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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Chardonnay

I love growing up. The older I get, the less convinced I am about certain things. I value the freedom to
change my mind. When I think back to how opinionated I was in my early twenties, when I thought I had it all
figured out, I cringe. Now I am humbled and delighted to admit when I am wrong.

But anyway, this isn't about me bragging about how I've grown up into such an open minded young lady. Its
about Chardonnay. You see I thought I hated Chardonnay for years. Like many people, it had some bad
associations for me: too oaky-buttered-popcorn-jelly bean-powdered sugar-synthetic tasting. It was
something suburban moms drink in suburban bars. It was "the white" offered at open bars at tacky weddings. It
just was not cool to order Chardonnay.

But I wasn't just a hater based on these ignorant taboos. I had a bad chardonnay experience of my very
own. For some young drinkers its often Southern Comfort or say, Jim Beam that traumatizes them enough
to avoid up into their adulthood. But unfortunately for me it was Chardonnay. For my 21st birthday, my
sister had bought me a fancy Pottery Barn goblet (yes, "goblet" not wine glass) and a bottle of Fetzer Sun
Dial Chardonnay. Well I solely consumed the bottle in its entirety. I then proceeded to drop my fancy wine
"chalice" on the sidewalk (I was outside of course) and continued my birthday festivities by drunkenly
stepping in the broken glass (I was barefoot of course). After everyone went to bed and my sister's
boyfriend picked all the broken glass out of my bleeding feet, I finished my special night by throwing
up. The next morning I vowed to stay away from Chardonnay.

Ok, so I was young, misinformed and overly judgemental. I didn't know enough about the grape, to form such a
harsh opinion. One bad experience with one bad wine is a stupid reason to hate all Chardonnays. Now almost 10
years later, I seriously love Chardonnay. I'll admit its a new love and its taken me a while to come
around.

I recently tried an unbelievably delicious Jean-Paul Brun, Beaujolais Blanc. This was an unoaked
Chardonnay. Here you can really get a clear example of what this versatile grape is capable of. The silky,
full bodied texture was amazing, and completely balanced by the taste of butterscotch, honey, cream
and an ample amount of minerals. Fueled by my adoration of the Beauj. Blanc, I thought I'd thought
I'd try another unoaked Chardonnnay. This time it was the Paumanok Festival Chardonnay, from North Fork Long
Island. So good! This wine was full of fresh ripe apples and pears, with tremendously bright acidity. By
this point I was ready to get into some oak. I went for the Domaine Fichet, Macon Ige. This one sort of
blew my mind. The subtle oak was not like the American Butter Bomb Chardonnays that I threw back at holiday
office parties. This was a completely different wine. There were beautiful notes of toasted hazelnuts,
citrus and a round richness, that encouraged me to finish the entire bottle in one sitting.

My conversion to a Chardonnay drinker has provoked me to try a lot of things I once hated. It turns out I
still don't like pickles and I certainly didn't love every single Chardonnay I tried. I still have my
opinions and personal taste. But my taste has broadened and it keeps broadening, which makes
drinking wine fresh and interesting. So if you think you made up your mind about hating a particular wine,
I encourage you to try it again. Try three different bottles and compare them with friends. Maybe you'll
change your mind. Maybe you'll still hate it...but at least you can feel good about calling yourself
well-informed and open-minded wine drinker.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Time to weigh in

I went over to the New Yorker site to find an article on misogyny which as it turned out was actually a New York Times article but none the less still about misogyny. Which, if you have been following Grocery Guy you would know is a pretty heated topic for a few people in this wine industry right now. Instead I stumbled across this amazing article.

There are a number of moments in the article that made me laugh, including the fact that the Swedes "get smacked from behind" when they are hungover. But mostly the article made me realize there are far more important things to talk about when it comes to wine than whether one particular wine importer is perhaps less than delicate in his dealings with other humans (not sure what his feelings about cats are), or whether he is a bigger and better importer than anyone else. I have to say that when it comes right down to it I am glad that the post went up at Grocery Guy, and I am thrilled for the new found attention this has generated for their blog. I think the conversation being raised is of utmost importance, and in that vein if you want to continue it you should really read this article and think about how it relates to the world at large.

Or like me you can return to the really important matters at hand; whether sake leaves you less hungover than wine. I promise I will research this with devotion and dedication until the sake tasting where I will reveal the product of all of my hard drinking labor.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Scandal!

When scandal hits the world of politics, resignations are called for, private details are released on the evening news and tension is built up until the money shot: the politician holding a press conference and eating humble pie. But when scandal hits the wine world, things take shape a bit differently, as we're seeing again right now. Back in March, Italian investigators implicated certain wine makers of not making their brunello di Montalcino wines from 100% sangiovese grapes. Not quite a hooker-grade fiasco, it's true. This is what the wine world gets for scandal, and it's a big enough deal that the U.S. government is taking action. Brunello di Montalcino wines are some of the highest priced wines on the market — many carry price tags in the hundreds of dollars — with a large chunk of sales coming from restaurants. Much of that high price is based on reputation, which in the case of brunello and most European wines, is built upon the strict wine laws that govern wine making. Under such laws, certain grapes and wine making methods must be used in order to receive higher and higher classifications and therefore command higher prices.

Now when word started to spread about this scandal, some of us wine professionals showed mock indignation and plenty of eye-rolling: "You say Italians have been bending the rules? You say some wine laws haven't been followed to the letter? Nooooooooo." It's true that at first this 'scandal' doesn't seem very important, but it does give us an interesting view of the changing status of the wine industry right now.

By trying to make brunello wines more approachable — and when "more approachable" means adding bigger, bolder varietals like cabernet, merlot and syrah — we get a good example of the pressures put upon old-world wine makers. With an influx of new wine drinkers used to new-world wines, even those wine makers that have been making good wine for decades see that there is a chunk of the market from which they are missing out. This is exactly why many old-world wine makers have begun to put a wine's grape varietals on the label. So interestingly enough, one of the prominent new-world countries, the U.S. of A., is in their own way enforcing the standards of the old-world by not restricting the brunello allowed in to the country.

The wine industry is definitely in a time of change and although all of these laws will probably stay as they are for now, this is how the wine industry inches along. Some wine makers stubbornly and proudly sticking to traditional methods and others boldly and stupidly trying new things very quickly. There will always be some reason for scandal especially in times of change, though I doubt, unfortunately, that we'll ever see Robert Parker wearing a red, white and blue tie looking ashamed and penitent because of the poor judgment he's exhibited at his job.

Labels: american, french, italian, ny times, wine culture