Finally, Dating A Bachelor!

August 27, 2010 by GMN

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Ok. Bachelor’s Buttons. Still it seemed the perfect name for a wine that was being “dated”. Denise Isenhower or Isenhower Cellars talks about the wine from her small winery. Oh, and the name? It comes from the flowers growing at their winery.. You probably guessed that because you are clever.

Isenhower Cellars
3471 Pranger Road
Walla Walla, WA 99362-7307
(509) 526-7896

Also, we here at VinoVerve would like to wish our fellow ‘Verver, Kevin Neuman a happy birthday. Feel free to stop by his Facebook page and wish him well!

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Juicy Merlot

December 18, 2009 by admin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Everytime I think of the movie, Sideways, I think of this exchange:
Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot.
Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!
If Miles had been drinking the Merlot that I had last night, he wouldn’t have complained. It was amazing.

The wine was juicy with balanced, almost understated acidity. The fruit was jammy but not cloying. Not at all what I expected from a Merlot. It tasted like a more mature, blended wine. The wine was produced by Independent Producers in the Columbia Valley AVA using sustainable agricultural methods. The wine maker, Christophe Hedges is a scion of the Hedges Family Estate, but has stepped out from the family’s influence to produce this wine.

His mission? “To capture terroir in its most raw form and to preserve the integrity of the wine world by rebelling against the 100 point rating system.” Additionally there is no advertising related to the bottle (though I am sure that the distributors take care of this).

Kevin and I were really pleased with this bottle and appreciate trying to get out from under the 100 point systems that designates the palates of a few as superior to rest of us. Drink what you like is our philosophy!

And at $11 it is hard to beat.

I am unable to find a website for the label called Independent Producers. Their address is:

53511 N. Sunset Road
Benton City, Washington 99320

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Firelands Wines

October 28, 2009 by GMN

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

So after all that discussion of the Ohio and the Firelands, did I finally get around to tasting any wine? Of course I did!

I began with the Pinot Grigio, currently the most popular wine according to the ladies in the tasting room. I could taste green apple and grass. It was a little less crisp than some of the pinot grigios than I have had in the past, but this is a good thing… Sometimes, those wines get too bitey and for some reason that makes the hinge of my jaw hurt. (I never said that logic was my strong suit).

Next up was the Riesling. This was advertised as tasting of apples but I thought it had more of a honeyed flavor that reminded me of pears. This is made in what I consider a more traditional style, in that it was semi-sweet. I love the new modern dry Rieslings as well, but there is something to be said for the full, fruity and floral tones of the traditional method.

I even sampled the Gewurztraminer which I had tasted with Henry Bishop, Rory and Kevin (albeit not the same vintage). It is still an excellent blend of tropical fruits and rose petals. The best of two different worlds.

Additionally, I tasted both the Pinot Noir (a wine that I have enjoyed from Great Lakes regions, i.e., Niagara Escarpment) and the Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet was herbal and lightly spicy and nicely dry. The Pinot Noir was smoke with anise and cherry.

Additional offerings under the Firelands label include:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
Chardonnay
Barrel Select Chardonnay
Rose de St. George
Country Estate Red
Walleye White and
Ice Wine

Additional wines from the other Lonz, Inc. labels were available including the Mantey, Dover, Mon Ami and Lonz (from grapes produced on Middle Bass Island). I picked up a Mantey Cream Sherry for my father. He has always been a fan of Ohio sherries and am looking forward to tasting it with it in the near future (most likely Thanksgiving).

Additionally, the winery is a source for homewine makers and sells juice in the autumn (until it runs out).

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Wine and the Y

October 26, 2009 by admin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Y as in YMCA, that is. You usually don’t think of the two together. But this weekend, our local YMCA was celebrating their Hall of Fame and raising money for their scholarship fund.

VinoVerve donated wine to the cause and we were delighted to find signs on the tables.

Of course, Kevin is on the board of the YMCA, a Neuman tradition (his father helped build a branch in Eastern Queens YMCA, so for us, it was a natural.

What does the YMCA do?
Children and Youth

Nearly 10 million children ages 17 and under engage in a wealth of enriching YMCA activities.
Together, YMCAs are the nation’s largest provider of child care, with nearly 10,000 child care sites across the country that provide high-quality, affordable care to more than 500,000 children.

Families

YMCAs help families build bonds, connect with community resources and become strong and self-sufficient.
For more than eight decades, YMCAs have offered Adventure Guides and similar programs that bring parents and children together.

Health and Well-being

YMCAs are collectively the nation’s largest providers of health and well-being programs.
YMCAs are working to promote healthy living for millions of Americans through YMCA Activate America®. Learn more about YMCA Activate America.

Communities

Financial assistance—made possible annually by more than $1.6 billion in public and private support, as well as YMCA members—opens all YMCA programs to those in need.
Volunteer founded and volunteer led, YMCAs depend on the generosity and dedication of their 548,926 volunteers across the United States.

Improve Lives

America’s 2,686 YMCAs are collectively one of the largest not-for-profit community service organizations in the United States.
64 million households and 32 million children ages 14 and under live within three miles of a YMCA, while 1,518 YMCAs serve communities where the median family income is below the U.S. average.

International Reach

The YMCA is one of the largest volunteer organizations in the world, serving more than 45 million people in 124 countries. Learn more about YMCA World Service.

And as an added bonus, Kevin was the Master of Ceremonies at the celebrations…

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Isle St. George

October 21, 2009 by admin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Tuesday as it turns out, is a much better day for trying to find an open winery. At least it is in Ohio.

Tuesday morning, bright and early I pulled into the Firelands Winery parking (please note if using GPS to find this location, there is construction in the area and you will be rerouted).

I was excited to visit this winery as I had actually tasted the wine from here before. Back in 2007, when VinoVerve was young, Rory, Kevin and I had dinner at Salpicon in Chicago and drank wine and chatted with Henry Bishop. During that dinner, while eating great Mexican food, we drank wine from all over the world. This included wine from Missouri, Quebec and Ohio. This is one of the reasons that I have become so passionate about local wine. The Ohio wine was the 2005 Firelands Winery Gewurztraminer, Isle St. George, Sandusky, Ohio.

I have to admit that I was curious about the locations listed for the wine. Isle Saint George is on an island (duh) in Lake Erie but is the name of a community, not the name of the island, itself. It is located on North Bass Island and is part of the Put-in-Bay Township in Ottawa County, Ohio. The township consists of 7 of the 31 Lake Erie Islands (some of which are now just reefs) that are shared between the States of Michigan and Ohio and the Province of Ontario. Several of the Lake Erie Islands, including North Bass Island are known for producing wine grapes. In many cases these wineries declined after prohibition but have resurfaced since the 1980s.

In the case of Isle Saint George, the community was designated an AVA in 1982. By law, the AVA must be listed “St.” instead of “Saint” George (government often confuses me to the point of creating a headache). The weather in the area is milder than the surrounding mainlands as the waters of Lake Erie are the warmest of all the Great Lakes. As a result, vitis vinifera grape varietals are able to thrive. The island is famous for producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Riesling far more north than usual.

However, the Firelands Winery wines also list Sandusky, Ohio (home to Cedar Point) on their labels. This is because the grapes are grown in Isle St. George but are produced at the winery in Sandusky.

Confused yet? Wait until you hear about the rest of the history of the winery.

I will give you a hint: It has something to do with Marguerite’s VinoVerve posts! The first person to most fully explain the connection (correctly, obviously) will win a Locapour T-shirt. Entries must be received before Thursday, October 22th at midnight CDT (yes, we are on Daylight Time).

Firelands Winery
917 Bardshar Rd.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 625-5474

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Philadelphia Freedom with Vino Volo

April 15, 2009 by Kevin

Kevin Neuman
VinoVerve Contributor

No, I’m not talking about Founding Fathers or any such history. I’m talking about securing freedom from flight delays, boring food, and stale bars at Philadelphia International (PHL). After wading through airport security (“Hey TSA agent, that’s my butt”), I stumbled upon a neat wine bar called Vino Volo. According to an internet search, these oases within airports have been around a few years and can be found in a handful of airports across the country with plans to expand. I can’t wait until they reach O’Hare.

I think the concept is fairly unique. Well, at least in airports. Vino Volo offers a tidy selection of wines available by the glass or in tasting flights based on themes like “Old World Reds.” I chose wines by the glass as a taste just doesn’t do it for me sometime. The picture accompanying this piece shopws the wines I had served on cool “coasters” describing the wine including varietal, winery and year. each “coaster” was accompanied by tasting notes, which according to the website is descibed thusly:
Our wine flavor comparison tool Vino Chart allows you, the wine lover, to easily understand wines based on their flavor profiles, and it doesn’t require you to spend years of academic wine studies to do it. Whether you’re a wine novice or wine pro, you can use the Vino Chart to think about differences between wines and decide which you prefer, and when.
Fruit and complexity. That’s it!
Vino Chart looks at wines based on how much FRUIT and non-fruit flavors or COMPLEXITY each wine has. That’s it.

Wines with richer, brighter, and more varied fruit flavors are higher up on the chart map, and wines with deeper and more-layered complexity are further to the right side of the chart. This wine chart works with both red and white wines.
Oh, and did I mention that they have a food menu that accompanies the wines quite nicely. I stuck with a plate of marinated olives. A perfect match to the variety of wines I had. I look forward to getting stuck in an airport again – as long as there’s a Vino Volo.

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Chilean surprises

March 12, 2009 by Kevin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Taking a break over the weeked to celebrate my father’s birthday, this delightful bottle was opened.

Casas del Bosque was a Sauvignon Blanc from the Casablanca Valley of the Valparaiso Region of Chile.

For me, there are two really interesting aspects to Chilean wine. The first is that while the main European influence in Chile is Spanish, their wine typically has a very French flair. When the Chilean people visited Europe, they fell in love with French wines and brought vines back with them. This helped Chile become a repository for French grape varieties that ended up being hard hit in Europe by phylloxera. Which leads me to the second really interesting thing about Chile. The country has never been hit with an outbreak of phylloxera so as a result the grapes are not grafted onto more resistant rootstocks.

The Casas del Bosque Sauvignon Blanc shows that French influence. It smelled of grass and tasted of piquant grapefruit that was so initially strong that I said, “GRAPEFRUIT!” when Kevin asked me what I thought of it. In all fairness, while the citrus flavor it was strong it did give way to raspberry and a slightly tart (under ripe) peach. Overall it was very pleasant and I would go out of my way to find it again.