2011 ~ No. 1     

Vintages

The New Year seems like the appropriate time to discuss vintages and an issue I get asked about a lot: How much do they matter?

For most of us, I have to go with “not really.” With a caveat, of course.

But first things first. Eons ago in the dark ages of winemaking, vintages could vary considerably in terms of quality. (Vintage, by the way, refers simply to the year the grapes were harvested.)

Winemakers of yore lacked the tools their modern counterparts have – such as temperature-controlled fermentation – that can help compensate for bad weather and other potentially ruinous events.

Thus, it was crucial to know your good years from the bad ones. Wine was a more elite product back then, and knowledge of vintages was designed to impress.

But as modern technology and improved winemaking techniques have taken hold, vintners are better able to control the end result and, while you can’t fool Mother Nature, you can find ways to make a better wine from a lesser vintage.

That said, there are still good years (2005) and bad years (2003). So if you’re into more expensive or collectible wines, knowing a good year from a great one is paramount given the cost and longevity of these bottles.

But for most of us, this knowledge does little good. Consider: Most restaurants and retailers only have the current vintage of their everyday wines (and perhaps limited older vintages of their high end wines) so it’s not like you can get a 2008 bottle of your favorite California Chardonnay instead of the 2009.

The Bordelais have a saying that “the best vintage is the one we have to sell” and this holds true for everyone along the wine supply chain. The winery will hold onto their 2010s until their 2009s are sold, the distributor doesn’t want to take the current vintage until the previous one is sold out, stores don’t want to have two, three or four year old inventory languishing on the shelves…

So unless you’re splurging (in which case, do a little advance research), it’s not necessary to fret so much about vintages. More important is simply to know what you like.

An Experiment in Red Wine Stains

Everyone has their own trick for removing a red wine stain: counter it with white wine, douse it with salt, or saturate the spill with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide or club soda.

Of course, some of these methods work better than others, and some not at all.

Recently, I received a sample of Wine Off, one of the many products designed to make the work of removing the stain easy and painless. Their formula uses bacteria and enzymes to “eat” the stain, not bleach or toxic chemicals.

Could it really work? I started experimenting. Some red wine was splashed onto some white cotton fabric. Per the directions, I blotted the stain, sprayed it with Wine Off and repeated the cycle five times, until no more wine was coming up on the paper towel.

There was still a pale, rose-colored stain on the fabric, so I threw it into a cold-water wash with only detergent. I was skeptical.

And, as it turns out, wrong. Some 40 minutes later, I took the fabric out of the washer and it was back to its natural state. Yay, Wine Off!

According to the bottle, Wine Off can also be used on set-in stains, so more wine was sacrificed and the stain was left for several days. Per instructions, I saturated the stain, blotted it (no wine came up) then left the formula for several hours to “work.” Perhaps I left it too long – when I came back to it, the Wine Off had dried. I tossed it in the wash anyway, but no success; there was still a trace of the stain.

Then I got to thinking about other treatment methods. For the sake of comparison, I decided to give them a try. Again, wine was spilled and blotted, with white wine, vinegar and salt in place of the Wine Off. Then, to the wash with a splash of detergent.

At first glance, all is good. But traces of the wine are there, even if just a faint outline of the spill. The two home remedies that worked best were – seriously – white wine dumped on the spill, no blotting first, and the salt, after blotting the stain several times with paper towel.

In a pinch, home remedies work. But sorry, Grandma, the professional solution wins this time!

Inspiring New Year's Resolution

By the time you are reading this, it’s entirely possible that you will have broken at least one of your New Year’s Resolutions.

And why not? Resolutions tend to be dreary things, involving sacrifice and toil. Eat less, exercise more, blah, blah, blah.

Let’s all take inspiration from Master Sommelier and winemaker Richard Betts. He woke up one morning in a South Beach hotel room with a bad headache from a night of heavy wine tasting. He promised himself, “I will not drink bad wine.”

How’s that for easy?

Take it one step further and heed Matt Lightner, chef at Castagna in Portland, Oregon, and one of Food & Wine’s 2010 Best Chefs. “Break out of your wine box and try something undiscovered,” he says, recommending the Martin Codax Albarino as a good place to start.

Suppose you are determined to make the world a better place in 2011. You can have it and your wine, too. Jacques Azoulay, CEO of Gabriella Wines Importers, notes that many wineries donate a portion of their proceeds to charitable causes. Les Compagnons Wines, for example, benefit animals and owners in need through partnerships with several organizations in the New York area.

Michael Martini, third generation winemaker at Napa’s famed Louis M. Martini Winery, takes a slightly different inspiration. “I recently traveled throughout Italy with a friend who also happens to be an executive chef. While we enjoyed a lot of really good food, the thing he got me most excited about was beans (for some reason I'd ignored them up until then). So, I'm resolved to explore the great world of beans this year.”

Not up for exploring beans – or other healthy eating – on your own? Chef Danielle Fragala-Harper, owner of Your Culinary Experience in New York, noticed an increase in vegetarian clients and vows to “create [for them] well balanced dinners that will please the meat eaters as well as the vegetarians!” Healthy resolutions are so much easier with someone to make it happen!

Like many of us, John Peters, Wine Director at the Culinaria Cooking School in Northern Virginia wants to spend 2011 relaxing with a “well-executed meal…the right bottle of wine…and friends to share with.” He should hook up with Charles Oat, owner and instructor at the Connecticut School of Bartending. His resolution? “Drink my way through my entire collection and never complain.”

Finally, Katja Zigerlig, AVP, Wine Insurance, for the Private Client Group at Chartis, offers this superb parting thought: “Never wear white to a wine tasting."

Truer words were never spoken.