Wine is your friend, especially when sipped with friends during a convivial meal. You are obliged to protect it from its enemies. Continue reading “Five enemies of wine 9-11-2024”
Category: Recent Columns
How to be a good wine snob 9-4-2024
Wine snobbery is a detestable trait. But you can be a “good” wine snob. Here’s how. Continue reading “How to be a good wine snob 9-4-2024”
Malolactic fermentation/conversion 8-28-2024
Even if you only dip your big toe into wine wonkiness, you likely encounter the term “malolactic fermentation” or MLF. What is that? Continue reading “Malolactic fermentation/conversion 8-28-2024”
Commercialization defines wine 8-21-2024
Wine is fermented grape juice, an agricultural product like green beans and corn. But that is not how we think about wine. Why? Continue reading “Commercialization defines wine 8-21-2024”
Did dinosaur extinction lead to wine? 8-14-2024
Did the extinction of dinosaurs play a part in the creation of wine? While it may sound far-fetched, according to an article in the prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Plants, there is scientific evidence to support the theory.
Researchers discovered fossil grape seeds in South America dating back 60 million years. Fossil grape seed evidence in India dates back 66 million years. The dinosaur extinction occurred 66 million years ago. Coincidence? Science indicates no.
The extinction marks the end of the Cretaceous Period. Approximately 75 percent of all plant and animal species were lost, including all non-avian dinosaurs. That transformed the entire world. With large animals not around to eat or knock down trees, forests reset themselves, becoming much more dense and layered. Trees grew taller, and there were many more of them.
Grape vines are tree climbers. Trees are their natural habitat. As trees grew up, grape vines were right there with them, climbing toward sunlight. Vineyard structures are simulated trees. The increase in birds and mammals also helped. Grape globes are designed to be eaten. Grape seeds are designed to survive digestion, then spread by animals that eat them.
Soft, grape globes, of course, did not fossilize. Seeds did. Although grape seeds are tiny, scientists identified particular shapes and other morphological features. CT scans identified internal structures that confirmed the grape seed identity.
While grape vines existed before the great extinction, the extinction created vast new, favorable conditions and ecological niches. The extinction did not cause the appearance of grape vines, it did favor their spread and diversification, as it did for all flowering plants.
The next time you sip wine or munch on a raisin or a table grape, pause to thank the asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago. That event may have killed dinosaurs, but it helped give us grape vines. And wine.
Tasting notes
• FIOL Prosecco Rosé Millesimato 2021: Fresh, fruity, elegant, fun. Blend of 85% glera and 15% pinot noir. Ideal for a Sunday brunch. $18 Link to my review
• Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet Blanc X Nathan 2023: Low acidity—for a sauv blanc—allows tasty fruit to shine. People not into sauv blanc will enjoy this effort. $16-19 Link to my review
• Etude Pinot Gris, Grace Benoist Ranch Vineyard, Carneros 2022: Bright, fresh, easy drinker; delivers depth, aromatic intensity. $23-28 Link to my review
• Rodney Strong Vineyards Russian River Valley Reserve Chardonnay 2021: Rich, premium pour. Skillfully touches all the bases of the oak and malo Russian River style; avoids cartoony excess. $46-50 Link to my review
Last round: Drinking wine usually is not the answer, but it does help you forget the question.
There is no definition for rosé 8-7-2024
August. For many, triple digit degree days. Time to beat the heat with chilled rosé. Continue reading “There is no definition for rosé 8-7-2024”
Your taste buds 7-31-2024
Tasting science used to be so simple. Alas, no more.
Back in 1901, a German scientist opined various taste receptors were orderly segregated on your tongue in specific places. Sweet on your tip, salty on the sides, sour behind them, bitter in the back. Nice, neat, wrong.
Modern science—the flawed German study is from 1901—confirms the perception of taste is remarkably complex and not limited to your tongue. Judging flavors is deeply integrated into what is good for you to eat and what is not, so it should be no surprise that hundreds of thousands of years of tasting experience created a complex and extremely sophisticated human palate. If it had not, you and I would not be around to read about this.
Yes, it does start with the tongue. Sensors alert the brain when they encounter nutrients or toxins. Pleasure or poison is the first threshold. Horrible, you instinctively spit it out. But your response does not stop after that initial pass-fail taste test. When alerted, your gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, fat cells, brain, muscle cells, and lungs also spring into action. Your tongue taste buds alert your body in the same way an airport system responds to an airplane coming in for a landing. Your tongue may be the control tower, but it only sets everything else into motion.
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who won a Nobel Prize for his studies on digestion in 1904, showed lumps of meat placed directly into a hole in the dog’s stomach would not be digested unless he dusted the dog’s tongue with some dried meat powder to start things off. Dog food, wine. Who knew they would be connected?
I do not know of scientific studies to back me up, but I assert there is a connection between wine—essentially liquid fruit—and your body’s collective response to nourishment. Wine has complemented our food for at least 8,000 years, likely longer. When human beings find something that works, they tend to expand upon it.
Cheers.
Tasting notes
• Rainstorm Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022: Bright, fresh with good tartness, citrus. Delightful wine with the tartness and acidity to pair well with lighter fare. $16-18 Link to my review
• Ramōn Bilbao Verdejo, Rueda 2022: Crisp, fruity, refreshing. Bright, inviting, vibrant pleasure in the mouth. $18-23 Link to my review
• Becker Vineyards Prairie Cuvée, Texas High Plains 2019: Light, refreshing, full fruity flavor. Classic Rhône blend using Texas-grown grapes by substantial player in state’s ascendency in the wine world. $25 Link to my review
Last round: Commas are so very important. “Your dinner” (no comma) leaves you nourished. “You’re dinner” (comma) leaves you eaten. Wine time.
Underage direct to consumer 7-24-2024
Direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipping enjoys exponential growth. This is a great and welcome boon to wine makers, especially smaller ones who effectively are ignored by mega wholesalers. Continue reading “Underage direct to consumer 7-24-2024”
Accolade Wines Anakena Ona Red Blend, Chile 2019
Deep ruby color; dark cherry, blueberry, plum, blackberry, raspberry, green bell pepper, eucalyptus, bittersweet chocolate, oak, spice on the nose and palate. Continue reading “Accolade Wines Anakena Ona Red Blend, Chile 2019”
Véraison 7-17-2024
A miracle is happening right now in vineyards throughout the northern hemisphere. Continue reading “Véraison 7-17-2024”