The recent heatwave has ushered in the summer season. I am reminded of last summer's distraction from the heat with my foray into the world of Rose' wines. I would visit a liquor store that had no idea what they carried, and sample Roses to learn for myself the various types and styles. There I was, sitting on the back porch watching the sun go down, planning the opening of the store and thinking to myself there is good pink to drink. So refreshing, and versitile with many foods, especially grilled foods. I was like many, rose' is like White Zinfandel, and I am not interested. I was so wrong. Rose' opened a whole other world of wine gifts to humans. On another note, there is controversy brewing in the wine world as there are some that want to permit the blending of white and red wine to create the rose'. We will see what develops there.
Here is the quick version of rose' production. Remember the color of the wine is a result of the length of time the skins of the grape are with the juice. There are basically two ways of making rose'. The main one is leaving the red skins on the squeezed juice for a just a few hours and then removing them from the tank. The other is called bleeding which means they "bleed" off some of the juice from a soon to be red wine and leave the remaining extra skins to stay with the remaining juice to concentrate the tannins, color, and flavor. The first process is specific to doing the rose', where the second is producing rose' as a kind of by-product of the real purpose, making red wine.
Dry rose' is very refreshing and should be served chilled. The prominent flavor is strawberry but depending on what the grape is, you have lots of other interesting flavors. Syrah and Grenache, Mourvedre, Cabernet, Cabernet Franc are some of the grapes used to make delicious rose wine. Rose' is an excellent appetizer wine with its versatility to a wide range of food flavors. It can help mellow spicy dishes such as Mexican & Thai, and they can have the body to hold up to many meats.
The wine shop has rose wine from Germany, Italy, Spain, France, South Africa, and California. The wines can be so refreshing on a hot summer day. I now understand the attraction to rose from winemakers and critics alike. I encourage you to try one or two this summer. But I must warn you, you may get the pink bug.
John
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Organic
Organic is word that continues to grow and grow in importance to a lot of people. From food to wine, our hopes are we are enjoying a product that is better for our bodies. There are several wineries that are branding their wines to be organic to appeal to this growing market. Isn't any growing plant (grapevines) "organic"? Yes it is, but did they use pesticides and fertilizers?
Organic farming in the wine world (in simple terms) means no synthetic pesticides and fertilizers were used in the growing of the grapes. There are several different types of organic farming, 1) Practicing Organic, 2) Certified Organic Europe, 3) Certified Organic with label approval in USA, 4) Bio dynamic, and 5) Sustainable. It is shame the world cannot agree on what is Certified Organic, but perhaps down the road their will be some organic unity.
The consumer must rely on the retailer to help them in their organic search. Some winemakers practise organic farming but will not pay the expenses of certification and label approval. Some in Europe will not pay the costs of USA certification. The retailer has the challenge of knowing whether or not a producer is organic, or sustainable or bio dynamic or neither. Some labels promote their "organic" which is big help, but these are only a fraction of wines available that are "organic" in some form.
Some consumers are having adverse effects to some wines they drink, and with those headaches the blame goes to sulfites. Sulfites are a natural byproduct of wine making process. There are sulfites in every wine, and thus every bottle label must say "Contains Sulfites." It is true that some winemakers add sulfites to the wine as a preservative, but the labels will not say "Sulfites Added". So it is guessing game with which producer adds and which doesn't. I hear story after story of people that travelled to Europe and drank wine there with no physical effects from the wine. Was it the lack of sulfites, or did this producer practise organic farming or did they eat with their wine?
In conclusion, I suggest organic wines in the experiment of wine causing headaches. Sulfites could indeed be the cause, as some people are more sensitive to certain things than others, but I believe the problem could be synthetics, not sulfites. Our wine store now has a special Organic Section (our bottle tree) that has bottles of wine that are labelled organic and wines that practise organic farming but have no label approval.
Cheers!
John Myers
Organic farming in the wine world (in simple terms) means no synthetic pesticides and fertilizers were used in the growing of the grapes. There are several different types of organic farming, 1) Practicing Organic, 2) Certified Organic Europe, 3) Certified Organic with label approval in USA, 4) Bio dynamic, and 5) Sustainable. It is shame the world cannot agree on what is Certified Organic, but perhaps down the road their will be some organic unity.
The consumer must rely on the retailer to help them in their organic search. Some winemakers practise organic farming but will not pay the expenses of certification and label approval. Some in Europe will not pay the costs of USA certification. The retailer has the challenge of knowing whether or not a producer is organic, or sustainable or bio dynamic or neither. Some labels promote their "organic" which is big help, but these are only a fraction of wines available that are "organic" in some form.
Some consumers are having adverse effects to some wines they drink, and with those headaches the blame goes to sulfites. Sulfites are a natural byproduct of wine making process. There are sulfites in every wine, and thus every bottle label must say "Contains Sulfites." It is true that some winemakers add sulfites to the wine as a preservative, but the labels will not say "Sulfites Added". So it is guessing game with which producer adds and which doesn't. I hear story after story of people that travelled to Europe and drank wine there with no physical effects from the wine. Was it the lack of sulfites, or did this producer practise organic farming or did they eat with their wine?
In conclusion, I suggest organic wines in the experiment of wine causing headaches. Sulfites could indeed be the cause, as some people are more sensitive to certain things than others, but I believe the problem could be synthetics, not sulfites. Our wine store now has a special Organic Section (our bottle tree) that has bottles of wine that are labelled organic and wines that practise organic farming but have no label approval.
Cheers!
John Myers
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