by Dave Williams

For the past two years or so my wine experience has been in transition.  My focus has been on a selection of grapes that are relatively new to me and not the most common.   I find exploring a grape variety from many locations easiest for me to grasp its message,    followed by the influence of climate, terroir and wine-making style.  My preferences find their way quite simply as do food pairings, without attending to the point scores assigned by the wine press.

More recently, reading Terry Theise’s two books, “Reading Between the Wines” and “What Makes Wine Worth Drinking”, has challenged my overall approach toward wine.   It has prompted a transition from more of an analytical to an experiential approach  reflecting on the wine’s message and “authenticity” or connection to place and people.  Madeline Puckette in her newsletter, “Wine Folly”, recently compared and tasted three grocery store California Cabernet Sauvignons under $20, which indirectly reinforced the concept of “authenticity” as these were primarily what I call manufactured wines – consistent from year to year without much variation.  These volume wines are composed in the winemaking process utilizing all the tools chemistry provides to produce a desired         outcome.  It is quite the contrast from approaching a wine to experience its message of a place and people with all the variation a vintage imbues.  I equate this to the difference between quiet listening versus loudly being told.

So, if you have ever questioned what wine really means to you, I urge to pick up one or both of Theise’s books and ponder how you experience wine or how wine speaks you.

by Dave Williams

I particularly enjoy our PA Wine Excellence event. This year’s celebration was an entertaining and successful event judging by the comments and lingering social interactions. The wines continue to improve and we see new wineries participating each year. Waltz again captured top honors with their 2018 Moscato followed by Stony Run’s 2016 Cabernet Franc, Reserve. However, all 20 wines presented were quite worthy in their own right as were many of the 90 wines submitted. If you are skeptic of Pennsylvania wine, you really need to attend this event to re-evaluate your assessment of Pennsylvania wine and hear the story from the people who make it. They are truly “authentic” to use Terry Theise’s term having a connection to a place and family or people.

FYI. PWS is a distributor of Riedel glassware. Those that attended the tasting with Riedel can attest to the impact of proper glassware can have on the wine experience. It can be quite dramatic. As a distributor we are entitled to 40% discount off retail pricing. I would be interested to hear from those who would be interested in purchasing Riedel glassware and who would be interested in having another Riedel tasting event. If not for yourself, it makes a great gift for a fellow wine enthusiast. To quote Riedel, “Grape varietal specific stemware features finely-tuned glass bowls consisting of three variables: shape, size and rim diameter; to translate the ‘message’ of wine to the human senses.”
For info on Riedel glassware, I suggest visiting www.riedel.com.

by Dave Williams

This year will be 33 years since several curious individuals came together to explore wine, armed simply with more questions than answers, but a hunger—or should I say thirst—to learn. Today we are an organization that regularly gathers to learn and explore the vast world of wine. Our future and success depend on you and others who have an interest in learning about wine. Speaking for myself, much of my wine knowledge has come from PWS events, which enhanced my appreciation of wine and significantly impacted my dining pleasure. One of the remarkable things about wine is that its pleasure accrues value when shared with someone else.

Over the years there have been a dedicated and revolving team of people who plan, prepare and execute our events. A great deal of thanks goes to those individuals. They do this out of passion, as there is no compensation other than the gratitude of smiling faces enjoying an event and the knowledge acquired.

I would invite your input on subjects and events you would like to see PWS present. Plus, I encourage you to invite your friends, family or business associates who have a curiosity about wine to attend an event. What we share is a pleasure, comradery and desire to learn. What we gain are friends and a deeper appreciation for one of life’s great pleasures.

—by Averill Shepps

Late Fall is election time for your Wine Society. A Nomination Committee has begun work and will be announcing its results at our November Board meeting on Monday, November 12. The vote itself will take place at the December meeting on Monday, December 10.  All meetings are held at the Harrisburg Hilton and begin at 6:30 p.m. You may order dinner from the room service menu and have it served just before the meeting. Board members may bring wines that we sample during the meeting. Nominations for any Board position may also be made by a Board member. You may attend the meeting, or you may send your nomination to the Committee Chair, Scott Casper, at 9 Spring Hill Lane, Elizabethtown, PA 17022 or email him at: scottc2@comcast.net.  Not only can any current member nominate another member for a Board position,  s/he may also vote at the December meeting.  Members have the right to attend any Board meeting; the dates are listed on the back of each Newsletter.

If any of you are considering joining the Board, we would love to hear from you. It means going to monthly meetings at the Hilton, helping with tastings, and thereby learning how to host events or perhaps perform another function for the Society. You will learn a lot more about wine and be working with some really dedicated people who love the subject. Talk to any Board member about what is involved and let us know of your interest.

—by Averill Shepps

Just when you think you’ve seen everything, something new comes along. In this case it’s blue wine, not the Blue Nun wine that was popular in the 70’s, but blue-colored wine! Why? I suppose because it can be made. The vinification process uses both red and white grapes blended with anthrocyanin from the red grape skins and indigotine, an organic compound commonly used as a food dye.  It was first made by a Spanish company called Gik and the Italian Blumond, but they both ran afoul of the wine labelling laws.

A new company has made a blue wine and calls it Vindigo, avoiding the laws, possibly because nowhere on the label is it called wine and because it has enough alcohol to be called wine . Blumond at 7% alcohol was rejected for that reason. According to Vindigo’s Facebook page, it is made from Chardonnay grapes filtered through red grape skins for the anthrocyanin. Flavors mentioned are cherry, raspberry, blackberry and passionfruit. No mention of the food coloring. Apparently the drink is very popular in some parts of southern France, so okay, it’s a non-serious holiday wine that looks pretty in the pictures as it is a lovely color, but not one that we usually drink.

Blue wine has received press attention in such magazines as the British Decanter, as well as the American Food and Wine and Wine and Spirits. Reuters has also covered it. Let’s see where this trend leads. I’m sure the story isn’t over, and if the wine proves to be serious, PWS will have to introduce it to you.

— by Averill Shepps

I have written before but not recently, about one of my favorite wine books, Reading Between the Wines by Terry Theise. Terry is a poet and the use of language is important to him, so that the book is beautifully written.  He helps the reader to look at wine differently.

I opened the book in anticipation of this column, and the first thing I saw was, “Have you ever tried to field the question, what kind of wine do you like?”  I thought of many times when I have been asked exactly that. Pourers at wineries or wine shows ask it.  At least they have a reason; they are trying to find out what to pour for you.  I am asked it often because    people know of my serious interest in wine.  I assume they are after gems of wisdom or guidance on what to buy.  I am asked it in social situations where the asker is just making conversation. I can go on.  But my answer in each situation is different. I often answer it with “It depends” or “It varies”.

Thus, “It depends on what I am eating”.  Sometimes I just say, “French” or “European”, just to get past the awkwardness of the question.  Terry says he responded that he liked moderate wine, but while he had an idea of what he meant, the asker was flummoxed.  At a winery they expect you to answer sweet or dry.  I like my wine wet is an accurate answer to that query.  And then they ask red or white?  Again, it depends.  Sometimes I say I like good wine. T he better it is the better I like it.  We can all agree with that answer.  I would enjoy hearing any of your responses to the question.  Do let me know of any gems.

—by Averill Shepps

Your Board of Directors held its planning meeting recently, a get-together where we present and discuss ideas for tastings to be held in the coming year. It is a time where we look at general goals for PWS away from the monthly Board meetings when we have to be concerned with the business and function of the organization so that we have little time for broader discussions. Many ideas were proposed, and we did leave the meeting with a broad plan for 2019. While we have lots of ideas about possible tastings, we have to do more research to be sure they are viable and appropriate for our members and friends. We have to assure that the wines are available in the state or if they have to be special ordered, to decide whether we should have a speaker and, if so, who, and a Board member has to be willing to manage the event, etc.

Some of the events that were suggested include The Pennsylvania Wine Excellence tasting in January where we present the top scoring wines from our judging; a Bordeaux tasting in February; Portuguese wines for March, an International wine tasting for April, Loire Valley wines for May. For later in the year we would like to have a dinner and wine event, a Malbec tasting, a walk-around tasting presented by one or two importers/distributors, a Champagne tasting towards the holiday season, an educational event with HAAC’s Bob Green.

We have a couple of open spots, especially in the summer months. We often visit a local winery during that season, and we may have a summer social event or an ever popular Blue Light. Since we do have some open spots, any of you are welcome to make a suggestion of an event you would like us to hold. Contact me or any other Board member about your idea. Meanwhile you can look forward to an exciting and varied schedule of events for 2019.

—by Averill Shepps–

Just as I was thinking about writing this month’s column, a friend sent me a link to the New York Times article titled, “Why You Should Be Drinking Weird Wines’ by Jason Wilson. Did you know there are 1,368 known grape varieties? Going on with statistics, nearly 80% of the world’s wine is made from Just 20 different kinds of grapes. That means there are 1,348 lesser known grapes out there.

The author makes some powerful arguments in favor of those that are lesser known. He points out that since the middle ages Gouais Blanc was banned across Europe by various royal decrees. It was derided as a peasant grape. We have since learned through DNA testing, that Gouais Blanc was found to be the mother of around 80 modern varieties including Chardonnay. Those of you who were at the Chardonnay tasting know that Chardonnay is one of the most widely grown grapes in the world and can be found on 6 continents.

The Slow Food movement and others that support buying local foods have been giving us arguments for years that biodiversity is healthy for the world as a whole. Wilson makes those same arguments for grapes. I am encouraged to get his book and will report to you as I find it interesting.

Meanwhile, it reminds me that I have done a couple of Uncommon Grape tastings in the past, and it is time to revisit that subject. We will be having a planning meeting on June 23^rd when we will talk about our schedule for next year, and I will suggest it. If any of you has a subject that you would like us to address or a grape you would like to “visit”, let a board member know before that date.

—by Averill Shepps

Many of you may know that the PLCB Wine Specialty Stores are now allowed to do wine tastings, but for those that don’t, you need to try them… The Lemoyne store that I go to frequently has them on Fridays from 4-6 and Saturdays from 12-2. The store tasting times are listed on the PLCB site, but it is a lot easier to go to your particular store and find out when they have their samplings. The website lists all the stores in the state forcing you to wade through the entire list to find the times. If you want to know what wines are going to be served, you can ask the wine consultant to put your name on an email list to get their weekly announcements. They serve 4 wines, most often with a theme, such as a grape, a country, a holiday, etc. Each consultant chooses the wines so that they are different from store to store.

Knowing that, some enthusiasts have found they can attend more than one tasting in a 2-hour period! One creative sipper I know made it to 5 different stores in a day, all within that 2-hour period. The pours are small, one ounce of each wine, so that you should be aware that drinking all of them at 5 venues means that you drink 20 ounces which is clearly too much. You always have the option of pouring asking for a smaller pour or of pouring out a wine that you don’t’ like.

I have left to last the social aspect of the tastings. They provide an informal place to easily meet and chat with others who share your interest and passion for wines. I have likened the atmosphere to a relaxed British Pub where people go to meet their neighbors and friends. Enjoy!