Your Wine Education

People who are budding wine enthusiasts often find themselves in a bit of a quandary. They are learning about wine, and friends of family suddenly treat them as “wine connoisseurs.” Novices are being asked to make wine choices at restaurants, to bring wine to a dinner party, to recommend something.

Now, I’ve never been offended when someone thinks I know more about a subject than I really do. Still, it is uncomfortable to be asked to make a recommendation and not be absolutely certain. So, with this in mind, I offer you the three most important wines to know: Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Sangiovese. This information comes from Michael Jordan, general manager at Disney’s Napa Rose restaurant and a soon-to-be Master Sommelier (if he hasn’t achieved that title already!). When it comes to wine, Michael is a guru, so when he gives advice, I listen.

When I interviewed Michael a couple of years ago, he stated that if people can remember Riesling, Pinot Noir and Sangiovese, they would have everything covered. One white, two reds–nice, simple, basic, yet incredibly spot-on. These three wines are perfect for matching up with food or enjoying on their own. Nothing complicated, just solid wines that will not fail you.

What makes these wines so perfect? First, each of them can stand on their own–they don’t “require” food to be enjoyable. Second, each of them pairs up well with a wide range of foods. Let’s look at these in a little more detail.

Riesling is a terrific white wine that almost everyone enjoys. It can be bone-dry (meaning it has no residual sugar in it) to slightly sweet to very sweet. We won’t get into all of the types of Riesling here, but if you pick an American Riesling or a German kabinett style (think “wine cabinet” to help you remember), you’re set. They are slightly sweet, but few people think it’s too sweet. It is crisp, bright, light on the palate and has great acidity. This wine matches up perfectly with all sorts of fare: Asian food, shellfish, salads, chicken with light sauces (or no sauces), even Mexican food. The acidity offsets the spiciness in some ethnic foods.

Pinot Noir is a lighter red wine originally from Burgundy in France. While a red Burgundy will set you back quite a bit, there are great Pinot Noirs to be had from the U.S. and New Zealand. The wine is dry–but not in the sense that it dries your mouth out. (That’s a topic for another post.) It’s soft, approachable, and like liquid velvet. You can pair Pinot Noir up with burgers, steaks, pizza, pasta with red sauce, salmon, tuna, and more.

Sangiovese is not as well known by its grape name, but if you’ve ever seen Chianti, you’ve encountered Sangiovese. This wine is the “big brother” of Pinot Noir in the sense that it’s more powerful and can be paired up with “bigger” foods: game, steaks, lamb, and so on. It also works well with most Italian dishes: spaghetti, lasagna, and more.

We’ll cover each of these wines in more detail soon. But for now, just remember Riesling, Pinot Noir and Sangiovese. You’ll be glad you did!

Technorati Tags: wine, important wine, riesling, pinot noir, sangiovese, chianti

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Any wine blogger or wine web site owner knows that people are busy. We all have limited time, so we tend to gravitate toward “the best” resources online. Whenever we share a web site that we’ve found or know about, we’re taking a huge risk: people will forget about us. So, we tend not to take that risk.

I don’t care. I’m going to take it because people have to know about Wine Library TV. The host/star/producer/soul of Wine Library TV is Gary Vaynerchuk. He has absolutely blown the wine world away by his success. He owns/manages/something a wine business out east (around New York). He does roughly 5 to 7 video podcasts per week where he talks about wine (and the NY Jets and other things).

In a word, he’s nuts.

I mean that in a good way. He’s nuts about wine. He’s nuts about the Jets (I’m not, but it doesn’t matter). Most importantly, he’s nuts about bringing the joys and miracles that are wine to everyone. He can take some getting used to at first, but once you realize how absolutely freaking passionate he is about wine, you can’t help but like the guy. There are all sorts of things about his video show that may turn you off (”The Thunder Show,” “sniffy-sniff,” etc.) but they all arise out of his amazing passion for wine. He can’t help himself. He’s genuine, the real deal.

I must admit, I don’t watch every episode. Like all of you out there, I’m a busy person with stuff to do. The time available to do things online is limited.

I’m ashamed. I should watch every episode. Vaynerchuk, while not perfect, is a voice worth listening to. (And he absolutely absolutely absolutely says that you have to rely on your own palate–forget what he or me or anyone else says about a wine. If you like it, that’s all that counts.) But every time I watch his show, I can’t help but smile and be a little bit jealous of his passion and the unabashed way in which he shares it. Some feel my podcast was too, um, dull–that’s the inhibitions at work. When I get worked up about a wine, I could go toe to toe with Gary V and not even blink. But doing it publicly is a bit tougher. I absolutely love the way Gary does what he does. I don’t share his passion for the Jets (professional football–gimme a break), but he is who he is, he’s not embarrassed by it, and he loves what he does with wine.

By telling you about his video podcast and stuff, I’m risking losing some of you to his show. I hope you’ll be able to subscribe to both of our web sites, interact with both of us, recognize that we have slightly different roles to play. But I could not sit here and claim to be a wine educator if I wasn’t willing to share one of the great resources out there and turn you on to it. If I didn’t recognize GaryVee for who he is and the effect he’s had on the world of wine, I’d have no integrity at all.

So, please–check out Wine Library TV. But don’t forget this humble little resource. Enjoy the approach that both web sites take. And hey, you get twice as much for your dollar (his show is as free as this blog/old podcast is)!

Technorati Tags: wine education, learn about wine, wine library tv, gary vaynerchuk

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Champagne is, of course, the benchmark when it comes to luxurious wines–at least in the minds of many. Wine enthusiasts know that Champagne is not limited to special occasions or luxurious events. Champagne can be enjoyed any time, even on a Tuesday night. (There is merit to the position that opening a bottle of Champagne makes any occasion special.)

The problem is, though, that you need to spend $30 to $40 to get a single bottle of good quality Champagne. Better Champagnes will cost upwards of that. That’s a lot of cash to blow on a Tuesday night wine, even for me. The problem becomes magnified if, like me, you enjoy sparkling wines a lot. Dropping $210 for a week’s worth of bubbly isn’t going to fly in many households.

There is, however, another choice, and a damn good one: Cava. One of the best known Cavas is Freixenet. Widely available, it’s a reliable producer and usually runs less than $10 per bottle. At that price, a week’s supply would run you only $70.

Another excellent Cava is Cristalino. It runs $10 per bottle or so, and you can obtain it in most markets.

There are certainly other Cavas out there worthy of your attention, and I’d love to hear about ones you’ve tried. So leave a comment and let’s build up a good Cava resource here!

Technorati Tags: wine, cava, sparkling wine, champagne

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It seems that hardly a week goes by that we don’t find some news report about a study on the effects of wine on your health. I even did a full blown podcast about it some time ago. For those who aren’t into listening to mp3 files on their computers, here are the highlights.

It is generally accepted among medical professionals that one or two glasses of wine (around four ounces in a glass) per day reduces the death rate in a population. This has been described as a “J-shaped curve.” At no drinks a day, there is a certain mortality risk. With one glass, the risk goes down, and with two glasses it goes down a bit further. At three glasses you start increasing the risk again, and thereafter the risk increases above the level of zero drinks. This is all based on studies of wine and cardiovascular health.

There are, however, reasons to not drink this much wine. For example, there are some studies that indicate elevated wine consumption can be an increased risk factor for breast cancer. The tie is not conclusive, but those who have other risk factors may not want to add another one. In addition, people who have liver diseases should avoid alcohol as well.

Is wine better than other alcoholic beverages? Generally, yes. It appears there are compounds in red wines, especially, that have positive health effects. Pinot Noir, notably, has more resveratrol than any other red wine, meaning you get more of this heart-healthy compound in your glass than if it’s filled with Merlot. Beer, while often great with various foods, is a source of triglycerides–blood sugars that when elevated can be a risk factor for heart disease (my doctor described beer as “like drinking straight triglycerides”).

As my college chemistry professor liked to say in many settings, if a little is good, a lot is not necessarily better. Moderate consumption of wine seems to be the key–especially when you consider that a healthy liver can metabolize about 375ml (a half bottle) of wine before it begins encountering trouble.

Be sure to discuss wine consumption with your doctor. He or she is best qualified to guide you through this topic.

Technorati Tags: wine health, resveratrol

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If there’s one question that is asked of wine gurus more often, it is probably, “What are some good wines I should be drinking?” When the question is posed to someone who is a wine educator, it becomes “What are the wineries that make good wines?”

I know that back when I began my wine studies, I felt like I was lost at sea. I could walk into the wine shop, look around, and have no idea at all what to buy. I avoided contact with the wine shop staff, not wanting to reveal the depth of my ignorance. I ended up buying plenty of resources–Wine Spectator’s books that summarized the last several years of their tasting notes and provided scores for many wines were my Bible. When I had a Palm organizer, I was thrilled when Wine Enthusiast’s database became available. Right there in the wine shop I could secretly look something up and decide whether it was “a good wine.”

What a waste of time (and money)!

Knowing what I know now, if I could do it all over again, I would make a concerted effort to find out which wineries make good wines year after year so I could gravitate toward those labels. Clearly, every winery will produce the occasional wine that isn’t quite as good as the rest of the offerings. Even then, though, the “worst” wine should be better than average.

With this idea in mind, I would like to offer my suggestions so that you need not feel shy in the wine shop. Armed with this information, you can walk in, peruse the selection, and walk up to the counter confident that you aren’t buying some cheap dreck that will have you swearing off wine forever. My criteria are that the wines be consistently good from year to year, be widely available, and not require you to take out a mortgage in order to buy a few bottles. In no particular order, these wineries are:

First up, Castle Rock Winery. This operation goes around buying the best grapes it can find and makes very good wines at reasonable prices ($12 to $15 or so). Most of its wines are from various locations in California, although I’ve heard that Castle Rock is spreading its wings a bit and getting into grapes from California’s northern neighbors. A bad Castle Rock wine is a very rare thing, so you can leave your worries behind.

Second would be Chateau Ste. Michelle from Washington. This winery seems to have the Midas touch, especially in its entry level wines. These bottles can be a bit more expensive, from $15 on up into the twenties, but they are always good. Chateau Ste. Michelle also makes some single-vineyard wines that can approach $30 or more, but let your budget be your guide here. Keep an eye out for a Riesling with the name Saint M. It’s a joint project between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Dr. Ernst Loosen, one of Germany’s top wine makers. It’s price is right, too–around $14.

My third choice would be Columbia Crest, again from Washington. I don’t know how they do it, but Columbia Crest is consistently producing inexpensive wines that are always great. Their Grand Estates and Two Vines designations are usually right around $11 or so, yet the wine critics are frequently giving them scores in the high eighties. (I know, I know–scores don’t mean a lot, but they can be a relatively useful guide to winery performance.) If there’s anything I would consider as a “house wine” in my home, it would be Columbia Crest.

My fourth suggestion comes from Down Under: Penfolds. Now, if you happen to stumble across a Penfolds wine in your local shop with a $300+ price tag, don’t assume I’ve lost my mind. Penfolds makes many wines, and they run between both ends of the price scale. You can find decent Penfolds wines for less than $10 a bottle, but you can also pay a hefty price for some of their stellar gems. I’ve had many of their wines, and this is one winery that has never disappointed me.

My fifth and final suggestion also comes from Washington, Hogue Cellars. These wines might be a little tougher to find, but not dramatically so. Their prices are a bit higher, typically $15 or more, but they produce some really nice wines. Keep an eye open for their Late Harvest Riesling, which is a nice semi-sweet dessert wine.

I am a strong believer in the principle that the best way to learn about wines is to spend less time reading about them (good thing I saved that until the end of this post!) and more time drinking them. Having these wineries in mind, you can pick out wines made by different makers from the same grape and compare the two. Also, you can perhaps see how a winery’s wine changes from one year to the next.

Do you have a winery that you think should be on this list? Think one of mine is a clunker? Let me know in the comments!

Technorati Tags: wine, reliable wineries, learn about wine, wine education, good wine

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Jancis Robinson points us to a great deal: a free e-book that will educate you about Riesling. Now if we can just find someone to send all of us some free Riesling!

Technorati Tags: wine, learn about wine, wine education, riesling

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This lesson is quite similar to the last one where we looked at aromas. Usually, the aromas and flavors will “match” to a certain degree: if you detect black cherries on the nose, there should be some black cherry notes on the palate.

Why is this? If you’ve listened to my Indiana University South Bend podcast episodes, you know the answer. But, if you’re new to the site, let me suggest a little experiment. Get a jelly bean or some other small piece of candy. Use one hand to pinch your nose shut. With your other hand, put the jelly bean in your mouth and begin chewing. You’ll notice that there’s not much flavor there. Now, while still chewing, release your nose. In all likelihood, the flavors became immediately apparent.

If you think back to your elementary school health classes, you’ll recall that the tongue has four flavors that it can sense: salt, sweet, sour and bitter. (Science has all but declared a fifth flavor, known as umami, which is sort of a meaty, savory flavor). Everything else that we identify as flavors actually comes about because of our sense of smell. It’s no wonder, then, that when you have a bad head cold that you can’t taste much in your food.

The most important question, remember, is what do you taste in the wine, not what does someone else taste? I may pick up papaya or something like that, but maybe you’re picking up bananas. There is no right answer, just as there’s no right answer as to the aromas.

What you’re really trying to figure out here is whether the wine is properly balanced (sometimes we say it has “nice structure”). The issue is whether all of the elements are in harmony. Alcohol, flavors, acidity–none of these should be dominant or overpowering. Also, do all of these factors work together at all phases of the tasting experience–at the start, mid-palate, and on the finish? Sometimes flavors will fade in the mid-palate, which is a flaw in the wine.

The problem with all of this, of course, is that until you experience a wine that has good (or bad!) structure, you won’t know what that experience is like. So here’s your homework assignment: go to a wine shop where the staff knows what they are doing. Tell them you’re learning about wine and need to find a medium-priced bottle ($10 to $15 or so) of wine that is nicely balanced/has good structure. The wine could be a Cabernet Sauvignon or Riesling–whatever your preference is will be just fine. Then tell them you’re looking for a cheap bottle (less than $10) that they think is poorly balanced/has bad structure. Unless the shop is one that refuses to stock cheap, crummy wines, they’ll have something that costs around five bucks. Just make sure that the grape varietal is the same as the better wine.

Take both of the wines home and then give them a try, side-by-side. Should you taste them blind? I don’t think so for our purposes here. It’s probably best to know which wine is which so you aren’t confused. It’s just like tasting good food versus bad food. Once you have the experience, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.

Here’s the second part of your homework assignment: leave a comment below to tell us what wines you used for this assignment. If you want to try to describe them, that’s great. But at least just let us know what the wines were. That information may be helpful to others.

Finally, as usual, tell me what you think about all of this–think I’m totally nuts? Think I’m spot-on? Leave a comment and engage in the discussion!

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Celebrate Wine has a terrific video of Ken Forrester talking about South African wines. Go watch it and learn.

Technorati Tags: wine, learn about wine, wine education, south african wine

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This doesn’t quite fit in with a specific lesson, but it needs to be covered. You can’t sniff wine’s aromas if you don’t know how to swirl.

The first point is that you must have the proper wine glass. Glassware manufacturers love to come up with all sorts of fancy things that are lovely to look at, but basically stink when they are used to serve wine. They flare out (or simply straight up) and don’t give you a snowball’s chance in hell of swirling wine without getting it all over yourself.

What’s a proper wine glass? The bowl should have a tulip shape. Plain and simple. I like these, especially the magnum ones.

Next step–learning to swirl. This is what takes practice. Fortunately, the need to practice offers an excuse for drinking wine.

Basically, you want to move the bowl of the glass in a circular motion so it causes the wine to swirl up along the side of the glass. To get started, it may be easier to keep the glass on the table and move the base in a circular motion.

I prefer to do a few good quick swirls to get the wine moving and then take a few sniffs. A few more swirls, a few more sniffs.

Go ahead and take a sip.

The rest is all “rinse and repeat.” Until the glass is empty, anyway. Then you need to interrupt your practice session to refill.

Have any secrets or techniques to share? Leave a comment!

Technorati Tags: wine, wine education, learn about wine

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