BITS & BOBS

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Stan The Wine Man

On Saturday, I shot an episode on aging budget-friendly wines. It will go live today at 8 am. The last episode I did on this subject three years ago has garnered close to 10,000 views. It’s obviously a hot topic, so I crawled under my house and dug through my cellar to find some of the older wines I tucked away that were under fifteen bucks. This has been a passion of mine, which started early in my wine career. I love to see how inexpensive wines age. That being said, I don’t just put any wine in my cellar that’s cheap to see what will happen. The wine has to have components that indicate it could improve with age. What are those components? Structure is the key! It has to have a balance of three key ingredients. Acid, fruit and tannins. Acidity is super important as it is the backbone of aging. Alcohol, acidity and tannins act as preservatives in wine to help it age. However, they have to be in balance with each other. If these components are in harmony, the wine should age nicely regardless of the price. I have had a lot of success with this over the years. This latest episode, which comes out today, will be a two-parter. Check out the episodes, I think you will find them very interesting. Here is a link to my channel so you can find it easily.

I am working with Andrew Januik on a time to run down to Woodinville and interview him for my YouTube channel. His father Michael, is also going to be part of the show, which is very exciting! The main subject will be kids who follow in the footsteps of their winemaking family. In Europe, it is expected that the children will take over the winemaking duties of their parent or parents, which goes on for generations. Not so much here in the U.S. Andrew has taken over the winemaking at Januik and Novelty Hill Wineries with the mentoring of his father. Michael still has a part, of course; he, like so many of us in the wine world, has to be around it. I am looking forward to interviewing both of them on this subject. Stay tuned.

I’ve read recently that wine consumption is flat or down in the U.S., a trend that seems to be gaining momentum. I believe this is somewhat deceptive for a very good reason. As we all know, the Hispanic population is burgeoning in the United States. Most of my Hispanic friends are not wine drinkers. As I’ve observed in my department, they are not that interested in wine. Maybe a sweet wine like Roscato or Moscato every now and then, but that’s about it. I think the real indicator of what is going on in this regard is the fact that Modelo Beer is the #1 brand in the U.S. right now. The increase in the population of Hispanics who do not drink wine would dilute the stats. Based on my observations in my department, wine drinkers are still drinking as much wine as they always have. Of course, Dry January puts a dent in sales (although, this seems to be losing steam). It could be, in the future that the Hispanic population in our country will eventually gravitate towards wine consumption as they meld into our customs. Who knows, the future will tell the story. I’m waiting for someone to come out with some real-time statistics on this. I’m just going on what I see happening in my world.

Coming up on my YouTube channel this month and February will be a blind Petite Sirah tasting, a review of the wines from Sage Rat, my winery of the year, and, of course, my interview with Andrew and Michael Januik. I recently did a food and wine pairing on my channel. It was a pizza and wine pairing that seems to be a popular subject matter. Not necessarily because it was pizza, but I think many of you are interested in wine and food pairings. It’s a little tougher to put together such episodes, but I think I will try and do a few more of those in the future. What are your thoughts? If there are any other ideas for episodes on my YouTube channel, I would love to hear from you.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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STAN’S PICK FOR JANUARY 2024

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Stan The Wine Man

I may be going a bit out on a limb with this one, but I feel this varietal gets ignored by a lot of consumers, and it needs some recognition. Petite Sirah or Durif, if you want to get a bit geeky, really saw its day back when everyone seemed to have to drink Stag’s Leap Petite Sirah. Can you remember that? Today, other than Michael David’s Petite Petit, you know the one I’m talking about, Petite Sirah is what I would call in my department a slow mover. The problem with the circus label Petite Petit is that it has a fair amount of Petit Verdot in it (thus the name), which really makes it taste a bit different than an actual Petite Sirah.

Petite Sirah can be intense with solid acidity and somewhat chewy tannins. This, of course, is not for everyone’s palate. However, I stumbled upon one that I thought would come very close to the eighty percent mark, meaning at least eighty percent of the people who purchase the wine will like it. This wine could fall into the seventy-five percent category and I think I’m willing to take that chance. So, without further ado, here is my January pick.

2021 Oak Ridge Winery Petite Sirah (California)… $12.

Aromas of dark cherries and licorice with some blueberries and black raspberries thrown in. Cherries and blueberries all day on the palate that rest on meaty, almost chewy tannins (a little bit of food will calm them down). There is a big hit of licorice on the mid-palate, joined by notes of black raspberries. Chocolate notes ride underneath and become more pronounced as the wine airs out. Blueberry and raspberry notes linger on the long finish. I love this wine all by itself, but a hearty stew dish or a roast brings out the best in this Petite Sirah. The acidity is nicely integrated and gives the wine an intensity on the palate. If you have the patience, decant it for an hour or two before you drink it and you will be rewarded in spades. It’s a stupid price for the quality of the wine. It’s sixteen bucks on their website, but I got a really good deal on it. Even at the website price, it is a great value. Believe it or not, I think this will improve over the next five years. (B/B+)

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Stan The Wine Man

Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to what 2024 has to offer. The Washington Husky football team plays Texas tonight in hopes of making it the the National Championship game against either Michigan or Alabama. It’s exciting for me because I’ve been a fan of the Huskies since I was a kid. I really think they can beat Texas and my prediction is that they will face Alabama in the Championship game. We will soon find out.

There is a lot of football in January, culminating with the Superbowl in February. I decided to shoot an episode for my YouTube channel called “Best Wines With Pizza,” which will go out today. Lots of pizza will be consumed during the football games and I personally prefer drinking wine over beer. Beer fills me up too quickly. Check out the episode, I found a couple of reasonably priced wines that really matched nicely with the pizza. I am now only eighty-nine subscribers away from one thousand on my YouTube channel. I am very excited to hit that mark.

Sage Rat Winery out of Yakima, Washington, is my 2024 “Winery Of The Year.” I will be reviewing a few of their wines on my YouTube channel so keep your eyes peeled for that. I’m also going to take a quick trip to Woodinville, WA to interview Andrew Januik, head winemaker for Jauuik and Novelty Hill Wines. He is a very talented winemaker, as is his father, Michael Januik. We are going to discuss among other things, why some children do not follow in the footsteps of their winemaking family. You see, in Europe, it’s almost a given that the kids follow the winemaking tradition of the family, which goes on for generations. That’s not always the case in the new world. Andrew and I had quite a discussion about this recently and I would like for you to enjoy his insights on that subject.

Although I’m a bit later than planned, I will be publishing an article soon on the different methods for making sparkling wine. The whole Pet Nat thing has my interest, which prompted me to work on the article. It’s a fascinating subject and I think you will find it quite interesting.

Another thing I am looking forward to is revisiting the theme of aging wines that are not expensive. It is hands down the most popular episode on my YouTube channel. This time the title will be, can budget-friendly wines improve in the cellar? I have aged inexpensive reds since I started storing away wines, with measured success. I will start digging through my modest collection and pull some out for that episode. It will be a fun episode and I hope a couple of them shine. So many people think you have to spend some serious money on wines for the cellar. This is not necessarily true. I will discuss the key elements in a wine that make it a candidate for aging. Price is not one of them.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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2024 WINERY OF THE YEAR!

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Stan The Wine Man

First and foremost, I need to say that picking a “Winery Of The Year” is one of the toughest assignments I give myself. There are so many awesome wineries out there that it makes it hard to make a decision. It usually comes down to November, before I hone in on the winery that has my utmost attention. In most cases, it starts with one wine that I’ve tasted from the winery. If it’s a WOW wine, I ask to try others from them. This year, I tasted one of the best Barberas I’ve had from Washington State and it totally caught my interest. I asked to taste a couple more of their wines and was hooked. The winery is small, but they produce some excellent wines and the prices are not outrageous. My “Winery Of The Year” for 2024 IS…

Sage Rat Winery (Yakima Valley, WA)
Winemaker and Owner… Dusty Jenkins

Dusty has a day job while he makes wine on the side for himself at Sage Rat. He is the head winemaker for Gilbert Wine Cellars, a position he has held since 2022. He was the assistant winemaker there starting in 2017 until he was promoted to head winemaker. With the blessing of Gilbert Cellars, he started Sage Rat as a side project in 2020 (the wine world is so cool when it comes to this kind of thing). I’m a big fan of Gilbert Cellars wines as well, so it’s no surprise I latched on to Sage Rat Wines. Dusty’s plan for now is to cap his production at one thousand cases. This will enable him to make wine at both Gilbert Cellars and his winery.

Dusty grew up in the Yakima area and, as a young man, wanted to get out of that environment. so he took off into a career in film archiving, something he studied in college. After a while, he realized he didn’t want to spend a lifetime in the darkroom, and he could hear Eastern Washington calling him back. First, he did a stint in the Willamette Valley, working at Antica Terra with Maggie. After that, he headed back to Eastern Washington to work with Casey McClellan at Seven Hills Winery before landing a job at Gilbert Cellars. He like so many winemakers, wants to make a mark in the wine world with his brand. He truly enjoys working for the Gilbert family and has no intention of leaving as head winemaker there any time soon. Sage Rat Winery allows Dusty to express his talent as a winemaker in a different way.

Dusty chose the name Sage Rat because as he put it, he likes the irreverent nature of the name. Although there is an actual critter called a Sage Rat, he chose the name to reference his years as a cellar rat, a term they use for those who do the hard labor during harvest at the winery. Trust me when I tell you it’s hard work! The people take no offense when called cellar rats, in fact, they take a certain pride in it. The wine world is all about passion, otherwise, very few people would even think about starting a winery, especially while working a full-time job somewhere else. There’s a saying that if you want to make a million dollars in a winery, start with two million. Those like Dusty are driven by passion. It’s not to say there is no money to be made, it’s just a difficult road with many obstacles that need to be overcome.

At this point, Sage Rat has six wines in their portfolio, but Dusty would like to add to that at some point. He likes to work with Italian varietals, which do quite well when grown in Washington State. He also works with Spanish varietals as well. One wine of his I am excited to try is his Rose’ of Graciano (a Spanish varietal), which for now is sold out. I should be able to get my hands on some in February. As I mentioned earlier, his Barbera is outstanding and he also produces a Pet Nat Barbera, which I also was quite impressed with. I asked Dusty about his approach to pricing his wine. At this point, his most expensive wine is just under thirty bucks. He said he didn’t want to come in too high, he wants people to be able to try his wines without breaking the bank, something I appreciate. That’s not to say he will not come out with something in the future that may demand a few more dollars, but for now, he is sticking with the current business plan.

When I asked Dusty what his favorite type of wine is, he said he rarely goes to the same wine twice. He loves the diversity in the wine world and tries to expose his palate to the many different wines that are produced in the old and new world. I think that speaks volumes about his craft and the quality I see in Sage Rat wines. I look forward to promoting this winery throughout 2024, mainly through my YouTube Channel Stan The Wine Man TV. I plan on taking a trip over to eastern Washington to do an interview with Dusty which I will put out on my channel. As I mentioned, he has a couple of wines I have not tried due to being sold out. When I do get them in my possession, I will review them both on this and Stan The Wine Man TV. My prediction is, that Sage Rat will get the attention of consumers and continue to grow and be successful. Quality-to-price ratio (QPR) has a lot to do with my decision on a “Winery Of The Year,” and Sage Rat Wines have both the quality and fair pricing for what you get.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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