Filed under: Wine Blogging Wednesday
While today is normally “Mailbag Monday” at A Glass After Work, I’m going to skip it this week in favor of an exciting announcement…I’m hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday #77!
For those of you who are new to Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW), it is a designated day for wine lovers all over the globe to write on the same wine-related topic—essentially, a virtual wine tasting with a central theme. You don’t have to be a regular wine blogger to participate, but your post (or blog comments, tweets, pins, etc.) should obviously be about this month’s topic.
So, without further ado, the theme for WBW #77 is “A Glass After A Bad Day At Work.”
We’ve all been there. You snooze one too many times, immediately making yourself late, only to get onto a crowded metro train that breaks down and has to be offloaded (or, for those of you who drive to work, only to discover there is an 4-car pile-up that shut down the road you use for your commute). By the time you arrive at the office, you’re really late, but ready to get working. You start making progress and think the day might be turning around when that Blue Screen of Death pops up and gives you the virtual middle finger, erasing everything you just accomplished because you were so focused you hadn’t saved the document in over an hour. It’s the perfect moment for you and your coworker to grab lunch because if you don’t walk away from the computer, you run the risk of chucking it out the window. As the two of you walk out of the office, you turn to your coworker and say, “It’s only noon, but it’s been one of those days. I could use a glass of wine.”
The question is, when you finally make it home, what glass of wine do you drink and why? Is it an inexpensive sparkly to help lift the gloom of the day? Maybe a brooding cult Cab to fit your dark mood? Or, is it that expensive bottle you put aside for a special occasion but open just because you need something special?
Posts or comments should include what wine you open, why you picked that wine to wash away your bad day, and the price (or suggested retail price) of the wine. There are no restrictions on price, country, varietal, etc. The sky is the limit. You just need to give us all the details so we can find the wine for after our own bad day.
On May 23, 2012, let me know your wine choice by:
Regardless of how you decide to let me know, be sure to include the link to your blog post if you write one. I would hate to miss linking it in the WBW #77 wrap-up.
I’d like to give a special thanks to WBW organizers Tim Elliott and Lenn Thompson for allowing me to host my first WBW. I’ve been a frequent participant, but there is something particularly exciting about being on the other side of this fun event.
And with that, here’s hoping it’s a just a hypothetical rough day at work that inspires your post.
Cheers!
The wines and writers came out from Down Under for Wine Blogging Wednesday 76, celebrating the Barossa Boomerang; a recovery of Australian wine sales in North America. Ardent Australian juice fans, real time Barossa wine travelers, Aussie wine drinkers on multi-year hiatuses, curiosity seekers, and value chasers all weighed in. Great insights into the region were shared, and specific wines under $30 have been recommended.
It was great fun instigating this up close and personal Barossa (re?)inspection. Hosting and theming #WBW76 had its rewards, especially since I also once turned my back on these wines like too many North Americans did between 2008 and 2010. I was refreshed, if not totally reconvinced, dipping my own my own toes and palate back into the water somewhere between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Great thanks to all that participated. Here’s the wrap-up:
Thanks again to all the digital winos that helped bring Barossa back into the limelight. And thanks to Lenn Thompson and Tim Elliot for keeping the lights on for Wine Blogging Wednesday every month!
Announcing: Wine Blogging Wednesday 76 (#wbw76) Wednesday April 25, 2012
Australian Comeback Kid-The Barossa Boomerang
Sometime around 2008 American wine drinkers flung their boomerangs en masse far outside US borders, feigning good riddance to indistinguishable Shiraz that all seemed to blend together in minds and cellars. US Australian wine imports sagged in volume and value from 2008-2010. Consumers all but watered their lawns with Grange Hermitage. But all good boomerangs eventually return, riding the same momentum associated with their far flung exits.
2011 and 2012 are inarguably global, and particularly for the US, comeback years. Recession riddled American brains and wallets cleared cobwebs spun by too many years of inactivity and despair. Check out the S&P. Look at declining unemployment rates and increases in job creation. Have a sniff of the consumer confidence embedded in the leading US economic indicators. And while we are at it, you will see from year-end 2011 data that Australia’s bottled US exports halted their declines and achieved 18% growth in the $20 – $30 category!
Who doesn’t like a good comeback? Everyone does! No matter why you might have stopped buying Australian wine, somewhere deep down in your vinous memory banks must be a classically delicious bottle (or two or twelve) of Aussie juice. Because I LOVE a good comeback, I elected to host the 76th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday under the Australian flag, and more specifically, inside the South Australian Barossa Valley. Why Barossa? First, I think it’s cool to be uncool, especially when the uncool rocks like Barossa wines can. Second, it’s the most popular wine growing region in Australia, leading the nation’s 2011 wine export renaissance; up in volume by 16.6% and 19.1% in value. Thirdly, the wines sell at fair values. And lastly, it might be worth reshaping Americans’ knee jerk Shiraz associations with the Valley’s vines. Beyond Shiraz, Barossa producers are working with Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Grenache, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon; turning their local fruit into big bold reds, rich whites, and fortified pudding wines.
So go get yourself a bottle of Barossa Valley wine for $30 or less; Shiraz, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Riesling or otherwise…and let everyone know on April 25 what you think about the ”return of the Barossa Boomerang”. If enough of us look down under this month, we might even nudge the needle that Wine Australia and the A+ Australian Wine initiative is working hard and smart to advance, providing wine geeks with the education and stories that drive wine geek-dom curiosities and interests. Enough winos and naysayers can now agree that a large part of Australian wine exports’ fall from grace had less to do with the quality of the country’s finest wines, and more with the absence of knowledge and stories to make the distant continent’s wines intellectually accessible to American wine culture.
Everyone ( YOU!) is encouraged (URGED) to contribute to the body of Australian Wine experience in the US on April 25 by tweeting (#wbw76), blogging, facebooking, pinning, instagraming, or any other form of digital screaming that suits your style. When you have had a chance to taste your under $30 Barossa wine, be sure to write about it for Wine Blogging Wednesday. Kindly use #wbw76 on all tweets and references. I will provide a recap here and at the Wine Blogging Wednesday site no more than a couple days following April 25. So be sure to tweet all your links, share all your stories, (include those hashtags everywhere) so we (appreciate the ongoing support of Tim Elliot and Lenn Thompson towards making #wbw76 fun and successsful) can help pass your experiences and content on to even more winos by including your stories in all the wrap-ups. You are also encouraged to leave links or reviews or comments here on this post or at the WBW site. Time to get busy finding your own Barossa boomerang; there are 21 days left before #wbw76. Good hunting and good drinking.
And you’d thought I’d forgotten all about wrapping up WBW75, didn’t you?
By all accounts Wine Blogging Wednesday #75, the theme of which was “Single’s Night” and focused on the wine blog-o-world choosing and reviewing (on the same day) single vineyard designate wines, was a big success and I want to personally thank everyone who contributed their time, thoughts, energy and wines into making it such a fun time!
Special thanks also to WBW organizers Tim Elliott and Lenn Thompson for letting me unleash on WBW yet again. I think I had them a little nervous when I “crowd-sourced” the theme ahead of time, but we all survived.
After the jump you’ll find a list of all of the WBW75 entries that appeared in comments here, or over at the main WBW website, or on twitter or Facebook the day of the event.
I’m not not reviewing wines this week with badges, etc., in lieu of showcasing all of the other reviews that were a part of this great event. Here’s to the WBW75 contributors, and to many, many more WBW events to come!…
Cheers!
Ladies and gentle-guzzlers…
I’m pleased to announce that 1WineDude.com will be hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday #75 (holy crap! seventy-five?!??) on Wednesday March 21st!
The entire idea behind WBW is to get YOU involved, tasting, and talking – so please share and retweet the living hell out of this because it’s only going to be as awesome as YOU make it (and you don’t do anything un-awesome, right?).
And let’s not even get into how awesome it is to be part of something that has run on-line for 75 consecutive months. Sh*t, most wine brands probably don’t last 75 consecutive months these days!
WBW 75’s theme is “Singles Night” – which does not mean that you should be drinking alone (not that there’s anything necessarily wrong if you do… we’re not judging you here…); it means we’re going to taste and talk about wines that come from single vineyards. One of the most special aspects of wine is that I can connect you with a particular time (a vintage) and a particular place on earth (a vineyard). Few other foodstuffs can offer such magic, so on March 21st we’re going to go big for numero 75 and celebrate both.
Here’s the skinny on how you can participate in #WBW75 “Singles Night”…
- Your mission is to procure a wine produced from grapes grown in a single vineyard, and tell the world about it on March 21st.
- You can pick any wine style, made from any grape(s), hailing from any region of the world – go nuts, go obscure, go fun and wow us all with your smarties.
- The only catch is that the wine’s grapes should come from a single vineyard. And look, we’re not nazis on this… so if you come close and get a wine made from two or three vineyard parcels, we’ll let it slide – the point is to get as close to a wine coming from one single plot of land as you can, to emphasize how what’s special about that place on Earth gets transmitted to you through that wine (yes… we’re talking terroir here, people).
- On March 21st, leave a comment here on 1WineDude.com (I’ll be posting a SV wine review on that day), or on the Wine Blogging Wednesday website, with either your thoughts on the wine you chose or a link to a blog post you write about that wine,
AND/OR…
- Follow me on Facebook and comment on my wall on March 21st with either your thoughts on the wine you chose or a link to a blog post you write about that wine,
AND/OR…
- Follow me on twitter and tweet your little heart out on March 21st about your wine choice on March 21st using the hashtag #WBW75
After March 21st, I’ll be on the hook to publish a “wrap-up” post with links to everyone’s contributions (just give me some slack on when I post that… I’m the dad of a busy toddler, alright?)
You’ve got exactly one month, peeps – get cracking, and get your hands on some awesome SV juice to share with the world!
Special thanks to WBW organizers Tim Elliott and Lenn Thompson for letting me unleash on WBW again. This is gonna be fun, and I cannot wait to see what you all come up with. See you at “Singles Night” on March 21st!
Cheers!
This is my fifth time hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday, our monthly virtual tasting event, but my enthusiasm has not diminished with the passage of time. In fact, since bringing back the event from hiatus it looks like the idea might be picking up some steam judging from the entires this month. While many of the bloggers are new, some of the WBW stalwarts from the past also returned.
The first post came in a week early from Dave at Toledo Wines and Vines. His choice of a Louis Bouillot Crement de Bourgogne ($18) in celebration of the New York Giants Superbowl win got the tasting off to a fine start.
Another early entry was posted by Jasmine at the Knitting 40 shades of green blog. It’s aways good to see a new perspective from outside the wine blog circle on WBW and Jasmine did not disappoint with a nice review of Barboursville Brut ($17) from Virginia.
Roddy from Sentir le Bouchon! in the UK was next with non-vintage Condesa Blanca Cava (£7/$11) which he enjoyed quite a bit.
Next was the VA Wine Diva reviewing not a wine from her home state but the always dependable Gruet Winery non-vintage blanc de noirs ($15).
Alleigh from A Glass After Work was the second to blog a sparkler from Gruet Winery, their non-vintage Brut ($14). From her review it looks like this will not be the last bottle from this reliable New Mexico producer.
Wine Blogging Wednesday founder Lenn Thompson from New York Cork Report was next with a review of Happy Bitch Wines “Happy Bitch” NV Rose ($12.50). This wine is a blend of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay from the Finger Lakes region of New York with a bit of sparkle added.
Next to post was Xandria from the BrixChicks blog, the first of three there (thanks Ladies!). She selected a Jean-Louis Denois Brut “Tradition” ($15) from France’s Languedoc. From her review, this K&L exclusive seems like a no-brainer for Bay Area or online value seekers.
The first multi-bottle entry was next from Ben at Colorado Wine Press. First of the three wines tasted was Gruet Winery Brut Rosé ($15) which was preferred over the others. Next up was Trevisiol Prosecco, Extra Dry which didn’t impress. The final wine as Domaine Chandon, Brut Classic which fared better than the Prosecco but didn’t measure up to the New Mexico sparkler.
Girl Meets Glass was next with Fleuraison Blanc de Blancs ($12). Made from Spanish base wine, it is trucked north to the Languedoc where secondary fermentation and bottling takes place. The resulting wine is delicate and might be best used for sparkling wine cocktails.
Next was Bob at 2001 Bottles – A Wine Odyssey who posted a lengthy article covering the non-vintage Evans & Tate “Zamphire” ($21) from Australia and 8th Generation “Confidence” 2010 ($22.50) from Canada’s British Columbia province. While both wines used the bulk process to add the bubbles, BC’s Confidence proved the winner in the flavor department.
Lisa from Wine Muse was next with Pizzini Brachetto 2010 ($17) a Muscato-like sparkler made from the Brachetto grape in the state of Victoria in Australia. The off-dry frizzante-style rose was a hit.
Liza from BrixChicks posted a review of the reliable Napa Valley sparkling wine from Mumm, their Napa Cuvee M ($18). The wine is another winner from this respected Champagne house who has been making sparkling wine in California for 26 years.
Thea from Luscious Lushes was next with a trio of sparklers from California and New Zealand. First up was Trader Joe’s non-vintage North Coast Sparkling Wine ($10) which sounded pretty nice for the price. Next she reviewed the reliable sparking standby from Roederer Estate ($17). And finally tasted Quartz Reef Method Traditionalle NV ($22) from New Zealand. Going for extra credit, Thea blogs another 3 wines in the honorable mention category from Mumm Napa ($15), Gruet ($14) and Gloria Ferrer ($16).
My post was next with another Trader Joe’s exclusive their Albero Brut Cava ($8) which I though was a good crowd pleaser for any celebration.
Shannon from Grape Occasions reviewed the trendy Villa Jolanda Moscato Rosé ($10) and was pleasantly surprised by the off-dry sparkler.
Posting next was Michael from Undertaking Wine with a Long Island selection, the Palmer Vineyards non-vintage Special Reserve Brut ($20). And from his review it sounds like another good option for New Yorkers.
The final post of the night was a blow-out by BrixChicks Liza and Heidi who hosted a tasting of 10 sparkling wines. The standouts where the non-vintage Gruet Blanc de Noirs ($14), non-vintage Piper Hiedsieck Champagne Brut ($15) and 2008 Taltarni “Taché” ($20) but check out their entire post for some entertaining tasting notes including aromas reminiscent of Bath and Body Works.
Posting on Wine Blogging Thursday was Gwendolyn from Wine Predator with pairings of 4 wines with various dishes. Although all the wines seemed to work with their dishes, the Trader Joe’s Blason du Bourgogne Brut Rose, Cremant de Bourgogne ($12) seemed like best wine of the quartet.
So that concludes the seventy-fourth edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday. Overall, 18 bloggers tasted 38 wines from 8 countries. With only a few repeats there are over 30 solid choices for everyday sparkling wine.
Next month look for Joe from 1WineDude to take Wine Blogging Wednesday in a totally different direction which he will announce early next week.
WBW 74 by the numbers
Bloggers: 18
Wines Tasted: 38
Countries Represented: 8
Least Expensive: $8 – Albero Brut Cava
Most Expensive: $22.50 – 8th Generation “Confidence” 2010
One of the wine trends from 2011 is the rise of Champagne with American consumers up over 20% from 2010. Another trend was Moscato coming out of nowhere to become nearly an overnight success. This could be in part due to the charms of the lightly sparkling frizzante made from this grape in Italy.
 Sparkling wine is one of the most versatile at the table with styles to pair with nearly every dish. From bone dry to sweet, single variety to blend, sparkling wine is something we should all drink more of. And it’s made all over the world using the classic process perfected in Champagne. In Germany it is known as Sekt, Spain calls it Cava, in Portugal it goes by Espumante, and in Italy Spumante covers a lot of ground. But great sparkling wine is also made in the New World with world class wines coming from California, New Mexico and Australia. I even hear some very nice sparkling wine is being made these days in England, the country who started the style back some 400 years ago.
So the theme of Wine Blogging Wednesday 74 is Value Sparkling Wine.
Just pick a sparkling wine from any appellation, made from any grape but make sure it sells for $25 or less a bottle (€20, £16). This should open up a lot of interesting selections, from Crémant de Bourgogne, to Cava, to California & New Mexico sparkling, sparkling Shiraz, to even well chosen grower Champagne. Just post your notes by February 15th and ping me @winecast on Twitter or email me with your link at winecast (at) gmail (dot) com. I’m hoping we can once again circle the virtual wagons and taste some great bubbly.
Join us.
Wine Blogging Wednesday #73 "Spark" Round-up
Thanks for all who participated in Wine Blogging Wednesday #73 this month. We had a pretty small but empassioned turnout on my theme, "Spark". The intent was to bring our readers back to the time we decided we needed to blog about wine, and write about a wine that inspired you. Most of us are juggling the exponential rise in wine data running past our eyes and ears --pouring in from Twitter, Facebook and traditional media, while trying to find the time to blog. I hope this did spark people's writing fuse and get us all back writing!
Roddy at Sentir le Bouchon (Smell the Cork) wrote about a wild one!
Bob at 2001 Bottles took the opportunity to recount some of his favorite wine moments that keep him going, including an '82 Grange!
Tim at Winecast was taken in by Mike Grgitch's Zinfandel. Hooked.
Gwendolyn at Wine Predator got Sparked by one of our own, blogger and vintner, Jeff Stai at Twisted Oak.
Mike at Undertaking Wine was grabbed by an aromatic Gewürztraminer.
David at Cooking Chat was also sparked by Zinfandel. His choice for WBW was a wonder!
Colin at Grape Fan went back. Way back. To the rosé that started it all.
Chrissie at Awaken Your Senses found the one spot in Argentina that did it.
My Entry at the Corkdork (below) rekindled my love for Zinfandel.
Let's all keep those Wednesdays free to blog once a month, shall we?
It's for January and it's called "Spark". And it's being hosted by the Corkdork blog.
 Because the number of participants has been declining and the blogosphere is so crowded with other things commanding our attention, it's time to go back to what Sparked your interest in wine blogging in the first place. There was a wine you couldn't get out of your head and couldn't wait to share with the world, there was a grape that you started obsessing over, there were family times where a good bottle would be pulled...something there made you say to yourself that you wanted to blog about wine. And 6 years ago, when we started the first collaborative online tasting group, Wine Blogging Wednesdays, something captured your attention. I know you've grown and your wine knowledge has expanded, but it's time to revisit the kind of wines that sparked your desire to blog, retaste, and share.
January's challenge, "Spark", is to re-visit the wine that first turned you on to the infinite wonder of the world of wine. Write about it and post on January 18th. I will host and do the round-up. Please pass on the word and keep WBW going!
It is time for the Recap of Wine Blogging Wednesday #72: Helping Japan.
As you will recall, on Friday, March 11, a massive earthquake, one of the largest in recorded history, struck northern Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami that has affected millions of people. Over 3,000 people have lost their lives and thousands more have remained unaccounted. The destruction has been so extensive that millions of families have been displaced in search of water, food and shelter far from damaged nuclear reactors. Obviously, this has been a terrible tragedy, pulling at every one of our heartstrings with the innate desire to help, to give something that might make their lives easier.
For this WBW theme, participants had two options, to either drink and review a Sake or drink and review wine that pairs well with Japanese cuisine. You could earn bonus points by reviewing multiple Sakés, pairing Saké with food, or drinking wine with Japanese food.
Unfortunately, we had a very low turnout for this event. So even more kudos go out to those who did participate. It is interesting too that most of the participants were from outside of the U.S., including three from Canada, one from Finland and one from Kenya. It is very pleasing to me that the participants largely seemed to enjoy the sakes they tasted.
Holly, of Wine Out Loud, is a first timer to WBW and tasted three sakes, earning bonus points. All three were from the Hakutsuru Brewery, and included a Junmai Ginjo, an organic Junmai Ginjo and a Nigori. She enjoyed these three sakes with some sushi and teriyaki chicken, earning even more bonus points. I am pleased she enjoyed the sake, as well as the fact she shared them with some friends.
Todd, of Vermont Wine Press, also earned plenty of bonus points and kudos for drinking multiple sakes, paired with food, and with friends. He tasted the Nanbu Bijin "Southern Beauty" Junmai Ginjo, Tentaka Kuni "Hawk in the Heavens" Junmai, Kaguyahime "Radiant-night Princess" Junmai and Hakushika "White Deer" Junmai Ginjo. Their homemade dinner included brown rice miso soup, smoked salmon and avocado maki, squid and vegetable fried rice, and teriyaki chicken legs. Todd earns even more kudos though for reviewing the sakes in haiku, my favorite type of Japanese poetry.
Bob, of 2001 Bottles - A Wine Odyssey, tasted a sake from Oregon, the Momokawa Organic Junmai Ginjo. He earns bonus points for pairing the sake with Japanese cuisine, and he enjoyed the Momokawa. Though not a sake, Bob also reviewed a Shochu. Though Bob's was from Vietnam, plenty of Shochu is made in Japan and kudos still go to Bob for trying something different for WBW.
Mshamba, of The Kenyan Wine Blog, posted an interesting video review of a sake, the Black Bottle Junmai. He really enjoyed this sake, and it was amusing to hear him talk about a sake he has previously tasted which was just terrible. I would not have expected sake to be available in Kenya, but I am glad that it can be found there.
Aleksi, of Aleksi Mehtonen, also did an extensive video review of a number of sakes at a restaurant in Helsinki. He earns bonus points for tasting many different sakes, and kudos for interviewing the sommelier who led the sake tasting. Aleksi really gave his all to this tasting and you should watch his video.
Bethany, of Second Ferment, chose to review a wine, Oroya, that pairs well with Japanese cuisine. Oroya is a Spanish white wine, a blend of Airen, Macabeo, and Moscatel, and was specifically produced to be paired with sushi. Bethany found it to work great with a variety of Japanese dishes, and her description of the wine makes it sound very appealing.
Matthew, of A Good Time With Wine, was another person with a video for WBW, which has an informative interview with Tara Fougner of Ty Ku. Ty Ku produces sake in the U.S. and Japan, as well as soju and a soju-based liqeuer. Matthew seemed very excited to learn more about sake, and will even be posting more sake-related posts in the future. Keep an eye on his blog.
Finally, you can check out my own WBW #72 post, a review of the first 100% organic Japanese sake.
Thanks very much to everyone who participated in WBW #72, and thanks very much to everyone who donated to help Japan through the links on these WBW posts. You can still give to this worthy cause by clicking on the American Red Cross site and donate whatever you can.
Kanpai!
|
