Past Its Prime

For Christmas dinner yesterday, I opened the oldest vintage in my wine cellar, a 1992 Rutherford Hills Cab. The vintage is a bit old for a California wine, so I decanted it for about 4 hours before drinking.



When I opened the bottle, the first thing I did was checked the nose. No problem there. Then I poured it through the strainer into the decanter. The color was fine. There was some sediment, but that is not to be unexpected from a wine that old.



It came time to taste the wine. While it did not taste bad, the flavor that one would expect from a good cab was just not there. Rather than having turned bad, the wine was simply past its prime.



California reds, if stored properly, should last for 10 years. French and Italian red wines should last twice that long. This is not a hard and fast rule, just a guideline. Sometimes, even if wines are stored properly (between 55 - 60 degrees Fahrenheit - I store mine at 57 degrees) they will not be good when opened. Sometimes a bad cork is to blame, and sometimes just bad luck.



So what to do when the wine is just plain bad or not up to your expectations? Always have a back up available. In my case it was a 2000 Justin Isosceles, an exquisite red blend. I was happy with it as were my guests.

Until next time, cheers.

Ted Pawlikowski

Last evening I attended a sparkling wine tasting at a great restaurant in Chandler, AZ called Cork www.corkrestaurant.net. We tasted 4 different sparkling wines, although only one was Champagne.

You know that only sparkling wines from the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne, don't you? Italian sparkling wines are called Spumante, which is the Italian name for sparkling wine. The most famous Spumantes are called Prosecco, named for the grapes used in their production, which come from the Veneto region. Spanish sparkling wines are called Cava, regardless of the region they come from.

In America the technical name is just sparkling wine, but most sparkling wines here are called champagne. In America champagne is the generic name for sparkling wine. Most people use it to describe any sparkling wine, just as do many people refer it tissues as Kleenex, no what their brand name is.

The Cava we tasted was not memorable, but the 2 sparkling wines, one a rose and one a blanc, which came from Domaine Carneros were delicious. The Champagne we tasted was a Taittinger, and it was delicious as well. The best value was the Domaine Carneros blanc brut.

Taittinger is a 275 year old vintner, who used to be a partner in Domaine Carneros until they sold it 3 years ago. The Domaine Carneros building, in the Carneros region of Napa, is a replica of the Taittinger winery in France.

The wine rep who presented the tasting told us how toasts began. Two nobelmen would clink their glasses forcefully, spilling some of their Champagne into each other's glass. That way if the wine was poisoned, both would be affected.

Sparkling wines are worthy of being drunk at anytime of the year. But during the Holiday Season, people seem to consume a lot more than they do during the rest of the year. So take time out from your busy schedule and hoist a glass or 2 of "bubbles." You'll be glad you did.

Until next time, cheers.

Ted Pawlikowski

Wine Tasting

Last Thursday I attended at wine tasting of Charles Krug wines at my favorite wine bar, a place called My Wine Cellar http://www.my-wine-cellar.com/ in the Ahwatukee section of Phoenix. Marc Mondavi, son of Peter Mondavi, who runs the winery with his brother Peter Jr., was there to sign bottles. If you're not familiar with how someone named Mondavi owns the Charles Krug winery, you can find that and more in a book entitled The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty by Judith Flynn Siler.

Charles Krug Winery www.charleskrug.com is the oldest winery in Napa, having been founded in 1861. The wines we tasted were all 2005 vintages, and included a Savignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, a Zinfandel, a Cabernet Savignon, and their flagship wine, a red blend called Generations.

I am a big Sav Blanc fan, and I was pleased to find out that they went back to a California style wine, from the New Zeland style they had done for the past 2 vintages. The Chard was nice, not too oakey like many California Chards. The Pinot Noir was weak, as are many form the Carneros Region.

My biggest surprise was the Zin. I am generally not a big Zin fan, but this was a very pleasing effort. The Cab was excellent, much better than the Generations and about $20.00 per bottle cheaper.

I went home with a case, 6 bottles of the Sav Blanc and 6 bottles of the Zin. I'm sure Marc Mondavi went home with a sore arm from all of the bottles he signed that evening.

Until next time, cheers.

Ted Pawlikowski

Welcome

Welcome to The Wine Informant blog. My name is Ted Pawlikowski, and I'm just an ordinary guy who likes wine. I am not, nor have I ever been in the wine industry. I began drinking wine in the early 1970s and have been doing so ever since.

I started out humbly with wine. Someone told me that Gallo Hearty Burgundy was a great wine value so I tried it. And, to my surprise, I liked it. For my white I drank Gallo Dry Chablis. And I liked that as well.

Now, in the early 1970s there was no where near the selection of California wines that are available today. But I began to taste some of the popular brands of the day, many of which no longer exist. Some of the labels I enjoyed were Almanden, Christian Brothers, Louis Martini, and when I really wanted to splurge, Inglenook. I tried the Portuguese labels Lancers and Mateus, but they were not for me.

Then a friend served a Bordeaux with dinner one evening, and I began my love affair with French wines. Bordeaux was my favorite, but I also liked the wines of Burgundy and Chablis. Today I drink mainly California wines, but I have some favorite Italians as well. If I'm going to do a Pinot Noir, I will look to Oregon first.

Someone asked how I came to learn so much about wine, and my reply was I have tasted many wines for the past 35 plus years. As they say in any field, practice makes perfect.

My purpose with this blog is to share with you some of my wine experiences, with the hope that they may increase your enjoyment of your wine experiences as well. For instance, I will share with you what I liked and did not like about tastings I have attended, as well as some of the values I have found. As a close friend of mine once said, "any schmuck can look good serving a $150.00 bottle of wine. Your job is to find the $20.00 bottles that will make you look good.

Until next time,

Ted Pawlikowski