Are you one of the many confused wine drinkers that doesn’t understand why some wines are labeled Shiraz yet some are labeled Syrah? Lets do some myth busting and work this out!

Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape, just different styles. Syrah has been around for…let’s just say forever; and then comes this Shiraz character, first appearing in the early Nineties. It was a new, exciting and cool-sounding grape type that burst onto the scene, and people have been talking about it ever since.

Let’s look at Syrah first. Syrah traditionally comes from the Rhone Valley in France (due south of Burgundy). The Northern Rhone Valley in France is where Syrah has it’s spiritual home. You may not know it, but when you pick up a bottle of Cotes-du-Rhone, Cotes-du-Rhone Villages or up the dollar amount and get a Saint-Joseph or Hermitage, these wines are made from of the Syrah grape (not traditionally 100%, but most wines aren’t–they just don’t say it on most labels). These names are all regions in the Northern Rhone in France. Just like most places in the old world (France, Italy, Germany, Spain), the Rhone Valley names their wines after the area it comes from; the grape type is not as important as the wine’s origin.

If you pick up a bottle of Cotes-du-Rhone or Villages (typically ranges from $15-$25), you can most likely expect a medium-bodied Syrah with mainly red fruit characteristics with a smoky, black peppery spice. It’s a great every day drinking wine and goes great with lamb dishes. If you decide to pick up a bottle of the more expensive and rare Hermitage or Cote-Rotie, then you will experience something completely different. These regions are known for the best Syrahs in the world–and have the price to match. The Hermitage region produces Syrah that is probably the most “manly” wine of France. These are a much deeper, darker, leathery, gamey, earthy, tannic Syrah with a spice box in between all that goodness. These wines should be aged to get the most out of your purchase, or decant them for a couple of hours before you drink them to calm them down. Think teenager with a brand new Corvette–all over the place and pretty wild. Decanting will turn this teenager into a more refined adult that knows how to express themselves with much more direction. Syrah also is wonderful when grown in the Central Coast, California region and in Washington State. A different expression, of course, but Paso Robles or Santa Barbara are probably the closest you can get to those earthy meaty Syrahs of the Northern Rhone.

Now, the Aussies! Sure they have been growing “Shiraz” since the early 1800’s, but we never really saw any of their wine in the U.S. till the late Eighties. There are a couple myths on how the name Shiraz came about; one is from the ancient city of Shiraz in Persia, where the famous Shirazi wine was produced; but Shiraz as we know it today cannot actually be traced to this. There are documents of other countries calling the grape “Shiraz,” but it was the Aussies that made it famous. Australia, being a much hotter climate then the Northern Rhone and even the Californian Central Coast, creates a much different style of this grape type. It is commonplace now to call your wine Syrah or Shiraz, to let the consumer know what style of wine you are getting. Australian Shiraz is a very diferent animal then what is described above. It’s a much more jammy, rounder, plumper, blackberry-filled, plummy, chocolatey–but still peppery–style of wine. So when you are shopping around town, pay attention to what the winery labels the Syrah/Shiraz you are about to purchase; they are giving you hints to what style of Syrah/Shiraz is in the bottle.

This week, lets start with Burgundy. If you can remember back to your childhood, you may have seen your parents drinking red wine out of a jug labeled Burgundy. Before there were laws protecting the names of these wine growing regions in France, producers such as Ernest and Julio Gallo created and marketed a cheap red wine and named it “Burgundy.” This has nothing to do with actual Burgundy region in France, and presented a negative connotation to actual French Burgundy wine. If you are in the Burgundy section of your local wine shop or on your restaurant wine list, the easiest thing to know about this region is that if it’s red Burgundy, it’s Pinot Noir, and if it’s white, then it’s Chardonnay. This is the only thing that is easy about Burgundy. It’s the most studied and difficult region to decipher so we’ll take a generalized look at this region to gain some understanding.

Pinot Noir is one of the most delicate, sexy, silky, mysterious wines in the world. It’s known for it’s subtly and its layers and layers of aromatics. Pinot Noir flavors truly whisper to you, and the varietal keeps you guessing, only revealing itself after you’ve courted it for a long while. It has been revered by wine connoisseurs since the beginning of time and has now come to the masses, thanks in large part to the movie Sideways. Burgundy, France is hands down the benchmark for Pinot Noir world wide. It’s where it shows itself off best and is what Pinot makers all over the world try and emulate.

The Chardonnays of Burgundy can bring out the same sensations (such as our Pouilly-Fuisse). It’s nothing like the oaky, buttery, tropical Chardonnay grown in California. It’s again a much more subtle style of Chardonnay with a core of stony minerality showing off more of a soft, creme fraiche-like texture. The aromas are reminiscent of baked apple pie, with toasted almonds sitting on your neighbor’s windowsill, and you can only catch glimpses of those aromas when the wind blows your way.

The entry-level Burgundy (known as Bourgogne in France) will say just this on the label. The place where the grapes are grown, not the producer, is the most prominent information on the label. When your wine says Bourgogne on the label, this means the wine producer is getting their grapes from the entire region–it’s equivalent to saying “I live in Cook County.” When you start going up in price and quality, the label will state a village (such as Gevrey-Chambertin or Pommard). This is specifying your grapes came from a certain village in Burgundy–now you’re narrowing down that you live in Chicago. Now each village has it’s own special “flavor,” and part of the fun of buying these wines is discovering how greatly grapes can differ from one another, even when grown just down the road from another village.

The next step up from village is Premier Cru or also known as “1er Cru” on the label. This means that it comes from a specific vineyard within the village name on the label–now you’ve narrowed down your place to a neighborhood in Chicago, such as Bucktown. These Premier Cru wines are recognized by the French government as being of superior quality and worthy of superior price. Narrowing down the place where your grapes are grown will give you a more focused, intense and complex wine worth its price.

The next step up is Grand Cru Burgundy, which are known as the best and most expensive Pinot and Chardonnay in the world and only needs to list the name of the Grand Cru vineyard it comes from, the vineyard name says it all! If you can afford to buy Grand Cru, put it away for at least 10-15 years to get the most out of your investment.

Hopefully this is has demystified your Burgundy label and region a bit. If you want to know more about the flavor profiles and structures of each village then let us know and we can break it down even more for you on another article–this is just a starter course!

Tasting wine for a living is a tough job, but someone has to relay this information to you! Last week at Gibson’s Steakhouse, our barrel group’s “mission” (linked blog post from last thursday) was to bring a bottle of wine in the $50-to-$100 price range from anywhere in the world to blind taste, recognize the different styles, and rate them on what we liked best. This is all part of the process of deciding what style of wine we like when it comes down to creating our own barrel.

As it turns out, each person in the group ended up spending more on their individual bottle than planned, so we were tasting wine in the $100-plus category, and it was all current vintage releases (2005 and 2006). When you are dealing with this upper tier of wine, it sits in barrel and in bottle for an average of two years from when they harvest it; then it “rests” in bottle until the winemaker thinks it tastes good enough to release to the public. We all ended up bringing wine from California and Australia (Bordeaux is another region known for their high-end Cabernet production), which makes sense since we are making a new world Cabernet.

Well what better place to showcase high-end New World Cabernet Sauvignon other then a Chicago steakhouse? Wine always tastes better with food, and we all know how much Cabernet loves steak! It was very interesting tasting each wine basically as soon as the cork was pulled out. Not only are these wines meant to be aged, but at the very least, they should be decanted to enjoy them at their best. What the group was supposed to do was taste, and then rate the wines from 1-5 (1 being the best.) I only jotted down a few tasting notes on each, but all were very different.

The wine that the group ranked number one was an Australian Cabernet! The 2005 Elderton Ashmead single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon was such a surprise for this group of people that adore California Cabernet; but this wine was different and was definately unique from the rest. We tasted this wine third in the line-up, and my tasting notes read “lighter in color, high acidity and more earthy notes to it.” Now, knowing New World wine, these tasting notes do not sound like a Barossa Valley powerhouse like the other Aussie Cab we tasted. The other Aussie Cabernet was the 2005 Noon Reserve. If you’ve never heard of this wine, it’s not suprising. They are a winery that makes such a small amount of wine, and wine people in-the-know always snatch it up, most goes to their own wine club members. My tasting notes on the Noon were “deep, dark, velvety, round, voluptous Cabernet with hints of mint”—this clearly says, I’m an Aussie, don’t question my roots! Number 2 was a California Cabernet (not surprising), the 2005 Quintessa Rutherford Red wine. Quintessa is an estate produced “red wine.” They use this term because they want to highlight and express the land on which their grapes grow and it’s not just about making Cabernet Sauvignon. Although the basic make up of this wine is Cabernet Sauvignon, they also blend in Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Carmenere (all Bordeaux varietals.) This wine had a very spicy jalapeño pepper nose with a plummy fruit aspect to it, and it kept me guessing as to what this wine was trying to reveal to me when only opened for such a short while. Wine number 4 was the 2005 Chimney Rock Alpine Vineyard. This wine ranked fourth in our line up. My tasting notes on this wine was ‘lighter more delicate and more nuance” again not what I would expect from a Stag’s Leap district wine. This wine is only available to wine club members (lucky them!). The wine that ranked last (keep in mind just because it ranked last, don’t shut this wine out) was the 2005 Palmaz Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was a powerhouse! It was all about strutting it’s stuff on the runway, big, concentrated, coffee, chocolate, dark fruits and a finish that would not quit! In all fairness, this wine is probably the one that would benefit the most from aging it and is not meant to be opened this early. However when we revisited it a half an hour later, it was a different wine; more Bordeaux like and starting to show more colors.

All these wines showed off more as they were opened longer and were evolving in the glass while we ate. This is the beauty of wine, it’s a living, breathing organism that slowly opens up like a flower that is just starting to bloom. I hate that we had to give each wine a ranking because none of them were deserved of last place but we had to put a score on it. This is just one of many barrel meetings that we get to experience throughout the process of making our own wine. Not to late to join in the fun!

This is the second year that Just Grapes has operated the “Make your own Barrel” program. What we do, as a group, is tour the entire wine making process, from grape to bottle. Whether you are the total wine geek that wants his or her wine customized to suit their palate, or the person that has no idea what goes on in the winery and would love to explore that road, it is a fun and informative experience for everyone.

With each group, Don Sritong–owner of Just Grapes–picks a vineyard where great wines are made.  This ensures that that our wine will be of a high quality and be comparative to a bottle you would pay upwards of $75 for. To try and decipher what style of wine we like as a group, we get together monthly to blind taste wines from all different parts of the globe to see what we agree on. We get to make all the decisions on our wine, from what type of oak is used, to how long it stays in barrel, to labeling, and every geeky step in between.

Not only does each group member receive their own case of their customized wine, but we travel to Napa Valley or Santa Barbara, wherever our vineyard is, and walk the vineyards, where we will have tour guides (sometimes winemakers) let us know what they look for on the vine, farming decisions they make and whatever else we want to ask them.  Don sets up very personalized winery tours—for example, taking four-wheel-drive vehicles to literally tops of mountains to see where mountain fruit is grown and how the grapes are different there. Recently, he set up luncheons with Jack Cakebread and his wife, where we had a gastronomic experience any foodie can appreciate. I never see Napa Valley the way I do as when Don Sritong sets up the tours; it changes your outlook on wine and travel forever. These are just some of the events that you can expect when you “Make your own Barrel” here at Just Grapes.  It is truly a unique and exciting experience that you will relive when you’re drinking the wine that you had a hand in creating and the stories that you will share with friends for years to come.

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Whether you’re new to wine or a seasoned connoisseur, a common thread between the two is finding a wine to drink that is of good quality for a good price and makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside. With new wine regions emerging around the world, this task is easier then it used to be. We now see places like South America, New Zealand, and Spain emerging on the global wine scene, making great quality wine at very affordable prices, now available at your local grocery store.

With these great, affordable wines within arm’s reach, why would you pay $50 on up for a bottle of wine, and what is the difference? When purchasing a bottle at this price point, it should be obvious from the attack, the middle, and the finish…. the very long finish that never seems to end and will keep developing as it lingers. It should keep you guessing with the emergence of layers, flavors and aromas that it exudes. It should surprise you, transport you to a place where you can actually envision the mountainside vineyards where it grows. Now, this is a tall order and not always obtainable. The majority of these wines will need to age for a few years to develop these nuances to get the most out of your purchase. Well, who has this kind of time? All you wanted was a great bottle to take home for that special dinner you’re putting together. My advice is buy a decanter. [A Decanter is one of those beautiful crystal or glass carafes that looks great on a dinner table but also functions to “open up” your wine.] If you aerate the wine for at least a half an hour, you get a different wine then just tasting it right out of the bottle. When you decant the wine, it will speed up the aging process and those subtleties that weren’t showing off will suddenly become more obvious.

Now there is still no guarantee that you will like that $50 plus bottle just because you paid more for it. When purchasing wine at the lower price points, they are much more approachable, friendly and easy to drink. You’ve gotten used to the raspberry, the black berry, and the spice; it’s what you know and what you like. You may not like the espresso, the barnyard, the forest floor that comes with the better bottles, and that’s okay. Why would you pay a million dollars for a Jackson Pollock painting if you didn’t understand his layers and splashes of color? It’s okay to hang your painting of the still life bowl of fruit, it brings you pleasure, you understand it, it suits you.

Raised a Midwestern girl, I have never had a problem with your average weekend BBQ fare: grilling out, burgers and brats. But this past Saturday, as I was hosting a party for a number of area wine connoisseurs and noted foodies, I decided to “civilize” my soiree a bit.  Here’s how:

I hired Jaime Canete, Sous Chef at Terzo Piano (Spiaggia’s second creation in the modern wing of the Art Institute),  to prepare a menu for me, giving him a theme (“fresh summer cuisine on a hot August day”), and I would pair the food with a selection of wines.  By hiring a chef, I would have cuisine that I could not possibly think up or prepare myself, and since I was spending more on the food, my challenge was to pair less expensive wines with his phenomenal creations.

Being a “Top Chef” junkie, seeing him prep, cook and garnish in my home was unbelievable. Not only was it wonderful for my guests to watch him in action, but they were also asking him a lot of questions and getting him to demystify some ingredients that I had never heard of… and couldn’t pronounce! He purchased most of his ingredients at the Green City Market in downtown Chicago, so everything was fresh, local, and had the most intense and precise flavors.

As a hostess, one of the greatest benefits of having him cook in my home was being able to enjoy my guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen cooking, serving and cleaning.

Among the multiple courses of fresh summer cuisine, there were two dishes that some guests called “life-changing.” I mean, how happy does it make a girl to have these types of compliments at my very first attempt at a civilized soiree? I’m going to share these two dishes and the corresponding wine pairings so you can “civilize” your BBQ this summer as well.

The Steak Tartare was made with Prime Dry Aged Strip Loin (Beef) finely diced, then mixed with minced tarragon, minced shallots, lemon zest, lemon juice, sea salt & whole grain Dijon mustard.  It was served on individual spoons, but could also be done on crostinis.  I would give you the measurements on each ingredient, but—of course—true chefs simply add a pinch then taste till it’s right. The delicate style of the Tartare with the fresh herbs and citrus flavors went amazingly with the Quivira Sauvignon Blanc from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, California.  Quivira has a fuller body, since it was aged on its lees, but also it’s more delicate in flavor so it really complimented the Tartare and did not interrupt or overpower any of the flavors in dish or the wine. Both were better because of the pairing.

The second favorite dish of the day was the Hamachi (yellowtail, Japanese Amberjack family) which was thinly sliced raw, plated with avocado slices, Fresno chile, lemon, lime and orange juices, and sea salt.  See why I felt like I had Top Chef in my house? This dish paired beautifully with the Massena “Surly Muse” Viognier from Barossa Valley, Australia.  This Viognier is much different from most warm climate Viogniers; somehow they made this wine with a more restrained personality, which is difficult to do in the Barossa. It only whispers honeysuckle, white peach and pineapple instead of yelling it at you like a lot of the California Viogniers I’ve had recently. It was, again, a wonderful pairing. The subtle tropical fruit really complimented the fresh citrus in the dish and the decadent texture of the raw fish.  If you would like any information on having Jaime Canete “civilize” your summer soiree, contact him at Jaime.Canete@cafebonappetit.com or twitter.com/JaimeCanete

It’s great to introduce people to adventurous and exciting grape types like Cabernet Franc. If you’re not familiar with this varietal, it is one of the common blending grapes in Bordeaux, mostly used on the right banks of Pomerol and Saint Emilion. The Loire Valley also grows this grape (most commonly seen as “Chinon” on the label.)

Wherever it’s grown, Cab Franc will take on a different form, which is why it’s a fun journey trying Cab Francs from different parts of the world. Cab Franc is known to be a very aromatic grape type that exudes floral and herbaceous characteristics, which make it a very inviting wine when it’s done right. I really don’t want to talk about what happens when it’s done wrong (think green peppers plus harsh tannin).

The Walla Walla Cab Franc, from Columbia Valley, makes for a wonderful introduction to this varietal.  It has a mix of black cherry, black currant, hints of blue fruits, violets, dried herbs and cigar smoke that this grape type is known for. It has a very lush texture, with silky tannins and is the perfect “gateway wine” into this grape type, which can take on many different forms once explored.  It’s lighter then Cabernet Sauvignon… and, in fact, is one of Cabernet Sauvignon’s genetic parents! This wine would be awesome with braised short ribs or grilled pork tenderloin.