We all know that a “proper” wine tasting should be conducted with good lighting, using stemmed glassware to minimize fingerprints, neutral backgrounds, no odors, and so on. Our senses of sight, smell, and taste must be pure to create the ideal environment to analyze our fine liquid specimen so we can conclude that “we like it”

But if you are hosting a small tasting for friends, its sort of strange to have silence as people swirl, taste, and potentially spit; - I do like giving my friends nicknames based on the their spitting noises, but this is a wine tasting and not the Old West.

I’m a big fan of music. It comes with the territory for a once Internet programmer/poser DJ spinner turned wine studies graduate. Music is always playing in my apartment, even during wine tastings, though there are some guidelines I’d like to share with you.

Make the music an ambient noise and not the focus of the evening. If someone has to talk louder to be heard, turn down the music.

Stay away from Beyonce (and I mean no disrespect to Beyonce by any means!) Any music with lyrics can turn your sophisticated wine tasting into a karaoke bar faster than you can finish that first taste. What music doesn’t have lyrics? There’s classical; - but then you’d be right out of the movie American Beauty; - jazz; - which I do like to have on from time to time but not all jazz is “good” for tasting wine; - and then my favorite, electronic.

Electronic music and wine - how can they “blend” well you might ask? Well, a long time friend of WineFetch is going to show you what I’m talking about. Ben Poe is a fantastic up-and-coming DJ/producer in NYC and I proudly play his music at my tastings to much applause. Here is one of my favorite mixes to play during a wine tasting. It starts off with an original song by Ben Poe, which is light and ethereal sounding, perfect for your starting whites. Over the next 30 minutes, the music slowly builds put to a fuller sound, just when you start your cabernets (and when everyone is a little sloshed).

Enjoy the tunes and look for more music from Ben Poe!

http://www.winefetch.com/music/nv4_mix.mp3

If you want to support Ben Poe, you can view his website at http://benpoe.com/

WineFetch is happy to announce that 5 new UK based wine retailers have been added to out search index.

- Le Bon Vin Ltd
- The Sussex Wine Company
- Tanners Wine Ltd
- Majestic Wine Warehouses
- H & H Bancroft Wines

We will be adding more European retailers throughout September. If you don’t see your favorite store, contact us and we’ll try to add them.

Cheers!

As you know, WineFetch is a leader in the online wine search space and we have added another 15 US based wine shops to our search index.

- European Wine Resource in CA
- Wine Gallery in MA
- Vino 100 Cathedral City in CA
- Vino 100 Fresno in CA
- New Hampshire State Liquor Commission in NH
- Spirit of 76 Wines & Liquors in NJ
- Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits in DC
- Black Tie Wine & Spirits in NY
- Cork & Keg in CT
- Wine Pavilion in CA
- Jolsons Fine Wines & Liquors in NY
- Maine Beverage Company in ME
- Fairhouse Liquor.com in CA
- HoustonLiquors.com in TX
- Big City Delicatessen in IN

If you don’t see your favorite wine shop listed, contact us and we’d be happy to list them.

Cheers!

WineFetch is constantly adding new stores to its wine search index. We’d like to tell you about 5 new UK shops we added this past weekend:

If you’d like us to add a specific store, please let us know.

Cheers and enjoy!

New York, NY July 30, 2007 – WineFetch announced that it has released its Facebook application called “My Wine Life”. This functionality enables Facebook users to search the 1 million wine prices that appear on the WineFetch wine search engine from within their Facebook profile. Users can also access their personal WineFetch wine cellars, wine reviews, and receive personal drinking recommendations based on their preferences. There is also a wine of the day and a wine store locator by US zip code.

“We are very excited about our Facebook application,” says WineFetch founder, Steven Goodman. “WineFetch has many tools that enable its users to access and share our content, and this Facebook application is another great tool.”

You can access the WineFetch Facebook application at http://www.winefetch.com/winelife/

About WineFetch:
WineFetch is one of the world’s largest wine search engines and communities. Users can shop for their favorite wines and find the best price from hundreds of retailers. WineFetch also enables users to track their personal wine cellars and wine reviews, while sharing them within their personal network.
Please visit www.winefetch.com for more information.
Contact:
917-817-6644
###

Late last week, CNBC did a story on “In the Money” about wine in a box. I know what you’re thinking - Franzia! Well… doesn’t appear to be that way anymore. Seems that wine in a box is making a comeback for some higher end wines for a couple reasons. First, a box is easier for portability. If you’re going on a picnic, its easier to bring a compact box as opposed to a breakable bottle that has a strange shape. Also, the box preserves wine better once its open - or so they say. I’m not sure how that works, so take it with a grain of tannin. And probably the most important reason for the box is that it saves the consumer money. A box is cheaper to create, cheaper to ship, cheaper to store, and therefore, cheaper to buy. The real question is - is the wine just cheaper?

Last night, I was at Morrell’s Wine Bar in Midtown Manhattan with a friend who is preparing for the Master of Wine exam. We were chatting amongst ourselves when the gentleman next to us asks about the different “wine programs” we were discussing. Being the friendly people that wine drinkers tend to be, we engaged him in our conversation. From the offset, this gentleman did not appear to be your quintessential wine drinker, but as my momma always told me “Never judge a wine by its color”.

His name was Tony; he’s from the Bronx; he runs his own plumbing company; but he loves wine. His parents were Sicilian and he said he drank more wine as a kid than water. Now probably in his late 50’s maybe early 60’s, only guessing because he was discussing retirement, he’s started to take all the appropriate classes to take his recreational love to an educational level. His dream would be to have his own store or be a buyer for a wine list (sounds like someone I know ). It just amazes me how many people, from all different walks of life, can come together to discuss and enjoy such a simple thing as wine.

When my friend and I left we turned to each other and said “Wine has become for EVERYONE!” Tony from the Bronx - I toast to you!

You may have seen the NY Times article this weekend about the major wine rating systems:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/business/yourmoney/13rate.html?pagewanted=4&ei=5087&en=604e8ee26f41a280&ex=1171166400&mkt=bizphoto

I will say that I am guilty of using the rating systems as a guide. I think in today’s wine world you have to use something because there is too much wine in the world to go buying everything to determine what suits your tastes. WineFetch is a good resource as well - using people like you and me to find the next new “cult” wine. But this is not what I want to discuss….

I think the most important paragraph of the article is the forth from the end. It discusses how certain grape varietals are favored by the ratings systems. The “noble” grapes of the world score higher on every rating scale. Can a Sonoma County Zinfandel ever achieve 100 points? Or how about an Italian Brunello? The likelihood is, probably not. How can you justly compare a first growth or a grand cru to a zinfandel without having any bias? So the answer might be to compare grapes amongst themselves, but then how do you achieve this in a blind tasting?

I’ve been doing a lot of blind tastings recently in preparation for my wine exam and I’ve gotten pretty good recognizing what I’m drinking. So these “tasters” at the ratings system must be able to know the difference between Lafite and a Heitz Cabernet or at the very least wines from different regions. I can tell the difference between Bordeaux and Napa, Cote Rotie and Australian Shiraz, etc.. So by definition there a bias as soon as that cork, or screw top, is removed to release the aroma.

So where does this leave us? We’re left in a world of ratings that makes any judgment hard to trust. So maybe we should ditch the numbers and just read the notes. Unfortunately, we understand that 95 is better than a 90 and we wouldn’t know if a “wine with luscious currant flavors” is better than a “wine with silky, velvety blackberry notes”. Do we need to know if wine A is better than wine B or do we just need to know if we’d like it. Maybe we just admit to the wine community that the ratings are flawed and then, we can create a system that will compare apples to apples and Zins to Zins.

If those raisens were still around today they’d be reading it on The Grapevine. Today WineFetch launched its latest feature called The Grapevine into a beta phase. With this feature, you’ll be able to find and read wine reviews as well as see what wines other people are cellaring. You can also create your own personal Grapevine allowing you to link and search only the people you want. So add friends, family, colleagues, anybody you want to your personal Grapevine. And next time you are are going to call your friend about the wine they mentioned last night, put down the phone and come read it on The Grapevine.

Here’s my cellar on The Vine to get you started:
http://www.winefetch.com/cellars/thedude

After lunch, I went to 3 more wineries in the Paso area. First was L’Aventure. L’Aventure describes itself as “Bordeaux meets Rhone”. It was a nice change from the straight Rhone varietals and blends. I tried 8 different wines from L’Aventure: 2005 Roussanne Estate ($35), 2005 Rose ($15), 2000 Zinfandel ($25), 2003 Rim Rock Syrah ($45), 2003 Optimus ($45), 2003 Estate Cuvee ($68), 2004 Cote-Cote ($75), 2004 Cabernet Estate ($75). The last 2 are usually not open for tasting, but they were both great and at $75 each, they should be. The Zinfandel was velvety and elegant, which was a nice break away from the big jammy Zin’s of California. The Estate Cuvee had interesting berry flavors and good tannins, but pricey.

My next stop was Windward which was pouring a vertical of their Pinot Noir Monopole. I tasted the 2002 ($35), 2003 ($30), 2004 ($30). Of the three, I think the 2002 was the best, probably because its had to mellow out and age a bit. It was a complex wine with flavors of strawberry and cherry. It had finese and a nice lengthy finish - overall probably the first good Pinot I had in the area.

My final stop was Summerwood. Now, its the end of the day and my taste buds are probably tired of all this wine, but I was not crazy about the wines at Summerwood. I didn’t think they were special or interesting so I’m going to keep this short. They were pouring the 2005 Viognier ($28), 2005 Syrah Rose ($24), 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon ($30), 2003 Vin Rouge ($26), 2003 Syrah ($32). The last Syrah was good, but I wasn’t about to spend $32 on something that is just good - especially when I had a lot wine to try.

Sadly, I didn’t pick up any bottles in the second half of my day, but I still had a few days to fill my suitcase with great Central Coast wines….