White Zinfandel through a straw

I just finished reading a book on how to live more like the French called Lessons from Madame Chic: The Top 20 Things I Learned While Living In Paris (Jennifer L. Scott, $2.99 on Amazon Kindle books), as recommended to me by a colleague with similar taste. Though at times poorly written (she basically threw her blog posts at some binding glue and called it done), it was excellent in that it revitalized me, made me think, and made some amazing points. If you can get past the moments of bad writing, it is a complete self-help, life-changing gem. Beyond giving great advice about dressing, eating, entertaining, and decorating – the author, Jennifer Scott, gave great advice about living as a whole. She suggests at one point in her book that 

“Seeking out nothing but quality in your life is not about being snobby or pretentious – it’s about being selective and discerning. It is about respecting yourself and your loved ones enough to realize that every moment in life is previous, so why not fill it with the highest quality things or experiences as possible?” 

This excerpt encapsulates my life philosophy - from the way I like to eat and dress, decorate my home, spend time with people, and finally the way I like to drink my wine. Ben likes to tell me that I’m being snobby and pretentious (about everything, not just wine), and I like that Jennifer Scott understands. There’s nothing wrong with wanting quality in your life, where you can afford and access it. There is just as little reason to drink low-quality wine out of the wrong glassware, as there is to eat rotten vegetables off of a Frisbee with a stick (except maybe when cost or alcoholism is severely limiting you). With wine so remarkably accessible and inexpensive (Target, Fred Meyer, Safeway, even gas station convenience stores, have great, well-priced offerings) , there is no reason to be tapping into your Franzia box with a reindeer mug on a Saturday night, unless, of course, you’re 17 and that’s all that you could get someone over 21 to buy for you (the mug is still inexcusable -it’s March!). If you can’t afford a $75 bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (sobs) or one of Parker’s contested 100-point Bordeaux, there’s no reason to throw in the towel and chug a jug of Carlo Rossi or Yellowtail Moscato. Take the Columbia Crest Two Vines Chardonnay, for example, which is $6.99 at my local Walgreens and received 86 points with the Wine Spectator, or a bottle of Barnard and Griffin Rose, on the Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines list in 2008, for only $11. They may be triple, even quadruple, the price of two-buck chuck, but let’s be honest; shelling out an extra $3 for about 86 more points in value and taste is a remarkable deal not found in many other arenas of our material lives.

In addition to drinking quality wines, I think it’s rewarding to drink your wine out of the proper glassware (no more mugs, you recent grads, and god forbid anything plastic – we’re not camping). I recently was gifted Riedel glasses and a Vinturi aerator (definitely out of my personal price range, but perfect for gifts), and was blown away by the difference between drinking out of a stem-less red wine glass from Fred Meyer and the thin crystal Riedels designed for drinking wine. My mom recently purchased red wine glasses by Riedel Vivant, the Target line of Riedel, which were considerably less expensive ($40 for a set of 4 red wine glasses) and was also thrown at how much the glasses increased the quality of her drinking experience. She didn’t quite believe me when I said that the difference in taste was not only noticeable, but life changing. The glassware may encourage your now blooming wine to go down more smoothly, but it also allows you to fully experience wine the way it was meant to be experienced.

If $10 a stem is $10 a stem too much for you, I also recommend lurking around Goodwill or other thrift shops as they often have great glassware for fifty cents to a dollar a stem. Ben got a set of brand new Riedel beer glasses from Goodwill for a ridiculously good deal, and my champagne flutes are also from a local thrift store (fifty cents a flute and New Year’s Prosecco was a go). Additionally, TJ MAXX has excellent deals on stemware. I purchased my most recent entertaining wine glasses (my Riedels are for private tastings between Ben and I, not company) there and found a set of gorgeous Lenox non-leaded crystal red wine glasses for $20. 

Once you’ve thrown away your plastic sippy cups, stained purple from many a night alone with a Bota Box of wine – you’ll be amazed at the difference in experience proper glassware and good wine will make. Your enjoyment of the afternoon glass will turn into enjoyment of the experience of uncorking a bottle, pouring it through the decanter (or just swirling it around the glass), and drinking out of a glass made to accent the vivid fruit, lingering spice, and mouthfeel of a sip of wine.

Or, I guess, you can just sip a Beringer White Zinfandel with a straw and call it good…

A Brave New World

I’m back in Oregon, after a very quick month at the Denver Publishing Institute, and it’s nice to be in a place that has clouds and living grass. Though my days, for the past three weeks, have been filled with fruitless job searching/applying/begging, I did arrive home to my birthday gifts: two Riedel wine glasses and two coupons for the wine(s) of my choice. My excessively heavy suitcases still in the car, my boyfriend and I stopped by Fred Meyer to find a New World wine (either a cabernet sauvignon or merlot) that would best compliment my new glasses. We settled on a bottle of Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvingon from California. Because it was a special occasion and Ben had been so generous (naïve?) as to put a $20 per bottle ceiling on the wine coupon, I splurged… well, I guess he splurged. I had this wine last Thanksgiving with my family, at the recommendation of a local wine shop, Grapes, in Hawaii, and I’d remembered it as being extremely good. I suppose that writing that $16.99 for a bottle of wine is a splurge affirms my current income-less state, but this wine even tastes spendy. 

In order to prove that my recent wine accoutrement accumulation was worth it, I taste-tested this wine with a various cast of glasses and with and without my aerator. I first tasted the wine in a small wine glass not designed to enhance a red wine; second, I then aerated it in that same glass and tasted it; and third, I aerated the wine and drank from the new glasses. The difference was extremely noticeable. The first glass left something to be desired. I felt as if the wine needed to be swirled in the glass or left open on the counter so that the bouquet could open. The wine tasted too simple for a cabernet. After aerating the wine, in the second step, the nose was distinct with scents of cherry, and the tannins were stronger upon the swallow. When I used my new glasses, specifically designed for cabernets, the wine tasted exactly as a cabernet should. It opened with a light taste of cherry and was followed by notes of cedar (the cedar notes were made evident only in the final test). The long finish was extremely smooth with structured tannins and a hint of acidity.

Though I went through this tasting process, this wine never tasted too sharp or undeveloped. I'm pretty sure that it'd taste great even in a coffee mug as long as you let it breathe for a bit. This wine was exceptionally smooth and embodied the best elements of a cabernet—full-bodied, hints of berry and with noticeable tannins on the long finish. The bouquet and mouth-feel were much more complex than a merlot, but the smoothness and light notes of fruit made it much more drinkable than a zinfandel or even a malbec. So if you have any hesitations about this varietal, give the Joel Gott a try and you'll be an instant convert. I'd recommend this wine to everyone and anyone. 

Have any suggestions for a wine to taste, try and love? Leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do!