Category: Wine Wisdom

“Sharing a glass of wine with others is like sharing a piece of your life with others.”

-Quote from film Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines-

Have you ever been to Rioja, Spain with the goal of tasting delicious wines? Whether you have or have not, you would definitely enjoy “Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines.”

Recently, several OCWS members purchased tickets and viewed the film at the Newport Beach 25^th Film Festival. This documentary, through captivating cinematography and photography, kept our attention by exploring not only the vibrant evolution of Rioja’s wine industry but its rich traditions, revered history and generational culture differences expressed with great passion. We hope we can share this film at our very own OCWS event. In the meantime, we will share some interesting information about Rioja.  

Wine is a bond – enjoy an encounter.

-“Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines”

Rioja is located in northeast Spain. The Ebro River and surrounding mountains define the region of Rioja. The film refers to Rioja as a sleeping lion, a mountain silhouette that looks like the majestic beast a slumber.

Rioja has three main zones: Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental. The region has three primary soil types: clay mixed with limestone and sandstone, iron rich clay, and loamy soil with alluvial silt from the Ebro River. The altitudes range from 984 feet to nearly 3,000 feet above sea level.

In 1925 Rioja became one of just two Qualified Denomination of Origin (DOCa) regions in Spain, making it one of the most recognized premium wine producing areas. The region is highly regulated by a classification system. For example, regulations require aging in oak and bottle for certain periods of time before release and what information may or must be stated on the label. It is a well-known fact that many traditional wineries choose to exceed minimum aging regulations.

Rioja’s wine production is 90% red wines with styles ranging from young and fresh to complex and aged. Age designations from young to aged are Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. If the wine bottle does not state an age designation, then look at the black label or neck label which will carry a regulation council stamp with its designation. American Oak Barrels are still favored, but French Oak is used as well.

“The value of wine in an old vineyard is the value of time.”

-Quote from film Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines-

Rioja’s primary red grape varietals consist of Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo (Carinena) and Graciano. Viura (also known as Macabeo) is the primary white grape of the Rioja region. Rioja wines are typically blended to provide balance and structure. However, singular vineyard model classifications are excelling. Specific vineyards in Rioja are referred to as parcels, villages and regions. The same “parcel” each year is being harvested, compared, contrasted and placed on the label.

During France’s Phylloxera period, around 1983, Rioja took advantage of the opportunity for becoming a main source of wine in Europe. The good news, during this period, was the French started buying and planting vineyards in Rioja and through France’s profound influence, the sharing of valuable winemaking techniques took place.

Yet, at France’s expense, Rioja made a lot of money from the sales of wine. Yet eventually Phylloxera impacted Rioja vineyards and American root stock had to be purchased and used for grafting.

Even though Rioja is one of Spain’s most advanced wine regions using modern fermentation techniques, it is proud to still maintain a strong respect for history and reverence for tradition. It regularly practices the theme of “Respect the wisdom of old ways – and the flavors that result from them” and “Take your legacy from the past and combine it with a never stop learning attitude.”

FACT:

Traditional family-owned wineries in Rioja:  Marqu’es de Murrieta and Lopez de Heredia. Wines usually reflect notes of “echos of earth,” old saddle leather, dried leaves.

Modernists Wineries in Rioja:  Marques de Caceres, Martinez Bujanda, Palacio y Hermanos. Wines usually reflect vivid upfront fruit character, jamminess, and a small portion of oak.

FUN FACT: 

Have you ever seen Rioja wine wrapped in a thin wire red net or mesh? This practice dates to the 19^th century when wineries sought to protect their wines by preventing unscrupulous people from refilling premium Rioja wine bottles with inferior wine. Today this practice is solely decorative.

Whether you have or have not been to Rioja Spain with the goal of tasting delicious wines, we encourage you to find a bottle of Rioja wine, open it and enjoy!

—Linda Flemins, Wine Education Committee, linda@ocws.org

Hopefully, for most of us the 2024 Orange County Fair (OC Fair) is now another fun memory in our minds – or is it a “bubbly” memory? A “bubbly” memory of explosions of OC Fair food tastes; wine pouring energetic co-workers; and fun, fair fantasies, I mean memories! The 2024 OC Fair is over – time to celebrate! Below are some fun filled facts about the celebratory drink of Sparkling/Champagne: 

1. What was the first commercially produced American sparkling wine made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes?

A. Korbel

B. Gloria Ferrer

C. Schramsberg

D. Scharffenberger

Answer:

C. Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs from Schramsberg Winery in Calistoga, California was first made in 1965 and the first commercially produced American sparkling wine made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes.

2. Because they tend to have a bit more body, which wine style generally goes well with main courses:

A. Roses

B. Bruts

C. Blanc de Blancs

Answer:  A. Roses

3.  True or False: There is no such thing as vintage champagne.

Answer:

False. Vintage Champagne is made from grapes from a single year harvest. Non-vintage Champagne is a blend of grapes from harvests from different years. 

4.  Approximately how many bubbles does a normal glass of Champagne have?

1. 3 million
2. 900,000
3. 2 million
4. 1 million

Answer:

D. Approximately 1 million. The one million figure comes from Gérard Liger-Belair, PhD, in the department of physics at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, in France – he used special high-speed cameras!

5.  The wire cage that holds a sparkling wine cork into the neck of the bottle is called a:

A. Birdcage

B. Stall

C. Helmet

D. Muzzle

Answer: D. Known in French as a muselet or muzzle, the wire cage that holds a Champagne or sparkling wine cork in place is very important in opening a bottle of bubbly safely. The muzzle should not be removed before the cork is eased out. Rather, the muzzle should be loosened (about six turns will loosen it), and then the wire removed with the cork at the same time.

6.  Which of the below sparkling wines is usually NOT made in the traditional method of second fermentation in the bottle?

A. Spanish Cava

B. Italian Lambrusco

C. South African Cap Classique

D. French Crémant

Answer: 

B. Lambrusco is usually what the Italians call frizzante (fizzy), not quite sparkling enough to be considered spumante (sparkling). Most is made by the Charmat method also known as the “Tank Method,” in large pressurized tanks. That said, just a few top Lambruscos are made by the Traditional method.

7. Which sparkling wine is not made in the Traditional Method or Method Champenoise?

A. Crémant d’Alsace

B. Prosecco

C. Cava

D. Franciacorta

Answer: B.

Prosecco is made by the Martinotti, Charmat, or tank method. In this method, the second fermentation (which creates the bubbles) takes place in a large tank. By contrast, in the traditional (Champagne) method, the second fermentation takes place inside each individual bottle. This is one of the reasons Prosecco is relatively inexpensive, while Champagne is relatively expensive.

8.  Most of us know that the bubbles in a sparkling wine or champagne come from a second fermentation process. There are different methods to achieve this second fermentation process. In the Traditional/Classico/Method Champenoise methods a “Liqueur de Tirage” or dosage is inserted inside the bottle. This “Liqueur de Tirage” can be comprised of:

A.  A wine-base and sugar (cane) liquid

B.  A wine-base, sugar (cane), yeasts (indigenous or selected), and the addition of minerals.

C.  A wine-base, sugar (cane), yeasts (indigenous or selected),

D.  All of the above

Answer:  D

9. What are the three main grapes that French Champagne regulations require to be used in making Champagne?

1. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc
2. Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir
3. Chardonnay, Marsanne, Pinot Noir
4. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier

Answer: 

D. Chardonnay (white), Pinot Noir (red), Pinot Meunier (red)

10. French Champagne regulations require at least 15 months of aging for Non-Vintage Champagnes including 12 months of lees aging before release, but Italian regulations require how many months of lees aging for their Franciacorta?

1. 18
2. 22
3. 15

Answer:

A. Franciacorta must be aged 18 months, 24 months for Rose, 30 months for Millesimato (vintage) and 60 months for Riserva.

11. What region is the largest sparkling wine region in France?

A. The Loire Valley

B. The Rhône Valley

C. Champagne

D.  Provence

Answer:

C. Champagne

12. What region is the second largest sparkling wine region in France?

A. The Loire Valley

B. The Rhône Valley

C. Provence

D. Alsace

Answer: 

A. The Loire Valley. More sparkling wine is made in the Loire than in any other French region except Champagne.

13. This rustic method of making sparkling wine predates the Traditional Method and allows the wine to naturally re-ferment in the bottle causing wine to be carbonated but in more of a frizzante (fizzy) style. The wine is bottled before primary fermentation is finished, without the addition of secondary yeasts or sugars resulting in a cloudy, rustic bubbly that can sometimes smell pretty funky. This method is called:

1. Pet-Nat
2. Ancestral
3. Petillant Naturel
4. All of the above

Answer:

D. Pét-Nat is a contraction of the French term pétillant-naturel (natural sparkling). Pét-Nat sparklers can be white, rosé, or red and are usually stoppered with a crown cap (just like beer). Because of the way they are made, the sparklers have highly unpredictable flavors.

Next time you drink a glass of sparkling, think of it as what it really is, an explosion of bubbles – celebration bubbles! Cheers!

—Linda Flemins and CL Keedy, Wine Education Committee

“The Fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars…”

Although William Shakespeare is not known as an oenophile, he was more prophetic than he imagined in his somewhat famous line from Julius Caesar. Yes, the fault is not in our stars.

The fault can be in our wine as many learned last month during the excellent Fault Workshop put on by OCWS members Don and Mary Ann Mayer. However, the fault can also be in our terroir.

Two articles, one by Natasha Geiling in Smithsonian Magazine (August 2014) titled “Why Earthquakes Make Napa Wine Taste So Good,” and the other by Elin McCoy in Decanter China magazine (July 2017) titled “Seismic shifts: Wines on fault lines,” delve into the effects of our shifting California soils on the vineyards we visit and the wines we drink.

But shifting soils and quaking barrel rooms are not unique to our home state, and neither is planting vineyards and building wineries on fault lines. You can find this in Oregon, and farther afield the same is true in Eastern France, New Zealand, Australia and Italy.

Is there a perceived benefit that overrides the associated risks? Yes, it’s the soil’s diversity—soil composed of limestone, sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and pieces of ancient sea floor millions of years old that has resulted from the formation of fault zones and the faults’ subsequent activity.

This mixture of soils is believed to add to a wine’s aroma and taste complexity.  No scientific data corroborates this belief but some winemakers contend that some of the world’s best vineyards are planted near fault zones.

1. Which California wine region, shaped by two monumental geological events, 40 million and 30 million years ago, has soil diversity of over 100 variations (equal to one half of the world’s soil orders)? These soil variations enable the growth of a wide diversity of grape varietals.
   1. Napa
   2. Mendocino
   3. Sonoma
2. How many distinct American Viticultural Areas (AVA) each unique due to its soil and climate does Napa Valley have?
   1. 12
   2. 14
   3. 16
3. In which Rhone Valley region did the Nimes fault push up limestone slabs, which are rare in the Rhone Valley, to high elevations making terraces where the best Grenache wines come from?
   1. Rasteau
   2. Vacqueyras
   3. Gigondas
4. In which Southern Oregon AVA is the Abacela Winery’s The Fault Line Vineyard (named for the fault that runs through it)? This vineyard has rocks that are 20 million years old on one side of the fault and rocks that are over 200 million years old on the other side.
   1. Rogue Valley
   2. Umpqua Valley
   3. Applegate Valley
5. What eastern French wine region lays between two major parallel faults and is crisscrossed by many smaller faults providing a broad soil diversity in a compact area, which may be the reason for the region’s 51 Grand Crus including the well-know Rangen de Thann Grand Cru Vineyard?
   1. Alsace
   2. Jura
   3. Savoie

So don’t get the shakes peering at fault lines, it’s not a tragedy. And remember, it’s no fault of your own if you just find a wine you like and enjoy it. Cheers!

— CL Keedy, Wine Education Committee

Scroll down for answers:

Answers

1. a
2. c
3. c
4. b
5. a

Winemakers are required by federal and state laws to list the alcohol level of a wine on the wine’s label. And “% ABV” stands for percentage alcohol by volume. Since wine labels get printed before final alcohol levels can be measured, California laws permit some leeway on the stated alcohol level.

If your wine’s label states 14% ABV or less, the allowed variance is 1.5%, and if the label states 14.1% ABV or higher, the allowed variance is 1%. So, a wine labeled 14% ABV can be as high as 15.5% or as low as 12.5% and a wine labeled 12.5% ABV can be as low as 11% and as high as 14%, while a wine labeled 14.1% ABV can be as high as 15.1% and as low as 13.1%.

Too much math? Nevermind. If you like the wine then enjoy it. Cheers!

Do you have a question on wine, submit it to us at office@ocws.org?

— Linda Flemins, CL Keedy, Wine Education Committee