Thursday, November 19, 2009

Serving Your Holiday Wines


There's really no mystery to serving wine, as most of us can somehow manage to pour the wine out of the bottle and into our glass without too much trouble. But here are a couple of things that may help your holiday wines show their best.

Temperature - I feel temperature is the most important factor in serving fine wine. As a rule, Champagne, white and rosé wines should be served chilled, while red wines should be served at room temperature. For Champagne and white wines, 30 minutes in the fridge will do them just fine. The ideal temperature for pouring our white Rhone wines is at approximately 57 degrees, cellar temperature. If the wine is too cold it will numb your taste buds, so you cannot enjoy the wine’s beautiful flavors. The cold temperature does not allow the wine to show its bouquet until it warms up. For reds, we serve our wines at room temperature, 70 to 72 degrees. We have all had red wines served to warm.

Decanting - It is frequently done with vintage red wines that have spent many years in the cellar. This is the process of pouring off clear wine and leaving any sediment in the bottle that has developed overtime. The vast majority of wines we drink today do not need to be decanted because we are drinking wines younger. If you do need to do it, move the bottle as little as possible so as not to disturb the sediment and pour the wine slowly into a glass decanter keeping an eye on the neck of the bottle. When you see sediment in the neck, it's time to stop. Decanting can also help wines to "breathe".

Breathing - If a wine has spent many years locked up in a bottle, away from the air, it will benefit from a little breathing time. This can take place in your glass or even better in a decanter for an hour or so. Even young wines can benefit from a little breathing time, as it allows the wine to open up and really show what it's made of. Test this by tasting a wine immediately after opening it and then see how your second glass tastes an hour later …if you can wait! There's often quite a difference. That's also why, if you're opening several reds, open them all at once. You give your next bottle a chance to breathe, while you are enjoying the current one. Whites generally don't need to be opened ahead of time, as the goal is usually to retain their freshness.

Glassware - The best glasses for appreciating fine wines are made of crystal. The shape and glass quality do make a difference. We use Riedel’s Ouverture Series in the Tasting Room. Under a microscope, Crystal looks rough and has lots of little crevices that wine can coat when you swirl your glass. Heavy cut/pressed glass is smooth, not allowing the bouquet of the wine to open and show its best. Whatever glass you use, it should have a wide bowl tapering to a narrower opening, tulip shaped. This allows room for the wine to be swirled while concentrating the aromas in the glass. Champagne should be served in tall flutes or tall, thin tulip-shaped glasses. Today there are many specialty glasses designed to be used with different grape varietals, try them, they do make a difference! Also, make sure you wash your crystal under hot water with no detergents or rinse aids. These build up on your glasses and will change your wines bouquet and flavor.

Glass Fill Level - The glass should be filled to the widest part of the bowl, no more than about half full, (unless you’re a good friend of mine who thinks filling to the brim means less trips from his chair…!) This level allows room for swirling the wine in the glass to release its bouquet without splashing it on your shirt or new table cloth. A good technique to achieve proficient swirling is to place the base of the glass on the table, hold the stem and make small, quick circles. Clockwise or counter clockwise, that’s the question…!

If you don't finish the bottle (which is unheard of in our crowd), most wines will keep well for a couple of days by vacuum pumping them to keep air out. You can pick these stoppers and pumps up at any wine shop. We use these in the tasting room and they work well. It's impossible to say exactly how long a wine will keep once you open it because each wine is different, but in general the higher quality the wine, the longer it will keep.

Enjoy your wines this Holiday!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Wine May Prevent Gallstones

A glass or two per day can lessen the risk of painful condition in gallbladder.

Most people don't think about their gallbladders very often, that is, until they face the painful sensation of gallstones. But a new study holds that a glass or two of wine each day may help prevent gallstone formation.

The findings were presented in May at the Digestive Disease Week 2009 conference in Chicago, by Dr. Andrew Hart of the University of East Anglia's school of medicine (located in Norwich, U.K.). The study was conducted with cooperation from the gastroenterology division at the university's hospital as well as the epidemiological department of Cambridge University and the U.K.'s National Institutes of Health. Hart and his colleagues found that drinking up to two units of alcohol per day reduces the risk of developing gallstones by one-third when compared to nondrinkers.

The gallbladder is a small organ below the liver in the right upper abdomen that stores bile, a substance that helps the body digest fats. Gallstones form when stored bile hardens and can be incredibly painful. If the problem is persistent, surgery to remove the gallbladder may be required.

Previous studies have found that alcohol may have a preventative effect on gallstone formation, but Hart noted that this is the first study to document this effect on a drink-per-day basis. Earlier studies linked alcohol to lower levels of cholesterol (the major ingredient in gallstones), but did not provide detailed enough data that could potentially translate into dietary guidance.

To find a daily amount of alcohol that may optimize gallstone prevention, the researchers monitored the dietary habits of 25,639 English men and women, pulled from the larger European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, a broad study that follows inhabitants of the continent for a 10-year period. During the course of the study, 267 patients developed gallstones, and the scientists compared this to daily drinking habits.

They found that drinking 175ml of wine per day (about 6 ounces) offered a 32 percent lower risk of gallstones. The more the participants drank, the lower the risk, but the researchers noted that the dangers of excessive alcohol outweighed the benefits.

"These findings significantly increase our understanding of the development of gallstones," Hart said in a statement. "Once we examine all the factors related to their development in our study, including diet, exercise, body weight and alcohol intake, we can develop a precise understanding of what causes gallstones and how to prevent them." Jacob Gaffney

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Beautiful Summertime Gatherings Start With Viognier!

Viognier, pronounced (vee-ohn-yea), may be one of the toughest varietals from the Northern Rhône appellation of Condrieu to pronounce, but it is one of the friendliest white wines for summer. Our dry, crisp styled Viognier, with its creamy mouth feel, aromatic nose and fruit forward nature makes pairing this wine with summer fare a breeze. At your next neighborhood soirée, spark up the grill and throw down some chicken or fish, then finish it with a fresh mango-jalapeno salsa, or for the more adventurous, try a spicy Thai shrimp or curry chicken with coconut milk. Viognier is an incredible match.

In Paso Robles, the 2007 growing season had cool temperatures and perfect ripening conditions for Viognier. This vintage exhibits beautiful floral aromas of jasmine, orange blossom and honeysuckle, with tropical hints of pineapple, apricot and ripe citrus fruits on the finish, perfect to pair with tonight’s romantic dinner!

So, the next time you’re in the tasting room to pick up a bottle or three. Ask Kendall how many different pronunciations of Viognier she’s heard over the last few years. “Vig-neer” has got to be her favorite!

Try our 2007 Edward Sellers Viognier, I know you will enjoy it.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Why A Dry Grenache Rosé?

A dry Rosé is the first flower to bloom in the wine world. It's the first wine to be released from the previous year’s harvest. It will tease you to relax by the pool during those hot afternoons and balmy summer evenings reflecting upon the many pleasures of life.

A true Rosé is made from a saignée, which is an early “bleeding” of the tanks. This juice has only flirted with the contact of the Red Grenache skins that it once came from. This short, but timely interlude gives our Rosé its delightful color and fruity aromatics. Dry Rosé is a way to enjoy the characteristics of a red wine without being weighted down by its typical tannins and oak flavors.

We trust that you will find our 2008 Grenache Rosé to be one of the most flexible warm weather wines. It can accompany you on a day picnic or be right at home with a late evening grilled salmon served on the terrace.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Cuvée des Cinq's Hierarchy

If I were a member of Ed’s Cellar Club, I would be particularly excited about this wine shipment. It marks the third release of our fantastic Cuvée des Cinq, which most of you know is our flagship wine and my proudest achievement. Sometimes, when we are showing this wine in the Tasting Room or at various festivals and trade tastings around the country, we’re not quite sure how it should fit into our lineup. After all, as the coup de grace of our production, it should be tasted last, but how can we go back to something so restrained, so elegant, after pouring our bold Syrah Sélectionné or palate-pounding single vineyard Syrahs? Honestly, it weakens the impact of our Cuvée. True, too, if we bury the Cuvée somewhere else in the middle. It’s bigger than our Vertigo, not quite as much of a mouthful as Le Thief, but with its five-varietal blend and Old-World style, Cuvée des Cinq is far more refined and age-worthy than either one. In short, it’s a more serious wine! The wines that comprise the blend each year are the most balanced in the cellar; the French oak it’s aged in is more structural than aromatic. The Cuvée is layered, complex, and it develops in your glass. It’s a wine for a long, leisurely meal. It’s worth spending some time in the kitchen to create a meal suited to its subtle intricacy. Cuvée des Cinq embodies the definitive style of the Edward Sellers wines… and then it truly is a notch above.

So how best to show this wine, that’s the question? It is important to us that those in the know – our Cellar Club members, the already converted – help us share with the rest of the world what you have already discovered; how special these wines are, especially the Cuvée des Cinq. I challenge you, the dedicated consumer, to help me, to help Ed and Kendall, to help all of us in coming up with a way to make people understand this ethereal, this revelatory, this arcane and very delicious Edward Sellers wine. Amy Butler, Winemaker

Monday, April 6, 2009

Another of our 9 Rhone Varietals: Mourvèdre

In the fall of 2008, we harvested the first fruit from our estate vineyard. Among the most promising was the Mourvèdre, from five acres on the south end of the property. The yield was extremely low – it turns out that starlings like Mourvèdre almost as much as I do – but the wine that resulted from that small amount of fruit will provide backbone and depth to our very first Estate Red blend.

Historically, Mourvèdre has been planted in the south of France, especially in Bandol, where it makes killer rosés (think Tavel) and earthy, rustic reds. The variety originated in Spain (it’s known there as Monastrell) where it thrives on the hot, dry summers and ripens dark and strong. Its delayed spring budding and late ripening, coupled with its love of heat, make it almost ideally suited to California’s Paso Robles region, where it has recently enjoyed a surge in popularity. At Edward Sellers, we love it for its bold structure, fleshy tannins, and meaty, slightly funky aroma. Mourvèdre is featured in a number of our blends, including our flagship Cuvée des Cinq and our unmistakably easy drinking Cognito. For the 2007 vintage, we’ve even created a 100% Mourvèdre to showcase the unique character of this variety. I know you will enjoy it! Amy Butler, Winemaker

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Edward Sellers Named One of the "10 Emerging California Rhône Producers" from the Golden State

Wine Spectator... High-Flying California Syrah!

2006 is Another Banner Year for Paso Robles and the Golden State Rhône Reds!

In this month's issue of the Wine Spectator (March 2009), James Laube writes "California Syrah keeps getting better-and its ranks deeper" and as a Rhône-style producer, we couldn’t agree more! To prove his point and ours, James put together a list of the newest and hottest "10 Emerging California Rhône Producers" from the Golden State. Not to our surprise or anyone else’s... the majority of his Rhône producers were from the Central Coast of California. Three were from Paso Robles, the best AVA on the West Coast to grow Rhône varietals. Edward Sellers was one of them!

The Spectator writes about Edward Sellers: "The entire lineup of Rhône-inspired wines from this 30-acre Paso Robles vineyard is impressive for its depth and value. Winemaker Amy Butler specializes in small lots of balanced and focused bottlings. Le Thief contains Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre; Cuvée des Cinq is a five grape blend based on Mourvèdre."

Thanks again Spectator for recognizing our style of Rhône wines from Edward Sellers.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

One of Our Nine Rhône Varietals – Marsanne

In 2005, after much analysis, Amy Butler, our winemaker, and I went about the task of laying out the vineyard to plant our six Rhône varietals, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne. We selected a perfect location in a back block of our property where the soil was rich in limestone to plant our one and one-half acres of Marsanne. After three years of tending our new vines, watering, pruning, training and praying to “Mother Nature”, it was now time to reap a little “fruits of our long labor”! We may have only picked ¾ of a ton last harvest… not a lot in the great scheme of things, but an important beginning for our Estate Wine program. This fruit will yield great softness and rich texture, with those slight flavor hints of mineral, stone fruits, almond and tuberose. This will make a stellar addition to our already elegant Blanc du Rhône.

If you are not familiar with Marsanne, it is a white grape varietal, most commonly found in the northern Rhône Valley of France, where it is often blended with Roussanne, another white Rhône grape. It is the predominate variety used in the production of the famous white Crozes-Hermitage and the sparkling and still St. Péray white wines. Marsanne is not permitted in the white Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines found in the southern Rhône Valley, although it is one of the eight white varieties permitted in the Rhône Valley’s Côtes du Rhône. The six permitted Châteauneuf-du-Pape white varietals are Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Picardin, Picpoul and Roussanne.