WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Final Installment of Carpe Vinum’s Newsletter and Tasting Announcement Thingy for 2005! We are just days away from the New Year’s parties, and need something to pour! That’s what I’m here for! So for the final Carpe Vinum tasting of the year, it’s: New Year’s Party Wines! Exactly what is a party wine? Well, let me give a few scenarios that might enlighten the subject a bit.

Scenario 1: (And this has happened to me a number of times.) You buy a fancy-schmancy bottle to bring to a party. It’s a well esteemed bottle of something you’ve heard is really, really good. The descriptions make you shudder with anticipation. You arrive at the party with the bottle in hand. At some point the bottle leaves your hand and makes its way to where the wine goes. (Table, bar, counter. Doesn’t really matter, does it?) But by the time you get back from hanging up your coat, the bottle has been opened, distributed, and devoured by the jackals at the wine table/counter/bar and the bottle has already been recycled/smashed over someone’s head. All that is left are the wine people hovering around the table remarking “Hey! That was really, really good! You paid HOW much for it?!?”

Scenario 2: (Story courtesy of Kathy) You have a bottle that has been in your cellar for a long time, waiting for the special occasion to be opened. You figure this is the one. After all that discipline it took to not open it on a whim, and all of the wine critic’s predictions say the planets have lined up just perfectly for this precious bottle, covered in dust and dryer-lint, to be tasting at optimal levels. You show up to previously-mentioned party with bottle in hand. The host/hostess sees said bottle says “Oh WOW! THANK you!”, nabs the bottle, and whisks it away to their own personal collection. Not wanting to seem an ungracious guest, you say nothing.

Scenario 3: You brought Yellowtail or Charles Shaw. So did everyone else. There are no interesting wines to talk about. You decide to grab a Bud Light instead.

Scenario 3A: You brought Yellowtail or Charles Shaw. It’s the only wine bottle there. Not wanting to have to DRINK the bottle of that stuff (or the possibility that this wine-free party is also a corkscrew-free party), you decide to grab a Bud Light instead.

Scenario 3B: You brought Yellowtail or Charles Shaw. It’s a dry party. (Better get the full details about the party beforehand, there Sparky.) Not wanting to be the only one drinking at the “party” and not wanting to leave a bottle of booze in a potentially dry household, you pack it home where you might have to actually drink it there, someday.

Okay, okay.. .I’m not totally coming down on the Yellowtail. I had the Shiraz recently, and it is passable as a wine. It’s not a total embarrassment, but it’s not terribly original either. The gist of the matter, for a party wine, is a bottle that isn’t too expensive, wouldn’t be a disaster if you didn’t get to taste it, but would actually be something you’d want to drink. An extra addition to that would be something interesting about the bottle that makes it a conversation piece. This is one opportunity for your bottle to outshine the sea of Yellowtails.

Wine types to keep in mind, at least in my opinion are the fun and festive grape varieties that don’t really beg for food as much as others. For example, interesting wine blends, syrahs, petite syrahs and zinfandels are my favorite picks. They’re great with most snacky foods, or just fine by themselves. Of course, I have a handy selection of bubblies, as well!

So Friday, December 30th, New Year’s Eve Eve, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

5 Great Party Wines And Reasons Why They’re good!!
friends.zin 2001 Zinfandel, Sonoma, California
What better wine to bring to a friend’s house than a Zin? What better Zin to bring to a friend’s party than one called “friends.zin”? It has a friendship bracelet on the label. How cute.
Rabid Wines 2003 Rabid Red, Napa Valley, California
It has a cool looking dog on the label. We probably all know someone this fits in well for. . .dog lovers. . .the party animal. . .that friend who just got bit by a raccoon and had that series of shots in the stomach. I’ve heard that’s a myth, though. The series of shots, that is. . .not the raccoon.
Roshambo 2001 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, California
Rock. Paper. Scissors. A great way to see who gets the rest of the wine.
Writer’s Block 2002 Syrah, Lake County, California
It’s a great bottle for groups of writers or for the uncomfortable lapses in conversation. What are those? Converser’s block? It’s got Shakespeare on the front and a story on the back. And good juice inside.
Norman 2002 The Monster Zinfandel, Paso Robles, California
It’s a monster! And it’s one of my favorites from this year. Just tell friends you’re bringing a monster to the party. It’s got a kittly on the label too. It’s a Cougar. Big kitty.

2 More Great Party Wines!!
Kiona 1999 “Nice Legs” Merlot, Red Mountain, Washington
“Legs” are the streams of wine as they come down the glass after swirling the wine, indicating alcohol and/or sugar content. “Legs” are also what we stand on and walk/skip/run with. Some people have nice ones that are worth celebrating with a bottle of Merlot.
Dashe 2002 Petite Syrah, Ripkin Vineyard, Lodi, California
This is one of my favorites of this year, as well. If we all remember, Dashe has the label featuring the monkey riding the whale. A monkey riding a whale? What the heck does that mean? Discuss. . .

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Wines of Italy’s Sicily!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome, again, to this week’s tasting announcement! Tomorrow is the day before the day before Christmas! That makes it Christmas Eve Eve, and today would then be Christmas Eve Eve Eve! So, to you all I wish you a Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve and, if I see you tomorrow, I will wish you a Merry Christmas Eve Eve and a Happy Super Flight of Wine! For tomorrow is yet another tasting! What did you wish for, for your Christmas Eve Eve Flight? If it was Syrah/Shiraz, then your wishes have come true, because that’s what we’ve got! I’ve got 7 Wonderful Syrah/Shiraz from around the world that I’ll be pouring tomorrow.

By now, all of you have finished your shopping, and wrapping gifts, and are ready to settle down with some good wine, and reflect on how good it feels to be done with all that. Hopefully, you’re hoping, a bit of wine can get that ONE Christmas song out of your head. You know the one. It just happened to be the song that played at EVERY shop you went into, like some kind of Twilight Zone episode. Or maybe it was the voices. They need wine too. At any rate, it’s the perfect time to relax since your Holiday preparation is already done.

What? You haven’t even started yet? That’s okay. That’s the way I do it too. Always keep in mind that wine makes a lovely gift, as well. It’s easy to wrap (considering I have a plethora of wine bags here, now) and it’s always a joy to receive. Or, if you need to face the mobs in the malls, I always find it’s a bit easier after a few sips of the wine.

So what we have in the lineup for this week are some old favorites, as well as new. I’ve brought back the Shinas Estate “The Guilty” Shiraz by popular demand. It’s the perfect gift for someone who didn’t get you anything. . .if that’s the kind of payback you like to get: Guilt. If not, it’s just really fine juice, anyway! Just like the rest of these!

So Friday, December 23rd, Christmas Eve Eve, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Syrah! By Any Other Name Is.. .Well. . .Shiraz!
Domaine Cantarelles 2004 Syrah de Fayels, Vin de Pays du Gard, France
Montes Alpha 2003 Syrah, Cochagua Valley, Chile
Willow Crest 2002 Syrah, Yakima Valley, Washington
Rafferty’s Rules 2002 Angel’s Share Shiraz, Southeastern Australia
Shinas Estate 2003 The Guilty Shiraz, Victoria, Australia

Rah Rah Seerah!!
Five Star 2002 Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Washington
Louis Cheze 2001 Cuvee Caroline, Saint-Joseph, France

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Great Party Wines for The New Year!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to this weeks Tasting @ Carpe Vinum! Last week we visited Spain. This week we’re visiting the other half of the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal! I don’t mean half in the sense of geographical mass, but in the one of two countries inhabiting the same peninsula. Portugal is geographically small by Spanish standards. . .or perhaps Spain is quite large by Portuguese standards. Whatever. . .you get the picture.

Portugal! In ancient Roman times most of Portugal was a province called Lucitania. Mythically, Lucitania was named after Luso, the son (Or companion. Read: drinking buddy) of Bacchus, the god of wine and feasting. But it wasn’t the Romans who brought the winemaking to Portugal, as it had existed for quite some time. Vineyards were cultivated from 2000 BC, but the art of winemaking was actually brought by the Greeks around the 7th century BC. Winemaking must have been important in that place if the Romans named the land for Bacchus’s drinking buddy, once they had arrived.

Portugal is home to over 500 native grapevine varieties. None of us would like them all listed here. That would be a fruitless pursuit. (Pun intended. On the “fruitless” part, not the “pursuit” part. Oh, nevermind.) All of this variety, coupled with centuries upon centuries of winemaking have produced a number of incredible wines. Over the years, however, the popularity of the fortified Porto had been the dominating wine exported from Portugal and as a result many Portuguese table wines remained relatively unknown, and therefore tremendous values. So what we have assembled here is a collection of different Portuguese table wines from a few regions around Portugal, giving a cross-section of the Portuguese grapes and styles.

Now where it gets really fun: I have a couple Portos included in the lineup this week. Porto is a fortified wine created by adding brandy to grape juice as it ferments. This stops the fermentation, preserving the sugars and adding alcohol at the same time. The cold weather we’re experiencing make Porto a fine winter wine. They’re strong! They’re sweet! They’re mostly made by the British! They’re fun to discuss, and there’s far too much information to print here. The ones I have here are a vintage Ruby style, and a Colheita Tawny style. It’ll be a good one, for sure!

Also this week is in-house music with Adam + Kris! It’s original acoustic guitar music that resonates so well within these walls!

So Friday, December 16th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Portugal!
Ramos-Pinto 2003 Adriano, Douro
Casa Santos Lima 2003 Tinto Cao, Estremadura
Cortes de Cima 2003 Chamine, Alentejano
Quinta do Crasto 2003 Red Table Wine, Douro
Quinta do Carvalhosa 2001 Ardosino, Douro

Porto!!
Rocha 2000 Vintage Porto
Kopke 1994 Colheita Porto

Next Friday tasting is Syrah/Shiraz!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

It is time, again, for the Carpe Vinum Newsletter and Tasting Heads-Up Announcement thing! And it’s our favorite once-every-three-months-or-so tasting of Spanish Reds! (applause). Let’s call it the Spanish Quarterly, since that’s about how often I like to do it. And why so often? Well, because they’re so divine, and there are so many new developments that a quarterly tasting is needed just to keep up!

So I would say that the wines we have in store for this week are shaping up to be a stellar lineup, but I’m really tired of the word “stellar”. By the true definition, stellar actually means “of or relating to the stars”, but has been popularized by the mainstream surfer culture, and invaded our subconscious vocabulary, like “like” and “Dude, totally!” To expand our vocabulary a tad, and to unabashedly plagiarize straight from the Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus, we can say this Spanish tasting lineup will be an “A1, bang-up, banner, boss [slang], capital, classic, crackerjack, dandy, divine, fabulous, fine, first-class, first-rate, grand, great, groovy, heavenly, jim-dandy, keen, marvelous (or marvellous), mean, neat, nifty, noble, par excellence, prime, sensational, splendid, sterling, superb, superior, superlative, supernal, swell, terrific, tip-top, top, top-notch, unsurpassed, and wonderful” selection. Also acceptable by today’s standards would be “dope, fly, or The Shizznit”. Just no longer stellar. (Dude.)

Points of additional interest in this tasting include 2 different wines from the same family of winegrowers, each with different ideas. The Palacios family has been making wines for 5 generations under the Bodegas Palacios label in Rioja. It appears one of the sons has gone out in a different direction with the Decendientes de Palacios in Bierzo. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But in this instance, I guess it’s about 200 miles from the tree. . .or grapes from the vine, as it were.

Also, there are a few regions we haven’t explored in the Spanish tastings that we’re touching on this time. Including a wine from the Emporada-Costa Brava, and a wine from within the island of Mallorca from Bodegas Ribas. They’ve been making wine there since 1711, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Also pleasing the crowd is another fine wine from Alejandro Fernandez. We’re already familiar with his Condado de Haza, which is one of my favorites, and we’ve poured the El Vinculo and Dehesa la Granja, but I have yet to pour his original Pesquera Ribera del Duero. And since we all love the Ribera del Duero, I figure it’s about time!

It won’t be “stellar” this time, it’ll be “_______”! (Choose one. Your favorite.)

So Friday, December 9th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Spain!
Zeta 2004 Garnacha, Navarra
Raimat 2001 Tempranillo, Costers del Segre
Palacios Remondo 2003 La Vendimia, Rioja
Descendientes de J. Palacios 2003 Petalos del Bierzo, Bierzo
Marti Fabra 2002 Vinyes Velles, Emporada-Costa Brava

More Spain!!
Alejandro Fernandez 2002 Pesquera, Ribera del Duero
Bodegas Ribas 2002 Sio, VdlT Illes Balears

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Portugal and Porto!
(And possibly synonyms for the word “tasty” per my family’s request. . .)

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Carpe Vinum Newsletter and Tasting Announcement Thing! This week we’re celebrating! What are we celebrating? Sparkling wine! It’s the 3rd Annual Celebratory Sparkler Spectacular! These bodacious bubblies are a celebration within themselves; a veritable party-in-a-bottle! Just the simple opening of the bottle sounds and feels like a celebration, and is probably why it’s been used for celebration purposes for centuries. Weddings! New Year’s Eve! NASCAR victories! And even the celebration of the morning following an evening of celebrating too much (mixed with orange juice). There’s no doubt that sparklers are the favorites of many. So let’s take a look at our effervescent friends.

Through all of wine history, everywhere wine was made, some batches would have a bubbly character due to a fermentation within the bottle, usually caused by the bottling of a wine that had not fully fermented. The gasses produced by fermentation within the bottle would be reabsorbed into the liquid, only to be released once the wine was opened. This is the true origin of all sparkling wines: Basically, it’s an accident someone found the idea to improve upon. This sparkling characteristic has been refined by methods to enhance the effervescence by adding more sugars and more yeasts just before bottling. (Of course, it’s not quite THAT simple. But, hey. We don’t have all day, right?)

Although the French wines of Limoux claim to be the first makers of a Brut sparkling wine, we can definitely say that the Champagne district was the first to perfect it. Even so, every winemaking country has a bubbly of their own, some made with different grapes and different methods, and others paying homage to the original. The true Champagne, to which some people will accept no substitute, can be some of the most expensive in the world, with few retailing under the $40 price range, and many over $100.

So for a tasting of bubblies, I find it best to do a tour of the worldwide styles of sparklers. It gives a great cross-section of the styles, yet remains within the financial realm of possibility. Personally I like many of these better than that of the origninal Champagne, anyway. . .but still, the tasting wouldn’t be complete without a true Champagne. So I’ve devised a special spot for just that. It’s the perfect research for what gets popped at your celebration in the coming weeks! Enjoy!

So Friday, December 2nd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Bubblies Around the World!
Trevisiol 2003 Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
Rene Mure NV Cremant d’Alsace, Alsace, France
Gruet NV Brut, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pascual Toso NV Brut, Mendoza, Argentina
Codorniu NV Cuvee Raventos, Cava, Spain

Even More Bubbles From Around the World (But a bit more close by)!!
Elk Cove 1999 Brut, Willamette Valley, Oregon
J Vineyards 1999 Sparkling Brut, Sonoma, California

And One More! A True Champagne!
Heidsieck & Co. Monopole NV Blue Top, Champagne, France

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours, and $5 for a taste of the “True Champagne”

Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Plus, if I’m feeling adventurous, I might saber a bottle for y’all. You know. . .where you knock off the entire top of a bottle with a sword. . .it’s neat!

Next Friday tasting is Spanish Wines!

M