Wine appreciation in the Web 2.0 era

Just how plugged into the internet is the wine industry? I'm actually seeking to answer that question for a group project in my IT Management class this semester. I don't have a lot to say on the subject of IT use in the wine industry just yet, but I have a story to share along these lines.

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I tracked down a bottle of 2004 La Crema 9 Barrel Chardonnay, which I'm saving for Christmas dinner with my family. What I couldn't find is any reviews or tasting notes. I mentioned this to Dave, which launched the following series of events.

1. Dave calls his contact at La Crema.
2. La Crema emails him a PDF of the 2004 tasting notes within minutes.
3. Dave forwards it to me; I get the email on my Blackberry.
4. Dave mentions the excellent customer service to a Twitter friend who works a couple doors down from La Crema's tasting room.
5. Said friend then walks over, introduces himself, takes a picture of Dave's contact with his camera phone, and posts it on Twitter.

Email, PDF, a Blackberry, a camera phone, Twitter, plus whatever hardware Dave and his friend used on their respective ends... never mind that I bought the bottle online from a vendor in New York City through Snooth, or that the first thing I did when it arrived was to post a phone pic of it to Twitter:


Wanna see the original Twitpic post?

None of that could have happened ten years ago. It's pretty obvious, even to this relative outsider, that the internet - and social media in particular - is revolutionizing wine marketing. I'm looking forward to exploring the subject more in depth for our IT Management project.

Isn't technology grand?

Treasure Hunting at the Farmer's Market

I don't think of a farmer's market as a place to find wine. I was there for the produce and a loaf of fresh bread, after all. But it does make sense when you stop to think about it. Wine is an agricultural product, after all.

At the Highlands Ranch Farmers Market, tucked away between tables of organic produce and fresh-baked breads was a plain table that didn't feature overflowing baskets of brightly colored Fall harvest vegetables. Bijou Creek Vineyards had only a white plastic table cloth and a couple bottles of wine on display. While all the other booths had swarms of people - the line for sandwich bags full of roasted chilies was five deep - this little table was neglected.

Of course, a free wine tasting for me is irresistible.

A friendly older gentleman gave me a sample of the 2006 Bijou Creek Cabernet Franc in a tiny plastic cup. He referred to it as "off-dry", and it definitely has a lot red fruit. Smooth and sweetly fruity with a hint of vanilla, it's very easy to drink.

While I probably wouldn't buy this when pitted against other more sophisticated reds, for $10 at a farmer's market, it was a good lazy Sunday sort of buy. This would be great with a plate of cheese and fresh fruit.

Wine, Wine and More Wine in Springfield

On Saturday, Dave was running a wine party in Springfield, where most of our haul from the Peoria run would be going. I took a walk around downtown Lincoln before we left, taking pictures of landmarks and interesting things I would have overlooked as a child growing up here.





Various vendors were setting up around the square for the annual balloon and arts festival. I remember the balloons drifting past my house in the country, the sound of the fire waking us up in the morning, my sister and I waving at balloonists from the driveway. I didn't see any balloons today.

Fast forward to the wine party. A gorgeous house in an upper class neighborhood. A younger, hip couple. It was her 40th birthday. We shared a bottle of Guenoc Victorian Claret before the guests arrived. This wasn't an expensive bottle by any stretch, but it was a nice icebreaker.

Once the party was rolling, Dave served up four excellent wines:

• King Estate 2007 Signature Pinot Noir
• 2006 Stags' Leap Napa Valley Petite Syrah
• La Crema Nine Barrel 2006 Chardonnay Russian River Valley
• Trimbach Pinot Gris 2005 Reserve

It's now been a week and a day since I tasted them, so my impressions are not very specific, but honestly, you can't go wrong with any of them.

I tried the King Estate Pinot Noir first. It was excellent. Dave was kind enough to send me back to Denver with the wineries' tasting notes, and honestly, I don't remember the flavor and aroma very much. I remember that it was lovely, and compared to the others it was lighter-bodied.

Next was the Trimbach Pinot Gris. Of the four, this one is the least up my alley. I'm only really just starting to get into white wines of any kind, and this was sweeter and fruitier than the other three. I remember it was very citrusy. Looking at the tasting notes on this one, I see it isn't aged in oak, which is probably why I liked the others better. When Dave was trying to find a white I would like, I happened to try a chardonnay and didn't hate it. The common factor between chardonnay and red wines is that they're aged in oak, and that was probably what I was liking so much. This pinot gris? No oak. That's not to say it isn't excellent wine, however, not by a long shot. Any pinot gris fan should adore it.

The third wine I sampled was the La Crema Nine Barrel Chardonnay. It blew me away. I don't remember the fruit, really, though the tasting notes tout Meyer lemon, citrus and pear. Mine run more along the lines of "silky, creamy, buttery, vanilla, creme brulee, first kisses and pixie dust". The notes also mention baked apples and butter cookies, and I'll consider that our common ground since I can totally see it. This is the one Dave was raving about for days afterwards. He told me I wouldn't be able to find it since it was rare. He'd tracked down what was supposedly the last three bottles in the state of Illinois for this party. And believe me, in the last week I have looked. Search is my job, after all, so if it's online anywhere then I should be able to find it. And well, he's right. It's exceptionally hard to find (online, anyway), though I did find a bottle of the 2004 vintage somewhere in New York. They're loading it onto a UPS truck headed to Colorado right about now. I'm taking it home with me for Christmas dinner with my family.

Finally, I tried the Stags' Leap Petite Syrah. Stags' Leap is legendary, of course, for beating the pants off the French reds in a blind tasting in France back in 1976, and along with Chateau Montelena put California on the wine map, in a victory so stunning that they made a movie about it. Judging by the taste, that storied reputation is well-earned because DAMN... it's a thick, inky, stain-your-teeth purple. The taste is velvety and rich. The tasting notes mention cocoa powder, raspberry and other dark fruits. Sure. They can describe it however they like, and while they're thinking up some marvelous adjectives I'll just enjoy it and drink their share, too. I wasn't kidding about the staining though... when I brushed my teeth, they had a distinctly purple cast to them, as did my lips.

For me, there were two distinct winners in this bunch: The La Crema Nine Barrel Chardonnay and the Stags' Leap Petite Syrah.

We stopped at a wine bar on the way home to meet up with Kelly, a friend from Twitter, but other than the loveliness of finally meeting her in person there isn't much to say about it. The cabernet there was just okay compared to the wines served at the party, and we were all pretty tired. We both crashed pretty hard back at home in Lincoln.

So what did we learn today, kids? Dave McEvers, the wine guy of Lincoln, IL, knows his shit. He picked some curse-worthy fine wines for his gig and that's why he gets paid. And beyond the party, I didn't taste a single bad wine the entire weekend. Kudos, friend.

A Little Chianti Goes a Long Way

Tonight I am drinking the 2006 Tractor Shed Red that I opened two days ago. I like it. Super fruity and jammy, lots of berries. An awful lot of berries for something made primarily of sangiovese, actually, but the sangio seems to give it that nice, blood orange tang just beneath its berry-ness. It's a nice, easy every day sort of wine. Not at all bad for something with a cutesy name from the marketing department.

So. There was a trip to Illinois. I'll start with Friday night, the day of my arrival back in my hometown of Lincoln.

I knew before I left Denver that I would be tagging along to a wine party in Springfield. I was to be the photographer. Or assistant. Or whatever. Dave had ordered the wine he would be serving, but it needed to be retrieved from Pekin and Peoria. I wasn't even in Lincoln an hour before we hit the road to pick it up.

After checking the party's order, we shopped for our own to drink for the weekend. There was a really nice chianti that I don't remember. A Palo Alto sauvignon blanc. A Guenoc claret. A Kenwood red table wine that I'd had before and liked in about the same vein as this Tractor Shed Red that I've got open tonight. At the second store we found a decent champagne on sale. I think there were a few others.

Then we drove back to Dave's place in Lincoln and took this picture of our loot:



We opened the chianti before heading to Guzzardo's Italian Villa for dinner. It didn't take much to get me tipsy that night. It's a good thing that Guzzardo's was only a block and a half away. Lincoln blocks. Which are about a third of the size of what you get in a city like Denver or Chicago.

At dinner, everything Dave said was hysterical, the food was just as fantastic as it's been my entire life, and I managed to not publicly embarrass myself. All in all, this outing was a success. After that, however, I was done. We wandered back to the apartment. I was just wiped out. I fell asleep on the sofa. At some point I made it to the air mattress my host had graciously provided for me.

Between the two of us, we only made it halfway through that chianti... but after my long day of getting up early, flying to Dallas and then to Bloomington, and then driving to Lincoln to Pekin to Peoria to Lincoln, it was more than enough.

Next post: Wine, Wine and More Wine in Springfield.

Edit: Dave tells me the chianti was Rocca delle Macie Chianti Classico 2005. And now I remember that it, too, came from the second store, though that's a very minor point. What's important is that it made me happy. I give it an A.

A post is coming, I swear...

The wine this past weekend was incredible, and I can't wait to write about everything, but well, there's this pesky thing called "school" that is getting in the way for now.

I will say this, though, as a sort of teaser:

My friend Dave McEvers is kind of a wine genius. After the wine party on Saturday, I swear, we giggled ecstatically over how completely amazing the 2006 La Crema 9 Barrel Chardonnay was. Just remembering it, even days later, all conversation would abruptly halt. A serious conversation dissovles into laughter. He looks over at me with the smile of a kid on Christmas morning and says, "That chardonnay was killer, wasn't it? Wasn't it?"

That happened several times on Saturday after the party. Then all day Sunday. And a few times on Monday before I left for the airport.

Yes. It really was that good. I'm back in Colorado now, and he's still talking about it. I'm trying to track down a bottle of my own, even of a different vintage, to take home with me for Christmas. It would be an amazing Christmas dinner wine to share with my family.

I'm going to shoot for Thursday for that post. How does that sound? Just let me get through my class tomorrow. Do we have a deal?

The Wine Noob Tries Her Hand At Tasting Notes

I opened a bottle of 2006 Pillar Box Reserve Shiraz from Henry's Drive Vignerons this afternoon. It's an Australian, and at $20 it is by far the most expensive bottle of wine I've ever bought. Yeah, I'm just extravagant like that.

So how does one properly taste wine? I called upon my trusty sidekick, Google, for some guidance. There's plenty of information out there, to be sure, and I settled on How to Taste Wine Like a Pro from the folks over at eHow.

Step one: Observe the color. It's pretty. Deep, inky purple. I want that color on my toenails. It would be sassy.

Step two: The classic Swirl'n'Sniff maneuver, which wine snobs in movies execute with a dramatic, comic flourish. "Try to detect the smell of fruity or floral notes. Decide what they remind you of if possible."

Okay. Um. I dunno. I drew upon the article's own list of example adjectives for some prompting. Peppery. Chocolaty. Burnt toasty. Those made some sense to me. Maybe a little bit of burning Autumn leaves in there, too. (They had "smoke" on their list, but that felt inadequate.)

Step three: The Sip'n'Swish, a small sip with a bit of air swished in. "Spicy" is a slam dunk. Syrupy. Toasted. Mole sauce and cheap cigarettes. It was reminding me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on what, exactly until I rummaged through my spice drawer. Cardamom. Yes. That would be the missing link.

Step four: Note the length of the finish. Hmm. Well, it seems longish to me. The aftertaste leaves me badly wanting a thick slice of fresh buttered sourdough.

Frankly, this particular Aussie shiraz isn't really my cup of tea. I think it was very highly rated by one of the wine rags, or I wouldn't have picked it up for the price. However, the bottle does say it benefits from decanting. I don't have a decanter, but I'll usually pour a glass and put a potholder over it for an hour to let it breathe, figuring that's close enough for government work. I might like this better tomorrow after it's had some more air time.

So how do you taste wine? I probably still don't know, but this was a fun little experiment that tickles my natural wordsmith streak, so it's definitely one worth repeating.

EDIT: For amusement, here's the Wine Advocate review:
"The grapes for the 2006 Reserve Shiraz were selected from the best Shiraz parcels used to make Pillar Box Red. They were aged in new oak, 75% French and 25% American. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up a classy bouquet of smoke, vanilla, saddle leather, bacon, and blueberry. This leads to a full-bodied, plush, seamless wine with no hard edges to its lengthy finish. It has the stuffing to evolve for 2-3 years but I can think of no reason for delaying gratification. It is a great value." - Wine Advocate

Coming Attractions: The Wine Noob Hits the Road

I haven't done anything wine-y this week, partly due to school and partly due to being half-sick the last two days, sorry about that!

HOWEVER!

One week from today I shall embark on a weekend of exotic travel, consorting with exciting characters and sampling a variety of fine grape-based libations! There will be pictures! There may even be VIDEO!

Where am I going, you ask? Is it Costa Rica? Paris? Bangkok?

NO! It's better than all of those places! It is... *drumroll please*...

LINCOLN, ILLINOIS!

I'll be hanging out with my wine industry buddy, Dave, in the land of our mutual childhoods, in the shadow of the courthouse dome. Drinking wine. Possibly LOTS of wine. Because frankly, there isn't much else to do in Lincoln.

However, this is exciting to me because I haven't spent more than 20 minutes in Lincoln since my family moved away while I was in college. I didn't go to the ten year high school reunion since there wasn't really anyone I was dying to see. I went to Italy instead. My family and I occasionally take a drive through to see landmarks like our old house, if family Christmas is nearby and we have some time to kill, but Lincoln is not a place I have ever experienced as an adult.

I am anticipating. Imagining what it will be like...

A Lincoln where I can drink without worrying about the cops busting the party for underage drinking.

A Lincoln that's much smaller than I remember since I'm twice the height that I was for so many of my years there and have grown accustomed to the size of an urban city block.

Lincoln as seen through the lens of my camera while rediscovering a place I hated passionately while growing up.

A Lincoln where I have friends who profess to be excited for the opportunity to hang out.

I expect it to be an intriguing, spooky, and deeply satisfying sort of trip. With copious amounts of wine. Yes. Indeed. Get ready for it, my darling wine loving readers. This is a bag full of wine stories waiting to happen!