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Hot dogs and July 4th

Today is the 246th July 4th since the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Happy July 4th.

I am going to visit food and beverage today, and I realize most of you have already made preparations, but the suggestions apply to any summertime gatherings. First, some thoughts on today.

Since that first July 4th, our country has grown from 13 colonies with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with more than 330 million people.

We enjoy a 24 trillion dollar economy, the largest and most robust on the planet.

Advances in public health and health care have cut the childhood mortality rate from 45% to less than 1%. We live more than 35 years longer than our forebears in 1776.

From rutted dirt roads, we have built some four million miles of paved roads and more than 5,000 public airports.

Almost three million miles of power line electrify almost the entire country. Some 85% of households have access to broadband internet and 95% of households have at least one computer.

In 1800, 95% of us lived in rural areas. Today 83% of us live in urban areas.

A lot has changed and much of it for the better since courageous rebels decided they wanted control over their own affairs in 1776. That’s what we celebrate today.

Now, on to celebration ideas.

Wine suggestions for July 4th are fraught with pairing perils.

The day is hot, the food is kitschy stuff like hot dogs laden with mustard and sauerkraut, throw in salty chips, grilled onions, and a watermelon. My prudent course is to recommend beer.

But prudence did not win the American Revolution. Onward into wine-hot dog July 4th suggestions:

• Sparkling wine. You already know sparkling goes with almost anything and is a party-starter. The bubbles and acidity will cut the frankfurter fattiness, while the citrus will play well with salty stuff. Pop some patriotic bubbly.

• Gewürztraminer. The aromatic wine is a star in Alsace and Germany, areas known for sausage, so it’s a country-food pairing. More full-bodied than most whites, gewürtz’s apple and lychee fruit flavors can be a nice counterpoint to bratwurst’s brawn.

• Rosé. There are a range of rosé plays, from white zin to sparkling rosé to still rosé. Avoid sweeter versions. Opt for drier rosés made from grenache or merlot or sangiovese. Savor the cherry and strawberry notes while you toast the red, white, and blue.

• Riesling. Its gentle sweetness works with dogs, and its citric tang mellows mustard. Again, go for drier versions.

• Oaked chardonnay. The chard-wiener pairing is only passable, but buttery oak and bread work well together, and—hey—the bun is half the hot dog experience, too.

• Malbec. Malbec will not maul the hot dog’s flavors; cabs and shiraz will. Frankly, franks cannot stand up to monster tannins and jammy fruits. Malbec’s velvety, spicy black fruits and plums can run with the big dogs.

Final note of caution: If your Fourth fling involves chili dogs, forget about wine. Chili dog fire will vanquish vino. Go beer or margarita. Or put the chili crock pot on a pickup’s tailgate for louts pulling beer can tabs, while the gentry savors finer things from a tasteful table.

In the end, lift a toast to union and Old Glory. We fought a revolution so beer drinkers and wine drinkers could enjoy whatever they wanted without snob masters giving orders. It’s in the Constitution (Amendment 21).

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Mendoza Argentina 6-29-2022

If you drink Argentinean wine—who doesn’t, given its high quality and excellent QPR (quality-to-price ratio)—you likely have seen Mendoza on the label.

Mendoza is Argentina’s largest wine region—75% of the country’s vineyards. It has the most wineries—more than 1,200. It is a world-class producer of malbec and cabernet sauvignon.

Mendoza is a large province, 57,462 square miles, almost as large as Illinois. Located in central-western Argentina, the awe-inspiring, snow-capped Andes Mountains create a picturesque backdrop to its vineyards. They also play a crucial role in winemaking.

The Andes create a rain shadow, preventing wet Pacific Ocean weather from reaching Argentina. Instead, moisture falls as snow on the mountains. That makes Mendoza one of the sunniest and driest wine-growing regions on Earth with less than nine inches of rainfall a year. About the same as the Gobi Desert.

As a result, Mendoza is a virtual blank slate for growing wine vines. It is flat, sunny, and almost pest-free. Flatness means wine growers can use mechanical harvesters with ease—something vine growers in other areas, where vineyards are on the sides of mountains, can only drool over. With the labor shortage in the wine industry, this becomes even more important.

Then there are the snow-capped mountains. Snowmelt rivers provide arid plains with water needed for life. For vines.

Altitude is another God-given gift. Mendoza vineyards sit at 1,500-7,000 feet above sea level. That means more exposure to sunlight and UV during the day and a precipitous drop in temperature at night. A magic formula in winemaking. Heat and UV during the day drive ripeness. Cold at night engenders acidity. Great wines are a balance of ripeness and acidity.

Mendoza produces more malbec than any other place in the world. It also produces cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and bonarda. These grapes beget the lush, bold flavors wine drinkers covet.

Mendoza divides into five sub-regions: Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo, Uco Valley, San Rafael, and San Martin. There are nuanced differences in wines produced in each, but each is capable of producing outstanding wines.

Clearly this is a subject far too vast for a short column, but if you are into red wine, you almost certainly are into wines made in Mendoza. If you are not into Mendoza wines, try some to taste what you are missing.

Last round: When is a door not a door? When it is ajar. Wine time.

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Open bottle tips 6-22-2022

A standard 750 ml wine bottle contains five 5-ounce pours. What do you do when you drink one or two pours and have left-over wine?

There are solutions. First, let’s see what causes problems. Oxygen is a wine’s best friend until it turns into its worst enemy. We all are familiar with decanting and letting wine “breathe” to open up flavors, blow off certain odors, and soften tannins. But once a bottle is opened it is like starting a timer. When the buzzer sounds, your wine has turned to vinegar or is at least flat and lifeless.

The amount of time wine can be exposed to air varies with the wine and with how it is handled.

Tannins, acidity, sugar, oak, and sulfites all can work to prolong after-opening life. Sweet wines with high acidity—sweet riesling, for instance—fare better than high-alcohol, dry, low acidity wines. Thicker grape skins contribute to more body and structure and often have more tannins and oak exposure. Oaked chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon fare better after opening than pinot noir or grenache.

Regardless of the grape, how you store left-over wine matters. Strategies:

• Pour left-over wine into a smaller bottle. Save that small bottle your dessert wine came in and use it. Smaller bottle, less oxygen exposure.

• Re-cork as tight as possible after the last pour.

• Store the bottle in the refrigerator. Don’t leave it on the kitchen counter.

• Invest in a Coravin preserver if you are someone who only drinks a glass or two every couple of days.

There also are packaging solutions.

• Boxed wine can store in a refrigerator for a month after opening. There are quality boxed wines today.

• Canned wines are the new rage. They come in single-serve and two-serving sizes. There also are wines in glass or plastic bottles with similar amounts.

Finally, all may not be lost if you left an open bottle on the counter. Give it a taste. If you enjoy it still, enjoy away. Good wine is whatever you think is good wine.

Tasting notes:

• McBride Sisters Collection Black Girl Magic Bubbly Rosé: Simple, slightly fizzy, fun wine. Two 375 ml cans, $14 Link to my review

• Bonterra Rosé, California 2021: Treats you in so many ways with so many red grapes you are bound to enjoy at least some of them. $16 Link to my review

Last round: I had a dream I was a car muffler last night. Man, I woke up exhausted. Wine time.

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Father’s Day 6-15-2022

When this wine column began more than 14 years ago, Father’s Day was not a topic. Men drank beer, women drank wine. That was just the way it was.

Times changed—more likely the perception of the male-female divide was inaccurate. The first Father’s Day column did not appear until the fifth year. This marks the eighth time for a dad theme and is a compendium of past “wisdom.”

Photo © Stephen Branley (cc-by-sa/2.0)

• Whether dad really likes the wine you buy for him is not the most important part of your pour play on his day. He may forget the wine. He will not forget the love. Neither will you.

Last round: Old Italian toast appropriate for dad—here’s to all who wish us well. And those who don’t can go to…

• Wine-inspired gifts for Father’s Day tempt you to gather gimmicks destined for the “God only knows what it’s for” drawer. Please, resist that seduction.

Last round: Dad says if you can’t fix it with wine, duct tape, or WD40, it ain’t worth fixing.

• During this June of travel into the realm of rosé, a suggestion that may make you blush. Treat daddy to a bottle of rosé.

Last round: Father’s Day toast—“May you live to be so old your best vintage wine is past its prime.”

• An obvious Father’s Day move is to get a quality wine dad enjoys, and do not buy it on his credit card.

Last round:  This family runs on three things: love, laughter, bottles of really good wine.

• If dad prefers big, full reds, pull cork on wine that pairs with diet-busting fare like ribeyes and fully loaded baked potatoes. Fried onion rings, yeah, sure. We’ll get healthy tomorrow. Promise.

Last round: Wisdom: If at first you don’t succeed, call dad. If he doesn’t have the answer, he will have enough wine to forget the question and you can ask mom for the answer.

• Do not buy dad a wine-tasting kit that includes scorecards and bags for blind tastings. The only respectable use for such things is to re-gift to people you don’t like very much.

Last round: Always have a good bottle of wine on hand for special occasions. You know, like Father’s Day. And Tuesday.

• Suggestions on wine based on dad’s personality. One example: Pop survived your teenage years: Bordeaux blend. Quality bottle here will go far toward earning forgiveness for your childhood sins.

Last round: Family. Where life begins. Love never ends. Wine is shared.

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Diary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.

As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

Wine container history 6-8-2022

Wine containers have evolved for thousands of years. Let’s examine.

Earthenware provided the earliest containers—amphora and kvevri are the most familiar. They still are in use today to make wine, especially in Italy, Georgia (the country), and Croatia.

Sheep bladders—wineskins—were the equivalent of today’s wine bottle. They are referenced in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

The Romans appear to have invented the oak wine barrel. They were inspired by the Gauls, who used barrels to store and transport beer. The Roman breakthrough was to realize oak had an especially positive impact on wine.

Old wine bottle (Auckland Museum)

Glass wine bottles appeared in the 1600s. Early bottles had fat bottoms and short necks. Over time necks lengthened and bottoms slimmed. In 1821, Rickets of Bristol received a patent for a machine that could manufacture identically-sized bottles in roughly the shape we recognize today.

While glass bottles still dominate, today wine also comes in a plastic bag in a box, in plastic bottles, in cans, and in aseptic packages.

Cork sealing developed alongside glass bottles, but it wasn’t until the late 1700s someone invented a practical corkscrew. A renewable resource, cork is the bark of the cork oak that can be harvested about every nine years. Cork oaks can grow to be 60-feet high and 12-feet in circumference and live for 200 years.

Cork oak tree, Portugal

When the demand for wine soared late in the 20th century, over-stressed cork producers delivered some cork contaminated with TCA, producing “corked wine.” The cork industry is successfully addressing the problem, but the door had been opened to alternative closures. Today there are composite corks, synthetic corks, screw caps, and crown caps.

Interesting tidbits:

• Champagne bottles could explode when a follow-on fermentation occurred until the British developed stronger glass by using coal to achieve higher glass-making temperatures. The pressure inside a bottle of sparkling wine is about 90 psi—three times the pressure in your car tires.

• The punt—that indentation in the base of the bottle—was there to add strength to the bottom of the bottle. With improved glass making, large punts are no longer necessary, but traditions die hard in the wine world.

• The foil covering the top of the bottle once discouraged wine cellar vermin from eating the cork. Like the punt, no longer necessary, but traditions die hard in the wine world.

Last round: You can’t run through a campsite. You can only ran, because it is past tents. Wine time.

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Diary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.

As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

Wine and sports 6-1-2022

In the antediluvian 20th century, you likely associated beer with sporting events and athletes. Today, in the bright, shining enlightenment of the 21st century, wine can claim its spot alongside beer as a sports libation. Beer guzzlers would demure—likely with a belch—but they would be wrong.

Major sports venues have upgraded both their food and drink offerings. Wine is available by the cup and can. Higher-end wines are available by the bottle in luxury suites.

Several major sports pros are associated with wine, and not just by slapping their name on a label. Basketball superstar Yao Ming is actively involved in Yao Family Wines. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been a part-owner of the Oregon-based A to Z Wineworks since 2006.

Yao Ming in his fermentation room

Football stars and coaches are winery owners. Drew Bledsoe owns Doubleback Cellars, Bledsoe Family Wines, and Bledsoe-McDaniels. John Elway owns 7Cellars. Former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Damon Huard own Passing Time. Super Bowl-winning coach Dick Vermeil owns Vermeil Wines. He sources grapes from a vineyard his grandfather picked as a vineyard laborer.

Charles Woodson at his winery

Former Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson co-owns Intercept and TwentyFour by Charles Woodson. TwentyFour is high-end Napa; Intercept is a more accessible line of Paso Robles wines.

Race car driver Kevin Buckler—a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, plus another 99 professional victories—owns Adobe Road. As you might imagine, his wines have a racing tie: The 24, Shift, Redline, Apex.

Dusty Baker, Greg Vaughn, and Tom Seaver are just some baseball star winery owners. Golf star winery owners include Ernie Els, Cristie Kerr, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam, Jan Stephenson, and Nick Faldo.

Obviously, there are different motivations, but there is one somewhat general theme. Athletes understand vintage. Each year challenges you to make the most of what nature and happenstance present to you. Everything may go right, things may go wrong. In sports, in winemaking.

Tasting notes:

• A to Z Wineworks Bubbles Oregon Rosé Wine: Crisp, creamy with good acidity. Fun and whimsy here. Four-pack of 250 ml cans, $20 Link to my review

• Adobe Road Apex Sonoma County Red Wine 2016: Delicious with complexity and depth. Drinks like a high-end Left Bank Bordeaux. $76-80 Link to my review

• Yao Family Wines Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Yao Ming 2016: Bold, vibrant, toweringly delicious. This is major wine, with concomitant price. $85-100

Last round: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? “Short.”

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As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

The case for swirling 5-25-2022

The classic formula for wine tasting is the “five Ss.” See. Swirl. Sniff/smell. Sip. Savor. Let’s explore swirl.

Swirling encourages aeration. When you expose wine to oxygen, aroma compounds attach themselves to evaporating alcohol and present you more aroma to experience and enjoy. The majority of tasting pleasure comes from aroma, not your taste buds, so this element is no small thing.

Oxygen also helps soften harsh tannins, making them smoother and silkier. Swirling is particularly beneficial for younger, bolder red wines. In contrast, an older wine needs a very gentle swirl or it can become over-oxidized and lose life. One technique does not fit all in the wine swirl world.

Oxygen induced by swirling can blow off unwanted aromas. Sulfites—occurring naturally during fermentation or added to stabilize the wine—can add a smell of rotten eggs or burnt match after some bottle age. Some wines, Burgundian pinot noir, for instance, can have barnyard odors upon first pour. Not to worry. Swirling almost always will waft away these issues.

Swirling benefits the “see” element of the five Ss. Your wine may appear lighter after a few swirls, allowing you to have a sight experience beyond “deep ruby.”

This being wine, there is a correct way to swirl. The bigger the glass, the more effective the swirl. Keep the base of the glass on the table and start slowly. Don’t overdo it. A few swirls, a minute or less, will do the trick. Continued swirling is not needed unless you have a difficult wine with particularly assertive tannins or obnoxious odors. Once swirled at the beginning of your tasting experience, the wine will continue to breathe and develop in the glass all by itself. Then it is time to indulge in the other four Ss.

Tasting notes:

• Primus The Blend, Apalta, Colchagua Valley 2018: Polished, fresh, fruity. Blend led by cab accompanied by carménère and a cadre of other reds. $18-20 Link to my review

• Duca Di Salaparuta Suor Marchesa Passo delle Mule Nero d’Avola 2018: Good, affordable, easy-drinking presentation of Sicily’s most famous black grape. $19-25 Link to my review

• Stoneledge Winery & Vineyard Malbec, Texas 2018: Hedonistic delight of ripe dark fruit running rampant in your mouth, pleasuring your palate. If you want to tussle with bodacious Texas wine, well here is your pour, partner. $50 Link to my review

Last round: What do you call a priest who becomes a lawyer? A father-in-law. Wine time.

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Links worth exploring

Diary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.

As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

Fruit wines 5-18-2022

Almost all the wine we drink is made from various varieties of Vitis vinifera, a grape native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. There are more than 10,000 varieties of this genus of grape.

But Vitis vinifera is not the only fruit that produces wine. Virtually any fruit can produce wine.

Vitis labrusca is a grape native to eastern North America. Some wines are made with Vitis labrusca, but you likely know it better as Concord grape juice and Concord grape jelly.

Concord grape jelly (Photo by Famartin)

• Strawberry wine uses strawberries, water, lemon juice, yeast, and sugar. Sugar and water are key ingredients in most fruit wines. Sugar is needed because many fruit wines do not have enough natural sugar to support fermentation, but you can go light on the added sugar to produce a dry, low-alcohol wine. Strawberry wine aroma is distinct and agreeable, and the wine delivers a parade of pleasant flavors.

• Plum wine is made from fermented plums in a way similar to how apples are used for cider. It is particularly associated with the north Cotswolds in south-central England.

• Pineapple wine is a soft, dry wine with a strong pineapple bouquet. In Mexico, it is called tepache and has an alcohol content similar to beer. Pineapple wine also is popular in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries.

• Pomegranate wine is commercially produced in Israel and marketed as Rimon. The Israeli wine is made from a special variety of pomegranates developed to deliver high levels of sugar for fermentation.

• Dandelion wine uses dandelion petals, sugar, and—often—lemon juice. Most dandelion wine is homemade, but several U.S. wineries produce it as a commercial product.

• Banana wine is made from ripe bananas that are mashed and then boiled for several hours to form a base of juice and pulp. The resulting mash is strained, sugar is added, and the juice boiled again. Fermentation lasts up to three weeks, then sterilized water is added to dilute the wine. It is particularly associated with Tanzania, the Philippines, and India.

• Cherry wine is made using tart cherries and can be the basis of fortified wines and liqueurs. Michigan is the leading cherry wine state—it is the leading cherry-producing state after all.

These are some of the most popular fruit wines. Other fruit wines are made with oranges, lychee, blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, cranberry, elderberry, gooseberry, raspberry, and mulberry. All you need is fruit juice, sugar, yeast, and time. Voilà! Wine.

Last round: How do you impress a female baker? Send her flours. Wine time.

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Diary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.

As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

Top grapes by country 5-11-2022

While most countries produce a variety of wines, they also have a signature export wine and grape variety. The University of Adelaide in Australia tracks this and presents the signature variety for the top 25 wine-producing countries.

Here are the university’s findings. Some are obvious and easy. Some will be grapes or countries you did not expect or never encountered before.

• Argentina: Malbec

• Australia: Syrah

• Austria: Grüner Veltliner

• Brazil: Isabella

• Bulgaria: Shiroka Melnishka; also called Melnishka

• Canada: Seyval Blanc

• Chile: Cabernet Sauvignon

• Croatia: Graševina

• Czech Republic: Grüner Veltliner

• France: Merlot

• Germany: Riesling

• Greece: Savatiano

• Hungary: Blaufränkisch

• Italy: Sangiovese

• Moldova: Moldova

• New Zealand: Sauvignon Blanc

• Portugal: Tempranillo

• Romania: Feteasca Regala

• Russia: Cabernet Sauvignon

• Slovenia: Graševina

• South Africa: Chenin Blanc.

• Spain: Airén

• Switzerland: Pinot Noir

• United States: Chardonnay

• Uruguay: Tannat

Tasting notes:

• Viu Manent Secreto Malbec, Valle de Colchagua, Chile 2019: Fulsome with rich, savory, dark fruit flavors. Good structure, balance. Superb QPR. $13-16 Link to my review

• Aia Vecchia Lagone, Toscana 2018: Excellent, affordable introductory wine to world of Super Tuscan. $14-17 Link to my review

• Talbott Vineyards Kali Hart Estate Grown Chardonnay 2019: Aggressively fruit-forward. Round, creamy. Pamela Anderson, not Audrey Hepburn. $14-18 Link to my review

• L’Ecole No. 41 Semillon, Columbia Valley 2019: Top-tier libation for less than a Benjamin. Astonishing opportunity. Do not pass it up. $15-18 Link to my review

• Acquiesce Grenache Blanc, Lodi 2020: Intense fruit flavors framed by good acidity and minerality. Eloquent expression of classic Rhône varietal with Lodi flair of ripe, tasty fruit. $28-30 Link to my review

• Peju Province Winery Merlot, Napa Valley 2016: Robust merlot with bright flavors, assertive tannins. Merlot with character and attitude. Nice harmony of various flavor elements. $45-55 Link to my review

• Farmhouse Vineyards Smōk & Miroirs NV: Bold expression of Texas mourvèdre. If you like red wine big and beef bold, this is worth the effort to secure it. $50 Link to my review

• Aperture Cellars Sonoma County Red Blend 2019: Breathtakingly excellent Bordeaux-style blend. If you can find it, buy it. Supple, silky, excellent depth, length. $55-58 Link to my review

• Adobe Road Shift Red Wine 2019: Bottle with gear shift topper and five-speed shift plate gives pause this is more gimmick than good, but wine comes through in the clutch without having to downshift the evaluation. $55-65 Link to my review

Last round: Before visiting the lions at the zoo, an English professor told to his students: “Make certain you understand the difference between your dinner and you’re dinner.” All students but one got it. That student didn’t make it out of the zoo.

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Links worth exploring

Diary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.

As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.

Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews.

This is the weekly newspaper column.

Future of wine 5-4-2022

As it did to virtually every aspect of life, Covid-19 upended the wine world. But not in some of the ways you might think. Bullet points:

• Largely demolished in-person wine tasting at wineries, once a key source of revenue.

• Severely hurt restaurants and wine bars. Sommeliers lost their jobs. Wine inventories contracted. Businesses went out of business.

• Created worker and supply chain challenges for wineries.

With safe, effective vaccines and the loosening of health-related mandates, those problems are declining. But the wine world of the past now is forever past. It was changing before Covid-19. The pandemic pushed it further along.

Gino Colangelo

Gino Colangelo is the president and founder of Colangelo & Partners, a leading fine wine and spirits public relations agency with clients around the world. Recently, we discussed the future. Findings:

• Direct-to-consumer is here to stay and will grow. Wineries must engage in this selling platform.

• Restaurant wine and food to-go are here to stay and will grow. Restaurants must serve this market.

• Premiumization of wine is here to stay and will grow. While wine sales volume has been steady or even experienced a slight decline in recent years, sales of wine costing $15 or more increased. Winemakers sold fewer bottles, made more profit. Superior quality sells.

• Sustainability, eco-friendly grape growing, and fair treatment of both the land and the people who work on the land are important to an increasing number of wine buyers, especially younger buyers. The winery’s back story joins price and taste as a driver of sales.

• The wine industry must solve its Millennials problem. Millennials—a 72-79-million-person cohort now aged 25-40 years old—are drawn to beer, spirits, and spiked seltzers more than wine. Baby Boomers drink twice as much wine as Millennials. Boomer numbers are in decline. The wine industry must replace Boomers by engaging Millennials.

Tasting notes:

• Coen Malbec Classic 2019: Simple, smooth easy drinker. Will satisfy your palate rather than challenge it. $16-25 Link to my review

• Banshee Pinot Noir, Sonoma County 2019: Presents the elegant, ethereal side of pinot noir at a superb price point. $19-25 Link to my review

• Aperture Cellars Sonoma County Red Blend 2019: Breathtakingly excellent Bordeaux-style blend. If you can find it, buy it. Supple, silky, excellent depth and length. $55-58 Link to my review

• Pio Cesare Barolo Pio DOCG 2017: Excellent Barolo from a signature maker. Rich dark fruits framed by firm tannins and oak. $75-85 Link to my review

Last round: Where does an electrical plug shop? At an outlet mall, of course. Wine time.

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