03 Sep, 2010 | Author: Sam Klingberg | No Comments »
One word review: Satisfaction.
Boxed wine never looked so angular.
The Silver Birch Sauvignon Blanc smells full of mouthwatering grapefruit with a little fresh grass. New Zealand, served neat in a snifter (er…perhaps a wine glass.) It tastes along the same lines, grapefruit with some small mineral and grassy notes chiming in. Good body, really fills my mouth. The finish is tart and crisp and sticks around.
This Sauvignon Blanc can please almost anyone, it’s not over the top on the tart citrus, nor is it banished to the nether realms of cat piss and fresh hay. It fits in a nice balanced middle, and hell, you get 3 liters to party with. Boxed wines certainly make it easy.
But boxed wines also make it easy if you only like to occasionally imbibe because they stay sealed, unlike traditional wine bottles. Octavin claims you can enjoy their wines for up to six weeks after opening. Stay tuned, I’ll be investigating.
01 Sep, 2010 | Author: Sam Klingberg | No Comments »
I’m halfway through the challenge as I type this. I’ve been tardy about posting my tasting notes, but I promise you, I will.
My view from the bar. Lovely scotches, too.
If you haven’t seen my post on the BIN 36 blog yet, you should go check it out. Their challenge has brain-washed me into a rabid fan of their style. It’s a badass place, you need to be taking this thing down with me.
But The BIN 36 Challenge has already been mastered in an epic 5 day sprint by spirited wino, Laura P. You can read her heroic account on her blog, Bubbles or Bust.
I blindly started going through the flights in reverse order, and little did I realize I’d be starting out with my favorite place in the world, Southern France. Needless to say, it’s been my favorite flight so far.
If you’re working on the challenge too, leave a comment after the jump, let us know what you’re up to!
Flight #12: Low Down Dirty Reds
Killer flight.
Exactly what you’d expect: ridiculously ripe fruit, spice, smoke, animal hide…the name of this flight perfectly matches the flavor profile. If you need a reason to to fall in love with So Fran, here are four:
1. 2007 Syrah/Grenache, Cotes-du-Rhone, Brusset, “Laurent B.,” Rhone Valley, France
A slightly floral nose, a little earthy. Surprising acidity behind this wine, but really well balanced. Definite old-oak, earthy flavors. Great start.
2. 2008 Syrah/Grenache, Maison L’Aiglon, St. Chinan, France
Getting a lot of spice in this wine, with some smokiness on the smell. Subtly tastes of chocolate and leather.
3. 2007 Grenache/Syrah/Merlot, Piaugier, “Les Ramieres,” Pays de Vacluse, France
The smell of this wine was really herbal, reminded me a bit of the Hungarian liquor Unicum. Has very deep, intense red fruit. The finish bursts in my mouth, and lingers.
4. 2007 Grenache/Syrah, Grande Cassagne,”G.S.,” Languedoc, France
I got some smoke, and even a little funky bacon fat on the nose. It has a brooding chocolate earthiness, a really lush wine. Favorite wine of the flight by far.
Flight #11: Express Yourself
Chalkboards, propaganda.
If you like sweet wines, this is going to be your favorite. The Riesling is a dead-ringer, but the Vouvray is delightful. Even if you don’t like sweet wines, give it a spin and find yourself surprised.
1. 2008 Chenin Blanc/Petite Chenin, Ken Forrester, Stellensboch, South Africa
It is required of every wine blog to mention that Chenin Blanc is, or perhaps was (no one really cares,) called “steen” in South Africa. This is a random fact you will never need to know. So forget it. I only wrote it because I friggin’ had to.
Anway.
I got a lot of stone fruit, kinda like nectarine. Good acidity.
2. 2007 Pinot Blanc, Chateau D’Orschwihr, “Bollenberg,” Alsace, France
Exactly what you expect from Alsace, and if you don’t expect anything from Alsace, then it’s badass in a glass. The mouth feel is lush, you gotta chomp this wine.
3. 2007 Vouvray, Demi-sec, Yves Breussin, Loire Valley, France
Sweet pear, honey, and a beautiful nose. Honestly, if I didn’t love Riesling so much, I think this would be my favorite.
4. 2008 Riesling, Dr. Loosen, “Dr. L,” Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany
Exactly what you expect from German Riesling: honeyed fruit, wet rock, sharp pear that almost cuts your tongue. I have no idea what that means, but I wrote it down, so that’s what I’m going with.
31 Aug, 2010 | Author: Sam Klingberg | No Comments »
I’ve been doing a lot of writing in various parts of the interwebz, and some of it’s pretty quality stuff! Pretty good stuff! (I’ve been re-reading too much Vonnegut, sorry.)
The Wine Bottle is A Reliquary on Vinotology I muse on why people (myself included) are being so anal about how wine is packaged and sold and branded. It’s not like we’re dealing with John the Baptist’s left molar, so make it fun.
The BIN 36 Challenge on the BIN 36 Blog This is an awesome wine bar in downtown Chicago, and they are challenging Chicago winos to taste all their wine and cheese flights by September 18th. Eye for eye, you get free wine and cheese for a year. They were kind enough to ask me for my thoughts, hopefully I delivered.
So there you have it, kids. I got a lot of stuff coming your way soon, so stay tuned.
Mobile is the way of the future, and luckily, I’m young enough to not need anyone to tell me this. I can’t speak for all of you.
There are tons of apps available for wine lovers, a lot of them help you pair food with the “correct” wine, a few that serve as wine databases, and some that help you manage that unwieldy cellar of yours.
None of them help you drink it.
So for those of you who are paving the technological wine future, what mobile app do you like best?
Leave a comment to proselytize us to your wine app of choice!
I’ve been staring at this same box of Triscuits for the last hour.
“What in God’s sweet and holy name am I going to pair with that?” I wonder.
Suddenly, the magical mysteries of the interwebz come to the rescue with the Triscuit Small Plates Pairing Guide which offers “simple and delicious combinations that spin the cheese-and-cracker concept on its head.”
Dude.
What goes with Sweat Pear Bites? White Zinfandel. What about Cool and Tangy Greek Snacks? Sauvignon Blanc. What if the Feta isn’t ATHENOS brand?
I have no friggin’ clue!!
The bugs are still being worked out. But if you’re a hip, on-the-go cat, be sure to download the iPhone app because Lord knows you can’t do anything else with that damn phone.
A Quasi-Pornographic Musing on the Tasting of Wine
by Sam Klingberg
My friends consider me somewhat insane, if not entirely. I devote ridiculous amounts of time to wine, especially tasting it. It could be alcoholism thinly veiled behind the guise of sophisticated devotion, as a friend once suggested, but I am 26 with a fully-functioning liver.
So it goes.
Diagram 1
Recently, I was sitting in a wine bar in Chicago, and I couldn’t help but notice—and I beg your indulgence to this brief, but rather obscene, elitism—how quickly people raced through their glasses of wine. I mean, there’s a time and place for a quickie, but a $10 glass of juice certainly is not that occasion.
So it occurred to me—and again this is that deplorable elitist speaking through me— that many people probably just don’t know what they should be doing, where they should be doing it, and with whom they should be doing it with.
I’ll settle the score for at least one of these conundrums.
Many of us learn the science of wine much like we first experienced science in the back of a ’93 Ford Taurus: Get in, get out, before people get suspicious. But good wine is not merely a drink, a scientific explanation for how you score a buzz, but an art that demands your devotion before it surrenders its enigmas.
So get a glass and your favorite bottle of wine, and follow along, my wino lovers.
Note: No produce will be harmed during this lesson.
1. Position One: Vigorous Oxygenation
Oxygen does a few different things. One, it reacts with the wine, changing it’s structure, ensuring that no sip will be the same as the next. And two, it serves as a conduit for our surprisingly powerful olfactory system, to which we owe 90% of what we taste in wine.
Diagram 2
Human olfaction should be as commonly understood as the reasons for Michael J. Jackson’s death, but if it isn’t, you can’t blame our education system because Blood on the Dance Floor was one hell of a video.
So I’ll just assume you know little.
Hold the glass firmly in your hand and swirl it vigorously, this forces oxygen to penetrate the wine’s suppple surface, releasing and concentrating aromas inside the wine glass where they wait to be released on your command.
Place your nose inside the glass, breathe in slowly and deeply. Your brain will begin to rolodex between the thousands of scent memories it contains. Go with it.
2. Position Two: Retronasal Olfactory Stimulus
Diagram 3
This sounds like it hurts. But I promise, if you take it slowly, and with practice, it can be quite rewarding.
Take a sip of wine. Begin performing slow oral movements so that the wine permeates your mouth completely. The next step gets a little tricky. Purse your lips together and suck in air, as if you were using a straw.
Be careful, you can easily choke, and that just ruins the mood.
What you are doing is using the backdoor to let flavor punch you in the face. Most of what you perceive as “taste” is actually aroma carried back through the retronasal passageway (which can be seen in a different application here) and processed by your olfactory receptors.
3. Positon Three: Olfacto-Gustatory Elation
A wise man once told me, “Never spit, you’ll get bitch-slapped by Bacchus.” Plus, you’re just wasting a lot of hard work. Both yours and the winemaker’s. If you take these steps and use, reuse, and use them some more you’ll soon find you’re making love to your wine like a stud. And this makes for a lot of happy people.
So I ask you winos, what’s your favorite region in the world to make love to?
(Uh…that is in reference to wine.)
This post is part of a #BlogOff between myself and @AmuseeWine you can read her post at the Crush Pad. Give me a vote, leave a comment below and retweet!
25 Aug, 2010 | Author: Sam Klingberg | No Comments »
On September 11th, if you’re not at therapy or busy spewing bile the interwebz wide about the Ground Zero Mosque, you could go taste some wine.
Norwood Park Historical Society is hosting their annual wine fest from 4 to 7 pm on September 11th, offering over 50 different wines, hors d’oeurves, cheeses, and ridiculous fun with friends (and maybe family, if you care to drink with ‘em.)
Noble-Seymour-Crippen house: The oldest building in Chicago. (photo source: ChicagoNOW)
The event’s theme, Everday Wines, aims to educate attendees about affordable options for when life calls for a little vino. Robert Lehner, sommelier with Lettuce Entertain You, will be on hand to chat and answer questions.
There will also be a silent auction and a $5 raffle for an Instant wine cellar, a specially selected case of wine with accessories. Also, all of the wines poured will be available for purchase on site.
Tickets are $50, and sales end September 4th, so hurry. All proceeds from the event go to benefit the non-profit Norwood Park Historical Society.
Sacre Bleu just published a piece on their blog about this blog. They had a lot of nice things to say, check it out:
“Sam Klingberg might best be described as a Guerrilla Wine Blogger, you know someone who is short on money but not passion and vision. He seems to bear a distinct Vino-esque kind of attitude of creativity and freedom. There’s some garage band honesty going on here and it comes out loud in The Broke Wino’s manifesto..”
You can check out the rest of the article, which includes a small interview, on the Sacre Bleu website. Leave a comment or two, if ya feel like it.
And believe me, I’ve put in more than my share of walking in the rain going door to door proselytizing for my candidate. Eating Domino’s pizza in a ramshackle office, cold and soaking wet, yet warm with the Democratic glow.
I’ve done it, and seen nothing happen except the same Merry-Go-Round of name-calling, incompetence, environmental fuck-ups, and interminable wars.
Click to Free those G.D. Grapes
But now they’re screwing with the booze.
Well, they’ve been screwing with it since 1919.
HR 5034 is a bill that allegedly will threaten the ability to ship wine and other craft alcoholic beverages through the mail.
Since a 2005 ruling, here in Illinois you can receive restricted shipments from boutique wineries, but not from out of state retailers, and not from wineries that produce more than 25,000 gallons a year.
Several court decisions threaten to dismantle effective state-based alcohol regulations including laws that:
inhibit illegal sales to minors
ensure that all intoxicating liquor is lawfully sold through licensed vendors
curb overly aggressive marketing and consumption
achieve the effective collection of taxes
establish an orderly, accountable and transparent distribution and importation system.
Irony is you can buy a gun through the mail, and in Chicago, gun violence is something we’re all too familiar with, but God damn your soul if you want laxer shipping laws. Who knows what kind of “overly aggressive consumption” would ensue?
Also, current law mandates that alcohol passes through a third party “wholesaler.” Dismantling state-based alcohol regulations would in effect dismantle their business model. They apparently left that bullet point out.
What you can do is send a letter to your Representative. And it’s really damn easy.
If you’ve ever signed up for anything like the Save Darfur campaign, you’re already familiar with this model. Go to the Free The Grapes website, and fill out the form.
Congratulations! You’ve just promoted the laissez-faire attitude this nation was founded on.
