Basic Juice - the wine blog for my generation

Wallace on Wine

Wallace on Wine

I find it difficult to write a consistently engaging wine column. Let me explain. If I were to simply write a few sentences each week about the wines I’ve recently sampled, the column would be about as interesting as reading the rules of Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. So how on earth can I keep this column interesting to me and the five of you who read it? In the past, I’ve tried writing wine reviews in the form of Haiku and Limericks. This led me to ponder how some of my favorite poets and authors would approach wine writing. David Foster Wallace is a favorite author of mine. He’s “playfully erudite.” He writes in a nonconformist style. His writing also aggravates some readers. However, I find his writing engaging, challenging, and humorous. With sincere apologies to Mr. Wallace, to those who enjoy his work, and to those who become cross-eyed with frustration and/or rage at the mere mention of his name, I present a wine review in the David Foster Wallace style.

Lustau⁽¹⁾ “Los Arcos”⁽²⁾  Dry⁽³⁾  Amontillado Sherry ($10) – Very bright⁽⁴⁾ caramel/copper in color. This Sherry offers dizzying⁽⁵⁾ scents of roasted almond⁽⁶⁾, salt⁽⁷⁾, date⁽⁸⁾, and wood.⁽⁹⁾  In the mouth, The Arcs⁽¹⁰⁾ tastes like a dry Tawny Port.⁽¹¹⁾  This is a tasty wine⁽¹²⁾, wrapped up⁽¹³⁾ in a tangy, food-friendly⁽¹⁴⁾ package.⁽¹⁵⁾  Sip⁽¹⁶⁾ Los Arcos alongside your favorite Tapa. ⁽¹⁷⁾ It is the perfect accompaniment to Gazpacho.⁽¹⁸⁾

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⁽¹⁾ Lustau was actually established in 1896^(a) by Don Jose Ruiz-Berdejo y Veyan. I’ve no idea why the brand isn’t named “Ruiz-Berdejo y Veyan,” unless it simply costs too much in terms of label real estate or ink outlay.

⁽²⁾ Or “The Arcs” if you have limited or no command^(b) of the Spanish language.

⁽³⁾ And when the Spanish designate Sherry as “dry,” they aren’t whistling Dixie.^(c)  There will be precisely zero fruit scents, aromas or flavors to be pried^(d) out of the glass.

⁽⁴⁾ I’m not implying the wine actually glows in the dark. Rather it shimmers in the glass. Perhaps the description should have read, “Shiny, shimmering^(e) caramel and/or copper in color.”

⁽⁵⁾ When sniffed or drunk in moderation, Sherry does not cause dizziness. It is dizzying in the sense that the mind struggles to conjure up adjectives for all the volatile molecules ascending the nasal passages and making contact with cilia-equipped neurons.

⁽⁶⁾ Preheat oven to 350F^(f). Spread almonds over baking sheet. Roast for twenty minutes or until almond skin begins to crack.

⁽⁷⁾ Many Sherry producers and enthusiasts claim that Sherry grapevines are imbued with salt from ocean spray carried on the breeze.^(g)

⁽⁸⁾ Fruit of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), which is mentioned in both the Koran and Bible.^(h)

⁽⁹⁾ This is one of those annoying adjectives used by wine writers the world over. I don’t mean that the wine smells like a plank of wood. Rather, it smells like the inside of a toasted barrel⁽ⁱ⁾. Of course, not many folks have actually sniffed the inside of a barrel; let alone a toasted barrel.

⁽¹⁰⁾ On-demand Spanish translation!

⁽¹¹⁾ To my knowledge, there is no such thing as a dry Tawny Port.

^(j) Tawny Ports are actually quite sweet. Their unique flavors can be partially attributed to wood (see ⁽⁹⁾).

⁽¹²⁾ One of the major struggles in wine writing is avoiding repetition when referring to the wine under review. I’m tapped out after, “this wine,” “the wine” “this Sherry,” and “Los Arcos.” I now must resort to inserting adjectives such as “this tasty wine.”  Redundancy is a killer.

⁽¹³⁾ The reader is being set up here for a whopper^(k) of a metaphor. I am attempting to paint a mental image of the Sherry as a gift - wrapping paper and all.

⁽¹⁴⁾ Another all-too-commonplace wine adjective.

⁽¹⁵⁾ Metaphor delivered.^(l)

⁽¹⁶⁾ While sipping isn’t required, it is recommended. Los Arcos tastes deceptively light in the alcohol department. However, it packs an alcohol-punch of 18.5%.^(m)

⁽¹⁷⁾ Tapa literally means cover or lid. ⁽ⁿ⁾

⁽¹⁸⁾ A cold^(o), tomato-based Spanish soup that is popular in warmer areas and during the summer. It is usually spicy, but a milder variant has also become popular.

^(a) Also the year in which Utah was granted statehood

^(b) And really, shouldn’t we all learn Spanish as a sign of friendship to our southern (as in Mexico) neighbors?

^(c) Or whatever ditty your typical Spaniard might whistle

^(d)pry tr.v. pried, prying, pries

^(e) Thus I would have been able to employ the timeless literary device of alliteration, which is clearly illustrated by the phrase, “Sally sells seashells by the seashore”

^(f) Tc = (5/9)*(Tf-32); Tc = temperature in degrees Celsius, Tf = temperature in degrees Fahrenheit

^(g) This needn’t be a Wizard of Oz-type breeze. The Sherry region is, in fact, on the southern coast of Spain. So there is close proximity to ocean spray; although I’m not sure if I buy the whole salt-imbued-vineyard thing

^(h) And, I assume, the Torah

⁽ⁱ⁾ Barrels are often toasted on the inside for purposes of adding complexity to ageing wine. The toasted wood imparts buttery, spicy-sweet, scents to said wine

^(j) Tawny port is aged in wooden barrels, exposing it to gradual oxidation and evaporation, causing its color to mellow to a golden-brown after roughly ten years "in wood"

^(k) As in a large-sized, heavy-duty metaphor – not a big hamburger or malted chocolate candy

^(l) !!

^(m) A higher alcohol percentage than even most hefty California Cabernet or Zinfandel wines

⁽ⁿ⁾ “The association with appetizers is thought to have come from the old habit of placing a slice of bread or a piece of ham on top of one's wine glass, perhaps to keep out insects. This edible lid was the precursor of modern-day tapas”

^(o) In both fiction and real life, there have occurred embarrassing situations in which a Gazpacho-ignorant diner insists that his or her cold soup be heated up

Dear reader, if you have made it this far, I raise my glass^(aa)  to you. If you wish to rant or rave about the Wallace style used in this wine review, please leave a comment.

^(aa) Cheers!

Fri. Petblog: Grooming by Reggie

If you're a cat you'll love Grooming by Reggie.  The full-service includes tongue bath, nibble-shiatzu, and a great Geri curl finish.

  Another satisfied customer

Le Smackdown

Christian over at Le Chai puts 'le smackdown' on a wine column from the SF Chroni.  My favorite part is this section from the article:

"It was like Model-T winemaking," Jensen says of Burgundy's most famous estate, Domaine de la Romanee Conti, where he worked in 1970. "I was expecting to see fancy machines and space-age gimmicks. We punched the wine down with our feet. I saw there was no secret to Burgundy winemaking. They had limestone- derived soils, but their winemaking was very basic."

And then his response:

"This is unbelievable. I invite you te read it again. Mr. Jensen openly admits that tinkerings in the vat room or laboratory have little if anything to do with the final product. Does this lend any credence to that crazy French notion of terroir?!?"

Anti-terroirists can't have it both ways. Read his post - it's quite good.

Woody Lives!

From Cornell's Ornithology Lab:

"Long believed to be extinct, a magnificent bird--the Ivory-billed Woodpecker--has been rediscovered in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas. More than 60 years after the last confirmed sighting of the species in the United States, a research team announced that at least one male ivory-bill still survives in vast areas of bottomland swamp forest."

You can see him here in a brief video.  Let's hope he's got some buddies.  Cheers to Campephilus principalis

recycledJuice: Sole Wine

From a column I wrote that was likely read by fewer than ten people:

Sole Wine

As a kid I used to doodle incessantly.  I doodled all the usual things; airplanes, yellow suns and lollipop trees.  For some odd reason, I also doodled shoes.  I drew tennis shoes.  I drew basketball shoes.  I even drew cowboy boots.  I developed a hearty appetite for shoes.  Some might say this appetite teetered towards a footwear fetish.

When I entered high school, I played on the freshmen basketball team.  Actually, ‘played’ isn’t quite accurate.  I mostly sat on the team’s bench admiring my blindingly white shoes, which I only laced up for games.  Even though I was a second string player, I would have made the all-conference shoe team.  I collected five pairs of shoes during the brief, three-month basketball season.  At that point I was already waist deep in a lifelong shoe fetish.

I’ve had no trouble infusing my shoe fetish with my more recently developed wine fetish.  When I get a hankerin’ for shoes and wine, I pop open a bottle of wine from Italy’s heel, toe, shin or calf.  How does Italian wine satiate a shoe fetish?  It’s simple, actually.  Visualize the map of Italy.  Now morph this map into a boot.  In the world of wine, the upper reaches of this boot (i.e. Northern Italy) usually receive most of the attention.  In fact wine enthusiasts have often ignored or shunned the heel, toe, shin and, calf.  How sad.  From a shoe fetish standpoint, these are the most interesting parts of any proper boot.

Lucky for me, in recent years the nether regions of Italy’s boot have been taking the wine world by storm.  Allow me to be your guide on a brief tour of my favorite wines, readily available, from the calf, shin and heel of our Italian boot.

Le Marche (Marches) – the Calf

The calf has a graceful shape.  Of course when snugly covered by a boot, it becomes beautifully mysterious.  This is echoed by the white wine, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi of Le Marche.  It is a light wine with soft aromas of green apple and flowers.  It’s perfectly suited in its role as an aperitif – a restrained appetizer before the unveiling of the main course.  Try Fazi Battaglia Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi ($9) or Fattoria Laola Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi ($12).  Ease yourself into the universe of footwear fetishes and fine wine with this bianco from Le Marche.

Campania – the Shin

Now the shin in and of itself isn’t terribly exciting.  Even the sleekest pair of black leather boots normally doesn’t ‘sex up’ the shin.  Yet isn’t it amazing what a little custom stitching can do for this otherwise bland area?  Campania is Italy’s shin.  And its capital, Naples, is the Italian Mecca for tailors.  Of course, a talented tailor can easily sex up anything wearable with a few well placed stitches.  The Campanian winery Terradora Dipaolo is most definitely sexing up Campania’s wine landscape.  It produces exciting wine from ancient, traditionally bland grapes.  Two of its shining and affordable examples are Irpinia Aglianico ($14) and Irpinia Falanghina ($14).  Aglianico is a red grape thought to have been brought to Campania by the ancient Greeks.  Terradora’s Aglianico is the color of black cherries.  It tickles the nose with spicy berry scents and coats the tongue with soft textures and a delightful finish.  In contrast, the Falanghina grape produces a straw colored white wine.  It offers an intense aroma of pears and pineapple followed by surprising mineral and ‘stony’ flavors.  Try these wines; don’t ignore the shin!

Apuglia (Puglia) – the Heel
As most shoe fetishists know, the heel is the undisputed champ of shoe sexiness.  For the new wave of Italian wine lovers, Apuglia, the region that comprises Italy’s heel, is fabulously fetish-worthy.  Two of my favorite wines from Apuglia are Primitivo and Salice Salentino.  Primitivo is a stiletto heel - bold, pungent, and spicy.  This wine is made from a grape of the same name, and it is genetically identical to the big, bold California Zinfandel grape. Here are two good examples of this wine:  A-mano Primitivo ($12) and Terrale Primitivo ($9).  Try Primitivo with a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese.

Salice Salentino is the kitten heel of Apuglian wine.  It is understated, yet equally as sexy and tasty as Primitivo.  Salice Salentino is made from the Negroamaro grape, which translated, means ‘bitter black.’  However, Taurino Salice Salentino Reserva, 1999 ($13) is neither bitter nor black.  This brick-red wine is restrained, yet offers an enticing character of blackberries and a hint of licorice.  It is amazing with meals off the grill or almost anything roasted.  All hail the heel.

Perhaps you believe neither footwear nor feet nor the wines of boot-shaped countries are interesting.
Maybe your particular fetish doesn’t have anything to do with shoes.  Well, don’t give up on Italy just yet.  Take a look at a map.  Allow your gaze to wander upward; specifically to the posterior region just above the thigh.  Is this area, otherwise known as the Veneto, more to your liking?  If so, try this spicy little number: Maculan Pino & Toi ($13).  Now if you don’t like this wine or the location of this particular region, I give up.  You are officially fetish-less.  Cheers.

Whence Catawba?

Sure you've heard of Catawba.  But do you know where it originated?  The 'original' Catawba was, in fact, a sparkling wine made from the native American grape species, Vitis labrusca. The grape, originally wild, was cultivated as "Catawba" along the banks of the Ohio river.  Nicholas Longworth, an enterprising lawyer/wine enthusiast, had a grand vision of the Ohio becoming the Rhine of America.

Well, in 1867, an American contingent entered Catawba into a blind tasting at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.  Sadly the French judges awarded the wine "straight zeroes."  Among other things, the wine was described as foxy or musky.

How do I know this?  Well, I've just begun reading the book, "The Botanist and the Vintner - How wine was saved for the world," by Christy Campbell.  It's a historical account of the Phylloxera infestation that darn near wiped out non-foxy wine producing grape vines.  Thus far, it's a very good read.

Primo Priorato

Priorat, in Northeastern Spain, is one of the country's most unique D.O.s. (now DOCa - thanks Steven!)  It's quite small (1,820 ha) and has been focused on an international style and international grapes for some time.  Priorat is essentially a stone-ringed amphitheater for grapes.  In other words the grapes get a lot of sun and get to chill at night.  All this equates to bold, intense red wines.

I was lucky enough to try my very first Priorat red this past weekend.  It is made by the Pasanau family.  My only regret is that I didn't wait four or five more years before opening the bottle...

The Skinny
Pasanau "Finca La Planeta" '01 ($48)

• Origin: Northeastern Spain's D.O. Priorat
• From "La Planeta" vineyard - 3 hectares over slate soil
• 80% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Garnacha
• Dense, inky purple in color with a cherry-red rim, fading to pink
• Bold scents of cooked blackberries and blueberries, caramel-vanilla spice, and subtle prune/fig undertones.  There's also a slight aroma of red grapes..
• Concentrated, full-bodied, and long lasting.  Pasanau is full of big, round tannins floating in flavors of vanilla, cedar, pepper, and red & black berries.

****.5 (4.5 stars out of 5)

Even though this is one intense mutha, I found it to be Empanadas-friendly.  I plan to buy another bottle and hide it for five years.  A little ageing will make this an amazing vino.

2 quickTakes: one hit/one miss

First the miss (just a slight miss) -
Treana Central Coast 'Mer Soleil Vineyard' '01 ($23).  This big 'un is 39% Marsanne and 61% Viognier.  Smells delicious - apricot, peach, honey, flowers.  Yet, as a food wine it's a bit overthetop.  That said; it's a-OK by itself.  The reason?  Full-body, lots of alcohol, and lowish acidity.  It clashed with my meal, but was perfectly fine (and mouthiflling) as a solo sip. 

Now the Hit -
Montes Alpha Syrah, '00 ($17).  Not an XL Syrah; yet not a wimp by any means.  One of my favorite Chileans to date.  Black plums, pepper, and some sweet spice.  Solidly balanced in the mouth with pro-food tannins and a luxurious finish.  Would that more sub-$20 Syrahs could be so lovely.

Mixed/Unmixed

How do you take your Jazz?  Try it Mixed; try it unmixed with Verve3.   Good stuff.
A little Nina.  A little Sarah Vaughan.  A little Postal Service.  And a little Lyrics Born. (amongst others)

Spice World: Savory Spice

Read the previous Spice World posts - Asian Spice; SW/Mex Spice

Savory Spice
Savory spice is familiar to most of us.  For example, take a slice of pepperoni pizza.  It’s got black pepper, onions, garlic, and for those who crave spice, perhaps a shake or two of Cayenne pepper.  This spice combo presents the wine adventurer with two red wine options:  1) Subtle & crisp or 2) Bold & fruity.  Subtle & crisp wines include mostly old world reds like Italian Barbera d’Alba, French Côtes du Rhône, and Spanish Rioja.  These wines will accent your pepperoni slice by highlighting its spice components on your tongue.  In this instance, wine acts as the backup band to the singing savory spice combo.  Perhaps you would rather go bold.  Bold & fruity reds include Australian Shiraz, Californian Red Zinfandel, and Californian Petite Sirah.  These big boys will act as a reset button for your tongue – take a sip and pizza is mostly erased from the tongue’s taste memory.  Which is better?  Try both wine styles and let your palette decide.  Wine suggestions:  Ca' Bianca Barbera d'Asti, ’01 ($13) from the Piedmont, Italy (subtle & crisp); Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon, ’01/'02 ($12) from California (bold & fruity)