January 10th Weekly Selections

Wine of the Week
 Stella Rosa
From the beautiful village of Santo Stefano Belbo in Piedmont comes our delicious Stella Rosa. A refreshing red wine to be served chilled and accompanied by fresh fruit and cheese. Tasting notes: Very floral on the nose with what seems to me like roses. Also cranberry and grape jam coming through. Carmel initially on the palate and then the cranberry and roses showing on the midpalate. Carmel comes through again on the finish. Sweet and very slightly frizante. (Review from Cellar Tracker)

Beer of the Week

Leinenkugel’s 1888 Bock
Its back! The leinenkugel’s 1888 bock features a robust head that seizes the rich aroma of toasted and carmel malts. This full-bodied brew has a smooth, toasted malt flavor. This was a big seller last year.
 Tasting notes: 1888 Bock pours a clear, dark golden brown color with a medium-height tan head. The beer’s aroma is of slightly sweet malt with some caramel malt and floral hop hints. This beer’s flavor starts dry, with some slightly grainy, bready malt notes. There is a relatively substantial (considering the beer’s not-overwhelming malt profile) floral hop bitterness at the back and sides of the tongue. 1888 Bock is listed as being brewed with Cluster hops and is 18 international bitterness units.Modest amounts of dark fruit flavors show at mid tongue. Also appearing at mid tongue is a bit of a sourdough-ish tang that I found a tad out of place.1888 Bock’s finish is dry with a bready, malty flavor that finally ends on a slightly astringent floral hop bitterness. (Review by Tim Hynds (Sioux City Journal)

Spirit of the Week

 Most Wanted Vodka
Seth Fox takes pride in the fact that his vodka is made from Kansas grain. “The best grain in the world,” he says. In fact, the best grain in the world grows right around the corner from his home; Fox buys all the grain used for production from his neighbor. Every component of Most Wanted Vodka is produced either right here in Kansas, or in the United States.His best seller, Most Wanted vodka, is a hit at local liquor stores. His ultra-premium brand, Fox vodka, is served at some of the finest restaurants in his region. "Customers like that it's from right here," said Dustin Hundley, owner of the Metropolitan Steak House in nearby Leavenworth. "We did a taste test against some of the better-known brands and it was just as clean and crisp, if not better. We run out of it." Mr. Fox's sales are driven mostly by word-of-mouth locally, and beyond the state through a network of microdistilling aficionados. "I get calls from all across the nation asking, Where can I buy your vodka?" Mr. Fox said. "I say, You've got to come to Kansas. Who grows the best grain in the world?"

Cocktail of the Week  This starts the beginning of our Valentine’s day cocktail theme.
 Flirtini 

• 2 pieces fresh pineapple
• ½ oz Cointreau
• ½ oz Vodka
• 1 oz Pineapple Juice
• 3 oz Champagne
• Maraschino cherry for garnish

 Muddle the pineapple pieces and Cointreau in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add the vodka and pineapple juice. Stir well. Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass. Top with champange and garnish with the maraschino cherry.

Scotch Whiskey & Scotch Tasting

With the upcoming Scotch tasting I thought it would be a good time to give you a little info about Scotch.

Essentially, Scotch tasting is done through the nose. A handy tool for tasting is a tulip-shaped glass or Scotch snifter that will enhance the taste by allowing the aromas to gather at the bottom and drift to the top. Adding a little water will open up the flavor by releasing the whisky’s aromas.

Four categories of Scotch: single malt, pure malt, blended and single grain. Single malt and blended scotch are the most popular. Single means that a Scotch is from a single distillery, while blended means that the product is composed of whiskies from two or more distilleries.

The flavor of every Scotch is affected by a variety of factors: the type of wood barrel it is stored in; the water and type of stone it flows over; and the aging process. Some Scotch’s even get aged in two different types of wood barrels.

A smooth-flavored Scotch means that the high alcohol content is not obvious at first taste, and the initial harsh bit is missing. Scotch is usually drunk at room temperature with a touch of water, no ice. This lets the Scotch whisky release it flavors to a maximum. As always, the golden rule of Scotch drinking is that since you pay for it, you should enjoy it anyway you want.

(Parts of this article comes from Dwight Dehl, Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits, Waterloo, IA)

January Wine of the Month

Chilean Wines

A lot of great wines are coming out of South America recently, particularly Chile. With ideal growing conditions and reasonable vineyard land and labor costs, it is no surprise that Chile is becoming one of the world’s leading producers of wine with a high ratio of value to price. For wine producing grapes, like Malbec, Torrontes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and a few others the Chilean climate is ideal. Chile is the fifth largest exporter of wine to the United States & the number of wineries has grown from 12 in 1995 to over 70 in 2005. According to an article of the Wine Spectator magazine the quality of Chilean wines has improved impressively over the last few years with 60% of the wines reviewed ranking at least 85 points or better, and three fourths of them retail for less than $20. The ones reviewed that we carry are La Joya Merlot (88) & Cab (84), Santa Rita Reserve Chardonnay (86), & Casillero del Diablo Carmenère (88). Chilean wines have also ranked very high at some international competitions according to wikipedia. At the 2005 Berlin wine tasting Chilean wines took 5 of the top 7 places and the 2006 Tokyo tasting Chilean wines had 4 of the top 5 places. Chilean Cabernets are distinctive & very easy to drink with soft tannins and flavors of mint, black currant, olives and smoke. Chardonnays are less distinctive and follow the new world style. Carmenère have softer and gentler tannins than Cabernet with flavors of dark chocolate, tobacco and leather.

Stop in to Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits and check out these wines from Chili: Cono Sur Cabernet, Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Rita Chardonnay, Casillero Del Diablo Carmenere or Cabernet, and Lajoya Carmenere, Cabernet, or Merlot. While shopping you might notice that some wineries buy Chilean wines from the open market, so what used to be Californian wine is now Chilean wine. A few of these would be Pepperwood, Corbett Canyon, and Inglenook.

Present Your Regal Wine Club Card and receive a 10% Discount on all Chilean Wines. Only available on non advertised wines. For More information about the Wine Club or how to join send an E-mail to hyveewineclub@gmail.com