A recent study found that women’s perceptions of wine are more affected by the price than men.
Researchers from the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard University set out to determine whether knowing how much a bottle of wine cost would affect what people thought of the taste.
They found that disclosing the expensive price of a wine before people tasted it produced considerably higher ratings, although only from women.
The volunteers tasted one of two Portuguese red wines, one cost $5 a bottle and one $40. One-third of the people tasted the wine without knowing the price, one-third was told the price before the tasting, and one-third learned the price afterwards.
All of the tasters were told to rate the wine on a scale that ranged from undrinkable to perfection.
The researchers, whose findings were published by the American Association of Wine Economists, said only women assigned considerably higher ratings when they were told they were about to drink the expensive wine.
In the blind tasting, the average rating from both sexes was slightly higher for the cheaper wine than for the more expensive, showing that most people do not prefer expensive wines.
Hey all! Sorry I’ve been so insanely MIA – my other life as a cinematographer has been consuming me (which is a very good thing for the whole “being able to buy food and wine” thing:). Some new wine reviews coming up later this week, but first I want to let everyone know about a movie I’m really excited about – I have no involvement with the film, except I really, really want to see it!
It’s called BLOOD INTO WINE and it’s the story of Maynard James Keenan of TOOL and his foray into the world of wine! Site below:
http://www.bloodintowine.com/
Screenings available on the site, and a dvd release will soon follow if you aren’t in any of the areas…
Serves: 8 people, a homey, dig-in food that makes a great family dinner.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon butter
Cooking spray
2 cups chopped onion
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup diced seeded poblano chile or 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 garlic clove, minced
1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼ cup cider vinegar
4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1½ pounds)
1 1/3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, grated
1 (12-ounce) bottle chili sauce
1 (11.5-ounce) can refrigerated corn bread twists
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, poblano chile, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in cumin and coriander; cook 2 minutes. Stir in vinegar, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
3. Add chicken and next 4 ingredients (chicken through chili sauce); cook 15 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Spoon chicken mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Unroll corn bread dough, separating into strips. Place dough strips in a lattice fashion over chicken mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown; let stand 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 8 servings.
Calories 394 (27% from fat); Fat 12g (sat 3.7g, mono 2g, poly 1g); Protein 33.1g; Carb 40g; Fiber 1.7g; Chol 78mg; Iron 3.5mg; Sodium 972mg; Calc 49mg
WineGuyMike’s wine pairing:
2006 Ryan Patrick Rock Island Red Blend from the Columbia River Valley in Washington
2006 Rock Island Red
Rock Island Red is the wine that keeps the customers coming back. This well-balanced red table wine contains Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Alluring black cherry, currant and allspice aromas are followed by a clean burst of berry and cherry flavors that pair well with food. Fruit dominates, but there is a note of vanilla bean and coffee coming through the smooth and pleasant finish.
Winemaker’s Notes
Primary Fermentation
Stainless steel tanks with mixing 2X daily
Secondary Fermentation
Malolactic fermentation in barrel
Alcohol Content
14.1%
This is a very nice table wine that you will enjoy with this great Chicken Potpie recipe. Nice for a cold winters day. I recommend visiting the Ryan Patrick Tasting Room in magnificent Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is a beautiful Bavarian village that is frequently recognized in Sunset Magazine. From my table to yours.
On a cold but bright day we spent a day at Millésime Bio in Montpellier. Started in 1993 it has grown from just a few, keen organic wine producers to the huge three day event it is now. There are now about 400 tables (all of the same size) groaning with wine, organic and biodynamic wine.
And not a pair of sandals in sight…
We started with the one Savoie table, however with three good producers who work together to sell their wines (we see them at the summer market in our village in Haute Savoie, Le Chinaillon).
First we tasted the whites of Gilles Berlioz, enjoying his Chignin-Bergerons, such as the 2005: Warm berries and rounded fruits on the palate with a touch of hazelnuts; gently dry with plump acidity and a long finish.
Frederic Giachino Apremont 2008: Lovely long ripe fruit on the nose, crisp, dry with attractive length.
and Jacques Maillet’s Autrement whites and reds, such as his Roussette 2009: Herby and meaty (!) as well as fruit on the nose, this is a delicious dry white with good acidity, medium bodied and a long finish.
Keeping with Wink’s regional specialities we then visited the Jura producer Domaine de la Pinte, tasting their range of wines which included Vin Jaune 2002: Deeply walnutty, with fine fruit notes and not at all heavy. An infant (it was only bottled last year), it will grow into glorious maturity!
We’d only arrived at 11.30 having driven down from Uzès where we were staying with Amy and Matt at La Gramière, and it was now time for lunch where we were joined by Richard James and Louise Hurren, taking a well earned break from the Sud de France stand.
OOHHH we had a great day today visiting the vineyard and cellar at Sirromet Lifestyle winery, situated only 30 minutes SE of Brisbane, and 10 kms inland from Moreton Bay. They hold some great events here on a regular basis, the last one being on Australia Day when Ronan Keating and Tina Arena performed within the grounds. The next scheduled event features Tom Jones, towards the end of February. It’s a very civilized place to be. http://www.sirromet.com/
On arrival we had our customary coffee and carrot cake before a tour of the winery.
During the wine tasting session to follow, we were given eight different wines to try, which went down very well with our cheese and antipasto platter….WHAT?? Hey, somebody’s got to do it…it might as well be me …. Cheers everyone!
…hic…ooops, completely forgot to write Postcard 58/90 but managed to remember later in the day, after a little snooze.
Just got back from dinner at Northeast Kingdom. I’ve been there a few times for either dinner or drinks and each time has been wonderful. Really a diamond in the semi-polished rough.
Tonight was date night so we went whole hog. I have a weird fascination with Croatian and Hungarian wines, so I was excited to find a bottle of 2006 Plavac Mali from Dingač Pelješac. A slightly off-dry wine, we found flavors of raspberry and dark cherry.
To start off, we had a skewer of roasted lamb, onion and red pepper, served over braised French lentils. The lamb was tender and delicious but the portion was definitely too small to share.
As for entree we shared the Berkshire pork loin with beer and cheese soup and dressed greens. The pork was prepared perfectly and came with chopped sweet potatoes (or were they yams? I can never tell the difference). Dressing on the greens was super mustardy and salty. Mustard was nice, salt was a little much.
I think the beer and cheese soup was the most interesting thing. Definitely a take on French onion soup and definitely a departure from tradition. This soup featured crusty sourdough and kale in a broth of beer and basically raw onions, topped with cheddar and gruyere. I liked that the onions were unsweated; it gave a flavor intensity to match the kale. The beer flavor was pretty mild, I presume a light pilsner or something. Considering the cheese plate that featured 6 different artisanal domestic cheeses, I thought they could’ve done that better. Eh still pretty good. Oh and it came with cornbread. I’m pretty particular about my cornbread and I normally don’t like versions with pepper. This one had regular black pepper (as opposed to jalapeño) and I actually enjoyed it. Kudos.
We also ordered the “smoked and pickled,” which was speck and pickled vegetables but the waitress didn’t hear us or forgot us. Oh well.
…
Lastly, we came home and made hot toddies. Now whiskey doesn’t last very long in my house but I do have some tequila. So I combined regular black tea, cinnamon, ginger, sugar and a touch of lime juice with Sauza Hornitos reposada tequila. Mmmmm.
