Tips from the Sommelier

Need a wine pairing suggestion? Or perhaps some advice on growing your wine cellar? Wigwam Wine Society members can email Sommelier Rick Fizz for personalized answers to your wine questions! Send your messages to sommelier@wigwamwinesociety.com!

Visit this page often to see Ricks answers to questions from your fellow Wine Society members.

INAUGURAL SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE - May 2008
Our inaugural season for The Wigwam Wine Society is rapidly coming to an end. We settled in with about 25 members which made the Saturday events and our wine dinners at The Arizona Kitchen more intimate. Our initial goal was to enjoy samplings of different and unique wines, to make new friends and get a hint of education along the way. I feel we accomplished all three. Read More>>

FROM THE CELLAR, Happy New Year - January 2008
As 2007 came to a close it was great to see the interest and support for our Wine Society, which will only improve in the upcoming year. We plan on making some minor modifications to our program during the summer to increase our turnout for the Saturday meetings and the Winemaker Dinner series. It will be fun and exciting times as our Wine Society grows and develops.

Onto January with another fine wine event featuring Elyse wines. Our wine society meeting and tasting on Saturday, January 5 will highlight their Chardonnay and Syrah. An exceptional Winemaker Dinner featuring their wines will follow on Monday the 14th.

Please be sure to mark your calendars for February's wine events on the 9th with the dinner on the 11th. This will be a variation from our normal format as they have asked me to feature my favorite wines. I humbly accepted. So February will feature only sommelier selections for our wine society and winemaker dinner. It will be fun and definitely unique. I hope to see all of you there.

FROM THE CELLAR, Argentine & Chilean Wines – November 2007
We'll start with Argentina, with the most predominant wine growing regions located on the eastern slopes of the famous Andes Mountains, which are known for sunshine in the day, cool breezes at night and plenty of rain. Here are my recommendations for some wines from this area. Be on the lookout to purchase them for yourself or as Christmas stocking stuffers.

  1. CHEVAL DES ANDES (Mendozza) - This wine is full of black fruit, smoke, and finishes with an herbal and spice flavour. This one is a must buy.
  2. BIANCHI PARTICULAR MERLOT (San Rafael) - This wine is very robust with mellow coffee and berry flavors then add a touch of oak on the finish.
  3. BODEGA RENACER PUNTO FINAL RESERVA MALBEC (Perdriel) - If you like it spicy with bold mineral characteristics, this wine is for you.

Let's venture in to Chile for more exciting wine adventures. We move north from Argentina along a 600 mile stretch where most of their vineyards in Chile are planted. Most growing regions are within a few hours of Santiago. The Maipo and Alta Maipo produce some of the best cabernets fromChile. Here are my top 3 picks from this area, and, of course, all are red.

  1. DOMUS AUREA (Upper Maipo Valley) - This wine gives us intense black fruit, smoke, and my favorite, chocolate! This wine is available at Red's.
  2. 2 BROTHERS BIG TATOO RED (Colchagua) - This wine screams of tart berries with a hint of spice and herbs.
  3. ARESTI RESERVE CARMENERE (Curico Valley) - This wine offers the big three; smoke, fruit and pepper.

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER WINE EVENTS
If you missed the November Wine Society tasting, or the Winemaker Dinner featuring Coppola’s select wines in November it was a great success! Please mark your calendars for December’s upcoming events featuring G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouet. You will surely want to attend for stellar champagnes from these two Winemakers.
The dates are December 1st for The Wigwam Wine Society social and December 10th for our final Winemaker Dinner for 2007.

WINE SOCIETY MEMBERS
Please submit your membership wine selections for your complimentary bottles of wine. If you need a replacement card for the selections please stop in to Red’s or retrieve one at the December’s Wine Society event or Winemaker dinner. As a reminder, the selections are; ZD Chard, Heitz Cab, Faust Cab, Domus Aurea Cab, and Veuve Cliquot Demi-Sec.

FROM THE CELLAR – October 2007
As we enter the fall season, the advent cooler temperatures, we have a grand opportunity to enjoy and savor what is considered "heartier" and more rustic-style cuisine. These include meats such as duck, roasts and cassoulets and the sauces to accompany these dishes will be usually rich and savory.

Now for the most important component, wine. This will give us plenty of options for bigger and certainly more robust cabernets, spicier zinfandels and luscious syrahs along with full-bodied pinots to match and experiment with this seasonal metamorphosis.

Here are some examples, listed by producers, that will complement this style of cuisine. Let's begin with cabernets such as Faust - deep, dark and complex - or Heitz Cellars, with big tannins and a hint of hibiscus, to Caymus, with more elegant richness and subtle terroir. These wines are not for the shy or entry level wine drinker.

Experiment with zinfandel and syrah such as Seghesio "old vine" with a spicier flare or Qupé Hillside Select with a touch more fruit.

And finally to the full-bodied pinots, yes there are some to be found, such as Belle Valle from Oregon and Littorai "Mays Canyon" from westernSonoma.

All of these wines can be found from my personal selections at Red's Steakhouse.

So a toast to the change of the seasons and the option to go "brave and bold" on your wine selection for the upcoming fall season.

FROM THE CELLAR, Welcome! – September 2007

Present and future members of The Wigwam Wine Society, it is great to see the response and interest coming from the West Valley.

Our first Wigwam Wine Society meeting was an intimate affair featuring Truchard Vineyards and it was exciting to taste their wines at the Winemaker Dinner. It was also a great opportunity to meet new and potential members and to make new friends.

Onto October with Sella and Mosca wines from Sardegna, Italy. We have tasted these unique wines in preparation for the upcoming events and I believe you'll find these wines to be very different with deep character and interesting terroir, very drinkable and refreshing.

Well, back to the cellar . . .