I always get confused when I’m picking out a bottle of sparkling wine.  Do I prefer Brut or Extra Dry?  I know one is sweet, and the other is not.  The logical approach is that extra dry would not be the sweeter of the two, but the logical approach does not work in this case.  I found an article that explains the variances in the sweetness of Champagnes and posted my findings below.

Brut-A dry wine, that is most drinkers will not taste any sweetness.

Extra Dry-Most people should taste a hint, but not an abundance of sweetness.

Sec-These wines have a higher level of sweetness that is obvious to most palates.

Demi-Sec-The level of sweetness rivals a dessert wine.

Doux-A wine that is extremely sweet, each liter contains at least 50 grams of residual sugar, whatever that means.

Keep in mind that a sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it is grown in that region of France.  Also keep in mind that there are some amazing sparklings out there that are not Champagne.  Try a Prosecco this New Year instead.  If you like Italian wines, pick up a bottle of Spumante.  Sparkling from Spain goes by the name of Cava.   Whatever incarnation you choose, keep in mind that big bottles are fun, and sparklings are readily available in Magnum and Jeroboam (Double-Magnum) sizes.

And I’m not talking about the holidays. We had the pleasure of sampling a couple varieties of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau Thursday night before Pentasul’s Christmas Dinner. I have to applaud the marketing they’ve done with this wine. When we popped the cork, I felt like a little kid seeing his first Santa Claus of the season. This year’s Georges Deboeuf is wonderful! Someday, Fiona and I will plan a trip to France and participate in the “race” described below. This year, I’m venturing to Spec’s for a case.

As the clock strikes midnight on the third Thursday of November, the new vintage of Beaujolais , Beaujolais Nouveau, is released to the world! Over 60 million bottles make the trek to Paris for worldwide distribution, of which Germany is the leading importer. This is a young wine (only 6 weeks old), grown from the Gamay grape, and is very fruity, light-bodied, and virtually tannin-free making for an extremely easy-to-drink red wine. It is best served chilled to really bring the fruit forward and is a popular complement to Thanksgiving dinners, in part due to its annual release date and in part due to its food-friendliness.

According to a French law passed in 1985, Beaujolais Nouveau may not be released earlier than the third Thursday of November. As a result, tradition and custom have set in to make the annual release race of this much loved wine a fun-filled event. Starting with the hand-picking of the grapes in the Beaujolais growing region (part of Burgundy ), followed by carbonic maceration, pressing, and fermentation and on to speedy bottling all to culminate in the midnight release on the third Thursday of November. Next vintners race to see whose Beaujolais Nouveau will be the first to fill the bars and bistros of the world awaiting the new vintage. They have employed all methods of transport as part of the fun and sport – from trucks to trains, jets to hot air balloons to rush their vintage to the front of the uncorking lines. Banners proclaiming, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!” – “The New Beaujolais has arrived!” are scattered throughout wine shops, enticing those who are seeking a light-hearted, fruit-filled wine to decorate their holiday tables, and for a mere $6-10 a bottle, the decoration comes fairly cheap!

The above information was pasted from an email my wife sent out to a friend asking for a good Thanksgiving wine. I would give proper citation, but I have no idea where she found it.

A 40 year-old woman was arrested and her 11 month-old daughter was placed in protective custody after an officer witnessed her give her child a bottle she had filled with wine. Kathryn Bowen has been released after being charged with endangering the welfare of a minor for the incident that occurred at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. The mother claimed she gave the baby wine to help her sleep.

Want to dine at one of Wine Spectator’s award winning restaurants? Good luck. It’s hard to get a table because there are no tables. Osteria L’Intrepido was given the magazine’s Award of Excellence in the August 2008 edition. There’s one small problem. The restaurant doesn’t exist.

Robin Goldstein, author of The Wine Trials, submitted an application along with the $250 fee and an imaginary wine list for consideration. The main wine list was comprised of wines that had scored well in the magazine’s rating system. Conversely, the reserve list was purposefully composed of wines that received poor reviews from the magazine.

How did he do it? Goldstein isn’t going into any details, but Wine Spectator says it called the phone number on multiple occasions only to receive a message. There were also reviews for Osteria L’Intrepido posted on Chowhound.com. Thomas Matthews, a representative for the magazine, said that the wine list submitted was worthy of the award if it had existed. He further went on to state that, “This act of malicious duplicity reminds us that no one is completely immune to fraud.” The magazine has removed the restaurant from its website.

Obviously, Goldstein’s hoax was developed to prove a point. On his website, he claims, “If Google, Chowhound, and a couple of unanswered phone calls suffice to verify not just the existence of a restaurant but also the authenticity of its wine list, then it’s not clear what role the critic is playing.” Turns out the Award of Excellence isn’t as prestigious as it seems. Two-thirds of the restaurants that apply receive the award. There are currently over 4000 recipients on the 2008 list. At $250 apiece, that translates to $1 million in revenue for the publication.

Jeff Gordon is selling wine? NASCAR’s famed number 24 is offering five varieties (priced at $40-70) for sale at jeffgordonwines.com. Someone fire the marketing clown that came up with this idea. I have nothing against NASCAR. I have friends that watch and have even tuned in to the occasional race. I realize that Jeff Gordon is not your typical stock-car driver, but this is a complete mismatch. NASCAR is beer territory, where Bud and Busch reign supreme. I just don’t see this working. Gordon seems like a nice enough guy. He’s proven himself over the years to be one of the best drivers ever. He has 81 wins and 4 NASCAR cup victories, but this decision leaves me at a loss.

The Senior British Open is underway this weekend in Troon, Scotland, and one of my favorite golfers of all time has plenty to celebrate with, if he should win. Craig Stadler, known to many as “The Walrus” because of his stocky build and handlebar mustache, aced the 123 yard par three dubbed the “Postage Stamp” because of its size. Stadler, a wine enthusiast, won a bottle for each yard, a little over 10 cases when you do the math. Let’s hope he can’t collect the prize until after he turns in his card on Sunday. Of course, none of the articles I found answered the most important question. What kind of wine did he win?

My first exposure to Lil Wayne coincided with moving to Houston. One of his aliases is Weezy F. Baby, very similar to the Weeze or Weezy that I get from my last name, Wiesehan. A month later, when our school started receiving New Orleans kids, I was immersed into Lil Wayne’s world. So, I was quite familiar with him when the song “Lollipop” hit the charts. He celebrated his album release party just down the road at Hush Nightclub, and Houston in general has embraced him and his music.

“Lollipop” has taken Wayne from the top of the rap scene to the top of the world. His album, The Carter III is at the top of the charts and has sold close to 2 million copies in just four weeks. “Lollipop” is the #1 single in airplay and #3 overall. Weezy F. Baby has plenty of reason to celebrate.

And what’s the best way to celebrate? Champagne! But not any old bottle will do when you’re Lil Wayne, it needs to be really special. Enter Halo Champagne, a joint venture with Milestone Brands and Voirin-Jumel Vineyards. Wayne’s Halo brand makes its first appearance in the video for “Lollipop,” and will be available to the public sometime in the fall.

There will be four varieties corked under the name Halo. Halo Brut, contains various flavors and a citrus finish, with hints of lemon cream and roasted hazelnut. Halo Brut Vintage features a classic, creamy consistency and a stronger mix of lemon blossoms and almonds. Halo Rose, a combination of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, offers an aroma of pomegranate, crushed raspberries, and mint. Finally, Halo Pinnacle is a fruity Chardonnay blend, capped off by hints of lime-tree flower and roasted hazelnuts.

Wayne’s French partner, Voirin-Jumel, is recognized as one of the finest makers of Chardonnay-based champagne. The company, based in the Grand Cru Village of Cramant in Northeast France, has been known traditionally for artisanal champagne making. An internet search prices their current products at about $50, so Halo will not come cheap.

Today’s biggest wine news is that Spain is projected to overtake France as the world’s largest wine producer by 2015 unless they can turn things around. The AP article cited several reasons for the shift in power. One issue is that the French just aren’t drinking as much wine. The trend is seen in younger citizens and is contributed to the ban of wine advertising in French media. Another explanation appears to arise from increased marketing and innovative labeling and packaging from other distributers. The market has changed, and the French have failed to keep up with the new trends, relying on tradition and prestige to carry them through. Spain does have the larger wine-making area, so it’s understandable that they would produce more wine.

However, they have do have to sell that wine. Spain has worked really hard on marketing their wine as a country, with great success. However, the French are still divided into regions and have yet to come together to market their wines on a world wide scale. While regions like Bordeaux and Champagne are seeing record sales, the lesser known regions are hurting, and in many cases having to sell excess wine for use in disinfectants and gas additives. Eric Rosaz, director of France’s independent wine producers association, is doing what he can to prevent the Spanish takeover. He says plans are in place, but more needs to be done to improve the country’s “dynamism” in the wine market.

Writing this blog has been a learning experience for me. Although many of you may already know this, I’m posting it anyway. Here’s a chart I’ve compiled of the different sizes of wine bottles available. I chose to leave off anything under one full bottle because I feel it’s irrelevant. If you don’t need or want a whole bottle of wine, this site is not for you.

It’s somewhat ironic how this works. The magnum bottle is usually seen in lower-priced wines, a more for your money approach. However, as the bottles grow, so does the price. The larger bottles allow the wine to age more gracefully, therefore they are primarily used with high-end wines. Anything larger than a double magnum, like Maximus , is more for show than functionality. You will find more of the sparkling wines in the larger sizes, specially produced for events and those wealthy enough to seek them out.

Maynard James Keenan is best known for fronting bands Tool and A Perfect Circle, but is hoping to be recognized for his newfound passion, winemaking. For those who are unfamiliar with the man, watch the video for the song Sober It is deeply disturbing and gave me nightmares in which I was trapped in the very same grotesque animated universe. MTV even withdrew Tool’s video for Prison Sex from their lineup because it was “too graphic and offensive.”

Maynard discovered the qualities of wine after the band began stealing bottles from managers and promoters while on tour. shortly after, Tori Amos gave him a 1992 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon as a gift and he was hooked. The Arizona Republic quotes his reaction–He opened it to have with a meal and was astonished. “Oh my, what just happened?” he said. “A little light went on.” He became a collector and in 2000 found the inspiration for Merkin Vineyards.

Caduceus Wines (www.caduceus.org) consists of about 6000 vines and is located in…Arizona? It seems Maynard is hoping that the terroir in Northern Arizona’s Merkin Vineyards will produce wines similar to his favorites; Tuscans. Merkin is composed of four separate tracts, which will give Keenan the variety of soils necessary to produce the blends he favors from Italy. Currently, he is buying from local and California vineyards while his crops mature. He wants it to be known that he is not merely a figurehead who put his name on the bottle to make money. This is his passion, and as photos from the website show, he involves himself with every aspect of the winemaking process.

Four wines are available for purchase.

1. The Chupacabra (the mystery wine)
2. Primer Paso (unmistakeably shiraz… but there’s something else in there as well.)
3. Nagual de SENSEI (consisting mainly of Cabernet Savignon and a touch of Syrah)
4. Nagual de la NAGA (Cab Sav & Sangiovese blend. Aroma like a new world Tuscan meets old world Brunello.)

The wines run from $25 for the Chupacabra to $95 for the SENSAI. For now, they can only be bought in person or online at the website.

For those who feel Maynard may be losing his edge, visit the website. It’s the best wine site I’ve seen. Or, paste this link to find out what a merkin is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin