The Desert Wine Guy - How To Read A Wine Label

   For wine lovers who may be just beginning to discover wine and maybe even for those of you who are casual wine drinkers but find the label on a bottle of American wine confusing or intimidating here is a short article on just what you are seeing on a wine label. Lets go ahead and look at the label I have included. Lets start off with the first item on the label we are going to look at which is....

  

1 - The 2001 in this case is the year that the grapes for the wine were picked.

2 - This would be the name of the Winery at or the brand name. It is not always where the grapes

     were grown.

3 - For line number 3 this is where the grapes came. If the “American Viticultu

ral Area” such as Napa

     is on the label that means that at least 85% of the grapes for that wine HAD to come from that

     region. If there is a county stated there than at least 75% of the grapes for that wine had to come

     from that county. If there is simply a state located in this spot then 100% of the grapes had to

     come from California.

4 - At times you will see the actual name of a specific Vineyard on the label. That simply indicates

     that 95% of the grapes for the wine came from that actual Vineyard.

5 - If you see “produced and bottled by” on the label than you know that the person who produced

     the wine is also the same person who bottled the wine. If you see “Estate Bottled” that means that

     the wine is made from grapes that come from the producers Vineyard.

6 - Here is where you will see the wine making information such as whether the wine was “barrel

     fermented”, “sur lie” or “oak aged” tell you more about the style or flavor of that particular wine.

7 - The actual location of the bottler is listed here.

8 - Here is where the volume of Alcohol is located.

9 - This line has the information on the volume of the contents. A standard wine bottle has a volume

     of 750 ml which is equal to five glasses of wine.

I hope this article assists you in your search for that perfect bottle of wine.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

The Desert WIne Guy - The Story Of The Desert Wine Guy - Part 1

   Welcome to part #1 of the story of The Desert Wine Guy which includes the birth of Angel and Mirror Image Vineyards. Those of you who follow The Desert Wine Guy on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy?ref=hl, my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos and my wine blog http://www.desertwineguy.blogspot.com/ now that I live in the desert of Las Vegas and I grow wine grapes. What you probably don't know is that I am married to a wonderful women and have 3 beautiful children. I choose to do my wine Facebook, wine blog and YouTube channel on my off time since I work long days in the Law Enforcement field. I have lived in Las Vegas 26 years and am originally from Brooklyn, N.Y. This whole wine thing started when I originally went to Napa Valley California around 20 years ago and fell in live with the whole grapevine thing. The peace of the Vineyards and the whole wine tasting environment I found simply amazing. How can I grow grapes in the desert I wondered. Oh well I thought, at least I can dream. While originally believing like most people do that you cannot grow wine grapes or anything except cactus in the soil, heat and dryness ( lack of humidity ) of the Las Vegas desert I have since discovered that this belief is simply untrue. I started off at first by undertaking the mighty challenge of growing a small garden. I developed a small garden over the past two years which grew very well and I was at first happy at that......at first. Then I started to do some (what I figured at the time) wishful thinking. I figured hey I’m really pushing my luck here, I've won out over the desert I should leave well enough alone. Well as you can probably guess by now my vision didn't end there. While at the local plant store one year I was wandering around and discovered that they actually sold wine grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot etc. That along with my visits to the Napa Valley as well as Temecula California and finally the vineyards in Pahrump Nevada which is around an hour from Las Vegas started me thinking. I wonder if these vines will grow here in Las Vegas and I wonder if I could grow these grape vines. I had concerns about the so called poor soil here in Las Vegas and of course the heat and dryness (lack of humidity). These three thing I felt would really do a number on grape vines. Then I started thinking that if I can grow Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant and those sort of things here in the direct sunlight and in the so called "poor soil" then maybe I really could pull this grape thing off. Wow, I thought. My very own vineyard, growing wine grapes right here in my own backyard. With all my research and everything when it came down to growing wine grapes I still knew nothing though. I mean the plant stores sell the vines for a reason, people must buy them and people must buy them because they actually grow them. I still couldn't believe it. Those of you who have visited Las Vegas in the Summer probably have doubts yourselves. I continued my reading and research online on wine and how the quality varied from year to year and why this would happen. I researched the ideal weather conditions for the grapes I wanted to grow. While doing the research I kept seeing that the weather that Cabernet Sauvignon likes is the heat. This combined with the fact that rain is actually not good for grapes because it can actually seep into the grape and ruin the taste of it as well as split the grape. Finally I decided I had read and learned enough ( I thought ) to at least venture to the plant store and look at the vines. I figured I could pick the guys brain and get some more information on how they grow. Well the idea of just learning on that trip didn't last too long. I left the store with around 6 Cabernet Sauvignon vines and headed home. On the drive home I was so excited. I thought I am actually going to give this wine thing in the desert a try. As I already have said I have always loved grape vineyards ever since that first trip to Napa Valley years ago so here is where it led me. Taking a few reinforcement trips to the Pahrump and Temecula California vineyards kept the love of the vineyard in my heart. Oh well I thought, I have to learn some time. And so off I went to the future home of Angel & Mirror Image Vineyards ( my backyard ) and developing legacy of The Desert Wine Guy. I proceeded to plant the Cabernet Sauvignon vines I bought without much real hope inside that I would succeed. I mean those people who did manage to grow these vines surely had special soil or knowledge way beyond what I had. Well since I had bought these vines while not in their dormant stage and probably about two years old the easy part I again figured would be planting. I mostly thought that in a few days they would start to shrivel up and eventually die. When that didn't happen I thought that they were only alive and seemed to be doing well because the real heat of the desert wasn't here yet. Wait until the temperatures start reaching into the mid ninety’s then we will see these vines die quickly. Well the heat of the Las Vegas desert came and stayed for a few weeks and still the vines were alive and growing like crazy. Then came the big surprise, the vines started flowering only I had no idea what what was going on. I guess with all my researching I didn't discover the growing stages of the actual grapes. I checked my vines every day and one day it appeared that the small flowers that were growing looked as if they were now dying. Once again I thought “I knew it was too good to be true”, I thought my grapes had died. A couple of days later I noticed that the flowers that I thought had died had now turned into little buds. All this while the heat was rising. Well anyway the buds I learned were grapes and they were getting bigger. I now went nuts calling my wife and children outside to see what was the beginning of my wine grapes. I had succeeded, I was growing wine grapes in the Las Vegas desert. I also thought ( wrongly ) that the hard part was over..... 

                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy

   

The Desert WIne Guy - Is It Champagne Or Sparkling Wine?

   In the desire to keep this blog honest I feel it necessary to tell you, my readers that I got the Champagne making process (only) from another website. While I did tweak the wording at times a lot of it remained intact from the original writer. I was going to reveal his name but believe it or not the article did NOT have an authors name to post. The rest of the article is mine. I hope you enjoy the article as a whole and learn a little bit about Champagne or Sparkling Wine as I have done.

    The holidays are over but throughout the year we still find cause to celebrate special events. Today we will talk about Sparkling Wine and Champagne. Lets start off with a fact that I don't think most people know. The only Champagne on the store shelves come from the French region of …...you guessed it, Champagne, France. Technically, it is the only sparkling wine that can be referred to as "Champagne."Until recently, some American wine-makers took advantage of a loop-hole in international law and were calling their sparkling wine ‘Champagne’. As you can probably already guess the French government as well as the French people were upset. That issue has since been fixed and now no decent and respectful wine maker outside the Appellation of Champagne would dare call their product, however refined, champagne. I don't know about you but I didn't learn that until about a year ago and it was from reading an article in Wine Spectator Magazine. By the way in all the wine reading and research I have done over the last few years the name Dom Perignon does not even come up anymore. I haven't seen them even in the top 20 ratings of Champagne. Keep that in mind the next time you are out somewhere and you see this wine and it's price on the menu. What is Champagne besides that bubbly, fizzy loudly cork popping drink that we celebrate with? Champagne is actually mostly made from the wine grapes Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay although there are 8 different types of grapes that can be used. The entire process involves the following steps.

1. 
   Pressing: Grapes will be pressed as soon as possible, especially with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, as skin contact with these dark skinned varietals will soon begin to taint the juice if left on the skins.
2. First Fermentation: The next step is the first of a total of two fermentation’s takes place. A key factor in this first fermentation is that it be relatively quick and warm. The emphasis here is to produce a relatively neutral wine that is high in acidity.
3. Blending: The blending process in Champagne is what sets this region apart from just about any other wine producing region in the world. Most wine regions produce a new vintage of a particular wine every year, the Champenoise are master blenders. Although in a good year many domains will produce a vintage champagne, the Champenoise pride themselves on their masterful skills of blending multiple vintages to create a signature “house style”. Perhaps the epitome of this artful skill is evidenced in the wines of Krug, where up to 7 different vintages are blended to create their multi-vintage cuvee.
4. Second Fermintation: The wine is then bottled with a crown cap like beer and left to begin a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Here, active yeast will begin consuming the available sugar, resulting in the anaerobic production of alcohol within this sealed bottle. A by-product of this fermentation is carbon dioxide, which if not allowed to escape into the atmosphere, results C02 which is dissolved into the wine a.k.a., bubbles. This second fermentation generally takes between 4-8 weeks.
5. Lees aging: The wine now starts a period of ageing in the bottle where the wine will interact with the dead yeast cells (lees) and which will mostly influence the flavor and texture of the champagne when completed. This process is known as “autolysis”. Flavor characteristics relative to this bio-chemical process include nuances of baked bread, roasted nuts, and salty cheese. Chardonnay in particular is a varietal that benefits greatly from this lengthy autolytic ageing process. By law, non-vintage Champagne must age a minimum of 15 months on their lees, although most age between 18-24 months. Tarlant’s NV Cuvee Louis spends an incredible seven years on the lees. Vintage champagnes must age a minimum of 3 years on the lees, with many wines far exceeding this requirement.
6. Remuage / riddiling: Once the champagne has completed its extended lees ageing and is ready to be bottled it will go through a process known as “remuage”. This procedure is aimed at loosening the dead yeast cells and sediment  that has formed at the bottom of the bottle, and slowly moving it towards the neck of the bottle which it will be removed or disgorged.
7. Disorgement: This process involves removing the dead yeast/sediment in the neck of the bottle. Most often this is achieved by submerging the neck of the champagne bottle into a cold brine, thus quickly freezing the dead yeast matter that has collected in the neck. Once the crown cap is removed, pressure from the dissolved Co2 expediently pushes out this yeast plug, and voila, the champagne has been disgorged. 
8. Dosage: A measured amount of champagne and cane sugar will be added to the finished wine. This is known as the “liqueur d’expedition”. The amount of this mixture, known as “dosage” will determine the final sweetness level and style of champagne. In certain instances, no liqueur d’expedition will be added, resulting in a wine with zero dosage. Brut style champagnes are next on the dryness level with residual sugar falling between 5-15 grams per liter. Brut champagnes are amongst the most popular style of Champagne in the United States.
9. Re-corking: After a cork is inserted, a protective wire cap is placed over the bottle to help secure the cork and bottle. The wine is then shaken vigorously, in order to help integrate the wine with the liqueur d’expedition. The finished wine will now rest anywhere from several weeks to several months (and in some cases longer) before it is sent out into the big bad  world of wine shops, restaurants and connoisseurs.
   So now we have learned a little bit about the drink so many of us love to to celebrate good times with. I myself don,t like Champagne. I do however like a Spumante (Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante) in a Sparkling Wine which is the sweetest type of Sparkling Wine with a Brut being the driest.
   
   
   
   
                                                                                                            
   
   
   
                                                 
                                                                                                             The Desert Wine Guy
   

The Desert WIne Guy - 2012 Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Merlot.

  

  

 

  With Springtime (and the heat) right around the corner I thought that I would do a last minute review on a Merlot. Start looking for some Springtime wines to be reviewed soon. Having said that today's review will be on the 2012 Coppola Merlot that was bought by my wife for $12.99 at a local gas station. I am not expecting much and there is nothing available on line concerning it but it was a nice thought from Mrs. Desert Wine Guy. A little bit about the Coppola wineries. Coppola vineyards is owned by Francis ( of The Godfather fame) and Eleanor Coppola. The Vineyard is located in Geyserville, California and is the former home to Chateau Souverain Winery. According to the Coppola vineyards website the grapes for the “Diamond Collection” are grown from various vineyards across California. By the way the actor Nicholas Cage, (great actor) whose real name is actually Nicholas Kim Coppola is a nephew of Francis Ford Coppola. 

    Now off we go to the review. The review started off a little rocky. The wine was very jammy with a slightly overpowering Bing Cherry mixed with Cranberry Juice for it's flavor,  There were very slight tannins that did come out later in the tasting. Almost tastes like flavored cherry drink with a Cranberry finish. very slight body to it. This wine would make an OK summer wine with hot dogs and chips at the barbecue. At $13 I believe it a little overpriced since there are more serious Merlots available at that price. The wine poured a medium Purplish in color and rested in the glass with a Cranberry color. When swirled and tasted, the wine had an almost overpowering Cherry Cranberry Juice and I thought at times I detected a slight hint of Chocolate. You might think that since I tasted these flavors in the wine that it has some complexity, well sorry to disappoint but it doesn't. The wine is mostly straight forward Cherry & Cranberry. There are some other flavors but nothing other that would steer the flavor away from those two. 

    Here is my final two cents on the wine. It is kind of funny that at the opening of this review I promised a Springtime wine review because that is what I ended up doing here. I guess that's ok because it is the season. read on and you will have the first Spring wine review. For $13 dollars I find this wine slightly overpriced due to the fact that I have reviewed very good wines for a couple of dollars more. I assume the winery believes that the name Coppola should add a few dollars more to the price of the bottle. Don't get me wrong I would still buy the wine again however if you are after a serious Merlot this is not it. This is a summertime let's barbeque in the sun type of red wine. Don't take it to seriously. Maybe it wasn't made to be taken too seriously, who knows. I would also suggest that if you want to get the different flavors I found (as little as they were) that you open the wine 45 minutes prior to drinking it.

    Have a great spring everyone. As a preview of the next review, Mrs. Desert Wine Guy is at the store right now picking me up a white "Jug Wine" for review as a mixer with juice. I thought that would be fun. Till then, take care.

                                                                                                        The Desert Wine Guy 

 

The Desert WIne Guy - Scallops With White Wine Sauce

                                                             

    Scallops With White Wine Sauce

   

Ingredients:

PREP 20 mins                                            
COOK 20 mins
READY 40 mins

1/4 cup white wine                                     24 Sea Scallops

1/4 cup white wine vinegar                  1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 tablespoon shallots                               Salt And Pepper To Taste

1/2 cup heavy cream                                 3/4 Cup Butter

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine white wine, wine vinegar, and shallots. Cook until liquid is almost evaporated, approximately 1 tablespoon left. Stir in heavy cream and let boil down until reduced by half. Stir in butter 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each to melt before adding the next. Keep warm while preparing the scallops.
2. Preheat oven on broiler setting.
3. Brush scallops with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place under preheated broiler for 2 minutes on each side, until scallops are opaque, with a bit of brown around the edges. Place a spoonful of sauce on each plate, and top with 4 scallops.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy 

 

 

                                    
  
  

The Desert Wine Guy - Cameron Hughes Lot 387 Merlot

   Welcome back to The Desert Wine Guys wine blog. Today we will take a look at a wine from Cameron Hughes which is a Merlot named Lot 387. This wine is made from 100% Oakville fruit from the Napa Valley. There is a mix of fruit making up our Merlot with the breakdown being as follows. 87% being Merlot & 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Alcohol in our wine is listed at 14% with a total production of 6,500 cases being produced. Mr. Hughes says that the wine used for Lot 387 is from a "family well known for farming the best dirt in Oakville but which only has a small wine label of their own.  The Cabernet components are sourced from Stagecoach vineyard and two other $100+ cab producers – it even has a few barrels of Hughes Wellman Petit verdot and Malbec components”. So just who is Cameron Hughes? When I think of the name I for some reason think of 80's movies (John Hughes). In all actuality Cameron Hughes is the man who is taking the wine industry by storm and while he is upsetting some people in the wine industry because he is buying wine or grapes that would normally be bought by others to sell for a pretty penny he is selling the same wine for $10-$20 only under his label. By the way Mr. Hughes has five (5) labels which include the reviewed wine (the Lot series) as well as Hughes Wellman, Zin Your Face, Ch California as well as the CAN Series. Is Mr. Hughes a benefit for us middle class wine drinkers? Well that depends on just how good the wine is. Read on and you will find out. It turns out Cameron Hughes is actually an American "negociant". What Mr. Cameron does is buy up whole or partial lots of grapes from very prominent vineyards who for various reasons feel they will benefit by selling their grapes to him. Mr. Hughes is also the first wine negociant to release 500 wines in the first 10 years of production. Mr. Hughes does not himself make wine however. While researching about Cameron Hughes and his way of making wine I came across the following response which is supposedly from him. At the risk of making this article long I am going to post that response. From what the Lot 387 bottle itself said I feel that the response is in keeping from what little snippets I can find out about him and his vision so I am comfortable in including this response here. In order to consolidate space I have changed the format of the response but nothing else.
   "Hi All,Craig - glad you liked the Lot 230 Chalk Hill. John - this is actually a wine we make with a grower partner. One of the misconceptions we have been trying to reverse is that we simply buy winery bulk overstock, re blend and sell. That is how we started but its no longer the case - we make well over half our wine now through a series of partnerships with wineries, custom-crush facilities, and growers - some with wineries or facilities, some not. We lease thousands of barrels (added just shy of 1MM of new wood just last February) which we deploy around the state and we write all our fermentation protocols and have an on-staff viticulturist to monitor vineyards. I talk myself blue in the face but the US Wine Press just wants to play the angle of the vulture that swoops in and picks off high-end bulk from distressed wineries - which is rarely the case, even over the last few years (which, I have to admit, even surprised me - I assumed we would be buying whole cellars worth of wine from upside down entities but it really only happened twice - once with Havens (which wasn't really downturn related at all) and again with another winery that shall remain unmentioned). To answer your question on whether it is first run or inferior juice is, well, it depends. I guess the word inferior is pretty relative so really not useful here. I do buy component lots that didn't fit into the blend for whatever reason - they are not usually as good as the finished wine from the producer but no component wine ever is - that's why it's a component. Once we blend them out (we have access to hundreds of lots of bulk wine that we own at any given time) we feel we more often than not make better wine. We also buy final blend wine which we pay top dollar for and those situations are typically to provide cash flow back to wineries for bottling purposes, hiccups, etc or to rightsize inventories. We also buy mistakes - one of which was a $50 Cabernet out of Happy Canyon/Santa Ynez that had elevated VA or Brett (I can't remember which) and once filtered no longer made the cut for $50 Cabernet. They blended it out with other components into a Meritage and sold it to us. We finalized a blend and sold it for $12. We "bought" (in our partnerships we really don't by fruit but rather price it out in gallons with various contractual quality stipulations and then pay for it as it goes into the bottle) 1,000's of tons of fruit in 2011 from all over the state but 100's of tons out of Napa. I think you'll see the strength of the program - flexibility in sourcing - reflected in our 2011 Napa Cabs...all south facing, well-drained, elevated sites that could withstand a few inches of rain which fell as we expected it would. I am confident that, once run through an optical sorter, we pulled some of the best fruit in Napa Valley this year out of Meteor, Heimark and Stagecoach vineyards to mention a few. The rest of our sourcing focused on regions we could bring in before the rain...Lodi, Lake, and Monterey and other central coast areas with great fruit at great prices. Cheers! Cameron"
   I will now move on to the actual review of the Lot 387. I bought this wine at Costco the other day for $12 figuring that Mr. Hughes idea sounded like a good one and his wine was worth a try. I am very pleased that I listened to my gut.
   The wine poured a medium purplish in color pour. In the glass the color was of a Dark Cherry. The wine almost seemed to be sparkling in the glass when held it up to the light.
    The Bouquet was powerful and stood out with Blackberry & Current as well as a slight hint of Oak. One interesting thing to point out in this wine is the fact that the bouquet actually benefited from NOT being swirled. Yes you read that right. It seemed that every time I swirled the wine glass the bouquet left but when I let the wine sit for a few minutes in between sips the bouquet came back. Weird I know but true and a demand I will gladly comply with.
    Now for our tasting part of this review. On the pallet the wine was full of Blackberry, Black cherry and slight hints of Oak and a lighter cherry as well. Each of the flavors was nicely balanced and along with the extremely refined Tannins combined for a very complete and almost velvety taste. The wine was very smooth, silky and yet at the same time complex in the overall taste which is a compliment to talent of the winemaker. There is not one flavor that overpowered the other.
   In closing  I would say the best word to use for drinking this wine is "savor". The wine was also more pleasing to the pallet when taking in small sips and, as I already said above letting the glass sit for a minute or so. This shouldn't be hard because this is a classy wine that deserves to be drank with dignity and sipped while winding down from a hard day or week.I would also recommend that the wine decant for a couple of hours since it does seem to open up as time goes on. If you are patient 
with this wine you will benefit handsomely with a simply outstanding wine. Give it time to breath and sip on it and you will be going back for more. This wine would go perfect with a nice medium rare steak or perhaps Lamb. I place this wine at a 93 on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale.
   If you enjoyed this review and would like to check in with me, The Desert Wine Guy on a regular basis please go to my Facebook which you can find at https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy?ref=hl or see my videos on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

The Desert Wine Guy - Choosing The Right Stemware For Your Wine.

   Do you have a favorite wine glass that you drink white or red wine out of? How important is the wine glass to your enjoyment of your wine? Today we are going to find out because today we are going to look at the wine glass itself and just how important it is. The first point to remember here is that like anything else that is sold there is marketing involved and wine glasses are no different. Here is an example of what I am talking about. One of the things we will discuss in this article is a part of the wine glass known as the stem. The most obvious purpose of the stem most people would say is to hold the glass. The stem however, is much more than just something to use in order to hold a glass as we will see down below. Why are there stemless glasses? This is a perfect example of marketing. Because something is new and different people will take to it....at least at first they will. Why are there colored glasses when I thought one of the factors in  rating a wine is how the wine pours or looks in the glass? That is just another example of marketing. We are going to move into the main body of the article now and break down each part of the wine glass and their function(s).

Base/Foot - The first part of the wine glass we will look at is called the base or the foot. The base has the sole purpose of keeping the glass upright. The base does not effect the taste of the wine as we probably already know.

Stem - Coming out from the base is the stem. The purpose of the stem is for you to hold the glass. The stem as we discussed in the opening of this article is there to also make sure that you do not warm the wine you are drinking. Why would you put a wine in the refrigerator to chill only to warm the wine when you have it in your hand? The stem also supports the bowl which is where the wine is kept. The stem also does not effect the taste of the wine. The stem also serves the purpose of keeping your fingerprints off the glass, again appreciation of the wine. We see now that a stemless wine glass is simply a fad and something that should not be taken seriously.

Bowl - The bowl is the section of the glass we pour the wine into. The bottom of the bowl is usually wider than the top of the bowl which serves a very important function. A well designed wine glass will gather the bouquet of the wine together towards your nose so that you can appreciate the bouquet of the wine. Remember here that the bouquet effects what and how we taste. I think that a lot of people forget or simply don't know that our sense of smell goes right along with our taste. Have you ever had a cold and had trouble breathing and noticed that your taste was also off? The reason why is our sense of smell goes hand in hand with taste. This is also one reason we swirl the wine which in turn releases the aromas in the wine so that they can be funneled toward the opening in the bowl which is where our nose is and therefore also why we stick our nose into the glass. Try this experiment. Hold your nose tightly and put some spicy food in your mouth. Do you taste it? The bowl shouldn't have anything that detracts from the swirl of the wine or the appearance of the wine. A red wine bowl will also be shorter that a white wine bowl. The bowl in a wine glass is very important to the taste of the wine. The bowl should also be big enough to be able to pour at least 6 oz of wine and still leave enough room for our swirl. There are also glasses specially made for Champagnes which are called Flutes. They are Tulip shaped and are the best for Champagne due to the carbonation in the Champagne. This shape also helps ensure that the bubbles in the carbonation  and the flavor remain in the glass longer since the bubbles are instrumental in the flavor.

Lip - The lip or edge of the bowl is where we drink the wine from. The lip of a red wine is wider that the lip of a white wine glass because the aroma is said to be less delicate and directs the wine to the back and sides of the mouth. The thinner the lip is also means that the glass detracts less from the wine.

Material - The one thing we have left to talk about for wine glasses is material. There is glass, Crystal and Titanium Crystal (fairly new) and I guess even plastic that can be used for wine. Wine glasses that are made from glass are great for large parties since they can go right into the dishwasher when done with and if one breaks just go back to the dollar store and buy another one. If I was having a large party I would use inexpensive (all purpose) glasses for my wine since I probably wouldn't be serving expensive wine anyway. When it comes to me enjoying a nice bottle of wine or performing a wine tasting I use my crystal wine glasses made by Libbey of all names. I actually use the Platinum Collection which is Titanium Crystal (see the picture). The crystal is very thin however and care must be taken so as to not break it. These glasses are actually available on EBay right now for $13 for a set of 4 so you do not have to spend a lot to get a beautiful set of crystal wine glasses. You can use hot water and just a tiny bit of soap to clean these in the sink, wiped down with a soft lint free towel or cloth and they are ready for the display case again. Is the material important scientifically? Well honestly no ones really knows for sure. Crystal is rougher that glass and that might add the ability to assist with the bouquet as the wine swirls across the glass. Other then that there is no evidence that materials matter. I myself however, could never sit down (if I had any say in the matter) and drink wine from a plastic cup. Call me a wine snob that is fine but I do believe that wine does demand some sort of class.

Conclusion -  I am not a believer in all the wine snobbery by any means, but wine is not beer. I actually wrote an article a few months ago on this blog about the wine hype (marketing) and how a lot of it is truly nonsense. Maximilian Riedel, the 11th generation of famed Riedel glass maker and CEO of Riedel Crystal America says this about his favorite wine glass “My favorite glass has an emotional connection; it’s the first varietal specific glass ever created (by my grandfather), a Pinot Noir glass (the Riedel Sommeliers Burgundy Grand Cru / Pinot Noir Wine Glass)which holds 37 ounces, more than a single bottle."  In an April 6, 2011 article of Wine Spectator Magazine entitled "It's Just a Wineglass", writer Tim Fish says "If you're ready to move up, a good, entry-level glass will cost between $6 and $10. The first thing to remember is to keep it simple. Start with two types of glasses: one for reds and one for whites, or more specifically, use "Bordeaux" and "Burgundy" glasses designed to bring out the best of the aromas and flavors of particular wine types." This I feel is great advice. If you have decided to move from plastic to real glass there are lower lines of crystal glass wear that you can purchase. This will indeed show you that there is a difference in the taste of the wine and the bouquet. After you make this jump into glassware or upgrade in glassware the sky is the limit on how much you can spend but in my opinion spending a lot of money is unnecessary. Some final words pertaining to glassware. Have a set of wine glasses for times when you have a large group of company and are not planning on doing a wine tasting. An inexpensive set of wine glasses set you back $10 for a set of four and that is well worth the piece of mind when it comes to a shattered glass that you can just clean up and throw away and not think twice about as opposed to a glass that shatters and you just broke up a beautiful set of wine glasses. Have another set for you and your "special" friends, those friends that appreciate a good wine and a good vessel to drink it from. I am sure some friends come to mind as you read this. These types of glass can set you back $40 or so however I challenge you to find the Libbey glasses I mentioned above, at your favorite wine store and tell me you are disappointed with them. With that being said you actually have no excuse for drinking good or even semi-decent wine out of a plastic cup. For around the same price you can have the Libbey Crystal glasses I mentioned. I am sure that every maker has the same line of glass for about the same price. I hope this article shed some light on the wine glass issue. I hope that those of you who have newly discovered wine or made your very first trip to Napa Valley will have enjoyed the wines so much that they will go right out and buy a decent set of wine glasses that suite their own needs. 
   If you have enjoyed this article please check out my Facebook which is dedicated solely to wine. This is more of a personally look into me (The Desert Wine Guy) and his two backyard vineyards. Here is the link and I hope to hear from you there.
https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy?ref=hl

                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                           The Desert Wine Guy

The Desert Wine Guy - 2007 Huntington Cellars Chardonnay

   Today's review is on the 2007 Huntington Cellars Chadonnay. Nicolaus (Nicky) and Gaby Hahn founded their first vineyards in the late ‘70s in Monterey County. Started in 1988 Huntington Cellars is located (according to the wine bottle) in Grayton California however their website puts them in Napa Valley California. While the two areas are fairly close they are not the same. The winery on a map is actually located very close to Santa Rosa California instead. According to the Huntington Wines website the Hahn family of Nicolaus (Nicky) & Gaby Hahn (who own the Huntington label) live part-time in Northern Kenya , Africa and the other half of the time in the United States. They own "Mugie Ranch" in Kenya which has a school, farm and wildlife preserve. The Hahns say that the sales of the Huntington Cellars label benefit a Scholarship Fund for higher education for children in Kenya. Every bottle of Huntington Cellars wines also features an artists series of Gaby Hahns paintings.
   Now it's time for the review of this Chardonnay. Wherever the vineyard is truly located they have the right soil for grape growing. Let's start by breaking this down by subject here starting with visually since Huntington Cellars opted to stand out with a green bottle.
    I personally think that if you have a nice color to your white (especially) wine that you should be proud of it and show it off and not cover it up, after all wine is also judged on its color as one of it's pluses or negatives. You would (in my opinion) only cover something when you have something to hide. In this case there really is nothing to hide because there is no real color to show off so I guess we know why they chose a green bottle. A pour of the wine showed it to be a mostly clear in color wine with only a very slight hint of yellowish Gold. Color wise don't expect anything special because you will be disappointed in that category. Now on to the bouquet of this wine.
   Now lets get to the good part because this review does end up turning out O.k in the end depending on your needs. Let's move on to the Bouquet. This wine does have a nice bouquet that hits your nose with heavy oak initially after opening which is followed closely by Apricot & Nectarine. There was also a sense of a soft buttery type of bouquet to the wine. There was a hint in the bouquet of Apple as well as Peach also mixed however it remained deep in the wine yet not too deep where you could not detect in sufficient quantities. This is also one of those wines that when left to sit for a few must be swirled again to bring out the bouquet however once it comes back out it is nice but it does not stay long.
   Now we will move onto the taste of our Chardonnay. This is where the wine excels. While it is not a sweet wine by any means I would describe the overall taste of

this Chardonnay as "Bright Acidity". I think that when you read that description and you are familiar with Chardonnay you will understand what I mean. For those of you who have no experience with Chardonnays let me explain. The fruit of the wine has a moderately acidic taste and (of course) it is fruity at the same time. If done right this is a great combination and in this case it was done right. The buttery, Apricot/Nectarine taste is closely interconnected in this wine with one not standing out over the other. The remainder of the fruit, the apple and peach are in the finishing end of this wine. This wine is very pleasant to drink.
   In closing I would recommend one thing. I ended up coming to the conclusion that despite my unwillingness or dislike to chill a wine this Chardonnay does require it if you want the full taste. I also would let this wine sit open for a half an hour because it will tone down the oakey initial bouquet as well as taste in it. I thought the taste of the wine was decent and the bouquet nice for the short time it lasted. Bottom line here is this.This wine is kind of a mixed bag. To begin with there is nothing visually appealing about this wine. The bouquet while nice when swirled does not last long at all requiring the glass to constantly be swirled. The taste when left to sit open in the bottle is nice and I did enjoy it. If you are looking for just the taste which I guess is the biggest part of something you drink, then it will be good. If on the other hand you are looking for the complete package then you should look somewhere else.


                                                                                                        The Desert Wine Guy

The Desert Wine Guy - The Grapevine, Let's Talk about It.

   Today we will look at what makes up a grape vine as well as the names and purpose of each part of the vine. For your assistance I have provided a diagram if needed to help you follow along.

Roots - The roots are simply the part of the vine that allow it to get it's nutrients from the soil. There are actually two kinds of roots the vine has. The first type of root is called subterranean. These quick growing roots grow near the top and try to capture moisture, they do not live long. They also also help to stabilize or anchor the vine to keep it secure in the ground. The next type of root is called principal. These roots bring moisture and minerals directly to the vine and store nutrients to help feed the vine while in the dormant stage which takes place in the winter.

Trunk -  The next part of the vine we will look at is called the trunk. The trunk is the part of the vine we see that comes from the ground. The trunk is the base that everything grows from or off. Most vineyards we see have one trunk but there are some that are grown with two trunks.

Cordons / Arms - Next in line is what is called the arms or cordons. These are the only two (if pruned correctly)  branches that grow along the wire we set up for the vine to grow on. Everything we want from this vine will start from the cordons.

Shoots / Buds / Nodes - This is one of the items that will grow directly from the cordon. Sometimes these are also called Shoots, Buds or Nodes. These Shoots/Buds and Nodes become canes and that is the next item to discuss.

Canes - The Canes grow the part of the vine that we visually identify as the branches. A cane will also have Shoots / Buds / Nodes. This is where our grapes will come from.

Tendrils - These are what allow the vine to attach itself to walls or anything else including other parts of the vine.

Leaves - I am sure I don't have to explain to you what these are. Leaves are very important to the survival of the grapes in the hot summer months. Leaves act as shade to the grapes, keeping the direct heat off of them. Ever heard of Raisins?

   That is pretty much it everyone. It seems pretty simple and it is. I hope you learned a little something from today's post. If you did and would like to check out my Facebook dedicated solely to wine here is the link.
https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy?ref=hl I hope to see you there.

                                                                                                                    The Desert Wine Guy

The Desert WIne Guy - Grapevine Soil Properties In Angel & Mirror Image Vineyards.

   Today I will be writing a short blog on soil. What type of soil do grape vines like best? If I grow grapes in the Desert how important can soil really be? Is the soil in Las Vegas good? Today we will look into this subject. Lets start off this article with the "perfect soil" for grapes. One of the first things to look for in determining if your soil is appropriate is to determine what you are wanting to grow. There are 4 basic soil types these are sand, silt, clay and loam. In this case we are discussing growing grapes. One of the items we look for in our determination process is something called pH.
   What is pH? Soil pH or soil reaction is an indication of the acidity or alkalinity of soil and is measured in pH units. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 with pH 7 as the neutral point. From pH 7 to 0 the soil is increasingly more acidic and from pH 7 to 14 the soil is increasingly more alkaline or basic. A pH in the range of 5.5 to 7.0 is ideal for most varieties. Everything below 7 is considered to be acidic. Everything above is considered to be alkaline.  The reason a pH between 6 and 7.5 is optimal for garden plants is that between 6 and 7.5, phosphorus in the soil is soluble meaning that it dissolves in water and is taken up by the plants roots. Now that we know this lets find out what makes soil acidic. There are three things that make a soil acidic and they are the items that decay in your particular soil. The second way is excessive rainfall or irrigation. Too much water can cause important nutrients to be washed away. One other way for soil to become acidic is the use of high-nitrogen synthetic fertilizers. These fertilizers are usually ammonia based which also increases soil acidity. By the way Jack Sanders , owner of the Sanders Family Winery in Pahrump who has extensive experience with vineyards in Napa Valley informed me that for the soil in Las Vegas I would need a 15-15-15 fertilizer which is also know as "Triple Fifteen". These numbers are also known as N-P-K ratios. The numbers stand for the following. 15% ammoniacal nitrogen, Available Phosphate (P2O5) - 15%  & Soluble Potash (Potassium) (K20) - 15%  as well as Sulfur (S) 9%. While we are talking about these nutrients here is a short explanation of what each does. Lets take Nitrogen first. Nitrogen is essential for the growth of leaves and helps keep the green. Nitrogen gets lost from soil very easily. Phosphorous stimulates root growth, promotes development of flowers, fruit (grapes) and seeds. Phosphorous does not get flushed as easily. Potassium helps the vines tolerate changing weather conditions (warm to hot). It also assists the vines with fighting pests as well as help strengthen the plant itself. Potassium does leach from the soil but not as fast as Nitrogen. What causes a soil to have high or low pH? One thing that increases soil acidity is cover crops because they require high amounts of nutrients like Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium. Rain also increases high pH nutrients and makes soil more acidic. In order to lower soil pH there is something called Ground Algime which is a powder form of Lime.
   Now that we have looked into pH lets see some other interesting things about our vineyard soil. To start off with almost any soil can be improved with the incorporation of organic matter. Heavy clay and silty soils will benefit from vegetable and manure compost, chopped hardwood or pine bark, leaf mould and small amounts of pea gravel. Excessively sandy soils will benefit from composted organic materials, peat moss and humus. Do not amend clay soils with large amounts of sand, because this will inhibit drainage even further and may turn your grape garden into a brickyard. Avoid enriching the soil with high nitrogen supplements, which may lead to healthy green grapevines at the expense of fruit production. Drainage is also very important in our soil. While we want the roots of the vines to actually get the water we are giving them we on the other hand do not want them sitting or soaking in water since this can be the cause of some diseases such as Root Rot. We need a soil that will drain but yet not so quickly that the roots will not have a chance to get the very water we want them to have. Grape vines also do not like it when water pools on the surface of the ground around them When I was planting my vines I actually left small rocks in the hole in order to help with drainage. We can also add mulch.  A mulch is left on the soil surface. Its purpose is to reduce evaporation and runoff, inhibit weed growth, and create an attractive appearance. Mulches also moderate soil temperature, helping to warm soils in the spring and cool them in the summer. Mulches may be incorporated into the soil as amendments after they have decomposed to the point that they no longer serve their purpose. The interesting thing here is that soil fertility for vineyards does NOT have to be great since grape vines are naturally vigorous plants and very fertile soils produce overgrown canopy and abundant, but mediocre fruit. These grapes taste diluted because the resources of the vine are being stretched too thin. Ideally, vines will put the majority of their energy into a small amount of grapes. Too many grapes and the vines resources are stretched. Excessive foliage (too much Nitrogen) can also deny grapes the amount of sun-exposure necessary for optimal ripening. Here are a couple of more important things for our soil in our vineyard. The depth of the soil is important. Deeper soils tend to produce more consistently high-quality and subtlety flavored fruit than shallower soils. These vines are also less susceptible to extreme weather patterns. There is one more item to discuss when it comes to vineyard soil and that is the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). This is  the capacity of the soil and its capability to hold nutrients. Each type of soil will have a unique CEC many of which are difficult if not impossible to measure. Some soils have the inability to have their CEC altered and this is due to the nature of the soil the vines are planted in.
  Now lets talk about the soil in Angel Vineyard & Mirror Image Vineyard. I have posted a picture with this article so you can see just one of the types of soil I have to deal with (at least in appearance) her in the vineyard. While planting my vines I came across areas that appeared as if the house was built on top of a rock Quarry. I will post a picture of one of the rocks that I had to dig up which actually took an hour to get out. I couldn't use a shovel because the rock was jammed in by many smaller rocks that stopped it from coming out. It was actually easier to use a hand tool to dig it out. There were other parts of the vineyard that had soil like you see in my hand. There were other parts that had small rocks but not small enough that I wanted to leave them where the vine was going. Then there were others that had small rocks that I was able to leave for drainage. The actual soil composition such as pH I have never looked into to be honest. I am going off the way my original Cabernet Sauvignon vines grew last year, before I learned how to take care of them. I can only assume that if they grew that wonderful with no knowledge of grape vines how well they will grow now that I have at least knowledge on the caring of them. It is also my understanding that for around $30 I can buy a home testing kit to check pH but I (again) am going by past experience in the vineyard and I believe my vines will grow just fine.
   Well folks I hope you learned a little bit about soil and how it effects our vines. I hope you will use it to benefit you should you decide to grow a vineyard of your own. 

                                                                                                        The Desert WIne Guy

The Desert WIne Guy - 2005 Trinitas Cellars Old Vine Mataro

   Hello everyone and welcome back to The Desert Wine Guys latest blog. Today the word of the day is WOW. Why is that the word of the day? Let me tell you why. I say WOW because of the Trinitas Cellars Mourvedre Blend Contra Costa County Mataro Old Vine 2005 that I was lucky enough to do a tasting of. I do not remember just how I came to acquire this wine, I think it might have been through one of my wine clubs I subscribe to. However I acquired it,  this wine ended up in my downstairs "everyday wine rack" which judging by the name should tell you what type of wines end up there. I actually have two of these wine racks downstairs which are reserved for average day to day company that might come over. These wine racks usually consist of wines I really don't expect much from or don't appear to be from locations or vineyards that are known for above average wine. I guess, after tasting this wine I should change the name of these two racks to "Unproven Wine Racks". As luck may have it  I also have two refrigerated wine racks upstairs in my Tasting Room where I keep some wines that have some age on them and have actually been tasted by me some time ago. So here I am with the mindset that I am going to review just an average wine, a wine I really don't expect to much from. This should be easy right? That is what I thought. Today the wine picked happened to be the Trinitas Mourvedre Blend Contra Costa County Mataro Old Vine 2005. Since I have never tasted a Mataro I was kind of excited to be tasting this grape. Having explained all of this let me be the first to say that The Desert Wine Guy should look a little deeper into the wines that go in the "everyday wine rack" because I really goofed here. How badly did I goof? Let's get started on this review and we will see. By the way for those of you interested. This is not my first review of the Trinitas Cellars wines, I actually did a review of their 2007 Trinitas Sauvignon Blanc. For another great Trinitas wine please check out that review on this blog.

   Since this review is on a type of grape named "Mataro" I would like to talk a little about this grape since prior to this tasting I had never heard of this grape and I will assume that you readers probably have not either so lets break this grape down and see what we can learn about it. The Mataro grape is a thick skinned, red wine grape and is typically used to blend with other wines. This grape was at one time widely grown in California however it now is nowhere near as popular  as it once was. The grape requires a lot of sun and and water (sounds perfect for the Las Vegas desert). This is also a late budding and ripening grape and is usually the last vine picked because of this. Some of the other characteristics of the Mataro grape are that it is high in Tannins and have intense color. The grape also usually takes several years of growing before the vine produces fruit worthy of being used as wine. The grape is believed to have a Spanish origin although this is uncertain. At one time it was the second-most-planted red-wine variety in Spain (behind Garnacha). The grape is known by many different names but when it came to California it took the name Mataro (also in Australia) which was taken from a town near Barcelona where the varietal was grown in the mid to late 1800s. In France the grape is known as Mourvèdre and Monastrell in Spain The grape is believed to have arrived in California in the 1860's. Mataro was first recognized as a distinct varietal in the 16th century. For those you who want to learn a bit more about this grape here is a great article. http://www.winebiz.com.au/pdf/WIJ-MourvedreVarietalReport.pdf please check it out.
   Lets now have a quick little look into the Trinitas Cellars vineyard itself. Located in Napa Valley California, Trinitas Cellars was established in 2002 by the Husband & Wife team of Tim & Steph Busch. The Busch family currently run the vineyard and do so from a godly standpoint as they point out on their website http://www.trinitascellars.com/Our-Story/Meet-The family and are very respected in their Catholic faith. When referring to Tim Busch the Trinitas cellars website says the following "Additionally, he (Tim Busch) serves on Boards for The Catholic University of America, Patrons of the Vatican Arts, John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington DC and the Papal Foundation".  The vineyard is a small one however Trinitas cellars has three different wine club consisting of The Trinity Club, Cardinal Club and finally the White Wine Club. Trinitas has a very unique tasting room which is located 40 feet below the actual vineyard in a cave and consists partly of a tasting bar which is made of beautiful marble and is located directly behind the Meritage Resort and Spa. The underground tasting room also happens to be the first underground tasting room in Napa. The tasting room is open daily from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm. The winemaker for Trinatas is Kevin Mills who joined Trinitas in 2007 after he spent approximately five years mentoring under Peju Province Winery winemaker Sean Foster. 
   Lets now move on to the part we have all been waiting for and that is the tasting. As I stated above having realized that I had never heard of let alone tasted a Mataro or a Mourvèdre or Monastrel as it is also called I was excited to see what this grape was all about. This wine is actually 81% Mataro, 9% Black Malvoisie, 7% petite Sirah and 3% Alicante Bouschet. What an incredible combination it turned out being by the way. I also decided that this was as good a time as any to open the box containing my new wine glasses I had recently purchased which is the Robert Mondavi By Waterford, Wine Tasting Collection. These beautiful glasses are real Crystal and each have a capacity of 16 ounces. They are 9 inches high x 3 inches in diameter. I grabbed one of these beautifully made glasses as well as the  Mataro and headed upstairs to my wine tasting room for what, to my surprise would turn out to be a review of way more than just an everyday wine. In keeping with my belief that a wine is best tasted at room temperature that is what I did. I also made the decision to not decant this wine. This wine, by the way was aged for 14 months in approximately 27% New American and French Oak. The first pour of our wine revealed a light to medium purple, almost plum in color. I filled my glass approximately a quarter of the way full and I proceeded to get down to business. The first thing I noticed apart from the color was that my nose was struck with the big, bright, incredible bouquet of this wine. The wine glass just erupted with fruit and oak. There was also the very nice taste of oak and a bright, power packed cherry mixed with blackberry and Cassis. The wine did strike me as having a bit of an alcohol taste but it did seem to compliment the wine rather than detract from it. The Mataro grape when made into wine sometimes can display a slightly high level of alcohol. This is most definitely a "big fruit" wine without a doubt. The wine explodes with flavor in your mouth. The wine was slightly on the dry side but again nothing that detracted from the taste in fact the slight dryness mixed with the bouquet and powerful fruit seemed to again compliment each other and increased the overall taste and enjoyment of the wine. There were also quite a bit of Tannins that held up very well in this wine to help ensure that it still maintained that powerhouse status in my opinion and will also ensure that this wine will hold up for at least another five or so years. Remember this is a 2005 bottle of wine that sold for $20. Talk about a deal. The end result in this tasting is that I was highly impressed with this wine and the fact that it has held up so well. The Bouquet, the taste, everything was simply wonderful. This happens to be a sign of the great knowledge and caring that the winemaker, Kevin Mills has put into his wine. It is also a sign that time was taken to craft this wine from the soil to the bottle, or as Trinitas Cellars says "the connection among sun, soil, and humanity". In summarizing, this is one heck of a wine and one not to be missed.
   I wanted to add this little bit of information in closing. Having enjoyed this wine so much I searched around on the Internet and was unable to find his wine available for purchase Since there was only between 367 & 700 (depending on whom you talk to) cases made originally this is understandable. I contacted Trinitas Cellars themselves and was informed that the wine is not available. I am sorry to say that unless you, the reader currently has a bottle of this wine you will just have to go thru life knowing that you did lose out on tasting a great bottle of wine. If you do happen to have a bottle in your wine cellar treat it well because you have Gold there Sir.

                                                                                                       The Desert Wine Guy