When It Comes To Bubbly, Do You Know Your Letters?

Champagne production is one of the most highly-regulated in all of the wine world, with each bottle receiving a registration number for its producer issued by the region’s governing body, and each label receiving a designation code that represents how the wine was made. What Champagne label code signifies that a Champagne was produced independently by an individual estate / grape grower?

• A. CM
• B. MA
• C. NM
• D. RC
• E. RM

As requested by you, the abnormally intelligent and good-looking 1WD readers, the answer will be forthcoming in the comments later. In the meantime, fire away if you think you know the answer (and want to show off your wine smarties)!

Cheers – and good luck!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Weekly Wine Quiz: When It Comes To Bubbly, Do You Know Your Letters? from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

Considering that I’ve been so surprised by the high quality of some Aussie white wines in the last several months, it seems surprising that I should be surprised at all when Aussie wine surprises me these days.

And yet, my mind is simple enough (and apparently entrenched enough in its own little preconceived notions) that the Aussie wine surprises keep coming (good and bad, but probably much more good than bad right now).

Such was the case at last week’s A+ Aussie Wine public tasting event at Espace in NYC, called “Around Australia In 80 Sips” and organized jointly by Bottlenotes and Wines of Australia (of whom I was a media guest). [ By the way, the "A+" thing is their marketing label, not mine. ]

The Aussie’s in the biz who attended refer to this sort of public tasting event as a “swim through” – I’ll let your imagination fill in the blanks on what that means, but let’s just say I had to fight to make my way to poorly-placed spit buckets, and I was by far in the minority in terms of actually using them.

The volume of imbibing aside, it was great to see so many people (a few hundred NYCers) – and predominantly young people, who apparently haven’t heard (or are just ignoring) the misinformation that Aussie wine is dead – coming out to get a crash-course in what Aussie wine has to offer the U.S. market.  Something like forty wineries participated – mostly the big ones, which very likely isn’t a true representation of the diversity of the Aussie wine market, but was certainly an accurate representation of the Aussie producers most people are likely to find available on our shores.

The surprises for me this time? The reds…

While it is true that the reports of the Aussie wine market’s death have been greatly exaggerated, they haven’t been quite so exaggerated when it comes to the reds, especially the lower-end of the Shiraz product range which has garnered a rep for tasting too much like berry compote, brown sugar, wood and grain alcohol shoved into a container full of Pepsi and mixed together.

And I did find a few such examples at this tasting, for sure – but those on the other end of that spectrum? Well, they were a different story entirely: concentrated, for sure, but spectacular in their complexity and in some cases their potential food-friendliness. A few from cooler Aussie climes could have passed for Syrah from some hip, modern Rhone producer in a blind tasting.

So on to the juice – here are four reds that stood out for me as being particularly surprising, pleasure-inducing, and worth their price tags (or more):

2008 Turkey Flat Butcher’s Block Red (Barossa)
Price: $27
Rating: B+

A serious red made from old (seriously old) Shiraz, Grenache, and Mourvedre vines from Turkey Flat’s own Barossa vineyards, this wine is a study in what intense concentration is supposed to taste like; when it’s natural, from old-vine small berries with clusters that don’t ripen uniformly, and not when it’s induced by borderline-raping grapes during crush and fermentation. It’s deep, intense, tense, and tart (it’s the tart part that never shows up in the over-extracted, heavy-handed styles), and it will make you feel simultaneously enlightened but also like you just got your ass kicked, like Neo in that dojo scene with Morpheus in The Matrix.

2008 Schild Estate Sparkling Shiraz (Barossa)
Price: $29
Rating: B+

I hard time coming to terms with this wine. I am still having a hard time coming to terms with this wine. By most accounts, it shouldn’t work. It’s the thickest, meatiest, blackberry-pie-est sparkling Shiraz I’ve tasted in a long time. It’s like high-end Barossa with bubbles, a dark berry meat samosa, and yet… it just… works. Wine snobs aren’t supposed to like wines like this… so I’m quite glad I am not a wine snob. Your mileage may vary – keep an open mind about this one and you’re in for one of more unique bubbly wine experiences you’ve probably ever had.

2004 Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz (Grampians)
Price: $44
Rating: B+

My on-the-spot tasting note for this beauty reads “Pepper! OMG, we have honest-to-goodness PEPPER!” Sooooo much Aussie Shiraz is made that is utterly devoid of cooler-climate Syrah’s black pepper spice that it’s enough to induce depression in Rhone Valley wine lovers, which is what made this wine stand out from the pack of 80 at the NYC tasting. This wine is the Zoro of Aussie Shiraz, dazzling you with a display of black fruit before going in for the spicy kill and, then stealing your horse and riding off with your wife, and all the time you’re thinking “damn, that guy is soooo smooth.”

2004 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon (Margaret River)
Price: $50
Rating: A-

Again, I’ll start with the brief on-the-spot tasting note, which reads: “uhmmm… wow; lovely.” That sums it up, but for those who aren’t into the whole brevity thing, I’ll add that this wine struck a fantastic balance between dark berry fruitiness (yeah, we are tasting wines from Down Undah, here), wood spices, earthiness and tangy red currants. Just smelling it had me thinking about potential food matches, which is a relative rarity in Cab from just about anywhere these days, so it came off like a breath of fresh air, as if some kind-hearted soul had just opened the window on a bright spring day and offered you a slice of pie, a massage, and a date with Heidi Klum.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Surprising Stars From Aussie Wine’s “A+” NYC Event from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

I was recently interviewed by WineSpiralProject.com, as part of their series on wine industry innovation, in which they interview personalities in the wine world and ask them to share thoughts on the wine biz and how it can/should innovate.

Yeah, I know, I’m not 100% certain why they picked me either, but what’s done is done so let’s just roll with it, okay?

You can check out the entire series of interviews at this link; I’ll give the the super-short, edited-down-to-the-bare-bones-Cliff-Notes version of my interview right here:

Wineries are amazing at production innovation; Wineries suck at engagement innovation.

It’s not in bottling lines or fermentation vessels that we need an innovation push in the wine biz; we need innovation in adjusting the attitude that most wine producers have towards consumers. What do I mean by “engagement innovation?” Short answer: using the single most innovative outreach platform ever developed in the history of the human race – the Internet – to directly engage the people who buy their shiz. This may sound like common sense to you, but a lot of the producers I encounter seem to need reminding that those consumers – and not critics – are the ones who matter the most…

Yes, critics have reach. They can and do expose wine brands to markets that otherwise might not know they’d exist. But if I were a small-production winery, I’d be worrying a hell of a lot more about how to reach, engage, and keep customers I had (as well as engaging new ones) than trying to get a crazy-good review with critics that have substantial followings in the hopes that those followings will buy up every last drop, allowing them to quintuple prices and retire in the outer Hebrides.

Because that scenario is about as likely as Bon Jovi opening for my band on a world tour. In other words, for most producers it’s a total waste of time. And I am saying this as, in part, a wine critic – because after people do you the honor of following your thoughts about wine, and publicly declare on social media platforms that they are going to buy or avoid a wine that you write about because of what you said – or didn’t say – about it, then for all intents and purposes you are now a wine critic (at least, to them!).

But engaging customers and turning them into potential life-long fans of your brand? That’s happening every few seconds every day on social media platforms. To quote, well, myself from the interview (emphasis provided as published by WineSpiralProject.com):

“Wineries have the ability, through social media, to reach younger wine consumers directly and be just as influential on their buying decisions as Wine Spectator, Robert Parker, or little ol’ me. That is an amazing opportunity and those that do it right are gonna beat the pants off of those who don’t in the marketplace eventually. It takes time, and a long-term view because the influence is done via one-on-one relationships – patience is going to pay off in that case!”

That’s why I think it qualifies as “innovation” (sorry the rationale is coming so late, for those who have been waiting for it): because it’s nearly the opposite approach as compared to what most wine producers are doing in (not) reaching out to their customers right now.

Honestly, I’ve got no idea what producers (especially smaller wine producers) are waiting for when it comes to outreach. Well, aside from fear of the unknown, I mean. In my view, they should stop wasting time complaining about social media and just start using that time on social media to connect with customers already.

That’s sure-as-sh*t what I’d be doing if I made wine right now.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Where Can Wineries Really Innovate? In Engaging The People Who Actually Drink The Stuff! from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

They invited me to take a sample test rive of the game on the iPhone, and I can say that I am fairly impressed – the interface is slick, there’s a bit of game-addiction action as you rack up bottles that measure your winnings/progress (which you can then share via twitter, Google+ and Facebook for bragging rights among your social circle as to who has the most wine smarties). And we all know that wine knowledge makes you appear sexier to your potential amorous pursuits (just sayin’).

And now YOU have a chance to win a copy of Wine Knows Trivia for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, because we’re giving away a redemption code for the app to THREE lucky commenters this week!  Here’s the deal: you comment on this post, and at 9PM ET on Friday, January 27th I will randomly select three winners from the comments who will receive a redemption code via e-mail (if you win, you need to act fast – after February 3rd, the codes evaporate into the ether, never to be seen again!). Comment discussion topic coming after the jump.

Some of the questions in the Wine Knows trivia game are pretty friggin’ difficult – I found a few that rivaled those posed within the exams of the certifications for which I sat over the years. so it should keep all but the most die-hard wine geeks entertained…

For example, do you know the most commonly-used grapes (of the 14-some-odd varieties allowed) in the making of vintage port? Probably not off the top of your noggin’.

It’s not all a bottle of rose, of course – questions that you answer incorrectly tend to repeat themselves until you get them right, which you may find annoying. And as far as I’m able to discern, the app totally ignores the mute button on the iPhone, and there’s not setting to turn off the sound effects and music, forcing you to manually reduce the volume if you want to play while you’re supposed to be paying attention in a meeting. And finally, some questions use the term “varietal” as a noun (totally unforgiveable!).

Anyway, as a wine geek you can do a lot worse than while away your time learning some interesting tidbits about your favorite beverage by challenging yourself with all the great questions that Wine Knows Trivia poses for the bargain price of $0.99.

So if you wanna win a copy to put your wine brain to the test, shout out the following in the comments:

What’s the most difficult wine quiz/test/question you’ve ever faced?

For me, it would have to be the section on the WSET Advanced written exam that dealt with Spanish brandies – I was totally unprepared for the inclusion of that (shame on me!). But then, the exam seemed to include a good proportion of questions pertaining to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., and if had been a Londoner studying for the exam I probably would have sh*t myself on those questions!

Cheers – and good luck!

(images: www.triviaknows.com)

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Wine Knows Trivia iPhone App Giveaway! from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

• 04 Signorello Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): A Savory, black-licorice beauty sporting a serious ‘come hither, big boy’ stare. $39 B+ >>find this wine>>
• 10 Louis Konstantin Guntrum Louis Riesling (Rheinhessen): Sweet, but w/ a sassy spicy streak; like a mischievous kid you once babysat $13 B- >>find this wine>>
• NV Toso Brut (Argentina): Bushels full of yellow apples, especially for the price; but man, those are some gritty yellow apples. $10 C+ >>find this wine>>
• 09 Quivira Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley): For those who prefer their Zin with plums, mocha & a hint of pepper. And a hint of awesome. $20 B+ >>find this wine>>
• 09 Casey Flat Ranch Sauvignon Blanc (Capay Valley): Yeah, it’s pretty beefy; but it’s also not without some firm, sculpted muscle. $23 B >>find this wine>>
• 07 Otis Kenyon Matchless Red Wine (Walla Walla): Starring mocha, ripe plums &… soy? Yep, & the story has a happy ending, actually. $23 B >>find this wine>>
• 09 Mercer Estates Riesling (Yakima Valley): Crispness so sharp & balanced, it probably ought to be registered as a deadly weapon. $14 B >>find this wine>>
• 06 Frog’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Nice mix of silkiness & food-friendliness; kind of like high-end edible underwear. $45 B+ >>find this wine>>
• 08 Royal Tokaji Mad Cuvée Late Harvest (Tokaji): Orange peel & honey kicking dirt, transmogrified & manifest into dessert. $21 375ml $21 B+ >>find this wine>>
• NV Gustave Lorentz Cremant d’Alsace (Alsace): Light & tasty as gourmet meringue; & might has you feeling lighter than air in no time. $24 B >>find this wine>>

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Weekly Twitter Wine Mini Reviews Round-Up For January 21, 2012 from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!