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Port
Wine in winter
Blustery winter winds entwine their icy fingers
around our doorsteps and tap, tap, tap at our
frosty bedroom windows. "The susurration of the
breeze through the trees reminds us of Mother
Nature’s dual personality: the Yin of sun
kissed summer that empowers exuberant growth
and also of the Yang of tumultuous winter that
dares us to step outside the door so she can
knock us out of our Nikes. So, what’s a home
bound human being to do while "Miss N" is in
the throes of an Arctic storm?
For one thing, lay off
the superfluous literary prose. As you might
have guessed, Gary is working (i.e. drinking
beer and eating red meat) in the winery
while I alone sit at the keyboard, staring at
the cursor and wondering what I can talk about
while his attention is elsewhere. For a second
thing, I can share with you one of the secret
joys of winter: a cozy fireplace, a must-read
best seller, and a 2 ounce glass of port.
Gather round, kiddies, and let’s get started.
The origin of port wine
is also a study in duality: politically a
footnote in "Anglo-Franco history and
economically a response by marketing to
consumer demands. During the 18th century
Britain and France were having one of their
typical spats. This resulted in French wines
being banned on the merry old isle. Thirsty
Brits needed a new source to fill their
decanters so they turned to their long time
ally, Portugal. However, the warm Portuguese
summers contributed to the growth of bacteria
that spoiled the wines before they ever made it
to British market. The clever winemakers solved
this problem and increased their profit margin
by fortifying the wine with alcohol in the form
of brandy. This sweet, strong drink satisfied
the British consumer and they quickly added it
to the favorite’s list.
Now you have passed
Port 101 and are almost ready for your first
field trip. However, before boarding the bus I
have to tell you that a "true port" can only be
produced in the Duomo Valley of Portugal
according to an agreement that was reached by
Portugal, the European Union, and the United
States. "I’s" being dotted and "T’s" being
crossed we now can proceed. Typical Portuguese
ports are blended with a combination of Touriga
Nacion-al, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Roriz,
Tinta Barroca, or Tinto Cao. We rebels in the
New World express our feelings about the
conventional way things are done by creating a
"port" (Just don’t call it that!) from
Zinfandel, Syrah, or what-ever strikes our
fancy.
The addition of brandy,
a process also called fortification, is the
distinguishing feature of a port. The resulting
higher percentage of alcohol will be noted on
the wine
bottle. You can consider two other
characteristics of port wine: the style and the
color. One style of port is vintage. The
production of truly fine port is based on
climate and the optimum conditions only occur
every 3 – 4 years. The vintner usually blends
fruit from the same region during the "vintage"
year to produce a vintage port. The most basic
style is ruby (Sounds like the color-maybe
something was lost in the translation process.)
This is a young, spirited wine that the British
used to drink with lemonade (A precursor to
sangria?)
The next style is
"Vintage Character". That may or may not be as
good as vintage port (Hey, the boys need
something to do during the 2 – 3 years when the
climate isn’t perfect!) This style is
followed by Late Bottle Vintage (LBV). This
wine is bottled later than vintage port in an
attempt to create a softer wine that can be
enjoyed earlier than a traditional port. All of the above named
styles of port are a dark, plumy red. The
second characteristic I mentioned is color.
Tawny ports are another category. Look for an
amber color, and read the label. A tawny that
describes itself as a 10 year old port will be
the genuine item.
Thanks, Sue, for taking
the reins on this article while I was busy
doing my "wine-making" thing. All I need now is
the roaring fire, my glass of port and a good
cigar. Okay, maybe not the cigar. How about a
nice wedge of aged Gouda cheese? Until next
time, Gary and Sue.
Send us your comments,
favorite recipes and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685.
"Wine, one sip of this
will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise and taste."
~ John Milton
Favorite Holiday Drink Recipes
Season’s Greetings,
every-one! Unbelievably, another year is
ending. As one ages, time seems to zip along
faster and 2009 flew by like Lance Arm-strong’s
legs on the home stretch kicking into
overdrive. (Egads, man, if aging makes time
go by faster and you’re expounding rhetorical
comparisons between the last 365 days and
Lance’s lower extremities you must be getting
really old…oops, just kidding! Revise that,
editor, to "You’re like fine wine; you get
better with age." Phew, that was close).
Just remember, dear, you’re only a year
younger.
We like to spend this
time of year with friends and family huddling
around fireplaces, drinking hot buttered rum
(hot chocolate for the kiddies), sipping
eggnog, spiced or mulled wine, and, of course,
delighting in champagne or sparkling wine. We
want to celebrate the season with you by
sharing some of our favorite holiday drink
recipes and talking a little about
champagne/sparkling wine.
Without getting into
too much detail, (thank goodness, we don’t want
to fill the whole column with the chemistry of
sparkling wines. It’s more fun just to pop the
cork and fill our champagne flutes) sparkling
wines, including champagnes, start off as still
wines in which carbon dioxide has been
dissolved or trapped. Beer and soft drinks also
contain carbon dioxide but there is a
difference in the way the carbon dioxide gets
into the liquid.
Soft drinks are
injected with carbon dioxide from gas
cylinders. Carbon dioxide, however, is a
by-product of fermentation in beer and
sparkling wine. Beer differs from sparkling
wine in that it is fermented one time.
Sparkling wine is fermented twice. The first
fermentation produces the "still wine" that we
drink every day. This is just a wine without
all the bubbles.
A second fermentation
is created by adding a little yeast and sugar
and then transferring this mixture to a sealed
container or bottle. As the still wine goes
through the second fermentation the yeast and
sugar interact and give off carbon dioxide that
is confined in the container. Of course, the
process is a bit more complex; for example, the
dead yeast or lees (the man loves talking about
yeast) have to be removed from the bottle
without releasing all the carbon dioxide. This
is known as riddling and disgorgement (Hmm,
disgorgement, eh? That’s a mental picture I
could have skipped.) The process of making
champagne or sparkling wine is called méthode
champenoise.
The amount of sugar
that is added to the second fermentation
determines the sweetness level of the
champagne/sparkling wine.
• Brut Natural or Brut
Zéro (<3 grams of sugar per liter)
• Extra Brut (< 6 grams
of sugar per liter)
• Brut (<15 grams of
sugar per liter)
• Extra Sec or Extra
Dry (12 to 20 grams of sugar per liter)
• Sec (17 to 35 grams
of sugar per liter)
• Demi-sec (33 to 50
grams of sugar per liter)
• Doux (> than 50 grams
of sugar per liter)
I’m actually making a
field trip to a sparkling wine winery next
month. Sounds like good fodder for an upcoming
article. Here are a few recipes:
Hot-Buttered Rum
Ingredients:
1 small slice soft butter
1 tsp brown sugar
Optional spices: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg
Vanilla extract
2 oz dark rum
Boiling water
Preparation:
Place the butter, sugar and spices at the
bottom of an Irish coffee glass or mug. Mix
well or muddle. Pour in the rum and boiling
water. Stir.
Eggnog Grog
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 quart milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup bourbon
1/3 cup dark rum
Preparation: In
a large saucepan, beat together eggs, sugar and
salt. Now stir in just two cups of milk. Cook
this over low heat, stirring constantly, making
sure to get in the corners of the pan or the
eggs might curdle when they get hot.
When the mixture
reaches 160 degrees or is thick enough to coat
a spoon with a thin film, remove it from the
heat. Mix together the bourbon and dark rum but
the alcohol is optional. Next stir in the
remaining 2 cups milk and the vanilla. Then
cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate
until it’s thoroughly chilled.
Hot
Spiced Wine
Yield: Makes 9 cups
Ingredients:
2 (750-milliliter)
bottles red wine
2 cups apple juice
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons mulling spice
Preparation:
Bring all ingredients
to a boil in a
Dutch oven; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Pour mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into
a pitcher, discarding mulling spices. Serve
wine hot. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Until next year, Gary and Sue. Send us your
comments, favorite recipes and favorite stories
to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter
Creek, CA 95685.
"I drink champagne when
I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink
it when I'm alone. When I have company, I
consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm
not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I
never touch it - unless I'm thirsty." - by
Madame Bollinger (one of the grandes dames
of Champagne).
Winemaking, questions and answers
We have been receiving a lot of questions about
various aspects of the wine making process, different
styles of wines, and components that have an
impact on a wine’s smell and taste. Before we
start answering specific questions, we thought
it might be good to review some basic
winemaking facts to help explain some of the
reasons wine is what it is. First, no matter
what the style of wine, every grape contains
sugar, acid, yeast, water, and flavor
compounds. Like many fruits, the riper the
grape, the more sugar it will contain. During
the fermentation process the yeast converts
this sugar into alcohol.
One of the questions
often posed is what makes a wine sweet or dry.
(Not to be confused with "fruity"). A
wine is either sweet or dry depending on the
level of residual sugar left after
fermentation. The more sugar, the sweeter the
wine. Less sugar makes for a dryer wine. A
fruity wine has less to do with sugar than it
does with the flavor compounds in the grape and
it can be either sweet or dry.
Another question often
asked is what determines the alcohol content of
a wine. The fermentation process is somewhat
self-regulating; yeast cannot survive once the
alcohol level reaches 15% or so. Grapes
harvested at low sugar levels or brix will
generally result in lower alcohol wines.
Conversely, grapes harvested at higher brix
will generally result in higher alcohol wines.
However, because of the behavior of the yeast,
most wines won’t be over 15% alcohol. (There
are, of course, exceptions like ports which are
fortified – we’ll talk about that another time).
Yeasts are critical to making wine. As
mentioned above, they convert the sugar in the
grapes to alcohol. Fermentation could not occur
without yeast.
However, the yeasts
naturally occurring on the grapes can be hard
to manage. There are many different strains and
they can be unpredictable. While some
winemakers prefer to use the native yeasts,
many prefer to avoid this unpredictability and
kill
these yeasts with sulfur dioxide (SO2). By the
way, sulfur dioxide is used at various stages
of the winemaking process to protect the wine
from bacteria and the risk of oxidation. A
reasonable assumption is that white wine comes
from white grapes and red wine naturally comes
from red grapes. Seems logical. (Like white
milk comes from white cows and chocolate milk
comes from brown cows. Of course, both white
and brown cows eat green grass, so where is the
logic in that?) Bear in mind, however, that
grape juice is primarily clear, no matter if
the grape it comes from is white or red. Here
are some general differences between making
white and red wines.
Grapes that are used
for making white wines and roses are usually
pressed rather than crushed. The reason is a
wine’s color comes primarily from the juice’s
contact with the grape skins. Since it is
desirable for a white wine to be clear to straw
colored and roses to be pink to light red,
little to no skin contact is required. Red
wines, on the other hand, need the skin contact
to develop color and so they are normally
crushed and allowed to sit on the skins during
the primary fermentation.
Fermentations can take
from a few days to a couple of weeks or more
depending on
the desired sugar and alcohol levels. The
winemaker will determine when the fermentation
is finished or should be stopped and the must
pressed. The press will separate the skins and
seeds (pips) from the juice. The juice,
depending on the style, will be pumped into
stainless steel tanks, vats, or oak barrels for
a second stage of fermentation called
malolactic fermentation. (Incidentally, wine
that comes out of the press is one of two types
"free-run" – this is juice that passes right
through the press without it actually squeezing
the must and the other is "press wine" that
results from the squeezing of the must in the
press and usually has more color, flavors and
tannins than "free-run").
The length of time
between fermentation and bottling varies. In
between fermentation and bottling, the barrels
or tanks will be kept topped so that contact
with oxygen is kept to a minimum (oxygen
allows bacteria to grow and spoil the wine)
and racked (wine is transferred from tank to
tank or barrel to barrel) periodically to
keep the wine from getting stale. There is much
more that goes into making a fine wine but
these are the basic principles. Unfortunately,
we are out of space for now. We can talk more
about wine-making and answer more questions
another time.
Until next time,
Gary and Sue. Send us your comments,
favorite recipes and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685. "[Wine is] poetry in a bottle." -
Clifton Fadiman Nov 09
Back to Top
Storing your wine collection
Has this happened to you recently? You’ve just
purchased a bottle or, for truly long range
planners, a case, of your favorite Sierra
foothills wine. You happily drive home to find
your once so understanding housemate giving you
the eye. Unfortunately, the look is not the
lovingly indulgent one. It’s the "Oops, you’ve
been caught red handed smoking behind the
football bleachers by the Assistant Principal"
eye. (Sound familiar anyone?)
The unimaginable has
happened. Your wine collection has outgrown its
allotted pantry shelf, is burgeoning beyond the
ornamental iron rack your Aunt Edna gave you
last Christmas, and its bottles are ominously
close to toppling from the guest bathroom
closet. Well, we would like to help but, sorry,
we are neither licensed general contractors
able to contribute to your home remodeling nor
licensed clinical social workers likely to
smooth out sticky family situations.
However, we can provide
assistance with questions about the proper
storage of your wine. (Thank God we can make
some little contribution to the betterment of
mankind!) There are five basic factors to keep
in mind when deciding where to store your
treasures from the vine: lay them down,
maintain an even temperature, keep them in the
dark, provide a reasonable humidity, and
isolate them from strong odors.
Wine, especially young
California wine, will continue to age in the
bottle. White wine can be expected to maintain
its quality for from one to two years. The
fresh, fruity flavor of light red wines also
starts to decline after a couple of years. Big
red wines can store nicely for several years.
Great red wines will still be improving after a
dozen years-if, that is, they are stored and
cared for properly. (Hey, big fellah, the cared
for properly part of that statement applies to
spouses as well, right?) The only good cork is
a wet cork and laying the wine bottle on its
side will keep the cork wet. This will prevent
air from filtering into the bottle and turning
up the speedometer on the aging process. If
your wine bottle has a plastic cork it isn’t
necessary to lay the bottle on its side.
Plastic corks do not dry out. (Neither would
plastic scrambled eggs, but I wouldn’t want any
bouncing around next to my bacon and biscuits.)
The worst thing for
stored wine is high temperatures. Wine begins
to suffer and taste cooked or tired at about 77
degrees Fahrenheit. Lovely clear or golden hued
white wines will turn an ugly brown color. The
crisp taste will deteriorate. (Think of your
first sleepover when your best friend forgot to
snap the lid back on your bottle of Mountain
Dew. In the morning your soft drink and the
friendship were not the same.) Red wines kept
at too high a temperature will look pale and
taste flat.
Constantly fluctuating
temperature is also a bad storage practice. As
the temperature of the bottle changes, the wine
inside the bottle expands and contracts much
like a black-smith’s bellows. This pumps air
through the cork and oxidizes the wine inside
the bottle. The ideal temperature to store your
wine is somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Wine does better when
stored in the dark. Sitting in the sun all day
is just as bad for Pinot Grigio as it is for
pretty lasses. (If only the dermatologists had
told us that forty years ago!) Your Petite
Syrah will taste more like stewed grapes. (Yuc!)
This won’t happen overnight, but after a few
weeks of sunbathing, your wine will start to
deteriorate.
Humidity is good for
your wine the same way it is good for your
wooden furniture or your own skin. Low humidity
can cause a cork to shrink at one end even if
the bottle is lying on its side. (Why does
he persist in looking my way while talking
about drying up and shrinking away? Must be
time to moisturize)
A humidity of around 75
percent is said to be ideal. Central heating
and air conditioning can dry and work against
your wine bottles unless you are using a
humidifier. Bear in mind, however, that
humidity is not the same as dampness. Even
though your wines may not suffer, the labels
won’t hold up as well, and you could find
yourself guessing about what wine is inside the
bottle. Musical chairs is fantastic for
children’s birthday parties but not for
satisfactory wine choices. (I don’t know
about that. Choosing wine that way might be
like sticking your pinkie into all the assorted
See’s chocolates. Pop a cork and announce, "No,
that’s not it. Have to try another bottle.
Nope, that’s not it." That could make for a
perfectly lovely afternoon.)
Keep your bottles away
from persistent bad smells. Even though it
hasn’t been proven that bad odors will affect
the wine inside the bottle, a bad aroma will
cling to the outside of the bottle and
definitely subtract from the presentation you
want to make to your friends and family. (How
about the presentation you make to your
significant other there, stinky boy?) Risk it
if you must, but after stealthily slipping
another bottle into the house, I’m not going
to. Until next time, Gary and Sue
Send us your comments,
favorite recipes and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685. "Come, come, good wine is a good
familiar creature if it be well used; exclaim
no more against it." Shakespeare, Othello
Oct 09
Back to Top
When are grapes ready to harvest?
Whew! In case you
haven’t been forced to dawdle down Highway 49
behind a tractor pulling bins heaped high with
grapes, harvest is upon us once again. This is
yet another year when harvest jumped up and bit
me in the proverbial "buttocks". We
harvested our Sauvignon Blanc grapes on August
24th and its just beginning. This is our 5th
year in business and one would think I wouldn’t
have been so surprised. It seems like harvest
is coming earlier every year.
Harvesting for all the
growers for all their varieties is coming fast
and furiously. (So that means I will find
myself stuck behind your Kubota or Massey
Ferguson once again chewing my fingernails and
popping Tums to control an overproduction of
stomach acid?) Growers and winemakers alike
will be working non-stop for the next 2-3
months bringing in grapes, crushing, pressing
and barreling. (Not to mention soaking up the
suds, grilling grizzly bear size servings of
beef, and keeping late hours with the boys?)
Ah, yes, harvest, one of my most favorite times
of the year.
We seem be asked this
every autumn: "How do we know when the grapes
are ready to harvest?" Still a good question
…Once the grapes go through verasion (change of
color in the grape berries) we start testing
the grapes for sugar, pH, and TA levels
and of course, taste. Sugar levels are measured
in degrees brix. An instrument called a
refractometer is used. It looks something like
a small telescope with an eyepiece on one end
and a glass window on the other. There is a
scale mounted on the inside of the eyepiece
that reads the degrees brix in the juice. The
grower and/or winemaker walk the rows and
randomly select from throughout the vineyard
individual berries from a variety of grape
clusters. This is considered a random berry
sample. Some winemakers prefer whole cluster
tests. In this case, a random sample of entire
clusters of grapes is pulled from through-out
the vineyard. Regardless of which sampling
technique is used, the berries are crushed and
a few drops of the juice are dropped onto the
glass window of the refractometer. A reading is
taken.
The degrees brix
translate into the amount of potential alcohol
the finished product will have...the higher the
brix the more alcohol. We like to pick our
grapes when the brix is between 23.0 and 25.0.
But this is only one test and not necessarily
the most important. (So, if it might not be the
most important test, why do you suppose he
started his explanation with it? I vote for the
word "brix". That word is just so "French", so
"in the know", and so sensuous. Besides, it
rhymes with "kicks" and we all want to get
those, right!)
The next test that is
run is for pH (potential for Hydrogen). A pH
meter is used. A probe is placed into the juice
sample and a reading is taken. In general
terms, optimal pH is between 3.20 and 3.60; pH
is a fundamental element of wine-making and
affects the color, oxidation, biological and
chemical stability of the wine. Lower pH
amounts are easier for the winemaker to deal
with than higher (>3.65).
We’ll talk about some
of the affects another time. (Good, eyeballs
were starting to glaze over out there.) Another
test is for TA (titratable acidity). The pH
meter is used with a reagent that is added a
drop or two at a time to a measured amount of
juice sample until the meter reads 8.2. As with
pH, TA is important to wine production. It
accounts for the crispness and tartness found
in wine. One can argue what is optimal but in
general, the optimum TA for red wines is 0.60
to 0.80 and 0.65 to 0.85 for whites. (Now tell
me, aren’t you glad you asked?)
The most subjective
test is taste. All things being equal, taste is
the final deciding
factor as to when the grapes are ready to be
harvested. Alcohol, pH and TA can all be
adjusted during the wine making process. Many
would argue that taste, too, can be adjusted
through blending. (For technophobes and
non-chemistry majors, tasting and blending are
a lot more fun, too.)
So, to get back to 'how
do we know when to harvest'. When all of the
entire field readings are within optimal ranges
(and Jupiter aligns with Mars) that is the
ideal time to pluck and press. It would be
great if nature co-operated and everything
always met the optimal criteria. Unfortunately,
that seldom, if ever, happens. It is more
common to find only one or two of these
elements at their prime point at the same time.
This is when the winemaker’s skills come into
play and magic hap-pens. Then, it’s Showtime,
boys and girls. Get out there and make it
happen! Until next time, Gary and Sue. Send us
your comments, favorite recipes and favorite
stories to:
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
The Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter
Creek, CA 95685.
"Who loves not wine,
women, and song, remains a fool his whole life
long!" Johann Heinrich Voss. Editor's Note:
Congrats to Frog's Tooth Vineyards, 2009 CA
state fair medal winner: Pinot Grigio Silver 91
Sierra Foothills 2008, Tempranillo Silver 91
Sierra Foothills 2006, and Meritage Bronze 86
Calaveras County 2006. Sept 09
Back to Top
Wine Aromas and
Memories
We hope you all had a safe and sane 4th. I
know Sue and I did. We’re just a couple of old
fogies, I guess. We worked in our tasting room
all day Saturday and then had a pleasant dinner
out at Murphy’s Grille followed by a leisurely
stroll through downtown Murphys. The only
fireworks we experienced were those bursting
off our taste buds while we were sharing a
slice of Chef Reza’s New York Cheesecake. (Hey
there, big fellah, I always see fireworks when
I gaze into your baby blues over a serving of
fresh salmon topped with spirited fruit
compote.)
So, how many wineries
did you visit during Calaveras Wine Alliance’s
Passport Weekend on June 26 - 28? Frog’s Tooth
stayed with the seafood category and served
Alchemy’s delicious shrimp paella and my very
own special recipe barbecued shrimp with aioli
sauce. Lots of delighted partakers passed
through our tasting room door, sipped the wine,
sampled ol’ Neptune’s finest, and left smiling.
If you missed us, we hope to see you next year!
One of Frog’s Tooth’s
special treats for our guests this Passport was
a Wine Sensory Evaluation by Tom Bender, wine
instructor at Columbia College and wine steward
for O’Brien’s Market in Modesto. Tom opened our
eyes (I think you mean our noses) to
many of the common wine aromas. Tom did this by
pouring a neutral white and a neutral red wine
into several glasses and then adding differing
aromatic oils to each glass. Everyone could
take a turn walking around the table to sniff
the fragrances and identify various aromas they
might experience during their day’s wine
tasting. Each person smells wine components
differently. Tom reminded us in his
presentation that there is a benefit to
describing wines by using recognizable aromas.
Think of the times you have heard a wine
described as having the aroma of peach. That
sweet fruity smell is common to Riesling,
Muscat, and some Gewurztraminer (easy for
you to say). After smelling Tom’s "black
pepper" sample, you can identify more with
those people who discuss this distinctive smell
found in our local Cabernets and Petite Sirahs.
Plus it’s fun to be able to pick up the
raspberry aroma in your favorite Grenache or
the Citrus in your spouse’s must have
Chardonnay. (Just remember to pick up the
tab for our next night out and this spouse will
be happy.)
Smell memories help us
remember individual wines and experiences from
our pasts. The Green Apple sample was readily
identifiable by almost everyone. (He’s
giving me the eye, friends, to me that one
smelled like a stink bug I encountered once as
a little girl. The other participants said
green, fresh, and bright. I said green, biting,
and scary.) The Brown Spice was delightful.
You will find this aroma in ripe and aged reds
as well as dessert wines. Ripe Cabernets and
Tempranillo can release a chocolate aroma that
is always appealing.
Wineries do not add
aromas directly to wines. This important part
of the wine experience occurs naturally as a
result of viticulture (I think he means all
the components that are part of the grape
growing process such as soil types, watering
practices, which side of the vine the grape was
attached to, what day of the week the grapes
were harvested. No, forget those last two. I
was just seeing if you were paying attention.),
fermentation, aging process, and blending. (Now
that is one long sentence. I hope we didn’t
lose anyone there.)
Two smells you never
want to encounter in your wines are oxidized
and cork taint. Oxidized means the wine is
spoiled or old. (Yuck!) Cork taint is a
stale and off smell of wet cardboard that is a
result of a spoiled cork. (Double Yuck!)
Creating the "right" aroma in one’s wines
requires a meticulous attention to details and
timeliness. Winemaking is the ultimate Zen
project: it is part science and part art. All
the elements and techniques need to be kept in
balance to create wines that are as pleasing in
their aroma as they are in their tastes. Until
next time, Gary and Sue. Send us
fromthevine@pacbell.net, your comments,
favorite recipes and stories or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685. "[Wine is] poetry in a bottle." -
Clifton Fadiman JULY09
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Vineyard Spring Chores
Where is this year going, friends? Can you
believe we have already sped through half of
2009? It seems like only yesterday that we were
celebrating the end of harvest and tucking the
vineyard in for its winter rest. I must have
fallen into a Rip Van Winkle extended nap
myself and then awakened to lush green tendrils
in the vineyard pushing out of their own Lazy
Boys.
Blossoms have come and
settled to the earth and berries have begun to
set. Unfortunately for me, (and slap your
hands, you naughty boy) I still have work
to do in the vineyard that should have been
done a couple of months ago. The weeds are as
tall as the vines in some areas; mowing,
spraying and moving wires have all caught up to
me. (What’s a poor boy to do?) Well, you
got half of that right…I am poor. You’ve heard
it before: the way to make a small fortune in
the winery business is to start out with a
large fortune. As far as still being a boy
goes, I put aside my Hot Wheels and Yo-Yo some
time ago. Physically, my boyhood is gone.
Mentally, I’m still that snot-nosed kid who
thinks he knows everything. (Humility is such a
Zen thing, isn’t it?)
Now, let’s back away
carefully from philosophy and troop back to the
vineyard. In addition to doing the early spring
chores, such as mowing and strip spraying, now
is the time to take care of shoot thinning (if
you haven’t done your pruning yet, guess what,
it’s too late…luckily, my vineyard manager,
Mark, tries to keep me on my toes). There
is also suckering, tying and, if you installed
movable wires in your vineyard, moving those
wires to tuck in the vines. This is also the
beginning of Sulfur sprays to control mildew
and fertilizing to encourage our precious grape
commodity to do its thing and grow, baby, grow.
As we move into June and July there is no lack
of work to be done in the vineyard. Many
vineyards have already begun irrigating. An
important step (although a boring and
occasionally frustrating one to those with a
plumbing phobia) prior to the first
irrigation of the season is to check the drip
lines.
In our vineyard, I open
the ends of each drip hose and flush out the
line to rid it of any chemical and mineral
build-up. Then I inspect the lines for leaks
and to ensure that each emitter is working
properly. We use a timer on our pump and it
always seems to be necessary to recalibrate the
water cycle from the previous year. (Beats
balancing barrels of water drawn from the river
and carting them on your head while singing
"Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen". Hey, if
you can be maudlin, so can I!) Your
watering pattern will depend on your soil type
but with ours we start with a couple of hours
of water two or three times a week. Over the
next several weeks and as temperatures rise, we
will increase the number of watering hours per
day and the
frequency per week.
Water probes placed
under the vines in various locations in the
vineyard are useful in determining appropriate
watering patterns for your vines. ("As long as
they are working properly", says the little
voice of Doubting Thomasina in the corner.)
Most, if not all of us, in the foothills
require deer fencing to protect our vineyards
from, what else, deer…they cannot resist the
lush, tender, green tendrils of young grape
vines. Now is a good time to check the fence
line for gaps and holes. Believe it or not,
these critters can belly under a
12" gap between the
ground and the bottom of the fence line. Rodent
activity is also increasing. (Someone has to
feed their children, dear!) Squirrels and
rabbits love to chew on the drip lines for
water. (Or maybe they just get bored or perhaps
as a substitute for Danish warm from the oven
to enjoy during the morning coffee klatch.) Owl
and hawk boxes placed in the vineyard are a
good natural control for these varmints as well
as those pesky gophers and voles. (Gardeners,
everyone can make the sign of the cross here or
shout ‘Amen’ depending on your denomination.)
Ridding or controlling these pests early can
prevent vine loss in the future.
Now that you’ve
finished your first day’s work…just kidding!
Over the next several months there will be more
mowing, sulfur spraying, tying, tucking,
fertilizing, varminting (whoa, hold on a
minute there cowboy-"varminting?" Spell check
perked right up on that one). Yes, you
know, controlling those little critters that
want to steal the water and fruit from our
vines. (Oh, okay, just remember, I am supposed
to be the one to take liberties with the
English language.) So, happy farming to one and
all.
You won’t want to miss
the Calaveras Wine Alliance’s Passport Weekend
June 26, 27 and 26. Participating wineries will
be offering barrel samples and pre-release
wines, music, food, "how to" seminars, and
other special events to passport holders. This
is always a fun event and the wineries go all
out to create a memorable experience. Contact
the CWA 209-728-9467 or visit
www.calaveraswines.org. Until next
time, Gary and Sue.
Send us your comments,
favorite recipes, and stories
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685. A bottle of wine begs to be shared; I
have never met a miserly wine lover.
- Clifton Fadiman JUNE09
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2nd Annual Winegrape & Gourmet Titillates
By Susan Grant
On March 4 the
Calaveras Winegrape Alliance invited gourmands
and connoisseurs to titillate their palates at
the second annual Winegrape & Gourmet
Celebration at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds
in Angels Camp. The guests were given a First
Class pampering by a combination of sixty
foothill wineries, restaurants, sponsors, UC
Davis extension Master Gardeners, local
markets, craftsmen, artists, and artisans. Such
a kaleidoscopic swirl of colors, conversations,
tactile stimulation, and enticing aromas and
flavors cannot be duplicated by words alone.
Here are a few highlights.
Celebration attendees
were tantalized with gourmet creations such as
Tallahan’s Chef Tony Fabbro’s Scampi wot prawns
in a spicy Ethiopian sauce paired with Frog’s
Tooth Vineyards ’07 Fume Blanc and Solomon Wine
Company’s ‘04 Composition. Camps Restaurant at
Angels Camp piqued appetites with its
Firecracker Salmon nestled between Chatom
Winery’s ’06 Sauvignon Blanc and Ironstone’s
’06 Reserve Chardonnay.
On the other end of the
tasting wheel ,Chef Kevin Casey of Creekside
Dining in Bear Valley melded his Chilean
Empanadas and Cilantro Tomato Coulis with Vina
Moda’s ’06 Syrah and Twisted Oaks ’06 Spaniard.
Another robust presentation was Noto’s Ravioli
di Fungi with Portabella, Spinach, and Roasted
Garlic simmering alongside Zucca’s ’06 Barbera
and Chatom’s ’04 Merlot. In the same "tradizioni"
Tanner Vineyard’s Wine Club brought the "home
cooking" concept to the Celebration with their
do-it-yourself ravioli demonstration. Between
munching on Bistro 49’s colorful Foccacia
breads and savoring Chef David Boothe of
Ground’s chicken stuffed with brie and
asparagus participants could enjoy wine
industry exhibits such as Wayne Wood’s Organic
Products or Lafitte Corks featuring a four-foot
wine bottle constructed from, what else, corks?
Across the way Umpqua
Bank cheered celebrants with its sign that
advised "Sip, Sample, Savor. Bank like you
live." Local artisans added to the excitement
with offerings such as Sentimental Silver’s
jewelry fashioned from antique silverware or
"Slumped Bottles" by Jan Mangili. Quyle Kiln
Pottery added sparkle with its glazed ceramics.
Calaveras Photography, Fireside Laser Arts, and
Deezine Art shared their
striking works. The most unusual offering was
found in the Calaveras Grown booth: 100% Pure
Gold Rush Llama Poop. Men, women, and beasts
alike contributed to the success of this event.
For those who could
drag themselves away from the wine and
delicacies, four seminars were given. Judy
Creighton told us that cheese is one of the
four oldest foods in the world. Bread, beer,
and wine complete the list. She advised us to
avoid serving heavily oaked wine or wines that
have descriptors such as "tobacco" or
"charcoal" with one’s favorite cheese. Mike
Kristoff and Aimee Reed from Camp’s at Green
Horn Creek entertained attendees with a lively
glassware presentation. They told us that the
optimum pour is one-third of the glass for
white wine and one-third to one- half for red
wine.
Steve Collum provided
guidance to backyard wine grape growers. Steve
outlined the basic requirements for a small
vine-yard, chemical needs, cost estimates,
water
management, and varmint
control. Steve’s most effective and highly
amusing recommendation for gopher control is a
"22" and a six-pack. Lastly, Tom Bender, expert
wine steward for O’Brien’s Market and
instructor at Columbia College presented an
Aroma Appreciation 101. After discussing the
importance of and contributing factors to the
distinctive "bouquet" of a wine, Tom challenged
the audience to measure their Aroma IQ by
inhaling identified fragrances from two dozen
sample glasses and then proceeding to the test
table to sniff and correctly categorize the
wines that awaited. Lively discussions and fun
were the rule for all.
Participants, named and
unnamed, volunteers, and attendees alike
declared the 2009 Calaveras Winegrape & Gourmet
Celebration a success. They applauded the
openness of the venue, the pairing of exotic
foods with sumptuous wines, the pertinent and
lively seminars, and the variety of intriguing
goods.
The key to the
Celebrations success was the word "pairing".
The coming together, the convergence, of event
organizers, of wine lovers and food lovers, of
artists and teachers who wanted to share their
expertise with those who wanted to learn; of
food industry and wine industry folk who wanted
to give their time and handwork, united the
many pieces of the kaleidoscope and shaped a
luminous, vibrant event that was
enjoyed by all. APRIL09
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The
Wine Decision Process for Men
I read an
interesting article recently that reviewed
the "Industry", the wine industry, that is. The
article discussed wine demographics and how the
wine industry should broaden its market to
reach beyond core consumers. The part of the
article that caught my attention concerned
gender preferences.
According to the
article, although women below 30 tend to drink
more beer, American women ages 30 and up choose
wine as their preferred drink. Nearly 50% of
all women aged 30 to 49 say they most often
drink wine; women aged 50 to 64 drink wine 55%
of the time and women 65 and older drink wine
62% of the time
Interesting statistics,
but what really stood out is that less than 20%
of men report wine as their preferred alcoholic
beverage. It’s not a real surprise that younger
men would be less likely to choose wine but it
was surprising that men, as a whole, were much
more unlikely to drink wine than women were.
Yes, there are cultural issues such as beer and
football, guys getting together, etc, but one
key reason seems to be that the wine industry
intimidates its customers. Wine seems to be
about status. Many men never feel they know
enough about wine nor have enough confidence to
choose a wine in a social situation. They have
a fear of loosing face or being embarrassed by
making the "wrong" choice. So, men tend to
choose beer and liquor brands that make them
look "cool" and score high in the fun factor
(TV commercials, anyone?).
This column hopes to ease the wine decision
process for men. Here’s the setting…you’re in a
restaurant with friends; the waiter brings the
wine list, and you are given the honor of
ordering wine for dinner. You take the
leather-bound wine "tome" from the waiter and
realize there are no less than 100 different
wines listed. You see white wines, red wines,
roses, dry, sweet, different brands, different
regions, different varietals, and on and on.
What to do? What if you
choose the wrong wine? It’s easy to be
intimidated and confused. Here are a few tips:
1) The first thing to
do is ask your friends what kind of wine they
prefer.
2) If the restaurant
has sommeliers (a fancy name for a wine
steward) don’t be afraid to ask him or her for
a recommendation. They know about the wines
being served and are there to help you.
3) The sommelier will
make a recommendation but don’t feel that you
have to agree. Know your budget. If the
suggested wine is more than you want to spend,
ask for a recommendation in your price range.
4) Decide and order the
wine.
5) The waiter or
sommelier will show you the wine bottle. Make
sure it’s the one you ordered.
6) The bottle will be opened and you will be
given the cork to examine. Look at the inside
end of the cork. Is it moist and intact? A dry
or cracked cork may indicate the wine was not
properly stored. You can smell the cork to
detect any off odors but it’s not necessary. If
the cork is dry or cracked or if there is an
off odor, don’t be afraid to send the bottle
back.
7) If the cork passes, taste the wine. You will
be given a small amount to try before the wine
is served to the rest of your party. Swirl the
wine to open up the aromas and flavors. Next
smell the wine and then taste. Check for off
flavors and smells. Usually, the wine is fine
but once in awhile a bottle is bad.
8) If you’re not sure if the wine is good, ask
the server what he or she thinks. They may try
it or, in most cases, they will just replace
the wine.
9) If
all is good, let the server fill the
glasses-ladies first, yours last. Enjoy the
wine.
10)
You can also choose wines from wineries you
know or have heard about.
11)
Another safe play is to order the house wine.
Normally there will be a white and a red to
choose from.
12)
One last tip, you don’t have to stick to the
old rule "white wine with fish and chicken, red
wine with red meat". Usually, white wines pair
better with lighter foods and reds with heavier
foods but it’s not critical.
Guys,
I hope that helps. Remember this: unless
someone in your group is a real wine aficionado
(they will probably want to order the wine
anyway), your group is just as intimidated as
you are, so any decision you make is going to
be fine. A good standby is to go with a
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Dry Riesling for
a white and a Pinot Noir or Zinfandel for a red
as these wines tend to go with just about
everything.
Until next time,
Gary and Sue. Send us your comments,
favorite recipes and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to
us c/o Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter
Creek, CA 95685. "From wine what sudden
friendship springs!" - John Gay "The Squire and
the Cur," 'Fables' Back to Top
The
Alicante Bouschet Story
Welcome fellow Grape Geeks and Wine Lovers, You
are invited to join with us as we explore the
Sierra Foothills in search of one of the
underdogs of the grape and wine
industry. Similar to guards and tackles who are
the backbone of a football team and help make
the quarterback and wide receivers look good,
so too do some grape varietals support and
contribute to the color and excitement of their
less "Rubired" cousins. The Alicante Bouschet
grape is one of these under appreciated team
members.
The
Alicante Bouschet story (Oh goody, wait just
a moment, please, while I rearrange my blankie
and snuggle up with Teddy) begins in 1824.
If you have been consistent readers of the
column, you will recall that the great majority
of wine grapes when crushed produce clear
juice. No one wants to drink only white wine.
In an
effort to liven things up, Louis Bouschet de
Bernard crossed the most widely planted grape
(Don’t tell me. It was also color challenged,
right?) in France at that
time, Aramon, with
an ancient red-juiced vinifera variety,
Teinturier du Cher. Mr. Bouschet named the
result of his labor Petit Bouschet. In 1866
Louis’s son, Henri, followed his father’s lead
by crossing Grenache and Petit Bouschet to
create Alicante Bouschet. (Hmm, this is
beginning to sound interesting and sumptuous.
Yet, all that discussion of crossing makes me
wonder. Hush now; he’s giving me the look.) The
word "Teinturier" literally translates as
"dyer" and explains the most common use of
Alicante Bouschet by the wine industry. It is
cultivated mainly to add color to wines that
are made from varieties that produce lighter
colored juice.
Alicante Bouschet is widely planted in southern
France and in North Africa. It was very popular
in the Central Valley of California during
Prohibition (for use by home winemakers, I’m
sure. Of course, Elliot Ness was quite busy
chasing after Al Capone, so I could see a few
liters weaseling their way out of the trunk of
a ’32 Plymouth and onto the dinner table of
someone not lucky enough to have his own
vineyard and barrels. If we ferment it, they
will come).
Alicante Bouschet is a very productive vine
that can produce as much as 12 tons per acre of
fruit (That’s every grower’s fantasy, you know,
since they are paid by the ton
for the grapes.) In addition to its red flesh
and juice, the Alicante grape has thick and
tough skins. The grape shipped well and its
intense color could stand dilution with water
and sugar (Yuck, nasty words for today’s
impeccable vintner and demanding wine
connoisseur.) Production could more than
double the normal wine gallonage per ton of
grapes. Not surprisingly, plantings in
California reached nearly 30,000 acres by the
1940’s but have since declined to less than
5,000 acres.
Wine produced solely from Alicante Bouschet
grapes can be tricky. Sometimes the wine will
lack distinction in character and have a
texture that is somewhat coarse. This grape is
not one for the beginning winemaker. Although
color is its main asset, unless skillfully
handled during the entire process, Alicante
Bouschet wine can be unstable, browning, and
precipitating easily.
Now that you have been cautioned about the
potential hazards of buying your Alicante
Bouschet wine from moonshiners and amateurs,
where does one go to taste and purchase a
superior product? Well, you merely need to hop
into your car and drive over to Cooper
Vineyards in The Shenandoah Valley region of
Amador County.
Their
2005 Alicante Bouschet took a Gold Medal from
the California State Fair, a Gold Medal from
the Amador County Fair, and a Bronze Medal from
the El Dorado County Fair. Not bad for a grape
that started out as a filler for more popular
fruit.
That
is also not bad for one of our Sierra foothills
neighbors. Hats off and glasses raised to
Cooper Vineyards. Until next time, Gary and
Sue. Send us your comments, favorite
recipes and favorite stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685. "Who loves not wine, women, and song,
remains a fool his whole life long!" Johann
Heinrich Voss Back to Top
2008 From
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