Category: Culture

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Wine Blogging Wednesday

WBW #39 Round-up, WBW #40 announced

WBWlogoCheck out Neil the Brooklynguy’s round-up of Wine Blogging Wednesday #39, Silver Burgundy.  Neil went to every participant’s post, near as I can tell, and commented on their reviews, which I think is admirable and very classy.  Plus, they were real, insightful comments and not just “good job” – what a caring thing to do!  It was a great theme, I’m glad so many people participated.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #40 is being hosted by Sonadora of Wannabe Wino, and she’s chosen the theme of Petite Sirah or Durif.  Can’t go wrong with that grape in my book!  I’ll look for something I haven’t tried yet, maybe see if I can find a French or Australian Durif to taste against a California PS? 

Thanks to Lenn at Lennedevours for inventing Wine Blogging Wednesday, a chance for the wine blogging community to come together in spirit, if not corporeally, once a month!  Just so you know, you don’t need a wine blog to participate!  Mark your calendar, taste a wine, and write a review to email to Sonadora this December 12!  Join in — everybody’s doing it.

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blogosphere

Community

Community Blogger AwardMy friend Gabrielle at Eternal Vigilance awarded me a Community Blogger Award, invented by Red Sultana to celebrate those in the blogosphere that “reach out and makes the blogger community a better one.” Nice!

When I decided to jump into the fray of wine blogging (fray! ha! if anything resembled the word less…), I felt that I was so quickly and generously welcomed into the “fold,” and I will always be truly grateful for that.

Tom Wark at Fermentation was kind enough to write about me very early on, directing a lot of new traffic my way; he also Does Great Things with his promotion of wine bloggers via his Bloggerview series.

Dr. Debs at Good Wine Under $20 and Jill at Domaine 547 both commented early, often and encouragingly. Plus, Jill invented Women’s Wine Blogging Celebration Day, known to 99.999% of the world’s population as October 11.

Finally, Lenn Thompson at Lenndevours has been truly instrumental in bringing all us wine bloggers together in our monthly wine tasting, Wine Blogging Wednesday. May this tradition never fade: it’s a wonderfully inclusive event, and super-fun on top of it!

I would like to confer upon all of these great people a Community Blogger Award: they make the wine blogosphere a better place to be, for everyone.

Categories
frivolity

Everyone’s a winner

Well, everyone but Alvaro Palacios.  Poor him!

In our first Wine Scamp Male Objectification Poll, Joao Portugal Ramos and Telmo Rodriguez tied with 6 votes each for Most Handsome Iberian Winemaker.  The second most popular choice after our handsome duo was a vote against the poll itself, which I must applaud with one hand clapping: I knew it was wrong when I did it, and I did it anyway… Congrats to all the participants; I assure you it was an honor just for you to be nominated. 

And many thanks to those who simply joined in the fun – wine’s supposed to be fun, I’ve heard – despite their lingering gender-political doubts, or because of them.  We’ll have another of these real soon, I promise.
Pleez donâ??t bother me Lookin at pr0n, k thx
moar funny pictures

On a non-wine related note, please wish me to be very funny tonight when I perform stand-up at my company’s comedy show benefit for Meals on Wheels and More.  We’ve raised $15,000 so far for our local chapter.  Woot!

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food & wine pairing regions reviews Wine Blogging Wednesday

Wine Blogging Wednesday #39: Silver Burgundy

Domaine Michel Cheveau Mâcon-Solutré PouillyI got a big jump on WBW #39 this time, tasting my wine nearly immediately after the theme was announced. Except it was that fantastic Domaine Michel Cheveau Macon Solutre-Pouilly 2006 that Brooklynguy wrote up this last Friday.

Hey, that was MY wine! Why he gotta be like that?

Well, Brooklynguy is right — this wine is sick. Sick, we say in thronging chorus! And all for about $24 per bottle, in Texas at least.

Pale straw gold in color. Lush, vibrant aromas of quince, lemon, cream and a brisk steeliness. On the palate, there are hard corners of minerality, with intense flint character, as well as pear, smoke, lemon and golden delicious apples. Usually a wine inspires me to either sniff or sip repeatedly; this wine demanded both, exhaustively. The finish just didn’t stop; this is exactly what I want from a white Burgundy, but more so. Run, don’t walk, to buy it. I got mine at Vino 100 Lakeway.

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news personal world of wine

Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children?

Interesting article over at the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday about kids and winery tasting rooms, i.e. whether it’s appropriate to bring your kids to wineries you visit. Dr. Vino ran a delightful series of posts on this subject, starting with a poll about whether kids should be allowed at wineries (218-80 in favor of tots tagging along with their parents in the Fields of the Grapes), with a lively discussion to boot. He then did an adorable photo contest of children at wineries, the winner to be found here in all his Cuteness. This kid will be a heart-breaker!

I voted in favor of wineries being a family friendly, not because I love having whiny kids running around the place while I’m trying to taste through a flight at a crowded counter, but because I believe that if America is ever to overcome its Puritan roots, we must Think Of The Children!

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frivolity

Sexist Poll to Remain Open Until Wednesday

I’m pleased to have so many fellow bloggers and other lovers of wine take an interest in my scientific research study regarding the sexual attractiveness of the male Iberian winemaker!

Alas, however; beauty is fleeting, and thus I’m closing the poll on Wednesday. If you or your friends have neglected to vote, don’t delay! There’s nothing in it for you but the fame (haha!) and conflictive sexual political conundrums, but when else this week has something so wrong felt So Right?

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frivolity

Vote for the Most Handsome Iberian Winemaker

Jill at Domaine 547 suggested this ages ago, and I’ve only just recently been able to make polls work for me… luckily, pretty endures. So here is your chance to vote for the Most Handsome Iberian Winemaker.

Our panel of scientists here at the Wine Scamp laboratories have studied the laws of winemaker attraction for many years, and they have concurred that one requirement is that a given winemaker must both be symmetrical in physicality as well as make damn good wine. Real wine lovers are not induced to swoon by pretty, namby-pamby vintners of plonk. No! We must have ample talent to buttress a winemaker’s rugged good looks.

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basics news

Science and Your Red Wine Headache

“I can’t drink red wine,” the person says. “I’m allergic to sulfites, and I get terrible headaches.” Heard it? Ever been told that European wines are safe to drink because they have no sulfites in them? Ever meet someone who would only drink organic wine because of their migraines?

This is a barely-restrained pet peeve of mine. I want everyone to be able to enjoy red wine, heaven knows, but come on now — as less than 1% of humanity is allergic to sulfites, and as an allergic reaction to sulfites results in anaphylactic shock, and as sweet white wine is just as sulfite-ridden as dry red wines….. I have a hard time scraping up any sincere faith in your alleged sulfite allergy, dear one.

A few other debunkings, as I brought up the issues:

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industry reviews

Tasting Mitolo “GAM” McLaren Vale Shiraz 2005

GAM Shiraz, from Mitolo’s websiteI’m sure there’s a car that epitomizes power and finesse. I don’t know what it is, because I’m not a car-brand-knowing-type-person. But whatever car that is, this wine is the bottled version of it. Tasted as part of a “Robert Parker’s High Raters” at Lake Travis Wine Trader’s Saturday Premium Tasting. Parker gave this wine a 95, if you’re interested.

Opaque purpley red in color. Enormous, multi-faceted nose of menthol, fir sap, aged cheese, peppered salami and blackberry jam. The palate, well. When I sipped this wine, it felt like someone had let loose the Fists of Fury on my teeth. Full-bodied, with great balanced acidity and a firm tannic grip. Well-integrated, firecracker explosions of red currant, black pepper and blueberry skin. Finish goes for miles. Sells for about $48.

Mitolo is a joint venture between two very powerful men: Frank Mitolo and winemaker Ben Glaetzer. Well, strictly speaking, Mitolo started the winery in 1999 and Glaetzer became a partner in 2001. The name of the wine, GAM, refers to Frank’s children Gemma, Alexander and Marco. Frank Mitolo is the general manager of his family’s agricultural business, Comit Farm. His family’s business is one of the largest potato and onion packing companies in Australia. Mitolo’s winery was founded in 1999, with grapes sourced from the Lopresti family. Here’s an interview of Frank from Jancis Robinson’s site, and a concise review of Mitolo’s recent releases at Vinosense.

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grapes regions reviews Wine Blogging Wednesday

Wine Blogging Wednesday #38: Portuguese Table Wine

This was an exercise in trust for me; I’ve never been a fan of Portuguese table wines, at least nothing other than Vinho Verde, which I like very much. I resolved to take this opportunity to learn a little more about a region I had pretty much written off as producing fruitless bottles of scrape-your-teeth tannic monsters. Many thanks to Catavino‘s Ryan and Gabriella; their Portuguese Table Wine Cheat Sheet was great help to me!

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