Wine Whine # 12 (October, 2009)
First let me welcome Leslie Thistle of Bangor, Maine to the Whine. Also, congratulations to Gerard Gleize on the birth of his grandson Oscar. I am certain that Gerard and Marie-Claude drank only Champagne to celebrate the arrival. Perhaps they will not be insulted if their Nova Scotian friends toast Oscar with a more affordable Cava.
This issue will have some comments on the best temperature for drinking wines, yet more thoughts on Argentinean Malbec, an answer to the question on how to choose Roses, a tale about drinking “Fake” Chablis in Nova Scotia. Finally, I shall make a few comments on Cellar Offering 191 from the Opimian Society.
Is your wine too warm? Many of us keep our white wines in the refrigerator and our red wines at the back of the kitchen counter. Thus, we drink our white wines chilled and our reds at room temperature. Not good enough to make your wines taste at their best. Perhaps in a later Whine I’ll let Gerard give a more sophisticated guide to wine temperature. In the meantime let me simply offer a Dummy’s guide to chilling or cooling wine.
First, your refrigerator is probably not cold enough for many white wines. Thus, if you are drinking sparkling wine or a good French Rose or even a Portuguese Vinho Verde you need to stick the bottle in an ice bucket. (Add some water to the ice cubes to get the best result). Perhaps a Californian Chardonnay can be drunk directly from your fridge.
The old adage that most red wines are to be drunk at room temperature fails to take into account that room temperatures of 21 or 22 (over 70 for you folks in the USA) is too warm for most reds. “Drinking wine at room temperature” dates back to the days when the Brits didn’t have central heating and they called their imported Bordeaux “clarets”. Very light wines such as Beaujolais are drunk best at 16 degrees or even cooler and most full-bodied reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec are best at about 18 degrees. Too cold and you miss the subtle flavors. Too warm and the wines will taste alcoholic.
My cellar is a little cold and my son frequently complains that I serve my wine on the cold side (actually he says this in stronger prose). My response is that it is better to err on the cool side as the wine will warm quickly once brought to the table (especially if you hold the glass in your hot little fist).
If your wine is stored on the counter try this bit of advice. Put the bottle in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before uncorking. Don’t forget the order I’ve just indicated because if you pull the cork before you refrigerate your wine may taste like the road-kill casserole that you forgot to toss in the compost.
A couple of night’s ago Betty and I had a meal in one of our favorite pubs (Hilltop Grill and Beverage Room in Fredericton). This place has a reasonable selection of wines for a Maritime pub but the bottles are stored under the bar where the temperature is quite warm. I asked the waiter if I could have an ice bucket to cool our Malbec. No problem, she explained, “in here almost everyone asks to have their wine chilled.” So if the woman at the next table snickers at your bottle of red sticking out of an ice bucket, just smile and stifle any sharp retort. After all you are probably in a tavern and her boyfriend is no doubt both younger and bigger than you.
More on Malbec: The popularity of Argentinean Malbec seems to increase exponentially. In two recent visits to New England I found in several restaurants wine lists that featured inexpensive Malbecs. Leslie Thistle, Proprietor of a lovely wine shop in downtown Bangor told me that Malbec was her best seller.
In the last Whine I noted that FuZion was coming to Nova Scotia. It did and at $ 9.99 a bottle (compared to $ 7.45 a bottle in Ontario) it has sold out of each NSLC store. I have now tried this bargain wine so if you have access to it whip out a $ 10. and try it tonight. Also, if you are in a higher end shop (such as the Port of Wines in Halifax) try any of the wines by the Familia Zuccardi. FuZion is their bargain wine but for a “few dollars more” (sorry Clint Eastwood) you can pick up Zuccardi Zeta, Zuccardi Q or Zuccardi Santa Julia.
Argentinean wine is the current value wine for much of the world. Why? There are several reasons: (1) the Argentinean Peso is devalued; (2) the World is only now discovering the fantastic terror just east of the Andes; (3) Wine growers in Mendoza get very cheap immigrant labor from Peru and Equator. Will these wines continue to be bargains in 4 or 5 years? I really don’t know but there are some signs that they will not. For example the NSLC has started to import high end Malbecs ($ 40 and up) suggesting consumer willingness to pay a premium for the top Malbecs. Also, the laws of supply and demand (which have driven up the price of California Cabernets in the recent past) should also mean that we will have to look elsewhere in a few years for our bargains.
Picking a real Rose: Last time Gerard explained the process of making “real” Rose from only red grapes as opposed to making cheap and inferior wine by blending whites with reds. Buying a French Rose guarantees a certain quality. On the other hand, how do you avoid white and red blends when picking Roses from other places? This question was recently posed by a reader of the Whine. I think the answer is to read the label carefully. The varietals should be listed and if they are red grapes varietals you should be safe. So, for example, if it says that the Rose is a blend of Shiraz and Merlot, great. If the label says it’s a blend of the finest grapes from Upper East Backwater you can bet it’s a blend of white wine and red wine and that it will not please your palate.
A bad wine for Gerard and Marie-Claude’s anniversary: While visiting Nova Scotia Gerard and Marie-Claude celebrated their anniversary (I won’t reveal how many years but I think they were very young when they got married). Gerard wanted to go to a special restaurant. I suggested “La Fleur de Sel” which was about an hour’s drive from Summerville Beach where we were staying. The four of us had an excellent meal and the service was without reproach. As I was the designated driver I restricted myself to a couple of glasses of Cotes du Rhone. Gerard was excited to find a bottle of Leflaive Chablis on the wine list and ordered what should have been a very great burgundy with which to toast his bride (see picture of a pre-dinner toast). Throughout the meal he kept saying that the wine was not what it should have been and that it didn’t even taste like Chablis.
First let me welcome Leslie Thistle of Bangor, Maine to the Whine. Also, congratulations to Gerard Gleize on the birth of his grandson Oscar. I am certain that Gerard and Marie-Claude drank only Champagne to celebrate the arrival. Perhaps they will not be insulted if their Nova Scotian friends toast Oscar with a more affordable Cava.
This issue will have some comments on the best temperature for drinking wines, yet more thoughts on Argentinean Malbec, an answer to the question on how to choose Roses, a tale about drinking “Fake” Chablis in Nova Scotia. Finally, I shall make a few comments on Cellar Offering 191 from the Opimian Society.
Is your wine too warm? Many of us keep our white wines in the refrigerator and our red wines at the back of the kitchen counter. Thus, we drink our white wines chilled and our reds at room temperature. Not good enough to make your wines taste at their best. Perhaps in a later Whine I’ll let Gerard give a more sophisticated guide to wine temperature. In the meantime let me simply offer a Dummy’s guide to chilling or cooling wine.
First, your refrigerator is probably not cold enough for many white wines. Thus, if you are drinking sparkling wine or a good French Rose or even a Portuguese Vinho Verde you need to stick the bottle in an ice bucket. (Add some water to the ice cubes to get the best result). Perhaps a Californian Chardonnay can be drunk directly from your fridge.
The old adage that most red wines are to be drunk at room temperature fails to take into account that room temperatures of 21 or 22 (over 70 for you folks in the USA) is too warm for most reds. “Drinking wine at room temperature” dates back to the days when the Brits didn’t have central heating and they called their imported Bordeaux “clarets”. Very light wines such as Beaujolais are drunk best at 16 degrees or even cooler and most full-bodied reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec are best at about 18 degrees. Too cold and you miss the subtle flavors. Too warm and the wines will taste alcoholic.
My cellar is a little cold and my son frequently complains that I serve my wine on the cold side (actually he says this in stronger prose). My response is that it is better to err on the cool side as the wine will warm quickly once brought to the table (especially if you hold the glass in your hot little fist).
If your wine is stored on the counter try this bit of advice. Put the bottle in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before uncorking. Don’t forget the order I’ve just indicated because if you pull the cork before you refrigerate your wine may taste like the road-kill casserole that you forgot to toss in the compost.
A couple of night’s ago Betty and I had a meal in one of our favorite pubs (Hilltop Grill and Beverage Room in Fredericton). This place has a reasonable selection of wines for a Maritime pub but the bottles are stored under the bar where the temperature is quite warm. I asked the waiter if I could have an ice bucket to cool our Malbec. No problem, she explained, “in here almost everyone asks to have their wine chilled.” So if the woman at the next table snickers at your bottle of red sticking out of an ice bucket, just smile and stifle any sharp retort. After all you are probably in a tavern and her boyfriend is no doubt both younger and bigger than you.
More on Malbec: The popularity of Argentinean Malbec seems to increase exponentially. In two recent visits to New England I found in several restaurants wine lists that featured inexpensive Malbecs. Leslie Thistle, Proprietor of a lovely wine shop in downtown Bangor told me that Malbec was her best seller.
In the last Whine I noted that FuZion was coming to Nova Scotia. It did and at $ 9.99 a bottle (compared to $ 7.45 a bottle in Ontario) it has sold out of each NSLC store. I have now tried this bargain wine so if you have access to it whip out a $ 10. and try it tonight. Also, if you are in a higher end shop (such as the Port of Wines in Halifax) try any of the wines by the Familia Zuccardi. FuZion is their bargain wine but for a “few dollars more” (sorry Clint Eastwood) you can pick up Zuccardi Zeta, Zuccardi Q or Zuccardi Santa Julia.
Argentinean wine is the current value wine for much of the world. Why? There are several reasons: (1) the Argentinean Peso is devalued; (2) the World is only now discovering the fantastic terror just east of the Andes; (3) Wine growers in Mendoza get very cheap immigrant labor from Peru and Equator. Will these wines continue to be bargains in 4 or 5 years? I really don’t know but there are some signs that they will not. For example the NSLC has started to import high end Malbecs ($ 40 and up) suggesting consumer willingness to pay a premium for the top Malbecs. Also, the laws of supply and demand (which have driven up the price of California Cabernets in the recent past) should also mean that we will have to look elsewhere in a few years for our bargains.
Picking a real Rose: Last time Gerard explained the process of making “real” Rose from only red grapes as opposed to making cheap and inferior wine by blending whites with reds. Buying a French Rose guarantees a certain quality. On the other hand, how do you avoid white and red blends when picking Roses from other places? This question was recently posed by a reader of the Whine. I think the answer is to read the label carefully. The varietals should be listed and if they are red grapes varietals you should be safe. So, for example, if it says that the Rose is a blend of Shiraz and Merlot, great. If the label says it’s a blend of the finest grapes from Upper East Backwater you can bet it’s a blend of white wine and red wine and that it will not please your palate.
A bad wine for Gerard and Marie-Claude’s anniversary: While visiting Nova Scotia Gerard and Marie-Claude celebrated their anniversary (I won’t reveal how many years but I think they were very young when they got married). Gerard wanted to go to a special restaurant. I suggested “La Fleur de Sel” which was about an hour’s drive from Summerville Beach where we were staying. The four of us had an excellent meal and the service was without reproach. As I was the designated driver I restricted myself to a couple of glasses of Cotes du Rhone. Gerard was excited to find a bottle of Leflaive Chablis on the wine list and ordered what should have been a very great burgundy with which to toast his bride (see picture of a pre-dinner toast). Throughout the meal he kept saying that the wine was not what it should have been and that it didn’t even taste like Chablis.
After their return to France Gerard did a little research and this is what he discovered: “The Leflaive family is one of the best wine makers in Burgundy with an international recognition from their Montrachets, Batard-Montrachets, and Puligny-Montrachets. To get a bottle from one of their wineries is not only expensive but very difficult. The problem is that a nephew, Olivier Leflaive usurps the family name and uses it to make his bad business. So I can tell you that the “Chablis” was no doubt imported in containers, bottled in Canada without the Leflaive name on the cork.” I wonder who is complicit with this fraud?
Cellar Offering 191: I usually make a few recommendations in each Whine for those of you who are members of the Opimian Society. This time, however, I have little to suggest. First I tend not to like South African wine and second I am drinking less and less Australian wine. Thus, I do not recognize very many of the wines offered and cannot therefore pass on much in the way of first hand experience.
If you do want to order a South African wine, you might consider one of the Pinotages (such as # 5219). Pinotage is hybrid developed in South Africa in 1925 (Pinot Noir and Cinsaut). Pinotage has a relatively unique taste and you might like to experiment.
Many of the Australian offerings are on the expensive side. On the other hand, I have tried the two Milyaroo’s (# 5255 and # 5256) and consider them to be good value at $14.33 per bottle. Finally, I suspect that # 5272 Meritage will be very good value as a Bordeaux-type blend.
