This just in: New tastes for a new year

“”You don’t want to start the new year by cracking open yet another bottle of the same old chardonnay, Bud Light or scotch, do you? Here are some fresh sips to get you off on the right foot in 2011:
Sam Adams Infinium Ale: This new brew is a joint venture of Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams and Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery, the world’s oldest. They set out to create an ale under the German purity law that says it can be made only of malt, hops, yeast and water. It comes in a fancy bottle with a champagne-style cork and wire mesh. It’s deep gold, with a fine, frothy head and off-dry flavors of fruit, malt and spices. It’s 10.3 percent alcohol, $20 per 750-milliliter bottle.
Chartreuse Green: Ever notice that off-green, seldom-poured bottle on the shelf behind the bartender? It’s Chartreuse Green, a strong, sweet liqueur usually drunk after a meal. Legend says it was developed in the 1600s by Carthusian monks in the French Alps. They say only three monks know the formula today, each knows only one-third of it and all three have taken vows of silence.
It’s made by infusing alcohol with more than 100 herbs, which give it its color and shifting aromas of cloves, fennel, thyme, rosemary, pine and other botanicals. Beware: It’s 110 proof, meaning 55 percent alcohol. You can drink it on the rocks, with vodka and orange juice or with rum and tequila in a cocktail called Battery Acid. It’s $60 a 750-milliliter bottle.
Ilegal Mezcal Reposado: It is said that tequila is a form of mezcal, but mezcal is not a form of tequila. Both start with agave plants, but mezcal is made only in Oaxaca, while the center of tequila making is the Mexican state of Jalisco. Mezcal is the more primitive drink from which tequila developed. It is made mostly in small batches, while tequila is more often made in big distilleries. It’s light, smoky and earthy, with aromas of caramel and spice. It’s mostly drunk as a shooter, with or without salt and lime. The name comes from the way it used to be shipped across the border. It’s $67 a 750-milliliter bottle.
2009 Mission Hill Family Estate Riesling Icewine, British Columbia: It’s no fun making ice wine. The grapes are left on the vine past Christmas, picked with frigid fingers only when they’re frozen solid, then pressed under great pressure to extract the supersweet juice and acids from the ice. But the flavors are worth it — sweet honey, apricots and spices, crisp enough not to cloy. It’s $59 a 375-milliliter bottle.””
By Fred Tasker
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.

This just in: 2011 toasts in a host of styles and prices

I ignored my own holiday advice this year and picked up a $50 bottle of Moet and Chandon. I had praised all of the options to ringing in the New Year with an expensive bottle of French bubbly, but what the Hell. No beer for me this year.

“” The New Year approaches. Time to break out the bubbly. Whether it’s simply for toasting or to serve with a festive meal, there are lots of styles to choose from. Here’s a guide plus some handy terminology:
Blanc de blancs: “White of whites,” meaning it’s a white bubbly made of white grapes, often chardonnay.
Blanc de noirs: “White of blacks,” meaning it’s a white bubbly made of black grapes, often pinot noir.
Brut: This is among the driest of bubblies, often a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir.
Demi-sec: Literally “half-dry,” in champagne’s odd nomenclature, it’s actually quite sweet.
Extra-dry: Lightly sweet, but not as sweet at demi-sec.
Cremant: A sparkling wine made with slightly less pressure in its bubbles; some say this makes it creamy.
Highly Recommended:
Ruinart Champagne Brut Rose, Reims (pinot noir, chardonnay): myriad tiny bubbles; flavors of tart strawberries, ginger and spice; creamy, firm body; $53.
2006 Schramsberg Cremant Demi-Sec, North Coast, Calif. (flora, chardonnay): light, creamy bubbles; off-dry, with ripe peach and apricot flavors; $38.
Nonvintage Pol Roger Champagne, “White Foil” Extra Cuvee de Reserve, France (pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot meunier): lively mousse of fine bubbles; crisp; flavors of green apples, minerals; $45.
Nonvintage Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne, Reims: (pinot noir, pinot meunier, chardonnay): lively pinpoint bubbles; crisp and lively; creamy; intense cherry and raspberry flavors; $43.
Nonvintage Etoile Brut Sparkling Wine, Sonoma/Napa (chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier): big, active bubbles; flavors of apples and spice; crisp and very rich; $40.
Recommended:
2007 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine, North Coast (chardonnay): dry, crisp and light as air, with myriad tiny bubbles; flavors of toasted croissants and lemon; $36.
2007 Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs Sparkling Wine, North Coast (pinot noir, chardonnay): sturdy bubbles; rich; black cherry and caramel flavors; $38.
Multivintage Roederer Estate Brut Sparkling Wine, Anderson Valley, Calif. (chardonnay, pinot noir): lots of tiny bubbles; firm structure; spicy, nutty, golden apple flavors; $23.
Multivintage Roederer Estate Brut Rose, Anderson Valley, Calif. (pinot noir, chardonnay): salmon hue, hint of oak, very crisp, black cherry flavors; $27.
Nonvintage Scharffenberger Cellars Brut Rose, Anderson Valley (pinot noir, chardonnay): salmon hue, big bubbles, aromas and flavors of red raspberries, firm structure; $23.
Nonvintage Chandon Brut Classic Sparkling Wine, Calif. (chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier): soft bubbles, very dry, spicy green apple and mineral flavors; $22.
2002 Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee, Carneros, Calif. (pinot noir and chardonnay): extra-fine bubbles, crisp lemon and green apples with yeasty hints of bread dough; $32.
Nonvintage Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, Napa Valley (pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot meunier, pinot gris): big bubbles, aromas of camellias, very crisp, flavors of green apples and green melons; $20.
Nonvintage Mumm Napa Brut Rose, Napa, Calif. (pinot noir, chardonnay): lively bubbles, crisp and rich, flavors of black cherries; $24.
Nonvintage Trapiche Sparkling Wine Extra Brut (chardonnay, Semillon, malbec): big bubbles, toasty aromas, golden apple flavors; $13.
Nonvintage Mirabelle Brut Sparkling Wine, North Coast, Calif. (chardonnay, pinot noir): lots of big bubbles, intensely fruity with flavors of tangerines and golden apples; $23.
Nonvintage Mirabelle Brut Rose Sparkling Wine, North Coast, Calif., (chardonnay, pinot noir); pale rose hue, lots of tiny bubbles, tart strawberry flavors; $27.””

Source: By Fred Tasker
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.

This just in: Sparkling wines shine with more choices

I spotted this as I scoured the news wire for blogable fodder. I’ve always been a fan of sparkling wines of all shades.

“” Adding a little sparkle to your life is a fashion “do” this holiday season. But you don’t have to suffer in sequins to be trendy — you can choose from a host of sparkling wines to add a little effervescence to the season.
And you don’t have to spend a fortune to do it. More bubbly at more price points is available than ever before, says Wilfred Wong, cellar master for the West Coast-based Beverages and More! chain.
“It’s all about the dollars,” he says. “People still want to enjoy wines, but they don’t have the means to spend the money. More importantly, they know that there are deals out there.”
Deals like cava, a sparkling wine from Spain, prosecco and Asti spumante, Italian bubblies, and sekt, an effervescent riesling from Germany. Also gaining popularity is sparkling muscat, a sweet wine.
Along with the rising popularity of new varieties, the packaging of sparkling wine is changing a bit. In Champagne, the region of France which produces the only sparkling wine that can be properly called “Champagne” — authorities are requiring use of a lighter bottle starting with the 2010 harvest. Those bottles won’t show up on shelves for a few years because the wine’s still aging, but they are expected to save shipping costs and make less of an environmental impact.
The new bottles are 2 ounces lighter and, according to the Champagne Bureau, will reduce the annual CO2 output by 8,000 metric tons, or the equivalent of the annual emissions of 4,000 cars.
There are few changes on what’s inside the bottles, too. Gary Westby, champagne buyer for San Francisco-based K&L Wine Merchants, has noticed an increase in Champagnes made entirely from the pinot meunier grape.
Pinot meunier is one of the three traditional grapes of Champagne — chardonnay and pinot noir are the other two. It’s cheaper to grow, being indigenous to the area, but has in the past been considered sturdy but not particularly distinctive.
But now, some producers are growing meunier with an eye to quality, controlling yields and planting in prime growing areas, producing wines for around $30 a bottle, a bargain for Champagne. One to try is Michel Loriot Pinot Meunier.
“I’m finding there’s quite a following now for meunier,” says Westby.
On the American side, a new entry in the bargain sparkling wine lists this year was Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Brut Sparkling.
This is a charmat wine, meaning the wine is first fermented in stainless steel tanks, then put into small, pressurized tanks along with yeast imported from Champagne for the second fermentation that makes the bubbles. (For Champagne, the second fermentation takes place in the bottle, a more labor-intensive and expensive process.)
Woodbridge sparkling wine is light and crisp with flavors of apple and citrus. And it retails for around $10 a bottle.
Just not into grapes? Not to worry. There’s a new brew for you, too — a “champagne” made of beer.
A collaboration between Samuel Adams and Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery, Infinium comes in a Champagne-style bottle with a foil cover and the traditional popping cork. It’s even partially fermented in the bottle, though not in exactly the same way as Champagne.
Infinium, which costs about $20 for a 750-milliliter bottle and is available on a limited basis for the holidays, took more than two years to create.
“We set out to do something that had never been done before,” says Jim Koch, brewer and founder of Samuel Adams beers.
Beer has a little more in common with Champagne than you might think. (And not just because of those Miller High Life ads.) Both beverages have yeast as an ingredient and beer comes with bubbles, though not as many as the sparkling wine.
Koch was looking to create a drink that had the fresh and fruity flavors of Champagne married to the full texture and structure of beer.
“I want to get out of the categories of saying beer is this and wine is that,” says Koch, who sees the American beer industry as being about where the U.S. wine industry was 25 years ago.
“Beer is emerging,” he says. “”

Source: The Associated Press