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Champagne / New Year's Eve

With New Year’s Eve coming up in a few days, I wanted to share some Champagne recommendations to people in Chicago.  All of these can be found at Binny’s in Lincoln Park.  The recommendations are sorted by price range.

Less than $20 - Try the JCB No. 69 Rose.  This pink wine will keep you festive without breaking the bank.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/JCB_Number_69_Sparkling_Rose_by_Jean_Charles_Boisset_49896.html

$20 - $40 - The Pommery Brut Royal will give you the toasty notes and flavor you expect with Champagne.  Good balance of wine making / value.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/Pommery_Brut_Royal_254529.html

$40 - $60 - I have two wines here for the more serious wine drinker.

The Moet & Chandon Rose will deliver a well made wine that keeps going until the last drop.  The acidity will keep you coming back for more.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/Moet__Chandon_Rose_Imperial_256491.html

What label do the professionals drink for value?  Chartogne Taillet.  This is a wine through and through.  Smell this before each sip and you will find flavors, depth and freshness all night.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/Chartogne_Taillet_Cuvee_Sainte-Anne_251218.html

$60-$100 - Thienot Brut Rose - A step up from the Moet & Chandon Rose.  At $65 a bottle, this isn’t your chug and pass bottle.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/Thienot_Brut_Rose_60800.html $100+ - Krug Grande Cuvee - If you have the pockets or love to show off your wine label, get the Grande Cuvee from Krug.  I had this recently and it gets better with each glass.  http://www.binnys.com/wine/Krug_Grande_Cuvee_255612.html

Enjoy and Happy New Years

[nicholascabrera]

Joe's Wine Cellar

I was born, raised and have lived in the Chicagoland area my entire life.  This city that I love, minus the winters, has everything a great city should have.  I felt that until I really started to get into wine.  As part of the experiences I am looking to share, is my hope to find more of what Chicago has to offer in terms of wine.  This will range in all types of experiences regardless of budget, neighborhood, or wine preference.  

Joe’s Wine Cellar, located in the Wicker Park neighborhood, is a small retail shop that also offers a place to sample wines and small bites.  In warmer weather, Joe’s takes advantage of the large sidewalks along Division Street with outdoor seating and plenty of people watching.  Inside, the store has a small collection of wines from around the world.  In an effort to get people to explore new wines from different regions and types, Joe’s has 6 Winestation® machines serving up to 24 wines in either a sample, half glass or full glass offering.  Wines are changed periodically and all available for purchase.  

I enjoy this place for the relaxed environment, simple self service and variety of wines.  If you want to enjoy a single glass, sample several tastings of sets of whites and reds or anything in between, it is all done at your pace.  Trying new varietals and regions and having those options available for purchase is great for bringing wine to parties, dinners, etc.  In addition, the pricing of the wines offered is typically in the range of less than $20 to $40.  I would recommend this place to anyone in the Wicker Park neighborhood.  

Joe’s Wine Cellar can be found at 

www.joeswinecellar.com

2108 W Division Street (Wicker Park)

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Wine Intimidation??

When you order a bottle of wine at a restaurant, do you get uneasy when the server or Sommelier presents the wine, has you taste it and provide approval?  Do you avoid the employees of your local wine shop when they ask if you need help, because you look lost?  Does the overall experience of wine in front of others intimidate you?  

Experiencing wine is supposed to be a pleasurable moment and having feelings of intimidation is preventing people from truly understanding what is so great about those fermented grapes in one’s glass. 

In my day job, I manage construction projects that have ranged from a small renovation to projects over $70 million in individual value.  When I train new hires or younger managers, I try to emphasize the importance of talking to the guys in the field about what they are doing and the process of performing their job well.  I ask my people to do this for two reasons.  First of all, it allows someone to learn quickly and directly about what he or she will eventually be managing on their own, whether it is plumbing, carpentry, electrical, concrete, steel, etc.  Second, the people in the field enjoy when someone new asks them questions to learn.  It gains respect of the worker by showing an interest in their craft. 

Wine professionals should be seen in the same light.  Asking questions to these people shows interest, allows for a novice to learn more and will help eliminate the intimidation factor.  Reading books on wine is great and useful, but someone is more likely to retain information in a direct conversation and experience than from a book.  Listening to a professional explain that Syrah is the only red wine grape in the Northern Rhone will sink in much more as you can tie that information back to an experience.  Someone with a passion for what they do wants to talk about it.  That person wants others to understand what is so great about their passion because it fuels that person. 

The more times you can do this, the more you will learn and eventually be the one people ask questions to.  Once you are able to achieve that, you will have a much deeper appreciation for the wine and the entire experience.

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Dangers of Decanting

In my post last Tuesday, I discussed the purpose and general reasons for decanting. The proper use of a decanter can truly elevate the wine experience towards the ideal conditions for tasting but should be done so with caution. Without care and understanding, the use of a decanter can completely ruin your wine and experience. Here are a few ways a decanter can be dangerous. 1. The wine doesn't require decanting - Not all wines require decanting. Some wines are too delicate, are on the verge of being too old or can be past their prime. The use of a decanter can be detrimental to these wines and harm the wine taking away aromas and taste. 2. Improper technique / use of the decanter - When sediment has been created within a wine, you should understand that not all the juice will be extracted from the bottle with proper decanting. As you pour the wine delicately into the decanter, a candle is utilized under the bottle to see when the sediment begins to show. I am not, nor do I pretend to be a "Somm" or Sommelier so I will not discuss the proper way to decant here. In any case, once the sediment appears over the light, it is time to stop pouring or else the sediment will be emptied into the decanter. In addition to the decanting technique, it is also important to use the proper decanter for the wine. Wide based decanters will oxidate the wine more than narrow based. If your decanter is for show only, use a narrow based decanter and vice versa if you are trying to accelerate the maturation process. 3. Temperature - Your twenty five year old cabernet has been separated from its sediment properly and has been put into a thin based decanter but is sitting next to the hot stove for 30 minutes. All the care for the wine has been done up till now and the wine is cooking. The temperature of the wine is a hot topic for debate among wine drinkers but all will tell you that heating a wine is a recipe for disaster. Wine should not be served "warm" and the ideal temperature should be planned for prior to decanting to understand how long the decanting will have impact to the wine's temperature. All wine drinkers, have at some point, made errors in decanting. Some errors are not even known until one experiences the wine properly. With enough tasting, dining and research you can gain the knowledge, practice and understanding to tell the difference. When it all comes together properly and the wine is able to shine how it is supposed to, it can change everything you thought you knew about a varietal, region, vintage and producer. Keep an open mind and keep tasting.

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Stages of Life and Wine

When I began thinking about writing a blog about wine and my experiences, I sat down and listed topics to discuss. After about 40 topics, I looked at my notes and really couldn’t think of much more I wanted to share. I put my notes away for a few months hoping that I would realize an easier way to find topics or that I magically had 40 new experiences to share. What I have begun to find is that topics kinda fall in my lap out of coincidence.

Recently, I was at Joe’s Wine Shop in Wicker Park, the shop will be a future post, discussing with Joe my passion for wine. We were in a discussion on the value of Beaujolais and the value available without the commercial hype of other wines of Burgundy. Joe made a comment on how older drinkers are the easiest to discuss value wines with cause they do not need a label / brand name in order to drink something new. I found his comment interesting but didn’t think too much into it until reading a book on Thomas Jefferson and his passion for wine. Again, I’ll have a future post about the book. In my reading, the author discusses stages of life and how they relate to wine.

The stages are broken into the following with my own thoughts and twists:

1. Full flavored wines - Young people drink wine that tend to be overpowering and full flavor. I have been to too many tastings or had discussions with younger people that love Cabernet, Malbec, Port and other similarly full flavored wines. Let me be clear that I like all wines and that drinking these types as a favorite is not wrong or makes you a novice.

2. Label Whores - Are you in your mid thirties or forties and think that the only good wines include “Grand Cru” on the label? From my own experience, I am 34 years old and often find myself searching out labels more than values. Do I have my nose in the air when I see people search for values and buy from producers that aren’t on my radar, ALWAYS. Now that we have that out of the way, let me explain a little more why I search out label wines. I will be the first to tell someone that my palate is not as good as my bride’s and I often will ask her opinion of flavors and aromas. I have had my fair share of value or cheap wine through the years, more because that is all I could afford at the time. I look for the labels cause I want to know what the big deal is and to make each experience fun. Wine is meant to be drunk and it doesn’t need to wait for a special occasion. Make an ordinary time special by opening a great bottle. I often tell my mother to open bottles cause she tends to hoard her nicer wine for get togethers with a group. To sum it up, I’d rather buy a label than waste money on several bottles I don’t like. Odds are better that I will have a better experience and even if it isn’t good, my Instagram will get a lot of hits. Sorry Joe, I’m a label whore.

3. Value drinker - As I’ve seen my parents near retirement, I see their appreciation for value so much more than when I grew up. My mom gets a rush to save up coupons and get 40% off her purchase at Macy’s. Those purchases translate to wine as well. My mom will be the first person to email me about a sale at the local Binny’s for 15% on a Saturday. My mom loves the wines that I drink but the cost is something she doesn’t like taking a risk on. She would rather spend less on a wine that is “pretty good” five times over than to splurge on a bottle. Don’t get me wrong, when we do get together for wines, she will splurge but more of that is because she is paying for experience of sharing and talking about new wines.

The next time you are out a restaurant, tasting room or wine event see how accurate these stages are. You might be surprised.

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The Whole Wine World

In addition to my love for wine, I love the game of blackjack. There is nothing like sitting at a blackjack table in Vegas with the bells and chimes of slot machines, the yell of the craps table, the beer safely off the felt and my end seat. The rush one can get on a run in Vegas is everything like you see in the movie, no matter the amount you are winning. Those that truly understand the odds of each bet, the reason why people love seeing a dealer showing five and the ability to double down against that five have seen the dummy card of how to play. This card is color coded for help and tells a player how to play a hand based on the cards in hand and what the dealer is showing. Understanding instead of memorizing the card can make someone a better player and keep the table fun to play at.

Richard Betts, Master Sommelier, has the same card for wine that there is for blackjack. Mr. Betts’ “The Whole Wine World” wheel breaks down the wine world into the basic characteristics and color. How do you differentiate an American and Australian Syrah? Besides color, the wood type will provide the distinguishing factor.

The categories include earth, wood, fruit and color. While this might seem simplistic in it’s breakdown, the combinations available are plenty, like the blackjack card. Just like blackjack, understanding each element leads to better identification of wines and can improve one’s experience and enjoyment of wine in general. At first, trying to understand a category can seem impossible. With enough tasting practice of different wines, even the most novice taster will begin to develop a memory bank of subtleties to make this process much easier.

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To decant or not to decant?

A wine decanter has a single purpose, to increase the enjoyment of the wine. There are several reasons why this is necessary or useful but the purpose remains the same. For brevity, I will discuss what I consider the three general reasons for decanter.

1. Separating deposits (sediment) - You have been saving a bottle of cabernet for twenty five years, that you bought on your honeymoon, for your 25th wedding anniversary. Over those twenty five years your wine has naturally thrown off deposits that have hardened and separated from the wine juice. These deposits, sediment, are not something you want to drink or have floating around in your wine glass. After twenty five years of waiting, it would be a shame if the wine experience was disappointing from improper serving.

2. Rapid maturation - Out of luck you arrive at your local wine shop and the latest release of Thierry Allemand’s Cornas is being stocked and you buy a case before it sells out. Excited to sample a bottle despite being years from hitting its sweet-spot for age and development, you pull out a decanter and let the bottle sit out for 6 hours. Decanters, wide based, oxidate the wine to accelerate the maturation process, although not as well as natural aging.

3. For show - The last reason for decanting has nothing to do with the wine but rather the people drinking the wine. You are hosting a formal dinner at home and have pulled out all the stops for great presentation. The silverware passed down from grandma is out, the rarely used dining room table is prepared with linens and you see bottles of wine sitting in the middle of the table, looking out of place. A glass decanter puts the wine on display and blends in with the rest of the table.

Wine is delicate and while decanting can increase your enjoyment of the wine by separating deposits, maturing wine to a better balance and presenting it for show, there are several ways that improper use of a decanter can do the opposite. My post next Tuesday will review some of these mistakes.

Do you have an experience, good or bad, regarding decanting?

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Introduction

My name is Nicholas Cabrera, I am a native Chicagoan and I LOVE WINE. The moment for me came in the fall of 2012 around the time I made my 2nd trip to Sonoma County in California. After a week of new wine and food experiences in California, I was back in Chicago looking to continue with new wine at home. My bride and I were out on a Friday night at Square One in the South Loop neighborhood. Square One (www.squareonechicago.com) offers wine to customers via self serving dispensing stations. The stations offer a taste, half glass and full glass of different offerings that are activated through a pre-paid card. The stations are a great way to taste wines without having to order full glasses or a bottle. With a couple of machines, the offerings available are not plentiful like the Wine by One bar I visited in Paris, I will discuss that in a future post. The wine that caught my attention that night was a Rhone blend from the area of Chateauneuf de Pape by Domaine Olivier Hillaire. At around $40 retail, the wine was above my typical price range for buying but not too far off. I had never had a wine from the Rhone before and loved the soft fruit flavors and depth the wine had in comparison to the low priced California wine that I had been used to drinking. It was as if a switch was flipped and I needed to know more about the wine, the region, the grapes, etc. Within 15 minutes of tasting the wine, I had located the nearest store that stocked the wine and headed straight over to buy some. It has been about 24 months since that experience and not a day goes by that I do not read about, research, taste or watch a video on wine. This goal of this blog is to simply share my thoughts, experiences and interests in wine to those willing to read them.