Decanting – A Blog about Fine Wine and Fine Dining

Since we are headed into prime barbecue season I thought that this article was particularly timely…

See: 10 Great wines for BBQ, June 29, 2009, examiner.com. Some nice recommendations as we all fire up those grills for our Nation’s birthday…

Well I have finally started on my tour of Rosé wine. I went into my local wine shop earlier this week and asked for some recommendations. I actually prefaced my asking with “I have never had a Rosé that I have liked”. My complaint for most is that they are too sweet. As he was picking out a couple for me from a fairly extensive selection of Rosé he explained that they now carried Rosé year-round, not just in the summer. Both of the selections he had just had himself.

So here we go…

The first I had as a 2008 Commanderie de la Bargemone from Provence. I paid $12.99 for this wine. It is pale pink with a very pleasant fruity nose. Unfortunately the fruit did not transfer to the taste. The wine had a bracing acidity which may have been masking the fruit a little too much. It is definitely a wine the cries out for food, and the right food at that. My wife was eating something with tomato sauce (admittedly probably not the best pairing for a Rosé), and the acidity of the tomatoes and the wine did not go well together at all. I, however, had pesto and the wine cut through the oiliness of the pesto sauce very well. All in all, for me, not a wine for sipping on its own, best with the right foods. I would call it fair to good. Interestingly I came away from this wine thinking that it would have benefited by a touch of residual sugar to tame the acidity a bit… Ironic…

The second wine was a Domaine Massamier La Mignarde Cuvee des Oliviers also from France that cost $9.99. This wine is a mix of 80% Cinsault, 10% Syrah, and 10% Granache. A deeper pink than the first wine it had a somewhat more restrained fruity nose. However, unlike the first, that fruit was discernable in the taste, probably because it was much less acidic. It still had enough acidity to give it a crisp edge, but it was a much more pleasant wine to sip on its own. It, too, paired well with food, in this case Panini. I would rate this wine as good.

So for round 1 I’d say I came away 1 for 2. The first wine I will probably not drink again, the second I will.

Looking for some good red wines for under $10? Well the Dallas Morning News has done some of the work for you. See 12 winning red wines for under $10 by Tina Danze, June 23, 2009. The only one that I have tried is the Blackstone Merlot, which I found to be very pleasant.

Came across this in my web “travels” that I thought was worth sharing. This is from Seattle University student and journalist to be Taylor Olsen who writes for examiner.com. I found this to be a very food and succinct introduction into the Piedmont wine region of Italy: Wine 101: Piedmont wine region. Looking at her other articles there it turns out that she has written a whole series of these “101″ articles, all of which are simple and easy to read and make good introductions to various wine topics for the wine newbie. She has written on topics such as:

• Wine 101: Niagara wine region
• Wine 101: Mendoza wine region
• Wine 101: Loire Valley wine region
• …and much more

You can see all of her articles here.

I am a rose neophyte (see Going to Have to Explore Rose. . .). I simply do not have enough experience with the type to have an informed opinion of my own. So I enjoy stumbling across a post like this: Serious Grape: Drink Pink.

I’m going to have to get serious about this. I am clearly missing something. So if it every stops raining here in New England and starts to feel like summer I will run out to the local wine store and get a representative sample of rose wine…

Stumbled across this in Travel & Leisure and thought I would share. A nice list of wine trails in unexpected places. See: 10 Unexpected U.S. Wine Trails, September, 2008. Be sure to check out the slide show.

Here are a couple of articles reviewing Wine Applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch:

• Review: Wine apps for the iPhone, Macworld, March 2, 2009
• More Wine Apps for the IPhone, PCWorld, Jun 16, 2009

Every time I dip a toe into the rose pool I come away disappointed. But I don’t think it is the wine’s fault. I think it is how I have been going about it…

Problem number one is that because of negative public perception fueled by sweet blush wines such as white Zinfandel, most wine stores do not carry a lot of rose. So my selection has been limited. The second problem, I must also admit, is that I have in no way done any kind of a systematic tasting of rose. It has been more whim purchases… Put the two together and I have come up with a few mediocre bottles of rose wine. Not really the basis for an “informed” opinion. But I keep hearing about good rose wines…

Today I read something like this Basking With Roses (Eric Asimov, New York Times, June 9, 2009) and I realize that I am probably missing something – like nice refresning summertime sippers. So I really should take this seriously and seek out some good dry rose wines. So now to find a wine purveyor with a good selection of rose wine… That may take a while…

I think intuitively we all believe that US men are not huge wine drinkers. Certainly many do enjoy wine, but walk into any bar and the guys with a beer in their hand will far outnumber those with a nice glass of wine.

I had no idea, however, how lopsided it really is until I cam across an interesting Gallup Poll statistic while reading the article “Joe Six-pack, meet Charles Chardonnay” (6/6/2009, Associate Press). According to a Gallup poll conducted last year 58% of men said that beer is what they drink most often, with only 17% saying wine. Contrast this with women where 43% voice a preference for wine vs. 28% for beer.

Two thinks stand out for me in these numbers.

1. The first, clearly men drink more beer than wine. I’d be interested in anybody’s ideas as to why that is…
2. The second thing that stands out for me is that for both groups less than half of the people polled are wine drinkers.

So while we all may talk and write about the emerging American wine culture, there is certainly a lot of room for continued growth…

I’ve been meaning to write about this wine for a while but just have not had the time to get around to it…

I usually will try a vintage dated or “recommended” box wine at least once. Very often I am not disappointed. While most would not pull into the station in the great category, many are very good every day wines – with the added advantage of being economical…

So it was with some anticipation that I tried the From the Tank Vin Rouge Cote Du Rhone recommended by my local wine merchant. I was very pleasantly surprised. The wine merchant had billed this as his best boxed red (granted he did not have a huge selection of boxed red wine, but enough for that claim to be interesting). It lived up to its billing. It is a very grapey, medium bodied, fruit forward wine with slight hint of spiciness or pepperiness. The tannins are relatively soft. All in all a very pleasant wine that would make an excellent “house red” for simple every day drinking.

On the web research tells me that the wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan (the box says nothing about the blend). Its fruit, medium body, and relatively easy tannins lead me to believe that Grenache is the majority component in this wine.

I have enjoyed this wine with tomato sauce based Italian dishes, steak, and burgers. It is very versatile with food.

The box is the equivalent of four 750 ml bottles of wine and can be found anywhere from $35.99 to $39.99 a box bringing this one in at under $10 per bottle and making it a best buy. I have seen it advertised online as well.