Fro-sangria

Thursday’s final presentation on alcoholic popsicles led me to think about other forms of alcoholic “foods.” One that immediately came to mind was sangria. It’s a drink that I’ve always associated with good weather and good company. I’ve also thought of sangria as an easy-to-make drink, though I’ve never tried myself.  And with the fruit chunks, especially frozen, I feel like it would be an entertaining snack. 

So a couple of questions came to mind --Why don’t more festivals offer sangria as a beverage option? What is the history of sangria? How difficult is it to make sangria? Could frozen sangria be an alternative to frosé? 

It turns out that Sangria has a history that dates back to festivals - the 1964 World’s Fair in New York - specifically served at the Pavilion of Spain. And even before that, in the 1700s and 1800s, sangria was made in England and France using traditional grapes — white sangria, sparkling sangria, and sangria with peaches (zurra). 

And it also turns out that the red drink filled with chunks of fruit that I’d always defined as "sangria" is just one form. Sangria means blood in Spanish, but not all sangria is made with red wine; it can be made with white wine, cava, and even cider. Today there is no official recipe, and a quick Google search reveals pages and pages of sangria  recipe options. Apparently, there is also a similar alternative in Spain called “Tinto de Verano” which includes red wine, ice, and lemon soda or casera (artificially sweetened soda water). 

As suspected, there are reports of sangria being the key to tapping into the ever elusive millennials. A global drinks analyst writes, “Sangria taps into a number of trends currently attracting Millennials, namely a tase for ’sweeter, refreshing, fruitier flavors,’ and an interest in ‘alcohol category blurring.’” Not surprisingly, the U.S. is the biggest international market for Sangria — and yet, I have yet to see sangria as a popular alternative at many festivals and large scale events. 

And for the millennial segment that doesn’t have the patience to create DIY drinks there is also apparently a bottled alternative - Capriccio Bubbly Sangria. Even though it is made with grape wine, real fruit juices, and natural fruit flavors, many report its strong effect -- comparing it to Four Loko.

As the weather gets warmer, I will likely try experimenting with some of my own sangria recipes... and maybe a few frozen sangria popsicles. 

Sources:

https://vinepair.com/articles/the-history-of-sangria/

https://spanishsabores.com/2017/03/24/sangria-came-symbol-spain/

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/04/sangria-tipped-for-millennial-success/

https://www.thisisinsider.com/capriccio-bubbly-sangria-viral-fancy-four-loko-2018-5

Why I took this course

I´m a little late with this post but I wanted to make sure I was able to share a little bit more about myself and my interests with all of you before the quarter is officially over.

I was born into a family that loves wine. My dad is known to pair every meal (except breakfast) with at least one glass of red wine. My mom has a monthly wine club that gets together to try new wine regions or varietals, often with the help of an experienced sommelier in the subject. Wine was always served at the dinner at my house and is thought of as an enhancer of the dining experience.
However, in spite of having grown up around it, and having parents that are fairly knowledgeable about wine, I find myself nearing my 30s and still not knowing much about the wines that I am drinking.

I took this class with the hope of getting my toes dipped in the subject. I wanted to feel more comfortable talking about wine, both from the US and international. I also wanted to be able to form my own opinion about wines and to be able to state it confidently.

While those were very ambitious goals for a 9-week course. I have slowly seen myself become more comfortable talking about wine and about my thoughts surrounding a specific wine a lot more than I did before. While I am far from an expert still, I feel more comfortable exploring this world that has always intrigued yet intimidated me. I have thought to understand this as a very long journey, and I think many of us have just started taking our first steps.

Valle de Guadalupe - A different kind of Wine Country

We heard in our Midterm presentations about many up and coming wine regions, many of which I hadn´t even heard of. But one of the presentations hit very close to home: Mexico.
I was born and raised in Mexico, in a multicultural family that has a great love for wine. Wine was served at lunch at dinner almost every day (for 18+ drinkers only, of course).
But in spite of living in Mexico, most of the wines I got to see and try growing up were European wines. This was a trend I saw in many other houses and restaurants in Mexico. Mexican wine was thought to be either really bad quality or extremely expensive compared to its European counterparts.
However, a few years ago I started seeing more an more Mexican wines in Restaurant lists, and eventually, the new trend made way to my house. And while there are a few wine regions in Mexico, most of those new, quality wines I was seeing came from Valle de Guadalupe.

Many tourists like to call Valle de Guadalupe the Napa of Mexico. And while I understand where the comparison began, I believe they are worlds from each other. Where Napa is worldly, sophisticated and world renowned, Valle de Guadalupe is adventurous, innovative and a little outside the box.
Driving through the valley, it's sometimes even hard to see the vines scattered around the rocky terrain. The wineries are a lot smaller, and harder to find. In fact, driving at night, you might find yourself thinking you are lost in the mountains, as an unlit dirt road lays before your eyes.

Of course, we have our Mexican Mondavis, with wineries like Monte Xanic which was started by a group of friends a few decades ago with the goal of creating delicious premium Mexican wines - a feat I believe they have accomplished. But many of the wineries in the Valley are a lot smaller than their Napa counterparts. The Mexican market is not yet mature, so wine is a drink that a relatively small percentage drink regularly. Yet I believe this has allowed winemakers in Mexico to be a little more daring with the flavors they choose to portray in their wines. The vines in the area come from hundreds of different places in the world - Spain, France, Portugal, Chile, Argentina - you name it. The Valley has yet to pledge loyalty to one type of vine or grape. This has allowed for amazing new blends and innovative flavors.

I would be amiss if I talked about the Valley without mentioning the amazing food scene in the area, one that was there before the wineries and has developed and grown as the wine region has. The restaurants mimic the innovation and cultural mixture of our wines. We have chefs from Spain, the US, Mexico and South America combining recipes from other regions with the amazing seafood and ingredients available in this area of the country.

If you find yourselves at any point this year with a long weekend to fill don´t hesitate to travel a little south of the border and see this emerging wine region for yourself. Your palate and sense of adventure will thank you for it.

Love affair with bubbles

I have an addiction to bubbles. I am that person who upon receipt of a sodastream, immediately dumped in a bottle of white wine. My previous employer had free sparkling water and I would often go through half a dozen in an average day. Before I get judgment from the blog readers turned armchair doctors – there is no association with bone mineral density and carbonated water.  There is an association for soda, but that’s likely due to caffeine and acidic compounds within the soda.

But what is it about these drinks that causes us to crave the chorus of bubbles exploding on our tongue? Weirdly enough, it turns out that it has very little to do with the bubbles after all. As the carbon dioxide hits your tongue, an enzyme in your saliva called carbonic anhydrase quickly converts the CO2 into an acid in your mouth, giving it an astringent ‘bite’. This was proven out in a series of experiments by Bryant and Wise in which they took participants into a hyperbaric chamber (simulating high pressures) and gave them seltzer water. In the high pressure environment, the bubbles remained trapped in the liquid and never “fizzed” on the participants tongue, yet they all reported a characteristic bite from the carbonated drinks.

So I guess I’m not a bubbles addict, I’m an acid addict?

Take the money and run? Wineinstyle

Just as in consumption of wine – in business, knowing when to stop is much more important than knowing when to start. Eberhart faces a difficult decision – walking away from a business that he built and has a significant emotional investment in, or face the incredibly complex task of managing a company from thousands of miles away. To add to the conundrum, the new group of investors appears to be of questionable background.

I contend Eberhart is no longer responsible for the day to day operation of the business – while he has been a Chairman by letter, he has been acting closer to a CFO for the business in terms of his cash management. The day to day management of the company and its ultimate operational success or failure is in the hands of the CEO – Khoo. In this light, I would sell to the investors pending confirmation that the money is clean and can be repatriated to the USA. Additionally, I would seek an advisory contract from the new board to stay on as a consultant if they desire – this would both add additional capital to his personal balance sheet (I cannot imagine the exit on a $4M revenue business is enough to live on) while also giving him an opportunity to positively influence that which he has built.

This decision is one that comes down to his personal mindset at the time – while it’s easy to look at spreadsheets and numbers, we must remember that decisions of the entrepreneur are first personal and second professional. That is to say, if you cannot have a life then you cannot have a business.

2019 Wine Trends - How did we do?

Following our final presentations, I took a look at some of the top predicted trends of 2019 to see how many we hit collectively:

1. Growth of under-the-radar, underappreciated varietals - Check. (Birdhorse)
2. New land management techniques resulting from environmental concerns - Check. (Vincycle)
3. Growth in education of wine as a food-centric beverage (in response to concerns of moderating alcohol intake) - Check. (Duovino, Wineology)
4. Growing interest in low alcohol wine options - Hmm... not sure if we hit this one
5. Technology enabling easier purchase of wine, bringing wine sales online - Check. (IndieSips, WineDrop)
6. Consumers will "hunt down sparkling wine from new places" - I'll give this one to Ridley

Pretty good, team!

Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillbarth/2018/12/13/how-we-will-drink-wine-in-2019-trends-according-to-winemakers-and-pros/#525f9dc63a9c

Wine in Aluminum (Bottles?)

The newest development in alternative packaging for wine… the aluminum bottle. While we’ve mostly only seen this for beer thus far, could this take off for wine?

Consumers are already developing an acceptance of wine in cans, especially for the portability and small format. Could aluminum bottles, with the added benefit of resealable tops, take off even more? Sterling Vineyards (owned by Treasury Wine Estates) thinks they may.

However, there are a few barriers. First, only a small number of suppliers manufacture bottles in sizes that comply with federal regulations (187, 375, and 750 milliliters). But the biggest barrier is the changes that would need to be made to filling lines.

Either way, expect to see a few of these trickle out this year!

Articles Referenced:

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/sonomacounty/9332282-181/wine-aluminum-bottles-napa