What Temperature to Serve Your Wine

Reds at room temperature and whites ice cold, right?
NO!
Most reds are served way too warm and many whites are served so cold that you can barely taste them. I even encounter this problem in restaurants - fine dining restaurants.
Here are some good guidelines from Wine Spectator with some personal commentary added from yours truly.

• Light dry white wines and sparkling wines: Serve at 40° to 50° F to preserve their freshness and fruitiness. Think crisp Pinot Grigio and Champagne. For sparklers, chilling keeps bubbles fine rather than frothy. This is also a good range for white dessert wines; sweetness is accentuated at warmer temperatures, so chilling them preserves their balance without quashing their vibrant aromas.

Wine Spectator includes Rose's in this group, but I disagree. I would include Rose' in the following category:

• Full-bodied white wines AND ROSE:  Serve at 50° to 60° F to pick up more of the complexity and aromatics of a rich Chardonnay. Rose's are almost always made from red grapes, so the warmer temperature, while not warm by any means, brings out the nuances and complexities of the grapes used in the Rose'
• Full-bodied red wines and Ports: Serve at 60° to 65° F—cooler than most room temperatures and warmer than ideal cellaring temperatures—to make the tannins in powerful Cabernet or Syrah feel more supple and de-emphasize bitter components. I prefer my Ports and Pinot Noir cooler than my bigger reds, but no red should be served at room temperature, which is usually around 72°.

This is all easy to manage at home, but if you end up with a red that's too warm or a white that's too cold at a restaurant, just ask them if they can warm or chill as appropriate. I do it all the time.

Have a great weekend!

Tom

It's Official - I'm on a Rose' "Kick"

I wrote a blog earlier about Rose' wine, so it's no secret that I enjoy the style. But this Memorial Day weekend really got me going on Rose'. For me, this just might be the perfect wine to go with foods off the grill.
Now, I'm not suggesting Rose' with Filet Mignon or hearty/earthy fare, but for most holiday grilling it works just fine.
For example:
Saturday: brats, baked beans and coleslaw. The wine: 2013 La Manarine Cotes du Rhone Rose' - $16
Sunday: pork steaks, grilled veggies and corn on the cob. The wine: Domaine Caboche Vin de Pays Rose' - $12
Both wines were refreshing, had wonderful fruit yet had enough complexity and acidity to pair well with both meals.
And you drink Rose' cold so it works great as an aperitif before dining - especially on a hot summer day.
Both of these Roses happened to be French, but you can get Rose' from any wine producing country, including the USA.
And you can get Rose' from almost any red grape. I've had Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo Rose', as well as many fine blends of these same grapes.
Ok. I'm done writing about Rose' for a while. But I'm certainly not done drinking it.
Maybe tonight ...

Tom

My Wine "Bucket List"

I've been very fortunate to have traveled to some great wine destinations and to have tasted some of the world's greatest wines.

But there is so much more I want to do.
I still need to travel and taste wine in Oregon, Washington State, Tuscany, Piedmont, Burgundy, Rhone and Champagne. Australia would be nice, but it's so darn far.
Here are some of the wines I still need to taste before I "kick the bucket":
France: The "La La's": Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne, La Turque and La Mouline; Chateau Petrus and Domaine de la Romanee Conti reds and whites..
Italy: Ornellaia Ornellaia, Ornellaia Masseto and Tua Rita Redigaffi
Spain: Pingus
Australia: Penfolds Grange
Domestic: Schrader, Harlan and Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon
A few of these wines are right here at Balaban's, so I hope to be checking a few off the list over the next couple of years.
What's on your wine bucket list?
Have a great weekend!

Tom

Hey - I thought I liked that wine!

Drinking wine is not just drinking, it's an "experience".  And the psychology behind our wine experiences can be pretty interesting.
Here's an example: take a drive out to one of Missouri's or Illinois' wine regions. It's a beautiful day, you're sitting outside, maybe a band is playing, you're with good friends and/or loved ones, and you're eating good food and drinking wine from the winery. Life is good. So, it's time to leave and you buy some wine to take home - maybe mix up a case. Later that week you select a bottle of a red wine from your recent winery purchase to go with a pot roast.
You pop open the bottle with great anticipation and ... THUD!  Is this the same wine?  Of course it is. But there are a few elements missing, like the setting, music, company and food. All these "other elements" are a big part of our wine tasting experiences and add to the enjoyment of the wine.
I don't mean to pick on our local wineries.
The same holds true when you're experiencing wine on vacation, at a romantic dinner, or even at a special event or party. And the wines can be from California, France, Italy, Spain, etc.
So is there a moral to this story?
Heck, I don't know.
Try this: Just as there are no guarantees in life, there are also no guarantees in wine.
I'm gonna go with that one.

Tom 

Great Wines for Mother's Day

The two most important moms in my life right now are my wife, Judy and my daughter, Becky. Judy raised two amazing kids, Becky and Michael, often by herself, while I was away traveling on business. Now, Becky, having learned well from her mom, is following in her footsteps, raising two beautiful little girls, Grace and Kathryn.

So, here's a toast to my two favorite moms with some wines I know they would like. Actually, I think all of you moms out there would like these:

Chardonnay
2012 Chappellet (Judy's favorite)
2012 Treasure Hunter
Reds
2010 Guardian Cellars "The Rookie" Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Guigal Chateauneuf-du-Pape
Sparkling
For Becky: NV Schramsberg Brut Rose'
For Judy: 2013 Elio Perrone Bigaro (a delicious sweet dessert sparkler)
Nightcap
1/2 Baileys, 1/2 Kahlua and a splash of vodka (to cut the sweetness) on the rocks.

Happy Mother's Day!

Tom 

Cinco de Mayo - and Wine?

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. We didn't go out, but we love Mexican food, so Judy threw together some great chicken fajitas.
We usually will have a margarita, or, I will have a beer with Mexican cuisine, but I didn't have the ingredients for the margarita, and I wasn't in the mood for beer.
Let's see what's open in the fridge.
Chappelet Chardonnay - beautiful wine, but I don't think that will go.
Paul Vattan Sancerre (an excellent Sauvignon Blanc from Loire, France) - I'm skeptical about this, but pour a couple of glasses anyway.
It worked!
But why?
So, you're probably thinking "who cares why". It works. Drink it. Don't worry about it.
But I'm going to do some Googling on this one.
So here's the rule according to Sommelier Christopher Janz from Red O, a famous Mexican restaurant in Southern California: heat (as in spicy) needs to be paired with good acidity and low alcohol. High alcohol wines will intensify the heat in the food, and sweet wines will be overwhelmed by the spice.
That's why the Sancerre worked so well. It has great acidity which makes it a perfect food wine, and the alcohol is a very modest 12.5%.
This doesn't mean I'm giving up on beer and margaritas with Mexican food, but now, I will definitely include wine in the mix.
2011 Paul Vattan Sancerre: At Balaban's for $23 or, in our new Sauvignon Blanc wine flight.

Tom                  

Bordeaux Wine Classifications

Scott, Balaban's restaurant manager and I had a chat the other day that went something like this:
Scott: Do you ever have trouble coming up with ideas for your blogs?
Me: Sometimes it's a challenge to come up with brilliant material every week.
Scott: Uh-huh.
.... moments of awkward silence ....
Scott again: Why don't you write about the Bordeaux growth classifications. That always confused me.
Me: Great idea. Next blog.
So here we are.
Bordeaux makes some of the world's greatest red and white wines, and it is probably my personal favorite wine region.
First a quick geography lesson.
Bordeaux is divided into two main regions that are divided by the Gironde river: The Right Bank region and the Left Bank, also know as the Medoc.
In 1855 during the Exposition Universelle de Paris, Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification of the best wine producers, or Chateaux, from the Left Bank. This would only apply to the red wines.
There were a few changes since 1855, but the classifications exist to this day.
There are five levels or "growth" that intend to rank the chateaux according to their levels of quality.
Today there are 5 First Growths, 15 Second Growths, 14 Third Growths, 10 Fourth Growths and 18 Fifth Growths for a total of 62 Classified Growths.
Here are the 5 First Growths, and some notable 2nd through 5th Growths with their respective appellations:

1st Growth
Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac
Chateau Latour, Pauillac
Chateau Margaux, Margaux
Chateau Haut-Brion, Graves
Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
2nd Growth
Chateau Leoville Las Cases, St. Julien
Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, St. Julien
ChateauCos Destournel, St. Estephe
3rd Growth
Chateau Giscours, Margaux
Chateau Palmer, Margaux
4th Growth
Chateau Talbot, St. Julien
Chateau Duhart-Milon, Pauillac
5th Growth
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac
Chateau Lynch-Bages, Pauillac

So, do I think Scott learned anything from this?
Nah.
He just wanted to see his name in the blog.
Have a great weekend.

Tom

Bordeaux

Scott