Bubble Party

So many people like bubbles, and not just the ones you blew out of a wand covered with soapy water in your backyard. The bubbles in this case are the ones that are held captive by a corked bottle, waiting to be unleashed by a POP, destined to float across your tongue like a thousand miniature rubber ducks having a dance party in your mouth instead of on the dash of your friends Jeep. The experience brings even the non-wine drinker back again and again.Wine is so special because it has both taste (flavors) and feel. Sparkling wine (the likes of Cava, Prosecco, and Champagne) take the feel part to a whole other level. It gives everyone a mouth full of feel which is why SO many non-wine drinkers like it. Yet, once you start diving a little deeper and begin to ask: “Could you taste anything underneath all of those bubbles?”, that you begin to sort through the morass of, what I call, “backyard bubbles.”“Backyard bubbles” (BBs from here on) are sparkling wines with no taste, no flavor, there just to fill one’s palate with CO2 fluff. BBs can be very cheap or decidedly not so, and the only good use of BBs are as a mixer, like a Mimosa. So how do you avoid buying or drinking BBs? Simple. Don’t buy a Sparkling Wine that you haven’t tried.Well that might not be that simple!  If you don’t have a chance to try it, then as a minimum talk to someone who can actually guide you to a sparkling wine that has some complexity of flavor and isn’t just all bubbles. Here are a few pointers on what to ask that will help prevent you from going home with BBs:  can you tell me about the bubbles (Are the bubbles large and fill the mouth or are they more subtle and elegant)? How is the finish (does it have one)? What could I expect to taste?If the person who is helping you has a hard time answering your questions beware.  Also beware if the answer to your questions are all in prices. Example: “This one is great for that at $45.”  My current favorite sparkling wine can be had for around $40, has an excellent mouth feel with a lot of elegant bubbles, and has a great compliment of complex flavors.Multiple wine shops around town this past week did sparkling wine tastings. Most were BBs, and if that is all you are after, then rock on.  Out of all of them one stood out as being able to do something more. Tapiz Sparkling Rosé made from Malbec out of Mendoza had a good combination of bubbles and deep flavor. It was also the Crowd Favorite.  If you recognize this sparkling wine it is because it was featured as the Crowd Favorite at an Aragon Tasting this past March, showing that is can still hold its own.So the next time you dump a bubble bath in your mouth try to see if you can actually taste anything while that party is going on across your tongue.  If not then have a glass of something else.

Anna recaps Aragon’s 7 September Tasting

As the summer is coming to an end, we are getting to the point where we are closing down the season with a wonderful transition of wines that suit both the hot summer days and the more chilly days of autumn. Living in Florida, however, is the exception to the rule and one can enjoy the more "summery" wines for much longer. Today we were served an excellent lineup of vino by Kevin (WSET3) with Terroir Selections at the Thursday Aragon Wine Market tasting. His knowledge in the wine he poured was excellent and all-encompassing. The line-up this week included the following:2022 Tenuta le Calcinaie Vernacchia di San Gimignano, 2018 Mt. Beautiful Riesling from New Zealand, 2019 Constantia Uitsig Semillion, 2022 Yves Cuilleron "Les Vignes d'a Cote" Syrah, 2020 Powell & Son "Riverside: G.S.M., and 2019 Chateau de Pitray Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux.All were tasty and perfect for the end of summer and budget friendly, ranging from $19-$24. The Crowd Favorite was a tie between the 2022 Tenuta le Calcinaie Vernacchia di San Gimignano and the 2022 Yves Cuilleron "Les Vignes d'a Cote" Syrah.The Vernacchia appealed to me the most due to the very refreshing crispness of the green apple I tasted. It was perfectly tart and fruity and did not leave to much guessing as to what fruit you were tasting. The Yves Cuilleron Syrah also appealed to me and was nice and medium-bodied with a well-balanced oaky taste with hints of red fruit. I could easily see why either of these two wines were competing for #1 spot!One part of the tasting I enjoyed most was encouraging someone to try a wine they would not have typically chosen for themselves. This person ended up liking the Vernacchia after I had recommended that they try it. I always recommend trying everything once! The worst case scenario is that it does not appeal to you and you can dump out of excess wine in your glass, and the best case scenario is that you found your new favorite wine!I cannot discuss this tasting at Aragon without talking about the other huge hit- the sourdough bread! I cannot sing its praises enough, the baker at Local Thyme Bakery does an excellent job every time their bread is available for sampling at Aragon's tastings. They had baked goods available at the tasting and they almost ran out of their supply at the end! Please visit their Instagram page @ltbpensacola to view when their weekly baked good drops are available.Overall, the wine tasting was super and our hosts at Aragon Wine Market were fabulous as always to provide a relaxing and fun atmosphere to taste wines with Kevin from Terroir Selections providing a superb selection for the crowd.Happy tasting!-Anna

Aragon’s August 3rd Tasting

Another hot summer day, and another Thursday. Naturally one of the things we had to do was check out the Thursday wine tasting at the Aragon Wine Market. This was my third tasting at Aragon and already I am starting to recognize the usual crowd that makes this their meeting spot on Thursdays. There is a good mix of young professionals and more seasoned wine enthusiasts. It also happened to be Charlotte’s birthday tasting, with Pepper pouring some stellar wines today. Each bottle ranged between $17 and $22. The wines included the following:

La Tordera "Serrai" Prosecco D.O.C.G., 2020 Matteo Braidot Friuli Pinot Grigio, 2022 Marisco "The Ned" N.Z. Sauvignon Blanc, 2017 Twenty Rows Sonoma Pinot Noir, 2017 D'arenberg "The Stump Jump" Red Blend, and 2020 Hedges "C.M.S." Cabernet Sauvignon.

This selection was widely popular among the different people Alex and I interacted with. Alex and I had joined the 5pm-7pm tasting at different times. Alex was there early for the first half of the tasting while I got to meet others through the second half of the tasting. One thing that was noticed was that the La Tordera "Serrai '' Prosecco D.O.C.G was just subtly the crowd favorite. Alex and I both agreed that it was a lovely prosecco that felt not too light and not too heavy on the tongue. The bubbles covered the tongue just right and this dry prosecco had acid that was balanced nicely to make this a very bright.

The most contentious wine of the evening was 2022 Marisco "The Ned" N.Z. Sauvignon Blanc. The wine, named after the peak in New Zealand called "The Ned," split the tasters. Half got a lot of citrus and a crisp after taste while the other half did not. Everyone agreed that the acidity was well balanced and the citrus taste, big or not, was not bitter. It had a medium weight on the tongue. Overall, I enjoyed this wine even if it does not stand out to me. I noticed among the crowd at the tasting that you either loved it or disliked it.

My favorite of the night was the 2017 Twenty Rows Sonoma Pinot Noir. Before this wine passed my lips I noticed the dark, brownish, red of the wine. It leaned more acidic but was very smooth and not strong in the tannin-like taste that usually leans more towards bitter. I enjoyed the oaky taste and the red stone fruit taste like cherry mingling together. I thought that out of all the wines tonight it was the most well-balanced out of the six.

I also cannot go without mentioning that along with the sampling of wine was the sampling of the most delicious sourdough bread from Local Thyme Bakery. Be sure to follow them on Instagram ( @ltbpensacola) to order from them! I was found frequently walking over to the table with the sourdough because I could not get enough!

Be sure to check out @aragonwinemarket and @gulfcoastwine for future tastings!

Cheers to the new month as we share wine with friends and strangers alike!

-Anna

What is “Wine Country?”

I have not had a week go by in the last few months where someone hasn’t said; “I cannot believe all of this is going on here!” The “this” are all of the wine tastings. The “here” is the Pensacola area.

According to any map of wine we are not “in Wine Country.” But are we?

What comes to mind when you hear “Wine Country?” Tuscany, Napa, the terraced slopes of the Douro. Places that grow grapes probably, because that’s where you can also drink that fermented grape juice. Sounds like a fun place!

What would it be like to live “in Wine Country?” It would be really fun! Well, look around at any one of our local wine tastings and you will see people having fun. So, I say; We do live in Wine Country! Wine Country is so much more than a place where grapes are grown. Wine Country, just like any Country, is a place that has an identifiable, unique, and ubiquitous cultural.

To me Wine Country = Wine Culture. Pensacola has a unique and super fun culture, especially with wine, and it surprises people constantly. There are many reasons why this culture exists here and not in our closest large neighbors to the East and West. A few of those reasons are our long and diverse history, the constant influx and mixing of people (a lot due to our military bases and not just Navy, but Air Force, Army, and honorable mention to the Coast Guard), and the fact that we live in a part of the world where many people travel to to have fun.

The result from mixing all of that for a long time is a culture that likes to enjoy enjoyment, and wine is a natural fit.

There were SEVEN wine tastings around town last week from Wednesday through Saturday! I can’t even add all of the pictures from them to this article. That should not surprise any of you, but it does surprise many people, both new to our area and those who have been here for quite a while.

That is why we started Gulf Coast Wine; to give a home to our amazing local wine community, and to share our uniquely fun wine culture, to enjoy the experience together!  This week you could have had a great summer sparkling wine at The East Hill Bottle shop tasting, jumped around Tuscany at the So Gourmet tasting, sampled some great food and wine at Anna’s monthly tasting, played in the mystery wine game and Bottle Share night at Aragon’s tasting, and partaken in a few amazing wines from Argentina at a special AJ’s Market tasting. Each one was a great time, with fun people enjoying the company of other wine lovers, not wine snobs!

So, we do in fact live in Wine Country, one that, in my opinion, is actually more fun than several of those listed on the map! Cheers to that!

Congratulations to our Winners

Thank you to everyone for following us this past year as we go on this wine journey with all of you!Congratulations to the four winners of GulfCoastWine’s First Year Wine Experience Give-Away.The winner of the Bodacious/So Gourmet Charcuterie Board for two and $20 toward a Bottle of Wine is:debdroz15The Winner of the Aragon Wine Market’s Free Month in their Wine “Cru” Club, which includes a wine profile tasting and two bottles of wine that fit your profile is;Savannah BaileyThe Winner of Anna’s Wine Shop July Tasting for Free is;devin.guidry7The Winner of 1 Free Tasting at The East Hill Bottle Shop is;Allen KeyesThe Winners were chosen randomly from a list of our News Letter subscribers and our Instagram followers.  The winners' names will be passed to the venues for redemption. Please contact us if you have any issues.Thank you!

Aragon’s Blind Tasting 1 June

Watching some of the world renowned wine experts take a sip of wine and correctly regurgitate the grape varietals, the location, and the year can be akin to watching the stage magician cut the volunteer from the audience in half! Wow, what a good trick, almost seems like magic.Everyone at a blind tasting, or confronted with a mystery bottle wants to “play the game,” to correctly guess everything coming out of that unknown bottle of wine. Yet the vast majority of us have a better chance of picking winning lotto numbers. So if the odds are so against you why bother?Because it’s important! Here’s why, part 1.There are two separate things happening when you take part in a blind tasting or attempt a guess on some mystery wine, an exercise and a game. You MUST do the exercise first, otherwise you will probably fail at the game.The exercise is to actually think about what you are tasting. DO NOT try and start guessing! Just think about if you liked it, didn’t like it, and why. That’s the exercise, the Why. Could you taste fruit, if so what? Was it acidic, did it leave you with a dry mouth, was it amazingly smooth? Think about what you are actually tasting, flavors and feel! Once you have done that, the exercise, then you can begin to play the game.It’s amazing how much, and almost instant, pressure that one feels when trying to guess a mystery wine. That pressure can really throw you off!  But if I were to come up to you and just say “Hey, try this and let me know what you think,” then the pressure is zero.By doing the exercise first, the “try this and let me know what you think,” then the analytical part of your brain is working without pressure, allowing you to formulate what you are tasting.Now when you start playing the game of trying to guess what that wine is you will have a much better foundation to play from. The more you exercise the better you will be at playing the game. Duh!Tuning in your awareness of what you are actually tasting. That’s the key! After a while you will probably find yourself no longer guessing; at that point you will answer because you know what that wine is, and won’t that be magical!

Aragon’s April Cru Tasting

I will keep saying it: Make it a point to go to the local monthly and special wine tastings!Everyone has a lot going on in their personal lives, and I understand not getting out regularly to our local wine tastings, I get it. But if you can get to one every now and then go to a venue’s once-a-month or special tasting. They are so worth it!Aragon Wine Market has a tasting every Thursday. 3 out of 4 are free. The 3rd Thursday is their “special” Cru tasting.  You are going to get higher quality wines, food, and live music.Why I go? Higher quality wines! This evening didn’t disappoint with a Wine of Note, our highest category of wine! A white blend from the oldest winery in South Africa. Constantia Uitsig Natura Vista, 2019, is a blend of 72% Semillion and 28% Sauvignon Blanc. What made this wine so unique?This was the best “seafood” white wine that I have had in a LONG time! With its vineyards right on the coast of the Western Cape, it had a wonderfully flora nose with a layered palate consisting of a complex mix of pear, citrus, and salinity.This white can be paired with any shellfish, any white flaky fish, cooked in almost any way. Unique, everyone liked it, and a great overall wine equals a Wine of Note. Look for the once-a-month and special tastings on our calendar.  Hope to see you at the next one!

Please do me a favor and pick the wine with the ugliest label.

Me: “How did you pick that wine?”

My friend: “I like the look of the label.”

I'm not sure if there is an actual study or any numbers out there that can tell us the percentage of wine sold based on how “pretty” the label looks, but my guess is a “pretty” high percentage. Drum roll please.

Corniness aside, there are sooooo many people that go in and buy wine solely based on the look of the label. The question is: If you choose a bottle of wine based on the way the label looks, will that get you a bottle of wine that you like more often than not?

From both experience and observation, I say NO.

My estimate is that 33.3% of the time, you will get a wine that you like by choosing solely on the look of the label. If you were blindfolded outside of a good wine shop and led to a random shelf to pick a random bottle, there is also a 33.3% chance that you would pick one that you liked.

There are amazing wines with beautiful labels out there. Tonight’s crowd favorite, by a very slim majority, was Broadbent’s Vinho Verde, which is an outlier; good, cheap, with an attractive label. Yet, more often than not, money spent on making the wine, not the label, will lead to a better product.

So, if you go to a place where they sell wine and there is no one there who can guide you to a wine that you like, leave! Go to a good wine shop curated by qualified, CERTIFIED, wine people and ask them for help picking out a wine. If you don’t have access to a good local wine shop, go in and pick the prettiest and the ugliest (or plainest) looking bottle that you can find. Do a taste test and see what result you get. Sometimes you might find that beauty is only skin, or label, deep.

“Is that from Burgundy?” “Yes, but it’s not a Burgundy.”

The world of wine is large and can, at times, be overly complex. That’s okay, don’t let that discourage you. In fact that is the reason we will always keep getting great new wines. France is responsible for setting most the foundation of the modern wine culture. A Sommelier; French for a wine steward. It means much more now, but most of that movement came from France.French wine can also be quite complicated, especially in deciphering what it actually is. The French name their wines based on where the grapes were grown. Yet those places can be tiny, places within other places. Beaujolais is a place within Burgundy that only grows the Gamay grape. Those wines are called Beaujolais. Beaujolais are not Burgundies. And then within Beaujolais there is (just) Beaujolais, Beaujolais Nouveau (new) and Beaujolais Village. What? Yeah, it gets complicated.While a full class on Beaujolais might interest some, it’s not appropriate here. I will suffice in saying that Beaujolais Village has higher standards and is usually (not always) enjoyed more than the others. Tonight’s Crowd Favorite was a Village Beaujolais, Chateau de Pizay Morgon 2020. A great medium red that can pair with a wide range of foods, not just red meat. Not nearly as potent as a California Cab, but much more full bodied than its Burgundian neighbor, Pinot Noir. I definitely recommend it with food, but experiment, see what you can come up with.

“I’m not a Sommelier.”

What makes wine seem so fancy to so many people? When I meet people new to wine, or new to wine tastings, and they find out that I “know wine” they almost always feel like they have to start will a disclaimer. I get it a lot when someone who I know introduces me to one of their guests or friends. It mostly sounds like; “This is Alex, he knows wine!” I have even been call a “wine expert.” I put the brakes on that comment real fast! There are very, VERY few, true wine experts out there, even though you can pay some money take a relatively simple test and get a “Certified Wine Expert” certificate. It’s true that I really enjoy wine, and that I know a lot about the wines I like, and the wines that I don’t like, and have some wine credentials. But the only people who should be fearful of me or my wine knowledge are wine snobs. I love taking them apart!But the other night I met a new fellow wine taster and during the introduction she felt the need to say the disclaimer of “I’m not a Sommelier.” I responded, “Me either!” I am not going to get into all of the differences here, but you don’t need to “know wine” to know what you like and to learn new wines. I love french fries, but I am not a potato farmer, and I definitely know what a good french fry is. I’ve been to several beer tastings, go to breweries, and I have never heard someone introduce themselves and include “But I am not a brew master.” So why is wine so different? Well, drink an IPA. It’s an IPA. Drink an amazing wine and it can be hard to even describe, infinitely more complex. That’s definitely part of it, but that doesn’t mean you have to know wine to enjoy wine, or to be able to find a wine that you will like. And you definitely don’t need to be a sommelier to talk about wine! Talking about wine is a good way to learn more about it. So stop being so worried about being judged, you’re not going to be. Come and have confidence that you will have a good time at a wine tasting. If you had come to this tasting we would have talked about tonight’s Crowd Favorite; where it was from, what an AVA is, the flavors we got while tasting. It was good. Hope to see you at the next one.

Why we like different wines. Aragon tasting 5 Jan 2023

I suppose that I will never say it enough; everyone has their own palate. So many things go into how you taste wine (alcohol) and what you taste. Not only that, but your palate can change, even slightly, during the course of a day. Did you eat before the wine tasting (something that I recommend), what did you eat, did you have coffee that afternoon, or burn your tongue on hot pizza? All of which I have done before a wine tasting. Is your nose partially stopped up? That will definitely alter what you will taste! I have developed a few rules to help decide what wine(s) I pick to talk about from a tasting. This helps keep me as unbiased as possible. You and I might like the same wines, have similar palates, but odds that half of you have completely different tastes. That’s just the science behind the human tongue.Something that you learn going through your Wine Certifications (the Wine & Spirit Education Trust out of London in my case, slightly different than Sommelier training) is how to recognize and differentiate a “good” wine, even if it is not a wine that you like. That way you are able to speak about that Australian Shiraz that you personally didn’t care for, but your audience loved it, and that Shiraz was “correct” in all ways.I also get asked constantly “What was your favorite?” Enjoying and talking about the wines is the best part of wine tastings. Often my answer to that question is not the wine I write about. So when tonight’s Crowd Favorite emerged from the line up, several other tasters could not believe that “that wine” was the one I had chosen to discuss here. “Well,” I answered, “that’s why I developed the rules that govern our Wine of Note or Crowd Favorite," etc., of which I have defined in several previous posts. Tonight’s Crowd Favorite, by a single vote, was Naturalist Sauvignon Blanc 2020 from South Australia. It is only a matter of time before you see this bottle on the Featured Shelf at Fresh Market and Publix, because it will SELL! Vegan Friendly, Gluten Free, made from sustainably grown certified organic grapes. The winery even promotes bees, thus the label, not kidding, and that’s awesome! This Sauvignon Blanc was approachable, easy to drink, not citrusy, not too mineral-ly, with hints of just enough white flowers, stone fruit and faint apple to give you something of an “okay, not bad.” A beginners wine, which we need sometimes. Coming in at around $14, there are very, very few wines like it on the market that do all of that.Wasn’t for you. Yeah, I get it, but many others ended up enjoying it enough to buy it more than any of the other wines at the tasting, and we should be thankful for that! Our differences ensure that we will continue to have the full spectrum of different and ever evolving wines. Some will be bad, yet others will be fantastic! Cheers to disagreeing on “good” wines!

Cru of Aragon December tasting, 15 Dec 2022

What a great evening at Aragon’s Cru (their monthly premium) tasting, and it goes to show how diverse our individual palates are. Out of eight wines, two being “premium,” there were a lot of individual favorites. Almost everyone liked the two premium wine selections of the evening, a Champagne and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Yet they didn’t end up being our evening’s Crowd Favorites. By a narrow win we finally had a white and a red, both under $20!Sometimes you win because you didn’t do anything wrong, and everyone else missed something. That describes our two crowd favorites. Taboadella “Villae” Branco, 2020 Portuguese White Wine. A blend of three semi obscure native Portuguese grapes that are not cultivated or used elsewhere. The result is a white wine that can’t go wrong, just right in the middle, some hints of both stone fruit and citrus, some minerality, and some acidity. A white wine to have when you don’t know what white wine you should have.Next, Domanie de Fontsainte 2020 from the Languedoc region in the south of France. Same story here; a winner because everyone else running stepped out of bounds. Bright red fruit with Mediterranean herbs and spices. A good pairing to a lot of dinners, or a good burger. Simplicity can be a good thing sometimes.

Aragon Wine Market Tasting 27 Sept.

Fall is officially here, both according to the calendar and finally how it feels. While we get to enjoy the great weather and good wine our thoughts are also to those caught in the path of deviation from Hurricane Ian.This evening started with what would be our Wine of Note. A quasi uncommon white wine, at least at our local restaurants, Chateau L’Orangerie Bordeaux Blanc 2020 was crisp with hints of pear, light citrus and delightful on the finish. Not a regular Sauvignon Blanc, but with body resembling a Chardonnay; this 80% Sauvignon Blanc blended with 20% Semillon would be excellent paired with our local Gulf Coast seafood.

Aragon’s Wine Tasting 22 Sept

When I hear “Loire” I often think of white wine first, mostly Sauvignon Blanc. Well the appellation of Chinon, in the Loire region, produces some delightful Cabernet Franc. It is unique in that it is lighter in body than Cabernet Franc grown further south in the famous region of Bordeaux, yet still with a savory deep red fruit finish. Try pairing this unique Wine of Note with grilled pork.

Aragon Wine Market's 30 June Tasting

Another relaxing evening hanging out and drinking wine at Aragon. Tonight's Wine of Note is a pizza wine, great with a classic pepperoni pie. This red wine, made from the Dolcetto grape, imparted some spiciness with light but vibrant young fruit, that would go great with an equally spicy red sauced italian dish, or pizza, which should be a food group. This wine would benefit from 2-4 years of aging, allowing that time to balance and smooth out some of those spicy fruit notes, so it gets the "Y" disclaimer for "young." Drinkable tonight with the right food, and also a great candidate for aging.

March 31 Tasting Notes

• Aragon Wine Market

• March 31, 2022

• Pensacola, FL

Wine of Note:  A Blanc de Blancs French Brut sparkling wine by Willm.  A literal bucket of white grape varieties that had good fruit taste with some pear and green apple, a slight nose of honeysuckle, and medium bubbles.  This easy drinking bubbly was 30% Riesling, 30% Pinot Blanc, 30% Pinot Gris, and 10% Gewurztraminer.  Yeah.  This sparkling white wine would be a slam dunk for any Sunday brunch, or even a pre-dinner bubble bath after work.