Are Wine Critics Born or Made?

I've always blamed it on UC Davis. I took their "Introduction to the Sensory Evaluation of Wine" course and I came out of it smelling green pepper in Cabernet Sauvignon and talking endlessly about currants and gooseberries.

Now I'm starting to wonder if it's genetic. ("Beaujolais Nouveau, Baby Nouveau," by bhollar)

My dad puts me to shame when he describes a wine. He smells all kinds of things--rhubarb, for instance--that elude me.

And I think my niece is going to put me to shame, too. She's thirteen. We were visiting friends in Paris and they--in true French fashion--offered her a taste of the delicious Chenin Blanc we were having with dinner. She refused, but did allow as how she'd like to smell it. I handed her my glass, expecting her to twist up her face and say "blech." Instead, she lowered her nose into the glass and made an appreciative sound.

I asked her what it smelled like, and braced myself for the response "wine." Her grandmother frequently has this response, and the child is, after all, thirteen and eats mostly white meat chicken and rice. What does she know of gooseberries?

"Citrus and meadowlands," was her reply.

I almost fell off the sofa. She pretty much nailed the aromas in the wine--and it's not because we text message each other about wine. Her parents drink wine but I think both would admit that they enjoy sipping it more than talking about it. And I see my niece once every few years--so I haven't contaminated her with winespeak.

I've been thinking about her response ever since and wondering if wine appreciation has a genetic component. That's not to say that education means nothing--I think it means a lot. But I do wonder now if both an interest in wine and the ability to taste and smell a wide range of flavors and aromas in wine also depends on your DNA.

I'm sure there's a scientific study somewhere that talks about this, but I want to know what you think. How do your sensory abilities with respect to wine stack up to your parents and grandparents? What about your kids? And if you have kids who smell wine, I wonder if they are less inhibited and more intuitive in their descriptions. As we age, do our minds tell us "there's no raspberry in that," whereas once our noses were screaming "berries, yum, berries"?

When You Still Haven't Found What You're Looking For

The web is a big place.

No matter how good you are at concocting perfect search strings on Google or whatever search engine you're using, when it comes to finding information on wine it can be damn hard to locate something useful.

Enter Able Grape.

They say they're in Beta, but they look like they're all set to become the Alpha Wine Information Search Engine. With over 13 million pages of online wine information indexed and searchable, this is like a one-stop online reference library. And because it's dedicated to wine, just a word or two in the search box will usually yield results--the kind of results you're looking for, not the stuff you have no interest in when you type in Cabernet Sauvignon (as in, Cabernet Sauvignon bath products).

What kind of information is gathered on Able Grape? Reference works, producer websites, blogs, scientific articles, event information, tasting notes are all included in the database, and then they're just a click away.

Check out the site next time you have a wine question, like what does Pineau d'Aunis taste like, or what kind of soil Pinot Noir likes. It's probably faster than driving to your local library to try to find the answer on Able Grape.

Weekend Immersion Wine Course in Napa

If you're free on April 25 and April 26 this year, are relatively new to wine, and have about $800 to spend on a wine course, this is the one to take. COPIA, the center in Napa that celebrates all things gustatory, will be the location and their new Dean of Wine Studies, Andrea Immer Robinson, who will be teaching one of her wine classes. (photo of Andrea Immer Robinson from her website)

She will be pouring and pairing a pretty dazzling array of wines. The weekend kicks off on Friday night with a champagne tasting, moves into a discussion of Andrea's "big 6" grapes, and then concludes with a dinner of 2 tasting plates served with examples of the wines made from them. Saturday morning will be devoted to Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in their old and new world styles, followed by lunch and the wines of Italy and Spain. The day concludes with a seminar on Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. If this approach sounds familiar, it's no doubt because you've read Great Wine Made Simple.

Robinson (as I mentioned yesterday) is one of the best wine teachers out there, and she has a knack for breaking down the world of wine into easily digestible chunks. Her love of food and wine pairing stems from her experiences as a sommelier, so you will learn about not only wine but the foods that go with it.

The price above does not include transportation or lodging, but does include a considerable amount of awfully good wine as well as a chance to spend some of your spring in Napa Valley. Can't make the April event, but are dying to attend? Save the dates for her August weekend course, or the biggest splurge of all: a week-long Ultimate Wine Experience. All of this beyond your financial reach? Then buy the book, and set up your own Wine Immersion Weekend right in your own home and invite your friends!

Readers' Request: Roses and Reading Suggestions

Today's post is devoted to the mail bag, and specifically to answering a few requests I received this week from readers. Their requests were, I felt, worthy of a post of their own and I hope that other bloggers and readers will chip in with help if you can. (photo Liq Wine by Jeremy Brooks)

First, a reader asked if I could suggest some roses for an upcoming tasting he's going to that will feature 4-5 rose wines (including some sparkling wines). You can check out all my reviews of rose wines from the past year by clicking here. Roses are meant to be drunk when they are still young, for the most part, and I haven't tasted any new releases this year, but here are some names to look out for when you're in the store, keeping in mind that there may be more recent vintages:

2005 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Vin Gris El Jabali Vineyard ($20). Pale salmon in color, this dry wine tends slightly towards copper. The aromas were of field-fresh, slightly under-ripe strawberries, or those little French wild strawberries called frais des bois. Tart strawberry flavors, too, with no hint of watermelon. Very distinctive.

2006 Fort Ross Pinot Noir Rose ($16) This beautifully perfumed dry rose has abundant raspberry fruit and a delicious mineral streak.

The NV Domaine Allimant-Laugner Brut Rose is a beautiful, drinkable, and affordable rose sparkling wine that I reviewed just last week. The aromas were full of strawberry, with some mineral notes just around the edges. 100% Pinot Noir grapes go into the wine, which accounted for these aromas, and the same strawberry and mineral combination was also present in the flavors. The finish was reasonably long, and the mineral notes became pleasantly chalky. Domaine Allimant-Laugner is made in the Champagne method, so it will suit traditionalists down to the ground.

How about a pink sparkling dessert wine? The 2007 Innocent Bystander Muscat ($9.99/375ml, domaine547), with its beautiful pink color and aromas of juicy peach and strawberry, is a winner. You pop the crown cap on this little bottle, and everything about the experience is light, summery, refreshing, and fun. The flavors keep up this playful spirit, continuing with the peach and strawberry but adding some clementine to add some zing and freshness. Absolutely yummy!

Had a good rose lately? Put it in the comments for this reader.

Another reader asked if I could suggest a few book titles for a wine lover who is just starting out on their journey. I continue to think that Andrea Immer Robinson's Great Wine Made Simple is one of the best books for someone just beginning to get into wine. She is particularly good at explaining the major varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, etc) and explaining new world and old world styles of wine-making. If you would prefer an overview of major wine styles that is regional, rather than varietal, in its focus, try Oz Clarke's Introducing Wine: A Complete Guide for the Modern Wine Drinker. Clarke has a wonderful writing style, and can really help you understand the world's most interesting wines that you will definitely want to try. Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible is, in my opinion, the best all-around reference book for someone new to wine, combining clear explanations with lots of coverage. It begins with terrific overviews on how wine is made, suggestions on how to shop for wine, and instructions on how to taste wine. Jancis Robinson's How to Taste is the best book for helping any new wine lover understand what the hell we are talking about when we describe a wine--and she helps you figure out how you can taste it, too. Anybody else have suggestions of books that were helpful to them when they were just starting out?

Hope these help. And if any of the rest of you have questions for me, drop me a line or leave a note in the comments section of any post. I'll get back to you--I promise!--and you may see it answered here on the blog to get some more feedback.

Decanting Young Wine

Decanting is one of those subjects that has far too much mystery associated with it. When to decant, why to decant, and how to decant are some of the most pressing issues facing you when you think, just as you stick the corkscrew into the cork, that maybe you should dig in the cupboard and find that decanter you've had for years and not used.

Today, I'm going to talk about decanting young red wine. Young reds can really benefit from decanting because the process adds oxygen to the wine. This is what happens slowly over time as wines sit in the bottle, and while decanting compresses the time frame it can't exactly duplicate all the complex changes that come with cellaring a wine. Nevertheless, if you've got a red wine that you can't wait to drink, decanting may bring out some of the wine's character that you would have missed just pouring it into a glass.

What follows is a photo essay with captions and tasting notes for my decanting experiment. My subject was the 2004 Bonneau Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County ($31.99) that I received as a sample from WineQ. You definitely could have had this wine right out of the bottle if you like your cabernets to have substantial grip from tannins, but I wanted to soften it up a little bit, so decanting suited my purposes perfectly.

Step #1: Assemble equipment. If you're going to do this, it's helpful to pull all the stuff you need out of the drawers and cupboards before you begin, and work on a clear flat surface. You need a wine glass, the wine (of course), the decanter (check for dust if you haven't used it for a while!) the filter, the foil cutter, the corkscrew, and a funnel. Because this is a young wine, you don't need the filter, so you can move that to the side. I got this decanter/funnel/filter set from Wine Enthusiast this Christmas, and I love it. It's affordable (currently on sale for $39.99), not too huge, and has everything you need to perform decantations in your own home.

Step #2: Taste the Wine. This is the biggest mistake people make, I think. Just as you don't want to salt food before you taste it, you don't want to decant a young wine before you've tasted it and seen what it's all about first. Maybe it doesn't need decanting. Maybe it needs twice the time you thought it did. You'll never know until you try it, so pull the cork, pour yourself a it, and see what you think. When I opened this cabernet, it tasted kind of tight--which is wine speak for a wine that has flavors that seem compressed and so coiled together that you can't easily distinguish one from the other. This is a classic description of a young red. I tasted some blackberry and a bit of baker's chocolate, but suspected that there was a lot more going on. So, I decided to decant it.

Step #3. Decant the Wine. First, you have to get the funnel into the decanter. You can use any kind of funnel that you want that isn't reactive--i.e., don't use an aluminum one, since that can react with the acids in the wine and impart a metallic taste. If you have a wine funnel, like the one pictured here, it may angle the tapered end towards the side of the decanter. That's so that the wine hits the glass, and slowly slides down into the globe of the decanter, maximizing the infusion of oxygen into the wine.

Here's the same decanter, filled with wine, and you can see from the frothy purple foam on top that the process has worked. That foam (which will quickly subside) is the sign that the wine has taken on some oxygen. Now, all you have to do it wait.

Step #4. Check the Wine. Between 30-50 minutes after you decant, go pour yourself another splash of wine. After 50 minutes in the decanter, I felt like the Bonneau was ready to strut its stuff. There were now pronounced aromas of plum, dark chocolate, and espresso. These aromas were present in the first taste of the wine when it hit your tongue, and as the wine passed through your mouth there was a nice, fresh lilt of cranberry that added freshness to the richer plummy, chocolatey flavors. The texture was smooth and silky, and the tannins were present but not overpowering. This was a fruity wine, but the more bitter chocolate and espresso notes held it in nice balance. I think this wine would develop nicely in the bottle, and I would consider buying a few bottles for short-term cellaring (ca. 1-3 years).

Step #5: Put Leftovers Back in the Bottle. If you've got wine left over, don't leave it in the decanter. Instead, put it back in the bottle, using the funnel to make sure it doesn't end up all over the counter. Use your favorite preservation strategy, and enjoy some the next night, too.

In a few weeks, I'll decant an old red--a nine-year old Australian shiraz that I know has lots of sediment in it from other tasting notes on CellarTracker. The basic technique is the same, but the reason for decanting is different and so there are a few important changes to the process. Meanwhile, find your decanter and give it a try with one of your wines. Track how decanting changes the aromas and flavors. You won't want to decant every wine you drink, but at least you'll have a better sense of which ones are worth the little bit of extra effort.

Teaching Your Children About Wine

Eat, drink, and be merry
Originally uploaded by jwlphotography

Every Friday night during my suburban Philadelphian childhood my parents ate dinner by themselves, shockingly late (by an 8 year old's standards) at 9:30 pm, at a table lit with candles. Food that my brother and I would not tolerate was prepared for these meals, and the house often smelled of exotic Indian spices, unfathomably slippery entrees like Coquilles St. Jacques, and homemade split pea soup. On the Friday closest to their anniversary each January (right about now, actually), my beautiful British mother would get into her damask wedding dress which miraculously still fit her after two children. There were approximately 1000 (or so I remember) covered buttons on the back, and I was allowed to fasten them. My handsome American dad would put on his wedding bow tie made from the same fabric as my mother's dress. It all smacked of grown-up sophistication, and this annual ritual was something I looked forward to for months. ("Eat, drink, and be merry," photo from jwlphotography)

With these Friday night dinners, there was always wine on the table. I remember bottles of Mateus (can't mistake that shape), straw-covered Italian reds that were then recycled into candleholders on family spaghetti nights, and German white wines with black cats on the label. I must admit, this was a pretty cosmopolitan selection for the suburbs of Philadelphia, ca. 1970.

It may have been the 70s, and cocktails may have been big, but on Friday nights it was wine all the way. And the wine that I remember so vividly from those Friday nights was also served at more ordinary dinners during the week, with tacos and hot dogs, chicken cacciatore, and all the other culinary delights of the times. My mother and father cooked nearly every meal I ate as a kid. There was nothing I "didn't eat" except, for a brief time, lobster.

These Friday night dinners and daily food and wine experiences shaped my love of wine, way back when I was only drinking milk and apple juice. I associated wine with home, with comfort, with family, with conversation, and with food. I wonder if that's why I was never tempted to down huge amounts of alcohol as a teen or a college student. I never saw much point in that, and it had no frame of reference for me. Where were the candles? The nice glasses? The ritual? The food? When I was old enough to buy my own wine, it was always in connection with a meal, a friend, a dinner party. In my parents household, wine was never something to be had to muffle desperate aloneness, as a sleeping aid, or to make something possible that otherwise would have seemed impossible--three reasons that a lot of people drink (and drink too much).

Every time you drink wine, you are teaching your children what to think about it, and shaping their attitudes. When you drink it, how you drink it, with whom, and why--these soak into your children's worldview in ways that you can't even imagine. Drink only on Thursdays? Chances are your children will see wine as an occasional, special thing that they can take or leave. Drink too much all the time? You may want to think about that--for your sake as well as your kids' sake.

Here in America many of us (myself included) wish that there was more of an "everyday wine culture." But the only way to build such a culture is to put wine on our tables, to treat it as something to be had with a meal, and to take it from a "special occasion" item and transform it into a far more regular--but no less ritual--occurrence.

All the important things about wine I learned from my parents. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. And thank you for the love of family, the love of food, and the love of wine that you shared with me. You taught me well.

Pronto! Italian Wines Calling

This year one of my resolutions is to learn more about Italian wines. I'm only ten days into the adventure, and I'm already finding out just how much there is to know. With twenty wine regions, dozens of native grape varieties found nowhere else, and a complicated system of appellations, it's enough to make anyone's head spin. (click on map from Siena Imports to enlarge)

Rather than tackling the situation from every direction at once, I've decided to focus on one or two appellations a month, and try to drink at least one red and one white wine from each region, as well as either a a sparkler or a dessert wine. What's up first? In January, I'll start out in the far north-east corner in Friuli-Venezia. For February we'll make a diagonal sweep to the south-west and visit Sicily. And in March we'll head north just a bit to Campania. Where next? Well, that depends. It's not that easy to find wines from Molise in LA, as it turns out, so the next stop will be determined by what I can get my hands on. As always, I'll be seeking out wines that are distinctive and show lots of varietal character but are less than $20. With the declining power of the dollar and the relative rarity of some of the wines, this may not always be possible--but I will try.

If you are also interested in learning more about Italian wines, here are some resources that I've found helpful the last few weeks:

1. Vino Italiano!, also known as the February Wine Book Club selection, is chock full of reference information, contains lists of Italian native grape varieties, and lists of producers. The chapters are very readable, too, so if you've been on the fence about joining in and reading along with the rest of us, I highly recommend it.

2. Two blogs are well worth subscribing to: Terry Hughes's Mondosapore, and Alfonso Cevola's On the Wine Trail in Italy. Both of these blogs contain lots of reliable information about the region's wine, but what's more they convey that in Italy, wine is part of life--not something for scorecards. If you can manage Italian, add Aristide, vino24.tv, and Vino al Vino to your reader while you're at it. Been planning to learn Italian? Here's your chance.

3. About learning Italian. Italian wine names can seem like a mouthful. Tasters A and B from the blog Smells Like Grape led me to an online Italian Wine Pronunciation Guide at WineIntro, as well as to a glossary of Italian wine terms. Kudos to the Tasters for finding these resources. Now everybody can go back to #2 and actually try reading some Italian wine blogs. Seriously, Americans are not the world leaders in foreign language skills. Why not TRY to expand your linguistic horizons, all in the cause of learning about some great wine?

4. Those labels. If you can figure out how to read an American label, you can figure this out, too. Wine Library has a great article that gives a simple explanation of the DOCG/DOC/IGT system of appellations and defines some common label terms. The Wine Lovers Page has a side-by-side comparison of US, French, and Italian labels so that you can see it's not that complicated, it's just different.

5. That appellation system. Yes, it takes a bit of getting used to, but there is a helpful article with diagram at Zigzagando. The reason it's a bit tough is because it's so quintessentially Italian, with lots of fuzzy areas and overlap, not to mention escape hatches for those creative individuals who don't want to grow approved grapes in their vineyards. This mixture of regulation, deliberate fuzziness, and creative side-stepping is what makes Italy great. How else did they manage to jumpstart the Renaissance? If none of what I just said made sense, go read the article. You'll come out realizing that great wines can be found at every appellation level, and you'll feel better about your chances of drinking great Italian wine.

So if Italian wines are calling you, don't get all anxious. Just shout "Pronto!" and get started.

How Green Is Your Wine?

Wine leaves an enormous carbon footprint each time we drink it--unless we try to drink more locally- produced bottles. That's what blogger, teacher, author, and now NYTimes op-ed writer Tyler Colman contends in his thought-provoking piece on wine and environmentalism. (photograph by Andrea S. Neumann)

I find that I am not sad to see wines with Stelvin closures, but I must confess that I will be sad the day (and given the carbon footprint issue it seems inevitable) when wine is not bottled any longer, but Tetra-paked.

We can stave off the inevitable a little longer, however, by doing what Dr. Vino suggests and trying to drink more local wine. Everybody has vineyards near them--trust me. I grew up in suburban Philly and there was a winery outside New Hope, PA. Not the epicenter of the wine universe, but still. The point remains that we could all do something to offset our foreign wine purchases by seeking out, and then supporting, local wine.

If you are on the west coast and want to know more, why not sign up for Tyler's class at UC Berkeley on February 23? He'll be discussing just this issue, and leading you to some great new wines that just may help to save the planet.