It's a Bordeaux Celebration!
We hope you're
going to join us for an exclusive, one night only event celebrating the
incredible wines of Bordeaux. The Slow Dating™ program, sponsored by
the Bordeaux Fine Wine Bureau, is taking place in select cities around the
country.
The Chicago
Slow Dating™ event will be held Saturday, October 9th, from 7:30 until 10pm
at The View restaurant in Lisle. The evening will include tastings
of several Bordeaux wines, gourmet food samplers, live music, great door
prizes, and a chance to meet other wine lovers in the area. It's a
great value, for $35 per ticket, and will be a wonderful evening out,
whether you attend as a single, couple, or with a group of friends.
Contact us
today to reserve your space at this special event! 630.435.9463
The
Chicago Wine School Comes to Lisle
Wine Expressions is bringing its customers a great
opportunity to learn more about wine and make better buying decisions.
Patrick W. Fegan, director of the Chicago Wine School and highly regarded
educator and author, is offering his “Basics of Wine” course at The Upper
Crust in Lisle, beginning November 5th.
In conjunction with
this great educational opportunity, we are going to be publishing a series
of wine-related articles written by Mr. Fegan on our website. The
first article comments on the influences of weather on wine styles.
Mr. Fegan writes, "What happens if a normally cool or very cool region has
a freakishly warm year?" For the answer to this and many other
questions pertaining to the weather's effect on wines,
visit our website to read Mr. Fegan's article. You can also stop by the store to pick up your copy.
Be sure to check back
on our website or at the store, we'll have new articles published weekly
throughout October.
More
importantly, sign up to
reserve your seat beginning on Friday, November 5th and
continuing on five consecutive Fridays through December 3rd.
The "Basics" course is designed for those new to the world of wine, or for
those aficionados wishing to polish and broaden their understanding.
Classes will be held near Wine Expressions at The Upper Crust Bakery’s
dining room. Each session will begin at 7:00 PM. The tuition for the
complete, five-session program is $170 per person and includes all course
materials and wines tasted. You must be 21 to enroll in this course.
Sign up
directly with Patrick Fegan at
Chicago Wine School.
Payment can be on-line or by check payable to Chicago Wine School.
Chicago Wine School
1942 S. Halsted Street,
#2F
Chicago, IL 60608
312-491-0248
PWFegan@aol.com
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In this issue:
Feature: Bordeaux Wines
Congratulations!
Ladies Night Out: Nov 1
Weekend Tastings
Store Hours
Legal Notice on Ordering Wine
Store Location
We are located in downtown Lisle at the southwest corner of Burlington
Ave. & Main St.
Extra parking is available behind our building.
Hours of Operation
Mon - Sat 10 am - 8 pm
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Feature Article
Discover Bordeaux
The wines of Bordeaux are
the perfect antidote to a Typical Day in the New Millennium (dominated by
carpools, meetings, cell phones and overclocked PDAs). Picture this: the
last rays of the setting sun linger on the deck. You kick off your shoes,
settle into a comfy chair and take a minute or two to appreciate the
artistry of the Bordeaux wine in your glass. Red or white, it’s a gorgeous
color, holding promises of fine things to come.
Painstakingly grown and masterfully blended, Bordeaux wines are the
antithesis of fast food, speed dating and express lanes. They are complex,
but not incomprehensible. The producers are myriad, but there is order (of
a sort) within their legions. They’re also a bit of a mystery to a lot of
American wine drinkers, who may be tempted to bypass all those confusing
French labels in favor of something they recognize, like Zinfandel. We
love Zinfandel, but it’s a small part of a big world when it comes to
wine. So, in the spirit of Back-to-School, we’d like to offer a short
course in the wines of Bordeaux. In keeping with the comfy-chair ambiance
we established earlier, there will not be a quiz, and the homework is
completely at your discretion.
The
Bordeaux region of France, with some 280,000 acres of vineyard situated
just inland from the Atlantic seacoast, produces both red and white wines,
though the reds far outnumber the whites. The hallmarks of a fine Bordeaux
are elegant structure, impeccable balance and longevity. Great Bordeaux
reds (and many whites) are unmatched in their potential for graceful
aging, revealing the depth of their character in maturity.
The
Bordeaux region is dedicated almost exclusively to just six grape
varietals, three red and three white, and the wines are a product of
subtle blending based on centuries of experience coupled with modern
oenology. The labels give prominence to the producer (“Chateau Margaux”,
for example), the Vintage and the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC)
rather than the grape varietals, so it helps to have a bit of information
at hand to sort out the players.
2000
was considered an exceptional vintage for Bordeaux. 1998, ’99, ’01 and ’02
were all excellent years. While optimum growing conditions do not
guarantee a superior product, it’s a good place to start the sorting
process. The next step is to consider your taste preferences.
Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are the big three of
Bordeaux red grapes, with Petit Verdot and Malbec grapes playing lesser
roles in some cases. The proportions in which these are blended will
determine the character of the wine:
Merlot
lends deep color and aromas of ripe plums and red fruits. It softens the
blend, making it round and supple.
Cabernet Sauvignon
provides heady
aromatics to young wines, and its tannins provide structure and longevity.
Cabernet Franc
adds gentleness and
fresh red fruit notes.
The
terroir of the vineyard (its topography, soil composition and
microclimate), dictates which grapes are most apt to flourish there, and
the Chateau’s blend will reflect this. Cabernet Sauvignon vines thrive in
gravelly soil, while Merlot prefers clay. The Appellation (AOC)
designation on the label can offer clues as to whether a blend will likely
favor Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, if you know what to look for. To
simplify things the Bordeaux Wine Bureau divides Bordeaux’s 57 AOCs into
“families,” roughly corresponding to geographic area and wine styles:
Medoc and Graves
AOCs are known for Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant red blends. Margaux,
Pauillac, Saint-Estèphe, Saint Julien and Pessac-Léognan belong to this
“family.” In general, wines from these AOCs, along with those from Saint-Emilion
and Pomerol, are best suited to long aging in your cellar.
Saint-Emilion
and its surrounding villages, Pomerol and Fronsac (on the
right bank of the Dorgogne River, close to the town of Libourne) produce
mainly Merlot-based blends.
Côtes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur
AOCs produce red, white and occasionally rosé wines from vineyards
scattered across the region. This “family” encompasses the greatest number
of vineyards and thus the greatest diversity of styles. Generally, wines
from these AOCs are best appreciated while relatively young (2 to 5 years
from bottling).
Bordeaux is also known for its elegant white wines, produced from a blend
of
Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle grapes.
Dry white Bordeaux is
fresh, aromatic and complex, with little or no oak. Semillon contributes
balance, richness and longevity to the mix, and plays a crucial role in
the vinification of Sauternes and other sweet white wines from the
vineyards of southern Bordeaux. The Sauternes and Barsac AOCs are world
famous for rich, sweet wines which, in a great vintage, have the capacity
to age gracefully for decades. The vintners of this region take advantage
of a micro-climate which combines misty mornings and bright sunny
afternoons to foster the development of Botrytis Cinerea, or “Noble Rot”
in the Semillon crop, drying the grape pulp at the peak of ripeness and
concentrating its sugar, thus laying the groundwork for succulent, complex
dessert wines.
While geography and its attendant terroir may dictate the dominant
grape in any given Bordeaux blend, the wine is ultimately the creation of
its maker, identified by the Chateau on the label. Every Chateau has its
signature, revealed only when the cork is pulled and the wine poured.
Sorting out the chateaux within the vintage and AOC of your choice can be
a lot of fun. It helps to have a knowledgeable guide
to help you bypass the chaff in favor of the wheat. It’s better still if
he or she is willing to open a few bottles for you to sample and compare.
A friendly wine store proprietor is of inestimable value here. With a bit
of basic information and a glass of wine to illustrate the lesson, you’ll
find yourself gaining fluency in French in short order. You might even
find yourself asking for more homework.
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About
Our Mailing List
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from our customers.
We hope you enjoy the newsletter and decide to remain on our distribution
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Congratulations!
Thanks to everyone who visited our booth at the Naperville Wine
Festival. We had a great time, and hope everyone who attended
enjoyed themselves.
Congratulations to the following, who each won a $25 gift certificate to
the store:
- Deborah R of Elk Grove Village
- Christina B of Naperville
- Heather S of Wheaton
- Kim L of Naperville
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Schedule
of Events
We look forward
to seeing you soon at our events:
Prairie Sampling:
Friday, October 1,
4 - 6:30 pm &
Saturday, October 2, 1 - 6:30 pm: Wines from Bordeaux
Friday, October 8,
4 - 6:30 pm: Wines from Bordeaux
Saturday, October 9,
1 - 6:30 pm: Wines from Central California
Saturday, October 9, 1 - 6 pm: Riedel stemware demonstration
Chardonnay/Chablis glass
Friday, October 15,
4 - 6:30 pm: Wines from Bordeaux
Saturday, October
16, 1 - 6:30 pm: Wines from Southern Italy
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