Have You Tried Rosé?

Yes, it's still winter. And rich, savory red wines are great with a hardy, warm meal. But with Valentine's Day near and spring being just around the corner, I thought I might touch on rosé wines.

Rosé wines have gotten a bad rap, and some of it is deserved. The White Zinfandel that became so popular in years' past has had a lot to do with rosé wines being greatly overlooked. And many times a rosé can be rather tasteless and weak, nothing there.

But rosés should not be rejected outright. There are many examples of rosés with great character. Light rosés can have flavors of grapefruit, strawberry and sweet cherry, while darker, bolder rosés can have flavors of black currant and blackberry. These flavors come from the many varieties of grapes used to produce rosé.  Fruity rosé can come from the Grenache, Sangiovese and Zinfandel grapes while savory rosé is made from Tempranillo, Syrah and even Cabernet Sauvignon.  Other rosés are made from Mourvèdre, Pinot Noir, Cinsault and Clairette grapes.  Check the label. Nicer rosés will tell you the type of grape used in making the wine.

A couple of keys to finding dry versus sweet rosé are alcohol content and where they are made.  Sweeter wines, in general, have lower alcohol levels (not all the sugar was converted to alcohol during fermentation). All wines labels are required to show the percent alcohol of the wine. If it's down around 8 or 9 percent, it's going to be sweet.  In the 11 to 12 percent range, it will be mid-range between sweet and dry. And, above 12 percent it's going to be dry.  And, typically, rosés from Old World countries are going to be drier. French rosés from Provence are made of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Mouvèdre, Spanish rosé (rosado) is typically made from the Grenache grape while Italian rosato is made with various grapes depending on where they are from. These are all excellent, dry rosés that are typically quite affordable. You should be able to find a nice rosé under $20.

Rosé wines go great with a large variety of foods and are typically served cool to cold. In future posts, I'll touch on the various methods for producing a rosé wine and discuss acidity since many rosés have bright acidity that works well with many food pairing.

If you haven't taken rosé seriously up to now, I suggest you give it a try. You are likely to be surprised! Cheers!

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Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week - Francis Coppola Sofia Rosé ($13)

This is a nice, light rosé that's dry (the 12.5% alcohol listed on the label should tip you off that it's dry).  This is a blend of Syrah and Pinot Noir with flavors of cherry, raspberry and citrus zest.  Chill it and enjoy!

A little trivia - Francis Ford Coppola named this rosé for his daughter, Sofia, who is an Academy Award winning screenwriter, director, producer and actress.

Are there "Better" Wines Made by Wineries?

There are a lot of wines available on store shelves. A grocery store, liquor store, or big-box wine seller will have plenty of wine offerings. But most of the wines are large production wines from big wineries. And, as previously discussed, the terms 'Reserve' or 'Estate' can be misleading or completely meaningless when looking for "better" wines. 

But there truly are different 'grades' of wines made by wineries. For example, I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola 'Director's Cut' Cabernet Sauvignon (See my notes in Behind the Cork™). While Coppola turns out a lot of good wine, their line of 'Director's Cut' wines are a step up in quality and wine making craftsmanship. And this is true for most wineries. They make their large production wines that show up on store shelves and then they make wines that are limited production. You may be able to buy some of these in stores but most often they are held by the wineries for sale in their tasting rooms or for their wine club members.

It's definitely worth taking an extra moment on the wine aisle to read labels and do some comparison shopping. You may be surprised to find a higher-end bottle of wine from some of the big wine producers. Many times these wines will distinguish themselves from the winery's mainstream wines by providing the vineyard's name where the grapes were grown, or the label may be 'fancier' than the other label by the same winery. Price will also be an indication.

Where you really get 'better' wines is by visiting wineries.  I had an acquaintance once ask why I bothered to go to wine country to buy wines when I could just go to the store. And besides, he said, the wines at the wineries are more expensive!  Well, yes, the wines at the wineries can be more expensive but that's because you are getting something 'better' than you can buy in stores. A lot better.  Wineries will truly have 'Reserve' and special 'Estate' wines that are of better quality than those on the grocery store shelves.

So take a closer look at the wines on the store shelves, visit a smaller wine shop or, better yet, visit a winery.  You will certainly find wines that are a 'Cut' above. Cheers!

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Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week - Chateau St. Jean Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast is really a great value at $13.  It's delicate, as a Pinot should be, with the cherry, raspberry and cola flavors that are typical of Pinot Noir from the Sonoma region.  Pinot Noir pairs amazingly well with everything from Salmon to Steaks.

Dessert Wines

In past entries we've explored fortified wines that are just one major category of dessert wines. While the list of dessert wines is too expansive to cover in one posting, we'll touch briefly on the categories of sparkling wines and the various types of Late Harvest wines.

As discussed in prior posting, sparkling wines can range from dry to sweet. Typically a wine labeled "Dry" will have little to no residual sugar (RS). But that's not true in sparkling wines. Sparkling wines on the sweeter side are called:

• Extra Dry has 12-20% residual sugar

• Dry has 17-35% residual sugar

• Demi Sec will have 35-50% residual sugar

• Doux (meaning 'sweet' in French) will have greater than 50% residual sugar

A few of the sweeter sparkling wines include Moscato d'Asti, Asti Spumante, Sparkling Gewürztraminer, Demi Sec, and Sparkling Rosé. Sparkling wines are fun and festive and will go well with most dessert courses.

The other major category of dessert wines is Late Harvest wines.  These wines can be broken down by the following production methods:

• Late Harvest of the Grapes: Simply put, the longer the grapes stays on the vine the more ripe they become and the more natural sugar they produce. During the fermentation process, the yeast is not able to convert all the natural sugar to alcohol thus resulting in a sweeter wine. Nearly any grape varietal can be used to produce a Late Harvest dessert wine. These tend to be very rich and fruity with notes of honey.

• Using Dried Grapes: A dried grape, or raisin, just tastes sweeter than a grape because the sugar is not diluted in water. Thus, using dried grapes can result in more sugar, less water. Here again, the yeast used to ferment the wine doesn't consume all the sugar before dying off resulting in a sweet wine. Grapes may be dried on the vine, on straw mats or while hanging on racks.

  • Greek Straw Wines

    • Vinsanto is made with high-acid white Assyrtiko grapes

    • Samos is a sweet wine made from Muscat grapes

    • Commandaria is a sweet wine from the Mavro grape

  • German Strohwein/Austrian Schilfwein - These are sweet wines made from Muscat and Zweigelt grapes in Austria and Germany.

  • French Vin de Paille - From the Jura region of France, these wines are produced using Chardonnay and the ancient white wine grape Savagnin.

  • Italian Passito - These wines are made with several different kinds of grapes, both white and red, but notably from the Moscato grape. These have a fruity bouquet and flavors of apricot and raisins.

  • Vin Santo - From Italy, this wine is produced from Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes. Includes nutty and date-like flavors. Commonly served with biscotti that may be dipped in the wine or eaten separately.

• Noble Rot:  The awful sounding name of this method occurs naturally in climates where there are cool damp mornings and warm dry afternoons.  This environment is where naturally occurring fungus, Botrytis, causes the grapes to shrivel on the vine, losing much of the water and leaving behind the extra concentrated sweet fruit. The 'rot' is entirely harmless and results in a highly sought-after style of wine. In Bordeaux, France, the Sauternes region is famous for its Noble Rot wines produced mostly from the Semillon grape.

• Ice Wine: This method allows the grapes to freeze on the vine, converting all the water within the grape to ice. When the grapes are immediately picked and crushed, the ice remains behind and only the sugary juice of the grape is collected. Only a fraction of this sweet juice is converted to alcohol during the fermentation process, thus creating a sweet wine.

So whether it is a fortified wine, a sparkling wine or a Late Harvest wine, there are many choices for dessert wines. A general rule for a dessert wine is that it should be sweeter than the food being served and slightly chilled. So keep these options in mind when choosing a dessert wine to go with your favorite dessert options.  But, as always, drink what you like and enjoy! Cheers!

Oak and Its Effect on Wine's Flavor

Last time we discussed how all the fruit flavors get into wine. We discussed that wines don't actually contain fruit other than grapes, but the grapes, the soil they are grown in, the fermentation process, and the aging process can impart other fruit flavors.

Another way that flavors can be added to wine is through oak aging.  Oak barrels add additional quality, character and smoothness to wines and can create flavors of vanilla, butterscotch, coconut, toffee, caramel, butter, mocha, coffee and smokiness. 

The vanilla flavor in wines come directly from compounds in the oak itself. But often the interiors of wine barrels are 'toasted' over an open flame. This process affects the degree of flavor added to the wine. Barrels may be toasted light, medium or heavy. Light toasting of the barrels results in wines having flavors of butterscotch, toffee, caramel, coconut, and butter. Wine flavors of mocha, coffee and smokiness are brought out of the oak by heavier toasting of the barrels. 

Oak barrel aging is used for most red and white wines of the world. But, it comes with a cost.  French oak, which is considered the 'gold standard' of oak barrels, can cost $800 to $4000 dollars each.  And an oak barrel is only able to add flavors to wines through two to three uses. After that, oak barrels become 'neutral' and are simply used as vessels for storing wines with little or no flavor being added. Oak barrels from the U.S. cost $350 - $500 each and, like French oak, only impart flavor during their first two to three uses.

One oak tree can only produce enough wood for approximately two barrels, or 50 cases of wine. And, when aging wine in a barrel, the wine only comes in contact with the oak on the inside of the barrel. So, winemakers seek alternative ways of getting oak flavors in their wines. Options include adding oak chips, oak cubes or oak staves directly into the wine as it ages in stainless steel tanks. This allows the entire surface area of the oak to be in contact the wine and is much less costly than barrels.

So start paying attention to these wonderful flavors in your wines. And remember, all the flavors are coming from grapes, yeast and sometimes oak.  Cheers!

How Do All Those Flavors Get Into Wine?

Last time we took a quick run through how wine is made. And you may have noticed that there are only two ingredients in wine: grapes and yeast.  Yet, white wines can be described as having flavors that include lemon, lime, grapefruit, apple, peach, pear and orange.  And red wines can be described as having flavors of cherry, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, plum and fig.  And then there are descriptions of vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, tobacco, leather, and even tar, just to name a few.  But, if wine is only made from grapes and yeast, how do wines get all those other flavors? 

To answer this, we need to review taste, smell and flavor. First, let's start with taste.  If you recall, the taste buds on your tongue are able to distinguish sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. You also have nerves in your mouth that give you additional senses such as temperature and texture or feel.  These nerves can yield sensations of smooth, creamy, or dry, for example.  So these are the senses inside your mouth.  

Then secondly, and most importantly, is smell or aroma. Aroma is what is detected in your nose and nasal passages.  As you eat or drink, aromas pass up through your nasal passages where you get additional information about what you are consuming.

And finally flavor is how the brain puts together the senses of taste and smell.

So then back to wine. When you sip a wine you are getting information from your tongue, nose and nasal passages. And while there are only the four tastes being detected by your tongue there are a multitude of aromas being detected by your nose and nasal passages. The aromas get released by the wine through the alcohol, which is lighter than air, and evaporates easily from your glass.  Your brain then puts together the information on the tastes and smells of the wine and equates them with tastes and smells that you already know. Thus, those amazing little grapes are able to cause your brain to sense additional fruit flavors without even a trace of the fruits actually being in the wine.

Aging wine in oak barrels also adds many other dimensions to the flavors in wines. And we'll discuss those next time.

But for now, remember the four S's of wine tasting (1) Swirl your wine in the glass to release all the aromas, (2) Smell the wine's bouquet, (3) Sip the wine and leave it in your mouth briefly, and then (4) Swallow (or Spit) and experience the wine's lingering 'finish.'  Then try to name all the wonderful fruit flavors that you experience. All just from grapes! Cheers!