The Golden Rule

As I mentioned in my last post, I became an Uncle recently, so I have been spending much of my free time trying to explain terroir to my niece Riley. I got into an argument with a few people on a wine discussion board regarding this very subject.

Here's the rundown.

Wine, like anything else, gives people who know (or claim to be in the know) a possibility to make you feel dumb (if you let them). Now I love Rielsing; I actually probably drink Riesling more than any other wine, mainly because they are generally lower in alocohol than other wines and so I can drink a whole bottle and not worry about the side effects. The problem is that Riesling people have a certain air of importance about them - you mean YOU don't think Rielsing is the greatest wine on earth.

Now admittedly, I am like that about Burgundy, but I freely admit that. I freely admit that I think that Burgundy is the greatest wine on earth (red or white) and I am a pretentious, arrogant slime because of that. But I'm not smug about it. It is what is.

More importantly, if YOU think that MERLOT or some other grape is the greatest grape in the world, I'm fine with that. I ahve often said that as a professional, I don't taste a wine thinking whether or not I like it, I taste a wine thinking who would like it. That my saound like a very capitalistic approach, but I don't mean it in that sense. YOU and I like different things. I like Haydn [a dead white guy] and George Strait for music, I like Burgundy for wine, I like the engravings of Albrecht Durer [another dead white guy], I enjoy sage more than basil, and I live and die black and gold with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins and Pirates.

I'm only an expert in one of those cases - wine - but you still don't have to agree with me. I strongly suggest the wine sthat we have available for sale. If you read my posts, it's obvious which ones I prefer. But My 90 pointer may be your 80 pointer. Give us a call or send us an email. Although Riley may eventually hate Haydn's Symphony 101 "the Clock Symphony", for now, she's going to sleep every night to it (or well, occassionally she's at least sleeping). I won't do that to you!

Uncle Pythagoras Would be Proud

I wanted to talk today about the use and misuse of the word "terroir". I will not give in to my desire to defend my beliefs as a "terroirist" despite my yearning to do so. But, whether one agrees with terroir or not, its frequent misuse only adds to everyone's confusion. Continuing with my theme of Dead White Guy refernces, I was thinking of how similar it was to the Pythagorean Theorem: in a right-angled triangle the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse, c, is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides, b and a, that is, a2+b2=c2. One of the simplest equations ever written, but the greatest minds tried to prove it for centuries to no avail. Terroir is the Pythagorean Theorem of Wine.

Terroir is the combination of natural factors that affect the way grapes grow. I personally stick with a pretty rigid definition, namely that within the larger arena of climate, one can largely determine the character of a grape by knowing the vineyards soil, altitude, slope and aspect. The point is not whether you agree with my assessment of terroir or not. What bothers me is the misuse of the term terroir.

I FREQUENTLY see posts on discussion boards or white-collar-professionals-cum-weekend-wine writers who think that terroir means earth. "The 2005 Chateau _____ Vintage Champagne was full of terroir with earthy tones throughout." Without delving to far into details and exceptions, Champagne grows on Cretaceous Chalk, so if it was "full of terroir" or tasted of the soil, wouldn't its flavors be dominated by chalk?

The French word for earth is terre not terroir. True terroir comes from the root terre, but it's not a direct correlation. The word sinister has its Latin roots in decribing one who is left-handed, but I have yet to hear someone refer to Osama Bin-Laden as that bastard, left-handed murderer.

The use of the word terroir is not restricted to wine. Its used for other agricultural products such as cheese, but also things such as forestry, specifically oak. Scholarly research, such as that of Drs. Paul Kolesar and Bruce Beaver of Duquesne University, doesn't examine how much earthiness an oak barrel imparts on a wine (and certainly not how much the wood tastes like earth!), but rather the characteristics of oak due to the sum total of natural influences and how this in turn affects the chemical composition of the wood. It's the same thing for grapes.

March Madness Update
In an earlier post "The Ides of March", I revealed my pick for the NCAA Tourney, Georgetown. I also revealed that I am usually out of contention very early. Turns out I was spot on, as Georgetown is heading to the Final Four, and I am in the bottom 3% of ESPN's Tourney Pick 'Em.

More on a "sense of place"

As a follow up to my previous post, I’d like to direct you to a recent blog entry and discussion involving New York Times Wine Columnist Eric Asimov and winemaker Michael Twelftree. Asimov’s blog is here and you can find Twelftree’s side of story by following the link Asimov provided. While I generally agree with Asimov’s stance that in many ways expands upon my previous comments there are some additional points to consider.

Despite my relationship with AVA Wine, I am most noted for my expertise in Burgundy, precisely the lower-alcohol, food wines to which Asmiov occurs (at least in most cases). That being said, I unlike Mr. Asimov probably drink wine on its own at least half the time. And when I do drink it alone, I generally do prefer it to be lower in alcohol – in addition to Burgundy (both white and red), German Rieslings fit the bill nicely in this respect as well. If I opt for most California wines, Bordeaux or other fuller-bodied reds, I prefer to have them with red meat, a grilled steak usually does the trick. So in some ways, I guess you can say that I am in opposition to either Asimov or Twelftree in that, I only enjoy fuller, high-octane wines when they’re served with food; after all, if I going to binge, why not do it right and besides, if the wine has a good bit of alcohol, I’d prefer to have a big meal with it to try to avoid the negative affects of the alcohol. One of the worst ideas I’ve ever had was a a large tasting party where everyone was required to bring a bottle a Zinfandel – not White Zinfandel – but the alcoholic, intense, jammy red wine. After downing even small samples of 15 – 20 reds in excess of 15% alcohol, not one guest had their wits about them.

My I also posit the following? I know Asimov fairly well and appreciate his writing and knowledge as well. Twelftree I’ve met only briefly, but Mr. Asimov leaves out the fact that not only is Twelftree involved with Two Hands Winery in Australia but also runs a small, new negociant in Burgundy known as Mischief and Mayhem. The sources for Twelftree’s grapes in Burgundy are among some of the finest traditional producers in that region. So clearly Twelftree hasn’t lost sight of the fact that there’s room for more than one type of wine in the world.

Noting this takes me back to last weeks entry – where I basically told you that I like wines that taste the way they are supposed to taste. Wines from Diamond Mountain should taste like Diamond Mountain. Wines from the Napa Valley floor should taste just so. Even California Chardonnay comes in many forms - such as the steely, Silver Mountain 2001 Chardonnay from a cooler site atop high in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It may not be what most people think of when they think of buttery, full, sunny California Chardonnay, but that’s just the point: it shouldn’t be. When there’s snow on the winery ground’s at Silver Mountain, people are dining outside in downtown Soquel or a few miles up the waterfront on the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Every wine comes from somewhere, and if you understand from where it comes, you’re enjoyment of the wine will be enhanced greatly. Now that I understand what Twelftree is trying to accomplish with his Australian wines, I’m sure my next bottle will be more enjoyable.