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Somewhat quiet, but thoughtful. Occasionally quirky humor. Dave has been working here for over two years now. As the sole male server, the joke around the house was that he had lost his roost when two men were hired to work at the bar. His response? A mere shrug of the shoulders and laugh.

Dave married a bit later on in life and has a daughter in junior high at the moment as well as one in college. I have heard talk of him working as a massage therapist too. If I were 3-d, I’d definitely request his services… standing all day as a poster isn’t exactly easy work. Try standing and smiling like a statue for a few minutes. You’ll understand.

I remember one day overhearing a conversation of his with a new server. She was a little nervous. The lobster dinner special was on: soup or salad, lobster with corn on the cob and potato, plus dessert. It was the middle of the summer, and fifteen reservations were expected to walk in the door within the next ten minutes.

Sure there were three servers on, but five tables, at once, when you’re new… that’s something to get the jitters going. Dave looked at her, notebook in hand, and said that it would be okay. Just get to each table as they sit down, announce the specials, and get the orders in as quickly as possible. And remember to check the ticket in the kitchen… you know, make sure that everything is set to go. The new girl nodded.

Was the night busy? Heck yeah. Did Dave, the new girl, and other server take good care of everyone? Absolutely. Like Dave had said, everything was fine. Sure there had been fast feet and a lot of talking, but that’s how life in the restaurant is: it’s busy.

Dave can be reached for massage appointments at dchillmt@yahoo.com

This is the first time Ketcham Estates has offered their wine outside of their mailing list allocations, and we are proud to offer it for a limited, one-time only sale.

$38 each – $32.50 for 6 or more – 2 free passes to Pinot Days 2010 ($100 value) when you purchase a case. Order here

Michael Browne, (Wine Spectator has anointed him, ‘The Prince of Pinot’) from the famed Kosta Browne winery is the winemaker for this wine. Perfect for food pairings during the holidays, this wine will also make a special gift.

Special Discounts – Receive 15% off for a 6-pack purchase. Receive 15% off and 2 free passes to the Grand Festival of Pinot Days 2010 ($100 value) when you purchase a case. You may choose the location:

• Los Angeles – January 2010
• San Francisco – June 2010
• Chicago – November 2010

Our tasting Notes:

Our tasting notes include sight, aromatics and palate. For more information, see our Tasting Techniques

• Sight: This wine is clear, dark ruby red in color with a slight strawberry color rim variation. Big, slow teardrops with no color.
• Aromatics: Light red fruits such as strawberry and raspberry.
• Palate: Smooth and medium round texture. Fresh red fruit flavors of strawberry, raspberry with a bit or cedar and Dutch cocoa.

Food and wine

We suggest you pair the 2007 Pinot Noir with Coq au Vin.

Click here to find out more about this wine

Carl Tashian's Wine Flavor Visualization

SHE SAYS: It is magnificent to cross boundaries of many sorts.  An  NYU Grad student, Carl Tashian has taken to cross the boundaries between two senses — taste and sight, to create a visual representation of how wine tastes. — W-hat??

“Preposterous!” you say?  Ney, possible and beautiful to boot.   Take a look.   http://tashian.com/wine-flavors/ Notice how each line curves, is not straight.  See that?  Yes!  Exactly like your thoughts after a few sips.  I smell a Nobel Peace Prize in his future.   Anyone who can do this, can certainly bring us world peace.
“Peace Through Wine”   Yes.  This is your mantra for the weekend.

Planning a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner? Are friends and family coming from far and near? Well then, it’s time to break out the notepad and start planning the feast! First and foremost you need to know that there are rules to pairing wine with food and they’re pretty simple if you keep these two concepts in mind…complementary – when food and wine have harmonizing flavors while consumed together; and complementary contrast –when food and wine have opposing flavors which end up adding a needed dimension to your food (ex. cranberry sauce brightens the taste of a turkey dinner). Here are some tips for picking wines that will pair well with whatever you decide to serve:

Let’s start with the appetizers. It’s nice to begin with a fresh, well balanced white wine to get your guests’ palates ready to receive whatever tidbits you provide. With that in mind, it’s time to choose a cheese that will provide a contrasting flavor to your white wine. Tangy and sometimes tart in flavor, goat cheese will pair nicely with most whites, including sparkling. In our lineup of Jacuzzi Family Vineyards wines, the Sei Sorelle, a non-oaked Chardonnay, is a crisp, medium bodied white with balanced acid, and a definite crowd pleaser. For guests who consume reds only (RO), our Sangiovese or Pinot Noir, with medium body and light tannins, will marry as well.

It’s time to sit and enjoy lively conversations and sumptuous foods. The first course can be something as simple as a spinach and walnut salad with a sweet vinaigrette dressing, or a cream based butternut squash soup. If you take the salad route, choose a wine that has citrus flavors such as an Arneis, or you can show off your versatility and open a bottle of Vernaccia, which will compliment the sweet yet tangy dressing. It’s hard not to have a buttery Chardonnay during a festive dinner, so make everyone happy and pull out a nicely chilled bottle with the creamy soup, perhaps our Giuseppina. For the RO imbibers, the medium- bodied, light tannin wines (Sangiovese and Pinot Noir) are very versatile and will add layers to each dish.

I think it’s time to bring out the bird…my mouth is watering! I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’ve prepared fowl for this holiday event, along with the traditional stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and please don’t forget the pumpkin pie! What better to cover the vast chasm of flavorings than to pick a wine that is well rounded, fruity, and all around food friendly…not overly tannic (for RO). Make sure you choose a full-bodied, fruit forward wine that will not overwhelm the mixed flavors at the table. Wines to include in the mix: un-oaked Chardonnay, Primitivo, Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo, and Barbera. Each of these wines have an earthiness and layers of complex fruitiness that allow for great range… from mushroom gravies to fruit sauces, and even dessert.

Above all, choose wines that you most enjoy all year-round. If you want to try something new, host a pre-holiday tasting with some friends. You don’t have to make the full dinner, but you could make some similar items such as a turkey panini with cranberry sauce and brie. KISS (keep it simple silly) and you will be able to enjoy the holiday!

She’s Elise, and the radio was broadcasting her tune. This young lady has been here as far back as I can remember. During the summer she is a constant fixture at the bar, but with the arrival of fall, she spends less time in the lounge and more time at school. The other week, she managed the restaurant on a Friday night and did an awesome job.

The new Red White & Blue Cosmo was selling better than candy before Halloween, so she swung behind the bar to help out. One of the customers read some of the new, delightful cocktail list out loud: The Original Pom – Grey Goose, Pomegranate, Spalsh of Cranberry, Orange Juice; The Buena Vista – Bushmills Irish Whiskey, Molasses, Hot Black Coffee, Whipped Cream, Nutmeg; and the Red White & Blue Cosmo – Stoli Blueberry Vodka, Cranberry Juice, Cointreau, Lychee Nut Garnish. Deliciousness! The last one caused me pause, and then Elise told the young lady that the lychee nut actually tastes like melon. Certainly would be an interesting one to try.

Truth be told, Elise always knows the answers to questions involving the restaurant. She’s a huge help to new people, and a cheery individual on the whole. While talking to a server, she mentioned that she gets up about 5 a.m. every day. TO RUN! Now that takes dedication. And it may also explain why she’s a happy lady… running equals endorphins…

Her sister got married a few weeks ago, and Elise organized her bridal shower and made all the party favors with a friend. The party was lovely. If I had a sister like that, I’d be one lucky girl…

October 2009

I have always been a believer of the adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I live in British Columbia, Canada, and my “who you know” is my best friend, who just happens to work for Jacuzzi Family Vineyards. I was coming in for the weekend for a visit and Jennifer had an assignment. We were to go to the Executive Hotel Vintage Court in downtown San Francisco and serve Jacuzzi wine for the cocktail hour. Well, of course I would love to help out a friend in need. We planned on making a night of it – a nice dinner and a stay at the Vintage Court Hotel. I quickly became versed on the 2006 Rosso Di Sette Fratelli Merlot (which has layers of flavor…chocolate, tobacco and berries all working together to create a deliciously complex and elegant wine finishing with silky tannins) and the 2008 Arneis (a crisp, citrusy, light white). We served the two varietals from 5 to 6 pm; I found it funny that most of the guests wanted to try the Arneis, merely for the fact that they’d never heard of that type of grape before. 

I was really having a good time…a good portion of the guests at the hotel were Canadians. We had a good talk about Canada’s wines versus California’s wines. We all agreed that the California’s wines are superior, by far. I also met Jeanne, the Sales Manager for the Hotel, who recommended the E&O Trading Co. for dinner that evening. Jennifer and I sat at the kitchen chef table, which gave us a fabulous birds-eye view the chefs in action. It was the best seat in the house! We brought a bottle of Jacuzzi’s 2006 Valeriano with us for dinner. The rich cherry and herbal characteristics made  it a great pairing with the spicy Asian tapas. After dinner we enjoyed a walk in Chinatown and a night in the City…Thanks Jacuzzi, for giving me a great excuse to have a working visit with my best friend!

Deborah Crowder

Discounted 20% and free shipping for one week only.

2004 Milagro Reserve – a Spanish Tempranillo Blend

$19.99 each – only 10 cases remain. Order here

The 2004 Milagro is a Spanish style blend of 60% Tempranillo, 36% Graciano and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Earthy aromas of cedar, anise, vanilla, blueberry, tobacco, oak are highlighted by hints of black pepper and caramel. Crisp on the palate all around, nice finish and integrated, soft tannis. A great wine to cellar for 10+ years..

Our tasting Notes:
Very dark and extracted color. Raspberry and some cedar on the nose. Crisp acidity, coupled with firm, well-integrated tannins and generous fruit. Tastes great now – dig in.

Click here to find out more about this wine

This is a short post I did about the appropriateness of AVA’s in a developing wine region.

I’ve been thinking about this, and I think the key is to do a new AVA in a region about every 5 years…like a Boston album, well thought out, slow growth of regional identity.

People knew in 1972 that the santa Rita Hills were a very unique winegrowing coastal throat, but we waited until 1997 to submit. I knew in 1996 that there was some really nice Cabernet being grown on the east side of Santa Ynez, and Bryan Babcock told me about Happy Canyon where the red and green rock escarpments (chert and serpentine) had been breaking down for ages, and that the calcium/magnesium ratio would slightly stunt growth…hot weather, natural crop limitation. Babcock now believes HC is a bit too hot for some grapes, and is really bullish on the Figueroa Mountain area just to the west of HC of SB. Sounds like another AVA in 10 years. Los Alamos deserves one, as does Ballard Canyon. Premier Pacific may go for a Salsipuedes AVA west of Santa Rita Hills as well.

I also believe there may be climates too small for AVA’s, but extraordinarily exciting, west of Lompoc for sparkling wine, and between the SRH boundary and Buellton for Rhones and some white cal Ital, and perhaps Alsatians.

The Columbus Day Celebration in San Francisco

The Jacuzzi Family Vineyards tasting room team had great fun on Sunday, October 11, 2009, while participating in one of the oldest celebrated Italian Heritage Parades held in the North Beach district of San Francisco.  The streets were lined with over 100,000 onlookers, all enjoying the festivities fused with Italian culture. The Jacuzzi float exhibited the full flare of Italian enthusiasm and was inspired by the family’s true Italian Heritage, originating from the Friuli Region, and honored Valeriano Jacuzzi and his descendants who have over 130 years of winemaking wisdom.

Generations Dedicated to the Art of Discovery

Tasting Room Staff

Jacuzzi Family Vineyards welcomes you to taste the new release of Gilia’s Vernaccia. Gilia, the last surviving sister of Valeriano Jacuzzi, turned 101 on September 12^th this year and in keeping with the Jacuzzi tradition of honoring family and heritage, Fred and Nancy Cline named their new varietal after her.

These Vernaccia grapes were planted toward the bottom of 
the southern hills of Sonoma, Carneros.  Although they are windswept and subjected to the moderate and cool temperatures of the Pacific Ocean and San Pablo Bay, these grapes burn very easily.  A unique growing fashion has been developed using a tangle of tendrils and leaves to provide shade for the sun-sensitive fruit, a process which has taken a few years to perfect.  Watering (during the berry ripening period) is done in short bursts, which helps to control water stress.  

 The Vernaccia was handpicked and de-stemmed without crushing and immediately pumped to our tank press where the juice was gently squeezed from the grapes.  The wine was then racked (decanted) off the grape solids and inoculated with a pure strain of wine yeast.  Fermentation preceded at a cool 50 degrees F and kept in temperature controlled stainless tanks. Keeping with the Italian tradition, we have blended a small amount of Chardonnay into the wine.

The varietal was thought to have been brought by the Etruscans to the San Gimignano region of Italy where it is known to produce ripe and powerful white wines. During the Renaissance Vernaccia was considered Italy’s finest white wine and in 1966 it was the first Italian white wine to be awarded the DOC status.  

 Pair with grilled fish or seafood, pasta with cream sauces and prosciutto with melon or just enjoy on its own.  It is Spectacular!  Happy Birthday Gilia.

September 15, 2009    -   Jacuzzi Family Vineyards Shares in the Annual Wine and Cheese Special Events Meeting for the God Mothers of Timothy Murphy School.  A Beautiful Evening and setting in the garden provided a wonderful atmosphere for the dedicated women who enjoyed delicious food and fabulous wines exclusively from Jacuzzi Family Vineyards.

Featured Wines: 
Pinot Grigio  2007
Bianco Di  Sei Sorelle  2006
Moscato Bianco  2007
Barbera 2007
Rosso Di Sette Fratelli 2006

The God Mothers of Timothy Murphy School at St. Vincent’s School for Boys is a group of volunteers who actively support the school’s educational program through fundraising, direct financial contributions, and volunteering time, talents and services.

 Timothy Murphy School (TMS) is a not-for-profit State of California Certified special education day school in Marin County for boys (K-12) who have been victims of neglect and whose behavioral needs cannot be met in a regular school setting.   For more information visit their website at  www.godmothers.org.

This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday theme, “At the source” is a bit lost on those of us lucky enough to live in a world-class wine region and visit wineries regularly, but here we go anyway. The task here is to visit and taste at a local winery. Well, don’t mind if i do!

A painted barrel in the Fulkerson tasting room

On Labor Day weekend I took a full day off from lab (I actually do try to go in every day, Dr. Matt) and Sarah and I went down to Watkins Glen. The deal was that we would do Sarah-type outdoors things and then we’d do Tom-type wine things. We hiked through the Rim and Gorge trails at Watkins Glen State Park, then headed up the west side of Seneca Lake at about 4:00. Living in Ithaca, I usually only get a chance to visit Cayuga and East Seneca wineries (barring a special trip), so this was going to be a treat for me. Our goal was to get up to the hallowed Hermann J. Wiemer winery for some riesling flights, but there was a wedding there so they had closed early (Congratulations, Jeff and Melissa!).

As we headed back down to Watkins, we stopped at the much-lauded Shaw Vineyard, a tasting which I will review later, but our final stop of the day was Fulkerson Winery.

Fulkerson Winery is part of a farm that’s been family-operated for 6 generations, and at the winery you can buy a range of produce. In addition, Fulkerson has one of the biggest home-winemaking grape juice operations in the Finger Lakes. There is a ton of winemaking equipment and supplies (including bentonite and Zork closures, among many other things), and their website even has links to their home winemaking instructional videos. But enough about the place, how is the wine?

For a few bucks, we were able to select 5 wines, so Sarah and I shared. Some quick, unofficial highlights (feel free to skip):

• We started with the 2006 Lemberger, which some would consider the “Great Red Hope” of the Finger Lakes. Nice acidity, some interesting cherry, maybe a bit of VA on the bottle I had. Bought 2 bottles.
• My note on the 2007 Dornfelder was “interesting, buy and drink again”. It’s a light, fruity, low tannin grape, and the only other place I’ve heard of it grown in NY is at Channing Daughters in Long Island. Bought 1.
• The 2007 Burntray I also liked. It’s a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Franc and a recently-released Cornell grape called Noiret. Noiret is known for its distinct black pepper aroma and in this case it complements the CF quite well. Bought 1.
• The next one was one I have been looking forward to trying. The 2007 Vincent is a varietal wine from the Vincent grape, a hybrid originating in Ontario and released in 1967. It’s generally used for color and found in many blends in the Finger Lakes, but this is the only one I’ve seen so far that’s mostly Vincent. I didn’t find much going on in the glass, except for a slight bit of sulfur, so I thought that I should give this one another shot. Bought 1.
• The 2007 Cabernet Franc is actually blended with 20% Lemberger, a combination that seems unique to the Finger Lakes. It tasted slightly sweet, with a nice oak component. Bought 1.
• The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon seemed a bit thin and overoaked (smoky).
• On the white side, the 2007 Traminette (another Cornell grape, with Gewürztraminer parentage). Normally with Traminettes I get a lot of old lady perfume. That is, a huge bouquet of flowers shoved right up my nose. In this case, the flowers are more subdued and the hint of sweetness balances them out well. Bought 1.
• The 2007 Riesling is made in a dry style but wasn’t terribly distinctive for me. Well-balanced, just not much to write about.
• The 2007 Ravat 51 (aka Vignoles) was very nice. Vignoles is generally made in a late-harvest, high-sugar style and this one clocks in around 6.3% RS (that’s 63 g/L). Kiwi was te first thing that came to mind, with some subdued tropical fruit and citrus flavors (think starfruit, which doesn’t really taste like anything in particular, but is somewhat citrusy).
• Vidal Iced Wine demonstrated some apricot with an interesting richness and smokiness. “Iced” wine is generally made from late harvest grapes brought in and frozen, then pressed. This is distinct from “Ice wine” in which case grapes must be picked frozen on the vine. Nonetheless, bought 1.
• Finally, the Cabernet Franc Ice wine was a little bit soapy?

Overall I appreciated the variety. We only tasted a fraction of the wines available, including their huge seller Airship white (made with Niagara) and a wine made with a local table grape called Himrod. Fulkerson has actually created a huge jump in price for Himrod in the area because of its demand for this grape. Our tasting room staffer was very knowledgeable and friendly, giving lots of information about a wide variety of grapes. For me, tasting room staff can make or break the experience, and our staffer did very well, especially considering it was near closing time. The tasting room’s high ceilings and new atmosphere (recently built in 2004) make it a very pleasurable experience. I highly recommend stopping by if you’re on the west side of Seneca. Look for more detailed (and controlled) reviews of these wines on this site in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Lenn (aka my new boss) for hosting WBW this month. Check out the New York Cork Report in a few days for a wrapup of other wine bloggers’ tasting room experiences.

Science!
I buy a lot of my wine from tasting rooms. Again, I have that luxury because I live within a little over an hour of most of the wineries in the Finger Lakes. The tasting room influences my choices greatly, since I can taste a wine right there and decide whether or not I like it, then buy accordingly. Sometimes, I find, though, that something that tasted great in the tasting room is pretty meh when I get home and taste it in a more controlled environment. Wine tasting is very psychological and I suspect that that environment has an effect on your perception of the wine you taste.

A bunch of respectable wine bloggers and some dude in a Cornell jersey in the palatial private tasting room at Wölffer Estates, in the Hamptons, Long Island (photo credit: Lenn Thompson)

While I couldn’t find any studies to this effect, a recent paper does show that a person’s expectations about a wine can influence his or her perception of the wine (Siegrist and Cousin, “Expectations influence sensory experience in a wine tasting”, Appetite, 2009). In this study, researchers served participants a glass of wine. In some cases they said “Parker gave this wine 92 points” and in some, “Parker gave this wine 72 points”. Some had no information at all. Those with positive information beforehand gave the wine a higher score than the ones who received negative information beforehand. So if your tasting room attendant is telling you about the double gold medal this wine received or the good rating it got from Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, or even Wine and Spirits, there’s a chance that that will influence how you perceive the wine.

Allow me to give some more evidence to support the “wine tastes different in the tasting room” theory:

1. The tasting room is aesthetically pleasing. It is nicely decorated, and you’re surrounded by, say, old wine barrels. You pet the winery dog. You’ve got a lovely view of the vineyards outside and it’s a gorgeous day (or a crappy day!)
2. The tasting room is fraught with distractions, from the treat-begging wine dog to the bachelorette party that just rolled up, to the weird guy next to you who keeps asking questions about the wine and spitting into the dump bucket (not that I know anyone like that…)
3. The actual environmental conditions (temperature and humidity for example) are likely different from your home.
4. Arthur from the winesooth.com suggests that over the course of the day, tasting room bottles are poured from (tipped over) many times, resulting in lots of aeration of the wine. I’ll buy that.
5. Along the same lines, tasting room bottles may have been open for more than a day, especially those “reserve” flights that you may have to pay extra for.
6. The glasses you use in the tasting room are different from the glasses you use at home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that the shape of a glass can bring out certain aromas or flavors (I have whole other rant about that issue!). The size and shape of a glass does, however, influence the intensity of aromas, and tasting room glasses tend to be stout and durable, rather than bulky with huge headspace.
7. Bottle variation can be huge. I’ve talked with some tasting room managers, who pour bottle after bottle of the same wines every day, and they have said that the variation between bottles can be tremendous. This is not only a function of the amount of cork taint present in the bottle but likely a symptom of storage conditions and the variation in closure integrity.
8. The amount that you sample in the tasting room is very small. Come on, a 1 oz. pour? When I review a wine for this site, I generally enjoy the bottle over the course of an evening and comment about things that show up as conditions change. With this small pour, you’re probably spending a minute, 2 tops. Sometimes your pourer is rushing you along as well.
9. Usually, when you visit a tasting room, it’s in the context of several other tasting room visits. And if you’re like 99.9% of wine tasting room customers, you’re not spitting. Suffice it to say that your physical and mental state may be altered during your tasting room experience.

I’d like to see some studies done about this, but I have no idea who would fund such a thing. Plus, hey, it might take a little bit of the fun out of the tasting room experience if you’re cynical about it from the get-go. There’s nothing wrong with wine tasting different in the tasting room. For me, it’s the best place to talk to someone who understands something about the wine they are serving (I really love talking to the winemakers themselves so I can ask the really technical questions, but that’s not possible in all circumstances). At the end of the day, wine tastes better when you’re having fun, so why not visit your local winery tasting room with some friends?

Welcome to the blog of wine-studio.co.uk.

Unless you own a licence to sell alcohol in the South East of England, it is unlikely that will have heard of us. Even then we are still pretty new – just about three years old. We don’t compete with merchants who started when Raleigh brought tobacco and potatoes back from the then Colonies, but what we lack in longevity we make up for with a passion for the good things in life. As far as we all know we only pass this way once so we at wine studio try to enjoy our time in this vein of tears and turn up the volume on one of the really good things in life – wine. As our name suggests we believe that there is a natural link between art and wine: both appeal to the senses hugely….or indeed repel….either way there is usually a powerful response to both.

We have been especially keen to select only the best partners to work with. Take Chateau Gilette from Preignac in Bordeaux: they only release vintages that are around 20 years old: they have aged the wine in vats for all this time with no contact with wood. The result is fascinating wines that have a great depth of character as you would expect, but still with excellent acidity to balance perfectly the unctuousness of a classic dessert wine.

When you reach our web site, please take a little time to register as this will then allow you full access to our range of over 300 wines: many with very limited stocks, simply because there is no more wine available of a particular vintage, except perhaps the winemaker’s own private cellar.A number of our wines have very old vintages like the classic Lebanese wine: Chateau Musar with vintages back to the 60s.

Through this blog I will try to point you in the direction of some of our wines that you can only get from us, not only because they are rare but because life is too short to drink poor wine. As Winston Churchill said “I am easily satisfied with the best.”

Thanks for your time – please bookmark this blog or subscribe to our RSS feed.

On nytimes.com there is an interesting blog called “The Pour”. In it, The Times’ Chief Wine Critic, Eric Asimov, posts on ”the pleasure, culture and business of wine, beer and spirits”.

“The Pour” can be found at http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/

Longview Estate view towards Limestone Island

I guess I could feel like a sell out.  But I know the truth. A digital camera was not possible on my trip up to Whangarei (pronounced Fon-ga-ray). It wasn’t possible for a plethora of reasons.  But I confide in the fact that the pictures I have posted here of Longview Estate were at least taken by my buddy Richard just a few months before my trip up to Northland.  I arrived back in Hawke’s Bay last week, but I just looked over the pictures again.  And I feel fine posting these.  I think you can get the point.  This place is unique.  I think you can see that no matter what season it is or which angle you are looking at it, Longview Estate in Whangarei, New Zealand is unique.

The plan was to come up, help out and hang a bit at my friend Richard’s family vineyard.   And that’s basically what happened.  But there’s always a story.  When people are involved it’s always more complicated and in that way, much more interesting.  Also, I got healthy (I was sick with a swine-ish flu when I arrived) while I was up north of Auckland in the nearly tropical region that Whangarei exists.  It is warmer, moister, greener, with inlets of bays surrounded by drastic landscapes and boats.  Winding, essentially dangerous roads vein the region. 

Fall foliage arrives in Whangarei at Longview Estate

One day we were rained out of our pruning responsibilities of gnarly Gewürztraminer and Richard’s father, Mario, gave us the day off.  So we took out Mario’s boat for a bit of an adventure in the Bay.  Except it wasn’t an adventure.  It was 3 grown men in a tiny boat on the placid, still water waiting for bigger fish for dinner.  It was a bit ridiculous, but it was placid.  The clouds hung low masking the many peaks that surrounded the splat of bays and inlets.  The air was cool and moist.  It was like fishing in a tropical Scotland.

The biggest lesson of the trip, though seemingly simple, was that pruning techniques are different in different regions.  With the warmer, more tropical climate in Northland they have to account for more diseases, pathogens, little critters and how vigorous the vines can become.  Vigorous vines usually translate to uninteresting or unripe fruit.  That’s a bit of a generalization, but all the problems with vigor usually translate into the wine in those two ways.  So for that reason there are different ways to make the vine struggle while still keeping it healthy enough to produce ripe, interesting fruit. 

The man on the scene was mate of Richard’s whom he met in Margaret River during vintage in Australia.  Jarpo (J=Y) is from Verona in Northeastern Italy.  He reminded me of why I love Italians so much.  He’s hardworking and he makes curse words sound poetic. But working and speaking with Jarpo provided yet another insight into the wine world.  And I always love hearing more stories about Italy. We provided the cooking most nights as we both felt it our duty while spending time with the family.  Mario is a formidable character, an old school, straight shooter and he always had as laughing and shaking our heads in the vineyard. 

Mario’s wines are best reflected in the man himself.  The wines might be called ‘rustic’ by some, but I’d prefer to describe them as ‘old world, approachable and musky’.   Mario does something that so many Kiwi winemakers overlook or maybe just fail to accomplish.  He understands how to compensate for the fact that all of his wines are under screw cap by leaving the wines in barrel a bit longer and from what I understand using micro-oxidation and other oxidative or better yet, less reductive  techniques.  This opens up his wines and provides a silky ‘age-ness’ to his wines.  I think this comfortable wine style is why the wines have such a strong regional following.   Some Kiwi winemakers go for the clean, fruity, tight wines that take a while to settle down but this can backfire.  They can be very interesting for one glass, but I sometimes struggle with these wines when paired with food and getting through the entire bottle.   Mario achieves something that I will always aim for in my winemaking.  That is, he makes wines to be drunk by the bottle, not just the glass. 

Mario's must, vintage 2009

Longview Estate’s wines range from the simple, fresh White Diamond to the husky Cabernet Sauvignon.  Somewhere in the mix I found my favorite bottle, the 2005 Merlot.  It had the musk of an old world wine, but with just enough fruitiness to be pegged as a NZ red.  My favorite part of this wine was the subtle spice on the palate.  From the nose to the finish this is a great food wine and why I think I liked it so much.  We cooked local mussels with onion and olive oil,  bread-crumbed fish, simple vegitable pasta,  and homemade burgers.  The 2005 Merlot did well with every meal.  Also, don’t sleep on the Gumdigger’s Port.  It will keep you warm at night after some long days in the vineyard.  This is certainly the port I will recommend from New Zealand.  Email me if you’d like me to ship you any of these wines right to your doorstep.

Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better trip and short get-away after exams.  I was able to experience yet another amazing region of New Zealand and to work a bit while being shown around by worldly-minded locals. 

Also noteworthy…..

We took an afternoon in the rain to go visit some of the nearest major vineyards south of Longview Estate.  About 45 minutes south we found Lochiel Estate and Millars Vineyard just minutes from the white sandy beaches of Mangawhai Heads.  Rob Cameran and his parents, Gary and Liz, invited us into their boutique winery and beautiful home to taste a wide range of wines made from fruit from Central Otago, Blenheim and from the foothills of Brynderwyn ranges in Northland.  We also had a taste of their Grappa that Jarpo and I particularly enjoyed.

Millar Vineyard, just next door to Lochiel Estate also had 3 very nice wines for tasting, all of which came from fruit grown on site.  I particularly enjoyed the Viognier and would warn others of this underrated region for viticulture.  The practices are a bit different, but huge potential if done correctly.

Next blog we head back to Hawke’s Bay which is lingering just off the snow caps these days.  I continue with the Chardonnay vines and begin pruning the Malbec that will eventually be my research topic next year.    I’m also visiting a few of the Bay’s best Malbec producers to see their tricks of the trade.  So far I’ve spoken to Jenny Dobson, Hugh Crighton, Gordon Russel, Mario Vuletich, Rod Easthope, Tim Turvey, and many other folks at EIT.  I’ll be doing a bit of a synopsis on the state of Malbec in Hawke’s Bay  and New Zealand these days.  Any questions or comments in the mean time post them here or send me an email to daniel@vitisdivine.com  Cheers.

Next time we head back the vineyard at windy Cottingham Estate where the snow caps loom to the south.

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Accolades

• 88-91 points Wine Spectator “Well-structured, with a dark fruit medley of ripe, zesty red cherry, currant, boysenberry and blackberry. Ends with a smooth, tapered finish and fine-grained tannins.”

Located in eastern Santa Barbara County in the Cuyama Valley, Alta Mesa Vineyard sits perched above Barnwood Vineyards at 3200 feet in elevation. Planted in 2000 to 8 X 5 spacing (1089 vines per acre), this vineyard is home to 9.5 acres of Grenache (Tablas clone A on 1103P & 101-14 rootstock). The soils consist of decomposed granite and clay loam with large rocks of schist, quartzite, basalt, and gneiss. There is a massive swing of daily temperatures that is very beneficial to the growing of these grapes, most often a 40 – 50 difference between day and night. Daytime high temperatures are lowered by the arrival of cooling breezes from the north at approximately 2:00 in the afternoon.

Our tasting Notes:
Ridiculously good wine! Very dark and extracted color in the glass. Red berry fruit nose. Tastes of cherry, vanilla, raspberry – just like trying fruit samples at the farmers market. Incredibly long finish with a little bit of tannins. Give this a few more months and then dig in.

Click here to find out more about this wine

Photo Credit: Ontanu Mihai

Yes, you’re reading correctly, New Year’s resolutions. Since we are now halfway thorough the year, I thought I’d post an update on how I’m actually progressing on my resolutions. This should also make clear the things I need to work on in the second half of the year.

1. Taste 100 different varietals of wine: I started the year in the low 40s so I thought this would be an easy one to knock off the list. Currently, I am at 62. I’m hoping this weekend’s trip to Michigan and next weeks class will help me knock a few more off my list. I think I can still get to 100 by the end of the year, and if not I’ll have fun trying.

2. Save and organize wine labels: Jonathan has really taken the lead on this one, and we’ve saved over 95% of the labels we’ve drank. We’re still mastering the technique of getting them off the bottle, but we manage. Currently, they are in a folder in the filing cabinet so it might be a while until we get to the organization part.

3. Develop, organize and promote my blog: My famous last words, “it’s a work in progress.” I haven’t done as much work as I would have liked. Partly due to my lack of web knowledge. I’m trying to pick up little things along the way, but it’s a slow process. My goal for the next six months is to work on re-categorizing and adding tags to my existing posts, making my blog a little more user friendly. This is the one I most need to focus on.

4. Education: I’ve started a wine book club to read more wine books. So far we’ve read four books. I’m following other wine writers and bloggers on twitter. Just reading others writing has been a huge help. I’m taking Spanish wine education classes next week in Chicago. This should be a fabulous learning experience.

I am one of those people who loves freebies.  So, I was at Disneyland for my birthday this year.  Better yet, they gave me a pass to go to California Adventure at some point that month for free too.

When I got there just before my ticket expired, I discovered the Food and Wine Festival.  Since, I wasn’t planning on drinking that day, I had to come back with someone to drive me home to check it out.

We went the second to last day, don’t worry if you missed it, it is there every year from beginning of April to beginning of June.

The best part was that they had vintners hosting tastings.  These were free and you got to sample three wines.  We went to the tasting hosted by Alison Doran and were served three of the Hill Family Estate’s wines.  They were good wines, a chardonnay, merlot and cab that displayed very typical characteristics.  What was great though were her stories.

She talked about how women weren’t allowed to crush grapes historically because people believed it would create yeast in the wine.  Or how grapes need to be purple inside, not the green you get at the store, for wine.  I loved the amount of information that she had stored in her head and even better she had worked just about every job there is to be had in wine.  Now, she is a consultant who makes wine, does it get any better?

My favorite of her wines was the 2006 Beauterre Merlot.  Good dark fruit and nice vanilla flavors.  The 2006 Carly’s Cuvee Chardonnay has great characteristics of butterscotch and pineapple.  I like that the butterscotch distinguished it from typical chardonnays that just taste buttery.

Other than that, the tastings, there are two of them, were not really worth the $10 we paid.  I did find some good wine though and really liked their Chateau de Jua.  It was a Carignane, Mourvedre, Merlot and Cabernet blend and it was good.  They did a good job of combining the flavors of these four grapes to create something that I think was superior to any of the varietals on their own.  I really like Mourvedre blends and this one did not disappoint.

My biggest critique would  be that most of the pourers knew very little about the wine.  Oh well, they were happy and it is the Happiest Place on Earth, right?  So, don’t come expecting an education from anyone but the winemakers and they tell some great stories.

I would recommend going next year and Cheers!

The Toronto restaurant scene has been dealt yet another blow with Sonia Verma reporting in the Globe and Mail yesterday that star chef, Jamie Kennedy, has made the decision to sell his eponymous Wine Bar due to financial difficulties.  With the closing of Boba, Cluck, Grunt and Low, and Perigee (to name a few) earlier in the year, and now the sale of the Wine Bar, it seems apparent that Toronto is definitely suffering the effects of the world’s failing economy.  Jamie Kennedy’s decision is particularly upsetting to me because it is at his restaurants that I was inspired to become a sommelier.   

The first time I went to the Wine Bar I was still a school teacher.  I knew a little about wine, but, most importantly, I knew that I liked it a lot.  The food, of course, was delicious and I was very impressed by the recommended wine pairings for each dish.  I don’t recall the details of what I ate or drank, but I do remember that it was an eye-opening experience.

My next visit to a Jamie Kennedy restaurant was a couple of years later.  I was in the midst of questioning my career choice as a teacher, and to help get my mind off things, my husband took me to lunch at the Gardiner Museum.  We ordered the recommended wines along with our meals.  Again, the pairings were superb.  Not only were the food and wine delicious on their own, but together the flavours exploded in my mouth awakening all my senses.  The combination of the food and the wine added a dimension to both that they did not have on their own.  I was hooked.  I thought to myself that being a sommelier must be the best job in the world.  It was at that moment that I decided to pursue my wine education.  When I arrived back home, I immediately enrolled in the next International Sommelier Guild’s Wine Fundamentals II course (I had already completed ISG’s Wine Fundamentals I a couple of years earlier).  That spring I resigned from the school board and in August I began the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers program at George Brown College.  And, the rest, so they say, is history.

Now, I realize the person responsible for all those incredible food and wine pairings was the very gifted Jamie Drummond, the sommelier for Jamie Kennedy since 2004, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for Jamie Kennedy, with his unruly mop of dark, curly hair.  He has been at the front of the slow food movement in Toronto for a long time, but it seems that the very thing he preaches is what is bringing him down.  Unfortunately, it’s expensive to eat locally produced food – funny because one would think that it was cheaper.  Jamie has scaled down the food at the Gardiner Museum, but is determined to continue to feature local produce on its menu and on the menu at the Gilead Café.  He believes that consumer demand for local produce will eventually drive the prices down.  Let’s hope, for his sake, he’s right or this could be the end of the Jamie Kennedy empire in Toronto.

Have you had a memorable (good or bad) experience at one of Jamie Kennedy’s restaurants?  Leave a comment to tell about it.

I walk along the Malbec vines as winter arrives at Cottingham Estate in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Today the rain has kept me out of the vineyard.  I have been pruning some very interesting Chardonnay vines the past few days.  I now see what so many of my lecturers and mentors mean when they say ‘pruning is not just for the next year but for 2, 3 and four years down the road.’  This couldn’t be truer in the case of this particular Chardonnay.  For eight years these 500 vines had been mixed amongst the Malbec vines in the back blocks of Cottingham Estate.  It seems when the vines were purchased a disgruntled employee of the nursery decided to pepper the Malbec with some Chardonnay and God knows what other reds throughout.  When it was discovered what had happened, over two years later, it was too late. 

This past winter of 2008 we cut down the root systems and spurs of all the Chardonnay, dug them up and moved them to their own rows in the front of the vineyard.  I was only able to help out for three of the days during this process that took around two weeks.  But in doing so, I began my true viticulture experience in New Zealand.  We watched each vine carefully over the spring and had nearly a 100% success rate, losing only one vine in the process.  The decision was made to just let the vines grow out this past season.  That meant no pruning, no major trellising decisions and no harvest.  But that also meant a big mess for winter pruning right now. 

Winter pruning is important for the vines health and in turn, the state of the fruit you want to harvest the following season.  But it is also important to make decisions that will effect the plant two even three years down the road.  In this case the vines are so very mangled and gnarly from years of cutting the fruit out in order to harvest the Malbec properly.  No proper care could be given to the Chardonnay as it was really just in the way of the Malbec.  But true to Vitis vinifera and its weed-like nature, it has survived if not flourished.  The vines have shown resilience and I want to repay them with great care.  They have grown every which way and now is the time to clean it all up.  Crowns or heads are too high and messy, internodes are too short and most cordons too thick and jaded, all of which results in an unbalanced vine producing unhealthy, fruit-crowded and disease prone grapes. 

So in this case we are making decisions to get just a bit of healthy fruit in 2010; but we are more concerned with getting the vines balanced by 2011.  So in many ways pruning is tedious, boring, hard word but in many other ways extremely interesting and exciting.  I try not to think of the hundreds of vines that I still have to give care to and try to focus on the day when I bring some supple, gold speckled Chardonnay into the winery.  That’s what keeps me going.  But even then, we know it will take at least another year before we bottle any wine.  So now we see how long-term these decisions are.  What I do these days I will not truly reap the benefits till four or five years from now.  It requires a very different way of thinking.  But a way of thinking I’m getting used to and enjoying.  It requires a great deal of patient, smart, hard work and just enough dreaming to keep you excited.

I came here with the desire get a degree in Viticulture but had switched this year to a degree in Wine Science.  This was

The big sky on Cottingham Estate

mostly a result of the degree structure, costs and what makes sense for me career wise.  But I still intend to finish the degree in Viticulture as it only requires a few more credits.  I still lean towards the practices in the vineyard being the most important in the winemaking process.  You can only make great wine from great fruit.  I sort of feel like you can only mess it up in the winery.  I feel as though the most critical decisions in the winery come with yeasts, barrel selection, blending decisions, when to bottle, and when to release it to the public.  The rest of the techniques and decisions are pretty much the same at any winery and haven’t really changed much over history.  Maybe they’ve just changed in that more modern equipment is used. 

So though there are many long term goals and plans, there are some things in the immediate future which are here, now and very exciting.  The first of which is the looming launch of vitisdivine.com.  Hopefully, if all goes well that will mean you are reading this on the website and thinking about purchasing some New Zealand wine.  I look forward to not only sending wines from many of my favorite producers throughout NZ to the rest of the world, but also in providing information and excitement to our readers.  As winter settles in here in Hawke’s Bay it is a good time to evaluate this great land and spread the word to the rest of the world.  Though modernity and all its riches, for better or worse, keeps us up to date with the rest of the world, one can’t help to appreciate the still wide open spaces here in New Zealand.  I felt the moment I got here that the sky was bigger both actually and figuratively.  Not only can a man’s dreams come true here but he can do it the right way and sleep well at night.

Somewhere in between these immediate goals and the long term plans is my winemaking.  I made over two barrels of Malbec this past vintage from fruit harvested from Cottingham Estate.  I decided to purchase some old barrels from Vidal Winery in Hastings.  I stood them upright and knocked the tops out of them with the help of a circular saw and a hammer.  This allowed me to keep the integrity of each barrel in what turned out to be perfectly shaped and insulated fermenters.  I used four different commercial yeast strains and one indigenous or wild yeast (see the picture below).

Malbec ferment L205L yeast

Twice and sometimes three times a day I would come out to Unison Vineyard (where I was making the wine)  and plunge, take temperatures and Brix levels.  It was a great learning experience while going to school full time and working vintage at Vidal.  Getting around Hawke’s Bay on a bicycle to Unison Vineyard, Vidal Winery and Eastern Institute of Technology was always an adventure.    But I truly loved every second of it as I was learning so much every day.  And though I’m happy for the time to work in the vineyard and get some normal hours of sleep, I am looking forward to next vintage already.  Except next year I will use a car.

Cheers,

Daniel