The Washington Post's Dave McIntyre Pairs Sherry with Chinese Cuisine

I was pleased to read in Dave McIntyre’s article on Wednesday January 21 “This Lunar New Year, Raise a Glass of Sherry” how he successfully paired Emilio Lusatu’s fino, manzanilla and amontillado sherries with Chinese dishes.

In the i-WineReview’s recent special report on Sherry we offered readers a Sherry and Food Pairing Chart which identifies the wide variety of possibilities for pairing Sherry successfully with different cuisines. Most wine enthusiasts don’t realize how versatile Sherry is for pairing with food, especially sherries like manzanillas, finos and amontillados .

In our chart, we recommend manzanillas for traditional Spanish hors d’oeuvres and soups like Marcona almonds, green olives, gazpacho, but also with fish and seafood like fried white fish, sushi, smoked salmon and oysters; finos for fried Serrano ham, shrimp frittata, asparagus, cold or poached chicken, and amontillados for mushroom dishes, rare tuna, grilled salmon, veal and mushroom stew, Manchego cheese and more. For real spicy Thai food or fois gras, pale and medium cream sherries are good accompaniments.

Sherry is indeed undervalued by most wine enthusiasts and is generally not well understood or appreciated. That is why the i-WineReview prepared a Special Report on Sherry with the goal to help our readers become more familiar with this fascinating wine, explore its many facets, and ultimately enjoy drinking it. In addition to explaining the origins of Sherry and how it is made, we provide tasting notes and ratings for more than 75 sherries on the market.

Thanks, Dave McIntyre. We share your enthusiasm for Sherry—and especially as a food wine.

Mike Potashnik
Publisher
International Wine Review

Affairs of the Vine 7th Annual Pinot Noir Shoot Out

Affairs of the Vine, the California-based wine education and corporate team building events organization, recently completed its 7^th Annual Pinot Noir Shoot Out. This unique annual event brings together hundreds of Pinot Noirs from California and across the world for evaluation and special recognition. The evaluation of the wines is carried out by panels of tasters consisting of winemakers, sommeliers wine writers and other wine professionals. This year some 57 judges participated in the process which involved the evaluation of 267 Pinot Noirs from California, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and elsewhere. The Shoot Out is managed by Affairs of the Vine CEO, Barbara Drady, who brings enthusiasm and professionalism to the tastings.

As a partner of Affairs of the Vine, the i-WineReview lends its technical and operational support for the shoot outs and other AOTV activities. I thus participated as one of 23 judges who were given the job of evaluating 64 wines that reached the final round of the competition. The judges met in San Francisco on January 19-just prior to the inauguration of Barrack Obama -and we completed our work in time to enjoy the inaugural celebrations the following day!! Our work was not easy-judging wines never is--but it certainly was enjoyable! By the way, the judges in this competition evaluate the wines blind and on their own and don’t negotiate scores as they often do in other competitions.

The results of the Shoot Out will be announced soon by Affairs of the Vine. Suffice it to say at this point that the competition brought together some attractive wines from producers all over the world and confirmed to me that Pinot Noir is alive and well outside of Burgundy. What was particularly striking to me was the wide range of styles of Pinot Noir being produced today in California from big Syrah-like wines to delicate Burgundian ones. Likewise, I was amazed by the number of up and coming small wineries that are currently crafting Pinot Noir. With more and more producers getting into the game, California is perhaps the most dynamic Pinot Nor-producing region in the world today.

I will be looking forward to the results of the Shoot Out. On April 5, Affairs of the vine will also hold a Pinot Noir Summit in Marin County to give Pinot lovers from the general public the opportunity to taste the top 40 wines blind and compare their impressions with those of the judges. There will also be workshops and receptions, at which wines are paired with food.

I will be particularly interested in learning whether there are meaningful differences in the evaluations of the wines between women and men judges. Barbara Drady believes there are notable differences in the way women and men judge wines. I also believe there are differences, but I can’t prove it and it sounds sexist.

Mike Potashnik

Publisher,

International Wine Review

How does the sugar get into the wine bottle?

How does the sugar get into the wine bottle? -- With special reference to Germany

Dr. Christian G.E. Schiller
McLean, Virginia (USA) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

Dave McIntyre has written a very nice article (“How to Put Riesling Fears to Rest”) on Riesling in the Washington Post of January 7, 2009. Riesling is a rising star in the wine world and the International Wine Review plans to devote a report to the Riesling renaissance in one of its coming issues. Dave McIntyre discusses the problem that the taste of a Riesling wine can range from bone-dry to exceptionally sweet and thus consumers are often a bit lost when they see a Riesling in the shelf of a wine store. The purpose of this posting is to shed some light on why some Rieslings are sweet and others dry, with special reference to German wines.

To start, some basics, which are often not well understood, but which are fundamental to the issue: The fermentation of grape must is a complex process in which sugars, naturally present in grape juice, are transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide by the action of yeasts. The fermentation process stops when the alcohol level in the wine has reached around 13 to 15 percent of the volume. In most cases, all the sugar in the grape is fermented by then and the wine is dry. Thus, all over the world, even in the warmer regions, wine tends to be dry. The main role of sugar in the grapes is to produce alcohol in the wine. At the end of the fermentation, the sugar is gone, converted into alcohol.

But there are exceptions. Germany is one of the countries that is well known for sweet dessert wines. These fine sweet wines are produced either from botrytised grapes or grapes that were harvested during frost, more specifically,

• the fog in the autumn mornings at German river banks produces a fungal infection, botrytis cineria (noble rot), which removes the water in the grapes and adds a unique flavor to the grape; and

• the frost late in the year also removes the water (but does not produce the botrytis taste).

In both cases, the sugar content of the grape is exceptionally high at the time of the harvest and mother nature is unable to ferment all the sugar. Thus, natural sugar remains in the wine and makes the wine sweet. These are the famous sweet dessert wines in Germany: Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein.

But Germany is also known for producing sweet non-dessert wines, ranging from simple and cheap party wines to rich and delicate sweet Spaetlese and Auslese wines. What makes these wines sweet is not the sugar content in the grapes, but the skillful processing of the must by the winemaker in the cellar. Germany’s Spaetlese and Auslese wines, as well as lower quality wines, have a sugar content in the grapes at harvest that normally is fully fermented, even Spaetlese and Auslese wines. Yet, they are often sweet.

There are two principal methods used by German winemakers to generate residual sugar in such wine: First, stopping the fermentation (skillful manipulation of the fermentation process with sulfur and temperature control, among others, which arrests the fermentation and keeps the sugar level high in the wine) or adding what is called suessreserve (unfermented grape juice) after completion of the fermentation to the dry wine. Thus, any German wine ranging from Tafelwein to Spaetlese/Auslese is dry, unless the winemaker decides otherwise. If he does so, he can either arrest the fermentation or add suessreserve. A good indication if a sweet Spaetlese was stopped or not is the level of alcohol. If it is low, the likelyhood is large that the wine was made sweet by arresting the fermentation. In recent years, adding suessreserve has become the preferred method.

German wine makers can also add sugar to the grape must. And they do. But this does not make the wine sweet. Winemakers are constrained by the law in terms of the quantity of sugar they can add and in terms of sugar content of the grapes. Only grape juice from grapes with a low sugar content can be enriched within certain limits with the purpose to bring the alcohol level to desired level. Again, these wines are typically dry, notwithstanding the sugar, if the winemaker does not manipulate the fermentation, but can be made sweet if the winemaker stopps the fermentation or adds suessreserve after fermentation..

I love the whole range of German white wines, in particular Rieslings, depending on the occasion. For foie gras, I get a ultra-sweet Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese; I like my veal breast with cream sauce and a bone-dry Auslese from Rheingau and Chinese Food with a sweet Auslese: and I serve a light, spritzy, off-dry Mosel Qualitaetswein at my summer parties.

For Dave McIntyre’s article in the Washington Post go to:

How to Put Riesling Fears to Rest

Blue Cove Wine from South Africa: Extreme Value

Blue Cove is a new label of high value wines being produced in South Africa for the mass market in that country and elsewhere. Thanks to Michael Bampfield-Duggan of Wine Concepts, I had the opportunity to taste the full portfolio of these wines during my recent stay in Cape Town. These wines are also exported to the UK and US.

The appropriate moniker for Blue Cove wines might be extreme value. The wines are cleanly and simply made from Robertson area fruit so the varietal character shines through. However, costs are also kept low, so that the final product is pleasant, yet extremely accessible. Prices in South Africa are 35 Rand (about US $4) for the regular bottlings, which makes these about the lowest cost varietal wines one can find on the marketplace. US prices are somewhat higher but still excellent value.

In my opinion, two of these wines merit special attention on the basis of quality alone. Both the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve and the 2007 Merlot are very flavorful wines that could sell for a much higher price. They are wines that will complement, rather than compete with, food. As our family budgets continue to shrink, these become very attractive alternatives.

The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is a mild-flavored wine that is seemingly a blend of New Zealand pungent gooseberry and Sancere minerality. The results is a wine that is pleasant served as a well-chilled aperitif or taken with subtly flavored seafood. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve is a very attractive wine with quince and minerals on the nose and a full-flavored, somewhat grassy palate with good acidity. The 2008 Chenin Blanc shows good acidity and a touch of the banana skin that often accompanies cold fermentation. The palate is flavorful with white peach and green apricot notes. The medium-straw colored 2007 Viognier has attractive aromas of sea shells and daisies with a palate of winter melon that finishes chalky and very dry. The 2007 Merlot is exceptionally attractive at this price point, with aromas of tobacco and blueberry and flavors of blue and red fruit and tobacco. The finish is very pleasant and very long. This is a real crowd pleaser that would make a great party (or wedding) wine. The medium ruby 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon shows aromas of pepper, mulberry, licorice, and Bovril with a medium weight palate showing modest fruit accented by vanilla and almond. Not a classic Cabernet but pleasant nonetheless. The medium dark ruby 2008 Shiraz has aromas of oak and vanilla and plenty of oak, and blackberry fruit, on the palate.

These are wines of exceptional quality for the price. They are not the wines you would not necessarily serve to your pretentious neighbor with his 4,000 bottle cellar full of complicated, world famous wines. But you would serve them to your other neighbors, your co-workers, and, perhaps, even your mother-in-law.

The Quality of South African Wine: Whites vs. Reds

South Africa is white wine country. As recently as 1990 84% of all vineyard plantings were white wine varieties. (That percentage has decreased to 54% today.) South Africa is increasingly recognized, both in country and in Europe, for the quality of its white wines. Cape Point Vineyards in Noordhoek near the Atlantic ocean has rapidly climbed the ranks of South Africa’s best wineries—yet it produces only white wines. South Africa’s premier wine tasting—the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, including judges Jancis Robinson and Steven Spurrier—gave white wines its highest honors.

At the same time, South Africa’s red wines are frequently denigrated by the critics. MW Tim Atkins said of South Africa’s red wines in the July 2007 edition of Wine & Spirits: “the basic problem is that too may of them achieve the unusual distinction of being both green and baked a the same time, with sugar ripeness out-pacing phenolic ripeness.”

What’s the problem with red wines? The experts offer five possible explanations. The first possibility is the high incidence of leaf roll virus, which adversely affects red grapes much more than white grapes. A second possible explanation is physiologically unripe grapes, which results in green or herbaceous characteristics that are more acceptable in white than red grapes. A third explanation may be that white wine vineyards are significantly older than red wine vineyards: 42% of white varieties are over 15 years old compared to 13% of red varieties. As a result, some vineyards may overwork the fruit of young red grape vines, resulting in wines of more power than elegance. A fourth possible explanation is that winemaking is simply better for whites than reds, which can suffer from over-oaking. The fifth possible explanation is that South Africa’s relatively hot climate adversely affects reds more than whites, which are often grown in cool climate regions and picked early before the worst of the summer heat.

There is one other possible explanation for the criticism of South African reds A growing number of wine lovers, both in and out of South Africa, believe the most important problem is that South African wine is being judged against an international benchmark which doesn't adequately recognize regional variations in wine styles. If, 350 years ago, South African instead of French wine was drunk in London, the experts today might be judging French wine by a South African benchmark and find it wanting.

Whatever the case, South Africa has dual challenges facing it. One challenge is to improve viticultural practices to produce higher quality, phenolically ripe, red and black grapes. The other challenge is to develop a marketing strategy that successfully exploits its growing reputation for high quality white wines. In a recent Wine magazine article, Jancis Robinson forcefully makes the argument for South Africa doing just that -- aggressively marketing its distinctive white wines before this "window of opportunity" is lost to Argentina and Chile.

New York Times: Sparkling Wine vs. Champagne Sales

The December 31, 2008, issue of the New York Times reports that consumers are moving down market in their sparkling wine purchases in response to a deteriorating economy. More specifically, consumers appear to be shying away from purchases of expensive vintage Champagnes in favor of less costly domestic sparklers. But the December 2008 issue of the International Wine Review provides convincing evidence moving down market price-wise need not imply moving downscale in terms of quality. Not only are there excellent Spanish Cavas and Italian Proseccos at very reasonable prices, but American sparklers also offer excellent value. I suggest you try California’s Roederer Estate NV Brut Rose at $23, Oregon’s Argyle 2006 Brut Rose at $30, Virginia’s Thibaut and Janisson NV Blanc de Chardonnay at $30, and Michigan’s L Mawby Blanc de Noir at $18. All these sparklers are rated at 90 points or above by the IWR. Numerous other excellent values can be found in Report # 14: The World of Sparkling Wines and Champagne. See the New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/business/01wine.html?ref=business

Wine Classification Part 2: South Africa Wines of Origin (WO)

South Africa is a good example of a New World wine classification system. It defines the geographic origin of grapes but does little in terms of quality control as found in Europe. South Africa has 5 classification levels, called Wines of Origin (WO), ranging from large geographical areas down to what are called wards and wine estates.

Let’s take the newly created Hout Bay classification as an example of a WO. This is only appropriate, since the International Wine Review’s Editor is currently resident in Hout Bay. Aside from wine estates which produce wine from estate grown grapes, the smallest official unit of classification is the ward. Hout Bay is a ward, and a small one at that with just two wineries—Hout Bay Vineyards and the highly regarded sparkling wine producer Ambeloui. Next up in terms of size is the district. Stellenbosch, for example, is a WO district containing several wards Next comes the region. For example, both the ward of Hout Bay and the district of Stellenbosch are part of the Coastal Region WO. Finally, one level up from the district is the geographic unit, of which there are currently three in South Africa—the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, and Kwazulu-Natal. The Coastal Region is part of the Western Cape. To use any of these classifications on the wine label, 100% of the grapes must be grown within the corresponding WO. Ambeloui, for example, uses the WO Coastal Region on its label because its grapes are not soley sourced from Hout Bay.

What purpose does the South Africa WO system serve? There are fairly dramatic variations in terroir within a small geographic area in South Africa resulting from differences in altitude, proximity to either the Atlantic or Indian Oceans, and soil types, and the WO serves to identify these differences for the consumer. On the other hand, there are large differences in wine quality within a specific WO resulting from differences in vineyards and winemaking. As a result, the WO provides some limited information to the consumer, but the oenophile is more likely to assess wine quality and other characteristics based on the winery’s brand, or reputation, and how highly the products of that winery are assessed in Platter’s South African Wine Guide. In other words, the value of the WO designation is not much different in South Africa than it is in the US and other New World countries.

For more information on the WO’s of South Africa, consult Wines of South Africa (WOSA) (wosa.co.za) and South Africa Wine Industry Information and Statistics (SAWIS) (sawis.co.za). SAWIS is charged with enforcing the WO system.