To Your Taste!

Spring Wine Tasting Extravaganza

2009-04-26T10:35:00.007-04:00

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Wine Tasting Association/Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits semi-annual tasting and sale. They also do one in late fall, for your holiday wine shopping. There is a VIP hour before the proletariat are allowed in, with special VIP wines to taste. In contrast to the DC Wine & Food Festival (see my rant about this in an earlier post), this tasting event is less expensive ($65 VIP/$40 Grand Tasting) and better managed.

The room is small, and it's always too warm, but it's large enough. There's food available just outside the tasting room--cheeses, grapes, breads and crackers. Each participant gets a WTA tasting glass. These are very nice crystal glasses, a good size, and a much better alternative to the small, heavy glasses they've used for the past two years at the DC WFF. The only drawbacks to these WTA glasses are that they are rather fragile, and IMO too light and slightly unbalanced as a result.

Overall it was a nice tasting. During the VIP hour the participants were for the most part courteous and allowed other participants to squeeze in to the tables and get a sample of wine. I did have a mildly unpleasant exchange with one of the reps pouring samples. She opened a new bottle of a wine I wanted to taste, and then she smelled the cork. I suggested that it's better to smell the wine in the bottle, and she replied that she's a wine professional (as if I'm not!) and she knows what a corked wine smells like by smelling the cork. I didn't bother to argue with her, but as a wine professional she should know that there are many other faults that can be present in a bottle of wine, and none of the other faults can be detected by smelling the cork. And sometimes you can have a really gnarly, moldy cork (usually with older wines) and the wine in the bottle is perfectly fine. As my friend Lynne likes to say, smelling the cork is just about as effective as holding the cork up to your ear and listening to it!

Although this blog is about wine, not about wines, I do have to single out one of the wines I tasted at the event. It was the Ch. Doisy-Daene Grand Vin Sec, Bordeaux 2006. I'm very familiar with the Ch. Doisy-Daene Sauternes with it's honey notes, silky texture and clean mineral finish. I didn't note the name on the label until after I tasted it. It was a "wow!" wine. The nose was intense yet layered and complex and on the palate it was exceptional. Then I noted the name of the chateau and expressed my surprise. Brett, the rep from Elite wines, was delighted that I was familiar with the Sauternes from the same chateau, and he was also delighted that I liked the Bordeaux and recognized its high quality. He told me that the wine spent a long time on the lees but saw no oak.

I deemed the Elite VIP wines (there were 3) the best selection of the tasting, and the Ch. Doisy-Daene the "best in show." Even during the VIP hour, there were many participants who shunned the whites in favor of the reds. I often find that the white wines at events like this are the real sleepers and should not be missed. In the case of the Ch. Doisy-Daene, this was certainly the case.

I wonder what fabulous surprises are in store for the tasting in the fall?

Maryland Direct Shipping Bill (Finale for 2009)

2009-04-14T08:45:00.003-04:00

Rather than tell the whole sad story here, I recommend you read The Wine Classroom blog by the Wine Novice:

Obit written again on Md. direct-shipping bill

The note came Friday morning from Adam Borden, who became one of the principal spokesmen for a bill that would allow Maryland wineries to ship their product directly to home. It was brief, to the point.

"Dead"

And so another attempt to allow Maryland wineries to ship wine by mail was denied. How many of there been? Might be 11 years; might be 12. Certainly it's an issue that has come up numerous times, found intense resistence by the Maryland wholesalers and retailers, and died on the vine. Borden wrote later that he's know more by the end of the weekend or the first of next week about how close they came and how much progress they made over last year. Any gains, he suggested, will help prepare for another fight next year. READ MORE....

Social networking site

2009-03-03T12:15:00.002-05:00

Maryland Direct Shipping Bill (Part 3)

2009-02-24T10:36:00.002-05:00

The Maryland legislators who are opposed to the proposed direct shipping bills are really missing the point. The wholesalers have testified that their main objection to the bills is that it will make it easy for Maryland minors to obtain alcohol and their (the wholesalers') main purpose in life is to protect minors. Yet 35 other states, including bordering states West Virginia and Virginia, and the District of Columbia, have successfully implemented direct shipping while very effectively preventing minors from obtaining alcohol through direct shipping. The legislators who buy into the Maryland wholesalers' arguments are effectively saying to their constituency that they cannot be trusted to be responsible. Only the wholesalers and retailers are responsible enough and care enough about the minors in Maryland to make sure that they do not have access to alcohol. The legislators in 35 other states feel that their constituents are responsible enough to have the legal right to have wine shipped directly to their homes.

Maryland voters who are 21 years or older are just as responsible and concerned about under-age drinking as voters in the 35 states that currently allow direct shipping. Frankly I find it insulting and patronizing of the Maryland wholesalers, retailers and other interests that argue that I am not responsible enough to be trusted with the right to have wine shipped directly to my home. And I am outraged that Maryland legislators buy into this specious argument.

I would like to hope that my next post in this series will be in celebration of passage of the direct shipping law in Maryland. But alas, that is not likely. Stay tuned...

Maryland Direct Shipping Bill (Part 2)

2009-02-22T18:49:00.002-05:00

One of the arguments put forth by the Maryland wholesalers against direct shipping is that there is a direct shipping law currently on the books, so the proposed law is not needed. What they fail to say is that the law is cumbersome and onerous for all concerned, and it is designed to protect the three-tier system. Under the current law, all three tiers are involved and there is no value added by these extra layers of involvement. It is designed, according to the wholesalers, to ensure that a minor cannot get access to the wine, and to ensure that the sales tax is paid. The first part is controlled by requiring that the wine be shipped by the winery to a state-designated wholesaler, which then delivers the wine to a wholesaler-designated licensed retailer, where the consumer is permitted to pick up the wine. The second part is controlled by requiring the winery to pay the sales tax to the state. The proposed law addresses these concerns and is used successfully in 35 other states.

In the four years since the current law has been in effect, only two consumers have successfully purchased wine from out of state using this process. This has netted the state an estimated $100 in excise tax, sales tax, and the permit fees paid by the two wineries. Other consumers may have tried to use the current process, but they probably gave up when the wineries balked at the cumbersome process.

One of the wholesalers' lobbyist magnanimously proposed that the state-designated wholesalers would waive their per-bottle service charge of $2 to $4 per bottle which is permitted under this law. There is an additional $5 to $10 per bottle service charge permitted by the wholesaler-designated retailer. It is doubtful that the retailer would be so magnanimous as to waive this service charge. But beyond these extra charges for using this process, I think Maryland consumers (er, I mean Maryland voters) don't bother to use it because it is neither "direct" nor convenient.

In my next installment, I'll talk about the patronizing, prohibitionist wholesalers and their arguments for why Maryland can't be like the 35 other states that have successfully adopted direct shipping laws.

Maryland Direct Shipping Bill (Part 1)

2009-02-19T12:36:00.005-05:00

[Note: this is the first in a series of rants against the Maryland wine retailers, wholesalers and others who oppose this bill]

My first rant is against Chuck Ferrar, owner of Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits, who testified against the bill at the Senate committee hearing yesterday in Annapolis. Is it any coincidence that Chuck's application to expand his store was approved in May by the City of Annapolis Beverage Control Board, or that Steve Wise, the attorney who represented Chuck at the board hearing, also testified against the bill? I think not. It is clear that all of those who testified in opposition to the bill are just circling the wagons and protecting their own interests. They do not care about Maryland consumers and what we want. Their only interest is in maintaining the status quo of the antiquated, neo-prohibitionist, protectionist three-tier regulatory control system in Maryland. One of those who spoke in opposition to the bill said something very telling, to the effect that passage of this bill will be just the first step in attempts to dismantle the three-tier system. Is there any wine consumer in Maryland who thinks that the current system is a good one? When I tell fellow wine lovers from out of state or from another country about Maryland's ABC laws, their responses are always expressions of incredulity. They simply cannot believe that every county in Maryland has its own liquor control board, or that some towns, like Annapolis, also have their own liquor control board. So yes, I hope that the bill gets passed, and that this is just the first step in getting rid of the corrupt, rotten-to-the-core, three-tier system in Maryland.

I have to stop now and have a glass of wine to calm down. The next installment will be focused on the current direct shipping law and why it doesn't work. I leave you now with this thought: it's time for Maryland consumers to change our self-image. We are not merely consumers, we are citizens and VOTERS and we have the power to CHANGE the laws of this state.

For further reading, I recommend this excellent article by Philip Rucker in the Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/ AR2008021802131.html

Overpriced, over-sold, and over-hyped!

2009-02-16T19:37:00.004-05:00

I'm talking about the Grand Cru Lounge at the Washington, DC International Wine & Food Festival held on February 14 and 15. The Grand Cru Lounge is billed as an exclusive part of the festival: " - Pamper yourself by visiting the ultra-special Grand Cru Wine Lounge. Sample the best of the best and taste creations from the area's top chefs." What I experienced yesterday was nothing of the sort.

I attended the Grand Cru Lounge last year and in 2007, the year it debuted as part of the festival. I attended because the Grand Tasting part of the festival had become so popular and overcrowded that even the trade hours were too much. In both of the two previous years, the Grand Cru Lounge was as it was billed: "Reserve level wines will be featured in this separate and sophisticated setting for the most serious wine enthusiast. All wines have been hand-selected and will be presented at specific times throughout the day. Several top winemakers will be on hand to discuss their wines as they are poured. A limited number of tickets are available in order to maintain a high-quality tasting experience..." Each year, the tasting was held in a very large, circular room called the Pavilion, with the Pavillion Prefunction room also being used. Many restaurants were represented, serving tastes of some of their signature dishes. The wines were for the most part the ultra-premium selections from excellent wineries, known and obscure, from all over the world. A live jazz band played, and some of the guests even danced. Overall, the Grand Cru Lounge events in 2007 and 2008 were a good value and an excellent experience.

Not so this year! At 2 p.m. those of us with tickets were admitted to a long, narrow, tomb-like room. As is my habit, I proceeded through the room to the back, to scope out what the offerings were and to avoid the crush of people at Table #1. Maybe I didn't read the description of this year's event properly, I'm thinking. I got to the back of the room, and the only chef I saw was from the Occidental Restaurant, and he was arranging pastries on a display. There was also a table set up with Capitol Chocolate Fountains. A cheese display was in the middle of the center of the room, near the back. It had a nice selection of cheeses, fruits, breads and the like. But it was so large it made the already-cramped room seem more cramped. Walking back up towards the front of the room, I saw a beautiful display of colorful crudite, with some bowls of dressing on the side. By the time I got back to the very front, the room was completely full and there was very little room to move, let alone approach the tables to try to get a taste of wine. The room was more crowded than the Grand Tasting, and the selection of wines was certainly not up to par with the previous years'. Where was Hunt Cellars? Chateau Julien? Where was Nage and all of the other great restaurants from before? So I paid $125 to eat raw vegetables and cheese and crackers with my samples of wine? That was the only savory food being offered. As for the desserts, well, I did not pay $125 to enjoy a sample of Jadot Puligny-Montrachet 2006 with a chocolate-covered strawberry marshmallow. I didn't sample the desserts because I don't eat chocolate and I'm not a big fan of sweets. By 4:30 p.m., a full hour and a half before the event was scheduled to end, several of the wines were gone, and so was I.

I'd love to hear comments from those of you who attended this year's Grand Cru Lounge, especially if you attended in previous years. I will be contacting ResourcePlus Shows & Events to express my dissatisfaction with this event. I hope you will, too. Just click on this link: http://www.wine-expos.com/Wine/DC/contact-us.asp?SHID=47699716.04953754.

My Wine Adventure at Moët & Chandon

2008-12-22T13:57:00.004-05:00

A few years ago I visited the esteemed Moët & Chandon Champagne cellars in Epernay with a wine travel company called Wine Lovers Tours (a great company—check them out at http://www.vintagetours.com)/. Our group of about 20 people was in the middle of a fascinating private tour of the cellars. I was busily taking artsy-fartsy photos of the dusty bottles in the dark and deep vaulted chambers of this 33-mile labyrinth, when I turned around and realized that I was all alone.

I ran to a fro looking and listening or my group. I heard a sound and ran toward it. I came face to face with a cellar rat (the human kind) on a forklift. In my panic I couldn’t think of the right words in French to communicate my plight to the man. He looked amused and on his forklift began to chase me around a large stone pillar. As I tried to avoid being run over, I pleaded in English with the man to help me find my group. He just shrugged and motioned for me to go up a steep flight of stairs that I had not noticed before.
I ran up the stairs and found myself back in the reception area where we had begun our tour. It was only later, after I was reunited with my group and we completed the tour, that I realized what an amazing opportunity I had passed up. I could have stayed “lost” in the Moët & Chandon cellars with all of that wonderful Champagne until someone in the group noticed that I was missing. I doubt that the few bottles I could have consumed would have been missed!

Wine faults are subjective?

2008-10-09T14:34:00.009-04:00

Earlier this week I attended a Burgundy tasting and dinner led by Allen Meadows, "Mr. Burghound." We tasted Burgundy wines all from the 2005 vintage, 8 wines before dinner and 3 with dinner. During the tasting portion of the program, Allen was talking about Brett, and how he enjoys some wines with "a little Brett," but that too much causes the wine to taste metallic, and he doesn't enjoy that. He went on to ask rhetorically, "Aren't all faults subjective?" This was part of his larger discussion about how wine tasting is subjective, and he tried to make the point that just as how we perceive the flavor of wine is subjective, so too is how we perceive wine faults.

I heartily disagree with this premise. While I do believe that so much of our perception of the flavors and aromas of wine is subjective, I think a faulty wine is faulty and there is nothing subjective about it. It is only the degree to which the fault is perceived from person to person that varies. For example, I am highly sensitive to TCA in wine ("corked wine"), so when I smell a wine that is corked, I smell the TCA and not much else. When a person less sensitive to TCA smells a corked wine, that person may only perceive that the wine smells flat and lacks aroma. The person is not perceiving the TCA, only the effects of the TCA on the wine. The TCA masks the other aromas and flavors of the wine.

On the other hand, Brett (Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that reacts with the chlorine with which corks are sterilized), has an additive effect on the wine. It adds aromas to the wine while leaving intact or even enhancing the other aromas. Indeed, some wine lovers feel that a certain amount of the "earthy," "barnyard" aromas of Brett are desirable in a wine, especially in Old World wines such as those from the Rhone Valley or Burgundy. But that does not mean that we perceive the Brett differently; it means that the degree to which we perceive the Brett and how we feel about it varies.

So how is this different from the subjective way in which we perceive a wine? Perhaps the best way to explain the difference is to use the explanation I give to "newbie" wine drinkers when they ask me, "How do you taste all the different flavors, like cherry and raspberry and currant, in a wine? Isn't that what wine tasting is all about, being able to discern the different flavors?" My response is no, even after tasting thousands of different wines, "wine tastes like wine to me. I don't try to figure out if I'm tasting cherry or raspberry or currant." I taste the wine and decide whether it's balanced, has good structure, is varietally or stylistically correct, and of course, whether it has any technical faults like TCA or Brett.

Do you agree with Allen Meadows that wine faults are subjective, or do you agree with me that they are not?

Wine Epiphany

2008-09-22T18:38:00.008-04:00

Each of us wine lovers has had at least one "Wine Epiphany," where you suddenly "get" what wine is all about. For me, it was on Thursday, March 9, 1989, at Jean-Louis at the Watergate in Washington, DC. It was the "Graves Tasting Tour & Dinner with Jean-Louis" sponsored by Les Amis du Vin (the storied wine tasting group that warrants a post all its own!).

For those of you who don't know Jean-Louis Palladin, here's a little background from the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation:

"In 1974, at 28 yrs old, Jean-Louis won 2 Michelin stars for his restaurant Tables Des Cordeliers in Gascony, France. At the time he was the youngest chef to have won 2 stars.

Always seeking a new challenge, in 1979 he came to America to open Jean-Louis at The Watergate, in the Watergate Hotel, Washington, DC.

He found little that was similar to the ingredients he knew in France and certainly few well trained cooks and servers. He plowed ahead with passion and fortitude."

The dinner was eight courses, paired with sixteen wines, all from the Graves region. My memory tells me they were all white wines, but it was so long ago and I was so new to wine that I am probably mistaken (if anybody reading this was at the dinner, please let me know). I have the menu and the actual fax registration form for the dinner, but of course there is no mention of the style of the wines, red or white.

The price was $160! A king's ransom for me at the time (and still rather pricey). But if the dinner were held today, I would guess it would cost at least $350. At the time I was a young database administrator, working at Coopers & Lybrand at an annual salary of $18K. The suggested attire was formal, and the dinner was limited to 60 people. We sat at round tables for 8, as I recall, and seated at each table was a representative from one of the chateaux. I was seated next to the representative of Domaine de Chevalier. He was about 60 years old and spoke no English, and my French was and is limited. But he was charming and was charmed, I think, by me.

The entire meal was sublime. Anybody who had the pleasure of tasting Jean-Louis' culinary creations will understand what I mean when I say that it was the best meal I had ever had up until that time, and even now it ranks in my memory among my top ten best meals.

But the one course that I still remember to this day is the sixth course:

Milk-fed Leg of Lamb in essence of Black Olives, Celery Root Mousseline
paired with Domaine de Chevalier 1976 and Chateau Haut-Bailly 1979

It's not the Leg of Lamb that I recall. No, when I tasted the silky, earthy, rich celery root puree paired with the herbaceous, flinty Domaine de Chevalier, it was truly an epiphany for me. It was at that moment that I truly understood what wine is all about. It's not about having an alcoholic beverage, it's not about having something to wash down your meal with, it's not even about how good a wine can be on its own. No, at that moment I understood that wine is meant to enhance a meal, and no matter how good a meal is, it's not complete without wine.

I believe that one experience has to this day influenced my approach to selecting from a restaurant menu. Before I even look at the menu, I study the wine list and see if there's anything interesting that I want to try. Then I look at the menu to find something that will go well with the wine. But I'm not really interested in whether there is steak or fish or lamb or chicken on the menu. No, for me the most interesting part of the menu is the side dishes, sauces and accompaniments. I look for polenta, mushrooms, grits, lentils, sweet potato, scalloped potatoes, risotto, barley, turnips, parsnips, beets...or celery root puree. I go back and forth from the wine list to the menu, until I find the "perfect" pairing.

So, that's my Wine Epiphany. Do you want to share yours?

Tasting etiquette at large, crowded walk-around tastings

2008-08-04T19:27:00.002-04:00

I attend many so-called "walk-around" tastings and there are a few things that really annoy me about this type of event. This is one of my pet peeves: People who get a sample of wine to taste, and then just stand there tasting the wine and chatting with the person pouring the wines. If we all did that, nobody would have a chance to taste more than a mere fraction of the wines. When you are at a tasting where there are dozens or hundreds of wines being poured, don't just stand there; get out of the way so somebody else can taste some wines. You can do your learning and evaluation of the wine away from the table.

Here's how to do it properly: walk up to the table, and when it's "your turn," get the sample of wine, find out what it is, and ask one or two very quick questions. Then say thank you and step back away from the table so somebody else can get a taste. Depending on how quickly you are tasting, you should either stand clear of any tasting tables, or stand close but not so close that somebody else can't get in the queue. When you are ready to taste again, just repeat this process.

How to deal with the table monopolizers: stand behind them, stick out your tasting glass, and shout to be heard. The ones being rude will probably look back at you as if you are the rude one. Just smile and say, "Excuse me, I'm just trying to get a sample." When you get your sample, say "Thanks" and step away. Do this often enough, and they'll get the hint. If they don't, just elbow your way in and ignore them.

And you guys who are doing the pouring of the samples, you are just as guilty. What's the proper way? Look up and acknowledge anybody who is standing on the "second line" of tasters. Pour a taste over the heads or between the shoulders of people rude enough not to step back when they have received a taste. A good "pourer" will develop a little patter on each wine, and will be able to serve many people standing around the table, not just the ones right in front.

That's my biggest complaint about this type of event. What's yours?

Picnics, parks and wine

2008-06-21T18:49:00.007-04:00

Today I attended an invitation-only picnic at a city-owned park. I was told when I accepted the invitation that alcoholic beverages are not allowed in the park. I was disappointed, but I went anyway. It's a beautiful day, the first full day of summer, and the weather is sunny and hot. A nice chilled rosé would have gone nicely with my hot dog and tomato and olive tapenade salad.

It's legal for adults to consume alcohol in this country. Why is it OK to ban alcohol in public parks? Why is this policy not challenged? There are already enough restrictions on when and where I can consume wine (see my previous post below about MADD). Do we really need another? There are laws against public drunkenness, against driving while impaired, and many other such laws; aren't they sufficient? Why can't I have a nice serving or two of wine when I'm at a picnic or a concert in the park?

I contend that there is no need for such laws and restrictions. If somebody consumes too much alcohol and is openly and noticeably drunk, then laws are in place whereby that person can and should be arrested. But let me enjoy some light and fruity Beaujolais with my curried chicken salad while I listen to some good live music in the park. I promise you won't even notice that I'm drinking wine...

MADD attempts to outlaw social drinking

2008-05-19T10:13:00.004-04:00

This one has me seething mad! Mothers Against Drunk Drivers has come up with a diabolic way to prevent any adult in the US from enjoying a glass of wine in a bar, with dinner at a restaurant, or at a wine tasting or wine festival. This organization will not be satisfied until anyone who has consumed any alcohol can be arrested for "driving while impaired," aka "DUI" in many states. How do they plan to do this? By getting legislation passed to make Ignition Interlock Devices mandatory on all vehicles in the US, and by getting the maximum blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) set between .02 and .04 on these devices. This means that if you have a glass of wine at a restaurant with dinner, you willl not be able to drive home because the interlock will prevent your car from starting.

Towards this end MADD, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has launched a 5-year campaign for universal interlocks. "Contracting with the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), the agency has budgeted $10,000,000 to solicit research and development on the widespread use of in-vehicle technology to prevent alcohol-impaired driving."

Why am I mad about this? Because the facts just don't support the notion that "impaired" drivers are a danger. "Since 1997, the average BAC of a driver in a fatal crash has remained relatively stable at 0.18 percent—225 percent of the legal limit." And while MADD has succeeded in getting the legal limit for BAC reduced from .10 to .08, there is no evidence that the lower BAC rate has reduced fatality rates. In fact, "while drunk driving fatalities declined over the last 30 years, speeding and distracted driving deaths have steadily increased. And now negligent driving is the main cause of deaths on American highways."

MADD is no longer interested in traffic safety. The goal of this organization has become to make "impaired driving" illegal. I say that any organization that says it is interested in traffic safety should call for mandatory speed governors and technology to disable cell phones when a car is moving. Here are some other ways that drivers are distracted while driving: using a GPS navigation system, searching for stations on satellite radio, or programming an MP3 device. Why aren't these distractions being addressed? What about people who drive while sleep-deprived? And here's a radical idea: make automatic transmissions illegal. When you drive a car with a manual transmission, like I do, you have to concentrate on what you are doing, and you have to use both hands!

I'm so mad about this that I am seriously considering founding a counter-organization. I'll call it "DAMM"--Drunks Against Mad Mothers. Will you join it?

All about wine, not wines

2008-05-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first entry in the To Your Taste! blog. Like my product, the To Your Taste!® Wine Party Kit, this blog takes a decidedly diffferent approach to wine. Here I will write about topics ranging from the neo-prohibitionist efforts of MADD to outlaw social drinking (www.interlockfacts.com) to my take on the deplorable wines served at private catered events. What I will not write about is particular wines, except to give examples when I address specific topics.

To Your Taste!