Guest Post from Mark Stenner, Tulsa Wine Club

May 23, 2009 by evebushman

In planning a trip to Italy this summer, and my husband threatening limited Internet access to wean me off of Facebook, I was also concerned that readers may be getting used to seeing 3 blog posts a week on this site and will grow bored and lonesome without it.

So I’ve entrusted my blogger brother Dr Mike with my password and he will post for me. But, as Dr Mike is a wine 101er limited to the intensive study of Shiraz only, I decided to open up guest posting to readers as well. In short, I need 300 words or more, on a wine 101 subject of your choice and a photo. Please send to me at ebushman@earthlink.net before 6-15-09.

This one today is my favorite topic: Your Wine Story

I came to America for several reasons, but primarily to work for a publishing company called Blackwell Science. After I moved there I met my future ex-wife who was from Tulsa, hence me living here now and for the foreseeable future because of my son. He is four. I could move to Tulsa with my job and so I did. Unfortunately there was a regime change at Blackwell and they laid off the sales and marketing force in 2001. And so now I work for a steel company. So not my thing but it pays the bills.

My wine epiphany came in 1994. I came from a very poor background and wine or good food was never in the picture. Perhaps my grandmother would open a cheap sweet German Liebframilch. Blech! That was all we knew. One day I just woke up thinking I needed to educate myself about wine. I had my first job, a bit of money, I was looking for a house, had purchased my first new car, and so on…..I had educated myself on music, literature, some fine arts, and this seemed like the next step.

I was also learning about food. I didn’t eat in a restaurant until I was 17! So at 23 it was time. So I bought a few books and started that way. My first wine was a Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc. SB seemed like a good place to start so I basically just bought a couple of bottles a week and would sit and study them. Good wines, reasonably priced. I did a few NZs and then moved onto France, and so on………

When I moved to the U.S. I actually stopped drinking wine for five years. In the UK there are lots of good guides in book form, and the papers and reviewers point you in the right direction. And then the good stores would have regular tastings so it was easy to keep abreast. The US was totally different.

Most wines in the Spec (Wine Spectator) etc weren’t available and where I lived, outside Boston itself in the end, lacked a good store. Lastly, no one I worked with really liked wine and I couldn’t find a local tasting group (Internet was still fairly young) so it just became something I gradually slipped out of….my evenings were consumed with Red Sox games, and good beer, etc!

My return to wine, and my current passion, began at a food show which featured a Riedel seminar. I was skeptical but my ex dragged me along. I was like Paul on the road to Damascus. I realized glassware made all the difference! And a light went off.

We were trying a wine and the presenter asked if anyone could hazard a guess. I jokingly told my ex that it tasted like a Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz that I used to enjoy in England. I was too chicken to say anything but she boldly said “I think it’s a Barossa Shiraz”. And of course it was. The Lehmann!

We purchased a set of Riedels and then I figured, well, we have the stems, now what? So I tentatively started buying and drinking wine again. I ran into the same issue, buying poor and unsatisfying wine, so I decided to start my tasting group. And six years on still going strong……

Wine Locker Stored Wines from Chef Mike

May 14, 2009 by evebushman

2000 Opus One (Wine Locker Stored) – Normally priced at $175 or more a bottle. The price I have for this super premier is $120 a bottle (discount for all 6) (At press time Chef Mike has 10 bottles.)

I have access to 1 six pack each of the following top shelf wines:

The 1997 Kenwood Artist Series Cabernet – One of Kenwood’s premier wines this is a beautiful ready to drink wine and showing well years after release. Rated 93 Points Collector’s Choice by Wine Enthusiast. The 1997 Vintage has was proclaimed the best vintage of the last 25 years. Not all the wines from that vintage have aged as well as this beauty. Notes of Chocolate and oak have merged with the big black fruit that typified the wines from this vintage year. Normally a deal at $70-80 a bottle I have 6 bottles still in the case (wine locker stored) at $55 a bottle (Discount For entire 6 pack).

The 1999 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab – This was a 94 point Cellar Selection wine from the Wine Spectator. Later named the #12 wine in their 2002/03 Top 100 List. A huge complex & layered wine combining great flavors & finesse. Dark, sleek, rich and polished, with a delicious core of concentrated cola, currant, plum and blackberry. One of the best Cabs from a great 1999 vintage it will age well into 2014. Normally the RM Reserve Cab is $130 a bottle – I have 6 bottles still in their case (Wine Locker Stored) at $85 a bottle (Discount For entire 6 pack) (At press time he is down this 6 pack as I BOUGHT IT BEFORE TELLING YOU WINOS ABOUT IT FIRST.)

The 1994 Flora Springs Hillside Reserve Cabernet – This wine received a 96 point “Highly Recommended” Wine Spectator rating (94 Points From Parker). A Cab with all the ingredients for excellence – Massive dark color and thick impressive meaty, smoky, oaky flavors blending into leathery currant and dried cherry fruit. In addition to notes of chocolate and vanilla. A dense and tight wine, that will benefit from time in the proper cellar, but the flavors build to a wonderful long finish and aftertaste. 800 cases made. Normally a steal at $120-130 a bottle; I have an unopened (Wine Locker Stored) 6 pack at $85 each.

Call me if you or anyone you may know might be interested, Chef Mike: 805-217-4518

SCV Wine Classic Teaser #2

May 1, 2009 by evebushman

This just in, a second teaser from SCV Wine Classic Chair, Jeff Jacobson:

Both Whole Foods Market and Bristol Farms Market will be attending and pairing foods and wines. In fact, we will have several tables in the area traditionally reserved for the restaurants, where some have asked to be able also to pair wines at their tables. Naturally, we agreed. We love the idea — in fact, we hope that people who attend the Wine Classic will discover new wine varietals that they can purchase from our participating wineries and enjoy with their favorite foods.

Many participating wineries will be offering specially discounted prices to people who attend the Wine Classic and order wines from them at the event.

Why not attend the Wine Classic for a terrific evening of hundreds of wines to sample, foods from many local restaurants and caterers, live music, a silent auction…and discover what you have been missing while you support a very worthy charitable event — College of the Canyon’s instrumental music program.

For more information, please see the website: http://www.scvwineclassic.org/.

Potty Mouth Reader sent this in

April 26, 2009 by evebushman

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine… and those who don’t.

As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) – bacteria found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poo.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember: Water = Poo, Wine = Health.

Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid,than to drink water and be full of shit.There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I’m doing it as a public service.

Once in a Blue Moon Online Thrift Store Blog – Likes me!

April 11, 2009 by evebushman

In a moment of blind narcissism I have copied a new Facebook friend’s first blog post for my readers to read…and heartily agree with. She has a unique business – one I’ve been clicking through all week – thrift shopping on line:

Instead of issuing the usual newsletter this week, I thought I would try my hand at blogging. In all honesty, this wasn’t an idea I developed on my own. I recently met someone on Facebook who writes her own newspaper articles/blogs for a living and it was at her suggestion I get out of the Stone Age. Her name is Eve Bushman and she’s the author of Eve’s Wine 101. As you can tell from the title, her expertise is in wines, so for me to ask for her help in writing a blog about an online thrift store would have been fruitless. (Pun intended)

Personally, I think it’s a plus to know someone who knows everything you’d ever want to know about wine. Trust me it is not easy to choose a wine for a special dinner – if you are anything like me anyway – wine ignorant beyond belief. To help with making my special dinner wine selection, I would often ask a grocery store clerk for their recommendation. The irony is most of the clerks are even more ignorant than I am. At least I know where they keep the wine. I’m sure I’ll be chastised for attempting to buy a ‘good’ wine at a grocery store. But hey, I already admitted I know nothing about wine. Nada, zip, nil, NOTHING.

So even though wine doesn’t have anything to do with our online thrift store, other than us having some wine glasses for sale, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read Eve’s blog and see for yourself how much she really does know about wine.

Sharon Todd
Once in a Blue Moon Online Thrift Store
http://www.gone-tomorrow.com/

Ginger M is an artist!

March 23, 2009 by evebushman

Ginger M., a new Facebook friend in Eve’s Wine 101 group, took this perfect photograph. I’m no artist but the light and range of colors blew me away. I didn’t want to just post it on the right side of this blog as I wanted to show it as large as possible.

Thoughts? Thirsty for more? Me too!

A compelling argument……..sent by a reader

March 23, 2009 by evebushman

Retirement Planning

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $40.00.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of wine one year ago, drank all the wine, then turned in the bottles for the recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle!!

Let people you care about know…and tell them to Start Now!!! (Thanks Helen M.!)

Women, Wine and Aging – Sent in by a reader

March 18, 2009 by evebushman

Last night, one of my best friends and I were sitting in my living room and I said to her:

I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.

She got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine. She’s such a bitch.

A Night in Montalcino by Tomas & Jenny Lukas

March 17, 2009 by evebushman

The day after Christmas 2008, we found ourselves in Florence, Italy for one week as a result of having found an outrageously low airfare offered on the Internet. This time my wife and I took the opportunity to introduce another couple, who had never been to Italy before, to Tuscany during the 2009 New Years Eve celebration known as Cappodanno.

After a few days in Florence the decision to make a road trip for an overnight stay into the Chianti region came easy. The four of us squeezed into a bright yellow Fiat cinque cento and drove south on Route 222 (pronounced due-due-due) from Florence towards Siena. Skirting around Siena, we headed south to Montepulciano, home of the famous Nobile di Montepulciano.

Despite the fact that Montepulcino is a higher elevation than its neighboring hilltop villages, we were surprised to find the remnants of a recent storm had blanketed the village in snow. Montepulciano consists of a series of steep narrow stone streets that test the uninitiated – especially when covered with snow and ice.

However, you are rewarded for your efforts with numerous stores, restraints and entoca (wine bars). After fortifying ourselves at a small Osteria, we were ready to walk in the village, around the corner we ran into a local vintner named Adamo of the Contucci winery who asked us we would like to tour his winery and taste his wines. The weather had driven off the usual visitors in the area and we found ourselves alone with Adamo who was happy to show us the wine of his village.

The Nobile di Montepulciano prominent grape is (Prugnolo), the local name for Sangiovese, which is blended with the red Canaiolo grape to make wine. The wine is typically aged for 2 – 3 years in oak barrels and has the distinct rich flavor of the region – undertones of smoke and cherries with a good depth which gets better with age. After tasting numerous wines we purchased the 2004 Contucci reserve to take home with us.

We rented rooms for the night in Montalcino so we headed west driving by Pienza and arriving in Montalcino at sundown.

Brunello di Montalcino is reputed to be one of Italy’s greatest wines. The village is devoted to their wine. Montalcino was prosperous under Siena, but after the Medici family took control of the region the town became weak.

The village of Montalcino regained fame in the 19th century, when the Biondi Santi family created a rich, fine, dark red wine, calling it “the brunette”. The Sangiovese grape clone Brunello, which is a strain of Sangiovese, has a deep brown skin. Brunello is aged at least 4 years, the reserve at least 5 years. The aging process gives the wine a rich, deep, powerful structure.

We checked into Palazzina Cesira, a 13th century residence modified as a bed and breakfast. We met our gracious hosts, Lucilla and her American born husband Roberto, that were a wealth of information – seemingly knowing everything and everyone in the region. We took notes of this for future travels in the area.

Roberto referred us to an excellent restaurant that we ate several times called Il Grappollo Blu under the helm of Luciano served incredible local cuisine at reasonable costs. In Montalcino the typical Tuscan foods such as pici ai funghi porcini (local pasta with porcini mushrooms), ribollita (twice cooked bean/vegetable soup) and Cinghiale (wild boar).

Also with the advice of Roberto we found Enteca Piazza. There we met Nicolo who, although one of the youngest wine purveyors in Montalcino, offers more than 70 different Brunellos for tasting. By the time we had left, educated in Brunello’s by Nicolo, we had purchased bottles of ’97 Fontebuia Reserve, ’97 San Giacono, ’97 Asisano and ’99 La Rasina at wholesale prices.

We look forward to our next journey in September, and exploring in depth the region and what it has to offer to local vintners and foodies. For a week’s adventure in Tuscany – enjoying all the simple pleasures such as friends, food, wine, new cultures, meeting friendly people along the way – it made our whim holiday on a budget seem as though we were away for months living a rich, beautiful life (la bella vita).

California Chardonnay Grows Up – link

March 15, 2009 by evebushman

A reader sent me this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/dining/reviews/04wine.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

and commented: It’s hard to imagine any region outdoing Santa Barbara for the sheer variety of chardonnay styles it offers.

I told him that I had always preferred Santa Ynez Chards to Santa Barbara but I will now be researching the Santa Rita Hills area…and seeing what our local vendors might be offering from that venue. (Most times people send me Chard articles it’s about how we in CA “over-oak” them…so this was a welcome change.)