You Have a Nice Wine…From WHERE?

When people are looking for something interesting in wine I commonly turn them on to a different varietal—a grape they never heard of—perhaps Friulano or Aglianico. It’s also fun to suggest wines from unexpected places—and some real treasures can be found.

Looking for bubbly? An obvious choice is one from New Mexico. Yes, New Mexico. Gilbert Gruet, a successful Champagne producer from France, was vacationing in the American Southwest with his family in 1983 when he happened on some European winemakers who had planted successful vineyards near the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. He stayed, planted a vineyard at 4300 feet, and released his first bottle of Brut in 1989. The rest, as they say, is history. His sparkling wines rival those from California and France, often selling for a lot more. For about $15.00, you can enjoy his wide array of sparklers, and I guarantee you’ll be amazed at the quality.

Looking for an interesting white? If you are looking for a match to go with your asparagus soup and chicken with anchovies, it is not easy, as these foods release a chemical which can make wine taste a bit metallic. You’ll find your answer in the Austrian section. Gruner Veltliner is probably the most food friendly white wine on earth and goes with almost everything. Fresh and bright with beautiful minerality and acidity, these are wonderful wines. Nigl makes a really nice one for $21.99, but Berger makes a one liter bottle with a crown cap that is a really great value at $12.99.

There are a couple of really interesting whites that’ll make you look really smart when you bring them to dinner. Malvasia Bianco is a very aromatic, minerally dry white that is round and full bodied with wonderful flavors of stone fruits. You can find it in Italy, Greece, and various other countries, but one I really like comes from that other country you must be thinking of. Yes—Slovenia. Rojac Malvazija (Malvasia in Slovenian) is delicious at $18.99.

Now let’s do an exotic grape and an unusual place! The Royal Tokaji Company from Hungary is well known for its dessert wine, which I will describe in a few paragraphs. However, they make a mineral driven dry white from the Furmint grape that has aromas of lime and gooseberry and similar flavors on the palate with a little smoke and pear thrown in. It sells for $16.99.

Looking for a new red to go with that game bird, stew, or roast? Naturally, I would look at Lebanon. Chateau Musar was founded in 1930 in the Bekaa Valley where viniculture has flourished since biblical times. Fifty-odd vintages have been produced with the occasional interruption by gunfire and bombs (actually I’m not kidding here). The Hochar is a single vineyard wine that is an unusual blend of Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, and Grenache. There are wonderful flavors of sour cherry, plum, and earth supported by supple tannins in a medium body. It is a tasty wine that tells a great story priced at $30.00. There is another great wine made by Slovenia’s Rojac that would fit the bill. Refosco (Rofosk) is a rare grape found in parts of Italy and Slovenia that makes a medium-bodied, spicy, racy wine with lots of red fruit and earth for $18.99.

Finally, as winter approaches, dessert wines can become more interesting. Ice wines (Eisvein) are famous in Germany, where the grapes are allowed to freeze on the vine. They are then crushed, releasing the ice, resulting in extremely concentrated sweet wines. The other place these wines reach their zenith is, of all places, the Niagara Penninsula of Ontario, Canada. Here the grape varietal is Vidal, and the wines are extraordinary, with flavors of nuts, rich stone fruits, and caramel, with a beautiful underlying acidity. Inniskillin is probably the most famous, but a half bottle will set you back $55.00. Jackson-Triggs is a very good alternative at half the price. Probably the most famous dessert wines are the botrytized wines from Sauternes in Bordeaux. Here, sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes are infected with a fungus known as “noble rot” and they shrivel to look like raisins. The sugars and flavors become dramatically concentrated, and the resulting wines are incredibly sweet and complex with acidities to keep them from being cloying. Hungary’s famous Royal Tokaji Aszu is a great example of this type of wine and is not as pricey. The quality is measured in “puttonyos” and the three puttonyos costs about $22.99 while the six (highest) costs about $47.99 for 500 ml bottles. That may sound expensive, but this is about half the price of Sauternes.

Wine seems to be produced everywhere. I’ve enjoyed local wines in Zimbabwe, Morroco, Mexico, and Switzerland as well as many states in the U.S. Having barbecue tonight? How about a good Texas Zinfandel?

Cheers!

I’d LOVE to Come to Dinner…What Wine Should I Bring?

Making dinner for the spouse’s boss? Or someone you consider knowledgeable about wine? Afraid you’ll look ignorant by serving the wrong wine?

Don’t panic. Though the Sommelier at the local five star restaurant might like you to think otherwise, food and wine matching is not rocket science. Today I’ll give a few simple survival tips to make you look wine savvy and make your dinner a success.

First, don’t ask what’s on the menu. That way, your bottle of wine is just a gift, and if the person making dinner knows wine, he’d probably rather open his own anyway. Of course, this won’t work if you already know what’s for dinner or if you are the one preparing the meal.

When matching a wine to a meal, consider these three components:

Structure – body/weight, acid and sugar levels

Flavors – The five basic flavors perceived by the taste buds are sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami. The last one is tough to explain. It’s a “savory, meaty pleasant taste that gives a sensation of coating the tongue.” However, there are millions of “flavors” which affect the taste of other foods and of wine.

Textures – soup vs. steak vs raw oysters.

Now, some basic rules to live by:

1. The body and weight of the wine should match the food (light with light, full with full.) Otherwise one will overwhelm the other. If the wine is lighter bodied, it must be powerful enough in flavor and high enough in acid to stand up to the food. If you are having a simply prepared chicken dish, a Cabernet Sauvignon will completely overwhelm it If you are having a grilled rib eye, a Pinot Noir or a light white wine probably will get lost.
2. Alcohol balances weight and body in food. Alcohol accentuates spice – big time - and provides great balance to sugar and salt. If you are making a ham, the sweetness and saltiness of the meat would work well with a wine with a higher alcohol level. Sweetness and fruitiness also work great with salt and spice. A big California Zinfandel like Saldo by Orin Swift, with its highly extracted fruit and high alcohol, works great. However, if you are having a spicy chile con carne, the high alcohol in the wine will make dinner literally a painful experience. This is why the best wine match for Indian food is beer, with its low alcohol compared to wine. If you want to do white with your salty ham or your spicy Thai food, go with one a slightly sweeter one – perhaps a nice Riesling from Germany like Dr Loosen Blue Slatelate Kabinett. Acid is really important. Acid is the component in wine that makes you salivate and makes your eyes involuntarily close when you sip it. It also stimulates you to eat and drink more. It balances food and seems to separate and bring out the highlights of food ingredients. The acidity in the wine must match or exceed the acidity of the food or the wine will appear dull and flabby. The best wines to drink with food have a naturally higher acidity, which is why old world wines, with their higher acidities and lower alcohol, work so well with food. New world wines, with their higher fruit concentration, higher alcohol, and lower acidity, are better by themselves. A glass of high-acidity Chianti might not be very pleasant by itself, but have pair with a plate of pasta in a tomato based sauce (a high acid dish) and it shines. A low acid red like a California Cabernet won’t work as well with this dish.
3. Oak, especially in white wine, does not always enhance its “food friendliness.” Oak rounds out a white wine and gives it flavors of vanilla. These wines also undergo a specific type of fermentation that gives them a buttery flavor. Vanilla and butter don’t go particularly well with a lot of simple dishes made from seafood and chicken, so a heavily oaked Chardonnay will overwhelm them. Higher acid wines with more vibrant fruit not hidden by oak often work better, like a Calera Fiano from Sicily or a Sancerre from France. Oak works much better with red wines, adding complexity and roundness that reins in the fruit a bit. Rich braised meats like Osso Bucco are amazing with a well-oaked Barolo like Roagna or a Bordeaux.
4. Tannins can be your friend…or not. Tannin is the component of red wine that makes you feel like you have a clove in your mouth. It dries your mouth and gums. It is a preservative in the wine and originates from the skin and stems and from oak barrels. As a wine ages, the tannins soften, which is why aged red wines become easier and more pleasant to drink than at release. Tannins interact beautifully with fat and protein. The tannins become soft and almost sweet and the meat becomes juicier to the senses and more savory. This is why the classic match of a ribeye with a big tannic Cabernet Sauvignon, Rioja, or Brunello works so beautifully. But tannins work poorly with acid, so don’t drink your Cab with lasagna, and if you drink a tannic wine with fish, not only does the red overpower the fish but the tannins get a metallic taste so the wine performs poorly. If you like red wine with fish, get a light to medium bodied wine with good acidity and little tannin. Beaujolais from France or a fruity Pinot Noir works just fine.
5. Sauces often dictate the wine, as does the method of cooking. If you are making seafood in a white garlic sauce, the dish needs a white wine. If you are cooking it in a marinara sauce, you need a high acid red like Mauro Molina Barbera. If you are grilling your beef, a nice Malbec, like Durigutti or Renacer Punto Final from Argentina works great. If you are going to braise it, a nice oaked wine with some age to soften the tannins works better.
6. If the food is from there…go with the wine from there. If you are having Seafood in a white or simple sauce, try a white from Sicily where they eat seafood every meal. If you are having southern Italian food, Southern Italian wines will go great. Lamb is everywhere in the southern Cotes du Rhone. Wanna bet on a red Cotes du Rhone red working well? Argentina is famous for its grilled meat. Argentinian Malbec is about as good as it gets with barbeque.

These are just a few things to think about when matching your food and your wine. Most of all go with what you like and know. If you’ve never had Alsacian Gewurztraminer, don’t try it for the first time with your dinner if you’re not willing to suffer the consequences of a good match. Red wine with fish, Champagne with popcorn…whatever works for you. Don’t be afraid to ask your local wine merchant. Many have a good knowledge of what works. This is especially true with tough matches. Are you having artichokes, asparagus, and eggplant? They'll know you need Gruner Veltliner. Cheers!

Gruner Veltliner, the Ultimate Food Wine

Our store is located in Boulder, Colorado, a notoriously “foodie” town. We have a huge wine selection and a well-trained wine staff, so we’re often asked about food pairings. Easy, right? Usually, but some foods are difficult.  Asparagus and artichokes, for example, contain a chemical called cynarin which makes wine taste metallic.

Without hesitation, I take customers asking about these two veggies to the Austrian wine section and suggest a Gruner Veltliner (pronounced groon-er velt-leen-er). More often than not, they’ve never heard of it, but if they take my suggestion, it soon becomes one of their “go to” wines.

Gruner Veltliner is grown primarily in Austria where it comprises about 37% of the total grape production. There are two basic expressions of this varietal. If it is grown in the granite soils on the very steep hillsides along the Danube west of Vienna in the areas of Wachau, Kamptal, and Kremstal, the wine is very pure with perfect acidity and enormous minerality—sometimes described as “liquid stone.” These wines are full bodied with beautiful perfumed aromatics and age gracefully. They have the strength of character to match with any food. If the grapes are grown in the southern plains, the perfume is peppery and spicy, and these wines are drunk young.

Berger from Kremstal is crown capped like a beer bottle and comes as a liter only. The wine is light, faintly herbal, and is refreshing like minerally cold spring water. This an excellent entry level Gruner at $15. You’ll be glad it comes as a liter since one glass will not be enough.

Nigl Kremser Freiheit, also from Kremstal, has a smoky, creamy nose that is gradually overtaken by bright fruit and minerals. Light and stimulating, firm and lively, this is a wonderful wine for chicken and artichokes, asparagus soup, or just about any other food.

Arndorfer Weinberge, from Kamptal, is a spicy Gruner with vibrant minerality and acidity, and notes of grass and citrus on the nose. This is a perfect wine to start the evening, as the acidity makes the mouth water and the mind crave food. A great example of this grape’s potential, it’s a bargain for $25.00. Martin Arndorfer, not yet thirty years old, and his wife both come from familes of great winemakers. I had the privilege of meeting this enthusiastic yet humble young man and tasting through a half dozen of his wines, including his Vorgeschmack, 80% Gruner and 20% dry Riesling, aged four months on the lees in 80% stainless steel and 20% used oak. This wine has been one of my staff picks ever since.

Gruner Veltliner is one of the greatest food wines available. The freshness and vibrancy make it especially well suited for cooking that focuses on fresh local ingredients. Chefs all over the world are embracing it.

So next time you head to your wine shop, think Austria!