Old Vines

There are many wines on the shelves of Joe Canal's that are labeled as "Old Vine." What constitutes an old vine, and what's so special about them?

While the term old vine has no legal definition, the common consensus is that a grapevine that's over 40 years of age is considered an old vine.

A 120+ year old grapevine at Kunde Winery in Sonoma, California

As a grapevine gets older, it yeilds fewer grapes each season, so it's more economical for the wineries to pull out vines after 35 years or so and replace them with new ones. Old vines are a lot rarer than new vines, that's why they're less common to see. In the U.S., the most common old vines are Zinfandel, because in California vineyards up to 125 years old are still bearing small amounts of prized Zinfandel fruit.

Historically in Europe, older vines were always thought to result in better-quality wines. Old vine wines aren't necessarily "better" than new vines in terms of quality, they just have a different character. Because of the smaller yield, old vine wines tend to be intense, bold wines that are deep in color with concentrated dark fruit flavors.

Joe Canal's Presents Cupcake Angel Food

Cupcake Angel Food

Made with premium chardonnay grapes as a base, this proprietary white blend is luscious, aromatic and delightfully reminiscent of an Angel Food cupcake. Flavors of baked Granny Smith apple and hints of toasty vanilla combine for a creamy mouthfeel that has become a signature of Cupcake Vineyards. A heavenly pair with white cheddar fondue, pancetta wrapped figs or simply as an aperitif.

Our proprietary Angel Food wine is a delicate blend of white grapes where each variety shows structure, aroma and depth of flavor with a long creamy finish. The grapes are harvested from vineyards in some of California’s finest viticultural areas, each picked for their ability to engender these grapes with distinct characteristics. Each varietal is fermented separately, blended and then put through a unique oak regime that imparts a certain creaminess.

Try it today for only $8.49 in our BottleClub!

Slainte!

We'd like to wish everyone a very happy St. Patrick's Day! Don't forget to stop by, we're your destination for Guinness, Harp, Irish Red beer, Bailey's, Jameson, and other Irish Whiskeys!

Joel Gott's visit to Joe Canal's!

This past Wednesday, we were lucky enough to be graced with the presence of winemaker Joel Gott in our Woodbridge store! He stopped in to say hello and check out our store, and we were lucky enough to get him to talk to us on camera for our very first Winemaker Video Shelf Talker. Check it out!

Miscellaneous Wine Facts

I've been collecting miscellaneous wine factoids for a while, and I thought it would be fun to list a few. These are great to tuck into the back of your mind, never know if they might come up in a game of Trivial Pursuit!

*The Ancient Egyptian term for wine was irp, and it was reserved for only the elite members of society at festivals throughout the year.

*The yeasts that wine are made with, like bread, contribute flavor to the wine, albeit subtle.

*Clear brandy, an unaged neutral spirit, is used to fortify Port wine. When added to the wine, it increases alcohol levels, which kills the yeasts, stopping fermentation and resulting in a fortified wine with residual sugar.

*One oak tree will yeild two to four wine barrels.

*Traditional mead is made with only honey, yeast and water. Mead with grapes or grape juice added is called pyment.

*The straw basket-like wrappings you see on some Chianti bottles is called a fiasco.

*The wire "cage" used to wrap the top of a Champagne or other sparkling wine bottle is called a muzzle.

*There are approximately 1/2 pound of grapes in a standard 5 ounce glass of wine, and approximately 2.5 pounds in standard 750ML bottle.

*The wine regions of California, Oregon and Washington were born more than 100 million years ago, when the tectonic plates shifted, melting rocks into magma which formed a chain of volcanoes.

Joe Canal's Presents Pinnacle Atomic Hots & Berry!

Pinnacle does it again with two awesome new vodka flavors, and we're excited to bring them to you! Introducing Pinnacle Atomic Hots and Berry!

Pinnacle is the ideal French vodka – clean, smooth and extremely mixable. Every sip of Pinnacle is inspired by a time honored recipe handed down from generation to generation. Pinnacle is made with a traditional and ancestral recipe ensuring the highest quality. Handcrafted in small batches and quadruple distilled with the spring water from the northern region of France, this unique spirit has a smooth, balanced finish that will please any connoisseur.

Atomic Hots is Pinnacle's spin on a candy favorite: Atomic Fireballs. The super hot cinnamon flavor will warm you from head to toe! Try an "Atomic Coffee": 2 parts Pinnacle Atomic Hots, and a splash each of coffee liqueur, Irish Cream, and Cream. Shake with ice, strain into a martini glass, and garnish with a cherry. Mix it with coke for a "Cinna-Cola," or prepare it simply in a glass with club soda and ice.

Berry is just that! A blend of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, this would be awesome mixed in your favorite fruit punch, or added to a nice, tall glass of lemonade or iced tea for a kick on the hot summer days that will be here before you know it!

Try Pinnacle Atomic Hots or Pinnacle Berry for only $12.99!

The Dry Gin Martini - Part the Second

It's March-tini Madness at Joe Canal's! We're collecting your best Martini recipes and a winner will be chosen at each store! Click here for info about the contest in WOODBRIDGE! Click here for info about the contest in LAWRENCEVILLE! Here's the second part of our Martini series for you to get some "gin-spiration"!

Boy-O-Boy, do I like gin. There is just something in that crisp, dry, aromatic flavor that opens up my taste buds and prepares me for a terrific dining experience. I can’t remember my first Martini, but for as long as I can remember it has been my aperitif of choice. Oh, I change it up from time to time. A Negroni here, a Manhattan there, even a Daiquirí on occasion, like the one I had this past weekend at Cuba Libre in Philadelphia. Not the frozen one with the little umbrella in it, but the real Daiquirí that Papa Hemingway would have had at the Floridita Hotel in Havana, Cuba. But I digress...

The name gin comes to us courtesy of either the French genièvre or the Dutch jenever both of which mean "juniper". One encyclopedia states that it comes from Geneva, as in Switzerland. OK, I guess, but even that name comes from the innocuous little berry that has brought such happiness, and also much misery, to the world.

Gin is first attributed to Franciscus Sylvius, a late sixteenth-century Dutch professor of medicine, who thought he had found a remedy for the Bubonic Plague. HAH! Gin, unlike bourbon or whiskey, has very little in common with the grain it is actually distilled from. Yet unlike vodka, which by design has no color, flavor or odor (at least it shouldn’t), gin is diluted alcohol flavored with juniper as well as a host of other plant extracts and herbs. There are different styles of gin and I could write a small novel about the production of London Dry Gin, Old Tom Gin, and Dutch Genever, but basically it comes down to the number of aromatics and the amount of residual sugar that is left after fermentation. London Dry Gin is what we typically see on the shelves as Tanqueray, Bombay, etc. Genever is slightly more aromatic in nature and can actually be a little sweet. Old Tom Gin, which some have dubbed "The Missing Link," is somewhere in the middle.

I should probably get back to the Martini, which was the purpose of this blog to begin with, but it is easy to get side-tracked when discussing my favorite spirit. Did I mention that I liked gin? Anyway, on to the origins of the Dry Martini which are not necessarily shrouded in mystery, but shrouded in memory. There are several "origins" of the Martini and it is possible that they are all correct. It seems that no one can remember the "first" one, and once the cocktail was firmly fixed as the country’s preeminent libation and gift to the drinking world, everyone who knew someone who had a drink with gin in it staked their claim to its invention.

Here are just a few:
According to the book. Shaken Not Stirred by Anastasia Miller and Jared Brown, Johann Paul Aegius Schwartzendorf is the only so-called "inventor" who was a drinker rather than a bartender. Johann, a musical prodigy, was born in Germany in 1741 and was the organist at a local Jesuit seminary by the time he was ten. Striking out to try to make a name for himself in France, he befriended an organ maker named Dupont who convinced him to change his name to Johann Paul Aegide Martini, evidently because he thought the Italian composers were getting the best gigs. Well, ultimately he scored big, musical pun intended, and found great success which included writing a sonata for Napoleon’s wedding. But ol' Johann boy also liked to throw back a few after a hard day at the symphony. According to one biographer, his drink of choice was a drink made with genièvre and dry white wine which his friends named after him. Legend has it that after his death in 1816, when French musicians and artists sought their fortunes in the New World in the 19th century, they imported this recipe from home.

One of the more popular theories is that it was created by none other than legendary bartender Professor Jerry Thomas who purportedly invented the “Martinez” cocktail when he was working as a bartender at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco between 1860 and 1862. This concoction was made with Old Tom Gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters. However, this doesn’t quite ring true for me. Thomas produced the first addition of his landmark treatise on all things slurpable, The Bartender’s Guide and Bon Vivant Companion, in 1862. If he invented the Martinez, he certainly would have included it in that tippling tome. Still, the cocktail is terrific and Joe Canal’s just started to carry orange bitters which I heartily endorse.

There are many, many more origin possibilities. For instance, let’s not forget Martini di Arma di Taggia, a bartender at the long-gone Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City, who purportedly invented the drink for John D. Rockefeller in 1910. Or even the corporate spin from the likes of the Heublein Company, who were already making pre-mixed Martinis back in 1892. Or the citizens of Martinez, California, who say it was a local bartender, Julio Richelieu who first made it in 1870. Some even credit Martin & Rossi, the vermouth maker, for coming up with the cocktail.

Well, you get the idea. However it was created, the Dry Martini still remains the world’s most prominent cocktail. So simple to make, so elegant, so steeped in history, so delicious... hmmm. I think gin is in Aisle Six.

The Martinez Cocktail
-2 oz gin
-3/4 oz sweet vermouth
-1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
-1 dash orange bitters
-lemon twist for garnish

The Rockefeller
created by Martini di Arma di Taggia for John D. Rockefeller
-3 oz. London dry gin
-3 oz. Italian dry vermouth
-a splash of orange bitters
-Garnish with a large thin slice of lemon peel and an olive

The Gimlet
-1 1/2 oz. gin
-1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice
-Lime-wedge garnish

"A real Gimlet is half gin and half Rose's lime juice, and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow." -Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, 1953