Prost! Octoberfest/Oktoberfest is here

As I sit here enjoying my third bottle of Bell's Octoberfest beer (not in a row), I have to express my enthusiasm for this malty beer.  When I used to give beer tours, there were two points I tried to make clear.  First, beer is like milk in that it has to stay cold, doesn't like light, and freshness really counts.  Beer will expire.  Second, beer is like fresh bread.  It's made from wheat and at its best, malty style beers are like bread right out of the oven.  That's what I taste in Bell's.

Octoberfest beers or as the Germans would write, Oktoberfest, may be misunderstood.  The festival actually starts in September and finishes in October.  It was the celebration for a king's marriage or was it a horse race?  The details vary depending on your source.  It may have been a marriage ending with a horse race.  The festival runs 16 days or so.  The beers served at Oktoberfest are all lagers and therefore the fruity and hoppy flavors are not as prevalent.

While Oktoberfest is traditionally a lager, not an ale, many US craft breweries go with an ale style beer because they are set up to brew ales and not lagers. Lagered beers require more storage and time in tank.  

What I really dig about the Bell's is that unlike his other hoppy and fruity ales, this one really emphasizes the malt of a great lager and shies away from the fruity esters of some ale yeast strains.  Without getting too technical, the brewer can use different ale strains to emphasize or de-emphasize the fruity flavors of an ale.  A lager is brewed with a different yeast and typically does not show fruity flavors.  I think it's an excellent example of a German Lager from a brewery that mainly produces ales.  It is fresh bread in a glass.  

As I am a hop head, but enjoy all great beers, Bell's Octoberfest is a nice change of pace to the malty side of life.   Bell's is difficult to find this year, but other Octoberfest beers are around if you can't find this one.  

Remember to always drink your beer from a glass.  It really tastes better than from the bottle.

 - Salamanzar

Alessandra's Cheese - Mah!

One of our favorite cheeses and cheese makers was profiled in this past week's Independent paper.  Alessandra Trompeo from Piemonte, Italy who now makes her Italian style cheeses here in Durham, had a great interview along with photos in the paper.  We sell her Duchessa cheese - savory, buttery and firm with nice salinity - perfect with a glass of Barbera wine, in the store. Her cheese business is called La Casa dei Formaggi.  You can read her article and meet her in the store Sept 10th, or buy her cheese any time we are open.  - Salamanzar  (The photo is Derek Anderson's from the Indy week article .)

Our First Birthday

On September 10th we will start our second year of business.  Wow. It has gone by fast and we have been thrilled by the community's support.  Thank you to everyone who has shopped and keeps shopping at Wine Authorities.  

We have a great party planned for Wednesday Sept 10th from 5 to 7 PM.  Everyone is invited for Artisan Cupcake's cupcakes, sparkling wine, Alessandra Trompeo of Casa dei Formaggi Cheese will be sampling, Karen McCallister of Counter Culture Coffee will be sampling decaf, and we have Cotton the Clown for the kids. Everyone is welcome.

In the mean time we are celebrating our 1st birthday with a bump you up 1 discount level for the week leading up to our party. Buy 6 to 11 mixed/matched bottles and you go from 10% to a 15% discount, buy a mixed case of 12 bottles and go from 15% to a 20% discount and for our designated Just-in-Case wines, you go from 20% to a 25% discount.  Thought you might want to know if you don't get our weekly email.  - Salamanzar

Stone Brewery Launching in NC

All the way from San Diego, CA the Stone Brewing Co. is getting ready to launch their beers in North Carolina.  The launch date will start with a party for everyone at Tyler's Taproom in Durham at American Tobacco on Wednesday September 17th and the beer ships to Wine Authorities and other retailers on Thursday the 18th.  Everyone is invited to the kick-off party at Tylers starting at 5 PM until close.  They are bringing special beers just for the party along with their regular line up.  They will have: Stone Pale Ale, Stone IPA, Arrogant Bastard Ale, Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Ruination IPA, Stone Smoked Porter, Stone Levitation Ale, 2006 Double Bastard Ale, Stone 11th Anniversary Ale, Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale, and the 2008 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine!  

Wine Authorities will be selling the pale ale and the IPA in six packs to start, then work in seasonal products as they make their way from the West throughout the year.  Come have a pint with us and the Stone folks at Tyler's. See you there. - Salamanzar

All You to Know about BBQ

Thanks to our friend and customer, Nancy S., we have been enlightened by the videos by Rhett and Link on Youtube.  This video in particular is a great summary of the BBQ styles/types that exist in the South.  Since the Grand Poobah and I are BBQ lovers, we are going to have to learn all the words to this song and play it on the kazoo.

or click here: The BBQ Song

-Salamanzar

My Pick For Best Rose of 2008!

Knowing what basket cases the Salamanzar and I are for dry rose, you had to see this coming.  We've converted quite a few this year, and the battleground has become more friendly.  I'd say half of the people, who we recommend pink wine to, are afraid as opposed to previous years when most of them were.  Luckily, we've created an environment of adventurousness and safety in that people can randomly grab a bottle of something that they completely do not recognize, from God knows where, and still know that they'll get home with a great bottle of juice.  There's trust between our customers and us, and we love it.

So here it is, from a region that produces almost no rose (Ribera del Duero), from a grape not renowned for good rose (Tempranillo).  Like many pretty things from Spain, this one has a very long name.

 

Bodegas Penalba Lopez - Finca Torremilanos "Monte Castrillo" Ribera del Duero Rosado 2007.  How's that for a mouthful?

First off, the color is amazing.  It's a pale ruby, but there's definitely sparkles of lavender along the edge.  It's a shockingly bright and pure color.  Not that the color makes the wine taste any better, but this one has impact!  Next, the aromas of cherry and raspberry really leap out of the glass.  This is one of those wines where you can smell it from arm's distance while you are pouring or swirling it.  Up close the smell has more depth, with guarana.  If you've never had guarana (gwa-ra-nah'), it smells kinda like bubblegum, but it's a Brazilian berry that just happens to be loaded with caffein.

In the mouth, the fruit assault continues, but it's not overwhelming or alcoholic in any way.  More like waves of fruit and wonderful, dry juiciness.  There's the berries, but also orange citrus, and a slight hint of Balsamic on the finish.  What I really love about it though is that the tinge of earthiness that Tempranillo is known for is still there, patiently in the background while all of the fruit and color are dancing in front of it.  The earthiness is more mineral than anything else, but I do smell a touch of soil.  Man!  That much fruit, with restraint, while still showing the depth of minerals and earth?!?  How can you not love it?

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately), this isn't one of those roses that you can just toss back while talking with friends.  It's much too distracting for that.  You must keep looking back at it, smelling the deliciousness, catching glimpses of enticement, returning again and again.  (Your friends would really be annoyed at you for ignoring them.)  You should share this bottle with someone who would also be willing to be take in it's majesty.  Together you could enjoy it and behold this wonderful piece of produce, captured in a bottle, halfway around the earth.  $15.99.

- Grand Poobah Wine Swami

Wine Spectator Busted

I have not subscribed to Wine Spectator in years and don't read the magazine or pay attention to the scores.  My reasons are three fold: 1. Matt Kramer's editorials ticked me off one too many times; 2. I think the scores are dumb and the descriptions are useless.  In fact I have a theory that they use a bingo ball with 10 words and randomly pull out the same words to create each description.  If you cover the names of the wines in a section, the reviews are nearly the same with the words changing their order; 3. I have met winemakers who stopped advertising in WS and suddenly their wines got poor reviews.  I notice bigger ads seem to get bigger points too.

So it's no surprise to me that someone named Robin Goldstein recently did a little investigation on the Wine Spectators's restaurant awards.  I should note that I have received the award of excellence when I worked at the Sienna and always wondered how did WS know if my wine list was real?  Well, Robin did just that. He paid the fee ($250) submitted a fake wine list and fake menu for a fake restaurant and received the award of excellence.  Making it even better is that many of the wines on the list he chose were intentionally poor wines reviewed by WS in previous issues with scores like 72 pts, 64 pts and 62 pts for example.  

You can read his story at WS Award of Excellence.  -Salamanzar