add colour to your bubbles

this summer try something a little different: sparkling white wine with fragoli, a strawberry liquor with wild strawberries in it. this is a perfect summer cocktail (although for me cocktails do not really have seasons). it is also a great reason to open a bubbly (if you need one) ~ preferably a prosecco or a crémant. that means no champagne ~ keep those for really special occasions!

check out the recipe and more details here.

how many taste buds do you have?

this is a very cool new thing for me to have discovered, so i’m sharing it with you.

most of us never really give a thought to the possible relationship between our taste buds and what we like. some of us like spicy food while others can’t stand anything even remotely too salty or sweet. could this have anything to do with our taste buds, those little microscopic bumps on our tongue?

recently i was having a conversation with a wine consultant and for the first time ever i heard what seemed bizarre yet logical. yes, we are all born differently, and apparently with a relatively different amount of taste buds. what we like, and how we like it, is completely related to the amount of little bumps on our tongue. how weird does that sound?

because i have always been inclined to rich and heavy wines, and always loved super spicy food, it made me wonder if i was an under-taster or not. someone with a low count of taste buds is referred to as a non-taster or under-taster, while someone with a high count is referred to as a super-taster. essentially the more taste buds you have, the more sensitive you are to flavours.

so how do you know how many taste buds you have? here is a simple test you can do to find out, which was first explained by this wine consultant i met, and reconfirmed on the doctor oz show with guest gary vaynerchuk. (if you don’t know gary, you must check his wine tv website)

here is what you will need to count your taste buds :

• some blue food colouring

• cotton buds (q-tips)

• reinforcement rings for hole-punched paper, or a thick hole-punched piece of paper

• a magnifier of some sort (glass or mirror)

then follow these few simple steps :

• using the q-tip, swab some food colouring over the tip of your tongue

• place a reinforcement ring on your tongue

• lastly count inside the hole area of the ring how many pink dots there are (these are your taste buds which do not turn blue). the magnifier will help for this part.

the result :

an under-taster will have fewer than 10 taste buds, an average taster about 20, and a super-taster will have over 30. here are some images (not very appealing) to see a visual of what i’m talking about: taste bud test. i also found the video clip of gary with doctor oz here.

and yes... it does feel a bit weird to put blue colouring on your tongue! but it is fun to understand our tasting behaviour, is it not? it sure confirmed a lot of things for me as i have less than 10! so spicy food and heavy wines, come to mama! :)

mandolin

zinfandel

lodi, california

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zinfandels have remained off my radar to this day because i believed they were light wines, so i completely dismissed them. recently i was given a totally new perspective on this grape variety, and serendipitously in the following weeks a friend opened her last bottle of her favourite zinfandel. what a treat that was! rich, big and powerful, with berry flavours and a spicy overtone. so delicious. sadly it does appear that mandolin no longer produces the zinfandel. so if you get your hands on one, buy it! especially the 2005.

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vintage 2005 • alcohol 14.5%

$ unknown

red truck

red blend

sonoma valley, california

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i first noticed this bottle because of its label. big surprise! (says the designer) then i bought a bottle when i was in arizona last year because it was only $10 and someone said it was really good. i totally agree! it is a very much enjoyable, easygoing wine. medium bodied, made with syrah, petite sirah and cabernet franc, it delivers rich berry flavours and finishes with a smooth velvety mouthfeel. as it says on its label "turn off your engine, kick back and relax.” visit redtruckwine.com for the whole truck family.

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vintage 2006  •  alcohol 13.5%

$15

road 13

honest john’s white blend

vqa : okanagan valley

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only in recent years have i acquired a love for white wines. before that i would never of my own choice have picked white over red. nowadays i often buy an inexpensive bottle and make kir, the french drink where you mix white wine with a drop of creme de cassis.

my very first sip of road 13 was a complete wow! as described on the label the wine is made with a lovely blend of ehrenfelser, sauvignon blanc and a hint of viognier, creating a mouthful of white peaches with a flinty finish. definitely a great wine!

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vintage 2007 • alcohol 13.1 %

$17

friends enjoying red bubbles!

esther and lonnie in sydney, australia, january 2007.

if you’ve red the previous post... that’s the photo that came with the email. and yes, i wish i’d been there! the sparkling shiraz they are drinking is the black chook (reviewed on wine tv).

let’s talk about red bubbles!

banrock station : sparkling shiraz

south eastern australia

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you say “sparkling what?” shiraz, as in ‘red wine’ shiraz?

yes indeed. and i had the very same reaction when i first heard of it in january ’07.

my friend lonnie had been travelling to australia during her teaching ‘winter’ break (or whatever they call it in china) and i connected her with my friend esther (more like my big sister, really) who has been living in sydney for many years now. on australia day i received an email from lonnie, with some pictures, and in her email she was telling me that she had had a wonderful picnic with esther for the celebration, sipping sparkling shiraz, and that they were thinking of me. and my reaction was exactly that, sparkling shiraz?

apparently it’s something pretty big in australia, and given their climate, i’m not particularly surprised that the australians created a way of enjoying red wine in a refreshing manner. so yes, like any sparkling wine, it should be served chilled. although i haven’t done extensive research on the subject, the origin of sparkling red wine is probably european. i do believe the italians also drink it.

so what does it taste like? well, it doesn’t taste much like red wine. just like a sparkling white wine differs tremendously from a regular white wine, so does the red sparkling from its counterpart. but believe me, it’s good. you might say you don’t like sparkling wine, and i would still recommend you try it. it is definitely different, but most people i’ve now introduced to it have been very pleasantly surprised.

as for pairing it with food, you got me there. i have absolutely no idea. i’ve only enjoyed it on its own, and i cannot even imagine what it would be good with. someone said to me recently that most sparkling wines are designed to be enjoyed on their own, so maybe that’s simply the answer. if you have some thoughts on this, please share them!

now as for finding it in liquor stores, it can be a bit tricky. here in british columbia, we can find it quite easily. the banrock station seems to be the most popular, and it sells for $16. there is also a seaview that is generally readily available at $15 (prices vary in private liquor stores). other australian brands are also listed on the bcls website, but i’ve never personally seen them in stores. i did however find an italian sparkling red called lambrusco, which sells for only $11, with a lower alcohol content. without a doubt it is not as nice as the two i just mentioned, but it is very drinkable indeed!

for all other provinces, i cannot tell you what is available, if any. i do know for a fact that the province of québec did not carry any sparkling red wines at all as of september ’08. (i had an employee of the saq search the computer database for me, and nada, niente, nothing). as for the usa, i’m not sure how the import business of liquors works, but i’m sure you can find some, somewhere!

so to you all, good luck hunting a bottle wherever you are, and enjoy!

a perfect companion for the summer...

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banrock station alcohol content 14%

$15