"I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on."
~~ Oscar Levant

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
I am an event planner and I'm doing a dinner in New Orleans at Bella Lunas. I am going with Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay for the white, but I need some suggestions for the red. The meal will be a sit down surf n turf (filet and salmon). The group is very particular (they're in the food and beverage business!). I want the wine to be nice but stay in the $40-$60 a bottle range.
Answer:
I do a lot of corporate wine dinners myself, so I understand your need to have a blockbuster red for your salmon/filet mignon dinner at Bella Lunas in New Orleans. You have chosen one of my all-time favorite Chardonnays in the Ferrari-Carano. Good for you! Ferrari Carano also does one of the greatest reds in California = "Siena" = Sangiovese/Cabernet blend that is so elegant. I have served it for wine dinners for big time law firms and American Bar Association and they loved it. It usually sells for $40 in retail stores. However, if you want to use a different winery--I'd select Luce which is another "Super Tuscan" blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet from the joint venture of Robert Mondavi and Frescobaldi of Italy. It sells in retail stores for $60 a bottle. There are other "Super Tuscans" from Italy too such as "Avignonesi", Antinori's "Solaia" or "Tignanello", or Banfi's "Summus". The only other grape variety I would recommend for both Salmon and Filet is a PINOT NOIR--and there are excellent examples from Oregon such as Domaine Drouhin, Erath, Eyrie, and Sokol Blosser. Another is Beaux Freres made by Robert Parker the very famous wine writer of the Wine Advocate and his brother.

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com

"I don't have a drink problem except when I can't get one."
~~ Tom Waits

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
I wanted to know how to make wine from grape juice.
Answer:
Sounds easy but it's very difficult, even for winemakers! Basically wine is fermented grape juice--so you could just add yeast to grape juice to create fermentation that creates alcohol. But unless you do this with instructions and the proper equipment and the right grape juice, you will get vinegar the minute the juice stops fermenting and is exposed to the air! My recommendation is to go to a store that sells beer-making supplies for homemade beer and see if they also sell winemaking supplies and kits for making homemade wine. They will give you instructions and tips on how to make the wine. It's tricky so you need professional assistance. That's why we applaud real wineries for making such good wine!

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com

"I don’t drink anymore – just the same amount."
~~ Joe. E. Lewis

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
I would like to buy a fine wine that my wife and I would enjoy but I don't know how to purchase fine wine. Could you please send me some names?
Answer:
Here are my suggestions for fine wines to buy for you and your wife: 1. FRENCH CHAMPAGNE--Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Mumm Cordon Rouge--all are Brut and Vintage (the finest) or Non-Vintage (less expensive); 2. VINTAGE PORTO--Grahams, Warres, Dows, Quinto do Noval, Smith-Woodhouse--all from vintages such as 1994 or if you can find older vintages such as 1977 that would be fantastic--these are all sweet, red dessert wines; 3. CALIFORNIA CABERNET SAUVIGNONS--Chateau St. Jean "Cinq Cepages"; Guenoc "Reserve", Langtry or Beckstoffer Vineyard; St. Supery "Meritage" Red; Mondavi Reserve-all from the 1995, 1996, 1997 or 1998 vintages-and there are lots more collectors items starting at $80 such as Opus One, Dominus, Niebaum- Coppola "Rubicon" etc.; 4. FRENCH RED BORDEAUX--if you can afford the first growths such as Chateau Margaux or Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, then buy. If they are too expensive, buy other "cru classe" from Haut Medoc such as Ch. Dauzac (Margaux), Ch. Ducru-Beaucailou (St. Julien) etc. Get help in a fine wine store. 5. FRENCH RED BURGUNDY--buy them young, recent vintages, because they are all 100% Pinot Noir. The great ones will be in the locked in the wine vault of any good wine store, with plenty of others in more moderate price ranges on the floor. 6. FRENCH RED RHONE-buy young, recent vintages of Chateauneuf du Pape, Gigondas, Cote Rotie, Hermitage, St. Joseph, Cornas -these are all based on the Syrah grape and delicious, big, blockbuster reds. Also try the Australia equivalent which are the better Shiraz wines.

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com

"Health is what my friends are always drinking to before they fall down."
~~ Phyllis Diller

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
What is ice wine and how and when should it be served?
Answer:
Eiswein is the German name for "ice wine". This means it is made in vintage years when it actually snows on the grapes and freezes them solid. By law the grapes have to be crushed while they are still frozen and the ice crystals hold the water and allow the sweet natural grape juice alone to go into fermentation. This produces one of the world's greatest dessert wines, and is rare and costly. Most German Eiswein is made from Riesling grapes, and is sold in half-bottles. It should be served chilled in small, clear glasses after dinner as a dessert. If you do serve a dessert along side it, choose simple pound cake with fruit, shortbread cookies, creme caramel or bread pudding. Ice wine is also made in Canada, New York and California. The ATF of the U.S. government does not allow the use of the German word Eiswein on the label, so it will be called "ice wine" in English or "vin glaciere" in French.

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com

"Filmmaker/winemaker Francis Ford Coppola says the two professions are almost the same and that each depends on source material and takes a lot of time to perfect. The big difference: Today’s winemakers still worry about quality."
~~ Arizona Republic, January 22, 1998.

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
I read some years ago of a Rhine Valley wine made from, I believe, raisins. It went by the moniker of TBA, an abbreviation of the longer German name that was a mouthful of 10+ letters. It's dessert wine I think. Can you help?
Answer:
A TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE German wine is abbreviated TBA. It is the most costly, rarest and sweetest of the six German "Pradikat" highest quality wines--that are never artificially sweetened or blended--and can only be made in great vintage years when there is enough sunshine several weeks past the normal harvest time for the grapes to be shriveled to "raisins" by the sun and the "noble rot" fungus called "botrytis" which occurs naturally. That's a mouthful! And a Trockenbeerenauslese is quite a delicious mouthful of sweet, golden-colored, honey flavored (from the botrytis) dessert wine--one of the greatest in the world. Usually sold in small half-bottles because it is expensive. It literally is dessert--and is served chilled, and sipped out of small glasses after a meal or with bread pudding, pecan pie, pound cake and fruit, crème caramel etc. Go to any fine wine store and look in their locked wine vault. The U.S. and other countries make a similar wine but cannot call it by the German name so look for the RIESLING grape, and the English words: "Select Late Harvest" or Botrytis on the label. It will still be rare and expensive.

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com

"Dinner at the Huntercombes' possessed only two dramatic features — the wine was a farce and the food a tragedy."
~~ Anthony Powell

Excerpt from Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers by Malcolm Kushner

Question:
I recently acquired some excellent Spanish wine and noted the term Cosecha on the label of the bottle. Is Cosecha a local name for a grape? I am familiar with the Tempranillo, Garnacha (red) grape varieties.
Answer:
Your Spanish wine knowledge is really good! You know the pertinent facts. Under the D.O. (Denominacion de Origen) wine laws in Spain, COSECHA means harvest in Spanish, and COSECHA is the Vintage Year of the wine. Vino de Cosecha means wine that is at least 85% from the vintage year on the label- -most are 100% from one vintage year if there is a Cosecha on the label. In other words, a Cosecha 1989 wine is vintage year 1989, the year the grapes were harvested. Good Luck with your further studies! By the way, have you tried the Priorat red wines from Spain? They are delicious Garnacha, very upscale.

Excerpt from Wine Faqs: Real Questions-Real Answers by Anita L. Laraia- www.anitalaraia.com