Went to a great educational tasting today (trade  only) at Metropolitan downtown. The CEO of Napa-based winery St. Supery, Michaela Rodeno, was in town to present a unique tasting of classic Sauvignon Blancs (SB) from around the world. (In the small-world-getting-smaller scenerio, Michaela has Cleveland connections via her husband’s side of the family.) The tasting started with a barrel -fermented Sauvignon Blanc from Duckhorn  and ended with a medium wt Mulderbosch from South Africa. In between, we sampled a yummy stainless steel fermented version from St. Supery’s Dollarhide vineyard, a barrel-aged Chateau de Fieuzal from Graves wine that was 50% Semillon and 50% Sauvignon Blanc, a spectacular Dagueneau from the Loire that was full of mineral notes and searing acidity, and of course a couple of SBs from New Zealand (Craggy Range and Kim Crawford) full of the zest and zing we have all grown to know from New Zealand. The difference on the palate from glass to glass was remarkable and reminded me just how different SB can be - I personally love them all and suggest that we all load up our wine closets with a couple of refreshing SBs from the US and elsewhere. Enough with Chardonnay, this summer, think crsip acidity, think refreshing and try a bottle of SB with a goat cheese salad drizzled with Balsamic & oil. Classic.

As the weather heats up and we finally swing into summer mode - my mind goes right to the pink stuff. In fact, sipping a glass of rose under my favorite tree in the backyard makes me think I am away on vacation. Here’s the scoop on rose. While many people think pink means white Zin, the truth is rose wine is awesome (usually dry with crisp acidity) making it a far cry from the sugary plonk called white Zin. Plus, rose is on the rise in the USA - and that’s a good sign. A few labels I would suggest: try the brightly flavored Monkey Bay from New Zealand or the Los Cardos from Argentina. Both are great with a simple summer salad. Lidia Bastianich (of Falidia restaurant fame in NYC) has an Italy version on the market that is down right yummy. Or grab any pink wine from Provence (the region famous for Grenache-based rose) and give it a try - hard to go wrong, really. During a recent wine school event, I asked a group of guys if they felt “OK drinking rose.” All said yes but once reminded that the wine in their glass would be pink  - they hesitated just a bit. So here’s the question: Do real men drink rose?

As an intro post to my blog, I thought is best to let you know what I have in mind for the site. Basically, I will post the latest wine news, trends, interesting facts, seasonal suggestions, event reviews, wine reviews, restuarant reviews and local events that come across my desk.  If you have a question or a topic you would like me to write about, please feel free to e-mail it to me at mfrantz@clevelandwineschool.com and I will be sure to include it in my next post.  My goal is to educate the palate and share wine information with those who enjoy wine so lets get started.