The Tasting Group

A place to get answers to your wine questions

What is Food Friendly Wine?

Tasting

Question from Bill: What do you mean when you say that the wine is food friendly?

Reply: Hi, Bill. Thanks for writing. I know I use that phrase quite a bit. First, let me say that all wines are inherently food friendly because of their basic structure. High acid beverages - tart or crisp beverages that aren't sugary - have a cleansing effect that makes them very food friendly. And, wine is higher in acid than just about any food you can imagine unless you like to snack on fresh lemons. So the thing not to do is worry about this. Besides - preferences are personal!

White wines are generally higher in acid than reds so they’re extremely versatile – it’s really hard to go wrong. So, yes, that means that if you prefer a glass of Pinot Grigio with your short ribs, go for it. Tastes fine, right? The wine still tastes like the wine and the food still tastes the same when you put them together. But, not so satisfying? The thing is, that some foods, like slow-cooked red meats, have so much flavor that, while the crisp white wine isn’t a miss-match it, somehow, doesn't do the trick. Many of us prefer a wine of ample body to stand up to those substantial flavors and that usually means red wine.

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Wine Tip du Jour: Left-over Wine

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Got some wine left over from the weekend's indulgences? It's not too late to save it from spoiling - assuming you haven't drunk the rest by now ;-) That's the best method of all!

If you don't have any inert gas or a wine vacuum pump on hand, there's something you can do really easily to help keep the wine until next weekend or whenever: Pour it into a smaller bottle. The head space is the thing that makes your wine go down hill once it's open so if you move the wine into a beer bottle or a half bottle, and it's full to the top, you're all set until next weekend. You can use the wine cork as a stopper - you may have to shave it down a bit. If it's going to be several days before you finish the wine go ahead and put it in the fridge - bring it back to the right temperature when you're ready to polish it off!How easy was that? Cheers! 

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Today's Wine Word: Vitis Vinifera

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Question from Alex: What's the difference between the grapes we eat and the grapes that make wine? Can you eat wine grapes?

Reply: Hi, Alex. Thanks for writing! As your question implies, wine grapes aren't the same as the ones we buy at the grocery store. But, you can certainly eat wine grapes. If you visit a wine-growing region during harvest tasting the grapes is a must - they're very sweet and delicious. The grapes we purchase at the produce counter are usually between 15 and 20% sugar. Grapes for wine (except sparkling wine) are harvested at between 20 and 30% sugar, most often between 21 and 28% - very, very sweet!

All grapes fall into the genus "Vitis". Most of our favorite table grapes, like Flame Seedless or Concord, the species is lubrusca. So, they're classified as Vitis lubrusca. If you like Muscadine grapes or wine, or Scuppernong, they're categorized as Vitis rotundifolia. You can make wine from table grapes - Concord wines are out there - but we, as consumers, just don't seem to like them very much. We seem to have a taste for wine that's made from Vitis vinifera - wine grapes in every day parlance.

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Wine Quote du Jour

Wine-toast

Thanks to The Fermenter's Guild for this one! 

When asked whether he ever confused a Bordeaux (Cabernet or Merlot blend) with a Burgundy (Pinot Noir) in a blind tasting, British wine legend Harry Waugh replied: "Not since lunch."

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What is Dry Wine?

Yeast
Busy little yeasty beasties

In my post a few days ago about the correct order for serving different styles of wine I wrote very briefly about what the term "dry" means. I think it's worth taking a little more time to dig deeper because our perception of dryness can differ from what the numbers indicate. 

As I said, most of the world agrees that if the wine is about .5% sugar, no one can taste it. So, that, or less, is considered dry.

As a quick review, during the fermentation, yeast consumes the sugar in the grape juice and, as it does, the sugar's converted to heat, carbon-dioxide gas and alcohol. To make dry wine, the winemaker just lets the yeast run amok and use up every last bit of fermentable sugar. To make sweet wine there are various ways of intervening before the wine goes dry, such as chilling the wine, adding sulfur dioxide, adding alcohol... Or, let the wine go dry and add back grape juice.

But there are other things to consider when it comes to our perception, as opposed to the lab report. Fruitiness can trick our palates into detecting sugar that isn’t there. This is especially true with intensely fruity varieties such as Muscat or Viognier. It just takes practice to be able to differentiate – that is most of the time. I think we all still get fooled from time to time – I know I do.

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Wine Quote du Jour

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"When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking."

~Alexis Lichine, vintner/wine writer/wine scholar

Yup! Hit the wine bar! Order wine by the glass! Start a tasting group! Cheers!

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What's the Correct Order for Serving Wine?

Question from Lily: I'm having a wine-tasting party and I wonder if there's a correct order for serving wine.  

Reply: Hi, Lily. Thanks for asking! Assuming you're serving some tidbits, they kind of cloud the issue - the food changes the wine and vice versa. Plus, if your friends are like mine, they're total anarchists when it comes to eating and drinking...

However, there is a normal progression for wine tastings and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. 

Here's how it goes: Serve the wines from light to dark and dry to sweet. 

Why? The wines with deeper color usually are "bigger", or heavier, than the lighter colored ones. If you taste the big wine first, the lighter wine seems almost flavorless. So, even within the white wine category, serve the lightest colored white first. 

TRIVIA! Color can be very communicative in terms of what to expect from the wine. Very light whites, those that are almost as clear as a glass of water, probably never saw the inside of a barrel and are still relatively young and fresh. Time in the barrel allows the wine to oxidize a bit, which deepens the color and concentrates the wine a bit so it's a touch heavier. BTW, this continues in the bottle. So, if the wines are about the same age, it explains why your favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has almost no color and a rich glass of Chardonnay looks kind of yellow. 

What's the difference between dry and sweet? Dry is the opposite of sweet. For most of us the threshold is about 1/2 of 1%. Anything less than that is referred to as "dry" and the fermentation may take the wine all the way down to something in the neighborhood of .02% - That's DRY!  If you taste a sweet wine, followed by a dry one, the dry wine will taste sour.

TIP!  The same principle holds with food and wine pairing. If you pair sweet food with dry wine the wine will taste sour.  The wine should be at least as sweet as the food.

Lily, I hope your party is a blast! Cheers!

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How to Read a Wine Label

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Dontcha just love this label?!

So, what do all those designations on it really mean? For today, let's just take a look at American wine labels. Fortunately, the regulations behind other new-world labels are extremely similar - how convenient! The old world is quite another matter.

The Brand
Of course, this is self explanatory, although don't forget the "virtual" producer, which doesn't have a brick and mortar winery. There are lots of them and these producers are usually so small that they can't justify building an actual winery. They use a "custom crush" facility like Napa Wine Company (really fun tasting room, BTW!) or use another winery's equipment. 

Also, restaurants and some stores may feature their own brand. In that case, most likely, they've contracted with a winery to produce their wine. I assume that's true for most celebrity brands, too.  

The Appellation of Origin
When you see a place name such as Oregon or Alexander Valley it refers to where the grapes were grown, not the location of the winery. The government calls this the appellation of origin. To me, this is a make or break issue – some growing regions are a heck of a lot better than others.

If it’s a very general appellation, like the name of a state, this is just a geographical declaration and the minimum requirement is 75%. Individual states my upgrade, but not downgrade, the requirement. For instance, if the label says California, 100% of the grapes must be California grown.

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Are Screw Caps Better than Corks?

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Question from Josh: I overheard a server in a wine bar say that screw caps are better than corks. Is that really true?

Reply: Hi, Josh. Thanks for writing. Things have changed so rapidly in the world of wine closures that it’s hard for anyone to keep up! It used to be so simple. Quality wines were finished with natural cork. Any other sort of seal was meant for the cheap stuff.

I’m afraid the best short answer to your question is “I’m not sure.” The thing is, it depends upon the situation.

For wines meant for early drinking, which is most of the world’s wine, I think it’s safe to say that the screw cap is the best choice. That is, in terms of function.

There’s no getting away from the emotional reaction. Surveys show that people are more accepting of screw caps than they used to be, but there are still a lot of folks who just don’t like them. I have to admit that the crack of the screwcap coming off can't compete with the subtle "pop" of the cork coming out of the bottle when it comes to romance.  

But functionally, they keep the wine fresher longer that a traditional cork. And, that applies to almost all white and rosé wine and even a lot of reds.

That’s great news because with a screw cap there’s zero risk of cork taint – you know - that musty, moldy smell that reminds you of your grandmother's basement.  They’re also great when you’re on a picnic and forgot you corkscrew!

For wines that are meant for bottle aging – and these are mainly high quality, full-bodied reds and high-end dessert wines – the jury is still out. We’re not sure what to expect over the long term.

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What's This Gunk in my Wine?

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Question from Shelly: I have a bottle of port that someone gave me. It's got gunky stuff just below the bottle neck. Is it okay to drink? 

Reply: Hi, Shelly. Thanks for writing! There's nothing to worry about when you see that "crust" on the shoulder. It's quite natural for full-bodied, intense Port wines to throw a significant amount of sediment as they age, particularly when they're not filtered. In fact, sediment is so much expected and accepted that there's actually a small category of Port wine called Crusted Port. 

What it tells me, is that the person who gave you the Port picked out a good one. 

Vintage Port is the top of the line and a tiny part of  the total production of Port. It's released, unfiltered, after two or three years of barrel age and those lucky enough to own one should plan on aging it at home for at least a few more years before drinking it. There are many of the opinion that you shouldn't even think of opening Vintage Port until it's at least ten years old. During those years of bottle age, sediment forms and, assuming you're storing the wine sideways, it settles there in the shoulder. 

It could also be a LBV (late-bottled vintage) that wasn't filtered or a Single Quinta (a vintage-dated, single-estate Port but from a lesser year than normal Vintage Port). And, of course, it could be a Crusted Port.

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