In honor of Halloween, here is a wine themed Halloween costume post. (a big shout out to my friend Corey for the idea.) There are some great ones out there- if you've dressed in a wine theme before, let us know in the comments!
1. This amazing box of Franzia.
2. This couple's costume.
3. Or this couple.
4. How about a keg AND walking glass of wine (I think that's what's going on here...)
5. With this one, you're also set for a trip over Niagara Falls.
6. I'm sensing a theme with the couple's costumes. Also laughing at the attempt to make it sexy...
7. Hmmm. Bacchus maybe?
8. Bacchus definitely.
9. Do you need a couple's costume for you and your pet llama? I assume this would also work for goats.
10. Do you work for "Vixen Vineyards?" (Oh Halloween, what have you become?)
11. And, after all that, the classic, basic bunch of grapes.
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Every year, on the 3rd week in November, France celebrates Beaujolais Day- the day that the year's release of Beaujolais Nouveau is made available. These wines are harvested in August/September, fermented, bottled and meant to be consumed very young (within 6 month-ish of release- don't let them go past May!) or they begin to lose their characteristics. So, why does it get such a celebration? What's the good (and bad) hype about?
Well, in some ways a lot, and in some ways, nothing. Beaujolais as a region has a lot more to offer than just Beaujolais Nouveau, and often gets an unfairly bad rap because of the simplicity of that one wine- however, that wine is also pretty widely loved as a table wine. To top it off, there have been some interesting scandals in the region that I'll go into in a little more detail below. The Basics: Here's the basic deal with the Beaujolais region- The Beaujolais AOC is technically part of France’s Burgundy region (and is Burgundy’s biggest wine producer), but borders on Rhone and shares many of its climatic elements with warmer temperatures than the rest of Burgundy. It is best known for producing red wines but also does some rose and white (which is usually Chardonnay and referred to as Beaujolais Blanc.) The traditional red grape of Beaujolais is Gamay Noir, an ancient cross between Pinot Noir and the white varietal, Gouais. Its skins are deep purple and it tends to grow well in climates where Pinot Noir can grow. However, it ripens earlier and makes a stronger, fruitier wine than Pinot Noir. Gamay wines from Beaujolais tend to have slightly higher acidity due to water stress in the region and are light bodied and fruity. Gamay’s flavors range from light candied fruit, red cherry, strawberry, and even banana notes, to richer raspberry, and pepper notes. Gamay roses tend to have a candied fruit quality and hints of watermelon. (One of my absolute favorite roses is a Gamay- though not from Beaujolais- it is from Savoie.) Most of Beaujolais’ red wines are fermented using whole cluster or carbonic maceration. Remember? This is done to extract lots of those juicy, fruity flavors without introducing too much tannin from the grape’s seeds and skins. Therefore, they tend to be deliciously light (a good red choice for American Thanksgiving- something the French surely couldn't have anticipated) yet are still decently complex and flavorful. If you don't love tannins, give red wines from Beaujolais a whirl. The Categories: Of course, so far, I've simplified things a little too much (and frankly, upheld that old stereotype that ALL wines from Beaujolais are like the simple Nouveau.) Not so, actually! There are also some pretty fancy, complex, and ageable wines produced in the region- and, in keeping with the French tradition of breaking things down to super, super, super specific categories, the following general classifications can be used: Beaujolais AOC (this one covers about 60 villages, and Nouveau usually falls into this category.) Beaujolais Village (39 villages,) Cru Beaujolais (higher quality, and includes only 10 villages- often doesn't even put Beaujolais on the label, in order to escape the stigma!) So, while you generally know that most red wines from the region (especially those from the AOC and Village denominations) will be light, fruity and low on tannins, what if you find a higher quality Cru Beaujolais wine in the store?What can you expect? Well, it's tricky! There's a lot of variation and they range from light to heavy with varying recommendations for aging! I'll try to break it down a little- just because I find it interesting. If you do not, feel free to skip ahead! Remember, I had to research these, I haven't yet tried them for myself. Lighter wines (meant to be consumed within 3 years):
If so much of the production from the region is Beaujolais Nouveau (50%) and they are popular enough to merit an international celebration, then why do these high quality wines try to shirk its reputation? What gives? Well, part of it is that while tasty, the Nouveau wines aren't really much to write home about- you'll drink them, you'll like them, but they won't be game changers for most people. You're unlikely to take extensive notes on them, remember them for years, or rave about them to your friends. However, there's more to the story than just simplicity... The Scandal(s): The 2001 vintage was not a universally good one for ol' Beaujolais Nouveau... Some winemakers were accused of making such terrible wines that year, that a lot of it had to be destroyed, in order to salvage the reputation of the other producers who'd made wine that year- a sort of "one bad apple" situation. OK, so not the biggest deal- moving on... right? Well, kinda. In 2005, one large producer in the region also had a pretty crappy year. In order to avoid throwing out the whole batch, they secretly blended in some higher quality wines from other vintages (big no-no in France- or anywhere really, but especially France) and did not label the wine as such. Word got out and people were NOT happy. They felt they couldn't trust wines from the region. Then in 2007 (yes, again! the aughts were not good to Beaujolais,) 100 producers were accused of illegally adding sugar to their wines at the beginning of fermentation (a process called Chaptalization.) To the average wine drinker, these things might not seem like the biggest deal, but to the international wine community, it was just another series of reasons not to trust wines from the region or expect quality from them... So... What Now? : Are you wondering what to make of all this? Understandable. Well, I think my bottom line is "give it a whirl!" I'm personally excited to see what the 2013 vintage will have to offer. I've been underwhelmed by Beaujolais Nouveau in the past, but am willing to give them another chance- and, I'll say, on behalf of the region, I've had some pretty tasty Gamay reds that were not Nouveau, so give those a try too! Head to your local wine shop and give them a try! Best yet, check out these food pairings for Gamay wines and wines from Beaujolais (hint- it is versatile...) Chicken, Salmon, Morroccan lamb. Mmm. Questions? Comments? Boring? Overwhelming? Share in the comments! (Sonja, thanks as always, for reading and commenting!) The title of this post could apply to lots of things in life, I'm sure (at least for me these days...) But one thing I've found is that the more wine I taste, the more wine I forget I like (or dislike!) So... what to do? Now, I know this is dorky, but I've started keeping a google spreadsheet of every wine (and beer) I try. I know they make wine journals, but I'm not about to tote one around in my purse, and I want to be able to access it from anywhere- which is where technology saves me. Now, just know, I'm not fancy with my notes, but I do like to keep track of anything from details of each sip and sniff to just a vague lasting impression. For me, the things that are important to record are the following:
Go forth, drink up! Did you know? One of my favorite fall wines, Blaufrankisch, is also known as Lemberger? I just learned this week that they are one and the same! The more you learn! So... I didn't post last week (DOH) so I'm doing a little longer one this week to make up for it. Again, this is one of those "in a nutshell" posts. I could do 3 or 4 posts on each of the things I touch on in this one... and maybe I will someday!
I feel I've been focusing pretty heavily on winemaking, and not so much on the viticulture, or grape growing portion of my knowledge lately. So, lest I forget those grapes... here's a post on how humans manipulate the vines to give us what we want from their fruit! Grapevines are pretty fascinating little plants. If you've ever been to a vineyard, you've noticed, I'm sure that they grow in neat rows, and most often the vines have been trained to grow up along trellis wires (there are lots of different ways to train vines. Sometimes they're allowed to sprawl down on the ground, sometimes they are trained up onto an overhead trellis and they then hang from above... lots of ways. Lots of reasons for doing it each way...) Have you ever wondered why we grow them this way? What else goes into getting them to grow the way we want them to? Well, in nature, grapes can grow like weeds. They'll find a tall tree, climb it, and just go to town. This isn't great for people- we aren't really made for climbing tall trees. So, to make things easier for ourselves, we have trained them to grow on wires, trained at just the right height for picking! However, a lot more than just ease of harvest goes into our care of grapevines. We discovered that if we whack and feed and coddle the vines, we can get them to give us better, more flavorful fruit! Ideally, vines have a perfect balance between their foliage (called canopy) and fruit to make sure the fruit is flavorful and sugar rich. If the vines spend too many nutrients growing new shoots, the fruit will suffer. Contrastingly, if the vine grows way too much fruit, each berry will have less sugar and flavor compounds. Only so much the vine can do- so we've taken it upon ourselves to manipulate it to give us the best crop possible. How do we do this? A) Nutrients. Depending on the soil, the grapes may not have enough of what they need to grow and produce good fruit. Nitrogen, in particular, is vital for wine grapes because the yeast needs it for fermentation. So, we test the soil, we test the vine's tissues, and we see what it needs more or less of. Some nutrients are applied topically, and some to the soil/water. B) Watering. Ideally, you water the vines early in the season, get them to grow, and start fruit, and then late in the season, once the grapes have changed color, you shut them off. This forces the grapes to taper off growth and use their energy and life processes to concentrate all their sugars. (The bigger the berry, the more water, the more diluted the sugars and flavors.) C) Pruning. People have different preferences and styles for pruning, just like they do training systems. But the basic idea is the same. Keep just the right amount of canopy to keep the fruit from getting sunburned, keep enough airflow that molds and other diseases don't take root (depending on where you are located) but don't let it go so crazy that the vine sends nutrients to canopy growth instead of to the berries. You have to prune at the right time in the season too. If you do it at the wrong point, you can actually stimulate more growth, channeling those sugars to the wrong place again... Or contrastingly, you can chop off developing fruit and really get yourself into trouble. Most small scale producers would rather have a little bit less tonnage harvested in favor of really high quality fruit. Smaller is often better. However, a lot of large wineries that produce wines in tanks the size of a building (no joke) would rather maximize the amount of fruit harvested and are willing to sacrifice a little bit of quality (one of the reasons your grocery store wines are cheaper than the small-scale boutique wines you buy in tasting rooms. ) Some growers, however, believe that we meddle too much with the vines' fruit/canopy balance. They argue that in nature, the vines actually manage to balance themselves just fine and we should back off. It is becoming popular in many circles to train the vines onto wires early in their lives, to perform necessary winter pruning, but to otherwise pretty much leave them alone during the growing season. Don't mess with pruning or chopping. They still pay attention to watering and nutrients (and in many climates have to still worry about pests and diseases) but will try to be as hands-off as possible. There are conflicting studies, but some show that the fruit quality is just as high and yield is just as ideal in these vineyards as in those that do more canopy management... I have mixed feelings and can see the pros and cons in each situation. However, I think I'm inclined to mess with the canopy. I'm too much of a control freak, and there's too much risk involved with having a crummy crop to step back that much. I'm all for meddling and getting them to give us what we want. We know how, so why not? This is a very, very bare-bones explanation as to what goes into growing a healthy vine. But there you go. Any questions? Was this confusing? Those who know more than me- did I omit any major points? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments. Did you know? In some regions of Portugal, until pretty recently, farmers would grow grapes for winemaking on giant poles and under them, they'd plant their gardens and food crops for their families. Talk about maximizing your horizonal space! |
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AuthorI'm a wine-loving actress in the Windy City who holds certificates in Enology and Viticulture from Washington State University. I also own a hilarious cat. Archives
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