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Air-Swap specialists measure your warm air intake and cooling output.
They examine your duct configuration and determine how to increase your air flow,
so the cold your air conditioner is producing is
mixed throughout the house--especially the second floor.
It eliminates a cold basement and hot second floor.
Most HVAC systems are starved for air--
Air-Swap
add ducts to make your furnace and AC more efficient.
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Charles Marshall is selling Welton Place,
Denver's largest residential "Green Building" development,
which consists of 11 contemporary Townhomes,
as well as 101 state of the art Luxury Flats,
and 4 spacious row homes.
The Luxury Flats at 2300 Welton will be LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
certified upon completion of the 7 story,
101 unit building in 2009.
Contact Charles at:
Kentwood City Properties
1660 17th St. Denver-80202
303.522.0183p
charles@kentwoodcity.com
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Wine Bat is a Denver group devoted to blind wine tasting.
They offer a relaxed evening of socializing and wine tasting.
It's a great opportunity to meet like-minded people with an interest in wine.
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Are you interested in learning more about wine?
Join the Denver Wine Group to savor wine and conversations,
build new friendships, and learn as you go.
Beginners and experts welcome!
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Terroir and elegance often walk hand in hand,
with thought-provoking subtleties.
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Private Preserve blankets your open bottles,
making a layer between the wine and the air.
One bottle will last through dozens of bottles of wine.
Private Preserve feels like it is empty when you pick it up.
Stretch your wine dollars,
preserve your aromas, flavors,
and structure with Private Preserve.
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Read about it today, experience it tonight.
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Robert Hall 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Paso Robles, California
Citronella aromas lead to tastes of
plantain, lemon zest, and hints of grapefruit.
The acidity is balanced to the bright flavors,
while the finish offers a distinct watermelon tone.
92 points -- tasted 3/24/2008 -BF $16
Colorado Liquor Mart and KH&H Liquors carry this wine.
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Zamba 2006 Malbec, Famatina Valley, Argentina
Bright, sensual, and lively, like the dance it embodies.
Zamba Malbec is a great change of pace for merlot and cabernet drinkers.
It offers a smoky canvas with notes of black cherries and plum.
Soft white pepper tannins compliment the slight flavor of black licorice.
Pair this dance partner with beef, red sauce (pizza!),
it even works with grilled chicken.
90 points tasted 1/20/2008 BF $8
Keg Liquors, Apple Jack, Davidson's, and
Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs carry this wine.
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PQ Picnique 2006 Red Blend, California
This is a 50% merlot, 30% mourvedre, and 20% cabernet sauvignon blend.
A tasty little red offering flavors of
clove, blackberry, black pepper, chocolate-caramel, and cherry cream soda.
The mid-palate is bright with acidity
and the finish tastes of charred vanilla bean.
This wine was sampled,
gassed, and tasted again sixteen days later and
was very impressive retaining much of its original flavors.
93 points -- tasted 3/16/2008 -BF $12
Lido Wine Merchants,
carry this wine.
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Robert Hall 2005 Rhone de Robles, Central Coast, California
A blend of grenache, syrah, cinsault, and the rarely seen counoise.
Vibrant, electric purple hues tumble into the glass.
The nose gives up aromas of chocolate covered cherries and spice.
On the palate the full bodied wine is packed with flavors of
black raspberries, blueberry, licorice, pencil lead, and chocolate cupcake.
The mid-palate is sultry with polished, fine tannins,
while it conjures up nuances of cigar box, cinnamon and clove.
The finish is lingers with a touch of vanilla.
94 points -- tasted 3/24/2008 -BF $20
Applejack, Highlands Wine Seller, Peoria Wine and Spirits
Reserve List Denver, Sip Fine Wines,
Wilburs Total Beverage,
and Heritage Wine and Liquor carry this wine.
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Sutcliffe Vineyards NV Red Blend, Cortez, Colorado
This 50% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 10% petit verdot, and 10% syrah
blend is 100% Colorado grown.
A cornucopia of flavors greet the palate in the form of
red raspberries, green tea, gun metal, violets, roses,
sandalwood, cinnamon, and cassis.
This blend is very perfume-like and silky.
Elegant on the mid-palate, with integrated tannins.
The finish lingers with a touch of lime leaves and patchouli.
96 points -- tasted 3/24/2008 -BF $38
Reserve List Denver, Crossroads Wine and Spirits in Grand Junction,
Argonaut Wine and Liquors,
Lido Wine Merchants, Tower Liquors, Ouray Liquors, Panzano,
Plaza 21 Discount Liquor, Pringle Brothers Fine Wine, Red Mountain Liquors,
Safeway, Sawpit Liquors, Solera, Spirits of Mountain Village, Sushi Den, Swim Club 32,
Telluride Bottle Works,
Vesta Dipping Grill,
Em's Velvet Vine Wine Bar, Garlic Mike's Montrose, Garlic Mike's Gunnison,
Gordon's Discount Liquors, Highlands WineSeller,
and Wilburs Total Beverage carry this wine.
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Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager
Rich amber color, translucent and clear.
Yeasty aromas of orange blossoms and bakery scents.
Flavors of caramel, black tea, cream, orange peel,
chamomile, offer complexity.
Good malty mid-palate with floral undertones and slight bitterness.
Hints of pine needle and mint bring a clean and crisp finish.
96 points -- tasted 3/26/2008 -BF $9 a six pack
Bonnie Brae Liquors, Argonaut Wine and Liquors, Heritage Wine and Liquors,
Crossroads Wine and Spirits in Grand Junction,
and Wilburs Total Beverage carry this beer.
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Not Your Bube's Manischewitz 3rd Annual Kosher Wine Tasting with
Managing Editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine, Tara Q Thomas,
performances by lead singer of Charming Hostess, Jewlia Eisenberg
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Wine Cellar at the University of Denver
Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management School.
2044 East Evans Avenue - Denver, CO 80208
7:00pm to 9:00pm - proceeds benefit the Center for Judaic Studies
at the University of Denver - cost $36 a person.
The ALEPH Institute for Jewish Culture at the University of Denver’s Center for Judaic Studies invites you to
“Not Your Bube’s Manischewitz” 3rd Annual Kosher Wine Tasting
featuring the Managing Editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine
and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics and
The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Wine, Tara Q Thomas
Special performances by Visiting Artist-in-Residence,
lead singer and founder of Charming Hostess, Jewlia Eisenberg.
Dietary laws will be observed. Featured wines will be available to order from Mondo Vino.
Proceeds benefit the ALEPH Institute for Jewish Culture at the University of Denver’s
Center for Judaic Studies which seeks to explore Jewish culture and themes through
the study of Art, Literature, Education, Philosophy, and History.
Please RSVP to Marlene Tolman at 303-871-4633 or via email at
marlene.tolman@du.edu.
For more information please visit
www.du.edu/cjs.
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California, three wines, unbridled potential
When I set up themes for wine group events, I always choose a region, rather than a grape. When choosing a region, you almost always choose a handful of grape varieties anyway, often as a blend. Bordeaux grows cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, semillon, and sauvignon blanc. Oregon does pinot noir, riesling, chardonnay, and pinot gris. Veneto offers rondinella, corvina, molinara, and garganega. Most regions grow a small set of grapes, very appropriate for their terroir, and they create their reputation from what they can do with these grapes.
In the last year I have avoided organizing an event featuring California wines. California cannot be divided up by regions to reflect a specific style of wine. Unfortunately most Californian producers feature a default line-up of single varietals, a cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and chardonnay trio. This threesome also follows a recipe requiring French oak (and sometimes American oak). There usually isn't any blending going on with these wines either.
Meanwhile California's terroir goes from Mediterranean to Continental over hundreds of miles. Because of California's extremely favorable growing conditions, the threesome can grow everywhere and does. I guess you could say this colossal growing area has a small set of grapes too, not chosen for their ability to grow well, but their ability to be recognized on the shelf.
The good news is California produces behemoth amounts of wine. While there are many rubber stamped threesomes, some producers find their niche doing the opposite. Zinfandel, syrah, mourvèdre, grenache, malbec, petite sirah, cabernet franc, viognier, pinot gris, pinot blanc, chenin blanc, and riesling are showing up on our shelves. Producers are conjuring up all kind of tasty blends with funny names and slick labels. Some rebels are producing oakless wines too!
Rhone Rangers are producers who focus on Rhone Valley grapes. Cal-Italians are growing Italian varieties. Spanish grapes like torrontes and tempranillo are showing up in Californian vineyards as well.
As long as the trio out-sells everything else it will remain the cookie cutter default. Of course California produces exceptional examples of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and chardonnay. The key is to consider how wide the survey of Californian wines really is. A study of this immense wine region wouldn't be complete without including the trio, but the non-mainstream grapes and styles should not be omitted because they show California's impressive potential.
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Vocabulary
Each week we'll include a few wine (or beer or spirits) terms.
To read more terms go to the
vocabulary
page. This page will grow as we add more terms.
aroma:
is the scent of a wine. It is also referred to as bouquet or nose.
Some will say the term nose signifies a younger wine,
while bouquet is an older one,
but there is no official use for either term.
Some grape varieties are known for contributing a significant nose.
Riesling, cabernet franc, viognier are three grapes known for being very fragrant.
Aging in oak barrels will impart scents of vanilla,
sandalwood, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and other wood nuances.
The nose is considered an important part of the tasting process.
destem:
grape berries are removed from the stems prior to fermentation to reduce tannins.
Most producers use mechanical methods to remove stems,
but some choose to destem by hand,
allowing employees to inspect the grapes prior to vinification.
Handling the grapes by hand leads to a better quality wine because
rotten, bruised, and unripe grapes can be omitted from the press.
filter:
removes solids in wine by pouring the wine
through a strainer to capture the particles.
This process removes cloudiness, removes color (mostly in white wines),
removes undesirable odors,
makes the wine clear, and can even reduce some tannins.
Filtering clarifies wine.
Many producers are choosing to forego filtering
to retain all the nuances the wine has to offer.
fining:
is the process of removing small particles from wine prior to bottling.
This process removes cloudiness, removes color (mostly in white wines),
removes undesirable odors,
makes the wine clear, and can even reduce some tannins.
Fining agents bond with the particles to make them heavy so that they drop
to the bottom of the vat or barrel.
After fining, the wine can then be racked off the top of the barrel or vat
leaving behind the solids that once made the wine cloudy.
Fining agents are
activated charcoal, activated carbon, egg whites, gelatin, bentonite,
casein, nylon, and PVPP (polyvinyl poly-pyrrolidone).
There is a movement away from fining,
although many producers still put wine through this process.
vegetal:
is a flavor reminiscent of vegetables or fresh herbs.
Some varieties are naturally vegetal, like carménère and its
distinct green pepper flavor. Other wines can taste vegetal
because they ripen unevenly, like zinfandel.
Vegetal flavors are usually similar to peppers
and in small amounts can add character.
Vegetal flavors can indicate under ripe grapes.
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