Riesling Renaissance

You may have noted my earlier short posting on Pacific Rim wines. I was curious about their little booklet entitled Riesling Rules, chuckling at the double meaning of it's title, so I ordered a free copy to see what was inside. Imagine my surprise when I opened its cover and discovered answers to everything I had always wondered about Riesling - in simple to follow and entertainingly cute English! The booklet discusses topics such its history, its natural history, its geo-political survival skills, it's famous advocates, its food versatility, and many other little known facts about his little green grape. Voltaire reminds us that "The true triumph of Reason Riesling is that it enables us to get along with others who do not possess it"

I am more impressed with this little big wine than ever before ..... no more the red wine snob!

The Brown Paper Bag

(Brief flashback) Those who know me well, also know that my greatest fear in life is to become a bag lady. This originated during my years in San Francisco, where more than a good fourth of the homeless population were women, pushing shopping carts piled high with paper bags filled with their belongings - many of them protectively cradling their Thunderbird, wrapped in a brown paper bag. That fear has, over the last 20 years, morphed into a phobia.

(Fast forward to yesterday) So imagine my brief horror as we sat down at our weekly wine-tasting event, to a counter full of bottles, each one wrapped in a brown paper bag! I could feel the blood draining from my face, pooling in my abdomen. Nick, our facilitator, quizzically glanced my way; Kim, my partner-in-wine, asked, "What's wrong with you?!?" "Nothing. Bit of vertigo," I mumbled. (After all, we had just returned from a raucously surreal two days in Denver ... I sooo used that as an excuse)

Silly me. The folks at Powers Liquor Mart had secretly arranged a fun afternoon, which featured a blind tasting of little known inexpensive wines with big, complex personalities! The intent was to create very little expectation (through the use of brown paper bag wrappers), then develop an appreciation through our three senses of enological distinction: vision, smell and taste.  Like boot camp - break us down and build us up, but with confident surprise.  It was fun, it was an adventure, and it was effective!

Nick very generously half-filled our glasses, to which I thought, "great. nice way to get rid of a couple bottles of 'gasoline'!" Hmmm, pretty straw color ... an explosion of pears and sweet flowers in my nose ... followed by a smooth, airy and balanced sensation of lightly sweet fruit over my tongue. No doubt, this must be a late-harvest Riesling, very German in its character. Pairing this wine with small bites of the myriad types of food we all brought: hummus, cheeses, chocolate almonds ... yes, even roasted chile peppers ... introduced its versatility. Superb!

The awaited unveiling brought gasps of astonishment mixed with exclamations of pleasure (and for me a small sense of relief), as we discovered one of the gems from Pacific Rim Winemakers: not a late-harvest, but a Dry Riesling! Bottled in Santa Cruz, CA, this is a beautiful wine, 20% Mosel Riesling blended with 80% Riesling from Washington's Columbia Valley - two regions best known for this varietal.

My own surprise came from the fact that several months ago, I had picked up another bottle of Riesling from this winemaker, and had recently opened it to make a lovely sauté base for some prawns and scallops. The bouquet emanating from that bottle, as well as the beautiful art on the rear of the bottle's label, prompted me already then to do a little online research on Pacific Rim Winemakers.

This is a lovely wine; a happy discovery; makes a comfortable 'porch-pounder' as well as a complement to any meal; and, at $7.50, it will become my next case lot - but maybe without the brown paper bags!

Oh no! It's a Screw-Top!

"Take it back ... this wine is corked!" Eh? What?

We've all seen the movie lines - as well as "Corked", the 2009 comedic documentary of the wine industry. But have you ever sampled a wine that you've carefully chosen to impress either yourself or dinner date? The (perfect) wine arrives with a flourish; a sample is poured by a waiter in black and white, with a towel wrapped around his arm; you hold it up to a white light (cuz that's what 'they' do in the movies); you swirl it around a bit (not sure why, but it looks good); you take a sip as you glance at your date, hoping s/he is appropriately impressed; and you suddenly feel as though you've just licked the floor of a musty cellar or, worse, taken a sip from the vinegar bottle!

Did you keep it because you think trashing a $75 bottle of wine is a crime? Did you make appropriate appreciative noises and say, "This will be lovely with a good strong meal; let's have the bear steaks soaked in armadillo sauce with it"? Or, did you do the right thing and send it back ... because it was corked!?

'Cork' happens! In fact it happens to at least 5% of bottled wines. Why? Two reasons: one, because cork, my friend, is porous. It leaks oxygen into the wine, which changes its chemistry, and therefore its balance and flavor; and, two, cork contains a mold that leaks into the wine, changing or flattening its taste. Politely send it back and ask for another bottle. If the restaurant quibbles with you, remember this, and tell all your friends.

Because we are members of a society that demands instant gratification, and therefore want to drink our wines now, vintners are offering more and more wine, sealed with alternative methods. The traditional rule that screw-tops are for jug wines is just no longer correct. Be not afraid to buy these wines - I wasn't, and subsequently discovered a beautiful 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

Now, granted, I'm not typically a drinker of white wines - and I DID buy this one to pour into the sauce for a yummy Lasagna Bolognese (found at Epicurious.com). Still, cooking with bad wine makes bad food, so I chose this bottle carefully. I was not disappointed! The wine is fresh, fruit forward, layered with flavors of citrus and pineapples, but reserves just a hint of butter and pepper spice on the back of the tongue. It was perfect for the sauce.

It was even more perfect somewhat chilled in a glass, while the sauce was simmering! And it was a screw-top!!