Why doesn’t Alsace produce drier wines?

I’ve a lot to report back on from my Alsace trip last week but I wanted first to address an issue which dominated the week and the discussion that ensued on Twitter and on fellow wine writer Jamie Goode’s blog here. Which is why Alsace producers don’t make drier wines. It doesn’t of course apply solely to natural wines though many of the producers we visited were biodynamic.

The issue many believe is at the heart of the mystery why Alsace wines don't have a wider fan base. Those who have already grown to like them, love them, of course but they don’t appeal as much to younger drinkers. The conventional wisdom is that they’re easily confused with German wines and that’s affected by the bottle shape. It may be a factor but I think it’s much more to do with the confusing number of bottlings and the fact no-one knows exactly how sweet they’re going to be.

Alsace of course has a specific microclimate that results in it being much hotter and drier than you’d guess from its geographical position. But a characteristic of the climate, if I’ve understood it correctly, is that many of the vineyards gather mist (and therefore moisture) in the mornings which is then heated up on the grape skins by the hot sun. Botrytis can take hold very fast, particularly with pinot gris and gewurztraminer.

Producers can make drier wines by picking earlier, depending on the year, but that can reduce the aromatic quality of the wines or by fermenting out the sugar which may result in wines that have unacceptable levels of alcohol. And many choose not to because they like to make their wines in a richer style, Zind Humbrecht, Marcel Deiss and Rolly Gassmann among them (though Zind Humbrecht is moving to a drier style of winemaking)

Sweetness is also not so much a problem in the region because people expect it and there’s a culture of ageing wines - particularly grand crus - for a considerable number of years by which time the sensation of sweetness is considerably diminished.

It’s also a feature which Alsace’s neighbours in Belgium and Germany, which provide many of the tourists who visit the region, positively enjoy about the wines. In the growing Far East market too, sweetness is not a problem particularly with hotter Asian cuisines and dishes. “It just seems to be a problem for you in the UK” as one winemaker told me, mildly resentfully.

The propensity to sweetness also explains why even biodynamic producers haven’t given up on sulphur. the use of which is still widespread in Alsace. And why most winemakers still filter their wines. But more of this in due course. Readmore »»

A Reliable Pinot Noir For A Great Price: Oyster Bay From Marlborough, NZ

There are some wine regions that are like good friends. They're consistent, amazing, make you smile, and never let you down. For me, New Zealand fits the bill. This small country produces some of the finest Sauvignon Blanc on the planet (as discussed in the podcast), and for the money, the most consistently solid quality Pinot Noir around.

If you drink wine from New Zealand, most likely you've noticed that most of it (50% of all wine, to be precise) comes from a place called Marlborough. New Zealand is a country made up of 2 main islands -- inventively named the North Island and the South Island (I'll let you figure out why). Marlborough is on the northern tip of the South Island and it has proven to have a picture-perfect climate for certain grapes.

Marlborough has two main valleys -- the Wairau Valley and the Awatere Valley -- and each have different characteristics. The Wairau is where most of the premium wine grapes are grown, with good reason. It's got the grape magic formula in it's pocket: long, sunshine-filled days, cool nights, and a dry fall for harvest time. Why is this magic? Because long days mean the grapes ripen well but cool nights mean they can build acidity and not get overripe. This is such the key to what makes New Zealand wines so unique -- they are fruity, yet have amazing acidity and moderate alcohol. The Awatere is hotter and more suited for warm climate grapes. Each area has enormous variation in soil types, and producers blend grapes from different vineyards with different soils to achieve complexity and layered flavors in the wines.

New Zealand has built quite a reputation for Sauvignon Blanc, but you may not know that it makes some real kick ass Pinot Noir too. If you read the blog, you know that I'm not shy about saying Pinot is frequently mishandled, allowed to get too ripe, and is made in a style that is over the top and that I think is just plain wrong for the grape. But on the South Island this pain-to-grow grape flourishes. Here it's fruity but still has acidity. It's earthy, but not thin. It's a style in the vein of Burgundy, but all its own.

Central Otago, on the South Island, makes some of the most amazing Pinot Noir I've had outside of Burgundy but it can be expensive and hard to get. The Pinots from Marlborough, where most of the larger producers of Sauvignon Blanc are situated, are far more affordable, accessible, and, although a little lighter, are still delicious.

I buy Oyster Bay's wines all time, both in Sauv Blanc and in Pinot Noir because it's a great value and is so reliable. I like that the winery has been around for 20 years, which is kind of old for wine companies in Lord of the Rings country, where new producers seem to pop up every day.

Given my penchant for chugging the stuff, I should have reviewed it earlier, but I guess it's never too late:

The Wine: Oyster Bay Pinot Noir (there is an actual Oyster Bay in Marlborough, BTW)
Where It's From: Marlborough, New Zealand
The Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 13.5%
Vintage: 2010
Price: $12.99

Color: A beautiful deep rose color in the center with a bright pink, watery edge. A little darker than I'd expect from Pinot, but the rim was the right color for me so I held hope that it wouldn't be overripe (a lot of times when the producers allow the grapes to get too ripe you get dark skins, so the wine is super dark from the juice being in contact with the skin). The legs were not too gloppy -- 13.5% alcohol is right on the border for me in terms of being a little too much so I was concerned this would be off balance, but I reserved judgment.

Smell: And this is why I love New Zealand Pinot Noir. There was a rich red berry smell -- like raspberry and strawberry parfait -- with a musky spice note to it. I thought of a campfire when I smelled the wine. It smelled earthy and like dried dirt, but with a note of sandalwood or Indian-type spice. A really outstanding blend of earth, fruit, and spice that's hard to find in a wine at this price!

Taste: Yum. It tasted just like it smelled -- red berries and exotic spices. The French oak, which contributes that spice flavor, made the fruit taste better, rather than overpowering it. The tannins and acid were in balance -- very medium and didn't overtake the wine by drying out my mouth/making it water too much. My only criticism: the wine was a little hot on the back of my throat from the alcohol. Again, 13.5% is right on the fringe of being a little too high (except in very rich, fruit wines like Zinfandel or Cabernet 14% is kind of my threshold for alcohol) and although it didn't ruin the wine or throw it off balance, I would have preferred that the burn wasn't there.

Pairing: We had this with a ginger sesame rubbed grilled chicken breast and it was a great pairing. The spice and fruit went well with the ginger -- everything tasted warm and spicy-sweet. I think it would be great with an Asian stir-fry that was ginger-heavy too, although this is a great Pinot to have with grilled salmon, pork, and roast turkey. Super versatile.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink! I love this wine. What a value for the price and so reliable that it's a standby for me when I want a good Pinot that's widely available. Go for it...and while you're at it, pick up the Sauvignon Blanc too! Can't go wrong for $12 or $13!!!

I love your comments! Please let me know your thoughts below!
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Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 018 The Grape Mini-Series: Merlot

This week we talk about the Goldilocks of red wine -- Merlot. The crowd pleaser of the reds, this versatile grape has a style for just about everyone. There are haters out there, but keep in mind, this is a main grape of Bordeaux and is responsible for one of the finest, most expensive wines in the world from there...it deserves some respect!

Show notes:

Shoutouts to friends on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, and commenters on email (elizabeth(at) winefornormalpeople (dot)com) and on the blog

Main Topic: Merlot (yes, the "t" is silent)

• The Goldilocks wine -- medium and great because of it!
• Descriptions of different styles of Merlot and why some of it is kind of bad and some is outstanding
• Merlot's relationship with Cabernet Sauvignon
• A bit of background on this lovely grape -- where it came from
• Growing regions and styles: France (Bordeaux), Italy, the Baltic states, New Zealand, Australia, and US (Washington State and CA)
• A little on food pairing
• Prestigious producers of Merlot
  

Click here or download the 'cast below...

Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 018 The Grape Mini-Series: Merlot

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Must-Have, Affordable Bubbles for Summer: Seguras Viudas Brut Reserva

Sparkling wine is a confusing subject for a number of reasons. The most puzzling thing to me: Why do we save it just for special occasions? With a bunch of normal priced options, we should be chugging the stuff the way we drink Chardonnay, yet the bubbles give us pause.

Well, even though I'm guilty of not drinking my fair share, I think not enjoying the bubbles on a regular basis is kind of dumb. Especially when there's Cava for $11.99 sitting there just waiting for you.

You may ask: What is Cava? It sounds like a cave. Is it cave wine? Like cave men? And isn't all wine aged in a cave? Kind of. It's good thinking, but in this case, I'm talking about sparkling wine from Spain that's made in the same way Champagne is made. You know: Cava.

Before I continue, I need to express a very important caveat about bubbles: Sparkling wine is only called Champagne if it is from the Champagne region of France. Otherwise it has a regional name (Cava, Sekt, Spumante) or it's just called sparkling wine. Had to get that off my chest because it's a common mistake and I don't want anyone making it and then having some jackass wine snob correct them.

Ok...back to Cava and it being made the same way as Champagne. How is that you may ask? Although I'm a nerd about winemaking, I know that it's kind of boring to read about, so I'll give a very brief description of how sparkling wine is made so you can just get a feel for it.

To make dry sparkling wine, you pick grapes that are high in acid and low in sugar, making a disgusting, bitter, mouth-puckering base wine that can withstand aging and handle a second fermentation. To get the bubbles, you need to trap carbon dioxide in a bottle and then make it mesh into the liquid. To do this, you put the gross base wine in a heavy Champagne bottle with a mixture of sugar and yeast to spur a second fermentation. The yeast eat the sugar, turning it into alcohol and carbon dioxide, which can't escape because the bottle is sealed, so with months of aging it becomes part of the wine.

There's a pesky problem left after this process, which is that the yeast die and they need to come out of the bottle before we drink the wine. So, to clarify the wine and rid if of those corpses, the bottle is slowly turned until it's on it's upside down and all the yeast collects in a cap which is popped off and replaced with a little of the original base wine and a proper Champagne cork.

There are other ways to get bubbles in wine, but this way is the most expensive, time consuming, and it leads to the smallest, longest lasting bead or bubble, which is better than having big Coke-like bubbles in your wine that die out quickly. Not every region or sparkling wine uses this method, if they do the bottle usually says it's made in the Traditional or Champagne Method and that's how you'll know.

You'll always see Método Tradicional on a bottle of Cava. By Spanish law Cava, meaning "cave" in Catalan (which is the language of the Catalonia region in the Northeast corner of Spain, where most Cava is made) and "cellar" in Spanish, is made in the Champagne Method. It's a government regulated Denominación de Origen (DO) that covers eight areas around Northern Spain that are permitted to make sparkling wine in the traditional method. The eight regions go as far west as Rioja and Castilla y Leon (Ribera del Duero), generally considered red wine country.

Cava is mainly white sparkling wine, although there is a rosé version that incorporates a little Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha (Grenache), and Monastrell. Some producers use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the traditional grapes of Champagne, but for the most part, the native Spanish varieties of Parallada, Xarel-lo, and Macabeo are the standard.

Before I get to the wine in question, a note on the history of sparkling wine in Spain. Apparently it's not correctly reported often, so I'm going to rely on one of my favorite wine reference books: The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia by Tom Stevenson to clear up the story.

The tale, spread by Codorníu, the biggest Cava house in Spain, is that its founder made the first bottle of Spanish sparkling wine in 1872. The truth: there was sparkling in Spain as early as 1851 and by 1872 the Lab Directory at the Agricultural Institute of Sant Isidre in Catalonia was experimenting with sparkling production. The experiment turned to reality when three of his former students entered their bubbles into a wine competition in Barcelona in 1872, winning gold medals for two of the versions. Codorníu didn't release their first wine until 1879, so their story doesn't really jibe with the facts. That said, their claim to fame is that they came up with the now traditional blend of Spanish grapes -- Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo. Not a bad innovation.

Interestingly, even though Codorníu came up with the blend, they are totally open to using Chardonnay and other grapes to give their wines more richness. Freixenet, the second biggest Cava house, is very traditional, refusing to use anything but the big three Spanish varieties for fear they would dilute the indigenous character of the wine. It's funny how that works -- the follower is more pious than the originator, but I digress.

Freixenet owns a number of brands distributed in the US and one is Seguras Viudas, which I had the other night. I've had this wine many a time, but never posted on it so I thought it high time...

The Wine: Seguras Viudas Brut Reserva
Where It's From: Cava/Penedes, Spain
The Grapes: 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel-lo
Alcohol: 11.5%
Vintage: Non-vintage (most traditional method sparkling wine is a blend across several vintages to maintain a "house style" from year to year. That way a too hot or too cool year won't throw off the flavors in the wine)
Price: $11.99

Color: When you evaluate what Cava looks like, you need to look not just at color, but also at the bead or bubble. This wine was a nice pale straw color with a tinge of green -- a good hallmark that it would be pretty high in acid from the looks of it. A great thing for sparkling wine -- especially when it's Brut, or very dry. The bead was small and continuous, it went on and on. Good stuff!

Smell: For some reason whenever I smell Cava I always get a hint of what reminds me of a pencil. I've had Macabeo and Xarel-lo on their own and don't get an overwhelming sensation of #2 from either of those so it's either the mix of the three grapes together or Parellada. Who knows? The wine also smelled like lime, green, fresh cut herbs, and a little bit of outdoor-after-it-rains-in-a-meadow grassiness (but not like Sauvignon Blanc, where it's in your face). Very subtle and it smelled refreshing. Smelling it made my mouth water.

Taste: This is a very light Cava and very true to the smell. It had a citrusy, lime scent and tasted a little like chewing on a pencil, in a good way. It was super refreshing and bright. This is summer sipper for the hot weather if ever there was one but be careful, it goes down easy. Even with a little lower alcohol than you may be used to (most wines are around 12.5% - 14%), this can still do a number on you the next day if you chug it (not that I have personal experience or anything).

Pairing: A common misnomer is that sparkling wine is just for sipping. Although it's awesome for that, it's a damn good match for light food too. Flaky white fish, salads, and mild cheeses are fabulous with Cava. It was a great accompaniment to my tomato, mozzarella, and avocado salad (dressed with a little olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar).

Drink or Down the Sink?: For $12 this is a DRINK all day long. My only criticism of the wine is that it's a little light. That said, it's a great bottle of wine for the price, one you can easily bring to someone's house if you're going for dinner or drinks, and something I'll be swilling all summer long!

Before I sign off... I want to dedicate this post to my friend and client, Barbara Hughes. Hope this answers your questions on Cava and makes your trip there extra special!!! Readmore »»

Off to Alsace . . .

Today we're off to Alsace, a visit I'm particularly excited about as it includes a disproportionate amount of organic and biodynamic winemakers. It'll be interesting to see how that's come about and find out more about the new 'Charte Vin Bio d'Alsace' an ambitious attempt to lay down detailed groundrules for the region's organic winemakers. There does seem to be a tipping point in wine regions where natural - or reasonably natural winemaking becomes the norm. It will be fascinating to see what the prevailing attitude is on sulphur.

In the meantime here's a bottle from a producer we haven't managed to fit in to our schedule (all credit to the CIVA for acceding to so many of our requests. It's a sensitive issue for wine promotion bodies who have to keep everyone happy.)

It's the 2008 Kaefferkopf L’Originel from Audrey & Christian Binner (13.5%) - original indeed because it's a blend of gewurztraminer, riesling and muscat, something that's not usually permitted in a grand cru. [Kaefferkopf is one of only two grand crus in which it's permitted - have amended this in the light of Luc's comments below and my own clearer understanding of the rules having spent a few days Alsace!). The grapes are fermented together in 100 year old foudres using natural yeasts and the Binners employ biodynamic treatments and phytotherapie (treatment with plant extracts) in their vineyards. You can see a more detailed write up of their approach here.

More to the point it's a joy to drink - aromatic, as you'd expect, very pure and deliciously fruity. It would of course go with food - I reckon it would be great with Thai - but it's the perfect wine to sit and sip on a summer's evening. Of which I hope we might have a few while we're away though I can't say I'm encouraged by the metéo which seems to be forecasting heavy, thundery showers for the majority of the week :-( Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 017 The Grape Mini-Series, Installment 1: Sauvignon Blanc

FINALLY -- we are back in action after the move from hell and the inability to locate the microphone in the face of it all!!! So, hopefully this 'cast will be a hit!

In homage to the great TV trend of the 1980s, M.C. Ice and I begin a mini-series on the big grapes from around the world. We're moving beyond Grape of the Week to go in depth on the wine major league that you ask the most questions about. This week's episode is on Sauvignon Blanc, just in time for the warm summer weather!!

BTW-- you HAVE to listen to this 'cast. M.C. Ice and I had a "Muffin Moment" just like when Betty White hosted SNL. If you haven't seen that clip, please watch this...hilarious.

Show Notes:

Mea Culpa -- we forgot shout outs (let's face it, we're lucky we found the microphone post our big move)! We'll be sure to double up next week!

Main Topic -Sauvignon Blanc

1. The Sauvignon Blanc grape, its origins, flavor profile, and why methoxypyrazines and cat pee aren't such bad things in this grape.
2. We then drilled down into the main regions that produce Sauvignon Blanc and talk about differences in styles:

• Sancerre/Pouilly- Fume for minerally wines that strip the enamel off your teeth (but are delicious)
• Napa, California for a softer, floral style, sometimes with an oaky twist
• Marlborough, New Zealand, for excellent grapefruit flavors, acid, and even a jalapeno kick
• Bordeaux for a softer blend with Semillon and Muscadelle, and the sweet wines of Sauternes
• South Africa and Chile for styles in between the ones we already talked about

Please leave us your feedback at the Wine for Normal People blog, on the Wine For Normal People Facebook Page, and on Twitter @normalwine

Episode 017 -- The Grape Mini-Series Installment 1:
Sauvignon Blanc

To listen, download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar, which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

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The greening of the wine business - good news or bad news?

It was bound to happen given the growing interest in natural wine but there’s been a lot of hype lately about wine companies going green. Often it’s pretty hard to see just what this amounts to.

The other day I tasted two wines under the ‘Nature du Luberon’ label (above) which comes with a leafy logo that suggests at least an organic wine. One admittedly is in conversion but the other just says “Nestled in the natural park of the Luberon the vineyards benefit from the surrounding ecosystems.” What on earth does that mean?

Asda was showing a wine called ‘Greener Planet’ at its tasting made with recyclable PET bottles that are supposed to cut the cost of transporting wine by 61%.


And Chile’s Vina Ventisquero recently took out full page advertisements for Yali, a wine brand ‘inspired by Chile’s Yali Wetlands 'which invites 'consumers to reaffirm their awareness of nature by showing a fundamental respect for the environment.'

Even Bordeaux first growths have to trumpet their ecological credentials these days.

And the hugely influential UC Davis has just opened a multi-million dollar green winery.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for conserving the environment and making better use of the earth’s scarce resources but I do wonder how deep this greening of the wine business goes. I may have missed it but none of the producers appears to minimise their use of chemicals in the vineyards or winemaking process.

Hopefully it will lead to more wines being made without chemical intervention at a more affordable price. But I do worry that customers may be given the impression these wines are more wholesome and, dare I say, natural than they are.

What do you think? Do you welcome this emphasis on sustainability or is it a marketing gimmick?

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