Back Pocket Winery

• July 2009

  I used to keep my notes in a simple Moleskine notebook, but have recently switched to using a combination of iPhone apps - Velvet Vine and Cor.kz - and then copying those notes to the notebook about every month or so for backup purposes. Cor.kz is nice because it integrates with... Read moreI used to keep my notes in a simple Moleskine notebook, but have recently switched to using a combination of iPhone apps - Velvet Vine and Cor.kz - and then copying those notes to the notebook about every month or so for backup purposes. Cor.kz is nice because it integrates with Cellar Tracker. So it's basically like having the whole Cellar Tracker database in your pocket. You can technically do that with out this app by going to the CT website on your mobile phone, but this is MUCH easier. It can also be configured to send a tweet of what I'm tasting directly to my twitter account with is nice to share with the twitter community. Velvet Vine is nice as well plus it will back up your entries to their online server. You also have the option to make your journal public so other users can see. Plus it allows you to ad pictures to your entries. not to mention all the resources that both come with in regards to varietal info.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Your wine journal by Jae B

  
  

• January 2009

  Well I've got most of the work done! I am in physical pain from my weekend travails. I drove out to the cellar late Friday night and settled in for a night's sleep in the unheated house, some new windows are being put in on the top floor, I know, bad timing!  Not terrible but I... Read moreWell I've got most of the work done! I am in physical pain from my weekend travails. I drove out to the cellar late Friday night and settled in for a night's sleep in the unheated house, some new windows are being put in on the top floor, I know, bad timing!  Not terrible but I don't recommend it. Up early on Saturday morning I began a 16 hour day, moving wine cases and endless loose bottles, cleaning out some working space and planning my attack on this, cellar building 2.0. As you might remember this is what the cellar looked like when we last left it. So I had to move the pile of boxes that blocked the way out to the adjoining room. Away they went while I formulated a plan in my head. Phase one of today's adventure would be to assemble the magnum racks and somehow switch them out with some of the old bin type racks. The magnum racks were very easy to assemble, each unit taking less than 20 minutes and looking  like this. 4 of these units had to assembled and placed on the back wall under those wooden single magnum boxes in the background though the 2 units to the far right, magnum racks as it were, were going to remain. A puzzle began to unfold. Just how to extract the middle unit here without moving all the bottles several times. Well this was the before picture: With a little bit of work I managed to remove one section after offloading it onto the center aisle racking for temporary storage. I then slipped in the first magnum rack and moved several magnums from the racks on the right into their future homes.Sorry the picture is a bit blurry. I took most of the photos without flash since the cold cellar temps made the battery lose power fairly quickly. By day 2 I had taken to keeping it in my pocket! I then was able to move the bottles remaining on the racks to be displaced into the empty magnum racks and, with my meager selection of Chateauneuf, into the final resting spaces The first rows of the new cellar to actually be filled with the correct wines.  Beaucastel finds a home! Some more wrangling and the old racks were removed. The rest of the wine, the Northern Rhone selections was replaced in the old bins racks once they found a new home in a dark corner. I took a picture but it is just too blurry to use. Their places now taken by my beloved magnum racks! 2 hours later my magnums were cataloged, organized and put in their places! Well most of them, many in wooden boxes had to moved above the Bordeaux case racks. I then got to building the remaining 2 aisle units that I described in part one of my adventure. While working on theses units I realized that my high density tower, also described in part one, would fit better in the space, leaving uniform aisles on both sides of the rack, if it was spun around 180 degrees. So once the aisle units were built, some 4 plus hours later, I offloaded the high density tower. Thank god I hadn't filled it last time! Once it had been emptied the units were switched around so that the big bulk bins faced towards the wall and the individual bottle rack faced the light for my viewing pleasure! Here are groups of 96, 01, and 04 Barolo sleeping with case quantities from 89, 98, and 99 filling the bins behind, and beyond that the racks hold Giacomo Conterno, Giuseppe Mascarello, Brezza and Oddero. And on this side are mostly random bottles of old Barolo in individual slots with the floor rack next to it  filled with Vietti, Bartolo Mascarello, Cavallotto, and Giuseppe Rinaldi. The back wall is Tuscany. Check out the mess through the door! I spent all day Sunday, well from 9:30 til 4:30, putting away bottles, allocating space, moving bottles once, twice, three times, sweeping, kicking stuff out of the way but finally I was almost done. The wines are almost all in their spots! I still have to re-inventory the cellar and make some adjustments, like find 20 cases to pack up and sell, but the vast majority of the work has been done, certainly the hard work! Burgundy on this rack with the Southern Rhone continuing  this French side of the rack. On the other side of Burgundy more Barolo makes this the Barolo aisle. And on my way out the door a slightly blurry photo of a cardboard box free cellar! Mission accomplished! And that was phase 2 of my work down there. I still have the paperwork aspect to complete and I have more than a few bottles that need drinking sooner rather than later. Things like magnums of Comte Armand Pommard 1993 and Olarra Gran Reserva 1970  will  join a gallon bottle of 1971 Borgogno Barolo Riserva and will serve to celebrate Snooth's upcoming first annual meet and greet party this February! So it's not all glamorous after all. There is the work of consuming wine involved with all this. In fact the photos present a lovely hued impression of my cellar but the truth is also less glamorous. Under normal lighting it looks a lot more like this. And I'm just fine with that! I actually might do things a little differently given the chance to redo this work. I might splurge for Mahogany instead of Pine and I would think of making one of the aisle units a table top instead of a display top so that I had someplace to rest cases will working with them. There might be a few other little points, like maybe renting a nailgun to help speed up the assembly but all in all my cellar is a success and the racks from Grotto Cellars did the trick. And now I think I'll go have a drink, or two, and dream of my cellar. Gregory Dal Piaz is the Community Manager at Snooth, an avid Wine Geek with a passion for things Italian, and a long suffering Mets fan.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Cellar Adventures Continue! by Gregory Dal Piaz

  
  

• March 2008

  I missed the gala Italian wine tasting hosted by Gambero Rosso and Slowfood held this past Monday to celebrate Italy's best wines. As the old saw states, no one goes there anymore – it's too crowded. Gambero publishes an Italian wine guide (Vini d'Italia – clever) and awards the... Read more I missed the gala Italian wine tasting hosted by Gambero Rosso and Slowfood held this past Monday to celebrate Italy's best wines. As the old saw states, no one goes there anymore - it's too crowded. Gambero publishes an Italian wine guide (Vini d'Italia - clever) and awards the coveted tre bicchieri (three glasses) to approximately 300 wines. I think enough ink has been digitized on the subject of ratings in wine so I will leave that topic alone, but you have to admire a system that bestows "greatness" on a wine by filling three tiny glasses with what appears to be a rosé. It has become fashionable in recent years to denigrate the publication of the guide both for its rating system and its seeming favor for International styled (read as new oak aged, higher alcohol and extraction and in the case of certain wines, softer tannins and earlier approachability) wines over the more traditional styles. I have come to neither praise nor bury the publication. I have always felt that guides such as this should provide us mere mortals with a starting point rather than an end point in our wine exploration. If you blindly follow the advice of any guide book without any reflection whatsoever, well, you get what you deserve. Gambero specifically does a good job of illuminating smaller producers that might not receive any attention through other means, although in classic Italian style the guide is arranged by Italian province, which is great if you happen to be standing in Cuneo but less than useful otherwise. Exploring the wines from these Cantinas may open new vinous doors for you. On the other hand, if you decide to limit yourself to only the three-glass wines - after all, why drink anything but the "best" - I posit you have done yourself a great disservice. Not because you have entered an already crowded room - there are plenty of unique and/or quality wines out there with rather large followings and the goal is not to find a wine so obscure that you are the only one to have heard of it - no, because you have subjugated your taste. And on and on; there are too many wine guides out there to draw generalities, Amazon.com brings back over 3,000 results for 'wine guide,' and too great a variation in their relative worth to lament their use and misuse so here is my short "guide" to using guides: When you are at base-camp 2 in the Himalayas and the Sherpa gentleman suggests that the weather coming over the summit is preventing your forward progress and suggests that you follow him back to camp. Please follow him. When you are flipping through a pocket guide to wine and the author suggests that Chateau d’soandso is the best drop ever bottled kindly think to yourself "I think I'll be the judge of that, but thanks for the tip." When used in this context all guides can become tools to help further our understanding and open new doors. Who knows, with some thought and some research we might even become real boys and girls someday.   Robert Scibelli is a lecturer and administrator at New York’s premier wine school, International Wine Center.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Looking for the Blue Fairy? by Robert

  
  

• November 2007

  Ever wanted to go back in time and drink like you did back in college? For some that may be a rhetorical question… but that's exactly what sprang to mind when I heard about Pocket Shot, a handy new way to tote liquor around. For a mere $2 a bottle, Pocket Shot offers a choice of... Read moreEver wanted to go back in time and drink like you did back in college? For some that may be a rhetorical question… but that's exactly what sprang to mind when I heard about Pocket Shot, a handy new way to tote liquor around. For a mere $2 a bottle, Pocket Shot offers a choice of five portable spirits: gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, and tequila. Its website describes it as a "'grab and go' convenient and user-friendly package for alcoholic beverages. Packaged with a distinctive shape to resemble a miniature bottle complete with bottleneck for easy pouring and a high quality sheen with bright graphics, Pocket Shot is truly the first new concept in alcohol packaging to hit shelves in North America." So versatile it can go from office to clubbing (sort of like the little black dress of spirits?). Other suggested activities include fishing, hiking, rollerblading, swimming... Now why in the world would I want to carry alcohol with me when I'm hiking or swimming? To me Pocket Shot seems more appropriate for college students, not young professionals. When was the last time you seriously contemplated buying a flask? I just wonder, is this product sending the right message? Sure, ours is a fast paced world, but isn't promoting small, cheap bottles of liquor akin to promoting binge-drinking? An interesting niche market, for sure (maybe these guys would want to partner with Fred, the spring water that comes in a flask-like clear bottle)? This info, posted on the company's website rang true: "According to a 2005 Packaging Trends Report, seven of 10 respondents said they would choose one product over another because of its packaging. The Pocket Shot package was designed to function as the most equitable combination of product and promotion to address the need for convenience in today’s highly mobile lifestyle. This package creates a new category definition and enhanced shelf appeal because of the unique design." What next, baby bottles filled with beer?    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Pocket Shot: Flask on the Fly by ahall

  
  

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