THE GREAT WINES OF FRANCE

The truth is that there are only a few great wines. That is the miracle and the mystery of wine, that the vine-the Vitis vinifera- has traveled right around the world, and yet in only a few fate-favored places is great wine produced. What do I mean by "great" wine? Simply this: Certain spots in some magical way combine the right soil, the right amount of sun, the right amount of rain, the right angle of slope- all these things for the right kind of grape to produce wines that in their balance, their bouquet, their subtlety of flavor and often their longevity, are unmatched by any others. They are all different from one another, having in common only their nobility, which they express in endless, enthralling ways; and it is a good thing that your palate will prefer this one and mine prefer that one, so that there will be no end to the delightful debates over their respective virtues. But in this select company all are superb, and all unique. Each is a creation that could not be duplicated chemically, or even naturally in another spot- not even by using the same grapes and importing the same soil and the same workmen with the same methods of cultivation and harvest. Move the vine and the wine will be different. There are vineyards in Burgundy where the vines at the top of the hill yield a far finer wine than do  those a few hundred yards farther down. Half a mile away the situation may be reversed; the lower slope may be the favored one. Why on vineyard should produce an ordinary wine and another across the valley should produce an a supreme one, no one knows; but that is the way it is, and we should be grateful that in a standardized, machine-made world there is on article that cannot be turned out to pattern. There are so many great wine regions in France, but, I cannot delay any longer in dealing with the world's greatest wines, the ones ideally suited to accompany the main meat course of any meal: the fabulous French wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Both of these regions produce red and white wine- and in each the best is generally conceded to rank with best in the world. Bordeaux comes in tall, slender bottles and has been called the Queen of red wines. It is subtle, inclined to be on the light, dry side, with an aftertaste that is indescribable.Its appeal is discreet and aristocratic. By contrast, Burgundy is the King. Its bottle is stouter in shape, with sloping shoulders, and the wine is stouter too. It is heavier, "chewier"; it hurls its imperial brilliance at you with a shout. Getting to know the Bordeaux and the Burgundies, with their apparent infinity of place names and complicated labels, seems a hopelessly confusing task. Actually it is simpler than it seems, for the French government has established regulations to aid the wine lover. These are the famous Appellation control laws, put into operation in the 1930's. Their aim is not only to prevent such sharp practices as the adulteration of good wines with bad ones and the use of misleading labels, but also to try to force each district to produce the very best wines that it is capable of. To that end, the laws specify the exact boundaries of each district, the kinds of grapes that may be grown in those districts, and even the amount of wine that can be produced per acre in each district. In Medoc district of Bordeaux, for example, the general quality of the wine is very high, and Appellation Control laws are aimed at keeping it that way- the Medoc is subject to stricter standards of quality than the other wine-producing districts in both Bordeaux and Burgundy.

BORDEAUX: Let us take up Bordeaux first. With no exception, without even a rival, this all-important area stands supreme for the extent, quality and variety of its wines. Every type of unfortified wine is made there: delicate and full-bodied reds, dry and sweet white wines, even a little Rose. The wines of Bordeaux run the full gamut of quality and price, from obscure local pressings that sell for a few cents a bottle and are drunk on the spot (they are not worth shipping), to the great Chateau names like Lafite and Haut-Brion, which ring like bells in the imagination of the wine lover, and which, for a good vintage, command upwards of $100 a bottle-when they are available. The boundaries of the Bordeaux region are defined by the Appellation Control laws. Any wine grown there, so long as it conforms to other provisions of the laws, may be labeled Bordeaux- Bordeaux red, Bordeaux white. Primarily, that designation guarantees the place of origin. It says nothing about the quality. To find a somewhat better grade of wine, one does not buy a mere Bordeaux; one should select a bottle from a certain part of Bordeaux region, which is divided, again by the laws, into two dozen separate districts. Many of these produce rather undistinguished wines, but five of them produce some of the greatest wines in the world, and the quality within those five districts is so superior that there is an obvious advantage for the grower in any one of the five in labeling his wine as coming from there. The five are: Medoc, Graves, St.Emilion and Pomerol, renowned for their reds, and Sauternes, for its supreme dessert wines, which are white.

THE SPANISH KITCHEN AND WINE

Please understand that Spanish cuisine and Mexican cuisine have almost nothing in common. The cultures share a few dishes due to Spanish influence in Mexico, but that was hundreds of years ago and the cuisine of beans and tortillas is not known in Spain. It never was. The Spanish view the evening meal as a very important time of the day. Dinner is eaten very late in the evening after chatting with friends over a glass of sherry and Tapas. The dinner goes late into the night. They do not see the meal as a "before event" such as we do before the theater or before the evening gets along. The meal is the event. The evening is spent dining with your friends and family. Americans find it hard to believe that Spaniards begin dinner about 10p.m. But please remember, the have several meals during the day, not the ordinary three that we celebrate. So by the time the last meal of the day arrives it is time to sit back, relax and enjoy the presence of those that you love. The American dinner is eaten in a hurry, and very early in terms of Mediterranean standards, so that we "can get on with the evening." At this point the Spanish find us very strange and difficult to understand. Why do we want to hurry anything? I think because we feel guilty eating when we feel we should be doing something puritanical and work like. I'm with the Spanish. The wines of Spain are world famous, and they should be. The great Rioja region produces first-class reds and whites and remember the Spanish invented Sherry, a wine left in barrels to "burn" in the sun until it is nutty and rich in flavor. All of these wines are used in cooking the wonderful cuisine of the Spaniards.

A JUG OF WINE

"Jug" wine has probably done more to promote the idea of wine as an everyday drink for the table than anything else in this country. We are indeed blessed in having an enormous wine-producing area in the hot valleys of California that can deliver to us a cornucopia of grapes for making into inexpensive table wines. And in fact, the quality level of this American "Vin ordinaire" is generally superior to that of most European countries. On the  other hand, much of the "Chablis," "Burgundy" and "Rhine" wine sold is pretty dull stuff. Not awful, just dull. A good jug wine should be fresh and fruity, "cleanly" made, with no peculiar or chemical odors. It should be balanced in sweetness and tartness. It should not be too heavy or harsh but should not taste like water either. It should be able to accompany food and is should be pleasant enough that you can drink more than one glass. Sadly, there are a number of California jug wines that do not meet these criteria. Some are possessed of a ghastly sweetness that will cloy the least discriminating of palates. Some are so earthy and vegetal that you wonder who put the cabbage and dill in them. Some taste unripe, some like cleanser. It's sad, especially because for some people this is their only experience of wine and having tried one of these they decide that wine is not for them. But there are some decent jugs out there, put out by California's enormous wineries. "Chablis" usually designates a fairly (though not totally) dry white wine-some nice examples are: Gallo Chablis Blanc (a reliable old timer). "Rhine" wine is almost always sweeter, sometimes quite sweet, with varying degrees of fruit. Almaden Mountain and Carlo Rossi are decent examples for those who like that style. "Burgundy" is red wine that can be in any of a wide variety of styles, from sweet and dull to dry and herbal. Almaden Mountain Burgundy and Gallo Hearty Burgundy are a good example in the sweeter, softer style. One would think that varietal jugs, named after single grape types, would be superior wines, but that isn't necessarily the case.The blends are often superior and less expensive. There are also some "premium" jug wines-in the same large-bottle format, but selling for a dollar or two more. Often these wines, made by wineries that also produce premium varietal wines, and are considerably better than the standard jugs. Robert Mondavi, Parducci and Fetzer are some good names to look for. There is a definite role for jug wine. We don't always want, nor can we afford to open a nice bottle of wine for every meal. Often just a simple glass of wine to relax with is just what we need. So, sure, keep a bottle of red and white on hand if you like-it's always useful for pouring into the pot, in any case.

EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF MATCHING FOOD AND WINE!

1. Drink the wines you enjoy with the foods you enjoy. If you have a thirst for Riesling and a hunger for steak, So be it. You will note be zapped by lightning for putting the two together. And in truth the flavors that your palate prefers will probably go together just fine.

2. Experiment. You might make some ghastly choices. But you will stimulate your own thinking about food flavors, as different wines accent different flavors in a dish. And you may, perhaps by dumb luck, hit upon some wonderful marriage of food and wine that will win you acclaim in your kitchen.

3. Do you want to show off  the food, or the wine? This is especially an issue when you're entertaining. If you are preparing a tricky and special dish that you hope your guests will ooh and aah over, don't distract them with an expensive 20yr old wine. Hungry people eating and drinking can concentrate on only so much at a time. Serve a good wine that will complement the meal but will not be too assertive.
Likewise, if you are dusting off a fine old bottle or have invested a small fortune in the hottest new wine, make sure you get the hoped for reaction by preparing simple food that will provide a tasty background for the wine.

4. The 4th involves a choice: you can match for similarity or for contrast. For example, if you are serving fish with a rich, buttery sauce, you might want to pick a Chardonnay or white Burgundy that has very buttery characteristics, as many do. In other words, you find food and wine with similar flavors (not always an easy task). But sometimes you may use wine as a counterbalance, to cut through or set off aggressive flavors in a dish. A good example here are oily types of fish, which often do best with tart, crisp white wines like a Pouilly Fume or Italian Chardonnay, both of which refresh the palate. This principle also gives you a wonderful out when, in your experimenting, you make a real blooper. As your guests grimaces over a nasty battle between food and wine you can observe to them that you hope that the contrast between food and wine flavors has worked out to their satisfaction.

5. Match strength to strength. If you're serving a delicate cod dish, don't attack it with a full-flavored California Chardonnay. If you're serving a rich, spicy, tomatoey pasta dish, don't let it overwhelm a pale red Burgundy. Light flavors deserve light wine; heavy flavors or spicy ones, need heavy wine.

6. The next principle will slightly complicate your task- the secret is the sauce. In many cases you want to match a wine not to the main ingredient in a dish but to the sauce. Why do you use a sauce? Because it changes the flavors of the food you're preparing. Salmon with creamy dill sauce is rather different from Salmon with lobster sauce- a wine that is good with one might not complement the other. So consider the balance of sweetness and tartness, the creaminess, the herbs in the sauce when thinking of a wine.

7. The next principle is one of my favorite. It involves the one bit of chemistry that makes wine and food significant. It is the acid in wine that makes it tastes tart (or sour), but acid is the backbone of any wine, and the best food wines are nearly always those with healthy acid levels. The hazard of trying to evaluate a wine without food is that a wine tastes overly tart by itself, but will be delightfully refreshing and stimulating with a meal. Likewise, a wine low in acid (often called "soft") that tastes lush and flavorful by itself may simply have its flavors disappear when served with food. All the other flavors in wine "hang" on the acid-so consider the acid of a wine when matching with food. Just because a wine is sweet doesn't mean it is low in acid. German Rieslings are usually slightly sweet, but they have good balancing acid-more in fact, than many other white wines. This makes them, despite what you've heard, actually rather good food wines, particularly with rich foods.

8. Let the last principle be... tradition. American food and wine lovers have devoted a decade or so to the serious business of matching food and wine, and in typically American fashion, have come up with a variety of technically sophisticated and well-organized approaches. Meanwhile, Europeans have for the better part of two millennium been happily sating their appetites with local wines made to suit the local cuisine-and have so mastered this art that they needn't think about it. So the marvelous sweet beef of Burgundy matches beautifully with Pinot Noir, while the fat fowls, freshwater crayfish and delicate cheeses of the region make one crave, Chardonnay. The rich, spicy dishes of Germany suit Riesling just fine, thank you very much, while Italian Chianti does very nicely with the Prosciutto, minestrone and grilled meats and game of the Tuscan hills. The easiest way to deal with the vexing question of matching wine to food is simply to follow the lead of our forebears. It's difficult to go wrong serving a lovely Italian wine with an Italian dinner. (And yes there is such a thing as Spaghetti wine). When serving seafood, look for wines made by those close enough to the sea to smell it.

THE HOUR OF THE APERITIF

The French have always, and with justice, been regarded as the world's gastronomic authorities. They have maintained that some mildly alcoholic beverage is required to set the gastric juices in motion, and they have developed a succession of delightful predinner concoctions that they call Aperitifs to perform this function. The Italians, in fact all Mediterranean peoples-and even Americans- have joined them in their pursuit. There are a number of Aperitifs that would make an admirable introduction to a thoughtfully planned dinner, but the choice depends on the kind of dinner you are proposing to give. If it is to be a buffet-style meal accompanied by a suitable table wine, then your guests should sit down to table with their appetites unimpaired and their gastric juices no more than set in motion. If you are going to serve good wines, then it is necessary to invite guests who will appreciate them and who can be trusted out of respect for the wines to arrive punctually, so that the period of waiting can be genuine, for which one cocktail, highball or Aperitif will be sufficient. It is quite another matter if the cocktail period is going to the meal itself-as it is nowadays in many houses.
The word Aperitif comes from the Latin Aperire, meaning to open, and indeed, a variety of fresh, slightly bitter drinks have traditionally been used to open both meals and appetites. More than mere cocktail-hour stimulants,however, wine aperitifs are also thought to be healthful because many contain small amounts of quinine, an ingredient originally added to protect French soldiers from Malaria. There are four aromatic wines that have been blended with bitter bark, brandy and Quinine (Dubonnet, Byrrh, St. Raphael and Lillet). Currently, the best selling French aperitif in the United States is Lillet, first created in 1887 when two French brothers white Bordeaux wine with a mixture of macerated fruit and small amount of quinine. Today, ten different fruits-eight of which are a well kept secret- along with sweet and bitter orange peel and quinine are cold-macerated in French brandy for four to six months before they are mixed with wine and aged. Two types of Lillet are made; non vintage, also called classic, and vintage, making it the only vintaged aperitif in the world.Vintage Lillet is aged in newer oak barrels than non vintage. Lillet Blanc, both vintage and non vintage, is produced from Bordeaux grown Sauvignon Blanc,Semillon and Muscadelle grapes. Lillet Rouge, whether vintage or non vintage, is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

LEARNING THE JOYS OF WINE, THE PLEASURES OF SPIRITS!!

The wine lover need not know and usually does not care that a peeled ripe peach, pricked 99 times, revolves slowly in a bubbling glass of cold Champagne. Nor does it matter to them that this is a delectable summer drink called Stachelschwein, "the porcupine" in Germany, where it is popular. Such knowledge is reserved for the bookworm. As for the neophyte among wine  lovers, there are thousands of other pieces of information (of great or little importance) that lie ahead of him. As they get into the subject, he will find greater enjoyment in the beers, wines and spirits of their choice when he knows something of the history and characteristics of each type and its place of origin. It does not matter much whether the first wines we savor are those of Australia, or South Africa, whether the table wines of a family come from Italy, Chile or California. The important thing is that we take the time to read, learn and drink!!! Knowledge, along with the constant tasting, can bring an appreciation of why, where and how we should enjoy our wines and spirits. There are many interesting differences to learn about. A brandy from Cognac and one made in Armagnac, for example, are both Brandies- but being distilled in different ways and aged in different kinds of casks, they are quite different in taste. A whisky made in Scotland is very different from the product of Ireland or our own American ryes and Bourbons. It is perhaps not surprising that table wines differ when made from different grapes; but it is remarkable that the dry white Blanc-Fume wines of the Loire valley are very different from the sweet white Chateau d'Yquem and other wines made from the same grape in Gironde Valley just to the south.
For the person who envies the evident joys their friends derive from choosing and drinking the right wine in the right place at the right time. I truly recommend they read, listen and TASTE!! There is so much learn every time you try something new or retry a new vintage of that old favorite!!

KOSHER WINE

Until the 1980's many Kosher wines tasted like a cross between Kool-Aid and Children's medicine. Today, however, Kosher wines are  in an entirely different league. Made by winemakers with good credentials from  such classic varieties as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, Kosher wines now compete with fine wines made anywhere in the world. To be Kosher, a wine must be made under rabbinical supervision and must be handled throughout vilification by a Sabbath-observant Jew. Wine handled or served by a non-observer is considered unfit for sacramental use. Historically, of course, Jewish religious authorities knew that wine was used not just for sacramental purposes but also socially. Wine eased and encouraged social interaction. Religious scholars speculate that rabbis and Jewish intellectuals may have feared such socializing, viewing it as the first step toward the disintegration of Jewish culture and the assimilation of Jews into other cultures. To mitigate against this, two versions of Kosher wine were made. The first, Mevushal (cooked) wine, would be boiled, making it in a sense morally sterilized. Though Mevushal wine would therefore be less palatable than regular wine, it could be shared by non-Jews and nonobservant Jews with observant Jews. The other type of Kosher wine would be non-Mevushal and, as result, generally better tasting. Non-Mevushal wine could be drunk and served only by Sabbath-observervant Jews. If a non-Jew or a non-Sabbath observant Jew touched a non-Mevushal wine, even accidentally, it could not be consumed by someone who strictly followed Kosher dietary law. Initially, Mevushal wines were quite literally boiled. Today the unfermented grape juice or wine is flash pasteurized- a more modern method of sterilization- and the wine is then aged. Flash pasteurization is also kinder than boiling when it comes to preserving the wine's aroma and flavor. In both Europe and Israel, Kosher wine has always been made from classic European grape varieties, such as Cab Sav, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Merlot. While that is now true in Untied States as well, in the past most American-made Kosher wines were produced from foxy-tasting native grapes, such as Concord, which were also used for jelly. These grapes thrived along the East Coast, where the largest centers of Jewish population were to be found. Over time, American-made Kosher wine became inextricably linked with syrupy sweet wine, such as Manischevitz. The largest U.S. importer and distributor of Kosher wines is the New York based Royal Kedem. As for specific producers of Kosher wine, the best in California include Weinstock, Hagafen, Gan Eden and Baron Herzog. The most famous French Kosher wine is the one called Baron Rothschild, an expensive Kosher Bordeaux produced by Baron Edmund Rothschild of Lafite-Rothschild. From Israel, the producer to look for are Yarden and Golan.