Check out the radio show on The Ranch 107.1FM or 97.9FM in The Bitterroot Valley.  How about a live stream feed at www.107theranch.com.  The WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© with Scott and Paula on The Ranch airs weekly on Wednesday mornings at 8:20AM MDT.

Each week we will be giving away gift certificates from our sponsors.  If your question is selected as WineGuyMike’s™ topic of discussion you will win one of the $20.00 – $25.00 gift certificates.  Good luck and send your questions to WineGuyMike™ on his Facebook fan page.

See this week’s show on YouTube  each week on Thursday morning, the day after the show.  Our YouTube channel of course is WineGuyMike or the actual URL link: http://www.youtube.com/user/WineGuyMike?feature=mhum

Sponsors                                                                                                                     

The show is sponsored by Grizzly Liquor, “Missoula’s Best Choice”. 

Ciao Mambo, “Eat Like You Mean It”, located in Missoula on The Hip Strip.  Find them online at www.CiaoMambo.com

This week’s winners are; Autumn Gillaerd and Jan Feddersen

This week WineGuyMike™ received a couple of really good questions.  Thanks to my fans and please keep your questions coming.  As you may know if I select your question as a topic for the radio show you wine a gift certificate from the show sponsors.  Remember all questions are good questions and thanks for asking.

Q. Autumn asks; I was just wondering what type of red wine would work best in a mulled spice cider.

A. Autumn I am suggesting a few different wine types or varietals for your mulled spice cider recipe.  I have made these particular recommendations specifically because these varietals all have a bit of spice to them which I think will compliment your recipe.  These wines also will either be a little on the drier side or be a have tannin that will also blend very nicely with your recipe.  I hope you’ll be sharing a tumbler full of this cheer with me, hint hint.  Thank you Autumn for your question and happy holidays to you.

Cabernet Sauvignon This varietal is a big, powerful red wine that is full in body, rich, and very flavorful.  Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine that imparts flavors of fruits, berries, currants, and plums.  This wine may also exhibit slight spicy nuances.

Malbec One of Argentina’s finest!  This is a medium body fruit forward wine that can be described as a flamboyant red.  A spicy and tannic wine; at its best this wine can be outstanding.

Sangiovese One word Chianti, probably the most well known of Italian wines (at least that holds true in the United States). This grape is also the major contributor for many other fantastic Italian reds.  This spicy medium bodied red also exhibits cherry and raspberry flavors.

Cabernet Franc Spicier than its cousin Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc has traditionally been used as blending wine. It now is gaining popularity as its own stand alone wine type or varietal.  This is a full bodied wine.

Brown Sugar Mulled Wine Recipe

2 bottles dry red wine
Peel of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick, broken into halves
8 whole cloves
1 whole nutmeg
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
orange slices

Pour wine in slow cooker.  Wrap orange peel, cinnamon stick halves, cloves, and nutmeg in cheesecloth. Add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 2 to 2.5 hours.  Discard spice bag; ladle into glasses. Garnish with orange slices.

Mulled Cider with Wine Recipe

4 cups apple cider

1 (750-ml) bottle red wine

1/4 cup honey

2 cinnamon sticks

1 orange, zested and juiced

4 whole cloves

3 star anise

4 oranges, peeled, for garnish

Directions

Combine the cider, wine, honey, cinnamon sticks, zest, juice, cloves and star anise in a large saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.  Pour into mugs, add an orange peel to each and serve.

Q. Two questions for you.  I would like to give wine as a Christmas gift this year to a friend who shot his first elk with a bow and arrow.  He is very proud of the achievement.
#1. What wine would you suggest?
And/or
#2. Is there a winery with a theme or name that would honor his achievement as a hunter?

A. Jan what an interesting question, thank you for asking.  First we will look at the wine types or varietals that will pair or match well with your friend’s elk dinner, boy I’m hungry already just thinking about all the ways I could serve this dinner.

Roosevelt Elk

Wines to pair with Elk; Jan I have suggested numerous wine types or varietals of wines in the following list but as you have requested I have suggested a particular bottle that will pair beautifully and honor your friends hunt.

The Roosevelt elk also known as Olympic elk is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America. They live in the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest and were introduced to Alaska’s Afognak and Raspberry islands in 1928.

WineGuyMike™’s wine recommendation:

2008 Elk Cove Pinot Noir Roosevelt

Elk Cove Vineyards is one of Oregon’s oldest and most respected wine producers.

Founded in 1974, by Pat and Joe Campbell, their focus has always been to produce hand crafted, Estate grown wines that can rival the best in the world.

Estate vineyards now cover over 220 acres on four separate sites in the Northern Willamette Valley.

Steep south facing slopes, of Willakenzie and Laurelwood soil types with excellent drainage, provide the perfect environment to grow the world class wine grapes that are the basis for creating Elk Cove wines.

Proper site selection and meticulous vine management along with harvesting at very low yields creates the concentration and depth of flavor that are hallmarks of Elk Cove wines.

2008 Pinot Noir Roosevelt

The Roosevelt Vineyard is a four-acre planting situated just south of the winery on Willakenzie soils. The south-facing hillside points to a steep precipice overlooking the magnificent Williams Canyon.  It is a high density planting with 2100 vines per acre spaced approximately one meter by two meters apart.  This is a premier Single Vineyard site with a steep hillside vineyard that undergoes extensive pruning and cluster thinning to limit yields and maximize ripening in order to concentrate the fruit.  This parcel is completely farmed organically.

Elk Cove 2008 Pinot Noir Roosevelt

Wine description; This wine is well structured with a firm backbone; it is bright ruby-red in color.  Hints of minerality, dark berry, cherry, followed with a smoky herbaceous nuance.  This pinot has a big complex finish that leaves the palette lingering for more.

This wine receives The WineGuyMike™ Seal of Approval©

Light bodied wines

1. Pinot Noir;  is the medium bodied grape variety of red burgundian wines; it can produce wines that are incredible.  When aged in oak, it should have sweetness reminiscent of raspberries, with undertones of vegetation and chocolate.  The wine can stand up to aging for many years.  Pinot Noir at its best will be smooth, full of flavor, and a beautiful bouquet.
2. Beaujolais; Gamey Beaujolais a wine from France that is made to be drunk very young, right after bottling.  This is a light bodied red that has very little tannin and is low in alcohol content.  It is a fruity red wine that has berry overtones and is light bodied.
3. Valpolicella; Basic Valpolicella is a light, fragrant table wine.  These wines can be produced in a nouveau style, similar to Beaujolais Nouveau and released after only a few weeks after harvest.  Valpolicella Classico is made from grapes grown in the original Valpolicella production zone.  Valpolicella Superiore is aged at least one year and has an alcohol content of at least 12 percent
4. Bardolino; Three main grapes are used to produce Bardolino and Valpolicella but the two wines are very different.  Bardolino contains less Corvina which adds body and structure and more Rondinella which has a relatively neutral flavor profile.  Bardolino Novello was first produced in the late 1980s in a style similar to Beaujolais Nouveau
5. Chianti; Chianti, probably the most well known of Italian wines(at least that holds true in the United States). This grape is also the major contributor for many other fantastic Italian reds. This spicy medium bodied red also exhibits cherry and raspberry flavors.

Medium body wines

1. Sangiovese; Sangiovese or Chianti, probably the most well known of Italian wines(at least that holds true in the United States). This grape is also the major contributor for many other fantastic Italian reds. This spicy medium bodied red also exhibits cherry and raspberry flavors.
2. Shiraz; or Syrah is a big powerful full bodied wine, also known as Shiraz in Australia.  Supple, smooth, rich with well mannered mellow tannins describes the Syrah wines.  Flavor wise Syrah can be slightly spicy, fruity like black cherries, or some may have a deep nutty flavoring.
3. Merlot; wine type or varietal is great to drink with or without food.  It tends to be soft, smooth, and very fruit forward.  Winemakers the world over are creating rich style merlots that are wines full of cherry and oak flavors.  This is a medium bodied wine.
4. 4.      Chianti Classico; Chianti that is produced in the inner historic district of Chianti, a better quality than basic Chianti.

Bordeaux; has 57 wine regions but there are really 4 to focus on for red wines.  These regions are:

1. Medoc
2. Pomerol
3. Graves/Pessac-Leognan
4. St-Emilion

The red wines of Bordeaux are blended buy winemakers and contain Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.  When determining the quality of a Bordeaux wine you need to look at the wine label.  Pricing for Bordeaux wines is direct result of the quality and you will be able to determine this by looking at the wine label to see what information the label is providing you.

If the label indicates:

1. Bordeaux = $
2. Bordeaux plus the region = $$
3. Bordeaux, the region, Plus the Chateau =$$$

Full body wines

1. Chardonnay; is one of the most complex white wines, thanks to winemaking techniques, and the grapes ability to draw flavor from the nutrients and minerals in the soil.  Chardonnay is aged in new oak barrels, old oak barrels, and steel barrels, all producing varying nuances in the wines.  New barrels produce the strongest oaking, old barrels have a slight oak influence, while the steel has no oakiness.  This dry wine is rich, bold, and full of fruitiness, vanilla and a certain toastiness, just to name a few characteristics.  Complexity is the word that best suits Chardonnay.
2. Chablis Grand Cru; A white wine from Burgundy made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. This is a very refined wine that comes from the very best parcels of land in the area.  There are only seven vineyards allowed the Grand Cru designation.
3. Meursault; A white wine from a region in Burgundy known as Cote De Beaune (coat duh Bone), located in the southern portion of Cote d’Or (coat DOOR).  The Coat d’Or is as an area in Burgundy that produces some of the finest wines in the world.  This wine is also made from 100% Chardonnay grapes and there are three different qualities of this wine, Villages, Premier Cru, and the Grand Cru. What differentiates one from another is the quality of the soil and the winemaking process with Grand Cru being the very best.

WineGuyMike’s Wine Lingo

Astringent – This refers to a drying sensation in the mouth that may make you pucker.  It is common in young full bodied red wines such as a Cabernet or a Zinfandel.  This is caused by high tannin content in the wine.  Tannin is a tactile sensation, not a taste.

Balance – this term is one that would refer to a harmony of fruit, tannin, acid, and alcohol.  There may be a nuance of fruit in a wine but it would not be so overwhelming that it would be out of balance or harmony when considering the other characteristics of a wine.

Cheesemonger – this term refers to someone who sells cheese, in this case a specialist or purveyor of artisanal cheeses. 

Crisp – Fresh, Bright, Young, and Slightly Acidic.  Wine Types are Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, and Chablis

Grassy – Refers to Herbal Characteristics often associated with Sauvignon Blanc

Meritage – pronounced just like “Heritage”, is a proprietary term used to denote red and white Bordeaux-style wines without infringing on the Bordeaux region’s legally protected designation of origin.  Winemakers must license the Meritage trademark from its owner, the California-based Meritage Alliance.  Member wineries are found principally in the United States, though increasingly elsewhere.

Oaky – A reference to a nuance in a wine resulting from wooden oak barrels that wines are aged in.  This term is common to Chardonnay’s and Cabernet wines.

Rose´ ­- “pinkish”(French).  Depending on the grapes and winemakers style the wines can be colored from vivid orange to nearly a purple hue.

Terroir is a French term for the notion that the complex combination of soil, climate, exposition and local tradition define the style of wine, a taste of the earth.

Velvety – This term characterizes a wines texture.  This term would be used with a wine that has a rich and supple mouth feel.

Wine Tasting Flight is a term used by wine tasters to describe a selection of wines, usually between three and eight glasses, presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison.

Match the words that you think make sense; these words are descriptors for wine:

Bright = Flinty an epiphany in your mouth

Rich = Subtle mellow, smooth, decadent, just easy and fulfilling

Lively = Crisp the wine is refreshing, a zing, literally comes to life in your mouth

Intense = Juicy big, bold, forward just tastes like fruit you could bite into

Velvety = Aromatic sexy, goes down like silk, fills the room with its aroma