WBW #51: Madeirized

This month Joe over at 1WineDude is hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday, the monthly event where wine bloggers write on a theme chosen by the host. This month's theme is cooked wine (not the bad kind). Madeira is unique in that it is exposed to heat during the wine-making process as well as being fortified. The fortification stops the fermentation process, and raises the alcohol level making it perfect for those bothersome long sea voyages aboard a man-of-war. Oh... Perfect because it resists spoilage, of course. It was one of the favorite imports of Great Britain and her colonies in the 18th century. In fact, Madeira actually owes its style to its sea-faring past: Vinho da roda was Madeira that had made the roundtrip on a sea voyage and its transformed flavors were preferred to the stuff straight off the island. So, producers developed methods to imitate on land, the jostling and heating effect of a voyage at sea.

By the way, I had the pleasure of meeting the Wine Dude, along with Mrs. Dude and the little dudette (such a chill baby) at the Wine Bloggers Conference in October. Joe is one cool cat, so check out his blog if you haven't (which you probably have because it's notorious).

Anyway, back to the Madeira. We tried the Blandy's Verdelho Reserve. According to wikipedia, Verdelho is characterized by smokey notes and high acidity. Reserve just means it was aged for a minimum of five years and the classification is 'bottom of the barrel', so to speak. The classifications go up from there. The name pretty much says it all for the Blandy's Verdelho: Blandy. Rhymes with brandy. It has a brandy-like nutty aroma nose, and the flavor? Bland. Sorry, I guess that is to be somewhat expected with Verdelho which is a milder style but, this pretty much tasted like fancy juice-box. I didn't find it smokey and the acidity was about the equivalent of apple raspberry Juicy Juice. A little harsh maybe but, I guess I'm still a little pissed that I spent thirty bucks on this grog. Unfortunately, it was either this or a $40 bottle of Blandy's.

I could see using this Madeira for canning cherries or marinating fruit, or pouring over a fruit cake or something. At $2.31 a gallon, I could also see filling my gas tank with thirty dollars, but hey, what's done is done.

Thanks again to 1WineDude for hosting this month's theme. I'm sorry I couldn't pick a winner Joe, but I hope you are enjoying yours.

East Coast Merlot

We picked this bottle up last spring when we visited the Hudson Valley. It's actually a Long Island wine but, Rivendell sells wines from all over New York and we'd been happy with a Cab Franc we had from this producer before.

If you're into trying New York wines, I think this bottle is worth the $10.50 we paid. Do I sound a little hesitant? Okay, the truth is, this isn't a stellar example of varietal character. I got Long Island wine blogger Lenn Thompson's (from Lenndevours.com) take on it: He asked me what vintage it was, and whether the label said "North Fork" on it. I replied that it was a 2004 and it did say "North Fork." He explained that in 2003/04 Palmer had to get a lot of fruit from California because of a poor harvest, and that it was a cool year. He also said the Palmer wines sells for around $20 at the winery. Good to know--I'm glad I consulted him.

So, what we have here is a true North Fork vintage, but from a cool year. Luckily, it wasn't $20, it was $10.50 which is only a few dollars more than you'd pay for a homogenized, mass-produced fermented grape-juice product. Here are the tasting notes:

Palmer 2004 Merlot

ABV: 12.8%
Price: $10.49
Aromas: Cranberry, cherry, smoked meat, barnyard
Flavors: Tart cherry, veg, licorice

Summary: This wine isn't particularly Merlot-esque and I guess the cool 2004 temps are partly to blame for that. It's a little brighter and more vegetal than what you'd find in a typical soft and rounded Merlot. The nose on this wine is a blend of tart red fruit and herbal notes with some barnyard in there as well. On the palate there is quite a lot of cherry: Tart cherry on the front, and canned cherry on the moderate finish with a hint of black licorice that almost goes toward petrol. Good balance of acidity and tannins that mostly carries through to the finish. By the second day, I pick up some tomato on the nose, and some of the tartness and finish has dissipated. It's definitely ready to drink now--some visible oxidation can be seen at the edge in the glass. I haven't had many New York wines, but this seems pretty true to type for the region if not the variety. A solid NY wine for the price.

Gary V. Upstaged at WBC?

Yeah, that title is sensationalized--I do that sometimes. I actually have to give props to Gary Vaynerchuk for flying out to Sonoma for the Wine Bloggers Conference on his own time (think he was in the area for one day) to give a keynote to us rabble rowsers. His actions truly are as inspiring as his words (if not more). He's just a hard, hard worker, bottom line.

That being said, I'm afraid this video by Tim Zahner stole the show, just a little bit. Check it out. (Warning: If you've never watched Wine Library TV, you won't get it)

Saralee's Vineyard & the Russian River Valley

Having read about Saralee's Vineyard over a year ago, I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to visit during the Wine Blogging Conference. She's kind of a big deal in Sonoma County. Saralee greeted us and gave us the lay of the land and then handed us off to wine-makers Rod Berglund, and Daniel Moore to lead a hike. They both source grapes from Saralee. Daniel gets the coveted Roller Coaster Ridge Pinot Noir and Rod takes the Pinot Gris from Turkey Hill. Rod does loose some fruit to the wild turkeys if you were curious.

As we walked, Rod and Daniel talked about the local soil types, and the fog patterns that set the Russian River Valley AVA apart stating "fog is the one unifying factor." They also both talked at length about the controversial Gallo petition to expand the AVA. The Russian River Valley Winegrowers Association is taking no official stand on this matter, and I'm sure I don't blame them (*see Wine & Politics). A full write up on this petition before the TTB has been posted at Appellation America.

We were served a tasty spread including homegrown heirloom tomatoes (in homemade wine vinegar), homegrown figs, sandwiches and homemade aioli and mayo. Of course, both wine-makers poured us some of their wines as well.

As we enjoyed our lunch, Saralee came to our table and our Zephyr guide coaxed her into telling us (humbly) of her work volunteering with the student vineyard for El Molino High School. The students grow the grapes and local wineries take care of the vinification and sales. All the proceeds go back into the program. Last year, they sold 50 cases of their Lion's Pride label to the Bohemian Club which I thought was quite something. Some of us at the table were ready to re-enroll in high school! It's just really cool that kids in the valley have the opportunity to be immersed in the wine growing industry that surrounds their community.

image courtesy of Russian River Valley Winegrowers Foundation

Home from WBC

Wow! I can't believe this is the first chance I've had to post anything about the weekend I just had! I just rolled into Boston this morning at 6:45am from sunny Sonoma County where I attended the first North American Wine Bloggers Conference.

I can't even begin to go into everything that happened in the two and a half short days of the conference, but the biggest highlight for me was definitely meeting a lot of wonderful wine bloggers and industry people who I've only known by avatar up until this point. I just wish there'd been enough time to meet and get to know everyone. There are several people that I respect who's hand I never actually got a chance to shake.

And, what would a Wine Bloggers conference be without wine. As this week progresses, I will post about some of the over two hundred wines (no I didn't even come close to sampling them all) wines on offer that stood out for me. But, for now, I'm closing in on 25 hours since I slept in an actual bed, and I'm looking forward to going to sleep in my own timezone. Nightie-night!

It's Gonna be Good

It's hard to believe that one week from tonight I will be en route to the first North American Wine Blogger's Conference in Sonoma! It's been a year since Taster A and I were last in Sonoma. I'm really excited to meet all the wine bloggers that I've been getting to know on Twitter for the last ten months. Sadly, Taster A has to stay home and work but, the good news is I get to share a room with Sonadora from Wannabe Wino which should be a blast!

Technically, the European Wine Bloggers Conference at the end of August was the first conference of wine bloggers. That conference was held in Rioja and a lot of wine bloggers watching from this side of the pond started to get really excited about the upcoming conference in Sonoma when we saw how much fun they were having! The conference agenda is packed and guest speakers Gary Vaynerchuck (last time I checked) and Alice Feiring definitely have attendees all fired up! I hope to learn a lot and come back with lots of ideas about how to make this blog *even* better.

Also one week from tonight is the fourth Twitter Taste Live featuring Jed Steele! I have to miss it because I'll be in-flight but plenty of tweeps in the wine 2.0 community will be participating and if last month's event is any indicator, it should be a riotous good time. Anyone can participate but time is running out to order the packs from Bin Ends. Even if you don't have the wines, it's still fun to tune into the twitter-stream and watch the progression of tipplings and tweets.