Naperville Wine Fest Wrap-Up: Finding Great New Wines!
We're thrilled to announce three great new wines in our
store, that were crowd-pleasers throughout the recently held Naperville
Wine Festival. All of the wines we served were wonderful, especially
our three "best-sellers:" Jerry Garcia Cabernet Sauvignon, Jerry
Garcia Chardonnay, and Thirsty Lizard White Shiraz.
The Jerry Garcia wines represent a special production
run undertaken by Clos du Bois of California, at the request of
the Jerry Garcia estate. The wines are fabulous, and the bottles are
gorgeous, each featuring Jerry Garcia artwork on the label.
The Thirsty Lizard white shiraz, made by Cheviot Bridge winery of Australia, is newly introduced
to the US market. This light, fruity, slightly sweet wine is crisp
and delicious.
Our
warmest thanks to everyone who visited our booth at the wine festival, and
we hope you
had as much fun as we did! For those who haven't yet had a chance to
try these new wines, stop by our store and pick up some bottles for
yourself. Each of these wonderful wines offers great value, and they
are sure to please!
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In this issue:
About the Grape Harvest
New Store Hours
Schedule of Events
Cellar Master
Ladies Night Out
Legal Notice on Ordering Wine
Holiday Party Planning
Looking
for new ideas for this year's holiday party? Contact us to plan a
unique and enjoyable wine tasting event, either at our store or in your
home. We have great ideas to create a memorable evening for you and
your guests!
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Feature Article
Grape Harvest: Wine Production Begins
Great wine starts with the vines and the growing of
grapes. The next important
factor is the grape harvest itself. As
September and October mark the harvest season for vineyards throughout the
Northern hemisphere, we thought we’d explore the harvest process this
month.
Timing is the most critical aspect of the harvest, and
timing varies greatly, depending on climate conditions for a given season,
the balance in the grapes between sugars and acids, and the type of wine
to be produced. Grapes for
sparkling wines, for example, because of their generally high acidity
content, are picked earlier than grapes for still wines.
Eiswein grapes, because of their need to be very sweet and infected
with the “Noble Rot” (Botrytis), are picked long after autumn ends,
usually once there is snow on the ground.
For the 2003 season, many European vineyards began
harvest early, because the exceptionally hot, dry summer ripened the
grapes weeks ahead of schedule. Some
areas, especially France, report lower yields than normal, again because
of this summer’s growing conditions.
Despite the lower yields, hot dry weather can benefit
the final wine produced, because the grape skins are tougher and thicker,
imparting more concentrated flavors into the wines.
It’s a delicate balance, however; damaged grapes can negatively
affect the aroma of the wines produced.
No matter what the growing conditions in any particular
year, growers must test the fruit to determine its readiness for harvest.
Fruit in different parts of a vineyard can vary in ripeness, and
different grape varieties mature weeks apart.
Leading up to the harvest, grapes are tested frequently for sugar
content to help determine ripeness and optimal picking times.
Even with advanced technology, this still remains much of an art
form.
Last-minute weather shifts can change the timing as
well. Some wineries in
Oregon, for example, reported a late week-long heat wave that required
rapid harvesting of grapes as they began to dry out on the vines.
Overall, Oregon reports a record crop this year – 25,000 tons
compared to 22,000 tons last year.
For the actual process of harvesting, two methods exist
– manual and mechanical. Manual
harvest is, of course, more labor intensive and more expensive.
Individual grape bunches are cut at the stem, then placed into
small, durable containers and transported to the winery.
Manual picking enables the workers to select individual bunches
according to ripeness, and to avoid grapes affected by rot or disease.
Manual harvesting remains the only option in vineyards
with steep slopes, narrow rows, unusual or no trellis systems, or very
dense vine plantings.
Mechanical, or machine harvesting, first introduced
commercially in the 1960s, has been adopted in different countries
throughout the world. US
vineyards use machine harvesting as a cost-saving measure; Australians
adopted it because of low labor supplies.
In France, machines offer an attractive alternative to the
increased bureaucracy and cost involved in hiring temporary labor.
Harvest machines work by beating the vines with
fiberglass rods to release the ripe grapes, which are caught by a conveyor
belt and transferred to a tractor-drawn hopper.
Although you might think the machines would damage the
grapes and negatively affect the wines, various studies have shown that
sophisticated mechanical harvesting does not affect wine quality.
In warm climates machines can help, because harvesting takes place
at night, keeping the grapes cooler during transport.
During the mechanical harvest, some grapes break open
and juices begin to mix, but oxidation can be tempered by adding sulphur
dioxide to the transport containers.
For white wines, machine harvesting may not be an option, because
of excessive skin contact with juice from broken grapes, which leads to
too-high levels of phenolics and increased concentrations of proteins in
the wines. Overall, hand
harvesting is gentler, so many vineyards stay with this method, especially
for the top-quality wines.
Many vineyards report harvest conditions during this
time, as yields and early testing of the grapes can be a first indication
of the quality of wines to be produced.
In contrast to the reports from Europe, California growers are
reporting an abundant crop this year, which may repress prices on wines
that sell for less than $15 a bottle.
(Production of higher-priced wines is more strictly controlled, and
so less likely to be pushed downward.)
Vineyards and wineries also hold various harvest
celebrations. The process of
harvesting grapes is steeped in tradition, especially in Europe, where
generations of families have participated as both pickers and vineyard
owners. Traditions include
religious ceremonies to start the picking, communal meals with the
pickers, evening dancing, and more formal celebrations to end the harvest.
The most famous of these is the harvest of Gamay grapes in
Beaujolais. Upwards of 40,000 people are involved in the harvest, as it is all done manually.
Outside of Europe, vineyards usually hold at least one harvest
celebration, and often invite the public to attend.
As different batches of grapes arrive at the wineries,
they are immediately crushed to release the juices, and the complex task
of creating wines begins.
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About
Our Mailing List
The
mailing list for this newsletter was gleaned from the personal email
archives of Wine Expressions' owners and from direct requests received
from our customers.
We
hope you enjoy the newsletter and decide to remain on our distribution
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By
the way, we never share your email or address information with anyone
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Store
Location
We
are located in downtown Lisle at the southwest corner of Burlington Ave.
& Main St.
Extra
parking is available behind our building.
New
Hours for the Holidays
Starting
October 27:
Mon
- Sat 10am - 8 pm
Sunday
1 - 5 pm
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Schedule
of Events
We look forward to seeing you soon at our events:
Prairie
Sampling:
Friday, Oct.
24, 4 - 6:30 pm and
Saturday, Oct. 25, 1 - 6:30 pm: Oktoberfest Beers
Friday, Oct. 31, 4 - 6:30 pm and
Saturday, Nov. 1, 1 - 6:30 pm: Gift Box Wines
Friday, Nov. 7, 4 - 6:30 pm and
Saturday, Nov. 8, 1 - 6:30 pm: Staff Picks
Friday, Nov. 14, 4
- 6:30 pm and
Saturday, Nov. 15 1 - 6:30 pm: Visiting Northern
California
Friday, Nov. 21, 4
- 6:30 pm and
Saturday, Nov. 22, 1 - 6:30 pm: Thanksgiving Wines
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Cellar
Master: November 20
Our Cellar Master program in October will feature Beaujolais Wines,
including Nouveau Beaujolais. The Nouveau wines celebrate the 2003
harvest with this young, fruity red wine. We'll be tasting Nouveau
as well as other fine wines from the Beaujolais region of France.
The evening features an educational
presentation and a full flight of nine wines paired to gourmet food
samplings from The Upper Crust bakery in Lisle.
Call now to order your tickets -
we've been selling out early! The deadline for purchasing tickets is
Tuesday, November 18.
Thursday,
November 20th
6:30 - 8 pm
Cellar Master Series - Beaujolais Wines Featuring Nouveau
$25 per person
Call for Reservations: 630.435.9463
or toll-free 1.888.656.9463
Ladies Night Out: November 10
Our Ladies Night Out tasting remains as popular as ever, as we sell out
each event well in advance! Plan now to attend in November, when
we'll feature Red Wines Under $15.
The evening includes a tasting of seven wines with
gourmet hors d'oeuvres from The Upper Crust bakery in Lisle. Cost is
$20
per person, and the deadline to register is Friday, November 7.
Call for Reservations: 630.435.9463
or toll-free 1.888.656.9463
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Legal Notice
on Ordering Wine
You must be 21 years of age or older to order any alcoholic beverage.
By law, we are allowed to ship wine to the following states only: California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
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free to forward this on to your friends that enjoy wine - the more the merrier! Use the
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