AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY
A non-profit corporation

John Marshall Chapter


"Nothing more excellent or valuable than wine
was ever granted by the gods to man."
-- Plato

FEBRUARY MEETING

At the Turner House,  on Sunday, February 4th, Walt pp'ed for us with a glint in his eye (poured ports). We were expecting to dust off some old bottles that evening, but instead Walt Rachele gave a taste for the future, at least as far as the six distinctly diverse '97 Vintage Ports he presented are concerned. Our Kweens of Kwizine bedazzled us as usual with their purple tablecloths and superb pairing of munchies with the wine. Bruce was flying solo with Jan's spirit present in the form of Guy's discerning eye.

We were treated to the Ports that receive the most attention: Vintage Ports as opposed to Ruby Port, Late Bottle Vintage Port, Colheita Port, Tawney Port, etc. The underlying reason is that Vintage Port is only made from the ripest grapes from the best vineyards. Vintage Ports are highly regulated as to how much of a harvest can be "declared" as Vintage which isn't pronounced until a year or more after harvest. On the whole only about 1% of all ports vinted are declared Vintage Port and for a plethora of reasons, statistically Vintage Ports are only made three years in ten.

Since Vintage Ports are released in the second or third year after harvest and require 15, 20, maybe 30 years of bottle age to mature, it is a highly speculative wine. Walt's presentation gave us the opportunity to taste these precious elixirs when they are as cheap as they'll ever be. Walt informed us of the '94 Vintage Ports meteoric price evolution and implored us to buy '97s now! Walt, as always you both entertained and educated us about Ports, with a couple of Starboards thrown-in. We appreciate the vast distance you traveled and hope that you've completed the hike back to your beloved Great Northland by the time this newsletter arrives.
 

Winery
Rating
Cost
Dow Spectator 95
 $64
Graham Parker 93
  $84
Romariz Parker 92
  $34
Taylor Fladgate Parker 96
  $94
Warre Spectator 94
  $60
Quinta do Novel N/R (too young)
  $120


MARCH MEETING

On Sunday, March 11th, Mike and Mary Anne Wassenberg  are going to answer our dreams and present "Show Me Missouri."  Hmmm???  I guess we'll just have to be there to find out which bank of the Gironde River the Appellation Missouri is on.

We're meeting in the Parish Hall of Grace Episcopal Church. As always, if the parking lot isn't full of cars with wine-related license plates, then we're up the street at the Turner House across from the BP station. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with social commencing at 6:30 p.m.
 

FUTURE MEETINGS

Mark your calendars:

 

IT'S SEDIMENTARY

As February fades, taking winter with it, those incipient "warm" days tempt me to imbibe in a white wine as an interlude from reds. On one such recent temperate evening, as I opened a bottle of white wine, I noticed sediment in the bottom. Undeterred, I decanted a small amount of the precious elixir into a glass, and relished with delight as its delicate aromas and flavors took me away. As I came back to this reality, I smiled looking at the sediment rimming the bottles' punt and wondered how many people would have made a
biased assumption and foolishly trashed the bottle.

It is almost expected for an aged red wine to have sediment. In that case the sediment is skin tannins and grape proteins precipitating out of the liquid over time, and in the process the sediment becomes a built-in fining agent further clarifying the wine. However, in a white wine, sediment is perceived as a foul, unjustly sometimes. The opaque brown crystals in my bottle that night were merely
tartrates of predominantly tartaric acid that had precipitated out of a liquid state. The solidification transpired when the bottled wine was chilled below the coolest temperature than the wine had been kept at prior to bottling. They are nothing more than an unsightly, benign particle in an envious place.
 

See ya on the 11th !

Smile . . .

Fletcher