What does "velvet" mean, in the bouquet of a wine, anyway?

I have long described my favorite Bordeaux blend bouquet as containing "velvet," meaning velvet as a fabric, not as a vague reference to a wine's "smoothness." To me, "velvet" in that aromatic sense has a meaning that I cannot put into words. There is no reason to think that velvet fabric has a particular smell, unless perhaps it's the dye in the fabric, or the dust in it, and maybe that is it. But I doubt the wonderful thing I smell in good Bordeaux blends is due to a dye.

But read this, copied from K Vintner's description of its 2014 Royal City Syrah (a $140 wine):
"Wrapped in a regal robe. Aromas of black olive, morels, velvet theatre drapes waft up from the glass. Giving way to a deep long palate, black plum skin, cured meat, leather and forest floor. Compelling and complete. From a wine there is nothing more to ask. Another great vintage in the story that is Royal City."  - Charles Smith

First, notice there is no fruit mentioned in the bouquet. Just olives (OK, maybe olives are a fruit), mushrooms, and velvet. Then, notice the reference to "velvet," as if that is a smell we all recognize. So there is something here, but what?

Homework, everyone! Find a theater with a velvet curtain, and go inhale deeply of it, and report back...and look for that smell in good wines!

Fine Coffee: Burr Grinder versus Blade Grinder test:

​

​I. On Using a Burr Grinder for Coffee, and Why: ​

Thanks to Bob H who first told me why burr grinders are better than blade grinders, for making quality coffee. I researched this extensively, and carefully chose a burr grinder, and have just completed a taste/smell test ​comparing blade grinder to burr grinder ​(thanks to Jane for suggesting I do that before investing in a second burr grinder for our farmhouse).

Here's what you need to know, for any coffeemaking method which requires you to grind coffee beans (that includes, at least espresso and French Press (press pot) and drip-through-filter methods).

1. First, keep your coffee beans whole (​unground​)​, in a sealed container. I bought a glass jar with a glass lid that has a rubber seal and clamp lock, cheap at Target. If you leave your beans lying in an opened sack, they will lose their volatile oils and you will lose flavor and aromatics. I believe there is no need to freeze them, though--just seal them somehow and keep them in the dark​.

2. Second, don't grind your beans until you are ready (I mean, really ready) ​to make coffee (I use French press, so this means I boil the water first and only then grind the coffee). The goal is to minimize the time between grinding and drinking. The reason for this step is the same as in point 1: To keep your coffee fresh and to maximize the aromatics and taste. Grind size for espresso machines is finer, and grind size for French Press is coarser. Every palate is different, but I use 2 tablespoons of whole beans per 12 oz cup of coffee, and I steep for 2.5 minutes only (I'm a Supertaster, and bitter flavors absolutely kill me--I can't eat dark chocolate, Stevia and artificial sugars all taste bitter to me, and if you really want to make me angry, tie me a chair and pour tonic water into my mouth).​

3. About grinders: 

a. A blade grinder (which we used until recently) is cheap (about $15) ​and it does grind up the beans, but it makes every size particle from "dust to boulders." This prevents consistent flavor extraction: The dust over-extracts and you get bitter flavors, and the boulders don't divulge as much flavor, so you get a strange concoction of too-bitter and inadequately-extracted coffee.Also, the rapid action of the spinning blade can heat up the coffee grounds, robbing them of their aromatics and flavor too soon.​

b. A conical burr grinder has two counter-rotating cone-shaped grinding wheels (made of either ceramic or steel), which grind the beans into more-consistent size pieces. A good burr grinder operates quickly (only takes a few seconds to grind beans for a cup of coffee) and, paradoxically at the same time, slowly (the grinding action happens slowly--the gears turn rather slowly--and this prevent the beans from heating up, which can release aromatics and flavors prematurely). ​A good burr grinder also lets you select the grind size you want. (I think the grinder controls the grind size by changing the distance between the two burr grinder wheels.) Beware! Some so-called "burr grinders" are nothing of the sort when you take them apart--you need to thoroughly research the grinder you want, and read carefully what coffee experts say about each grinder. I chose the Capresso Infinity # 560.01 (about $75 on Amazon now); the new model is the 560.04 and it's about $100. Most sub-$100 burr grinders have very negative reviews, so if you go this way, don't skimp or you will be wasting money. I chose the model I did because it is classed with the other good $100+ grinders, but due to its being end-of-life (in terms of a product's natural life cycle), it's cheaper now.

My grinder has stainless steel grinding wheels, and an easy setting from coarse-to-fine (you merely rotate the upper coffee bean holding chamber, to select grind size), and a timer switch for grinding on-off (once you hear that all the beans have been ground, you advance the timer to "zero" and it shuts off). 

And you will need a brush to keep the burr grinder wheels clean. Here's the grinder on Amazon (the price has gone back up, it appears--it's $93 for Amazon Prime now):

https://www.amazon.com/Capresso-560-01-Infinity-Grinder-Black/dp/B0000AR7SY

4. The Test: So I made 6 oz of coffee, using the same beans, same quantity of beans, and same water and press time, with both our blade grinder and the above burr grinder (using two identical French Presses). I used, and like, Luckman Coffee's "Chiapas Altura" Mexican coffee (they're in Woodland). It's a lighter roast (so it's less bitter), and has a hint of chocolate and great coffee flavor.

It was no contest at all: The burr-ground coffee was much darker. It had much more aromatics. In the mouth, it was much richer than the blade-ground coffee; it had more body and made the blade-ground coffee taste thin by comparison. Wow-what a difference! I'm a believer. If you need a holiday gift idea for a friend who loves coffee but is using a blade grinder, the Capresso burr grinder might be a great idea.

Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish

So, it sounded interesting, on NPR. Susan Stamberg's mother makes a cranberry relish for Thanksgiving, and while many people retreat in horror at the sight of it (it looks like a cross between Pepto Bismol and something that a sick person might regurgitate), most were purported to, upon tasting it, proclaim it excellent. I like cranberries, and I like horseradish, so we gave it a go this year.

The final word:

Just.
Don't.
Make.
It.

Just don't.

Raw cranberries, onion, sour cream, sugar and horseradish, after being food-processed, frozen, and thawed, just don't compute.

Just. Don't. Do. It. ;)  And don't believe everything you read.

Pairing wine and cheese, the techie way

I have no words. Except maybe this one: Wow!

Read this!

2010 Reynvaan Family Vineyards The Rocks Syrah!!!

Wow! Spectator gave this 95 points, and the wine deserves it fully. $150 at Ox in Portland, with a friend from Chicago tonight (though retail is close to $55).

The wine opens with a quick punch of plums, boysenberry, and minerals, and after the first sip the finish is amazing--it just goes and goes. The bouquet's a delight. The wine's finish wasn't as compelling later, but through the entire bottle, over a space of two hours, it was a complete delight to drink.

This is one more data point re the wonderful soil (or, really, lack thereof) in The Rocks (south of Walla Walla), for my money one of the US' most-compelling and trending AVAs now. Bravo!

Here is K&L's blurb on the wine.

2007 Cayuse En Chamberlin Syrah: tasting notes

We had this wine for my birthday yesterday. First, let me show you a rating and review, from 2011:

100 points Wine Enthusiast

 In a stunning lineup of Cayuse Syrahs, the En Chamberlin wins by a nose. It’s smooth and silky, with a tongue-bending blend of flavors that include blood and iron, umami and salt, at first overtaking the pure fruit, but adding tremendous depth and power. The endless finish unfolds into a wine with exotic spices and complex layering.  (2/2011)

Parker gave it 98 and Spectator gave it 94, saying it would peak through 2020.

When our bottle was opened and poured, there was a brief bouquet of nice fruits, and then a smell of some kind of chemical showed through; it was a wine flaw and mildly negative. On the palate the wine was OK but very plain, not showing much of anything. There was a long finish but it was of alcohol only. Both of us agreed this was not a 100 point wine. We swirled it in our glasses a lot, hoping to wake it up, but it didn't change, all through the dinner. This bottle was a poor pairing for a great dinner; it fell very far short of expectations. Later on, the wine was throwing out the smell of celery, which was an improvement. And at the very end--the last couple of milliliters of wine in my glass, after an hour and a half and the dinner long over and when we were getting ready to leave--the wine had finally blown off the chemical smell and I smelled and tasted cherries. Who knows whether this experience would be repeated in another bottle, and it is dangerous to overdraw conclusions from just one bottle, but I am leaning towards drinking my Cayuse within five years, and not letting it get nine years old, no matter what the reviews say. I know that Cayuse wines have characteristically very high pH, and protective sulfites in a wine don't work as well when pH is high, which suggests perhaps the wines will be better when relatively younger and worse when older.

FYI: I paid about $85 for this bottle, from the winery.

The bucolic farm

Some of you think life on a farm is bucolic and peaceful and wonderful. About 2% of the time, it is that, if you are very lucky. Today, I found myself with my back to an absolutely demolished raspberry bed--chewed down to nubs--and my front to a deer fence crushed by a fallen tree, only two days since I last walked the fence, which was perfect at that time. So you get fence repair tools and materials, and a saw. You cut the fallen tree at the spot where the heavy end can fall outside your fence, and you horse around the lighter end, to get it off your fence. Then, as you stand in 4" deep muddy muck, the rains start up again. The sharp ends of barbed wire cut you as you make patch after patch, on a five-wire barbed wire fence over crushed Davis field fence. An hour later, you have patched the deer fence, but it looks so crappy compared to itself when it was new that you are embarrassed. You realize that trees are not these majestic, permanent, botanical silent sentinels displaying Nature's majesty--no, they are instead diabolical time bombs waiting to go off by crashing, in numbers you cannot believe, onto whatever is important to you. You realize that the "experts" who know the country well--the ones who said, "Oh, if you have a dog, you will never be bothered by deer" are idiots. Ah, yes, the glory of the farm.