The Good Stuff

Grappa

8/29/2013

Remember the post about must and pomace? Well, another historical use for the leftovers from winemaking has been the making of grappa (and brandy, but that’s another story.) Grappa is a distilled spirit (generally about 35-40% alcohol) made from grape pomace. Its style, flavor, and quality will depend on the grapes from which it is made. To be labeled a true grappa in Europe, it must be produced in Italy or the Italian speaking area of Switzerland, be made from grape pomace, and have no additional water or other ingredients added during distillation or fermentation. The distillation occurring on the solid pomace means that higher levels of methanol are created, which must then be removed (methanol is dangerous for humans to consume- and you know the old stories about moonshine making people go blind? That’s why! Too much methanol!) It's a complex process- I'm gonna say "don't try this at home."

There are 4 generally recognized categories of grappa: young, cask-conditioned (aged in oak,) aromatic (distilled from aromatic grapes like muscat,) and aromatized (flavor is added after distillation.)

It is typically drunk after a meal, either as a nice cold shot, or as an addition to espresso. E molto Italiano!

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Vocab- Grape Must and Pomace!

8/22/2013

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OK, so this one's a bit of a twofer.
Grape Must is what winemakers and people in the biz call crushed up grapes at the beginning of the winemaking process. It’s the juice, skins, and seeds, all mashed up together.
Pomace (pronounced more like pumice- like the stone) is what’s left after the juice is pressed out. It is the solid stuff left over- skins, seeds, and pressed out fleshy bits. Mmm. It is considered a waste product though sometimes the seeds are used for grapeseed oil (I have a chapstick made from wine grape seeds,) or the whole thing is put back onto the vineyard floor as compost. Sometimes farmers will feed it to their livestock (it has lots of sugar left over, so it’s a good fattener…) And, I just learned that some people are grinding it up and using it as a gluten free flour option! Cabernet Sauvignon Brownies? Sign me up!

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Is Organic Better?

8/15/2013

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We see lots and lots of things increasingly being labeled as organic. But, what can we infer from this? Is Organic better?

In today’s world, it’s a good idea for us to take better care of the planet. With global warming being a significant threat to agriculture, rising oceans, the extinction of sensitive species, etc, we need to look at what we can do. As a consequence, the words “organic” and “sustainable” get thrown around a lot. Many (I dare say the vast majority) of vineyards are working toward sustainability, using fewer and gentler chemicals on their crops, monitoring water and fuel usage, and trying to increase the effectiveness of their fertilization programs to avoid water contamination. Sustainability, though less easily put into a box than organic, is easier to achieve. In a nutshell, Organic certification means you cannot use synthetic pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers, and this can be a major limitation. It does eliminate harsh chemicals, which keeps the water supply purer. It avoids some contamination of beneficial plants, insects, and animals that might come in contact with it, and also doesn’t leave harsh chemicals in the soil for generations. However it doesn’t necessarily always equal a lower environmental impact. In areas where diseases are a common problem (usually areas with more moisture in the air and more rainfall,) organic farmers must use far more of the organic sprays and pesticides than their sustainable counterparts, because, as a generalization, the organic versions aren’t as effective. This means not only are they putting more chemicals (even if they’re less harsh) into the vineyard, they’re also using more fuel and spending more money making multiple sprays on the crops. Some diseases and pests can also build a tolerance to sprays, and as there are far fewer organic approved pesticides, growers can sometimes back themselves into a corner as their sprays become less and less effective. This is not smart environmentally OR financially.

If you are a grower in a dry, low-disease prone area, then organic may be a viable, smart option for you. Even if you don’t take the many, many steps toward actual organic certification (it’s a PROCESS,) you can consider using organic approved pesticides because you won’t have many sprays to do in a season (maybe not any, for certain diseases and pests.)

You might be wondering what this means for you as a consumer of wine. Ideally, the answer is “not much.” However, I think we’ve all fallen victim to the cleverness of organic marketing. We have grown to associate organic with higher quality. This is not necessarily true with wine. It’s not false, but not unequivocally true. If you see a wine labeled “Organic,” think about where it was made. Did it come from Oregon? Austria, Washington, California (and if so, which part? Mendocino? Lodi?) Think about what you know of the region. Is it warm and dry? Is it cool and moist? The wines from warm, dry areas are probably of similar quality to their non-organic counterparts. However, you might not be able to assume the same of the wines from the cooler, wetter, more disease-prone region. Producers attempting to be organic in these areas will have less non-contaminated fruit to choose from and might have to compromise the quality of the grapes they bring into the winery. This also may drive the price up, as high-quality fruit becomes more scarce in rainy or high-disease seasons.

I’m pretty hippy-dippy about lots of things, and generally want us all to take better care of the planet, however, I also think we all should bear these quality considerations in mind as we read marketing hype. Of course, you can’t 100% assume anything about a wine's quality till you open the bottle and try it! Cheers!

Did You Know?
Due to DNA sequencing, we now know that some grapes with different names are actually the same! Primitivo has been shown to be the same grape as Zinfandel. What many Californians call Fume Blanc is actually Sauvignon Blanc.
The more you know!

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Let's Make some Assumptions!

8/8/2013

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This post was inspired by a comment from Sonja on one of my more recent posts about how to know what to ask for when shopping for wine. She brought up the point that she often finds she isn’t familiar with many wines on restaurant menus, so just winds up ordering the same old things she already knows.

Well, there are some tricks you can use to guess what the wines will be like. I’m getting better at this all the time. Having a baseline knowledge of geography and world climates is actually extremely useful.

As a very general rule of thumb, regions with warmer, sunnier climates will produce bolder, more intensely flavored wines. This is because, (and this is especially true of red wines) the sun and heat causes a concentration of sugar, color and flavor compounds in the berries. This leads to juicier, fruitier flavors, higher alcohol, darker colors, and, depending on how the grapes are treated and whether they’re aged in oak, yields spicier, more tannic wines. Take, for example, Pinot Noir. Pinots from cooler climates tend to be more acidic, lighter in color, not especially fruity, and are earthier and funkier, with more of a wet leaves flavor. Whereas Pinots from warmer regions tend to have more of a jammy fruit flavor up front. They may have some earthy funk underneath, but they’re going to be much bolder with the fruit, darker colored, lower acid, and often, higher in alcohol.

You can make some similar assumptions about white wines (though the distinctions are sometimes less obvious.) Wines from cooler climates are going to have more acid, more subtle fruit flavors (more apple and stone fruit notes) and wines from warmer climates will often have bolder, more tropical fruit notes, due to the concentration of flavor and aroma compounds.

There’s actually a lot more scientific reasoning behind this having to do with respiration of the vines, etc. But it is complicated, and I don’t feel like going into it.

It also helps to know a little bit (and this takes research and experience) about what styles of wine are made in a particular region. For instance, California likes to oak the shit out of their Chardonnay. Very smoky and oaky. (Not my thing, but you know…) Whereas France like to let a little bit of bacteria produce a compound called diacetyl. This gives the wine a buttery flavor. Therefore, French Chardonnay has a more rounded, buttery flavor in your mouth.

So, say you see a red wine from Spain. What, generally would you expect it to be like?
What about a Rhone red blend? Sicily? Northern Italy? Southern France?
What could you expect from a Sauvignon Blanc from Australia versus one from France?

See? You can start to make some educated guesses there. And, once you start to figure out what you like in wines, you can start to order based on those guesses! Not bad, eh?

Did You Know?
Diacetyl, the compound that gives wine its buttery flavor, is also used in laboratories to give foods a fake butter flavor. Yep, your popcorn and jelly beans have bacterial byproducts in them. Yum!

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Grappa

Vocab- Grape Must and Pomace!

Is Organic Better?

Let's Make some Assumptions!

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