How to pair food with wine: 7 helpful tips!

Greetings fellow wine drinkers!


Today I bring to you some helpful tips on pairing wine with food. Some of this may seem obvious but there's no doubt that pairing the two together can be something of an art.


*Tips are courtesy of Ray Isle whose suggestions were featured in my wine class lecture.

#1: Dry rosés pair nicely with hors d’oeuvres such as anchovies and raw veggies

#2: Choose an unoaked white wine (like Sauvignon Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay) with any type of food you can squeeze a lemon or lime on

#3 Low alcohol wines go best with spicy foods such as a German Riesling or Gewürztraminer

#4 Rich red meats complement tannic red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah

#5 When serving lighter meets, pair the wine with the meat sauce instead of the meat itself.

#6 Earthy foods should be enjoyed with earthy (herbaceous) wines

#7 For desserts, make sure the wine is lighter and less sweet than the food but this is debatable and dependent on the type of dessert.

Red, red wine

Yes, cliche title I know, but Bob Marley's song inspired me to share my red wine knowledge with you all.
The primary difference between white wine-making and red wine-making is the presence of skins. Red wine is fermented with the skins, which extract color, flavor compounds and tannins.
Tannins are complex esters of phenolic acids and sugars that effect the astringency, body, color, and aging capacity of wine. Tannins are not present in white wine because they are only found in the skin of grapes, and white wine is fermented without the skins, seeds and pulp.
The most important aspect of red wine-making is cap management, which controls the the carbon dioxide which pushes the skins and seeds of the grapes to the top of the tank. The purpose of cap management is to ensure solids are in contact with all of the liquid in the tank - meaning they (the solids) are equally dispersed.
There are two techniques for cap management:
1. The punch down technique involves a device that literally "punches down" the solids to make sure they interact with the liquid at the bottom of the tank. The old fashioned way, that still exists in some places today, utilized human feet to do the "punching." (gross?)
2. The push over technique pushes and drains the bottom liquid and then re-enters in over the top so it interacts with the solids.

After fermentation the newly-made red wine is stored in barrels to age. Most reds age between 6-18 months.

After aging it's time for bottling and buying!

Recently, I tasted six of the most common red varietals and here's what I found:

• Cabernet Sauvignon: Deep red to brick in color. Tastes dry and very tannic, with herbaceous notes and dark fruit flavors. Other aromas/flavors can include: mint, bell pepper, black currant, cedar and green olives.
  
  
• Merlot: Contains lower tannin and high sugar content than Cabernet. It has a dark red coloring with flavorings of black cherry, plum, violet, rose, caramel and clove.
  
  
• Zinfandel: Rich, redish purple in color with a high alcohol content. Very berry flavored with hints of raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, cranberry, cherry, licorice, cinnamon and black pepper.
  
  
• Pinot Noir: Colored pale rose to red with flavorings that can include: cherry, strawberry, raspberry, violet, rose, rosemary, cinnamon, rhubarb, cranberry and black current.
  
  
• Syrah/Shiraz: (Syrah is the old version name and Shiraz represents the Syrah varietal located in Australia). Syrah's flavors highlight dark fruits like mulberries, black pepper, black olive and bacon fat. Shiraz includes berries, chocolate, and plum flavorings.
  
  
• Grenache: This varietal is typically used for blending with other wines. It is low in both tannin and color and has flavors of berry fruit such as raspberries and strawberries. It can also include: coffee, gingerbread, honey, leather, spices, roasted nuts, and black cherries.

Hopefully the next time you are offered a glass of red wine without seeing the label the descriptions above will help you decipher the varietal!

Cheers!!!

Free Tastings in February

Remember what my favorite wine was from Monday's white wine tasting? If you guessed Riesling, you're right!

If you want to taste Riesling and a variety of other reds & whites on a budget check out Surdyk's Liquor & Wine Shop in Minneapolis, offering free wine tastings every Friday and Saturday throughout February!

Check out the list of wines on showcase:

http://www.surdyks.com/Default.aspx?ISC_PageName=FreeWineTasting

Local Wine Tasting Deal!

Greetings fellow wine drinkers!

Are you running out of ideas to find a romantic Valentine's Day gift for that special someone? Maybe you're looking for a date idea to spark that love flame? Or, perhaps you are just simply jealous of my wine tasting adventures happening on a weekly occurance ;)

Whatever your reason, I have a solution. Check out this LivingSocial deal posted today! It's a wine tasting for two that includes all the indulgences a woman could want: wine (2 glasses and a bottle to take home) and chocolate for the very affordable price of $25. Plus you get to learn about wine-making at a local Minnesota winery!

Check it out! http://tiny.cc/cfzza

The Wonders of White Wines

Do you prefer a light, crisp, fruity flavored wine? If so, then white wine is the beverage for you. Believe it or not, to make white wine requires different processes and techniques than red wine-making does.

First, picking grapes for white wine during the coolest part of the day is extremely important to ensure the acids and sugars of the fruit are at the right balance. Picked grapes must either undergo the first stage of wine making (juice extraction) immediately or sit in a chilled environment until the next stage.

Unlike red wine, white wine is made without skins or seeds, but when it comes to extracting juice there are two different techniques. You can either de-stem and crush the grapes before they go through a 'pressing' machine or you can press the whole cluster of grape. The latter results in less juice but the liquid is actually of higher quality. What it really boils down to is personal preference.

White wines undergo fermentation and aging in either a wooden barrel or a stainless steel vat. What's the difference?

Barrels contain oak compounds that can be detected as a flavor or aroma when tasting wine. Stainless steel vats, on the other hand, have no interaction with the wine but tend to produce lighter, fruitier tasting wines.

Did you know there are about 50 major white wine grape varietals grown worldwide? Here are some of the most common ones we know:
- Chardonnay
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Riesling
- Gewurztraminer
- Chenin Blanc
- Pinot Grigio/gris

These happen to be the six wines we blindly tasted in class.

I'm no expert but here were my top 3 along with some white wine rules of thumb I discovered:

1. Riesling
2. Pinot Grigio
3. Chardonnay

- I definitely did not enjoy the Gewurtraminer! Don't be fooled by the floral aromas!
- Cat urine is a common aroma associated with Sauvignon Blanc!!! Knowing that information, it surprisingly still wasn't my least favorite. This type of wine is also known to have a definitive green pepper flavor and should be paired with food on that note.
- Riesling has the longest aging potential.

Did you know that your seemingly fruity, light white wine could have celery, artichoke, flint, gunpowder, toast, cut grass, boxwood, and tobacco characteristics?

I encourage you to buy a bottle of white this weekend and let me know what aromas you smell and the flavors you taste! The possiblities are endless. One thing to note, however, is that getting a musty, wet-newspaper smell or taste could mean that particular bottle is corked.

Corked means bottled with a cork that is contaminated with TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). TCA contamination usually comes from corks but can also come from barrels or even from wood within the cellar including walls or beams!

Did you know that 5-10% of all bottled wines are 'corked'?! That's pretty significant and could explain why you have a negative association with a particular brand. Perhaps you didn't even know you had a corked bottle! Better luck next time.

Cheers to white wine!

Growing Grapes and Tasting Wines

First, I'd like to start of with a grape tutorial so you can impress your friends with the following facts...

Grapes happen to be the oldest and most widely grown horticultural crop, with first signs of plantation dating back 7,500 years. Today, there are more than 20,000,000 acres of the crop across the globe.

Did you know red grapes need a longer growing season than white grapes, which is why red grapes are grown in warmer climates such as California, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The amount of sugar grapes produce is dependent on their sun exposure; too much sun will result in too much sugar, and vice versa.

Last week, we had our first sensory session where we learned how to taste wine. Here are a few things I took away from the experience:

1. Myth: Crackers do not in fact cleanse your palette. On the contrary, they impair your ability to perceive astringency which is a chemical induced texture that creates a dry taste on the tip of your tongue. The best palette cleanser is actually water, or nothing at all. Crackers are really just for show.

2. When pairing food with food or food with wine, sweet should come before sour/bitter. If reversed, overall taste can be suppressed because of confused taste buds. For example, you wouldn't serve grapefruit before cinnamon rolls - the sweetness of the cinnamon rolls would be suppressed.

3. When drinking wine, the cause of saliva stimulation comes from the sourness of the wine.

What was the last meal you served with wine? And what kind of wine was it? Share your suggestions!

Saludos!

Welcome to Tales from the Cellar

Hello! G'day! Hola! Bonjour! Guten Tag! Oi! Ciao!

Those are just a few ways to say hello in the various wine regions across the globe. As many of you have been waiting expectantly — as promised — I deliver to you a shortened, online version of what I will be learning in my wines and vines course this Spring.

For those of you who don't know, I have elected to take a horticulture course that focuses on viticulture (production of grapes), enology (winemaking) along with wine tasting. I'm sure many of you know a thing or two about some aspect of wine. The purpose of this blog is not to reiterate what you already know or think you know nor to gloat about how cool my class is; rather, the purpose is to break down the complexity of wine and give you an extra boost of confidence the next time you walk into a liquor store to pick your next vintage - which refers to the year the grapes were picked for that bottle.

One of my goals is to make this an interactive experience. If you have questions regarding any aspect of wine, or would like to offer a suggestion about a sensational wine you have had, I invite you to ask away, engage in the discussion, share your story and hopefully I will have the answer or be able to steer you to a place where you can find it.

So, welcome to "Tales from the Cellar"!

Here are a few notable things I learned in the first week of my course:

1. White wine can be made from red grapes if the skins are removed from the grape - the color of wine comes entirely from the grape skins

2. When tasting food/drink, you can only perceive 4 tastes: sweet, sour, bitter & salty.

3. In response to a question my dad asked me earlier today on whether the size/shape of the glass can alter the taste of a wine — the answer is: yes. Deep and good wine glasses can enhance the wine's aroma.

To conclude, I hope you learned at least one new thing and stay tuned for more "Tales from the Cellar"!

Cheers...