More Summer Wines!

Although the tastings are now including hard alcohol, which I am not expanding into, I did find a few more whites to write about for you.  Including an usual French wine, and more notes for the novice!

Bistol Creme NV Valdobbladene Superiore Prosecco DOCG Spumante Brut - this wine name gives you a lot of information before tasting it.  It has no vintage date (NV), which means its a blend of different vintages, it is a prosecco -- sparkling,  DOCG means that it meets high Italian standards for wine quality, and brut tells you that the wine is dry.  I smelled pear in this wine, and it had a medium intensity.  It had a light body, and creamy, small bubbles. It had medium acidity.  I liked this wine, and thought it would go well with chips, cheese, or caviar.

Forsteriter Gruner Veltliner 2010 - from lower Austria, this wine was very pale, a straw color.  It had a powerful citrus aroma, and a full body.  It had high acidity and a long finish.  It is a very refreshing wine with crisp and clean flavor.  It would go well with grilled shrimp, fish, and summer salads.  Anything you'd eat with lemon juice or squeeze lemon onto would go well with the citrus in this wine.  The wine and its food pairings are perfect for your light summer meals on a hot day.

Hugel Gewurtztraminer 2010 - from Alsace, France, this wine had a very young green-yellow color.  It had a faint floral smell, but a full body.  This wine was low in acidity, with a flavor balancing floral and sweet tastes.  It would go well with lightly spicy foods, and stinky muenster cheese.

Notes for the Novice
The following French terms indicate that no sugar was added to the French wine: naturel, extra brut, sauvage.
Extra Sec and Sec mean that the wine is a little sweeter than those with no sugar added.
Demi sec means that the wine is very sweet, and Doux means it is the sweetest wine you're going to get from the vintner!


How to Open a Sparkling Wine Bottle
A sommelier has advised that to open any sparkling wine, you use a towel and aim the cork away from people, pets, and breakable items.  Angle the bottle so that the base rests against your hip, because gases will escape from the bottle well this way.  Then put your thumb over the top of the bottle.  Untwist the cage and remove it.  Finally, grab the cork, and turn the bottle.  Ease the cork out slowly.

Coming up!  A full sparkling tasting, and a rose tasting!  Lots of summer tasting .... MMmmmm!

Summer and White Wines

Just recently, a friend of mine was looking for advice on finding white wines.  It occurred to me that with all the wine I’ve tasted, I have accrued enough notes on whites to provide some guidance on what’s out there, and what key words to use when seeking the white that suits your tastes.  I will begin with a review of some whites, and then provide the key words.

Lageder Pinot Gris from Italy Pinot Grigio - It is a light, young wine that smells of white grapefruit, lemon and lime.  It is a very light wine with a citrus taste and is very acidic.  It’s a great summer wine because its not too sweet or heavy, and it would also go well with summer foods like goat cheese, clams, and oysters.

Babich Chardonnay from Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand – this wine is not oaked.  It has a lot of apple flavor, so you know it’s a bit sweet for a Chardonnay.  It would be good with brie or spicy food.

Trimbach Pino Gris, Reserve Personnelle, from Alsace France – this wine also has an apple flavor, but it is much less sweet than the Babich Chardonnay.  It has an earthy finish and is a bit heavier than the above Chardonnay.  It would also go well with brie, but is made to age, which means that the flavor will improve if you buy it but don’t drink it right away.  More complex than the prior wines, it would also taste good with wild mushrooms and veal.

Key words:

Cloying – this means the wine is sweet.  If you hear or see a white being described this way, it means it is very sweet.

Bright, acidic – not sweet at all, there will probably be a citrus flavor.

Oaked – the wine maker decided to complement the flavor using wood.  This often gives the wine a heavier flavor, and it’s probably not a sweet wine.

Mineral – a flavor descriptor often used for certain whites, it’s often easy to miss for stronger flavors.  Often in the finish on the tip of your tongue, you will have a chalk-like flavor.  That’s what they mean.

Notes:

·         The lighter the color, the younger the wine.  Most young wines are not complex and have a strong flavor with little finish.

·         Greener colored wines are youngest, browner colored wines are oldest.

·         Fruit flavored wines are sweeter, citrus flavored wines are drier. 

Special Edition: Putting Syndicate Wine Writers to the Test Part 2

When syndicate wine writers are not being too specific with recommendations, it seems they are being too vague.  Recently I read an article by an author who started-out recommending champagne for pizza (not saying whether extra dry or brut would work better), and then he started to take-back what he wrote, indicating that some red wines would also work.  I was so confused by that writer’s fence-sitting that I never even critiqued his article.

Now this week I read “What to Sip with Your Salad” (http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/05/07/what-to-sip-with-your-salad/?iref=allsearch) and I am struck by the confusion and lack of direction the writer provides.  For green salad with vinaigrette, he recommends two varietals, without mentioning a regional producer.  As any wine drinker knows, a Sauvignon Blanc from France will not taste the same as a Sauvignon Blanc from Australia.  In fact, Australia prides itself on providing an alternative to Old World wine flavors.  You can scoff all you want at France’s emphasis on terroire, but it is true that varietals do not all taste the same.

Then the writer goes on to recommend an Oregon or California Chardonnay or Oregon Pinot Gris for salads with ranch dressing, although the heading of the article section is “creamy dressing”.  So those of us who like creamy blue cheese or parmesan dressings are out of luck for wine recommendations.

Next the writer mentions a salad I never saw on a menu before: frisse-bacon lardons-egg.  He addresses the strongest flavors and elements of this salad – obviously bacon and egg.  For so much flavorful protein, he recommends a light red or crisp rose that have tannins or acidity – or champagne.  Again, the recommendations are too vague to help most people I know.  What’s a light red?  Which varietal would have the tannin or acidity that he recommends?  How can one know what is a crisp rose?  And again I object to the general reference to champagne, when some are extremely dry (brut) and some not.

Finally, for steak salad, he gets specific, recommending a variety of Tuscan Italian red wines without feeling compelled to provide a specific label.  Was that so hard?  I guess so, because this one was only easy for him because apparently he ate this in Italy and was served some Tuscan red wines with it.

As I learn about wine, and what people need to know about pairing it with food, I also learn that wine writers don’t know how to strike a balance between being too specific (naming a label that we can’t find), and being so vague that we are left not knowing what to buy or order in a restaurant.  My mission, as I develop wine knowledge, is to be able to recommend varietals to you without naming the label.  I will, however, recommend regions, because terroire really does affect the flavor of the wine.  Stay tuned!