Spotlight on Michel-Schlumberger Winery

“They’re over there in those condos,” he said with a proud, boyish smile as he pointed to some stacks of small, shallow wooden boxes a short distance away. Jay Kell, the manager of wine education and guest services at Sonoma’s Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate was referring to the fairly sizable colony of bees that the winery maintains on the property. I had just arrived with my partner whom I had insisted join me on this visit, given his background in horticulture and keen interest in sustainability.  Our purpose here was to embark on what the winery markets as its Green Tour, a privately escorted excursion of the vineyards, provided as way to increase customer awareness of its dedication to a myriad of biodynamic practices.  One of those is the nurturing of bees, done in an effort to facilitate the pollination of other plant life supportive to the vines themselves.  I soon learned that this overall philosophy, so deeply respectful of nature and its inherent ecological balance, permeates just about everything done at Michel-Schlumberger — not only in the production of the fine wines for which it’s known, but also in its dedication to give back to the environment from which came the very grapes to make them. (read more…)

Effects of Temperature on the Taste of Wine

Wine is notoriously served at the wrong temperature. In general, white wines should be chilled. But they’re often overly so, to the point being downright frigid. And red wines are nearly always served at room temperature when they could actually stand to be a bit cooler than that.  Now, if it were simply an issue of temperature alone, it probably wouldn’t matter much.  But unlike soda or juice or plain water, temperature has a direct and profound effect on the taste and texture of wine, which can make all the difference in whether and how much you enjoy it.  So much so, in fact, that simply changing the temperature of a wine can make it go from barely tolerable to quite enjoyable… or vice versa. (read more…)

Spotlight on Foggy Bridge Winery

On any other Saturday afternoon, if the floor were moving underneath my feet, I would resign myself to setting down the wine glass and switching to something less intoxicating. But on this occasion, the swaying deck was to be expected as part of getting underway on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s historic presidential yacht, the USS Potomac, in order to enjoy an interactive wine tasting and food pairing experience quite like no other. (read more…)

Chef Cynthia Bloebaum’s culinary spin on the Wine Class

“That’s dried licorice root in anise oil.”  Cynthia Bloebaum was referring to one of the several edible tasting aids she had provided as a reference tool to each of the students in her wine class on Big, Spicy Reds.  I was fascinated, first of all because I’d never actually tasted the real thing — it was certainly a far cry from a box of Good & Plenty — but more importantly, because her approach of providing fresh fruits and herbs to help identify the flavors in the wines she presented was, I felt, part of what made her teaching style so engaging.  The exercise of thoughtfully tasting and analyzing wine, something I’ve grown quite familiar with, was suddenly fresh and new, now that I experienced it from this chef’s culinary perspective. (read more…)

During my studies for the WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits, I developed an avid interest in wine chemistry. That such a seemingly dry and admittedly even nerdy topic could be so engrossing was surprising enough. But as I assimilated more on the subject, an initially shocking realization finally took hold of me: all wine, to one degree or another, during its production, is chemically manipulated. What?! At first, I couldn’t fathom how a purportedly natural agricultural product could be altered and still be, well, natural. I quickly learned from the perspective of enology — something that undeniably applies to food chemistry, in general — that the line between natural and artificial is so blurry, it may arguably not even exist. Rather, the issues fall along a continuum: there are varying extents, permutations, and levels of skill in the manipulation of wine, and so it all boils down to how well a wine is subjectively perceived to be in harmony and balance. Given that I’m sure the vast majority of consumers have little to no idea of the extent to which wine is manipulated in its production, I felt compelled to write about the use of chemical additives and enhancing processes in winemaking, and presenting my opinion on the impact of those choices in that process. (read more…)

Part 1 of a Series on the use of Chemical Additives & Enhancements in Winemaking

Back when I worked in a wineshop, occasionally a customer would come in, asking for sulfite-free wine.  It wouldn’t happen frequently, but when it did, I have to admit that I found it very frustrating.  And that’s because, quite simply…

There is no such thing as sulfite-free wine!

Nevertheless, I’ve come to understand that there is a great deal of knowledge lacking among wine consumers, and I embraced that sort of request from a customer as a ripe opportunity to reign in the extreme belief that the use of sulfur dioxide is necessarily a bad thing in wine (it’s only the misuse of it that’s potentially problematic).  In fact, the every existence of wine as we know it today hinges on the antioxidant properties of the additive. (read more…)

The Taste Walla Walla 2008 Wine Tasting Event

As I stepped off the elevator and out onto the ninth floor observatory of San Francisco’s de Young Museum, I was immediately mesmerized with a breathtaking vista of Golden Gate park.  ”Wow, this view alone was worth the trip,” I thought to myself as I made my way towards the nearest picture window — just one of the virtually seamless row that encircled the entire level, providing an unobstructed 360º view of the city.  As I lost myself in the panorama of treetops just below, victorian buildings in the distance, and even the Golden Gate bridge further afar, for a fleeting moment I’d forgotten my entire purpose for being there: to taste the wines being poured by producers visiting from Washington’s Walla Walla Valley.  The serenity I’d experienced while admiring the spectacular scenery quickly gave way to a sense of eagerness for what I anticipated was going to be an exciting opportunity to sample dozens of the expressive, elegant, and food-friendly wines for which this up-and-coming region is becoming increasingly well known. (read more…)

The Vino in Villa USA 2008 Wine Tasting Event

As I briefly touched on with a number of the Italian representatives pouring their wines at the recent Vino in Villa wine tasting, Prosecco isn’t widely available in restaurants here in the States — even in the culinary epicenters of San Francisco and New York, where the event was held this past week.  My comment surprised a number of them, since this sparkling wine is not only a common fixture in the culture of northeastern Italy, where it’s produced, but widely drunk in the rest of their country and in many areas throughout Europe — second only to Asti, among the most popular of Italian sparkling wines.  But here in the States, with bubbly from California and France dominating the market, Prosecco could definitely benefit from greater awareness with consumers — and that begins with periodically reacquainting retailers and restauranteurs with the charm and approachability of this imminently likeable sparkling wine. Vino in Villa presented that very opportunity, bringing to the U.S. a taste of what is normally a large two-day international festival just north of Venice, Italy the month prior. (read more…)

Spotlight on Designer Kacper Hamilton

Drinking wine can be decadent.  But London-based designer Kacper Hamilton has taken that idea to another level by creating a set of seven wine glasses inspired by the seven deadly sins: wrath, pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, and envy.

Says Hamilton: “Each glass encapsulates a sin, which is revealed through the ritual of drinking. The 7 Deadly Glasses are about celebrating passion and encouraging the user to be sinful in a theatrical fashion.”

(All photos are clickable thumbnails that in some browsers will display in a lightbox window.) (read more…)

The Golden Glass 2008 Wine Tasting Event

Green.  The color of the moment, it’s a philosophy that’s all the rage right now. Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years — far from contact with the modernized, mechanized world that necessitated this new mindset to begin with — you’re no doubt aware that ‘living green’ means doing so in a way that sustains or enhances the health of the natural environment.  As a movement, green principles are being applied to nearly every industry, not the least of which is food and wine. (read more…)