FNI: Twittering about wine!

Are you on Twitter? Today, the Cooking with Caitlin girls are hosting a Foodies Night In that’s all about wine! Yours truly will be one of the hosts.

If you are on Twitter, just make sure you’re following me, @cookingwithcaitlin, or @girlfriendology. We’ll be tweeting questions about wine and food between the hours of 4-6 pm today.

You can follow along even if you’re not on Twitter by searching Twitter for the tag #fni, or by plugging the #fni tag into a web-based app like Tweetgrid or Tweetchat.

I hope to “see” you there!  

New Mobile Wine App

Over on my Wine & Food Pairing page, you’ll find a widget from my friend Natalie MacLean that helps you pair just about any food with any wine, beer, or spirit.
Natalie has taken that up one notch. She has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as a web-based app for BlackBerry, Droid and other smartphones. The new mobile version includes all the pairings in the original widget, plus thousands of wine reviews, recipes, articles, blog posts, glossary definitions, cellar journal and winery directory. Even better, the new app is free.

Some features of the new app (as listed in the press release):

• Find 380,000 professionally tested food and wine pairings (not generated by computer algorithm)
• Access thousands of wine reviews by an independent journalist
• Search the reviews by winery, price, score, region, grape, vintage, food match
• Track your wines in your virtual cellar and add your own journal notes and scores
• Search a directory of 10,000+ wineries to buy wine or plan a visit
• Find thousands of tasty, tested recipes for every wine
• Get wine savvy with articles, glossary definitions & blog posts
• Share on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail with friends

It does look like you have to sign up for her free email newsletter to access the My Cellar portion of the mobile app. The My Cellar section lets you add bottles and your own reviews, which I assume are then hosted (privately – not shared) on Natalie’s servers.

iTunes Link / Web-based App

Glassware Matters Part 2: We Can’t All Afford Riedel

I've written print articles on choosing the correct glassware. But I tend to focus on regular,
affordable glassware – not Riedel. It's important to note that wine
will always taste better in the proper glass, whether it's Riedel or
not. Riedel glasses just take things to a different level.

We can't all afford Riedel. If you're like me, you've got some Riedel, but you don't pull it out all the time for fear of breakage and the pain in the butt of cleaning it. So here are just some general glassware tips that apply even to those Joker glasses. Whether Riedel or not, glassware makes a huge difference in how a wine tastes and smells.

Admittedly, I've read articles and studies that dispute this, but when you think about it, it makes sense. A glass can direct where the liquid hits your tongue and you have vaguely different taste sensations on different regions of your tongue (although the tongue map itself has been debunked). The same with smell – it's common sense that a larger bowl will release more aroma than a closed in bowl. On top of that, we've tried this at home countless times. Cabernet doesn't taste as good from a Champagne flute, etc. Try it – you'll be surprised.

The differences in glass shape can be subtle and include the
depth, width and overall curve of the glass. The size of the bowl determines
how much or how little liquid can be swirled, affecting exposure to the air.
The shape and thickness of the rim directs the wine to specific parts of the
tongue with different taste sensitivities. Finally, the diameter of the opening
concentrates or expands the wine’s bouquet.

• Red wine glasses are characterized by their larger bowls, often
  compared to the shape of a balloon. The wider bowl helps accumulate the aromas
  and aerate the wine.
• A white wine glass often has a smaller bowl and straighter sides,
  shaped similar to a tulip. The smaller shape allows less air to circulate, and
  has less effect on the chilled temperature of the wine.
• Champagne and sparkling wine are best drunk from flutes. A flute
  allows the wine to bubble from a single source at the bottom. The coupe, which is a flatter style glass
  with an open mouth, is not recommended as it lets air, and bubbles, escape the
  glass.

Buying a stemware set for each varietal can get expensive. In
fact, professional tasters and wine judges use just one type of glass. In an
all-purpose wine glass, you only need a couple of things:

• 
  Clear
  glass. Clear glass, as opposed to tinted, allows you to view the color of
  the wine, which you often can’t do in the bottle. The color of the wine can
  often be a tip as to whether the wine has gone bad. For this reason, you also
  want to avoid cut-glass and heavy crystal. Save those decorated glasses for
  iced tea and water.
• Shape.
  A glass with a tulip-shaped bowl is important. The curve helps hold the bouquet
  of the wine. The bowl should also be large enough so that you can swirl the
  wine without spilling. Generally, the opening of the glass should not be larger
  than the widest part of the bowl.
• Thin rim.
  A wine glass rim should hardly be noticeable and should never impede the
  wine from reaching your mouth. A glass with a thick rim can get in the way of
  the wine. The rim, along with the shape of the glass, can help direct where the
  wine hits your tongue.
• Stem.
  The breakable stem on a wine glass actually serves a purpose. It allows you to
  hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the wine. If you hold a
  wine glass by the bowl, the warmth of your hands will warm up the wine. The
  best wine glasses have stems that were obviously pulled from the bowl, which
  adds stability and strength, despite the fragile appearance.

No matter what wine glass you choose, take care when washing the
glasses. Wine glasses can hold the scent of your dishwashing detergent and the
detergent may also leave a residue. For your better glasses, eschew soap
altogether. Treat your  stemware as
you might a fine cashmere sweater. Wash your stemware by hand under hot water
and hang to dry.

When it comes down to it, you can drink wine out of a jelly glass
if need be. But to best expose the flavors and colors of the wine, you want to
pay a little attention to your glassware. A basic collection should include
several tulip-shaped, all-purpose glasses, as well as some champagne flutes. A
more tailored collection that won’t break the bank might include 2-4
balloon-shaped glasses for red wine, 2-4 tulip-shapes for whites, and several
champagne flutes.

Glassmakers at Riedel follow the maxim that content determines
shape, and form follows function. While the type of glass may enhance the
experience, remember that the contents of the glass is what is truly important.
A friend of mine made the comment that she will “drink my wine out of a dixie
cup if I must. What’s important is the wine!” Let’s raise a glass to that!

Glassware Matters (Part 1): Riedel Seminar

On our last day at sea on the Cruise Ship, we took a Riedel (rhymes with "needle") glassware seminar. It was actually a really interesting seminar, just in the way they forced you to compare the glasses.

The ship team of sommeliers all participated in the presentation, and
one of the first things they said was the clearest: Glasses are the
loudspeaker of the wine, instruments to increase your enjoyment."

We started out with 5 different glasses spread out in front of us. Four of those were from the Riedel Vinum set (Chardonnay, Burgundy/Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Bordeaux). The fifth glass was labeled as the Joker glass (ie, generic) and is the wine glass that was standard throughout the cruise ship and was not Riedel. It's worth noting that every time I've judged a wine competition, we've used similar generic glasses.

We received the wine one pour at a time, starting with the Sauvignon Blanc and then we started pouring and tasting wine as follows:

Needless to say, with all the pouring and switching going on, you really had to pay attention.

Riedel uses the idea of a Tongue Map to prove that glassware matters, and that directing wine to a particular part of your tongue makes a difference in what you taste. Now, the Tongue Map has been debunked, although it does have its roots in accuracy. From what I've read, while your tongue isn't strictly laid out in the maps areas, certain taste buds are slightly stronger in these areas as compared to other locations. So while you might pick up acid all over your tongue, it's strongest on the sides. As a general guide, our sommeliers told us that we pick up more acidity on the sides of our tongue, harshness/bitterness towards the back, and sweetness in the front, with weight of a beverage landing in the middle. 

So did it make a difference? Of course. Keeping in mind that holding a feather-weight, lovely glass in your hand can also influence your perceptions. However, the Estancia Chardonnay tasted soft, with less oak, and full of vanilla when I tasted it in the Vinum Chardonnay glass. When it was moved to the Sauvignon Blanc glass, it  had more compressed flavors and higher acidity. I didn't care for it. In the Joker glass, there were no aromas and what had been a decent wine before was suddenly harsh and poorly balanced. It made me consider that perhaps I would like Chardonnay a little more if I drank it out of proper glassware on a regular basis.

Perhaps the one that stood out the most for me was the Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir. I'm not a huge Kendall-Jackson fan, and I admit I scrunched my nose up when they poured the Pinot Noir into my Burgundy glass. The Pinot had soft aromas of earth and vanilla. Supposedly, the glass sent the wine directly to the center of my tongue, so I tasted a Pinot Noir reminiscent of what I smelled: softness, earth, vanilla, with just a hint of oak. Later, the KJ Pinot Noir ended up in the Joker glass and I hated it. I commented to Kevin that this was what I'd expected the Pinot Noir to taste like from the beginning. Again, maybe I should break out my Riedel glassware more often.

Another interesting note was on the Bordeaux glass, which we used for an Aussie Shingleback 2005 Shiraz. The Bordeaux glass is what our sommeliers said can serve as the Riedel All-Purpose glass. But they also called it the Tannin Tamer and I experimented with that later at the wine bar. Dump any tannic wine into this glass and it does lessen them to a certain degree – at least in compared to the Joker glass.

Although I'd been sold on the concept of glassware making a difference before the Riedel seminar, this excellent demonstration rather drove the point home. I do believe there are elements of visual expectation and psychology involved in it, and I'd drink wine in a paper cup if you gave it to me that way, but glassware does matter.

Tomorrow I'll talk a little more about general glassware tips. After all, we can't all afford Riedel. (Luckily, Kevin and I each got a set included with the seminar.)

UrbanSpoon

When the iPhone Apps were released back in June, I did a search in the App Store for "wine." What I came up with, at the time, was UrbanSpoon. I immediately downloaded it and it’s still my favorite application.

All you do is choose from any number of filters, including type of food, specific location, and price. Lock in your selections, then shake the phone. Yep, shake it like a Magic 8 Ball.

The result is a listing of restaurants that meet your criteria. This is a fantastic, random way to try new restaurants. It’s also a great way to settle one of my least favorite arguments: What do you want to eat?

Well, I hadn’t realized that UrbanSpoon was more than my favorite iPhone application. Then I’m reading a winemedineme post and I see the little spoon icon at the end. Lo and behold, UrbanSpoon is a pretty nifty restaurant review site as well.

Whenever you see the UrbanSpoon
within one of my posts (generally having to do with a restaurant) or one of winemedineme’s posts for that matter, click the spoon icon. You’ll learn more about the restaurant, including critic reviews and information about price, menus, and so on. There are even blog reviews on the site. You can make comments about the restaurant as well, but we’d love you to make the comments on our blogs because we’re stingy like that.

UrbanSpoon is just another fun intersection between Web 2.0 and food and wine. So enjoy the social media aspect of being a foodie!

Cheers!

Wine Tech: AbleGrape.com

cross-posted from bub.blicio.us

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be writing about some cool
technology sites that focus on wine. Having just come back from the
first ever Wine Bloggers Conference, it’s all fresh in my mind. My first big find was AbleGrape.

AbleGrape
is a niche search engine, focusing on wine. It’s the brainchild of Doug
Cook. Now, at the conference, I called Doug a wine superhero,
considering he’s running a wine-related startup, he won the blind
tasting challenge, and he showed up Saturday night with cases of some
amazing (and older vintage) wine that was either donated by a San
Francisco wine bar or straight out of his own cellar. Talking to him,
and others, I learned more about the search engine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Green My Vino on Facebook

(cross-posted from bub.blicio.us)

Truthfully, I usually ignore Facebook Apps. I don’t want to hunt vampires or play Scrabble. Honest. I have a lot of fan pages and Causes, but that’s about it. But Green My Vino, by Village Green, combines my bleeding heart causes with an application.

In this case, it’s allowing you to give free virtual "gifts" on Facebook.
Each one of these gifts is a token for 1-10 minutes of Green Power. Village Green totals the amount of tokens exchanged by folks on Facebook and purchases tht amount of solar energy from specific wind farms and solar arrays. When a certain number is reached, a selected wineries have agreed to power their operations on 100% clean energy. For example, the first winery is Iron Horse Vineyards. Iron Horse will convert when 10,000 tokens have been exchanged.

Iron Horse is the first of four wineries to commit to the program. Also
involved are Girard Winery, Windsor Vineyards, and Windsor Sonoma. Once
the first four are converted, Village Green will recruit more wineries
to participate.
I think this is a great idea, especially considering how many of my
friends are using the similar L’il Green Patch application on Facebook.
This appeals to folks who like wine, who like playing with
various apps and sending gifts on Facebook, and those who are trying to
go green.

The application just launched today and at my last count it was at
1700+ tokens exchanged. Not bad for a few hours. I think we’ll have
some greener wineries in the near future.

UPDATE: This post was cross-posted from my bub.blicio.us entry. On that post, Village Green CEO Mike Jackson commented with some clarification and some numbers:

On its face, Green My Vino is just a neat way to engage Facebook users in the efforts of a company to go green. But somewhat behind the scenes, the Green My Vino model directs far more money to the purchase of renewable energy per page view than would be possible with other Facebook application models.

Here are the numbers: If Facebook users pass 10,000 minutes to each other, then the first winery will convert their operations to renewable energy. Traditional Facebook applications make money through advertising revenue – so 10,000 minutes passed might result in, let’s say, 20,000 page views. This would generate $20-$100 through ordinary banner adds, and this money could be used to purchase renewable energy.

Instead, the wineries involved have made a commitment to do much more. At the 20,000 page view mark, Green My Vino will purchase $3,500 of renewable energy. While an app with traditional banner ads might purchase only 90 kWh of electricity – about what the typical American uses every week, Green My Vino will be purchasing 290,000 kWh – what the typical American uses every 64 years.

Are the wineries getting duped? No, the wineries are excited to be a part of the effort and see it as a cost effective way to spread their name and advance a cause they believe in, and Village Green has already received interest from a number of other companies. What’s going on?

A couple things. Green My Vino enables people to interact with a brand, rather than be subliminally exposed to it through banner ads. Village Green is focusing on brand interactions instead of page views. Furthermore, this interaction is mutually beneficial – the users help force businesses to use renewable energy and learn about current events in clean energy, while the organizations get noticed for taking a legitimately large step to green their business. And these aren’t monstrous organizations buying a token amount of green power, these are small businesses committing their entire operations.

What the businesses involved get as well is a toehold in Facebook. Social media networks are clearly the next step in online interactions and many companies have no idea how or lack the funds to get involved.

These smaller businesses get exposure on Facebook for a fraction of the cost of what they would pay otherwise, and because we at Village Green are a bunch of young environmentalists, we make them go green in order to get that exposure.

Providing these services to businesses provides a value far beyond banner ads, which directs much more money towards addressing environmental concerns.

Wine Skin for Travel

Thanks to the silly regulations prohibiting liquid on planes, we now have to be creative about bringing back wine when we travel. I found the Wine Skin today via an article on Hi-Tech Travel Gadgets in TIme Magazine online. It’s the simplest little gadget. From what I can tell, someone smarter than me took bubble wrap, shaped it like a wine bottle and added a seal.

When you shove your bottles into your suitcase, your clothes are now protected from the wine if it should break. There have been countless times when I have wrapped wine in plastic bags and then in my clothes to protect it. But I’m always a little paranoid – what if it breaks en route and ruins my one designer suit. Or worse, what if it breaks when the TSA is rifling through my bag. They’ve opened my bottles before and left them open. Who is to say they won’t be rough with that bottle of wine I had to have?

Back in 2005, Kevin & I went to Sonoma and brought back over a case of wine – in our carry-ons and in our checked luggage. If I’m bringing back that much now, I’ll ship it. But if I’ve just got one or two bottles, the Wine Skin looks like a perfect solution.

Cost – around $12 for a 5-pack

Tryvertising and Wine

One of the awesome things about Twitter is that it’s a great link-sharing tool. Kevin, from Strategic Public Relations, found this awesome tidbit and immediately shared it on Twitter. Now I’m bringing it to you.

In Paris, you can now sample wine as you might sample perfume. In fact, the packaging is eerily similar. The trend of letting a consumer try-before-they-buy is called Tryvertising (the Apple Store is a giant example of this), and why shouldn’t it be applied to wine?

In spirit, it’s no different than attending a free tasting in a wine shop. I’ve also read of other wine shops where you can purchase samples from fancy machines, which is a great way to try that wine you could never afford to purchase. These tube-shaped bottles, because they factor in the look and feel of packaging, take the concept to a whole new level.

WineSide offers both sweet and classic wines in patented, flat-base
glass tubes with screw tops carefully engineered to protect the wines’
flavour. The sweet wines—which include Sauternes and Muscat, for
example—are available in 6cl tubes, while the Pomerol, Chateau Neuf du
Pape and other classic wines can be purchased in 6cl or 10cl sizes.
WineSide’s collection represents a range of appellations and producers;
tubes are available individually or by the box, which can be chosen to
provide an introduction to a variety, year or region. Kicking off
retail sales, the products are available exclusively at Colette in Paris this month.

I rather like this as something I could take home with me, try it when I want, and return later to purchase a bottle. If I were a large conglomerate, such as Constellation Group, I’d jump on this to market many of my wines, across wineries, at one time.

Show Us Your Rack

Tomorrow (Friday, Nov 9) is Show Us Your Rack day in the wine blogging world.

Take that as you will, but what it really means is show us your wine rack. This is the brainchild of my friend Lenn over at LennDevours. It’s also one of the first things to make me smile in weeks. What a great title! So along with our weekly listing of events, I’ll also be showing you my rack, er, racks tomorrow.

I’ll be posting multiple photos:

• Our family room bar area with 3 wine refrigerators of the small and smaller variety. There are also several cases sitting around this area. This may require 2 photos.
• Our "green" ecofriendly dining room rack, where the wines that don’t fit in the wine fridges live.
• Our two overflow racks in the living room where wines that don’t fit in the dining room live.
• Our dining room hutch, where dessert wines live.

Yeah, we have too much wine.

You can read more about Show Us Your Rack Day here. Photos will be posted to this Flickr group. So join us, and show us your rack!