I don’t know exactly when I was first told, but for years I’ve “known” that if you want to keep a bottle of opened Champagne from going flat, you drop a silver spoon into the neck of the bottle, handle first. Sort of like knowing you shouldn’t go swimming for an hour after you eat, this trick with the spoon seems to be yet another proclamation from the infamous Department of They.

You know the one. “They” say you shouldn’t go outside on a cold day with a wet head, because you’ll catch a cold. Why not? Well that’s just what they say.

Half the time, such conventional wisdom seems quite astute, and has even been proven to be right (I think someone actually did prove that wet heads in cold weather will increase the likelihood of catching a cold). The rest of the time, of course, it’s utter hogwash.

I’ve never known which the old spoon trick actually was, or whether it mattered if the darn spoon was silver or not. Most of the time these days I have a rubber or a metal stopper to use. But on occasion when I don’t, or when I’m away from home, I drop a spoon in the bottle just to be… well… safe, I guess.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one with the passing notion that this business with the spoon might be a bunch of crap. Some of the science minded folks at Kumkani winery in South Africa found themselves without enough to do last week (it is Winter down there, after all) and decided to put this technique to the test with a bit of rigor.

Their test involved opening two bottles, pouring some wine from each, and then putting them back in the fridge, one with a spoon, the other without. The bottles were then removed at regular intervals, the temperature measured in each, new glasses poured, and photographed each time, along with a control glass poured from a brand new bottle.

After all the wine was good and drunk (and the researchers had recovered from being drunk as well), the photographs of the glasses were analyzed to count the bubbles to see whether, in fact the spooned bottle held more fizz over time.

I’m sure some full-time scientist could find all sorts of faults with the methodology — certainly there are a lot of variables that determine how many bubbles are in a glass of sparkling wine, but for what it’s worth, the folks at Kumkani saw a significant difference.

I’ll let them share the final result. Read the full article.

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Despite all kinds of advice to the contrary, we continue to judge our books by the cover and our wines by the label. As humans we find it quite hard to turn off the part of our brains that rushes to judgment based on the surface of things.

Presumably our lightning-quick opinions were advantageous to us at some point in evolutionary history, to the point that our first impressions are often so powerful we can’t move past them. From racial stereotypes to celebrity obsession, we’re often captives to our own psychology, whether we like it or not.

So tell me, what comes to mind when you hear the phrase “celebrity wine”? My head immediately reconfigures into a mode of skepticism. I’d like to think this is because I’ve actually had a number of wines that bear the names (or the backing) of a number of Hollywood movie stars, musical icons, and sports legends, and on the whole I haven’t been impressed. But I’m sure not all that skepticism is borne out of true reflection. Much of it probably lives in the same zone of my brain as the disdain I carry for the latest commercial antics of any number of stars who attach their name to something as a means of brand extension and bankruptcy prevention.

This wine is a doubly refreshing antidote to the commercial cult of celebrity and all of its (usual) mediocrity — it tastes great, it’s not yet another Cabernet with a celebrity name on it, and it’s not just a movie star wine, it’s a porn star wine.

Savanna Samson is the adult film persona of Natalie Ontiveros, who grew up in Rochester, New York, in a family of five sisters with Italian roots. Her career in the adult world started as dancer at the Scores gentlemen’s club in New York, where she was “discovered” by Howard Stern.

Perhaps by virtue of her Italian roots, Samson always had an interest in and passion for wine, but as her fortunes grew in the porn business, she began spending her spare time traveling around Europe tasting wine, and even began dreaming of owning a vineyard. In the course of her travels around Italy, she met Roberto Cipresso, one of the country’s most prominent consulting winemakers.

Perhaps most famous as the partner and winemaker of the superstar La Fiorita estate in Montalcino that rocketed to prominence in the late 90’s, Roberto Cipresso first made a name for himself making Brunello wines for the likes of Poggio Antico and Ciacci Piccolomini. Since then he has made wine in most of Italy’s major wine regions including Veneto, Friuli, Piemonte, Toscana, Marche, Sicilia and Sardinia as well as further abroad in places like Croatia, Spain and Argentina.

Around about the time that Samson encountered him, Cipresso had been laying the groundwork for a commercial venture for making private label wine for various customers using the vast network of growers he had come to know over the course of his career. The enterprising winemaker already made private label wine for the Vatican, so when Samson asked about getting her own wine, apparently it was an easy decision — no irony involved.

The two began with a red, named “Sogno Uno” or “Dream #1″ which was a blend of several red grapes, made to Savanna’s taste (rather than to any specific regional regulations). After a surprising commercial success, partially fueled by a 90-91 rating from Robert Parker, the two released the first vintage of this wine, Sogno Due. More wines are in the works.

Sogno Due is 100% Falanghina grown near Capri in Italy’s Campania wine region. Falanghina is one of Italy’s ancient indigenous grape varieties, and possibly one of its most storied, as it is believed to possibly have been used to make Falernian, a world famous wine popular in Roman times. Today Falanghina is being used to produce very tasty aromatic white wines like this one.

This wine is made from vines that average between 70 and 80 years of age. It is carefully fermented at low temperatures in steel, and I do not believe it sees any oak before bottling. 400 cases were made.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Pale gold in the glass, with a bright mineral nose of Asian pears and wet stones, this wine tastes of raw quince, old paper, and the soft tones of vanilla. Smooth and silky on the palate, with a lightly smoky incense quality on the finish, this is a classic southern Italian white wine, delicious in its simplicity.

Food Pairing:
Properly chilled, this wine would be a lovely accompaniment to various antipasti or fritto misto.

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9

How Much?: $18

This wine can be purchased on the Internet.

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Most people, when they come visit me in San Francisco and ask to be taken to wine country, assume that they’re going to Napa. But at least half the time, that’s definitely not where we end up.

My well meaning friends aren’t the only ones who seem to forget that Northern California has many different “wine countries.” Napa casts a long shadow, as it were.

I’ve got a bit of love for every piece of wine country we’ve got here in California, but there’s a special place in my heart for Sonoma County, both because it is the place of my birth, but also because I think sometimes it gets short shrift compared to its more famous neighbor.

Sonoma County is several different wine regions rolled up into one — from the chilly fog of the Sonoma Coast and Carneros, to the cool Green Valley and Russian River Valley, to the warmer climes of Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Alexander Valley, and the Sonoma Valley — many different microclimates and many different wines, from sparkling to Pinot Noir to Zinfandel to Cabernet.

The main problem, however, is that all these regions lay spread out over a wide area, much wider than the relatively (in comparison) compact Napa Valley. So experiencing the breadth of Sonoma can be time consuming, no matter how fulfilling it usually ends up being.

So while it’s a good idea for wine lovers to pay more attention to Sonoma in general, there is one weekend this year when any self respecting wine lover shouldn’t be thinking of anything else: The Sonoma Wine Country Weekend.

Now in its second year, this weekend celebration of Sonoma County wine is a combination of two previously separate annual events: The Sonoma County Showcase of Wine and Food and the Sonoma Valley Harvest Wine Auction. These events are now combined into a single weekend that represents the best opportunity in existence for anyone (who isn’t planning on being on the Playa) to learn a lot about Sonoma wine in the space of a couple of days.

The weekend starts on Friday September 4th, with winemaker lunches at various wineries around the valley, followed by dinners that evening.

On Saturday the 5th, the grand tasting will take place from 11 AM to 4 PM, where more than 150 Sonoma County wineries will offer their wines for tasting along with food from more than 60 of the regions top chefs and artisan food purveyors. Saturday evening will feature winemaker dinners at some of Sonoma’s most spectacular wineries.

And if that weren’t enough, on Sunday the live Harvest Wine Auction, whose proceeds go to local charities, offers chances at bragging rights and some amazing prizes (and wines) for those who can afford to be generous, as well as a blockbuster meal cooked by some serious Sonoma culinary heavyweights. Rumor has it that there will be a little wine poured at this event as well.

While attendance at the auction and dinner on Sunday is a somewhat pricey proposition even after a price reduction from last year ( now just $500 a head) the rest of the weekend’s events are a relative steal at between $75 and $195 bucks.

This is a huge opportunity to soak in the breadth and depth of Sonoma County wine without spending 4 days and 8 hours in the car zipping all over the place. It comes highly recommended by yours truly.

Find out everything you need to know on the event web site.

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend
September 4-6, 2009
MacMurray Ranch Winery
9015 Westside Road
Healdsburg, CA 95448

Tickets for the grand tasting, which can be purchased online, are $150 ($90 of which is tax deductible!).

This event will almost certainly sell out, so purchase your tickets now.

The weather will likely be gorgeous, but it could also be cool and windy, so wear sunscreen and have a sweater or jacket in the car, if not around your shoulders. Wear comfortable shoes that you can walk on a lawn with. My usual tips for public tastings apply: get lots of sleep the night before; wear dark clothes to avoid red wine disasters; drink lots of water; make sure your belly is full; and spit if you actually want to learn something.

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