I recall the wave of “Yankee Candles don’t smell like anything!” reviews from the last couple of years. Unlike those intrepid Amazonians, I think the problem might actually be me.

I feel fine otherwise. I’ll be testing on Christmas morning — there’s a lot of older relatives and ones with health conditions coming to dinner — and I recommend you do the same.

Johnny and I wish you a warm and cozy holiday and a very Happy New Year. I’ll be back when everything else is back.

First up, someone bucking for coal in their Christmas stocking broke into Sparkman Cellars in Washington State and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of wine! According to Wine Spectator:

The surveillance cameras at Sparkman Cellars in Washington state recorded the masked intruder entering the winery at approximately 10:30 p.m. on the night before Thanksgiving. The trespasser entered through a side door, then moved into the room where fermentation vats are housed before disappearing from view. Moments later, a gush of wine could be seen spilling all over the floor.

The damage? Two tanks holding 4,800 gallons of a white blend from the 2023 vintage. All the wine—approximately 1,800 cases worth—was ruined, costing Sparkman an approximate $600,000 in revenue.

No word as to why someone would do such a thing. Thankfully no one was hurt during the break-in. So if you’re in the Washington area and run across someone whose shoes smell of wine, alert the authorities!

Next, all the cool kids are playing with artificial intelligence (AI), so why should wine be any different? According to Decanter.com:

A team from the University of Geneva in Switzerland used artificial intelligence to assess the chemical composition of 80 red wines from seven different châteaux.

They used wines from 12 different vintages between 1990 and 2007, all from renowned estates in Bordeaux.

The researchers vaporised the wines and broke them down to chemical components, resulting in a readout for each wine. The readout is known as a chromatogram, and it has around 30,000 points representing separate chemical compounds.

The team then used 73 chromatograms to train the AI, along with data on the vintage and the estate that produced the wines.

Researchers then tested the algorithm on seven chromatograms that were held back to see if it could guess which estate had produced the wines.

It managed to do so with 100% accuracy. The researchers repeated the process 50 times, changing the wines used each time, and the algorithm consistently earned full marks.

These chromatographs can be used like wine fingerprints, to crack down on counterfeiting. And hey, maybe they can be used to identify people who were standing in 4,800 gallons of wine!

And sadly, we must pour one out for Mike Grgich. Reported in multiple outlets but quoting Wine Spectator again:

Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, a longtime Napa Valley winemaker who was best known for crafting the famed 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won the Paris Tasting of 1976, died on Dec. 13. He was 100.

Over his decades in wine, Grgich worked at several trailblazing California wineries. He also helped perfect several winemaking techniques in California, including cold sterilization and controlled malolactic fermentation. He also spearheaded research with U.C. Davis professor Carole Meredith into the roots of California Zinfandel, eventually tracing it back to his native Croatia.

And he founded his own Grgich Hills Estate winery in Rutherford, CA. RIP, sir.

Got any questions about wine gifting or what to pair with your holiday dinner? Hit me up in the comments!

Trust me, much time was also spent couch potatoing with Johnny, and watching things like my favorite Christmas movie along with my Discord pals. And birthday celebrations peaked with dinner out at Brick Farm Tavern in nearby Hopewell, with Ma and Pa Wiz, and Brother Wiz.

As I’d hoped, the holiday decorations were out and beautifully done.

The restaurant has an onsite brewery, so their beers are what they’re known for. They also have a varied (and pricey) wine list. Most wines are available only by the bottle, and just a few by the glass.

I went with lamb ragu, and on the advice of Kiki the lovely server, I chose a glass of 2021 Elia Palazzesi Rosso di Montalcino.

We’re back in Tuscany, which means 100% sangiovese. Rosso di Montalcino is considered the “little brother” of Brunello di Montalcino, which is aged for longer and made with the highest quality of grapes.

I think I’m still not 100% as far as my wine discernment powers. I got a bit of a funk on the nose that Ma Wiz didn’t pick up. It’s woody on the palate. I liked it on its own and with my meal, and I very much look forward to trying it again when my taste buds are back to normal.

If you give this wine a try, let me know how you like it!

Get more from WineWiz in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Well, hello, Constant Readers! COVID, boy. I don’t recommend it. (And yes, I did have my latest booster a month before. I shudder to think what it would have been like if I hadn’t.)

I’ve tested negative multiple times over the past almost two weeks. Huzzah! I still have a dry cough that is annoying as hell and has made me extremely popular among my work colleagues. Since I spent most of the month of November WFH, I’ve felt the need to put in some time IRL.

Apart from sounding like a three-pack-a-day smoker, I feel okay, just still kind of tired. Happily food still has taste. COVID forced us to change our family plans for Thanksgiving — not mine! Someone else’s! — and I was grateful I could taste the somewhat-last-minute Wiz family feast. I was also grateful that since it was just Wizzes, the littlest Wiz Johnny was also invited. We all had a delicious meal together and lots of cuddles, back scratches, and licks, where appropriate.

The big question is, what about wine? On Thanksgiving I shared my leftover Lamoreaux Landing, which I wrote about a month ago. The Coravin seems to have done its job, and the wine passed muster with Ma Wiz. I’m still slightly congested and I won’t lie, I’ve been anxious ever since reading about wine pros losing their sense of smell due to COVID. How is this going to work?

I grabbed 2016 Famiglia Castellani Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG from the living room wine fridge. I keep that around 50℉, too chilly for reds. So while it warms up, let’s talk about it a bit!

Chianti Classico hails from Tuscany, Italy, and by Italian law it must be almost entirely made of sangiovese. To qualify as riserva, winemakers must age it in barrels for two years and then in bottles for three months before release. DOCG is the most stringent quality measure and must be approved by a tasting panel. God, I love how picky the Italians are about their wine. Ciao, babeh!

The color (nothing wrong with my eyesight) is slightly brick red. Now to sniff…

The aroma is somewhat muted, but I get a little spice on the nose. I get a sort of cranberry on the palate. Tannins are refined and don’t overwhelm your mouth. This would be great with maybe beef or even venison, and pasta dishes that aren’t too cheesy or creamy.

I like this wine quite a bit. I’m just not sure if I’m getting all the best out of it. I Coravinned it again, so maybe I can try it again in a week or two and see how it does. You should definitely try it and let me know what you think in the comments below! And in the words of Constant Reader B: stay positive, test negative.

So while I don’t feel like having a drink just yet, it is a good time to talk about picking wines for Thanksgiving next week! This is the best time to do your drinks shopping. Do not, I beg you, leave it till the last minute. There is no such thing as “just popping in to the wine store” the day before.

Everyone’s ideal Thanksgiving meal looks different. Mine has a bunch of juicy turkey, stuffing (or dressing, depending on your personal belief system), mashed potatoes, gravy, some nice green veg. I also love a bit of cranberry sauce. Pa Wiz likes the wiggly jiggly canned stuff, while I prefer the aromatherapy benefits of simmering berries in sugar and red wine on the stove (a cheap and cheerful pinot noir or zinfandel does the trick). Cranberry brings acidity to all that creaminess and refreshes your palate. That’s the best quality to look for in your wine for dinner.

Rather than rattle off a list of particular wines that may or may not be available near you, I want to give you some possible grapes and things to ask for at the wine store. This is another reason you want to do your shopping early, so you can ask the nice wine store folks for their advice. Ask for something with a lot of acidity and light to medium body.

For whites, like any food pairing situation, riesling is the absolute easiest. And there are plenty of styles that will please everyone, from dry to slightly sweet. Unoaked chardonnay would be great too. Sauvignon blanc, as long as it’s not too green or too citrusy, is a popular choice. Albariño, a Spanish white, would be a fresh option too!

When we’re talking reds with high acidity, pinot noir is classic. I’ve mentioned before that I prefer Oregon and coastal California pinots for their balance, which we definitely want here. Gamay, from the Beaujolais region, also has great berry juiciness and would go well. Zinfandel is too bold and can be a bit jammy, but that homemade cranberry sauce? That’s its perfect home.

I’ve typically preached that American wines should only be served on this uniquely American holiday. But I don’t know. Maybe it’s the cough syrup talking, but I’m willing to revisit that rule. A nice French Burgundy would be a nice treat.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can attend Thanksgiving with my family this year, and I’ll do the same for you. Whatever you drink, please do it safely. If you have any other questions, please drop them in the comments!

After being teased by a cold snap a couple of weeks ago which then turned into another summer, we are at long by God last in fireplace weather!

Ahhhhh, my aromatherapy.

My colleague is very excited about this as well.

Time for a nice big red to enjoy along with the crackles and pops. How about some 2019 WIlliam Heritage Cabernet Franc?

Cabernet franc originally hails from the Bordeaux region in France, but also is grown in Italy, California, New York, and New Jersey. It does well in a wide variety of climates. DNA testing has proven it’s the parent grape of such notables as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and Chilean carménère.

Cabernet franc in the cool climate of New Jersey yields wines with high acidity and lower tannins. It’s got a pretty garnet color. I get a little dark cranberry on the nose and some herbal notes. On the palate there’s unripe red fruit and a little of that bell pepper note cab franc is famous for. There’s a ton of food this would pair with: pizza, marinara sauce, eggplant parm, roast chicken, mushrooms. Sky’s the limit!

If you need me, Johnny and I will be snugged up by the fireplace for the next 4, 5 months. If the year has to be nearly over, at least it’s the right temperatures. Let me know what you’re enjoying by the fire by leaving a comment below!

It’s downright freaky. Which sort of makes it seasonable but not really.

So hey, might as well drink like it’s summer. Here’s 2020 Idilico Albariño from… Washington?

Albariño is primarily grown in Spain and Portugal, but there’s a growing presence of this white grape in the Pacific Northwest. It’s also a shining star at New Jersey’s Hawk Haven Vineyards. Yakima is about midway between Walla Walla, Washington (the most fun to say wine region) and Seattle.

I wrote about Idilico earlier this year and their very yummy monastrell.

Long story short, apparently Spanish varietals do great in their climate!

I get lemon on the nose, and more citrus with a grapefruit note on the palate. Serve this fairly chilled to keep the texture crisp. There’s a ton of acidity, and would go great with a lot of Asian dishes. This was nice, but I’ve had other albariños I’ve enjoyed more. Very pleasant though.

PS, Saturday, October 28 is the Light the Night fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)! Johnny and I will be gracing the walk with our presence. Hope to see you there, and if not, a donation on my fundraising page would be gratefully received. You can learn all about the very worthy mission of the LLS, join the walk, or donate. Everything our team raises will be matched by our very generous employer, so whatever you can give would be great! Thanks, and stay cool, or warm, or whatever this weekend.

I have a little gizmo in my smart home setup that tells me when there’s enough of a temperature difference inside and out to light it up. (It’s got to do with air pressure and draw up the chimney, and other fire nerdery stuff.) That little alert hasn’t been going off till 8:30 or 9 at night. Last night it came on while I was brushing my teeth before bed.

C’mon man…

So all I got for now is planning the wines I can enjoy by the crackling fire. Something like this Lamoreaux Landing NV Estate Red Cuvée.

I was delighted to find this at the wine & beer store down the street recently! I have a soft spot for Lamoreaux Landing, a beautiful vineyard on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake in New York. At my first tasting there, with a couple of friends, it was a Saturday in October, and it was mobbed. So mobbed that they had to make up a whole new tasting table. They asked us if we would mind waiting. No, of course not, we could see they were busy. They were so thankful that we didn’t pitch a fit, we each got a free glass of wine. You can catch more flies with honey than with even red wine vinegar, friends.

The website doesn’t indicate what reds are in this blend, but I taste mostly cabernet franc here, which has done well in the cool upstate climate. The color is cherry red, with more cherry on the nose. On the palate, it’s bright, fresh, and medium-bodied. I get more cherry and a hint of cranberry, with some light spice. It’s all acidity, so super food friendly. I’d like this with some light fresh cheese, pasta with marinara, pizza. And in fact, it’s never too early to get ready for Thanksgiving, so Will It Pair? Oh yes, indeed.

If you like fruit-forward American pinot noir at a nice price, you’ll enjoy this. Have a nice hopefully chilly weekend, and stay warm!

Two weeks ago, I had friends over for dinner. They gifted me with a bottle of red, from a part of France where one of the women had lived before. A gift of wine, that I’ve never had before? That’s the way to my heart. One that’s literally blog material handed to me? We’re past the heart and on to other internal organs!

Bonjour to 2020 Domaine de Fabrègues Pezenas La Villa!

We’re in the Languedoc region in southern France. Pezenas is both a town in the region and the name for the local GSM blend. This bottle is 60% syrah, 30% grenache, and 10% mourvèdre.

The color is gorgeously velvety deep red. I get a dark woodsy nose. On the palate there’s more dark fruit like plums and more woodsiness. There’s a good amount of tannin. You want to chill this just for a few minutes, to bring the tannins in line.

This is a for-sure red meat wine. I’m thinking ribeye, short ribs. (Hey, more body parts! Fitting!) Some of that strong asiago with rosemary cheese I got last week, and am just happily eating chunks of at a time.

Thanks, friends, I really enjoyed this wine! And enjoyed telling you about it. Good luck this weekend!

The teeny squashes are honeynut squashes. I look forward to eating them, but until then are they freakin’ adorable or what?!

The turkey and sweet potato burrito was okay. The Greek yogurt was phenomenal as ever, like pure pumpkin with yogurty goodness. And the pumpkin blondies are scrumptious, with the perfect dash of cream cheese icing.

Also that asiago with rosemary and olive oil is crazy good. I got samples in the store, and I had to have it in my mouth.

I also love a good inexpensive wine, which Trader Joe has in abundance! I found this 2022 Muscadet Sèvre Et Maine Sur Lies.

I wasn’t familiar with this wine, and I wondered if it would be sweet. But that’s moscato. Muscadet is a dry white from France’s Loire Valley. The grape it’s made from is Melon de Bourgogne. We see “Sur Lie” on the label, which I’ve seen before on chardonnay and some sauvignon blancs. Winemakers leave the particles of yeast in the wine after aging, to add more flavor and aroma.

This pale gold wine has a very fresh nose with a little apple. On the palate it’s a little flinty and green, with a hint of salt air that will remind you of the ocean. The flavors become muted as it warms up, so serve it and keep it cold.

This is definitely a shellfish wine. I thought shrimp scampi would work great. It’d also be fantastic with sushi. It’s a really nice wine, especially for the price.

Enjoy it on these last couple of days before the weather turns actually appropriate for October! If you find any great pairings for it, do let me know in the comments. Have a great weekend!

I stopped in at Hopewell Super Buy-Rite last week for the Gnarly Head, but I also took advantage of their Make Your Own Six-Pack. Why don’t more places do that?! Sometimes you want to try one beer before you risk a whole pack taking up valuable real estate in your fridge.

• My favorite new beer from that pack is Berry Monkey by Victory Brewing. It’s a fruited sour tripel, with real raspberries and a whopping 9.5% alcohol. The berry flavor is subtle and the beer isn’t too sweet. It’s shocking sippable for that much booze. Highly recommend. I haven’t really had a beer from Victory that I haven’t liked.

Turning to the news, wineries are investing heavily in… England? From Barron’s via MSN:

This summer, California-based wine giant Jackson Family Wines—owners of the flagship brand Kendall-Jackson—became the first major still wine producer to invest in the English viticulture sector. The American company, which owns more than 40 wineries in the U.S., Australia, South Africa, Chile, France and Italy, will initially produce sparkling wine at a contract winemaking facility in Kent, but it has also acquired 65 acres of land in Essex, where it plans to plant chardonnay and pinot noir vines with a view to producing super-premium still and sparkling wines.

What next? Jamie Oliver leading wine tours in his backyard? Just bung those grapes in the barrel?

We talked about the glut of French wine a few weeks ago, and looks as if Australia is having a similar problem. From The Guardian:

…[Jenny] Semmler says the market for wine grapes is “the worst I’ve seen it for decades,” and it’s having a ripple effect on the Riverland communities where winemaking is one of the largest industries.

The CEO of Australian Grape and Wine, Lee McLean, says that a lot of winemakers already have full tanks. A recent report suggested Australia had a 2.8bn bottle oversupply of wine.

“[Winemakers] have high inventories and purchasing more grapes just isn’t an option,” he says. “If you have a contract in place, you’re getting very low prices for your fruit, but if you don’t have a contract, it’s another battle entirely. It’s leading to significant stress across the regions.”…

Scary stuff. I don’t know what this means for the market in the U.S. Will winemakers be able to afford to ship wines at cost?

And finally, from ABC, Inside scientists' mission to save America’s wine industry from climate change:

…Wine experts from three West Coast universities are working together to meet the threat, including developing spray coatings to protect grapes, pinpointing the elusive compounds that create that nasty ashy taste, and deploying smoke sensors to vineyards to better understand smoke behavior.

The U.S. government is funding their research with millions of dollars. Wineries are also taking steps to protect their product and brand.

The risk to America's premier wine-making regions — where wildfires caused billions of dollars in losses in 2020 — is growing, with climate change deepening drought and overgrown forests becoming tinderboxes. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, grapes are the highest-value crop in the United States, with 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of grape-bearing land, 96% of it on the West Coast….

I sure wouldn’t want a pricey California wine with ashtray on the palate. What does the future hold?

Thanks for checking in. Hope to see you in a bit of a better state next week. Happy end of quarter!

Sadly, this week I had to say goodbye to the kwanzan cherry tree in the front yard of Wiz Manor.

It’s been as wizened as you see it here since I moved in. One of the first vendors I made an appointment with as a new homeowner was to see if it was dead and should I have it taken down.

Even though it’s been putting out leaves and flowers each spring, the trunk was almost totally hollow. I also started to worry about it falling and blocking my driveway (annoying) or taking out my neighbors’ healthy shrub (extremely annoying and potentially complicated, even though my neighbors are totally cool).

After all that hemming and hawing, it took the good people of Princeton Tree Care a whole 20 minutes to reduce it to sawdust. They’ll come back to grind the stump.

It’s yet another one of those things that absolutely made logical sense to do, but I still feel a little bad about it. It really set the tone for the funky little house that greeted me when I first pulled up. I had fun lighting it up for Halloween. I admired its never-give-up attitude.

So let’s pour one out for the old tree. Sweets to the sweets and 2021 Gnarly Head Old Vines Zinfandel to the gnarly.

Gnarly Head has been around since 2004 and is in Lodi, California, east of San Francisco. It’s home to vines that are over 100 years old, like this one.

You see the resemblance, right?

As WineFolly says in their Lodi guide:

You might be wondering, what do these wines taste like?

This is where I have to warn you. You will either love it or love to hate it. Lodi just can’t help it’s bombastic, bold fruit-forward style, so, instead of fighting it, it owns it. One hundred percent. These wines may sometimes look pale in color, but the aromas punch full-force at your nose and the flavors can’t help but smash dance on your palate.

This is a biiiiig zin bomb with a humongous 14.5% alcohol! The color is reddish-purple, with more purple visible when I swirl. I get cherry on the nose, and lots of smoke on the palate. I would decant this for a little while, just to calm down the alcohol, which comes in pretty hot. The texture is a little syrupy, and the finish is short. This is born to go with barbecue, especially tomato-based and a little sweet. As I’ve written about before, Lodi is not my favorite style of zin, but it surely makes a statement!

Thanks for raising a glass with me to the good ol’ Wiz Manor cherry tree. If you try this wine, do let me know in the comments how you liked it. And wishing a meaningful fast to everyone marking Yom Kippur beginning this Sunday!

Well, I realized it’s been over 20 years now! I was on a Celebrity cruise vacation with my then-boyfriend/now-ex-husband.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, on one of the at-sea days, the sommeliers were offering a Wine Tasting 101 class. It made sense: the more knowledgeable people were about wine, and the more different wines they were exposed to, the more likely they’d be to order more wine and pricier wines.

They really taught you the basics in a friendly, not at all pretentious way. Here’s what to look for when we look at our glass. Here’s how to swirl the glass, and why we swirl (to get oxygen into the glass and release the aromas). Here’s how to sniff. Here’s how to take enough of a taste to get a sense of the wine.

One of the wines we tasted was a chardonnay from Wente, in Livermore, California. I was pretty happy to find a bottle of their 2019 Morning Fog Chardonnay at my local wine shop.

Livermore is its own AVA, at the eastern end of San Francisco Bay. Cool Pacific Ocean breezes keep temperatures moderate.

It’s got a rich buttery nose, so we already know there’s a bunch of oak! When we swirl, we get lots of legs running down the glass, which means we’ve got high alcohol here. (13.5%, so yep!) On the palate, the richness and roundness continue with restrained hints of fruit.

I know oaked chardonnay is a bit of a sore point with some of you, Constant Readers, but this is one of my favorite styles. The wine has great balance for something at this price point. This would be perfect with roast chicken or maybe some nice fresh trout. This is going to be my cheap and cheerful chardonnay for sitting around the fire pit.

Nice to have this little flashback to where the fun all began! If you can find this at your local shop, I’d love to hear what you think. And wishing all my readers who celebrate a very happy New Year as Rosh Hashanah begins tonight!

The week was capped off with a short visit from Constant Reader/high school bestie AM! We did do some day drinking on the patio with wine, but that was to empty out the fridge of bottles I’ve previously written about. I’m happy to say the chardonnays that I used the Coravin on were just fine, and I still prefer the Aslina from South Africa to the Kreuth from Italy. But most of our adventures involved some of the best food and craft beers my town have to offer.

We lunched Friday at the Brick Farm Tavern. Besides its fabulous food and elegantly rustic dining room, there’s a great selection of craft brew! We tried Gloria, a Belgian blonde ale by Brix City Brewing. It was sunny and very refreshing, a perfect summery beer. I also enjoyed Rothaus, a delicious German pilsner from the Black Forest.

On Saturday, we made a pilgrimage to River Horse, a craft brewery practically in my own backyard in Ewing, NJ. We took a brewery tour led by Taras, a former homebrewer who has a degree in chemical engineering! It was the most detailed and specific (like specific gravity) tour I’ve ever been on. I learned that all beers pretty much fall into either ale or lager. Lager is also the process where the almost-complete beer is left to settle out all the used-up yeast, so it’s super clear.

We also got to taste a lot of yummy beer! I had a pint of Klara, a kolsch-style bevvie, more gorgeous sunny yellow crisp deliciousness. Another one perfect for a hot day. I’ll be going back for more of this next summer.

But the star of the show we came there to see was AM’s favorite beer and the first one that got her into craft brew, Tripel Horse. Made with yeast exported from a Belgian monastery, it has a walloping 10% alcohol! I was going to open one to take a picture, but then I’d have to drink it, and… I have work in the morning, y’all. Trust me when I say it’s delicious. I’ll be sure to crack one open for the first Eagles game of the new NFL season this Sunday afternoon.

It’s always great to have AM come visit, and all that tastiness just made it that much more enjoyable.

Et merde!

Repetez, s’il-vous plaît.

The French government is spending millions — millllllll. Yuns — of euros to destroy surplus gallons of wine, writes Jelisa Castrodale of Food & Wine.

Government officials in France believe that it’s necessary to eliminate a significant percentage of its wine crop — about 7% of last year’s total — because there’s a wine surplus caused by a combination of factors, including the lingering effects of the pandemic, the ongoing war in Ukraine, consumer inflation, and a change in drinking habits throughout the country.

Not only that, the government is paying to clear over 23,000 acres, or roughly 8.5% of total acres planted, of vines in the Bordeaux region and making funds available for farmers who want to start growing olives or other crops.

To which I say:

But zut alors (emphasis de moi):

Agence France-Presse explains that the sharp decline in demand for wine means that prices have also fallen, leading to financial challenges for winemakers in the Bordeaux and Languedoc regions. “We’re producing too much, and the sale price is below the production price, so we’re losing money,” Jean-Philippe Granier, from the Languedoc Wine Producers’ Association, told the AFP.

So if it’s too expensive to sell French wine in Europe, the added costs of shipping to the States means it’s really not worth it to send here.

Which means any existing Bordeaux is going to become rarer and more expensive. If you can find any.

We’d best enjoy it while we can.

Today I’m enjoying some 2016 Chateau Moncets Lalande de Pomerol. Lalande de Pomerol is just next door to the more famous (and about to shoot sky-high) Pomerol region. It hails from the Right Bank, north of the Dordogne River. This vintage is 86% merlot and 14% cabernet franc.

The nose is still fairly tight upon opening. I’d decant for a minimum of half an hour. There’s lots of blackberry and woodsy flavor on the palate. It’s a big wine you should save for a nice dinner, something beefy or with sausage and tomato.

Strange days indeed. Will any other wine regions get the chop?

• I haven’t really felt the urge to drink much lately. Yay? That was one yummy pinot I opened last week, but it’s stayed sealed up since then.

• I’m wondering if I need to scale back the frequency on this blog? Or alternate tasting posts with posts like this where I round up wine news, which I also really enjoy commentating on for you. Please either drop me a line or put something in the comments and let me know what you’d like to see.

• I’m taking the last week of August off for another staycation! I have both little to no money and a doggo, so here I am. You can really tell when you’re talking to a homeowner though. When people ask if I’m going away and I say, “No, just putzin’ around the house, taking care of stuff that needs to be done,” the homeowners’ eyes glaze over and they whisper, “That sounds awesome.” Though I am getting more allergy shots next week, so entirely possible I wind up asleep on the couch again.

• Great article we should all read: The Future of Wine, According to This Year’s Future 40 Tastemakers over on Wine Enthusiast (emphasis mine):

  • “TJ Douglas: One of the biggest challenges facing the drinks business is the three-tiered system found in most states. As retailers we can only sell what the distributors choose, which means that many smaller producers sit on the sidelines and can’t find representation. This system has made it harder for women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented producers to gain a foothold in the industry. It’s also made it harder for consumers to discover lesser-known regions and varietals. Dismantling the three-tiered system would go a long way to re-energizing the industry…

  • “Alice Achayo: The lexicon of wine, which really comes from the U.K. (WSET), was written in the U.K. And yet it has been the standardized language across the globe, even though it fails to be relevant and relatable to the majority of wine drinkers. In order for the wine language to be more inclusive, it should not be written by one group of people.

  • “TJ Douglas: I still have yet to meet someone who knows what a gooseberry tastes like, and yet consumers see that word referenced almost every day…”

• I’ve been told, though I haven’t confirmed this myself, that every state in the U.S. has at least one working winery. As the Guardian points out, even Arizona has a burgeoning wine country:

  • “…The Verde Valley is home to dozens of wineries making everything from assyrtiko to malbec, and wine tourism is already generating tens of millions of dollars for the state, according to a 2019 study by the University of Arizona….

  • “Winemakers argue that the Verde Valley – with its rich limestone soil, high altitudes, large aquifer and temperature shifts – is actually an ideal place to grow European-style wines. They also say that wine is a more water-efficient crop than others being grown here, such as alfalfa and corn….

  • “…While running out of water is “a very real, stark concern”, wine could be an example of a low-water use crop that fits the dry Arizona climate, said Michael Pierce, viticulture and enology director at Yavapai Community College, home to the state’s only wine program.

  • “I would argue it’s probably the best crop you could grow [in Arizona],” said Pierce. The land here is rocky, which grapes love, he said. “Wine grapes love those really coarse soils. They don’t like to have wet feet. Meaning you don’t want soggy, clay rich soils that really hold water. So that’s why they do well in arid places [like Arizona]….”

• Many vineyards have curtailed irrigating their crops, which forces the vines to dig ever deeper into the soil for nutrition. This typically yields a richer, more complex wine. Also maybe adding drought-resistant vegetation where other crops can’t grow is good for the environment? We’ll have to see.

• And speaking of wine regions changing along with the climate, one of the newest regions is…Sweden?

  • “Scandinavia isn't exactly what connoisseurs would define as prime wine country. But with climate change making for warmer and longer growing seasons, and new varieties of grapes adapted to this landscape, Swedish winemaking is gaining steam….

  • “Kullabergs Vingård is a vineyard and winery at the vanguard of producers seeking to redefine what Swedish wine can be. Stretching over 14 hectares, most of its vines were planted less than a decade ago. By 2022, the winery had reached an annual output of over 30,000 bottles - mostly whites that can be found in high-end restaurants from Europe to Japan and that have won multiple international prizes….

  • “Italy, Greece, Spain, all these countries are going to face problems. There's not enough water, and the winters are too warm,” Iban [Tell Sabate says. "With global warming, Sweden’s in a good position and it’s a good wine too."…”

• So Italy and France are going to be charred landscapes, while England and Scandinavia become famous. This is the weirdest timeline.

• With that, I’m going to go rouse myself into my final working day in August. Hopefully talk to you next week! And do please let me know in the comments what you want to see on this blog. Thanks much.

August 18 is also Pinot Noir Day, according to… a bunch of different calendar sites and news articles I found trying to fill column inches. But sure, why not a day to celebrate pinot noir?

It’s one of the three grapes that make up Blanc de Noirs Champagne, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. It’s the signature red grape of Burgundy, but it’s also the 6th most planted red grape varietal in the world.

“It also tends to prefer more intermediate climates with long, cool growing seasons. For this reason, you’ll often find Pinot Noir growing in protected valleys or near large bodies of water.” Here in the U.S., some of my favorites come from coastal California, where breezes from the rivers and the Pacific Ocean keep the grapes cool.

But for how long? This Slate article from 2014 refers to pinot noir as a “climate change ambassador akin to the polar bear:”

…Think of it as the Goldilocks of grapes, producing flabby and boring wine if it’s too hot, flat-out refusing to ripen if it’s too cold, but creating magic in a glass when conditions are just right.

But unfortunately, those “just right” conditions are becoming less predictable in pinot noir’s typical stomping grounds in the United States: drought-stricken California and even farther north, in heat-buffeted Oregon. Both states saw the earliest wine grape harvests on record this fall, with many vineyards hauling in their last bin of grapes before the first bunch would have been cut in what used to be called an average year. In both states, 2014 will go down as the warmest vintage on record, beating out 2013, the next warmest…

I haven’t looked to see if 2022 is now the warmest vintage on record. I don’t know that I want to know, you know?

For right now, I’m enjoying this 2017 Frei Brothers Reserve Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley, next to which I’ve gotten to ride a bike! It is literally a stone’s throw from California’s storied Highway One, with a beautiful rocky coastline just off to the side.

It’s got a pretty dark cherry color, with cherry and tones of earth on the nose. It’s got big fruit on the palate, more dark cherries and a little raspberry, with a bit of dark spice. Like most pinots, its acidity makes it the friend of a wide variety of foods. A nice roast chicken with mushrooms immediately springs to my non-creative mind, but really you’re only limited here by your imagination. I like this a lot, and it’s a pretty great value for good pinot.

Have you got a favorite pinot? Let me know in the comments!

Instead I’ll discuss something I tasted the other day! As you know, I have depth. I do more than drink wine. I also drink beer. This week I’ve been working my way through a six-pack of Blue Moon Mango Wheat.

When I was in Florida in February, I discovered Golden Road’s Mango Cart on tap at the hotel bar, and I pretty much drank it all weekend. (Not like, all weekend, I mean… you know what I mean.) It was light, it was super refreshing, the mango flavor was bright without being syrupy sweet. So when I saw this from Blue Moon at Bottle King a couple weeks ago, I snapped it up!

And gotta say, I was a little disappointed. The mango flavor isn’t too strong, no syrup to be had, thankfully. But overall it was a lot heavier than their regular Belgian wheat. Which is weird, because I like wheat beers in general and Blue Moon usually. That’s one of my go-tos especially in warmer weather. I don’t get it? But I probably won’t be getting this again.

Happily I found that a local store carries Mango Cart, so that I will be getting. And if you find yourself in the Princeton (NJ), Red Bank (NJ), and/or New Hope (PA) areas, stop in at Triumph Brewing Co and try their Hawaiian wheat, with pineapple, orange, and guava juices!

Even though it was a challenge, I thought it would only be fair to choose the same grape if possible. I did find some South African pinot grigio, but I think I’ve successfully pinoted all the grigio of late. To my surprise, I found two chardonnays from each country! Perfect!

To your left, we have 2021 Aslina Chardonnay from South Africa. The winery is in the Stellenbosch district, considered the Napa Valley of the country. Aslina is named after the grandmother of winemaker Ntsiki Biyela, who earned a scholarship to study oenology and has been churning out award-winning wines ever since. She’s also South Africa’s first female Black winemaker!

To your right, we have 2020 Cantina Terlano-Kellerei Terlan Kreuth Terlano Chardonnay. We’re back in Alto Adige, where all that high-quality pinot grigio comes from. The Terlano descriptor is “in recognition of the special character of the terroir.”

We’ve got two powerhouses here! They’re almost indiscernible in color. They’re both gorgeous gold and medium to heavy bodied. Let’s go to the taste!

On the Aslina, I get a mild hint of vanilla on the nose. It’s a creamy powerhouse on the palate, with rich apple and pear and a toasty note on the finish. It’s got wonderful balance. It has stature, and would be an excellent mix with something like rosemary chicken.

With the Kreuth, everything is fresher and zingier. It’s not as rich, but there’s a citrus note and a little minerality on the palate. A fabulous aperitif, maybe with some goat cheese.

I gotta call this one a draw. They each have a unique character, high quality, and are even great for your wallet. I might serve the Aslina with dinner before the Kreuth, but I’d happily sip that while sitting around with friends.

The winner here? Is me! And you! Check out these wines tout de suite, and enjoy the Round of 16 games starting this Saturday!

I’m thrilled to have found a line from a Black woman-owned winery to taste. If you know of others I should be featuring on the blog, please drop a comment below!

Subscribe now

Share