A couple of weeks ago several VWWC members and I went to hang out with Charlie Peters of Grape Expectations Nevada School of Winemaking in Henderson.  We went nuts and bought a barrel.  But more on the “what was I thinking?!?” moment later.

We all arrived at just about the same time … and Charlie was waiting for us, bottles of wine at the ready.

Grape Expectations is located in an industrial park in Henderson – an unlikely place for a winery – but somehow, it all seems to work. There was no doubt that this was a winery; there were barrels from the floor nearly to the ceiling.

Charlie was, as expected, informative, gregarious, and generous. Because the winery is located in what is essentially an oversized garage, the “tour” part was limited, but the information part was not.  Charlie shared his incredibly interesting story and showed us what a little American ingenuity can do.

I guess you can compare the laws about having a winery to the laws about having a brothel. You can’t do what you really want with too many people around.  Kind of.

Having a “winery” in the truest sense of the word in Nevada is illegal if the county has more than 100,000 people.  Just like a brothel.  See the connection?  Well – except for possibly the good-feeling part – that’s pretty much where the similarity ends.

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The Zin Fest in Paso Robles was an incredible weekend of food, wine, and fun.  And I mean FUN!

After a quiet Friday evening, we visited several wineries, but ended up spending most of the day and early afternoon at Hug Cellars.  It wasn’t just because of the wines – although that had a lot to do with it – but it was because of the Wild Game BBQ that Augie hosted.  So it was our stomachs that made the decision for us.

What a shock, right?

With that being said, there were lots of activities that entire weekend with the different wineries which we had to miss.  However, it was not all about food.  It was also about reviewing some of the wines in the Spring shipment of the Hug Cellars Wine Club (Club Hug).

Oh man. What a treat!

Rather than go on and on about how wonderful the wines were, just watch the videos!  There was enough footage to make a mini-movie, but unfortunately, YouTube is pretty strict about the whole ten-minute thing.

The first three videos all take place at Hug Cellars where we taste the wines, pair the wines with the food, and find out what a “mystery” wine was.  Lots of tape on the cutting room floor!

Zin Festival Fun – Tasting at Hug Cellars Pt. 1

Zin Festival Fun – Tasting at Hug Cellars Pt. 2

Mystery Wine Revealed! – Tasting at Hug Cellars Pt. 3

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All of us enjoy drinking wines that are “highly rated” by the various wine gods and goddesses out there. For most wineries, a Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, Wine & Food, or other well-known wine rating source is practically a guarantee of a sold-out vintage.

Something you may not know is that wineries submit their wines for ratings. So what? That means that there are many wineries out there that do not submit, and therefore go “unrated” and unrecognized. I’ve learned this over the years from speaking with smaller wineries. They have very limited production that produces just enough for their club members and for limited online sales. Their logic is simple. Why have a wine rated that won’t be easily available for sale? Makes sense to me. When I look at the numbers of cases produced by the wineries – ranging from as little as 25 to as many as 250 – the need for the nod of approval from the big guys is impractical.

Every now and then you may come across a wine that’s really delicious, a good value, or one that you’d like to know more about. No ratings anywhere!! Now what?

How about ratings for the real world? If you haven’t done so yet, you have to go to CellarTracker. It is a website developed by one of the members of the Mark Squires wine forum and has been a great success. It allows members/users to track the contents of their cellars. In addition, it has an area for “community tasting notes”; that is, regular folks like us who have enjoyed the wines that you like and have left their own ratings. People have widely different tastes which accounts for some of the wide ranges of scores, however, many of the wines have incredible consistency from taster to taster and the scores reflect that, as well.

For instance, I looked up the ratings on a Sauvignon Blanc that I’d opened, tasted, and realized that it was pure dreck. It was from a very well-known maker of super high-end reds, but this was more than a shock. I’d paid a bit of a hefty price for the name and was stunned at the poor quality. A quick look on CellarTracker told me that I wasn’t alone. One of the members recommended that this winery stick with its reds. What was interesting is the feeling that people couldn’t believe that *this winemaker* could make something so incredibly mediocre, and the tasters doubted their own palates.

However, it’s not always bad news. I looked up Four Vines Heretic, and saw that the community scores were consistently in the 90’s for this big, beautiful Petit Sirah. So glad that I have several bottles!

The reviews are interesting, and the people are quite frank about their likes and dislikes. They will tell you what foods paired well, other wines at the occasion (if any), and will sometimes even give you the price if they remember. The abilities of the tasters range from relatively novice to winery owners. People’s collections range from less than a dozen to numbering in the thousands. A good mix of wine folks.

Check out CellarTracker and let me know what you think!

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I had a brand new bio more or less written out and then found this one in the dead database files. Oh what the heck (I said). I haven’t changed much and neither have my goals!

Enjoy!

So what – or who – is the Vegas Wineaux? And why does she want to see people enjoy wine? Isn’t wine just for snobs or the very rich? Now, that’s where the Vegas Wineaux and Combatting Swirl Envy come in to rid everyone of those notions. Because anyone can achieve wine snob status.

Irene has been passionate about wines for most of her life. From the first time that she tentatively sipped her grandmother’s homemade apple wine, she has been fascinated by this magical elixir. Through the years she has continued to enjoy wine in its many forms. She joined wine clubs, haunted tastings and wineries, subscribed to wine magazines, hosted and attended home wine-tasting events, and took as many classes as she could – both privately and at the local Community College – to learn as much as possible about wines.

Her wine epiphany came when she tasted a truly fine wine and realized that wine was more than just Mogen David or Boone’s Farm. And while her path to full wine enjoyment has occasionally taken her to other life adventures, the past five years has seen her singularly focus on the appreciation of wines and the pleasure that they give.

Irene’s years as a technical trainer has served her well in the world of wine. An appreciation for clear-cut information and detail morphed into an ethereal enjoyment and respect of the skill and knowledge that it takes to produce wines of quality. Her years of experience as a bartender and bar manager and years-long membership in the American Wine Society have given her a respect for and heightened her appreciation of wines and enhanced her ability to fully understand and discern the qualities within them. She has the skills, love, and ability to share her knowledge and passion for this elixir with anyone who wants to learn.

So what is this Vegas Wineaux thing about? It’s about starting from square one when it comes to wines. It’s about learning the ABCs before learning how to read. In other words, before one can become a Wine Snob, one must start off as a Neophyte. One must learn about Combatting Swirl Envy – that feeling you get when you see true wine snobs swirl and savor their wine. This is a fun way to get a solid foundation before tackling the business of learning about types, regions, and styles of wine, and Vegas Wineaux is just the one to start you on your journey.