I’m a big sucker for Spanish wines, and when I’m perusing a restaurant wine list, I often find myself flipping past the Pinot Noirs and Merlots in the hopes of finding a nice Tempranillo or Rioja.  Last night at JRDN Restaurant I tried a great Spanish red wine that I couldn’t wait to share with you: the 2007 Atteca Old Vines.

This is a Garnacha, or as we Americans call it, a Grenache.  The Grenache grape is one of the most planted wine grapes in the world.  It produces wines that are deep in fruit and spice flavors, yet easy-drinking.  It is most often seen in blends, such as Syrahs and almost all wines from the Rhone region.  It’s also often blended with whites to make Rose.  So I was excited to taste this pure Granacha and see how these usually second-fiddle grapes would stand up to scrutiny all alone.

The 2007 Atteca Old Vines is made from 80 to 120 year-old vines and aged for 10 months in seasoned French oak barrels.  It has a full fruity flavor highly redolent of blackberries, but fell short of being jammy, a quality I sometimes find cloying in wines.  It has subtler flavors of vanilla and smoke.  While it was tannic enough to have the full body needed to pair with red meat, its tannins were soft and the wine was light on the palate.  This just-rich-enough quality makes it a great summer wine and one ideal for pairing with many different dishes.  Try it with pasta dishes, full-flavored fish, or grilled meat.

The 2007 Atteca Old Vines Garnacha is a very decent drinking wine.  It’s one that would really benefit from some years in the cellar, which would bring out its spice flavors.  At about $15 a bottle, it’s also a good price.  Cheers!

Recently, a wine bar opened up in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.  It’s called Enoteca Adriano, and I’ve been eating there a lot because of the great pasta, intimate atmosphere, and of course, the great wine list.  One of my favorite wines they offer also happens to be the least expensive on the list–the 2006 De Canal Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

Abruzzo is an Italian wine-growing region east of Rome.  Although they grow a variety of grapes, including Sangiovese, the most popular wine grape from the Abruzzo region is the Montepulciano grape.  In order for a varietal to carry the name Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, it must be at least 85% Montepulciano, with the remainder Sangiovese.  Its Riservas need to be aged at least 2 years before release, with 6 months of that time in wood barrels.

Montepulciano grapes are big, juicy, and produce good quality wines even when grown in large quantities–an unusual characteristic for a wine grape, and a special boon to the historically poor Abruzzo farmers.   The wine it produces is a deep, rich color.  Its tannins are mild and the wine is low in acidity, making it a soft, drinkable wine that pairs well with a variety of foods (making it a great choice for sharing).

The 2006 De Canal Montepulciano d’Abruzzo at Enoteca Adriano is $18.  If you have trouble tracking it down online, try other Montepulcianos–most are reasonably priced, and many can be found for around $8.  Pair with Pasta Bolognese or roast pork and enjoy!

We’ve discussed how your can use your leftover bottles of red and white wine to make delicious homemade wine vinegars.  If you’ve already tried this, you know that homemade vinegars are infinitely better than anything you can buy at the store.  They make better vinaigrettes and sauces, and are just plain tastier.  Homemade vinegar is easy to make and very economical.  But if you’re ambitious, you don’t have to stop there!  Try using your homemade wine vinegar to make flavored vinegars that are out-of-this-world delicious.

Flavored vinegars have really become popular in the last few years.  They are simply bottled vinegars that fresh herbs and spices have been allowed to steep in.  The vinegar, given time, really draws out the taste of the flavorings, and takes on a whole new level of flavor and complexity.  Flavored vinegars can be used in place of regular vinegar to any recipe, adding a special zip of flavor.  For example, instead of a plain vinaigrette on your salad, why not try something like an orange-basil white wine vinaigrette or a red wine raspberry vinaigrette?  Flavored vinegars are good, but flavored vinegars made using homemade wine vinegars are incredibly delicious.

The process is a little time consuming, but simple.  Think of making flavored vinegars as similar to canning.  The more important (and boring) step is ensuring that the containers you’re using are totally free of bacteria before you close them up.  Even the tiniest bit will ruin the batch, so you have to be very careful.  You’ll want to disinfect your containers right before you bottle your vinegars, to minimize the chance they’ll be exposed to something nasty.  First, wash all the containers you’re going to use, along with their lids (good options are canning jars, screw-capped bottles, and corked bottles with brand-new corks).  Next, immerse them in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.  While this is happening, bring your vinegar to a boil in a separate pot.

At this point, you should have already laid out the herbs and spices you want to use.  You can use basically any kind of herb or spice in vinegar, so get creative!  Herbs can be used whole, which makes for a pretty presentation.  Garlic makes a great addition to almost any vinegar–just peel the cloves and drop them in whole.  To get you started, here are some herbs and spices that make great vinegars:

tarragon

basil

chives

cilantro

rosemary

lemon or orange zest (cut into long strips for the best presentation)

dill

whole peppercorns

chili peppers

You can make a vinegar with just one addition, such as spicy chili vinegar, or a combination, such as rosemary garlic vinegar. If you’ve made both red and white wine vinegars, you have a choice on which to use.  Use white wine vinegar for subtler flavors like citrus and the delicate herbs like basil, and red wine vinegar for the heartier flavors like peppercorns and rosemary.  Play to your tastes and get creative!  Add the herbs and spices you want to use to the bottle first, then, using a funnel, carefully pour in the hot vinegar.  Seal the container (for an extra fancy touch, pour melted wax over the top), and let the vinegars steep in a cool dark place for at least three weeks to let the vinegar really take on the flavors of the herbs.

These vinegars are so fun and personal (and tasty) that they make incredible gifts.  Store-bought gourmet flavored vinegars be very costly.  But they are simple to make at home, and very inexpensive.  If you’re giving vinegars as presents, leave herbs whole for the best effect, and put a pretty tag on the bottle with the name of the vinegar.  One bottle of your homemade flavored vinegar makes a great gift for a dinner party host.  A small basket of a few choice vinegars makes an incredible Christmas gift.  But consider yourself warned–homemade flavored wine vinegars are so delicious that you might not want to give them away!

There are a lot of wine accessories and contraptions out there.  It can be tough to tell which ones are just a waste of money, and which can really enhance your wine-drinking experience.  One thing that’s not a gimmick?  The idea that different wines should have different glasses.

Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with having just the standard four varieties of glasses: red wine, white wine, port and champagne.  But having specific glasses for different grape varieties, styles, and even ages of wines can really make a difference in your tasting experience.  The right glass can bring out nuances of flavor and aroma that your standard tasting glass wouldn’t.

Claus Riedel was the first person to was the first wine glass designer to recognize that the size and shape of the glass can affect the tasting experience.  He began designing wine glasses specifically engineered to help get the most aroma and flavor out of different types of wine.  Riedel (pronounced “Rhee-dell”) is widely regarded as the world’s premiere wine glass producer.  Tests have been done, and the majority of experts and amateurs alike agree that using the “right” glass for the wine is well worth it.

Riedel worked with tasters to determine:

• Which glass sizes emphasize the appropriate aromas in different wines
• Which shapes and sizes exhibit the appropriate fruitiness levels
• Which shapes and sizes exhibit the appropriate tannin levels
• Which shapes direct wines to the “right” part of the tongue

The ability of any wine glass to obtain any of these qualities should be taken with a grain of salt.  For example, the idea of a “tongue map,” or that specific parts of the tongue taste specific flavors, isn’t supported by science (but we’ll save a discussion of this issue for a future post).  But the size and shape of the bowl, at least in the opinions of many experts, can definitely influence the way you perceive the flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel of the wine.

Riedel offers a huge variety of wine glasses, at all different price ranges and for all different wines.  Check out a small selection of their glasses below.  Their most popular series is the mid-price range “Vinum” glasses, which are made of over 24% lead crystal and retail for between $40 and $60 each.  Check out Riedel’s impressive “glass guide,” which allows you to see all their glass options for a particular varietal as well.  If you’re interested in purchasing Riedel glassware, check out the Vintage Cellars’ selection of Riedel glasses and decanters–most glasses are on sale for about 20% less than on the Riedel website.

For the average wine drinker, buying an entire collection of glasses–a set for each kind of wine–seems too overwhelming, let alone expensive.  But no fear–you can still match the appropriate glass to the wine without breaking the bank.  Here are some basic guidelines for matching glasses with wines that can help you get the most enjoyment out of your wine:

For white wines:

• Use a glass with a narrower bowl.  This keeps the surface area, or the amount of wine exposed to the air, at a minimum, so that it stays chilled longer.  White wines taste best and have the most aromatic bouquets when chilled to the appropriate temperature.
• The opening of the glass should also be narrower.  A narrow bowl keeps the subtler aromas of white wine more concentrated, so that when you waft them towards your nose, they don’t dissipate as much, and are detectable.
• For lighter wines like Pinot Grigio and Riesling, use a glass with a narrower bowl and a narrower opening.  (These wines should have limited exposure to oxygen so that they maintain their subtle flavors.)
• For more flavorful whites, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, use a glass with a slightly fuller bowl that narrows towards the opening.  (These wines benefit from the aeration provided by the fuller bowl–it helps bring out their flavors.  Both lighter and more flavorful whites need a narrow opening to help keep them chilled and aid in wafting.)

For red wines:

• Use a glass with a wide bowl to let the wine breathe.  The exposure to oxygen will mellow the tannins and bring out the bold flavors of red wine.  A wide bowl also allows the aromas to collect, giving you the maximum opportunity to sense them.
• Use a glass with a wider opening.  Besides allowing more air to come in, a wider opening allows room for your to dip your nose right inside the glass for a proper tasting.

Tips:

• Always fill glasses one-third full.  This makes sure oxygen can get in, and leaves you room to swirl the wine, with helps it release aromas for you to enjoy.
• It’s best to wash wine glasses with very hot water only–if you have to use detergent, limit yourself to a few drops.  Soap causes buildup in your glasses that interferes with the tastes of the wine.

Investing in a collection of wine glasses suited to many different types of wine is a big decision.  But it’s no gimmick: in wine tasting, size and shape really do matter.

16th century wine press

I love to cook with wine.  But I admit it, sometimes, pouring a cup or a bottle of perfectly good wine into the cooking pot can seem a little sacrilegious.  Is using your good wine in your food worth it?

In a word, yes.  Wine imparts a richness and depth of flavor that is simply hard to come by any other way.  When making sauces, soups, or stews, many recipes call for you to deglaze the pan.  This takes place usually after some meat has been browned (cooked at high heat in some kind of fat until the skin is crispy).  The meat is removed, most of the fat is poured off, and the heat is turned up high.  A generous splash of wine is added, and as it boils, the cook swirls and scrapes with a wooden spoon or spatula, getting the little browned bits unstuck from the bottom of the pan and incorporating them into the dish.  Tons flavor resides in those little brown bits, and deglazing the pan incorporates their taste into the finished dish.  You can use stock or even water for deglazing, but wine adds a rich, unctuous flavor that can’t be replicated by anything else.

Wine isn’t just used for deglazing.  A splash of wine added to a reducing sauce gives it that same deep, rich flavor that we desire when we’re cooking and eating.  The next time you make tomato sauce, try adding a splash of wine (usually half a cup to a full cup) before letting the sauce simmer and reduce.  You’ll be amazed at the richness and flavor it adds.

Wine is also great for marinating meat.  A red wine marinade is a natural partner for beef, as the tannins in the red wine interact favorably with the meat’s fats.  The acid in wine really breaks down the connective tissue in meat.  This means that marinating a tougher cut of meat in wine can really tenderize it, as well as adding flavor to it.  One of my favorite cuts to use this technique with is flank steak.  Flank steak is a thin, tougher cut, but it packs a lot of flavor.  Best of all, it’s inexpensive, usually comes in pieces big enough to feed an army, and sliced thinly, the leftovers make great steak sandwiches.  Try seasoning a flank steak with salt and pepper, and throwing it in a large Ziploc bag with a few garlic cloves, a splash of olive oil, and enough wine to thoroughly soak it.  Let it hang out in the refrigerator for several hours, turning every once in a while to make sure the wine is evenly distributed.  Then simply grill and serve.  This steak is great paired with the same wine used in the marinade.

I don’t set much store by those chefs that advocate using only high-quality wine for cooking.  I think that the flavors are so diluted by the flavors added by the food, and changed by the chemical processes that occur during cooking, that spending a lot of money on wine that you’re just going to dump in the pot is kind of a waste.  You do want to use decent wine that you would drink—avoid those cooking wines sold in the grocery stores—they are highly acidic, and have tons of preservatives, which simply don’t taste good.  They are often also highly salty, which can alter the flavor of the food you’re cooking so much that you ruin the taste.

Cooking is a great way to use a good wine that’s been sitting around for a day or two.  Its optimal drinking window has passed, but that doesn’t meant that all those great flavors should go to waste.  Don’t use a wine that tastes vinegary or rancid, or your food will taste that way too.  But something a little past its prime should be fine.

Cooking with wine isn’t just for the experts.  There are lots of simple ways to incorporate it into your dishes.  And when you’ll do, you’ll find that wine adds so many wonderful, subtle flavors that you’ll never want your kitchen to be without it again.

Meet Malbec!  Malbec grapes are a beautiful deep purple color, and they produce a rich, dark wine.  Malbec is commonly used in combination with other grapes to create Bordeaux-style blends, but can stand alone as an exceptional wine as well.

The Malbec grape is very thin-skinned, delicate, and easily ruined by frost.  It requires more sunlight than most grapes, and ripens mid-season.  Malbec is the principle grape of the French wine region of Cahors.  Malbecs grown here are often highly tannic.  In recent years, however, Malbec has earned a reputation as the grape of Argentina.  Argentina’s Mendoza region has both cool nights and lots of sunshine, producing Malbecs that are softer and more approachable than their French counterparts.

Many wine experts think that Malbec’s move to Argentina was of great benefit to the grape’s development.  Argentine producers have brought Malbec back to an old way of growing, by dramatically cutting yields and focusing instead on quality.  They have put much time and thought into selecting the best planting sites, and developing vineyards that benefit from their individual environments.  As a result, Malbecs, which were once high-priced and sold only domestically, are now available around the world, and many quality bottles can be had in the $15-$30 range.

Malbec is particularly deep in color and intense in flavor.  It can be very plummy or very peppery, and can also have notes of dark berry and leather.  Because of its tannic nature, Malbec is a great candidate for aging.  The tannins will mellow out as the years pass, and the more subtle, richer flavors hidden in the bottle will become apparent.  Many Malbecs have the structure necessary to allow them to age well for a decade or even more.

Argentina, the current most popular producer of Malbec, is also known for its excellent grass-fed steaks.  Grass-fed beef is leaner than its American corn-fed counterpart, and so can be a bit tougher, but it more than compensates with its rich, intense flavor.  It’s no mere accident of geography that great Malbecs and great steaks both come from Argentina–the two complement each other perfectly.  Try Malbec with your next steak.  Its intense, spicy characteristics mean that it can handle the most flavorful steak you want to try.  So this time, skip the filet mignon and go for a flavorful ribeye or t-bone: it and a glass (or three) of Malbec is truly a mouthwatering combination.

So you’re on your way to a dinner party.  You stop at a wine shop to pick up a bottle.  But then you stand there, bewildered.  Red or wine?  How expensive?  What do your hosts like?  What will go with their dinner?

Let us simplify matters for you:

First of all, you should not expect that your hosts will serve your wine at the actual dinner.  Remember that gifts should not come with obligations.  Especially if they’re wine lovers like you, they might have put a lot of time and planning into their wine selections, and your wine just might not fit with their planned menu.  It’s always polite to relieve your hosts of any obligation by saying something like, “You definitely don’t have to serve this tonight, unless you want to.  Put it aside and enjoy it another day!”  With this as your tactic, you don’t have to worry about pairing your wine gift with their food.  A bottle of wine that you’ve tasted yourself and enjoyed makes the best gift, and it can be a great conversation starter!

Another tactic is to call ahead of time and offer to provide wine for the dinner, or part of it.  If you don’t know your hosts well, this may be stepping on their toes, so use your judgment.  If you’re good friends with your hosts, they will probably be grateful to you for taking some of the planning–and expense–off of their hands.  If you’re going to bring wine to share, a great choice is champagne to be served with appetizers.  Champagne is almost universally liked (especially if you stick to a dry champagne, to please more palates), and it goes well with almost any kind of appetizer your hosts might serve, even those tough-to-match cheeses.  Just make sure you provide more than you think you’ll need–champagne goes fast!

If your host wants you to get involved, you can bring a wine that pairs with a specific dish or course.  But remember that pairing goes far beyond that simple “whites with fish or chicken, reds with red meat” rule.  If you want to learn more about pairing wine with food, click here to see our post on the subject.

Remember that picking out a bottle of wine to give shouldn’t be a stressful experience.  Put a little time and thought into it, and your hosts will be happy!

1.  Uncorking the bottle before  service improves the wine.

It’s true that aeration before service does improve some wines.  But studies show that the neck of a wine bottle is too narrow to allow enough oxygen to get in contact with the wine to make any detectable difference in the taste and aroma.  If you want to aerate your wine, decant it.  A quick decanting is great for removing the sediment that may have collected in the bottom of your older wines, and a longer decanting is great for young red wines that are still tannic.  Want to learn how to properly decant a bottle?  Click here.

2.  Serve white wines with chicken or fish and red wines with red meat.

This is one of the oldest and most enduring wine myths.  Whether a wine is white or red doesn’t have as much to do with which dishes it should be matched with as do the specific qualities and flavors of both the food and the wine.  The most important quality to consider when pairing food and wine is balance.  A wine should complement the food, accentuating its flavors.  It should not overwhelm the food, and the food should not overwhelm it.

For example, buttery salmon cooked over a wood fire would pair nicely with a Chardonnay, which has buttery flavors from aging and oak flavors from being kept in wood barrels.  A steak pairs well with an aggressive red wine that’s high in tannins and acid: the tannins bind to the proteins in the wine, acting as a natural palate cleanser and refreshing the mouth to enjoy each delectable bite of meat with fresh taste buds.  Pairing wine with food is nothing short of an art, with many subtle nuances to consider.  To learn more about it, click here.

3.  ”Reserve” wines are of superior quality.

Although a few countries (Spain is one) have strict regulations governing when winemakers can put “reserve” on the label, the U.S. does not.  Originally, “reserve” wines were those the winemakers held back for themselves.  Logically, they were of better quality, but mostly they were probably just those wines that best fit the winemaker’s personal tastes.  Today, “reserve” has no true meaning, and is placed on the label at the discretion of the winemaker.  Often, the hiked-up price just isn’t justified.

4.  Red wine should never be chilled.

Red wines taste best at a temperature between 55º and 65º.  The average room temperature?  Around 70°.  When wine is served too warm, its alcohol flavors jump to the fore, masking the more subtle–and more enjoyable–flavors and aromas.  The correct temperature to serve a red wine at depends on the individual wine, but in general, lighter reds should be colder, bolder reds warmer.  To see a more detailed explanation of red wine chilling, click here.

5.  Great wines have great “legs.”

Many wine drinkers like to begin a tasting by swirling the glass, then holding it up to appreciate the “legs,” the little rivulets that run down from a swirled glass’s inside rim.  Legs that are many in number and thick, meandering slowly down the glass are said to be “great,” as in, “This wine has great legs.”  But many drinkers confuse great legs with great quality.  In reality, swirling the glass leaves a small quantity of alcohol and water near the top.  The alcohol evaporates first, increasing the surface tension of the leftover water until it gives into gravity and starts flowing back down the glass.  Wines with high alcohol contents will have more legs that are thicker and move more slowly.  Wines higher in alcohol are generally more viscous, so legs can also clue you in about the wine’s viscosity.  But they tell you next to nothing about how good it will taste.

6.  All German wines are sweet.

Germany does produce a lot of sweet wines, but they make many dry ones too.  If you’d like to try a German wine but sweet wines give you a headache, look for the word “trocken” on the label–it means “dry.”

7.  The more a wines costs, the better it will taste.

This is true only as a very general guideline–it is nowhere near a rule.  Though winemakers would love to have you believe that quality of taste is the only thing that dictates price, this is simply not true.  Prices depend on many factors, only a few of which relate to taste.  Things like how costly the harvest was that year, how pricey the land was, fluctuating grape prices, and even where you purchased the bottle have huge impacts on the price, but not necessarily on what’s inside the bottle.

Here’s a common phenomenon: a small, unknown vineyard has a great year, and produces a wine of great quality.  Because it’s not a well-known wine, it’s inexpensive.  Word gets out about this great deal, and the price of the wine goes way up.  But subsequent vintages aren’t as good; the wine is relying on the reputation it got during that one good year to justify its high price, but the quality is no longer there.  So though high price can reflect high quality, there are many scenarios in which it does not.  Do your research and don’t be afraid to try new things: there are many great bottles out there for around $10.

Sure, the traditional beverage of St. Patrick’s day is beer.  Usually it’s a frothy pint of Guinness.  And if it’s not Guinness, it’s most likely dyed green.   And there are some who love their St. Patty’s day beer and wouldn’t consider parting with it for anything.  But others, faced with a pint glass of green beer, would prefer to opt for something else.

Why not try wine for St. Patrick’s Day?  Many wines match just as well as beer–if not better–with traditional Irish foods.  And if your friends tease you for not following tradition, just remind them that there’s nothing very traditional about green beer, either.  Here are some St. Patty’s Day food and wine pairings that will help you decide what to make or order tonight:

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Pinot Noir: Even though this dish has a recipe as a highly traditional Irish food, it’s not.  The Irish were introduced to corned beef once Irish immigrants to the U.S. used it in place of bacon.  But traditional or not, corned beef and cabbage is a long-standing–and delicious–part of St. Patrick’s Day.  The best complement to this dish is the earthy flavors and velvety texture of Pinot Noir, which will complement the salty, meaty flavors, not fight with them for dominance.  Try one from Sonoma County.

Bangers and Mash with Zinfandel: This dish, sausages and mashed potatoes, is popular all throughout England and Ireland.  If you’re eating traditional pork sausages, you’ll want something fruity to contrast.  Try a Zinfandel.

Irish Stew with Bordeaux: Irish stew is a simple, traditional dish of lamb (or mutton) boiled with the root vegetables of Ireland: carrots, onions, and, of course, potatoes.  With it, try a red Bordeaux: its complexity of flavors goes nicely with the simple, straightforward ones of the stew.

If your tastes lean towards wine no matter the occasion, try these pairings.  But don’t forget to wear green!

Chianti used to be regarded as an inferior wine.  But in the last 40 years, this simple red has undergone what might be bigger changes than any other varietal out there.  Chianti is made mostly from Sangiovese grapes: one of the hardest kinds of wine grapes to grow.  In the past, growers over-cut the Sangiovese vines, and also mixed the resulting wine with other varietals (some Chiantis were only 50% Sangiovese) led to a shoddy product: Chiantis were often low in taste and too acidic.  In the ’80s, Chiantis experienced a revival.  Superior Sangiovese grapes were rediscovered, and regulations became more stringent (now, a Chianti must be at least 75% Sangiovese, and the remainder must be an approved varietal).  As a result, today’s Chianti is a much better product than it used to be.  Many Chianti brands have also lost the traditional straw basket in favor of a sleeker, re-vamped look.

Chianti is the traditional wine of Tuscany.  Tuscany, which lies in the hilly country between Florence and Siena, has been producing Chianti for 700 years.  Today, seven areas of Tuscany produce Chianti: Classico, Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, Colline Pisane, Colli Senesi, Montalbano and Rùfina.  Chianti produced in the central Classico area is traditionally regarded as the best.

Chianti is a strong, bold wine: very dry and tannic.  It pairs well with foods with strong spices or flavors; it will overwhelm a dish that’s too delicate.  That said, it’s great with a huge variety of foods, like pork, chicken, and beef, but obviously, its classic pairing is with Italian food.  Chianti was made to be drunk with pasta, and pizza.  And despite its recent improvements, most bottles are still relatively inexpensive, meaning that you can snap up a great bottle for a wallet-friendly price.

Chianti isn’t a crowd-pleaser, like a Merlot or a Chardonnay.  It’s more of an all-or-nothing wine: some like it, some hate it.  Which side of the fence do you fall on?