Champion Wine

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“I'm not sure how I should be drinking it (types of glasses, food, cork smelling, etc) So maybe a bit of explanation of the wine customs would help me so when I'm on a business dinner or something I can look like I know what I'm doing.”
This is a comment from Chris (btw, I want to eat EVERYTHING on your blog!), but it’s certainly not an uncommon feeling. I like this word “customs,” it suggests the cultural aspects of wine. For some reason, I think folks are scared of making “mistakes” in the service of wine, when they’re perfectly comfortable exploring the culture of music or movies. Just like movies and music, there are some expectations and common practices, equally there are no hard and fast rules, and no real “mistakes” to be made.

So, here’s the deal…
Glasses – preferably made of glass, something sort of cup shape with no holes in the side or bottom. Seriously, I’m gonna go on record here as saying that it’s not that big a deal. Do good glasses make a difference? Yes. Are thin glasses with a stem ideal? Sure. But if you’ve got a bottle of nice chilled white wine, and a plastic tumbler, and you’re thirsty – that wine should taste pretty darn good. Get the best glasses you can afford, and use those – don’t worry about it too much. I use the fairly inexpensive Riedel Ouverture Red Wine glasses at home, as well as the Riedel "O" series Sauvignon Blanc/Riesling glasses. (Riedel is doing a line for Target now that is very affordable, and look to be of fine quality.)

Food – “Wine is Food.” I think wine tastes best with food, and food tastes best with wine. This should be a post unto itself, another time.

Corks – Cork comes from the bark of a type of oak tree that only grow in Portugal and parts of Spain. Sometimes a chemical called TCA can contaminate the cork, and in turn ruin the wine. “Corked” wine will smell musty and stale (a lot like the old porno mags that me and my neighbor found under his mom’s bed) or like wet cardboard - the taste will be muted and musty as well.
This is the sole reason waiters go through the ritual of presenting to cork, and having someone taste the wine. All one needs to do is quickly smell and taste the wine, looking for those musty, corky notes – if the wine is corked, you can send it back. This practice is not an invitation for you to decide if you like the wine or not. While there are other things that could damage a bottle of wine, they are few and fairly rare (especially for young wines). Wine does not commonly turn to “vinegar” in the bottle, if that were the happen the wine would be fizzy – if you get a bottle of wine that you don’t think should be fizzy (i.e. a dry red) ask the server if that’s normal, if not send the bottle back.

The truth of the matter is, lots of servers don’t know why they do this ritual, nor are they familiar with corked wine. It’s not uncommon for servers to present a synthetic cork (which can not carry TCA). My best suggestion is to become familiar with what corked wine smells and tastes like – go to your friendly neighborhood wine shop and ask them if they have a corked bottle of wine that you could smell (a worthwhile retailer will honor the return of a corked wine no questions asked). At a restaurant, if you’re unsure, have someone else taste the wine, ask the server to taste, ask if there’s a wine director who can advise. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and don’t be afraid to ask for a new bottle of a wine that is flawed (not simply something you don’t like).

As to the “business dinner,” I think the smartest thing to do is use the restaurant. Ask the server for suggestions. Ask to speak to the wine director. Have the staff recommend wines that will pair well with your meal. Don’t be afraid to order wine by the glass if one person in your party has ordered whitefish and another has ordered lamb. Decide how much you’re comfortable spending, and ask for help. The staff of a restaurant should be trained in how to use their wine list (unfortunately, manner are not), when you’re spending your good money on a fine meal, good wine service should be expected. If you’re not happy with the staff knowledge of the wine list at a certain restaurant – let the management know, tell your friends, don’t go back.
This does not apply simply to high-end restaurants – sure you should give your local bistro a bit of a break, but good wine service (a familiarity with the list, suggested pairings with the food, etc) should be something that you expect from your overall dining experience. Restaurants make huge margin on wine and liquor, and far too often cut corners by not training the staff (which quite simply entails letting servers taste the wines, and talk with the wine buyer about the choices she/he makes).

All you have to do is treat wine like you would records, books, or DVD’s – find a place where there’s someone to talk to, tell them what you like and don’t like, take their recommendations, and let them know what you responded to. This works in shops and restaurants, and the places that make you feel the most comfortable and understand your tastes (at the same time opening your horizons) are the places that you should frequent.

"The tools of the trade are the head and the heart."

Where I'm from...

As a quick response to Matt’s primer on grapes, here are the grapes from six significant wine regions of France - with recommendations.

Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot – Two sides of the same coin, both used in the blends of Bordeaux (old English guys like to call it Claret). Cabernet is more tannic and spicier often tasting of currants, Merlot is softer in tannin and tastes sort of plumy. Both have migrated to just about every country where wine is made, and have a tendency to taste the same wherever they’re grown.

Chateau Moulin-Pey-Labrie 2000 Canon Fronsac

Syrah – The star of the northern Rhone valley, and used in blends (with Grenache and a bunch of others) in the Southern Rhone and Languedoc. Grown in a cooler climate Syrah can be tannic yet ethereal – often tasting of leather, bacon, earth, and peppercorn, along with blackberry fruit. It’s also the most significant red grape in Australia, and has become quite popular in CA as well – these wines from warmer climates have a tendency to be massive and fruity.

Cave de Chante Perdrix 2004 Saint Joseph

Pinot Noir – The medium used to express the vineyards of Burgundy (Bourgogne), also one of the three grapes used to make Champagne. The fruit flavors are pretty straight forward, strawberry & cherry – grown in the Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in burgundy the wines taste of stones, game meat, and flowers. This is the ultimate argument for place over grape – even in the new world, Pinot Noir only does well in cooler areas, grown on poor soil.

Domaine Denis Bachelet 2004 Bourgogne Rouge

Chardonnay – The white grape of Burgundy, a lot of what I said about Pinot Noir holds true here too (including it’s use in Champagne). At it’s best, Chardonnay tastes wonderfully minerally (think of chalk and flint), the top wines will add nutty flavors, and aromas of straw and hay – the fruit is more apple and pear. Many in California uses Chardonnay to make a confection that tastes more of oak (toasty) and winemaking (buttery, creamy) than either fruit or where that fruit might have come from – these wines are the contemporary equivalent of wine coolers.

Jean Marc Brocard 2005 Bourgogne "Kimmeridgien"                                                                                                                                                                  

Sauvignon Blanc – Grown largely in the eastern part of the Loire Valley (Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé) and in Bordeaux (Graves Blanc, Entre-deux-Mers). Flinty and steely are words you’ll often hear (think of mineral water), fruit tends towards citrus, especially lime and grapefruit. Very significant production in New Zealand, where the wines tends toward lots of fruit (and often a bit of sweetness) – the Fumé Blanc of CA is Sauvignon that has been aged in barrels, and therefore tastes a little smokey.

Gerard Boulay 2005 Sancerre Chavignol

Riesling – The white equivalent of Pinot Noir in terms of expressing vineyard characteristics, makes the worlds greatest white wines in Germany but for the sake of today’s discussion we’ll talk about Alsace. Riesling is a high acid grape that is best when grown in very cool climates (Alsace is about as far north as Maine), in the right places it can taste intensely on minerals and stones, with pretty, floral aromas, and fruit flavors of lime and tart apples. There are plenty of places in the new world that grow Riesling, most significantly New Zealand and Australia – it doesn’t come close to the heights of complexity in these areas as it does in Alsace or Germany, but can make a nice crisp, refreshing, simple wine. (A side-note about sweetness – Riesling runs the range from bone dry to sticky dessert wine, and every point in between. Sweetness is used to balance the tart acid. People who say “I don’t like sweet wine,” are missing out entirely.)

Mark Kreydenweiss 2004 Andlau Riesling

I’ve said it before, I believe that what makes wine unique is not the fruit that it’s made from, but rather the fact that grapes seem to have the unusual ability to express where they were grown. Basically, what’s interesting about wine is not that it can taste like fruit, but that it can taste like stones, and earth, and spice, etc. The idea here is to encourage folks to think about trying wines from different regions, and seeing how they compare and contrast - think about where the grapes were grown. For example, I love Burgundy, I like some Pinot Noir from Oregon, and I’ve had a long relationship with Navarro’s wines from the Anderson Valley – does that mean that I’m going to always like Pinot Noir? The answer is no. That’s easy for me to say – I work with wine every day, but I think that knowing a bit about where a wine comes from can help everyone understand what to expect.

Mas, mas, mas...

Alcohol…
When we talk about wine, it seems like a fore-gone conclusion. Wine contains alcohol, that is simply all there is to it. Like food, we could leave it at that – after all, beef is just beef, a head of lettuce is just a head of lettuce, right?

A grape vine is a living machine – it’s ultimate job is to create more grapevines. To ensure that these new grapevines are dispersed far and wide, the seed which produces them is concealed in a sweet fruit that is eaten by birds and animals and spread throughout the world via their waste. The leaves of the vine convert the warmth of the sun into sugar for these grapes through photosynthesis. The same sugar that attracts deer and birds is the fuel that yeast cells consume and turn into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The basic lesson here – sugar equals alcohol.

This is all fine and good – alcohol is what makes wine different from juice. It’s a natural preservative that allows people to enjoy the produce of grape vines throughout the year, rather then the relatively short season when the fruit is ripe. Traditionally, the alcohol levels in wine have been fairly low – anywhere from 5% to 12%. This modest level of alcohol has made wine a pleasure to drink and a natural accompaniment to food (important in times when water was dangerous to drink, but not insignificant now).

Things have been changing though. The spread of winemaking into warm, non-European climates, global climate change, wine critics responding to bigger flavors, and a global sense that the only wines worth drinking are “great wines,” have all contributed to higher levels of alcohol listed on wine labels the world over. (Additionally, cultured yeasts, overly efficient clonal selections, and rich soils have had their effects too.)

We sense alcohol in a number of ways. It’s not hard to remember the burn of our first illicit sips of booze. The tongue also registers alcohol as sweetness (even in dry wine). There is a textural element to alcohol as well, it can create a rich and viscous sensation on the palate. The more alcohol, the greater these sensations.

Nowadays, lots of winemakers are pushing for higher levels of alcohol. There is a modern notion that grapes don’t taste ripe until the stems and seeds have turned brown. The result of this point of view is that grapes are being left on the vines until they begin to turn to raisins, and are in turn creating wines often containing 15% to 17% alcohol. If we return to the original goal of the grapevine – to send it’s seeds into the world – it’s completely unnecessary for the fruit to get that ripe. The seed is capable of creating a new plant after it is fully formed, well before the grape is ripe at all. This point may be a stretch, but the basic idea follows – the goal of the vine is not to produce the ripest fruit possible.

So what? I’ve espoused the idea that wine is for drinking. Isn’t more alcohol a good thing? Well, I suppose if you think bigger is better, then it could be. But more doesn’t equal better, more is just more, and in the words of importer Terry Theise, “better is better.” The notion that these higher levels of alcohol are less authentic because that’s not the way wines used to be made isn’t going to hold much water (for me at least, “authenticity” is a nebulous subject at best). But what I will argue is that these wines are less interesting.

What makes wine unique, great even, is that it can taste like something other than fruit. Grapes have the unusual ability to make a fermented beverage that can taste of stones, earth, herbs, meat, smoke, what have you, and to do so in such an impressive variety of ways. That, to me, is what makes wine interesting. Wines made with grapes ripened to the point of near-rot (like many California wine) tend to all taste the same – not only is it hard to differentiate where the grapes were grown, it’s hard to tell what grapes were used to make the wine.

Here’s the deal – higher alcohol wines tend to be less distinctive, and they pair poorly with food. Not to mention the effort it takes to finish a glass of wine with 15.5% alcohol, and the hangover you get the next day…

So, here’s something else to think about when you’re enjoying a glass of wine. Notice how the alcohol expresses itself when you smell, taste, and swallow a wine. Compare wines with “regular” levels of alcohol (@ 13%) with their high octane cousins, notice how these taste with food. Ask the people who you buy wine from, and the winemakers that you visit in the wine country, why their alcohol levels are so high. Ask yourself, is bigger really better?

Most of all, enjoy a glass of wine – or three. Try one of these:
Leitz 2005  Dragonstone - German Riesling is an ultimate in the low-alcohol game. There's still some sweetness left in the wine, which makes is oh so good with so much food (from Thai to grilled Tuna) and really fun to drink

Daniel Schuster 2004 Pinot Noir - New Zealand is a  cool climate region, they make good Pinot there. This guy is a pretty right-on winemaker (if a bit modern).

not just for Chicago house anymore: ACID

"I wonder if he's ever gonna talk about wine?"

Well, probably not in the conventional sense. I personally think that tasting notes are among the most boring and useless things in the world to read - up there with fine print on the back of your phone bill. So, I won't be doing any of that... At the same time, I figure I’ve got more to talk about than obscure references to comic books.

Instead, I wanna talk about the building blocks of wine, the different elements that combine to form the smells and flavors that pour out of a glass. Today’s element: acidity.

I start with acidity first for two reasons:
a) it’s my favorite element in wine
b) it’s the poorly understood, and greatly overlooked

Grapes contain several different types of acid compounds (malic, citric, tartaric), which contribute different sensation to the flavor of wine. Acidity levels change and develop as the grapes ripen, in a curve that is parallel with the development of sugars in the fruit – in bluntly simple terms less ripe fruit has sharper acid flavors, and riper fruit has softer fruitier acid flavors. Winemakers are searching for fruit that has ripe fruit flavors, but still has a balance of acidity – that idea of balance varies from region to region, and producer to producer.

I’m not a chemist or an oenologist, so I’m gonna stop the technical discussion before I get myself in trouble. What all this means in the glass is that the level of acidity affects how bright & crisp a wine tastes. Think about other fruit – bananas are really low in acid, but an under-ripe banana has a tartness and harshness that softens as the fruit gets ripe. In bananas we tend to think of acid as undesirable – notice that we don’t make wine from bananas.

Take apples – a red delicious apple is really low in acid with a mellow fruit taste, versus a granny smith, which is tart and snappy. The same holds true for wine some grapes naturally have more acidity (Riesling, Pinot Noir, etc) than others (Merlot, Viognier, etc). Different types of apples are good for different purposes, a tart Granny Smith work well cooked in a pie, a bland Red Delicious can be eaten on it’s own before a show at the Filmore. The same can be said of wine.

In the states, the trend has been away from wines with acidity. People drink wine on it’s own as cocktail, and tend to prefer flavors that aren’t sharp or “bitey.” Wine geeks often complain about this phenomenon, attributing it to palates that are more accustomed to drinking coca-cola than wine. The thing is, Coke is fairly high in acid – remember those experiments where you leave a penny in a glass of coke for a few days and it comes out shiny? That’s a direct result of the acid in the beverage.

What’s so good about acidity? Well, it’s one of the basic flavors that the blunt instrument known as the tongue can actually taste (most “flavors” are actually detected as smells by our nose and translated into taste by our brain). Since we don’t run across salty flavors in wines that often, nor is wine particularly bitter, that leaves acidic flavors to balance out the sweet flavors of sugar and alcohol.

Basically, acidity makes wine taste better. Wines with low levels of acid can taste dull, flabby, and insipid (and usually receive high scores from Robert Parker). Wines higher in acidity taste fresh, balanced, and lively – they work better with food, and excite the palate, making it easier to have another glass or four.

I am an unapologetic fan of wines with often searing levels of acidity, but it’s something I look for in any wine. Even a rich high alcohol wine from California will be more drinkable if there’s a good level of acidity. Muscadet, mentioned in a previous post, is a great example of a crisp high acid wine that tastes great with food, but is also so refreshing that you’ve finished a couple glasses before you know it.

Next time you have a glass of wine, taste around for the acidity. Notice how the tartness plays with the other flavors. See how that element changes when you enjoy it with food. Start thinking of acidity as your friend, and soon you won’t be able to get enough.