Kronick Wino

Moving Week

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 | Wine Tasting Notes | 2 Comments

Apologies for not posting as of late, as my personal move has taken precedence over all else, except wine drinking. And for that I have a wines to recommend for the week:

‘Secreto‘ Syrah - Viu Manent, Chile- 2005. Holy Raisinets, Batman! I mean, if you could bottle that flavor, intensity and lusciousness, then this is it! Pairs GREAT with pan seared duck breast with a cranberry port wine reduction, dark chocolate of all sorts, and of course by itself. One small warning……make sure you filter this bad boy….it’s a bit toothy at the end. Like turkish coffee. Get my drift?

Another last note - pick up a copy of ‘Red, White and Drunk All Over‘ by Natalie MacLean! Great read for the sommelier-wannabes. I know if I could have one life, hers would be it!

Tags: Chile, chilean red, Chilean wine, fruity chilean cab, jammy wine, Natalie Maclean, syrah blend, wine books, Wine Tasting Notes

‘A Sense Of Place’

Monday, May 12th, 2008 | Hopkins, Tasting Room Stories, wine educator | 2 Comments

My second weekend at the winery has proved to be no less entertaining and crazy from the first. Albeit, a lot less random activity. This time I was blessed with the crowds and layers of tasters from about 2pm until almost close. I had to start tasting the wines all over again about half way through just to remember what I was talking about. Does the Chardonnay really taste that dry? Was the Cabernet Franc really spicy or more fruity? And what the heck happened to the Red Barn Red?? It made my mouth pucker so much I thought my head would just about implode! But they tell me there’s more oak on it……. sure. My palette said otherwise.The newest observation of the weekend proved to be another question. Does everyone look up a topic of the day before they come to the winery from the same place? Maybe it’s something in the wine that prompts all the tasters to ask me the same thing all day. But whatever it was, all I kept hearing all day was, “So, just how DO they get that fruity flavor into the wine?”. If you’re not listening, please come closer……ready?

It’s made from grapes! I know, it’s kind of crazy, but that CAN add to the fruit factor. and no, they didn’t pump any apple or peach or raspberry juice into the barrels before they bottled it (with exception of the peach and cider wine of course….). But this of course led me into the inevitable conversation of ‘Terroir’ with all my fellow tasting students of the day. What is it, you ask? Well let me divulge: according to any reference books, or Wikipedia for that matter, Terroir is “the assumption that the land from the which the grapes are grown imparts a unique quality that is specific to that region”. Huh?

The best way to describe it is not to talk about it, but to go outside, take a look around you, close your eyes, smell the air, the flowers, the soil, feel how the wind blows. Is it chilly? Is it humid? What kind of fruit can you go pick out in the fields? Apples? Strawberries? Raspberries? Is the soil around you rocky? Does it have minerals? Or is it just dirt? Dark or ashy? Crumbly or smooth? Did you smell honeysuckles as a child? Remember those pretty purple flowers that grow in the spring that gave off such a hypnotic scent? Can you smell the grasses growing around you? Ok, now go back inside, taste your wine and tell me what you get. If you’re tasting a locally grown vintage, you might understand. Or, maybe one day you’ll be in another area of the country, with a different environment. You’ll open up that bottle that you’re so used to drinking, but all of a sudden, you feel back at home. Like if you close your eyes, it’s all there. That so amazingly recognizable scent of your backyard. That’s terroir.

I didn’t understand any of that until I came back from California wine tasting in Napa for 3 days straight. I went to open a bottle of red Napa cabernet, and i closed my eyes, and there it was! I could smell the air, taste the ashiness of the St.Helena soil, smell the fragrant bouquets of all the flora and fauna around me those few days. And that’s when I realized for the first time how those flavors got into my glass. But that’s just my experience. The most wonderful thing about wine drinking is that the experience will always be different for each person. Appreciated or not. I hope I was able to enlighten a few this weekend on the subject without sounding like a recording of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Best moment of the day: An overly zealous woman, who loved each and every sip, couldn’t help but jump at each glass I poured her. Especially when we moved onto the Cider wine and I had just poured water in her glass to rinse. She grabbed it and notes ‘This is sooo light! The Cider is WONDERFUL!’ I smiled and said, ‘That’s actually a non-alcoholic beverage called H2O, but here’s the Cider. I think you’ll really like this one!’

On a wine side note, if you can get your hands on one, please make sure you pick up a bottle of Domaine du Viking, Vouvray 2005, Gaultier L’Homme. Runs around $18 - $20 and worth every penny. Sip it slowly. Savor the layers.

Tags: CT wineries, earthy wine, Hopkins Vineyard, senses, Terroir, wine education, wine tasting

Initiation

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 | Hopkins | 3 Comments

Already fifteen minutes late and driving around the back-woods of Litchfield county, LOST! One begins to wonder how the tourists even find this blasted vineyard when I can’t even get to a location in my own state! And it’s gray, cold, rainy. I almost hit a squirrel.

Thirty minutes later I arrive. The big red barn is up on the hill and all behind me surrounded by Lake Waramaug. One can hardly be flustered at this point with the beauty and serenity of it all. The vineyard plots graze the sloping hillsides ahead and I’m freaking out with coffee in hand. Next time - factor in the adventure time.

So what would you think about going into the tasting room for the first time? As a tasting room attendant? My first job ever at a vineyard. Well, in essence, i guess I didn’t know what to think. Wine tasting has always been this lavish and lush lifestyle that I’ve experienced down in Fairfield County. Numerous bottles pouring around the dinner table at various trendy restaurants, wine bars, and friendly gatherings have always proved to be a big ‘to do’ or left for those who can really savor the experience. Like the only ones who can enjoy wine are those who live the posh life, who are foodies, who understand wine as an ‘art form’.

Well you can throw all those thoughts out the window! Wine starts at the vine, the grape, the soil that is getting my shoes dirty as i walk inside. Yes, I am on a farm. Wine in it’s most simplest and humbled form and I’m about to share it with everyone who comes in today.

The first few hours were spent learning about the wines that we taste, about 10 of them including an Ice Wine (Delicious by the way…..omg). The usual set-up of the tasting bar, the learning of the cash register, you know…..all those typical sales associate duties, because really that’s what i am at the end of the day, but armed with more adjectives than you can handle. Now what? Now we wait for the customers…..

Just to give you an idea of the traffic flow of customers in an ordinary day: there’s NO rhyme or reason to the madness. It’s just random flurries of activity that you can’t be ready for. People don’t just walk in a few at a time or trickle in like a store to shop hats. It’s groups of completely unrelated individuals, and they all enter at the same time, like they followed a caravan to the winery at the exact same time and day, but from different states or countries. And they are there to drink some wine, see what you’ve got and to see if it stands up to what they like or have tried. Not only are you trying to engage them in the tasting, but you’re in a quick-fire round of the most random questions you have ever heard. And if you don’t know, it’s embarrassing until you know for the next time. It’s like they already know the answer but are waiting to hear the ‘official’ answer from me, the expert. Like, what IS Punch-cap fermentation?? I don’t know!

For the next hour or so you are talking, pouring, talking, entertaining, talking some more, and hopefully sending them upstairs to the wine bar or into the shop to purchase a case of wine. In one weekend, I have had to come up with about 30 different ways to describe the overly dry, oak aged Chardonney. Because by the end of the day, one can only use the word ‘delicious’ or ‘oaky’ so many times before you start using it to describe your favorite color or something.

Best question of the day: What wine is the best to pair with Hamburger Helper? We all have to be able to enjoy the small things in life, you know? (Red Barn Red, that’s what.)

Until next time…….

Tags: Connecticut wineries, Hamberger helper, Hopkins Vinyard, Litchfield hills, wine tasting room