by Michele Slott

There’s an article in the July 31 issue of Wine Spectator called “Some Like it…Tart” by Matt Kramer, who describes the process of making fine red wine vinegar, and it got me thinking. I love tart flavors too, just as Kramer does. I choose Granny Smith apples, like extra lime in the guacamole, lemon vinaigrette on my pasta salad, sour gummi worms …My husband? Not so much… He makes the funniest faces when he gets a dose of sour and moves quickly on to something else. My four-year-old son learned, “cheeseburger, no pickles” from him months ago.

What wines go well with tart? Chardonnays and dry Rieslings are nice, as are Chiantis… and sometimes something a little sweeter can be a good match, too… How about you? Do you have a favorite wine to go with a tart dish? Please post a comment!

My youngest recently came home from daycare and said proudly, “I ate pickles on my hamburger today.” Hurray for sour!

by Kim Flick

In today’s world, we all are watching our pennies. A few years ago spending $50 on a random bottle of wine was an occasional indulgence for me … not today! If I’m spending $50 on wine, I need to know that it will be worth the cost (and it will probably be consumed on a special occasion!). So, “how can I stretch my wine-dollars?” is a question I have asked myself more than once in the recent past. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of each sip:

- Ask! If you are in a restaurant with well trained staff, you should be able to get some honest feedback from your waiter. Local wine shops are also great resources that are willing to share what’s tasty AND reasonable. Try the 350 ml. bottle if it’s an option in a restaurant. They are half the size of a regular bottle and usually half the cost (also a nice way to pair different wines with different courses of the meal).

- Take advantage of quantity purchases. Many shops offer discounts on 6 or 12 bottle purchases. Pay attention to when they are running specials on your tried and true favorites … and stock-up!

- Lazy summer days on the patio … sipping wine … try a sweet wine with some club soda added. It adds a refreshing element perfect on those hot days - and you will get almost twice as many glasses than with the wine alone. Try a Muscato this way - redolent of champagne but lighter bodied.

- Look at Wine Spectator’s suggestions … leave it to the professionals to weed out the money-wasters for you! Go to www.winespectator.com and check out the free daily wine picks on the home page. They always have a suggestion for less than $15 - sounds like a bargain to me!

- Drink other people’s wine whenever possible. Seriously, maybe you will find something that suits your fancy - and your friends have already done the leg work!

Here’s to an economical summer filled with food, friends, family … and good (money well spent) wine.

By, Angela Avila

In college, at the ripe old age of 21, I thought I would have myself a dignified, sit-down dinner party with friends. On the menu: Pasta Primavera. I asked all of my friends to bring a bottle of wine to share. Among the bottles on the table was a small bottle of Port a friend had taken from his parents house (we were poor college students after all). Dinner was served, the bottles were opened and we sat down to enjoy our very “sophisticated” dinner. After a bottle or two of Merlot was enjoyed, the Port was passed around. As we sipped the drink with our pasta dish, I watched the faces of my friends contort as they drank the wine. While some had a look of surprise, other faces showed pure disgust in what they had imbibed. Curious, I took a sip. WHEW! Strong…and sweet! I coughed to catch my breath. We quickly decided as a group that the Port was disgusting! A bottle of Chardonnay was quickly opened.

I laugh as I remember my first experience with Port wine. Little did I know at the time that I was drinking it “wrong”. That is to say, there is a time and place for Port and at the dinner table with Pasta Primavera was not it. Port is a dessert wine…a sipping wine.

A true Port wine comes from the Douro Valley in Portugal. Typically, Port is a sweet red wine that has been fortified with a spirit, often Brandy. Many port-style wines are now produced around the world and can also be found in dry, semi-dry and white varieties.

Traditionally, Port is served as an after dinner drink, often with desserts. It is also referenced as a dessert wine because its sweet and strong character makes it a great wine to serve with dark chocolate or cheesecake.  Furthermore, Brandy is known as a digestive aid, so a small glass of port (fortified with Brandy) may help you fill less full after a big meal. I can’t help but think of a bunch of old men sitting around a fire, loosening their belts after a big meal, sipping on Port and puffing away on big cigars.

Well, you don’t have to be an old-man or a cigar smoker to enjoy a glass of Port. If I had only known in college what to do with that small mysterious bottle at the dinner table, I could have offered dark chocolate mousse with a small glass of Port to each of my guests. I would have probably walked away from the dinner party as a Port lover and wouldn’t have waited so many years to give it another try!

If you have never tried Port or are looking to try something new, Prairie Berry Winery produces a Port-style dessert wine called Great Grandma’s Chokecherry Bliss. It is made from hand-picked South Dakota chokecherries and is a premium sipping wine. A fun way to serve Great Grandma’s Chokecherry Bliss is to dip the rim of a frozen cordial glass in melted chocolate, and then add the wine. It’s a classy presentation and you can enjoy your chocolate and wine together with every sip! As for me, my re-introduction to Port will continue with a bottle of Rosenblum Cellars Desiree Chocolate Port. I have been hearing wonderful things about it. Desiree is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and chocolate…how could I go wrong. Perhaps I’ll pick up a bottle tonight for dessert!

by Michele Slott, Prairie Berry Winery

If you are just starting to blossom as a wine lover and thinking about traveling to other areas to do some tasting, be sure to plan ahead about getting your purchase(s) home. You wouldn’t think that getting something from point A to point B could be a big frustration, but it’s important to remember that alcohol is a highly regulated commodity. Following is just an illustration of what CAN happen. Thinking ahead can prevent it from happening to you.

Okay, now pretend you’re on a trip, meeting some friends in Napa Valley, California. Your friends are a couple who had just recently moved to Salt Lake City, and after you all spend a few days enjoying wine country and San Francisco, you’re going to finish out the vacation week at their new home in Utah, then return to South Dakota. At one tasting room you find a wine you both particularly enjoy and want to take home to commemorate the occasion. But wait, there’s a discount if you buy a case… And then you can enjoy it for longer, so what the heck? You’re on vacation! Then you start talking to the staff about shipping it back to your home states… What? Your friends can’t ship to Utah because it’s against Utah state law. You, on the other hand, being from South Dakota, have no problem shipping it home.*

Okay, change of plans… So, you ship a case home to South Dakota and your friends decide they will buy just a few bottles and stash them in their bags. They make the purchase, take the bottles back to the hotel and wrap them carefully in clothing to prevent breakage and zip the suitcases shut. Just as on the trip out, they plan to take their bags as carry-on to avoid the checked baggage fees, the possibility of losing belongings, and having to deal with waiting at the baggage carousel. As you all stand at security chatting, waiting to put your bags on the scanner, you see someone ahead of you pulling wine bottles out of their own bag and chucking them in the garbage. Suddenly you remember — wine is a liquid. Bottles of liquids larger than 3 oz. are not allowed in carry-on baggage. What were you thinking? Well, of course, you were all on vacation and weren’t really thinking… Sadly, your friends chuck their vino too. The security guard gives you a sad smile and says, “Thanks.” You assume it’s for not making a stink about throwing wine/money away… But you figure you should have known better, and he’s just doing his job.

As you get your shoes back on and grab your bags to head to your gate, you see a gift store with an espresso bar down the way. It’s not too busy and you’ve got time to kill (and you’re feeling kind of lousy about tossing the wine), so you offer to buy your friends a grande anything to lift their spirits. As you’re waiting for the Barista to make your beverages, you look around and your gaze falls on a display of local wines, including the same variety your friends had just thrown in the garbage a few yards back at security. Choking on your tongue, you ask the Barista what she knows about getting the wine on the plane.

“Oh yeah, if you buy it AFTER you’ve gone through security, you can take it as carry-on. If you buy it BEFORE going through security, you have to send it through checked baggage.”

Yes, it’s true — so be forewarned as you travel. There are over 10,000 rules and laws governing whether or not wine can be shipped directly to someone — each state has it’s own ruling on things (counties and municipalities weigh in on it, too, in some places), and the laws are ever-changing. For instance,

• Some states have expensive permits wineries must purchase,
• Some require taxes to be filed and paid monthly, quarterly or yearly,
• Some require every wine label to be registered with that state
• Some just say “no” while others say “no problem.”

One winery may opt to not ship to a certain state just because it’s too big of a headache, while another winery down the road is willing to deal with those problems. And of course, shipping and handling is an additional expense to the consumer, too.

If you live in a “no-ship” state, remember what the Barista said: wine CAN be taken on aircraft, but only as checked baggage if purchased prior to going through security. It can be taken as carry-on if it is purchased AFTER going through security. Many airports do not have shops past security with wine for sale by the bottle, yet, but the number is growing (although it does generally make the wine more expensive).

If you’re travelling by car, then you’re only limited by your space — unless you’re going to Canada, in which case you are allowed to bring in no more than two 750 ml bottles per person.

DO go explore some other great wineries!
DO purchase wines you love (especially if you ask the staff and it’s a wine that’s not available anywhere except the winery itself) — it’s a great way to remember the trip and share with the people you love.
And more than anything DO plan ahead how much you can afford to purchase, and how you’re going to get it home. Don’t leave your vacation memories in the Security Screening garbage can!!!

* Note: If you live in SD and had been visiting a winery within your home state or tried to call and make a phone order, you’d be out of luck because South Dakota wineries cannot ship within the state of South Dakota as per state law, although out-of-state wineries CAN ship in so long as you are physically present at that winery to make the purchase. Oddly enough, in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned laws for New York and Michigan that allowed in-state wineries to direct ship to citizens within these states, but made it illegal for out-of-state wineries to ship to those same people. The Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional for the states to treat in-state wineries differently from out-of-state wineries.  For more information go to:   http://www.freethegrapes.com/state_laws.html.

by Carol Jobman, Prairie Berry Winery

I am a new member of the Prairie Berry staff having been employed since last summer.  Learning the wine business has been fascinating and rewarding and I have welcomed the opportunity to write submissions for the Wine Nose Blog.  I recently left a career in education and still find myself thinking about each new month with the anticipation of what the days to come have to offer in holidays, events, and seasonal changes.  With that in mind, I look at April as a month to promote recycling and sustainability noting that Earth Day and Arbor Day are a part of this month. Wineries as a whole are ag-based businesses, of course, due to the nature of our raw product. And as such, we have to be keenly aware of best practices for sustainability. We have a strong recycling program in place here and the winery staff continues to look toward improvements to be made to our practice. The efforts begin with each employee; grow to include the staff as a whole, and leads to an enhanced experience for each guest.  The well-known slogan, “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” is practiced throughout the winery.  Prairie Berry recently adopted a Recycling and Sustainability Guide that will lead to improved practices.  Some highlights of the guide include the following:
Reduce
•    All to-go items from our kitchen will be packaged in bio-degradable containers
•    We will not offer bottled water once our current supply is gone.  We will offer our guests great South Dakota drinking water right from the tap
•    We will strive to go paperless in many aspects of our business using instead electronic communication and whiteboards
Reuse
•    Recycled and/or Eco paper is used for our letterhead, envelopes, and brochures
•    We use rechargeable batteries
•    Wine case boxes are reused to box customer wine orders
Recycle
•    In the future, production waste and food waste from the kitchen will be composted.
•    Cardboard, glass, plastic, and aluminum cans are recycled
•    Prairie Berry will soon be offering a reusable eco-bag for guests to carry home their wine purchases
Soon the weather will warm and the growing season will once again be embraced by many.  The five generations of wine makers in the Vojta family have been resourceful stewards of the land, creating wonderful wines from the bounty of produce available in the Midwest.  That concept is likewise part of the green movement.  The very idea of sustainability can be strengthened by the resourcefulness of each of us.  So enjoy the season to come and consider what you can do to create your own “green lifestyle.”

By Holli Edwards

Yes, green beer is the most popular libation for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, but this year just might be the year to “go green” in another direction - the wine route!  It can be as easy as adding a little green food coloring to your favorite white or sparkling wine (don’t add too much, or your tongue won’t be the same for a week!)  Or, you can experiment with a new recipe, adding a little mint liqueur or making a wine slush (like the one you see in the photo using a Vineyard Frost wine mix and white wine).

You could also stay away from the food coloring all together and enjoy a traditional Irish wine, a Meade, which is made with honey.  Legend has it that this wine was first made in secret by Irish Monks. It’s popularity spread quickly and was often served at Irish feasts of all occasions, including weddings. The bride and groom were encouraged to consume generous portions of the intoxicating drink, particularly the groom. It was believed that the Meade had powers of virility and fertility. After the wedding, if the bride produced a child nine months after the wedding, credit was given to the Meade.

If you are planning on enjoying the traditional corned beef and cabbage, try a blush wine or a fruity Beaujolais, such as Prairie Berry Winery’s Frontenac 2007.  And, don’t forget to offer a St. Patrick’s Day toast to bring luck and good health!

St. Patrick’s Day Toast

Saint Patrick was a gentleman,
Who through strategy and stealth,
Drove all the snakes from Ireland,
Here’s a toasting to his health.
But not too many toastings
Lest you lose yourself and then
Forget the good Saint Patrick
And see all those snakes again.

‘Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!’
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

An Old Irish Blessing

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

By Angela Avila

I’m lucky. Two of my favorite vices, chocolate and red wine, have been proven to have health benefits. In moderation, these two delicious indulgences can lower one’s risk for heart disease, dementia and other health problems. Apparently, I am not alone. Economists point to strong performances in both the chocolate and wine industries, even as the drum beats of recession grow louder and louder. Wine and chocolate–a match made in heaven–and recession!

With that in mind here is how I would suggest you treat your Valentine this Saturday. Skip the fancy dinner, the stiff clothes, the dozen roses and head to your local winery or wine shop. Pick up a nice bottle of red¦ might I suggest Prairie Berry’s Phat Hogg Red or Roots Run Deep’s luscious Cabernet, Educated Guess. Both are under $25.00. Next, stop by your local grocer or specialty shop and pick up a few different selections of chocolate. There are a lot of fun chocolates to choose from. Try chocolate covered almonds or a selection of dark chocolates. For a fun change, I would also suggest chocolate that has been sprinkled with sea salt or infused with chili pepper.

On your way home, pick up a good flick. There are plenty of good movies that revolve around our theme: Sideways, Chocolat, A Walk in the Clouds, Under the Tuscan Sun¦to name a few.

When you get home, turn the lights down, light a few candles, put your feet up, eat, drink and enjoy. You’ll love what the chocolate and red wine does to your palate, and you’ll love what a cozy Valentine’s Day at home will do for your wallet!

 

By, Angela Avila

So you know what kind of wine you like to drink. But do you know why? I can drink a good bottle of Pinot Noir or Zinfandel with just about anything…steak, crab legs, salad, cheese, fruit, and of course… dark chocolate. I never knew my love of smooth dry reds was due to the fact that I may have 10 times as many taste buds as the wine drinker next to me. 

Strange, but true! According to the founders of “The Bud Test” at YumYuk.com, not only do our personal experiences shape our palate, but our physiological make-up plays a big role as well. 

Tim Hanni, a California wine consultant, developed the “Budometer” to help simplify the wine drinking experience. According to Jane Black of the Washington Post, Hanni and two other scientists “took into account a decade of research on taste and sensory perception.”  They have analyzed taste buds under magnifying glasses and broken wine drinkers into 4 major categories: Sweet, Hyper-Sensitive, Sensitive and Tolerant. 

 

To test their theory, I had my “buds done” (twice… just to make sure) and after being asked a series of questions on my preferences for coffee, salt, and alcohol it turns out I am a Hyper-Sensitive taster.  After the quiz, I received a break-down of my preferences…which were surprisingly true. I prefer balanced dry wines with moderate intensity, fruit, oak and tannins. Not bad for a five question web quiz. 

But wait, have I been pigeon-holed?  What about the bold, full-bodied cabernet I enjoyed last week?  Or the sweet and fruity Raspberry Honeywine that I have come to like so much… the one that is just as lovely to sip with chocolate as any one of my beloved Pinot’s? While it is all good and fun to have a quiz tell me what kind-of wine drinker I am, I shy away from the idea of having my tongue stuck under a magnifying glass and my taste buds counted.  The enjoyment and allure of wine is something science will never fully explain. One thing is for sure, the next time I open a bottle of wine to share with friends, I will not ask them to stick out their tongues before I serve them…

 

Want to get your “buds done”? Follow the link from Prairie Berry Winery’s webpage:

www.prairieberry.com/news/index.php?newsid=19

by Michele Slott

We get a lot of questions about wine storage and serving here at Prairie Berry Winery. Here are some very important basics we like to share with our customers.

1) Drink soon. Only about 5% of the wines sold in this country are purchased to cellar long-term. The style of wine we make is best consumed within two years.

2) Share with a friend. Once open, the wine starts to deteriorate, and is best consumed within 1-3 days. Sweeter wines may be kept a day or two longer.

3) Keep it cool. Preferably a stable, cool (50-60°F) place, such as the bottom of a basement closet. Storing wine too cold or too warm, or wild temperature fluctuations can all have negative effects on the taste.

4) Avoid light. UV rays can cause oxidation.

5) Hold still. Keep wine away from vibrations, as this can (believe it or not) disrupt it on a molecular level, causing it to lose flavor intensity.

6) Serving temp is important. Dry red wines are best served at a cool room temperature, 55-60°F. Dry whites, a bit cooler, at 50-55°F (put in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving - no more). A sweeter wine should be served well-chilled at around 40°F . If it’s been in the fridge all day, let it sit out for 20 minutes or so before pouring.

7) Stelvin tips. When preparing to open, simply twist and remove the Stelvin screwcap. No cork means no corkscrew, no “cork taint”, AND you can store the bottle upright. DO handle the top of the bottle gently. The seal on the  inside edge can get damaged if you drop the bottle or bang it too hard — air then leaks in, and weeks or months later, the wine is ruined.

Fear not the floaties. Although most commercial wines do not have sediment, you may occasionally come across a bottle with some present in older wines. One reason wine bottles were originally designed with the indentation, or “punt” in the bottom, was to allow these natural elements to settle out, instead of being poured into the glass. Light colored tartaric acid crystals form if the wine gets too cold, or you may find sediment from the grape or fruit. Besides allowing it to settle in the bottle, you can use a wine filter or pour into a decanter at a gentle angle. Don’t fear “floaties”, but you don’t want them in your glass, either.

9) Burp the bottle (well, sort-of). If storing for a day or so after opening, you CAN replace the Stelvin lid, but are best off using some type of wine preservation system such as a Vacu-Vin that removes the air from the bottle to slow down the deterioration of the wine. This is especially true for delicate dry white wines which can turn quickly. Store resealed bottles in the refrigerator.

by Holli Edwards

South Dakota is not considered on the leading edge of the trends - but this is not a bad thing, especially in this case!  In the Best of Year 2008 edition of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and featured on their website,  is a story regarding wine now being served in rubber tipped baby bottles.  A restaurant in New York City, La Cave de Fondus (they feature a cow sipping wine from a baby bottle on their website) is serving beer and wine in these bottles modeled after a restaurant in Paris who creatively went this route to forgo paying tax on wine served in wine glasses.  Nursing your drink brings on a whole new meaning!