Welcome to Jamie Cassels of Victoria, B.C. to the Whine
The third week of November: It’s that time of year. Beaujolais Nouveau is about to be released and sold by the container load across the world. If you want my advice on buying Beaujolais Nouveau scroll back to Whine # 13. If you can’t be bothered and want the short version of my earlier comments, here is all you need to know: Don’t buy! Don’t buy! Don’t buy!
Umami: When I was in graduate school (in the middle of the last century) I was forced to buy and read Edwin Boring’s “History of Experimental Psychology.” The surname was an accurate predictor of how I was to find this tome.
As it turns out Boring not only caused grief for countless graduate students, he also caused all of us in the English-speaking world to greatly misunderstand the sense of taste. Boring chose a methodologically suspect research paper by German scientist D.P. Hanig, and then he badly mistranslated this paper, which had to do with mapping the tongue for taste receptors. For generations junior high science teachers have taught their pupils that there are only four types of taste receptors in the tongue (sweet, sour, salt and bitter) and that they are in four separate locations. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! There are five types of taste receptors and all five are everywhere on the tongue.
What has this to do with wine? For starters the Riedel company has made a fortune selling wine glasses that are shaped to direct different types of wine (bitter tasting tannic wine such as cabernet sauvignon or sour-tasting acidic wine such as sangiovese) to different parts of the tongue. My advice is to sell your shares in Riedel but hang on to any large bowled glasses that allow you to fully appreciate the nose of a good wine. Also, if you want more info on wine glasses, scroll back to Whine # 7.
So what’s this fifth sense of taste? It’s called Umami and it’s allows us to taste certain amino acids, in particular the salts of glutamic acid. This is the stuff in monosodium glutamate (MSG). The Japanese, in particular, have known about this fifth taste for almost a century. Roughly umami translates as “delicious” or “savory” and it is the taste that is found in certain high-protein foods that have been well aged. Some high umami foods are well-aged meats, aged cheeses, dried seaweed, shellfish, and soy sauce. Some foodies describe this taste as “meaty” or “brothy”. The taste is more subtle than the sense of salt, sweet, sour or bitter and it sometimes is simply described as the sensation of well-being that comes from eating a food high in these amino acids, such as a perfectly aged steak.
Now, comes the interesting part. What wines do you pair with high amino acid foods; that is those which give us the wonderful satisfaction feeling that follows tasting these umami-type foods? First, high umami foods accentuate both the bitterness and the acidity in the wine. Thus, for example, you should never pair Zinfandel with shellfish. But what about red meat (that perfectly marbled steak, for example)? Since the amino acids in the steak will bring out the bitter taste of the tannins in a young Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine may end up with a metallic taste. The answer to this one is to serve the well-aged meat with a well aged, and complex wine such as a 7 or 8-year old Cabernet from Chile or California, or a good Bordeaux from the left bank of the Gironde (couldn’t resist that little pretentious tidbit). The tannins have softened in these well-aged wines allowing the complex flavors to burst forth.
But, you don’t have a cellar and the $ 25. Chilean Cabernet is only 2 years old. If you don’t want the Cabernet to taste overly metallic when paired with your beautiful prime rib, there is a solution. Add a little salt and/or a squirt of lemon to the meat. If you don’t believe me, try this the next time you have a medium rare steak and a young Cabernet.
Three final comments: If you eat your meat well-done, it doesn’t matter what you do with the wine. Something bottled yesterday will do. Also, if you want a refresher on how long to age various wines scroll back to Whines # 3 and # 14. If you are on a low-salt diet and you don’t have an aged Cabernet, try pairing your meat with a decent Argentinean Malbec (anything over $ 15.). Malbecs are less tannic than Cabernet so a young Malbec will pair well with your beautiful joint of beef.
More on Valpolicella: In my last Whine I was hard on cheap Italian wines, and in particular, Bardolina and Valpolicella. However, if a cheap bottle of Valpolicella is at the very bottom on my wine choices a special version called Amarone della Valpolicella is near or at the top.
To make Amarone the vintner takes especially ripe Corvina grapes from the region (and only from good years), then spreads them on mats in cool rooms and lets them dry for 3 or 4 months. These shriveled grapes are then fermented. The result is a wonderful, full-flavored wine that is very high in alcohol content (14% - 16%).
Amarone della Valpolicella is not cheap. You should expect to pay $ 50. or more. However, you can’t do better for a special occasion wine (but perhaps only when there is a designated driver as a bottle of this stuff will leave you nearly incapacitated).
A slighter cheaper version was invented some years ago by the Masi company. The process is called ripasso and the wine that is made is really a beefed up Valpolicella. Regular Valpolicella undergoes a second fermentation while in contact with the lees (deposits) left over from the making of Amarone. This wine is also very good although very tannic when young. In Canada you can find several ripassos and one of the best is Masi’s Campofiorin.
The problem with ripasso and with the superior Amarone is that these wines need to age. Don’t even think about drinking them under five years. Ten years is better and a good Amarone will cellar for up to 20.
Don’t be discouraged, buy a bottle of Amarone, lay it down and in a few years you can bring it out and be truly amazed at how good it is.
Storing wine in your kitchen: Perhaps the worst place in your house to store wine is in the kitchen. First, the kitchen has too much light; second, there may be too much vibration; and finally your kitchen is far too warm.
However, if you must store wine in your k
itchen, here are some pictures on how you might successfully do this. Thanks to my friends M and H for the pictures.
Opimian Special Offering 48: There are many good things to recommend from this special offering. My strongest recommendation is that you order either or both of the wines from Paulitta (# 5820 and # 5821). These wines comes in 500 ml bottles and are perfect for those occasions where you want a smaller bottle. In addition they are very inexpensive and will be ready to drink upon arrival. Although I haven’t tried the Sauvignon Blanc I bought a case of the Cabernet/Merlot last year and it’s a perfect everyday wine.I have always recommended against buying Beaujolais Nouveau (see above). However, this offering has many very fine Beaujolais. Good Beaujolais is very light and perfect for sipping. The Chenas (5834) is one that I have tried and liked.
Also recommended is # 5844. French Chablis is the world’s best Chardonnay. If you like Chardonnay try a really good one from France.
The wine I recommend you avoid this time is also French. The Bourgogne Passetoutgrain (5849) is far too thin for Canadian taste. We are used to bigger and bolder New World wines and this one is an exemplar of a wine that brings about the comment “But French wines have no substance.” If you must try this wine, drop in to my house. I have a case of this stuff that I’d like to share.
Finally, if you haven’t tried Armagnac, try a case of 5875. Armagnac is a distilled wine (brandy) that is similar to Cognac, but not exactly the same. It is the perfect drink to end a great evening. Although it may take you a while to consume 6 bottles Armagnac makes a wonderful gift and, of course, it keeps forever.
