Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the longest established sparkling wine house in the Champagne region of France. Named after Benedictine monk Dom Thierry Ruinart, the winery is located in the city of Reims, where ancient crayères (chalk pits) serve as cellars that offer constant temperature and humidity, thus allowing the wine to age as long as 12 years. These crayères were hewn from the chalk sub-soil by the Romans, who used the chalk as building materials. Also used during World War I to escape the bombing, these cellars were classified an historic monument in 1931.

Join us as we sit down with Ruinart’s Cellarmaster Frédéric Pana?otis to discuss Ruinart’s history, its vineyard sources, and of course its various cuvées.

For more info on Champagne Ruinart: www.ruinart.com

Sponsor: Bagged Wine: www.baggedwine.com

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The 2006 edition of Bruno Tait's Ball Buster is true to form. Like Barack Obama, it's a velvet glove on an iron fist. This I verified on the night of the third Presidential debate of 2008, by drinking the third bottle to date.

Mind you, writing about it is not as easy as drinking it. It's so smooth on the surface, you get carried away, as if the Bush years are a thing of the past. If I were on death row, I would request as many glasses of Tait Ball Buster as I could get, as a prelude to the lethal injection that would be the ultimate anti-climax. I imagine a last supper of long-suffering Shiraz grapes, basket pressed to my lips before I turn blue.

Robert Parker's Jay Miller, a true hedonist of a reviewer, sees the virtue in Ball Buster '06, to the tune of 92 points. I first tasted Ball Buster 2005, drawn to the name. It was quite good; the 2006 seems even better, but that's probably just my eternal optimism getting the best of me.

Fact is, Bruno says this year's blend is 78% Shiraz, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. The iron fist manifests itself by way of the alcohol level that soars into the stratosphere without a trace of ethanol in the nose. The velvet glove is the cloak of the grape skins preserved from the vineyard into the glass.

Tait Ball Buster 2006 is deep dark purple ruby, as expected. You get aromas of loganberry, expresso, cedar and forest. Lush jammy red-to-black fruit, vanilla, then chocolate emerge, at first sweetly on the edges of the tongue. The finish is dusty dry with soft astringency on the center of the tongue.

Price: $19 (Nashville). Closure: Screw cap. Alcohol content: 15.7%.

Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viognier expresses the very irrational exuberance that got us into this economic mess. But it didn't, it just tastes that way. Like Sarah Palin, it's fresh, attractive and uncluttered, but alas, it's well crafted.

This alternative white wine blend will connect and resonate with most any white wine drinker. It tastes like perfectionism in a bottle. It comes out of left field but has the power to bring people together. I've tasted this wine in previous vintages, always found it to be pleasant, but this vintage really grabbed me.

Expect perfumed aromas of melon, pear, grapefruit and cold blossoms, plus overtones of sweet spice. On the tongue, bright acidity gives it a mouth-watering crisp edge. The finish, like Sarah Palin, gives a wink of sweetness, but the overall effect is palate-cleansing. Robert Parker himself rated this one 90 points, a real bragging point for an under-$15 USA-made white wine.

Price: $14 (Nashville). Closure: Screw cap. Alcohol content: 12.8%.

Oktoberfest! I must confess that October has found me drinking more beer. Maybe it's Oktoberfest, or maybe I'm turning into a beer advocate. My paying job has me promoting brews, so I have a vested interest in gaining first hand experience. Research must involve all the senses. Yeah, that's it.

Not knowing much about beer, I stumbled onto a couple of good ones right off the bat. First, Duvel Belgian Strong Pale Ale. If you've tried it, you know about that amazing head. If you haven't tried it, and you're not dead yet, go get a bottle, chill, and pour it into a glass. The head defies gravity. It's like what I hoped whipped cream would be when I first learned of it, but it never was. Lightly bitter, unlike the hop-head brews that gather the limelight, beautifully crisp, like a champagne, refreshing and smooth, Duvel is the creme de la creme, literally and figuratively. It's not the latest thing, but no one appears to have improved on it. Expect to pay about $3-$4 a bottle (330 ml.). Alcohol content: 8.5%.

And then there's Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. 'Tis the season, and unlike the imitation over-hyped or over-hopped brews that pretend to convey the harvest, Dogfish really does. The color is beautiful, somewhere between a new minted copper penny and an October sunset. The aromas are complex, hinting at sweet baking spices and pumpkin, but also conveying lots of malt and even some hops. The flavor is a bribe that could make you do most anything.

Expect to pay about $8.99 for a 4-pack of 12 ounce bottles. Alcohol content: 7%. Don't miss out!

By way of a "plug", I recently installed high-proof beer sections into Frugal MacDoogal's web sites for Nashville and Fort Mill, SC (Charlotte, NC area). These sections combine my original bottle photos with a pinch of clever programming, some worthy graphics, and information from all over the place. So far, Frugal's is getting good results from this effort.

With the credit crunch looming large, 'alternative investments' such as fine wine are becoming increasingly popular. Figures from Berry Bros. & Rudd & Christie's Fine Wine Auction show a combined total of over two and a half million pounds worth of fine wine has been sold by these two companies in the past few weeks.
 
Berrys', the UK's leading independent wine merchant, has witnessed outstanding sales in the last few weeks, selling 1000 cases of 2006 Ch. Lynch Bages and 1000 cases of 2000 Dom Perignon Champagne^?, worth a combined total of one million pounds.
 
Christie's Bordeaux 2000 sale^?, held this week, saw bullish spending with the Ch. Lafite Rothschild 2000 making £10,925 per case^? and a case of Ch. Latour 2000 going for £9,200. Overall, the 'Highlights from a Superlative Millennium Vintage^?: Bordeaux 2000' auction realised a combined total of £1,654,775.
 
Historically great wines from great vintages have appreciated 10-15% per annum, so its no wonder investors are putting their money into alternative funds. And, with wine classed as a 'wasting asset,' any investment is free from capital gains tax.

... goes on to list 'Berry Bros. & Rudd's tips to investing in Fine Wine'. Worth a read.

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Tags: melgab, wine, investment, ROI, auction, south-africa, South Africa

Catch Champagne Sales - 06 January 2007

Wine Sellers Dream of Amazon - 18 January 2007

British Spending More on Wine, Less on Beer - 13 August 2007

TiVo and Amazon will Deliver Digital TV Shopping - 24 July 2008

Catch Champagne Sales - 06 January 2007

Wine Sellers Dream of Amazon - 18 January 2007

British Spending More on Wine, Less on Beer - 13 August 2007

TiVo and Amazon will Deliver Digital TV Shopping - 24 July 2008

Perhaps the only thing worse for winemakers than getting a below average review in a wine publication is being mentioned in any publication that describes itself as investigative. "Normal" journalists, namely those that don't normally focus on food, wine, or lifestyle issues, have a pretty lousy reputation in the wine industry, and sometimes for good reason.

Especially when they publish pieces like this. Or when they try for a "new angle" on a particular issue.

The issue of ingredient labeling on wine has been discussed at length in the United States, and it's apparently also under discussion in the EU. I've written about the subject here on Vinography before.

Now, apparently Channel 4 and its investigative program "Dispatches" has aired a program suggesting that much of the wine industry adulterates its products with all manner of ingredients. The discussion about ingredient labeling has now turned into a muck-raking sensationalist exercise, that threatens to completely misinform and alarm UK consumers.

Here's a clip from the segment. Here's another one.

While neither of these clips contain the worst claims supposedly leveled in the program (namely that winemakers use so many additives in the winemaking process, that what you get at the end isn't really wine), you don't have to see much of them to hear the agenda being pushed. Those in the UK can see the full program online for the next seven days.

Now, I'm all for truth in labeling when it comes to wine. I think winemakers should err on the side of disclosure. There are certainly a lot of things allowed in wine that most people have never heard of. I probably wouldn't make buying decisions based on the fact that a winemaker had used reverse osmosis to lower the alcohol of a wine, or that it had been fined with isinglass (a fish protein). But I wouldn't mind knowing those things, and some people have the right to make purchase decisions based on them if they like.

But I do object to the sort of "digging for dirt" that this program seems to have been after. Apparently they called Jamie Goode, looking for some sort of expert witness who could tell them all sorts of nasty things that people put into their wine. His impression was that they had already decided what conclusions they wanted to draw, and were simply looking for supporting evidence, which he declined to give them.

Apparently they ended up revealing the scandalous truth that sugar is added to most Champagne.

Duh.

My sympathy goes out to retailers, producers, and distributors in the UK wine market who are rightfully upset at how this issue has been reframed as a "doctoring of the product" as opposed to a legitimate debate about how wine gets labeled.

I also cringe at the way that some folks in the wine industry use such occasions as an opportunity to push their own "if it's not biodynamic, it's poison" agenda. That's as inappropriate as the lousy journalism.

These notes are from a dinner at Linda’s on King Street last week. The food was good, service was excellent - the only problem was an overcharge by 2 bottles on corkage, but at $3 a bottle it wasn’t a major issue.

NV Vincent d’Astree Gouttes d’Or Premier Cru Champagne
Biscuity nose, with some apple and light candy aromas. Fresh mouthfeel, quite drinkable but lacks depth and length.
87/100

1998 Dom Perignon Champagne
Very intense nose of smoke, nuts and peaches. Very good balance and composure on the palate. This bottle was looking a bit more advanced than some bottles last year but was still very tasty.
91/100

2006 Grans-Fassian Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese Trocken
Lime and spice on hte nse. Medium bodied palate with some noticable residual sugar despite the Trocken labelling. Lacked points of interest.
84/100

2005 Wantirna Isabella Chardonnay
Served blind and some tasters picked it as Chablis. A nose of grapefruit, earth, a touch of funky yeast and oats. Forward flavour on the palate without being over the top. Nice length and texture. I thought it was drinking well now and over the next couple of years.
89/100

2001 Rayas Blanc Reserve
50% Grenache Blanc, 50% Clairette. Grilled meats, fairy floss, wax and lemon on the nose. A bold palate, savoury and with good texture. Interesting even though I think it is yet to develop great palate complexity. Almost certain to divide opinions.
89/100

2005 Vincent Girardin Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes
Blackberry, graphite and earthy aromas. Ripe fruit on the palate, but with some good tannins for the level. Overall though, quite uninspiring.
86/100

1998 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea
Ash, licorice, earth and tobacco aromas. Good flavour intensity and also nice balance between the acid, fruit and tannins. Quite approachable now, it is going to be drinking well over the next 5 years.
90/100

2007 Head Shiraz Grenache Viognier
A new label from the Barossa. 93% Shiraz, 5% Grenache, 2% Viognier. On the nose, aromas of chocolate oranges, band-aids, vanilla and spice. The palate has lots of black and blue berry fruit, but also a metallic edge. Avoid.
75/100

2006 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Honey, spice, botrytis and peach aromas. Medium bodied with balanced medium sweetness. A good wine, but more time in bottle to develop complexity would be recommended.
88/100

Love is in the air this month.  For those of you looking for a way to dress up your Valentine?s Day, consider the object of your affection ?the one with the sparkling personality? as your inspiration.

Accordingly, pop open the sparkling wines and celebrate.

If Valentine?s Day is not your thing, there are plenty of other reasons to celebrate with bubbly this month, from Presidents? Day to any other day of the week, which ends in ?y.? Why? Because sparkling wines add a touch of festivity to any occasion and they taste too good to wait for a special event. And, even though you may not have a fondness for this Hallmark holiday, you always have your love of wines to keep you warm.

Sparkling wines, of which Champagne is most well-known, capitalize on harnessing the CO2 created during the fermentation process to provide the fizz we all know and love. This capture takes place during a secondary fermentation, which is coupled with allowing the spent yeasts to remain in the bottle throughout the ageing period. The yeasts impart the bready/toasty aromas and flavors that are characteristic of sparkling wines.

There are several ways to make a wine sparkle, the simplest, cheapest and short-lived being the injection method (aka pompe bicyclette), which injects CO2 into the wine. These man-made bubbles tend to be large and coarse on the palate.

Conversely, the traditional method, based upon Methode Champagnoise, provides a longer-lasting, smaller bead, which has more finesse in its mouthfeel. These traits stem from the labor-intensive process which includes an initial blending of still wines (assemblage) that is then bottled and capped, along with a yeast and sugar mixture (tirage), to facilitate a secondary fermentation. The wines are then left to age on the spent yeasts for a period of time as set by the appellation (in Champagne, this is a minimum of 15 months for non-vintage wines, while Cavas are generally aged for 9 months).

The sediment left behind must then be carefully shifted from the base of the bottle to the neck in a process known as riddling. The bottles are gently tilted and turned throughout a period of several weeks, forcing the sediment down into the mouth of the bottle. The necks are then immersed into a cold, briny solution, thereby freezing the sediment. The caps are removed and the frozen sediment is thrust out of the bottle and discarded (disgorgement). The remaining wine is topped off with a blend of wine and sugar/must (liqueur d?expedition), which impacts the resulting dryness or sweetness of the finished sparkling wine. The final step is the insertion of the cork, which is much denser that those used for still wines given that sparkling wines can be under up to 6 atmospheres of pressure (be careful where you point that thing).

A similar process is used in the transfer method whereby the steps above remain the same with the exception that the sediment is removed in bulk and the wine is then filtered and bottled. Such wines will note that they have been fermented in the bottle, whereas the wines in the previous method are labeled as having been fermented in this bottle. An additional method involves the use of a tank in which the entire secondary fermentation, ageing and disgorgement takes place. While this is of course a much less expensive process than the other two, it is frequently used to produce wines that have a distinct freshness to them such as Astis from the Piedmont region in Italy.

The Champagne region in France has done a good job in marketing itself as a luxury product and this joined with increasing demand, limited supply and expensive processes has pushed up the price on these wines. Vintage sparklers (those produced entirely from grapes grown in a particularly great year) and prestige marquees (i.e. Crystal, Dom Perignon) command even higher prices. However, many sparkling wines from other regions in France (such as Burgundy and the Loire Valley) as well as well-made American, Italian (Asti and Prosecco), Germany (Sekt) and Spain (Cava) can offer the consumer a wonderful experience without the hefty price tag.

Although I spend a reasonable amount of time (how much is reasonable?) thinking about which wine to enjoy with a meal, quite often I'll find that even if it's not perfect it is still entirely serviceable and rather than wail hysterically while tipping the bottle down my throat, I can enjoy both food and wine while making a mental note to try something else next time.

But then, when you most want to find just the thing to do justice to the efforts of the chef, you go and make an absolute clanger. Of course it is also about doing justice to the effort that has gone into the production of the wine so showing it off in the most flattering company  is desirous  in absolute propotion to the amount of effort it is to procure a bottle and how lovingly you cherish it.

I haven't gone too far out of my way to scout out the perfect steak to show off my £5.49 Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon. Although they would be more laidback company than some, more intricate, menus.

Had the most wonderful meal a couple of nights ago courtesy of a former Masterchef contestant.  We kicked off the evening with some Champagne Drappier Brut Carte d'Or NV. A very biscuity nose with a fresh, light and clean apple palate with a broad, creamy bottom layer with an enthusiatic but not overwhelming mousse and very decent length.

The first course was mushroom ravioli in a wild mushroom (girasol) broth in which the  woodland flavours sang out in operatic fashion. We matched that with a Louis Latour, Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2002 from Provence. Very light crimson this was correct and tasty. Already quite evolved but still lots of fruit, just not the concentration I'd hoped for.  Made a great pairing with the mushrooms though and the lightness and acidity in the wine lifted the earthy tones and richness of the ravioli.

The fabulously elaborate meal continued with roast duck cooked in red wine with cherry sauce. For the duck I had brought along a Feytit Clinet 2000 from Pomerol having enjoyed right bank Bordeaux with duck on many previous occasions. Here though the intensity and sweetness of the cherries and the reduction glaze reduced this otherwise rather lovely wine to thin, metallic, short nastiness. Really very sad!

We tried opening an Eldridge Blue Chip Shiraz 2003 from Clare Valley in South Australia, which alone was sweet, unctuous and jammy but this too couldn't take on the cherries.

Which came first - the cherry or the Feytit Clinet? They both lost that night.  Tant pis...learn from mistakes. Next time before rummaging through the cellar, I'll ask for an exact breakdown of the recipes from my host - NO, not really! This is just for fun.