WHINE 41

Welcome Lisa Gautreau (a fellow Maritimer now living in Alberta) to the Whine.

WHEN TO REFUSE A WINE:    There are three legitimate reasons to refuse a bottle of wine in a restaurant.    Firstly, the waiter presents you the bottle carefully displaying the label.   Pay careful attention.  All too often a wine will be presented which is a different year than that shown on the wine list.  This happens because the restaurant has not updated its list and a two-year old Cabernet will not be nearly as nice as the four-year old one that was promised.

Next the waiter pulls the cork and sets it next to you.  Don’t sniff,  you will only be embarrassing yourself.  The reason for the quaint custom of presenting the cork comes from a time when merchants would pour cheap wine into bottles with expensive labels.  Thus, you can check to see if the name on the cork matches the name on the label.  This type of fraud does happen occasionally.  For example, a few years ago a German restaurant in Pictou County, N.S. lost its license for this exact crime.

Next the waiter pours a small amount for you to taste.  What you are trying to determine is whether or not the wine is corked; that is, oxidized.  This does happen occasionally and a small sip is ample to detect a wine well on its way to vinegar.   However,  If you are in a very high-end restaurant the sommelier will taste the wine him/herself using the neat little serving cup that is carried on a chain around his/her neck.  You will still be allowed your own taste, but chances are the sommelier’s nose is more sophisticated than yours.

Finally, you may find yourself in a situation where you simply do not like the wine.  Unfortunately, that is NOT a legitimate reason to refuse the wine.

Recently, I found myself in the fourth situation.  Betty and I were eating for the second night in a row in a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall family restaurant (Bonelli Café Italia) in Pensacola, Florida.  I made the mistake of ordering a wine with which I was not familiar, perhaps motivated by how inexpensive it was.  Our waitress complimented us on our choice, noting that it was her mother-in-law’s favorite wine.  She poured two healthy glasses and Betty took a sip, giving me the strongest of evil eyes for my stupid selection.   “This is very sweet”, she noted, with anything but sweetness in her tone, “I can’t drink this.”

I thought for a minute and decided that I needed to act if relations at the dinner table had any hope of improvement.  I called over our waitress and told her that I had made a mistake and wanted to order another wine, indicating that I would be paying for both bottles.  Our waitress whisked away the sugar infused bottle and brought me a safely familiar Malbec.

The meal was excellent and even my stupid error was forgiven  when the cheque occurred.  “I didn’t charge you for the first wine”, our waitress noted.   “My mother-in-law is drinking it”, she smiled as she looked toward the kitchen.  The tip was quite a bit larger than my usual 15%.

Finally, you may wish to know the name of the wine that showed up my lack of knowledge of Italian wines.  It was a Rosenere Lambrusco.  Google tells me that Lambrusco, which is a frothy frizzante, was the largest selling imported wine in the United States in the 70’s and 80’s.  That’s the period of time when Canadians were lining up to buy the equally disgusting Andres Baby Duck.

REFLECTIONS ON DRINKING WINE IN THE US:   North Americans are not big consumers of wine as compared to Europeans.  Canadians (ranked 10^th in consumption) drink 10 liters per year while Americans (ranked 18^th) drink only 7.  Compare this to the Italians or the French who quaff 54 and 47 liters respectively.  Yet consumption in both Canada and the U.S. is increasing at the rate of 3% per annum.

Betty and I are currently holidaying (can you holiday when you are retired?) in the American South where wine drinking (except in Florida) is not part of the culture.  In fact, many states, such as Alabama and Georgia, ban restaurants from selling any alcoholic drink on Sundays.  Churches outnumber wine shops about 100 to 1.    Most nights we find that we are the only ones with a bottle of wine on our table.  Everyone else seems to be downing gallons of sweet tea.   In one restaurant the waitress called over another waitress to show her how to open a bottle and the other night our waitress asked for directions as to how to present the wine.   In Canada we also have regional differences in consumption, with the most wine drunk in the Yukon, followed by Quebec.  The least wine is consumed in Saskatchewan. 

Nonetheless, seeking a bottle of wine to accompany our shrimps or our bar-b-que usually meets with success, and the retail price, as well as the restaurant mark-up, is so much less than at home that eating out is almost always a pleasure.   As an example, we were in a pub- type restaurant the other night and I ordered a bottle of Malbec for $ 16.95.  Later I found the same wine in a Publix (grocery store) for $11.95.  Find a Canadian restaurant that only marks up its wine by 40 per cent.   

We did notice that Copper Ridge wines kept showing up as the house wine.  Incidentally, Copper Ridge Merlot is absolutely terrible, and quite sweet.   Google tells me that Copper Ridge wines are made by Gallo and sold only in restaurants.  Perhaps, that way the consumer never knows the original cost of the wine.

New Englanders are the biggest American consumers, and it appears they are not afraid of high-end wines.  We stopped in a New Hampshire Liquor outlet on our way down and while looking over the sale wines, Betty called my attention to a display of  ’09 Chateau Haut-Brion Blanc Pesac which was marked down from $ 1289.99 per bottle to only $ 1149.99.  What really caught her attention was the sign limiting this wine to two bottles per customer.  We left with two bottles less than the limit.

BARGAIN WINE FOR ONTARIO READERS:   My son recently brought my attention to a wine selling very cheaply at LCBO stores.  Although I do not know this wine as it is not available in Nova Scotia, Peter strongly recommends the 2009 Zenato Veneto Rosso IGT which is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Corvina and Veronese.  I can’t remember what he paid but I think it was $ 12. or less.

OPIMIAN OFFERING # 216:  If you are following my advice you spent a fortune on Offering 215 and may want to ease off a bit this time.  I know that I may skip this offering entirely.  However, there are a couple of wines that I can suggest, particularly if you want to add a few Italian to your larder.

7036  Chardonnay from Alto Adige

7030  Terre D’uva Negroamara

7063  Amarone :  For those who want to lay down a really good wine for a few years

7079 La Ferla Nero D’Avola:  If you only want one case I suggest this one.