For those of you in the U.S. of A. - apologies again to my (now probably seriously dwindling) International readers! - it's Memorial Day.
That time when we in the U.S. partake in the American pastimes of family gatherings, and patriotic remembrance, and - best of all - charing meat over an open flame until it is covered in crispy, tasty, blackened carcinogens.
And also trying not burn our houses down.
There is but one method of cooking appropriate for Memorial Day - and that is good ol' fashioned grilling.
And for good ol' American grilling, there is but one (okay, maybe not just one but certainly one of the best) good ol' American wine to pair with your holiday backyard barbecue masterpiece...
...And that wine is Zinfandel.
Never mind that Zin is actually the southern Italian grape Primitivo. Or that it's probably originally from Croatia. If there is one country to embrace a melting-pot Italo-Croatian creation, it's the good ol' U.S. of A., baby! Zin is the (fruit) bomb. It's over-the-top jammy goodness (we're talking the unadulterated Zin grape here, not the sweet, blushy White Zin). It's so good that it's got its own fanclub.
Zin ROCKS.
Especially at the BBQ. That's because Zin's flavor is so bold that it stands up to just about any char grilled goodness (including your famous, spicy-sweet, secret-recipe BBQ sauce) that you might concoct this long holiday weekend.
Zin has been grown in some way/shape/form in the U.S. since the 1800s, taking off in CA after
speculators turned from the Gold Rush to agriculture for their fortunes. As a result, CA has a good amount of old Zin vines. And the older the vine, the lower the grape yields, the more concentrated the fruit, and the higher the potential quality of the resulting wines.
Zin grapes tend to ripen a bit unevenly in tight clusters. What this means is that if most of the grapes are left to achieve full ripeness on the vine, some of the grapes in the same cluster will have shriveled into concentrated, raisiny goodness. Hello, alcohol! (More Zin facts and history can be found in The Oxford Companion to Wine).
Like us Americans, who wear their hearts on their sleeves, Zin grapes are thin-skinned. Also like us Americans, Zin wines are brazen and bold (okay, and sometimes a bit obnoxious). They are not afraid to tell you what's on their mind. And what's on their mind is tons of in-your-face, jammy fruit. And booze (Zin wines can reach alcohol contents of 14.5% or higher).
That fruit is gonna successfully go toe-to toe with anything that you can throw at it this weekend - just like us Americans.
As for recommendations:
For those on a tight budget, you'd be hard-pressed to find better Zin value for your buck than Ravenswood.
For a bit more cash, Frog's Leap makes a killer, earth-friendly Zin.
On the "let's splurge!" end of things, I like Duckhorn's Paraduxx Zin blend.
So this holiday weekend get your party on, get your grill on, and get your Zin on. And have a safe and happy one (when Due here went to the emergency room on Memorial Day a few years ago, the hospital staff told me that they expect spikes in emergency room injury visits due to accidents during this holiday weekend - don't be one of them). Enjoy responsibly!
Cheers!
(images: healthline.com, winecountrygetaways.com, alderbrook.com, bbqreport.com)
It's Memorial Day - For God's Sake, Drink Some Zin!
5 Common Wine Drinking Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Whoops.
Everyone makes mistakes. In the case of the Dude here, mistake frequency is pretty much daily. Thankfully, almost every mistake is an opportunity to learn.
Fortunately for you, the Dude here has made plenty of mistakes when it comes to drinking and appreciating wine. That means that you don't have to make all of those same mistakes, my friend! You can thank me later (preferably with a bottle or two of `82 Mouton...).
Anyway - following are Top 5 of the most common mistakes in wine drinking and wine appreciation that I've come across (or made myself) during my life dabbling in the wine biz. Hopefully these help you to avoid the same...
Filling that glass to the brim is being generous only in the extra amount of calories that you're consuming. It's a killer for wine enjoyment because a) it prevents the wine's aromas from being concentrated towards your nose (where they belong), b) it prevents you from swirling the wine in your glass (which releases those wonderful aromas and flavors in the first place) and c) it makes you much more likely to spill your wine (and you probably paid good money for it!).
At this point you're probably thinking, "Wait a second Dude - waiters do the Over-pour all the time in restaurants. What am I supposed to do about that?" Simple: ask for a second (empty) wine glass. Now you have two glasses of wine that you can fill properly (which basically means filling to the bowl shape of the glass and not beyond). You're welcome!"Filling that glass to the brim is being generous only in the extra amount of calories that you're consuming."
In a word - Yuck.
Now, you don't need to be too anal about this one, but to get the most out of your wine, you do need to get the wine temperature in the right ballpark - and the right ballpark is different depending on they type of wine you're trying to enjoy. Sweet whites and sparklers usually stand up to the coldest temperatures; hefty reds like Zinfandel and Port can withstand the highest temps. For more specific information, check out this handy chart of wine serving temps from recipetips.com.
If you already know the wine and think it's a good buy, then you may have found a good deal in that end-bin. While it's certainly possible to catch a great bargain, I've also seen on many, many occasions wines that are woefully past their prime stuck into the end-bin at steep "discounts". Don't totally ignore those end-bins - but it's a big mistake to make those the only stops on your foray through the wine store."...the end bins are sometimes where good wines go to die..."
A thick, flavorful sauce can turn a lighter dish into a heavy monster of a meal. So, if you're pairing a lighter wine with that heavier sauce, you might not ever get to really taste that wine, as it will get totally overpowered. Epicureans take note!
Not doing any homework. You by no means need to have fancy-schmansy wine certifications to appreciate wine. But a little knowledge about wine styles and wines from different areas of the world can arm you with a very important weapon when it comes to wine enjoyment: Context.
What do I mean by context? I mean knowing what some of those wines typically taste like, and what foods are typically enjoyed with them. This allows you to avoid a whole heap of mistakes when it comes to wine appreciation, because it means you're more likely to taste the wine in its proper context. Someone can tell you that they hate Italian wines - and if that person tried those wines with super-spicy Thai food instead of Italian cuisine, they're probably not giving that poor Italian wine a fighting chance to be liked!
Grab yourself a book and get in some wine learning. Take a wine class, practice your tasting, or host a wine tasting party. The important thing is to keep an open mind about wine, and be willing to learn - in terms of helping you avoid the most common wine drinking foibles, those two things will never let you down.
Cheers!
(images: chichesterdesign.co.uk, comparestoreprices.co.uk, oleswanson.com)
Wine and Music: What to Pair with Dinner
Fellow CSW and SWE member Kathleen Lisson has posted an interesting article about wine pairings. Only this is a pairing not of wine & food, but of wine & music.
Being two of my favorite topics, Kathleen asked me to contribute to her article. You can read the full post at this link.
Kathleen as also included a way-cool playlist of her favorite dinner party music, which includes some amazing and excellent jazz classics. You can launch the stand-alone version of the player and jam along at this link.
To help get into the spirit, I've also added some of my own music-to-sip-with-vino picks in my on-line store. Enjoy!
Cheers!
