The Oenophile Next Door - A novel approach to learning about wine

Chapter 9: The Final Exam

2010-03-05T11:01:00.001-05:00

Synopsis

Chapter 1: Christian meets the new next-door neighbour, William, who happens to be a renowned wine writer and educator.

Chapter 2: Christian and his wife, Aimee, arrive at William’s home for their first wine lesson. They learn how to taste, and examine the four basic wine styles: Sparkling, White, Red, and Dessert.

Chapter 3: William lays out his master plan: a simple system that groups all wine into six basic styles --three for whites and three for red wines -- and explains how this knowledge takes much of the mystery out of table wine.

Chapter 4: As guests at a winery opening, the three friends go on a winery tour, learn how wine is grown and made, and enjoy a luncheon prepared by a gourmet chef with wines selected by the winemaker.

Chapter 5: To strengthen their sense memory and ability to recognize aromas, William leads the couple through a series of “nose training” exercises.

Chapter 6: Wine shows are a great place to sample and learn about many different wines, as Christian and Aimee discover. They finish their “lesson” with a bit of food and wine matching.

Chapter 7: Christian and Aimee are treated to insights into both old world and new world wine making traditions when they have a winemaker all to themselves.

Chapter 8: The trio visits a wine collector and learn about wine cellars, which wines to cellar, and the effects of ageing wine.

Since their last visit with William, Christian and Aimee were abuzz with curiosity. William had said that he was planning a homecoming party, and somehow Christian and Aimee figured prominently into the planning process. That’s why they were now on their way to William’s house on this very pleasant Saturday afternoon.

William greeted them at the door and led them through the house to the back patio where they sat at a table covered with pens, papers and books, which William hastily gathered into semi-orderly piles. William addressed the reason for their meeting: “Our task for today is to look at food and wine pairing.”

“We’ve done a bit of that already, haven’t we?” Christian replied.

“Yes, at the winery and at every tasting you’ve had us to, in fact,” Aimee added. “The little tips we’ve picked up have been really helpful. Of course more would be better.”

“Well there’s certainly lots to discuss,” William continued, “but I’d like to point out that you can complicate this food and wine business to the point of neurosis, and many people do. So what I’d like to do is explore some of the major pairing strategies, and then I have an assignment for you, if you’re interested.”

“You mentioned a party,” Aimee replied.

“I did indeed,” William answered, “and I’d like you two to pick the wines to be served. I’ll provide you with a menu and a list of the wines I have available, and you can make the final selections based on what we discuss today, plus your homework.

“Now, how should we approach this – start with a dish and then pick wines to match, or should we choose the wine first and then look for the ideal dish to go with it?”

“We’ve never been able to decide,” Christian replied. “Which is better?”

“Well, to be honest,” William confessed, “we usually pick the wine first and then work on the dish.”

”Now, that’s only the second time you’ve used the word ‘we’,” Aimee shot back. “I think you’d better explain!”

William laughed, somewhat embarrassed. “You’re absolutely right. I’m afraid I get very wrapped up in things and sometimes forget to include the ‘back story’. My wife Ann has been teaching and doing research in Europe for most of the year. She’s speaking at a conference next week, and after that she’ll be coming home. That’s also why I’ve been travelling so much. Whenever I had an opportunity to visit a European wine region, I’d tack on an extra week or so to be with Ann. The homecoming party is for her. It’s a chance to get some of our friends together so we can all get caught up, and as a way of christening our new home.”

“I knew it,” Aimee declared, with considerable satisfaction. “I knew you were too polite and well kept to be a bachelor.”

They all had a good laugh at this one.

“Now, before I uncork the fount of food and wine knowledge, let me get us something to drink.” With that, William disappeared into the house, returnin moments later with glasses, a bottle of rosé wine and a plate of small sandwiches. “This is likely the last of the warm weather, so I thought rosé would be just the thing.”

“There you go pushing my buttons again. This isn’t going to be sweet is it?” Christian asked, looking at the pink liquid..

“Then here is your first food and wine matching lesson,” William began. “The great rosé wines are mostly dry, and they come from regions that are almost all within sight of the Mediterranean. Rosé wines go well with warm weather and Mediterranean fare, preferably lunch. I didn’t know whether you might have had lunch, so I prepared a few finger sandwiches. We have grilled veg, tuna salad, and prosciutto with tomatoes and mozzarella – what you’d find on any good Italian table at lunchtime.”

While Christian and Aimee eagerly helped themselves to the sandwiches, William pulled a few books from the pile beside him.

“You’re right about this rosé,” Aimee said. “Very refreshing: quite ‘summery’.”

“And not the least bit sweet,” Christian added. “And it does seem to say lunch.”

“Good,” William replied, “although keep in mind that a little bit of sweetness can be a good thing in a table wine. Now, we’d better make sure you’re available on the day in question. I’m planning to have the party on the 18th. I hope you are both free that evening.”

“We have no plans,” Aimee replied, “ so we’re at your service,”

“Excellent. Then let’s get started,” William said as he reached for a sandwich and topped up his glass. “There are a lot of ways of looking at the food and wine matching business, not the least of which is ‘white with fish; red with meat’.”

“I thought that rule was passé,” Christian objected.

“Well, if you have nothing better it’s a pretty safe way to go,” William said. “But it can be limiting, and it tends to ignore extremes of style. It means you miss out on combinations like Douro with grilled salmon or Semillon with Haggis.”

“Haggis?” Christian remarked.

“You had to be there,” William joked. “So, let’s look at some other schemes. One of the easiest and most fun techniques is to pair regional foods with regional wines. Traditional local food and wine combinations evolved to complement each other – sometimes over centuries: Italian wine with Italian food, German wine with German food…”

“Greek wine with Greek food,” Aimee interjected. “That sounds so reasonable. How come nobody’s pointed it out before?”

“Possibly because the theory appears to break down fairly quickly,” William explained. “For example, just about any Italian white or rosé or light red would work with my Tuscan-inspired sandwiches here. But what would I have put with Chinese? Or with traditional English fare? The trick to this approach is to also look at the evolution of the regional foods. For example, you can trace Tex-Mex back to Spain, so Spanish Rioja or Rueda or even Sherry would be natural choices there. The English diet has many influences, but mostly French, and the British have always been dedicated buyers of French wines. So Bordeaux – what the British often call ‘claret’ – is a tried and true partner for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

“Take another example: chicken cacciatore. This literally means ‘hunter’s stew’ and it’s traditionally partnered with Chianti. Just about every culture has a hunter’s stew, so any wine that has the qualities of Chianti would be a good match. Also, Riesling goes nicely with schnitzel, so you might want to try it with scaloppini or with breaded chops.”

“Sounds all very good, but what about that Chinese?” Christian reminded him.

“Or East Indian?” Aimee added.

“Yes, well those are a challenge,” William replied, “but only to the theory, not to the task of finding suitable wines, and that brings us to another technique: matching by flavour components. Look for the dominant flavour elements in the food and then find a wine that has similar elements.”

“So if we can find a curry flavoured wine, we’re all set!” Christian joked.

“Now that would be pretty handy,” William said with a laugh, “and I’m sure someone has tried it. But if you look at Asian cuisine, you find that it’s often dominated by fruits, spices or sugar. Those are all components that we can work with. For fruity dishes, go with a fruity wine. One of my favourite matches is Riesling with any sort of curry – or Pinot Grigio. And if it’s a Szechwan dish or a spicy curry, a sweeter Riesling can lessen the heat. A lot of people will recommend Gewurztraminer with East Indian on the theory that the ‘spicy’ grape goes with spicy food, which actually is true to some extent. I have to say, though, that beer is often a better choice. I also think Cava works very well.

“In general, you can match sweet with sweet, spice with spice, acid with acid. Italian reds have generous acid in them and are perfect with tomatoes. If you’re faced with a cream sauce, a modern-styled Chardonnay will match the sweetness and butteriness of the sauce. Cabernet often has a bit of bell pepper aroma, and Cabernet goes very nicely with stuffed peppers. New World Shiraz is loaded with sweet fruit flavours, and sometimes some sugar as well, and it stands up well to barbecue sauce.”

“Someone told me it was indecent to have Aussie Shiraz with barbecued ribs,” Christian protested. “So you’re telling me it’s not only OK, but actually a pretty good choice?”

“As always, trust your instincts,” William replied. “And if you like the combination, who cares what the critics and theorists say. A couple of other things you can try are an earthy Pinot Noir with game, and with your crème caramel or fruit flan, try a sweet, viscous Icewine. Just be sure that the wine is sweeter than the dish.”

“What about those classic pairings I keep hearing about,” Christian interjected, “like Port with Stilton?”

“Ah, that brings us to the next approach,” William answered. “Look for contrasting elements. Port is sweet, Stilton is quite salty, and it works. Some Chinese dishes are rather salty and a sweeter wine can work there as well. Actually, roast beef with Cabernet and Cabernet blends is another example. Cabernet tends to be rather hefty, so the milder flavour of roast beef provides a nice contrast. In this case you’re contrasting by weight and complexity. Just be careful you don’t create a ‘David and Goliath’ situation.”

“When you mention these combinations, I can almost taste them, and how the wine and the dishes would complement each other,” Aimee said, reaching for another sandwich.

“It really isn’t all that mysterious,” William affirmed. “And as you said, you can almost taste the combinations in your imagination. That’s because you can call on your sense memory in a creative way. You likely do it with food all the time. It can be as easy as deciding whether to have potatoes or pilaf with your pork chops. Do the same with wine as if it’s just another food ingredient: recall the characteristics of the wine and see if they’re a match for the dish you have in mind. Now, there are a couple of more things I want to discuss and then we’d better get onto your homework.

“The next technique is to match by weight. Your big, gooey Shiraz with smoky, sauce-laden ribs is a perfect example of matching weight with weight – big with big. Other classic matches are Muscadet with shellfish, Brunello with wild boar, or Chablis with roast chicken.”

“Hey, aren’t those regional matches?” Christian observed.

“Indeed they are,” William confirmed. “These matching techniques often work in harmony with each other. And they show the wisdom of each of these combinations as they’ve evolved over the years.

“Now, here’s a simple trick you can try, what you might call a force fit,” William continued. “Add the wine you intend to serve to the dish you’re making and you’ll have an automatic match. For example you can make Coq au Vin with either red or white wine, and then you can serve it with the same wine as you used in the dish.”

“On the subject of cooking with wine,” Aimee noted, “is it really necessary to use the same wine in the dish that you plan on drinking? A lot of people seem pretty fixated on this idea.”

“It’s not a bad guideline,” William answered, “but it’s maybe a bit severe, especially if you plan to serve something rare or costly. Actually, any wine that’s similar and of good quality will do. But I’ve got to admit that I will sometimes cook with wine that I’d never consider drinking.”

“And just how do you come by wine that’s not worth drinking?” Christian asked.

“Remember, I get a lot of unsolicited samples,” William answered. “And frankly, some of them make me despair for the state of the industry.”

“So you save the worst ones for cooking with,” Aimee concluded.

“No, those go down the drain after a token taste, but the ‘OK’ wines are quite acceptable. Now, I have just a couple of more points to make and then I’ll give you your assignment.

“The good news in all this is that for any dish there are probably a dozen wines that will be splendid, a hundred wines that will work perfectly well, and only a handful that won’t do. And if you happen to end up with a mismatch, just put the cork back in the bottle and try something else.”

“That’s where having a cellar comes in handy,” Christian noted.

“Exactly,” William agreed. “Now, having said that, there are a few things you should avoid.”

“Muscat with hotdogs is one,” Aimee declared. “We tried that at a backyard barbecue once. Totally yucky.”

“And yet there’s probably someone who thinks the combination is fabulous,” William sighed. “Although I think I would agree with you. Now, what to avoid: vinegar in all its forms can kill just about any wine. Salad dressings and pickles are notorious culprits. Stick with fruit-based dressings or hold off on the wine. Olives, on the other hand, go very nicely with big red wines.”

“We found that Sauvignon Blanc goes pretty well with vinaigrette,” Aimee added.

“And for every ‘rule’ there are exceptions,” William replied. “So if it works, then you don’t need the rule. Now, in the same vein, watch out for citrus. That too can challenge a wine. Also eggs and artichokes, although I find that unoaked Chardonnay works nicely with eggs and, again, Sauvignon Blanc can partner well with artichokes. You should also watch out for smoked fish – kippers in particular. Smoked salmon is a bit more forgiving. Look for a white wine with high acidity. A dry sparkling wine or dry sherry would be a good choice. And while we’re on the topic of fish, be careful of the tannins in red wine. They can react with fish and cause an unfortunate metallic taste.”

“So that’s why Pinot Noir and Beaujolais work with fish,” Christian concluded, “because they’re low in tannin.”

“You seem to have quite a good handle on this subject already, ” William said. “Incidentally, Pinot Noir is one of the few wines that can co-exist with chocolate. And I guess that’s about all you should avoid.”

“That’s not a very big list,” Aimee declared.

“No, it’s not a big list at all,” William agreed. “Keep in mind that we’re merely looking for symbiosis, not food and wine combinations that cause raptures of ecstasy. Of course it’s always nice when you discover such a match. Now, I have another little trick that you can try. If you find yourself with a wine that’s a bit too tart for the dish, perhaps a racy Chenin with mild fish, try putting a bit of lemon on the dish. That can bring the two into balance. And if it’s a red wine that you feel is too bitter, a bit of salt on the dish can again restore balance.”

“But that’s only for when you don’t have something else you can open,” Christian pointed out. “I think I like the ‘try another bottle’ solution better. Besides, I almost never use salt.”

“As I said, it’s just a useful trick. Now, the next thing we have to cover is serving order.”

“Of the wine?” Aimee asked.

“Of the wine and the food," William emphasized. “Remember that we’ll have gone to a lot of trouble to create good pairings, so our goal is to avoid having any one item take attention away from the others, and to allow the meal to build to a climax. The general rules are: white before red; dry before sweet; light before heavy; simple before complex; and young before venerable, although some people say these last two should be the other way around. Also, select a wine that is somewhat heavier than the food. That’s because a heavier dish can overwhelm the wine.”

“That makes sense,” Aimee agreed. “And not too hard to remember.”

“Do you have any of this written down anywhere?” Christian asked.

“As a matter of fact, you’ll find that it’s written down in many places,” William answered. “And that’s the reason I’ve approached it this way. Most wine books will give you pages of matter-of-fact lists of what goes with what – Montrachet goes with Veal Cordon Bleu or Chateaubriand simply must have Pomerol. You end up thinking that these are the only acceptable matches, and that simply is not true. I want to give you general rules so you can make your own choices rather than hand down a long list of ‘approved’ pairings. That way you can approach pairing as a minor problem to be solved rather than a standard or ideal to be lived up to. Now, here’s one tip that I think will see you through any situation: Always match wine with people.”

“This sounds like an interesting approach,” Christian said. “What’s the objective there?”

“An important and often neglected part of the ‘wine experience’ is ambience,” William explained. “Where you are, who you’re with, the food on the table … they all play a part in how we interpret a wine, and how we remember it as well. The classic example is when you’re sipping the house carafe wine at an outdoor bistro in Provence. The wine is so delicious that you arrange to have a few bottles sent home. But when you open the wine in the glare of familiar surroundings, it just doesn’t measure up.”

“We’ve had friends complain about that,” Aimee said. “They thought the wine had gone bad in transit.”

“That’s possible, but I’d go with my ambience theory,” William said. “The situation can have a big impact on how the wine comes across. When you came over here for your first wine lesson, I chose wines I wanted you to try as much as wines that illustrated my point.”

“And I remember that tasting and those wines in detail,” Aimee agreed.

William smiled. “Choosing wine for people, by the way, can sometimes overcome a poor food-wine match.”

“I’ve read a couple of items about ‘food friendly’ wines – wines that will match anything,” Christian said. “Is there any truth to that?”

“That would be nice,” William said, “and there are some very food friendly wines, but a wine that will go with almost anything? Mostly these are somewhat neutral wines – unoaked Chardonnay, Kerner, Beaujolais, Italian whites. They’re all safe bets, but who wants to always stick with the safe choices? And again we have a limitation because neutral wines sometimes can’t stand up to more expressive foods. If I were to pick one wine that goes with anything, it would be Pinot Noir. It’s the only wine I know of that can go from salad to dessert without a hitch.

“Here’s one more point, and it’s the last one, I promise: You should always match by price. Never serve a cheap wine with quality food, and vice versa.

“Now, I do have something for you in writing.” William passed over the books that he’d set aside, and gave each of them two pieces of paper. “Here is the menu for the party, along with a list of the wines that I have available. Your job is to select a wine to go with each of the eight hors d’oeuvre on the menu. I also selected these books for you to refer to. This first one is written by a good friend and it contains the recipes for these dishes. The recipes and ingredient lists will help you with identifying the dominant character. There’s a bit of regional background as well, plus some wine matches, but I know you’ll want to come up with your own. These other two are on wine and food matching in general.”

“This author looks familiar,” Aimee teased as she picked up one of the books. “Some fellow named Kensington.”

“Well I couldn’t let you get away without showing off at least one of my books,” William replied. “Now, these books will give you lots of review of the techniques we’ve been discussing, and a lot of cross references. For example, this one has a section on finding a wine to go with a particular food and another section on finding food to go with the wine. What I’d like you to do is get your list of wines to me a couple of days in advance. And don’t hesitate to include a wine that’s not on my list if you feel strongly about it. Any questions?”

“Looks straightforward enough,” Christian replied. “As always, you’ve been very thorough.”

“Good. Then we’ll see you on the 18th, and I’d like you to arrive 10 or 15 minutes early so we can discuss your homework.”

Christian and Aimee found the food and wine matching exercise a lot less intimidating than they’d expected. In fact, once they discovered William’s formula buried in the menu, the task suddenly became quite easy, and they delivered their list of wines well ahead of the deadline. Still, they were nervous when they approached William’s front door the afternoon of the party. They rang the bell and were greeted by a familiar face.

“Look who it is,” Ernst beamed, “ … my very good friends! Come in, come in. I’ve been assigned door duty. Here, let me take your coats.”

“We didn’t expect to see you here,” Aimee commented, handing her jacket to their elected greeter.

“You’ll find we’re a pretty close-knit bunch. I believe that William has a small job for you in the kitchen. This way.” Aimee and Christian followed Ernst to the kitchen where they found William busy with food preparation.

“Ah, here are my guests of honour,” William chimed. “I’d like you to meet Marla. She’s in charge of all the food. You may also recognize her as the creator of one of the books I gave you. The hors d’oeuvre recipes are hers.”

“Those recipes are wonderful,” Aimee said, turning to Marla. “William asked us to pick wines to match, and knowing the ingredients really helped.”

“Well then, here,” Marla said, handing Christian a plate of hors d’oeuvre. “Try the salmon tartlets.”

“And to go with it, the Cava you requested,” William said as he handed Christian and Aimee glasses of the sparkling wine.

“Delish,” Aimee cooed. “And the Cava really works!”

“Hey, these are good,” Christian exclaimed as he downed his second canapé. “These are really good!”

“Glad you enjoy them, but tell me, how did you come to choose Cava?” Marla asked. “It’s not what most people would think of.”

“We cheated!” Aimee confessed. “William gave us the menu and a list of wines, and as we were working on it we discovered his pattern.”

“And what pattern is that?” William asked.

“The one you used at our second lesson,” Aimee answered. “First, a sparkling wine, then the three ‘archetypal’ whites, then three reds, and wrap up with a ‘sticky’.”

“I told you they were good,” William said to Marla. “Now, the Cava ... why?”

“Always start with a sparkler,” Christian answered. “It helps to set the mood, and creating the right ambience is half the battle.”

“Plus we chose as much for our host as for the dish,” Aimee added. “We also wanted something that would cut through the salmon and the cheese, and Cava is quite dry.”

“And the acidity makes it a good palate cleanser,” Christian added.

“Very good,” William responded. “Let’s go through the rest of the list and then we should join the other guests.”

“People are here already?” Looking out into the backyard Aimee saw a cluster of people inspecting the garden.

“The invitation said 5:00, so naturally people began arriving last night,” William said with a smile. “Wine people are like that. Now, you selected an Ontario Chardonnay to go with the quiches.”

“That’s the ‘Hearty White’ group,” Christian answered. “You told us that Chardonnay was a good foil for egg, so it was a pretty obvious choice. But no oak. And the Ontario Chardonnays have a nice freshness to them.”

“Not bad. Wine number three is another unusual choice,” Marla said, picking up their list with one floury hand. “Orvieto ... how is that going to work with my asparagus? Or the prosciutto?”

“Well, once we discovered the formula, we just went to William’s style lists,” Christian began. “So this is the Sauvignon Group, but we didn’t want a lot of grapefruit.”

“Or cat pee,” Aimee added.

“… or cat pee,” Christian continued. “We’ve had this Orvieto before and it’s more lemony, and I think it has enough body to work with the prosciutto.”

“Well thought out,” William said. “On the other hand, you may have to sell me on this next one. Aimee, your turn.”

“We weren’t too sure either,” Aimee began, “Riesling seemed too obvious. We thought that the Grüner Veltliner would give us the stone fruit aromas of Riesling, and that would work with the mango. And pork is a ‘white’ meat so it should go with a white wine, and your notes said this one was off-dry.”

“Well, we’ll have to see if the adjudication committee agrees,” William kidded.

“Adjudication committee?” Christian asked.

William laughed. “Oh, it’s just the 30 or so people who will be sampling your work for the next few hours. Nothing serious, I promise. Now, what led you to this next pairing?”

“The Beaujolais and tuna,” Aimee began. “Well, we thought this might be a ringer so we checked in the books you lent us.”

“But first we had to look up cloudberries,” Christian interjected.

“We thought the Beaujolais would have very little tannin in it, so it wouldn’t conflict with the tuna, and cloudberries are raspberries, which is what I always smell in Beaujolais,” Aimee summed up.

“Full marks,” William said proudly. “Now this next one will probably get a lot of favourable comments from our guests.”

“Well this one is driven by the Hoisin sauce,” Christian explained. “It’s pretty sweet and gooey, so I immediately thought Shiraz, but Aimee suggested the Zinfandel. It should also match up nicely with the spices in the chicken saté.”

“This last red wine match seems nicely focussed to me,” Marla observed, handing Christian another plate of hors d’oeuvre. “Looks like you don’t want just any Cabernet. What were you looking for here?”

“I think Cabernet and beef are just made for each other,” Aimee said. “But we didn’t want something as serious as Californian Cabernet or Bordeaux. Australian Cab is usually a bit lighter and more fruit forward, so it won’t overwhelm the burgers or the Portobellos.”

“Nicely done,” William affirmed. “And you’ve managed to pick one of my favourite sweet wines as a finisher.”

“It’s all about the figs and almonds,” Christian said. “I read that some Italian white wines have an almond aroma, so we looked for an Italian dessert wine, and this was the only one on your list.”

“Oh, right ... well, that certainly made it simple,” William confessed sheepishly. “So in general, how hard was it to create eight food and wine pairings which, I might add, you have done here with aplomb?”

“We had a lot of fun doing it,” Aimee replied. “And the tip about trying to imagine the combinations was really helpful, even though we had to improvise on a couple of them.”

Just then the door to the back yard opened and the garden inspection committee noisily made their way to the Cava and the hors d’oeuvre. Then their attention fell on the newcomers.

“You must be William’s new discoveries,” said a slight, elfish man, hand outstretched. “Top rate job on the wines. Marla, let me take one of these plates off your hands.”

“Thanks, Dr. D.,” Marla replied. “In fact, all of you, grab a plate and get out of here. Shoo. We have work to do.”

Marla and William handed out plates of hors d’oeuvre as the guests filed by, glasses of Cava in hand, until only one remained. “Aimee, Christian, I’d like you to meet Ann.”

“So you two are the ones who have been keeping William out of trouble,” Ann said with a broad smile. “I’ve certainly heard quite a lot about you.”

“It was pretty easy, really,” Aimee said. “Your husband is a very good teacher. He’s also very good at keeping secrets. We had no idea he had any family in the area until recently.”

“I may be the professor, but he’s the absent-minded one,” Ann replied. “And thank you for helping him to get settled in. Having you two as a project helped him focus, and it also helped me to not worry about him so much.” Ann reached out and took Aimee by the hand. “I think we should get out of Marla’s way. Come along, I’ll introduce you to the rest of our guests.”

“I’ll be out to join you shortly,” Marla said. “William, you’re not going anywhere. Here, put these on a plate.”

With that, Ann, Aimee and Christian left the cooking crew to complete their tasks.

“Well,” Marla said, “they certainly are a nice couple, and so keen. Did you invite them to join our tasting group?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d see how they react to all those old fogies first,” William answered.

“And how’s the new book coming along?”

“I finished the research just minutes ago,” William said, arranging canapés on a platter.

“And did you get what you needed?”

“I did,” William said with a satisfied smile. “Yes, I think I have just about everything I need.” - tfo

Chapter 8: A Well-stocked Cellar

2010-01-12T15:15:00.004-05:00

Synopsis

Chapter 1: Christian meets the new next-door neighbour, William, who happens to be a renowned wine writer and educator.

Chapter 2: Christian and his wife, Aimee, arrive at William’s home for their first wine lesson. They learn how to taste, and examine the four basic wine styles: Sparkling, White, Red, and Dessert.

Chapter 3: William lays out his master plan: a simple system that groups all wine into six basic styles --three for whites and three for red wines -- and explains how this knowledge takes much of the mystery out of table wine.

Chapter 5: To strengthen their sense memory and ability to recognize aromas, William leads the couple through a series of “nose training” exercises.

Chapter 6: Wine shows are a great place to sample and learn about many different wines, as Christian and Aimee discover. They finish their “lesson” with a bit of food and wine matching.
Chapter 7: Christian and Aimee are treated to insights into both old world and new world wine making traditions when they have a winemaker all to themselves.

William had said that he would arrange the transportation to his wine-collector friend’s house, but when the appointed day and time arrived, Christian and Aimee were surprised to see a limousine in front of their house, its driver waiting with the passenger door held open.

“I’m afraid my friend Ernst has a flair for the dramatic,” William said as they joined him and headed for the car, “but if you’re going to have a designated driver, a limousine is a pretty good way to go.”

“We’ve learned not to be surprised by anything when it comes to our wine lessons,” Aimee replied, “but this is definitely unexpected.”

“I think you’re going to have to tell us more about your friend Ernst,” Christian added as the three stepped into the waiting limo.

Once the friends had made themselves comfortable, William began to tell the story of how he met Ernst.

“Well I’m not sure whether I should tell you about Ernst as much as warn you about him,” William began. “You see, he’s quite ‘Old World’, and he insists that he comes from a culture where plain truth is highly valued. Moreover, he believes it should be shared, so you’ll find him very outspoken and opinionated. His saving graces are his generosity and the fact that he’s usually right.”

“How did he come by the limousine?” Christian asked.

“Lucky in business ... and hard work,” William replied. “He immigrated here about 35 years ago with an electrical engineering degree, and set up shop in the middle of a building boom. Within 10 years he had one of the most successful electrical contracting firms around. He showed up at a wine tasting I was giving about 15 years ago, and immediately let me know that he was not going to put up with any half efforts. He’s been peppering me with tough questions ever since.”

“Sounds like a bit of a ‘hard case’,” Aimee observed.

“No, not at all. In fact, he’s quite a pussycat,” William answered. “But he strongly feels that you ought not to open your mouth if you haven’t done your homework. For example, he will give a very hard time to a sommelier who has merely memorized the textbooks instead of getting to know the wine. And then he will just as easily delight in someone who is eager and willing to learn, which is why he was so happy to have me bring you two along tonight.”

“So he keeps you honest,” Christian remarked.

“Well put,” William said. “His business takes very little effort these days, so he spends a lot of his time visiting wine regions and, as you might expect, collecting wine. Ah, it looks like we’ve arrived. Did I mention that it wasn’t very far?”

Christian and Aimee looked out the car window as they pulled up in front of a modest but extremely well manicured stone house. An older fire-plug of a man was coming down the front steps, grinning profusely. Stepping out of the limo, William was greeted with a bear hug.

“I see you’re managing to keep your spirits up,” William joked as he extricated himself from his friend’s embrace. “This is the young couple I told you about. Aimee, Christian, this is Ernst – the most incurable wine collector I know.”

“Friends of William’s are always welcome in my cellar,” Ernst said as he gave the couple vigorous handshakes. “It’s not often I get to bring innocents into my cellar. I can’t wait to show you a few of my treasures.” With that, he led the way into the house.

The interior of the house mirrored the exterior – understated, but impeccably appointed. They descended to the lower level, which consisted of a comfortable family room with a conspicuous, ornate door at one end. “This is a lovely house,” Aimee commented. “Very tasteful.”

“Give my wife credit for that,” Ernst answered. “If it were up to me, we would probably be sitting on wine cases. Now, in here is the wine cellar. The designer I hired convinced me that this is what I needed. I’m sure he would have taken over the entire basement if I’d let him.”

Ernst opened the door to the cellar, and as they stepped into the room the lighting automatically switched on. The room looked more like a wine shop than a personal cellar. A dark wooden table dominated the room, with seating for eight. The walls flanking either side were floor-to-ceiling wine racks, filled nearly to capacity. Most were built to accommodate single bottles, although a number were diamond shaped, each holding a cluster of bottles nestled together. In one corner, just inside the door, stood a racking module dedicated to magnums and half-bottles.

The far wall was taken up by glass-fronted cupboards filled with all manner of wine glasses, decanters, decanting funnels, and other wine paraphernalia. Below the cupboards was a black slate counter with a small sink, a number of bottles and, off to one side, a computer workstation next to a wall-mounted corkscrew.

“This is quite the wine cellar,” Christian said, obviously impressed.

“Actually, this is the tasting room,” Ernst explained. “The cellar is in there.” He walked over to a second door and opened it. As he stepped inside the cellar proper, he was bathed in the glow of soft light. He beckoned the others to join him. “This is the actual cellar. I love the ambience in here, but it’s much too chilly to do any tasting for any length of time. That’s why the tasting room.”

“Um … how many bottles can you store in here,” Christian asked, his eyes widening considerably as he took in the sight of row upon row of racks and bottles.

“A little over 5000,” Ernst answered. “That includes the tasting room.”

“Now, why do you have wine stored in the tasting room?” Aimee asked. “Why isn’t it all in the cellar?”

“They both are cellars,” Ernst pointed out. “The tasting room is not a great deal warmer than the cellar – 66 degrees – cool but tolerable. I keep my ‘au courant’ wines there.”

“Which means?” Aimee asked.

“Wines for current use, everyday wines, wines that I’ve scheduled for opening – and a bit of overflow.”

“What’s the temperature in here,” Christian asked. “It’s certainly on the cool side.”

“Yes, it’s a constant 54 degrees,” Ernst replied as he took two sweaters off a nearby coat rack and offered them to his guests. (William wore a tweed jacket, which was his habit.) Aimee put on the proffered sweater and Christian put his over his arm, just in case.

“The last time I was here, you were still working out the electrical,” William recalled. “I see you went with LED lamp fixtures. Any other innovations I should know about?”

“Well the motion sensors, of course,” Ernst replied. “It’s amazing how much heat regular lighting throws off even at this level, and I would hate to forget to turn them off. The LED fixtures cost a bit more, but I’ll save considerably on refrigeration costs.”

“I assume you did the electrical yourself,” William continued.

“I did a lot of it myself, but I brought in teams for the heavy stuff. I’m getting too old to be lifting and setting tiles and such.”

“Speaking of tiles, this looks like slate on the floor,” William noted. “Is that to provide a heat sink?”

“Yes, totally functional,” Ernst replied. “If the power were to go off, this room will stay at this temperature for at least two days, even in the middle of July.”

“You’re right about the ambience,” Aimee observed, “except for the temperature, of course. I love being surrounded by all this wood.”

“And all this wine,” Christian added. “You seem to have a lot of white wine here. I didn’t think white wines aged all that well.”

“A common misconception,” Ernst countered. “This section of the cellar is mainly white wine. The reds are in the next two aisles. About a quarter of the cellar is white wine, in fact. As for ageing, there are a lot of white wines that age magnificently, and I’ve selected a couple for us to try.”

“How do you know what’s here?” Aimee asked. “It must be quite a job to keep track of it all.”

“That’s what the computer is for,” Ernst answered. “The last thing I want to do is discover a valuable bottle that’s over the hill. It’s all set up on a database.”

“Did you pick one of the commercial cellar management systems?” William asked.

“I looked at them, but I couldn’t get what I wanted so I created my own. I’ve been keeping records for so long and I’d already developed a fairly comprehensive system on the computer. I figured I could expand on what I had and it would be more to my liking in the end. It’s really just a basic database, with a few bells and whistles. Each wine gets logged when I purchase it, along with its bin number here in the cellar. There’s a reference database and a set of formulas that provide a range of dates for opening the wine, and the system will alert me when each wine is getting ready for opening. I can run reports that give me a number of views of the collection. The commercial programs do much the same, but this one’s a bit like a comfortable pair of slippers.

“Now, I understand that you’ve come to admire my wine, and the best way to do that is by opening the bottles, don’t you agree?” He led the group back into the tasting room.

“Please make yourselves comfortable and I’ll get us a few glasses and something to put in them.” Ernst pulled four glasses from one of the cupboards and put one at each place. He then reached into a mini-fridge below the counter and took out a bottle of champagne.

“I thought we might start with a vintage champagne,” he announced, opening the bottle almost soundlessly and pouring a couple of ounces into each glass. “This is the 1989 vintage – quite a good year.”

“William says you should always start with a sparkling wine,” Aimee noted.

“No argument here,” Ernst said, placing the bottle into an ice bucket and a basket of bread on the table before sitting down. “It’s also the perfect palate cleanser. I’m appalled that so few people know that.”

“Something that’s always annoyed me,” William added, “is that at many of the tastings I go to they put out strong cheeses, spicy cold cuts and other things that confuse the palate, and nothing to help revive it. A repair sip of sparkling wine is just the thing.”

“I didn’t realize that most champagne wasn’t vintage until I read about it recently,” Christian added. “Is there really that much of a difference?”

“Well, the word vintage literally means to harvest the grapes and make the wine,” Ernst said, with a smile. “So, really, all wine is vintage, because it all has been vintaged.”

“Then what’s the difference between vintage and non-vintage wines,” Amiee asked.

“It’s not so mysterious,” Ernst began. “For example, Champagne is in northern France, and the grapes don’t always ripen as well as the growers would like, so they blend several vintages to achieve a certain style. Those wines won’t carry a vintage date because it would be meaningless. But in good years, when the grapes reach their potential, the Champenoise will often ‘declare’ a vintage, and those wines will be released without any blending with other vintages.”

“So this whole idea of vintage in the sense of ‘quality’ just means that it was a good growing year?” Christian summarized.

“ … and that’s why the vintage date is so important,” Aimee exclaimed, “because some harvests are better than others!”

“Precisely,” Ernst agreed, “at least in the Old World. The same is done in Oporto. Most Port is blended, but in the best years they will declare a vintage. But that doesn’t mean you should pass by the non-vintage wines. In Champagne all their wines have been aged, sometimes to quite an extent. Vintage champagne is never released before its fifth year. But even non-vintage champagne will spend two years in barrels and then perhaps another two years in bottle. And these wines are all capable of ageing still more – two to five years for non-vintage and ten to fifteen for the vintage. Just be sure to record the purchase date before laying down non-vintage wines. This applies to both sparkling and still wines.

“Now, please attend to the wine at hand and let me know if I’ve been rewarded for my patience.”

“This will be a good test for Christian,” William noted. “We’ve been kidding him a lot about his penchant for red wines.”

“And have I complained about all this ribbing,” Christian shot back, “or have I politely listened and tasted?”

“I think you’ve been very well behaved,” Aimee said in her most comforting voice.

“But I must say, if you don’t like a well-aged vintage champagne, there may be no hope for you.”

With a good chuckle all around, the group turned their attention to the wine in their glasses.

“I’m getting some earthy Pinot notes in here,” William commented. “Somewhat barnyardy, and a luscious toastiness from the lees ageing.”

“Very smooth,” Aimee added, “and yet it’s still fresh tasting.”

“This is really complex,” Christian mused. “I think you’ve had a very good return on your investment with this one. Very nice.”

Aimee and William looked at each other and nodded their approval.

“Hey, I’m teachable,” Christian protested.

“Then you must be ready to tackle another white wine.” Ernst brought four more glasses out of the cupboard and placed them before his guests. He then fetched another bottle from the cooler, uncorked it and poured four samples.

“This is an off-dry vouvray, from the Loire region,” he announced.

“Also French?” Christian observed.

“It’s not the country of origin I’m interested in here,” Ernst explained. “Vouvray is made from Chenin Blanc grapes, and some of these wines can age extraordinarily well. This is the 1995 vintage … just look at that colour!”

“Everyone I’ve talked to about ageing wine seems to have a different opinion,” Aimee pointed out. “Why do people age wine? What do they expect to happen?”

“Yes, that is the unexplained miracle of wine,” Ernst replied gleefully. “You see, wine never stops changing until it finally becomes vinegar. Some say that it is a living thing. I’m not quite so romantic, but you can certainly look at wine as having a ‘life cycle’. It begins life fresh and innocent. It has a vibrant youth, which slowly gives way to the elegance and maturity of middle age. Finally it lapses into old age and death, like any living thing. For some wines, the cycle takes just a few years; others are good for five, ten, fifteen years and more. And some wines will outlive us all! Did you know that the Romans dated their best wines and even put vineyard names on the storage jars? They knew that certain wines would improve with age.”

“So ageing is sometimes a good thing but not always,” Aimee summed up.

“Yes, but understand that ‘improve’ is a rather unspecific term,” Ernst continued.

“Some people prefer young wines. Others cherish the complexity that comes with age. It really is a matter of personal taste. And even though my cellar is filled with collectable and age-worthy wines, I often would rather have a young wine.

“But getting back to what happens; the most obvious change is colour. That vouvray is deep gold now. When it was young, it was at least three shades lighter. The aromas and the texture also change. This wine was dominated by simple lemon in its early days. Now it’s more honey and vegetation. Quite appetising.”

“I was wondering whether you think there’s a minimum amount of ageing that’s needed,” Christian asked.

“A very good point,” Ernst replied. “I’m glad you brought it up. First of all, there’s what they call ‘bottle shock’. The wine is traumatized by being forcibly confined in bottles. The general rule is that it will recover in about three months. There’s also the issue of being packaged and shipped. No one has ever studied this, but I think a month or so of rest would be agreeable after a long truck ride, assuming the wine travels well at all. And after that there’s the time required for the wine to ‘integrate’. That’s what we’re after in the cellar. For many wines, it happens in six months to a year, but some wines can take years for everything to come together.”

“It might be a good idea to talk about aroma versus bouquet at this point,” William noted.

“Yes, by all means, do,” Ernst replied, turning his attention to the wine in his glass.

William continued. “Simply put, we divide wine aromas into three classes. ‘Primary aromas’ are what you start out with in the freshly crushed juice. After fermentation, the wine takes on what we call ‘secondary aromas’. This is what you find in young wines – fresh fruits, simple spices, that sort of thing. Finally, after the requisite bottle ageing, you get what we call ‘tertiary aromas’, or ‘bouquet’. This is what we’re after when we cellar a wine.”

“Have we had enough discussion?” Ernst asked. “Because there’s a wine here that I’m sure has tertiary aromas for us all to enjoy.”

“Ah yes … the vouvray,” William agreed. “It’s showing that lovely honey aroma and texture.”

“I know that red wines develop sediment over time,” Christian pointed out. “Is that the case with white wines as well?”

“Not usually,” Ernst answered. “You may find some harmless tartrate crystals, but usually nothing else. You can see a few crystals on this cork here. In the case of red wines, the tannins combine with the colour components – the anthocyanins – and they form long-chain molecules and simply fall out. That’s what creates the sediment. This also accounts for red wines becoming lighter coloured and softer with age. And they go through a similar character change as the whites. They lose their youthful fruit and take on some very exciting aromas: spices, tobacco, cigar box, underbrush … and ‘animale’.

“Now, I thought it might be fun to see what happens when you don’t manage your cellar very well.” Ernst fetched two handfuls of glasses from the cupboard and put three at each place. He pulled a bottle from one of the racks and extracted the cork.

“This is an Oregon Pinot Noir,” he explained. “I was thrilled when they began producing some very good Pinots there, and I’ve been stocking them for a while. This one was released just two years ago, so it should be relatively young and fresh tasting.”

He poured samples for each of them and sat down.

“This is really delightful,” William commented, burying his nose in his glass.
“Young, fresh, with lots of red fruits and just a hint of beetroot. This has been one of your favourite makers for some time, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Yes, very good work here,” Ernst agreed. “I think Pinot is one to watch in quite a few regions besides Burgundy. Which brings me to our next bottle.”

Ernst uncorked one of the bottles that had been standing on the counter, and carefully poured four glasses. “This one is from the same winery, and it’s been in my cellar for six years. There are those who say Pinot cannot age. Perhaps not the same way as the bigger reds, but its evolution can be extraordinary, as you will see here.”

The second glass was lighter coloured than the first, showing more mahogany or brick than ruby.

“Tobacco, right off the top,” William observed, “brought about by the age, no doubt.”

“I’m smelling mushroom and leather,” Aimee added.

“Quite so. Now, let’s see what happens when a wine doesn’t stand up so well.” One of the bottles standing on the counter had its cork partially reinserted, which Ernst removed as he brought the bottle to the table. “My original analysis suggested that this wine would hold, which it did not, and here is the evidence – at just five years of age.”

The wine was pale and dull looking, with a tell-tale brownish cast.

“Smells pretty weak,” Christian noted. “Not actually bad, though.”

“No, this wine hasn’t turned on us … yet,” Ernst affirmed. “It just has collapsed. None of those red berries of youth or the spice of mid-life. Flat and tasteless – money down the drain!”

“Now, you’ve used the same glasses for all these wines,” Aimee noted. “We met a winemaker friend of William’s who introduced us to some fancy glasses that were designed for each of the wines. What do you think of the theory that the wineglass should match the wine? And would one of those glasses help a wine like this one?”

“Ah, someone has been filling your head with ideas,” Ernst joked. “Actually I have a number of those glasses, and I often use them. But for a tasting such as this I don’t want their influence. These glasses are a version of the standard tasting glass, and they give a clear image of what the wine truly is. Those designer glasses are good, but they can affect a wine’s aromatics and they soften the palate. I have nothing against them, although I do think many of them were created in the marketing department rather than the tasting lab.”

“What I’d like to know is how you determine what to put into your cellar,” Christian asked. “If someone with your experience can end up with a wine like this, how can any of us hope to avoid having failures?”

“I’m convinced you can’t avoid them,” Ernst began. “But it’s not so very hard to pick promising candidates. You don’t even need experience. Just do some research. Many wine reviews will give some indication of a wine’s ageing potential. And, in fact, the list of grapes and wines to learn is quite short. Most of the ageable wines are the big reds: Cabernet, Bordeaux, Barolo, and some of the better Spanish wines. But even modest reds can improve for a year or two. The most ageable white wines are the better Chardonnays, some Chenin, Rieslings, obviously the better sparkling wines, and many dessert wines. And quality is always a factor. In general, the better the wine, the better the odds. But watch out for over-priced wines. They’re often over-rated as well. I’ve had far too many $100 and $200 wines that turned to $10 wines in the glass.”

“Actually, one of the best exercises you can try is to buy a case of something you think will age well,” William added, “and open one bottle every six months or one bottle every year. That will give you a very good grounding in the effects of ageing and of the wine’s life expectancy. At the very least, buy two or three bottles at a time and then open them at least six months apart. I should also mention that there are consultants around who will be glad to help you set up a cellar and stock it with suitable wines.”

“I think one thing we need to keep in mind,” Aimee observed, “is the cost. This cellar must have cost a fortune, even without any wine in it!”

Ernst broke into a rollicking laugh. “Oh, I try never to think about the cost. It would just spoil my fun.”

“What you should focus on,” William interjected, “is the value of the wine itself. The best insurance policy you can buy is a good storage system. That way you know your value is preserved.”

“Quite true, quite true,” Ernst agreed. “Actually, the cellar didn’t cost as much as you might think. If you’re at all handy you can do a lot of the work yourself – and the materials really aren’t that expensive. I paid less than $5 per bottle for this entire storage space – about what you’d pay for a decent winerack.”

“Good point,” Aimee replied. “We have a simple wine rack that cost more than that – per bottle, I mean.”

“What I was wondering is whether you consider this a collection or an investment,” Christian asked.

“Oh, never an investment,” Ernst answered firmly. “Never invest in something you can drink! It would only be an investment if my goal were to sell at a profit. No, this cellar is purely for enjoyment.”

“Have you looked into investing in wine,” Christian asked, pressing the point.

“I think I can field this one,” William jumped in. “Top quality wines – wines that are bound to improve with age – generally will get more valuable over time. But a problem in many areas is that you can’t sell it, the areas where they have liquor control boards, mainly. And even in an open market you might realize just single-digit returns from highly desirable wines. But I agree with Ernst: wine is for drinking. As an investment, it’s really not usually that good and, I think, quite impractical for most people.”

“I’d go further,” Ernst summed up, “and say that until you’ve pulled the cork, the wine has no value at all. But I will tell you one thing: a wine that you’ve held on to for too long is worthless. Too many wines are opened too late rather than too early. So err on the side of youth! And if its unopened value is greater, well then, more fool you. Sell it, give it to a charity auction for a tax receipt, but spare yourself the drinking of it.”

“There’s a restaurant we like to go to that has a world famous wine cellar,” Christian said. “Would it be a good idea to buy older wines there rather than creating a cellar ourselves?”

“This is one of Ernst’s favourite topics,” William declared. “I suggest you brace yourselves.”

“Yes, I’m quite outspoken on this matter,” Ernst replied. “Of course my answer is an emphatic no. I really don’t know what the business rationale is with some restaurants. They feel that it serves their customers well to charge punitive mark-ups on wine. If I marked my products up by 300% or more, I’d be out of business in a week. And it gets worse when the restaurant has an impressive cellar. I’ve seen margins in excess of 500% on wines that are little better than ‘very good’. I can’t imagine what makes a wine worth a thousand dollars served at the table when the same wine might sell for perhaps a few hundred dollars at auction. No, I believe that those wine lists have only one purpose: to allow people with more money than imaginatiuon to impress their dining companions. There, is that outspoken enough for you?”

“That will do nicely,” William kidded. “But you’re absolutely right about unreasonable mark-ups. It’s something I’ve been railing against for many years.”
“Good. Now I have one more wine to show you.” Ernst took a decanter and a funnel from one of the cabinets and set them up near the last bottle standing on the counter. He extracted the cork as gently as possible, gave the cork a quick sniff and a squeeze, and put it off to one side. He then placed a small lamp next to the decanter and began to pour the wine slowly into the funnel. He stopped pouring when there were still a few ounces in the bottle, set the bottle down and brought the decanter to the table.

“I shall let you make the determination,” he said, pouring William a sample from the decanter.

William plunged his nose deep into the glass. “Ah, Brunello,” he announced with glee. “And what year are you gracing us with?”

“I thought you might know the ‘84,” Ernst replied. “A fabulous vintage. I’ve been opening them for about five years now and this, sadly, is my second to last bottle. I’m glad you approve.” He poured generous samples for Christian, Aimee and himself. He then took out a cell phone and made a call, which consisted merely of ‘We’re ready’.

“Brunello, from Tuscany?” Christian asked.

“The same,” Ernst replied.

“I’ve had Brunello before, but never something this old,” Christian added. “I see what the fuss is about. This is incredible!”

“I should caution you that tasting old wine is often not an earth shattering experience,” Ernst explained. “The changes are mostly subtle: tannins recede; young fruit gives way to mature fruit; simple spices become more complex. Now, at one time Brunello was notorious for taking years to soften. I think, these days, the makers are approaching a more modern style. The wines are not so hard on release – less tannic and ready to drink sooner. That would be a good guideline for a cellaring candidate: massive tannins means years to go!”

“Just be sure the wine has something to offer besides tannins,” William added. “If there’s no fruit now – no character – there won’t be any later either.”

“I’m curious,” Christian continued. “You decanted the Brunello but not the two older Pinots. And you also sniffed that cork, but none of the others. Why is that?”

“Ah, that’s because Brunello is a big tannic wine,” Ernst replied, “and at this age is bound to have thrown a crust, so decanting is almost a given. It’s also a very robust wine. Pinot is not robust and I find that decanting seems to drain them. As for the cork, with a wine of this age the cork can show problems. If it were dried out or crumbly, that could be a bad sign. But usually smelling the cork tells you nothing.”

“We have some friends who always decant their wine,” Aimee noted. “And another couple we know opens the bottle hours ahead of time to let it ‘breathe’. Do either of these help the wine?”

“I’m afraid we’re getting into the realm of psychology and ‘old wives tales’,” Ernst explained. “Removing the cork and letting the bottle stand does absolutely nothing. But many people insist on doing it, even people who ought to know better.

“As for this ruthless approach to decanting, I’ve never understood it. I decant a wine only if I know it has a sediment, and I do it immediately before serving. That way you preserve what’s in the bottle. Very fine, very old wines can collapse quite quickly, so you don’t want to let it sit for any length of time. Air is the enemy of wine! If you want to aerate the wine, all you need to do is to swirl it in your glass. Slow down, and give the wine a chance to open up at its own pace.”

“Still, don’t you find that decanting can soften a young wine?” William countered.

“Perhaps,” Ernst replied. “But why would you be opening a wine that wasn’t ready? I also think decanting can rob a wine of some of its character and vigour. But that’s personal preference. Incidentally, if you plan to decant an older wine, you must stand it up for at least 24 hours to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle.”

“What about decanting a white wine,” Aimee asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone decant a white wine. Or a sweet wine.”

“Well I would never decant a white wine, unless tartrate crystals were an issue,” Ernst replied. “I find most white wines too delicate to benefit from the process, but I know that others would disagree.”

“Here again, I think personal preference rules,” William added. “I happen to like the freshness of an undecanted wine, but I know people who will decant the dickens out of a wine they think is ‘tight’. I’ve even seen people pick up the decanter and shake it like a rag doll … yes, to each his own.”

Just then, the door to the tasting room opened and in walked Ernst’s ‘chauffeur’ carrying a tray.

“Ah, you’re just in time for the Brunello. I believe you’ve already met my grandson Keith,” Ernst announced. “And to complement the wines, Keith has brought us a bit of pecorino, plus a few other morsels I found in the pantry.”

“I hope my grandfather hasn’t overloaded you with his wine talk,” Keith said as he fetched a glass and poured himself some of the Brunello.

“Far from it,” Aimee objected. “We’re having a wonderful time – and learning so much!”

Ernst raised his glass. “Now, we have wine and we have food, so I recommend we spend the remainder of our time together enjoying them and this good company.”

“Do you have any words of wisdom to sum up?” William asked, reaching for a piece of the cheese.

“Let’s see,” Ernst began. “First, I see no point in storing and cataloguing a lot of wine just for the sake of having it. I enjoy buying wine, and I look forward to opening it, but as you can see, I have far more wine than I can possibly do justice to, and often I have to perform a purge such as this. Mind you, I’m not complaining. Second, I confess that this probably is my favourite way to spend an evening: sharing my wines with people who can appreciate them. And lastly, I have to say that having a good wine cellar seems to attract the most interesting people. Salut!”

-tfo