Good Morning!

Over the weekend I opened a bottle I had received as a very special gift. I was given this bottle for my birthday and my friend who gave it to me wanted to open it and try it. I found the bottle of Chateau St Jean Sonoma 2006 Cinq Cepapes Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County. The wine has a long title but I love all the information and thought I would share some of it with you.

First of all, my pal said I found this wine at the grocery store and it was the most expensive bottle I could find without getting someone to unlock a case. Well, I had to giggle, I thought that is sweet of her, she is not much of a wine drinker so she thinks the more you pay the better the wine, bless her heart. It was a young wine and I got out two glasses and the decanter. She was intrigued about the whole decanter “thingy”, so I opened the bottle and poured a sample in her glass and then I poured the wine into the decanter, after I poured the wine in the decanter I then poured another sample from the decanter into another glass and ask her to just sniff each one. The look on her face after she sniffed them both, was priceless.

She said, what does that thing do to the wine? I launched into a spiel about oxygen and wine and her face went blank. I said now, just try the wine and she pointed to the decanted wine and said this tastes much better. All this being said I poured two glasses and we sat down to watch my favorite team The Indianapolis Colts. I took my first sip and this wine needed to open up, so in the 15 minutes I was swirling it around I was doing a little research on this wine, here is what I found out.

This wine is called a Cabernet Sauvignon, but there are 5 grape varities used to create this blend This is why it states on the label Cinq Cepages. The grapes used are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. This blend in France is called a Bordeaux Blend, but in the United States this blend s called Meritage if it meets certain requirements. Maybe the reason this wine is called Cabernet Sauvignon and not a Meritage is because the blending amounts do not meet the United States standards for that on the label. The standards for calling a wine a Meritage as I understand them are as follows:

1. The wine has to have two or more Bordeaux grape varieties – red wines are, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Gros Verdot, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and St. Macaire. (No more than 90 percent of any single variety may go into a Meritage wine.

2. It must be the winery’s best wine of it’s type.

3. It must be produced and bottled by a U.S. winery from grapes that carry a U.S. Appellation.

4. Its production is limited to a maximum of 25,000 cases per vintage.

After reading the label, I made some assumptions that the winemaker of Chateau St Jean Sonoma, Margo Van Staaveren, used more than 90% Cabernet Sauvignon. Then I thought, maybe they did not want to be restricted by the name Meritage, maybe they made more than just 25,000 cases.

At this point, I just wanted to see if the wine had opened up and it had. The heat from the first sip was gone and now this wine was balanced, had deep black fruit and smokiness, a brightness and roundness at the same time. The wine is young and playful and I am sure with a few more years in the bottle, this wine would drink like a wine ROCKSTAR!

This was my favorite wine this past weekend, I am going to the store and pick up a couple of bottles and get them in my cellar to taste again in a few years and see how some age treats this blend of varieties!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

I was ask this week about what to do with leftover wine and how long does it last, how to store it, and are there any other uses for the wine before pouring it out. Well, If i have friends over, I rarely have leftovers and I have become famous on days when I am doing large tastings, to have a group of “winos” who come over to help me with the bottles that are open so I do not have to dump wine.

Great question and I have lots of ideas, some are good, some not so much, but I used to have this problem and I think I can help in some way. First of all if you are having dinner and alone, you will probably not knock off a bottle on your own, unless it has been a Monday from hell. Then if you do knock off the bottle, Tuesday will most likely be a morning from hell as well. My goal in life is not to be drunk and hungover. I like to remember what I said and did and so polishing off a bottle alone is not really a good thing for me, your tolerance might be different from mine.

Anyway, Let’s say you enjoyed a half bottle of screw-cap white wine last night with chicken and you put the bottle back in the frig afterward, how long will that wine last? No wine will ever be the same as it was when first opened, but about 24-48 in the frig, it should still be fine.

If you opened a bottle of red and had a couple of glasses while eating a steak and you shoved the cork back in the bottle and sat the bottle on the counter top, you might finish it off the next night and it should be just ok…I find that if I do this, that the red wine has a copper penny metal taste thing going on in the finish of the wine.

If you would have put the cork in the bottle and put it in the frig, yes red wine in the frig, the next night, pour a glass, let the temperature come up a bit and it should taste pretty good. You buy yourself an extra day or so in the frig. Once wine is opened it is exposed to oxygen and that starts it’s demise.

Here are the things I do to try to keep the wine good longer. Like I said on tasting days, I invite as many over as possible, to help me finish up the wine and also, it helps me to taste the wines several time throughout the day to see how it opens up and with my pals over they can taste and we can all compare tasting notes.

Here are some of my favorite things to do with extra wine….I have ice cube trays in my freezer and I pour the wine in the trays and once it is firm I put the red cubes in a freezer zip-loc bag and when I am making soups, sauces etc…I throw in a cube or two to add the wine!

I do the same with white wine, but I rarely ever cook with much white wine, but I keep a bag in the freezer and add the white wine cubes to it. Through the summer time it is hot here so I pour the cubes in a pitcher and add some fresh fruit and sometimes some Sprite or 7-Up and I am all set for a day at the pool. I have made sangria out of the red cubes too!

I also have a small wine barrel (holds 2 gallons) and that barrel was used years ago for wine but somehow it picked up an acid that turned the wine into vinegar (those were the earlier winemaking years in the basement) but I would take leftover wine and add it to the barrel, it makes for a wonderful vinegar for salad dressings and marinades. If you do not have a barrel, go get one of those clear bottles with a “hinge” type thing stopper that has a rubber grommet on it, I buy them at World Market all the time and pour the remaining wine in there with some red wine vinegar or Balsamic vinegar and you can throw in garlic or rosemary and start your own vinegar and marinade.

I would just say a wine that has been open more than 3 days to me at least, has lost it’s appeal in my mouth.

I hope this gives you some ideas…or better yet, invite someone to help you with that bottle in the first place!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

I am just wrapping up a really great read about wine and the career of Rajat Parr and many other Master Sommeliers and Chefs that have worked with him. The book is written by Jordan Mackay who is an acclaimed writer, and well entrenched in the wine world himself.

Reading Rajat’s bio as a kid in Calcutta his whole family experience was about food and he spent his childhood in the kitchen with mom and grandma and this led him to go to cooking school in India. One summer visiting family he had his first taste of wine. It was 1993 and his uncles’ wine collection was quite vast and it really got him thinking about how each grape had a different flavor and sent his mind thinking about all the wines he had yet to try.

He was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America CIA in New York and he had to go to school starting at 7 AM and when he was done, take an hour ride home, then worked at night in an Indian restaurant. ( I think this is a point of interest, we all have worked, gone to school, no sleep, eating Totino’s pizzas and ramen noodles). Rajat ended up winning a Wine Spectator Scholarship and spent the next year learning all aspects of the business, front of the house, line cook, sous chef, etc. He read about and saw a picture of Larry Stone in the Wine Spectator and at one of his interviews, a guy says call Larry Stone in San Francisco he might have something for you….Rajat borrows $2K from his best pal and flies to the Bay and Stone hired him and he ends up being an apprentice under Stone.

This book talks so much about the “legacy” of who has helped “Whom” in the wine biz it is awesome. It talks about which of Rajat’s teachers, trained with Stone and which one worked with legendary sommeliers and wine personalities like Daniel Johnnes, Kermit Lynch, Peter Mayle, Kevin Zraly, Fred Dame and all the great chefs who were part of this club as well, Thomas Keller, Michael Mina and other wine celebraties like Claudia Harris, Madeline Triffon, David Lynch, Paul Grieco and the list of all the folks who are important for making the wine and food scene what it is today.

This book reads part like a novel and then it reads part like a biography and then it is a pure wine information book. Rajat is not only a Sommelier for the Michael Mina resturants like RN74 in San Francisco and Seattle, he is in charge of all Mina’s resturants including Vegas and the rest. Rajat also is now making his own wine along with his daily duties and he is a ROCKSTAR in the wine world.

Like me get to the part of the book that got me hooked…He says several things in the book that rang out through my soul…

1. Ultimately, the decision about what is good is a personal one.

2. When tasting Be curious. Never assume.

3. Taste what’s in your glass, not what’s in your mind.

4. If you want to be a good taster, you have to have reference points.

5. To understand Pinot Noir, begin with Burgundy. If you want to understand Merlot, try wines from Pomerol.

6. The key to comprehending wine styles from classic regions is to establish a single benchmark wine that represents a region or style. This becomes the definitive wine, the textbook version of what a wine is in a good vintage and from a particular location should taste like.

7. How he takes tasting notes….I am trying to better define how I arrange my notes so that I can have a more organized approach to the wines I try all the time….this is a big section, so I will not bore you with details!

8. He discusses why you have to travel in regions and very surgically get to know each vineyard and it’s producers if you want to understand french wines at the level he does….(I don’t want to know the wines that well, but I’d like to go back to France and spend time in the vineyards)

9. He says something so beautiful about food and pairings, they do not have to be so serious/rigorous but if you love both things, what you love to drink is never better than when it’s drunk with what you love to eat. He mentions Zuni Cafe in SF and having roasted chicken with a big northern Rhone Syrah.

10. He says when you are picking up a bottle of wine, understand you are drinking history!

Those are just a few points that caught my mind and I wanted to share them with you. He breaks down wines, producers, best bargains, best pairings, how to buy, order wines…very well written book and it is not a quick read. I have learned a lot about networking in this book, I have learned much about wine biz in general and I have learned much about the role of the Sommelier. I enjoyed this book and will use it as a reference for years and years to come.

PS. The photos in this book are rustic and beautiful, I felt like I was with him!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

Many of you who follow my blog know that before I ever started making wine in the basement I was an executive recruiter and I was pretty successful in my career. And some of you might say, so you were a headhunter, what’s that got to do with wine? Well, maybe nothing and maybe everything. Recruiting is all about asking questions and listening for answers or if someone does not know what they really want, you have to take a deeper dive into questions to help them better understand what they want or need out of their next career move.

So in recruiting I would have ask one of my candidates this question. If you could paint me a picture of your perfect job, what would it look like?

Candidate’s answer: I want to be the Plant Manager of a high volume, lean manufacturing automotive supplier in the Midwest. I would prefer a non-union environment, and I would need to make at least $150,000 per year and be provided a company vehicle.

Ok, so from what their response, I can ask some deeper questions, Like, if I have a position of Plant Manager of a plastics plant that makes consumer goods would you consider that opportunity if all the rest of your desires are met. We would talk many times and as I had clients with positions that are a good fit, we would discuss each one until we found the career move that makes sense for the client and the candidate….everyone wins and this process can take 2 weeks and it can take 2 years. You have to be willing to ask lots of questions and expect everyone to learn something new during the process.

Why is recruiting like finding wines? I was at a wine tasting with several wine reps and each had a different style. One guy poured samples and once the person took a sip, he ask if they liked it and if they wanted to purchase a few bottles. Bold, direct and intimidating but his sales style must work for him, he was moving product.

The next table the guy was so busy telling everyone what they were tasting and why this wine was perfect for them to have as their “House” wine. If this rep was a recruiter his discussion with the candidate would sound like this….Well, this opportunity is the only one I have found in a long time, I would take it if I were you, it’s a tough market and at least you will be with a “solid” company.

The next guy served a sample and when I said I liked it, he said, what about this wine speaks to you…well, I said, I like the aroma, I like the mouth feel…etc…He had completely engaged me in talking myself into why I had to buy a few bottles…good sales technique. I used to ask a candidate after an interview, why do you think you would be the best candidate for the company to hire…they would sell themselves on the job, I did not have to work at closing them.

Then I watched the last rep, she was savvy and smart with her approach. A woman walked up and really just wanted to try the free wine. She ask her was she making something special for dinner or was there an occasion, or if she just wanted to try the wine. The woman bravely said, I don’t know much about wine. And the rep took her time and ask a few more questions, about when she liked to drink wine, what wine she has had in the past she enjoyed, what she was eating….etc…by the time the rep was done with a woman who normally only bought Chardonnay on sale, she had helped the woman buy 2 bottles and what she should make with the wine to really enjoy them together. Then the woman ask for her card so they could talk about how the dinner and her family enjoyed the wines.

This rep has a wine friend for life! So instead of this woman leaving with her normal 2 bottle of Kendall Jackson Vinter’s Reserve Chardonnay, she left with a dry Riesling and an Italian Pinot Grigio.

Here are some questions I would ask someone who wants to try some new wines to help them find wines that work for them!

Is there one wine brand or grape varietal you have enjoyed in the past that you seem to always be drawn to?

Are you enjoying the wine with food or just sipping? If yes, ask about the food and how it is prepared.

Do you have wine often? how often?

Have you tried whites, reds and sparklings? Do you “prefer” one more than others?

Do you like spicy, savory or sweeter meals when you dine out?

Are you adventurous or more safe with your palate? What is the craziest thing you have ever eaten?

With just a few questions and depending on the answers I can help guide them through to at least a few grape varietals that might just open their eyes.

These are just my thoughts on asking lots of questions and finding a wine shop or a wine rep who gets to know your palate and reasons for enjoying wine.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Awesome Zin from Paso Robles

Good Morning!

Over the weekend I had house guests and before they arrived I made a point to pick up some Zinfandel because that is a grape varietal that my buddy Jon really likes. Since I am aware we seem to drink like fish, I did not want to break the bank on something so spectacular like a Turley Zinfandel, I went to the store and looked for Zin’s I had not tried before and I budgeted $15 per bottle.

We tried some studs and some duds….The best Zinfandel of the weekend was Project Paso 2009 Paso Robles Old Vine Zinfandel. If you are not familiar with wines from Paso Robles (this is pronounced Ro “bulls”), it is an area in the Central part of California and it can get really warm there during the growing season. There are a couple of grape varietals that are doing really well in the area, one being Zinfandel and the other being Grenache. If you have the time and money and want to hunt down an awesome Paso wine, find Saxum wines, and the winemaker Justin Smith.

I had the good fortune to meet Justin once and he is the most down to earth guy. He is young, energetic and he lets the grapes be who they are and he does not manipulate them into trying to be such a bomb of alcohol and fruit. Elegant, smooth and balanced. Anyway, let me back up to the Project Paso wine, The label said Old Vine Zinfandel and since the wine is from Paso Robles, here was what I was thinking…Lots of rustic, blueberries and dried fruits and high alcohol. This grape has strong potential for high alcohol because of it’s DNA and it is really warm in Paso Robles so I made some judgements just from that information.

This wine was earthy, cherry, blueberry and peppery, it was rustic and you could feel the heat from the alcohol, so my pre-judgement was pretty much spot on. This wine is made by a very famous winemaking family, the Sebastiani’s and the winemaker is Greg Kitchens. I bought this bottle for $10.99 at the grocery store and it does have a zork, not a cork or screwtop. (If you have not seen a zork before, it is easy to use recycled plastic top and it peels away from the bottle exposing the plastic cork), folks who like young wine and are also aware of using more “green” and environmentally friendly products, they LOVE zorks!

Anyway, We loved this wine, I will buy more and I will grill out with wine. It works beautifully with BBQ sauce!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi