The flavor of my wine will be known as “Sexy”

I think I’ll name my award-winning winery “Giant Eagles Fighting Dragons” Vineyards…

Oh hey guys, I forgot I was supposed to be writing the blog and I was busy putting together my five year plan.

What, you might ask, is my five year plan? Well I’ll tell you, since you were so kind to ask.

1. Go to Classic Winemakers wine-making class in Lacey, Washington and learn how to make my own wine.
2. Use my new-found knowledge of the grape (that’s what real wine experts call it…”the” grape) to start my own vineyard and winery called “Giant Eagles Fighting Dragons” vineyard.
3. Wait 3-to-5 years for my grapes to be ready to and then cash in on my genius.
4. Finally have a legit reason to get my full-back tattoo of a giant eagle and a dragon engaged in a mid-air battle with talons and fire and stuff.

This weekend I’ll be down in Lacey learning how to make and bottle my own wine. I have no clue what this will include but I put the link to the winery’s site above so you can do the research yourself.

I’m just going to show up and sponge up all the knowledge I can, although I don’t know what more they can teach me: I don’t want to brag, but when I was in high school chemistry, the strawberry wine I made won the “best taste” ribbon, and the rumor is that it inspired Deana Carter (listen to more country music, you’ll get the reference).

I’ll make sure to give you a run-down next week about how it went.

In other news: Game Night has been getting so super-awesome that we are going to be hosting it every TWO weeks instead of once a month. You’re welcome.

That means that THIS WEDNESDAY is game night. I want to warn you, my team re-took the crown and my wine rack is full as a result. Does this mean we’ll let someone else win this Wednesday? Absolutely not. We plan on winning again…I’ll get a bigger wine rack.

Side note: My team needs a team name. Something awesome. Any ideas?

I’ll also post this week’s tasting and specials when someone who actually works at the shop gets them to me (yeah, I’m talking to you MOM)…now I’m going to get yelled at for speaking so sarcastically to my mom (sorry mom).

See you soon. Perhaps Wednesday at 7PM if you feel like losing at game night.

I wasn’t slacking, I was letting the blog open up and decant

I owe you an apology. I wish I could blame it on hibernation or a freak gasoline-fight accident that resulted in a month-long ICU visit, but sadly, I’ve just been really busy and haven’t had a chance to drink too much wine.

“What have I been busy doing?” one might ask. And one might be in for an amazing answer that doesn’t at all involve working long hours in a cubicle on websites that are a lot less exciting than a wine blog.

First of all, I realized that I could never run an off-shore sports betting firm. In order to do that, you need to wear lots of gold jewelry and silk shirts. I look better in earth tones.

Then I was busy getting ready for summer camping by reading up on how to fight a bear. Then I fought a bear. That didn’t go so well. If I had to describe the fight in one word, it would probably be “bitey”.

But finally, I’m back, and I’m here for good.

Here are some of the things you can look forward to hearing me ramble on about and/or join me in trying out:

1. Game Night is coming back around. My team didn’t win last month, but that’s only because only half of us were there. We played Scatergories, which is easier with a full team. Everyone had such a good time that we’re playing that again, and trust me (this is mainly directed to the ladies that won)…we’re coming correct this time.
2. This week’s tasting is Ward Johnson Winery . They’re from Queen Anne Hill in Seattle and we’ll taste all four of his wines, a chardonnay, a cab, a merlot and a syrah. When I lived in Queen Anne, I never had the opportunity to try this place, so I’m excited. I hear things. Good things.
3. They’re doing an awesome “World Cup” special right now with Graham Beck Winery. They’re a non-profit South African Winery that supports the natural heritage of the Country and owns and runs a game reserve. We’ve got their Sparkling Brut, a chardonnay-viognier blend and a cabernet sauvignon. We have them available by the bottle and by the glass.

I hope to see some of you there for the tasting Thursday and/or Saturday and if not, I’ll see you for game night next week when I regain the crown.

Upcoming posts will include a better breakdown of the tasting and World Cup special, and more trash talk about game night, in which I may or may not call people out by name.

Help! My wine has sulfites! Wait, what does that mean?

I made a point of including my email, Kevin@de-vinewines.com on each post, and lo and behold, emails came flowing. Thanks to Dave for the question.

Hey look what I did! It's a wine glass filled with sulfites! That was clever of me.

Question: What are ‘sulfites’ in wine?

Good question Dave. I keep hearing about sulfites in wine, but I don’t have any idea if they’re good or bad, or even a double-agent pretending to be good, and then at the last second turning on you like the first girl James Bond meets in every movie.

So I turned to the experts on the internet. And trust me, I saw a guy wearing a wicked-awesome TRON outfit on Youtube the other day, people on the web know their stuff!

Sulfites, or Sulfer Dioxides, occur naturally in all wine, but mainly, they’re introduced to stop the fermentation process at a desired time. They’re also used to prevent oxidation, kill bacteria and wild yeasts, and encourage quick and clean fermentation in a bottle of wine. In general, you’ll find more sulfites in white wine than red, but the most in sweet dessert wines.

Okay, so what does that mean? Basically, sulfites are what keep wine from turning into vinegar. So thank you sulfites, because this steak would be less delicious with a nice glass of vinegar (I just said that for dramatic effect, I’m not actually eating a steak…its 9:30 in the morning and I’m not a Soprano).

Common Misconception: Organic Wines are sulfite-free. This isn’t true. So get off your high horse. Yeah, surprised? Here’s another bomb: Your Whole Foods $17 slice of pizza might have fetta cheese and artichoke hearts, but it’s still covered in grease. Sorry to rock your world like that.

So are they bad? Yes. If you drink sulfites you’ll die.

Just kidding; For the most part, they’re harmless. The reason you see the “Contains Sulfites” warning on your wine label is that roughly 1% of the population are allergic to them.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. GO JOE!!!

Paula’s More Educated Notes:

Somewhere along the way, in the past 20 years or so, as people became more and more aware of additives in foods, they decided that sulfites were bad. They also heard about someone who was allergic to sulfites and had a bad reaction and that just added fuel to their fire. People started blaming sulfites for any and all maladies associated with drinking wine. This is absolutely unfair.

First of all, without sulfites added to wines, there would be no chance at stocking a beautiful cellar because wines just simply would not hold for years. Everything would need to be consumed in a relatively short period of time. For those of us who have enjoyed some terrific wine from vintages past, this would be a great loss.

Secondly, it is only a very tiny percentage of the population that is allergic to the sulfites in wine. A true allergy to sulfites is typically a fairly serious one; symptoms would most likely be something on the level of an asthmatic reaction. Headaches associated with drinking wine are not usually from a sulfite reaction, unless coupled with some other symptoms. One of the tests we often use is the dried apricot test. If you can eat a single dried apricot without getting a headache, then it is certainly not the sulfites. One dried apricot usually has more sulfites in it than a glass of wine.

Headaches associated with drinking wine are usually caused by the histamines in the grapes, or even something as simple as overdrinking, dehydration, lack of sleep… People often tell me that they don’t get headaches when they drink wine from Italy or some other place in the world. That may be true – grapes grown in different regions have different histamines. Just as your doctor may tell you to move to a different location for your health – the same is true with grapes. Add to that the fact that when in a different country, the laws on what needs to be on a wine label are different. Just because a wine does not say that it contains sulfites, does not mean that sulfites are not added! Its amazing how much a few words on a bottle, or lack of words in this case, can change our perception of the wine and how we feel when we drink it. The best advice I have is that if you find yourself getting headaches often from either a particular varietal of wine, or a particular region of wine, try a few different things. First – make sure you are drinking responsibly and don’t overdo it. Second, make sure you are hydrated before you drink. I also like to make it a personal rule to have a glass of water for every glass of wine I drink. Finally, try wines of a different varietal or the same varietal from a different region. I think most of you will be surprised to find out that maybe you can drink Chardonnay after all – or whatever wine has been giving you problems!

Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion still floating around about sulfites. And remember – just because it has a chemical name does not mean that it is bad!

Give me a shout with any questions you might have. Kevin@de-vinewines.com

The DaVino Code

I’ve been lied to. So have you America (And I say “America” because clearly the blog for your neighborhood wine bar has a national readership). This is a scandal so deep, it spans centuries and crosses oceans. But don’t worry; I’m about to go all Tom Hanks for you.

But before I do: “The DaVino Code”? That was nice right? It’s like a gift. It’s like I can’t control it. But back to the scandal.

Did you know that different countries call the same grape varietals different names? I know! It’s like they don’t even speak the same language! How am I supposed to become a wine expert when I don’t even know if the two bottles I’m comparing are the same thing or not?

I recently discovered that Mourvedre and Mataro are THE SAME GRAPE. So I did some digging in ancient and sacred archives called “Wikipedia”.

And the mystery started to unravel. This was just like the scene in DaVinci Code where Tom Hanks finds the dead guy’s writing on the back of the Mona Lisa…only I’m in my office with headphones blaring Tom Petty and pretending to stare at a spreadsheet…oh, and I’m better looking.

Turns out “Mourvedre” is the French name for this grape that is used to make dark, rich red wines and rosés.  “Mataro” is the name used in Portugal for the same grape and “Monastrell” is the Spanish name.

There’s gotta be a reason for it, so I started looking around. I found a few more names for this same grape. But just a few:

Alcallata, Alcayata, Alicante, Arach Sap, Balzac, Balzar, Benadu, Beneda, Beni Carlo, Berardi, Bod, Bon Avis, Buona Vise, Casca, Catalan, Cayata, Caymilari Sarda, Charnet, Churret, Damas Noir, Drug, English Colossal, Espagnen, Espar, Esparte, Estrangle-chien, Flouron, Flouroux, Garrut, Gayata Tinta, Karis, Maneschaou, Marseillais, Mataro, Maurostel, Mechin, Monastre, Monastrell Menudo, Monastrell Verdadero, Mourvedre, Mourvegue, Mourves, Murvedr Espar, Negralejo, Negria, Neyron, Pinot Fleri, Plant De Ledenon, Plant De Saint Gilles, Reina, Ros, Rossola Nera, Spar, Tintilla, Tire Droit, Torrentes, Trinchiera, Valcarcelia, Verema, Veremeta, Vereneta.

And that’s copied and pasted from Wikipedia so it’s GOTTA be true.

Basically anything from national pride, language barriers, accents used in oral histories, preference, ego, and just about any other part of the human condition contribute to this. Grapes are named the different things for the same reason most of the world uses the metric system and the US uses inches and feet: people are stubborn and do things their own way.

Maybe this helps. Maybe it doesn’t. People could be creating a very distinct taste that’s unique to their grape simply because it’s their grape…But maybe not.

I couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone in the 20-minutes of internet research I did, so I did what any self-respecting man would do: I asked my mom.

“It’s really hard to say because there doesn’t seem to be a benefit to it,” mom (aka Paula Shively, owner of DeVine Wines) said. “Unfortunately what it does, at least here in the US, is confuse and possibly hurt sales because although someone may have heard of a mourvedre, and may even love it, they see mataro or monastrell and think they don’t know the grape. It keeps people from trying a bottle of wine they might really enjoy.”

To that, I say be more adventurous and trust the shop owner or vintner who suggests a new wine to you. They know their stuff and seldom steer you wrong.

My take on the grape names: who cares what it’s called? I had something the other day called a “parsnip” and I didn’t know what I was eating, but you know what? …ok it was gross, but then I washed it down with a glass of really good wine, and I have no idea what kind of grape it was.

So it turns out that my conclusion wasn’t as exciting or faith-shaking as Tom Hanks, but it was a lot more delicious. See you at the tasting this week!

Editor’s Note: Sorry Parsnips, I was just kidding because you have the funniest and nerdiest of vegetable names. You were actually very good. Also, parsnips are a member of the carrot family….ANOTHER vegetable that is lying to us!

Go Girl…It’s your birthday! Open wide, I know you’re thirsty…say ahhhh!

Sorry. That title was probably either confusing or if you recognize it, just annoying; it’s a song…it’s not a very good song. Trust me, I know. I have a 13-year-old sister. The hip hop these darn kids are listening to today is terrible. It’s nothing like the lyrical masterpieces I listened to when I was in high school…remember when Puff Daddy was making music? Sorry, I mean making CLASSICS!

…But I digress. Despite it’s terrible musical origin, the title fits well with the theme of today’s post. “Why” you might ask?  Oh I’ll feed you baby birds:

Today is DeVine Wines birthday! Six years ago today, they opened the doors. It’s hard to believe. Paula, Rich, Jim and Gerry all wanted to thank you for your support. It’s been tough, especially in the recent years (I’d say “economic climate”, but I get a facial twitch when people say “economic climate”), but the local support and word of mouth that you bring is what keeps DeVine Wines open today. So keep it up, because without this blog, I’d have to actually get back to work right now.

To read the thank you note from Paula (mom), check out the DeVine Wines Facebook page, I’ll post it there.

Game Night Tonight! Come down to the shop at 7PM and have a few drinks, some laughs, and lose to my team at Pictionary. I’m not trying to sound cocky, honestly. I’m only saying that because I’m amazing at every game ever, and there’s not even a word for how good I am at Pictionary. I would have to draw it for you and I don’t have time right now.

Try to make it on time because we’ve already got a pretty full guest list. Buy-In is a bottle of wine off our discount rack, and winner takes all (actually that’s a lie, I think we give second place a couple bottles too. Theoretically I could just go back and rewrite this paragraph, but that sounds like a lot of work and I’m on a roll).

This Week’s Tasting: This week, we’ll be tasting Cougar Crest Winery from Walla Walla. I’m told that Cougar Crest puts out a solid collection every year. We’ll taste their Viognier, which is Latin for “really good while wine”. This bottle won the white wine category for the DeVine Wine Club Member’s “March Madness” event, which I’m told didn’t involve Duke at all…so it’s got that goin’ for it.

We’ll also be checking out the Grenache Rosé (great for summer weather), Dedication Three Red (which donates all proceeds to Children’s Hospital in Portland, be sure to ask about that story, it’s really heartwarming), the Cabernet Franc and the Syrah. Come down Thursday from 5-8 or Saturday from 1-4.

Personally, I’ll be there Saturday because the Mill Creek Sidewalk Sale is going on, and that also means that the patio opens for the summer. Nothing I like more than sitting on the patio watching Hot Yoga let out across the street…sorry mom.

See you soon! As always, shoot me an email with any questions. Kevin@de-vinewines.com

Get on my level: Vino and Violins

You know what I do? I drink wine on islands in big classy white event tents with chandeliers while people play music and feed me various cheeses that I’ve never even heard of.

That’s right. Your boy is comin’ up in the world. I spent Saturday at the Bainbridge “Uncorked” event, rubbing elbows with only the highest-class debutant type…um…well okay as far as I can tell, mostly just a bunch of normal people who like wine and food. It was like finding out that the girl in high school who was too cool for you actually plays Madden and hates the Oklahoma City Thunder as much as you do. It was awesome.

I was expecting to have a lot of very serious wine buffs and get thoroughly bored and a little intimidated by guys in tweed jackets and ascots, but I didn’t. There were more t-shirts and flip flops than I expected, and hey, that’s just how the islanders do it I guess. I’m going to have to buy a place out there…wait, I’m going to have to make more money, THEN I’ll buy a place out there. That’s going to be awesome. Stay tuned for that…

Note to Self: Don’t say “Awesome” so much.

The turnout was huge, packing about 200 people in a tent roughly equipped for 75, but after talking to the staff, they just didn’t expect that many people to show up. Luckily, the sun was out and patrons were able to spill out onto the marina walkway, sippin’ their vino with sailboats in the background. It was a pretty great setting. I felt like I was at the Catalina Wine Mixer.

Contest: Become a fan on facebook and post the movie that features the Catalina Wine Mixer on our wall. First person to get it right wins an appetizer with their next purchase.

The benefit of such a large crowd is that no one had time to ask me what I thought of the pinot or what woodland flower’s aroma I could pick out of the merlot.

It meant I got to relax and actually enjoy the wine.

My favorite? The Valvano blend from Fletcher Bay Winery. This wine is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet grapes. Mostly I liked it because the woman who was pouring for Fletcher Bay introduced it to me by saying “You’re gonna like this, but not as much as you would if you had some spicy Italian sausage with it.”

Which is true…that’s always true. I’m sold. Once I’d tried it, instead of asking “what notes of spring fruit did you notice?” she said “yeah…it’s good huh?”

Fletcher Bay also has a really cool-looking guest house and bed and breakfast. I’d recommend going tasting there on pure impression. They were a lot of fun and made me feel right at home. I’m sure she could whip you up some Italian sausage to go with your bottle of Valvano.

My other favorite would have to be Eleven Winery. Eleven Winery is named for a bicycling term. Eleventh gear is what you set when you’re trying to go “all out”…Their wine goes all out. I had the Malbec, and if it’s any indicator, the rest is really good too. Eleven can be found anytime at DeVine Wines. One of the coolest things is that even though they were swamped, the owner took the time to explain to me what the toasting process in an oak barrel can for some wines. He answered quickly, and after noticing my blank stare, held my hand and walked me through it like a small child.

There were six other Bainbridge wineries there, and I’m not going to list them…Mostly because I’m lazy. They were all great though so head back to their big weekend-long festival in the fall to try them all yourself! (okay fine, you can email me if you have any questions too Kevin@de-vinewines.com).

At the shop, I’m told the tasting went great. Hope you were able to make it down. If not; don’t fret. It happens again this week (noticing a trend?). I’ll see you there! Tomorrow night is game night. Come down and have a few glasses, embarrass yourself in Pictionary, and kiss my ring when I reign supreme champion.

NFL Draft Day Special! No, I’m kidding, it’s about wine

Editor’s Note: Kevin sent in his first draft and it was entirely about the Seahawks and the offensive line and secondary pick-ups they should make in tonight’s draft…we immediately made him re-write it. Here’s the revised copy. But still, go Hawks!

I’m jealous of you guys. And clearly it’s not because you’re so good-looking and charming. Let’s be honest: Have you met me? It’s ridiculous.

No, I’m jealous because you get to go to this week’s tasting. I’ll have to miss it because I’ll be out at Bainbridge Uncorked, sampling the seven little wineries that are located on the tiny island. From what I hear, there are some great places out there, and I’m really excited to check them out. I’ll make sure to let you know if I find anything great while I’m there.

While this should be a good time, I’m jealous (did I mention that?). You get to smell graham crackers and rhubarb. And that’s awesome. I love graham crackers.

The tasting this week is from Lodmell Cellars, and no joke, their 2006 Chardonnay has aromas of graham crackers and lemon-honey. Apparently it’s also ” finished with restrained nuances of oak” but I’m not on a level where I can say things like that without quoting someone.

And their 2008 Saignée really does have flavors of rhubarb and strawberry…it’s like a delicious pie in a bottle. Okay, I’ve never tried it, but I’d recommend bringing a scoop of vanilla ice cream to put in your glass. Sounds great right? Just bring enough to share with Gerry and Jim. Don’t be greedy with the ice cream guys.

They’ll also be tasting the 2006 Sublime, 2006 Syrah and 2005 Merlot. The latter two both have hints (*hints is a really trendy word to use with wine…you can also say things like “it snacks of currant”) of black pepper and dark cherries or plums.

If you can’t make it to the tasting (Thursday from 5-8 or Saturday from 1-4), there are some great events coming up:

April 28^th Game Night: That’s right, it’s back. This month we’re doing “Pictionary” and in case you were wondering, a station wagon is the hardest thing EVER to get your team to guess…but I owe a lot of credit for that to my sub-par teammates (just kidding guys…mostly. Come on, I drew that wood paneling perfectly!). This time I’ll be coming correct so you’d better bring A games. Buy in is a bottle of wine, and winner takes the pot.

Hint: It helps to have your roommates on different teams, because then, even when one of them wins, the wine still winds up in your kitchen.

May 5^th, Evening with the Winemaker: with Rob Mellison of Mellisoni Vineyards in Lake Chelan. Please check our website or call the shop for details. This is a good time to come meet the wine maker, so when you wind up in Chelan this summer, you have a friend to visit when the beer cooler gets emptied.

Our de Vine U class will be on May 12^th (this is a schedule change) and will be a lesson on “Wine Tasting”. This begins at 7 pm. Cost is $20 per person and includes materials and tasting.

On Saturday, May 1^st, the Mill Creek Garage Sale will be in full swing, and the Mill Creek Town Center is having a huge Sidewalk Sale. Come on down and check out the bargains, including the deals here at de Vine Wines! We also open our patio for the summer on May 1^st, so you will be able to sit and watch the shoppers while you sip on a great glass of wine!

I’ve always said, if there’s one thing a garage sale needs to make it more interesting, it’s wine. Now you will have an excuse for the Moose head and pool table that are in your garage, forcing your wife to park in the driveway in the rainiest city in the Continental US…it was the Merlot’s fault.

See you soon, and as always, any questions or things you’d like to read about or see in the shop, email me at Kevin@de-vinewines.com

Taxes are done, how did you celebrate? PS: Cristal is SO 2009

I’m a little late with the post this week, which is ironic since I FINALLY made it to the tasting on time. Sorry about the delay; my boss kept asking me to do things yesterday. It was so annoying.

Last week I went to the “tax relief tasting” which was designed to offer different wines that would go hand-in-hand with the type of return you walked away with. Categories ranged from “Yahoo, the IRS owes me a ton of money and I’m going to splurge” to the “Oh my God, I just gave the IRS my first born”.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have an “I claimed my new speed boat as a write off and my Starbucks barista as a dependent so now I’m praying that the IRS doesn’t actually look as they’re signing my check” category…so I had to make do with the other bottles, but I let it slide because they were pretty good.

We started off with a prosecco as a celebration, but I wrote plenty about prosecco for the Easter tasting so I won’t spend a lot of time on that, but I will let you know that after much debate, Jim and I decided that a mimosa is still technically a mimosa when using prosecco, and in fact, most do already. I don’t think I’ll ever be a huge fan of champagne or prosecco, but luckily you really only drink it at celebrations…well, and weddings.

….Are all the women making a disgusted face yet? Don’t worry; I’ll say something charming later to make up for it.

After the prosecco, we moved onto the Stillwater Creek Chardonnay from Saviah Cellars. I’m not too good at pulling out the flavors of a white wine yet, but Jim tells me this was an oaked Chardonnay. At some point I’ll have to side-by-side oaked and unoaked to figure out what the taste differences are. There was also a buttery aftertaste in this one, which reminded me of popcorn or butterscotch. It wasn’t too overpowering though and I ended up appreciating it more than I’ve ever appreciated a white wine.

I’d strongly recommend this wine if you’re like me: trying to get into wine-tasting and develop your palate (yup, I’m learning wine terms like “palate” and…okay that’s all I’ve got). It’s got a lot of strong flavors to pull from and you’ll finish the bottle feeling like you understood it better than most…okay if you finish the bottle, you really won’t feel a lot, so maybe you should share with someone.

Unfortunately, it was the “Yahoo, the IRS owes me a small nation” wine so it wasn’t in my price range…or was it!?!?!? Okay, overdid it on the punctuation, but for the “let’s splurge” bottle, it was a nice surprise to find out that it was only $26.

Next we moved onto the 2005 Saint Laurent Syrah, which was good. This wine had a lot of different fruity flavors to it, and I noticed cherry and apricot, which the Saint Laurent website confirmed. In all honesty, I was semi-bored by this wine. It had a drier finish and left me with an “alright what’s next” feeling, which doesn’t seem like the mentality they’re going for.

For a $20 bottle, it was good, but wouldn’t be my first choice. On a side note, I hear their 2005 Syrah Reserve is amazing.

Up next was a French Cotes Du Rhone from Perrin & Fils. I don’t feel like looking it up, but I’m pretty sure that “Cotes Du Rhone” roughly translates to “Some grapes and stuff” and Perrin & Fils are two types of French sandwiches that the owner really likes.

…okay apparently I’m not allowed to do that. “Cotes Du Rhone” is directly translated to “Banks of the Rhone” which is in reference to the Rhone River valley. This region is known for it’s blends involving red and rose Grenache, and this was a blend of Grenache and Syrah grapes. “Perrin & Fils” just means Perrin & Sons…which is a lot less cool than what I was thinking. Luckily the actual wine was awesome. This was one of my favorites. I can’t believe I’m about to use a cliché like this, but it was a deep, full-bodied wine that would be great with red meat. I’m pretty sure I’ll always like any wine that you can describe as “good with red meat”.

At only $15 a bottle, this Cotes Du Rhone is a great choice.

Finally, we got to the “IRS took everything” bottle. I was a little surprised that we went in reverse order, thinking that the cheaper bottles should go first because the “good” ones would dwarf them. This wasn’t at all the case. The Cotes Du Rhone and this final bottle were my favorites. This was a Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina that only sells for $10 a bottle. It was great. Smooth and rich as the guy in the Dos Equis commercials, it tasted like it should be the expensive bottle of the bunch. I was a huge fan. All in all, I’d say it was a very sophisticated wine. Just kidding, calling a wine sophisticated still sounds stupid to me.

Next week I’ll be at “Bainbridge Uncorked”, checking out what the seven wineries on the little island have to offer. I hear good things. Let’s hope the weather holds up or my notes might be a little muddled.

Wine comes from grapes, right?

Thanks for checking out the DeVine Wines Blog!

Is it a vase?

Before you read too far, I want to make a disclaimer: I am not a sommelier. I am not even an employee of the wine bar. I don’t own a decanter, nor do I know what a decanter is (best guess? Some kind of cheese sandwich).

Last time I was in DeVine Wines, Jim asked me what I thought of a specific bottle and I replied, in as classy and pretentious of a voice as I could muster, “Jim, the hint of grape in this wine is breathtaking.”

If you came looking for an expert’s opinion on new vintages and the best way to show your dinner guests the oaky undertones in your Bordeaux, or even the right way to smell your wine (which I hear is important), you might be in the wrong place.

The bar t-shirt screams classy

My name is Kevin Shively. My folks Rich and Paula own DeVine Wines, and while this may lend you the notion that I inherited an innate palate for the finer things in life, don’t be fooled: I spent the majority of the last decade in Helena, Montana, sampling the best Pabst Blue Ribbon in a tall boy can that my dollar could buy.

I’m completely uninitiated as far as wine-tasting goes, and at dinner the other night, I was telling my mom how uncultured and primitive that made me feel as a human being. I told her that it was her responsibility as a parent to educate me and make me a sophisticated, suave and respectable member of society. Naturally we decided that I couldn’t get much more suave, but I could easily learn how to drink wine the right way.

The next twenty minutes of conversation were dedicated to her telling me why I couldn’t do this with a box of Chablis from the minimart.

Enter the DeVine Wines blog.

She’d been toying with the idea of a blog as it was, but this presented a unique opportunity. As a writer, I wanted to help out with the logistics, but we landed on the idea of me completely quarterbacking the project.

Each week, I’ll go into DeVine Wines for one of their different tastings (Thursday and Saturday afternoons, call for times). The blog will take you through this journey with me. I’ll share what I learn, what wine myths there are, and most importantly, how you can get into drinking and tasting wine without feeling like a Neanderthal for not knowing how to swirl your glass the right way.

These are the things I want to learn as well, and through the process, hopefully not develop an affinity for tweed jackets and scarves.

Thanks for reading, and if you come across any questions, please feel free to let me know and I’ll ask during my next tasting. If you’d like to join us for the next tasting, email me at Kevin@de-vinewines.com and I’d be more than happy to let you know the next time I’ll be fumbling my way through the process.