The KnowWines Guide to Napa and Sonoma

More and more Gen-X women, now in their forties and fifties, are traveling independently or in small groups of friends, often to wine country. (To which we say, “Yes!”). We’ve been traveling to California wine regions for almost ten years, but have found that most online reviews of Napa and Sonoma target either trophy wine hunters looking for Napa Cabernet Sauvignon or Millennials day-tripping from the Bay Area. So, we set out to write a review from the (dare we say slightly more nuanced?) perspective of experienced female travelers and wine enthusiasts from the rural, suburban, and (slightly less trendy) urban areas of the US.

Napa vs Sonoma: Showdown or Toss Up?

KnowWines has explored all sixteen nested AVAs* in the Napa County Appellation as well as the eighteen AVAs of Sonoma. The truth is, the differences between Napa and Sonoma are all about personal preference. In other words, you can ignore the journalists who call Napa Valley “The Disney World of Wine.” These journalists have likely never wandered more than 1,000 feet from Highway 12. Yes, there are about three times the vines in Napa Valley than there are in Sonoma, but more vines doesn’t necessarily mean a better experience. Sonoma boasts a small but exceptional collection of growers and small producers, while Napa has plenty of growers, lots of producers, and a whole lot of marketing. Still, great experiences, accommodations, and yes, wine, are easy to find in both regions.

While you will find many of the same varietals in both areas, if you love the dark fruit expression of Cabernet Sauvignon you’re going to want to go to Napa. There are also 1,000 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon in Sonoma, though these typically express more red fruit aromas and flavors. If you prefer Pinot Noir and/or Chardonnay, then you will be happier in Sonoma. If you don’t have a strong preference, that’s great — consider tasting in both regions. Napa and Sonoma are best enjoyed in three or more days. With three days in the region, you could spend two days in Napa and one day in Sonoma (or vice versa). If your travels only allow for one or two days in the region, it is best to pick just one.  

Whichever area you decide — Napa, Sonoma, or both —  remember that this is a fairly rural region. Planning ahead will help you avoid the most common pitfall for newcomers — driving around all day and contributing to rural road congestion.

When to Visit Napa and Sonoma

Hello, Mediterranean climes! Who doesn’t love long sunny days and cool nights? Both of these areas have pretty dreamy weather, though Sonoma is generally a little cooler than Napa.

Here’s a look at the weather by season.

Winter

Our favorite time to visit the region is November through early March. There is less traffic, the crowds are fewer, and it’s easier to get reservations in wineries, hotels, and restaurants. Airfare is also less expensive during this time (outside the major winter holidays).  

Winter is the time of the year when you’re most likely to meet seasoned staff at wineries (or even an owner or winemaker!), since harvest is complete. Another perk is that some wineries will run promotions around the holidays, such as older vintages available for purchase that are not available other times of the year.

Do note that it can be cool and rainy during this season in Napa and Sonoma, with temperatures around 60 F during the day and low 40s at night — perfect fireplace weather!

Spring

Wildflowers will be in bloom this time of year, as well as the yellow Brassica in vineyard cover crops. Many shades of green cover the landscape as grasses are awakened by the warmer weather and recent rains. Baby calves and lambs dot the nearby pasture landscape. The vines are full of leaves by April, followed soon afterwards by fruit set. Many wineries will be bottling rose and white wines.

The number of visitors increases as people take advantage of the pleasant weather for biking, running, and hiking, and there are a number of races and biking events. Daytime temperatures will creep into the 70s and low 80s, but evenings remain cool (50s) by the end of May. Most of the rain has stopped, with the exception of a few pop-up showers.

Summer

Summer hums with the buzz of travelers and day trippers from the Bay area. Restaurants and hotels are typically full with the bustle of summer weddings, anniversaries, and summer travelers. The warm days and cool evenings bring out artists and musicians, and there’s plenty of  live music. Evenings are still cool, with nighttime temperatures in the upper 50s, and daytime highs in the 80s sometimes spiking to over 100 F. There’s very little chance of rain during the summer in either region.

During summer and autumn, you are more likely to encounter interns or part time help in the tasting room while more senior staff coordinate or conduct vineyard management activities and are busy readying the winery for the upcoming harvest.

Autumn

Harvest can run from August to October depending upon grape variety, altitude, and that year’s weather. Most of the grape picking happens very early in the morning, to take advantage of the cool temperature of the grapes. Natural yeasts exist on the outside of grapes; if they get too warm in the tractor buggies they can start to ferment quite quickly as the day warms up.

This is the height of the tourism season — rooms sell out early and restaurant reservations can be difficult. Cellars are very busy, and so is the tasting room. The rural roads swell with tourists, tractors, and workers rushing to get in the harvest (which happens during a narrow window of time). There’s a crispness in the air, with daytime temperatures starting to fall into the 70s and nighttime temperatures in the low 50s.  

Where to Stay in Napa or Sonoma

For hotels, motels, and B&Bs, plan well in advance (at least 30 days in advance for winter and spring and as much as 90 to 180 days in advance for summer and autumn). While there are many luxury hotels in the area, there are also more affordable options at smaller, family-run inns and chain hotels in the area. However, the economy hotels are typically 30 minutes or more from wineries and restaurants, so they may not be the most budget choice when you add in transportation costs. Depending on the distance, many hotels will offer shuttle service to nearby restaurants and vineyards at no charge.

Airbnb and HomeAway, which range from single rooms to entire homes, are great options as well, especially if you like to prepare your own meals from local ingredients.

Also, check out our review of Napa’s Harvest Inn.

What to Wear and Bring to Napa and Sonoma

If your trip is focused on wine tasting, we recommend dressing like the winery staff in dark jeans, a nice shirt and jacket (for those cool nights), and boots or sturdy water resistant shoes.  Wineries are in fact farms, so save those comfy sandals or beautiful heels for the restaurants or wine bars in town.

If your evening meal takes you to a restaurant with a Michelin star (or more!), wearing all black with a colorful scarf is one of the easiest ways to pack/dress.  

Even the coldest days can be sunny here, so be sure to bring sunglasses. Also consider a reusable water container, a hat, and a travel-sized umbrella.

For a complete guide of what to wear to wine country, check out our KnowWines blog on that topic!

Getting to Napa and Sonoma

The four closest airports to Napa and Sonoma are Sacramento (SMF), San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK), and Santa Rosa (STS). The Sacramento and Santa Rosa airports are the easiest to navigate with the least likelihood of sitting in traffic on the interstate.  

Since Napa and Sonoma are both fairly rural areas, it’s a good idea to rent a car or use a transportation service to get to your hotel and subsequent wineries, restaurants, and activities.  

If you simply want to avoid driving, your hotel can recommend a transportation service, and there are good reviews on these services on tripadvisor.com. Always use a transportation service if you plan on drinking the wine at the tastings. Uber and Lyft are available in both Napa and Sonoma, though the wait times may be longer than you are used to in suburban and urban environments (the driver may be coming from several miles away).   

Wineries in Napa and Sonoma

When visiting wine country for the first or second time, we highly recommend visiting a mix of small and medium independent wineries as well as one large winery. This will give you a great framework for understanding the wine industry in the region, and will give you more variety in your experience.

We typically only do two tastings per day — one in the morning and one after lunch — and we recommend that travelers plan for no more than three. This kind of schedule allows for engaging conversations with tasting hosts, relaxing lunches, and plenty of time for navigating to the next destination. Also consider scheduling a private or semi-private tasting,  especially during the weekends. More and more wineries are available only by appointment, but don’t let that intimidate you! Most tasting room staff relate equally well to wine novices, budding enthusiasts, and serious collectors, and these folks are excellent resources for restaurant recommendations and other wine tasting experiences. In fact, when you go to wine tastings during the week, don’t be surprised if others tasting with you are employees at other wineries.  Many of these staff come from restaurant backgrounds, bottle shops, and retail backgrounds and are regular people with a passion for wine.

Food in Napa and Sonoma

Most wineries don’t open until around 10 AM, so eat a healthy breakfast before starting off on your wine tasting excursions.This is important whether you are drinking or spitting!

Bring some crackers, fruit, and hard cheese along with you during the day in case a visit goes longer than expected or you end up wanting to have a picnic lunch instead of eating at a restaurant. Napa and Sonoma are also rich in delicious delis and grocery stores if you don’t want a sit-down restaurant experience during lunch. If you do want to try a celebrity chef establishment but don’t like dealing with crowds, consider eating there for lunch instead of dinner — the experience will be more casual and more economical.

A party of one can get a dinner reservation at fairly short notice, with the exception of two or three Michelin star restaurants (for which reservations are required weeks, if not months, in advance!). If you don’t like to sit at a bar for dinner or you really prefer to eat at a specific time, book your reservation a few days out. Restaurants in California may use different booking apps than you’re used to, so it’s best to consult the website or call.  

Napa and Sonoma Evening Activities

Most first-time visitors are surprised to find that tasting rooms close between 4PM and 6PM. In wine country, people get up early. During the evening hours, locals are spending time with friends and family at home or quietly enjoying the outdoors. You may find evenings to be quieter in these rural areas, especially if you are from an urban area or the suburbs. Check with the tasting room hosts, travel information centers, hotel, and websites like EventBrite for evening entertainment ideas. Travelers tend to congregate at restaurant or hotel bars, or they just relax in their rooms.  

The Last Word

Whether you choose Napa or Sonoma (or both!) for your destination, rest assured that you will find an abundance of wineries, restaurants, and activities. One region is truly not better than the other, as they each have their own character and plenty of great wine.   

For a list of specific wineries to visit, check out this article.

And if you’re ready for some international wine travel, check out guides to Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley.

Enjoy your travels!

Cheers!

* Essentially Napa is an AVA (American Vitacultural Area) and there are sixteen AVAs inside of it, kind of like Russian nesting dolls.

Fifteen Wineries in Napa and Sonoma

Five Large Wineries:

Each of these five large wineries produces over a million bottles of wine per year. Because their wines are widely distributed in the United States, you can experience the tasting without feeling obliged to buy something to take home. These wineries either work with many varieties and have many “brands” at different price points,  or they focus on one or two wines made in large volume.

In Napa:

Beringer: California’s oldest continuously operating winery.

Hall Wines: Nestled in the Diamond Mountain District of Napa Valley.

Robert Mondavi: Four decades of award-winning winemaking.

Stag’s Leap: Beautiful architecture, gorgeous vineyards, and underground caves!

In Sonoma:

Jordan: A beautiful winery-chateau in the French style.

Five Medium Wineries:

Typically, these wineries have been in business for 30 or more years.

In Napa:

Chappellet: Chappellet’s Pritchard Hill is a stunning setting for tasting wine.

Montelena: The winery boasts a unique stone chateau resembling an English gothic castle.

Opus One: Unique architecture paired with beautiful scenery and wine.

In Sonoma:

Ridge: Sip wine in the presence of gorgeous, 115-year-old vines.

Merry Edwards: Merry Edwards is a female vintner making Pinot Noirs with a sense of place.

Five Smaller Wineries:

These wineries generally make less than 250,000 bottles of wine per year.

In Napa:

Tor: Family-owned, with a focus on single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines.

Pina: Family-owned for eight generations! A small Napa Valley treasure.

Corison: Artisanal, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon by winegrower Cathy Corison.

In Sonoma:

Williams Selyem: Highly-prized Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel.

Peter Michael: Nine family-owned mountain vineyards and thirty-five years of handcrafted wines.

Interested in traveling to Napa and Sonoma? Check out our guide to California’s wine country as well as our recommendations for lodging and unique wine country excursions!

Authentic Wine Travel for 40+ Women

When Women Go On Vacation

Recently, KnowWines founder Jolene read an article by Sarah Mikutel with this title: “Women don’t need to be in a crisis to travel.” Two points in the article resonated with Jolene right away. The first was that Americans have become enamored with busyness and the hustle, rather than authenticity and intentionality. The second was that women only find it acceptable to travel and spend time with our minds after we hit a “crisis.”

Mikutel found that if you ask most women who travel (including Jolene), they are actually not miserable or escaping a crisis. Women typically travel independently because we’ve reached a point in our lives where we’ve met their intrinsic human needs (physiological, love/belonging, and safety) and are seeking experiences to build self-esteem and self-respect, a lá Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.   

Women in Wine Country

When seeking self-esteem and self-respect, we naturally seek mastery, independence, freedom, and competence, all of which lead to self-confidence. In addition to pursuing these higher-order accomplishments when traveling, we also love learning more about the pleasurable aspects of those basic needs — food, beverage, clothing, shelter, relationships. Traveling to wine country destinations affords ample opportunity for all these pursuits.

The world of women’s travel — and concurrently the world of wine — is rapidly changing.  Around 1% of business travelers were women 40 years ago. Today it’s 40%! The keyword search independent or solo female travel grew by 52% between 2016 and 2017. The average age of women adventure travelers is 47. Today, women are traveling more with friends or independently than with family. And more and more often, women are traveling to wine country. This makes sense — after all, women purchase 80% of wine for home consumption, and the GenX generation, which includes the most women travelers, purchases more wine per capita than Boomers or Millennials.  

With such a rapid increase in women travelers to wine country, the travel industry is working hard to keep pace. However, Jolene finds that much of the travel literature for wine country - from Napa Valley to the Rhône Valley to Bordeaux - is out of step with current trends and still geared toward men (light on detail and heavy on top 10 lists and trophy experiences). When travel articles are geared towards women, it’s to younger women looking for more of a drinking experience than an intentional travel experience that incorporates tasting and other cultural activities. When articles about wine tourism take the art of winemaking seriously, they often go far to the other extreme, aiming at wine industry insiders seeking “super geeky” wine experiences that may not be well suited for one’s inaugural or second trip to wine country.

Making a Travel Plan

Many women travelers prepare for trips meticulously, constructing Vision Boards or just writing out ideas about our ideal experiences. Rarely did Jolene find information out there that gave a holistic framework for wine country travel for the average woman adventure traveler. That’s why she created this free guide!

This course, Authentic Wine Travel for Women Over 40, is not a catalog of wine regions to visit. Nor is it a simple checklist for how to take the best tour of wine country. Instead, it’s a guide to making the most of your experience when you travel to wine regions. The goal of the course is to help you create a journey that is inspiring, deeply personal, and that, like a fine wine, will hold value for years to come.  

If the grape vine could speak, it would tell us that about 2000 years ago it tempted humans to take it and plant it in places it would thrive, which just happened to be some of the most beautiful and bucolic regions of the world. Because many wine-producing regions are naturally beautiful, one does not need to be a wine enthusiast to enjoy travel to wine country. The vines can simply serve as a beautiful backdrop to outdoor pursuits like walking, biking, or hot-air ballooning. But for the wine enthusiast, those vines, and what they produce, can inspire the woman traveller to learn the lore of the region and the personalities of the vignerons, and to experience new tastes, smells, and textures. This course endeavors to give you an holistic take on the myriad possibilities for growth, learning, and fun that wine country can provide the female traveler.  

14 Fun Facts About Champagne

Whatever your plans for February 14th and whoever you might be sharing it with (a lover, a spouse, a friend, or your very worthy self!), we’ve got fourteen fun facts to help you enjoy that celebratory bubbly. Even better, our list is a guide to champagne itself: where it comes from, what’s on the label and in the bottle, and how it’s made. Get ready to love that bubbly even more than you did before!

Champagne is closer than you think.

In fact, the region is just an eight hour flight (RDU to CDG) and a thirty minute train ride (to Reims) away! Want to plan a visit? Don’t forget to make a plan for bringing some champagne home with you.

With champagne, capitalization matters.

When you see Champagne with a capital C, it refers to the region of Champagne; the little c refers to the wine itself.

Bubbles in wine used to be considered a defect.

Up until the 17th century, sparkling wine was often considered defective by winemakers. Sparkling wine naturally occurs in cellars if temperatures drop in the autumn before fermentation is complete and the wine is bottled.  When temperatures warm in the cellar, the once dormant yeast become active and feast on the remaining sugars, causing effervescence when carbon dioxide from restarted fermentation is trapped in the bottle. We’re glad someone finally recognized the benefits of those bubbles!

Champagne labels are written in a secret, coded language.

(And we’re not talking about French!). Each bottle of champagne includes a code indicating the type of producer who made the wine in the bottle, but it’s not actually a secret. Here’s how to crack the code:

RM (récoltant-manipulant): Grower producer, aka grower champagnes. Estate fruit for 95% or more of production.

SR (société de récoltants): Union of growers who pool resources and make wine under one or more brands.

MA (marque d’acheteur). Sell champagne as their own but don’t produce it themselves. One example is Kirkland Signature at Costco.

RC (récoltant-coopérateur): Grower-cooperator. Grape grower takes his/her grapes to a cooperative for winemaking and the wine is sold under the grower’s brand.

ND (négociant-distributeur): Merchant-distributor. Wine merchants who buy finished wine and put their own labels on them.

NM (négotiant-manipulant): Merchant-producer. Most of the large champagne houses and some of the smaller houses - they purchase more than 6% of their fruit from growers. Veuve Clicquot is an example.

CM (cooperative-manipulant): Cooperative-manipulant. Cooperative of growers band together and share resources and sell resulting wines under one brand.  

September is the magic month.

This is when grape harvest typically occurs in Champagne, though it will vary depending on the weather. Grapes are harvested by hand and the amount harvested is regulated.

In France, there are over twenty rules governing the pressing of grapes!

Grapes are pressed in either traditional presses or through mechanical means such as a pneumatic press. It’s possible that a single Champagne house will use a traditional press for Pinot Noir, but the pneumatic press for Chardonnay.

Not all the pressed grapes from Champagne end up as champagne.

Some juice also goes to produce still wine, vinegar, fortified wines, and spirits.

In France you can grow up to be a cellar master …

… which is kind of like a French superhero! It’s the cellar master’s job to blend the vins clairs (separate batches of still wines produced from different vineyards, varieties, and plots) and réserve wines (wine reserved from previous vintages to contribute to later cuvée blends). This creates a cuvée (which simply means, blend).  This process of blending is called assemblage.  

In Champagne, even red grapes can make white wine.

Confused? Here’s how you know what color the grapes were before they turned into that beautiful bubbly:

Blanc de Blancs is white wine from white grapes. In Champagne, blanc de blancs is almost always 100% Chardonnay.

Blanc de Noirs is white wine from red grapes. In Champagne, blanc de noirs is either Pinot Noir or a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Rosé is typically Pinot Noir pressed or undergoing a short maceration before pressing to make a pink base wine.

Champagne is the perfect drink for blowing off steam.

That’s because it knows what it feels like to be under pressure! The secondary fermentation of champagne takes place in cellars - it happens very slowly due to the cool temperatures. Carbon dioxide given off during the fermentation is dissolved into liquid, creating the signature fizz.  The pressure builds to between five and six atmospheres, or seventy-five to ninety pounds per square inch. That’s at least two times the pressure in your car tires!

The cork on a bottle of champagne can withstand six atmospheres of pressure.

That seriously strong mushroom-shaped cork is secured by a muselet (wire cage). The bottles are placed in the cellar for a few months to allow for the dosage to integrate well with the rest of the wine. The dosage is a small amount of wine and sugar added back to the bottle once the yeast sediment has been removed.

In Champagne, there are no champagne flutes or coupes.

In the land where champagne originates, and increasingly in restaurants here in the US, champagne is served in a white wine glass so that one can enjoy the unique aromas of the wine. And while coupes are fashionable for building champagne towers, their broad shape allows bubbles to quickly dissipate. Personally, we love the Gabriel Glas Gold for any fine wine!

It’s possible to open a bottle of champagne without anyone getting hurt!

Good news, right? Check out this short (< 3 minute) video and photo series for (safely!) opening and serving champagne.

You don’t have to drink the whole bottle.

If you want to finish off that bottle, we’re not going to judge you. But if you want to save some for later, no worries. Champagne stoppers can be purchased from a kitchen supply store or from an online retailer. You can get a well-crafted champagne stopper from Italy or France for no more than nine dollars. The wine will keep for two to three days. For more information on champagne’s shelf life, check out our blog, “Does Champagne Go Bad?".

And if you’re planning a romantic dinner for two, be sure to get a champagne bucket to chill the bottle. And don’t forget the flowers!

Happy February 14th from KnowWines!

Cheers!

Wines for a Festive Holiday

It’s true that the holidays can be crazy-making, but it’s also true that this time of year brings into focus the things that matter most: family, friends, and quality time spent with both. This holiday season, schedule some cozy evenings by the fire with your partner, plan a wine dinner to celebrate your friends, or grab a bottle of bubbly and toast your coworkers! In the interest of helping you focus on the holiday gatherings that make this season so special, we created a wine list to save you time and take the guesswork out of your shopping. Cheers!

Best Fireplace Wines

‘Tis the season for cozying up next to the fire with a glass of wine.

The key here is a wine (blend or single variety) that has a full body, smooth texture, and a nice balance of tannin and acidity (thus, making food optional).  

For the white wine lover (yes, white wines can by cozy, too!): Try a Chardonnay from the village of Meursault in Bourgogne (Burgundy). These are typically intense wines, made with the intent to create a dry, rich, round feel with nutty and buttery flavors that are easy to drink by the fireplace. If you can’t find Premier Crus in Meursault, look for Premier Crus of Charmes, Genevrières, or Perrières on the label.

The classic fireplace wine: If you’re a fan of dark fruit, black currant, full mouthfeel, and oak, go for a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Yes, many of the famous bottles can run well over $100, but a great way to save some dough is to ask your local bottle shop if they carry any “second label” wines from famous Napa wineries. These “second labels” are typically crafted to drink now instead of aging, and can range from $25 to $45.  

Off the beaten path: If you like full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon but not the associated prices, look for Mourvedre from Spain, France, or the USA. Mourvedre has the same dark fruit and herbaceous aromas, oak aging, and sometimes a gamey taste. If you are a fan of Cabernet Sauvignon but find the lower price point Cabs too fruit forward, look for a Mourvedre from the French region of Bandol.  

Best Wines for a Hanukkah or Christmas Dinner

Hanukkah:

For pairing with beef brisket: There are French and domestic options typically under $50 that use flash pasteurization but manage to avoid the “cooked” aromas and flavors of traditional mevushal wines. From Bordeaux, try the Barons de Rothschild Haut-Medoc Kosher/Mevushal. Another option is Hagafen Syrah or Merlot from Napa Valley. Making fewer than 8,000 cases of wine per year, this winery just off Napa’s Silverado Trail is one of few that specialize in fine Kosher wines.  

Christmas dinner:

With roast goose: Tired of turkey? Join millions of western Europeans in their delight of roast goose. Yes, goose has an intense (not gamey) flavor, and unlike most poultry, geese are not intensively-farmed. With a rich and fatty goose, think western European wines — a richer white like an off-dry riesling from the Mosel or chardonnay from Burgundy (Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet). If you prefer red, the classic pairing is Pinot Noir (Burgundy). However, with so many wines now becoming available from Gascony, ask your local bottle shop for some economically priced Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, or Cabernet Sauvignon from this southwest region of France where many geese are raised.

With prime rib: Prime rib is known for being tender and highly flavorful. Most restaurants know that US customers will instinctively reach for a big Napa Cabernet Sauvignon to go with this decadent meal. I’d suggest that you ask the sommelier or local bottle shop owner if they have a red blend with a high percentage of (or a single varietal of) Petite Sirah (not to be confused with Syrah). For example, Stags’ Leap Petite Sirah at Total Wine will run about $35, while Cabernet Sauvignon from the same winemaker starts at $50 and goes easily into the $100 and $200 space.

After-dinner wines: With so many sweets available this time of year, it’s great to opt out of heavy desserts and go for dessert in the glass. Like honey, the source of sugar in  sweet wines is natural. Many still sweet wines can be stored up to a month in the refrigerator with little impact on flavor. Check out October’s blog and Jolene’s visit to Chateau Doisy Daene.  Their Sauternes is available at some area Total Wine stores for under $25 for 375 mL… perfect for sharing with a small group or hoarding for yourself.

Best Holiday Party Wines

We’re big fans of shopping at your locally owned bottle shop to stock up for your holiday parties.  Most establishments offer a discount for six bottles of wines. Also, going for six different bottles means that you spread out the odds of your guests finding a wine they like (or you can just serve four and keep two for yourself!).

Take some time to describe to the bottle shop employee your guests’ preferences and the type of food you’ll be serving. Try sharing simple descriptors like the ones below:

“My guests are budget but frequent travelers, always trying new things.”

“We’re serving many different appetizers and a carrot bundt cake from the local bakery.”

“Mom only drinks one brand of oaky Chardonnay and dad prefers bourbon.”

“My family will be visiting — essentially, a bunch of midwesterners who just want something that pairs with mom’s great lasagna!”

Chances are, while you’re talking, the bottle shop employee will be pulling wines in or out of a virtual basket in their head. The more you share about personalities, quirks, and what you are serving, the better a selection you will get. Also, if you plan the party well in advance, consider emailing your local bottle shop about the event and share your ideal price point so they can be scoping things out while you finalize the guest list. Bottle shops keep their eyes and ears open for unique wines distributors are carrying, so you might end up with a special wine that is not normally stocked!

Best Hostess Gift Wine

Bubbly at a value: At KnowWines, we’re currently loving a sparkling wine from a suprising location — New Mexico! The Domain St. Vincent, produced in New Mexico by a family with roots in the Champagne region of France, is an amazing bubbly. The store where we discovered this lovely wine is the brainchild of a Charlotte importer who works with Kansas City’s Doug Frost. Doug is one of less than five people who is both a Master Sommelier and Master of Wine. The store also has locations in Morrisville, Chapel Hill, and Wilmington. Even better, most of their bottles are under $25!

For rosé lovers: Steininger Cabernet Sauvignon Rose Sekt from Austria is $29 at the Wine Feed in Durham. This rosé for the rosé crowd is interesting for several reasons. First, Cabernet Sauvignon rosé is not a common wine (it’s from Austria, so a little off the beaten path for most US consumers). Second, it is crafted with traditional Methode Champenoise (Champagne-making method). Finally, this is a deliciously dry sparkling wine with a long finish and pleasant notes of yeast and plums.   

The sparkling splurge: If you’re ready to splurge on wine, the Champagne Krug Grande Cuvee (a mega-splurge at around $200) is the sparkling wine that both enthusiasts and wine professionals put on a pedestal.

Now that you’re good on wine, time to do some holiday shopping. Have a wine lover on your list? We know a few things they’ll love!

Enjoy the holidays, and enjoy these wines!

Cheers! 

A Day-by-Day Guide to Bordeaux

In early October, Jolene headed to Bordeaux to visit small and independent grape growers and winemakers, village bottle shops, fisheries, and oyster farms. Historically, much of the stateside marketing for travel in this region in directed towards older, male audiences and with an emphasis on the pursuit of “trophy wines.” Jolene, a forty-something Durhamite and female entrepreneur, was proud to buck that marketing trend by enjoying the region as a solo traveler. Not only did Jolene plan her entire trip to Bordeaux, she wrote a travel guide while she was there. Jolene’s mini travel journal, posted as this month’s blog, can serve as your own personal guide to Bordeaux. We hope Jolene’s experience will start a trend of women setting out on solo adventures to one of the world’s greatest wine regions.

Day One: Bordeaux by Foot

There are two good options for getting to Bordeaux from other French cities. First, the high-speed train service from CDG (Paris) to Bordeaux, and second, the nonstop morning and evening flights on airlines such as Air France from cities like Lille, Lyon, Düsseldorf.  

In Bordeaux, there are several hotel options and gîtes (rental apartments or homes). I’ve stayed both downtown and near the train station. Staying downtown comes with accessibility. You can walk or Uber easily to almost anywhere in the city. No matter where you stay, skip renting a car. Not only is parking very hard to find, Bordeaux is one of the easiest cities in France to navigate by foot, Uber, taxi, or train. As a solo female traveller, I felt perfectly safe walking around on the well-lit streets (however I might avoid walking around the train station at night as there is some prostitution and drug traffic there). The first weekend of each month, the entire downtown is closed off to automotive traffic which makes it a great time for exploring by foot.  

Day Two: Arcachon Bay

Gujan-Mestras oyster huts

Arcachon is a small city on a bay well known for oyster farming. Though the train I planned to take wasn’t running, the hotel set me up with a driver (by the name of Roger) to take me to the bay. After a lovely lunch at Le Patio, I walked seven miles around the West Salt Meadows and visited the the oyster farming capital of Arcachon Bay, Gujan-Mestras. This village has an Oyster Museum (Maison de l’Huître) where you can learn all about farming methods, then step outside into the port to see small oyster huts that house the equipment necessary for growing oysters (it takes 3-4 years between the time an oyster is “born” until it is ready to be harvested for consumption!). Near the huts, one can taste oysters at several outdoor restaurants while watching the sun set. At day’s end, the train still wasn’t running, so I messaged Roger for ride home.

Day Three: The Village of Saint-Émilion

ETS Martin Wine Store

On past visits to Bordeaux, I visited the village of Saint-Émilion and worked with a wineseller named Emma from the wine shop, ETS Martin. ETS Martin uses the Durham-based Queen of Wines importer, so my purchases last year were seamless. Before my visit this year, Emma sent me her entire inventory via PDF. This seller, like several others in this quaint village, specialize in wines across the spectrum — blue-chip wines for investment, ready to drink aged wines, and wines from small vignerons. After tasting and spitting about forty wines, I walked up the street and enjoyed a long lunch at Hostellerie de Plaisance. The menu there featured items from the region, including pigeon and locally made cheeses and wines. Then, I  went back to ETS, placed my order with Emma, and walked around Saint-Émilion and the surrounding vineyards. When Roger picked me up at the end of the day, he gave me a box of Macarons made in Saint-Émilion. Perfection!

Day Four: From Museum to Market

I’d planned to visit the hipster area of Bordeaux, to see urban gardening and take a graffiti tour, but it was raining quite heavily. So, I changed my plans and visited the La Cité du Vin, a museum of wine culture and civilization in Bordeaux. The museum is less than two years old. The first floor includes a bottle shop with wines from all over the world, as well as a cafe where you can taste wines with cheese and charcuterie. The second floor has a wine book library and a theater where wine classes are held in French and English. Another floor houses interactive visits for children and adults. Some of the exhibits include wine aromas, touching objects that simulate the textures of wine, light displays to teach the colors of wines and wines as they age, and 3-D holograms detailing the history of winemaking and important moments in civilization that impacted wines and vines. There’s also a nice restaurant with panoramic views of Bordeaux on the seventh floor. At the end of the tour, you get a free glass of wine!  

Francois Martin book

After the museum, I walked across the street to have lunch at a new food hall called Les Halles Bacalan, an indoor food market much like the Raleigh Farmers Market hall. Foods available for purchase included seafood and oysters, cheeses, charcuterie, truffles, fresh pasta, pate, desserts, and fresh fruits and vegetables of the region. There’s also a wine bar and restaurant.  

That evening I had a wine tasting with author and former cellar master François Martin in his wine tasting salon. At the end of the tasting, he personalized a copy of his wine tasting book for me!  

Day Five: SIP Wine Tours in Graves / Sauternes

This is the day I began a wine tour to Graves/Sauternes with Veronica Wells of SIP Wine Tours, a woman-owned small business started by Nicolle Croft highlighting small producers and off-the-beaten-path wineries. Veronica has a WSET Diploma and teaches WSET Level 2 and 3 in Bordeaux. Veronica picked me up from my hotel on Days Five and Six for my own personal wine tour.

Wine tours are a fairly new phenomenon in Bordeaux. Historically, the Châteaux were closed to the public, with tours available only to wine business insiders, the merchant class, nobility, and statesmen. In the past five years or so, the Châteaux have really opened their doors. There are over 7,000 Châteaux in Bordeaux.  I chose the Graves, Pessac-Léognan, Sauternes, and Barsac area of Bordeaux for my tour because it is a region often overlooked by wine tourism. Going back in history, the top wines in the world were sweet wines (this includes Champagne, late harvest wines from the Mosel and Sauternes). Now, dry red wines are the global trend. It costs about the same for winemakers to make the sweet, botrytized wines of Sauternes and Barsac as it does for the top Château to make dry red wines, so I had to visit and support these “underdogs.”

Here’s a run-down of our Day Five Châteaux:

Château Guiraud near Sauternes. In 2011 it was the First Grand Cru Classé to be awarded Organic Agriculture certification. This property is owned by a consortium of investors.  About 85 hectares (210 acres) are in the Sauternes appellation, and are planted with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Many investments have been made in the property that was once known as Château Bayle. They have an updated tourism center (unusual for Bordeaux, as they’ve been offering tours for 30 years) and have invested heavily in planting gardens, creating windbreaks, and converting their agriculture practices from conventional to organic which took them over ten years. In early 2018, they opened a restaurant called La Chapelle featuring regional cuisine. After our tour of the grounds, which included the vineyards, gardens, renovated drainage system, and winemaking facilities, we tasted the 2015 Château Guiraud Bordeaux Blanc dry white wine, their 2014 Petit Guiraud sweet white, and the Château Guiraud 2010 and 1996. The 1996 was my favorite.   

We learned on our tour that a summer hailstorm at Château Guiraud damaged many of the grapes and vines. Photos from the storm show mountains of hail that look like snow! Likely, this Château will have no harvest in 2018.  Hail damage to the vine can also impact next year’s vintage if the damage to the vine is severe.

Vertical Press at Chateau Haut-Bergeron

Château Haut-Bergeron near Preignac. Caroline Jeanpierre took us on a tour of this small winery, owned by the Lamonthe family since the mid-19th century. They have about 17 hectares (42 acres) and produce about 30,000 bottles per year. They grow Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes on many parcels. We toured the winery at the middle of harvest and witnessed how they press their grapes, first with a pneumatic press, then with a vertical press. We met the winemaker and tasted the pressed fruit before it started to ferment. We also tasted some post-fermentation wine that had just been placed in oak barrels, where it will age for 18 months. Since they harvest rather late, the wines are very rich, and the price of the wine is very reasonable. An importer from Raleigh was at this winery during this same week in October, so we might see their wines pop up soon in local restaurants or bottle shops!

Château Haut-BaillyGraves Grand Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan. I’ve heard that in the case of not-so-good Bordeaux vintages in the Médoc, wine lovers look to Graves as their backup plan. I asked for a tour of a Châteaux that featured both highly sought after wines of Graves and some interesting soils. Château Haut-Bailly sits atop the gentle slopes of the Graves region.  This region is the birthplace of grape growing in Bordeaux, with documentation going back to 1461 showing that this site was excellent for cultivating vines. The gravels are full of the petrified remains of fossilized shells on top of sandstone.

The winery prides itself in combining this long history with technology and innovation.  Each subplot in the vineyard is harvested and fermented one by one. I got to taste some wine undergoing fermentation after the winemaker tested specific gravity. In the vineyard,  Massal selection (or, the French term for selecting the best vines and propagating them through cuttings) is used to create genetic diversity in the vineyard. In addition to technical innovation in the vineyard and cellar, the technical director of Haut-Bailly participates in several research groups and works closely with Bordeaux University to ensure that the next generation of winemakers is coming up through the ranks.  

In the beautiful tasting room we tasted the Château Haut-Bailly 2014 and their second wine, La Parde Haut-Bailly.  The Château Haut-Bailly was my favorite — a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc.

Day Six: Graves/Sauternes, Continued

Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere Gravel

Château Malartic-Lagravière, classified as Cru Classé for red and white wine in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.  Again, I wanted to see some different types of grapes growing throughout the region. This vineyard is located on top of a gravel croup (plateau) right on the outskirts of Bordeaux and has an iron-rich sandstone. Inside the winery, when one goes from the receiving area to the cellars, the walls are lined with soil samples highlighting the composition of the soil. This was a great place for the agronomist in me to geek out! It was in this winery, too,  that we got to see the pumping over process. The winery makes both dry red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot) and dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon). The winery is family-owned by a Belgian businessman.

Château Doisy-Daëne in the commune of Barsac and classified in the original Bordeaux Classification of 1855 as Second Cru Classé. This Château is very special. It’s winemaker was Denis Dubourdieu, who was nicknamed “The Pope of Wine.” He was also a professor of oenology at the University of Bordeaux and director of the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences of the University of Bordeaux. His area of expertise was white wine making. His list of innovations in the region since the 1960’s included organic farming, oak barrel fermentation, and improved bottling techniques for white wine. Denis Dubourdieu was named 2016 Decanter Man of the Year shortly before he passed away later that year.

Winemaker Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu shows us the stages of botrytis infestation.

Our tour guide was Jean-Jacques, one of Denis’ two sons. Jean-Jacques introduced us to his grandfather, who is in his 80s and still lives at the Château. The winery is trying to establish some bee hives, but unfortunately parasitic wasps were carrying away the worker bees (so we stopped the tour briefly to kill some wasps!). We tasted sweet wine from a barrel using a wine thief (a small pipe used to remove small amounts of wine from a cask in order to taste or test it). Jean-Jacques also showed us how the botrytized grapes are stored before crushing (in a refrigerated bunker) and he walked us through the botrytis life cycle. Even though this small estate was in the middle of harvest, they took the time to show potential customers how they do what they do, which was quite amazing! We also tasted through all their wines, which are available by order from Total Wines. Before we left, Jean-Jacques was searching through several boxes in the tasting room to find us something special. He gave Veronica and I each the book his father wrote called Conversations Over a Bottle with Denis Dubourdieu: Oenology and the Art of Winemaking.

Château Sigalas-Rabaud, ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855, near Sauternes. Here’s what Nicolle of SIP Tours had to say about this Château:

Sigalas-Rabaud Cellar

For seven generations the de Lambert family have made one of Sauterne's most feminine 'ethereal' wines on the southern sloped 'jewel' of a vineyard not far from Yquem. Passing via the dowry, it has always had a feminine influence and today it is Laure de Lambert Compeyrot who runs the estate. She also makes super dry white wine using a high degree of Semillon. As Laure is very busy during this period it is her father the Marquis de Lambert de Granges who will be receiving you! A lovely more elderly gentleman with many stories to tell.

Jolene with Marquis de Lambert de Granges at Chateau Siglas Rabaud, Premier Grand Cru Classe Sauternes

The day of this tour, we got a call from this Château and they said, essentially, “the plan is one hour, but plan for three”. From the moment Veronica and I pulled up, we knew we were in for a treat. The Château looks much more like a farm than a Château. Up the valley you can see the imposing fortress of Château d’Yquem (very famous Château visited by Thomas Jefferson and owned now by LVMH (LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE). After 5 minutes, I felt like we should have brought a documentary crew.  The Marquis drove down by himself from Bordeaux (a fifty min drive) just to meet us. He was impeccably dressed and the entire tour was in French. The Marquis (in his 80’s) talked for over an hour while we stood in the vineyard, relating the history (and gossip!) of his neighbors and how the estate has been passed down in his family. We also learned about the soils, the history of the area, and the role of his daughter (winemaker) and her sons in the business. One of his ancestors (Pierre Gaston de Sigalas) was given away when the mother passed away soon after childbirth because the husband did not know anything about raising a child. The boy was given to a family living in the forest (la Lande) and grew up speaking Gascon, a language other than French. Later, when the father passed away, the boy somehow returned and worked toward revitalizing the estate, even though he didn’t yet know French or anything about winemaking.

Day Seven: Heading Home from Bordueax

Bordeaux is becoming more and more accessible to solo travelers and individuals outside the wine industry. There is a tangible excitement from a younger generation of vignerons and trade professionals who want to show off their region and connect with their customers through authentic and personal experiences. In addition to these wine-centric experiences, Bordeaux is easier to navigate than larger cities like Paris, and there are plenty of museums, shopping opportunities, and dining options with an emphasis on seafood. A network of biking trails, walking paths, and close proximity to the Atlantic ocean offers many opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts.   

We hope you enjoy your trip to Bordeaux! If you buy wine while you’re there and want to know the best way to get it home, check out our blog on flying with wine!

Cheers!

six Steps to a great Wine Party

We’re in the business of wine tasting and wine education, and we believe that there’s no reason learning can’t be fun. Wine tastings should be relaxed, no-fuss affairs among friends (in other words, a party!). Love entertaining? Curious about wine? Great! Here are the steps to setting up an amazing event that will both impress your friends and teach them something, too.

How to Host a Wine Party

Decide what you want to know about wine and do the research:

• Are you planning an upcoming trip to a specific wine region, like Bordeaux or Napa Valley?

• Do you have a favorite grape variety you’d like to know more about, like Pinot Noir or Chardonnay?

• Are you curious about how wines differ from vintage to vintage?

• Do you want to explore wines similar to your go-to brand, but slightly different?

Now that you know what you want to learn, use online resources (like our blog!), wine books, or local experts to find the answers you’re looking for, along with the best wines to help share your findings with your friends. Remember, this is exploratory learning! You don’t have to have all the answers, just enough curiosity to keep asking good questions! If you feel nervous about doing the research on your own, hire a sommelier or wine expert to attend the party and help you run the wine tasting (your local wine shop can help you find someone!).

Select a general time frame for the event.

Hosting a tasting just for fun or to connect with friends is a wonderful idea, but you might also want to consider coordinating your tasting with a birthday, promotion, or holiday. Wine parties also make a fun and engaging gift for bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Use a scheduling tool.

Select a few specific dates and times for the event and present them to your potential guests to see which will work best. Yes, we understand it is difficult to get any group of adults together! Consider using Doodle, Evite, or Facebook Messenger to help everyone decide on a date more efficiently (and without a long chain of emails!).

Choose a location for your wine party.

We recommend a home dining room with a table that can provide a space at least 22” wide x 16” deep at each sitting area — you’ll want everyone to have room for a tasting grid, wine glass, and other sampling items. A simple white tablecloth (or no tablecloth!) is fine. If you don’t have a big table, KnowWines can create the extra space needed with portable folding tables that can be covered with a tablecloth.

Finalize your guest list.

Based on the results of your Doodle poll (or another invitation tool you may have used). We recommend four to eight participants because it is a intimate group size that can fit at one table and allow the space and time for conversation and questions.  An odd number of people is also perfectly fine.

Plan your food pairings.

You’ll want to have simple, palate-cleansing crackers for your tasting, but you can provide as little or as much additional food as you like. Find out which foods pair best with the wines you’re serving (ask an expert or do a simple Google search) and prepare them in advance, if possible.

How to Prepare Your Home for a Wine Tasting Party

So, you’ve planned the party and are expecting a handful of friends to arrive later that day to learn about wine with you. Here are a few tips for day-of party preparation:  

Set the Table

Set up your table with enough glasses for all your attendees to taste each wine. You should also have a spit bucket, napkins, a pitcher of water with water glasses, plates for your food pairings, and of course, the wine and food. Depending on your guests, you could add some fun wine glass charms to lighten up the mood!

Be Mindful of Aromas

Don’t light any strong candles or wear heavy perfume the day of the tasting. This could interfere with properly tasting and smelling the wine.

Relax

… and enjoy learning with your friends!

Want to offer your guests a memento of the evening? Check out our favorite gifts for wine lovers.

Cheers!

Women in wine

Women Who Love Wine

Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: women buy 80% of wine in the United States that is consumed at home. That’s a whole lot of buying power. It’s not a secret that American women love wine. There are all kinds of memes about “Happy Hour for Mommy,” and many women aren’t shy about sharing that they look forward to a women’s wine night or unwinding with a glass of wine at the end of the day. Women are drinking plenty of wine and they’re buying most of it. But the people we turn to for advice about wine - the experts, the sommeliers - are still mostly men.

Little is known about how women actually shop for wine, but it is known that they rely pretty heavily on the label and point-of-sale materials (the shelf signage frequently found near the price). We also know that wine marketers take advantage of the fact that many women work 60 - 70 hours or more each week between a career and home responsibilities. That means they are seriously strapped for time and need to multitask. In other words, they aren’t going to spend time in a specialty wine shop when they can just get their wine at the grocery store. Sure, it’d be lovely to visit a local bottle shop and learn the characteristics of dozens of wines, but more often than not, a busy mom will just choose from what’s easily available.  Unfortunately for her, a diversity of great wines is really not available in grocery stores the way it is in bottle shops. Compare this experience of wine shopping to the experience of men, who typically consult up to 5 sources of information and read books and magazines about wine before purchasing. Women consult about 3 sources, and typically on the spot in the store. As a result, men have a strong preference for small wineries, and women typically have a preference for national and international wineries (big brands). Men display a stronger preference for $25 and up wine while women have a strong preference for two price points, $10 to $15, and $2 to $10.

The Changing Landscape of Women and Wine

The good news is that women’s lives in America are changing in some very specific ways that lend themselves to a deeper, richer experience with wine:

First, more and more women are opting out of heteronormative lifestyle. Many women choose not to get married until much later in life, if they get married at all. And many married women are choosing not to have children, a huge shift from previous generations. These women have the extra time and money to seek out a wine experience that is deliberate and unrushed, in opposition to the overwhelmed mom that so many “grocery store wineries” are targeting.

Second, the online shopping economy enables generations of women to purchase groceries and all manner of consumer goods like wine from the dashboard of a laptop. “Shelf talkers” are now online and the attractive photo is now a teeny-tiny thumbnail. This makes it easier for women to link to the valuable information about wine that has traditionally been sought out by men. While these online wine purchasing details are still targeted to male consumers, more and more female consumers are discovering them - and that’s progress.

Third, nearly half of married American women are divorced by midlife. Once the heartache is over, these divorced women are often on a mission to completely reinvent themselves, from their appearance to their job to their lifestyle, all with the goal of making a fresh start. It can be a joyful exercise for these women to go out and discover their own tastes -  in clothes, furniture, food, cars, décor, and wine. They want to travel, they want to experience things, and they want to taste what they’ve been missing. So, it’s not just more time that is opening doors for women in the wine world - it’s also a genuine desire to learn more.

Finally, an AARP study shows that women 45 to 90 are much happier now than they’ve ever been. How’s that for great news? Women are starting to feel a sense of freedom from all sorts of heteronormative assumptions. They don’t so often seek approval from others, and they feel more free to be themselves. They still feel young and are excited for the new adventures that life has to offer - maybe they’ll learn a new language, travel abroad, or become serious connoisseurs of wine, something they always enjoyed but never had the time to fully explore.

The Wine Future is Female

As it turns out, the wine industry is also at a crossroads. Just  making good products isn’t enough anymore to grow the market. Since the 1960s, there have been significant scientific, agronomic, and engineering advances that enable better quality of wine throughout the growing, winemaking, and sales channels. There’s a new abundance of female wine makers and women offering their expertise as wine country travel guides It truly is a great time in the history of the world for good wines - and for the women who appreciate them.

Interested in checking out some great wine books written by women? Check out our review of the Top Nine Wine Books by Women!

The Wine Tasting Grid

You can download a wine grid from global organizations like WSET or buy one like this from www.winefolly.com

If you’re ready to get intimate with wine, to really experience its complexity and find the vocabulary with which to express that complexity, a wine grid is essential. A grid like the one we use at KnowWines is a visual guide for understanding the wine in your glass. This is a professional wine taster’s tool, but it’s also a tool that can make understanding great wine a more accessible task for any wine consumer.

Why a wine grid?

In today’s society, taste and smell - perhaps because they require more time and attention - are underutilized. Instead, we tend to focus on the senses that offer more immediate gratification, like the visuals of a popular new film or YouTube video, the touch of our slick smartphones, or the sound of new music and ringtones. In contrast, aroma and taste are slightly more complex senses, and thus, it may be harder for some people to articulate their experiences with them. Professional wine tasters, however, are well-versed in these senses, and that’s because they’ve taught themselves to experience wine differently than most wine consumers and can anticipate what a wine tastes like.  They utilize a tasting grid as a road map, which is a classification system to identify and make associations between wines and their characteristics. By tasting different types of wine, paying close attention to their qualities, and comparing those qualities on the grid, they build a framework and knowledge for understanding the nuances of great wine. It’s also a great idea to enter your tasting notes in a personalized journal while you’re tasting wines, as a reference for future wine purchases.

Would you like some mushroom with that Malbec?

Here’s a sampling of the vocabulary you’ll find a wine tasting grid:

A wine with a “microbial” aroma might have notes of mushroom, sourdough, or butter.

Qualities of aged wine might include hints of leather, tobacco, dried fruit, or coffee.

Wine with a strong floral nose may have hints of elderflower, honeysuckle, rose, or lavender.

A wine with vegetal qualities may encompass sun-dried tomato, grass, or bell pepper.

How exactly does the wine grid work?

The grid breaks the wine down into parts: the wine’s visual qualities, it’s aroma (or “nose”), and it’s structure. For those of us who fall short of words when trying to describe wines (and let’s face it, most of us do), a grid provides the necessary vocabulary. For example, when describing a wine’s visual qualities, you may consider its clarity (is it clear, hazy, murky, or bubbly?) and its color (is a red wine more ruby or more purple?).  Next, you’ll consider the wine’s aroma. Here, the grid offers a poetic array of taste and aroma descriptors, from spice (thyme? mint? eucalyptus?) to oak (vanilla? cigar box?) to citrus (marmalade or grapefruit?). Then, you’ll consider the wine’s structure. This is a bit more advanced, but it’s a category of wine knowledge made more accessible by the grid. In this category, you’ll consider the wine’s level of sweetness (is it bone dry or very sweet?) and it’s level of tannin (does it contain more wood or more grape?). Over time, your combined understanding of these elements in wine will help you to more easily identify the region a wine comes from and how it was made. And, most importantly, the grid helps you understand which wines you love and where to find them.

Will a wine grid work for me?

Once you learn how to use it, absolutely! This grid incorporates the key concepts of tasting grids and is an approachable tool for novices and enthusiasts alike. Tasting grids take the mystery out of wine lingo by offering step-by-step documentation of your sensory experience to share with others in lively discussion. So, not only do you get to share your experiences with others, you’ll also end up with a record of what you tasted that can guide your future wine-buying efforts. With time, you’ll be able to review wines - from Syrahs to Cabs - with confidence. Then, you can recommend your favorites to friends!

Cheers!