Summer Events

Summer is wrapping up, and that means wineries are throwing parties, before the winemakers are overwhelmed by harvest season. Keep an eye out for fun events near you.  Here are a few near us:

Hudson Valley August Sangria Festival
Finger Lakes Riesling Festival
Harvest East End

Did You Know? ... About Wine Corks

There are lots of different options for wine "corks." Winemakers choose based on a variety of reasons, but they all serve the same basic function: to keep the wine sealed in the bottle, and protected from air, until it gets to your table.

A special cork: glass with the wineries logo on top.

• Natural Cork
• Artificial Cork
• Screw Tops
• Miscellaneous, including glass

There has been much discussion by wine consumers about screw top bottles in recent years. Many feel these wines are less desirable, that the screw top indicates a cheaper wine. Not so. For the vast majority of wines produced around the world, only a very few are meant to be stored long term. Those meant for storage need a cork for optimal aging. The rest of the wines, meant for immediate consumption, do just fine with a screw top. Not to mention that screw tops are much more eco friendly.

What Makes a High Quality Wine?

The creation of a high quality wine is a combination of science and art, as a wine maker uses their vast base of knowledge, augmented by their intuition and tastes to create the best wine they can. Of course, it's aided by a bit of luck, as even a master can only do so much with poor materials (or a poor vintage, in this case).

The quality of the wine depends on the quality of the grape. Good growing conditions, skilled care in the vineyard, and the ever elusive terrior play a role, before the wine maker has a chance to work their magic.

A skilled wine maker knows what to do with that grape, what to do to bring out its natural aromas and flavors, and how best to turn the simple juice into a complex wine.

The details about a high quality wine can be argued, but for us it boils down to complexity in the glass. A good wine will be flavorful or refreshing, but a truly great wine will bring layers of flavor and encourage you to sit and contemplate the glass.

There is constant arguing about whether anyone can actually tell the difference, with studies supporting both sides. This week we had a chance to run our own informal test: two bottles of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon with drastically different price points. Shared with family, we gave them a taste of each and asked for their thoughts. The results followed our thesis, but it still wasn't universally agreed which was the better wine. In this case, we know who was wrong (the one who disagreed with us!). But it does go to show that all that really matters is what you enjoy!

Summer in a Glass

Its amazing the effect a glass of wine can have on us. We often talk about the smells and flavors, and what they mean for the wine or how they pair with food. But smell is the strongest link to memory.

One flavor that always stands out to me in our favorite Rieslings from the Finger Lakes is the mineral note that provides part of the strong crisp backbone. Dry to sweet, no matter what style the wine takes, the hint of minerality always lingers at the back of a Finger Lakes Riesling.

For me, that flavor sends my memory back through the years, to a time well before I even started thinking about wine. Summers of my youth were spent hiking and camping in the Finger Lakes. That smell of wet slate takes me back to warm afternoons, sitting in some quiet ravine chatting with friends and listening to the streams babble. Its amazing what seemingly unrelated memories the flavors of a wine can invoke, and the simple pleasures they can remind us of.

How-To: Tell if a Wine Needs to "Open"

Oxygen is the bane and boon of wine. Oxidation or aeration increases flavors, but also allows volatile flavors to escape the wine. Among some wine drinkers, there is discussion on letting a wine "breathe". It will allow layers of complex flavors to meld, creating a better balance, but there is no exact science to the perfect amount of time it will need to open. The basic guideline is if you have a red wine with strong tannins, decant the wine and let it stand for a while, testing frequently. Once the wine seems like its an ideal flavor, either serve it our stopper it for serving soon.

What Red Wine to Drink if You Don't Like Red Wine

Many people find they don't enjoy wine. Often, red wine in particular can be difficult for some people. But it's important to remember that there are a wide range of flavors available in red wine (as well as white). If you don't enjoy a particular varietal or style, look for something at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Why Does Red Wine Taste "Raspy"?

Like the coating on the back of your teeth after a glass of cola, sometimes red wine can leave a scratchy texture in your mouth. A less than generous comparison would be that it feels like licking sandpaper. This is from the astringency of tannins, a chemical compound found in plants, in this case in the skins, stems, and seeds of crushed grapes. Since red wines need to spend time in contact with the crushed skins (and stems and seeds), they pick up more tannins than white wines.

Did You Know?... About Vinho Verde

Vinho Verde is Portugese for "Green Wine." The name comes from the style of the wine, not the varietal. The wine is intended to be drunk quickly after bottling, typically with fresh, bright flavors. Despite the name, it is not actually green in color, but it can be white, red, or sparkling.

How-To: Enjoy Funky Wines

The wine tasting wheel from UC Davis has some strange descriptors that are a little off-putting to wine novices. For us, we classify those as "Funky" wines, aromas and flavors that don't necessarily appeal on paper, but can be really interesting:
-Petrol (a favorite in Riesling)
-Truffle
-Sweaty Saddle
-Barnyard
-Tobacco
-Dirty gym socks

These flavors can be dominating on the palette, and tough to pair with food. But if properly balanced with some other flavors, these wines can make an interesting drink on their own. They are seldom "easy-drinking" wines, so they are great for linger over those long evenings of conversation.

Any Port in a Storm

We don't entertain at home every often. Few of our friends live in Brooklyn, and traveling between boroughs feels like visiting a different city, so most of the time we tend to meet at some central point in Manhattan. But every once in a while someone will brave the train ride and venture out to our neighborhood. Thankfully, there are some interesting reasons to come and visit. Some friends wanted to try Franny's, so we agreed to meet up with them. We enjoyed some great pizza, some good Italian wine, and some good conversation, and we didn't want the evening to end, so we headed back to our apartment to visit for a while longer.

We were all stuffed from a great dinner, so the idea of breaking open a bottle of wine to share seemed a bit much. But thankfully, we had the perfect option for an after dinner drink: port. Sweet, but not to sickly, with rich flavors that encouraged casual sipping, and just enough alcohol to encourage those entertaining evening conversations.

We don't keep a stockpile of bottles around for those "just in case" situations but if we had to,make a recommendation for those situations, we'd say keep a bottle of port around.

What is Organic Wine?

In the US, any domestic or imported winemaker that wants to use the word "organic" on their label must meet the guidelines of the USDA. The grapes must be grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, and must not have been impacted by nearby non-organic vineyards. The wine must be produced without added sulfides, minimal manipulation, no artificial flavors, and is often made with wild yeasts. Growers must rely on more labor intensive techniques to properly manage the vine and grape growth to protect from pests and molds.

To receive the "Organic" certification is such an intensive process that many growers and winemakers (especially those who own smaller-scale operations) choose not to apply, even though they follow organic best practices. The best way to find out if your favorite wine would be considered organic is to ask the winery directly.

What is Natural Wine?

The "natural" label can be applied to any wine that a winemaker desires. There is no industry definition or criteria that must be met. Ideally, it is used to define a wine made with little to no chemical or technical interventions.

• No additives for color or flavor
• No added sugar
• No technological manipulation, like Micro-oxygenation

Is Wine Vegan?

You might think this is a straight-forward question. You might be thinking, "What animal products could be used in fermented grape juice?" Unfortunately, it's just not that simple. If you need your wine to be vegan, it might require a little work.

The most common reason wine might not count as vegan is that sometimes egg whites and other animal proteins are poured through a wine during the "fining" process, a process that collects minute particles of grape must, yeast, and other particulates suspended in the liquid. It's not as common with modern production runs, but this still happens.

The safest way to ensure that your wine is vegan is to contact the winemaker to confirm. You can also look for wine that is unfiltered, or look to some websites that list vegan wine options, to help you in your research.

How-To: Ship Wine

You may have just tried to ship a special bottle from your favorite winery to a friend or relative, only to discover that for some reason they would not allow you to.  Unfortunately for consumers, the US allows each state to control their own laws regarding wine, and there is no uniform interstate shipping regulations.

Each state has its own agreements regarding what other states are allowed to ship there.

Often, a winemaker will need to have a license to ship to another state, a cost they may not find worthwhile.

To add to the confusion, shipping companies have their own rules. Usually, a shipment of wine needs to be signed for, by an adult. And sometimes they even demand that the recipient be sober!

Festive Wines

With bubbles flowing like streams of sparkling gems, there is nothing quite like sparkling wines to put us in a festive mood.

What is it that makes sparkling wine so special?

Is it the way the bubbles catch the light? Each glass becomes its own light show.

Is it the knowledge that so much effort goes into each bottle, a careful balancing of forces within each bottle, and a careful balancing of skill and art on the part of the winemaker?

Is it the fact that sparkling wine is so flexible? How many wines stand up so well to different types of food, or even to sipping on their own, like a good Champagne?

Maybe it's just tradition. It's so ingrained in our culture that the idea of toasting with anything but bubbly now seems crazy. 

Whatever the reason, we hope you have the chance this holiday to uncork a bottle to share with the special people in your life.

How Much Wine Do You Need for a Holiday Party?

When figuring out how much wine you need to buy for a holiday party, its important to keep in mind one basic fact. A typical bottle of wine holds five standard glasses. If you are pouring for a meal or for casual sipping that may change a bit, but this is a safe assumption and a good place to start.

So from there, it's simply a matter of multiplying your number of guests by the number of courses (or how many times you expect to pass the bottle during a family style meal) and dividing by 5, to figure out how many bottles you need.

What Is Sediment in Wine?

What are those small dark chunks floating in the bottom of your glass of wine? Dirt? Bits of grape skins and seeds? Pieces of the cork? Unless something went horribly wrong with your wine, this is "sediment." Usually found in bottle-aged red wines, "sediment" is the pigments that gave the wine its deep, dark color when it was young. As the wine ages, those microscopic color particles clump together and settle to the bottom of the wine. They won't do anything to change the color, but they will add a grainy texture, so this is part of the reason we decant older red wines, to leave that sediment in the bottle--and out of our glass.

How-To: Tell if a Wine Should Be Aged

This is one area of wine we are still learning about. At its simplest, you can rely on the opinion of someone more knowledgeable. Winemakers will often advise on when they think the best time to drink a wine is, after they've crafted a wine they think will benefit from a few years of aging. Professional reviewers will give an idea of what they think the perfect drinking window is for a particular wine. But it's helpful to know what they are looking at, when they are talking about why an wine should be aged.

The way we understand it, a perfect wine should be a balance of flavors: acid, fruit, and other notes working well in concert together. In a young wine that can stand up to aging in the bottle for a few years, those flavors might each be perfect on their own, but be out of balance. Time spent in the bottle will allow the flavors to mellow and blend. Voila!

Is It Okay for a Guy to Order Rosé Wine?

Yes!

Sometimes waiters might get confused, and try to deliver the glass of rosé to your date (this has happened to us!), but a good rosé will suit nearly any palette. Many novice wine drinkers start with sweet wines, and it's easy to find a sweet rosé. But these wines get interesting where the hint of red grape flavors add complexity to the otherwise crisper wines. This means an interesting alternative to white wine for you dudes out there. So, guys, don't be shy: the next time you are out on the town, order up a glass of rosé. Ask for one that is robust or "hearty": we promise the deep complexities will compensate for the chuckles of your dinner party.

How-To: Do a Comparative Wine Tasting

To learn more about wine, it can be useful to do a tasting of similar wines to compare and contrast.

• A vertical tasting compares the same type of wine from a single producer from different vintages.
• A horizontal tasting compares similar wines of the same type and vintage from different producers.
• A comparative tasting is similar to a horizontal, comparing wines with one similar element: varietal, region, vintage, etc.

Comparing similar wines like this helps isolate the smaller differences. A trio of Rieslings, made by the same producer, in the same year, from different vineyards will end up with similarities in the flavors and aromas, but can help the taste buds recognize the subtle differences when directly compared. Generally, the wines are compared in stages: appearance, aroma, then flavor. As the wines are usually of a similar style and flavor profile, there is less concern over tasting order, as there is less chance of any one wine overpowering the flavor of the others.

During a comparative tasting, it is recommended to spit the wine. While the buzz from sipping from several glasses can be fun, it tends to dull the senses, and limit the ability to truly judge the differences.

In glassware, consistency is important. Connoisseurs say that the different shapes of glasses effect the aroma and impact of the flavors, so to compare the wines evenly its important to serve them from identical glasses. It is not recommended to do several tastings from the same glass if you can avoid it: the residue from the previous wine can influence the flavors of the current one, and a rinse will leave some water that will slightly dilute the wine.

Comparative tastings are common in the professional wine world, especially for judging wines in competition. In this case, the wines are often tasted blind; the label of the wine concealed when poured and tasted to avoid influencing the judges.

There is no defined number of wines for these types of tastings. Sometimes professionals will taste over 100 wines in one event. But, most of us will be overwhelmed by more than half a dozen tastes, and over a dozen makes it more of a chore than an enjoyable experience, in our opinion.