Today on Serious Grape: The Mystery of Tasting Notes

If you've ever read a tasting note of mine--or any other wine writer--and thought "huh?" then you should head over to this week's Serious Grape post over on Serious Eats. (photo by MCHart)

In this week's entry I explain why adopting a varied diet, including advanced fruits like gooseberries and currants, is actually the best way to get more tasting pleasure out of your wine. It's all about the analogies you can make between the flavors in the glass and other flavors that exist outside it.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Do you agree that people who are foodies tend to be more sophisticated wine tasters as well?

Friday Nights In: Soup and Sauvignon Blanc for One (or More)

Friday Nights IN is a regular feature at GWU$20 that's intended to trim a few dollars from your entertaining budget by replacing a meal out with a meal in. Some suggestions are dinners for four, six, eight, or even ten. Some are for romantic dinners for two. And some suggestions are perfect for when you need time to yourself!

This week, how about putting some soup on the stove and chilling down a zesty Sauvignon Blanc to go with it? The pairing I suggest below makes an elegant, far-from-ordinary pot of warming soup that is perfect if your plans include sitting alone in front of the TV watching The Daily Show on TiVO. Because it's a pot of soup, it will feed as many as six. If you're on your own, make the whole pot anyway. You can have it for lunch over the weekend which gives you one less thing to do.

The Recipe: We loved this hearty fennel and zucchini soup with its slices of sausage and crunchy, cheesey Gouda croutons on top. If you are a vegetarian, it would be quite simple to omit the sausage and substitute vegetable stock. It has a gloriously green color (as long as you don't brown the onions--be careful!) that will remind you in the dead of winter that spring really will come back one day. The flavors are rich and nutty, and though the soup doesn't call for any cream its texture is luscious.

The Wine: For a wine that is as spring-like as the soup, try the 2008 Veramonte Reserva Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. This is a new release, and should be available near you for between $8 and $12. Like previous vintages, this is a reliably excellent QPR pick. A bit less intense than last year's vintage, the 2008 had aromas of gooseberry and pink grapefruit. The flavors pick up a richer note of crushed pineapple, which makes for a juicy wine with a mouthwatering aftertaste that will go well with the hearty but green soup described above.

Full Disclosure: I received this wine as a sample.

Advanced Fruit: Cabernet Franc

My friends all make fun of me because I have two classifications of fruit: regular fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, strawberries--the fruits suburban children in the 70s grew up with), and advanced fruit (pretty much everything else).

I don't know why, but fruit just is not my thing. I am pretty sure I didn't taste a cherry (minus Maraschinos in cocktails and on ice cream) until I was over 30. And yes, this does in fact mean I am not a fan of pie. When I got into wine, I had to start tasting advanced fruit--star fruit, litchis, gooseberries, currants, plums.

When it comes to wine, I think Cabernet Franc qualifies as advanced fruit.

After the holidays, when I've had my fill of rich foods and rich wines I find myself gravitating towards Cabernet Franc. It's like a tune-up for your palate. And, a great Cabernet Franc can be a challenging and rewarding wine to drink because it doesn't taste like apples or strawberry jam. Instead, it tastes like some green and red mix of herbs, fruit, and spices.

This year's advanced fruit selection came in the form of the 2006 Clos Saint-Fiacre. ($13.73, Garagiste; I can't seem to find any retailers who stock it) Made with 100% Cabernet Franc, the wine had aromas of cherry and chalk accompanied by hints of green pepper. A satiny texture made the flavors of cherries, stony minerals, and green herbs slide down your throat without any problem. Unlike some Cabernet Francs, which can be a bit aggressive in the green pepper department, this one had a lovely balance between the herbal, fruit, and mineral notes, and I thought it represented excellent QPR as a result.

I had to get on Twitter and ask for food recommendations for this wine, since not everybody likes mushrooms at my house and that's one of the best pairings for Cabernet Franc. Jill from domaine547 said "anything with rosemary," so I took a pork tenderloin, rubbed mustard and brown sugar on it, and then rolled it in rosemary and thyme. I roasted it in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes after searing it in a cast iron fry pan on the stove, and served it along with some wild rice and green beans. All the flavors--the mustard, the rosemary (thanks, Jill!), the green beans, and the earthy rice--went perfectly with the wine.

I finished the meal feeling like my tastebuds had been given a workout with some advanced fruit and that I was ready for whatever the new year brings.

New Grape of the Month: Fetească Neagră

As regular readers know, I love getting acquainted with new grape varieties.

So when a dear friend gave me a bottle of Romanian wine made with Fetească Neagră grapes I was doubly thrilled. I've never had a Romanian wine, and never even heard of Fetească Neagră.

I hit the books to learn more.

Romania is at the crossroads of Europe, and they've been growing grapes there for more than 6000 years. As you might expect from a place with that much wine-making and grape-growing history, wine plays an important part in the area's culture. Romanian wine production went through a major transformation in the 1990s when it was privatized following decades of communist control. Western investment poured in, because Romanian wine regions--which are at the same latitude as the vineyards of France--have enormous potential thanks to the combination of mountain and maritime influences.

Romanian wine lovers prefer white wines to red wines, but among the reds there are all kinds of varietal discoveries to be made like Roşioară, Babească, and the variety I tried--Fetească Neagră. According to the Oxford Companion to Wine, only 1300 ha of the grape are planted, and the wines produced from it are considered to be age-worthy.

Book learning is great, but when it comes to wine there's a better way to get to know a grape--so I popped the cork.

The 2005 Cramele Halewood Blue Danube was a glorious bottle that reminded me of a red wine poised between a silky Pinot Noir and a rich French Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes were grown on the south-facing slopes of the Carpathian mountains in the Dealu Mare region which is known for its high-quality red wines. There were shy aromas of pure cassis and some thyme with a whisp of woodsmoke. In the flavors, I tasted cherry, cassis, and a slightly smoky aftertaste. The sparkling acidity at the core of this wine is in terrific balance with the fruit, and made it disappear all too quickly at our house along with a Sunday meal of roasted meat and vegetables. Excellent QPR for a wine that costs less than $12.

There may not be a lot of Romanian wine on your local wine shelves, but if you're curious you can find a bottle of this wine for between $10 and $12 from these retailers. And of course, you might want to ask your favorite store to get some in stock and expand their wine horizons, too. If you like it as much as I did, I'm confident this won't be the last bottle of Romanian wine you try!

A Spanish Contender for House White

Finding a white wine versatile enough to qualify as a house white can be oddly difficult.

Some white wines are too sharp. Some white wines are too flabby. Some white wines are too darn expensive.

The 2006 Telmo Rodriguez Basa, on the other hand, is just right.

As such, it's an excellent QPR Spanish contender for your house white. ($11.99, domaine547; available elsewhere for the same price). Made from biodynamically farmed grapes, it has zesty flavors, and a heavier moutfheel than most zingy white wines. There are lime zest and litchi-fruit aromas, which are subtle until it warms up in the glass. Waxy flavors of Meyer lemon, golden delicious apple, candied lemon peel, and lime round out the experience of this delicious white wine made from a blend of Verdejo, Viura, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Versatile enough to go with everything from chicken and feta tostadas (a Greek twist on a Mexican classic) to chicken with lemon and olives, this is a wine that will be welcome on almost any table.