We really have put our best foot forward in offering the most local and fresh product that
we could find and didn’t find that it was hard to do! There are so many farmers and suppliers that are
chomping at the bit to get into restaurants in the uptown market and it makes sense that they do! More
and more people are demanding the taste of the local vittles and we are happy to supply because it
helps the local economy and those trying to do the same thing that we are. Thank for supporting local
farms and thank you farms for supplying!

Now, on to the wine I have been tasting and drinking lately…

As it gets even hotter, I have been trying so many summer treats lately such as white Bordeaux,
Vinho Verde, Rosé, Grüner Veltliner, and fresh reds like New Zealand Pinot Noir that I am excited to
offer two excellent selections for those that get this news letter, at a drastically reduced price point and
for a limited time only!!

1. Vinhas Atlas, Vinho Verde, Portugal, 2010- On the nose, distinct green and yellow apple and
lemon-lime quality combined with crushed rock and a fruit salad component that gets the
mouth watering to the point where you are anticipating the acidity. On the palate, a little
effervescence makes it really pop with vibrant acidity and a clean finish of pear and green
apple and a hint of chalk. Drink now! 89pts. With this newsletter, only $12.50!!!!

2. Wild Rock, Pinot Noir, Central Otago, NZ, 2008- On the nose, grape soda meets fresh
cranberry juice with lime and a hint of orange and clove and backed by a little metallic and
brick dust. Very interesting, complex and fruity. On the palate, light and fresh with just the
perfect amount of acidity and dominated by gala apple and cranberry. Silky smooth tannin
and a long finish make this perfect with a slight chill on the bottle. Perfect summer red with
cranberry walnut salad, grilled chicken, or pork with a port jus. Drink now – 5 years. 91pts.
With this newsletter, only $17.50 (I about fell out of my seat when I saw this price for a
wine of this quality from this region).

Thank you all very much for your time and I hope to see you all very soon at the Wooden Vine
for some summertime inspired food and wine!

We are heading into Spring now and that means fresh, crisp white wines and dry Rosé!! I have already added a Frizzante Pinot Grigio as a by-the-glass selection for only $6. This wine is not only a fantastic pairing with our asparagus salad or herbed ricotta flatbread, it also goes great with our hazelnut mousse torte!

There are many other pairings and wine specials for you to enjoy next time you come in. Our “sale bin” always has interesting selections for only $28. Feel free to take one to-go or sit on the patio and sip with friends. Remember, our main goal is to provide you with top notch food and wine without being pretentious, so questions and comments are always welcome. Uptown is no longer a meet and greet spot or an after work scene; it is a neighborhood!

So from my family to yours, happy eating and sipping! We look forward to seeing you at the Wooden Vine.

There are some things that sommeliers do that help us in being able to pick out certain nuances of a wine that can sometimes seem a little odd or over-the-top but they help. Some of these techniques are for the “wine geeks” only and some of them are techniques that all of us should try to see if it helps us taste and perceive wine better.

1.      Sight- Make sure your glass is clean and that you have a plain white surface to look at the wine (if you don’t have a plain white surface, use a white light and look up at the wine). Take note to color: depth of color & rim variation; these aspects of sight can tell us about grape varietal and age of the wine. Look for sediment and gas. Some very young whites will still have trace amounts of gas and sediment in a younger wine is a fault. Use these hints to verbally describe the sight of a wine. Conversation about the “legs” or “tears” on the glass mean nothing in relation to quality and don’t tell us really anything at all about the wine.

2.      Nose- This is the most important part in tasting and describing wine. This is because, as many of us know, we cannot taste without smell. We also cannot describe a wine unless we know what things smell like. Some sommeliers, when they train, will go on nature hikes and smell things around them or go out and buy different fruits and really take the time to taste them. Smell is also tied to memory the most and we can describe a wine using memory. We also need to swirl the wine in the glass to expose it to as much oxygen as possible because when the molecules in the wine are exposed to a gas like oxygen, it excites them and they are easier to detect. Smell the wine close to your nose by tilting the glass and take several short breaths in as opposed to one long whiff. Write down what you smell (fruit, earthiness, vegetable, or other) so you that you can remember it when you taste it so as to confirm the nose with the palate or disagree from the nose with the palate.

3.      Palate- This is where we perceive acidity, alcohol content, and tannin. All of these things are important in telling us the characteristics of the grape and the region where it grows. Take a medium sized sip of wine (1 oz or less) and move it around in the mouth to try to incorporate air and move fresh air over the wine in the mouth so as to make a quiet “slurping sound” because once again, air is going to excite the molecules. Acidity is perceived on the sides of the palate, tannin is perceived all over, and alcohol content is perceived by either being sweet or from a cooling sensation while breathing out.

Hotter regions of the world will typically produce wines with higher alcohol and lower acidity. Grapes that struggle for water will typically have higher tannin. All of these aspects are important in deciding whether or not a wine is balanced and balance is key in producing great wine. Acidity is described in different levels (low, moderate, racy, or acidic), tannin is described in different levels as well but can also be described using types of fabric. This is because you feel tannin not taste tannin. Finally you want to smell from your mouth by breathing out through nose after you have spit or swallowed this may confirm the nose or be different. Write down your thoughts or share them with others. Have fun, because life is too short to drink bad wine!

I am not going to delve too much into how to age wine properly except for that I will tell you that the space in which to do it in needs to be somewhat dry (but not too dry: a little moisture helps most things), dark, and around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. However you reach these conditions is up to you.

Not unlike all things wine related, aging wine is also a matter of subjectivity of taste but there are some general rules of thumb to follow in order to maximize potential:

Most wine made these days is ready to drink. A lot of the wine that you pick up for every day drinking is just that. It may or may not age for three or four years after you buy it but then it wouldn’t fall into the above category any longer.

Most red wines age longer than most white wines. A German wine aficionado may tell you otherwise because German Riesling ages tremendously well gaining nuttiness and refined minerality is exposed. Another exception (among others) is Oregon Pinot Noir and Non-Cru Beaujolais do not tend to age well. They are fresh wines that fizzle out into a watery acidic mess if they are aged too long (beyond 5-10 years) although there are always exceptions. Once again, the topic is subjective. Some people like well aged California Chardonnay because of the wood of the oak aging never dies and at a point will be all that is left. This is not appealing to me but to each his own.

Old World wines age longer than New World wines. This is almost always true minus the times where Napa has a tremendous vintage at the same time Bordeaux has a terrible one. There are several reasons why this is but no one reason shines. Bordeaux has longer ripening which leads to longer aged wines for the most part.

Screw caps (stelvin closures) will age a wine longer than a cork will. Cork is not a perfect seal where the previous is. Trace amounts of oxygen help age a wine quicker (“quicker” is a relative term when it comes to Bordeaux who never use screw caps and never will being that some of the best Bordeaux can age for 70+ years in the right conditions).

Madeira never dies. Madeira will last forever because of its oxidative state and its fortification. The perfect wine for someone who will never die.

These are just a few clever suggestions for aging wine and rules of thumb to follow in your world of wine. At the Wooden Vine, my uptowe do not increase the price of a wine as it ages (whereas other restaurants do) so you can come in and buy a 1996 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothchild for $650 an absolute steal if you ask me.

There are many reasons why so many Americans (especially these days) drink the same wine every day or whenever they go out and statistically, you are probably one of them. Most of these reasons are centered on a feeling of security in a wine they like.  For instance, if someone likes California Chardonnay, they may know that there are other wines out there they may like but they aren’t willing to risk spending money on something they are not sure that they will like. Some form of this mentality or thought process is responsible for an epidemic that Americans face of not wanting to go beyond “the norm” or what they feel comfortable with. A question I like to ask is: How do they know they won’t like something else? You can find the same lesson learned with food; if all a child eats is macaroni and cheese and nothing else then they are missing out on a world of fantastic culinary cuisine that they don’t know about. However, the fact is, they are used to eating macaroni and cheese all the time so it’s going to take awhile to get used to trying new foods. The point is, just because someone knows they like a specific wine does not mean that they won’t like or shouldn’t try a wine from a completely different region or grape.

So what is the best way to expand your palate?  The best way to expand your palate is to drink and know more about the world of wine. One of the ways I like to expand my palate is I will read about a region or grape from a publication or a book and go out and buy that wine, drink it and write down what I think and taste. So, for instance, if you are reading about Viognier, go out and buy two or three Viogniers from different regions and think or write about how and why they taste different. We offer one from Columbia Valley Washington that I would be happy to taste you on. Other great ways are to have dinner parties, go to wine tastings, talk to your servers, talk to a Sommelier, and talk about wine with your friends. One of the best and easiest ways to find out about different wines is to use the internet. My favorite venue is a podcast (internet TV show) called Wine Library TV. Gary Vaynerchuck tastes different wines and rates them. He puts out a new episode at least once a week and you can buy the wine he tastes.

After reading all of this, you may say, “But I like California Chardonnay… What is so wrong with that?” I would say that there is nothing wrong with that, I like California Chardonnay too and I appreciate it for what it is but there is a time and place for it. I enjoy being conscious about what I eat and drink and enjoy tasting new things and discovering what I like and what I don’t like. I would think many of the readers do as well. I guarantee that there is another region and grape that you do like but don’t know it yet because there are tens of thousands of grape varieties and hundreds of regions to choose from. So come into the club and let me find out more about what you already like and why and let me introduce to a new world of wine that you never knew about and don’t have to spend a lot of money to get to know.