Wines "&" Spirits "&" Beers...Oh My!

How come these letters never made it into the English language? Credit: Dr. Seuss' On Beyond Zebra

I can't get enough of the National Days of the Year Calendar. I am always amazed at what topic or category deserves our attention and awareness. There are some that are for a good cause (HIV awareness, POW/MIA Recognition) and some that are simply out there (National Crush a Can Day?). Did you know that tomorrow is National Ampersand (&) Day?

Yes! This little symbol that supposedly used to be the last letter of the alphabet has its own day. The symbol that is supposed to be "e" and "t" mashed together, where the Latin word "et" in fact means "and," is to be celebrated on September 8th every year! My goodness.

Let's have some fun today. Go ahead and give recognition to the ex-27th letter of the alphabet. Let's do this by grabbing a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage with a "&" on the label. Need some ideas? I have some outstanding producers for you to seek out.

Here's to you & whoever else is celebrating National Ampersand Day!

Moët & Chandon: The legendary wine you see from this Champagne house is the Dom Perignon range, but you don't have to reach for the top shelf if you don't want to. Brut Imperial will do you just fine.

Bouchard Pere & Fils: This Burgundy negociant offers a wide range of expressions from many villages throughout the region. Here in Connecticut, we have access to many of their Chardonnay wines from the Côte de Beaune region, but a white or red wine simply labeled "Bourgogne" will help you stay under $20.

Nickel & Nickel: This Napa Valley winery specialized in many single vineyard expressions. These are excellent New World wines that are going to be pricey, but they will deliver.

Cooper & Thief: These folks are capitalizing on the newest winemaking craze, aging red wine in Bourbon barrels. Of all the producers making this style of wine, I find Cooper & Thief does it best.

Wells & Young's: I didn't find many beer producers with the "&" in its name, but one thing I remember about Wells & Young's is their delicious Double Chocolate Stout.

Wray & Nephew: Their signature product is the Overproof White Rum, clocking in at an astounding 62.75% abv (125.5 Proof). It is pungent, fiery, and great in any rum-based cocktail like a traditional Daiquiri or a Mojito.

Gordon & Macphail: For 123 years, Gordon & Macphail has sought out casks from Scotch distilleries to bottle as single malts under their own labels. The portfolio is comprehensive, with non-traditional age statements and individual "vintages" dated on the labels.

Grapegrowing and Winemaking is a Hazardous Passion

A before and after of Signorello Vineyards in Napa. The winery was destroyed by wildfires, but fortunately it sounds like vineyards are intact (Image credit: Suzanne Espinosa/Twitter)

I will admit that I have lived the month of October with tunnel vision. I often forget how loaded my fall schedule gets, both personally and professionally. However, global catastrophic natural disasters are difficult to ignore. It has been a busy hurricane season, where Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast regions and have been hit hard and are still recovering. There have been devastating earthquakes in Mexico. Then there are the raging California wildfires that are ripped through the heart of wine country in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino, and new blazes started to the south in the Santa Cruz Mountains area.

From the viewpoint of the wine drinker, this is really difficult news to hear. Some of us have visited Napa Valley or the Russian River Valley, taken tours of wineries, and enjoyed the romantic, peaceful landscapes of the manicured vineyards. We have made mental and emotional connections to these places, so when we read about a winery being decimated or fields on fire it hurts a little.

Now...take that unsettled feeling you have and multiply it by 100 or 1,000, and you can feel the same way a winery owner does. Or a vineyard worker. Or a tasting room manager.

Frosted grapes: great for some, terrible for many.

Sometimes, we take things for granted when we go pick up that California red blend in our local wine shop. Remember, it is an agricultural product that we enjoy. Grapevines are subjected to a range of weather conditions (wet, dry, cold, hot, sunny, windy); some grapes are built for excessive heat (Grenache) or cooler tempratures (Riesling), others aren't. Rain close to harvest time can lead to diluted grapes and humid conditions can lead to moldy grapes. Springtime frosts can damage tender shoots and buds that have yet to become grapes. Early fall frosts can kill off leaves that are necessary for photosynthesis to help grapes fully ripen. The vineyard manager will watch weather reports religiously to make a decision on when to pick grapes. Even during harvest time, making sure grapes are picked in cooler temperatures is paramount to preserving a grape's refreshing acids and preventing early oxidation.

The evil little monster that destroys vineyards: Phylloxera

Vineyards are also subjected to a variety of pests and diseases. Phylloxera is the most infamous in history; it is a louse that feeds on a vine's roots and slowly kills it. The Great French Wine Blight happened in the mid-1800s thanks to these evil little SOBs. 40% of French vineyards were wiped out, crushing the economy. This led to an important discovery that French vines could be grafted onto American roots to resist phylloxera's attacks. Vineyard owners also have to deal with birds and other animals trying to eat ripe grapes.

You also have other specialty producers who need perfect or near-perfect conditions to make the wines they want to. Champagne producers want less-ripe grapes, since the high acidity in those grapes is essential in quality sparkling winemaking. Icewine producers need frozen grapes on the vines; if they don't get that, no Icewine is made. Same goes for Sauternes, the nobly rotten sweet wine region. Sauternes needs consistent cool morning mists followed by warm dry afternoons in the fall to create the environment for a benevolent mold to set into healthy grapes, which concentrates sugars. If Sauternes doesn't get this defined weather pattern, no Sauternes wine is made. If the weather is too damp for several days, the bad mold can set in. Grapes have to be discarded and the harvest is lost.

I didn't want my first post in two weeks to paint this doom and gloom picture, but the truth is that there is a lot riding on natural conditions for vineyards and wineries to have a successful vintage. There is so much to account for and some of it is completely out of a winery's control. It's a constant battle to fight pests and disease. When large-scale events like wildfires enter the picture, the situation becomes so much more stressful for the wine producer. Fortunately, over 99% of the harvests were completed prior to the outbreak of the fires, and by the way...don't let anyone tell you the 2017 harvest is tainted by smoke getting into the grapes. Your wine will be fine when it gets to the bottle.

So today, I ask you to grab a bottle of California wine and enjoy it as a way to support the folks working hard while dealing with a massive amount of chaos. Not a wine person? Try some Texas whiskey, Florida microbrew, or Puerto Rico rum. If anyone is looking for another way to help California wine country get back on its feet, my colleagues at SevenFifty have set up a GoFundMe page. Here's hoping recovery happens sooner rather than later.

What You Are Drinking For NFL Week 3

What the heck does a California middle school and Thomas Jefferson's estate have to do with football? This isn't a flashback to my history class, is it?

Let me be honest...getting adjusted to the back-to-school routine has been difficult. The combination of that plus some other classes I am working on at the store are taking up a good portion of my time. That being said, I have no excuse for not continuing to share how you can drink well when you have the window to enjoy an adult beverage. Fortunately, the football season helps write the script for me, and this week we have any easy inroad to include wine! Sunday night's matchup features the Oakland Raiders and the Washington Redskins; each city is a reasonable drive to several quality vineyards in Northern California and throughout Virginia (yes, I realize the Washington stadium is in Maryland, but whatever. It's my site).

Look, we can go to so many wineries for our choice to represent the Raiders, but understand something about this franchise. Late owner Al Davis always did things his way, and one of the things he had established in 1996 was to hold his team's summer training camp in Napa, Redwood Middle School to be exact. Yes, this is the same Napa where pristine, well-manicured vineyards that produce some of the most opulent and rich styles of wine found anywhere on earth are located. This brings me to a visit I took for my work-study trip after claiming my WSET Diploma. I never actually made a recommendation on what to taste from Cuvaison, which was one of my two winery visits. It is not easy to do, especially when my visit involved tasting a lot of different clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (which led to the different cuvées that are now the finished wines available to you for purchase) inside of a brand-spanking new facility. The options are all solid. In the end, if you have a chance to get your hands on a Cuvaison Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, you are getting a shimmering New World example of pure fruit meeting intelligent use of barrel-aging, where the wine is not overwhelmed by oakiness and woodiness.

Virginia may not be well-known nationally along the lines of the west coast regions or even New York's Finger Lakes. However, the next batch of states that includes serious winemaking and viticulture know-how includes Virginia. Need proof? You can visit any of the 17 wine trails and have yourself a very good time. But for our purposes, it is difficult to discuss wine, especially Virginian wine, without including Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a wine-lover and President George Washington's Secretary of State. Prior to that role, he was a Minister to France; his trips to Europe opened his eyes to the world of wine, becoming quite knowledgeable to the point where he took such comprehensive notes and purchased so many wines to bring back to the United States, he helped build the President's wine cellar. Jefferson also had the dream to grow European grape varieties (the popular ones we all know and love) in the Eastern U.S. The goal never panned out before his passing, but today the Monticello wine trail might be the heartbeat of Virginia wine with the state's most popular winery of Barboursville leading the way. There is a great story on how a multi-generation Italian wine family left a lasting impact on this property's fortunes in the wine industry.

So today will be one of the few weeks I can make straight wine recommendations. No beer. No whiskey. Just great-tasting adult grape juice. Enjoy what should be another entertaining game along the lines of last week!

Cuvaison Spire Carneros Pinot Noir ($55): Carneros is one of the cooler parts of the North Coast, with fog and mist that can linger until lunchtime, before giving way to warmth and abundant sunshine. The Spire Pinot Noir offers a foil to the brute force of a football game with elegance, liveliness, and ripe fruit. All of the berry fruits are in this wine, with baking spices and a touch of cola and smoke. It will give your senses something to focus on during the commercial breaks.

Barboursville Viognier ($22): No barrels. No malolactic fermentation (the process leading to buttery/butterscotch flavors in wine). Just pure fruit expression of the aromatic white Rhône variety, with some aging on the lees to add a layer of complexity akin to fresh baked bread. With Viognier's apricot, tropical, and floral aromas, this is a great example of what Virginia is capable of and it is totally worth the price tag. Drinking this wine is like enjoying jam and bread...really easy.

Stop Making Excuses: Open That Bottle!

In the quest to have voices heard and agendas to promote, you may have noticed there is a "day" for just about everything. Just this month alone has things like National Cream Cheese Brownie Day (groan), National Love Your Pet Day (that's right...eff you on the the other 364.25 days of the year, Fido), and National Cook A Sweet Potato Day (because everyone loves to eat these raw). Hell, it was just National Drink Wine Day on the 18th! I didn't even realize this because I don't need a day to remind me to drink wine.

February 25th is a day that I think we can all get behind as it relates to adult beverages. Yes, tomorrow is Open That Bottle Day (Night). Created by the Wall Street Journal's Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, this is a day that encourages wine drinkers to uncork that bottle they have been seeking an excuse or the perfect opportunity to open. It could be sentimental, expensive, whatever...you just open it up on the fourth Saturday in February. I would even extend this to the spirits realm, too. Did you pick up a 25-year old Scotch a few years ago? Open it up...it's not getting any better just sitting there!

I have my own decision to make for tomorrow. I have some high-quality options: past birthday gifts, old purchases that can develop in the bottle, and other assorted kick-ass wines. However, I have something that will ultimately be my choice based on an outstanding experience I had in Sonoma wine country.

This is what I look like when I crawl out from under my rock and act like a grown-up, roughly a half-dozen times per year.

It was just three years ago that I returned from London with a Diploma of Wine & Spirits in hand, along with a work-study opportunity sponsored by the Atlanta-based Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC). I still remember the excitement of being able to visit a couple of wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, because despite all of my hard work learning about booze I somehow had never made it to any vineyards in California. So in April of 2014, after spending two days in Atlanta learning the ins and outs of how alcohol distribution works, I headed out to Cuvaison Winery in Napa.

Hard work. Good thing I am a trained professional.

The vineyards at Cuvaison. From L-R: Jennifer Fernandez, Central U.S. Regional Manager; Steve Richards, National Sales Manager, Steven Rogstad, Winemaker

Steven Rogstad is a one-man wrecking crew of grapegrowing and winemaking at Cuvaison. He not only manages the certified sustainable vineyards on property, but he is also the lead winemaker. It was a blitz of information he shared with me that day, showing me all the nerdy technical information that I crave, but also guided me on a tasting of individual clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. These clones all bring different aspects to a finished wine. One might be high in acid, another higher in potential alcohol. One Chardonnay clone may have citrusy flavors, while another has more tropical fruit. The winemaker chooses the proportion of clones to blend together to make the final wine, based on a desired style of expression. So for me, this was an unbelievable opportunity.

My amazing tour guides. Chris Benziger, National Sales Manager, and Jeff Landolt, Viticulture Operations Coordinator at the deCoelo Vineyard, Sonoma Coast.

After staying overnight in Napa, I drove to Sonoma bright and early the next morning to spend the entire day at Benziger Family Estate to get a serious crash course in viticulture, with emphasis on organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyard. We drove from site to site, studying nuanced variations among each location that make a huge impact on the finished wine, with particular emphasis on that finicky grape known as Pinot Noir. Without boring you with more technical details, let's just say that my brain was on overload thanks to the amazing knowledge of Viticulure Operations Coordinator, Jeff Landolt. Jeff is younger than I am, yet likely forgot more about grapegrowing and vineyard management than I will ever know. Again, the opportunity to taste individual clones, as well as finished wines, presented itself. Of course, I gladly participated.

My choice for Open That Bottle Night!

So this connection I had to such a memorable experience leads me to my own selection for Saturday night. I was sent home from Benziger with the Quintus Pinot Noir ($75), a wine made from fruit that comes from their high-performing deCoelo vineyard, located a mere six miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Sonoma Coast. I can't wait to get reconnected to my time in Sonoma and share it with The Best Wife in the World.

Let me know what you are popping open tomorrow night! I would love to know what you are drinking.