by John Hagarty
Quick. Name a dining experience that can cause a range of emotions from unease to an appetite-ending clutch in the throat. Might it be the innocently posed question from a companion, “Would you please select a wine for dinner?” Who me?Faced with an extensive wine list and dinner companions looking for you to navigate its rocky shoals, finding the safe haven of a good bottle can be intimidating. And if it’s a business dinner with important clients in tow, the pressure can be magnified considerably. Make a poor selection and you might be apologizing to the group throughout the meal.Relax. Being asked to choose a wine means someone thinks you have the savoir-faire to handle the assignment. And there are some simple strategies that can be employed to reduce your anxiety and assure s...
by Marisa Dvari
Want to be a winemaker? It sounds like a lot of fun, and of course, it can be. And to hear the rags to riches (well, not quite rags) story of how Joel Peterson, founding winemaker of Ravenswood, created an internationally famous brand is mesmerizing.Joel was born in 1947 the son of a highly credentialed scientist parents. When Joel was four years old, his mother discovered food writer Elizabeth David, who wrote about the importance of drinking French wine with food (note the emphasis on the word French). From that point on, the Peterson family sent abroad for French wine, and by the age of ten, Joel was a member of the San Francisco Wine Sampling Club (organized and operated by his father).After graduating from Oregon State University, Joel became a wine writer and consultant, then learned...
by Hope S. Philbrick
After eight days of nonstop rain and with so much of the Atlanta area flooded, I wondered what the storms have meant for North Georgia's wineries. For a front line report I checked in with three winery owners: Craig Kritzer, David Harris and Mary Ann Hardman.Craig Kritzer, Frogtown Cellars in Dahlonga"Frogtown is harvesting, as I respond to you," reported Kritzer at 6:30 p.m. on September 21. "We were fortunate to have harvested over 70 percent of our fruit before the last seven days of rain." In fact, the day before the rains started, Frogtown Cellars had harvested 30 tons of fruit that was then processed over the next two days. "We could not harvest more because we were out of harvest bins," explained Kritzer."As a result of our decision to take fruit earlier than we have in the past," h...
by Ron Kapon
Part 1 of this article covered the Central Coast from the San Francisco Airport south through San Jose, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Paso Robles, Hearst Castle & back to the airport. Less than three months later I was on my way to Los Angeles, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Solvang, Santa Ynez, San Luis Obispo & back to Los Angeles. At my farthest point in San Luis Obispo I was only 27 miles from my farthest point during Part 1. Much of the technical wine information can be found by reading Part 1 and I did not want to waste your time by repeating that information here. As a savvy travel shopper I rarely rent cars from companies using airport locations. Someone has to pay for that valuable space, taxes and shuttle buses. Searching the internet I found "OK Rent a Car" whi...
by Ivan Loyola
When French engineer Michel Pouget planted Malbec vines in Argentinean vineyard soil in 1868, he had no idea that his simple deed would eventually transform the variety into one of the cultural icons of his adoptive home country. One hundred and forty years later, Malbec is on a firm path to earn a place in the pantheon of things Argentinean.Argentina's cultural landmarks are easily recognized across the globe. Maradona, the soccer genius given to tantrums and extravagance. Tango, the dance that has imprinted the world's psyche with its overtones of passion and romanticism. Evita, former President Peron's lover and wife, whose destitute, later powerful-and finally tragic-fate, has inspired novels, plays, operas and films. Apparently, the South American nation is not done with producing suc...
by Nancy Yos
Somebody has to do it.Wine drinkers who poke around on the Internet are likely to be aware of online wine cellars, where you can log in and type up a list of the bottles you have in your home, record what you opened last night and what you thought of it, prices, and so on. Two of the most familiar sites are CellarTracker and Cork'd. CellarTracker has been around for five years and boasts a database of over one million consumer-generated wine reviews -- everybody recording what they thought of last night's wine -- and a log of ten million bottles. Cork'd, brainchild of two web developers each named Dan who work on an iceberg floating between Massachusetts and Florida (the site says so) was founded in 2006 and bought in May of 2007 by New Jersey based wine wunderkind Gary Vaynerchuk of WineL...
by Tim Miles
There really is a difference.I see people all the time claim that they can't tell the difference between $4 wine and a more expensive option. I say that is bunk.The majority of wine sold in our area is mass produced bulk juice from California. The wine that is made from such inferior juice tends to be fruit forward and shallow with very little finish. I refer to this as party wine, but if you drink any amount, the party will be over in the morning. Take a proprietary grown grape and observe the way it is treated. From the time it is hand picked and selected (to keep it from bruising), then gently pressed to harvest the best free-run juice. The quality is really worth the few extra dollars that these wines cost.The difference is in the smell, feel and taste. A great quality bottle will smel...
by Stefani Jackenthal
Matching wine and chocolate can be tricky as cooking a soufflé. It requires a focused balance of ingredients to rise to its full savory potential. A similar fineness is needed finding the ideal chocolate to match a particular wine’s characteristics. All too often chocolate’s sweetness overpowers the wine, making it taste tart. But the right wine and chocolate pairing is divine. Global dark chocolates with citrus, spicy and rustic nuances do especially well with wine. Much to my pleasure, I spent excruciating hours scratching, sniffing and sampling some of the world’s best exotic chocolates to showcase in some of my recent wine and chocolate tasting. It was grueling work, of course, but I eagerly took on my mission. Oh, the sensation!As summer roll through like a chocolate truffle on...
by Stefani Jackenthal
Chilean wine growers and happy sippers worldwide are rejoicing for this mouthfilling, bold grape sporting dark berry overtones and soft vibrant tannins. Plummy, rich, and spicy, the Carmenère grape has been rediscovered!Following the epic phylloxera epidemic in Europe during the 1860s, when most vineyards were destroyed, grape growers replanted crops hoping to regain their livelihood. Unlike the five other “Noble” Bordeaux wine grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec) that thrived when reintroduce to European soil, Carmenère became difficult to grow. Consequently, it slowly faded from of European viticulture. The grape was brought to Chile in hopes that it would find root in the Chilean fertile soil. Some years later, Carmenère lost its identity ...
by Stefani Jackenthal
What heck is Pinotage? It’s a robust, spicy, viticulture cross of Pinot Noir and Hermitage (also known as Cinsaut) grapes. In 1925, Abraham Izak Perold, the first professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, in the Western Cape of South Africa, physically brushed a male Hermitage (Cinsaut) flower against a Pinot Noir pollen donor, an oddball duo. Its speculated that Perold was trying to combine the rich burgundy flavor of Pinot Noir, a finicky grape to grow, with hearty Hermitage, a sturdy and easy-to-grow varietal, to meld their feature characteristics. Although it only makes up about 6% of grapes planted in the country, Pinotage has since, become South Africa’s signature grape. Known for its rustic red hue and smoky, earthy overtones layered with dark fruit, it’s terrific w...
