FRIDAY’S THIRTEEN…

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Stan The Wine Man

In a weeks time, I taste a boatload of wine (seriously). I lot of my friends think I’m lucky. Well, they’re right, and I wouldn’t give this job up for the world. The only thing that makes my job hard, … Continue reading →

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BITS & BOBS…

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Stan The Wine Man

First and foremost, I have started seriously on my You Tube channel once again. I finished up episode 305 if you would like to check it out…Please do, it means a lot to me. Also, if you wouldn’t mind subscribing to my You Tube channel I would be deeply grateful. I’ve settled into my new place and I’m done with my vacation. No excuses now. I plan on three episodes a week, hopefully Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will try to make them informative and entertaining.

For some bizarre reason, I have been asked if we sell brandied cherries for Manhattans so many times, I can’t count them. I was even sent an email with said request. I have worked at Kings Market for over thirty years, and have never been asked about brandied cherries until now. What’s up with that? Can anyone clue me in? Was there a book written or a celebrity show where brandied cherries for Manhattans was promoted? For those of you thinking to come in and ask me, the answer is NO. We do not sell them, and I am not sure where one can find them. Amazon perhaps?…Just Google it.

Pick of the month. Every month I select a wine to feature for the month that I stack in the front of my department. I taste a ton of wine before I pull the trigger on this pick. It has to meet certain criteria. One, it has to be good…Duh! Two, it has to fall into the 80% category. Another words, I feel that at least 80% of the people who purchase it will more than likely enjoy it. Three, it has to be a good value. I shoot for under fifteen bucks, but it has to deliver like it’s twenty. There’s a lot of work that goes into this pick, and it never ceases to amaze me how many ask me if it’s any good. Seriously? Folks, it wouldn’t be my pick of the month if it was crap.

Valentines Day. This is a celebration that is almost impossible to pick wine for. First off, wine is so subjective. Second, most people go out for dinner that night, so wine is not purchased (in a lot of cases) for consumption that night. I suppose there is the romantic out there that brings home flowers and a bottle of bubbles for their sweetheart. That’s my target audience. I feature a bottle of sparkling wine for that very person. This year it is the ever popular Antech Brut Sparkling wine from Limoux, France. it’s a good sparkler at a great price. Another one that I recently discovered is both clever and delicious. It is Je T’Aime (I love you in french), Brut Rose` also from Limoux, France. It’s eighteen bucks, it has a cool name for your Valentine and it is well made juice. Could you ask for more? If your Valentine is a red wine drinker, I chose a Tempranillo from Spain called Tridente. It has a guy with a bow and arrow on the label which smacks of Cupid (at least I hope most get the reference). Great juice at a great price. Who knows, with picks like these, you might get lucky.

Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man

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GREEN LIGHT FOR GREEN WINE…

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Stan The Wine Man

Something has happened this winter in my area that without exaggeration has blown my mind. Green wine or as it is known by most…Vinho Verde from Portugal is flying of the shelf in the store I work at. We are selling as much of this wine now as we did during the warm summer months. What is this wine from Portugal and why is it gaining in popularity.

Vinho Verde (meaning green wine or young wine) is not the name of the grape, it is the name of the area where the grapes are grown or the DOP (Denominacao de Origen Protege) in the northwest of Portugal. The name implies that it is to be drunk immediately not to be stored in the cellar for future enjoyment. The grapes used maybe unfamiliar to us. It could be made from a combination of these grapes or a single varietal. Alvarinho, Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso Azai or Batoca. Just trying to remember them wears me out, let alone saying them. The white wine they produce from these grapes is light, fruity, low in alcohol and has a touch of spritz on the tongue. There in lies the appeal.

The other factor is that most are fairly inexpensive. My most popular selling Vinho Verde is a whopping eight bucks. I also believe that this is why it took a while for it to get a foothold in the market. Sometimes cheap means low quality to a lot of folks. However, despite the low price tag, many have gravitated to this wine and have come to appreciate its virtues. I carry six different Vinho Verde in my wine department and when it starts warming up they all sell well, the most expensive being ten bucks.

The low alcohol (most under 10%) is a real appeal to a lot of people. They can sit around and enjoy one or two bottles with friends and hardly feel the effect. During the Super Bowl it sold like crazy as folks took it to parties and washed down the junk food with this light, refreshing white, not feeling the worse for wear afterward. I believe the beer that I had at my Super Bowl party was higher in alcohol than Vinho Verde.

The slight spritz that this white has is also an attraction. This is caused by an addition of CO2 prior to bottling. It is such a spritz that it is not easily recognizable, but it is just enough to give a little tickle to the tongue that makes it that much more interesting. When you get into the more expensive versions, which are hardly expensive, you sometimes find an interesting mineral component that comes through. Some have a touch more fruit than others, and some can go to the bright side of the flavor spectrum.

To show how serious the Portuguese are about making this wine, there are over 50,000 acres of vines planted in this region with 9 sub-regions in the Vinho Verde DOP. The Alvarinho grape, known as Albarino in Spain is the most well-known. Loureiro and Trajadura and two of the grapes along with Alvarinho that are used in single varietal versions. Most however are combinations of the grapes grown in Vinho Verde. The most popular in my department is Famega. It runs at eight bucks a bottle and is exactly what folks like about this wine. Two of my favorites are Lima (named after one of the nine sub-regions) by J. Portugal and Arca Nova. They run about ten bucks, but are noticeably more complex than most. If you are looking for a fruitier version, I would point you to Gazela, which is a very tasty little wine at eight bucks (although it might be too fruity for some).

For now, I am going to sit back and watch as the popularity of this wine grows and wine drinkers start asking for different versions of what is available. There are examples out there that can run close to $2o of which I have not been able to get my hands on. I am always happy to see people expand their palates, and if Vinho Verde helps the cause, more power to it. The “Green Wine” has definitely got a “Green Light” from consumers.

Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS…

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Stan The Wine Man

Thanks to Instagram and Facebook, most of my acquaintances and friends know I took a trip to the U.K. and France in January. I thought this would be appropriate material for this bits & bobs piece today.

Yes, there are places in Reims you probably shouldn’t randomly drive into. On our way to a tour of Taittinger, we simply plugged Taittinger into the GPS. It lead us, not to the Champagne house. It took us to Rue de Taittinger, a working class neighborhood that did not seem like the place to jump out and ask directions…Just saying. Fortunately, Susie found a map with the correct address and off we went. I’m sure the folks in the neighborhood were fine, I probably was just being an insecure tourist.

Speaking of Taittinger, I have to say that for my first tour of a Champagne house, Sophi did an excellent job and I walked away in awe. In one cave alone (and there were several of these) 67,000 bottles of Champagne were stored for aging. The cool part…They were all stacked on top of each other, not in boxes, but naked bottles stacked on their sides getting ready to be shipped off to wherever in the world they would land.

We stopped at Epernay on our way to the Chateau in Etoges an out-of-the-way spot with an amazing hotel and restaurant (I have to give Susie credit for finding this place). Epernay is a very cute little town with very friendly folks. We ate at a nice little spot and went off to our Chateau. Beautiful country that I have to go back to soon.

We spent a couple of nights in Paris and did all the tourist stuff and ate really good food as you do. I introduced Susie to Condrieu from Guigal. She became an immediate fan. We had it at a very cool restaurant called La Capole which looked like it was straight out of the fifties. I guess it was a spot that Ernest Hemingway frequented in his day. Amazing staff and the seafood was fantastic.

Back in England I was enjoying the great prices on Champagne and we consumed a fair amount, in particular Nicolas Feuillatte which I was picking up for the equivalent of around $25. a bottle. Not bad when you can pay on average $39. on our side of the pond. I want to give a quick shout-out to Susie’s friend Meg who is a fantastic and gracious hostess. She let us use her house as a base from which we explored Susie’s old stomping grounds in London and surrounding areas. I had a great time hanging with Meg, Susie and her other friends.

Of course, Susie had to show me a place she worked in London many years ago…Harrods. For those of you that don’t know, this is one of THE most famous department/grocery stores in London. Place is huge, crowded with tourists and quite expensive. I got a couple of things there and got out! It was nice to experience it, but I have no desire to go back.

One of our trips south of London took us to Surrey, specifically Peaslake to meet a couple of Susie’s friends who live there. They took us to a nice winery with the most planted vineyards in the U.K. Denbies Wine Estate produces some excellent sparklers at some amazing prices and of course I had to make a couple of purchases. While we were tasting, they told us that many of the estates in Champagne are looking to buy up land in the area, because the soils are mostly chalk based and perfect for growing grapes for sparkling wine. By the taste of the product coming from that dirt, I would have to agree.

Susie and I had a great time and plan on returning in the future. By the way, I am bummed that Atlanta could not maintain their strong lead in the Super Bowl and allowed the pesky Patriots to come back in a thriller that ended in over-time with another Pats victory. I really hate the Patriots (going back to the Grogan era), and now have to stop watching Sports Center for at least three months. You know all they’re going to talk about is how great Brady (Deflate Gate), Belichick (Spy Gate) and the Patriots are. NO THANKS!

Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man

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