lgsjr – Page 6 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

Teaching Young Tasters

It doesn’t happen often, but there are times when we have served wine to someone who has recently gained majority and is eager to learn about wine. There are laws against pouring for anyone under 21 years of age, but we remember that our parents let us have a few sips when we were not quite at that age. We might do the same at home today, but of course that cannot happen at a winery (or any other public place).

Photo courtesy of Willows Lodge.

If you are open to teaching a young taster, you’ll find some challenges. Here are some tips we’ve picked up over time.

Sip, don’t slurp. For the most part, children are raised drinking milk, water and Coca-Cola. They don’t understand sipping. If they had a few drinks at college, they probably chugged beer or cheap wine. (Most students can’t afford anything more.) So the first step is to get them to slow down.
“They all taste the same”. It is probably true that whatever wines they have tasted are undistinguished. It’s a good idea to remember what you were drinking at their age. It is also a good idea to give them the chance to try some wine that interests you. It’s likely to have more character than what comes out of a bottle that costs less than five dollars.
“It still tastes the same”. Tasting one wine, by itself, is not enough to educate them away from what they already know. So serve two rather contrasting wines. Maybe a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Pinot Noir or a buttery California Chardonnay and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Then ask the young person to describe the difference. First, they immediately recognize that all wines aren’t the same. Second, they begin to find the vocabulary to describe taste experiences.
The wine tasting procedure. At this point, you can explain some of the basics of tasting wine. Don’t fill the glass too much. Swirl it before smelling it. Smell it before you taste it. At that point, say, “Don’t think about it, just tell us what the aroma reminds you of”. Try to get your guest to differentiate the tastes in the attack (the first sip), from mid-mouth (what’s it like on your tongue?) and the finish (what do you still taste after you’ve swallowed it?)
Wine and food. If you can, serve some appropriate food with the wine. This is easy if you’re serving wine with dinner, but it’s harder at a winery. The primary point is to teach that fine wine is meant to be an accompaniment to good food. Moreover, you can demonstrate that what you eat affects what you taste in a wine glass and vice versa.
Avoid excess. If young people already have some experience with alcohol, it probably came from something like a kegger at the frat. They need to learn that wine – at least quality wine – is meant to be an extension to other good things in life, not a way to get drunk. Of course, too much wine – of any quality – can get you drunk. Try to get across that that’s not why you are a wine afficionado.

Viader Vineyards and Winery

We have been visiting Napa Valley wineries for some years – decades, in fact – before we even heard of Viader. A colleague at work who also enjoys wine tasting put us on to it, with the warnings that it was difficult to find and difficult to get a reservation. Perhaps we hadn’t heard of Viader because we had never passed it on Route 29, the Silverado Trail or the roads between them. That’s because Viader is perched 1,400 feet above the valley floor on Howell Mountain. You have to want to go there to go there; you won’t just be passing by.

The view from Viader Winery.

As to the difficulty of finding the winery, our colleague overstated the case. You simply have to turn off the Silverado Trail at Deer Park Road and then keep climbing until you’re there. It’s a bit tricky recognizing that you are there, as the winery tells you to “look for the rust-iron gate before the sharp, 15 MPH, hairpin turn”. It’s worth the journey.

Power Tasting doesn’t review wines but rather the experience of visiting wineries. So suffice it to say that Viader makes excellent wines from red grapes. They don’t make a lot, so their wines are rather exclusive. If you are a lover of big California reds, you’ll be happy with what you get to taste there.

However, what we remember most from visiting Viader is the ambiance and in particular the view. For your tasting, you sit on a terrace overlooking the valley below, with vines in front of you and forest on the sides. A server appears from time to time with another wine for you to try but you are left pretty much alone to soak it all in, feeling very happy to be left alone sipping the wine and admiring the view. The prospect before you doesn’t overwhelm the wines. Rather, the wine only enhances the experience.

Viader has an interesting back story. Delia Viader founded the winery in the 1980’s, when female winemakers were virtually unheard of. She saw the potential for wines made from grapes grown on Howell Mountain and took advantage of it. She is still very much involved in the winery, but today her son Alan is the winemaker. They suffered a tragedy in 2005 when an arsonist destroyed their entire 2003 production. Fortunately, Viader bounced back and are very much in business today.

Viader doesn’t make very many wines. Their annual production is around 4,000 cases and it consists of red wines made from Bordeaux grapes, in particular Cabernet Sauvignon. (It is Napa Valley, after all.) Cabernet Franc is also included in their flagship wine, known simply as Viader Proprietary Blend. Other wines also feature blends of those grapes with Syrah and Malbec.

It is true that reservations are needed for a visit, as is the case these days at nearly every Napa Valley winery. However, we have found that a same-day phone call can result in a tour of the vineyards, a tasting and that marvelous view.

Monopoli

So you’re going to Italy on vacation. You surely want to do some wine tasting while you’re there. If you go to Tuscany, you’ll likely be sipping Chianti or Brunello and you’ll want to visit Florence and Siena. If your plan is to visit Valpolicella, you’ll also want to stop in Verona. In Puglia, you’ll taste Primitivo and you’ll also see… Well, there are no obvious destinations in Puglia. So let us recommend Monopoli, on the east coast of the heel of the boot.

No, Monopoli has nothing to do with the board game. In ancient times, Monopoli was a province of the Greeks, and the town’s name means something like “singular people”. Over time, the town has been ruled by Spain, the Saracens and the city of Venice, which had the most lasting cultural influence.

Today, Monopoli has a split personality. It is an industrial city of 50,000 people with a well preserved old town, or Centro Storico in Italian. It’s that part of Monopoli that you’ll want to explore.

For starters, we suggest that you just walk around to get the feel of the place. Located on the Adriatic Sea, there’s plenty of waterfront. A stroll along the lungomare, atop the old seawall, is very pleasant. (Lungomare means “along the sea”. You’ll see the pleasure craft in the harbor alongside commercial fishing boats. If you keep walking, you’ll reach the lighthouse guarding the harbor. Turn around and take in the excellent view of Monopoli.

Lunch in Monopoli’s Piazza Garibaldi.

At that point you may be ready for a meal. As in any Italian city, there are caffes and enotecas all around town. The main gathering spot, with restaurants all around it, is the Piazza Garibaldi, the general who led the fight to reunite Italy. (Be careful when you talk about him; some of the southerners still think the Italian north conquered the southern part of the country.) In good weather, which is most of the year, you can sit there sipping a variety of local wines. We especially enjoy a Fiano to accompany the abundant seafood, with Negroamaro or Primitivo to go along with the pizza.

The cathedral in Monopoli.

Not to be missed is the Cathedral of Maria Santissima della Madia. In its way it encapsulates Monopoli’s history. The front of the cathedral was built in the plateresque style typical of Renaissance Spain. The interior is decorated in the ebullient manner that you can see in Venice. But here and there are bits of evidence of the town’s Greek past, particularly in the iconography.

If you have the chance, take a boat ride outside the harbor. There are many boatmen who are only too happy to accommodate you. It’s especially pleasant at the end of the day, when the sun goes down and the lights come up. If you know Fellini’s movies, you’ll feel like you’re in one.

Monopoli at sunset.

Florence and Verona, as mentioned, are cities that have plenty of touristic interest. Monopoli’s Centro Storico comes very close to everyone’s idealized vision of an Italian village.

Bars, Wine Bars and Restaurants

Let’s say you’re going out with some friends for a few drinks. Wine lover that you are, you tell your friends that you’d like to go somewhere where they have some nice wines by the glass, rather than to one of the cocktail bars that seem to be springing up everywhere. So where should you go?

Photo courtesy of Time Out New York.

For the most part, neighborhood bars have two kinds of wine: red and white. These wines come in large bottles or jugs and are often the cheapest of the cheap, although the bartender will still charge a premium price. Fortunately, there are some bars – even some old-time Irish saloons like the ones we have around our home – that are adding a few interesting wines by the glass. This may be because they have come to realize that there is customer demand for better wines or because they can get an even higher premium price for them.

If you want a broad selection of wines to try, a wine bar is the place for you. For you, yes, but maybe some of your friends would prefer a beer or a glass of whiskey. They would be left out at a spot that only serves wine.

But let’s assume that they’re okay with a wine bar as the destination for the evening, or one of them. Instead of having too few choices at your local tavern, you can find yourself with too many at a wine bar. There are many that offer flights of several small pours of a variety of wines, usually stylistically similar. That turns a drinking evening into a wine tasting one. If four people, say, choose four different flights and you don’t mind sharing glasses, you will have quite the wine tasting experience.

Some restaurants have a good selection of wines by the glass. If it’s a restaurant with an extensive wine list, there should be quite a few to choose among. “Should be” is the operative term. Restaurants make their money selling bottles of wine to accompany meals. It’s rare that the wines you’d really like to have just a glass of is available. All too often, the wines that can be bought a glass at a time are limited in number and are taken from the bottom of the restaurant’s list.

There are some exceptions to this pattern. The bars at steak houses, for example, often feature big red wines that go well with the food they serve. They often sell good-quality Cabernet Sauvignons or Merlots by the glass. If you’re in the mood for some delicate Chablis, you’ll probably be out of luck. Of course, the reverse is true at a seafood restaurant. The point is that you can experience an interesting selection of wines at a variety of locations…if you know what they serve. This is where the internet comes into play. Take a look at the wines they offer before you go out for the evening and you’re less likely to be dis

Freixenet, Back When

There are many sparkling wines made around the various corners of Wine Country. Unquestionably the best and the best known is Champagne, which must be made in a particular section of northern France. There are some nice bubbly wines made in Napa Valley. The Germans and Austrians make Sekt. Italians produce Prosecco. And in Spain, not far from Barcelona, they grow grapes and make Cava from them. Among the best known Cavas in the United State was – and is – Freixenet.

Back in the day, far off in the past, we didn’t know about any of that. If it had bubbles, it was champagne. In fact, despite the fact that the French owned the name, there were (and still are, in a few instances) American sparkling wines that were called champagne, right there on the label. There was even something that had bubbles called Cold Duck; even then we knew that this stuff was awful.

Photo courtesy of Grupo Freixinet.

But we also knew that we couldn’t afford real Champagne. A bottle of Moet & Chandon might have cost $10, but that was a lot of money when we were just starting out on adult life. That was when we discovered Freixenet. In the beginning, it came in a frosted bottle. The bottle alone and a difficult-to-pronounce name made it seem so chic and, well, European. Later Freixenet offered their Cordon Negro in a black bottle, which added elegance to its appeal.

The fact that it cost about two dollars made it accessible even for our pocketbooks in those days. And so we opened it whenever there was something to celebrate: The end of the semester. Our team winning a championship. Friday. We had no idea how to open a bottle, what kind of glasses to pour it in or how to sip it. We just knew that it had bubbles and that we liked it.

Not that long ago, we had the opportunity to try it once again. By that point, we had been drinking real Champagne for many years and the Freixinet was a disappointment. Did we really drink that stuff?

Yes we did and it introduced us to sparkling wine, in itself and as a part of being grown-up. There was mystery and romance in a bottle of Freixenet, a sense that someday we could be sophisticated if we tried, if only we knew how. The idea of Freixenet was in many ways more important than what was in the bottle (or on the floor because we thought the right way to enjoy it was to spray some when we opened a bottle).

These days we only drink French Champagne and occasionally a top-end California sparkling wine. We know a great deal more about wine and wine tasting than we did in our youth, which we guess makes us more sophisticated. But do we really enjoy it any more than we did when we were drinking Freixenet back then? We’re not sure; alas, we can’t remember.

Once we hosted a blind tasting of Champagnes. Just for fun we included a bottle of Freixenet. One of our guests actually chose the Freixenet as her favorite. De gustibus non disputandem est as the Romans used to say (there’s no arguing with taste), nor with good memories.

Reims

Power Tasting has alluded to the French city of Reims in a number of previous issues, but we have never highlighted it as a Place to Visit. Perhaps the first thing we ought to say about Reims is how to pronounce it. Not easy for American mouths, it certainly is not Raymes or Reems as the spelling might indicate. You need to start with that French “r”, which sort of comes from saying the sound of the letter at the same time you are clearing your throat. The vowels don’t follow the usual American path either; they’re more like aah, as in “aah, phooey”. The “m” disappears altogether and is pronounced sort of like “n” as spoken through your nose. At least the “s” survives intact.

Maybe more Americans would go to Reims if they called it Smith, which the French have a hard time pronouncing correctly. Americans, at least those who love Champagne wine and medieval splendor should visit Reims, because the city has a lot of both. If you just want a day trip from Paris for wine tasting and sightseeing, Reims is perfect. And if you’re looking for a base for touring the Champagne region for several days, Champagne is perfect for that, too.

The Charles de Cazanove winery is five minutes’ walk from the Reims train station. Photo courtesy of the Union de Maisons de Champagne.

Reims is one of the two major centers of Champagne production, the other being Épernay. The best known grands maisons in Reims are Mumm, Veuve Clicquot, Pommery and Taittinger. There are many other lesser known houses in Reims, including Lanson, G. H. Martel and Cazanove. Getting to Reims from Paris is easy. There’s a TGV train from the Gare de l’Est that will get you there in under an hour. (TGV means train à grande vitesse, or very fast train.) Getting around once you’re there is more difficult. There are taxis at the train station or on-call and Uber works just like at home.

The “Smiling Angel” at the Cathedral of Reims.

Besides tasting the local sparkling wines, the Reims Cathedral is not to be missed. It was for more than twelve centuries the place where the kings of France were crowned, including Charles VII. He only got there because Joan of Arc captured the city from the English. The cathedral that now stands in Reims was built in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. The entire structure is a model of Gothic glory. Among the best loved sights are the “Smiling Angel” in one of the entrance arches, the extraordinary rose window and the Chagall windows in the Lady Chapel. The rose window had to be taken down – very carefully – and stored to preserve it during the First and Second World Wars. Other windows weren’t so lucky. That’s why they recruited Marc Chagall to replace the ones destroyed in the second war.

You can drive from Reims to Épernay in under an hour, but don’t. Drive slowly and admire the gorgeous countryside. Take small side roads, even get a bit lost, and visit some of the hundreds of Champagne houses between the two cities. They don’t get the volume of visitors that the big houses do, so they greet you just a bit more enthusiastically. And tell yourself how lucky you are to be in Champagne.

Schramsberg Vineyards

Schramsberg is a multi-faceted winery. It is famous for its sparkling wines but also produces, through a sister winery, Bordeaux-style wines and Pinot Noirs. It boasts a history that extends back to the 19^th century but is really a product of the 20^th (surely a pioneer in Napa Valley terms). They once called their wines “Champagne” but now refer to them as sparkling wines, although they were legally permitted to use the French word. Here we will focus on visiting Schramsberg in Calistoga to sample their sparkling wines.

The grounds and house at Schramsberg. Photo courtesy of WineMaps.

The property was indeed established as a winery in 1862 by a German immigrant named Jacob Schram. Schramsberg actually means Schram’s mountain, which is a bit of an altitudinal exaggeration. The winery ceased operation in 1912 and wasn’t used for wine until Jack and Jamie Davies bought it in 1965. (The sister winery is named Davies.) A few years later they issued a sparkler labeled as “Napa Valley Champagne”. Wineries that had used the term Champagne prior to 2006 were allowed to continue using the term; but the Davies, respectful of France, stopped doing so. Their sparkling wine achieved prominence when they were the first American wine to be served at the White House in 1972.

All this history is an interesting background to a visit to Schramsberg. The first thing visitors see is an attractive garden, with a large Victorian house behind it. These too were restored by the Davies, and it must have been their pride and joy, as well as their home. It is overall a visual reminder of the winemaking history that Schramsberg represents. Beyond the house is a stony entrance to the caves where the sparkling wines are aged. Some of them are from the 19^th century winery, expanded by the Davies in their times.

The entrance to Schramsberg’s caves. Photo courtesy of Self Tour Guides.

Touring the caves is a high point of a visit to Schramsberg, along with a tasting, of course. There are 2½ miles dug into the hill, the first half-mile attributable to Jacob Schram. Much like the French Champagne houses, Schramsberg ages its wines extensively, two years or more for their commercial production and up to eight years on the lees for their top wines, the Tête de Cuvée that they name for Herr Schram. Using the French term for their top wine indicates that they still remember that they used to call their products Champagne.

The tasting consists of five sparkling wines, including – depending on the day – a blanc de blanc, a blanc de noir and a rosé. Often there is a little something extra thrown in. There is also a tasting available with three sparklers and three reds, which we’ll skip over for now. Power Tasting does not review wines as such, but it is no surprise that these are among the best sparkling wines made in the United States. They are definitely Californian, since neither the soil nor the caves have the chalk that give true Champagne its distinctive taste.

It is best not to compare Schramsberg to a French Champagne. Take pleasure in it for what it is, rather than for what it is not. That’s good advice for enjoying anything, not just wine.

How to Taste Sparkling Wine

Wine tasting is a very simple process. Someone pours some wine into a glass. You pick it up and take a sip. Repeat. Of course there are many subtleties beyond that: smelling the wine, noting the color, swirling it around your mouth, etc. This process applies at wineries (and bars and homes) around the world.

Photo courtesy of Schramsberg Vineyards.

But tasting sparkling wine is somewhat different. There is more to it, in some ways, and less in others. So if you’re visiting a sparkling wine producer, anywhere from Champagne to Calistoga, here are some tips to add to your enjoyment.

Notice the glass. In the past, at least in the United States, the glasses for sparklers were coupes. Wide and shallow, they would enable the bubbles to tickle your nose. Of course, the wine rapidly became flat. For some reason, they’re still popular at weddings. Flutes then came into fashion. These tall, thin glasses kept the bubbles in and away from your nose, exposing as little of the surface of the wine in the glass to the air. Now, in many wineries that specialize in bubbly, the glasses are tulip-shaped, with a bit of a bulge at the bottom and narrowing at the top.
Enjoy the aroma. The reason the glass matters is that the shape affects what and how you smell it. Coupes are all about bubbles, so you’d better sip in a hurry without worrying about smelling the wine. Flutes retain the carbonation, but give less space for the aromas to expand in the glass. The tulip is kind of a compromise, allowing the smells to circulate a bit before you sip. So hold a flute as horizontally as you can and breathe in the delicate aromas of citrus and warm toast, often found in some sparkling wines. With a tulip, stick your nose into the glass right away, before even thinking of sipping.
Don’t swirl. With tasting of table wines, swirling it before sniffing and tasting adds to the enjoyment of the contents of the glass. Not so with sparkling wines. All swirling does is release some of the gas and thus the bubbles. So it detracts from your enjoyment.
Take a look at the bubbles. You should see a steady upward stream of them that should continue unabated for a while. If you don’t, the bottle has been open too long and has gone flat. Give it back to the server and ask for a new bottle to be opened. (If you’re doing this at someone’s home, smile and enjoy your glass of white wine.)
How long should the bubbles last? Scientists will tell us that some bubbles will be present for hours after being served. But the whole point of sparkling wine is to have a lot of fizz. Once it goes flat – practically if not scientifically – there’s no point in drinking it.
A bit more about bubbles. Cheaper, less well-made sparkling wine has big, fat bubbles. Because each one has more gas in it, it takes less time for more to get out of the wine, i.e., go flat. Smaller bubbles are more elegant and longer lasting and are found in premium sparkling wines.
Don’t over-intellectualize it. Despite all the above it’s still just wine, albeit fizzy wine. Savor it as you would any other fine wine and take in the scents and tastes emanating from the glass, without trying to make it a sacred experience.

April Fool’s: An Article Produced by Artificial Intelligence

Since AI seems to be taking over everything, we thought it would be fun to give it a chance to write an article for Power Tasting. Here’s what we got from ChatGPT with the following prompt: “Write a 400 word essay on the pleasure of wine tasting trips from the perspective of a wine lover:” The picture was also created by the same application. Please let us know what you think.

The Pleasure of Wine Tasting Trips: A Journey for the Senses

For a wine lover, few experiences compare to the delight of a wine tasting trip. Beyond simply drinking wine, these excursions offer an immersive journey into the artistry, culture, and terroir that shape each bottle. From the rolling vineyards of Napa Valley to the sun-drenched hills of Tuscany, wine tasting trips provide an unparalleled opportunity to deepen one’s appreciation for this ancient and complex craft.

The first pleasure of a wine tasting trip is the setting itself. Vineyards are often located in breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, where lush rows of grapevines stretch towards the horizon. Walking through these vineyards, one gains an immediate connection to the land, understanding how climate, soil, and geography influence a wine’s unique character. The experience is not just visual but deeply sensory—the scent of ripening grapes in the air, the crisp morning breeze, and the warm sun on one’s skin all heighten anticipation for the tasting ahead.

At the heart of the journey is the tasting experience. Each glass tells a story of craftsmanship, from the selection of grape varietals to the winemaking techniques that shape its aroma and flavor. Swirling a glass of wine, observing its color, and inhaling its bouquet before taking that first sip transforms drinking into an art. The interplay of flavors—fruity, earthy, spicy, or floral—unfolds on the palate, revealing layers of complexity. A knowledgeable sommelier or winemaker can elevate this experience by explaining the nuances of tannins, acidity, and aging processes, enriching one’s understanding and appreciation of the wine.

Pairing wine with local cuisine is another highlight of a tasting trip. Many wineries offer food pairings that showcase how wine interacts with different flavors, whether it’s a bold red complementing aged cheese or a crisp white enhancing the delicate taste of fresh seafood. These pairings highlight the harmony between wine and gastronomy, deepening one’s enjoyment.

Beyond the wine itself, tasting trips foster a sense of connection—both with the people behind the wines and with fellow enthusiasts. Conversations with winemakers reveal their passion and dedication, while shared tastings with other visitors create moments of camaraderie and discovery.

Ultimately, wine tasting trips offer more than just indulgence; they provide education, sensory pleasure, and cultural enrichment. For a wine lover, they are not just vacations but meaningful journeys that celebrate the art of winemaking and the joy of savoring life, one glass at a time.

Factory Wine Tasting

Generally, when we think of a winery, the image that comes to mind is a tasting room that is elegantly furnished with views of endless vistas of grapevines. Or urban tasing rooms that are clubby and well-decorated. There are two wineries in Santa Barbara that break that mold: Jaffurs and Carr. These two are unmistakably operated in a factory-like setting. They are in a light industrial section of Santa Barbara; there are no vistas at all, grapes or otherwise; and one of these is minimally furnished, if at all.

The entrance to Jaffurs Wine Cellars.

Jaffurs Wine Cellars makes Rhône-style wines in a facility that was purpose-built for winemaking by Craig Jaffurs in 2001. It has a garage door opening, with an iron table just inside where they serve tastings. The trend towards seated tastings by appointment only has not yet reached Jaffurs. Visitors enter, wait for some employee to notice them and then are served a selection of Jaffurs’ rather extensive list of wines.

Just beyond the, er, tasting room, visitors will see the crush pad and beyond that fork lifts tending to the barrels of wine waiting to age and be bottled. Unsurprisingly, Jaffurs does not get many visitors and so the vibe when people do come is real pleasure to show off their wines. And we did find Jaffurs’ wines quite enjoyable. Jaffurs sources all of their grapes from vineyards from the Sants Rita Hills to as far north as Santa Maria County. Many of them have significant reputations, most notably the Bien Nacido in Santa Maria.

Jaffurs doesn’t make very much wine – only 5,000 cases annually – and so is not widely distributed. Although the specialty of the house is Rhône grapes, which we liked, we found that we most enjoyed their Pinot Noir. They don’t make a big deal of it, so you have to ask to try some

As for Carr Winery, we are being a bit unfair when we say that it is a factory, although wine is made and aged there. Their facility was originally a Quonset Hut in the same industrial area as Jaffurs, and was used to repair World War II aircraft. There is a terrace outside but it is often used by a mah-jongg club, so we found it better to taste inside. This is nicely furnished to look something like a trendy cocktail lounge. There are artworks scattered about as well. Visitors can easily forget that they are in a working winery in a factory district.

The Carr Winery tasting room.

Almost all of Carr’s wines are 100% single varietals. There’s a little secret there: Ryan Carr, the owner and winemaker, also has a vineyard management business. With the insight gained from that enterprise, he buys grapes – ostensibly the best ones – from his customers. Accordingly, Carr makes wine from a wide variety of grapes, including the usual (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah) and some that are less likely to be found elsewhere (Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc). Winemaker Carr has a definite style; there is a clear consistency in all his wines, regardless of the grapes used.

So if anyone would ever get tired of beautiful scenery and surroundings, we recommend a trip to the East Side of Santa Barbara, where Jaffurs and Carr will show you wines with an industrial ambiance but countryside quality.