Wine

I opened mine up just after 11:00 pm EST. You can see it over at the posterous page.

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So much going on at once during the week after vacation.

First, I had a case at the Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Second, I’m legal counsel for one of the presidential campaigns here in St. Joseph County, Indiana, so I’ve been involved in getting ready for election day. I will be SO glad when the election is over so I have one less thing on my brain.

Third, we got ourselves a new puppy, Caoilainn (pronounced kee-lin, it’s Gaelic for Colleen). I forgot what it’s like to be on alert for puppy misbehavior 24/7! She’s great and a lot of fun, but Caoilainn hasn’t quite figured out that writing/typing is something that she’s not yet qualified for.

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Over at http://winefornewbies.posterous.com/. You can check it out until Saturday the 25th. I may not post every day since we won’t always be at Epcot. But when I’m there partaking in the festival, you can be sure there will be reasonably live updates.

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A highlight of the annual Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is the weekly Party for the Senses. It is a special event (extra admission required) featuring the works of about 40 chefs from around the world and roughly 70 wines. Some refer to it as a food and wine orgy, but I’ll stick with the term extravaganza.

I’ll be in attendance tonight, so look for live updates over at http://winefornewbies.posterous.com/ as they come in. You can also check there all week for updated bits of information and photos.

Why at Posterous and not here? The answer is simple: with Posterous, I can email photos and quick entries right from my iPhone just by creating an email message. There’s a way to do it in WordPress, but Posterous seems much simpler.

Have a great weekend!

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The time is flying by, and it won’t be long until I’m in flight myself. Catherine and I leave early on Friday morning and should be at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival by early afternoon. I’m sure I will have secured a festival guide so I can begin mapping out which wine seminars I want to attend, and we’ll be doing plenty of eating and drinking around World Showcase over the course of a week.

As I mentioned before, I will have my trusty iPhone with me to take photos and upload them to the posterous web site. As I encounter interesting wines and other goodies, I will get them sent to that site where you can follow along. The iPhone’s camera isn’t great, so don’t expect highest quality photos–especially since I’m a poor photographer. But hopefully this will help everyone get a real sense of the festival.

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The details still need to be worked out, but we’re going to try an experiment with the free online wine seminar. It will happen on Friday, November 7 at 9:00 PM Eastern/6:00 Pacific. Depending on your point of view, we’ll either be celebrating or mourning the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Or, more likely, we’ll be celebrating the end of another long campaign season.

This thing will definitely be an experiment–I cannot make any promises that the technology, lighting, or anything else will work properly. I hope to use a video streaming service that will allow viewers to chat back at me–although I won’t be able to see or hear you, I should be able to read your comments/questions and respond as they come in.

This thing could be very cool, a huge bust, or something in between. Join us on the 7th to find out!

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Anyone who has walked into a wine shop for the first time has felt it: brain overload. There are literally hundreds (or more, depending on the size of inventory) of different wines. The mind simply cannot begin to absorb all of the data. There are red wines, white wines, pink wines, French wines, Merlots, Ports, sparkling wines, cheap wines, expensive wines, big bottles, small bottles, boxes of wine, even perhaps a wine in a soda-type can.

No wonder so many would-be wine drinkers say, “Screw it. I’m sticking with beer.”

To help you sort through this tidal wave of information, we will examine six particular wines in detail. These wines are frequently called the “Big Six.” No, they don’t form a college athletic conference, but they are the six most popular wine grapes in terms of acreage and wine production. (There are some grapes that are more widely planted, but they may not be as common in the marketplace.)

Once people have a handle on the Big Six, it’s relatively easy to spread your wings and try other wines. With the Big Six, you’ll have a reference point, as in, “This wine is kind of in between a Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc.” Other wine consumers will understand what you mean–and without the use of adjectives that could come only from a thesaurus.

The other great thing about the Big Six is that they are easy to remember and place in context with each other. If you can memorize the order of the varieties, you will have a scale of light wine to heavy wine. In other words:

Riesling—Light White
Sauvignon Blanc—Medium White
Chardonnay—Heavy White
Pinot Noir—Lighter Red
Merlot—Medium Red
Cabernet Sauvignon—-Heavy Red

The terms “light” and “heavy” refer generally to the characteristics of the wine: how they feel and taste. To put it differently, a light wine can have plenty of flavors, but a heavy wine has many more flavors and is more intense than a light wine. At the same time, however, as a reader pointed out, this ordering of wines applies most if the wines were made in the same fashion. For example, a barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc could taste heavier than an unoaked Chardonnay. Similarly, a well-crafted Merlot may seem “bigger” than a weak Cabernet Sauvignon.

Don’t worry, it will make sense after you’ve studied the wines in order. By study, of course, I don’t mean reading these articles or any of the gazillion other written wine guides. By study, I mean opening up a bottle, pouring a couple of ounces in a glass, and tasting the things. You can’t learn about wines by reading any more than you can become physically fit by reading a fitness magazine. If a little active homework seems like too much effort, forget about studying wine and pick up an algebra textbook instead.

From here, we’ll launch into Riesling. If you haven’t already bought a couple of Rieslings, then do so before you read the main Riesling article.

Technorati Tags: wine, wine education

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As the podcast listeners know, I am a firm believer that you should drink what you like, yet continue to try new things. Drinking wine that you like is perhaps the most important lesson that I can offer. If someone else likes a wine or thinks it is good, you may not necessarily like it. Or you may. Everyone’s palate and preferences differ, so always take wine recommendations with a grain of salt.

A good wine tasting note, one that describes the wine in simple terms, is more helpful than a generic recommendation. If the wine in question appears to match your own preferences, then give it a try. If it seems to be a style that you don’t care for, take a pass.

Life is too short to drink wines that you don’t enjoy. Try new ones, but don’t force yourself to finish a bottle if you don’t like it. The odds are you have a friend or two who will be happy to take the gently used bottle off of your hands. If worse comes to worst, send it to me.

Technorati Tags: wine tasting, good wine, bad wine

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Alder from Vinography is wrapping up his trip, and it sounds like it was a major success. As I noted on his blog, it’s interesting that Pinotage makes a good rosé. I say that because a number of Pinotages can be very smoky–I describe it as drinking a campfire. I would be very interested to see how that characteristic would affect a rosé wine. Of course, not all Pinotages are this way, and some of them are downright excellent.

I urge you to read Alder’s articles about his trip to South Africa. He’s putting a wealth of information in there that will build your knowledge base.

Technorati Tags: wine, South African wine, pinotage

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