Swami of Umami

2012 Consumer Wine Awards Open for Submissions

2012-01-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Consumer evaluators will assess hundreds of wines from around the world

Lodi, CA (January 23, 2012) -- Wines from all producing countries are now being accepted by the 5th Annual Consumer Wine Awards here, with the competition closing February 24 and winners announced in March.

The 5th annual Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi, open to wines from every region, grape variety, type and style in the world, will take place here March 17-18, 2012. Wines entered in this unique competition are evaluated by panels of everyday wine consumers in multiple categories of wine types, styles and price ranges. The unique event celebrates both the diversity of wines and of wine consumer preferences. Last year’s Platinum winners included an amazing range of wines from inexpensive table wines to high-end Napa Cabernets, wines from many states across the US and other countries, representing a full spectrum of wine flavors and styles. The competition is sponsored by the Lodi Tokay Rotary club and benefits local and international charities.

Awards are given in a variety of formats identified on the website, www.consumerwineawards.com, and will also include a special George M. Taber value wine award celebrating his upcoming book, “A Toast to Bargain Wines”.

This year the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi will create "Best of Country" Awards for wines from around the globe; e.g., the highest scoring wines from Argentina, Australia, France, Italy, etc., will be given the opportunity to be tasted in their own sub-category by country, by consumers who favor traditional wines with regional character, or can be included in the traditional varietal categories at the discretion of the producer or importer.

The top scoring wine from each country would be awarded "Best of (Country/Region)". "This is a great way for producers everywhere to see how their wines rate with their own countries' wines or, at their discretion, against U.S. and international competition," Hanni said.

G. M. "Pooch" Pucilowski, co-director, said that the competition is growing in popularity, reaching almost 1000 wines last year. He said, "Wineries should participate in the 2012 awards to tap into what we estimate to be in excess of 40% or more of the total wine market. We reach out to the overwhelmed, intimidated and disenfranchised core wine consumers who do not seem to respond to the language, values and conventional wisdom of the traditional wine community. We believe the wine industry can benefit from a completely new direction and strategy that can only come from critically rethinking the consumer opportunity."

Several research programs are accompanying the competition, helping participants identify consumer palatal preferences. "With over 100,000 wines in the market, these consumer-generated preference awards provide new guidelines for the industry," Pucilowski said.

Distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and hoteliers are using the prize winners in their own wine programs, said Hanni. "It's a win-win, with winning wineries working with the trade to show the consumers that their tastes are being factored into wine programs." The competition is sponsored by the Lodi Tokay Rotary Club and proceeds fund local and international charitable projects.

Key Dates:

• January 4, 2012 - First Day for receiving entry applications and wines (or labels)

• February 24, 2012 - Last Day for accepting entry applications and wines (or labels)

• March 17-18, 2012 - Competition to be held at Hutchins Street Square in Lodi, California

Contacts for questions and information:

Harvey Posert Public Relations, hposertpr@comcast.com, (707) 963-2685 Tim Hanni MW, tim@timhanni.com, (707) 337-0327 (tasting methodology, consumer research) G.M. "Pooch" Pucilowski, gmpooch@pacbell.net, (209) 369-2020 (wine submissions) Mike Bennett, (209) 642-2391 mbennett41@sbcglobal.net (Rotary PR contact, Lodi-related information and details)

Consumer Wine Awards is looking for Consumer Wine Evaluators (people NOT in wine bisiness): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWAL2012_Consumer_Evaluator_Application to apply

CONSUMER WINE AWARDS COMPETITION SET FOR 2012

2011-11-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Consumer Preferences Can Surprise, Validate Experts

November 4, 2011, Lodi, CA -- The 5th annual Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi, open to wines from every region, grape variety, type and style in the world, will take place here March 17-18, 2012. Wines entered in this unique competition are evaluated by panels of everyday wine consumers in multiple categories of wine types, styles and price ranges. The unique evnt celebrates both the diversity of wines and of wine consumer preferences. Last year’s Platinum winners included an amazing range of wines from inexpensive table wines to high-end Napa Cabernets, wines from many states across the US and other countries, representing a full spectrum of wine flavors and styles.

Consumer Evaluators in Actions

"The Consumer Wine Awards recognizes and celebrates the fact every person has unique physiological and sensory differences that profoundly affect wine and food preferences,” said co-director Tim Hanni MW. "The people evaluating each wine category will be the very consumers who are most inclined to buy and enjoy those wines and this creates a new way for other consumers, who share similar tastes, to confidently explore wines recommended by their peers." Awards are given in a variety of formats identified on the website, www.consumerwineawards.com and will also include a special George Taber value wine award celebrating his upcoming book, A Toast to Bargain Wines.

This year the Consumer Wine Awards will create "Best of Country" Awards for wines from around the globe; e.g., the highest scoring wines from Argentina, Australia, France, Italy, etc.,will be be given the opportunity to be tasted in their own sub-category by country, by consumers who favor traditional wines with regional character, or can be included in the traditional varietal categories at the discretion of the producer or importer. The top scoring wine from each country would be awarded "Best of (Country/Region)". "This is a great way for producers everywhere to see how their wines rate with their own countries' wines or, at their discretion, against U.S. and international competition," Hanni said.

Distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and hoteliers are using the prize winners in their own wine programs, said Hanni "It's a win-win, with winning wineries working with the trade to show the consumers that their tastes are being factored into wine programs." The competition is sponsored by the Lodi Tokay Rotary Club and proceeds fund local and international charitable projects.

Key Dates:

·         January 4, 2012 - First Day for receiving entry applications and wines (or labels)
·         February 24, 2012 - Last Day for accepting entry applications and wines (or labels)
·         March 17-18, 2012 - Competition to be held at Hutchins Street Square in Lodi, California

Contacts for questions and information:

Harvey Posert Public Relations, hposertpr@comcast.com, (707) 963-2685

Tim Hanni MW, tim@timhanni.com, (707) 337-0327 (tasting methodology, consumer research)
G.M. "Pooch" Pucilowski, gmpooch@pacbell.net, (209) 369-2020 (wine submissions)
Mike Bennett, (209) 642-2391 mbennett41@sbcglobal.net (Rotary PR contact, Lodi-related information and details)

Imaginary Wine and Food Disasters

2011-08-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Delicate sauteed halibut, salmon and
grilled asparagus served with Moscato,
White Zin and Cab (1985 Beringer
Chabot vineyard!). All yummy.

Have you even tried it?

Almost all wine and food matching occurs in the fertile imagination of usually well-meaning and earnest wine and food enthusiasts and professionals. There is also some specter of "wine and food disasters" looming that can befall the poor, unsuspecting consumer if they make the mistake of ordering or serving the wrong wine with the wrong food: see Dan Berger's piece on wine pairing disasters - http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/wine/columnists/dan-berger/article_cbc1dd26-6acc-11e0-9fd6-001cc4c03286.html

Here are recommendations for Peking Duck on a recent expert thread (spelling is from posts):

Reisling, a Sauvignon Blanc or Chateau Neuf-du-Pape, Oregon Pinot Noir, 100% Pinot Meunier Champagne, Alsace blends, a big ol' Pride Cabernet, Dolcetto and ripe vintages of rosso di montalcino, Sangiovese, Australian Sparkling Cabernet, Gewurztraminer, Grenache, Dry rose (esp. ones based upon Rhone red varieties like Grenache, and Syrah or Italian varieties like Barbera and Sangiovese), a good portuguese wine from Douro.

Holy moly. Basically everyone just conjures up the dish, conjures up the metaphorical match and then goes to the mental rolodex of wines they love in their heads and comes up with a match. The process is not based on any reality - just our fertile imagination and personal wine favorites. Note there is nothing wrong with this - just what the hell is a poor consumer supposed to do with this information???? You can bet that all contributors would defend their choices AND you can bet that if it is a wine you love it will be great with the Peking Duck AND if it is not a great match a dash of soy sauce (which is erroneously referred to as a wine enemy) and a tiny squeeze of lemon (for those who are more highly sensitive to bitterness) will set the dish right with any of the wines recommended.

Now take the information to your retailer, "I went online and looking for a big, delicate, fruity and spicy late harvest sparkling nouveau white cabernet-pinot noir-grenache-sangiovese rose from Portugal made by an Australian winemaker with lots of not-oak owned by an Italian family to go with Peking Duck..."

When people come to my house for lunch or dinner and I get the cursory, "What wine should I bring?" question I disclose the meal I plan and ask them to bring a wine that will NOT go with the dish. The wine should be something they like but would be considered a 'disaster' with the food. Most often I love to serve a delicate fish dish, like sole or halibut (red snapper or flounder when I am in Florida) and the wines that are selected are the intense reds that are so de riguer these days. Not sorta red, big and red.

The typical dishes I prepare are filet of sole a la bonne femme (paupiettes of sole - rolled up - poached in white wine and fish fumet with tarragon and mushrooms. The wines selected range from intense Lodi Petite Sirah to Napa Cabernet. I will invite some who have had this experience weigh in in the comments.

The results? Yummy food, wonderful wine. The sole is delicious. The wine does not overpower the food nor does the food do anything other than make the wine more rich and delectable. The wine and food 'disaster' is all in our heads. Not one of the hundreds of people I cook for over the years has EVER tried a delicate piece of fish a la meuniere with and intense red wine. EVER!

Same goes for steak and Riesling or lamb and Pinot Grigio. If the food is green and vegetal the imagination goes to Sauvignon Blanc. Oysters and Syrah? Ask winemaker Ken Brown - we spent an afternoon at Edna Valley Winery many years ago with a whole group of people slurping down fresh oyster and sucking down Syrah, Cabernet - anything close at hand that was supposed to 'not go with' oysters. If a slight metallic or bitter edge arose the tiniest bit of fresh lemon juice brought the wine back into wonderful balance. There were a lot of quizzical looks - turns out not one person in the very large group of very expert wine people had even tried the combination.

There is no natural affinity between Pinot Noir and salmon - salmon is just metaphorically more similar to Pinot: salmon is big and red as far as fish go (not as big and not as red as a cow) and Pinot is not as 'big' and red as a Cabernet. it is an imaginary match - and if you love Pinot Noir and love salmon chances are you will be very passionate that this IS a perfect match!

A couple of caveats

1. The wine must be in the realm of a wine you would enjoy - if you hate high alcohol Zinfandel, White Zinfandel, Pinot Grigio or whatever, it WILL suck with your food (or without).

2. The more emotionally you are tied to wine and food matching the more likely it is the imaginary wine and food matches you conjure up will work together. This is a psychological phenomenon and self-fulfilling prophecy of wine and food matching, not an experiential reality.

3. The more 'Hypersensitive' you are the more likely you are to get a bitter reaction from strong wines (high extract, higher alcohol) with foods with lots of umami - a tiny addition of lemon and salt will cure most negative reactions but you don't tend to favor huge reds or oaky whites in the first place and stick to the wines you love the most.

4. The more 'Tolerant' you are the more you will love big, extracted reds with whatever the hell you are eating and less likely you are to get any bitter reactions - you just want big, red wines and you know who you are! A delicate Riesling with sushi is not in the cards for you.

5. If you love the metaphorical matching of heavy wines with heavy foods, searching for that orgasmic synergy when the wine and food elevate the experience to a whole new level, compliment and contrast the flavors and textures - keep on doing that. Just understand that the experience is personal, subjective and mostly all in your head!

It is time that to radically address the role of enjoying wine and food together - things are completely out of control and the misinformation, false premises and misunderstandings are at an all-time high. Go ahead - spend a week diligently trying the WRONG wine with your food, or vice-versa. You will be surprised at the success you will have finding delicious matches you never imagined.

Wine & Spirits Education Trust Adopts Consumer-friendly Hanni Approach

2011-05-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

I am very proud to formally announce that the Wine & Spirits Education Trust will be adopting my principles and approach to the enjoyment of wine with food for their Advanced Course curriculum. Their key textbook, Exploring the World of Wines and Spirits, is currently being revised, translated and reprinted with the new chapter and is scheduled for distribution this fall.

You can download a reprint of the new chapter, with the permission of the WSET, at http://www.timhanni.com/Wine_with_Food_WSET.pdf. I would be delighted to answer any questions and interested in comments on the material. I was in London earlier this month and was able to conduct a Master Class with the WSET team and it was very well received with some lingering doubts and resistance clearly evident from a few attendees.

I know that a lot of my assertions may at first seem extreme but I am very careful with my research and invite others to participate in helping to bring about positive change to an area that has become increasingly confusing and contradictory. My transition from staunch traditionalist to “disruptive innovator” in the wine and food arena did not come about either quickly or easily.

I am more convinced than ever that the way to globally expand wine sales and promote a greater diversity of wine styles will come from the wine community learning to celebrate the diversity of wine consumer tastes and deepen our understanding of individual consumer preferences. Combining this consumer-centric approach with a new and more accurate understanding of the dynamics of wine and food interactions with much-needed revisions to inaccurate wine and food principles could be the key for stimulating wine consumption from consumers who love wine but are off put by the unnecessary, confusing rituals and false promises of wine and food pairing. My mission is to expand wine enjoyment and by introducing a much greater rigor into a community that operates on a lot of half-truths and myths.

Join in with your comments and let me know what you think!

CONSUMER WINE AWARDS AT LODI FULFILLS PROMISE TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY

2011-04-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

An army of 120 wine consumers supported by a legion of over 100 local Rotarians convened in Lodi, California, to participate as Consumer Evaluators for the 2011 Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi. They sipped, spat and voted their favorites from nearly 700 wines submitted and the results covered a spectrum of wines that were as diverse as the spectrum of consumers who evaluated them. Platinum Awards went to twenty-one wines including an intense Lodi Zinfandel, two delicate Pinot Grigios, a high-end Napa Valley Bordeaux blend, a Chardonnay from Pennsylvania, a Chardonnay from Virginia and even a generic, boxed “Rhine” wine from California.

What makes this event so unique is that panels of consumers, not wine critics or experts, are selected to evaluate categories of wines that they love. This means that the awards are given by the very people who most frequently select the types of wines they are asked to evaluate. "We recognized that some wines which get a shrug from the experts are getting kudos from the everyday consumers who buy and drink them," says Competition Co-Director "Pooch" Pucilowski.

Christine Carroll, from Crossing Vineyards, Crossing, PA and Platinum Award winner for 2008 Viognier, wrote the organizers saying, “These awards mean so much more to us than the political, wine-snob-driven competitions we often enter. You have no idea how tough it is to prove that world class wine can be produced in Pennsylvania! Your recognition encourages us to go quietly about the process of making good, affordably priced wines every day. We will keep fighting the good fight.”

Master of Wine Tim Hanni, who is responsible for the unique focus and methodology employed for the event, points out, “Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi encompasses all of the things we value and are working to bring to the wine community. We are exploring a better understanding of consumer preferences and values to develop peer-to-peer wine recommendations as an alternative, not replacement, to expert or wine critic recommendations. The wine industry is missing the mark and spending too much time trying to tell consumers what they like instead of listening and finding out what they want. The Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi is part of a bigger movement to end “the tyranny of the minority” of a handful of critics, who tend to focus on a very narrow range of wines, and expose more people to the phenomenal wines from around America and beyond. We are thrilled that so many lesser-known wines performed so magnificently.”

A full listing of results and information on the 2012 Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi can be found at http://www.consumerwineawards.com/.

Contact: Tim Hanni MW, tim@timhanni.com

How (Or If) You Wear Underwear May Provide Insights to Wine Preferences

2011-04-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

Individual sensory sensitivity manifested in strange ways.

My research colleague, Dr. Virginia Utermohlen MD, and I are proposing that the range and intensity of sensations we experience varies, often dramatically, from one person to the next and these individual differences play an important role in determining individual wine preferences. It is well known that people often argue about the characteristics and qualities they perceive in a wine—it's as if they were not tasting or smelling the same thing. This disagreement is known to occur among experts, even when they are sharing from the exact same bottle. We propose that these differences in perception often stem from sensitivity variables. Furthermore these variables are evident in a spectrum of individual attitudes and behaviors and may even influence the development of our personality traits.

Someone who is extremely sensitive to touch is usually more sensitive to other sensory stimuli: light, sound, taste, and smell. This insight helps explain a lot of things people disagree on in life, from the temperature in the room, to the use of cilantro in a recipe, to the volume of the television, to the sheets that you sleep on.

Virginia and I were recently reviewing data collected from wine consumers and discussing how heightened taste sensitivity is manifested in many other behaviors related to sensory sensitivity—ranging from finding the right thermostat settings to the need to cut tags out of clothing because it is so irritating. She inquired, “Have you ever asked people if they wear their underwear inside out?”

“Dear god”, I asked, “what on earth for?” Virginia went on to explain that a common behavior of ultra-sensitive people, who tend to prefer sweet or very light dry wines, is to invert their undies due to the irritation from the seams against their skin. Or, she said, they oftentimes just abandon wearing undergarments altogether. Inquiring minds want to know, so I have begun asking this question at events and wine tastings where I conduct our Taste Sensitivity Quotient (TasteSQ) interview.

During a TasteSQ interview at a recent wine tasting in San Francisco, I tried the question for the first time with a gentleman who hit all of the other questions for a Sweet (ultrasensitive) taster dead-on: can’t stand coffee (too bitter), loves salt (a sign of more taste buds, not less), and experiences a horrible, bitter and metallic taste from artificial sweeteners. And yes, he loved sweet wines and could not stand the horrible taste of dry wines. I proceeded to make assertion after assertion on things like his need to cut tags out of his clothes, how loud restaurants completely ruin even the most delicious food, and that his Mother experienced severe morning sickness with him. He was amazed. Feeling this was the perfect chance I asked, “Do you ever wear your underwear inside out?” He almost fell over. It was evident, and he later confirmed the answer, saying “Yep – how the h*** did you know THAT?” His friends were quite amused.

It was a simple deductive process. People who love sweet or delicate wines are typically what we call Sweet or Hypersensitive tasters. They share common traits such as hypersensitivity to light, sound, smell and, in this case, touch. In fact, they live in a vivid cacophony of sensations that other people cannot even imagine. This means they tend to seek out wines that are sweet or delicate, and they require the wines to be low in alcohol and ultra-smooth tasting.

A common behavior of these ultrasensitive individuals is to turn their undies inside out or to abandon wearing them at all. With my insatiable curiosity fired up I am delving deeper into this phenomenon and finding people who abandon undies altogether are reticent to share the information, but their stuttering and blushing give away their secret. Another connection to the term “blush wine”? Kidding.

Sweet and Hypersensitive tasters, who have the most taste buds and share an aversion to bitterness, high alcohol, and tannin will seek out wines that are often sweet, such as Moscato or White Zinfandel, or delicate dry wines, like dry Riesling or Pinot Grigio. They seek out and enjoy the very wines abandoned by the wine critics and wine community in general. Light, delicate, smooth and fragrant.

Boy, this assertion is going to get my detractors’ panties in a wad. That is, if they are wearing any.

New Hope for Mothers of Picky Eaters

2011-03-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Research shows picky eaters are the most sensitive tasters, provides new hope to frustrated mothers everywhere.
March 14, 2011, Napa, CA: Children who are picky eaters often have highly sensitive palates with heightened perception of bitterness. As a result they will typically avoid healthy vegetables while gravitating to salty and fatty foods thus developing a host of life-long, unhealthy eating habits that may result in higher risks of disease, obesity, and cancer. They may also be more likely to end up with diminished confidence and low self-esteem, according to Dr. Virginia Utermohlen.

The solution for preparing kid-friendly foods lies in a technique called "flavor balancing" developed by her research partner, Master of Wine and chef Tim Hanni. Says Utermohlen, "I am a highly sensitive taster myself; I was, and still am, a very picky eater and never have been able to eat green beans or many other vegetables. When I tried some fresh green beans prepared with Tim's flavor balancing technique I polished off a whole plate full!"

Utermohlen is a pediatrician, researcher and recently retired professor in the Cornell University Division of Nutritional Sciences, who studies how taste and smell sensitivity are related to personality, food choice, eating attitudes and behavior, and choice of profession. Tim Hanni MW is the founder of the Napa Seasoning Company, a trained chef and Master of Wine who studies how sensory sensitivity variables affect consumer wine and food preferences. Utermohlen and Hanni teamed up two years ago to conduct deeper research on the role of sensory physiology in shaping human food and beverage preferences, behaviors and even personality traits. Their research not only shows that picky eaters crave salt, love sweets and avoid bitter foods and beverages, but that these picky eaters grow up feeling embarrassed about their preferences and often alienated or even punished at the table. Says Hanni, “It is time we learned to better understand and cultivate, not punish, young palates.”

Contact: Tim Hanni MW tim@napaseasoning.com or 707-337-0327

Pinot Noir Summit to Assess Consumer Wine Favorites by Taste Sensitivity Quotient

2011-02-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

How consumers' wine preferences mesh with the preferences of other consumers with similar taste sensitivity will be determined at a pioneering tasting program in the 9th Annual Pinot Noir Summit February 26 at the San Francisco Hilton. "By establishing the TasteSQ (http://www.tastesq.com/) of the participants, we can easily show how your TasteSQ influences your Pinot Noir syle preferences and then how that matches with other people with a similar sensitivity," said Tim Hanni, MW, who created the Consumer Wine Preference format with Cornell's Virginia Utermohlen, M.D. "For the first time they'll be able to tell which wines are best suited to which groups of tasters."

How it works: the experts and the consumers will be assessed by Hanni for their Taste SQ (Sensitivity Quotient) to determine if they are a Sweet, Hyper-sensitive, Sensitive or Tolerant taster. Their TasteSQ will be recorded on their ballot as they taste through the range of wines selected from the Pinot Noir Shootout and select their top three favorite wines. Hanni and Dr. Utermohlen, partners in TasteScience, will analyze the results by TasteSQ segments to demonstrate how differences in consumer preferences can be understood and explained by taste sensitivity. This information will be available with the overall results from the event.

Pinot Noir enthusiasts will taste 64 top Pinot Noirs blind, as well as attend wine workshops and tasting with winemakers and wine educators. The daylong program costs$125, with a portion going to Junior Achievement. For tickets, register at http://www.affairsofthevine.com/. For further information contact Barbara Drady, Affairs of the Vine, 707/874-1975 or barbara@affairsofthevine.com.

To take the 2011 Consumer Wine Preferences Survey go to http://www.consumerwineawards.com/

Search for Wine Consumers to Evaluate Hundreds of Wines

2011-01-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

The Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi is seeking everyday wine lovers to participate in a wine preferences survey and apply to become a Consumer Wine Evaluator. Please take our 20 minute survey even if you are unable to participate in the event. We want to hear from you and you can go to http://www.consumerwineawards.com/ to take our survey and apply to be one of our Evaluators.

The Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi takes place at Hutchins Street Square in Lodi, CA, on Saturday, March 19th, 2010 from approximately 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM and possibly on Sunday, March 20th, 2011, from approximately 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We also have our famous 'After Party' from 6:00 to 9:00 and everyone is invited to participate in this event ($25.00 per person, Consumer Wine Evaluators free).

We are looking for a broad spectrum of 'everyday' wine consumers with little or no formal wine tasting training or high level wine education - our special evaluation process is amazingly simple to learn. But you certainly can be passionate about wine AND WE WANT PEOPLE WHO CELEBRATE WINES THAT ARE WELL-MADE, DISTINCT AND EVEN SOMETIMES UNUSUAL - NOT A BUNCH OF HARSH 'CRITICS'!

No expenses or compensation are provided - it is up to you to make all travel and accommodation arrangements. You will be invited, as our guest and at no charge, to attend the 'After Party' on Saturday evening. Tickets will be available at a fee for additional guests.

Do you meet these qualifications?

You have a spirit of discovery, adventure and willingness to try new wines. Evaluation panels will be made up of people who love the types of wine they are evaluating. People with specific preferences for major wine types will be selected to assess those types of wine. We are also encouraging the submission of wines from all around the world including many lesser-known varieties and styles and will do our best to assign those wines, according to primary flavors, to the appropriate panels. Last year, for example, a Rhubarb wine from South Dakota nearly earned the highest award possible missing by the narrowest margin possible while an elegant and complex Rocca Cabernet Sauvignon took the highest honors for that variety.

You need to understand that this may actually be WORK! You may anticipate tasting in the neighborhood of 40 wines over the course of 3 hours. Tasting and then SPITTING the wine is required and special training to develop your spitting skills will be provided.

While this is a fun event it is imperative to maintain a serious attitude and demeanor during the introduction, training and evaluation. It is very important, especially as wine is an alcoholic beverage, to ensure the safe and moderate execution of this program.

Thank you again for your interest in our program. Whether or not you are selected as a Consumer Wine Evaluator you are invited to visit Lodi for the weekend and join us Saturday, March 19th at Hutchins Street Square for the After Party (only $25.00 per person for non-evaluators). To take the survey, buy tickets to the After party or learn more go to http://www.consumerwineawards.com/.

Prediction: 2011 to Become the “Year of the Wine Consumer”

2011-01-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

I love the adage, “If I ask you what time it is don’t tell me how the watch works.” And I confess that I am as guilty as any wine expert for launching into a lesson on history, geology and fermentation sciences when asked the simple question, “What would be a nice wine for my dinner tonight?”

This being said I think it is high time that the wine industry and our community of wine experts, educators, consultants and sommeliers take the point of this saying to heart. Some people are really curious and passionate about understanding minute details about wines: where they come from, how they are made, how made them and how to best describe their experience with fantastic descriptive details of flora, fauna, numerical ratings and god only knows what else. This is well and good if the person or people you are dealing with are on the same plane. The problem is that many people simply don’t give a rat’s butt about all of the details and trivia about wine. They just want something that tastes good without all of the hoopla and without the inference that they must become more “educated” before they can enjoy a nice glass of wine. And things have been getting worse as of late.

Over the past few decades the missive for many wine pundits has been to “educate consumers to appreciate better wines.” Behind this noble effort is a misguided premise that “better” wine is dry, intense, high in alcohol and often emitting smells that can be likened to Carmen Miranda’s head gear, cat’s pee (seriously), old socks or wet dogs. The bottom-line for all of this a covert agenda of “let’s get more consumers to spend more money on wines they may not like.” I we turn the tables and have the wine industry become as passionate about understanding and embracing wine consumers as we are about learning and disseminating wine trivia.

My prediction for 2011 is that more and more wine authorities and educators will finally take up the practice of learning to listen to consumers and back off on the inappropriate assumption that all consumers want to be educated about wine. And ditto for the incorrect assumption that all consumers are always searching for new wine experiences. Many are, and the Year of the Wine Consumer is not about stifling wine education or suppressing the desire of many to constantly explore new wines. The Year of the Wine Consumer is more about finding out where a consumer want to go and then getting them to the products that will delight them without the unnecessary baggage of intimidation, arrogance and misassumptions about what they really like and want from a wine.

To make this prediction a reality two things need to happen. First, wine consumers need to have a stronger voice and take on a powerful posture that their personal preferences count. This means to demand from the wine people you encounter that they cater you’re your needs, not the greater glory of Bacchus and the other false gods of wine.

Secondly, the wine community; educators, mavens, sommeliers, and experts, need to learn to listen for what consumers are really asking for. Would you like to be taken on a wild journey or stick to something close to home, warm and comfortable? We would become focused on asking, “What do I need to know about you?” so we can help custom tailor a wine selection that will rock your world. Our mission for the “Year of the Wine Consumer” is to get the attention focused on the consumers’ wants and needs with the option to go for a ride still open and available to anyone who cares.

If you are a wine consumer and like the idea of the wine industry being of better service to you here is how you can help. My partner, Dr. Virginia Utermohlen MD, and I are conducting a survey in conjunction with the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi and we want you to participate. It will probably take about 20 minutes as this is not silly cliché-riddled throwaway project. There is some serious science going on behind the scenes and we are really working hard to get people who are tired of the confusion, overwhelm and lack of personalized service when looking for help with your wine selections. Please take the 20 minutes and forward this piece on to anyone and everyone you know who enjoys wine but is tired of the ordeal and expense of trying to find wines that suit your personal preferences.

Help us make 2011 the Year of the Wine Consumer by going to www.consumerwineawards.com and selecting the link: Take the NEW 2011 Consumer Survey. And then send this along to every wine drinker you know so they can do the same. Let them know that the wine industry is finally ready to listen and that the new wine education mission is to learn how to be more of service and become better listeners.

Celebrate Consumer Diversity for a Healthier, More Diverse Wine Industry

2010-12-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

Wine consumers come in all shapes, sizes, gender, adult age and socio-economic groups. Wines come in many colors, flavors, styles and price points. Long term growth, expansion of production in emerging regions, acceptance of overlooked-but-traditional and new wine types and a general better health prognosis for the wine industry will come from celebrating the diversity of wines, wine consumers and the diversity of rating, scoring and communications systems to get the right consumer to the right product.

The way to expand wine sales and promote a greater diversity of wine styles will come from the wine community learning to celebrate the diversity of wine consumer tastes and deepen our understanding of individual consumer preferences. This strategy will allow the peaceful coexistence of different valuation systems that are geared towards, and can be custom fit to, the wants and needs of different groups of consumers.

My friend John Stallcup says that wine style, fashion and quality is largely dictated by the “tyranny of the minority”; a handful of wine critics who favor dry, highly concentrated and intense wines. This has resulted in the homogenization of wine styles around the world and stifled the efforts of vintners who favor delicacy, lesser known grape varieties or produce wine in lesser-known growing regions. Modern communications and technology are having an impact on expanding wine communication. But the frustration of new-age critics, bloggers and wine producers is omnipresent as more pressure is mounted to find alternatives to end the 30-year dominance of the 100 point rating system.

This “tyranny of the minority” results in a hyper-focus on a handful of regions, producers and wine styles. While terrific wines are being produced in every state in the US and several Provinces in Canada there is less attention paid to the passionate efforts of these vintners outside of their state or province of production. Even producers in Europe, where they have been growing and making wine for centuries, are now facing ”identity crises”. As winegrowers in Chianti, Bordeaux and other regions vie to “fight it out for the points” many lament that the wines are losing their personality and character, instead becoming homogenous and indistinguishable “modern” style of wines so fashionable with the majority of wine critics and gatekeepers.

It is important to stress that this is a call to end the DOMINANCE of the 100 point system – not a call to end the 100 point system itself. There is a definable, established and viable market segment of people who clearly favor the types of wines earning high scores in the “more equals better” equation and find the 100 point system works perfectly for their needs. The opportunity is to develop and promote meaningful alternative systems for people who do not enjoy the higher alcohol, high intensity types of wines favored by this method of valuation.

So how can we sell a more diverse spectrum of wines to the largest, most diverse range of consumers? Now is the time to create a new approach to wine marketing and communications. One that does not destroy any of the existing systems yet will usher in a new era of better understanding and personalizing the experience for wine consumers. The consumers are out there, there is plenty of wine to go around and the time is ripe for change.

Help us get wine consumers to take our survey! Wine professionals are welcome to weigh in but we really want to get this out past the gatekeepers and reach every day wine consumers.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cwal2011
About the Consumer Wine Awards
The Consumer Wine Awards is an international wine competition open to wines grown and produced anywhere in the world and represents a viable alternative for generating meaningful, peer-to-peer wine recommendations. It is entering its’ fourth year and second year employing panels of untrained consumers instead of traditional wine experts. We will begin accepting wines January 1, 2011, to be tasted March 19 and 20, 2011. The submission forms and handbook can be downloaded at www.consumerwineawards.com.

Top Expert Declares Wines Should Be Homogenized, Lifeless Commodities!

2010-12-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

If you are reading this I apparently got your attention. The intention of this post is to help people get past the incorrect conclusions drawn by many people about my work.

Seems that if I am to infer the wine industry might be better off learning more about consumers and applying that learning to promoting the expansion of wine consumption that what I REALLY and saying is we need to produce bland, homoginized, cheap wines with no soul or character and sell them to consumers that I think are morons. Here is a lovely example of how the logic seems to go:

I recently posted a comment to a blog on balance that predicatbly inspired lively debate and opposing points of view. I used a Napa Valley Cabernet for an example of a wine people might perceive differentlly from a standpoint of balance, primarily how differently we experience alcohol and tannin. My comment was framed by the Sufi parable about 3 blind men describing how they perceived an elephant and I used generalizations from my research on taste sensitivity to illustrate how physiological sensory variables shape our differing experiences and the descriptions and opinions we form of those experiences. Here is the response it elicited:

Ticked off California wine critic: “I think he makes too much of his pet theories, but then we all do. But when he drags them in to suggest that only people with dull palates could appreciate CA Cabs, then he goes too far.”

Blog author, “I didn't take Tim's comment to be a broadbrush stroke against CA wines.”

Critic, expanding his hostility and errant correlations, “frankly, how can the story be interpreted any other way. Only the third blind blogger, the one with no taste buds (hmmm – I never said that), likes CA wines…And what he sees is that only blind bloggers with no tastebudes like CA wine. That would suggest that 95% of all Californians are borne with fewer taste buds than average (hmmm - I said never said that). Sorry, Joe, but that kind of logic cannot be left unchallenged”

Yowser – that is sure a stretch! He then goes over to attack me on his own blog:
"So, today, over on Joe Roberts’ site, Mr. Hanni, brought his “number of taste buds” theory to bear on why some people never like California wine...To put it another way, apparently 95% of people living in California are born with an insufficient number of taste buds and we just do not know any better...This theory gets what it deserves: F"

Although the headline for this blog is the farthest thing from my mind, people who are passionate and very expert about wine seem very confronted and afraid that this is what I am proposing - and unwilling to learn more about it. All I can say is get over it. My consumer research and movement is directed to end the ‘tyranny of the minority’, restore the possibility of making wines with MORE character and MORE diversity is being met with great resistance, ignorance and hostility.

All this cynicism, hostility and fear is aimed towards me for looking for NEW solutions to create a stronger market and add more value to the entire wine industry.

Here is my mission: understand, embrace and cultivate ALL wine consumers.

Here is my plan:

Re-educate the wine industry versus relying on educating the wine consumers on BS (not that this stops educating consumers – just changes the game in a big way and will require a lot of revision to materials and information)
Conduct more NEW consumer research to really understand the market – not the wine but also not excluding wine research.
Disseminate better and more accurate information that encourages people to explore new wines more confidently, confidently share their preference
Abolish the fear, intimidation and overwhelm we have created, and continue to radiate, because of OUR ignorance. Many people think they are doing this but they are just doing the same-old-stuff in a new way with the same outcome.

And beware! There will be more focus coming your way on sweet wine consumers – AND big red wine consumers and sparkling wine consumers and light white wine consumers and pink wine consumers and fortified wine consumers and people who love terroir and people who love 100 point systems and people who love Italian, French, Australian, South African, New Zealand and South American wines – plus wines from anywhere I may have missed in this incomplete wine.

From the point of fear and cynicism in the wine community here are a few nuggets from the field:

“Aw, jeez, Tim. Now I understand why your posts have had a bit of irritation for me… You view wine as a commodity –“

“you are-in my opinion-an idiot.”

“Seriously, your argument is ridiculous.”

“I read the Hanni piece a bit like Charlie did, as more pathetic than anything else. Hanni should know better.”

“Anybody who says their goal in life is to make simple what we wine critics over-analyze is giving you a simplistic explanation and one moreover you should take with a grain of salt. Beware the demystification industry. It’s not as pure and disinterested as you might think.”

And now another take from a few of the people (and wine producing regions) where they see understanding consumers and opportunity:

“We are working with the Sauternais to 'Liberez les Sauternes' or free Sauternes from it's labeling as a dessert wine and I instinctively feel that you might be able to help us. The Sauternais drink their wines with fish, roast meats and spicy foods as well as with dessert - they can't understand why the world insists on drinking it only with sweet dishes, cheese or foie gras… The 'anti-sweet' phenomenon is frustrating and confusing to them. They sense that, if left alone to choose, most people would prefer to drink sweet wines much more frequently and your research suggests that this might be the case. If there is anything that you can send to help our mini-movement I would be most grateful…” From producers in a classic region, producing great wine of style and character, frustrated and facing lost market by the obtuse and narrow thinking of the wine industry!

“Tim, your name has been recommended to me at least 5 times in the last week and I see why now! Your review of who I am and what I like, I have to say spot on!” From a blogger who asked the question – “who am I”

“I’ve been ridiculed by black coffee–drinking big cab lovers as not having a “sophisticated” palate for preferring sweet wines — fruit-far-forward rieslings and icewines, preferably — to pucker-producing titans of tannin. I like icewines, because they don’t have the bite of high-alcohol ports or the like. A Napa Valley chef recently tried to convince me that learning to savor bitterness was part of “growing up” as a cosmopolitan connoisseur.” From a MALE wine business writer who is embarrassed to tell people what kind of wines he enjoys the most.

“I really love how you continue to refine and hone in on this tremendous wealth of information you have. This is a great distillation, very clear. A great set up for exploring and learning. How exciting that it will be part of these curriculums!” From one of the Napa Valley’s greatest chefs.

So who is against growing the industry? Seems like a lot of people think consumers are too stupid to know what they should like and the job of the wine expert is to save them from themselves. I propose there is a better way.

Confidence = Consumption

2010-12-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

Wine consumers are a curious lot and wine experts are even curiouser (?). What do people really want fer christsake? Why do they like the wines they like, and why don’t we all agree on what is, or isn’t, quality and value? Pretty simple, really – we are all different. The question seems to be, “how different are we, what are these differences and what does it matter?”

And it turns out it is our (the wine trade and experts) relative ignorance of taste sensitivity and basic human behavior that is making millions of potential wine consumers feel intimadated and lose confidence in their ability to enjoy "sophisticated" wines. After a year of survey development, collection and data crunching Dr. Virginia Utermohlen, MD and I are excited to announce we are one step closer to a solution!

One of the fascinating things that came out of the data we have been looking at from our just-concluded wine consumer research project, conducted in conjunction with the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi is that “confident consumers are consuming consumer.” And the most confident consumers are a phenotype we categorize from our research as Tolerant tasters: they are physiologically predisposed to love red wines. They want red wines regardless of occasion or meal. They can tolerate lots of intensity, bitterness, tannin and high levels of alcohol. They know what they like and how to get at it.

The least confident segment? Those we categorize as Sweet and Hyper-sensitive who are physiologically predisposed to abhor the wines favored by the Tolerant crowd. And here is where this matters: the disenfranchised consumers of light wines, sweet or dry, are 6 times more likely to be embarrassed about the wines they drink and 10 times more likely to drink wine less than once a month than a Tolerant consumer. There is a clear-cut correlation between taste sensitivity, confidence and wine consumption. And don't you think for a second they are not drining - they are over at the bar slurping down the appletinis, cosmos and myriad other drinks where they are not punished and stigmatized for having more taste buds!

I propose that this is an amazing opportunity for the wine industry and we really need to address the issues that keep so many consumers, at all levels of interest and participation, so overwhelmed and confused. And with the enormous range of products and differing opinions from wine experts, is it any wonder?

With over 80,000 wines in the US market alone the vast majority of wine consumers are confused, intimidated and overwhelmed - even stigmatized for their wine preferences. And 'wine education' as it is presented today, only makes matters worse in many cases. Wine experts, writers and bloggers argue over wine characteristics that are clearly perceived differently and this is directly related to the range and intensity of sensations we are physiologically capable of experiencing.

The battle is raging once again in the blogosphere even as we speak – "what defines ‘balance’?" for a 'taste' of the argument go to my pal Joe Robert's site: 1WineDude. The answer lies in understanding your sensitivity quotient and how this affects your personal experience (range and intensity of sensations) of wine flavors. Your taste sensitivity combined with your unique, ever-changing neural programming over time as a result of culture, society, learning, experience and aspirations and voila! - YOUR personal preferences. Throw on top of this an understanding of OTHER people's sensitivities and holy moly - no more arguing, just get that it can be radiaclly different one person to the next.

A Sufi Parable Revisited (also see my post 3 Blind Men and a Wine )
Three blind bloggers were asked to taste a high-scoring Napa Cabernet and describe the balance of fruit, oak and alcohol of the wine to a universe of spectators. The first blind man was a hyper-sensitive taster with over ten thousand taste buds, the next a sensitive taster with 2,000 buds and the third a tolerant taster with somewhere around 500 taste papillae. All were wine lovers, passionate and oh so knowledgeable, but they were unaware of their physiological sensory equipment and radically differing perception. Each of them tasted the wine and spoke in turn:

“Yech, this wine is horrible – the jammy fruit, burning alcohol, excessive oak – how can anyone drink an unbalanced, over-the-top wine like this? It would ruin any meal,” said the first blind blogger.

The second blind blogger weighed in, “This wine is representative of the style I have grown tired of – have learned to seek wines of greater finesse and that is why I joined the Anything But Cabernet movement.”

“Ah, nirvana!” quote the third expert. “Full, rich and powerful; smooth and hedonistically satisfying with a sweet fruit core. 95 points!”

The spectators looked on in confusion. Bewildered, they silently wondered which of these mavens was right – what should they look for, how on earth should they make decisions and who could they turn to so they could make a smart buying decision? It was as if each of the blind bloggers were feeling up the same elephant and describing it as either a snake, a tree trunk and a rope.

FYI, for anyone in the wine trade (or interested in general) interested in the results of the study Dr. Virginia Utermohlen and I have been working on we are releasing our full report titled Wine Consumer Segmentation: Beverage preferences, Attitudes, and Behaviors for purchase. If you are in wine production, marketing and/or communications you can learn more about the study and place your order today at THIS LINK. We will be delivering the report electronically this Friday, December 10, 2010.

A copy of our free summary report can be downloaded at http://www.timhanni.com/. It is a comparison of the Sweet and Tolerant phenotype groups and chock full of great information. The summary provides a thumbnail look at the background and format of the information that is available in the full report. The full report covers all four segments we have identified and slices and dices the data in detail calling out opportunities for strategically marketing to ALL consumers who choose wine in a more powerful and targeted manner.

A Challenge to the Wine Industry

2010-11-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

There are many positive factors that have parlayed wine into the adult beverage most associated with good taste, sophistication and style. Wine quality, at all price levels, has improved dramatically. The range of wine types and styles available today is complete enough to satisfy every possible consumer preference and pocketbook. Indeed one of the challenges consumers face is how to confidently drill into the overwhelming number of choices and find wines they will love.

An equally dizzying number of choices exists with wine classes, educational initiatives and the availability of wine evaluations and information. The birth and expansion of social media, blogs and on line wine communities ranging from eRobert Parker, Jancis Robinson and Snooth have provided and explosion of connectivity and the ability to share points of view. To top it all off there are new generations of wine heroes and evangelists like Gary Vaynerchuk, Joe Roberts, Jeff Lefevere, Alder Yarrow and many, many others that millions of consumers and professionals alike tune into every day. Yep, there is plenty of wine information and interaction available.

This being said I am struck by how often the same issues and obstacles to expanding wine consumption seem to arise over and over again. So let’s take a look at the progress that has been made over the past 10 years. The following quote appeared in Brand Week a decade ago and at the center of discussion in many wine industry circles as a call to action:
“The fragmented, historically insular (wine) industry generally seems resigned to accepting the wine consumer pool as is rather than aggressively pursuing new markets... the next decade could easily be referred to by future wine historians as the "years of missed opportunity.” Brand Week, May 1, 2000

10 Years After
So what does the wine landscape look like 10 years after Brand Week’s prediction that “the next decade could easily be referred to as the ‘years of missed 0pportunity’”?

“The wine industry is guilty of going out of its way to confuse the consumer, and must urgently come up with 'a new big idea', according to a British advertising heavyweight…'The wine industry is the most fragmented market I've seen. Fragmented, confusing, impenetrable.'” Sir John Hegarty, June 28, 2010, Masters of Wine International Symposium, Bordeaux, France

Hmmm. Sounds pretty familiar. What is it that keeps us stuck in this deeply etched rut carved into the path of wine enjoyment and appreciation? I am convinced that it is a combination of complacency, misinformation and stubbornness in the wine industry. It is an unwillingness to adapt and change that is preventing us from having a larger consumer base and compromising our long-term fiscal stability and health. Despite ample evidence that the wine industry would be well served by becoming more consumer-focused, simplifying our messages and improving OUR ability to communicate our mantra remains the same, “we must better educate consumers, move them up to better wine.”

This is nothing new about the wine industry mission to educate consumers and there is also nothing wrong with the idea. Ditto for the idea of moving them up to better wine. Perhaps what we really need is another strategy to run concurrently. We seem to be keeping something in place that is not working for a really large portion of the market and then we wonder why we are not making more sustainable progress in removing the overwhelm and intimidation as evidenced in every wine consumer study ever conducted.

This quote about the Project Genome consumer study taken from Wines & Vines in 2008, “With the highest percentage of consumers falling into the "Overwhelmed" category, Leslie Joseph, Constellation's vice president of consumer research affairs, commented: ‘We need to do a better job as an industry of helping these people understand what a wine's going to taste like.”

And the following is from the UK site WINEOPTIONS.COM illustrating this phenomenon is present on a global scale. “WineOption.org feels the wine trade has traditionally placed its focus on connoisseurs and wine snobs rather than the much greater number of unpretentious people who enjoy wine. Many producers, retailers and wine writers have traditionally taken much of the potential enjoyment out of wine drinking by shrouding the subject with myth, snobbery, and arcane or pretentious language. This facade has been, and in some quarters remains, a convenient means of confusing or even intimidating wine shoppers into making purchase decisions much less helpfully informed than is the case with most other foods and beverages. In fact, it is perfectly possible to provide in relatively simple day to day language the basic information which most wine drinkers need and want to select any given wine.”

I think that it is high time we look in the mirror and ask ourselves, “What are we missing that keeps a vast majority of consumers (and many of us professionals who are able to admit it) confused, mystified and intimidated?” The answer as I see it is to turn the tables and start newly educating ourselves and cleaning up a lot of the tired clichés and misinformation that is disseminated under the pretense of “wine education”. I am not implying that we stop wine education per se, just that we enforce a greater rigor in the information we dispense and come up with alternative solutions for the huge market segment that is further disenfranchised by our narrow, product-based and self-serving approach. The call to action is not to change anything about the many things we are doing right as an industry, it is a call to action so we can collectively discover what we may be missing that would add immeasurably to our continued growth and success.

I love this quote: “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” Tony Robbins

What would it look like if the wine industry and wine communities to on the mission to understand, embrace and cultivate ALL wine consumers, not just the over-saturated segment we narrowly define as ‘worthy’? What if our next educational initiative were internal and focused on learning more about consumers and discovering more about who likes what and why? I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

For more info visit http://www.timhanni.com/

Perversion, Corruption and Wine?

2010-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

The intention of this article is to explore one of the commonly held conventions about wine enjoyment and the notion of “sophisticated” wine consumers. The exploratory aspect of this piece includes looking at the meaning of the term ‘sophisticated’ and then asking the question, “is this the direction the wine industry really wants to go?” There seems to be a line drawn in the sand as to what is “good” wine versus “bad” wine and that this demarcation also carries over to defining what we consider “sophisticated” consumers versus “unsophisticated” consumers.

I love to look up words and drill down into their origins and deeper meaning. One word that I find particularly fascinating is the word ‘sophisticate’. In common usage, and especially when used in relationship with wine, the word sophisticated is associated with a worldly understanding or attainment of a superior status of knowledge.

A number of years ago I decided to look up the word and turned to my trusty American Heritage Dictionary and here is what I found:

Sophisticated – adj.
1. Having acquired worldly knowledge or refinement; lacking natural simplicity.

The first part of this definition seemed to align with my understanding of the word. But it was the second part that caught my attention, “lacking in natural simplicity.” It occurred to me that in the wine community there is an inherent discord between the promotion of wine as a simplistic, communal beverage and the expectation that people should become more sophisticated and drink ‘better’ wine. The definition gave me cause to wonder if you can have natural simplicity and sophistication simultaneously?

Of course one can argue there is the option that being naturally simplistic or sophisticated is a matter of choice. Some occasions call for natural simplicity while other occasions call for greater degree of sophistication. I would not necessarily disagree with this argument but I do wonder if a person becomes truly sophisticated, can they revert back to a natural simplicity, or is the worldly knowledge or refinement become neurologically hard-wired making it impossible to revert back to the naturally simplistic way of being?

This loss of natural simplicity also make me wonder if one of the reasons many people feel uncomfortable around formal wine events or in the presence of wine sophisticates. Is it due to this lack of natural simplicity and dare I say pretense? I can see how the worldly-knowing air of sophistication might be construed as self-righteousness and this in turn become an intimidating factor for the uninitiated. I can also see how much I contribute to this air of worldly knowing and faux refinement whenever I am around wine people. And pity the poor “unsophisticated” individuals that happen to stumble into this milieu.

Which brings me to the second definition in the dictionary which I found even more interesting than the first:

Sophisticate – v.
1. To cause to become less natural, esp. to make less naïve and cause to be worldly-wise. 2. To corrupt or pervert; adulterate.

Less natural? Corrupt, perverted; adulterated? Apparently when sophistry was being bandied about as a pre-Socratic school of philosophy in ancient Greece someone who set out to become worldly-wise long ago they came back with new ideas on religion, societal mores and sexual alternatives, thus becoming perverted and corrupted to the values and practices of their own culture. Sophists then used subtle, misleading and fallacious arguments to prove their points of view. The word ‘adulterate’ means ‘to make impure, spurious or inferior by adding extraneous or improper ingredients’ and I guess this applies to learning new values and ideas as filling our heads with extraneous or improper ingredients as well.

It finally struck me how this applies to the subject of expanding wine enjoyment and improving the dynamics of the wine community as a whole. Along with sophistication there is a loss of naturalness and simplicity, combined with an inherent self-righteousness and the use of misleading arguments to prove an opinion or point of view. This progression, gained by learning and exploring, is completely natural, nearly unavoidable and may provide insights into the loss of simplicity and understanding about wine and for other people’s points of view. The sophist is inclined to convince everyone else that their new-found knowledge and opinions is something that everyone should behold and adopt. Learning that this is how we learn can give us the ability to accept and understand the points of view of others rather than feeling the need to impose our will and values on others.

That gets us to the next two definitions:

Sophist – n.
2. A scholar or thinker, esp. one skillful in devious argumentation.

Sophistry – n.
1. A plausible but misleading or fallacious argument.

These definitions see to imply that being a sophisticated wine drinker being devious, misleading and fallacious. How the heck does that fit in? My take on this is that it is not necessarily by intention but rather the completely human capacity to believe that what we know and things we experience are more real for ourselves than for others. It provides us with a sense of superiority and being in the know, wanting to hsare our experiences with others and a genuine feeling that others will benefit from seeing things our way. People also tend to gravitate to others who seem to share a common perspective and points of view. The point of view might be inclusive and people are bound by shared agreement or the connection may be made by an exclusive agreement such as the anything-but-chardonnay crowd and the feeling of strength in numbers that comes from collective agreement that this is the way it is and should be.

In my mind the devious, misleading or fallacious arguments are intentional. They are points of view that come from an individual rationale for value and preferences held to be inherently better that another’s either as an individual or collective. Then arguments ensue that one way is right, or better in some way, than another’s is where the fallacy lies. This behavior can be seen in how people connect and congregate around wine, food, politics, religion, fashion, cars – you name it. It is completely human. Whether it is the 100 point rating system, groups formed around an agreement for the superiority of wines from certain locales or the antithesis of inclusive agreement; the shared opinion for the exclusion of wine types or styles. It is misleading to think that one way is superior to another. Self-righteousness is part of being human, can take many forms and is widely practiced – even in the devious guise of the anti-geek.

Consider the possibility that sophistication inevitable and it is a natural human progression as we seek to learn about and understanding our universe. The new discoveries we make can excite us and bring more enjoyment to our lives and it is also only natural to want to share these discoveries with others. It is when we try to convince others that this new found knowledge is some how superior or are compelled to attack others for not agreeing with our philosophies or values that they their lives would be improved if only they would adopt another set of values, opinions or points of view. Yes – natural simplicity can so-exist with sophistication. It requires us to be sophisticated enough to understand the difference, and the differences in our individual opinions, perspectives and points of view.

Hmmmm. Perverted and corrupt. Anyone besides me feeling a little more like a ‘sophisticate’ today?

Consumer Friendly Wine Events

2010-11-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

"Welcome to our event - would you like to learn about your taste sensitivity and how it affects your wine preferences?"

Imagine showing up at a wine event and you are met by someone who asks you a simple set of questions that helps you discover your Taste Sensitivity Quotient (TasteSQ) to determine if you are a Sweet, Hyper-sensitive, Sensitive or Tolerant taster. The wines are then set up in the room grouped by flavor categories: Sweet, Delicate, Smooth and Intense providing a means for the guests to zero in on the wines you are most likely to adore.

A similar format is used to add a new dimension to a wine dinner: a minimum of four wines are offered simultaneously across the range of flavor categories: sweet, delicate, smooth and intense. The wines are poured at the beginning of the meal and served with every course. This allows the guest to try them all and determine which they like best, not fearing the one they love will be whisked away at the end of a course. Tolerant tasters who love intense red wine are free to dive right in, sweet wine lovers get to enjoy their sweet wine throughout the meal and everyone gets to explore any or all of the wines with every dish.

Here are a few things we have discovered over the past 3 years of adding the TasteSQ dimension to different tastings and dinners:

Many attendees immediately gain a sense of confidence and spirit to explore new wines.
Couples and friends often discover that different taste sensitivities are the source of their disagreements (or agreements) over wine styles.
What we categorize as 'disenfranchised' consumers (mostly Sweet and Hyper-sensitive tasters) learn that their inherent wine preferences come from having more taste buds and their attitude is positively and immediately transformed. Young wine drinkers feel especially empowered.
Having the wines grouped into flavor categories ensures a better mix of wine styles for an event. This helps to avoid the 'big red' syndrome and balances out the offerings so that there is more variety.
Vintners who are pouring their wines get the gist of this really quickly and get to frame their talking points in a personalized fashion while learning how their wines are received by the different TasteSQ groups. We get wonderful feedback about the insights this provides for them.

At the Lodi Spring Wine Show we train members of the Lodi Tokay Rotary to conduct the TasteSQ interview (you can try it at www.yumyuk.com) and assess hundreds of attendees who then get a sticker that declares their Taste Sensitivity group. This new process is now part and parcel of every event and wine dinner I organize.

Discovering something about yourself, and others, is always a great way to engage people and to generate conversations and camaraderie. The dynamics at a dinner table when everyone is wearing their TasteSQ badge is lively, inclusive and provides a fun topic for lively discussion. For more information on this type of event and background on Taste Sensitivity Quotient you can also visit www.timhanni.com.

Expand the wine market...but not THAT way!?

2010-10-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

It is common knowledge that perception varies from one person to the next. So why then do so many people get so hysterical when research is conducted to quantify what the differences are, and how to use the findings of the research to expand consumption?

One of the problems is mistatements, especially in news headlines. Dr. Utermohlen and I assert sweet wine drinkers are more sensitive tasters, and that this is not necessarily a good thing at all! The headlines for Wine Business and other postings of the press release declare: Study Shows Sweet Wine Drinkers Better Tasters. No, not BETTER - just different and more sensitive.

Here are links to two of the most active blogs:
Rants: http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/10/25/white-zin-has-its-place-but-its-not-great-wine/
Raves: http://www.1winedude.com/

Background and research at www.timhanni.com
NEW: check out the new www.yumyuk.com site! Still under development bu coming right along and there are great wine recommendations now in each flavor category, along with recommended sites and expert mavens to consult for Sweet, Hyper-sensitive, Sensitive and Tolerant tasters.

Why the hostility, me wonders?

2010-10-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Jancis Robinson, who broke the news on the consumer survey summary report that Dr. Utermohlen and I released, reported to me, "There was some hostile reaction on the forum of my purple pages but I quelled it, I think."

It is amazing to me how intolerant many people in the wine community have become. Some (many) people love sweet wine, and history shows it is not a US (we grew up on Coca Cola) phenomenon. It is actually a big opportunity! I guess more fuel for the fire to change things...NOW.

Sweet Wine Drinkers Unite!

2010-10-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

A summary of the results of the Wine Consumer Preferences study I conducted via the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi, www.consumerwineawards.com , are now posted and can be downloaded that web site and at www.timhanni.com . The report compares differences in preferences, attitudes and behaviors between SWEET and TOLERANT (love big red wines) consumers. Dr. Utermohlen, my research partner, and I also issued a press release that is sure to draw the ire of the dry-wine-is-good-wine crowd. I will be posting some of the comments, pro and con, as they are received. Please send me YOUR story! tim@timhanni.com

The first one is from Jeff Quackenbush who lives in Sonoma:

Tim,
Thank you for sending this. I’ve been ridiculed by black coffee–drinking big cab lovers as not having a “sophisticated” palate for preferring sweet wines — fruit-far-forward rieslings and icewines, preferably — to pucker-producing titans of tannin. I like icewines, because they don’t have the bite of high-alcohol ports or the like. A Napa Valley chef recently tried to convince me that learning to savor bitterness was part of “growing up” as a cosmopolitan connoisseur.
Jeff

The next from a very cool mini-consortium of Sauterne producers called Boredeaux Gold (and this is covered in detail in the revision of the wine and food section of the WSET materials I was asked to rewrite):

"We are working with the Sauternais to 'Liberez les Sauternes' or free Sauternes from it's labelling as a dessert wine and I instinctively feel that you might be able to help us. The Sauternais drink their wines with fish, roast meats and spicy foods as well as with dessert - they can't understand why the world insists on drinking it only with sweet dishes, cheese or foie gras... The 'anti-sweet' phenomenon is frustrating and confusing to them. They sense that, if left alone to choose, most people would prefer to drink sweet wines much more frequently and your research suggests that this might be the case."

When the Lafite and Hermitage came out in a formal, French haute cuisine meal sweet wines were served right along side as DINNER wines, not dessert wines. As stated in Larousse Gastonomique in 1938, "if the guest prefers." Kinda shoots down 'traditional' wine and food matching.

Finally for now is this embarrassing (for our industry) recount from a meal at a very famous restaurant last year:

Lissa Doumani is representative of the millions of hyper-sensitive wine drinkers in the world and does not fit the stereotype of a "wimpy" consumer in any way, shape or form. Lissa, daughter of iconic vintner Carl Doumani, grew up in the heart of the Napa Valley surrounded by vines at a winery that was famous for intense red wines. Lissa became a pastry chef by trade (not unusual for a highly sensitive taster) and now she and her husband Hiro are proprietors of two Michelin-starred California restaurants; Terra in St. Helena and Ame in San Francisco. Also at the table were Dr. Harold McGee, food scientist and guru to the culinary world and Chef Kukuoka from Kyoto.

During a dinner at a world famous high-end restaurant she turned to her table mate Tim Hanni MW, co-author of this study and a recognized authority on wine and food, and asked him to order a wine that she might like better than the ones pre-selected by the restaurant. The highly rated, high-alcohol wines that had been chosen by the wine experts to accompany the meal tasted unpleasantly overpowering and even burned her hyper-sensitive palate.

What ensued is the bane of the vast majority of consumers who prefer light intensity and even sweet wines. Hanni's request for a recommendation of a "light, delicate wine" was met with the embarrassing retort, "if you knew anything about wine and food you would know that these are the appropriate wine for each dish."

Says Hanni, "This is not an indictment for well-intentioned wine professionals. It is indicative of our lack of understanding how vastly different our sensory physiology can be from one person to the next."

Bull S*%t, Breakfast of Champignons

2010-02-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

I took this picture many, many years ago and made this poster. Thought it would be fun to share!

A new article just came out in the Guardian (U.K.) written by a really nice guy named Oliver Thring. He attended a dinner I did in Wimbledon as part of my 'Bibendum Tour' in London a couple of weeks age. We spent the evening in Wimbledon with about 16 wine and food writers/bloggers discussing my ideas about individual taste sensitivity and the role it plays in shaping our wine preferences.

After that we attacked Wine and Food Matching conventional wisdoms with gusto! Lots of fun. Ollie was inspired, as were most of the guests, by the step-by-step dismantling of each wine and food myth, demonstrations that provide dramatic evidence that something is amiss with even our most closely held beliefs and then demonstrations incorporating Flavor Balancing that make both wine and food wonderfully delicious even in bizarre and unimaginable combinations.

What I find so challenging in this age of communications is that full and complete concepts cannot be presented very well in the scope of a news article. In this case the entire psychological/neuroscience component of my work was omitted and I have no probelem with that. What cracks me up is how so many people,k who have no clue about the complete scope of my work or the many wonderful chefs, scientists and wine experts I interact and work with on a regular basis.

Oliver had a blast as did I. He and the rest of the crew were really engaged in the demonstrations of taste illusions and in-depth critical re-thinking of wine and food traditions and I applaud him for this great article! Missed a bit of a point - I think wine critics are great, we just need new ideas for millions of other consumers. An alternative, not a threat or replacment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/04/wine-criticism-tasting-flavour-matching?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

AND THEN - it hits the blogosphere!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/04/wine-criticism-tasting-flavour-matching

Here are some links to go see the real action that develops!! Love to all - come have lunch with me when you can.

http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/02/04/demystify-this/comment-page-1/#comment-30480

http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=30104

The Great Cabernet Debate: Hypersensitive vs. Tolerant Tasters

2010-01-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

I got so involved responding to a blog by Steve Heimoff today I thought I would tweak it a bit and make my own blog out of it! Lazy bastard that I am. And save your breath on the "this dumbs down wine" and these ideas are "stoopid and moronic." I know, I know. come have lunch with me.

Two radically different perspectives on the "state of the art of Cabernet Sauvignon" have surfaced the information superhighway over the course of about 2 weeks time. Just to be clear, I seriously LOVE both of the guys I will cite below who seem to be so diametrically opposed to each other on this topic. Both are brilliant, passionate men who very probably have VERY different sensory sensitivities that directly affect their experience of Cabernet Sauvignon. But I, on the other hand, give them something to agree on - ME! They both have really passionate, strong and generally negative views on a new initiative I have undertaken to create a process and new event with consumers formally evaluating wine and generating peer-to-peer recommendations. This is being done with my partners Pooch Pucilowski and Aaron Kidder (sorry to drag you guys into this! :-) ).

Steve recently posted a sarcastic (more like a thinly-veiled attack, but maybe I am being hyper-sensitive?) on the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi event that is one of my pet projects. I take it all in stride (sniff). Conversations I have had with Dan Berger have demonstrated he agrees with Steve in principle that consumers are not generally fit to evaluate wines in a formal tasting situation. Says Steve, "With this breathless hyperventilation, the producers of the latest get-rich-quick “wine awards” gimmick announce yet another effort to 'democratize' wine assessment by taking it away from — gasp! — evil experts like me and handing it over to that ever-popular bastion of populism — the Consumer! We’re seeing these 'consumer-judged wine competitions' multiply like e coli in a petrie (sic) dish..."

The intention is not to take anything away from "evil experts" - just seeing if we can find a way to bring more people into the wine community fold and have them feel welcome. For the whole enchilada go to on this conversation at Steve’s blog go to http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/01/20/announcing-the-new-voice-of-the-people-worldwide-wine-awards-competition-exclusively-on-steveheimoff-com/#comments .

Below are links to the Berger article and Heiman blog that set this up "great Cabernet debate" so nicely. I have also provided some snippets taken from each.

In one corner we have the Steve Heimoff opinion, “Well, these certainly are wines that have become spectacular in recent years. You really do have to wonder where their evolution will take them. I know some people who don’t like the Napa cult style, which is based on super-mature grapes (with consequent low acidity) and generous dollops of new oak. They’re entitled to their opinion; I happen to like it.” http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/01/19/napa-cabernet-as-good-as-it-can-get/

In the other corner we have this just in from Dan Berger's recent article, "For more than a decade, I have hoped for a miracle. Then last week I realized the worst: Cabernet Sauvignon has changed so appreciably that I fear we’ll never see it in the way we once did... A long book could be devoted to this sad tale of decline."
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/wine/columnists/dan-berger/article_704bc688-0712-11df-a231-001cc4c002e0.html

Consider for a moment that on one end of the spectrum we have, Dan Berger, a hypersensitive taster whose tongue, general taste sensitivity and wine preferences I have personally analyzed, is writing about his very real and very passionate views on what Cabernet should or should not be. His hypersensitivity provides an experience such that high alcohol burns and that modern Cabernets and many other wines are over-blown, over-oaked and not nice with food. For Dan, and anyone else with his sensitivity and values, this point of view is dead-on correct: “There are complicated reasons for this turnabout, but the bottom line is that we may have lost cabernet for all time. I can’t drink them young; I can’t imagine they will age well, and I cannot figure out why so many people are still buying them.” Spoken like a true hypersensitive taster! And perfect advice for other hypersensitive and many more-sensitive tasters.

People at the less-sensitive to tolerant end of the spectrum will more predictably LOVE the high-alcohol, oak and intensity that have come to define great Cabernet for the Parker/Laube crowd. And with food as well! The alcohol tastes ’sweet’, the oak and tannin are not at all overbearing and in fact the very same wines are perceived as smooth, rich and balanced. This level of extract and intensity is the source of ‘great’ for many tolerant tasters.

I can pretty much surmise that the getting to the source of these differences in opinion lies in better understanding the vastly different experiences from people at different ends of taste sensitivity continuum. I have not had the pleasure of personally assessing Steve H.’s taste sensitivity profile but will when/if he comes to lunch. I have personally tested thousands of people. I know that people like Tim Mondavi and Jancis Robinson, along with Dan, are both at the hypersensitive end of the spectrum and very predictably in the same camp with Dan Berger on the unpleasant direction things have gone with ‘too much’ oak, ‘too much’ alcohol and their experience that the food and Cabernet affinity is lost in all of this extreme flavor.

Steve responded to my on of my comments on his own blog, "But is a hypersensitive palate necessarily a good thing in a wine critic? I don’t think so." My response - it is not good, not bad. Just different sensory physiology and the source of a lot of unpleasant disagreement between wine critics and experts.

The first thing to understand about what we are looking at is there is not a 'good, bad, better' to taste sensitivity. It just 'is what it is.' Some people have as few as 300 taste buds, others over 10,000 and this plays a very significant role in establishing our individual perception of wine and everything else. All of our senses come into play and taste sensitivity correlates to our sensitivities to smell, sight, touch and hearing as well. A person with way less taste buds has many advantages and the people with the very most taste buds often have preferences that make the wine industry howl in horror! Just ask Dr. Virginia Utermohlen at Cornell University, one of our key research partners who studies this phenomenon in the context of personality development and behavioral traits and is a super/uber/hypersensitive taster. She is one of our 'poster children' for the most sensitive tasters of all - what we call SWEET tasters. If it is over 10% alcohol and less than 3% sugar, count her out. Just like MILLIONS of consumers in the US and BILLIONS around the world.

To Steve H.'s point "But is a hypersensitive palate necessarily a good thing in a wine critic? I don’t think so." Not a good thing, not a bad thing - just a very important thing to understand so that the differences in our opinions, so brilliantly lit up by the 'Great Cabernet Debate', can be better understood in a very cool and valid new way. Also PLEASE keep in mind we are simultaneously studying the psychological phenomena that have us move about with our preferences and passions.

Dan Berger goes on to note rhetorically, “P.S. Is there any connection to the decline in Cabernet style and the dramatically increased sales of pinot noir?”

This actually points to our studies of the migration of more sensitive tasters (NOTE: not inferring “better tasters” or anything of the sort!!!) to lower phenolic wines which they have a more natural tendency to enjoy. Then you can see the Hypersensitive vs. Tolerant division erupt in the same way over Pinot Noir style between the people who love and savor delicacy and finesse vs. the high extract, high alcohol and heavy oak camp (read more tolerant tasters).

Steve then commented on my observations, “As for Tim’s observation that the “decline in Cabernet style” is connected to the rise of Pinot Noir, I don’t agree. Over the course of my career, many experienced collectors told me they started off with Bordeaux/Cabernet, and then, when they got older, found themselves preferring Burgundy/Pinot Noir. I think that’s a natural progression, and not due to any modern style of Cabernet.”

I am saying that the ‘decline in Cabernet style’ is a point of view largely held by hypersensitive, and more sensitive tasters in general, and that the migration to Pinot Noir is more predictable for this sensitivity group. Our research on the subject points to traits which are very typical of a hypersensitive taster's view of things and their often predictable migration to less intense, less bitter and astringent wines. It is not a universal or uniform progression to Burgundy or Pinot Noir, more like the 'March of the More Sensitive Tasters' with a lot of passion and intellectual elements involved! Many people are absolutely satisfied to stay with their intense, extracted and oaky favorites.

Understand the examples I am providing here are greatly generalized insights from the nearly 20 years of observation, research and learning with the participation of really great researchers and scientists around the world. There are variations and mitigating factors that abound in all of this. It is a wonderfully complex and fascinating area of science and learning we are exploring and I invite any and all of you to jump in with us to continue learning more.

My usual response when people get really upset about my point of view is to invite them to lunch. I will reiterate my invitation to Steve H. in his blog: Hell – everyone is invited to my place for lunch to learn what we have discovered and argue and attack all of the premises for my outrages claims. I will cook, and I am serious.

Terroir continued

2010-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, y'all! I have been participating in another 'terroir' discussion and thought this would be useful to post here:

Let me see if this makes sense - there is something that drives me to want to find completion for explaining things like terroir - not leaving it open ended and undefined. Please excuse my obstinance and let me try an analogy that occured to me.

Terroir is the combination of everything and anything that shapes the characteristics of a wine. A 'gout de terroir' is a distinctive characteristic in a wine that enables someone with experience to connect a wine back to its' origin.

Here is an important definition to help explain things:
Flavor: definition #4, American Heritage DictionaryA distinctive yet intangible quality felt to be characteristic of a given thing: "What matters in literature . . . is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or color of a particular human suffering" (Harold Bloom).
New York, as a city, has a certain 'flavor' to it. Meaning there are certain things that distinguish the locale. The people, the taxis, the buildings. If you see a picture of the skyline or Times Square you can say, "oh, that's New York." London has a different flavor. Or LA, or San Francisco, or Miami, or Peoria. Every town, village or city has a 'flavor' to it.

If you have never been to the town, or seen pictures of it or a movie set in it you may not be able to recognize the 'flavor' of a place. If you see a movie set in parts of Miami you may not be able to distinguish it from Cuba. The more experienced you become with the places the more adept you become at recognizing the 'flavors' and identifying the locality. Skylines, neighborhoods, villages, towns and cities change over time. The 'flavor' of a neighborhood may become transformed and unrecognizable to someone who grew up there. They will lament that something was lost - it is not like it was in the 'good old days.'

The smell of a certain section of a place may be viewed by one person negatively as a stench (flaw) or by another as a distinguishing attribute that evokes positive memories. Low tide will do this, as well as a run around Pike's Place in Seattle!
The 'flavor' of New York changed on 9/11. The twin towers went down and the 'distinctive characteristics' of the skyline were forever changed. Phylloxera devastated the vineyards of France in the late 19th century and millions of vines had to be replanted but only after being grafted onto (gasp) Americian rootstock. The terroir, the local flavor of the wines and even the people, changed as a result.

THIS is terroir: the FLAVOR of a wine in the context of "a distinctive yet intangible quality felt to be characteristic of a given thing." It ma be any combination of the people, the customs, the the traditions, the soil, climate, yeasts and barrels - anything and everything that plays a role in shaping the 'flavor' of a wine from a given place. A 'gout de terroir' are the elements of true flavor (in a sensory context) that enables a person with an intimate knowledge and memory of wine 'places' to say, "that is a Pinot Grigio from Northern Italy," or "that is a Lodi Zinfancel," or "that is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc," "this is Harlan Estate," ad nauseum.

People can do that! A wine may exhibit great qualities yet have no context of terroir. When Sassacaia came along in the region where Sangiovese was sacred it was greeted with skepticism. It became so overwhelmingly successful the entire region of Chianti was changed! The 'alien' Cabernet was now desireable, even legalized to replace the tradtional white grapes that were required in Chianti. The gout te terroir of Chianti morphed.

Good and bad experiences shape your memories and attitutudes. You can go to LA and find yourself in a bad neighborhood. That may forever change your memories and the mere thought of LA will elicit an "I HATE LA" response. Conversely you could hate New York but go there and discover a neighborhood that is filled with friendly, loving people that bowl you over with their charm and grace. Then people get together on a New York or LA of Paris or London or Peoria discussion on line and we all get to argue over who is right or wrong! we are, of course, human.

Love to you all for the New Year!

Terroir and Semantics

2009-12-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

The biggest misconception about the term 'terroir' is largely one of SEMANTICS and a gross misunderstanding of the etymology and use of associated concepts.

Even the French no longer seem to understand the original meaning and intention of uses and meaning of terroir! Things started getting jumbled about years ago from my experience:

1. Vin de terroir simply means a wine from a specific (or general) locality or origin.

2. Gout de terroir means the "taste" (or any corresponding attributes) that corresponds to a given locality or origin, more in the sense of a territory. This includes all of the influences of growing conditions, grape variety or varieties) PLUS laws, customs, traditions, culture and economy that ALL play a role in giving character to a wine that associates it with a place of origin. Huge fruit bombs, oak, varietal characteristics or delicate nuances of minerality (a metaphoical, not literal term), oak, acidity, etc. all can be considered part of a gout de terroir if it means one can relate the charcteristic to a locality.

3. Gout de terre (taste of dirt) is a NEGATIVE word used to imply the winemaking and storage of the wine created a 'dirty' taste, probably really high levels of brett and other sorms of spoilage.

These concepts have become misenterpreted and collapsed with the generic term 'terroir' so the arguments have become heated, cofusing and pointless! Then personal preferences, emotion and metaphores come into play and the conversation becomes impossible!
Keep in mind that the AOC system in France is less than 100 years old. The 'hundreds of years of tradition and culture' are very distorted and have little bearing today. Great vintages of Montrachet 100 years ago would be considered 'late harvest' dessert wines today - botrytis infected and VERY sweet. The 1855 classification of Bordeaux was based on market price at the time and the wines of more wealthy families won out - go figure. The differences in the wines 50 years ago were clear and easy to distinguish. Not so much these days! When the wealthy Mentzolopolous in 1976 they were able to completely restore the quality of the wine in 2 years with the right investments. They did not changing the soil, but the yield, barrels and triage of wines during assemblage.

AND Pinot Noir is not the only permissible grape in Burgundy's celebrated Cote d'Or - it is legal (and used to be commonly practised) to add Chardonnay, Pinot Beurot (Gris) and Pinot Blanc, in some cases up to 15% of the final blend. The white varieties in most vineyards, including Clos de la Roche, Musigny, Corton, Beaune and Nuits St. Georges are more often vinified separately today and sold as white wines. The intensity of fruit, color and lack of brett in today's red Burgundies make them very different from those I grew up with!

EXAMPLE OF RELATIONSHIP OF SOIL TO GRAPE COMPOSITION:Limestone soils have high levels of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate binds potassium and prevents uptake. This lowers the ph in the grape and creates more acidity. The vine is subject to lime-induced chlorosis which lowers vigor and reduces yield. Also renders the soils less suitable for red wines as color concentration is lowered. This is why the 'white wine on white soils' concepts holds some truth. The flinty 'minerality' associated with older Chablis, German and Loire wines was in truth over use of sulfites and a vivid marketing imagination! Today minerality is a vague, personal and metaphorical term having nothing to do with soil per se, but living in the minds of anyone who experiences it.

Which makes it as true and real, for said individuals, as anything!

Message to Wine People: STOP IT!

2009-12-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

met-a-phor: (noun)

1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

‘You’ is a metaphor. Not that you are a metaphor, although ‘you are’ is a metaphor that represents the existence of you. ‘You’ is the metaphor that ‘I’ (who exists as ‘you’ metaphorically to yourself) use to represent 'me' (possessive metaphor for ‘I’ for me which is ‘you’ to you).

I (me, metaphorically speaking) know what you are thinking, “I (meaning you) is/are not a metaphor.” Truthfully I, (or me) can’t possibly have a clue what you (‘I’ or ‘’me’ to you) are thinking and ‘I’ only say this as a metaphor suggesting that ‘I’ could possibly know what ‘you’ are indeed thinking, with ‘I’ representing ‘me’ to ‘you’ and ‘your representing ‘you’ to ‘me’. In fact I (you may know me as ‘you’ but I am ‘I’ to ‘me’) have no clue if you exist. I only think you do in my head, where metaphors run free. If a tree fall in the woods does anyone read my blog? Wow, am I writing my blog for the metaphorical ‘you’ who may not even exist.

Wait a minute - are 'you' (‘I’ to ‘you’), or am I (‘you’ to ‘I’ or ‘me’) saying 'I' is a metaphor or that 'you' (I meaning you) is (or is it are) a metaphor? Do I (or you) mean you ARE a metaphor? I (me) is, or are, confused. Are you?

Which brings me (or ‘us’, which is a metaphor for the collective I and you) to the point (if someone stops reading a blog because the blogger is a moron does the blog, or for that matter the blogger, exist?). ALL words, points, descriptions, concepts, values, ideals and personal points of view are metaphorical. Indeed, it may be suggested that the only thing objective in existence is the existence of the object itself. Metaphors are required for ANY attempt to qualify the existence of the object or describe it in any way, shape or form.

Humans use metaphors to describe, understand, assess and evaluate the objects the sensations we encounter in life. Failing to understand the fundamental possibility that we may experience things differently people argue, go to war and act crazy in general. It may be a disagreement over ownership or entitlement of land, food or objects. It may be a disagreement over who is right or wrong about spirituality, morality or governance.

Wine people disagree whether or not descriptions, puffs, medals, stars or ‘points’ are the best metaphors to use to convey wine value. If you agree on ‘points’ as the metaphor people will then argue whether 100 points, 20 points or 10 points is better or worse, right or wrong. Then we will argue over “how in the world did you decide to give that number of points to that wine!”

If you use words as your basis of metaphors people may be a disagreement over whether a wine smells like ollolaberry, huckleberry or Chuck Berry. Barnyard, manure, bretanomyces, crap, perfume or BS? Is ‘cat’s pee’ a. correct at all and b. good or bad? A lot depends on your personal interpretation and reaction to the metaphor ‘cat’ and your life experience with cats, cat pee and litter boxed.

I have but a simple request: stop it.

This is to coin a Bob Newhart solution to ANYTHING you suffer over and you really should watch this clip from Mad TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1g3ENYxg9k

When someone ‘goes off’ (a metaphor for reacting strongly, like a bomb or gun) defending their position, point of view and become self-righteous make sure to gently inform them, “uh-uh, we don’t go there.” Just like Bob.

“Can’t we all just get along!” That is a metaphor representing of what my Mom used to say in complete exasperation at the dinner table. Fer chrissake, don’t even get me started on terroir!

BTW, what the hell did my wife put in my coffee? It occurs for me that this is a metaphor representing transference of blame for my inane rambling to some one, or some thing, else thereby metaphorically ‘letting me off the hook’. Hmmmm…’letting me off the hook’ is a metaphor for…, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

TAKE OUR SURVEY, PLEASE!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L2HNDJX

We are collecting information that will enable us (wine geeks, dweebs, wonks and wusses) to learn new ways to make wine more fun, less stuffy and truly transform how we, as experts and professionals, can be of service to wine consumers.
We need to drive every day wine consumers to this and appreciate any help you can provide tweeting, blogging, emailing, talking (analogue means of communication for those unfamiliar with term), newslettering, YouTubing Facebooking, texting, LinkedIn-ing, and anything else anyone can think of. THANKS!

Wine Preference Survey: experts NOT invited (sort of)

2009-12-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

We have launched a new consumer wine preference survey to collect information as a precursor to our revolutionary Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi (www.consumerwineawards.com) project and would very much appreciate having anyone and everyone help us get this out into the world. I will be sharing results and insights as we go he at my blog. This year our wine evaluations for the CWAL will be conducted using the process been developing for the past three years and will be using up to a couple of hundred consumers!

As for this survey, we are focused on collecting information and want to get this into the hands of every day wine drinkers that are tired of the ‘stuffy’ or snobbish attitudes of wine experts. I would be beholdin’ to ya if you might be able to forward this on to anyone you think might be interested and help us get it out there? We are anticipating well over 1,000 consumer responses between now and March 2010 and will share the data with those who help us get this out. Here is what we are sending to family and friends – we also want to hear from the industry to compare how we align, or not, with the every day consumers out there.

TAKE OUR SURVEY, PLEASE!
Our consumer wine preference survey is now live and we need your help. This is a formal research project produced in conjunction with the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi (www.consumerwineawards.com) and our sensory research teams at UC Davis and around the world. Our intention is to collect information that will enable us (wine geeks, dweebs, wonks and wusses) to learn new ways to make wine more fun, less stuffy and truly transform how we, as experts and professionals, can be of service to wine consumers.

Please help us broadcast this! We need to drive every day wine consumers to this and appreciate any help you can provide tweeting, blogging, emailing, talking (analogue means of communication for those unfamiliar with term), newslettering, YouTubing Facebooking, texting, LinkedIn-ing, and anything else anyone can think of. THANKS!

***Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L2HNDJX ***

Survivor - Turducken Island

2009-11-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes things just don’t go the way that I plan. I decided to prepare a Turducken as a post-Thanksgiving project. We invited friends over to participate in the grand event. I set up to video the preparation of the dish (I will post coordinates when editing complete).

I had the turkey, duck and chicken ready and the stuffing pre-prepared. People came over about 3:00 PM and we were underway! In 1966 I deboned my first turkey with my father’s supervision. It was a project to make a ‘gallantine’ – boneless stuffed fowl or game filled with finely ground meat and strips of ham and meat. You carful arranged everything, rolled it in cheesecloth and poached it gently in a stock made with the bones. The galantine is a beautiful dish and served cold. It provides beautiful oval slices with cool patterns and is garnished with jewel-like aspic made from the clarified poaching liquid. I was 14 and getting hooked on this culinary stuff. An additional benefit is that my Dad drank wine during the production of the meal and turned a blind eye when I helped myself to some too. For a dish like this – red Burgundy like Volnay, his favorite. For less adventurous meals Gallo Hearty Burgundy. The Great Turducken Adventure brought me back to these memories.

My Turducken did not turn out as a tribute to culinary aesthetics. But I digress.

I deftly deboned the birds and decided to put my own spin on things to ‘improve and simplify’ the preparations. This usually translates to ‘complicate and screw up.’ Ask my frines or wife. That is kinda what you will get a sense of when you view the videos.

One ‘improvement’ was to lay out cheesecloth and build the Turducken on top. All I would need to do is bundle it all up and put it into a roasting pan. So far so good. Everyone was engaged, impressed with my culinary dexterity and knowledge of poultry anatomy. We got the Turducken assembled, seasoning with Vignon Flavor Balancing seasoning all the way, and in the oven by 4:00 with relative ease.

Timing became a little issue. I went on line to check cooking times and figured the 20 minute per pound at 325 degrees rule would put us at about 6 and a half hours for our roughly 20 pound mass of fowl flesh. That would put our Turducken-to-table time at roughly 10:30 PM. Online estimates ranged up to 8 hours.

What the hell – we had plenty of wine, great company, the kids were playing video games. We were basking in the friendship of our gathering. For a couple of hours. Then people started voting thmselves off the island.

Our son, Landen, had arranged to go to Game Crazy to get a new game and then go over to a friend’s house for a sleep over. He left with my wife Kate. Then my bis partner John’s kids were getting a little uncomfortable, bored and wanted to leave. They headed out. Rick, Rob and Samantha decided to ‘cut a chogie’ (leave). We coerced them to stay a bit longer to watch a video of our band performing a few years ago at Copia. Hunger won out and they headed off to Taco Bell for sustenance. Kate came home and headed upstairs to work on her computer and watch TV in bed.

I had won! I was the ultimate Turducken Survivor!

When you see me pulling the mass out of the oven in the video I am in my pajamas. The cheesecloth stuck to the skin of the turkey and, despite my vast culinary training and skills, the whole thing was a mess. It was like pulling old gauze off of a massive 3rd degree burn, taking skin and flesh with it. I felt like Julia Child when she flipped a frittata and half of it ended up on the stove. I, like her, pushed everything back together and served it up as best as I could. IT WAS REALLY DELICIOUS! Alas, no one to share in my glory. I had won indeed, but was alone (sniff).

So here are my learnings:
· Have fun and don’t sweat the way the finished product looks.
· Consider sewing and tying your Turducken to avoid cheesecloth cling.
· Start at daybreak and make sure not to have friends and family show up at that time unless they are in it for the duration.
· Provide meals and beverages at appropriate times if anyone is sticking out the entire ordeal with you.
· Leftover Turducken makes a great hostess gifts, stocking stuffer, breakfast meat (sautéed with some stuffing and served with scrambled eggs).
· If you end up as the sole Turducken Survivor no one will be there to admonish you when you eat the pie and whipped cream leftovers.

So celebrate! You too can be the ultimate Turducken Survivor!

Of Stepmoms and My White Drinker Zin Epiphany

2009-11-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

My wife, Kate, just got off the phone with her Mother, Joanne. It brought back memories of 17 years ago when I met Joanne for the first time. This meeting was also the source of my 'epiphany' (or nervous breakdown) about the stereotypes we have created in the wine community and how completely off base we are about who they are and why they like what they like. WAY off in many cases.

I was the 'new' boyfriend and we were visiting 'Mom' for the Christmas holidays. Kate was very nervous. Mom liked her ex-husband very much and Kate was worried how well I would go over on the potential-new-son-in-law-o-mometer.

Kate told me Joanne liked White Zinfandel. I worked for Breringer and got it for free. Score! Kate told me Joanne loved to eat so I brought a leg of lamb and accoutrements to prepare a killer meal. We drove from Napa to Eureka, where Kate had grown up, and arrived in the early evening. Kate was expressing her trepidation at this meeting. Mom liked the last guy a lot. I was very much on the goofy side both in look and actions.

We pulled up to Mom's house after a long drive, grabbed a load of stuff, went to the door and rang the doorbell. I had the case of White Zin under one arm and the leg of lamb in my other hand. Kate was pulling luggage. The door swung open and Joanne took one look and said, "Son - welcome and let me show you the kitchen!"

Kate was struggling behind hauling the suitcases and aid, "hi Mom..."

Joanne yelled back, "just put those things downstairs honey" as she took my arm and led me to the kitchen.

Joanne has a Ph.D. in economics and taught for years at Humboldt State University. She is a remarkable golfer, golfed in Scotland and she and her husband Jack, former superintendant of schools in Sacramento, travel around participating in amateur gold tournaments around the country. They are retired, living comfortably in the west Phoenix area and always up to exciting things.

And she loves White Zinfandel. On our first meeting it occured to me that maybe I had something wrong. Joanne did not meet my vision of a White Zinfancel drinker. If you are reading this you probably have some interest in wine and can appreciate when I say, "you know - THOSE people."

Meeting Joanne shifted things for me. I had to revise my view of things and was really curious about what was going on. This began my journey into understanding sensory sensitivity and how we all end up with our individual wine preferences. Now, my research now shows that White Zinfandel drinkers typically have the MOST taste buds. They are not immature, stupid, of any of the other embarassing things the wine community seems hell-bent on saying. They simply find many of the wines wine 'experts" rate the highest are for the White Zinfandel drinkers are the most horribly bitter, burning and unpleaseant.

Last night Kate and I watchd an Oscar-winning movie with French subtitles. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (film by Buñuel [1972]) They were drinking vintage Port as an aperitif. Most people overlook, or don't know, that the French drink more Port wine than any other country. And usuually before dinner.

We overlook, or don't know, that Champagne was always VERY sweet by todays standards. Or the great Montrachet used to be a sweet, botrytis infected wine.Or that if wine was to strong the French and Italians would not hesistate to add water or a cube of sugar to make it better. Or fruit juice, especially in Spain. Or that the world ALWAYS valued sweet wines more than dry until very recently.

Glad to know I was wrong about White Zinfandel drinkers and for that I give my thanks. And especially thanks to you, Joanne.

3 Blind Men and a Wine

2009-11-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the old Sufi parable about the 3 blind men and the elephant? The first blind man reached out and grasped the elephant's trunk and described a serpent, the second felt its tree-like leg, the third its leathery ear and the fourth man encountered its rope-like tail. When the blind men began to talk with each other, an argument ensued as each tried to describe the elephant in his terms. Each interpreted and described the animal from their direct, personal experience yet they could not reach a consensus or fuller understanding about the elephant.

Each man possessed a “truth” from their own personal experience but that “truth” was limited to their own experience and interpretation. In many ways experiencing, interpreting and describing wine and wine with food is analogous to this parable making the topic of wine unnecessarily complicated, contradictory and difficult.

Advice, attitudes and opinions on the subject of how wine is enjoyed and what to do when wine and food are served together cover an almost limitless gamut of options. Positions range from a simple, laissez-faire attitude of “drink and eat what you like” to intense and emotionally charged, wine based micro-cultures replete with their own language, rituals, protocol and propriety. For every expert judgment proclaiming a wine is great there is another expert voice claiming to the contrary. For virtually every expert recommendation to “serve this wine with this food” there is the counter opinion to “never serve that same wine with that same food.”

Surprisingly this allows us to acknowledge and honor everyone’s point of view. It provides us with a better understanding that there are many ways of describing, judging, or scoring wine. What is missing is the knowledge of the fundamentals of our differences and if something appears a different way than WE experience it there must be something wrong with THEM. Whatever value system you find works for you is, indeed, valid. What does not work is the inference that what works for you will work for everyone, or even anyone, else. The research and findings I have been playing around with create a powerful context for radically changing many of the commonly held wisdoms and principles of wine enjoyment also provide insights into why we should embrace and respect the many differing points of view that have become standards for appreciating wine. The net result is a higher level of understanding that puts an end to the constant bickering about who is right or who is wrong.

There is a lot to be learned about ourselves and others. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it, and love and good wishes to everyone.

Local Wine with Local Food - A Downright Lie

2009-11-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

The supposed symbiotic relationship between wine and food from a given local is a myth. The eloquent ramblings supporting the proposition are at best half-truths but mostly downright lies. Not necessarily by anyone’s overt intention to deceive but as a result of the inevitable distortions and embellishment of wine and food fairy tales over time.

It is important to start this by pointing out I come from a very traditional and classical position on wine and food. I was a complete Francophile, my culinary apprenticeship was in pasties because Escoffier wrote that was the requisite foundation for all great chefs, and Larousse Gastronomique (the 1961 Crown edition, not the newer version) was my bible and even had a Vizsla (dog) named Prosper in honor of the author. I had the patter, the rationale and all of the bad sciences down pat. I became recognized as a ‘wine and food guru’ internationally. And I was feeling more and more like something was very wrong. As my wine world began to expand I began to note the many inconsistencies and uncertainties in my own stories, and lectures. I was more aware of the vast differences in how people experienced the same combinations. In 1990 it all came to a head at a communications seminar I attended in preparing for the MW examination and I started down a different path.

Over the past 20 years I have conducted a ‘critical rethinking’ of what I had held as sacred premises for the correct matching of wine and food. Critical thinking is a discipline applied when there are two or more conflicting opinions or points of view and allows the deconstruction and reconstruction of concepts to try to find a resolution. I started enrolling other chefs, wine experts and sensory specialists in this new quest for the Truth About Wine and Food. Here is a sampling of the things we found.

Macro-level Mythbuster
The wines that were consumed not very long ago in France, Spain, Germany and Italy were wines we could not even imagine as drinkable today. Alcohols were rarely above 10-11 percent. ‘Red’ wines were more what we would consider dark rose today. Acetic acid and brettanomyces were the rule, not the exception. Prior to WWII wines were rarely put in bottles and mostly sold ‘en vrac’ – picture a huge tank with a gas pump. Any wine approaching what we drink today as most often EXPORTED AND NOT CONSUMED IN THE AREA!! In 1970 (correct me if someone has better figures) only 5% of the wines of France were AOC wines. Wine was part of the culture and not vice-versa, not event the OWNERS of great chateaux new what varieties were planted on their own estate let alone the consumers of the wine. The wines that we associate with the regions of production in France today not only were not consumed there, cheaper Italian, North African and Spanish wines we brought in huge quantities to supply the daily need of the locals. People drank the same wines day in and day out. With whatever was on their table.

And don’t even get me started on the concept of why TERROIR has become such a volatile subject . Suffice to say here it is a gross misinterpretation of different words that has led to innumerable arguments. I will do a piece on that down the road.

Red Wine and Red Meat – Truth or Fertilizer?
The insights I learned on critically rethinking this myth smacked me in the head like a 2X4. 1992, 30 sensory scientists from 11 countries assembled to listen to my wine and food lecture at Beringer’s then-new Hudson House Culinary Center. They were invited there to listen to my wine and food stuff and rip it apart. Seriously.

Me, “try the steak with the Cabernet and note how the tannins are softened. Astringency is a result of the negatively charged polyphenols in the wine denaturing the positively charged proteins in our mouth tissues and saliva resulting the corresponding lack of lubricity we experience. Having rare meat provides new bonding points for the colloids reducing the denaturing effect and fat provides lubrication and the effect of smoothing out and reducing the astringency.”

Fertilizer was the unanimous agreement. “Have you tried this with rare meat that has no salt?” was the question from a gentleman who did his Ph.D. dissertation on lubricity (seriously). “Salt is a bitterness blocker and would account for this illusion.”

Crap. We cooked more USDA Choice NY Strip and tried it again. The wine becomes MORE astringent with red wine and red meat. I have demonstrated this hundreds of times to thousands of people.

What about the fat and the softening of red wine? Nope. Try it. Olive oil, lard, butter WITH NO SALT, cooked beef fat, lamb fat – you name it. THEY MAKE WINE MORE BITTER AND ASTRINGENT! We tend to put more salt on fatty foods. Duh.

Coming up we will look at the Foie Gras and sweet wine myth, red wine and fish (with a special sojourn to oysters) and all sorts of stuff. If anyone is out there let me know what YOU would like next!

Understanding Why We Disagree

2009-11-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

OK, I am done for now with long posts. Back to ‘peace, love and understanding’ for the wine community. What’s so funny about that?

Here’s what’s so funny. The internet now provides an enormous global stage for wine related pissing matches. Wine rating systems, wine and food matches, terminology, yada yada yada. At the Wine Future 2009 conference I just attended in Spain it was pointed out more than once that the blogging community spends more time rating the raters and critiquing the critics than blogging about wine. What happened to wine as the beverage of civility, bringing family and community together at the table.

The wine blogging community is starting to resemble the family dinner table of my childhood. As a matter of fact one of the metaphors we create for wine and food is this idyllic scene of people at the table, sharing and laughing. Family, friends and good times. I don’t know how it was for you but maybe your family was more like mine. If not you indubitably had a friend with a family like mine and this scene was even more excruciating is one of us had a friend over:

Mom, “We never eat together as a family anymore.”
Dad, “Alright, goddammit – kids, get in here! We are sitting down for dinner together!”
Kids (aloud), “jeez, do we hafta?” (to ourselves), “sheitz, here we go again.”
Mom, “What are you kids up to in school?”
Kids, “Not much.”
Dad, “Sit up straight! Quit mumbling. Answer your Mother.”
Mom, “This is so nice. Honey (Dad), put down your newspaper so we can talk.”
Dad, “Who wants to get me another beer? Get your elbows off the table!”
Mom, “Don’t be so harsh. Can’t we have a nice dinner for a change?”
Kids, “This sucks, I hate sauerkraut. I’m gonna puke if I try to eat this. It smells like crap”
Dad, “You will eat what is on you plate and can’t leave the table until you do!”
Mom, “For chrissake can’t we just get along. Just for once?”
Dad, “Quit whining. Don’t you kids know how to act at the dinner table? Pick up your napkin off the floor and put it on your lap. Quit trying to feed the dog your sauerkraut she is just spitting it out on the rug.” Side note - Dogs don’t eat sauerkraut. Isn’t this just further proof for a kid that humans shouldn’t either – dogs lick their butts, and the butts of any other animal that comes along, and won’t even eat sauerkraut! End side note and on with the family dinner; “And what the hell was with you report card? How on earth do you get a D in phys ed for chrissake? If you want to go to junior college and get your auto mechanics certificate you need to do better than that.”
Mom, “Can’t we just get along for once? (now crying) I can’t take this any more!”

Mom then stands up, ferociously slams down her napkin (sort of) and runs from the dining room with her face in her hands, sobbing.

Dad sighs heavily, pushes his chair back from the table, puts his hands on his knees, leans forward and pushes his way to standing. “I hope you kids are proud of yourselves,” is his parting shot. “Somebody get me another beer,” he call back.

“Thank god the annual ritual of 'family dinner' is over for this year,” is our silent thought. We pour ourselves some cereal and milk and head back to watch TV. Our 15 minutes of sheer boredom and pain is over and life back to normal (or our version of normal). The one thing we do know is we won’t have to face this again for a long time.

Wine experts disagree with other wine experts. Wine experts disagree with consumers. Consumers disagree with other consumers and with wine experts. Moms with Dads and vice versa, teenagers with everyone in the world. People disagree.

Humans create their personal point of view from the combination of sensory stimulus we experience and how that information is processed in our brain. This is how we shapes our individual sense of values, preferences, likes, dislikes, fears, passions, love, hate and so on. I can be thought of as the ‘Psycho-Sensory System’. This is how what we call reality is created.

Two BIG things to know:
1. Our sensory anatomy varies HUGELY from one person to next. This means one person gets an acute sensation and other is oblivious to it. PROP sensitivity (bitter to some, others cannot sense a thing), color blindness, touch sensitivity, hearing, smelling. We ALL experience things differently.

2. Sensations are transmitted to our brains to be processed: compared to past sensations, connected to things we have learned, judged and assessed, quantified and rationalized. Other sensations occurring around us are influencing where in our brain this is happening and what conclusions, descriptions and meaning we are conjuring up. This will create the NEW memories, meaning, assessments and values we will use in the next round of experiences.

This IS subjectivity. And EVERYTHING is subjective, even most everything which we are convinced is objective. And this is why we disagree.

Sugary sweet, simple wine to one person is delicious and wonderful for another.

Over-oaked, over-buttery, high alcohol abominations are nectar for many.

Numbers, words, medals, puffs, stars and any other way we try to describe and share our experiences are ALL metaphorical. Every one of them is valid or invalid. It depends on YOUR sensory sensitivity and neural wiring.

So let’s cut it out, please? Can’t we just have a nice wine community day of blogging and tastings and sharing without making everyone wrong and arguing (sniff, sniff).

The bottom line? CUT IT OUT! I will send you to your room with no Reidel glassware if you don’t and you won’t get any sweet wine that is ok now because it is really expensive, comes for a remote place and is hard to find and smells like honeysuckle and ripe apricots and only got that way because it got a frigging fungus all over it and shriveled up the grapes and you thought that sweet wine was for wimps until you discovered it was ok again if it met all this criteria and scored 93 points!!

AND you have to share it with your brother. Or sister. Or another blogger.
Crap, this blog is long again! More to come on our psycho-sensory systems.

Umami Explained on Youtube

2009-11-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here is the link, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_fKLohSeI

Umami Taste in Wine: The role of amino acids and 5’-ribonucleotides as primary taste components in wine.

2009-11-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then - here is a life's WORK IN PROGRESS that I first proposed with sensory specialists at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Bob Noyes, Joe Montecalvo, and others) a long, long time ago. This is still speculation and I looking for anyone interested in pursing a formalized study!! Back when I first wrote this (over 10 years ago) many people were still throwing bread and food at me during my presentations. Tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes, made for particularly excellent projectiles and it is interesting to note how those same fruit/vegetables contribute to satisfying our need for umami taste. When eaten, however, not used as weapons.

The long and short of this is the descriptors consistent with lees stirring Chardonnay and other white wines fit descriptors for umami taste; rich, full, creamy, etc. There is a corresponding mouthfeel component and these combine to fit umami taste descriptions to a tee. Extending the maceration of red wines would also be consistent with this hypothesis and additional contact with the yeast during this process may contribute significant levels nucleotides, the umami taste potenitometer, to the equation. And finally ahe primary taste charcteristics assoicated with aging sparkling wine en tireage and the development of rich, almost savory, Sherry flavors from contact with the flor yeast are lumped in here as well. This would account for the 'softening' of bitterness and astringency and increase in richness of flavor that is noted with longer maceration of red wines, etc.

Modern production techniques, ripeness levels, specialized yeast strains and post fermentation handling and treatments can all contibute to the increase in umami taste compounds in wine. I will be posting a video explanation of umami (in the context of truths, myths, half-truths and downright lies) shortly and set up a link for anyone interested.

Taste a plain, uncooked mushroom and then compare to a mushroom you have nuked in the microwave in a plastic baggie for 30 seconds. Apart from the 'mushroomy' aromatics you will experience the genesis of umami taste firsthand.

For anyone interested here is the info!! Tata for now and proceed with caution. Or use this as a sleep aid tonight. I wonder if anyone is working on a technology for bathrooms to replace magazines and newspaper with on demand internet and email access? Crap (figuratively speaking), another project.

Umami taste has gained much attention and formal recognition from the sensory science community as a 5th primary taste category in addition to sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Glutamic acid and 5’–ribonucleotides, which is known to synergize the intensity of umami taste of glutatmate, are found in sufficient concentration levels in wine to play an essential role in forming the taste and flavor profile and intensity of quality wines. The correlation of these compounds to desirable taste and flavor characteristics of wine has been referred to (Peynaud[1]) but never fully analyzed. The umami taste sensation, derived from glutamates and 5’-ribonucleotides, is well documented as an attractive, primary taste component of myriad food products. Additionally there are several amino acids that have been identified that add a sweet taste to foods, notably praline, arganine and alanine that are found in sufficient concentrations to be considered as taste contributors.

A preliminary review of existing studies shows sufficient levels of naturally occurring umami taste substances in both wine grapes and finished wine to warrant further study of this hypothesis. Glutamic acid, a natural compound found in wine grapes and a precursor to glutamate taste substances, and 5’ -ribonucleotides, which are associated with yeast fermentation and the enzymatic decomposition of ribonucleic acid from yeast cells. The contribution of glutamic acid (more correctly glutamate) to the taste of wine is acknowledged by Emile Peynaud in his books Knowing and Making Wine and The Taste of Wine: “Among the amino acids, however, glutamic acid should perhaps be accorded a special mention. Its appetizing flavor is well known, salty, and mellow at once. If some 200 mg/l were present in a wine, its effect on the taste would not be negligible.” Synergized by 5’ –ribonucleotides, lesser amounts of glutamic acid would contribute significantly to the taste and flavor of wine.

Alanine, proline, glycine and arginine have been found to contribute a sweet taste in various foods and are associated with the “sweet” taste of crab and other seafoods (Umami, the Fifth Basic Taste[2]) These amino acids are found in significant levels in wine grapes and wine as well. Understanding the importance of the umami taste in wine, now recognized as the fundamental taste of seafood, tomato, asparagus, mushrooms and cheese, will lead to a better understanding of standard of viticultural and winemaking processes. Implementing practices in the vineyard and winery that create higher concentrations of the appropriate precursors and optimize umami taste intensity in wine can maximize desirable taste characteristics.

Introduction
Recognition of amino acids and ribonucleotides as taste/flavor contributors.

Sugar-free extract
Wine makers and viticulturalists have recognized a flavor in wine which has come to be known as sugar-free extract. This flavor is associated with a “sweet” taste found in wines devoid of appreciable levels of sugar compounds.

Correlation of umami taste to bitterness suppression
Increased amounts of free amino acids and ribonucleotides in food products have been correlated with reduced bitterness and acidic “bite.” This effect is similar to the flavor enhancement achieved when wine is aged for extended period on the lees deposited during and after fermentation.

Compounds associated with umami taste found in wine grapes and wine
Compund
Description
mg/l in grapes
mg/l in wine
Glutamic Acid
Precursor to glutamates and glutamine.
0-1330
3-86
Glutamate
Salts of glutamic acid: compounds responsible for primary umami taste.

5’-ribonucleotides
Potentiometer for umami taste intensity provided by yeast excretion and autolysis. Ribonucleotides have been shown to magnify umami taste from glutamates nine-fold[3]. “from 0.6-1.4 mg/l fo the nucleotides ADP, AMP, CMP, UDP, UMP and UTP were found…The nucleotides may act as reinforcers of flavors and in flavor formation in sparkling wines[4]

0.6-1.4 mg/l
Glutamine
Produced instead of glutamate in presence of ammonia in grapes (present in grape juice at concentrations of 24-309 mg/l with and average of 123 mg/l, nad in in wints from a few milligrams to about 50 mg/l with and average of about 12 mg/l[5]), depriving wine of umami taste. Studies show warm growing conditions increase levels of ammonia, creating glutamine in lieu of glutamate, requiring higher degree of fruit ripeness to achieve desirable umami taste. This correlation may help explain the phenomenon of how wine grapes in Bordeaux and Germany can achieve physiological maturity at lower sugar levels than the same grape varieties grown under warmer conditions, such as Napa Valley.

Amino acids with sweet taste characteristics found in grapes and wine
“The tastes of amino acids have traditionally been represented by one dominant taste, such as sweet (Ala, Gly, Pro, Ser, etc.)…[6]”

Proline
Proline is usually the highest concentration of amino acid:
· 0-4600 mg/l, 742 mg/l average for 78 determinations in grapes4.
· 30-3558 mg/l, 869 mg/l average for 42 determinations of wine[8].
· Represents as much as 90% of the total nitrogen in Cabernet Sauvignon.
· Proline is partially used during fermentation, restored by yeast autolysis.
Alanine
Pg. 2478, Umami, a fifth basic taste
Glycine
Pg. 248, Umami Taste of Seafoods, Komata
Arginine
· Must – 4-2360 mg/l, wine 0-2311[9]
· “Arganine levels increased approximately 20-fold during the fruit ripening period of several grape cultivar and at maturity arganine contributed the largest fraction (up to 50%) of N to total berry N.” R. Kruegar and W.M. Kliever, Arganine Metabolism, International Symposium on Nitrogen in Grapes and Wine, 1991, pg. 291

Wine descriptors consistent with umami taste descriptors
Sweet, savory, brothy, creamy, mouthfeel, mellow, rich, etc.
Wine flavor descriptors –
Red Wine: body, extract, ripe, beefy, sweet, mushroomy
White Wine: creamy, mellow, sweet, smooth, rich, ripe

Viticultural implications
Amino acid concentration and distribution in relation to:
1. Vine variety and clone.
2. Rootstock selection
3. Vine vigor and vegetative growth, total vine management in relationship to soil and climate.
4. Fertilization “amino acid concentrations in juice were highly correlated to total N” pg. 197, Must and Wine quality, International Symposium on Nitrogen in Grapes and Wine, 1991, S.E. Spade. “wines from non-fertilized vines scored lowers in aroma, intensity, flavor and overall wine quality.”
5. Crop yield
6. Vintage conditions (higher levels in “quality” vintages)
7. Ammonia/glutamine and reduced umami taste potential in relationship to growing conditions:
Bordeaux vs. Napa Valley
Riesling in Germany and development of “protein” taste

Fermentation and umami taste enhancement
1. Yeast contribution
2. Maceration
3. Red wine fermentation is conducted with the inclusion of grape solids. The pumping over or submersion of the cap keeps yeast cells constantly moving during the maceration period. Extended maceration of red wines creates a flavor profile consistent with umami taste characteristics, and may explain the softening and reduced bitterness and astringency of red wines made with extended maceration.
4. White wine fermentation is generally shorter in duration and conducted in the absence of grape solids. The umami flavor enhancement occurs during the aging period of the wine in contact with the lees resulting from fermentation.
5. Malo-lactic fermentation
6. Proteins

Cellar techniques and umami taste enhancement

Lees contact and lees stirring (including extended maceration for red wines):
Many white wines benefit from contact with spent yeast cells during post-fermentation aging. These flavor distinctions are consistent with enhanced umami taste characteristics: reduced impression of bitterness, rich, mellow, creamy, etc. The spent yeast cells would provide a source for 5’-ribonucleotides that would act as the potentiometer to synergize existing glutamates in the wine.

Champagne aging en-tirage
The aging of Champagne and sparkling wines on the lees after secondary bottle fermentation creates flavor distinctions consistent with enhanced umami taste characteristics: reduced impression of bitterness, rich, mellow, creamy, etc. The spent yeast cells would provide a source for 5’-ribonucleotides that would act as the potentiometer to synergize existing glutamates in the wine.

Flor yeast formation and ribonucleotides
Ammonia additions improve quality, page 228, Amerine, Wine Production and Technology in the United States
[1] E. Peynaud, Knowing and Making Wine, 48, (1981) The Taste of Wine
[2] Umami, the Fifth Basic Taste
[3] Helen Conn, “Umami” the Fifth Basic taste, Nutrition and Science, No. 2, pp. 21-23, March/April 1992
[4] M.A Amerine and C.S. Ough, Methods for Analysis of Musts and Wines, pg. 155 (1980)
[5] C.S. Ough, American Journal of Viticulture. 20, 213-220 (1969)
[6] Shinya Fuke and Tetsuji Shimizu, Sensory and preference aspects of umami, Trends in Food Science and Technology:4 (8) 246-251 41 ref. (1969)
[7] C.S. Ough, Vitis, 7, 321-331 (1968)
[8] C.S. Ough, Vitis, 7, 321-331 (1968)
[9] C.S. Ough and O. Bustos, Wines Vines (50)4, 50-58 (1969), C.S. Ough, unpublished data

Points of view, Consumer Wine Awards and other miscellany

2009-11-21T17:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 6:00 PM

We whould have our formal trade press release and call for submissions for the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi out by Monday. Really exited about how everything seems to be coming together.

Long day today, starting with a segment on a San Francisco morning show with Henry Tenenbaum, KRON 4 TV. He is a riot and we filmed a piece at the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park. Felt like I was back in the jungles of Coconut Grove, Florida with the type of flora surrounding us! Henry is a hoot and LOVES Vignon Seasoning. Did a 'turkey' spot - boneless turkey stuffed and rolled.

Later I met at V Wine Cellars with a group putting together an international wine summit for next April in Yountville. It will be targeted to a high end audience from India and per Rusty Eddy’s comment, “maybe I'll finally come to understand what you've been talking about for so long!”, one of the organizers was looking at me as if I was from Mars while I explained the ‘alternative paradigm’ I introduce in my seminars. I know I come off in a very strange manner to a lot of people. Just ask my wife.

At the end of the meeting everyone was on board and looks like I will be presenting my new, easier to understand, more relevant, inclusive, less off-pissing (like pisses people off less) perspective on how humans create our very individual points of views, preferences and values. I have learned to be much more patient (sometimes) and make sure I get everyone enrolled, although sometimes it just seems I can’t win them all! The group will be about 250 people across a lot of levels of interest and expertise in wine. It also looks like we will be able to conduct a wine tasting/evaluation using our new system creative for the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi (www.consumerwineawards.com). This will be a very cool project for me, Pooch and Aaron (the Diversity Wine Awards Llc team) if they decide to use us for the tastings. We are hoping to do an increasing number of events around the world using our system.

Off to Silo’s at the Hatt Building in Napa to hear Kellie Fuller (Kellie in the Morning on KVYN here in Napa). Darryl Borges, a good friend and past drummer with our band, is in town. More pertinent things to say tomorrow!

The Emperor's New Clos

2009-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

I am a crap blogger in all probability and, given the length of this post, you may agree. Or just fall asleep. Next will be my wine interpreation of War and Peace.

Following is a presentation I gave to the Institute of Masters of Wine International Symposium in Perth, Australia, in 1996 with several hundred of the wine glitterati in attendance from all around the world. Before I left Napa I jokingly told my admin assistant I should do the speech dressed in a robe and crown. When I checked into my hotel the robe and crown were in my closet. All I had underneath was a very neutral colored speedo-like bathing suit. You can figure the rest out at the end of this long post! Seems like the Institute has a sense of humor - I still have my initials.

***** There was a great air of anticipation in the Kingdom. The Emperor had finally arranged for a meeting with a very important nobleperson from a powerful neighboring country. The Visiting Dignitary, his wife and his young daughter were due to dine with the Emperor at the Royal Hall at the summer palace later in the month. The Emperor and the Visiting Dignitary would discuss forming an important alliance between their countries.

It was common knowledge that the Visiting Dignitary was due to talk with other countries about this alliance as well. If the allegiance was formed with one of the neighbors it would imperil the very existence of the Emperor’s domain.

The Visiting Dignitary was an important and powerful person. Rumor had it that he was well schooled and brilliant in languages, philosophy, business, history and the sciences. At a meeting with his staff the Emperor stressed the importance to of striking a deal with the Visiting Dignitary to create an important strategic alliance. Everything for the dinner had to be perfect.

The Imperial Wine Advisor was given the charge of selecting the wines for the dinner by the Emperor himself. The Wine Advisor would brief the Emperor on the wine selections with each dish the day before the dinner so that he would appear quite sophisticated and knowledgeable in the oenological arts.

The Wine Advisor met with the chef to discuss the menu, which was composed of all of the great foods of the season: special chevre from the Loire Valley, the finest Belon oysters, fresh salmon from Norway, dry-aged Charolais beef from Burgundy and fine cheeses. No expense would be spared.

The Visiting Dignitary’s taste was well known. He particularly favored the finest vintages from the great Clos of France. The Imperial Wine Advisor then set about the task of finding the wines that would create the perfect harmony with each dish. He was looking for that elusive synergy of flavors and harmonious balance that would demonstrate the highest level of gastronomic savoir faire. Since the Royal Cellar had one of the greatest inventories of the land, each wine would be from the most reputable Clos in the world!

The Imperial Wine Advisor was extremely fluent in wine things. He had started out in life as a Liberal Arts major in college. A job as a waiter helped him to pay his way through school. This gave him an introduction to wine service and the opportunity to taste and learn about wines. His fascination grew to the point that he knew that this should become his vocation. He tasted and studied with a vengeance, absorbing both knowledge and Herculean quantities of wine. Trips to the wine producing region were interspersed with blind tastings and his studies of viticulture and enology. No stone was left unturned.

Soon he commanded attention at dinner parties with his knowledge of malo-lactic fermentation. When he discussed terroir everyone would fall silent, obviously enraptured by his mystic wisdom and insight. Great vintages? He had had them all. Others at the table would be cut to ribbons after boasting about great bottles that they had been privy to tasting. The Imperial Wine Advisor could humble the best of them. “How cute that you tried the 1945 vintage of that wine. I had the opportunity to have that particular bottle with the Count himself. We were able to compare it to the 1928, and the ‘45 paled in comparison. I thought the ‘28 to possibly be the finest nectar that had ever passed my lips until the Count brought up the 1870. Now there is a wine!” he would boast.

Word of the great palate and encyclopedic knowledge that the young man possessed finally led to an interview at the Royal Court. After giving a two-hour discourse on the socio-economic ramifications of brettanomyces and 2-mthoxy 3-isobutal pyrizine he was hired on the spot.

Armed with his innate wine knowledge and intuition for food affinities, he set to the task at hand: creating the perfect marriage of wine and food with wines from the France’s greatest Clos. The Wine Advisor then met with the Emperor to discuss the wine selections he made for each dish.

The meal would begin with exquisite canapés made with the fine chevre found in the eastern Loire. Clos de la Perriere Sancerre would be appropriate. For the oyster course the decision was simple; Chablis Les Clos. And certainly a regal fish like salmon would be perfect with the Beaune Clos des Mouches. The combination of Charolais Beef and Clos de Vougeot, both the pride of Burgundy, was obvious. Clos Fourtet from St. Emilion with the cheese course was a sublime choice. This was so easy! To cap it all off, the meal would end with marvelous single-vineyard Alsatian wine, Clos Ste. Hune. Given his background and passion he quickly passed over the thoughts of including Clos de Val and Clos de Bois. Pretenders at best he thought in his emotionally jaded mind.

The Royal Wine Advisor made plans for the bottles of these great Clos to be brought over from the Royal Cellars. This needed to be done several days in advance as the cellars were located almost a day’s journey away, in the main palace. The dinner was to take place in the summer palace, perched on an impressive crest overlooking the river. The Royal Wine Advisor made sure to order plenty of each of the wines, as once the dinner started it would be impossible to get more during the course of the meal. He would also make arrangements to stay over at the Summer Palace and oversee the proper handling of the wines on their arrival so they could “rest” properly before the dinner.

The wines arrived the evening before the great event. That night at dinner with the staff he assumed an air of great importance and shared all of the details that were involved in the most delicate art of wine and food pairing he was entrusted to create. Occasionally he had to prod one of the other members of the team who fell asleep during his exciting recitation (they were obviously overworked).

A very pretty pastry chef sitting next to the Royal Wine Advisor said it would certainly be thrilling to taste some of these magnificent wines. She remarked that she tended to get very wild and uninhibited when she drank fine wine. The Royal wine advisor, having dedicated his life to wine and never having the time to pursue a relationship, slyly indicated that he alone had the key to the cellar and might take the young lady down to the cellar later to try a few of the great Clos that he had assembled. The young pastry chef blushed and whispered that she would meet him in the cellar at midnight.

At midnight the Royal Wine Advisor tiptoed to the cellar and unlocked the wrought iron gate. He breathed in the rich, heady aromas. The smell always gave him an immense feeling of satisfaction. The young pastry chef showed up for the vinous tryst moments later. She remarked “It really stinks in here, doesn’t it?” Poor, misguided youth, the Royal Wine Advisor thought.

He proceeded to open and pour from the bottles of wine assembled for the dinner. He had made sure to have plenty of the wines available for the dinner, so this did not worry him. The two of them could not drink enough to create a shortage.

He explained each wine lovingly to his pupil. His seemingly enraptured partner in crime implored him to drink more. He was growing a little impatient for her to go very wild and become uninhibited as she had indicated she would at dinner. They had gone through several bottles and she seemed to be completely unaffected.

He decided to speed up the pace, downing one glass of nectar after another. He was expecting her to go wild any moment. He sure hoped so. He was starting to feel a bit queasy, totally unaware that the young pastry chef was pouring her wine into a bucket next to her chair while he was drinking himself to oblivion. The Royal Wine Advisor was soon sound asleep.

The young pastry chef notified the other staff members that the party was now ready to begin. The entire staff came down to the cellar and began to drink the wines, all the while parroting the affectations of the Royal Wine Advisor. They drank until every last drop was gone and a great time was had by all.

The Royal Wine Advisor awoke the next day with a start and a groan. It took him a moment to remember where he was and he had no idea what time it was. Glancing at his watch, his heart sank. It was only one hour until the reception for the dinner!

His heart was racing and his head was pounding. What happened? The cellar was strewn with empty bottles. In fact, there was not a single bottle that had been spared. The Royal Wine Advisor raced upstairs to the kitchen, where the rest of the staff was. He could swear he heard them giggling under their breath.

The Emperor poked his head in the door and gave the Royal Wine Advisor a wink. “Everything set for dinner? I can hardly wait to taste the wines you have selected for the meal.” The Royal Wine Advisor smiled wanly and assured the Emperor that the wines would be sublime indeed.

The Royal Wine Advisor ran back to cellar in a panic. What could he do? There was not a single drop of wine left and it would take days to get replacements.

He devised a plan. He would put the corks back into the empty bottles. He would carry on about his business as if nothing were wrong! Ceremoniously draw the corks from the bottle. Sniff the cork carefully. Pretend to pour a bit in his tastevin. Peer at it intently and take a long, slow sniff. Lift the cup to his mouth, take small drink, suck air and gurgle with authority. Proclaim that this particular bottle is the finest example he had ever had the opportunity to savor - and then proclaim that anyone with a sophisticated palate would surely agree that this was a wine of great breed and distinction.

He would call upon his fluent ability to speak oenobabble about the wines, stressing finesse and delicacy. See how brilliant they were? The Emperor would then speak about the wine and food as they had rehearsed. He was sure that everyone would be appropriately impressed and intimidated. What could they say?

The Royal Wine Advisor re-corked the bottles and straightened himself up as best as he could. He washed his face, combed his hair and took a deep breath. It was show time! He entered the dining room with the Clos de la Perriere. He cupped the bottom of the bottle with his right hand and held the very top with his left, hiding the fact that the capsule had been removed. The Emperor gave the label a perfunctory glance and nodded an affirmation to the Royal Wine Advisor, who turned to the sideboard. Here, hidden by his generous being, he pretended to remove the foil and then removed the cork, which gave way with a satisfying smack. The cork was presented to the host who dutifully gazed at it, looking for he knew not what.

The Royal Wine Advisor poured a little air into the Emperor’s glass. The Emperor lifted the fine crystal. Boy, talk about light wine he thought. I cannot even feel it in the glass, let alone see it! How extraordinary. He lifted the glass to the dazzling light of the crystal chandelier and deftly drew little circles in the air, studying the glass with knit brows. The glass then was lowered to his royal nose, and the Emperor inhaled deeply. Bringing the glass to his lips, he tilted it, pursed his lips, and sucked air with the authority of one tutored in the vinous arts. “Magnificent! Curt, yet not obsequious! You are to be commended in your selection, Royal Wine Advisor. So light and crisp, with a clarity I have never encountered.”

The Royal Wine Advisor proceeded to pour air into the glasses of the rest of the guests with new confidence, except that of the Visiting Dignitary’s daughter, crisply turning the bottle at the end of each imaginary pour, so as not to spill a drop on the fine linen table cloth. The guests each performed the proper rituals of tasting; swirling their glasses, inhaling and sucking. They nodded their heads, bobbing knowingly, in the manner in which the experts in the wine videos did when they heartily approved of a wine. The daughter of the Visiting Dignitary swirled her Coca Cola and holding it to the light, mocking her elders with childish glee.

The wife of the Visiting Dignitary remarked that she never really liked wine, except that dreadful White Zinfandel that she was embarrassed to drink in public. The snooty servers at the local Beef ‘n Burgundy restaurant always rolled their eyes when she ordered a glass of it with the Princess cut filet mignon. She could drink this particular Clos all night! It was so light and delicate.

One of the diners pointed out that it went perfectly with the fine chevre that it was served to accompany. This was a perfect lead-in for the Emperor.

“Well, if you smell the Clos de la Perrier you will find the typical aroma of fresh-cut grass,” he said. The glasses came up and the faces came down simultaneously around the table. The heads all bobbed the video wine nod in agreement. Fresh-cut grass, indeed. Clear as a bell!

“This particular cheese comes from a producer just outside of Sancerre, where the Clos is located that this wine comes from. The goats feed on the local grasses, creating a perfect harmony with the wine, don’t you see? The wine smells like grass and the goat that provides the milk for the cheese feeds on grass. Perfect!” Of course we see, said all of the bobbing heads around the table. It was obvious.

Except for one of the heads. This one head was on a lower plane than all of the rest. It belonged to the nine year old daughter of the visiting dignitary and it wasn’t bobbing. “I don’t get it,” she said. “What does the goat eating grass have to do with a wine that smells like grass?” she asked naively.

The grownups all smiled gently. Ah, youth. So innocent. She did not have the benefit of sophistication to draw upon. All that would change, however. She would become mature, educated and sophisticated in time, just like the rest of them. She would learn to appreciate fine wines and learn the language necessary to speak fluently about them.

Next came the Belon oysters, fine and claire. They glistened under the dazzling light of the chandelier. The Royal Wine Advisor repeated the wine ritual again with empty bottles. And again, everyone oohed and aahed over the fineness of this great Chablis les Clos. What a classic combination, for sure. “Oysters and Chablis are certainly one of the truest, finest matches ever conceived. This is due to the Kimmeridgean limestone formation that all great Chablis have their roots in.” Everyone howled their approval at this great joke - had their roots in, that’s a good one.

The Emperor continued “the soil formation is the result of calcium deposits formed during the cretaceous era, when the Paris Basin covered two-thirds of France. Isn’t it appropriate that the skeletons of brachiopods and ancient forms of lobsters and - this is the kicker - OYSTERS - sediments creating the geology that lends the unique terroir to this wine and creates a gastronomic symbiosis of majestic proportions.” The Emperor beamed. He was cookin’ now. He could see that the Visiting Dignitary was duly impressed.

Everything was going perfectly, with the exception of the little brat that the Visiting Dignitary brought along. As soon as the oysters were served the little tyke exclaimed “Gag me with a spoon,” and opened her mouth wide, pointing her finger between her gaping lips in mock regurgitation. Now the impertinent twit had the gall to ask, “What do a bunch of dead fish have to do with the wine?”

The course that followed was the Norweigian salmon, gently poached and served with wild mushrooms in fresh cream. The Emperor started in immediately. “The Clos des Mouches is a big wine; substantial. It has great prop0rtion and size, particularly in this fine vintage. It cries out for a fish of substantial proportions to stand up to richness of flavor that the wine affords. Salmon, being a large fish, fits the bill.”

“A big fish because it is a big wine? It looks to be the same size as all the rest of the wines,” whined the snot-nosed kid. Good reason to follow the sage advice that children should be seen and not heard, thought the Emperor.

The comment was ignored. The Royal Wine Advisor was on a roll. He served the Clos de Vougeot with a newfound confidence. The Emperor launched into his spiel. The regional association of a great Burgundy wine was the regional choice of true Burgundians to accompany the renowned Charolais beef from the region. Who could argue the logic?

The irritating pre-pubescent pipsqueak sired by the Visiting Dignitary chimed in again. “I was told that the real residents of Burgundy are of very modest means and that the great wines are either exported or served at expensive restaurants to rich foreigners. The true Burgundian people eat chicken and drink simple wines, mostly. They can’t afford wine like this.”

The Emperor was no longer amused. It was time to introduce this child to the rites of adulthood. This had to be done with great diplomacy as he did not wish to endanger his budding relationship with the little weasel’s powerful father.

“Royal Wine Advisor, pour our little friend here a glass of the next wine, the Fourtet, if his parents don’t mind. Perhaps if she were to savor some of the delights afforded by the attainment of adulthood, she could better understand what we are speaking of.” The ulterior motive, of course, was to get the girl enough wine and send her to dreamland.

The Royal Wine Advisor was busy decanting an empty bottle from the famous Clos in St. Emilion into a Waterford decanter. He placed a fine crystal bowl in front of the loud-mouthed kid and poured a healthy serving of air from the empty decanter into the glass. “This will shut her up,” the Emperor thought to himself. All of the guests looked on.

The child picked up the glass and held it to the light. She shook the glass back and forth. She stuck her nose in the glass and sniffed rudely. She lifted the glass to her lips and made slurping sounds. Then, in a final affront to propriety, she turned the glass upside down over his mother’s head. Everyone gasped audibly. Then they stared. Nothing came out! The glass was empty. The girl began to chant, “The Emperor has no Clos, the Emperor has no Clos...” over and over again. The rest of the party was shocked. They picked up their glasses and held them upside down...nothing! All of the descriptions of the wines had been meaningless! All of the ceremony and ritual had been a mockery. What of the wine and food affinities? The explanations sounded so convincing and authentic. It turned out that it was all a scam.
It turned out that, indeed, the Emperor had no Clos.

The wine and turkey conundrum

2009-11-19T05:14:00.000-08:00

Here we are once again facing the Annual Thanksgiving Wine Question. Takes me back to when I was the wine manager at Happy Herman's in Atlanta in the early '80s.

"Can you help me? I am having turkey. What wine should I serve?" Oh jeez, yer the first to ask that!

At the store we stocked anything from Boone's Farm and Spanada to 1945 Mouton Rothschild and in between. As we were one of the only stores open on Thanksgiving we also had a lot of pissed off customers who demanded to know why we did not carry Tampons and oil for their car at a tiny gourmet gocery store. But we had lots of wine! And lots of customers with different needs and views on what 'good wine' meant to them.

Even then I realized how ridiculous it was to 'match' the wine and food. People wanted something that appealed to their own sense of aesthetics, tasted good on their terms, matched their ideas of value for the money and would hopefully draw the admiration of people at the table who knew about such things. NOT a wine and food match, unless THAT was their sense of aesthetics. I guess then that this first piece will be about aesthtics vs. experience and how we all have our presonal views on the world. 'In the eye of the beholder' and all that.

I just had the honor of speaking at the WineFuture 2009 conference in Logrono, Spain, last week. Steven Spurrier, who organized the 'Judgement of Paris' in 1976 and was portryed in the movie Bottle Shock, was on our plane from Charles de Gaulle to Bilbao, Spain. He is an old friend that I have known for maybe 25 years. We rode to the hotel together with Kate, my wife, who spent the ride talking to the driver about her crusade to establish airline regulations so passengers are not stranded on the tarmac for long periods without food, water, toilets and fresh air. Steven and I were catching up - hadn't seen each other for more than 10 years. We pulled up to the Marques de Riscal Hotel in Elciego. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1539

"Oh, my god!", said Kate.
"Oh, my god!" said Steven.

They were different "oh my gods." Kate's OMG was filled with awe. Steven's OMG verged on contempt. Both were right in their PERSONAL assessment of the architecture. Kate loves color and off-the-wall, daring design. Steven was appalled that the huge, sweeping sheets of multi-colored titanium spilling and weaving about had no function, was nothing but pointless, gaudy fluffery. Each reacted to their sense of how the world SHOULD be. It is certain that everyone will have an opionion on this building's facade!

A couple of nights later we were seated together for dinner. Huge hall - the giants of the wine industry were all there; Bob Parker, Jancis Robinson, Gary Vaynerchuk. Steven asked to describe a bit more of the work I do around sensations and how our brain processes and interprets sensory input. I babbled some more. Steven looked more confused.

I explained that wine and food matching is metaphorical and that the way a wine person's brain is wired we see lamb in a rich, dark sauce, our brain goes through its' neurological catalogue, finds an imaginary 'match' and then signals 'good'. When we try the match we are no longer actually experiencing the combination, we are just following the 'frame' our brain told us exists. He said, "dear god...", glazed over even further and started looking for another table to join.

"OK," I said, "why does this dish go with the intense red wine we are having?" His answer predictably incorporated words like heavy, protein, tannin, fat, etc. I asked him to take a bite of the lamb, clear his mind and try the wine and really pay attention. He did. His eyes literally opened wide as saucers (well, maybe those tiny little espresso saucers).

"Shit - that is horrible," he said. I fished a piece of lemon out of my sparkling water glass, squeezed a bit on his lamb, added a tich of salt and said "try it again." He did. Even more incredulous now. "Dear god, that's amazing. It's back to normal again."

What to serve with your turkey
A wine YOU love. Having guests that like something you don't? Ask them to bring something THEY love. Don't be shy - almost every guest is wondering what to bring as a gift. Lot's of people? LOTS of wine, and of different types. BIG red wine, SWEET white wine. Pink wine. Sparkling wine. Love to 'match' wine and food and have an aesthetic prinicple that is sacred? THAT wine.

Just make sure to put some lime juice in your yams or sweet potatoes. A touch of Balsamic in your gravy. Lots of citrus and a touch of salt in your cranberry concoctions only be aware it could STILL drive your wine haywire.

What eveyone should have at their Thanksgiving table? LOVE, COMMUNITY, RESPECT FOR EVERYONE ELSE'S OPINIONS WITHOUT THE COMPELLING NEED TO IMPOSE OUR OWN. AND THANKS - LOTS OF THANKS. NOT ONLY TO HAVE, BUT TO GIVE.

Our very first post

2009-11-18T12:00:00.001-08:00

Welcome to our new site celebrating balance and harmony . . .

in food and wine
in families and communities
and, most of all, a discovery of your personal connectedness to the Universe

Please explore the Napa Seasoning website for more information.