by Lorri | Apr 6, 2011 | UnCorked
Last week I wrote about which wines to pair with takeout burgers, Mexican and Italian foods.
This week the focus is on the more exotic flavors of Asian, Indian and Thai.
Each cuisine poses particular challenges for wine pairing, but finding the right match isn’t impossible.
For Asian dishes and sushi accented with the hallmark flavors of wasabi, soy sauce and vinegar, it’s important to find a wine that doesn’t compete. Consider Champagne, Riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, gewurztraminer, pinot noir or a custom-made sushi wine.
THE VALUE
- 2009 Hess Select Chardonnay, California (about $13 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2009 Firesteed Riesling, Oregon (about $19 retail)
It’s not that a wine can’t match the spicy tastes of Indian food and curry, but generally the food simply overwhelms the wine. However, not all Indian dishes are fiery hot and many have differing degrees of spiciness. For milder dishes consider sauvignon blanc, viognier and roses but for hotter dishes riper, more full-bodied wines similar to gewurztraminer make the match-up.
THE VALUE
- 2009 Pine Ridge Winery Viognier/Chenin Blanc, California (about $14 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2007 Halleck Vineyard Gewurztraminer, California (about $28 retail)
Thai food is generally hot but the dominant flavors — ginger, lime, lemongrass and coriander — are all surprisingly wine-friendly. Look for wines with high acidity to tackle the spiciness, sparkling to cut through the fat of tempura and avoid tannin at all cost. Ideal match-ups are muscadet, sauvignon blanc, verdelho, chardonnay and albarino.
THE VALUE
- 2008 Root One Chardonnay, Chile (about $12 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2008 Argyle Willamette Valley Chardonnay, Oregon (about $20 retail)
by Lorri | Mar 30, 2011 | UnCorked
With our hurried lifestyles, many of us turn to takeout for dinner during the week. But just because it’s a Chinese night doesn’t mean you have to settle for soda or beer. Finding the right wine to open once you get home with those ever popular “to-go” dinners can make a drive-through meal feel like sit-down dining.
This week features pairings for burgers, Mexican and Italian. Next week we’ll cover Asian, Indian and Thai.
Burgers are an easy pairup with robust reds. It’s not just the beef that harmonizes but the array of cheeses ranging from classic American to the gourmet offerings of blue, Stilton or havarti. Choosing a zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon or malbec over lighter styles allows the wines an opportunity to complement and not compete.
THE VALUE
- 2008 Gnarly Head Zinfandel, California 9 (about $14 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2009 Layer Cake Malbec, Australia (about $22 retail)
There are plenty of matches that work well with the spicy, bold flavors of Mexican dishes. Tacos and burritos can be filled with practically any meat, fish or vegetable, all allowing for great versatility and wine pairing. Seafood: Pinot grigio, Riesling or sauvignon blanc. Meat: Pinot noir, sangiovese or malbec. Chicken: Pinot noir, merlot or sangiovese
THE VALUE
- 2008 Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo, Chile (about $12 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2008 Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir, California (about $28 retail)
Consider the meat and sauce when it comes to paring Italian dishes and pizza with wine. For hearty red sauces or meat lovers’ pizza topped with Canadian bacon, sausage, or beef, look for more hearty robust reds such as Barbera, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz or sangiovese. For light sauces, vegetarian or seafood toppings stay with mediumbodied styles of chardonnay, pinot noir or sauvignon blanc.
THE VALUE
- 2009 Jacob’s Creek Shiraz, Australia (about $9 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2009 Monkey Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand (about $20 retail)
by Lorri | Mar 23, 2011 | UnCorked
If you want to know about a product before purchasing, it seems simple enough, just read the label.
At least it should seem simple considering many of us have become adept at deciphering labels of every other product on the retail shelf, checking calorie, fat and fiber content and ingredients. But when it comes to wine, particularly when you just want to know how the wine will taste, it isn’t that simple.
The required information on the label really doesn’t give us much useful information other than alcohol content, size of the bottle (which is rather obvious) and the importer’s address, which is helpful only if you intend to send them a letter. So where does it leave the consumer as we search out the actual taste of a wine?
Front labels generally contain strictly regulated, straightforward information (even the size of the type is regulated) and include the country of origin, grape variety, the name of the winery and alcohol content.
To learn more, take a quick look at the back label. In addition to the required government warnings about wine consumption during pregnancy, machinery use and overall health, you may be surprised how many producers are genuinely interested in telling you a little more. It can vary from background about the vineyard, vintage conditions to even food pairing advice. Look for labels that describe the level of sweetness and flavors inside the bottle.
But if you come across a bottle that doesn’t contain any of this information, there are clues to taste.
First, familiarize yourself with a few key grapes and regions.
Grapes, like apples and oranges, excel in certain growing regions of the world. It’s not often you see oranges growing in Maine, the same is true for cabernet sauvignon in Germany. Put to memory a few of the benchmark regions such as New Zealand sauvignon blanc, California zinfandel, Bordeaux and Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, Italian pinot grigio, Burgundy pinot noir and German Riesling.
If you’re seeking sweet or dry wines, there are clues here, too. Other than dessert wines, ports, sauternes, sherry and a few others, most table wines are dry. If you are looking for slightly sweet wines look for German Rieslings, American white zinfandel and some French gewurztraminers.
So armed with a little knowledge, buying a bottle doesn’t have to be a game of taste roulette.
by Lorri | Mar 16, 2011 | UnCorked
Sangiovese (san-joh-VAYzeh) is one of the world’s illustrious and most enduring grapes. It achieves its greatness in the soils of Italy, where it has been known for centuries as the Blood of Jove (Jupiter).
If you are not familiar with this grape, you are not alone. One reason could be because of the confusing European practice of naming wines not for the grape from which it is made, but from the area where it is produced — in this case, the Chianti region of Tuscany.
When most people think of Chianti they have visions of the raffia-covered bottle that used to sit on almost every Italian restaurant table in the world. Made to be a bulk inexpensive wine, these light, thin, austere and astringent wines usually ranged somewhere between mediocre and dreadful.
For many years the grape was grown either haphazardly in random vineyards or for a large-scale production with cooperatives.
Today many Italian producers have placed emphasis on growing Sangiovese with care, making it at its best brilliantly concentrated with spiced plum, black cherry and an integrated spicy mellowness. Simply said — a beautiful wine.
THE VALUES
- 2007 Cecchi Bonizio Sangiovese, Italy (about $14 retail)
- 2009 Bolla Chianti, Italy (about $12 retail)
- 2009 Rocca Chianti Rubizzo Sangiovese, Italy (about $18 retail)
- 2009 Bella Sera Chianti, Italy (about $10 retail)
THE SPLURGES
- 2008 Da Vinci Chianti Riserva, Italy (about $30 retail)
- 2008 Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva, Italy (about $23 retail)
- 2008 Santa Margherita Chianti, Italy (about $42 retail)
- 2005 Castello D’Albola Chianti Classico, Italy (about $26 retail)
by Lorri | Mar 9, 2011 | Annual Reviews
During the past six years, this column has touched on an expansive collection of topics — food and wine pairing, the cork debate, the screw-cap deliberation and just simple, basic ideas for wine lovers. My aim has always been to offer honest recommendations of wines available in Arkansas.
But possibly more than the specific recommendations, I hope this column makes wine — an often pretentious and confusing subject — more relaxed and easier to understand.
This past year I have received an overwhelming amount of feedback, questions and ideas — please keep the suggestions coming!
As a way of saying thank you for reading Uncorked I would like to offer a complete list of the past year’s Value and Splurge wines. It’s easy to keep on your personal computer or print for quick and easy reference. To request a copy, Contact Me.
A few 2010 favorites:
THE VALUES
- 2007 Banfi Chianti Classico, Italy (about $15 retail)
- 2007 Tamas Double Decker Red, California (about $9 retail)
- 2008 Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile (about $13 retail)
- 2007 Gnarly Head Cellars Zinfandel, California (about $14 retail)
- 2009 La Vieille Ferme Rhone Rose, France (about $11 retail)
- 2009 Bodega Norton Rosado, Argentina (about $13 retail)
- 2007 Raimondo Family Winery Tempranillo, California/Arkansas (about $16 retail)
- 2009 Whitehall Lane Sauvignon Blanc, California (about $16 retail)
THE SPLURGES
- 2007 Olivier Leflaive Chablis Les Deux Rives, France (about $29 retail)
- 2008 Villa Maria Estate Private Bin Pinot Noir, New Zealand (about $28 retail)
- 2009 Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand (about $24 retail)
- 2008 Argyle Willamette Valley Chardonnay, Oregon (about $20 retail)
- 2008 Presqu’ile Winery Pinot Noir, California (about $45 retail)
- 2008 Presqu’ile Winery Chardonnay, California (about $35 retail)
- 2006 Robert Mondavi Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, California (about $50 retail)
You can download the UnCorked | 2010 Wine Review by clicking the download button below.
Download
by Lorri | Mar 2, 2011 | UnCorked
I am always looking for interesting ideas for Uncorked and this past week my inspiration light bulb came while watching the Discovery channel show MythBusters with my children. It had me thinking of the many questions surrounding the mounds of contradictory advice in the wine world. As with many myths, some are handed down from experts, some are tradition, and sadly, most are woven in by pseudo experts. So MythBuster style, here are some wine myths and my take on whether they are confirmed, plausible or busted.
Wines should be served in distinct glassware.
Wine professionals will often taste hundreds of wines side by side. During my humble 10 years on judging panels, my “tasting” glass continues to be the International Standards Organization (ISO) glass. The glass was developed to strict specifications to provide the best presentation for the wine in terms of wine surface to air ratio, among other things.
At most events we use a single glass through whites, reds, ports and sweets. For most, it is the detergent used for washing the glass that is more distracting than the traces of the previous wines. That being said, professional tasters are not having an experience of drinking wine over a lovely meal where the rows of glasses for several courses offer a picture-perfect dining encounter. Master of wine and author Jancis Robinson says, “The practicalities of having a set of the perfect glasses for each wine type defeat me and my cupboard space. The main thing is have a clear glass that is as thick as possible with a bowl on the stem that goes in towards the rim so that you can swirl to release aromas without losing either wine or vapor.”
- Plausible, in the sense that a wine glass will offer more enjoyment than say, a paper cup.
You must always smell the cork when the waiter hands it to you in order to determine the wine’s quality.
The purpose of the waiter offering the cork is so the consumer can check to see if the cork is broken or if there is mold present. The cork’s smell does not indicate the quality of the wine or if it has been tainted by the cork. The only way of confirming if the wine is clean is by tasting.
Wine should be decanted before it is served.
Professor Emile Peynaud (1912-2004), noted scientist, taster and teacher, argued that oxygen coming in contact with a sound wine does more harm than good. His theory was that the longer the wine was aerated during decanting the more diffuse its aromas and less marked its sensory attributes. He advised to only decant wines with sediment and only just before serving. This theory is easily proved in fragile, fully developed 20- to 30-year-old wines. Many of these wines are so delicate they can only withstand minutes in a glass before giving in to the negative impact of aeration, which is oxidation.
- Busted, with the exception of wines with sediment.
The quality of a wine can be judged by the “legs” or “tears.”
The “legs” or “tears” are the viscous streams that run down the inside of the glass. If you swirl the glass, the “legs” are more noticeable. More pronounced legs do not indicate quality, only a higher amount of alcohol.
You should age all red wines.
By no means does every wine improve with age. As much as 98 percent of still wines (those excluding sparkling and fortified) are produced to be consumed within a few years. Confusion around this myth is why many people are sadly disappointed when they open saved bottles only to find that the wine has turned to vinegar.
