A man who knows wine
By Wine Atlas, Wednesday 12 March 2008 :: Wine - United-States :: #157 :: rss
Enologist Menke counsels Colorado's vintners
Raising a glass of the 2006 Creekside Cellars Chardonnay, Colorado's official winemaking guru savors what he's tasting.
"I like the direction you're going with this," Steve Menke tells the winery's owner and winemaker, seated at a table with him. "I like the overall balance."
Creekside owner Bill Donahue pours a glass of his 2006 Viognier. Then, he utters a confession.
"We learned a lot from this particular bottle of wine," he tells Menke, who's sitting at the same table in Creekside's popular cafe here.
Donahue is a stickler for quality. For his taste, the wine has suffered from oxidation - a process in which oxygen changes the wine's chemical makeup and taste. While Menke downplays the impact, Donahue is disappointed. The wine, he notes, was "delicious" when it was bottled.
"We're baring our souls," Donahue tells Menke.
Menke is part winemaking evangelist, part winemaking consultant and part winemaking scientist - not to mention a man who loves to pair good wine with food.
Officially, Menke, who is based in Grand Junction, is the state's first full-time consulting winemaker, or enologist. His tasks: Work with Colorado's 65 wineries to help solve problems and serve as an information clearinghouse.
He'll offer workshops for winemakers, for example, on topics such as analyzing wines through smell and taste as well as chemical analysis.
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