International Wine of the Month Club » Wine Education

Some Reasons to Drink Cava

Don Lahey — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:08:16 +0000

Cava is Spain’s answer to Champagne, although a case can be made for Cava offering more of a rebuke to Champagne than a retort. After all, Cava hails from a different climate and terroir than Champagne, and Cava is produced primarily or entirely from indigenous Spanish grape varieties such as Xarelo-lo, Parellada, Viura, and Macabeo, rather than the traditional French varietals inherent in Champagne. Naturally, all of this accounts for differences between Cava and Champagne, thereby rendering each nation’s sparkling wine unique. But then, there is also the difference in price. The vast majority of Cavas sell for under $20.00 a bottle. Is there much French Champagne available for half that price? Yet, like Champagne good Cava is produced by the same traditional method of fermentation in the bottle, and the end result is plenty of good drinking bubbly. The most compelling reason to drink Cava is simply this: Nobody makes better dry sparkling wine for the money than Spain’s Cava producers. With the addition of champagne yeasts during fermentation, the acid rich musts of Spanish Cava yield sparkling wines of rich flavor, softness and finesse that can at times rival those of Champagne. Where Cava may even have the “edge” on Champagne is in its soft, round, lingering finish – the antithesis of French Champagne which can often possess just a bit too much acidic verve in its aftertaste or finish to suit some tastes. Consequently, I enjoy Cava more often than Champagne because Cava is affordable, versatile, and appealing to a wide audience.

Bordeaux: What’s in a vintage?

Don Lahey — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:10:44 +0000

In some wine regions of the world, the quality of wine doesn’t vary tremendously from year to year. The reason is that the weather in some wine areas remains fairly consistent and predictable. In other wine lands such as Bordeaux, vintage means everything. The weather in Bordeaux varies enormously throughout the growing season and from year to year, and because weather largely determines the quality of the vintage and the resulting wine, vintage speaks volumes in the most hallowed of French appellations. The saying in Bordeaux is June makes the quantity, August the style, and September the quality. If the flowering and subsequent berry set go well in June, growers can look forward to a bumper crop. And by August, the vignerons know roughly what to expect in style. But it’s September that ultimately determines how good the Bordeaux will be, particularly the reds, based largely on the amount and frequency of rain that falls during the month. If a tropical depression sweeps in from the Atlantic, all bets will be off. With this said, Bordeaux has enjoyed a bevy of fine vintages in recent years, and no two back to back vintages in memory rank higher than 2009 and 2010. Although the resulting wines are different in style, each of these vintages enjoyed ideal weather in September and October. The years 2009 and 2010 produced from top to bottom some of Bordeaux’s most drinkable and profound red wines. Consequently, I’m putting as many 2009 and 2010 red Bordeaux in my cellar as I can afford because Bordeaux doesn’t get much better than in these two vintages.

Don

Wines are a lot like kids

Don Lahey — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:19:40 +0000

Wines are a lot like kids: on any given day they can make a liar out of you. One day they’re perfectly well behaved, and the next day . . . well you get the picture. Johnny is an angel in school but a devil at home. Mary is just the opposite, sweet as pie when Mom and Dad are around, and a fallen angel away from the house. What makes us think that wines are all that different from kids? Well, I realize that wines can’t think, yet I know they have minds of their own. One day a wine shows great and blows the panel and everyone else away, and the next day that same wine just might not have quite the same appeal. Why? So many factors affect how a wine tastes on any given day: storage, serving temperature, weather (particularly barometric pressure) and accompaniments to a wine all have something to do with how a wine is perceived by the majority of tasters. However, the common denominator is probably us. We humans are influenced by our companions, experiences, moods, and most acutely by the foods we consume prior to tasting a particular wine. Our palates get tired, just like the rest of our bodies. Moreover, we all know that certain foods can wreak havoc on our taste buds. Horseradish, Tabasco, raw garlic and onion are just a few of the foods most commonly cited as affecting our taste buds, but almost any food can alter one’s perception of a wine. So, tasters beware! What you had for lunch can affect how a wine shows or is perceived at dinner.

Shiraz or Syrah?

Don Lahey — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:43:36 +0000

Whether we refer to this great varietal as Shiraz or Syrah, we are talking about one of the world’s most illustrious red grape varieties. It is also one of my personal favorites. Grown for centuries in the Rhone Valley of France, where it is responsible in all or part of many of the greatest red wines of France (Hermitage and Châteauneuf-du-Pape specifically), the exact origin of this full-flavored varietal remains in debate. However, historians do agree that it was brought to Europe from the Middle East, but when and by whom remains a mystery.

Some historians maintain that it was the Crusaders, who first brought Syrah to France, while others point to the earlier Roman legions under Probes, and yet others claim it was the remnants of Alexander the Great’s army on its return from Persia. The latter theory is particularly intriguing since Alexander himself was so enamored of the rich, powerful wines he found around the city of Shiraz in Central Persia, that he insisted on staying there, apparently far longer than he should have, since that is where he met his end. Nonetheless, the one point that has been ascertained that everyone seems to agree upon is that the name Shiraz, from the Persian city of that name, is the origin of the varietal’s name. The grape’s name changed to Syrah as it traveled west. In any case, Syrah flourishes today not only in the south of France but in other Mediterranean climates. It fares particularly well in Australia, California, and South Africa, where it is often called by its original name – Shiraz. Australia’s Barossa Valley, South Africa’s Western Cape and several appellations throughout California produce a bevy of lush, polished Syrah/Shiraz wines that are not to be missed.

A Votre Santé!

Don

So, What’s That In My Wine?

Don Lahey — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 22:26:16 +0000

So, what’s that in my wine? This is the question I hear when tartrate crystals appear in a wine, affixed to the cork, or clinging to the sides of the bottle of a fine wine. And lately, we’ve been seeing more of these welcome but unsightly crystals. Why is tartrate a welcome sight? The short answer is that tartrate crystals, which often resemble glass, sugar, or just plan slush, are indicative of minimal intervention and natural handling in the wine making process of both red and white wines.

Tartrate crystal is a natural, harmless, tasteless-sediment that often appears in wines that have not been overly filtered, manipulated, or cold stabilized especially after temperature variations that occur during transit or after refrigeration. The appearance of tartrate in wine is in no way a flaw: rather the appearance of tartrate sediment (tartrate is comprised mostly of potassium bitartrate, whose common name is cream of tartar), should be viewed as a sign of a winery’s commitment to producing the most natural, healthful wine possible. Yet, tartrate can admittedly be unsightly. To minimize the amount of tartrate and other precipitate that flows into your glass, simply stand a bottle of wine upright for several hours and then decant the wine carefully before serving. Enjoy!

A Votre Santé!

Don

Are You a Terroiriste?

Don Lahey — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:35:42 +0000

The word terroir sounds like a less savory term we are all too familiar with and hear far too much about today, but happily terroir shares no affinity with the English word that so closely resembles it. So, what is terroir precisely? Terroir is a French word, which means literally soil or ground. However, when used in connection to wine or viticulture, terroir refers to the specific and often unique soil in which individual vines grow, but that is not all. Terroir, also, encompasses the climate, altitude, and the precise position of the vines in a vineyard. In essence, terroir includes the entire environment of a vineyard or even the entire surroundings and upbringing of an individual plot within a vineyard because terroir can vary considerably from one part of a vineyard to the next. Since English and other languages, too, lack a single word to convey as much meaning as the French word terroir, the term has become widely adapted internationally and is now a generally accepted term in English, too, especially in the wine trade and increasingly among critics and consumers alike.

So, to answer the question, yes I am a terroiriste. However, I lend equal credence to the skills and multifarious choices every winemaker must make because no matter how fine the terroir, good winemaking matters, a lot.

A Votre Santé!

Don

How to Setup Your Own Blind Tasting

Kristina Manning — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:28:07 +0000

Blind tastings should be simple – those tasting should not know the identity of the wines being tasted. When it comes down to it, there’s 8 basic rules to always remember:

6-12 people is the best for wine tasting. This way you only need one bottle per wine.
Arrange the wine tasting so they are trying whites to red. From sweet to dry – light-bodied to full-bodied.
Ask your guests not to wear perfumes or smoke.
Bag or cover the bottles so they cannot been seen.
Prepare a tasting note guide and answer sheet for your guests.
Make sure you have crackers and a cheese platter, or some type of finger food.
Supply plenty of water to drink between tastings.
Use wine glasses, not paper or plastic.

Now you’ll have to decide what kind of blind tasting you would like to do. A Single-blind wine tasting is one varietal ie: Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. The bottle should be covered, but you can see the wine in your glass.

A Double-blind wine tasting is where your guests will not know anything about the wine and they have to list its Varietal, Country and sometimes region.

And yes, there’s even a Triple-blind tasting where your guests are actually blind-folded and know absolutely nothing about the wine.

This will help you get started along hosting your own blind tasting at home with friends and loved ones, but the most important rule not to forget, is to just have fun!

Not All Wines Are Created Equal

Don Lahey — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:01:42 +0000

Anyone who has known me for awhile knows my mantra: “You can’t drink a label or a price tag, or anyone else’s palate.” And I do hold these truths to be self-evident to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s first devotee of wine. Although it should be evident that not everyone shares the same taste in wine (and the same can be said for food, art, or almost anything else for that matter), this realization doesn’t negate the quality factor in wine. Not all wines are created equal. And I do believe they are not.

Some wines are endowed with greater body and balance, not to mention longevity and what the French refer to as a certain je ne sais quoi. Some are made from mature vines, grown under perfect or near perfect conditions, expertly pruned, hand harvested, and their wines crafted by men and women who understand art as well as science. Other wines spring from less favorable terroir, while still others are mass produced in an industrial mode and hardly receive the care and attention required to make the highest quality wine. It’s fine to drink such wines, if you enjoy them, but just as there is great, aged beef and then there is tough or overly fatty disappointing beef, the same spectrum of quality exists among wines. And we are not talking about preferring one cut of beef to another or having a preference for apples over pears. There is such a thing as good beef and bad beef, better quality apples and lesser quality apples, and most people can tell the difference when presented with the choice. In fact, the majority of the population could be professional wine or food tasters, given the desire, experience, and money to pursue such an avocation. Only about 20% of the adult population is estimated to suffer from serious palate or olfactory deficiency that precludes them from fully appreciating various scents and flavors in food and wine. All others are capable of considerable discernment. Yet, one person may prefer filet mignon and another hamburger. Who is to say one is better than another? Such a choice is truly a matter of preference and experience, not quality. The question of quality arises when the talk turns to good hamburger as opposed to bad hamburger, good Cabernet versus bad Cabernet, and the spectrum of quality that lay in between.

So in short, it’s good to like what you like, but sample as many wines as you can, and then ask yourself two questions. What is quality? And what is preference?

A Votre Santé!

Don

A Barrel and Wine Marriage

Kristina Manning — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:51:38 +0000

I decided to try out a new Chardonnay tonight and I noticed some nice smokey, vanilla notes which caught my curiosity as to what type of barrel they could’ve used to age this wine. You can find a ton of wines aged in an American Oak, French Oak, or even Stainless Steel Barrel and they could all bring about different notes in your wine. The type of barrel a winery decides to use will basically intensify or subdue various flavors and ultimately bring about a more complex product.

I’ve been drinking wine for some years now, but feel my palate still doesn’t have a firm hold on this whole barrel thing, so how about you – have you ever been able to tell the difference in your wine? Do you have a preference? I know mine, it’s French Oak, just like the one used to age this lovely Chardonnay.