When Wine Grows Up

Here's a set of questions that I hear pretty often:

What is the difference between an aged wine and one that's been made to drink upon release?
If they taste the same, why should I bother with a wine that isn't ready in the first place?
Why should I wait ten or even twenty years or more until the wine that I've stored is "ready"?
Worse yet, why should I go out and spend a fortune on a wine that someone else has stored for all of these years?

The answers to these questions are part of one of the guiding principles of VINUCATION that we have held since the inception of the company in 2000:

There is a difference in taste between a young, ready-to-go wine and a wine that needs time to reach its maturity. The difference, very simply, is in the levels of flavor. Young wines, no matter how soft or approachable, will always be more "monolithic" in their taste or "flavor profile". Mature wines, given that the quality level is the same as that of the young wine, will always have many more layers of flavor. If you plan properly, you won't be waiting for the wine to mature per se, as you will always have mature wine to drink once you make the effort to start your cellar.

It's true that most people in this country, even those who drink wine on a regular basis, will never get the chance to drink a wine that was meant for aging in the first place and then drink it at the peak of maturity. This is true because most people simply run to the liquor store on their way home from work. This can be avoided, even if one does not have a great deal of money. In France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, among other wine-bibbing parts of the world, much of the middle class has at least a small collection of wine down in some dark, dirty hole (often a root cellar) that is regularly replenished. Each family, in this way, is able to open a bottle or two with each meal, or at least with a few good meals during the week.

How does one get started?

Talk to you soon...

WWJD? What Would Jesus Drink?

Today's Post just happens to be the wine of the day as well. Enjoy!

VIN SANTO

The "holy wine of Tuscany" is capable of being one of the world's great sweet wines. The wine is made with the ancient Mesopotamian method of drying grapes on beds of reeds before the press, and is fermented and aged in small sealed barrels known as caratelli for as much as seven or eight years.

Vin Santo is very sweet, but, when made correctly, has a high level of acidity to balance the sweetness, and is a concentrated wine with great length. Vin Santo is made in several DOCs, one of which is Bianco dell’Empolese.

BIANCO DELL’EMPOLESE (DOC)

Although wine has always been produced in the hills of this industrious town along the Arno river, Bianco dell'Empolese is one of the more recent white Tuscan DOC wines. The local winemaking tradition goes back to the times of the Medici family (who had one of their most important villas built at Cerreto Guidi), and continues today with great dedication, which ultimately resulted in the creation of the DOC in 1989. Both the number of producers and its renown has grown in the last couple of generations. The denomination does not include only white wine, but also Vin Santo. Grape varietals used in this DOC are limited to Malvasia and Trebbiano, while in some other DOC’s where Vin Santo is made, Grechetto may also be used.

FATTORIA MONTELLORI

One of the best producers in the region, Montellori has earned its reputation for producing “Supertuscans”, but their attention to detail and observance of the most rigorous production methods has kept them in good standing for years, and been made evident in their Vin Santo Bianco dell’Empolese.

Serve chilled with a good dry pastry like apple tart!

Love and Wine The Vinucator

Old World versus New World

You've heard about it before: the Old World versus New World debate on wine. I must admit, it is one of the reasons for the existence of VINUCATION. Below, you will find a comparison of Bordeaux versus California, but this is just a simple example that roughly illustrates some of the trends in the two viticultural worlds. When I think about it, I probably should have begun this blog with such a discussion, simply by virtue of the fact that it is such an important issue, but that's alright. We'll be talking a lot down the road about this sort of thing.

I will tell you: I do believe every wine has its place. If a wine is well made, we should drink it, whether it be a five-dollar Chardonnay from China or a five-hundred-dollar bottle of Burgundy. The trick is to know when, where, and with what. Some wines are made as beverages, and some are so much better with food than without, that it is pure silliness to drink them unaccompanied simply because of the fact that you are not tasting the wine at its most delicious. The fact is, so many wines from the New World are made as beverages, that this is a rule that you can look toward in determining how to drink your wine. Obviously this rule is mutable, and may change completely one day, but because the "New World" by definition does not have a long-standing deeply-ingrained culinary tradition, as does the "Old World" - French cuisine; Italian cuisine; Spanish cuisine - and does not have the long-standing viticultural tradition, there is not yet a natural symbiosis between the wine and the food in the New World. It will come in time, but it may take several hundred years.

I will continue this with you a little later. Until then, think about each of these comparisons and try to remember any recent wines that you've had which prove the premise.

CALIFORNIA	BORDEAUX
Tend toward interventionist winemaking	Tend toward laissez-faire winemaking
More high technology	More artisanally-produced wines
Fruitier	Earthier
Round	Angular
Rich in oakey aromas	Allows character of grape to show more
Simpler, distinct, yet often profound flavors	More complex; more subtle flavors
Less versatile with food	More versatile with food
Better alone	Generally not as good alone
More expensive here than in California	Sometimes cheaper here than in France
Cult wines	Slow, steady price increase
More single-varietal oriented	Blend of up to five varietals more common
No concept of terroir	Fairly well-formulated concept of terroir

Nota Bene:

Please remember that some of these comparisons are subjective in nature, and are, therefore, left to the taster to determine.

Prost!

The Vinucator

Just A Few Words From Some Folks Who Know

A hard drinker, being at table, was offered grapes at dessert. 'Thank you,' said he, pushing the dish away from him, 'but I am not in the habit of taking my wine in pills.'

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

I think wealth has lost much of its value, if it have not wine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved.

Medieval German saying


If the world's leaders would simply discuss things over a bottle of good wine, much of the trouble that plagues us all would never come to pass in the first place.

The Vinucator

Sensational Spigolo Satisfies Sophisticates; Seeks Sommelier

SPIGOLO

Glass Half Full: Food, Service, Detail-orientation
Glass Half Empty: Wine List

What a great meal we had last night at Spigolo, the decidedly too-crowded UES (Upper East Side for non-NYC folk) Italian boite. The young, beautiful owners, Heather and Scott, with the old-fashioned New York Italian name (Fratangelo) and staff were warm, charming, welcoming, attentive, and fully concerned with making the diners' experience excellent. What can be said about the food? The salmon tartare with a little lemon compote and cucumber relish was delicate and lively, the grilled baby octopus tender and deliciously smoky, the duck-liver and english pea risotto... Help! What a stunner! We paired that with a little Moscato d'Asti, a fantastic combination, but we could have eaten it with a glass of filthy water from the Gowanus Canal, and it still would have been one of the most sublime dishes you could ever hope to have! What a treat indeed! I could go on in general about the food at Spigolo, but its reputation for food is quite well-known. Quite simply, it is excellent to the point of being flawless in its category, refined-yet-somehow-down-home fare. Go there! Drool! Eat!

I hate to have a nit to pick at Spigolo, because I was so impressed with the food and the effort put forth by all concerned, but if there is a nit to pick, it's the fact that the wine-list needs attention.

Big surprise, right? I train sommeliers and put together restaurant wine lists, among other things. Could I be looking for a gig? I'll confess: sure. My job is to make your wine/life experience better, so if I see a need...

There were some interesting wine selections, and of course we had quite a few of them, including Schiopetto's Pinot Bianco and the lovely "il Repertorio" Aglianico, but overall, the list needs better structure and balance, and a focus on more independent artisan vintners. There were a few too many big-production wines, and it seemed as if the selection might sometimes be left up to the discretion of the distributors who supply Spigolo, as opposed to the owners or the restaurant's Sommelier... Wait! As far as I could tell, there was no official sommelier. At least one was not introduced as such. Too bad. That is needed there. In lieu of hiring a full-time in-house sommelier however, they at least should get someone in to rework the list, train the staff on the wines, and promote a wine and food-pairing notion in general. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I have been to a restaurant where I have the impression that the restaurateurs themselves are so focused on the food that they have no time to deal with the wine. Why should they? Their focus and passion is the food. On the other hand, why not have a sommelier or an outside consultant come in from time to time? I'll tell you why...

Until they quadruple the space, make people eat their meal in three minutes flat, or shrink people to the size of ants, there is no need to have another reason for people to go to Spigolo. The food is too good, and I am sure that they are booked all the time, so for the owners, the need to spend time and money improving the wine component of the restaurant may seem superfluous. I understand that. I really do. At the same time, there are so many great restaurants in New York that do manage to have great food, great service, and a great wine experience at the table, that the legacy of Spigolo could be threatened a bit. In fifty years (or whenever) when Spigolo is no longer, will its memory stand out in the sea of the New York restaurants that once were, or will it simply be forgotten because there will be yet another great restaurant that will have taken its place in The City? I would suggest that they will have a better chance of both operating for a longer period of time, and have a better chance of being remembered after they are gone if they do hire me! Just kidding!
...or am I?

At any rate, raise a glass to Spigolo.! Thank you so much for last night Heather and Scott. I'll be back (if you let me after you read this).

Love and Wine to all!

The Vinucator

Look For The Restaurant Review Of Spigolo

Look here for The Vinucator's review of "Spigolo" (81st St. and 2nd Ave., Manhattan) and its wine list, which will be up by tomorrow.

Buon Appetito!

The Vinucator

Homogenization Isn't Just for Milk Anymore

Let's talk today about the homogenization of wine, using the 2005 vintage from Bordeaux as an example.

I and hundreds of other wine tradespeople are invited every year to a tasting organized by many of the producers in Bordeaux who happen to own Grand Cru vineyards. The Grand Cru designation itself in Bordeaux is based on a false premise, but that is a subject for another blog post. I guarantee I'll get to it another day.

The name of the group is The "Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux", and their most noble and right-minded objective is to do the best they can to promote wines from the region, thereby assuring the Bordelais, particularly those in the Union, a good living. There is nothing wrong with this in the least, and we should all wish them well.

There is one thing, though, about which we should all be aware: the price of Bordeaux rarely goes down or remains the same, even though the quality (like the quality of ALL wines) fluctuates from year to year. The funniest part about the 2005 vintage though, is that by all accounts, it is one of the "best vintages ever in Bordeaux". What does this mean? Well, what it seems to mean to Robert Parker and others is that the wine is rich, forward, "big-shouldered", delicious young, has all of its elements (acid, tannin, fruit, etc...) in balance, and will age well. Sounds great, doesn't it?! Sure it does!

There's a problem though: With few exceptions, all the wines from the 2005 vintage in Bordeaux taste the same, be they from St. Julien, St. Estephe, St. Emilion, or Margaux. Normally, each of these regions has a particular taste profile that even a mildly-experienced taster is able to distinguish. In other words, for example, the comparatively feminine Margaux should taste different from the comparatively masculine St. Julien. Not in 2005. In part, this can be attributed to what we know about changes in wine-making, and, particularly prevalent in Bordeaux, the so-called Parkerization of wine, and the influence of consulting oenologist Michel Rolland. Part of the fact that the 2005 Bordeaux taste the same though, is NOT their fault, no matter how much some people would like to blame them. It was the "fault" of the good weather and the consequent ease with which producers were able to make a wine that has all of the aforementioned qualities, even if it meant abandoning the nature of the "terroir". These producers, though, could have maintained the character of their "Place" (note the capital "P"), by NOT using the techniques advocated by Rolland and others. The combination of that AND the weather was just too much. I, for one, would like to have a choice in wine, and do not always want to drink a big, rich, "hedonistic" wine. Different wines are needed for different foods and different moods, and a disservice is done to the wine consumer by trying to follow what the vintners think the market is after, rather than stick to their traditions, and, first and foremost, make the wine they like and which has been the expression of their land for generations. In this way, the French Revolution and the democratization of wine was a bad thing. At least the aristocracy and the Church did not need to appeal to the masses, and only made wine for their own enjoyment, consequently focusing all of their attention on producing the best GRAPES possible, and letting the land speak through the wine. One of the good things about the French Revolution, on the other hand, is that now one can look all over the place for good wine. That is what we should do.

What will ultimately happen for Bordeaux, of course, is that people will look elsewhere for variety when they want a Bordeaux-esque wine, but don't want to pay the price. The Languedoc and certain areas of Spain and Italy come to mind immediately. Also, people will get smart and buy other vintages of Bordeaux which better represent the specific character of each sub-region, and at a more palatable price.

That, at least, is what The Vinucator recommends.

Love and Wine.

Salud!

The Vinucator

In The Beginning

Here it finally is: the Blog you have all been pestering me to create! I hope that you will enjoy it, and that we create legions of fans!

We will be talking about everything that we do in the classes: wine geology, geography, viticulture, grape varietals, and everything else you can think of concerning wine. You will all be able to share my thoughts on other wine writers like Robert Parker, Steven Tanzer, and all of the other VinsinuatorsTM out there! In addition, I will tell you where I'm going, what I'm tasting, and whether or not it will be worth it for you to do so as well. As the construction of the VINUCATIONTM website proceeds, you will have a lot more to look at, learn, and enjoy!

I will give you a rundown of my recent trip to Burgundy, the upcoming Brazilian wine-tasting, and the German wine dinner. I will rail against journalistic palaver ("it smells like raspberries, cherries, and a hint of hogwash"), and other mis-informed scribble. I look forward to sharing with you, and to have you share your insights with me.

Get Vinucated!

Yours in Wine,

The Vinucator