Palate Fatigue: The result of tasting just too many wines whereby ones taste buds essentially give up on you.

It can happen to even the best of us. But just how many wines can one taste before their taste buds give up? It really depends on your experience level. The answer is the same as how you get to Carnegie Hall: practice.

I was talking with fellow wine expert, and International Wine Competition panelist, Beth Niles, about this subject. She recalled that her limit is about 20 wines, give or take a few. I’ve found that I can usually get to about 30 wines before everything tastes like a Zinfandel. Even with our super palates, it’s going to happen. The important part here is to know when you hit that limit.

If you’re new to wine tasting, you might not even reach double digits. That is fine. It’s just means that you’re palate hasn’t had enough practice in the wine tasting arena. If you do want to improve the amount of wines you can taste, start investigating new varietals and wineries. It’s safe to drink what you like, but at some point, if you want to get to the higher level, you’re going to have to start venturing out to uncharted varietals.

With practice, over time, you’ll begin to delay that palate fatigue. The crucial part is to know when you’ve hit your limit and head back to the Champagne.

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County (and at times, Napa Valley) looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com.

Review of the wine bar Wine Steals, in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California
by Haydn S Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog
May 30th, 2009

Wine Bar: Wine Steals
Location: 1953 San Elijo Ave. in Cardiff, CA (map)
Haydn’s rating: A-
Haydn’s Synopsis: A bustling and great business model for a wine bar. Good idea to follow Europe in the chalkboard by-the-glass menu style. Great “steals” are to be had if you know where to look.

I felt like a kid in a candy store for a few minutes when I first walked into Wine Steals. Laid out in a pattern I couldn’t figure out were wines from around the world, as well as a heap from Sonoma and Napa. The concept is simple at Wine Steals. You can either pick from a glass of wine from the large chalkboards behind the bar, or pick a bottle of wine from the retail store side and, for a $5 corkage fee, open it up and enjoy it right there. I went with the latter of the two.

I at first questioned how the whites were going to work, since they were just sitting out in room temperature. However, I quickly discovered the white wine fridge next to the ordering line and went hunting for a bottle of wine. I was with my Dad, who predominately drinks white, so a white wine it was going to be.

Inside of the wine fridge held a number of potential candidates for drinking. An albariño initially sparked my interest, along with Mantanzas Creek’s Sauvignon Blanc. However, the minute I saw they had a Vouvray, I knew that was the wine of choice. Why the Vouvray you say? Well, for a number of reasons. First, was the fact that my Dad has never had a Vouvray and I did want to expose him to a new wine. The second reason—the price. It was $9.45 (we joked that corkage was a 50% markup). Apparently Wine Steal does live up to their name. And the third reason, to which I was banking on sight unseen, was that this white was probably going to be around 12.5% alcohol, because that is the way the French roll, with lower alcohol than their American counterparts. The Vouvray came in at 12%, even lower than I had guesstimated.

If you have never had or ever heard of a Vouvray, don’t fret. It is nothing more than a Chenin Blanc (you could say wrapped up in French clothing). The French use regions to designate their wines. Bordeaux, Burgandy, Champagne for example. In addition, the French make their wines with less alcohol so that you’re able to have a glass or two and not feel like you are going to need to call a cab home. To put this into perspective, you’re likely to find California wines topping into the high 14′s to just above 15% at times, I can only think of one winery, Nalle in Dry Creek, that follows the French style in making wines with lower alcohol (see the article, The Chardonnay that thinks it’s a Sauvignon Blanc for more information on Nalle).

I’m glad we went with the Vouvray. It was a bit more floral than I had wanted, but it was still beautiful. The nose and mid-palate exhibited hints of peach and pears. One could make a judgment that it hinted of a Riesling, to which I would agree. I do feel that the over-chilling (it was stored in a fridge with beers) masked the flavors for a few minutes until I clasped my hands around the glass to warm it up a bit. And with the lower alcohol, the two of us were easily able to finish off the bottle and still be coherent to where we were. A big thumbs up.

Wine Steals was a total steal, in terms of price that is. However, there were a lot of bottles that were not. For example, the Fort Ross Chardonnay was priced right around $30 along with the Martin Codax Albariño at around $15. But nestled in between the normally priced bottles were the ones that sparkle. My advice to anyone who goes to one of their three locations would be to step out of your comfort zone, just a little. Try one of the few Tempranillos by the glass. Get out of Napa and try a Los Carneros AVA Pinot. Or go overseas and check out a wine from Spain or France. That is where the steals will be found. Overall, a wonderful place to have a glass (or bottle) of wine, share a pizza and discover new wines you might not have normally come across.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Haydn’s Review of Cav Wine Bar in San Francisco
May 26, 2009 | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog

Haydn’s Synopsis- Good geography of wine, with bottles ranging from Argentina to Greece. However overall quality, service and wine faux pas trumped the world wide wine range.

I was a bit intrigued when I received the call from a good friend of mine to check out Cav Wine Bar in San Francisco. Sight and review unseen, I dashed out of Marin, found a parking spot close by on Gough St., and hopped on in.

It’s a bit small but yet still fairly cozy inside. The ambient noise was a bit louder than it should of been, and the person across the table kept asking us to repeat ourselves due the fact that she was situated right underneath the table. The music was more hip hop, and upbeat—not generally found inside of a wine bar, but to each is their own. All the nuances aside, I was here for the wine.

My party already selected a bottle from their visual menu, aka wines on a shelf when you walk in. While that is fine for visual appeal, I’d be concerned with overall storing temperatures. The room was quite warm and I’d be afraid that they might overcook their bottles on a hot day. For my party, visual appeal did win out and the wine of choice was selected on what was displayed on the label.

The slightly overcooked Italian wine

I’ve picked wines simply by cool designs so I’m all in favor of that direction. The wine that was selected was the Trimpilin from Italy. It was a red blend of some sort, my guess being Sangiovese dominant. However, all the label said was “rossa” or red in Italian, which meant no single varietal pushed past 75%. The wine did open up a bit over a good 15-20 minutes, but it still lacked a great deal of structure.

The wine displayed a very minerally nose with a bit of dark fruit. The bottom dropped out on the mid-palate and I had to take another sip just to figure out what exactly was going on. After a few sips, the blackberry and strawberry components began to shine forth. However it didn’t last long and it quickly faded into the sunset. It was not that pleasant to drink, and I’d have to wonder if too much sun got into this bottle and did a little damage to it. Overall a fruit bomb.

I also had a sherry to go with a chocolate dessert. On par with what a Sherry should  taste like, but nothing to rave over.

The wine menu at Cav Wine Bar

The wines did range far and wine across this world, and I have to give them props for selecting such a diverse collection of wine. Unfortunately, they could have selected done a better job of selecting varietals from appropriate growing regions. With advances in technology, one could probably grow Chardonnay in Iceland (they may already do that, but don’t quote me), but I’d easily go for one coming out of Santa Ynez Valley. I felt they could have maximized on their world wine wine picking and really found wines that were the apex of the region.

A really great (and at the same time could be confusing) part of the menu was that they listed the blends seperately on the wine menu. It’s helpful if you know what the blend is (like a Syrah, Granache, Mouvédre is a Rhone style blend), but on the other hand, it could be difficult to figure it out if you are new to blends. The description next to the grapes in the wine helped out a little, but not as much as it could have.

They did have a few good bottles, but you’d really have to know what you were looking for to figure them out.

Overall feel

Cav Wine Bar has a lot of potential to be a great wine bar. And from a bigger perspective, one might see it as that. But from the waiter pouring more wine into my glass before I had finished it (so not cool in my book, especially at a wine bar), to the lack of Bordeauxs on the menu (please, just one, that’s all I ask), compared to the overflowing Beaujolais (which should be served slightly chilled, compared to the wines sitting on the shelf getting a tan).

The service was mediocre and the food was average, nothing to write home about. I feel they are trying to be “cool” and resting on their “Top 100″ restaurant listing in the Chronicle. Yet,  you’re only as good as your previous meal served and that could have been my last. I might go back to try a few of their wines, but in no way was I blown away from the food served. I appreciated the diversity in geography of their wines, but I’d rather have 10 top-notch wines from 3 or 4 well-renowned growing regions than 10 wines from 10 regions that can simply grow wine. And please, please—store the wines properly.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Coffee and Wine don’t mix
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog

I was standing outside of Cakebread cellar’s tasting room enjoying a delicious Sauvignon Blanc when my friend, Diana, told me to check out the trash can. I thought for a minute why I should see. She told me to just go look.

When I peered in, I was shocked! There, in between the water bottles and orange peels (click on the picture for a larger view) were about 6 Starbucks coffee cups! Wow. I was shocked and bewildered. Shannon (the third person in our tasting trio) was curious as well and went over to look. She looked puzzled, then got it. I was so happy they both picked up on this wine tasting no-no (they had read my book prior to going wine tasting). I walked over to the trash can and photographed its contents, letting my tasting  party know this is so going to be a blog post on the site. I was so excited.

The shock wasn’t the discarded coffee cups. It was the fact that waiting patrons to Cakebread had just recently slurped down the very liquid that will mute their taste buds, and they probably didn’t even realize it. And here we were at one of the best wineries in Napa and their guests can’t fully appreciate their wines.

Don’t drink coffee close to tasting wine

If you want your taste buds running at full strength, do not drink coffee. I admit that I can’t go a day without a cup ‘o joe, but the days I’m going tasting I try to drink it as early as possible. The acidity in the coffee mutes your taste buds and will mask any ability to taste wine. If your first taste of the day tastes a bit like coffee, you’ll know why.

Especially when going to a high-end winery such as Cakebread, you want your taste buds as strong as possible.

I was happy that some of my wine tasting tips has been recognized by Shannon and Diana and that they also picked up on what was in the trash can. It was also fun to promote my book in the very valley I’m trying to get patrons away from.

Shannon and Diana, you guys are awesome!

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com.

3 Facts about Champagne
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Wine Blog

I have been having a hankering to do a write-up about a few facts and myths about Sparkling Wines / Champagne. So here are 3 mythbusting facts about the bubbly.

1. Can you call a sparkling wine Champagne in the US?

Yes. You can, if it was produced before 2006. Officially the Treaty of Madrid from 1891 designates that only wine from Champagne, France can be called Champagne. Unfortunately the U.S. didn’t get that memo. The United States recognizes the exclusive nature of the name, yet still maintains a legal structure in which longtime U.S. producers can continue to use the term “Champagne”. And you have to wonder why the French don’t like us?

So legally you can call Sparkling Wine Champagne in America. But, out of courtesy to the French, try to use Sparkling Wine.

2. Why doesn’t Champagne have a vintage date? Does having a vintage date on the bottle make it better?

Generally a wine maker will blend various vintages together to make a Champagne. There is nothing special about it. Much like a wine maker might make a Zinfandel with 98% Zin and 3% Merlot. It is just in trying to decipher the right blend to make it work. You’ll know it doesn’t have a vintage date by the indication “NV” on a wine list.

Vintage dates on Champagne bottles are treated as highly as the word “reserve”. Both mean absolutely nothing about the wine. Just like “reserve” (I really don’t like that word) has no set definite meaning, the same applies to a “vintage” sparkling wine. Now that year might be extraordinary and yes, in rare cases, a vintage date might hold, well, bubbles (yes, pun intended), but 98% it is just because they didn’t blend vintages, plain and simple. Sadly I’ve seen people pay a good sum of money for a vintage Champagne.

I can say I’ve had some of the most expensive non-vintage Champagne (yes, from France) and it didn’t have a vintage date and still my knees were about to give out from the exquisite taste.

3. Should I care what the bubbles look like in the Champagne?

Yes. Ladies, listen up. If your date comes over and brings Champagne, err Sparkling Wine, that has bubbles larger than you’d find in a Coke, chances are good to great that he paid about $5 for the bottle. The bubbles are from the yeast cells expiring (blowing up turning to bubbles). Well-made sparkling wines have bubbles the size of grains of sand. As well, small bubbles look so much sexier than big bubbles. And so, in this occasion, size does matter, though in this case, smaller is better.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com