What's Going On in the World of French Wines

With all of the gloomy news about the state of the economy across the country, it occurred to me the other day that I am probably not the only wine lover who has had to take a good, hard look at her monthly wine budget. While news reports do suggest that most of us haven’t forsaken wine altogether in these tough times, they do indicate that we are definitely looking to spend less on wine than we did last year. So it got me to thinking about some of my strategies for buying less-expensive wine and I thought maybe some of you out there would find these helpful.

1.   Befriend your local wine merchant. This is your first line of attack. Your new BFF (we’ll call him Joe the Wine Merchant), is fully aware of the problems going on in the world and doesn’t want to lose you as a customer. So it is in BOTH your best interests to be good buddies. Be open about your needs and tell him you are only looking to spend so much on a bottle. I guarantee you that Joe will want to try his hardest to find you a bottle that you will want to come back to his store to buy again.

2.   Now is not the time to buy the same old bottle every time – now is the time to experiment. That $7 wine that you’ve seen in the store, but dismissed because you have never heard of it or tasted it or because it is made from a grape variety you don’t usually drink? Well, now’s the time to pick that baby up. Try it, because you never know if you will have just stumbled upon the deal of the year, the answer to your wine budget bailout.

3.  Look to wine regions you have never heard of. Again, this is the perfect time to expand your horizons and look for bargain buys from lesser-known appellations. There are tons of wonderful small appellations in the South of France which produce excellent wines that are perfect for everyday drinking. Ask your BFF Joe (see rule #1) if he can suggest a few that you might enjoy.

4.   Don’t just buy one bottle. Yes, I know that means more wine and more money, but in almost all cases, you’ll get a better deal if you buy a full case as opposed to one bottle. And, quite honestly, if you have a case of wine on hand to enjoy, then it will cut down on the impulse wine buys (“I don’t have anything to go with dinner tonight – let me just grab this wine, even though it is more expensive than what I usually buy”) that hurt your budget. If you are better prepared with your wines, then that could even lead to you being better organized in your meal planning and, who knows, better organized in your whole life! See what wine can do for you?

5.   Allow your wine budget to include room for one splurge. With the money you’ve saved by buying less expensive wines, put a few of those dollars towards buying one slightly higher priced bottle. It is sort of like a dieting philosophy…if you feel like you aren’t depriving yourself then you are more likely to stick with your diet, I mean wine budget.
6. Look to the experts. Search the web and look for recommendations. All of us in the wine world are fully aware of the fact that there is less money to be spent on wine right now. But we understand that folks still want to buy wine – they just want to buy smarter (and cheaper). So most of us have retooled our price ranges and are looking for great budget buys too. Chances are, most wine writers are going to be making suggestions that will fit your budget. Don’t forget, we have wine budgets of our own, too.

And of course, I’d love to hear from you all if you have some tips that you use to stay within a wine budget. Please feel free to post your suggestions to the blog. I’ll be looking forward to reading them!

Thursday, January 22

Today is one of my all-time favorite holidays – the feast day devoted to the patron saint of winemakers, St. Vincent. While many winemakers mark the day, those in Burgundy are particularly well-known for their St. Vincent day celebrations. This year there will be parties taking place in a number of villages in Burgundy, including one in the village of Chardonnay (Yes, Virginia, there is a village called Chardonnay in Burgundy!).

My love of St. Vincent’s Day goes back many years to my days as a wine student preparing for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s Diploma at the International Wine Center in New York City. At some point in my studies of Burgundy, I came across some references to St. Vincent and how vignerons hold services and celebrations in his honor each year in hopes of being rewarded with a good year in the vineyards. I loved the idea of marking the beginning of a new year in the vineyards with a celebration of vintages past. While I didn’t have a vineyard, it occurred to me that I could create my own holiday honoring St. Vincent by throwing a tasting party for my friends and that our enjoyment of past vintages would also help me make room in my cellar for some new vintages.
My party was a huge success, in fact I think it remains one of my very favorite parties that I have ever thrown. I served a variety of foods – lots of different cheeses, shrimp, mini roast beef sandwiches, various desserts, vegetables, mini quiches – you name it. The idea was to give people an opportunity to pair a wide variety of wines (I think I opened somewhere between 50 and 60 bottles of wine) with a wide variety of foods. The most exciting part of the party though, was that I had the chance to open so many different wines for my friends – some of whom tasted grape varieties that day that were completely new to them. While it wasn’t an educational tasting per se, I did want my friends to be able to learn about wine that day in a fun and relaxed way.

So today, in honor of St. Vincent, I encourage you to do one of two things. Either open up a bottle of wine tonight that you have never tried before, or invite some friends over and celebrate St. Vincent with a tasting party of your own. Whatever you do, though, be sure to say a few words wishing all of the vintners around the world good luck as they embark upon the 2009 vintage. And as for me, I’m planning on calling up a few of my neighbors to see if they want to stop by for some drinks after work. I think I’ll open up a few different French wines made with grapes that most people are probably not familiar with, such as Chenin Blanc, Colombard, Gewurztraminer, Mourvèdre, Semillon, Ugni Blanc and Viognier. If some of these grapes are new to you, you can check through my top picks list by grape variety to find specific wines. Enjoy!

Inauguration Day is just around the corner, and no matter what your political beliefs, I think we can all agree that the day a new president takes the oath of office is a day to celebrate the unique pageantry of American politics. So, I don’t know about you, but I started to think about a potential menu to mark the occasion. What do I have in mind, you might ask? Well, to honor our president’s unique background as well as the mix of cultures that make up the US, I would suggest something with a bit of a multi-cultural theme that focuses on the idea of bringing luck and prosperity to the world. You might think of it as being similar to the idea that you should eat certain foods on New Year’s Day to bring you luck in the new year. The way I look at it, we could all use a bit more luck and prosperity these days, so why not plan your own lucky feast to celebrate the inauguration and a new period in the history of our country?
In Spain, eating grapes as the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve is considered very lucky and so, for our purposes, since this isn’t actually a New Year’s Eve feast, we can tweak it a bit by considering wine the key part of our bountiful feast. And now, what to pair with our wines…
I would recommend going with a first course borrowed from the Far East – the spring roll. According to my research, spring rolls are thought to bring wealth to those who eat them because their color and size make them look a bit like gold bars. Perhaps a bit far-fetched, but I’m willing to bite! The lucky spring rolls would be perfect served with a unifying wine made from a blend of grapes, Pierre Sparr’s ONE from Alsace. This wine is also a wonderful mix of both established traditions and new, dynamic ideas.
For the next course, I would suggest that we jump over to Italy. Now, you might wonder what President Obama has to do with Italy, but I would argue that we all have something to do with Italian food. It definitely ranks right up there on the list of Americans’ favorite cuisines and I seem to recall that one of the Obamas’ favorite restaurants in Chicago is an Italian place. In Italy there are several foods that are considered lucky – among them lentils, gnocchi and risotto. Depending on your preference, you could make a main course out of any of them and add sausage (also considered lucky) to any of the three. I personally would lean towards the gnocchi, mainly because it is one of my almost-three-year-old son’s favorite meals. For serving alongside your lucky Italian food, I would go for the Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côtes du Rhône “Parallèle 45″. This blend of Syrah and Grenache is, according to Jaboulet, named in honor of the 45th North parallel which runs two kilometers from their cellars. So in honor of the imaginary lines that circle the globe and connect us all, this would be a delicious and versatile red wine to serve.
And we wouldn’t want to forget some veggies with this meal, so I would suggest you look to the South for this part of the meal and serve up some cooked greens, such as collard greens, kale or chard. Various cultures consider eating vast quantities of greens important as these very-good-for-you foods bear a strong resemblance to money. So eating your greens with this meal could hopefully inspire some good financial fortune to come your way.
Finally, in France, it is apparently good luck to eat pancakes on New Year’s. So, I propose a dessert of either fruit or chocolate crepes – or maybe a combination of both! You can pair this with a sweeter style bubbly, like the Moet & Chandon White Star, or with a dessert wine such as the Castelnau de Suduiraut Sauternes - which would be terrific with a crepe stuffed with bananas and drizzled with caramel sauce.
Whatever meal you decide to have on the 20th though, I hope that it brings you some good luck in the new year and, at the very least, some fortuitous wine choices over the next few months!

Welcome to 2009!

Sorry for the delay in getting some new posts up, we have had a server move and so things are just getting back to normal here. I hope that everyone had a great holiday and that your year has started off well.
But before we talk about the future, I thought I would send you back into the past. A few months ago I recorded a segment with a dear friend of mine, Philipe Newlin, for Devour.tv. We did a fun food and wine pairing with the chef from Brasserie, a wonderful restaurant in New York. Chef Luc Dimnet made a great venison stew (if I could make venison taste like his stew, I’d consider making it) and I got to choose the wines. The video is up on Devour and I thought you all might get a kick out of it.

I hope you enjoy the episode and let me know what you think!