Mo's Wine & Spirits

First it was to have a few bottles in the house. Sure it was. Then I couldn’t drink those since they were special.

I had to get a few more. Those were rated by the” wine gurus.” Couldn’t touch those, need a few more. Don’t have any everyday whites. OK. No everyday reds, have to go back to the store. “Oh Look,” as another box came into the house.

It started out so innocently, I was going to drink most of them, really I was. Now some of them are closer than my family members. I take them out sometimes and look at them, arrange them differently. Drink one every once in a while. Always replacing it with another one..or two. I can’t help it.

I’m in pretty deep. It became a full time job I’m lovin’ it!

Cheers! Sharon

I get this question all the time. Even before I started my retail career (I came from the restaurant business) I got the same question. What is my bottle of ‘45 Mouton Rothschild worth? or what is my bottle of ‘78 Gallo Estate Cabernet worth anything? There are so many people out there that are willing to sell their one bottle their great grandmother gave them, not taking into consideration on how its been stored all these years.

I had one customer with a 3ltr of bordeaux that has been stored behind his boiler for the last 15 years. I didn’t ask him for a look at it, that might of hurt too much.

The growing market for wines sold at auction has sky rocketed, just check out Morrell Wine Auction.

Truth be told, the value of your “special” wine should be more valuable to you than any dollar value you can put on it. My advice is bring a cork screw and enjoy it with friends, but make sure to have a backup bottle in case the wine your great grandmother left you isn’t worth making vinegar out of.

Cheers, Mark

“Green” is everywhere! You’ll find both the color and the environmental focus prevalent to such a degree that trend watchers at the Color Marketing Group claim “green rules!”

Green is even becoming popular in the wine world and typically refers to organic or biodynamic wines of any variety. So while Celine Guillou, contributing writer at IntoWine.com, speculates that “’green’ is the new red,”  authors at SmartMoney.com are calling it the “new white.” But in all this confusion of color, is anyone asking if green wine really tastes better?

The answer is “yes.” Guillou believes that “green wines are more interesting, unique and flavorful than their conventional counterparts” and says the “proof is in the pudding,” with numerous green wines fetching high scores from top wine critics.

SmartMoney’s Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher agree, and consider Vinho Verde, a green wine from Portugal, to be “one of the world’s most delightful summer whites, describing it as “light and spritzy, with great acids and ephemeral hints of citrus.” You’re not limited to Portuguese wines, however, in your search for a green. Even established Californian wineries, like Benziger, are now offering them, making this the perfect time to find a green to suit your palate.

I never thought I would be in this position. I pretty much stopped drinking them. They became predictable, every one you opened tasted the same. Either big and buttery and sweet, or oaky- dokey as if I had chewed on a tree.

After a while I stopped walking down the aisles of the chardonnay girls, I knew them all by name. Or so I thought. A new dawn was on the horizon! Did it start in Australia? France? Right here in the USA? People were saying NO! to overly oaked chardonnays and the winemakers were listening!

Stainless steel tanks, neutral wood barrels, cement tanks, glass lined tanks, and I’m just getting started! Now onto yeast selection. Who needs oak when you can choose your flavor profile from yeast blends. Wild, exotic, packaged or indigenous! Winemakers are becoming more brazen in their choices, breaking out from the recipes that were set in stone before them and producing new and beautiful and sometimes even “lightly oaked” chardonnays for my (and your) drinking pleasure.

I do believe it’s time to walk back down the aisle and check out the chardonnay girls again.
Sharon

Being that Shafer Vineyards is one of my favorite wineries, I finally made a visit to the winery with my wife (Mo) and my 7 year old daughter. I was delighted to learn that in December ‘04 they made a switch to 100% solar power. They also practice sustainable agriculture in many different ways. Their website has a load of great inormation.

The wines they make have consistanly been highly rated and are considered to be in the top of all Cabernet producers in California, if not the world.
The Hillside Select Cabernet which will be released this week and there never is much to go around. The ‘04 Shafer Relentless, a blend of Syrah and Petite Sirah, and ‘05 Merlot are also being released.

The Shafer One Point Five Stag’s Leap District Cabernet was released earlier this year with great reviews. All of these wines from Shafer are available in very limited quantities. Please call me for availablity.
Thanks Mark

It’s harvest season for countless wine-growers around the world. With an eye to harvest’s impact on volume, quality and price, this means nail-biting time for wine producers and wine lovers alike. The overall picture, however, is shaping up to reveal decreased production, but improved acidity and flavor.

In Italy, the grape harvest is down 13 percent. But, in matters of quality, Tuscany and Friuli vineyard owners stated that “potential alcohol levels in the white grapes were not particularly high … [and when] coupled with a good acidity … should make for fresh and clean wines.”

Due to poor weather conditions affecting volume, the French aren’t faring much better with what looks to be one of the lowest producing years since 2000 for wines destined to make Cognac. The bright spot seems to be the Rhone Valley, which “benefited from a hot dry summer, unlike the rest of France,” according to A Big Slice Journal. They predict that French Chardonnay wines will “retain a level of good acidity that hasn’t been seen in years,” but hold out less hope for Bordeaux grapes which were hard hit by mildew.

Crossing over to Portugal, while yields appear low, quality is also expected to be outstanding. According to one winemaker, “We are seeing excellent colour in the reds, with lower pH’s and higher acidity, and the whites likewise with good acidity and plenty of aroma.”

Is the American harvest faring any better in terms of volume? Early reports out of Napa Valley suggest that harvest yields will be average to slightly less than average. Lawrence Papale, owner of Red Wing Vineyards has noted that “steady, warm weather with no crippling heat spikes has accelerated the development of our merlot grapes this season and contributed to an expected early harvest … This vintage will put the test to the notion that slower ripening produces greater flavor.”  

What does it all mean? If the harvest trends continue, consumers can expect to pay a little bit more for 2007 vintages. But, on the whole, will enjoy crisper, more flavorful wines.

Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world’s largest fair, with some six million people attending every year. With this celebrated event comes the influx of many “seasonal” beers from the United States.

From Flying Dog’s Dogtoberfest to Thomas Hooker’s Oktoberfest, these beers represent the season of cooler weather and the colors of fall. They all tend to be on the darker style with flavors of malt, fruit, caramel, and various spices.

Our favorite at Mos’ Wine & Spirits is the Brooklyn Oktoberfest. Other Oktoberfests that are available are Spaten, Becks, Paulaner, Hacher Pschorr, Sam Adams, Thomas Hooker, Otter Creek, Hofbrau, Newport Storm, Victory Festbier, Weyerbacher Festbier.

Along with the release of the oktoberfest beers come the pumpkin beers. Our favorite at Mo’s Wine & Spirits is the Dogfish Punkin and at 7% abv its not for the casual 4-5 beers on the porch. Loaded with flavor and finese Dogfish Punkin needs to be experience before you make any judgemnet.

Other Pumpkin beers available are Shipyard, Saranac, Smuttynose, Gritty’s, Postroad, Weyerbacher, Thomas Hooker, and Bluemoon.

Monstant has been called the poor man’s Priorat. When it comes to high-end Spanish wines, Priorat is in every sentence. Some of the best wine makers have made their mark in this very steep, mountainous wine region.

Enough about the famed Priorat, we are here to talk about Monstant. Monstant completely surrounds the Priorat region. The main difference is that it is less mountainous and the vines are much younger. But in this region lies some of the most amazing wine values, mostly made from the Garnacha and Carinena grapes.

We just tasted the 2004 Cellar Can Blau Mas de Can Blau, and we were all very impressed with its sheer power and finesse. The grapes used for this wine are the result of a very exhaustive selection of 70-85 year old Carignan and Garnacha. Aged 20 months in new French oak, this is the second release of this wine. It is a must for wine lovers of big, soft, jammy wines.

Only 20 cases made it to Connecticut! And 5 cases made it to Mo’s Wine & Spirits. Priced at $43.99.