notes from a wine tasting

as part of mz's birthday present i planned a night at Vinology, the Wine School of Philadelphia.  we finally found a night that worked for his brothers, sister-in-law and dad...and a night that wasn't sold out!  we attended the Wine 101: Intro to Wine class and it was super informative and very fun!  totally recommend it for a holiday gift or something to do with a group.  it's a very small classroom and we accounted for about 1/3 of the attendees...i'm sure we scared a few of the other participants but we were having a good time...and were drinking wine!  definitely want to go back again for another wine class and maybe check out the beer school too.

although they note on the website that it's business casual dress, of course it wasn't and we were probably the only ones not in jeans - including the teacher, Zack.  but at least it wasn't pretentious!  Zack pretended he was just like us...except that he was probably about my age, had lived in spain and australia (working in a vineyard of course), owns his own business and he and his father collect wine.  oh right, that's super similar to my life, thanks for bringing your knowledge to us common folk, haha!

anywho, i took notes.  because that's what i do, i'm a nerd....plus they gave us pens, so obvi i wasn't the first one.  so here they are.  maybe they're helpful or maybe it's something you already know, either way it's all i have to share from that night since i forgot to take pictures!!

• First Flight
• A. Merkelbach 2008 Riesling, Mosel Valley (GER)
• Floral, peachy, citrus, residual sugar
• Second Flight
• Senesin Vineyards 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (NZ)
• Fruity, green/green pepper, pungent, citrus, grapefruit
• typically aged in stainless steel
• De Martino 2007 Chardonnay, Limari Valley (CH)
• butterscotch/coconut - american oak
• Third Flight
• Wine by Joe 2008 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley (OR)
• Pinot Noir - high acidity for a red grape, most thin skinned grape = high maintenance/delicate
• berries, acidity, very low tannin
• Belguardo 2004 Morellino di Scansano, Tuscany (IT)
• Morellino di Scansano = San Giovese; Chianti must be 80% San Giovese
• cherry, cedar, high tannin
• dried flowers, roses, plum
• "old world funk"
• Fourth Flight
• Manga del Brujo 2007 Garnacha, Catalyud (SP)
• Garnacha - used in Cotes du Rhone
• jam fruit, pepper/spice/herbs
• Henry's Drive 2006 Shiraz, Padthaway (AUS)
• Australia - oldest vines; the older the vines the more concentrated the nutrients in the fruit (richer) because there's less fruit per vine
• 'syrah' but aussie's say Shiraaaazzzz...marketing gig
• Fifth Flight
• Catena 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza (ARG)
• THE grape of Bordeaux, 'most noble grape'
• darker, cooler fruit; pencil shavings
• vanilla - from french oak which has a tighter grain and a more subtle flavor
• tannin, dry, acidity
• misc...
• oaky buttery chardonnay - trend started w/california
• 'naked' = not aged in oak
• color in wine comes from grape skins only!
• colder geographical regions = grapes maintain higher acidity = salivation
• higher alcohol = intense finish/bite
• old world wine (europe) = subtle, "funk" (dirt, street)
• alcohol % in US can actually be off by approx 1.5% to get by tax rules
• the more specific the location listed, typically the higher the price and better QC (best would be estate grown/bottled)
• viscosity: comes from glycol, higher alcohol content, typically from warmer areas, gives impression of fruitiness
• wines with higher acidity will last longer once opened
• AFTA - Alcohol, Fruit, Tannin, Acidity
• two a's are inverse relationship
• Tannin - makes mouth dry, chalky, get more from thick skinned grapes
• 5 S's of Wine
• See - hold glass at 45 degree angle over a white/light surface to see color of wine; orange around the rim = age/oxidation
• Swirl - allows oxidation, can see viscosity
• Smell - yes we shoved our noses in the glass and were pretty obnoxious about it :)
• Sip/Swish
• Savor - repeat this step...until the bottle's gone!
• Buying wine
• find an importer with similar palette/likes as yours and buy from importer if possible
• Zack's importer picks - Neal Rosenthal for French, Vias Importers
• Online: Zachys or wineaccess.com....or buy from a non-US website (they'll ship to PA!)

and from michael's notes...

chairman's selection = bullshit.

ah, sugar, sugar.

i once received a marvelous martha stewart magazine with all sorts of crazy christmas confection recipes in it and thought "hmm, i can do that!".  and so i did. and it was sooo good.  of course now the whole christmas candy idea has snowballed, as most of my little side projects tend to do, and this year we're adding a few new recipes to the mix and doing everything in larger quantities.  because quadrupling recipes is fun! :)

i've started stocking up on the ingredients and i simply cannot wait to start cooking (baking? what the heck is it called when you're making candy?!).

this sugar bag cracked me up. truth be told i only need about 15 lbs of sugar (ha, yea ONLY), but really, how on earth could i pass up a bag that had a handle and was labeled "25 pounder"?!  pretty proud to walk around the store with that puppy.

only about 7 pounds of chocolate there...N.B.D!  totally scored by getting everything on sale, at a wholesale store or at The Christmas Tree Shop.

i'll keep you posted as everything starts to boil down to a christmas full of cavities!!

a word on airport security + ri

this past weekend i ventured home to rhode island for a quick visit with the family before all of the holiday hubbub got under way.  haha seeing "hubbub" in writing just made me giggle!  we decided to fly instead of making the trek by car.  the decision to take the 6:50 flight on friday morning made a lot more sense before my 4:30AM alarm went off! ugh.

flash forward to the phila airport, worst place on earth...second only to the detroit airport.  the security line at 5:45 was HORRENDOUS!! people winding all over the terminal, sweating, freaking out about missing flights, getting angry.  if it was like that first thing on a friday morning, i can only imagine how unbearable it will be for holiday travel...good luck if that includes you!  the line took 45 stinkin' minutes.  you'd think that with all that time and all of the tsa public service announcements and signs that people would know what do to when they got to the front of the line.  nah, not so much.  dude in front of me had to go through the scanner 3 times...last time? for keys in his pocket.  really? REALLY?! it seems practically impossible that you wouldn't know better.  sheesh.

luckily there wasn't any full body scanning going on, nor was i subjected to any potentially inappropriate pat-downs.

know what the best part of early morning travel is...breakfast upon arrival!!  went to a little diner with the 'rents where of course we discussed the wonders of tsa.  my dad, who seems to be constantly traveling the world - no joke, had this to share on the new pat-down rules they're putting into place:

"hey, if they want to touch that, that's their problem. 

pervs."  

not sure why, but to me, that was beyond hysterical.  it took all of my might to not spit out my hot chocolate all over the table...too bad that by trying so hard to not choke from laughter, i am 98% certain that i actually aspirated the hot chocolate.  haha :).

some pics from walking around rhody:

   

stuffed to the gills

the past few weekends i've had very little on the to-do list, so there's been plenty of time to cook.  since most recipes don't take too much extra effort to make in larger portion, i've been doubling (or quadrupling in some cases!) the recipes and freezing the extra so there's something tasty to eat on the nights that yoga's keeping me out of the house until 9pm.

i think i may have over done it...
a million gallons of butternut squash soup and a gazillion pounds of shepherd's pie (pictured pre-mashed potato topping).  thank goodness we have a second freezer!

 oh yea, and don't forget the guinness chocolate pudding which i finally made!

i'm going to be full forever!

double (downward facing) dog dare ya!

not sure why, but after last night's bikram class (with Leo, my absolute fave teacher, seriously can't miss his class!), i kinda decided that i wanted to try a double on friday (today).

so today, as the day went on, i bought into the idea of the 'dreaded double'...two back to back 90 minute classes in that wonderfully hot room.  again, why i decided this, i have no idea.  chances are i should have been committed to a mental institution rather than mentally committing to this wackadoodle idea!

earlier in the week i felt like death in class, dizzy, headache, ick.  i realize i actually over hydrated.  mainly because i was in 8 hour training meetings for work and drank water non-stop to keep me awake.  but all that water and no electrolytes = trouble.  today i paid far more attention to keeping my electrolyte level in check.  i started the morning with my usual tea, had some cheerios (milk hydrates too!), 2 nuun drinks (so much better than gatorade or other sport drinks), and about 60 oz of plain ol' H2O.

that was enough to get me through the first class and i felt really great.  good enough for round two, but unfortunately i underestimated the amount i could/needed to drink in between classes.  One 100% coconut water and 12 oz of water did not do the trick.  i started feeling a little dizzy during the second session...but Leo to the rescue!  he brought me an ice cold apple juice (which usually i would never drink - love cider, dislike juice).  i chugged that little juice and it was magic, brought me back to life immediately.  told ya he's my fave. the second class was over so quickly, seemed so short but so incredibly powerful, just might have to try the double again! 

probably gonna feel like death tomorrow morning when i wake up for the 8:30 class but i pushed my self way beyond what i thought were my limits and therefore it was all worthwhile. :)

yup, it's official, i'm completely obsessed with bikram yoga.  can't get enough!
buy yourself some sanity this christmas...join bikram!!
DO IT, you know you want to!!  come on, i dare ya!

*disclaimer, there is absolutely no 'downward facing dog' posture in bikram yoga, i'm well aware. but it gets the yoga theme across and it goes nicely with the rest of the d's and the dog thing...so that's that!