A couple years ago we came upon a perfectly lovely sparkling wine out of Spain which quickly disappeared after the holidays. You see, it was priced at twenty-five dollars a bottle, roughly twice the going rate for Cava. More recently I read a WSJ article by Lettie Teague on the subject and she opined that Cava Reservas really were something special compared to other similarly priced sparklers. So maybe we ought to shift our focus from France to Spain for our bubbly.
Maybe we should also start at the beginning for this discussion.
Cava is Spanish sparkling wine. Most of it comes from the Catalonia region in eastern Spain where the beverage was created in 1872 by the Raventos family of Codorniu fame. The three main grapes of Cava are Xarel-lo, Macabeo and Parellada, hardly household names. Of the three, Xarel-lo is the most important. Over time Malvasia, Garnacha Tinto, Monastrell and Trepat have been added and more recently the international varieties, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were also allowed. Some of the best Cavas, however, are still made solely with Xarel-lo grapes.
The name "Cava" has only been around since the 1950's and its legal appellation, its D.O. (Denominacione de Origen), was granted in 1986 with admission into the European Union. The D.O. declares three quality levels of Cava: Basic Cava must be aged on the lees for nine months; Cava Reserva, fifteen months; and Gran Reserva, thirty months. Eighty-eight percent of Cava produced is basic Cava; ten percent is Reserva, and two percent is Gran Reserva. All Cavas must be made like Champagne using the secondary fermentation in the bottle.
Prior to the E. U., ninety percent of Cava was consumed in Spain. Now two-thirds is exported, mostly to supermarkets around the world. Eighty-five percent of all Cava sells for under twenty dollars. A year ago in January of 2018, Spain introduced a new super premium category of Cava and that's what we'll talk about here next time.
Please join us here next Thursday after 5pm when Dustin Whiten presents a tasting of wines from Italy and Chile. Then one week later on the 14th, Adam Bess joins us for a tasting of red wines from Opolo of Paso Robles along with an especially nice Italian white. Please join us for the tastings.
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Wine Prices, Part 2
Recently we posted about wine prices and how we expect to pay more for better wine. On August 14, 2017, Science Daily reported on a University of Bonn study on the subject. Thirty subjects, fifteen men and fifteen women, participated in the study by lying down for an MRI and tasting wines through tubes. All of the wines tasted were purchased locally at the same average retail price. The price of the wine shown to the subjects before tasting varied greatly either higher or lower than the actual retail price. As might be expected, the "higher priced" wines were deemed to be better.
In medicine we are all familiar with the placebo effect and something similar is demonstrated here. The marketing placebo effect shows that identical products can be perceived differently solely due to the price given to them. The medial prefrontal cortex integrates price comparison and expectation while the ventral stratum of the brain integrates reward and motivation. The MRI scanning showed both to be activated by the showing of the higher prices before tasting. Then with that expectation in place the actual tasting of the wine skewed higher.
So if you expect something to taste better, your brain tricks you into enjoying the properties you ascribe to the "higher priced" subject. If "quality has its price", well then, of course, we would enjoy the wine that cost more.
This Thursday after 5pm we will probably be tasting Italians here at the store. I say "probably" because we don't actually have things set yet. In any event, please join us for the event.
In medicine we are all familiar with the placebo effect and something similar is demonstrated here. The marketing placebo effect shows that identical products can be perceived differently solely due to the price given to them. The medial prefrontal cortex integrates price comparison and expectation while the ventral stratum of the brain integrates reward and motivation. The MRI scanning showed both to be activated by the showing of the higher prices before tasting. Then with that expectation in place the actual tasting of the wine skewed higher.
So if you expect something to taste better, your brain tricks you into enjoying the properties you ascribe to the "higher priced" subject. If "quality has its price", well then, of course, we would enjoy the wine that cost more.
This Thursday after 5pm we will probably be tasting Italians here at the store. I say "probably" because we don't actually have things set yet. In any event, please join us for the event.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Crljenak Kastelanski
Let's just call it "CK." Or maybe we should call it the heirloom Zinfandel of Croatia. We'll go with CK cause it's easier to type.
Zinfandel has always been thought to have origins in Europe even when California was claiming it as their own. It just had too many similarities to European vinifera grapes, in particular, the Primitivo grape of southern Italy.
Then with the advent of genetic testing in the late 1990's, Italians and American lovers-of-all-things-Italian could rejoice. The grape was in fact determined to be one and the same. Zinfandel was Primitivo. Unfortunately the joy for Italianophiles was short-lived because Primitivo was then determined to be the Tripidrag grape of Croatia.
Tripidrag is a truly historic Croatian grape mentioned in fifteenth century literature. It is also historically documented to have found favor in other Mediterranean nations including Italy. In fact Tripidrag means "the first to ripen" while Primitivo means "early ripening" so, yeah, they're one and the same.
So where does CK come into this? And what the heck is Plavac Mali?
Plavac Mali (PM?) is the most popular grape of Croatia and as soon as the Zinfandel discussion moved to Croatia it was assumed it was Zinfandel. It isn't. Crljenak Kastelanski, which translates as the "black grape of Kastela," a community in the Dalmatia region, is genetically identical to Tripidrag and may even be closer to the clone of Zinfandel of California. So CK is Zinfandel.
Over time names of things change so Tripidrag is now called Pribidrag in Croatia, just in case you thought you were beginning to understand this convoluted post.
All of the above is here to announce Ridge Vineyards of Sonoma Valley will soon be making a red blend consisting of 1/3 each of CK, PM, and our own California Zinfandel (CZ?).
Whew, I need to sit down and take a break.
Please join us this Thursday the 21st after 5pm when Morgan Miller joins us with a tasting of Sonoma Valley wines from Gehricke Vineyards. We will taste their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Please join us!
Zinfandel has always been thought to have origins in Europe even when California was claiming it as their own. It just had too many similarities to European vinifera grapes, in particular, the Primitivo grape of southern Italy.
Then with the advent of genetic testing in the late 1990's, Italians and American lovers-of-all-things-Italian could rejoice. The grape was in fact determined to be one and the same. Zinfandel was Primitivo. Unfortunately the joy for Italianophiles was short-lived because Primitivo was then determined to be the Tripidrag grape of Croatia.
Tripidrag is a truly historic Croatian grape mentioned in fifteenth century literature. It is also historically documented to have found favor in other Mediterranean nations including Italy. In fact Tripidrag means "the first to ripen" while Primitivo means "early ripening" so, yeah, they're one and the same.
So where does CK come into this? And what the heck is Plavac Mali?
Plavac Mali (PM?) is the most popular grape of Croatia and as soon as the Zinfandel discussion moved to Croatia it was assumed it was Zinfandel. It isn't. Crljenak Kastelanski, which translates as the "black grape of Kastela," a community in the Dalmatia region, is genetically identical to Tripidrag and may even be closer to the clone of Zinfandel of California. So CK is Zinfandel.
Over time names of things change so Tripidrag is now called Pribidrag in Croatia, just in case you thought you were beginning to understand this convoluted post.
All of the above is here to announce Ridge Vineyards of Sonoma Valley will soon be making a red blend consisting of 1/3 each of CK, PM, and our own California Zinfandel (CZ?).
Whew, I need to sit down and take a break.
Please join us this Thursday the 21st after 5pm when Morgan Miller joins us with a tasting of Sonoma Valley wines from Gehricke Vineyards. We will taste their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Please join us!
Monday, February 4, 2019
When Wine is Too Cheap
"If it doesn't sell, mark it up!" That's an old saying in the wine business. If something sells too well at a given price, market forces dictate you really should go up on it. But why would you mark it up if it's not selling?
I like to make the claim that I can sell a better bottle of wine at any price than anyone else in Gainesville. I have no problem with making that claim. Since this little boutique shop conjures up an image of being pricey, I like to emphasize the bargains at the lower end of the price spectrum. You want better everyday wines? Well, come right in!
The only problem is, it doesn't work that way. People shop here because they expect to spend more for their better wines. While I get it, I still like to sell the cheap stuff. So my ten dollar bargains aren't going away any time soon.
Back on November 10th of last year, Lettie Teague wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal about Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. She said it was "too affordable" and suggested if they wanted to capture more of the Napa market, they should raise prices so the public will recognize their quality, which is kind of sad if you think about it.
We had a wine rack full of Chileans at the front to the store for a couple years. Now we have a smaller selection at the back. They just didn't sell. Last month a customer who was familiar with the wines bought my last bottle of Lapostolle Cuvee Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon, a $25 bottle. He had spent some time in Chile and had been to Lapostolle so he definitely knew what he was getting.
In the article referenced above, Teague likes Lapostolle and several others we need here in the store. She also says Chilean Cabernet is more like Bordeaux with its character and structure than it is like California Cabernet but it has a slightly "green" component in its flavor profile that some people can't get past. She also compares its salinity to the great Margaret River Cabernets of coastal of Australia. Maybe we need to give both Chile and Margaret River a fresh start here.
This Thursday the 7th at 5pm Dominique Chambon gives us a tasting of three French Burgundies and an Italian Sangiovese Rose. Then the following week there will be no Thursday tasting since it's Valentine's Day. Instead we will have a Tuesday the 12th tasting with Rob Dye.
I like to make the claim that I can sell a better bottle of wine at any price than anyone else in Gainesville. I have no problem with making that claim. Since this little boutique shop conjures up an image of being pricey, I like to emphasize the bargains at the lower end of the price spectrum. You want better everyday wines? Well, come right in!
The only problem is, it doesn't work that way. People shop here because they expect to spend more for their better wines. While I get it, I still like to sell the cheap stuff. So my ten dollar bargains aren't going away any time soon.
Back on November 10th of last year, Lettie Teague wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal about Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. She said it was "too affordable" and suggested if they wanted to capture more of the Napa market, they should raise prices so the public will recognize their quality, which is kind of sad if you think about it.
We had a wine rack full of Chileans at the front to the store for a couple years. Now we have a smaller selection at the back. They just didn't sell. Last month a customer who was familiar with the wines bought my last bottle of Lapostolle Cuvee Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon, a $25 bottle. He had spent some time in Chile and had been to Lapostolle so he definitely knew what he was getting.
In the article referenced above, Teague likes Lapostolle and several others we need here in the store. She also says Chilean Cabernet is more like Bordeaux with its character and structure than it is like California Cabernet but it has a slightly "green" component in its flavor profile that some people can't get past. She also compares its salinity to the great Margaret River Cabernets of coastal of Australia. Maybe we need to give both Chile and Margaret River a fresh start here.
This Thursday the 7th at 5pm Dominique Chambon gives us a tasting of three French Burgundies and an Italian Sangiovese Rose. Then the following week there will be no Thursday tasting since it's Valentine's Day. Instead we will have a Tuesday the 12th tasting with Rob Dye.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
House Wine
Most of us have a house wine. Unless you are a restaurant with printed menus, yours is probably just your regular go-to when you're craving that certain taste. There's a payoff in familiarity and it's probably your go-to because, bang for your buck, the stuff is pretty good! At least you think it is.
Restaurant house wines get a bad rap. They too rely on familiarity but too much so since the wines end up being, frankly, lousy. They want the stuff to appeal to everyone so there's nothing there that's interesting or distinctive. Just the same old crap.
Wait a minute. That sounds a little too harsh. Today's bulk wine is way better than similar wines were forty years ago when I was just getting my feet wet in the business. What the mass marketers have done is actually impressive. By rounding off a lot of sharp edges they've made it imminently consumable. But that's the problem, right? It's just not interesting.
A lot of times for just a few dollars more you can bypass the house wine to get something better which makes my old suspicious self wonder whether that's why the house wine is dull. So you have the option of going for the better (and pricier) wine. The only problem here is that the next wine, while better quality, is also predictable and boring in the same way the house wine was. That's mass production for you.
Retailers are kind of like restaurants with respect to the wines they stock. The chain stores stock all of the mass market wines because it goes to the heart of the deal between supplier and retailer - the shelves must be kept stocked. No"out-of-stocks" allowed. Keep the product coming. So by default, they end up with mass produced wines.
It takes small independent restaurants and retailers to provide distinction and with a little bit of know-how, they can find it at any price.
This Thursday the 31st of January, Cheri Rubio leads us in a tasting of three from Pedroncelli of Sonoma Valley. That evening between 5 and 7pm we will taste the Merlot, Pinot Noir and Mother Clone Zinfandel. Our event will begin with a fine Alsatian white blend, Hugel's Gentil.
Then on February 7th Dominique Chambon offers us a tasting of French Burgundies and a particularly nice Italian Sangiovese Rose. Please join us for the tastings.
Restaurant house wines get a bad rap. They too rely on familiarity but too much so since the wines end up being, frankly, lousy. They want the stuff to appeal to everyone so there's nothing there that's interesting or distinctive. Just the same old crap.
Wait a minute. That sounds a little too harsh. Today's bulk wine is way better than similar wines were forty years ago when I was just getting my feet wet in the business. What the mass marketers have done is actually impressive. By rounding off a lot of sharp edges they've made it imminently consumable. But that's the problem, right? It's just not interesting.
A lot of times for just a few dollars more you can bypass the house wine to get something better which makes my old suspicious self wonder whether that's why the house wine is dull. So you have the option of going for the better (and pricier) wine. The only problem here is that the next wine, while better quality, is also predictable and boring in the same way the house wine was. That's mass production for you.
Retailers are kind of like restaurants with respect to the wines they stock. The chain stores stock all of the mass market wines because it goes to the heart of the deal between supplier and retailer - the shelves must be kept stocked. No"out-of-stocks" allowed. Keep the product coming. So by default, they end up with mass produced wines.
It takes small independent restaurants and retailers to provide distinction and with a little bit of know-how, they can find it at any price.
This Thursday the 31st of January, Cheri Rubio leads us in a tasting of three from Pedroncelli of Sonoma Valley. That evening between 5 and 7pm we will taste the Merlot, Pinot Noir and Mother Clone Zinfandel. Our event will begin with a fine Alsatian white blend, Hugel's Gentil.
Then on February 7th Dominique Chambon offers us a tasting of French Burgundies and a particularly nice Italian Sangiovese Rose. Please join us for the tastings.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Double Cream Gouda
Every time you think you've seen it all, something new pops up. Double Cream Brie has been a staple around here for decades and Double Cream Gouda seems to have been created as a corollary to it. Regular Gouda has 40-50% butter fat. Double Cream or Room Kaas as it's called in Holland, has 60-70% butter fat. So while it's not really double the fat it is noticeably creamier. If the cheese is over 75% it can be labeled Triple Cream.
Cheeses are 50-70% water, by the way. The rest is protein, fat and other dry solids. The butter fat content percentage on the label doesn't take into account the water content, so a 60% butter fat cheese is actually probably 30% or so. The extra cream in the creamier Gouda is of course added to the existing whole cow's milk at the beginning of the process.
Not only is Double Cream Gouda creamier, it is also sweeter, silkier, richer and nuttier than regular Gouda. It slices well for sandwiches and melts well for cooking and on tortillas, casseroles, potatos, omelets, mac and cheese and apple pie. It also accompanies both fresh and dried fruit. Pinot Noir is the red wine that might pair best with this cheese.
Gouda is the best selling cheese worldwide. There are dozens of types out there. Just today I was offered Coffee Gouda! Now we can add Double Cream to the stable. We have a fresh wheel in the deli case so stop in for a taste!
We're closed on Mondays but will be here Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 to 6:30 and we're tasting here on Thursday after 5pm as usual. This Thursday Dustin Whiten pours tastes of California Chardonnay, Italian Sangiovese and Argentine Malbec and Pinot Noir. Maddie will be on the cheese table tasting out Double Cream Gouda.
Cheeses are 50-70% water, by the way. The rest is protein, fat and other dry solids. The butter fat content percentage on the label doesn't take into account the water content, so a 60% butter fat cheese is actually probably 30% or so. The extra cream in the creamier Gouda is of course added to the existing whole cow's milk at the beginning of the process.
Not only is Double Cream Gouda creamier, it is also sweeter, silkier, richer and nuttier than regular Gouda. It slices well for sandwiches and melts well for cooking and on tortillas, casseroles, potatos, omelets, mac and cheese and apple pie. It also accompanies both fresh and dried fruit. Pinot Noir is the red wine that might pair best with this cheese.
Gouda is the best selling cheese worldwide. There are dozens of types out there. Just today I was offered Coffee Gouda! Now we can add Double Cream to the stable. We have a fresh wheel in the deli case so stop in for a taste!
We're closed on Mondays but will be here Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 to 6:30 and we're tasting here on Thursday after 5pm as usual. This Thursday Dustin Whiten pours tastes of California Chardonnay, Italian Sangiovese and Argentine Malbec and Pinot Noir. Maddie will be on the cheese table tasting out Double Cream Gouda.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Calling It What It Is - Bad Wine
My friend Donald (no relation) came through for me again with a treasure trove of Lettie Teague WSJ wine articles. He knows I'm too cheap to subscribe and bails me out periodically with stacks of his discards.
This time it's the September 29-30, 2018 edition that caught my eye. Teague is writing about the dilemma of describing bad wine. Now that's thought-provoking Pulitzer material if I ever heard of it! Only a true literary artist could go down this road!
Teague says it's easy to heap praise on examples of fine wine. It might be: "bright, lively, balanced, structured, tightly-knit, vigorous..." You get the idea.
She also says it's easy to identify cheap wine made from inferior fruit which may be described as such. Easily identified wine making mistakes can also be pegged like too much oak or flabbiness. Corkiness and age can also be easy to name. Too much alcohol can be "hot on the finish."
But what if a wine is so bad you don't know where to start. Back in the bad old days there were California wines that were all wrong. Not only were they unbalanced but the fruit flavors that dominated just couldn't have been the ones intended.
Wine industry veterans around here talk knowingly about those "bad old days" of yore when wine was shipped into the Atlanta market unprotected from the heat and then loaded onto trucks Friday evenings for Monday delivery. A whole lot of those wines had the same profile: stewed prunes!
Then there's the infamous "secondary fermentation" that resulted in a weird tasting fizziness that was impossible to get past. How about the vague chemically taste that seemed to indicate adulteration of some kind? Which brings us back to the present with the current generation of additives which have re-written the wine making textbook.
While criticizing wine that essentially tastes good may seem like nitpicking, there is still plenty of room to criticize a philosophy of wine making that allows for additives. But that's another subject. In reality, a whole lot of everyday wine is improved by what they're doing in California. It's just that some transparency would be nice. Like putting the ingredients on the back label.
But there is a wine tasting criticism to be laid out here: If your highly extracted, overblown big red wine tastes like an aberration of what it's supposed to be then what the heck is that all about anyway?
This question goes back to something fundamental that I have known for forty years: Wines can be good in themselves while at the same time being a bad example of that varietal. Prime example: current examples of Pinot Noir that sure taste good, but they sure as heck don't taste like Pinot Noir.
David Klepinger represents several wines from Kermit Lynch of Berkeley, California. Kermit Lynch is an impeccable importer of European wines. Please join us this Thursday after 5pm as Dave sets out a tasting of these and some fine California examples.
This time it's the September 29-30, 2018 edition that caught my eye. Teague is writing about the dilemma of describing bad wine. Now that's thought-provoking Pulitzer material if I ever heard of it! Only a true literary artist could go down this road!
Teague says it's easy to heap praise on examples of fine wine. It might be: "bright, lively, balanced, structured, tightly-knit, vigorous..." You get the idea.
She also says it's easy to identify cheap wine made from inferior fruit which may be described as such. Easily identified wine making mistakes can also be pegged like too much oak or flabbiness. Corkiness and age can also be easy to name. Too much alcohol can be "hot on the finish."
But what if a wine is so bad you don't know where to start. Back in the bad old days there were California wines that were all wrong. Not only were they unbalanced but the fruit flavors that dominated just couldn't have been the ones intended.
Wine industry veterans around here talk knowingly about those "bad old days" of yore when wine was shipped into the Atlanta market unprotected from the heat and then loaded onto trucks Friday evenings for Monday delivery. A whole lot of those wines had the same profile: stewed prunes!
Then there's the infamous "secondary fermentation" that resulted in a weird tasting fizziness that was impossible to get past. How about the vague chemically taste that seemed to indicate adulteration of some kind? Which brings us back to the present with the current generation of additives which have re-written the wine making textbook.
While criticizing wine that essentially tastes good may seem like nitpicking, there is still plenty of room to criticize a philosophy of wine making that allows for additives. But that's another subject. In reality, a whole lot of everyday wine is improved by what they're doing in California. It's just that some transparency would be nice. Like putting the ingredients on the back label.
But there is a wine tasting criticism to be laid out here: If your highly extracted, overblown big red wine tastes like an aberration of what it's supposed to be then what the heck is that all about anyway?
This question goes back to something fundamental that I have known for forty years: Wines can be good in themselves while at the same time being a bad example of that varietal. Prime example: current examples of Pinot Noir that sure taste good, but they sure as heck don't taste like Pinot Noir.
David Klepinger represents several wines from Kermit Lynch of Berkeley, California. Kermit Lynch is an impeccable importer of European wines. Please join us this Thursday after 5pm as Dave sets out a tasting of these and some fine California examples.
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