Niche Wine Blog

Drink Matcher: iPhone & Blackberry Mobile Application

There is a fantastic new mobile phone application that offers up to 380,000 food and drink pairing possibilities. It's the new Drinks Matcher iPhone and Blackberry mobile application created by Natalie Maclean in collaboration with bitHeads web developers. She also offers top ten barbecue food and drink matchings for the summer.  Here's the press release provided for by Natalie Maclean.

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New York, June 19, 2009 - Which pairs best with barbecued steak and chicken: red or white wine? Does barbecue sauce, relish or ketchup change the match? Which grilled grub will please those who prefer beer or gin-and-tonic to wine?

Whether you kick back at the cottage, the campsite or your own backyard this summer, you can find delicious pairings in this comprehensive food and drink mobile application. The new Drinks Matcher from Nat Decants is available now for your smartphone. It's like having a personal sommelier and a bartender at your side.

Natalie MacLean, creator of Nat Decants, the wine web site at www.nataliemaclean.com, has teamed up with the software developer bitHeads to create an application that works on your iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve.

"We all want to enjoy great food and drink, but in the summer we don't want to be tied to our office computer looking for information," MacLean explains. "We want to do a quick search while we browse in the liquor store, grill beside the pool or order drinks on a patio."

You just choose a match on your mobile device and then you can find the top drink picks either in your local liquor store or on the restaurant menu. Unlike MacLean's popular pairing widget on her web site, this new tool doesn't require a connection to the Internet and so can be used in remote locations.

"There are two trends that are exploding in popularity now: interest in food and wine, and the convenience of mobile apps," says MacLean. "That makes the Nat Decants Drinks Matcher a natural fit-like steak and shiraz. As a wine-loving geek, I love finding ways for new technology to help us savour all of life's pleasures, wherever we are."

Nat Decants Drinks Matcher Features:

       Start with either a drink or a dish
       Choose Bubbly, White, Red, Rosé, Dessert
       Pair beer, spirits, cocktails, liquor, coffee, tea
       Select from 292 grapes, wines and blends
       219 cheeses and cheese dishes
       61 pasta dishes, 118 vegetarian & salads
       57 chicken, 59 beef, 41 pork, 112 seafood
       27 types of pizza plus other take-out favorites
       48 herbs, spices and sauces
       94 Asian, Indian and Chinese dishes
       123 types of chocolate and desserts
       More than 380,000 pairings, with new ones added daily

The Nat Decants Drinks Matcher is only $2.99 and you can download it in two minutes from the online stores for iPhone or BlackBerry.

For Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch App Store, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/iphone

For the BlackBerry App World, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/blackberry

Note: The BlackBerry link takes you directly to the matcher app only if you click on it while using your BlackBerry device.

For a quick video demo on how the app works, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/mobilematch

Top 10 Barbecue Food & Drink Matches from the Nat Decants Drinks Matcher:

1.      Planked salmon with Oregonian Pinot Noir
2.      Grilled portebello mushrooms with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
3.      Shish-kabob lamb with Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
4.      Skewered chicken with Provençal Rosé
5.      Marinated pork chops with Italian Chianti
6.      Barbecued spare ribs with Australian Shiraz
7.      Grilled pepper steak with Rhône Valley Syrah
8.      Herb-rubbed chicken with Argentine Malbec
9.      Grilled hamburgers with Californian Zinfandel
10.     Roasted marshmallows with German Late Harvest Riesling

For more food-and-drink matching tips, visit the Nat Decants web site at www.nataliemaclean.com:

- Free e-newsletter, recipes, blog, wine glossary, podcasts, articles, wine links, events, Twitter updates and RSS feeds

- Daily matching tips: Twitter.com/NatalieMacLean and Facebook.com/NatalieMacLean

- More than 50,000 wine reviews that you can search by price, score, maturity date, food matches, recipes and the liquor store closest to you:

http://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks
http://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks/wine.aspx?wid=4667

About Natalie:

Natalie MacLean is an independent journalist and author of the bestseller Red, White and Drunk All Over. For Google searches on popular terms like "food and wine pairing," "food and wine matching" and "wine newsletter," Natalie's site is often on the first page of the results as it has become a go-to resource for food and wine lovers. Natalie has won four James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. At the World Food Media Awards in Australia, she was named the World's Best Drinks Writer.

About bitHeads:

bitHeads is the software product-building partner that has helped RIM, HP, InfoLogix, Vaultus Mobile and many others get award-winning iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile applications to market faster. bitHeads' unique approach provides teams of mobile experts, a proven methodology for quickly building applications that users love, and a partnership model based on a commitment to successful delivery. Millions of people around the globe use mobile applications and other software products that have been built by bitHeads. For more information, visit www.bitheads.com or contact Scott Simpson at scotts@bitheads.com.

Niche Wine Blog Hiatus

Fermenting a new concept - until then
Niche Wine Blog is resting.

Happy Holidays

WINE.COM RELEASES SECOND ANNUAL WINE.COM 100 LIST

 

Top 1% of Wines as Judged by Wine.com Customers

Quick Pitch

Wine drinkers voted with their wallets; trends say highly-rated, low-price wines win; many hail from regions abroad

Full Release

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 3, 2008 – Wine.com, the nation's #1 online wine retailer, today announced its second annual Wine.com 100 list based entirely on customer preferences. The only list of its kind is generated by ranking the top 1 percent of bottle sales of the over 10,000 wines sold nationally on Wine.com during the first 11 months of 2008. For a complete list, go to http://www.wine.com/100.

"Our annual ranking is unique in that it reflects the opinions of our customers," said Rich Bergsund, Wine.com CEO. "The trend we’ve seen is that wine enthusiasts are looking for the greatest value – highly rated wines at lower price points – and are increasingly choosing wines from South America and Australia."

The Wine.com 100 list shows customers are choosing both quality and price, with 94 of the wines rated 90 points or higher from leading wine critics, including Wine Spectator, and over 70 wines priced under $20. The Wine.com 100 list also demonstrates consumer demand for notable brands such as Silver Oak, Caymus, Dom Pérignon, Cakebread, Duckhorn, and Jordan.

The most popular wine of 2008 hails from Chile's Veramonte Winery. Veramonte’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva sells for $9.99 and received a 92-point rating from The Wine News. Veramonte's Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and two vintages of the winery’s premium red blend, Primus, also made the list.

"Veramonte wines have been a favorite of ours for a decade," said Michael Osborn, founder and VP of Merchandising for Wine.com. "Having five of our Top 100 from this estate shows that customers recognize their artisanal quality wine and the great value they offer."

In contrast with most U.S. wine retailers, where on average 25% of wine sold is imported, the Wine.com 100 contains 63 imported wines. While California dominates domestically with 31 wines on the Wine.com 100 list, eight other countries are represented led by Australia (27), Chile (11), Argentina (8), Spain (6), France (5), Italy (4), and New Zealand (2). Wines from Australia and South America demonstrated the biggest trend, moving to 27% and 19% this year from 18% and 13% last year, respectively.

Red wine represents 74% of the top 100, led by Cabernet Sauvignon (18), Syrah (16), and Malbec (6). Of the 20 white wines on the list, Chardonnay (10) and Sauvignon Blanc (6) topped the list.

Wine.com recently introduced evening, Saturday, date-specific and by appointment delivery and is the only wine retailer in the U.S. to offer these convenient shipping options. The company also introduced the Wine.com Steward-Ship™ Program offering frequent buyers one year of free delivery on every order, regardless of size, for just $49.

About Wine.com
Wine.com is the nation's #1 online wine retailer, according to Internet Retailer magazine’s annual ranking of websites by revenue, offering thousands of wines, wine gifts, gift baskets and monthly wine clubs. Wine.com’s mission is to be the ultimate resource for wine enthusiasts, whether shopping for themselves or sending a gift, by offering a great selection, low prices, convenient delivery and helpful information. Wine.com is the world’s most visited wine web site, according to research conducted by comScore Media Metrix. For more information, visit http://www.wine.com.

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2006 Ochoa Garnacha & Tempranillo

                                                        

A lovely family winery situated in Olite, the ancient capital of Navarra. Bodegas Ochoa is one of the oldest wine producers in this region. In caring for the vines, they practice a combination of hand planting, pruning and harvesting, coupled with mechanization. The vineyards rest on lime and clay slopes that face south, which gives the best exposure to the sun. The wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, with lengthy maceration and heavy use of pumping-over for color. When it comes to aging, the winery uses oak that has been naturally weathered outdoors for two years. The type of oak used and the length of aging depends on each wine.

The Ochoa, estate bottled Garnacha & Tempranillo (50-50%) is a very aromatic young red wine. It is a deep red color - think reddish black plumb. On the nose, dark fruit comes up right away - black berries, black plumb, cassis, fig, licorice (if you've ever had allsorts, that's what I'm talking about).  I'm also getting a little bit of spice and cedar, but for the most part it's fruit. On the palate, I get black fruits, not so much of the licorice. I get a little more wood and spice coming through. The finish is decent for being a young, inexpensive value wine. The fruit doesn't drop off like some other wines.

You can get it for around $12

Veramonte Winery

                                                 

Veramonte Winery is located in the beautiful Casablanca Valley, one of Chile's top wine growing regions.  Casablanca Valley sits near the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Coast. It is a vineyard-based winery, which means it places its philosophical reliance heavily on the terroir of the site. The people of Veramonte Winery believe wholeheartedly that terroir designates the character and quality of the wines produced. 

Veramonte has two wine labels, Reserva, red and white varietals and Primus, a red blend.  Recently, I had the opportunity to taste the 2008 Veramonte Reserva Sauvignon Blanc, complements of the winery, and the 2005 Primus, which I purchased on my own.  I enjoyed them both very much.

The Sauvignon Blanc was light straw in color with a slight green tint to it. It was nicely balanced and had nice acidity. Quite an array of aromas on the nose - citrus lemon, stone fruits, such as pear, and melon - cantaloupe. There is a nice herbal note to it as well. On the palate, medium bodied, zesty acidity, along with the same citrus, herbal and melon notes. I got a slight hint of endive, which could be attributed to the herbal. Definitely a great cocktail wine for sipping or for pairing with sushi, oysters, other seafood and salads.

Primus is a blend of Carmenere, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is luscious and could even be considered a tad sweet. It is deep ruby, or garnet in color. It is a pretty big wine, but the tannins are soft enough making it approachable now. On the nose, I get a lot of spice, jammy dark fruits, it's quite herbaceous.  I also get some black tea, cedar and tobacco - cigar box, if you will. It is full-bodied, but velvety and luscious on the palate. I get the same spices and fruits - blackberry, plumb, black cherry. I get a hint of fresh mint on the palate as well.  Overall, very well balanced with nice acidity. It has 14.5% alcohol, but it doesn't come through too strong. This wine spent 12 months in oak - 85% French, 15% American, 25% of that was new oak.  This wine will go well with many red meats - grilled, roasted and seasoned many ways. It will also go well with some heartier soups and stews.

MemWine™ Personal Wine Database by Mobile or Internet

Wine lovers have immediate access to their personal wine ratings and tasting notes wherever they are with the free MemWine™ service. They can add new wines and update impressions while still fresh by mobile phone. Mobile features, tried and tested for over 3 years, allow full functionality yet are streamlined for simple operation.

 

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) Sept 17, 2008 -- MemWine™ (http://memwine.com) has totally revitalized its Mobile and Internet service offering wine lovers an immediate and convenient way to track the wines they enjoy or wish to try. These changes are a result of user input and their desire for immediacy in adding wines and updating personal details.

“We have listened to our users and now allow them the freedom to spontaneously enter their own wines while we still maintain a central wine database with more information. The operation is more flexible, yet it remains easy for the average mobile user,” says Dick Roemer its creator. “All the user needs is a cellphone with a data connection or a web-enabled Handheld such as iPaq™, Palm, Blackberry or iPhone. Our servers in North America can be accessed by mobile users from all over the world – a potential market of over a billon people. So, global access, simple operation and free service – these features set us apart.”

MemWine™ offers a handy way to refresh wine memories or update impressions on the spot wherever you may be. At the core, it offers an extensive database of wines which with user-added vintages expands to well over 60,000 combinations. From this the user creates his own personal infobase with details most important to him. With this new launch, the user can immediately add wines of his choice and extended tasting notes while still fresh in memory.

As information overload swamps our senses, it's becoming more difficult to preserve special memories. How do people keep track of their favorite wines and related experiences - a diary, notes on scraps of paper, wine lists?

MemWine™ helps keep wine impressions fresh by Mobile in a dynamic personal database: wines we savor and recommend, useful details like personal ratings, price, inventory and tasting notes, referrals by friends and experts, ambience details. (For more info see http://memwine.com/mobile.htm).

“Thanks for finally letting me add my own wines and comments. I guess a central database has its merits but I want the freedom to add wines myself whenever I want. Your Mobile access works great. I keep in touch with my wines by mobile while traveling in Europe and Asia, virtually no delays,” says Ralph O. a MemWine™ user.

Rick McNees an avid wine collector from suburban Chicago says after trying  MemWine™ on his iPaq handheld, “…Folks with these mobile devices will be hungry for useable apps that provide real value ... Yours is such an app since people will be in a wine merchant and want to check on their inventory, or check on ratings or rankings before they shell out $$$ for a bottle of wine… That is the true value of mobile computing…meaningful information when and where you need it, it’s great!”

Warren Payne of WineBites.com remarks, "And for those of you with Web-enabled phones (e.g. Treos, Blackberries) you can access your MemWine log via an interface designed specifically for small phone screens. Very cool."

Also offered free, our sister service MemVideo®  (http://memvideo.com/) has been revitalized as well with more user options and immediacy. Movie lovers can refresh memories of favorite movies, check their home inventory, ratings and notes all by Mobile, Handheld or PC.

 

MemWine™ for the first time is actively seeking sponsors from the wine industry.

Email: marketing@memwine.com

 

Users can access these services by simply logging on to:

Internet:  MemWine™ at http://memwine.com/    

Mobile:   MemWine™ at http://memwine.com/wap/   

             

Contact: MemWine™,  press@memwine.com

Restaurant Wine Pricing

                                     

Below is a link to an eye opening article that attempts to decode the restaurant wine pricing paradox.

Cracking the Code of Restaurant Wine Pricing

Wine & Spirits Top 100

SAVE THE DATE

Wine & Spirits Magazine’S Fifth Annual Top 100 EVENT

100 wineries from around the world convene at San Francisco’s historic Mint Building

 

(New York, NY, April 21, 2008) Wine & Spirits Magazine’s (W&S) Fifth Annual Top 100 Event will take place Tuesday, October 14th at San Francisco’s Mint Building. This event honors the top 100 wineries from all over the world that consistently receive the magazine critics’ highest ratings. Bay Area chefs and local, artisan purveyors will serve food to complement the wineries’ premier bottlings. The Top 100 wineries of 2008 will be announced in the Winter issue of Wine & Spirits on sale October 14, 2008. 

 

Publisher and Editor Josh Greene comments, “At Wine & Spirits, we run more than 9,000 wines past our blind tasting panels each year. Our Top 100 wineries produce a range of wines that score at the top of their categories. They set a standard of excellence in their regions. We’re excited to honor them this year at the Mint Building, one of San Francisco’s National Historic Landmarks.”

 

In keeping with Wine & Spirits Magazine's mission to raise awareness of water conservation issues, a portion of the event proceeds will benefit San Francisco Baykeeper. 

 

Wine & Spirits Magazine's Top 100 Tasting Details

Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Time: 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Location: Mint Building, 88 Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Trade and Media Preview: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

For more information, please contact Kristen Hager at Wine & Spirits Magazine: (212) 695 4660, ext. 17, or khager@wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

 

Founded in 1982, Wine & Spirits Magazine is published seven times a year and read by over 200,000 members of America’s wine community. Consumers and wine professionals read the magazine for information on established and up-and-coming regions and producers, the art and science of viticulture, restaurant and industry happenings, and food and wine pairing. Leading the wine magazine category, Wine & Spirits has earned the most James Beard awards for excellence in wine writing.

Visit wineandspiritsmagazine.com for more information.

Ruling Turns a Village of Winemakers on Itself

Sorry, I've been slacking.  Work, planning for going back to school and getting ready to move into our newly built home in a month have kept me a tad busy.  I thought I'd share this article for those who don't get a chance to read the NY Times.  I think it's a fine example of how politics can muddle the wine industry.

                              

July 24, 2008

St.-Émilion Journal

Ruling Turns a Village of Winemakers on Itself

By STEVEN ERLANGER

ST.-ÉMILION, France — For François Despagne, it was the challenge of his lifetime.

His family owned the same vineyard in this southwestern part of France for seven generations. But in 1996, in the reclassification of St.-Émilion wines that occurs roughly every 10 years, Château Grand Corbin-Despagne was downgraded from grand cru classé, one of the highest ratings.

The family disagreed but did not challenge the ruling in court.

“When you’re declassified, you’re the ugly little duckling,” Mr. Despagne said. “People lose faith in you.” The blow is also financial.

One Bordeaux broker called him then and said: “You’re in trouble, you’re declassified. I’ll buy your stock for half price,” Mr. Despagne recalled, still disgusted. “It was hard, morally.”

Mr. Despagne, trained as a biologist and oenologist, went to work. He persuaded his family and the banks to invest some $2 million to modernize the business. More important, he dug 150 holes to analyze the soil on his 66 acres and identified 53 parcels. Where the soil was richest, he grew grass between the rows of vines to force the roots to dig deeper. He put in 27 new vats to make smaller batches, and reduced yield by 25 percent to get a more concentrated wine.

In September 2006, his labor and his family’s faith were rewarded. Although the new classification downgraded 11 other chateaus, it restored Grand Corbin-Despagne to grand cru classé, and Mr. Despagne printed new labels, brochures, corks, capsules and wooden cases. The family celebrated; the workers had a huge party.

But then the bomb went off this year. On July 1, an administrative court, hearing an extended appeal from seven of the newly declassified chateaus, threw out the entire 2006 classification — and threw Mr. Despagne and others who had been promoted into fury and confusion.

The ruling has set families against one another in this beautiful medieval village of 2,500 souls who know one another, marry one another and go to Mass together. Declared a protected site by Unesco in 1999, St.-Émilion, where the Romans cultivated wine grapes, is dominated by a church and a prison tower built in the 13th century.

Now this little area, which contains 770 winegrowers on 13,800 acres classified as St.-Émilion and St.-Émilion grand cru, produces some 32.1 million bottles a year of some of Bordeaux’s finest and most expensive wines. It represents an enormous collective business, with built-in rivalries, that combines science, farming, public relations, fantasy, taste and tough tactics.

And now, judicial and commercial confusion.

The court agreed with the plaintiffs that, because the already classified wines were tasted at a different time than the candidate wines, and because some domains were visited and some not, the classification was “arbitrary” — even though the same procedure had been followed in 1996.

Faced with no classification for the 2006 vintage, which was just being bottled, the French Legislature restored the 1996 classification for three years, or until all court appeals are finished or a new classification is made. That is fine for most, and especially for those just demoted — but it means agony for Mr. Despagne and the others promoted in 2006 who had their reward ripped away.

Mr. Despagne spits out the words, like a bad vintage: “It’s not good for the image of St.-Émilion, it’s not good for justice and it’s not good for the community of St.-Émilion.”

The ruling also punished two other chateaus, Pavie Macquin and Troplong Mondot. They were elevated in 2006 to the rarefied air of premier grand cru classé B, which brings even more rarefied prices.

Xavier Pariente, who owns Troplong Mondot with his spouse, is beside himself.

“We are the laughingstock of everyone; everyone feels this injustice that we are living,” Mr. Pariente said. “If we wanted to damage St.-Émilion, there would be no better way.” Jean-Pierre Taleyson, the cellar master, said, “When I heard about the judgment, I nearly started to cry.”

For Nicolas Thienpont, director of Pavie Macquin, the court ruling is like “a donkey on the roof.” It is absurd, he said, “to promote the troublemakers while the good students get demoted.” He has already bottled and labeled his 2006 vintage under the new, higher classification, expecting a final ruling to confirm the promotions. “It’s a risk, but I feel morally premier grand cru classé,” he said. “We worked 10 years for this!”

Even the patriarch of St.-Émilion, Thierry Manoncourt, 90, who owns the magnificent Château Figeac, has his grievances. His wine was not affected by the 2006 classification, but his application to be promoted from premier grand cru classé B to A — to join the two most elevated names in the region, Ausone and Cheval Blanc — was denied again.

Not because of the quality of the wine, the reviews, the elegance of the chateau or any other obvious reason, he fumed. “But because they said my prices were not as high! It’s a circle — you can’t sell at the same price because you’re not premier grand cru classé A!”

Mr. Manoncourt has the standing to reject some of the slavish following of the preferences of wine raters like Robert M. Parker Jr., whose influence over the American market remains extraordinary. Mr. Parker likes deeply colored Bordeaux, so many here alter the temperature of their first maceration to extract the most color, even if it slightly affects the taste. Mr. Manoncourt, offering a glass of a 2001 Château Figeac that Mr. Parker did not like at a first tasting, recalled saying, “Cher Bob, I don’t manufacture ink.”

As to the current uproar, Mr. Manoncourt said gently, “It’s always unpleasant when there’s a controversy — especially when it’s not very transparent.” And when, he implied, there is so much money and pride at stake.

Pierre Lurton, who runs Château Cheval Blanc for the multinational LVMH, said he approved of the regular reclassification of St.-Émilion wines, which he called “courageous” because it kept winemakers on their toes.

But the court ruling, Mr. Lurton said, “puts everything into disequilibrium. It’s confusing, and it gives the sense there’s something wrong in the system.” For Mr. Despagne, he said, “it’s totally unjust — it’s like he regained heaven, and now he’s thrown back into purgatory.”

Basil Katz contributed reporting.

Basil Katz contributed reporting.