By Joseph Temple

A good weekday starts with a good breakfast, but a great Sunday starts with a great brunch!  These ideas will be a sure fire hit at your next mid-morning gathering.  Bon Appetit!

1. Blackberry Pancakes

2. Swiss Cheese Mushroom Panini

3. Honey Toasted Granola and Greek Yogurt

4. Poached Lobster & Eggs with Hollandaise

5. Scandinavian Sandwiches

6. Custard and Fruit Pastries

7. Veggie Frittata

8. Croissant Eggs Benedict Sandwich

9. Classic French Omelet

10. Simple Egg Breakfast & Cappuccino

11. Belgian Waffles

12. Crepes

13. Fried Eggs and Tomato on Toast

14. Toad in a Hole

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Question: My temperature controlled wine cellar in Scottsdale Arizona seems to do the job OK. But it seems almost too dry in there and I would like more moisture. Any tips?

Answer: Some systems have a “Demister” function and other humidifier options for maintaining a higher level of humidity (best between 55-70%) to help keep those corks from drying out. You probably don’t want the humidity any higher than that as this will encourage the growth of mold on the walls, bottles and labels. Check carefully for what you presently have or can easily add on. However, the simplest cheapest less accurate method is just to add a few larger surface open water containers on the floor to allow for evaporation. For a better cellar look you could get a fancy decorative fountain humidifier. Hope you find your “solution”.

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By Joseph Temple

Over the years, this blog has profiled several winemakers applying their craft in some of the most unfriendly weather conditions possible. Let’s face it—when we think of wine, most of us conjure up images of Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Napa Valley—not places like Quebec and Minnesota. At the same time, you can’t help but tip your hat to those vintners who are defiantly standing up to Mother Nature and successfully harvesting grapes in some of the chilliest areas of North America. It also makes you wonder how far (or how north) winemaking can go?

It turns out that Canadians and Americans aren’t the only ones pushing the envelope. Germans have been making wine on the island of Sylt for years while countries such as Denmark, Latvia, and Norway all have vineyards. But the award for the world’s most northerly vineyard goes to Finland; just north of the 61^st parallel is a place that makes a little under 2,000 pounds of Zilga grapes annually.

In the Gulf of Bothnia, on Olkiluoto Island is a vineyard in one of the most unlikely places you would expect to see viticulture: right next to a nuclear power plant. “Flanked by a dense forest, the deep green plants protrude into a clear blue sky,” writes one journalist. “There is a soft breeze. It could almost be France. But the vines are shadowed by two imposing concrete structures and several tall red cranes.” Of course, given the arctic-like conditions (temperatures can drop to -5.6 C during the winter), the vines on this quarter acre of land greatly benefit from their atomic neighbor. Because of the heat generated by Olkiluoto, the vineyard is warmed by the waste coolant water, which is non-radioactive and flows through a series of underground pipes.

With 150 vines first planted in 2001, the Zilga is a fast-maturing grape which comes from Latvia and is known to produce abundant harvests while being resistant to harsh winter weather. However, getting your hands on a bottle might be tough. “Of course we don’t sell it,” said one plant employee. “It’s for our staff parties.”

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Question: I like the IW&FS Vintage Chart and find it useful as an overall wine guide. Your thoughts?

Answer: As a long time past member of the IWFS Wines Committee I like your question! The Vintage Card was started by Andre Simon as a one sided guide to the Old World wine regions. Produced annually since then it has grown to include most of the world wine regions now in a laminated foldable 8 sided version. The original ratings of using a 7/7 for best vintages has been retained in spite of pressures over the years to move to a 100 point scale. Usually covers the vintages over the past 20 years with some older classic vintages also noted. The International Secretariat (sec@iwfs.org) gathers lots of useful background information each year from the wine regions and valuable input from appointed regional wine consultants to help the Wines Committee make their final decisions. It remains a highly respected unique valuable general guide to the overall quality level of vintages in so many wine regions. Glad you use it.

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By Joseph Temple

As perhaps the most influential enologist of the twentieth century, the legacy of Dr. Émile Peynaud is with us every time we take a sip of wine. Writing shortly after his death in 2004, Eric Asimov of The New York Times states, “More than any other individual, Dr. Peynaud helped to bring winemakers into the modern world. As a researcher and consultant, he applied rigorous scientific methods to a field bound more often by haphazard custom, guesswork and superstition.”

Born in Bordeaux in 1912, Peynaud’s revolutionary approach to winemaking, exemplified in his two best known books, Knowing and Making Wine and The Taste of Wine, made him highly sought after as a consultant in both his native France and across the world. By changing winemaking from an art to a science, here are just four ways that Peynaud ushered in the modern era that we all enjoy today.

In 2017, it is assumed that estates only pick their grapes when ripe. But before Peynaud arrived, in a good year, it was customary to start picking long before the autumn harvest in order to ensure a sizable crop, no matter how ripe the grapes were. The only time they were left on the vines for a fall picking was during the bad years, explains Oz Clarke in describing the impact of Peynaud. “In the vineyard he [Peynaud] insisted that rotten grapes be discarded—they hadn’t been before—and that growers should relentlessly assess the ripening of the grapes, and only pick when ripe.”

If oenophiles could travel back in a time machine, they would be appalled to see the condition of many wineries throughout France, who usually made their product in vats and barrels immersed in bacteria. The idea of working in a sanitary environment was clearly a foreign concept as Peynaud shockingly discovered while visiting the numerous estates. “Cleanliness is a basic condition for quality. The whole of enological science would be to no avail if the work itself were done in places that were dirty,” wrote Peynaud who strongly advocated for stainless steel vats and new oak barrels as replacements. Given the price tag, it was a change that many fought against, but in the end accepted as a necessary cost in making a superior vintage.

In addition to being spotless, Peynaud also lobbied for temperature controlled tanks to be complimented by cool cellars. Influenced by France’s dairy farmers who could vary the temperature in a stainless steel tank, he demanded that winemakers do the same. Before these two elements became industry staples, unmanageable fermentation and spoilage was commonplace, causing many vintages to turn into vinegar. And since bacteria multiplies faster in warmer conditions, the need for cool cellars with a consistent temperature became a must.

Arguably the greatest contribution of “Peynaudism” is an exact science he perfected known as malolactic fermentation—a secondary fermentation which turns malic acid into soft lactic acid. In layman’s terms, what this does is that it softens the wine, giving red Bordeaux a much smoother taste. In the pre-Peynaud era, winemakers suspected that an additional fermentation was taking place in the vats and bottles, but had no idea how to control it. It was only after Peynaud identified this crucial step (along with all of his other recommendations) that Bordeaux was brought to a whole new level!

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