another wine blog

We stayed at the Inn of Occidental for Barrel Tasting last March. The decor in our room; The “Wine Room,” included a shadow box with various corkscrews. One of the most interesting of all of the wine accessories, the corkscrew gives it’s manufacturer the opportunity to get creative. And of all the corkscrews available, we’ve found the easiest to use is the sommelier tool, also known as the “waiter’s friend.”

Joe started a collection of sommelier (or waiter’s) tools on our first trip to Wine County. We try to get one from every winery we visit, if they have them for sale.

Of all the corkscrews we’ve tried, the double-hinged model seems to be the easiest and most efficient to use. Since most of them are pretty small, it’s easy to throw one in the glove compartment, or a handbag for those spur-of-the-moment opportunities to enjoy a bottle of wine.

While looking for images of sommelier tools, I came upon some interesting specimens; some that look particularly sinister (above) which reminded me of the first horror movie I ever saw, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, starring Vincent Price. So I started thinking; who invented the corkscrew or waiter’s tool, and when? Being the geek that I am, I searched the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, to find the inventor of the lever-style corkscrew we use to open wine today.

This is a picture of the drawing provided with the American patent (No. 283,731) granted on August 21, 1883 to Carl F. A. Weinke. Weinke was granted a patent in his own country of Germany for the Lever Corkscrew (DRP 20815) on May 26, 1882. He was granted a British patent (Improvement in Lever Corkscrews No. 2,022) on April 20, 1883 and a French patent (No. 155314) on May 7, 1883. A rather quick process. According to a former law professor who now works for the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, the process to obtain a patent takes a good deal longer today.

The History of the Corkscrew

No one really knows the creator of the very first corkscrew, but it is thought to have originated in the 17th Century. Its original design may have been derived from a “gun worm,” a tool with a single or double spiral end fitting used to clean or remove unspent charges from a musket barrel. According to the Oxford Companion to Wine,

The corkscrew is possibly an English invention, due to the tradition of beer and cider, and Treatise on Cider by John Worlidge in 1676 describes “binning of tightly corked cider bottles on their sides”, although the earliest reference to a corkscrew is, “steel worm used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles” from 1681.

The English were the first to seal wine bottles, using cork imported from Spain or Portugal. But wine bottles were the first time corks were used as a seal. Before WWII, all kinds of substances were often stored in corked containers: beer, medicine, cosmetics and food.

Free Corkscrew Collection Posters

Favre & Associates, a graphic design firm in Argentina has 10 different posters of corkscrew collections that maybe printed free from their website. Posters 9 and 10 are very high resolution 1.5 MB files. Posters 3 through 8 are less than .5 MG in size. Poster 2 is about .8 MG. All they ask is that you actually print it from their site.

You can copy and to print the posters without any cost. We request to conserve the author’s name. In the case of links we request that the link is directed toward this website so that the posters is discharged from here.

These posters has been carried out so that our clients and the public in general can enjoy the same ones. We hope are of their pleasure.

It takes a little maneuvering but most of the posters are 22 cm x 28 cm and can be printed onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper. The larger ones are 42.5 cm x 53.5 cm and can be printed onto tabloid size paper. Of course using a large format printer or plotter would probably work best.

Corkscrews on Parade

In August 2006 the University of California, Berkeley displayed a 1,500-item corkscrew collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Kroeber Hall, on the UC campus.

Since July 2006, the Montecalvo Versiggia near Pavia, Italy is displaying a collection of over 200 different types of corkscrews.

The Greystone campus of the Culinary Institute of America has over 500 corkscrews on display in St. Helena, California. The collection was started in 1949 by Brother Timothy, a “pioneering winemaker” for the Christan Brothers Winery.

The Virtual Corkscrew Museum offers a wealth of information about corkscrews, including books, stories, pictures, history and links to auctions for corkscrews on the secondary market.

At least one former United States President has had his likeness fashioned into a corkscrew. It’s rather naughty, so you can google that for yourself.

So there you have it. More than you ever wanted to know about the corkscrew, but were afraid to ask!

Cheers!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

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July 4th Deal on Twisted Oak *%#&@! ends Saturday…

For those of you who have not heard, we love Twisted Oaks wines. Not only is the owner a former computer geek with a penchant for pirates and a strange fascination with rubber chickens, he sells some damned fine wine.

And since I’m tired of Joe buying rounds for the house of this stuff at $45 a bottle at the local JSC-area watering hole, I talked El Jefe into offering our readers (and all those rubber chicken thieving co-workers of Joe’s) a fabulous discount. And it’s not just us being crazy about the stuff (or just plain crazy from having spent time at the Twisted Oak Winery). Nope, this crazy little potty-mouth wine is winning the hearts, minds and palates of wine bloggers and wine lovers from California to Texas to Our Nation’s Capitol. That’s right even those winos in The District are members of the Twisted Few.

If you don’t hurry, though, you’re gonna miss out. El Jefe is celebrating America’s birthday by offering a Twisted discount for those who order through this post. Now, through Saturday, the Fourth of July, our readers can get a 3-pack of *%#&@! for $54 or a case of 12 for only $180, both deals with shipping included!

To get the Twisted *%#&@! Threesome, just follow this Twisted link.

And for the Twisted *%#&@! Dozen, go here.

For those who haven’t yet tried it, here’s what we said about it in our last Twisted post:

This Silver Medal winner in the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is a red Rhône-style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache. One of the reasons we love Twisted Oak is their clever tasting notes on the back of every bottle. And these don’t disappoint:

The meaty and leathery characters and hints of Provençal herbs and spices might have you thinking this Rhône-style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah, and Grenache just fell out of a “California Cheese” commercial. Well, the name is the only cheesy thing about it! Those bright fruit flavors of boysenberry and raspberry sure ain’t no bull! (Note: No animals were harmed in the writing of these tasting notes.)

We’re not getting paid or compensated to pass along this deal. We just like to spread the *%#&@! around. So what are you waiting for? Get moving and go get yourself some *%#&@!

Cheers!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

* Artsy-Fartsy Picture by a couple of non civil-servant chicken thieves, enjoying a little *%#&@! after work. Twisted Oak Crazy chicken picture by me.

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Here is the thirteenth in our series of Another Wine Bytes; information about wine you can use to impress your friends (but not in an obnoxious way, of course!)

Who are the Lees and Why are They In My Wine?

Recently, one of the wines we reviewed from Bedrock Wine Co. earned 91 points from Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. He described the 2008 Cuvee Caritas White Wine as follows:

Green-gold. Deep, intensely perfumed aromas of smoked meat, lees, orange, fig and truffle, with a suave floral underpinning. Fleshy pit and orchard fruit flavors are firmed by juicy acids and complicated by dried mushroom and citrus pith qualities. Offers the complexity, nuttiness and power of a serious white Graves, with excellent finishing breadth and spicy precision. From Bedrock Wine Co.’s website

Coincidentally, to pair with our cod and julienne vegetables, Joe chose a Muscadet from Chateau La Tarciere, that has on the label, and in raised letters on the bottle “Sur Lie.” If you haven’t studied wine making you probably have no idea what the aroma of “lees” or sur lie means. I know before Joe began his studies with ISG, neither of us knew either.

Sur lie (soo’r lee) is a French term that translates as “on the lees,” or the aging of wines on the deposit of dead yeast that forms after primary fermentation. Sur lie aging gives the wine a toasty quality and enhances complexity. The “lees” can also be carried by the action of “fining,” to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and aging.

Normally the wine is transferred to another container, leaving this sediment behind. This process is called racking. Some wines, including our Muscadet, are sometimes aged for a time on the lees, leading to a distinctive yeasty aroma and taste. The lees may be stirred in order to promote uptake of the lees flavor, this is called batonnage.
The phrase “on the lees” also appears in the King James version of the Bible.

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. Isaiah 25:6

Our friends at Twisted Oak “stir the lees” in their 2007 Sierra Foothills “Ruben’s Blend.”

Upon reaching the winery, the fruit was gently crushed and then allowed to soak on the skins for a short time (1 hour) in order to gain some complexity. After an hour, the fruit was pressed to remove the clear juice from the skins and seeds. After pressing, the wines were inoculated with a Rhone yeast strain and the yeast monitored throughout fermentation to ensure optimal yeast viability. The Viognier and Roussanne were barrel fermented in 25% new French oak which adds to the mouthfeel and completes the nutty flavors. The Marsanne and Rolle were fermented slowly at a temperature of 58 degrees. After the end of primary fermentation, we began stirring the lees in the barrels vigorously every week to enhance mouthfeel, for an additional 8 weeks and the wine was bottled after a full 6 months in wood.

So the next time someone says “sur lie” you’ll know what they’re talking about! And that’s this week’s Another Wine Byte.

Cheers!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

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Once upon a time, I worked in retail sales. Actually I was working three jobs because I was single, I had no other responsibilities and couldn’t support my lifestyle (and wardrobe) on my measly salary as a PR person, just a couple years out of college. So one of my “moonlighting” jobs, was at a huge upscale department store. We all worked on commission, so if someone brought in a “return” without a receipt, it came off our take. So most people hid from returns.

One day a lady came in with a $20 return. All the salespeople vanished into the fitting room. All but me, that is. Sure enough, the woman didn’t have a receipt. But instead of just processing the return I started talking to her, asking if there was something else she might need. Turns out she was taking her teenage daughter on a cruise, and she needed lots of things. And to make a long story short, what started as a $20 return, ended up being an $880 sale, and a repeat client. Why? Because I listened to what she was saying, and turned a complaint into an opportunity, a “gift.”

I did some research for a project in business school regarding customer service and complaints that indicated for every one complaint there were hundreds of customers who said nothing, and just took their business elsewhere. For those who did complain, the most important concept in future business from that customer was whether or not she received an apology, a resolution, and a promise it wouldn’t happen again.

This doesn’t just apply to sales, but also how to handle negative product reviews, concerns about value, shipping issues and website glitches. A positive response can bring you a bounty of goodwill and word-of-mouth marketing. A negative response, and you not only lose a customer, but risk that one complaint turning into a viral word-of-mouth marketing “campaign” that only benefits your competitor.

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

Remember that old Meatloaf song? It’s sounds like such a lovely, sweet ballad, but if you listen to the words, it’s not so pretty after all, at least for the woman. Likewise were my dealings with three separate wineries in response to complaints about shipping issues, value for the dollar, and my less-than-impressed opinion of a wine.

Story 1: The Never-ending Saga of the Brown Truck

We’ve written in the past about issues when shipping via the big brown truck. Well, it happened again. We thought we had the problem solved, because now we contract with a local UPS Store to accept all of our shipments. For a per package fee, the good people at the UPS Store will accept our shipments into their air-conditioned facility on the earliest delivery route; call us, and Joe can go pick it up on the way home from work.

Well even with the best laid plans, Murphy’s Law got us again. Due to a winery’s website upgrade, our billing address disappeared from my account. And in order to make sure my credit card went through, I re-entered my billing address and added my shipping address in a separate field. Well you can guess what happened. The shipment went to my home address, which is on the last route of the day in Houston, during a week of 100-degree heat.

I contacted the winery and immediately got an apology and a promise to fix the shipping system. And, that a brand new shipment would go out immediately to the correct address. Yay! So I will continue to buy their wine and shout out the praises of said winery.

Story 2: It Never Hurts to Take a Second Look

On our first trip to Wine Country we signed up for too many wine clubs. One such club promised a price range per shipment, but it seemed every shipment was at the high end of that range. The wine was good, but we just couldn’t justify the cost, plus shipping. So, after about 6 months I wrote to cancel our membership in the club. I received an apology, and the wine club said we could continue to buy at club prices, if we chose. And they kept us on their mailing list.

Another few months went by, and I got an e-mail, “Re-join our wine club and your first shipment is on us.” So we did, but at a different level. That was a year ago. When we had to pare down again, they didn’t get cut. Why? Because they turned a complaint into a gift.

Story 3: Hold It, Cowboy; Them’s Fightin’ Words!

Several months ago we went out to dinner for my birthday. Part of the dinner included an optional wine pairing. The only problem was that the pairings all had to be wine from the same region. But I wanted the exact menu experience, so I chose it. I was disappointed: I had taken copious notes on each course. So, rather than reviewing just the wines, I reviewed the entire dining experience.

I think it was the first time I’d posted this sort of review about a wine. We get samples all the time, but if they aren’t really, really good, we usually don’t write about them. Sometimes we do, but we usually don’t slam a wine that we got for free. Other writers give us grief, but, that’s just our policy. However, since we’d paid for the dinner; it’s an expensive and much hyped place; and the chef made enjoyable wine that alone was pretty mediocre to really bad; I decided to cover everything I’d tasted.

A month or so went by. I’d forgotten about the specifics of my post. Then another blogger left a comment and a link to his blog where he’d reviewed the wine differently. He also intimated that I hadn’t liked the pairings because I didn’t understand “terroir.” Both Joe and I responded to the comment, and it launched a viral discussion. One of the comments was from the winemaker himself. He wrote that I was obviously ignorant about wine and should get out of town, if anyone would have me. I had posted I wasn’t impressed with his wine. Seriously?!?

It was a bit like waving a red flag in front of a couple bulls with a penchant for research. Because we went on to find out that said winemaker had been quoted in an interview discussing why and for whom he made those two wines. It actually underscored and confirmed why I hadn’t cared for them. Instead of a gift, he turned a complaint into a steaming pile of horse manure.

Really, Amy? You said something bad about his wine, and the winemaker should consider it a gift? Precisely.The smart winemaker would have looked for an opportunity to change the writer’s mind. Invited her to the winery. Recommended tasting his entire portfolio, because perhaps, there was another wine she might have preferred. And positively reviewed. Or recommended his wines to wine drinkers whose palates preferred his style of wine.

The Moral: Don’t Take a Dump on a Gift

Joe used to work with a woman named Julie who was fabulous at customer service. The running joke was how she felt (and sounded to the other AEs) when she was dealing with complaints; “Why yes, it is all my fault. I’m terribly sorry; how can I fix it?” But customers loved her. She was the positive face of the company. She made things right, and retained the customer. Because she treated every complaint as an opportunity — a gift. Even when she had nothing whatsoever to do with the error in the first place.

You’ll note I didn’t identify any of the wineries. That’s because a couple of mistakes can be overlooked, and there is no reason to cast doubt on those wineries. The third? I really don’t want to provide any more free publicity and I’d like to move on. And because I believe in Karma. The universe will take care of him in the most appropriate way possible. And I can just sit back and watch.

So there you have it. Three wineries responded to three complaints. Two of them scored big. And in the grand scheme of things, two out of three ain’t bad.

Cheers!

Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

And to refresh the memory of old rockers, and enlighten our youth…

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This morning, even before I opened my eyes, I had a line from a song I listened to yesterday running through my head. The line was “If wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch” and it was off of Lucinda Williams’ “Little Honey” album. The song is about how she wishes she had not hurt someone and desperately wants another chance, however all I could remember was that one line. Laying in bed I went from being annoyed at the earbug, to contemplating the beauty of the line, and finally to thinking about what I wish for. Omitting the obvious “health, wealth, and happiness for my family” type of wishes, here are some of the things that came to mind for my wish list.

• Someday, not too far in the future, I hope that Amy and I can slow down our lives and settle in California wine country.
• I wish I had a huge, modern kitchen. Preferably with lots of stainless steel and stone, accented by a lot of clean, warm wood.
• It sure would be nice if someone would start a new network that had real cooking shows like the Food Network once featured. Sandra Lee for Mario was like trading Peyton Manning for Dan Orlovsky.
• I wish that all of the wonderful fish markets that Hurricane Ike destroyed under the bridge in Kemah would magically come back.
• The same for the wine and food scene that was growing in Galveston. It amazes me that hurricane season is back and we still are not back to normal from the last one.
• I wish I could finish the redesign of this site one day soon. I am close, but just not satisfied.
• There are so many wonderful wines that I have not yet tasted, I wish for a glass of each.
• I wish gravy caused weight loss and promoted cardiovascular health.
• Wouldn’t it be great if wine snobs were as hilarious to the masses as they are to experienced winos? There is nothing exclusive about enjoying fermented grape juice that miraculously makes food taste better, and the snobs among us should be laughed at.
• Sometimes I wish that wine did not produce a buzz of any sort so that I could drink it all day and all night with no ill effects.
• I wish that I could visit all of the best restaurants in the world before I die. Barring that, I will have to visit Lockhart, TX a few more times.
• I wish that I were confident and competent enough to sharpen my own knives.
• I wish I could sit down and have dinner at a table with Julia Child, Hunter S. Thompson, Frank Zappa, James Beard, Warren Zevon, Kingsley Amis, Kurt Vonnegut, Joe Strummer and Minnie Pearl. Imagine that conversation.
• It sure would be nice if almost all of my heroes weren’t dead people.
• I wish I had my old metabolism back.
• I wish I could cook for my dad one more time.

In addition, I wish this was an actual video of this song, but here is Lucinda Williams singing “If Wishes Were Horses.” Enjoy!

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We might sometimes appear to be pimping for Twisted Oak wines, but we’re not. We are, in fact, members of The Twisted Few, and receive regular shipments (that we pay for) from the winery.

We also buy cases from time to time so we can pass on the Twisted goodness to our friends. And we implore local establishments to serve Twisted Oak wines so we don’t have to drink it home alone.

All that said, in celebration of the return of the Prodigal Chicken, and our nation’s glorious birth, El Jefe has agreed to a *%#&@! good deal on his potty mouth red Rhone-style blend, just for fans and readers of Another Wine Blog.

This deal is so fabulous, that it’s for a limited time only. Now, through Saturday, the Fourth of July, our readers can get a 3-pack of *%#&@! for $54 with shipping included! (And for you NASA geeks who have been paying $45 a bottle at a certain local watering hole — you know what a deal this is!)

For those who haven’t yet tried it, here’s what we said about it in our last Twisted post:

This Silver Medal winner in the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is a red Rhône-style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache. One of the reasons we love Twisted Oak is their clever tasting notes on the back of every bottle. And these don’t disappoint:

The meaty and leathery characters and hints of Provençal herbs and spices might have you thinking this Rhône-style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah, and Grenache just fell out of a “California Cheese” commercial. Well, the name is the only cheesy thing about it! Those bright fruit flavors of boysenberry and raspberry sure ain’t no bull! (Note: No animals were harmed in the writing of these tasting notes.)

And for you chickennappers and other lovers of all things Twisted who just can’t get enough *%#&@! El Jefe has also set up a WineWonkette Special on a Case of 12 for $180 with shipping included. That’s like getting two bottles free!

To get the Twisted *%#&@! Threesome, just follow this Twisted link.

And for the Twisted *%#&@! Dozen, go here.

We’re not getting paid or compensated to pass along this deal. We just like to spread the *%#&@! around. So what are you waiting for? Get moving and go get yourself some *%#&@!

Cheers!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

*Picture by a couple of the chickennappers, enjoying a little *%#&@! after work.

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Father’s Day was always a favorite holiday because my Dad appeared to be thrilled with any gift he received. “Fancy!” he’d say.

And he saved everything. I mean everything. Called them his “treasures.” He’d keep them in boxes, in dressers, in desks. One entire room in the house was devoted to his “treasures.”

One year I got him a solid milk chocolate bar in the shape of D-A-D. And he didn’t eat it. Not that my father didn’t love chocolate. He did. In the last few months of his life all he ate was Hersey’s Chocolate Bars. But the chocolate DAD he saved in the little plastic box until it turned chalky.

This wasn’t the first time he’d saved a chocolate gift. Once he was going through his “treasure drawer” and pulled out a faded foil wrapped cigar. “Your mother gave this to me our first Christmas,” he said. At the time I was only 8 or 9, and wanted him to unwrap it so we could eat it, but he put it back in the drawer. Later I, also of the terrible sweet tooth, sneaked in the drawer and unwrapped the foil cigar — only to find it disintegrate into chocolate dust and crumbles.

Another Father’s Day I gave him a coffee mug with the words. “Father” “Dad” “Friend” The way the letters were arranged used one of the letters of one word to complete another. And when my Dad first looked at the mug the words he saw were “FAT DAD.” Then he saw his error and laughed. But from then on in my parents’ home, Father’s Day was known as “Fat Dad’s Day.”

When it comes to appreciating gifts, Joe is a lot like that. He doesn’t call them “treasures” but he keeps them just the same. He has all sorts of gifts from me, and the kids, lined up on a set of shelves in his home office. There’s a clay duck that Jacob made him when he was little. A wooden box with a stone heart, I gave him maybe our first Christmas together. A little tiny clay pig that I got him in Ann Arbor. A ceramic “#1″ hand-painted with glitter, that I think came from Alex. Little things that would mean nothing to anyone else, but to Joe they are special, because they came from the people he loves.

I guess that is what makes a Father (or Husband) special. When he appreciates the little things, and seems to have taken to heart, “it’s the thought that counts.” I feel lucky to have had a father like that. And equally blessed that Joe is like that too.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. May you all receive “treasures” from those you love.

Cheers!

Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

P.S. One of my “treasures” is the picture, above; of my father bouncing me on a trampoline in our backyard.

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We met Morgan Twain-Peterson at last October’s Wine Bloggers Conference. At Kick Ranch Vineyard, Dick Keenan had invited bloggers to sample wines by some of the wineries using his grapes.

When we started the tasting line, I was more interested in photographing the first couple guys pouring than drinking their wine. First up was Phillip Staehle, he of Enkidu Wines. And Morgan, of Bedrock Wine Co. was second. Yes, I was there to take pictures, but these guys certainly were not hard on the eyes, either.

Morgan had just run over from the winery. He had no wine bottles from which to pour, but big jugs resembling beer growlers. He was sweaty and sunburned, with purple stains under his fingernails and all over his hands. He had “proofs” of his wine labels he’d just pulled from an overnight envelope — they hadn’t even been printed yet. And I really had no idea who he was, so I was a bit suspect.

Joe had more sense. He held his glass out for a taste of first “red” jug and then the “white.” “You’ve gotta taste this,” he said. “It’s incredible.”

And so it was.

A few months later we got an e-mail announcing that the wines were finally ready from some winemaker. Since we’d started getting samples, I wrote back and said, “sure, send us some samples.” And received no response. Because I usually receive my e-mails text only, I had no idea who it was. But the name “Bedrock” was bouncing around my head; it sounded familiar yet I couldn’t place it. So I went back and hit the “display images” button on my e-mail and saw Bedrock’s logo tree. And then I remembered; it was the guy with the awesome wine in the jugs.

So I sent Morgan an e-mail back and ordered from our “allocation.”

Morgan Twain-Peterson, is the son of Joel Peterson. Growing up as “a school principal’s daughter” I know a bit about having to excel because of your dad. But not the way Morgan has. Morgan is the son of an “acknowledged leader in California wine who helped make Zinfandel the runaway phenomenon that it is today.” And Morgan, himself, is no slacker.

A graduate of Vassar with a master’s from Columbia University, Morgan was raised at his father’s Ravenswood Winery, and was exposed to wine-tasting at an early age, just as his father before him.

In David Darlington’s “Angel’s Visits,” it is noted that “Morgan, at the age of five, could distinguish between Merlot and Zinfandel.” Morgan began making small lots of Pinot Noir at 5 from fruit given to him by the Sangiacomo family. Motivated by the best wines of Domaine Dujac, he began experimenting with whole cluster fermentation, different types of French oak, and various ripeness points. Vino Bambino Pinot Noir, as the wine came to be known, was made from 1986 to 2001 and has been featured on the wine lists of Craft, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Hill (which featured the original 1986), Delmonico’s, Aureole, and Mesa Grill.

Perhaps the story is best told by Morgan himself.

In 1986, at the age of five, I decided to make wine. My father offered to provide me with some fruit from one of the vineyards he sourced from, but I had my sights set on other things. Earlier in the year I had been particularly beguiled by the aromas of an older vintage Gevrey-Chambertin and had developed a fascination with Pinot Noir. My father swore that he would never touch the grape, arguing that it was almost never as good as the effort it took to make it well, which I am sure only added to my resolve. Taking initiative I paid a visit to Angelo Sangiacomo, the grower on whose land Ravenswood’s shed stood, armed with a leather purse in which I had placed several thousand lira collected by mother on a trip to Italy. Angelo, after talking to my father to make sure I was for real, offered to give me a half-ton of Pinot Noir for free — something he has done every year since. ~ from “Crush: A Childhood in the California Wine Industry,” 8-16-2007

In addition to running Bedrock Wine Company, Morgan is a manager of his family’s Bedrock Vineyards in Sonoma Valley, and a member of Sunbreak Vineyard Services L.L.C, a vineyard management company. He has also passed the prestigious Master of Wine exam and upon successful completion of the dissertation will become one of few American Master Winemakers.

Morgan gives the personal touch, it seems, to everything. He personally sent me the e-mail, and corresponded when I figured out who was e-mailing. He sent us a handwritten “Thank You” note following our first order. And when we wanted to re-order, he manually processed the order, waited until the California temperatures had cooled after record highs, and sent our wine with six little cold packs in the box to keep it cool.

And let me say his wine is, indeed, fabulous. And he takes a pretty damned good picture. I showed some of the ladies at work a picture I’d found of him crushing grapes. Let me just say, their interest probably went a bit further than just wine. And I’d asked him if I could use that picture when we talked about Bedrock Wine Co., telling him, “that picture alone would probably move some wine, especially to some of my women friends.” (Check out the picture and judge for yourself)

But cool me down from “the vapors,” and let’s talk about the wine.

Our initial order was for one of the wine’s we had tasted at Kick Ranch, the 2007 Lorzeno’s Heirloom Wine, from Dry Creek Valley. Here are the winemaker’s notes:

If the Bedrock Heirloom Wine is all about perfume and brightness, Lorenzo’s expresses all the black, dark-fruited, power of Dry Creek Valley. In 2007 I cofermented 100 year old vine Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah from a vineyard (which must go unnamed for the time being) on the bench of Dry Creek Valley. The powerful, black, wine was placed in 75% new French wood coopered by Tonnelleries Nadalie and Remond from the Allier and Nievre forests. The higher percentage of new wood, along with the choice to use the heavier impact coopers of Nadalie and Remond, was pretty much decided for me by the wine; if the wine wants to be brash and high-impact I rather work with it than try to tame it. However, to try and temper some of the tannins I racked the wine once in May of 2008 before its final racking and bottling on November 25th of the same year, something I normally avoid but was demanded by the raw power of this youngster. The resulting wine is enormous— rich in black fruits, crushed espresso beans, freshly milled pepper, and staining but supple tannin. This promises to have a long life ahead of it.

Sadly for our readers, the Lorenzo’s is sold out. We have two or three bottles left in our stash, and perhaps, if you’re nice, we’ll share them one day. But we’re pretty sure we can expect equally fabulous reds from Bedrock in a future release.

Currently available, and equally scrumptious and perfect for summer, is the 2008 Cuvee Caritas White Wine from Sonoma County, named after, of all things, Morgan’s dog. He writes:

Caritas, “Tas” for short, came to us the same summer that Bedrock Wine Co. was prepping for first harvest. The name in the Latin as it is spelled means charity; the Greek, spelled “karatas” means “to build a community.” The name seemed appropriate for a dog that would age with the winery—an undertaking that needs both the charity of mother nature (not to mention the bank!) but also a solid community around it.

A blend of a blend of 55% semillon and 45% sauvignon musque, this is the other wine we had from Morgan’s “jugs.” The Sauvignon Musque (a particularly exotic and aromatic clone of Sauvignon Blanc) is grown on a steep hillside high up on Keenan’s Kick Ranch. The Semillon comes from 100-year old vines in the Monte Rosso vineyard, growing at 1800 feet above Sonoma Valley.

Golden, sensuous and fruitful, the wine has aromas of smoked meat, oranges, figs and truffle, accompanied by a delicate bouquet of flowers. 14.5% alcohol by volume, this is not a shy shrinking violet, but an intense blend of sunlight and shadows. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, a percentage of profits from the wine will be donated to local charities.

And if that weren’t enough, Morgan plays piano, hikes and has a garden of heirloom vegetables. Both his dog, and his girlfriend, are extremely lucky! The rest of us, may be content to drink his wine!

The moral of the story, at least for me, is to forego any sort of preconceived impressions of a wine, simply because a guy shows up with grape-stained hands and a jug-full of juice. It’s a good bet that the guy who presses the grapes, has a pretty good idea of how to make his wine.

Cheers!

~Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

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“For the bitterest pill is hard to swallow
The love I gave hangs in sad coloured, mocking shadows
The bitterest pill is mine to take
If I took it for a hundred years, I couldn’t feel any more ill”
-The Jam The Bitterest Pill

It is 5:30 in the morning as I sit here typing this and I did not sleep much last night. What is causing me to lose sleep? My team lost a game last night. How stupid is that? My team, the Detroit Redwings, one of the winningest teams in all of sports, lost one game, and this alleged adult cannot sleep. Despite that single game being for all of the marbles, the loss is not really the sole cause of my insomnia. Not winning the Stanley Cup is a bitter pill to swallow, no doubt about it, but being a hardcore and loyal sports fan means that you will taste defeat a lot. Detroit fans know that more than most.

The cause of my sleeplessness is pondering objectivity and fairness. In last night’s game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals the Pittsburgh Penguins won fair and square. They are a very good team, and have some great players, and what follows is not meant to take anything away from them. The Pens were the better team last night, and they did not win the last game of the series due to bad officiating, or anything like that. While it would have been nice if some of the more blatant stuff had been called, the officiating, or lack thereof, was consistent. That is fair and all that a fan can ask for. So, what is my problem?

The Redwings won games 1 and 2 in Detroit. Game 3 was in Pittsburgh and the officials gave the game to the Penguins. What should have been a 3-0 lead in the series was now 2-1 due to some bad calls on Detroit, but mostly due to non-calls on Pittsburgh. The teams seemed to be playing by different rules. Game 4 was like game 7, Pittsburgh won it fair and square. Game 5 was a 5-0 blowout won by Detroit. Without the stolen game, there would have been no game 6 or game 7, and I would have gotten a good night’s sleep last night.

I know that Penguin fans and Redwing haters are probably snorting in derision right now and writing off the above paragraphs as sour grapes, but even people who dislike the Wings have told me that they thought Detroit was jobbed in game 3. Truth be told, if a Lakers fan or a Yankees fan told a similar tale of woe, no matter how true, I would probably laugh and shrug my shoulders. Such is the nature of sports. However, if I knew they were right, my sense of fairness would eventually kick in and it would bother me. I unreasonably expect all games to be played on a level field.

I did not toss and turn all night only thinking about the hockey game, nor was it only due to my sports heartbreak. No, what kept me tossing and turning was thinking back on all of the contests I had seen stolen over the years, and how offended I get when it happens.

Whenever I hear about the New England Patriot’s undefeated season from a few years ago it offends me. I am no fan of the Baltimore Ravens, in fact I dislike them quite a bit, but I would be hard pressed to think of any team that ever suffered a more concerted effort by the officials to steal a game from them. Any argument against intentionally biased officiating, such as ‘the refs can’t see everything’ or ‘the officials are human and make mistakes’ was definitively refuted by that game. Mistakes get made, but sometimes it is willful, and especially when it is to keep a news cycle alive, or to sell more shoes, it disgusts me.

The list of game changing bad officiating is quite long and it is a rare, and probably delusional, sports fan who does not have at least one grievance that will haunt them to their grave. Ask a Buffalo Sabers fan about Brett Hull’s skate entering the crease before the puck is another instance of Cup thievery, but make sure you have plenty of room to escape the ensuing explosion. Ask Missouri football fans if they think Colorado should have been allowed to have 5 downs at the end of a game in 1990 that caused them to lose by 1 point.

The litany goes on and on. Houston football fans know all about the 1980 AFC Championship game hosing. Packers fans are still righteously screaming that Jerry Rice fumbled in the ‘99 Wild Card game. Cardinal fans will never get over game 6 of the 1985 World Series, nor should they. Then there was the 2nd worst case of intentional bad officiating ever, when officials inexplicably kept adding time back on the clock to allow the Soviets to beat the USA for the gold in basketball at the 1972 Olympic games.

As a Detroit fan, let me apologize here and now to Pittsburgh fans. Not for what I said above about their Cup win, but for the 1999 Thanksgiving Day coin flip incident between the Lions and the Steelers. It may be debatable whether that bit of ridiculousness affected the outcome of the game, but it sure seemed to rattle the Steeler players, and understandably so. That does not fall under the intentional bad officiating call, but Phil Luckett is possibly the most incompetent official ever to wear stripes, and the NFL allowed him to ruin many a football fan’s day before and after that game.

So, what the *&%# does all of this sports venting have to do with wine? Good question! As you can see from the rant above, I have a strong sense of fairness and I strive for objectivity. Sure, I have been around long enough to accept that life is not fair, but as some people see black and white, right and wrong, I tend to see fair and unfair. Not like a child sees fairness, where everyone has to have what everyone else has or “it’s not fair!” I see justice and fairness as synonyms, although I know it doesn’t work that way. But it should.

Recently Amy and I were invited to participate in a Wines of Chile tasting. This was an event organized to get a bunch of wine bloggers to taste these wines and then write about them on our blogs, talk about them, as Denis Leary puts it, “on our tweety pages and faceybooks.” So, a few weeks before the tasting, a wooden crate full of wine, literature, glasses, and even a spittoon arrived on our doorstep. I thought it was cool, but was not expecting all that much from the wine.

This is where my belief in my own objectivity and fairness gets challenged. I have tasted my share of Chilean wine and always considered them to be pleasant bargain wines. Very drinkable, and exceptional values, but nothing spectacular. This is what I anticipated drinking when we did the tasting. Even more than anticipating, it is what I expected. That was not an objective way to evaluate a wine, it certainly was not fair to the wine maker or the wine, and as it turns out, it also was not very smart of me.

Many times we have expectations of what a wine will taste like, which leads to an expectation of whether we will like it or not, and that can color our perception. Like I said, that is not an objective or fair way to evaluate and review wine. Luckily for me, the Wines of Chile selections blew away my prejudices and previous experience. They also blew me away with their refinement and power. While still unbelievable bargains, Chilean wines are now as good as those produced anywhere in the world.

How often do we allow our preconceived ideas about a fairly new wine region get in the way of not only our objectivity, but also our enjoyment? How often do we let the opposite happen, perceiving wine from an established region as perhaps better than it is? Is it fair that, like women in a lot of jobs, the wine made in places like Chile has to be twice as good to be considered just as good? Well, the wines listed below from the tasting were easily up to the task. I have included the suggested retail price, which was as amazing as the wine itself.

Emiliana Natura Sauvignon Blanc 2008
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Casablanca Valley, Chile
$10.99

Cono Sur Vision Pinot Noir 2008
100% Pinot Noir
Colchagua Velley, Chile
$15.00

Los Vascos Reserve 2006
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Carmenere, 10% Syrah, 5% Malbec
Colchagua Velley, Chile
$20.99

Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Carmenere 2007
95% Carmenere, 5% Petit Verdot
Rapel Valley, Chile
$14.99

Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere 2007
97% Carmenere, 3% Shiraz
Aconcagua Valley, Chile
$26.00

Undurraga T.H. Syrah 2007
100% Syrah
Aconcagua Valley, Chile
$24.00

Haras Character Cabernet Sauvignon – Carmenere 2006
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Carmenere, 9% Cabernet Franc, 7% Syrah
%21.00

Veramonte Primus 2006
36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Syrah, 17% Merlot, 16% Carmenere
Colchagua Valley, Chile
$20.00

Not only did I learn that Chile produces some fantastic wines, I also learned that wanting to be objective and fair is not enough, it takes vigilance and effort. I will keep trying.

Look for more on the wines of Chile from me and Amy, as well as full reviews of some of these wines in the coming days and weeks. Salud!

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We originally posted this review in February, but were happy to learn that Wine Spectator has given the 2006 Anaba Coriol Red Blend a rating of 90 points!

Firm and concentrated, with a mix of spicy cola, herb, dark berry fruit, tobacco and bay leaf. Well-focused and full-bodied, gaining complexity. Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Counoise and Petite Sirah. Drink now through 2014. 243 cases made. –JL, Wine Spectator

And check back for our upcoming review of Anaba’s 2007 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay which earned a WS rating of 91 points in their June 30, 2009 issue!

I like earth scents and flavors. Growing up as the only girl in a neighborhood of boys – this tomboy played football in the front yard and made mud bowls from the clay-rich soils of West Virginia. I never minded harvesting the worms for our family fishing trips. And I loved to go to the deepest part of the woods on our property, put a stick in the ground and watch the bubbling up of the underground spring. My favorite part of last year’s Wine Blogger Conference was a hike through the woods on our vineyard walk.

I prefer wearing scents of patchouli, sandalwood and amber. If I had been born just a few years earlier, I might have been a hippy living in a commune. I probably would have attended the Monterey Pop Festival and gone to San Francisco for the 1967 Summer of Love.

But alas, I did not. I grew up in a small town, and now I’m a lawyer working in a big metropolitan city, living in the suburbs with my husband, two teenagers, two dogs and a cat.

However, I have been known to wear a cologne called “Dirt” by Demeter Fragrances. And there is something about Côtes de Rhône, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or a California Rhône-style blend that reminds me of the earth, the origin of all living things, the “yin and yang” of wines that I admire.

Such is the ambiance of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape type blend from Anaba (pronounced Anń-ah-bah), the winery named after the winds of Sonoma Valley. This 2006 Coriol Red, Sonoma Valley is part of the Anaba inaugural releases of Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Noir and the red and a white Rhône-style blend, both named Coriol. The wines are handcrafted from Rhône and Burgundian grape varieties grown at their Carneros Estate vineyard and in selected vineyard properties throughout Sonoma County. All five of Anaba’s wines earned medals in the recent 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

The Red Coriol is a blend of 5 grapes; Grenache (60%) Mouvedre (25%) Syrah (10%) Counoise (2.5%) and Petit Sirah (2.5%) which provide a very rich flavor and long finish, despite its color of a bright ruby-red peck, transparent at the edges vs. the long, dark deep red of an open-mouthed kiss. The nose offers bright cherry and raspberry with hints of anise and truffle. Alcohol by volume is 14.4%.

Tasting Notes from Anaba’a winemaker, Jennifer Marion

Savory aromas of black and white pepper, smoked bacon, earth, red and black berry set this wine apart. Medium-full bodied, this red Rhône blend is packed with dark fruit, spicy pepper notes, and a hint of minerality. Crisp and fresh, our Coriol red is an ideal companion for food.

Joe and I tasted this wine from two different bottles on two consecutive nights, as the first night I had a sneezing fit right before Joe poured. Joe’s notes from the first evening recall, “This is a Côtes de Rhône as if re-imagined by Robert Parker. A classic Rhône blend of grapes but a huge California fruit bomb. The finish brings to mind figs, dates and mocha.”

The first evening I could taste the earth, and black and white pepper. The second evening, I could better appreciate the dark fruit and long finish. Both nights I paired it with a dry Pecorino Romano, and the sharpness of the cheese really brought out the earth, pepper and fruit flavors of the wine.

Winemaker’s Winemaking Notes

This fruit was hand harvested early in the morning to ensure the coldest juice possible and came into the winery in exceptional condition. Then we hand sorted, de-stemmed and the fruit was put into one-ton bins. After fermentation was complete we avoid harsh and green tannins by using a basket press which prevents skins and seeds from being crushed. The juice then underwent complete malolactic fermentation. Our finished wine was transferred to French oak barrels, 50% new, where it aged for 21 months before being bottled.

Anaba 2006 Coriol Red Rhône Blend is priced at $32.00. Anaba offers tastings by appointment. The gold medal winning Anaba Chardonnay and Coriol White blend will be available for tasting at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (SFCWC) Public Tasting on Saturday, February 28th. Acclaimed as the largest competition of American wines in the world and San Francisco’s premier tasting experience, the SFCWC Public Tasting takes place at Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion and features award winning wines. For more information and ticket pricing, visit www.winejudging.com or call 888.695.0888.

For those not fortunate enough to live in Wine Country, or attend this year’s SFCWC, Anaba wines are available for purchase through the winery’s website at www.anabawines.com. Try it yourself, and let us know what you think!

*** SPECIAL OFFER ***

The folks at Anaba asked us if they could give our readers a special bonus, and since we are not getting a cut, we thought it would be cool! Use this special code on their order form AWB0309 (click the Enter Discount Code for a little pop-up box once on the order form site) for 15% off any purchase of 6 bottles or more!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

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There are few better ways to start the morning than with bacon and eggs. Unfortunately, more often than not, cooking bacon can be a messy chore. Grease splatters all over your stove and it is a rare bacon aficionado without the scars of the pig on their hands, wrists, and forearms. Add in the fact that cooking bacon in a pan requires a lot of vigilance.

There is a way around the mess and the burned skin; cooking bacon in the oven. I tried this a few times over the years, and failed miserably every time. That is, until I learned the secret to this method. If you search the Web for ways to cook bacon, the oven method comes up over and over. However, almost every site gets it wrong and will set you up for failure. Here at Another Wine Blog we would never set you up for failure, especially not in the kitchen or the wine cellar.

Nearly every recipe out there reaches the fail state with the very first word of their instructions. As soon as they say ‘pre-heat’ they have tried to ruin your wonderfully cured and smoked swine flesh. The bastards!

The trick to cooking bacon this way is to place it into the oven BEFORE turning it on. Letting the bacon slowly come up to temperature and cook will give you perfectly cooked and perfectly flat strips. It lets the fat render without burning. No mess, no new scars, and no standing over a sputtering, spattering pan.

Here is how I do it. Find an oven-safe rack that fits inside of shallow-sided baking sheet. Lay out your strips evenly on the rack, place in a cold oven, and turn it up to 400° F. I set my timer for 10 minutes because my oven is an unevenly heating piece of crap. After 10 minutes I rotate the pan and check on it after another 10 minutes. Typically, it takes about 22-25 minutes total. If there is quite a bit of grease pooled on top of the slices I blot it up with a paper towel.

And what is bacon wiithout eggs? I love eggs cooked a lot of ways, but fried in probably my favorite style. Most people can fry an egg, but to make a perfectly cooked one requires basting, in my opinion. I love using olive oil as the basting fat, but if you have just cooked up a bunch of bacon that deliciously rendered piggy fat is hard to resist.

Basting eggs is incredibly simple. Heat up your fat in a good non-stick pan over medium heat. When it is good and hot, add your eggs. The eggs should start to sizzle right away. Grab a spoon and start splashing it over the top of the yolk until the top of the eggs starts to cook and the yolk takes on a pinkish color. Remove to the plate and season with a little salt and pepper.

Toast some good bread and you have a fantastic feast, right? Well, almost. Feasts require wine! Especially if this is your pre-church feast on a Sunday morning. Might as well fortify yourself before the preacher begs for your money and Mrs. Walker shames you into volunteering to deliver doilies to shut-ins.

But what works as a breakfast wine? First we want something that pairs well with the richness of egg yolks and bacon fat. That requires some acidity, which is why orange juice is such a popular accompaniment. As it is breakfast, and we don’t want to have to go right back to bed after we eat, low alcohol is probably a pretty good idea. And since having wine for breakfast is not an every day kind of thing, we want it to be fun.

One wine that fits the bill perfectly is Moscato di Asti. If you are not familiar with it, Moscato di Asti is a fruity, slightly sweet, fragrant, lightly sparkling wine.  It has enough acid and bubbles to cut through the rich flavors of the meal, and its floral notes and peach or apricot flavors compliment the food perfectly.

Add a glass of that to your perfectly cooked bacon and eggs and now you have a feast. Add a few glasses of it and you may not remember that you told Mrs. Walker that you would even help make the doilies for shut-ins. Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

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Driving around Houston, I remembered a wine shop that carried Enkidu. I thought I’d surprise Joe and pick up a bottle. I drove to where I thought it was located, but noted the name was wrong. So I turned on a side street and found it. The location at least. There was a “For Lease” sign on the door. But there were people inside.  I found a parking place — which was a miracle on this particular street, and tried the door. Three men were inside, “What happened to name of wine store?” I asked.  “Oh, they took off,” the tallest guy said. I thought perhaps they’d moved, but no, according to the man who I assumed was the landlord, said, ‘they just took off and didn’t even leave us any wine.’

So I e-mailed a fellow wine lover in town to ask what had happened to said store.  And the reply, “Oh they closed. Had an inventory liquidation — a rather fine inventory I might add — but I missed the sale by a couple hours.”

Given the response by the man in the building, and my friend, I set out to learn what happened. Because it seems we’re getting a new wine venue in Houston every six months, and the city appears to be embracing wine wholeheartedly.

Now  granted, the place was on a side street with extremely limited (3 spaces for 4 retail merchants) street parking. Granted, that particular side street floods every time it rains hard in Houston (often). And, many an adjacent business came and went. Further, the shop’s marketing plan seemed to consist entirely of weekly “Recession Buster” e-mail blasts. And granted, it featured upper end wines in an area four blocks from a University whose students and graduates, at least all the ones I’ve met, seem to be particularly frugal. But it’s Houston; the city with over 4 million people that seems to prosper when the rest of the country is in the toilet, thanks to Big Oil.

So I consulted Mr. Google, which took me to the “blog” of the former owner. I had talked with him briefly via one of the social networks, and had been a little put off. Because he talked down to me. Which is why I never made the 20-mile trip to an overcrowded retail area filled with college kids. I mean, we love Enkidu, but I can call the winery and have it shipped it to me directly by people who appreciate my business, without having to deal with arrogance and attitude. But I thought it was just me, or perhaps my occasional political rants on said social network. It was pretty obvious to me that the owner sat on the “other side of the aisle,” as they say.

Hubris (/hjuːbrɪs/) (ancient Greek ὕβρις) is a term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, superciliousness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or nemesis. In ancient Greece, hubris referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist’s downfall.

I started reading the blog — and got a clearer picture. It wasn’t just me. The guy seemed to have made it his personal mission to take on the biggest wine retailer in Houston, probably in Texas. And not just an occasional reference.  But named the retailer, over and over again. To the extent that went beyond the mere hint of libel. And he named other local wine merchants as Judases and evil do-ers.  I read further into the blog, and got the idea that  1) the guy really thought a lot of himself 2) everything that caused his business to fail was someone else’s fault and 3) everyone who had not patronized his business, including the entire city of Houston, was stupid, backward and unworthy of his wines.

Then I asked Mr. Google to find local news on the store’s closing. An article in the local “alternative” paper confirmed what I’d suspected. The author of the article was diplomatic, the comments not so charitable. Former potential customers said they’d chosen not to shop there because they were treated as if rubes — country bumpkins who should be humbled and honored to be in the presence of such venerable wine knowledge and greatness.

Wow. If you hate people don’t go into the retail business. I don’t care if you have the most fabulous, in-depth, 500-page business plan and the endorsement of Robert Parker, himself. Your business should exist to serve your customers more than your ego. If your ego comes first, your business will probably suffer.

The days of  pretending that wine is mysterious and reserved only for the highly-refined aristocracy are over. The astute wine merchant shares all the joys of wine by making it accessible, not setting up barriers so that only those he deems “worthy” partake.

According to his blog, the failed wine seller is now working on a fabulous business plan for another “exciting venture.” Let’s hope he’s learned some valu