WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Hey! It’s that time again! Welcome to the First Annual Carpe Vinum Summer Sparkler Spectacular! That’s right! I figured it’s about time to bring out the bubblies some time other than around the end-of-year holidays. And why? Because summer is hot! Sparklers are cold and fizzy! There’s nothing better on a hot day than a nice, cold, frothy sparkling wine. I mean . . . uh . . .you know with the . . . uh, really hot June we’ve been having. Um . . . the horrid heat . . . uh . . . relentlessly . . . ummm. Sigh. You know I have to plan these things at least a month out, right? Last year by this time we’ve already had 10 days over 80 degrees, 6 days over 90 degrees, and 4 days over 100 degrees. It’s not that I wanted super-hot weather . . . I just kinda figured . . . y’know.

Okay, new plan! New angle!

Welcome again to the First Annual Carpe Vinum FOURTH OF JULY Summer Sparkler Spectacular! That’s right! Just around the corner is the best holiday of the year for all us U.S.A.-ers. Just think that 231 years ago our American forefathers had defeated their oppressors and signed the Declaration of Independence. You know what kind of wine they drank in celebration? That’s right! Madeira! What . . ? You were expecting them to be drinking the bubblies too? Nah. Understand that Madeira was all the rage at that time. But that’s another story. We’re talking about the Wines that WE celebrate with. Sparkling wines: Champagne! Prosecco! Cava! Cremant! And to name pretty-much the rest of them, Sparkling Wines! Every wine growing region of the world seems to have their own style of sparkler.

Speaking of sparklers, and of the Fourth of July, didn’t the sparklers seem like the least-lame “legal” firework? I mean there were those little paper comets that exploded when you threw them on the sidewalk. Those were cool for about the first dozen, after which there were only three options: 1) throw the rest at the ankles of friends, family, and pets. 2) Try to build a larger explosion by unwrapping the rest and making a “super” snapper. (Doesn’t work. Tried it.). 3) Grab the rest in your hand, blow out the sawdust, and violently throw them all at once. Okay, okay. There was also the fourth option of dumping them all out and stomping on them.

Other than that, there were the snakes. Super lame. I mean, they never lit right, always broke apart so you couldn’t carry around your new “snake” friend, smelled nasty and left that black burn ring on the sidewalk for the rest of the year. They should just put one in the box, since nobody lights more than that. After that there’s the tiny-explosion-situated-in-the-middle-of-a-string firework. You’re excited for the first one, but end up popping the rest all in succession just so you can throw away the box. Oh, yeah. Then there’s all the things that squeal. Those are just annoying and make every dog in the neighborhood totally freak out.

So there we have the sparklers. I don’t think they make them with the dangerous glowing-red-hot wire anymore, but unlike all the other lame “legal” fireworks, they were the only ones that left you a little sad that the whole event was over with . . . until you lit another one. Now, as adults, we can enjoy an even better “legal” firework: The bubbly, sparkly wine! I mean there’s the *POP* and the froth and the “aim away from face and others” warning on it. Crossed with the super-hot (cough) weather we’ve got, and it’s the perfect beverage for the holiday. So keep that in mind next week, that a bubbly wine can make a fine firework in itself for the adult crowd, and can be enjoyed while watching all the kids go through that same ritual of the “legal” fireworks. Then we can all get “lit” ourselves and light of the REAL fireworks we picked up on the reservation just outside of town.

Tomorrow we’ve got representatives from around the world bringing us their delicious and explosive bubblies. We’ve got two different Prosecco, one of them a rose’ Prosecco, a variety I’d never had before and which I believe is in VERY short supply in town. Also, we’ve got a Blanquette de Limoux from Languedoc, my old favorite from New Mexico by the Gruet producer. Also, also, we’ve got the wonderful Spanish Cava, local superstars Argyle and their Blanc de Blanc, and an actual TRUE Champagne by Jose Michel made with all Pinot Meunier!

So Friday, June 29th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Sssizzling!!! Fffizzling!!!
Adami NV Bosco di Gica Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
Domaine Rosier NV Blanquette de Limoux, Languedoc, France
Bodegas Navarin NV Brut Reserva Cava, Penedes, Spain
Gruet NV Brut, New Mexico
Trevisiol NV Rose Prosecco, Veneto, Italy

Light and Get Away Quickly!!!
Argyle 1999 Blanc de Blanc, Knudsen Valley, Dundee Hills, Oregon
Jose Michel NV Cuvee Pinot Meunier Brut, Champagne, France

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Italy’s Tuscany!!!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to another fine installment of the Carpe Vinum Super-Charged Wine Report and Announcement of Impending Friday Tasting Deliciousositude. Yes, I made that word up, but it means what it says. This week we’re heading to the infamous, delicious, world-renowned, and model for wines everywhere: It’s the French Bourgogne! We know it as Burgundy. Let’s not get it confused with all the other Americanized uses of the word “Burgundy” as a color in paint swatches or a nasty swilling jug-wine that’s better used for marinating tough meat or cleaning brushes (after painting your room a “Burgundy” color). This is the real deal.

Speaking of deal, what’s the big deal on Burgundy? We’ll start with a word. Followed by another word. Two words: Pinot Noir. We’ve been hearing a lot about this grape lately, especially in the wake of a popular independent movie. Everyone in the world seems to be striving for “The Grail”, as people poetically refer to the perfect Pinot Noir. Oregon, California, New Zealand, Tasmania and virtually all wine regions on earth with a temperate enough climate to accommodate the finicky grape are trying their hand at the Pinot Noir. Burgundy is the model to which all these regions aspire. Why so? Maybe it’s hundreds of years of trial and error and good vineyard management. A lot of how wines came to be in Europe were due to what grew well and what performed best. In that sense, although new world Pinot Noir can certainly be fine wines of power and finesse, nowhere does it quite perform like Burgundy. Even in the less expensive versions.

Now let’s get to a third word: Chardonnay. Now, now. I heard you cringe and gag. Don’t worry . . . you’re aren’t the only ones. There certainly has been a backlash lately at the New World Chardonnays that have tarnished the reputation of the grape in the name of banal and overpowering oaking. It’s what some refer to as the “Hot Buttered Board” or what I call the “Cuvee de 2X4″ featuring buttery flavors and loads and loads of wood. Thankfully, there seems to be a shift away from this style, but that has nothing to do with the Chardonnay produced in Burgundy. They’ve been producing the finest in white wines in Burgundy for ages. Although it might not seem like it, the Burgundian white wine style, like its Pinot Noir counterpart, has been the model for Chardonnays worldwide. How it mutated into the monster it became is a mystery to me.

Case-in-point for me is the district of Chablis, where the wines are made from Chardonnay and aged in seasoned oak. Considering that brand-spankin’-new oak is what gives a wine its super-strong woody flavor, seasoned oak lends little to no flavor to the wine, leaving the job all to the fruit and the vine. The story of Chablis as I heard it was that the French government, while building the railway system in France, bypassed the Chablis district entirely. The winemakers in Chablis were enraged about this and boycotted the barrel industry, as importing barrels became too expensive a prospect. In protest, they reused the same barrels for as long as possible. I just remember wondering how that seasoned-oak style morphed into the buttered-oak-bomb we know and loathe today. To cut it short, though, White Burgundy is the real thing, so be not afraid.

So tomorrow we’ve got two white Burgundies, including the aforementioned Chablis and a Pouilly Fuisse, one of the best-known white Burgundies. After that it’s a number of spectacular Pinot Noir-based red wines from around Burgundy, including the districts of Auxey-Duresses and the exquisite Chassagne-Montrachet. I’ve gone a little over my normal price limit to accommodate some of these more prestigious wines, but kept the tasting price the same. What does that mean to you? More bang for the buck, I guess!

So Friday, June 22nd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Bourgogne!!!
Domaine Alain Gautheron 2005 Chablis
Jean Rijckaert 2005 Pouilly-Fuisse
Philippe Colin 2005 Pinot Noir Bourgogne
Domaine Gachot-Monot 2004 Cotes de Nuits Villages
Louis Latour 2005 Marsannay

Bourgogne!!! Bourgogne!!!
Domaine Billard 2004 Les Joncheres, Auxey-Duresses
Bernard Moreau 2004 Vielles Vignes, Chassagne-Montrachet

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Summer Sparkler Spectacular!!!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

It’s that time of day again! During that time of the week! And that time of the year! It’s time for the Timeless Exercise in Tasting Wine and Reading Newsletters Regarding That Thing for Carpe Vinum! This week we’re heading to another edition of the Spectacular Spanish Series: It’s Spain’s Galicia (and friends)! Why do I say “(and friends)”? Can a specific region really have “friends”? I mean, the inhabitants of the region can have friends. And the governments of the regions can say the other regions are friends. Is that what I mean? No. I’m cheating a bit this week. We’ll get to that later. But the main theme for this week is Galicia, so we’ll start there.

Galicia is the region of Northwest Spain just north of Portugal. It’s also known as “Green Spain”, mainly because everything is green there. Apparently, and as a friend had said, once you leave the Green Spain, everything turns brown. I guess that makes the rest of Spain “Brown Spain”. That doesn’t sound too nice. How about “Non-Green Spain”? Works for me. Let’s move on.

Like most regions of the world, the wine or beverages of whatever regions, have a lot to do with the cuisine of the region as well as whatever can grow naturally there. Some things might be a happy accident, but really when you see that the cuisine of Galicia is mostly seafood and the like, as they are surrounded by water, it only makes sense that they have a great selection of white wines from the region. There are several reds in the area but they are few and far between and really, really hard to find. And expensive.

So how am I cheating? We’ll get to that. Firstly know that we’ve got Galicia relatively covered. The most well-known subregion of Galicia is certainly Rias Baixas and the quintessential white wine Albarino. Apparently there is a small amount of red wine produced there, although I’ve never seen it and have no idea what’s in there. That’s of little consequence considering the Albarino is the most popular wine of the entire Galicia region and accounts for most of the export market. At least as far as I can tell. It would be quite easy to fill out an entire tasting with just the Albarino wines, but that doesn’t give a feel of the region.

After Rias Baixas there are a number of other regions of note: Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra, Ribeiro and Monterrei and then some Txacolina Basque wine from the other end of Green Spain, near the Pyrenees. Last year when I did the Galicia tasting I found a representative from every one of those regions. Since then it’s been apparent the importing market has been bringing in less of the more obscure wines. Either that or I just can’t find them here in town. Either way I only found one other Galicia-proper wine from Valdeorras and brought back the Basque wine from Itsas Mendi that I poured last year.

So here’s where I gotta cheat a bit. Just over the border from Galicia, I mean literally right on the border, is the region of Bierzo. Technically it’s considered part of Old Castille even though it’s closer to Galicia and is seperated from the rest of Castille by a sizeable chunk of land. Also, they use grapes that are more indicative of reds of Galicia than the Castilian red varieties. So I claim this land in the name of Galicia! Besides, we’ve got to get some red wines in here, somehow.

After that I figured since we’re in Old Castille, we might as well grab a wine from Bierzo’s neighbor Rueda. Then, after doing that, I figured since we’ve gone this far, why don’t we make the premium pours from some premium Spanish regions. That’s right, I’m talking Ribera del Duero and Rioja. After all, Rioja is just barely south of the Basque region from which our first wine comes. Okay . . . so that brings our wine tasting full circle. There is a focus on the Northern part of Spain. I guess that’ll do. At any rate, it guarantees a diverse and delicious tasting!

So Friday, June 15th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Galicia!!!
Itsas Mendi 2005 Hondarrabi Zuri, Bizkaiko Txacolina
Don Oligario 2005 Albarino, Rias Baixas
Bodegas Godeval 2005 Vina Godeval, Valdeorras
Vina Sila 2005 Naia, Rueda
Bodegas Peique 2005 Joven, Bierzo

Rioja and Ribera del Duero!!!
Artadi 2004 Vinas de Gain Crianza, Rioja
Bodegas Arzuaga 2004 Crianza, Ribera del Duero

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is French Burgundy!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the time that it is, that time being the Time For the Newsletter of the Week Announcing the Tasting of the Week for Carpe Vinum! This week we’re heading down to New Zealand. Way way down to New Zealand. At least that’s what I’ve heard about the trip down there. Anyone who has been there says it’s some obscenely long flight, like 22 hours. That’s just way too long to be in a confined space breathing other peoples’ breathing air. I suppose it’s not too bad if you consider how long it would take in a submarine. No thanks on the submarine ride. But that has nothing to do with why we’re here right now. We’re here for New Zealand wine!

In the “Upcoming Tastings” section of the Carpe Vinum website, I made a crack that I like the New Zealand much better than the old Zealand. Of course, I didn’t really think of “old” Zealand being a place. I just thought maybe New Zealand was founded by some folks with a lot of zeal. Or zealots. But, knowing any place in the New World that has the prefix of “New” usually has a corresponding “original-that” place. Including Zealand. So I had found out that there is a Zealand in Denmark; an island that has part of Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen on it. However, in finding out information about that, I found that the “New” Zealand is actually named after Seeland in the Netherlands, a name that is Anglicized into “Zealand”. Also, there is a Zealand, (or another New Zealand) in Canada’s New Brunswick (which, then in turn, of course indicates that there is an “old” Brunswick. Sigh.) So I meant no disrespect to the Danes, the Netherlanders, or the Brunswickers when I said I prefer the New Zealand over the Old. But really, until they can muster up some wine of their own, they are all just a geographical footnote for this purpose.

Now, I like doing New Zealand wines this time of year because I can adjust the tasting to fit the weather when it’s cooperating. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. And of the things the weather isn’t currently doing, cooperating is one of them. At any rate, New Zealand is thought by many critics and, more importantly, wine lovers worldwide, to have the finest Sauvignon Blanc in the world. I can agree with this assessment and I would be likely to recommend a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc over any others. Pinot Noir is also a strong category for the country, often being compared with our own Oregonian Pinot Noirs. In fact, there is a close relationship between the winemakers here and there, often trading time on each others’ harvests. It makes sense since our seasons are opposite and can allow a winemaker to work two harvests a year.

So since the weather isn’t really cooperating for much white wine, I thought some more robust reds were in order. New Zealand doesn’t produce a very large volume of the Cabernets, Merlots or Syrahs, and considering most of what they do produce is apparently consumed by the New Zealanders themselves, they’re a bit harder to track them down. But that’s the kind of thing I like to do. So I scoured the wine scene and found some high-powered reds to add some power to the lineup. This is just a spectacular selection and cross-section of New Zealand wine styles. We’re running the full spectrum of a couple dazzling Sauvignon Blancs, a Rose made from Merlot, a critically-acclaimed Pinot Noir, and 3 heartier red blends.

So what’s missing form the lineup? New Zealand Riesling. Overall, they’re just weird. You’d probably thank me if you knew the wines. Although, it’s better to be thanked for doing something right than to be thanked for not doing something wrong, right? Well, in that case you can thank me for these!

So Friday, June 8th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

New Zealand!!!
Omaka Springs 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
Catalina Sounds 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
Sacred Hill 2004 Whitecliff Rose, Hawke’s Bay
Seven Terraces 2005 Pinot Noir, Marlborough
Mills Reef 2004 Merlot-Malbec, Hawke’s Bay

Better than Old Zealand!!!
Craggy Range 2004 Te Kahu Blend (Merlot, Cab Sauvignon, Malbec, Cab Franc), Hawke’s Bay
Hatton Estate 2003 Carson’s Cabernet-Merlot, Hawke’s Bay

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Spain’s Galicia!

M