WHINE # 40
Wine through the ages: Wine made its
first appearance in Georgia near the Black Sea around 9,000 years ago. But for the next 6,000 years it was produced
in only small volumes and consumed primarily by the social elite. However, the Greeks took to wine in a big way
around 1,000 B.C. and wine became the most common drink, not only of the
aristocracy but of the poor as well.
The ancient Romans adopted
the Greek practice of drinking wine, consuming an incredible 17 fluid ounces
per day. Even slaves were given wine
because of the belief that wine consumption increased physical strength. Slaves in chains were allowed 1.3 gallons per
week.
Wine was almost always mixed
with water. Probably this weak drink
tasted more like vinegar than the wine we sip today. However, as water was almost always polluted
in the cities, mixing water with wine helped to kill bacteria, making wine the
safest drink. Also, it was very common
to mix wine with sugar and various spices, again suggesting that the wine
itself didn’t taste very good by our standards of today.
Although wine was given to
children, women were expected to drink little.
Both the Greeks and the Romans believed that women should not be allowed
much wine, and in Rome a woman could be divorced for intoxication.
Although the Romans
recognized that some wines were of higher quality than others (they in fact
preferred Greek to Roman wine), the vessels used to produce wine were not
airtight and storage was also a problem.
The Romans discovered cork so they did have a method of storing wine in
bottles. However, most wine was drunk
young.
After the fall of the Roman
Empire wine production dropped dramatically and was kept alive largely by the
Christian church which needed wine for the sacrament of communion. Wine was largely
produced in monasteries. Also, as the
Moors advanced across the Iberian Peninsula and into southern France, all
alcoholic drinks were forbidden.
Wine production began to
increase again after Charlemagne (a wine drinker himself) united much of
Europe. The resulting urbanization led
to a demand for wine. There were
setbacks, however, as the Protestant non-drinkers (Luther and Calvin) railed
against the Roman tolerance of drunkenness.
Whether a coincidence or not, it is interesting to note that the
European countries that converted to Protestantism were all non-wine producing
areas, whereas the big three (France, Italy and Spain) stuck loyally to
Catholicism.
During the Middle Ages grapes
were usually trodden by foot and then the juice was fermented in earthen pots
(today wine is fermented in sealed stainless steel tanks). Once fermented the wine was stored in barrels
which were frequently poorly sealed or not “topped up” following evaporation. Although wine was then occasionally stored in
glass bottles the art of making cork stoppers had been forgotten. The bottles were closed either by glass
stoppers or more commonly by oily rags.
Spoilage was all too common and wine merchants raced to get their
products to market. In fact, the value
of a barrel of wine at one year of age dropped to less than half the original
price. Thus it would appear that wine
drunk in the medieval times would have been both acidic and tannic, tasting
nothing like the smooth, rich beverage that we all enjoy in the 21st
century.
It was not until the 17th
century that the problem of early oxidation of wine was solved. Perhaps it was Dom Perignon who invented the
modern cork (certainly this is more credible than the belief that he invented
Champagne) as a way of sealing bottles.
However, when corks were first used they were only partially inserted in
the neck of the bottle so that there would be a method of extraction. Certainly the real unsung hero of this story
is the unknown inventor of the corkscrew, of which the first printed mention
was in 1681. First called a “worm” the
term corkscrew was not in usage until around 1720.
Once the fermented wine could
be safely stored in corked bottles without fear of spoilage it became possible
to age wine. Quality of wine therefore
dramatically increased in the 18th century. Wine as we know it has perhaps only a 300-year,
not 9,000-year history.
Much of the above should be
cited to Hugh Johnson’s book “The Story
of Wine.”
Macabeo: This is a
white wine that is not commonly sold in Canada (or a least not sold in Nova
Scotia). At one time, however, it was
the most widely planted grape in Rioja.
More recently Spanish growers are replacing this varietal with red-wine
grapes as they return greater profits.
Macabeo is a crisp acidic wine that is mild in flavour. It is generally inexpensive and makes a nice
summer wine or even as an accompaniment for salad. It is also grown in France, in particular as
a blending wine in Minervois. Should you
run across a Macabeo when browsing in a speciality wine shop, don’t be afraid
to give it a try.
Let the French eat steak: Some of us
steak. On a summer’s night there seems
to be nothing better than the smell of a thick porterhouse grilling on the
bar-b-que. However, imagine eating steak
7 nights a week. For variety you are
allowed a prime rib roast and maybe even a hamburger.
Drinking wine is a bit like
the above. We don’t drink the same wine
every day. We switch wines depending on
the food match and just because we want variety. In Canada we are very fortunate because we
have easy access to wines from all over the world. Just as wines are different from different
grapes, wines are different from different parts of the world. Contrast a thin (although complex) wine from
northern Burgundy to a heavy rich wine from Mendosa. They are not the same drink.
In many countries (Argentina,
Chile, France, Italy, Spain, to name a few) one only has access to native
wines. No matter how good those wines
are in and of themselves citizens of these countries miss out on the wonderful
experience of drinking very different wines from other places. I don’t know if this is just traditional
marketing or not but I suspect that protectionist laws prevent the importing of
wines from other countries.
In Nova Scotia we even have
one restaurant reviewer who insists that a restaurant is only good if the wine
list is primarily made up of Nova Scotia wines.
Thus, I usually avoid the restaurants he recommends.
Things are not perfect here
either. Tax on wine is way too
high. However, we have perhaps the best
selection of wine in the world.
New Offering from Opimian: This offering
has lots of good wines that won’t break the bank; particularly the ones from
Chile. Here are my recommendations:
6954 Cornellana XL Carmerere/CS/Merlot/Marbec
6964 Cornellana Reserve CS/Mer
6966 Cornellana Barrel Reserve CS/ Merlot A MUST BUY
6975 Casa Nueva Syrah Reserve
6979 L’Assemblage Grand Vin by Villard
6987 Liriro Malbec
6994 Blason Malbec/Temperanillo
