As many of you know we closed the business on January 21, 2012 due to a failed lease negotiation. We had planned to continue to run our website, but have failed to work out the logistics for storage/ordering/pick up. For now, we will simply maintain our wine blog to keep you updated on next steps. For now, our main website www.justgrapes.net will be redirected to our wine blog at blog.justgrapes.net.

I have been exploring many different opportunities for the next phase of Just Grapes including new locations and resurrecting the online portion of our website with new partners. Thanks again for all of your loyalty over the years. Please stay tuned for the next chapter.

Now, we know how I feel about neglecting sparkling wine during a meal (or any time for that matter): nonsense! But dessert wine? It’s the red-headed step child of the evening’s libations, rather than the climactic sipper for which it is intended. As children, we couldn’t wait for dessert; hiding vegetables in napkins, sneaking bites to the dog, inhaling chicken with rice to just be done with dinner! Now, seemingly, dessert, and particularly dessert wine, is overlooked; by the end of dinner we are either too full, or our wallets are feeling the pressure.
Ok, maybe dessert to share; there is room for one more bite. But more wine, too? Its getting late, have to be up early, wa Wa WA!
There is a reason those amazing bottles of dessert wines come in smaller sizes, and are served in glasses that belong in a dollhouse! The wine is richer and sweeter, the burn is hotter and heavier, and the taste is pure bliss. Like I said, climactic.
I have a personal preference for Sauternes, a region in Bordeaux, France from which botrytized Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc come. Botrytis is a fancy name for rot that, rather than ruin the wine, produces a sweet and concentrated style of wine; noble rot, as it is called. These wines usually display spicy aromas of dried apricot, lemon tart, honeyed apple, vanilla, and brandied white flower. This bad boy with food- quit it! Sauternes is particularly delicious with vanilla or chocolate desserts; the richness of the wine marries the richness and creaminess of vanilla or chocolate, allowing those notes of lemon tart and honeyed apple to pop.
Late harvest wine is another style of dessert wine. As the name suggests, late harvest wines are picked later in the harvest season, so the grapes are riper, thus producing a sweeter and more concentrated style of wine. Late harvest wines can be made from many types of grapes including Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, or Zinfandel. We happen to carry the Dashe Late Harvest Zinfandel, a wine with a nose of black pepper, spice, lavender and violet, black raspberry, cocoa, and vanilla; the palate is spicy, with black pepper and clove spice the dominant flavors. The explosive fruit is balanced with nice acidity, making the wine sweet but not candy-like.
So don’t forget about that dessert wine at the end of your next meal, elaborate or not.

Does the third Thursday in November mean anything to you? If it doesn’t yet, it will now. Considered Beaujolais Nouveau day to wine lovers around the world, this November 17th is the day the 2011 vintage of this delicious wine will be released.

Beaujolais Nouveau (or, Bo-Vo, as I like to call it) is a light, red wine full of youth and vibrancy. It undergoes carbonic maceration- the process of fermenting the juices while they are still in the grape- and is bottled usually only six weeks after harvest. The result is an acidic, fruitful wine that takes almost no tannin from the Gamay grapes from which it is made. Like it’s cousins Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages, Bo-Vo is dominated by red fruit like raspberry, pomegranate, cranberry and red cherries. Many imbibers of this delicious serum (myself included) choose to enjoy it chilled as much as you would a white wine (50-55 degrees). Unlike other wines out of Beaujolais however, Bo-Vo is meant for early drinking, not for keeping.These earliest of wines are often the device by which to measure the vintage for Beaujolais. An excellent vintage for Bo-Vo will mean an excellent vintage for the rest of the Beaujolais vintage. Most say to drink it before the rest is released in May. In fact, it is there that we find the roots of this popular wine…

The Beaujolais region has always been making these young and fruity wines, carefully picking the grapes by hand (one of the only regions bound by law to do so). Prior to the 1970′s however, they did not travel very far, often being consumed only locally and usually out of pitchers from local eateries. Though these vintages of Bo-Vo were used merely to hold the locals over until the full vintage was later released, negociant Georges Duboeuf saw great marketing potential. In the early seventies Deboeuf encouraged the hype for this novelty wine far outside of Beaujolais. He started first in Paris where from it did not take long for the trend to catch on the world over. (don’t we all want to be a bit more Parisian sometimes?)

Today, over 65 million bottles (about 40% of total Beaujolais production), will be distributed around the world. It has become a global race to be the first to carry this newest of wines. To meet this end, the wine has even been carried across the Atlantic on Concorde jet, making it to New York in three hours!

In 1985 the official date of release (according to French law) became the third Thursday in November. The huge American market with its Thanksgiving holiday the following weekend would become a major target, as it remains today.Beaujolais Nouveau is such a food-friendly wine, pairing well with almost any fare, that it has made a regular place for itself at any family’s table.

Beaujolais Nouveau release parties are now popular, uncorking the newest bottles of the vintage at midnight the day of release, often with great pageantry and revelry.

Duboeuf is still the largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau. Unlike the flower-depicting labels of his other wines, his Nouveau features a colorful artsy design that changes from vintage to vintage.

This year, Just Grapes will be taking place in the hysteria for these much-sought-after wines. If you are a Beaujolais lover, or someone looking to make an easy transition from white wines to red, I strongly encourage you to drop by and pick up some of the 2011 Bo-Vo before it’s gone. You don’t want to have to wait until spring to taste the soft and fruity pleasantry that is Beaujolais, and It is a magical thought to have while slurping down Bo-Vo that is was still grapes on a vine only a few short weeks before.

Let us give thanks- “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!” – (the new Beaujolais has arrived!)

We’re all familiar with silly quizzes that once completed are supposed to be able to tell you everything about yourself by adding up a total at the back of a magazine. Does their inaccuracy or ridiculousness keep us from tallying up our score though? Not really.

Every grape, vine and wine has character. Though the 10,000+ Vitis Vinifera grapes classified world-wide have a great deal in common (most notably being made into wine) they are all very unique as well. Possessing personalities that we come to be familiar with and differentiate between, these grapes all have their own signature traits- like us.

So, what kind of wine are you? Are you a thin-skinned Pinot Noir, referred to as a “Diva” because of the difficulty to produce, but when done right inspires a standing ovation? Are you an easy-to-please Cabernet Sauvignon friend to all, and full of potential? Or are you a big, bold Zinfandel, aggressive and zesty? Take a few minutes to complete this short, fun quiz and find out. Are you what you drink, after all?

http://www.experienceproject.com/quiz/quiz.php?quiz=7150

Enjoy,

Sam

Is there anything more sexy and fast-paced than the world of barrels? Probably.

Barrels might not be the most exciting part of wine-making, but they play a vital role in many wines the world over. Over 3,000 years ago, Egyptians would store wine in ceramic pots called “amphora” that they would then pour olive oil over the tops of to act as a natural sealant. Wood barrels did not become the status quo for wine storage until quite some time afterwords with, like many things, the Romans spear-heading the process.

So why a barrel? Well, they have always been ideal for storage, in that the shape and design of them allow for liquid-tight sealing, without the use of glues or other impurities (though some Greek wines were, and still are made in barrels sealed with pine tar). Skilled coopers (Yes, that is what “cooper” means- barrel maker) cut and bend the wood panels so that they interlock when arranged in the classic barrel shape; simple and genius. When on the move, nothing makes a more practical storage device than something you can roll off of a ship, wagon, etc. So, being the storage vessel of choice for all things liquid or powder, it was only a matter of time before they began to be used for the purpose of wine fermentation and storage. Well, sometimes these wines would be stored for so long, that by the time they were opened, the oak had delivered a wine very different than the one that went in.

But how exactly does barrel fermenting or aging affect wine? For starters, the toasted inside of a barrel will deliver flavor notes that the wine does not already possess. Classic examples are toastiness, vanilla, spice, caramel, smoke, mocha and toffee. In addition to these new flavors, oak aging can also act to concentrate the already existing fruit flavors of a wine. Barrels are not 100% airtight, so they allow just enough air to pass through the porous wood to cause slight evaporation of the alcohol and water in the wine, leaving behind a more concentrated wine, full of flavor. The oakiness of a wine can balance the fruitiness of a wine very well, and some grapes (like Cabernet Sauvignon) are naturally very compatible with oak aging. Thus, a perfect marriage of fruit and oak is born.

The minimal oxygen exposure also softens the tannins on otherwise very tannic wines (such as Cabernet, Syrah, Nebbiolo and Petite Sirah). The longer these wines barrel age, the less intense the tannin sensation will be once they are enjoyed. Conversely, white wines that possess relatively no tannin will take a small amount FROM the oak barrels, increasing the wine’s body and ageability.[It's okay to be confused]

Barrels will lose the flavors sought after by winemakers over the duration of aging. The fresher the barrel, the more oak flavor the wine that spends time in that barrel will take with it. The barrel is then left with less flavor to pass onto the next fill of wine, as well as more sediment in the inside of the barrel, making it more difficult for the wine to extract what flavor remains.

Though barrels are made all over Europe and North America, It should come as no surprise that French oak was forever the gold-standard of cooperage, and for many still is. Today, however, American oak is sharing some of that spot light. The two differ enough to make it worth mentioning, so lets examine some of those differences.

French oak barrels are made from either the Common Oak, or White Oak, using a grain-splitting method that allows coopers to use only 25-30% of the trees for barrel-making. These barrels are usually more tannic than American barrels, as well as expensive. American barrels, made of White Oak, usually go for anywhere between 300 and 600 dollars. French barrels, on the other hand, range from $600-$1000 a barrel, depending on the market demand. As wine gains in popularity, and the 80-120 year old oak forests begin to thin, we may see those prices soar over the next twenty years.

But why does it have to be oak? Put simply, centuries of experimentation still find oak to be the best suitor for wine aging. That isn’t to say that one couldn’t use any other wood to age wine -As mentioned above, the Greeks used to use pine barrels that were coated in pine resin to plug leaks for so long that they developed a taste for it. Across the world you might find small productions using non-oak barrels, but oak will always win the all-around as nothing is more air-tight, malleable, porous and flavorful as oak. Good ‘ol oak!

After all of the oak flavor has left with the wine that has spent time in a barrel (usually after two to three uses depending on how many months they have had wine in them) the barrels will be retired from service. There are many fates one of these barrels can have. I have acquired a large, used wine barrel and am considering using it in the following ways: Making a table out of it, training an elephant to balance on it, going over Niagara falls in it, shooting fish in it, and of course filling it with monkeys.

Feel free to offer any other suggestions the next time you’re in the store!

Good times,

Sam

“It’s so good! Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!” .. until ten minutes later you get a massive headache and the parties over before it ever got the chance to get going.

A question that always seems to arise during wine speak with customers is why they or a friend or relative of theirs experiences discomfort or headaches after consuming even the tiniest amount of wine, usually red wine. It’s something researchers have been studying for years now and still have yet to figure out what exactly is the root cause of this phenomenon. Though, they have been able to narrow the field to several leads or “culprits” which could play a part in the picture, which include: tannins, histamines, tyramines, sulfites, and prostaglandines.

I’m obviously no bio-chemist or medical professional. But, I would be willing to bet that it’s not just one of these components specifically that is to be held universally responsible for all cases of RWHS (red wine headache syndrome as some refer to it), but instead either a single component or compound, or combination, depending on your condition specifically, which is to blame. The amount of predisposition’s we all carry – genetically acquired, or self inflicted (due to what we put into our bodies) is infinite, as is the differences between each case from person to person, as well as the rate at which this biological/physiological makeup changes – by the second, minute, hour,.. you get the point.  So, in my opinion, it’s not completely crazy that no one’s been able to find a specific reason as to why this happens to some and not others. Here’s a quick overview of the top suspects and a little bit of information on each.

Originally, scientists attributed the causes of these headaches to sulfites. Which- taking into consideration the amount of sulfites present within the average bottle of wine (about 80mg/l on average) as well as their importance within the wine making process- wasn’t the greatest of news. Sulfites, or sulfur dioxide is a preservative as well as a naturally occurring byproduct of yeasts, produced during the fermentation process. They are also produced by the human body at approximately one thousand milligrams per day. The consumption of foods that contain sulfites is relatively harmless to people (in moderation of course) as long as you carry an appropriate amount of the natural enzymes used to break these sulfites down.

Aside from being natural byproducts, sulfites are also used at various periods within the wine making process as a method of preservation. A general misconception is that red wine contains higher levels of sulfites than white wine. This is un-true. Given it’s delicacy in comparison to red wines, white wines require (as I said, generally) a higher level of preservatives due to their more-so perishable nature.

A very high percentage of wines contain some amount of sulfites. As we discussed earlier, yeasts naturally produce sulfites during fermentation. So, it’s very rare for wine to contain absolutely no traces of sulfites what so ever. And, it’s almost just as rare for wine makers NOT to add sulfites during the wine making process. What about organic wine, you say? Well, within the production of organic wine it is illegal to use sulfites. These wines also tend to smell somewhat awkward, or have subtle off-putting aromas to them. But then again, so does the majority of the organic “stuff” my friend Mike brings home. So, I guess it’s not to say that some would enjoy the, I don’t know,.. “fresh” aromas which some of these bottles exude. And really quick, because the wine geek in me just can’t let this go, the-aromas-present-are-due-to-things-called-aldehydes… within-normal-wine-making,-sulfites-bind-to-the-aldehydes-rendering-their-aromas-undiscernable-from-those-around-them. which-is-why-,without-sulfites-these-aldehydes-are-free-to-let-their-freak-flags-fly. <— [That's me whispering as quickly as I possibly can, attempting to get everything out before you can tell me that you don't care.]

Tannins have also been accused of being the root of the problem for RWHS. Tannins are flavonoids which attribute the bitter sensation in wine, and are imparted through the grapes pit, stem and skin. Tannins are found in many different plants, and given their “bitter” flavor, are used as defense mechanisms against predators looking for a quick snack. It’s also important to point out that tannins are found in wood. As you probably already know, a high percentage of red wine see’s wood, or “oak” as we say, during the wine making process. The use of American oak is seen to be a much more intense and aggressive technique. It’s more porous than French oak, as well as the fact that the majority of American Oak is sawed, opposed to being split- as French oak is, meaning that tannins, polyphenols such as vanillin are released  in larger quantities over shorter periods of time and impart a more aggressive, in your face quality to the wine (again, generally speaking and without touching on the toast and age of a specific barrel).  Another thing to keep in mind is that tannins bind starches together. Therefore preventing the starches to be used by the body in hopes of producing serotonin. Serotonin, among other things, is very closely related to happiness and the feeling of well being, as well as used to “[..] dilate and constrict blood vessels in the brain. When there is a serotonin deficiency, these vessels tend to constrict, thereby reducing blood flow to the brain, which will cause a migraine. (s1)” . So, if blood flow to the brain is decreased due to low levels of serotonin, which are caused (theoretically within this case) by the presence of tannins, then it would be safe to say that the tannins themselves present within the wine are to blame for your headache.  Another interesting thing is that many people (including my mother) complain of headaches when drinking the majority of American wines, but not those of European descent. Which brings us back to the argument, or possibility I may say, whereas the issue could be the structure/composition of American oak which causes RWHS, or at least in some cases.

Tyramines, histamines, prostaglandins, oh my!

Tyramines (products of amino acids) and histamines are compounds found in a variety of foods, most specifically those that have gone through some sort of fermentation. Histamines are responsible for allergic reactions in humans, while tyramines are very closely associated with headaches and hypertension- especially in women. So, it would probably be safe to assume that if a wine contained high levels of histamines (red wine can contain anywhere between twenty-to-three hundred percent more histamines than white wine), and or tyramines then the phenomenon of “red wine headache syndrome” may of finally unmasked it’s evil villain[s], right? Not so fast, says Dr. Sumit Bhutani, a board certified allergist at The Allergy & Asthma Associates in Houston, Texas, “Histamines in foods have nothing to do with allergic reactions to those foods, so the amount of histamines in foods is almost never of value to allergists. (s2)”.

As for tyramines, well, I guess the easiest way to explain how tyramines may be linked to RWHS is to first start with how monoamine oxidase (MAO) (an enzyme within the body) which regulates -amines and takes care of, or inactivates, the presence of excessive amounts of tyramines within the body. Tyramines, as stated earlier, are directly related to headaches and hypertension. So, the presence of tyramines without the, or a lack of, sufficient MAO activity, will most certainly lead to discomfort. Decreased levels of MAO activity can be caused by a various amount drugs referred to as MAO inhibitors, such as antidepressant medications- which use MAO inhibitors as a base.

Next we have..

Prostaglandins, which are structures of lipid compounds that are derived enzymatically from fatty acids- another “possible” source linked directly to the dilation of blood vessels within the body, therefore causing inflammation and thus, possibly, a “red wine headache”. Prostaglandins are most notably, within this case, known for the role they play in the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle tissue. Specific enzymes found in wine are directly related to the suppression of the functionality of prostaglandins, therefore inducing or encouraging headache-like symptoms to occur. Now here’s where things get a bit dicey, adding a little insult to injury you might say..

It’s also been found that some strains of yeast have the ability to produce prostaglandins, AND, ANDDDDDD the presence or addition of ethanol (ethyl alcohol)  within a configuration has the ability to heighten levels of prostaglandins. So, basically, we have prostaglandins, prostaglandins, and more prostaglandins, and then the presence of alcohol which increases levels of prostaglandins and their functionality. Yeesh! If this is wherein the problem lies, then aside from cutting off alcohol consumption all together, it has been found that the ingestion of some sort of prostaglandin-inhibitor, like Aspirin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Advil half an hour before the consumption of wine can usually help fend off those wretched headaches before they have the chance to ruin yet another one of your joyous boozing experiences.

Cheers,

Greg

Tags: discomfort after drinking wine, headaches, histamines, prostaglandines, red wine, tannins, tyramines

Hello Wine-lovers!

I’m new to the Just Grapes team, and am happy to be associated with such a fine-looking group of oenophiles! My name is Sam, and I hope we’ve spoken at the shop already, and if not, look forward to. I thought I’d recount you with a bit of my background, and how I found myself working at Just Grapes.

I wish I could remember my first sip of wine. I can’t. What I can tell you is that it wasn’t enjoyed with a fine meal and a Tuscan sunset. More likely, it was “enjoyed” from a jug, in a garage, in high school. Was I whisked off of my feet, starting an endless love affair with the fruit of the vine? Not immediately. In fact, it wasn’t until college that I even started to drink the stuff on a regular basis. Even then, I only drank what the moving pictures told me to drink: Pinot Noir. I did grow to love it though. By my senior year, my room mates and I removed our microwave from it’s kitchen nook, and replaced it with a perfectly-fitting wine rack. We tried hard to keep it stocked, but on a college budget it sometimes held more bushels of bananas than bottles of vino. Regardless, a trend was set- Properly storing and displaying wine = more important than conveniently heating food. For a college senior, depending mostly microwavable sustenance, this was an epic pivot in my life.

After college, I began bartending. On slow days behind the bar at a fancy restaurant, I would sometimes be tempted to read the newspaper. It of course does not look good to have a bartender hidden behind the fold of a newspaper, so that soon ended. What I WAS allowed to read was anything that could be categorized as “professional development”- i.e. bartending manuals and books about liquor and wine. I devoured them. So would begin my passion for not just drinking wine, but self-educating myself about what I was drinking.

I went on to earn a teaching certificate for high school English and History while working at Lynfred winery in Roselle, IL. During that time however, I got bitten by the wine bug BAD. Seeing the production side of the industry, and immersing myself even more in a community of wine-lovers, I began to doubt my career path as a teacher. Once I finished my graduate work in secondary education, I was certain: I’ve gotta see this wine thing through. It dawned on me one day that the tours, conversations and tastings I led at the winery, and later Brix Wine and Cheese in St. Charles, IL was educating enough. I was using the skills I had acquired from my formal background to teach willing participants about my new greatest passion- wine!

I hope to continue to share the joys and pleasures of the grape with all of you reading this, and look forward to being jealous of the wine you’re taking home with you.

Your friend in wine,
Sam

Last night something special caught my eye in the seafood section of the grocers. Scrunched in between several cod fillets and a heaping mound of sea scallops was a single cut of beautifully marbled blue marlin. Up until then the majority of the day I had been obsessing over the thought of doing some sort of fresh pasta because it’d been weeks since the last time I pulled out my mini roller and slapped some flour around the room. Just so you know, when I say “slap” some flour around, I mean it. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past oh, I dunno, ten years, you’ve probably heard of a guy named Lebron James, and just maybe even of seen his pre tip off ritual where he claps a mound of white dust into the air and then blows it through his two fists. This is what I do before making pasta.. only I use all purpose flour instead of baby powder. I’m just kidding..

.. or am I?

Anyways, since I had pasta on the brain, and Kristin all of a sudden wanted ice cream sundae’s- voicing her opinion literally seconds after watching me shell out another fifteen bucks a pound of someone els’es money [this post brought to you by the lovely Robert  and Sandra Miesch] for some fish I hadn’t worked with before, but knew enough that it wouldn’t sit well on top the pasta- the only real way to make this thing work was if I served several dishes that night: an appi, main course, and maybe even a dessert. That is, depending on how things went [how much wine we drank while preparing the first two courses]. Normally three courses would be completely out of the question because my kitchen is about three feet wide and six feet long. So, anything more than a light sear, sauté, char [don't you even think about mentioning the word "broil"], or two pots of simmering water on the stove at the same time automatically converts the attached dining room into a damp, fogged up pit of foul language and sweat-drenched under shirts. Neither of which my guests nor Kristin are very fond of.  But after seeing that fish it didn’t take very much convincing myself that the majority of the prep work for two of the three dishes could be done quick and cold. So, I had to try and give it a go.

Before leaving work the other day I picked up two bottles of sparkling which are new to the store: a Ca’ Vittoria Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superior Brut and a Louis de Grenelle Rose Corail [100% Cabernet Franc]. Both non vintage and retail for under twenty dollars.  Originally I’d planned on opening only one of them that night, depending on how the pasta would be sauced and what protein would be served with it. But now, obviously, I had to open both because there would be two dishes, and therefore there should be two wines, right? Fair is fair..

Blue marlin is a fish normally found in the warm, temperate waters of the Atlantic and it’s meat is often compared to that of tuna- high in protein and low in fat. So, I thought a crudo would play well here. Or, if Kristin refused to eat it raw, I could throw a light sear on it and still retain the majority of it’s fresh flavor and beautiful bluish hue.

The Vittoria prosecco is a dry, very fruity, finely acidic bubbly which would be a fine match for an appetizer course- wonderfully simplistic and tart, allowing the freshness of both the wine and fish to compliment each other, while awakening the senses and not over saturating the pallet or badgering the mind with too much to think about. Refreshing and to the point. A great representation of what prosecco itself stands for.

Seared blue marlin with sauteed pork belly, pickled jalapeno, crusted and shredded parmesan flakes, greens, sauced with a creamy-garlic aioli.  

Now, for the main event: the fresh pasta. I love making my own noodles. They cook significantly quicker than that boxed stuff, taste better, and are surprisingly easy to make. All you need [depending on the style of pasta to be made] is all-purpose flour, eggs and to expedite the process, a rolling machine. If you don’t have a machine, you can always go the traditional route and roll the dough out with a pin. Though this method is much more time consuming and isn’t always as consistent when it comes to producing cuts of like thickness and length- which not only looks awkward, but is something that can easily lead to parts of the dough over cooking and parts of it under cooking.

I used three cups of flour and just about two and a half large eggs. After sifting the flour onto the counter top, I rounded it together into a mound, then made a well in its center and dropped in the eggs. With a fork I started to beat the eggs, slowly incorporating the two ingredients together until the egg soaked up all the flour that it needed. Then, dusted down a smooth surface, kneaded the dog lightly until brought together and set it aside for ten minutes under a wet rag to rest.

While waiting for the dough to set I started on the sauce. The Louis de Grenelle is 100% Cabernet France, which means that this sparkler is significantly fuller in body compared to that of the prosecco. So, it could definitely hold up to a cream sauce thickened with a bit of semi-hard cheese, as well as a light to medium seafood protein. Which in this case was going to be cajun spiced jumbo shrimp. If you’re not sure where the tolerance level of your dining companions spice threshold sits, then pairing a spicy protein with a dense component like a cream sauce allows for the eater to gauge how he or she prefers the dish to be consumed. If the shrimp were too spicy, then he or she could incorporate more sauce to the bite. If they’re like Kristin and prefer to treat each single component as a dish on it’s own, then separate the shrimp from the pasta and see how the wine plays against either one. If you’re like me, then try all of these ideas and see which pair you prefer the most..

Fresh pasta in a white sauce with corn, snow peas, prosciutto and Parmesan crust.

A bite of shrimp, a sip of wine; two sips of wine, a forkful of pasta.. a.. wait, the wine’s gone? Where’d all the food go?.. Ahh, man, I forgot to make dessert again, didn’t I? Whoops.

Cheers,

Greg

Every Sunday I make it a point to do nothing. Nothing but sit around all day until the late afternoon when I can finally do what it is I’ve been waiting to do while doing nothing all day: hit the grocers and shop for my one and only weekly sit down meal.

Yesterday I gave free reign to a friend of mine to write up the menu for that days fare.  Now, this friend of mine, she’s a recent transplant from a little town in Leez-e-ana. So, of course, she wanted something rich.. a lil’ potater salad.. “Maybe somethan with chicken or some bacon.. and greens..yeah, and corn.  I love me some corn on the cob!”

Sounds like a pretty straightforward, Sunday-ish kinda meal, right? Fire up the grill, get out the red and white checkered placemats and table dressings, maybe toss up a volleyball net or dig out a few horseshoe pits..

Problem is, I don’t have a grill.. well at least not anymore [who would of thought it’s against building code to keep a mini grill in a high rise apartment that doesn’t have access to a terrace? Humpf.]. I threw out my set of checked place mats last week after seeing Paula Deen use bright yellow ones at her picnic cookout. And as I stated before, I live in a high rise. So, I don’t have room to stage equipment that requires a large space for grown adults to partake in any sort of competitive activity. Unless of course you count that square thing that occupies the majority of my kitchen and doubles as a beer pong stage on Friday nights. I believe most normal people refer to these things as, .. kitchen tables?

Seeing as a cookout isn’t a cookout without the festive ambiance which it is generally associated with, I still couldn’t bring myself to nix the theme. Actually, I could have easily moved on. But when Kristin gets warmed up to an idea, especially one which reminds her of home, well, it’s just not that easy to persuade her otherwise. So, instead of just broiling a few potatoes, caramelizing a bit of bacon,  and then slapping some mayo on ‘em and serving it with a fresh ear of corn, I took the opportunity of using the ingredients of a good old fashioned barbecue, a tasty beverage, and made an attempt at showing Kristin what we’re all about here in this great city: simple ingredients and great flavours accented with a nice presentation.

With a vague sense of what she wanted: the tater salad, and the absolute necessity which I had in mind: a nice, cold, preferably tall beer, we set out for the market.

An hour and a half later we returned with several bags of food, the most recent edition of Cosmo and approximately fourteen different shades of nail polish- apparently what she would be doing while I prepared our Sunday meal.

I got the potatoes, chicken drums, greens, bread and fresh fruits and vegetables. Everything chosen with the utmost care and pre-meditated thought after the first purchase was made- three bombers of a beautifully crafted triple-style golden ale hailing from Chambly, Quebec: LA Fin du Monde. If you haven’t had this stuff yet I suggest, not walking, but running to the nearest beverage depot and picking up a “few”. Not only do I love this stuff on its own, but I thought it would serve as a pretty solid pairing with the essential ingredients of what the boss, excuse me, the lady, had in mind for the night.

Just like wine, when pairing beer with food the number one rule is body to body. Neither the wine or food should hold too dense a punch compared to that of, not only the main component of the dish, but the sum of it’s parts as well- always complimenting instead of out-shining.

La Fin du Monde is a brilliantly coloured, malty, silky textured beer which holds a fair amount of effervescence..  all of which make it a great accompaniment for food.  In my opinion, it’s medium across the board [excluding the alcohol content, a staggering 9% abv] which means that the two main components of this dish –preparation wise- were the chicken, served off the bone and torn, and the potatoes, diced small [meaning a large amount of surface area], the flavours of the dish would have to pack a punch, but also be pretty light on their feet and quick to compliment.  With this in mind I put a quick and heavy sear on the chicken to make sure and caramelize the skin, ensuring maximum flavor retention. With the potatoes we added a slight richness via a little butter tossed in at the very end of sautéing.

La Fin also has a very fruity nose and profile which exudes a great amount of citrusy-grapefruit to it. So here I thought the ripeness of red and yellow cherry tomatoes would be an appropriate fit; comparing to the fruit profile while contrasting that of the underlying floral aromas in the beer. Freshly squeezed grapefruit and orange juice tossed with the greens would also compliment the beers acidity.

“Don’t forget I want cheese on something, ok?!” Kristin yelled from the other room “I love cheese, you should know this by now.”

Kristen wanted cheese, so she got cheese. I told her it was something “I wasn’t planning on doing because it could possibly de-feng shui the dish.. but would do it anyways because that’s what she wanted.” Why’d I do this? Because if I pretended to toss one her way now then later I’d have a ‘for instance’ of how I’ve recently shown my selflessness and therefore have a better chance at sneaking the remote from her and watching the new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage instead of re runs of the Bad Girls Club all night- her personal favorite.  Let’s not kid ourselves here though, guys and gals.  I was obviously planning on using cheese somewhere within this dish because, honestly, who doesn’t love cheese? Plus, the acidity and body of the beer would be used here to cut through the mozzarella as well as the richness of the cranberry sauce [a late addition to the soiree], and play off the saltiness of the seasoned corn and thick cut prosciutto I substituted in place of the bacon.

“Is it ready yet?” she yelled for the third time in twenty minutes “I’m done painting my nails and I’m hungry now..”

“Yeah, it’s ready.” I responded, setting her plate down on the table and cracking open a much needed beer “Here’s your pulled chicken-potato salad with extra cheese. Welcome to Chicago.”

Great beer, good food, interesting company.

Cheers,

Greg

I’ve seen it happen a thousand times and been a part of it a thousand and one: the sip, then almost immediately,.. the sour face– head kicked back, jaws clenched with one eye open, the other cocked to the heavens, shaking their hand at the pourer as if saying “no, no, no!” before proclaiming that the wine is much too sweet for their liking. After this comes the part where the pourer states that the wine is actually dry, and then the drinker argues his or her point as to how it’s not humanely possible that the wine is anything but sweet.. [que mellow dramatic base line which leads up to heated argument and then someone getting offended and or possibly a glass thrown at their feet]. Why does this happen time and time again? Because after divulging that the wine is dry the professional doesn’t make an appropriate or meaningful attempt to explain the difference between dry and fruity. Thus being left with a not-so-happy patron who’s under the assumption that they just got called ‘wrong’ and or accused of having a faulted pallet for thinking that a wine is -off dry or sweet when, technically, it’s considered dry.

I’d say that at least eighty percent of the time these arguments are those consisting of nothing more than the professional trying to argue the absolute definition of, in wine speak, what dry, -off dry and sweet actually entails -which in most cases is a discussion on semantics- unless of course someone’s looking to learn the difference between fruity and dry. Which is why we’re here today. But if that’s not the case then the wine professional should take [that] persons assumption of what sweet entails and apply it to a theoretical situation where sweet is no longer sweet but fruity and hold nothing above the preferred end result of you selecting a bottle/style of wine which you enjoy is met; no matter the technical definition of what the style and or chemical composition that specific wine held.

So, considering it’s touchy nature along with the fact that I saw this same dance end horribly wrong last night in the middle of a well-known Lincoln Park restaurant is why right here, right now, while sitting far away so that if you get the urge to ball up a fist and take a swing I won’t be anywhere near the receiving end,.. I have decided to clear the air on one of wines most touchy subjects.

When you say ‘sweet’ to me I automatically start thinking about wines which are -off dry in style. In wine speak the terms ‘-off dry’ and ‘sweet’ [or anywhere in between] are directly related and given moniker to wines that contain a certain level of residual sugar, or simply ‘RS’.

It’s been said that the first person to consume alcohol wasn’t even a person, it was more than likely some sort of bird. Think about it: grape clusters sitting on a vine, part of the set falls to the ground- splitting open a berry or two-, wild [ambient] yeast present within the air now finds itself inside of the grape and starts consuming the sugar, thus creating the by-product of.. heat, co2, and… alcohol.

Wine itself can be produced from anything that contains sugar or even simply a moisture content alone [to which sugar can be added]. Remember, without sugar, there can be  no wine.

Depending on the sugar ripeness of the fruit being used, or if chaptalization will occur [the practice of adding sugar to unfermented grape must] the wine maker has the choice of fermenting a wine ‘bone’ dry where he or she will allow the yeasts to consume all the sugars present within the juice that have the ability to be converted into alcohol. An ‘off’ dry wine, where the yeasts consume the majority of the sugars but not all of them. Or a ‘sweet’ wine, where the yeasts consume a small to medium portion, leaving the rest perceptively present -usually to an obvious extent- within the juice, i.e: dessert wines.

The European Union designation for a ‘dry’ wine means that the wine holds less than four grams per liter of RS. Though, there may be up to nine g/l if the wines acidity level trails the sugar by less than two grams [there's several other stipulations in relation to these types of 'stabilized' designations but we won't go into them now]. ‘Medium Dry’ covers wines which old up to twelve grams per liter. ‘Medium’ or sometimes seen as ‘Medium-Sweet’ are those which sit over twelve and under forty five. ‘Sweet’ are those which carry over forty five grams per liter.

What about for sparkling and Champagne? Without completely changing the subject, those labeled Brut Natural contains a dosage [addition of sugar and base wine] containing three g/l; Extra Brut is everything less than six; Brut = no more than fifteen; Extra Sec or Extra Dry.. twelve to twenty; Sec —> seventeen to thirty five grams per liter; Demi-Sec equals a dosage containing thirty three to fifty grams; and Doux is -every and -anything over fifty grams per liter.. and if you think that’s sweet, keep in mind the next time you have a cola that there’s a good chance it contains upwards of twelve percent RS, or over one hundred and fifty g/l.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that it would be safe to assume, as a general rule of thumb, lower alcohol wines will contain a higher amount of RS. Where as higher alcohol wines [check out the 2006 R 'Amazed' Carignan, Mourvedre blend which sits at a massive 16.5%] are going to have lower amounts of sugar left within them. Technically, or chemically, speaking this is less than 2.5%, which is the maximum amount of RS within a wine for that wine to be considered ‘dry’.

Arguing about wether a wine is in fact -off dry, or dry is usually a waste of time because as stated earlier you’d basically be arguing about semantics if the drinkers not interested in learning the difference. If – within your mindset- you associate a specific wine, or it’s flavor profile to be that of an -off dry or sweet style, and you have no interest in differentiating between fruity and sweet profiles of wines then run with it. Enjoy the wine. Just know that the next time you come in and I taste you on a wonderfully round and robust white blend which contains a small amount of residual sugar [like the 2010 Chemistry White Blend], and you try to tell me that even though there’s only around .57% RS, that the wine is a bit “sweet” , I’m going to be smiling, nodding my head politely while thinking THAT’S JUST CRAZY! because the NOTES DISTINCTLY SAY THAT THIS WINE HAS EXACTLY .55% RS, AND THAT’S 1.85% BELOW PERCEPTIBILITY, AND THERE’S NO WAY THAT YOU CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN .55% AND 2.4%, LET ALONE .55% AND .57!..

…

I’m joking. That would be ridiculous.

Training yourself and your pallet to differentiate a wine which exudes an overbearingly fruity profile from one which actually holds a perceptible amount of residual sugar, and thus considered to be -off dry in style, is a task not to be taken lightly. That is, if you’re interested in being able to do so. Remember, like many other things within this craft the only way you’re going to get better at it is to keep on drinking and assessing. Man does it feel good to be able to say that and not sound like a complete lush. What an industry..