Week #1 — Sauvignon Blanc (done)
Week #2 — Syrah / Shiraz (done)
Week #3 — Riesling
Week #4 — Pinot Noir
Week #5 — Chardonnay
Week #6 — Cabernet Sauvignon
Week #7 — Blind white tasting
Week #8 — Blind red tasting

OFFICIAL RULES:
Each week, we bring bottles of the given varietal from all around the world. Before the tasting starts, two people volunteer to donate the two “mystery bottles,” and their wines are placed in brown bags. (For your wine to be granted this special honor, you must be sure that no one else knows what part of the world it’s from.)

We start things off with an open (non-blind) tasting of up to six bottles, representing the major regions where the particular wine is made. (For example, on Riesling week, we’ll taste one or two bottles each of French, German, and American.) When tasting, we pay special attention to what characteristics are typical of what regions.

Finally, we bring out the two mystery bottles in their brown bags. In complete silence, we sniff and taste wine #1, and then we make our region guesses on slips of paper, which are collected and put aside. Once everyone’s guess is in, we discuss the wine, and reveal the bottle. Then we repeat the process for #2, and we tally up the points. One point for each correct guess (incorrect guess results in no points, but points are not deducted). The donors each receive one-half point as compensation for not being able to participate in that round. Then we break for cheese time, and then we drink whatever bottles remain!

Beginners are completely welcome — and, in fact, often do just as well as the more “seasoned” tasters. To read the full version of the official rules, including the rules for the two-week championship following the six weeks of varietal tasting, click here.

For week #3, we’re hitting up Riesling, the king of the cool-climate grapes. Many of the world’s great Rieslings come from Germany, where they’re made to be delicate, balanced, and often slightly sweet (the Germans have a system called Prädikat for assigning “sweetness” ratings to their wine… read about it here). Next door, in France’s Alsace region, the Rieslings are broader and less delicate, with huge mineral and metallic notes. And on the other side of the pond, the Rieslings tend to run plumper and softer when grown under the warm California sun.

Great examples of Riesling are also made in Austria, Australia, and New York State — but for the purposes of our tasting, please bring a Riesling from either Germany, Alsace, or California.

We’ll be meeting at Tara’s place in Hollywood. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). If you’re denied entry due to a meeting exceeding capacity, don’t worry — you’ll be at the top of the list the next week.

Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of Riesling from one of the permitted regions (or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer). We’ll see you ballers on Tuesday at 9pm.

Week #1 — Sauvignon Blanc (done)
Week #2 — Syrah / Shiraz
Week #3 — Riesling
Week #4 — Pinot Noir
Week #5 — Chardonnay
Week #6 — Cabernet Sauvignon
Week #7 — Blind white tasting
Week #8 — Blind red tasting

OFFICIAL RULES:
Each week, we bring bottles of the given varietal from all around the world. Before the tasting starts, two people volunteer to donate the two “mystery bottles,” and their wines are placed in brown bags. (For your wine to be granted this special honor, you must be sure that no one else knows what part of the world it’s from.)

We start things off with an open (non-blind) tasting of up to six bottles, representing the major regions where the particular wine is made. (For example, on Syrah week, we’ll taste one or two bottles each of French, American, and Australian.) When tasting, we pay special attention to what characteristics are typical of what regions.

Finally, we bring out the two mystery bottles in their brown bags. In complete silence, we sniff and taste wine #1, and then we make our region guesses on slips of paper, which are collected and put aside. Once everyone’s guess is in, we discuss the wine, and reveal the bottle. Then we repeat the process for #2, and we tally up the points. One point for each correct guess (incorrect guess results in no points, but points are not deducted). The donors each receive one-half point as compensation for not being able to participate in that round. Then we break for cheese time, and then we drink whatever bottles remain!

Beginners are completely welcome — and, in fact, often do just as well as the more “seasoned” tasters. To read the full version of the official rules, including the rules for the two-week championship following the six weeks of varietal tasting, click here.

For week #2, we’re tapping Syrah, which traditionally hails from France’s Rhône Valley. In the Northern Rhône districts of Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Saint-Joseph, the reds are all 100% Syrah, and are filled with “gamy, meaty flavors” and notes of “white pepper, forest, and leather.” (In the Southern Rhône, wines like Côtes-du-Rhône and Cheteauneuf-du-Pape are typically majority Grenache, so don’t bring one of those unless you’re absolutely sure it’s majority Syrah.)

California makes some great Syrah — these still tend to be spicy, but generally offer more ripe fruit flavors. And in Australia, where it’s called Shiraz, the grape is made into big, structure-driven wines filled with dark berries and tobacco. Please bring a Syrah from either the Rhône Valley, California, or Australia.

We’ll be meeting at Jason’s place in Brentwood. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). If you’re denied entry due to a meeting exceeding capacity, don’t worry — you’ll be at the top of the list the next week.

Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of Syrah from one of the permitted regions (or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer). We’ll see you ballers on Tuesday at 9pm.

This is our third year hosting the March Madness tournament, and the rules are the same as last year: for six weeks, we’ll taste six of the world’s most recognizable varietals, one per week. After that, we’ll have two weeks of championship tasting, in which we go balls-out crazy with the blind tasting, drawing on what we’ve learned over the past six weeks in our effort to be crowned the official Young Winos blind tasting champion.

Week #1 — Sauvignon Blanc
Week #2 — Syrah
Week #3 — Riesling
Week #4 — Pinot Noir
Week #5 — Chardonnay
Week #6 — Cabernet Sauvignon
Week #7 — Blind white championship tasting
Week #8 — Blind red championship tasting

OFFICIAL RULES:
Each week, we bring bottles of the given varietal from all around the world. Before the tasting starts, two people volunteer to donate the two “mystery bottles,” and their wines are placed in brown bags. (For your wine to be granted this special honor, you must be sure that no one else knows what part of the world it’s from.)

We start things off with an open (non-blind) tasting of up to six bottles, representing the major regions where the particular wine is made. (For example, on Sauvignon Blanc week, we’ll taste one or two bottles each of French, American, and New Zealander.) When tasting, we pay special attention to what characteristics are typical of what regions.

Finally, we bring out the two mystery bottles in their brown bags. In complete silence, we sniff and taste wine #1, and then we make our region guesses on slips of paper, which are collected and put aside. Once everyone’s guess is in, we discuss the wine, and reveal the bottle. Then we repeat the process for #2, and we tally up the points. One point for each correct guess (incorrect guess results in no points, but points are not deducted). The donors each receive one-half point as compensation for not being able to participate in that round. Then we break for cheese time, and then we drink whatever bottles remain!

Beginners are completely welcome — and, in fact, often do just as well as the more “seasoned” tasters. (To read the full version of the official rules, including the rules for the two-week championship following the six weeks of varietal tasting, click here.)

For week #1, we start with Sauvignon Blanc, in no small part because it’s one of the most regionally-specific wines in the world. In France’s Loire Valley, the white wines of Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre are known for their flinty character, high acidity, and green or spicy notes. In California, Sauvignon Blanc is sometimes oaked and referred to as Fumé Blanc; these tend to be rounder and softer than their un-oaked cousins. And in New Zealand, Sauv Blanc is allowed to go wild, with intense herbal notes and huge tropical fruit and grassy flavors. Please bring a Sauv Blanc from either the Loire Valley, California, or New Zealand.

We’ll be meeting at Wino HQ in Sherman Oaks. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions).

Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of Sauv Blanc from one of the three permitted regions (or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer). We’ll see you ballers on Tuesday at 9pm.

Valentine’s Day is nigh, and Fresh & Easy assured us that the wine (and chocolates) that they’d sent us would make for inspired Valentine’s Day selections.  Never one to recoil from the challenge of putting corporate claims to the test, I asked the Wino roommates to help me imbibe.

First up was the non-vintage Montcadi Rosé Cava (Spain), which managed to rub us the wrong way before we’d even opened it — the back label featured the confusing and erroneous phrase “made from grapes grown in the Cava region,” which is a bit like a California producer advertising that their bubbly is made from grapes grown in the “sparkling wine region.”  Upon further investigation, we learned that this wine hails from two regions in north-eastern Spain: the supporting Garanacha (30%) is from the Penedes, while the headlining Trepat (70%) is from the relatively obscure region of Conca de Barberà.

All semantics aside, this wine was certainly pretty.  “It’s the color of coral,” said Doug.  “More of a ruby coral, though, not a orange coral,” countered Andrea.  The nose was bright and expressive.   Andrea picked up notes of cranberry juice, and Max got a cross between Martinelli’s cider and rose water.  Doug said it smelled like it was going to be sweet, and he picked up some watermelon Jolly Rancher.  Max agreed, and added that it “smells like a fruit salad.”  Warily, we braced ourselves for the an onslaught of sweetness and tipped back our glasses.

“That’s gooood,” said Max, immediately. “But it’s kind of just straight juice, like if you took Martinelli’s and put cranberry juice in it,” he added. “It’s not as sweet as I thought,” said Doug, relieved.  Andrea found it “really refreshing,” and called it “fuzzy and fruity.”  Flavors included tart cherries, crisp apple, and even a little melon.  “The first sensation is like biting into a Red Delicious apple, and then it turns into lemon candy,” said Max.  Doug also picked up some grapefruit, and he thought the palate was fairly akin to making a punch of grapefruit slices in apple juice.  We didn’t pick up any of the biscuit flavors that the tasting notes promised, finding instead that the fruit was too ripe to allow for any of that Champagne breadiness.  However, no one was complaining — especially not at the bargain-basement price of $6.99 a bottle.

Eagerly awaiting the Montcadi… I don’t think Doug appreciated Andrea’s “coral” comments… trying to diffuse things by moving on to the McGuigan

Next up was a foreboding Aussie red, the 2008 McGuigan Handmade Shiraz (Barossa).  “It’s black as ink, and it smells like a library book dipped in dark chocolate,” said Andrea.  “It smells like dirt,” offered Max, “and also like baking chocolate, the kind that’s like 80% cacao.”  Doug picked up some plum, and Andrea got some blackberry, which I thought was closer to blackberry jam.  It smelled like it had some promise.

Upon tasting it, however, opinion quickly went south.  “It tastes like sour cherries,” said Andrea, but Max amended that observation to “rotted cherries.”  No tannins, pointed out Doug, who found it pretty slight.  I thought it was a bit overwrought, like a cloying currant jelly, but I was willing to forgive the flavor faults if I could only have some of that big Shiraz black pepper; however, I had a hard time finding much.  “It’s got a little pepper,” said Max, “but it’s overpowered by the sourness.”  We all thought it tasted too young, and perhaps a bit under-ripe.  “The flavors are jagged,” said Max.  “There’s a bitter note, and then a sour note… nothing is blending together.  Maybe it needs to sit in a closet for eight years.”  At $12.99, this sour cherry was a pass, and attention quickly turned to the sweeter items that had been included in the package: snickerdoddle cookies ($2.59), gourmet swiss truffles ($3.99), and a “one huge hunk” chocolate bar with pecans and fruit ($4.29), all of which were very well-received.

Holidays can sometimes cause even the most discerning of us to dispense with our usual reservations concerning gimmicky drinking — after all, who among us hasn’t downed a few pints of green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, or partaken in some weird “spooky” punch at a Halloween party?  Similarly, the thought of drinking pink wine on Valentine’s Day might seem a little bit sickening in its clichéd cuteness.  However, we’re happy to report that the Montcadi Cava is the real deal, and we think it’ll win over even the most cynical, anti-romantic palate.  Remember, nothing says “I love you” like a wine that tastes as pretty as it looks.

The Young Winos of LA — edutoxicating Los Angeles since 2005.

In March of 2008, when the LA chapter’s blog was in its infancy, Jordan and I posted our review of the 2005 Orin Swift “Papillon” Red Wine, a $56 Meritage from Napa Valley. We mentioned in the piece that Orin Swift is most famous for its Zinfandel-based “Prisoner” red blend, whose distinctive label (above) you may well have seen in your favorite wine shop. In the comments section, Jordan said the following: “we will be doing a Prisoner vertical tasting soon. Stay tuned.” Now, nearly two years later, “soon” has finally arrived. Sorry for the wait, folks… we’re pretty sure it’ll be worth it.

Please come join us on Friday evening as we taste through five consecutive vintages of the Orin Swift “Prisoner” blend: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. When new, these bottles typically cost around $32-$35, but the older vintages (especially the ‘04 and ‘05) are incredibly difficult to find. Your entry fee of $15 per person gets you access to the whole lineup.

In case you’re not sure what this “Prisoner” craze is all about, here’s some background info. The Prisoner is a Napa-grown proprietary blend of different grapes, always with Zinfandel as the base, along with some other yummy varietals. In 2008, for example, the blend was:

46% Zinfandel
26% Cabernet Sauvignon
15% Syrah
10% Petite Sirah
2% Charbono
1% Grenache

Beginning in 2003, the limited-production Prisoner began to receive major accolades. The 2005 vintage made #17 on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list, and other vintages have gotten all kinds of love in various media outlets. To learn more about what to expect from each vintage, check out the following reviews: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

We’ll be holding our epic tasting at Jason’s classy pad in Brentwood. To RSVP, simply click “will attend” on the right side of this page. (We’ll be limiting this event to twelve Winos in order to make sure that we all get good pours.) I’ll e-mail you the day of the tasting with directions to Jason’s place. If you have to cancel for some reason, please change your response (or let me know) as soon as possible, so that someone may take your place.

“My Pinot Days” was written by Jason, with photos by Jordan.

A rainy January 17 did not stop throngs of wine lovers from showing up at the first annual Pinot Days event in Los Angeles. If you closed your eyes inside the gigantic hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, you might have imagined yourself on the banks of a mighty river or near a gushing waterfall — so loud was the noise from over a thousand attendees.

Who knew Pinot was so popular? Lisa and Steve Rigisich, that’s who! This dynamic duo first launched the Pinot Days event in San Francisco six years ago and has since expanded it to Chicago and Los Angeles. Why do they do it? For the love of Pinot, says Lisa. “It’s art” — and the winemakers are artisans, not corporate big-wigs producing tens of thousands of cases. She appreciates the care and passion put into the wines, and, at least since Sideways, the masses agree. Just look around this place! It’s swarming! Good thing, because over 75 producers from Oregon to Santa Barbara were there with more than 400 distinct wines to try. How much time did we have for this?

Wino stunt doubles Jordan and Jason attended the event armed with notepad, pen, camera, and umbrella. First stop: friend of the Winos Larry Schaffer, pouring for Fess Parker. We love Larry, but Jason had ulterior motives — he was looking for a place to stash his umbrella and secretly hoping Larry brought along some of his killer Rhone blends. No such luck, but he was serving up a long list of Santa Barbara Pinots from Fess. The 2007 Ashley’s Vineyard was smooth, well balanced, and bright, while the Clone 115 was full of body and much darker on the palate. In typical fashion, Larry brought along some barrel samples of soon-to-be-released ‘08 Pinots. The ‘08 Ashley’s was extremely well balanced, and the ‘08 Bien Nacido screamed “big!” Alas, Larry was so swamped with customers we hardly had time to chat. Catch you next time!

Along the way, Jordan caught sight of one of his favorite producers, Sojourn Cellars from Sonoma Coast. Sojourn is a small producer, offering only four Pinots and three Cabs. They came with their four highly regarded 2008 Pinots: Gap’s Crown, Sangiacomo, Rodgers Creek, and Sonoma Coast. All were supremely drinkable with bright fruit, firm acidity, and excellent balance. Lovely drink-now Pinots!

Upon arrival, Lisa pointed us to some of her favorite under-the-radar pinots in the room. Her suggestions didn’t disappoint! Fred Scherrer from Scherrer Winery in Alexander Valley had two pinots on hand, 2006 Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley. The Sonoma Coast had some huge fruit on the palate with exceptional smoothness and a tart, tannic finish. The vintage from Russian River Valley was more subtle in flavor (Jason tasted currant) but provided more structure with bigger acid.

Perception Wines, another Sonoma producer from Russian River Valley, offered their 2007 Russian River Pinot and 2007 Orsi Vineyard Pinot. The former was surprisingly sweet and round, “like a pillow,” offered Jordan, and the Orsi had the most floral nose Jason detected all day. Not bad for $40-50 a bottle.

Windy Oaks Estate hails from a bit further south in the Santa Cruz Mountains. All their wines use only estate grown grapes, and they strive for a Burgundian style in their wines (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). Jordan and Jason tried two of these French-inspired Pinots.  The 2007 Henry’s Block had about as much territorial specificity as possible, derived from a single acre of vineyard! This big, chocolatey, rich taste really hit the spot. The 2007 Whole Cluster Pinot was equally big, juicy, and chocolatey. “Whole cluster” refers to the process of making the wine — instead of de-stemming and crushing the grapes first, whole cluster wines are fermented straight off the vine, stems and all intact. In this case, less really is more!

For a fun interlude, we tried Clos Pepe’s 2009 Rosé of Pinot. This was intense! Floral nose, nice tart palate, and a beautiful “princess pink” color. Yummy rose that provided a much-needed break from the onslaught of pinots in the room.

At a certain point, taking notes gets harder for even the most experienced Wino. Out of the 75 producers, we hit up 5 more and enjoyed them all. Paraiso Vineyard from Monterrey served up some SIP certified wines, which means that they are sustainably produced — good for the environment and the palate. Two others from Sonoma we enjoyed were Merry Edwards and J Vineyard, the latter of which is better know for its sparkling wines. Finally, returning to Santa Barbara, we finished off our grand tour of California Pinot with Melville and Ken Brown.

The Young Winos of LA — edutoxicating Los Angeles since 2005.

However, one of our big points of pride is that we not only drink more wine than most people, but more interesting wine as well. It’s easy to fall into the trap of drinking only Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Zinfandel, and other grapes we see most often on wine lists and in grocery stores. To avoid such situations, the Winos do our best to devote numerous meetings to tasting awesome, dynamic and under-appreciated grapes that may be flying below the radar of the average consumer. This week, we investigate exactly such a grape: the star of Sicily, Nero d’Avola.

Sicily’s most important red grape, Nero d’Avola (literally, “the black one of Avola,” named after a town in Sicily) is finally getting the recognition it deserves after decades of being made into rough-edged country wine and used as a blending grape in weak vintages of Chianti. When done right, Nero d’Avola has a flavor profile reminiscent of a big Shiraz, dark and fruit-forward with firm tannins and plummy spice flavors. We’ve tasted Nero d’Avola three times before: in 2007, when we tasted Various Italian Reds; in 2008, when we drank wine from Oenotria (the south of Italy); and last year, when we ran through some wines to bring to your holiday party. Tuesday night, however, marks Nero d’Avola’s first star billing in a Winos lineup.

Learn more about Nero d’Avola by watching one of these informative videos. In this one, Chelsea and I use Nero d’Avola as the base for our Christmas mulled wine in 2008. And in this one, Gary Vaynerchuk tastes a lineup of Nero d’Avola after spending about five minutes talking about the Giants.

We’ll be meeting at Andrew’s place in Korea Town. The RSVP system works like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Please note that Andrew’s place is quite small, so we’ll unfortunately have to cap this meeting at ten Winos in order to achieve any degree of comfort. If you’re denied entry due to a meeting exceeding capacity, don’t worry — you’ll be at the top of the list the next week.

Once you get your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a big delicious bottle of Nero d’Avola. We’ll see you on Tuesday night!

The classic red wines of France’s Bordeaux region are among the most expensive and sought-after bottles in the world — and, to this day, are considered by many to be the standard for sturdy, age-worthy wines. The white wines of Bordeaux, while they certainly aren’t laughed at, simply don’t have the same prestige as their red cousins… nor do they have the “cool” factor of white wines from, say, the Rhone Valley (or Spain, or Austria, etc). Typically made from blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, white Bordeaux can be delicious, refreshing wines. So why the lack of respect?

One problem is likely the whole blending thing, which doesn’t really allow the Sauv Blanc to fully enjoy the spotlight. Unlike the reds, which are made by blending together grapes that share a lot of flavor characteristics (Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, etc), the white Bordeaux can best be described as efforts to reconcile the opposing natures of their two main varietals: the Sauvignon Blanc contributes racy, herbal acidity, while the Sémillon adds honeyed textural elements. In the Loire Valley, where Sauvignon Blanc is not blended, the great bottles of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé are pure expressions of the grape, and the region gets a lot of love as a result. In Bordeaux, it’s like, “hmm, am I tasting the Sauv Blanc or the Sémillion? I can’t decide… let’s just order more Pouilly-Fumé.”

This week, we’ll be tasting a lineup of Sauvignon Blancs, with a special emphasis on those from Bordeaux. Stop by your friendly neighborhood wine store and ask if they’ve got any white Bordeaux in which Sauvignon Blanc makes up a majority of the blend, or even 50 percent. (The only 100% Sauvignon Blanc in Bordeaux is the Pavillon Blanc from Chateau Margeaux, which I’m willing to bet none of us can afford.) This is definitely a theme worthy of a trip to the wine shop, as your local grocery store is likely to be rather sparse in their selection of white Bordeaux. Oh yeah… if anyone happens to find themselves in a sweet mood and wants to bring a bottle of Sauternes, the classic Bordeaux dessert wine made from Sauv Blanc and Sémillon, I’m not going to object.

If your local wine merchant doesn’t have any appropriate options, you can feel free to bring a bottle of 100% Sauvignon Blanc from one of its other popular regions (the aforementioned Loire Valley, California, New Zealand, etc), which we’ll use for comparison purposes. Or, as always, you can opt to bring ten American dollars instead of a bottle.

We’ll be meeting at Emily’s place in Manhattan Beach. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). If you’re denied entry due to a meeting exceeding capacity, don’t worry — you’ll be at the top of the list the next week.

This should be a good one! Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday at 9pm.

You can imagine our surprise, then, when we received a sample bottle of the 2007 Municipal Winemakers “Fizz” Sparkling Shiraz (Santa Barbara County) and discovered that it had been sealed with a crown cap — the type found on your favorite long-neck bottle of brew.  While screwcaps may be taking the wine world by storm, the crown cap still has quite a bit of catching up to do.  In a recent article in Wines & Vines, Domaine Chandon PR director Sue Furdek explained the crown cap’s image problem: “Consumers love and want the ‘pop’ when they open bubbly,” she said. “There’s only modest acceptance of alternatives to cork in still wine, and even less with sparkling.”

As has been well-documented in various media, the Winos will open any closure as long as it allows us access to the wine within, so we had no compunction about grabbing the bottle opener and procuring ourselves some fizzy red goodness.  In the interest of satisfying our journalistic curiosity, however, we decided to contact winemaker Dave Potter to learn why he bucked tradition and bound his bubbles below a bottlecap.  What follows is a journey into the mad mind of the Municipal Winemaker.

YW: Why did you choose to use an artificial closure for your first vintage of sparkling wine?  Isn’t it more fun to pop open a cork?

DP: Popping the cork is fun, but so is popping a cap - at least I think so.  At any rate, it’s the drinking of the wine part that is the most fun, and it’s the wine in the bottle that I am most interested in.  Besides, I don’t use corks on any of my other wines because I feel that they do not perform as well as the Stelvin screwcap.  Nothing bums me out more than spending good money on a bottle of wine that the cork has spoiled.  The crown seal is, in my opinion, a better closure than the cork as well.

YW: Why the crown cap?  Why not one of those hard plastic artificial corks?

DP: The crown cap is actually a great closure!  It’s what most Champagne houses use during tirage when the wine is undergoing secondary fermentation in the bottle, as well as aging on the lees.  Most Champagne houses (Vueve, Dom, etc.) have their caves full of wines that age with a crown cap for years at a time.  It holds the pressure in very well, forms a great seal, and will not contaminate the wine like a cork could. Besides, plastic corks suck.

YW:  Being that as it may, the Fizz, at $34, is the most expensive bottle in your lineup.  Weren’t you concerned that customers might balk at a product in the thirty-dollar range that’s sealed with a closure usually associated with soda and beer?

DP: Actually, the Fizz is selling really well!  It’s the most expensive bottle in my lineup simply because it cost me the most to make.  I try to be pretty honest and fair with my pricing because I want to make wines that are opened and enjoyed, not collected and stored.  Because I don’t work in a Champagne house, or have access to the really efficient gear, all of the bottle work was done slowly by hand - riddling and disgorging, etc.  It took a lot of time for aging in barrel and bottle, as well as more expensive glass, high losses at disgorging, and a ton of hard work.  Unfortunately, what costs me more, costs you more.

I know there are people out there who will think it is cheap / bad wine because it doesn’t come with a cork, but those are probably the same people who wouldn’t pay $34 for a bottle of wine made by the “Municipal Winemakers.”  I do think, though, that most of the people who are into what I do won’t really mind, and to go a step further, might actually be attracted to it.

YW: Do you feel like a closure revolution is underway?  Will we soon be seeing crown caps on bottles of Champagne?

DP: Well, I do have to admit that this wasn’t my idea.  I’m not the first person to put sparkling wine under a crown seal (and I’m not even the first person to put sparkling shiraz under a crown seal).  Like I mentioned before, crown caps are used by most Champagne houses during production and cave aging, but are finished with corks so that consumers can pop ‘em.  Champagne is seen as a luxury item, and I think that there are many producers who don’t want to risk their luxury image.  A few years back, there was a great article in Decanter about Chandon in Australia bottling one of their top sparkling wines under crown cap without telling corporate management in France because they would never agree with it. [Read the article here.]

I guess the challenge is trying to reconcile the functionality with the romance.  In my opinion, though, I think there is something very romantic about a wine that you know has not spoiled from the closure.  I also actually prefer the look of the cap to the cork.

Dave sent us the two photos to the left just to prove how stylish the crown cap can be when compared to traditional cork closures, offering his opinion that “the cap has a cool confidence about it.”  We’d tend to agree.  More important, as he pointed out, is what’s inside the bottle — and the Fizz bottle was certainly filled with something delicious.  A nose of licorice and dried plum led us into a full, frothy palate of blackberries, charcoal, and leather.  Tannins were light, as was the sweetness (despite the wine receiving a dosage of still wine and port before being sealed, according to Dave’s dependably informative back-label).  Andrea found that it had “a pucker to it, with a friendly finish,” and even with the light tannins, the sparkler was perfectly refreshing.  A great success, we thought, and an auspicious victory for lovers of crown caps everywhere.

The Young Winos of LA — edutoxicating Los Angeles since 2005.

The January/February issue of Mutineer features a four-page article called “Rebel Spirit,” penned by yours truly, in which an unassuming wine writer from southern California travels to New York State’s first whiskey distillery to operate since Prohibition and investigates the bizarre and unpredictable world of micro-distilling.  The Mutineer website describes the piece as follows: “veteran scribe Jesse Porter goes Gonzo in this piece that explores the exploding craft spirits scene in the United States, featuring Finger Lakes Distilling, Tuthilltown Spirits, Philadelphia Distilling, and Dry Fly Distilling.”  That’s right, I’m a “veteran scribe” named “Jesse Porter” and I “went gonzo.”  C’mon, who doesn’t want to read that?

If you’re among those who didn’t answer “me” to the preceding rhetorical question, then I’d siggest you do one of the following two things: 1) download a fairly low-res PDF version by clicking here, or 2) the vastly better option, rush down to your local magazine retailer and purchase a copy of your own!  Mutineer Magazine can be found on the shelves of numerous retailers large and small, including such formidable names as Barnes, Noble, Borders, Vons and Safeway (a full list can be found here).  Or, for the price of three single issues, you could instead subscribe for a year — six issues delivered to your doorstep for $14.95.