Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Chardonnay Exploration ~ Session 5


This month we began our varietal explorations. We decided to start with Chardonnay, since it is one of the most popular white wines.

First off, describing aromas and tastes can be a daunting thing, especially when it comes to chardonnay because they can vary so much in their flavors and descriptors.
Here are some general Chardonnay descriptors, particularly in reference to California Chardonnay:

*These flavors come from the grapes themselves:

~Stone Fruits: green apples, pear, apricot, peach
~Citrus: orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, grapefruit
~Tropical: pineapple, mango, melon, guava

*These flavors usually come from the winemaking process such as malolactic fermentation and barrel-age:

~Malolactic: rich, butter, cream, caramel, hazelnut, nutty oak
~Light Oak: vanilla, sweet wood, and coconut
~Heavy Oak: oak, smoke, toast, and yeast

For a long time Chardonnay was made in a style with lots of butter and oak on the palate. These days, Unoaked Chardonnay is making a big comeback. We decided to take a moment and discuss the difference between the two styles.

Oaked and Unoaked Chardonnay:

~Used predominantly these days when making Chardonnay are oak barrels. Chardonnay is a perfect example of how well white wine and wood work together. Being aged in oak gives the grapes a whole new range of flavors which makes the wine more complicated and delicious. The smaller and newer the barrel, the more oak flavors the wine will have.
~In general, stainless steel fermentation and aged wines tend to express more fruit forward fruit aromas and flavors, while those fermented and aged in barrels absorb the wood, vanilla, baking spice and other characters from the oak.
~If chardonnay grapes are aged in oak, the result is a more fruit driven wine that has richness and creaminess but not the buttery quality identified by malolactic fermentation which we will talk about in more detail in a minute.

Malolactic Fermentation:

~As you may remember, we talked about primary fermentation in a previous session, as a reminder this converts the sugar in the juice into alcohol. Wine is made by picking ripe grapes at just the right time, then crushing them to get the juice. This juice gets mixed with yeast which then converts the grapes natural sugars into alcohol.

Malolactic Fermentation Defined: Malolactic fermentation is a secondary fermentation. Malic acid is the tart acid found in a Granny Smith apple, while lactic acid is the more subtle acid found in milk, butter, cheese and yogurt. This is the process that basically takes the tart malic acid (think apples) compounds formed during fermentation and softens to lactic acid (think milk) which can give the wine a creamy mouth feel, yet still retains the apple like scents. The malolactic fermentation takes the edge off the acidity.
~This malolactic fermentation is an optional process chosen by the wine maker, but if you prefer that big buttery, oaky chardonnay, then look for ones that have been through this malolactic fermentation. This process yields the compound (diacetyl) which makes the dominant scent of fake butter used in things such as microwave popcorn, or imitation butter flavorings used in baked goods.

Let's talk Barrels!

Oak and Toast in Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is one varietal where oak really shows off. It can get some specific flavor profiles from the oak such as: coconut, cinnamon, and cloves. There are 3 main oak barrels that Californian vintners use, depending on what they are looking for. American, French, and Hungarian oak barrels all impart different flavors on the wine. Within the choice of barrel type, the winemaker must also decide how heavy the toast they want, and how many times they will use the oak barrel. On its first use, the barrel will impart the strongest flavor, while a second or third use will show a decrease in intense oak flavor. We will go into further discussion on this in a future blog post.

For more information on oak toasting, go to this link... http://winebarrels.com/toasting.asp

Our Chardonnay blog post would not be complete without discussing the wines!
Wine varietals have their own preference when it comes to where they want to grow. Here is what we learned about premier Chardonnay regions in California:
AVA: This is an acronym for American Viticultural Area. AVA refers to a grape growing region defined by geographic area and climate. 85% of the grapes in the wine must have been grown in the area in order for the bottle to carry the name of the AVA.

Chardonnay friendly AVA’s: Premium quality Chardonnay thrives when planted in areas that are along the coast and heavily influenced by fog and coastal breezes. The heat of the day help the grapes to mature, while the cool evening breezes and temperature drops, help to prolong the growing season. This helps the grapes to gather intense flavor, while maintaining balanced acidity. Terroir characteristics can influence the wine. Some of the premier growing areas in California are: Russian River Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands, Carneros (Napa), and Santa Barbara County. We will be highlighting Chardonnays from all four of these regions tonight.

Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
This region is located within Monterey County on the Santa Lucia Mountain Range, overlooking the Salinas Valley. The Tondre’ vineyard is south of Salinas and west of Gonzales.

Savannah Chanelle 2010 Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay, Tondre’s Grapefield
Flavor Profile:
• Unoaked, dry, 13.5% alcohol
• Creamy toastiness (reminiscent of champagne)
• Crisp acidity
• Crisp green apples, assorted tropical fruits, with a hit of pineapple on the finish
~This wine was an example of unoaked Chardonnay. It was light, crisp, and refreshing. We decided that this wine would be a nice one to sip on, and would not necessarily need food to enjoy.

Russian River AVA
The Russian River AVA is located in Sonoma County. This region can influence a “flinty” taste in Chardonnay.

Kenwood Vineyards 2010 Russian River Valley Reserve Chardonnay
Flavor Profile:
• Aromas of: honeysuckle, white peach, lychee, and toasty vanilla oak
• Creamy and rich mouthfeel, with baked apple flavors, crisp acidity and a long finish
~While not very exciting or interesting at first, we did find that this wine changed a great deal throughout the tasting. It started out crisp, and became creamier with more butter influence as it sat in the glass.

Santa Ynez Valley AVA
Again, this AVA is near the coast, with cool breezes helping to promote a long growing season. Santa Ynez is located in Santa Barbara County.

2008 Reserve BlackJack Ranch Chardonnay
Flavor Profile:
• Crisp acidity and a layered, mineral-laced honeysuckle scent
• On the palate: hints of orange marmalade, pears, ripe apples, and butter.
~From the winery made famous in the movie Sideways. This wine was interesting and continued to change in the glass as well. The Blackjack Chardonnay was food friendly and enjoyable.


Carneros AVA
This region spans both Napa and Sonoma Counties. It is generally cool and windy, especially on the Sonoma side. Chardonnay grown in this area are popular with sparkling wine producers.


Neyers Vineyards 2009 Carneros Chardonnay
Flavor Profile:
• Fresh floral scents, notes of apple, pear, spice and light oak
• Toasty nose with butter and spicy oak, nutty
• Full-bodied palate, intense and vibrant
~By far the evening favorite! This Chardonnay was interesting, buttery and oaky, but not overdone. It was the most food friendly Chardonnay of the evening, and got better and better as it sat in the glass.


Point to Ponder:
As you sip wine this month, consider what you have learned tonight. Think about the style of Chardonnay you prefer. Do you like a buttery, oaky chardonnay or do you like an unoaked, fruity and minerally Chardonnay? Or perhaps you like each of them equally depending on the situation!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Session 4 ~ Body, Flavor, Length, Complexity and Depth

This month our study group learned more about how to describe their wine experience. We decided to tackle the subjects of Body, Flavor, Length, Complexity and Depth. Jennifer and I did our best to choose wines that would highlight many of these descriptors.
Read below to find out what we discovered!

Body:
Body is a physical sensation of how the wine feels in your mouth. You can ask yourself if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of the wine, or if it is watery. Generally speaking, a full-bodied wine has a higher alcohol content. (above 13.5) While a light-bodied wine has a lower alcohol content (below 10-11). Examples of full red wines are Chateauneuf-du-Pape of the Rhone in France, Late harvest Zins from CA, and cabernets. White Burgundy, and CA Chardonnays are examples of full-bodied whites.

Flavor:
Wine for Dummies breaks this complicated subject into four easy categories: They suggest the flavor families are Fruity, Earthy, Spicy, and Herbal.
In our experience, sometimes you will find that these categories blend together. We will go into more specific flavors in certain varietals starting in our next session. Just remember that everyone has their own tasting vocabulary…while we may think of a wine as spicy, you may think it is fruity!

Length:
Many times we refer to wine as being short or long, which indirectly is referring to the length of a wine. Length describes a wine that goes all the way on the palate, meaning you can taste it on all the taste centers on your tongue and gives a long sensory impression across the tongue. The flavor tends to linger in your mouth and nose (in a good way) even after being swallowed or spit out if it has good length. The flavors won't disappear halfway through a taste. Sometimes the flavors linger much longer than others. They say if it lingers for 10 seconds=good, 15 seconds=great, and 20 seconds= superb. Many wines today are up-front on the palate and may make a big impression as soon as you taste them, but they can actually be "short" in length. When you hear long finish or short finish, this again talking about the length of a wine.

Complexity/Depth:
The depth of a wine is somewhat subjective, but when we say a wine has depth it means we taste many flavors that give an impression of having underground layers of taste on our tongue, rather than being flat or one-dimensional. A "flat" wine can never be great. These flavors and layers of taste that give us depth also goes along with the complexity of a wine. A wine that keeps revealing different things about itself, showing new flavors or impressions is a complex wine…usually considered better quality. A complex wine is also said "to have a lot going on" Red wines tend to be more complex than white wines because they have more going on with them when you taste them. This is probably because of a very obvious factor, that being they have at least one more component than white wines...tannins.

Tenuta Pietra Porzia Regillo Frascati 2009 ~ This was chosen to highlight a light-bodied white wine, that would fall into the "fruity" flavor family. Tasting Notes from our Group: Crisp, refreshing and clean. We felt this was light, not very complex, short in length and showed pear and apple on the palate. We discovered that this wine, while not all that enjoyable to most people on its own, became quite lovely when paired with our snacks of Italian meats and cheeses. Yum!
Headstand Gewurztraminer 2010 ~ Boy were we glad we tasted this one blind! Sometimes there is trepidation when trying a Gewurztraminer, but we felt this highlighted a medium-bodied white wine in the herbal and spicy flavor families. Tasting Notes from our Group: Earthy with aromas of cut grass, flowers, and herbal notes. On the palate we tasted rose petals, apricots and loquats. This wine had a little complexity, and had a longer finish. Many of our group members were pleasantly surprised with this lovely varietal!
Fog Head Pinot Noir 2009 ~ Pinot Noir can often offer up earthy notes with light to medium body, and this one delivered. Tasting Notes from the Group: Earthy, light bodied with short length, and a little "hot" (high in alcohol). We didn't feel that it had a lot of complexity, and it tasted better after we ran it through a Vinturi.
Cartlidge and Brown Petite Sirah 2009 ~ We had high hopes that this petite sirah would show a full-bodied, spicy wine. Unfortunately it turned out to be quite light for a petite sirah. (Last months petite was far more full-bodied.) Tasting Notes from the Group: We felt it was medium-bodied, with complexity and a long finish. We did find it spicy, along with a little earthiness, and some pepper. We also felt it showed some berry fruit, and was well balanced. Everyone really enjoyed this wine!





Point to Ponder...
As you sip wine this month, consider what you have learned tonight. Evaluate wines you drink on the weight you feel in the mouth, the flavor family it might belong to, what the length and depth is, and how complex the wine feels to you.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Acidity, Tannins and Balance in Wine ~ Session 3

Well, it's been 3 sessions and Jennifer and I are quite pleased with how the study group is going! The two of us are learning a TON, and we really enjoy passing on the knowledge to our group. Session 3 was all about learning how to taste for acidity and tannin in wine. We learned the importance of the two, and how it all works together to achieve that special balance we all look for in a glass of wine.


Acid in Wine:

Acidity is the easiest of the four bastic tastes to imagine without actually tasting it, and your tongue reacts the most strongly to acidity. We asked the group members to sniff some vinegar and take a taste of a lemon to experiment with what happens. As we noticed in our activity, sourness is a measure of acidity. When we took a whiff of the vinegar, we noticed that the edges of our tongue curled up in anticipation of how it might taste. The lemon highlighted that pop of sour that often occurs when something is acidic.

Balancing Sweetness and Acidity:
Sweetness and acidity work closely together to achieve the right taste and balance. The sweeter the wine, the more acid is needed to keep it from being considered cloying (Overly, sickly sweet) Consider making spaghetti sauce or lemonade. In order to counterbalance the acid in the tomato sauce or the lemons, sugar is added, thus bringing the result into a good balance. This balance is important to the winemaking process. If a wine is too high in acid, it is considered green or tart. If a wine has the right amount of acidity, it can be considered crisp or fresh. If a wine does not have enough acidity, it is considered flat or flabby. Alternatively, if a red wine has too much acidity, it can taste biting or “sharp”. To put it simply: The sweeter it is, the more acid you need, and vice versa.

A note on food pairing: In general, you want to pair an acidic wine with acidic foods. For instance, Sauvignon Blanc would pair well with salads that have vinegar based dressings, while Chardonnay would go well with less acidic foods. Barbara tends to be one of my favorite pizza or red sauce pasta wines, because of the acid in the tomato sauce.

Tannins in wine:
Tannins are considered a sensation of the mouth, rather than a taste. One can associate tannins in strong tea, and the thin skin on walnuts. (Try eating a walnut and feel the sensation in your mouth...tannins!) The sensation of tannins in the mouth will begin by puckering up the inside of the mouth and drying it out completely. Tannins come from the thickness of the grape skins, the stems and the seeds. The longer a winemaker leaves the wine to rest with the skins, the more opportunity for tannins to seep into the wine. Wood barrels also have an effect on how tannic a wine is. The newer the cask, and the less it’s been charred, the more tannins seep into the wine.Wines with a high degree of tannins are not necessarily created for drinking right away. They act as a sort of preservative to prolong the active life of a great red wine. (Janis Robinson~How to Taste) Ideally, tannins in a wine will break down over time and help to combine with other elements in the wine to knit together certain flavor elements. Examples would be Cabernet Sauvignons and Petite Sirahs. These wines are often made to lay down so the tannins will soften, and the fruit and other flavor elements will combine together over time for a pleasantly balanced wine. Over time, the wine mellows and will eventually drop out of the wine to form sediment.

Jennifer had enjoyed this bottle of cabernet for a special occasion. She reported that it was an amazing wine, and noticed that the tannins had "fallen off" over time to create sediment left in the bottle. If you look closely at the neck, you might be able to see the sediment clinging to the side.

***The difference between acid and tannin: pay attention to how your mouth feels after drinking the wine. Tannins will leave your mouth completely dry, while acid will make you salivate in response to the dry feeling

Wine stars of the evening...

Katheryn Kennedy 2010 Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a typically acidic white wine. This one was quite balanced in the acidity and had a crisp and refreshing taste to it.

2008 Trimbach Riesling We chose a Riesling to show how a wine that can be typically sweet, can also be balanced with acid. This one was definitely not sweet, but not overly acidic as well. It was considered very interesting and a fun wine to study.

2007 Trefethen Cabernet Sauvignon
This cab proved to be bold with firm tannins. The tannins were not overly harsh, and shows that over time they will soften out, creating a lovely wine. While it was too oaky for some, several of us really enjoyed it.

2008 J. Lohr Petite Sirah This wine was chosen for its soft tannins, even though petite sirahs can be harsh at times. Again considered oaky, it was a definite hit among a few of our members.








Point to Ponder...

As you are sipping wines, evaluate them for their levels of acidity and tannin. Is it crisp and refreshing, or flabby and flat? Are the tannins firm and structured, or do they leave your feeling uncomfortably dry? It's important to note these things when tasting wine so you know what to look for to please your palate!

Happy Sipping!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Understanding Sweetness and Dryness in Wine ~ Session 2

In our second session we delved into the world of understanding sweetness in a wine. How does one identify a sweet wine? Is it really sweet, or is it fruity? How can we tell the difference?

We began the session by tasting sugar granules to determine where we taste sweetness on our tongues.

This is a diagram of the tongue, similar to what we looked at to help us understand where the basic tastes of sweet, salty, bitter and sour are located.

Generally speaking, we taste sweetness around the tip of the tongue. However, there can be differences of where one tastes sweetness, as we experienced among our group of tasters.

What makes a wine sweet?

The total amount of sugars left in a wine after it's made, is called its residual sugar. Residual sugar in a wine can vary greatly, and is often used to help balance out a highly acidic wine, or help to mask rough edges. (We will learn more about this balance in Session 3.)

Is it sweet, or is it fruity?

One of the misunderstandings that I have observed when pouring wine in a tasting room, is that people will often confuse fruity wines for being sweet. Fruity wines have distinct aromas and flavors of fruit that many people perceive as sweetness. This seems very sad to me, because people will often pass up trying a beautifully dry, but fruity wine simply because they think that "sweet" wines are of lesser value than "dry" wines. In my personal opinion, every wine on the sweet to dry spectrum has its rightful place!

How can you tell if the wine is actually sweet?

On its own, the nose cannot determine if a wine is sweet or not. One must use the impact on the tongue, to sense the sweetness. However, this is difficult when smelling the wine at the same time as you taste it. Even in your mouth, you are smelling the fruit as you taste the wine. (Recall the retronasal passage lesson from session one)

Try this at home: As you taste a wine you think is sweet rather than fruity, plug your nose while you taste. If the wine is indeed sweet, you’ll be able to actually taste the sweetness on the tip of your tongue without confusing it with what you smell.

We asked our tasters to taste through four selections and rate the level of sweetness they experienced on a spectrum of bone dry - dry - medium dry - medium sweet - sweet - very sweet. While they felt a little apprehensive about doing this "cold", we wanted them to have the opportunity to blind taste without having a preconceived idea of how sweet they thought the wine would be based on the varietal.



Wine #1: Louis Buoillot Perle de Vin "Grand Reserve" Brut
This was a sparkling wine we considered to be our "dry" choice.






Wine #2: 2007 Anglim Viognier, Paso Robles
Viognier is a light, fruity wine often confused with being sweet. This particular viognier was hard to recognize. It had some fruity qualities to it, but it was not as easily recognizable as a viognier. Had I not known I what I was pouring, I would have been thoroughly confused!
We ultimately decided it was in the dry to medium dry category.



Wine #3: Michele Chiarlo Barbera d'Asti 2008
Barbara is an acidic grape that can be quite fruity, but can also be quite tart depending on the style and quality of grapes. This one ended up being very subtle in fruit, and a couple of people experienced tartness.






Wine #4: 2009 Rombauer Vineyards Zinfandel, Napa, CA
This wine was suggested to me by the guys over at The Wine Club in San Jose. (Super knowledgeable guys...I highly recommend this place!!) The residual sugar in this zinfandel was not high enough to consider it a Late Harvest Zin, but it was high enough to taste. There was no mistaking that this wine had been chosen to highlight a sweet red.


Point to Ponder... As you continue to sip wine, consider what you have learned in this session. Experiment with the difference between sweetness and fruitiness. Ask yourself how you would rate the level of sweetness and dryness in the wine. Are you surprised by certain varietals? Don’t be afraid to stretch outside your wine comfort zone ~ try something new!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Suggested for Further Reading...

As Jenn and I navigate our way through facilitating this study group, we have found the following resources very helpful...

Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, by Kevin Zraly

Think Like a Genius Wine Master, by Tim Gaiser, Master Sommelier

Wine For Dummies, 2nd Edition by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan

How to Taste ~ A Guide to Enjoying Wine, by Jancis Robinson

The Oxford Companion to Wine, by Jancis Robinson
(This book is basically a dictionary of all things wine. It's a bit heavy for everyday reading, but it helps when we feel the need to "geek out" on the technical stuff.)



Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A New Meaning to Blind Tasting ~ Session 1

Our Wine Study Group is off to a fantastic start! During our first gathering, we decided to engage our new group in a little game of blind tasting. However, this was no ordinary blind tasting! Instead of blindfolding the bottles, we blindfolded the tasters.


In this first activity, Jenn and I wanted to test our new group's ability to tell the difference between a red and white wine. In order to make the test a bit challenging, we chose two wines that would be very similar to each other in structure and as close as possible in taste. We served them at room temperature, and did not allow the tasters to see the bottles before the blindfold activity.

Here are the wines we chose to use:

Red: 2009 Louis Tete Les Charmeuses Morgon - This is a Beaujolais wine from the Burgundy Region in France that is light in structure and taste.

White: 2009 Domaine Des Terres Dorees Beaujolais Blanc “Classic" - Also from France, this white wine is a 100% Chardonnay. The structure on this wine was firm enough to stand up to a light red.

The tasters were given partners and asked to swirl, sniff, and taste each wine, carefully deciding which was red and which was white. After two minutes, we asked them to hold up the wine they believed to be the white wine. I'm happy to report that everyone passed!

You may be wondering why we would torture our friends this way, but there is a method to our madness. In addition to being a fun activity to break the ice during our first gathering, we also wanted to begin showing the connection between all of our senses when we go about the process of tasting. By blindfolding ourselves, we take away one of the senses that gives us a clue about what we are going to taste. In a way, our brain likes to give us clues about what we are about to eat or drink in various ways. Not being able to see the wine, takes away one of the preconceived notions we might already have about a “white” or a “red” wine. This leaves us with only the sense of taste, and smell.

Why is this important? We do not taste with our taste buds alone...

The importance of the Nose:
• Smell is the most acute sense (1,000 times more sensitive than taste)
• Flavor is determined by about 75% smell and 25% taste
• “Taste” is actually something that is determined by what we sense with our noses and mouths combined
• We actually taste and smell at the same time when we are chewing. Vapor will travel up to our olfactory receptors, sending our brain messages about what we are eating.
• Volatile substances (like wine) shoot flavor elements (vapor) off into the atmosphere all the time, making them an interesting and rewarding experience.
• By actively smelling everything you drink, and eat, you can at least double the pleasure it gives.

Point To Ponder...Try this the next time you go to sip your wine... As you bring the glass up to your lips, breathe in through your mouth at the same time that you're smelling the wine. What do you notice?

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Introducing the Self-Made Sommelier Group Leaders...


Jennifer and Kristen doing some tasting at Ridge



Kristen

I have long been fascinated by the world of wine. I'm not really sure when my love affair began exactly...Perhaps it was when I moved to Sonoma County and lived among the vines. Watching them change through the seasons, getting heavy with fruit and anticipating the harvest. What I do know however, is that once I started exploring wine and wine culture, I was hooked.

My full time inquiry into wine began in 2005 when I worked for a family owned organic farm and winery in Healdsburg. I knew almost nothing when I was hired, but quickly started to pick things up. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I threw myself into my studies with eager enthusiasm, and vowed to never stop exploring this passion. After recently making the decision to follow my passions further, I decided that I needed to dedicate myself to really understanding my wine tasting palate. So Jennifer and I convinced a group of tasters to join us on a journey of exploring our palates, and we invite you to follow along with our experience.



Jennifer


My love and fascination for wine started about 9 years ago. Not sure exactly what it was that peaked my interest ~Maybe it was turning 21~Maybe it was the simple presence of it at our Sunday family dinners where my Dad would often share his newest find~ Maybe it was just the want to learn about something new~ But I soon became fascinated by the complexity and expansive big world of wine.

Whether it was throwing wine tasting parties with friends, taking trips to Paso Robles, Napa and Healdsburg, or visiting all our amazing local wineries, I quickly became intrigued by the complexity of wine and was fascinated with the broad array of tastes I was being introduced to. There was a whole new world I wanted to learn more about and become more knowledgeable in...if only it were that easy..:)

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life as a wife, mom to two beautiful girls, and working part time as a behavior therapist for our local school district, I find that at the end of a long week, (okay, sometimes a long day) I find much peace in enjoying a nice glass of wine. I love experimenting with different varietals and new wineries and taking my knowledge to new heights. I am thoroughly excited to take this love and passion for wine to the next level as I learn all I can to broaden my palette and expand my vocabulary by embarking on this next wine journey.



Join us as we explore the senses and learn how to taste wine like true professionals!