Sips: Bag wine follow-up – tasting month-old sauvignon blanc

Pouring myself a glass of sauvignon blanc from a container that was first opened 30 days ago is not among the more appealing wine images that come to mind. But that’s exactly what I did the other night when I realized that it had been almost a month since I first tasted and wrote about the 2009 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc from Indulge, which is offering a line of California wines in a lightweight bag called an Astrapouch, complete with a little plastic tap with which to pour yourself a glass. At the time, I found the wine attractive and a good value at $20 for a liter and a half, the equivalent of two conventional wine bottles. Marketing of the wine includes an emphasis on its environmentally friendly packaging and the claim that it will remain fresh for up to a month. In fact, the wine was just fine, perhaps not quite so fresh tasting as it was when first opened, but still showing its fruit without any off tastes that would emerge had a regular bottle been left in the fridge for a month. I doubt that many people will leave the wine that long, but it’s nice to know that the system works.

Technorati Tags: Bag wine,Astrapouch,Indulge Wines,Indulge sauvignon blanc,Edward Deitch,Wine containers,California sauvignon blanc,North Coast sauvignon blanc

Swirls: Dangerous corkscrews, wine temperatures, preserving wine once opened

SWIRL: For every newfangled wine opening gadget I’ve tried over the years, I’ve always gone back to any number of basic corkscrews.   They’re reliable and safe. I was reminded of this as I read about the recall of a Sunbeam product, the Air Pump Wine Opener (Model NBSKWA2600), sold this past November and December by QVC.  The problem? Some wine bottles have been breaking while people have been using the product. Sunbeam said it had received 52 such complaints, including 22 reports of  injuries. About 159,000 of the openers are being recalled. Read the press release from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

SWIRL: Wine temperature is everything. Okay, not everything, but a very important factor in the enjoyment of wine. Most red wines are served too warm, making them taste clumsy; most whites are poured too cold, which obscures their tastes. With that in mind, how about a thermometer that tells you when your wine has reached the temperature you desire – a wireless thermometer to boot? Read about it in the LA Times.

SWIRL: Once opened, many wines actually get better with exposure to air, whether its for an hour or two or even two or three days. Beyond that, air becomes the enemy and things start  to go downhill.  A new product may help. It’s called the Platypus Platypreserve Wine Preservation System. As far as I can tell, it’s a variation of the system used in boxed wines that expels the air above the surface of the wine. It is, of course, reusable.  The Globe and Mail has more.

Technorati Tags: Sunbeam Air Pump Wine Opener,Platypus Platypreserve,Wine thremometers,Wine temperatures,Preserving wine,Wine openers,Corkscrews,Edward Deitch,Wine gadgets

Swirls: New York Jets wine; direct wine sales; storing wine

AT THE NEW MEADOWLANDS STADIUM over in New Jersey yesterday, the New York Jets unveiled a commemorative wine, tied to the opening of the new venue, called Jets Uncorked. The wine is a red, of course, a cabernet sauvignon, naturally. (Can you imagine the flak they’d get if it were a  merlot?) It’s the creation of a California winemaker (Marco DiGiulio) and a  California lifestyle marketing company (Wine By Design), and on that note I am not the only one wondering  whether a New York wine, say from  Long Island, which makes very good wines and where the Jets are all but worshipped, might have been more appropriate and original. In any event, the wine is a 2008 Napa Valley cab described in a Jets press release as a “premium-quality yet affordable blend that captures the essence and spirit of the team and its fans.” It will sell for $27.99 and 8,000 cases were made.

THERE’S A GOOD DISCUSSION in the Washington Post on the value to wineries of direct-t0-consumer sales. One context is the current debate in Congress on a controversial bill to strengthen the three-tier distribution system and weaken direct sales (H.R. 5034) that’s backed  by the wine wholesale industry. Oregon’s Adelsheim Vineyard has found a successful blend, so to speak, with a dual strategy that incorporates both traditional distribution and direct sales and has seen sales grow, even in this tough economy. Read the full article.

THE ISSUE OF WINE STORAGE is explored in a useful article by California wine writer Dan Berger, who reviews the best methods for storing wine at home and in stores and finds conditions at some retailers highly questionable.

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