A swift kick…

posted by philip in Snooth

We had our quarterly reviews yesterday and no one was spared from a swift boot to the proverbial behind. Its an important time for us. Everyone has free reign to air any grudges and its cathartic to get this stuff out in the open. Its also very important to me as I’m a master slave driver for continuous improvement. Last year’s effort/achievement of 10 becomes this year’s 6. If it didn’t we’d still be congratulating ourselves that we could sing the abc.

So, we now put everything Snooth has done behind us and rate it a 6. Lets see what we can do in the coming three months:

First off is Talk! Launched last night this is Snooth’s take on a forum. Our old open source forum was integrated and hosted in less than an hour, but as one of our philosophies is “web 1.5: less, but slower” this forum took us a month to build and integrate seamlessly into the site. Its unlike any forum I’ve ever seen so I encourage you to take a look at version 1.0 of our take on the format.

Secondly, search. Our faithful servers are pushing out 1 million searches a month now. We’re going to be doing some fantastic stuff here over the coming weeks. Its all hush hush at the moment, but we’re integrating massive amounts of data and will do some smart filtering to to display more and more relevant results - particularly in terms of showing you relevant merchants who can actually get the product to you.

Thirdly, data. Once our latest algorithm to catch and merge duplicates finishes running we’ll have merged another 142,000 wines. You’ll see the difference then!

There’s some other stuff of course, but this is what I wanted to highlight. We’re closing on our first full year of operations and beginning to find our groove. We’re proud to be a part of this industry and hope you’ll be with us for some time. For us, its Wine Friday and today’s bottle is Cantele Primitivo Salento 2005. Now go check out Talk!

PS. To those that experienced a Snooth without search (server death) the other day, I apologize for what must have seemed a fairly pointless site! We weren’t expecting 19,457 people in such a short time span. However, we were back within the hour and no data was lost.

Well if Paris Hilton likes it…..

posted by Annie in Wine Industry, Wine

Remember when wine came in a bottle? I totally do. Do you also remember how companies used to market their products based purely on quality and originality? I definitely do. It seems these days most companies simply need to get a pop star or professional athlete to say they dig the product and boom - sales!

Let us address both my questions.

#1. Some guys in Germany came up with the idea to start selling sparkling wine in a can. Thus - Rich Prosecco. It’s definitely going after the club scene and wine cooler consumer. Though wine has been available in box, bag, and jug form for years now, there is something more off-putting about the phrase “let’s crack open a few cans of Prosecco tonight!”

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I rocked the Franzia in college. Everything has a purpose and a place. Its inexpensive, readily available at grocery stores, and easy to open. The purpose of Rich Prosecco is similar to said boxed-wine, thus quality is probably not super important to the consumer who will be drinking it.

#2 Rich Prosecco has also signed a sponsorship deal with Paris Hilton, who stars in their marketing campaigns. Painted in gold. Sans pants. The campaign was launched in December and now every search result for “Rich Prosecco” in Google is some commentary about her. (If they were aiming for buzz, A+!) Us poor consumers - we aren’t even given a chance to evaluate the product for what it is before being hypnotized by celebrity and sensationalism. But really, Paris Hilton? Didnt she just get a DUI?

Most likely the product will do well. (And I bet Paris will have much to do with it.) Perhaps we do need a good wine-in-a-can to create some variety in situations where a glass of pinot noir just isn’t appropriate. Or maybe this will spur interest in consumers to try out real Prosecco and learn more about the tradition and culture in general. (I know many of us would love this to happen!) After all, they do mention on their site that Prosecco is made from “the noble Prosecco grape.” Baby steps people.

Since the product is not yet available in the US, I was unable to research the product. Has any non-US Snoother out there tried it? What do you think of it?

Trust Me

posted by Dan in Wine, Guest Bloggers

In my last post I wrote about getting to Napa and Sonoma and getting through a day of wine tasting. Today I want to talk about trusting the man or woman holding the bottle. Please note that I have promised myself not to rant in any one place about any one wine thing. Wine culture in America has going through such a transformation these past few years, that us winos should all stand up and applaud – well, not like a State of the Union, every four or five sentences applause; maybe just sit back, kick the chair on its heels and smile, one big, mouth guzzling grin. That sounds about right. However. What happened this past Friday night saddens me. And I get this bile ridden, guttural feeling that it happens – a lot. I went to a cultishly popular wine store in Napa Valley for an Italian wine tasting. It is rare that we California wine country types drink anything but California wines, so this was a treat. I adore Italian wines, more than, well, maybe, my dog. And since she can’t read and is not Italian, but Belgium, I know I am probably pretty safe with that hypothetical comparison.

I mentally committed myself to the event weeks in advance. I even tried to get an insider’s sneak peak at the lineup, but the proprietor is very particular about what wines will be poured and tastes through everything, not for marketing and sales purposes but for the best mix of what presents the epitome of such and such sector of wine in the world. Days before when the store website posted it would be a Tuscan and Piemontese tasting, my palate was going pazzo (crazy) with anticipation. I drove in on the early side to secure a good spot, nodded vigorously my anticipation and eagerness to begin the begin. My excitement settled itself with the first sip of Sangiovese. The remainder of the tasting took some rolling hill turns up North Eastern Tuscany and down Southern style, before jetting back north to Alba and Barbaresco. It was pleasant as punch. I was satisfied and ready to head out to dinner. But before I did, I saddled up to the tasting bar and caught the eye of the Distributor who was on hand to help shepherd the wines. If not an Italian by blood, he was an Italian by hand gestures and lack of modesty. Our eye contact did what Italians do best, speak without talking. He knew I meant business and he reached under the bar and pulled out some “under the table wines” to try. The night just got more interesting. These wines were higher price points (from ~ $20 to $40 during the tasting to ~ $40 to $80/bottle). I can’t really remember how many there were, but it was at least four, maybe five wines, some from the same producers and these were their “Riserva” wines. I swirled, sniffed and sipped with appreciation. And on the final wine, I Sodi di San Niccolo vintage 2000 from Castellare in Chianti I was floored.

When tasting or dining out, I tend not to mention I am in the business unless the event or the occasion calls for it. This night I was a consumer, albeit an educated one, and I wanted to let the wines speak for themselves. And when the occasion calls for it, I want the person pouring the wines to show their enthusiasm for the wine and their passion for the business that gets me excited to experience it with them - that beyond all the negative connotations that wine culture has endured is what is going to keep elevating wine drinking in this country. After a flurry of superlatives slipped from my mouth about the wine, I mentioned that the wine really stands up to the Brett-iness on the nose. [For a simple summary of Brett and its causes, check out the “Wine Tasting Articles” link here.] Upon those words of mine, you would have thought I massacred a small village of rabbits for fun and profit. The Distributor immediately got defensive and started spouting out that these aromas (which he did not describe) were the classic aromas of Malvasia Nera (of which the wine in question was cut with 15%). Hmm. Immediately we think of sweet and delicious Malvasia, could its sibling be so dirty and demonic? Yes. Every ounce of Malvasia Nera in the world, I was told, has the same characteristic, and every vintage of this wine has the same characteristic even at such low percentages in the blend. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him. Even without exposure to this grape, I couldn’t believe him. I couldn’t trust him. Everyone knows when someone is pulling a sack of Bretty horse manure over thine eyes. I smiled, I smelled, I bought a bottle to examine in the comforts of my own sanitary stall I call my cottage in the country. I have yet to open the wine, and spent the larger part of the next afternoon, fingering pages of all my wine books, doing countless web searches on the wine and reading vintage notes in Italian and English and trying to find out more about Malvasia Nera, none of the information I reviewed mentioned anything about faulty (but sometimes fabulous) aromas associated with Malvasia Nera. So, I just sent off an e-mail to the wine shop owner to see if he can secure me a vertical of the wine. Trust me, I’ll keep you posted.

Dan Petroski is Assistant Winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Napa Valley. Dan has an MBA from New York University and worked as an Ad Exec in New York for several years, before switching it up and trading his suit for a move out west.

A Better Way to Beta

posted by mark in Website Updates, Snooth

It’s true — Snooth is post-beta. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be rolling out new features as fast as we can build them. Philip mentioned Snooth Talk yesterday. It’s getting closer by the minute, but before we release it to the public we are going to have a short beta phase.

And that’s the better beta. Rather than the whole application, we’ll be rolling out our biggest new features initially to a small group of our most involved or interested users. They will get a few days to review the work we’ve done and help us get the feature ready for prime time.

So how will it all work? As a beta user you’ll receive an email letting you know when a new feature is ready to test. When you log into the site you’ll be automatically brought to the beta version. The application and all of your data will be completely intact and will continue to appear on the non-beta site. You can communicate with us through Snooth Talk itself, or via the contact form. We’ll work through any changes the community requests and then open the doors to the greater Snooth community.

Hopefully this will make for even better features when they hit the streets. If you’re interested in being a beta user, definitely let us know. We’ve still got a few slots open for this beta period — but if you miss the boat this time you will still be able to sign up on the waiting list.

Community, and the building of it

posted by philip in Snooth

People often forget how young Snooth really is. We only opened our doors to the public with the launch of our site on June 4, 2007. I don’t need to bore anyone by telling you how basic the site was back then; lets just say it was ’spartan’. This email isn’t about the past though, its about the future, where we are headed and how we will get there.

We serve 10,000 people a day and feature hundreds of thousands of wines. However, I still see our site as too 1-dimensional. The average user turns up > searches for a wine > finds it > clicks to buy it now and then leaves our site. They may or may not have an account, rate their wines, manage their cellars and so on. The point is, with 10,000 like minded people flowing through our gates on a daily basis, we can offer more. Our focuses have always been more merchants and more accurate data. To that we now add a third: community.

Over the last few months we revamped the blog and added some very talented guest writers who bring us food and wine pairings, news from Europe, winemakers updates from the fields as well as some very insightful and entertaining discourse. To add to that we’ll be launching a new section of our site, teasingly entitled “talk”.

Snooth Talk will be the launching point for you as a user to begin to connect and interact with the rest of the Snooth community, to share your experiences and give and receive advice. You’ll be able to meet and connect with like minded individuals and the experience is seamlessly integrated into the rest of the Snooth site. The Talk section will also be our springboard into several related community projects.

We’re still in our early days of this at the moment and now is the time for you to speak up and give us your suggestions and wish lists. Tell us what you want and we may go and build it for you - just contact us or leave a comment below. Ultimately this is your site, we may be the trustees, but you, your reviews, and your interactions are what makes Snooth the site that it is.

Wine Words: The Difference Variety and Varietal

posted by Scott in Wine, Guest Bloggers

The grape Cabernet Sauvignon is not a varietal. It isn’t. Sounds strange, right? But neither is Chardonnay or Rkatsitelli (its big in Russian), for that matter. The reason this might sound odd is because so many people use the word “varietal” incorrectly. There is no such thing as a grape varietal. Varietal is an adjective (and sometimes a noun) that describes a wine that is made from a single grape variety. So, Cabernet Sauvignon the grape is a variety, while Cabernet Sauvignon the wine is a varietal. You can see how thing can easily get confused.  Of course, you can also call a grape variety a “cultivar,” but most people will have no clue what you’re talking about unless they’re botanists.

The word varietal, as pertaining to wine, was popularized by Frank Schoonmaker in the early 1940’s. Schoonmaker was a tireless promoter of American wine, and, in the days before anyone had ever heard of Napa or Sonoma, he figured the best way to endorse such wines was by grape variety. Thus, a wine made from the Merlot grape would be varietally labeled. This stood in stark contrast to the common practice of the day, generic labeling, which can still be seen today on dusty bottles labeled “Hearty Burgundy” and “New York Chablis.”

Anyway, Schoonmaker’s efforts paid off. The vast majority of New World wines are varietal wines nowadays. This is all fine and well, but when the characteristics of such varietal wines are attributed to the grape variety that produced it, the misuse of the word varietal ensues. When grapes are said to have varietal characteristics, as opposed the characteristics common to the grape’s variety, the word is being used incorrectly. The distinction is subtle, but relevant.

The variety/varietal mix-up is widespread, so there’s no worry if you’ve used the words wrong in the past. Everyone makes the mistake. It is an easy one to make. Now you know better so feel free to correct your friends, or, better yet, the salesperson at your local wine shop.

Scott Rosenbaum is director of operations for the International Wine Center and wine buyer for the retailer DrinkUpNY.

Vinitaly 2008: passion for wine and effective business (3-7 April 2008)

posted by Giampiero in Wine, Guest Bloggers

[I’m excited to welcome and present Giampiero Nadali, author of the renowned Italian wine blog, Aristide, to the Snooth community. Giampiero is a marketing and interactive communications expert. In his blog he writes passionately about wine from an outsiders and consumer-oriented point of view.]

Dear Snoothers, hallo from Italy, Europe. The best place to live if you like wine and food. Your Italian guest blogger here at Snooth, hailing from Verona, north east of Italy. Thanks to William Shakespeare, Verona was the stage of Romeo & Juliet, a tragedy based on love and passion. Verona, in few weeks, will stage another “big story” about a great passion: the 42nd Vinitaly. Passion for wine and effective business: that’s the marketing formula excogitated by its organizers (VeronaFiere) this year. This is the blend of the International Wine and Spirits Exhibition, the largest event in the world (challenging the leadership of Bordeaux’s Vinexpo in France).

The figures of the 2007 event were quite impressive: 38,000 international operators out of of total of 145,000 from 101 countries (+15% compared to 2006); about 4,300 companies from 32 countries over an area that - thanks to expansion in 2006 and 2007 - now totals 86,000 square meters net.

It’s a great moment for exporting Italian wines worldwide, with export trends in unbroken growth. In the period January-September 2007, data published in December 2007 by ISTAT (National Statistics Institute), saw exports in 2007 come to almost 2.49 billions of Euros (about 3.66 billions of dollars, +10% compared to the same period 2006). In US, Italian wines are leading the ranking of international importers, maintaining this market leadership since 2006.

Dear Snoothers, if you are planning to visit Italy during next weeks, don’t miss your chance to join this big wine party in Verona.

You’ll find business opportunities and glamour occasions: prestigious tastings characterise the days of the event, with “vertical tastings” of selected Italian wines focusing on excellence, from top emerging Italian wineries. And many other social life opportunities will spread in the ancient downtown, the historic heart of Verona.

In the meanwhile, the stage will be focused on the International Wine Competition, scheduled 26-30 March 2008. As of 2007, the competition had 105 medals awarded out of more than 3,500 participants from 30 different countries. The last edition was won for the first time by an Australian company: Wyndham Summer based in Rowland Flat. Other past winners were: Segura Viudas di Torrelavit (2006, Spain), Italian producers Cantine Marchesi di Barolo (1993), Banfi di Montalcino (1994, 1995, 1996, 2000), Tasca D’Almerita (1997), Cantine Tollo (1999), Azienda Vinicola Miceli (2004) and Cavit (2005), American Ernest & Giulio Gallo Winery (1998, 2001, 2002) and Vineland Estates Winery (2003, Canada).

And please, don’t forget to contact me if you are in Verona those days…

Allow Me to Introduce Myself…

posted by Robert in Wine, Guest Bloggers

[Snooth is pleased to welcome its newest contributor Robert Scibelli, lecturer and administrator at New York’s premier wine school, International Wine Center. Robert earned his Diploma certificate in 2005, and currently leads private and public tastings to individuals and restaurants.]

As this is my first post as a guest blogger for Snooth.com I thought I would take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Robert Scibelli and I am primarily a lecturer and administrator for International Wine Center a New York based wine school specializing in the certificate programs of the Wine & Spirits Education Trust the highest level of which – the Diploma – I was fortunate enough to earn in 2005. In addition to IWC I occasionally write about wine, lead private and public tastings for both wines and spirits consult to individuals and small restaurants and – most importantly – remain a student of both the wines and spirits world. In the not too distant past I was manager of one of New York’s premier all-Italian wine boutiques Vino. This afforded me the luxury of immersing myself in my first and longest-lived love in the world of wine and you can read my introduction to the wonderful world of Italian wines on this site. I have been involved with the wine industry in one form or another for the past ten years and I like to think that somewhere along the way I may have formed an opinion or two that would be worth discussing in a wider forum.

Or maybe not, and that does lead me to ponder what it is I can add to the readers’ experience here at Snooth. When you decide to spend a few moments of your valuable time reading these entries I want to make sure that it is not time wasted. I look around and see great entries on wine & food, current issues and insightful commentary on various other topics of interest. I would like to follow this standard and keep these entries informative but light hearted, topical but not fleeting and broad based but of specific interest to the individual reader. I do hope to write much about Italian wine on this blog but I don’t want it to be limited to this, admittedly vast, topic and I hope that the readers will follow me along as I create the voice and atmosphere of these entries.

I will return here in two weeks time with more concrete musings on the greater world of wine, I hope you will join me then. If you have actually taken the time to read this introduction I would ask that you leave a note describing what it is you look for in wine writing in general and wine blogs specifically as the proliferation of both seems to indicate people do consume these things with enthusiasm if not gusto and I am always one to begin a dialog by listening to other people speak. That is all for now and thank you for your time - Robert

Breakfast Wines: Drinking with Eggs

posted by Kirstin in Wine, Guest Bloggers

We get a lot of wine pairing advice requests at the wine shop/wine bar where I work.

Besides drinking wine on the cheap, it’s my favorite thing about the job.

Cheese questions (what do I serve with Manchego or fresh chevre) are especially prominent. Then, of course, there are the seasonal requests. In the summer, people ask what to serve with grilled chicken, corn on the cob, or hot dogs. Around Thanksgiving, people wonder what to drink with turkey and sweet potatoes. And just to mix things up, our customers sprinkle in an odd question or two (what do I serve with a spicy, red pepper lasagna with tofu béchamel sauce over fake chicken with pork).

But within the last few months, one wine pairing request in particular has surfaced the most among our lovely guests. It has nothing to do with béchamel or BBQ or spiced side dishes. Instead, it has to do with meals served earlier in the day. People want to know what to pair with their breakfast eggs. Be assured that I understand my dear wine drinkers. One can only drink coffee for so long before it seems dull. Overbearing. Heavy. I’m surprised that we lasted this long. But hold on to your pajama pants, I have an answer.

Sparkling wine. I prefer Champagne myself, which is only made in the Champagne region of France, from Pinot Noir or Chardonnay grapes. I mean, sure, I’ll happily sip Prosecco or Cava with lunch or mixed with orange juice, but breakfast eggs seem to call for something a bit more spectacular. As breakfast IS the most important meal of the day, the one that sets the tone for the following hours, it makes sense to go big. Go French. Go elite. Wear a cute little apron while scrambling the eggs. One of my favorite egg breakfasts, pictured above, is an egg sandwich that my husband makes. His father makes it for him when we visit, and if we have a son, he will probably make it for his loved ones too. Champagne is the perfect match for this sandwich. Rather than overwhelming the lush filling like dark, thick coffee would, the bubbles cut some of the fat from the oozing cheese and buttery bread and highlight the overall breakfast egg experience. It’s fabulous, and I bet that any egg dish, omelette, quiche, or frittata that you serve will be made more spectacular too, by Champagne, at breakfast time.

Also works for breakfast at dinner.

Kirstin Jackson Ellis works as a wine bar manager and wine and food consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes about wine and food pairing at Vin de La Table, her luxurious and lighthearted blog.

Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

posted by Todd in Wine, Guest Bloggers

Reductions were one of the few things that when I started cooking scared me. It wasn’t that it was necessarily hard nor required special equipment; No, none of that. It requires attention to details.

Not to scare you off before we even start, but the first few times you make a reduction you’re going to want to be around. The first few times I attempted one of these I got distracted and they slipped from reduced to burnt before I could get back to it.

There are a lot of classic reductions out there (demi-glace for example) and they all provide something that’s very hard to get with a normal sauce— they cling to things. They’re good for drizzling on top of foods to give that extra “umph” when necessary; To raise the bar on the food with one simple addition.

Wine reductions don’t have any extra or special mojo, but you’re going to want to start with a wine that isn’t overpowering from the get-go. Remember, we’re concentrating it’s flavor here, so you start with something oaky and overpoweringly sweet, it’s going to be even sweeter and oak-ier the more we reduce it.

That being said, the reduction we’re making today is part of a classic Catalan dish, botifarra de porc amb foie d’ànec fresc (Pork and foiegras sausage with white beans and port). This could be made with a straight pork sausage (I’m actually not a fan of foie at all), just so long as it’s fresh. Great northern beans can also be used.

To make the reduction you’ll need about 15 shallots, peeled and chopped in half, season lightly with salt and pepper, and rolled in about 3 Tbsp olive oil and roast them in a 400°F oven until golden (20 minutes or so). When they’re done put them in a heavy bottomed wide pot and add 4 cups of a good port wine. Put this over high heat until it comes to a boil then bring the heat down to medium and reduce until there are 1 1/2 cups of liquid left. Strain out the shallots and let cool. The beans can be made by soaking over night 1 cup cannelloni beans, and then simmering until soft in just plain water, set aside. Put the sausage in a pan over medium heat until brown on one side, flip and add the beans. Splash in about 4 Tbsp of port and cook until the sausage is done. Serve the sausage over the beans with the port reduction drizzled on top.

Todd Kennedy is a self-taught foodie/chef who writes the blog Gute Essen about the meals he cooks for himself and his friends.