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

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Wine is the most interesting drink 1-25-2023

Wine is the world’s most interesting alcoholic beverage. You expect wine columnists to make such an assertion, but we can back up the claim.

There are three essential types of alcoholic beverages: beer, wine, spirits. Thanks to cultural and economic factors, beer has long been the most popular in the U.S. for several reasons.

Beer is the most popular beverage of the countries of origin—England and Germanic countries—for the first immigrants. Beer also is made from crops suited to the Atlantic seacoast where the first non-native Americans settled.

Spirits had a similar advantage. Production does not depend on difficult-to-grow crops. Grains for spirits also can be used for food crops for both humans and animals.

Wine is different. Immigrants from wine-producing countries like Italy, Spain, and France arrived later than other immigrants. Furthermore, it takes at least three years for a vineyard to consistently produce wine grapes, and wine is the product of a single growing season rather than a constant supply of commonplace raw materials.

Wine producers also tend to be a plant-to-bottle enterprise. Beer and spirit makers tend to be brewers and distillers who buy ingredients from whomever has some to sell. Often, the distinctive ingredient is water, and the U.S.—certainly in the beginning—had a plentiful supply of quality water.

Beer and spirits are faster and easier to make. Wine is the opposite, but it enjoys one distinct advantage. Because of its diversity, it is more interesting to drink. Individual wines have a direct connection to specific grapes, a specific place, a specific time.

Beer and spirits producers can claim they produce beverages with shades of difference—often using barrel aging techniques developed by winemakers—but none would argue they come close to variations found in wines.

Because the backstory of a wine is more interesting than beer or spirits, it has long been a more common subject of storytelling. That is a verifiable claim. In 2021, the federal government approved 178,724 different alcoholic beverage products for sale. Some 63% were wine, 24% were beer, and 12% were spirits.

The good news for wine writers—and for their readers—is wine provides a virtually inexhaustible supply of engaging stories about lands, grapes, weather, individuals, techniques, flavors—and on and on. Not only is wine more interesting to drink, it also is more interesting to read and write about.

Last round: My friend just gave me glass cookware from Jamaica as a present. It is Pyrex of the Caribbean. Wine time.

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Wine drinking tips 1-18-2023

As life semi-returns to pre-Covid normal, we return to restaurants and order wine. We have folks over for dinner. We pay attention to things besides vaccinations and masks. Observations, tips.

• At a fancy restaurant, what do you do when the sommelier presents the cork? Easy: Nothing. The cork presentation is a vestige of a world long past. The cork was examined to ensure the wine in the bottle matched the claim on the label. If you wish to save the cork as a memento of your evening, feel free. Otherwise, let it lay.

• You want to set a proper table to impress. You know the basics. Spoons-knives on the right, forks on the left. Where do glasses go? In traditional setting, there are three glasses. Water glass goes on the right above the dinner knife. White wine glass goes further to the right above the soup spoon. The red wine glass goes on the right, centered above the water and white wine glasses. Now you are at your hoity-toity best. By the way, pour good wine and serve a delicious meal and it doesn’t really matter where you place utensils and glasses.

• Fancy wineglass makers will sell you a specific glass for almost every wine you pour. Do you need them to fully appreciate wine? No. You easily can make do with one all-purpose glass—a large white wine glass works well. If you want more, go with a white wine glass, a large red wine glass, and a sparkling wine glass that is not a narrow flute.

• Is there a “correct” way to hold your wine glass? This is not really a Miss Manners issue. It is a best practices suggestion. Hold the wine glass by its stem or its foot rather than cupping the bowl in your hand. When you hold by the bowl, you warm the wine. You also leave fingerprints and oil from your hand on the bowl. Neither of these are good outcomes, but it also is not the end of the world or a klaxon warning of gaucheness if you hold by the bowl. Enjoy the wine any way you wish, but consider the stem or foot hold.

Tasting notes

• Scheid Family Wines VDR Very Dark Red 2020 is deep, dark wine that showcases two grapes rarely used together as sole grapes in a blend—petite sirah and petit verdot. $24-25 Link to my review

• Torre de Oña Finca Martelo Rioja Reserva 2015 is mouth-filling with rich, dark fruits.$33-40. Link to my review

Last round: Where do milkshakes come from? Nervous cows. Wine time.

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Pressing wine questions 1-11-2023

As we hurtle into the new year, answers to pressing wine questions.

• What does “second label” mean? It often means great value. A winery’s “first label”—their grand vin in Bordeaux—is made using the winery’s best grapes and then finished in the winery’s best barrels. The second label is made using excess top-quality juice and juice that does not quite measure up to top standards. It sells at a lower price. Often there is only a slim difference—a difference most of us would not even notice. Don’t balk at buying.

• What does “second bottle” mean in a wine review? Similar to a second label, the term references a wine that is not the best quality. Unlike a second label, which can be a superb wine, when a reviewer notes the wine works as a second bottle, it typically means the wine is drinkable but not distinguished. It will taste plenty good enough as a less-expensive follow-on pour. Second bottles are particularly useful at a festive occasion where multiple bottles of wine will be enjoyed. Which brings us to our next note.

Photo by Kailuce96

• Wine is best enjoyed in moderation, and best paired with food. That is why wine drinkers are less likely to be drunkards and are the least likely to be alcoholics among those who imbibe. But people get drunk, and some get drunk on wine. Which brings us to identifying the states where you are most-likely to get a DUI or die as a result of drunk driving. The answer comes from a survey by Forbes Advisor.

States with highest incidents of drunk driving death and DUI arrests: Montana, Wyoming, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota.

States with the fewest deaths and DUIs: Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Utah, Delaware, New York. Bottom line: Don’t drink alcohol, including wine, and drive. And watch out for those who do.

• What do you do when you pour a glass of wine and you find it undrinkable for your palate? Open enough bottles and this inevitably will happen. Answer: pour the poor one down the drain and open another bottle. Don’t use bad wine in cooking. Tastes bad in a glass, tastes bad in a dish.

Tasting notes

• Stemmari Dalila Sicilia Riserva DOC 2020 is rich and delicious blend of, mostly, grillo and some viognier. $14-15. Link to my review

• Scaia Rosato, Veneto IGT 2021 is expertly correct rosé using a classic Veneto red grape. $14-18. Link to my review

Last round: What did the princess say in the photo booth? “Someday my prints will come.” Wine time.

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Optimism 1-4-2023

New year. No matter if you look back on 2022 with a sigh of satisfaction or you are grovelingly thankful to survive another solar circumnavigation, time for optimism.

If you make wine or enjoy wine, wine is an expression of optimism. Growers gaze across pruned vineyards stark and bare, maybe swaddled in snow, maybe resolutely defiant against the howls of winter. Still, optimism.

There must be optimism or you would not be a grape grower. You are confident that in more years than not, after cold comes fledgling promises of spring. Each day dawns a minute earlier. The vineyard begins to awake—vines are optimistic.

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By April, the signs of life appear. Sap rises. Buds begin to break. Sure, dangers lurk—hail, late freezes—but this is time for optimism, optimism justified more often than not. After bud break, growers prune shoots to calibrate production. Reducing quantity of grapes increases quality because the vine optimistically concentrates more energy into the remaining clusters.

Flowering follows. Grapevines produce “perfect flowers” because they pollinate themselves without the need of bees.

Vine grape buds

In early summer, clusters appear. They begin as tiny, green bulbs. Clusters of optimism for the dramatic visual to come.

Then, a miracle. The tiny green bulbs grow and change color. Vérasion (“verre-ray-shun”) is the most beautiful time of the year in a vineyard, the time growers optimistically anticipated the previous seven months. Green becomes purple, black, red, pink, yellow.

As summer fades, grapes ripen, sugar levels rise. At the peak moment—optimistically with dry weather and adequate labor—comes the harvest. Then, on to the winery and another opportunity for optimism as skilled grape growers hand off to skilled winemakers.

If you enjoy drinking wine, optimism goes without saying. Why would you buy a bottle of wine if you were not optimistic it would be a rewarding experience?

With this effulgent homage to optimism to begin 2023, I leave you with a twist on an old Irish blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, and may the best bottle of wine you have ever enjoyed be the one you enjoy tonight.”

Tasting notes:

• Montes Limited Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2021—fruitiness in a softer take on sauv blanc. $9-12 Link to my review

• Siduri Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2020—superb entry-level pour into world of Siduri pinot noir. $17-22. Link to my review

Last round: My New Year’s resolution: Drink more of what you will give up for Lent a couple of months from now. Wine time.

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Start the year with wine good news 12-28-2022

Let’s end this year and begin the next on a high note. A Japanese study found people over age 75 may benefit from a regular glass of wine.

The study followed 1,226 men and women in Japan aged 75 to 87. Health professionals asked participants about their drinking patterns and measured cognitive function with a standard Japanese test used to assist in identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers recorded the types of alcoholic beverages the subjects consumed—beer, wine, whisky, Japanese rice spirits, and sake. Consumption was broken into four categories—none, less than one day per week, one-to-six days per week, and daily.

Researchers found people who drank one-to-six times per week had significantly higher cognitive scores than those who did not drink and those who drank every day. The study also found—as have many similar studies—the strongest association for higher scores was for those who drank wine. Those who drank red wine scored the highest.

Among alcoholic beverages, red wine has the most polyphenols, specifically resveratrol, which has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The study did not attempt to measure the amount of alcohol consumed, but did note most who participated in the study were moderate drinkers.

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Researchers also noted—as have similar studies—that communication and interaction with others positively influences cognitive function. Wine, often consumed while having fun and interacting with others at a meal, thus can benefit cognition beyond its anti-inflammatory properties.

Many factors influence cognition in older individuals. The good news takeaway from this study is that moderate consumption of red wine can help you to be brighter and happier in your golden years.

That is a Happy New Year message for my fellow wine drinkers.

Tasting notes

• Acquesi Asti DOCG: Smooth, sweet, very fruity delight in the moscato d’Asti tradition. $13-17 Link to my review

• La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2020: Consistent quality and value for a mass-produced wine. $16-20 Link to my review

• Markus Molitor Riesling Brut Sekt NV: Excellent riesling sparkling—sekt is German term for quality sparkling wine. $18-20 Link to my review

• Daou Vineyards Bodyguard Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County 2020: Opulent, lusty, almost decadently delicious. $33-39 Link to my review

• Siduri Pinot Noir Anderson Valley 2020: Solid, lively, smooth, enchanting from a master of pinot noir. $35-40 Link to my review

Last round: I know people who claim New Year’s is the only night they ever drank too much. Do I look like I just rode into town on a turnip truck? Give me a glass of wine.

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Christmas summer 12-21-2022

It is high summer in South America. Time to hit swimming pools and beaches while wishing everyone “Feliz Navidad!”

Christmas traditions are remarkably similar around the world. The faithful celebrate the religious dimensions while others enjoy the secular elements of the series of end-of-year holidays. South Americans enjoy Christmas lights, poinsettias, and Christmas trees. Christmas Eve often includes fireworks, much like America’s Fourth of July.

In the wine world of the Southern Hemisphere, December is the time for bud break, with all the terror and hopeful prayers that go with it. In Argentina this year the seasonal swing was not so good. Late frosts will substantially affect the 2022-2023 vintage.

The events began with unusual early warmth. Zonda winds—warm, dry gusts that sweep down from the Andes—raised daytime temperatures into the low 90s. Then cold nighttime winds from the south blew in. The early morning of October 31—Halloween—was cold and it got worse during the day and into November 1. Some areas experienced freezing temperatures for eight hours.

While late-season frosts are not unexpected in Argentina, this year’s episode was unusual for the duration of the freeze and the number of vineyards affected. Some fear this could be the worst late-freeze in the Argentine wine industry since 1992. Not surprisingly, vineyards further south suffered the most impact. Growers expect  a 20 percent reduction in yields in the lighter-hit vineyards, while other, more affected vineyards could see yields cut in half or more. Higher elevation vineyards may have suffered 100 percent impacts.

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The true extent of the damage in Argentina will not be known until around Christmas. Vines are resilient and some will generate a second bud break. Still, as Christians celebrate the birth of a savior, at least some of the fervent prayers will be for the warm December and January sun to shine on the recovering vineyards.

The weather appears kinder in Chile this year—their late frost problem was last year. Wine is an agricultural product. If you can’t take the bad with the good and roll with the punches, you are in the wrong profession.

Tasting notes

• Hampton Water South of France Rosé 2021: Nice rosé from Bon Jovi’s son, Jesse. More than a celebrity wine. $20-23. Link to my review

• Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2016: Classic Dow’s quality; legendary vintage. $25-29. Link to my review

• González Byass Viña AB Amontillado Sherry: Graceful, elegant 12-year-old wine; nicely balances ripping acidity, minerality, soft, smooth body. $17-20 (375 ML)Link to my review

Last round: What famous playwright was terrified of Christmas? Noël Coward

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Five key winemaking decisions 12-14-2022

There are five terms you often will find in reports about wine. Understanding what they mean and how they affect wine can help you make choices. A quick review.

• Harvest date. The day grapes are picked significantly influences wine. Grapes picked earlier will be higher in acidity, lower in alcohol, and sometimes have herbal or green flavors. They also can have more bitter tannin, but such wines also tend to age longer. Picking later in the harvest season can produce wines with lower acidity, higher alcohol and sweetness, and riper tannins.

And then there is the effect of weather—wet weather just before and during harvest can negatively affect wine.

• Maceration, cold soak, skin contact. Maceration is the amount of time the skins are in contact with the grape juice and particularly influences color. Cold soaking prevents the yeast from beginning fermentation, thus extracting color and fruit flavors and limiting bitter tannins.

• Cool and hot fermentation. Cool fermentation—65-78 degrees—preserves fruit flavors and flower aromas. Hot fermentation—80-96 degrees—reduces fruit flavors and flower aromas and enhances earthiness.

Punch down [Wollombi]

• Pump over, punch down. As the name implies, in “pump over” juice is pumped from the bottom of the fermentation tank and poured on the “cap” of material at the top of the tank. The process increases wine intensity. In “punch down,” a special tool—somewhat resembles a ski pole or a potato masher on a long pole—is used to push down the material from the top into the juice below. It almost always is done by hand and creates wine with less intensity.

• Oak, steel, concrete. Oak barrels add vanilla and other flavors to wine and increases exposure to oxygen, which decreases tannin. When wine ages for many years in oak, it acquires nutty flavors. Steel tanks add no flavors and limit oxygen, so it is most common in zesty whites, but also for reds sensitive to oxygen, such as garnacha. Concrete tanks—often shaped like eggs—are similar to stainless steel, but allow a bit more oxygen and a natural convection of juice, resulting in smoother wines.

Tasting notes— Find links to my reviews in the text

• Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2019: Fruit-forward, tasty, entry-level wine will pleasure many palates. $11-16 Link to my review

• Hess Select California Rosé 2020: Delightful romp in red-fruit joy. $12 Link to my review

• Calcu Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon 2021: Clean and refreshing with impressive complexity. $14-18 Link to my review

• Golan Heights Winery Yarden Merlot, Galilee 2017: Mellow merlot with smooth tannins and soft acidity. $26-30 Link to my review

Last round: Why are frogs always happy? They eat whatever bugs them. Wine time.

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Napa agonistes 12-7-2022

Once upon a time Napa Valley was a place of pastoral legend. Blessed with the bucolic beauties of wooded knolls, forested slopes, springtime fields dappled with mustard flowers, summertime’s lush greenery, the valley aflame in reds and yellows come fall. The human presence was a smattering of vineyards and family-owned wineries, dairies, cattle ranches, walnut groves, plum-tree orchards.

Today, most of that is only idyllic memory seen through the gauze of embellished nostalgia. Napa remains one of the world’s iconic wine regions, but it is a vastly different Napa. From around 40 wineries in the 1970s, there now are 1,700 wineries and raging fights over land and water use.

The valley is just 30 miles long and five miles wide. Its two main roads, Highway 29 and Silverado Trail, have morphed from picturesque country lanes into miles-long traffic jams. In 1985, with its reputation swelling from the “Judgement of Paris” and the TV soap opera Falcon Crest, there were rumblings about how two million visitors a year threatened Napa’s charm.

Stan Shebs

Today, Napa draws four million visitors a year. Where wine tastings used to be free, they now cost up to $300. Where there once was a single hotel, now there is lodging everywhere. Expensive three-star restaurants seemingly sit on every corner. Once there were family farm houses, now “Château Egos” where people who made fortunes elsewhere pursue seigneurial fantasies.

The sweeping fields of vines still yield world-class treasures. But nature also feels the agony of change. The sublime blazes of fall colors now compete with the blazes of wind-whipped wildfires. Water, a precious resource even in the pastoral past, now presents crisis with heavier use and lighter rain and snowfalls. Climate change threatens legendary grape varieties. Pinot noir is pulled for heat-friendly zinfandel and aglianico. Even some cabernet sauvignon—Napa’s signature, bedrock variety—may have to be replaced in warmer Napa niches.

Change is inevitable. Pendulums swing. Napa survives, but not in the ways it was back in the old days.

Tasting notes: There are links to the larger review in the copy.

• Gamble Family Vineyards Rosé Napa Valley 2021: Red fruit-forward; built for those who are not fans of lighter style of rosé. $18-26 Link to my review

• Stags’ Leap The Investor Napa Valley Red Wine 2018: Leans more towards elegance than raw Napa power. $42-55 Link to my review

• Davis Estates Merlot, Napa Valley 2017: Coats your mouth with pleasuring fruit, soft tannins, hints of chocolate. $70 Link to my review

• Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2019: Opulent, hedonistic pleasure. Napa cab that is affordable—in Napa cab terms. $110-130 Link to my review

Last round: What kind of sandals do frogs wear? Open-toad. Wine time.

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Wine world disruption 11-30-2022

The pandemic shook the wine world—as it did everything in the world. More to the point, it accelerated trends forever changing the wine landscape. Examples:

• Bottles and corks are for wine. Cans are for beer. Cartons are for milk.

Not anymore. Wine in cans is a booming trend, especially aimed at younger drinkers who want something convenient, often less quantity than a 750 ml bottle, something to toss in a napsack or slurp at pool or beach.

Photo by Stokesirene / Creative Commons

Ah, but at least wine doesn’t come in milk cartons. Well, yes it does for the same reasons it now comes in cans. In both instances, lighter weight and recyclable materials mean lower cost and more environmental responsibility.

And boxed wine—actually a plastic bag inside a box—earned a niche in the wine firmament long ago. Except today you can find quality in a box. You can still buy the headache-engendering swill you over-indulged in at your cousin Vinnie’s bargain basement bash, but you also can get quality that will stay fresh for a month or more after opening.

• Wine contains alcohol, right? No alcohol means grape juice. But low and no-alcohol wine now proliferate across all categories. Even Paris—epicenter of vin hauteur—has an entire store dedicated to low and no-alcohol wine options. Yes, Chicken Little, the sky is falling. Note: low and no alcohol wines help you avoid tomorrow regrets, but they are not necessarily low-calorie or low-carb. Every delight in life has a tax.

• Nothing beats a good, local wine store. While true, finding one has become increasingly difficult. Supermarkets stock wine canyons with acceptable, if not unique or special, wines, and they are convenient when you are buying eggs and milk. But the real breakthrough has been the confidence wine buyers now have online. Often the online store and direct-to-consumer winery can deliver what your neighborhood wine shoppe used to deliver before the pandemic forced the avuncular proprietor to retire and begin the final assault on his wine cellar.

Nothing stays the same in wine, or the rest of life for that matter. The pandemic just gave it a shove.

Tasting notes:

• Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserva Unoaked Chardonnay 2021 is a simple but very solid pure presentation of chardonnay. No oak to get in the way. $12-14. Link to my review

• Les Sarrins Côtes de Provence Rosé 2021 is fresh, crisp, clean. Aromatic, light, fruity, fun. $20-30. Link to my review

Last round: I’m writing a theatrical piece about puns. It is a play on words. Wine time.

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Paso Robles 11-23-2022

When you think quality California wine, Napa and Sonoma leap to mind. Today, a sound argument can be made to include Paso Robles in the conversation.

The region lies north of Santa Barbara County and south of the Monterey’s Santa Lucia Highlands—roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is inland from the ocean, giving it a warmer climate, but rolling hills and cooling breezes still penetrate, especially through the Templeton Gap located on the western edge of the Paso Robles AVA. It includes 40,000 vineyard acres producing more than 60 winegrape varieties.

“Paso’s strength is in its diversity,” according to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. “We learned long ago our region doesn’t have to adhere to the old paradigm of being about one variety or style.”

The Santa Lucia Mountain Range that defines the district’s western border has several gaps near the city of Templeton that pull cool, coastal air into the valley resulting in marine fog and lower temperatures. This significantly affects the grapes grown in the Templeton Gap and surrounding districts. The coastal climate flowing through Templeton Gap touches almost every district, and is a crucial feature of the AVA.

Paso Robles wineries produced zinfandel beginning in the 1880s. Zin thrives in the region’s hot days and chilly nights, creating a softer and rounder zin than the more intensely flavored and higher alcohol versions found elsewhere. But the region is speckled with microclimates. Figuring out which grapes show best in which plots is the force behind Paso Robles ascendancy in the wine world firmament.

That means that esoteric varieties like aglianico, counoise, and alicante boushet—hardly names that trip easily off American tongues—can make outstanding varietal wines that are just waiting to be the next big thing.

Napa and Sonoma dominate front-of-mind awareness of cab and, to a slightly lesser extent, chardonnay and merlot. Doesn’t matter. Through merit, Paso asserts itself as one of the great wine regions for a panoply of varieties. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Tasting notes:

• Vina Robles Sauvignon Blanc Jardine Vineyard, Paso Robles 2021 is delightful and respectful to your palate, even with the expected sharp, bright acidity of sauv blanc. $15-20 Link to my review

• Broken Earth Winery Limited Release Tannat, Paso Robles 2016 is powerful, bold; big tannins nicely integrated with very ripe, tasty fruit. $22-35 Link to my review

• Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon Mountain Road Reserve, Paso Robles 2019 is smooth delight. Rich in flavor, long on the finish. $45-50 Link to my review

Last round: Q: What is worse than raining cats & dogs? A: Hailing taxis.

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