Psychowine: Bubbles -- Naughty, Nice, or both?

This is the first post in my new Psychowine series, wherein I'll be looking at the psychological aspects of what and where we drink. I encourage feedback, either below in the comments or through Twitter at @RandomOenophile.


No, this isn't one we tried recently. I just love this picture.

Remember when we were kids, and we'd tell jokes that we knew were supposed to be dirty, but we didn't know why? There was a series of such jokes about a survey taker who would go door-to-door and ask people in the neighborhood questions. In one, he found that the men of the neighborhood liked to "take baths with bubbles." The punchline was that the last door was opened by a beautiful blonde who introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Bubbles!"

I love bubbles, but not the slutty neighbor kind. A glass of sparkling wine has become my favorite pre-dinner drink when we go out to eat because it's tasty on its own but also pairs beautifully with any food. It's superior to a Cosmo because it's not going to raise my blood-alcohol content to the point that anything I drink after it will finish me. No, I don't have the "champagne goes to my head" syndrome.

Just like the Bubbles joke, there's something naughty about sparkling wine. That it's usually saved for celebrations lends it a decadent quality and sense of, "how dare you drink this without cause?" Its association with sexual symbolism, perhaps because bubbles do go to some women's heads (and some men's as well…and we'll leave it at that) also lends it an air of mystery. This impression is reinforced by a popular myth that the saucer-like glasses called coupes were modeled after a famous French queen's or royal mistress' breasts. Sadly, Snopes.com ruins the fun and says the tales aren't true.

So, with that in mind, here are some bubblies that we tried recently at a JavaMonkey wine tasting as well as one we sampled. Perhaps you can find something to get you warmed up for your New Year's Eve celebration.

Lois de Grenelle Platine Brut, NV (Loire Valley, France): 85% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay, 5% Cabernet Franc
I was apparently feeling quite literal with this one. My first comment: "It's bubbly." Beyond that, it's tart and tropical.
Rating: Good

François Montand Brut Rosé, NV (Côtes du Jura, France): 100% Grenache
Smoother and with more stone fruit. This one had nice little bubbles.
Rating: Good to Very Good

2008 Gramona Cran Cuvee Cava (Penedès, Spain): Xarelo, Macabeo, & Chardonnay
The longest age Cava in the world, this one had a nice bready, yeasty quality that makes it smooth and yummy.
Rating: VG to Excellent

Zèfiro Prosecco, NV (Veneto, Italy):
A beautifully light and fruity Prosecco.
Rating: Very Good

2009 Kila Cava (Penedès, Spain): 35% Macabejo, 40% Xarelo, and 25% Parellada
A little heavier and with less fruit, but not quite as well-balanced as the previous Cava. Yes, my notes on this one are minimal.
Rating: Good



2010 Cleto Chiarli e Figli "Premium" Lambrusco (Emilia Romagna, Italy):
Yep, it's a dark red sparkling Lambrusco. I found the fruit itself to be a bit harsh, and it was incredibly buttery. Good as a novelty wine, but if I want a sparkling red, I'm probably going for a Shiraz.
Rating: OK

I accepted a sample of Yellow Tail Bubbles White Sparkling Wine because I was curious to see how the Australian mega-winery would do bubbles. They claim their closure, the "Zork" would keep it bubbly even after opening. The wine itself is lightly sweet and fruity but lacking the acidity that would make it great with food. It finishes up with a hint of vanilla. We drank half on Sunday and "zorked" it with the intention of finishing it on Monday. We forgot until last night (Wednesday) and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was still as bubbly as it was on Sunday afternoon. This would be a good wine for anyone who wants a decent sparkling under $10, those who are trying to transition to less sweet wines from the Asti Spumante world, or someone who wants something that would go well in mimosas or other sparkling wine-based cocktails.

So there you have it! I hope this has given y'all some ideas for what to uncork, or un-zork, on New Year's Eve or any time you want to feel just a little decadent. To feel really naughty, consider putting on some soft music, lighting a few candles, and taking a bath with bubbles…in a glass.

Disclaimer: We received the Yellow Tail Bubbles as a sample. This did not affect my review.

Metapost: Attention Ladies of Decatur (Georgia)!

Well, it's that time again, a post-holiday race to the bar to hang out, drink some fruity stuff, and have some girl time! Our next Ladies of Decatur tweetup will be this Friday, December 2, at Harbour Bar and Fish House, which is in the former Tesoro spot on Church Street. We usually start convening at around 6:00 and break up between 8:00 and 9:00. Please let me know via Twitter (@RandomOenophile) or in the comments if you plan to come!

A few of us had a discussion over the weekend about whether we should continue rotating location or pick one or two places to alternate between. Here are my thoughts on the two options. Please feel free to add your own in the comments.

The advantages of continuing as we've been, which is to go to different places, is that we get to try new places, and it makes the gathering more accessible to people in different parts of Decatur. We also won't burn out on one bar or food menu. The disadvantages are that it's harder for me to plan because I have to pick a place, and it's harder for y'all to plan for since I usually don't release the location until the week of the event.

The main advantage of picking one or two places to make our official Ladies of Decatur tweetup location is that we could develop a relationship with the owners or GM, and this may eventually grow into us getting perks or discounts. No, I won't go and ask for these directly. My philosophy from the blog is that such things are always appreciated but never expected. The disadvantage is that we risk losing people because they would get bored of going to the same place all the time or get burned out on the same menu.

I'm sure I'm missing stuff, so feel free to chime in!

Hopefully my back yard won't look like this tomorrow:

Random Outings: Molly Dooker Wine Dinner

About a month ago, Hubby and I had the pleasure of being invited to a Molly Dooker wine dinner, held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Atlanta. We arrived a little late for the passed hors d'oeuvres but enjoyed one with the Violonist, a crisp but fruity Verdelho. Then the evening progressed, as Hubby described:

Talk-talk-talk-shake-shake-talk-talk-talk-blend-blend-talk-talk-OMGWINE&Food

Okay, let me explain. First, the name… Molly Dooker is the Aussie term for a left-handed person. Both owners are left-handed and embrace the characteristic so much that at one point, they discussed having the screw cap on their premium wine be a left-handed one, or "righty-loosy, lefty-tighty." As clever as the idea is, that may have frustrated some already inebriated people. A wine closure shouldn't be a sobriety test. The funds were much better spent opening schools for disadvantaged children in Cambodia.



Owner Sparky Marquis's "Mum" Janet introduced him, and he told us how to do the "Molly Dooker shake." That's to release the nitrogen in the bottle, which is a preservative but can also cause the wine to taste flat. In order to demonstrate this, they poured a Two Left Feet, their blend, pre-shake, and then had one poured post-shake. The pre-shake one had more of a nose but did taste flatter, while the post-shake one had less nose but more body and a little smoke.



Then it was time to play! We got to try the three single-varietal "everyday" wines: The Scooter (Merlot), Maitre'D (Cabernet), and Boxer (Shiraz). Using a little bit of math, some equipment that looked like it had been stolen from the CDC's chem lab, and lots of palate-cleansing bread, we blended our own Two Left Feet. Each table voted on their favorite. We lost, but it was still fun. Our table winner was 60% Merlot, 10% Cabernet, and 30% Shiraz. The most interesting part of that was that Sparky wrote every table's winning blend on a board behind him, and the variation in people's preferences became apparent:



After our blending seminar, we flipped the paper over, and we ate steak while trying the "party wines," "love wines," and Velvet Glove in rapid succession. Of the "party wines," the Gigglepot (Cabernet) was my favorite with nice fruit and texture. I also really liked the Enchanted Path, a Shiraz/Cabernet. I actually preferred it to their premium $185/bottle Velvet Glove Shiraz. The food, steak with vegetables and a lovely chocolatey dessert, were very good as well.


Interesting tidbits gleaned from the talking, which was all delivered with an Australian accent. It was like watching a tipsy BBC America program(me):

- The everyday wines come from owners Sarah and Sparky's historical challenges of being Molly Dookers trying to make it through everyday life. Oh, and Sparky and his kids like to race scooters.

- The Gigglepot and Blue-Eyed Boy are Sarah and Sparky's kids Holly and Luke. They're pictured on the labels.

- Sparky's Mum Janet liked the Blue-Eyed Boy so much she would sneak tastes from the barrels. I like her!

- The Enchanted Path and Carnival of Love, the "love wines," refer to Sparky and Sarah, and the two labels go together. Sparky, the knight on the first label, becomes the joker on the second.

- Janet talked about the "Molly Dooker Miracles," events that seemed coincidental but all affirmed their wine-making purpose and endeavor. I can't do them justice here, but it increased my confidence that if I'm meant to become a professional author, it's going to happen.


After the dinner, Hubby and I checked out the rooftop bar, then went to the downstairs bar, where we got to hang out with Sparky, Janet, and some of their friends in the U.S. Janet and I discussed how, when you're engaged in something where the end product will be judged subjectively (like writing or winemaking), people's opinions tend to be a lot stronger. I'll keep this in mind the next time my romance manuscript gets ripped by a horror-writer friend.

Overall, although the pacing of the dinner and tasting were a little odd, it was a great night and influenced me more than I realized: for two weeks after, I couldn't help but inform left-handed people they would be referred to as a Molly Dooker in Australia.

Disclaimer: We were invited to this event, and our tickets were comped.

What does an Oenophile do at a beer fest? If you don't know...

Yesterday Hubby and I went to the 2011 Decatur Craft Beer Festival. Yep, craft beer, as in the only presence of the big advertisers was the Budweiser breathalyzer tent. Maybe they were trying to hint that their crappy beer wouldn't get you as drunk as the good stuff. I wasn't originally going to go after a miserable, freeze my butt off experience two years ago, but I figured hey, my beer palate has expanded, so why not? I wasn't disappointed.

I'll go ahead and get the complaining out of the way. No, it wasn't the drunk people that bothered me, but more the lack of water toward the end of the day (thank you to the volunteer who took pity on me and gave me his) and the cigar smoke. Seriously, Beer Fest, you had to have a cigar-seller there? I'm allergic to tobacco smoke, so I ended up with an instant headache and some other issues once the cigar smokers reached a critical enough mass it was hard to get away from them.

Okay, complaints over. I'm not a hop girl, although I do appreciate hop guys. Here's a picture of me with a couple of hop wranglers – check out the hoppy embroidery on the shirts. They were good sports. So was the Decatur policewoman who took the picture.


We mostly hung out with friends Dan Browning and his wife, famous violinist Kirsten Browning (who needs a web site to tout her wonderfulness). This was probably good for me, as they and Hubby encouraged me to try things I otherwise wouldn't.

My beer tastes run towards the malty rather than hoppy. Consequently, I'm more into Belgian-style than American style. Sometimes these parameters make things easy. India Pale Ale (IPA)? No, thank you. Dubbel, Trippel, or Quadruppel? Yes, please! Milk stout, uh… The ones I tried tended to be too bitter for me but would have been lovely with some ice cream. I suspect that other oenophiles who prefer wine over beer would also go for malty, which tends to be smoother. Think about hops as being like tannins: you want enough for structure, but too much, and the bitterness is overwhelming.

Note-taking on my cell phone got a little tricky as the festival went on, so I'll hit the highlights. Here are my awards for the day:

Best Hot Day Sipper: Highland Clawhammer Octoberfest. It was smooth, only hoppy on finish, and with sweet malt mid palate. After the random guys in lederhosen appeared, it seemed even more perfect. Oh, they weren't even the weirdest. One couple came dressed as good zombie angel ballerina, and bad zombie angel ballerina. They were both guys. I wonder if they thought the Little Five Points parade was going to leave from the Beer Fest? Although I was tempted, I did not ask them if they had new sympathy for the women in their lives after they went to the port-o-potties. Leotards can be a pain to get on and off in a confined space.

Biggest Surprise: Oskar Blues' Old Chub Scotch Ale. I thought I was going to hate it. The spot-on description on their web site says, "A head-turning treat for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer." No, it wasn't a Belgian, but I could definitely drink it again with its malty, coffee, chocolate notes.

Hardest to tweet about after a few: North Coast Brewing's Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale. Yes, I liked it. Here is my note: "North Coast Brother Thrlonious lives up to Belgian abbey ale promise." I was doing well with my touch-screen, but having to spell Thelonious would probably be a good sobriety test. I also really liked their PranQster Belgian Style Golden Ale.


Weirdest Beer: New Belgium's lineup (the three I tried). Hubby thought I would like the Super Cru. I had mixed feelings. It had some very sour notes I didn't appreciate on their own but would have probably gone well with food. However, I did like New Belgium's dubbel-style Abbey Ale, which had a dominant first flavor of banana (weird, but good) and Trippel. Yes, it boggles me that a brewery named New Belgium only has a few beers I like.

Strange Potentially Religious Coincidence: I tried the He'Brew Genesis 15:15, a Barleywine, and the Lost Abbey 10 Commandments beer back-to-back. With the Genesis 15:15's 13.4% A.B.V., and the 10 Commandments' 9%, it's no wonder I was on the verge of a religious experience. No, I don't think there were any messages from the divine in there, but I found two beers I'd drink again.

Consistently Good Award: Unibroue I've loved Unibroue since I stumbled (not literally) upon them at a beer festival in San Francisco last year. I realize it wasn't very adventurous, but I cozied up to the table and enjoyed their Fin du Monde, Maudite, and Trois Pistoles. Since their A.B.V. (percentage of alcohol) across the three beers are 8-9%, that pretty much finished me for the day. I'm glad I saved them for last. This is a girly thing to say, but they also have the prettiest labels. This one's for the Trois Pistoles:



Beer geeks know that I.B.U. stands for International Bitterness Units. The threshold for being able to distinguish it is 90. From the web sites I could pull up, the I.B.U. of the beers I liked were 25 and below. Fellow oenophiles who dislike bitterness and like geekery may find this a good place to start. I dare you to ask the bartender what the I.B.U. of the beer he/she is pouring you is. The only one I know up to the task would be The Marlay House's Andrew, who educated me on I.B.U.'s and gave me the 90 I.B.U. taste threshold tidbit. That factoid won my team some beer at a trivia night.

So, is there a place for an oenophile at a beer fest? Definitely! It's a great place to hang with friends and try beers you'd never order. I found some that I want to try again, with food and without. You can take the oenophile away from the pairing...

By the way, I'm drinking Viognier today.

Test driving the new chef at Feast: Villa Maria Wine Dinner

When you buy a new car, you get to take a test drive with a hopeful salesman beside you. When you buy a house, you get to visit it with a hopeful realtor and have it inspected by a professional. But what about when one of your favorite restaurants gets a new chef?

Sure, you hope he or she has been thoroughly vetted by people you trust, but the consumer's test drive takes place over multiple visits. It takes time to see how a new chef handles beloved menu items, specials, and timing. We got to do our test drive of Feast's new Chef Rich Velazquez recently at the Villa Maria wine dinner, where we got a preview of his creativity and ability to handle dinner for twenty-five.

In spite of its Italian-sounding name, Villa Maria is actually a New Zealand winery. I wasn't disappointed – a cute winemaker with an accent is a cute winemaker with an accent, no matter where he's from, and Simon Fell is definitely that. Hubby and I hadn't tasted any of their wine before this night, and we were on the fence about the dinner until we saw the food menu. It got our attention better than a car dealer's jerking plastic giants ever could (srsly, what's up with those things?).

There were six courses, so I'll hit the highlights. This chef test drive was particularly effective because we got to see how he'd handle some potentially tricky food and wine pairings. For example, the first course was paired with the Cellar Selection Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. New Zealand Sauv Blanc is known for its distinct bouquet, which can range from grassy to cat pee, and undertones that can get pretty odd to sensitive palates. This wine thankfully did not make me think of a litter box, but it did have a certain funkiness that some compared to ripe papaya, and tinned asparagus came to mind for me. Chef Velazquez opened the dinner with roasted cauliflower soup with butter poached lobster and chive oil. The food cut the funkiness and brought out the fruit. My only complaint was that I got two shell bits among the tender, sweet lobster.

My favorite course, and one that our end of the table was clamoring to be added to the menu, was the second one, diver scallops with white truffle mousseline, tomato fondue, leeks, and port wine. It was paired with the Single Vineyard Taylor's Pass Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was more crisp than the previous one, and the acidity played very well with the smooth texture and flavors of the scallops. I made a note that this course was "perfect," and I could have drunk the wine on its own.



The wine highlights for me were the reds. My favorite of the evening, the Reserve Marlborough Pinot Noir, had some coffee on the nose, a lot of good fruit, and silky tannins. In other words, it was a BIG Pinot, and one that shows how New Zealand won this year's Pinot Smackdown. It went well with the fennel coriander lamb loin, kalamata olive and goat cheese farro, oyster mushrooms, and blueberry jus. Another highlight red was the Esk Valley Merlot/Cabernet/Malbec. The fruit in this Bordeaux blend tangoed with the spice of the dark coffee black peppercorn rib loin, horseradish, chive potato puree, asparagus, and rosemary jus.

One odd tasting note for those who like them… The Cellar Selection Marlborough Riesling tasted good and went well with the cheese course, but it had a bouquet of freshly opened pool toys.


The chef and kitchen had the good pacing we've come to expect from Feast, and we left impressed with his creativity. We look forward to returning for more wine dinners as well as to see how Chef Velazquez uses his Latin background to spruce up the menu for fall and winter. Overall, I would say the test drive was a success. I should've figured – owner Terry Rogers seemed more excited-hopeful than nervous-hopeful.

Oh, and the wine? Except for the first Sauv Blanc and maybe the Riesling, I would have drunk any of the ones poured on their own. I was particularly impressed with the reds. For me, a good wine goes well with food or by itself, and several of these satisfied this requirement. I'll be looking for Villa Maria on wine lists since their test drive was a success, too.

Fellow attendee and blogger Dan Browning about to dive in to the rib loin:



Disclaimer: We paid for everything, so I have nothing to disclose.

Metapost: Attention Ladies of Decatur (Georgia)!

Greetings, Ladies of Decatur!

Sorry to have disappeared this summer, but it was a little busy between work and vacations and post-vacation catch-up at work. Now that we've gotten back into the swing of the school year (if that applies to you), and you've probably had a hectic Labor Day weekend, it's time to par-tay without the significant others or little ones! I've been avoiding Leon's because it seems like it would be super crowded on a Friday evening, but I'm thinking that since the weather's supposed to be nice by then, we could try for a spot on the patio and dare each other to order some of Miles' creative cocktails. So, here are the details:


Date: Friday, September 9
Place: Leon's Full Service
Time: 6:00 p.m.

Please comment or tweet back at me so I know approximately how many to expect. I look forward to catching up with everyone!

Tasting Notes and Winery Reviews: Nelson County, Virginia

So, yeah, this is only about four weeks late, and that's being overly generous with myself. I've been doing a lot of thinking since the Wine Bloggers' Conference, and I got stuck in think mode rather than write mode. Oh, and there's that whole writer's block thing that's finally lifting. Before this year, I didn't believe in true writer's block, but I do now!

Hubby and I were on Bus Two, which went to the following Nelson County wineries: Flying Fox Vineyards, Cardinal Point Winery, and Afton Mountain Vineyards. When they were telling us where we were going, I at first thought it would be the critter tour, but Afton Mountain doesn't have an animal in the name. We later found out that Cardinal Point is not named for the bird (although they have a cardinal head as their logo), but for a military exercise. Flying Fox is named for the fox atop their weathervane, so it's not a true flying fox, either. Oh, well.

Several of the other inhabitants of Bus 2 have blogged about the wines themselves, so I'm going to talk more about visiting the tasting rooms. Yes, I realize we were in unusual circumstances, but I think it's telling how a place handles a big crowd. First, I'd like to point out evidence that, being one of the original thirteen colonies, Virginia has had plenty of time to perfect its lawyering, even to the point of making wine tasting sound like a potentially dangerous activity:



We started at Flying Fox Vineyards, which had set up its tiny tasting room to accommodate our group of twenty-ish. Although it was snug, it felt more cozy than claustrophobic, kind of like if I had an American grandmother with a winery, and she had the extended family over. I did feel bad for one non-blogger couple who showed up to taste. They seemed more bemused than annoyed, and they agreed to wait for the twenty minutes or so for us to finish the tasting. At some point, it occurred to me that we were those annoying bus people who drive around and crowd tasting rooms, but only temporarily.

Flying Fox had some lovely Viognier, but the highlight of the visit was the vertical Petit Verdot tasting. I found the 2006 and 2007 vintages to be a little tart. The 2008 seemed a little rough around the edges, but I liked it the best of the three. It would be great with barbecue.

At this point, I get to curse technology because I took my notes about Cardinal Point on my phone, and they're gone. I have no idea what happened to them, and of course it's been too long for me to remember specific wines. Lesson learned.

The tasting room at Cardinal Point looked familiar, so Hubby pulled up a blog post from our first visit to Virginia. We'd been there and to Afton Mountain but hadn't been impressed. I'm happy to say that both wineries have improved a lot since that first trip.

I do recall winemaker Tim Gorman bringing out a Cabernet that was almost old enough to drink itself but had more smoothness than most late adolescents. Almost as many pictures were taken of that bottle as of the cat Aubie (named for Aubaine, an alternate name for Chardonnay), who totally mugged for all the cameras:


Yes, the winery dogs and cat make a visit to Cardinal Point fun, but the wines make it worth it.

We ended the excursion at Afton Mountain Vineyards, which has great views from, well, everywhere. Owner Tony Smith met us at the barrel cave, where we escaped the heat and tasted the 2008 Tête de Cuvée, their sparkling. In 2010, the tasting room moved to a newer building further down the slope, and we ate a lunch provided by a local restaurant while looking over the vineyards and lake. Tony and his wife Elizabeth bought Afton Mountain after our first visit, and their enthusiasm for the wine and the land itself is evident. They admitted that the lifestyle of a winemaker is tough with all the uncertainty, even with their ideal growing location. Like the parents of a cranky toddler on a rough day, they smiled tiredly and said it's worth it.

The highlight for me was the 2009 Festa De Bacco, their super Tuscan.



Although I was originally annoyed that the excursion took me to two wineries I'd been before, I'm glad it did because it shows how dynamic the wine industry in emerging states can be. Cardinal Point has found its stride, and Afton Mountain, under its new owners, has become both more interesting and more welcoming. I would definitely like to return to all three of the wineries in the future.