Mo's Wine & Spirits

Spirits have played a significant part in our Nation’s History, from the Jamestown settlers right up to the 21st century. Meshed in to the political, social and religious issues of our times, we see the full spectrum of attitudes towards spirits as well as wine and beer. So as it is an integral part of our country’s history, what do you know about Spirits? Perhaps its time to study for your own Bar Exam with these tidbits of information and trivia!

Alcohol beverages have been produced for at least 12,000 years.

As Magellan prepared to sail around the world in 1519, he spent more on casks of Sherry than on weapons.

Early ancestors probably began farming not so much to grow food, as to insure a steady supply of ingredients needed to make alcohol beverages.

The bill for a celebration for the 55 drafters of the US Constitution was for 4 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of port, 8 bottles of hard cider, 12 beers and seven bowls of alcohol punch large enough that “ducks could swim in them.”

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the US, stated that “…the problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing.”

Prohibition in the early 20th Century led to widespread disrespect for law. New York City alone had about thirty thousand (yes, 30,000!) speakeasies. Even public leaders flaunted their disregard for the law, including the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who owned and operated an illegal still.

(By the way, prohibition lated 13 years, 10 months, 19 days, 17 hours and 32.5 minutes. For those who were counting).

Bourbon is the official spirit of the United States, by act of Congress.

In the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter banned the service of hard liquor at the White House, and only served wine at state dinners.

Maybe this year’s presidential candidates can take an idea from Sweden - nearly all of 185,000 gallons of alcohol seized from smugglers trying to sneak beer, wine and liquor into Sweden in 2006 was turned into alternative fuel used to power buses, trucks and trains!

The U.S. economic news has not been good this year, with a looming recession and many failed financial institutions. So it may surprise you that despite the bad economic news, more than $66 million worth of fine and rare wine were sold at US auction in the second quarter of 2008 alone. This is a 23 percent increase in sales over the same period last year. The crises on Wall Street (and the record gas prices on Main Street) have not dampened enthusiasm for fine and rare wines auctions. In fact the Wine Spectator’s auction price database shows that in the first half of 2008, the Fine Wine Auction value rose, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 7 percent for the same period. All the wine divisions of the big auction houses are steadily growing, and some houses have over 20 wine auctions a year.

Rare Wine values at auction are skyrocketing in the United Kingdom as well, and in fact the increases logged there have also bested their popular UK stock index, the “Indy 100”,  (the recognized indicator of general economic health in Great Britain). Wine auctions in Great Britain are showing bigger gains than the US, with an amazing 39% increase for the first half of 2008. Bordeaux is leading the way at auction, with more than a 90% increase in sales over 2007.

In the U.S., charity auctions are among the biggest movers every year. One of the biggest annual charity auctions is the Auction Napa Valley, held every summer in the heart of wine country. With Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno on hand this year, there is never a shortage of star power at this superstar charity auction, which mingles the movie stars from Hollywood with the Wine Stars from Napa and Sonoma. This last  summer saw almost 900 people participate, and raised a near-record $10.35 million, falling just short of the high set in 2005. About 150 wineries pour their best at this event, along with 60 restaurateurs and artisan food producers from the valley. Just remember to bring your checkbook along with your autograph book!

Many times when we think of American protests and riots, we assume that they are socio-economic or politically-driven. That would make sense, right? We all remember the history lessons on the Boston Tea Party, sparked by “taxation without representation.” Or perhaps, the protests and riots that frequently occurred during the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam era.

But, rioting over… wine? That’s right.

This summer, violent riots have taken place in southern France. On June 26, the streets of Montpellier erupted chaotically with 4,000 rioting winemakers. Although the demonstrations started out peacefully, the situation escalated when protesting vintners began tossing cocktails. Following that, press reports state that protesters burned police cars, vandalized supermarkets and broke courthouse windows in a rage over high fuel costs and falling prices of their wine.

Police used tear gas to break up the crowd.

Despite reform plans made by both the European Union and the French government, millions of winemakers continue to suffer economically due to the shrinking consumption of wine in France.

According to the article in Wine Spectator, ninety-nine percent of the region’s vintners have been hit hard by the decreasing value of the area’s wines and the rising cost of production, especially the price of gasoline, in recent years. The average price of Merlot has dropped from the equivalent of 75 cents a bottle in July 2001 to just 60 cents a bottle last November.

Wine growers are asking the government to come up with a plan to help the region since 98 percent of the 15,000 vineyards there have been “crippled financially,” according to Philippe Vergnès, president of a wine growers’ syndicate.

Since the riots, the French government has listened. They announced that they will provide up to $3 million in financial aid. The money will be used for emergency measures to help the winegrowers hit hardest by the industry crisis. There will also be several new amendments introduced to France’s senate in the next few months which would require wine merchants to make a down payment of 15 percent within a shorter period of time.

After Bordeaux and Champagne, Port may be the most famous wine in the world. Perfect on a cold winter’s evening in front of the fire, or as an accompaniment with that triple-chocolate cake. But what do you know about Port? Let’s look at some Port particulars. Port, most often a sweet wine (it’s also available in drys and semi-drys) has strong tasting elements and character.  True Port is produced in the Douro Valley of Portugal, reputidly the second oldest wine region in the world. There are other fortified wines from around the world that call themselves ‘Port’; but like ‘Champagne from Chili”, these are not authentic, but can be very good.

What is Port? Well it’s a fortified wine, created when alcohol (wine brandy) is added to the fermenting vats. This interrupts fermentation with the high alcohol level – and kills off the yeasts, leaving a high quantity of grape sugar behind. Port runs about 20% alcohol on average. And several styles of Port each have its own distinct character - but only those from Portugal should be called Port.

Also like Champagne, producers of Port only declare a ‘Vintage’ in the best of years, with very specific rules, ensuring that Vintage Ports are of a high quality.  Vintage Port is declared about three times every ten years. A ‘Declaration’ starts when the producer believes that he has an outstanding port; the young wine is left to age in wood, and if, after some 16 months it lives up to its early promise, the producer will submit the wine to the Port Wine Institute for approval. Here it must be tasted and then approved as a declared vintage by a panel of experts.

Other Port Styles include…

• “NON-DECLARED VINTAGE”. The finest vineyards produce excellent Port even in years that are not ‘Declared’. These will be ready for drinking earlier than the ‘Declared’ Vintage Ports.

• “RESERVE TAWNEY PORT”. Aged in cask for years, (5-10-15 or more) and then bottled. Because they are aged in wood for so long, Reserve Ports have a tawny color and a different character than Vintage.

• “RUBY PORT” (referred to as Vintage Character or Late Bottled Vintage Ports). These simplest of Ports are made from the off-year grapes, and are not intended to age further.

Efficiency vs. Romance of Wine

It’s a sorry situation for Wine Lovers: the dreaded TCA taint in what was going to be a fantastic bottle of wine.  TCA, short for Trichloroanisole, is that “musty” or “off “ flavor, commonly referred to as “corked wine” as corks are usually the source of TCA problems. However it is interesting to know that that musty aroma can also come from other sources, like wine barrels, other cooperage in the process, and even from wood within the cellar [1] -wooden walls or beams.

Even a very tiny amount of TCA in a wine can ruin the whole bottle. And the wine industry estimates that as many as 3% to 7% of all wines have TCA contamination that can be detected by consumers - representing billions of dollars lost a year.  Yikes! Perception of TCA is variable with the alcohol content of the wine, the wine characteristics, experience and even the inherited genetic capabilities of the taster!

There are options out there to fight TCA; synthetic corks, screw caps, even glass stoppers are alternatives in use now - and new designs are being developed all the time. A design for a new high-tech closure for wine bottles won first prize in the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition (at the University of California, Davis).

The closure design allows the wine to actually breathe more efficiently than corks. (Current screw cap closures essentially don’t allow for any oxidation for your wine to breath and age). The team’s winning design, a “breathing screw cap,” has small vent holes with a liner, made of alternating layers of thin metal and a porous polymer. The liner can be customized to allow different levels of oxidation for specific varietals, impossible with natural corks.

So what to do – stop using corks? Cozy up with your Honey and open a High-Tec 21st century screw cap? Will Wine Lovers accept screw caps, denying themselves the pleasure of opening that special bottle and hearing that nice “POP!”…Will wine consumers even accept a screw cap on a $50 or $100 bottle of wine? Well, some wines have already moved that way, so don’t judge too harshly.  Any move to avoid the scourge of TCA can’t be all bad. But it’s really hard not to think of that scene from the Muppet Movie, when Steve Martin, playing the snooty waiter, asks Kermit the Frog if he wishes to “smell the cap” from the freshly opened bottle of wine…!

Describing the aromas, taste and character of a wine can be a scary thing – feelings from inadequacy to pomposity may tongue-tie you. But we are just making it too hard. Describing what you like, or don’t like, about a wine doesn’t need to be a poem, it doesn’t need use soaring language and complex terminology to get it.  We are all individuals with our reference points and experience in tow, and we all bring something different to the tasting table.

Yes there are those with really advanced tasting abilities, able to identify very subtle aromas and tastes,  but that level of expertise is not needed to enjoy wine.  Lance Armstrong won 6 Tour de France bike races, but most folks can still ride a bike well enough to enjoy themselves…tasting a wine is more about how it makes you feel, the warm images that comes to mind. As a taster with your own taste buds, willing to give it a go, no wine description is ever wrong.

Once you gain tasting experience, you start to feel comfortable with terminology and typical wine terms. You should know some basics of course, but you don’t need to rely on common terms as the basis of your notes. Put the wine in another context that you are comfortable with, like art, movies - even automobiles:  that “ripe, juicy fruit-forward, high alcohol Zinfandel” may represent a “Jazzy Bright Red 12 cylinder Jaguar, built for speed”. And the “supple, well balanced and sturdy Merlot” might say “sensible, reliable, powder-blue Toyota Camary”.

And don’t forget your own experience in every day life - wine tasters borrow vocabulary from everyday fruits, flowers, spices, nuts, trees, cooking aromas, types of wood. If the group you taste with is less experienced than you, then work to find common ground to make yourself clear. Just as it is difficult to describe a color to someone who has never seen colors, it is also difficult to describe a wine to someone who doesn’t know wine well.  It’s all about communication and sharing.

Often, as in life itself, success comes with experience, and what a great way to gain it!

Just like in the movies, there are true “Classics” in the wine world.  Champagne certainly fits the bill with it’s magic bubbles and charming character. But, while classic movies are not all shot in Hollywood, all Champagne does need to come from the champagne region of France.  No matter how good the sparkling wines of California, Australia or Chili are, there is only one place that produces Champagne, and that is about 80 miles east of Paris. Bottom line - Champagne is a ‘sparkling wine’, but every sparkling wine is not ‘Champagne’.

The name ‘Champagne’ is legally protected in many countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world, and according to these stringent laws, no sparkling wine can be  labeled as Champagne unless it is produced in Champagne, and under strict regulations. So the French have a monopoly on Champagne, but not on Sparkling wine.

However, there are several excellent Sparkling wines from other countries that are very good! There’s Cava from Spain, and Spumante and Prosecco from Italy both with long and distinguished traditions.  And let’s not forget all the great Sparklers from California, some of them produced by the same French Houses that produce Champagne in France. They are not the original “classic” but they are quite good.

It’s a similar story with Port, another “Classic”. True Port comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal. The Douro Valley is known the world over for Port, a fortified wine with great character and complexity – and a high alcohol content. Port (like Champagne) only declares a vintage in the best years.

Many port-style wines are produced around the world – including many right here in the United States -but they should not be called “Port”.  These fortified wines are produced in a similar style as Port, even aged for many years like Port.  Vintage Port may be the one wine that requires the longest cellar aging – generally 5-10 years minimum.  Although Port-like fortified wines are not technically ‘Port’, they display many aromatic and flavorful elements of this powerful wine.  Some say that they do not completely capture the balance of complexity of authentic Port, but there are many excellent examples of fortified wines widely produced in Australia, South Africa, as well as Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

Its summer time and the backyard cook out season is in full swagger with so many options to pairing great wines with great BBQ. Don’t be afraid or nervous - wine and the backyard BBQ make a perfect pair. There are indeed many great tastes to explore: flavorful marinades, sweet and spicy sauces, stunning chutneys - the whole spectrum lies before you with the blending of BBQ and Wine. And you should try both tangy and refreshing whites as well as robust and deep reds with BBQ - both have a place on the deck. Grilled salmon and a Zippy Riesling? Roasted Pork Loin and a deep and rich Syrah? Burgers and inviting Beaujolais? There are options that you can explore all summer long.

What should you pair with your BBQ THIS weekend? What marinades can you improve with the addition of a good wine? Half the fun is planning the food; the spice rubs - the smoke, the marinades….the other half of the fun is selecting the wine pairings for the cookout. Don’t get stuck in the “Whites for Seafood and Reds for Beef” deal; you don’t need to be limited with that passé notion. A great example of this would be a beautifully prepared salmon grilled to perfection which would be perfect with a light and crisp Sauvignon Blanc or a bold Sangiovese…challenge your flavors spectrum. Try opposing as well as complimentary flavors - Summer BBQ tells us to LIVE!

Look at pairings that bring a new element to our BBQ and your entire grill experience. Try wines that are more fruit forward and full bodied, like Zinfandels, Sangiovese, Pinot Gris and Shiraz as well as lighter selections like the Beaujolais, un-oaked Chardonnay, or a medium Gewürztraminer. And don’t worry about costs; you can keep these wines in the $12 to $20.00 category. There are many BBQ Lovers sites out there for you to get recipes and wine pairings, try Saucy Joes or www.wineintro.com.

Watch out –DANGER on the label! That clever wine label might just induce you to buy that mediocre bottle of wine! Ok, admit it, how many of us have said “what a cool label-I just have to get that bottle!”  Succumbing to this phenomenon is easy. Yes, it is a cute label, but what about the quality of the wine? Or does that even matter?

Great wine label art has a lot of history behind it. Wine labels can be specifically tied to the producer, the winery, the specific vineyard it comes from, or even a person who inspired it.  But there is the also the other side of the spectrum, where  the artwork and the wine names themselves, are primarily clever word games with cute and cuddly animals, designed to ensnare you. Just like a book, you can’t judge a wine by its cover!

“Artist Series” labels are released every year – and they are all harking back to one of the great wine producers of Bordeaux, in the mid 20th century. Of course the wine is Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, and its famous art labels, gracing this First Growth’s bottling since the end of World War Two. The war was hard on the wine growing producers of France, and perhaps especially so for the great houses of Bordeaux.  After the war finished in 1945, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, proprietor of Château Mouton-Rothschild, had an inspired idea: He commissioned a piece of art to grace the label of the 1945 vintage of Mouton Rothschild, celebrating victory of the Allies over the Axis forces, and the survival of the great wineries of France.

Since then the Mouton label has featured art by the greatest artists of the 20th century, to compliment some of the greatest wines of the 20th century. For those of us who do not collect the fine art of Mouton-Rothschild on a regular basis however, we may just have to settle for cute and cuddly animals or rock stars to choose from for Wine Art Labels.

It’s not just a romantic notion about wine that it is a living and breathing force. Wine really does mature and breathe over time - sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worse. You need to be selective. There are several good reasons to cellar, but far more reasons not to. While it’s true that a great wine can gain complexity and soften mouth-puckering tannins as it ages, it is also true that the vast majority of wines sold are produced for immediate consumption, and that cellaring will not improve them.

A “huge bold and brassy wine with sharp tannins” may be a promising candidate for aging, while a wine that is “mellow, silky, and big fruit forward” may not add anything with aging. With time wine can develop in the bottle, balancing its characteristics and gaining nuances that were not present upon release. But there are several other factors to consider when you lay down a few bottles or a case. Not just the quality of the wine, but the track record of the wine producer is important. The over-all quality of the vintage too, which will varies not only from year to year and country to country, but varietal to varietal, and from appellation to appellation only miles apart.

Also key is your storage capabilities. To lay down wine for an extended period, it must be properly stored. A natural underground basement cellar is your best choice, but if you do not have this advantage, make due following some basic storage rules -

• Always store your still wines on their sides, Sparkling wines upright
• Keep your wines in a cool spot - ideally 55 to 60 Fahrenheit. If it’s too cold, it can impede development; a space too warm and it will damage the wine.
• Keep your bottles away from direct sunlight
• A good level of humidity is important too, so the wine corks do not dry out (and you start to see leakage from the wine bottle neck).
• Generally, Whites will age less successfully than Reds.