Mo's Wine & Spirits

     Love them or not, many people will agree on this this subject.  When it comes to wine, nobody does it better than the crew over in France. History  speaks for itself. So do the many fans of  the Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Champagne.
     I enjoy sparkling wines from various parts of the globe. When I have a special occasion or really want to tickle my taste buds, I open a bottle of the real deal from Champagne France.

     Champagne can only be made in the 370 villages in northeastern France, about 90 miles north of Paris. France has very strict laws governed by the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine ,or I.N.A.O. for short.

     Champagne is unique from all other sparkling wines. One reason is the location on which it is grown. The white chalky soil and ever changing climate make her grape growers utilize their unique growing skills to thwart mother nature when she yet again tries to sabotage their crops.

     Often copied, Champagne must be grown in Champagne, France to be called ”Champagne”. People from all over the world pay a premium for her wares. This is why we have a Champagne shortage! We need to have more Champagne produced to keep up up with the demand. 150 million bottles were exported last year from France. I’m sure my consumption helped contribute to the shortage.

     This March, the I.N.A.O. has decided, after a century, to expand the region of the Champagne vineyards, and allow in 40 more communities. This will ease the global Champagne shortage. Land in Europe is measured in hectares. Before  the expansion a hectare of land was worth about three thousand dollars. That same hectare if you are lucky enough to be part of the Champagne expansion is worth over one million dollars! 

     A toast to the Champagne expansion! No more nightmares about a Champagne shortage! Maybe the price will go down! There are just some things that certain people do well…and others do SO much better!

                                                                   Cheers, Sharon    

Are you game for a fun, new way to share your passion for wine? If so, the White Wine Game™ is for you! This specialty board game combines wine, food and strategy for entertainment both wine enthusiasts and beginners can enjoy.

Hosts decide how easy – or elaborate – preparation will be by selecting four food items to serve. Choose from your own favorites or any of 45 recipes included with the game. “Anything from opening a box of snack crackers to preparing a gourmet dish will do,” say the game’s creators.

Then, when guests arrive, simply uncork a bottle of white wine. Choose from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling or any other white varietal.

The fun starts when players begin recording the colors, aromas and flavors they observe in the wine. Points are soon racked up as players navigate the game board, landing on spaces corresponding to wine characteristics or on Food Match spaces where they sample wine in combination with a food choice.

For more game details or information on how to order, visit the game’s web site at whitewinegame.com.

Anybody who loves wine, truly loves wine, and hasn’t tried a great Riesling needs to get with it!

It’s the only white wine in my cellar, except for the 2 or 3 bottles of white Burgundy. Aged Riesling is simply amazing. Yes these beloved wines age effortlessly for decades and decades.

Their forward fruit and crisp acidity, followed by mineral and floral overtones can not be duplicated by any other wine.

Willi Schaefer’s Graacher Domprobst Auslese #10 is a prime example of how good riesling can get. It is so complex and refreshing at the same time, it left me speechless for minutes. Although this wine retails for $79.99, there are many great Rieslings for less.

There are some that say Rieslings are too sweet for them. Next time try a good Riesling with some spicy Asian/Thai food and let me know if you think their still “sweet”.

Cheers
Mark

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