By Alpha (originally posted to Flickr as Wine – Bistro Vue) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Question: I started a wine cellar last year and having fun adding to it. Getting conflicting advice on whether to buy smaller grower Champagnes and Burgundies or the more well-known brands. Your thoughts?

Answer: Collect both. It is trendy to support the underdog farmer in both Champagne & Burgundy and there are some outstanding wines being made. However they are rarer and more difficult to obtain because of their small production with distribution issues. The bigger firms and the negociant wines are usually easier to find at retail.  Don’t be a snob. Dom Perignon produces a lot of bottles (the number is secret) but still makes stunning Champagne from high yields in 2004 or for laying down in your cellar like the delicious drinking 1990. Pol Roger 1990 or 1996 are other good examples. Remember too that Grower Champagnes usually don’t have much quantity of reserve wines to add to their non-vintage blends compared to the bigger houses. Similarly in Burgundy the unique vineyard site and the vintage year can be as crucial as the producer. Meursault Perrieres 2010 is a great buy for your cellar whether from Viticulteur Domaine Roulot or the large firm Bouchard Pere. Keep in mind that currently many producers both small and big are focused on quality in their decision making and motivated to make a fine wine. Be open minded in your search for collectable bottles.

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By Arnold Gatilao from Fremont, CA, USA (Risotto with White Truffles from Alba) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Tis the season for fresh Alba white Italian truffles (trifola d’Alba). I have experienced the hopeful hunt with truffle-searching dogs to find them and have attended the exciting Tartufo Bianco D’Alba with the 84th one just held October 11-November 16. They were so aptly described by Brillat-Savarin as “the diamond of the kitchen”. I agree. So fortunate and spoiled to have been treated to these jewels many times over the last month. They are one of my joys of life so I always seek them out in the late Fall of each year. So different from all the other truffles including the black truffles usually from Perigord France which are better cooked. Alba white truffles have a delicate earthy unique aroma that evokes the enchantment you usually only feel from a perfectly aged fine wine. A good trick is to put a big one under a fruit ripening dome at your reception and concentrate the magical aromas for everyone in the room when the lid is lifted. I love them by themselves or with any food item. However recently I feel strongly that they are being overused with too many food matches. Recently I was served them shaved over poached sole in beurre blanc, spicy agnolotti with chanterelle mushrooms, prime New York strip, and twice with braised short ribs of beef.  Please get the most out of these treasures by serving them with simpler dishes that are less assertive themselves. I still recommend risotto, pasta or a plain omelette as the very best pairings! Follow the educated lead from Alba itself by serving them with home made many yolk tajarin (like a tagliatelle) for best enjoyment of this remarkable product.

What is your best matching dish with fresh Alba white truffles?

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By Joseph Temple

Boxed wine.

It is a product that elicits a strong reaction from both supporters and detractors since it first hit the shelves almost fifty years ago.  Advocates are quick to point out its eco-friendly and cost effective packaging along with the ability to minimize oxidation far longer than any bottle after it is opened.  But for oenophiles, its what’s inside the box that matters with many of them ranking wine stored in plastic bladders on par with the high-alcohol jug wines of the 1950s and 1960s.   And although a debate ensues between the two sides over whether the quality is improving, there is no doubt that with box wine accounting for half of all wine sales in Australia, Sweden and Norway and approaching nearly 20% in the United States, this corrugated concoction has left an enormous mark on the industry.

Makes you wonder who the first person was to think outside the box – or inside the box!

To know the story behind this invention, you have to cross the Pacific Ocean to the Commonwealth of Australia where it is known today as cask wine or “bag-in-box.”  The year was 1965 and vintner Thomas Angove had watched a fellow countryman figure out how to safely transport battery acid by placing it in a durable plastic bladder and enclosing it in corrugated fiberboard.  Taking this template and applying it to the sale of bulk wine, Angove stumbled upon a monumental breakthrough in the history of winemaking.

“This is ridiculous.  Nobody is going to buy wine out of a cardboard box and plastic bag,” declared Angove’s son after seeing it for the first time.  And indeed, the original concept that debuted in the mid-1960s was very different from the boxed wines that we enjoy today.  With the first design, consumers had to take the one-gallon bag out of the box, cut it themselves and then reseal the bag with a peg.   It was two years later that another winery revolutionized these boxes by connecting a dispenser tap to the bag, ending the labor-intensive task of pouring yourself a glass.
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But unfortunately for the advocates of boxed wine, the original intent of its sellers was to unload as much of their cheap undesirable product as possible.  This resulted in a reputation that the industry still fights against to this day  – that cask wine is the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality – a reputation that is most prevalent in the United States where old habits are particularly hard to break.

However, the tide may be turning in favor of this packaging for several reasons.  For starters, casual wine drinkers who aren’t collectors will appreciate the low cost, which is desirable in this sluggish economy.  And as companies evolve with more chic designs while advocates educate the public about the many myths surrounding boxed wines in various blog postings, a gradual demystification is starting to gain a foothold in America, especially amongst environmentally aware Millennials who will be the majority of wine consumers within the next few decades.  Much like the screw top, which also suffered from a reputation for being cheap but is now mainstream, perhaps boxed wine is ready to enter its own renaissance period?

Sources:

Taber, George. A Toast to Bargain Wines: How Innovators, Iconoclasts, and Winemaking Revolutionaries Are Changing the Way the World Drinks. New York: Scribner, 2011.

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By Steven Jackson from USA (Arborio RiceUploaded by Schwäbin) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
By jlastras [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Question: I have an ongoing argument with a fellow chef whether arborio or carnaroli rice makes the best risotto.  Would you please settle this for us Sid?

Answer: Flattering of you to ask but not sure I can. Arborio is a shorter grain rice most widely available in North America. Carnaroli is a longer grain newer strain which is becoming ever more popular. Some of the keys to a successful risotto include starting with a good broth and the skill in crafting your desired rich creamy texture by the release of starches through long patient stirring. You need skill because you want the finished risotto to flow perfectly cooked so the rice grains and the liquid are not too separate yet not overcooked so that it becomes thick, soft and too dry. You don’t want oatmeal. With arborio you have to be extra careful not to overcook it while carnoroli seems “starchier” and is easier to work with to get that firm right texture. Vialone nano is another alternative for a shorter grain less starchy lighter style rice. At home we usually prefer and use carnoroli but both are capable of producing an outstanding risotto dish. On our visits to Alba we still find arguments among chefs there as to their preference though there is a growing trend for carnaroli!

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By Badener (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Informative wine tasting of Hahn Family Wines with winemaker Paul Clifton and Vice President, International Sales Evelyn Pool. Tried 3 different Hahn pinot noirs: their softer 2013 California, the more elegant Santa Lucia Highlands 2012 SLH Estate vineyard blend, and the single vineyard complex 2011 Lucienne “Lone Oak”. Clones of pinot noir are a hot topic today and their influence on the “layers of aromas, flavors and textures.” of the wine. I raised a discussion at the tasting about the influence of the different clones of pinot noir in their vineyards on their resulting wines. Evelyn immediately produced an excellent circular chart listing different pinot noir Dijon & Heritage clones (“slight genetic variations”) stating “The Hahn SLH Pinot Noir in part owes its seductive character to clonal selection.”  The chart is a brilliant attempt – the first I have seen -to describe the characteristics of 16 pinot noir clones indicating “each of these clones can contribute a desired color, flavor, texture or structural element” to the final wine.

With many thanks for this brilliant informative marketing initiative by Hahn in helping us better understand pinot noir here they are:

113:          Very elegant with lighter structure & deep color

114:          Adds classic flavors of dark stone fruits and spice

115:          Adds aromas of black cherry, anise, leather & rose

667:         Softly tannic; adds raspberry, strawberry, spice

777:          Intense; adds black fruit, leather, tobacco, earth

828:         Fruit forward; adds blackberry & plum

943:         Adds intense strawberry aromas

2A:          Fruity with rose petal aromatics; adds berry & cherry

Calera:    Adds juicy minerality & acidic verve

Jackson 16:  Bright & fruity with moderate richness

Jackson 9:   Beautiful aromatics; moderate weight

Jardini:        Earthy with truffle & ripe plum

Mount Eden: Very dark & rich, adds deep tones

Pommard 4:   Meaty & gamey with bright cherry fruit

Pommard 5:   Vibrant, adds ripe plum & velvety finish

Swan:               Beautiful bright fruit; adds balanced richness

Is it easier for you to differentiate the clonal selection used or the specific terroir site where the grapes are grown? What characteristics of pinot noir wines do you most enjoy?

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