Tag Archive: wine

  1. A Glass of Cab to Keep Away the Cold

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    There are few things I enjoy more during these winter months than sitting next to my nonfunctioning fireplace and savoring a big glass of robust red wine. And for me, no wine screams snowy weather more than Cabernet Sauvignon. The driving force behind Bordeaux’s best, the king of Napa Valley, Cab reigns supreme, producing arguably the most complex, expressive (and expensive) wines in the world. 

    Cabernet Sauvignon in particular has extraordinary aging potential: The greatest Bordeaux evolve beautifully in the bottle for decades and decades after the grapes are harvested. When drunk young, Cab has a reputation for tasting a bit “tight,” meaning its flavors seem compacted or closed-off. One easy way to combat this problem is through aeration, a process that exposes the wine to oxygen, also known as allowing the wine to “breathe.” Aerating is easy and literally begins the second you uncork (or unscrew) the bottle. I will often pour red wine into a decanter — a special vase for wine — to reveal more surface area and speed things up. Decanters come in all shapes and sizes — some are truly works of art — and can add extra flair to the table next time you host a wine night. But if you’re a chronic procrastinator, a nifty (albeit somewhat controversial) device called an aerator will get the job done on the spot. Since I only have one decanter and two Cabs, tonight I’m using my Soirée aerator, a round glass bulb with spiky indentations that attaches to the end of the bottle, softening the wine as you pour.

    This evening, my friends and I are starting off with a bottle of Bordeaux before enjoying some Napa Cab. Situated on the southwestern French coast, Bordeaux is France’s largest wine region. Its chateaux collectively produce more than 700 million bottles a year, ranging from historically and internationally celebrated first-growths to food-friendly table wines. Whereas its rival region Burgundy creates single-varietal, hyper-terroir driven wines, Bordeaux firmly believes the greatest wines are created through blending a combination of five different grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The Gironde River divides Bordeaux into the right and left banks. Traditionally, a left-bank Bordeaux will be primarily composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, while a right-bank will feature more Merlot. Although supplying a very similar flavor profile to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot is often described as rounder and more velvety. Nevertheless, even wine experts have difficulty differentiating between Cab and Merlot in blind tastings. Cab Franc, the third most important varietal, notably contributes violet and spice notes.

    But, despite being from the left-bank, the Château Hanteillan 2010 I’m sampling has a pretty even split between Cab and Merlot. 2010 has been revered as one of the greatest vintages of all time for Bordeaux, and this bottle does not disappoint. A silky, luxurious Bordeaux, the Château Hanteillan exhibits a bouquet of blackberries and mocha, paving the way for an earthy experience on the palate. This wine will taste great today or after a few years in the cellar.

    The saying goes that “Cab is King” in Napa Valley. The most widely planted red grape in California, Cabernet Sauvignon is responsible for bringing international acclaim to the American wine industry. Napa winemakers will often make Bordeaux-style blends with California grapes, sometimes titled “Meritage,” but are more likely to offer a single-varietal wine. That said, American law states that for a wine to be labeled as a varietal, only 75% of the wine must be that grape. So, a lot of California Cabs are secretly blends as well. The Aviary Vineyards “Cabernet Sauvignon” 2011 that I’m drinking tonight is indeed 88% Cab, with hint of Merlot and Petite Sirah. In the Napa fashion, this Cab is more succulent and masculine than the Bordeaux. The wine boasts aromas of plum, currant, tobacco and pepper on the nose, all of which carry to taste. A powerful and classic California Cabernet, the wine demonstrates a long, lush finish.

    So when you buy your valentine a box of chocolates next Friday, consider picking up a bottle of Cab to go along. The traditional rule for pairing with dessert is never to have the food be sweeter than the wine. Doing so will cause the wine to taste unpleasantly bitter, even if that truly isn’t the case. Cab drinks beautifully alongside dark chocolate, and together they can provide all the right ingredients for a decadent and romantic Valentine’s Day for you and that special someone — or to warm you up during any chilly night in with your besties.

     

    Both the Château Hanteillan 2010 (Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux) $21 and the Aviary Vineyards “Cabernet Sauvignon” 2011 (Napa Valley, California) $20 are available for purchase at The Wine Thief (181 Crown St., New Haven).

  2. Say Goodbye to the Summer with Sauvignon Blanc

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    I, like most Yale undergrads have or will, turned 21 my junior year. Newly legal, I entered the world of wine with little knowledge other than the fact that I like it and felt classy while drinking it. But this summer, I received an eye-opening education interning for Bottlenotes, the leading digital media company in the wine industry. Not that Franzia shouldn’t have its place in the world (I can list a number of enjoyable Yale evenings in which Franzia played a crucial role), but if I’ve learned anything in the past five months, it’s that good wine is truly an experience to be savored, and probably not the most efficient refreshment of choice in your Toad’s pregame. As is true with art, literature and music, understanding and appreciating wine is a lifelong journey, both rooted in a grand historic and cultural tradition and living today as a vibrant and dynamic global industry.

    Let’s start out and state the obvious: Wine comes from grapes. In fact, the vast majority of wine comes from a single species of grape, called Vitis vinifera. Vitis vinifera is the only species of wine grape indigenous to Europe, and most of the recognizable grape varieties — cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, pinot noir — all stem from this one species. Scientists predict that around 5,000 truly unique wine grape varieties exist, but only 150 or so significantly contribute to wine production. You can think of wine grape varieties like dogs. While all our canine companions may technically be the same species, Handsome Dan is going to look and act a whole lot differently than Lassie. Similarly, you’re never going to confuse a glass of pinot grigio with a glass of merlot.

    While the grape variety may be the most important indication of how a wine will taste, many other factors come into play before the fruit gets to the bottle. Wine may come from grapes, but these grapes also come from a place. Oenophiles use the French term “terroir,” which literally means “land,” but in truth encompasses a lot more than the English translation provides. The concept of terroir speaks to the collective effect of a vineyard’s soil, elevation, slope, climate, orientation to the sun, etc., on the grapes that are grown there, and the wine that is subsequently produced. A great wine typically will be a great reflection of its terroir.

    Today, I am going to explore my personal favorite white grape variety, sauvignon blanc. A deliciously refreshing warm-weather sip, sauvignon blanc will make a great toast to summer’s end tomorrow night. Virtually every major wine-producing country in the world grows sauvignon blanc, but I’m going to focus on how this one grape can yield a spectrum of flavors depending on its terroir.

    The most classic expression of sauvignon blanc comes from France’s Loire Valley. Beginning on the western coast and spanning nearly half the country’s width, the Loire Valley boasts some of the most diverse and exciting wines in the world. Sauvignon blanc is grown primarily in the Loire’s eastern edge, in appellations such as Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Today, I’m drinking a glass of 2012 sauvignon blanc from the smaller but mighty region Menetou-Salon, produced by Domaine de Bellevue. This Menetou-Salon is quintessential Loire Valley sauvignon blanc. With notes of kiwi, lime and gunflint on the nose, the Menetou-Salon greets the palate with a rush of tropical flavors. The wine delivers a gentle finish with a hint of white flowers.

    From the opposite end of the globe, I’m also tasting a sauvignon blanc from Uruguay, one of the world’s newest wine producers. This 2012 made by Bodegas Carrau comes from the Cerro Chapeu region, which sits 1000 feet above sea level among a series of flat hills. If the Menetou-Salon is soft and elegant, then this sauvignon blanc is crisp and zippy. With a bouquet of grapefruit, wet stone and freshly cut grass, this racy herbaceousness carries over to the mouth. Brightly acidic, this sauvignon blanc exits with a crisp, lively finish. As you can see, although they’re both sauvignon blanc, the places these grapes come from, their “terroir,” amount to excitingly different and diverse wines. I look forward to exploring all these details with you over the course of this next year.

    Both the Domaine de Bellevue 2012 (Menetou-Salon, France) and the Bodegas Carrau Sauvignon Blanc “Sur Lie” 2012 (Cerro Chapeu, Uruguay) are available for purchase at The Wine Thief (181 Crown St., New Haven).

     

    — Bryce Wiatrak

  3. The Yale Law School Wine Society: they came, they drank, they conquered

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    The Yale Law School Wine Society, formed in 2012, is fresh off a win on Tuesday evening at the French Consulate in New York. There, the students took part in the U.S. Intercollegiate Bordeaux tasting championship, where they defeated teams from rival Ivies including Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. champions will head to Bordeaux this summer to face off against teams from around the world, and they say that the hundreds of bottles of wine they’re sure to consume between now and then will prepare them well to compete against European and Asian rivals. WEEK- END sat down with the victorious wine tasters to discuss their origins, their friendship and their strategy for future success.

    Q: What was the inspiration for entering the U.S. Intercollegiate Bordeaux tasting championship?

    Tyce Walters LAW ’13: I was told about the competition by Lisa Granik LAW ’93 ’97, a Master of Wine and Yale Law alum, who suggested we put a team together and prepare for the event. In fact, the Wine Society really got going for the purpose of competing in the wine-tasting competitions.

    Q: The Yale Law Wine Society is a relatively new organization. How did it come into being? How did you find each other and discover you were all wine connoisseurs?

    Webb Lyons LAW ’14: Tyce is the person who deserves all the credit. He had worked in the wine industry before, and when Lisa contacted him, he sent out an email to the Yale Law Listserv letting everyone know about the chance to compete. One day last fall, a bunch of people came to Tyce’s apartment to participate in the wine tasting he had orchestrated. It really was Tyce’s leadership that put this together. Soon after, the team was formed. We really got going this fall. This year, we decided to prepare more fully and to perform better. Over the course of the fall, we did a number of tastings. We did our best to learn as much about the Bordeaux region as we could, and really tried to bring our knowledge and the tasting process together.

    Daniel Weisfield SOM ’14: We are the Mighty Ducks of wine. We were a scrappy band of ragamuffins under the leadership of one connoisseur, Tyce. He plucked us from the halls of Yale Law School and taught us everything we know about wine.

    Q: Has the organization grown?

    WL: When we had the tastings over the fall, six or eight people would come with some consistency, but the core group has been the same: Tyce, Laura Fermino LAW ’14, Dan and Webb. It was Tyce, Laura and I who went to the competition in New York. Now, we’ve also brought in Joe Pomianowski LAW ’15.

    Q: Were you friends before the competition? Or did the Wine Society really bring you together? 

    DW: We were united by the adventure of getting to know new wines and each other. From this process, there’s been a tremendous amount of camaraderie.

    WL: In fact, I didn’t particularly like Dan before this.

    DW: Our success is built upon Webb’s Southern charm — he talked a woman into giving us three bottles of Bordeaux for free — along with Tyce’s leadership, Laura’s intellect and our shared dream of going to Bordeaux.

    WL: And Dan’s vision!

    Q: The process of learning wine tasting seems so inaccessible, obscure and difficult. How does one study to be a wine taster?

    TW: You read books about wine, and you consume close to 600 bottles (which I tasted in the course of writing my most recent wine book). It’s like anything else — you do it, you practice and after a while it stops tasting just like wine and starts tasting like a particular region or a particular grape. You start to experience the subtleties. It’s also a lot of fun just to drink, because, well, it’s wine.

    Q: Wine tasting obviously involves more than one sense. What goes through your mind as you’re swishing the wine in your mouth?

    WL: It’s a pretty complicated process. When you put the glass to your nose and try it, you discern a lot. In your mouth, you take what you got in the nose and round it out. Everything we taste is Bordeaux, so they’re all going to be similar. You have to be cognizant of the nuances to get it right — it can be a pretty stressful process.

    Q: How did you nail the vintage in round one of reds? I hear that was one of the toughest calls to make. 

    TW: For that one, we all agreed it must have been a cool year when it was produced, because we detected a lot of green, vegetal flavors. That ultimately meant it was a 2007. And it was fairly young. From that, we decided it was either a 2004 or a 2007. Then ultimately we took a shot and decided it was a 2007.

    WL: In a hot year, the fruit is very ripe. That particular wine didn’t have the ripe flavor. So we thought, “Which vintages in the last 10 or 15 years came from cold production seasons?” That’s when we narrowed it down to 2004 or 2007. We then turned to the team leader, Tyce, who felt that ’07 was the right answer. We were the only team to go with ’07, and it was right.

    Q: What are your expectations for Bordeaux this summer? Can you give us details about how you’re preparing?

    TW: Nick Jackson, who was a wine-tasting competitor at Cambridge, is coaching us, along with Lisa. Nick is frequently sitting down with us, and we’re all drinking a lot of wine to make sure we’re in as good form as all the teams coming from Europe and Asia to compete.

    WL: I don’t know about you, but I’m from Alabama, and I’m a huge college football fan. The coach at the University of Alabama, Nick Saban, has a policy where the 24 hours after a win are dedicated to celebrating, and then it’s back to work. We’ve extended that a little. We’ve given ourselves 72 hours to celebrate, and we’re still in celebration mode. But tomorrow morning, the studying begins again. We’ve got a competition to win.

    Q: Is Law School getting in the way?

    DW: There’s no way we’d let law school interfere with our wine tasting.

    TW: The law school has been very supportive of the team — we’re all very grateful.

    Q: How do you reward yourself after a win?

    JP: The competition at the French Consulate rewarded us with a three-course dinner, and that was great because we met a few other people involved in the process, including the judges. After that, there was another type of celebration — we all had wine in New York with a big wine producer.

    Q: Does the Wine Society ever hold public events?

    TW: We’ve put together a few events for the Law School, with the help of the Zelia & Oscar Ruebhausen/Debevoise & Plimpton Student Fund Committee, but we haven’t done anything for the greater Yale community yet. Perhaps we’ll look into it.