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I’m working on a post on Bordeaux for later this week, but I had a really interesting wine last night and so I wanted to share it with everyone on the blog. A few months ago, I was in a wine store in my area when I spotted an interesting looking bottle of wine. The first thing that caught my eye was the label – it was one of those labels that grabs your attention – not because it is showy or there’s a cute animal, but because it was, well, so very pretty. Intrigued, I picked it up and was even more interested to see that it was made with organically grown grapes and that, best of all, it was priced at $9.99. So, naturally, I had to buy it!
So what’s funny about this is that the Les Chemins de Bassac Isa Rouge has been sitting in my wine fridge in my kitchen untouched since that impulse purchase. Every time I’ve gone to pull out a wine for dinner, I’ve looked at it and then thought to myself, am I really in the mood for this wine? I’m not really sure what made me hesitate to open the Isa – I think I was so excited to find it that I was worried that drinking the wine would be a bit of a let-down…amazing how sometimes you can be your own worst enemy!
Well, last night I made spaghetti and meatballs and when I went to grab a wine to serve with dinner, lo and behold, I discovered that I was out of my stash of everyday Italian wines. Yes, I keep a selection of inexpensive Italian red wines on hand to serve with my red sauce – I find that my tomato sauce tends to go best with either a Valpolicella or a Chianti. But I digress…so, unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, there were no Italian reds to be had. So I went searching through the other shelves to see what I could find. And that’s when I spotted the Isa, which had been languishing on the top shelf of the wine fridge for way too long.
What the heck, I thought – why not open it? I’ll admit it, I didn’t have high expectations – not only because of the potential problem of pairing it with my red sauce, but also because I had stupidly convinced myself that something that pretty, that reasonably priced and made with organically grown grapes wasn’t going to be all that tasty – it seemed just too good to be true. Well, silly me. The Isa was lovely, with soft earthy black fruits, notes of spicy plums and hints of ripe cherries. The tannins were fairly soft and the acidity and alcohol were balanced, but somehow the wine went very nicely with the sauce. Perhaps it was the addition of the meatballs to the sauce, but the combination was really enjoyable, and the wine that was left in my glass was equally delicious with my dessert of chocolate chip cookies.

The Les Chemins de Bassac Isa Rouge is a Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, which is located in the Languedoc, in the South of France. The wine is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and the grapes are all farmed organically. If you would like more information about the wine, I recommend checking the estate’s website.
So what did I learn tonight? Well, first off, it was a great reminder that I need to take my own advice when I spot something interesting – I need to not hesitate to open the wine once I get it home! I foolishly made some assumptions about the wine (the label’s too pretty and the wine’s too reasonably priced for it to be really good) that were definitely without merit. And this was a great reminder that there are wines made with organically grown grapes that can be found for under $10. So for all those people who say you have to pay extra for grapes grown without synthetic chemicals, the Isa is a terrific example of the value wines that are available these days. Finally, it was definitely a treat to discover a delicious wine that stood up to my red sauce – and I bet it would be great with a whole bunch of other dishes too!

Even if the weather doesn’t want to cooperate where you live, there is no denying that there is a whiff of spring in the air. Living here in North Carolina, spring has a tendency to come on the early side – in fact there have been years where I’ve spotted flowers poking through as early as late January! There’s something about the start of spring that always fills me with excitement and energy, and a good dose of anticipation.
There’s also just something about warm weather that makes me want to entertain. I’m sure it has a bit to do with the fact that as we get further into spring and summer the fresh vegetables and fruits at the local farmers markets just beg to be shared. But there’s also something easy about parties that involve the grill and letting kids play outside. Recently, we had a brief window of warm weather and so we used the opportunity to get together with some friends. The menu plan was simple – burgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, pasta salad, fruit and ice cream. Nothing really fancy, but with 10 little kids running around, the object was to be as family-friendly as possible!
Of course, wine is always a big part of parties in our house, no matter the occasion. It might sound a bit resentful of me to say that my friends expect to be served something interesting at my house, but in truth, I’m glad that they do. I think it is all too easy to get into a wine rut (it has happened to me before) and I’m happy to help prevent that from happening. So for this particular gathering, I chose to serve the Lafite Réserve Spéciale Bordeaux Blanc and the Mas de Guiot Vin de Pays du Gard. The first is a white Bordeaux made from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon and the second is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Both wines went over well, but much to my surprise, it was the white wine that was the big success. In the past, I have found that my guests were more likely to drink red wines over whites, so this was a bit of a departure and I one that I chalked up to two things – the warmer weather seemed to make people favor white wine and also the wine was extremely drinkable, both with or without food.
I’ve consistently found that people who like Sauvignon Blanc don’t seem to know that it is one of the grapes used in white Bordeaux. While it is true that there are many Bordeaux Blancs that are on the more expensive side, there are also a large number of very affordable and food-friendly examples; wines such as the Lafite Réserve Spéciale, Chateau Coucheroy or Chateau Bonnet spring to mind. The combination of the zesty flavors of the Sauvignon Blanc grape with the more mellow orange marmalade notes of the Sémillon grape makes for a versatile wine that is delicious with or without food. And because white Bordeaux is usually a bit fuller in body compared to other white wines, it stood up to the hamburgers and hot dogs just fine.
So if the weather has started to warm up where you live, think about the possibility of getting a group of friends together to celebrate the fact that spring is right around the corner. And if you are looking for a versatile, food-friendly white, I recommend you take a look through the White Bordeaux section of your favorite wine store. You might just find something to put a little spring in your step.

A few weeks ago I had a really interesting conversation with a fellow wine educator about coffee. Last spring, as part of our CSA/farm-share program, Bill and I started getting a one pound bag of whole bean single-origin coffee every other week, thanks to a local roasting company. This, naturally, led us to start thinking a bit more about what kinds of coffee we prefer. We were able to see (taste) that there was one type of roast we favored over the others, but because we got the coffee every other week, it was hard to compare countries or regions and so we just weren’t able to keep track of our favorites. But after my conversation with my friend, who has done some rather extensive tastings of coffee and really zeroed in on what she liked and didn’t like, I was inspired to try again.

So, luckily for me, last week one of our local gourmet stores was having a pretty big sale on coffee and tea (we’ll have to save the tea discussion for another post). So since we were actually pretty low on coffee beans anyway, I decided to use the opportunity to stock up on a few different coffees from around the world to see if I could make any conclusions about our tastes in coffee.

Just to give a little background, Bill and I have coffee every morning (most mornings it is the only thing that gets me to open my eyes willingly). We are pretty much at the opposite ends of the coffee spectrum – he drinks his black and I take mine with a good deal of milk (according to Bill, who usually makes my coffee, the mix is 55% milk (which has to be heated so it doesn’t make the coffee cold), 45% coffee and just a little bit of sugar (not that I’m high maintenance or anything…). But oddly enough, even though we take our coffee very differently, we both seem to like the same kinds. Which, it turns out, tend to be beans sourced mainly from Central and South America. For some reason, and believe you me, I’m still trying to work out my tasting notes for coffee, we both find the lighter flavors of these regions coupled with the higher acidity, slight floral and chocolaty notes to be pretty appealing. And, in addition to the Nicaraguan and Peruvian coffees we’ve taken a shine to, we both love one flavored coffee we’ve found – a Cinnamon-Hazelnut blend. I know some people would say that drinking flavored coffee is, well, maybe indicative of unsophisticated coffee palates, but I say it is a bit like people looking down on sweet wines…if YOU like it and enjoy it (and trust me, I do really enjoy those mornings Bill makes the cinnamon-hazelnut coffee) then who cares what other people think!

And of course all of our discussions about coffee beans got me thinking about the concept of terroir, or the taste of a place. In the past this term has been used primarily in reference to wine, but increasingly it is a word that is being applied to coffee, chocolate, cheese and any number of different vegetables and fruits sold at local markets. The French are particularly fascinated with terroir and it is this idea, that each place has a different taste, that was used as the basis for developing the Appellation Controlee system years ago.

I was really interested in looking at the single-origin coffee beans because I felt that it would be an interesting palate exercise to see if I could find big differences in coffees from different growing spots around the world. We also threw in one twist to our experiment by buying some beans from a certain location in both a “regular” style and then a “pasa” style. The “pasa” beans had been left on the plant to shrivel like raisins, which naturally reminded me of the grapes affected by noble rot that are used to make Sauternes in Bordeaux. Although the two styles were very distinctive (and delicious), there was definitely a taste that was common to both.

Overall, I would say that like wine, we felt that the coffee beans we tried did show some regional differences. I don’t know about you, but I find this idea of tasting a place so interesting and exciting. I thought it was pretty neat that like wine, we were able to taste so many different nuances in the different coffees we tried and also that each location seemed to have a unique taste. It reminded me of how much fun it is to drink broadly – that drinking wines from all over really allows you to realize the special characteristics that make each grape variety and each region interesting.

Why should you care about terroir? Well, just like each of us is a unique individual (with a unique palate), terroir is something that can make wines distinctive. Unfortunately, terroir is one of those really hard taste concepts to put into words – it sort of comes down to a particular taste or feeling you get from something. I’ve always found that the smaller the location from which you are sourcing a product, the more intense the sense of place, but I do find that even wines made with grapes that are grown in multiple regions and then blended can still have some kind of identity (although this does also depend on the skill of the winemaker). But perhaps if we can start identifying differences in food products, maybe it will help us to understand wines better, and in turn, this will encourage us to do what we can to preserve these differences and embrace them. After all, one of the other things our coffee terroir experiment taught us was that there were a number of different coffee terroirs that we really liked and that the best week of coffee involved rotating through several different types.
Be sure to let me know if you’ve ever done a “terroir” experiment with your food or beverages and what the outcome was. I’d love to hear about it!

A few weeks ago I found myself in the midst of a bit of a wine dilemma. I was in the process of planning my Mother’s 60th surprise birthday party and I was trying to organize the wines with the menu for dinner. Starting off with Champagne was a pretty obvious choice, and I knew it would go nicely with the two appetizers the caterer had suggested, so that part was pretty easy. But I have to admit that I had some difficulty with the appetizer and the entrée. My difficulty stemmed from the fact that I had to balance the wines that I wanted to pair and thought would pair best with the menu, with the need to serve wines that my guests would enjoy.

The appetizer was to be a goat cheese tart topped with mixed roasted vegetables and a small frisée salad. In my mind, this was a course that called for a Sauvignon Blanc or a Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend. However, when thinking about the family members who would be attending the party, I needed to take into consideration what kind of wine would best suit my guests’ tastes. I knew ahead of time that I was going to have quite a mix of palates at the party. I would have several wine enthusiasts, several novices, and quite a few individuals who don’t really care much for wine. It was important to me to have a wine that would work for all of these different types of wine drinkers. Adding to the challenge was the fact that I knew that a few folks wouldn’t drink the red wine I was planning on serving with the main course, so the white needed to be fairly substantial.

So how did it all turn out? Well, for the first course I chose to serve a Vouvray, a Chenin Blanc with some residual sugar. I knew that several of the people who would be attending tend to prefer wines with some residual sugar to them, so that was one of the key reasons I chose it over a Sauvignon Blanc. The issue of residual sugar in wine is an interesting one to me. There are lots of folks out there who seem to believe that if a wine has residual sugar to it, then it is either less sophisticated or downright bad. Other wine snobs will tell you that people who prefer sweeter wines have less-sophisticated palates. I don’t particularly care to pay attention to either point of view. While I will definitely agree that there are lots of wines made with residual sugar that are not very good, then again, I will also point out that there are also lots of dry wines out there that aren’t so hot either. The key to me is whether or not the wine is in balance.

Personally, I love wines with a sweet side, but in order for me to love them, they need to also have a high level of acidity to balance the sweetness. This way, the sugar doesn’t make the wine seem cloying, but rather refreshing. So a good quality Vouvray, which is made with Chenin Blanc which is a grape with lots of racy acidity, is rarely sticky sweet and syrupy, but rather vibrant and mouth-watering. And in terms of that whole “sophisticated” palate argument, I often wonder why people think that is so important anyway. Why does having a “sophisticated” palate make you better? Do you enjoy your food more? Speaking for myself, some of my very favorite meals that I have ever had were not elaborate exotic chef creations, but were fresh, in-season foods that were simply prepared. My goal for my Mother’s party was that people had a pleasurable meal with good food and good wine – it wasn’t about a palate challenge to rate sophistication levels. When so much of our experiences with wine come down to whether or not we have a pleasurable experience with it, why do we worry so much about what other people think?

Now the Vouvray might not have been my number one choice for a pairing match for the goat cheese tart, but it was a fine pairing, and I also knew that it would go fairly well with the main course, which was a beef stew. I also served a red Bordeaux with the stew as there were some people at the party who were red wine lovers and well, to be honest, the beef and Bordeaux combo is a personal favorite of my Mother’s (and mine, for that matter).

In the end, the party – especially the surprise of it – was a great success and everyone seemed to enjoy both the food and the wine. Which for me, was the sweetest part of it all.

My husband posed an interesting question to me the other night. We were discussing budgets for food and other various items and we started talking about wine prices. Bill asked me, “If you had a budget of $50 for the week for wine, how would you spend it?”

Now some people might think of this as a pretty big weekly budget for wine, while others of you might think a weekly wine budget should be three times this amount. Regardless of what you think the amount should be, it poses a pretty interesting problem: how would you go about splitting up $50 of wine? Probably only a few of you out there are going through a bottle of wine a night, but if you are, then you would have approximately $7.14 to spend on 7 bottles of wine to get you through the week. While this could be doable, it would definitely pose a bit of a challenge for many wine drinkers.

A bit of a more realistic scenario would be for someone to look to buy 3-5 bottles of wine for the week. This would assume that you are having wine with your meal almost every other night and maybe you have a bottle that lasts you for 2 nights. Now, the interesting thing here is to think about this part of the dilemma – would you rather buy 3 bottles of wine for an average price of $16.67, or would you buy more wine – 5 bottles – for $10 each in order to have more variety? Is it better to have more “less expensive” wine, or less “more expensive” wine?
In our house, I would say we drink wine almost every night and while frequently one bottle can go with 2 meals, I tend to like to have more variety than less. So I guess I would say that I average purchasing 4-5 bottles of wine a week. Assuming I stick with the $50 budget (which is, sad to say, a little tough for me to do – I have a hard time resisting the call of a new, unfamiliar wine), I would be spending somewhere between $10 and $12 a bottle. Now, while $7 a bottle might be a little bit of a limitation, an average price of $10-12 a bottle is quite generous these days. And if you look to add in the occasional $7 to $8 bottle, then you could actually give yourself room to buy one slightly more expensive wine.
And then, you always have the option of making a purchase like the one I bought today – a 3L bag-in-box Côtes du Rhône. Something like that, which was $19.99, could give you all kinds of flexibility with your wine budget, as not only are bag-in-box usually an efficient way of spending your wine dollars, but they offer something else quite nice – the ability to have one glass every once in a while from a container that will last for a few months. That’s something that you definitely can’t get from most bottles. I haven’t had a chance to try the wine I just bought, but I will definitely let you know what it tastes like!

And in the meantime, I’d love to hear from you all about how you do your wine budgets. How do you spend your wine dollars and what kind of balance do you look to strike between price and selection? Have any of you out there found a good way to stretch your wine dollars? I’m all ears, so submit your comments below – I can’t wait to read them!

When you say the word, “Bordeaux,” in all likelihood, the image that springs to your mind is one of large chateaux and bottles of red wine. However, this wonderful region in France is also known for producing top-quality white wines – both of the dry and the sweet persuasion.

The white wine production region for Bordeaux is concentrated in two areas. The first area of major importance is the appellation of Entre-Deux-Mers, which is located between the Dordogne and the Garonne rivers. The second, is found on the south side of the Garonne. There you can find the appellations for both dry and sweet wines, including Graves, Pessac-Leognan, Sauternes and Barsac.
One of the things I love most about French wine is how each region grows grapes or uses grapes in a blend that is fairly unique to that appellation. For Bordeaux, the wines are made from a blend of two (and sometimes three) grapes: Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc (with the third grape being Muscadelle). While Sauvignon Blanc is grown elsewhere in France, the “unique factor” here is that in Bordeaux it is blended with Semillon. And furthermore, while the production of dry wines can be found all over the world, the sweet wines of Bordeaux are in truly in a special class all by themselves – as you will shortly see.

Of the two major white wine grapes of the region, Sauvignon Blanc is undoubtedly the better known. Sauvignon Blanc is recognized for having a fairly high level of acidity and notes of grapefruit peel, zesty citrus fruits, passionfruits and gooseberries on both the nose and the palate. Semillon, on the other hand, has a more mellow profile. The level of acidity is a bit lower and the level of potential alcohol is much higher. The flavor profile is characterized by notes of honey, oranges, orange marmalade and figs. Up through the 1970s, Sémillon was extremely important for white wine production for both dry and sweet wines. But today, Sauvignon Blanc is increasingly dominating the blend for dry wines, while Semillon is the favored grape for the sweet wines.

One of the major reasons that Semillon is so important for the production of sweet wines in Bordeaux is its propensity for developing Botrytis cinerea, a special type of fungus that works to dehydrate the grapes, thus concentrating the sugar level (think of it as tasting the difference between raisins and grapes – the dehydrated grapes, i.e. the raisins, have much higher levels of sugar). When you go to ferment grapes that have been affected by botrytis, the yeasts can’t convert all of the sugar to alcohol, and thus there is residual sugar left in the wine making it a sweet wine. The Maritime climate of Bordeaux, with morning mists and high levels of humidity, is also perfect for developing botrytis. You will notice that the best areas for producing the sweet styles of wines, Sauternes, Barsac, and Ste-Croix-du-Mont to name three of the most famous, are clustered around the Garonne river.
The most famous appellation for the production of sweet wines in Bordeaux is Sauternes and the best-known producer in the region is Chateau d’Yquem. I love to relate the story that one glass of d’Yquem is equal to the production of one grapevine in the vineyard – production levels for the sweet wines of Sauternes is obviously very low! There are five communes that are entitled to use the name Sauternes on the label. They are: Barsac, Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac. Barsac is entitled to its own appellation and so you will find some wines produced in the commune sold under the AOC Barsac and then other producers who choose to use the Sauternes appellation. Typically Barsac is thought to have a slightly lighter style compared to Sauternes.
Turning to the dry white wines of the region, there is a bit of variability in style and taste profile. Many of the whites made today are very fresh and fruity with a high percentage of Sauvignon Blanc. These typically are labeled as Bordeaux AOC and Entre-Deux-Mers. In contrast, the appellations of Pessac-Leognan and Graves are known for producing white wines that have been aged in oak and are made in a more full-bodied and age-worthy style. These two regions in particular are known for producing wines that can have a very distinctive mineral note that many believe is partly due to the special gravelly, well-draining soil of the area.
I often find that many people, especially those just starting to learn about wine, make the mistake of thinking that Bordeaux is a region that is only good for red wines. As you can see, there is quite a range of white wines that can be found as well. Whether you are looking for a dry wine or a sweet wine, Bordeaux is a region that should appeal to all wine drinkers, especially those looking for food-friendly wines. If you would like to taste more of the white wines of Bordeaux, there are a few on my top picks list that offer great value. For an example of Sauternes, I suggest trying the Castelnau de Suduiraut. And if you would like to taste a dry white from Bordeaux, look for either the Lafite Réserve Spéciale Bordeaux Blanc or the Michel Lynch Sauvignon Blanc. Happy Learning!

I have to admit it – overall, I’m not such a big fan of Valentine’s Day. And it isn’t just because of the whole “what if you don’t have someone to spend the most romantic day of the year with” issue. No, personally, I find it tough to get excited about the prospect of overspending on a so-so meal at a crowded restaurant with a dozen outrageously expensive roses and a box of boring chocolates. Call me cynical, but I think that there are a lot of better ways to show someone how much you love them.
What might those be? Well, I’m glad that you asked. Instead of going out for a meal this Valentine’s Day, I would propose that you create your own night of romance with a delicious, but simple meal and a bottle of wine that will set the stage for an evening that you will both enjoy. And the wonderful thing about this idea is that you can even adapt this meal for a group of friends, so that no one has to feel left out of the celebration.

There are so many different ways to plan a menu that will work for Valentine’s Day. There are any number of foods that are considered aphrodisiacs and a variety of ingredients that are supposed to also encourage a feeling of romance. One list of foods that I came across included: Chile Peppers, Peaches, Mint, Ginger, Honey, Chocolate, Mangoes, Saffron, Almonds, Rosemary, Vanilla, Figs.
So, here’s my idea for a menu for Valentine’s Day based on using some of the above ingredients. Feel free to adapt it to fit your needs and your own taste preferences. First course: A spinach salad with figs, goat cheese, toasted almonds and strawberries with a honey poppy seed dressing. Second course: Grilled beef tenderloin that has been coated in salt, pepper and chopped fresh rosemary served with small roasted potatoes that have been tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Dessert: Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce (with optional whipped cream and cherries).

And my wine suggestions? For the first course, I would suggest a Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé and for the main course, a full-bodied red wine such as a Syrah from the Northern Rhône or a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend from Bordeaux. There’s also the possibility of using a wine with a little bit of a romantic theme to it – you might think about looking for a Beaujolais from the Cru of Saint-Amour. And you can’t forget a dessert wine for a Valentine’s Day meal. I have two suggestions for dessert – either an off-dry Champagne (to which I would add a raspberry in the bottom of each glass – just to provide a hint of red) or a fortified sweet wine, such as a Banyuls, which is a great pairing for chocolate. (Throw in a chocolate brownie and you are guaranteed to hit a home run on dessert.)

Keep the focus on simple ingredients that work well together and won’t require a lot of work in the kitchen and you will be assured a special meal. Sometimes, less is actually more when it comes to making a meal memorable.

And if you have any other suggestions for a wonderful (but easy) Valentine’s Day meal, please post your thoughts below - I’d love to hear about them!

I don’t know about you, but I think I might just be ready for winter to be over - although that doesn’t appear to be in the forecast. When the cold starts to really get me down, I find myself gravitating to the kitchen – not only because it feels like the warmest room in the house, but also because I find that food and wine are surefire ways to keep the dreary days at bay.
Lately I’ve been having fun making different stews and trying out new chili recipes. I have a chicken and dumpling recipe from Cooks Illustrated that I love to play around with – it is easy to make and I can make a few changes and make it into more of a thick chicken and vegetable soup that my whole family enjoys. Up until a few years ago, I had never made chili before, and it is now one of my favorite meals. I have a couple of different kinds I like to make, but my favorite by far is a turkey chili recipe I found in Cooks Illustrated’s Complete Book of Poultry. (Yes, I am clearly a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated.)

But eating hearty stews or a warming bowl of chili is not the only way to cope with winter. I also find that when the temperature drops I tend to open more bottles of red wine than I do of white. In our house this means that lately we have been enjoying a lot of wines from the Rhône Valley and the South of France (mainly from Languedoc-Roussillon). I haven’t decided if it is the idea of a Mediterranean climate, the slightly higher alcohol levels of the wines from this part of France or the specific combination of fruit and spice found in wines from this section of France, but whatever it is, for me, these are the wines that seem to go best with the cold weather.
In fact, I started to think about my yearly drinking habits and the more I considered them, the more I realized that I actually have a bit of a pattern. I tend, in general, to favor Burgundy, Beaujolais and Bordeaux in the Fall, Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon in the Winter, the Loire and Provence in the Spring and the wines of Alsace in the Summer. I sort of feel a bit weird that I can actually come up with a pattern to my drinking habits. I’d have to say, though, that there is one exception to my seasonal drinking – Champagne. There is almost no time of the year where I don’t enjoy a glass of Champagne!

Perhaps it is the foods that I tend to eat and the way we cook that influence my taste buds, but I also think there are general wine tastes that appeal to me more or less based on the seasons. There is something about the Rhône that makes me think of curling up by a fireplace, and a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire immediately makes me feel like the trees are budding and the daffodils are blooming. Now, of course, there are definitely exceptions and I do indeed drink white Burgundy in January (in fact, we just did the other night) and a nice Côtes du Rhône in July, but I’d have to say that overall, my tastes in wine do tend to change a bit with the seasons. And there is one other reason – availability. Rosés, for example, are much more available in spring and summer than they are in winter – so there can also be a logistical reason for consumption patterns!

So I’m curious – am I the only one who can think of a pattern to her wine buying and drinking habits? What about you all out there? Do you tend to find certain regions appealing at specific times of the year?

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!