My Wine Education

Guest Post: An Italian Wine Primer, Part 2

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 back Kevin Keith, continuing his post from last week.
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Welcome back, it’s Kevin Keith, your friendly neighborhood wino from Liquor Direct, back with more Italian primer – this time we take a brisk walk through the Italian wine landscape, starting at the top of the boot, with the tiny region of the Valle d’Aosta.

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Valle d’Aosta is the smallest of the Italian wine regions, bordering Switzerland to the north, France to the west, and Piedmont to the south and east.  An ancient growing region, grapes have been cultivated since the Roman days, with around 22 varieties authorized for growing, including Picotener (the local name for Nebbiolo), Neyret, Vien de Nus, Fumin, Mayolet, Prie Route, Petit Rouge, Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), Gamay, Dolcetto and Syrah for the reds, and Moscato Bianco (also called Moscat de Chambave), Pinot Grigio (also known as Malvoisie), Blanc de Morgex, Prie Blanc, Muller-Thurgau, Chardonnay and Petit Arvine.  There are no DOCG wines from this area.

Piedmont means “at the foot of the mountains.”  This region is by far one of the most recognized regions in Italy.  It is the second largest region and has the most DOC wines (over 40) and DOCG wines (7).  Most of the production of wine originates in the heart of Piedmont, the Po River Valley.  Here you will find Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara and Moscato d’Asti.  The first three I mentioned are all made with the Nebbiolo grape, and the last mentioned is from the ancient Muscat grape.  Dolcetto and Barbera are also widely planted red varieties, as well as Freisa, Grignolino and Brachetto.  The most popular white grape is the Cortese, used for the DOCG wine, Gavi.  Arneis (nicknamed the “white Barolo”) and Erbaluce di Caluso are also grown.  Another important wine product produced here is Vermouth, made with at least 70% wine, and fortified and flavored with various roots, spices, herbs and wood – this is what is known as an “Aromatic” wine.

Lombardy sits in the semi-circle created by the Alps that enclose Italy to the north.  The mountainous north and the flat Po River Valley in the south define the topography of the growing regions, which are divided into three:  the Valtellina in the North, the Oltrepo Pavese in the southwest, and the Franciacorta in the east.  Nebbiolo, known locally as Chiavennasca, is the primary red grape grown in the Valtellina.  The Oltrepo Pavese is known primarily for Pinot Nero.  And the greatest sparkling wines from Italy come from the Franciacorta, and is derived from Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and/or Pinot Nero.

Guest Post: Wine & Your Health

While Kevin & I are in Alaska, we've asked some friends and colleagues to post on their wine loves, wine experiences and more. Last week, David Lazarus offered a post and today, we get healthy with his wife, Jan Lazarus. Jan is a registered dietitian with a specialization in diabetes. This is timely, considering all the comments we get on our Slender wine posts. Thanks Jan!
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Being a dietitian and diabetes educator I receive many questions on the use of alcohol.  Since this is a wine blog I will focus on my attention to the consumption of wine and its benefits and detriments.

The one myth that I really would like to debunk is the number of carbohydrates in a glass of wine.  On average a 5-ounce glass of dry wine contains 110 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates and 13 grams of alcohol which accounts for 91 of the 110 calories.  It is extremely frustrating to attend a function and overhear someone talking about falling off the low-carb diet wagon while having a glass of wine.  This is a perception created by a good marketing firm. 

Wine or any alcohol is metabolized in the body as a fat not a sugar; that is why excess drinking can add extra pounds of fat even when you are consuming a low-fat diet.  Wine is fermented and does contain some residual sugar, but a very small amount. 

There are positive attributes to wine especially red wine. This wine contains components that can increase your good cholesterol “HDL” and it also acts as an anti-coagulant preventing platelets to stick together and decreasing the chance of blood clots. On the flip side, over-consumption can lead to high blood pressure and increased triglycerides, not a good fat. 

For those with diabetes, alcohol actually lowers the blood sugar for up to 10 hours. This can result in a hypoglycemic state especially if they haven't eaten or are on certain medications. But this is not the recommended method for controlling blood sugar, I have had clients who have tried with unfortunate outcomes. 

Now how much is a drink?  Women should only have 5 ounces of wine per day and men no more than 10 ounce per day. (No, you cannot save them up and have them all in one day.  I get that question a lot.)  Moderate drinking can be very beneficial to your health, but when you go over the daily recommendations then the detrimental effects may occur.  The key to remember is, too much of a good thing is never good.

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.

A Jereboam Full of Wine (Wine Bottle Sizes)

Kevin Keith of Liquor Direct emailed me this weekend to let me know he's donating a 5L bottle of Steele Syrah to our Krystal Pepper Memorial Scholarship silent auction. (Remember, that's on April 18. You can buy tickets now.)

Aside from marveling at Kevin's generosity (what a great donation!), it started me wondering on Wine Bottle sizes. They've all got Biblical names, such as Jereboam and Reheboam. I discovered that in the US, wine may be bottled in sizes larger than 3L if the capacity if in even litre sizes (4L, 5L, etc). Those additional sizes don't have fun names that I can find.

We had one of these - a Methuselah I think - at the Wine Blogger's Conference. If you get your hands on an oversized bottle, use a waiter's corkscrew to open it. The other fun but nifty corkscrews out there, such as the Rabbit, just won't work. 

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Judging the Wines of the South

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Kevin & I spent a weekend in Knoxville, TN, for the Wines of the South competition. There were 25 judges and 433 wines. Folks, that's a lot of wine. Wineries in thirteen states are invited to participate: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia.

All wines are judged blind, served in a certified tasting glass at the appropriate temperature, and ranked with the industry standard 20-point scale.

The judges were split into groups of 5 and we each had to taste, in total, a little over 100 wines. The flights were anywhere from three wines on up to flights of 24 wines. Wine judging, while fun, is actually a pretty hard business. At the end of the day, everyone pretty much wants a beer. (Read about my first experience judging.) You do get palate fatigue and no, you don't get drunk. There's a lot of spitting going on. I used to think I'd never judge wine professionally, but I learn so much each time that I don't ever want to stop.

Now, because these are the Wines of the South, we tasted more than vinifera. Vinifera is your standard cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, etc, that you can find in your local wine shop. We also got to taste domestic grapes (often French-American hybrids) and fruit wines.

Break Out the Bubbly!

Champagne! In victory one deserves it; in defeat, one needs it.
- Napoleon Bonaparte

image by Flickr user Andy Ciordia via Creative Commons

In the upcoming winter issue of Taste Magazine, on news stands soon, I write about Champagne. With the election today, I thought it was the perfect time to share a small excerpt from that article. This particular excerpt is about grower Champagne - your best bet for a bargain on the real stuff.

There are a lot of sparkling wines on the market, but they aren’t all Champagne. In order to be labeled “Champagne,” the wine must come from the Champagne region of France. This region pioneered the method of making Champagne that is now used worldwide. But it is the unique terroir of the region that makes true Champagne special. The region is uniquely suited for growing the three grapes that can make up the bubbly wine: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. This northern French region is cooler, and the chalk in the soil contributes to the acidity and character of the grapes.

Large Champagne Houses, such as Taittinger or Moet & Chandon, grow some of their own grapes. However, a large percentage of their grapes are purchased from farmers throughout the Champagne region.  Alternatively, grower Champagnes, often called “family fizz” or “farmer fizz,” are created by farmers who grow the grapes and tend the vineyards. Grower Champagne often meets or exceeds the quality of large House Champagne, but has a smaller price tag. Brett Davis, Sales Manager for importer/distributor Vintner Select, says that the “best values are your grower-producer Champagnes as far as quality to price ratio.”

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How can you recognize a grower Champagne when you’re shopping for bubbly this holiday season? On the bottom of the front label, there will be a tiny number preceded by two letters. NM (Négociant-Manipulant) signals a larger house that purchases many of their grapes, whereas RM (Récoltant-Manipulant) tells you that the winemaker grew the grapes.  According to Terry Theise, one of the leading importers of grower Champagnes, there are now nearly 180 RM Champagnes imported into the U.S, up from 33 in 1997. Grower Champagnes occupy only 2.95% of the market, presenting a great opportunity to try something new.

There's a whole lot more to the article, so I hope you'll pick up the issue when it's released. In the meantime, pop open a bottle of Champagne tonight, regardless of the election results.

I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes, I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it if I am. Otherwise, I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty.
- Lady Lily Bollinger, Bollinger Champagne

Photos: Wine Bloggers Conference and Russian River Valley Hike

Kevin and I returned from California late Tuesday afternoon. I'm still exhausted and still functioning in the west coast time zone.

The Wine Bloggers Conference was jam-packed with activity, wine, and fun. From the tasting at Kick Ranch Vineyards and liveblogging session on Friday afternoon to the Unconference and Luxe Sonoma tasting on Sunday morning, there was hardly a moment to rest. It was an amazing group of bloggers, wineries, and PR folks. I can't even express how great it was to walk into the room and know so many of the people there, because we'd met through blogging and twitter. It further illustrates my theory that online social media is there to help us meet people in real life. It breaks down barriers for us, and makes those face to face meetings more comfortable.

I'll cover some different parts of the conference over the next few weeks. I haven't unpacked yet, which means all my notes are still buried. You can, however, track what happened at the conference by our overwhelming Twitter feed and, until I get everything up, I leave you with a slideshow of the conference and our excellent hike (really, a strenuous walk) through Saralee's Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. You can see all of our photos, including our personal trips through San Francisco, Tiburon, Santa Rosa, and the Dry Creek Valley by visiting our California Flickr collection.

Harvest Photos: Wine is a Grape, part 2

Yesterday we had the opportunity to harvest the reds - chambourcin and cabernet franc - out at Harmony Hill. I have no idea how many pounds of red grapes we clipped. There were around 22 of us, and we all worked hard. Although tiring, and hard on the back, it was also a lot of fun. I love being around Bill and Patti at Harmony Hill, and I often wonder if my head can hold all the vineyard knowledge that Bill shares. It's a fantastic learning experience. We'll definitely do this again next year.

I also had some fun snapping photos of the wonderful vineyard dogs, of which there are four. You can view the slideshow below or view the entire photoset on Flickr. 

You might notice that the crush process looks different than in previous photos. The reds won't go through filtration or to the bladder press for several weeks. They stay on the skins (sur lies), which gives red wines that lovely garnet hue.

Things like this, well, that's why the blog is called "My Wine Education."

Trusting Yourself & Blind Tastings

  Photo by Flickr user Timmy Corkery under Creative Commons.

I always say that Kevin has the more sensitive palate between the two of us. But I don't know if that's true anymore. I think, perhaps, he's better able to dispel preconceived notions about a wine, and he's not worried about what people might think.

Generally, when we taste wine together, I look to him to set the tone of what we might taste in the wine. Berries? Okay. Oily? Well, maybe. But I let him take the lead. He's always able to find something when I'm often shy about it, coming up with "grapey." If I know the wine is a shiraz from Australia, I might say, "Is it high alcohol?" A cabernet from California leads me to say something along the lines of "fruit forward, lots of big berries." Why? Because this is what I expect from these wines. I let my preconceived notions get in my way.

Tim & I have been worrying a little about a Sonoma blind tasting in which we'll be participating at the Wine Bloggers Conference. We'll be asked to identify appellations, vintages, and so on. Tim was probably worrying about that type of thing. Me? I was worrying that I'd sound like an idiot. I was discussing this, after a fashion, with Mike on Saturday. And that's when I had my epiphany. I'm fine if I taste blind.

Kevin and I have served as wine judges several times this year. It's a great gig - I can't believe people pay us for this. But my favorite time was also the one I was the most nervous about - the time I judged without Kevin. I couldn't rely on his sensitive palate and had to trust my own. I knew only that a wine was "cabernet" but I knew no other specifics about the wine, including vintage and vineyard. It was fantastic. It took me a little time to get comfortable in my own skin, er, palate, but I did it. In fact, Ron Barrett from Kinkead Ridge actually complimented me on my palate, which surprised me. I trust his judgement, so I considered that a rather high compliment.

But it comes down to a couple things: Trust yourself. You don't have to understand everything about the wine world to know if you taste a strawberry or a barnyard. So go with what you're feeling, and go with your initial impressions. It's also okay to revise. The wine in your glass is changing every minute it's open. That strawberry might lead to a blueberry.

And host a blind tasting. Whether its you and some friends or a great big party, do it. Have everyone bring some wine, put it into paper bags with numbers, and have everyone write down what they think of the wine. I bet, like me, you'll discover that your palate is more sensitive than you thought. Blind tastings bring an anonymity to the wine that removes those preconceived notions.

Cheers!