Announcing A New Menu for Restaurant Medure
November 6, 2010
Wine Review of De Toren Fusion V
November 6, 2010
Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon, 55%, Cabernet Franc 15%, Malbec 15%, Merlot 10%, Petit Verdot 5%
Facts
Fusion V is named after the blend of only the best of the five red Bordeaux grapes. You would therefore refer to this wine as a “Bordeaux Blend”.
Currently, vineyards in South Africa are undergoing a large-scale replanting program. With this, South Africa winemakers have collectively decided to focus on the five international grape varieties (Cab, Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. In fact, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely planted red in South Africa, an honor that had previously belonged to Cinsault [pronounced San-so].
Wine in South Africa is nearly as old as the date of European settlement in the region, with records of vine plantings dating back to 1655.
They are kind of sticklers for details at De Toren. They make use of Infrared Aerial Imaging taken via helicopter so they can identify and isolate the various levels of vine growth throughout the vineyard. After this process they can monitor the vines for ripeness and harvest each batch separately.
Place
The earliest South African vineyards were planted in 1655, with the first wine being made in 1659. It was the Dutch East India Company that decided that vineyards were needed, not just because their sailors wanted to get drunk, but more importantly to combat scurvy!
In South Africa, the higher quality wines are from regions generally closer to the Atlantic and Indian Ocean’s coastline. Towards the interior, it gets extremely hot and produces wines that are rough and overripe.
Stellenbosch is probably the best and most well-known of the South African wine regions – South Africa’s equivalent to Napa Valley. There are more than 80 wineries in the Stellenbosch region.
Taste
Super intense, definitely needing to be decanted. Ultra-dark in color, with blackberry and spice on the nose. The De Toren Fusion V is fairly medium-bodied on the palate, ripe and strong black fruits, coffee, licorice, dark chocolate -covered cherries, with well integrated oak. Even though the wine was bold, the tannins were fairly well balanced. Finishes elegant and dry. If you’re a Bordeaux drinker and looking for a little more fruit, this wine might quite possibly be for you.
The funny thing about this wine was that I appreciated it even more after the bottle was all gone. When the bottle was finished, the Mrs. and I moved on to one of my favorite affordable bottles of Californian wine (who shall remain nameless). The De Toren completely blew it out of the water! Granted the Californian bottle was half the price, but I got a new found appreciation for good South African wine after it was all gone!
I would REALLY like to see what the De Toren is capable of with 5+ years of cellaring!
Pairing
Pair the De Toren like you would a Bordeaux. Steak, duck, lamb, casseroles, venison etc…
Price
$39.99 (available online
Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment //The Great Twitter Wine Exchange–Part 1 of 2: Caparone Sangiovese
November 5, 2010
I’m going to say we are the first to ever do this through Twitter!
One of the people I have been randomly talking to through Twitter is Kevin Widmer, who goes by the obscure Twitter name of @billybuttock.
The rules of our wine exchange were simple: you send me a bottle, I’ll send you a bottle. The only stipulation was that the wine had to be under $20 retail. Below is the wine I chose to send him (and should be receiving any day now), I’ll be reviewing his bottle in my next wine review.
Grapes
100% Sangiovese [san-joe-vay-zee]
Facts
The Caparone winery prides themselves on a minimal intervention approach to winemaking. They don’t fine or filter any of their wines, techniques that are employed by the majority of wineries throughout the world to give the juice a clearer appearance. The main reason behind fining and filtration is to keep the public happy, and not freak out that their wine is cloudy. Some winemakers argue that fining and filtration strips a wine of its flavor.
Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment //
8th Annual Riverside WineFest–Nov 20th
November 5, 2010 
8th Annual
Riverside WineFest
Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010
6:00p to 9:00p
5 Points
“Downtown” Riverside
Join hundreds of your closest friends and more than 300 of their favorite wines in the streets
of Five Points for more FUN than you can stand. This charitable fall festival features FOOD vendors, LIVE ENTERTAINMENT and SHOPPING.
The Winefest is only a $30 donation and comes with an engraved wine stem and a $5 coupon that you can redeem that day as you wish with participating Five Points merchants and vendors. DON’T MISS IT!!
Get Tickets Beginning November 1st @
Riverside Liquors
1035 Park Street
354-1001
or Online : WINE FEST TICKETS
For more information call Riverside Liquors & Village Wine Shop @ 354-1001. Or, Email:
riversideliquors@msn.com
Please enjoy responsibly.
Sponsors: Riverside Liquors,
R.A.P. and 5 Points Merchants
Proceeds from this event will benefit:
Big Brothers & Big Sisters and
Riverside-Avondale Preservation (RAP).
Free one-way transportation will be provided from 8-11 PM
Posted in Events | Leave a comment //How to Order Wine in a Restaurant Without Looking Like an Idiot!
November 5, 2010
No one likes to look and feel like an idiot when choosing a wine in a nice restaurant, and so I have put together a just few tips to help you avoid embarrassment the next time you are faced with picking out a bottle.
1. Plan ahead.
In this crazy technological age we are living in, a great number of restaurants are posting their wine lists on the web. Maybe it’s worth giving a restaurant’s wine list a glance online before you arrive and choosing a couple of different options. If you want to get really crazy about it, you could even look up the correct pronunciation.
2. Have a budget.
Don’t worry, you won’t look like a tightwad! Well, as long as you’re not dining in a fine restaurant and your budget is under $30 a bottle!
First of all, take a look at the wine list and see what the average price of a bottle is, and then go from there. You should approach the issue of budget with something like “I’m looking for a California Cab or Blend, something in the $40-$50 range, and maybe a wine that I haven’t tasted before.”
With a statement like this, you have at least partially shifted the focus from price and have set the Server / Sommelier a challenge to find you a new wine.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT when asked by the Server/Sommelier the type of wine you enjoy, regurgitate a list of every expensive wine that you know, such as; “I usually only drink Caymus Cab, Quintessa, or Silver Oak so I am looking for something similar tasting to that.” and then state “Oh and my budget is $30.”
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
There is no shame in asking for help with a wine list! Let the Server/Sommelier know wines that you have enjoyed before, whether it be by brand name i.e. Kendall Jackson Chard, Robert Mondavi Cab or grape type i.e. French Chardonnay, Oregon Pinot etc. If the Sommelier is worth anything to the restaurant, they will be more than happy to oblige finding something to fit your needs. If he or she isn’t, well I guess you won’t be going back to that restaurant!
4. Get specific.
Don’t just ask for a “nice bottle of white wine”, make sure you have at least a few flavor descriptors in your head before you open your mouth. Something like “I’m looking for a Chardonnay, I’m not a big fan of an oaky taste, but buttery is fine. We’ve ordered oysters for an appetizer, what do you think would pair best?”
5. Don’t sniff the cork.
Once the wine arrive, please remember that sniffing the cork really won’t tell you much more than the wine you are about to taste. So when the Server presents the cork on the table, just leave it where it is.
6. Swirling.
When approached by the Server / Sommelier to taste the wine. Swirling white or red in the glass is totally appropriate, but 2-3 seconds and nothing more. Remember, you are trying to open the wine up by exposing it to more oxygen, not trying to turn it into a frothy-foamy mess.
7. Sending a wine back.
This is a tricky one. You should never send a wine back just because you don’t like it. You should only EVER send it back if the wine is genuinely bad. I guess the one only exception to this rule is if you have let the Server/Sommelier choose the wine, and after telling them that you want something along the lines of a sweet German Riesling, and they bring you something like a dry Australian Riesling etc.
Happy ordering!
Posted in News | Leave a comment //The First Wine Critic
November 5, 2010
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