Pour Lance

This was classic stuff. Lance, George, a friend Mark, and I showed up last Wednesday for the Pratt’s Inn BBQ-bring-yer-own, and we poured our wines blind. Lance added an element of competition to the festivities, and suggested that anyone who guessed someone’s wine, right down to the producer, vintage and single-vineyard would have his dinner paid for by the rest of the group.

Lance poured his white first, and we immediately began to brainstorm. Most of us thought Burgundy, but I came to the conclusion that I was sipping California Chard. I entered a guess of Kistler Vine Hill Road Chardonnay ’05, a wine I’ve never tasted, but suspected tasted like this. Poker-faced, Lance attempted to discourage my guess, but ultimately revealed the ’04 vintage of that very wine! A near miss, but an impressive enough attempt as to concern Lance about how guessable his red would be.

Half an hour later, confident and poised for success, Lance poured his blind red. Smelling it, it seemed mature and had us all stumped. This could have been anything from Malbec to Brunello. After about 3 minutes of cold silence, as if he were directed by Rob Reiner, George randomly uttered “I’m gonna go with Leonetti ……’97…...Sangiovese”. Now, although this was a wine he knew Lance to have recently acquired, it was still a clever and more-than-educated guess. And when I saw Lance’s I-don’t-wanna-play-anymore gesture, I nearly flipped. Out of the paper bag came the ’97 Leo! Ding, ding, we have a winner.

Lance, I think we have your number. Next time, you might as well bring your wines wrapped in Ziploc bags. A good sport, you are. Overall, it was a great night with some generous wines. Nice job, guys. –Michael Koehler - www.suburbanwines.com

Michael In Austria, Part V

Austria’s Pride & Joy: These terrassen, or “terraced” vineyards famous in the Wachau are farmed by Lagler, and are located a stone’s throw from the Danube. Wachau is also the only wine region in Austria to have its own wine classification system, in addition to the national classification rules. The Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus divides Wachau wine into 3 qualitative categories: Steinfeder indicates basic quality and at least 10.7% alcohol, while Federspiel guarantees at least 11.5% alcohol and is roughly on par with Germany’s Kabinett. Smaragd, named after the emerald-colored lizard that dwells in the Wachau vineyards, is evidence of top-quality, exhibiting at least 12% alcohol and less than 9 grams per litre of residual sugar. Often, the Smaragd-level wines of the Wachau are amongst the best Austria has to offer.

Getting Cozy in the Wachau: I spent the night at this charming estate in the village of Spitz of the Wachau region. It is centered on the property of Weingut Lagler, where the Lagler family has lived for 200 years. Karl Lagler tends old Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and Neuberger vines and creates some of the most world-renown wines of the Wachau. Amongst all of his cru wines, the centerpiece is the great multi-vineyard Gruner Veltliner Elisabeth, of which I sampled the ‘06. Harvested by 8 women named Elisabeth, this stone fruit and wet stone-laden Gruner is dry but potent and thick, and will probably mature for 30 years. - Michael Koehler - http://www.suburbanwines.com/

It's A Tough Job

People often envy me for the environment I work in. I get to taste great wines all the time. I sniff, swish, swirl, sometimes gurgle and spit out (most of the time). Many times I sit in front of 15-25 wines that I must evaluate. Aroma, taste on palate, longevity, finish, sense of place, uniqueness, price, availability, competition, anticipated customer appeal, – all considerations whether to purchase.

Taste a wine now – wait an hour and taste it again – store it and taste it the next day. Wines are ever-changing and often surprising. Just when you think that you can identify the wine; it changes again.

One of the more interesting events at Suburban is our blind tasting. Each year we cycle through a series of wines to determine the best deals by varietal, category and price. We are supplied with between 75 – 250 wines in a category and set up several flights for evaluation. Each bottle is bagged and numbered to insure impartiality. With the ever growing small wineries making their debut it’s rare to see a wine make our top 12 a second time (there are some exceptions).
Time to go, another flight has been set up (now, where did I leave my glass!!). – Fred Horowitz – www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – Sparkling Wines and Summer Meals

Most people prefer white wines with their meals during the hot summer months, or an occasional rosé - rather than a heavy red wine. That makes a lot of sense to me. But, I find it interesting that many relatively knowledgeable wine consumers still consider sparkling wine as something to enjoy only on “special occasions” when a formal toast is in order. That’s too bad, because brut (i.e., “dry”) sparkling wine is probably the most universal food wine you will ever find!

But, you say, Brut Champagne is so expensive! Yes, dry sparkling wines from the Champagne district of France are expensive – and, by the way, they are not just for toasting, but are and always will be a terrific dinner beverage! But the important point here is that there are a lot of less expensive sparkling alternatives out there to go with your summer meals. French Champagne is not the only game in town.

For example, as I’ve said before, I am partial to serving Prosecco (a light, Italian, low-alcohol sparkling wine) before dinner and as a luncheon wine, because it is so inexpensive and goes so well with light foods and appetizers. There are many to choose from in the $9 to $15 range. With dinner, there are a whole host of similarly low-priced sparkling wines from which to choose, such as Spanish Cava and bargain-priced California sparkling wines.

Of course, in the $15 to $25 range, the number of brut sparkling wines available really becomes impressive. However, as wide as the assortment becomes, it will, unfortunately, not yet include any examples of good quality French Champagne, which now costs over $30 a bottle and, hence, is out the everyday meal category altogether.

So what? From just this short introduction, you probably have already stopped thinking of sparkling wine solely as expensive “Champagne” to be used only for special occasions and, instead, are ready to consider it as an affordable, refreshing summer dinner beverage. If you have, I guarantee that you will be pleased to discover how many affordable sparkling wines there are out there to enhance your meals …. and you will be doubly pleased to see how they will turn those meals into special occasions! - Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com