Shadow's Wild Black Premium Blackberry Lager
Photograph by Melody Flammger
Shadow's Wild Black Premium Blackberry Lager
Photograph by Melody Flammger
I've noticed I do a lot of pairings with salmon at this point. It's probably because it's so versatile and it's one of my favorite types of fish to work with. It also happens to pair with a lot of different beverages. That said, this is unique because I've paired fish with beer (something I haven't done before). Without further ado, on to the food and beer pairing!
Beer:
See: very garnet in color- not a common color for a lager. There is also very little head on the beer.
Sniff: Blackberry, cherry and hints of molasses
Sip: Blackberry and cherry on the forefront with and almost woody backbone
Swallow: Clean and crisp finish with very little aftertaste.
Sockeye Salmon and Steamed Peas
Photograph by Melody Flammger
Food:
Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon with a side of steamed peas. The salmon was flavored with seasoning salt and black pepper and then oven-baked skin side down until flaky. The peas were microwave steamed.
Food and Beer:
The fattiness from the salmon immediately softened the woody and bitter flavors in the beer. Because of the more bitter flavors being softened, it allowed the blackberry flavor to shine. Paired with the fish, the pairing was almost like eating a glazed piece of salmon rather than two separate entities. It was an excellent combination. I even forgot to sample the peas with it, but they were more for a vegetable than for actual tasting value.
I stumbled across this interesting find during my latest trip to the liquor store. It's apparently a new take on boxed wine. The purse shape camouflages the fact that it's boxed wine (as much as it can anyway). I really liked that they even displayed the product on a retail purse rack, which adds authenticity to the idea that it's purse-shaped box wine.
It seems like an opportune time to introduce a product like this one because the weather has been gorgeous and many beaches and parks have rules about glass containers. A few other wineries have tried things like tetra packs and bagged wine with a spout on it- but I've never seen anything this intricate or thought out before. While I can't say anything about the flavor or quality of the wine itself, I can say the concept caught my eye!
Wine is the reason I decided to completely change my career path and veer off in another unknown direction. Often, others will ask me or just assume what the reasons are that I might have made such a risky maneuver- particularly when I had a perfectly reasonable career path lined up for myself. The reasons are many and varied but they essentially boil down to a few really big and amazing things about wine.
Wine as a Science
As a part of my first class in the subject taught at RIT by Lorraine Hems, I decided to make a wine for my project. I realized the relevancy of my scientific training in Biomedical Sciences (my program of study at the time) during the wine making process. I loved both as a scientist and somewhat of a nerd, the fact that something so wonderful could come of the process and was able to more fully appreciate the fruits of my efforts in a tangible way that could be shared with others. My printouts of gel electrophoresis or successful production of monoclonal antibodies paled in comparison to the joy I felt opening my first bottle of self-made wine.
Wine as an Art
Wine is so much more than any one action you do with it. Wine is about tasting, smelling, seeing, swirling, making, sharing, scoring, buying... Wine finds so many ways of expressing itself. It transcends all of the senses and comes in limitless forms. Wine is made from different types of grapes, barrels, yeasts, procedures. The possibilities with wine are literally endless.
This is where the wine making process becomes more than just a laboratory procedure to be carried out. There is more than one way to get the desired result and deviation is encouraged. Deviation from the standard procedures finds beautiful anomalies. Somewhere in this process, a grape becomes more than just wine but a unique collection of smells and tastes. As many wine makers have said, there is a bit of alchemy involved in wine making.
Wine with Food
If I thought wine was amazing by itself- the right food makes it even better. Food and wine pairing is a wonderful tasting adventure to embark on and really brought many of my wine experiences to life for me. Instead of sitting down to a single glass of wine, the act of planning a dinner around a wine or vice versa became an experience unto itself. My husband, Chris Flammger even enjoys planning these pairings with me. We've recently expanded to doing food and beer pairings to incorporate his tastes as well.
I attended a tasting held at my local Lilac Festival. For some reason, when I attended this tasting I thought of previous wine tasting events where there was plenty of room to move about and politely converse about the wines we were trying. At previous events, ticket prices were higher, venues were indoors and a different crowd was present.
First of all, this event was a smaller part of a larger outdoor festival held in one of the larger city parks. The tastings themselves occurred in a large tent and tables lined the edges of the tent with one larger one in the center. The center winery was Casa Larga Vineyards (this made sense because they largely sponsored the event). Upon entering the tent, my original assumptions were shattered.
For $5 at this event, you got a tasting glass and basically unlimited tastings- IF you could get to the tastings. The problem was that many people would stand around the tables for long after they'd tried their samples instead of moving along. This led to overcrowding and people were reaching over others just to try to get a sample. In many areas of the tent, it was impossible to pass easily on to the next table. The area became so crowded with people that no one could easily move. I hadn't anticipated having so much trouble even moving around.
Wine tasting table Photograph by Melody Flammger
Instead of taking tasting notes, my friend Kat and I focused on collecting winery brochures so we would know which wineries had attended and could refer back to their websites if we liked anything we had tried. We tried the wines that sounded interesting or that we hadn't had before rather than doing a complete tasting at any one winery. If we had tried to get a whole lineup in, someone would have pushed us out of the way.
This really opened my eyes to what can happen if there isn't a good crowd management system in place. There was one security guard stationed at an exit to the tent, but no ropes for lines and no apparent organization. We noted quickly to each other the difference between an event like this and an event for serious wine drinkers. Unfortunately, what could have been a very nice event for serious wine appreciators it had become the ultimate drunk fest. After all, if you can get unlimited samples with your $5 entry fee, you wanted to get your monies worth and that was done by trying as many wines as possible- sometimes even multiple times.
We managed to have a good time despite the event not being what we expected. We ultimately decided that if we're going to go to an even where there is a massive tasting such as this one that we'd have to keep a notebook to have an idea of what we tried, or to abandon trying to gather tasting notes for each wine. We made a mental note of some of the wines we liked but a list may even have been better.
Have you had a mass tasting experience? What was it like?
Explorador Sauvignon Blanc
Photograph by Melody Flammger
2010 Explorador Sauvignon Blanc
See/Swirl: This wine, like most Sauvignon blancs is very light color. This is probably due to the young age of the wine. Swirling reveals that the wine has definite legs and these are indicative of the 13.5% alcohol content listed on the bottle.
Sniff: I get definite lemon zest, apple skins and another bitter, sour smell I can't put my finger on. I think it's gooseberry (a classic descriptor of Sauvignon blanc).
Sip: The flavor is lemony and acidic with light fruit on the back end. I've previously referred to this wine as being a lemonade replacement and this one lives up to the name due to its tartness and lemon notes.
Citrus Dill Catfish
Citrus Dill Catfish with Steamed Vegetables and Garlic Flatbread
Photograph by Melody Flammger
The first word out of my mouth after tasting this was "Meh." The flavors canceled each other out. The dill was too subtle a flavor to stand against the bright flavors in the sauvignon blanc and there wasn't enough fat in the fish to balance out the acidity in the wine. The whole thing fell flat for me. This is a learning experience though. Pairing flavors that seem similar to each other can cause problems is pairings. Sometimes they work out spectacularly and others they don't. This is a learning experience.
Garlic Flatbread
I knew that the two would go together, so the whole meal was not a miss. The acidity in the wine enhanced the garlic flavor and the fat in the cheese was enough to buffer the acidity in the wine. Because of that acidity being brought into balance, the fruit flavors in the wine came forward and the pairing transformed.
This is the first time the blog has really delved outside of the topic of wine, but with the Summer upon us I decided to address the food of the season: Barbecue, and it is typically best with a beer.
Saranac Blueberry Blonde Ale
See:
About a "2" on the color scale (1 being the lightest and 8 being black). There's a little bit of a head on the beer and visible bubbles. The beer is apparently unfiltered, as it's a bit cloudy towards the end of the bottle.
Smell:
Blueberries, honey and bread are the main aromas
Sip:
I tasted just a little sweetness on the front end, being inundated with hops and bitter skins of blueberries on the middle of the sip. My husband (who is a self-proclaimed hop head) got a lot more of the fruit from the blueberries on the front end of this beer. Your tasting experience will depend on your preferences and your sensitivity to certain flavors.
Barbecue Chicken
Once paired with the chicken, I was able to pick up on the fruity flavors my husband had described to me in the initial tasting so the food certainly brought out some flavor in the beer. Additionally, the hoppiness in the beer brought out the spice in the barbecue making the pairing mutually beneficial to the food and the beer.
Brown Sugar Baked Beans
The beans paired with the beer similarly to the way the chicken did. The spiciness was picked up by the hops flavor in the beer and the sweetness in the beer was picked up by balancing the hops out against the food. Overall, I felt both items went well with the beer.
I love how nice the weather has been lately and realized that as we head into Summer, there's a whole different feel to the kind of wine we want to drink.
Here are some wines I recommend for while you're chilling on your patio or just hanging out with friends:
Photograph by Christopher Flammger
Red Newt Cellars Blue Newt White:
I recommend this wine because it's a nice, lightweight wine that is sweet enough to stand on its own. It's still zippy, acidic and fun- as any good patio wine should be. The balance between the high acidity and high sweetness is something I love about many of the Finger Lakes wines.
Photograph by Christopher Flammger
Hazlitt Vineyards Red Cat:
If you haven't had Hazzlitt's Red Cat already, it's a must. Just about every winery's success has been compared directly to Red Cat's. The idea behind Red Cat is the same as any patio wine- easy drinking. I find the occasional bottle enjoyable. The "Red Cat" name comes from the fact that it is made from a grape called "Catawba", which is a red grape native to New York.
Photograph by Christopher Flammger
Xplorador Sauvignon Blanc:
This was the most recent Sauvignon Blanc purchase I've made. I generally prefer Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand but will be giving this one a try. Sauvignon Blanc is a great patio wine in general- no matter which style you like because it tends to be juicy, mouth watering and acidic just like lemonade. Perfect for the patio if you ask me!
Cranberry Pepper Glazed Salmon and Pan Seared Corn
Photograph by Melody Flammger
I came home to a surprise food and wine pairing prepared by my husband on Wednesday after a long night at work. He's a much better cook than myself and I usually enjoy what he brings to the table. Without further ado, here's the food and wine pairing:
See/swirl: I see a pale rose color, almost peachy. There are no legs and no sediment.
Sniff: I smell fresh strawberry, peach and kiwi.
Sip: I find that the kiwi scent carries through to the taste, which is
pleasantly zippy with a hint of strawberry. The wine is very acidic and sour, which is typical of the Finger Lakes Wine Region.
Cranberry Pepper Glazed Salmon
Photograph by Melody Flammger
Cranberry Pepper Glazed Salmon:
Pan Seared Corn
The acidity of the wine is balanced out by the fattiness of
the fish. The peppers in the glaze get a
bit of kick off from the wine, increasing the heat on the spice. The sweetness from the cranberries is welcome and evens out the whole thing. I really enjoyed the way the wine and food played off of each other because they both transformed beautifully. Of course, both the food and the wine were delicious on their own as well.
Corn Seared in Salt and Butter:
The sweetness in the corn offsets the blatant acidity of the
wine and the two coexist quite peacefully. There was no miraculous transformation as with the salmon but still a nice pairing.
Okay, so the new Mighty Taco opened up recently in Henrietta, NY and I couldn't help it. I wanted to see if the Opera Prima Sweet Pink Wine went as well with spicy food as it said it did and that was the perfect excuse.
I wish this could have been a post with video of a virtual tasting with my best friend from childhood, Brianna Cole who is currently working and living in Chiba, Japan. The idea was that we would break down the geographical barriers with something that is seemingly available everywhere- wine. It turns out my assumptions about wine were false to begin with. Due to the enormous amount of wine on the market, each person has a relatively limited selection of wine in their area and short of ordering a specific wine, it seems that the virtual tasting is not so simple to do. The other thing I found was that different wineries make different wines available in specific geographical locations. Determined not to disappoint, I'm still working on the problem. We may resort to deciding on a wine and ordering it if that's what we have to do.
Recently, my wine making partner and I started making wine again. We've been wine making partners for years, with our first batch having been started when we took our first wine dating back to early 2010. The first wine we made came from a kit- it was a Strawberry Riesling. Since then, our operation has become slightly more sophisticated and we tend to make our wines from scratch. This time we made a mead.
Because most of you already know how to make your own wine or even have, I'm just going to share my experience making the mead with you. For more information on wine making, please read my post Wine Making 101.
Mead is different from other wine making ventures because instead of using grape juice or fruit juice for a sugar source, it uses honey. The use of honey somewhat complicates the wine making process. Rather than essentially adding yeast to juice there is a bit of preparation that happens.
Differences in preparation:
Removing the raisins
Photo by Melody Flammger
Egg is used.
Raisins are added
The honey, water and egg are boiled during the preparation process
The differences added up to having to boil the three ingredients (honey, water and egg) and stir constantly until the "scum" rose to the top of the batch. This was presumably to allow the egg to bind to the impurities in the honey and remove them from the finished product. After the boil, raisins were added and the "must" was allowed to sit overnight. We assume they were added for flavor- we are following a recipe as this is our first mead. The picture to the right depicts me in the process of straining out the raisins as the must is being added to the carboy for fermentation (this is only a 1 gallon batch). The cloudiness in the carboy is because the yeast solution has already been added.
Mead in the carboy with airlock
Photo by Melody Flammger
With only a few differences from traditional wine making, mead is relatively simple to make. This was a practice batch for a larger 5 gallon one to come. 1 Gallon batches are used to test the techniques, yeast used and additives without potentially ruining a large volume of supplies and I find are a more cost effective way to experiment in wine making. me
Pro-tip: Always keep a log of your wine making so that you know what techniques worked and what techniques didn't. We use ours to also plot potential costs of supplies, cost of the batch, recipes and more. The scientists in us wouldn't have it any other way- but it helps to know what you did if your batch is successful so that it can be easily replicated for success every time.
This post covers the very basic principals of wine making. It's a very in-depth topic and will be discussed in more detail later on. If you’ve never made your own wine before it may sound like an arduous process. Most think back to the Romans, stomping the grapes with their feet and pressing it into wine. Luckily, the wine industry has advanced signifigantly since those times and making wine is easier than ever.
First, a little background information:
“Alcohol is what results when yeasts metabolize with the natural sugar in grape pulp.”
Using this principlemaking wine is almost as simple as adding some yeast to some grape juice. Granted, it’s slightly more complex than that. After all, there are different styles of wine and different types. Nonetheless that is how wine is made with a few extra steps in between.
Mechanical Harvester
Photo courtesy of AP Images
Usually, in order to get the grape juice/pulp in question there is a harvest that is done. Originally, all harvests were done by hand. However, in this technological day and age we now have mechanical harvesters which most farms use to obtain their grapes. From the harvester, the grapes are usually placed into the crusher/stemmer. This device squeezes the juice out of the grapes and removes the stems. Crushing is done in different ways. Many wineries will just use the “free-run juice” that comes off before the first crush. This is for higher quality wines and white wines usually. When making red wines, we will save the skins and ferment them with the juice. More crushing of the grapes is usually to get more color and/or flavor from the skins of the grape.
If you're just starting out, you'll probably want to purchase a kit for your first time. They come with step by step instructions to ensure that your first wine is a success.
Now that we have juice, we need to turn it into wine. It is important to note that most places have ambient yeast (meaning that the juice will in fact ferment on its own if we do nothing).
“A winemaker, however, may choose to use cultured yeasts, thereby gaining control over the onset and rate of fermentation. Something as simple as the speed at which fermentation proceeds can profoundly affect the flavor of the wine, with slower fermentations often producing more complex wines.”
Many home wine makers will also want to select a cultured yeast from a lab such as Lalvin. This allows you to select a yeast that is going to impart the specific flavor profile you are looking for in your wine. The selection process can be intensive and it is best to use a manual such as Scott Laboratories Fermentation Handbook.
Once the juice is fermented successfully it is officially wine. However, it is still not ready to drink. The next step is to stop the fermentation process to make sure that a secondary fermentation does not happen in the bottle (this can lead to messy explosions if not done properly). Many modern wineries use pasteurization to kill off the remaining yeast while others rely on additives or micro-filtering. For home wine makers, a campden tablet per gallon and a potassium sorbate or sulfite additive will do just fine. Some wine makers would not consider the wine nearly complete at this stage. Many wines are aged for years in oak and home wine makers might use oak barrels or additives to simulate the ask flavoring which would be acquired by barrel aging.
Corker
Photo by Melody Flammger
Now that we have wine that won’t explode when we bottle it, we must now clarify the wine. Who would want to drink wine with floating masses in it? In order to do this, many rely on clarification agents, however this can also be done through filtration. Different filters can be used for different effects. For instance, if you are trying to filter out leftover yeast, you may want a micro-filter which filters to 1 micron thick. That way, none of the yeast can pass through the filter. If you are just filtering for aesthetics, you can use a coffee filter or a wine filter you can find in any supply store where you go for your wine making needs. For clarification, I like the use of sparkoloid powder. After adding this clarifiying agent you would want to let the wine sit for an additional week or so to give the agent time to pull the sediment to the bottom of your fermenter. I do recommend use of a filtration method along with the clarifying agent to ensure better looking wine once it is bottled.
Source: MacNeil, Karen. "Where It All Begins, How Wine Is Made." The Wine Bible. New York: Workman Publishing, 2001. 7,32. Print.
After reading the latest Wine Spectator article by Matt Kramer, I couldn't help but share with my readers. The article makes the point that in order to have a good palate, you don't necessarily need to be able to identify wines blind or know the most about wine.
"Judgment and insight are the hallmarks of a good palate. Everything else is a technicality."
The cool thing is that experience will give you both judgement and insight if you allow the wine to tell you about itself. I tend to try not to read the descriptors on the bottle when I'm tasting because they can alter your perception of the wine. Instead, I just use my 4 S's and experience the wine that way. As you taste more wine, the differences and little nuances of each wine will float to the surface and your palate will develop.
The New York section at a local store
Photo by Melody Flammger
Last time I had occasion to go shopping for wine, I considered the possible causes of one of the statistics we heard in my Wine, Beer and Spirits Marketing class at RIT. The statistic was that 24% of wine consumers are overwhelmed when they walk into the liquor store. That is a huge market share and to harness it would be...well... a marketer's paradise.
Considering carefully the potentially less knowledgeable wine consumer, I proceeded with caution. Walking in, immediately there were cluttered shelves and displays of featured wines. The wines not being featured were arranged by region. That arrangement is fine if the consumer knows which region they want a wine from or knows what they are looking for- but as I began to consider the arrangement I honestly felt overwhelmed by the possibility of having to look over the entire store if I did not know which region(s) produced the style of wine I was looking for. This may be just one reason some consumers are overwhelmed.
Worse yet, when I got to the New York section I realized that I had no idea what I wanted because I was on a budget and wanted to try something new but did not know what. As I carefully scanned the bottles looking for a wine to call out to me- a wine salesperson did.
In the past, I'd had good experiences with salespeople and accepted his help. I explained I was looking for something different and was intent on getting a New York wine because I wanted to support our local wineries. I suggested maybe I try a red or a rose, those being wines that New York is not well known for. Instead of helping me in my quest, the salesperson felt the need to insert his opinion- which was very pointed about New York wines. It was totally off-putting- and yet that may be another reason consumers feel overwhelmed. If the people who are supposed to be there to help you do a poor job of being receptive to your taste or choices, it only serves to make the selection process even harder.
Eventually coming out of the store with my three selections for around $20, I thought about it. If someone less stubborn than myself had been listening to that wine salesperson they would most likely do one of the following:
Walk out without buying anything
Follow the salesperson's advice and buy a European wine instead
Buy a New York Riesling (as that's apparently the only thing NY does well? REALLY?)
Zinfandel and Sirloin Tip Steak Pairing
Photo by Melody Flammger
Most people try to follow a set of textbook rules when it comes to food and wine pairing. I'm here to tell you that everything you've heard/read is probably okay to follow- but to make a truly great pairing you have to take some risks. Some say that the best food and wine pairings are when you take your favorite food and your favorite wine, put them together and they enhance each other. Others just say to play around with it to see what works together. It's definitely a mixture of both, so don't be afraid to challenge old rules!
Zinfandel
Photo by Melody Flammger
The Wine:
2007 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Zinfandel
See/Swirl: Very deep garnet color, visible legs though this is a red
wine they don’t stain the glass. No
sediment.
Sniff: vanilla, black cherry, currant, charcoal/ sweet barbeque, strawberry
Sip: surprisingly mellow and velvety (soft tannins, dark fruit), definite acidity and toast on the tongue.
Steak
Photo by Melody Flammger
The Steak:
Angus Choice Sirloin Tip Steak prepared with Montreal Steak Seasoning and pan seared until rare. This works best if the steak is allowed to acclimate to room temperature before cooking.
Together:
The acidity in the wine cuts through the fat in the steak- one of the main reasons this pairing works well together. The steak seems to bring out the toastiness in the wine more (from oak) and gives the spices on the steak a backbone to stand against. The surprisingly mellow tannin didn't overwhelm the delicate flavor of the rare steak like a bolder wine may have.
We all see the various wine ratings cluttering the shelves
in the liquor store- this Chardonnay scored 96 points, this Cabernet Sauvignon
scored 88 points, etc. But do points
really matter?
It depends on who you talk to, but for some people points
really do matter and those points dictate what they will or won't bring home.
There are some who will not allow a wine without a number of 96 points or
higher to grace their palate. What this
unfortunately means is that wines that do not get the attention of a rating
system such as Robert Parker's do not get the business of these wine drinkers
either. It also means that those same
wine drinkers are limiting themselves.
Sure, there are thousands of wines with ratings on them and that
consumer still has plenty of choices if they choose that standard. But at the same time an unrated wine has the
very same potential to be just as good- perhaps better than the wine they
brought home with the 96 point score.
Wines are constantly evaluated- whether it be with RobertParker’s 100 point system or by International judges at competitions the wines
are always going to be sized up against one another and given a grade. In a wine competition, there are a lot of hoops
to jump through for the wine maker before the wine can be entered. There are entry fees, shipping the wine, minimum
quantity requirements, complicated forms, etc.
It certainly isn’t a cakewalk for those who decide to go that
route. Once at the competition, the wine
gets tried by a number of certified judges (depending on the competition). Because of jumping through all of these hoops
just for a medal and some recognition for their wine- there are many wines that
do not go to competitions and even wineries that don’t participate.
Going back to the scenario of the individual who only drinks
wines with a rating of 96 or higher- say this person also doesn’t drink a wine
without a Gold medal. This person is
excluding wines from the winemaker who makes wine in too small of a batch to be
evaluated at competition. So, one winery
may have actually made the best Chardonnay known on earth but only made a very
small controlled batch so was unable to enter the competition. This Gold medal only drinking wine consumer
will never taste that Chardonnay and may very well miss out on the best wine
drinking experience of their life.
The point of this perspective on ratings and medals is to
show that yes, there is some merit to them.
It’s not easy to produce a 100 point wine that also scores Double Gold
in International Wine Competitions and there are a lot of hoops to jump
through. But it also doesn’t mean that
the other wine out there isn’t just as good.
People should drink what they like, not what they’re “supposed” to like.
Photo: Melody Flammger
Butterfly Wine by Lucas Vineyards
Most blind tastings are done without the tasters knowing anything
about the wine. When doing a blind tasting, the administrator will even
cover the bottles of wine with a paper bag so that nothing is known about them.
The goal of the blind tasting is to be able to guess the grape type the
wine was made from without knowing very much about the wine- as little as
possible in fact. Without some serious
administrative help, most of us are unable to do completely blind tastings, but
now and again we come across a wine and think "Now, what in the world
could this wine be?"
This is because
many wineries have taken to a minimalistic approach in their labeling.
This makes the wines look attractive and/or unique but presents a problem
to the already overwhelmed wine consumer.
Many times I’ll pick up a wine bottle in the store and scan the bottle
looking for some kind of a description or an idea of what grapes were used,
etc. Sometimes I’ll find a satisfactory
answer by looking around but sometimes I won’t.
In these cases, I have to either pick up the bottle and take the risk of
not liking it when I open it up or put it back down and go for a wine that
tells me a little more about itself.
Luckily, I can usually guess pretty well by the descriptors on the
bottle if the wine is going to appeal to me or not. I can imagine if this isn’t the case for
everyone, especially those who don’t know what they’re looking for in a
wine. That said, this time I did pick up
a bottle that I was drawn to by the label and decided to try it. The wine doesn’t tell you a whole lot up
front. The name is a bit ambiguous “Butterfly”
and the winery, Lucas Vineyards is in New York. I’ve
never had any of their wines before so I decided it would be a good opportunity
to try my skills.
As always, I start with my 4 S’s (See Better wine tasting for more
on these).
Photo: Melody Flammger Glass of the "Butterfly" wine by Lucas Vineyards
See and Swirl:
The color on this wine is very clear with no discernible legs on
it. I can interpret these findings as
that the wine is likely unoaked and relatively low in alcohol content. The wine
is probably a young white wine.
Smell:
Lemon and green apple come to the forefront of the nose on this
wine with a hint of a floral aroma.
Using quick, short sniffs I can also detect a hint of honey on the nose.
Sip:
The green apple flavor hits the tongue first, followed by the
floral taste as well finishing with a honey aftertaste. The wine is both zingy and sweet. The zinginess
is likely caused by a high acidity in the wine and the sweetness is a
moderate amount of residual sugar in the wine.
Given what I know about the wine so far, I can almost conclusively
rule out vinifera grapes. First, most
wineries in the U.S. will advertise these vinifera grapes in order to sell the
wine more easily and for a higher price because these grapes are considered to
be noble. The vinifera grapes I am
ruling out are: Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. This means that the wine was likely made from
labrusca grapes (native grapes). There
are many different varieties of labrusca grapes including: Delaware, Golden
Muscat, Ontario, Seneca, Cauyuga and many others.
Because many wineries in
New York use different labrusca grapes based on their locations and even blend
the grapes to balance out their wines, it is possible that without writing the
winemaker themselves we may never know the grape that was used to make the
wine. Thus, I suppose in this blind
tasting I have failed to identify the grape that was used but was still able to
determine quite a bit about the wine just from what I could discern. We all get better at these sorts of exercises
with practice- and next time I’ll use a European wine so that there are a
finite number of possibilities. I
certainly enjoyed the adventure and this wine was a winner in my book.
As always, continue to explore and don’t be afraid to try this
experiment yourself. You may surprised
at what you know!
As I begin the process of planning my next wine making
project, I thought I’d cover the equipment needed to get started. The gathering process probably takes the
longest if you don’t already have all of the equipment necessary (and even
sometimes if you do in my case). I like
to make sure that I have all the tools necessary for the project at my
immediate disposal before getting started.
So without further ado, here is what you will need to gather for wine
production:
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Glass Carboy
Primary Fermenter:
Many use a glass carboy for the fermentation process, but it’s
not entirely necessary to use one in this beginning stage. Although I fermented my first wines in
carboys, I found that they are much harder to clean than buckets are and also a
lot heavier. Buckets are also
significantly cheaper. If you are going
to use a container other than glass, it’s important to make sure that it is
food safe. Many containers will state on
the label whether or not they are food safe, however some may not. Always play it safe- you are making a
consumable. If the container you’re
considering does not list that it is food safe there is another way to tell if
it is good to use. Most plastics will
carry a recycling triangle with a number on them. HDPE 2 is a food safe plastic and will suit
your needs for a primary fermenter quite well.
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Food Safe Bucket
Bung:
No, that’s not a typo.
A bung is the piece that bridges the gap between the top of the carboy
or hole in the lid of the primary fermenting container and the airlock. It’s basically a rubber cork with a hole in
it sized to fit your containers. Bungs
come in different sizes, so when picking one up at your local supply store,
make sure to know the measurements of the opening of the containers you’re
using.
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Bung
Airlock:
These come in many shapes and sizes. The idea is that the airlock is filled with
water (or vodka) and will allow carbon dioxide created in the fermentation
process to be released. This prevents
nasty explosions in your wine cellar or other wine making space. The airlock also prevents the wine from being
exposed to the air from outside of the fermenter. Air from outside the fermenter may contain
ambient yeast or other contamination.
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Airlock
Hydrometer:
A hydrometer is going to allow you to monitor the alcohol
and residual sugar levels as your wine continues to ferment. This tool works by measuring the specific gravity
of the substance in which it is immersed.
There are a few different types- even digital ones but I heard from a
few wineries in the Finger Lakes that they use the same inexpensive model you
can find at your local supply store. I use the hydrometer as a tool to craft
exactly the wine I’m looking for and generally take a reading at the outset of
the wine making and then once per week until the levels get close to the ideal
I’m looking for.
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Hydrometer
Auto-Syphon:
This can be made out of plastic tubing or purchased from
your local supply store. The object of
the auto-syphon is to make it easy to transfer wine from one container to the
other without disturbing any sediment at the bottom which you would not want to
include in your final product.
Brush:
A brush will be needed to clean bottles, carboys and primary
fermenters so it’s good to have one handy for this purpose- possibly even
several. Your local supply store should
have a variety of shapes and sizes but one will generally suffice provided you
wash the brush out thoroughly after each use.
You may want to replace your brushes regularly for best results.
(Photo by Melody Flammger) Straight brush
Corker:
It may seem a bit early to have a corker around, but as I
stated in the beginning- I really like to have all of the tools I’ll need at my
immediate disposal. A corker is
something you will assuredly need at the end of the wine making process (unless
you just happen to have access to a bottling line or something). Most corkers you’ll find at your local supply
store are inexpensive and easy to use.
There are four S’s so to speak when first experiencing any
wine. They are in order: see, swirl,
smell, and sip. I realize that many
experienced wine drinkers might find this post a bit redundant- a lesson they
learned long ago- which is why I am going to explain what all 4 of the S’s tell
us as well as what one might miss in the wine drinking experience if one were
to skip over one or all of them. These simple things can tell us a surprising
amount about the wine before we even consume it: there are wine connoisseurs
who can tell us what the wine is without ever looking at the label!
For more of a visual, please refer to my post from last
quarter where I taste and compare two Rieslings:
See:
How the wine looks can tell us a lot about the wine. The color, first will indicate whether the
wine is white, red, or rosé. The presence of
bubbles will indicate whether the wine is sparkling or in the case of vinho
verdé
just slightly bubbly. Debris in the bottom
of the glass (be them tartaric acid crystals, dead yeast (lees), or pulp) can
also tell us a bit about the wine depending on what is found. Beyond those basic visual indicators, the
color can tell us other things.
In a white wine, one may look at the color of the wine and
be able to tell several things. If the
wine is aged, it may have a darker color than a very young white wine. Aging in white wines is a little less common
than in red wines due to the fact that reds tend to age better but certainly
some aging has been done quite well with some white grapes. Most notably, Rieslings tend to age well but
there are others. Another factor that
can affect the color of a white wine is whether or not it is oaked. Oaking a wine can drastically alter the color
of the wine depending on how long the wine is in the barrel or even what type
of barrel is used. Typically, an oaked white wine will have a fuller, darker more golden color to it. Finally, another factor that can change the
color of a white wine is the alcohol content.
Alcohol can sometimes cause wines to have a darker more golden
color.
In a rosé, one may look at the color to judge
whether the wine is being drunk in time.
Rosé
wines are seasonal because of their delicate color, which can become more
orange-brown tinged if they are not consumed in time. These wines are literally a cross between a white wine and a red wine and are made in two ways: either the wine is made from red grapes and only allowed to ferment on the skins for a short time or the juice from the grapes naturally has some color to it. This is why the color and taste of these wines are so delicate. The tingeing of color is not the only
disappointment if these wines are held on to for too long- the taste can suffer
greatly as well. The season for rosé
wines tends to be spring and early summer.
In a red wine, one may actually be able to determine the type of the grape used to make the wine.
Pinot noir, for example, will have a very telling watery edge around the
glass with a dark garnet center. Red wine can also, like the rosés acquire an orange-brown tinge to indicate that
the wine has been aged a very long time and possibly oxidized a bit. In these older wines, you would also likely
notice that the wine had shrunk in volume a bit over time also due to oxidation.
Swirl:
Not only will swirling the wine stir up the aroma and
oxidize the wine a bit- it can also tell you more about the wine. Swirling the wine, you want to look for the
wine to stick to the sides of the glass and run down. This effect is called “legs” and can indicate
a higher alcohol content than a wine with less or even no legs. The next “S” (smell) starts with swirling.
Smell:
“If you do not smell a wine or simply take a brief cursory whiff,
very little information goes to the brain, and not surprisingly, you will have trouble
deciding what the wine tastes like.” I
took this quote from Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible because she sums it up so perfectly. Much of what you taste in your wine will
actually come from what you smell. For
this reason, smell is a very important part of a proper wine tasting.
There are a lot of smells in wine from barnyard to basement
there are literally hundreds of descriptors which have been used over the
centuries. Most commonly, one will smell
a mix of different fruits but there are also floral scents, nutty scents,
mineral scents, even the smell of petrol has entered in now and then. To simplify tastings, Ann C. Noble invented
an aroma wheel which many find useful starting out.
The smells in a wine can tell us about how the wine was
made- in some cases they can tell us what grape the wine was made from, whether
oak was used or not, whether malolactic fermentation was used, etc. I’ve even smelled sunshine or the countryside
in a few well crafted wines. I have the
best experience when I let the wine “talk” to me and tell me about itself. I do this by following the whole process and
not trying to smell for specific descriptors but rather put a name on the ones
that come to the forefront. This way,
you can get a feel for the wine.
Sip
A tip from my Wines Professor Lorraine Hems who teaches in
the Hospitality program at RIT is to throw away the first sip of wine. Why, you may ask? This is because you may have eaten something
or drank something throughout the day that would taint your palate. In order to get the best first impression of
the wine, you almost want to swish the wine around on the first sip and either
spit or swallow when finished. Never
evaluate on the first sip.
Now that palates have been cleansed it’s time to taste all
of the beautiful descriptors you found in the nose of that wine. This is where
the wine comes to life. With tasting,
there are three main flavors you will notice: sweet, sour and bitter. Salt is largely excluded because it’s extremely
rare to find a salt flavor in a wine.
The only grape variety I know of to have a salty flavor is the trebbiano
grape which is used in the making of balsamic vinegar. This grape is rarely used for wine.
Sweet, sour and bitter have attributions to specific
qualities in the wine. Sweet is
attributed to the residual sugar (or added sugar) in the wine. Residual sugar refers to sugar that was not
fermented out of the wine by the yeast.
Sour is attributed to acid in the wine.
Acidity can have a lot of bearing on the flavor of the wine making it
very tart or in more balanced wines making it well rounded. Finally, the most common source for a bitter
taste is the tannin which typically only occurs in rosé or red wines.
I hope this has been an interesting review even for the
experienced wine drinker, and as always- enjoy your wine!
As I was perusing the internet in the usual way tonight, I managed to come across a very cool youtube video of an intricate machine that will open a bottle of wine and pour a glass. The machine was made by Robert Higgs and runs on literally nothing more than a hand crank and gravity. Since it is not only very cool but also has to do with wine I thought I'd share:
While the machine is cool, it's certainly not practical but it does make me think about the ways we go about simple tasks. There are many ways to open a wine bottle these days: corkscrew, sabre (with sparkling at least), electric opener... and with the increasing popularity of Stelvin screw caps we're seeing this task become increasingly easier. This machine seems like the predecessor to the electric "rabbit" openers I glance at every time I walk through housewares in various stores. Unfortunately, as with its electric cousins I find that while the machine is cool and bears some novelty that it just isn't necessary. Call me old-fashioned but I kind of like the tactile sensation of popping the cork myself- by hand with a corkscrew. Of course, I've also been known to enjoy my wines from the Stelvin topped bottles as well because the way they open has almost no bearing on how they taste. In any case, it's still cool that someone spent hours, perhaps months conceptualizing and implementing the design for this machine which performs a simple task which most of us take for granted (I believe this makes it a Goldberg machine). I also suppose that it doesn't really matter how one goes about opening their bottles so long as they enjoy what's inside. So, with that- happy opening- however you choose to do it!
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