A passion for wine and blogging

Josh, the Pinotblogger and the Capozzi Winery have laid a challenge in front of wine bloggers. The link to the post with more details can be found here. Below is my answer to the challenge, not because I am looking to win the prize (although, who says no to a prize?), but because it allows me to sit and reflect on what I do here on this blog.

The first question to answer is:

Why are you passionate about wine, and what motivates you to blog about
it?Read more: http://www.pinotblogger.com/2009/04/22/1k-for-1-post-the-2009-wine-blogger-scholarship/#ixzz0H7WA0QqU&B

I have found passions in interesting areas. When I was eleven years old I started fencing. Over the years I became good enough to win a few tournaments, travel and compete internationally, and meet hundreds of interesting people who are passionate about the sport. I continue to keep my hand in the fencing world by refereeing at various tournaments around the country and for as much as I complain about the horrors of air travel, I enjoy doing it. My favorite moments during my fencing career have been when one of my college teammates made an action that I told them would work against their opponent and that moment when they understood not only how the action was supposed to be made, but why I had told them to do it and how it had worked.

Starting in about seventh grade and continuing through today, I enjoy the art of writing. Some might say that my grammar has a long way to go and that my spelling is atrocious (I love you mom!), but there is nothing more cleansing for me than writing. I used to write a lot of poetry (most of it bad and juvenile). I still do some writing and those that I have accepted as friends on Facebook can find my writings in my notes. There are few pleasures better than having someone telling me that my writing touched them (however, that is not an invitation for praise).

Bear with me, I am working up to a point.

Wine has brought me to a place where I can enjoy each glass in three ways. There is the pleasure I get from a well made product, the same way I love a great piece of chocolate or an enjoyable book. I also get the chance to learn each time I open a bottle. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a conduit where I can compel myself to learn about each bottle I open and each winery I talk about.

The last way I enjoy a wine is by teaching someone else about what it is I am enjoying and finding out if they enjoy it in the same way.

That is what really bridges all of my passions together. I love seeing that 'aha!' moment. I love being the person that helped someone else connect the dots to a conclusion. I studied to become a teacher in college, but found myself going into communication instead (For those interested, my math grades stopped me from becoming a math teacher. For some reason my school required me to be able to understand incomprehensible maths in order to teach algebra... not that I am sorry how things worked out).

What made me passionate about wine started while I was in high school. At the dinner table I was always encouraged to try new things, perhaps an interesting culinary creation or something as simple as beer or wine. From there I moved into college and became one of the few people in my group of friends confident enough to look at a wine list and pick out a bottle of wine. I had no idea what I was doing, but I could fake it. I would also experiment with wine and tried many brands within my limited college student budget.

My first step to becoming truly geeky about wine started when I was hired at my first full-time job after I graduated. I was asked to work on Chilean wines and my exposure to the wine industry increased exponentially. From then through today it was all about tasting everything I could, learning everything I could hold onto, and always looking for that next new great wine experience.

From there, blogging became an obvious decision. I started blogging about wine to learn, not only about the wines but about blogging. Why do people blog? Why put in the time? What is the return?

You can really only understand by starting your own blog. Blogging enters you into a community of people all looking for that next experience and with the desire to share it with others. The time requirements are immense. I had no idea that I would need to set aside hours each week just to be able to put out one or two blog posts.

And the return is what you put into it. An insightful blog post will have people from all over the world coming to your blog to leave a comment or just to read what you have said. A hastily written blog posts gains nothing, because nothing is put into its creation.

Now I have spent too much time on the first part of Josh's challenge and will need to address the second part:

Is it appropriate for a wine reviewer to prescribe the ways in which a wine
should be made, or is their job chiefly to review what’s in the bottle? Use
examples from the wine you choose to illustrate your position.Read more: http://www.pinotblogger.com/2009/04/22/1k-for-1-post-the-2009-wine-blogger-scholarship/#ixzz0H7LLuHQ3&B

I think this question is a lot trickier than it looks on the surface. The crux of the question (for me... likely not what Josh intended) revolves around the question "What is a wine reviewer?"

There are currently many wine reviewers in the world. Many work for credible publications, such as the Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, International Wine Cellar, and Decanter.

And then there are hundreds, maybe thousands of blogs currently being written by wine enthusiasts. It would be wrong to say that the bloggers that write about wines are not wine reviewers, because no matter what, once an opinion is registered about the wine they are discussing they have 'reviewed' the wine.

It all comes down to who you trust to give you good advice. The publications have credibility because their writers have been reviewing wines for decades. However, there are plenty of publications that I would not trust because they have not proven to me that they know what they are talking about. The exact same criteria holds for bloggers.

That being established, I have strayed well off the topic that Josh intended when he put forth this challenge, so to bring it back I will talk about a wine I drank at home as an example for his intended question.

My mom enjoys her wine. When I was little my parents purchased several bottles to keep in their basement (do not call it a cellar) until the wine was ready to drink. They bought a case of Grand Puy Lacoste 1983 for my birthday year (and we should get to drinking it!). There were a few bottles of Cheval Blanc that I convinced my mom to open for Thanksgiving.

So, for my last trip home we opened a bottle of Ridge Jimsomare Zinfandel 1990, a wine that I can no longer find on the Internet. I thought the wine was excellent, rich with aged notes of leather, pepper, pipe tobacco, and yet still a good deal of fig and sweet blackberry. A great wine to share with one of the people I care most about in the world.

I have no idea how that got into the bottle.

By that I mean I am not a winemaker. I have not been educated on what strains of yeast to use, how long to cold soak the juice, what temperature a fermentation should begin at and when it should end.

I know how to use a corkscrew (oh, do I know how) and the best way to pour a wine into a glass without spilling all over the table (still working on perfecting that one). I have tasted hundreds of wines, but that still does not make me an expert, as those I would call expert have tasted hundreds of thousands of wines, if not more.

In giving my review of a wine all I know is what I like and what I taste. I know I liked the Ridge Jimsomare and I would consider it to be an enjoyable wine for anyone. If I knew for certain that the tastes presented on my palate were caused by the years it was aged, the use of an exact amount of oak, the precise moment the winemaker decided to started fermentation, then maybe I could make those statements. Maybe. If I was feeling ballsy that day.

So, my answer is I think a wine review should only review what is in the bottle. It is not up to a wine reviewer to determine the direction a winemaker goes in to make his wine. That decision should always reside at the winery, with the knowledge that there will be many people that will not like the wine being made, no matter what the wine tastes like. Once a winery accepts that, there should be no other decision other than to make the best wine possible.

I want to thank the Capozzi Winery and Josh for giving me the motivation to write this blog post. I think it is a great way to reach bloggers.

TasteCamp - The Last Day

Three weeks and several blog posts later, I have finally come to the end of the story of TasteCamp. It was a lot of fun, we had a lot of laughs, we sipped, we spit, we slurped, and we... sorry, ran out of 's' words... we enjoyed ourselves.



On the last day we visited two wineries, Wolffer Estate Vineyards and Channing Daughters. Both of these wineries are located on the South Fork of Long Island, better known as the Hamptons. You may have heard of them.







To get there, Leah and I had the choice to drive down the North Fork to where the two forks merge and then dive back up the South Fork or to take a ferry over to Shelter Island and then another ferry to the South Fork. Being a water-going gal, Leah immediately opted for the ferry ride. We got primo parking on the ferry boat so that we could see the stretch of the water and the island we were approaching. While it was a grey day, it was still much nicer than watching highway...


I will not spend too much time talking about Wolffer, although not because I did not enjoy the visit. My company represents Wolffer and I feel it would be inappropriate for me to talk about the wines. What I will say is that I would love to go back and visit one a bright sunny day. Their tasting room was very nice and there was a porch that overlooked the vineyards that I would imagine to be stunning when the sun was shinning. As it was, the day was rainy and a little chilly.

After leaving Wolffer we went to Channing Daughters, which for me was one of the best visits of the trip. There were giant sculptures in each of the vineyards, which we later learned was one of the ways they marked each block and called them by the sculpture's name. All of the pieces of artwork are the creation of Owner/Sculptor Walter Channing. In the middle of the vineyards was an upside-down oak, which is the winery's logo.

The tasting room at Channing Daughters is small in comparison to many of the other wineries that we had visited over the weekend. We walked in, grabbed glasses, and walked back out onto a back porch. It was still raining and still chilly, but all of that evaporated as soon as we started talking with the Winemaker, Christopher Tracy and the General Manager, Allison Dubin.

You meet plenty of people in the wine industry who know the ins and outs of the world of wine. It is a rare that you meet someone that is so enthusiastic about teaching others about wine (especially when it is their own wine) that the enthusiasm rubs off on you. Chris was not only knowledgeable, but he was so pleased to be able to share his visions and thoughts about wine with others interested in listening. He was a joy to taste with and a double pleasure because his wines were fantastic.

Chris makes twenty-three wines at Channing Daughters, fourteen of which are white, three roses, and six reds. What was most impressed me was the consistency from one wine to the next. All were wines I would gladly drink again (in fact I bought six bottles while I was there).

And there was so much diversity! There was crisp Chardonnay, oak integrated Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Field Blends, Tokai Friulano, Pinot Grigio, Blends of each white varietal with different levels of malolactic fermentation, Merlot, Blaufrankish (dude! Blaufrankish in Long Island!), and a wine combining the ripasso method and the solera method. It was fresh! It was fun! And the wines were damn good!

The best moment was when Chris gave us a look like that of a wicked child that had a hidden stash of candy and asked us if we wanted to stick our nose in his Madeira. Of course we had to say yes! He lead us through what was probably the smallest winery room I have ever seen (probably smaller than my apartment!) and into the back of the winery where there were barrels sitting. Barrels full of wine! Exposed to the elements! He lead us to a barrel left on its own between several rows of stacked barrels and pulled the plug from the bunghole. When my turn came around, I stuck my snozz in and there was no doubt, it was Madeira! When asked what grape it was, he said Merlot.

Chris showed us that experimentation is alive and well on Long Island, and his wines are all the better for it. Even more impressive is that the wines were moderately price and, in my opinion, worth every penny.

Thanks go to Lenn Thompson of LENNDEVOURS for putting together such a great weekend and showing wineries that bloggers are a valuable advocate in today's wine market.

A musical Wine Blogging Wednesday

The next Wine Blogging Wednesday has been announced by Katie at Gonzo Gastonomy, and this time she puts forth an interesting theory.

Music has been a consistent source of emotional enjoyment, ever since one caveperson scraped a rock in rhythm against a cave floor (perhaps an exaggeration). Music has a strong power over our senses, the way a cymbal crash makes us excited or the way a violin pulls on our heart strings. The way a fiddle might make us want to tap our heels or the way a harp might put us to sleep.

Katie's challenge is to experience for ourselves how different genre's of music make us feel about a wine. If perhaps a song is on that is particularly grating against your nerves, do you then think less of the wine you are tasting?

The interesting part is I am not sure what wine to pick! Picking the music will be relatively easy (I have a very diverse library). But do I pick a wine I know I like? Do I ask for a recommendation of a wine someone I know likes?

I guess we'll see. The post is due on June 10th (that's like tomorrow!!). I missed the last one, hopefully I will get my act together for this one.

A nice sparkler from Alsace

I have been in somewhat of a celebratory mood, as I switch from one job to another. It is not that I feel particularly good about leaving the old job, but starting a new job is exciting.

Therefore, I feel that a little bit of bubbly is just what the doctor called for. I received a bottle of Domaine Albert Mann Cremant D'Alsace Brut NV (lot 34) a little while ago and now seemed to be the perfect time to open it.

A quick note about the term Cremant: Cremant is a label used for sparkling wines outside of the region of Champagne to denote a wine that was made using the Champagne method (methode champenoise/traditionnelle).

It is rare that I find myself really enjoying a sparkling wine. When I do find myself liking one, it usually turns out to be a Muscato D'Asti or other extremely sweet wine. I think I have been too affected by my upbringing through the Coca Cola culture.

Many of my female friends think I am crazy, as they all claim to love sparkling wines. Perhaps they do, or maybe they just like the prestige that a bottle with a cork that POPS brings to the table. At the last Wine Spectator California Wine Experience, I had the opportunity to wander around with one of my wine mentors (there have been quite a few) and he told me that it had taken him a while to get into bubblies as well. However, he had an epiphany that bubbly was just another wine and it changed his perspective.

All that said, I really enjoyed the Albert Mann. It balanced beautifully between the fruity sweetness I love and the drying acidity of the bubbles. It is definitely a wine made for food and I was lucky enough to have a pan fried chicken with broccoli and potato crisps on hand. The wine was very pleasantly accented with apple and lemon flavors. The bubbles brought a little bitterness which nicely balanced the fruit. There was a little tartness to it, but I think the food matched it to make me want to go from eating to drinking and back again.

A nice wine and for $22, I think it is worth checking out for the next time you need a good bubbly.

Today I start my NEW JOB!

And now... the announcement I am sure at least three of you have been waiting for...

Today is my first day starting at Gregory White PR.

I am very excited to be working with this company of a few reasons. The people are great and extremely enthusiastic about wine and spirits. The company is also very interested in what social media is and how it will impact (has been impacting...) the wine industry landscape, something I think is extremely important to understand.

And I also get to work with new wines! One of the reasons I started this blog was to force myself to better understand, research, and write about wine I am unfamiliar with and regions that I have little knowledge of. However, I do not think that there is any substitute for hands on learning. To be able to touch a bottle and understand a wine region, with the expectation that you are going to be required to explain everything you know to another person, is a priceless education.

For a list of the clients Gregory White PR represents, you can check here.

I will likely announce more information about the specific clients I will be working with at a later time. I would like a few days to get updated on the procedures that GWPR have (like what the access code for the bathroom is, are there regular after-work drink places... you know the IMPORTANT stuff!!). For now though, I would like to reiterate (as I have in previous posts) that I will never review a product that my company represents in any way.

I have also added another disclaimer to my profile information. It seems a little silly, but with the story about bloggers being put under FTC guidelines, I feel like it is well worth putting two sentences on the side of my blog...