Hail Cork Master, the Master of the Cork!

I remember my first wine tasting class. My notes went something like this:

Appearance - Red/Gold/Pink 
Nose - Smells like wine
Palate - Tastes like wine
Body - Liquid?
Finish - Glass is empty?

Bordeaux Blend Tasting

My interest in wine started during my consulting years in Northern California. While my palate was not quite discriminate, the proximity to Napa and Sonoma provided many opportunities to try great wines. I became intrigued by how one could train one's palate to get a fuller appreciation of the different types of wines - be they varietals, terroirs, or vintages. There was also the romantic notion of being able to blind taste like a Master Sommelier.

I recall fondly the Frasier episode where Frasier and his brother Niles were vying for the title of Cork Master of their wine club. To break the tie, they had a wine taste-off. I remember thinking, What fine palates they must have to be able to guess the wines with such precision!

I re-watched the episode recently and cracked up at the descriptors used during the taste-off. Now that I know a little more about wine, the descriptors did not make much sense. Neither "ripe, round, and thoroughly seductive"  nor "dark, dusky, and supple" would have helped me identify a wine as Australian Shiraz.

That said, blind tasting is extraordinarily difficult. A lot of sommeliers will say that the underlying criterion for successful blind tasting is typicity. Typicity describes the quality in a wine that is typical of its geographical provenance and the varietal origins from which it is made. Even then, wine experts can be fooled, and the best of them are often humbled by the difficulty of that task.

Pinot Noir Horizontal Blind Tasting

Nonetheless, comparison wine tasting, whether blind or not, can be fun and very educational. Comparison wine tasting is when you put two or more wines that have something in common but also have enough differences so that the different notes picked up can be attributed to those factors.

A few years ago, we did a Pinot Noir tasting where we tasted through different expressions of the grape - Bourgogne (or Burgundy), New Zealand, California, Oregon, and for fun, a ringer bottle from Trader Joe's. Except for the ringer bottle, each wine reflects the typicity of its classification or geographical provenance. To make it easier, we provided the list of wines and corresponding descriptors to help the tasters narrow down the guesses. Still, it was hard, real hard. Most of us could not get even half of the wines right. But we had a blast. We learned a few things and hopefully burned the memory into our palate. New World wines are generally more fruit-forward, and Old World wines are generally more earthy.

Brady Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Vertical Tasting

More recently, we did a vertical tasting of Brady Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from 2010 to 2014. This time, it was not a blind tasting, and winemaker Kim Brady walked us through the different vintages. The great thing about vertical tasting is that you get to appreciate how wine evolves over time. Younger Cabs tend to be most fruit-forward and full of bold tannins. Older Cabs tend to lose some fruit in exchange for higher complexity and softer tannins. If your palate is not quite ready to pick up the difference, one telltale sign is the color. Older red wines tend to have a brick-ish hue whereas younger red wines tend to be deeper in color.

So you may not have the palate of a Master Somm. You can still have a blast with comparison tasting. Think about what you would like to learn about - the influence of terroir on a grape varietal, the evolution of wine in a bottle over time, or even just tasting different grape varietals from the same geographical area. You will find that the notes on appearance, nose, palate, body, and finish actually make sense, and you may be the next Cork Master of your wine club.

Cheers!

My Diet Pairs Well with Barolo

I am on a diet. I need a wine to pair with my diet. Or a diet to pair with my wine. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

One of the go-to dishes if I want to shed some pounds is my Italian-inspired salad. OK, I am not really sure if it is Italian, but it has salami and all kinds of deliciousness. (Check out my recipe below.) I believe an Italian red is called for.

When people think of Italian reds, most people think Sangiovese, the grape variety that is the backbone of Chianti and the darling of Italian wine marketing. Few other Italian grapes have received the same level of attention, not even the noble Nebbiolo. But I'd like to focus on Nebbiolo instead.

Piedmont

Nebbiolo is native to the Piedmont region, which lies in the northwestern part of Italy, bordering France. If the shape of Italy reminds you of an over-the-knee boot, then Piedmont would be in the thigh area.

Oftentimes, Nebbiolo is compared with Pinot Noir. Both are finicky grapes that grow well only in certain terroir. They are also both genetically unstable and prone to mutations. Both varieties have thin skins that produce light-colored but highly-perfumed reds. While Pinot Noir is best expressed in Burgundy, Nebbiolo is best expressed in Barolo, located in the south side of Piedmont.

Barolo wine is considered a DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita), the highest classification of Italian wines. There are two methods in making Barolo today: the traditional and the modernist. Barolo made using the traditional approach is oaked for three years before bottling and aged for five years before release. The resulting Barolo is complex and extremely cellar-worthy, with the ability to age for decades. The modernist method of making Barolo favors shorter maceration with two years in oak and one year in bottle prior to release. The modern Barolo is more fruit-forward and less complex. While it can age for over a decade easily, it still pales in comparison with a traditional Barolo.

My Barolo collection

Now for my Italian-inspired salad diet, I chose the 2009 Fontanafredda Barolo Serralunga d'Alba, a more modern expression of Barolo. On the nose, it is gently scented with rose and red fruit. Typical for a Barolo, the 2009 vintage is young on the palate, with lively acidity and firm tannins, earthy and stewed plum-y.

Why does Barolo work with my Italian-inspired salad? First, a confession - I am a Barolo fiend. I am already biased. As you can see, my salad is rather hearty. There is a fried egg, salami pieces, and crumbled blue cheese. The salty, savory, fatty elements work well with a high-acidity, tannic Barolo. Also the flavors of the dressed greens, chickpeas, peppers, and avocado work really well with the fruitiness of the wine.

Adrienne's Italian-Inspired Salad (serving for 2)

Dressing

Adrienne's Italian-inspired salad 

1 tbsp of good balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of EVOO
1 tsp of Dijon Mustard
1 tsp of chopped garlic (I use garlic instead of shallots, a trick I picked up from my friend, Virginia)
Season to taste with salt and pepper

Salad
2-3 cups of organic mix greens
Thin slices of red onion
1/4 cup of chickpeas (I use the canned version, rinsed and drained)
1/4-1/3 avocado, diced
1 tbsp chopped pickled peppers (I use Mama Lil's) 
Crumbled blue cheese (as much as your diet allows you to add)
5 slices of salami, torn into small pieces
2 fried eggs over medium (chopped hard-boiled eggs will work too!)

I'm really thrilled with this pairing. It is delicious IMHO. Perhaps next I will write about My Valentine Pairs Well with Barolo.

Disclaimer: Following this diet may not lead to actual weight loss. However, it makes you feel better as you sip some Barolo.

Spanish Burgundy - A Historical Fiction

Jose Lopez Bertran came from generations of winemakers, who had borne much hardship for the love of their craft. His grandfather, Joseph Bertran, was a winemaker from Beaune.

In the 1870's when vineyards all over France were plagued with phylloxera, French wine became a scarce commodity. Consumers started looking to Spain to make up for the shortfall. Many French winemakers moved south and brought their craft to Spain. Joseph Bertran was one such winemaker, and he moved to Catalonia.

In Catalonia, Joseph fell in love with and married Maria Lopez, daughter of a Spanish vineyard worker. They settled in Tarragona, a region known for fortified sweet red wines, similar to port. However, Joseph continued to make dry red wine as a nod to his Burgundian roots.

European vines on American rootstock

While delayed, phylloxera did finally arrive in Spain in the late 1890's, and Tarragonian vineyards were not spared. Thankfully, the remedy for phylloxera by grafting American rootstock to the Europeans vines was already discovered. Despite severe damages to the vineyards, phylloxera was soon under control.

Jose was born in 1920. He was raised a cellar rat and learned winemaking from his grandfather. Up till the mid 1930's, the Spanish wine industry recovered from phylloxera and saw a brief uneventful period of stability. That too was short-lived as the political climate in Spain grew tense with the struggle between leftist revolution and rightist counter-revolution.

1936 saw the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and the entire country and Spanish territories went through a time of political unrest. By 1939, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, General Francisco Franco led his nationalist movement into victory and started to rule the country as a military dictator. Catalonia was one of the last regions to come under Franco's control. The vineyards fell into disarray, and Jose and his family escaped to southern France.

That same year, Adolf Hitler led Nazi Germany into World War II and started invading France and various parts of Europe. Jose and many of his counterparts decided to join the French Resistance. He was assigned to work with Burgundian winemakers, such as Maurice Drouhin. Jose was key to coordinating the Resistance activities in 1941 and 1942, especially during the period when Maurice was arrested by the Germans. That was also the time when the Allied Powers started to garner support from various affiliate countries to counter the aggression of the Axis Powers, that comprised of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

In 1943, the Allied Powers, led by United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, conducted the first bombing raid in German cities. By 1944, Normandy was recaptured by the Allied Powers in Operation Overlord, D-Day. The Axis Powers started to decline, but it wasn't till Hitler's death in 1945 that Nazi Germany truly surrendered to the Allied Powers.

Spanish Burgundy

In 1947, Jose and his family moved back to Tarragona. During World War II, Spain had remained neutral despite its proximity to France. Franco was trying to balance his gratitude to Germany and Italy for their help in winning the Civil War, without making an enemy out of the United Kingdom. In the meantime, domestic unrest within Spain continued.

The Bertrans tried to restore their vineyards in Tarragona. World War II had so adversely impacted wine trade in Europe. It was not until 1950's that political stability both within Spain and in Europe allowed for a revival of the wine industry. It was also at this time that large co-operative wineries were founded producing generic bulk wines, such as Spanish sauternes and Spanish chablis. Jose started producing his own Spanish burgundy. 1951 was his first vintage post-war.

Fast forward to 2017, a paralegal in Seattle named Matt was helping an old client with his will. Both love a good bottle of wine. The old man gave Matt a few bottles from his personal collection of old European wines. There was no telling if any of them was any good. Among them was a 1951 Spanish red, Delavin Burgundy by Jose Lopez Bertran. We opened the bottle this past summer. It was delicious, very much alive, and paired quite well with the paella we had that evening. We were puzzled by a burgundy made in Spain, but the story behind the wine and the winemaker was richer than we could imagine.

Feeding the Beast

I am fascinated by yeast, especially the species known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. S. cerevisiae is responsible for alcoholic fermentation and baking. These single-celled microorganisms convert carbohydrates into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The happy outcome of the process is wine or beer or a delicious slice of sourdough.

Wine yeast

Experienced and skilled winemakers in established wine countries often use native yeasts for alcoholic fermentation because the right type of yeasts have been cultivated over centuries and thrive in the environment. Hobby winemakers, like myself, who purchase grapes from fairly young vineyards, are better off using commercially produced wine yeast. This is sold dry in packets the same way you get bread yeast or in bricks for larger quantities.

But before we add wine yeast to crushed grapes (also known as the must), we have to first kill off any existing wild yeasts and microorganisms by adding sulfite. If not, these can contribute to off flavors and spoilage during the fermentation process. Two days after adding sulfite, wine yeast is then introduced to the must.

A key job of the winemaker then is to nourish the yeast so that it can complete alcoholic fermentation. Here are two things I've learned in making the 2017 vintage.

Yeast Gets Hungry  

Very much like baking sourdough, you first make a starter by activating the dry yeast in warm water that is supplemented with some nutrients. (I used Go-Ferm.) Then you feed it with sugar; in this case, a 1:1 ratio of must and water. Temperature control is important as the yeast is quite thermosensitive.

Activating yeast

Several hours later, the yeast would feast on the sugar and start to multiply. A healthy starter expands in size and bubbles happily. However, if the yeast is starving, it tells you in the most dramatic pitiful way, which was what happened to me.

Healthy starter

Starving yeast

Thankfully the fix was simple enough. I just had to add more juice to the starter, and within a half-hour, the starter came back to life. But just in case, it is good to have spare yeast and nutrients around.  

Slowly acclimatize the starter by putting the bowl on the must in the primary fermentor for a few hours before pouring it in. Soon, the primary fermentor should feel really warm, and the must should be bubbling away. If you are really quiet, you could almost hear your yeast having a blast with all the sugars in the juice. 

Sugar Alone Ain't Enough

While sugar may be delicious, it alone can't keep the yeast healthy. Other nutrients are also needed, and an important one is nitrogen. Unfortunately, Washington grapes are notorious for having a very low nitrogen level, which could inhibit yeast activity and cause a stuck fermentation. 

We did an additional measurement on the must this year, known as the Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen (YAN). True enough, our YAN reading was at 33.7 mg N/l, a far cry from the targeted 250 mg N/l. Under the guidance of more experienced winemakers, I measured the amount of nutrients that I needed to add to the must. 

Hydrometer records 0 Brix

I went with Fermaid K, which consists of a complex formulation of nitrogen, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, I threw in a small dose of diammonium phosphate (DAP) for extra nitrogen. The nutrients and supplements gave the yeast such a nice boost in the fermentation process that I reduced the second dose and didn't even bother with a third dose.

By the tenth day after harvest, the juice was fermented to dryness. Alcoholic fermentation was completed. The must was no more, and I officially had wine. 

The next step was to start malolactic fermentation on the wine, and then it was time to press. More to come on that!

The Mighty Midnight Crushers

It was dark, but thankfully the rain had stopped. Over a dozen hobby winemakers were waiting in the cold for the grapes. This year, it was particularly late because of a shortage of pickers, and we were several hours behind schedule.

Around 8pm, the truck rolled into the processing site. We cheered! Let the crush begin.

The Crush

The gang got to work immediately, trying to make up for lost time. We unloaded the grapes and carefully allocated about 4,000 lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc into 50-lb totes. Organizing the allotment of grapes was challenging as lighting was inadequate and patience ran thin.

Then we ran into our first glitch - 150 lbs of Cab Sauv were missing.

Stephanie shoveling grapes

Chaos ensued. Not being able to account for the missing Cab Sauv, we decided that we could make up for the difference if we each gave up 4% of our grapes. Crisis averted. No one was going home without grapes.

An hour later, 100 lbs of grapes were found in a dark corner. A few of us tasted the grapes - definitely Cab Franc. How? Too tired to solve the mystery, we decided to re-distribute the grapes to those who were previously "taxed" 4% of the Cab Sauv. All's well that ends well.

Next, the second glitch at around 10pm - power outage.

With both crusher-destemmers running simultaneously, we must have tripped the circuit. We were crushing at a storage facility and had no access to the circuit breaker during these late hours. Our options were not looking good, and they probably included fighting raccoons over the grapes.

Thankfully, one of the winemakers lived close enough and was able to drag out his generator. Within an hour, we were back in business, crushing and de-stemming with all our might. The team remained in good spirits and were grateful that we were able to overcome each challenge. By the time we were done with the crush and clean-up, it was close to midnight.

Now, let me introduce you to our little co-op: The Mighty Midnight Crushers

The Genesis

We started planning in February. Four new hobby winemakers decided to join me to make our 2017 vintage. With only one vintage under my belt, I am hardly experienced. But thankfully, we have resources in the form of books, classes, more experienced winemakers, and access to really good grapes in Washington. More importantly, we are a group with the best attitude and eagerness to work together.

Grapes on staked vines

A month later, we placed an order for Red Mountain Cab Sauv from Artz Vineyards.

The Grapes

The first vintage I made was Yakima Valley Syrah, a forgiving varietal that is lovely even without oak. The Syrah was transformed with minimal intervention into a tasty fruit-forward wine within a year.

Cab Sauv however is a very different variety. Known for its small berry size and thick skin, Cab Sauv is favored for its tannins, which will need to be softened with oak. So I bought the smallest new French oak barrel I could find.



By end of August, the vineyards started sending out reports on the grapes. Forecasted harvest dates for different grape varieties were provided with varying degrees of accuracy, starting with white grapes followed by black and finishing with Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. The forecasted date for our Cab Sauv then was September 21.

The following month, the vineyards started running sugar (Brix) and acidity (pH and TA) tests on grape samples to determine ripeness. Still it was impossible to predict and plan our lives around the harvest date. September came and left, and Mother Nature continued to keep us guessing.

The Harvest

Our harvest date was finally set on Oct 17. We had less than a week to get ready. Two of our Mighty Midnight Crushers, Frank and Cindie, volunteered to drive to the Red Mountain AVA to collect our grapes as well as those ordered by other hobby winemakers.

Red Mountain AVA

How long the harvest may take typically depends on the weather and the availability of the pickers. Although the weather was lovely, there was a shortage of migrant workers this year. The vineyards owner herself joined her four workers to pick about 4,000 lbs of grapes that day.

It was late in the afternoon when the grapes were finally loaded onto the truck. Frank and Cindie had already been at the vineyards since that morning. They were glad to be on their way back to Western Washington. It was getting dark, and the winds were picking up. With a heavy load behind them, the drive navigating through the pass would take over three hours. They knew that they would be welcomed by over a dozen grateful winemakers waiting for the grapes in the cold. It would be dark, but hopefully the rain would have stopped.

A Sicilian Woman and Her Wine

It is the first weekend of fall, a season to begin drinking red wine again.

Looking through my cellar, I picked the 2013 Occhipinti Nero d'Avola Sicilia Siccagno, a lively wine made by a bold young Sicilian lady, Arianna Occhipinti. What a great way to pay tribute to Sicily and female winemakers!

Sicily and Nero d'Avola

Sicily

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, located in the south of the Italian boot-shaped peninsula, as if it is being kicked like a triangular soccer ball. For many years, Sicily's claim to fame, for me, consisted of mafia and Rachael Ray's maternal grandfather.

Although known for Marsala, Sicilian dry wines have more recently made inroads into Italian restaurants and grocery stores in the United States partly because of the friendlier price point. The most famous grape in Sicily is Nero d'Avola, dark-skinned (hence nero) and high in acidity. It is also the main grape in the only DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in Sicily, Cerasuolo di Vittoria. DOCG is the highest classification of Italian wines, ensuring that the winemaking process follows stringent rules and meets the quality for that classification.

Arianna Occhipinti

Arianna is the niece of Giusto Occhipinti, co-founder of the famed winery, COS. Since her teens, she has been working in a winery. In 2004, at the age of 21, Arianna ventured out to make her first commercial vintage with a single cask. Today, she has thirteen vintages, six wines, and a grappa under her belt. She even produced a Cerasuolo di Vittoria named Grotte Alte, which is 50% Nero d'Avola and 50% Frappato, a fruit-forward blending grape.

Arianna takes a minimalist approach to winemaking, preferring native yeasts and letting the grapes themselves guide the vinification process. While striving to keep her wines as natural as possible, Arianna has also become more comfortable with incorporating sulphite in the fermentation process. This reduces the problem of volatile acids and off flavors that challenged her earlier vintages.

2013 Occhipinti Nero d'Avola Sicilia Siccagno

2013 Occhipinti Nero d'Avola Sicilia Siccagno is classified as an IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica), loosely translated as the wine that is typical of the particular geographical region. IGT is the second level of the four-level classification of Italian wines. (DOCG being the top.) IGT wines are great for everyday drinking and are a level higher than table wine (VdT or Vino da Tavola). Here are my observations:

Day 1
Deep purple, the wine was jammy with lively acidity. It seemed to be medium-bodied, but the high acidity might have affected that perception. It was reminiscent of a very young Burgundy, not quite ready to enjoy fully and does not yet exhibit much complexity.

Day 2 
Transformation seemed to have taken place. Acidity seemed to have mellowed out and was more integrated with the wine. The wine was more balanced and opulent with flavors of plum. It was much more enjoyable!

My Verdict: I don't usually like high acidity in my red wine, and I need more dimensions (like tannins, structure) to balance it out. Thankfully, the wine evolved in that direction by the second day. However, I can see this as a great companion to rich dishes, like beef stew. Like many old world wines, the Siccagno is better as a food wine rather than a sipping wine.

Price: ~$40

My Wine is Too Oaky!

Oak in wine is like salt in food. It may enhance the flavor. But if you can taste it, you probably have too much of it. - A paraphrased but insightful observation of my wine class instructor.

My Oak and I

Oak in wine is indeed a controversial topic. When wine is in contact with oak, aromatic compounds from the oak are introduced to the wine. While there is no accounting for taste, wine geeks often argue about whether a wine is overoaked. That said, many of us are glad that the days of oaky California Chardonnay are behind us.

While there are different types of oak used for barrels (and in fact different types of wood), the two best known are French oak and American oak. Generally speaking, French oak tends to add subtle spiciness and silkiness to the wine while American oak tends to impart a stronger and sweeter flavor that is reminiscent of vanilla.

There are of course other factors that contribute to the influence of oak to the wine. For instance:

• Toast level - higher toast leads to stronger flavor
• Coarseness of grain - open-grain barrel releases aromatics sooner, and tight-grain releases aromatics later
• Barrel size - higher ratio of oak surface area to volume of wine results in more contact
• Time in barrel - more time in the barrel leads to extended contact
• New vs neutral barrels - newer barrels have more aromatic compounds

Wine aging in new French oak barrels in Burgundy

However, an often overlooked benefit of oak barrels is that they introduce a small amount of oxygen to the wine (known as micro-oxygenation) during maturation. Oxygen is critical for the polymerization of phenolic compounds to stabilize the color and improve the quality of the wine. Recent research even suggests that fermenting wine in oak barrels leads to a better quality wine, but that requires another level of maintenance for the wineries.

Now back to the question, when is a wine too oaky? It just depends on how much you like the taste of oak in your wine.

Personally, I find the sweet vanilla flavor imparted by American oak detracts from my enjoyment. I tend to like my red wine silky with nuanced spices and leather notes. I also like older well-made reds and would forgo fruitiness for complexity. In fact, my favorite red wines are often aged in Slavonian oak, known for its tight grain as well as lower aromatics and tannins level. Any guess as to the wine?

My Verdict: If you are like me, you probably prefer the silky soft tannins that result from barrel aging but could go light on the aromatics. Then, depending on the grape varietals, keep an eye out for wine made in French oak (or even Slavonian oak). However, if you like stronger flavors, particularly of vanilla, then maybe American oak is more to your liking. Check out the technical sheet of your favorite wine and see what oak is used and for how long. There's always much to learn!