NEWS from THE WINE STORE #08-06 An e-mail newsletter for all of our wine friends.

A REMINDER - DON’T MISS THIS!!

Special AAGF&W Winemaker Dinner at Embers in Kenwood - Five Wines - Four Courses
THIS THURSDAY, May 1st - 7:00 p.m. - Association for Affordable Great Food & Wine known as the A.A.G.F.& W. invites you to meet Big House “Warden” wine maker and “wine perfumist” Georgetta Dane for a special wine dinner pairing her wines with Embers fabulous food. Georgetta is famous for saying “When I’m making wine, I think about it as if I were making perfume," and she is going to lead us through an aromatic appreciation of her wines. Georgetta replaced wine legend Randall Graham at Big House Wines. Embers is located at 8170 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. Come and join us.

MENU

Aperitif: Big House Pink with Canapés

Salmon Teriyaki Roll paired with Big House White

Seared Ahi Tuna Nicoise Style paired with Big House ‘The Birdman’ Pinot Grigio

Roasted Pork Loin with Smashed Red Potatoes paired with Big House ‘The Prodigal Son’ Petite Sirah

Assorted Cheeses and Dried Fruit paired with Big House ‘The Line Up’ Grenache Syrah Mourvedre

$50 per person (includes tax & tip) Reservations at 984-9463 by Noon, Thursday, May 1st.

Georgetta Dane is “the Warden,” otherwise known as Big House’s winemaker. Dane deals with an alarming number of grapes – 10 whites and 30 reds. She needed a plan. She needed a system to organize her blends and coordinate her process. She turned to perfumes, something that had interested her since her childhood in Romania, and she developed a winemaking process that parallels the process of making perfumes.

She starts with the Base Notes, something like Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc for whites, and Syrah or Petit Verdot for reds. The Middle Notes, the next layer, require something more aromatic, like a Muscat or Viognier or, on the red side, an Italian grape that has an edge but needs time to age and mature. The final layer is what perfumists call the Top Note, something like a Marsanne, which rounds out the blend. Here Dane is looking for something, like a floral note, to give the wine that final twist.

It’s an intriguing way to think about blending wine, and we hope you are eager to see her process in action. For example, the 2006 Big House Pinot Grigio called “The Birdman,” is 78% Pinot Grigio and 22% Sauvignon Blanc. Pinot Grigio is obviously Dane’s Base Note here but she doesn’t want the wine to be watery the way that some Pinot Grigios threaten to be. So she added the Sauvignon Blanc, which bolsters the Pinot Grigio and rounds it out without actually interfering with what’s desirable about the base varietal. The result is a robust Pinot Grigio, which almost sounds like an oxymoron but here it isn’t. It works.

Even though the wines Thursday are all made from very familiar grapes – Syrah, Petite Sirah, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc – come and hear what Dane’s got up her sleeve with lesser known vines. She has plans for Albarino, Tannat and Malbec plantings and she is a fervent supporter of what we’d call the underdog grapes. “I want to show people that there’s so much more out there,” she says, beyond the usual grapes or even the usual blends.

The Wine Store, 9905 Montgomery Road, Montgomery, OH 45242
Phone: (513) 984-9463 Visit us on the web: www.theewinestore.com
Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.