To me, winemakers have dirt under their fingernails. On a recent Gourmet Trip to Burgundy, one of the participants noticed that while the winemaker had cleaned up for the dinner in his home, his hands and fingernails looked like the hands of a farmer. I explained that my winemakers are farmers. For the most part, they own their vines and work the fields themselves. They have a level of familiarity with the grapes that only a person who works in the fields can have.
One of my winemakers said it best when she said that “ the wine is made in the vineyards, not in the cellars. If you don’t start with quality fruit, it is not possible to make quality wines.”
Therefore, top winemakers are in the fields assuring that the harvest will be of the highest quality possible. Even though they may have workers to do some of the work for them, these winemakers can often be found in the vineyards examining the vines, working the soil, and testing the fruit. They are getting their hands dirty.
These are small families who have been entrusted with their ancestral homes and plots of land. They are stewards of the land for the next generation. Their job is to maximize the potential of the land in an environmentally friendly manner. And their special skill is turning the quality fruit into some of the world’s best wines.
I just returned from my latest Gourmet Trip to Burgundy. These are one-of-a-kind trips. I’ve searched the internet and there is nothing else like this.
People who go on these trips are veterans of barge trips and other wine trips where you eat on the barge or in restaurants most of the time. Those are all good trips. And the people had enjoyable times on those trips. But they are unanimous in their preference for my trips. One man said it best. He and his wife went on a barge trip and loved it. So, they went on a second barge trip and again had a good time. Then, they met me and decided to go to Burgundy with me. About halfway through their Gourmet Trip with me, he said that “this trip is the major leagues and the other trips, while enjoyable, were the minor leagues.”
So, what sets my Gourmet Trips apart? Among other things, it is their uniqueness and authenticity. On no other trip do you actually get invited into the winemakers’ homes. Either the winemakers cook for you or we take a chef who cooks some of the meals in their homes. You are invited as a good friend and family member to experience their daily life, which is centered around their world-class wines and the delicious Burgundian culinary specialties prepared in their homes.
It’s all very relaxed and informal. In fact, one man who has traveled extensively to Europe said that this trip has a “level of intimacy that is rare in Europe”.
Trip participants say that if you enjoy food and wine together… and if you really want to connect with the winemakers on a real and significant level, then you will absolutely love this trip.
Tasting wine is easy. If you like it, you should drink it. It doesn’t matter if your spouse doesn’t like the wine or if I don’t like your wine. Simply put, if the wine is YUMMY to you, you should drink it.
One of the best examples of that was a lovely lady who attended an exclusive tasting that I did many years ago. She only drank White Zinfandel. I was told that was all she has ever liked. That evening she tasted a few of my wonderful wines. I just knew that she would find some wines that were even more pleasing to her. Well, at the end of the evening, all she wanted was her White Zinfandel. That wine is simply yummy to her. I have gotten to know her family well. To this day, when I go to a dinner and I know that she will be there, I make sure to bring her a bottle of her favorite White Zin. She is appreciative and the rest of us drink my wines.
In a future blog, maybe we can get into the mechanics of actually tasting wine and even of opening wine and serving wine, especially the serving temperature.
We have the entire world; so where to start? There is good wine made in every corner of our world. And there is a lot of bad wine made everywhere, too. I’ve had some good wine from countries, such as Romania and Lebanon. Not a lot, but good wines definitely exist there.
Of course, we all know that France, Italy, and the US are among the top wine producing countries in the world. And within each country, there are several regions – all of which make different styles of wines.
In France and Italy, the most famous regions are actually codified as to which grapes can be made into wine that bears the name of each region. America is less regulated in this respect. For example, in Bordeaux, there are 5 grapes that may be used for their better red wines, most notably Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In Burgundy, the red wines must be 100% Pinot Noir. In the Rhone, there are 13 grapes that may be used in any combination, principally Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah. But in the Northern Rhone, it’s 100% Syrah.
Therefore, knowing your wine regions can really help you to know what type of wine you are drinking. And if you know the grape characteristics, then that will help you to further know what to expect in a glass. Basic sommelier training seeks to help you identify the wine in the glass by learning flavor profiles and characteristics of different grapes as well as the influence that regional differences (climate, etc) have on the wine. It’s all very deductive. With a little experience, certain patterns will fall out and become obvious. Before you know it, you could be impressing your friends by correctly identifying that dark, bold, and spicy red wine as being made from 100% Syrah grapes grown in the Saint Joseph area of the Northern Rhone. Very nice!
As a trained sommelier, I often get questions about which food pairs better with which wine. Or I get the reverse question – which wine pairs well with a certain food.
You can approach it from either angle. There is no “right” answer. Some people always select their wine first and others select their food first. If you have a favorite dish you want to prepare for guests, then by all means start with the food and then select a wine that goes well with that food. Conversely, if you have a special bottle that you want to open with a friend, then you would select the appropriate food that will complement your special wine.
One of the tricks that I have learned over the years is that TEXTURE plays a major role in pairing. Food and wine both have texture. Let’s take the example of a ribeye steak and a tenderloin.
Think of the ribeye steak with its big flavor, but also with its fat. The ribeye is more flavorful, but is much tougher than a tenderloin. The texture could be considered as “coarse and rough”. The tenderloin has almost no fat. It is very tender, but has comparatively less flavor than a ribeye. The tenderloin can be considered as “delicate and elegant”.
Not just any red wine will go with both steaks. For the ribeye, you need a bigger red that has good acid to cut through the fat as well as big fruit and tannins to stand up to the toughness of the meat. But that big red would dominate the tenderloin and diminish your enjoyment of the meal. With the tenderloin, you would select a wine that is smoother and softer. Its elegance would match the tenderness of the meat and maximize the pairing. Yet, this more elegant wine would fall flat if served with the ribeye.
Notice that we really haven’t talked about specific flavors or sauces. We have simply talked about the texture of the food along with the texture of the wine. For me, this is probably the first building block to master when pairing food and wine to maximize your enjoyment at the table.
