Wine Temperature Basics

Nov 29, 2007 |  John (12) |  How-to |  4 comments

Serving wine at the correct temperature is important. While it sounds fussy, the reality is that red wines, if served too warm, can have overpowering notes of alcohol. White wines, if served too cold, lose their vibrancy and nose. This chart indicates the correct temperatures for a variety of wines:


A few additional tips:

• If you're unsure of the temp, aim to error on the "too cold" side rather than "too hot". Once a wine is poured, it will begin to gain heat - if the wine is too cold, just letting it sit out will get it back to the correct temperature.
• If you put your white wines in the fridge for too long (or, shudder, store white wine in the fridge) take the wine out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to serving to warm it up.
• Don't listen to the "red wine is best at room temp" crowd. Unless your house is a cool 55 degrees, they are misinformed.

Find any bottle at the best price: try Vinquire's free wine search engine.

Cheers~
John

How-to

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How-to: Pair Wine & Cheese

Nov 29, 2007 |  John (12) |  How-to |  0 comments

Wine and cheese can pair well, but it requires some thought to insure a happy marriage. Here are a few general rules to stay on the right track:

• White wines pair with cheese more easily than reds. The high acidity that white wines contain helps cut through the creaminess in cheese.
• Sweet wines pair very nicely with many cheeses, especially pungent blues.
• Red wines are trickier to pair but generally work with hard cheeses. The more full-bodied the red, the harder the cheese should be to match it. Sample the combination before serving to insure the cheese does not create a bitter taste with the wine.
• Don't forget the Champagne. It pairs well with creamy cheeses like Brie and Camembert.
• Harder cheeses, like Cheddars and Parmesan, often work with more wine varietals than soft, creamy cheeses.
• Studies have shown that eating cheese with wine can often dampen the flavors of wine - so you don't need to open your best bottles.

Classic Wine & Cheese Pairings

Below is a list of classic wine and cheese pairings. If you stick with these, you're guaranteed some success:

• Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese (aka Chèvre)
• Champagne and Brie
• Port and Stilton
• Sauternes and Roquefort
• Amontillado sherry and Manchego
• Cabernet Sauvignon and hard, English Cheddar

Other Popular Wine & Cheese Pairings

And finally, a more comprehensive list of popular wine and cheese pairings:


This list is by no means exhaustive, and as always, your palate is the ultimate judge—experiment and find something you like. Need more info? This article by Karen MacNeil lists some specific pairings that might work for you.

Find any bottle at the best price: try Vinquire's free wine search engine.

Cheers~
John

How-to

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How-to: Score a Wine Using the 100 Point Scale

Nov 27, 2007 |  John (12) |  How-to |  3 comments

This article details how to score a wine only. If you want information on writing a descriptive wine review, read this article. This article also assumes that you're familiar with the basic method of wine tasting (look, swirl, smell, and sip).

The 100 point scale grades a wine by assigning it a number between 50 and 100 points. The scale was made popular by the renowned wine critic Robert Parker and was modeled after the U.S. high school grading system. Wines receiving higher numbers are considered better than wines receiving lower numbers.

In reality, the scale really operates between 70-100 points, with scores below even 75 not completely clear in what they indicate. For this reason, we will be talking almost exclusively about the 75-100 point range.

There are two fundamental ways in which a score is determined for a given wine:

1. The taster simply chooses a number from the scale based on their past experience in tasting wines and intimate knowledge of the 100 point scale. This is the manner in which Parker and Wine Spectator review wines.
2. Points are awarded on a strict "per item" basis. The wine always starts at 50 points regardless, then you add up to 5 points for color, 10 for nose, 15 for taste, 10 for finish, and 10 for overall impression. While more scientific, most reviewers have the background to arrive at a similar point total using the first method.

Now let's take a look at exactly how the 100 point scale is broken down by Spectator, Parker, and Vinquire with running commentary to help flesh out what isn't explicitly stated. By investigating each level of ranking you will hopefully be able to determine what score your wine deserves.

96-100 points

• Parker: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase, and consume.
• Spectator: Classic, a great wine.
• Vinquire: Extraordinary. A wine of finesse, complexity, and expression. True to variety and region. Perfect balance of flavors with a long finish.

These are simply put, the best wines in the world. Out of hundreds of thousands of wines, Parker rated only ~150 wines a perfect '100'. Spectator has given only 55 perfect scores. If you are new to reviewing or tasting wines, it is unlikely that you have tasted wines in this range. If however you are tasting wines from top French Chateaus, or from the top California Cabernet producers, it is possible that they will touch this range.

Scores in this range also tend to be slightly murky: the differences between a 96 point and 100 point wine would be difficult to pin down. Robert Parker himself is quoted as saying

"I've always tried to explain it saying that, you know, I'm a very passionate person and an emotional person. I really think probably the only difference between a 96-, 97-, 98-, 99-, and 100-point wine is really the emotion of the moment."

90-95 points

• Parker: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
• Spectator: Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style
• Vinquire: Excellent, true to variety and region, with terrific complexity and balance. While not a wine for the ages, a superior example.

These are wines that in general, knock your socks off. Upon tasting wines in this range, I typically swirl and smell, and immediately know that I'm in for a ride. Wines in this range are near perfect examples of the grape -- for whatever style of wine you are drinking. While wines in the 90 and 91 point range are usually available without too much work, as you climb to the 93/94/95 point range, these wines do begin to approach superstar status and can become very difficult to obtain for a reasonable price. If you are new to wine reviewing, use these scores with caution as they signify a stellar wine.

80-89 points

• Parker: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
• Spectator: On the high end, very good: a wine with special qualities. On the low end, good: a solid, well-made wine.

This range deserves a finer grain breakdown as the majority of wines fall between these numbers:

75-79 points

• Parker: An average wine with little distinction except that it is a soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
• Spectator: Mediocre: a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
• Vinquire: Below Average, Might contain one flaw, simple straight-forward flavors, off-balance, unpleasant.

Despite how it sounds, rating a wine 79 points or below is typically insulting. It indicates that the wine, while commercially viable, is not performing to the capacity that it should. Its flavors or body may be very soft. Tasters may be struggling to define what aromas the nose of the wine displays. The finish may be weak or non existent. Flavors may boldly change directions on the palate, leaving a taster confused. Still, the wine is drinkable, but it would be something that you would be hesitant to serve to friends.

The scale below 75 points is murky. Professional tasters rarely release reviews in this range, making it hard to define. If you are a beginning reviewer, it is best to avoid rating wines below 75 points. For all practical purposes, the scale stops at 70 points.

Ready to try and review some wines with your new info? Click on the review tab and search for any wine you'd like to review.

Need more info on rating systems? The links below should start you in the right direction:

• Vinquire's 100 point synopsis
• Robert Parker's 100 point breakdown
• Corkd's 100 point synopsis
• Fantastic comparison of differences in various wine scales (PDF)

Find any bottle at the best price: try Vinquire's free wine search engine.

Cheers~
John

How-to

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How-to: Write a Wine Review

Nov 27, 2007 |  John (12) |  How-to |  0 comments

This article explains how to review wines and assumes the reader is familiar with the basic method of wine tasting (look, swirl, smell, and sip). Discussion of the 100 point scale is located here.

The text that accompanies a wine review usually hits the main tasting components of wine: color, aroma, texture, taste, and finish. Let's look at the individual components:

Putting it all together

Reviewers may want to simply list out the components that they tasted in each category above, and this makes for an OK wine review. However, as wine is not a scientific endeavor, I believe that merging the components above into a brief paragraph about the wine often lends itself to a wine description that has more heart and often reveals more about the wine. To write a solid review, try taking your notes on individual wine elements (color, aroma, texture, taste, finish) and string them together in a few sentences that glide from one component to the next.
And even now, we still may not have a review that really hits at the heart of the wine. If there is a special story behind how the wine was made, where you tasted it, or why this wine is special in any way, shape, or form, it can be interesting information to place in the review. Would the wine pair well with a certain dish? Does the wine need more time to age? Is the 1996 a better deal than the 1997? These tidbits of information can make the difference between an acceptable review and a great review.

On the other hand, especially for simple wines, it can be impossible to write a solid review: only one or two non-distinct aromas may be present (i.e., "tropical"), the taste may not present any new flavors, and the finish may be absent. In cases like these, the reviewer can be left struggling for words. Write what you taste, and then walk away -- save the brain-wracking for a bottle that deserves it.

Ready to try your hand at a review? Click on the reviews tab and search for the wine you're interested in. You'll be able to assign a score (how to assign a score) and write as much (or as little) commentary as you'd like.

Need more information?

The links below all offer advice on how to write a review:

• A fantastic PDF on how to take tasting notes like a pro: http://www.delongwine.com/guided-tasting...
  The scoring sheet from above without any example markings: http://www.delongwine.com/tasting-form-d...
• Gary Vaynerchuk describes how to taste a wine in his video blog: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2006/05/05/epi...
• Alder Yarrow, wine blogger extraordinaire, elaborates on how he reviews wines: http://www.vinography.com/archives/2005/...
• Need some serious hand-holding? This Wine Spectator PDF is a complete step-by-step walkthrough on how to taste a Pinot Grigio vs. a Chardonnay -- and then, a Pinot Noir vs. a Cabernet: http://www.winespectatorschool.com/wines...

Find any bottle at the best price: try Vinquire's free wine search engine.

Happy Reviewing~
John

How-to

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How-to: Spit with Style

Nov 24, 2007 |  John (12) |  How-to |  0 comments

Why Spit?

People spit wine to stay sober. If you're tasting 20 wines, by the last pour you will have consumed approximately 20 ounces of wines. This is the equivalent of four full glasses, and would be enough alcohol to start feeling rather giddy. Needless to say, if you're trying to objectively rate or taste the wines, by the time you hit the last pour your senses will become a little impaired. For this reason, people often choose to spit at certain events.

Should I Spit?

The question is about how many wines you will be tasting. If a friend is going to open 10 bottles and pour one ounce samples, the choice is yours to spit or swallow. If it's a friendly atmosphere, you're not driving, and you don't need to rate the wines too seriously - I would probably chose to swallow the wine. However, if you're going to sample more than 10-15 wines, I would begin to spit all or some of the samples, depending on whether the particular wine is agreeable with my palate. In a similar fashion, if you're visiting wineries they will each have about five wines available for tasting. If you're going to visit more than three wineries, I would recommend spitting at least some of the samples.

Do not spit at dinner parties. While I've heard that occasionally this is OK, generally speaking, an eating environment is not a place to judge wines scientifically, and the atmosphere is not conducive to wine spitting. Similarly, if the event you're attending is more about social mingling and less about wine tasting, often times there will be no spit bucket (aka dump bucket) and spitting would be inappropriate.

Should I Dump?

Dumping is the practice of pouring wine out of your glass into the dump bucket. This common practice occurs when you sample a wine and either (1) don't like the wine or (2) feel that you already obtained a good understanding of the wine on previous tastes. In either case, dumping the remaining wine out is another good way to maintain sobriety during a tasting expedition.

Where to Spit

First find the dump bucket. Dump buckets are large opaque plastic, metal, or ceramic buckets that often take one of the shapes below:


At tasting events, you will often see one per table. At wineries, they almost always exist on the wine bar itself.

At some tasting events, you may be offered a personal spit cup. These small plastic or paper cups may be utilized for discreet spitting where you simply bring the cup to your mouth and expel wine. Personal cups are often times the preferred method of spitting because they offer some privacy and don't require you to show your spitting skills to the world. Unfortunately, personal cups are not exceedingly common, especially at wineries.

How to Spit

There are a few styles of spitting. Slate.com's interview with Daniel Johnnes, wine director at Montrachet, explains the process of professional spitting best:

"It is essential, [Johnnes] said, to put the right amount of wine in your mouth; he recommends between one-quarter and one-half ounce. Once you have tasted the wine and are ready to expel it, you pucker your lips, tighten your cheeks, and press your tongue up against your top teeth, broadening the tongue so that it extends past the molars on each side. This pools the wine between the top of your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The key, Johnnes says, is muscle control and force: You need to generate sufficient power to push the wine out while maintaining your form throughout the process"

The above method calls for a forced expulsion of wine from your mouth while keeping your head mostly upright. I.e., using your tongue, your cheeks, and some gravity to expel wine in a stream. This method, while professional, is also hard to achieve. Practice does make perfect, but don't be daunted if you can't master it. It is also perfectly acceptable to simply place your head about one foot above the spit bucket, face your head downwards, pucker your lips to allow a 1/4 inch opening, and let gravity create a stream of liquid from your mouth to the bucket. While this method doesn't create the solid, steady stream that the pro version does, it works, is simple, and usually doesn't create much of a mess.

Final Tips

Before you go to an event where you will be spitting wine, it is best to practice the art with a wine glass, some water, and a large sink. The shower is another great place to practice. However, regardless of your spitting skills, everyone (even the pros) will occasionally dribble a little on their chin or shirt. It's best to bring a few tissues with you should that happen.

Find any bottle at the best price: try Vinquire's free wine search engine.

How-to

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Livermore Wine Country

Nov 20, 2007 |  WineBratSF (7) |  Wine Tasting, Guest Bloggers |  1 comment

Ahhh Livermore. Windmills, tract houses, nuclear secrets, and…wine? Yep, it's true. Livermore has wine. Who knew! I don't quite know how this happened, but this city girl had never been to Livermore wine country.

Livermore Valley actually outdates Napa as the first wine region in Northern California, which began sometime around the Gold Rush. I guess if you were a European miner, you needed your juice to keep digging. There used to be over 50 wineries in the region, until the Feds put the kibosh on liquor sales with Prohibition in the 1920s. Now, there are about 35 wineries, although they don't all have tasting rooms open to the public and others are best ignored if you value your taste buds.

Our first stop was Steven Kent, by special request. Having never been, I was in for a treat. Steven Kent is on the main wine road, Tesla Road. After driving around in a giant circle in order to avoid both Lawrence Livermore Labs and the rows and rows of giant McMansions, we finally found the winery, much to the delight of the carload of wine lovers. They have a cozy setup, with a house on top, and a tasting room tucked underneath in a nice cool cellar.

The first wine was nothing to write home about, but the 2nd white, the Merrille Chardonnay (Price Search) was what everyone had come for. Now, not being a huge chardonnay kind of person, I didn't have any expectations but since I was the designated drinker (meaning I actually got out of driving), I did my part and took a sip. This was a very interesting wine. It was heavily oaked and very creamy, but wasn't bitter like a certain two dollar variety I will not mention. It had amazing vanilla and spice characteristics, which seem to be a Livermore Valley trend. Even though I was on the rebound from the big, butter whites of yesteryear, this was different enough to find myself enjoying the very generous half glass taste we were poured. The two reds poured were also tasty. For such large pours, the $5 tasting fee was happily spent.

After a poorly chosen detour to a small coop tasting room, we trundled down the road to the granddaddy of Livermore wine, Concannon. This is a big operation, having been in Livermore for over 100 years. I've known about this place for a while, buying their everyday line of Petite Sirah for weeknight drinking frequently. My two standout hits were the Livermore Merlot and the Reserve Syrah. Now, I don't' LIKE merlot! Call me Miles, but…anyway, the Livermore Merlot was very different than the Napa Merlot, and had a silky texture and fruity slightly sweet flavor which was absolutely yummy.

All in all, I would love to go back and explore some of the other wineries in Livermore, because it seems like there is promise in them vines. The prices are not unreasonable and the people are personable, which makes for a nice alternative to the traffic and overpriced tasting rooms of Napa.

Happy drinking!

Wine Tasting, Guest Bloggers

1 comment

High-Tech Searching

Nov 14, 2007 |  John (12) |  Founders, How-to |  0 comments

One of my favorite things about Vinquire's wine search engine is the ability to use advanced operators. When you search for a wine for sale, you can employ a variety of special characters to really fine tune your search. Let's start with the basics:

Search the important terms only

First, use as few words as possible to describe the wine you are searching for. If your label states, "Bonny Doon Big House Red, California Red Wine", you would want to enter the least amount of words that still clearly defines the wine. In this case, I would start with Big House Red, and see how the results are. If the search results have too many incorrect wines, you can try adding more terms to the search.

Using the '-' operator

Now let's try something more advanced, try searching: 2000 Lynch Bages -Blanc
In this example, we are looking for a bottle of Lynch Bages from the fantastic 2000 Bordeaux vintage, but we're not interested in their white version. So we use the '-' character to keep the word "blanc" out of all search results.

I forgot the wine name!

Let's step it up. So let's say that you were out to dinner last night, and had a fabulous chardonnay with your skewered shrimp. The wine was called "Romb" something, you think to yourself the next day. But "Romb" what? Let vinquire take a crack at it:
Search: Romb* Chard

Rombauer Chardonnay! That was the one. The '*' operator tells Vinquire that you don't know the letters for part of a word. This operator can be used anywhere in a word, except for the first character. So you could also search R*t Mondavi Cab if you forgot Robert's first name for some reason.

I can't spell :(

In a similar sense, what if don't know how to spell some of the words in the wine label? Let's say that, like me, you have a problem spelling Mouton Rothschild. Maybe last night you polished off a few bottles, and today your thinking that it's spelled Moton RothsWild. That will get your zero results, so try this instead: Moton~ RothsWild~

That should get you the right spelling. The '~' operator tells Vinquire to allow a certain "fudge factor" for those words. Once you've determined the correct spelling, search again with the spelling errors corrected.

The next step in getting "high tech" with the wine search is to click the "search options" link -- but I will get to those in the next blog. Happy searching!

Founders, How-to

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Fall in Wine Country

Nov 10, 2007 |  WineBratSF (7) |  Wine Tasting, Guest Bloggers |  4 comments

There is something about this time of year, when the weather chills and the colors change…Wait. Strike that. Something is wrong with this statement! It’s late October and it’s still in the upper 70s? And you said global warming doesn’t exist.

Ah well, if you can’t beat it, join it. After enjoying this glorious late summer weather for the last week or so, some friends and I decided to take a day trip up to Dry Creek to enjoy a winery open house and stock up my sadly depleted cellar (ok fine garage). Much to my chagrin, the sunny skies were rudely interrupted by cold damp fog on Saturday morning, making me feel as gloomy as the weather. It was still cold when we arrived at J Vineyards (Price Search), and even colder upstairs in the event room where they were serving their ridiculously overpriced tasting menu. Note to anyone who enjoys the sparklers from this place: either join the wine club yourself, find someone who is a member (like I did), or only go there as a part of an event. I refuse to pay $25 for four sips and a few nibbles like the busloads of out-of-towners who don’t know any better. A tasting fee is fine, but a tasting rip off is not.

From there, we headed up Eastside Road to the Eastside Wineries Fall Fest. This event was new to me, and it was my favorite kind – where wine and food are passed out for free (yes kids, FREE! These things still exist occasionally) from smaller, lesser known wineries trying to encourage visitors. As we drove up the south end of Dry Creek, I am constantly awed that I live here. In the spring, it’s the waves of green and the new grape buds. In the summer, it’s the heat and the bunches of grapes hanging waiting to be picked. And, here we are, in the fall, where these intense flames of red, yellow and rust would make a northeast leaf chaser envious any day.

This is Sonoma County people! This picture was taken on the driveway to Walker’s Apple Farm in Sebastopol. If you want to know what a REAL apple tastes like, check it out!

By the time we got to a very crowded Mietz Cellars (Price Search), on Limerick Lane just south of Healdsburg, the sun had started to come out and we were not quite as chilled as we were earlier. Hmm could that be the sparkling wine and pinot from J having that effect? Mietz is a new winery to me and had some interesting offerings. I particularly enjoyed the Russian River Syrah, but they were too disorganized for me to buy, so we went across the street to Christopher Creek.

Christopher Creek (Price Search) is known for their zins, and rest assured I enjoyed several; surprisingly, the 2006 Sapphire Hill Russian River valley Chardonnay is what caught my attention. This is a light, fruity and fun chardonnay in the French style. I would challenge an ABC drinker to try this wine and then say “I don’t drink chardonnay” because it was GOOD! Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I left Christopher Creek with the chard and two zins, plus two tasting glasses and a spanking new wine club membership. All things considered $60 got me off lightly.

Since the days are shorter and the light is dimmer, this was all we had time for on this trip, but a couple of weeks later, it was time for another adventure. Of course, that is for another day. Happy drinking!

Wine Tasting, Guest Bloggers

4 comments

Vinquire.com launches free comprehensive wine search engine

Nov 06, 2007 |  Vinquire (14) |  News & Updates, Press Releases |  0 comments

Press Release:

Find The Best Wine Deals Online

Vinquire.com launches free comprehensive wine search engine.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) November 6, 2007 — Vinquire.com, a San Francisco based wine portal, today unveils a free wine search engine enabling users to search for wines at over 3,300 U.S. wineries and retailers. Vinquire inventories over 500,000 wines and offers users the ability to find virtually any wine at competitive prices.

Unlike other wine search engines, Vinquire displays all wine search results available every time, regardless of site sponsorships. In addition, the search engine is constantly updated with fresh wine inventory data via Vinquire's proprietary web crawling technology. And, much like Google™ search, users can employ advanced requests to fine tune results.

Vinquire also offers social networking features enabling users to submit wine reviews, participate in forum discussions, and receive wine recommendations that are based entirely on other users' reviews. Additionally, the site is able to deliver customizable wine recommendations which can be optionally limited to wines available at chain stores such as BevMo, Albertsons, and Trader Joe's.

Vinquire is the first wine site that merges both a powerful wine pricing search engine with community-centric features. This enables Vinquire to not only deliver recommendations based on user-reviewed wines, but also help users find those bottles at the best prices. Based in San Francisco, CA, John Kleven and Andy Hund founded Vinquire in late 2005 and the site officially launched in 2007.

The search is available now at Vinquire.com.

About Vinquire.com
Vinquire.com is a free wine search engine that enables users to find the best prices on wine. Based in San Francisco, CA, Vinquire maintains information on over 500,000 wines and allows users to search for, discuss, and review wines. For more information, visit www.vinquire.com.

News & Updates, Press Releases

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