Understanding restaurant wine lists and being able to navigate your way through them fast and efficiently is vital to getting full value for your dining experience. Many people are terrified at the thought of having to select the dinner wine from a restaurant’s wine list, and with good reason. You usually get seated, your waiter brings you the dinner menu and the wine list. Your water glass gets filled, then your waiter introduces himself and asks you what you would like to drink. If you intend to drink wine, you have had no time to look at the wine list, and no time to discuss what your other dinner partners want – white or red or bubbles. Right away you are under pressure to perform miracles and find the perfect wine in 15 awkward seconds or less. So what do you do? Well most people stall for time, and...
Read morePost # 66, Tasting the 1983 Bernkasteler Graben Riesling Eiswein by Deinhard
On January 15, 2019 I had the pleasure of tasting this lovely wine. This was the last of two bottles I had bought many years ago (32 years ago to be precise). The first bottle was consumed about 5 years ago, and was wonderful at that time. It was time to open the last bottle. I tasted this wine with a couple of family members, leaving about 1/3 of the bottle to consume later, and did so 2 weeks later on January 29, 2019. To my complete surprise, the wine when tasted on the 29th was just as good, just as vibrant as it was on the 15th, absolutely incredible for such an old dessert wine. Before opening, the wine had large white tartrate crystals on the bottom of the bottle (see photo of tartrate remaining in empty bottle). In a green bottle it was impossible to tell the...
Read morePost # 65 Resveratrol, Telomeres, the Fountain of Youth, and Red Wine
Time for a little wine science. Hopefully the above Blog title has you scratching your head wondering what the connection is between Resveratrol, Telomeres, the Fountain of Youth, and Red Wine. Has Reg been drinking too much red wine over the holiday season you ask? No, seriously, there is a connection, so please read on. Resveratrol is part of a group of compounds called polyphenols. Wine lovers will recall that Resveratrol made the news (and was basically discovered by the wine consuming public) in 1992 when it was reported that Resveratrol was found in red wine. Not much was known about Resveratrol at the time, other than it was good for you, and suddenly drinking red wine was all the rage, the latest “in thing” to do. 26 years of further research has yielded lots of results. Researchers have since found that Resveratrol has many therapeutic properties, including: Resveratrol...
Read moreBlog # 64 – Wines Recently Tasted from Alsace, Argentina, Portugal, Sauternes, and Bulgaria
Over the last four months I have tasted several wines, but six in particular have stood out above the rest. From Alsace I will comment on the 1990 Gewurztraminer Goldert Vendange Tardive from Domaine Zind Humbrecht, and the 2012 Chateau de Riquewihr Gewurztraminer Les Sorcieres from Dopff and Irion. From Argentina I enjoyed the Zuccardi Serie A Malbec 2016, from Portugal the 1983 Dow’s Vintage Port, from Sauternes the 1988 Chateau Rieussec, and from Bulgaria the 2013 Enira from Domaine Bessa Valley. 1990 Gewurztraminer Goldert Vendange Tardive, Domaine Zind Humbrecht: I tasted the 1990 Gewurztraminer Goldert Vendange Tardive, by Domaine Zind Humbrecht, in October 2018. This wine, a 28 year old Alsacian dessert wine, was absolutely stunning. Early in its youth, this wine was rated by The Wine Spectator at 96 points, and by Robert Parker at 97 points, both in the mid- nineties. So naturally my main concern...
Read moreReg’s Wine Blog – Post # 63, How to Wine Show, October 29, 2018
In this blog I am going to give you some tips on “How to Wine Show”, to get maximum value out of your time at a wine show. I am also going to give you an amusing wine trade’s perspective on how we, the general public, present ourselves to the trade when we attend their shows. The season for wine trade shows is upon us once again. As in previous years I will once again be attending this year’s La Grande Dégustation scheduled for November 1st – November 3rd at Place Bonaventure in downtown Montreal. This is the largest wine trade show in eastern Canada, always well attended (Quebecers love their wine). This year’s themes will be Italian wines, the Pinot Gris grape, and Gin. Tickets are $18.00 at the door, or $15.00 if bought in advance. Tasting coupons are $1.00 each, and most wines will cost between $3.00...
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