WHINE # 35 – June, 2012

SUMMER BARBECUE:   Official summer is now here.  However, most of North America has had a warm spring, so I may be a tad late in writing about the barbecue season. 

Firing up the grill and enjoying a simple meal with family and friends is one of the great pleasures of summer.  With the possible exception of well boiled (meaning not boiled for very long) Nova Scotia lobster, nothing beats grilled meat and fresh garden vegetables.

Ice-cold beer is perhaps the choice to accompany your steak or ribs.  However, you may also wish to follow that beer with a glass or two of red wine.  So, what red wines should you select?

First, there is nothing subtle about grilling meat.  The wine needs to be robust and flavorful.  Forget about “Old World” wines.  Europeans do not understand the barbecue and their wines are totally unsuited, being both too thin and lacking in forward fruit.  Save your Burgundy, your Bordeaux, and even your Rioja for the winter season and serve them with the wonderful sauces that your European friends have taught you to make.

Now, here is the real good news.  You don’t need expensive wines for your barbecue.   You simply want a robust wine that can hold up to the spices that are on your meats.  The wine can be young (I can’t believe I said that) and it need not cost more than about $ 15.

RIBS:  Here there is only one choice:  Australian Shiraz.  This is the only wine spicy enough.

STEAKS with commercial barbecue sauce:  Most sauces in a bottle are a little sweet.  I suggest that a California Zinfandel will match quite well.

STEAKS with butt rub:  Argentinian Malbec or Chilean Carmenere are perhaps the best choices.  A Cabernet is also nice but a decent Cab is going to cost you more than $ 15. And even then it shouldn’t be drunk too young.

BURGERS AND DOGS:  Although I might suggest you stick to beer, you may also enjoy a relatively young Malbec.

ROTISSERED CHICKEN:  If you haven’t used too much spice, then a Chilean Pinot would be a good match.  Otherwise, any Merlot.

GRILLED SALMON OR TROUT:  An unoaked Chardonnay is a good match, but a Malbec Rose is also a nice.

SO YOU’D LIKE TO LOSE A FEW POUNDS:   I have heard several friends say that they are giving up wine for a time in order to try and lose some weight.  None of them have lost any weight but they have lost, at least for a time, one of life’s great pleasures.

Before you refuse the next glass of wine that is offered may I suggest you consider some of the following:  Firstly, a glass of red wine contains only about 85 calories.  Yeah, but who uses thimbles in which to serve wine?  So, instead of arguing about the size of the glass let’s talk about ½ bottles.  A half bottle of dry red wine contains about 310 calories and a half bottle is a good accompaniment to your evening meal. 

One-half bottle contains the same number of calories as 2 beers or two cokes.  It is about the same as 1.5 rum and cokes.

But, you note, you are not substituting any of the above beverages.  Instead you are only going to drink water.

My question, is why give up any wine?  Instead give up some food.  Do you know that a Big Mac Meal contains 1350 calories (that’s more than two bottles of wine)  A large chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard at your local Dairy Queen has 1320 calories.  One order of large fries at McDonald’s has over 500 calories (and that’s assuming you skip the ketchup). 

So, you are going to give up not only wine but fast food.  Well, a small serving of veal parmigano has 411 calories.  Even a chicken breast without any skin has 258 calories.  Steak/Frites contain 801 calories. 

I suppose you could lose weight by only eating brussel sprouts, 65 calories (but then why try for a long life if that life contains brussel sprouts?)  An apple has about 95 calories.

Now here’s a thought.  A bowl of cornflakes with milk and sugar contains 338 calories.  Perhaps you could skip the cereal and start your day with a half bottle of Merlot.

Seriously, although I should like to suggest that you should eat less and drink more, what makes more sense is to eat less and drink the same.

Finally, if all of the above has got you down.  You can easily cheer yourself up with a pound of fudge (only 1800 calories).

CAYMUS WINES:  A couple of weeks ago I faced a birthday that ended in zero.  Not really a cause to celebrate.  On the other hand, my friend Joe suggested to Betty that a nice gift would be to take me to a Caymus dinner event that was happening at Onyx Restaurant in Halifax.  That’s what Betty did.

We enjoyed  seven wonderful courses:   lobster, prawns, salad, pork belly, duck, bison, and cheese.

The wines were all from the Wagner Wineries in California.  The Wagner’s most prized vineyard is Caymus and we sampled both the Zinfandel and the Cabernet Sauvignon.  Their whites also included both oaked and unoaked Chardonnay.

Although the Caymus wines that accompanied the final two course bordered on spectacular, it was a Pinot Noir that gave me the greatest pleasure.  I had only had the Clark and Telephone Pinot once before (and wrote in my wine journal that it was the best Pinot I had ever tasted) and the second time was as good as the first.  At the moment Port of Wines in Halifax is out of stock, but if you can find this wine it is not much more than $ 40.

The next time you have a birthday ending in zero I suggest any of the Wagner wines will take away most of the pain.

CELLAR OFFERING 211:   When I make recommendations for the Opimian Offerings I like to only recommend wines that I have tried on several occasions.  This offering makes this  a little difficult as there are several wines with which I am totally unfamiliar.  Thus, there may be some great wines that are not in these recommendations.

Wines in this offering vary greatly in price.  I can recommend in the bargain category either of the Stone Valley Reds (Merlot 6735) or Cabernet Sauvignon (6735.)  I would AVOID the Butterfly Ridge wines.  They are cheap, but unfortunately they taste cheap.

I have had a very good Tempranillo from Castoro Cellars so my guess is that the Castoro Cellars wines offered here may be worth a try.

Finally 6767 Ramon Biobao Single Vineyard Riojo is an excellent wine that I can strongly recommend.  You’ll like the price.