AnuvaBlog

In the weeks leading up to my wedding, the Argentines have kept asking: “But… but, can you really do an asado?” For those who still don’t know, asado is loosely translated as “barbeque” but from what I’ve seen, all the American version and Argentine version have in common is the desire for black lines charred into the meat.

I took it upon myself, to make sure that the 20 or so closest Argentines to me came to witness the meat feast prepared by yours truly in their distinctive style.

Keep in mind, I have done this several times for my fiancee’s family, but doing an asado for 6 is way way different than for 20. Especially when you do an entire “costillar” (the whole rib cage) on the grill. The thing weighed 15kg. And in addition we did a “carre de cerdo” (baby back ribs), chorizo and morcilla.

With Naiara Malbec and Cavagnaro Malbec keeping the masses happy until the meat was done (which took about 3 hours), I realized that we had forgotten to bring our good knife to the quinta where we were staying. The importance of a good knife when prying apart cooked beef ribs cannot be underestimated. So 30 minutes later, with an enormous blister forming on the underside of my right index finger, beef and pork was served to applauding masses. (It is customary to applaud the “asador (grillman)” when he does a good job. Yes, he.

“I’m glad to see you are taking a real interest in our culture,” says my future brother-in-law as I nurse my blister. “What did you do to your finger?”  I reached for the Malbec and never looked back. Loving how the tannins cut the grease and then the grease cut the tannins, we glimpsed a moment of sensory heaven together and this American, for the moment, rose to the challenge.

An article released today by the Boston Herald states that the battle for the ability to ship wine direct to consumer in the state of Massachusettes will potentially continue for some time.

Why are the conusmers punished? This is no rhetorical question. As Jeremy Benson (Go J.B.!) asserts at the end of the article, the consumers are punished because those who control current distribution channels fear losing their stranglehold on business within the state.

I totally agree with this but what is to be done about the situation? The only way that this can change is for the consumers themselves to become more vocal and more active. Join www.freethegrapes.org and help to get the word out.

The LA Times reported today that:

“Only 10% in a four-year study of California State Fair judging were able to consistently give the same rating, or something close, to the same wine sampled multiple times in a large blind tasting.”

Click here for the full article

This is not at all surprising to me since I have quite often seen the variance in opinion in person, of wine judges and consumers alike. Why is this surprising to anyone else?

I suppose when someone adorns the title of Judge or simply writes something down on a piece of paper or puts it on Television, it becomes truth.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people put their blind faith in whatever they read, no matter where it comes from, and no matter what they see on TV.

I think it is much the same with wine even though, in my opinion, it is one of the hardest things to judge in the world for several reasons: people and their palates evolve and change and wine itself evolves and changes over time. The food and drink that I liked when I was 8 years old were very different than what I liked at 18 and then at 28. I didn’t even start liking wine till I was 24. My dad didn’t start liking wine till he was 55!!

Also, it is a myth that they always get better over time. Most wines cannot survive ideal storage conditions for more than about 5 years. Only very high quality wines continue to improve over long time horizons. But all wines change over time in the bottle.

So when this article refers to tasting the same wine at different competitions, does it mean an hour later or a month later? Because either way, if the wine has been exposed to oxygen for that amount of time longer it will have at least changed somewhat if not dramatically.

With such room for error within the person judging and the wine judged, how can anyone really be expected to be that consistent.

Subprime wine does not exist. Neither does derivative wine or bundled mortgage backed wines. Wine will always come from grapes, be subject to human perception, and therefore be venerated and cherished throughout society. What prompts me to say this is that I have been hearing a lot lately about the economy (obviously), and have run across two very interesting articles, one on Jaime Goode’s blog, and the other on WineBusiness.com.

I find the juxtaposition of the two, one day after the other to be fascinating. The latter speaks of the 15th consecutive year of growth in domestic US consumption of wine and how that charge is being led by the millenial generation (mine).

The former speaks about the need for innovation and leadership in the wine industry and how managers who use performance metrics or look at the past in order to make decisions about the future either will suffer from slow reactions or simply have the wrong data to make predictions.

As a millenial generation wine industry entrepreneur, I find Goode’s stern warning to be something that needs to be heard by not only the wine industry, but by every other industry in general. Especially finance. My recent readings about the banking industry’s practices with respect to risk calculation and their own internal management of accounts is shocking. Who knew that those who guarded the gate to money lending would be the very ones to miscalculate when it came to their own businesses.

What is good news about the wine industry is that unlike finance, we deal with a physical product for which there is no substitute. We cannot downsize a bottle of wine. We cannot create a derivative of it–it its most general sense.

This is the beauty of wine: it bring us together physically and virtually and gives us something to talk about and also to talk over.

Well, in a down economy it seems like wine tastings are the way to go. Anuva has done no less than 60 tastings in the last 75 days (all this with our 3 man team) featuring our collections of malbec, torrontes, and bonarda.

It seems like Anuva and Argentina are in line with the trend for the “value” wine purchasing that so many have headed toward in the last quarter of 2008. Wine connoisseur, enthusiast, novice and newcomer have all appreciated our wines and our service and I am proud to say that we had an excellent 2008.

Walking into The Beaumont on 150th last night, I felt at ease with the marble inlay and incredible decor of this gorgeous apartment building. My comfort and Janis’s wonderful ability to host (and project her voice) made this evening quite wonderful and enjoyable for all comers.

Although we did have a sock lady with lights on her ankles leave without trying any wine. Hmm. I got over that in about 3 seconds though, as we did have so many that were really appreciative.

Thankfully, we got an extra hour of sleep too.

Thanks Akasha and Kelly so much for having us over.

It was a birthday party atmosphere last night with much discussion about how we select our wines and how we import them.  Anecon Torrontés seemed to be the early favorite but it was surpassed by Mudai Pinot Noir and the Don Juan Reserve.

We sang happy birthday toward the end as I quickly though over the idea of wine pairings with the cupcakes that were present. What goes with pink frosting over vanilla cake?

Such a hideous time in the marketplace has not occurred since the Great Depression. Indeed, many an expert and novice alike predict the likelihood of dire economic conditions. What is interesting is that investment in vintage wine and first growth wine is up.

Could this be a real way to invest your money in a time where every investments seems risky and uncertain? It certainly seems possible.

www.liv-ex.com has a wine market index that includes many of the most historically sought after brands. The index us up 9.5% since the beginning of the year and 7.1% year-on-year. Seems like a good time to invest.

Sommeliers come in all shapes and sizes. Most sommeliers at restaurants will have been in charge or at least had a major part of the creation of the wine list and therefore know that list intimately. But this also means that they will tend to be tied to the wine they have put on their list. Understandable since they are trying to sell you wine for your dinner.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, though, this means that all of the wine will be from Argentina. Not unusual in a protectionist country. In Argentina, foreign wine hardly exists except for at the most posh of restaurants (like 3) and wine shops (literally 3). A sommelier in Argentina, therefore, and especially in Buenos Aires, will be recommending Argentine wine. Funny, that’s what I recommend.

But since wine is all about taste its good to know what you like and how to communicate that idea to the sommelier. If you like fruit forward, young malbecs, then about 50% of all wines made in Argentina will appeal to you. If you like more herbaceous, tannic wines, and actually know what that means, then a sommelier should have no trouble picking one from his list.

Why not start with the basics, though, which is probably what the sommelier will do anyway? Red or white, price range, regional preference, varietal preference. After narrowing this down then, the sommelier will usually try to push you into a slightly higher price range since s/he will work inevitably on commission.

A sommelier must  always ask what you are eating because  food combining is an art, and the sommelier should have designed his/her list around the food at the restaurant.

The same goes for buying at a wine shop. Narrow the choice of wine down by region, price, varietal, characteristics and food combining and you’re good to go.

For those of you who may be a little more new to the wine drinking experience–not just to Malbec, Torrontés and Bonarda–a good glass, wine glass, or crystal glass may not seem that important. Now, I’m not saying that you need to go spend 50 or more dollars per glass on specifically Pinot Noir glasses and then only drink your Pinot from there. What I am saying is that there is a reason that good glassware is considered good.

First, the shape of the glass is very important. The curve of good glassware is specifically crafted to allow aromas and perfumes to be better captured by the glass. If one were to simply drink wine from a lowball or highball glass, the subtleties and richness of many wines with great scents will be lost.

Second, the size of the opening at the top of the glass is important. Red wines, especially heavily oaked reds need more contact with oxygen in order to open and fully express themselves. Hence red wine glasses tend to be larger than white wine glasses.

Third, good crystal cleans easier and more completely than plastic or glass and also does not dissolve at all in the wine, leaving you with only the wine and its characteristics. To illustrate this, everyone knows that if you leave water in a plastic bottle for a while, especially in the sun, you drink it and get a very plastic taste.

Speaking of cleaning wine glasses: one should only use very hot water (Yuji makes a game of trying not to burn himself as scalding water is streaming from the faucet–sounds fun to me!)… no soap/detergent as this will leave a soapy flavor and smell on the glass and contaminate your wine. To disinfect, use a small spray bottle filled with alcohol and rub the glassware down.

Now, this may sound excessive but it all depends on how much of the ritual you like to incorporate into your wine drinking. I am simply here to inform and do not pretend to abide by these procedures 100% of the time. Far from it. But when I get a good wine (let us say, Cavagnaro Reserve Malbec), I will surely spray my glass and wipe it down with alcohol to get rid of detergent smell and clean with hot water.