Old World vs New World wines - again- and some Christmas wine suggestions

This is one of those things that I have realized - or maybe, it's better to say - had an epiphany about. I know I've blogged about it before but it is such an important thing that I have realized that I am going to go on about it once again.

I have slowly grown to notice this, and thanks to taking my WSET course as well as tasting wine thoughtfully - one might even say, mindfully.

What is it? There is a big difference between Old World and New World wines and one way to look at it is this:

In the Old World - and here, I'm talking largely of France and Italy, although this may apply to other European countries - wine has grown up as an accompaniment to food. When you look at a fine French wine - say, a Chablis - the next thing that you do is figure out what you are going to pair it with - say, a whitefish or some shellfish with a cream sauce. These wines are really meant to be imbibed with the food of the area that they are close to. A bottle of Chianti? Try it with some Spaghetti Bolognese. A bottle of Bordeaux? Try a grilled steak or some lamb. Nebbiolo? How about a Piedmont fondue with truffles?

These are wines that cry out for a food pairing.

Just last month I had a Bordeaux from Paulliac that tasted ok at first sip but needed something. It turned out that it needed a big, juicy sirloin steak to make it sing.

New world wines, on the other hand, are, for the most part, just fine to drink on their own. It's easy to just sip away before dinner until the darn thing is gone and dinner isn't even on the table! This happens far too often at our house and with friends. On occasion, I bring a bottle of wine to a party, after asking what is being served, because it will go well with the food. Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10, it will be gone or mostly gone by the time the first course hits the table.

Now, just because many New World wines are good on their own, it doesn't mean that they aren't good with food. Many of them make fantastic pairings. On occasion, though, the wines just don't sing like one from the Old World.

Here are some wine suggestions as Christmas approaches (but good anytime):

First is one that I've had before - but probably a couple of months before I started this blog. It was a (New World) 2014 Terrunyo Block 17 Carmenere from Chile - and I bought it for my (now) son-in-law because it was written up as the best Carmenere in Chile. At the time, I shuddered to pay $38 for a bottle of wine - now I don't shudder so much if I know it is going to be a special wine. When we bought this particular wine I actually purchased three bottles, one to give, one to drink, and one to hold on. Last night, we had the one to hold on.

It was a wonderful wine - even better than the first bottle. It was a super dark rich, purple wine with wonderful black and red fruit flavours and some tannins. It had some nice oak and was a wine that really seemed to stand up with a strong intensity of flavours. We had prepared pork chops baked in the oven over a potato and tomato gratin but, unfortunately, by the time dinner was on the table, guess what?

Next up is a tasty Tuesday night wine. Yes, it is good to drink fancy wines such as the Carmenere but the reality is that most of us can't afford to drink a $40 bottle every night.  This one I chose because somebody gave it 89 points (although there's a large contingent of experts who are not particularly please with the point system - for an excellent view on this issue, check out this article by Jancis Robinson) and it was an Old World Cotes du Rhone. It is a Pere Anselme La Fiole from the Cotes de Rhone - the producer is actually from Chateauneuf de Pape. Although my Vivino app thinks it' is an actual CNP blend, it is actually a $17 bottle that tastes pretty good - specially for a Tuesday night. Nothing too intense or complex and definitely goes better with some food.

The third wine was recommended to me by a pretty reliable source at one of my favourite liquor stores. It was a New World Argentinian Fuego Blanco Cabernet Franc Malbec that I was pretty excited about. I love Cab Franc and was intrigued about the addition of the Malbec. Unfortunately, I found this wine to be rather dull or thin - not awful but not worth the $35 I paid for it. I was defintely disappointed and would not consider purchasing it again - wth or without food. I was surprised that it was rated pretty highly in the  Vivino app (and that someone on the bottle had given it 93 points) but my advice is - stay away from this one.

Finally, a fantastic (Old World) port! For the 325th anniversary of the company, Taylor Fladgate has come out with a tawny port that is a mix of 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old tawny ports. It is incredible! It has complex tastes and is not overly sweet so you can really enjoy sitting back and sipping. It also comes in a commemorative bottle which reflects the design of the original port bottle when the company started (my wife loves the bottle and won't let me throw it out). At $48 a bottle, it's a bit of a splurge but is actually a great price for tawny port. I swear I can taste elements from each decade as I savour this wonder. If you have a port drinker on your Christmas list, I recommend that you check your local liquor store stock and buy what you can. There's a reason why there's four bottles in the photo!

Humble Pie - with some Syrah and Grenache - WSET class 5 part 2

I am starting to get to know my wine class group members a bit better. They are a nice bunch of people and I look forward to learning with them each week. They are also all involved in either the wine industry or the service industry and, despite my advantage in amount of years lived, I think their jobs give them a lot more experience with exposure to wine. I guess there aren't that many opportunities to drink wine while teaching....

At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Sigh....

Tonight's fiasco was the Grenache tasting.  We were given two wines to blind taste - one a cheaper Grenache from Spain and the other a Chateauneuf du Pape.  Several years ago, I was in Chateauneuf du Pape for the wine festival (Fete de la Véraison) and tried many, many different wines from the region. I kind of considered myself a bit of an expert on these wines - until tonight.

The first wine we tried was medium ruby with a medium intensity on the nose. There were aromas of plum, cherry and jam and additional tastes of berry, plum and tobacco. The tannins were low, the acidity was medium with medium body. I thought it had a medium finish but it was actually a medium minus finish. I thought it was the Chateauneuf du Pape but it was actually a Besso de Vino Garnacha from Spain rated Good which cost a pricey $14. Ouch!

The second was medium ruby, and had a medium plus intensity on the nose (yet, I thought it was low intensity). I had a hard time noticing anything beyond red fruit on the nose but there was actually dark cherries, plum, herbaceous, and leather. I thought it tasted a bit thin or watery but I was wrong there as well - it had medium tannins, medium plus acidity and full body. I thought it had a short finish but, in fact, it had a medium plus finish and was rated Very Good. It was a 2013 Domaine Giraud Chateauneuf du Pape that was worth $90!

The person in our group that reported out to the class nailed it perfectly - she could tell which was which. I, on the other hadn't, had it completely wrong! I guess I have to go back to Chateauneuf du Pape for another wine festival!

The final two wines were both made from the Syrah grape (called Shiraz in Australia)  and I redeemed myself a bit - if only to myself.

The first was a beautiful ruby/purple deep coloured wine that had a medium intensity on the nose and smelled of leather, tobacco, white pepper, and currants. On the palate there was black fruit (currants, cherry) and raisin. It had high acidity, high tannins and medium body. It had a medium finish but amazing complexity. This amazing wine (almost Exceptional) was 2011 John-Louis Chave Farconnet Hermitage from France that cost $100.

The second was deep purple with medium intensity with black fruit, black pepper and a bit of mint. It tasted of lots of dark, jammy fruit, had medium acidity, medium tannins, and full body. This Very Good wine was a Torbrec Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in Australia worth $40.

I was able to pick out the Hermitage - but both of these wines were certainly drinkable and good to have. The previous two, though, I don't know how I was so off base!

Now pass another piece of that humble pie....

Pizza Wine!

I love pizza.

Really love pizza.

I remember our trip to Rome a couple years ago where we had the best pizza imaginable. It was a simple Margherita pizza with the crust, tomato sauce, basil, and a bit of cheese. It was an amazing moment!

Since then, I have had no time for crappy take out pizza from one of the many chains. No cardboard for me!

Soon after I cam back from Rome, a fellow teacher at my school, Deanne, introduced me to the Inno Bakery that had frozen, pre-made pizza dough. Defrost one of these suckers and you have enough dough for two, thin, Italian style pizzas!

It was a tiring week at work for both of us, so I decided that this was an excellent time to create a couple of tasty homemade pizzas.

One I cooked in the very cool Breville toaster oven which has an actual pizza setting and comes with a pizza pan (although I have since replaced it since I wore it out). This pizza had tomato sauce made with just tomatoes, prosciutto salami, sliced tomatoes, black olives and shredded mozzarella.

The other I cooked on a pizza stone on the BBQ. This one had the same ingredients except for pesto instead of tomato sauce (Italissama makes great pesto sauce - just like we had in the Cinque Terra!) and sundried tomatoes instead of sliced tomatoes.

I like doing both because the toaster oven takes longer than the BBQ so I can make that one, throw it in the oven, prepare the next pizza, throw it on the BBQ, and they are ready about the same time.

But what kind of wine? What kind of wine, indeed?

Well, certainly not a Bordeaux or another strong wine with lots of tannins. That just would not do for a simple dish like pizza. So I looked through my purchases from last week and found what I thought would go well, a Côtes de Rhône Villages!

This wine is grown near the Rhone River. It is made of Grenache and Syrah grapes and sometimes other grapes such as Mouvedre and Cinsault. The way it works it that the base level (still good wine!) is called Côtes de Rhône. The next level is called Côtes de Rhône Villages - the one I bought. Finally, the highest level are the ones from named villages such as Chateauneuf de Papes.

This wine was a 2013 Côtes de Rhône Villages Boutinot Les Coteaux which sold for $17.79. It had a red fruit and plummy nose and a medium intensity in colour (which means I could see through the wine but not super clearly). It tasted of red fruit like raspberries and cherries although there was a bit of black currant and some light tannins. It also had a medium finish.

And after a very hectic week, it was delicious! Sometimes that's good enough...

A Fine Rosé

My wife and I went on a lovely trip with our two (at the time) teenage girls to Europe for a grand tour of six weeks in the summer of 2005. It was a great tour, with the first three weeks in the UK visiting friends and relatives - I had completed a year long teacher exchange in 2001 and this part of the trip provided closure.

The second half was a house exchange with a family in Nîmes, France. We had a wonderful time while we stayed there from the first night where we spent the evening with our exchange family (it's funny how much my French improved as I drank more wine) to a day at the Chateauneuf du Pape wine festival to seeing a multitude of ancient bridges, aqueducts, buildings and statues to enjoying the wonderful food and wine in Southern France.

At this point in our lives, we had started to drink better - not just the crappy stuff I used to make in my basement. But we were a bit snooty about white wine. "Sorry, we're red wiiiine drinkers (you poor ignorant twit)!"

Nîmes was really hot. Like 40 degrees Celsius hot. Like over 100 degrees Fahrenheit hot.

Have you ever tried to drink a bold red wine in the heat? Forget it.

Drinking a fine rosé on the patio of our exchange home.

So we figured out what everyone else did. They drank rosé, so we drank rosé.

We unabashedly bought wine at the hypermarché (supermarket) and it was really, really good! We sipped on our chilled rosé in the evening on the patio of our exchange house while we ate the most wonderful food - little lamb savoury pastries, bull sausage, fresh, hot baguettes, a French cake with wonderful filling and sugar bits stuck on the outside, foie gras (yes, I felt bad for the goose but it was overwhelmingly delicious), and a host of other foods. And with it all, rosé and more rosé!

After that wonderful summer, we decided that rosé would be our summer drink. Since then, I have gotten over my prejudice against white wine but I still have a fondness for rosé.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we were in the Okanagan. We stopped at Hester Creek and had a wonderful wine tasting with Sarah.She poured a nice range of wines and the one that we liked the most was their rosé. We also like Sarah as she was particularly friendly, knowledgeable and welcoming.

When it came time to choose a wine to accompany a turkey at our house for our family dinner, I thought about the rose and served it.

The 2016 rosé (currently on sale at BC liquor stores for $15.99) is made from Cabernet Franc, a grape that I don't usually associate with rosé. It was very drinkable - still fairly dry but also quite fruity. It was crisp and clean on the palate and paired well with the turkey. It would pair even more favourably with a hot day on the deck....