I received an e-mail from one of our wine distributors who calls for a "No Nouveau" campaign this fall.
My first thoughts were, WOW, I hope that he doesn't have a wine maker in his portfolio that actually produces one. My second thought was, WOW, somebody really doesn't like Beaujolais Nouveau. This supposedly easy drinking, refreshing newly pressed grape juice from Beaujolais. mmmmhhh, I took a moment and thought, he has a point if he refers to the poor and undrinkable Nouveau, we get shipped here into the US in the last 5-7 years (might be even a bit longer than that).
How that one month occurrence a year and with that the push for this red wine especially in wine stores and grocery stores, destroys the reputation for an entire wine region, as most US consumers don't know any other wines from that beautiful wine region called Beaujolais. And with such quality
Food Wines | Who is the Driver?
I had the great opportunity to attend a very interesting wine training this past week. And besides the fact that it started with pouring the sample wines as early as 6am for all of the attendees, it was GREAT.
The training was for our staff from various departments within our company and was all about Wine, Wine, Food and Wine and the comfort to sell the EXPERIENCE!
The training was conducted by the Constellation Academy of Wine and the trainer was no less than Luis Torres, a Master of Wine!
First training session was to learn more about the Super Palate! Super Palate?
I could tell that the attendees thought "I am going to hear more about wine descriptors such as wet stone, barnyard, hint of extra ripe Meyer lemons, moist Forrest floors et cetera! So, they got really excited when this wasn't the case. They will not be sitting in a boring class learning about different soils, sun exposure and other great things they may never need in life instead they will actually learn the basics about wine and what is likely important to use when selling/describing a wine to a guest. So instead of stating that the wine has "oaky" notes or is acidic, they would describe the wine as juicy (from the acid) and share that the wine has notes of Coffee or Chocolate (characteristics that develop during the oak aging) et cetera. Cool Stuff for the waitstaff and great to help the guest make up his/her mind for what they might want to order a glass or bottle of.
The rest and majority of the class was then committed to identify
The training was for our staff from various departments within our company and was all about Wine, Wine, Food and Wine and the comfort to sell the EXPERIENCE!
The training was conducted by the Constellation Academy of Wine and the trainer was no less than Luis Torres, a Master of Wine!
First training session was to learn more about the Super Palate! Super Palate?
I could tell that the attendees thought "I am going to hear more about wine descriptors such as wet stone, barnyard, hint of extra ripe Meyer lemons, moist Forrest floors et cetera! So, they got really excited when this wasn't the case. They will not be sitting in a boring class learning about different soils, sun exposure and other great things they may never need in life instead they will actually learn the basics about wine and what is likely important to use when selling/describing a wine to a guest. So instead of stating that the wine has "oaky" notes or is acidic, they would describe the wine as juicy (from the acid) and share that the wine has notes of Coffee or Chocolate (characteristics that develop during the oak aging) et cetera. Cool Stuff for the waitstaff and great to help the guest make up his/her mind for what they might want to order a glass or bottle of.
The rest and majority of the class was then committed to identify
Labor Day | Patio and Beach Sippers
After my one year in Spain or more specific the Canary
Islands, I am back in the US, back in Florida!
And let me tell you, I am happy about it! There is always more to find in a European
Country of Origin than here, but the challenge is, it is only that. In Spain, most of your wine stores carry
nothing but Spanish wines - Which is great and fully understandable, but
frustrating when looking for a nice French Burgundy or Aussie Shiraz!
Anyways, back at full swing, I wanted to make sure that I
don’t miss out giving a couple of tips for some nice patio sippers for these hot few days (at least here in Florida).
One style of wine that is coming more and more to the forefront in wine
stores and restaurant wine lists alike, are the stainless steel fermented
Chardonnay’s from California. The wines
remain with a lot more of their fruit characteristics, a higher acidity which
makes them great for small bites, spicy foods or just to sit outside and sip
away a chilled glass of wine on the patio. Lincourt does a Steel Chardonnay from
the Santa Rita Hills,
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