Are You Passionate About Wine...?

A new book, 'Living with Wine' by Samantha Nestor is eye candy for anyone with a passion for wine. It could easily have been titled 'Living with the Passion for Wine'. Samantha Nestor is well qualified to write a book such as this. She is the special projects editor at Metropolitan Home magazine and regularly appears on television and radio shows.

I am an amateur photographer and love to see great photographs. The pictures in this book by Andrew French are stunning. I was equally pleased to see Alice Feiring's name on the cover. She is definitely one of my favorite wine personalities and has been ever since I read her book,
The Battle for Wine and Love.
This book is a little bit like following the lives of the rich and famous. The majority of us will never have wine cellars like the ones detailed in 'Living with Wine' but if you are passionate about wine, this book will further stimulate your passion. I have consulted on wine cellar construction but only from the basics of where and how in a home and the importance of insulation, vapour barriers and usage of environmental control units but this book takes you to the outer limits. Liberally sprinkled with factual notes it will carry you away to a wine lover's paradise. it is simply amazing how today's technology, availability of a wide range of materials and exquisite craftsmanship can transform even a small space.
Each chapter carries an intriguing title. There is even a cellar made with no wood or natural fabrics. Why? It is located in a winery and any and all materials that might possibly carry the bacteria responsible for the production of TCA were avoided.
There are books and glossy magazines detailing far away travel adventures to places the majority of us will never visit. This book similarly will carry you away and further en kindle your passion for wine. Get your favorite bottle of wine and dream and drool while visiting these places of passion in this book. 'Living with Wine', a must have for every designer and architect with even a hint of interest in wine. Show this book to your wine loving friends and it will be sure to start a lively conversation. If Bing Crosby was around, he would probably be humming "I'm dreaming of a Wine Cellar..just like the ones...( I saw in Living with Wine).
Dream on, wine lovers out there!

Those Tiny Tasty Bubbles in your Wine........

.....tickling your taste buds on your tongue. When I first read that Champagne bubbles improve flavour in a Decanter news report I was intrigued but baffled when I read this sentence. " ..discovered that many aromatic compounds were more likely to be present in the bubbles than in the wine itself". If they were not in the wine in the first place then how would they suddenly appear in the Champagne bubbles? But the following article in RSC made a little bit more sense. So just how many of these precious little bubbles in a bottle of Champagne will bring us those delightful flavours? A scientist by the name of Bill Lembeck gave us the incredible number of 50 million. And that along with 90 psi ( your car tires are only inflated to 45 psi ) makes for a powerful punch of aromas and flavours.
The image is one of a Champagne sabering that went wrong. But there you have those 50 million bubbles under 90 pounds of pressure blowing away all those delicate flavours.
But the story does not end there, because now another scientist has discovered that we actually have taste receptors for carbonation. Apparently carbonic anhydrase 4 is responsible for sensing the taste of carbonation. It activates our sour cells. No wonder Champagne tastes so good.
I think it would be a good idea for Gérard Liger-Belair and Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin with their Champagne bubble experiments to get together with Nicholas Ryba and devise experiments that will tell us what to expect from the next generation of sparkling wines. The bubblier the better.
A toast to all of you!

Low Cost Wines, Media, Scandalous...lets get it straight!

It must have been a slow day around the National Post office. Lets see how can we blow this one up to grab some attention. California couple buys a bottle of "BC" wine and discovers it is California wine. Add the word "scandalous" and you have a story. It worked because the story was copied and repeated many times. I have a problem with this kind of reporting. First of all buyer beware. Do read the label! There is a market for inexpensive wines and the big three wine producers mentioned in the article are there to supply you with what you are prepared to pay for your wine.
Secondly, this has been going on for years.So suddenly this is worthy of a news item? Look at the Ontario scenario.Read this interesting synopsis of the situation in that province.. It may not be ideal or right but it is quite open and above board and a government sanctioned situation.
Third on my list. I am not necessarily a fan of the British Columbia Liquor Licensing and Liquor Distribution system, having had my own 4 year battle with them, but where might I ask should these wines be displayed? If they contain mostly California grapes should they go under the imported US, California section or if mostly Washington grapes should they be displayed under Washington state wines? Give me a break and stop stupid reporting like this. I do however have a problem with the minister responsible pretending he was unaware of this situation. So chase that down for a newsworthy story.
In the end what is really scandalous is the outrageous mark up and taxes imposed on wines here in BC and similarly in other provinces. For us it is 117%. So your cheap imported plonk, suddenly is not so cheap anymore.
I have said it before but my favorite US President said it all when he said:
" I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens."
Thomas Jefferson, American president and Renaissance man, (1743-1826)
Since we all know wine is good for your health, I say lower taxes on wine. It is time to put a whopping tax on those "whoppers" and fries. Greasy hamburgers cannot be good for the average citizen and are creating a burden on our health care system. Tax them!!

A New Kind of Wine Doctor !

Should a doctor recommend wine for your health? There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that drinking wine, particularly red wine may be beneficial to your health and well being and yet doctors are loath to recommend a glass of wine (or two) to their patients. Their common concern has been their fear of the possibility of turning you into an alcoholic. This seems rather an unfounded fear. If you have it in your genes to become an alcoholic,you don't need your doctors blessing to become one.
So I was pleased to see one enterprising doctor do a little smart marketing. I congratulate him for his efforts to take the sting out of what is for some people an unpleasant experience. Dr. Scott Hanlon, a family physician, will let you enjoy some wine right after you get that needle.

I find it rather ironic that a doctor will stay away from suggesting a glass of wine might be just what the doctor ordered but have no problem prescribing one of the anxiolytic ( anxiety reducing ) drugs. In fact according to the American Psychiatric Association 61 million prescriptions a year are written by doctors. One of the most successfull novels of all time was Jacqueline Susan's "Valley of the Dolls". It has sold more than 30 million copies. it details the use and abuse of uppers and downers. The "dolls" of course refer to the downers or mood altering drugs.
In a new book by Dr. David Herzberg, titled "Happy Pills In America - Our Complex Love Affair With Designer Consciousness" Dr. Herzberg states "Patients have always demanded sedatives and stimulants from their doctors, who generally oblige them"
Now I ask you, would it not be of greater merit to recommend a glass of the fruit of the vine from one of many wonderful wine producing valleys in the world ( Sonoma, Napa, Loire and here in British Columbia the Okanagan Valley or you name your own favorite wine valley ) rather than the very addictive drugs from the Valley of the Dolls?

What Kind of Wine Are You?

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of money that is wasted on frivolous research. While half the world is starving to death researchers are telling us what kind of personality you have based on the type of wine you prefer. And marketers just love it. You will be debonair, smooth and smart when you eat our pretzels or any other product they want to promote on TV. OK, they tell us that it will allow them to figure out why the Western world has so many obese people and solve the problem. I think not.
Ah, but trust those Texas tasters to figure it out. The wine division of the Texas department of Agriculture think we have it all backwards. Check out the pdf version of Texas in a bottle to see the wine wheel or click on the image below. Wine drinkers describe a wine having character or personality. No, no, that is backwards. Its people that are a lot like wine.

So what are you? A Cabernet, nice and dry? Or a Muscat, so sweet?
I guess I must be a certified wino. I like them all. It depends on the mood I am in, what I am planning to eat and most of all the people with whom I am sharing that bottle of wine.

Roll Out the Barrel or Make that Wine Bottle Plastic !

Another year, another vintage. Some wine regions are reporting that harvesting of early ripening grape varieties has begun. So, as in my previous post, is it time perhaps to stop and think about the grape's journey from vineyard to bottle? Yes, the Torres video ends with an ad for their wine, but it is very well done and worth watching.
So now the push for plastic wine bottles is on. The Boisset family of fine wines has been at the forefront of introducing wine drinkers everywhere to this new concept. And for my every day drinking wines, I can live with that.
A couple of years ago wine drinkers in Ontario were introduced to Boisset's Yellow Jersey series of wines by the LCBO of Ontario. The Yellow Jersey of course is the iconic jersey made famous by the Tour de France. Not available to us in British Columbia but through the kindness of Boisset I received samples of these wines. As you can see, I did my bit of recycling and leaving no carbon footprint when I replaced my water bottle with a Yellow Jersey wine bottle.
But I have to question the barrel concept described in the below video. I know Tod Nagle and he is a fine fellow but after the initial charm wears off for the patrons to your restaurant, what are you going to do for an encore? What are you going to tell those who want a Chardonnay, a Riesling, a Cabernet or any other wine? Will you be lining up a whole series of barrels? Green is good and this was good marketing and received some media attention but realistically not a sustainable project.
Are the marketing gurus tripping over each other to see what novel 'green' idea they can come up with to get that extra bit of media coverage? Or is there some exploiting of the green concept?

Take Time.....to Smell the Wine!

About a month ago, I visited the Dragonfly Hill Vineyard, and had a delightful visit with Carol Wallace, the owner. Looks like an abundant, excellent crop coming for this vintage. That is a picture of her Ortega grapes. She also grows Auxerrois grapes. Her vines are now 16 years old and produce excellent fruit. We sat in her cool winery building and enjoyed a glass or two of her very refreshing clean and crisp Ortega Auxerrois blend. It brings you right down to the reality of what wine is all about.
Do we here in North America frantically and in a frenzy spend to much time writing, blogging and criticizing wines? There is a daily outpouring of wine reviews on the internet, mostly via blogs. Oh, you must try this wine and before you've had a chance to purchase it, the next best wine is presented for your consideration. Its enough to drive you to drink! Are we forgetting to stop and smell the roses or in this case the wines, long enough to truly understand what wine is all about?
Susan Kostrzewa over on the Wine Enthusiast's Unreserved wine blog
wrote a very good article on wine critics. The comments were equally enlightening but I particularly liked the last sentence summation of Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe and I quote, "And in my favorite countries, those common folk are drinking wine—not because it received a good rating, but because a table without wine, food, family and friends just doesn’t seem right."
It is 110 F ( 34 C ) outside. Not a cloud in the sky and just a gentle little breeze blowing. Our Vancouver Island vineyards are basking in the sun. Its time for me to prepare some lunch and enjoy a brilliant, refreshing white on my sundeck. (click on the image)
If we enjoy the wine in our glass, after a whole year at the vineyard and winery has passed and has given us one of mother nature's great gifts, spend some time researching the winery, the vintner, the soils and get an idea of what you are experiencing. You will appreciate the wine that much more. Stop, slow down, don't just rush out and get the latest recommendation.
Life is too short, take time to smell the wine and enjoy every drop!
Happy summer time drinking!

Stop Tooting Your Horn about Biodynamic Wine!

We have all heard the litany about how wonderful biodynamic wines can be. Some people swear by them and others say it is a lot of hocus pocus. The fact is of course that any vintner going to great lengths taking care of his vineyard should theoritically produce a good wine. Its the cow horn part that bothers a lot of people and it bothers me as well but perhaps for a different reason.
I did not realize, until I did a Google search, how popular cow horn products seem to be.That takes a lot of cow horns.
Considering the fact that most dehorning of cattle is done at an early age, is there going to be a shortage of cow horns if biodynamic wine making becomes popular?
Now here is my problem. Do you know how painful and therefore cruel it is to dehorn an adult cow?
Since biodynamic growers are close to the earth, the moon and the stars, should they not also care for these creatures with horns that roam the earth?
Do they have to use a real cow horn? I am sure that with today's technology an imitation cow horn can be made. Now there is a business opportunity.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why a real looking fake horn could not be used?
In the meantime I have a wine buddy coming over for supper and I am making super sized hamburgers. He is bringing an 'organic' Malbec. No horns, no bull. Just an enjoyable night with a good wine expressing its terroir.

Drink Wine Today ... but use the right glass!

Just a follow up on my last post. I have been testing the tasting on the right day theory. I am happy to report I tasted 10 Sauvignon Blancs with my panel on June 15th, a leaf day, without any ill effects. I really tempted the lunar crowd last night, a root day of all things. Tasted a high end Super Tuscan and same thing, nothing but praise for the wine. Now I can relax and return to my normal drinking pattern. That is, enjoy my wines whenever and wherever the occasion arises.
I am NOT a wine snob, never have been and never will. Each wine deserves a chance to tell its story. But I have to tell you that I am a bit of a wine glass snob. I often bring my own glass when attending trade tastings. After all when tasting a series of wines, should you not give the wines a chance to show off their best? The rolled rim restaurant style of glass at these tastings are just not very helpful.
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a Riedel Glass tasting, sponsored by the largest wine shop in Victoria, Everything Wine. The Riedel representative introduced us to the latest in the Riedel series of glasses, the Vitis.
Before I sold my wine shop in Victoria, The Wine Barrel, I became a firm believer in what the right glass can do to enhance the wine drinking experience. While I think the Vitis series are beautiful and elegant and I now have a set of them, I do not think that they have an advantage over the Vinum Extreme series. Recently I shared a 1989 Opus 1 with a good friend and I chose the Extreme Cabernet glass rather than the Vitis Cabernet glass. The Vinum Extreme is, I feel, better suited to a big bold wine like the Opus 1. It still makes me drool when I think of this tasting.
Now to get to the point of this post. Some years ago, Riedel introduced an Icewine glass. The sales representative at that time, tried to convince me that since British Columbia makes some of the finest Icewines made anywhere, I should be selling these glasses. I was of the opinion that this new glass was just not the right one for our BC Icewines. I felt that they may be very suited for Ontario Icewines and they were in fact created using Ontario Icewines but BC Icewines are different. He reported this to Riedel in Austria and that started a challenge. In other words, put your money where your mouth is.
Well, OK then . I contacted a number of BC Icewine producers to get their opinions on the difference between BC and Ontario Icewines. As well I spoke to John Schreiner, the author of Icewine -The Complete Story and got his take on it and a number of other in the know individuals. Next I created an "Icewine Glass Evaluation Chart".
Click on it to get the enlarged version.
Next I collected 3 BC Icewines and 1Ontario Icewine and put a panel of 6 local wine experts together (OK, 5, I was taster #6), including bringing John Schreiner over from Vancouver. John, in my opinion is the world's number 1 expert on Icewines. I won't go into details but the long and the short of it was that my theory about the Riedel Icewine glass was proven correct when 5 out of the 6 panelists agreed that indeed the Riedel Icewine glass was the best for the Ontario Icewine but not as suited to the BC Icewines we tasted.
Since Riedel had been interested in my project, I forwarded them all the information. Guess what? If I would order 50,000 glasses they would create a glass according to my specifications for a BC Icewine. Well...it was fun!
When I visited Tuscany with my friend Sanjoy from California we had the pleasure of tasting the wines made by Alessandro Dondi, the winemaker at Castello di Bolgheri. I believe it to be 'the' super, Super Tuscan. I brought it back with me and it looks like we finally will have a distributor to bring it into BC. I shared part of the Castello di Bolgheri this week with some local wine experts and quickly added nitrogen preserve to the bottle. Their opininion was that it was outstanding. Elegant was one of the descriptors.Tonight I am sharing the rest of this wine with a wine loving lady friend. I guess I will use the 'elegant' Vitis Cabernet glass for this get together. Just done right BBQ'd steak and a great wine and great company.
Yes, I believe the right glass is essential to the ultimate enjoyment of a great wine.

Do Not Drink Wine Today....!!

According to the Lunar calendar we are in a 'root' day face of the moon and drinking wine may be a No No. Really now?
( Calendar courtesy of Domaine de la Vougeraie--click to enlarge ) According to a recent article in the NewsScotsman there are days you simply should not be tasting wines.Two of the UK's major retailers, Tesco and Marks & Spencer's, who account for at least one-third of all bottles of wine sold in Britain, "now only invite critics to taste their ranges when the moon-related biodynamic calendar dictates that wine will be at their best...
Our first choice is a fruit day. We seek to avoid root and leaf days."
Today and tomorrow we are in a root day and a lunar node. Really bad! Had a lady friend over for lunch today. Made a nice salad and served a beautiful Pinot Gris from the Desert Hills winery in the South Okanagan Valley in BC. Followed this with a hot beef dip on a bun served with the Desert Hills Mirage, a big bold Bordeaux blend. Guess what? It was delightful. Then we went to a new release tasting of the wines of Tinhorn Creek, another great winery in the South Okanagan. Same thing! Tasted ten wines. Could not find a fault with any of them.What's going on here? The wines were fruity not rooty.
One wine merchant in Britain who does not subscribe to this theory is my good friend Nick, over at Bordeaux-Undiscovered. Nick writes an excellent, informative
blog and did a good review on this.Check out his take on this called Drinking by Moonlight
Could not help but wonder what Alice Feiring's opinion might be. Alice of course is the author of a gutsy little slap at Parker with her book called "The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization"
Since she discusses Biodynamics in her
book in several chapters and had a very interesting interview with Nicolas Joly. Nicolas is the unofficial leader of the worldwide biodynamic wine movement. So I wondered. Well Alice does have days when her wines do not quite taste right but has not attached it to any particular fruit, leaf or any other type of day.
So the question remains "Does wine change with the phases of the moon or do individual palates change with the lunar period?"
Tell you one thing though, while I was still practicing vet med, I did have some "colorful" character clients visit me claiming that their pets were not feeling well, Could never find anything until I looked at the calendar and found it to be a full moon period. Thankfully my wines taste good any old day.
What sayeth thou?