Old and New World Wines

WHINE # 55

PERSONAL PREFERENCES:   We started the small dinner party with sparkling wine and then moved to a series of reds wines to accompany the food courses.  The first wine was a well-aged Bordeaux (French), which was followed by an Aglianico del Vulture (Italian), and then a Cabernet Sauvignon (Argentinian).  With the cheese course we drank a Chilean blend that combined Carmenere with Cabernet and Petit Verdot.

The majority of diners found that as the evening went along the wines got better and better.  There could be many explanations for this, but what was most interesting to me was that one person very much preferred the French wine, and as the evening progressed found that each wine was less to his liking.

Certainly tastes differ, and that is no doubt a very good thing.  However, the perfect negative correlation between one person’s tastes and the tastes of the others I found quite fascinating.   The wines had been chosen to go from light to heavy, which is another way of saying that over the evening the wines became less thin or had more body.  A wine with more body tastes “thicker” in the mouth.  A very heavy wine is sometimes described with terms such as “big”, “bold”, or “chewy”.  Those who prefer lighter wines will argue that they are more “subtle” or more “elegant”.

For those who remember their high school science, what I am describing is “viscosity” which is “a measure of a fluids resistance to gradual deformation by tensile stress.”  This corresponds to the informal concept of “thickness” or “resistance to flow”.  For example honey has a much higher viscosity than water.  Or, as fat content in milk is increased one moves from skim to whole to cream.

Viscosity in wine is determined almost wholly by the wine’s alcohol content.  Wines vary from about 9 % alcohol to somewhere short of 16%, unless the wine is fortified (Ports and Sherries have alcohol added following the fermentation process).  A non-fortified wine cannot have more than 16% alcohol because the fermentation process ends when the alcohol kills off the yeast.  The chemistry which determines the viscosity is quite complex and well beyond my understanding.  However, my son (the Engineer not the Lawyer) tells me that when ethanol and water are mixed the result has a much higher viscosity than either liquid alone.  Presumably wine/alcohol blends have the same properties, with viscosity rapidly increasing as the percentage of alcohol goes up.

Bordeaux would not normally be considered a thin wine (as compared to a Beaujolais or a Pinot Noir) but at 12.5 % our dinner Bordeaux was thinner than the Italian wine (13.5%) and quite a bit thinner than the Cabernet (14.5%) or the Blend (15%).  Going up 1% in alcohol content does not seem like much, but remember moving from 12.5 to 13.5 % alcohol is really an 8 % increase. 

It appears to me that most of the guests liked the wines better as they got heavier.  As already noted one diner had tastes in the exact opposite direction.

Think for a minute about your favorite wines.  Does your list include Australian Shiraz, Argentinian Malbec and Chilean Cabernet?  If it does you like wines high in viscosity.  On the other hand if you tend to seek out French Burgundies or Californian Pinot Noirs, then your preference is for wines with less alcohol.

The next time you are choosing which wine to buy, don’t forget to check the alcohol content.  By law the alcohol content is always listed in fine print somewhere on the label.

WINES OF THE POPES:  Most of you are familiar with Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Pope’s new castle), the wonderful wine from Avignon at the very south of the Rhone.  This rather heavy wine (by French standards) is a blend of many grapes, the most prevalent being Grenache.  Somewhat rough when young; the wine mellows beautifully with age.  The name comes from that period in history when Popes lived in Avignon.  In 1307 during a period of conflict between the French Monarchy and the Vatican the newly elected Pope Phillip IV (who was a Frenchman) decided to remain in France rather than move to the Vatican.  Until Gregory XI ended the practice in 1377 all Popes lived in Avignon.  Nonetheless the conflict continued after 1378 and in fact rival Popes (one in Avignon, one in Rome) claimed the Throne.  The Catholic church was not fully united until 1417.  While the schism did nothing to advance Catholicism, it did improve wines in the south of France, as all of the Avignon Popes took great interest in improving the quality of the nearby  vineyards.

The second “Pope’s wine” (my nickname)comes from Spain.  Berola was a small parcel of land granted by Senor Borja to the Cistercian monks in the 12^th century. The surrounding area is today called Campo de Borja.

Recently I discovered a magnificent bottle of Berola (from the Borsao Co-op in Borja) in my cellar.  I don’t know where I picked it up, but after tasting this wonderful Garnacha (Spanish for Grenache) I decided to do a little research.

I quickly learned more about the Borja family than I did about their wine.  The Borjas (Borgias in Italian) were politically and ecclesiastically minded Spaniards who managed to get two of their kin elected Popes.  The first Borgias Pope (Calistus III) reigned from 1455 until 1458.  However, his antics paled as compared to Pope Alexander VI who reigned from 1492-1503.  What is most fascinating is that the corruption of Alexander, as depicted in the TV series “The Borgias”, starring Jeremy Irons, was basically factual.

Alexander VI was very fond of both women and money.  He fathered 12 children by numerous mistresses.  Having basically bribed his way into the Papacy; Alexander engaged in nepotism (appointing his teenage son Cesare a Bishop), simony (selling of church offices), murder, and possibly incest (with his daughter Lucrezia, who also may have dallied with her brother).  Banquets at the Vatican included numerous invited courtesans who were there for the pleasure of the clerics.  Supposedly it was common for naked young boys to jump out of cakes.  Although it has never been proven Cesare probably murdered his brother Giovanni and threw the body into the Tiber.  He may also have murdered one of Lucrezia’s lovers.  Lucrezia was married numerous times and was considered to be an expert in the use of arsenic.  At one point Cesare killed multiple prisoners by locking them in St. Peter’s Square and then shooting them from a balcony.

Of course, corruption of the Papacy was not restricted to the Borgias.  However it is significant that the Reformation (1517) followed Alexander’s reign by little more than a decade. 

On the other hand, I should perhaps add that Alexander only ranks sixth on several lists of the worst Pope’s in history.

I should, no doubt, say more about the wine and less about the scandal.  Had I blind-tasted the Berola I would have insisted it was a New World wine rather than it's being Spanish.  The fruit flavors came through the chewy tannins.  The only problem is that I don’t know where to get another bottle.

OPIMIAN OFFERING 229:  Only once a year does the Opimian Society offer wines from South America.  This year they have done a great job offering wines that are not only delicious, they are very affordable.  There are so many from which to choose that I have decided to only recommend high value wines in the $ 15-$ 25 range (depending on your province).   I have personally tried each of these wines (in earlier vintages of course) and am confident that you will not be disappointed in any of them.  My recommendation is that you max out your credit card and buy many cases.

Here are the ones I recommend:  7869, 7877, 7878, 7884, 7885, 7895, 7907, and 7908.  In addition to the above I suspect the following three (which I haven’t tasted) are worth considering:  7886, 7887, and 7909.