Uncategorized |

Concannon Petite Sirah

July 24, 2009 by GMN

Concannon planted Petite Sirah in 1968.

Jim Concannon is turning 78 next sunday and the winery is celebrating by opening a new tasting room….

Hosting a petite sirah conference

The wine is dry and spicy tannic smooth suggested retail $15. Aged in oak 12 months.

Comments Off

Live Wine Blogging

July 24, 2009 by GMN

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

While we are waiting for the live blogging to start (because we are waiting for internetz to get fixed) Tom Wark is announcing the winners of the American Wine Bloggers Award. Best graphics goes to Jeff LeFevre of Good Grape

Next up Single Subject Blog: Lenndevours
Harvey Wallace the Murphy Goode winner accepted the award on Lenn’s behalf. “He is glad to be part of this wine obsessed, tech savvy freaks!”
The next topic: Wine Business bloggers: Steve Bachman of Vin Folio Blog

Next… Winery Blogger

Best Wine Review: Bigger than your head
Joe Roberts accepting on Frederick’s behalf…

Best Wine Blog Writing and Best overall Wine blog: Vinography

btw… I will add the links later peeps…

Best Winery Blog: Michel-Schlumberger’s Benchland Blog

Comments Off

Welcome to the newest – and largest – AVA!

July 21, 2009 by MTB

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Congratulations to the winemakers of America’s newest – and largest – viticultural area, the Upper Mississippi River Valley, which officially becomes an AVA tomorrow, July 22nd, 2009! Wines that include at least 85% grapes grown within the region can include the AVA designation on the label.

As I reported in a previous post, back in 2005 winemakers in Iowa got together and began the process of proposing a new AVA. They teamed with winemakers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, and submitted a proposal for a the Upper Mississippi River Valley Viticultural Area.

At 29,914 square miles (just over 19 million acres), America’s newest AVA is also the country’s largest (surpassing the Ohio River Valley AVA by 3 million acres) and totally encompasses the Lake Wisconsin AVA in Columbia and Dane Counties, Wisconsin.

The topography and soil are impacted by being part of the “driftless” Paleozoic Plateau, and as a result do not have the strong mineral deposits (such as clay and silt) of other areas that experienced glaciation. With the melting (rather than receding) of the Wisconsin Glacier 15,000 years ago, the region was left with deep bedrock channels that provide natural irrigation & drainage systems through interconnected rivers, including the Upper Mississippi River which runs through the middle of the AVA. The region also has multiple micro-climates unique to the area which directly affect viticultural production.

Native grapes were grown in this region as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, and wine was produced through the early 20th century. ”In 1919, Iowa produced the sixth largest grape crop in the United States.” . Prohibition, which became law in 1920, and strong weather events (severe freezes, crop disease, etc.) sounded the death knell for the area’s wine production until the late 20th century, when hardier cold- and disease-resistant hybrids were introduced. Since the late 1970s, wineries and wine production has grown throughout the region, and today there are dozens of wineries scattered across the four states covered by the AVA.

For lists of wineries in the area, you can check out the following state wine trail websites:

The Iowa Wine Trail

Minnesota Grape Growers Association
(wineries in the Southeastern portion of the state, below St. Paul, fall within the new AVA).

Wisconsin Winery Association
(wineries in the Southwestern portion of the state, below Stockholm, fall within the new AVA).

Northern Illinois Wine Trail
(the Western-most wineries, near Galena, Illinois, fall within the new AVA).

Wineries of the Upper Mississippi River – From Big River Magazine (list dates from 2005)

Comments Off

I Am NOT a Magnolia, Steel or Otherwise

July 11, 2009 by GMN

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

As a person who often speaks in movie quotes this popped into my head recently…

I promise that my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair.

And that made me realize that my “personal tragedy”* has gotten in the way of me being a good blogging friend. I know. Bad Gretchen!

So, I am going to correct my error by telling you about a new website launched by a friend…

VinoBite.com is written by Gretchen Roberts who is (among other things) the wine writer for a perennial favorite of mine, Slashfood.

Each weekday subscribers to VinoBite gets a short note sent to their computer, phone or Facebook account. Each week’s content is organized into themes (related to varietal):

Monday: Wine Find (featured wine)
Tuesday: Hot Dish (matching recipe)
Wednesday: Vinoculture (fun facts and trivia)
Thursday: Go Vino (a photo or travel tidbit)
Friday: Freebie Friday (a giveaway)

Best of all? It is FREE! And how often can you say that in our modern world?

So go sign up at VinoBite and say hi to Gretchen for me (from the OTHER wine writing Gretchen).

* grammar school graduation, summer vacation and some other craziness all hitting in the same week…

Comments Off

Can it be?

June 20, 2009 by admin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Can I really blog from my phone? Oh, this could be very dangerous…. Stay tuned!

Comments Off

VinoVerve at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest June 7th

June 1, 2009 by GMN

I may have mentioned this before…. but I will be on a panel at the Good Eating Stage at the Printer’s Row Lit Fair…

Comments Off

We Have A Winner!

May 24, 2009 by admin

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve.com

Congratulations to Martha from Tales of a Semi-Pro Wino for being the first person to guess that I had taken a picture of my new grape vine.

Check your mail and email for your prize! And thanks for guessing.

Over all we had 8 guesses. Not bad for a first time out!

Thanks to everyone for guessing and everyone coming by to visit VinoVerve!

Comments Off

Rose Ole!

May 6, 2009 by GMN

Gretchen Neuman

VinoVerve Editor

Well it is Spring here in the Neuman household (at least that is what they keep telling us) and I have exhausted my supply of the most local wine source available to me, The Rebel Girl Chardonnay. So naturally it is time to think about what wine I will be drinking in the summer. I am a sucker for a dry rose in the heat of the summer so that seemed my best bet. The kit that I found said Spanish Rose with Tempranillo. This seems all around a good choice to me. And so it begins!

The juice mix came in two separate packets. The first was quite rose looking already and what kind of blend it was was not clear. The second, smaller container, was red wine, clearly the tempranillo.

Previously, I had stated that second born, Sophie would be responsible for naming this wine. However as time ticks away, I may resort to Rose Ole!

I hope that the color of the wine resembles a sunset in Cabo San Lucas. Cross your fingers!

Comments Off

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.