Spanish Bullfighting: The Romance, the Drama and the Traditional Recipes

Recently, the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia (or Catalunya) voted to ban bullfighting; which consequently, provoked me to write an article. Since moving to Spain in 2005, I have attempted to understand the “corrida de toros” – the bullfight. I have tried to learn as much as possible, both the pro and con; and yes, I confess I have attended quite a few corridas. Portugal has its own bullfighting traditions, as does France and Latin America. There is even a type of bullfight on the Zanzibari island of Pemba, off the east coast of Africa – a relic of Portuguese colonialism. However, I’m only familiar with the way it is done in Spain. (Photo by Ferminius)

Taste Farnum Hill Ciders at Roanoke Vineyards Friday, February 26

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

FarnumArch On Friday, February 26 from 5-8 p.m. Farnum Hill Cider's own Corrie Martin will be at Roanoke Vineyards pouring her artisanal, New Hampshire-made apple ciders with local cheese, cured meats and -- of course -- Roanoke's wines to boot.

You might be wondering why I've chosen this event from Roanoke's packed winter schedule -- and why I'm telling you about ciders made in New Hampshire of all places.

Simple. I've known Corrie virtually (meaning via this blog and Twitter) for years. So, when she asked me if I thought I could help her put together a tasting of her ciders -- which are increasingly available on Long Island by the way -- on the North Fork I told her absolutely. And, almost immediately, I knew what winery would be a good fit.

Notes on Wine Distribution v.32

The latest version of “Notes on Wine Distribution”, by R. Corbin Houchins, is now available. Release 32 includes updates on legislation, litigation and general discussions on available distribution channels for wine. This release includes substantial changes, including new sections on age and identity, facial neutrality, and logistical support services, as well as updates to state summaries in Arizona, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Read about these and other updates that affect the way wine is sold and shipped within the United States.

If you are at all interested in the shipping and distribution of wine, this is an excellent resource that is well worth reading.  You can view the most recent version of the document anytime by visiting the ShipCompliant Blog and clicking the link located under “Compliance Resources”, or by visiting CorbinCounsel.com and clicking on the home page link, “Notes on Wine Distribution.”

Dark and Delicious Petite Sirah Tasting: February 19, Alameda, CA

psiloveyou.jpgI've referred to it in the past as "the beast." Possessing tannins that need to be tamed through intelligent winemaking, Petite Sirah can truly be a monster of a wine. One of the least-well -known red grape varieties that are commonly grown in California, it does not command legions of rabid followers like those who attended today's ZAP Zinfandel festival, or the loyal drinkers of Cabernet, or even those who swear by Syrah, from which it takes its misleading name. In the right hands, however, Petite Sirah can be a stunning wine -- deep, resonant, and rich.

Petite Sirah has been grown in California for a long time, but apart from some limited success in the 1970s at the hands of Carl Doumani and Stags' Leap Winery, wines made exclusively from this grape variety never really earned the respect or attention of mainstream wine lovers in any significant way.

Raphael 2008 Grand Cru Sauvignon Blanc

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

Raphael_08gcsauvblancRaphael and winemaker Richard Olsen-Harbich have long made one of the North Fork's best sauvignon blancs -- wines that aren't quite Loire, aren't quite California and aren't quite New Zealand. They are Long Island through and through.

With the 2008 vintage, they expanded upon their sauvignon blanc program, making two distinctly different wines: Raphael 2008 First Label Sauvignon Blanc and this wine, Raphael 2008 Grand Cru Sauvignon Blanc ($15).

Made using fruit from their younger sauvignon block, the Grand Cru is made in 100% stainless steel and is made in a bright, drink-young style.

When I tasted this, there was still a bit of sulphur on the nose, but that blew off quickly revealing fresh grapefruit and honeydew melon aromas with just a little saltwater minerality.

What We Drank (February 8, 2010)

This week, our intrepid Niagara correspondent chimes in with her first contribution from South Africa, so she gets top billing. But, this is one of our better editions of WWD with some old wines, some poorly-rated-but-tasty wines and (of course) a couple beers.

P2090002Julia Burke: Blaauwklippen 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon and 1999 Pinotage

We don’t see a lot of aged South African wine in western New York – I think the oldest I’ve tried was a 2006 Cape blend. So when our assistant winemaker whipped out five aged Blaauwklippen wines on Thursday afternoon and asked us to try them and see if they were fit for sale, I felt as if both Christmas and my birthday had both come early.

For brevity’s sake I’ll just mention the highlights: a 1993 and 1999 cabernet sauvignon and a 1999 pinotage. The best part of this job is that I’m surrounded 24/7 by people who will drop everything to taste wine, and sure enough when I raced home with all three bottles to my wine geek roommates, they put down their weinwurst and beer to sample.

 By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

It's been a while since we've compiled a "News & Notes" post, but as the busy season approaches in New York's wine regions, we'll probably be doing them more and more.

 Winterfest_dateJazz Returns to the Vines on Long Island
The extremely popular Long Island Winterfest Jazz On The Vine is coming back this week and this year it's even bigger and runs longer than last year's successful program. This, the 3rd annual Long Island Winterfest, runs from February 13 to March 21 across the East End and features renowned jazz musicians performing free-admission concerts at winery tasting rooms and other venues every weekend afternoon over those six weeks. Wine country can be quiet and dreary this time of year -- both for visitors and for the wineries themselves -- so this is a great reason to visit. Enjoy some music. Taste some great local wines. And get in from out of the cold winter weather.

For a full concert schedule and access to all festival promotions, visit www.liwinterfest.com.

It's snowing on the east coast, raining on the west coast, and wintery everywhere in between. Nothing suits this kind of weather better than Cabernet Sauvignon, and I've been tasting my way through a nice selection of Cabernets and Cabernet blends in pursuit of the perfect wines to complement soups, stews, and braises.

If you're looking for a red wine to warm up your winter evenings, look for one of these in a store near you, and try out some of these great recipes while you're at it!

2008 Bodegas Osborne Cabernet-Tempranillo Tempra Tantrum. ($11.99) Tempra Tantrum is a new line of Tempranillo-based from the people at one of Spain's oldest and most venerable wineries. This blend is hip, young, and cheerful (just like its maker!) Made in a modern style, the cherry and leather aromas are a nice prelude to a bright, cherry core with some blackberry depth in the midpalate. Made from 60% Tempranillo and 40% Cabernet, this juicy, fruit-forward wine would be great with grilled lamb dishes or paella--or with a zesty chicken chili. Very good QPR.

My real reason for attending the Vino2010 conference in New York this week was that I was asked (and paid) to be on a panel discussion about the impact and meaning of social media for the wine industry.

A number of you have asked about it, and I'm happy to offer the (somewhat low quality) video that captures our session. Unfortunately you can't see (or hear at various points) some of the questions that were asked, but you can certainly get the idea of what we discussed.

Please note that it takes a few minutes for the session to get started, so skip ahead until it looks like stuff is happening.

Watch live streaming video from vino10 at livestream.com

What do you think?



By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Vineschoc1 Admit it: On more than one occasion, you've said to yourself, I'm going to quit work and start my own bed and breakfast/wine bar/restaurant. Danielle Lewis and Michael Goldberg got sick of saying it, so they decided to finally do it.

The result is Rochester's newest foodie attraction: Chocolate & Vines, located in a renovated house in the Neighborhood of the Arts. Lewis and Goldberg bought the house nearly two years ago and spent 18 months renovating it. They live upstairs, with the downstairs converted into a chic mini-restaurant with seating for roughly two dozen customers.

The menu features wine, cheese, artisan chocolates, desserts, craft beers and French-press coffee. We noticed that the top of each wine section features a New York state selection. It turns out that's not an accident.

The Future of Luxury Wine

I spent the latter part of this week at the Vino2010 conference in New York. The largest Italian wine event held outside of Italy, the conference was a combination of major trade-show-style tastings, smaller focused tastings, and panel discussions. One of the panels I attended was entitled "The Future of Luxury Wine" and involved a good panel discussion on the outlook for wines priced over $30 in the next few years.

Moderated by Karen MacNeil, wine educator and author of The Wine Bible, America's best-selling wine book, the panel included the following speakers:

Barbara Insel, President and CEO of Stonebridge Research Group, and one of the most respected business advisors and researchers in the wine industry. Her company offers research services and reports on the underlying economics and trends in the wine industry.

Blog, Interrupted
Well, it was bound to happen. After blogging 4-7 days a week for nearly three years without a hiccup or a hitch, something called LIFE intervened in early December and it's been almost two months since my last post. ("Interrupted" by Sebastiano Pitruzzello aka gorillaradio)

Since that time I've heard from some of you who asked if I was ok (I am--just inconceivably busy), and others who wanted to know what's up (a lot, actually, but nothing that I wish to disclose here and now!). While I was away, the comments sections for various posts were filled by interesting contributions from people selling all nature of things (I deleted the ones I found). All over the 'net, other wine bloggers wrote thought-provoking posts that I never managed to comment upon, though I did read them. And I was gratified and amazed that people actually bought the Pinot Noir I recommended in my last post and took the time to actually tell me that they were pleased with the purchase.
Vinography Images: Patterns

vinography_desktop_patterns.jpg

Patterns
Vineyards aren't easy things to photograph. They sprawl and spread all over everywhere, and don't exactly stay confined in the frame of a photograph well, not to mention their tendency to seem monotonous in their rows. I like this image not only for the compression of space that turns the vines into patterns, but also because in the midst of the regular geometry, you can see each individual vine has its own personality -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

Tastingtable

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

This week, the tasting table post is a little shorter than usual, but I've got a big tasting planned for Super Bowl Sunday. In the meantime:

Fox Run Vineyards 2007 Merlot ($20): Ripe blackberry and plum with vanilla and smokey (American?) oak. Even smokier on the palate with vanilla covering up what is a nice core of ripe, concentrated fruit. Blueberry pie peeks through with time in the glass. Medium body, ripe, medium-low tannins. Great fruit, with a little too much oak. 30 (3 out of 5 | Recommended)

Ravines Wine Cellars 2007 Chardonnay ($19): Toasty oak, fig, roasted nuts and apples greet the nose. Not timid or fruit-forward, roasted nuts, oak and fig lead here with apple and dried apricot fruit. Vanilla cream on super-long finish. Good balance, but a lot of oak right now. 25 (2.5 out of 5 | Average-to-Very Good)

The-scene
By Andy Freedman, New York City Correspondent

Some of my favorite things in life begin with the letter 'B': there's basketball, and brunch, and, of course, bars. 

Last weekend my wife and I encountered 3 other Bs close to my heart when we attended the "Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival" at LA.VENUE in Manhattan with some 5,000 other beer and bourbon-drinking, bacon-crazed porkophiles. Having successfully traveled up and down the East Coast the past three years, BB&B finally made its Manhattan debut. What's there not to love about a walk-around event that features unlimited tastes of 60+ beers, 40+ bourbons and all the southern 'cue you can handle, not to mention tastings of 10-plus artisanal bacons? 

Local breweries, and even a local whiskey distillery, more than held their own amidst all the Southern flair at the festival, which included a mechanical bull, sweet tea vodka, collard greens and baked beans. And, as you can see from the pictures, there was quite a bit of local pride on display. 

 
One hour to the Super Bowl. Time for a checklist:
  • Get munchies... check
  • Get beer... check
  • Pick some wines to drink... partial check
  • Make sure I know who is playing... check
Who are you rooting for?
Head to Head

Pig headed girls in the vineyard

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


starcrossedgrubbers.jpg

Winegrowing and Baseball – Rotobase

Wine and baseball are intertwined in the best of ways. Both the growing season and the playing season overlap almost perfectly. Pitchers and catchers report in February, foreshadowing the beginning of spring training. In the vineyard we prune and train our vines in February in anticipation of spring.

Play begins in earnest in April, and hope is in the heart of every fan for the possibilities of a great season. Bud break and initial vine growth occur with the crack of the first bat.

Early season injuries can devastate a team (~cough~ Jose Reyes ~cough~) just as easily as early season frost can decimate a vineyard.

In September and October the seasons wind down and the harvest and playoffs begin amid frantic activity and excitement. A winner is crowned as baby wines are barreled down for the winter.

2006 Qupé Chardonnay Block Eleven Bien Nacido Reserve

2006 Qupé Chardonnay Block Eleven Bien Nacido Reserve - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (1/29/2010)
Lemon meringue, almonds, and fresh baked scones. Buttery, but not overdone. Maintains a lively, spry character while still giving some ooomph on the finish. Nice wine. (89 pts.)


Posted from CellarTracker


2005 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha

mc2005.jpg

2005 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha - Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley, Puente Alto (1/29/2010)
Ripe plum with some pine and coffee secondaries. Oak is a bit disjointed and green but there is a chance this will resolve some. The wine fleshed out with air but the finish is short and thin. I thought the 2007 vintage was a significantly better wine. $16 retail would have been far more palatable than the $50 we paid off a pricey restaurant wine list. (83 pts.)


Posted from CellarTracker


A trip to the Printer, an Eco-Printer!

IMG_0447In five years we've now had 3 different printers, but I think I've now found one we'll stick with! Last year we switched because I received an email from a group that was certified "Imprim'Vert"  which is an eco certification that guarantees that the print shop recycles everything, from inks to papers to cleaning solutions, etc. My contact was a sales rep that I never actually met, and the actual print shop was near Carcassonne!!  Not exactly nearby.  They did a fine job, and I really didn't have any complaints, but I also didn't have any reason to go back to them. 

Mankas Hills Vineyards Communities

As the web continues to evolve, online communities that were once defined by blogs, comments, RSS feeds, and so on have now turned to Facebook and Twitter as easier, and more full featured mechanisms to exchange information quickly. These systems allow you to easily share what you like most with family, friends, colleagues or even the whole world.

For us, as we evolve our winery, we’ve found that keeping communities going is hard. We focus our limited resources on wine making and producing great wine which doesn’t leave us very much time for sharing events, news, etc. with our community in our blog. For this, we are always looking for innovations to help us get information out quicker and more concisely.

2006 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Galitzine Vineyard

qcgal.jpg

2006 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Galitzine Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain (1/28/2010)
Monstrously good wine. Deep, rich, dark chocolate covered cherries. Brooding. Wood smoke, molasses, espresso, new toasty oak. Earth. Long and vibrant finish with licorice and milk chocolate. Obviously just a baby but far more approachable young than my experience with QC's Columbia Valley Cabs from the early years of this millennium. Still, this wine is going to become seriously special in just a few. Best QC I have tasted. (94 pts.)


Posted from CellarTracker