Chillable Reds
We go through lengths to ensure red wines served at our courses and events are at their "optimum" temperature. This means sub-60 degrees for Pinot Noir, and low-to-mid 60's for Cabernet. This month, Jane takes on a cadre of wines that are all red, but all show best when served COOL. Perfect to beat the heat.
>>> This Month's Column

Cooking by the Glass
Perfect Pairings Made Simple
is a New Column and a New Course Series from AWS

The meal this month is dessert – make that chocolate dessert!
Pairing wine with chocolate is decadently fun and easy. Kristin and Debbie will show you a match made in heaven and a wonderful excuse to try new recipes and wines.

>>> Check Out this Month's Food & Wine Selection

For Wine and Foodies, It’s Simply Euphoria
by Gregory D. McCluney
Wine & Travel Editor

From Thomas Keller to Frank Stitt, Branford Marsalis to Drivin 'N Cryin, the first few years of euphoria have been filled with big names, big sounds and big flavors – all hosted in the intimate, small-town setting of one of the South’s most celebrated downtowns. Greenville’s fifth year of euphoria promises to be just as exciting.

>>> Check Out the Euphoria Event this September

Join us for a fun tasting with very good wines, and learn how state-of-the-art wine stemware can change your wine experience as you know it. Leave with a four-glass set of glassware valued at $50.

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What do you need to know about wine in sixty minutes? Walk away with an appreciation sure to influence wine in your personal and professional life. All attendees leave with a Schott Zweisel glass ($12.50 value).

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What do you need to know about wine in sixty minutes? Walk away with an appreciation sure to influence wine in your personal and professional life. All attendees leave with a Schott Zweisel glass ($12.50 value).

>>>> More Info

Reserve Wines
Wednesday, August 25th (AWS Wine Room in Roswell)

Time to bring out the big-guns. What makes a $100+ wine so alluring? The approach? The complexity of flavors, or perhaps the 90-second finish? A great one brings all of those sensory-overloaders onto you at one time. Join us for a seldom-run course. >>>> More Info

Cooking by the Glass (NEW Course!)
Thursday, August 26th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)

Can a well chosen wine really enhance a meal? Participants will learn the basics and more during this “forks-on” class featuring deeper pours of at least six wines, plenty of food (come hungry), recipes, tips, and more. Whether you’re eating at home or at a restaurant, you’ll feel confident selecting the perfect wine.
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Intro to Wine, Level II
Wednesday, September 15th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)

Spiral-bound book & tasting guide, riveting interactive lectures, and six to twelve wines to taste per class. This course takes the wine curious and creates wine enthusiasts! >>>> More Info

World of Reds--HIGH END EDITION
Thursday, September 23rd (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)

World of Reds takes guests through eight (8) wines, all RED, spanning the globe. ALL WINES WILL BE AT LEAST $50/BOTTLE RETAIL. These classes are great for gaining familiarity with new wines, as well as understanding how wine styles and selections are impacted by region and climate. >>>> More Info

Certified Specialist of Wine Training Program
Sunday, September 26th (AWS Wine Room in Roswell)

The CSW Credential is one of the industry's most recognized and Atlanta Wine School helped produce just shy of 25% of all CSW credentials issued in 2009. Join us and earn an expert credential in wine. >>>> More Info

• A New Wine Blog We Like
  It is said the most common blogging genre on the web is WINE. If that is true, there are many tasting poets out there. We have some very good, established blogs in Atlanta, and we can't even begin to name all of them here. But we did want to share with you a blog from a former (now CSW) student, Katie Barringer. Her blog Viti-Culture uses dreamy descriptives we like. >>> More Info
• Total Looking for Part-Time Help
  Total Wine in Dunwoody is looking for a few people; contact Wine Manager Michelle Schmitt
• Billy McKinnon of McKinnon's Louisiane Dies
  Billy McKinnon, known for running his Maple Drive restaurant with flare and charm, died last month. Jane Garvey, who knew him well, said, "Last year when I was re-reviewing Red Snapper on Cheshire Bridge Rd., where McKinnon's was first located, the little Vietnamese guy who's owned it for the last 20 years said he wouldn't have been in business but for Billy. He had worked for Billy at McKinnon's, and Billy said, c'mon. you need to buy this place. It's your future. And helped him to do it. He spoke so movingly of Billy that night. If Billy had committed armed robbery, and this guy were on the jury, Billy would have been acquitted. That's how steadfastly grateful he was."
• Just What Does "Moderation" Mean in Moderate Alcohol Consumption?
  Our government has long held that one a day for women and two a day for men meant moderation. Nevermind that not all other countries agree with this assertion. >>> More Info

Jane's Monthly Dozen: Chillable Reds
by Jane Garvey

At a luncheon in Athens last month at The National, Etienne Hugel of Hugel & Fils in Alsace, France, felt the bottle of his Pinot Noir ($40/Grapefields), and winced. “Too cold,” he pronounced, adding that he had wanted it exactly at 67F, and he’d forgotten to check it so it had overshot the mark.

Tasting the wine, I knew it would hit the right mark shortly as it warmed up in the glass. I mean, in this heat, even in an air-conditioned space, it wouldn’t take long to crawl back up those few degrees of separation from his notion of the ideal.

Some people are still surprised to learn that it’s ok--indeed it’s the right thing to do-- to cool down red wines, even though winemakers world-wide recommend cooler temperatures for all reds, not just the lighter ones such as Pinot Noir. It’s a no-brainer. If you want to taste the fruit and not the alcohol, cool that red wine down. At Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, winemaker Sharon Fenchak advocates 58-62F for all reds (14-16C).

Yet, that old nonsense about “room temperature” for red wines clings to life like a bad dream from which you can’t awaken. What is room temperature anyway? In this heat, it’s hard to get your house under 75F unless you’re prepared to pay the equivalent of the mortgage in electric bills, and I’m sure you don’t want your red wine at that temperature. Extremes of temperature on either end of the spectrum impair flavor.

What you should aim for, in fact, with red wines, generally is 60-65F 15-17C, although as we can see from Hugel‘s insistence on a specific higher temperature and Biltmore Estate‘s lower recommendations for a base, there‘s little consensus on the subject.. But cool room temperature is a good benchmark. The fruit is emphasized and the sense of alcohol is suppressed.

Carpe Diem in Decatur is one restaurant that understands that the correct serving temperature for red wines has nothing to do with ambient temperature, and staffers report they get argumental questions from mis-informed customers. But they persist. And they’re right. This lively neighborhood bistro in Decatur, GA, understands that red wines need to be cool. Carpe Diem’s wine guru Tarik Berhe confirms she has kept to the standard, and although some customers insist on warm reds, most are beginning to get it. “Of course we’ll open a fresh, warm bottle of wine for someone if they insist,” she says, “but one customer will absolutely send a glass of wine back if it’s not at a good cool temperature.” This is a smart customer.

In France at VinExpo, held in June in odd numbered years, the weather is hot. We all remember 2003, but 2001 nearly got me, too. I thought I was going to turn into a grease spot. It was therefore quite liberating to see those young French wine trade professionals plunging their Burgundies at lunch right into the ice buckets. I needed no further encouragement to follow suit. As a result, having been a closet red wine chiller, I emerged from my self-imposed secret wine chilling space to hold the frosty bottle high like a flag.

Now, I’m on a tear about the subject. I believe it’s best to lay red wines that are too warm to drink--and no red wine should be consumed at 70F/20C--on ice rather than insert them into ice, but you do what you have to do to get that temperature down. Yeah, stick ‘em in a bucket of ice, especially the simpler, picnic, casual red wines. Why on earth not? I don’t want either reds or whites turned into Slurpies, however.

Here are a sample of reds that lend themselves well to being served cool, that is around 65F/17C or less. While it’s ideal for these blistering hot days, I wouldn’t hesitate to chill them in winter either as that’s the temperature at which they will taste best, no matter the weather report.