September is California Wine Month

Even though September is half gone, you still have time to celebrate California's wine industry at festivities up and down the Golden State. Use your keyboard to take this roadtrip or find an event or tasting near you.

Photo courtesy Wine Institute of California

Just how much do you know about California's wine industry? Find out by taking this quiz based on the latest (2011) statistics provided by The Wine Institute.

Check your answers below. For each incorrect answer, your assignment is to open and share a bottle of California wine from a producer or region new to you. For each correct answer, please do the same for any of your favorite California wines.

A perfect score of 100% gives you the go-ahead to purchase or open a California wine from your special-occasion or wish list.

Good luck and salute!

1) Who is the world's fourth-leading wine producer after France, Italy and Spain?

2) True or False: California accounts for 90% of all wine made in the United States.

3) How many tourists visit California's wine regions in a year?

            a) 1 million

            b) 5 million

            c) 15 million

            d) More than 20 million

4) True or False: Over the past 20 years, the number of bonded California wineries has grown by more than 100%.

5) True or False: Most of California's 3,540 bonded wineries are family owned.

6)  What is the economic impact of California's wine industry on the state?

            a) $557 million

            b) $12.3 billion

            c) $61.5 billion

            d) $121.8 billion

7) Compared to other agricultural crops, where do California wine grapes rank in terms of statewide importance by value?

            a) #1

            b) In the top three

            c) #5

            d) Not in the top ten

8) True or False: California grows more than 110 different varieties of grapes.

9) Of California's 58 counties, how many grow wine grapes?

            a) Less than 20

            b) About half, or 26

            c) Most of them, or 48

            d) All 58

10) California wine accounts for what percent of all wine sold in the United States?

            a) 90%

            b) 75%

            c) 60%

            d) 50%

Answers:

1. California (also accepted: United States)

2. True

3.  d

4. True

5. True

6.  c (Note: Answer d is the national economic impact of California's wine industry.)

7.  b

8. True

9.  c

10. c (Note: All wine sold in the U.S. includes imported bottles.)

How did you do? Send this challenge to your wine friends by tweeting this.

Let us know what you're drinking as we raise our glasses to California wine, the pride of our Golden State.

In Wine Tasting, Undecided Voters Win

Eyebrows went up when I told friends I was heading to the Bay Area for a wine conference. A wine conference? Well, yeah, and it was pretty serious at that. Serious juice, serious wine tasting and serious talks by some very serious people. Drinking wine is big fun, but making it – and making a great one – takes serious effort.

The Society of Wine Educators brought out wines by the hundreds from all over the world for the nearly 350 attendees. The bulk of it ended up in spit buckets, but not before each wine and flight had made its point – whether about terroir, vintage, varietal, blending, ageing, history, winemaker, technique or whatever reason it was poured.

Eager as I was to soak up mouthfuls of new wine knowledge, each tasting session also drove home the importance of tasting with the palate, letting each wine speak for itself. In order to do that, I first needed to zap any wine prejudices lurking in my head.

Wine prejudice is an obstacle to wine enjoyment that wine educators and sommeliers try to overcome when we introduce new wines to diners and students. You've heard it too: I don't like Chardonnay. I'm a Cab guy. I don't drink pink. I only like Champagne. Italian wines are boring. Life's too short to drink cheap wine.

Preformed ideas about a wine or wine style are as varied as the reasons they exist in the first place. Some people swear they simply don't like wine of a certain color or from a certain country, county, producer or grape. Or, like that handsome stranger with twinkling eyes, a wine bottle might seduce with visual cues that can trip up your palate. Cute labels, fetching fonts and logos, sexed up or rugged wine art all aim to trigger a buy response – perhaps with enough power to trump a so-so palate experience.

Some wine notions are cemented by a connection to a person or place. Visit Tuscany and shun Sangiovese? Not happening. Perhaps you met the winemaker at a dinner, strolled the vineyards or visited the winery. Chances are you'll recall that wine with fondness. Sure, you might have actually liked the wine, but remember why politicians throw themselves into throngs at election time to shake thousands of hands. Touches convert the undecided into voters, if not ambassadors. With wine, tasting on location is a powerful ritual that can lock in a memory or allegiance. And with that comes the seed for a wine prejudice, albeit with a positive slant.

Cost and the status of a wine or region can also play tricks on your wine palate. The status-driven may turn up their noses at lower-priced wines, or fail to imagine inexpensive wines can possibly be very good, no less great. Their minds might be closed to all but expensive or prestige wines. At its extreme, point-chasers who encounter pricey wines they don't find particularly enjoyable may question their own wine palates, or write off disappointing wine experiences to deficiencies in their wine knowledge. And it's not just wine snobs who fall for the allure of a wine bearing a triple-digit price tag. Just knowing the price can prime the palate into the expectation of a glorious wine experience, even before the first sips roll from the glass.

Wine instructors and sommeliers are not immune to preconceived wine notions, although professionals work harder to set aside wine prejudices when a new wine presents itself. Novices and wine educators alike can assure a more rewarding tasting experience by greeting a glass with a clean palate and a mind mopped clear of preset ideas about what the wine will or should taste like. In other words, be an undecided voter until the sips are down.

So did I think I didn't like Zinfandel? And, when pressed to name a producer or two that I did like, would it be from Napa, Dry Creek Valley or the Central Coast? I thought I knew the answers – until I tasted my way through a flight and the blinders came off at the end. Try it yourself sometime, and be ready for a few surprises.

I plan to share more of what I learned and tasted at the Society of Wine Educators conference this season at our Cooking with Class Wine Essentials classes, Food & Wine Pairing Dinners and winemaker dinners. Join us for the fun, Chef Andie's remarkable food and a new season of thrilling wine surprises when we reopen in October.

Happy Birthday, Chef!

Mad for Moscato

Moscato madness keeps bubbling across the country. U.S. sales of Moscato tallied 73% growth in 2011, following a year that saw Moscato sales double. Moscato mania is still going strong deep into 2012 with no sign of letting up. The peachy pleasure has reportedly nudged past Sauvignon Blanc to nail a top spot in the white wine triumvirate, alongside big daddies Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.

Millennials who have embraced Moscato may not know or care that Muscat, perhaps the world's original wine grape, has a long lifeline that tracks from ancient Greece to the far reaches of the Mediterranean, courtesy of the Romans. 

What they do know is that it's hip, fun, tasty – and affordable. It's also sweet, if you like it that way. Moscato can also be barely fizzy, frothy, or not. Muscat-teers can choose from pink, bubbly, still, dry or dessert versions. Also popular are blends that combine Muscat with other white wines, as in Conundrum from Caymus' Wagner family, or Big House White, a fun and summery blend available in a fancy yet cool-looking Octavin winebox that holds three liters.

Mixologists are also getting into the act with cocktails and sangrias that take Moscato beyond a hood beverage. With Moscato, what's not to like?

Whether you prefer a Moscato that's still or bubbly, dry or sweet, you get perfumed pleasure with medium-bodied bursts of peach, mango and tropical fruit flavors. Its distinctive aromas are grapey with scents of honeysuckle and white flowers. On the palate, Moscato cleanses and refreshes with enough acidity and punch to hold your attention beyond the first sips.

Bargain hunters have a choice among big brands such as Yellow Tail, Sutter Home and Barefoot Cellars by Gallo that have stormed the market and are easy to find. Spend a little more to sample the elegant offerings below in a range of Moscato styles.

Dry: Botani Moscatel Seco (Sierras de Málaga, Spain)

Off-dry: Elio Perrone Sourgal Moscato d'Asti, DOCG (Piedmont, Italy)

Semi-sweet: Bronis Moscato Frizzante (Oltrepò Pavese, Lombardy, Italy)

Sweet: Muscat de Beaumes de Venise (AOC, various producers, France); St. Supèry (Napa Valley)

Regardless of style, Moscato newbies and long-time fans can agree that it only takes a sip to be seduced by Moscato magic. 

If you're interested to taste and learn more about other hot wine categories, catch some summer madness with us at 5 PM on Sunday, July 29 at Cooking with Class in La Quinta when our monthly Wine Essentials tasting class will focus on wine trends from around the Americas and the world. Sign up today, and check the Cooking with Class calendar for new wine topics and more exciting wine-food events coming at the cooking school this fall.

Summer Wines

Summer doesn't officially arrive for another two weeks, have you heard? Here in the Coachella Valley, summer comes earlier and can blaze into October. As we head into our endless summer, what should wine drinkers know about choosing wines that offer refreshment, flavor and balance with warm-weather foods?

Crisp whites and rosés are sure-fire shortcuts for easy summer drinking. Not only are they reliable stand-alone sippers, but they also pair well with summer cuisine. Besides these standbys, here are tips for choosing wines that merit a place at your table during hotter months.

• Choose fresh and fruity unoaked whites. Young unoaked whites with good acidity not only taste crisp and clean, but they also take well to a good chill. Chardonnay lovers may want to try an unoaked version. Another option is French Chablis, also made from Chardonnay. Other whites that are usually unoaked are Sauvignon Blanc, dry Riesling, Rueda from Spain (made from the Verdejo grape, which produces a lustier white similar to Sauvignon Blanc) and Italian Pinot Grigio. Northern and Central Italian white grape varieties also make light-bodied sippers that go well with clean summer fare. Pick up a Soave or Verdicchio, or try Gavi, made from the Cortese grape.
• Give off-dry wines a try. While not many people admit to liking wines with a bit of sweetness to them, there's a lot to like about slightly sweet wines in summertime. Off-dry wines are especially tasty with summer salads served with a honeyed dressing or tossed with ripe, fresh summer fruits. Wines high in acidity give balance to the sweetness, which helps give these wines lip-smacking freshness. Try an off-dry Riesling, Moscato or a white that includes Muscat Canelli, Semillon or both in the blend. 
• Cool down with fizzies. Sparkling wines make a great summer treat. Many bubblies are lower in alcohol, and make a soft landing in your tummy on a hot summer day. Pink sparklers made from Pinot Noir or other red grapes often have fruitier sweetness that their paler cousins. Think pink Champagne or a pink sparkling wine such as Schramsberg's Mirabelle, always a beauty. Italian sparklers worth a sip are Brachetto, made from the red grape variety of the same name, and frizzante Moscato.
• Rethink rosé. Even if you think you know rosé, pink wines come in many styles worth exploring all summer long. If your palate finds French rosé too light or dry, try a heftier rosé of Cabernet Franc from the Loire. Stay on the lookout for rosés made from other types of red wine grapes besides the Grenache-Mourvèdre-Cinsault combo that dominates many southern French rosés. For example, rosé of Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon are often hearty enough to satisfy a rosé-naysaying red wine lover. If you prefer a fruitier, floral rosé profile, look no further than rosé of Pinot Noir. Oregon is turning out some lovelies right now. Opt for younger vintages too, and stash away a few extra bottles from the 2011 vintage for the fall and winter. This stuff is too good to drink only in summer.
• Tame the tannins. Red wine die-hards can still enjoy reds all summer long, as long as they're not Barolos or the big Napa cab that set you back a C-note. While the mouth-filling richness of alcoholic and high-tannin reds sing with winter short ribs or a juicy steak, those same wines can singe the palate in summer. Reach instead for softer, fruitier reds. Gamay, the grape of Beaujolais, makes terrific wines – look for Cru or Villages on the label, or stay on the lookout for wines from the Brouilly or Fleurie appellations. Other lower-tannin reds include Pinot Noir, Sicily's Nero d'Avola, Barbera, Valpolicella, some Riojas and Merlot. Remember to check the alcohol concentration on the label. European wines are often a better bet for lower-alcohol levels. 

Thirsting to taste examples of these wine styles and to learn more about choosing warm-weather wines? Then join us Sunday, June 24 at 5 PM for our next Wine Essentials wine tasting class at Cooking with Class in La Quinta. Get a jump on landing wines to keep you cool all summer. It's gonna be a long one.

Wine, Women & Health: Medicine or Myth?

Does wine help protect against heart disease? That, in a nutshell, was the focus of my presentation last week at Tasty Topics, the monthly educational series put on by the desert's Go Red For Women campaign of the American Heart Association.

Wine, Women and Health provided an update of recent developments and controversies linking wine with health. After a historical review of wine-health associations, the talk centered on the investigative flurry that followed the now-famous Mediterranean dietary studies begun in the late 1950s with Ancel Keys' Seven Countries Study.

But it wasn't white-coated scientists and medical reports that turned Americans' attention to wine. Rather, it was a 60 Minutes television broadcast in 1991 that caused red wine sales to soar. In its French Paradox segment, correspondent Morley Safer asked if the French proclivity for a glass of wine alongside rich, high-fat cuisine could explain that country's paradoxical lower rate of heart disease. Ten years later, the American Heart Association issued a science advisory that noted more than 60 published studies in support of a heart-protective role for alcohol. Groups who drank in moderation, that is, one to two alcohol-containing drinks a day, had significantly lower death rates and lower rates of cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, strokes and heart failure.

In 2005, a state-of-the-science summary written specifically for heart patients was published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. The paper cited a risk reduction of about 30%, or about one-third fewer deaths and heart attacks among men and women who drank alcohol in moderation a few times a week.

To answer the question of whether red wine is better than other forms of alcohol, the Circulation paper cited the Copenhagen Heart Study of more than 13,285 men and women who were followed for 12 years. That study found an even greater drop-off in deaths and cardiovascular events among moderate wine drinkers, who were half as likely to die of heart attacks or cardiovascular disease as people who did not drink at all. On another hand, the paper also cited studies in which red wine drinkers did not fare as well, without a clear heart-protective benefit over those who drank beer or spirits.

Studies in test tubes, animals and human studies have pointed to pathways and precise mechanisms that seem to account for the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular health. For example, one or two drinks daily boost HDL, or good cholesterol. Alcohol also inhibits blood clotting, similar to the way aspirin is used in heart patients to decrease blood platelet stickiness, and thus their ability to clump together to form a blood clot. Compounds in red wine such as resveratrol also appear to help blood vessels relax and maintain healthy tone. These compounds also interfere with wayward processes that churn out protein molecules that damage blood vessel walls.  

Given the many known dangers of overindulgent alcohol use – or any use at all by at-risk populations such as pregnant women, youth and those with a family history of alcohol use disorders – no scientific society endorses alcohol use to reduce risk of heart disease. Instead, the AHA and other medical societies advise patients to discuss alcohol on a one-on-one basis with their doctor. With barely enough time to talk about active health problems, medications, tests, etc., some patients may be reluctant to bring up drinking, or ask about health risks and benefits associated with wine. Further, some doctor-patient discussions may be waylaid by physicians who are unaware, dismissive or who disagree with the AHA advisory.

 

What about recent reports that have linked drinking any amount of alcohol to an increased risk for cancer, specifically cancer of the breast? This is clearly a situation that warrants discussion between patient and physician, with the expectation that oncologists may be more likely to discourage taking on any perceived increase in cancer risk. It's worth remembering, however, that cardiovascular disease kills four of ten American women, more than all types of female cancers, and nearly more than the next five leading causes of female deaths combined. Look for more on this touchy subject in another post.  

If you missed the presentation at Bellatrix at The Classic Club, get on the mailing list for future Tasty Topics or send a gmail to arrange a presentation for your corporate or community. Meanwhile, give a toast to spreading awareness about women and heart disease. Get a read on your own lifestyle and risks here. Learn more about what we can all do every day to live healthier lives by getting involved with Go Red For Women. Salute!

Learn French Wine in 90 Minutes

Is it possible to get your arms around the wines of France in a single tasting session? Can you learn to make sense of French wine labels, not to mention grapes, wines and baffling place names in a mere 90 minutes? While some oenophiles might find such questions preposterous, the tasting group at last month's Wine Essentials: Wines of France answered with a resounding oui!
 

We used a map and pencil to divide the country into three large zones. Two swiggly lines and voilà, the fog surrounding French wines began to clear.

Tasters drew their first line from west to east, just below the cooler vine lands of the Loire, Champagne and Alsace. (The line also separated northernmost Chablis from the rest of Burgundy.)

Next, a second line was penciled below more temperate Bordeaux and Burgundy. This mark also delineated warmer wine-growing regions to the south, bordered by Spain at the Pyrénées: Languedoc Roussillon, Côtes du Rhône and Provence. Off the coast and further south lies Corsica, an off-the-radar source of French island delights. Take a look at this map to put these regions in perspective.

Geography provided visual and conceptual reference points. That framework led us to tackle soil types, terrain and grape varieties that thrive in these climatically distinct regions. By the time we celebrated our arrival at the finish line of our tours de France with a Syrah from the southern Rhône, the group could practically see and taste sunshine in the glass.

With more terroirs, grapes and wines left to explore, this is a class we'd like to replay in the future. Social and corporate groups would enjoy this activity too. Next time, we might feature wines from other French regions or different wines and blends from the areas covered on this wine trek.  

Wine Essentials heads south on Sunday, April 29 with tastes of wines from Spain and Portugal. The map trick might not work as well for Iberia, but bet on geography to help make sense of these captivating wines. Reserve early, as these classes tend to sell out: 760.777.1161 or click here to reserve online.  

Wine Essentials is an open series of wine tasting classes. Each class is independent so you can pick and choose topics, wine styles or regions that interest you most. We welcome those of you who are new to wine, as well as the wine-experienced – all you need is to arrive on time with a clean palate, an open mind and ready for fun. As a courtesy to all, please skip the fragrance.

If you missed French wine essentials and want to try something like this on your own, here are the wines we enjoyed alongside Chef Andie's wine-friendly snacks. If these wines are sold out at the Cooking with Class wine boutique, ask for a similar wine in stock, or place your special order:

Jaffelin 2010 Chablis (Chardonnay)

Marie de Beauregard 2009 Vouvray (Chenin Blanc)

Marie de Beauregard 2009 Chinon (Cabernet Franc)

Jean-Pierre Moueix Chateau Grand Village Bordeaux Superieur 2007 (Merlot, Cabernet Franc)

Chateau de Saint Cosme 2010 Côtes du Rhône Rouge (Syrah)

Glaciers, Floods and Wine, Oh My!

The rupture of Patagonia's Perito Moreno glacier the other day made ancient history come alive for wine aficionados who attended last week's Pacific Northwest wine essentials tasting class at Cooking with Class. As captured on video, Mother Nature's Patagonian ice wonder provides a mini-version of events that sculpted Pacific Northwest terrain 15,000 years ago.

Unaware of the the Argentine glacial break to come, I'd begun the wine essentials class the week before by describing cataclysmic floods that laid waste to huge swaths of eastern Washington and Oregon at the end of the last Ice Age. Those glacial megafloods, with flows estimated at ten times that of all the world's rivers combined, recurred over a thousand years as water refilled ancient Lake Missoula. Every 50 years or so, a huge backlog of water formed by glacial blockade of the Clark Fork River crashed through ruptures in the ice dam. Each time, titanic waters, massive glacial ice chunks and huge boulders careened from present-day Montana to the Pacific Ocean in just a few hours with energy scientists estimate as equal to that of 4,500 megatons of TNT. That's big.

So what does any of this have to do with wines of the Pacific Northwest? It's the dirt, silly – ancient floodplain, rocky, silty, loamy, volcanic, windblown loess and every meta-combination of soils. Mix great dirt, plenty of high-latitude sunshine, an abundance of microclimates and winds with climate-appropriate grape growing, wine-maker savvy and rugged entrepreneurship and you have a recipe for success in Northwest wines.

Even if some class attendees couldn't wrap their heads around the magnitude of those ancient glacial flood cataclysms, no one had any trouble tasting the beauty and singularity of Northwest terroirs expressed in these five glasses of wine.

Find these wines around town and at Cooking with Class. Or, try your own version of a Pacific Northwest wine tasting at home with your own picks. There are plenty more terroirs and grape varieties to explore, enough to satisfy a range of palates and budgets.

Wine Essentials − Wines of the Pacific Northwest, 26 February 2012:

A to Z 2010 Pinot Gris

Two Vines 2010 Riesling

Lemelson Thea's Selection 2009 Pinot Noir

Purple Hands 2009 Oregon Red Blend

Columbia Crest H3 2008 Merlot

Coming soon, we'll recap this past Sunday's French wine essentials and share sure-fire ways to understand and choose French wines – no French required.