Looks like the iPodding has subsided, so we should make it through this evening… I’ve still got 300 MB of bandwidth left to serve over the next 4 hours or so.

I’ve just stumbled on this blog recently and think it is a great insiders view into the world of wine (and it’s funny sometimes, as a bonus!). It is also consistent with the ethos of Winecast. I have put a link to it on the right menu.

I second the bloggers credo:

I believe that wine is a beverage that should be enjoyed frequently, alone or with meals. I believe that wine, since it is made from a fruit, should produce a liquid reminiscent of that fruit, not cedar, moss, pipe tobacco, barnyards, manure, pencil lead, or band aids. As such, I believe that good wine can come from any country, but it must be labeled in such a way that the consumer doesn’t need an atlas and a wine encyclopedia to figure out what’s in the bottle. I believe that the United States should not trail the civilized world in wine consumption per capita and that neo-prohibitionists, wine snobs, and liquor distributors are all joined in a trilateral commission to hinder wine consumption. I believe that wine needs to lose its elitist image by embracing alternative packaging, alternative closures, non-vintage wines, stronger branding, and lower retail prices. I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last……..uh….sorry, I got carried away.”

Right on, man!

Since I posted the third Winecast some 13 hours ago, my site has been unusually busy serving up over 1GB of podcasts. It seems we have reached some sort of tipping point, as I only served 1.5 GB in the previous 11 days since I began. My current monthly bandwidth limit is just a hair over 3GB, so I expect Winecast to be unreachable from about 6:00 pm CST today. As I hoist my glass of Taittinger Brut to toast the New Year, we will be again back in business. Obviously, I will need to move winecast.net to a more industrial strength bandwidth set-up and will be doing so over the next few days. You might notice outages from time-to-time as I pack-up the Wordpress database and move to the new host. I will also use this time to remix the horrible-sounding first episode and bring it up to listenable status.

Many thanks for your support; I am pleased there are so many more wine lovers out in the podcasting community and look forward to 52 more episodes in 2005.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!
–
Tim

A special edition of the show devoted to sparkling wine, just in time for the New Year! I talk about the history of sparkling wine, how it’s made, Champagne glass types and taste three wines from around the world:

- Seaview Brut, 2001, South Eastern Australia ($9)
- Mumm Napa Blanc de Noirs, NV, Napa Valley ($16)
- Taittinger Champagne Brut, NV, Reims, France ($30)

Direct mp3 Download

I received a 1GB SD card for my PDA this Christmas, so I reinstalled several applications including my Wine Enthusiast Guide 2003 for Palm OS (they also make a version for Pocket PC). I have used this program for the past couple of years to primarily keep my tasting notes and an inventory of my wine cellar. Once my memory filled up on my old card, this was one of the first applications to be deleted due to it’s large size (about 2MB if everything is installed). Now that I have 4x the space, I decided to load it back on.

The first thing I noticed was the “guide” part of the program was very far out of date, including the handy vintage charts. A quick visit to the Landware website presented me with the option to upgrade to the 2005 version of the guide for only $10, so naturally I upgraded. I’ve only used the program for a few minutes, but other than the updated guide, most of the rest of the program is the same with many of the same flawed “features” from 2 versions back, such as the inability to properly sort lists. I will be giving a full review of this program in my 4th podcast, as I look at the alternatives on the market. Stay tuned…

For dessert on Christmas, I made a proper English Trifle from Nigella Lawson’s recipe in, How to Eat. It was excellent and I accompanied this with a wine I had picked up for my birthday last month but never opened. It was a Gewurztraminer Beerenauslese 2001 , Weiden am See from Weingut Ochs. The half bottle (375 ml) sells for $15 here. The intense aroma and spicy flavor of the Gewurztraminer in this sweet style perfectly complimented the trifle’s orange & raspberry flavors. Although the wine is very sweet in this late harvest style, high acidity balances the sweetness and the wine finishes very well with exotic fruit flavors. I highly recommend both the recipe and the wine… more on dessert wines in a future episode.

Cheers!

Trouble with DNS took Winecast off the ‘net for most of the day. A few iPodders caught the show I uploaded last night before the outage, but it is ready for all to download now. My apologies for the inconvenience and I will be fixing/adding some links after dinner… enjoy some wine with family and friends today!

On today’s show, I talk about wine accessories, a couple of stories in the wine world and taste three Cabernet Sauvignons:

- Buehler Vineyards, Napa Valley 2000 ($24)
- Kenwood, Jack London Vineyard, Sonoma Valley 2000 ($26)
- Luis Felipe Edwards, Estate bottled, Colchagua Valley, Chile 2001 ($12)

Direct mp3 Download

Merry Christmas

“After four years of searching, they found a grape called Crljenak kastelanski (”sirl-yen-ack kastelanski”) near the town of Split; DNA testing in Meredith’s Davis lab confirmed that Zinfandel, Primitivo and Crljenak kastelanski are genetically linked, having originated on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast.” — Read the entire story here.

This was the varietal I did not have the courage to pronounce in the first Winecast It’s not too hard to say, after all.

I have 6 Gmail invitations to give out to the first six Winecast listeners who send me an email with their feedback on the show. If you’ve ever wanted to check out the Gmail service, now is the time!