We woke up once again to a thick, orange haze and the smell of smoke in the air. It is our 2nd day of air quality warnings. And we're not even in the fire zone--we're in the evacuation zone.
For those of you who haven't heard, lightning strikes over the weekend set off more than 100 fires in the region, and they spread due to intensely dry conditions and stiff winds. More than 19000 acres have been burned in Mendocino County, and another 9000 have been burned in Lake County. And there are more fires (842 at last count) throughout northern California, as this map shows:
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Here in my part of the world, the northern Sonoma coast where it touches Mendocino County, volunteer fire crews and California Department of Forestry firefighters have been working to battle the blazes in nearby residential, agricultural, and viticultural areas.
If you are a wine lover and have ever had a wine by Handley, Esterlina, Claudia Springs, Husch, Roederer, Pacific Echo, Londer, Navarro, Standish, or Greenwood Ridge--please think good thoughts for these families and businesses since they are within 3 miles of the 1400 acre/5% contained Navarro fire.
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Wherever you are, consider supporting your local firefighters and their efforts today. It only takes a strike of lightning to make you realize how much depends on them and their professionalism in a time of crisis.
Those of you interested in following the story can keep track of recent developments via the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, which is providing excellent coverage.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wine Book Club #3: To Cork Or Not to Cork?
4 billion dollars. That's what's at stake financially in the wine
biz when it comes to getting consumers to make up their minds about what stopper they want in their wine bottle. But as George Taber explains in his new book, To Cork or Not to Cork? Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the WineBottle ($26, Scribner) there's more than just money at stake, too. If you are a dedicated oenophile and enjoy having esoteric wine subjects presented in a humorous, accessible way by a gifted writer you will like this book. My hat is off to anyone who can convey detailed, often scientific information with flair and enthusiasm. It's not a book for the casual wine drinker, but if you are a wine enthusiast this is a book you will want on your shelf.
Taber's book was selected by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours for the 3rd edition of the Wine Book Club, the every-other-month meeting of bloggers and readers to discuss a recent or classic book on wine. What I learned from Lenn's pick is just how serious the business of closures is in the wine industry.
In the story so far, big industry money and scientific research supporting the use of alternatives to natural cork have been on a collision course with the tastes and prejudices of the average wine consumer, who is resistant to change. The pop of the cork, the way it rolls around on the table, the little design--even sniffing the darn thing--all play a part in a person's sensory enjoyment of wine. Complicating the matter further is tradition, the increasing pursuit of all things natural, and the need to impress friends and relatives by not serving wine in a bottle that only requires a flick of the wrist to open it.
Taber does more than you might expect is humanly possible to make the tension between the needs of the wine, the winemakers, and the consumers interesting. He delves into the annals of history, and tells you about the first man who saw the cells in cork (Robert Hooke). Taber recounts the story of Randall Grahm's cork "funeral." Periodic "Message in a Bottle" breaks between chapters describe particular incidents with wine closures that will bring a smile of recognition to most wine lovers' faces. And there is even a villain in the piece, in the form of TCA (trichloroanisole) which occurs naturally in cork and can impart a musty, wet-cardboard smell and taste to wine for those who are sensitive to it.
No one wants to drink wine that smells like their basement after a flood--so why do so many people resist alternative closures? If you're like me, Stelvin (screwtop) closures are much less of an issue than ersatz plastic corks, which no one seems to like. There are alternatives to natural cork, Stelvin closures, and synthetic corks: elegant and expensive glass stoppers, which Taber explains have a long history; and the stoppers made with cork granules and a binding agent, which are increasingly popular. With both the glass and the amalgamated closures you get the characteristic "pop" of pleasure in opening a wine bottle, but not the threat of TCA contamination.
In pursuit of my own semi-scientific findings on the subject of TCA taint, the good folks at Oenéo Closures sent me a little test kit of untreated cork granules, steam-cleaned cork granules, and cork granules that have been decontaminated with a proprietary process called DIAM that is a little like what happens to coffee beans when they are decaffeinated. I followed their instructions, added distilled water to the cork granules, and let them sit for 18 hours. I then decanted the liquid into wine glasses. I could definitely smell the classic wet, moldy cardboard aroma in the untreated mixture, and smelled nothing but water in the other two samples. Definitely a good sign, and it would give me some confidence to know that an expensive bottle of wine had one of these corks in it before I splurged and bought it. The corks made from the super-cleaned granules are in a lot of US wine bottles these days, including Cosentino, Copain, Robert Pecota, and Hannah Nicole. Even French makers are using them for their still and sparkling wine, including Louis Jadot, Hugel, Billecart-Salmon and Taittinger.
After reading Taber's book I'm convinced that the tide is turning--and for good reason--against a mindless opposition to screwtops and other alternatives to plain old cork. But I'm not sure that I agree with Taber that a "packaging revolution is on the horizon and rapidly rushing forward." His book provided ample evidence of just how ingrained our wine habits are, and how little we as consumers like to have someone rock our wine world.
In July and August we'll be reading a title selected by Farley from Behind the Vines, so stay tuned next week for her announcement of the title and why she chose the book. We'll be posting reviews the last Tuesday in August, so you should have lots of time to join in and read along if you are interested. As always, you can stay up to date with what's we're reading in the Wine Book Club by checking out our pages on Shelfari or Facebook. Thanks again to Lenn for hosting WBC #3.
biz when it comes to getting consumers to make up their minds about what stopper they want in their wine bottle. But as George Taber explains in his new book, To Cork or Not to Cork? Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the WineBottle ($26, Scribner) there's more than just money at stake, too. If you are a dedicated oenophile and enjoy having esoteric wine subjects presented in a humorous, accessible way by a gifted writer you will like this book. My hat is off to anyone who can convey detailed, often scientific information with flair and enthusiasm. It's not a book for the casual wine drinker, but if you are a wine enthusiast this is a book you will want on your shelf.Taber's book was selected by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours for the 3rd edition of the Wine Book Club, the every-other-month meeting of bloggers and readers to discuss a recent or classic book on wine. What I learned from Lenn's pick is just how serious the business of closures is in the wine industry.
In the story so far, big industry money and scientific research supporting the use of alternatives to natural cork have been on a collision course with the tastes and prejudices of the average wine consumer, who is resistant to change. The pop of the cork, the way it rolls around on the table, the little design--even sniffing the darn thing--all play a part in a person's sensory enjoyment of wine. Complicating the matter further is tradition, the increasing pursuit of all things natural, and the need to impress friends and relatives by not serving wine in a bottle that only requires a flick of the wrist to open it.
Taber does more than you might expect is humanly possible to make the tension between the needs of the wine, the winemakers, and the consumers interesting. He delves into the annals of history, and tells you about the first man who saw the cells in cork (Robert Hooke). Taber recounts the story of Randall Grahm's cork "funeral." Periodic "Message in a Bottle" breaks between chapters describe particular incidents with wine closures that will bring a smile of recognition to most wine lovers' faces. And there is even a villain in the piece, in the form of TCA (trichloroanisole) which occurs naturally in cork and can impart a musty, wet-cardboard smell and taste to wine for those who are sensitive to it.
No one wants to drink wine that smells like their basement after a flood--so why do so many people resist alternative closures? If you're like me, Stelvin (screwtop) closures are much less of an issue than ersatz plastic corks, which no one seems to like. There are alternatives to natural cork, Stelvin closures, and synthetic corks: elegant and expensive glass stoppers, which Taber explains have a long history; and the stoppers made with cork granules and a binding agent, which are increasingly popular. With both the glass and the amalgamated closures you get the characteristic "pop" of pleasure in opening a wine bottle, but not the threat of TCA contamination.
In pursuit of my own semi-scientific findings on the subject of TCA taint, the good folks at Oenéo Closures sent me a little test kit of untreated cork granules, steam-cleaned cork granules, and cork granules that have been decontaminated with a proprietary process called DIAM that is a little like what happens to coffee beans when they are decaffeinated. I followed their instructions, added distilled water to the cork granules, and let them sit for 18 hours. I then decanted the liquid into wine glasses. I could definitely smell the classic wet, moldy cardboard aroma in the untreated mixture, and smelled nothing but water in the other two samples. Definitely a good sign, and it would give me some confidence to know that an expensive bottle of wine had one of these corks in it before I splurged and bought it. The corks made from the super-cleaned granules are in a lot of US wine bottles these days, including Cosentino, Copain, Robert Pecota, and Hannah Nicole. Even French makers are using them for their still and sparkling wine, including Louis Jadot, Hugel, Billecart-Salmon and Taittinger.After reading Taber's book I'm convinced that the tide is turning--and for good reason--against a mindless opposition to screwtops and other alternatives to plain old cork. But I'm not sure that I agree with Taber that a "packaging revolution is on the horizon and rapidly rushing forward." His book provided ample evidence of just how ingrained our wine habits are, and how little we as consumers like to have someone rock our wine world.
In July and August we'll be reading a title selected by Farley from Behind the Vines, so stay tuned next week for her announcement of the title and why she chose the book. We'll be posting reviews the last Tuesday in August, so you should have lots of time to join in and read along if you are interested. As always, you can stay up to date with what's we're reading in the Wine Book Club by checking out our pages on Shelfari or Facebook. Thanks again to Lenn for hosting WBC #3.
Serious Grape Debuts on Serious Eats
If you are a foodie, you've probably heard of (if not visited and bookmarked) Serious Eats, the award-winning food blog anchored by Ed Levine, Adam Kuban, and a dozen other intrepid souls with contributions from the likes of Mario Batali, Dorie Greenspan, Gina de Palma, and Edible East End's Brian Halweil.Serious Eats also highlights the work of a number of bloggers, including Paul Clarke of the Cocktail Chronicles, Melissa Hall of the Southern Foodways Alliance, Nick Kindelsperger from The Paupered Chef, Ree who blogs at The Pioneer Woman, and Emily Stone from Chocolate in Context.
As of today the list of contributors includes me, too.
I'll still be here at GWU$20 4-5 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. But every other week or so I'll also have a post over at Serious Eats in a new column called Serious Grape that I'll be sharing with Dr. Vino, Tyler Colman. I'll stick a link here guiding you over there in case you want to check it out. While you are out and about, do check out some of the other great writing and recipes. There's also an active forum if you've been looking for a place to discuss food and wine related issues.
My first post is about wine snobs, and a recent article that generated quite a buzz in the wine blogging world about wine criticism and reviews. Based on this article, my dad is an avowed wine snob--and that's just not so! See what you think, write a comment, respond with your own post and enter the discussion if you feel so moved. Thanks for clicking over to the story, and see you back here when you're done reading.
Monday, June 23, 2008
It's Time to Take Rosé Seriously
Rosé wines are the black sheep of the wine world, the relatives that no upstanding grape wants to talk about, and it’s all because of White Zinfandel. White Zin was pumped out of Napa and other parts of California in boxes, barrels, jugs, and regular old wine bottles in the 1970s and 1980s in such massive quantities that it became ubiquitous at suburban progressive dinners, barbecues, and (sad to say) formal events. It gave rosés a very bad name.It’s time to get over it.
Today’s rosé wines are not at all like the White Zinfandel of the past. They are great wines, and they deserve to be taken seriously.
All over the globe winemakers are putting aside their qualms and taking quality red grapes (like Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Tempranillo, and even Pinot Noir) and vinifying them with minimal skin contact to end up with a wine that combines crispness, roundness, and bright fruit.
The latest rosé that I've had that is worth serious consideration for your dining table is the very good QPR 2006 Jeriko Estates Rosé.($12.99, WineQ). This was a round and full wine, with aromas of juicy strawberries and clean, crisp wet stone. While some rosés can have a strong note of watermelon candy or Jolly Ranchers, this one did not have any melon in the aromas or flavors. Instead, your tongue tingled with the flavor of those tiny strawberries you are sometimes lucky enough to find growing wild. Made with 100% organic Syrah and Grenache grapes, this wine has 14.1% alc/vol, so it is not a wimpy or small wine by any stretch of the imagination.
Rosés go with all kind of summer foods--including hot dogs and our chosen rosé pairing, buffalo chicken wings. They deserve a place on your summer table, chilled but not ice cold, or you won't be able to appreciate their full and flavorful personalities. Today's rosés are definitely not your mother's White Zinfandel, so if you haven't tried a rosé lately, it's time.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wine Blogging Wednesday #47 Announced--This Wine Brought to You By the Letter "S"
Erin and Michelle at the Canadian wine blog Grape Juice have come up with a perfect theme for the height of summer. With a nod and a wink back to childhood's Sesame Street, they want you to drink a wine "Brought to you by the letter 'S'."I never could resist Grover when he got bossy.
If you think this theme is baggy and bit vague, that was intentional. As they explained at Good Grape, "We want to see what you come up with when you’re given near limitless options. The word beginning with “S” must be directly related to your bottle of wine (think region, appellation, producer, varietal, style, winemaker, etc) but that’s the only rule."
So if you are feeling a bit frazzled, just go to the store and pick up some Syrah, a wine from South America, or a yummy bottle of something from a maker like Sineann. Feeling revved up by the summer? Go for a trifecta, with the name, variety, and region all coming in under the "S" guidelines. Just grab some grape juice and a PB&J and have some classic summertime fun.
Erin and Michelle would like your entries on July 9, 2008, and full instructions on how to post/email/and otherwise submit your entries are explained in their announcement post. If you haven't checked out the roundup from WBW #46 on Rhone whites, it's right here at GWU$20, and you can get their via the express lane by clicking here.
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