Grocery Store Wine

Last week was a long one for me; six days, five major cities, 22 media events, and just over 2,000 people in person. Kind of a lot for me! By Thursday all I was looking forward to was getting home and relaxing.I arrive home and realize that there is nothing to eat in my house. What to do for dinner? We've all been there. I love to cook, so this conundrum wasn’t the issue. The challenge:  Two last minute neighbors get added to the mix while you’re at the grocery store with a request of “grab a bottle of wine while you’re there.”Grab a bottle of wine. A daunting task in and of itself. Multiple questions may course through your head, like; “What wine goes with xxx?” “Should I change what I’m planning on cooking?” “Why aren’t my neighbors bringing the wine, I just got home?!?”Fear not!Here are some words of advice and tips to avoid stressing about a last minute wine purchase and food pairing.First. Stick to your original menu plan! Do not add unnecessary stress by changing another dinner variable.Second. If there is a local and trusted wine shop between you and home, stop in and have them help. If you do not have this as an option, continue to the next step.Third. There are only a few true rules when it comes to wine. Don’t serve hot wine is first! If you are in a time crunch, scan for something you recognize and that you have enjoyed before. Don’t worry about if it will pair perfectly with your dinner choice.Don’t see anything you recognize and still in a time crunch? No worries.  Go for whatever is on sale. Treat it as an experiment - it will probably be okay and fun to try.But, if you have some more time, then you can look for pairings. Decide if you want a complementary or contrasting pairing. An example of complementary pairing: Burgers with a Spanish Tempranillo or a Riesling from Alsace with shrimp tacos. An example of contrasting; an Australian Shiraz with Asian food. Or that same Riesling with Asian food (the hint here is high acid).As I was staring at the grocery store selection, a couple next to me turned to each other and asked “Does this wine go with Asian food?” “I don’t know,” was the other’s answer. I politely offered some advice after asking if they were after sweet and salty (contrasting) or something more smooth (complimentary).They chose sweet and salty. I hope they had a good dinner! Wondering what I grabbed?  Ask me at the next tasting.Hope to see everyone out at the next wine tasting and let me know your if have ever made a last minute wine pick.  Cheers!

Some Amazing Wine!

Scenario: You are at a “fancy” wine event and you have just been told that they have put out some "amazing" wine. Everyone starts to taste this "amazing" wine and begin to proclaim that the wine is “Amazing!”But you didn’t like any of them. Everyone turns to you and beings to ask; “What do you think?”Two weeks ago we hit on the need for you to use your own words to describe what you are tasting. Being genuine and authentic, and true to what YOU are tasting, is the best way to stand your ground in a scenario like the one described here.Everyone has a different tongue, a different palate, so don’t be afraid to like what you like, and be confident in voicing that you didn’t like a certain wine. The key is to be honest with yourself and you will have nothing to fear when everyone else disagrees.The wines in the photo are a primer to a dinner at the Destin Charity Wine Auction, the 4th biggest in the U.S., and everyone agreed that they were, truly, some amazing wines!

Iron’s Wine Curious Club

Wine with Food, or Food with Wine; which goes first? I guess it depends on how hungry you are. It also depends on how you view wine. Most people plan a dinner (food) and then attempt to pair wine with it. The wine geeks out there tend to do the opposite; pick out a treasured bottle and then attempt to pair the food to the wine.I actually find that picking the wine first is easier.One of our local Sommeliers is adept at both approaches. Hilary Towns, the Certified Somm and founder of Restaurant Iron’s Wine Curious Club, has been pushing the envelope of Pensacola’s Wine Culture for several years.Her approach, backed by the great cuisine of Iron, has its foundation in Curiosity. Her Wine Curious Club meets once a month at Iron with a class that highlights a different region.  She covers what makes that region’s wine unique and why a particular wine goes with a particular food.You don’t have to be a club member to go, but you do have to rsvp by either calling Iron or checking out their website. For the Wine Curious it is definitely something worth exploring.

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.

Up-ing your wine game, Part 2. Use your words.

So you have finally started to regularly come out to the wine tastings but you haven’t gotten much past the wine description of “Oh I like this one.” One of the most common statements I get from fellow tasters is; “I just don’t have the vocabulary to describe what I’m tasting.”Anyone who has watched any of the “Somm” docu-movies on Netflix has heard the very precise-to-outlandish words used to describe both the taste and aroma of wine. Yet “garden hose” and “fresh can of tennis balls” should never come out of someone’s mouth when talking wine! Therefore, especially after hearing stuff like that, you are often left with the notion that describing wine is a task best suited for the fanciful snob.Fight against that! The practical use of descriptive vocabulary can be extremely helpful in Up-ing your wine game. The first step is to actual pay attention to what you are tasting, smelling, and feeling. The taste of wine has both a flavor component and feel component. Even if your first descriptive wine words are super basic, like “dry,” or “tart,” you have taken the first big leap in your wine journey, away from just “I liked (or didn’t like) that wine.”Here are two examples of the words I used at V.Paul’s this week to describe a white and a red wine during the tasting: “A little bit of green apple with a tart finish, too acidic; “Lots of fruit-plum, blue berry, light tannins, medium acid.” Simple, efficient, effective, nothing outlandish.So, use your words! I didn’t have all of those “wine words” when I started. Part of the fun and allure of wine is broadening your taste horizon. As you go to more wine tastings and begin to pay better attention to the wine in your mouth, your vocabulary will improve. That’s step one in Up-ing your wine game. In part two we will discuss a few very effective “wine words” to use.

Gosh, I do love the mystery wines!

What is one of the best ways to entertain a wine enthusiast? Have them watch other wine enthusiasts try and guess mystery wines. Some folks claim it is an art, others a type of super power. There is definitely science involved, which can get expensive to learn. Learning to pay attention to what you are actually tasting, and feeling, while you drink wine is the first step. Then remembering all of it is the next.Other than the actual art of frustration that comes with most mystery wine tastings, mystery wines are fun in two ways. The first is the obvious; testing your palate and wine knowledge on the fields of glory. The second is less so; it is in the sharing, which might be the best part. Often the Friday tasting at The Bottle shop involves a mystery wine or two brought by fellow tasters. Want to join in and be invited? Buy a bottle that you like, put it in some kind of covering and share.Tonight featured three mysteries: Two Brunello’s di Montalcino and a Pinot Noir from Niagara New York. The two Brunellos came from vineyards roughly five miles away from each other, both were from 2017, but tasted world’s apart! Crazy. The third wine was from the Niagara Escarpment in upstate New York. The Pinot was soft, pleasantly smooth but different from any Pinot Noir that I have ever had!No one doing a mystery at your wine tasting? Then start the tradition yourself, you will have more fun than you think.

Could the Crowd Favorite not really be the Crowd Favorite?

Our first hot tasting, and it still wasn’t that hot, around 80F. This might sound like a safety announcement, but temperature, mainly heat, can be the leading cause in liking or not liking your wine.Red wine first: Many fellow tasters have heard me saying, repeatedly, that red wine should be served between 66-69F. That’s room temperature in the world of wine. And you can still really enjoy reds into the low 70s. Most wine cellars hover around the upper 50s to low 60s. Bring out your bottle of 58F red wine, open it and set it on the counter or table (not in the Sun!) and let the wine come up to “room” temperature. Doing that will ensure you get the wine experience that the wine maker intended you to get. Don’t have a wine cellar? My favorite technique is to open a bottle of red wine, then put it in my fridge, top open, for somewhere around 30 minutes. Take it out when the bottle feels cool to the touch, NOT COLD! Very big difference there.White wine needs to be colder, mostly around 50F. If I know that I am going to drink a white wine soon I will put it in my 40F fridge for a while before using it, even several days out. Then I take the bottle out, open it and put it on the counter. Just don’t let it sit long, it will be ready to drink very quickly. A white wine bottle SHOULD feel cold to the touch. And with both red and whites; Don’t forget that your wine glass will heat up your wine.My favorite wine tastings are mostly outside, where temperature control becomes very difficult because of our mostly hot year. The temperature will also affect you. It’s hot outside, you drink a cool refreshing sparkling wine that has been a crowd pleaser and you are probably going to enjoy it. The experience of that first cool crisp wine will be elevated even more when the rest of the line up gets too warm. You get to the end of the tasting and what did you like? The first cool refreshing one of course. But, because of the heat, and resulting warm wine, you probably missed one that you would have liked if it were served at the correct temperature.So this was the case at this tasting. Garganega Frizzante has been a previous Crowd Favorite. Most people said that it was their favorite. It is good and a great value. But it was hot outside, and many of the wines very quickly passed into the “too warm” category. So should it have been the Crowd Favorite, again? Maybe, but maybe not.

Don’t be afraid to Re-Visit a wine during a tasting.

I enjoy the once-a-month tastings around town because you can usually encounter something different. Yet your palate will need to be ready for such an encounter. Your palate can be a finicky thing. It can be tuned during a wine tasting, but it can also get burned out. Most tastings start with something bubbly, or something that isn’t too high in average alcohol. The two “A’s” are what can start to “burn” out, or dull your palate, Acid and Alcohol. Start with highly acidic or really boozy wine and your palate won’t get very far. So it’s a relatively accepted practice to start with a Sparkling Wine that has a 12.5-13.5 alcohol by volume content. The bubbles, which contain CO2, help with waking up the palate and the mild alcohol can be helpful in tuning it in.That’s not to say that your palate might not wake up on that first bubbly wine, or whatever the first wine is. Everything that you put in your mouth that day, prior to the tasting, can affect your palate. Did you burn your tongue on your morning coffee, or yesterday’s pizza? That’s going to affect your palate. Pollen season, getting over a cold, sinuses slightly stopped up? That is going to really affect your palate. But, all things being normal, it might take two or three wines to get your palate going, to tune it in.Any good tasting will allow you to revisit a wine at least once. It is also a good way to judge the overall quality of that particular tasting. Tasting any wine, even lower quality wines, is just like reading. And just like reading something, like a chapter for a test, you often pick up something on the second read that you may have missed on your first read. Depending on everyone’s individual palate, including the wines you have tasted up to that point, you might taste something completely different on your revisit. 98 out of 100 times the wine that you are revising will be a different temperature (almost always warmer) than your first taste. It can be amazing what you taste, or didn’t taste, on a revisit.Tonight’s Crowd Favorite was 2022 The Occasion Pinot Noir from Chile. Kind of unique, very cheap, nothing amazing, but okay. Chile is not known for its Pinot Noirs, but it was amazing how different this wine was on the revisit. All of the fellow tasters agreed, and they agreed they liked it more on the revisit. So Do Not be afraid to ask for a revisit on a wine during a tasting, you will be happy that you did.

“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.

What’s the best way to Up your Wine Game?

The easiest way to up your wine game is go to local wine tastings. Ask questions, pay attention to what you are actually tasting in your mouth, and talk to the other tasters. If you are finding that you still want more of that wine knowledge then I recommend going to the monthly tastings held by the local chapter of the American Wine Society.Now for those that just started to tune out because you saw “Society,” relax. It’s a club that drinks a lot of wine, eats good food, and then talks about that wine. Even though society sounds fancy, which was probably the point, there are no wine snobs here. No one is going to judge you because you “don’t know wine,” or if you taste something totally different than everyone else, which happens all the time. It’s a chance to hang out, try new wines and learn a little more about wine. Even if you don’t care to know why that wine tastes the way it does you can go to drink, eat, and then drink more. Just make sure you can get home safely.This month’s local chapter AWS meeting was a tasting of the Southern Rhône. The Rhône River Valley region produces some of the best wines in the world. While there are some outstanding white wines that come out of the Rhône the first to mind, and mouth, is red. The “big 3” red grape varietals here are Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, blended together. GSMs from here are often big, potent, yet with the capacity to have finesse with complex fruit. It’s why this is one of my favorite wine regions. If any of this sounds good you can find the Emerald Coast Chapter of the AWS on Facebook or email pamdavey@aol.com (the chapter president) for more information. It’s a good time!

Finding Wine Tastings while Traveling is awesome!

Finding a wine tasting while traveling is as fun to me as finding one of the “special” bottles wine on my personal list. And fun might not be a strong enough word, I love finding wine tastings! You would think tasting and finding new wines would be the best part. It’s not, it’s the second best part. Getting to meet new wine people is the best part. That sounds simple enough, but if you are reading this, chances are you are a wine lover, you might even be a full out wine person. Meeting other wine people is a great time!

The second best part is the chance to taste and find new wines. So why is it second to people. Well, if you are after wine first, or only wine, then that’s fine. You might also find yourself more often than not drinking that wine you found alone. I enjoy fun people with good wine, in that order. Don’t get me wrong, I love good wine, great wine is even better! And great wine can make some occasions much more enjoyable. Also, as we all know, finding great wines, well, it isn’t hard, but it isn’t cheap. What is hard is finding good wines (wines that YOU like) that are relatively inexpensive. And it is a life long quest to [attempt to] try all of wines in the world. And remember one of the rules of wine tasting; Taste Everything!

So, it was to my great enjoyment that my wife noticed that a wine shop down the row from one of my favorite sandwich shops of all time was having a wine tasting. That wine shop, Puck’s Market, was full of fun wine people! Amee, the owner, along with the staff, were enthusiastic about wine and a pleasure to talk to. And, of course, talking with the other tasters was great.

Yet, now that I am again back in our Gulf Coast Wine region, writing this, I can reflect on larger things. The biggest is just how unique and special our local wine culture is down here. You can find wine tastings and events all over the world, but most of them are in big to very big cities. Not only do we have as many wine events as all of the big cities within a 6ish hour drive (I did, in fact, do all of the research proving that) but many of our tastings are at an entirely different level than the others, a much higher level. So, when you travel, hunt for wine tastings as much as, if not more than, you might hunt for that “special” bottle of wine. And when you get back to our slice of the Gulf Coast, come out to the tastings and see if you have a different perspective.

A great evening, and some even had an “Experience!”

“It was an EXPERIENCE!!” That’s what a fellow taster told me when I asked her why she liked tonight’s Cabernet Sauvignon. I had the pleasure to attending tonight’s Special wine tasting with my partner at Gulf Coast Wine, Bob.The Bottle shop featured Etude Winery from Napa, located at the southern end of Napa Valley. Like many Wineries around the world, Etude (French for “Study”) has vineyards not just in Napa Valley but also in Carneros, Santa Rita Hills, and a few other prime California wine areas. Just like the Special tasting earlier in the week at Aragon, all of the wines were very good, some were even great! What we are all after is an experience, but not just an experience, but the “Experience!” The Experience is life changing, can be other-worldly. It is talked about almost elusively. The wine doesn’t need to be expensive or rare. The wines that have given me an “experience” might not give you one. But when you have one of those wines you remember it, remember the feeling, hopefully the taste. I have never heard of a beer drinker having an “experience” from their favorite beer. More power to you if you have.Did you go out to the Special wine tasting? Did you find excuses why you could not attend? Too busy, too expensive? I understand all of that. But what are you after in life? I am after many things, one of them being the never ending search for “an Experience!”

Don’t be afraid to like what you like, and how you like it.

I have been getting a lot of, what I am going to call apprehension, when I ask folks why don’t they come to the wine tastings. Sadly not everyone reads our posts, at least not yet, so they think wine tastings are full of wine snobs. Or they are just going to somehow embarrass themselves because they “don’t know wine.” It’s actually really sad. Not only are our local wine tastings full of really fun and friendly people, but we at Gulf Coast Wine are actively hunting down wine snobs. We find them to be quite tasty after a brief “roasting.” But seriously, there is no reason to be afraid of going to a wine tasting. If you like to drink, not just wine, and like fun people, then you should go. I am probably preaching to the choir here, but if you are trying to convince a reluctant friend maybe this will help.It is also okay to like what you like. This does not mean that it is okay to not try every wine, because one of the best parts of wine tastings is tasting something that surprises you. More on that in a bit. I spoke to a group of folks that were relatively new to our local wine tastings. One mentioned how they use a milk frother to aerate their red wine, and that is the only way they drink red wine. I was impressed in two ways: first, good ingenuity; second, confidence in sharing what they liked and how they liked it. On a wine science level, not every red wine needs to be aerated, and you can very easily over aerate some reds. I like to share wine knowledge, but I was adamant in saying “don’t change what you are doing if you like it!”So, as long as you try every wine, I don’t care what you do, and I love to hear about clever tricks. If you don’t try every wine then you might be missing a chance to be surprised, in a good way. Tonight’s crowd favorite was described by many tasters as “I was so surprised that I liked it.” Tapiz Sparkling Malbec Rose Extra Brut was refreshing with slight under tones of red cherry and strawberry. Those flavors appear a lot in Rose wines, but what did you feel? The bubbles, the acid, the way in which it made your mouth feel. Taste and feel, that’s what you get with wine. Knowing that will help with liking what you like. So don’t be afraid to come out and drink some wine, you might be surprised by the entire experience!

Go to the “Special” Wine tastings!

I have said it before in previous posts: If you see a “Special” wine event, especially if it is a tasting featuring someone from a winery, do your best to go! These are not events to be afraid of! You are not going to be ridiculed, you do not need to “know” wine, these “Special” events are just plain fun! Most of them are during the week, which can be difficult, but if I can give any recommendation in the world of wine it is to go to the special tastings.Aragon’s Special wine tasting was on Tuesday, not on their normal Thursday. If you are having trouble keeping track of wine events look no further to OUR wine tastings and events calendar! And if you know of an event that is not on our calendar please let us know, you can email us or send us a message on Instagram and we will update our calendar.So back to wine. Aragon featured Famille Bourgeois Winery this past Tuesday. Famille Bourgeois has vineyards in the Sancerre Region, in the Loire Valley of France; and in the Marlborough Wairau Valley of New Zealand, specializing in Sauvignon Blanc in both areas. Their wines are certified “Biodynamic” which is the E.U.’s organic certification, but actually better. People like to lump things together; like all Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand tastes like Grapefruit. It happens all the time, to everything, not just wine. It is human nature, and it can very quickly lead to “bold wine statements” (see my post on bold wine statements). Their two wine families, Domaine Henri in France, and Clos Henri in New Zealand, were a great example of how you cannot just lump things together. We even started the tasting with the reds because the whites were so high in acid (something they intentionally did) that if we did the whites first your palate could have been toasted by the time you got to the reds. All of the wines tonight were unique and almost everyone enjoyed almost everything. So hopefully we will see you at the next “Special” tasting!

“Wow, that was good!” Aragon’s Women in Wine.

The majority of wine makers, vineyard owners, even wine distributors, are male. These facts don’t mean that men are better at any facet of the wine world than women. Tonight was a good example of that as Aragon showcased some great wines made by women. The first wine, a Champagne, was not just the crowd favorite, it was a Wine of Note. Tasters liked it SO much that they sold every bottle in the store and several tasters ordered extra cases!!! Not extra bottles, cases!People who know me know that I am not a big lover of sparkling wines. I have a few that I like, but generally prefer to have the non-bubblies. But, holding to the rules of wine tasting, I always taste everything. Wow,Castelnau Champagne Brut NV, was good. NV, non-vintage, means that the wine maker took a few of her best and favorite years and blended them. A true Champagne, from the Champagne region of France, had medium bubbles, not exploding out of your mouth, giving it a velvety mouth feel with hints of white nectarine, a dash of green apple and citrus. I am on the waiting list to get a bottle once they get more back in. Definitely a Wine of Note. Conclusion: More women need to be in the world of wine!

Don’t expect to find an amazing wine at every tasting.

“This was the first tasting that I didn’t buy anything.” I got that last week from a relatively new taster to our area. “That’s okay.” I replied. I continued; “It is still fun, and you learned more wine stuff. Don’t feel like you have to buy a bottle at every tasting, unless you want to.” That is a pretty profound statement to a relatively new taster who is a wine lover. This led me to suggest a few wine tasting rules:

• First rule: Go to every tasting to have a good time.
• Second rule: TRY EVERYTHING!
• Third rule: Think about what you tasted, for wines you like and didn’t like. If you liked that wine, figure out why you liked it, both the mouth feel and taste. Wine has both. Got some dark cherries but left your mouth feeling dry? Remember to taste AND feel.
• Fourth rule: Don’t be a wine snob (see my previous post on wine snobs).
• Fifth rule: Don’t feel like you have to buy a bottle. Some wines were okay but nothing really stood out? That’s okay.
• Final rule: Have a good time! This is not a repeat of rule 1. If you are going through the tasting and are not having a good time, don’t force it! Just head home and come out to the next tasting.

Tonight’s crowd favorite by a slim majority was MERF Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. It was good, okay, decent, not bad. Some folks bought, others didn’t. Nothing really stood out to a lot of tasters, but it was a good time with fun people. That’s the secret to good wine, start with good people.

So you think you have had Port. Part 3

I love Vintage and Crusted Port. I also really enjoy a quality red blend of “table” wine from the Douro. It can be super easy to get lost in the world of Port Wines. And how do you know if you have a quality red Douro blend? I spoke for just under two hours as the presenter at this February’s tasting of our local chapter of the American Wine Society, tasting and explaining how to navigate Portugal’s premiere wine growing region, the Douro.

Can you explain the difference between the four bottles in the photo? If you were presented these wines at dinner which would you choose? With a little knowledge on Port wine you can pick a quality Douro red. The key to begin to unlock quality wines from the Douro, the world’s first Wine Demarcated Region by the way, is Vintage Port. In the Douro, in the world of Port, not every year is a Vintage year. Vintage years must be declared by the vineyard and then approved by the Port Wine Institute located in Porto Portugal. To be a vintage year the growing conditions must be excellent all the way through harvest, ensuring an exceptional wine. If you know the Vintage years, and find a non-Port wine from a particular Vintage year, you are almost (nothing is every “certain”) guaranteed to have a quality Douro “table” (non-fortified) wine. Then you will need some time. I recommend almost any Douro red to have at least six, preferably eight years of age to make for a fantastic drinking experience.

So, Vintage year, 6 years of age, and you have a quality Douro Red. Simple enough. We sampled three Douro reds before moving to Port during our tasting. The next part in our series, Tawny Port.

Napa Valley Day 2, Part 2 Château Montelena

What’s a good way to tell if you are a wine geek or not? A wine geek not only knows about the Judgement of Paris, but they can also explain it. A brief history refresher. Before 1976 wines from “The States” were not really taken seriously. Sure there were some good ones, but nothing compared to the likes of the best from Bordeaux or Burgundy. A blind tasting was arranged to test the “best” wines in the world at the time, which came from France, against some wines from Napa. There was a red category and a white category. A Napa wine won both categories, blowing up the wine world! It is THE reason people why when people hear “Napa” they think quality wine. The winner of the red category was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The winner of the white category was a 1973 Chardonnay from Château Montelena.

The 1976 Judgement of Paris has regained some popularity recently from the Netflix show “Somm 3.” Therefore a chance to visit either one of the two Napa Wineries that totally upturned the world of wine is worth taking! We were able to get into a tasting at Château Montelena on this visit, so we took the opportunity. You can look up the history of the Château on your own, but it is a beautiful estate. The tasting included their 2019 Chardonnay at $70 a bottle , their Estate Zinfandel at $45 (not sweet, nothing like most of the Zins from Lodi), a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $85, and finally their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon at $200 a bottle! The staff was knowledgeable and enthusiastic which was a pleasant surprise considering the tourist Mecca that Château Montelena is. A walk about the idyllic grounds and the Jade Lake concluded our wine pilgrimage. Was it worth it? That depends on what you are after. If you are after a piece of wine history and a fun experience, then yes! Hope to see everyone back at our local GulfCoastWine tastings soon.

Napa Valley Day 2, Part 1 Laura Michael Winery

Sometimes you have more success going solo. Other times it pays to be part of a team. My Napa wine adventures on day 1 were a solo affair. On day two I was able to take a few members of my team to enjoy an amazing wine experience. My first choice to begin their Napa wine journey was Laura Michael Winery, just outside the town of Calistoga.Calistoga sits at the northern end of Napa Valley. The valley here is less than two miles wide. Fires wreaked havoc in this area in 2020, so be weary of any Napa wine wearing a 2020 on its label. The Winery, owned by wife Laura and husband Michael specialize in Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and a 50/50 Zinfandel Petite Sirah desert wine, which is my favorite. In a previous post I talked about how you can taste the business culture of a winery in their wine. How do they treat guests, conduct their tasting, etc. And again, do everything that you can to make reservations, but I am always interested in how a winery handles the ones that just show up. Michael and Laura are some of the nicest people in Napa, and will do their best to try and accommodate you. They are knowledgeable and just great people to share a glass of wine with! Laura Michael’s is the refreshing antithesis of the big, impersonal, touristy wineries that everyone thinks that they “must” visit in Napa. Thank you to Laura and Michael for a great visit!

Napa Valley, Day 1, Part 2. Gandona Winery and Vineyards.

Wow! It is all I could say as I drove back down the unmarked, potholed, steep and winding driveway back into the valley. I had done a significant amount of research before going to Napa this year. My first visit was a year before, at which point I realized how little I knew even though I had done a lot of research prior to that trip as well. So I had a decent plan of where I wanted to go after my tasting at Robert Craig. I also did not have any reservations (an outcome of my fluctuating work schedule) which is bad and good. Good, in fact, great in this case.

Disclaimer. Unless you have some serious connections, of which apparently I do now, DO NOT expect to just walk into this experience!! I HIGHLY recommend having reservations for anywhere that you really want to visit!

SO, at the end of my Robert Craig tasting, KC (read part 1) asked where I was going next. I told him my ideas and rough plan. His next question; “Do you have any reservations?” “No.” I answered and explained my crazy work schedule that can change day to day. So he recommended a Winery owned by a man from Portugal, and not just Portugal, from the Douro, which is where my mother is from! A quick phone call to the Winery was not answered so he said to try and drive up (up is the key word) there and maybe you can find someone. A Wine Safari, I liked the idea.

Gandona has no fancy sign, is mostly unmarked, off of the main roads inside Napa Valley. This is not a place that you would just happen upon. Even with Google and Apple Maps it took me 40 minutes to find, even after they both said that I “have arrived at your destination.” Determined, and after driving up, up, up, up the third unmarked, rutted and potholed driveway, I reached the top and found it! There was only one other vehicle in the small gravel parking area. I stepped out and start walking towards the winery which had its big barn-like door open when another gentleman walked out. This gentleman, Adam, turned out to be The wine maker at Gandona. After a “Who are you and why are you here” question session; with me, very humbly, explaining my story he invited me in. And I am not trying to sound like some kind of elitist here, but it was during this “who are you” questioning that everyone else would have been turned away. Take the time and make reservations if at all possible.

As I walked in to the winery with Adam we discussed their wine making philosophy, and their techniques for different varieties. He showed me their wine presses, their different wine storage areas, and their barrel room. Outside we toured the main estate vineyard, discussed the soil, the different valley winds, the specific clones of their varieties. Note: and to not get into the weeds here; after the phylloxera outbreak in the mid 1860s, almost all European grape varieties in the world are clones and or hybrids. Back inside we got back on the topic of his wine making approach, especially with Port Style wine. Gandona is one of the few vineyards growing a Portuguese Native grape Touriga National, one of the main varieties in Port Wine. Gandona makes a Port Style wine, a vintage no less. You cannot call a wine a Port Wine unless it is from Portugal. It must be labeled “Port Style,” or just “Dessert” Wine. I had the privilege to try their 2014 vintage Port Style wine and it was incredible! Definitely a Wine of Note. Finally I was lucky enough to buy some as they do not sell to the general public. If you are interested you must contact them and sign up to be on their allocation list for a chance to buy some.

At the end of my three hour visit and tour of Gandona I thanked Adam graciously. He ended the visit with “Yeah, we don’t do this kind of thing [visit], but you didn’t seem entitled to it, it was a pleasure.” Thank you Adam! Stay turned next week for Day 2 of Napa.