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This film is the first in a series of eight by Neil Smith, owner of the WineSmith wine shop in Ashburn, Virginia. At the end of the video, you will have the opportunity to click to watch the next one.

Transcript

Neil Smith: Hi, my name is Neil Smith. I am the owner of a wine shop in Ashburn, Virginia called WineSmith. Today, I am going to give you a few points for how to pair wine confidently with food. We are going to cover some basic wine vocabulary to get us started and then I am going to give five simple rules for you to remember that as you plan your meals to pair wine with food. We are matching the weight of the wine with the food, complementing or contrasting wine flavors with the flavors and texture of the food, paying attention to sweetness and acidity in the wines, Dessert Wines and Sparkling Wines and then finally, practicing and experimenting often. But before we begin, it will be helpful to have a few items on hand to get the most out of this video. First is the Sparkling Wine, a dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc and then a full bodied red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon. For food items, something salty like popcorn or salted peanuts, some crackers, two types of cheeses - one soft and creamy like goat’s cheese and something else that’s a little bit harder and firmer like cow’s cheese, some barbeque sauce, plain grilled chicken strips, some cake donuts and some lemon wedges.

So before we begin, let me tell you a little bit about myself. Prior to opening this store one year ago, I spent over a year studying and tasting wines. Since we have opened, I have conducted several classes on wine basics and how to pair wine with food. So with that said, let’s get started on pairing wine with food and I hope you will take away lots of information from the video.

I have searched the web for sites about wine. I think I now have a pretty comprehensive pool (of 260 sites). Webmasters need not apply as the contest includes all sites. I display only the 120 ‘best’ — ‘best’ is evaluated with public website metrics.

So lie back, relax, and enjoy my comments on the results.

A comprehensive pool of candidates

I have expanded the set of websites that I retrieve metrics for. Their number has grown from 180 to 260 this quarter. This list cannot be the complete list of all the websites about wine but I propose that it is coming close.

Newcomers

Some sites are appearing for the first time. The highest ranked sites of these newly appeared sites (Avenue Vine, Jancis Robinson and Wine Review Online) are not new at all: they just were not known at the time of the previous website pool. This shows that this directory is an opportunity for everybody to discover websites (starting with myself).

Off-line support

You may notice that half the biggest websites are supported — and promoted — by off-line operations. They are Web appendices of successful non-Internet ventures: the Wine Spectator, The Pour, eRobertParker, Avenue Vine, Wine Enthusiast, Jancis Robinson, Natalie McLean.

USA dominates

The first 8 websites stem from operations based in the US. The majority of the listed sites are written from that country. The following facts may contribute: the USA are still the country the most present on the Web, they still dominate the english-speaking culture and they are on a trend to become the top wine drinking country in the world.

Foreigners

So here is a sample of excellent websites which have pure players (without offline operations) and not based in the USA:

• #9 The Winedoctor (England);
• #15 Spittoon (England);
• #26 Wine-pages (Scotland);
• #41 French Scout (France);
• #46 Burgundy-report (Switzerland);
• #68 Wino-sapien (Australia).

How to participate

Websites are automatically included in the contest as soon as I learn of their existence. To be eligible to the next issue of the Cellarer wine directory, the below conditions must be met:

1. The main topic should be wine.
2. Producing estates and wine sellers are excluded. Some of them run wonderful websites but the type of information is different.

If you disagree with the directory criteria, please comment below or e-mail me.

Once the above conditions are fulfilled the websites are considered for addition to a search engine dedicated to wine and food.

Here are the criteria I use for rating the sites. You can follow the directory evolution by subscribing to the feed on websites or by subscribing to the mailing list about website optimization.

In June 2005 I visited Missouri. St. Louis is a great weekend getaway on its own merits: history, shopping, wonderful ethnic dining (especially the Italian food on The Hill), the Cardinals, the Arch, and even gambling if you are so inclined. Throw in wine-tasting and you have an empty-nester’s getaway par excellence. Head west on scenic Highway 94 from U.S. 40 and you will parallel the Missouri River and Missouri’s wonderful Katy Trail: a hiking and bicycling tour that spans across most of the state.

The Missouri Weinstrasse, or wine road, includes four family owned and operated
wineries: Sugar Creek, Montelle, Augusta, and Blumenhof, which stretch from historic St. Charles county to the Washington bridge. Originally settled in the early 1800’s by German immigrants seeking to duplicate their Rhineland from the old country, the Missouri valley is actually home to thirteen wineries if you traveled all the way to the town of Herman. Herman holds a great Oktoberfest each year.

Sugar Creek Winery will be your first stop: watch for bicyclists as you cross over the railroad tracks and up the hill. Ken and Becky Miller specialize in dry, semi-dry, and fruit wines and often serve on a beautiful outdoor patio with a view. Live music is offered weekends from April through October. We especially enjoyed Michel’s Signature Red, a Merlot-style wine, La Rustica White, a blend of Seyval and Vidal that starts sweet and finishes dry, and Boone Country White, a Riesling-style wine. Yes, Daniel Boone lived near here, too. 314-987-2400.

Montelle Winery made one of the most unique ‘heartland’ wines we have tasted: a Dry Vignoles. Resembling a very high quality Chenin Blanc or Vouvray, this wine excels with any food you would enjoy with white wines. We learned later this wine won a silver medal at the New World International Wine Competition. 1-888-595-WINE.

The town of Augusta was next and it was one of the most scenic on the trip. Founded in 1836 on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, the home of Augusta winery is undergoing a sort of ‘rural renewal’. We were ready for red wines to accompany the delicious crusty breads we purchased across the street at The Bread Shed. 314-228-4121.

We found two wines that were especially noteworthy. Chambourcin
and Cynthiana are hybrid grapes which can grow and flourish in our river valleys in the midwest and midsouth. Augusta’s Chambourcin was dry, rich, and full-bodied. The Cynthiana was very nearly world-class: intense, mouth filling, and tasting of its oak barrel aging, a wine for the Cabernet lover looking for something a little different. 1-888-MOR-WINE.

Certainly our friendliest stop, Blumenhof Winery was hosted this day by James Blumenberg, owner and frequent visitor to Europe and Germany. He pegged me immediately as a Bavarian (funloving and expressive). Located outside of Missouri’s oldest German settlement, Dutzow, this picturesque winery produces such wines as Seyval, two Vidal Blancs including a vintage reserve, and Chardonel, a very tasty clone of Chardonnay.
Their version of Vignoles is sweeter than that of Montelle, but was no less satisfying. 1-800-419-2245.

By this time, we were ready to head back to the hotel and swing south through Washington, Missouri, and then east to St. Louis.

Have you travelled the Missouri wine road?

The current national currency of Bulgaria is the lev. It is pegged to the euro. Bulgaria has a target date for joining the euro zone in 2012. The prices of Bulgarian wines are slowly rising but they are still quite low.

Bulgaria offers delicious, fruity reds at an excellent value for money. Bulgaria spends nothing more than pin money on entertaining wine writers, nor on any luxuries, except bottling lines (which are usually powered by humans).

No one seems to have ever met a Bulgarian winemaker. So maybe there are none. The wine in Bulgaria simply makes itself, without human intervention and, obviously, without expensive technology. Yet, are there any wineries? Having been unable to go and visit Bulgaria and find out, I can’t say for sure. The statictics say that the annual average production of wine in Bulgaria ranges around 220 million litres.

Bulgaria varietals

The more renowned export wines are produced from the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties: high quality, rich, and Bordeaux-like.
Local grapes include:
- Gamza red wine - the most widespread sort produces earthy, light bodied red wine good for simple fare. In Romania and Hugary it is known as Kadarka.
- Mavrud red wine - is a full bodied wine, spicy red that can age to more than 8 years
- Melnik red wine - grown in the southernmost part of the country makes hefty red wines that age very well.
- Pamid Red Wine - rustic and hardly unforgettable but still good enough “commercial” for daily drinking.

White Bulgarian wines are produced from renowned varieties such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and riesling as well as from the local: misket, ottonel, and dimiat. White Bulgarian wines are not nearly as good as red Bulgarian wines but they are rapidly improving. Recently some very nice surprises were released by the Rouse winery.

The web has more information about Bulgarian wines. Here is a selection.