WineSmarts - Residential School

Brad Post:

Over the past 10 weeks I've been immersed in wine appreciation, as part of a curriculum using a blended format (i.e., part on-line and part residential school), in a class titled VIN 150 - Introduction to Wine. 

Recently, after several weeks of recorded, online lectures and a thorough self-guided wine exploration (e.g., my tasting notes reflect my progress), our class gathered together on the campus of Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Ankney, IA with the face-to-face class to delve further into wine.

In attendance were culinary students, those with an interest in wine service (i.e., many of which are working toward sommelier accreditation), winemakers and winegrowers, and wine retailers.  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa, if not already, then soon, will have the highest number of sommeilers per capita than any other U.S. state - thanks in large part to the efforts of enology instructor Paul Gospodarczyk.

WINE SCHOOL!

The two-day wine residential school launched with several students surrounding a table in the culinary arts program building.  Placed in front of our small group was three glasses of a white wine standard - the same wine unaltered.  This unaltered standard was provided for us as a way to judge against the upcoming wines we were to describe.  Soon 13 "altered" wines were whisked into our room, a semi-circle of tables, marked only with a letter on the base of the glass.

In total silence each of us was to work our way around the "doctored" wines and sniff out the truth and to write down as many descriptors as we saw fit.  Behind the scenes, and prior to this moment, inside each wine standard glass was placed a common scent for each student to try to identify.

Here is the list of white wine scents: pineapple, bell pepper, lemon juice, honey, vanilla, lychee, oak essence, lemon peel, apricot, butter, cloves, asparagus, and apple.


I'm not exactly sure how everyone else did but I did slightly better than 50% (maybe an F+).  It was only a couple of weeks ago when I asked my brother "what the heck is a lychee" and now I was tasting it.  Well, I tasted it but thought it was cooked green beans.  Still do.  Weird.  Doesn't taste anything like beans as it tastes like, well, like lychee.

After the reveal, we were given an opportunity to re-smell and try to commit to our odoriferous-linked memory these scents.  It is strange how scent works. To me "butter" smells like, get this, butter smells like the chemical that's in insect repellent known as DEET.  So butter=DEET to me, at least, when I smell it in wine.  Again - strange.

Lectures, discussion, more lectures, and then on to the red wines.  Just like the white wines, we were given a standard red wine and then another 13 adulterated wines.  My initial, personal success rate didn't improve a lot, but after subsequent smellings I was better able to detect the scents.

Here is a list of the red wine scents: black pepper, co-co or chocolate, butter, anise or licorice, soy, cloves, asparagus, bell pepper, molasses, prunes, tea, vanilla, and oak essence. 

Mixed throughout this intensive residential school was mini-lectures focusing on world wine regions and their administrative organizations, characteristic qualities of wines,  and on day-2 - the tastings.  We tasted and evaluated five white and five red wines and became fairly adept at it too.

There is one thing about wine industry people - they are a lot of fun!  From dinner at a French restaurant to wonderful backyard conversation over a bottle of port or sipping accidental sparkling Marechal Foch, life, frankly doesn't get much better.

My enology certification is almost complete with only one class to go.  My final course requirement will have me working the Mid-American Wine Competition along side my fellow wine students but also with notables such as Doug Frost (MS, MW) and other wine industry big-wigs.  Lots to learn but what a wonderful subject to drink in.

Lastly, if you have any interest in furthering your own wine education, whether that means wine service or wine science, then I suggest checking out this web-blended program at DMACC.

Cheers!
Brad

2007 Cantara Cellars Syrah, Lodi California

Terry post:

I am seldom surprised when I drink a wine. Going in, I usually know what to expect and have confided to friends that I could write a review without ever having tasted the wine - based on the varietal and my experience with the winemaker or winery.

Did I ever get that wrong today!

Cantara Cellars will not impress anyone with their building (industrial plaza) or location (Oxnard Plains) but something special is taking place inside their humble facility: that something special is making great wine.

Cantara Cellars is a small winery (I don't think I saw more than 50 French and American oak barrels total in back) which sources virtually all of their juice from the vineyards of family and personal acquaintances in Lodi, California.

With one white and four reds I settled in for a tasting with the very affable owner, Chris Brown.

You know the scene in the old movie where the boy falls in love with the girl? The scene will include fireworks exploding in the sky: well, my first taste of the 2007 Cantara Cellars Syrah was something like that. Wow.

I purchased a bottle of the Syrah and have spent a several hours of quality time sipping, chewing and genuinely enjoying this fine wine.

My impressions: Inky dark garnet intensely colored in the glass. Blackberries and chocolate powder initially on the nose with the chocolate fading way to pepper as the wine opened up in the glass. Profoundly earthy and mouth filling. Deftly balanced with fruit up front and the acidity at the end - just right. Concludes in a long finish with the tannins winning out over the fruit - but, just barely. Superb.

This is a big red and, as such, I would recommend it with the typical pairs including: beefsteak, prime rib, and bison steak.

I have no idea if Cantara Cellars can continue to produce this wonderful Syrah, or for that matter, their also-wonderful Zinfandel year-in and year-out. Time will tell.

Their Facebook page. Their website.

This is a winery to keep your eye on.

$29.99 at the tasting room.

~ Terry

Testing & Tasting

Brad Post:

After reading my brothers posting yesterday about “writing on wine” I began to think more about the influences on my own writing.  As a relative newcomer to wine critique, mostly a response to my introduction to wine course, my experiences and insights are tainted from an academic perspective.  Understanding experiences of visitors was my gig for awhile, using a pragmatic approach, meaning it could be purely experimental quantitative or headlong into qualitative methods such as naturalistic observation. In any case my approach to wine appreciation or wine making is muddied from my screwy philosophical position: post-positivism / pre-constructivism.  It’s my own version of a philosophy of science that gives me lots of latitude in understanding things.  These days the experience I am striving to understand is Wine Appreciation and Wine Making.

Wine appreciation is totally different compared to wine making.  You see, as I am making wine a different part of my brain is activated, the part that gets off on science.  When making wine, I am critically looking at the various grape parameters; first I visually inspect the new grapes to make sure they look sound, then I take a good sniff to make sure they smell right (i.e., they don’t have an unpleasant, vinegary odor), and then a more quantitative process begins.  This quantitative process can be as simple as taking a refractor reading, a measurement of how much sugar the grape must possesses, and tests for pH, acidity, and calculations for additions (e.g., yeast, enzymes, tannins, etc.).  Not that wine making is formulaic but there tends to be a lot of science in the cellar these days.

Complementary to my wine making is wine appreciation, the artist side of my brain, where I am encouraged to release my inner-prose. The simple act of attempting to gain a deeper understanding of a wine by first viewing, then smelling, and finally tasting is more difficult than I initially anticipated.  When going through my tasting ritual, instead of identifying specific aromas like grapefruit or honey, I may have a recollection of a time long ago, a faint dusty, earthy quality of a memory and then romantically inspired words to spew forth.  A very different experience from wine making, one might even say there is a qualitative difference between the two.  I enjoy both immensely.

There is harmony between the craft of wine making and the appreciation of wine. Last Thursday I set-up my wine laboratory at the winery and spent the day conducting our regular, periodic wine tests.  My bench, a portable lab table, provided ample space within the cellar to construct a series of wine tests. Every so often wine makers need to assess pH, acidity, and sulfur-dioxide (SO2, aka: sulfites) in the aging wine and adjust, as necessary, to keep the wine happy and protected from micro-critters and oxygen.  In front of me (from left to right) is an array of scientific devices; first is a Titratable Acidity (TA) assembly where, just like in high school chemistry lab, we titrate to determine the acidity in the wine. Crowded next to that is my desktop pH meter where, after calibration, I take pH readings of the wine. And to my far right is a Free SO2 Assembly, another elaborate set-up that might look illicit to someone who hasn’t been in a lab for awhile. (Photo: from my home wine lab).

Lab days tend to be hurry-up-and-wait days.  It goes something like this: take samples from the various fermentation tanks, test for pH, run an acidity test and calculate TA, and then conduct a Free SO2 test (add additional SO2 if required).  Each test takes a different amount of time and precision: pH, quick and easy; TA, about 2 minutes unless I screw up the titration (then I have to re-do it); and finally the Free SO2 test which takes at least 10 minutes to run and a bit more for the math calculations.  All told, it takes a better part of a day to run a series of laboratory tests for only our white wines (I didn’t finish them all either).

I taste, I test, and I try to remember.  Testing is a meditative effort, repeated tasks, calculations and formulas; Tasting is also a contemplative process, smelling, tasting, and feeling.  Each aspect, whether tasting for learning or appreciation, or tasting to assess a fermenting wine, is a complementary process – one without the other and something would be amiss.  There are a lot of things I don’t know about wine – but one thing is certain, I will continue to strive to understand wine from both a scientific point of view and from an artistic/philosophical perspective.

Tasting Notes: Sherry

Brad Post:

Sherry Tasting Notes: Each week I make an effort to keep an open mind to the varietals I am about to taste. This week I struggled to get past all of the Sherry horror stories told to me throughout my adult life. Surely this richly hued wine couldn’t be all that bad…

1. Sherry, Fairbanks (CA). Source: Fareway, Cost: $4.99

The familiar green label of Fairbanks Sherry bottle had dust on the shoulders of its clear-green bottle, an indication of the lack of attention given to the bottom of the bottom-shelf fortified spirits. Warm amber hued, with some degree of rim variation, this wine possessed a noticeably high amount of alcohol as evinced by long, silky legs coating the glass interior. Potently aromatic with hefty amounts of honey and butterscotch up front, while suggestions of anise and hazelnut lingered. The somewhat initial pleasantries were quickly dissipated upon first sip! Immediately I was taken aback by a very harsh and bitter, an almost antiseptic quality initially, followed by a lingering burning sensation throughout my mouth. Unpleasant. Bitter qualities gave way to a slight grassiness post-swallow. My face contorted as a result of the strong, bitter and ghastly nature of this awful product.

2. Sherry, Lustau Solera Reserva, Dry-Oloroso, "Don Nuño". Source: Johns Grocery (I.C.), Cost: $16.99.

Gorgeously tinted to a dark root beer and trending to light amber along the rim. Despite Sherry #1 (above), I was hopeful this Sherry, made in Spain following the Solera tradition, would yield something remarkable. If the first Sherry was a powerhouse of aromas, this Sherry was the antithesis, subtle scents of butter rum, nuts, and anise. Nice. Don Nuño clobbered me, metaphorically, in my taste buds: blasts of cherry, orange, quickly led to a nutty combo of mouth-puckering bitterness followed shortly thereafter by a high-octane explosion of lingering heat. My dry Sherry was remarkable – remarkably terrible.

After we rinsed our palate with crackers and water we opened a bottle of Coppola Tempranillo (2007)...but that's another story!


Happy Tastings,
Brad

Tasting Notes: Marechal Foch

Brad Posts:

My affinity for Marechal Foch, a French-American hybrid red wine grape (a cold-hardy varietal), is well established.  As the Rodney Dangerfield of the Midwest wine grape community – it doesn’t get much respect!  That’s unfortunate because if you were to investigate Marechal Foch, commonly referred to as “Foch”, you would soon recognize its real potential.  Foch is made into world-class wines in Ontario’s VQA region and most notably in Oregon where it is grown next to its relative, Pinot Noir.

Even my wine club, the Eastern Iowa Wine Club, has a soft spot in its heart for Foch.  Each year, during our annual amateur wine competition (Eastern Iowa Amateur Wine Competition), we honor the Marechal Foch with a special category and award known as the “Fochy”.  A true honor to win this inspiring trophy!

Recently I have taken to learning more about wine appreciation by enrolling in a class at Des Moines Community College.  In my VIN 150 class, I am learning about the wine industry, wine appreciation, and sensory analysis of the traditional wine grapes – vitis vinifera.  It is too frigid for vinifera in Iowa so we grow cold-hardy grapes, such as Foch.  Intrigued by my new education, I sought to learn more about the varietal tasting characteristics of Marechal Foch.  In my firsthand experience as a vintner and occasional drinker of Foch I’ve developed my own way of understanding this grape – and use the term “Fochy” to describe it.  Not being terribly satisfied with my ability to describe Foch in a thoughtful, wine-guy sort of way I thought I’d spend some time reading and compiling a list of common tasting notes.

Here goes!

Color: Deep color, deep purple, dark ruby

Aromatics:

Fruity:

Berry: Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry

Tree Fruit: Cherry (spicy black cherry)

Fruit: Prune (black plums), figs – dark fruits*

Herbaceous/Vegetative*:

            Fresh: Bell Pepper

Spicy: Black pepper

Earthy: Forest floor, earthiness*,

Woody:

            Burned: smoky*, charred buckwheat, coffee, chocolate

Gamy aromatics*

Floral: Rose

Palate:

Fruity:

Berry: Dark berries, raspberry, loganberry

Tree Fruit: Cherry (spicy),

Fruit: Dark fruit, plum

Herbaceous/Vegetative:

            Fresh: celery-like, ripe beet

Earthy: Forest floor, earthiness

Saddle leather

Reminiscent of: Syrah, Pinot Noir, Gamay, Grenache Noir, Mourvedre

Common Marechal Foch Adjectives: unique, distinctive, rugged, hybrid, gamy, herbaceous.

FINAL THOUGHTS: With Foch it seems you either love it or hate it.  I cannot help but be inspired by the winemakers of Ontario and Oregon who continue to work with this challenging grape.  The wine industry in Iowa is young and the first plants we planted were Foch and frequently the first grapes to be pulled out were also Foch.  There is much to be learned by this wine grape, first of which is Patience – patience in learning its peculiarities, patience in learning how to craft delicious, albeit, unique and distinctive wine.  And secondly, patience from our vineyard, in understanding and enhancing its growth potential.  Finally, there needs to be an appreciation from wine consumers, a daring, a spirit of adventure to try something that is “earthy, gamy, spicy, and smoky” – that sounds like a real treat to me!

Learn more about Foch at: http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/cultivars/Marechal%20Foch.pdf.

2007 Mirassou Pinot Grigio

Terry post:

Another in a series of good/great wines which can be found in restaurants for less than $30.

Okay. You may ask what is the difference between Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Gris? The answer is, “virtually nothing”. They are essentially the same grape but the names vary based upon where in the world you find yourself. In the U.S. the grape is called Pinot Grigio. I am not sure about which nation calls it which other than Italy where it is typically known as Pinot Gris.

Many Pinot Grigio’s have“issues” when served with food:
1) Lacking sufficient structure to stand up to foods. A typical situation is a wine which has a subtle floral or citrus nose and nothing else. This issue is common for many of the Italian Pinot Gris which I have tasted. Or,

2) Overwhelming floral nose and too much residual sweetness. Wines like this don’t complement the meal – they overwhelm the meal. This issue, in particular, is far too common with American Pinot Grigio.

They are generally fine summertime wines suitable for sipping poolside.

We carried the Mirassou brand on-and-off over the years I was Wine Director at Restaurant 213. We never committed deeply to the brand due to the inconsistency of their products: quite a few “hits” and a few too many “misses” to be perpetually listed. With this wine they hit a homerun and I recommend it without reservation.

My impressions: Multi-dimensional, food-friendly Pinot Grigio with the guts to be more than a summertime picnic wine. Very dry and hugely acidic (a good thing) for a Pinot Grigio while retaining the typical citrus and spice characteristics on the nose and finish. I would not avoid it poolside, but it is so superior to most of its type that it would be a shame not to take advantage of its food-friendly traits.

I paired a bottle with a Pork Calvados (pork filet medallions in a veal reduction) entrée and it held its own quite nicely – though I would not push it any further. I think it is perfectly suited to complement fish (grilled, fried or in a broth-based soup), fresh cheeses or fresh fruit.

We carried this wine at $27 per bottle (restaurant price) making it a very good value. It is widely distributed with over 50,000 cases produced so you should not have any problem finding it at your local wine shop or grocery store.

~ Terry

&$@!! Wine Snobs

Brad Post:

Few things drive me more crazy than wine snobs! The pedantic, pretentious, pontificating, bloviating, snitty-snooting-snobs of the self-ascribed wine aficionado sect.

Perhaps well-meaning but rarely well-mannered in their fervent attempt to illuminate us mere mortals to their uppity, Emily Post styled ways of wine. It doesn't take too many force-fed wine education sessions to realize why there are so many beer drinkers in the world. If my alcohol consuming brethren experience the same sort of wine-snobbery, then perhaps I ought to join them in a neighborhood pub - where I can hold my glass of brew any way I please.

Sure I get it...that in the other-worldly, world of wine appreciation that holding glass by the stem, positioning it up to the light and appreciating the golden glow of the lightly oaked Chardonnay is a sight to behold. But seriously, c'mon...we're just trying to enjoy a glass of wine without a whole lot of pomp and/or circumstance sometimes. The fact is, unless we ask you for advice on how to critically examine a wine, how to best hold a glass of wine while sipping, or frankly anything advise-like, you might want to reconsider and simply let us enjoy our wine.

Enthusiasm to share your passion for wine is admirable! Enjoy your wine, learn all you can, become the most highly educated wine consumer out there, and then, unless we ask you, please keep it to yourself.

Ahhhh. I feel better already!

(Special thanks to Jim Carey for my beginning paragraph rant).

Happy Tastings!
~Brad