kubota is a trade name -- one of the very first successful "brands" of fine sake on the market. The sake was originally named Asahiyama, and was finally branded Kubota in 1985, taking the nickname that the brewery had enjoyed. The Kubota line of sakes, and Kubota Manju in particular, gained massive popularity in the 1980s as Japan rekindled (some would say created) its appreciation for fine sake, partially due to simply good timing and savvy marketing, but also no doubt because of its extremely high quality and taste.
Asahi Shuzo was one of the pioneers of the fine sake movement (which has only really been around for about 50 years, and successful for 30), and in particular was one of the first to use stainless steel tanks for making sake. The use of steel in sake making has a similar effect to the use of steel in winemaking. It is more hygienic, leading to lower numbers of outside or unwanted bacteria during the fermentation process, and tends to accentuate the fruit. Or in the case of sake, the floral qualities of the rice.
Kubota Manju is an unusual sake in several respects, independent of its popularity or quality. It carries no formal designation of its level of quality, which is why I've had to note the fact that it is actually a junmai daiginjo sake parenthetically above. For those of you who aren't familiar with sake designations, this means that it is made from rice that has been polished down to at least 50% of its former mass, and includes no added alcohol in the brewing process. Not content to stop just past the 50% mark, Kubota Manju is usually made from rice polished down to about 33% of its former mass.
Instead of such quality designations, the Kubota line of sakes are simply given numbers, if you will to correspond to their quality. The "ju" in the name roughly translates to "celebrations" or "congratulations" (though some snidely suggest it might mean "ostentatious") and the other character is a number. Kubota Manju means roughly "10,000 celebrations." The two lower grades of Kubota are known as Senju (1000) and Hyakuju (100), respectively. There are also two or three other, even higher, grades of sake made with the Kubota name every year, as well.
There is a reason that this is the most popular and most well known fine sake in all of Japan. It is the same reason that I couldn't have asked for a better introduction into the world of fine, chilled sake. It is delicate, refined, and incredibly high class, in addition to being a textbook example of top class sake from an organoleptic standpoint, and definitely one of the world's top sakes.
While in the past nine years I have discovered sakes that I like better than Kubota Manju, it will always remain one of my favorites, both for nostalgic reasons, and because it really is damn good. I buy a bottle or two to bring back with me from Japan every time I visit, which isn't nearly often enough.
Tasting Notes: Colorless in the glass, this sake has a nose of cedar trees and fresh rainwater, with hints of dried orange peel aromas. In the mouth it is smooth and silky, with a beautiful weight on the tongue and a perfect dry balance that allows flavors of tuberose and orange blossom to mingle with hints of cedar and wet stone that leave the palate feeling alive and refreshed. Outstanding.
Food Pairing: I love drinking this sake with sushi and sashimi of all kinds, but in particular with the creamy goodness of raw scallops.
What does it take to be a pioneer in the wine business? Vision, drive, a great love of wine, and of course, money. Dr. Piya Bhirombhakdi found himself in possession of all of these prerequisites and so in 1989 he fulfilled his dream and started PB Khao Yai Winery.
The Bhirombhakdi family are no strangers to the beverage industry. They founded Thailand's first brewery in 1933 and so it is only fitting that they should also lead the way in wine making. Today the PB Winery produces over one million bottles of wine annually from 130 acres of vineyards.
The ubiquitous Syrah and Chenin Blanc are well represented, but PB's Tempranillo which is not widely planted in Thailand, it is also amazingly good. This Spanish grape seems an obvious choice for the warm climate of these southern latitudes. I expect to see more of it from other producers in the future.
The large area of plantings allows PB to source grapes from a myriad number of micro-climates. This not only gives the fruit a variety of characteristics, it helps to mitigate the chance of disaster. Mildew may pop up in one side of the vineyard, but down the dell and around the corner chances are the vines are safe.
The banana trees that can be seen from the vineyards are the only indication you have that this is not your ordinary grape growing region. One of the first of the "New Latitude Wines" as they refer to themselves in Thailand, PB's vineyards are among the most mature and healthy of those we witnessed.
The entry level of wines go by the charming name of Sawasdee, which means "hello" in Thai. True to their name the wines are welcome and a good place to start. The Pirom line is in the middle, with PB Reserve taking the top position. Chenin Blanc can be found at all three levels, and Shiraz at the top and bottom, but Tempranillo is only used for the Pirom wines.
The winery and vineyards are open for tours and the Great Hornbill Grill is the on site restaurant. We had quite the feast when Piya himself hosted us, but any visitor will enjoy their selection of Thai and Western dishes. In the mood for something simple and familiar? A wood fired pizza and plenty of Singha beer on tap may be just the thing you are looking for.
400 people a day on the weekends come to marvel at this wine estate. Set among the jungle growth of this tropical locale, it is situated less than two hours outside of Bangkok. If you prefer to skip the crowds come out during the week and take in the sights and flavors of Thai wine country. To make tour arrangements or for more information, visit their web site at http://www.khaoyaiwinery.com.
There are not a lot of beet lovers in my family. I remember during a game of Trivial Pursuit with my grandfather Chuck the following question came up: "What vegetable goes by the scientific name Beta vulgaris?" Chuck gave the correct answer, with the explanation that no vegetable could be more vulgar than a beet. I enjoy red beets and go crazy over golden beets--in fact the only ingredients I dislike are those that are bland and flavorless (chickpeas, I'm looking at you). With colder nights, I thought that it would be fun to make a hearty pot of borscht, a soup that doesn't get a lot of respect thanks to lingering misconceptions from the Cold War. Borscht is boiled beets and sour milk, right? Just like the trope that Russian women are ugly, and we all know how that turned out.
Like garam masala, BBQ, pasta sauce, and kimchi, there are as many conflicting recipes for borscht as there are grandmothers in the given culture. Arguments erupt, friendships split, cities go to war against each other on the soccer field. Somehow millions of different people each have the Perfect Version of Dish X, the One True Recipe Since Time Immemorial, and woe unto the heretics.
Without any relatives from the former Soviet Republics, I have no dog in the fight. So in looking at various recipes I decided to go with one attributed to the famous Russian ballet dancer and defector Rudolf Nureyev. Chuck roast, cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, assorted flavorings... I roasted the beets before shredding them into the soup, and I increased the amount of beef and tomatoes for additional flavor and body. When serving, be prepared to add two things: salt and acidity, the latter from lemon juice, white wine vinegar, or if you're like me, hot sauce. It's a deep, rich, savory soup, but that necessary punch is best moderated by the individual diners. Whatever you do, don't forget the dollop of sour cream in the middle, and if you have it on hand, a sprinkling of fresh dill.
Frankly I don't know if you can pair a wine with this--I just started eating the soup and the bowl was gone before I thought to try it with the wine. With the earthy peasant heritage beer might be better, but afterwards I relaxed with a glass of the 2007 Bodegas Naia Verdejo. $13, 13% abv, 100% Verdejo from the Rueda region of Spain. Big peach and spice cake aroma, with full-bodied apple and peach flavors. It's easy to get a little tired of fruit bombs with red wines, but luscious fruit flavors can be refreshing in whites. My pairing advice for this wine wouldn't include borscht, but I think it would be a perfect wine for assorted appetizers or a muffaletta: the touch of sweetness and fruit flavors make you crave ham and olives.
Thanks to my friend Angela at Kirby Wines & Liquors for choosing the wine, though at the time I wasn't even thinking about borscht. I can stop by and ask for something like a "fun Spanish white" and she'll select a winner for me. I can't stress this enough: talk to the people at your local wine shop and find someone who works there with similar tastes to yours. Those folks have most likely tried a lot more wine (good and bad) than you, and can quickly find something you'll like in your price range.
I like light reds. Pinot noir, gamay, barbera all make food-friendly wines that can be light in style as compared to, say, cabernet sauvingnon or zinfandel, which are fuller bodied (and often higher in alcohol).
Talking about the flavor profile of wines, from light to full bodied is, in my view, a really constructive way to talk about wine. Heck, entire stores such as Best Cellars in Manhattan and wine lists at numerous restaurants arrange wines this way.
So I was surprised to hear a boutique wine distributor tell me the other day that “light” is verboten! Here’s what he said:
“Light is bad. It’s the kiss of death for a wine. I instruct my sales staff to never describe a wine is light–it’s not beer after all! Succulent and fruit forward and food-friendly, yes, but light, no.”
It’s probably just a question of semantics since he does have many light-bodied (my term!) wines in his portfolio, which I don’t think even has one Aussie shiraz or Cali cab. But I was struck by his hostility to the term and, needless to say, I don’t think it is the kiss of death; rather, it’s a strong endorsement in my view! What do you think?
There are a pair of excellent reviews for Ria over at Abstract Gourmet (1, 2). I've been far slower in visiting the deservedly popular and commendable Malaysian restaurant, largely because of the house policy of not allowing reservations. With a young family, scheduling and certainty when it comes to feeding times is very important. . . The solution of course is to visit without children (which most of the fashionable clientele do), or as close to the 5:30pm opening time as possible (arriving after 7pm will mean time waiting on the pavement).
The food is satisfyingly good and true. The menu is short, there were no noodle dishes for instance, but each and every dish I tasted was lovingly prepared and complete. Some highlights included the multi-textured egg plant salad (which had at least 15 ingredients that I could identify) and the indulgent caramelised duck (pictured above). The food, being Nonya inspired, is strongly spiced and flavoured, making wine matching challenging. It was a challenge I avoided, the excellent food and curries are much better suited to beer and in the end I opted for pint of Porters. For those interested in wine, it is BYO (bring riesling, rosé or a cheap GSM blend), or there is a short list (9 whites and 9 reds, and all seemingly from the Constellation stable of brands - Amberley, Goundry, Hougton, Tintara, Yarra Burn, Kim Crawford etc) which could do with more diversity and thought.
There is definitely wine in India, but who exactly is drinking it? I have tasted pretty much all of the local, at least grape, wine I can find, which was pretty easy, as that is a population of about three producers. I ran across fruit wines being sold up in the foothills of the Himalayans, but I didn't have a chance to try it, and I don't usually count it as wine, at least for the scope of this blog.
The most amazing thing about wine, at least this far from Delhi (I am up north in the large city of Chandigarh) is people's perceptions of it. They, at least the locals I have met, do not know exactly what wine is. They assume it is a sort of whiskey, and a high priced one at that.
When I had a chance to share wine with them they were delighted with the taste, although to be fair I started them off with a slightly sweet white. This is a beginner wine for many people, and it was well received here, and went nicely with the local foods.
People here drink whiskey, and they drink it with nibbles before a meal. Drinking wine with the dinner was not something they had ever thought of doing. In fact drinking wine at all was something they had not thought of doing.
Almost every block there is a store that sells liquor and beer, and while the signs say they have wine, none actually do. Only a few stores carry wine at all, and their selection is very small.
That is not surprising given that most of the people in India I have met have no idea what wine is. The few restaurants that have wine listed have "both kinds" red and white, and nothing more descriptive than that.
The wines made in India are not bad, but they are very expensive. In a country where a hair cut cost $1.50 a $12 bottle of wine is an investment that few consider worth the risk.
It is changing. The ultra rich are drinking the big name labels, as they always do. The middle classes are ordering Dominos pizzas in their Levi jeans over their cell phones, and sooner or later they are going to start equating wine with their lifestyles.
Once India gets a taste for wine, watch out, there is a huge potential market here, if you are very, very patient, or very, very proactive.
Amazon.com, the online purveyor of books, apparel, and just about everything else, has announced its plans to enter the wine sales business. Beginning as early as mid-October, the online retailer will offer a selection of more than 300 wines from all over the United States to customers in 26 states. The company indicates that the selection will represent a wide cross-section of US producers, not just wineries in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
Shipping and taxes, as ever with online wine sales, will likely be an issue. Amazon says that customers of the Amazon Prime service (which carries a $79 annual fee) will get free shipping. Still, it's an intriguing development.
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Amazon.com, the online purveyor of books, apparel, and just about everything else, has announced its plans to enter the wine sales business. Beginning as early as mid-October, the online retailer will offer a selection of more than 300 wines from all over the United States to customers in 26 states. The company indicates that the selection will represent a wide cross-section of US producers, not just wineries in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
Shipping and taxes, as ever with online wine sales, will likely be an issue. Amazon says that customers of the Amazon Prime service (which carries a $79 annual fee) will get free shipping. Still, it's an intriguing development.
Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.
Not to sound like a lush or anything?, but I love the booze. All aspects of it. Grape, honey, barley, corn, whatever. I like sitting down to a well-set table and a nice dinner with a fantastically-matched glass of wine to sip and savor, but I also enjoy gulping down a can of cheap beer after mowing the lawn. I?ve been doing single malt scotch tastings and keeping a whisky journal since 2002, but I also like sitting around a campfire and drinking rot-gut until I?m staggering and bleary-eyed.
There are times I drink simply because it tastes good, and times I drink because I want to get stupid. Sometimes both. Well, a little while ago, I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation re-runs. There?s a great episode where Picard goes home to France for the first time in years. His brother, Robear, is still running the family vineyard. They sit down to the evening meal, and Robear uncorks a bottle of the family wine.
Jean-Luc: Is this the forty-six? Robear: *tsk* The forty-seven. You?ve been drinking too much of that? what?s it called? Synthahol? Spoiled your palette. Jean-Luc: On the contrary, I think it heightens one?s appreciation for the genuine article.
(For the non-Trekkies in the room, synthahol is a substitute for alcohol that does not impair judgment like alcohol does.)
Heightens one?s appreciation for the genuine article. I love that line, and it got me thinking? Would I drink wine, beer and whisky if it was non-alcoholic? All things considered, is it the taste, the buzz, or both?? What about you? If beer, wine and spirits contained no alcohol, would you still have that glass of fantastic wine with dinner, that ice-cold beer after moving the lawn, or that treasured dram of 15-year-old whisky?
Me? I?d probably stop drinking whisky, because even though I dearly love exploring the subtle nuances of different single malts, spending that kind of money on a non-alcoholic drink would be silly. I?d still drink wine and meads, since finding a good match can really enhance a meal, irregardless of alcohol content. Complimenting a strip steak or a plate of fine cheeses with a can of Diet Coke or a glass of cranberry juice just wouldn?t cut it. I?m not sure about beer. I?m not much of a beer drinker anyway, so I?d probably stop altogether if it was all non-alcoholic. I went through a phase when I was drinking non-alcoholic beer because it was thirst-quenching, but it got a bit expensive. An ice cold Fresca would do the trick after mowing the lawn, I guess.
A16 tops the list of the best wine bars in San Francisco. The owner-sommelier Shelley Lindgren?s wine list is focused on Southern Italian varietals. This wine list is an integral part of the A16 experience and what makes it the best of the wine bars in San Francisco.
Andalu on 16th Street is another one of San Francisco?s finest wine bars. They are awesome because they offer small plates with big flavors. This is one of the San Francisco wine bars that has an approachable wine list and offers 35 wines by the glass. The crowd there is mixed and energetic.
Wine bars don?t usually come as good, or as small, as Bacchus on Hyde Street. Bacchus has knowledgeable bartenders that make innovative saké cocktails and they pour over 50 wines that range in price from under $10 a glass to more than $200 a bottle. The signature drink at Bacchus is their sake-version of the mojito.
Cav is one of the wine bars in San Francisco that takes itself extremely seriously. Cav has a well-chosen wine list of over 300 international wines. Some of the wines on the list are offered by a taste, or the glass. The chef has crafted unique takes on lots of dishes and Cav actually offers a cheese course that is served at the proper temperature and is on par with some of the finer restaurants in San Francisco.
Wine bars like Piccolo on Fillmore street handpick the wines on their wine lists. Piccolo is one of the wine bars that choose limited availability and small production wines. They prefer to concentrate on Italian wines. The owner of Piccolo has wonderful antipasti on his menu. There is fierce competition between wine bars to have the most excellent food to accompany their spirits.
Varnish Fine Art is both an art gallery and one of the top wine bars in San Francisco. The atmosphere at Varnish Fine Art is comfortable and it draws a post-work crowd for beer or wine during happy hour. The wine list at Varnish Fine Art is well chosen and features a number of delicious fine wines, as well as soju and saké cocktails.
A few weeks ago someone came in and said, ?I have this new wine from Armenia you have to try?. So, with much hesitation I went over and tasted this Armenian wine. I was even less excited when I saw the label and realized that it was a pomegranate wine. It was pretty nasty I must say. But, the folks in Isreal didn?t think so and they made their own version.
Several years before the trend got started, a family in Israel's Upper Galilee region began working to create a tastier and healthier version of the ancient fruit, only to cross their way into yet another huge food market. Their product: the world's first pomegranate wine fit to be sold to international wine connoisseurs.
The craziest part though, in my opinion, is that Pomegranate doesn?t have enough natural sugars to ferment to alcohol. The majority of the time it has to be tampered with to even get it to the alcohol content that it needs to be a wine.
In general, pomegranates don't have enough natural sugar to ferment into alcohol on its own," Leo Open, Rimon's director of international marketing, told ISRAEL21c. "In the past, some people have added alcohol to pomegranate juice to create a form of liquor, but no one has successfully made wine. Our pomegranates are the only ones in the world that have enough sugar to do so naturally."
Hmmmmm.
"Like with all wines, the fermentation process is totally natural," Open says. That being said, pomegranate wines clearly belong to a different class than the typical reds and whites, and Rimon recognizes that the market has to treat it as such, Open says. "We consider it a fruit wine, definitely not a liqueur, and it has to be appreciated in this way."
If you have to tell me that your wine is a fruit wine and not a liquor, that?s probably not a good sign. Here?s my advice, make wine from grapes. That?s it?.it?s simple. Wine= grapes!!
So, in Illinois a police chief has a big beef with big beers. Apparently 22 ounce beers are ending up as trash all over the city and the chief is fed up. He even goes so far as to say?
Police Chief Rich Miller wants to outlaw the sale of beer in 24- or 32-ounce cans, saying those sizes are preferred by trouble-making drunks.Miller says stores sell them in paper bags that conceal them perfectly and end up as litter, and that Granite City would be better off if stores just didn't sell such beers.
So, lemme get this straight, only drunks drink 22 ounce beers?? http://cbs11tv.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_254120050.html
Science Rocks!
Check it out. I found this clip on You Tube for a new robot created by Asahi that pours your beer for you. Sure I have no idea what it is saying (probably something like Americans are retarded) and it takes a little over 3 minutes to pour the damn thing but cool nonetheless. If you?re wasted, or if you?re name is Kipp and are obsessed with beer gadgets I am guessing that it is a necessity!
For years I have loved you. I have sold your wine to people who don?t even know how to pronounce your name yet they always come back for more. I know the quote on your bottle ? ?Through this earth gate, this Torii Mor, we step, to make glad the soul with wine?. I have visited your winery and tasting room, I have bought your expensive single vineyard wines. I loved you Torii Mor. I loved you even after Patty Green left you to make her own winery but I should have known. I should have known that one day one of my undiscovered baby wineries in Oregon would sell its soul for cash. Premier Buying Group from Napa has been buying vineyard land in Oregon in a very deceitful manner and Torii Mor owner Jim Olsen has been the man behind the scenes. Expect a ?Mondavi? like venture that whores out cheap ass pinot noir in your near future.
I went to New York last week and had a great time. I went to the Bubble Lounge which is a restaurant that serves over 350 champagnes by the glass. I was in heaven. I drank the Veuve Cliquot MV "La Grand Siecle". Yep that's right MV - not NV. MV means that they blend vintages. This particular wine was '88, '90, and '95 vintages from Veuve single vineyards and it was well worth every penny I paid for it. Here's a picture. I'd post more pictures but the night went downhill from there and while the pics are very funny, they are also very telling!!!
So, when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split, he had to sell his Frank-Gehry designed wine cellar. But, he?s not moping around.
It's rumored that the movie star, who was adept at stomping people in Fight Club and Troy, could soon be stomping grapes, thereby putting him among the ranks of celebrities with their names on wine labels.
Pitt stayed in a village in the Piedmont (Italy that is) and visited 2 different wineries that were for sale.
Monica Tavella, spokeswoman for the Fontanafredda estate in Piedmont, told the newspaper that Pitt stayed there after the Winter Olympics and expressed interest in the art of winemaking and viticulture.
Holy Jesus. Brad Pitt and super exclusive cult Barolos?? Shhhh?. I need a moment to myself.
Okay, let's move on............
A Votre Sante
In France when you want to ?cheers? you say A Votre Sante which translates ?to your health.? Over the past 5 years we have heard a lot about compounds in red wine which are beneficial to your health, specifically resveratrol. Studies have shown that moderate consumption of red wine can reduce the likelihood of a heart attack. But check out the other things they are testing it for look at how good it actually is. Also, in the quote below MDWD refers to a moderate daily wine drinker. While our doctors and government don't recommend wine, British health officials routinely do. A growing mound of studies, reflecting sources such as the American Heart Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms wine to be precisely the potent and nutritious medicine our ancestors assumed it was. Besides the magic in polyphenols, which you could get from grape juice, and in alcohol, which you could get from gin, wine adds up to more than the sum of its parts. In contrast with bingers and abstainers, as well as beer and spirits drinkers, moderate daily wine drinkers (MDWDs) are better-educated and earn more. Their higher cognitive skills propel them through the Alzheimer's years with a 50 percent lower risk of dementia, one reason they're half as likely to end up in nursing homes even though they live longer, succumbing to cardiovascular diseases at half the rate of abstainers and heavy drinkers. Since moderate daily wine raises "good" cholesterol and reduces inflammation and clotting, MDWDs recover better from heart attacks and surgery and have a lower risk of stroke. They also have a 30 percent lower rate of Type 2 diabetes. Both red and white wine pack powerful, cancer-fighting antioxidants. Incidence of endometrial cancer is 83 percent lower in female MDWDs. Wine with meals halves your risk of colorectal cancer. Wine even eases blood-vessel constriction in smokers, while its polyphenols alleviate certain lung diseases. MDWDs get fewer colds with lighter symptoms. Their bones are denser, and they have nicer teeth, due to wine compounds that zap gum-disease bacteria. But wouldn't all that alcohol play havoc with your liver and kidneys? Nope. In fact, MDWDs have 30 percent lower risk of kidney dysfunction, and liver disease decreases as wine consumption rises. MDWDs have narrower waists and half the obesity rate of bingers and abstainers. Mysteriously, adding wine to a diet appears to melt pounds. It could be antioxidants and flavanoids speeding the breakdown of fat. It couldn't hurt that red wine, at 1.37 grams per liter, provides 8.5 percent of recommended daily fiber. It might have to do with metabolism or pleasure centers, which might explain why wine also helps with anorexia.
Craziness. Not only are wine drinkers cooler, more educated, and more successful, we?re also tons healthier. Now, drink up!
English Lit, Geometry, and Vinology?
How cool is this? In Australia high school students can actually take a class to teach them how to make wine. The rules are that they cannot taste or drink wine at any point in time during the class, nor can they attend events where their wines are tasted out (bummer). But they actually get to go through the process from start to finish of making their own wine. Even cooler is that the school has now gotten their proper licenses so that they can sell and market the wine to the public. At my school the electives were art, French, and agriculture class.
Viticulture started at the school in 2000 with the planting of 450 vines on four old sand tennis courts, comprising 215 durif vines, 175 shiraz vines and 70 viognier vines. The course, designed for year 11 and 12 students, was developed by the Wine Industrial National Education Training and Advisory Council and is competency skills-based with students achieving an Australian Qualification Framework Certificate I in Food Processing (wine). Mr Adamson said students worked in the school vineyard and then did placements at local vineyards. Wine is stored in barrels at the school and bottled at Cofield?s. Mr Adamson said the proceeds from the sale of the wine would be used for further equipment for the course.
He said the course had plenty of success stories to day with graduates doing well in the field. One is former student, David Whyte, now assistant winemaker at Cofield?s. ?David is our technical adviser and I take samples to him for advice when we make our wine,? Mr Adamson said. ?Now he?s the teacher and I?m the student.?
Um, is it just me or do they look like something more than just "student and teacher"? Cool concept, gay picture.
I, for one, think that it is incredibly important and hip as hell to be teaching these kids a craft that they can take into the real world and be successful with. I wish they would do that more in American school systems. If there was such thing as a mini-homebrew kit for toddlers I know that my husband would have already bought one for my son. Hmmm? maybe we can just send him to school in Australia. Ha!
Anheuser Busch? new seasonal beers? The latest trend in beer drinking in America has been that drinkers are opting for hand crafted, more flavorful beers from micro-breweries. With that, Anheuser-Busch? market share has decreased so we knew it wouldn?t be long before they tried to up the ante.
Budweiser. Michelob. Natural Ice. Busch.
What do these beers all have in common? They are all brewed by Anheuser-Busch and are beers most craft beer drinkers would not think of imbibing unless there was absolutely nothing else available.
I?d go for water first. But Anheuser-Busch, at least on a small scale, is trying to change the minds of craft beer drinkers.
They have released Demon?s Hop Yard IPA, brewed in the company?s Portsmouth, N.H., brewery and only sold in New England on tap.
McGualey said, "These are just a fun way to let people take a peek inside what our company is doing. It?s all about consumers today. I think consumers are looking for products like these."
I don?t know about you guys but the tap handle alone is frightening. I can?t imagine what the beer is like. I mean on one hand I?m glad that they are paying attention enough to know they need to step up their game, but on the other hand, my opinion of their company is so innately flawed that I probably won?t even try their new seasonals. Oh, BTW the new seasonals are the Jack?s Pumpkin Spice Ale, the Winter?s Bourbon Cask Ale, the Spring Heat Spiced Wheat and the Beach Bum Blonde Ale. If any of you get to try them email me with info. I am super curious about them.
Today is hump day and I am on coast until I get outta here. My last day is tomorrow so as soon as I finish some filing I'm done!! I've got some web surfing to do do I'm out! Cheers!
Pam Anderson and Kid Rock (aka Bob Ritchie) were engaged last week in St Tropez and decided to also marry there this past weekend in a yacht off of the coast of France. And boy does it only get better. Here are some pictures of Pammy pie a few days before her wedding looking rough and making *ahem* remarks about the upcoming nuptials.
Okey Dokey then Pam. I sincerely hope you were kidding, otherwise you are an absolute idiot. Note to self - Veils purchased from Prescilla's look HIDEOUS!!
Unfortunately, it just keeps getting better. Here are pictures of the bride and groom just after saying their vows. Wanna know what millionaires in the entertainment industry drink after getting married in St. Tropez on a million dollar yacht? Well, tried and true - American all the way through - Kid Rock drinks Corona. Wait..Corona??? I guess when you are in France you don't have to honor your exclusive contract with Coors. At least he represents with a stunning (or stunningly retarded) American flag belt buckle made from rare blue diamonds along with red rubies on a titanium buckle. (The gift is rumored to be from Pam as his wedding present). Our precious Pammie pie is slugging....er...drinking Veuve Cliquot. In fact, they drank during the entire ceremony. I really think that the captains hat just makes the bridal bikini don't you??
In case you were wondering what to do for a gift for the couple....
Kid Rock instructed his fans to purchase their gifts at one of his favorite chain stores. "Yes, I'm marrying the girl of my dreams," he wrote on his Web site. "We are registered at Wal-Mart. Thanks for the support!" It's true too. I actually searched for the link today and found it. Here it is...
Adding things to beer is the new hype these days. Sparks, for example, is adding a caffeine type mixture to their beer so why not add green tea to a beer? Wha?? Yep, it seems that the folks at BluCreek Brewery are launching their newest beer called Zen IPA.
BluCreek describes its Zen IPA as an "English-style India Pale Ale created with a mouth-watering blend of fresh Chinook, Cascade and Centennial hops infused carefully with an invigorating all-natural Green Tea." BluCreek has also made beers produced from blueberries and ginseng in the past. I'm not so sure about a green tea beer but hey, to each his own.
A positive spin on Global Warming
The icecaps around the Arctic Circle are melting partly because of global warming. So in the philosophy of "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade" the brewers at Inuit Microbrewery are making a new beer produced from glacial arctic water called Icecap Pale Ale and Brown Ale.
A brewery in Greenland is producing beer using water melted from the ice cap of the vast Arctic island. The brewers claim that the water is at least 2,000 years old and free of minerals and pollutants. It is claimed that the Greenland beer, officially launched in Copenhagen on Monday, has a softer, cleaner taste than other beers, because of the ice cap water.
Tecnorati
I like light reds. Pinot noir, gamay, barbera all make food-friendly wines that can be light in style as compared to, say, cabernet sauvingnon or zinfandel, which are fuller bodied (and often higher in alcohol). 
I went to New York last week and had a great time. I went to the Bubble Lounge which is a restaurant that serves over 350 champagnes by the glass. I was in heaven. I drank the Veuve Cliquot MV "La Grand Siecle". Yep that's right MV - not NV. MV means that they blend vintages. This particular wine was '88, '90, and '95 vintages from Veuve single vineyards and it was well worth every penny I paid for it. Here's a picture. I'd post more pictures but the night went downhill from there and while the pics are very funny, they are also very telling!!!
