by Kristy Wenz Several months ago, Wines of Alsace held their annual “Alsace Rocks” Grand Tasting in Chicago, and next month they’ll be returning for the Chicago Wine Fest. So, in preparation of the event, let’s do a quick review of this unique French wine region. Quick Facts: Alsace, France Who Wine making in Alsace spans centuries, with many wine-making families dating back 20 generations. Today, nearly 4,000 winegrowers can be found in Alsace with more than 38,000 acres of [...]
We talk a lot about wine education here for obvious reasons, but there’s also wine for entertainment. Corporate wine dinners, pairing parties, birthday and holiday events, or even at-home dinner parties – each a great opportunity to share a variety of wines among friends and colleagues. But how do you pick the wines? You can do the research yourself, work with your caterer, or to kick it up a notch, and engage the services of a sommelier. Both sourcing and [...]
Francesco Zonin of Zonin1821 Fine Wine & Spirits held a “Sommeliers’ Themed Lunch” in Chicago this month, but this was not an ordinary producer’s tasting. This was an experience. Francesco, a seventh generation Zonin, led a small number of industry professionals on a cultural journey of the senses through a blind tasting and multi-course lunch. “To understand the wine, you must understand the culture,” Zonin said. “Wine is an experience.” Having traveled through and spent extensive time in Italy, I [...]
Kristy Wenz Last month at Bon Appetit’s Chicago Gourmet, the wine seminars hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and the American Wine School featured several sessions on tasting and blind tasting. Wine is often perceived as intimidating, particularly when ordering wine from an extensive list in a restaurant, shopping at the local wine store, and especially when tasting with those viewed as more “in the know.” How many times has selecting a bottle of wine for a friend that [...]
Top 10 Takeaways from the Wine Experts at Chicago Gourmet 2019 Kristy Wenz The interest in wine knowledge and wine education is on the rise. In fact, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), now in its 50th year, has seen year-over-year increases in candidates every academic school year in the past nine-year period, with a near 200% increase between 2010/2011 academic school year and the 2018/2019 academic school year. Here at the American Wine School, one of the oldest [...]
Kristy Wenz Most wine drinking consumers are familiar with Australian wines, but how familiar are we really? Often the first wine to come to mind is an Australian Shiraz – those big, full-body, fruit-forward, spicy wines that took hold of the U.S. market in the early 2000s. However, let’s think about that phrase for a moment, “Australian Shiraz.” Australia, the sixth largest country in the world, is almost 7.7 million square kilometers with four topographical regions – to say nothing [...]
In 2008, I was lucky enough to enter (and win) a wine competition organized by Wines Australia. The winners, there were 5 of us, were treated to an educational journey to Australia to explore the major wine regions from coast to coast. Since that time, I have returned to Aussie land just about every two years to sip their wines and learn more about their terrific wine culture. OK, I will admit it. I have a few favorite relatives living [...]
In recent times, I have found myself looking to lower the amount of alcohol I consume - for no other reason than I can feel myself getting older and believe the time to be concerned about longevity has arrived. In doing so, I work to increase the number of alcohol-free days each month by sipping non-alcoholic beers, wines, and spirits or enjoying low-alcoholic beverages. One might ask why drink at all? The answer is simple: On nights that choose not [...]
Several years ago, I attended a wine conference in Priorat, Spain designed to re-introduce wine professionals around the globe to the historic region. Four sun-drenched days and many sips later, I was hopelessly in love. Hands down one of the most stunning and heroic wine regions in the world, the rugged terrain of Priorat (and the resulting wines) captured my heart. At some point during the weekend, the folks at the helm of the DOQ queried the attendees on the [...]
Rias Biaxas Fillaboa Winery While Spain's sun-drenched reds have garnered international attention decades, the country's native whites are on the rise with plenty of varieties on retail shelves just in time for spring to summer sipping. Grown in the cooler "green region" of Rias Baixas, Albarino (a native grape variety) lays claim to some of the country's best whites. Cooler temperatures tempered by ocean breezes allow Albarino producers to make refreshing whites with aromatic peach, lemon, kiwi and floral notes [...]
