2008 Omrah Pinot Noir

Click your ruby slippers together for this vibrant ruby-colored wine that has all the luscious, earthy pinot spice you long for. A smoky aroma introduces its everpresent kirschness, but alongside other red fruits (strawberry, raspberry, currants).  Look for smooth undertones of vanilla, chocolate and even cinnamon as a result of new French oak barrel aging. This is a smooth, even silky wine, but with a full-bodied Australian backbone. Polished tannins and tempered acidity make for a wine that is the perfect sidekick to your favorite steak and braised portabellas.

2009 Plantagenet Great Southern Riesling

Want to sample a bit of the “up and coming?” Then try the clean, crisp taste of a Southern Australian Riesling. Plantagenet serves up a premium quality Riesling with this gorgeous straw-colored specimen. Employing cool processing temperatures and minimal exposure to oxygen, the winemakers are able to preserve fruit character and minimize premature aging. The result is a youthful wine with lively citrus aromas that recall not only the fruit, but its zest, the blossoms and the slatey soil upon which it grows. This crisp, exciting wine joins characteristic old world Riesling flavor with new world freshness that is purported to develop toasty, honeyed characteristics so it can be enjoyed over the next 10-20 years. Taste it at its best alongside your “shrimps on the barby.”

For many a wine lover, a Kirin Ichiban or Sapporo beer is just not the same as a choku or masu of that wonderfully brewed, rice-based Japanese beverage known as sake.  Served either warm or chilled, this fermented clear beverage has become popular outside Japan as much as within it.

Interestingly, even though we often refer to sake as “rice wine,” it has far more similarities to the way beer is made (e.g., converting starch to sugar, which ultimately converts into alcohol).  The alcohol content, however, generally exceeds both beer and wine, with an average of 18-20 percent.

Premium Japanese sake pairs perfectly with a variety of different foods – not just sushi or Japanese noodles like udon or ramen. It’s great with raw seafood like oysters, but just about any fish or seafood preparation will match up perfectly with ginjo sake – crab cakes, seared ahi tuna, scallops, and poached or grilled salmon.  Pork, beef and chicken? Why not! The Japanese eat a lot of meat these days and they wash it down with fuller-bodied and fuller-flavored sake.

Five Facts about Sake

1) To serve hot or cold? Typically, hot sake is a winter drink served in small porcelain or ceramic cups called choku. High-grade sake is not drunk hot because the flavors and aromas will be lost. This masking of flavor is the reason that low-quality sake is generally served hot. The chilled or room-temperature sake is often served in small boxes known as masu.

2) The grade level is at the heart of sake quality. Grade levels are achieved by reaching minimum milling rates (amounts milled away). The more the rice is milled, the closer you get to having kernels with pure starch and the more likely you are to have more fragrant and complex sake. However, the more you mill, the less rice is left over to ferment and thus the higher priced the sake is.

3) After opening a bottle of sake, it is best consumed within two or three hours. It is possible to store in the refrigerator, but it is recommended to finish the sake within two days.

4) In its final bottled form, sake is about 80 percent water, so water composition and quality has a huge impact on the flavor and texture of sake. Traditional, small brewers are always located near a great water source such as deep wells and underground streams which are naturally purified by filtration through nearby mountains over hundreds of years.

5) Sake rice is different than the rice you eat. Premium sake varietals, like Yamada Nishiki, have higher concentrations of starch than other varieties. The starch is also concentrated in the center of the kernel. This rice is very expensive to grow, must be harvested by hand, and is prone to being knocked over and ruined by the annual typhoons.

And, lastly, how does one say “cheers” in Japanese?  Kampei.

So, in honor of mistrals, here are two French wines for Inspired Wine Club members this January – a red from Provence and a white from the Loire Valley. While the Provencal people may only have to retreat indoors for a few days at a time with their winter mistrals, they clearly have the right idea. Warming stews and roasted meats, bread fresh from the oven, and gorgeous wines can change one’s perspective on the biting cold weather here now. Suddenly, the frigid temperatures and frightening wind chill offer us an opportunity to nestle inside, sit back in our cozy environs, and feel warm and comfortable once again.

Lou Bar Rou 2007 Ventoux, Rhone Valley, France

Here is your perfect winter red. Coming from Le Barroux (pronounced, Lou Bar Rou, by the Provencal), this predominantly Grenache red is only deepened in complexity with the addition of 20% Syrah, 5% Carignan and 5% Cinsault grapes.  Wine Spectator rated it 88 points, describing it as “dark and winey, with a core of roasted plum and fig fruit, held together with graphite, fig bread and black tea notes and followed by a juicy finish.” Only 1,000 cases were imported, so this is not an easy wine to find.  Fully matured tannins balance the richness of ripe black fruits, making it a perfect match for a comforting Sunday roast beef.

Michel Delhommeau 2009 Muscadet “St. Vincent,” Loire Valley, France

Not to be confused with Muscat wines, Muscadet is named for the region they come from, and made from grapes known as Melon de Bourgogne.  This is a subtle grape with nuances that hinge on the expertise of the winemakers, and Michel and Nathalie Delhommeau are known for producing some of this region’s highest quality artisanal wine. Sourced from low-yield vines and aged extensively on the lees, which is crucial for producing a flavorful wine, the St. Vincent presents as dry white wine, vibrant with minerality.  The nose is fragrant with honeydew, citrus and some tropical fruit.  On the palate, it is bright with a high acidity, dominant minerality and a lengthy, ripe and juicy finish.  This medium-bodied wine will pair magically with a bouillabaisse, a plate of oysters or your favorite winter seafood dish.

Most fascinating in all the literature that abounds on this subject is the wholesale agreement that no one has an unequivocal reason for why we get hangovers in the first place and why some remedies work for some, but not others.  Certainly, “experts” agree that dehydration is problematic after an occasion of significant drinking, and most would agree that extreme drinking diminishes electrolytes and other vitamins and minerals that help one’s body work better, especially the liver in eliminating the overabundance of alcohol. But suggestions can range from bed rest to as much exercise as one can muster.  From avoiding things that exacerbate dehydration (e.g., caffeine, salt and more alcohol) to imbibing in exactly those things.  So, what’s one to do after the office holiday party that wouldn’t end? The pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-New Year’s Eve Fest? Or the remarkably genius idea of a sparkling wine tasting with 15 varieties on New Year’s Day?

Consider the following a Hangover Relief primer of sorts, with what seemed like the best advice circulating on the Web and with a wee bit of science to substantiate the claims.

1.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Wine, beer and cocktails all come in liquid form, yet none of them hydrate you, and in fact, they all work to DE-hydrate you.  As you consume more alcohol and have less water in your bloodstream – no surprise – the effects of alcohol intensify. Accordingly, one of the recurring themes to preventing and treating hangovers is to consume water at the same rate as alcohol – one for one. The water improves alcohol metabolism and just gets your body back to normal faster.  Even drinking water before you go to bed can minimize the pain the next day, supposedly.

2.  Electrolytes and vitamin C. So, you’ve got the shakes after a heavy night at the wine bar.  Experts say most likely your body has depleted minerals and electrolytes that make it work better.  Drinking a sports drink, juice or a vitamin- and mineral-rich smoothie can help minimize that achy, sick feeling that can ruin a day after, which is good to know when you have football games to watch or even more parties to attend.

3.  Oh, my achin’ head! The first instinct we have when dealing with a hangover-induced monster headache is to reach for the ibuprofen, acetaminophen or aspirin.  Unfortunately, while these over-the-counter pain relievers may seem helpful at first, they can pose additional problems, especially as we get older and try to drink as much as when we were younger.  Ibuprofen and aspirin are particularly hard on the gastrointestinal system and that side effect is exacerbated significantly when alcohol is in the body, potentially inciting gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers.  Acetaminophen metabolizes through the liver, which is already overtaxed from alcohol, making it even harder for the liver to flush through the badness from the night before and return to its cheerful, happy state.

4.  Hair of the Dog. My husband swears by this remedy, saying a beer the morning after an evening of overindulgence re-opens the blood vessels so everything can run smoothly again.  While I didn’t find scientific evidence of my husband’s theory, many swear by this remedy.  Unfortunately, most experts say it just delays flushing all the alcohol from one’s body, which is necessary to feel truly better again.

5. Eat and Relax.  When in need of nutrients, eat.  That’s what experts seem to say, and if you have a steady enough stomach for it, then perhaps the secret lies in comfort.  Around the world, various cultures have their own ideas of  “comfort food,” and that’s what we apparently seek out during a hangover. In many Asian countries, they turn to noodles.  Brits are partial to a hearty breakfast of fried eggs and sausage.  Many Americans swear by the greasiness of a local burger place, or mom’s chicken soup.  Mexicans love their spicy menudo soup.  Interestingly, though some of these comfort foods aren’t the healthiest, they make us feel better regardless.  And isn’t that what it’s all about?  Feeling better.

Happy New Year!  Wishing you a healthy and happy 2011!

Now is the time to find some inspiration — thus Hinsdale Cellars’ Inspired Wine Club. Each month after tasting bottles upon bottles, our team selects a pair of fine wines that are “off the beaten path,” delicious and undoubtedly special. And these aren’t just wines tasted in the comfort of our store here. From trips to Argentina and other places abroad, we return with great wines and information that we freely share. Our goal is to make your own wine exploration easier as we introduce exciting, new wines that expand your repertoire and are ready when the occasion calls.

Afterall, isn’t that what the love of wine is all about? Discovery – experiencing new terroirs, new grapes, new regions, and new countries. It’s learning how, for example, a pinot noir from California can differ from one in France or Germany. It’s taking that first sniff of a rich Malbec/Cabernet blend and instantly transporting to Mendoza Valley. It’s the cold, crisp Provencal Rosé that provides the relaxation to an August picnic when the humidity is trying to chase you back indoors.

Apparently, this area has many impassioned wine explorers like us. Our wine club is the largest in the Chicago area, boasting more than 400 members. That translates into even more buying power for us to find better wines and get better values. Consistently, we can provide wines at a significant savings because we buy 100 cases at a time. For $34.95/month (no long-term contract required), members receive:

* Two fine wines each month, valued on average at $50 and selected through a rigorous tasting process

* Informative literature on Wine Club wines, including tasting notes and reviews

* Special discounts on the month’s wine, if you decide to buy more, and

* Special alerts on wine specials and store events.

* 6- and 12-month memberships are available, as well, at $209.70 and $419.40, respectively.

Wine is everywhere these days – even your local gas station – but it’s the local wine store, like Hinsdale Cellars with its Inspired Wine Club, which offers expertise and is most likely to introduce you to your next favorite wine.

For more information, come visit the store at 12 E. Hinsdale Ave., our Web site at http://www.hinsdalecellars.com or call us at 630.654.9862.

Spring is in the air!

Spring is a time of change – to say goodbye to all of the snow and cold weather and welcome in sunshine and flowers. A time when everything is constantly altering; trees come to bloom, the grass becomes green again, and those rabbits pop up on your front lawn again. Sometimes it seems all of these changes occur at a snail’s pace, but we at Hinsdale Wine Shop hope you take the time to enjoy these transformations. We have two offerings for you this month. The first, Three Saints Cabernet, will help you at the beginning of the month when it is still cold and snowing. The second selection for the month is the fresh, crisp Cote Est, a white wine to welcome spring.

2007 Domaine Lafage Cote Est, Catalan
90 Points Robert Parker

Cote Est is a the work of two magnificent wine makers, Eric Soloman and Jean-Marc Lafage. Combining Solomon’s expertise of Spanish grape varietals and Jean-Marc’s passion for French wine making is what makes this wine so special. The composition is 60% Grenache Blanc and Gris, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Marsanne. It has a fragrant nose of toasted grains, almond extract, pineapple, and citrus. This light-bodied white has a smooth, honey-like consistency, prominent floral flavor, and smoky finish. It would pair exquisitely with seafood – shrimp, scallops, and any white fish, such as halibut or snapper. This wine is ready to be savored within the next several years.

2005 Three Saints Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Ynez Valley

Three Saints Cabernet comes from Star Lane Vineyard, located on the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley. Winemaking at Star Lane always follows the Bordeaux style, with long maturation processes and warm fermentation methods. This particular Cabernet is composed of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Malbec. This delectable fruit bomb has flavors of blackberry, dark cherry, and plum. You can detect a dark fruit aroma, with hints of mocha and sage. This red is rich, with a medium body and profound structure. It would be delicious with most beef, duck, or heavy pork dishes. It would also pair well with more stronger pasta dishes. This wine is drinking great now and will reach it’s peak with 4-5 years of aging.

Interested in joining the wine inspired? Click here to read about our 6 month and 12 month memberships.

Day One (February 8, 2009) & Day Two (February 9, 2009)

If there was such a thing as a time machine in winemaking, so many of us Napa lovers would travel back about 30 years and visit Napa Valley before the enormous tour groups took hold and wine tourism became big business for that region.

Short of a time machine, what one can do –

The Best of Bruce Schoenfeld

From our Archives

My sister called from Florida last year when her husband Ed was turning 50. He had been dropping hints that he’d like a wine gift.

She wanted advice on a half-case (six bottles) that would average $100 or less. I didn’t want to include anything as obvious as a Bordeaux first-growth from the affordable 1999 or 2001 vintages, or even a second-wave cult Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. Ed could suss out those for himself.

But this was a 50th birthday, after all, so it also wouldn’t be appropriate to fill the gift box with underrated Chablis and best-buy Dolcetto. I needed skyrockets, marching bands, that sort of thing.

After much careful consideration, I suggested the following options (which you can apply to any upcoming landmark or holiday events in your life, too):

1. Like most wine lovers, Ed regards Bordeaux as the world’s benchmark region. The 2002s are the most reasonably priced recent vintage, but let’s splurge on a 2000 for him, though we might have to dig to find it. How about Margaux’s silky Chateau Kirwan ($75), which is at the forefront of that appellation’s recent revival? It won’t be drinkable for a few years, but that’s fine. He’ll be reminded of this gift each time he looks in his wine cellar.

2. Italy next. Few wine lovers give proper appreciation to Barolo, and I don’t think Ed has any in his collection. Good ones are expensive, but we’re under budget. So let’s buy a Paolo Scavino Bric del Fiasc 2001 ($105), one of the best Piemontese bottlings from a deservedly hyped vintage. Tight now, it’ll open with a few hours in the decanter, or three more years in the bottle.

3. To Burgundy. Maison Joseph Drouhin’s Vosne Romanee Les Petits Monts ($110) is made by the engaging Veronique Drouhin – who also runs the family’s Oregon property – from grapes grown in her own small vineyard. I haven’t had the 2003, the current release, but the 2001 and 2002 were gorgeous. And in Burgundy, I always trust the producer and the terroir more than the vintage.

4. Spain’s Pago de los Capellanes Reserva 2001 ($50) is the perfect gift for a true wine lover. This Ribera del Duero ranks among my favorite reasonably priced reds anywhere in the world. It’s balanced and elegant, but has the seriousness of purpose to be drunk on a milestone birthday. I’d be tempted to buy two bottles.

5. I’ve written before about Christophe Baron’s single-vineyard Cayuse Syrahs, but if you’re not on the Cayuse mailing list, they’ll be hard to find. Instead, Ed would enjoy a K Syrah Cougar Hills 2003 ($45), which tastes like plums and blueberries.

6. This leaves one wine gift for Ed to go, so I’m heading back to Italy. Though the ultra-ripe Fanti Brunello di Montalcino 1999 ($90) is made in a California style by Stefano Chioccioli, the Tuscan sun shines through the velvety fruit and new oak. It isn’t as restrained and beautiful as the ‘99 or ‘01 Sesta di Sopra, or as balanced as the ‘01 Ciacci Piccolomini Vigna di Pianrossa, but if you like that full-throttle approach, it might well be the most exciting wine in our gift repertoire.

Bruce Schoenfeld is a HinsdaleCellars.com columnist, author and nationally published magazine writer on wine, travel and sports.

For more gift ideas:

Peruse our wine lover gift selections

From our Archives

Once every decade, meaning two-and-a-half times less frequent than a U.S. presidential election or a soccer World Cup, the governing body of Bordeaux’s St.-Emilion appellation reviews its classification of top properties. This is more often than the classification of Bordeaux’s Left Bank properties gets altered, which is once in its 201-year history, but it’s still not exactly a frequent occurrence. It happened last (September).

Before the Internet, it could take days for news to arrive about the various promotions and relegations. When Chateau Angelus and Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot gained Premier Grand Cru Classe status in 1996, I scoured newspapers for a week before finally calling France for an update.

This time, it arrived in the form of a morning e-mail from the St.-Emilion press officer. As expected, a handful of properties were added to the list of Grand Cru estates, and a few – most notably Chateau Cadet Bon, which had been demoted in 1986 and promoted again in 1996 – were dropped. But the more important move, the one that ultimately means Euros in the bank, is the promotion from Grand Cru Classe to Premier Grand Cru Classe. As many as four properties were considered possibilities. Two were actually chosen by the St.-Emilion panel.

As of last week, Chateau Troplong Mondot and Chateau Pavie Macquin join 13 other producers on St.-Emilion’s top rung. (Actually, even the top is further divided into Premier Grand Cru Classe A, which is only Cheval Blanc and Ausone, and Premier Grand Cru Classe B, which is everyone else. But all 15 will participate equally in Premier Grand Cru Classe events, such as the formal dinner held in conjunction with the VinExpo wine fair every second June.)

I agree with both promotions. Impeccably run by Christine Valette, who renovated the entire property after taking control in 1981 and brought on Michel Rolland – and, later, Stephane Derenoncourt – to supervise the winemaking, Troplong-Mondot has been producing top-quality wines for years. I’m especially a fan of the gorgeous 2002, which wasn’t a headline vintage in St.-Emilion but rewarded careful, restrained winemaking. And by all accounts, the 2005 is remarkable.

Unlike Chateau Pavie and Chateau Pavie-Decesse, Nicolas Thienpont’s Pavie-Macquin is not owned by the controversial (and wildly successful) supermarket magnate Gerard Perse, but its wines exhibit the same full-throttle style. This is a wine I like to buy in vintages that aren’t especially ripe, such as 1999 and 2004, though I’ve also very much enjoyed the 1995.

Fifteen is a large number of wineries for a top classification. Unfortunately, St.-Emilion is a close-knit village, and nobody wants to offend a neighbor. So promoting properties to the Premier Grand Cru Classe level is far easier than dropping them.

To me, Chateau La Gaffeliere (not to be confused with the hard-charging Canon-La Gaffeliere) and Chateau Trottevieille have been under-performing for years. It’s all personal taste, of course, but a demotion to Grand Cru might have been the jolt that inspired them to a renewed push for quality. That’s what revisiting a classification is for, after all.

It didn’t happen this time for Chateau Trottevieille in St.-Emilion. Perhaps 2016?

From our Archives

Every once in a while, I come across a winemaker with such confidence in his convictions, such philosophical purity to his techniques, that he’s capable of singlehandedly altering the mindset of his appellation.

Eben Sadie of South Africa’s Sadie Family Wines doesn’t have the renown of the Rhone’s Michel Chapoutier, or Burgundy’s Dominique Lafon, or California’s Helen Turley. But he’s every bit as certain as they are that he’s making wine as it should be made.

It’s hard to argue with him. In this viticultural pocket about 20 miles north of Paarl, Sadie is crafting the most compelling wine from South Africa I’ve ever tasted. There are only three of them, a Rhone-blend white (Palladius) and two Syrah-based reds (Columella and Sequillo), and all are made in small quantities (though there’s twice as much Sequillo, the product of a joint venture with a South African millionaire, as the others.)

Almost nobody I know, even in South Africa, has ever had them. But word is spreading.

Traveling through the Cape winelands after visiting Sadie and tasting through the line, I was quizzed on Sadie’s ways of working. Is it true he doesn’t irrigate? What about his plans to make wine in buried amphora, like the ancient Greeks? Is his Columella wine really that good?

Sadie also owns a winery, called Dits del Terra, in Spain’s similarly arid Priorat region. I haven’t sampled those wines yet – I hope to this summer – but the way he talks about them makes it evident that they’re a product of the same intense vision.

It’s the only way he knows how to work.

Sadie traveled the world for several years, living in France and Germany, Austria and Italy, Spain and Oregon, immersing himself in the winemaking culture of each country. He helped gain acclaim for the Spice Route brand as a young winemaker, but has moved away from that fruit-forward style. “When you’re 24, you want to show the world how good you are,” he says. “The wines start to taste like your ambition.”

Now 34, his company in Swartland consists of himself, his brother, and his sister. Its entire business is capturing the terroir of these jagged hills of the Western Cape in a bottle. Consistency, that staple of brand-building, doesn’t interest him, and with wines made a few hundred cases at a time, it doesn’t have to. “The problem with the New World is the obsession with perfection,” he says. “There’s no such thing as perfection. It’s all imperfection.”

Almost alone among the area’s viticulturists, Sadie refuses to mitigate the intensity of a South African summer by irrigating. “It alters the climate,” he explains. “I want the vintage to announce itself in my wine. I want it to speak of fortune, misfortune, whatever the case may be.”
By doing so, he makes the suave consistency of most wines seem simplistic by comparison. His 2004 Columella has the core of black fruit typical of Swartland Syrah (Shiraz), but a bracing layer of red fruit plays rhythm guitar to the bass of the cassis and plum. One hundred of the four hundred cases have come to the United States, imported by European Cellars’ Eric Solomon. They’re worth every bit of the $70 price.

A barrel sample of the 2005 shows off an utterly different South Africa wine. Powerful but not overbearing, with a Rhone meatiness to the Syrah (Shiraz), but utterly limpid in a way that I wish more Hermitage could be, it could well evolve into the most interesting wine South Africa has produced.

Such wines aren’t made from marketing plans or focus groups, or even the desire to please your customers. It takes an almost religious certitude in your methods, and the sense that no other way forward is possible. Agree with the winemaker or disagree, you can’t help but taste that certitude in the wine.