Sunday, August 28, 2011

Wine Harvest





















Hello Wine Lovers!
Here it is Sunday and so far I have survived my birthday weekend, it was a little "touch and go" last night after dinner, but I pulled through. My family goes out of their way to make me feel special and this year was no exception! My two kids came over yesterday afternoon to help Mom with another superb four course extravaganza and between courses I started to think what it took to get the bottle of wine, my daughter so graciously gave me for my birthday, to the table. As you know from reading this blog, I write about $10 or less wines and I am always amazed how a bottle shows up at a wine shop for that price range considering what it goes through! Harvest is just around the corner and I thought I would point out a few items to get you thinking "How can they do this for $8?"
Wine can be traced back to over 8000 years ago and there are thousands of different varietals. The price put on a bottle of wine is as much perception as it is business, in other words, what will the market bear and will the consumer think it is a good enough wine for the money?

Price also plays into the perception of value, said Vic Motto, a senior partner at Motto Kryla Fisher, a wine industry consulting company in St. Helena, Calif. ''If I made the best wine in the world and charged $1 for it,'' he said, ''no one would believe it was the best. They'd say it's a great bottle of $1 wine.''
But there is much more to the cost of a bottle than the wine inside. To start with, the retail price on the shelf is generally twice what the winery sold the wine for. That means a $100 wine was $50 when it left the winery and $50 was added by the distributor and the retailer.
Wineries, of course, also like to make a profit. A $100 wine that cost $50 when it left its maker may have cost as little as $25 to produce. For wines in the $7 to $10 range, the margin is far less, because the makers make money on volume. But coming up with a precise number is hard because overhead like electricity,staff costs, the cost of the bottle, cork, labels, equipment, and lets not forget the price of an acre of land! It is like anything in our great big world we live in, what is it worth to you? If I open up a bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc and you taste it and don't like it, that bottle is certainly not worth the estimated $3000 price tag to you. On the other hand you open up a bottle of $9 Cabernet over looking Niagara Falls with your sweetie on a perfect sunny day, and that bottle has a lasting memory of one of your favorites! Whether it is a car, a home, a designer, a dentist, a clothing store, whatever it is, it is what you are willing to pay for a good or service. Value is the key!
Wow, now that's out of he way... let's talk about a wine! Santa Julia Reserva Malbec, from Argentina for $7.99 at the Wine Discount Center. (I believe Binny's has it too)
This wine is loaded with cherry and ripe fruit with a nice bright finish of light tannins. It is dark in color and has a nose of licorice and spice. This wine pairs well with grilled meats and hearty sauces. Again, how the heck do they get this wine to market for well under $10 is beyond me!
Cheers!
J

Sunday, August 14, 2011

My Favorite "Wine" Movies





Hello Wine Lovers!
This wondrous morning after a run, breakfast, dog walking and a little gardening I decided to take a little time for myself and slip in a movie and light up a cigar and enjoy. The movie I put in the player was "Dr. No" the 1962 Jame Bond flick, which I feel is the best Bond film. But at any rate it made me think of my favorite movies with wine in them. Not movies where wine is the focal point, but movies where
it clicks: Wine plays a significant role, the filmmakers get the wine parts right, and the movie is a pleasure to watch. So using this criteria here is my list with a little antidote about each one. Grab your sweetie, make some popcorn (hint: a buttery Chardonnay from California goes really good with buttered popcorn) and watch one or all of these movies. Pay attention to the wine scenes!
#1 Casablanca:
Champagne is the wine of choice in this famous epic and Claude Rains, as the jolly French policeman Capt. Renault, specifically orders 1926 Veuve Clicquot, "an excellent French wine," for the Nazi Maj. Strasser. Rains and Henreid also enjoy Champagne cocktails. Champagne's finest moment comes during the flashback to Bogart and Bergman's romance in Paris, when they're drinking bubbly in a small cafe. As Bogart's faithful friend Sam plays "As Time Goes By" on the piano, Bogie says to the cafe owner "says to finish this bottle and then three more. He says he'll water his garden with Champagne before he'll let the Germans drink it."
#2 Notorious:
Only Alfred Hitchcock can make it nerve-racking to watch people drink Champagne!Bergman stars as the title character, a "notorious" woman whose father is convicted of treason for spying for the Nazis. Bergman also once loved current Nazi spy Rains, and is now a hard drinker accused of promiscuity.
Grant plays an American spy who manipulates Bergman into flying to Rio de Janeiro and back into Rains' arms in order to see what he's doing now. Grant suspects that the Nazis are hiding a substance used to make radioactive weapons in wine bottles. He and Bergman poke around in the wine cellar of a mansion, opening bottles, while the Nazis throw a big party. If someone finds them down there, they'll be killed.Meanwhile, the high-society guests are drinking huge amounts of Champagne. All the while, we know that if the Champagne upstairs runs out, someone will be sent to the cellar to fetch more, and Bergman and Grant will be shot. Once again, the suspense of Hitchcock will keep you on the edge of your seat!
#3 Dr No:
James Bond has always been a sophisticated drinker, with much more of a taste for Champagne than the vodka martinis he's now most famous for.However, the moment that establishes Bond to audiences as more than a well-trained assassin, but a well-polished gentleman as well, involves Champagne.Invited to dinner while held captive by Dr. No, Bond grabs a bottle of Dom to use as a weapon."That's a Dom Perignon '55," says the evil yet cultured Dr. No. "It would be a pity to break it."Bond shrugs, puts the bottle down, and says, "I prefer the '53 myself." Now, think of when this movie was released and American audiences had to think he was a complete wine geek to know what year was important! You can judge how good a Bond film is by the vintage of Dom he orders. In the entertaining film "Goldfinger", Bond enjoys a bottle of the '53 Dom with a beautiful woman. But in "Thunderball", he orders a bottle of the '55 he once scorned! I rest my case, Thunderball was not as good as Goldfinger!
#4 The Earth is Mine:
Filmed at what is now Rubicon Estate, in Napa Valley,with workers appearing as extras, this film is a portrayal of the issues that divided Napa Valley in the 1930s still seems prescient today, and some of the gender-preference innuendo in Hudson's dialogue is pretty interesting even now. In this steamy version of Napa life, marriages are arranged to bring desirable vineyard property into the family. Affairs of all types are never out of the question. Hudson's mother, played by Anna Lee, says at one point: "Andre is thinking of selling Stags Leap. Cutting it up into little parcels. Selling it off to all the riffraff that come flooding in here because the price of grapes is high." Rains plays a noble character, believing that wine grapes are a gift from God. "The grape is the only fruit that God gave the sense to know what it was made for," he says. The film gives simple-to-understand descriptions of both the winemaking process and how to taste and appreciate wine. If you pay close attention, it is like "wine 101"
#5 Sideways:
About a trip through California's wine country with one character getting married and the other a failed writer with a passion for Pinot Noir, and wine in general. It is fun to watch Miles teach his friend about wine. He hates Merlot and Cabernet Franc and there is a great scene outside a restaurant you won't want to miss. Even though he hates those 2 grapes, his favorite wine in the world is made up of them both, yet the director doesn't throw it in your face. If you know the wine, you will know what I am saying!
#6 Disclosure:
Demi Moore sexually harasses Michael Douglas and a key point to the film is her special ordering him a 1991 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay which later is a point of guilt on her side. There is not a lot of wine drinking but the movie did put the Chardonnay on the map!
This should keep you occupied for a few Sundays with your sweetie!
Enjoy!
J



Sunday, August 7, 2011

Argentina Malbec






















Hello Wine Lovers!

Another week has gone by here in the latter part of summer in beautiful Chicago which translates to beautiful lake front walks and BBQ on the patio! Which leads to Malbec, the perfect wine for summer! Today I am talking about Andes Crossing (Top 10 Whole Foods wine) for $8.99 and Don Miguel Gascon Malbec also for $8.99 at Binny's. Both wines are form Mendoza Argentina which means both are grown at high altitude in the Andes Mountains. Lets talk about Andes Crossing first. You will find this wine dark in color (typical of Malbec) with wild red fruit flavors and violet tones with a long smooth finish and well balanced tannins. Quite a mouthful for $9!

You will find the Gascon Malbec slightly more elegant with a full body and soft tannins with flavors of blackberry, blueberry and dark cherries with a hint of chocolate at the end. Here is a few notes from the winemaker, Ernesto: "The 2010 growing season in Mendoza was characterized by a slight delay in ripening, lower alcohol potential and higher acidity, compared to the previous one. A late-season frost in 2009 prevented normal bud formation in the spring, resulting in lower yields. January and February saw unseasonably warm weather throughout the region, and consequently, veraison occurred earlier than normal in most areas. Sugar accumulation arrest in the berry was delayed and led to lower potential alcohol levels in the fruit than in 2009. Throughout the summer, the weather remained both hot and dry, resulting in generally thick skinned fruit with very concentrated flavors. The fruit also maintained excellent levels of natural acidity, lending freshness and vibrancy to the grapes. Overall, the dry season combined with lower yields resulted in fruit with intense color, exceptional levels of concentration and complexity". There ya have it! (That is his picture)

I was visiting a friend last week who had a bottle of red wine in their refrigerator (Due to the fact he did not have a cellar or wine fridge) and it reminded me of the 20 / 20 Rule for serving wine. It goes like this... take a bottle of white out of the fridge for 20 minutes before serving and place a bottle of red in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving. This will get both wines, white and red, close to the proper serving temperature. Whites show best at around 45 degrees and reds show best at around 56 degrees. Use this rule when serving your wine and you won't go back to "room temperature" red wines or white wines that are 40 degrees or less ever again!

Cheers!
J