My Wine Education

Guest Post: Kentucky's Jean Farris Winery

While Kevin & I are in Alaska, we've asked some friends and colleagues to post on their wine loves, wine experiences and more. For this post we welcome Shannan Boyer, a local parenting blogger and one of the driving forces behind Cincinnati Women Bloggers - also one of my close friends! Thanks Shannan!
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Every summer our family packs up the car and heads down to Somerset, KY for a little boating on Lake Cumberland.  The drive down is about 2.5 hours long, giving us plenty of time to play car games and check out the scenery.  On our drive one of the things I’ve often noticed and have always been curious about were the road signs posted along I-75 for local vineyards.

Well this past weekend we headed down for our first trip of the summer and this time, rather than driving straight through to Somerset, we decided to be a little adventurous. We decided to pull off outside of Lexington and visit Jean Farris, a cute vineyard located off the very scenic Richmond Road.

Not having heard of Jean Farris, we had no idea what to expect as we drove down Richmond Road. When we finally arrived, we couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.  The drive up to the main building was lined with rows and rows of grapes.  It was like nothing we’d ever seen before.

While normally my husband and I would have sampled a few of the wines before buying,  the bistro was not open at the time we arrived, so we went with our guts and purchased a bottle of their Riesling ($16).

From the label:

Cold fermented to preserve the bright tropical fruits and citrus notes. This lightly sweet Germanic white has a delicate balance, and soft floral notes.

Keep in mind I am no Michelle Lentz (ed. note: I think Shannan is doing just fine!), but I have to say that this was one amazing Riesling. I found it to have a sweet taste and could definitely identify the citrus notes.  The wine was smooth and I really enjoyed the fact that it didn’t have a dry aftertaste.  If you like dry wines, this would not be the wine for you. This wine was extremely easy to drink, and in fact, my husband and I finished the entire bottle in less than an hour – a feat for me – as usually I am a VERY slow wine drinker.

We are heading back down to Lake Cumberland soon and I will definitely be picking up a few bottles of their Riesling to have at home. Overall if I was using Michelle’s rating system, I would give Jean Farris’ Riesling a giant smiley face.

A local parenting blogger, Shannan Boyer resides in northern Kentucky with her husband and two young boys. When she’s not blogging about her family’s many adventures on her blog Mommy Bits, she and her family are likely to be found out exploring and enjoying all that greater Cincinnati has to offer.

Guest Post: An Italian Wine Primer, Part 1

While Kevin & I are in Alaska, we've asked some friends and colleagues to post on their wine loves, wine experiences and more. For this post we welcome Kevin Keith, who does an excellent job of introducing himself. Thanks Kevin!
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Hi y’all!  My name is Kevin Keith, and I am currently the wine buyer for Liquor Direct Wine & Spirits, with two locations in Northern Kentucky, as well as local wine blogger for Under The Grape Tree.  Michelle asked me to help keep her blog going with a little post, so I tried to come up with something that would fit with her readers, as well as not repeat anything she or Kevin (her husband) has touched on in the past.

What I came up with is a little something that I am very passionate about, and have had many questions on in my stores over the years, and that is Italian wine.  I tell people who ask about Italian wine, that this subject is the hardest to teach people on due to the overwhelming amount of information there is about the subject.  You see, while other countries in the world dedicated specific areas of their lands to viticulture (growing grapes), in Italy, there are vineyards everywhere, in each of the 20 regions (provinces actually), with each region as diverse as the others.

Vineyards Near Barola, Image Credit

Italy has long been in the top three in wine production, becoming #1 in 2005 with a total of over 8.5 million metric tons that year (over 2 million metric tons more than France!).  Italy can be divided up into 4 main sections:

1.     1. Northwestern Italy

2.     2. Northeastern Italy

3.     3. Central Italy

4.     4. Southern Italy

The Northwestern portion of Italy consists of 6 regions spanning from the greater portion of the arc of the Alps and Apennines, which slope toward the Po River:  Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.  Topography, soil, climate and grape varieties vary from one region to the next, and much of this area is considered very prosperous, with the cities of Florence, Milan, Turin and Genoa all inhabiting this area.  A total of 27% of Italy’s wines are produced here.

The Northeastern portion of Italy is also called the Tre Venezie, or “Three Venices”.  The three regions are Veneto – the largest producer of DOC wines, Trentino-Alto Adige – which has the highest percentage of DOC wines comparatively to total output, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.  Together, these 3 regions producer a total of 17% of Italy’s wines.

Guest Post: A “Meritage” for Zinfandel lovers: Coro Mendocino

While Kevin & I are in Alaska, we've asked some friends and colleagues to post on their wine loves, wine experiences and more. For this post we welcome David Lazarus, another local wine blogger and soon-to-be wine shop owner. Thanks David!
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The mission of the Consortium Mendocino is to increase the awareness and value of Mendocino wine and winegrape products through the production of “Coro Mendocino”, a controlled, ultra premium blended wine that reflects the quality and commitment of the Mendocino County wine industry.

Coro Mendocino in it’s simplest is a Zinfandel blend made exclusively from fruit from Mendocino and their first vintage was 2001. However there is much more to it than that. This is a dynamic style of wine which is awarded Coro status by a jury of Mendocino growers/ producers. The current vintage (06) features wines from ten wineries, while last years had eleven.

Photo from Michelle's Parducci Wine Brunch

I have tried four of the wines that have been in the Cincinnati market for the last several years and they are very good, while each unique. The Coro Consortium allows for up to nine other varietal (commonly found in Mendocino) to be blended into the finished product. The percentage of any one varietal, however cannot exceed that of Zinfandel, which must fall between 40% and 70%. These restriction are just the begining of the protocol, which is quiet specific and can be found on the web site for Coro Mendocino.

All of these wines are priced the same (the 2005’s were $37 each) and feature labels that show the winery name and information, as well as the specifics on the blend. The blends vary greatly from winery to winery and even from year to year in some cases. This is a wonderful showcase of Mendocino fruit and I consider it to have better quality control, as all wines that eventually feature the Coro badge have been peer review twice in the barrel and twice after bottling. A wine maker cannot just pay for the privilege of using the title as is the case with meritage wines.

It is rare in this part of the country to see more than a couple of these wines in stores because of twisted distribution laws. I have been able to find complete sets of Coros from SIP Mendocino in California at www.sipmendocino.com  or 707-744-4375. I am a fan of anything different when it comes to wine and that puts Coros right up my alley. They are fun for the adventurous, but will surely please even the novice wine drinker with their varied complexity.

Guest Post: Giacomo Fascio's Rosso Cervo Cocktail

While Kevin & I are in Alaska, we've asked some friends and colleagues to post on their wine loves, wine experiences and more. For this post we welcome Jay Erisman, our favorite instructor from The Party Source EQ Center and quite the wine and spirits expert. He tries to put a positive spin on our dislike of the new Jim Beam Red Stag. Thanks Jay!
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Bourbon drinkers have offered mixed reviews of the latest from Jim Beam: Red Stag Black Cherry Infused Bourbon. I tend to lean to the thumb-down end of that spectrum. (Although Red Stag is rather subtler than I expected, and not quite the Robitussin swill some have described. And it is clearly aimed at the Beam-and-Coke crowd, who may like it just fine.) But the appearance of the drink led me to wonder: how good could cherry and Bourbon be?

Image courtesy of Avenue Food, Creative Commons License

For help, I asked my first-call cherry masters, the Luxardo family of Torreglia, Italy. The Luxardos are responsible for the great maraschino cherry liqueur--a requisite ingredient in any bar--as well as a host of other cherry products, including whole amarena cherries and a syrup made of real maraschino cherry juice (that's "mara-skeeno," and marks the true and original cherry of that name, not the little artificial radioactive-red fruits endemic to American liquor cabinets). A cocktail of good, strong Beam Bourbon, layered with amarena syrup and the extra bitter Punt y Mes vermouth leads to a cherryish but quite complex cocktail, with a nice thickness that could even work as an after-dinner sip. Serving it on the rocks with a splash of soda cuts the richness if you like.

Giacomo Fascio's Rosso Cervo Cocktail

45 ml (1.5 oz) Jim Beam Baker's Bourbon
15 ml (.5 oz) Luxardo Amarena syrup
15 ml (.5 oz) Punt y Mes

Combine in a shaker with ice and stir for 20 seconds. Serve in a cocktail glass. Garnish with three Luxardo Amarena cherries, and pour a floater of Sazerac Rye on top.

Posts and Polls: Enter the Guests

Kevin and I get on a plane tomorrow morning, headed to the wilds of Alaska. Okay, not really the wilds. We're visiting one of my girlfriends in Anchorage then meeting up with Kevin's extended family for a 7-day Alaskan cruise. There will be much walking, hiking, and eating. We're finishing up the trip with a couple of days in Vancouver then heading home.

We're back for about a week and a half. After that, I head to BlogHer, where I'm speaking on a panel about food and wine blogging. That same few days, Kevin will be heading to Sonoma for the 2nd Annual Wine Bloggers Conference, and luckily he'll be live blogging from some of it. 

So first up, a poll. While in Alaska, I'll be in a place where the Internet can't always find me. However, I'll try to post occasionally. Verizon Wireless has kindly provided me with a complimentary MiFi for the trip - where ever there is Verizon, there will be Internet. But I'm not sure that even Verizon can reach the Icy Straits or the glaciers. I will be recording events as I can for our oft-neglected family blog. If you want me to post all about Alaska here as well, let me know in the poll below.

July? What July? We're gone for most of it. But I've got it under control! So that you still get information on a regular basis (when my MiFi isn't accessing a network that is), I've lined up a group of guest bloggers. They've already given me their posts (so that I don't have any surprises) and they are scheduled and ready to go. For the times Kevin and I are gone, you'll be hearing from our friends and colleagues, both locally and in other exciting cities.

I hope you enjoy their insight! They'll be bringing you different perspectives based on their locations, jobs, and interests.

You'll be hearing from

• Jay Erisman from The Party Source in Newport
• David Lazarus, oenophile extraordinaire and local blogger
• Kevin Keith, Wine Buyer at Liquor Direct, local blogger, and quite the wine academic
• Shannan Boyer, local parenting blogger and a wine drinker just like you
• Jen Rizzo, foodie, graphic designer, and recent San Francisco transplant
• David's wife Jan Lazarus, an oenophile in her own right and a dietitian with a unique outlook on wine
• Kara Christopher, fun foodie from St Louis
• Tom Streeter & Carla Gesell-Streeter, local beer bloggers who enjoy a good glass of wine

Thanks, and "see" you in about two weeks!

Cheers!
Michelle

All's well that ends well

My huge thanks to those of you that stepped forward, either by voting or endorsing me or both, as I tried to land the Really Goode Job.

Alas, the dream job in Sonoma, creating social media for a winery, remains just that: a dream job. I did not make the Top 50. And while I really am truly crushed about this, I wish those who succeeded well.

In fact, I think it's really cool that 50 folks did make it and I can't wait to find out who gets the Really Goode Job. So a huge congrats to all of you!

Meanwhile, I head to Alaska on Tuesday next week for a long and well-deserved vacation. And while I still hope that someone looks at me, sees my skills, and realizes I should be marketing for a winery somewhere, I also still love being here in Cincinnati.

Cheers!