WINEWHINE # 19
Questionnaire: Many thanks to those of you who completed and returned my WineWhine questionnaire. Several of you made suggestions for items about which to write and I hope to be able to incorporate most of these suggestions in future blogs. Several people asked for names of “bargain” wines. This is an excellent idea but one that I may not be able to accommodate. As we have different selections in the wine stores in different provinces (and countries) I almost certainly may not be aware of bargains in your region. For that reason I am going to turn it back to you and ask you to e-mail me whenever you find a particularly decent wine at a bargain price. I’ll pass that along in the next Whine so that others in your region can pick up a bottle.
Sparkling wine: Several respondents made suggestions for more items on food and wine pairing. So I shall start with the wine that goes well with almost any food; that is, French Champagne or any good sparkling wine made in the traditional method (more below).
First, I should point out that Champagne is a region in France and the name Champagne can only legally refer to wine from that area. In fact, the French have been very litigious in protecting the name and their lawyers have been quite successful; unlike the Scottish lawyers attempts to keep the term “
Glen” off the label of Nova Scotian single malt whiskey. In fact, there are good French sparkling wines from areas other than Champagne, such as Limoux (arguably producing sparkling wine before Dom Perignon started in Champagne) and Saumur. In Spain sparkling wines are called Cavas and in Italy many sparkling wines are simply called Prosecco which is the name of a grape.
Those of us in North America have had to overcome 3 myths that came from American movies of the 1940’s and 1950’s. Many of these old romantic movies featured a scene where Champagne was served. The cork was “popped”, the wine was poured into a flat sherbet dish, and a toast was made to celebrate some occasion or other.
First, the cork should not have been popped but rather eased out of the bottle with a bare whisper. This is done by grasping the metal cage surrounding the cork and carefully turning the bottle to slowly rotate the cork. Never, never, allow the wine to froth up out of the bottle. Second the wine, should only be served in high narrow glasses (called flutes) so that the wine does not lose its effervescence. Save those silly flat dishes for ice cream.
Third, while it is fine to drink a sparkling wine to celebrate some occasion, it is equally fine to drink sparkling wine with food. In fact sparkling wine makes great food wine, although most of us serve it too infrequently at the table.
Finally, and here I can’t blame the movie industry, we all too often drink sparkling wine at the wrong temperature. It should be very cold, and your refrigerator is insufficient. Take the wine out of the fridge and chill it for an hour or so in an ice bucket. Then gently open the bottle and enjoy.
There are two major methods for making sparkling wine. The traditional method (which used to be called Methode Champagnoise until those French lawyers stopped that term as well) is for a second fermentation to take place after the wine is bottled. This bottle fermentation creates the carbon dioxide (the tiny bubbles) that give the wine the wonderful feel in one’s mouth. All Champagne is made in this fashion, as are the Cavas from Spain and Proseccos from Italy. Unfortunately, a much cheaper method is to simply inject carbon dioxide into a bottle of still wine. Most German sparkling wines are made in this manner as are some cheaper American wines. Therefore, always look for some variation of the words “method traditional” on the label (metodo tradicional, metode tradicional, methode traditionnelle).
Also on the label will be words indicating the dryness of the wine. In my view the drier the better. The driest sparkling wines actually come from Argentina and are labelled Brut Nature. Next driest are wines labelled Brut Extra, followed by Brut, and then Sec (not very dry at all).
Now what are the foods that go well with sparkling wine? Asian food, fried food, caviar, bacon and eggs, chicken, ham, lobster, oysters, salmon, scallops, sushi, turkey, cherries.. In fact the only foods to be avoided are red meats and very sweet foods.
Good Champagne, and in fact not so good Champagne is very expensive. On the other hand, a decent sparkling wine (particularly Spanish Cavas) can be easily found in the $ 15. range. The important thing is to get a bottle with Brut on the label and make certain the wine has been made in the traditional fashion.
Since I am talking about Champagne and other sparkling wines I must add that Betty and I invited a couple of dozen people to a bar-b-que on Saturday. We didn’t tell the guests ahead of time that we were celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary. However, word does leak out in a small town and a few bottles of the very best French bubbly did show up at the party (see picture above).
Viognier: There seems to be a split in white wine drinkers between those who prefer a crisp, citric wine such as Saugivnon Blanc or Pinot Grigio and those who like a more aromatic, less crisp wine such as Chardonnay. Particularly for those who like Chardonnay I suggest you try a bottle of Viognier. This wine has a distinctive peachy flavour.
Viognier is a grape from the Northern Rhone and one which came near extinction in the 1970’s. In fact, in 1971 there were only about 35 acres of Viognier planted in the entire world. Since then, however, Viognier has reclaimed its status in the Rhone Valley and is now grown extensively in Australia and California and is currently being exported from Chile.
This past weekend I tried a blind tasting of a Chardonnay and a Viognier with two of my friends who are both Chardonnay lovers. Although they liked both wines there were split over which wine they preferred.
If you wish to try this wine it is easy to find in the $ 10. to $ 20. range.
Marechal Foch: Growing red wine in cold climates presents great challenges. For that reason white wines tend to be more successful in most Canadian provinces. One red variety favored by many producers in Nova Scotia and in British Columbia is the French hybrid Marechal Foch. This early producing, small grape wine is easy to grow in a short season and produces wine that is quite acidic as well as being tannic. However, there is a cult following for this wine and it can be a very pleasant drink, particularly if the vines are old.
Recently, a Whine reader from British Columbia sent me a bottle of 2007 Quails’ Gate Old Vines Foch. We had a special occasion with a couple of our wine loving friends and this bottle added immensely to the pleasure of the evening.
Opimian Offering # 197: For those of you looking for some bargain wines this offering has some good buys from California. For everyday drinking # 5704 Stone Valley Merlot would be a very good choice. Even cheaper is # 5690 Opimian California Red. On the other hand, I have not found this wine to be to my liking. It may be thin and lacking in much flavour. For those looking to spend a little more # 5712 Castoro Cellars Zinfandel should be a treat.
One of my favorite Spanish wines is again available. # 5726 Gran Colegiata from Toro is a great example of how good Spanish wines can be.
Questionnaire: Many thanks to those of you who completed and returned my WineWhine questionnaire. Several of you made suggestions for items about which to write and I hope to be able to incorporate most of these suggestions in future blogs. Several people asked for names of “bargain” wines. This is an excellent idea but one that I may not be able to accommodate. As we have different selections in the wine stores in different provinces (and countries) I almost certainly may not be aware of bargains in your region. For that reason I am going to turn it back to you and ask you to e-mail me whenever you find a particularly decent wine at a bargain price. I’ll pass that along in the next Whine so that others in your region can pick up a bottle.
Sparkling wine: Several respondents made suggestions for more items on food and wine pairing. So I shall start with the wine that goes well with almost any food; that is, French Champagne or any good sparkling wine made in the traditional method (more below).
First, I should point out that Champagne is a region in France and the name Champagne can only legally refer to wine from that area. In fact, the French have been very litigious in protecting the name and their lawyers have been quite successful; unlike the Scottish lawyers attempts to keep the term “
Glen” off the label of Nova Scotian single malt whiskey. In fact, there are good French sparkling wines from areas other than Champagne, such as Limoux (arguably producing sparkling wine before Dom Perignon started in Champagne) and Saumur. In Spain sparkling wines are called Cavas and in Italy many sparkling wines are simply called Prosecco which is the name of a grape.Those of us in North America have had to overcome 3 myths that came from American movies of the 1940’s and 1950’s. Many of these old romantic movies featured a scene where Champagne was served. The cork was “popped”, the wine was poured into a flat sherbet dish, and a toast was made to celebrate some occasion or other.
First, the cork should not have been popped but rather eased out of the bottle with a bare whisper. This is done by grasping the metal cage surrounding the cork and carefully turning the bottle to slowly rotate the cork. Never, never, allow the wine to froth up out of the bottle. Second the wine, should only be served in high narrow glasses (called flutes) so that the wine does not lose its effervescence. Save those silly flat dishes for ice cream.
Third, while it is fine to drink a sparkling wine to celebrate some occasion, it is equally fine to drink sparkling wine with food. In fact sparkling wine makes great food wine, although most of us serve it too infrequently at the table.
Finally, and here I can’t blame the movie industry, we all too often drink sparkling wine at the wrong temperature. It should be very cold, and your refrigerator is insufficient. Take the wine out of the fridge and chill it for an hour or so in an ice bucket. Then gently open the bottle and enjoy.
There are two major methods for making sparkling wine. The traditional method (which used to be called Methode Champagnoise until those French lawyers stopped that term as well) is for a second fermentation to take place after the wine is bottled. This bottle fermentation creates the carbon dioxide (the tiny bubbles) that give the wine the wonderful feel in one’s mouth. All Champagne is made in this fashion, as are the Cavas from Spain and Proseccos from Italy. Unfortunately, a much cheaper method is to simply inject carbon dioxide into a bottle of still wine. Most German sparkling wines are made in this manner as are some cheaper American wines. Therefore, always look for some variation of the words “method traditional” on the label (metodo tradicional, metode tradicional, methode traditionnelle).
Also on the label will be words indicating the dryness of the wine. In my view the drier the better. The driest sparkling wines actually come from Argentina and are labelled Brut Nature. Next driest are wines labelled Brut Extra, followed by Brut, and then Sec (not very dry at all).
Now what are the foods that go well with sparkling wine? Asian food, fried food, caviar, bacon and eggs, chicken, ham, lobster, oysters, salmon, scallops, sushi, turkey, cherries.. In fact the only foods to be avoided are red meats and very sweet foods.
Good Champagne, and in fact not so good Champagne is very expensive. On the other hand, a decent sparkling wine (particularly Spanish Cavas) can be easily found in the $ 15. range. The important thing is to get a bottle with Brut on the label and make certain the wine has been made in the traditional fashion.
Since I am talking about Champagne and other sparkling wines I must add that Betty and I invited a couple of dozen people to a bar-b-que on Saturday. We didn’t tell the guests ahead of time that we were celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary. However, word does leak out in a small town and a few bottles of the very best French bubbly did show up at the party (see picture above).
Viognier: There seems to be a split in white wine drinkers between those who prefer a crisp, citric wine such as Saugivnon Blanc or Pinot Grigio and those who like a more aromatic, less crisp wine such as Chardonnay. Particularly for those who like Chardonnay I suggest you try a bottle of Viognier. This wine has a distinctive peachy flavour.
Viognier is a grape from the Northern Rhone and one which came near extinction in the 1970’s. In fact, in 1971 there were only about 35 acres of Viognier planted in the entire world. Since then, however, Viognier has reclaimed its status in the Rhone Valley and is now grown extensively in Australia and California and is currently being exported from Chile.
This past weekend I tried a blind tasting of a Chardonnay and a Viognier with two of my friends who are both Chardonnay lovers. Although they liked both wines there were split over which wine they preferred.
If you wish to try this wine it is easy to find in the $ 10. to $ 20. range.
Marechal Foch: Growing red wine in cold climates presents great challenges. For that reason white wines tend to be more successful in most Canadian provinces. One red variety favored by many producers in Nova Scotia and in British Columbia is the French hybrid Marechal Foch. This early producing, small grape wine is easy to grow in a short season and produces wine that is quite acidic as well as being tannic. However, there is a cult following for this wine and it can be a very pleasant drink, particularly if the vines are old.
Recently, a Whine reader from British Columbia sent me a bottle of 2007 Quails’ Gate Old Vines Foch. We had a special occasion with a couple of our wine loving friends and this bottle added immensely to the pleasure of the evening.
Opimian Offering # 197: For those of you looking for some bargain wines this offering has some good buys from California. For everyday drinking # 5704 Stone Valley Merlot would be a very good choice. Even cheaper is # 5690 Opimian California Red. On the other hand, I have not found this wine to be to my liking. It may be thin and lacking in much flavour. For those looking to spend a little more # 5712 Castoro Cellars Zinfandel should be a treat.
One of my favorite Spanish wines is again available. # 5726 Gran Colegiata from Toro is a great example of how good Spanish wines can be.
