Fino: This is the palest and driest. Alcohol 15-17. Sugar grams per liter: 0 – 5
Amontillado: Slightly darker than Fino. Alcohol 16-17%. Sugar g/l: 0 – 5
Oloroso: Darker, fuller bodied slightly oxidized. Alcohol 17-22%. Sugar g/l: 0 – 5
Pedro Ximénez: Dark, full-bodied and very sweet. Alcohol 15-22%. Sugar g/l: 212+
After fermentation and the fortification with brandy, the Sherry is aged using the solera system in which the barrels of aging wine are stored in a pyramid style with the oldest on the bottom and newest barrels on top. Wine to be bottled is drawn from one third of the oldest, bottom barrels, which are then topped-up with wine from the layer above and so on, until there is space in the top layer of barrels for the new wine to be added. Consequently, over the years and decades, the wines of various vintages are blended together, which is why a bottle of Sherry never has a vintage year on the label. In some cases, some of the content of the bottle could be more than a hundred years old. Dry Sherry is a popular drink all over Spain, not just in Andalusia, and has been extremely popular in England since long before Shakespeare celebrated it in his plays.
Sherry is the Shakespeare of wines. Both offer the widest variety of styles, from the driest Fino to the sweetest Pedro Ximenez, or the broadest comedy of Bottom to the most sublime tragedy of Lear. They are both unique and have no peers; the solera system is unique to Sherry, and the sheer volume and range of the written word is unique to Shakespeare. Not only does Shakespeare make more than thirty-five direct references to Sherry in his plays, but during his lifetime, Sir Francis Drake “liberated” 2,900 butts of Sherry (2.25 million bottles) from the King of Spain, and brought them home to England. The richness, the range, the historic parallels, will forever unite the Bard of Avon with the sack of Jerez.
Shakespeare’s most famous Sherry drinker, of course, was Sir John Falstaff, who called it “sac” and attributes the bravery and military success of Prince Hal to his consumption of Sherry. He also adds that Sherry produces “excellent wit,” while it “warms the blood.” In conclusion, Sir John avows that if he had a thousand sons, the first thing he would teach them is to reject all small thin wines and to devote themselves to Sherry.
Part of the payment to England’s Poet Laureate, since the time of Shakespeare’s drinking companion, Ben Johnson, has traditionally been a barrel of Sherry. England’s current Poet Laureate, Carol Anne Duffy, was presented with 720 bottles of Sherry in 2012. Sherry is typically drunk as an aperitif before meals.
Port: Like Sherry, Port is a fortified wine developed for and largely controlled by the English market, even today. It is made from the Touriga National grapes, which are grown in the remote reaches of the River Douro after it crosses the border from Spain. Because of the steep slopes of the vineyards, the grapes are harvested by hand and pressed with human feet in order to thoroughly macerate the grape skins in the juice, thus imparting the dark color to the wine. Fermentation is interrupted by the addition of aguardiente (brandy) before all the sugar is converted, which means that the wine is high in both alcohol and residual sugar.
Although there are a dozen different styles of Port which are tightly controlled and regulated by the various Port houses down-river in Porto, they can be divided into two general types.
Wood-Aged Port: As the name implies, these are wines that are aged in wooden barrels before being bottled. They include the cheapest and most common, Ruby Port, which is dark and fruity and ready for immediate drinking. Late Bottled Vintage Ports are aged in the vat for between four and six years minimum. More delicate than Ruby, rich and mellow Tawney Port is a blend from several vintages, which are aged in wood from ten to forty years, and whose delicious nuttiness and aromas of butterscotch and fine oak intensify the longer they spend in wood. White Ports are made from white grapes, and are aged for at least three years before bottling.
Bottle-Aged Vintage and Crusted Port: As the name implies, these wines are aged in the bottle after a minimum of just two years in oak casks. This Port should not be drunk until at least fifteen or twenty years after the date, usually stenciled in white paint, on the bottle. Because the wine has not been filtered, it will form a crust of natural sediment in the bottle and will need to be carefully decanted before serving. Port wines are among the longest lasting, most structured, and most powerful of all wines.
The English, who have been deeply involved in the development of the Port trade since the 1670s, traditionally present a new-born baby with a bottle of Port to be opened at the child’s twenty-first birthday.
Madeira: Madeira is a fortified wine made from the Malvasia grape in the Madeira Islands off the west coast of Africa, where European sailors would stop and load up with provisions on their way across the Atlantic or south to The Cape. In both instances, the local wine, fortified with rum or brandy, was not only able to weather the long ocean-crossing but actually improved with the heat of the sun and the rolling of the ship.
Less popular now, Madeira used to be the most-popular wine imported to America, and its devoted drinkers included Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Rutledge, and John Adams, who all used it to toast the Declaration of Independence. During colonial times, one of the early Church of England commissaries, the Reverend Gideon Johnston, discovered the joys of Madeira when appointed to Charleston, South Carolina, by the Bishop of London. Whilst crossing the Atlantic to take his official post, he found himself abandoned on the island, having become totally addicted to Madeira and being too drunk to leave. When the Reverend gentleman did eventually arrive in Charleston, he was delighted to discover that his parishioners, like the citizens of Savannah, were all equally addicted to the pleasures of Madeira.
Madeira had already long been popular in England, where it was known as Malmsey. According to Shakespeare, when King Richard III needed to get rid of his brother, George Duke of Clarence, in 1477, he had him drowned in a barrel of Malmsey. When the two murderers arrived at the Tower of London to carry out the task, the unsuspecting Duke of Clarence asked for a cup of wine. The second murderer made the famous response: “You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.”
Marsala: The town of Marsala in Sicily had long produced a popular white table wine which an English visitor in 1773 decided would be greatly improved by fortifying with extra alcohol, so that it would survive the long sea voyage to England. The wine is aged using the in perpetuum method, similar to the solera process already in use to make Sherry. Marsala can be either sweet or dry, and ranges in color from amber, golden, or ruby. The alcohol content is usually between 15-20 percent.
Banyuls: Banyuls is a French AOC for the fortified dessert wine from Banyuls in Roussilon, near the Spanish border of Catalonia. The process, called Mutage in French, is similar to the production of Port, in which the fermentation is interrupted by the addition of brandy, thus retaining the residual sugars while increasing the alcohol level to about 16 percent. François Hollande, the recent President of France, served a bottle of Banyuls to President Obama during a state visit to Paris in 2016.
Chapter
8
WINE PAIRING,
SERVING & BUYING
“Most people whom you may view as wine experts are usually just good at just one thing: winemakers are good at making wine, sommeliers at talking about it, and wine writers at drinking it for free.” ―Olivier Magny
What sort of food?
When selecting wine for a meal, the very first and most important step is to decide whether your food is going to be delicate and mild tasting or hearty and flavorful. Is it going to be fatty or lean? Will it be rich, buttery, and creamy, or will it be thin, sharp, and acidic? The wine and the food must balance each other, so that a hearty dish will match a hearty wine, while a mild-flavored food will require a delicate wine. What is important is that neither the wine nor the food should overwhelm the other.
So a d
elicate Dover Sole, for example, would go well with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, but not with a Chardonnay; while a hearty steak-and-kidney pie would complement a Malbec but probably overwhelm a Beaujolais. However, the Beaujolais would go well with a light lunch, such as cold ham, charcuterie, and salad, while the Chardonnay would be the perfect match for a rich chicken in cream sauce. As noted elsewhere, when in doubt, Champagne goes well with everything.
Traditional Red/meat: White/fish rule
Some fish, such as cod, haddock, and mackerel, as well as all shellfish, are high in iodine, which is why red wines don’t do well with them. The iodine content reacts with the tannins in red wine and makes both the fish and the wine taste metallic and nasty. However, red wines like Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, or even certain Chiantis that are not high in tannins, go very well with fish, such as salmon or sea bass.
Meats like chicken or pork go very well with full-bodied white wines like Chardonnay, Riesling, or even Gewürztraminer. Rich patés, like foie gras in Perigord, are traditionally enjoyed with a late harvest white wine, like Monbazillac or Sauternes.
Tannins and Acids
Tannins not only enhance the complexity of the wine itself but are also very useful for cleansing the palette of fatty foods. Lamb chops, for example, or a grilled beef steak, will both be improved with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux, whose astringent tannins will strip away the fatty-coating inside your mouth.
Acids perform the same function as tannins in cutting through fat, and so a fried chicken or smoked salmon, which would be overwhelmed by the tannins of a Cabernet, would respond well to the cleansing acids of a crisp Sauvignon Blanc.
Acids in wine should also match the acid in food. Pasta with a tomato sauce—or indeed any food over which you squeeze lime or lemon juice—should be paired with a light acidic wine such as Riesling, Pinot Grigio, or even Alvarinho. Cream sauces, on the other hand, will react badly to acid, and so should be paired with richer, more full-bodied whites, such as Chardonnay and Viognier.
Wines which are lower in alcohol tend to be higher in acidity, and thus go better with food since the acids and tannins cleanse the palette. For the same reason, many New World wines with their fruit-forward and high alcohol content tend to overwhelm the food, however hearty it might be. Many of these “hedonistic fruit-bombs,” therefore, are best drunk by themselves and not paired with food at all.
Sometimes it’s okay for the wine to overwhelm. If you are serving a bottle of Château Latour or a Screaming Eagle, for example, you probably want your guests to notice the wine. The accompanying food should be simple and not spicy, so it does not distract while you slowly savor the expensive pleasures of these legends of the winemaker’s art, and your friends savor the pleasures of knowing so generous a host.
National pairings and wine
When in doubt, just match the wine with the nationality of the food. The two have evolved together over generations and—within the obvious rules listed above—will always complement each other. For example, a pasta dish will almost always do well with Chianti, and a Boeuf Bourguignon will always improve with Pinot Noir from Burgundy.
As for Asian food, while many Japanese dishes, especially sushi and some Chinese dishes, pair well with Champagne and light dry wines from Alsace, the Loire and Burgundy. For spicy Vietnamese, Korean and Indian food, ignore the wine and serve cold Asian beer.
The next section lists twenty-four different varietals in order of lightness, with the more full-bodied and heavier wines listed last. However, bear in mind that varietals often vary depending on their origin. For example, a Chardonnay from Chablis, which is fairly flinty and austere, would go well with snails or a fish simply grilled with butter and garlic, but not with a chicken in cream sauce. Chicken and cream sauce requires a more full-bodied Chardonnay from California or Australia, as well as a non-tannic red, such as Chianti or even Merlot.
Top Forty Wines to Try Before You Die (24 Varietals)
White: Listed from light to more full-bodied
Sauvignon Blanc. Compare Pouilly Fumé or Sancerre, France with Marlborough, NZ.
Pinot Grigio from Venetia, Italy.
Vinho Verde from northern Portugal.
Albarino from Rías Baixas, Galicia, north western Spain.
Chenin Blanc. Compare Vouvray, Loire wines with South Africa and Margaret River, Australia.
Torrontes from northern Argentina.
Riesling, Compare wines from Moselle, Germany, with Alsace, France.
Gewürztraminer from Alsace, France.
Viognier from northern Rhône Valley, France.
Chardonnay. Compare Chablis or Pouilly Fuissé with Californian or Australian wines.
Late Harvest wines from Monbazillac or Sauterne* in France; or Tokaji* from Hungary.
Red: Listed from light to more full-bodied
Gamay. From Beaujolais, France.
Pinot Noir. Compare Burgundy with Willamette Valley, OR and Santa Rita Hills, CA.
Sangiovese. Compare Chianti with Brunello di Montalcino* or Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
Syrah. Compare Syrah from Rhône, France with Shiraz from Australia.
Merlot. Compare St. Émilion* or Pomerol* with Californian Merlot and compare both with Carménère (Chile)
Rioja Reserva. Compare with a Tempranillo from Toro (Spain)
Zinfandel. Compare a Californian Zin with a Primitivo from Puglia, Italy.
Bordeaux. Compare a Medoc with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, California.
Malbec. Compare a Cahors, France, with a Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.
Barolo* from Piedmont, Italy.
GSM Compare a Cotes de Rhône, France, with a GSM from Paso Robles, CA.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape*, France
Amarone-di-Valpolicella* Italy.
Vintage Port * Portugal
All these wines can be found for around $10 except for those marked with an asterisk, which are more expensive.
Wine Serving Temperatures
In most parts of the world, serving wine at “room temperature” is an easy rule of thumb to follow. However, those of us who live in South Florida are torn between freezing A/C units and cloying humidity and thus need more guidance.
As with most things concerning wine, people can be too rigid and pedantic in their rules about what is “correct.” There is no correct temperature for serving wine, but over the years certain preferences have proved more popular and enjoyable than others. What works best on a brisk October evening in Tuscany might not be what works best in the humid heat of Miami—even in the cool environs of Books & Books. Personal tastes are also not to be ignored. My personal preference is always on the warmer side, while other people prefer their wine more chilled.
In general, full-bodied reds such as Cabernet Sauvignons and Zinfandels should be served between 61°F and 65 °F. Medium bodied reds such as Sangiovese and Pinot Noir should be served between 59°F and 60°F while young wines from Beaujolais should be served slightly chilled at 54°F.
Full bodied whites such as Californian Chardonnay should be served barely chilled at 53°F, while lighter whites like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio taste freshest at 47°F or 48°F. Sweet and sparkling wines like Sauternes and Champagne are best served cold, around 44°F.
Choosing and buying wine
So, having read this book—what is the next step? What is the best way to broaden your experience in wine and take advantage of what you have been reading?
I have two basic rules:
Experiment with as many different styles of wine as possible. Ignore any pre-conceptions you may have; you will be pleasantly surprised by how many unexpected and different styles you might enjoyably discover.
You can purchase a decent example of most wines for around $10 or less per bottle. While you are learning the different varietals, you should try to stay around this $10 to $1
5 range.
Gaining experience:
Buy a glass or bottle and sample every wine listed my list of “40 Wines.” (Separately; not all in the same evening.)
If possible, do this with a friend, so that you can share the bottle, share the expense, but most of all, share the experience; discuss and share notes.
Work methodically; use a scoring chart to keep a record of the wines you drink.
Compare and compare. Buy a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and one from the Loire and compare them side by side. You don’t need to finish both bottles—they will survive a night in the fridge! Do this with Cabernets, Chardonnays, and Pinots: compare Old World with New World as suggested in my 40 Wines list.
Try the wines by themselves and then incorporate them into a meal, and see how they adapt and how your perception changes.
Purchasing wine:
While you are in the experimental stage, the $10 to $15 range allows you to be adventurous and, in fact, you will often find great wines at less than $10.
By all means, read reviews and listen to recommendations, but try to ignore the shelf-talkers in wine stores and numerical ratings of wine critics. Make your own judgment.
After you have found a wine that you really like at $10, try buying a $20 or $25 version and see if there is a difference. If there is, is it worth the extra money?
Some wines—especially those blessed (cursed) by Robert Parker, simply can no longer be purchased for under $20 (hence the curse); especially the big-bodied reds like Amarone, Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, and Châteauneuf du Pape. So, for those that you have no choice, bite the bullet and venture into the $40+ range. (Marked with a * on my Top 40 list.)
The Booklovers' Guide to Wine Page 31