How Are Tastes in Wine Shaped?
Insight from three generations
I started thinking the other day about people’s relationship with wine. Clearly everyone is different, and there are a number of different variables, but what is it that shapes our tastes and habits in the world of wine? It looks to me as if our tastes in wine are shaped much as our tastes in just about everything: by genetics, culture, family tradition and, as I witnessed this past week, generation.
I was eating dinner with my grandparents, who spend most of the year in London and a few months in New York. Upon arrival, my grandmother handed me a glass of Bordeaux. As I sipped it, I discreetly perused their bar and noticed that every bottle of wine stored there was from Bordeaux. I remembered how often I’d drunk this wine in their presence. I continued pondering the Bordeaux connection, and I realized that Bordeaux is all they ever drink—in restaurants and in their home. In fact, it’s a taste that I associate with my grandparents. And I can’t help but think that they’re not the only wine drinkers their age who practice that sort of discrimination.
One school of thought would then be that this predilection for Bordeaux would have been passed on to my mother, and then on to me. However, it’s quite the opposite—my mom’s red of choice is Zinfandel and we rarely drink Bordeaux at family meals. So what is it that drives my mom’s relationship with wine? Could it be that because she is a baby boomer she has the cultural drive to try something different, to redefine traditional values? Does her choice of wine constitute a subtle act of rebellion? Is my mother’s Zinfandel the sign of an infidel? Or does she merely like it better?
I then started to think about my friends from California. While they’ll try anything new and different that they can get their mouths on, when push comes to shove, they’ll show their hometown pride in opting for a big Napa Cab any day of the week. This choice seems to fall clearly into the culture camp. To drink otherwise is not to support the home team.
And then I tried to decipher my own relationship with wine. Although I do have my everyday favorites and some wines that I crave above all others, I am like many people of Generation Y: I’m always searching for the new. Novelty may be the standard in my relationship with drinking wine, a habit I was allowed to develop early on because of my parents’ European love of always having a glass of wine with dinner. However, as much as I love pushing my oenophile envelope, I cannot credit any one thing for shaping my relationship with wine. But then, I’m still young. Maybe by the time I’m my grandparents’ age I too will have found my Bordeaux. (Though I doubt it.)
I’m curious about all of you. What would you say shapes your love of wine? Culture? Tradition? Taste buds? Generation? Or some combination thereof?
Around the World in Eleven Courses
From the esoteric to the iconic
One of the great pleasures in working in wine is meeting the enthusiasts and collectors whose passions are equal, or perhaps even greater, than my own. Their excitement for both the history and the experience of wine is both contagious and enlightening, and it’s sharing in these people’s enjoyment that keeps people like me creative and motivated.
For the second year in a row, Chef Kevin Sippel and I had the pleasure of creating a Valentine’s Day Wine list and menu for an IWM favorite, Omar and Leslie Khan. Together we came up with “Around the World in Eleven Courses,” a light-hearted culinary journey across to the globe that traversed some of the world’s favorite wine regions, as well as some off-the-beaten-path destinations. Each course invited our guests to experience a different grape, winemaker, dish and story that all worked together to highlight what makes each region so unique. As Omar pointed out to me, each of the chosen eleven wines on a different evening could be a centerpiece in its own right. Looking back on the night, I’d highlight the 1966 Chateau Musar from the Bekaa Valley, which offered layers of complexity and very much held its own against the 1966 Leoville Las Cases. Then there was the Weinert Malbec Estrella 1977, which challenges everything you thought you know about Argentinean Malbec (aged 19 years in oak cask).
This was truly an evening of the esoteric to the iconic, and to do it justice, I thought I would share the words and review from one of our special guests:
Valentine’s…Eve?
This entry was written by Omar Khan, posted on February 20, 2010 on his blog.
Well, we enjoy Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so this year, as Valentine’s Day was falling on Sunday, we opted to have our amorous outing on the “eve.”
Many pooh-pooh this holiday calling it commercially contrived, historically dubious (as if our other holidays aren’t?) and more.
It’s irrelevant. It’s a day to focus on love, and you don’t have to succumb to an orgy of candy purchases to express one of our deepest sentiments. And you can be as extravagant, as imaginative, or as corny as you like. You have license. We are “excused.” After all, there’s an “official” day to blame!
We went back to our favorite spot for Valentine’s and much else: the Italian Wine Merchants, pioneers in Italian wine appreciation in the United States, and one of the primary conduits and channels for extraordinary wine of irreproachable provenance overall.
We had the lovely space to ourselves. We were surrounded by masterful chefs putting their show kitchen to the best possible use, and were “serenaded” (oenophilically) by Italian Wine Merchants’ Vice-President and a masterful commentator on the joys of the grape, Chris Deas.
Together he and Chef Kevin Sippel (a true culinary innovator), formerly of Alto, took us “Around the World in Eleven Courses.” Not quite around the world perhaps, but the circumnavigation was quite extensive. This could as easily have been called “Around the World in Eleven Wines.” But why quibble? Both are implied, and both were experienced.
Menu highlights included the palate puckering Paccheri Verdi, Braised Snails and Gorgonzola; one of the last orchestrations of Didier Dagueneau via his masterful Pouilly-Fume Silex 2006 enhanced and enchanted this remarkable dish.
Another menu highlight was the crispy sweetbread, manchego and toasted allioli, married exquisitely and tantalizingly with Descendientes de Jose Palacios Corullon La Faraona 2006. From one of the best vineyard sites in Bierzo Spain, La Faraona is the gem of Alvaro Palacios’ (of Priorat fame) art in this region. Only 65 cases are produced annually, and other than the Italian Wine Merchants, this exceptional wine isn’t available anywhere else in the United States.
Hot on the heels of this came another winner! A hen egg cooked slowly for two hours, and then lightly fried, with Serrano ham and baked sardine! Extraordinary!
A number of amazing wines, from Gaja Sperss 1998 to La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 1995, all could have been the centerpieces in a lesser dinner.
But for us the 1977 Bodega Malbec from Mendoza Argentina showed us a style of Malbec we almost can’t experience any more because of the unsettling “globalization” of wine tastes. The two “birth year” wines for my wife and I, the Leoville Las Cases (one of fifteen second growths in Bordeaux and one of our favorites) 1966 (a vintage that seems among the better Bordeaux to be drinking quite beautifully now) and the beyond rare 1966 Chateau Musar from Lebanon (slightly sweet herb-like aromas, elegant, a bit more Burgundian), were luscious, fitting and truly memorable.
We went home with a lovely Pinot to accompany artisanal chocolates, a dozen red roses (a “classic” rather than a “cliché,” though many people can’t tell the two apart), and memories we will savor and which will reverberate happily for years to come.
James Thurber once opined, “Love is what you’ve been through with someone.” Most people take that to mean what you’ve survived together. Well, partially that’s so. But it’s as much what you’ve experienced together, exulted in together, and celebrated together! Salute!
AROUND THE WORLD IN ELEVEN COURSES
CHAMPAGNE — FRANCE
Selection of Raw Fish, Oysters and Caviar
Jacques Selosse Champagne Brut Initial NV
LOIRE VALLEY — FRANCE
Paccheri Verdi, Braised Snails and Gorgonzola
Didier Dagnueneau Pouilly Fume Silex 2006
BRDA — SLOVENIA
Grilled Sepia with Sea Urchin
Movia Lunar 2007
BIERZO — SPAIN
Crispy Sweetbread, Tomato, Manchego and Toasted Allioli
Descendientes de Jose Palacios Corrullon La Faraona 2006
PIEMONTE — ITALY
Frog Leg Risotto with Veal Reduction and Leeks
Gaja Sperss 1998
RIOJA — SPAIN
Fried Egg, Serrano Ham and Poached Sardine
La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Riserva ‘890′ 1995
TOSCANA — ITALY
Crudo of Veal with Hot Bone Marrow, Pancetta and Pecorino Fondue
Fontodi Flaccianello 1995
MENDOZA — ARGENTINA
Smoked Venison with White Polenta, Chorizo and Porcini Mushrooms
Bodega y Cavas de Weinert Malbec Estrella 1977
BORDEAUX — FRANCE
Foie Gras Tortellini in Black Truffle Consomme with Offal
Chateau Leoville-Las Cases Bordeaux 2nd Growth 1966
BEKAA VALLEY — LEBANON
Rack of Lamb with Controne Bean, Pickled Eggplant and Lamb’s Tongue
Chateau Musar Rouge 1966
ITALY
Chocolate Cake and Bombolini
Antonio Ferrari Solaria Jonica 1959
What Is An Off Year?
A Considered Approach to Vintages
Buying wine is tricky, or at least it can feel that way. There are different regions, styles, varietals, producers and methods to consider. These factors comprise the broad differences between wines. But what about wines made from the same producer but in different years? Or what about buying wines—any wines—from years that broad consensus considers to be difficult? This murky question of vintage is the topic of this post.
When we consider the differences in a wine from one vintage to another, we may find it very difficult to ascertain the actual quality of the wine. We have already addressed in earlier blogs how inaccurate a critic’s perspective may be, and this issue certainly poses a considerable challenge to laypeople. To add to their confusion, there is the reality that wines continue to evolve after they are released. For years the collectible wines like Barolo, First Growth Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy were made with such developed tannic structure that they did not show their true majesty for years, particularly in the great vintages. Indeed in many cases, the vintages that were good to very good provided more immediate drinking satisfaction than those that would later show themselves to be great.
To add further to this confusion about drinkability, there are other external factors that can negatively affect the manner in which a wine is drinking. Delicate wines like Pinot Noir don’t like to travel. They will often go into a “dumb” or “silent” period, and they won’t show their full spectrum of components as they are adjusting to the bumping and jostling from being shipped. Then there are some people who contend that Burgundy and Barolo simply never taste as good as they do in their native land. But aside from all of these various quibbling points, the vintage variation continues to provide its own not inconsiderable challenge. Consumers are taught to look at specific vintages and typically follow that doctrine as though it were gospel. However, at IWM we hold a very different belief: we follow producers, absolutely and religiously.
We know that great winemakers will always make very good wine, even in off years. We also know that in extraordinary years there wines will provide a transcendental experience. We know that while it is helpful to be aware of vintages, it is more important to understand what role producers take in creating a wine. Because we really “get” producers, who they are, what they do, and why they do it, we are not afraid of “off” years. For one thing, we understand that wines from those vintages often provide more immediate satisfaction. We are more concerned with popular producers making consistently high alcohol, fruity, over-oaked wines. Because those are the ones we want to avoid.
To know a producer and to love his or her wine is to choose well—year in and year out.
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