WHINE # 28 – August, 2011
Fruit Flies Prefer French Wine: Not long ago I opened a bottle of home-made wine that I had been avoiding for some time. One sip convinced me that this might be used in fruit fly traps. As most of you have discovered bowls of fresh fruit (peaches, plums, etc.) attract multitudes of tiny fruit flies. Usually these miniscule pests can be trapped by covering a saucer of wine with plastic wrap in which slits have been made with a sharp knife.
Shortly after the traps had been placed on our kitchen counter Betty and I hosted 14 members of my “Red Jacket” Club for a dinner of grilled salmon. This event was cut short when one of the guests heart stopped. Within minutes our dining room was overtaken by paramedics and the RCMP. I am happy to report that my friend’s defibulator re-started his heart and after prompt medical attention at St. Martha’s in Antigonish and The Infirmary in Halifax he is fine and back on the golf course.
While I was cleaning up the morning after this ill-fated dinner party I noticed many partially-full glasses of Coteaux du Languedoc that we had been drinking with the meal. This leftover wine allowed me to make more fruit-fly traps.
What is the point of this story? Well, a quick glance of the countertop revealed that scores, if not 100’s of fruit flies were trapped in the wine from the South of France and only one lost fly managed to drown in the home-made stuff. Apparently, even fruit flies have sophisticated taste when it comes to choosing wine. I hope no one else gives me any home-made wine because I now can’t think of any use for it at all.
Ordering Wine in a Canadian restaurant: There are three types of Canadian restaurants when it comes to ordering wine.
TYPE ONE: Here one is offered the choice of “Red or White”. Frequently the Red is either Comtessa or something else equally unpalatable The choice is easy; these restaurants always have well-chilled Keiths, light or regular.
TYPE TWO: A small number of restaurants pride themselves on extensive wine lists. The problem is that many of these wines are marked up by 50 – 70 per cent. Do you pay $ 25. For an $ 11. wine; $ 45. For a $ 20 wine; or $ 90. For a $ 40 wine. Since the $ 11. valued wine will probably detract from the good food, and since $ 50. seems an obscene amount for corkage, my choice is usually the $ 20. wine accepting the $ 25. surcharge. However, check carefully the wine when it arrives; particularly the date. If you have ordered an ’06 and an ’08 arrives, do not accept.
TYPE THREE: This is the most common. You will find 15-20 wines on a list. No vintage is given so you can assume that the wine is relatively young because the restaurant has limited space and is selling the wine as soon as it has purchased. The key is to order a wine that can be drunk young, because young wine is all you are going to get. Almost any white wine will be fine, but if you want a nice red you should avoid anything that has tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon is out, as is Malbec and Zinfandel. Anything Spanish is o.k because Spain ages its wines before release. Merlot is a good bet.
WHY ARGENTINA? I’ve often said that if I could only get wine from one country, that country would be Argentina. The reason is that I think Argentina offers the best value in wine, particularly if one likes the big, bold taste New World taste of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.
Although Argentina has long been one of the biggest producers of wine, it has only been since the 1990’s that the quality of the wine has caught the world’s attentions. Prior to 1990 most of the wine produced was of low quality with much being for domestic consumption.
Around 1990 the so-called “Flying Wine Makers” discovered that Argentina, and in particular Mendoza province, was the perfect place to produce high quality wine. Since then investors from Belgium, France, the United States and Canada have poured billions into the Argentinian wine industry.
Argentina has several advantages. First the terroir is classic with alluvial clay mixed with sand and rock. Second the slopes of the Andes provide warm days and cool nights. Most important, however, is the sun. Mendoza, for example, has 330 days of sun per year (compare that to Bordeaux with only 190).
Finally, with all that sun, why isn’t Mendoza a desert? Well, in fact it is, but the melting snows of the Andies provide all the water that is needed for irrigation, turning the desert into the lushest vineyards anywhere.
Combine the above with a currency that was devalued not so long ago and you have the reason why no one can match the quality of Argentinian wines in the $ 15.-$ 20 range.
SPECIAL OFFER 49: For those of you who are members of the Opimian Society, you will have recently received an offering of Bordeaux Futures. Twelve wines are offered; you pay a deposit up front and next year you will pay the to-be-determined balance. Should you order any of these wines?
First, if you do not have a cellar, don’t bother. Most of these wines will be at their best many years from now.
Second, these wines are expensive. If you don’t want to commit $ 50. - $ 90. per bottle then, these Futures are not for you.
Finally, if you want a half dozen bottles of excellent Bordeaux to lay down so you can show them to guests (carefully noting that they are not ready just yet) then I suggest you blow your kids’ inheritance on a case of the Pomerol or one of the St. Emilion Grand Cru.
