How People Buy Wine

A few years ago, before I was in the wine business, and had a little more disposable income, I would visit my favorite wine purveyor every other week or so, and stock up.
One visit would concentrate on "value" wines, usually around $20 per bottle. The next visit would be for "nicer" wines, usually $30-40 per bottle. Rarely would I spend over $50 per bottle. I would usually buy 2 or 3 bottles of the same wine at a time. If I really liked a wine and it was a good value, I might splurge for 6 bottles, or sometimes, even a full case of 12. I would always be sure to buy the latest and greatest Cabernet, and then fill in the rest of a case with Italian, French, Spanish and other wines. The white wines usually fell into the "value" category.
Now, being in the wine business, it's fun to watch other customers buying patterns.
You always get your mixed case buyers, but I would say 3 bottle buyers are the most common. With 3 bottles you're not overly committed to a particular wine, but you can still try it over a period of time to see how it evolves.
Most common purchase quantities per my observation at Balaban's:
3 bottles
6 bottles
2 bottles
4 bottles
1 bottle
12 bottles
Does anyone really care about this?
Probably not.
My blog.

Tom

Should I decant my wine?

A customer came in the other day and bought a couple of wines I recommended. I love when that happens. As I was checking him out, I suggested that he decant one of the wines. He asked what I meant, and I told him to pour the wine into a decanter for an hour or so. Then he asked "what's a decanter"? I was speechless for a moment. Have I become a "wine snob"? Why should I expect everyone to know what decanting is? So I explained it to him and he merrily went on his way - another happy customer!
Which brings us back to the topic of decanting.
There are two reasons to decant your wine. For older reds (10 years or more), you decant to strain off the sediment that may have developed over the years. If you've ever had the experience of chewing these solids that form in red wine, you know that they need to be removed. "Purists" will scoff at this, but the easiest way to decant these wines is to pour them from the bottle through a strainer into your decanter.
The second reason to decant is to aerate young wines. This usually applies to young reds, but I've seen whites also benefit greatly from a little air. The extra air opens up the nose and softens the tannins. Once again, purists will hate this idea, but, what I like to do is pour the wine from the bottle through  portable aerator into the decanter. This provides extra aeration and will benefit any young wine.
Decanters come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and prices range from $5 to $1000+.  Seriously.
The good news is they all pretty much accomplish the same thing, so expensive will likely get you a prettier decanter, but not necessarily a better one.

Have a great weekend.

Tom

Cult Wines - Fact and Fiction

A couple of weeks ago in one of my newsletters, I used the term "cult wine" to describe Bryant Family Cabernet Sauvignon.
And it makes me think: Is Bryant really a cult wine, or did I use the term to shamelessly sell the wine?
I would say the answers are "yes" and "yes".
The term "cult wine" has been around for several years. The wine industry uses the term "cult", whether it is legitimate or not,  to sell wine, because wine buyers want cult wines.
So what is a "legitimate" cult wine?
Let's see what Wikipedia says: "Cult wines are those for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money. Cult wines are often seen as trophy wines to be collected or as investment wine to be held rather than consumed."
In addition, cult wines are almost impossible to get. They are usually purchased through winery mailing lists, and those lists are closed to new buyers. Waiting lists can be as long as 10 years.
In other words, you have to wait for existing list members to either die, or drop off the list for some reason.
Pretty wild, huh?
Most of the major wine producing countries produce some cult wines, but, here are a few of the more famous ones from the good old USA:
Screaming Eagle: $1500-$2000 per bottle!
Harlan: $500-$800
Scarecrow: $300-$400
Bryant: $400-$500
You also have Sine Quo Non, Araujo, Colgin and Saxum.
Opus One, Dominus, Peter Michael, Dunn, Kistler and Caymus are also considered cult wines, but, their production is higher, and consequently, they are a little easier to find.
Buyer beware: If someone is trying to peddle you a "cult wine" - it probably isn't.

Tom

                        

Winery Focus: Schramsberg

The more you read these blogs, the more you will see my obsession with Champagne and sparkling wines.
We started off our Thanksgiving with a wine from my favorite domestic sparkling wine producer - Schramsberg. This is what we had:

NV Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut - $24 at Balaban's (Shameless plug acknowledged)

Schramsberg also has one of the best winery tours I've ever experienced.
So, next time you're in Napa, make sure Schramsberg is on your list of wineries to visit.
You will have to make an appointment, but it's well worth the extra effort. You will get an informative tour of the cool Schramsberg caves, and an interesting overview of the winemaking process. They make their wine the same way as Champagne which is known as methode champenoise. They even still turn the bottles by hand, which is known as riddling. You'll hear all about it on the tour.
At the end of the tour you end up in a candle lit open area of the cave, where you taste all of the Schramsberg wines - or at least most of them.
You might also get to taste the still wines that are made under the J. Davies label - a Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
All the wines are excellent.
I can't wait to go back!
Have a great weekend.

Tom

A section of the Schramsberg cave

Champagne - The Real Stuff

I love Champagne. 
It's the wine of celebration, it's very food versatile and it makes me happy when I drink it.
But, alas. as hard as I try, I still sometimes mis-use the name "Champagne".
Champagne should only refer to sparkling wines produced in the French wine region of Champagne.
Even within France, if the wine is not produced in Champagne, but is made in the Champagne method, it is called a Cremant.
That Champagne method that I mentioned is known as methode champenoise, which is a "process" that is used to make the world's finest sparkling wines.
If you want to learn more about the methode champenoise process, I've included a link below. It's actually pretty interesting.
In general though, when someone asks for Champagne they are thinking of a dry white or rose' sparkling wine.
Here are some price ranges for dry sparklers available at Balaban's. Only the domestics and Champagnes use the methode champenoise, which is reflected in the price:
Spanish Cava:  $15 - $25
Italian Prosecco:  $18 - $30
Domestic Sparkling: $20 - $100+
Champagne: $40 - "the sky's the limit"!

http://www.winesparkle.com/what.html

Tom