Drink Review: Westport Winery

Some friends of ours took a trip out to Westport, WA a few years ago, and it sounded so delightful, we decided to take a trip out there last weekend. Except that a few businesses are closed in the winter, and there was 24 foot swells that caused them to close the beaches. As a result, we spent a fair amount of time at the Westport Winery.

Westport Winery offers up ten white wines, nine red wines, two blushes, and fourteen fruit and grape blend wines or fruit wines.  Each wine has a local charity that some portion of their proceeds go to, including Grays Harbor Breast Cancer Alliance, the Driftwood Theater, West Coast Search Dogs of Washington, and many more. Each person gets to try five wines for $5, with one tasting fee waived upon purchase of a bottle of wine. Together, we tried ten wines, and later came back and tried another five wines. Here are my tasting notes:

• Skookumchuck – “A unique blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Syrah sweetened with Muscat. Benefits the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force.” My husband Burtle picked this one, and it ended up being our favorite. We like Cab wines, so it had that body with the sweetness of the Muscat. We ended up each buying a glass later with dessert in their restaurant. Burtle got a Frozen Peanut Butter Mud Pie, and the wine went wonderfully with the chocolate. I got a Frozen Cranberry Velvet Pie, which the wine did not fight and blended quite well with.
• Bella – “A voluptuous blend of Tempranillo, Primitivo, Refosco, Barbera, Merlot and Syrah, barrel-aged to perfection. Benefits the Mt. Rainier Chapter of the American Red Cross.” In my opinion, this was a very good dinner wine. It was very balanced with good tannin and body. However, with so many other dinner wines on the market, we thought that the $33.60 a bottle was a bit pricy.
• Smoky Nor’wester – “Intense berry collaborates with a slight cherry and apple-flavored ripeness in this unique, white Cabernet Franc. Benefits the Museum of the North Beach.” This was a nice Cab blush with some red bell pepper notes.
• Message in a Bottle – “Try this sweet exploration of blackberries with a hint of vanilla resulting in a fruit-filled treasure we call pie in a bottle. Benefits the West Coast Search Dogs of Washington.” This was a sweet wine with a little bit of vanilla.
• Rapture of the Deep – “A complete cranberry experience that is sweet, tart, sparkly, and perfect from a sunrise brunch to a midnight toast. Benefits the Driftwood Theater.” I would describe this wine as tart with a hit of raspberry even though there wasn’t any raspberry in it.
• Pineapple Express – “An adventurous blend of Gewürz and Riesling with a pineapple breeze that transports you to the islands. Benefits the Grays Harbor YMCA.” I have had two other commercial pineapple wines, and this one was the best. Pineapple is so difficult to work with due to pH, and there is also sugar issues. This wine did blend with white grapes, and the finished it not so sweet, so it is a better wine.
• Dawn Patrol – “A potent blend of Northwest raspberries and crisp, tart Riesling designed to make you swoon. Benefits General James G. Doolittle VFW Post 3057.” We noted that this was sweet, tasted like raspberries, but it seemed more pure and less syrup like, which is how some raspberry wines get.
• Peaches on the Beaches – “Luscious, decadent, and sensual, like a hot day at the beach, this wine will tantalize all your senses. Benefits Grays Harbor Breast Cancer Alliance.” Peach wine does not really want to be clear, but they managed to get theirs clear. However, we were unimpressed with the flavor and even called it a bit watery and week. We will be sticking to Shallon Winery for our peach wine.
• Going Coastal – “Our sparkling Gewürz is made in the traditional méthode Champenoise style offering you bubbly bliss in a bottle. Benefits the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center.” They claimed it was the #3 champagne in the state of Washington. It was very good, but nothing exceptional to my taste. The gal pouring added some Peaches on the Beaches to it, which was very nice as it added a little more flavor and sugar. Still, I’ve had other champagnes and even a few styles of sour beer in which you add a flavored syrup like raspberry to, so I figured if I really wanted to do this, I would probably just go buy a dry champagne somewhere else.
• Night Watch – “This wine is an exquisite blend of sweet black cherry interlaced with our delicious Cabernet Sauvignon. Benefits special needs in our community.” This was my second favorite wine of the tasting. It was fruity, but the Cab gave the cherries some tannin, so it had a really good body on it.
• Mermaid’s Merlot – “Begin with caramel on the nose and follow with spice and berries on the palate for a long, lush finish. Benefits the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Grays Harbor.”
• Ancient Mariner’s – “Try this delicate blend of pear and Riesling that smacks with honey and sunshine. Benefits Coastal Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA).” Pear is a very difficult fruit to work with, and like wine doesn’t taste like grapes, it doesn’t taste like pears when it is done. In this case, I could only taste Riesling. I would have to try this one next to a pure Riesling to tell the difference.
• Duckleberry Grunt – “By combining blueberry and huckleberry with our wham-bang Gewürztraminer we created something worth hiding. Benefits Grays Harbor Ducks Unlimited.” This was my third favorite wine, which was nice and sweet, yet very balanced.
• Shelter from the Storm – “We craft this unique blend of blackberry, blueberry, and cranberry in a bold port-style with health and comfort in mind. Benefits the Grays Harbor Hospital Foundation.” This port wine was my fourth favorite wine.
• Red Sky at Night – “Raspberries blended with chocolate makes this wine not only amazingly decadent, but unique. Taste it last. Benefits the Westport Timberland Library.” This wine is made all from raspberries and no grapes. However, like so many other chocolate wines I have had, it comes across tasting like a toosie roll. Mind you, I like toosie roll, but I think this would be a big let down to people really wanting that chocolate flavor. Stick to Shallon Winery.

February 15, 2012 News Digest

There have been some interesting news pieces that have come out the last few weeks, including:

February 2, 2012: The Gray Report Blog – ‘Obama considers huge shakeup in alcohol law, eliminating TTB.’

The writer, W. Blake Gray, analyses what could happen if the TTB was dived up between the IRS and the FDA. Though the move is reported to be unlikely by Michael Kaiser of the TTB, such a move would require ingredient listing, calorie counts, and more accurate labeling of alcohol percentages. He expands on the process impact it would have on business, as the TTB denies things before hand, and the FDA fines afterwards, so security of a product hitting the market is in limbo.

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February 2, 2012: Seattle Times, “Looks like liquor prices to go up, over fees from Initiative 1183.”

There is some speculation that distribution of liquor will become more expensive since the State of Washington can no longer provide that function since I-1183 passed.

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February 2, 2012: Beernews.org, “Positive Contact: Dogfish Head, Deltron 3030 member collaborate on beer and cider hybrid.”

I don’t think this really needs an explanation, as it is Dogfish Head.

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February 5, 2012: Los Angeles Times, “Beer Brewers revise playbooks to win back lost customers.”

Some market news regarding beer and beer advertising right before the Superbowl. It does say that hard cider sales grew 20% this last year.

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February 6, 2012: Beernews.org, “MillerCoor’s Tenth and Blake acquires Crispin Cider Company.”

The article calls cider the fastest growing beer category, which MillerCoors wants a piece of by buying out Crispin. Crispin was reported to have grown 200% from 2008-2011, and is currently the number three cider producer in the US (which includes Fox Barrel Cider Company, purchased by Crispin in 2010). The article says that Crispin will run as an independent division of MillerCoors. Here is reaction from The Cidery regarding this news

Wine and Chocolate Wheel

There is a new wine cellar in Vancouver, WA called Koi Pond Cellars. They do sell koi fish, and they also have their own wine label (wine not made on site), and they also sell other regional wines. My husband Burtle and I went there a few weekends ago, when they were doing a wine and chocolate tasting.

Now this blog isn’t going to be about the wines, because, frankly, I didn’t take any notes. It is going to be about the chocolate and the pairings.

First, there were two white wines, one of which was Rusty Grape’s Riesling, which we like. Both wines were paired up with simple little tarts with cheese and mild fruit. They had some crackers and a spicy cream dip that actually went very well with the second wine.

When we got to the red wine, we were directed to go try it with four chocolates. Each time we had the wine, we had the same four chocolates. It was interesting how a chocolate could be our favorite one for eating, and how each time with a different wine, the favorite chocolate would change. And it was so simple! They had a mild dark chocolate, a stronger dark chocolate, chocolate with sea salt, and a mild chili chocolate.

In 2010 and 2011, we participated in the Clark County Wine & Chocolate Weekend held ever Valentine’s weekend. And every year, we keep saying that The Rusty Grape Vineyards does the best job. We have tried chocolate fondue, a box of chocolates, and even specific chocolate pairings. However, this system of setting out just four chocolates and trying them with the wine was probably more fun, simple, and still very very tasty.

I had also found a Wine and Chocolate Tasting Wheel. We did try it out, though we struggled a little with the aromas. As for the tastes, we got earthy notes on both dark chocolates. For the sea salt chocolate, it was throwing us into the nutty flavors, which Burtle thought that was due to nuts having salt on them. We did not apply the wheel to the pepper chocolate.

Further Reading:

• Chocolate and Wine Tasting Wheel
• Wine Aroma Wheel
• 2011 Wine and Chocolate Weekend
• 2010 Wine and Chocolate Weekend

Review: English Estates Winery

A few weeks ago, my husband Burtle and I took a drive on a very rainy Saturday and sent to English Estates Winery in Vancouver, WA. This was the last of the Clark County wineries that we had not gone to, and yet it was the first one in the area.

English Estates Winery is next door to a rock quarry named the English plant, so English is actually more a neighborhood name than referring to the United Kingdom. The winery does grow some of their own grapes, though the city is starting to encroach.

They have a barn in which they have worked on, expanded, and set up the formation and tasting room. The tasting room impressed Burtle so much that he called it the best tasting room he had ever been in. Color wise, it was done up in mustard colors, kind of Tuscan, but it had exposed wood beams, and an area with a fireplace and winged back chairs to give it an English feel. It was very cozy. Being an older building, the concrete floor did slope a little, but when the built the bar, they built the bar level despite the floor. It does give a little bit of an optical illusion.

English Estates Winery is very different when it comes to their wine, so it isn’t like 99% of other wineries in the area. When we went, they had three white wines, a Monte Carlo, Moscato, and a Friday Night Blush. The last two were sweet. They specialize in pinot noir and pinot noir blends, and they don’t put the pinot noir in oak barrels. It kind of left for a softer red wine, though maybe a little less flavorful than I’m used to (unsure if that is pinot or the lack of oak, since both are rare for me). They also have a large selection of eight fortified nectars, where they take a wine, add back in some brandy to stabilize the wine. This higher level of alcohol allows them to add back in sugar without fear of the yeast eating the sugar. They had flavors like Moscato, pinot noir, and raspberry. Some are sweet, and some are semi-sweet.

Last of all, English Estates Winery offers their wines in the traditional 750 mL bottle, or a 3 L bag in a box (BIBB). The bag option is becoming more popular, as you can pour yourself a glass without having air enter the package. This means that you can drink from it indefinitely without spoilage, unlike normal wine bottles.

Overall, I was impressed. While they aren’t really near the other wineries in the county, they offer something different and unique, and for those reasons I recommend visiting them.

Cider Geek vs Snob Part II

The timing is a little weird, but about five minutes after I published yesterday’s blog about been a cider geek/snob, then this news article about “5 Hard Ciders Guests Will Like Better Than Beer” comes across my desk. I thought, so here is a chance for me to try and be more geeky and less snobby about what I consider less than desirable ciders. The author, Jason Notte makes the following suggestions:

• Magners
• Woodchuck
• Original Sin
• Samuel Smith’s
• Crispin

So my first reaction is that all of these ciders are rushed. That is to say, they are made more like beer in that they are bottled within six weeks from the start of fermentation. Someone who makes cider more like wine will let it age for at least nine months. But these cider producers work in volume – they don’t have time for aging, and rushing also cuts down on the amount of equipment they need. Secondly, and I could be mistaken on this but I don’t think so, these ciders are made from concentrate. In order to operate year round, they take the apple harvest and crush, press, and concentrate the juice so that they can rehydrate in the off season like May and ferment it. Thirdly, and I did verify this one, they all run an unnatural 4.5%-5% AVB with the exception of Original Sin, which is a more natural 6%. Unless they are using poor quality apples, the cider should naturally want to be a 6% AVB. This means to me that they are diluting it down or stopping fermentation prematurely. Either way, it is pasteurized to be shelf stable to prevent the yeast from consuming the rest of the sugar. This also means it is going to be a little bit sweet, yet maybe have more of that “apple flavor” people think cider should have (wine does not taste like grapes, so cider shouldn’t taste like apples). So overall, these techniques are very mass production factory work instead of small scale craft making.

That said:

• I think Magners has decent flavor, partly because it is an Irish cider. That is to say, America cut down all of its cider apple trees, so the American cider makers are using inferior eating apples.
• I find Woodchuck too sweet, and would recommend Original Sin instead.
• Samuel Smith’s Organic cider has a flaw in it that I have people drink for learning and as a party joke. Therefore, if someone is not looking to learn cider flaws, or is not in the mood for a party joke, then skip it.
• Crispin can be decent with the classic ciders, but I find their advertising “over ice” bizarre, and they also add a lot of adjuncts like honey, maple syrup, and more so that it doesn’t taste like cider anymore. This has me really has me questioning if they are challenging the beer market, or the malt beverage market. Instead, if you are lucky enough to live in an area that sells it, I would sort of steer people toward a company out of California that Crispin bought out – Fox Barrel. If they are going to add adjuncts, then it is going to be other fruits, but I just overall feel better about the product.

So, out of that list of five, I have two yes recommendations, and three nos.  I would like to believe that this makes me more of a geek than a snob, but maybe I have one too may nos?

Geek vs. Snob

We were out one evening at a pizza parlor with some friends and their friends, and one person in the party was the son of a winemaker. One of the women, who wanted to drink some wine, asked him which wine he recommended. None of them, he said. Period. He didn’t even offer up a suggested beer or cocktail, and this woman either had to drink nothing, or ignore his advice. What a snob.

And yet, my husband Burtle and I find ourselves in similar situations. Burtle wants to be a beer geek, but he says the line is sometimes blurry between that and being a snob. Both really know what they are talking about, and both can be picky. It just feels like being a geek is someone who says, “Oh man, I was really hoping for something better, but I’ll take what you have, happily.” A snob won’t make that compromise, or they will drink it unhappily.

I fight the battle with cider myself. There are a lot of times that I’m at a brew pub, and they only have one cider, and I think it is an inferior cider, but I still drink it. Though, admittedly, there are a few that are starting to creep into my view as not really drinkable, so I might skip it and drink nothing. I guess that is pushing me into being a snob. But there are other times where I’m with people and they ask my opinion on what cider to get, and I’ll encourage them to try those same ciders I don’t care for because I think they need to start developing their taste somewhere, and those ciders are easier to find. I can warn them that I don’t care for them, but maybe their taste is different, so they might like it. Maybe that pulls me back to geek level?

The New Cider Tour Map

I have mentioned before that I was trained as a map maker. Most of my work is actually analysis, like studying demographics at a place or relationships between places.

A year ago, I went through and created a tour map of drinks I had reviewed, places I had been, or production sites that seemed interesting. Originally, I did it in Google Maps, but it always felt wrong to me. See, I’m used to working with some really expensive software from Esri, whom I lovingly call the Microsoft of the mapping world. I’m used to having different datasets displayed on top of each other with the option to turn on and off layers. Only want to see cideries? Turn off everything else. Want to see cideries and meaderies? Turn the meaderies back on. Google would not allow me to do that, but Esri finally got a free online webmapping site up that allows me to control the data in a way that I’m used to doing. To boot, I also have a dataset which I upload and share, where as Google liked to strip out information when I tried to download and share. I’m not downloading anymore, just uploading.

So with that all said, I am now rolling out the first converted map: North American Cider Production Map. Check this and more out in the section Tour Maps.

PBS’s Prohibition

Next week, on January 16, 2012 mark the 92 years since the Volstead Act was ratified and became the 18^th Amendment to the US Constitution, being about the beginning of a 14 year era known as Prohibition.

Last October, PBS aired Prohibition by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It took me a little bit to get around to watching the 5 ½ hour show, which was available at my library. It kind of covers the era from about 1840s through the 1930s from all angles.

Interestingly, in the 1800s, there were saloons, where only men went to drink. As a result, women were very instrumental in having Prohibition come about, partly as a safety measure for their security, safety, and the wellbeing of the family. Men would take their wages and spend it all down at the saloon, and perhaps come home drunk and beat on everyone. The battered family would starve because he spent his paycheck in an age where women did not work outside the home. There were other sides to the debate, such as Anglo-Protestant Americans being against alcohol, trying to save the drinking immigrants, but the idea of a space where only men went and how women protested is interesting to me. In addition, when Prohibition was in place, women actually began to go places to drink. It created a shift creating more gender equality, while creating a shift in space by closing saloons and opening female friendly speakeasies.

Prohibition was actually an amendment to the Constitution, as people at the time believed that this was the only way, since no other amendment had ever been overturned. Historians, however, talk about how it is ironic it is that the Constitution is about limiting government for the sake of personal freedoms, and Prohibition limits personal freedoms. One historian commented something to the extent that, “If you wanted people to brush their teeth, outlaw toothpaste. People will then start secretly brushing their teeth.”

Ultimately, Prohibition failed because people who supported it thought people would obey just to obey. Very little money was actually set aside for the enforcement of the law. People still wanted their alcohol, which created an illegal black market. This black market paid off a lot of officials, which really created an age of uncertainty and corruption.  Police would turn a blind eye to the distilling distribution wars that were happening, powerless to stop them. Also, once you have people breaking one law, it makes them less likely to follow others. And if you cops are corrupt and not enforcing one law, they may not enforce others.

I am obviously simplifying this era too much, but the show Prohibition walks you through all this and more, talking about the times, specific people and events, terms, culture, politics, and much more. For instance, Prohibition actually brought about today’s modern system of lobbying. Most of it is historians talking with black and white photos being shown and ragtime music in the background. I also like it how a few people are interviewed who lived in the times, or whose parents were somehow involved in either side of the battle. Prohibition is a well done, informative show about America’s history with alcohol during the 1840-1930s.

Hobbyist Moonshinin’

Max Watman, in closing of Chasing the White Dog, basically swears off being a distiller/moonshiner, even if he was only doing a pint at a time. He struggles with the “moral ambiguity” of being a hobbyist distiller, equating to something like a person who grows marijuana for himself and friends, which is different than someone who sets up a marijuana farm business. He did acquire some moonshine, the stuff made for pure profit, and said it was awful and needed to be regulated for health and safety. The stuff a hobbyist would make isn’t for profit, and he argues that it should be legalized. He says that with the way current laws are written, where one household can make not sellable 300 gallons of beer or wine a year (I was lead to believe it was 200 gallons, but maybe the laws changed), if you took all 300 of those gallons and distilled them at 10% conversion rate, you would have 30 gallons of spirit. He then alludes to the suggested idea that spirit sales would not decrease because people would want to test it out against store bought stuff (I have heard this to be a myth in New Zealand, where home distilling is legal, and supposedly spirit sales did not decrease). Watman thinks that if the government is really that scared about losing its tax money, hobbyists should have the option of paying $150 licensing fee a year without the ability to sell their spirits.

I have to say, I like this thinking. I recently poured five gallons of cider down the drain because it had a yeast film infection I couldn’t seem to get rid of. If I had bottled it, the infection would have come back. I could have pasteurized it, but I’m not set up to do that many bottles. Not that I’m set up to do distilling, either, but it would have been something new. And five gallons would have ended up as half a gallon of apple brandy, if that. Not only that, but in 2010, I made about 50 gallons of cider and wine, and I only did 40 gallons in 2011. I think, maybe if I could distill, I would ramp up production to make maybe a gallon of spirits (10 gallons more of cider?) a year, because I honestly don’t drink spirits that much. I sip cider and wine, but I down a cocktail. So the way I drink is faster, and my body just can’t handle the higher alcohol. However, I would be making pommeau.

Thing is, I’ve seen stove top stills in stores, and it wouldn’t be that hard with the internet to either buy one online or find plans to build one, which is what Watman did. I also do not think I would be caught by any authority. I know that sounds cocky, which is exactly why I can’t just be a moonshiner. There is a chance that I would be caught, and then I could never open my cider house, and who knows what other issues that would create with my career, and even that of my husband’s.

Oh, but I wish I could!

Book Review: Chasing the White Dog

I recently finished reading Chasing the White Dog by Max Watman, published in 2010. “White dog” is the term used for unaged whiskey, as all distilled spirits are clear until they have been aged in wood barrels, which is when the spirit turns gold. Watman takes you through moonshine history, research, interviews, and his own attempts at making moonshine. And when I say “moonshine,” I mean not licensed for distilling.

The book is laid out in such a way that Watman takes you through a chapter with his interviews, history, and research, followed by another chapter about his own personal experience. The quality of the two is so vastly different when read by somebody who does homebrewing and makes wine and cider read it. Watman’s research side is thorough, entertaining, and sometimes even poetic. He makes an excellent history book writer. However, juxtaposed to his own personal experience, he seems to have skipped doing research on fermentation. He is so anxious to distill that it is like he learned to run before he learned to walk, and he doesn’t understand why he is having problems distilling as a result. For example, my biggest problem happens when he attempts to make hard cider to distill into “apple jack.” Wrong – applejack is cold distillation. What he is doing is making apple eau da vie. He says the cider stinks, which he doesn’t know could have been avoided with the use of yeast nutrient. He thinks he has a ruined batch after about maybe a month, and procrastinating for another two months or longer, is surprised when it becomes clear and tastes better. That’s because cider really should not be consumed before three months, and if he waited nine months total, it would be even better yet. This holds true for any wine. I will give him points for knowing that adding sugar to apple juice to make cider will not gain him any friends among the craft-distillers with that method.

However, if you can get past his trials, he does a considerable amount of research on moonshine history and how today’s perception came about. He also researched court cases and sits in one one, and tours the areas that these happen. What is kind of neat is that he also attempts to find people who drink moonshine along with those who enforce laws and do NASCAR. These stories are all very amusing and he manages to write some poetic lines, though sometimes he gets a little off topic.

If you know nothing about making beer and wine, then I think you will find Chasing the White Dog an entertaining read about modern East Coast liquor enforcement. If you do know something about making beer and wine, then I think you will find this book entertaining with a dash of annoyance.

Meme Cat