WBW #31 Announced: Non-Traditional Packaging

The theme for next month's Wine Blogging Wednesday has been announced. Hosted by Box Wines Blog, the brief is to pick a wine in a non-traditional package (box, tetrapack, goatskin--although I think that's the most traditional, isn't it?), drink it, write up your tasting notes, and post them on March 14, sending a note to the hosts about your submission. For the full brief, click on the announcement link.

Thanks to Sonadora at Wannabe Wino for giving me the head's up that this had been posted!

A Heroic Wrap-Up of an Epic WBW #30

In case you don't know yet, Tim Elliot's pipes burst right over his wine cellar which required some hasty use of saws and soldering irons, resulting in not only a hole in his cellar ceiling, but a smoldering rafter fire.

Despite this (face it, it would have been enough to send most of us straight into the wine cellar for vino!), he managed to pull together a wrap-up for last week's Wine Blogging Wednesday on New World Syrah that boasted the largest turnout in WBW history.

Head on over to Winecast for links to all 50 (not a typo) reviews of 70 (not a typo) wines ranging from $10 to $80, including:

38 Syrah
30 Shiraz
1 Grenache/Syrah
1 Mourvedre

From the following regions:

3 Argentina
27 Australia
25 California
1 Canada
5 Chile
1 New Zealand
3 South Africa
5 Washington State

I think that all these great write-ups from fellow wine lovers and bloggers will keep us rolling in shiraz and syrah for the foreseeable future. Thanks to Tim at Winecast, our fearless leader who bravely continued despite utter mayhem at home, and to all those who participated by sending in their notes. As soon as the theme for WBW #31 is posted, I'll be sure to announce it here.

Think Pink: the NV Blason de Bourgogne Crémant de Bourgogne Cuvée Rosé Brut

It's Valentine's Day this week--the time when you throw your New Year's diet out the window (if you haven't already done so), buy a box of chocolates, trawl supermarkets for flowers, and put together complicated dinner menus for the one(s) you love. And, even if you are averse to pink most of the year, you suddenly find yourself drawn to the color.

Fulfill your need for the pink stuff by trying this N.V. Blason de Bourgogne Crémant de Bourgogne Cuvée Rosé Brut ($7.99, Trader Joe's). A companion bottling to the regular brut sparkler from this winery I reviewed for WBW #28, the rose brut is salmon pink tending towards rose in color. There is not much of an aroma, but what you can smell is slightly biscuity like toasted bread. Once poured, there is lots of froth/mousse, and the bubbles/bead is a little rough and rasping on the tongue. Flavors of raspberry, toast, and yeast come through as you sip this wine. Brut rose wines are not as common as blanc de noirs and other pink or pinkish sparklers that are softer in style. This is not the smoothest brut rose you'll ever have, but it is still very good QPR. And, if you like your wine brut and pink, this is the way to go.

With this sparkler we had a fabulous pink pasta, as well, that I pulled off of Epicurious. Shrimp and bay scallops were tossed with garlic and oil, then added to a sauce made of tomatoes, clam juice, cream, and basil. This rich meal with its shellfish and tomato flavors responded very nicely to the brut wine, and of course it all looked fabulous together, too. If you are in the mood to bake, you can try your hand at this chocolate souffle cake from Cooking Light. It has a nice touch of orange from Triple Sec and deep, dark chocolatey gooey-ness and is surprisingly low in calories. It's a bit fiddly to make but you do need to make it in advance and refrigerate it, so you can hide all the work and whisk it out of the fridge, topping it with a dusting of confectioner's sugar and some orange peel at the last moment. Also: I think you could easily substitute 3 Tbs of Chambord for the OJ/Triple Sec and top with a smattering of raspberries if you want to stay on the pink/red/V-Day theme.

Bordeaux Step 4: Buying your Bordeaux

Now onto the fun stuff: buying Bordeaux.

There are two ways to buy Bordeaux. The first I call opportunistic (that is, you walk in the shop, see a bottle you want, and buy it), the second I call strategic (that is, you order wine as a future or pre-arrival and wait for up to two years to feel the bottle in your hot little hand). In both cases, however, it is absolutely crucial that you buy Bordeaux from a merchant that you trust. And, ideally, your merchant should be someone with whom you have developed some kind of a working relationship. You want to be able to ask questions, and to know that the answers are reliable. You also need to know that this is a merchant who is going to be around if there are problems with your shipment. Indeed, you need to feel confident this merchant will still be in business when your wine finally arrives long after you've paid for it.

First, opportunistic Bordeaux buying. You can always go into your favorite wine merchant and ask them if they have any Bordeaux wines on the shelf. Some will have aged Bordeaux, and others will have freshly arrived Bordeaux that may or may not be ready to drink. It's important that you trust your merchant, in this case, because you don't want to buy older Bordeaux that hasn't been stored properly, or newer Bordeaux that hasn't been shipped and received properly. Who wants cooked Bordeaux? Not me.

When it comes to strategic Bordeaux buying, trusting your merchant is just as important for reasons of storage and receiving, but you have to add to this the real worries that I always have about shipping. There are merchants that specialize in shipping wine, though, and it pays to find them. Often, big online merchants such as K&L have great selections and prices and I typically browse their futures and pre-arrival wines, find what I want, order them, pay for them, and then wait for them to arrive 18 months to 2 years later. When they do arrive from K&L, I know that they will arrive in a sturdy box (picture 1), packed into styrofoam silos or some other packing material that provide some insulation from temperature changes as well as breakage (picture 2), and that I will actually receive what I ordered (picture 3). I have a long relationship with K&L and had received lots of wines from them without any problem for almost 10 years before I started buying Bordeaux futures. They have excellent customer service, too, as Vivi's Wine Journal reported back in November. On the east coast, I've ordered wines as gifts for family out there from The Wine Library in NJ and I've never had a bad experience with them, either. The wines are always correct, they always arrive in impeccable condition, and I've experienced great customer service during the order and delivery process.

Simply put, finding a merchant that you know and can trust takes a lot of anxiety and stress out of buying Bordeaux. If you have any recommendations for Bordeaux merchants in your area, or online merchants that you have used, please leave a comment and let us all know. Beginning next week: the final three posts on the research you need to do to make the best buying choices.

Love, Biodynamics, and Vino: Responsible Hedonism for Valentine's Day

Do you know what you're serving your sweetie in the wine department for the upcoming Valentine's Day festivities? Something romantic, for sure. But how about a wine that is not only romantic, but organic and biodynamic, too? One publication is urging you to consider "responsible hedonism" as the theme for your celebrations this year.

The good folks at Organic Wine Journal have just released their dozen picks from among organic and biodynamic wines. They include sparkling, rose, white, red, and dessert selections and there are even food pairing suggestions to help you pull it all together. I was particularly drawn to the Brüder Dr. Becker 2004 Scheurebe Sekt Extra Trocken from the Rheinhessen in Germany (available from Crush Wine and Spirits for $22.99 or Smith & Vine for $20) with its pink grapefruit flavors to go with lobster, as well as the Mas Amiel Maury 1990 from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France (available from Appellation Wine and Spirits for $44.99) . This is a yummy port-style dessert wine made with grenache grapes that would go perfectly with chocolate. Though more than $20, it's still cheaper than a dozen roses and probably will last longer, too!

If you don't know the Organic Wine Journal, you should swing over to their site and take a look. They've got some great articles up now about Demeter Certification for biodynamic producers, and another on the use of organic grapes in New Mexico. Clicking on their logo, above, will take you to the home page, and the links above lead directly to specific articles.