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

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Cheap wine troubles 8-23-2023

I hate to break it to you, but the days of good cheap wine are numbered. Very drinkable wine under $10 was a holy grail of wine drinkers and wine writers for years. Alas, those days are fading in the rearview mirror of our lives.

Ten dollars retail no longer covers cost of production—of growing, of bottles, of corks or screwtops or even bags in a cardboard box. Vineyard workers deserve a living wage. Transportation and storage costs—up. Cost of bricks and mortar stores or of shipping and handling for online buyers—up. Taxes—every government entity wants to suck on the alcohol teat. The greed and inefficiency of the three-tier system.

The days of good cheap wine are fading away and we have to adjust.

Mother nature’s climate change agenda is not helping. The Riverland, a vast region of South Australia alongside the Murray River, once was an agricultural powerhouse. Wine, citrus fruits, stone fruits, almonds. The region once produced almost one-third of Australia’s wine crush—19 Crimes is the wine you most likely recognize from there. Today it is imploding thanks to drought and floods. Nowadays those are not mutually exclusive. Aussie grape growers and wineries are simply walking away, no longer able to keep the lights on or the the Riverland wine presses pressing.

The new sweet spot is wine in the $15-25 range. There is margin in that to give all the hogs of wine production a place at the trough. The code word is “premiumization.”

Lower-end grape growers and wine makers worldwide are not in a happy place. The table plonk that sustained their grandparent’s operation now is lost to time out of memory. Mommy and daddy’s white-knuckle operation is doomed. It is time to upgrade vineyards. Governments long fattened on wine success should help in this. Time to improve product and expand to wine tourism and other income streams. Or die.

The days of rushing into a convenience store and scoring a couple of $9.99 bottles of drinkable wine for your haphazardly organized soirée are going, going, gone. Life has evolved for billions of years. Why should now be any different?

Tasting notes

• Daou Vineyards Soul of a Lion Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles Adelaida District 2020 continues the winery’s record of excellence. It delivers conclusive evidence Paso Robles produces wine to compete with the world. $150 Link to my review

Last round: Kid to teacher: “You only teach useless crap.” Teacher to kid: “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Wine time.

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Wine and health debate continues 8-16-2023

Is a glass or two of wine good for you or bad for you? Experts: It is good for you, you will live longer. Experts: It is bad for you, it will shorten your life.

Well, thanks for clearing that up. In the 1990s, experts asserted red wine consumption with its healthy resveratrol component helps prevent cardiovascular disease. Red wine was cited as a reason for good health and longer life expectancy in France.

Such assertions glossed over that, in general, the French consumed less fast food and meat, consumed less food at meals, and enjoyed a better health care system. But, hey, red wine was the key, along with the Mediterranean diet of less meat and more fresh fruits and vegetables. Viva La France.

Well, this is science, so that wisdom would be challenged. And so it was. This year the New York Times reported researchers came to a different conclusion: even a little alcohol can harm your health. The safest choice is not to drink any alcohol at all.

There is no argument that excessive alcohol consumption is a bad thing. Bad for health. Often bad for relationships. Certainly not good if you drive somewhere to consume. But what about moderate consumption—a glass or two as part of your family meal at home?

There is a problem. The “no alcohol” folks isolate alcohol as a single variable. Life does not work that way. Other studies assert people who joyously interact with people live longer, and even if they do not live longer, they enjoy more enriching, satisfying lives. Most wine is consumed with others, integrated into a meal and interaction with others. If such activity trims a few days, weeks, or even months off my life, then I gladly take that deal.

In 2018, the British medical journal The Lancet published a major study on links between alcohol consumption and cancer, heart disease, and other illness. It was a major work of scholarship combining hundreds of studies. Unfortunately, it only glancingly addressed effects of moderate drinking. Increased incidents of cancer were small. For heart disease, moderate drinking decreased risk. The studies also divorced pleasure in life from longevity. Old joke: “if you cut out drinking you may not live longer, but it will seem longer.”

Bottom line: drinking wine may not help you live longer, but drinking wine in moderation is not ingesting poison either. And certainly can make life more pleasant. Salude!

Last round: What do you call a retired cowboy? De-ranged. Wine time.

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Big wine 8-9-2023

Most wine is produced by a small number of large wineries. At the same time, most wineries are small producers.

In February 2023, Wine Business Monthly reported there were 11,601 wineries in the U.S. Eighty-three percent of those wineries produced 5000 cases of wine or less; 49% produced 1000 cases or less.

Most U.S. wine is produced by one-half of one percent of our total number of wineries. Gallo is the behemoth with production of some 100 million cases a year—more than three percent of worldwide wine output, twice as much as its nearest competitors. Gallo produces more than the combined production of the next four big U.S. wineries—The Wine Group, Trinchero Family Estates, Delicato Family Wines, and Constellation Brands.

Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao

The situation is not exactly the same in the other major wine producing countries, but similar. In Europe and elsewhere, there is winemaking where hundreds, even thousands, of grape farmers band together in cooperatives. The co-ops may produce wine for a grower’s label or combine production of many growers under co-op labels or both produce some wine for the grower’s label, then combine leftover grapes into co-op wines.

The reason for this is simple. Many individuals simply do not have enough production to afford all that goes into winemaking—from equipment to skilled labor to marketing and sales.

Large European makers—the big Champagne houses, for example—have equipment and supporting resources, but do not grow enough grapes on their own to meet demands. They buy grapes from growers.

Around the world wine also is produced by négociants. A négociant or négoce is a wine merchant who purchases grapes, juice, or finished wines and then vinifies, bottles, or labels under their own names. Joseph Carr Josh Cellars is a popular U.S. wine that is a négociant operation.

The idyllic wine picture is a sixth-generation family toiling in their vineyard, hand-sorting grapes, and lovingly shepherding juice through fermentation, aging, and bottling. That is true for some wine, but by no means all.

Tasting notes

• Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Chardonnay 2020 is a showy, crowd-pleasing commercial wine you easily can find thanks to abundant production and distribution. $11-15 Link to my review

• Cantine Ermes Epicentro Nero d’Avola Riserva, Sicilia DOC 2016 is dense, fruity to jammy expression of Sicily’s signature red grape. Made by a cooperative with 2,373 members. $15-20 Link to my review

Last round: This summer is so hot, the local barbecue joint no longer has to burn wood to slow cook its brisket. Wine time.

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Rise of rosé 8-2-2023

As this gruesome summer of heat domes burns on, incidents of rosé slurping likely have increased in your wine world. Rosé has long been considered a quintessential bellwether of hot weather, so global warming is a boost to the rise of rosé.

Rosé relishing was ascendant even before this sad summer of sizzle. While rosé is wonderful well chilled as thermometers are challenged, rosé also deserves respect as a pleasurable pour any time of the year.

Rosé Wines World Tracking tracks rosé trends since 2002. During that time, rosé wine production exploded. Between 2011 and 2020, production surged by 132 million gallons to some 528 million gallons total—3.6 billion standard bottles. One in ten bottles of wine produced in the world now is rosé. Almost one in three bottles of wine consumed in France now is rosé.

Image by Samantha

The rampant rosé surge is led by dry iterations. Consumption of sweet rosé—blush wines, white zinfandel—has declined. So the rosé rise is fueled by serious wines. Those are wines with great food pairing versatility that also can be enjoyed sipped on their own or as an aperitif. They can please white wine lovers and red wine lovers alike.

Certainly wineries embrace this trend. Rosé is relatively quick and easy to make—no time spent in expensive barrels, out the winery door and onto seller shelves in months instead of years. Rosé often goes into lighter bottles with twist-caps, which saves money and is more environmentally friendly. No business—and wineries are businesses—frowns upon lower production costs and faster returns on investment.

Consumers enjoy that even higher end rosé is comfortably priced.

Rosé wine is not the “next big thing.” It is today’s big thing. Pink’s time has come.

Tasting notes

• Game Box Wine Wondercade Edition Rosé Wine 2022 is delightfully refreshing, delivers tasty red fruits in an entertaining box. $22 for three-liter box ($5.50 a bottle) Link to my review

• Masciarelli Colline Teatine Rosato IGT 2022 is very easy going, delicate, let’s not get too serious, warm weather sipper. $11-14 Link to my review

• Calcu Gran Reserva Rosé Malbec 2022 is clean, refreshing, with delicious red fruits, particularly strawberry. Nice blend of mostly malbec abetted by petit verdot. $14-18 Link to my review

• Valdo Floral Rosé Brut NV is a special edition wine celebrating flowers and nature. Unites red grapes from Sicily—nerello mascalese—with classic glera grapes of prosecco in Veneto. $18-20 Link to my review

Last round: Why do mermaids wear sea shells? B shells are to small and D shells are to big. Wine time.

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Old vines celebrated 7-26-2023

“Old vines”—marketing hype or a real and important thing? For the creators of the Old Vine Registry (OVR), old vines are a real and important element of the wine world.

Start with definition. OVR defines old vines as vines/vineyards at least 35 years old. For many, 35 doesn’t even seem old, but there is logic behind the designation.

Old vine zinfandel (Photo by Randy Caparoso)

Wine vines evolve. Vines typically do not produce useable fruit until their third birthday. Then they enter a period of about 30 years where fruit improves and production is generous. For a grower fixated on yield-per-acre, this is the sweet spot. Once production declines, time to rip out old and plant new.

That approach overlooks advantages older vines bring to the sorting table. Older vines may deliver less fruit, but fruit with more intensity and character. Quality rather than quantity. Old vines have much deeper root systems—some up to 30 feet, although 15 feet is more common. Young vines likely have roots less than three feet deep. Deep rooted vines cope better with drought, heatwaves, certain diseases. The growing challenge in vineyards today—drought, heatwaves, certain diseases.

In the U.S., you most likely encounter old vines with California zinfandels. Wineries survived Prohibition by making sacramental wines and various clever, and legal, home-made wine packages using zinfandel.

The OVR currently lists 229 U.S. vineyards containing old vine zinfandels. Eschen Rinaldi was planted in 1865, Original Grandpere in 1869. The OVR website provides links to find wines and vineyards. Eschen Rinaldi grapes, for instance, make their way into Turley Wine Cellars Zinfandel.

There are vineyards and vines 600 years old in Germany, 400 years old in Georgia and Slovenia, and 350 years old in Italy. In the Americas, Chile has several vineyards more than 200 years old.

The OVR website began in 2010 as a spreadsheet on JancisRobinson.com, but now is a growing, stand alone, crowd-sourced, non-profit enterprise. Longtime wine writer and digital expert Alder Yarrow took up the challenge in 2022. He notes: “It’s important to stress that this site that we’re launching is what we call an MVP—Minimum Viable Product. It’s our first shot at it and we think it works rather well but there's plenty more that we know we’d like to add and change…”

Old vines consistently produce some of the highest quality wines. OVR is worth a visit.

Old Vine Registry website

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America’s first AVA 7-19-2023

American Viticultural Areas attempt to tie wines to places. Ideally, vineyards in a specific AVA share similarities in soil, climate, geology, and elevation. Those various things, along with human interaction, comprise what winemakers call “terroir.”

By definition, an AVA is a wine grape-growing region that provides an official appellation designation for the mutual benefit of wineries and consumers. Winemakers want consumers to know about their unique geographic pedigree in the belief wines from a specific area possess distinctive characteristics. Consumers seek wines from a particular AVA for the same reason.

If a wine label claims the contents come from an AVA, at least 85% of the grapes used to make the wine must have been grown in the AVA. In addition, the wine must be fully finished in the state where the AVA is located.

Stone Hill Winery, Missouri  by Picasa 2.0

Boundaries of AVAs and rules governing them are set by the Tax and Trade Bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury. Prior to 2003, the rules were set by the Treasury’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Prior to 1980, before the AVA system, appellations were designated by state or county boundaries. All those appellations were grandfathered, which is why you see some wines labeled “New York State” or “Sonoma County.”

The first designated AVA may surprise you: Augusta, Missouri. Wine vines were first planted in Missouri in the 1830s by German immigrants near the town of Hermann on the banks of the Missouri River, 50 miles west of St. Louis. Rocky soils were unsuitable for many crops, but such soils work fine for wine vines. By the 1850s, the area had more than 60 wineries and produced more than 10,000 gallons of wine a year. The area was known as the “New Rhineland.”

Sadly, the insanity of Prohibition virtually destroyed Missouri wine grape growing. The government tried to make up for its blunders when the AVA system was created. Citing significant cultural history and distinct terroir—ancient glacial soils—the Augusta AVA beat out Napa for the title of America’s first AVA.

Tasting notes:

• Scout & Cellar Scout Wild Sauvignon Blanc: Fits classic sauvignon blanc “salad in a glass” profile. Solid easy drinker, fresh, smooth, tasty. $18-19 Link to my review

• Stoller Family Estate Chardonnay, Dundee Hills 2021: Vibrant with crisp acidity, vivid fruit and aromas. Fermentation and aging primarily in stainless steel preserves aroma, acidity, and pure chardonnay citrusy flavors. $18-25 Link to my review

Last round: Policeman: “Do you know why I pulled you over?” Me: “Look, if you have already forgotten, I am not about to remind you, officer.” Wine time.

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Beat the heat with wine 7-12-2023

If you live in the southern part of the USA, summer 2023 has been a horror. Record-breaking high temperatures, the sort of records no sane person wants to brag about.

There is a wine solution, especially if you want to have an outdoor family event around pool, patio, porch, picnic, dock, backyard. Or inside with the AC cranked up, for that matter.

TorQue Astur photo

Sangria punch. Chilled, low-alcohol sangria is wonderful hot summer wine play.

You can make sangria with almost any wine. Cheaper works since the wine is just part of an ensemble cast, but avoid total plonk. Spend low two digits. Avoid wines labeled “sangria.” This is usually inferior wine with artificial flavorings. You are much better served using real ingredients. Recipe below is a suggestion. Making it your own is encouraged.

Multiply ingredients to suite your party’s size. Figure four people per 750 ml bottle of wine. Estimate on high side; even non-wine drinkers will enjoy this, and it is inexpensive enough you will not lament if you throw some away. It also can be put in the refrigerator and enjoyed the next day.

• 750 ml of wine (or more, depending on the throng—same with all the ingredients that follow)

• 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 lime, 1 red apple. Cut into thin wedges. Do not peel or squeeze to make juice

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 1 cup pulpy orange juice

• 1 cup lemonade

• 1 can (20 oz) of diced pineapple (include the juice)

• 3 shots triple sec or Grand Marnier

• 1 cup raspberries or strawberries (fresh, thawed, or frozen)

• 4 cups chilled ginger ale

Pour some ingredients into pitcher: Wine, lemon, orange, lime, apple slices, pineapple, sugar, orange juice, lemonade, triple sec/Grand Marnier. Chill overnight in your fridge—this is important, best sangrias marinate at least 12 hours.

Add ginger ale, whole berries before serving. Serve with ladle so people can get some fruit to eat. Serve straight or over ice.

If you are adverse to the work and prep of a quality sangria punch, you can always go with wine out of the bottle. Put the bottle in you refrigerator, that will lower the temperature to the low 40s, usually too cool for best appreciation, but in summer toss out some rules.

White wines are the best suited for this, but light reds can work. To balance everything out, drink a glass of chilled water with each glass of wine.

Last round: You know it is a hot summer when your electric bill is more than your house payment. Wine time.

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John Steinbeck, riffing from Shakespeare’s Richard III, wrote: “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun…”

With respect to both august authors, now is the “summer of our excruciation” when—at least in my Texas—triple-digit, record-high temperatures produced by the “glorious summer by this sun” heat dome are making William Carrier, the inventor of modern air conditioning, a saint to be venerated regardless of your religious inclinations.

Does wine have a place in this? Of course it does.

Think pink. Think light. Think dry. Think chilled. Think ice cubes. Think cans. Think bag-in-a-box. In fact, think out of the box of your usual wine routine.

Rosé has long been a summer cliché. While rosé is wonderful any time of the year, if there ever was a summer to buy into the rosé cliché, this is it. Well chilled—if you are sipping outdoors, even put an ice cube in your glass or plastic cup—rosé is perfect way to beat heat. Rosés typically have lower alcohol—even more so with that ice cube diluting and chilling—so you don’t have the burn of higher alcohol big reds, but you still have some of the character of red wine.

Chilling tip: if you recoil from ice cubes, use frozen grapes.

Go dry rosé. Sweeter rosés—sometimes called “blush”—are too sweet for the heat. Also, when sipping in the sun, make sure some sipping is water. Alcohol dehydrates—a reason to shun high alcohol—so match wine glasses with water glasses.

If you must go red, go with lighter reds. Lambrusco is the lightest red wine commonly available, and has the bonus of being slightly bubbly. Gamay, often better known as gamay beaujolais, works chilled in summer and is even better in summer than it is as a gotta-have-a-gimmick wine at Thanksgiving.

Pinot noir, especially etherial iterations, is lighter alcohol and higher acidity, all nice when chilled for summer elegance. Cinsault—pronounced “san-soh”—typically has aromas some describe as “hotdog” and certainly it has savory elements, so you can see where this is going on your summer outdoor meal deal.

Light, bright, high acidity, lower alcohol white wines are no-brainers. You can easily get them in cans—great for chilling in an ice chest—and cans certainly are safe where broken glass will be a summer bummer.

Finally, a suggestion not often made in serious wine writing—give Gallo’s Barefoot Wine a try. Really.

Last round: This summer has been so hot cows are producing evaporated milk. Another reason to sip chilled wine.

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Wine descriptions often refer to “texture.” What the heck does that mean? There is a texture difference between silk and sandpaper. There is a texture difference between a crisp apple and creamy mashed potatoes. Wine is a liquid. Liquid is liquid texture, right?

Well, no. Not with wine. Red wines have texture, usually tied to tannins. Pinot noir texture often is “silky.” Sangiovese often is “grippy.” Zinfandel often is “oily.”

PHOTO CREDIT: KAILUCE96

White wines seldom have significant tannins, so other qualities influence texture. With whites, weight on the palate, acidity, and mouthfeel matter. Descriptors often include creamy (malolactic fermentation), sharp (no malolactic), unctuous (depends on the grape).

Sauvignon blanc typically has a lower pH—greater acidity—so it feels prickly, punchy, zesty, light. Chardonnay typically has a higher pH—lesser acidity, especially after malolactic fermentation and time in oak—so it has a rounder, thicker, more subtle texture.

Wines with higher alcohol have a heavier, more viscous, fuller texture whether they are red or white. Often wines, especially whites with floral notes and low alcohol, have less texture, or their texture is airy, nuanced. Red wines with assertive tannins, odors, and alcohol have more brutal, earthy, pay-attention-to-me texture.

Winemaking influences texture. Aging on the lees—dead yeast cells created during fermentation—imparts creamy texture. Stirring the lees—bâtonnage—creates a richer texture. Malolactic fermentation—withheld, partial, or complete—creates texture. The more malo, the creamier the texture. Less malo, less creaminess.

Barrel choice influences texture. The type of oak, the age of the barrels matter. New oak imparts more oak flavors. Previously-used barrels impart less oak. Newer oak imparts an oily texture that glides across the palate, especially when combined with malolactic fermentation. Meanwhile, no-oak and no or limited malo results in sharp texture. In the case of no-oak New Zealand sauvignon blanc, texture can be described as a razor blade on the tongue. Trust me, that is considered a good thing, especially paired with food.

Such is the texture of wine.

Tasting notes

• Clean Slate Riesling, Mosel, Germany 2020: Classic Mosel riesling at astonishing price. Off-dry with citrus notes, very good balancing acidity. Fruit-forward, smooth, crisp, fun, tasty easy drinker. $11-13 Link to my review

• Acrobat Rosé Wine, Oregon 2021: Crisp, clean, nice strawberry fruity pure Oregon pinot noir play. Balanced, tart, fruity-sweet (not sugar sweet). $14-15 Link to my review

• Chalk Hill Estate Red, Chalk Hill Appellation 2018: Built to be widely accepted premium California cab-led blend. Fully succeeds. Rich, tasty red fruits. $53-57 Link to my review

Last round: What do you get when dinosaurs collide? Tyrannosaurus wrecks. Wine time.

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Back to basics 6-21-2023

Arcane knowledge is the bane of wine writers. While we fulminate over nuance differences between bâtonnage and pump-over, readers roll their eyes over esoteric words with obscure, oddly accented letters.

Reboot. Back to basics: Wine 101.

• Wine is an alcoholic beverage. While wine can be made from any fruit, most wine is made from “wine grapes.” Wine grapes are different from table grapes. Wine grapes are sweeter, contain seeds, and have thicker skins than table gapes.

• There are thousands of wine grape varieties. Most trace lineage to the species vitis vinifera. Each vine type is a variety. When wine is made using a particular variety, it is called varietal wine.

Photo by Tobias Andersson Åkerblom

Many wines are blends of varieties, with each variety contributing characteristics. Cabernet sauvignon is softened and gains depth and complexity when blended with merlot, for instance. In many cases, varieties are fermented separately, then skilled palates determine what percentage of each achieves the optimal wine.

On the other hand, field blends are a mix of varieties that grow together and are vinified together. You get what you planted, not what wine geeks determine with beakers and daedal formulations.

• Grapevines are woody perennials that produce an annual crop. Various factors—climate, soil, human interaction—affect how a wine tastes. The wine term for this myriad of influences is “terroir”—which is French for land, but in the context of wine, means every influence involved.

• Vintage refers to harvest year. Non-vintage (NV) refers to wines that are a blend of several vintages. Champagne and many sparkling wines and sherries typically are NV. This allows winemakers to achieve consistency. In exceptional years, sparkling wine makers produce vintage efforts.

• There are four basic types of wine. Sparkling wine retains CO2, making it bubbly. Still wine does not retain CO2. Fortified wines include added distilled wine spirits; typically to increase alcohol content and stop fermentation to produce a sweeter wine. Aromatized wines include non-grape additives to influence smell; vermouth is the best known.

You don’t need to know bewildering words and obscure techniques to enjoy wine. Sip it. If it pleases you, it is good wine for you, no matter fulminations of wine wordsmiths.

Tasting notes

• Domaine Bousquet Sparkling Brut Charmat Organic Rosé, Tupungato, Mendoza NV: Lively, fruit-forward charmat process sparkling. Superb value, wide distribution. $13 Link to my review

• C. L. Butaud Pa Pa Frenchy Red Wine, Texas, 2021: Grenache-based Texas wine. Simple, easy drinker. $18-22

Last round: I heard that Argentina is starting to get a little colder. In fact, it’s bordering on Chile. Wine time.

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