SUMMER WHINE
It’s hard for me to believe that I have been writing this monthly “whine” for almost a year. It started by accident and as I have added names to the distribution list I have been having lots of fun expressing my own biases when it comes to choosing and drinking wines. Remember the choosing is as much fun as the drinking. This month I wish to welcome John Brough of Edmonton, Carol and Peter Fardy of Halifax, and Pat Fleming of Edmonton.
Recently one of my readers (who happens to be a very close relative) has been complaining about the antiquated format that I have been using for distribution. Not wishing to open attachments in principle (you know, those things potentially full of viruses) he insists that I start a blog and distribute the “whine” in that fashion. So, the next issue will be posted on a blog. However, recognizing that some of you are as technologically challenged as I am, next month’s issue will also be sent as an attachment.
Cellar Offering 190: My “whines” are always triggered by the appearance of a new offering from the Opimian Society. This month is no different. Offering 190 has wines from California and Canada as well as a few reprises from Spain and Italy. Most of you now know that my personal taste finds most Italian wines too acidic and most Canadian wines just plain awful. As there are only a few Spanish wines in Offering 190 I shall restrict my comments to the wines offered from California.
Arguably the best wines in the world come from California (sorry Gerard, but I had to say that at the risk of losing my only subscriber from France). Those of you who watched the recent movie “Bottleshock” know that Californian wines came to world attention in the 1970’s when a British wine merchant organized a blind tasting where the best of California was pitted against the best of France. For each pairing the experts chose the American wine and when the whole thing was repeated a few years later the Americans wines won again.
One of the five Californian vineyards that was chosen for the competition was the Steltzner Vineyards in Stag’s Leap, Napa. This month Opimian is offering four wines from Stag’s Leap. These wines are very expensive, but interesting for those of you are into a bit of history. By the way, I only ever tasted one bottle of Stag’s Leap and I was not overwhelmed.
Above I made reference to France versus California. Which country makes better wines? The question is really quite silly, it’s like saying “are fresh garden peas better than fresh garden beans?”; or “is rare prime rib better than medium rack of lamb?” If one could make a single statement about French wines it would be something like “they are generally light, soft, subtle and very complex.” On the other hand, wines from California are “big, bold, and full of fruit flavor.” The vintners work very hard to make their wines distinct and “New World” wines are not supposed to taste like “Old World wines” or vice versa.
Now I think the ultimate in “New World” wine is offered this month from Opimian. There are 7 wines from Reed Renaudin’s “X” Winery and Amicus. These wines are good, and the best is the Amicus, Special Blend (not to be confused with another great wine “Altimus” from Argentina). If, on the other hand, you are shocked at the price, continue on and look at the wines from Ironstone Vineyards. If there are any bargains in Californian wine, look here. In particular consider the Stone Valley Merlot for very good, everyday wine.
Reading a Californian Label: In some previous issues I wrote about reading Spanish wine labels and South American wine labels. This time I shall make a few comments about California labels. Firstly, unlike the strict appellation laws in France, Americans seem to be able to legally get away with almost anything. As such the information on a bottle of California wine is mostly just marketing bull. On the other hand, the wine will almost always identify the varietal (merlot, cabernet, etc.).
The task for the consumer is not in reading the lines on the back of the bottle but in reading between those lines. Here are some hints:
If there is only a brand on the front and some bullshit on the back such as “this wine matches well with barbeque steak, chicken and veal” it’s probably plonc.
“this wine is blended from some of the finest grapes in California”—this means the producer bought the leftover grapes from 47 growers and mixed them together to make really bad plonc.
“this wine is one of the finest wines produced in the Central Valley”—perhaps but few good wines come from the Central Valley
If the front of the bottle identifies the wine from Sonoma or Napa the wine will definitely be decent.
If the wine says it’s from the grower’s own estate you are in luck.
If the wine says it’s from a single vineyard, even better; but not as good as if the single vineyard is identified.
The Professional Sommelier: In an upscale restaurant you may luck out and find that you can order your wine from a sommelier, rather than from your waiter. While this may seem pretentious, it is not. Almost always the sommelier will know his (or her) wines, will give good advice, and the good news is that the sommelier doesn’t cost you anything. You tip the sommelier just as you would your waiter, but having your bill split between the waiter and the sommelier and adding a percentage tip adds to the same total.
If you are served by a sommelier, engage in a conversation. He will need to know what you are eating, how much you want to pay for your wine, and your overall taste preferences (such as do you like light or heavy wines). Just as your waiter will be able to tell you about how a dish is prepared, and what is particularly good tonight, the sommelier can tell you about the wine, how it tastes and if a particular wine is of essentially good value.
Betty and I recently spent 14 nights on the good ship Constellation. We had the same sommelier 12 of the nights and ate in “open seating” on the other two. The second night I ordered a “malbec” and Rodrigues (from Goa, where StFXers all know you can find the bones of St. Francis Xavier) looked at me and said “No, you will find this wine disappointing”. I ordered something else, but the first night we had “open seating” I ordered the malbec from a different sommelier. Guess what, the wine was awful and the only bottle of bad wine I had during the entire holiday. On another occasion I ordered a shiraz (actually one of Greg Norman’s). Rodrigues said: “If you will pay $ 5. more I can recommend something much better”. The extra $ 5. was very much worth it. Finally, I complained one night that there were no carmineres from Chile on the wine list. Not a problem for Rodrigues, he simply appeared with a great, yet inexpensive carminere.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wine Whine #9
May Wine Whine
Welcome Edward Langille of Antigonish to the Whine.
For this month’s Whine I had hoped to pass on information on proper temperatures for serving wine. My very good friend Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence sent me lots of tidbits on this subject. However, translation is taking a little longer than I expected; so maybe next time.
Drinking wine in hot weather: Most of us know that there are few pleasures greater than downing a chilled beer after being out in the hot sun. Golfers, for example, have been known to imitate mad dogs and Englishmen and go out at midday. Just as cold beer is best drunk on a hot day, heavy red wine is best with cool weather food, especially when paired with something succulent such as a rare roast of prime rib. So does this mean you should padlock your cellar between June and September?
A few years ago Betty and I were holidaying in Provence in the summer. At lunch (eaten ouside as you would expect) we noticed that we were the only people in the restaurant with a bottle of red wine. At supper (also eaten outside) we were again alone in our choice of beverage. So what were the locals drinking? Rose! Rose! Rose! Chilled rose can be a most magnificent alternative to a cold beer, when your body temperature demands a chilled drink.
In Canada, when many of us think of a pink wine, we think of that horrible stuff that was marketed not so many years ago. Surely you remember “Baby Duck” or some other really bad Canadian wine saturated with sugar. Well, there are wonderful pink wines that are not sweet and that are great in the summer. I think the best ones are from France, but then there are also good roses from Spain and from South America. Try one the next really hot day. Of course, if you really don’t like rose you can always drink sparking wine (not just Champagne from France, but Cava from Spain). Sparking wine is a great summer drink (but then it is also a great Spring, Fall and Winter drink)
Oddly, Canadian ice wine, is not really a summer drink. Ice wine, which is, of course, very, very sweet is not intended to quench a dry thirst. Ice wine is best served with heavier foods. While it is sometimes thought of as a dessert wine, ice wine is perfect before dinner, especially when paired with foie gras, or pate. But here’s a tip. Ice wine is very expensive. So if you don’t want to lay out $ 60 -$ 80. for a half bottle, try a bottle of “late harvest” wine, which sells for ¼ the price and to my palate is indistinguishable from ice wine. Why? In order to be called ice wine, the grapes must have been picked after 8 successive days when the daytime temperature was above freezing and the nightime temperature was below freezing. So what happens if the weather doesn’t co-operate and the grapes have to be picked after only 3 or 4 days of the regime. The stuff is sold as “late harvest” wine and at bargain prices.
Reading Spanish Wine Labels: Although wine has been made in Spain for millenia, quality control has only existed for 30 years or so. Prior to that Spain produced bulk wines. However, the terroir is such that Spain is capable of and does produce great wines, some of which even come at bargain prices.
On the label you will usually find the term “Denominacion de Origen” just under the name of one of the 60 wine zones. This is your guarantee of government controlled quality and is similar to the French “Appellation Controlee”. Wines without this designation should be avoided.
In addition to controlling quality through the name of the region Spain has an excellent system of classification by age. The poorest wines are bottled and sold with no time in casks. These “Joven” wines are to be drunk young. In Canada you will not find the term “Joven” very often but you will find the terms “Crianza”, “Reserva” and “Gran Reserva”. “Crianza” means the wine has been aged at least 24 months with 6 months in a cask; “Reserva” wines develop for 36 months with at least a year in an oak cask. Of course, the very best wines are “Gran Reservas” which have been in a cellar for at least five years and have been in an oak casks for at least 18 months. While many “Crianzas” are good, you will be assured of very good wine when it says “Reserva” and great wine when the label says “Gran Reserva”
Now look for the region. The biggest area in Spain is Rioja, but the best wines come from the Ribera del Duero. Most of these wines are made from the tempranillo grape, which has its own unique taste. When one thinks of Spanish wine one thinks of tempranillo. The wine will usually taste very dry and be more spicy than fruity.
Tempranillo is frequently blended with other Spanish grapes.
If you are a little more adventurous, may I suggest you also try the monastrell grape. Like tempranillo this grape is grown mostly in Spain. Monastrell tastes fruitier than tempranillo and is “bigger”, meaning you could confuse it for a New World wine. The best Monastrells come from Jumilla.
Cellar Offering 189: The last offering from Opimian listed the wines of Bordeaux. This offering has wines from the other important area (Burgundy) as well as from the also famous Loire Valley and from the South of France. World class cabernets and merlots come from Bordeaux; Burgundy is famous for Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. The Loire Valley is most know for its white wines. However, in some ways the most interesting wines are now from the South. At least, the best bargains in French wines are from Provencee and Languedoc-Roussilon. Growers are under fewer restrictions in the South and are able to experiment, including the making of bigger, bolder wines for the North American market.
I have 3 recommendations: First, you might consider # 5102 Pouilly Fume 2008 from Domaine Mollet-Maudry. Expensive but Sauvignon Blanc like you may never have tasted.
Since I pushed roses (above) I suggest that 5138 Grenache rose, Vine de Pays D’oc, 2008, Domaine Peiriere. Perhaps a real bargain.
My final recommendation is an absolute must. 5125 Chateau Salitis, AOC Cabardes, 2007 will be great. I bought a case of the 2005 which is just coming into its own. This blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, syrah and grenache will forever put to rest the myth that French wines are thin and weak. This stuff is fabulous.
An odd holiday: On Monday Betty and I are off to do something really strange. We are going on a holiday where there are no vineyards of importance and where we are not even bothering to take our golf clubs. Perhaps we have taken leave of our senses. However, we are told that we must see the Baltic States and St. Petersburg before we die, so we shall suffer through, the best we can, all the symptoms of wine and golf withdrawal. Wish us well!
.
Welcome Edward Langille of Antigonish to the Whine.
For this month’s Whine I had hoped to pass on information on proper temperatures for serving wine. My very good friend Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence sent me lots of tidbits on this subject. However, translation is taking a little longer than I expected; so maybe next time.
Drinking wine in hot weather: Most of us know that there are few pleasures greater than downing a chilled beer after being out in the hot sun. Golfers, for example, have been known to imitate mad dogs and Englishmen and go out at midday. Just as cold beer is best drunk on a hot day, heavy red wine is best with cool weather food, especially when paired with something succulent such as a rare roast of prime rib. So does this mean you should padlock your cellar between June and September?
A few years ago Betty and I were holidaying in Provence in the summer. At lunch (eaten ouside as you would expect) we noticed that we were the only people in the restaurant with a bottle of red wine. At supper (also eaten outside) we were again alone in our choice of beverage. So what were the locals drinking? Rose! Rose! Rose! Chilled rose can be a most magnificent alternative to a cold beer, when your body temperature demands a chilled drink.
In Canada, when many of us think of a pink wine, we think of that horrible stuff that was marketed not so many years ago. Surely you remember “Baby Duck” or some other really bad Canadian wine saturated with sugar. Well, there are wonderful pink wines that are not sweet and that are great in the summer. I think the best ones are from France, but then there are also good roses from Spain and from South America. Try one the next really hot day. Of course, if you really don’t like rose you can always drink sparking wine (not just Champagne from France, but Cava from Spain). Sparking wine is a great summer drink (but then it is also a great Spring, Fall and Winter drink)
Oddly, Canadian ice wine, is not really a summer drink. Ice wine, which is, of course, very, very sweet is not intended to quench a dry thirst. Ice wine is best served with heavier foods. While it is sometimes thought of as a dessert wine, ice wine is perfect before dinner, especially when paired with foie gras, or pate. But here’s a tip. Ice wine is very expensive. So if you don’t want to lay out $ 60 -$ 80. for a half bottle, try a bottle of “late harvest” wine, which sells for ¼ the price and to my palate is indistinguishable from ice wine. Why? In order to be called ice wine, the grapes must have been picked after 8 successive days when the daytime temperature was above freezing and the nightime temperature was below freezing. So what happens if the weather doesn’t co-operate and the grapes have to be picked after only 3 or 4 days of the regime. The stuff is sold as “late harvest” wine and at bargain prices.
Reading Spanish Wine Labels: Although wine has been made in Spain for millenia, quality control has only existed for 30 years or so. Prior to that Spain produced bulk wines. However, the terroir is such that Spain is capable of and does produce great wines, some of which even come at bargain prices.
On the label you will usually find the term “Denominacion de Origen” just under the name of one of the 60 wine zones. This is your guarantee of government controlled quality and is similar to the French “Appellation Controlee”. Wines without this designation should be avoided.
In addition to controlling quality through the name of the region Spain has an excellent system of classification by age. The poorest wines are bottled and sold with no time in casks. These “Joven” wines are to be drunk young. In Canada you will not find the term “Joven” very often but you will find the terms “Crianza”, “Reserva” and “Gran Reserva”. “Crianza” means the wine has been aged at least 24 months with 6 months in a cask; “Reserva” wines develop for 36 months with at least a year in an oak cask. Of course, the very best wines are “Gran Reservas” which have been in a cellar for at least five years and have been in an oak casks for at least 18 months. While many “Crianzas” are good, you will be assured of very good wine when it says “Reserva” and great wine when the label says “Gran Reserva”
Now look for the region. The biggest area in Spain is Rioja, but the best wines come from the Ribera del Duero. Most of these wines are made from the tempranillo grape, which has its own unique taste. When one thinks of Spanish wine one thinks of tempranillo. The wine will usually taste very dry and be more spicy than fruity.
Tempranillo is frequently blended with other Spanish grapes.
If you are a little more adventurous, may I suggest you also try the monastrell grape. Like tempranillo this grape is grown mostly in Spain. Monastrell tastes fruitier than tempranillo and is “bigger”, meaning you could confuse it for a New World wine. The best Monastrells come from Jumilla.
Cellar Offering 189: The last offering from Opimian listed the wines of Bordeaux. This offering has wines from the other important area (Burgundy) as well as from the also famous Loire Valley and from the South of France. World class cabernets and merlots come from Bordeaux; Burgundy is famous for Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. The Loire Valley is most know for its white wines. However, in some ways the most interesting wines are now from the South. At least, the best bargains in French wines are from Provencee and Languedoc-Roussilon. Growers are under fewer restrictions in the South and are able to experiment, including the making of bigger, bolder wines for the North American market.
I have 3 recommendations: First, you might consider # 5102 Pouilly Fume 2008 from Domaine Mollet-Maudry. Expensive but Sauvignon Blanc like you may never have tasted.
Since I pushed roses (above) I suggest that 5138 Grenache rose, Vine de Pays D’oc, 2008, Domaine Peiriere. Perhaps a real bargain.
My final recommendation is an absolute must. 5125 Chateau Salitis, AOC Cabardes, 2007 will be great. I bought a case of the 2005 which is just coming into its own. This blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, syrah and grenache will forever put to rest the myth that French wines are thin and weak. This stuff is fabulous.
An odd holiday: On Monday Betty and I are off to do something really strange. We are going on a holiday where there are no vineyards of importance and where we are not even bothering to take our golf clubs. Perhaps we have taken leave of our senses. However, we are told that we must see the Baltic States and St. Petersburg before we die, so we shall suffer through, the best we can, all the symptoms of wine and golf withdrawal. Wish us well!
.
Wine Whine #8
Wine Whine for April
Welcome Ed Pencer of Lanark to the “Whine”.
This month’s “Whine” is divided into three sections. First, I am going to tell you about an attempt to choose between Argentinian Malbecs and French Cots (the name for Malbec in the Cahors region of southeast France.) As someone who once taught a course in research methodology this story is a tad embarrassing.
Second, I am going to begin a series of “whines” about how to read labels. This subject is sufficiently complex that I am going to tackle only one or two countries at a time.
Finally, there are some comments on Opimian Cellar Offering # 188.
The Less than Perfect Evaluation
I mentioned in an earlier “Whine” that I was less than impressed with the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission’s refusal to stock wine from Cahors. The argument is that Cot or Malbec from Cahors is inferior to Malbec from Argentina and therefore if put on sale in Nova Scotia the wine would never leave the shelves.
While in Ontario recently I picked up a couple of bottles of Cahors (an ‘04 Chateau Haut Monplasisir at $ 17.95 and an ‘07 Croix du Mayre at $ 18.30). I decided to match the first French wine against an ‘05 Trapiche Broquel, picked up on sale for $ 11.88, and to match the second French wine against an ‘05 Don David Reserve, purchased for $ 16.79.
Now if you are bored with research methodology skip the rest of this. However, the moral of the story relates more to my errors in method than in my giving any real enlightenment on wine choice.
Thinking I was being quite clever, I pre-poured the Monplasisir and the Trapiche and passed two glasses to each of my 10 guests. The task for the guests was to select the preferred wine by indicating whether they liked the wine from the Riedel Cabernet glass, or the wine from the non-Riedel Burgundy glass. To control for the difference in the glasses half of the guinea pigs got the Cahors in the Cabernet glasses and the other half got the Trapiche in the Cabernet glasses.
When 5 guests chose the Cahors and 5 chose the Argentinian Malbec I thought I had determined that the two wines were of equal quality. Then I realized that 8 out of 10 picked the wine from the Cabernet glass, which of course was the more appropriate vessel for serving a tannic Malbec. Cabernet glasses are relatively high and narrow and shoot the wine to the back of the tongue where the bitter receptors are located.
O.K., having at least two interpretations of the results I then gave the second pair of wines to the guests. This time the guests poured their own wine into whatever glass they wished. Their only task was to indicate from which decanter came their preferred wine. This time, 10 out of 10 chose the Don David.
However, before I admit that the buyer from NSCL really knows his stuff I have to caution that this comparison may have been quite unfair as the Cahors was an ‘07 and perhaps not cellared sufficiently to mellow out the tannins.
By this time I was feeling so inadequate that I broke out the ’05 Trapiche Vina Francisco Oliva (an overall winner from last fall’s Halifax wine fair) and let my guests mellow out on one of the best wines from my cellar. After all, they deserved it.
South American Wine Labels
Nova Scotians buy a lot of wine from Chile and Argentina, mostly because these wines are of such good value. Argentina and Chile are the 5th and 10th largest producers of wine in the world. They are the 5th and 25th per capita consumers of wine. Canadians, on the other hand, are the 30th in terms of consumption and don’t even rate on the production side. One more bit of trivia. For every bottle of wine drunk by a Canadian, an Argentinian drinks three and a French person drinks five. Betty and I, of course, are doing our very best to raise the Canadian consumption average.
The question, however, is how do you choose a good wine when faced with a bewildering array of bottles at your local government store? Well, the short answer is to read the label carefully. The problem is that each country has a somewhat different system of labeling wine. France, for example, has very rigid laws which control what a wine can be called. Unfortunately, these laws are somewhat antiquated and are seemingly designed to make choice more rather than less difficult. I strongly believe that France wine exports would be rising (rather than currently declining) if they would only consult with me about what consumers on this side of the Atlantic need to see on the label. However, I’ll come back to this in later issues of the Whine.
The quality of a wine depends on lots of factors including the terroir (soil), the age of the vines, the climate, whether or not the vines have been overcropped, the skill of the vintner, the length of cellaring, and of course the varietal (kind of grape). Unlike Europeans, South American producers always prominently display the grape, including the percentages of each grape in a blended wine. Argentinians are best at big, fully flavored tannic wines. Thus, if choosing an Argentinian wine it’s almost impossible to go wrong with Malbec, and their Cabernet Sauvignons are also good. Chile, on the other hand, is the only country in the world to produce Carmenere. Chile is also very good with Cabernets. By the way Carmenere was a varietal grown in France until the phylloxera louse devastated European vineyards in the 19th century. Now varietals the world over are are grafted onto phylloxera-resistant roots. The only exception is in Chile where Cabernets vines are grown on Cabernet roots and Merlots on Merlot, etc. If you want to spend a very long time in a South American prison try smuggling a wine shoot across the Andes into Chile.
Chile and Argentina have copied the Spanish in labeling their better wines “reserva” and their best wines “gran reserva”. The difference is that in Spain these terms are controlled by the government and there are strict laws about how long the wines must be oak-barreled before these terms may go on the label. In South America the terms are left to the producer to decide when to use. Nonetheless, if the label says either “reserva” or “gran reserva” you will not be disappointed.
Like car manufacturers wine producers in South America give brand names to their wines. So, just as you know that a Honda Civic is a cheaper car than a Honda Accord, you can tell a lot by the name a wine producer uses. So, for example, the biggest producer in Chile (Concha y Toro) calls their poorest Frontera and the best wines Don Melchor.
What follows are some hints that will help you choose a South American wine. I am going to list some common wine producers (like saying Honda or Toyota). Then I’ll give a brand that is at least one up from the bottom (like saying Accord or Camray).
So, for example you will find lots of Carmen wines in Nova Scotia. However, if the wine is a Carmen Nativa that means it’s better than a plain old Carmen.
From Chile:
Carmen: Nativa
Baron Philippe de Rothschild Maipo Chile: Escudo Rojo
Caliterra: Caliterra Reserva
Canepa : Malbec Private Reserve
Casa Lapostolle : Cuvee Alexandre
Concha y Toro : Trio or Marques de Casa Concha (avoid Castilla del Diablo)
Luis Felipe Edwards : Reserva, Gran Reserva, or Pupillo
Miguel Torres Chile: Don Miquel
Montes: Alpha
Santa Rita : Casa Real
Villard Estate : Expresion
From Argentina :
Etchart : Etchart Cafayate
Finca Las Moras : Reserve or Andean
J & F Lurton : Gran Lurton or Piedra Negra
La Rosa : These are called Cornellena if sold by Opimium so buy the Barrel Reserve
Michel Torino: Don David
Norton: Privata Estate Reserva
Salentein: Estate range or Primus range although all Salentein’s are great
Santa Rita Argentina: Dona Paula Estate
Trapiche: Oak cask
Opimian Cellar Offering # 188
This month Opimian offers wines only from Bordeaux. Wines from Bordeaux have long been considered the best wines in the world. While this may indeed be true, what is even more true is that they are not the best valued wines in the world. So what do I have to say about Offering 188. Firstly, most of the wines need cellaring, so if you are not prepared to lay down your wine, perhaps you would be better saving your money for a different offering. On the other hand, if you are building up your cellar you will want some good French wine for special occasions.
I am only going to mention two wines. # 5068 Chateau Chante Alouette is affordable at $ 17.75 a bottle. You will perhaps find it interesting because it is from Fronsac, a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Dordogne and the Isle rivers. This will be an intense wine with lots of tannin, and may remind you of a New World wine. After all the French can made “big” wines.
The second I am mentioning is just in case you want to lay down a very good, expensive wine, and then bring out a dusty bottle every couple of years for those very special occasions. # 5078 Chateau Hortevie, Saint-Julien is the kind of wine you only drink on a special occasion (and maybe only when the market is doing well again). This is an 06 and I laid down a case of 02 a while back. I opened the first bottle last night and it still needs a couple of years to reach its potential. For one of my favorite readers who is amused by wine jargon, this wine can be described as having silken tannins (that means it is dry in the mouth making your canines seem like they are being tugged, while at the same time gliding across your tongue giving a sensation that is almost sexual).
Welcome Ed Pencer of Lanark to the “Whine”.
This month’s “Whine” is divided into three sections. First, I am going to tell you about an attempt to choose between Argentinian Malbecs and French Cots (the name for Malbec in the Cahors region of southeast France.) As someone who once taught a course in research methodology this story is a tad embarrassing.
Second, I am going to begin a series of “whines” about how to read labels. This subject is sufficiently complex that I am going to tackle only one or two countries at a time.
Finally, there are some comments on Opimian Cellar Offering # 188.
The Less than Perfect Evaluation
I mentioned in an earlier “Whine” that I was less than impressed with the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission’s refusal to stock wine from Cahors. The argument is that Cot or Malbec from Cahors is inferior to Malbec from Argentina and therefore if put on sale in Nova Scotia the wine would never leave the shelves.
While in Ontario recently I picked up a couple of bottles of Cahors (an ‘04 Chateau Haut Monplasisir at $ 17.95 and an ‘07 Croix du Mayre at $ 18.30). I decided to match the first French wine against an ‘05 Trapiche Broquel, picked up on sale for $ 11.88, and to match the second French wine against an ‘05 Don David Reserve, purchased for $ 16.79.
Now if you are bored with research methodology skip the rest of this. However, the moral of the story relates more to my errors in method than in my giving any real enlightenment on wine choice.
Thinking I was being quite clever, I pre-poured the Monplasisir and the Trapiche and passed two glasses to each of my 10 guests. The task for the guests was to select the preferred wine by indicating whether they liked the wine from the Riedel Cabernet glass, or the wine from the non-Riedel Burgundy glass. To control for the difference in the glasses half of the guinea pigs got the Cahors in the Cabernet glasses and the other half got the Trapiche in the Cabernet glasses.
When 5 guests chose the Cahors and 5 chose the Argentinian Malbec I thought I had determined that the two wines were of equal quality. Then I realized that 8 out of 10 picked the wine from the Cabernet glass, which of course was the more appropriate vessel for serving a tannic Malbec. Cabernet glasses are relatively high and narrow and shoot the wine to the back of the tongue where the bitter receptors are located.
O.K., having at least two interpretations of the results I then gave the second pair of wines to the guests. This time the guests poured their own wine into whatever glass they wished. Their only task was to indicate from which decanter came their preferred wine. This time, 10 out of 10 chose the Don David.
However, before I admit that the buyer from NSCL really knows his stuff I have to caution that this comparison may have been quite unfair as the Cahors was an ‘07 and perhaps not cellared sufficiently to mellow out the tannins.
By this time I was feeling so inadequate that I broke out the ’05 Trapiche Vina Francisco Oliva (an overall winner from last fall’s Halifax wine fair) and let my guests mellow out on one of the best wines from my cellar. After all, they deserved it.
South American Wine Labels
Nova Scotians buy a lot of wine from Chile and Argentina, mostly because these wines are of such good value. Argentina and Chile are the 5th and 10th largest producers of wine in the world. They are the 5th and 25th per capita consumers of wine. Canadians, on the other hand, are the 30th in terms of consumption and don’t even rate on the production side. One more bit of trivia. For every bottle of wine drunk by a Canadian, an Argentinian drinks three and a French person drinks five. Betty and I, of course, are doing our very best to raise the Canadian consumption average.
The question, however, is how do you choose a good wine when faced with a bewildering array of bottles at your local government store? Well, the short answer is to read the label carefully. The problem is that each country has a somewhat different system of labeling wine. France, for example, has very rigid laws which control what a wine can be called. Unfortunately, these laws are somewhat antiquated and are seemingly designed to make choice more rather than less difficult. I strongly believe that France wine exports would be rising (rather than currently declining) if they would only consult with me about what consumers on this side of the Atlantic need to see on the label. However, I’ll come back to this in later issues of the Whine.
The quality of a wine depends on lots of factors including the terroir (soil), the age of the vines, the climate, whether or not the vines have been overcropped, the skill of the vintner, the length of cellaring, and of course the varietal (kind of grape). Unlike Europeans, South American producers always prominently display the grape, including the percentages of each grape in a blended wine. Argentinians are best at big, fully flavored tannic wines. Thus, if choosing an Argentinian wine it’s almost impossible to go wrong with Malbec, and their Cabernet Sauvignons are also good. Chile, on the other hand, is the only country in the world to produce Carmenere. Chile is also very good with Cabernets. By the way Carmenere was a varietal grown in France until the phylloxera louse devastated European vineyards in the 19th century. Now varietals the world over are are grafted onto phylloxera-resistant roots. The only exception is in Chile where Cabernets vines are grown on Cabernet roots and Merlots on Merlot, etc. If you want to spend a very long time in a South American prison try smuggling a wine shoot across the Andes into Chile.
Chile and Argentina have copied the Spanish in labeling their better wines “reserva” and their best wines “gran reserva”. The difference is that in Spain these terms are controlled by the government and there are strict laws about how long the wines must be oak-barreled before these terms may go on the label. In South America the terms are left to the producer to decide when to use. Nonetheless, if the label says either “reserva” or “gran reserva” you will not be disappointed.
Like car manufacturers wine producers in South America give brand names to their wines. So, just as you know that a Honda Civic is a cheaper car than a Honda Accord, you can tell a lot by the name a wine producer uses. So, for example, the biggest producer in Chile (Concha y Toro) calls their poorest Frontera and the best wines Don Melchor.
What follows are some hints that will help you choose a South American wine. I am going to list some common wine producers (like saying Honda or Toyota). Then I’ll give a brand that is at least one up from the bottom (like saying Accord or Camray).
So, for example you will find lots of Carmen wines in Nova Scotia. However, if the wine is a Carmen Nativa that means it’s better than a plain old Carmen.
From Chile:
Carmen: Nativa
Baron Philippe de Rothschild Maipo Chile: Escudo Rojo
Caliterra: Caliterra Reserva
Canepa : Malbec Private Reserve
Casa Lapostolle : Cuvee Alexandre
Concha y Toro : Trio or Marques de Casa Concha (avoid Castilla del Diablo)
Luis Felipe Edwards : Reserva, Gran Reserva, or Pupillo
Miguel Torres Chile: Don Miquel
Montes: Alpha
Santa Rita : Casa Real
Villard Estate : Expresion
From Argentina :
Etchart : Etchart Cafayate
Finca Las Moras : Reserve or Andean
J & F Lurton : Gran Lurton or Piedra Negra
La Rosa : These are called Cornellena if sold by Opimium so buy the Barrel Reserve
Michel Torino: Don David
Norton: Privata Estate Reserva
Salentein: Estate range or Primus range although all Salentein’s are great
Santa Rita Argentina: Dona Paula Estate
Trapiche: Oak cask
Opimian Cellar Offering # 188
This month Opimian offers wines only from Bordeaux. Wines from Bordeaux have long been considered the best wines in the world. While this may indeed be true, what is even more true is that they are not the best valued wines in the world. So what do I have to say about Offering 188. Firstly, most of the wines need cellaring, so if you are not prepared to lay down your wine, perhaps you would be better saving your money for a different offering. On the other hand, if you are building up your cellar you will want some good French wine for special occasions.
I am only going to mention two wines. # 5068 Chateau Chante Alouette is affordable at $ 17.75 a bottle. You will perhaps find it interesting because it is from Fronsac, a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Dordogne and the Isle rivers. This will be an intense wine with lots of tannin, and may remind you of a New World wine. After all the French can made “big” wines.
The second I am mentioning is just in case you want to lay down a very good, expensive wine, and then bring out a dusty bottle every couple of years for those very special occasions. # 5078 Chateau Hortevie, Saint-Julien is the kind of wine you only drink on a special occasion (and maybe only when the market is doing well again). This is an 06 and I laid down a case of 02 a while back. I opened the first bottle last night and it still needs a couple of years to reach its potential. For one of my favorite readers who is amused by wine jargon, this wine can be described as having silken tannins (that means it is dry in the mouth making your canines seem like they are being tugged, while at the same time gliding across your tongue giving a sensation that is almost sexual).
Wine Whine #7
March Whine
First, let me welcome to the “Whine” Jay Thomson of Ottawa, Kimberley Mosher of Toronto, Sergei Aalto of Antigonish, Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence, and David Case from the Great State of Maine. I now even have a couple of people on my distribution list whom I have never met.
I don’t know how many of you really read these blurbs. However, I was encouraged to get a couple of questions in my inbox. Also, I have been challenged for snubbing white wines, and for my constant denigration of wines from Germany.
So this month I shall say a little bit about white wine and a bit about German wine. Last month’s blurb was about the pairing of food and wine. This time I shall write about the importance of the vessel from which you drink. And, of course, I’ll make some recommendations from Cellar Offering 187, which many of you will have received by e-mail or snail-mail in the past couple of days.
Questions: One reader noted that grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley were high in sugar content and asked if that made B.C. wines sweeter than those from Ontario. Grapes from the Okanagan are indeed high in sugar content. However, when grapes are fermented the sugar is converted to alcohol. If all the sugar is converted the wine is dry. If there is some residual sugar the wine is sweet. The Vintner usually decides when to stop the fermentation and thus how sweet the taste will be. So although grapes with high sugar content do not necessarily make sweet wines, grapes with lots of sugar do tend to ferment into wines with loads of flavour.
I was also asked how B.C. wines stack up against those from the rest of Canada. Unfortunately for me B.C. wines are rarely marketed in Nova Scotia so I generally don’t have the opportunity to drink that many of these great wines. On the other hand, whenever I have had a chance to drink wines from B.C. I have usually been impressed. In fact, I think Ontario would not stand a chance in a blind “wine-off.” The climate in B.C. is simply better for growing grapes.
German Wines: Wines have been produced in Germany for 100’s of years. Why then do they have such a bad reputation? There are two reasons. (1) Tradionally German wine makers saved their best grapes for sweet wines. By law the terms Kabinet, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese indicate progressive sweetness (and progressive prices). If you see any of those terms on the label you will know that the wine will be sweet and probably not be to the liking of anyone from North America.
(2) Germany, like many other countries, produces a lot of low grade bulk wines. For reasons about which I can only speculate German vintners dumped barrels of low grade wine in Canada in the 60’s and 70’s (in addition to flogging these poor wines to the unsuspecting American soldiers stationed in Europe). The absolute worst wine imaginable is something called Liebfraumilch and this accounts for 1/3 of all German exports. Yet, in Germany itself the wine is totally unknown. Those of you who are over 50 may remember a particularly disgusting label called “Blue Nun”. Certainly one glass was enough to make a modern sister more blue than having her Superior decree a return to the habit. Also the Germans are less skilled at marketing than even the French. Both countries should take lessons from Australia, but then that’s a rant for another time.
There are, nonetheless, some decent German wines, especially the Rieslings. I am told that one can also get decent Pinot Noir from Germany, but I have not had that experience. If any of you want to recommend a particular good German wine, I’ll be happy to try a bottle. ‘Till then, however, I’ll keep loading up on wines from Argentina, California, Chile, France and Spain.
White Wine: About 1/3 of the World’s wine is white. Most wine lovers drink both red and white wine. The occasion and the food match will determine the choice. On the other hand, most of us generally prefer one or the other. Since I am a red wine drinker, I hesitate to talk about whites. Yet, I was flattered by a reader who asked me about white wines. I shall attempt, therefore, to give the beginner’s guide to white wine (really this is the daycare version).
There are 1000’s of varieties of white grapes. I’ll mention three of the most common. If you like your wine to taste crisp, clean and a little acidic, try a Sauvignon Blanc If you like your white wine to be a little fruitier, in particular more citrus like, try a Riesling from Australia. On the other hand if you like your wine to be less aromatic and less acidic, try a Chardonnay. Perhaps the best Chardonnay’s come from northern Burgundy. Unfortunately they are expensive. But, if you pick your Chardonnay from the New World you must be very careful. Check the label and see if the wine is “oaked” or “unoaked”. Californian wine makers frequently age their Chardonnay in oak barrels. This makes the wine taste buttery (and brings out a gag reflect in some). This has led to another one of those ABC slogans (those on a European bus tour usually end up wanting anything other than an ABC; i.e.,“Another Bloody Cathedral” whereas many wine lovers frequently ask for ABC; i.e., “Anything But Chardonnay”) By the way, a well-oaked Chardonnay does go well with hot lobster dipped in butter. Otherwise go for the “unoaked.”
Does the wine glass matter? Those of you who remember the old romantic Hollywood movies will have seen Gary Grant or Rock Hudson popping the cork of a bottle of “Champagne” and after the wine stopping overflowing down the side of the bottle (and perhaps down his pantleg) Rock would pour the wine into two sherbet dishes. We all know that Rock Hudson knew little about sweet young females. He also knew little about wine. First, the cork should have been pulled with a whisper and not a pop. Second it should have been served in a tall fluted glass, thereby keeping the carbon dioxide (bubbles) from escaping. Flat champagne is about as good as a glass of Keith’s left on your hot summer deck for an hour.
The question is, does the choice of glass matter for a glass of Cabernet? The answer is YES, IT DOES.
The Austrian glass make Riedel has become a huge international company by marketing different glasses for different varietals. They recognized that the shape of the glass determined, among other things, where on the tongue the wine would hit. Thus, they would want a tannic wine to land on the back of the tongue, but a more acidic wine to hit the sides of the tongue. Riedel has been hugely successful, which is perhaps why the famous Waterford Crystal has gone into receivership (and the upstart Nova Scotia Crystal is also in financial trouble). So for Cabernet Sauvignon (with lots of tannins) the bowl should be only slightly wider in the middle than at the rim. This sends the wine way back in your mouth. A pinot glass will be quite wide in the middle of the bowl and the glass at the rim will be relatively narrow. Thus, the wine ends up at the middle of the tongue.
On the other hand, one can’t take Riedel too seriously. Otherwise one would need to rent an airplane hanger just to store all the glasses they would like you to buy.
So what is my advice? Let’s keep it simple. First, do you buy cheap glasses made from ordinary glass, or do you put out the big bucks for lead crystal? Because crystal is not as smooth as ordinary glass, supposedly more of the wine legs cling to the side of your glass, giving a greater surface area to create the wine aroma. I think this is mostly bullshit, but then I don’t work for Riedel. Second, the lead in crystal allows the glass some flexibility. For that reason crystal glasses break less frequently than cheaper glasses. But, are you going to break 10 or 15 times as many cheaper glasses? I doubt it.
On the other hand, it is really important to have a large enough bowl on the glass to allow you to get your nose down into the escaping aromas. Also the surface area of the wine must be big enough to let those aromas escape up your nose. So you need big glasses.
Last year while in Florida we visited a very good snowbird friend who had laid in a bottle of one of my favorite Chilean Cabs for our visit. Unfortunately, the wine was served in a glass thimble. Guess it would have been gauche to have brought my own glass.
Also, a glass should also have a decent stem (so your hand doesn’t touch the bowl and overheat the wine). Did you ever notice that brandy snifters have stubby little stems? That’s because you want your hand on the bowl to actually warm the brandy. But I digress.
Finally, really cheap glasses (and unfortunately the kind you find in many Canadian restaurants) have a little round rim. That’s so the low-grade glass will be less likely to chip. Unfortunately, that rim acts as a dam when you tip your glass, sending the wine everywhere in your mouth except onto your tongue. The other night we accompanied our “2 for 1” meal with a bottle of the house recommended Bonarda. We got two glasses with the dreaded rounded rims. Then we noticed that a couple at the next table got their wine decanted and served in Riedel glasses. Guess they didn’t have the Bonarda. I saw this trick in Spain a few years back but this was the first time in a Canadian restaurant that I had seen the declaration to all present that this table is drinking cheap wine, while at this other table sit the sophisticated.
Offering 187: If you are not a member of the Opimian Society, you can now stop reading and go pour yourself a glass. For those who are members, I’ll make only a few recommendations this time as there are no bargains in this particular Offer. First, just so I can claim that I once recommended a German wine my suggestion in 4960 Piesporter Goldtropoechen Riesling. My second and only real recommendation this time is an expensive (# 4967) Austrian Pinot Noir that will astound you. I had a case of this a couple of years ago and can say that I never drank better Pinot (at least for the brief life of the case). From the Italian section I’ll recommend # 4974 Negroamaro, IGT Salento. If you are not familiar with this varietal you should be pleasantly surprised (much less acidic than most Italian wine).
As always I invite your comments, rebuttals, general shots. Now go have a glass of Malbec.
First, let me welcome to the “Whine” Jay Thomson of Ottawa, Kimberley Mosher of Toronto, Sergei Aalto of Antigonish, Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence, and David Case from the Great State of Maine. I now even have a couple of people on my distribution list whom I have never met.
I don’t know how many of you really read these blurbs. However, I was encouraged to get a couple of questions in my inbox. Also, I have been challenged for snubbing white wines, and for my constant denigration of wines from Germany.
So this month I shall say a little bit about white wine and a bit about German wine. Last month’s blurb was about the pairing of food and wine. This time I shall write about the importance of the vessel from which you drink. And, of course, I’ll make some recommendations from Cellar Offering 187, which many of you will have received by e-mail or snail-mail in the past couple of days.
Questions: One reader noted that grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley were high in sugar content and asked if that made B.C. wines sweeter than those from Ontario. Grapes from the Okanagan are indeed high in sugar content. However, when grapes are fermented the sugar is converted to alcohol. If all the sugar is converted the wine is dry. If there is some residual sugar the wine is sweet. The Vintner usually decides when to stop the fermentation and thus how sweet the taste will be. So although grapes with high sugar content do not necessarily make sweet wines, grapes with lots of sugar do tend to ferment into wines with loads of flavour.
I was also asked how B.C. wines stack up against those from the rest of Canada. Unfortunately for me B.C. wines are rarely marketed in Nova Scotia so I generally don’t have the opportunity to drink that many of these great wines. On the other hand, whenever I have had a chance to drink wines from B.C. I have usually been impressed. In fact, I think Ontario would not stand a chance in a blind “wine-off.” The climate in B.C. is simply better for growing grapes.
German Wines: Wines have been produced in Germany for 100’s of years. Why then do they have such a bad reputation? There are two reasons. (1) Tradionally German wine makers saved their best grapes for sweet wines. By law the terms Kabinet, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese indicate progressive sweetness (and progressive prices). If you see any of those terms on the label you will know that the wine will be sweet and probably not be to the liking of anyone from North America.
(2) Germany, like many other countries, produces a lot of low grade bulk wines. For reasons about which I can only speculate German vintners dumped barrels of low grade wine in Canada in the 60’s and 70’s (in addition to flogging these poor wines to the unsuspecting American soldiers stationed in Europe). The absolute worst wine imaginable is something called Liebfraumilch and this accounts for 1/3 of all German exports. Yet, in Germany itself the wine is totally unknown. Those of you who are over 50 may remember a particularly disgusting label called “Blue Nun”. Certainly one glass was enough to make a modern sister more blue than having her Superior decree a return to the habit. Also the Germans are less skilled at marketing than even the French. Both countries should take lessons from Australia, but then that’s a rant for another time.
There are, nonetheless, some decent German wines, especially the Rieslings. I am told that one can also get decent Pinot Noir from Germany, but I have not had that experience. If any of you want to recommend a particular good German wine, I’ll be happy to try a bottle. ‘Till then, however, I’ll keep loading up on wines from Argentina, California, Chile, France and Spain.
White Wine: About 1/3 of the World’s wine is white. Most wine lovers drink both red and white wine. The occasion and the food match will determine the choice. On the other hand, most of us generally prefer one or the other. Since I am a red wine drinker, I hesitate to talk about whites. Yet, I was flattered by a reader who asked me about white wines. I shall attempt, therefore, to give the beginner’s guide to white wine (really this is the daycare version).
There are 1000’s of varieties of white grapes. I’ll mention three of the most common. If you like your wine to taste crisp, clean and a little acidic, try a Sauvignon Blanc If you like your white wine to be a little fruitier, in particular more citrus like, try a Riesling from Australia. On the other hand if you like your wine to be less aromatic and less acidic, try a Chardonnay. Perhaps the best Chardonnay’s come from northern Burgundy. Unfortunately they are expensive. But, if you pick your Chardonnay from the New World you must be very careful. Check the label and see if the wine is “oaked” or “unoaked”. Californian wine makers frequently age their Chardonnay in oak barrels. This makes the wine taste buttery (and brings out a gag reflect in some). This has led to another one of those ABC slogans (those on a European bus tour usually end up wanting anything other than an ABC; i.e.,“Another Bloody Cathedral” whereas many wine lovers frequently ask for ABC; i.e., “Anything But Chardonnay”) By the way, a well-oaked Chardonnay does go well with hot lobster dipped in butter. Otherwise go for the “unoaked.”
Does the wine glass matter? Those of you who remember the old romantic Hollywood movies will have seen Gary Grant or Rock Hudson popping the cork of a bottle of “Champagne” and after the wine stopping overflowing down the side of the bottle (and perhaps down his pantleg) Rock would pour the wine into two sherbet dishes. We all know that Rock Hudson knew little about sweet young females. He also knew little about wine. First, the cork should have been pulled with a whisper and not a pop. Second it should have been served in a tall fluted glass, thereby keeping the carbon dioxide (bubbles) from escaping. Flat champagne is about as good as a glass of Keith’s left on your hot summer deck for an hour.
The question is, does the choice of glass matter for a glass of Cabernet? The answer is YES, IT DOES.
The Austrian glass make Riedel has become a huge international company by marketing different glasses for different varietals. They recognized that the shape of the glass determined, among other things, where on the tongue the wine would hit. Thus, they would want a tannic wine to land on the back of the tongue, but a more acidic wine to hit the sides of the tongue. Riedel has been hugely successful, which is perhaps why the famous Waterford Crystal has gone into receivership (and the upstart Nova Scotia Crystal is also in financial trouble). So for Cabernet Sauvignon (with lots of tannins) the bowl should be only slightly wider in the middle than at the rim. This sends the wine way back in your mouth. A pinot glass will be quite wide in the middle of the bowl and the glass at the rim will be relatively narrow. Thus, the wine ends up at the middle of the tongue.
On the other hand, one can’t take Riedel too seriously. Otherwise one would need to rent an airplane hanger just to store all the glasses they would like you to buy.
So what is my advice? Let’s keep it simple. First, do you buy cheap glasses made from ordinary glass, or do you put out the big bucks for lead crystal? Because crystal is not as smooth as ordinary glass, supposedly more of the wine legs cling to the side of your glass, giving a greater surface area to create the wine aroma. I think this is mostly bullshit, but then I don’t work for Riedel. Second, the lead in crystal allows the glass some flexibility. For that reason crystal glasses break less frequently than cheaper glasses. But, are you going to break 10 or 15 times as many cheaper glasses? I doubt it.
On the other hand, it is really important to have a large enough bowl on the glass to allow you to get your nose down into the escaping aromas. Also the surface area of the wine must be big enough to let those aromas escape up your nose. So you need big glasses.
Last year while in Florida we visited a very good snowbird friend who had laid in a bottle of one of my favorite Chilean Cabs for our visit. Unfortunately, the wine was served in a glass thimble. Guess it would have been gauche to have brought my own glass.
Also, a glass should also have a decent stem (so your hand doesn’t touch the bowl and overheat the wine). Did you ever notice that brandy snifters have stubby little stems? That’s because you want your hand on the bowl to actually warm the brandy. But I digress.
Finally, really cheap glasses (and unfortunately the kind you find in many Canadian restaurants) have a little round rim. That’s so the low-grade glass will be less likely to chip. Unfortunately, that rim acts as a dam when you tip your glass, sending the wine everywhere in your mouth except onto your tongue. The other night we accompanied our “2 for 1” meal with a bottle of the house recommended Bonarda. We got two glasses with the dreaded rounded rims. Then we noticed that a couple at the next table got their wine decanted and served in Riedel glasses. Guess they didn’t have the Bonarda. I saw this trick in Spain a few years back but this was the first time in a Canadian restaurant that I had seen the declaration to all present that this table is drinking cheap wine, while at this other table sit the sophisticated.
Offering 187: If you are not a member of the Opimian Society, you can now stop reading and go pour yourself a glass. For those who are members, I’ll make only a few recommendations this time as there are no bargains in this particular Offer. First, just so I can claim that I once recommended a German wine my suggestion in 4960 Piesporter Goldtropoechen Riesling. My second and only real recommendation this time is an expensive (# 4967) Austrian Pinot Noir that will astound you. I had a case of this a couple of years ago and can say that I never drank better Pinot (at least for the brief life of the case). From the Italian section I’ll recommend # 4974 Negroamaro, IGT Salento. If you are not familiar with this varietal you should be pleasantly surprised (much less acidic than most Italian wine).
As always I invite your comments, rebuttals, general shots. Now go have a glass of Malbec.
Wine Whine #6
Late February Whine
First, let me welcome to the “Whine” Jay Thomson of Ottawa, Kimberley Mosher of Toronto, Sergei Aalto of Antigonish, Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence, and David Case from the Great State of Maine. I now even have people on my distribution list whom I have never met.
I don’t know how many of you really read these blurbs. However, I was encouraged to get a couple of questions about wine in my inbox. Also, my snubbing of white wines has been challenged, as has my constant denigration of wine from Germany.
So this month I shall say a bit about white wine and a bit about German wine. Last month I talked about the pairing of food and wine. This time I shall write about the importance of the vessel from which you drink. And, of course, I’ll make some recommendation from Cellar Offering 187, which many of you will have received by e-mail or snail-mail in the past couple of days.
Questions: One reader noted that grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley were high in sugar content and asked if that made B.C. wines sweeter than those from Ontario. Grapes from the Okanagan are indeed high in sugar content. However, when grapes are fermented the sugar is converted to alcohol. If all the sugar is converted the wine is dry. If there is some residual sugar the wine is sweet. The Vintner usually decides when to stop the fermentation and thus how sweet the taste will be.
I was also asked how B.C. wines stack up against those from the rest of Canada. Unfortunately for me B.C. wines are rarely marketed in Nova Scotia so I have not had the opportunity to drink that many of these great wines. On the other hand, whenever I have had a chance to drink wines from B.C. I have usually been impressed. In fact, I think Ontario would not stand a chance in a blind “wine-off.” The climate in B.C. is simply better for growing grapes.
German Wines: Wines have been produced in Germany for 100’s of years. Why then do they have such a bad reputation? There are two reasons. (1) By tradition German wine makers saved their best grapes for sweet wines. By law the terms Kabinet, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese indicate progressive sweetness (and progressive prices). If you see any of those terms on the label you will know that the wine will be sweet and probably not be to the liking of anyone from North America.
(2) Germany, like many other countries, produces a lot of low grape bulk wines. For reasons about which I can only speculate German vintners dumped barrels of low grade wine in Canada in the 60’s and 70’s (in addition to flogging these poor wines to the American military stationed in Europe). The absolute worst wine imaginable is something called Liebraumilch and this accounts for 1/3 of all German exports. Yet, in Germany itself the wine is totally unknown. Those of you who are over 50 may remember a particularly disgusting label called “Blue Nun”. Certainly one glass was enough to make a modern sister more blue than having her Superior decree a return to the habit. I think the Germans are even less skilled at marketing than even the French. Both countries should take lessons from Australia, but then that’s a rant for another time.
There are, nonetheless, some decent German wines, especially the Rieslings. I am told that one can also get decent pinot noir from Germany, but I have not had that experience. If any of you want to recommend a particular good German wine, I’ll be happy to try a bottle. ‘Till then, however, I’ll keep loading up on wines from Argentina, California, Chile, France and Spain.
White Wine: About 1/3 of the World’s wine is white. Most wine lovers drink both red and white wine. The occasion and the food match will determine the choice. On the other hand, most of us generally prefer one or the other. Since I am a red wine drinker, I hesitate to talk about whites. Yet, I was flattered by a reader who asked me about white wines. I shall attempt, therefore, to give the beginner’s guide to white wine (really this is the daycare version).
There are 1000’s of varieties of white grapes. I’ll mention three of the most common. If you like your wine to taste crisp, clean and a little acidic, try a Sauvignon Blanc If you like your white wine to be a little fruitier, in particular more citrus like, try a Riesling from Australia. On the other hand if you like your wine to be less aromatic and less acidic, try a Chardonnay. Perhaps the best Chardonnay’s come from northern Burgundy. Unfortunately they are expensive. But, if you pick your Chardonnay from the New World you must be very careful. Check the label and see if the wine is “oaked” or “unoaked”. Californian wine makers frequently age their Chardonnay in oak barrels. This makes the wine taste buttery (and brings out a gag reflect in some). This has led to another one of those ABC slogans (those on a European bus tour usually end up wanting anything other than an ABC; i.e.,“Another Bloody Cathedral” whereas many wine lovers frequently ask for ABC; i.e., “Anything But Chardonnay”) By the way, a well-oaked chardonnay does go well with hot lobster dipped in butter. Otherwise go for the “unoaked.”
Does the wine glass matter? Those of you who remember the old romantic Hollywood movies will have seen Gary Grant or Rock Hudson popping the cork of a bottle of “Champagne” and after the wine stopping bubbling down the side of the bottle pouring the wine into two sherbet dishes. We all know that Rock Hudson knew little about sweet young females. He also knew little about wine. First, the cork should have been pulled with a whisper and not a pop. Second it should have been served in a tall fluted glass, thereby keeping the carbon dioxide from escaping. Flat champagne is about as good as a glass of Keith’s left on your hot summer deck for an hour.
The question is, does the choice of glass matter for a glass of cabernet? The answer is yes it does.
The Austrian glass make Riedel has become a huge international company by marketing different glasses for different varietals. They recognized that the shape of the glass determined, among other things, where on the tongue the wine would hit. Thus, they would want a tannic wine to land on the back of the tongue, but a sweet icewine to hit the tip. Riedel has been hugely successful, which is perhaps why the famous Waterford Crystal has gone into receivership (and the upstart Nova Scotia Crystal is also in financial trouble).
On the other hand, one can’t take Riedel too seriously. Otherwise one would need to rent an airplane hanger just to store all the glasses they would like you to buy.
So what is my advice? Let’s keep it simple. First, do you buy cheap glasses made from ordinary glass, or do you put out the big bucks for lead crystal? Because crystal is not as smooth as ordinary glass, supposedly more of the wine legs cling to the side of your glass, giving a greater surface area to create the wine aroma. I think this is mostly bullshit, but then I don’t work for Riedel. Second, the lead in crystal allows the glass some flexibility. For that reason crystal glasses break less frequently than cheaper glasses. But, are you going to break 10 or 15 times as many cheaper glasses? I doubt it.
On the other hand, it is really important to have a large enough bowl on the glass to allow you to get your nose down in the escaping glasses. Also the surface area of the wine must be big enough to let those aromas escape into your nose. So you need big glasses.
Last year we visited a very good friend who laid in a bottle of one of my favorite Chilean cabs for our visit. Unfortunately, the wine was served in a glass thimble. Guess it would have been gauch to have brought my own glass.
A glass should also have a decent stems (so your hand doesn’t touch the bowl and overheat the wine). Did you ever notice that brandy snifters have stubby little stems? That’s because you want your hand on the bowl to actually warm the brandy. But I digress.
Finally, really cheap glasses (and unfortunately the kind you find in many Canadian restaurants) have a little round rim. That’s so the low-grade glass will be less likely to chip. Unfortunately, that rim acts as a dam when you tip your glass, sending the wine everywhere in your mouth except onto your tongue.
First, let me welcome to the “Whine” Jay Thomson of Ottawa, Kimberley Mosher of Toronto, Sergei Aalto of Antigonish, Gerard Gleize of Aix-en-Provence, and David Case from the Great State of Maine. I now even have people on my distribution list whom I have never met.
I don’t know how many of you really read these blurbs. However, I was encouraged to get a couple of questions about wine in my inbox. Also, my snubbing of white wines has been challenged, as has my constant denigration of wine from Germany.
So this month I shall say a bit about white wine and a bit about German wine. Last month I talked about the pairing of food and wine. This time I shall write about the importance of the vessel from which you drink. And, of course, I’ll make some recommendation from Cellar Offering 187, which many of you will have received by e-mail or snail-mail in the past couple of days.
Questions: One reader noted that grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley were high in sugar content and asked if that made B.C. wines sweeter than those from Ontario. Grapes from the Okanagan are indeed high in sugar content. However, when grapes are fermented the sugar is converted to alcohol. If all the sugar is converted the wine is dry. If there is some residual sugar the wine is sweet. The Vintner usually decides when to stop the fermentation and thus how sweet the taste will be.
I was also asked how B.C. wines stack up against those from the rest of Canada. Unfortunately for me B.C. wines are rarely marketed in Nova Scotia so I have not had the opportunity to drink that many of these great wines. On the other hand, whenever I have had a chance to drink wines from B.C. I have usually been impressed. In fact, I think Ontario would not stand a chance in a blind “wine-off.” The climate in B.C. is simply better for growing grapes.
German Wines: Wines have been produced in Germany for 100’s of years. Why then do they have such a bad reputation? There are two reasons. (1) By tradition German wine makers saved their best grapes for sweet wines. By law the terms Kabinet, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese indicate progressive sweetness (and progressive prices). If you see any of those terms on the label you will know that the wine will be sweet and probably not be to the liking of anyone from North America.
(2) Germany, like many other countries, produces a lot of low grape bulk wines. For reasons about which I can only speculate German vintners dumped barrels of low grade wine in Canada in the 60’s and 70’s (in addition to flogging these poor wines to the American military stationed in Europe). The absolute worst wine imaginable is something called Liebraumilch and this accounts for 1/3 of all German exports. Yet, in Germany itself the wine is totally unknown. Those of you who are over 50 may remember a particularly disgusting label called “Blue Nun”. Certainly one glass was enough to make a modern sister more blue than having her Superior decree a return to the habit. I think the Germans are even less skilled at marketing than even the French. Both countries should take lessons from Australia, but then that’s a rant for another time.
There are, nonetheless, some decent German wines, especially the Rieslings. I am told that one can also get decent pinot noir from Germany, but I have not had that experience. If any of you want to recommend a particular good German wine, I’ll be happy to try a bottle. ‘Till then, however, I’ll keep loading up on wines from Argentina, California, Chile, France and Spain.
White Wine: About 1/3 of the World’s wine is white. Most wine lovers drink both red and white wine. The occasion and the food match will determine the choice. On the other hand, most of us generally prefer one or the other. Since I am a red wine drinker, I hesitate to talk about whites. Yet, I was flattered by a reader who asked me about white wines. I shall attempt, therefore, to give the beginner’s guide to white wine (really this is the daycare version).
There are 1000’s of varieties of white grapes. I’ll mention three of the most common. If you like your wine to taste crisp, clean and a little acidic, try a Sauvignon Blanc If you like your white wine to be a little fruitier, in particular more citrus like, try a Riesling from Australia. On the other hand if you like your wine to be less aromatic and less acidic, try a Chardonnay. Perhaps the best Chardonnay’s come from northern Burgundy. Unfortunately they are expensive. But, if you pick your Chardonnay from the New World you must be very careful. Check the label and see if the wine is “oaked” or “unoaked”. Californian wine makers frequently age their Chardonnay in oak barrels. This makes the wine taste buttery (and brings out a gag reflect in some). This has led to another one of those ABC slogans (those on a European bus tour usually end up wanting anything other than an ABC; i.e.,“Another Bloody Cathedral” whereas many wine lovers frequently ask for ABC; i.e., “Anything But Chardonnay”) By the way, a well-oaked chardonnay does go well with hot lobster dipped in butter. Otherwise go for the “unoaked.”
Does the wine glass matter? Those of you who remember the old romantic Hollywood movies will have seen Gary Grant or Rock Hudson popping the cork of a bottle of “Champagne” and after the wine stopping bubbling down the side of the bottle pouring the wine into two sherbet dishes. We all know that Rock Hudson knew little about sweet young females. He also knew little about wine. First, the cork should have been pulled with a whisper and not a pop. Second it should have been served in a tall fluted glass, thereby keeping the carbon dioxide from escaping. Flat champagne is about as good as a glass of Keith’s left on your hot summer deck for an hour.
The question is, does the choice of glass matter for a glass of cabernet? The answer is yes it does.
The Austrian glass make Riedel has become a huge international company by marketing different glasses for different varietals. They recognized that the shape of the glass determined, among other things, where on the tongue the wine would hit. Thus, they would want a tannic wine to land on the back of the tongue, but a sweet icewine to hit the tip. Riedel has been hugely successful, which is perhaps why the famous Waterford Crystal has gone into receivership (and the upstart Nova Scotia Crystal is also in financial trouble).
On the other hand, one can’t take Riedel too seriously. Otherwise one would need to rent an airplane hanger just to store all the glasses they would like you to buy.
So what is my advice? Let’s keep it simple. First, do you buy cheap glasses made from ordinary glass, or do you put out the big bucks for lead crystal? Because crystal is not as smooth as ordinary glass, supposedly more of the wine legs cling to the side of your glass, giving a greater surface area to create the wine aroma. I think this is mostly bullshit, but then I don’t work for Riedel. Second, the lead in crystal allows the glass some flexibility. For that reason crystal glasses break less frequently than cheaper glasses. But, are you going to break 10 or 15 times as many cheaper glasses? I doubt it.
On the other hand, it is really important to have a large enough bowl on the glass to allow you to get your nose down in the escaping glasses. Also the surface area of the wine must be big enough to let those aromas escape into your nose. So you need big glasses.
Last year we visited a very good friend who laid in a bottle of one of my favorite Chilean cabs for our visit. Unfortunately, the wine was served in a glass thimble. Guess it would have been gauch to have brought my own glass.
A glass should also have a decent stems (so your hand doesn’t touch the bowl and overheat the wine). Did you ever notice that brandy snifters have stubby little stems? That’s because you want your hand on the bowl to actually warm the brandy. But I digress.
Finally, really cheap glasses (and unfortunately the kind you find in many Canadian restaurants) have a little round rim. That’s so the low-grade glass will be less likely to chip. Unfortunately, that rim acts as a dam when you tip your glass, sending the wine everywhere in your mouth except onto your tongue.
Wine Whine #5
WINTER WHINE
This month’s whine is mostly about the matching of food and wine. As is my custom, you will also find a few recommendations for the current Opimian Cellar Offering. Finally, there is a plea for advice directed to those of you who live in Ontario.
Try this experiment at home.
Before I continue just let me say that a good matching may be more important than you think. In order to convince you of this let me invite you to participate in a small experiment. After you have followed my instructions, please let me know your results.
Now, as you are planning your meals for the next couple of weeks, please include one meal with lots of tomato sauce. This could be a spaghetti with a strong sauce, maybe a bruschetta with lots of fresh tomatoes, or even pizza, provided there is more tomato sauce than cheese. Prior to preparing the meal pick up a bottle of cheap Italian wine from somewhere near Verona. This could be a Valpolicella (mostly from the corvina grape), a Chianti (made from Sangiovese) or any other wine made Sangiovese or Corvina. Buy the basic rotgut, not the Valpolicella Classico or the Chianti Classico which are better wines but less useful for this demonstration.
As you are preparing the meal, open the bottle and pour yourself a glass. Don’t snack, just sip the wine. When your meal is ready, eat several bites before drinking any more wine. Now, finish both the food and the drink. I’m betting your first sip of the wine will taste sour and you will wonder why you agreed to all of this. However, as you eat and drink the wine will get less sour and gradually taste better. I know, I know, I’ve told you what to expect and that biases the study. So, for those scientists on Grove Ave. you will need to buy a control bottle of cheap Merlot, and invite guests to share in the wine and drink.
Why match? When food and wine are well matched, both will taste better. It’s like the right match of humans, the resulting passion will perfect both partners.
The basic principle of matching food to wine is to pair light wines with subtle foods and heavier wines with more robust foods. However, you can go far beyond that general rule.
Most of you will remember learning in junior high that there were only four kinds of taste receptors on your tongue: salt, sugar, sour and bitter. Since no wines taste salty (even those dreadful ones grown along Canada’s Atlantic coast) you don’t need to worry. On the other hand, Nova Scotia does produce some good “late harvest” wines (the affordable version of “ice” wines) so you can match your pure maple syrup float with a sweet wine. On the other hand, I prefer to contrast my crème brule with the bitterness of a double espresso.
Wines that are high in acid (such as those mentioned above) will taste sour and those that are high in unaged tannins (a complex protein found in the skins of varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec) will taste bitter. A light wine will not be too acidic, have few tannins and a low alcohol content (10 or 11 per cent), while a heavy wine will have both acids and tannins and more alcohol (14 per cent). So in trying to match your wine to your favorite food pay attention to both acidity and to tannins. Remember that the very best wines have lots of tannins which allow the wine to gently age until the tannins have mellowed and the fruit flavors carried in the acids come bursting forth.
Specific suggestions:
1. Garden salad with fresh tomatoes and a vinaigrette is very hard to match. Choose a chilled Sauvignon Blanc or better still a very chilled sparkling wine such as a Spanish Cava. If you must have red wine, choose a Chilean Pinot Noir which will be high in acid and low in tannin or a Grenache which will also be low in tannin but will have more alcohol and less acid.
2. Most fish is subtly flavoured and matches with light reds such as Beaujolais, moderate reds such a Tempranillo, or better still matches with a good Chablis (what Americans call Chardonnay). Be careful to choose an unoaked white unless you are having lobster with melted butter, in which case an oaky Chardonnay will be perfect. Of course, if you are eating the lobster Maritime style (that is with newspapers for table cloths and enamel pails for the shells), Keith’s may be the best choice.
3. In general chicken is middle-of-the-road in terms of flavour so it will go with almost any wine except a really bold one. So you can have almost any white wine or any light or medium red (such as Merlot), but don’t go any bigger than a Zinfandel.
4. You may not eat duck all that often but if you do there is nothing better than a good French Bordeaux (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and perhaps other wines). I’ve added duck to my list because I recently ate at Chateau St. Joseph’s and the beautifully and lightly cooked breast was carefully matched to a couple of Bordeaux.
5. Now, we are finally getting to the food that will do justice to your carefully cellared big wines from the New World. If you are fortunate enough to maintain the tradition of the Sunday roast, a medium rare prime rib deserves nothing less than a 5- or 6-year old Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet is loaded with tannins and the tannins cut beautifully the fat that permeates the lean. One caution! If you make a mistake and overcook the meat, put the Cabernet back in your cellar (the tannins will be wasted on the fatless powder) and bring out something dry but not tannic (a Tempranillo from Rioja will do in this unfortunate circumstance). If your pleasure in red meat is that thick, juicy steak, there is nothing better than an Argentinian Malbec. Finally, if you add a lot of spice to your steak, then choose an Australian Shiraz, which is the spiciest of the big reds.
Some matching anecdotes: If you haven’t reached the higher levels of snobbery you may wish to simply eat the food you like and wash it down with your favorite plonc. I agree. Food and wine matching can get carried a little too far. For example, when the snobs at Opimian listed a Domaine Castan Coteaux du Languedoc (2007) in Offering 182 they suggested that it would be perfect with pork bellies. Although that does seem a bit of an overly specific match I must confess that I have a case quietly aging so that I can try a bottle with one of my favorite comfort foods.
Finally, most of you have heard this story. Nonetheless, I am going to repeat it for those who haven’t. Many years ago mon ami Gerard was paying his first extended visit to Antigonish. Those of you who have been to Aix-en-Provence know that Gerard keeps a magnificent cellar (albeit light on New World wines). Anyway, during this visit Gerard kept bugging me about whether or not I had this or that very specific wine to match whatever it was that Marie-Claude or Betty was preparing. Frequently I didn’t and was feeling quite “one-upped”. Finally we went sailing in the Bras d’or lakes and Gerard somehow managed to jig a couple of small cod. Typically, they were infested with disgusting little white worms. I thought I was about to give Gerard his comeuppance when I suppressed a grin and said: “Gerard, what wine goes with cod worms?” Without hesitation Gerard answered in his wonderful Gallic accent: “Any German wine will do.”
Cellar Offering 186: This is the basic offering of Chilean wines and therefore is one to which you should pay special attention. There are also a goodly number of Rhone wines on offer. Unfortunately, they are typical of most French wines (that is, overpriced). I am especially fond of wines from Vina La Rosa (Cornellana Estate). I have been buying these wines for 4 or 5 years.
4896 – Cornellana Cab/Merlot at $ 12.83 for any everyday plonc
4897 – Cornellana Merlot Reserve at $ 18.08 will be especially good for just sipping
4900 – Cornellana Barrel Reserve Selection at $ 23.67 gives you the opportunity to
sample 3 different (2 bottles each) very good wines.
4905 – Expresion Reserve Pinot Noir at $ 27.67 gives you a chance to sample a
relatively affordable pinot. A well-know local Sommelier once told me that if
you couldn’t afford $ 50.wine, don’t bother with pinot noir
4917 – Sergio Traverso Carmenere at $ 19.83 gives you a chance to try carmenere (a
grape grown only in Chile.
4938 – Domaine des Cigalons Chateauneuf-du-pape is expensive ($ 49.67) but this
particular one I have had. It’s something that will last a long time and fun to
taste on special occasions.
4935 – Chateau de Montmirail Gigondas ($ 40.67) Gigondas is very similar to
Chateauneuf-du-pape (next region) and both wines are blends of many
different grapes, dominated by Grenache.
4887-4888-4889 – If you have any coupons, this is the time to cash in.
Help requested: Betty and I recently went to a new French restaurant in Toronto called “Loire” with our friends Chuck and Karon. Chuck suggested that we let the sommelier choose the wines to match our food. As the Sommelier brought each wine he wrapped it to disguise the label and then asked us to identify the wine (they were all French of course). We managed to identify one of the three wines (we actually drank four bottles in total). We so liked the wine that went with the main course that we drank two bottles of it but had no idea what it was. The Sommelier then said: “Well, it’s Malbec”. I knew that Malbec was originally a French grape, but believed that the French only used small quantities for blending, whereas in Argentina Malbec is considered a national treasure. Anyway, the wine was from Cahors. Cahors is the one region in France that produces wine that is primarily made from Malbec, sometimes called Cot in France.
Going on line I discovered that several wines from Cahors are listed with the LCBO (Ontario) whereas none are available from NSLC (Nova Scotia). I’m told on good authority that the wine buyers at the NSLC believe that Cahors is so very tannic that it would not find favor with Nova Scotians, who would simply continue to down their Malbecs from Argentina.
Now, if you live in Ontario I ask you to do me a favor. Pick up a bottle of Cahors at the LCBO. Then pick up a bottle of Argentinian Malbec in the same price range and compare them (preferably blind). Try this when you are going to have a red meat dinner for 3 or 4 people. Let me know how the wines compare. Perhaps the experts are right and the French can’t compete with the Argentinians, but I’d like to see this put to the test.
Wine Flick: Speaking of France versus the rest of the world I just had a chance to see the movie “Bottleshock” on the airplane coming back from Cuba. This is based on the famous 1976 blind tasting of French and California wines that put Napa Valley on the world map of great wines. It’s a fun, little movie that you might consider renting. If you liked “Sideways” you will like this one.
This month’s whine is mostly about the matching of food and wine. As is my custom, you will also find a few recommendations for the current Opimian Cellar Offering. Finally, there is a plea for advice directed to those of you who live in Ontario.
Try this experiment at home.
Before I continue just let me say that a good matching may be more important than you think. In order to convince you of this let me invite you to participate in a small experiment. After you have followed my instructions, please let me know your results.
Now, as you are planning your meals for the next couple of weeks, please include one meal with lots of tomato sauce. This could be a spaghetti with a strong sauce, maybe a bruschetta with lots of fresh tomatoes, or even pizza, provided there is more tomato sauce than cheese. Prior to preparing the meal pick up a bottle of cheap Italian wine from somewhere near Verona. This could be a Valpolicella (mostly from the corvina grape), a Chianti (made from Sangiovese) or any other wine made Sangiovese or Corvina. Buy the basic rotgut, not the Valpolicella Classico or the Chianti Classico which are better wines but less useful for this demonstration.
As you are preparing the meal, open the bottle and pour yourself a glass. Don’t snack, just sip the wine. When your meal is ready, eat several bites before drinking any more wine. Now, finish both the food and the drink. I’m betting your first sip of the wine will taste sour and you will wonder why you agreed to all of this. However, as you eat and drink the wine will get less sour and gradually taste better. I know, I know, I’ve told you what to expect and that biases the study. So, for those scientists on Grove Ave. you will need to buy a control bottle of cheap Merlot, and invite guests to share in the wine and drink.
Why match? When food and wine are well matched, both will taste better. It’s like the right match of humans, the resulting passion will perfect both partners.
The basic principle of matching food to wine is to pair light wines with subtle foods and heavier wines with more robust foods. However, you can go far beyond that general rule.
Most of you will remember learning in junior high that there were only four kinds of taste receptors on your tongue: salt, sugar, sour and bitter. Since no wines taste salty (even those dreadful ones grown along Canada’s Atlantic coast) you don’t need to worry. On the other hand, Nova Scotia does produce some good “late harvest” wines (the affordable version of “ice” wines) so you can match your pure maple syrup float with a sweet wine. On the other hand, I prefer to contrast my crème brule with the bitterness of a double espresso.
Wines that are high in acid (such as those mentioned above) will taste sour and those that are high in unaged tannins (a complex protein found in the skins of varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec) will taste bitter. A light wine will not be too acidic, have few tannins and a low alcohol content (10 or 11 per cent), while a heavy wine will have both acids and tannins and more alcohol (14 per cent). So in trying to match your wine to your favorite food pay attention to both acidity and to tannins. Remember that the very best wines have lots of tannins which allow the wine to gently age until the tannins have mellowed and the fruit flavors carried in the acids come bursting forth.
Specific suggestions:
1. Garden salad with fresh tomatoes and a vinaigrette is very hard to match. Choose a chilled Sauvignon Blanc or better still a very chilled sparkling wine such as a Spanish Cava. If you must have red wine, choose a Chilean Pinot Noir which will be high in acid and low in tannin or a Grenache which will also be low in tannin but will have more alcohol and less acid.
2. Most fish is subtly flavoured and matches with light reds such as Beaujolais, moderate reds such a Tempranillo, or better still matches with a good Chablis (what Americans call Chardonnay). Be careful to choose an unoaked white unless you are having lobster with melted butter, in which case an oaky Chardonnay will be perfect. Of course, if you are eating the lobster Maritime style (that is with newspapers for table cloths and enamel pails for the shells), Keith’s may be the best choice.
3. In general chicken is middle-of-the-road in terms of flavour so it will go with almost any wine except a really bold one. So you can have almost any white wine or any light or medium red (such as Merlot), but don’t go any bigger than a Zinfandel.
4. You may not eat duck all that often but if you do there is nothing better than a good French Bordeaux (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and perhaps other wines). I’ve added duck to my list because I recently ate at Chateau St. Joseph’s and the beautifully and lightly cooked breast was carefully matched to a couple of Bordeaux.
5. Now, we are finally getting to the food that will do justice to your carefully cellared big wines from the New World. If you are fortunate enough to maintain the tradition of the Sunday roast, a medium rare prime rib deserves nothing less than a 5- or 6-year old Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet is loaded with tannins and the tannins cut beautifully the fat that permeates the lean. One caution! If you make a mistake and overcook the meat, put the Cabernet back in your cellar (the tannins will be wasted on the fatless powder) and bring out something dry but not tannic (a Tempranillo from Rioja will do in this unfortunate circumstance). If your pleasure in red meat is that thick, juicy steak, there is nothing better than an Argentinian Malbec. Finally, if you add a lot of spice to your steak, then choose an Australian Shiraz, which is the spiciest of the big reds.
Some matching anecdotes: If you haven’t reached the higher levels of snobbery you may wish to simply eat the food you like and wash it down with your favorite plonc. I agree. Food and wine matching can get carried a little too far. For example, when the snobs at Opimian listed a Domaine Castan Coteaux du Languedoc (2007) in Offering 182 they suggested that it would be perfect with pork bellies. Although that does seem a bit of an overly specific match I must confess that I have a case quietly aging so that I can try a bottle with one of my favorite comfort foods.
Finally, most of you have heard this story. Nonetheless, I am going to repeat it for those who haven’t. Many years ago mon ami Gerard was paying his first extended visit to Antigonish. Those of you who have been to Aix-en-Provence know that Gerard keeps a magnificent cellar (albeit light on New World wines). Anyway, during this visit Gerard kept bugging me about whether or not I had this or that very specific wine to match whatever it was that Marie-Claude or Betty was preparing. Frequently I didn’t and was feeling quite “one-upped”. Finally we went sailing in the Bras d’or lakes and Gerard somehow managed to jig a couple of small cod. Typically, they were infested with disgusting little white worms. I thought I was about to give Gerard his comeuppance when I suppressed a grin and said: “Gerard, what wine goes with cod worms?” Without hesitation Gerard answered in his wonderful Gallic accent: “Any German wine will do.”
Cellar Offering 186: This is the basic offering of Chilean wines and therefore is one to which you should pay special attention. There are also a goodly number of Rhone wines on offer. Unfortunately, they are typical of most French wines (that is, overpriced). I am especially fond of wines from Vina La Rosa (Cornellana Estate). I have been buying these wines for 4 or 5 years.
4896 – Cornellana Cab/Merlot at $ 12.83 for any everyday plonc
4897 – Cornellana Merlot Reserve at $ 18.08 will be especially good for just sipping
4900 – Cornellana Barrel Reserve Selection at $ 23.67 gives you the opportunity to
sample 3 different (2 bottles each) very good wines.
4905 – Expresion Reserve Pinot Noir at $ 27.67 gives you a chance to sample a
relatively affordable pinot. A well-know local Sommelier once told me that if
you couldn’t afford $ 50.wine, don’t bother with pinot noir
4917 – Sergio Traverso Carmenere at $ 19.83 gives you a chance to try carmenere (a
grape grown only in Chile.
4938 – Domaine des Cigalons Chateauneuf-du-pape is expensive ($ 49.67) but this
particular one I have had. It’s something that will last a long time and fun to
taste on special occasions.
4935 – Chateau de Montmirail Gigondas ($ 40.67) Gigondas is very similar to
Chateauneuf-du-pape (next region) and both wines are blends of many
different grapes, dominated by Grenache.
4887-4888-4889 – If you have any coupons, this is the time to cash in.
Help requested: Betty and I recently went to a new French restaurant in Toronto called “Loire” with our friends Chuck and Karon. Chuck suggested that we let the sommelier choose the wines to match our food. As the Sommelier brought each wine he wrapped it to disguise the label and then asked us to identify the wine (they were all French of course). We managed to identify one of the three wines (we actually drank four bottles in total). We so liked the wine that went with the main course that we drank two bottles of it but had no idea what it was. The Sommelier then said: “Well, it’s Malbec”. I knew that Malbec was originally a French grape, but believed that the French only used small quantities for blending, whereas in Argentina Malbec is considered a national treasure. Anyway, the wine was from Cahors. Cahors is the one region in France that produces wine that is primarily made from Malbec, sometimes called Cot in France.
Going on line I discovered that several wines from Cahors are listed with the LCBO (Ontario) whereas none are available from NSLC (Nova Scotia). I’m told on good authority that the wine buyers at the NSLC believe that Cahors is so very tannic that it would not find favor with Nova Scotians, who would simply continue to down their Malbecs from Argentina.
Now, if you live in Ontario I ask you to do me a favor. Pick up a bottle of Cahors at the LCBO. Then pick up a bottle of Argentinian Malbec in the same price range and compare them (preferably blind). Try this when you are going to have a red meat dinner for 3 or 4 people. Let me know how the wines compare. Perhaps the experts are right and the French can’t compete with the Argentinians, but I’d like to see this put to the test.
Wine Flick: Speaking of France versus the rest of the world I just had a chance to see the movie “Bottleshock” on the airplane coming back from Cuba. This is based on the famous 1976 blind tasting of French and California wines that put Napa Valley on the world map of great wines. It’s a fun, little movie that you might consider renting. If you liked “Sideways” you will like this one.
Wine Whine #4
Ron’s Christmas Whine
Welcome Kevin Clinton of Toronto and Kelly Brennan of British Columbia to the Whine. This Christmas I shall make some recommendations from Cellar Offering 185, write a bit about the problem of dining out alone, give some suggestions about building a wine cellar, and finally, report on the red wines from Ron’s cellar that Nova Scotians like best.
Offering 185: This offering is your best chance to get Spanish wines from Opimian this year. Spanish reds are very dry, relatively light, not as subtle as French wines. Mostly they are “old world” so they do not have the “in-your-face” fruitiness so familiar to “new world” wines. The biggest wine area is Rioja; however, the best wines are from Ribera del Duero (which unfortunately tend to be expensive). Quality of Spanish wines is indicated by the four categories: roble, crianza, reserve, and gran reserve. Here, in no particular order are my picks:
4818 Castillo D. Montblanc, Brut Cava. This is a very good sparkling wine at ¼ the price ($ 22.50) of a comparable French champagne.
4820 Montblanc 362 Tempranillo, Do Conca de Barbera 2008 ($14.33) . This should be a great everyday wine, although not quite ready.
4826 Opimian Vinas Viejas 2007 ($14.). Another easy drinking everyday wine.
4839 Gran Colegiata Crianza 2003. Not cheap ($29.83). Betty and I stayed in a little inn next door to the cathedral (Gran Colegiata) a couple of year’s ago so are partial to this wine. Have had it several times.
4840 Gran Colegiata Campus. This wine is only for those with deep pockets and a cellar to let it age. However……
4848 Vinho Verde ($ 15.) It is unusual for me to recommend a white wine. However, if you have never had a Portuguese vinho verde you are in for a treat. This is a crackling wine (small bubbles in the wine, but no effervescence) and is wonderful on a hot summer’s day.
I have no recommendations for the French wines offered in Cellar 185.
Eating out Alone: Occasionally one eats out alone. Food is not a problem, but what do you do about drinking? Usually the choice is between overindulging with a whole bottle or forcing down a glass of bad house merlot.
A couple of weeks ago I had an afternoon meeting in St. John’s. It was freezing rain in both N.S. and Nfld and Air Canada cancelled everything. Fortunately, WestJet got me there in time for my meeting but not in time for lunch. By 6:00 p.m. I was starving. I left the hotel without an umbrella and walked down Duckworth to Water, desperately needing a good glass of red and a big steak. Outside a hole-in-the-wall named Oliver’s there was a sign that said “over 500 wines from which to choose”. Actually the sign read “over 500 wines to choose from” but I was in no mood to quibble over a dangling participle.
I got the last table and was easily talked into the daily special which was a pepper crusted strip loin served in a fresh cranberry sauce. With a very good Caesar, I had a glass of excellent ripasso, and I washed down the main course with a glass of decent malbec. Now only if Nova Scotian restaurants were as kind to wine lovers.
Cellaring wine: Last time I talked about aging wine and promised some comments on building a cellar. The ideal place is dark, cool and damp. However, I assume you want to neither spend a bundle on a contractor nor do you wish to tunnel under your neighbour’s hedge in the middle of the night. If you live in an apartment you really have no choice but to buy a wine fridge. These little appliances, which will hold between 12 and 75 bottles, are great for white wine and not bad for red. The problem is that the air is not humid enough and an heirloom red cannot be kept for a decade because the cork will dry out and the wine will oxidize.
If you have a basement the problem is heat (and maybe lack of humidity as well). If you are serious pick a corner (at the opposite end from your furnace) and erect two small walls giving you a space that is 6’ by 6’ or 8’ by 8’. This is ample for at least 500 bottles. Once your walls are up, tear down the gyproc or whatever on the two outside walls and insulate the two inside walls. The uninsulated below grade cement will keep your “cellar” cool in the summer and slightly damp. The insulated interior walls will block the heat from your finished basement. You will find that in the cold part of the winter your wines may be colder than perfect, but they will be unharmed and you can remove a bottle 20-30 minutes before dinner.
Now if you want help with this project give me a call. For a bottle of ripasso I’ll design a cellar for you and for a case of top malbec I’ll even come and build it.
Wine tasting December 23, 2008: Last night 21 of us blind-tasted 10 wines. Unfortunately a few others didn’t make it after being stranded in an airport, having their furnace quit, etc. The wines we tasted were:
From Australia: a 2004 Hardy’s Founder’s Series Cabernet/Tempranillo
From Argentina: a 2006 via Manet Reserva Malbec and a 2006 Don David Cabernet Sauvignon
From California: a 2004 Gallo Sonoma Reserve Zinfadel
From Chile: a 2007 Cornellana Merlot/Carminere and a 2005 Cornellana Barrel Reserve Syrah/Cabernet
From France: a 2001 La Source Aix-en-Province Grenache/Syrah and a 2003 Languendoc Founder’s Series Syrah
From South Africa : a 2003 Beck’s Shiraz
From Spain: a 2001 Bilbao Tempranillo
There was quite a bit of consistency among the drinkers in terms of what was liked and what wasn’t liked. However, there was little correlation between price and place. Although the cheapest wine (the Cornellana merlot) came dead last, the first place wine (Don David Cabernet) was the 2nd cheapest. The second favorite (Hardy’s) was tied for most expensive and the 3rd favorite (Via Manet) was 3rd cheapest.
In terms of country Argentina was clearly the winner placing 1st and 3rd. I suspect there may be a run on the Don David at the Antigonish NSLC. Unfortunately (we looked it up), this wine is not available in Ontario (sorry Peter and Kevin).
Well, it’s Chistmas Eve and I must end this whine. Thank you for bearing with me throughout the past year as I expressed my biases about one of my favorite pastimes (drinking). I sincerely hope that each of you has a wonderful holiday and that 2009 brings peace to everyone. Remember “Life’s too short to drink bad wine.”
Welcome Kevin Clinton of Toronto and Kelly Brennan of British Columbia to the Whine. This Christmas I shall make some recommendations from Cellar Offering 185, write a bit about the problem of dining out alone, give some suggestions about building a wine cellar, and finally, report on the red wines from Ron’s cellar that Nova Scotians like best.
Offering 185: This offering is your best chance to get Spanish wines from Opimian this year. Spanish reds are very dry, relatively light, not as subtle as French wines. Mostly they are “old world” so they do not have the “in-your-face” fruitiness so familiar to “new world” wines. The biggest wine area is Rioja; however, the best wines are from Ribera del Duero (which unfortunately tend to be expensive). Quality of Spanish wines is indicated by the four categories: roble, crianza, reserve, and gran reserve. Here, in no particular order are my picks:
4818 Castillo D. Montblanc, Brut Cava. This is a very good sparkling wine at ¼ the price ($ 22.50) of a comparable French champagne.
4820 Montblanc 362 Tempranillo, Do Conca de Barbera 2008 ($14.33) . This should be a great everyday wine, although not quite ready.
4826 Opimian Vinas Viejas 2007 ($14.). Another easy drinking everyday wine.
4839 Gran Colegiata Crianza 2003. Not cheap ($29.83). Betty and I stayed in a little inn next door to the cathedral (Gran Colegiata) a couple of year’s ago so are partial to this wine. Have had it several times.
4840 Gran Colegiata Campus. This wine is only for those with deep pockets and a cellar to let it age. However……
4848 Vinho Verde ($ 15.) It is unusual for me to recommend a white wine. However, if you have never had a Portuguese vinho verde you are in for a treat. This is a crackling wine (small bubbles in the wine, but no effervescence) and is wonderful on a hot summer’s day.
I have no recommendations for the French wines offered in Cellar 185.
Eating out Alone: Occasionally one eats out alone. Food is not a problem, but what do you do about drinking? Usually the choice is between overindulging with a whole bottle or forcing down a glass of bad house merlot.
A couple of weeks ago I had an afternoon meeting in St. John’s. It was freezing rain in both N.S. and Nfld and Air Canada cancelled everything. Fortunately, WestJet got me there in time for my meeting but not in time for lunch. By 6:00 p.m. I was starving. I left the hotel without an umbrella and walked down Duckworth to Water, desperately needing a good glass of red and a big steak. Outside a hole-in-the-wall named Oliver’s there was a sign that said “over 500 wines from which to choose”. Actually the sign read “over 500 wines to choose from” but I was in no mood to quibble over a dangling participle.
I got the last table and was easily talked into the daily special which was a pepper crusted strip loin served in a fresh cranberry sauce. With a very good Caesar, I had a glass of excellent ripasso, and I washed down the main course with a glass of decent malbec. Now only if Nova Scotian restaurants were as kind to wine lovers.
Cellaring wine: Last time I talked about aging wine and promised some comments on building a cellar. The ideal place is dark, cool and damp. However, I assume you want to neither spend a bundle on a contractor nor do you wish to tunnel under your neighbour’s hedge in the middle of the night. If you live in an apartment you really have no choice but to buy a wine fridge. These little appliances, which will hold between 12 and 75 bottles, are great for white wine and not bad for red. The problem is that the air is not humid enough and an heirloom red cannot be kept for a decade because the cork will dry out and the wine will oxidize.
If you have a basement the problem is heat (and maybe lack of humidity as well). If you are serious pick a corner (at the opposite end from your furnace) and erect two small walls giving you a space that is 6’ by 6’ or 8’ by 8’. This is ample for at least 500 bottles. Once your walls are up, tear down the gyproc or whatever on the two outside walls and insulate the two inside walls. The uninsulated below grade cement will keep your “cellar” cool in the summer and slightly damp. The insulated interior walls will block the heat from your finished basement. You will find that in the cold part of the winter your wines may be colder than perfect, but they will be unharmed and you can remove a bottle 20-30 minutes before dinner.
Now if you want help with this project give me a call. For a bottle of ripasso I’ll design a cellar for you and for a case of top malbec I’ll even come and build it.
Wine tasting December 23, 2008: Last night 21 of us blind-tasted 10 wines. Unfortunately a few others didn’t make it after being stranded in an airport, having their furnace quit, etc. The wines we tasted were:
From Australia: a 2004 Hardy’s Founder’s Series Cabernet/Tempranillo
From Argentina: a 2006 via Manet Reserva Malbec and a 2006 Don David Cabernet Sauvignon
From California: a 2004 Gallo Sonoma Reserve Zinfadel
From Chile: a 2007 Cornellana Merlot/Carminere and a 2005 Cornellana Barrel Reserve Syrah/Cabernet
From France: a 2001 La Source Aix-en-Province Grenache/Syrah and a 2003 Languendoc Founder’s Series Syrah
From South Africa : a 2003 Beck’s Shiraz
From Spain: a 2001 Bilbao Tempranillo
There was quite a bit of consistency among the drinkers in terms of what was liked and what wasn’t liked. However, there was little correlation between price and place. Although the cheapest wine (the Cornellana merlot) came dead last, the first place wine (Don David Cabernet) was the 2nd cheapest. The second favorite (Hardy’s) was tied for most expensive and the 3rd favorite (Via Manet) was 3rd cheapest.
In terms of country Argentina was clearly the winner placing 1st and 3rd. I suspect there may be a run on the Don David at the Antigonish NSLC. Unfortunately (we looked it up), this wine is not available in Ontario (sorry Peter and Kevin).
Well, it’s Chistmas Eve and I must end this whine. Thank you for bearing with me throughout the past year as I expressed my biases about one of my favorite pastimes (drinking). I sincerely hope that each of you has a wonderful holiday and that 2009 brings peace to everyone. Remember “Life’s too short to drink bad wine.”
Wine Whine #3
Ron’s wine whine (November 2008)
Today’s whine is divided into three sections; the first exhorting you to order lots from Opimian Special Offering # 45 , the second is an anecdote on wine snobbery; and the third contains some comments on aging wine.
Part One: By now you should have received Cellar Offering # 45. There are so many good wines in this offering that I hardly know where to start. In recent years I have had very good luck with both Sergio Traverso wines and those of Jose Gil-Fournier. I recommend the following:
# 4735 although expensive ($28.17) will give you a chance to taste the wonderful brut nature wines available only from Argentina. If you like champagne-type wine these wines have only one-half of the sugar of champagnes or cavas
# 4737 Torrontes. ($ 16.17) will be very tannic so I suggest at least two hours of decanting, but an interesting wine if you are feeling adventurous
# 4739 tempranillo ($15.67) will give you a wine with a lot more flavour than the more common tempranillos from Spain
# 4744 three different kinds of malbec ($ 24.17) I can’t resist this one
# 4753 Mendozan malbec may need a little cellaring but will be fabulous with steak.
. Now I suggest you look at the wines from Beaujolais. Beaujolais is made from 100% gamay and can be wonderfully fruity for a very light wine. Beaujolais can be awful (try Beaujolais nouveau if you wish to be sucked in by marketing over merit) or it can be superb. There are three levels of Beaujolais. First there is simple Beaujolais which can come from any one of the 38 communes in the district and which is usually not worth drinking. One level up is Beaujolais Villages which is a blend of wines from the 10 top villages. The very best Beaujolais is named for the individual village (one of the 10) from which it comes. Normally these are hard to find in Nova Scotia, but Offering # 45 has several. I recommend you pick any one of the following # 4773 from Brouilly, # 4774 from Chiroubles, # 4775 from Chenas, # 4776 from Moulin a Vent, # 4777 from Morgon or # 4778 from Julienas.
Part Two: In my last whine I talked about ordering and tasting wine in a restaurant. I don’t dislike waiters on principal, but I do think they are for the most part poorly trained. (Trattoria della Nonna in Lunenburg is a big exception). Now, as you know, I am a wine snob, which means that whenever I am in the company of another wine snob we compete. One of my favorite competitors is a work colleague with whom I dine a couple of times per year. Jacques loves Italian wine and showing me up on knowledge of Italian wines is particularly easy for him. However, last week he surprised me by ordering a Chilean wine (what I think of as my forte) in an expensive restaurant in downtown Toronto. Not only did he choose a great wine that I didn’t know, but he also demonstrated his Gallic superiority with the Anglo waiter by refusing to taste the wine until the waiter brought a better polished glass.
Part Three: A good red wine is best when it is “properly aged”. Lots of things in life are best in the middle years (operatic tenors, academics, professional golfers, to say nothing of beautiful women). But what does “properly aged” really mean. In terms of wine it is safe to say the every red wine improves for a time, stays at its peak for a time, and then starts a downward slope until it is nothing but vinegar. Some wines mature quickly, have a short time at their peak and then turn brown and musty almost overnight. Others mature very slowly and stay at their peak for a very long time. A general rule of thumb is that the number of years a wine will stay at its peak is equal to the number of years it took to get there.
There are three variables that determine how quickly a wine matures: (a) varietal (kind of grape), (b) quality (whether the vintner chose the best grapes for his/her gran reserva or used the rest for a plonc), and (c) the country of origin.
(a) The more tannin in the wine the longer it needs to age. The tannins are what makes a young wine taste sour, but allow the fruit flavors to develop over time. Gamay (the grape of Beaujolais) matures very quickly as does Sangiovese (the grape of Chianti). Usually these are best in 1-3 years from bottling (meaning they are ready when you bring them home). Merlots need some aging. Zinfadels and Malbecs need 3 or 4 years. Cabernet Sauvignons, especially the good ones take a lot of aging (at least 5 years for a medium quality Cab.)
(b) Some countries make this easy to identify their better wines. Spain, for example, calls its good wines “reserva” and its great wines “gran reserva”. France likes to make everything difficult and its wine labels are almost as confusing as those from Italy. Price is sometimes a help. A $ 12 Cab should be drunk within 3 years (or better still served to those guests your spouse insisted you invite) A $ 40 Cab needs a long cellaring.
(c) The more dry sunny days a wine region has the greater maturity of the grapes at picking. Thus, in Argentina the grapes have started to shrivel before they are picked. This means that the tannins have started to mellow and the wine will age relatively quickly. However, in Bordeaux the grapes are picked relatively early in their life cycle and need a lot of time to fully mature. Thus, a 1st growth medoc may need 15 years to reach its peak. (Don’t worry, none of you can probably afford these wines anyway).
Cellaring your wines until they have reached their peak is one of life’s great pleasures. However, most Canadian houses are not built with a “Cave”, so how do you age your wines? Next time I’ll whine on how to store wines without spending what’s left of your pension funds building an expensive cellar.
Today’s whine is divided into three sections; the first exhorting you to order lots from Opimian Special Offering # 45 , the second is an anecdote on wine snobbery; and the third contains some comments on aging wine.
Part One: By now you should have received Cellar Offering # 45. There are so many good wines in this offering that I hardly know where to start. In recent years I have had very good luck with both Sergio Traverso wines and those of Jose Gil-Fournier. I recommend the following:
# 4735 although expensive ($28.17) will give you a chance to taste the wonderful brut nature wines available only from Argentina. If you like champagne-type wine these wines have only one-half of the sugar of champagnes or cavas
# 4737 Torrontes. ($ 16.17) will be very tannic so I suggest at least two hours of decanting, but an interesting wine if you are feeling adventurous
# 4739 tempranillo ($15.67) will give you a wine with a lot more flavour than the more common tempranillos from Spain
# 4744 three different kinds of malbec ($ 24.17) I can’t resist this one
# 4753 Mendozan malbec may need a little cellaring but will be fabulous with steak.
. Now I suggest you look at the wines from Beaujolais. Beaujolais is made from 100% gamay and can be wonderfully fruity for a very light wine. Beaujolais can be awful (try Beaujolais nouveau if you wish to be sucked in by marketing over merit) or it can be superb. There are three levels of Beaujolais. First there is simple Beaujolais which can come from any one of the 38 communes in the district and which is usually not worth drinking. One level up is Beaujolais Villages which is a blend of wines from the 10 top villages. The very best Beaujolais is named for the individual village (one of the 10) from which it comes. Normally these are hard to find in Nova Scotia, but Offering # 45 has several. I recommend you pick any one of the following # 4773 from Brouilly, # 4774 from Chiroubles, # 4775 from Chenas, # 4776 from Moulin a Vent, # 4777 from Morgon or # 4778 from Julienas.
Part Two: In my last whine I talked about ordering and tasting wine in a restaurant. I don’t dislike waiters on principal, but I do think they are for the most part poorly trained. (Trattoria della Nonna in Lunenburg is a big exception). Now, as you know, I am a wine snob, which means that whenever I am in the company of another wine snob we compete. One of my favorite competitors is a work colleague with whom I dine a couple of times per year. Jacques loves Italian wine and showing me up on knowledge of Italian wines is particularly easy for him. However, last week he surprised me by ordering a Chilean wine (what I think of as my forte) in an expensive restaurant in downtown Toronto. Not only did he choose a great wine that I didn’t know, but he also demonstrated his Gallic superiority with the Anglo waiter by refusing to taste the wine until the waiter brought a better polished glass.
Part Three: A good red wine is best when it is “properly aged”. Lots of things in life are best in the middle years (operatic tenors, academics, professional golfers, to say nothing of beautiful women). But what does “properly aged” really mean. In terms of wine it is safe to say the every red wine improves for a time, stays at its peak for a time, and then starts a downward slope until it is nothing but vinegar. Some wines mature quickly, have a short time at their peak and then turn brown and musty almost overnight. Others mature very slowly and stay at their peak for a very long time. A general rule of thumb is that the number of years a wine will stay at its peak is equal to the number of years it took to get there.
There are three variables that determine how quickly a wine matures: (a) varietal (kind of grape), (b) quality (whether the vintner chose the best grapes for his/her gran reserva or used the rest for a plonc), and (c) the country of origin.
(a) The more tannin in the wine the longer it needs to age. The tannins are what makes a young wine taste sour, but allow the fruit flavors to develop over time. Gamay (the grape of Beaujolais) matures very quickly as does Sangiovese (the grape of Chianti). Usually these are best in 1-3 years from bottling (meaning they are ready when you bring them home). Merlots need some aging. Zinfadels and Malbecs need 3 or 4 years. Cabernet Sauvignons, especially the good ones take a lot of aging (at least 5 years for a medium quality Cab.)
(b) Some countries make this easy to identify their better wines. Spain, for example, calls its good wines “reserva” and its great wines “gran reserva”. France likes to make everything difficult and its wine labels are almost as confusing as those from Italy. Price is sometimes a help. A $ 12 Cab should be drunk within 3 years (or better still served to those guests your spouse insisted you invite) A $ 40 Cab needs a long cellaring.
(c) The more dry sunny days a wine region has the greater maturity of the grapes at picking. Thus, in Argentina the grapes have started to shrivel before they are picked. This means that the tannins have started to mellow and the wine will age relatively quickly. However, in Bordeaux the grapes are picked relatively early in their life cycle and need a lot of time to fully mature. Thus, a 1st growth medoc may need 15 years to reach its peak. (Don’t worry, none of you can probably afford these wines anyway).
Cellaring your wines until they have reached their peak is one of life’s great pleasures. However, most Canadian houses are not built with a “Cave”, so how do you age your wines? Next time I’ll whine on how to store wines without spending what’s left of your pension funds building an expensive cellar.
Wine Whine #2
Wine Whine – October 17/08
On ordering in a restaurant
In my last missive I whined about mistakes I recently made in ordering wine. However, I occasionally get it right. Last night we ate in “Lot 30” an upscale restaurant in Charlottetown (where one of the silent partners is a well-known university pres.). The food was fabulous. We started with foie gras, served with scallops and shaved beef, and then I had Japanese-style mackerel while my attractive date (yes, it was Betty) had lamb shanks; minus the shank if you can believe.
The wine list gave a very modest price for Trapiche Malbec Reserve (a modest but very drinkable wine). The waiter proudly carried out a bottle of 2007 Trapiche Malbec, which is much inferior to the Reserve. I refused the wine and when the stone-faced waiter did not come up with a bottle of the Reserve I ordered a modest Zin (which turned out to be an 05 and which was excellent, especially with the lamb.)
All of this leads me to some hints on ordering wine in a Canadian restaurant. First, there are two kinds of wine lists: (1) where the vintage is listed; and (2) where you can guess at the vintage or ask the waiter (who will look stunned but eventually will go check.)
In an upscale restaurant where the vintage (year) is listed you should be home free. (By the way, if you forgot your reading glasses you have no business ordering wine at all.-- Ask for a beer) But, be careful. All too often the wine will be listed as a 2005 something-or-other but when it comes it’s the dreaded 2007. ABSOLUTELY DON’T ACCEPT IT. If it’s not the year you ordered or the specific wine you ordered, smile, say you don’t want it and ask to again see the wine list.
More commonly you will find that the year is not stated on the wine list. Probably that means that the wine is very young and came from the Liquor Commission that morning. Usually your only defense is to order a wine that’s intended to be drunk young, such as Beaujolais or valpolicella (although why you would ever drink valpolicella I can only guess). You will be safe with a merlot, but absolutely stay away from a wine that needs a little time in the cellar (such as shiraz or cabernet sauvignon). If you have established a good relationship with the sommelier you can always ask what the year is and sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised.
O.K. You’ve ordered and the wine has arrived. You have checked the label carefully and determined it’s the right bottle. Now what? Well, the waiter will pull the cork and with great flourish place it next to your plate. Ignore him! This tradition is done so you can presumably read the printing on the cork (and you would need not only reading glasses but a very bright flashlight) and determine that the restaurant hasn’t substituted some other wine. Other than one famous and now-defunct German restaurant in the back woods of Pictou County, I don’t think restaurants would ever be that stupid.
The waiter now pours you a small taste. What is your task? First, you are not tasting to evaluate the wine. If you ordered a lousy wine you are expected to live with it. What you are doing when you smell and taste is determining whether or not the wine is “corked” (oxidized). If the wine has gone bad (and lots of wines do, particularly in a restaurant where they have been stored at too high a temperature) it will smell musty and taste worse. Ask the waiter to taste it. He should agree that the wine is bad and then take it back. If he doesn’t agree you should still insist on another bottle and if you experience anything but graciousness, then (1) that should be your last visit to that restaurant, and (2) you should tell your friends so that they can also opt for other places.
On ordering in a restaurant
In my last missive I whined about mistakes I recently made in ordering wine. However, I occasionally get it right. Last night we ate in “Lot 30” an upscale restaurant in Charlottetown (where one of the silent partners is a well-known university pres.). The food was fabulous. We started with foie gras, served with scallops and shaved beef, and then I had Japanese-style mackerel while my attractive date (yes, it was Betty) had lamb shanks; minus the shank if you can believe.
The wine list gave a very modest price for Trapiche Malbec Reserve (a modest but very drinkable wine). The waiter proudly carried out a bottle of 2007 Trapiche Malbec, which is much inferior to the Reserve. I refused the wine and when the stone-faced waiter did not come up with a bottle of the Reserve I ordered a modest Zin (which turned out to be an 05 and which was excellent, especially with the lamb.)
All of this leads me to some hints on ordering wine in a Canadian restaurant. First, there are two kinds of wine lists: (1) where the vintage is listed; and (2) where you can guess at the vintage or ask the waiter (who will look stunned but eventually will go check.)
In an upscale restaurant where the vintage (year) is listed you should be home free. (By the way, if you forgot your reading glasses you have no business ordering wine at all.-- Ask for a beer) But, be careful. All too often the wine will be listed as a 2005 something-or-other but when it comes it’s the dreaded 2007. ABSOLUTELY DON’T ACCEPT IT. If it’s not the year you ordered or the specific wine you ordered, smile, say you don’t want it and ask to again see the wine list.
More commonly you will find that the year is not stated on the wine list. Probably that means that the wine is very young and came from the Liquor Commission that morning. Usually your only defense is to order a wine that’s intended to be drunk young, such as Beaujolais or valpolicella (although why you would ever drink valpolicella I can only guess). You will be safe with a merlot, but absolutely stay away from a wine that needs a little time in the cellar (such as shiraz or cabernet sauvignon). If you have established a good relationship with the sommelier you can always ask what the year is and sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised.
O.K. You’ve ordered and the wine has arrived. You have checked the label carefully and determined it’s the right bottle. Now what? Well, the waiter will pull the cork and with great flourish place it next to your plate. Ignore him! This tradition is done so you can presumably read the printing on the cork (and you would need not only reading glasses but a very bright flashlight) and determine that the restaurant hasn’t substituted some other wine. Other than one famous and now-defunct German restaurant in the back woods of Pictou County, I don’t think restaurants would ever be that stupid.
The waiter now pours you a small taste. What is your task? First, you are not tasting to evaluate the wine. If you ordered a lousy wine you are expected to live with it. What you are doing when you smell and taste is determining whether or not the wine is “corked” (oxidized). If the wine has gone bad (and lots of wines do, particularly in a restaurant where they have been stored at too high a temperature) it will smell musty and taste worse. Ask the waiter to taste it. He should agree that the wine is bad and then take it back. If he doesn’t agree you should still insist on another bottle and if you experience anything but graciousness, then (1) that should be your last visit to that restaurant, and (2) you should tell your friends so that they can also opt for other places.
Wine Whine #1
Wine Whine # 1
Every few weeks I am made to feel really good when I get an e-mail from Rita Murray asking me what to order from the current Opimian Offering. Not having heard from Rita since the Offering 184 arrived I suspect that Rita somehow intuited that I know nothing about wines from South Africa or New Zealand and that I am growing progressively disenchanted with wines from Australia.
However, having made two really, really bad choices in ordering wines the last two nights I need to bolster my own ego somehow, so I am, if not exactly putting pen to paper, indulging myself at the keyboard.
My recommendation this month will be very, very brief. Since I never met a South African wine that I really liked, I am not going to try and educate myself by ordering by the case. If you do, you are on your own.
New Zealand is not a hot country, and as such its reds tend to be astringent. If you decide to order any of the relatively expensive white from this offering, save a glass for me.
My problem with wines from Australia is that they seem to be rising in price (perhaps because the Australian dollar shot up at the same time the Canadian dollar briefly hit parity with the U.S.). On the other hand I have had some very good luck with Australian grenache and, of course, Australians are know for their shiraz. Thus, I am going to recommend a wine I have never tried, but one that sound like fun (# 4694 Fat ‘n Skinny, “Picker’s Choice”). If you have a coupon the 4721 Milyaroo Merlot is probably a good bet for quaffing wine ($ 4726 at $ 14. if you don’t have a coupon).
Of yes, here are my sad stories about ordering bad wine in good restaurants. I have been on the road recently, doing my annual university site visits on behalf of my employer (FBS-CAUBO). As I had four meetings on Monday (one in Moncton and three in Fredericton ) Betty and I drove to Moncton on Sunday night. Betty decided to blow the entire trip’s expense allotment with a meal at Little Louis’ Oyster Bar (certainly the best restaurant in Moncton, but only the second most expensive). When my mental calculator added the cost of the foie gras layered withy smoked artic char first course and the veal and lobster main event I foolishly tried to keep my credit card from melting by down-ordering the wine. Once the waiter got over the shock of my ordering the cheapest wine on the menu (an 05 Carmemere) he held out the bottle (under the light of one small candle) for me to inspect. Later I took off my glasses and saw that she had brought an ’07.
The food was fabulous and I am surprised that the lobster didn’t jump off my plate and attack me as the subtle sauces were blended in my stomach with the thin and very sharp liquid. While Betty restrained herself from any really nasty comments, she communicated nonetheless that I had failed Wine Ordering 101.
Yesterday, after a meeting at the University we drove to Fredericton, where Betty shopped while I had my three meetings. We then drove back to Monkton just in time for our 8:00 p.m. reservations at Pastille’s (a very affordable little Italian place that we have visited often). This time I ordered an old standee-by Spanish wine. However, the waitress brought a different wine and asked if that would be o.k. Recognizing that the wine was more expensive than what I had ordered I stupidly commented that that would be fine providing the price was the same. I spent no time sampling the wine but had lots of time to try and get down a very musty bottle that they must have been trying to get ride of for a number of years. After some exaggerated facial expression Betty noted that the wine got gradually better after ingesting a lot of garlic.
Every few weeks I am made to feel really good when I get an e-mail from Rita Murray asking me what to order from the current Opimian Offering. Not having heard from Rita since the Offering 184 arrived I suspect that Rita somehow intuited that I know nothing about wines from South Africa or New Zealand and that I am growing progressively disenchanted with wines from Australia.
However, having made two really, really bad choices in ordering wines the last two nights I need to bolster my own ego somehow, so I am, if not exactly putting pen to paper, indulging myself at the keyboard.
My recommendation this month will be very, very brief. Since I never met a South African wine that I really liked, I am not going to try and educate myself by ordering by the case. If you do, you are on your own.
New Zealand is not a hot country, and as such its reds tend to be astringent. If you decide to order any of the relatively expensive white from this offering, save a glass for me.
My problem with wines from Australia is that they seem to be rising in price (perhaps because the Australian dollar shot up at the same time the Canadian dollar briefly hit parity with the U.S.). On the other hand I have had some very good luck with Australian grenache and, of course, Australians are know for their shiraz. Thus, I am going to recommend a wine I have never tried, but one that sound like fun (# 4694 Fat ‘n Skinny, “Picker’s Choice”). If you have a coupon the 4721 Milyaroo Merlot is probably a good bet for quaffing wine ($ 4726 at $ 14. if you don’t have a coupon).
Of yes, here are my sad stories about ordering bad wine in good restaurants. I have been on the road recently, doing my annual university site visits on behalf of my employer (FBS-CAUBO). As I had four meetings on Monday (one in Moncton and three in Fredericton ) Betty and I drove to Moncton on Sunday night. Betty decided to blow the entire trip’s expense allotment with a meal at Little Louis’ Oyster Bar (certainly the best restaurant in Moncton, but only the second most expensive). When my mental calculator added the cost of the foie gras layered withy smoked artic char first course and the veal and lobster main event I foolishly tried to keep my credit card from melting by down-ordering the wine. Once the waiter got over the shock of my ordering the cheapest wine on the menu (an 05 Carmemere) he held out the bottle (under the light of one small candle) for me to inspect. Later I took off my glasses and saw that she had brought an ’07.
The food was fabulous and I am surprised that the lobster didn’t jump off my plate and attack me as the subtle sauces were blended in my stomach with the thin and very sharp liquid. While Betty restrained herself from any really nasty comments, she communicated nonetheless that I had failed Wine Ordering 101.
Yesterday, after a meeting at the University we drove to Fredericton, where Betty shopped while I had my three meetings. We then drove back to Monkton just in time for our 8:00 p.m. reservations at Pastille’s (a very affordable little Italian place that we have visited often). This time I ordered an old standee-by Spanish wine. However, the waitress brought a different wine and asked if that would be o.k. Recognizing that the wine was more expensive than what I had ordered I stupidly commented that that would be fine providing the price was the same. I spent no time sampling the wine but had lots of time to try and get down a very musty bottle that they must have been trying to get ride of for a number of years. After some exaggerated facial expression Betty noted that the wine got gradually better after ingesting a lot of garlic.
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