Ten Dollar Tastings With Harry Calhoun
| Trivia question: It’s
common knowledge that you should stack wine bottles on their sides. What are
two reasons for this — and what are two exceptions to that rule? |
Déjà vu warning
Last time around, I mentioned that I have been doing some "pleasure" writing —
the poetry and fiction that I had been neglecting for some time. As proof, I can
show you the rejection slip I got for one of my stories the other day! But
unfortunately, my ability to get to both the creative writing and this column
has suffered because for the past month I have been insanely busy in my day job.
And because I work as a marketing writer, I guess you could say that I'm writing
too much to get to my writing! After agonizing about how to get this month's
column out, I decided that the only way to keep going was to pick one of my
better columns from last year and re-run it.
But it's not all recycled. There's an addendum to the section about the
corkscrew below. There's a new Pick for Charlie, a few additions to the Featured
wines, and of course this new introduction. But much of this was featured here
in May of last year. My apologies, but this seemed the only way to get you a
column for March and April of 2008. I do think that the information about books
on wine bears repeating, which is one reason I chose to reprise this particular
column.
The corkscrew and the cork: not as complex as the chicken and the egg, but …
One great thing about researching and writing a wine column is that you pick up
a lot of neat facts. Some of these start me thinking, though. For instance, one
bit of wine trivia that I encountered said that the Egyptians started using
corks as wine stoppers as far back as 4000 B.C. Then I came across another
trivia morsel that said that the corkscrew was invented in 1860. Hmmm. I don’t
know if you’ve tried to get a cork out of a bottle without a corkscrew, but to
me this is like saying that people started using locks in 3000 B.C. and the key
was invented in 1965. Maybe I should ask the friendly and knowledgeable people
at The
Wine Merchant and see if they know.
Update on the corkscrew story:
Just goes to show … you can't believe everything you read, not even in my
usually accurate column. The February 22 entry in Karen MacNeil's Page a Day
wine calendar features a reader asking, "When was the first corkscrew invented?"
And Karen's reply is: "The first mention of a 'corkscrue' was in England in
1681. The designs for the early corkscrews are thought to have evolved from
gun-cleaning tools. Interestingly, early corkscrews were expensive implements,
owned by the upper classes and intended only for expensive wines, since only
expensive wines were bottled with the cork driven flush with the top of the
bottle neck. Other wines at the time were either closed with a cone-shaped cork
that could be pulled out by hand or not bottled at all but sold straight from
the cask. It wasn’t until well into the 19th century, with the growth of the
middle class, the development of restaurants, and the growing prevalence of
bottled wine, that the corkscrew became a common tool among large numbers of the
populace in wine-drinking countries. So there you have it.
Let’s talk about books on wine
Now that you have a bit of mystery on your hands with the trivia question and
the chicken-and-the-egg corkscrew dilemma, how about some clarity? While neither
my readers nor I are dummies, the book Wine for Dummies, by Ed McCarthy
and his wife Mary Ewing-Mulligan, does a lot to demystify wines and their lore.
It’s an entertaining jaunt that ends up talking about what wine is, how it’s
made and even, toward the end, how to invest in and cellar wines. It’s not all
as basic as the title might indicate, and it’s quite informative. But while I
thought we were venturing out of mystique and into clarity, we now have the
paradox that once you read Wine for Dummies, you will no longer need the
book because you are no longer a dummy.
Well, maybe The Everything Wine Book will be your cup of tempranillo. I
have the older edition by Danny May and Andy Sharpe, but I’d wager that the new
version by Barbara Nowak and Beverly Wichman (who hosted a radio wine show and
are also known as “the saucy sisters”) is just as good. It has the basics on
wine and delves into food pairings —well written and entertaining. And anything
written by the saucy sisters can't be all bad.
For more serious readers, I’d recommend Windows of the World Complete Wine
Course by Kevin Zraly. This book captures the excitement of wine lore and is
fun to boot. One of the best pieces of advice for wine tasters is in a short
section called “The 60-Second Wine Expert” on page 19 and 20. Zraly divides the
60 seconds — which he feels is the minimum amount of time you should spend
tasting the wine before judging it — into four parts. It’s a great lesson for
wine novices and a great reminder for the more experienced. Just for the record,
the first 15 seconds are to check for sweetness, acidity and fruit level. The
next 15 are to assess the fruitiness and weight of the wine — light, medium or
full-bodied. From 30 to 45 seconds, you should be noticing the balance of the
fruit and acidity of the wine, and in the last 15 seconds you see how the fruit,
tannin and acid are in balance.
Finally, perhaps my favorite is Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible. Not only
is it filled with accessible but comprehensive wine knowledge, but it is chock
full of passion, anecdotes, tips, maps, wine labels and more. How good it is?
Well, Robert Mondavi, speaking of Wine for Dummies, says: “This book is …
for everyone who loves wine or wants to know more about it. High praise, but
Mondavi calls The Wine Bible “the most complete wine book ever.” I certainly
haven’t encountered anything better. There’s also a Page a Day wine calendar
available from Workman Publishing, filled with wine suggestions, recipes, trivia
and advice from Karen MacNeil such as, “If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook
with it.” And The Wine Bible also offers great quotes such as this one
from winemaker Scott Rich:
“Ultimately, any
discussion of the aromas and flavors in pinot noir comes down to a discussion of
sex.”
Frugal focus:
Cline winery
Cline winery owns some 300 acres of wine country in Oakley, California, that
includes some of the oldest surviving vines in California, according to their
Web site. The zinfandel, carignane and mourvèdre produced from these vines make
some mouthwatering, lovingly crafted wines. Also according to the Web site: “In
1991, the winery relocated from Oakley to the Carneros region of Sonoma County
on a historic 350-acre estate with new vineyards and facilities. While much of
the cool Carneros region is planted in traditional chardonnay, pinot noir and
merlot grapes, Fred Cline pioneered the planting of Rhône varietals including
syrah, viognier, marsanne and roussanne. In 1997, Cline ventured further west
into an even cooler growing area in eastern Petaluma and again planted more
Rhône varietals.” This makes for some interesting and unusual wines. Some of
Cline’s wines include:
Cline 2006 Pinot
Grigio Chardonnay. This is a great summer wine, a blend of 86 percent pinot
grigio and 14 percent chardonnay. Classic pinot grigio lightness with some of
that chardonnay body and texture blended in.
2004 Oakley Four Whites. A well balanced and nicely acidic wine that
manages to be delightfully fruity as well. Nice hints of pear and green apple
and a little pineapple. It’s a tasty blend of palomino — usuallly associated
with port — malvasia, viognier and gewurztraminer that somehow works quite well.
2003 Oakley Five Reds. This spicy, full-bodied wine is fruity and filled
with dark chocolaty fruit and invitingly smooth tannins. It’s an interesting
marriage of zinfandel and classic Rhone grapes — 41 percent syrah, 27 percent
zinfandel, 22 percent petite sirah, ten percent alicante bouschet and one
percent mourvedre.
Cline 2005 California Zinfandel. My favorite, although it is not the
equal of the more expensive Cline wines (see “Digging deeper”). For the price,
it is amazingly complex, showing dark cherries, raspberries and strawberries
with a classic zinfandel spiciness and a great vanilla-laced finish.
Note: when the 2007 vintage of Cline Zinfandel comes out this summer, it will be
called Emma's Ranch and will feature a label written by yours truly and Fred
Cline's daughter Emma.
| Don't forget the trivia question:
What are two reasons for stacking wine bottles on their sides — and what are
two exceptions to that rule? |
Featured wines:
Bulletin Place Shiraz, Falling Star Merlot/Malbec, Colores del Sol Sauvignon
Blanc and Twin Vines Vinho Verde
Bulletin Place Shiraz, Australia, $7.50 and Falling Star Merlot/Malbec,
Argentina, $5.99. I love keeping a few bottles of inexpensive but tasty
screwtops around, and these are two you will usually find in my cellar. The
Bulletin Place is an incredible value — its 2003 vintage rated 88 points from
the Wine Spectator — and it is peppery and sumptuous, with currants and berries
abounding. The Falling Star is aromatic and filled with fruit flavors that you
would expect in a much more expensive wine. It’s nicely dry, the tannins are
soft, and it’s all about the berries. A great inexpensive summer barbecue wine.
Colores del Sol
Sauvignon Blanc is made by the folks who give us Falling Star. The Falling
Star Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon is my wife's favorite wine. This is another good
one, a few dollars more at $9.99. It has bright citrusy aromas and flavors, with
classic grassy and herbal notes and some pineapple thrown in for good measure.
The nice folks at Palm Bay International sent me a bottle of one of their wines,
Twin Vines Vinho Verde. Trina and I were pleasantly surprised. Vinho
Verde is a white wine from Portugal whose name literally means "green wine, and
this is the perfect patio or deck wine for summer. While the bottle says it has
a 10 percent alcohol content, the tasting notes say 9.8 percent. Either way,
it's very drinkable. Trina especially liked the taste of green apple, and
there's also some citrus and melon. And it's got a slight fizz to it which is
quite pleasant. The grape varietals are unusual: Loureiro, Trajadura and Pederña.
And the wine comes from Jose Maria da Fonseca, one of the most prestigious
wineries in Portugal. Don't forget to try this one as it gets warmer.
Pick for Charlie:
Alpendre
OK, Charlie Hart, it’s time for me to pick a good inexpensive red wine for you
to try. Maybe I'm still stuck in Portugal after reviewing that refreshing Vinho
Verde, because this time around my pick is Caves Velhas Alpendre, a
Portuguese wine made from a blend of Castelao and Tempranillo. It's dry but
surprisingly fruity, which is what I like about it. It's similar in body to a
Pinot Noir, but it tastes completely different. Lots of berries and cherries and
a hint of licorice. A very likeable wine, especially for onnly $7.99 a bottle. I
had the 2005 vintage and it is drinking very well.
Digging deeper
While Ten Dollar Tastings promotes imbibing without impoverishment, it
won’t hurt you to spend a little extra on your tenth wedding anniversary, a
tailgate at the Silversun Pickups concert or a special dinner. One of my
cherished favorite reds is Campus Oaks Old Vines Zinfandel. I’ve had all
the vintages from 2002 through 2005 and all are excellent — especially at only
$11.99 a bottle. And the white that has turned my head and made me dig a bit
deeper into my pockets is the Val de Sil Godello. I had the 2003 vintage
and it was bright and beautiful, reminding me of my wife Trina. I don’t
encounter the Godello grape often — certainly not as often as I encounter Trina
— but this wine is excitingly flavored with peaches and almonds and
well-balanced acidity. For anywhere from $16 to $20, it’s an excellent splurge
wine.
Another excellent
wine for around $20 is Carabantes Syrah, a Chilean red produced by Viña
vin Siebenthal. The same winemaker produces another great wine called Parcela
#7, a delightful blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. But
the Syrah is nothing short of spectacular. I had the 2003 vintage, and the age
has mellowed it to perfection. I'm told that it has a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon
and Petit Verdot blended in. It's a balanced wine with blackberry and plum notes
and soft but firm tannins. Definitely a wine to buy when you've got the urge to
splurge.
Surf in for more
Tastings next time …
So many wines, so little time! In the next Ten Dollar Tastings, I’ll keep
with my tradition of telling you about inexpensive but drinkable wines. If you
have a theme you’d like me to talk about — wine and food pairings, wines for
special occasions, columnists who steal and repeat their own work — write me at
HarryC13@aol.com
and let me know. I’ll try to work your idea into the next column.
Until then, in vino veritas and que Syrah, Syrah!
| Answer to trivia question:
We stack wine bottles on their sides to keep the cork moist and to prevent air seepage. The two exceptions to the rule, one obvious and one perhaps not so evident are: 1) bottles with a screw top, and 2) champagne and other sparkling wines. You can store sparkling wines upright because the carbonic gas between the bottom of the cork and the top of the wine keeps the cork moist and swollen. If you’d like to talk more about wine, gas beneath your cork or whatever’s on your mind, you can
contact me at HarryC13@aol.com. |
