Category: Wine Wisdom

Maybe I am showing my age. No, I am definitely showing my age by using Jackie Gleason’s famous line as the title of a Wine Wisdom about mead. Mead, the product of yeast turning a honey and water mixture into alcohol. A natural fermentation that, as a result of archaeologic discoveries, may have first occurred among African bush tribes some 20,000-40,000 years ago. Exactly when mead was first created is obviously hard to determine, but humans’ desire for alcoholic beverages, even sweet alcoholic beverages, has perpetuated the making and consuming of mead a reality, from then till now. And OCWS’ Varietal Hour on Tuesday, March 3 will continue that reality as the focus that evening will be on mead.

Making mead is relatively easy. And many have done it and are still doing it. Today’s basic recipe is adding three pounds of honey to one gallon of water and add yeast. However, the origin of honey wine is thought to have been an accident, although a happy one. Wild honey accidentally blending with rainwater and then fermented by natural yeast, produced a honey wine. Evidence has been found that 7,000 years ago Northern Chinese pottery held such a fermented drink. The Greeks and Romans called it “Nectar of the Gods” believing it to be a divine drink with medicinal benefits. The Vikings called it “Mead of Poetry” that provided wisdom and poetic stimulation to whomever partook. Mead has been referenced in ancient writings of the Celts and Anglo-Saxons (epic poem Beowulf), in the Finish Epic: The Kalevala and in Welsh texts: The Book of Taliesin and The Gododdin, as well as the sacred books of India’s religions  (the Rigveda). The ancient Greeks considered Bacchus the God of Mead before he was updated to the God of Wine. Mead is mentioned over the years in writings from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,  to J. R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (aka HBO’s Game of Thrones). This honey of a drink has even been credited with the coining of the word Honeymoon as a result of the ancient tradition of giving newlyweds enough mead to last them a moon’s cycle to boost fertility.

As I said above, many are making mead. The list of countries where mead can be found is too long for this article. And if it hadn’t been for beer and wine a lot more of it would be commercially made today. But it appears that rarely are two recipes the same. For example, in Finland it’s made with brown sugar and raisins; while in Ethiopia they flavor it with powdered gesho, a bittering agent; and in the Philippines galanga root, a local herb with ginger, citrus and pine flavors, is fermented with the honey. It also appears that there is almost anything that can be added to differentiate the local meads, i.e, maple syrup, blueberries, burned honey, elderberries, coffee, apples, herbs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and even grapes to confuse its heritage, each of these blends having their own unique name. In fact, the first time I judged the OCWS Home Winemakers Competition the panel I was on  judged various meads including a chocolate mead. But is mead always sweet? Not in the least. And as important as sweetness levels are in determining diverse wine styles the same is true for mead, which can be made dry, semi-sweet and sweet relying of course on the honey must and particular yeast employed. Likewise, current meadmakers can make stylistic choices of either still or sparkling mead, with alcohol by volume (ABV) ranging from 3.5% to 20.5%. Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur alcohol strength. Finally, if you freeze fermented mead and remove the frozen water, a process known as “freeze distillation”, the resulting product is known as Honey Jack which will result in a potion with a higher ABV.

Now I have a favor to ask. As mentioned above, on March 3, there is a scheduled OCWS Varietal Hour with mead as the topic. You can get your free ticket on the OCWS website’s Events section, then pick up a bottle of mead at your favorite liquor store and join us to find out just how sweet it is!

—CL Keedy, Wine Education Committee Co-Chair

Sideways in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, sideways? Well, I guess it is! Santa Barbara is unique wine country with its creation beginning around 4 million years ago when the north to south running San Andreas fault turned left. Even prior to this, around 23 million years ago the northwest-southwest mountains started to rotate clockwise which still continues today. The western mountain ranges rotated about 90 degrees while the eastern mountain ranges rotated about 40 degrees creating an unusual, long west-east valley. (As an aside, Catalina Island rotated the most, 120 degrees.)

This twisting and turning of mountains, creating the Transverse Mountain Ranges that extend from west of Point Conception eastward for more than 300 miles into the Mojave and Colorado deserts, opens the region up to the direct influence of the Pacific Ocean.  A climate effect that most other California wine regions do not experience. This geographic structure creates a cool, foggy tunnel that provides the ideal climate for cool weather grapes such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The morning fog, replaced in the afternoon by the warmth of the sun and an ocean breeze, begins its return in the late afternoon. This produces an advantageous climate cycle slowing grape ripening. The western coolness of the valley warms significantly as you move eastward changing the climate and subsequently the grapes that can be grown.

During the same geologic period of continental plate collisions and tectonics 20 million years ago, the ocean floor uplifted leaving behind a highly diverse soil. Santa Barbara’s transverse valley’s soil, composed of calcareous limestone from ancient marine shells and skeletons, diatomaceous earth resulting from the fine powder of fossilized marine life, and sandy soils and clay loams, can respectively provide wine grapes with acidity, concentration, fruitiness and earth with the necessary moisture retention.

However, winemakers did not take advantage of this ideal climate until the late 18^th century, when the Franciscan monks planted their grape cuttings from Mexico near the Santa Barbara Mission. By 1804 a large, 25-acre mission vineyard was planted in today’s Goleta. And by the late 1800s there were 45 vineyards in the region including a 150-acre vineyard on Santa Cruz Island. Even though the oldest pre-prohibition vineyard in California was planted in Santa Barbara, prohibition slowed vineyard expansion in Santa Barbara until Santa Barbara’s first post-prohibition commercial winery was stared in 1962, the Santa Barbara Winery.

Today there are almost 300 wineries in the seven American Viticultural Area (AVAs) in Santa Barbara County that grow over 70 grape varieties including from French Bordeaux and Rhone grapes to Italian and German grapes, even though it is best known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Timeless Fun Facts Dating back to the ’80s

The Orange County Wine Society (OCWS) is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary this year.

In OCWS’s April 1986 newsletter entitled, “Free Run”, there was a section titled “Did You Know That…”  This section of the newsletter offered interesting short notes on wine information, somewhat similar to our “Wine Wisdom” column but very much short and sweet, a format CL and I have yet to master!  Just for kicks, and of course wine education fulfilment, we would like to share the April 1986 section with you – enjoy!

“Did You Know That…

• 90% of all wines produced in the world are made to be consumed within one year
• Antarctica is the only continent in the world not producing wine
• Italy is the major wine exporter in the world
• In Kenya, the three major vineyard pests are giraffes, hippos and termites
• In colonial America, Madeira was the most accepted wine to serve guests
• Under French Law, the highest classification given to wines from the Burgundy Region is Grand Cru
• The Romans were most responsible for spreading viticulture throughout Europe
• Sauternes is the traditional wine served with Roquefort cheese

Now if that is not interesting enough for you, grab a bottle of your favorite wine and ponder the many aspects of not only wine, but how wine fun facts, most times, are timeless. Cheers!

—CL Keedy and Linda Flemins, Co-chairs Wine Education Committee

Let’s Spice it Up!

In a 1596, Elizabethan Age English “cookery book” titled “The Good Huswifes Jewell”, a recipe to improve wine by warming it and adding spices was included. While the verb “to mull”, meaning to heat, sweeten and flavor wine or cider with spices was not used until 1618 according to Merriam-Webster, the warming of wine with added spices goes back to ancient times. For as long as wine has been made there have always been efforts to improve its palatability and deliciousness.

Hippocras, a Greek-spiced wine named after Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was surplus wine from the harvest that had spices dumped in and then warmed to make it appetizing. There were also beliefs that wine so treated had medicinal properties.

During the time the Romans spread throughout their known world, the heating and spicing of left over wine became common practice. Their 1st Century recipe for Conditum Paradoxum was somewhat more complex than Greek recipes with the Roman’s objective to mask the taste of poorly stored wine and again add some medicinal benefits for the soldiers. The Conditum Paradoxum became so popular that it was a featured wine of the Saturnalia Festival at the winter solstice. By the 5th and 6th centuries Apicius’ Roman cookbook had the recipe – one part wine and one part honey, boiled and reduced. Then a mixture of pepper, bay leaf, saffron and dates was added. Believe it or not you can buy Conditum Paradoxum today, but made with a decent wine.

The Greek-Roman legacy of warmed, spiced wine became popular in the Middle Ages. Water was not always safe to drink and wine with spices was believed once again to be medicinally healthy and much more flavorsome. In the 13th century warmed wine was a regular beverage of the Kings of England and as mentioned above, by the 17th century it was called mulled wine. The acceptance of mulled wine became so widespread that at least 20 different European countries have their own names for their regional versions. The recipes basically start with a decent bottle of red wine and then add a myriad of spices, fruits, nuts, fortified wine and often honey. (All the recipes can be found online.)

The strong connection of mulled wine with Christmas, although based on the warm of the Roman’s long ago winter festival, began during the Victorian era and especially with a notable reference in Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel, “The Christmas Carol.” Eliza Acton’s recipe for this particular mulled wine in her 1845 modern cookery book included lemons, cloves, cinnamon, mace, allspice, ginger, sugar and a little nutmeg. Merchants of the period began selling it in Christmas-themed bottles with its very unusual name. Just one quiz question for this Wine Wisdom.

What was the mulled wine in Charles Dickens’ The Christmas Carol called?

a. Smoking Bishop (port)

b. Smoking Pope (burgundy)

c. Smoking Cardinal (champagne)

d. Smoking Archbishop (claret)

e. Church Warden (ginger wine)

These are all the actual names of different mulled wine recipes from Victorian England.

Answer: A – Smoking Bishop – Ebenezer Scrooge offers to share a bowl with Tom Cratchit at the end of the book.

So, join the Varietal Hour on Tuesday, December 9 at 7 p.m. on Zoom (Event sign ups on OCWS website) and share some old fashion holiday cheer.

—CL Keedy, Wine Education Committee

The transportation of wine became an opportunity looking for an answer once wine consumption moved beyond the vineyard and winery locations. The evolution of transporting wine started with using animal skins which often leaked and allowed the wine to oxidize and spoil. Terracotta amphorae quickly became the animal skin replacement and solved many problems. In fact, amphorae were so effective that recently found ship wreaks and uncovered tombs contain amphorae 1000’s of years old that still contain remnants of wine. However, the weight of the amphora filled with wine, which took two people to carry, and its shape with the pointed bottom, which made standing an amphora upright difficult, lead winemakers to look for another solution. Enter the barrel.

Wine and Food Pairing

We have just completed a very successful Courtyard at the 2025 OC Fair that included more than a dozen wine seminars, many of which were structured to explain and illustrate the art of wine and food pairing. Our members leading the seminars paired wine with fair food, BBQ, snack food and cheese. Sparkling wine was paired with sweets and grapes with grains. The pairings all sounded like fun and it can’t be that difficult, matching wines with different foods, can it? Oh yes it can and congrats to our members who successfully developed and led the seminars, because wine and food pairing, something that has been going on for centuries, is not an easy task.

Given that from the beginning of time, food and wine were consumed together and there was probably no attention given to matching the food with the wine or the wine with the food. What local food and wine you had was what you consumed. But in essence this was pairing. One of the many approaches to food and wine pairing today is regional/geographic proximity of the items paired. An actual concerted effort to pair food and wine started in Europe when taverns and inns evolved into restaurants. The origin of the word restaurant comes from the French word, “restaurer,” which loosely translates to “provide food for.” It was during this development of restaurants, with the increased use of tableclothes, plates, knives, forks, spoons and glasses, that the basic concepts of drinking red wine with meat, white wine with fish and fowl and sweet wine with dessert were adopted. Pairing had begun.

Wine and food pairing began in Europe with the epicenter being France. In fact, the historical relevance of the French structured meal matching food and wine is so important that in 2010 UNESCO added, “The gastronomical meal of the French – the art of the pairing of food with wine” to its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It was during the 1920s and 1930s that the matching of culinary dishes with wine started to become a science, as well as an art. Numerous culinary, scientific, geographic and historical books were being written. Even though many of the pairings of the Middle Ages had some medicinal basis, the new “rules” for pairing were changing all of that.

But it really wasn’t until the 1980s that interest in food and wine pairing increased in the United States. Restaurants started to promote wine dinners, food magazines suggested pairings and wineries were making culinary suggestions on their wine bottle labels.

What, however, are the “rules” or proposed suggestions to pair food and wine? When you look for help to answer that question there is no shortage of expert advice.  Here is a non-exhaustive list of some suggestions that I found when looking into this subject:

Some of the above you will notice are still the pairing suggestions of old. But as is so often true, there is no stopping creativity even when trying to pair the right wine with the right food. New pairing suggestions have been developed using scientific/chemical analysis to build molecular flavor harmony. Krug Champagne has added specially composed music to the equation in an effort to create harmonious pairings. Specific bottles of Krug Champagne Grande Cuvee have a code that allows you to hear the paired music. And when all else fails check with Artificial Intelligence. The wine “paired” with prime ribs of beef – full bodied red with high tannin such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec or a Bordeau blend; and for filet of sole cooked in butter, lemon and herbs – a light crisps white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio or a dry, unoaked Chardonnay like Chablis. Not bad pairings but even AI uses the old rules – red with meat and white with fish.

However, to paraphrase Tim Hanni, a Master of Wine, the diner’s taste preferences should be matched to the wine not the food. And I agree. I often say my favorite wine is the one in my glass. When it comes to wine and food pairing, experiencing as many different pairings as we could with the wine seminars is fun and educational and a good basis to build on. We can each choose a wine to pair with our meal.  Will it always be a perfect or even good pairing, perhaps not. But when you find a wine you like, open it, and if it pairs well, so much the better. Just enjoy it. Cheers!

–C.L. Keedy, Wine Education Committee

In France, the National Institute of Origin and Quality, a public organization supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, is in charge of granting, regulating, and administering the appellation d’origine contrôllée (AOC) for French wine. There are 363 AOCs.

In Italy, the denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) system to regulate wine has its policies set by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, while having a consortium of wine producers, Consorzio del Vino, enforcing and managing the system. There are 330 DOCs.

In Spain, a Consejo Regulador, a regulatory council for each wine region enforces regulations and quality control for the denominacion de origin (DO) system. These councils are overseen by the Instituto Nacional de Denominaciónes de Origen located in Madrid. There are 69 DOs.

In the United States, the American Viticultural Area (AVA) system, the U.S.’s answer to the French AOC system, is regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) a part of the Department of Treasury. As of October 2024, there are 276 AVAs in 34 states with 154 AVAs in California alone.

While the French AOC system was started in 1935 with Chateauneuf-du-Pape being designated an AOC in 1936, the U.S. didn’t start it’s AVA system until June 1980 when it designated the first AVA in Augusta, Missouri. Napa, the second U.S. AVA, received its designation in January 1981.

But why and how are AVAs designated and what do they mean to wine drinkers?

The United States Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Chapter 1, Subchapter A, Part 9.12 establishes the regulations that govern the creation of an AVA. Under these regulations, a petition must be submitted to the TTB that specifies the name, boundaries, distinguishing features and maps and boundary descriptions of the AVA.

The name of the AVA must be verifiable through common use for the area to be so designated.

In the boundaries section of the petition, detail of the “commonalities or similarities within that boundary” must be specified with an explanation of why the features within the boundary are different from adjacent areas.

The distinguishing features part of the petition must give “a description of the common or similar features of the proposed AVA affecting viticulture that is distinctive.” Once again, these features must illustrate how they are different from adjacent areas outside of the AVA. The distinguishing information to be provided includes: climate (temperature, rain, fog, wind, etc.); geology (landforms, earthquakes, floods, etc.); soils (parent material, texture, slope, drainage, fertility, etc.); physical features (flat, hills, lakes, rivers, etc.) and elevation (maximum minimum). And finally, the maps and boundaries description section requires a U.S. Geological Survey map for the AVA with the proposed boundary clearly marked.

The above is an abbreviated description of the AVA’s petition requirements. But it illustrates the effort and time that is needed to establish an AVA.

And what is the advantage of having an AVA? The U.S. wine industry and consumers benefit from appellation of origin labeling. Valuable information about the wine, consumer education, local brand knowledge, and regional economic growth can all be gathered from knowing the appellation of origin.

Under federal regulations a wine can be labeled with an AVA so long as at least 85% of the grapes used to make the wine come from that AVA. Additionally, the wine must be fermented, bottled, and aged within the state or one of the states where the AVA is located. This appellation of origin on a label is in addition to the other federal regulations for wine labels that require brand name, kind of wine, alcohol content, net contents, health warning, producer or bottler name and address, sulfite declaration and others.

The federal rules have established the basics for wine labels in general and for appellation labeling in specific. State rules are often stricter as is the case in California. To be labeled a California wine it must be made from 100% California grown grapes. To list a specific AVA the rule is the same as the federal rule, 85% of the grapes from that AVA, but to be labeled as a varietal wine in California it must be made from at least 75% of that varietal grape and to be vintage dated at least 95% of the grapes must come from that harvest year. Note too that California also requires the California Redemption Value (CRV) to be on the label.

But wait, there’s more. More advantages to having an AVA, that is. An AVA is a geographical area so when you buy a vineyard, you also acquire the intrinsic value of the AVA in which the vineyard is located. This intangible AVA can further be described as a right to use the AVA designation on the wine label. This right to use can influence how grapes and wines are priced, and how growers and wineries can structure their finances, profits and taxes. This value is referred to as an “intangible” which is similar to a brand name or a trademark. Think Nike, Disney, Starbucks or Napa Valley. AVA’s can also be thought of as a federal license, grant or permit. Think liquor license or patent.

Most of us know that land cannot be depreciated, however, if a person/entity buys a winery with a vineyard that exists in a designated AVA area, once that AVA is properly appraised that value can be allocated away from the land and amortized (intangibles are amortized and tangibles are depreciated) over 15 years thereby potentially reducing the person/entity’s tax liability each year for 15 years. The more valuable the AVA in which the vineyard is located, the greater the potential tax benefit. In 1993, the federal government created Internal Revenue Code section 197 which addresses intangible assets. In 2010 the IRS came out with a Chief

Counsel Memorandum stating that an AVA is an intangible IRC 197 asset subject to 15-year amortization. The challenge is, how much of the cost/purchase price can you allocate to the AVA (and not the land)? That is a question for appraisers, accountants, attorneys, and the IRS to argue. Yet if you are in the market for purchasing a vineyard or winery that is located in an AVA area, you will want to ensure that the AVA’s intangible value is appraised and documented as part of your purchase.

So, whether you get a bottle of wine that is labeled AOC, DOC, DO or preferably AVA no matter, just sit back and enjoy it!

CHEERS!

CL Keedy & Linda Flemins Wine Education Committee

You are watching Jeopardy and thinking about how easy it would be for you to win any wine category because not only do you love wine, but you drink a lot of it!  Well, have you ever thought about wine aroma and where it comes from? We are going to get you ready to win the wine aroma category:

A Short Background:

Aromas in wine come from the grape, winemaking and aging. There are three categories of aroma: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.

Primary aromas are derived from the grape and fermentation process and include fruit and floral aromas. Sometimes spices, herbs and other natural elements existing near the vineyard may have an impact on the aroma of the wine.

Secondary aromas are derived from winemaking techniques. Examples include malolactic conversion and lees stirring or aging. Also having an impact is maturation and the vessel used such as stainless steel, cement tank, neutral oak and new oak.

Tertiary aromas develop over time as the wine ages in the bottle. Tertiary aromas are indicative of more complex wines with notes of earthy, floral, and nutty notes. Examples of tertiary aromas include leather, dried fruits, petrol, honey and mushroom.