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

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Wine grapes 11,000 years old 4-5-2023

It is long established that grapevines and wine date back thousands of years. Until recently, the accepted date was 8,000 years ago. New research has pushed that back to 11,000 years.

The previously accepted narrative is the first domesticated wine grapevines emerged in Georgia (the country located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia). A large study involving 89 researchers and 23 different institutions recently published in the respected journal Science significantly alters the chronology.

Instead of Georgia 8,000 years ago, the study asserts there were two contemporaneous domestication events 11,000 years ago. One occurred in the Levant—modern day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. The other occurred in the Caucasus, which includes Georgia.

Domesticated vines from the Levant made their way westward with human populations. The vitis vinifera varieties that are the foundation of most wine we drink today happened through a series of accidental cross-breeding with wild vines. Human domestication in the Levant also gave us wheat, barley, flax, and lentils.

The domesticated vines from the Caucasus gave rise to different varieties now grown in Georgia and Armenia. Human domestication of both varieties gives both groups many shared features even if they are different species.

In both cases, the domestication of grapes parallels the earliest domestication of cereals and the rise of protocivilizations. While there is scant archeological evidence of winemaking, there is tangental evidence. In the Near East, domestication favored sweeter grapes for eating. In Europe, domestication tilted to making smaller, less sweet grapes with thicker skins—not so good for eating, ideal for winemaking.

Researchers acknowledge more work has to be done. This is science, more work always has to be done. But it appears winemaking—at least the domestication of grapevines—likely is as old as agriculture and older than civilization.

When you sip wine tonight, ponder that you are sharing a libation with ancestors stretching back to time out of memory.

Tasting notes:

• Alain Jaume Bellissime Rosé 2021: clean, pure Rhône rosé from Chateauneuf du Pape area using organic practices. $12-16 Link to my review

• Kono Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2021: crisp, refreshing, vibrant easy-sipping winner. $14-15 Link to my review

• Vina Ventisquero Grey Glacier Las Terrazas Vineyard Single Block Pinot Noir, Leyda Valley, Chile 2017: light-medium palate pleaser; fruit forward, compelling, superb value. $20-22 Link to my review

• Lake Sonoma Winery Malbec Lazy Dog Vineyard, Sonoma Valley 2019: spot-on California malbec; classic malbec qualities in fruit, tannins, and overall profile. $40-45 Link to my review

Last round: What is a cow without a map? Udderly lost. Wine time.

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What is your vinotype? 3-29-2023

What type of wine do you like? If you are unsure, there are many online tests to point you in the right direction. The most popular determines your “vinotype.”

Master of Wine Tim Hanni developed the test. He found personality traits and food preferences determine how different wines taste to different people.

Hanni proposes wine preferences are determined by genetic physiology—the number of taste buds on your tongue being the most important—your memories, your environment, and your learning. As you add memories, learn more, and change environments, your preferences can change. You also can be on the border of two categories.

Hanni proposes four broad vinotypes:

• Sweet: People in this category are picky about wine and most other things in their lives. They want something sweet, light, and not too strong. 70% are women. They also typically love soda and excess salt.

• Hypersensitive: These drinkers are similar to the picky, sweet category, but are slightly more open minded about exploring new wines as long as they are clean and simple. People in this category are likely to complain about TV volume and thermostat temperature. They likely cut tags out of clothes and have a hard time finding the right sheets and pillow cases.

• Sensitive: Drinkers in this category fall in the middle of the wine-drinking spectrum. They are flexible and adventurous. They tend to be free-spirited and less rigid in everyday life. They find something to like in almost any wine. They probably were an easy birth for their mother. They tend to be the moderator/peacemaker in business and family situations, but may struggle with big decisions.

• Tolerant: People in this category demand intensity. They go for big, bold flavors—rich, very intensely flavored whites and full-bodied reds—and can’t understand why other people enjoy “wimpy” wines. They tend to be decisive, linear thinkers. They enjoy strong, black coffee and cheese. They demand to set volume and the thermostat controls.

If you Google “Tim Hanni” or “vinotype” you will find many online tests to suggest your type. It will be fun.

Tasting notes

• Funckenhausen Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2020: concentrated dark fruits. Well-made, competent cab at good price, rather than a memorable pour. $15-16—1 liter bottle (this would be about $11-12 if 750 ml bottle). Link to my review

• Renwood Ranch Estate Zinfandel, Amador County 2019: broad, plush, avoids massive alcohol and fruitiness of some big California zins. Flirts with elegance and decorum. $24-27 Link to my review

Last round: I named my iPod “The Titanic.” When I turn it on, it reports: “The Titanic is syncing.” Wine time.

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Wine questions answered #2 3-22-2023

Answers to your pressing wine wine questions.

• Port wine can still be made by human feet stomping grapes. Are feet sanitized for this?

Feet are sprayed with sanitizing solutions, then rinsed off before the stomping begins. That is good practice, but because of alcohol content, human pathogens do not survive in wine even if there is no sanitizing. There also are ceremonial foot stompings around harvest, but that is for show and the juice rarely goes into actual production. BTW, modern wine crushers only imitate the pressure of a human foot. Winemakers assert the human foot remains the perfect shape and firmness to crush grapes and break the skin while not crushing the seeds. The ideal? A 120-pound woman with large feet.

• Sometimes an older bottle of wine has sediment. Will it harm me?

It would be odd if an older bottle of wine did not have sediment. Sediment is natural and will not harm you, although it may taste gritty and be unpleasant. When grapes are crushed, flecks of skins, stems, and seeds remain in the juice. After fermentation, yeast cells, tartrates, and polymers remain. Many wines are filtered, but many winemakers think that practice mutes flavors. Some particulate matter remains no matter what.

As wine ages, the particulates fall to the bottom of the bottle. Also, during aging, phenolic compounds such as tannins bond together to create additional sediment. Wine pigments are among those phenolic compounds, which is why a wine’s color fades with age.

Far from indicating a wine is bad, some sediment often is found in higher quality wine, especially with aging. You can avoid putting the sediment in your glass by decanting or by pouring through a filter. You can use a coffee filter, but a fine metal filter is better because coffee filters can add flavors to the wine.

• How long does boxed wine last?

The plastic bags holding wine in boxed wine are semi-permeable for oxygen. That is the reason for the “drink by” date. Oxidation in wine is similar to how a slice of apple turns brown when exposed to air. An un-opened box wine should be good for a year. An opened box wine, especially stored in your refrigerator, can be good for four-plus weeks before it begins to oxidize.

Last round: When you are dressed all in black and some smart aleck asks you who died, simply look around the room and say, “I haven’t decided yet.” Wine time.

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Wine’s love-hate relationship 3-15-2023

Wine has a love-hate relationship to oxygen. Not enough oxygen when it is in the winery and wine can be reductive—engendering volatile sulfur compounds. Burnt match and rotten eggs are common odor descriptors. Too much oxygen and the wine tastes “tired” and eventually turns to vinegar.

When wine lives in the Goldilocks zone—not too much, not too little oxygen—everything is just right.

Oxygen begins to affect wine as soon as the bottle is opened. At first this is a good thing, helping release suppressed aromas and flavors. It is why allowing wine to “breathe” either in your glass or in a decanter or aerator can be a good thing.

At first, almost all wine can benefit—or at least not be harmed—by the initial exposure to oxygen. But the clock is ticking. As days pass after opening, wine becomes less enjoyable. There are devices and storage methods to slow the decline, but as long as the wine is exposed to oxygen decline is inevitable.

Wine spoiled by too much oxygen exposure can be identified by sight, smell, and taste. Spoiled reds take on a rusty brown color; spoiled whites turn yellow, gold, or dark. Spoiled wine will have aromas of fruit replaced with bitter, even acetone smells. If the nose gives you pause, pour the wine down the drain instead of into your glass.

If you aren’t sure about spoilage, you can always taste the wine. Spoiled wine will not harm you, but it also will not bring joy. It will taste unbalanced. It will have nuttier notes and subdued fruit flavors. Higher alcohol wines will taste more alcoholic.

Different wines have different after-opening drinkability. Wines with lower tannins—grenache, pinot noir, gamay, for example—spoil faster. Wines with higher sugars—riesling—last longer. Wines with high tannins, acidity, and sulfites last longer. Oxidized wines—madeira, Oloroso sherry, port—will last the longest after opening because oxidation is part of the process of creating the wine.

Box wine can last a month after opening, particularly if stored in your refrigerator. There are storage methods that replace oxygen in the bottle with inert gasses—Coravin, for instance—that extend the life of a bottle for years.

As with almost all things with wine, if the wine tastes good to you days or weeks after opening, then enjoy.

Last round: When I see names of lovers carved into a tree, I don’t find it romantic. I find it weird people take knives with them on dates. Wine time.

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Today’s humor

An ironing board is just a surf board that gave up on its dreams and went to work. Wine time.

Wine questions answered 3-8-2023

Answers to whimsical wine questions.

• I am going to a wine tasting and want to look my best. What should I do?

It is imprudent to wear white, but otherwise go with what is comfortable and appropriate for the event. There is one thing you should not do. Do not brush your teeth before going. Toothpaste does not play well with wine. Toothpastes usually are heavily flavored to cover up the taste of fluoride, detergents, and abrasives. The surfactants that cause toothpaste to foam as you brush are particularly problematic. If you must, brush at at least an hour before the event.

• What does it take to freeze wine in a bottle?

Depending on the alcohol content, most wine will freeze at 15 or 20 degrees, but it must remain at that temperature for some time before freezing solid in the bottle. Wine’s freezing point is lower than water, but as wine begins to freeze the water content expands, pushing up the cork and potentially breaking the bottle. Don’t put wine bottles in your freezer.

• I’ve had a bottle of wine for a decade. Has it improved with age, gotten worse, or stayed the same?

It depends on the wine and how it was stored. It is unlikely to have improved, likely has lost flavor and vibrancy, likely will not harm you. Almost all wine today is made to be consumed when you buy it, certainly within a few years of purchase.

As wine ages, its flavors become nutty and earthy. Primary fruit flavors fade. Those changes occur after three-to-five years, and some people enjoy those flavors.

Some wines are made for aging, but typically they are not released until they can be enjoyed soon after purchase. Quality Barolo wines, for instance, often are aged five-to-seven years before release. If you do spend the money for such wines and intend to age them, proper storage is vital. The best temperature is a steady 55 degrees. Keep away from sunlight and vibrations.

Tasting notes

• E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Red 2018 maintains Guigal’s reputation for consistent, delicious, serious wine. Complex, elegant, velvety smooth, charming. $15-18 Link to my review

• Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico DOCG 2018: easy drinking Chianti Classico. Does not offer layers of complexity or long finish. Does deliver tasty sangiovese with a good supporting cast. $16-21 Link to my review

• McCall Corchaug Estate Pinot Noir, Long Island 2015: New York can produce wines of unexpected quality. $25-30 Link to my review

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Finally, rain in California wine country 3-1-2023

After suffering desiccating drought for years, California found itself awash in alluvian floods in 2023. The state that produces almost 90 percent of U.S. wine is almost 170 percent ahead of normal precipitation.

So, what is the impact of deluges in our nation’s most important wine region? As you can imagine, there is good and bad.

The bad: The fires of previous years meant there was less ground cover to absorb moisture, so there are landslides, downed trees, rivers swollen with water and debris, vineyards flooded for extended periods.

The good: Reservoirs and underground water were replenished. Many vineyard operators anticipated the future and worked at erosion control by planting cover crops and building water diversion systems to capture water. La Crema winery, for example, so far has captured more than 75,000 gallons of rainwater and has a capacity to store up to 200,000 gallons.

The impact on vines largely depends on vine age. Young vines with shallow roots do not fare well in flooded vineyards. Older vines with deeper root systems fare well, and the increase in groundwater bodes well for them in years to come.

The deluges came when vineyards were dormant and most resilient. Vineyards are tough—that’s how you get century-old vines. Freezes and floods don’t have much effect on dormant vines. Mother nature threatens crops when the vines come out of dormancy—bud break. That’s when late freezes, hailstorms and excessive rain can hurt that vintage’s crop. But, even then, tough vines will be back at work next season.

The storms interrupted human’s ability to get into the vineyard for pruning and cleaning up debris. It is difficult to work in mud, water, and torrential rain for both humans and machines. Since many vineyards are reached by dirt roads, there were times when mud and flooded rivers meant vineyards could not be reached.

Amid the hassles, California grape growers overall are pleased, relieved. As one grower put it: “Abundant rain during the dormant season is one of the best things to worry about.” Water supplies are on their way to being restored. Soaking rains wash down salt in the topsoil, refreshing soils. More water in the soil means a later bud break, less irrigation, stronger canopies in the spring.

All in all, growers prayed for rain for years. In 2023, their prayers were answered.

Last round: A grasshopper sits down at a bar. The bartender says, “We have a drink named after you!” The grasshopper replies, “Who in the world names a drink ‘Steve?’” Wine time.

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Glass and its alternatives 2-22-2023

Glass wine bottles have enjoyed a long and storied run since they were adopted after advances in glass making in the 1600s. Now, however, glass has competition.

Prior to glass bottles, wine was transported and stored in wooden barrels, clay amphorae, and sheep skin bota bags. Glass provided instant advantages. Glass is durable, strong, inert, transparent, can be formed in attractive shapes and sizes, and is relatively easy and inexpensive to make.

Glass allows wines to age gracefully for years without degradation or imparting taint or unwanted flavors. No other container offers those properties. Glass will remain the go-to container for wines made for aging for the foreseeable future.

But glass is not the best container for all wines, or even most wines. The majority of wines are consumed shortly after purchase. Glass offers no advantage for such wines and has disadvantages. If glass goes into a landfill, it remains there for tens of thousands of years. Glass is heavy, incurring costs in transportation and storage. Although glass can be recycled, recycling glass is an expensive process in transporting to recycle centers and in the recycling process.

The wine industry—the beverage industry in general—is working the problem. Some alternatives:

• Lighter glass bottles, bottles made with recycled glass, reusable bottles. The thickness of the glass in a wine bottle has no impact on wine.

• Bag-in-a-box, aka “boxed wine.”

• Aluminum containers.

• PET bottles (recyclable plastic, often found in bottled water).

• Aseptic cartons (milk and juice containers).

All non-glass alternatives deliver significant advantages in weight, recyclability, and cost. None of them offer proven ability to store wine for extended lengths of time, but less than 10 percent of wines improve with aging. Currently, 77 percent of all wine is sold in glass bottles. Glass bottles—manufacturing shipping, warehousing, and disposal—account for 40 percent of a typical winery’s carbon footprint.

Glass wine bottles are here to stay, but environmental and cost concerns makes it increasingly more likely you will be pouring from a non-glass container in the future.

Tasting notes

• Herdade do Esporão Monte Velho Rosé 2021: Demure, lilting rosé charms with delicate red fruit, food-friendly acidity. $8-12 Link to my review

• Feudo Montoni Nero D’Avola Lagnusa 2020: Sicily’s signature red. Gentle tannins, relaxed acidity, smooth, easy drinking. $18-23 Link to my review

• Ram’s Gate Sauvignon Blanc, Carneros 2020: Tart, tasty, good acidity; lemon-lime, grapefruit, and pineapple, green apple. $30-37 Link to my review

Last round: Pavlov at a wine bar enjoys a glass. The phone rings. Pavlov jumps up and shouts. “Darn, I forgot to feed the dog!”

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What is wine? 2-15-2023

What is wine? For many, that question was answered thousands of years ago. Wine is grape juice after yeast converts its sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Fruit wines that are not made with grapes and grape wines made with aromatic additives—vermouth, for example—are not wines. More than 20 years ago, the European Union codified that the term “wine” could only appear on labels of grape wines with no additives. Other beverages must include a clarification such as “apple wine” or “aromatized wine.”

In the 21st century, however, younger drinkers upended the market. They buy wine, some with added flavors, in cans. They buy blackberry, blueberry, even dandelion wine. They buy hard seltzers—carbonated alcoholic beverages with all sorts of flavors—and in such numbers makers feared running out of aluminum.

They buy grape wines with little or no alcohol. The market for no or low alcohol wines grew by more than seven percent in 2022. Non-alcohol wine sales grew faster than low-alcohol sales. Is non-alcohol wine really wine? In an Australian newspaper survey, 25% of responders said wine with no alcohol is still wine. What comes next? Grape-free wine?

cc-by-2.0

The sea change in what people think about wine reflects existential challenges to winemakers. For centuries wine was a “steady as she goes” business. Vineyards and wineries passed through generations making only incremental changes or improvements. The same applied to consumers.

Now comes revolutions in what and how beverages are made, packaged, and sold. Also a revolution in what consumers want.

Replacing its aging customer base is a big challenge for traditional wine. Boomers remain the largest market for traditional wine, but their numbers shrink each day. Younger consumers don’t know or care about old vino verities.

The great irony: while we enjoy the greatest quality and choice of traditional wine in history, beverages that do not qualify under wine’s traditional meaning threaten the market share and, thus, the future of traditional wine. Whew.

Tasting notes

• La Valentina Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo Rosé 2021: distinctive color and versatility, heavier-than-standard rosé body. Serious rosé strikes the middle ground between rosé and red. $14-16 Link to my review

• Ancient Peaks Chardonnay, Paso Robles, Santa Margarita Ranch 2021: good of middle-of-the-road Cali chard. Good with food, good sipped at book club confabs. $17-20 Link to my review

• Banshee Ten-of-Cups Brut California NV: bright and vibrant. Persistent, creamy length. $25-30 Link to my review

• Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley 2018: superb Bordeaux-style, superb vintage. Smooth, balanced, elegant, refined. $60-65 Link to my review

Last round: What do you call a retired cowboy? Deranged. Wine time.

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Champagne’s rise 2-8-2023

The land was sheep country, too far north for grapes. The local wine was mediocre, pawned off to roughhewn wool buyers or consumed by locals as vin de table.

Nevertheless, to raise money for monasteries, Benedictine monks steadily improved their vineyards. They learned what grapes fared well in the cool climate and chalky soils around Reims, the historic Benedictine cathedral town where French kings were crowned. They spent a significant effort dealing with the pesky problem of carbon dioxide—a natural byproduct of all winemaking.

Reims Cathéter (2.0 Generic (cc by 2.0))

Because wine did not travel well, local wine had to be poured at coronations and royal events at Reims. The local wine became linked to sumptuous celebrations and elite society.

Hyacinthe Rigaud, cc By-SA 4.0

Louis XIV significantly burnished the local wine’s image when he enjoyed it along with his other obsessions of fashion, luxury, and prestige. Then Louis XV—son of the Sun King—authorized transportation of the local wine to other regions in bottles. Now, instead of the wine going flat in wooden barrels, the CO2 remained trapped in the wine. It sparkled.

When English glassmakers improved bottles to contain higher pressures in the mid-1600s, the wine from the cold sheep country found its niche as a special wine for celebrations. Mythology followed. Pierre “Dom” Pérignon did not invent Champagne and never announced he was “seeing stars.” While Pérignon substantially improved vineyard management, he actually toiled to avoid bubbles. In a pure PR move, Pérignon was credited with Champagne’s creation a century after his death.

Bottles enhanced the Champagne myth. At first, labels showcased association with nobility. After the French Revolution, labels promoted Champagne as the soul and character of the French people. Voltaire proclaimed Champagne “the most glorious expression” of French civilization.

Myth making accelerated. Jean-Rémy Moët established Moët in the United States with George Washington as a happy customer. Napoleon used Champagne to toast a new, industrious bourgeois society. When the Russian army routed Napoleon and reached the city of Reims, the resourceful Veuve (“widow”) Clicquot welcomed the soldiers. Instead of destroying her winery, the Russians got drunk and went home as an eager market for her product.

The Industrial Revolution expanded markets. Winery innovations improved efficiency and quality. Champagne entered a golden age that continues today. Champagne became symbolic of sophisticated celebrations, triumphs, luxury, indulgence. The neglected region of sheep and inferior grapes turned the wine world upside down.

Last round: Wine gives people ideas. Champagne gives people strategies.

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Wine sales statistics 2-1-2023

Which of these statements about the wine industry is correct?

Demand decreases, the industry faces rocky times. The industry is doing fine, even if volume is down, value is steady. The industry has a rosy future as drinkers switch to higher-priced wine.

Rob McMillan of Silicon Valley Bank—a go-to source—says “anyone who says they know what’s happening to total sales is fooling themselves.” There simply is no reliable source of wine sales statistics.

Wine sales data is a confusing mix of proprietary data, estimates, modeling, and retail sales numbers that do not include key statistics. Each of the most respected data sources report different and incomplete numbers. It all depends on what beans are counted.

• Gomberg Fredrikson may be the most comprehensive. It uses a variety of sales and and tax data and modeling. But counting everything is impossible, as they admit, and access to their report is expensive.

• Nielsen scans sales data from the country’s biggest national and regional retailers. But, whoops, they don’t count Trader Joe’s and Costco. Nielsen also doesn’t include independent groceries, small wine shops, direct-to-consumer (DTC), and on-premise sales. That is a Grand Canyon of missing data.

• SipSource gets its numbers from the country’s biggest wholesalers. It does not include DTC, smaller wholesalers and importers.

• Impact Databank includes modeling and estimates from the company that owns the Wine Spectator. It effectively tracks sales of the country’s biggest brands. Misses most of the rest.

• Ship Compliant delivers the best look at DTC sales, but that is only a slice of the pie.

• Federal and state agencies have some of the best information derived from tax collections. Trouble is, there is input overload. There are 50 states, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, and the Commerce Department. Good luck finding all that and excluding duplications.

So, is the U.S. wine industry doing good, treading water, slowly declining, or in trouble? It depends on who is counting and what they are counting. Wine is made by thousands upon thousands of people and sold in thousands and thousands of outlets. Bottom line: nobody really knows. It can drive someone to drink. Maybe wine.

Tasting notes

• Mateus Dry Rosé 2021: classic beginner pour for Boomers; half century later remains quaffable. $10-11 Link to my review

• Cannonball Sauvignon Blanc, California 2020: excellent under-$20 Cali sauv blanc. Vivid citrus, Meyer lemon, lime flavors framed by tangy acidity. $14-15 Link to my review

Last round: I just ran over one of Snow White’s dwarfs. He wasn’t Happy. Wine time.

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