During the holiday season, you’ll serve wine to friends and family in a social gathering.  Let me provide a few serving tips that will enhance the pleasure of the wine:

1) Be Prepared: Make sure you have the proper wine glass, and your wine is stored at the right temperature

Light whites (Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc): 6C – 8C
Full White (Chardonnay) 8C – 10C
Light Red (Chianti, Zinfandel) 14C – 16C
Full Red (Cabernet, Shiraz) 16C – 18C 

2) Decant: Make sure the wine is fully decanted, either by opening the bottle ahead of time, using a decanter or a Vinturi aerator

3) Prior to serving the wine; show the label and help your guest by describing the type of wine you’re serving.  For example: “This Australian Shiraz has been aged for 6 months, and still has the white peppery taste characteristic from the Shiraz grape”

4) Pour the wine with the label upward, as wine is also stored with the label upward.  Any deposit will remain in the bottle, as it would have settled opposite to the label.

5) Drink Responsibly, as we want to keep you as a valued customer

Recent customer questions regards sediment in wine, what causes it, and does it alters taste.  There are multiple articles on the Web, mostly pertaining to wineries, but how about ferment on premise?

Basically, there are two types on sediments, the first occurring during fermentation.  This initial sediment is formed at our premise, and consists of dead yeast cells, proteins, and other solid matter that settle to the bottom.  After 3 weeks, we actually stir these elements back into the wine so it can develop more character and complexity.  We then let the sediment settle to the bottom, and filter the wine with a medium filter pad.  This clarifies the wine without stripping out small particles that enhance flavours (there are 3 filter pad sizes).

The second happens in the bottle.  Certain red wines, especially our Italian Amarone will have sediments.  These sediment which develops in red wine bottles and is formed from tannins and other solid matter that gradually falls to the bottom (or side, if you are storing the wine properly). The presence of this material helps give the wine character and complexity, but there are strategies to pour wine without sediments.

A common strategy is to store the wine label upward, so the sediments can settle to the other side of the label.  When serving wine, slowly bring the bottle upward, uncork, then pour with label upward.  The sediments would stay in the bottle.

Cheers;

Natalie

The number one question we get at Cappuvino is if it’s possible to sample our wines.  Unfortunately, the law does not permit sampling at our store.  However, if you’re going to Toronto for the International Home show, you can legally sample consumer wines from kits.  The primary objective is to introduce current non-users to the craft winemaking industry, educate them on the quality of wines that can be achieved with wine kits, and how to go about crafting wine.

There will be sampling two types of wine made with 4 week Premium Kits – Shiraz and Chardonnay

More information on this initiative can be found at http://www.internationalhomeshow.ca/

The Craft Winemaking Website  http://neverenoughwine.com/

The Show runs from Thurs. Oct 27 to Sun. Oct 30.

Cheers;

Natalie

The passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs has sent shock waves around the world, not only for the impact on the high tech world, but also the building of the world’s biggest company.

His products has touched everybody, including the way we operate our wine store in the remote village of Carp.  I often use my iPhone to look up wine information along with multiple apps.  I take pictures using the iPhone on our site.  I would also show our online video to people on the iPhone and the iPod Touch.  I’ve also experienced the change in education when I took my Sommelier course not too long ago;  books are being replaced with ebooks and all grapes varieties available at your fingertips.

This entire Website was created and maintained with an iMac.

Natalie

As we become more sensitive to the environmental effects of products that we consume, we’re demanding that the companies offering the products engage in good environmental practices.  But how organic are the wine kits customers purchase?

Tim Vandergrift from Winexpert has recently written about this:

Basically, to be considered organic, these three steps need to be followed:

1) The agricultural methods must promote the biological health of the soil;

2) There must be no use of any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides; and

3) The food handling methods must preserve the integrity of the product from field to table.

You’ll be even further confused about wine kits when you realize that suppliers of grapes for the kits pretty much meet all three standards. No wine grower worth his or her salt will do anything to jeopardize the health of the soil, given that grapes take years to nurture. No short-term thinking there! And there’s mostly no need for synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The most common thing sprayed on grapes is Bordeaux mixture, which is allowed on organics, and prevents mold.

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Every year, thousands of people enter the “Winemaker International amateur Wine Competition” from Canada, US, and other European countries.  The results are in, and Cappuvino won 2 Bronze medals on the very first time!  We chose two of our favourites; the Selection Estate Lodi Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon and the Selection International Italian Amarone. Since both wines were under a year old, we specially oak-aged them to reveal their young potential.

We’re excited that we’ve already started to prepare for next year’s event.

Every year, the Carp Agricultural Society organizes a Ladies Night Out, an event that attracts 900 women from all over the region.  For the second year in a row, we had a display table to promote our ferment on premise store, and this was the first time that I go as a Sommelier to answer questions.  This year, we donated a premium wine kit for a good cause, valued at $125, and a special congratulations to Sarah Hamilton, winner of the $100 gift certificate for the Swan at Carp draw.

Talking to the ladies reminds me that in a village like Carp, you must offer a product and service  that exceeds expectations, as your reputations travels very fast.  This is one reason why we offer our version called Girls Night Out, where four women enjoy an evening of bottling their wine with cheeses and other delicacies.  Truly a unique experience, even for a little village called Carp.  You can find out more HERE.

Of course, not all work is fun, but judging by the picture of Kathy and myself, you need to implement fun into your routine.

Natalie