InTheCellar - Organic Wines of Mendoza, Argentina!

Argentina is known for a few great things, the tango, international soccer, incredible beef and now WORLD CLASS WINES - join us as we discuss the Wines of Argentina & explore 100% ORGANIC wines from Mendoza!



In our fifth episode of In the Cellar, we head to looking at one of the world's most dynamic and growing wine regions, Mendoza, Argentina! The wines of Caligiore Ecological Vineyards and the Symphony Organic Series are all produced under strict 100% Organic guidelines where no pesticides, herbicides and minimal intervention were used in their processing. The organic movement in the wine industry is growing and Marquee is proud to present the wines of Gustavo Caligore, Caligiore Ecological Vineyards and VinEcol SA Vinos Organicas as perfect representations of great wines regardless of price-point that also happen to be organic!

The first wine is a Torrontes from the high elevation vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina, the 2011 Grazioso Organic Torrontes. A light and floral grape that is unique to being grown in Argentina, it is #1 in overall white wine production and dances a unique line between the acidity and crisp flavor of a Sauvignon Blanc and the more floral and soft mouthfeel of a Pinot Grigio. Once you have tried this versatile grape varietal, you will keep watching for it on every wine list you see!

For the second wine we showcase the grape that has made Argentina a world wine power, MALBEC. Malbec has its origins in the field blends of Bordeaux, France, and came to Argentina with early settlers to this new world location. A "thin skinned" grape that loves sunlight, Malbec thrives in the high-elevation climate of Mendoza where the long days and cooler nights let the grapes achieve optimum ripeness. The Caligiore Organic Reserve Malbec is a stellar example of the varietal with deep dark raspberry, blueberry and blackberry notes alongside a hint of spice, mocha and dry sandalwood. The luscious mouthfeel / body of this wine comes from the "old vines" that produce it (over 80+ years old) and the long period of skin contact (3+ weeks). Malbec is the most widely planted grape in all of Argentina and Marquee Selections is proud to showcase this award winning Malbec for the mere cost of $14.99 per bottle! Wine & Spirits Magazine awarded this wine one of its Top 100 Best Buy Wines of 2009 and once you taste you will know why!


Marquee Selections has partnered up with the award-winning chef focused program " In The Kitchen with Bonnie" (http://inthekitchenwithbonnie.com) to produce an exciting new wine segment entitled "In the Cellar" with Marquee Selections . During each episode we will unravel the wine world one grape at a time! Each week we invite you to join us for an engaging conversation for our food and wine lovers to see why wine has been a worldwide tradition for centuries and how learning more about it can help bring the stories and flavors to life. Learn more about exciting regions, new wine types, varietals, how to pair wines with food, decanting, proper serving temperature, what wine goes best with pizza and more! A great 10 minute break from your day to learn and "wet" your taste buds for more"!

Please enjoy this web-episode of In the Cellar with Marquee and additional details are available below for more information on Marquee Selections! I am a bit new to the HD Camera, so please bear with me as I get my sea legs as an action reporter ( with today's technology you can find the grey hairs if you look) :) and thank you so much for tuning in and supporting Marquee Selections!

Check back next week as we move around the map and explore new wines!

Cheers!

Christopher J. Cribb, CSW
cjcribb@marquee.com

In the Cellar - Visit to Northern Italy - Piedmonte

Marquee Selections has partnered up with the award-winning chef focused program " In The Kitchen with Bonnie" (www.inthekitchenwithbonnie.com) to produce an exciting new wine segment entitled "In the Cellar" with Marquee Selections . During each episode we will unravel the wine world one grape at a time! Each week we invite you to join us for an engaging conversation for our food and wine lovers to see why wine has been a worldwide tradition for centuries and how learning more about it can help bring the stories and flavors to life. Learn more about exciting regions, new wine types, varietals, how to pair wines with food, decanting, proper serving temperature, what wine goes best with pizza and more! A great 10 minute break from your day to learn and "wet" your taste buds for more"!

JCCCF2F Cellar from In the Kitchen with Bonnie on Vimeo.

In our initial episode we bring you a brief introduction on Marquee and dive into two wines from Piedmont, Italy the Quattro Leoni Monferrato Bianco and the Quattro Leoni Barbera D'Asti by Castello Di Gabiano! These wines are both perfect for back to school and the fresh harvest bounty available at markets as farmers start tidying up for fall. Castello Di Gabiano last year was awarded the prestigious "Best Barbera" medal at VinItaly and focus its red wines on this signature grape as well as doing an elegant blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Cortese for our white wine drinkers! Please enjoy this web-episoded of In the Cellar with Marquee and additional details are available below for more information on Marquee Selections! I am a bit new to the HD Camera, so please bear with me as I get my sea legs as an action reporter ( with today's technology you can find the grey hairs if you look) :) and thank you so much for tuning in and supporting Marquee Selections!

Check back next week as we move around the map and explore new wines!

Cheers!

Christopher J. Cribb, CSW
cjcribb@marquee.com

Five Wines to "Class Up" the Movies for the VIP Theater Treatment

Last Friday night I went with friends and family to not just our local theater to see a movie, but instead for the VIP movie theater, a great experience! With the change in habits since our 2009 Recession, people are doing things differently and that now includes movie theaters! We had quite a blast at the theater and Watched Hangover 2, which in my opinion was just about as funny and distasteful as the original. The whole crew got it right in a remake on this, use what works (the great lines and character roles) and MAKE US LAUGH (yes, the story was basically the same, but I did laugh out loud several times).

Today’s digression to the movie theater brings us to the new trend in movie theaters, providing great food with more of an “Applebee’s” feel / menu than the standard fare that I had growing up as a kid (hot dogs, popcorn, candy and carbonated beverages “soda” or “pop” depending upon where you were raised. I am all for the idea of making going to the movies a big thing, and I think in doing so you need to make the food and beverages equal to the task. I would be happy to have my chef/foodie friends plug in some entrée’s, but I will stick to the wines and here are five versatile wines to bring to the movie theaters as we “Class up the Theater”. I choose all wines here that can be sold both BTG (by-the-glass) and BTB (by-the bottle) and range in price from $10.00 to $25.00 Retail. Theater price points will range, but there is hope that theaters will not go quite as far as a few restaurant cousins in the wine mark-up area. I have estimated below a BTG price for these wines based on current market trends and what I would happily pay.

First on the list must be a GOOD, Solid New World Chardonnay. In terms of white wine there are varietals making headway, but Chardonnay is the king and your list will need a good one. Now that the global wine world has arrived we have more options and pairing a white wine with just a hint of oak, and malolactic fermentation will do wonders for that person that is also grabbing a few bites of buttery movie theater popcorn! I would tend to go “New World” so that they are fresh and fruity (who’s kidding, they also cost less than stuff competing with the Euro).

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  Marquee Classic Chardonnay – 2008 Vintage – Victoria, Australia – Perfect Aussie complement of cool climate and a touch of oak, WS -88 Points - $7.00 Glass
  


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  Sebastiani California Chardonnay 2009 Vintage – Sonoma Coast - A larger producer that keeps the lid on quality for price - $9.00 Glass

Second on the list it is time to go lighter and stay with the white wines, choose an Alternative White Wine Blend – I personally love Spain or Portugal white wines, or could have my arm twisted for Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, South Africa or California depending on mood, so I submit this is a great wine to let it change with the seasons! Start off with summer, right now it’s hot so I am concentrating on lower alcohol levels and something that is refreshing to take the bight out of the spicy or fried foods coming my way, at the movies. Come winter I might think of something a little heavier with more body (Pinot Gris for example), but on the light side for summer I have two great selections:

• Blue Fin Vinho Verde – 2009 Portugal – Light blend of Alvarinho & Trajadura (yes, Alvarinho like the Spanish grape, Albarino – same varietal different countries) with a hint of fizz and only 11% alcohol (you can have two glasses at the movie and not need to take a cab home) – $6.50 Glass
  


• Nobilio Sauvignon Blanc – Marlborough New Zealand – 2009 Grassy and zesty, but not so much acid that you feel like you are having alcoholic limeade. A lovely bit of citrus, a nice choice if your movies have a summer salad or are experimenting with Sushi! - $9.00 Glass
  

Third the ease of finger foods in the new movie theater will keep us more limited in terms of offers, but another “go to, must have” wine on this list is a Great Red Wine for Pizza! Small slices, little flatbreads, and even the large appetizer brochette is lovely when made well with perfect ingredients. Let’s hope the staff can move those TV trays around to accommodate our new space, & pizza offerings. The other good news about a lovely Pizza wine is that it can also be a great cheese sticks, pretzels with mustard and meatball wine (if you make the right choice). I look for a lighter bodied wine with lots of red fruit, a hint of spice and smooth, mouth coating tannins when looking to pair with my pizza pie. Two great choices:

• Staccato Malbec / Cabernet Blend - 2010 Vintage – Mendoza, Argentina - Cabernet grown at higher altitudes gives lighter bodied red flavors and the Old Vine Malbec smoothes out the palate and coats any places burned form melting cheese - 100% Organic and $6.00 Glass




• Castle Rock Pinot Noir – Carneros - 2009 Vintage – California A fruit driven pinot that has lots of raspberry and some smoky tones that make you think of a big stone pizza oven. Seek out Castle Rock, the quality to price ratio is high - $9.00 Glass

Fourth in our top five is a big red winethat may have been made for food, but it stands out when enjoyed by itself! What we are looking for here is to find a wine that do change with food, gets better with a few swirls of the glass, allows for more taste, tertiary aromas start coming out and this wine is at its best when on center stage, in a big red glass. I call this selection the BIG BAD Velvety Red Wine and when narrowing down this category I thought of wines with bold dark fruit flavors, wines that can start to turn your teeth a bit purple like, Caberent Sauvignon, Petit Sirah, Monastrell, Malbec, or Zinfandel and two of my favorites might cost a bit more, but if you are only going to have one glass, lets’ make it one “big bad” glass of wine to savor & sip!

• Charles Smith – “Chateau Smith” Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 2008 Vintage Rock star Winemaker Charles Smith of K Vintners has done an outstanding job with this sweet Cabernet from Washington State. Big, bold and best of all SUPER SMOOTH! - $12.50 Glass
  



• Trapio – Bodegas La Purisima - 2006 Vintage Old Vine Monastrell – Yecla Spain Like a bold crimson fist wrapped in a smooth glove, un-grafted 80 year old vines and time in small new French make this a real bargain, one of the top 50 Wines in Spain! - $14.00 Glass

Fifth - Bubbles, Sparkles, Fizz, or Champagne… nothing says it’s time to celebrate quite like a glass of sparkling wine and why should the movies be any different! I highly suggest a reasonably priced bubbly needs to be on the wine list and it will pair wonderfully with almost all of the food! All grown up and still wanting a bit of that fizz from the soda fountain, try it in your vino for fun and class! Sparkling wines are a real success with a light cheese / fruit plate (which also gives someone an option besides fried items on the movie menu)! Two of my favorites for value & quality are:

• Segura Viduras – Brut Reserve - Cava – Spain Non-Vintage Light, medium dry, / brut style with lots of green apple flavor, this is a very refreshing and reasonably priced sparkling! - $900 Glass
  



• Greut Brut Rose Non Vintage Sparkling Wine – New Mexico – A lighter style rose from New Mexico. I love the bit of watermelon notes, and yes I said New Mexico, these guys are doing a great job – try a taste & you will want a second. - $12.00 Glass

Our movie going experience is changing, we now have 3D, IMAX, luxury all around and it is time for our movie theaters to step up to the plate and class up our beverage and wine choices to match! I recently watched the movie Annie (a blast from the 80s past) for the first time in years and noticed when Daddie Warbucks took Annie to the movies it was a BIG DEAL! He bought out the entire theater, but in the 30s the cinema was really the golden screen and watching Mr. Warbucks at his picture show, I just kept thinking to myself that the only thing he was missing was a nice big glass of vino! One aside, watching Annie as an adult, the humor was really very funny and I think Carol Brunette deserved an award (if she didn’t get one).

Cheers!

Christopher J. Cribb, CSW - GM/ Managing Director
Marquee Selections - Green, Global, Grapes
E – cjcribb@marquee.com M – 816.223.9201
W – http://www.marquee.com/ P – 1.888.MARQUEE (627-7833)
F – 913.217.9343 Marquee Selections on FB,
@Marqueewines on Twitter Christopher J. Cribb on Facebook & LinkedIn
Marquee Selections Blog - Notes From The Cribb

Five Great Ways To Use a Coffee Filter - Most Food/Wine Related!

Five Great Ways To Use a Coffee Filter - Most Food/Wine Related!

This is not a revolution of hope for America, nor a condemnation of the current political scheme, this my friends, is good common sense that just happens to touch on the world of food and wine. I blog and write about many things some plain, others a bit more esoteric, but this knowledge can be passed along and make life a little better, a little easier, and comes with a great price tag… FREE.

Use a Coffee

Filter to Remove Pieces of Cork / Cork Crumbles From Wine

I was down in Florida recently with a large group

of friends out for dinner on Atlantic Avenue in Del Ray Beach at 32 East Restaurant and encountered a wine related problem. I selected a nice value red wine from the list that had a bit of age to it (Rioja 2002) and the waiter proceeded to rip into the cork like it was a $8.99 synthetic… the cork started to crumble right away and those chunks went into the bottle as the other half of the cork was removed. No problem I thought, but the server went ahead and poured me a glass with large chunks and said “Sorry, there is nothing I can do with these older bottles…”

Ok, so I was annoyed, but here comes lesson one, I told the server this wasn’t going to work and kindly asked him to go get me a coffee filter from the kitchen. In these circumstances slowly pouring the red wine from the bottle kept the crumbling cork bits in the filter and out of my wine, a vast improvement to having a “cork mustache” after a few sips. I don’t recommend using this technique alone or on bottles with large amounts of sediment, but if the goal is to remove floating pieces of destroyed cork a simple coffee filter between the bottle and the glass will do the trip nicely!

Use a

Coffee Filter to Clean / Dry Wine Glasses / Crystal

Coffee filters are “lint free” so when you use these for cleaning on crystal, mirrors, windows, wine glasses etc… they pickup what they are supposed to without leaving behind extra fibers or lint. Each year in the fall I am involved with a great wine competition in the Kansas City area coordinated by Doug Frost (MS/MW) called The Jefferson Cup that looks to find the best wines from around the US (grapes of all varietals). As this blind tasting completion moves forward a team behind the scenes has to turn hundreds of racks of glasses to be ready for the next flights, the next day, etc… it just won’t do to have your glasses with lots of water spots on them or streaky and this is where I have seen the coffee filter (also called the glass cleaners best friend) do its magic so that the vessel to judge the next wine is inert with no spots, smears or

fibers… Your glassware need not be a Riedel big bowl if it is sparkling clean and dried correctly with no streaks!

Use a Coffee Filter to Protect Your China

With my wife, mother, and mother-in-law all “china addicts” (the plates / teacup type – not the country), you learn to live with lots of breakable things around you. As Megan and I have started to utilize some of our own fine China for dinner parties and various events I take special care in not doing ANYTHING careless that could lead to a chip, scratch or broken plate. If you have the nice felt inserts that go between the dishes that works very well, but let me say if you are looking for another great use for the Coffee Filter then use them to separate fine China when stacking. Doing this simple setup helps to prevent the possibilities of chipping or scratching as the dishes are stacked up and put away. I also use this trick when it comes time to pack boxes for a move across town or across the country. Compared to the price of the felt versions, coffee filters serve the same purpose for pennies instead of dollars. PS – Thinking about China got me dreaming of dinner at one of my favorite places, Staker’s Reserve on the Plaza in Kansas City drop in to find beautiful China all around the dining room (maybe even a coffee filter) and stop over to Halls Plaza China / Crystal to fill up your cabinet!

Use a

Coffee Filter to Line the bottom of a Potted Plant

With potted plants you need for them to be able to breathe and let out excess water, but the problem is that the soil rolls right out the bottom with it. If you take and include a coffee filter at the bottom of your potted plant before adding the potting soil and plant, you place a nice permeable layer in place that lets the water out, but keeps the soil In. Yes, I did just give advice on potted plants… I don’t have a green thumb, but this one was pretty easy.

Use a Coffee Filter to make GREAT COFFEE!!!

I might get called out by a bean baron on this one as I know that in making specialty coffee barista’s are not really using coffee filters a pot at a time, but if you buy good coffee from someone like my friends over at The Roasterie in Kansas City – you can also put that good coffee into a filter and make a great cup for everyone at the table. My preference is to grind the beans immediately before placing them into the filter and keep everything as “airtight” as possible. Grind away, make a great cup and enjoy; perfect for a Sunday morning to read the paper!

That seems like more than enough useful info about coffee filters for one day! In addition we need to share some Marquee Selections news that we are very excited about…

First, Marquee Selections has just gotten in the new vintage Marquee Classic GSM 2008 and Marquee Classic Riesling 2009 from Keith Brien at Marquee Australian Wines, two wonderful wines that are in stock and available right in time for your Thanksgiving feast!

Second, we keep having continued success as we delve deeper into the wines of Spain and Portugal… just this past month we had the Rio Real Reserva win “best in tasting” for a group of sommelier / buyers down South and it also received a 91 Point Score from Tastings.com, Top 10 wines under $15.00 Retail, Top Rated Portuguese wine! Finally let me pass along kudos and congratulations to our friends at Quintas Das Touquineras and Wines & Winemakers by Saven as the Clemen Reserva Vinho Verde was selected by Wine & Spirits Magazine as a part of their Top 100 Value Wines for 2010 – 92 Points! A very high honor (that last year Marquee Selections was a part of the list with the Caligiore Reserve Malbec), two years in a row to have part of our small/focused, green global portfolio in this list was a very nice honor!

Finally, Marquee is doing updates to our www.marquee.com website and brand imagery + has opened up our own Cellar door – “The Marquee Cellar” at www.themarqueecellar.com for direct sale purchases. If you are ready to put together a mixed case for the holidays – drop by The Marquee Cellar and place your order – Promo Code “MQBLOG” will get you 10% off. Also now available we offer cellar door pickups / deliveries in the Kansas City area… so send great wines to friends or for yourself across the globe/ bring it home, we aim to please.

Have a wonderful start to fall and you will be seeing more things soon from your friends at Marquee Selections including, new regions, additional wines and of course great information like out new WineWOD “Word of the Day” on FB & Twitter! Please share us with friends, there will be prizes along the way for those that help recruit others to the Marquee social media army!

Ciao!

~C.Cribb

Christopher J. Cribb, CSW

Marquee Wines
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