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

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Laura Catena interview Part One 11-1-2023

Laura Catena is considered the face of Argentine wine and a wine world leader. I recently interviewed her and will share the interview in columns in November and December.

Laura is a fourth-generation Argentine vintner. Her father, Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata, not only ran the family winery, he also was a professor of economics at Berkeley. Laura graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and earned a medical degree from Stanford. For years she was managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata and practiced medicine at the UC-San Francisco Medical Center.

Dr. Laura Catena

Her wines sell under the Catena and other labels. Catena makes Alamos, distributed by E&J Gallo in the U.S.. She has her own label, Luca.

• Do you still practice medicine in California?

I stopped working clinically at the end of 2019. Because I was doing mostly pediatric emergency the last few years, they didn’t need me back during the first pandemic year. Because children were not getting sick or having injuries. This was fortunate because my team at the winery needed me more than ever during the pandemic—our precautions at the winery were similar to a hospital’s which resulted in very few COVID cases over the first year. I volunteered with a vaccinating crew in San Francisco serving marginally housed people, but now I am doing 100% wine and it feels good to be there all the time for the Catena team. I am still a doctor to friends and family, and I have found that the doctor’s empathy can be practiced in the small moments of daily life, so I miss being a doctor less than I thought I would.  

• How did you balance your many responsibilities, and do you have any regrets?

I practiced medicine and wine for 25 years. It was not easy, but as a result my kids are very independent and high functioning. Our house was always very messy when the kids were in the house (the last one left for college a few days ago) and I have just had to live with that. I wouldn’t change anything. When my father turned 80 years old, I decided it was time to do 100% wine. It was a natural moment. I am not a regrets kind of person. I live my life trying to be a good person every day.  

Tasting notes

• Alamos Malbec Mendoza 2016: Fresh, firm, clean, delicious easy drinker with great balance. Consistently is a superb expression of malbec and a superb value. $10-13 Link to my review

Last round

Did you hear about the chickens who couldn’t stop cursing? He really had some fowl language. Wine time.

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Random wine facts and hacks 10-25-2023

Random notes on wine conundrums, weird facts, and wine hacks.

• How do you open bottle with a wax seal? Instead of foil, some winemakers now substitute wax as a wine capsule. What do you do?

The original purpose of wine capsules was to provide a protective shield to prevent rodents and insects from harming the cork. As that purpose faded into yesterday, capsules remained to promote the brand. Nowadays some wines have a wax seal for the same image reason.

What to do? Do not try to scrape off the wax, that usually results in a messy exercise in futility. The answer is to simply plunge the corkscrew through the wax and into the cork. Then extract the cork, which will dislodge the necessary amount of wax. Would it be more efficient for wineries to abandon foil and wax capsules altogether? Yes it would. And several, gratefully, have done so.

• On the subject of corkscrews, which should you use? Fortunately this is simple and inexpensive. The best corkscrew, hands down, is the double-hinged waiter’s corkscrew. You can get it for less than $10, often for free if you buy a case of wine at the right store. The worst—the winged corkscrew.

• Almost any wine you buy, especially under $50, is ready to drink when you get home and will not measurably improve with age.

• If you do put down the wine for some age, do so only if you can store it in a place with steady temperature at 72 degrees or less. It does not have to be a dedicated wine fridge, although that is optimal. Avoid light and vibrations. Never store your wine on the top of your refrigerator.

• Don’t sweat stemware. Yes, varietally-specific glass may marginally enhance enjoyment of the specific varietal, but a middle-of-the-road glass—a generous white wine glass—will do fine.

• The best wine values—South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Chile, Argentina.

• When in doubt, decant. Almost no wine will be harmed by decanting, many will improve. You can decant sparkling wine and it will not kill the fizz.

Tasting notes

• El Coto Rosado, Rioja 2021: Fruity, tasty, simple rosado (rosé) that flaunts strawberry. $10 Link to my review

• Tribute Sauvignon Blanc, California 2022: Juicy, citrusy, with enlivening rush of spiciness on the finish. $14-17 Link to my review

• Farmhouse Vineyards Cultivated, Texas High Plains 2019: Smooth, fruit-forward, decadent dark fruit delight. $35 Link to my review

Last round

If you replace your evening glass of wine with green tea, you can lose up to 87.4% of what little joy you have left in your life.

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Wine is history 10-18-2023

Every bottle of wine is a history. Usually a wine is an expression of a single year. It tells the story of that year’s climate, the people working the vineyard, the people making the wine. Plus, there is the backstory of the grapes, the vineyard, the winery, the people.

Many wineries and winemakers have compelling histories. In the Old World, it is not unusual for winemaking family sagas to stretch back hundreds of years. Vineyards they work also date back centuries. To write about wine is to write histories of the makers, the vineyards, the grapes. The wine may be delicious, the backstory even more so. Often inspiring and uplifting.

Take Champagne. Women have leadership roles in winemaking and winery management today. Something new? Not in Champagne, where women have played critical roles in the top Champagne houses for more than two centuries. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin—Veuve Clicquot—took over the winery in 1805 when her husband died. She was 27 years old. She turned the winery into a major international player. She invented the riddling technique still used by sparkling makers today.

Louise Pommery took control of her Champagne house upon her husband’s death in 1858. She turned Pommery into a sparkling powerhouse and was instrumental in making brut the world’s most popular style of Champagne.

Camille Olry-Roederer took over her house after her husband’s death in 1932. Over the next 42 years she turned the company into a bubbly superstar.

Elisabeth Law de Lauriston-Boubers married Jacques Bollinger in 1923. They vigorously promoted their Champagne house until his death in 1941. She saw the house through World War II and decades beyond. She so charmed Ian Fleming that his character James Bond would only drink Bollinger.

The Gallo brothers, Ernest and Julio, sons of Italian immigrants, founded a small winery in 1933. Today, E&J Gallo is still family owned and the world’s largest winery. It produces one-third of the wine made in the U.S. and more than 3% of all the wine made in the world.

You would be hard-pressed to name a more accomplished father and daughter duo than Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata and Dr. Laura Catena. Nicolás was a professor of economics at UC-Berkeley and ran the family winery in Argentina. Laura became an emergency room physician with degrees from Harvard and Stanford. Until recently, she practiced emergency medicine in California while heading one of the largest Argentine wine brands in the world.

Great histories. Great stories. Great wine.

Last round

A will is a dead giveaway. Wine time.

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Texas wine AVAs episode #2 10-11-2023

Texas wine facts: Texas is the fifth-largest winemaking state, behind California, Washington, New York, and Oregon. And Texas wine is No. 3 in economic impact, just behind California and New York. Both rankings according to the National Association of American Wineries.

There are eight Texas AVAs (American Viticultural Regions). Last week we examined three around Fredericksburg, this week the remaining five.

• Texas High Plains. Heart of the Texas wine grape growing, a monster AVA spanning eight million acres of the Texas Panhandle, basically from Lubbock to Brownfield. Grows 80-plus percent of Texas wine grapes, supplying wineries across Texas and beyond. Located on the Llano Estacado, one of Earth’s flattest expanses. First thought—how could this be?

Topography. The elevation is 2,800 to more than 4,000 feet. It is called the “High Plains” for a reason. Such elevations include some of the world’s premier wine regions, especially in the Americas—think Chile and Argentina. Climate is dry, but there is irrigation. Sandy loam soil drains well and vexes phylloxera. Brisk winds thwart mildew. Plunging nighttime temperatures deliver important diurnal shift. That is a textbook definition of a wine grape region.

• Escondido Valley. Far West Texas, just north of the Big Bend. Covers 50 square miles, 250 acres of vineyards. Contains some of the oldest vines in Texas, provides hot days, cold nights, sandy soil. It once supplied grapes to the huge Ste. Genevieve Winery in Fort Stockton, but that enterprise folded. Now supplies grapes to the rest of Texas.

• Mesilla Valley. West of El Paso, includes part of New Mexico. There are 40 acres of vines that benefit from the 4,300 feet altitude; most of the vines are in New Mexico.

• Texas Davis Mountains. The Davis Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountains, are rugged and deliver 5,400 foot elevations, cooler temperatures, and more precipitation. Challenges, yes. Rewards, yes. The AVA is some 270,000 acres, but less than 50 acres of vineyards. The new frontier of Texas AVAs. Look for Blue Mountain Vineyard and Chateau Wright offerings.

• Texoma. The newest Texas AVA spans 3,650 square miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth and hugs the Texas-Oklahoma border, including Lake Texoma, from which it gets its name. More than a dozen wineries are based there, with tourism and events driving a major part of the operation, similar to the wineries and tasting rooms in the Texas Hill Country AVA.

Texas wine. Forty years ago, a snicker, maybe a guffaw. No one is laughing at the Lone Star State now.

Last round

The doctor told me my DNA was backward. And I said: “AND?” Wine time.

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Texas wine AVAs episode #1 10-4-2023

Texas wine once was an amusing blip on the wine world radar. There was interesting activity around Lubbock, an ambitious project in the Big Bend, dreamers in the Hill Country, and—of course—ardent over-achievers around College Station.

But wine? In Texas? Come’on man. Seriously?

Well, Texas winemakers are the ones laughing now and skeptics are in their dark, silent corner nursing over-priced, over-oaked Napa fruit bombs.

Texas has gone from 20 wineries in the 1980s to some 450 wineries today. Texas is the fifth largest wine producer in the United States. Granted, dwarfed by California, but California dwarfs everyone. Washington, Oregon, and New York make more, but—hey—now Texas is in the conversation.

And Texas celebrates this each October—Texas Wine Month.

Grape-growing areas are defined by federal designations called American Viticultural Areas: AVAs. Each AVA has an official name and boundaries. Some stretch for Texas miles; others are tiny pockets. An AVA is an attempt is to identify unique terroirs—that amorphous French term that identifies the many elements that make a wine from a specific place different from wine from other places.

Wineries do not have to pay attention to AVAs. If they do, 85% of the wine must come from the geographic area, and the wine must be produced in the AVA. Other Texas areas are petitioning to add more AVAs. Right now, there are eight. This week we explore three around Fredericksburg:

• Texas Hill Country. Located north of San Antonio and south-southwest of Austin, it is the largest AVA in Texas and third largest in the nation. It spreads over nine million acres and 1,000 acres of vineyards. It includes two mini-AVAs: Fredericksburg and Bell Mountain. But grape growing is not the main thing here. Wineries and tasting rooms are. The Texas Hill Country AVA is the second-most visited AVA in the nation, behind only Napa.

• Bell Mountain. This is a tiny AVA within the Hill Country AVA, but it was the first in Texas. It is only five square miles and about 70 acres of vines. Its location allows for quality, lower-temperature grapes cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and pinot noir.

• Fredericksburg. Another pocket in the Texas Hill Country AVA includes some 700,000 acres, but only 60 planted in an assortment of grapes, mostly white. It surrounds the town of Fredericksburg, home to more than 100 wineries, and—to be blunt—exists primarily to add atmosphere to wineries and tasting rooms. Those wineries get their grapes elsewhere—the Texas High Plains. Which we explore next week.

Last round

If money does not grow on trees, why do banks have branches? Wine time.

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Wine geekiness 9-27-2023

It comes with the wine writer territory: people encounter me at the grocery store, in elevators, on the street and ask me about wine. “As a wine geek…” they begin their question.

Hmmm. Wine geek?

The original meaning of geek was a “highly intelligent, but introverted person.” When the term entered wine nomenclator, geek also suggested someone who championed unfamiliar grapes from obscure producers.

Well, I assert Gus Clemens on Wine is not that. Not introverted. Not focused on obscure wines.

Almost 16 years ago when a newspaper editor asked me to begin this project, the assignment was to write about wine in general for the general population and to suggest wines that everyday people could find without trouble or travel. I worked at the approach; the column began running in October, 2008.

Yes, I do occasionally challenge readers with uncommon grapes or techniques—white malbec and güner veltliner, for instance. But the wines have to be accessible at grocery or wine stores, online, or from the maker’s website. If extraordinary efforts are required—physical visit to the winery, any effort that includes passports and vaccination proofs—the wine never is recommended.

So, while I accept the “wine geek” sobriquet with a smile, I don’t consider myself one. Actually, I strive not to be one. The same applies to “connoisseur” and “oenophile.”

I do love wine and all the stories that abound with wine.

I do enjoy that my job includes appreciating wine almost every day and writing wine stories.

But I do not think of myself as a wine geek, connoisseur, or oenophile. I consider myself a writer and humorist whose subject happens to be wine. That is the job a newspaper editor challenged me to do, and one I have enjoyed ever since.

I thank each of you for being part of this adventure, even when you call me a geek.

Tasting notes

• Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2020: More tartness and assertive black fruits than previous vintage, but remains a tasty wine that will pleasure many palates. $12-18 Link to my review

• W. & J. Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Ruby Porto: Jammy plum and chocolate delight. Serious acidity balances ripe fruit sweetness. Velvety richness masks high alcohol. Engaging finesse. Intense, focused through long finish. $25 Link to my review

• Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot, Napa Valley 2019: Smooth celebration of dark fruits framed by well-done oak. Plush with tart blackcurrant notes. Savory elements and herbal traces add character and depth. $44-55 Link to my review

Last round

I used to be in a band called “The Missing Dog”… You probably saw our posters on telephone poles. Wine time.

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The religion of wine 9-20-2023

Is wine a religion? Wait—I am not suggesting wine will replace my Catholicism—but we cannot ignore religious elements associated with wine.

This is not about wine’s long, historic, intimate relationship with the world’s major religions. I am referring to approach, rituals, and messianic fervor associated with wine and wine worshipers.

A recent study examined the connection between wine consumers and wines they consume. The research revealed wineries and wines can evoke evangelical responses among their disciples. The process begins with a conversion experience with the winery and the wine.

Visits to wineries often proceed like a religious ritual. First, there is the vineyard tour with reverential attention to the vines, the soil, terroir (an all-inclusive, semi-religious term). Then the ceremonial sequence of tasting—see, swirl, smell, sip, savor. The pietistic explanation of special glasses for each varietal. The worshipful backstory about the winemakers. The homage to the hallowed vineyard. The hagiography of the grapes, the winery, the winemaking family, and everything about wine in general.

Then there is the emotional response among sippers, whether at the winery or among friends-family. They share gushing exaltations of their experience with the wine. They vow to spread the word to others, creating in some cases “cult” wines driven by fervent adoration of the flavor, the magical nature of their undiscovered, inimitable wine find. They are passionately driven to eagerly share with others and convert them into acolytes for their venerated vino.

Finally, there are spontaneous conversions. For some, it is to a specific wine. For others, it is the  Saul on the road to Damascus moment when the bright light flashes and they embrace the “wine-foodie” or “wine aficionado” transfiguration experience. They find themselves born again into a world of wine appreciation, gastronomic joy, and culinary salvation.

Such can be wine, if you are a true believer.

Tasting notes

• Noble Vines Collection 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lodi 2019: Dense, jammy, smooth, rife with ripe dark fruit. Straightforward every-day drinker. $10-15 Link to my review

• Viña Peñalolén Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley 2019: Delivers well integrated velvety tannins, dark fruits with interest-creating tang. $18-22 Link to my review

• Herzog Wine Cellars Lineage Malbec, Clarksburg Vineyard 2020: Mevushal and kosher for Passover California malbec; smooth easy drinker. $18-22 Link to my review

• Hahn Family Wines SLH Pinot Noir 2021: Tasty, easily approachable Santa Lucia Highlands pinot. Soft, forgiving, engaging. $22-25 Link to my review

• Gamble Family Vineyards Paramount Red Wine, Napa Valley 2017: Rich, opulent melange of cab franc, cab, merlot, dash of petit verdot to lavish red-black wine deliciousness on your palate. $90-100 Link to my review

Last round

What do you call a sleep-walking nun? A roamin’ Catholic. Wine time.

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Links worth exploring

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Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews.

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How to pair wine and cheese 9-13-2023

You know wine and cheese were made for each other. You also know not all wine pairs with all cheese. What is a person to do?

Relax. Most wine you purchase at your store will pair with most cheese you purchase at your store. Perfect pairing? Maybe not. But an abomination unto the Lord? No.

Remember: it is better to pair wine with the diner than wine with the dinner. If you like cheese X and wine Y, it is likely to be a good pairing no matter what “experts” opine. But, if you want guidance, here goes:

• Pick one star, either the wine or the cheese. In the wine-food-cheese pairing arena, when you have two or more elements competing for attention you have a food fight, not a congenial, delicious experience.

• If your are into cheese, go with subtle whites or lighter-bodied reds.

• If you are into wines, go with mild-to-medium cheeses that will not strive to overpower your wine.

• Sparkling wines and light, acidic wines pair with almost everything. Bubbly always lifts the mood.

• What grows together goes together. Italian wine—Italian cheese. Spanish wine—Spanish cheese. You get the idea. This also is true for food, BTW.

• Match intensity of the wine with intensity of the cheese. Brie, soft goat cheese, emmental, cream havarti will not hang well with hearty reds. Long-aged cheddars, stinky cheese, gorgonzola, stilton will maul your delicate Provence rosé.

• Oaked, low acid, high alcohol, tannic wines are hard to pair. Sip your bombastic Napa cab by itself, maybe with some neutral crackers. Or your grilled ribeye. Eschew cheese.

Tasting notes

• Fresh Vine Sauvignon Blanc, California 2021: Clean, fresh, strong emphasis on low calorie, low sugar, low carb. Very light on the palate; succeeds in delivering credible sauv blanc experience. $15-18 Link to my review

• Château Mourgues du Grès Galets Dorés Costières de Nîmes 2022: Fresh, citrus-flavorful, well-made biodynamic wine from southern Rhône. Opulent, luscious. $16-18 Link to my review

• Château La Rame, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont 2021: Lilting caresses on the palate. Delicate, flutteringly bashful fruit. Clean, refreshing with sharply defined fruits is this effort’s calling card. $21-29 Link to my review

• Rutherford Hill Rosé of Merlot, Napa Valley Appellation 2021: Light, crisp, flavorful expression of free run merlot. If you are a merlot fan—you should be—this is delightful. $22 Link to my review

• Lake Sonoma Winery Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2020: Vivid-fruit pour delivers some tartness without overbearing, confected fruit you can encounter with lower-shelf pinots. $26-30 Link to my review

Last round

After 24 hours, three scientists got bored watching the Earth spin. So they called it a day. Wine time.

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Links worth exploring

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As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.

Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews.

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Wine ingredient labels 9-6-2023

Ingredients and allergy information likely are coming to a wine label near you. Much already is mandated in Europe. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is taking comments to fine-tune U.S. mandates.

The process takes time. When decisions are made winemakers have two-plus years to get approvals and print labels. So 2026 is the earliest you will see mandated ingredient labels on U.S. wines.

Wine ingredients are not a simple issue. It is likely only ingredients in the finished product will be listed, not those that disappear during the winemaking process. Makes sense, but not certain. Will percentages of individual grape varieties be required? Will “grape juice concentrate” cover ingredients like Mega Purple? For most wine, water—85% or more—will be listed. All to be determined.

Labeling advocates struggle with vagaries of wine. Exact descriptions vary with vintage. Even from a specific vintage, wine is a living product that changes over time. It is hard to determine things like alcohol by volume (ABV) in advance for labels to be printed. One attorney involved in the process quipped: “Wine is not Cheetos.” Expect a wave of lawsuits when rules are asserted.

There is momentum to allow winemakers to use QR codes to publish ingredients. QR codes would be more timely and accurate. It also would free winemakers from having to change their labels each year, an important consideration for smaller winemakers.

The QR code solution also is attractive because wine is an international trade product. It would allow winemakers to satisfy the rules of different countries–or, horror of horrors—individual U.S. states. It is easier and faster to tweak a website than to print a gallimaufry of labels that depend on where the wine was made, sold, or shipped to.

Wine ingredient labels are coming. This will be a good thing. But the devil will be in the details.

Tasting notes

• Attems Pinot Grigio Ramato, Friuli DOC 2021 is interesting play as a rosé of pinot grigio. Lively and full of flavors. $15-20 Link to my review

• San Felice Il Grigio da San Felice Chianti Classico Reserva DOCG 2019 is well-done mass distribution Chianti. $15-25 Link to my review

• Lapostolle Cuvée Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is fulsome with brooding, dark fruits and ripe flavors. $22-25 Link to my review

• Chehalem Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains, Willamette Valley 2021 is smooth, elegant, somewhat bashful red fruits, easy-going tannin and proper acidity. $25-32 Link to my review

Last round: What is the leading cause of dry skin? Towels. Wine time.

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Since you subscribe to my newsletter, it follows you enjoy wine and humor and are an adventurous, inquisitive person. Each morning, The Sample sends you one article from a random blog or newsletter that matches your interests. When you find one you like, you can subscribe to the writer with one click. To give it a try Link to The Sample

Links worth exploring

Diary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.

As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.

Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews.

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Labor Day 8-30-2023

Next Monday brings us to the annual bittersweet pivot from the adventures and tribulations of summer to the prayed-for succor of autumn. Labor Day.

For many of us this year, September temperatures dipping into the 80s and low 90s will be a welcome relief. Soon, hopefully, the days of triple digits and record breaking will be history. Fading, too, however will be the days of beaches, baseball, and backyard barbecues. Cometh the domains of football, falling leaves, and harvest feasts.

School teachers welcome children back. Grandparents wave poignant goodbyes. Vacation adventures are relegated to memory and photos in cellphones and scrapbooks. Labor Day is the Janus-faced holiday that reminds us for everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.

In the northern hemisphere, the gathering of grapes is underway. There are sighs of relief for many. The gauntlet of late frosts and hail, of drought and sun-scorched days, of pests and careful calibrations about which day, which hour to pick has been run. Now magic shifts to stainless steel and wooden vessels and labyrinthine decisions and processes. If all goes well, the fruit of the vine and work of human hands will produce bottled poetry. These are the seasons the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in them.

Tasting notes

• Cellier des Dauphins Côtes du Rhône Grenache-Syrah Rosé 2021: Perfect summertime rosé with fresh, fruity flavors, zippy acidity. $10-15 Link to my review

• Zardetto Z Prosecco Brut NV: Inviting, fruity, classic, clean, crisp. $12-17 Link to my review

• Valdo Numero 10 Brut Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG 2019: Sophisticated, nuanced. Made using the traditional method instead of the more common tank method. $14 Link to my review

• Gran Castillo Rocío Brut Cava NV: Fresh, fruity, some complexity. There always is value in Spanish cava. $14-18 Link to my review

• Union Wine Co. Kings Ridge Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2021: Straightforward, fruity, pleasing. Delightfully smooth, supple. $15-17 Link to my review

• Gioacchino Garofoli Kòmaros Rosato Marche IGT 2022: Fun, light, fruity delight. Marvelous, unctuous mouthfeel. $16-20 Link to my review

• Scout & Cellar Scout Wild Sauvignon Blanc: Fits classic SB “salad in a glass” profile. Solid, easy drinker, fresh, tasty. $18 Link to my review

• Biltmore Reserve Rosé North Carolina 2021: Mellow easy drinker. Delivers palate-pleasing touch of sweetness. All the fruit you want in a rosé. $18-25 Link to my review

• Fleurs de Prairie Languedoc Rosé 2022: Lilting, light, demure effort led by grenache noir and syrah. Bright, crisp acidity are major features. $19 Link to my review

• The Paring Sauvignon Blanc 2019: Serious iteration of sauv blanc with medium-plus body and robust fruit and tanginess. $20-25 Link to my review

Last round: Why did Humpty Dumpty have a great fall? To compensate for this miserably hot summer. Wine time.