Itʼs Never Too Late to Start Taking Notesby JAMIE on SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Wine tasting is different from drinking

wine. I am inclined to believe, since I’ve

been tasting for a while, that drinking

wine is not where the real enjoyment

takes place. Tasting wine in a community

of people who aren’t afraid to talk about

it is where real wine enjoyment and

exploration begins.

Initially, I was nervous about describing

a wine in “public.” I thought what if

someone doesn’t smell the pear aroma I

smell or the pencil shavings, tar, leather,

blackberry, bing cherry, spice, lychee,

bell pepper, cardboard, barnyard, wet

dog, fingernail polish remover or any of

the myriad of aromas that can be found

in wine – good and bad. I got over that fear, when I took the Master

Sommelier Introductory Sommelier Course & Exam. We were expected to

describe a wine in detail to our peers. The appearance, smell, taste and

make an assessment. Essentially, the 5 S’s of wine tasting – see, swirl,

sniff, sip and savor. I was terrified. I noticed over the years, that as my

ability to write detailed wine notes increased, I was more comfortable

talking about the wines I tasted. I don’t write detailed notes on every wine

I taste since there are times that it is just not possible. At those times, at

dinner out for example, I make mental notes of the appearance, smell and

taste. I want to remember why exactly I liked or disliked a wine.

If you are not writing wine notes now, try it and watch how your comfort

with wine increases. Happy Sipping!

Wine Art and Jazz at Fiore Wineryby JAMIE on AUGUST 25, 2010Nothing says summer to me like being on the water or attending a wine festival. This past weekend, I attended the Wine, Art and Jazz Festival at Fiore Winery in Harford County, Maryland. Harford County is within 2 hours drive of Washington, DC and equally accessible from Philadelphia, PA.

My experience in the past has been that the weather during the summer makes enjoying wine festivals a bit of a challenge. To me, being in very hot weather and sipping wine is not ideal. Several of the people I encountered during the day talked about the prior year being a scorcher. Fortunately, the weather this weekend was superb. Mike Fiore, winemaker and owner of Fiore Winery, whom I met this month while participating as a wine judge in the Maryland Governorʼs Cup Wine Competition, hosted a relaxing and enjoyable event.

To learn more about Fiore Winery visit their website. As you can see, the grounds are beautiful, the banquet hall is a great venue for special events, the wines are produced by an award winning winemaker and most importantly, Mike Fiore is the consummate host.

When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Limoncelloby JAMIE on AUGUST 19, 2010Limoncello can be described as a digestivo, dessert wine or liqueur. If you search the internet, there are several recipes for this Italian beverage found in many Italian homes and restaurants. This is the adult equivalent of lemonade, served cold in an aperitif glass. Franco Federico who operates Primo Bacio, “first kiss” in Italian, gave me my first taste of Limoncello and cautioned that it was better to make it yourself. I was intrigued. I later bought a bottle of Limoncello.

The salesman told me it is better to make your own and that all I basically needed was Everclear (most of us know it as grain alcohol), lemon peels, sugar and a recipe. He told me the toughest part was peeling the lemons and that Limoncello makes a great gift. So I bought a

bottle of 190 Gem Clear and put making Limoncello on my list holiday list. In order to have this ready for the holidays I need to start next month. I canʼt wait to see the look on my brotherʼs face when I present a bottle to him this Christmas.At last weekendʼs Maryland Governorʼs Cup Wine Competition, I met Mike Fiore of Fiore Winery. We talked about his Italian ancestry, family-owned winery and Limoncello. I am looking forward to visiting Mike at his winery to learn more about his wines and of course, I am going to ask him about making Limoncello.

There are many things you can do with lemons and making Limoncello is one of them. What are your favorite Limoncello cocktails?

Wine Festivals the Fun, Legal and Safe Wayby JAMIE on AUGUST 11, 2010

Wine festivals can be as dangerous as they can be fun. It is so easy to lose

track of how much alcohol you are consuming and find yourself drunk.

Typically, what happens is you are tasting a half ounce to an ounce of wine

from multiple wine vendors or several samples from a single vendor.

The speed of wine consumption is fast, not knocking back a shot of

whiskey fast, just faster than sitting with friends and sipping a glass of

wine while enjoying a meal. It is possible to consume two or three drinks

within an hour and find yourself in the danger zone. Usually, when that

“feeling” presents itself it is often too late. Coffee won’t make it go away –

only time. Here is my strategy to ensure a fun, legal and safe wine festival.

Wine festivals can be as dangerous as they can be fun. It is so easy to lose

track of how much alcohol you are consuming and find yourself drunk.

Typically, what happens is you are tasting a half ounce to an ounce of wine

from multiple wine vendors or several samples from a single vendor.

The speed of wine consumption is fast, not knocking back a shot of

whiskey fast, just faster than sitting with friends and sipping a glass of

wine while enjoying a meal. It is possible to consume two or three drinks

within an hour and find yourself in the danger zone. Usually, when that

“feeling” presents itself it is often too late. Coffee won’t make it go away –

only time. Here is my strategy to ensure a fun, legal and safe wine festival.

■ Eat a meal before you start sampling wines to reduce the rate of

alcohol absorption.

■ Have a plan of attack: white wines first, then reds, and finally

sparkling and ports.

■ Spit two or three of every five wines you sample if you can’t spit

them all. (sometimes I carry a personal spittoon – a disposable cup)

■ If you find a wine you really like, write it down and stick it in your

pocket. Remember the more wine you drink the more you enjoy

them all.

■ Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, drink lots of water.

■ If you need to rest there is usually a seminar during the wine festival

– sit down and learn something new.

Think Pink Anywayby JAMIE on AUGUST 4, 2010

Imagine if you will, a restaurant

wine list that simply categorizes

wines as reds, whites or pinks in

both still and sparkling styles. You

order a wine from the pink

category and your first sip does

not evoke the sweetness you are

accustomed to.

What happened? Aren’t all pink

wines sweet? Not necessarily. Long

before our New World producers

began making the sweet and fruity

“white zin”, Old World wine makers

in France and Spain were creating

bone dry and invigorating rosé

wines with or without the sparkle for wine drinkers in much warmer

climates. These wines are made from black grapes such as Pinot Noir, Pinot

Meunier, Grenache, Cinsaut, Syrah and Monastrell.

Sparkling rosé wines include French Champagnes and California sparkling

wines made with Pinot Noir. Cava, a spanish sparkling wine, is made with

the Grenache and Monastrell grapes. Sparkling wines can have varying

levels of sweetness ranging from bone dry

to very sweet.

Photo by Francis Storr

3 Reasons You Need a Map in Your Wine Adventuresby JAMIE on JULY 21, 2010

In the case of France, you need it so that you have a good idea of what the wine is. Most French wines do not list the grape on the bottle; there are

laws that dictate what can be grown in a region.

It can be a tool for pairing a wine with food. For example, Muscadet Sevre et Maine (huh?) is produced in a coastal area – a good food and wine pairing guess would be seafood or shellfish.

Location can provide a clue to the style of wine. For example, cooler climates yield wines with higher acidity, whereas,

warmer climates can produce wines with higher alcohol.

Map provided by Bonjour France.

Playing With Bubbles - 9 to Noseby JAMIE on JULY 14, 2010

For many of us, when we think of bubbly, we think of Champagne. In order to be called Champagne, the wine must be produced in the French region of Champagne and made by the traditional method. Traditionally, Champagne and other sparkling wines have been reserved for special occasions. Itʼs summertime -letʼs drop the ceremony- we wonʼt worry about how itʼs made, where it comes from or if there is a special occasion. Sparkling wine can be made almost anywhere in the world and consumed at any time. It can be white or “pink” and bone dry to ultra sweet. And the best thing about sparkling wines is that most marry well with food – even popcorn.

I think these are incredibly fun:

■ Champagne Krug Grande Cuvee Brut (France)■ Jaume Serra Cristalino Brut Rose Cava NV

(Spain)■ Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (Spain)■ Zardetto NV Prosecco Brut (Italy)■ Rosa Regale Brachetto dʼAcqui (Italy)■ Seaview Brut Sparkling Wine (Australia)■ Graham Beck NV Brut (South Africa)■ 2006 Gloria Ferrer Brut Rosé (California)■ Gruet Brut (New Mexico)

Happy 4th of Julyby JAMIE on JULY 4, 2010

My favorite wines styles during the 4th of July holiday are typically bubbly or red, fruity and diverse (Iʼm thinking of Sangria with loads of fruit). What I like about Sangria during this holiday in particular is that it is refreshing and goes well with my ketchup and barbeque laden beef and chicken dishes.

My Sangria Ingredients bottle of dry red wine (I like tempranillo or Gallo Burgundy) fruit – apples, pears, oranges, lemons, blueberries, raspberriesBrandy Triple sec

I mix in a pitcher and let this sit over nightWhen I pour into a a glass over ice I top off with Cava or Sprite.

Have a Happy 4th of July.

Wine Bloggers Conference 2011by JAMIE on JUNE 27, 2010

After all the #wbc10 tweeting I feel like I attended the conference. @winebizradio used UStream to broadcast the closing remarks and announcement of location of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference; Charlottsville, Virginia. I am looking forward to it. It will be awesome to meet bloggers that I know on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I decided it was time to build a blog and start writing again… There are a few choices for hosting a blog – WordPress and Blogger (are top of my mind). I chose WordPress and the Thesis Theme.

My host made installing WordPress 3.0 very simple. Thesis was loaded with FTP and permissions were changed using the CHMOD (no not really, a long time ago I was a Unix Admin and I would have used that at the command line). I was able to change the permissions using my FTP client.

In my haste to get something posted (I told people I was going to start

blogging) I set some parameters in Thesis and made my first post. I

decided to create this blog iteratively and document what I learn. I will

reach out to other bloggers and find out their best practices as well as

what worked and didn’t work for them.

Currently, I do not have a beautiful or compelling design/masthead. This

will need some thought and professional consideration. For now, it is what

it is. Later, maybe WOW!

Letʼs talk about itby JAMIE on JUNE 26, 2010

My passion for wine blossomed when I developed a real appreciation for it.

One day I realized I caught the bug and an insatiable desire to learn about

wine followed by a desire to share what I knew using as simple a strategy

as possible.

I’ve spent the last few years learning about wine and spirits. I met

interesting people along the way. I think it is time to talk about it…