Wine Styles Part 1

When looking to purchase wine, there are so many to choose from.  So, you decide to try a few, you may find a couple you enjoy.  Then you find yourself buying them over and over again. That eventually you are stuck in a rut.  Once you find that wine you enjoy, all you have to do is find out which other wines are made in that style but with different grapes. 

It is very unlikely that only one style will fit you.  It may change depending on your mood, the time of the year or  what you are eating.  What I did was pick a style and explore the different grapes, countries and regions.  Thereby, introducing my palate to different wine characteristics.  Wine Styles can be separated into 4 catagories for both white and red.  They are as follows:

1. Crisp fresh fruity dry
2. Smooth, medium-bodied
3. Full-bodied
4. Semi-Sweet

Doing this 4 part blog on wine styles I hope to encourage your palate on a journey of discoveries. 

Wine Styles Part 1: Crisp fresh dry light and fruity

White Wines 

In this category when we say dry, what we are saying is a wine that is not sweet.  These wines display ripe fruit characteristics, refreshing crisp and clean.  These wines are also typically tank fermented to preserve its youthful fresh quality.  Some grapes to explore in this style will be: Chardonnay (unwooded), Chenin Blanc, Garganega, Gruner Veltliner, Muscadet, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc & Trebbiano.  The fruity character descriptors range from citrus such as lemon & lime to nectarine or melon.

Crisp fresh whites are perfect for everyday drinking.  They are good with salads or with grilled white meats, or simple snacks.  I encourge you to experiment and find a match that you enjoy or if you have one to share please do. I like to have wines in this style category at a temperature roughly between 50-55 degrees, although I have enjoyed some at around 60 degrees and it was still delicious.

Red Wines

Red wine in this category would be similar with these differences: fruit character will be more red or dark fruit dominant in flavor, the grapes will be different & serving temperature maybe slightly different.  Also these wines, although not common, may have light wood aging.  Some grapes to explore in this category: Barbera, Dolcetto, Dornfelder, Gamay, Grenache, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese & Valpolicella.

Light, fruity reds make great wines for summer sipping, when at picnics or just sitting on the deck at home.  They are good year round for parties and informal meals and with simple suppers such as pizza.  I like to enjoy my reds in this category served slightly chilled, between 58 to 62 degrees, particularly in the summer.  (Depending how noticeable the wood is in the wine, I may change the serving temperature.)  There are a lot of fun wines in this category that are both food and people friendly. 

As with tasting wine, styles are subjective as well.  Each individual has their own taste and style preference.  Experiment the many wine styles and enjoy!  Share your wine style journey with us, and “Let Your Palate Be The Guide”.

Comments are welcome, we would love to hear about your experiences, or if you have any questions.  Next month we will explore Wine Styles Part 2 Smooth Medium-Bodied Wines

Organic vs Non Organic Wines-What is the difference?

In an ever changing world of being more aware of what we eat, it wasn’t long before we began to look at the things we drink.  We have wine at many occasions.  Wine with dinner, with friends, with ourselves while watching TV, listening to music, or while we work, OK, while I work.

Let’s talk about healthy wine, meaning from healthy grapes.  Let’s attempt to decode the world of “organic wines” and what makes it organic, as well as sulfites and its use or purpose when it comes to wine.  If a wine contains sulfites, does it mean that the wine is not organic? 

Organic wines- are wines made from organic grapes.  The USDA definition for organic food is as follows: “Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers; bio-engineering; or ionizing radiation.  Before a product can be labeled “organic”, a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.”

Types of Organic

• 100% Organic- Refers to wines that are produced with grapes that are certified 100% organically and do not have any added sulfites.
• Made with organic grapes- These wines may have sulfur dioxide added as well.
• Biodynamic Farming- a technique that utilize the vineyard’s natural resources to cultivate the highest quality grapes possible without the use of pesticides, fungicides, herbacides, synthetic fertilizers or growth stimulants.  A vineyard that is certified biodynamic meets and typically exceeds the standards and regulations for organic certified farming.
• Sustainable Farming- To keep or maintain, implies long-term support of permanence.  As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are “capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely without severe or irreversible damage to ecosystem health.

Wine and Sulfites

• NSA wines (no sulfites added)- fermenting yeasts present on all grape skins generate naturally occuring sulfites in amounts ranging from 6 to 40 parts per million (ppm).  Totally sulfite-free wines are therefore an accident of nature but wines low in sulfites or free of added sulfites do exist.  Wines can be labeled as “NSA” if no sulfites have been added and the total does not exceed 10 ppm per bottle.  These wines are usually made with organic grapes.
• Vegan wines- a vegan wine has more to do with a process than a type of wine.  First understand that conventional and organic wine makers use ‘animal products’ during production to clear or ‘fine’ the wine, to keep it from turning cloudy or to remove off tastes.  The fining agent acts as a magnet and collects the unwanted matter in the wines which sinks to the bottom of the tank.  Then the clear wine is racked or decanted off the sediment into a clean tank.  Since the wine is finally filtered at the time of bottling, no traces of the fining agents are left in the finished product.  Fining agents of animal origin commonly used are egg, egg whites, egg albumin, casein (milk protien), gelatin (derived from animal bones), and isinglass (derived from fish).  In order to make the wine vegan acceptable other fining agents are used that do not contain any animal product, one example would be bentonite clay.

In conclusion, we would like to advise you to taste the different grapes, brands, and styles to find the wine for your palate.  This spring & summer we will have a small selection of organic with sulfites as well as organic no sulfites added wines.  Feel free to add a comment or a question and remember “Let Your Palate Be The Guide”.

Maryhill Winery-2009 Washington Winery of the Year!

This Friday April 3, 2009, The Wine House is featuring a wine tasting with special guest Rich Marshall, a represenative of Maryhill Winery. For $10.00 per person we will be tasting 22 award wining wines.

Maryhill Winery is on the edge of a cliff overlooking the grand Columbia Gorge and provides an inspiring view of Mount Hood to the Southwest.  The facility is just outside of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area.

The most enjoyable aspect of Maryhill is the wide variety of grapes the area will support-including several difficult-to-grow varietals.  Contracting with growers all throughout the lower Columbia Gorge to select premier vineyards to produce wine showcasing the rich and pleasurable flavors of this unique growing region.  Maryhill produces 18 different varietals and 27 different wines.

In 2001, Craig & Vicki Leuthold (pictured left) opened Maryhill Winery.  They started with 4,300 cases of wine from the 1999 vintage.  The wines were delicious.

The history and the beauty of the land has caused the Leuthold’s to have bigger dreams.  They built a 4,000 seat ampitheater just below the winery.  It is the idea of listening to great music, sipping wine and watching the sun set over the Cascades.

The Leuthold’s have been able to exceed their goals by turning them into a premiere destination winery in the Pacific Northwest and was named 2009 Washington Winery of the Year!

Today Maryhill has grown to 80,000 cases of wine, making it the state’s 15th largest winery. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craig & Vicki Leuthold

Wines with Chocolate

When you think about “Wines with Chocolate”, you probably think that all wines go with chocolate.  That isn’t necessarily true.  Not all wines go with all chocolates. 

The first time I decided to have a “Wines with Chocolate” wine tasting, I had to do the research of finding out the truth about which wines go with what chocolate.  I went to a local chocolate shop and purchased several different chocolates.  The chocolates I purchased were truffles, chocolate covered fruits and chocolate covered nuts.  The chocolates were covered in milk or dark chocolate.  

I was excited to make my discovery, I headed back to my wine shop and at that time had a few wines open to sample with my chocolates.  I poured myself and Schel some wine and laid out my array of chocolates.  We both took small bites of chocolate and a sip of the wine.  The first wine wasn’t very good with any of the chocolates!  This feeling of panic came over me and I wondered “why did I choose this theme for a wine tasting, its obvious that wine doesn’t go with chocolate”.  That afternoon I sampled all the wines I had open and then some with these chocolates.

Here we were, in the middle of the afternoon with a sugar high and a buzz from the wines.  I then vowed we wouldn’t do that again.  For the future we decided to incorporate chocolate when we were sampling wines for our inventory.  Sampling chocolates with the wines throughout the year helps us to pick new and different wines every year for our “wines with chocolate” tasting. 

I have learned from this lesson that pairing wines with chocolate is an individual taste.  Please comment if you have a “wines with chocolate” experience.  “Let Your Palate Be The Guide”

The Welcoming of the New Year!

The new year is finally upon us.  For most, it is a time to reach goals and resolutions.  Starting by moving out the old and leaving room for the new. 

For The Wine House, it is important to plan our tastings tenatively for the year and start brainstorming the ideas.  Every year, trying to top what we did the year before.  The holidays is our opportunity to take a break from the crazy wine tasting life.  In January we set aside time for group parties, either in the store or in people’s homes.  In this business, there is always research, selection and wines to taste for parties or individuals. 

We welcome the new year and the new beginnings and hope it be prosporus.  Please feel free to share a holiday “wine” memory, or a new beginning with us.  Let your palate be the guide!

We say Good-bye to a great wine!

Seventh Domaine Pinot Noir-Russian River Valley California

 

We say good-bye to a great wine, Seventh Domaine Pinot Noir! (picture shown above)

 

The wine is all Pinot with bonuses. Ripe black cherry, Cinnamon spice,

Silky with a structure that will command attention.

A wine that’s both Bold and Beautiful with a lingering long finish.  

     The last of a wine that comes once in a Palate time. After this vintage, That’s all folks!

     7 domains of life: Family-Health-Career-Spirituality-

Self development Financial security and Fun.

 

If you had the opportunity to try this wine, please share a comment. 

If not, you can share a story of a wine that is no longer available.

Most Memorable Holiday Wine

As the holidays approach, it is time to think about wines for the holidays.  What is your most memorable wine for the holidays?

For me, the most memorable wines are the ones the whole family can enjoy!  Usually something a little sweeter, but they do very well with the foods we eat for the holidays (ham or turkey).  A couple examples would be a Riesling or a sweet frizzante style wine.

Schel’s Grape Harvest Experience at Parallel 44

Rows of vines

Harvesters & Vines

Cutting a single grape cluster

Frontenac Grapes for the next “Meditation Wine”

Carl playing on the tractor

Grapes going into the crusher de-stemmer

Removing pulp

Grape juice being put into tanks

White wine grapes among the Red wine grapes

Schel with Winemaker Steve

Schel with Winemaker & Owner Maria

Beautiful View

After Harvest Celebration

On September 27, 2008 The Wine House had the opportunity to participate in a grape harvest at Parallel 44 in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

The harvest begins bright and early in the morning, which means waking up at 5:30am in the morning to make the drive to Kewaunee.  The goal was to pick as many of the ripe grapes before it was too hot.  There were about 40 volunteers who helped with this years harvest.   Some of the grapes we were going to pick today were Frontenac, Marchel Foch & Wisconsin wild grapes that will be a suprisingly interesting wine.

In the above photos, are some action shots and great views of the time I spent there.  For myself, being a part of Parallel 44’s harvest was a welcoming memory of harvests I’ve been a part of in the past.  I never would have thought in all my 10 years of being in Wisconsin I’d be doing this.  The day was magical, both young and old were eager and very excited about picking grapes.  At one point, I was thinking to myself, this is wonderful, I would stand up and look up and down the rows and would not feel as though I was in Wisconsin.  I often times thought I was in California or the vineyards of Italy.  Then I would hear laughter and play and couples competing seeing who could pick the most grapes.  Most of all, you were detached from live’s everyday pressures and all that mattered was nature and the grapes.  So, you will pick a little and taste a little   As I walked from row to row, suddenly I came across what I would say is a miracle, amongst the many rows of red grape vines there was one vine full of ripe white grapes.  It was the talk of the harvest, the taste of the grapes were ripe, juicy and delicious.  It is hard to restrain myself from eating more. 

Every now and then I would venture up to the winery where they were processing the freshly picked grapes.  Everyone was working so hard and quickly.  Here is an exciting side note:  some of the grapes we picked were for next years “Meditation wine”.  For those of you who haven’t tried this wine, you are missing out.  Next year’s vintage will be even better.  Myself and the rest of the harvesters will proudly say, “we helped make that wine.”

Overall, it was a day to be remembered forever as long as there is wine, laughter and life.  I would like to thank Carl, Steve, Maria, Barbara & Ruth (hey Ruth I didn’t forget about you-she pours the wine in the tasting room), for being great hosts, good friends and making good wine.  Now I am going to say to all who is reading this blog, if you are from Wisconsin or another state or country, if you are ever in Kewaunee in the Fall, we are harvesting grapes here and continuing a tradition of winemaking.  Oh yeah!  I almost forgot, there was one patch of grapes left in the vineyard and those grapes will be used for Parallel 44’s first Icewine.  To be harvested possibly in January 2009 if not before.

If anyone would like to share their harvest experience, please make a comment.

Schel, TWH

September Discussion-End of Summer, Beginning of Fall

September already, where did summer go?  This month we will feature our Top 8 selling wines for Spring & Summer.  Join us on Sat September 6 from 4-6pm to find out what the top 8 is, you will be as suprised as we were!  All month, stop in and taste selected top 8 wines for free!  Stock up while you can!  By October we will be bringing in wines for our Fall & Winter inventory!

Our discussion this month is to talk about our summer.  We had a busy couple of months tasting wine and hosting parties.  The country tour was amazing!  My most memorable summer activity was my visit to Parallel 44 Vineyard & Winery in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.  Yes, they do grow grapes in Wisconsin.

To the left is a photo of their beautiful vineyard with their winemaking & tasting room in the background.  I visited in August, and walked the vineyards myself.  I was able to witness that the grapes were ripening, and even got to taste one!  They have 5,000 vines of which 60% are white varietals and 40% are red varietals.  They have planted French hybrid grapes (they grow the best in Wisconsin), which are: Marechal Foch, Frontenac, Louise Swenson, LaCrosse, St.Pepin, St.Croix, Vignoles & Seyval.  What’s even better than that is the story behind the operation.  Inspired by the family’s love & tradition of growing grapes & creating wonderful wines that are a part of every celebration.  It took years to find the right site for the vineyard & winery, so they could continue the family’s passion for wine.  The 44th parallel is the line that runs across the globe from Green Bay to Kewaunee & continues through Bordeaux, France & Tuscany, Italy which are the world’s finest wine regions.  They were delighted to discover that their vineyard & winery was geographically situated along the same line as these other fine wine regions.  At the end of September, they will be harvesting the grapes and preparing to make new batches of wine!  We are so excited to help them harvest and crush the grapes.  Please visit the website www.parallel44.com or take a trip and visit.

September is the transition month into Fall.  We are preparing to select the wines for our Fall & Winter inventory.  There are a lot of events going on in September also.  Check the website for details.  Please share your wine story from the summer and as always “Let Your Palate Be the Guide”.

August Discussion: Share a winery experience

Lange Twins Winery

From left to right: Aaron, Joe, Randy, Char, Matthew, Marissa, Kendra, Brad, Susan, Philip

The Wine House had the opportunity to meet 2 members of the Lange Twins family, Joe & Kendra.  We had met Kendra on another occasion and were interested in their wines and the family history behind it.  When our sales person came and told us that Lange Twins was going to be in the area, we jumped at the opportunity to host their visit in our store.  We invited a few customers to experience this family and their wines.  Along with the four wines we tasted, our attention was on this amazing family.

Here is a little of their history:

During the 1870s, our ancestors Johann and Maria Lange emigrated from Germany to the Lodi area looking for new opportunities for themselves and their children. During this time, farmland was plentiful and three of their sons, including Albert Theodor Lange, began farming non-irrigated watermelons.

A successful watermelon business enabled the family to expand their farming operation and Albert’s son, Harold Albert Lange, expanded the farming tradition through the development of 273 acres of vineyard.

In 1980, Harold’s twin sons, Randall and Bradford Lange, formed a vineyard farming partnership with the purchase of 246 acres from their father; they also created a vineyard management company in the Lodi region.

Today, LangeTwins owns and manages vineyards in a four county area in Northern California. Two generation of Langes – the twins, their spouses, and their children – work together to continue the viticultural legacy and expand into an estate winery.

Visit Lange Twins Blog: www.langetwinswineryandvineyards.wordpress.com

Share with us your winery story!