{"id":5803,"date":"2014-08-02T14:05:25","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T21:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/?post_type=article&p=5803"},"modified":"2014-10-13T13:33:27","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T20:33:27","slug":"somi-cellar-cork-board-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/somi-cellar-cork-board-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"SOMI CELLAR – CORK BOARD MEMORIES"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>

While brainstorming the topic for this article, I found myself staring at the humongous corkboard hanging on my living-room wall. Many corks were reminders of personal memories, while others had no significance, and oddly enough those had the most meaning.<\/span>
\n I\u2019ll explain.<\/span><\/p>\n

After years of working in the wine industry, I had collected quite a few corks. I asked my grandfather, who does carpentry as a hobby, to build me a six-foot rustic wooden frame to house my collection. He thought I was crazy. \u201cYou don\u2019t even have enough corks to fill in the frame!,\u201d he said. \u201cI know Abuelo, but I\u2019m young with years and years of drinking ahead of me. I\u2019ll fill it up as I go.\u201d Immediately I opened a bottle of red, held up the cork and said,<\/span>
\n \u201cSee, one more!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A few weeks later, my best friend, who knows everybody (you know, those people who happen to know someone everywhere they go) handed me a bright-neon index card with a clue scribbled on it. He sent me on a treasure hunt \u2013 literally \u2013 that led me to a sack filled with hundreds of corks! He looked at me coyly and said, \u201cNow you can finish your corkboard.\u201d I hugged him tightly and asked \u201cHow did you get these?\u201d \u201cI have friends in Napa and Sonoma who shipped them here,\u201d he said. \u201cWell of course he does!\u201d I thought to myself. And that\u2019s how a group of corks I didn\u2019t collect, suddenly added an unforgettable memory to my corkboard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Skimming through the corks, one in particular got me excited: CAIN FIVE, a Meritage blend of five red grapes from Napa Valley I tried years ago with my wine mentor. He handed me a glass of a rich-colored red and asked me to guess the grape-varietal. I swirled and sniffed and tasted\u2026 and sniffed and tasted again. I peeked up and said \u201cI love it, but I have no idea what it is! This tastes like a new-world version of an old-world wine, and I can\u2019t single out just one grape.\u201d Proudly surprised he replied, \u201cYou are way too young to be saying such intelligent things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meritage (pronounced like heritage) is a classification of a high-end, smaller production wine blend (25,000 cases max) using the classic Bordeaux grapes. This category was created in the late 1980s by American winemakers reacting to the challenges of a Federal law, requiring a bottle to contain at least 75% of a single grape-varietal in order to be indicated on the label. This law meant a wine not meeting the minimum requisite would be labeled \u201cTable Wine,\u201d which did not communicate the complexity and depth of these hand-crafted wines to the consumer. Winemaking is essentially an art of blending, and the Meritage classification now allows a winemaker to express the optimal combination of grapes without regard to standardized percentages.<\/span><\/p>\n

The word Meritage derives from \u201cmerit,\u201d signifying high-quality grapes, and \u201cheritage,\u201d embracing the roots of old-world blending. Reds include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Carmen\u00e8re, and the atypical St. Macaire and Gros Verdot; whites include Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle du Bordelais. A Meritage blend must have at least two of these grapes, none of which may comprise more than 90%. Grape varietals are segregated until bottling, allowing the winemaker to explore the multi-dimensional aromas and flavors of each varietal throughout the vinification process. Grapes are then combined to create a wine with its own character and age in the bottle for two to three years before release. The freedom for a winemaker to expose a range of essences makes each brand unique. Many chefs believe this trait makes Meritage wines a versatile complement to any menu.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like a fusion of grapes in a bottle, my corkboard has become a meritage of memories. In some way, I feel as if they tell my story. Wines are meant to evoke feelings and ignite the senses, and after a few glasses, you may find yourself collecting your own meritage. * In this issue we are reprinting\u00a0<\/span>one of Daniele\u2019s earlier columns, originally published in April\/May 2012.\u00a0Danielle\u2019s \u201cAdventures in Wine\u201d have been very well received byour readership and we appreciate her contributions to SOMI Magazine.<\/p>\n

– jes<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While brainstorming the topic for this article, I found myself staring at the humongous corkboard hanging on my living-room wall. Many corks were reminders of personal memories, while others had no significance, and oddly enough those had the most meaning. I\u2019ll explain. After years of working in the wine industry, I had collected quite a<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,19,1,110],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}