The Night Before Christmas

It was the night before Christmas and Santa was busy. Picking wine presents was making him dizzy. Wine bottles, corkscrews and books by the dozens. Decanters, glasses and screwpulls for cousins. Storage equipment, racking and tags. Stuff for the cellar, maybe even some bags. If feeling inspired, don’t give up hope. A trip to wine country will help them cope. If feeling confused, here’s what to do. Gift certificates will always come through. Seminars, tastings, courses and more. The gift of wine sure ain’t no bore. So remember you this when the big guy comes calling. Milk and some cookies might not be enthralling. A small glass of Icewine might just do the trick. To put a big smile on the face of St. Nick. Happy Holidays!

Port

With the cooler weather here, a small glass of Port seems enticing. This famous fortified wine from northern Portugal has brandy added to it during fermentation, increasing the alcohol to around 20%. There are several distinctions in port. First, most Port is blended and not from a single year. Secondly, some Port is wood-aged while others are bottle aged. Wood-aged Port spends the majority of its life in barrel taking on woody characteristics. They tend to be more elegant and round. Bottle-aged Port spends little time in barrel and is meant for the long haul in bottle. These guys are much bigger and sturdier. With the exception of white Port, both styles are sweet, unctuous and pack quite a punch, so sip sparingly. Enjoy! 

Wine and Chocolate

Are you a “chocoholic” and wonder what wine works best with it? Normally, wine and chocolate don’t mix. Chocolate has a real coating effect on the palate, with which most wines can’t compete. However, there are some exceptions. Certain “New World” Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz possess a chocolate note so they may work together. Surprisingly, old Amarone provides an interesting partner. Sweet wines tend to mesh better though. Dessert Muscat with its peachy character is actually one of the best matches. Icewine also works. Bottle and wood-aged ports do an admirable job. Even sweet bubbly stands up pretty well. Finally, non-grape wines like strawberry or raspberry can hold their own with chocolate. Enjoy! 

Sur Lie

In winemaking, after fermentation is complete, the dead yeast or “lees”, as they are called, fall to the bottom of the container and the wine usually poured off of it. Some winemakers opt to leave the wine sitting on the lees for a while thus imparting more character. The resulting wine is then said to be bottled “sur lie”. It is most often used in the Loire Valley for Muscadet that is produced between the Sevre and Maine Rivers. Here the wine takes on a light carbonic spritz felt on the tip of the tongue. Sometimes it is used in Chardonnay to give the wine a slight creamy note. Either way, this interesting, winemaking procedure is but another option open to the winemaker to add complexity to a wine.

Viscosity

If you enjoy wine, I’m sure you’ve noticed in your glass after swirling that beading forms and eventually drips down the side. These oozing drips are called “legs”. Both beading and legs indicate viscosity or richness in a wine. How thick the beading is and how fast or slow the legs come down the side can tell you how rich the wine will be when it’s eventually in your mouth. The thicker the beading and slower the legs, the richer the wine! Alcohol levels, oak treatment, fermentation temperatures or sugar content can affect the viscosity. So wines with higher alcohol, more oak or sweetness, generally show better viscosity. Just keep in mind that your glassware must be impeccably clean and void of any residual detergent to properly see this.

Order of Tasting

If tasting many wines at one time, there is a specific order you should go in so as not to fatigue your palate. Stylistically, taste white wine to red, dry to sweet, low alcohol to high alcohol, unoaked to oaky and light-bodied to full-bodied. Crossing over any of these boundaries can easily throw your palate right off and render it useless. Surely you can conceive of how tasting a tannic red wine, for instance, can totally numb your taste buds to something substantially lighter like a Riesling, just because of tannins’ coating action. If you happen to find yourself in this predicament and want to go back and taste a product out of sync, as it were, look for some bubbly in the room. Bubbles have an uncanny knack of cleaning the palate nicely. Happy tasting.

Clinical Evaluation vs. Social Enjoyment

Sampling wine in a clinical setting like a wine tasting and then in a social setting like a dinner or party is quite different. Clinical tasting focuses strictly on the wine without the benefit of extraneous stimuli to play off it. The wine is literally dissected for appearance, smell and taste much like an autopsy in a sterile environment. Social appreciation usually involves food, friends, conversation and a relaxed atmosphere so the wine is interwoven into a hedonistic, enjoyable experience. Often, wine that doesn’t show that well in clinical evaluation comes across far better in a social setting. That’s because wine and food are a marriage made in heaven and together, stimulate social interaction and fun.

De-alcoholized Wine

Ever hear of de-alcoholized wine? It’s one in which the alcohol has been removed. Two methods exist for achieving this. The first is by reverse osmosis called the Ariel Process. Here wine flows along a membrane that separates it into a syrupy concentrate of alcohol and water. Repeated many times, water is reintroduced to the wine to create the finished product. The second method is the Billabong Process where a spinning cone column reduces the ethanol content. Done several times, the first separates the aroma compounds and the second removes the alcohol. In both cases, the finished wine, although quite different, is alcohol free. As far as taste goes, it’s a far cry from the original. 

Wine Competitions

Wine competitions are interesting events taking place worldwide. The purpose of these is to acknowledge wines in specific categories that are exceptional in quality. How they work is after a producer enters their wine in a specific competition and category, all are then judged by numerous panels of experts. Each panel consists of tasters, often international, from many areas of the business: journalists, winemakers, educators, scientists, retailers, etc. The average marks for each wine are tabulated and appropriate medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) are awarded them. These medals can then be placed on bottles, which in turn, can really aid in their sales. Nothing says “buy me” like a wine sporting a “gold medal”. 

French Country Wine

Looking for good value in French wine? Check out “Vins de Pays” or French Country Wine. The majority of these are produced in the south of the country on the Mediterranean in the Languedoc-Roussillon regions. Originally, they were the local wine producers sold in bulk or by the pitcher full at the side of roads next to their estates. However, these wines have seen a jump in quality level over the last number of years and are now varietally labeled or chateau-bottled. Here sun-baked vineyards produce many of your favourite varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  So avail yourself of these. Simply look for “Vins de Pays” on the bottle. Cheers!

Drink Pink to Support Breast Cancer Research

Since the PINK ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer awareness, it seems only fitting that a PINK wine should support the cause. Bottega, an award-winning, Italian grappa producer and winery, will donate a portion of the sales of its newly released Vino dei Poeti Rosé bubbly, sold in Ontario in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month in North America), to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. This delightful, PINK sparkler, made from Pinot Nero and Raboso grapes, is delicately fresh and spicy with apple, raspberry, blackcurrant notes. At $12.45, it’ll put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart knowing you’re supporting such a fantastic cause, so buy some and feel good.

Higher Scores for Advertisers

Do wine magazines award higher scores to advertisers?

Apparently, there’s some evidence that suggests certain wine magazines rate advertisers’ wines higher than non-advertisers. A study awhile back in a Journal of Wine Economics implied that if a producer advertised in a publication and presented wines for review, it might garner a higher score; possibly have their wine retasted, if necessary; have unsolicited wines tasted and stand a better chance of making their “best of” list, as opposed to non-advertisers. Hard to say and/or prove, the only sure solution to this dilemma is as follows. Producers should simply not advertise in publications that are reviewing their wines and/or publications should not accept advertising from those producers.

Wining Your Turkey

With Thanksgiving a few short days away, you’re probably wondering what wine to serve with turkey. It’s pretty versatile when it comes to wine matches. As the dark meat possesses a little more flavour than the white, unstuffed, I like Chardonnay for the white and Cabernet Sauvignon for the dark. Stuffing, however, can really alter the wine match. For traditional sage or herb, Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet Franc are great. Wild rice works best with unoaked Chardonnay or rosé. If you like chestnut, check out medium-dry Riesling or Viognier. How about Ham? You’ll require a fruity red like Gamay. For oyster, try Muscadet. Sausage sings with Valpolicella and for apple-walnut, medium-dry Riesling or Chenin Blanc. Bon apettit! 

Crémant

Within the champagne-method of making bubbly, there’s a style called Crémant. Like Champagne, 2nd fermentation takes place in the bottle. However, when the primarily fermented vino is given its mixture of wine, yeast and sugar to induce bubbles, less is used. The resulting wine possesses a lighter, more delicate spritz and effervescence. This style used to be allowed in the Champagne region of France prior to 1996, but since, is only reserved for other champagne-method sparklers made elsewhere in the country, often from different grapes. Examples are Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Loire, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Jura and Crémant de Limoux. 

Oak Chips

There’s no question that oak treatment adds complexity to wine as long as it’s not over done. Oak barrels are usually the norm, but they’re expensive. An alternative and less costly approach that many wineries use are oak chips. Providing oak flavour, small fragments of oak in netted bags are immersed or floated in wine, similar to a tea bag in water. Certainly not as elegant or romantic as barrels, most producers would never admit to using these as it is considered inferior. However, it’s not too difficult to tell if they’ve been used. If the back label of a bottle describes a wine as having been oak treated, but mentions nothing about barrels, type or length of time in them, chances are, oak chips are the culprits.   

Late Harvest Wines

If you leave grapes on the vine after the regular harvest and pick them later, you end up with “late harvest wine”. By leaving the grapes on the vine longer, the sugar content increases so the finished wine is sweeter. However, by doing this, producers run the risk of losing some fruit to frost and marauding animals, so late harvest wines tend to be pricier as they’re more work to create. The ultimate late harvest wine is Icewine, which is extremely sweet and expensive. Regular late harvest wines are usually medium-to-medium sweet, more reasonably priced and sport flavours of honey and fresh fruit. Great on their own, they’re divine with fruit-based desserts, cookies and veiny cheeses. Got to love them! 

Versatile Riesling

What’s the most versatile white grape variety in the world? That would be Riesling, of course. With its crisp, aromatic, peachy, floral, citrus character, it never sees oak so what you get out of the vineyard goes into the glass. From bone dry to sweet, still to sparkling, and even Icewine, there is no other grape variety that has so many faces and matches food superbly. Dry versions make great aperitifs and work well with fish, seafood, poultry and mild cheeses. Medium-dry styles compliment game birds, spicy dishes, soufflés and exotic fare. Medium-sweet offerings mesh with strong cheeses, paté and fruit-based desserts and Icewine, dessert by itself, is divine with most rich, decadent goodies. Check out Riesling for a nice change of pace. Enjoy!

Food-Friendly Wines

You often hear wine writers refer to certain wines as “food-friendly”. Let me explain. Simply put, a “food-friendly” wine is one that overall meshes nicely with food because of its structure and taste. However, certain wines when tasted without food are so easy-drinking and yummy, they don’t actually require it to work, but will do nicely when accompanying it. Then, there are others, straight up, that come across as aggressive, overblown, nondescript or not particularly fruity, with lots of earthy, leathery notes. Although not as enjoyable alone, these guys often come to life when matched to food and really show their stuff. Since the majority of us enjoy wine with food, it only makes sense that most wines be created to be food-friendly. Cheers!

Romance Factor

Ever taste a wine abroad in the place of origin and discover that wine back home, but somehow it just doesn’t come across the same? Well, you’re not alone. Part of the trip of tasting wine where it is made is seeing, first-hand, the vineyards and winery; meeting the winemaker; sampling the local food; inhaling the indigenous smells, experiencing the lifestyle of that region and the sheer excitement of just being there. No matter how hard you try, simulating that back home, even with the exact same vino, isn’t quite the same and as a result something in the tasting experience is missing. What’s missing is the “romance factor.” For most people, the “romance of wine” encompasses an ideal or fantasy that makes it more enjoyable.

Wine and Vegetables

If you’re a vegetarian, there are lots of wine choices to match your favourite dish. Generally, wines that have vegetal, earthy, herbaceous or leathery qualities work best. For white varieties, try Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Pinot Grigio, Verdicchio or styles like white Bordeaux and white Rhones. Red varieties such as Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Carmenere, Pinot Noir, Barbera, Pinotage and styles like red Bordeaux, red Burgundy, red Rhones, Italian and Portuguese reds do an admirable job. You can always add some of the wine that you want to sip to the preparation of the dish to pull the flavours together. Either way, when it comes to matching wine to veggies, you certainly won’t go thirsty.

Old Rare Wine

I often get asked about the value of old, rare, high-end wine, and more importantly, if it’s still drinkable. If purchasing wines like these, one of the key aspects is its provenance. In other words knowing the wine’s origin and source. What’s its history, how was it stored? If closed with a natural cork, was it ever recorked? Any of these issues, if improper, can compromise its stability and value. If purchasing from a producer, reliable retailer or a reputable auction house, this is not a worry. Buying from individuals is another story. Interesting too is the fact that most of these older, rare gems will never be opened to find out if they are still good. Many probably aren’t but they’re worth far more unopened. Rather silly when you think about it, but true!

Wine and Nuts

One of my favourite snacks in front of the TV is nuts. However matching wine to them can be tricky. Nuts, like other food, are very individual possessing unique tastes and characteristics. They’re packed with protein, carbohydrates and vitamins and are actually quite a substantial food product. Most importantly, they’re fairly fatty and require equally substantial wines. Light styles just don’t seem to cut it here. You’ll need fortified, sweet or powerful selections. Try sweeter sherries, Tokaji Aszu, Madeira, reciotto Amarone, dessert Muscat, tawny or vintage port for best results. If salty nuts are your downfall, pick drier variations of the aforementioned like Fino and Manzanillo sherry or white port. Get crackin’.

Rosé

Now that the warm weather is here, how about considering a rosé wine for a nice change of pace. Usually fresh, clean, infinitely quaffable and food-friendly, they’re just the thing to beat the heat. Their pinkish hue also adds as nice splash of colour to your table. Numerous samples from the U.S., Australia, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Canada are available at your local retailer. Usually made by removing the grape skins after the desired colour is achieved, most are made for early consumption, so don’t purchase any that are more than about 3 years past the vintage on the bottle. They may be tired. So the next time you find yourself pondering what wine to get, why not try rosé. I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

Wine and Stinky Cheese

If you enjoy aggressive, full-flavoured, strong-smelling cheeses like Stilton, Blue, Gorgonzola and Roquefort, matching wines to these can be difficult. You’ll need equally full-bodied, full-flavoured reds like Nebbiolo, Shiraz, Zinfandel, and Pinotage or aromatic whites like Gewurztraminer, Muscat and Viognier. However, more interesting combos come from playing off the salty element in these cheeses. Sweet wines like port, Madeira, sauternes, Icewine and late harvest selections really work wonders here. Together, the wine tastes less sweet, the cheese less salty and a third ethereal flavour is created that’s this side of heaven. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.

Wine and Spicy/Exotic Food

If you’re a lover of spicy/exotic food like Indian, Thai and Cajun, here’s some advice on what wine to sip. Choose those with good acidity or sourness like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. Fruitiness and sweetness in a wine also counterbalance heat. Medium-dry, off dry or late harvest selections work well. Pick wines lower in alcohol as this component fuels the fire. Avoid overly woody wines and tannic reds as this masks the fruit. Gamay, Beaujolais and lighter Merlots are great. Aromatic varietals like Gewürztraminer, Torrontes, Viognier and Muscat mesh superbly. Even rosé does a nice job. Finally, serve all vino a little cooler than normal as this helps douse the fire. If all else fails, there’s always beer. Cheers!

Wine and Aging

I often get asked whether people become better tasters with age. With age, there is general physical deterioration of sensitivity and perception. As we get older our sensitivity to components like sweetness, bitterness and saltiness decreases. With the exception of saltiness, these others are key components in wine, so they become harder to detect. There is a gradual reduction in colour vision which makes it harder to decipher wines tint or hue. Even our sense of smell gets worse. But wait, there is some hope. As one ages, hopefully one logs up more tasting experience so what is lost through aging can be somewhat balanced by experience. I’ll drink to that!

Winery-Hopping

There’s nothing quite like a day trip to wine country and tasting their product. The Wine Doctor’s golden rules for making the most out of this outing are as follows. Plan ahead. Choose 3 or 4 wineries that are relatively close together, a few smaller ones and a few larger ones. Make sure one of them has a restaurant on site so you can dine there without having to look around for somewhere to eat. Bring some bottled water with you. Avoid wearing strong smells. Wear dark clothes in case you spill something on yourself. Experiment with different wine styles and varieties. Ask questions. Take lots of breaks and nibble often. Most importantly, don’t swallow and know when to call it quits. Enjoy yourself.

Drinking Better for Less Money

Knowing what to look for is the key. The more focus on a wine label, the better the quality. Look for wines from a specific region like Napa Valley or Bordeaux. Also look for the words Chateau or Domaine on the label. This means all the grapes come from one property. Wines with specific grape varieties on the label, like cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay, guarantee a certain taste profile so you know exactly what you’re getting. Vintage-dated wines, especially those from better years, can add to the quality and even certain countries like Chile, Argentina, Portugal and Hungary are good bets for quality/value offerings. Cheers!

Cooking with Wine

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even add it to food. Seriously, if you want a wine to match a dish perfectly, add some of the same wine to the dish that you are going to serve with it later on. However, make sure you add it during the preparation and not 5 minutes before the dish is done. You want the flavours to mesh and the alcohol to burn off, thus reducing the calories. Add a little bit, let it blend in and taste it. You can always add more if not enough, but there’s no turning back if you add too much. If you watch chefs in a kitchen they keep adding small amounts of seasoning until the hit is just right. Give it a try and I’ll be over at 8 for dinner.