Posts Tagged ‘wine tasting’

Ahhhh Old Vine Zinfandel’s. We really like these.

We have already reviewed our poll winner Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel and we loved it. The review will be posted soon.

This Old Vine Zinfandel was so good we decided to do a shoot out between three popular “Frugal” Old Vine Zins all paired with a favorite BBQ Rib recipe.

The Old Vine Zin Shootout…

Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel vs Bogle Old Vine vs 7 Deadly Zins Old Vine.

We have had BBQ Ribs two nights in a row now, but we love ribs as you can see in the pictures below.

If we can get the technical (legal gobble dee gook) in order we will run a contest to win an Apple ipod for who can guess the winner, second place and third place.

Look for more info soon

The Frugal Wino

Frugal Wine Review

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Blind Video Taste Test of A Cult Wine.

They are large in numbers but small in voice.

They lurk online and in forums… afraid to speak out and admit their intense love for this “Nectar of The Gods”.

Next week they will be exposed in a blind video taste test of this Cult Wine.

Cheers,

The Frugal Wino

Frugal Wine Review

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You have been deemed the chosen one to select the wine at a fine restaurant.

Paralyzed by fear you go with the Sommelier’s (dude that knows about wine and food pairings) recommendation. The wine is brought to the table and with great fanfare it is presented to you for inspection.

The Sommelier holds the bottle in front of you presenting the label. Why? What to do?

This is so you can simply check the label to see that it is indeed what you ordered. Just nod.

He/she will uncork the wine and hand you the cork.

Stay calm, don’t waffle here. Do not lick it, bite it, or stick it in you nose!

Don’t even smell it. Simply inspect it. You are looking to see if the bottom has crumbled or if the cork is stained by the wine. Light staining of the bottom of the cork is normal, if the stain goes 1/4 or more up the cork this will tip you off that you may have a bad or corked bottle of wine due to improper storage , exposure to heat and so on. Also look to see if there is a vein running up the cork that is stained.

Hand the cork back to the wine dude if everything is cool, if not draw their attention to the flaw.

The wine dude/dudette will now pour you a few ounces in your glass.

Give it a gentle swirl and sniff the wine by putting your nose partly into the glass (don’t get carried away here). You are sniffing for any off odors like wet cardboard/newspaper, wet dog or guinea pig, sour smell, anything that just smells off. Same as when you smell fish, chicken or beef before cooking.

If the wine is off you should be able to easily detect it.

Now…

Take a sip and taste it. Here you are checking to see if you taste anything weird (you shouldn’t  if it passed the sniff taste). Most importantly you are checking the temperature of the wine to see if it’s to warm or to cold.

Note that most regular wine drinkers tend to drink their reds to warm and their white to cold. So don’t be surprised if it’s not at room temperature or doesn’t seem like it just came from your refrigerator.

If all checks out nod and say that will be fine. The wine person will pour for the table. If you got a bad (corked) bottle send it back.

All this should take 30 seconds max.

So what is a corked bottle?

It is just a bottle that has been infected by a mold called Trichloroanisole (TCA). This is from a bad cork or handling and causes the wine to be oxidized. In other words it taste like poop & the mold will rot your tongue off (kidding it’s harmless – I think).

Later we will go over how to order wine from the fancy wine menu and avoid the awkward embarrassing silence or deer in the headlights stare or worse yet having the Sommelier tell you that your selection may not pair well with your dinner, in fact it will likely ruin it and the entire evening.

Cheers,

The Frugal Wino

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wine grading

Skill in the art of winetasting doesn’t require an advanced degree in oenology (the science of winemaking). But listening to professional winetasters, it’s easy to get that impression. Bouquet, clarity, earthy, crisp, open, nostalgic — huh?

So, take a deep breath, get comfortable, and be prepared to take some time to learn some odd new definitions for familiar words and to hone your senses. Here we go…

Starting out, if you can, let someone knowledgeable decide how to serve. To do even that skillfully requires a little education and experience. Some need to be served room temperature (reds usually), some chilled (whites in general). By room temperature, we mean a slightly cooler room —60F is good for reds— and by ‘chilled’ we don’t mean frozen; start at 50F and adjust to taste.

Some should be served right away (whites with many exceptions), and some (reds again with exceptions) allowed to breathe — sit in an uncorked bottle, exposed to air — for up to 15 minutes or more. Some even need decanting (filtering out sediment) before being served (Ports and wines that have aged considerably).

Pour into an ordinary wine glass, no more than half full, and swirl a bit to generate some additional ‘winey’ vapor. Avoid heavy cut glasses so you can see well. Then examine the color. Is it clear? Hazy? Opaque?

Take a short sniff; some waft the vapors into the nose rather than hold it directly over the opening. Experiment. Pay close attention by closing your eyes. This is pretentious, it helps one to focus on one or two senses —— taste and smell, over sight. Even experts sometimes misidentify wines in blind tests.

Try to identify the odor. Is it fruity like grapes or apples or oranges? Chardonnay sometimes reminds one of apples or figs (especially when aged in oak). Others, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlots evoke the woody smells of cedar or pine needles. Syrah puts some in mind of ground black pepper or floral scents. It’s not entirely subjective —— there’s often wide agreement among experts and amateurs alike, but impressions differ on degree.

Now take a sip and run it around the tongue to get many different kinds of taste buds involved. Some areas of the tongue are more attuned to sweet detection, others more to salty or sour. Does the Zinfandel you’re testing remind you of berries? Or, maybe you’re trying a Pinot Noir from Burgundy, with a suggestion of violets. A Gewürztraminer evokes peaches to some, a Chenin Blanc orange blossoms to others.

Set aside or finish the wine and come back another day. Don’t try too much or too many at one time. One per day is preferred but a slow way to learn; certainly no more than three, otherwise your ability to discern differences will be too diminished.

The next day, try some reds and concentrate on sensing that oak storage cask. Some California reds have hints of chocolate or coffee. A fine Merlot may carry a ‘tarry’ quality preferred by those that favor strong scents.

In every case, subtlety is the watchword of the day. Good wines don’t hit the nose over the head, so to speak. Before long, you’ll find yourself with pinky raised tossing around ‘zesty’, ’shy’, and ‘brave’ like an expert.

- Frugal Wine Review