Fun with Finals

I admit it: I was a little anxious. Yesterday was my exam for the WSET Level 1 Foundation course. I’d studied and paid attention in class, yet occasionally had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that I used to get before I wrote an exam. And it’d been a while since I’d studied for anything. While the course was only three weeks, there was a lot of great information shared not only in the study guide  but in class as well. The wealth of knowledge of instructors Paul Giudici and American Wine School Founder, Marianne Frantz, made the class so interesting and fun; their love and enjoyment of wine was infectious. We studied about the seven noble varieties, styles of wine and how other factors like oak, tannin and acidity affects the wine. We also e xplored the appropriate temperatures for serving wines (including varying temps for white and sweet and sparkling. Not all reds should be served at room temperature). We looked at the importance of correct glassware and why to keep it clean: Dust and detergent residue can adversely affect the taste.

The final night’s class on food and wine pairing  ~ the one  I missed, was in addition to my study notes that, thankfully, I had with me. I learned that: Sweeter and savory dishes can amplify your perception of bitterness, acidity and alcohol burn in your wine. Foods that are higher in acidity and salt can enhance your perception of  the wine’s body, sweetness and fruitiness. Until this class, when I’d choose wine with a dish, I typically thought only of the standard, safe-and-sure pairing principles: White wine with lighter meats and fish; reds with beef and certain pasta dishes.  I’ve since learned that it goes much further than that, in order to get the best taste experience. It’s good to consider the salt-to-acid ratio, not just in the food but also in your wine. For instance, if you’re having a dinner that’s packing some major Chili heat, you’d want to pair it with a lower alcohol white or low-tannin | low-alcohol red. Since Chili heat increases the perception of bitterness, acid and alcohol burn, pairing with a high alcohol wine would be like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Yowza!

Once I turned the test paper over and read the questions, my nerves fell away. And to celebrate after the exam, I cracked open an ’02 Tempranillo. It was lovely and creamy; deep purple in color and tasted  of rich, ripe raspberry.

I really enjoyed my time at the American Wine School and I hope my schedule will allow me to take the other levels in the WSET Foundation series. If you’re looking for a great, fun way to improve your wine knowledge, I recommend checking out the AWS | WSET Foundation series classes.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Mother’s Day Mimosa Magic!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

It was the warm scent of cinnamon buns that got my feet on the floor. And when I got to the kitchen, I found another surprise of fresh coffee, my favorite flower (the Gerbera) and a champagne flute filled with a Mimosa. As I sipped and enjoyed, I thought a lot about my mother, whom I miss every day, and hope has found a good Mimosa and Martini in heaven. I also thought about being a mother. I remembered how nervous I was at the beginning and how, when my girl first arrived, I looked at her with the split-second, terrified thought of ‘now what?!’ But together with HubbyDoug, I managed to make it through those first awkward days and settle into raising a really good kid.

Part of the sleight-of-hand you perform as a mom is being able to juggle things that come up in your child’s life. You adjust your schedule accordingly, and effortlessly leave them all puzzling how you did it. Tomorrow night is my last class of the WSET wine course. And tomorrow night, my girl is receiving an academic award from her high school. There’s no question as to where I’ll be. As much as I’d love to sample some of the food and wine pairings, it’s okay to cut class. I wouldn’t miss seeing my girl receive something she’s worked so hard for all year.

To all of you Moms who work your magic all year long,  Happy Mother’s Day!

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Just Peachy

Sald! Peach~Mango~Chardonnay Sangria

Salud! Peach~Mango~Chardonnay Sangria

KISS ~ Keep it Simple, Sweetness!  I used to think that making Sangria would be an arduous task, so I stayed away from it. But I wanted something fun to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Though not a beer drinker, I’d usually choose the safe and sure Corona ~ where the hardest part would be finding my bottle opener and cutting some lime wedges.  But with the weather being so beautiful (and in the Cleve, you have to take advantage when you can) I craved something fruity, fun and wine- based. I found an easy recipe for Peach~Mango~Chardonnay Sangria.

Some of the recipes I looked up suggested using Voignier, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, which tend to be much more fruity and lighter. Chardonnay is generally a full-bodied white. I chose an ’11 Layer Cake Chard. In part, because it was a less expensive bottle~ about $11~  and because I’d be mixing it with juices, ice and liqueur. I also thought since Chardonnay is so full-bodied, the taste would stand out more in the mix. The tasting notes claimed a citrus, pineapple and lemon curd vibe with a clean finish that I thought would be cool. I was pairing it with homemade Guacamole that was quite salty, and thought the sweet of the Sangria would meld nicely with the salt.

I really liked the Peachy ~ Mango first flush that quickly settled into the citrus and pineapple of the Chardonnay; and it really balanced out the onion, tomato and garlic elements of the guac. The next time I try it, though, I’m going to change it up using an inexpensive Voignier or Sauvignon Blanc, just to see if there is any discernible taste difference.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Workin’ it in Washington

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink

Bubbly and fun, this lovely girl was serving a Pink Prosecco Party Punch. She was working an event I attended this past weekend in DC. While it wasn’t specifically a wine event, there was always a glass of fermented fun nearby. Which is good, since it usually helps to loosen the tie of even the stuffiest stuffed shirt.

Prosecco is a sparkling wine from, most notably,  the region of Veneto in North Eastern Italy.  Pink Prosecco is just what it sounds like. What makes it pink? Skin contact with the Pinot Nero (Noir) grape.  According to WineSearcher.com the varietal blend is: 85% Prosecco (Glera) ~ the 15% remaining may include: Bianchetta Trevigana, Perera, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Noir (if you want it pink). Some notable brands worth sampling: Ruffino ($12), Canella ($17), Bisol Bel Star ($20). For mixing in punch, you might want to stick with the lower priced offerings. If you’re going to spend $20 on a bottle, it’s best to keep it the star of the show.

I find that sparklers like Prosecco go right to my head, so my rule of thumb is: One glass to feel dreamy ~ two or more and it’s lights out. But when combined with one of the first warm evenings of spring, it prompted me to start thinking, and anticipating, a great season ~ alfresco and under the stars.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Breathe Easy: The Winebreather Carafe

The Winebreather image via givesimple

The Winebreather image via givesimple

A few posts back, I wrote about decanters and aerators and found that there was a significant difference in wine when you use them. I recently read about the Menu Winebreather Carafe. Menu claims that it adds 10x more oxygen to the wine in under 2 minutes…hmmm…that’s pretty interesting … and fast.  When you decant, you have to wait about 2 hours to to get the full effect of the oxygenation. Aeration is pretty instantaneous by comparison.

The way it works: You press the decanter onto the top of any wine bottle then flip it over to pour the wine into the decanter and serve. The beauty of this design is that if there’s any wine left in your decanter, and that’s a big if, you flip again, pour the remaining wine back into the bottle to store in the fridge. That’s kind of cool.

It retails for $49.95 and is available pretty much everywhere including Menu, Wine Enthusiast and Amazon.

Having a little science background (which can be a dangerous thing) I couldn’t just go by marketing copy and a few gold stars (although it seemed to score a lot of them).

Oh no, I’m going to do my own experiment ~ decanter vs. aerator vs. winebreather. I’d like to see for myself what’s what. Alas, I’ll have to wait a couple of days for the last constant; the Winebreather isn’t available at my local wine shops.  That’s a bit of a drag but it’s okay.

I’ll be sure to write a full report on my findings. But to pass the time, I’ll continue to enjoy my Rabbit. The aerator, I mean.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Peggy, Joan and Betty: My Top Three Mad Wine Cocktails

The Ladies: Peggy (L), Joan (C) and Betty (R)

The Ladies: Peggy (L), Joan (C) and Betty (R)

It’s no secret that I love AMC’s Mad Men. In the spirit of its Season 6 premier tonight, I found some wine-based cocktails that made me think of my three favorite lady characters: Peggy, Joan and Betty.

The Peggy (Operator)

2oz chilled dry white wine

2oz dry ginger ale

1 tsp lime juice

Pour over some cracked ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with a slice of lime and a generous dollop of sarcasm.

The Joan (Cabernet Cobbler)

4oz chilled Cabernet Sauvignon

1tsp fresh lemon juice

1tsp superfine sugar

2oz soda water

Dissolve sugar in lemon juice and water in a big, beautiful wine glass. Pour in Cabernet, stir gently and garnish with a slice of orange and a knowing wink.

The Betty (Diamond Fizz)

2oz Gin

juice of 1/2 lemon

1tsp powdered sugar

chilled Champagne

Shake gin, lemon juice sugar and ice, then strain into a high ball glass and fill with chilled Champagne. Garnish with an icy stare and a touch of resentment.

After some of the shocks of last season, I’m honestly not sure where this season will take us. But if memory serves, the Mad Men way of dealing life’s challenges is to remain calm, fasten your seat belt and smooth the rough edges with a great cocktail.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

It’s Always Sweet in Florida: San Sebastian Winery

 

Wherever I travel, I always try to find a winery. Not that I can’t go a day without a glass of wine, but it’s a great way to check out local offerings and to taste the differences in growing regions. On this first trip to Jacksonville, I wasn’t sure I’d find one so close. San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine, was only 45 minutes away by car. Sweet.

Established in 1996, San Sebastien Winery uses a combination of hybrid bunch grapes; Stover, Suwannee, Blanc Du Bois along with Muscadine. The Muscadine grape thrives in humid, warm conditions and well-drained, loamy sand. It bears fruit in small, loose clusters that allow for better air flow and circulation. If you look at the picture, they look really different from what we’re used to here in Ohio.

Muscadine Grapes Image via drlindseyduncun

Muscadine Grapes Image via drlindseyduncun

Their growing season begins from bud break in mid-March to harvest in late July and August.The skins change from a bronze into a deep blackberry color, when fully ripe, and have a very high content of polyphenols and trans-resveratrol, highly touted for its’ health benefits. Muscadine wine is typically sweeter due to the sugar content from the winemaking process.

Unlike many wineries I’ve visited, there was no direct access to their vineyards, (Lakeridge Winery) located several miles away in Clermont, Fla. So we toured the winery, saw an informational video about how wine is made, had a quick look at the barrel room, the bottling area and finally wound it all up in the tasting room. There, we sampled a few of their products including: the Castillo Red (very Merlot-like) and the Stover Reserve ~ quickly moving down the list, from dry to sweet, until we reached the sherry and port.

Tour guide Doc Michealson, instructed visitors on why the swirl is important and, specifically, how to properly sip the port and sherry. He explained that it would take three sips of each to get the full flavor. One lone sip and all we’d taste would be “the booze”, not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, I got his point that the beauty was in tasting the nuance of the flavors. For a winery whose mandate is for visitors to take with them some education about wine, and also a bottle or two, they do a nice job.

We found that most of the wines tended to be on the sweet side, even ones that were billed as dry, tasted quite sweet. That makes sense given the type of cultivar that do well in summer heat as well as the style of winemaking. It also could be because our palates are used to beefier, full-bodied reds from Italy, Oregon, Washington and Napa.

But that was the most interesting element because it was a true expression of their particular terroir.

Instead of being a copy of some other style, it was uniquely their own.

Cheers!

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©TheWineStudent, 2013

 

Bright, Young and Cool: Wine Marketing’s New Look

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The face of wine marketing is changing. It’s getting younger. And it didn’t need Botox to do it. If you want to sell something, really sell it, it’s got to be cool. Look at any product out there; if it’s considered cool, it’s because younger consumers have deemed it so. The wine industry, for the most part, is becoming very aware.

Until the last decade or so, the impression of the world of wine has been a little, well, stuffy. But if you look at most wine stores now, as I recently did, you’ll see a distinct pattern emerging: the wines with the most interesting, funkycool label art and packaging are getting prominent shelf space, usually in the front row. And that’s the perfect position for the grab-a-bottle-on-the-way-to-the-party crowd.

Twenty-something Millennials are fast becoming the key group to the future of wine marketing. According to Donniella Winchell, Executive Director of Ohio Wines, there are two basic categories, the first ranging from ages 24 to 28. “This group are recent graduates who have been negatively affected by the recession but are still interested in fun wines; the sweet whites and reds. The over 28’s are well-employed and prefer wines in the $12 to $24 range.” She adds that, “By the ages of 14 to 25, they’ve established their taste in music, clothing and are well on their way to molding their decision-making in beverages, and there are lots of choices. Most have been exposed to better wines over the years because of what their parents were drinking.”

It’s no surprise that social media largely influences what’s trending in wine brands and what’s being chosen in the wine store. There’s also the tendency to veer away from traditional brands in favor of wines that have a celebrity buzz or are socially or environmentally conscious. Winchell notes, “They’re not always brand loyal or specific ~ paying more attention to what their friends are buying or what they’re reading about online via Twitter and Facebook.”

Differences are clear not only in buying habits but also at events. In tracking wine sales and attendance at winery events, Winchell notes that, “Millennials tend to gravitate to the sweeter wine and, at events, hang in larger groups ~ buying maybe a bottle. Wineries generally like to focus on the age 45 plus consumers who have larger incomes and buy wine by the case.”

But Millennials are the future and Winchell cautions that wineries who don’t account for them in their long-range forecasts will be left behind, “Those who don’t pay attention to Millennials now won’t know why they’re in trouble in 10 years.”

This is a really interesting trend for wine and it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on, especially within the Ohio wine industry, in upcoming posts.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Here’s Mead in Your Eye

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I made my annual feast of Dirty Nellie’s Irish Stew. I know ~ you’re wondering what makes it dirty, right? I’ll leave that to your own imagination. Alright, it’s made with Guinness ~ minds out of the gutter, all of ya.

This year, I wanted to pair it with something other than Guinness (not that there’s anything wrong with it). I wanted wine, which, for the most part, was a no-brainer, except that I wanted something with an Irish vibe. And that proved to be an interesting quest. While looking at my local wine store, I asked for something a little different. I was introduced to Mead. Mead, is a fermented honey and water beverage that dates as far back as 2000 BC. And while Ireland is quite proud of what they produce, many countries in Europe, and as far as Ethiopia lay claim to it as well.

Mead can be extremely diverse, depending on the type of honey used and ingredients added (i.e. maple syrup, fruit, chili peppers, herbs and spices). The names of some of them sound like characters from Lord of the Rings. After a few glasses, it’d be easy to slip into a monologue of, “Fill my goblet with that Acerglyn nectar, and I will drink to the dregs!” Oh man, I didn’t even have that much with dinner.

Mead can look quite different in your glass. The bottle of Chaucer I bought was fairly thick and very sweet; it made me think of a late harvest Vidal or light Ice wine. I really didn’t think it would work at all with the savoury nature of the stew. And for me, it didn’t. On the label, it said to serve it a little warm, which I did, but I just couldn’t handle the juxtaposition of the two very different vibes. It’s not to say it wasn’t good, just not with this particular dish. The Chatoe Rogue Mead with Jasmine poured and tasted like a very light beer. I served it chilled, like beer, and sipped between bites. This seemed to work a little better for me but not as well as a nice red wine.

Looking at the difference between the two glasses got me wondering: Is Mead a wine…or is it a beer?

Mead is honey, water and yeast much like beer…and wine. The confusion seemed to begin during the days of yore. Mead was boiled before fermentation, much like making beer but not wine. The very high temperatures caramelized the sugars, giving it a darker color. Today, Mead undergoes the same fermentation process as wine, with very little added heat. And like wine, there are many varieties and variations of taste, color, consistency and dryness. Other types, like beer, are brewed and add hops to the mix. Mead ranges in price from $10 to 30 per bottle.

It was interesting to try two very different types of Mead and I think next year, it’ll  be worth sampling more with a variety of traditional Irish dishes.

Slainte!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Apt Pupil

I’m so excited! I just registered for the WSET level 1 Foundation Certificate course at the American Wine School here in Cleveland! For three Mondays starting in April, I’ll learn about varietals, factors affecting the style of wine, food and wine pairing and proper wine service. I’ve been wanting to take this course for a long time , and it’ll be great to immerse myself in a methodical look at the world of wine.

This winter has made my brain feel a little like Swiss cheese, so I can’t wait to have a new challenge. And when the main topic is wine, who says learning can’t be fun?

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013