The Blog: The Same 4 Questions and One Unique Question with Eugenio Meschini

New feature! To serve you better, we will be asking our Grapevine Wine Club guests the same four questions and one unique question. Our Guinea Pig is Eugenio Meschini. Eugenio and his wife Teresa are the owners of Famiglia Meschini, a producer of some terrific wines from Argentina. They will be showcasing their wines Wednesday, June 16 at the Grapevine Wine Club. Click here for more details.

1. If you were a grape, what grape would you be and why? "I would be a Malbec grape [what a surprise ah?] Why? Because who doesn't like to be the center of the universe???

2. Fill in: Kirby Puckett is to Game 6 of the 1991 World Series as "The Wine Maker" is to the wine making process.

3. You're the last person on Earth and the local family restaurant will only offer one side item for the rest of your life. Do you take waffle fries, cottage cheese, Cole slaw, or fruit? "I would ask for an extra few bucks they could get us creamy spinach, but if the answer is no, then fruit it is"

4. What's the difference between an 89 point wine and a 90 point wine? "The difference is how much money you paid to Wine Spectator for your last ad."

Editor's note: Mr Meschini's opinion in no way reflects South Lyndale's opinion of the fine people at Wine Spectator, as far as they know.

5. Cahors or Mendoza? "Mendoza all the way. who the heck would want to be in a cold place full of Frenchies... come to the sun bro, Mendoza is the place to be!

Editor's note: Mr Meschini's opinion in no way reflects South Lyndale's opinion of Frenchies.

The Wine: Vine Mein Ribeiro 2008

From Galicia, Vina Mein is a delicious study in complexity and contrast- fruity yet dry, creamy and fresh, it's a unique blend of six native grapes: Treixadura, Godello, Loureira, Torrontes, Albarino, Lado and Albilla. A great alternative to unoaked Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. $16.99 or just $3.40 per glass

The List: Top 5 Heaven Battle Royals

5. Einstein vs Edison: Smart-Off

4. Tupac vs Biggie: Rap-Off

3. Dick York vs Dick Sargent: Exasperated About All the Witchcraft Shenanigans-Off

2. Charlie Parker vs Miles Davis: Mixolydian Scales-Off

1. Kirk Douglas vs Laurence Olivier: Cleft Chin-Off

The Blog:
Divide by Five, or The Story of the Inspirational $8 Glass of Wine

The internet is full of rants about the high prices charged for wine at restaurants. The complaint is completely valid, but it just doesn't bother me all that much. If you don't want to pay $8 for a glass of something that costs $10 at the store, don't. I do, and will continue to do so because I like wine with my meals. The best we can do is vote with our feet and patronize restaurants with reasonably priced wine lists and hope others take notice. Now let's get positive!

The topic here is how that $8 glass of average wine inspired me to drink better wine at home. It's really a matter of math: a bottle of wine holds five glasses, I was cool with paying $8 for a glass, so I can buy a $40 bottle at the shop and not feel guilty right? Right? The answer for me is a resounding sometimes. There are some very good bottles of wine available for $10-20, and that's what we drink at home most of the time. However, there are reasons, especially having to do with quality and occasion, where something more special is required.

When pairing wine and food, I look at wine as another ingredient in the meal. A Jack's frozen pizza night gets a cheap but satisfying Spanish red. A grilled pizza night with fresh ingresients gets a bottle of wine that took equal care to craft. If I take the time to go to the farmers market for fresh ingredients, stop by Clancy's for a cut of meat that has been given the highest care, I am going to show the wine equal respect. I will choose a bottle that is carefully made, distinctive and reflective of where it was grown. And to feel better about it, I take the price and divide by five, three for the glasses I will drink and two that I let my wife have. Zing!

The Wine:
Graci Etna Rosso 2008

This is truly a wine "of its place", grown in and reflective of the volcanic soils of Mt Etna in Sicily. Made of 100% Nerello Mescaslese, the Graci Rosso is very aromatic and somewhat light in color, especially considering the power-packed flavors of sweet fruit, smoke, and herbs. It has a smooth texture that carries its considerable structure perfectly. All in all a unique and delicious red.
$28.99 or just $5.80 per glass!

The List:
Top 5  Films of Lindsey Lohan's Career, Part 1 [Trust me folks, we haven't seen the last of this talented youngster]

5. I Know Who Killed Me
4. Mean Girls
3. Freaky Friday
2. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
1. Herbie Fully Loaded 

THE BLOG:
CHABLIS 2008

If you've ever paged through a wine magazine, chances are you have read a vintage roundup from one or another growing area across the globe. These are interesting and sometimes useful articles, but here's the truth: there are very few growing areas where conditions vary enough from year to year to have much of an impact on wine quality. The reasons for this are many- vineyard and winery techniques and a period of rather warmer growing seasons are the main contributors [see another blog for anything further on this].

In some ways, this is a shame. You can argue that it's the winters that make spring summer and fall so wonderful here in Minnesota. Likewise, it takes a tough vintage or two to really appreciate the good ones.

Read more: Chablis 2008

THE BLOG:

EXPECTATIONS

It's an odd way to kick off our first wine blog, but I want to talk about wines you don't like. I don't mean poorly made wines, or specific wines that just rub you the wrong way. We all have those. What I mean are wines that were written off because they didn't meet expectations that were formed before the wine was poured. For most things in life- food, people, music etc., we have expectations built on past experiences, the advice of friends, the media and so on. Expectations are unavoidable; blanket statements based on limited experience are what we need to avoid. Saying "I don't like Chardonnay" is like saying "I don't like movies". There are too many Chardonnays made in too many styles in too many growing areas to judge them as a group. Too often, words such as "Chardonnay", "Merlot", "sweet" or "oak" on a wine label trigger an automatic response in our minds. When we let those expectations rule, we miss out on some great wine drinking experiences.

At South Lyndale, we have a great little tasting group called Wine Geeks Anonymous where 25 lucky customers get together and really dig in to the guts of what makes wine great. At a Wine Geeks tasting we typically take a close look at a relatively unknown area of the world of wine [Austria, Portugal etc], a smaller area of a well-known wine growing country [the Adriatic coast, Alsace] or make a close study of one grape variety in many expressions.

Over the years, we've sampled some pretty funky stuff- wines that literally caused a break in the tasting so we could take a closer look at something we hadn't tasted before. Often the novelty of the wine is what gave us pause, rather than off-putting flavors or low quality. For some of us, a second or third taste led to some true pleasure. For others the wine continued to disappoint.

The question is, what happens after that first taste for some that doesn't happen for others?

One easy and accurate answer is to say that some people just didn't like the wine, and never will. Nothing wrong with that, but let's set that group aside. For the others I believe it is the ability to reset expectations that led to an exciting new discovery.

With varying degrees of severity, every bottle of wine you taste is different. On the large scale, a Syrah grown in the northern Rhone will of course taste quite different than a Syrah grown in Australia. More specifically, the same wine from the same vineyard will vary in its expression from vintage to vintage and even bottle to bottle. It is quite unreasonable to expect that the Syrah now in front of you will taste like another Syrah you enjoyed. After that first sip, try to reset you expectations- instead of being disappointed that the wine is different, appreciate it. Dig in to the new aromas and flavors, consider the food pairing opportunities. Best of all, ask why the wine may taste the way it does. Where was it made and what is the climate like? What was the vintage like? What choices did the winemaker make? You'll come away appreciating the efforts of many people and viewing wine as more of a snapshot of a place and time, rather than just a drink.

Despite the efforts of too many point-seeking winemakers, all wine will not taste the same. Thank goodness for that! If you want a new wine to taste like another wine that you like, why bother? Just buy a case of your favorite. [South Lyndale offers a 15% case discount on all non-sale wines. Plug!] When you do encounter new aromas and flavors in a wine, pause, discard your preconceived ideas and appreciate those flavors on their own merit. I promise you'll find yourself falling in love with a much broader range of flavors and textures.

Going forward, this blog will conclude with a wine recommendation that will hopefully challenge you expectations and demonstrate just how good this grape juice can get. This section is cleverly titled "The Wine". In a shameless effort to bring readers to our website, "The Wine" will be followed by "The List", an often controversial boiling down of pop culture into a top 5 or top 10 style list. The opinions expressed in "The Blog", "The Wine" and "The List" are my own, and they are correct.

THE WINE:

QUINTA DO VESUVIO POMBAL DO VESUVIO DOURO 2007

Quinta do Vesuvio, a fine Port producer, has begun to bottle table wines after years of trial runs. The results are the Quinta do Vesuvio Douro and this, the second label from the Pombal vineyard. The Pombal is a delicious blend of traditional Port grapes that is at once powerful and elegant. Power in the Douro is basically unavoidable, especially in a great vintage like 2007. It's how the wine grower handles that power that counts. The Pombal does a wonderful job preserving freshness, lifting the dark fruit, sweet earth and spice flavors. It's a concentrated wine, but by no means heavy or overbearing, in other words, it's just right. Overall, a balanced effort with a big Yum Factor, ready to go now but with a few years of life ahead.
REGULAR: $34.99 SALE: $29.99 GRAPEVINE WINE CLUB MEMBERS: $27.99

THE LIST:

MY TOP TWO FAVORITE GENDERS AS FAR AS SINGING GOES:

2. Dudes
1. The Ladies