Vino In My Dino

OTBN-What are you saving it for?

February 27, 2015 17:01

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Ed and I have collected wines here and there during our 25 years of marriage. I hesitate to open some of them because, in some cases, we waited too long. There are great memories associated with several of these bottles, others in our collection were given as gifts, some I don’t remember where they came from. It is a gamble I’ll be taking come this Saturday, the official Open That Bottle Night. Whatever the case, the wonderful thing about opening a cellar jewel is memories like who you were with, where you were or who gave it to you. Think of opening an aged or old bottle of wine as an adventure in taste. You’re not really sure what you’ll find but you may be rewarded with a gem! Don’t be afraid to open your bottle but have a back-up in case it has become like Elvis and left the building. I’ll be with my family enjoying a bottle of 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon, toasting the memory of my uncle John and celebrating his winemaking legacy.

For guidelines click here

We opened this bottle at Bern's Steakhouse in Florida a couple of years ago.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Vintage Wine, Vintage Year, wine tasting
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Aging Wine: The Good, Bad and Ugly

February 24, 2015 17:05

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The Good: (From 2013) "I just wanted to share my experience with you. I am stuck in a bit of an aftermath from the recent snow, so I have not been able to restock in the last week. I have been dipping into the cellar reserve (and found) the 1994 Three Vineyards “Special Vineyard Selection” Cab. Needless to say, it has endured the years and poured most perfectly into my glass before I affirmed the reason I bought it in the first place." Blogger’s note: Great news! Our wines have the structure to age gracefully.

The Bad: (From 2003) "My parents are moving after more than 30 years. We found a bottle of 1973 Pedroncelli Zinfandel that had been in their cellar since they bought it. I wanted to know if that much age is good for your zinfandel. Or from 2004: "I found this bottle of wine, 1976 Pedroncelli Zinfandel, on my trash route. I was just wondering how much this bottle of wine would be worth." Blogger’s note: Sometimes we lose out because we waited too long. I usually suggest a Zinfandel be consumed 5-8 years after release especially if you like the fruit component.

The Ugly: (From 2011) "I received as a gift a bottle of your 1993 (!) Primavera Mista Original White Wine Blend and it has many suspended particles in it. It looks like the cork may have deteriorated. Otherwise it looks to be OK. Can you please tell me if this wine is still expected to be OK and if so how best for me to remove the particles in it to try it?" (From 2005) "We got the bottle of 1975 Pinot Noir out of our wine storage. The neck/cork was protected by the old lead foil. The big disappointment, the cork had rotted, and was soft, soggy, moldy and the wine ruined. The 4-5 tiny pin prick holes on the top of the foil showed no sign of wine leakage and the bottle appeared full." Blogger’s note: you win some and you lose some. These were total losses in the quality category. Some white wines are not made to age and other times there are closure failures.

The moral of the story? Open those bottles before they go bad. I’ll have a couple of more stories on Thursday and a special announcement of what bottle I’ll be opening! Open That Bottle Night: February 28.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Vintage Wine, wine tasting, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vintage Year
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Bottle Closure

February 19, 2015 17:10

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Many of you are familiar with the subject of closures for wine bottles, especially if you have ever tried to open a stelvin cap as if it were a cork (I admit it fooled me once). As far back as the 1950s we bottled gallons and half gallons with screw caps and fifths (now 750ml) using both cork and screw cap. While these closures have come a long way in both quality and style how does using either one affect wine as it ages? It has to do with oxidation. Cork allows the important but minuscule amount of oxygen to interact with the wine and, as it ages, it softens becoming a more complex wine. Screw caps also allow a bit of oxygen but much less and we believe they deliver a fresher version of the wine-by slowing the oxygen exchange. The mechanics so to speak of a red wine that has been aged develops a more pleasant texture because tannins soften and fruit becomes more balanced. We bottle all but one red wine with cork. Our friends.red, meant to be consumed early because it is made in a lighter, softer style, has no need for extra time in the bottle. Five others (4 white wines, 1 rosé) are bottled with screw caps. These wines are made in a style where we encourage you to drink them soon after bottling. An interesting case in point: a month ago I tasted our 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and was pleasantly surprised to see the wine had not oxidized (it remained a lovely straw color), the bouquet had lost most of the fruit which is the core of our style but all in all it was a very pleasant glass of white wine. This is not always the case-too much oxygen and aging will turn some white wines brown and funky, definitely not to be enjoyed. I feel each of us needs to do a bit of sleuthing about the wines we feel needs to age and those which should be opened in a month, year or two after purchase. I found a great article by Andrew Waterhouse, professor of Enology at UC Davis, who has more to say about natural and synthetic closures. Check your cellar, cache or wine rack for wines you may want to open now or continue to age. We’ll continue the discussion next week as we head toward Open That Bottle Night on February 28-what will be in your glass?

Read Dr. Waterhouse's article here

Tags: Pedroncelli, wine tasting, wine
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Cellar Jewels

February 17, 2015 17:16

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One of the fun parts of my desk job is receiving an email message or two every month about a wine someone has found or opened after it spent 20-30-40 years aging away. Here is one of the recent posts, read it and then I’ll discuss the finer points of aging red wine. From Robert Fakundiny, “On Monday I popped one of my two remaining bottles of your 1974 Cab. What a delight! The cork broke in two but was still clean and dry on the end. I double decanted it and filtered the dregs. It opened with a good cab nose, was purple with a garnet tinge, still had some fruit, and acid and body were still there, even some tannins. (I bought them from the winery and carted them home on the plane, wrapped in a box of clothes. You could still do things like that back then.) Last night I had the rest. It had lost some of its charm by then. The fruit had fled. I suggest consuming the whole bottle within a few hours of opening, especially with knowledgeable friends. Thank you for those old, great cabs that were made in the "old" style. Now the only question is: when do I open the other?”

Thank you Robert for sending not only your experience of tasting the wine but a photo as well. I figure he bought this wine in 1977 or 1978. We had aged it for two years, first in a redwood tank and then oak barrels. It also received a full year of bottle aging before release. Robert took it home and stored his cache, opening a bottle every now and again. As you can tell by his comments this wine is slipping just a bit but notice his comments about acid, tannin, a bit of fruit that frankly wafts away minute by minute, urging one to open, decant and immediately, without pause, drink the wine. 40 year old Cabernets aren’t for the faint-hearted, their characteristics are completely different because of the length of time aging it. Our style, which Robert refers to as ‘old’, is one of the reasons the wine is still enjoyable. I must note that not everyone is so lucky when it comes to opening a wine which has decades in the cellar-sometimes the cork has deteriorated and allowed too much oxygen and has leaked thereby spoiling the wine. There are also wines that have had to overcome great odds, being stored in a garage where temperatures fluctuate beyond the preferred constant environment of 55 degrees or so. And to answer his question of when to open his last bottle? Soon, very soon because the risk of aging it much longer will outlast the drink-ability of this 40 year old Cab. A toast as we work our way to Open That Bottle Night the last Saturday of this month-what are you waiting for?

For more about OTBN click here.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Cellar, Vintage Wine, wine tasting
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Dear Dino: Sweets and Wine

February 12, 2015 17:22

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Does chocolate really go with Cabernet Sauvignon? Does Zinfandel pair well with snickerdoodles? These are only two of the things to consider when thinking about pairing wine with desserts. I am adding my thoughts on the subject today as we plunge toward Valentine’s Day, a holiday rife with sweet things. In a winery’s or restaurant’s desire to showcase all of their wines I often see the suggestion to pair dry red wines like Cabernet, Zinfandel and even Petite Sirah with desserts. I am not a fan of these pairings and luckily for us we make a Port that does pair well with most desserts. (Although, frankly, I prefer a tasty Stilton and toasted walnuts as the perfect pairing with Port style wines). I recommend going with less sweet confections-perhaps richer in butter, some caramelization, and featuring nuts for a good tie between the wine and dessert. On one occasion when our wine paired well with something sweet we were at an event and placed next to a bakery featuring a vast array of cookies. Ed tried our Mother Clone Zinfandel and snickerdoodles and loved the two together-there is a hint of cinnamon that links to the flavors and fruitiness of the Zin. He also enjoyed pairing their chocolate topped macaroon with our Rosé where the coconut resonated with the flavors in the wine. In my efforts to include using wine in desserts to help bridge the gap even further-like our Mini Port Chocolate Cupcakes or Poached Pears in Spiced Red Wine, it helps to have the addition of wine to link the two. A bit more advice-consider the wine you are serving with dessert: is it a bit fruity or soft, with lower tannins? This style will pair better with certain sweets. Are you pairing it with chocolate? It can be a tasty experience but too much sugariness and I think you have lost the connection between the two. I have included a few links which I hope will help you and me in our search for a perfect pairing. I will enjoy the moment with a bit of Zin in my glass and a snickerdoodle or two.

While these are some great ideas, all of the wines are in the dessert wine category.

Here are the recipes in our dessert section of Pedroncelli's recipes-enjoy!

More recommendations for you.

Tags: Pedroncelli, food and wine, Recipe, Zinfandel
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Wine Science! Part 3

February 10, 2015 17:27

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Tasting rooms are one of the best places to try wines from many different areas and varietals. How many times have you been on vacation, traveled to wine country, and came away with quite a few bottles of wine? I have and sometimes when I get back I wonder ‘what was I thinking’ because, in my case, many of them are dessert wines. For some reason whenever I taste a one of these at the end of the line-up it is the wine I buy, and now I have quite a nice cellar of 20 year old sweet wines. The whole experience led me to enjoy a wine I don’t normally buy. This video on the psychology of wine is a great discussion on how we taste wine in different situations: a candlelit restaurant (or well-designed tasting room), listening to what someone else finds in the wine, knowledge of the cost of the wine, what the label looks like, which brand, whether familiar or unknown, is in our glass. Our experience and assumptions inform the taste of the wine. I like the part in the video that talks about what a friend or stranger finds in the wine-and suddenly you too find the ‘earthiness’ as stated in the example. Yesterday Ed said he could taste a certain floral characteristic in the red blend we were tasting in our office. And just as suddenly the aroma of narcissus wafted out of the glass-but I hadn’t identified it before he said something. What about the price of a wine? Is a $5 wine worse than a $45 wine-especially if you enjoy the taste of the $5 version. Imagine you would then have 9 times the fun if you are prefer the lower priced wine. If you are a wine lover like me look for how the psychology of wine affects you-it may be as subliminal as the preferring one label over another or subconsciously finding the fruit aspect that a friend picks up in their glass of wine. I see you are becoming thirsty, very thirsty, for a glass of Pedroncelli Zinfandel…

Psychology of Wine video.

Tags: Pedroncelli, wine tasting
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Wine Science! Part 2

February 5, 2015 17:31

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A few years ago a friend was over at our house and was enjoying some of our Cabernet Sauvignon-he read the back label for more information and came across the descriptor “red cherries” in the tasting notes. He asked if cherries had been added to the wine at some point along the way. He was new to wine tasting so I assured him that no cherries were used in the production of the wine and it was a description used by the winemaker to describe the fruit characteristics of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Which opens up another form of thought we’ll explore in a future blog post: what sets Cabernet, for instance, apart from Merlot or Zinfandel for that matter. But I digress. You’ve heard that a wine begins in the vineyard-from the type of growing season to how late you leave the grapes on the vine-they all come into play when we talk about the flavors in wine. How about throwing in oak barrel aging? Then you have another layer of flavor or, as I like to say, complexity. This video does a great job (thanks Dr. Sacks at Cornell University) of explaining the science behind the flavors we smell and taste in wine. And I completely agree with him when he says to ‘add your two cents’ when it comes to describing the wine you are trying-it is after all your palate and your tasting experience which is coming into play! When you enjoy your glass of wine tonight, may you taste the monoterpenes!

Out of the bottle: Wine Flavor

Tags: Pedroncelli, wine, wine tasting
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Wine Science! Part 1

February 3, 2015 17:34

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Wine terms don't always communicate what we are talking about and if you are outside of 'the industry' they are difficult to comprehend. I have worked 30 years for my family's wine business and I have developed a large wine vocabulary. When I speak to groups I make an assumption (yeah I know) that the audience has the same knowledge or vocabulary. I have the most fun coming up with ways to make wine words understandable and comfortable, like your favorite slippers instead of some squeaky leather shoes you have hard time breaking in. Some terms are easy like ‘barrel fermented’ and mean what they say-wine is fermented in the barrel as part of the winemaking process for this particular bottle—pretty simple. Others like malo-lactic fermentation and sur lies are Greek to some people-who the heck is 'Sur' lies and why is he lying? I found these videos a few months ago and saved them for a rainy day-even if it isn't raining today here is the first of three-enjoy with a glass of wine and prepare to be informed!

Out of the bottle: Tricks of the Trade

Tags: Pedroncelli, wine tasting
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Wine Thieving

January 29, 2015 17:36

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The act of ‘thieving’ wine, also referred to as barrel tasting, is an educational process. Usually the winemaker will taste the young wine while it is heading into the barrel and then, using a wine thief, will check on the progress a few more times during the year as it matures. The wine thief itself, pictured below, is nothing more than a glass tube for siphoning out a small sample of the wine. You don’t have to be a winemaker or cellar master to thief wine because around these parts (Sonoma County) we have an event that celebrates Barrel Tasting via the Wine Road, the sponsoring organization. Almost 40 years ago a few wineries banded together, Pedroncelli included, to market wines made in the northern area of the county, specifically the Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys, to locals and visitors alike. Today guests buy tickets, roam the wine roads, taste young red and white wines and learn more about the process of aging. We usually pair the barrel sample with the current release for comparison’s sake. Sometimes we throw in a library vintage of the same varietal-all in the name of educating one’s palate. But I digress. During the aging process, as the water and alcohol dissipate, the wine softens little by little. It will take on aspects of the oak as well as loosen up its' grip. If you are trying a wine from the recent harvest be prepared-the tannins are pretty harsh but the silver lining is you get a glimpse of things to come—the fruit components, the acidity, the body—and some of the characteristics will dominate the others. It boils down to a matter of time. Winemakers are a patient lot. Time in the barrel equals a nicely aged wine making it more ready to drink upon release. Enjoy an insider’s look at wine country by attending and tasting for yourself—the first two weekends of March. I’ll be the one at the barrel with my Dino cup.

Learn more about Barrel Tasting Weekend here

Tags: Pedroncelli, Barrel Tasting
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Ullage-it's not a town in Sweden

January 21, 2015 17:40

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First I’ll define the word ullage. We use it in the wine industry to describe the loss of wine due to evaporation while the wine ages in barrel or bottle. For example, when someone writes to me about their 1974 Cabernet and they want to know how it’s doing, one of the first questions I ask is to describe the fill line on the bottle. We call that ullage-the level at which the wine is located in the neck of the bottle indicates loss of wine over time and determines whether the wine is spoiled or not. It is the same in a barrel except instead of an ounce of wine lost it is more like 1-2 gallons every 3 months-when the cellar crew tops each barrel and continues the aging process. However even at this cost (in wine) the act of barrel aging does concentrate by the slow vaporizing of water and alcohol. Why do you think a barrel room smells so good? It’s all about wine vapor. And in either case, if too much air gets in, spoilage will occur at an even greater cost-that of the entire contents turning into vinegar. Another form of loss is in the lees. You’ve heard of the term ‘dregs’ and this is what you get at the bottom of the barrel-dead yeast cells, a byproduct of aging. These dregs are not used and are, after the wine is removed, washed away-as in the photo below. Oak (and cork) is permeable and ultimately, even though a little air is a good thing, the benefits outweigh the loss of product. Hmmm, I’m ready for a glass of red-preferably a nicely aged one!

Cleaning barrels-the purple sludge is AKA dead yeast cells.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Barrel aging, Aged Wine
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