Kick your Ass

You may think wine is all well and good as a flavorful beverage with dinner but sometimes you just want to get drunk. On those special occasions it's far more economical to spend $20 on a case of beer, right? Well as a matter of fact wine can be quite potent ranging from 10-14% alcohol per volume (thats 20-28 proof). Beer is more likely to be somewhere between 3-8% alcohol per volume (6-16 proof). So would you rather have to pound 15 beers or sip half a bottle of wine for the same buzz. 

            Determining the alcohol content of a wine is simple and it also arms you with a fancy new wine term; legs. When you swish the wine in your glass around and let it settle, beads form around the inside of the glass and drip back into the wine forming lines. These drips are called the wine's legs. Legs tell you one thing and one thing only about the wine; the alcohol content. The thicker and the slower moving the legs are the more alcohol is in the wine.

            Take for instance this $13.99 2007 El Burro Kickass Garnacha from Spain. This is my wine of choice when the objective is inebriation. It's pleasingly smooth almost creamy with gentle undertones of dark berries. It has a sweet front that rolls to sour/bitter but never harsh. Since it is very light on tannins it is a crowd pleaser that is easy to hold in ones mouth and contemplate. More to the point it has legs like a donkey, as its name suggests. A wine like this just might catch you off guard. As is displayed clearly on the label, this wine will kick your ass.

            Before jumping right into a wine it is a good idea to check the legs. This gives you an idea of what to expect. It will help prevent you from getting caught off guard and it will prepare you for the flavor profile to come. If your goal is to get drunk, as I'm sure it sometimes is, then you want to know what the legs tell you.

What is a tannin?

One of the reasons people shy away from wine is the exclusive lingo.  When people get talking about wine they throw around strings of words that can sound like a foreign language . It’s not that those people are trying to sound superior, it’s that there are some qualities of wine that can’t be described in any other way.  One of those words that is necessary in any wine assessment is tannin.

                A tannin is a chemical that resides in plants. It is responsible for that sour astringent  flavor that is typical of young or poor qualities wines.  A less tannic wine is traditionally more desirable, but recent evidence suggests that certain types of tannins are responsible for the vascular benefits of red wine.

                There are different types of tannins that taste and act differently. They are different because they come from different places. The less desirable come from the seeds, stems, and skins of the grape. Tannins from seeds and stems are characteristic of cheaply made wine because they should be separated out after juicing. The presence or absence of grape skin is the difference between a red and a white wine. The skin of the grape is responsible for the color and much of the flavor of red wine. The other, more respected type of tannin comes from the fresh oak casks that a good wine is fermented in. (the cheap wines use steel).

A Winner

       Tonight I've found myself with a bout of insomnia and a bottle of The Winner's Tank. This brings me to an interesting chapter of the recent history of wine. For countless years France has been considered the end all be all of wine but recently other regions of the world have been gaining notoriety on the world stage. In the past century people discovered and utilized the necessary micoclimates for the picky vine in places like California, South America, South Africa, and in this case Australia . I'm not talking about those colorful bottles covered  in kangaroo's. It took some serious vintners  to concoct this elixir.

The Winner's Creek 2007 Shiraz from Langhorne creek is a smooth and mellow medley of  agreeing flavors. It captures the essence and feel of dark chocolate and black cherries without the sweetness. There is a pungency like evergreens in the nose. Its somehow modestly complex. Its a pleasure to roll around on my tongue. For $18 it's a downright steal.

The emergence of these new regions provides a unique opportunity to find some excellent wines for very reasonable prices. Though there are a few established names in these areas which fetch a hefty sum, there are even more winemakers out there trying to make a name for themselves. Finding gems like these is easy if you try and for under twenty dollars it's a risk worth taking. If only by trial and error, you will find some real winners.

A Sweet Pair

  One of the most intimidating phrases in the wine connoisseur's lexicon is "food pairing". This can be an overwhelming milestone for someone with a basic appreciation of wine. In many cases this is where people give up trying to learn the ways of the wine snob. Like most aspects of wine it is not as difficult as it may seem. The main thing to keep in mind is that there is no wine police that will call you out for something like drinking a red wine with pork or a white with lasagna. Wine is an intimate personal experience. The only opinion that matters is yours. With that said there is a method and some guidelines to finding a wine that will compliment your meal without overpowering or contradicting it. Don't think of these as strictly necessary. They are meant to assist not confine you.

Last night I celebrated my birthday which means, of course, burritos. I was thus left with the question of how to marry a heavy spicy burrito with the decadent rich strawberry cake that my girlfriend made for me. In order to find the right wine for the meal we can use some basic rules of thumb. If the question is red or white it's as simple as looking at the food. there are exceptions to this rule but in general dark red foods go with red wine and light white foods go with white wine. I know it complicated but you can do it. You might think since strawberry cake is red it pairs with a red wine, close but food coloring doesn't count and strawberries go great with white wine and especially champagne. In this case the robustness of the burrito necessitates a red and the particular cake was a Paula Deen recipe making it uncommonly rich.

All these things considered I went out looking for a red wine with a lighter body than I usually prefer and notes of berries, maybe even strawberries. What I found was a 2007 Moillard from Bourgogne. I choose a Bourgogne because this region in France is known for its light bodied Pinot Noir and often has fruity and berry notes. Sure enough this Pinot was very light bodied and sweet with notes of red cherry. It had fairly thick legs (an indicator of the amount of alcohol) which is uncharacteristic for such a light body. The only down side was a good amount of tannins more than likely due to the young age.  In all it went wonderfully with the meal without stealing the show.

You don't have to be an expert to find a great pairing. Just think about the characteristics of the food and try to find similar things in your wine. If your unsure or apprehensive of how to find certain components a little research never hurt but there's no substitute for some good old fashioned trial and error.