Garagiste

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Definition courtesy of redwinebuzz.com: Originally, a group of independent and entrepreneurial winemakers in Bordeaux, France. They came to prominence through the attention of wine critic Robert M Parker Jr. Going against the current of Bordeaux wine making traditions, they made (and make) fruit-forward, big, bold, highly extracted and oaky wines which are far more approachable in youth than traditional Bordeaux wines (which are generally very tannic and require long bottle aging).

Junmai

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

It’s Saké month at Richard’s site, A Passionate Foodie. So we thought we’d give you a peek at some of the info he’s providing, with this definition of Junmai, then suggest you head on over to his site to learn more. Junmai is a Saké “made with only rice, water, koji and yeast. Junmai means “pure rice” as no alcohol has been added to it. A Junmai must have a seimai buai of no higher than 70%. That means 30% of the rice grain has been polished away. A Junmai is typically full-bodied and slightly acidic.” -A Passionate Foodie

Stelvin

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

A screwcap closure for wine, developed in the late 1950s by French company Saint-Gobain. Originally called the “Stelcap”, a combo of hte words “stellar” and “cap”, it was later called “Stelcap-vin” and eventually shortened to “Stelvin”. Interestingly, though the French developed the closure in the 1960s, it wasn’t actually until the Australians adopted the Stelvin closure in the late 1970s that the caps were widely used. Even now, however, the closures face an uphill battle with consumers who equate cork with quality, and screwcaps with mass-market plonk. And, yes, this jargon post is inspired by the book we’re currently reading, To Cork or Not To Cork by George Taber!

Jeroboam

Saturday, December 8th, 2007

An oversized bottle holding the equivalent of six 750ml bottles of wine (except for with Champagne, of which a jeroboam holds four bottles).

get your wine on

2005 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla

We’re always looking for reasonably priced Cabs, and while this is creeping up there in price, $28 is still more than reasonable for what you get. Concentration of black fruit, some peppery spice, a hint of structure and layers of complexity. While labeled a Cab, this is more a blend, with Cab coming in at 76% and Merlot, Syrah and Malbec making up the balance. I want some Walla Walla

2006 Curran Gewurztraminer, Santa Ynez Valley

We got the chance to try the Curran Gewurztraminer at a winemaker dinner we attended in February, with Kris Curran and Bruno d’Alphonso. We’ve been bugging our sales rep for this wine ever since, and are thrilled that Curran has finally released a tiny amount to retailers. Yay! A perfect wine for the summer.Get some Gewurz for $29.99

2003 Rocca Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville

We heard that Gary V. reviewed the 2004 yesterday and loved it. We loved that wine too, but we jumped at the chance to get the 2003 which we feel is nearly as good, since it’s a bargain at under $50 a bottle. Stellar juice from Celia Masyczek, the winemaker of Scarecrow, for a fraction of the price.2003 Rocca, please!

freshly pressed

Interview with Wannabe Wino (aka Sonadora…aka Megan):

As we often do when we have a new bloggerpack to shill, we’ve interviewed the blogger in question. Without further ado, the blogger known as Wannabe Wino — our questions are in bold, her answers are not:

When and why did you first decide to plunge into the crazy world of wine blogging? How do you fit it into your work day?

I really hated my first job. At some point in my 8 months of working there, well, really within the first 2 months, I literally reached the very last page of the internet. I swear it exists. Also, because they had eliminated my position at work prior to me even officially arriving, they literally had nothing for me to do, no one talked to me, it was pretty much my own living hell. So the blog was born of sheer and utter boredom and the realization, after reading every last thing about wine on the internet, that no one was talking about the wines I was drinking. (more…)

grapewise

domaine547 In the News: Los Angeles Business Journal

We’re thrilled to be mentioned in this week’s Los Angeles Business Journal! Check us out either on the LABJ site, or click for the excerpt after the bump.

Read more…

Blogs to check out: Noble Pig
We’re suckers for food sites with great photography. But there’s a lot more going on at Noble Pig, which is why we read it religiously these days. In addition to great recipes with the aforementioned photographs, the site boasts wine tasting notes (with a shopping list handy via the sidebar), and observational pieces about everyday life outside of the culinary.

Read more…