But I am not alone in loving cab, because it is now the number one selling red varietal in the U.S. market (Neilsen, Nov. 2011 WBM).  So what makes cabernet sauvignon so special?  Some of the answers may arise in its special characteristics while others can be found in the amazing styles of cab from around the world.

Parents and Characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon

In France in the 1700′s it is believed that Cabernet franc (father) and Sauvignon blanc (mother) were crossed to create what many refer to as the King of grapes – Cabernet Sauvignon.  Indeed cab does possess the dark fruit and pencil lead notes of cab franc and the herbal nuances of Sauvignon blanc.  The union also created a varietal that is quite healthy and resilient, because Cabernet Sauvignon can be grown in many climates around the world.  Its thick skin and resistance to rot and frost make it easy to cultivate and therefore is a favorite of grape growers.  Furthermore, it’s ability to create wines with strong typicity in terms of consistent cab flavors, it’s affinity for oak, and the fact that it can demand high prices make it the darling of many winemakers.

Cabernet sauvignon is the dominant red varietal in some of the most famous and expensive wine labels in the world.  Examples include Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1869 from Bordeaux, France which sold at a Hong Kong auction in 2010 for $232,692 a bottle, and Napa Valley’s 1992 Screaming Eagle which sold for $62,500 per bottle at the Napa Valley Wine Auction in 2000 ($500,000 for a six liter bottle made by famous winemaker Heidi Barrett).

Cabernet Sauvignon from Around the World 

The generic markers of Cabernet Sauvignon include black currants (cassis), dark berries, cedar, leather, and herbs.  Color ranges from a dark red to opaque red black.  Acid, tannin structure and alcohol level are determined by climate and winemaking practices.  Cabernet Sauvignon is almost always aged in oak for a period of time, and is often blended with other red varietals such as the classic Bordeaux blend of merlot, cabernet franc, petite verdot and malbec.

Experts suggest that cabernet sauvignon from different parts of the world have distinctive markers.  Following is a list of some of the more famous regions where cab is grown and some of the attributed markers – though these vary by vintage and producer.

USA

Napa Valley – elegant, opulent red and black fruit, velvety tannins, rich

Sonoma/Alexander Valley – powerful, dark fruit, herbs, coffee, structured tannins

Washington State – deeply concentrated, ripe purple fruit, large plush tannins

FRANCE/BORDEAUX

Pauillac – power and elegance, fine-grained tannins, led pencil, rich, rounded, cassis, herbs

Margaux – softer, most feminine wine of Left Bank, floral, berry, lifted perfume

St. Julien – rich dark fruit, velvety texture, cigar box, elegant, leather, in between Pauillac and Margaux in mouthfeel and texture.

Pessac-Leognan – minerality, elegance, gravel, mocha, spice, more integrated tannins

St. Estephe – austere, marked acidity, darker, more intense, gravel, cedar, herbs, very firm tannins

OTHER COUNTRIES

Italy/Tuscany/Bolgheri – powdery tannins; velvety, cassis; deep; dark; rich; slightly more astringent

Chile – sweeter, deeply concentrated, some boysenberry flavors, herbal notes

Australia/Coonawarra –  minty, firm tannins, dark fruit; dark chocolate

Australia/Barossa – warmer fruit forward style, can be jammy berry, complex

South Africa – leaner but with concentrated fruit, herbs, similar to Bordeaux in style

Argentina- ripe dark fruit, leather, fine grained tannins

NOTE:  This article was originally published on Women for WineSense Napa/Sonoma Blog 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Kendall Jackson was kind enough to provide a “fermentation style seminar” with Brian Cronin, MS and Jann Cotter.  The session included tastings of 5 chardonnays crafted in different styles:  1) fermented in stainless steel with no malolactic fermentation, 2) fermented in stainless with malo, 3) fermented and aged in neutral oak, 4) fermented and aged in French oak, and 5) fermented and aged in American oak.  Though all 5 styles received votes the favorite of most Millennials in attendance was chardonnay fermented and aged in French oak.

Mazzocco and deLorimier Wineries also conducted a tasting this month with their fabulous zinfandels, cabernets and one chardonnay.  Chef Giana prepared all of the food for the evening, including Roasted Tomato and Garlic Dipping Sauce with French Bread, Curry Chicken Salad, a variety of local cheeses, and Tempranillo Blackberry Brownies.  Favorite wines of the evening were the Mazzocco 2009 Smith Orchard Zinfandel and the deLorimier 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Stryker-Sonoma and Selby Wineries were kind enough to conduct an educational tasting the week before Thanksgiving.  Traditional fare of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie were paired with chardonnay and lighter reds from Selby and the powerhouse cabs from Stryker.  Favorite wines of the evening were Selby 2010 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc and Stryker Sonoma 2004 Monte Rosso Cabernet.

Truly, a great start to the Holiday Season at SSU!

Pari then proceeded to tell the fascinating story of a Persian King who was sitting on the palace balcony one day with his son and fellow nobles.  Suddenly a Homa Bird (considered to be the bird of good fortune by Persians) landed not far away and was set upon by a large snake which coiled itself around the bird’s neck.  The king called upon his nobles to rescue the bird and the king’s son immediately jumped to his feet and shot an arrow into the snake without harming the bird.  The bird flew away, but one year later on the exact anniversary of the snake attack the bird returned and dropped three small seeds at the feet of the king and his son.

The king ordered that the seeds be planted in the palace garden and eventually they grew into vines that produced beautiful bunches of small red fruit.  As no one in the palace had ever seen this type of fruit, they were afraid to try it.  Therefore, the king ordered that the bunches be harvested and placed in large stone vessels.  Not long after strange bubbling noises came from the vessels along with an intoxicating aroma.  The king called for a murderer who was sentenced to death to be brought from prison to taste the liquid.  The murderer drank one glass, then asked for more.  Soon he began smiling and dancing and the king realized the Huma Bird had brought them a great gift.  Therefore, he held a feast of celebration and introduced wine to the world.

Today Pari and Kamal operate Azari Winery located in the Petaluma Gap region of Sonoma County.  “We fell in love with the landscape here,” explains Kamal.  “Furthermore, I wanted to make cool-climate syrah and this is one of the best appellations in California to do this.”  In addition to syrah, Azari Winery also produces pinot noir, a riesling, and a second label called Corkscrew.

With a doctorate in political science and a background in Iranian studies Kamal has always been interested in the ancient legends of Persian as well as poetry.  “In Iran, poetry is very important, and many of the great Persian poets wrote about wine.  In pre-Islamic time wine was a holy drink with mystical powers and most Persian prophets used wine as a way to connect with heaven.”

“The challenge,” chimes in Pari,” is that because wine in Persia was holy it was never paired with food.  Therefore, I have been trying to match Persian recipes with our wine.”  One such recipe that has been garnering many compliments from guests is Pari’s Duck with Pomegrante Sauce paired with Azari Pinot Noir.

“Her cooking is like poetry,” says Kamal.  “As you can see, poetry, legends, and wine are very important to us.”  Indeed, this must be the case because on every single bottle of Azari Wine the following statement is inscribed:  “Our approach to winemaking follows a few basic principles:  the land has character, nature is wise, and our job is to listen carefully, then write the poem.”

For more information on Azari Winery, please see http://www.azarivineyard.com/.  To learn more about the Petaluma Gap, including other wineries and vineyards, see http://www.petalumagap.com/.  Photo by Smari.

Favorite white wine of the evening was the Williamson Winery Joy Sauvignon Blanc ($28) from the North Coast.  It had a fresh grapefruit nose with some pineapple and melon on the palate.  Very crisp and refreshing.  A good food wine.  The favorite red was the Williamson Winery Passion Pinot Noir ($47) from the Russian River AVA.  This wine showed a ripe cherry nose with a hint of floral with silky tannins and spicy cheery cola on the palate.  For more information see: https://williamsonwines.com/

The SSU Winesense Cooking Team, lead by Chef (and now Wine Club President) Giana, prepared a Vegetarian Lasagna to match with the white wines of the evening.  For
the big reds they crafted Meatballs in Spicy Mustard Sauce.  For the jammy syrahs and zinfandels, they served Brownies and Spiced Nuts on Aged Cheddar.  A true feast!

Most historians now agree that wine was most likely discovered by a woman. However what is often left out of the history books are the ancient stories of the goddesses of wine – most who came into being centuries before Bacchus and Dionysus.

Modern technology and carbon-dating has helped us prove that wine from cultivated grapes was being made in what is now modern-day Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains around 6,000 B.C. There are also reports of wine remains in Armenia, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and China which claim to be older than those found in Georgia – though there is some confusion over whether it is grape, rice, date, or honey wine. Regardless of the birthplace of wine, it is commonly agreed that because women were involved in the gathering of berries, grapes, and other crops that it was most likely a woman who picked some grapes and placed them in a pottery container in a cool dark corner. When she remembered to check the container a few weeks later, she found a fermented beverage that had a delightful flavor and a pleasant inebriating effect. Thus wine was born.

From Persia, there is an ancient legend documented in the Epic of Gilgamish that supports a woman discovering wine. She was a member of the harem in the palace of King Jamshid, and she suffered from severe migraine headaches. One day the king found that a jar containing his favorite grapes had a strange smell and was foaming. Alarmed he ordered that it be set aside as unsafe to eat. When the woman heard of this, she decided to drink from the container in an effort to end her life with the poison inside. Instead she found the taste of the beverage very delightful. Furthermore, it cured her headache and put her in a joyful mood. When she told King Jamshid, he tasted the “wine” as well and then ordered that more should be made and shared with the whole court.

It was from this same part of the world, in the Sumerian Empire in what is modern-day Iraq, that the most ancient goddess of wine is first mentioned. Her name was Gestin and she was being worshiped as early as 3000 BC. Gestin, which translates as wine, vine, and/or grape, is also mentioned in the ancient Indus manuscript, the Rig Veda. Experts believe that it is quite reasonable that the first gods of wine were women, because the oldest deities were female agriculture goddesses of the earth and fertility. Gestin was most likely born from this agriculture base and over the centuries came to represent wine.

Later, in 1500 BC, we find mention of another wine goddess, Paget, in the same part of the world. The clay tablets refer to her as working in the vineyard and helping to make wine.

Then around 300 to 400 BC as wine became more prominent in Sumeria, a new wine goddess, Siduri, is described as living near the city of Ur. She is reported as welcoming the hero in the Epic of Gilgamish to a garden with the tree of life which is hung with ruby red fruit with tendrils. Siduri is referred to as the Maker of Wine.

Across the deserts in Egypt the wine goddess Renen-utet is mentioned on hieroglyphic tablets as blessing the wine as early as 1300 BC. Interestingly she is known as both a wine and snake goddess. She usually had a small shrine near the wine press and often her figure would appear on the spout where the grape juice flowed into the receiving tank. She is sometimes joined by Ernutet, the Egyptian goddess of plenty, in blessing the grape harvest.

What is intriguing about these wine goddesses is how little is known about them, whereas Dionysus and Bacchus have much more coverage in the literature. It is possible that this is because they are more recent. The earliest records of Dionysus, the Greek wine god, show he appeared around 500BC in the Greek Islands, whereas Gestin dates from 3000 BC. However, the concept of Dionysus, as a child god who was born of a mortal woman and a god, is very ancient and can be traced back 9000 years. These depictions however — which are amazingly similar to the images of Mother Mary with the Baby Jesus – do not include wine. Dionysus as a wine god came later. Indeed, another legend says that Dionysus came from the lands near Sumeria to the islands of Greece. Is Dionysus somehow connected with Gestin, Paget and Siduri?  Bacchus, the Roman name for Dionysus, became known in the literature around 200 BC as the Greek Empire was fading. Other wine gods included Osiris from Egypt and I-Ti from China.

So what are the implications of these ancient connections between women and wine? Why have the ancient wine goddesses been lost in the history of time? Is it because the culture changed towards a more masculine image, which gave rise to the male wine gods? Is this why in the period of the Roman Empire, women were banned from drinking wine? Indeed, a husband who caught his wife drinking wine could legally kill her on the spot. And the depiction of the raging Bacchanalia rites, in which women chased after Bacchus in drunken ecstasy while they tore animals to shreds is hardly flattering to women.

So perhaps it is time to resurrect the image of the ancient wine goddesses, and the blessings of a plentiful harvest and the joy that wine can bring in moderation. After all, the cultural tides of the world have changed again, and today in wine-drinking countries, women are the primary purchasers of wine. The connection between women and wine has always been there. Today it is growing stronger, with a focus on friendship, romance, health and balance.

REFERENCES

ü  Barnet, R.D. (1980). “A Winged Goddess of Wine on an Electrum Plaque,”Anatolian Studies, Vol. 30, Special Number in Honour of the Seventieth Birthday of Professor O. R. Gurney, pp. 169-178

ü  Hackin, J. (1932). Asiatic Mythology. London: George G. Harrap & Co.

ü  Johnson, H. (1989). The Story of Wine. UK: Octopus Publishing Group.

ü  McGovern, P.E. (2003). Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viticulture. NJ: Princeton University Press.

ü  Ushanas, E.R. (1997) The Indus Script and the Rg-Veda. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass

ü  Y ounger, W. (1966) Gods, Men and Wine. Ohio: The Wine and Food Society Limited.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Vivian Olsen is wildlife, landscape, and portrait artist living in Redmond Oregon. Her media include watercolors, oils, pastels, and pen & ink. Her work is currently exhibited in art galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Bend, Oregon, and Meredith, NH. She has received numerous recognition awards for her work, and has traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia to attend art workshops. Vivian holds a B.A. in Fine Art and an M.A. in Education which allowed her to teach art in secondary school for over 18 years. Originally from California but currently living in Oregon, she is an active member in the National Oil & Acrylic Painter’s Society, the Central Oregon Art Association and is a Signature Member of the New Mexico Watercolor Society.  http://www.vivianolsen.com/

I called my neighbors with hobby vineyards to help me solve the problem.  “But you put up bird netting on the vines,” said Leslie, “so it can’t be birds.”  “You’ve placed yellow jacket traps all around the vineyards, so it can’t be yellow jackets,” mused Peter.  The whole vineyard is surrounded by deer fencing, so it couldn’t have been deer.  So what ate my pinot noir?

After a couple of weeks of looking for clues, I finally gave up and contacted the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission and requested their help in finding a viticulture consultant.  They suggested Laura who arrived a couple days later.  “Why didn’t you call me sooner?” she asked. “Then we might have been able to see some fresh tracks.”  Then she ticked off possible suspects on her fingers:  birds, yellow jackets, deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, possum, skunks, or some type of insect.

I followed Laura around the vineyard while she searched for clues.  When the crime had occurred two weeks ago the weather had been hot and the vineyard soil was dry and dusty.  However, two days ago it rained quite hard in Sonoma County – right in the middle of harvest — so the soil was wet.

“So whatever it was didn’t eat your sauvignon blanc because it wasn’t ripe enough,” said Laura.  “Do you have any other grape varietals?”

Suddenly I remembered the two cordons of cabernet franc that didn’t successfully graft
over when I had t-budded part of the vineyard last year.  For several years, I tried to grow cabernet franc but I could never get it ripe enough in the cooler Sonoma Coast climate.  So I grafted those vines to pinot noir, but a couple of them didn’t take. Therefore, mixed in the pinot were still two cordons with long purple clusters – definitely different from the small tight pinot bunches of 777 clone.

Laura and I walked over to where the cabernet franc bunches had hung and I was  astounded to see that something had eaten them in the past two days.  Laura bent down close to the vines and said “ah ha!”  She pointed at the black drip irrigation hose below the vines and there were tiny muddy footprints all along the hose where the culprits had placed their paws while eating my grapes.  Mystery solved – a very hungry family of
raccoons had feasted on my vineyard.

Laura investigated the deer fencing and found two possible openings where the raccoons could have entered.  “They also could have just climbed over the fence,” said Laura, making me feel very helpless.  So the good news is the mystery of the missing pinot noir grapes has been solved, but the issue of how to protect my crop next year from raccoons is still a looming problem.  Any suggestions would be most welcome!

The SSU WineSense Board had to scramble when the second winery of the night called at the last minute to cancel.  (We will not reveal any names.).  But crisis often results in innovative solutions, so the Board did a blind tasting of three chardonnays made in different styles.  They informed the crowd they were tasting “3 white wines,” – not mentioning that all three were chardonnay.  After everyone voted on their favorite, the results were: 

• Chardonnay with non ML (Malolactic fermentation) = 19 votes
• Unoaked Chardonnay = 16 votes
• Oaked Chardonnay with Full ML = 13 votes 

These results reflect a growing trend preference in the US for chardonnays that are crisper in style, rather than the traditional highly oaked buttery styles. 

Food and Wine Pairings 

The cooking team allowed the chardonnays to be tasted on their own, and then prepared the following delightful pairings for the other wines: 

• Imagery Sauvignon Blanc paired with Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled Zucchini and Shaved Pecorino Cheese
• Imagery Malbec and Sangiovese paired with BBQ Italian Sausage with Chimmi Churri Sauce.

“Online wine search queries have increased more than 33% in the past 2 years,” announced Google manager, Joe Rosenberg. “In addition, wine searches via mobile phone increased ten times in the same time period.”  Google colleague, Danny Navarro added, “We see that consumers are increasingly interested in wine online, but the wine industry doesn’t seem to be adopting digital opportunities as fast as other industries.”

 They described how when wine tasting in Napa several weekends ago they tried to use their mobile phones to find nearby wineries, but nothing came up. “There are many new apps and online methods to drive traffic to a business,” said Joe, “and this appears to be a big opportunity for wine.”  Then they shared some eye-opening statistics: 

Online and Wine Statistics 

• In 2009 there were 1.6billion people online – up from 500 million in 2004
• Ecommerce sales were $500 billion in 2009
• There were 90 million online wine related queries last year
• Wine searchers outspend non-searchers by 272%
• There are 6150 videos about wine-tasting on YouTube
• 24% of Millenials report that wine is their preferred alcoholic beverage (Harris Poll, 2011)
• Online search and social media are converging at faster rates than ever before* 

Tip to Increase Online Wine Sales

So what are the methods they recommend to increase online wine sales?  Joe and Danny suggested 7 tips to increase online wine sales, and the 8th tip is from Nyk King, E-commerce Wine Sales Rep at Chateau Montelena, who is a graduate of SSU Wine Biz program and also presented on how to increase online wine sales this semester:

1)    Strong Online Presence – make sure to develop a professional website with an online shopping cart.   Use clear and unique tags so consumers can find your URL when searching.

2)    Set Up Product Search – identify someone on your marketing staff to place every SKU on Google Product Search (a free service).  This includes taking a photo of your wine bottle/label, using unique product identifiers, such as SKU, and updating often according to inventory depletions.

3)    Invest in Google Ads – provide a monthly budget for online advertising and appoint a marketing rep to monitor ads.  This allows your wines to be placed in the top or side bars of search pages, but you only pay for advertising if someone clicks on the link.  You can easily track ROI, and for as little as $100 per month can drive much traffic to your website.

4)    Target Cell Phone Users – invest in Mobile on the Go, new mobile apps, and other methods to target cell phone users who are geographically near your winery.  Adopt QR codes and other methods to allow consumers to review and purchase wine via cell phone.

5)    Get on YouTube – film a short and interesting video about your wine, winery, vineyard, or a brand related event and place on Youtube.  This doesn’t have to cost much or be professionally filmed.  Wineries with larger marketing budgets should consider purchasing their own Youtube channel as many spirits companies are, e.g. Gray Goose, Captain Morgan

6)    *Connect the Social Media Dots – have an authentic social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to drive traffic to your website, but more importantly adopt the new Google +1 Button when it becomes available (http://www.google.com/+1/button/). This will allow consumers to give their stamp of approval to your wines and website, and will show up on search engines so your friends/family will know the wines you recommend.

7)    Track Online Sales Results – appoint someone at your winery to learn how to analyze online wine sales.  There are many free tools, such as Google Analytics, that tell you how many “eye balls” have looked at your URL, as well as how many have clicked through and purchased wine.  Other tools provide data on where to place wine on your webpage to increase sales

8)  Tasteful Email Promotions and Social Media Updates – this last tip is from Nyk King of Chateau Montelena who cautions not to bombard wine club members/mailing list with too many emails and social media updates.  Email promotions should be tasteful and occur once or twice a month.  Facebook and Twitter updates should use a ratio of 1 to 7.  This means that 1 out of every 7 comments should promote wine brand while the other 6 should focus on community happenings and other conversation that reflects the authentic character of the winery and its employees.

Research studies have shown that in addition to dry red and semi-sweet white wines, another favorite category of Millennials is sparkling wine.  With this in mind, the SSU Winesense Tasting Club sponsored a “Battle of the Bubblies” evening and invited Korbel and Gloria-Ferrer to share some of their exciting sparkling wines.

Korbel Champagne Cellars

Headquartered in the Russian River AVA, Korbel was established in 1882 and is the oldest continually operating champagne house in North America.  Head winemaker, Erica Mandl, providing fascinating commentary on the history of the winery, as well as production information on the 4 wines she brought:  Korbel Natural, Brut, Rouge and Sweet Rose.  All of Korbel’s wines are made using the traditional “method champenoise” process which includes secondary fermentation in the bottle.  For more information see:  http://www.korbel.com/

Gloria-Ferrer Sparkling Wine Caves

Located in the Carneros AVA of Sonoma County, Gloria-Ferrer was the first sparkling house in this region.  Corporate headquarters are actually in Spain where the winery is owned by the Ferrer Family who also makes the famous Freixenet – black bottle bubbly.  Jen Watson, Hospitality Rep, described the Gloria-Ferrer winemaking philosophy and sustainable practices used at the winery.  The three Gloria-Ferrer wines featured for the evening were:  Sonoma Brut, 2002 Royal Cuvee, and VA di VI.  For more information see:  http://www.gloriaferrer.com/.

And The Favorites Were

At the end of the tasting, before prices were revealed, a vote was held on favorite wines of the evening.  For the 45 Millennials present there were 3 ties for favorite wine:

ü  Korbel NV Rouge ($14.99) is a rare sparkling red wine made from pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon.  “It is a love it or hate it wine,” announced Erica Mandel, the winemaker.  However a large majority of the Millennials loved it and pronounced it a favorite of the evening – especially for male Millennials.  With a black cherry and plum nose, a residual sugar of 1%, and a big hearty style but with bubbles, this wine pairs well with red meats and works especially nicely with Thanksgiving turkey.

ü  Korbel Sweet Rose ($14.99) is a sweet dessert wine with a nose of ripe strawberry and fresh fruit on the palate.  It includes a variety of grapes such as sangiovese, zinfandel, and pinot noir.  The delicate bubbles and residual sugar of 6% make this a lovely choice for dessert or a fun appetizer wine.

ü  Gloria-Ferrer VA di VI ($22) is a recently released brand.  The phrase “va di vi,” means “It’s About the Wine.”  This wine has a hint of sweetness and includes muscat, pinot noir, and chardonnay.  It begins with lovely floral aromas and expands into ripe apple, peach, and lemon on the palate with a creamy texture to the bubbles.  It pairs wonderfully with appetizers, Asian food, and desserts.

Champagne Food Pairing

When Chef Giana saw the list of sparkling wines that were on the tasting menu for the evening, she created a pairing menu that would match the different sugar levels and grape varietals used:

ü  For the Korbel Natural, Korbel Brut, and Gloria-Ferrer Sonoma Cuvee, she prepared a Shrimp Salad with Pears, Celery, and a Lemon Champagne Vinagarette.  An appetizer of Dried Almonds also complimented these wines.

ü  The more full-bodied and yeasty Gloria-Ferrer Royal Cuvee and the Korbel Rouge were a good match for Gnocchi made with Ricotta and Mimolette Cheese fried in butter and fresh basil.  French Bread with Olive Dipping Sauce was a nice accompaniment.

ü  For the sweeter dessert wines of Gloria-Ferrer Va di Vi and Korbel Sweet Rose, Chef Giana splurged and bought Sift Cupcakes – Limonatta and Raspberry Pink Champagne– of course!