Blog – Page 12 – Mystic Wine Shoppe

It’s Summer: Think Pink

Seems like just a few summers ago I showed up at a dinner party with a bottle of pink wine and my hosts were aghast. They remembered the sticky sweet white zinfandels we guzzled in high school and quickly whisked my bottle into the kitchen where it remained stashed behind the paper towels for the duration of the evening. Fools.

Because now, thanks to some good public relations and some really delicious rosés, pink is everyone’s favorite color.

Still, when my neighbor Edith, who is from France, invited me and a few other women over for “aperitifs,” I fretted over what wine to bring. Frankly, the French thing is a little intimidating. I mean they practically invented wine. My first instinct was to buy a rosé from Provence, but then I saw the Elouan rosé with its distinctive vertical label. I am a big fan of wines from Oregon and Elouan’s pinot noir is practically my house wine—so I bought the rosé, iced it down and trotted next door for to join the gals.

The ladies were already in the backyard drinking Aperol spritzers and noshing on hummus, strawberries, and cheese.

I passed on the spritzer, grabbed a wine glass and was immediately grateful for the screwcap. I like a user-friendly wine. The Elouan isn’t just easy to open, it’s easy to like. When the spritzers were drained, I poured glasses for each of the ladies. Denise plopped some ice cubes in hers, Joanne garnished hers with raspberries and Edith, added a splash of seltzer. All delicious. We held our glasses up to the light, we asked Edith what kind of dishwashing liquid she used, we toasted and we sipped.

Pale pink and crisp, it’s perfect for summer evenings (okay, late afternoons) and we found that it pairs particularly well with berries, Trader Joe Thai spring rolls and with juicy neighborhood gossip.

July 17, 2018/by Eric Faiola

If you judge a book by the cover…

Ok, so no matter how serious you are about drinking wine and learning all you can, sometimes you are seduced by the label. And the João Portugal Ramos Alvarinho 2015 label is seductive. The voluptuous bottle shape is shown to great advantage by the slanting, “off-the-shoulder” style of the label, very simple and elegant lettering with just that small showy glimpse of a golden “L” in the word Alvarinho. I just had to try it.

Alvarinho (pronounced Al-va-reen-yo) is the same grape as the Albariño grape found in Spain. And it is grown in a very similar environment or terroir – the cool Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. But the Portuguese version is a bit fuller and rounded with a lovely, rich mouthfeel with a bit of a sharp kick from its flinty, acid finish – every bit as seductive as the label.

Portugal has long been overshadowed by its neighbor in wine production. Spain is quite simply a powerhouse when it comes to wine. Everyone has heard to Rioja and Ribera Del Duero, they know the Temperanillo grape and most have heard of Garnacha as well. Spanish Cava, their traditional method sparkling wine, is beginning to be highly prized and is starting to compete on quality with Champagne in a way that Prosecco never will. So, how is Portugal to fight back and carve out its own identity when so many of the wines are so similar? The solution has been to really concentrate in recent decades on quality. Portuguese wines used to be of marginal quality largely because it has a very large domestic market where people drink their local wines by the liter. But over time, it has been recognized that to compete on the global market, the wines have to be really good with consistent and high quality.

This producer understands this challenge and has been making wonderful wines in its very short lifespan (for a European winery). Established in 1990, João Portugal Ramos only began making this Alvarinho in 2013. And for a third iteration, this wine is excellent. It is very carefully made – fermented at low temperatures to preserve that beautiful varietal character of peaches and lemons with a slightly briny character. It is then made richer by partially fermenting it in new French oak to bring out that voluptuous quality I had mentioned before.

Enjoy this wine with shellfish, sushi and anything fried!

Seema 🙂

July 15, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Weekly Wine Pick, Wine

Wine of the month: Taking Route Blanc de Cabernet

Moldova is a fascinating country. It sounds both very remote and yet very familiar to my ear – something about Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains to the west, the Black Sea to the east. It seems to sit at a sinister juncture of fairytale and legend. But in reality, Moldova is a country covered by gently rolling hills that reach no higher than 1000 feet. There are lush valleys and rich pastures with a very temperate climate that is not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer and it gets just the right amount of rain for farming grapes.

In fact, Moldova has been growing grapes for millennia. There is evidence suggesting that the native Moldovans were making wine as early as 3000 B.C.E. There has been constant cultivation since that time, excepting the 300 years of Ottoman rule that destroyed many of their vineyards. Further damage was caused during both World Wars, decimating their wine stocks. However, in the post-war period, there has been a concerted effort to replant the wonderful hillsides with vines and bring production back to its former glory.

They have succeeded to a very great extent and replanted many indigenous varieties such as the difficult to pronounce “Feteasca Alba”, “Rarã Neagrã” and “Zghiharda.” They have also followed global trends and replanted the lands with more international varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, which seems to thrive almost everywhere, as well as Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay.

Until I tasted this remarkable wine, I couldn’t really predict what I would be tasting. I have had many, many red Cabernet Sauvignon wines and even had a few rosés, but I have never had a white wine made with it. This wine makes you appreciate just why Cabernet Sauvignon is indeed a superstar among grape varieties. My son would call it “o.p.” or overpowered. When it is gently pressed to preserve its fruit flavors and keep out the colors and polyphenols from the skins, it yields a white wine that has some beautiful aromas and flavors. Fresh and approachable, you smell grapefruit, herbs, perhaps some mango, pineapple and banana, and maybe just a hint of jalapeño. Then on the palate, you get creamy textures of summer fruit and with a mineral finish that is completely satisfying. Like most Cabernet’s, this is a full-bodied wine that is perfect with a range of flavors including shell fish, mature hard cheese, and charcuterie.

Thanks for reading,

Seema

July 10, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Beer, Monthly Brewery

The Shed Brewery

Vermont. Land of Ben & Jerry’s, maple syrup and the beautiful outdoors. Also home to The Shed Brewery, one of the first brewpubs in Vermont that has been a state favorite for almost 50 years.

History of the brewery: The original building was a blacksmith shop in 1830 that was later served as a cider mill and local gathering spot for farmers. In 1965 it officially became The Shed Restaurant after quickly becoming a local variety store. Local legend has it that when the restaurant burned to the ground and reopened a year later, word spilled out of a new addition of a seven-barrel brewery. This news quickly swept the roads and mountains that English-style, handcrafted ale was going to be produced. Production moved to Middlebury in 2011, and for the first time in the brewery’s history, people outside of Vermont are able to enjoy Shed’s brews. The legacy and history of the original Shed live on in every batch of Mountain Ale and IPA.

The Shed Brewery offers two year-round brews and three seasonal ones.

Their first year-round brew is Mountain Ale-a medium to full-bodied ale, with pronounced caramel and toffee notes, followed by a roasted finish.
Their second brew is Mountain IPA- it has handfuls of Simcoe, Centennial and Chinook hops that deliver big notes of pine, resin, and citrus.
Their first seasonal brew is Hellbrook Pilsner. It is named for the rugged trail that climbs Mt. Mansfield and features a straight-up hop spiciness with a crisp finish. Next is Baltic Porter, a deliciously dark lager that is clean, robust and full of dark chocolate notes with subtle hints of caramel.
Lastly, they have their Pumpkin Ale, a bold, balanced and mildly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Brewed with organic Vermont pumpkins from the Golden Russet Farm in Shoreham.

SHED010-16-Mountain-Ale_6PackFront_3D-HR

Visit their tasting room in Middlebury, VT (seasonal only). They also have a great pub onsite, so stay and grab some grub with your tasty beer. Guests can learn more about its history and local natives who used to fill the original mill to drink a good cider and spirited conversation.

Live too far from the Green Mountain State? Don’t worry, stop in Mystic Wine Shoppe and pick-up some delicious Shed Beer…. with a little taste of the countryside and history of its Ale, you can drink like a local.

July 2, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Weekly Wine Pick, Wine

Pinot, pinot, gris, blanc, or noir?

I often hear people refer to the wine they are drinking as “Pinot” – but since “Pinot” comes in red, rosé and white, not to mention sparkling, one should disambiguate! Is it the blanc, the gris or the noir? What does “blanc de noir” mean? And what is the difference by the way between “gris” and “grigio”?

Today, we will explore all of these questions

The word “Pinot” is thought to refer to the shape of the grape bunches on the vine because they resemble pine cones. They have relatively small berries which are tightly packed together in a characteristic shape. And, given all the names attached to the word “Pinot,” one might be forgiven for thinking that they refer to a family of grapes. In fact, all the pinots share a genetic fingerprint. Or in other words, they are all clones or mutations of one variety. The gris and blanc are just lighter skinned versions of the noir. Much of this is because the pinot grapes have been around for centuries; some think they have been around for 2,000 years with specific references dating back to the 4th century A.D. It has had a lot of time to create a highly branched family tree.

The expressions of the various wines span a spectrum of colors, styles and flavors. Pinot Noir is the red wine made anywhere from a light, fruity easy drinking style full of bright cherry and strawberry notes to a more muscular, grippy style full of forest floor and earthy, meaty aromas. Most interestingly, it can me made into white sparkling wines, called “blanc de noir.” This literally means “white from black” and is made by very gently pressing the grapes to ensure that color from the skins does not leech into the wine, which is then fermented as a white wine.

Pinot Blanc wines tend to be made with white grapes into a white wine (obviously) but they are often made in a relatively full-bodied style with moderately aromatic characteristics of stone-fruit, almonds and grapefruit. It is most widely planted and highly regarded in Alsace, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Unfortunately, in most other regions of the world, it is woefully underappreciated and does not receive the attention it deserves!

That is not the case with Pinot Gris or Grigio, which has seen a huge rise in popularity of late. So, what is the difference between the two? It is pure style, baby. Pinot Gris is the French / Alsatian name which also denotes a rounder, softer, fuller-bodied, more scented style. Pinot Grigio is the Italian name and also the Italian style. A bit harder-edged, a bit sharper with higher acid and crisper finish. Both can have beautiful noses with stone fruit and grapefruit with a hint of orange blossom. Interestingly, different places in the new world have adapted both the names and styles to some extent. In Oregon for example, the viticultural area rules prohibit calling it “grigio” and one might expect a more Alsatian character to the wines. New Zealand also hues to the “gris” name and style. But Washington and California tend to call it “grigio.” Go figure.

Which brings us to this week’s wine: The Thirsty Owl 2016 Pinot Gris from the Finger Lakes region of New York. I know some people are skeptical about wine from New York, but this wine will put those doubts to rest. It is a lovely summer wine that will pair with everything from fresh mozzarella and brie to bratwurst. The first sign that it is a fuller bodied, softer style of wine is the tall, elegant fluted bottle. The second sign is, of course, the name. The third sign is a memory of a balmy, sunny summer in 2016 that allowed the grapes to ripen fully and allowed the creation of a lovely wine full of peach, pear and tropical citrus notes and a light floral quality indicating the relatively cool nights in upstate NY. Despite only having 12.2% alcohol, it has a creamy, silky texture that slides across your tongue like a cool caress. And the finish leaves you wondering if you should take the next sip right away or savor the previous one a little longer.

Thanks for reading, Seema

June 26, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Monthly Cocktail

July’s Cocktail: Strawberry Frosé Cocktail

Summer is officially HERE and we’re still crazy about using rose in our cocktails so we’re sharing another great cocktail featuring, you guessed it, rosé.

We found some great frosé recipes online and it inspired us to make our very own vodka strawberry frosé. (Check out some of our favorite rosés you can use – Yum!)

Make Our Strawberry Frosé Cocktail

Ingredients:

Bottle of COLD Rosé: First, choose the rosé of your choice. At Mystic Wine Shoppe, we carry a wide variety… We chose the Ruby Red rosé for this recipe, which is blended with 80% Cotes du Provence Rose and ruby red grapefruit juice – It’s delicious and refreshing.
- If you want it more frothy – check out our June recipe… freezing the rosé in ice cube trays ahead of time will make it more slush-like.
Vodka (we used Tito’s)
5-8 fresh strawberries
Splash of lemon juice
1 Teaspoon of melted sugar
Small ice cubes

Mix it up:

To make two glasses of frosé: Mix together ice (be generous with the ice), strawberries (remove stem), 1 shot of vodka, sugar and half the bottle of cold rosé
Blend it up, pour and enjoy!

Want more recipes? Check out this Pinterest page for ideas.

Thanks for reading,

Mystic Wine Shoppe

June 25, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Holidays, Monthly Cocktail

4th of July Vodka Spritzer

As 4th of July quickly approaches we’re getting more excited for all the upcoming celebrations. We’re not sure about you, but we have a lot of great cookouts and parties posted on our calendar. If you’re hosting a celebration you know it can fun, but also a lot of work! We designed this cocktail with the hostess in mind… easy, refreshing and delicious!

Enjoy this month’s bonus cocktail –

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces of vodka (we love Titos or Grey Groose for this cocktail)
Fresh strawberries and blueberries
Soda water

Directions: Mix together and enjoy (easy, right?!)

What is your go-to 4th of July cocktail? We also found these tasty cocktails that certainly look tasty, but are nowhere as easy to mix-up.

Cheers and happy 4th of July!

June 12, 2018/by Eric Faiola

Wine

What does “terroir” mean exactly?

When I first began drinking wine, I heard a lot of talk about terroir. I assumed at that time that “terroir” just meant the soils in which the grape vines are grown. Over the past several years of study, I have come to understand that terroir is sort of a short hand for the entire environment in which a grape grows and ripens. It is about the climate, the winds, the amount of sunlight, the change in temperatures from day to night (“diurnal range”), the amount of water that gets to roots and so forth.

So, when you hear that a wine expresses its “terroir,” what does that mean exactly? It means that you should be able to taste certain characteristics of its home if it is a well-made, carefully handled wine. That is the difference between a small-batch hand made wine and a mass produced wine, but more on that another time.

When you taste a wine, do you feel like it is balanced? Is there some sourness (“raciness” or “acid” or “mouthwatering crispness”)? Are there flavor characteristics that balance out the acidity? Fruit, floral aromas, minerals – which can often give wine a faint saltiness, herbaceousness? Is there any sweetness in the wine? Does it feel a bit hot on your palate in a way that you know you are drinking alcohol? Is that in balance with the other sensations or does it overwhelm the wine? Is the taste after swallow pleasant or do you detect a lingering bitterness? If so, is the bitterness a welcome sensation? And most importantly, does it please your palate?

Each of these questions potentially addresses a different aspect of terroir. If you detect acidity, it could very well be underripe grapes. But it could also indicate cool nights that enhance the development of acids in the grape, which is a desirable trait. If you taste some sugars, it could be that it is a low alcohol wine where the fermentation was stopped in order to preserve some sugar or it could mean that is made with grapes that received a great deal of warmth and sunlight and were able to ripen to a great degree. If you taste minerality, it could be that the wine was made in a cool climate using neutral vessels such as stainless steel or concrete or it could mean it was a coastal wine that somehow expresses the wet stones and salty breezes of its home. If the alcohol is well integrated, even at high levels, the wine will taste round rather than prickly. If you detect the alcohol level right away, you know it is unbalanced. So each aspect of a wine can have multiple explanations but you can learn a great deal about it from taking a minute to savor all the sensations and smells and tastes it imparts. And you can decide whether this wine has individual character and interest or if it is made to cater to the consistency of certain palates.

Which brings us to this week’s wine, the Steve Bird Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. It is first and foremost, delicious. But more than that, it is a carefully made wine that expresses its terroir beautifully. It is grown in the Wairau Valley zone of the Marlborough wine region. This is the area that saw the birth of the New Zealand wine industry in the 1970s and has since showcased its best Sauvignon Blanc wines. It is a warm, dry area that has bright sunlight during the day and is cooled at night by the ocean breezes from Cloudy Bay. This means you get plenty of ripe fruit flavors such as passion fruit and grapefruit as well as plenty of sugars for balanced alcohol (13%) while retaining many of the acids and more delicate aromas of apricot, gooseberry and herbs that are so characteristic of the Sauvignon Blanc grape. And the finish is marvelous, tangy and lingering with a fruity mouthwatering end. All this adds up to a luscious, round and satisfying glass of wine.

Cheers! Seema

Photos from Steve Bird Website

June 8, 2018/by Eric Faiola