Sparkling Wines Go Head-to-Head

I wish more of my meals looked like this.

Maybe it’s because the Judgment of Paris was such a success. Or maybe it’s because we are all children of the Pepsi Challenge and the long and bloody Cola Wars it sparked in the mid-eighties. Whatever the reason, the wine industry loves the blind taste test. Pitting wines against one another without their labels conveying so much about the wine except for how it tastes can alter one’s perception of what they are drinking and often, once the wines are unveiled, what people really like compared to what they thought they were drinking do not always match up.

Such was the case recently when Schramsberg Vineyards hosted blind sparkling wine tasting at Marcel’s – one of DC’s finest restaurants and pourer of a LOT of sparkling wine. The tasting was blind and put Schramsberg up against Champagne’s heavy-hitters like Perrier-Jouët, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon and Cristal. The results were, according to Schramsberg’s president, similar to the results of other blind tastings held around the country. Schramsberg sparkling wines beat out all of their more expensive and prestigious French counterparts.

True to Form, All the Wines Tasted Were Brown-Bagged Until the End

The Schramsberg sparklers did taste better. They were itoasty and oaky with plenty of lemon zest and pear on them, yet with a body that the others didn’t have. I did notice much more effervescence in the Schramsberg wines than the others, as well as a bit more flavor.

I don’t want to call into question the integrity of blind tastings for marketing purposes, but judging from both the temperature and bubble count in the wines it’s possible that some of the more prestigious French wines were opened the previous night and not chilled as thoroughly as the Schramsbergs. I’m not saying that’s the case, just that it’s possible and even probable. I’ll admit that the flatness and warmness of some of the $100+ bottles raised my skepticism somewhat.

Schramsberg's Sparkling Rose is a Great, Full-Bodied and Dry Wine for the holidays

In any event, Schramsberg came out on top and it wasn’t even close. I have had the prestigious sparkling wine from the noble Champagne houses before and have enjoyed them to varying degrees. I have also had domestic sparkling wine, cava, prosecco and non-Champagne French sparkling wine before and have enjoyed those just as much – without spending the exorbitant prices. 

Great Wines for Thanksgiving

The second-largest eating day is upon us. Unlike the largest – the Super Bowl – people tend to agree that Thanksgiving is a meal that is best paired with wine. Unless you have reservations to the French Laundry, it is also the only time of the year that people will make a cross-country trip for the purpose of eating dinner.

Given the traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc., the question really becomes what wine to serve? Pinot Noir has long been popular, and given its versatility, elegance and lighter-body, it is fast becoming the standard for Thanksgiving.

Why Butterball is still the safest bet

Don’t let the fact that this is the most American of holidays deter you from drinking a wine made abroad. New Zealand, Chile and France – Pinot Noir’s home – all make great Pinots that all go extremely well with Thanksgiving. Indeed, wines from these areas range in price, quality and flavor but all can match-up to the turkey and trimmings.

From New Zealand, The Crossings is a very light Pinot Noir. It is easy-drinking with cherries and a nice minerality on the finish. It is a very well-made Pinot Noir, though the tartness of the finish may turn off some people.

If you’re looking for a wine with a little more body and spice, give the Llai Llai from Chile a try. It is a little less expensive than the Crossings and is also a bit more versatile and appealing for crowds.

Speaking of appealing to crowds, we went to Graceland over Thanksgiving last year. Above is Elvis' Jungle Room where The King ate many a turkey leg

That’s not to say that Pinot Noir is the only thing to serve this Thanksgiving. After all, what would a celebration be without bubbles? I find it amusing that sparkling wine producers spend 42 weeks out of the year trying to convince people that sparkling wines are not just for holidays and celebrations. Starting around Halloween, though, the emphasis is on how it isn’t really a celebration or a holiday without sparkling wine.

Marketing aside, sparkling wines make a great addition to any table. Gone are the days when you had to spend a boatload for bubbles. Jaillance produces some of the best sparkling wines that France makes that aren’t from Champagne - though the flavor profiles are very similar. Ranging from toasty, buttery and dry to very sweet, you can find something for every palette for under $15.

If you want to spend even less on something festive, get a few bottles of Cava. These sparklers from Spain offer the best value in sparkling wine – if not wine period – that you can get these days.

Of course, what would this post be without giving a shout-out to Virginia wines? One of the best options to serve something local this year would be Chambourcin. Many of the ones I have tasted recently – from Fabbioli Cellars to Notaviva to Hidden Brook are easy-drinking, medium-bodied and loaded with cherry and cranberry flavors.

Doug Fabbioli of Fabbioli Cellars with his Chambourcin Vines

Whatever you choose to serve this year, make sure you have plenty on hand, and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. 

Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrive!

If you see a lot of drunk French people today, that's because it's the third Thursday of November. Today is the day that the first wines of the 2011 vintage are released.

Go into any store that sells wine today and you will see stacks of Beaujolais nouveau in brightly-colored bottles. A young, light and fruity wine, Beaujolais nouveau is meant to be drunk right away.

And while it's flavor and character is not to everybody's liking - it is damn-near a French white zin - it is an indication of what's to come from the 2011 vintage.

2011 has not been kind to the wine industry in Virginia. Pick up a bottle of Beaujolais nouveau today if for no other reason to see how 2011 is shaping up in France.

A Successful Virginia Wine Month

While there is still dismay that Virginia actually makes wine by the vast majority of the wine-drinking public, the industry as a whole is making great strides towards getting the word out. October was Virginia Wine Month and everybody I spoke with from winemakers to wine reps to sommeliers were enthusiastic about being a Virginia wine evangelist for the month. Wineries hosted harvest festivals and live music, and restaurants offered specials on Virginia wine throughout the month. Overall, the push to raise awareness about Virginia wine was seen as a huge success and one more step on the road to winemaking respectability around the world – or at least the country.

One thing that the Virginia wine industry does have is an active and enthusiastic champion in the Governor’s Mansion. Actually, they have two of them as both the Governor and First Lady of the state have made it clear that they fully support Virginia’s wine industry and are working to see it thrive.

Gov. McDonnell Discusses the Importance of Virginia's Wine Industry.
Later He and My Wife Discussed All Things Notre Dame.
Go Irish!

At a recent Virginia Wine Month event held at Lincoln Restaurant in the District, Governor McDonnell sounded more like a wine geek than a public official when he spoke about the Chambourcin that was planted recently on the grounds of the Governor’s mansion. He told the crowd about his travel schedule which would make Bono blush: India, China, London, etc. to be the face and advocate for the industry. Through his efforts, Virginia winemakers know that they have an ally rather than an adversary that is working to see the industry grow.

And why not? Virginia is producing some great wine and the quality is only getting better. As winemaker and vineyard managers continue to take a more sophisticated approach to what grows well in Virginia’s soil, the quality will continue to increase and the potential to blend different varietals will continue to grow. Many of the wines I tasted at the event had a distinctive, almost Old World, quality about them.

Even though it is no longer October, there are still plenty of opportunities to raise a glass of Virginia - particularly Loudoun – wine and spread the word. 

There's an Owl House Over Yonder

For any DC-area wine lover who hasn't been to Red White and Bleu in Falls Church, I highly recommend a visit. It's the type of neighborhood wine and cheese shop where you can really learn a lot about what you are buying, have a personalized shopping experience with their knowledgeable staff and walk away entirely satisfied every time.

They also have weekly wine tastings and jelly bean wine kits. Want to know what you're going to drink before you buy? shell out a couple of bucks for a little packet of jelly beans that replicate the flavors. Believe it or not, it really works. 

I mention Red White and Bleu because drinking local is more than just supporting Virginia wineries. It's also shopping at local wine shops where the owners are also neighbors and really care about the customer experience and the wines they sell. Red White and Bleu is one of those shops, and every wine I have ever purchased from them has been well worth the trip. 

Owl House Red is just the most recent example. A red blend that is on Red White and Bleu's $9.99 rack, it's a dry and complex wine that is a steal at the price and goes just as well with appetizers and junk food as it does with steak or lamb. As a blend of Rhone varietals and Bordeaux varietals, it is also one of those wines that a local shop is happy to carry but a grocery, chain or big box store might not - it just doesn't fit into their classifications and can't be produced in large enough quantities to meet the demand. 

While drinking local and eating local is great - and I really do believe that Virginia wine is making huge gains - it also means supporting local merchants who really care about their community and have a passion for their products. They are also great places to try wines that may be a bit too off the beaten path for the big stores.

VinItaly 2011: Lots of Arrogance for so Little Remarkable Wine

Possibly the best part of VinItaly was its logo

Here’s everything I knew about Italian wine before going to VinItaly at the Italian Embassy earlier this week:

1. Italian wine is considered very “food friendly”
2. Hannibal Lecter enjoys a nice Chianti when feasting on fava beans and human liver
3. The Italian wine classification system is so screwed up that some of the finest wines being made have to be classified as “table wine” because they don’t fall into the rigidly defined quality wine categories
4. After the popes returned to Rome from Avignon, they insisted on drinking French rather than Italian wine
5. There’s a lot the I don’t know about Italian wine

Having attended VinItaly, and been fully immersed into the Italian wine industry, here’s what I now know about Italian wine:

1.  “Food friendly” means wines much more acidity than I am used to, which can be rather acerbic to drink on their own

2.  Because  Hannibal Lecter enjoys a nice Chianti when feasting on fava beans and human liver, Americans are quite familiar with Chianti, though many still associate it with the stuff that came in straw baskets in the 70’s

3.  The Italian wine classification system is so screwed up that some of the finest wines being made have to be classified as “table wine” because they don’t fall into the rigidly defined quality wine categories

4. After the popes returned to Rome from Avignon, they insisted on drinking French rather than Italian wine

5. Italian wine merchants may be, as a whole, the most arrogant and snobby group of people in the wine industry. Given that this is an industry populated by so many people from France and California, this is a dubious honor to say the least

6. There’s still a lot I don’t know about Italian wine

With respect to #2, the popularity of Chianti has proved to be a double-edged sword for Italian wine. On the one hand, people recognize the name Chianti, and therefore, it can be sold and people will drink it. On the other hand, many people still associate it with the swill that came in baskets that look good with a candle dripping down the side, but is actually pretty terrible wine.

Look! A non-Chianti!

Trying to educate American consumers about higher-quality Chianti, as well as on other wines from Italy, is a challenge that is consuming a lot of the Italian wine industry’s time. Still, they are pressing on.

Soave seems to be the new darling of the industry – and there is a big push to make this rather unremarkable white wine as commonplace in stores and restaurants as Pinot Grigio, which is another fairly unremarkable Italian white wine. In my opinion, Pinot Gris from Oregon blows their Italian counterparts away. I would love to be proven wrong, but it hasn’t happened yet.

There is a big push to reintroduce Soave to the American market. This was the best of the bunch at VinItaly, though it was still rather unremarkable

What I noticed at VinItaly is that the Italian wine industry as a whole would love to take more of the American market, and are unified – or as unified as so many Italians can be on a given topic. They do not, however, have a desire or feel that there is a need to educate American consumers as to why we should care about their wines or why it would be beneficial to learn about Italian wines other than Chianti and Pinot Grigio.

People being all Italian and wine-snobby at VinItaly

I have been to a lot of wine events, but never in my life have I attended one where there was almost a universal disdain for potential consumers, where questions were answered with scorn and the expectation was that either people would like the wines being offered or they were incapable of understanding the nuances and complexities at hand. At one point I asked one of the reps how they planned to make their wines more approachable for Americans. His response: “we don’t need to make our wines more approachable. If Americans like our wine, great. If they don’t, that’s not our problem.” At another booth, asking about their other red wines that weren’t Chianti, I got this response: “[Italy] is not a one-trick pony. [Americans] need to know what they are missing before they judge a whole country.”

Fine. Then explain it to me. Sell it to me. As someone who loves wine, writes about wine and sells wine, I wanted to be wowed. I wanted to understand the passion and justification of why Americans needed to know more about Italian wine. I walked away with my opinions more or less in tact and reinforced – that Italian wine is great with certain foods and aside from that is pretty much crap.

I am still hoping that my mind will be changed. With all the wine Italy produces, not all of it reinforces my bias, and I did taste some good ones at VinItaly.

Unfortunately, most of them do, and it’s a shame that wine reps tasked with selling their country’s wine to an American market left an even worse taste in my mouth than much of the unremarkable wine I tried.   

Celebrate Virginia Wine Month!

October is Virginia Wine Month. If you're looking for a time to get acquainted or better acquainted with the great wines coming out of the state, this is the month to do it.

True, there's a lot going on in October - what with Halloween, baseball's post-season, college and pro football both well underway, hockey getting underway, Columbus Day, and a certain wine blogger's birthday, but don't ignore your local winemakers.

While there is a lot going on in October, the great thing about wine is it enhances - and improves - just about any situation. So sit back, take in all October has to offer and raise a glass of Virginia wine to celebrate how far the industry has come in a relatively short time.