What better way to say hello to 2021 (and goodbye to an ugly 2020) than some wine-tasting!! Please join us for our next ’71 Zoom on Tuesday, January 12 at 5 PM EST when Steve Latham will join Judy and Paul Willis to talk to us about all things wine (buying, storing, talking, drinking). Their impressive wine bios are below. Highlights include:
1 . Judy, Paul, and Steve will answer “grape” questions such as:
Can Steve’s 2020 wine room compete with that of a Chateau in France constructed in the 10th century (owned by classmate Paul Miller’s daughter)?
Can Judy teach us to decipher wine-speak?
Does Paul have the answer to which makes better wine: feet or machines?
2. Our wine guides will take us through the first round of wine-tasting of candidates for our reunion – and you get to vote. The two wines are:
a. a white grape called Arneis (or Albarino, if you can’t find an Arneis) and
b. a red blend — either Cote Du Rhone, Gigondas, or Vacquegras.
PLEASE buy a bottle of white and red. These can be bought at your local wine/liquor store (just ask at the store) or through the mail — if ordering through the mail, make sure you order in time to get them by Jan. 12. See below for more info on the wines and ordering. If you have any issues, email Steve Brown or Steve Latham.
This session promises to fun, educational and entertaining for beginners to experts!! Full-time chat among all attendees.
Here’s how to watch and listen:
1. Click on the link below starting at 4:45 EDT on Tuesday, January 12th:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87116998653
Meeting ID: 871 1699 8653
2. Send Steve Brown or Rob Farnham an email saying you would like to participate so we have an idea of numbers and can send you further ideas about foods to eat with the wine, etc.
3. Email us any questions/comments in advance for our distinguished panel. We will also be using the Zoom functions during the meeting to allow you to submit questions then. We do plan to try FULL-TIME LIVE CHAT during this presentation. If you’re not familiar with Zoom controls, click here for a brief explanation.
Our Panelists:
Steve Latham — Steve spent 42 years as the senior partner at a boutique law firm in the Hamptons on Long Island , working around the clock to support his wine habit. He had the misfortune to select the owners of competing wine stores in the Hamptons as two of his best friends, which is why he hasn’t been able to retire. Steve and his wife Jorie are both avid cooks who like to entertain and Steve has found that the inclusion of well-selected wines with a fine meal enhances the experience of the participants and provides a convenient level of deniability when trying to explain the opinions he expressed during the previous night’s dinner. As far as his collecting habits are concerned, at the age of 71, Steve is limiting his purchasing of wines that are “best consumed between 2030 and 2050.”
Judy A. Willis As noted by Paul below , we had the opportunity to apply Professor Warren’s organic chemistry class and our background as neurologists, participating as substitute wine chemists at Santa Barbara Winery. We analyzed things like fermentable sugars, acidity, pH, to provide info on when to harvest and the alcohol content the final label would report.
As we were then assimilated into the small (at the time) Santa Barbara community of professional winemakers, it wasn’t hard to get these friends to sell us grapes to make our own wines. That hobby became a new parallel career when I wrote an article about our home winemaking of our Chateau Huit Feet wines. With no background in wine literature, I sent it off to Wine Spectator, where it was published as White Lab Coats and Purple Feet. Next, after the popularity of the film, Sideways, I sent an article about the local featured wines to Decanter. Again, surprisingly published. That prompted a very local newspaper, Montecito Journal, to mistakenly believe I knew enough to become their World of Wine columnist. I admitted my naivety in my very first column, ode to the last production of white zinfandel at Santa Barbara Winery. I promised no more than 3 adjectives per wine in any of my columns.
Join us in this very casual zoom and I’ll share how I combined my neurology and wine experience to teach algebra to middle schoolers through The Grapes of Math where they actually made wine they could (but were very unlikely) drink.
Paul Willis : Wine came into my life during Williams’ senior year with “educational” trips to The Brasserie in Bennington organized by Jim Halstead, our faculty mentor, where he introduced us to French wines. Subsequent wine guides were the professors in Medical School and Neurology residency who accompanied case studies with wine study. After moving to Santa Barbara. Judy and I became friends with the winemaker for Santa Barbara Winery. In 1993 his chemist disappeared just before the crush and having suffered through organic chemistry; I volunteered my titration and chromatography skills. The harvest and production experiences were enlightening, and we found the camaraderie of wine makers, growers and finally the cadre of home-winemakers a welcoming group. We started making wine in 1993 and continued until 2010. Varietals included zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, Rhone blends, pinot noir, some whites – chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier – and zinfandel port. Basically, we made whatever varietal we could source for that year. We entered wines in county fairs and won a few ribbons. About 20-30 cases a year were created in our dining room for ourselves and to share with friends. We labeled our wine Chateau Huit Feet – for the 4 of us who stomped the grapes. Now, let us raise our glasses to the future when we can share wine beyond Zoom and in person.
The Wines:
The white wine we have selected is a wine called Arneis, which is a varietal grown primarily in the Piedmont region of Italy, most often in the Roero district. The Piedmont is most famous for its Barolo and Barbaresco wines, which both come from the Nebbiolo grape. Arneis has been grown for centuries in Piedmont, but because it is difficult to grow (Arneis translates roughly to “little rascal”) it was almost forgotten until producers such as Vietti and Giacosa began to bring it back in the 1960’s. Prior to that time, it was commonly planted between rows of the more valuable Nebbiolo to divert the birds, who liked Arneis‘ sweetness. Arneis tends to be crisp, floral and full bodied, with elements of pear and peach in the finish. Among the producers of fine, reasonably priced Arneis are Vietti and Castello di Nieve.
If you can’t find an Arneis wine, an interesting alternative would be to try an Albarino, a varietal from Spain. This is another crisp wine with ample elements of fruit which is grown on the Iberian peninsula, primarily along the northwest coast of Spain. Unlike the Arneis grape, Albarino grows in weather that is generally not associated with grape-growing, particularly excessive rainfall. The vines are sometimes trained up granite posts, with the farmers’ food crops grown underneath.
Unlike the red wine we have selected, which is a blend of different grape varieties, these two white wines are “varietals” or wines made from a single grape. They are great wines to pair with seafood. There are many red varietals, the most famous of which is probably Pinot Noir or, as it’s known in a specific region of France, Burgundy.
The red wine which we have suggested comes from the southern part of the Rhone region in France, which is most famous for a wine known as Chateauneuf du Pape. The primary grape varietals of this region are Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvedre. Some and occasionally all are blended together by the winemaker to reflect myriad factors, such as growing conditions (which vary from year to year), soils and the style of wine desired by the winemaker. These wines are full bodied, with elements of fruit and spice – great wines with food. Even entry level Chateauneuf du Pape wines begin north of $50/bottle, but there are a great many affordable wines from this region, made from the same grapes. The entry level wine is Cotes du Rhone, which often can be one dimensional. Cotes du Rhone Villages is a step up but you should also look for wines from Gigondas or Vacqueyras, which all use different combinations of the same grapes.
If you prefer to taste a domestic red, these grape varieties are all grown in California, although they are often found as “varietals” (in other words, you can buy a bottle of Syrah or Grenache, which will taste different than a blend). But many are fantastic and fun to taste.
A word about vintages – These red wines will be better if they have been aged for a few years, although you’re not likely to find wines more than 3 or 4 years old. There hasn’t been a bad vintage in the Southern Rhone since 2002, but some vintages, such as 2015 and 2016, which are the best years in the past 20, are probably too young to drink. Rules are made to be broken and a knowledgeable wine merchant can tip you off to which wines are drinking best today – even from those top vintages.
Buying These Wines
If you have access to a decent wine store, the best option is to give it a call (or visit when there’s little traffic), look for someone who seems to have a clue and tell them what we’re doing. Give them your price point (good wines in both the red and white category can be found for $25 or less) and ask for their recommendations.
You can also buy wine on- line in most states.
An easy way is through the Application “Vivino” which you can download to your phone.
It provides a source to find wines throughout the world. There are several selections of Arneis available and if ordered soon could be there by the Zoom wine tasting. For orders less than 6 bottles there’s a $15 dollar shipping fee. A red Rhone blend can also be found there. For example, Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge about $17 dollars.
Another nice feature of the app is the ability to take a picture of the label and find information, reviews, pricing and availability of the wine your drinking. JUST MAKE SURE YOU ORDER IN TIME FOR JAN. 12 DELIVERY.