Amazon to Free the Grapes!

The word on the street is Amazon is going back into wine sales. Their first foray was a 30 million dollar investment in Wine.com back in 2005 that basically failed, in large part, due to difficult and varied interstate wine shipping laws.

Another reason was, Wine.com actually would pose as a customer and have other wine sellers ship them wine illegally and then turn that seller in to the authorities. It didn't take long for many of Wine.com's customers to feel betrayed and NOT buy wine from Wine.com.

An organization called Free the Grapes! is trying to enact legistlation that will allow consumers to purchase directly from the wineries and retailers, i.e. no middleman/wholesaler. This will remove the many convoluted shipping laws that are keeping us from getting some great wines at great prices.

So Amazon, once again, is getting into the wine business. They will be using a company called New Vine Logistics that deals in wine fulfillment and can deliver to 45 states. Wine purchases on Amazon would even qualify for its discount shipping program, Amazon Prime, in which goods are shipped free for a yearly fee of $79. Amazon Prime is SO totally worth it for wine... SCORE!

There are many things going on behind the scenes here. Naturally the Wholesalers are lobbying for all the laws to stay the same. If they don't, they will lose a lot of business. My hope is that Amazon will use its signifacant pull to further the goals of direct-to-consumer laws.

Amazon's wine sales were supposed to be up last month some time, hopefully it will be up before the Christmas season. Keep a look out for it.

-H

Fun Wines for Halloween

It has been a busy month and I have neglected my beloved wine blog. So let's get this month going with a post about this time of year...

Halloween, definitely my favorite time of year. It celebrates the Autumn season with spooky fun and that brings up some interesting wines. Here's a short list of wines that come to mind:

Evil Cabernet - A full bodied fruit bomb from the irreverant Aussie's
Vampire - They make Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay and more
Poizin - From the award winning Armida winery in Sonoma
Ghost Block - "Nestled on a gently sloping knoll, Ghost Block vineyard is named in honor of Napa's pioneer winemakers who rest in a tiny 150 year old cemetery on the north edge of Yountville - the epicenter of Napa Valley"

I've personally tried the Evil Cabernet and Vampire Pinot Noir. The Evil Cab is great and the Pinot was just OK for me. Poizon and Ghost Block have gotten great reviews and I'm looking forward to trying them. I hear that getting Ghost Block is very difficult too.

-H

Riesling

Most people believe riesling is a sweet wine, but this varietal can be made from dry to sweet. It has also been know to be made effervescent.

I really like rieslings and it is my preferred white wine. This varietal comes in so many different styles and you can almost always find one to fit your mood.

Riesling's most popular profile includes a strong floral and apple like aroma with hints of minerals. You may sometimes even smell a faint petroleum or kerosene scent. It has flavors of apple, pear, apricot, flint and minerals.

Rieslings can be styled differently because it is one of the varietals that can grow in both cooler and warmer weather. Here are the style profiles for the cool climate and warm climate rieslings.

Riesling Cool Climate flavor profile: lean, reserved, light bodied, crispy, tangy, high acid, apricot, green apples, and dry to sweet

Riesling Warm Climate flavor profile: opulent, full bodied, low acid, tropical notes, lychee nuts, and dry to sweet.

Come over to the Tasting Room and try the dry riesling from Pewsey Vale and then try the Leitz which will be a much sweeter counter part.

-H

Lambrusco

Lambrusco is both a region and a grape varietal. The region is located in Northern Italy and the wine used to be very popular in the US. The wine was made in the amabile , meaning sweet, and frizzante, meaning semi-sparkling, style. It eventually fell out of favor as a "soda pop" wine.

There are still quality Lambruscos being made and they usually come from the Emilia-Romangna. They are frizzante but are made in a secco, meaning dry, style. This Lambrusco will have flavors of dried cherries and notes of strawberry. They come in both white and rose styles too.

These are also made in the traditional way sparkling wines are made in France called Methode Champenoise. This means they are fermented twice and the second time will be in the bottle.

I have not had a chance to try a Lambrusco, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

-H

Fetish Wines 2005 Playmates

We just recently brought this wine into our stores. It is a classic French Southern Rhone blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mataro but made in the Barossa Valley of Australia. Wait. What? Isn't the Southern Rhone blend Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre? You are absolutely correct!

Mataro is what the Australian's call Mourvedre and Shiraz is what the Australian's call Syrah. This wine is classic New World with the Aussie's love of fruit with a good balance of alcohol and tannins.

A deep hued wine with nice dark berries and cherries, a hint of vanilla, and spice. It has a good mid palate, nice balance, and a lingering finish. All of this along with the wine label definitely makes this a sexy wine. Very nice!

-H

Old World and New World Wines

When talking about wine, what exactly does old world or new world mean?

It's simple. Nearly everything in Europe is considered Old World. This includes France, Spain, Italy, Germany etc.

New World is anything not in the Old World: USA, Chile, Australia, etc.

Yep, its that simple.

But why the distinction you ask? Well the two styles are were very different in flavor profiles. The old world embraced terroir (the local climate, soil, and environment) and their wines were meant to age in the bottle before consumption. Their wine making techniques are also very traditional and rarely changed. Because of this, their wines took on the flavors earthy flavors of terroir: minerals, flinty, leather, tobacco, earth, mushrooms, slate etc.

Currently, the majority of consumers prefer wines made in the new world style and many old world vineyards have been producing new world style type wines.

New world wines are made to be fruit forward and to consumed immediately. New world wine making is not steeped in stodgy traditions and they are usually free to try many new techniques to produce the best wine. The new world has recently begun to pay attention to terroir in their wine making process like the old world has done for decades.

I prefer new world wines myself, but I have tasted some amazing old world wines too. I especially like the flavors of cedar, leather and cigar box (humidor). The minerals and slate from some Chablis I have had are quite good too.

How to describe a wine

I manage part time at a wine bar here in Houston, Uptown Park's The Tasting Room. We generally sell 12-15 wines by the glass. We break the choices down into red, white, sparkling, dessert, and a usually a couple of Sommelier Picks.

When describing a wine you generally want to talk about 3 things:

• Body - light, medium, full
• Sweetness (or lack of) - sweet, off-sweet, off-dry, dry
• Flavor - usually fruits but can include many other flavors too like herbs and spices too
  

If you know these 3 things about a wine, you can pretty much describe any wine in the world and the person you are describing it to will be able to tell if they'd like that particular wine.

Grapes, Wine and their Flavor Prophiles

As you may know, the same grape that is used to produce a wine can taste drastically different depending on how, when and even where that wine was produced. There are many factors that can determine the flavor profile of a wine:

• Old World or New World
  
• Oaked or unoaked
  
• Cool climate or warm climate
  
• Residual sugar or not
  
• Hang time short to long
  
• Fortified or not
• Soil Type
• Fermentation process
  

In the future I will be posting specific varietals (the grape) and their flavor profiles.