Earth, Wine And Fire... and Wine Lists

Shall we explore the world of restaurant wine lists, while interpolating the badassness of Earth Wind & Fire in the process?

What the hell, why not?

First, we can establish the baddassness of EWF right away - that's easy: They funked, singing harmonies in octaves that would require most people to otherwise suck helium to achieve, all the while dancing in reflective costumes with capes. If that's not badass, then I don't kow what badass is.

What brings EWF to mind (in other words, what the f--k does this have to do with wine)?

I recently did a restuarant wine pairing review of a new wine list concept at nearby Teikoku for West Chester PA foodie website WC Dish. According to the Teikoku website (bolded items highlighted by me):

"For millennia, many eastern cultures have embraced the notion that five fundamental elements govern all aspects of life and environment. Though these elements appear in many forms, the most common are Earth, Water, Fire, Wind & Sky. At Teikoku we believe that wine can be represented by these elements as well. Keep in mind that our wines are not arranged according to conventional methods. We have selected a more transcendent form of organization. Perhaps our philosophy will offer you a unique perspective on your dining experience."

I found the wine choices to be quite well done, and in some cases even inspired, with very good by-the-glass selections reflecting quite a bit of the diversity in today's wine market (Spanish Rose, Torrontes, Carmenere, etc.).

But it's the Elemental wine concept that obviously stands out as unique. I've seen many, many styles of restaurant wine lists, from the stuffy and mundane "By Region" to wine flights inspired by a wine's palate weight, proces or even just fun, semi-random themes. But this is a different take entirely.

Teikoku's list certainly brings the Earth Wind & Fire funkiness. The trouble is, I'm not sure it actually helps anyone navigate the wine list any better than a more traditional method.

Some of us might feel a need to be more "grounded" on a particular day and gravitate towards the Earth (get it?) theme wines... but I can imagine many others looking at the Earth heading and wondering if the wine is going to taste like a mouthful of dirt.

But... you've got to give props to Teikoku for what they're trying to do. Unless you think they're trending towards the gimmicky side.
What do you think? Are they bringing the funk with this kind of wine list? Or are they just wearing the silver jumpsuits and capes?

Which got me thinking, Are other restaurants doing this? Will we see a more progressive trend towards different wine list presentations? And if we do, will these help the consumer? Or just confuse them even more?
Let me know YOUR thoughts!
Let's Groove, baby!
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Cheers!
(images: 1WineDude.com, associatedentertainment.com)

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A Toast: To Wine, Women and Song!

Ok, before you start writing me off as a hedonistic waste (at least, on the basis of this post title), please check out the post I wrote for Toast To Change, a web network brain-child of Schramsberg Vineyards.

As described by the TTC website:

Toast to Change... celebrates the power each of us has to embrace and inspire change. Join our community of wine lovers and raise your glass to making changes in our lives and championing others who bring about real change in our world.

I don't consider myself to be someone who is bringing about world-altering change, but I was invited to pen a toast so I decided to write about the things that had inspired me most in 2008: Wine, Women, and Song.

To get the (very un-sordid) details, you can read the entire post at the TTC website.

Cheers and Happy New Year!
(images: toasttochange.com)

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The Art of Tasting Artfully: Taste Wine Like a Pro

I advise you to taste wine like a Pro - a Pro at living, that is.

I was reading a nice little article about the Art of Living, by lifehack.org's Dustin Wax, and it struck me that two of Dustin's guidelines ("Pay Attention" and "Be Appreciative") are applicable to wine appreciation as well as being a useful as a general approach to living.

Too many people that I meet either a) don't give a sh*t about how to taste wine (i.e., they guzzle it) or b) are petrified that they are tasting wine the "wrong" way.

Neither approach will give you much true enjoyment when it comes to tasting wine.

These approaches both misuse the mechanics of wine tasting. You know the ones I'm talking about - Look, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Spit - they're available all over the 'net.

The mechanics are important, but they will no more help you to taste artfully than knowing how to hold a paintbrush will teach you how to express yourself through painting.

Really tasting wine is a bit of an art that is built upon the fundamentals of those mechanics. And it's really no more difficult to taste artfully than it is to live artfully. The art of tasting really does come down to tasting with Attention and Gratitude.

• Attention is simply being mindful of the wine in the glass. Every wine, even total plonk, is trying to tell you something. You need only "listen" to it, giving it as much natural concentration and focus as you can (even if this is only a few good seconds of real concentration). Connect with that glass of wine. Merge with it, give it a moment where it's just the two of you in all the universe.
  
  
• Gratitude is just that - be grateful for the moment you have with that wine. If it helps, tell it "thank you" (I'm not kidding). If you thank everything in your day to day life (even red lights!), you will be amazed at how your outlook starts to shift.
  

Attention & Gratitude - two great tastes that taste great together, at least when it comes to tasting wine. Try them out, and put a little art into your next wine & cheese party this holiday.

Cheers!
(images: flickr.com: jimmy-joe, cryptography.org )

Related 1WD articles you might enjoy:

• 3 Things An Infant Can Teach You About Wine Appreciation
• 5 Common Wine Drinking Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
• 3 things Your Dog Can Teach You About Wine Appreciation
• More 1WD articles about Learning Wine...

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Wine Studies, Sex, and the Art of Anticipation

Or maybe that should be the Science of Anticipation...

Back in January (yes, I am just now getting around to this - hey, I've got a newborn at the house; what's your excuse?), findings were published from a study that measured participant's brain reactions to tasting wine. The trick: it was the same wine, but they were told that the wine was either cheap, or relatively expensive. Guess what - participants enjoyed the wine more when they were told it had a higher price.

With all the duping going on in the wine industry the past few weeks (including an embarrassing gaff for Wine Spectator, and the claim that wine bloggers - Dude included! - were duped by winery marketers), I thought it would be fun to revisit this little ditty, and cast a different light on it in lieu of recent events.

According to one article on the study findings:
"Contrary to the basic assumptions of economics, several studies have provided behavioral evidence that marketing actions can successfully affect experienced pleasantness by manipulating nonintrinsic attributes of goods."

[ My translation: instead of telling you that the wine is "an everyday guzzler" or "as close to sublime perfection as humans are likely to reach," they just upped or lowered the price. ]

This struck me as totally odd (in terms of this being contrary to economic assumptions). I mean, aren't we talking about something that marketing types, hucksters, clever business folk, and seductresses have known for maybe hundreds of years? Not only does a higher price give you the cache factor of shelling out for "the best," setting a higher price does something else just as important:

It gives your brain the opportunity to indulge in anticipation of experiencing "the best." Which is, I'd argue, an essential element in making a "good" experience - a meal, a movie, a date, a wine, and (especially!) sex - "great."...


What studies like this one don't mean is that you can't tell the difference between wine that is pure plonk and wine that is superb. Almost anyone can do that, provided that they are willing to do a little bit of learning beforehand.

The studies don't mean that all wines are created equal. In a lot of ways, the current wine market does set prices fairly, and you tend (with some exceptions, of course) to get what you pay for.

The studies also don't mean that you need fancy-schmancy wine certifications, or advanced study under your belt, to appreciate wine. For that, you only need an open mind, patience, and the willingness to learn. Incidentally, these are the same things that you need to better appreciate a good meal, a movie, a date, and (especially!) sex.

I'm not sure what enlightenment we're hoping to reach with all of this wine duping afoot, but I can tell you this: You know what they say about sex? " When it's good, it's great. And when it's bad, well, it's still pretty good!"

The same applies to wine (and other great experience-givers) because, fundamentally, wine gives us pleasure, connect us together, and provide us the opportunity to open our minds a bit further than they were a few minutes before.

And if we indulge in a bit of anticipation to heighten the experience? From what I can tell, the most harm it might cause us is to think that the experience is a bit better than someone else thought it was.

That's a trade-off I'd take any day of the week.

Cheers!

(images: .geocities.com/SoHo/Nook, danielpadilla.com)

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The Last Glass of Wine You May Ever Drink (Zen Wine Appreciation)

This past week, I finally got around to watching Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture."

For the 7 or 8 of you that have yet to see this (I've got a 4-month-old at the house... what's your excuse?), the video of the Pausch's inspirational lecture has been viewed by an estimated 6 million+ people. Pausch's topic was fulfilling your childhood dreams, made more poignant and powerful by the fact that a) he had fulfilled most of his childhood dreams, and b) he was diagnosed with terminal cancer before giving the lecture.

Pausch died last month, at the age of 47. His lecture is amazing, and it got me thinking: if I were to deliver a lecture, knowing it to be my last before I died, what would I talk about? Then I thought about it another way: Why should my last lecture be special? Why can't all my lectures be special? Why can't I just live as if every day, and every event, were my last?

Then I wouldn't have to do anything differently than I would on any other day. I'd rather have someone be able to show a video of any random moment of me spending time with my daughter, and that be a snapshot of the totality of me as a person, then have to worry about topping myself for some reason before I head off to the great gig in the sky.

In other words, I'd like to have my life be the testament to, well, my life.

What the hell does this have to do with wine? Glad you asked! Assuming you're still reading, that is. You are? Great! Then allow me to explain...

I've written before about the role of mindfulness in heightening your wine appreciation. Basically, give a wine a moment or two of your pure, unadulterated concentration, and it will reveal its entire world to you.

Now, imagine if you treated every glass of wine that you have from here on out as if it might be your last glass. Man, you'd really give it some concentration then.

Sip on that for a while - you might find it brings a greater appreciation of wine into your life.

Even if it's a glass of Yellowtail.

Check out more 'Zen Wine' non-action by the 1WineDude.

Cheers!
(images: rosalynclare.files.wordpress.com, zen-life.org)

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An International Incident: Connecting with Wine Bloggers in the 'Real World'

This past week, during a trip to Windsor I had the pleasure of meeting up with two very talented an knowledgeable wine bloggers - Robert McIntosh (the Wine Conversation), and Andrew Barrow (the venerable Spittoon.biz). In the 'real world' that is.

I also had the pleasure of sharing some bottles of real wine, sharing real food (at the Two Brewers pub), and having real honest-to-goodness conversation with like-minded wine geeks.

Personally, I love connecting with the wine blogging community online. In fact, I don't think I've ever been accepted more quickly, or by a better group of folks - a large (and ever-expanding) one at that. And certainly the online wine world made our get-together possible, organized in record time via twitter.

But as I'm fond of saying, reading about wine tasting is like trying to learn how to french kiss by studying a diagram. At times, on-line conversations and friendships can reach a similar point on their trajectory. As Rob so aptly puts it in his recap of our 'International Wine Bloggers Mini-Conference', the ultimate point is to make real friends, in the real world...

Which is exactly what we did last week.

What do wine bloggers talk about when they get together face to face? We talk about the same things that we discuss on-line: wine, the state of its culture and service in our world today, and how to further the cause of making wine more accessible - with a smattering of personal tidbits for good measure.

In between sips, that is.

The highlight of our get-together for me was the near-instant camaraderie; never having met face to face before did not prevent us for a millisecond from striking up interesting conversation and enjoying one another's company.

A close second was the match-up between the lamb entree and our bottle of 2000 Chateau Musar.

But that's exactly the kind of thing that you need to have been there to truly appreciate.

Cheers!
(images: wineculture.blogspot.com)

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A Savvy Way to Keep a Wine Journal?

Now this is interesting.

As reported by several sources today (most of them just copy/paste jobs from a press release; check out one example here), CorkSavvy.com (yet another on-line service that allows you to track and review your wines) has launched an interesting feature today.

This feature allows you to snap a camera-phone picture of that bottle of vino you're having (say, with dinner tonight) and submit it (along with your freshest-of-fresh tasting notes) directly to your CorkSavvy account.

I'm a big, big fan of keeping a wine journal. I think it's one of the best (if not the best) ways to up your wine IQ, increase your wine vocabulary, and learn what you do (and don't!) like about wine. Using a wine journal is one of the cornerstone advice pieces that I give in my Tasting Guide.

Could CorkSavvy.com be onto the "Wine 2.0" version of the trusty ol' wine journal? Time will tell. If any of you give this service a try, be sure to give me a shout about it!

Cheers!

(images: amazon.com)

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3 Things Your Dog Can Teach You About Wine Appreciation

I'm a dog guy.

While I don't hate cats, I don't love cats, either. Mostly, I get along best with the cats that think they're dogs anyway. Since this post is going to be about my schooling of wine appreciation literally going to the dogs, my apologies in advance to those who are cat lovers. I've never been taught anything about wine appreciation from a cat (more on learning wine stuff from domesticated house pets in a minute) - though they have taught me the art of totally ignoring people.

Since Mrs. Dudette has most of the newborn baby dudette feeding responsibilities, Dude here has been given primary Dog Duty at the House of Dude. I'm the one who now has to feed and walk my wife's Weimaraner, Samson (see pic above). (Actually, to be fair, after 7+ years together old Sammy is just as much my dog now as he is hers).

Sammy has been a great sport throughout the whole adjusting-to-the-baby thing, and he is very, very sweet with the baby. Having to walk the dog more often than I used to has made me take more notice of Sam's behaviors - such as licking the baby, sniffing around, licking himself, sniffing the baby, licking himself, and licking himself (did I mention licking himself?).

By observing Sam, I've actually learned a bit about wine appreciation. And no, it doesn't involve drinking so much that you want to sniff someone's butt, unless that's your thing (licking yourself is also optional). Though it does apparently involve startling segues from dog licking to wine tasting... maybe I should have thought about that one a bit more...

Anyway, straight from the home office in suburban eastern-PA, here are 3 Things that Your Dog Can Teach You About Wine Appreciation...

1. Short, concentrated sniffs work best. Dogs have some of the best senses of smell around - and Weimaraners have one of the best noses in the doggie business. When my dog smells something, he doesn't take a long, drawn-out, overly-dramatic sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffffff. He takes a burst of short, concentrated sniffs. Sniff... sniff-sniff... sniff-sniff-sniff-sniiiiiifff.
   
   Turns out there is a lot of merit in that approach if you really want to smell something thoroughly - and in the case of wine, smelling is where you will get about 80% of your enjoyment and appreciation. Shorter sniffs help to focus your olfactory senses, and may also help to keep your sense of smell from fatiguing too quickly. The sharper your sense of smell, the more you can pinpoint what aspects you like (or don't like) about the wine that your tasting.
   
   

   In the case of wine, smelling is where you will get about 80% of your enjoyment and appreciation for your glass of vino.

   
   
2. Focus, focus, focus. Ever try to move a dog from a spot when he is smelling it during a walk? If not, I encourage you to do this as a test of your own upper limits of frustration. My dog will frequently stop in his tracks, plant his nose into a smell, and lock all four powerful legs so tightly that it would take a tow truck, steel cables, and an act of Congress to move him from whatever he is sniffing at that moment.
   
   When a dog is really smelling something, nothing can break his concentration. At that point, there is no walk, there is no leash, there is no master - there is only the smell. If you want to experience everything that a wine has to offer, you'd do well to imitate the concentration that the average dog gives to any random oder in which s/he gets interested. With that kind of focus, you'd be on your way to wine-tasting pro status in no time.
   
   
3. Don't rush it. Once my dog stops smelling something and decides to start eating it, he is an shining example of what not to do when enjoying a wine (or any food or drink, for that matter). My dog will inhale food that he really likes. He will eat it so quickly, you would think there was a pack of angry, hungry velociraptors waiting 7 inches away from him ready to steal his morsels should he take more than 14 nanoseconds to eat them. The tastier the treat, the less he chews (or breathes) before swallowing.
   
   Which is exactly what you don't want to do when enjoying a wine. Take your time. Savor it. That glass isn't going anywhere, man. Relaaaax. See, isn't that nice? Sniff. Swirl. Focus. And enjoy.
   
   Now, go walk that dog!
   

Cheers!

(images: 1WineDude.com, nytimes.com, galacticpudding, javelinaleapwinery.com)

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5 Common Wine Drinking Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Whoops.

Everyone makes mistakes. In the case of the Dude here, mistake frequency is pretty much daily. Thankfully, almost every mistake is an opportunity to learn.

Fortunately for you, the Dude here has made plenty of mistakes when it comes to drinking and appreciating wine. That means that you don't have to make all of those same mistakes, my friend! You can thank me later (preferably with a bottle or two of `82 Mouton...).

Anyway - following are Top 5 of the most common mistakes in wine drinking and wine appreciation that I've come across (or made myself) during my life dabbling in the wine biz. Hopefully these help you to avoid the same...

1. The Over-pour. Far and away, the most common mistake that I've seen is over-pouring wine into your wine glass. Believe it or not, being skimpy in this case is not being wimpy - pouring the right amount of wine is what you need to do to allow you to really enjoy the wine in your glass.
   
   Filling that glass to the brim is being generous only in the extra amount of calories that you're consuming. It's a killer for wine enjoyment because a) it prevents the wine's aromas from being concentrated towards your nose (where they belong), b) it prevents you from swirling the wine in your glass (which releases those wonderful aromas and flavors in the first place) and c) it makes you much more likely to spill your wine (and you probably paid good money for it!).
   
   At this point you're probably thinking, "Wait a second Dude - waiters do the Over-pour all the time in restaurants. What am I supposed to do about that?" Simple: ask for a second (empty) wine glass. Now you have two glasses of wine that you can fill properly (which basically means filling to the bowl shape of the glass and not beyond). You're welcome!
   
   

   "Filling that glass to the brim is being generous only in the extra amount of calories that you're consuming."

   
   
   
2. Serving wine at the wrong temperature. Wine that is too cold will taste dull, with subdued fruit characteristics. Wine that is served too hot will taste astringent and will highlight the alcohol above the other flavors in the wine.
   
   In a word - Yuck.
   
   Now, you don't need to be too anal about this one, but to get the most out of your wine, you do need to get the wine temperature in the right ballpark - and the right ballpark is different depending on they type of wine you're trying to enjoy. Sweet whites and sparklers usually stand up to the coldest temperatures; hefty reds like Zinfandel and Port can withstand the highest temps. For more specific information, check out this handy chart of wine serving temps from recipetips.com.
   
   
   
   
3. End-Bin shopping. What does "End-Bin shopping" mean? It means shopping only at those flashy, special displays at the end of the aisles in wine stores. Why is this a mistake? Because the end bins are sometimes where good wines go to die.
   
   If you already know the wine and think it's a good buy, then you may have found a good deal in that end-bin. While it's certainly possible to catch a great bargain, I've also seen on many, many occasions wines that are woefully past their prime stuck into the end-bin at steep "discounts". Don't totally ignore those end-bins - but it's a big mistake to make those the only stops on your foray through the wine store.
   
   

   "...the end bins are sometimes where good wines go to die..."

   
   
4. Ignoring the sauce. There are few hard-and-fast rules when it comes to wine and food matching. I only really offer people two rules: 1) Match the "weight"/body of the food with the weight/body of the wine (lighter wines with lighter fare, heftier wines with heartier fare) and b) Don't ignore the sauce!
   
   A thick, flavorful sauce can turn a lighter dish into a heavy monster of a meal. So, if you're pairing a lighter wine with that heavier sauce, you might not ever get to really taste that wine, as it will get totally overpowered. Epicureans take note!
   
   
5. Not doing any homework. You by no means need to have fancy-schmansy wine certifications to appreciate wine. But a little knowledge about wine styles and wines from different areas of the world can arm you with a very important weapon when it comes to wine enjoyment: Context.
   
   What do I mean by context? I mean knowing what some of those wines typically taste like, and what foods are typically enjoyed with them. This allows you to avoid a whole heap of mistakes when it comes to wine appreciation, because it means you're more likely to taste the wine in its proper context. Someone can tell you that they hate Italian wines - and if that person tried those wines with super-spicy Thai food instead of Italian cuisine, they're probably not giving that poor Italian wine a fighting chance to be liked!
   
   Grab yourself a book and get in some wine learning. Take a wine class, practice your tasting, or host a wine tasting party. The important thing is to keep an open mind about wine, and be willing to learn - in terms of helping you avoid the most common wine drinking foibles, those two things will never let you down.
   

Cheers!

(images: chichesterdesign.co.uk, comparestoreprices.co.uk, oleswanson.com)

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Meditation By The Glass: The Mindfulness of Wine Appreciation

(images: all from Joe's house!)

Although I was raised in the shadow of Roman Catholicism, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a religious man.

In fact, after attending an Oblate grade school, a Franciscan high school, and a Jesuit university for undergrad, I ended up totally religiously-confused. Not exactly a poster-child for American religious education.

Still, despite being (more-or-less) totally religious-averse, I would consider myself a spiritual person. Over the last few years, my wife has introduced me to Zen and Buddhist principles that we have tried to integrate into our lives, with some great results. I don't claim to understand any of the universe's mysteries, but there is no denying (for me, at least) the powerful & moving experiences of communion I've felt when meditating.

"This small word - witnessing - contains the whole of spirituality." - Osho

And by "meditating" I don't just mean the familiar image we have of someone sitting on a pillow silently exploring the depths of their witnessing (though doing that is great and I'd highly recommend it to anyone). I mean going about your daily life activities and truly witnessing each moment of your life - trying to be "in the zone" and really living, treating every action you take as sacred - whether you are washing the dishes, walking the dog, negotiating an important business deal, playing music...

...Or tasting wine.

It's by truly being meditative when tasting that we can most maximize both our enjoyment of wine and our wine appreciation skills...

I've written a few "glasses of zen" articles in the past, but I've never really explored how the simple act of witnessing can enhance the enjoyment of wine.

Some of the greatest noses in the wine business follow a similar "witnessing" tasting method, though they themselves may not call it meditation.

Take the love-him-or-leave-him wine critic Robert Parker, for example:

"When I put my nose in a glass, it's like tunnel vision. I move into another world, where every bit of mental energy is focused on that wine." - Robert M. Parker, Jr.

A similar tasting ethos has been expressed (quite eloquently) by the venerable Christie's wine critic Michael Broadbent:

"You do not need to be an expert, or even that interested in wine to enjoy drinking it. But tasting is not the same as drinking... The important point is that there is a reason for every colour, smell and taste. Every facet of a wine's effect on our senses... is meaningful. Exploring and understanding these facets helps us to appreciate a wine more fully." - from Winetasting, by Michael Broadbent

Those are some serious big-league wine-tasters, whose opinions have been known to make-or-break sales for virtually any wine that they happen to taste. So, you don't just need to take Dude's word for it!

I could wax philosophical on how the quality of our focus may or may not increase the quality of our wine appreciation. But I'll leave that one to the book Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine which has already explored it in great detail.

Instead, I will simply leave you with another quote, and then request that you do just one simple thing. Here's the quote:

"Meditation is not something that we just do for 20 or 40 minutes every morning and then forget about. Meditation involves a principle of awareness that you can practice in every moment of your life." - Wildmind.org

Here's the simple request:
The next time that try a glass of wine, really taste it, don't just drink it. Don't think, just taste.

If you find yourself marveling at how all the disparate aspects of nature have come together to allow you this moment of real, focused living - connecting you to the small miracle of how the fruit of a wild plant can end up producing the complex and pleasure-giving drink in the glass in front of you - well, my friend, then you "get it."

Nothing left to do but sit back, relax, and offer up a small prayer of gratitude to the universe for the gift you have received.

Well, that and finish your glass, of course.


Cheers!

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3 Things an Infant Can Teach You About Drinking Wine

(images: firstrung.co.uk, www.2112.net/powerwindows, freelanceswitch.com, ecx.images-amazon.com)

In a mere 2 1/2 weeks, my infant daughter has taught me a lot about life - how fragile, strong, miraculous, and "gritty" it can be, sometimes all at once.

What I didn't expect is that she would also teach me something about wine appreciation.

Now, before you go running for the phone to report me for child abuse, I'm not feeding this kid any vino. The most she gets of that would come from the residual bits in Mrs. Dudette's breast milk.

What I'm talking about is watching her eat (er, is it "drink" right now?). It's actually made me reflect a bit on how we (as adults) normally eat and drink in our crazy, not-enough-minutes-in-the-day kind of world.

And I can sum it up in three little words...

SLOW DOWN, BABY.

Actually, you can even shorten it down to two words (SLOW DOWN), for those of you who are really, really busy.

My daughter (more or less) waits until she is pretty hungry, makes her "hungry face" (which consists of her sticking out her tongue and flailing her head around looking for a waiting nipple), then latches on and starts sucking and gulping like a crazed, wild animal. She does stop to breathe - but only when she has to. Or when we burp her (those burps would finish her in the top 5 in any beer-guzzling bar burping contests, by the way).

And you know what? Daddy isn't much better.

I eat 4 to 5 meals a day, trying to load the calories up in the AM and gradually lighten my food intake so that dinner is usually a small-ish meal. When I eat lunch, I'm usually in the middle of something else. Instead of being "in the moment" and enjoying the food, I gulp i down as if it were the only meal I would receive that week and someone will come to snatch it away from me
if I'm not finished "eating" it in 5 minutes or less.

Watching my lil' bundle of joy has made me realize that this is probably not the most mature way to ensure I'm getting the right amount of conscious enjoyment - not to mention nutritional value - out of my meals.

If I used the same approach to appreciating wine, I wouldn't even taste it, let alone be able to evaluate its aromas, or enjoy any lingering finish that a great wine has to offer!

Let's get to the nitty-gritty and summarize.
On the winding road of life, watching how an infant eats can show us what (not) to do to really appreciate our wine (and our food):

1) Slow Down (Baby)
Take your time. There is no reason to rush that glass down your throat. Look at the wine. Smell the wine. Check out the colors of the wine in your glass. Swirl it and smell it again. Get to know the wine a little bit - after all, you're going to be putting it into your body, if nothing else you should make sure it's something that you really want in there!

2) Be In The Moment
Think about the wine and its aromas and flavors. Don't think about all the things you need to get done tomorrow, whether or not you think the restaurant's veggies will be overly-buttered, if the baby-sitter is eying up your beer (OK, maybe you should worry about that last one), etc.

3) Don't Forget To Pause - and Breathe
Once a glass of wine is poured, wine needs air to really show its stuff. And you need air, too. To clear your mind, help you focus, and remind you to pause and actually live and enjoy each moment of life. And each glass in your hand.

Cheers!

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5 Reasons Why Smoking Kills Wine Appreciation

(images: wiskirchengallery.com, farm3.static.flickr.com, smokingkills.com)

Guess what?

Smoking sucks donkey butt.

Hardly a news flash, right?

But what you might not know already is that, aside from the fact that smoking kills more people per year than alcohol & drug abuse, homicides, suicides, car accidents, fires, and AIDS-related deaths - combined - it also kills something else near and dear to our hearts.

Smoking totally kills your ability to truly appreciate wine.
You want to learn to appreciate wine like a pro? Then you'd better quit smoking, pronto...


1) Smoking impairs your sense of smell.
This is a well-known effect of smoking. Considering that almost all of your ability to taste wine stems from your ability to smell, this makes smoking pretty much the death knell of your wine appreciation pursuits. And it will stay that way until you quit smoking.


2) Smoking impairs your sense of taste.
According to TheScoopOnSmoking.org, "If you smoke, you won't be able to taste your food as well as nonsmokers do." That's because smoking damages your taste buds. So, what smoking doesn't kill in terms of your ability to appreciate a wine's aromas, it will kill in your ability to savor its flavors on your palate. You might as well be drinking water (or grain alcohol) instead.


3) Smoking creates off-odors that interfere with your (and others) ability to appreciate wine in the glass.
When you smoke, you stink. Your clothes, hair, and breath all suffer from off-odors when you're a smoker. The kind of strong off-putting odors associated with smoking are absolute murder for the appreciation of wines with delicate aromas. What's more, nothing will piss off other wine geeks more than your smelliness impairing their ability to appreciate the wine in their glasses!


4) Smoking is boku expensive.
The money that you spend on smoking (current estimates put this around $200 per month, on average) is money that you can't spend on good wine. I don't know about you, but I consider $2000+ a year a good deal of money; after all, that's almost 225 bottles of tasty Centine (or maybe 1.5 bottles of Chateau Petrus - in an off-vintage). Aside from the large personal expense of the smoking habit, it could also be argued that you have a civic and moral duty to quit smoking, to promote the public good. Why? Smoking increases general medical expenses, even for non-smokers. For example, treatment costs and rising insurance rates (even for non-smokers) are being driven up due to smoking-related health costs. Not really related to wine, I know, but since I had your attention I couldn't resist mentioning it.


5) Smoking will kill you.
While there has been past publicity given to medical studies that claim wine drinking can counter some of the arterial damage caused by smoking, there is no evidence to suggest that drinking wine can help counter any of the dozens of other negative health impacts of smoking. The bottom line is that smoking will kill you.

And I'm fairly certain that death seriously imparis your ability to appreciate fine wine.

Duh...


Cheers!

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Wine Appreciation and Alcohol Abuse: How to Avoid Personal Disaster

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I work in two professions - Wine Consulting and Playing Rock Music - that pretty much guarantee that I am in close proximity to alcohol (and its potential abuse) a good portion of the time.

I love to drink. Specifically, I love to savor excellent wine (and beer), and admire the nuances, flavors, aromas, and overall artistic craftsmanship that a good drink can deliver. Most of all, I love sharing that experience with others. Wine connects us to a particular place and time, and connects us with each other - not just the place, time, and people that made it, but also the place, time and people with whom we enjoy it when we pop the cork.

And once in a blue moon, I like to overdo it a bit. Because getting buzzed with friends is, well, it's just plain fun.

Notice I wrote "once in a blue moon" and not "every weekend." In the rock-&-roll context of my life, I've seen first-hand what alcohol abuse can do to individuals, families, and even total strangers that come into unfortunate (and sometimes, in the case of drunk driving, catastrophic and tragic) contact with an abuser.

Genetics and personality traits are very important in determining anyone's individual predilection towards abuse of alcohol, but it doesn't help that cultural, and peer pressures (at least in the U.S. and the U.K.) tend to ridicule the appreciation of wine as snobbish, while at the same time aggrandizing inebriation as the height of fun in a social context.

That approach is completely ass-backward. I don't have any pithy humorous sayings on that topic. It's just so sad, stupid, and heartbreaking that I can't make it funny and still respect myself.

Alcohol-related liver diseases (which are notoriously difficult to diagnose until they are advanced) have been on the rise in countries like Britain for years. Whether you drink or not, the rising abuse of alcohol (in the U.S. or the U.K. for example) is expensive for taxpayers and health insurance recipients who all help to fund health care systems that are having trouble keeping up without breaking their banks.

I'm not the first person to touch on how these dangers impact those of us in the wine consulting biz (check out this great series in Men's Vogue for an example). But I thought I'd add to the on-line discussion by listing the tips that have helped me (so far) to successfully navigate the waters of wine appreciation while minimizing the damage to my liver (and my relationships)...


Abuse Is NOT 'One-Size-Fits-All.' Safe levels of drinking can only ever be approximate. While you may read that having 2 drinks per day is the safe average level of consumption for someone of your weight and gender, these generalized figures don't take into account your race, family history, or personality type. You can't treat these as hard-and-fast rules - your safe levels may differ.


All Things In Moderation. If 2 drinks per day is a safe limit for you, that doesn't mean that abstaining from drinking for one week means that you can safely consume 14 drinks over the weekend. If you are unsure if your current alcohol consumption levels are safe, consult alcoholism.about.com (or, better yet, talk to your doctor).


Treat Professional Settings Professionally. I've written before about the perils of industry tastings, so I won't repeat all of that advice here. Bear in mind that just because free alcohol is available to you doesn't mean that you are obligated to drink it. When you're at industry tastings, don't forget to spit, and don't use it as an excuse to catch up on drinking that you think you've "missed out on" in the past.


Don't Punish Yourself. If you're not an abuser, drinking too much once in a long while shouldn't upset you (unless it's caused you to do something that you regret). Nobody's perfect. Just make a mental note to improve the next time. If needed, ask your friends for support. (If you are an abuser, or concerned that you might be headed in that direction, then falling off the wagon is a big deal and might need the help of a professional).


Never, Ever, Under Any Circumstances Drink & Drive. This one should be obvious but amazingly I still know people who do this. This is never, ever safe under any circumstances. If you suspect that you're going to have more than your normally safe level of alcohol, get someone else to drive - no excuses.


Cheers!

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3 Ways to Increase Your Wine Appreciation Without Drinking

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Let's face it. There are just some situations where our favorite pastime - drinking the vino - just isn't appropriate.

Religious retreats, Amish barn-raisings, and Rehab all come to mind.

Think that because you can't imbibe the vino, you're missing out on opportunities to up your Wine IQ?

Wrong, Jack!

Here are three sure-fire ways to increase your wine appreciation - without having to pop a single cork...


1) Get out the map.
Wine connects you to a place. Sometimes (usually when it's inexpensive) it's a big swath of country; other times (when it's so expensive that it's on allocation to the billionaires among you who own your own islands), it's a tiny plot of land in Burgundy.

Since wine connects you to a location on the planet, the more you know about that location the more your appreciation for that place's wine can grow. When you're traveling, spend some time to learn about the culture, history, and geography of that area. When you're at home, crack open a decent atlas and soak in some knowledge about someplace far, far away.

Remember that the vino embodies a unique combination of a place's soil, its climate, and the culture of winemaking that helped along the miracle of turing that grape juice into the stuff in your glass. When you're back to your normal wine-tasting environment, try some wines from the places that you just learned about - you just might get an instant and intimate connection with that spot of the world through that wine.


2) Get cookin'.
Mrs. Dudette likes to cook - and she's pretty darn great at it, too - which has exposed Dude here to cuisine he would never have had the pleasure of grubbing if he had stuck to his bachelor life. And you know what? Exposure to varied ingredients and cooking styles had made Dude a better wine taster.

Why? For one thing, regional cuisine is a function of regional culture, and in many parts of the wine world, a region's wines and its food have evolved together to compliment one another (check out the book Vino Italiano for a good example of this). For another, exposure to different cooking styles and foods builds up your flavor and aroma chops - essential stuff for tasting and describing the myriad of tastes and smells that a good wine can serve up.

I'm not sure how many amazing cook books are out there, but I'm pretty sure Mrs. Dudette owns approximately 80% of them. In any case, some of my faves can be found at this link. Pick a recipe, fire up the grill, and get cookin'!


3) Hit the books.
Can't taste? Then read.

Reading about wine, its amazing history, its incredible variety, and the charismatic & entertaining personalities that have forged its destiny... well, you can't help but to be awed, people.

I've got a Top 10 list of wine appreciation books, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are a plethora of books on the market that explore wine from angles besides just how to taste it - its impacts on philosophy, its affect on modern culture, its mysterious origins, and the human side of its story throughout world history, for starters.

You could, quite literally (ha-ha), read about wine every evening and deepen your appreciation for (and knowledge of) it for several years without ever getting bored.

But it's more fun to do it with a glass of vino in hand.

Cheers!

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20 Things About Life I've Learned From Drinking Wine

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It's been said in some Eastern traditions that to be born a human is a rare event. To be a human and to question the source of life (to become a Seeker) is rarer still. And rarest of all is to seek and find your guru, the way to enlightenment.

Well, I've had many gurus in my life. My dog, for example, has taught me a lot (including how to better smell my wine). Wine itself can be one of your life gurus, if you only take the time to pay attention to what it has to tell you.

“Reality is an illusion that occurs due to a lack of wine.”
- Anonymous

Inspired in part by a recent post in Zen Habits, below are 20 things about life that I've learned - from drinking wine. I fully expect that the list will grow, as my life journey of wine appreciation continues - but who knows, sometimes I'm stubborn, and I'm also prone to forget stuff, so I'd better share these now!

Roll up with me, if you will, and let's enjoy together a glass of 'Zen Wine'...

20 Things About Life I've Learned From Drinking Wine

1) Old is Beautiful
Anyone caught up in our youth-worshiping culture need only to crack open a well-kept aged classified Bordeaux, taking in all of its complex aromas & flavors, to realize that not only do good things come to those who wait, but time offers the gift of real beauty to those who age with grace and humility.


2) Young is Beautiful
Fruit bombs can be fun - there's something refreshing about the forward brashness of youth. If you want to stay young at heart, you need to keep a bit of youthful bravado, through thick & thin.


3) Nature matters
Start with a crappy vine, and you could end up with crappy wine. Start with a great old vine, and you've got a better chance of making some killer vino. We need to remember our roots - if you don't really know where you're starting from, you might not be able to get where you want to go!


4) Nurture matters, too
Just as good wine needs a caring hand in its development, we need to seek out strong role models and a positive environment to reach our best in life.


5) Real change comes from within
A great wine starts with a decent pedigree, loving hands during its formative time (fermentation, etc.), and a good environment in which to mature. After that, all the magic happens within the bottle with virtually no exposure to the 'outside' world. Like a great wine, once we're given what we need to succeed in life, the rest is up to us!


6) The greatest pleasure is being in the moment
Pour, swirl, sniff, sip. If you want to get the most out of tasting a wine, you need to let yourself BE, clearing your mind and just accepting everything that the wine has to offer. In other words, you need to be in the moment. Tasting wine is a sacred act - just like walking the dog, getting married, making love, or reading the newspaper. All of our actions become minor miracles in the universe when we give ourselves up to them completely.


7) People & relationships matter more than stuff
We get just as much pleasure from sharing a good wine with good friends as we do tasting that good wine. Wine is a lubricant for life - not a substitute for it. The objects in your life should be used for your life (and not the other way around).


8) Sharing is caring
A friend of mine called me recently, telling me how excited he was that he would be pouring magnums of `60s Ch. Petrus at a dinner, and that he would probably get a chance to taste some of this amazing stuff. Why did he call? "I needed to tell someone who would appreciate it!" he said. The better things in life, like wine, are best when they're shared.


9) One size does not fit all
I don't like Retsina. In fact, I hate Retsina. But there are people out there who love it. And both are totally OK. There are over 7,000 brands of wine available to consumers in the U.S. - and that's AWESOME. Because variety (especially of varietals!) really is the spice of life.


10) We have a duty to 'Go Green'
Wine is arguably the best and most artistic interpretation of the bounty that the earth has to offer us (the French terrior concept shows that they figured this out a long time ago!). We owe a debt to mother nature to be sustainable and nurture her as she has done for us (and hopefully will do for our children).


11) Looks can be deceiving
My wife used to buy bottles of wine because they had pretty labels. And a lot of them sucked. Don't judge based on appearances - eventually, it will burn you.


12) Not everyone ages gracefully
I've tasted decades-old Barolos that were still tannic. I've tasted aged Rieslings that smelled more like vinegar than flowers & petrol. Some people just get crotchety and negative, and they're best avoided.


13) All things in moderation
I've tasted a lot of wine. Sometimes a lot of wine in one night. And sometimes, I've hugged some toilets. Trust me, things are best when they're not overdone!


14) A place for everything, & everything in its place
You can't age wine just anywhere, and having the right storage system makes keeping wine a hell of a lot easier. Life is smoother and more tranquil when you remove clutter from your surroundings (and your mind).


15) The best views come from the toughest climbs
The most beautiful views usually come from the highest peaks, and you're going to need to do some difficult climbing to see them. Most of the best wine on earth is picked, sorted, and managed by hand - made even more difficult when done from steep hillsides at high altitudes. A labour of love & passion may not be easy, but it usually gets you the best of what life has to offer.


16) Sometimes we need to be challenged to show our best
Better wines come from better fruit, and better fruit comes from vines that are stressed (for water, nutrients, etc.). When we are challenged, we grow. And when we step up to the challenges of life, we really know what we're made of.


17) You are what you eat (& drink)
If a wine is fed bad water, on bad soil, and doused with pesticides, it's probably going to turn out bad. Which is why you should never drink plonk if you can avoid it. Also - never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink! Our bodies are not that different and they don't take well to being fed lousy eats. Eat food, mostly vegetables, not too much. Give your body the best chance it can have, by giving it the best food you can get.


18) "The secret to being a bore is to tell everything"
Wines that don't have much complexity can get really boring, really quickly. Wines that evolve over time in the glass, revealing layer upon layer of aromas and flavors, are among the world's most exciting. Leave a bit of mystery to life, and to yourself - not everything can be explained, and not everything is worth explaining.


19) Never stop learning
If you want to appreciate wine, you will need to learn a bit of science, geography, history, biology, chemistry... I'm sure you get the point. As Ghandi said, "live as if you will die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever."


20) Your greatest asset is Patience
If you want to taste a wine aged to perfection, then you need to wait and let it age to perfection, undisturbed, without your meddling. Lao Tzu asked if you have the patience to wait until the 'muddy water' of your mind is clear.

And as Pete Townshend asked "Well... do ya?!?"


Cheers!

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Why Fruit Bombs Are OK (I am Here to Whet Some Palates!)

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Warning: If you consider yourself a wine snob, or are easily offended (or both), then I am about to lose you as a friend with this post.

Because I am here to tell you that "Fruit Bombs" (those wines made in a style that deliberately dials up the varietal fruit and shoves it right into your face) are OK.

No, really, I'm serious. They're OK.

Yes, they really are. YES, they ARE.

Now, before I explain why Fruit Bombs are OK, I need to tell you a little about Jaco Pastorius (stick with me - this will all makes sense in a minute or two)...

Jaco Pastorius is widely considered to be the father of modern jazz bass playing. Often he is cited as the best jazz bassist to have ever lived (if not the best electric bassist ever, period). If, like me, you're a bass player, then you have to be inspired at least a little bit by Jaco's amazing playing and harmonious blend of musicality, technique, humor, and inventiveness - if not, you'd better have your pulse checked, 'cause you might be dead.

In the music biz, Jaco was just as famous for his quips as he was for his bass licks. Among his best: "women, children, and rhythm section first," "it ain't braggin' if you can back it up!" and my personal favorite, "I am not here to raise hippy consciousness, I am here to wet some panties."

Artistic Harmony is Important (Especially in Wine)
The key to Jaco's success was how well he blended all of the different elements of his musical abilities together into a coherent whole. You may not like jazz, but if you're really listening, you can't help but admire the genuineness and balance.

When I'm drinking wine, I'm looking for the same things: genuineness and balance. I may not like the style, but I will admire those elements, if they exist in the wine. Because a winemaker who is really trying will give you the most of those things that are possible given the winemaking conditions, raw materials/grapes, and other resources s/he has on command for that vintage.

Don't Dis Based on Style - Dis Based on Lack of Harmony
Fruit Bombs are nothing more than a style of winemaking. Do I think many of them suck? Sure I do. Do I prefer them to more subtle-flavored wine choices? Usually not. But I don't write them off on the whole any more than I would tell you that all country music sucks just because I'm not a fan of the genre in general.

Making a wine is a bit like fiddling with the EQ on your stereo. Crank up the bass and extreme treble all the way, and most of your music will sound like shit. And the bad, disingenuous music? That will sound even worse. In winemaking, if you crank up the fruit, you'd better make sure that you're also cranking up the structure (acidity, tannin, oak, etc.) to some degree, so that you're providing a balance and giving the disparate elements in the wine the best chance to come together as a cohesive whole. Or most likely your wine will taste like shit.

Wine is Music to Your Mouth
A wine, even an inexpensive one, should be like music to your palate - and the Brittany Spears of wine is inherently no better than Joni Mitchell of wine, depending on which one you're most into.

So let's not write off the fruit bombs, people. Let's write off the disingenuous wines that don't have internal harmony.

I am not here to raise wine consciousness, I am here to whet some palates!

Cheers!

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