Snooth - Articles

Nominate Your Favorite Wines

Gregory Dal Piaz — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

It's time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's your turn to choose the nominees for Snooth's 2013 People's Voice Wine Awards. We are asking for your help in selecting the wines that our audience will be voting on as their favorites of the year. They can be your wines, your friend's wine, or your favorite wines, the only thing that really matters is that you nominate them.

We've been working hard behind the scenes building up a base of hundreds of wines for our voting platform this year, but we need your help to make this selection truly reflective of the people’s voice. With your help, we hope to improve upon last year’s collection of extraordinary wines that were broken down by price, grape and sometimes style. As we proceed through this year's People's Voice Awards we will be whittling down our list of nominees to six finalists in each category. Our second round of voting will then crown a winner in each category.

Please help your friends, help your neighbors, and by all means help yourself by suggesting wines that should be included in our first round of voting. Due to space considerations, we may not be able to include every wine that is suggested, but without your help we know that we'll miss many that should be included!

The People’s Voice Awards: Where every voice gets heard.

Grilling Guide: Fish

Gregory Dal Piaz — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

If chicken is the blank canvas of grilled foods, fish must be the linen. Delicate, easily ruined, and needing a good eye and a knack for detail to use it well, fish is already unforgiving on the stove, where you have some control over things, but once you get it on the grill, well, it just moves to another level of difficulty altogether.

Grilling fish tests all of your culinary skills. You’ll have to be able to cook by eye—and keep in mind carry-over cooking—to achieve perfect results, while also using a gentle hand with seasonings to create a balanced flavor palette. When you manage to pull all of these elements together, however, you will be justly rewarded. Adding the nuances of grilled and smoke flavors to your fish recipes adds depth of flavor that stovetop cooking just can’t duplicate.

In general, since most fish are rather delicately flavored, simpler is better with grilled fish recipes. Don’t bury the fish under a mountain of seasonings, and don’t give up on a recipe if it doesn’t come out perfectly the first time. Working on your technique, so that you are highlighting the flavor of perfectly cooked fish with each recipe, is only the first step to perfect summer seafood grilling. Here are a few recipes to get you started.

Grilled Fish image via Shutterstock

What to Drink on Memorial Day

Sara Kay — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Memorial Day is a significant day on the calendar for a variety of reasons. For those of us who have been itching for sunshine and flip flops, this day marks the official beginning of the summer season. Community pools open up their doors for the first time, people haul out their grills from the deep confines of their garages and slap some steaks and burgers on them almost instantly, and the drinking season begins the glorious shift from cold weather to warm weather cocktailing.

At Snooth HQ we love to get our drink on just as much as the next person, and as such, we’ve put together a collection of some of our favorite cocktails for the Memorial Day festivities this weekend. Do you have any favorite cocktails for this glorious day of boozing? Tell us about them in the comments section below. Cheers!

The Wines of South Africa

Gregory Dal Piaz — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The discovery of wine is one of the most compelling aspects of this business, and in fact of the whole wine enthusiast culture. The fact that there is always something new to learn, whether it be a wine, grape, region or vineyard, means that one never actually arrives in the world of wine; we are all on some long, infinite journey.

As is often the case with these sorts of things, there is a measure of welcome reinvention. Bellbottoms come back into style - okay, not all of these developments are welcome - but we do tend to cycle through things. Take South Africa for example, one of the world's historic wine growing regions, and certainly one with the finest pedigree; when was the last time you tried South African wine?

Don't feel bad if it's been a long time, that is hardly unusual, and during our recent Snooth PVA Wine Writer's Seminar series we took some measure to help to reintroduce the fine, exciting and dynamic wines of this historic region to a select group of some of our most eloquent wine influences. These are their stories, a fresh look at the renaissance of South African wines.

Wines Only from the Source

Gregory Dal Piaz — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Our world of wine roughly breaks down into three distinct categories. The vast majority of wines are produced using a handful of international varieties that are produced around the globe, I don't know how much of the market these wines control, but I bet nine out of ten bottles sold is not far from the truth. A second set of wines are well-known, and produced in significant quantities in specific regions, and these probably count for nine of the next ten bottles sold, leaving about one percent of the market free for the final category of wines.

From the Source: Kentucky Bourbon

Sara Kay — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The Derby. The Mint Julep. My resounding love for Hot Browns. All of these things and many, many more were birthed in the state of Kentucky, including some of the most sought-after brown spirits on the market today. Bourbon, in its many different forms and figures, is a liquor that originated in the good ol’ US of A, without which, I believe, drinking as we know it would be a lot less interesting.

While whiskey-producers hail from many different states, Kentucky is the origin of some of the best. Having visited whiskey distilleries in Kentucky myself, I can say without the least bit of doubt that not only do the people of Kentucky love to drink bourbon, they are proud of their ownership of this beautiful liquid. Considering that Kentucky is the only state lucky enough to boast an entire trail dedicated to the production of Bourbon, I’d say there’s really nowhere else that even comes close in comparison. Read on for the top 5 bourbons that proudly call Kentucky home.

Bourbon Barrel image via Shutterstock

Gruner Around the Globe

Gregory Dal Piaz — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Gruner Veltliner, arguably the original hipster wine, has grown up and become a standard in the classical pantheon of top white wines. Along the way it was revealed that in Austria, Gruner is often a simple table wine, served in crown-capped liter bottles and not the subject of fawning terms of endearment. Yes, Gruner Veltliner is capable of remarkable things, but it’s also a table top stalwart, and frankly therein lies its beauty. It has a flexibility few grapes can match.

Gruner image via Shutterstock
Gruner Veltliner, arguably the original hipster wine, has grown up and become a standard in the classical pantheon of top white wines. Along the way it was revealed that in Austria, Gruner is often a simple table wine, served in crown-capped liter bottles and not the subject of fawning terms of endearment. Yes, Gruner Veltliner is capable of remarkable things, but it’s also a table top stalwart, and frankly therein lies its beauty. It has a flexibility few grapes can match.

It’s not surprising then that producers outside of Austria want to cash in on the Gruner phenomenon. Having worked hard to establish Gruner Veltliner as a grape for everyone, the Austrians must now be a little concerned, as wineries from as far away as New Zealand and California try to capitalize on these renowned grapes. While the wines I tasted were pretty good, again attesting to the brilliance and potential of Gruner Veltliner the grape, I would say that for the most part the Austrians have little to fear as of yet.

What new world winemakers are able to produce are wines that certainly capture the essence of the grape, but they also reveal their warmer climates and perhaps richer soils with their rounded textures and riper fruit profiles. They are attractive wines for sure, but they will generally appeal to a different audience than the typical Austrian Gruner Veltliner, which shows a leaner, tauter style with bright fruit flavors and often the profound minerality the grape can exhibit.

Still, that’s not to say that disruptive forces are not at work. Consider for example, that Gruner Veltliner represents 50 percent of the new varieties planted in New Zealand in 2010 and 2011, and while plantings in California remain tiny, about 50 acres, the growth from the first planting of a third of an acre back in 2006 at the Von Strasser winery in Napa Valley’s Diamond Mountain up through today has been swift and has attracted lots of attention. One can only imagine what might happen in places like Oregon and New York’s Finger Lakes districts, where the climate seems ideally suited for Gruner.

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of Gruner with so many developments on the horizon, but at least for the time being Austria has little to be concerned about. If you want to learn more about Austrian Gruner Veltliner, make sure you check out the reports published last week by our friends who attended Snooth’s PVA Wine Writer’s Symposium this past March. We had an amazing tasting hosted and led by Aldo Sohm, who brought the terroir and styles of Austrian Gruner to life and inspired some exceptional articles.

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2011 Wimmer-Czerny Gruner Veltliner Frumberg Wagram 13% $16

Dusty and soft on the nose with honeycomb and smoky, gravel aromas that gain intensity and are joined by hints of tree bark and white pepper with air. A touch soft in the mouth, this is broad and supple with nice mineral and slightly candied citrus and pear flavors. Showing nice detail on a modest scale, this gains lovely floral notes on the back end and unfurls fine, spicy and deep white orchard fruits across the long finish. I really like the juxtaposition of the elegant palate with the powerful finish. 90pts

2011 Karl Lagler Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Burgberg Wachau 12.5% $22

Pops on the nose with an early rush of yeastiness, followed by aromas of mineral talc, violet floral notes, light hints of peach and tangerine topped with a light minty note. This enters the mouth with a fair amount of richness and intensity; very round on the palate though with nice mineral/acid cut. There's a lot of peppery flavor here along with quartzy minerality and light peach, pear and citrus pith tones that lead to an intense, long finish. This lacks some elegance but delivers a lot of intensity and depth. 89pts

2010 Darcie Kent Gruner Veltliner Rava Blackjack Vineyard Monterey 13% $14

A touch waxy on the nose, there's plenty of peach and mango-toned citrus fruit here. A touch soft and round in the mouth, this delivers a nice mineral back end mouthful of lemon pith, white peach and green plum flavors that lead to a firm, moderately long finish which shows a touch of mineral cut and a lingering hint of sweet green herb on the finale. 88pts

2011 Nautilus Gruner Veltliner Marlborough NZ 13% $15

Rather subtle with lime zest aromas, gentle green pea, cactus leaf and green peppercorn aromas. A touch soft in the mouth and relatively light-bodied, though there is some attractive depth to the citrus pith flavors that are colored with green herb and peppercorn shadings. The finish shows more of a lemon/pineapple aspect to the fruit as well as pretty good length. 87pts

2010 Dancing Coyote Gruner Veltliner Clarksburg California 13.5% $12

Peppery and a little green on the nose, though there is a little over-ripeness here with honied and cooked fruit aromas of peach and white cherry thats a bit waxy. This enters the mouth with a nice level of richness and good, firm acids. There's plenty of fruit here, but it's much fresher than the nose would indicate. There's a light grassy note here and a touch of spice as well that drifts onto a fairly long finish, showing lovely green fruit and a nice firm texture. 87pts

2011 Pratsch Gruner Veltliner Organic Niederosterreich 12.5% $15/Liter

Lightly aromatic on the nose with hints of white pepper and dried grass accenting the lime and green pear aromas. Rather spritzy right out of the bottle. This shows off rather assertively dried herbal and lightly spiced flavors with good intensity. There's some subtle fruit here, lime pith and melon rind, but this is as savory as it is fruity and turns somewhat steeley on the modest finish. Good intensity to the flavors and well-balanced, this is an interesting if small and somewhat simple wine. Should be great with simple food. Comes in a liter bottle. 86pts

Blind Tasting: 2009 California Cabernet

Gregory Dal Piaz — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Blind tasting is the great equalizer. When you taste wines blind, you learn what you actually think of a wine, as opposed to what you expect to think. With this in mind, I assembled a set of eight wines to taste blind with one of my regular tasting groups. Having tasted some of the wines previously, I was going in with a bit of a stacked deck. I included wines that spanned a rather broad price spectrum, from $30 to $125 knowing, or hoping at least, that some of the less-expensive wines would perform quite well in this setting. Little did I know just how well they would.

Wine Tasting image via Shutterstock
Before we get into the wine, a little background on the vintage. 2009 has been described as both challenging and very successful. The first of a series of cool vintages, producers in 2009 were faced with late season rains that caused quite a bit of consternation, coming as they did right before harvest of late-ripping varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. The party line in the growing regions north of San Francisco was that those who harvested before the rains avoided the dilution and rot that followed. On the flip side are winemakers who harvested after the rains, claiming that the wines harvested before the rains suffered from a lack of physiological ripeness, manifesting as green tannins and herbaceousness. The truth lies somewhere in the middle of course, and the success of the Cabernet in 2009 depended heavily on both the winemaker and the viticulturist.

To be sure, the cooler temperatures did produce a crop of wines that lack the power, depth and lush personalities that Napa in particular has become famous for, but one has to ask if that, in and of itself, is necessarily a bad thing. Wines with less weight, higher natural acids, and tannins that you can feel without having to imagine them are, after all, traits of wines grown around the globe, and in Napa and Sonoma prior to 2007, to varying extents. While this set of wines didn't particularly wow me, I would say that they broke down roughly into three groups: wines I would be happy to buy, wines that I would be curious to try again, and wines that were simply not my style, though I would try them again.

That last group was, for me, the most troubling of this tasting. They were wines that felt forced, as if the winemakers felt they needed to produce the powerful wines the region is known for regardless of the quality of the fruit they were able to harvest. I'm sure they felt that they did the best they could, and have a certain obligation to their customers to deliver the house style each year, but one has to question whether that is the best strategy. These wines were in a house style, of sorts. Their structure and weight was consistent with previous efforts, but the flavor profiles were not, lacking depth and the explosive fruit that many consumers might expect. Might it not be better to focus instead on educating the consumer a bit? Getting them to know and understand what vintage variation is all about?

That, to a certain extent, is my job, and I'll do what I can when I can. This tasting was in part an effort to educate a small group of wine lovers, not so much about vintage variation, with which they are well-versed, but rather more with house styles. This group is a bit of a Euro-centric group, and as such it's not surprising that the wines that typically show more restraint, and thus needed to make up less ground in this restrained vintage, came out on top. It's also not surprising that these wines tended to be the less expensive wines of the group. I hear the responses coming my way already, that these wines need some age to show their best, and we were judging these wines on how they were showing today, not their potential.

Guilty as charged, to a degree, but that is the way people drink wine. They buy it and drink it within a few hours or days. The percentage of people who cellar wine is minuscule, and in all honesty, even when trying to divine the future of these wines, a troublesome and imprecise art, our consensus was that with two exceptions, there simply doesn't seem to be much upside here. The winners were the best wines, they will age well over the short to medium term, say three to six years, and they taste better than the losers. That's the story. That's all there is to say here before revealing the wines. My advice to you if you want to try some 2009 North Coast Cabernet? Read these notes carefully, but don't ignore the facts of the group's rankings, a cadre of sophisticated drinkers, or the correlation with my notes. Doing so risks disappointment and frankly, paying too much for a bottle of less-than-satisfying wine.

These bottles were uncorked at noon, decanted at 6pm, and tasted from 7:30 through 10:00pm

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2009 Midsummer Cellars Canon Creek Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.1% $45

My 8th place wine - The group's 8th place wine

This starts out with hints of savoriness, olives, spice and floral notes over a base of sweet fruit, but with time the aromatics turn matte with a dominant vanilla fragrance filling the glass. Starting out rather light and dilute on the palate, this fills in nicely with clear, slightly earthy dark fruit but as with the nose, the heavy oak load takes over with air, adding bitterness to the finish and obscuring the fruit. This seems to have some potential to age well, but for early drinking it's just too oaky tonight. 80pts

2009 Rodney Strong Alexander's Crown Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 15.5% $55

My 7th place wine - The groups 7th place wine

Opening with nice leather and spice aromas this quickly becomes dominated by lots of spicy, nutty oak on the nose. Dark, full and slightly dense on the palate, there's a lot of dark chocolate wrapped around dark fruit here with a spicy, almost peppery finish. This feels and tastes extracted, a bit of a black hole of a wine with a powerful if hot finish. 85pts

2009 Robert Mondavi Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 15% $90

My 6th place wine - the group's 4th place wine (tie)

Fine and focused on the nose with a simple expression of sweet blackberry fruit framed by hints of grilled meat and mint. A little sweet on entry, though nicely red-fruited, this turns a bit hollow on the mid-palate with lots of fruit tannins adding richness to the texture. It seems to lack a little intensity of flavor, but feels friendly enough in the mouth. 86pts

2009 Caymus Vineyards Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.9% $125

My 5th place wine - The groups' 4th place wine (tie)

Sweet and gingery on the nose with a classic modern Napa Cabernet profile that shows plenty of candied black cherry fruit and lots of coffee-toned oak. Smells a bit spoofy. Smooth, polished and extracted in the mouth with lots of black fruit framed by notes of chocolate, licorice, and toast. Fine grained tannins nicely match the density of fruit here, and in its style it's quite good if quite hot, particularly on the finish. 88pts

2009 Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.5% $30

My 4th place wine - The groups 6th place wine

Dusty and a bit sweet on the nose but showing nicely layered green olive, licorice, cedar and black cherry fruit with a hint of dried herbs. A bit diffuse on the palate, but showing a nice balance of integrated acidity and soft tannins that supports the light and lean core of red cherry fruit. This is a touch on the simple side but is drinking well with an attractive mouthfeel. 88pts

2009 Stuhlmuller Vineyards Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.2% $30

My 3rd place wine - The groups 1st place wine

This opens with a nose of used wood, wild herbs, red cherry fruit and nuanced mineral and leather notes. It opens slowly with air but shows a very attractive bouquet already. Velvety on entry with a modest and attractive richness that is supported by fine grained fruit tannins. This has lovely grip in the mouth with soft, polished red currant and cherry fruit nicely framed by a hint of green herbs and some mineral earth. A very appealing wine tonight, and the wine I built this tasting around, but I scored it a bit lower than the next two wines only because it is a bit atypical for a North Coast Cabernet. It's still a fantastic value and a wine I highly recommend. 91pts

2009 Chappellet Signature Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.9% $50

My 2nd place wine - The groups 1st place wine (tie)

Dense and oaky at first with buttery notes and a deep whiff of coconut which integrates with air, allowing the pure core of simple yet intense black cherry and mineral fruit to emerge with time. Starting off a bit hollow, this fills in in the glass, showing freshly crushed black currant and black cherry fruit supported by earthy and medicinal flavors. The wood is present but well-judged and lessing in impact over the course of the evening. Not the best wine tonight but the wine with the best potential for improvement in the cellar. Give this three to five years and it should show quite well. 91pts

2009 Frank Family Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.5% $30

My 1st place wine - The groups 1st place wine (tie)

At first dark and earthy in the nose, this quickly shows attractive black currant and weedy aromas that gain a modest sheen of oak spice along with hints of candied blackberry and wild berry fruits. Fruity on entry with a rather natural, unfettered feel, this reveals a fine core of bright and juicy black currant fruit supported by fine tannins that allow the almost delicate fruit to shine clear as a bell. With air this does turn a touch soft, and there is a hint of pruny-ness on the moderately long finish, but the texture and purity of this wine is very attractive. 91pts

Grilling Guide: Chicken

Gregory Dal Piaz — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Chicken is like the blank canvas of the culinary world. Mild and amenable, it’s an easy vehicle to bring global flavors to life. So this summer, instead of just slathering on the barbeque sauce, let your chicken take you to the far flung corners of taste.

With so many choices to choose from, you can be adventurous and inventive when it comes to grilling chicken. The meat tends to pick up flavors from marinades quite quickly, and if you are careful to prevent the skin from burning, you can really get a well-distributed layer of flavors that adds something to every bite. And don’t forget to cook some extra when you do grill up chicken. (I don’t know about you, but leftover chicken is one of the few foods that seems better the second time around.) Temps are rising fast, so without further ado, let’s begin our global chicken grilling tour.

Grilled Chicken image via Shutterstock

Cocktail of the Month

Sara Kay — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The first time I saw a caipirinha (pronounced Kai-Pee-Reen-Ya) on a cocktail menu, I assumed it was a typo. Not only had I never seen a caipirinha at a bar, I’d certainly never heard of the base spirit that makes it so exceptional, cachaca. A big advocate of trying new things, I jumped at the opportunity to try this new libation that I wrongfully assumed was a signature twist on a margarita. One sip and I realized that not only was this nothing like a margarita, it was one of the most refreshing and unique cocktails I’d never tasted, making it the perfect Cocktail of the Month for the month of May.

The star of the show in a caipirinha is the cachaca (pronounced Ka-Sha-Suh). Originating in Brazil, this spirit comes from fermented sugar cane juice, with a taste that is very often compared to tequila. I wasn’t sure how to differentiate it from tequila at first, but there is a certain je ne sais quoi about this spirit that makes it so much more complex and unique than anything else and virtually impossible to lump with any other liquor.

Caipirinha image via Shutterstock
Cachaca frequently stars in the caipirinha, which is quite simple in execution, but still manages to awe with each sip. A combination of lime, sugar and cachaca makes for a light and sweet drink that pairs perfectly with an outdoor lawn chair or a day on the beach, making it ideal for this time of year. If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting cachaca before, I recommend a try-before-you-buy situation. There are some big cachaca players out there and some that are starting to come out of the woodwork, so if you’re a novice cachaca drinker, your best bet is to see which one works for you in this new cocktail venture. All you need now is an ice cold caipirinha and a sunny outdoor spot; your work here is done. Cheers!

Caipirinha

Adapted from Fine Cooking

1 lime

2 tsp sugar

2 oz Cachaca

Crushed ice

Slice the lime into wedges, and put four wedges into a rocks glass. Add in the sugar and muddle together until thoroughly smashed. Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour cachaca over the top. Stir well and garnish with a lime wedge.