Wine to accompany a delightful little football rivalry

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 20, 2009, 09:35 AM

What better way to celebrate the nation’s biggest football rivalry than with an impressive array of wine tastings, dinners and special events? I certainly can’t think of any. Our gratitude goes out to the Dayton-based wine listserv that compiles this list. Enjoy the game — and afterward, celebrate with a taste of wine.

Looks like the new wine bar at DLM Washington Square is open — based on what it looked like as a “work in progress,” it will be worth checking out!

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Winners announced from Houston wine competition

By Mark Fisher | Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 08:54 AM

I served as one of the judges last weekend (Nov. 14-15) for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and will be writing much more about it in the coming days — including the experience of putting a particular fermented liquid in my mouth that I had never before encountered, and probably never will again. In the meantime, the organizers of the competition have released the results, and I thought I’d share the news release:

HOUSTON — Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo officials announced today the champion wines from the 2010 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition.

The seventh annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition judging held Nov. 14‐ 15, 2009, at Reliant Center, boasted 1,761 wines from 583 wineries in Texas, across the United States and around the world. Sixteen countries participated in the competition and 1,250 medals were awarded by 15 panels of judges, consisting of local, national, and international wine experts.

2010 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition Champions:

Grand Champion Best of Show - Davis Family Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2005

Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show - Laetitia Vineyard & Winery, Nadia Red Bordeaux Blend, Arroyo Grande Valley, 2005

Top Texas Wine - Flat Creek Estate, Mistella, Texas, NV

Top All‐Around Winery - d’Arenberg, Australia

Top Argentina Wine - Bodega Elvira Calle, Ca’de Calle Malbec, Mendoza, 2008

Top Sparkling Wine - Domaine Ste. Michelle, Blanc de Blanc, Columbia Valley, NV

Top White Wine - Kallfelz Estate, Single Vineyard Reisling, Mosel, 2007

Top Red Wine - Sequoia Grove, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2006

Top Sweet Wine - Hopler Eiswein, Riesling, Austria, NV

Top Value Wine - Napa Landing, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2006

Buckles, chaps and saddles will be awarded to the champions at the Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, at Reliant Center. In addition to the champion wines, guests will sample food from area restaurants and catering institutions, and vote on their favorites in the Best Bites Competition. The top three restaurants or catering institutions will be named that evening.

All champion wines will be auctioned at the Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction and Dinner Saturday, March 6, 2010, 6 p.m., Reliant Center, 600 series meeting rooms. For tickets to these Rodeo Uncorked! events, visit www.rodeohouston.com, e‐mail wine@rodeohouston.com or call 832.667.1128.

A selection of winning wines will be available for tasting, or by the glass and bottle, throughout the run of the Show in the Champion Wine Garden, located in Carruth Plaza. For more information on tickets and the Champion Wine Garden, visit www.rodeohouston.com.

The 2010 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo runs March 2 - 21. The Show is a Section 501(c)(3) charitable event, committed to benefiting youth, supporting education, and facilitating better agricultural practices through exhibitions and presentation. Since the its beginning in 1932, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has contributed more than $250 million to scholarships, research, endowments, calf scramble participants, junior show exhibitors, the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence, School Art participants, and other educational and youth programs. For more information on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, visit www.rodeohouston.com.

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‘Fall’-ing in love again with wine

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 13, 2009, 06:49 AM

How can anyone ponder a compilation of wine tastings, dinners and other events such as this one and NOT fall in love with wine? Now THAT’S amore … Sadly, I’ll miss all of this weekend’s tastings, because I’ll be in Houston, Texas, serving as a judge for a wine competition, so I’ll taste a couple hundred wines — and spit ‘em all out. So get out there and enjoy these events — which are compiled by a Dayton-based wine listserv that shares this gorgeous list with Uncorked — on my behalf.

Two fun-sounding events that didn’t make it into this week’s list:

— Bruning’s Wine Cellar, 1481 North Fairfield Road in Beavercreek, will host a drop-in port tasting from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday night, Nov. 18, featuring five ports from Porto Kopke (Ruby, Tawny, Late-Bottled Vintage, 10 Year Old Tawny and 2007 Vintage), hosted in part by Michael Brown from Mason-based wine distributor Vintner Select. For more information, call (937) 426-4950.

— The Kroger “Fresh Fare” store on East Stroop Road at Shroyer Road in Kettering will host a November Food And Wine Spectacular in its bistro on Friday, Nov. 20 (that’s NEXT Friday) with two seatings available: 5 pm to 6:30pm or 7pm to 8:30pm. They’ll be pouring four wines from Rodney Strong and serving a multitude of appetizers, including Barbecued Pan Seared Salmon and Herb Crusted Lamb Lollipop, as well as desserts such as Pear Crusted Tart with Port Wine Reduction. Cost is $20. Tickets available in the store’s wine shop. Call 937-299-7500 for more info.

Enjoy! The full tastings list should appear below, and if it doesn’t, click on the “continue reading” link.

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Rival Michigan trumps Ohio in the vineyards — this time

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 6, 2009, 12:53 PM

Woody Hayes might just be rolling in his grave.

Even though it’s been a glorious 2,176-plus days since the University of Michigan Wolverines beat the Ohio State Buckeyes on the football field, it’s a whole ‘nother story in the vineyards.

Michigan handily defeated Ohio in the 2009 Ohio vs. Michigan Wine Clash held last month in Columbus and Ann Arbor.

Eleven top wines were chosen from each state and judged in both Columbus and Ann Arbor by panels of wine lovers, writers and professionals. (I was one of the writers who served as a judge in Columbus.) Michigan reigned supreme by having the top-scoring wine of the 22 — Longview Estate Bottled “Winter Ice” 2007 — and four of the top five wines based on the aggregated judges’ scores. The wines were tasted “blind” — judges didn’t know the identities or the origins of the wines.

Ohioans can take consolation in the fact that its top 5 finisher — 2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc from our friends Ron and Nancy down near Ripley — was half the price (or less) of any of the four top Michigan wines. The third-ranked Kinkead Ridge costs $17.95, while the Michigan-produced cab franc that finished second, 2 Lads Reserve Cabernet Franc 2007, retails for $40, and the first-place ice wine costs $60 — for a half bottle.

So let’s declare Ohio the winner on value.

The Ohio-Michigan wine clash is organized by Andrew Hall, a Columbus-area wine enthusiast and member of the Columbus chapter of Slow Food Nation, an organization formed in response to the negative effects of fast food on people’s lives. Slow Food Columbus is the primary sponsor of the “wine clash” as part of its Taste Education program and support of local agriculture and artisanal food industries, Hall said.

Hall also wanted to bring some exposure to the excellent wines being produced from homegrown grapes in both states, and timed it not-so-coincidentally just before The Game between OSU and UM. This year’s was the second clash (click here for 2008 results.)

“The take home message from this tasting is that both states produce quality wines which deserve a place on the table, especially if you are interested in local ingredients and foods,” Hall said. “There are dedicated winemakers in both states who have really raised the bar and shown what can be done, despite the challenges.

“I think the results show that restaurants with a local focus should make an effort to offer local wines and consumers should give them an honest try.”

Hall’s right. The red wines, in particular, were a revelation to taste — collectively the best red wines I’ve ever sampled from Ohio and Michigan, thanks in part to a long, warm growing season in 2007 that allowed red grapes to ripen fully in the upper midwest.

“2007 was a remarkable vintage in both states,” Hall said. “When conditions are right, we can produce really great wines here. And from all I hear and taste from barrel samples, 2008 looks to quite strong as well.”

Hall chose the “starting team” of 11 wines from each state after tasting extensively across Ohio and Michigan earlier this year. He also used other wine competitions such as the Ohio Quality Wine program, the Ohio Wine Competition and Michigan Wine and Spirits Competition to help nominate potential finalists. And he assembled tasting panels to help him narrow down the final lists of 11. Price was not a consideration.

“The selection process was very hard and rigorous this year with so many quality wines from both states,” Hall said. “Any of the entrants would be welcome on my table.”

My scorecard nearly mirrored the overall tasting panel’s: I placed the Michigan ice wine first, although I had the Kinkead Ridge second in my rankings rather than third. (For a bit of the Michigan perspective, click here to read Ann Arbor Chronicle wine writer Joel Goldberg’s column on the clash.)

Here are the results, in order of the full panels’ aggregate ranking, with number of first place votes in parentheses:

1. Longview Winter Ice 2007 (Dessert Wine) Leelanau Peninsula MI, $60 (4)

2. 2 Lads Reserve Cabernet Franc 2007 (Dry Red) Old Mission Peninsula MI, $40 (2)

3. Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc 2007 (Dry Red) Ohio River Valley OH, $17.95 (2)

4. Gill’s Pier Cabernet Franc-Merlot 2007 (Dry Red) Leelanau Peninsula MI 2007, $35 (1)

5. Wyncroft Avonlea Pinot Noir 2007 (Dry Red) Lake Michigan Shore MI, $45 (1)

The Ohio-born-and-bred Raven’s Glenn White October 2008, made in Ohio from Chardonel grapes, placed sixth, by the way, and also cost just under $18.

Before anyone goes out to Dayton-area wine retailers searching for the Michigan winners, be forewarned: you’ll likely strike out. Hall said he doesn’t believe any of the top-scoring Michigan wines are available at Ohio retail wine shops, and he took a few shots at the Ohio laws that he said are “stacked against consumers” because they create barriers for small wineries.

“The distributors in Ohio have shown little interest in carrying small-production, high-quality wines from the neighboring states,” Hall said. “Many of the wines sell out directly from the winery’s cellar door as well, so the producers don’t have an incentive to deal with the bureaucracy and mandated cut to the distributor that selling across state lines would involve.”

Andrew Hall pours brown-bagged samples at the Columbus-area judging for the 2009 Ohio vs. Michigan Wine Clash, held at the Twisted Vine wine shop in Grandview.

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In every corner of southwest Ohio, wine tastings abound

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 6, 2009, 07:09 AM

If someone were to stack every bottle of wine offered at Dayton-area wine tastings over the last 30-plus years (and yes, Dayton WAS among the trailblazers in drop-in wine tastings) end-to-end, how far would the stack reach? Hundreds of miles? Thousands? Just wondering …

Here’s the finest and most comprehensive list of wine and beer tastings, dinners and other events to contemplate, and it comes to Uncorked via the heroic efforts of a Dayton-based listserv that compiles the irresistible information. Click on “continue reading” if the list doesn’t appear immediately below, and enjoy!

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Dayton: wine crossroads of America

By Mark Fisher | Thursday, November 5, 2009, 09:20 AM

Dayton was a wine crossroads of sorts last week, with two French winemakers whose wines are imported by Berkeley-based Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants — Emmanuel Delaille of Domaine du Salvard and Serge Farigoule of Domaine le Sang de Cailloux — visiting The Winds in Yellow Springs and Dorothy Lane Market’s Springboro store, while Count Sebastiano Capponi of Villa Calcinaia, a winery in the Chianti region of Tuscany, poured his family’s impressive lineup of wines at DLM Oakwood.

The fact that such high-profile European winemakers are making Dayton a stop on their marketing trips to the U.S. certainly says something positive about the Dayton wine market, don’t you think?

Highlights of the tastings includes the pleasantly tart and refreshing 2008 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Blanc, $16.99; every 2007 Vacqueyras from Domaine le Sang de Cailloux, which range from $40 to $55; the delicious white Villa Calcinaia Comitale 2007, $16.99; and both the Count’s Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico 2005 ($21.99 ) and Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2005 ($34.99). These are good days to be a wine lover in Dayton. Just sayin’.

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Wine pairings with Halloween candy?

By Mark Fisher | Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 12:45 PM

The fine folks at A Taste of Wine in Miamisburg asked its e-mail-list members whether they have raided their children’s Halloween candy, and suggested the following candy-and-wine pairings:

“For Skittles, Candy Corn and Starbursts, try a sweet riesling. Peanut Butter Cups would pair well with cabernet sauvignon or red zinfandel. And Snickers would be delicious with a 10-year tawny port.”

So now you know.

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