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For many American Jews, Manischewitz wine is as much as part of Passover as the four questions and matzoh ball soup. As if making good wine isn’t hard enough under normal circumstances, throw in a ton of religious laws to follow and you may just say “oy vey” and grab a bottle of Manischewitz for your Passover Seder. Fortunately, drinking kosher wines no longer means sweet Concord grape juice.  Today’s kosher wines offer a level of quality and selection that will surprise you and your matzo ball soup.

So where is the incentive to produce better kosher wine? The promise of Israel’s Mediterranean climate recently got notice in the form of 90 + scores from wine goy Robert Parker. Other countries, too, have taken on the challenge of producing (or rather, directing the Jewish winemakers to produce) kosher wine as good as the secular stuff. Now, America, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain all produce very good kosher wines and several Bordeaux chateaux have even added kosher wines to their lineups.

There's no inherent reason why kosher wine has to be lackluster (or Mogen David) since the process for making it is very similar to the standard wine making process. And just as kosher and Israeli food has become far more sophisticated over the last generation, so has the wine industry.

Join us at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at the Evergreen Community Center for a tasting of six kosher wines.  AWS Certified Wine Judge, Kym Antonelli will be presenting.

But remember, "A Seder without sweet Manischewitz would be like horseradish without tears, like a cantor without a voice, like a shul without a complaint, like a yenta without a big mouth, like Passover without Jews."   -          Comedian Jackie Mason (1936 - )

 L’chaim!

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR WINE GLASSES.

We will taste six wines.  

The cost for members is $25 and the cost for guests is $30.

Please reply before April 6, 2016 to:

aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

Or you may reply to 412-657-0777.

Mail your check, payable to AWS to:

Dr. Dennis Trumble

1302 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA  15212

Don’t forget to visit the website for directions, useful tips, and recipes.

aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com

WIne Talk

WINE CONSERVATION – AMPHORAE & RESIN

Today, we can all enjoy wine all year long. This wasn’t the case when wine made its first appearance sometime during the Neolithic period (8000-3000 BCE). Early vintners would store their wine in clay jars, which they sealed with clay stoppers. Conservation wasn’t ideal and the wine quickly oxidized. Since harvest only came once a year and people presumably wanted to drink wine for as long as possible afterwards, winemakers used various additives (gypsum, lime, marble dust, myrrh, and in some cases lead) to help delay spoiling and avoid infections which cause them to become acid, malodorous and moldy.

To today’s palates, many ancient wines would be terrible! Across many different cultures (Anatolians, Egyptians and Phoenicians), the practice of adding boiled tree resin (pitch) persisted for many centuries. Tree resin (notably from Cyprus) described as “the color of honey … [with] a fleshy consistency” would help delay souring of the wine. Due to its antibacterial virtue, resin was used as a preservative.

During that time, unless wine was consumed right after harvest, it would have tasted like old tree sap and very little fruit. The flavor doesn’t seem appealing to modern wine drinkers, but people in many ancient cultures apparently liked it. Pliny the Elder, a resin connoisseur, was one of them: “It is a peculiarity of wine among liquids to go moldy or else to turn into vinegar and whole volumes of instructions how to remedy this have been published.”

You can still taste a remnant of this practice in the Greek wine Retsina. Retsina was born of the need to preserve and ship wines in pine pitch sealed vessels. Due to the pine oils, Retsina was thought of as wood nymph tears, though how tears were collected from those shy nymphs is not recorded.

Don't forget to visit the blogspot for more tips and news!

http://aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com/

The Type is as Important as the Grape

Ham is a versatile entrée. You can find it in everything from formal Easter dinners to relaxed summer picnics. Because of this versatility, ham also has many wine pairings. The key to creating a perfect pairing is in accenting the specific ham recipe, for instance, a sweet honey glazed ham calls for a different wine than a smoked ham.

Sweet

If you're serving a wine with a sweet glaze, like honey or pineapple, complement it with the subtle, somewhat bitter fruit flavor of an Italian Pinot Grigio, or, for a bolder, richer combination, a Pinot Noir. The salt in the ham really brings out the fruit flavor in wines such as Pinot Gris. The sweet wine and glaze work against the salty ham, they strike a balance of flavor. For a more subtle pairing, try a dry Riesling with your sweet ham. This crisp wine has just a touch of fruit flavor, allowing the sweet ham glaze to shine through.

Savory

Pinot Noir and Riesling also pair well with savory hams, such as smoked or baked entrees. To create a contrast of sweet and savory, go with Chilean, Italian or Californian Moscato. This white wine typically features hints of citrus, apricots or pears, which offsets the salty or smoked flavor with a refreshing sweetness. For ham served with tangy mustard, use the lightly sweet flavor of a Zinfandel to create contrast, or complement the mustard with Syrah, which has a peppery edge.

Spicy

Though less common than sweet glazed or savory smoked entrees, ham sometimes lends itself to spicy dishes. In this case, French Rosé wines fit the bill, as they cool down the spicy dish with bright, fruity flavors such as strawberry, cherry and watermelon. For similar reasons, Moscato works here as well, as do Chablis and light red Beaujolais varieties.

Don't forget to check the blogspot often for tips and news!   

http://aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com/                                                

St. Patrick’s Day Wine Pairings

What kinds of wines could go with Irish food? Sure, you could drink Ireland’s famous brews, Guinness, Harp, Kilkenny and the like, but that’s too easy.

Even some Irish agree. Wine sales in Ireland have quadrupled since 1990. And, as global warming warms the globe, a few wineries have popped up there. Bunratty Castle makes mead, a wine based on honey and Blackwater Valley Vineyard makes wines from cold weather grapes including Muller Thurgau and Reichensteiner. But you’d be hard pressed to find a bottle of them at a State Store.

So this year, let’s turn elsewhere. Here are some likely pairings, keeping in mind that the Irish often share favorite foods with the Cornish, the Scots, the English and Americans:

·         Corned beef and cabbage with a not too tannic red like pinot noir.

·         Irish lamb stew with Merlot.  In fact, everything lamb based, including shepherd’s pie, goes with Merlot.

·         Irish coddle, a pick up stew of leftovers, often including sausage, bacon, potatoes, carrots and such, would go nicely with a red wine with a little weight, like an Italian Barbera.

·         Salmon, in all of its forms, is one of those “red wine with fish” dishes that also calls for a light red like Pinot Noir, or a Carmenere.

·         Fish ’n’ chips, deep fried, goes well with the bubbles of a sparkling wine.

·         Bangers and mash are fat pork sausages served with mashed potatoes and, often, with gravy, calling for a light red wine like Grenache.

·         Pasties, a treat the Irish share with nearby Cornwall, are often made with beef, onion and rutabaga, which has a sweet flavor which goes well with Australian Shiraz.

·         Fisherman’s pie, a rich and creamy vegetarian substitute for its beef based cousin, often includes fish, shrimp and mushrooms, calling for a crisp white wine to cut through the richness like a lean Sauvignon Blanc.

·         When dessert arrives, the Irish seem to like theirs to have a wee nip of alcohol. For example, Guinness cake with Bailey’s frosting. It’s a whiskey cake, with two tablespoons of Irish whiskey in the cake and a full quarter cup of it in the butter cream frosting. They also enjoy Irish chocolate stout cake. Here you need a powerful wine like red port.

With these wine choices, you can toast St. Paddy with the best of the beer drinkers.

The word for “Cheers” in Ireland, incidentally, is “Sláinte.” It’s up to you and Google to figure out how to pronounce it.

Keep checking the blog site for more tips and announcements!

http://aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com/

Notes from the Chair

It was a Battle Royale!  Our Pros vs. Josephines was a rousing success, and our amateur women winemakers represented, yo!

Our thanks to Brittany Altimus, Kevin Dering, and Ellen Barner for three wonderful wines.  It was very difficult to tell the difference between the professionally made wines and the homemade.  Some of our experienced tasters shared interesting tasting notes on all of the wines, and were suitably impressed with the amateur efforts.  Well done, ladies!

The wines were:

2012 Berringer Sauvignon Blanc                         10.99

2015 Cat-A-Tonic Sauvignon Blanc                     Priceless

2015 Terra Vega Malbec                                      9.99

2015 W & B Wines Black Cat Malbec                  Priceless

2013 Crane Lake Petite Sirah                                  6.99

2015 Issus des Caves de Dering Petite Sirah      Priceless

A special thanks to Terry Germanoski, Bev Wise, and Kevin and Bob Dering for hosting last evening, and provided some wonderful accompaniments to the wines! 

Toastmasters Club Growth Director for District 13, Francine Milligan, DTM, (Distinguished Toastmaster) gave a great presentation about the benefits and workings of Toastmasters, International.  Our own Program Director, Bev Wise, is a member of this global organization, and she is interested in starting a chapter geared towards wine lovers.  Interested?  You can reach them via email at:

Francine Milligan, DTM  d13CGD@d13tm.com

Bev Wise, Program Director   program.aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

Just a reminder.  Please be sure to pay your dues, both local and national.  Due to insurance constraints, we cannot permit anyone without an up to date membership to attend the tastings.  Members who don’t renew are removed from the membership rosters on March 1.  If you are unsure as to your dues status, please contact our treasurer, Dennis Trumble at:

finance.aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

REMINDER

Click on the link below to send your registration!

aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

So, who does the nightly wine shopping in your family...him or her? You may find it interesting that most of the wine consumed at home is purchased primarily by women.  But can they make wine as well as they buy it?  We think that the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Join us for the Olympics of wine tasting –an intense battle of the palettes—and a tradition of ours since the late forties.

Pros vs. Josephines Professional/Amateur Wine Tasting Extravaganza.

On Wednesday, March 9, at 7:00 PM., wine sippers from around the Pittsburgh area will gather at the Evergreen Community Center to test their taste buds with a selection of homemade wines by female amateurs and similar wines by professional winemakers.  (Amateurs are defined as not having worked in the wine industry.)

The event begins with all participants rolling up their sleeves and preparing their noses and tongues for the test.   Three of our woman winemakers will match their products against three professional wines.  There will be three flights of blind tasting for you to enjoy – a Sauvignon Blanc, a Malbec, and a Petite Syrah.  Can you tell the difference between a Pro and a Jo?

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR WINE GLASSES.  

We will taste six wines during the meeting.  If you have not yet received your six wine glasses and carry bag, we will have them for you that evening.

The cost for members is $20 and the cost for guests is $25.

Please reply before March 2 to:

aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

Or you may reply to 412-657-0777.

Mail your check, payable to AWS to:

Dr. Dennis Trumble

1302 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA  15212

Don’t forget to visit the website for directions, useful tips, and recipes.

aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com