One of my favorite whiskies to enjoy anytime (but especially on St Paddy's Day) is Green Spot by Mitchell & Sons of Dublin. This is a Single Pot Distilled Irish Whiskey, so the flavors are a bit more bold and round than your mass-market whiskies, which are often triple distilled in large columns to accommodate their commercial production sizes. This is a sipping whiskey, typically made from a blend of 7 to 10 year old spirits. It is not so much intended as a shooter; I like to enjoy with a couple of ice-cubes in an Old Fashioned glass. The ice will slowly chill and mix, softening the alcohol, but also allowing the subtle wood and sherry-cask flavors and aromas to come forward. Green Spot was originally produced exclusively for the Mitchell family. They were traders in Dublin in the early 1800s, and some of what they dealt with included the trade of whiskey and wine. Much of the wine being traded at the time was port and sherry, and almost all of that was traded exclusively in barrel. This meant there were a lot of barrels available to be filled and used for aging whiskey or for trade going outbound. By selecting certain barrels the practice of finishing the whiskey with a particular flavor meant that you could achieve a style. Since sherry barrels have a lot of flavor that will work well with pot stilled whiskey, these barrels have been favored for many years. The Green Spot, while aged in new and ex-Bourbon barrels, gets its power in part from being finished in ex-Sherry casks. Four generations later, the company is still in the wine and spirits business, under the stewardship of Jonathan Mitchell and his son Robert. This is a complex and delicious Irish whiskey, but one that is still generally widely available - if you know the right store. I recommend that if you need a wee bit of whiskey tonight, maybe while watching the movie above, then this could be a great choice in your glass. As always, though, please keep your consumption to a reasonable and moderate level.
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I spoke with my friend and wine industry associate Elod Adam, today. Elod and I have known each other for a number of years as he once lived in Connecticut and we worked for the same company. He now lives with his family in Romania, just a few hours from the Ukraine border. He is a wine importer, a wine judge and a MW Candidate.
A few days ago, I reached out to see how he and his family were getting on and what they were seeing with the crisis - they are very close to the war in Ukraine. The conversation very quickly turned to a number of topics related to people and organizations with connections to the wine trade. The information was so personal I felt it would be helpful to share some of this and we agreed to get on a zoom and help spread a bit of what he is experiencing. We discuss the current situation and what he is seeing with the refugee crisis, as well as how his community and some associates of his are stepping in to help as best they can. Please check out the video above with our conversation. I am also posting some additional notes and links below related to what we discussed. We are all feeling the pinch at the pump and watching the news with disgust, but keep in mind we are a very long way way from this disaster. There are many people in the zone and beyond who are impacted, and many, many people who are helping. As Elod says, it is heart warming to see the massive response by ordinary people across Europe to step up and step in to help those who have basically lost everything in just a few short days. It has truly been an all hands in effort to help. The links below are just a few examples of where you can lend support. I do not think that it really needs mentioning, but anything, anything is appreciated as just about everything is needed. I am not endorsing any one in particular, just bringing these avenues to light for anyone wishing to help in their own way.
During our conversation, Elod mentions his friend and associate Zoltán Szövérdfi-Szép, who is a support person with Ceva de Spus. Below is the follow-up email that Zoltan sent to us after our conversation, yesterday - I think it is pretty clear about what he is doing...
Dear Előd,
I write this e-mail in English in case you want to forward it to your international friends/partners. I had a zoom meeting with the representatives of people with disabilities and their families from Ukraine. The VGO Coalition (I am in contact with Yuliia Klepets) has 118 local NGO's all over the country which are active in the disability field and they are supporting around 14.000 families with children/adults with disabilities. Also I am in contact with Danulo Kapral from Dzherelo Center for children with disabilities from Liov. They need money for medication because one of the biggest issue is the lack to access to medication. Their monthly budget is around 8-9000 eur. We also offered to the ngo's the possibility to rescue families and accommodate them in Timisoara and assuring access to therapies for their children with disabilities, but the families don't want to leave yet. On one hand it is hard for them to move, on the other hand they are afraid that if they leave the country they won't get the disability allowance and the fees for personal assistants. So they are living in basements and bathrooms, because those are the safest places. I have the permission to attach the document with the photos. So basically as a first step they need money to be able to buy the very necessary things. The needs are different, medications are different, this is why the most effective way to help them is with bank transfer. Also if they will decide to come in Romania we are happy to find solutions for them. All the money we will receive will be sent to the disability organizations or service providers from Ukraine and, of course, for the Romanian companies we can make sponsoring contracts. Our accounts in EUR and USD are: Asociația Ceva de SPus EUR: RO36 BACX 0000 0009 4543 5001 USD: RO09 BACX 0000 0009 4543 5002 For RON we are waiting for the dedicated account, but we can use our current account as well: RO63 BACX 0000 0009 4543 5000 All the donations will be sent to the NGOs in Ukraine. Of course I can give the contacts of the VGO Coalition and they can send the money directly to them. On Friday I will make the first transfer and I will let you know about the situation and how is it easier. Thank you so much for your support Zoli Zoltán Szövérdfi-Szép Support person Asociația Ceva de Spus www.cevadespus.ro www.facebook.com/cevadespus 0040 721 613 521
The Rovinhud wine show, scheduled for May 6-8, has been working for years to provide assistance to those in need. This year (and hopefully there is a show this year), looks to be a year with special importance and need for relief on the highest level.
If you cannot get to Romania, the event will be held in English on gotomeeting.com and will be broadcast on the facebook page as well - www.facebook.com/rovinhud.ro
The Red Cross is another organization making an impact.
Support both at home and abroad is of course well known. ​ Click here to view the red Cross page on Ukraine
And here is a link to an article I found about an 11 year-old boy that travelled 600 miles across Ukraine to Slovakia...phone number written on his hand. Not sure if it is the same as the one Elod mentions in our discussion, but why do we need more than one - actually, why do we need one of these to happen?
​​Click here to read the article on Sky News
Here is a link to the local website for the town he lives in. Attached is a short post about the crisis, but it gives you an idea of what they are working to do there. The town as well as many local people and local companies are supporting refugees by renting places for them to stay and transition through. Click on the English language link or use Google for the translation.
I recently had the opportunity to participate in an author's night with the Mark Twain House in Hartford. I was joined by Cecelia Tichi, whose book, Gilded Age Cocktails, was the focus of the discussion. This is part of a regular virtual series that the Twain House began near the onset of Covid, in order to maintain their audience and fund raising links. By the look of it, they have been successful as they have done nearly 200 events and we had well over 100 attendees online with use for this event. Mark Twain coined the phrase "The Gilded Age", btw - he wrote a book of the same name, so this all makes perfect sense. For this date, I guess I was brought in as the drink "expert" (which of course I am!), but what wasn't really conveyed to me until just before we held the event, was that I was actually going to be the interviewer - and needed to fill about 45 minutes of discussion. This little nugget was dropped on me a day or so before the event, and I had to do a little scrambling to figure out what I was going to ask and say - initially I thought I was just making a couple of drinks to illustrate some recipes from the book. Needless to say, my worries turned out to be unnecessary as Cecelia was more than happy to carry the conversation. She has written a book that is very quick and easy to read and is filled with stories about people of the time, especially women, who were key in the development of the cocktail during this period - the late 1800s to early 1900s - essentially before Prohibition. I also made a few of the recipes from the book while we were on the interview, and we discussed the ins and outs of a few timepiece recipes as well as a few that have transgressed time, such as the Martini. All of the recipes in Cecilia's book are fairly easy to understand and most home bars will have the majority of ingredients - remember these were somewhat simpler times and just in the early days of real brand building for many liquor manufacturers. If you would care to watch the broadcast, please find a link to the show here (I promise, its not that boring, really), and I might even suggest making a cocktail or two before you get into it - perhaps a great classic martini is in order! And perhaps more important than listening to me talk about cocktails, if you would like to help the Mark Twain House and get yourself a copy of the book - I believe they have some copies left to acquire - please click here. You might even consider picking up a book or two from the man himself - I hear he was good with the pen. Don't worry, I am not compensated for any sales of this book, just being generous with my time, and NEWA is not affiliated with the Twain House, either... And just to make this official...
Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign and its Travelers Arts Impact Grant program, with major support from The Travelers Foundation. For more information call 860-247-0998 or visit marktwainhouse.org. We have a level 3 Wine student that is coordinating a tasting group in the Hartford area. My understanding is that they plan to meet in West Hartford Center on Mondays, with occasional meet-ups in Glastonbury. The focus here will primarily be WSET Level 3, but there will also be some students in the CMS programs participating, so the tasting protocols will most likely follow both camps and tasting grids. This is obviously a great way to learn and get some tasting experience as well as share some costs on wine samples. If you or anyone you know is interested in joining this group, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the organizer. I have had a few requests to both give some challenging study questions or to give some examples of what might appear on the more advanced level exams as questions. There have also been a few conversations with other students regarding how I study for advanced level questions. I thought I would bundle these together in one single initial article and then continue on with a series each time I post. I will answer these questions here, but in the future I will simply post the question(s) initially and then follow up the following time with answers. This will give those who are studying a chance to answer on their own, and then we can discuss as needed. So here goes, and remember these are fairly advanced level questions...answers are on the bottom if you want to challenge yourself at first.
1 - Name three Chateaux from the Cantenac commune which were classified in 1855 and state there classification. 2 - Name four wards in the Stellenbosch district of South Africa. 3 - For which grape variety is Ull de Llebra a synonym? 4 - Name three Grand Cru villages of the Cote de Blancs. 5 - What is the maximum sugar content allowed for Brut style Champagne? (answer in grams per liter) 6 - Name 6 sub-districts of the Willamette Valley. 7 - What is the maximum permitted alcoholic strength of a distillate from the second distillation in the Cognac region? 8 - What is the main flavoring ingredient in Suze? 9 - Which house produces Quinta de Terre Feita Port? Ok, so first a little about how I study, and how I study specifically for certain styles of questions. To begin, it is necessary to know what style of questions you will be tasked with on a certification exam. For those studying the introductory levels of WSET, the questions are in the format of multiple choice answers. One piece of advice I often give students is that they should be prepared for questions that are asked with multiple option answers (1 and 2 only, 1-2-3, all of the above). The Brits are big fans of layering the question answer options, so it is absolutely necessary to have a good understanding of the theoretical material in order to answer correctly. You cannot just guess at many of the questions. There are also a lot of questions that are asked in a double-negative or slightly twisty way. Again, the best advise is to read the whole questions and understand what is being asked. This is the same for upper level exams where the answers are in written response. For those studying WSET Level 3 or Diploma, as well as CMS Advanced and MW candidates, almost all of the questions responses will be in written format. The best tip I ever received in this process was to make sure I read the question, understood exactly what is being asked and then only answered the question. Don't get caught in doing a brain dump of facts you think are related to the question, as this may not really answer the question. Practice writing long-form answers or mini essays is the best practice you can employ for this. Getting yourself familiar with writing, writing under pressure and timed, will be a critical asset for being successful in any of these exams. Writing a longer answer out also forces you to look at more material and a broader scope of resources, which will help build your theoretical knowledge base. Ok, so once I know what type of questions and exam format I will be facing, it is important to study properly. As stated, I like to answer questions in long form, and this means knowing a lot of material across a spectrum of concepts and study areas. For me this helps to build a solid foundation of base knowledge, and it forces me to be able to think across topics and then pull these ideas together in a focused answer. Keep in mind, some answers may simply be a regurgitation of facts, while others will task you to pull in multiple layers of answers to get the answer. Some of the tactics I employ in studying include the following:
This is just a taste of what and how I study. It is a layered approach and is generally designed for a more advanced certification goal. But, anyone can take pieces of this and make it work for them. I study in my way, though, so what works for me is not always going to be the best for you. The single best thing for anyone though, is to make a plan and stick with it. ANSWERS!!! 1 - Name three Chateaux from the Cantenac commune which were classified in 1855, and state their classification. So for this question you need to know what the 1855 Classification was, where it was, and what Cantenac is. The 1855 Classification was done for the Paris Exposition, and ranked the Chateau of Bordeaux's left bank and Sauternes based on their common selling price, at the time. It was assumed that the higher the market was willing to pay for a wine, the better it must be. Cantenac is part of the Margaux commune, and is often referred to as Cantenac-Margaux. Wines in the classification were sorted in a ranking of growths or "crus" from 1st to 5th. The Chateau that could be used to answer this question are:
2 - Name four wards in the Stellenbosch district of South Africa. This answer could include the following wards of Stellenbosch: Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills, Simonsberg-Stellenbosch and Vlottenburg 3 - For which grape variety is Ull de Llebra a synonym? This is one of the many names for Tempranillo, Ull de Llebre is used frequently in the Peñedes region of northeastern Spain. 4 - Name three Grand Cru villages of the Cote de Blancs. The Côte des Blancs includes six villages classified as grand cru. One way to remember them is using "CA COOL"
5 - What is the maximum sugar content allowed for Brut style Champagne? (answer in grams per liter) The maximum amount allowed today is 12 grams of sugar per litre for a Champagne Brut. 6 - Name 6 sub-districts of the Willamette Valley. There are actually 9 AVAs, currently, in the Willamette Valley, these include...
7 - What is the maximum permitted alcoholic strength of a distillate from the second distillation in the Cognac region? The alcoholic strength of the newly made spirit from the second distillation in Cognac, also known as the bonne chauffe, may not exceed 72.4% abv. 8 - What is the main flavoring ingredient in Suze? The main ingredient is gentian root, specifically the species gentiana lutea (Great Yellow Gentian), which imparts the bitter, vegetal flavors the drink is known for. 9 - Which house produces Quinta de Terra Feita Port? Taylor-Fladgate owns and produces wine from this property, which is located on the west bank of the River Pinhão. Well, it's has been a few months since I have had the opportunity to sit down and write anything other than emails and data-codes, which is not really what wine guys do (except now we do!), but here it is. Mid-July, and its either raining or hot as blazes; welcome to the new, tropical version of the New England summer (thank you climate change!).
So, what have I been doing? Well, to start, a lot of things in both the work life and in the personal life. In the past few months I/we have...
The first thing to note is that we have loaded a bunch of new courses up for the new WSET Academic year, which begins August 1. If you are looking for dates to enroll in new classes for either late summer or early fall, all of the course pages have been added for the online classes through October. We will complete the rest of the class links in the next week or two, but the next few months are currently available. For the moment the classes will remain exclusively in the online format. Getting space to teach is still challenging, but also the availability of the online classes seems to appeal to most of the students I communicate with. The biggest benefit is the flexible schedule of the courses and assignments. It really is an advantage to be able to log on when you are available rather than having to sit a class at a specific time. If we were in a larger market with a greater pool of student-candidates, then we might look to adding more in-person sessions, but for the time being the online courses seem to be the way to go. This also allows us to keep operating expenses down, and therefore offer courses at a very competitive price. Speaking of which... There were price increase from WSET to the APP's for the new academic year starting August 1. These included increases on course registrations, material fees, and exam fees. But at NEWA we decided to hold our 2020/21 prices through the end of the calendar year, at least. This may change if the British Pound gets any stronger against the dollar, but for now WE ARE NOT INCREASING OUR PRICES. Hopefully this resonates as there have been price increases almost entirely across the board in our world. NEWA is doing its part to hold back inflation, though - at least for the moment. Hopefully everyone is having a great summer, and is able to find a few minutes to get some time with family and friends, or simply to yourself to enjoy the weather (when it's not raining), some wine, or a cocktail. For my part, I will be making sure I find the time to post more tasting notes, interesting articles, and announcements on current study opportunities. Cheers - BMitch New England Wine Academy is please to host April's monthly Academy class: Get Your Gamay On, which of course focuses on a single grape from multiple regions in Central France - Gamay.
Gamay is the grape of Beaujolais, but is also the grape of parts of the Loire and elsewhere. Having a well-deserved renaissance, Gamay is a cultivar that has been maligned and heralded depending on where you look in history and who you ask. But for this class Brian Mitchell will dive deep into the wine, discuss the regions, styles and why it should be in your glass. We have once again partnered with our friends at the Wise Old Dog to offer a tasting kit to go along with the class. You can purchase the kit at this link. Six Bottle Sampler: 'Up Your Gamay' ($100) And for more info and to register for the Academy class on April 21 (FOR JUST $10) - follow this link. Thanks and see you on the 21st. Here is just a friendly reminder about some key courses and registration dates for anyone looking to enroll in certain classes. I mention these as a few of the courses are only offered on a limited basis, and as we approach the latter part of the WSET Academic Calendar (ends July 31), it is important to keep these in mind if you wish to participate. Please keep in mind that all registrations must be made 8 days prior to the start date of the course. You can find full details by clicking on the "Classes" tab on the website. Also keep in mind that NEWA offers returning student discounts on Levels 2 and 3, corporate rates for groups of 10 or more, and a free 1 year access to the Brainscape study site with each enrollment. WSET Level 1 SAKE This course has two options before the end of July:
WSET LEvel 1 WINE This course has three options before the end of July:
WSET Level 2 Wine This course has multiple dates still available, but the next classes are:
Click here to view the course page and register WSET Level 3 WINE Four sessions remain in this academic year:
WSET Level 2 SPIRITS There are just two sessions left for this course:
Yes, sometimes I do talk about things other than wine...and a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Sean Lawson of Lawson Finest Liquids in Vermont, and we discussed his extraordinary beers among other things. All this was in conjunction with an event that I participated in, and we were fortunate enough to have some fantastic seasonal additions to our line-up as well as a few of the classics.
The one thing I will mention about these beers is that I (along with a lot of other folks) are often fatigued by the over-hopped and thick-hazy IPA styles that seem to be everywhere. Interesting to taste, but often tough to drink. I know there is a lot of popularity in these beers, but sometimes you just need something with more balance rather than just being in your face. Lawson's has this balance factor across the range of styles. Sean and I discuss this in the videos below, but I think it is a key factor in his success and the lasting popularity of his beers They are balanced and very drinkable - even above 8% abv, which means you can have more than one, and people will come back for them again, and again. I broke the discussion into two parts: first part focuses on the back-story and general knowledge of Lawson's, and the second part dives into some of the beers as we taste a selection. Enjoy.
Speaking Session Part 1 with Sean Lawson
Speaking Session Part 2 with Sean Lawson
It was not that long ago (about 15 years in fact) that Australian wines dominated the shelves of American wine shops. So what happened? Well, a couple things...
First, critter labels. This is the category of wines known for the animals on the labels rather than the actual producer. Many of these labels became popular in the early 2000s, mimicking and following the big driver brands coming out of Australia at the time. Unfortunately, many of these wines were not only low in price but tended to be low in quality as well. Easy drinking and popular (some would say trendy) but their abundance started to shift with the Australian's focus on other markets - but more on that in a minute. The other things that changed in the early 2000s, was that Americans had been enamoured with Shiraz in the late 90s for a period of time, but then Sideways the movie came out, and not only put a slow knife in the back of Merlot, but it also had a ripple effect on other grapes, as well. Pinot Noir has dominated shelves for years (and I am not arguing about this too much as I love Pinot Noir), but it has resulted in a lot of Americans thinking that Pinot Noir should taste more like Cab Sauv rather than elegant Pinot Noir. A lot of this has to do with the fact that many large commercial producers tend to add grapes (like all that leftover Syrah and Merlot out there) to their Pinot Noir in order to build up the color, tannins and body (all things good quality Pinot Noir tends to not have too much of), in order to satisfy a middle ground of styles and consumer interest. Blah The other big thing that happened was that the Australians took their eye off the American market for a minute. China became a massive market for the Australians and life was good for a number of years. Then a couple of things happened: climate change induced fires, and some dumb-ass Aussie politician blaming Covid on the Chinese. Massive wildfires over a number of years, caused by an increase in temps and a lack of water, has severely damaged the output of Australian vineyards the past decade. They still make wine, and plenty of it, but the fight for increasingly precious water resources has put an immense amount of pressure on the high volume producers in marginal areas of production. Oh, and then there was that politician, whose comments basically cut the Chinese pipe-line off overnight. Countless containers of Australian wine were exported to China for years, and there were expensive campaigns to promote Australian wine across China - much of paid for by the Australian Wine Bureau. But, essentially that ended as a comment-turned-insult has led to a change in attitude among the Chinese drinking public. Today, we are seeing a slow shift back in attention back to Australian wine, and why not? They have great vineyards, many of which are very old and produce extraordinary wine. The value of the wine is relatively stable and on par with our own wine costs, if not better. And the wines taste like what Americans like to drink. Personally, I think a whole generation of young wine professionals has missed out on the opportunity to really explore what Australia has to offer and take advantage of offering their clients and guests some fantastic wines. Unfortunately this is due to the fact that the Australians shifted their focus away from the US market for a long time, and so they have themselves to blame, in part. But, we as a drinking community and as a professional wine community really owe it to ourselves to revisit Australian wines and (re)discover the beauty and depth that is achievable in the country. They do have some of the oldest vines on the planet, diverse climatic regions, easy to understand labels, and all the grapes we like to drink - and then some (hello Semillon!) Here is my short list of what you can do this weekend to become better acquainted with Australian wines... 1 - Watch this video
2 - Listen to this Podcast
3 - Go to your local wine shop and have them order in some Vasse Felix Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Margaret River Region in Western Australia. There are several levels to choose from. You can get the Filius range for about $20-25, or step to the Premier range for about $35-40, per bottle. Either way these wines are fantastic. Well made and from a region that is literally at the end of the Earth. The Margaret River is located at the cross-roads of the Indian and Southern Oceans, have ancient soils and historical vines. Their chief winemaker is Virginia Willcock who has been at the winery for 29 years, and really knows the terroir, the vines, and how to make the best of these elements translate to extraordinary wine. Take advantage of this and enjoy something different, yet familiar.
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ABOUT THE Author
Brian Mitchell runs The New England Wine Academy, and is responsible for the content of this blog. With 30 years of drinks industry experience, Brian has learned a few things, but everyday he is learning more. This blog helps to bring that knowledge to you. Archives
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