I don’t do this that often

(or maybe this is the first time, can’t remember) but I just can’t resist quoting this wine review I received in Facebook. You’ll find a link below to the original posting and by all means, take a peek because there’s more.

Nonetheless, I got such a kick out of this wine description. I know it’s an exceptional review from the author and not his/her normal schtick but man… after reading it I wasn’t sure if I should open the bottle or ‘use’ it in some wicked way, LOL!

No matter your reaction, Wine Time TV is not affiliated with the wine nor winery in question so indulge at your own risk. I’ve posted this as pure entertaining fodder for wine fodder-lovers and whether you have the slightest idea what the wine tastes like after this impressive description is of little interest. Got 40 bucks to burn, go for it!

And I quote;

Overall character is that of a sex loaded scarlet; endowed, jaunty and erotically scented with every part smelling and tasting provocative, flamboyant and blooming.  Its gorgeous, vaunting style is burning, mantling and amorous with a extravagant softness that is grandiose, exotic and pursed lipped.  

There is a edginess, sophistication and dominating air that questions whether your palette has the true aptitude to handle the complete clutch of this much worldliness.  The body is chasmal, bounteous and a little weighty.  In the tasting profile you will never find the true heart of this scandalous wine so just enjoy your x-rated time together. Be aware you will be left lauding and lost when you awake.

The principle flavors change dramatically throughout the decanting process and are generally very floral including red roses, lavender, geranium, dried hibiscus flowers, cranberry raisins, currant jelly, mango with skins, red plums, cobbler, red cherry pie, marmalade red apple skins, strawberry balsamic, raspberry iced tea, fig jelly, orange flower water, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, paprika, star anise, graham cracker, sweet baking spice, at times cassis, blackberry bramble and whole black peppercorn.

I don’t know about you but right after I figure out what the hell “chasmal” means, I’m off for a cigarette.
Phew!

Thanks for reading.

READ MORE about this sexy Zinfandel via SONOMA SOMMELIER :: AZZARO ZINFANDEL 2006.

This year for Christmas I got a pretty cool hourglass wine decanter. And though I am no daily drinker of red wine, I can certainly taste the difference a little breath of fresh air makes. Usually I would just set an open bottle of red wine on the counter for a little while before finally drinking it. However, after having used a wine decanter, I’m hooked. Just when I thought swirling and sniffing were cool enough, now there’s something else I can do before finally drinking the damn goodness! I have decided that I will never go back to the old ways again and if there’s no decanter around, I’m having a beer.


Here’s a breakdown of what heck a decanter is and does; A vessel, often made out of glass or lead crystal which is used to separate sediment from another vessel of liquid, for example a bottle of red wine. In this separation process, the sediment is left in a small amount of liquid in the original vessel, and the clear/clean liquid remains in the decanter.


Decanting red wine, however, serves another important purpose besides the whole sediment separation bit and that is to oxygenate the wine. All the Winos I know call it Aeration so I’m rolling with that. Whereas every body outside of the Wine Blogosphere would likely call the process of adding oxygen to a liquid, Oxygenation. Whatever. I trust you’ll make the right choice.


Why do this in the first place, you ask? Well, pretend you did. Why are you so difficult? Since Wine has been sealed in a vacuumed bottle for years, its body and shape are compressed to some extent. Oxygenating wine opens it up by expanding it with air. That breath of fresh air takes the edge off and enhances the aromas and bouquet. Or not. Some Wine experts will disagree with Aeration completely but they’re not cool anyway, so let’s not even talk about them. We’re the boss of us and we say Aeration rocks!


Okay, back to business. Decanting an old bottle of wine is quite simple if you keep in mind two steps. Firstly, it is important to stand the bottle of wine up for several hours to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle. Why so long?! Because the big chunks of sediment will settle to the bottle quite quickly, however the finer sediment will take much longer silly.


Here’s how; In a well lit room slowly begin to pour the wine into your awesome decanter. If your decanter’s not awesome, drink beer. Once you have roughly one third left in the bottle have a look at the neck of the bottle for the sediment. Continue but once you begin to see sediment in the neck of the bottle, stop pouring. The wine in your decanter should now be sediment free. If it isn’t it’s because you’re not very good at it. Practice makes perfect and it’s fun! Practice!


Some people say that it is not necessary to decant your everyday bottle of red wine. While this might be true, other people say there’s certainly no harm in it. I think those two groups should meet and duke it out sometime. I’m the kind of Wino that wants clarity. I need answers! LOL! Anyway, with your Average-Joe-Wine, there might not be as much sediment in the bottle to separate or any at all, but the aeration will still likely enhance the flavor and aromas favorably and besides all that, you need the practice going from bottle to Decanter. The easiest wine to decant will be your young bottles of wine sine the goal is to have as much of the wine come in contact with oxygen as possible. Just pour it in so it splashes a lot in the Decanter. Make sure you’ve got that new white Silk shirt on you got for Christmas! Finally, let the decanter sit for a moment to rest before serving. All that splashing about is tiring.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading.

Talk about a ghost of Christmas past. That was my first thought when I went into the cellar to pull out a bottle of red to go along with our take-out pizza the other night. This Christmas apparition, a 1996 Sterling Merlot, was still dressed in the gold ribbon it wore when it arrived at Club Loco back in the late 90s. It was dustier than I remembered.

Over the past decade, I’ve often thought of Merlot as a wine cliche, much like White Zinfandel was to the 80s. Like aphids among the vines, bottles of Merlot started to pop up everywhere. They appeared at weddings and restaurants and especially at our house during dinner parties and holidays as they arrived with guests eager to spread good cheer. Where there’s a party, there’s Merlot.

Eager to jump on the wine train, I poured and drank, and poured again. This went on for years. I just didn’t like it and I gave up. You can lead a girl to the tasting room but you can’t make her drink.

I tried to figure out what the big attraction was. I was left with the belief that it had to be the cool name. After all, it really sounds chic to say, “I’ll have a glass of Merlot.” Leaving that “t” off of the end makes the coolness official combined with the fact that Cabernet Sauvignon is a bit difficult to roll off your tongue after you’ve had a few glasses of it.

As a result, years have passed since my last taste of Merlot. That is, until this past Saturday night rolled around. You see, I really hate to go against the grape. In addition to my conformist tendencies, I have embarked on a recent journey to revisit wine that I have decided I don’t like. After all, tastes change, right? I was off to test the vintage.

Back to the 96 Sterling Merlot. I grabbed my favorite bottle opener and attempted to open it up. The cork broke. The first aphid in the grape pulp. With some assistance, I was able to remove the cork without any further incident and the wine made it into my favorite, stemless tasting glass.

If you look carefully, you can see the “ghost” in the wine.

I sniffed and swirled. Not bad. I liked the color, a deep garnet. The aroma was earthy and rich with a small bite but nothing discouraging.

I tasted. Better yet. I was greeted by a spicy and flavorful wine that had plenty of fruit and a punch of cedar. Ok. It was downright pleasant.

I’m not going to whine over spilt Merlot and will stand by my assessments of the other Merlots I have tried. They do pale in comparison to the 96 Sterling. As a result, I now find myself with even more of a dilemma.

Do I like Merlot after all? Is my new found affection exclusive to the 14- year-old bottle from Sterling Vineyards? I guess only time will tell. In the mean time, I will, once again, take my hat off to Sterling Vineyards. You really knocked this Merlot out of the Valley.

I was recently asked about my thoughts on Wine Tasting by a new wine lover. So, this article is for any brand new Winos out there. Those of you with wine experience have no business poking your nose in this post. Newbies only!

If you had asked me only 5 or 6 months ago as to how one should go about tasting wine, I’d have replied “With an open mouth.” Yeah, you can see why I don’t have many friends. Now, 5 months after having founded Wine Time TV I can’t get away with offering such a hasty reply, though I certainly think about it when asked that question. I’ll never change.

Fact is, my smart-ass answer isn’t completely off base. There just happens to be a formal process to wine tasting and the ‘open mouth’ bit eventually comes in to play. This method to wine tasting that I’m leading up to is actually applied by wine tasters all over the globe. Particular those stereotypical wine drinkers that we Newbie Winos always considered wine snobs before we fully understood the drinking rituals they were performing at tastings.

Actually, once you get past the uppity-yuppity attitude too often associated with it, wine tasting is quite fun and can require a bit of skill, depending on how deep you want to dive into the glass. The art of wine tasting is very easy to learn however and like anything else, the more you practice the better you will be at doing it. Don’t forget, the best part of wine tasting is you get to drink wine. So, practice, practice, practice. Hell, I’m practicing right now with a 2007 Chateu Barrail while writing this article. It’s a yummy Bordeaux I picked up; a steal at only €2.49.

There are no laws in my world of wine, just suggestions. I’m no expert however I know what I like. That’s all that really matters where my palate is concerned and I suggest you don’t let anyone tell you any different. If it doesn’t taste good to you, it isn’t good. That’s my basic rule of thumb.

Okay, let’s get started.

Keeping it ultra simple for the present, there’s red wine and white wine. Sure, many variations of each exist but odds are if you are a brand new Wino you’ve got a basic bottle of each and hopefully didn’t spend a fortune on either. The basic art of wine tasting consists of a few simple steps. So before we begin, you’ll likely want to pour yourself a glass. I’m already a step ahead of you as I mentioned already.

Pouring, is an art of it’s own and we won’t get too into that! Pro’s will tell you (and I tend to agree) that red wine works best with a larger, rounder glass. That’s due to the fact that the wine will taste better having had a good mixture of oxygen run through it. I find the large glass a good tip. You’ll discover regardless of glass size that the wine will have a different taste from the time you open it and say, 20-30 minutes later. Wine is living. Wine breathes. Contrarily, white wine, when professionally served, is generally in a smaller glass. I personally like a big glass for both as I’m a messy swirler.

Speaking of which, after pouring yourself a glass, the first step to tasting wine is to give it a nice swirl. Believe it or not, some suggest how many times to swirl. I go for 6 to 8 times out of habit and following that you’ll want to evaluate the color and clarity. Being new, you may have little clue as to what you’re looking for. No worries. Just tilt the glass in the direction of the whitest background you have near you. Usually a wall or table top.

Basically speaking, your wine shouldn’t have any solid bits floating around in it. If it does, it’s a good chance it’s part of the cork. Then again, if you’re a newbie on a budget you likely have a wine which has a synthetic cork of somekind and those generally don’t fall apart, no matter how deep you jammed your corkscrew into it.

You should also look at the color and the color tones of the wine. If its a red wine, notice the edges of the wine when you’ve got it tilted towards a light back drop. If it’s looking brown around the edges that may very well mean it’s getting old whereas a white wine that is old will likely appear an orangish or dark gold color along it’s edges. Yes, you can drink it anyway so long as it’s not days old. Just remember my main rule of thumb; If it doesn’t taste good to you, it isn’t good.

The next step is smelling the wine. To properly smell the wine you need to swirl it to mix in some air. That wonderful air makes the aromas in the wine float in the glass just above the wine itself. That’s also why I like a big glass. Not only because I have a big nose. So, after swirling stick your big nose in the glass. Don’t be shy. The deeper you go, the more smells you’ll encounter. Close your eyes and try and pick out as many aromas as you can. The more you do it, the better you’ll be at it. I know first hand you have to train those senses since we don’t use them in everyday life, unless of course you’re a wine professional. Many wine bottles have ingredients printed on the label so test yourself and see if you get any right. Even I often do and frankly, my nose sucks.

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for, like Pavlov’s dog. Go on and taste it! When tasting the wine, swirl it around in your mouth a bit so that it coats the inside of your mouth. You might also try to inhale some air so that the wine releases even more flavor and aroma in your mouth. You might have seen and heard others making a slurping sound while tasting. Truth is, it really does stimulate the palate and even more flavor comes through. Be careful though, I did a lot of embarrassing drooling my first times doing it.

The tasting doesn’t end after you swallow it, or in some cases spit it out. The aftertaste is a very import factor to serious tasters. The aftertaste is measured in the actual length of the aftertaste, how it coats the mouth, how the mouth drys, the astringency and more is revealed. These sensations are generally a result of the tannins in the wine and red wine will tend to have a much stronger aftertaste than white wine, but thats not always the case.

Play around with all of this and by all means have fun. Before you know it, you’ll be using all sorts of snobby terminology while getting on your friends nerves the next time you have a glass of wine at your local pub, extended pinky and all. I should know, as my new found love for wine has already transformed the beer drinking friends I had only half a year ago.

Cheers!
Kamary

A few weeks ago, while planning my holiday posts for the Loco Diner, I decided to write a story about The Unwinder, a drink made of a dry, Italian red wine, poured over ice and mixed with 7up. This drink has been part of my family for as long as I can remember and, from what I understand, as long as my dad can remember as well.

My grandfather, an Italian man who resembled Uncle Junior from The Sopranos, would make the drink using wine that was usually homemade by someone in the family and stored in jugs in the basement. For this reason, my dad still insists that the wine used for this drink pours from a “jug.”

It is worth noting that I planned this story before my invitation to become a member of the WTTV family and hadn’t given much thought to it until I sat down to write. All at once, I realized that WineTimeTV.net is a popular stop for the wine enthusiast and for this reason, this story almost didn’t happen. Could I really pitch an $8 jug of Italian red mixed with 7up to wine aficionados and keep my dignity?

It was a real “why am I here?” moment and I decided to take a break and think about it for a while.

While talking to a friend, a fellow Italian, about my dilemma, the Italian Spritzer came up in conversation. I was speechless when I found out that my friend’s “Italian Spritzer” was jug wine mixed with 7up. I had never heard of another family who drank this concoction.

I immediately emailed a few of my friends who grew up with similar Italian backgrounds asking them if they heard of this drink. Many of them had. So far, I have traced our Unwinder from Philadelphia neighborhoods to Camden and Runnemede in New Jersey, to Brooklyn and Long Island in New York all the way to the Abruzzo region of Italy.
The stories are all strikingly similar. Here is a sampling of the responses:

“My dad grew up in Camden in the 30′s and 40s…It was red wine, the type they sell in the liquor store with the screw cap.”

“It was common in South Philly. Usually an extremely dry red, often homemade.”

“I remember my grandmother in New Jersey making this drink.”

“My cousins and I all drank 7up and wine. We didn’t have any name for it other than wine and 7up. It was something like ‘vino e 7up.’ We always used homemade wine…All of my family is from the Abruzzo region of Italy. I think my cousins in Italy may have drunk it there too. In other words, I don’t think it originated with the Italian-Americans here.”

For those of you who are now dying to mix one up, here’s how:

The Unwinder
Fill a tall glass with ice.
Fill the glass half way with a dry Italian jug wine
Top off with 7up
Stir with a spoon.

With this connection to friends and family, I have a new found appreciation of my family’s most noted drink and for the culture in which I grew up. I also realize why I am listed with the sommelier and the adventure writer. I am the voice from the neighborhood, maybe quieter or more traditional, but still here with something to say.

In a few weeks, I’ll walk into my parent’s house for our traditional Christmas Eve fish dinner and my dad will say, “Hey, Buddy, do you want an Unwinder?” The answer, of course, will be yes and I can’t wait.

From my neighborhood to yours, happy holidays.

Though I’m spending a lot of time in Germany right now, I’m not a HUGE fan of German wines. Sure there are some awesome vintages out there but they are a bit out of my price range at the present.


Right now, I’m having a late lunch and enjoying a very hearty and meaty Spaghetti Bolognese. I scored on a lovely tasting (and cheap €2.49) bottle of red wine from Burgenland Osterreich, or Austria for you English peeps out there.


2008 was a particularly fine year for wines from the region however I wish this bottle was another year old and then I believe it would have an even fuller taste. For the price, I am in no way disappointed. I fear however, it must be drunk today. Good thing I’m in the mood for a good buzz…