Summer Time Charmers....

I know a good portion of the country out there is experiencing spring in the air. I on the other hand live in California and spring is simply a two week precursor to summer. In addition to being in California I happen to reside in Bakersfield, and at the moment our little chunk of land cannot decide if it should be 90 degrees or raining or both. Regardless of your feelings about hot weather it is, without question for us in Bakersfield, well on its way. With this impending heat, my mind, as it often does, drifts to wine, beer and cocktails.

So what is on the wish-list when the weather warms? Something cool first and foremost, refreshing would be nice, crisp, clean, and highly drinkable.

The world of wine has a lot to offer on those hot days, and while many options will certainly lean to the white side of the category there are a couple of reds that can be appropriate when chilled. We will start on the light side of the house for obvious reasons. There is a wonderful little wine that comes over from Portugal that happens to be at the top of my list for summertime quenching. Though Vinho Verde (Broadbent is a current favorite) translates as “Green Wine” it is not a color description, it is simply that the wine exhibits such youthful freshness. Which is exactly the goal, when this wine is produced it is meant to be consumed within the year. Though the wine does not contain enough carbon dioxide to be considered semi-sparkling these wines are without question slightly pétillant. On the nose they lack real complexity, there is a good whack of lemon-lime zest and a touch of mineral, but it won’t blow your mind. Then you take your first sip; the wine is dry, but citrusy fruity, the bubbles lightly tickle your tongue, but do not sting, the acid sets off your salivary glands and then it finishes clean and dry with just light hints of astringency. An absolutely perfect wine if you are by the pool, gardening and of course for a picnic on a hot summer days. There are several other whites that can fill a good role in the summertime; Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris/Grigio, and of course bubbles are among other favorites of mine.

The reds can be a little more difficult to navigate, while you can certainly put anything in the fridge and drink it cold, some reds can be quite intolerable when cold, but others may surprise you. Once again I do certainly have one that would be a kind of go-to for me, but really two dry reds can play pretty well in the cool to cold zone. My first pick is only my first pick to encourage you to seek it out, but trust me, you won’t regret the adventure. Barbera d’Asti (Michele Chiarlo is a good producer) is a red wine from Northern Italy that is commonly consumed cold by the locals. While some examples can have fullness to them most are medium to light bodied with a good bit of stewy, dried fruits, mineral, solid acid and on the dry side. This is what I want you to try; put your bottle of Barbera d’ Asti in the fridge and get some good cheddar to make a grilled cheese on sourdough. Throw together a nice wild greens salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and pull the cork. You can thank me later. Pinot Noir is the other one that I think plays pretty well with the cold. I am not encouraging you to take your most prized, expensive bottle of Pinot and throw it in the cold-box, don’t take me wrong, drink that one at precisely 60 degrees. What I am saying is that those “everyday drinkers” for $10-$20 of Pinot can do pretty well as a thirst quencher.

A little brew on a summer day can go a long way, whether it is a nice light lager while you are doing some manual labor around the homestead or an American Pale Ale at the BBQ with all of your friends. The lager, first off let me address the 64 calorie thing. I appreciate concerns about weight, and health, and so on….. But seriously, find something other than your alcohol choice to suffer the consequences here. I promise you that nothing that actually tastes good can be put in the bottle with only 64 calories, it just cannot happen. That being said light tasting beers are awesome during the summer (and actually lighter in calories than some of their heartier brethren.) A great lager (Bitburger is a good German example to look for) should be light, crisp, and bubbly. It should achieve these characteristics without a loss of flavor or interest though (this is where some of our famous Macro-breweries go wrong.) With an alcoholic strength of right around 5% these beers are not going to knock you on your butt, but they will quench your thirst and gradually work you towards the goal. I look for the session beer in the summer because, for god’s sake, I’m thirsty and I want to drink more than one, it’s hot out there. I have been stuck on American Pale Ales (Deschutes Mirror Pond is a current addiction, and what I am drinking as I write this) for a good session beer, specifically as it turns warm outdoors. Good pale ale is fuller than the lager, with a more malt driven profile. British styles will even have hints of cookie and biscuit to them. The trick to a solid summer pale are the hops, they must be pronounced enough to, not only balance the malt, but lead the brew into its dry finishing impression, which leaves the palate refreshed. For me summer can be a tough time to get mixed up with darker beers, but a good black lager (Kostrizer Schwarzbier) and some reds or browns out there can work out.

Alright, so we are drinking with at least some intent and want to dig into the home bar…. I have a, Brother-in-law induced, love for a Ketel One, tonic, and lemon. The lemon does make a difference, and yes, it does bug me when I get a lime, and please, feel free to be a little heavy handed with the Ketel. Regardless I think that there are some more crowd-pleasing options out there and my first choice, being born and bread a Cali boy, is the Margarita. I am not necessarily a purest.  I can appreciate some of the variations out there (banana is pretty great!) Who couldn’t? The classic though…. Not blended…. Is a beautiful thing…. The key here is to not use anything in this drink that you cannot drink on its own. If this is a properly made drink you will taste every aspect. Good tequila is obviously the base, but do not underestimate the role of your triple sec (a good friend of mine was just telling me of her passion regarding the quality of the triple sec.) Regardless if you are doing a classic lime or another style of the Rita you must use fresh fruit to achieve your goal, there can be no substitute here. Maybe a touch of Agave Nectar to sweeten things up and from there just decide if you are a “salt” or “no salt” (I’m a “no salt”) and now hopefully you have a good drink in front of you.

As we approach summer I hope we all have opportunity to enjoy the heat while working to counter its assault on our thirst. I have a good idea of what I will be drinking (at least a little water.)

Cheers!

Nouveau Winemaking: Condemn or Commend?

The various laws regarding wine production in the state of California as well as the other various New World wine regions are arguably pretty lax. You can grow what you want, where you want. There is no tasting panel that must say “Yes, this wine meets typical requirements for this region.” While you cannot necessarily chaptalize (add sugar) you do not have a specific date that your fruit must be picked as other regions around the world. This would allow one to pick all or some of their grapes dramatically over-ripe in order to elevate the concentration and alcoholic strength of your wine. You can add acid to the wine to balance the fruity sweetness or flabby qualities. Tartaric acid is the most common, but you will find winemakers using citric and malic acids as well. To improve structure and color one can add commercially prepared tannins, known as enological tannins. Not to mention kosher food additives such as Mega Purple, Mega Cherry, Mega Red, Mega White and so on.

So, good, bad, or indifferent……

In a sense, on a world perspective, this hurts the image of some of our most famous wine regions. Old World regions, such as France and Italy, have to follow what are in some cases extremely constringent laws. For example, there is a practice in Chateauneuf du Pape, a commune in France, called Le Rape. Le Rape mandates that a minimum of 5% of your fruit must be declassified to the lesser region name of Cotes de Rhone. This is in addition to the already oppressively low yields (368 gallons per acre) that must be upheld, which represents about half of the yield of most Bordeaux estates. The idea here is truly one of a sense of place. The laws of the Old World shoot to provide consistency, stability, and quality assurance. Sometimes it works pretty well, but ultimately knowing your producers is the only way to truly get what you expect. You can count on the fact that Le Montrachet (French vineyard) is some of the highest quality Chardonnay in the world and that Chianti Classico (Italian region) is always Sangiovese and always tasted by a panel for quality and accuracy.

Grow what you want, where you want, and how you want…. This is the model for most New World regions and although there are some things that have grown to classic status, Napa Cabernet, Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, etc. New World producers still have all sorts of wine-grapes growing in their vineyards regardless of region. This is good for the winemakers because it allows for diversification without having to hold various plots of land all over the state. They can grow Cabernet, Syrah, and Chardonnay on slopes right next to one another. In turn this gives way to a greater variety and market share if they do it well. That is a good thing, we want a strong wine-market. The only real problem with this is that we cannot really pin down a sense of place through taste to all of these wines aside from a blanket California designation. Sometimes producers give you a whole line from a couple of vineyards and each one represents a good wine, other times producers opt to go for Classic status and buy grapes from specific regions or vineyards to make-up their varied line-up. In my opinion the latter is the most fun, not to pigeon-hole our regions, but I think that Russian River makes better Pinot Noir and Chardonnay than Syrah. Stick to what is great from your spot and you will always be happier.

Additives…. Such a nasty word in our language today. I don’t really oppose additives, there are some positives that come from this that must be recognized. A wine that is produced in the Central Valley of California is going to be a very ripe wine. This can lead to a lack of balance and as such cause the wine to need acidification or tannin additions or both. In other cases, and all around the world for this one, winemakers are letting their wines go over-ripe and perform incredibly long cold soaks to hide defects and flaws in the final product. This helps California to produce some of your favorite every-day drinkers that fall in the $10 to $20 range, but these practices can find their way into some very expensive bottles. There can also be instances in which you need a color correction in order to improve the marketability of your wine, you look to Mega Purple or Mega Cherry to bolster your color. This practice is maybe a little more questionable because you are likely to have been able to control this during production as opposed to an after thought, but I don’t want you to lose your entire business due to a tough vintage, so we will overlook it. Although I will point out that a large percentage of this, Mega product can be added to your wine during production. Mega Purple is approximately 68% sugar, and wine-grapes are typically 15-25% sugar, and we don’t Chaptalize (add sugar). The math isn’t hard there.

In the U.S. only 75% of the wine in your bottle must be the varietal stated on the label. This means that your bottle Pinot Noir can have 10% Syrah floating around in it pushing it away from its proper varietal character. Only 85% of the juice must be from the stated region, and 5% of it can be from prior vintages. All of these practices can cause a loss of vintage character, varietal character, and the sense of place. This is where I grow concerned that particular wines risk losing distinction, which for the geek in me is unacceptable.

While there are undoubtedly some negatives; loss of place, loss of varietal character, ridiculously over-the-top wines, and the Old World looking down its nose at us. Nouveau Winemaking is without question here, and not all bad; price, quantity, and consistency are without question some bonuses that we experience as consumers. I do believe that there should be some further regulation that goes into the production of wines from the New World. For percentages; at least 90% varietal, 95% regional juice, 100% single vineyard (I think that one is just obvious) and nothing from a prior vintage, let it speak for itself, this is how we get great years as opposed to a bunch of average years with some poor. Additives; I think that there should be information available to the consumer that states what chemicals, and additives went into their bottle. I would rather an individual stop buying some California wines due to an adverse chemical reaction (headache or histamine reactions), then to think that all California wines will cause that same reaction. Even the addition of water or centrifuge to adjust the wines should be talked about somewhere, just to separate those who are able to achieve quality from their special little plot of land, and their particular skill set under completely natural circumstances from those who are not. The true talent in winemaking around the world, regardless of where you are, is the final blend, knowing when to put the juice into the bottle, and knowing how it will taste when it is ready. Everything else is the vineyard, the place and chemistry.

Whisky-Whiskey, Bang-bang

Whisky – Scottish dialect. (uisge beatha)

Whiskey – Irish dialect. (uisce beatha)

In either case: Water of Life

A spirit that is distilled from a fermented grain mash (essentially beer wort) that can be made up of a variety of grains or a single grain. This is a highly regulated spirit and the specific styles and classes are recognized under international trade agreements. The various regulations make-up a list that would reach the length of your arm, but to name a few: the grain bill, pot still vs. continuous still, aging requirements, barrel requirements, alcoholic strength, place of origin, and so on…

At the moment I think my favorite variation of W (by the way, from here on Whisky/Whiskey will be referred to as “W”) is Scotch. Though there are times that various wines, beers, and spirits hit my favorite list I am always overjoyed when something comes around that pushes into first place, so I am bound to contradict myself somewhere along the way. Regardless I think Scotch and the traditions there-in that still lead to such distinct variation between labels and styles is ridiculously entertaining. Although I wanted to address W in general, so I will try not to get stuck into Scotch.

I do break W into a few discernable categories myself, but it has much more to do with drinking style and consumption quantity, three to be exact. These are a far cry from anything that is anything near international recognition. All classes are created equally but with various reasons for their interest.

Cowboy W: The Cowboy designation is reserved for W that is generally inexpensive ($17-$30) and designed for drinking. Drinking in the case indicates W for mixing, shooting, or straight-up style swigging (note that I did not say sipping.) This is a great bracket for W to fall into, it has many perks. My favorite has to be the man factor; this is essentially due to old western movies, hence the class name. The cowboy walks into the saloon and orders a shot of W, takes it down, and then orders another. It works the same when you are hangin’ out with friends. Swigging on some straight-up W earns some respect points with the guys and the gals on some heavily engrained level. Other perks are the price, mixed drinks, and accessibility. This to me is a “Drinking with Intent” W. I can recall a recent B-day in which a bottle of Buffalo Trace Bourbon was split amongst the two of us, it went down easy……

Gents W: This is probably where I spend 60% of my time with W, with Cowboy making up about 35%, and Respect rounding out with 5%. This to me represents a highly drinkable W that is smooth and balanced with enough complexity to entertain, but not to overwhelm. This is the kind of W that you would enjoy on X-mas morning with some brothers or with your best friends over a good cigar after dinner. This one has the sophistication factor; this is an indication that you appreciate the finer things in life, and you feel that others should too. I spend most of my time in this category because you may dent the bank account ($50-$100), but you won’t break it while drinking some of the most impressive W that I have ever met. Currently, at this moment, I am sipping on Chieftains bottling of an 11 year old W from the Glendullan distillery. This W literally approaches the mouth-feel of clarified butter, and that texture alone is enough to keep me coming back to the glass. This category should be a flavorful W that has a pleasant texture and alcoholic strength of 40-50 degrees leaving it balanced enough to drink without cutting with water. Although if it is your choice to add a touch of water to the W here it does not weaken your position as it might under the Cowboy designation.

Respect the W: And we arrive here. Not underutilized voluntarily (remember 5% of my time is spent here), but this particular category has a tendency to be cost prohibitive. This W has the Connoisseur factor; as such, if you have tried that than you have a good point of reference for judging quality. First we will address age, in this category I feel that this starts at around the 18 years old mark. Not because of anything to do with legalities I assure you. This is where most W takes a significant leap in price. A W of 18 years represents over 20% of the average US lifespan, and as such must be respected even when W of 25 and 30 years or more are floating around out there. None the less this is a spirit that has been alive, and in barrel for eighteen or more years, pretty impressive. A great example of this type of W is Bruichladdich Black Art. This is a 19 year old W that spent its first two years in bourbon barrels and every year there after was racked into a barrel of varying origin; wine, sherry, other W, brandy, port, and on, and on... You’re job is to sip on this ethereal W and attempt to identify what is coming at you through this highly complex glass of W that has actually “lived” a life. Extraordinary age is one factor, barrel usage another, and the last that I want to approach is cask strength. Cask strength W is just as it sounds. As W sits in barrel and ages over extended periods of time the alcoholic strength of that W increases through evaporation of the water with-in the barrel, they call the evaporation the Angels Share. Essentially God is taxing the producers of anything that barrel ages with a portion of their product lost to evaporation. Anyway, the end product in the world of W is called cask strength and typically represents W that is of 50 degrees or more in alcohol. These can be wonderful drinks of W, but for me must always be cut by water to become enjoyable. I find that with these W I will sometimes cut the solution with as much as 30-40% water to achieve balance. Unfortunately, by my taste this often dilutes the flavors of these fiery W to the point in which it distracts from their enjoyment.

So whether you are a Cowboy, Gent or you simply Respect the W you are essentially right in your opinions for different reasons. Such is the beauty of individual preference and tastes.

Cheers