Free Tastings in February

Remember what my favorite wine was from Monday's white wine tasting? If you guessed Riesling, you're right!

If you want to taste Riesling and a variety of other reds & whites on a budget check out Surdyk's Liquor & Wine Shop in Minneapolis, offering free wine tastings every Friday and Saturday throughout February!

Check out the list of wines on showcase:

http://www.surdyks.com/Default.aspx?ISC_PageName=FreeWineTasting

Local Wine Tasting Deal!

Greetings fellow wine drinkers!

Are you running out of ideas to find a romantic Valentine's Day gift for that special someone? Maybe you're looking for a date idea to spark that love flame? Or, perhaps you are just simply jealous of my wine tasting adventures happening on a weekly occurance ;)

Whatever your reason, I have a solution. Check out this LivingSocial deal posted today! It's a wine tasting for two that includes all the indulgences a woman could want: wine (2 glasses and a bottle to take home) and chocolate for the very affordable price of $25. Plus you get to learn about wine-making at a local Minnesota winery!

Check it out! http://tiny.cc/cfzza

The Wonders of White Wines

Do you prefer a light, crisp, fruity flavored wine? If so, then white wine is the beverage for you. Believe it or not, to make white wine requires different processes and techniques than red wine-making does.

First, picking grapes for white wine during the coolest part of the day is extremely important to ensure the acids and sugars of the fruit are at the right balance. Picked grapes must either undergo the first stage of wine making (juice extraction) immediately or sit in a chilled environment until the next stage.

Unlike red wine, white wine is made without skins or seeds, but when it comes to extracting juice there are two different techniques. You can either de-stem and crush the grapes before they go through a 'pressing' machine or you can press the whole cluster of grape. The latter results in less juice but the liquid is actually of higher quality. What it really boils down to is personal preference.

White wines undergo fermentation and aging in either a wooden barrel or a stainless steel vat. What's the difference?

Barrels contain oak compounds that can be detected as a flavor or aroma when tasting wine. Stainless steel vats, on the other hand, have no interaction with the wine but tend to produce lighter, fruitier tasting wines.

Did you know there are about 50 major white wine grape varietals grown worldwide? Here are some of the most common ones we know:
- Chardonnay
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Riesling
- Gewurztraminer
- Chenin Blanc
- Pinot Grigio/gris

These happen to be the six wines we blindly tasted in class.

I'm no expert but here were my top 3 along with some white wine rules of thumb I discovered:

1. Riesling
2. Pinot Grigio
3. Chardonnay

- I definitely did not enjoy the Gewurtraminer! Don't be fooled by the floral aromas!
- Cat urine is a common aroma associated with Sauvignon Blanc!!! Knowing that information, it surprisingly still wasn't my least favorite. This type of wine is also known to have a definitive green pepper flavor and should be paired with food on that note.
- Riesling has the longest aging potential.

Did you know that your seemingly fruity, light white wine could have celery, artichoke, flint, gunpowder, toast, cut grass, boxwood, and tobacco characteristics?

I encourage you to buy a bottle of white this weekend and let me know what aromas you smell and the flavors you taste! The possiblities are endless. One thing to note, however, is that getting a musty, wet-newspaper smell or taste could mean that particular bottle is corked.

Corked means bottled with a cork that is contaminated with TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). TCA contamination usually comes from corks but can also come from barrels or even from wood within the cellar including walls or beams!

Did you know that 5-10% of all bottled wines are 'corked'?! That's pretty significant and could explain why you have a negative association with a particular brand. Perhaps you didn't even know you had a corked bottle! Better luck next time.

Cheers to white wine!

Growing Grapes and Tasting Wines

First, I'd like to start of with a grape tutorial so you can impress your friends with the following facts...

Grapes happen to be the oldest and most widely grown horticultural crop, with first signs of plantation dating back 7,500 years. Today, there are more than 20,000,000 acres of the crop across the globe.

Did you know red grapes need a longer growing season than white grapes, which is why red grapes are grown in warmer climates such as California, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The amount of sugar grapes produce is dependent on their sun exposure; too much sun will result in too much sugar, and vice versa.

Last week, we had our first sensory session where we learned how to taste wine. Here are a few things I took away from the experience:

1. Myth: Crackers do not in fact cleanse your palette. On the contrary, they impair your ability to perceive astringency which is a chemical induced texture that creates a dry taste on the tip of your tongue. The best palette cleanser is actually water, or nothing at all. Crackers are really just for show.

2. When pairing food with food or food with wine, sweet should come before sour/bitter. If reversed, overall taste can be suppressed because of confused taste buds. For example, you wouldn't serve grapefruit before cinnamon rolls - the sweetness of the cinnamon rolls would be suppressed.

3. When drinking wine, the cause of saliva stimulation comes from the sourness of the wine.

What was the last meal you served with wine? And what kind of wine was it? Share your suggestions!

Saludos!