Gus Clemens on Wine explores and explains the world of wine in simple, humorous, fun posts

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Meteorological seasons 1-3-2024

It is early January. Barely into winter. Except it isn’t barely into winter if you reckon by the more rational system of “meteorological seasons.” By that measure, we are one-third-plus finished with winter. Huh?

Meteorological seasons are more logical and easier to work with than the longest day, shortest day, equal day kludge inflicted upon us years ago by astrologers. Astrologers? In the 21st century?

There is the simple meteorological system: winter starts December 1, spring March 1, summer June 1, fall September 1. If you are like me, when you learn how seasons are measured by meteorologists, the people you count on for weather predictions so you can plan your day, plan your planting, plan your grape harvest, you thought: “My, goodness, that makes perfect sense.”

Earth tilts toward the sun. In the traditional system its annual orbit determines the seasons, although seasons are wholly a human construction. Using the old system, this winter began on December 21, the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year.

But Earth’s orbit it not a perfect circle. That means astronomical seasons do not start on the same day each year. Using the astronomical system, seasons vary between 89 and 93 days. Messy, and not reflective of what we actually experience. In the vineyard. In our everyday lives.

Meteorologist use the December-March-June-September formula because it makes record keeping easier. When they compare seasons, they do not have to factor in yearly variables. Did autumn start at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, or 7:30 p.m., or 12:09 a.m. on Wednesday?

Meteorological seasons track with our human experience. We have just begun astrological winter, but the weather has been cooler for more than month. December, January, and February are the coolest months. It gets colder before Christmas (winter solstice 2023 was December 21 at 9:27 p.m. CST). And spring likely will be perceived earlier than March 19 at 10:06 p.m. in 2024.

Isn’t it just cleaner and easier to divide the seasons into four easy-to-identify segments?

I know a wine columnist is not going to change the world of season delineations, but I do want to ally myself with the much more rational and easy to understand system of meteorologists. After all, we depend on meteorologists to tell us how hot and cold it will be tomorrow and when the hurricane will force us to flee for our lives. How about giving them a say on winter, spring, summer, and fall?

Last round

Why don’t ants freeze in the winter? Because they have ANTi-freeze. Wine time.

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New Year’s bubbly 12-27-2023

While sparkling wine deserves to be enjoyed year-round, New Year’s Eve and special celebrations are when most people experience it. Suggestions on New Year strategies:

• First, consider limiting your celebration to your home or friends/family very close by. New Year’s Eve is amateur drunk night, and even if you celebrated responsibly, there is good chance others on the road did not.

• Sparkling wine is festive and fun. Connotes joy. You survived another year. You have a new year to look forward to. And—from an alcohol perspective—sparkling is relatively low, usually 12% ABV or less. The fizz also gives you the feeling of being full, helping tap the consumption brake.

• There is a very wide range of sparkling to chose from. Champagne is high end, from $50 to well past $100. Sparkling wines made exactly same way as Champagne (méthode champenoise/traditional method), but not in Champagne, fall in the $17-50 range.

• Great values can be found in Spanish cava and Italian prosecco and sparklings—from $10-20.

• Avoid bottom shelf stuff. It is plonk wine infused with CO2. It may cost less than $10, but you will pay the price in the morning.

My New Year wish for you: May 2024 exceed the fond memories you have of 2023.

Tasting notes:

• Famiglia Zonin Extra Dry Prosecco DOC: Fresh, clean, crisp, very approachable bubbly made by Italy’s largest privately-held wine company. $10-12 Link to my review

• Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut Cava NV: Crisp, clean, one of the great value wines in the world. Very dry and smooth with outstanding acidity. $10-12 https://www.gusclemensonwine.com/freixenet-cordon-negro-brut-cava-nv/#more-12240

• Codorníu Cuvée Clasico Brut Cava NV: Excellent, easy drinking Spanish bubbly; citrus, led by Meyer lemon. $12-18 Link to my review

• Valdo Marca Oro Valdobbiadene Prosecco Brut DOC: Simple and simply delicious sparkler. Versatile, fresh, fun. $15-17 Link to my review

• Gruet Brut Rosé NV: Superb, accessible, correct traditional method pinot noir brute sparkling made with 100% pinot noir in New Mexico. Excellent value. $17 Link to my review

• Domaine Nicolas Brunet Vouvray Brut 2020: Traditional method sparkling chenin blanc; pure, pleasing, intriguing lemon-citrus on finish. $29 Link to my review

• Domaine Amirault Crémant de Loire Les Quarterons Brut NV: Traditional method. Vivid fruits led by chenin blanc make for a tight, tasty, energetic, clean wine with excellent acidity. $35-40 Link to my review

• Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Brut Champagne NV: Polish and finesse in a lively, fresh package. $53-60 Link to my review

• Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut Champagne NV: Opulent, superb fruit, impressive finesse, significant structure. All you ask for from a a world-class Champagne. $85-100 Link to my review

Last round

New Year’s resolutions: Stop drinking wine and exercise instead. Win the lottery. Odds are about the same. No, lottery odds are better.

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Wine for Christmas 12-20-2023

If you are reading this column, there is a good chance wine will be part of your Christmas/holiday celebration. Observations:

• The big meal is a hectic time. Likely lots of food, also lots of commotion and distractions. Don’t waste your best wine on this event. Save your best for when it can be calmly appreciated and more of a focus of the meal.

• Don’t pour bottom-shelf, cheapest-you-can-find wine at the event either. There is plenty of good wine in the $12-25 range. If the party is large, open an assortment so the malbec maven, the pinot princess, the white zin aficionado, and the bubbly booster can enjoy what they enjoy.

• Consider port or sherry as part of the event. Great end-of-the-day, mellow-out sipper. Also goes with Christmas sweets.

• Go nostalgic—and this works well if there are drop-in visitors. Mulled wine. At its simplest, mulled wine is red wine combined with spices and sugar/honey, served warm.

Like its summer counterpart sangria, marinating various ingredients is the secret: 24 hours-plus for sangria, five-plus hours for mulled wine. Both are ideal for making early so you can concentrate on everything else. Bonus: mulled wine adds splendid holiday aromas.

Recipe:

• 1 cup unfiltered apple juice

• 1/4 cup pulpy orange juice

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground allspice

• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

• 3 cinnamon sticks

• 2/3 cup of brown sugar (or honey)

• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored, thinly sliced, cut into bite-size pieces

• Zest of one orange

• Orange, sectioned, cut into bite-size pieces

• One 750 ml bottle red wine (cab, merlot, zin, malbec)

• 1/2 cup of brandy or cognac

Put ginger, allspice, cloves in cheesecloth bag. Put ingredients except brandy/cognac in a crock pot. Heat five or more hours; the longer you heat, the more the flavors marinate and the better it tastes and smells.

Add brandy when ready to serve.

Double to serve more. A second apple is optional.

Ladle into mugs with orange/apple slices per mug.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays.

Tasting notes:

• Bodega Aniello 006 Malbec, Alto Valle del Rio Negro, Patagonia, Argentina 2020: Less fruity than Mendoza malbecs; delivers easy drinkability, comfortable tannins, impressive length. $15 Link to my review

• Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley 2019: Approaches jammy, but acidity and balance keeps things in check. Rich and full. $22-25 Link to my review

• W. & J. Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Porto: Lush, jammy, plum and chocolate delight. Acidity balances ripe, dark fruit sweetness. Velvety richness masks high alcohol. $25 Link to my review

Last round

What do you call a Christmas wreath made out of $100 bills? Aretha Franklins. Wine time.

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Christmas gifts 12-13-2023

So, you want to give a wine-related gift for Christmas. Some recommendations.

Avoid kitschy wine gadgets. Some include:

• Colored wine glasses, glasses with illustrations on them. You want an adequately sized, tulip-shaped glass that is clear so you can see the color of the wine.

• Stemless wine glasses. Yes, once a rage. But stemless glasses quickly get covered with fingerprints, your hands warm the wine, and they make wine swirling difficult. All three are bad.

• Foil cutter. The cutter cuts the foil too high on the bottle, almost near the lip. The proper cut is below the bulge. Or simply remove the entire foil with a knife or pull the entire foil capsule away with your hand. Cleaner, nicer, better.

• Wine charms. These are tiny pieces of jewelry that go on the stem as your way of claiming that is MY wine glass. This seems like a solution desperately seeking a problem. If you have a problem keeping track of your glass, you likely will have a problem remembering which charm was yours.

There are worthwhile wine gifts:

• Simple wine decanter. If they already have one, they will appreciate a backup or for those times when serving two wines. Forget about super fancy ones that are impossible to clean and easy to break.

• Waiter’s friend hinged corkscrew. Has everything you need to open a bottle of wine and is cheap enough to be a stocking stuffer. Worst choice—winged corkscrew. Everything about a winged corkscrew is wrong.

Natalie MacLean

• Good read about wine. My suggestion: Natalie MacLean, Canada’s most popular wine expert. Her latest book, her third, is Wine Witch on Fire. I was a pre-publication reader for her and wrote this blurb: “Wine wizard wordsmith, enchanting interviewer, battle-tested survivor, fierce mother, witty, wise, easy-on-the-eyes—Natalie MacLean is the whole package. Sip a Canadian wine while you savor her memoir.” Google her for her website, online wine classes, and weekly appearances on Canadian TV shows.

• Wine chiller. Essentially an insulating shield to keep wine at the proper temperature for hours. The most popular are made of stainless steel or marble. They can be pre-chilled to be even more effective.

• Wine fridge. Sure, a big ticket item. It’s Christmas. A six-bottle cooler: $130. A 600-bottle unit: $6,000. It is the best way to store wine.

• Dinner together at a quality restaurant with a good wine list. Being with loved ones and not gimmicky wine stuff is the real point of the season.

Last round

For Christmas, I bought my wife new beads for her abacus. It is the little things that count. Wine time.

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Laura Catena interview Part Four 12-6-2023

Dr. Laura Catena, managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata, is considered the face of Argentine wine.

She is an amazing woman— magna cum laude Harvard grad with a medical degree from Stanford. She practiced medicine for 25 years while helping run the family winery with her father, Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata, who also was a professor of economics at Berkeley. Laura now is in charge of the winery, her father an advisor. Here is another excerpt from my interview with Laura.

Dr. Laura Catena, the face of Argentine wine

• What are Bodega Catena Zapata’s positions on sustainable farming, biodynamic methods, and environmental responsibility?

We call our winemaking philosophy CATENAMICS. The CATENAMICS mission: elevate Argentine wine for another 200 years.

The CATENAMICS method is to use science to preserve nature and culture. Catena means “chain” or “connection” in Italian/Latin. “Amics” from the Greek, refers to “law” or “management". CATENAMICS is our way of managing the connection between plants, soil, ecosystem and people.

When I started working in wine, people would always ask me: “Are your wines biodynamic, organic, sustainable”? I found biodynamics very interesting, especially because its advocates emphasized that it made better wine while at the same time protecting the environment. But I asked myself: should we apply in Argentina a philosophy that originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th Century? Our mountain climate, our vineyard microbes, our animals and plants, our people and our traditions are different. And that is how the concept of CATENAMICS was born, with the method of using science.

I founded the Catena Institute of Wine in 1995—a serious viticultural and winemaking research institute in Mendoza which publishes in major science journals and collaborates with academics all over the world, to preserve nature and culture (our nature and our culture—but the method can be used anywhere). About half our vineyards are organic certified.

As part of our CATENAMICS philosophy we created a Sustainability Code for Argentina in 2008 which we shared with the industry by forming a collaboration with Bodegas de Argentina. Today the Bodegas de Argentina Sustainability Code is used by hundreds of wineries in Argentina. Through this code we have found ways to collaborate with other producers on vineyard management, water preservation, education programs, bottle weight, carbon emissions. We are currently working on a carbon calculator that we plan to share with the wine industry. All our research is published and shared with the local wine community.

Last round

Neo-Prohibitionist: “Alcohol—wine, beer, spirits—are your enemy.” Jesus Christ: “Love your enemy.” That settles it for me. Wine time.

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Laura Catena interview Part Four 12-6-2023

Dr. Laura Catena, managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata, is considered the face of Argentine wine.

She is an amazing woman— magna cum laude Harvard grad with a medical degree from Stanford. She practiced medicine for 25 years while helping run the family winery with her father, Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata, who also was a professor of economics at Berkeley. Laura now is in charge of the winery, her father an advisor. Here is another excerpt from my interview with Laura.

Dr. Laura Catena, the face of Argentine wine

• What are Bodega Catena Zapata’s positions on sustainable farming, biodynamic methods, and environmental responsibility?

We call our winemaking philosophy CATENAMICS. The CATENAMICS mission: elevate Argentine wine for another 200 years.

The CATENAMICS method is to use science to preserve nature and culture. Catena means “chain” or “connection” in Italian/Latin. “Amics” from the Greek, refers to “law” or “management". CATENAMICS is our way of managing the connection between plants, soil, ecosystem and people.

When I started working in wine, people would always ask me: “Are your wines biodynamic, organic, sustainable”? I found biodynamics very interesting, especially because its advocates emphasized that it made better wine while at the same time protecting the environment. But I asked myself: should we apply in Argentina a philosophy that originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th Century? Our mountain climate, our vineyard microbes, our animals and plants, our people and our traditions are different. And that is how the concept of CATENAMICS was born, with the method of using science.

I founded the Catena Institute of Wine in 1995—a serious viticultural and winemaking research institute in Mendoza which publishes in major science journals and collaborates with academics all over the world, to preserve nature and culture (our nature and our culture—but the method can be used anywhere). About half our vineyards are organic certified.

As part of our CATENAMICS philosophy we created a Sustainability Code for Argentina in 2008 which we shared with the industry by forming a collaboration with Bodegas de Argentina. Today the Bodegas de Argentina Sustainability Code is used by hundreds of wineries in Argentina. Through this code we have found ways to collaborate with other producers on vineyard management, water preservation, education programs, bottle weight, carbon emissions. We are currently working on a carbon calculator that we plan to share with the wine industry. All our research is published and shared with the local wine community.

Last round

Neo-Prohibitionist: “Alcohol—wine, beer, spirits—are your enemy.” Jesus Christ: “Love your enemy.” That settles it for me. Wine time.

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Qvevri 11-29-2023

It seems inevitable. Whatever is “in” eventually will be “out.” Whatever is out eventually will be the next big thing. In the wine world, orange/amber wine and qvevri are examples.

Orange/amber wine is made in the simplest way. Grapes are dumped in a container and nature takes its course. In this process, the juice from white grapes is not removed from the skins, stems, and seeds, and thus the orange/amber color. This “natural” wine is the next big thing.

Qvevri at Georgian winery

Tomasz Przechlewski

Except not in the nation of Georgia at the nexus of Europe and Asia next to the Black Sea. Georgia very likely is where humans first started making wine more than 8,000 years ago. It is where the oldest wine-making site has been discovered. The Georgian language word for wine is “ghvino”, which means our word “wine” likely has its origin in Georgia.

Georgian winemaking suffered under Communism. It began a roaring comeback with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. The traditional method of making wine in Georgia involves use of qvevri—also spelled kvevri. A qvevri/kvevri is a large, egg-shaped terra-cotta vessel. It is similar to amphorae, but does not have handles. Qvevri range in size from 6 gallons to 2,600 gallons. The clay used to produce qvevri is important because it influences taste. It is similar to the choice of oak barrels in Western winemaking. It is related to the current Western winemaking trend to concrete eggs.

The inside of the qvevri is coated with beeswax to soften the clay impact. In most cases, qvevri are buried in the ground with only the circular mouth showing. The prefix qve/kve means “beneath” or “under.” The earth burial helps provide consistent temperature. A qvevri is a permanent winemaking vessels, cleaned, re-coated with beeswax and used year after year. Some actively-used qvevri are approaching 200 years old. Qvevri remnants in Georgia date back thousands of years.

In Georgia winemaking, grapes are pressed then the juice, grape skins, stalks, and pips are poured into the qvevri. The wine ferments at least six months with native yeasts. Usually malolactic fermentation is spontaneous. With white wine, the extended contact with the skins, stalks, and pips causes the wine color to be orange or amber. The method often is described as making white wine using red wine techniques.

You may have to search for Georgian qvevri wines, but it will be worth the adventure so you can be part of the next big thing that is thousands of years old.

Last round

What kind of soap does a dolphin use? An all-porpoise cleaner. Wine time.

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Laura Catena interview Part Three 11-22-2023

Dr. Laura Catena is the managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata and often called the face of Argentinian wine. A fourth-generation vintner, she also is a magna cum laude grad from Harvard and earned a medical degree from Stanford. She practiced medicine in San Francisco for 25 years while helping run the family winery.

Laura is the spokesperson for the Catena brand. The winery also produces wine under the Alamos label distributed by E&J Gallo in the U.S., and is the Catena wine you are most likely to find. Laura also has her own brand, Luca.

• Was it your idea or a collaborative idea to develop high altitude vineyards?

My father was the first person in Argentina to understand that higher altitudes held the key to making terroir driven, age-worthy, grand cru level wines. This is related to higher natural acidity at higher altitudes, more limestone in the soils and more intense sunlight which results in more polyphenols. He planted in the high part of Gualtallary (Monasterio) at almost 5,000 feet elevation a decade before it became known as perhaps the best vineyard location in Argentina. Once others realized the quality advantage of the Uco Valley, there was a move by many producers and today 80% of the wines coming from Mendoza are grown in the Uco Valley (it was the reverse, with more grapes being grown in Lujan de Cuyo and the East of Mendoza 20 years ago).

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of high altitude grape growing?

Mostly advantages: cool climate (higher natural acidity), intense sunlight (leads to thicker skins = more tannins), well drained stony, limestone soils (low yields, no rot). There is a risk of frost which can be remedied by planting on a slope, but the risk is always there.

 • Do you consider yourself first a grape farmer, or a winemaker, or a marketing spokesperson, or the leader of a large and successful business?

I consider myself a farmer who pays the bills and spreads joy by making and selling delicious wine.

• If you could have one super power, what would it be?

To understand and speak animal and plant language.

• What is the greatest challenge facing Catena and the wine world in general?

Water shortage related to climate change.

• What is the greatest joy you have in life?

Watching other people thrive, which includes my children.

Tasting notes

• Bodegas CARO ‘Caro’ Mendoza 2017: Full body, plenty of substance, concentration. Mostly malbec. Very tasty in the dark fruit arena. A Catena-Rothschild joint effort. $59-65 Link to my review

Last round

How does a flower whistle? Through its tulips. Wine time.

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Thanksgiving strategies 11-15-2023

Thanksgiving is the greatest of all the food-centered holidays. July Fourth is hot dogs and beer. Christmas is sugar highs and multitudinous distractions. New Years is about regrets in the cold, harsh light of the next morning.

But Thanksgiving has been a true, pure harvest feast since Abraham Lincoln established it in 1863. In 1941, Congress declared Thanksgiving would occur on the fourth Thursday in November. The epicurean emphasis is on quality food and family, which often means wine is part of the festivity. Some tips:

• Since typically there is a cornucopia of different foods, consider drinking two or three wines at the same time, matching wine with what’s on your fork or in your spoon. This means more than one glass per person and a mixture of red, white, rosé, sparkling wine to choose from. If it is a small group, you don’t have to finish every bottle. Thanksgiving is a four-day holiday. You can tackle the remainders after surviving your Black Friday excursion. Sip on Saturday while vowing not to eat so much next Thanksgiving.

• Sparkling wine pairs with just about everything, and is a festive way to start your fest.

• Pinot noir is the versatile red. Pairs well with turkey, holds its own with ham or lamb or fish.

• Sauvignon blanc is the versatile white. Pairs with salads, chicken, seafood dishes. Also with soups.

• It is better to pair the diner with the wine than it is to try to pair the dinner with the wine. If you and your group like a specific wine, pour that no matter what your persnickety wine snob acquaintance might think.

• Enjoy those who have survived another spin around the sun with you. Toast those who have journeyed to the next realm. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Tasting notes

• Villa Maria EarthGarden Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2021: Fresh, crisp, rich sauv blanc flavors. Extremely refreshing, thirst-quenching wine. $17-19 Link to my review

• King Estate Inscription Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2021: Bolder, edgier side of Willamette Valley pinot drinks more like a California effort. $18-22 Link to my review

• Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux Brut 2019: Fresh, elegant with tiny, long-lasting bubbles. A delight in the mouth with crispness and tasty semillon fruit (crémant is French sparkling wine made using Champagne method, but not made in Champagne). $18-22 Link to my review

• Bryn Mawr Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2019: Refined, lithe, excellent tart red fruits. Delicious, delicate—as superb pinot noir should be. $40 Link to my review

Last round

The best thing about Thanksgiving is you get to start drinking wine at 10 a.m. and no one thinks you are a hopeless wino. Especially if you help with the cooking.

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Laura Catena interview Part Two 11-8-2023

Dr. Laura Catena is managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata, one of Argentina’s leading wineries, and spokesperson for the brand. This is part two of my recent interview.

Dr. Laura Catena

• What is the greatest challenge running a large wine operation?

We run our family winery like a small winery—every parcel of vineyard gets vinified separately and we have no recipes. Each parcel is tasted during fermentation and aging and our vinification philosophy is to do little, and let the innate character of each place shine. This takes a lot of time and effort, but it is ingrained in our winery culture and thinking all day long is the Catena way. The greatest challenge is the fluctuation of the Argentine economy (current inflation is 120%). For me the key to success is to hire perfectionist creatives with focus on “perfectionist”. It is easier to teach creativity than perfectionism.

• Do you enjoy being the face of Catena?

I like/love people. That’s why I became a doctor. My job is to share our wines and our stories with wine drinkers around the world. It’s a privilege to have the job of making the family’s wines and ensuring our family winery’s success over hopefully another 200 years (I am on the 200 year plan because short term does not work for wine and viticulture). So to answer your question, I enjoy it, but am eager for the next generation to take over some of my ambassador job so that I can spend more time in the vineyard.  

 • Are you and your brother Ernesto competitors or mutually supportive? What role does your father Nicolás now play in operations?

My brother and I are partners in Catena, but we also have our separate wine projects. We help each other whenever we can. My father is still very involved, but I always have the final say. My father has been the best mentor and teacher imaginable. He whole heartedly supports me in my current managing director position.

• What are your plans for succession and the future of your operation?

The Catena winery was founded in 1902 by an Italian vintner immigrant to Argentina, Nicola Catena. I am the current family head of the business. My siblings Ernesto and Adrianna are working in wine in different branches of the family business. Our family philosophy is to not pressure the new generations to join the business. The next generation is still quite young, in school or working in other fields: human rights, chemistry, banking, psychology.

Last round

What do you call birds who stick together? Vel-crows. Wine time.

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