Odd Bacchus

I received some terribly exciting news yesterday: Odd Bacchus is a finalist in the 2017 Millésima Wine Blog Awards! My post, The Most Unusual Wine of Gevrey-Chambertin, was one of three American-written pieces selected in the “Wine Travel” category.

To win the grand prize — a trip to Bordeaux! — I need your help and your votes. Follow this link to cast your ballot: https://fcld.me/lxW3td. You can find Odd Bacchus under the Wine Travel (USA) section.

I also ask that you take one more moment to share the link above in a post on Facebook, and encourage your friends to vote for me as well.

I’m in very good company, with Christine Havens who wrote a fascinating piece about one of my favorite wine regions, Hungary’s Tokaj, and Cindy Rynning, who wrote this fun post about California’s Livermore Valley, an area which deserves to be better known.

It’s an honor to share the title of finalist with these talented bloggers.

I treasure your support, and I thank you for your vote. To win a competition like this would be simply unbelievable.

Every now and then I worry: Is this blog just a really, really elaborate cover for alcoholism? But then I glance at my wine rack, heaving with unopened sample bottles, and I realize that if I were an alcoholic, I would probably have transformed those samples into tasting notes and hangovers long ago. I feel relief, but only for a moment, because it strikes me that the wonderful PR people who sent me those dust-gathering samples would probably rather that I were an alcoholic.

In an effort to catch up, I brought two of my sample shelf’s oldest residents to Andy’s Thai Kitchen, a BYOB restaurant near the home of one of my favorite wine tasting friends, Liz Barrett, the Vice President of Corporate Communications and PR at Terlato Wines, one of Chicago’s most important wine importers and distributors. The company recently made news for severing its relationship with Santa Margherita, of Pinot Grigio infamy, and good riddance, too. (Terlato’s Friuli Pinot Grigio is ever so much better. It has important qualities lacking in the Santa Margherita, such as flavor.)

As Liz and I unloaded our wine onto our too-small table — five bottles in all — I briefly reconsidered my potential alcoholism, but that unpleasant thought was swiftly washed away by the exquisite Riesling Liz poured into my glass. Riesling and Gewürztraminer are classic choices for pairing with Thai food, and she brought along beautiful examples of each.

Both came from the Alsace, a region in eastern France along the border with Germany, which excels at producing dry whites (most famously, as luck would have it, Riesling and Gewürztraminer). Wines from the Alsace rarely lack acidity, and they sometimes even verge on the austere, making them an excellent choice if sweetness in wine gives you the heebie-jeebies.

The wines were created by Michel Chapoutier, a family wine company distinguished, according to The Oxford Companion to Wine, by “its combination of high quality, often vineyard designated, and almost restless vineyard acquisition.” Chapoutier released his first Alsatian vintage in 2011, from fruit grown “on the only vein of blue schist in the Alsace region,” according to the Schieferkopf website. “Schieferkopf” literally means “head of schist.”

The 2012 Schieferkopf “Via Saint-Jacques” Riesling lived up to its hefty price tag of about $45, with a rich attack, wonderfully juicy and focused lemon/orange acids and a surprisingly long and minerally finish. “It’s crisp and rich at the same time,” Liz noted. Absolutely. It paired beautifully with some sweet and salty chicken satay — it even cut through the heavy peanut sauce — and the wine positively sang with some savory gyoza dumplings. (Why so many Thai restaurants insist on also serving Japanese food is beyond my comprehension, but at least Andy’s didn’t attempt sushi.)

The 2014 Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer — which had a seductive nose of honeysuckle and perfectly balanced flavors of tropical fruits, taut orangey acids and exotic spice — fell rather flat with the gyoza and satay, however. It felt tamped down. But paired with an aromatic and slightly spicy dish of fermented Isaan sausage with cabbage, fresh ginger and peanuts, the wine became magnificently bright and lively. It also stood up well to some sweet and spicy pork belly as well as some slightly spicy shrimp pad Thai.

I wouldn’t be Odd Bacchus if I stuck to classic pairings, of course, and so I selected some less conventional (and less expensive) wines to sip with our Thai/Japanese feast.

Remembering how much I loved the 2010 Planeta Carricante, with its lush fruit and incense-like spice, I brought along a bottle of 2014 Alta Mora Etna Bianco, made from 100% Carricante, an ancient grape variety grown on the slopes of Mount Etna. Etna wines have become rather fashionable these days, and when you sip wines like the Planeta and the Alta Mora, it’s easy to see why. Again, I noted something exotic and “incensy” in the nose, and the wine had some real heft on the palate. Nevertheless, it felt taut and dry, with some tart acids and an impressively long finish.

The Alta Mora worked well with the gyoza (though not as beautifully as the Riesling), and even better with the Isaan sausage. It became more integrated with the food, pairing well with just about everything on the table. But it was two days later when this wine most impressed me. I had taken the mostly full bottle home with me and stored it in the fridge. I thought that after two days, it would be barely drinkable at best, but it still tasted mostly intact. I suspect this wine could age well for a number of years. A fine value for about $20 a bottle.

The 2015 Ernie Els “Big Easy” Chenin Blanc from South Africa also paired generally well with all the food on the table. It tasted very citrusy, with broad, orangey acids, and it had a spicy gingery finish. The wine retained its acids and spice when matched with the satay and peanut sauce, and with the Isaan sausage it became even bigger and spicier. “This is just the right Chenin for this food,” Liz remarked, and I agreed. I wouldn’t hesitate to spend $15 of my own money on a bottle.

If you’re a red wine lover, I hope you haven’t given up on this post just yet. I also brought along a 2013 Nadler “Rote Rieden” Zweigelt from Carnuntum, in far eastern Austria. Austria made its name in the United States with Grüner Veltliner and to a lesser extent Riesling, but it also produces reds of notable character, including Zweigelt. (See my posts about velvety Austrian St. Laurent here.)

This Zweigelt had a light body — ideal for pairing with this sort of food — but no shortage of flavor: cherry, earth, mocha, black pepper… Liz also detected “something herbal, like eucalyptus.” It worked especially well with the pork, which turned the wine’s fruit darker and amped up the black pepper note. Not too shabby for a $13 bottle of wine!

So what do you pair with your favorite Thai treats? That depends. If you plan on ordering some spicy dishes, and you don’t abhor somewhat floral whites, go for a Gewürztraminer. A dry Riesling would be best if you plan on ordering dishes that are more savory than spicy. A light-bodied red like the Zweigelt would be ideal for meaty dishes, both savory and spicy. And if you like a variety of different Thai foods, an Etna Bianco or a Chenin Blanc should work well with a range of dishes.

When in doubt, choose two different bottles. Or better yet, five. After all, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an alcoholic.

Note: These wines, with the exception of the Nadler Zweigelt, were samples provided free of charge.

I’ve stopped making New Year’s Resolutions. I got tired of punishing myself each year when my plans for self-improvement failed to come to fruition. Now, I look forward to January, knowing that I don’t have to change a damn thing. But some people seem to find value in the resolution ritual, and I suppose some of them must have some success, bless them.

If you’re one of those people who don’t regard resolutions as an exercise in futility, consider resolving to do something a lot more fun than trim your waistline: Get to know what wine you like best.

It sounds silly, perhaps, because if you read this blog, you almost certainly drink wine, which means you probably already have a sense of what you like. Or, at least, what you don’t like. When I talk to people about their wine preferences, they most frequently use negative terms — they don’t like sweet or dry or oaky or heavy, or whatever it is. Fewer people tell me things they actually enjoy tasting.

It takes more guts to say what you like. Saying that you don’t like something is essentially free from risk, but taking a stand in favor of certain flavors is a little dangerous. Some of the people you tell are sure to disagree with you, and some of them will try to make you feel wrong. It happens to me all the time. But you’re not wrong; they’re feeling threatened.

In the tasting room of Palumbo Wines, Temecula, CA

Why take the risk at all? If you can articulate what you like in a wine, your sommelier or wine shop clerk will love you for it. They’ll be much better able to guide you to something in line with your taste. They’ll feel like they’re doing a great job, and more important, you’ll get a wine that you’re more likely to love.

To figure out what you really like, the best thing to do is to taste a lot of different wines. Most wine shops have complimentary tastings from time to time, and they’re a great risk-free place to try something out of your comfort zone. I know some people avoid these tastings because they don’t want to say something “wrong” about the wine, because the person pouring it might judge them. Of course, no one likes to be judged. Just remember — you don’t need to expound at length on the wine. If you aren’t sure what to say after you taste something, a simple “Very nice” will always do the trick.

You’re sure, even by simple chance, to find something you really, really enjoy at one of these tastings. If you do, take another sip and pay careful attention to it. So often we forget to actually pay attention, because wine is such fun to drink. But even the most beautifully crafted wines usually don’t hold up flavor profile billboards. “I taste like RASPBERRIES!” No. You have to pay attention and consider the wine on your tongue it in order to see what it has to offer. I find that the flavors and the structure of a wine are clearest to me during the first two tastes. By the third, I’m just drinking.

An ethereal Wind Gap Trousseau Gris from the Russian River Valley

The more you taste (and smell) and pay attention, the easier it will become to identify the qualities in wine that you like. Those qualities will almost certainly change depending on the type of wine, the season and your mood. Some examples:

Sparkling Wine: With New Year’s Eve approaching, this might be the most important category to consider, though I must admit I don’t usually serve my favorite sparkling wines at parties. I love toasty, yeasty smells and flavors, qualities most often found in Champagne. You, however, might prefer crisp flavors like green apple or lemon, or floral notes as in Moscato, or berry flavors, as in certain Blanc de Noirs and sparkling rosés.

White Wine: I enjoy all sorts of different white wines, but if I could have just one to drink before I died, it would display rich fruit, some butteriness and/or creaminess, very focused acids, and, why not, some minerals on the finish. Alas, it’s a rather expensive flavor profile, exemplified by top white Burgundy. You might hate butter in your wine, preferring instead something crisp and light, or something redolent of tropical fruit, or something tart, or something chalky, or something perfumed and aromatic. I’m also a fan of exotic spice notes like ginger and incense, as in some Hungarian dry Furmints.

Rosé Wine: My very favorite rosés are very fruity but very dry, with plenty of juicy acids. To me, they taste like summer. You might prefer a rosé that’s a little sweeter, because, after all, they’re delicious too. Or perhaps you like your rosé more esoteric, with more of a savory note.

Bottles of Tokaji

Red Wine: Again, I find all sorts of red wines delicious and enjoyable, but my very favorites tend to have either a note of mocha or tobacco. Reds with rich, dark fruit combined with some wood and tobacco and spice really make me curl my toes. Maybe for you, it’s a note of earth that really gets you going, or fresh cherry fruit, or jammy raspberry fruit, or brooding plummy fruit. Some reds have a black pepper flavor that people love, but others prefer less aggressive white pepper. You might even like a note of meat in your wine — bacon or beef can be delightful.

White Dessert Wine: Many people nowadays turn their noses up at sweet wines. If you’re someone who thinks sweet wines are just for wine novices, I encourage you to try a Sauternes or a Tokaji. Tasting great Sauternes and Tokaji rank among my most cherished wine memories. I love honeysuckle richness leavened with laser-focused acids and exotic spice, along with a little mint or tobacco freshness to round out my ideal version of this wine. Others might appreciate round, orangey acids, voluptuous ripe peach or tropical fruit flavors, or caramel or butterscotch notes. Oo — I really need to drink more of these wines in 2017.

Fortified Red Wine: Port and Port-like wines always feel wonderfully satisfying and comforting to drink, especially in winter. Here I love luscious blackberry jamminess balanced with big spice and a whiff of wood or tobacco. If you haven’t tried a Port in a while, now is the time to buy a bottle. Start with a Late Bottle Vintage Port, which offer a lot of flavor for the money. You need not drink it all in one sitting. Even if you make no preservation efforts, the wine will remain tasty for a week or longer.

If you’ve already figured out what flavors you love in wine, I encourage you to write them down — it’s a fascinating exercise. And if you aren’t yet able to name your favorite flavors, lucky you. If you choose to make discovering your favorite flavors a New Year’s Resolution, you’re in for a really fun 2017.

‘Tis the season for holiday parties, my most favorite season of all. A good friend of mine recently threw one, and conversation turned, as it inevitably does at such events, to whether we had finished our Christmas shopping. My friend hadn’t, and he confessed that he found me especially difficult to shop for.

“Why?” I asked, more than a little incredulous. I can’t think of anyone with desires less complicated than mine.

“Well,” he responded, “I know you like wine, but you’ve got your wine blog and everything, so I always feel nervous picking a bottle out for you.”

“What??” I didn’t bother trying to understand his feelings, and chose instead to act like he was an idiot. “Just go in a decent wine shop, tell the clerk that you have a wine snob friend, tell him your budget, and have the clerk pick something out,” I said, a little too loudly. I wasn’t even drunk. All I’d had was two chocolate/peppermint scones and a cup of decaf.

That is really all you need to do to come up with perfectly wonderful gift for the wine geek in your life. Find a good wine shop, go into it, and ask an employee for a recommendation for a wine snob that costs between $___ and $___.

A grower Champagne

I would end my gift-guide post right here, but I know that lots of people out there would rather have Trump fact-check their foreign policy thesis paper than ask a wine shop clerk for advice. For a birthday one year, I remember that I asked party guests to bring me an unusual wine. I made it very clear that it need not be expensive, and that if people had doubts, that they should ask a wine store clerk for advice. Precisely one of my guests asked a clerk for advice (she brought me a beautiful white from Santorini).

I’m not entirely sure why there is this aversion to talking with wine store clerks. Perhaps it’s a worry that the clerk will hard-sell an expensive wine, or even worse, that the clerk will judge a person who doesn’t have a lot of wine knowledge.

Judgmental wine clerks do exist, I can’t deny it. I wrote about one at Binny’s that I encountered a while back, for example. Fortunately, he is much more the exception than the rule. Most wine shop employees are great fun to chat with and are more than happy to recommend something in whatever price range you set.

Frank Cornelissen

That said, if you’re determined not to talk to a wine clerk, here are a few gift ideas guaranteed to impress your wine geek friend without breaking the bank:

—Grower Champagne. Most Champagne is a blend of grapes grown by different vineyard owners. Grower Champagne, however, is produced by the person who grew the grapes. To tell the difference, you’ll need your reading glasses. Look for a number on the bottom of the label (it might be on the front or back). If it starts with “RM,” you’ve got a grower Champagne. If it starts with “NM” or the less-common “CM,” you don’t. Grower Champagnes start at about $30 or so.

—Something from Jura. Pronounced approximately “zhoo-rah,” this region, located just east of Burgundy in France, has become a darling of wine geeks everywhere.  Expect to pay around $18 to $25.

—Something from Sicily. Sicily, too, has surged in popularity, but don’t just grab any old Sicilian off the shelf. Go for something that costs more than $15. Bonus points if you can find something by Frank Cornelissen.

Weingut Christmann in the Pfalz

—High-end red from Argentina or Chile. People tend to regard wines from Argentina and Chile as bargains, not splurges, and indeed, there are plenty of wonderfully drinkable inexpensive wines from these two countries. But many winemakers have upped their game, and it has become easier and easier to find Argentine and Chilean wines with true elegance and force. In general, look for something that costs $20 or more, and it’s bound to taste more expensive than it is.

—Single-Vineyard Riesling. Any wine geek worth his or her brix will appreciate a high-quality Riesling. Look for one from the Mosel or Pfalz with a vineyard designation. A German vineyard name often consists of two words, the first ending in “-er,” as in Ürziger Würzgarten. Look to spend between $20 and $30.

Oversize bottles are always a hit at the Wine Bloggers Conference

—Toro. This Spanish wine can vary in quality, but the region is small and exclusive enough that you’re likely to find a big, fruity and spicy red, whichever Toro you choose. It’s a a less obvious choice than Rioja, and it’s one of my personal favorites. Toros start at around $16, but buy one over $20 if you can.

—A Magnum of anything. A Magnum is a large-format bottle containing the equivalent of two standard bottles of wine. No wine snob can resist a Magnum. If you can find and afford a Double Magnum or a Jeroboam, the recipient will be your devoted friend for life.

And remember folks, it’s just wine. It’s supposed to be fun. Shopping for wine should be fun, giving wine should be fun, and drinking wine should certainly be fun. Don’t let anyone else, be it a judgmental shop clerk or an overly picky wine snob friend, tell you otherwise.