Top Ten Wine Myth-Conceptions

September 24, 2011 at 11:26 pm (Education)

Here are some of the most common misconceptions about wine that I’ve run across…

MYTH: All wines improve with age

REALITY: Most wine is intended to be consumed with a few months or years. Only certain fine wines—mostly red—have the capacity to improve with age; most will deteriorate over time.

MYTH: You can uncork a bottle of wine to help it breathe

REALITY: Simply removing the cork exposes too little surface area for oxygen to interact with the wine. For wine to truly breathe, it needs to be properly decanted.

MYTH: Wine legs in the glass are an indicator of quality

REALITY: Legs or tears result from alcohol evaporating from the wine on the sides of the glass, leaving a higher water content. This increases surface tension and therefore the formation of droplets, which run down the inside of the glass. This physical process is unrelated to the quality of the wine.

MYTH: Smelling the cork can tell you about the quality of the wine

REALITY: Very little information can be obtained by smelling the cork…you need to smell the wine itself. Even corked wines can’t usually be identified by smelling the cork.

MYTH: Wines labelled “Reserve” are always high quality

REALITY: In many countries, there’s no legal definition of “Reserve”, and the term may be used solely for marketing.

MYTH: Red wine should be served at room temperature; white wine should be served at refrigerator temperature

REALITY: Most red wines are best appreciated when consumed at cooler than room temperature; try putting them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before serving. Most white wines are best appreciated when consumed a little warmer than refrigerator temperature; try taking them out of the fridge for 15 minutes before serving.

MYTH: Wine turns to vinegar over time

REALITY: Wine mostly oxidizes over time (and especially after opening); very little is actually converted to vinegar. (It’s therefore not generally a good idea to use old wine as a culinary substitute for vinegar.)

MYTH: All red wines should be decanted

REALITY: Decanting is useful for separating out the sediment in some old red wines, and allowing some young red wines to breathe. Many red wines don’t benefit from decanting, and some older wines may even be harmed by decanting through excessive handling and excessive exposure to oxygen.

MYTH: Some people get headaches from sulfites in wine

REALITY: It’s unknown what causes wine-related headaches in the people who experience them, but it’s almost certainly not sulfites. The human body produces about 1,000mg of sulfites per day, and a glass of wine averages about 10mg…a trivial amount. Dried fruits and other foods have much higher sulfite levels than wine. (A related myth is that red wines have more sulfites than white wines; the reality is that red wines typically have fewer added sulfites, since they contain more naturally occurring preservatives, like tannins.)

MYTH: Screw-top wines are always low quality

REALITY: This may have been true in the past, but more and more high-quality wines use screw tops or other modern enclosures to reduce spoilage.

Given that I’ve believed some (or maybe most) of these at one point or another, it really makes me question all of the beliefs I now hold about wine!

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Oh, the Urbanity!

July 17, 2011 at 7:34 pm (New & Exciting)

The invasion has been so slow and steady, you might not have even noticed. Seattle is not being taken over by an alien race, but by the wine industry.

Sure, it’s always been a great town for wine enthusiasts…boutique neighborhood wine shops, tasting rooms, plentiful wine events, and, of course, proximity to some fantastic grape growing regions.

But the last few years has seen a marked surge in urban wineries, tasting rooms, and one large wine store with free daily tastings (which is both convenient and dangerous to live near). A quick glance at the Seattle Wine Map illustrates just how successful the invasion has been.

Proprietors of the new metropolitan wineries and tasting rooms say that they selected an urban location for several reasons: more direct access to a major market, the saturation of wineries in Woodinville, and, in some cases, the desire to have a neighborhood clientele.

Locating in a residential neighborhood was a key reason that Jason Domanico, owner of Domanico Cellars with his wife Jill, gave for opening their new winery and tasting room at the edge of Fremont and Ballard. Besides making for a quick and pleasant commute from their home, their location gives thousands of Frellardians a welcoming and casual tasting room within walking distance.

Domanico’s offerings, when I visited a couple of times recently, included a crisp and definitive Riesling, a lush and layered rosé, and three wonderful reds (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a blend, which were a steal at $21 each for such opulent and enjoyable wines). Being able to pop in Friday after work for a $5 glass of their Le Monstre Cabernet is almost enough to convince me to move to what Jason calls “East Ballard”.

For the Seattle wine consumer, the urban colonization trend that Domanico typifies is fantastic…being able to walk or bike to tasting rooms is a dream, and I truly appreciate the diversity of winery and tasting room aesthetics: some are beautifully crafted and appointed, and some are functional and rugged. This is the same diversity that I appreciate in the wines themselves!

I will always love the quick drive to Woodinville, and I’ll never give up the occasional weekend trip to Eastern Washington or the Willamette Valley where I can stroll among the vines. But in between those great adventures, I couldn’t be more pleased with the opportunity to walk down the street to visit a local tasting room and talk to the winemaker about the latest harvest and how fulfilling it is to serve great wine to great neighbors.

Domanico Cellars / 825 NW 49th Street / 206-465-9406 / www.domanicocellars.com

List of Seattle urban wineries: seattlewinecalendar.com/wineries

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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

March 12, 2011 at 12:04 pm (Great Deals)

I had some friends ask for advice recently on a nice but not-too-expensive red wine to bring to a dinner party.  Something around $15 (the hosts thank you in advance for not bringing Yellow Tail, which is a great way of saying “Thanks for having us over for dinner….sort of.”)

My friends are lucky…there’s a lot out there for $15, including these new finds (which are not only reasonably priced, but interesting enough that the hosts will know that you put more effort into your contribution to dinner than stopping by the 7-11 on the way to their house):

Tre Nova Bonatello (2008).  This 100% Sangiovese is one of a trio of fabulous Tre Nova wines I was recently introduced to, along with winemaker Gino Cuneo.  Tre Nova is based in Oregon, but the grapes are from Washington.  At $15, the Bonatello was impressive in its deep fruit and almost mocha richness.  I purchased a bottle and shared it with my next-door neighbors M. & M., and they loved it.  This would be an outstanding and versatile wine to bring over for dinner (although if you really liked your hosts, perhaps you’d spring for Gino’s Seccopassa, said to be the only American wine produced using the appassimento method used to make Amarone…delicious!)

DiStefano Washington Red Wine.  This non-vintage blend from Woodinville is probably a sign of the economic times…a respected winery producing a solid product at a great price, just with a different label.  I’ve seen a lot of this recently, and it’s likely a temporary strategy, a way for wineries to move grape juice while the market is depressed, without diluting their main brand.  Take advantage of this and seek out this $12 bottle in particular…you’re not going to see very much wine of this quality coming out of Washington State for under $15.

Le Pigeoulet en Provence (2009). If you want to show up to dinner with something really impressive, consider this Rhône blend from the Brunier family, famed producers of über-fancy Vieux Telegraphe.  Le Pigeoulet is mostly Grenache, blended with a little Syrah, Cinsault, and Carignan. The result is deep and rich and minerally and concentrated and very French. What you’re getting here is basically a mini Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for a tiny, tiny fraction of the price (about $15).

If you showed up to dinner bearing any of these wines, I think you could count on a repeat invitation.

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Round & Round

December 14, 2010 at 7:29 pm (New & Exciting)

Wilridge Winery is Seattle’s oldest continuously operating winery, established just over two decades ago by partners Paul Beveridge and Lysle Wilhelmi.  Paul says they’re striving to be the greenest in Washington State, and they make good on that pledge with organic, biodynamic farming, solar-generated electricity at the vineyard site, and a positive vision of a sustainable future.

Michael Cawdrey, Fremont Wine Warehouse, with Maison

Another endeavor—recently launched but years in the making—is Wilridge’s reusable Maison, a 1.5-liter bottle that you buy once and bring back to exchange for refills.  The bottle is extra heavy duty, and designed to withstand years of use and abuse.  Maison can be refilled with a red blend, white blend, or rotating red (currently Barbera) at the Bottlehouse wine store above the winery, and is also available at The Tasting Room (downtown Seattle, near Pike Place Market), and Fremont Wine Warehouse (where I first ran across it).  Maison costs around $20 to refill ($10 per 750ml-bottle equivalent), plus a one-time $8 deposit for the bottle and (also reusable) stopper.

Maison is significant for a number of reasons.  First, it’s obviously gentler on the Earth to wash a wine bottle and reuse it instead of making a new one or recycling an old one (which still takes significant energy to collect, sort, melt down, remove impurities, remold, and transport).  Most wine bottles are in nearly perfect condition after you buy them and drain them, so why throw them away?

Second, Maison resurrects a treasured European tradition of a house wine.  In many European countries, and finally gaining a little steam in this country, you can bring a jug to a store or restaurant and get it filled affordably with an everyday drinking wine. That’s what I call culture!

Finally, Maison is the fruit of more than two years of hard work overcoming legal hurdles, and it opens the door to other exciting opportunities in this wine-backwards state of ours. Wilridge is to be heartily congratulated for making Maison possible, and all of the other innovations in refillable bottles and keg wine that follow.  Call that one giant leap forward in the name of wine freedom!

Wilridge Winery  /  1416 34th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122  /  206-325-3051  / wilridgewinery.com / Bottlehouse (1416 – 34th Avenue in the Madrona neighborhood) / The Tasting Room (1924 Post Alley in Pike Place Market) / Fremont Wine Warehouse (3601 Fremont Ave. in the courtyard)

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Wine…Duck!

November 16, 2010 at 11:07 pm (Great Deals, Wine Bar Revue)

If you haven’t been to The Tasting Room in Post Alley (located in Downtown Seattle’s Pike Place Market), you’re missing a nifty opportunity to partake of some fantastic local wines in a splendid setting.  The Tasting Room is run by a cooperative of small Washington producers, and you can sample and purchase their wines in their beautiful cellar-like tasting room.

Currently featured are the wines of:

© The Tasting Room

  • Camaraderie Cellars
  • Harlequin Wine Cellars
  • Latitude 46 North
  • Mountain Dome
  • Naches Heights Vineyards
  • Wilridge Winery
  • Wineglass Cellars

Several wines by each producer are available by the glass, half glass, ounce, carafe, bottle, or flight.  Prices are reasonable, and there are small food plates offered to provide company to your beverage.  The Tasting Room has regular goings-on like trivia night, pizza night, and a monthly Wine 101 class, and rents out their facility for events.

You can find wines here that you won’t find anywhere else, including some older vintages (currently featured on sale for a measly $15 is a 2003 Merlot by Wilridge…I challenge you to find another seven-year-old wine for that price fashioned from Red Mountain fruit!)  I saw only about half a dozen cases of that left on my visit with J. last week, so no promises that it will be there if you wait until December to shop for your holiday party.

Pop in to The Tasting Room any day of the week, and you’re likely to find a Washington winemaker working there to chat with and offer recommendations as well as a personal account of this year’s harvest.  And all of this is almost close enough to the Market to get hit by a flying fish!

The Tasting Room / 1924 Post Alley, Seattle, WA / tastingroomseattle.com / info@thetastingroomseattle.com / 206-770-9463

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Sometimes the Mountain Comes to You

November 7, 2010 at 10:56 pm (New & Exciting)
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I was a little skeptical about Obelisco Estate when I first walked into their new tasting room in the Woodinville warehouse district…everything was so slick and polished and new, and the posters looked very professionally designed.

Something worries me about a warehouse tasting room with professionally designed posters.

But those preconceptions lasted only as long as my glass was empty, for it only took one sip to realize that J. and I had stumbled onto something wonderful and unique.

©2010 Christopher Gronbeck

Obelisco Estate is a relatively new producer in Washington State, although the winemakers are plenty experienced.  They grow about 30 acres of fruit on their Red Mountain estate, and their vineyard is planted quite densely, so the grapes are hand harvested, and yields are low.

Obelisco produced five reds in 2008:  a Syrah, a Malbec, a Merlot, a Cabernet-dominant blend, and their signature Cabernet, which has won more medals than would comfortably fit around the neck of the bottle.

Every one of these wines was simply fantastic.  They were elegant, balanced, and rich but very restrained (hats off to Washington winemakers who have that word in their vocabulary).  There were gorgeous herbaceous flavors in all of their wines, just enough to add dimension without getting in the way.  You could taste the attention these wines received throughout their life, but they didn’t taste in the least like someone excessively meddled with them…it was obvious that the fruit was outstanding from the start, and the winemakers elevated it to even more amazing heights.

So, hearty congrats to Obelisco on their scrumptious wines and their new tasting room, fancy posters and all.  If you haven’t been to Woodinville in a while, Obelisco is reason alone to brave the short trip from Seattle…it’s a heck of a lot closer than Red Mountain.

Obelisco Estate, 19495 144th Ave NE B-220, Woodinville, WA, 425-485-2472, tasting room open Saturday & Sunday 1:00 to 4:00 or by appointment, www.obelisco-estate.com

 

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What Would Buddha Drink?

July 31, 2010 at 4:36 pm (Unique Finds)

Two days ago, the Wine Outlet’s Greenlake Wines location featured an East vs. West match-up:  four wines from Argentina, and four from India.  That’s right…India.  Although I figured that someone must be making wine in India, home to one out of every six people on Planet Earth, I had never even seen a bottle of Indian wine before.  What a treat to have the opportunity to try several!

© Christopher Gronbeck

And a treat–and surprise–it was.  The Omar Khayyam sparkling wine, non-vintage and made of 94% Chardonnay and the balance Pinot Noir and Ugni Blanc, was produced in the Champagne style, and was very good…floral with notes of honey and caramel, crisp and brut but with enough sweetness to tantalize.  I purchased a bottle of this at $19, and there were half bottles also available.

The other three were also very good…the Sula 2009 Chenin Blanc was soft and slightly sweet with flavors of vanilla, citrus, honey, and strawberries ($13).  The Sula 2007 Dindori Reserve Shiraz was bright, spicy and slightly smoky, with flavors of plum and blackberries ($13).  The Chateau Indage 2006 “The Mist of Sahyadri” Cabernet Sauvignon was light-to-medium bodied with flavors of fresh bell pepper, spices, strawberries, and red raspberry and a very nice finish ($24).

All four of these were refined and elegant, convincing of India’s capability to produce fine wines.  Greenlake Wines has them this weekend for sure, and maybe or maybe not after that.  If you have time, stop by and grab one…you’ll impress your friends when you bring over a bottle of Indian wine for dinner!

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Meet Marselan

July 1, 2010 at 5:33 pm (Unique Finds)

When I ran across a new grape variety twice in one week, I knew that the universe was trying to tell me something (besides “drink more wine”…it’s always telling me that).

I’m always stumbling across new things in the world of wine, of course, because the world of wine is incredibly vast.  But usually, “new” means “new to me”, but in this case, it also means “new to the world”.

By new, I mean a decade (or five).  The new grape variety is Marselan, named after the French town of Marseillan where the variety was first bred in 1961 by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research.  Marselan is a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, and the original intent of the cross was apparently to augment the Cabernet with the heartiness of the Grenache.  The resulting variety failed to accomplish that to the extent desired, so it sat dormant for decades until renewed interest led to the first varietal Marselan in 2002.

I was introduced to Marselan at a tasting event at Portalis, where Domaine de Couron’s 2008 Marselan was among several offerings.  It was raw, dark, earthy, spicy, chewy, honest.  I chalked up the unique find to a fluke, but then a few days later I spotted a bottle of Domaine Sallies’ 2007 Marselan on the shelves of The E.N.D. wine bar.  B. and I tried it…I liked it;  B. said it wasn’t his thing, but maybe it would be good with food.  Fair enough…our divergent perspectives weren’t nearly as far apart as some of the reviews I found on web sites for the Domaine Sallies, which ranged from “terrible” to “delicious”.  Go figure…I guess you’ll just have to try it yourself.

There are only half a dozen or so Marselans imported from France, all from the Languedoc region, and now there are some plantings in California.  It will be interesting to see if it catches on, and if it makes it to Washington State, where winemakers are pretty fearless about seeing what they can fashion from interesting grape varieties.

In the meantime, ask your favorite wine store if they have a Marselan, and give it a shot…it’s interesting and inexpensive (c. $10/bottle).  It’s fruity enough to serve as a fun summer wine, and you can be pretty sure that you’re introducing your dinner guests to something they’ve never had before.

If you try it, let me know what you think!

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Everything’s Better in Plaid

June 24, 2010 at 11:48 pm (Great Deals)

A week ago found K., J. & me at the Woodinville Warehouse Wineries Third Thursday Wine Walk (W.W.W.T.T.W.W…or maybe not), and we ventured for the first time into the tasting room of Prosser-based Cowan Vineyards.  Among assorted Western-themed decor and gift items (what wine pairs well with bison jerky?) were three wines to taste:  their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Tartan Red blend, and 2005 Cabernet Franc.

All were good, and at the far left end of the price spectrum for small family producers in Washington State…the regular price for each was about $18.  At the tasting room, however, they’re all on sale right now:  the blend and the Cabernet Franc were two bottles for $28, and the real steal–and perhaps best bargain I’ve ever seen in the warehouse district–the Cabernet Sauvignon was $12 a bottle.

A widespread complaint about Washington wines is their price, so the Cabernet Sauvignon really stood out.  It’s had more time in bottle than almost anything you can buy in tasting rooms, and for its price, we all agreed that it’s a bargain.  It’s not the fullest, richest Cab you’ve ever had, but it’s good…some red fruit (raspberries?), dark fruit (black currants?), and spices (perhaps a little licorice?).  It’s very drinkable, not at all overpowering, and so much better than your typical mass-produced American red at that price point.

Give the Cowan Cabernet a try, if only to support good, affordable Washington wine, but do it soon…stock is limited to what’s on hand, and that looked like about half a dozen cases a week ago.

And check out the Third Thursday Wine Walk this summer…you can taste the offerings of 15+ Woodinville wineries for only $20, a steal compared to the regular $5 to $10 tasting fees at each one.  July’s Wine Walk features an art & music theme.

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Malbec in the Dark

May 27, 2010 at 4:06 pm (Promising Events)

A blind tasting makes things twice as fun:  You get to learn about wine in a different way, and you get to learn about yourself in a different way.  The price for this double pleasure is simply honesty.

© Christopher Gronbeck

By honesty, I mean accepting what you taste.  Sure, you can try do that without tasting blind, but human nature is to yield to the tempting biases of knowing the producer, the varietal, the vintage, the price, the label, the tasting notes, and/or what rating was assigned this wine by someone who may have an entirely different palate from you.  By tasting blind, you have only your senses with which to judge your own personal experience of the wine, and if that’s not what matters about wine, I don’t know what does.

So when the masquerade is over and the wines are revealed, you get to learn what you tasted.  And then you get an exquisite opportunity to learn an even more valuable lesson by challenging your preconceptions with the results.  You thought you didn’t like Australian wines?  Maybe you do like some of them, after all.  You thought that the $30 bottle naturally would taste better than the $10 bottle?  Maybe not.  You thought that France would out-perform Walla Walla?  Maybe, maybe not.  I really don’t think that you can more reliably make honest changes in your understanding of your own wine likes and dislikes than by tasting blind.

Blind tastings are great to do with friends, but they’re pretty rare in public tastings, especially free public tastings.  One of those rarities is this Memorial Day weekend at Fremont Wine Warehouse, where proprietor Michael Cawdrey is pouring half a dozen malbecs from Argentina, France, and the United States.  You’ll have a list of wines (I’m not peeking until the end!), but he won’t tell you which is which until you’re done tasting.

I’d like to see more of this in Seattle, so tell your favorite wine retailer how fun it would be to taste blind, especially if they’re tasting single varietals.  And if you’re not too busy battling the crowds at the Folklife Festival, I hope that you get a chance to take advantage of this delightful and educational offering in Fremont.

Fremont Wine Warehouse, 3601 Fremont Ave. N, Seattle, 206-632-1110.  The tasting is on Friday and Saturday from noon to 7:00, and Sunday from noon to 4:00.

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