Screw (cap) the Cork!!

"Seriously!?" "Corked again?!!?" These were two of the commonly heard phrases that I both muttered and heard last week at the Frederick Wildman and Diageo wine tastings in Chicago.

I'm all for the romance of cork. I love using the corkscrew and hearing that satisfying "pop". But it is becoming increasingly easy for me to accept the move to screw caps. Of the close to 75 wines we managed to try at the two tastings,( "Only 75?" Hey we had to drive 2 hours back home!) we came across 11 that were corked. For those keeping score at home thats 14.6% of our wines. And those are just the ones that weren't tried before being poured! I'm sure that some of the reps that tasted their wines before pouring came across a couple as well.

This is a shame. Of the corked wines, one was a Sterling 1995 SLV. Upon putting it to the nose, the wet cardboard and lack of any fruit at all made it immediately obvious that the wine was corked. Taste more than confirmed it. And what was more frustrating? The people pouring didn't believe us and were reluctant to open another bottle! I understand it can be embarrassing to be told one of your wines is corked, but you don't tell your customer that they are wrong! Simply open another bottle and compare. Sure enough the second bottle was leaps and bounds better than the first and even they exclaimed, "Wow! You're right!"

At the Frederick Wildman tasting, we came to a table of French wines by Chateau Fuisse. Antoine Vincent (of Chateau Fuisse) was there representing his wines. All of their wines were amazing, which built up my anticipation for his grand finale: the Chateau Fuisse Collection Privee 1999. All of the wines we had tasted up until that point were single vineyard bottlings. The Collection was a blend of single vineyard wines from the 1999 vintage. This wine is one that is kept in the family and never sold, so it was a real treat to be able to taste it. He was so passionate about everything, very knowledgeable, and extremely courteous in answering all of our questions. Which is why I did not have the heart to speak up and tell him that his 1999 was corked. Not just a little bit either, it was full on corked. I was supremely disheartened, and couldn't help but wonder how good the wine was actually supposed to taste.

There is simply no reason for this to continue. Not too long ago at work, one of our wine reps brought in 8 wines to taste and 7(!!) were corked! What are the odds?! It has gotten to be that if I am having a tough time deciding between two wines to purchase, even if it's just for my own personal enjoyment that night, I will opt for the screw cap. Supposedly, cork producers have made strides in quality control and the cutting down on TCA contamination. I'm sorry, but tasting wines and "only" having 15% of them ruined just isn't good enough for me, especially when I come across corked wines that should be automatic classics.

Learning Experiences at the Diageo Tasting

One of the most interesting experiences at the Diageo tasting in Chicago last week was meeting Master Distiller Evan Cattanach. Evan was at the scotch whiskey table. Trying through the scotches was great, but the lesson learned on how to taste it, was even better. I always tasted whiskey like I taste my wine. The old swirl, sniff, sip routine. That is the correct way to physically taste it, but I didn’t realize it was also proper to taste it again with just a few drops of water.

In other whiskeys, I would usually add a little bit of water only if it was barrel proof. The water would help quell the burn and make tasting the more subtle flavors easier. With scotch, a few drops of water not only dampens the alcohol, but it also causes a chemical reaction. Enzymes in the scotch react with the water to create substantially new flavors that you may not pick up while the scotch is uncut.

Most of the scotches we tried became noticeably sweeter. Aromas of vanilla and tastes of honey found their way out of the whiskey. The Talisker 10 year from the Isle of Skye had smokey marine aromas and flavors. With the addition of water, a sweet spiciness came out. Oban 14 year had a noticeable black tea flavor with a citrus edge. Water made it even more mellow, and felt like a drop of honey was added. The Talisker 16 year was my hands down favorite. Very balanced in taste with a smokey nose. The addition of water, once again, sweetened it up nicely and added a vanilla note to the nose.

We also stopped by a table where an experiment of sorts was going on. At this table were 6 bottles of wine: four white and two red. Two of the whites were Sterling 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Calistoga. One of them was steel tank fermented, and the other was barrel fermented. The nose of the steel tank Sauvignon Blanc was almost New Zealand in style with very bracing gooseberry, grapefruit and kiwi notes. On the palate, the wine had medium acidity, a little roundness and easy stone fruit flavors. The barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc actually had higher acidity, and the oak was very nicely integrated.

The other two whites were Carneros Chardonnays from Acacia. One had a short amount of contact with the skins during fermentation, and the other had long skin contact. The short skin contact chardonnay had a fresh tropical taste. Punchy acid and flavors of pineapple. The long skin contact had a much longer finish, was silky in texture, and almost seemed a bit honeyed.

The reds were Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour 2007. One of these was unoaked. The oaked wine was as you'd expect. Dark ruby in color, almost purple, with a big dark fruit nose of plum and black currant. Tastes of mild chocolate, dark fruit and pretty firm tannin. The unoaked lost just about every quality you'd associate with cabernet sauvignon. The color was much lighter, as was the taste. The wine had no tannin, and up front bright fruits. At about mid palate, the wine drops off the radar and the taste is over.

These three experiments demonstrated the techniques of barrel aging on both whites and reds, and how much the length of skin contact during fermentation affects chardonnay. If you ever have a chance to compare identical wines made in different ways, try it. You'll be amazed at how certain steps in the winemaking process really add to the final product.

Macro Vs. Micro Climates and a Case for Terroir

What's the difference between these wines in the picture above? Essentially, only the vineyard they came from. All of them were made according the the same process and specifications (all are chardonnay, same wood and old/new percentage, same amount of malolactic fermentation, etc). Only the physical location of the grape vines is different.

A while ago when I was in California taking class at the Culinary Institute in Napa Valley, I had a teacher that brought in a guest speaker who was a farmer. Not just a farmer, but a farmer who really specialized in organics and biodynamic grape farming. He was a really great guy to have lecture because he really “understood” what it was to farm. What I mean is that he wasn’t someone who sticks a few grapevines in the ground and calls himself a farmer. No, he understood how the vines worked, what made great fruit, and most of all how the soil worked. And that’s the key. (You’ve never heard someone wax so poetically about dirt in your life! But I digress.)

At the Wildman tasting today, there were a lot of old world producers. Old world producers seem to try and stress terroir (the concept that a wine’s taste and scent directly reflect where it was grown) a lot more than new because they want to preserve the tradition of their land. Before we had spinning cones and steel tank fermentation, they were using cement and wood fermentation tanks, and natural yeasts (sometimes just what naturally grew in the cellar or surrounding areas). Nowadays the wine industry has ample tools to make exactly what they want. What do we get from this? Well for starters, they get the ability to study our palates and what we really enjoy, and can tailor their products to what we would like to buy (which is a win for the consumer that just wants to drink what they enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with that.) But for those of us that consider ourselves true enthusiasts, we look for something more.

This is where terroir comes in. California by wine growing standards is still young. What is California terroir? Who knows? We know certain things: Napa Cab is lush and plush and fruit forward while possessing a complexity and an age ability as well. They can produce terrific wines. Notice the word PRODUCE. They may grow the grapes, maybe not, but they produce something we enjoy. Is there anything wrong with that? Nothing, as long as that’s the type of wine that floats your boat! I enjoy these wines. But I also enjoy the more traditional styles that let me taste and almost experience where I’m drinking.

When you read in an American magazine or book about Micro and Macro Climates, quite often micro is misused to mean a physical location, such as hillside, bench land, valley floor, etc. The physical location of the vine is actually it’s meso climate. What micro actually means is the space immediately surrounding the vine.(Micro and meso get misused by the media about as much as epidemic and pandemic) Macro refers to the vineyard site or even the whole region or sub-region. There may actually be many micro climates within a single vineyard site or macro climate. In Europe this is well understood. I tasted two French wines at the Frederick Wildman tasting that were made in the exact same way completely, but they tasted extremely different. Why? Their respective grapes came from different vineyards that were a whole 20 meters apart. 20 Meters!! A whole spitting distance apart, and two vineyards can produce vastly different styles of wine! I have read the cases against terroir that say there is no scientific evidence to support its theory, but when you have such fine examples as this, how can you argue against it???

A Big Woops

A couple weeks ago I made a big "woops". I'm not talking an "oops". An oops is trying to put the left shoe on your right foot in the morning when you're still groggy. A woops is saying something nasty about your boss when he's right behind you. No, I didn't say anything about my boss. My woops involves wine.

We were tasting some wines in the office of the store I work at when someone brought up Chateau Montelena. My father told me to run down to the basement and grab a bottle of the 1998 Chateau Montelena Classic Cuvee. (In our basement, we have a room we call our "reserve room". It's a small cool and dark room that we use to lay down expensive wines. Every now and then we sample a bottle to see how the vintage is holding up.)

So I go down to the basement, scan the cubbies, and find the one that has several bottles of the '98 cuvee. I grab one and run back up to the office. My dad pops the cork and we all take a pour. Swirl, sniff, sip. "Wow!" we all exclaimed. This is terrific! Much more than we thought it was going to be, but also completely different. It was at this time my father actually looked at the label and realized that I had not grabbed a 1998 cuvee, but a 1989 Estate Cabernet. Woops!

Regardless, the bottle held up very well, and was a pleasure to drink. I felt bad about making the mistake, but it was the only '89 in a pile of '98's and the labels look extremely similar. In my defense, I have to say this; I may have pulled the bottle, but my dad pulled the cork.

Back from Hiatus

Hey everybody. Spring fever's gotten the best of me and I've been trying to get out of the house and go places as much as possible for the last few weeks. I have however been taking notes on things to write about. I have plenty of wines, spirits and beers to give tasting notes for, as well as a couple of cool stories and a few new F.A.Q's. Check back on Friday, March 14th for the new articles!

This Year's German DI

Every year my father, mother, our store's manager, and one of our sales reps get together at my parents' house to taste wines in the Direct Import program. The DI program is a program where we purchase large quantities of wines from Germany and France (150-300 cases) and get deep discounts. Basically, it's a way to get great wine at great prices. Each year there is anywhere between 30-50 wines that we can taste and pick from. We make dinner and the event is great fun and something we all look forward to.

In the end, we all wound up picking pretty much the same wines for our top fives, but in different orders. My father and I got into a pretty heated debate as his number one was my number 2 and my number one was his number 5! But that just goes to show you that no two palates are alike.

Tonight we tried all of the German wines (about 30 or so) and on Thursday we will go over all of the French wines. Since we tried so many, I'm only going to list what we thought were the top ones and their tasting notes:

Allendorf Classic Riesling Halbtrocken 2007: This wine had an old world, mineral nose that was fairly light with just a touch of peach. The palate had a bit of lemon and green apple.

Allendorf Winkeler Hasensprung Kabinett 2007: Better than the 2006, I thought. Where the 2006 had more of a traditional oily feel, the 2007 had a juicy palate of stone fruits and honey, and a honey/fresh blossoms filled nose.

Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Estate Riesling 2007: This was my number 1 pick of the night. A nose of peaches and apricots, with just a tiny hint of paraffin wax. Round and honeyed on the palate, and very balanced.

Domdechant Werner Hochheimer Holle Kabinett 2006: My number 2 wine of the night. This had an old world mineral/oily nose, but the palate opened up with a round honeyed peach characteristic, with good balanced acid and sugar.

Grans Fassian Trittenheimer Riesling Kabinett 2006: My next favorite. As you'd come to expect from Grans Fassian, this wine has wonderful clarity of both color and mouth feel. A spicy nose that leads into a slightly sweet (for a kabinett) palate of stone fruits. Nice lingering finish that leaves the palate feeling clean and ready for another sip!

Domdechant Werner Hochheimer Kirschenstuck Auslese 2006: Very nice wine. I always say that the best wines always seem to be the ones hardest to describe, and this is one of those. All of the flavors of fruit and oil, as well as the waxy honeyed nose are all very well integrated into one another. Overall a balanced, tasty, refreshing wine.

Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Bernkastler Badstube Kabinett 2006: A soft, peachy nose. Palate starts out sweet and with a spark (read: slightly effervescent). Acid and stone fruit flavors linger on the finish.

If all of these names sound confusing to you, it's OK. The first word in the name is usually the producer(I.E. Allendorf, August Kessler, Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler) , the last (kabinett, spatlese, auslese) relates to the relative sweetness of the wine (driest to sweetest respectively), and the names in between are regions or specific vineyards that the grapes come from ( I.E. Bernkastler is a town, Badstube is a region in Bernkastler that takes its name from the natural caves and springs that the Romans used for bathing when they were growing and making wine in Germany. Badstube literally means "Roman bath").

In Germany, one of the things they really stressed to us was the versatility of Riesling to pair with food, and they were right! We were served a wide variety of dishes, and always Riesling, and the combination always worked! Tonight, my father prepared fillets on the grill and we all drank various wines with the steaks. Every wine I tried worked with the dish. We also had other foods such as crab cakes, brie cheese, and mashed potatoes. There was always a Riesling that went with the foods we ate! Those Germans sure know a thing or two about wine!

Recently Tasted: J. Lohr Wines

Today we had a visit from a representative of J. Lohr Winery. J. Lohr is a California winery located in Paso Robles. We tasted several of their wines including: J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon, Carol's Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Bay Mist Riesling, Los Osos Merlot, Crosspoint Pinot Noir, Fog's Reach Pinot Noir, Riverstone Chardonnay and Cypress Vineyard Chardonnay. Most of these wines possessed something unique for their varietal, but all were well made. Below are my thoughts on a few of them:

The Sauvignon Blanc was very round and fairly balanced, with a juicy, almost over-ripe grapefruit taste. The acid took a bit of a back seat to the almost sweet fruit.

The Riverstone Chardonnay was very elegant. Very well integrated oak, nice pineapple fruit, and a surprisingly light and silky texture. There was a slight bit of toast on the nose, but not so much on the palate. Cypress Vineyard Chardonnay is their budget line Chardonnay, and is quite tasty for the money. Bright up front pineapple and apple, moderate acidity, and medium bodied. A decent everyday wine.

The Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon had jaw clenching acidity on the first drink, but not on subsequent drinks. When I went back and tried it again after having a few of the others, my first drink again had that acid, but it waned on the following sips. The wine was smooth and velvety, with a terrific nose of dark fruits and a bit of chocolate.

Of the Pinot Noirs, I preferred the Crosspoint. Then I found out it was also half the price of the Fog's Reach and that solidified my preference. Easy going, with cherry and bright plum flavors and soft tannins. The under $20 Pinot Noir price category is sparse on quality, but the Crosspoint is a good buy.

Wine F.A.Q. #2- German Riesling

Q: I want a Riesling that isn't sweet. Is that possible?
A: YES!! Not all Rieslings are sweet and some are totally bone dry. If you want a dry Riesling, look for the word "kabinett" on the label.

Q: Kabinett? What does that mean?
A: Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenberenauslese, and Eiswein, refer to the time of year the grapes were harvested. Kabinett is harvested earliest, and Eiswein last. These terms give you a good indicator of the level of sugar in the wine as well because the longer the wine hangs on the vine to ripen, the more sugar it can produce. With Eiswein, the grapes must hang on the vine until they freeze, at which point the are harvested and pressed (while still frozen). This process produces a wine with a more concentrated sugar level and, thus, a sweeter wine.

Q: Ok. So what about the rest of the label? What is this Reinhessen, Reingau, and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer stuff?
A: Those are regions in Germany that the wine comes from. Many of the grapes grown in Germany are grown along the Rhine and Mosel rivers and their tributaries. The regions you see on the labels are simply where along these rivers a wine comes from. These can be helpful if you are looking for a specific terroir.

Q: How soon should I drink a Riesling after I buy it?
A: Honestly, whenever you want to. Riesling is an amazing grape because it drinks very well when young and, because of its acid and sugar levels, it can age for 20, 50, sometimes even 100 or 150 years! As Riesling gets older, its color becomes golden and its flavors take on honeyed and sometimes nutty characteristics.

Q: What can I pair Riesling with?
A: Well, when I was in Germany, I had a wide variety of foods. With all of these foods (ranging from vegetables, various meats, sea foods, you name it) we were served Riesling and it always worked. Because Riesling has such versatility in its flavors, you really can't go wrong in pairing it with just about any food.

A Most Memorable Meeting

At the Louis Glunz Tasting in January I had the chance to meet Jim Norman. From what I hear, before the event Jim found his way to the baby grand piano and really showed off his musical talent. Unfortunately, I was not there for that, but I was able to witness his wine making talent!

Jim featured a Pinot Grigio, 2 Cabernets, 2 Meritages, and 3 Zinfandels. While all of the wines were quite good, it was the Zinfandels that really stood out. All three Zins (the Classic, Monster, and Mephistopheles) were terrific. But, be aware that these are not the typical Zins you may have come to love over recent years. They aren't over-the-top fruity, they aren't raisin rich, and they don't have ABV's that will ignite.

What these Zinfandels do have is complex flavors we don't often find in too many Zins today, and tannin! Yes that's right floks, honest to god tannin! These wines actually feel a little more Cabernet like than they do stereotypical Zin.

Why is this? Well, according to Mr. Norman, It's because he doesn't trick up the wines. In his words, "Look, I'm a farmer. I played in the dirt as a kid and I'm still playing in the dirt. I grow the fruit and I let it speak for itself."

So how do his techniques differ from everyone else? What makes his Paso Robles Zin stand out from so many other Paso Robles Zins? He uses oak, but he refuses to toast them. He believes using un-toasted barrels better allows the fruit to speak for itself. In Norman's wines you can actually feel a sense of Terroir! When's the last time you pulled anything resembling Terroir out of a California Zinfandel? I honestly can't remember.

So to Jim I raise a glass and say cheers! Keep up the good work, making the great wine, and thank you for being yourself!

Towards the end of January, I went to a tasting hosted by a Chicago wine distributor (Louis Glunz). The even was held at the Union League Club. The venue is always very nice and, I'm happy to say, the wines are as well. This year was no different.

My father and I went to the event with the idea of picking out a few wines for our store's Spring wine tasting. We wanted to find 7 or 8 to include. As it turns out, we could have easily featured 25 or so. Many of the new vintages from some excellent producers will be hitting store shelves soon, and I think customers will be pleasantly surprised! Below is a list of some of the wines of note we tasted along with brief tasting notes and thoughts:

Cave de Tain L'Hermitage 2005 Syrah: At about $8 a bottle, this is a heck of a wine. Earthy and loamy, but with decent fruit in the middle and balanced acid.

Cave de Tain L'Hermitage Hermitage Rouge 2003: This wine was nicely lush with dark fruits and plum, and a great nose of sweet cedar.

L. Feraud Chateauneuf du Pape 2006: This was my favorite French wine at the tasting and, ironically, it felt the least French. Medium bodied with plenty of fruit throughout the palate, light on tannin, and a moderately long finish.

Spada Blanco 2006: This Spanish white has a distinct California Sauvignon Blanc feel. Round and possessing stone fruit flavors.

Fairhall Downs Sauvignon Blanc 2007: This is what I have come to expect from New Zealand Sauv Blancs. Huge herbaceous nose, lots of kiwi and grapefruit on the palate. A pleasant surprise as many New Zealand Sauv Blancs I have tasted recently have not had that acid backbone.

Bong Bong Shiraz 2006: Ok. Now that you're done laughing at the name let me say that at $10 a bottle, you can do MUCH worse. An easy drinking Shiraz. Fruit forward, short to moderate finish.

San Simeon Petite Sirah 2004: This was my gold medal wine of the tasting. The San Simeon Petite was chewy and lush, and had a finish that just would not end. Very Good!

Tamayo Family Vineyards Sparkling Brut 1998: This was a terrific sparkler. Very fresh tasting and with a nice clean finish. Distinct green apple flavor and balanced acidity. Tasty!

Landmark Overlook Chardonnay 2006: Nicely made, not overdone. Slightly toasted marshmallow note on the nose, smooth and creamy on the palate without giving up its pineapple flavor and acidity.

Quality and Price Vs. Quantity Produced

In January I talked about the price of wine and how it is not always indicative of quality. I sometimes get asked, “Why does this wine cost so much?” My knee jerk response used to be, “Well this was a small production wine, thus they had to charge more.” In some cases this is true, and it makes sense; produce less, charge more to break even and, hopefully, profit. But, like comparing quality and price, this is not always the case.

Using the Spectator’s Top 100 issue again, when charting the top scoring wines of 2007 with their price relative to their cases produced, you end up with the chart below:

As you can see, case productions are all over the map in relation to the prices charged per bottle. There were 10,000 cases made of a $260 bottle of wine, but then there were less than 1,000 cases made (and in some instances less than 50 cases made) of several wines priced below $65.

So if quantity produced may not directly influence how much a particular wine costs, then what does?

Well, the producers making thousands and thousands of cases also have thousands and thousands more dollars wrapped up in expenses. Bigger production requires bigger tanks, machines, buildings, more barrels, more labor, and more than likely more marketing to move all of said cases!

On the other hand, the producer making less than 500 cases probably has a pretty small operation, less overhead, and isn’t paying for advertising. Thus, they have the advantage of pricing their wines much more affordably.

Smaller production is also theorized to create better quality wines. I tend to agree with this. All of the wines in the chart above scored above 95 points. Five of the wines used for the chart scored 99 points, two of which had production of less than 15 cases, and one had a production of 10,000 cases! That’s quite a range!

The thing to remember here is that while 10,000 cases may seem like a mass production, it’s really small potatoes when compared to wineries producing 200k, 500k, or even close to a million cases. You’re probably not going to see too many wineries with production quantities that high getting those high scores. This is because to get that much juice for that many cases requires the blending of many vineyard sites, possibly from many diverse growing conditions, and possibly still different varietals altogether. All of this blending tends to homogenize the final product and, while it may create consistency for the producer, creates a boring experience for the consumer.

An Observation On TCA In American Vs. Europe

Nothing is more frustrating in wine than a corked bottle. Well, one thing is: when your server refuses to acknowledge that the bottle is indeed corked! I've run across this in America much more than in my trips to Europe. Which really makes me curious.

I remember my first trip to California when I turned 21. We were in Sonoma at a winery tasting room and the gentleman behind the counter was pouring wine for my father and I and a couple. He was doing an excellent job of salesmanship, really waxing poetic on the wines he was pouring. And I had to agree with a lot of what he was saying. The wines were quite good! Until he poured a Cabernet that smelled like soggy cardboard. Immediately I looked at my dad as if to say, "This just isn't right." I was on my first trip to wine country, literally tasting my first wines, and I pegged it. The wine was corked.

The gentleman at the counter was going on and on about all these lush flavors that simply weren't there, and the couple were taking it all in and nodding and just accepting what he was telling them. Then we spoke up and said very politely, "Excuse me, but I think you have a bad bottle here. It appears to be corked." The man got really defensive and, after a bit, grudgingly opened another bottle. This one was everything he was describing before. We had him pour the new wine for the couple and their eyes widened in amazement. Had they not compared the two, they may have never known what the word corked meant!

In Europe, when we have been served corked wines our servers never get that defensive. They grab a glass, inspect it themselves, and most of the time say, "You're right!" Even the owners of the wineries will act this way! Sometimes, I even think they give us the benefit of the doubt if they don't actually believe the wine to be flawed. So I always wonder: why the difference in attitude?

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer. Do you? If you have an observation or story about this type of thing, leave a comment or post it on the message board. Maybe we can come up with an answer!

Frequently Asked Questions #1- Wine 101

This is the first in what will more than likely be many posts to come dedicated to some of the many frequently asked questions I receive at the store. This post will deal with wine in particular.

Q: My doctor tells me that I should start drinking a glass or two of red wine every night, but I don't want to open a bottle a day and have most of it go down the drain. It's costly and wasteful. What do I do?
A: Buy a box! There is a stigma associated with box wines that is a little unfair to apply to every brand. Yes, some brands will taste like kerosene or vinegar. Just stay away from those! There are plenty of good box wines perfectly suitable for everyday enjoyment. Delicato's Bota Box series and Black Box wines are two good examples. One 3 liter box will provide you with a fresh glass of wine every day for about 20 days. That's much easier on the wallet than a bottle every day!

Q: I'm looking for a wine for cooking. Do I need to spend much more than $10?
A: NO! I always try to aim for the $5 dollar range when cooking with a wine. The wine is there to add nuance to the dish and depending on what you are cooking, the wine will more than likely burn off many of its flavors. If you cook with wine often, one good thing to look for are 4-packs of 187ml bottles. These are great in the kitchen because they allow you to use what you need for the dish, without letting the rest of a 750ml bottle go to waste!


Q: The other day, I opened a bottle of wine, had a glass, then put the rest in the refrigerator. The next day it tasted terrible! Is this normal?
A: Unfortunately, yes. Wine's arch nemesis after it is opened is oxygen. Oxygen can turn a wine into vinegar in a very short time. As soon as a wine is open, oxygen begins to take its toll. This is actually preferable in some cases, i.e. when decanting a tight wine, or when swirling in the glass to release aromas. It usually only takes 1-2 days to completely degrade most wines. If you want some extra time, you can use one of the many vacuum sealed stoppers. These will help prolong the process of oxidation. I would stay away from preserving gases however as many people, including myself, tend to find that they give the wine off scents and flavors.

Q: I have just started drinking wine, but I don't like one thats too rough. What should I try?
A: Well, that "rough" feeling you refer to is probably tannin. Tannin is a chemical found in the grape skins that gets absorbed into wine during fermentation. It is the chemical responsible for leaving a gritty or sand papery feeling on the tongue. This is something a lot of people have to acquire a taste for. For starters, try not jumping straight to reds. Start with some easy drinking whites like Riesling and Gewürztraminer. Then try to move to drier wines like Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Once you feel comfortable with those, try easing into either slightly sweet reds like Blaufrankisch or Dornfelder, or slightly less tannic reds like a fruit forward Pinot Noir or a lighter bodied Merlot. Find a wine merchant that knows their stuff and they should be able to ease you in! But remember, keep trying! There's something out there for everyone!

A Great Rye Whiskey From... IOWA????

Yep! You read that title right. I'd like to take the time to introduce you to a new found friend of mine, Templeton Rye Whiskey. I had the pleasure of trying this whisky today with one of our sales reps. On the nose, the whiskey exhibits big, rich scents of caramel and vanilla. At first sip, it seems lighter than it should judging from its big nose. But each successive sip seems to have more and more weight. The body ends up being nice and round and silky smooth.

For the uninitiated, rye whiskey is the original U.S. distilled spirit. Before the standards for making bourbon were set in stone, most U.S. whiskey was made from rye. (Bourbon is predominantly corn and may be finished with rye to add complexity and spice.) Rye whiskey was the spirit in the first American Cocktail, “The Sazerac”. Rye fell by the wayside due to its more brash (read: less sweet) nature when compared to its bourbon cousin, but the complexity and changing American tastes have led to a resurgence in the amount of rye whiskeys available.

This rye in particular has a pretty fun back story. According to legend, Templeton was a favorite of Al Capone's and actually played a role in his bootlegging operations during prohibition. You can read more about it at:www.templetonrye.com/. And, if you're in either Iowa or Illinois, you can actually buy it. (It is currently only available in these states due to its limited production)

3 Great Spirits to Watch For

Back in September of 2007 I had the chance to attend the Southern Wine & Spirits tasting with my father at Navy Pier. This is a huge event with hundreds of wines and spirits, so many that you can’t possibly hope to even make a dent in tasting them all…but boy it’s fun to try.

Among all the wines and spirits we tried, there were some particularly pleasant surprises on the spirits side of things.

The first spirits that caught our attention were three scotches from Glenmorangie. These scotches are all aged for 10 years in used bourbon casks, then finished for another 2 years in a cask of sherry, port, or sauternes.

“The Lasanta” is finished in a sherry cask. This gives the scotch flavors of toffee, raisins and walnuts, and produces a smooth, somewhat creamy texture reminiscent of fine sherry.

“The Quinta Ruban” is finished in port casks. Port nuances are imparted into the scotch giving it a rich ruby color, flavors of chocolate with a touch of mint, and a velvety texture.

“The Nectar D’or” is unique in that it is finished in a sauternes cask. The sauternes cask aging delivers a scotch with flavors of lemon, vanilla, honey and spice, and a nice mellow and lingering texture.

The next great spirit we tried was St. Germain. St. Germain is a French liqueur made from wild Elderflower blossoms. The great thing about this liqueur is its indescribability. On the first sip you may get citrus zest, on your next you may get fresh apricot, on the next maybe pear or honey. This liqueur is very complex and always changing. The flavors linger and you will continue to taste them on your lips for many minutes after each drink. You can mix this in a variety of cocktails, but its silky smoothness makes it easy to appreciate when served neat.

One of the last spirits we tried at the tasting was a spirit that, until recently, was banned almost globally for containing chemicals deemed to cause hallucinations. Absinthe, or “the green fairy”, is seeing a surge in popularity since its new legalization in the States.

The proper way so serve absinthe is to slowly drip water over a sugar cube and into the drink. This turns the neon green liquid a milky white color.

Absinthe has flavors of mint, sweet black licorice, and other herbal notes. Absinthe is typically very high proof, anywhere from 120-170, but it is incredibly easy to drink. When I took my first sip I thought, “Wow, that’s very smooth”. The server then informed me that it was 120 Proof and I was shocked. It has virtually no burn.

Absinthe is a fun drink for parties and makes an excellent conversation piece. If you have not yet had the pleasure of a visit with the “green fairy”, I would highly recommend you seek her out!