Drinking the Jaja

I am still wondering if summer is really here. At least here in New York the weather has had more in common with mid spring instead of early summer. The days are reasonably cool, there has been lots of rain, and only recently have we been having much sun. I am loving that there is no excesive heat, but it gives me pause when I think about the possibility to another long indian summer in October and November. Global warming sucks.

Taking into account that I should be grilling and cooking foods that do not turn my apartment into a raging hot box, I pulled out one of the recent samples I received. Le Jaja de Jau Syrah 2007 seemed the perfect wine to try out with some grilled peppers, onions, and ribeye. I liked the simple label, however figuring out what it actually says took me a good five minutes.

The wine is from the Languedoc-Roussillon region in France and classified as a Vin de Pays D’Oc. What does that mean? The French system of classifying wines is one of the reasons most people do not “get into” wine. However, once you understand the rules, the classification system (for all wine regions) is supposted to help you understand what is in the bottle. By better understanding what is in the bottle, you know whether or not you want what is in the bottle.

France for instance has three levels of classification: Vin de Table (Table wine), Vin de Pays (Country wine), and Appellation d’origine contrôlée (Controlled term of origen). Most of the wine you see in the store is going to be designated AOC. It doesn’t mean that the wine is good, it just means that the wine in the bottle was made within a specific region (Bordeaux for example) and that it was made within the guidelines set by the government body that controls the AOC (the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine).

Something I learned from Kevin Zraly is that you should think about everything in terms of circles. The USA is a big circle. Within that is California. Within that is the North Coast. Within that is Napa Valley. The idea is the same in France. You have France, then you have the Bordeaux, then you have Medoc, then you have Pauillac, and then to the idividual Chateaux.

So, for today’s example, we have a wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon region classified as Vin de Pays D’Oc, as is most of the wine produced in this region. This one in particular is the entry level wine from the Chateau de Jau. In fact, according to the winery, Jaja means an everyday wine. I would absolutely agree with that assessment.

This wine is not meant to knock you down and make you pay attention. It is smooth and round, with a little bit of spice to compliment a barbeque and a healthy amount of acidity to stand up to any meal. Easy to drink as you watch the sun dip below the horizon. And for $8.99, an easy wine to pick up and serve for a gathering…

And one more thing. I took a look at what Pasternak Imports (the company that sent me a sample0 had to say about this wine and I found something much better. Pasternak helps you actually find the wine near you so that you can actually buy it. Go to their website and type in your zip code and the top five or six retailers in your area will appear. Seriously good customer experience.

Twitter Taste Live with St. Supery

PR people come in all shapes and sizes, from really good to unbelievably bad. For example, I regularly receive e-mails from PR companies that have obviously never read my blog, have no idea what I write about, and consistently ask me to write about their clients. Everything from boutique water launches through major beverage chains. It is the “fling it against the wall and hope it sticks” approach and it bothers the hell out of me.

Therefore, when someone is doing a good job and gets it right I like to give them their due credit.

Recently I received some samples for Skalli Family Wines (I’ll taste them soon, I promise). When I received a tracking notice on the wines it said St. Supery Vineyards & Winery, which I had not remembered either ordering or having someone offer me samples of, but I decided to check it out once the box got here. The next day, I received a notice from Twitter Taste Live that St. Supery is on the docket for Saturday, July 11. I then sent an e-mail to the PR people at St. Supery and was rewarded with a good price to participate in the tasting. They knew who I was and what I wrote about and what my role in the wine industry is, I knew who they were and how I usually interacted together, and together we had formed a relationship: Basic PR 101.

Now I am excited to taste the wines and talk to the group that regularly participates in TTL.

And what might just be the icing on the cake; the WineBratSF will be hosting the tasting. I am not sure what that means, besides maybe that she probably got to taste the wines already and is probably going to be at the winery, sipping with the winemaker. It should be fun for all.

A quick dip into a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

Now that I have left Wines of Chile, I have noticed that I do not seek out Chilean wines very often. It has nothing to do with the quality of the wines, it's just that after tasting them at trade shows, tasting them during comprehensive reviews of the wines, tasting them at retail store events, tasting them on trips, and tasting them in the office... I want to branch out a little.

However, when I do go out and buy a Chilean wine, I know exactly which ones I want to buy.

Recently I had a bottle of Vina Garces Silva "Amayna" Sauvignon Blanc 2008. The winery actually only makes one line of wines, all of which are called Amayna, so if you ask for Garces Silva a retail clerk might not know what you are talking about. Vina Garces Silva is located in the San Antonio region of Chile, up against the coastal mountain range. In fact, you can see the Pacific Ocean quite clearly from the winery balcony.

The winery is very modern, with an attractive architectural design. Because it is built into the foothills of the coastal range, the transfer of juices during the winemaking production is all done by gravity. The grapes are brought to the top level of the winery via an access road, then crushed almost directly into stainless steel tanks. From there the fermented juice is send down the tubes to be put either into oak barrels or directly into the bottling line, depending on the type of wine being made.

The winery only makes five different wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. These are among my favorite wines coming out of Chile and I fully recommend picking up any of them. There is no question to me that this is a winery dedicated to quality.

That being said, I certainly prefer some of their wines over others. For instance, I find it a shame to mess with such delicious Sauvignon Blanc by putting some of it in oak. And the Syrah is slightly young, as it was just planted about four or five years ago. And that Pinot Noir is delicious.

The recent edition of Sauvignon Blanc is good, but I thought the 2007 was better. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is a little more herbal, with notes of lemon grass and slightly on the asparagus side. The taste is so light and smooth with a breezy lemon citrus flavor. Leah had bought some hand rolled ravioli, filled with ricotta and asparagus and it was a good pairing.

Also, Wines of Chile has a new website, which is MUCH more useful than its old one. I say this as a blogger, a consumer, and as someone who spent a lot of time navagating the old website. Check it out at: http://www.winesofchile.org/

Disclosure:

I worked with Wines of Chile from 2006 until 2009.

UPDATED: I just retasted this wine from the same bottle four days later and it is still crisp and bright. The herbal notes have gone and all that is lelft is bright and refreshing lemon citrus. Love it!

Sake Geeks

There is a geek for everything. There are wine geeks (heh hehm...), baseball geeks, computer geeks, movie geeks, etc. You can geek out about anything under the sun. Check around the Internet today and you will find hundreds of thousands of geeks posting on their geeky blogs about the particular subject they geek.

I consider myself an amateur wine geek. There is so much more out there that I need to learn before I can consider myself a full-fledged geek, but I am working on it.

Today's Wine Blogging Wednesday is hosted by Rich at The Passionate Foodie. Rich lives in Boston and writes a weekly restaurant/wine review column for the Stoneham Sun. I met Rich a while ago when we attended TasteCamp East 2009 (another geeky adventure), hosted by Lenn at LENNDEVOURS, who founded Wine Blogging Wednesday.

Rich's topic for this WBW is Sake and paying homage to Kushi no Kami, the God of Sake. Rich loves his Sake. If you read his blog (and why shouldn't you?), Rich write about Sake quite often.

For this WBW Leah (who freaking loves sake) and I went to Sake Hana, a Japanese restaurant/Sake Bar. We have been to this restaurant before and had done a Sake tasting there before, but I had never taken notes on it. This time I brought the notebook.

We had six different Sake's, each with their own character and flavor profile. Unfortunately, I think the waiter just brought me the names of the types of Sake, instead of the brand name, so that is all I will be able to list below.

Dassai Nigori (Unfiltered) - Leah found this Sake to be mild and clean. I found a peppery lemon/lime flavor, with lots of minerals and a black pepper finish.

Nigori (Unfiltered) - Leah decided this wine was sweet as candy, like bubblegum. I found it very fruity, like a sugar coated and caramelized pear.

Nanbu (Nami) - Leah found tons of peaches, while I found this Sake to be nutty with some white stone fruits (yes, peaches, but less defined for me).

Dewa No Yuki - Leah said that there was a sugary finish, with some white fruits and grassiness in the middle. I found it floral and very grapey, with some orange rind in the finish.

Narutotai - Leah and I both found chocolate, although I found the smell to be more cake-y.

Ichi (Nami) (Unfiltered) - Both of us found this Sake to be slightly sparkling, very rich with a dark mineral finish.

The most geeky part of the evening was not us tasting the Sake. While we were sitting there a group of Japanese patrons came in and sat down. The proprietor of the restaurant came over to sit with them and the patrons brought out a bag with two boxes, each with a bottle of sake inside. They sat there for about 20 minutes pointing at one part or another of the labels, running their hands over the bottles, and turning it over to read the back label. I could not understand a word of what they were saying, or of what was on the bottle (all Japanese), but I knew exactly what was going on. It was like when a wine geek brings THE bottle of the night to the table with them and everyone wants to fondle it and read the label, just to be able to say that had done so.

It made me feel like I could get more into Sake...

Back... sort of

There is nothing like going away on a business trip, leading directly into a holiday weekend, and coming back to 800 unread e-mails and 600 articles in my google reader. I have lots to report about my trip, some exciting places I visited, lots of food, and some really interesting cultural differences that I found intriguing. The fourth of July was great, one of the best I remember.

But for now, if you are one of the 800 awaiting my reply, please give me a day or two before you hunt me down.