The name says it all..
Last week friends and I went to a fundraiser held for Saint Joseph's Catholic School in order to raise money for their athletics department. The Beerfest included a night of wine, beer, delicious German food, silent auction, dancing, and good times.
It was so much fun, perhaps a little bit of an older crowd than us but I think that made it even more fun. There was a cover charge of $22 a person with unlimited wine, beer and food. They had a selection of 6 different wines, 3 reds and 3 whites. Roosters also catered 3 different kinds of their beer.
Needless to say with unlimited booze and a dancefloor, things got really fun really fast...
I couldn't decide which video I had taken from this night I liked better so I put them both up here...ENJOY!
How to Order Wine at a Restaurant
Ordering wine at a restaurant can be intimidating--like you're being thrown into a complex ritual without knowing the rules. But if you know the basics, it's pretty straightforward.
Bottle or Glass?
The age-old question-get a bottle or order by the glass? In general, ordering by the bottle is more cost-effective. but there are reasons to order wine by the glass:
Restaurants typcially serve two different categories of wine: house wines and list wines. Very high-end restaurants may also have a reserve list you can ask to see if you're feeling like a big spender.
House Wines
The house wine is what you get when you just ask for red or white wine without any further specification. While house wines at quality restaurants are usually perfectly acceptable, they're ever extraordinary. The house wine has to appeal to many people, which means it can't be too interesting. Besides, even the best restauants choose house wines that are as cheap as they can get away with. House wines are usually available by the glass or carafe, a wide-necked vessel that holds a bottle's worth of wine.
The Wine List
A restaurant might have 15 wines on its list--or 150. Every entry on the list will tell you the name of the wine, the winery that produced it, the vintage, and the price. If a wine is available by the glass and by the bottle, the wine list will show prices for both. All wine lists, long or short, organize wines by the type (white, red, etc..). Some lists may also organize by:
Bringing Your Own Wine
Many restaurants allow you to bring your own wine, which the waiter then uncorks and serves to you. For this service restaurants typically charge a corkage fee that typically ranges from $10 to $25.
When wine is served in restaurants, the waiter usually follows a specific procedure:
1. The waiter presents the bottle to you: This allows you to check that the wine is actually what you ordered. Really do check--waiters can make mistakes, so the bottle could be the wrong vintage or even the wrong wine. Also take the chance to touch the bottle and test its temperature. The bottle should be cool to the touch (white wines slightly colder than red)
2. The waiter removes the cork and presents it to you: The condition of the cork can hint whether a wine has spoiled, if the cork smells bad or seems either shriveled or wet, the wine may be bad.
3. The waiter pours a little wine into your glass: Sniff and taste the wine to see whether it's gone bad, if it has gone bad (and wines sometimes do go bad), be kind but not too apologetic and send it back.
4. If the wine is fine, tell the waiter to proceed: The waiter will fill your guests' glasses first, then yours.
Bottle or Glass?
The age-old question-get a bottle or order by the glass? In general, ordering by the bottle is more cost-effective. but there are reasons to order wine by the glass:
- If your table won't drink a full bottle
- If you want more than one wine during your dinner
- If you and your dinner companion(s) are ordering foods that are difficult to pair with a single wine
Restaurants typcially serve two different categories of wine: house wines and list wines. Very high-end restaurants may also have a reserve list you can ask to see if you're feeling like a big spender.
House Wines
The house wine is what you get when you just ask for red or white wine without any further specification. While house wines at quality restaurants are usually perfectly acceptable, they're ever extraordinary. The house wine has to appeal to many people, which means it can't be too interesting. Besides, even the best restauants choose house wines that are as cheap as they can get away with. House wines are usually available by the glass or carafe, a wide-necked vessel that holds a bottle's worth of wine.
The Wine List
A restaurant might have 15 wines on its list--or 150. Every entry on the list will tell you the name of the wine, the winery that produced it, the vintage, and the price. If a wine is available by the glass and by the bottle, the wine list will show prices for both. All wine lists, long or short, organize wines by the type (white, red, etc..). Some lists may also organize by:
- Country of origin
- Varietal
- Price
- Body (light-bodiedwines on top, full-bodied below)
Bringing Your Own Wine
Many restaurants allow you to bring your own wine, which the waiter then uncorks and serves to you. For this service restaurants typically charge a corkage fee that typically ranges from $10 to $25.
- If you want to bring wine to a restaurant, call first and make sure it's okay--some restaurants don't allow patrons to bring their own wine.
- When you call, make sure that the restaurant doesn't already carry the wine you want to bring, it's bad form to bring a wine that a restaurant carries on its list.
When wine is served in restaurants, the waiter usually follows a specific procedure:
1. The waiter presents the bottle to you: This allows you to check that the wine is actually what you ordered. Really do check--waiters can make mistakes, so the bottle could be the wrong vintage or even the wrong wine. Also take the chance to touch the bottle and test its temperature. The bottle should be cool to the touch (white wines slightly colder than red)
2. The waiter removes the cork and presents it to you: The condition of the cork can hint whether a wine has spoiled, if the cork smells bad or seems either shriveled or wet, the wine may be bad.
3. The waiter pours a little wine into your glass: Sniff and taste the wine to see whether it's gone bad, if it has gone bad (and wines sometimes do go bad), be kind but not too apologetic and send it back.
4. If the wine is fine, tell the waiter to proceed: The waiter will fill your guests' glasses first, then yours.
How to look like a snob :)
I want to know how to properly taste wine like a rich snob! Of course everyone knows how to fake this but I really want to know how to properly do so that I can back it up with some ridiculous big-worded description of the sip I just experienced. So here is what I learned...
Not only are there specific ways to talk about and describe wine, there's also a "correct" method for tasting it. Though many people think that having a wine tasting technique is just a hallmark of snobbery, the technique actually exists for just one reason: so that you, the wine drinker, can better enjoy your wine.
Wine Tasting Technique
To experience the fullest sensation from a wine, you have to devote time and your senses to it--which proper wine tasting technique help you to do. The technique can be summed up in 5 S's: see, swirl, sniff, swish, swallow.
1. See
Part of the enjoyment of wine is building up anticipation and surrendering yourself to sensation. Enjoying the visual attributes of a glass of wine is the beginning of this experience. As you pour and hold the wine, notice its:
Swirling works air into the wine, which helps amplify and develop the wine's flavors. Swirl the wine consistently and in the same direction, taking care not to spill. The less wine there is in the glass, the more vigorously you can swirl it.
3. Sniff
After swirling the wine, stick your nose into the glass and take a deep whiff of the wine's aroma (also called its nose or bouquet). Contemplate and try to name the aromas you discover (woody, fruity, smoky, breezy, etc..) At first this naming process might be difficult and seem pointless. But after a while it'll become easier, and you'll start to make connections between the aromas of different wines.
Your sense of smell is much more acute than your sense of taste. In fact, much of what you think of as your sense of taste is actually your sense of smell, as aromas from the food you chew reach your nose through the back of your throat. Many serious wine drinkers enjoy smelling wines almost as much as drinking them.
4. Swish
Now sip the wine and draw in some air, then gently swish the wine around your mouth for a few seconds.
Wines are said to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In each stage, a good wine creates different flavors, aromas, and textures in your mouth and nose. The first flavor you might notice is the sweetness or dryness of the wine. As the wine moves toward the back of your tongue, the sweetness may or may not progress into sourness and, possibly, a tingling astringency in the hollows between the cheeks and gums as the acid and tannins take hold. Meanwhile you'll also feel the texture of the wine: its thickness or thinness, roughness or smoothness. As the swishing vaporizes and energizes the aroma of the wine, you'll smell the wine's aromas.
5. Swallow
When you swallow the wine, don't immdeiately reach for another sip or take a bite of food. Instead, concentrate on the finish of the wine-a cleansing, acid crispness lingering on the deep back and sides of the tongue. Now go for that next sip, repeating the whole process if you like.
Not only are there specific ways to talk about and describe wine, there's also a "correct" method for tasting it. Though many people think that having a wine tasting technique is just a hallmark of snobbery, the technique actually exists for just one reason: so that you, the wine drinker, can better enjoy your wine.
Wine Tasting Technique
To experience the fullest sensation from a wine, you have to devote time and your senses to it--which proper wine tasting technique help you to do. The technique can be summed up in 5 S's: see, swirl, sniff, swish, swallow.
1. See
Part of the enjoyment of wine is building up anticipation and surrendering yourself to sensation. Enjoying the visual attributes of a glass of wine is the beginning of this experience. As you pour and hold the wine, notice its:
- Clarity and color: Observe the hue of the wine against the light. White wines range from pale green or yellow when young to deep amber when aged. Red wines redden as they age, from dark blue or purple to red and then a russet brown. Lighter-bodied wines are also generally lighter in color.
- Legs: Tilt the wine glass so that the wine runs slightly up the side. Now set the glass flat again. Certain wines form rivulets running down the side, called legs or tears. This is a function of the wine's viscosity, or flow, and the rate of evaporation of the alcohol.
Swirling works air into the wine, which helps amplify and develop the wine's flavors. Swirl the wine consistently and in the same direction, taking care not to spill. The less wine there is in the glass, the more vigorously you can swirl it.
3. Sniff
After swirling the wine, stick your nose into the glass and take a deep whiff of the wine's aroma (also called its nose or bouquet). Contemplate and try to name the aromas you discover (woody, fruity, smoky, breezy, etc..) At first this naming process might be difficult and seem pointless. But after a while it'll become easier, and you'll start to make connections between the aromas of different wines.
Your sense of smell is much more acute than your sense of taste. In fact, much of what you think of as your sense of taste is actually your sense of smell, as aromas from the food you chew reach your nose through the back of your throat. Many serious wine drinkers enjoy smelling wines almost as much as drinking them.
4. Swish
Now sip the wine and draw in some air, then gently swish the wine around your mouth for a few seconds.
Wines are said to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In each stage, a good wine creates different flavors, aromas, and textures in your mouth and nose. The first flavor you might notice is the sweetness or dryness of the wine. As the wine moves toward the back of your tongue, the sweetness may or may not progress into sourness and, possibly, a tingling astringency in the hollows between the cheeks and gums as the acid and tannins take hold. Meanwhile you'll also feel the texture of the wine: its thickness or thinness, roughness or smoothness. As the swishing vaporizes and energizes the aroma of the wine, you'll smell the wine's aromas.
5. Swallow
When you swallow the wine, don't immdeiately reach for another sip or take a bite of food. Instead, concentrate on the finish of the wine-a cleansing, acid crispness lingering on the deep back and sides of the tongue. Now go for that next sip, repeating the whole process if you like.
So, Im getting a little bit bored
So, I'm getting a little bit bored with sponsering a different wine every week. It's not that they aren't delicious or that I'm not enjoying it, I'm just getting a little short on cash and a constant headache. I have decided to do research of the computer variety instead and find out different things about wine rather than just taste. I actually found a really cool article about how to talk about wine.
So even if you've found a wine that you really love, it might be hard to describe exactly what you like about it. Well, over the thousands of years wine has existed, a specific wine terminology has developed that lets you translate what just happened in your mouth (and nose) into words other people can understand.
For every wine, there are four general categories of sensation to describe:
Wine can go bad for many reasons. Here are some of the most common signs that a wine has gone bad:
So even if you've found a wine that you really love, it might be hard to describe exactly what you like about it. Well, over the thousands of years wine has existed, a specific wine terminology has developed that lets you translate what just happened in your mouth (and nose) into words other people can understand.
For every wine, there are four general categories of sensation to describe:
- Structure
- Aromatics
- Texture
- Overall experience
- Sweetness: Wines run from sweet to dry. Off-dry wines are semi-sweet, somewhere between the two extremes.
- Acidity: Though all wines contain acid, it's generally more important in white wines than red wines because red wines also contain tannins. Acidity is often called the backbone of white wine, because it gives the wine firmness. A wine with high acidity is described as tart or crisp, while a wine with less acidity is called soft. A wine with too little acidity is flabby.
- Tannins: As acid is to white wines, tannins are to red wines. Tannins are molecules that exist naturally in grape skins, stems, and seeds; they give red wine its trademark puckering sensation in the hollow between your cheeks and gums. Red wines high in tannins are called astringent, while those slightly less so are called hard or firm. Red wines low in tannins are called soft.
- Body: The alcohol content of a wine affects its body--its "weight" in your mouth, in general, the higher the alcohol content, the more full its body. A wine can be full-bodied, medium-bodied, or light-bodied. A full bodied wine has the consistency of whole milk, white a light-bodied wine feels more like skim.
- Particulate: Talc, wet clay, Powder, Plaster, dusty, grainy, chalky, sawdust.
- Surface smoothness: Furry, fine emery, velvet, suede, silk, chamois, satin
- Complex: Soft, supple, fleshy, mouthcoat, rich
- Drying: Numbing, parching, dry
- Dynamic: Pucker, chewy, grippy adhesive
- Harsh: Hard, aggressive, abrasive
- Unripe: Resinous, sappy, green
- Weight: Watery, thin, full, viscious
- Texture: Syrupy, creamy
- Heat: Hot, warm
- Irritation: chili, pepper, tingle, prickle, spritz
Wine can go bad for many reasons. Here are some of the most common signs that a wine has gone bad:
- The cork is shriveled or wet
- Smells like sulfurous (like rotten eggs)
- Smells like acetone (nail polish remover)
- Smells like cardboard
- Tastes flat, dusty, stale, rotten, or vinegary
The Hive Winery
They were founded in December of 2010 at 1220 West Jack D Drive, Suite 2, Layton, UT 84041 and have wines are designed to complement any meal and vary in sweetness levels from dry to semi-sweet.
Their motto is: To bring fruit and honey wines to all....for a good buzzz.
Our wines will be crafted using fruit and honey from local farmers whenever possible. Our honey is currently provided by Cox Honey Land in Cache Valley. The raspberries and black currents are provided by Week’s Berries of Paradise in Cache Valley. Peaches, pears, cherries, and apricots are all provided from local farms along the Wasatch Front. Unfortunately, Utah does not have a favorable climate for growing blueberries, blackberries, cranberries and pomegranates however we have found suppliers who will supply us with these and many other types of exotic fruits.
They make all of there wine in a warehouse located in the back of their store.
Their batch sizes vary from 30 to 100 gallons which will produce 150 to 500 bottles per batch. This micro-batching allows for a larger variety of wines with different varieties becoming available throughout the year. Their wines include raspberry wine, raspberry melomel (honey wine), black currant wine, black currant melomel, strawberry wine, meads (honey wine) in several sweetness, blackberry wine, blackberry melomel, peach wine, apricot wine, tart cherry wine, sweet cherry wine, pear wine, blueberry wine, cranberry wine, and pomegranate wine. They will also have limited runs of fruit meads which are blends of fruit wine and honey wine. Many other micro batch wine will be available throughout the upcoming years.
The store inside is so awesome, they sell not only their wines but wine glasses with their name and logo and they also have a stand with local art made from used and recycled wine bottles. To the left right after you walk through the front door is the wine tasting table where they let you taste 5 of their different wines. It was so hard to choose which flavors because they all sounded so good. Their seasonal cranberry wine was so yummy and went perfect with the Thanksgiving turkey.
My absolute favorite was the black currant wine, it had the kick of a red wine but was followed with a sweet honey aftertaste. It was so delicious!
They also had different flavors of cheese to go along and from the local Beehive Cheese Company on 89. The particular cheese pairing to my black currant wine was an espresso and lavender rubbed cheese called Barely Buzzed. Oh it was so good!
This Riesling tastes like Juicy Juice!
The wine I have chosen for this week is a Riesling, Ste Chapelle to be precise. This bottle was given to me by my mother with her word that it was the most delicious wine she has had in a long time. My mother being the type of woman to hardly ever pick up a wine glass, let alone drink from it, I was thoroughly intrigued.
My only complaint about this wine apart from the fact that there simply wasn't enough of it is that the cork was a challenge to remove. However, having the guns of a waitress, yet again proves useful and I eventually got the sucker out. I could tell this wine was going to be delicious simply from the smell which was delicate, light and crisp. With this being a "wine" however, I still braced myself for a biting kick. This fortunately never arrived.
At first sip I really could only think Juicy Juice! I am drinking Juicy Juice right now! This can't be wine it is so delicious! In fact, I said you know what screw the glass I don't even need it. I was just astonished. This wine has the light crisp taste of apple and I want to say pear as well. It is so refreshing and sweet. It was hard not to drink the whole bottle while making dinner.
This brings me to the food pairing for this wine. In general, pair lighter, crisper Rieslings with delicate (or raw) fish; more substantial Rieslings are good with Asian food, chicken, salmon and tuna. Now I'm not sure if this classifies as a more substantial Riesling or a lighter, crisper Riesling. All I know is that as drinking it, I'm craving Alfredo.
So I set out to make the cheapest alfredo dinner possible. My journey took me to Smith's where I proceeded directly to the pasta to look at fettuccine. A whole box of fettuccine is reasonable enough in price but what about a protein and vegetable to add to the otherwise boring pasta. Not even including the Alfredo sauce or side dishes for that matter, my total is adding up fast already.
My desperate search for another option brought me to the frozen dinner section of my local grocer. This is where I stumbled upon good ol Michelinas, a chicken and broccoli Alfredo dinner for a dollar and change?! You can't beat that! I grab two (because frozen dinners run a little small) and continue to search for a side dish.
I decide on canned asparagus. Hmm is the french bread on sale for a surprisingly low price because it is a day or two old?..Well you just don't think about that and grab a loaf. By the time I am through the check out and headed out the door I am only down about 6 dollars and some change. Not bad! After pressing a few buttons on the microwave and waiting a few minutes, I have a decent little dinner.
Now, could I have gone to McDonalds and received about the same quantity for my money? Well yes but, it wouldn't have been as much fun. ;D
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