“Hell is best experienced inebriated”

-Jon Castle
Friend and mentor

A truly different Australian wine. Barossa Valley brings us Langmeil’s Hangin Snakes Shiraz. Unlike normal blends, this wine incorporates 4% Viogner (Vee-Own-Yeah) and it gives a very unique flavor. Deep purple in color with red tinges this wine presents aromas of bramble fruit. Blackberries lead to herb and spice notes. Full-bodied, this wine follows with jammy, plummy flavors that are smooth and echo black fruit off the bouquet. Strange yet possibly from the Viogner, one may find slight touches of floral apricot or peach in the mid-palate. Well ingrained tannins and an ever so slight CO2 touch give this wine some edge but, the finish is the right blend of velvet and hammer and indeed long-lived.

Cote Rotie roots and down-under ripeness.  An excellent expression from Australia.

The Cinque Terre, Italy. It’s been 6 long years since I last visited and I hope to remedy that this September with a group of friends. Home to Pesto, southeast of Genoa and northwest of Pisa, the Cinque Terre are five coastal fishing villages on the Mediterranean. The photo above is Vernazza – I’ve swam in this bay and hiked in the hills surrounding the village. I simply cannot wait to get back there and see if my old friend Luigi is around and more importantly if he still has his small-production Cinque Terre DOC wine.

About Cinque Terre

Consorzio Turistico Cinque Terre

Tonight, I had the opportunity to try a 1981 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino. Brownish garnet with light ruby hues, thinning to the rim. An ethereal bouquet of toast, charred meat and cedar mingled with varietal hints of baked earth and sour cherry. Medium bodied and oh, so velvety after all these years…

Deep black cherry and raspberry flavors dance with anise and dark chocolate. Intense and refined all in one.

I can sense a deep and costly affection growing…

What better way to spend Easter afternoon? Katie and Mimosas… Well, Prosecco Mimosas at brisk, sunny Cold Spring Harbor to be exact. Sweet citrus meets crisp, bubbly perfection all topped off by hints of brine from the inflowing Long Island Sound. Cheers and Happy Easter.

Let’s talk about oak. What is it about oak that excites so many palates? Well first, let’s note that oak was originally used as a method of preservation and along the way graduated to a method of seasoning and one of flavor enhancement. Moving from clay pots for wine storage some 4500+ years ago, oak became the more durable and popular method for both transport and eventually aging. With time, oak’s character influence on wine became a longed for trait that is now even mimicked by those not using true oak.

Why oak? Well, easy. One, it allows aging and slow, progressive oxidation that basically, smooths harsh tannins, deepens color, increases body and generally stabilizes the wine. Two, the original varietal flavors become more complex and evolve within the oak to allow for much wider range of aromas and flavors.

Oak indeed varies. American oak, a wider grained variation, is more course in its influence than other types. Much as Pop Culture will tout about the style of our French friends to the east, their oak too is considered smoother… Tighter grained, this wood in barrel or barrique form, leaves a smoother, more subtle, velvety influence.

Size matters. The smaller the barrel, the more wine surface that touches inside its walls = more oak influence. For oak lovers, smaller is better and Barriques rule!

Time matters. The longer the aging time in barrel, the more infused the wine = more aromatic notes of cedar, vanilla, coconut, dill, and flavors of toast and well, oak. For oak lovers, longer is better!

In the end, to oak or no? Well, that’s really all subjective and based on history. Different regional laws restrict oak or require it depending where you’re quaffing! So, personally in purchasing, I say YES and NO depending on the food, occasion and mood! I study (drink) both. Give me a Gran Reserva Rioja and I’m elated. Hand me a clean and crisp Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and I’m refreshed.

In the end, oak is our friend. To that point, I say to you Keith, cheers – An excellent choice.

To give credit where credit’s due, I’ve been inspired by the writings of Tom Wark. Tom’s site Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog provides a wealth of knowledge on wine, PR, marketing, blogging and general miscellanea. Topics are always greatly educational and quite entertaining. A wise person once said that there are no more new “great” ideas. So, inspiration is all I have. With that, I forge forward to make my insignificant mark on the blogosphere.

“Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”

-Ernest Hemingway

Almost 8 months ago, I set off on a new path. Now, I live in New York and work in the wine industry.