Bogus Gold

Good news for those of us who like a little well crafted noise as well as a glass of wine with our evening meal from across the pond.

Playing a certain type of music can enhance the way wine tastes, research by psychologists suggests.

The Heriot Watt University study found people rated the change in taste by up to 60% depending on the melody heard. ...

Professor Adrian North said the study could lead retailers to put music recommendations on their wine bottles.

Unfortunately I detected a flaw in the research methodology.

The research involved 250 students at the university who were offered a free glass of wine in exchange for their views.

Four types of music were played - Carmina Burana by Orff ("powerful and heavy"), Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky ("subtle and refined"), Just Can't Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague ("zingy and refreshing") and Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook ("mellow and soft")

College students? Very unrefined palates as well as generally poor musical taste. And there was a glaring omission from the musical choices presented.



Here are your recommended Hall & Oates wine pairings:

Cabernet Sauvignon: The study concluded Cab best paired with "powerful and heavy" music, so kick back with a nice glass of Staggs Leap Cabernet and "Maneater" on your iPod.

Chardonnay: Our study found this went best with "zingy and refreshing" sounds. So how about a glass of Chalk Hill Chardonnay with "Rich Girl" on the stereo.

Pinot Noir: No word on this wine in the study, but I'm going to induce that "subtle and refined" is called for here. Which makes pairing a delicious Alderbrook Pinot Noir with "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."

Merlot: "Mellow and soft" is our final category, and I'm assuming that's a natural fit for a nice merlot. So pair a glass of Titus Merlot with "Sara Smile."

In the "too late to do you any good" category, I'd like to remind folks of my pre-Thanksgiving wine selection advice post from last year:

Practical Wine Advice for Thanksgiving

Just don't be fooled into following Kathy's freaky "Chardonnay addict" advice in the comments at the end. Chardonnay is to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner as scrambled eggs are to peanut butter... You can make a fine case for enjoying either one, but not at the same time.

Happy Turkey Day.

What's a great pairing with French wine? Chicken of course:

... the transatlantic celebration scheduled for May 24 commemorates the 30th anniversary of the of the 1976 Paris Tasting that rocked the world, when French wine experts (gasp!) chose Californian wines above the best Bordeaux and Burgundy in a blind tasting.

In the re-creation, "it has now been decided that ... the wines will be presented semi-blind –- the panels will know which region but not which wine they are tasting."

In other words, French wine makers are too chicken to face another blind tasting against American wine. This means the French wine judges will know beforehand whether the wine they're evaluating is French or not - an obviously worthless endeavor when the entire point of the tasting being commemorated was to remove this exact bias.

Tom Wark characterizes it as:

...a development which is at once pitiful while also indicative of the crisis that exists in the French wine industry.

That description seems rather apt. I don't think anything has crystalized the French wine industry's crisis of confidence quite so perfectly. Before the original 1976 tasting, French wine makers were almost contemptuously confident. Now, after all the excuses are said and done, French wine is seen cringing and ducking for cover in the face of the exact same competition.

The last 30 years have not been kind to French wine. Can their industry possibly survive another 30 years of the same?

Excellent news from the excellent wine-blog Fermentations:

The state of Minnesota has long been the winner of the "most creative way to protect wine wholesalers and screw consumers" award.   With a recent judicial ruling the state can no longer claim that title.

In 1998 Minnesota enacted regulations that prohibited any winery in the country from advertising to Minnesotans that their wine was available direct from the winery  and prohibiting Minnesotans from ordering wine via the Internet. Monday those regulations were determined to be unconstitutional.

More detail if you follow the links above.

We're moving Minnesota one baby step at a time out of its "blue law" era. Perhaps one day soon liquor stores will be allowed to open on Sunday, so that in order to have a drink one might not also be encouraged to drive. Currently you can buy alcohol at bars and restaurants on Sunday, but cannot buy a bottle of wine to take back home before you quaff it.

So I'm trawling through the local paper for something interesting, when I came across this article: Winemakers pitch macho merlot for manly men

So. Many. Things. Wrong.

But let's give it a chance. It begins innocuosly enough.

Hot on the stiletto heels of last year's wines-for-women trend, new releases from Ray's Station Vineyards in Sonoma County are being pitched to the Y-chromosome set as "Hearty Red Wines for Men."

The bottling of the sexes seems to be part of a wider industry trend that includes cute labels and easier-to-use packaging. Vintners want to break from the pack by making wines more consumer friendly.

"You face this challenge: How do you even get people to know you're alive?" said Robert Smiley, a management professor at the University of California, Davis, who follows the wine industry. Considering the fierce competition to get noticed among the hundreds of brands lining store shelves, gender vending is "not a bad strategy to try," he said.

Okay, so far so good. It's a "pay attention to me" marketing strategy, which isn't a bad idea at all in a nation where wine drinking still carries baggage as a snobby and/or effette beverage compared to beer. And it's obviously just the flip side of the chick-oriented marketing of last year. Still...

The wines are packaged simply with a label bearing the outline of a galloping stallion. The accompanying tongue-in-stubbled-cheek ad campaign features the winery's namesake, Sonoma County pioneer John G. Ray, and such masculine pursuits as fishing and hunting.

One ad shows a hunter at sunset, dog by his side, with the copy "John G. Ray did not serve pinot noir," a sly dig at the varietal adored by wine sophisticates.

I'm sorry, but the non-wine drinkers the previous exerpt suggested as the target here are not likely to be able to identify what Pinot Noir is, let alone appreciate an inside joke about it.

And that doesn't begin to get into the problem that our Sonoma County pioneer friend almost certainly didn't drink Merlot either. Until the late 1980's it was a freakin' blending grape, outside of one or two ridiculously priced chateaus in France.

And this gets to my central problem with this whole effort. Merlot?!

Seriously, if we're going to go wine geek here, and by the "sly dig" at Pinot Noir above it's hard to pretend otherwise, why market Merlot to men at all? It's not one of the "manlier" varietals, truth be told. It's regularly described as having a "soft" character. "Berry notes" are characteristic.

Compare that to Syrah - a varietal becoming increasingly popular among California wine growers. Here we have notes like "leather," and "pepper, and "tobacco." Syrah would kick Merlot's ass in any bar any pioneer would consider calling his own. So what's the deal?

The deal is that California wine growers pulled up acres of superior grapes like Petit Sirah and Zinfandel to plant more of the mushy blending grape Merlot when it was all the rage. And now they're looking for somewhere to dump the stuff.

Don't be fooled. If you want a "manly" wine, be a man who isn't easily lead by cheap marketing schemes. Explore Aussie Shiraz if you want some "manly" red wines on the cheap.

I've been neglecting the wine-side of the blog lately. That's more to my chagrin than any of yours, because wine is a relaxing and fun hobby for me. Politics - which far more people want to read about - makes me tense, occasionally angry, and generally anxious.

Anyway, here are a few wine snapshots to boost the spirits (bad pun intended) around here:

A recent offering from The Red Wine Haiku Review:

147)The Little Penguin Pinot Noir 2004 (Australia)
Poor Mr. Pinot
They went and cut out his brain
Now he just smiles

I've had that wine and that is a perfect description.

For the upside of Pinot Noir, here is a Fermentation post on the Top 2005 Pinot Noirs (and, yes, a value list is included alongside the "cost is no object" list).

One of my favorite results of the movie Sideways has been the surge in interest in Pinot Noir, resulting in a lot more bottlings becoming available locally. I can't speak for the top of the list, but I know I've seen 4 of the 5 "value" labels around here recently.

Getting away from Pinot Noir, here's an excerpt from an interesting letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle by Alder "Vinography" Yarrow regarding California's proposal to name Zinfandel their Official State Wine Grape:

I want to talk about something much more serious: the impact on the California wine business when Zinfandel grapes become illegal to pick, just like our state flower, the California poppy. ...

What happens when we catch the first California grizzly raiding Zinfandel vineyards? The idea of the state animal eating the state wine grape while crushing the state flower underfoot as the state butterfly flits about in horror is too much for me, and certainly too much of a moral quagmire for this state to contemplate enabling.

The horror.

The latest Winecast podcast is out. And it focuses on wines from Alsace, France, a region which was one of my first serious wine crushes. It also contains a review of the hot new Robert Parker expose The Emperor of Wine.

I've become a big fan of Winecast of late. There are many wine podcasts out there, but I'm not a huge podcast fan. All the same, Winecast is one I find well worth the time and effort. In fact, I consider it the best wine podcast around. Give it a listen and decide for yourself.

So I was walking down 50th Street in Edina today, heading toward France Avenue to pick up a repaired bracelet for the wife, and I’m thinking, “Say, the Cake Eaters live near here.” Almost simultanously to the thought, the Cake Eater Husband appeared ahead of me on the sidewalk

We exchanged greetings. I mentioned that I was just thinking about him & the Mrs, & also thinking about the nearby wine bar that Cake Eating Kathy raved about (Beaujo’s) a while back. He mentioned that if I had a moment, I really should stop in just to check out the wine list, because it really was very good and changed often.

I hadn’t planned on making such a stop, but I did have a half-hour to kill, so I stopped in. And the wine list was indeed very good. 31 selections, 29 of which were available by the glass, half-glass, or bottle. Plus red or white wine flights. All at reasonable prices. I had time to sample a glass of something I’d never tried before as I checked it out.

Nice little interlude to my day, and totally unplanned.

Those accustomed to my wine bloviations might be wondering why I offered no advice for the traditional New Year's Party bubbly. There's a good reason. I know diddly-squat about the stuff. Of all the major wine styles in the world, this is the one I have the least experience with. It's not something I drink save for special occasions.

Personally, for my own New Year's bubbly, I turned to Dr. Vino's bargain recommendations. I'm looking forward to the Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut I picked up on his advice later this evening.

I'm still too full of holiday sprit(s) to go back to regular bah-logging. So here's a wine post more in keeping with my mindset of the moment.

Two excellent wines I have had over the Christmas holiday. These are extremely different wines, so I'll not attempt any special linkage beyond the fact that I had them both this weekend. Both hail from California:

Cline, Small Berry Mourvedre, Contra Costa County, 2002.

Christmas dinner featured the Cline Mourvedre. It was stunning. When I bought it I was actually looking for a nice Napa Valley Cabernet to pair with the herbed Chateaubriand which forms the heart of our Christmas dinner. But this offbeat selection caught my eye instead. And I have no regrets at all.

The nose was a clone of the Napa Cabs I had intended to purchase - bright berries, a hint of mature oak, perhaps a touch of eucalyptus. But once on the palate there was a rewardingly complex layer of herbs. I don't normally believe the marketing blurb on the back of the bottle, but this was dead-on, describing it as herbs de Provence. They were all in there. I counted.

The wine was silky smooth, with just enough berry fruit assertiveness and structure to avoid feeling bad-Merlot-mushy. It paired wonderfully with the Chateaubriand, but would be terrific on its own as well, as certain oenophiles say, "for contemplation." Perhaps the best wine I've had all year.


Kali Hart Vineyard, 2004, Chardonnay, Monterey County

This one was purchased in a fit of wine tasting at the store where I purchased the other wine. Reason? Mighty tasty. 'Nuff said.

Well perhaps a bit more to say. As many know, I am not the world's greatest Chardonnay fan. And when Chardonnay is combined with oak my reaction is akin to a vampire catching a glimpse of the sun rising over a garlic encrusted cross.

Yet I admit there was a perfectly valid reason for California winemakers to start aging Chardonnay in oak barrels. It was in imitation of the excellent white wines of Burgandy. And this wine is a pleasant reminder that some of them understood what the heck they were doing. Rather than the "sucking on a 2 by 4" sensibility most California winemakers bring to oak aging of Chardonnay, this one is an example of the style done properly.

Is this a world-class, blow-you-away Chardonnay? Not really. But it's certainly a nice wine, reminding me of those days of yore when terms like "buttery," "vanilla," and "melon," were compliments rather than tell-tale signs of a crappily made Chardonnay.

Professor Bainbridge has an excellent article at TCS Daily on the great cork versus screwcap debate in the wine world.

I like old things. Old ideas. Old books. Old wines. I guess that's part of the reason I'm a conservative. Yet, the intelligent conservative combines a disposition to preserve with an ability to reform. And so we come to the question of closures for wine. ...

So what’s the answer? I hate to say it, but I am persuaded that the answer is the Stelvin screw cap.

Lot's more good stuff and plenty of linkage in the rest of the article.

As many of you know, I'm a tremendous advocate of getting rid of cork, due to personal experience losing far too many good wines to cork-taint. As research increasingly demonstrates that there are alternatives which retain the upside of natural cork's ideal rate of oxidation while removing the downside of spoiled wine, I'm hopeful the wine industry will quickly move to adopt them.

(P. S. Note the redesign of the former TechCentralStation site, now TCS Daily? I'm personally quite impressed.)

Via Kathy, I discovered this important cause.

Free the Grapes! is a national, grassroots coalition of consumers and wineries who seek to remove restrictions in 20 states that still prohibit consumers from purchasing wines directly from out-of-state wineries.

Minnesota's laws are actually fine on this issue. I've had wine shipped from wineries here before.

However, because there is so much confusion between other states, I have also been refused shipping before. Not to mention the times I couldn't send a special bottle of wine as a gift to someone because of the state they lived in.

Anyhoo... if other people can get excited about Saving the Whales, or Freeing Tibet, I figure I can have a pet issue too. Free the Grapes!

I'm not a big fan of podcasting. It's not that I don't see the value in it in general. It's that I, personally, have little desire to listen. The medium isn't one I'm keen on.

Nevertheless, I just had a really good podcast idea involving wine.

It would be weekly; short (really short); and wine sellers would kill for a spot on it (if it developed an audience anyway).

Advice would be appreciated, because I think I really want to do this. And I know bupkiss about podcasting.

UPDATE: Getting some feedback telling me other wine podcasts already exist. For the record, I know this. Including the very fine Winecast. But to the best of my knowledge none of them is doing what I have in mind, which is a very specific thing and not just a wine-themed radio-style show.

Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow. As we all know the central feature of this holiday is The Meal. In most American families this is the most elaborate and important meal of the year. People break out their once-a-year china, crystal, and silver. They spend hours and sometimes days preparing the food. And, inevitably, they buy wine.

That last one can be perilous, as the majority of wine-purchasers on this holiday are not typically wine drinkers. In most of America wine remains a "special occasion" rather than everyday purchase. Marketers in the wine industry circle these hapless consumers like sharks. All too many fall victim.

Where do people unfamiliar with the world of wine typically turn for advice? To holiday-themed wine advice columns of course. Yet over the years I have found two standard formats for such columns, and both are flawed.

The first type is the "information overload" column. Suddenly the wine novice who was wondering whether to buy red or white is expected to master the intricacies of special vineyards, vintages, and very specific bottlings of wine they have never before seen at their local merchant. Not helpful.

The second type runs too strongly in the opposite direction and offers bad advice. For example, "Turkey is poultry, so you want a white wine - like Chardonnay."

Here is some advice I hope will be a bit more practical.

I'm going to assume the meal in question will be the traditional: roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, etc. If you're going in some crazy individual direction, bon appetit - but you're on your own for wine pairing advice.

First, forget worrying about whether you should buy red or white wine. Those color categories are too broad to be useful. Besides, in my experience it's a good idea to have one of each so your dinner guests have a choice. So let's go within each color and talk about some considerations:

White:

Far and away the most popular white wine in America is Chardonnay. Unfortunately, Chardonnay does not pair well with this meal (or really any meal with strong flavored gravy). Other popular varietals, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio also pair very poorly.

Personally, I find Riesling to be the ideal white wine for Turkeyday. Avoid the sweeter desert-style bottlings, and find a nice crisp, dry one. My personal choice would be a Kabinet from the Pfalz region of Germany. But there are plenty of others out there, domestic and foreign, which would fit the bill as well. Other decent varietal options include Chenin Blanc and Pinot Blanc.

Another option more people should consider is a "table wine," which is simply a blend of different white wine grapes. Something like Oakley Four Whites, Folie a Deux Ménage à Trois White, or Sokol Blosser Evolution would all compliment the meal quite nicely.

Red:

This can also be problematic as the most popular American red wine - Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - do not pair well with this meal. Another popular American wine - red zinfandel - is hit or miss, and mostly miss. Lighter red zins can be decent fits. But most red zin these days comes in a dark, jammy style making it no better fit than Cabernet Sauvignon. For similar reasons, avoid Aussie Shiraz and California Syrah.

Following the model above, we'll start with some varietals you could look for. Unlike white wine, I have no clear favorite here. I typically go with something versatile for all sorts of food accompaniment duties: Barbera and Cabernet Franc might be more difficult to find, but hard to beat. Pinot Noir is another decent choice, though more variable. For a little international flair, there's nothing wrong about going with Italian Chianti or Spanish Grenache.

Blends are more problematic, as the most popular - Bordeaux or Rhone style blends - are more suitable for heavier meals. Again, I'd go the "table wine" direction here. Something like Niebaum Coppola Rosso, or Ca'del Solo Big House Red.

My last piece of advice is not to worry too much about any of this. Having wine that compliments the meal is a treat, but not a deal-breaker. I sat through many a Thanksgiving meal in my younger days accompanied by Chardonnay and Merlot. They didn't pair well with the food, but they didn't ruin the meal either. Happy Thanksgiving.

It's been a while since I've sampled a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Frankly, it's been too long. Kiwi Sauv Blanc - at least that which comes from the Marlborough region - is consistently one of the finest expressions of one of the finest white wine grapes in the world. So much so it almost becomes a fault - I grow restless from the predictability and eventually wander elsewhere for a sense of the unknown.

Well roads go both ways, and today I returned from my travels into the world of lesser known grapes to sample Zeal, Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2004.

Let's start with the good:

It has a screwcap. That doesn't mean "cheap" anymore. It means no chance of corked wine. A point in its favor already before it's open in my book.

The wine is characteristically pale straw colored in the glass. The nose suggests green chili and gooseberry.

One sip reminds me why I like New Zealand Sauv Blanc so much. The tropical fruit pops from the start across all portions of the palate - gooseberry, guava, nectarine, maybe even a hint of papaya. It also exhibits the typical Kiwi brambly, grassy undertones. The finish is clean and crisp. Sharp acidity. A rewarding reminder that New Zealand's Marlborough region seems to have been destined like no other place on earth (though Sancerre may quibble about that) to grow Sauvignon Blanc.

And that gets to the downside. It's a tiny one, but deserves mention. There really is little to distinguish this wine from a dozen others from the same region at similar price points. I totally love the stuff, but this bottle sat on the shelf next to Monkey Bay, which is every bit as good and four dollars cheaper per bottle (I bought this for $14 retail incidentally). Is it being greedy to ask for a winemaker to create distinctive, original wines from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, rather than all of them churning out more of the same delicious nectar year after year?

Anyway, if you're already familiar with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, you already know what to expect from this wine and it does not disappoint. If you're not familiar feel free to make a bottle of this your initiation. You'll have to get a lot more jaded (like a certain occasional wine-blogger) to find flaw with this one.

I don't want to get my hopes up too high. But PLEEEEEEAASE be true.

FOR those who yearn for a well-aged, full-bodied vintage wine but lack the funds to feed the habit, the solution may lie with a Japanese boffin, a zany-looking contraption, a couple of metres of latex tubing and a few hundred volts of electricity.

Squirrelled away in his chemical engineering laboratory in rural Shizuoka, Hiroshi Tanaka has spent 15 years developing an electrolysis device that simulates, he claims, the effect of ageing in wines. In 15 seconds it transforms the cheapest, youngest plonks into fine old draughts as fruit flavours are enhanced and rough edges are mellowed, he says.

Reds become more complex, and whites drier. A wine costing $10 a bottle could taste the same as one costing twice that, which "will create huge changes to the global wine industry".

This is the best wine review site I have ever found. It even has the potential to convert a certain beer-swilling Packer fan to the fruit of the vine on occasion. It is...

Red Wine Haiku Review

Wine reviews as poetry in haiku form by Lane Steinberg. For oenophiles & everyone else...

Some of my favorites so far...

1)Kunde Merlot 2000 (Sonoma)
Uninspiring
A hot dog and its owner
Looking for the car

17)Bertani Bardolino Classico (Italy) 2000
When it’s cracked open
It tastes like fruit and rubber
Then it drinks like rain

36)Rancho Zabaco Reserve Zinfandel (California) 2000
Do I drink this stuff
Or pour it over pancakes?
Deepest of purples

90)One.9 (carbs per glass) Merlot 2002 (California)
Like wine that's been raped
A hole cut from its center
For diet Nazis

102)Ironstone Cabernet Franc 2000 (California)
Amazing bouquet!
Beautiful girl, whiny voice
Better as perfume

101)Colosi Sicilia 2003 (Italy)
Sip with your eyes closed
Imagine the summer sun
Sweating sweet berries

I definitely WILL try this review style on occasion. Because it's a freaking brilliant idea. But I will also routinely check this blog to see the progress of the master.

(Hat-tip Fermentations)

The wines of South Africa are rather new to me. Other than indulging in an occasional glass of their famous varietal Pinotage, or their less famous "Steen" (the local name for Chenin Blanc) I haven't done much exploring.

That changed a few weeks back when I glowingly reviewed South Africa's Brampton Sauvignon Blanc. In fact, I liked it so much I went to pick up another bottle today, and noticed Brampton had a Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Petit Verdot blend on sale next to it at a very reasonable price. I decided to give it a try. It's another great find.

I poured the first glass, gave it a whiff, and was convinced I had a Napa Valley Meritage in my glass. Deep jammy fruit, cassis, leather, along with something subtly herbal (eucalyptus?). On the palate it comes across with the forward fruit and power of a good Aussie Shiraz, yet brings along a complexity more reminiscent of a Meritage or Bordeaux blend. Raspberry and blackberry flavors are most pronounced, with a firm "red-meat" tannin structure and hints of black pepper. The intensity of the fruit tastes like it's been cellared for several years already, yet the firm tannins suggest even better is yet to come.

Not the most versatile food wine, but one that would definitely compliment hearty dishes, like a good Montreal steak.

The price I payed on sale was 9 dollars, which makes this a steal. The regular price looked to be 12 dollars, which would make it an excellent value all the same. Another good mark for Brampton, my newly discovered favorite South African wine label.

Hat-tip to Professor Bainbridge for this excellent link. I am SO going to try this. You can appease your inner wine snob, and inner child at the same time.

(Secret confession: I am a huge fan of Jelly Belly beans as it is. And now this. Yowza!)

Tom Wark, at Fermentations, offers an intriguing list of AMERICA'S 10 MOST IMPORTANT WINE TRENDSETTERS.

He also understands why top ten lists are fun and intriguing, being vehicles for thought and conversation more than definitive judgements.

Number one trendsetter? Women. And not, as I mistakenly thought, exclusively because most wine is purchased in the attempt to make the romancing of women proceed more smoothly. Tom says:

They buy the wine! If women respond to labels with cute animals, we'll get more labels with cute animals. If women start buying more wine that is low in alcohol, we'll see more wines low in alcohol. The logic of this is so impermeable as to make it a law of nature

Check out the whole list.

Sorry to say blogs haven't made Tom's top ten yet. But in all honesty, they truly don't belong there yet. Check again next year.