America's First Great Wine

My wife, Judy constantly sends me articles to use for these blogs.
I rarely use them, but she keeps sending them.
She's a good woman.
But an article she sent on "Amerca's first great wine" really intrigued me.
Of course, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. And since this is truly an American holiday, I always have some domestic wine to serve with our meal.
Can you guess what wine I'm NOT going to pour on Thursday?
How about Catawba?
Anybody out there having Catawba with their turkey?
Probably not.
Well, America's first great wine was made from the Catawba grape.
The style of the wine was a sparkling rose' and it was made by Nicholas Longworth in the Ohio River Valley in 1842.
Up until this wine was made, all American made wine was, well, let's just say, really, really bad. Like the article said, "the wines produced had "foxy" and musky aromas. They were terrible wines that nobody wanted to drink".
One last piece of trivia: The Catawba wine was so well received, that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow celebrated it in his poem "Ode to Catawba Wine".
I thought that was interesting.
I'm still sticking with Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir though.
My thanks to all who read these blogs.
Have a great Thanksgiving!

Tom

Wine Spectator's Top 10 Wines of 2013

This year Wine Spectator celebrates the 25th anniversary of  "the top100 wines of the year list".
This used to be a very exciting time in the wine world.
But I'm using the past tense, and here's why.
By the time the list comes out, you can't get most of the wines. And the ones you can get are often very expensive.
This wasn't always the case, but it has been for about the past 5-7 years.
Here's a look at this year's top 10, with the suggested retail price and with commentary on my ability as a retailer to get the wine:

#10: 2010 Quilceda Creek Cabernet, $135 - no longer available
#9:   2010 Lewis Reserve Cabernet, $135 - no longer available
#8:   2010 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape, $120 - no longer available
#7:   2010 Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape, $120 - no longer available
#6:   2008 Mascarello Monpravito Barolo, $110 - no longer available
#5:   2010 Kongsgaard Chardonnay, $75 - need to be on winery's mailing list to purchase
#4:   2010 Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon, $92 - not available in Missouri
#3:   2010 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir, $65 - Balabans received a 6 bottle allocation
#2:   2010 Canon La Gaffeliere Bordeaux, $103 - no longer available in Missouri
#1:   2004 Cane Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva, $63 - not available in Missouri

See what I mean?
When a list like this comes out, wine enthusiasts want to buy the wines, and they get frustrated when they can't.
And they take their frustrations out on the retailers, not Wine Spectator.
So there you go.
Anybody want a bottle of Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir?

Have a great weekend!

Tom

The Wine Ratings Game

During my high school and college years, I received my share of "A" and "C" grades.
How did I react to each?  A = Satisfaction. This is what I worked for and "deserved" to receive!
C = DEVASTATION! Woe is me - I'm no better than "average".
All the major critics use the 100 point scale to grade wine these days. Let's take the Wine Spectator scale and translate the score range into school grades (A through F):

• 95-100: Classic: a great wine = A to A+
• 90-94: Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style = B+ to A-
• 85-89: Very good: a wine with special qualities = C+ to B+
• 80-84: Good: a solid, well-made wine = C to C+
• 75-79: Mediocre: a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws = D- to D+
• 50-74: Not recommended = D- to F 

So, how many 80-84 point wines have you bought lately?  Huh?? 
Are you on the hunt for any 85-89 point wines? These are "very good: wines with special qualities".
Probably not.
It almost seems like if a wine doesn't get at least a 90 point rating, it's not worthy of our hard earned money. 
Too bad.
Like our grades in school, standards for wine ratings are sometimes unrealistically high. Everyone wants the highest scoring wines at the best possible prices.
Retailers won't even post a score of 80-84 points, because they know it will be the death of the wine.
I've had many really good wines with scores of 87-89 points that are also excellent values. But, the sad thing is, I usually don't advertise the scores. I just promote the taste and value of the wines. 
Nothing is going to change any time soon. Certainly not because I wrote a little blog about this.
But, I think if we would all lighten up a little about wine scores and trust our own palates, we would actually enjoy a greater variety of wines, and we would enjoy them NOW - without waiting for some "grade A" wine to evolve over the next 10-15 years.

Tom

Wines For Thanksgiving

Ahh, the holidays. Family, friends, food, wine, football  .....  travel delays, bad weather, arguments, kitchen mishaps, naughty kids, frustration, confusion.

CRYING!
How do we get through the holidays every year?
My family drinks!
Which brings me logically to the point of this blog: Thanksgiving wines. Selecting the right wines is not so much about the turkey, but all the sides that go with it. If your family is anything like mine, you're going to have all kinds of diverse flavors bouncing around your Thanksgiving table.
So the key is to have several "food friendly" wines that you know your family and friends will enjoy. Here's a good list to choose from: White: Chardonnay, Riesling (dry and slightly sweet), Chenin Blanc (dry and slightly sweet), Alsatian Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.
Red: Pinot Noir, Cru Beaujolais (Morgon or Moulin a Vent are two of my favorites), Barbera, and Grenache.
And of course dry sparklers - especially Champagne. These are a must.
I know our wines will consist of a Champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Chateauneuf du Pape. Probably more. I know CdP was not in my recommended list above, but, our family likes it, and it's become a tradition. It's also usually Grenache based, which is listed above.
My only other Thanksgiving wine rule: Make sure you have plenty of whatever you're serving! 

Tom

Chardonnay - The King of White Grapes!

Chardonnay has been beaten up a little over the years.  Remember the days of ABC - "anything but Chardonnay"?
And there have been, and still are, a handful of producers who seem to manipulate their wine so much that all they're left with is an oaky buttery mess.
But, for the most part, there is more high quality Chardonnay being made today than ever before - at all price levels.
So is it a stretch to label Chardonnay as the king or queen of white grapes?
I don't think so.
You might be able to make strong arguments for Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah or Pinot Noir for greatest red grape, but, I don't think another white grape comes even close to Chardonnay.
Here's a handful of some amazing domestic producers: Chateau Montelena, Paul Hobbs, Kistler, Ramey, Pahlmeyer and Lewis.
Their wines aren't cheap, but, treat yourself to one of these every now and then and you will be in wine heaven.
You can also get great Chardonnay made in a variety of styles at very reasonable prices, say $10 - $20 per bottle.
Once you leave the United States, you have what are considered the greatest Chardonnays in the world from Burgundy and Chablis. These are beautiful, age worthy wines that are ideal for fine dining or special occasions.
Finally, there is Champagne and sparkling wine - always a personal favorite.
Blanc de Blancs Champagne is made entirely from Chardonnay.
I'm just really scratching the surface here. Great Chardonnay is made all over the world. I've tasted excellent Chardonnays from Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and Italy.
So, if you still happen to be in "ABC" mode - SNAP OUT OF IT!
Get out to your favorite wine monger (hopefully that's Balabans), ask the resident wine geek (hopefully that's me) for some recommendations, and enjoy a glass of Chardonnay.

Tom

   

Wine and Sushi

We had our sushi fix last night.
It was almost two weeks since our last sushi meal and I was starting to get a little cranky.
I'm better now, though.
Sushi and sashimi offer a broad spectrum of interesting wine paring possibilities.
There's tons of information on line for paring wine and sushi, and there are really no hard and fast rules.
So these are just my opinions.
If I'm just having the raw fish, or sashimi, I like to stick with something subtle and simple.
The flavors of the fish are so delicate and elegant, the wines should have similar flavor profiles.
Champagne, Pinot Noir and premium sakes do the trick for me.
If you're going the sake route, make sure it's a high quality "cold" sake.
Never hot. Never!
Once you begin to add soy sauce, wasabi, spicy mayo and a host of other flavors to your nigiri (sliced raw fish on molded rice), or maki (sushi rolled in rice and cut into pieces), you have a whole new ball game.
Speaking of ball game, the Cards had another great season, winning the National League pennant only to lose to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. There's lots of great baseball in store for St. Louis in the future, though.
Congratulations St. Louis Cardinals!
But I digress.
Once you add all these intense flavors to sushi, it's time to notch up the intensity of the wine.
Alsace offers some great options with Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewurztraminer. I also like French or domestic Viognier. These white wines provide ample fruit and some spice of their own to compliment those intense flavors in the sushi.
I also like Rose' and Pinot Noir here.
There is a growing contingent of sushi/wine lovers that say the best way to go is red Bordeaux or California Cabernet Sauvignon.
I don't know about that one, but, I'm not opposed to giving it a try.
Anyway, as you can see, there are loads of options to try.
If you're experimenting, bring a couple of different wines in case one of them doesn't work for you.

Have a great weekend!

Tom