| Jim Hammond |
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Jim Hammond has been exploring wines in North America, Europe and Australia for more than 20 years. A published author, he includes information about wine in every book.
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| The Southwestern Wine Blog |
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Check out my blog for these and other topics
Tasting notes in Alexander Valley
A Tasting at the Inn
To Blend or Not to Blend; That is the Question
Wining and Dining in Kuaui
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| The e-version of my book is online: |
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Click on the book cover to order the e-version of "Wines of Enchantment"
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From my wine column in the Albuquerque Journal
April 9, 2008
Make a Plan for Tasting |
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Now that spring is firmly entrenched - except for the occasional late snowfall - it's time to plan for this year's wine events. A new event has been added to the Memorial Day and Labor Day festivals: The Corrales Quilt and Wine Fair, which will be held in the village of Corrales on May 10-11.
Last year I wrote about wine festival etiquette. This time I'd like to focus on wine-tasting tips. Entirely too many of you are just tossing the stuff down so you can go to the next booth before the lines lengthen. Trust me, the wine vendors have provided enough wine to go around. Pacing and technique will enrich your experience and enjoyment.
The steps in wine tasting are: Strategize, see, sniff, swirl and spit - or SSSSS for short. The spit part I know can be challenging, but bear with me on this. Read More
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| News from the Southwestern Wine Guy |
Pairings: Wine and Art
Corrales, New Mexico is a small town filled with artists who have been offering a studio tour for the last 10 years. To kick off this year's event, the coordinators of the Corrales Art Studio Tour (CAST) held a Pre-show party at Madeleine's Place in Corrales. I jumped at the oppotunity of helping choose the wine. The wine was donated jointly by Frontier Mart in Corrales and Southern  Wine & Spirits of New Mexico Inc., and with the help of their sales consultant, Todd Piskorski, we created a perfect combination of five wines for the party. The wines included a Clay Station 2006 Viognier from Lodi, California with the flavors of ripe peach and guave, full-bodied and almost creamy on the mouth. A second white was a Souverain 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from Alexander Valley, California. This one had a razor sharp acidity, good citrus and tropical fruit flavors and a long finish. The first red was a Montevina 2004 Barbera from the Shendandoah Valley of Amador County, California. An excellent food wine with the taste of black cherry and vanilla. The next red was the Brassfield 2003 Syrah from Round Mountain. It had the flavors of brambly fruit, blackberries, and is plumy with hints of smoked ham; a nice long finish, too. The last wine was the Chateau du Piras 2002 Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, an Old World style wine with a deeply earthy nose at the start which opened up to a mellow earthy wine tasting of dark fruit and silky tannins.
These wines can be found on sale at Frontier Mart--while they last! For more on these wines and the discounts click here. |
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Wine Talk
 One can never spend too much time talking about wine. I will be speaking on my favorite subject at Corrales' first annual Quilt and Wine Fair May 10th and 11. It should be a lot of fun. My schedule is as follows:
Saturday
1:00pm Wine Talk: Oak and Wine
- Welcome and introduction
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fiar
- Oak or No-oak, what's the difference?
- Aroma wine wheel overview
- Summary of first 5 wineries
- Q & A
2:30pm Wine Talk: Food and Wine Pairing
- Welcome and introduction
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fair
- Food and wine pairing
- Aroma wine wheel overview
- Summary of next 5 wineries
- Q & A
4:00pm Wine Talk: Wine Care
- Welcome and introduction
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fair
- Care and feeding of wine
- Aroma wheel overview
- Summary of next 5 wineries
- Q & A
Sunday
1:00pm Wine Talk: Old World vs. New World
- Welcome and intorducton
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fair
- New World/Old World styles
- Aroma wine wheel overview
- Summary of first 5 wineries
- Q & A
2:30pm Wine Talk: Blind Tasting
- Welcome and introduction
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fair
- Setting up a blind tasting
- Aroma wine wheel overview
- Summary of next 5 wineries
- Q & A
4:00pm Wine Talk: Wine Touring
- Welcome and introduction
- Tasting wine techniques
- Getting the most out of the fair
- Wine touring
- Aroma wine wheel overview
- Summaruy of last wineries
- Q & A
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I do hope you enjoyed this the first of many newlsletters to come. Be sure to check out my website and my blog! Sincerely,
Your Wine Guy
Jim Hammond |
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