Sparkling Wine for the New Year

There’s nothing as festive as the pop of a champagne cork.  But with the average price of good, non-vintage (grapes from many different years) champagne at more than $40 and the price of good vintage (grapes from the same harvest year) champagne much more, there’s not much reason for popping the cork.  After all, why would you want to celebrate the fact that buying the champagne took all your lunch money for a week?  And if you did spend that much, you certainly don’t want to pop the cork because when you do, lots of precious liquid will go with it!

You see, true champagne comes from the Champagne region of France.  It’s a small area with very labor-intensive methods.  As a result, Champagne is expensive to make and expensive to buy.  But it’s also wonderful.  At its best, it’s yeasty and tangy and full of tiny little bubbles that pop in your glass and in your mouth.  Many have tried to imitate it, but no one has succeeded in duplicating it.

Give Thanks--For Riesling

It’s time once again to give thanks…and to cook.  In my household, that also means that it’s time to choose the wine for Thanksgiving dinner.  That’s always a challenge because of the very wide variety of food we tend to serve at this holiday.  It’s especially a challenge when you are on a tight budget – as most of us are this year.

That’s why I’m thankful this year for Riesling.  It goes with almost any food; it is easy to find on local grocery shelves; it is unusual to find a bad one; and it is generally quite affordable.  What’s not to love?

But What Will Go with the Candy Corn?

My friends and family like to ask me for advice in matching food and wine.  Or, at least I used to think they did.  Lately, I think it’s more about trying to stump me.  Or just seeing how many terrible expressions I can make while trying to figure out why in the world someone would want to eat lima beans, much less pair them with wine!

The latest test came from my husband, who thought it would be fun to see if I could suggest good wines to accompany a variety of junk foods.  Although such matches are generally not a high priority for me, it was fun to think about.  And it reminded me that it was (and is) by experimenting with food and wine combinations that I have learned so much about wine.

So, I thought I’d provide some suggestions on junk food and wine pairings.

All Chardonnays Are NOT Equal

Chardonnay is one of the most versatile of wines.  It pairs well with a variety of foods and can also be wonderful as an aperitif before dinner.  But chardonnay is not always predictable.  Depending upon where the grapes were grown and what techniques the winemaker used, a particular bottle might be filled with tropical flavors and aromas or dominated by buttery, creamy tastes, or, in some cases, both. 

I recently got together with some friends to try several current releases of chardonnay from various regions around the world.  They all had a few things in common:

Pinot Gris--The Summer Sipper!

Today was another gorgeous summer day, one of those which has to be enjoyed before all too soon we feel the crispness of autumn in the air. But what is the perfect accompaniment for such a day?

It isn’t red wine. It’s just too darned hot for anything that heavy. Yet, I live in Oregon, and Oregon is best known for its big reds, made from pinot noir grapes. Fortunately, Oregon’s has lesser known specialties, and it’s one of those with which I’ve recently fallen in love.

Of late, I’ve taken a liking to pinot gris—a white-wine cousin of Oregon’s most famous grape wine.

Why Not Here?

Ranch at the Canyons, Terrebonne, Oregon

Like most of us, I love living in Central Oregon.  But there is one thing I still miss about my old life in San Francisco.  In a little over an hour, I could be in the heart of wine country.  In just a few hours, I could visit several wineries, tour their vineyards, sample their wines and chat with the winemaker or owner and still be home for dinner. 

Why can’t we do that here?  After all, we live in an area where lots of other crops grow.  We have innovative entrepreneurs.  We have Oregon State University extension agents.  So, where are the wineries?  Why don’t we have a wine industry?

When Good Wine Goes Bad

Have you ever had a bad wine? I’m not referring to a wine that just didn’t strike your fancy. I’m talking about honest-to-goodness bad wine. I sure have. I’ve had lots of them.

There are several reasons why a wine may go bad. When you get a bad wine at a restaurant or in a store, the most common reasons are poor handling, a bad cork or a contaminated bottle. At home, the most common reason for bad bottles is waiting too long to drink your wine.

In this column, we’ll talk about what can make a wine go bad, what you should do when it isn’t your fault, and how you can minimize the times when it is your fault.

First, let’s explore the most common defects found in wine:

● “Corked” wine – When wine experts refer to a wine as being “corked,” they typically mean that it has been spoiled by the presence of 2,4,6 trichloroanisole (“TCA”). TCA usually results when a naturally occurring fungus comes in contract with chlorophenol. TCA in wine usually comes from a cork that is contaminated with chlorophenol, which is found in some pesticides and can also be the result of the chlorine bleaching used to sterilize cork. It’s ironic that the very chemicals used to prevent contaminated cork sometimes end up ruining the wine it was supposed to protect! A bad case of TCA is easy to spot – its smells like moldy cardboard, a wet dog or a damp basement. TCA, which gets worse as wine ages, is primarily a flaw in winemaking and not in handling or storage.

Wine Tasting for Dummies

From a wine lover’s perspective, one of the great things about living in Oregon is proximity to some of the greatest vineyards and wineries in the world. Not only can you see where this state’s great wines are made, you can actually sample the stuff the rest of the world will soon be raving about.

This activity is called wine tasting, and the upcoming Memorial Day weekend is a great time to go.  Not only is the weather cooperative, but some wineries typically closed to the public open their doors for Memorial Day (and Thanksgiving) weekends only. 

So if this sounds like a fun way to spend a day, where does one start?

Does The Glass Really Matter?

Stemware for red wine/chart by Riedel

I get this question all the time.  It’s usually asked in a way that implies the answer:  “The type of glass you use doesn’t really matter, does it?”  Although I love wine, I do not like to sound pretentious.  And I do think that a lot of us wine lovers get carried away with minutiae.  But I can definitely say that the type of glass really does matter.

So you’re not sure you believe me?  Let me start with an analogy.  My brother-in-law swears that the taste and enjoyment of food does not change based upon the temperature.  I strongly disagree, and I would bet that a lot of you would agree.  Cold mashed potatoes are so shocking to the mouth that you can’t enjoy the subtle butter flavor.  Melted ice cream lacks the viscous mouthfeel that makes it so satisfying.  So it is with wine glasses.  The correct glass, like the correct temperature, can have a profound effect on the enjoyment of the wine.

Stemware for white wine/chart by Riedel

Why is this?  Most experts agree that it’s because of the way the shape of the glass directs the aromas of the wine to your nose.  Most of us have heard that a large part of our ability to taste is tied up with our sense of smell.  It makes sense, then, that the way the aromas are directed toward your nose might affect how you smell, which in turn is likely to affect how you taste.  Those who make a living out of creating new and different glasses, such as the crystal company Riedel, even argue that the shape of the glass affects where on your tongue the wine lands, which therefore affects how you taste.  I cannot argue with this because I do vaguely remember learning in high school that we taste different components of food on different parts of our tongues.  However, I must admit that the idea still sounds a little far-fetched, so I’m sticking with the smell explanation.

Cabernet: King of Wines, Wine of Kings

Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the king of wines and the wine of kings.  Unfortunately, most of the really good cabs require a lot of money and a lot of aging.  In the late 1990s, the noted scientist Dr. Carole Meredith from the University of California at Davis concluded from DNA testing that Cabernet Sauvignon is the result of a cross (most likely accidental) between Cabernet Franc, a red wine, and Sauvignon Blanc, a white wine.  It’s a relatively recent cross, too, most likely occurring within the last 400 years.  It appears that the earliest known cultivation of Cabernet Sauvignon occurred in the Bordeaux region of France in the 1700s.

Something Sweet for Your Valentine

Let’s talk about Valentine’s Day.  If you wait until the last minute, you’re not alone. Maybe it’s because we just keep waiting for inspiration that never comes.  So we get another boring box of chocolate or bouquet of flowers. Isn’t there something else?  If you haven’t bought your gift yet, consider a bottle of port this year to cap off your romantic dinner.

Well-made port is dessert in a bottle -- sweet but with enough acidity to balance the sugar.  It is complex and sophisticated and very satisfying.  Port is red wine that has been fortified with neutral spirits, which give it a higher alcohol content, but which also halts the fermentation process when there is still sugar left in the grape juice.  Thus, it’s a sweet wine.

Like many wonderful foods and beverages, port originated as a fluke.

Bulk Wine: Worth a Second Look

So you have a pocketbook hangover?  Many of us feel poor after the holidays.  As I thought about what wines to recommend for the new year, I realized that right after Christmas, most of us would probably prefer something inexpensive.  So, I went on a personal quest for some cheap, but decent, wine.

During the year, I recommend lots of inexpensive wines, both in this column and to folks who ask for individual wine advice.  But these wines tend to have limited availability – either in quantity or in the length of time during which they may be found.  Either they are one-time productions by the maker or they just happen to have been great in one particular year.  Thus, though you can probably find them when I recommend them, you may not be able to find them next year or the year after.  And even if you do find them a year or two later, they may not be as good as the year I recommended them.