The Only Wine Book You'll Ever Need

The Only Wine Book

You’ll Ever Need

By Danny May

With contributions from Andy Sharpe

Adams Media

Avon, MA

Copyright © 2004, F+W Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in

any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for

brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

57 Littlefield Street

Avon, MA 02322 USA

www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-59337-101-2

ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-101-2

eISBN: 978-1-44051-892-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

May, Danny.

The only wine book you'll ever need / Danny May ;

with contributions from Andy Sharpe.

p.         cm.

ISBN 1-59337-101-2

1. Wine and wine making. I. Sharpe, Andy. II. Title.

TP548.M4586 2004

641.2'2—dc22

2004004811

Contains portions of material adapted and abridged from The Everything®Wine Book by Danny May and Andy Sharpe, © 1997, Adams Media Corporation.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a

Committee of the American Bar Association and

a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Visit our home page at www.adamsmedia.com.

Contents

Introduction: What Is Wine?

Part 1: Wine 101

Chapter 1: A Brief History of Wine

The Origins of Wine

The Proliferation of Wine in the Ancient World

Winemaking Spreads to the New World

Setbacks in the Prohibition Era

The Wine Boom in America

Chapter 2: Types of Wine

Table Wine (Where Else Would You Put a Wineglass?)

Sparkling Wine, or Bubbly

Dessert Wine

Fortified Wine

Kosher Wine

Chapter 3: How Is Wine Made?

Combating Oxidation

Through the Glass, Clearly

Differences Between White Wine and Red Wine Production

Part 2: Why We Love Wine

Chapter 4: What Makes Good Wine Good?

Wine #1: White Served at 45°–50°F

Wine #2: Red Served at 55°–60°F

The Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Perfection

Great Grapes

The Final Analysis

Chapter 5: The Quality Spectrum

Category 1: Jug Wines ($10–$13 per 4-Liter Bottle)

Category 2: FightingVarietals($5–$8)

Category 3: Midrange Varietals($8–$18)

Category 4: Handcrafted Wines ($18–$30)

Category 5: Reserve Wines ($30 and up)

Vintages

What Makes Expensive Wines Expensive?

Why Expensive Wines Are Worth It

Chapter 6: Wine Flaws

The Wine Is Too Old

The Wine Is Too Young

The Wine Is Carsick

The Wine Is Poorly Made

The Wine Is out of Balance

The Wine Is the Wrong Temperature

The Wine Is Corked

The Wine Is Oxidized

The Wine Is Bretty

The Wine Is Fizzy

The Wine Is Cloudy

Stuff Has Settled on the Bottom

The Wine Is Too Expensive

Part 3: The Wine Universe

Chapter 7: The Region-Versus-Variety Debate

Old-World Distinctions

New-World Differences

The Current Lay of the Land

Chapter 8: Varietal Wines, Grape by Grape

Red Wine Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon

Pinot Noir

Merlot

Syrah/Shiraz

Zinfandel

Nebbiolo

Sangiovese

Grenache

Gamay

Tempranillo

Malbec

Cabernet Franc

Barbera

White Wine Grapes: Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Riesling

Chenin Blanc

Pinot Blanc

Semillon

Viognier

Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris

Gewürztraminer

Grüner Veltliner

Chapter 9: Wine Regions

The Home of the Vine

France

Italy

Germany

Spain

Portugal

Austria

The United States

Argentina

Chile

South Africa

Australia

New Zealand

The Rest of the World

Part 4: Choosing and Serving Wine

Chapter 10: The Economics of Wine

Economics 101

Wine Merchants in the Real World

Supply Side Economics . . .

. . . And Demand

More Economic Theory

Restaurant Wine

Chapter 11: Shopping for Wine

A Guide to Wine Stores

Anatomy of a Wine Store

Wine Distribution in Retail Stores

In the Know

Wine for Entertaining a Crowd

Wine for Small Dinner Parties

House Wine for Everyday Sipping

Stocking a Wine Cellar

Chapter 12: Navigating the Restaurant Wine List

Buying Wine in a Restaurant

Wine by the Glass Is Often Very Expensive

Know the Price Structure

Making a Selection

The Wine Ritual

How Should You Tip?

Can You Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB)?

The Bottom Line

Chapter 13: Wine and Food

Matching Food and Wine

You Don’t Always Need to Match

Good Wine and Food Matches

Enjoying Wine Without Food

Cooking with Wine

Part 5: Resources

Web Site Reference Guide

Bibliography

Glossary

Introduction

What Is Wine?

WINE IS AN alcoholic beverage, and so much more . . .

Before electricity, before running water, before medical science, there was soothing and delicious wine to gladden the heart, to make life’s rigors more bearable, and to make good times even more enjoyable. Throughout its seventy or more centuries at the table of Western civilization, wine has inspired the imaginations of poets, oiled the voices of orators, emboldened the shy, wooed sweethearts-to-be, sealed marriages, marked religious ceremonies, honored births and anniversaries, and christened ships. The same cannot be said of beer or whisky. Unlike the production of beer and spirits, which require relatively complex processes such as malting and distillation, wine is almost a naturally occurring product. Grapes want to become wine, and they require minimal processing to do so.

Wine is made from grape juice when the natural grape sugars are transformed into ethyl alcohol through the activity of naturally occurring yeast cells. To a chemist, therefore, wine is a solution of water, alcohol, acids, and the various organic compounds formed during fermentation. Wine is the most acidic drink that passes our lips. The sharp impression made on the mouth by wine acids—tartaric, tannic, malic, and/or lactic—provides the backbone that gives clarity and purpose to a wine’s fruity flavors and aromas. It is the acidity in wine that aids digestion and, along with the alcohol, helps to preserve wine in the bottle and make it a safer drink than the local water in many places in the world. (Wine acid is very refreshing, clean, and nonvolatile. It doesn’t come off as acidic right away, like vinegar does. The family of wine acids, when taken together, give wine an acidity profile—or, in general terms, the way the wine hits you at first.)

Unlike other alcoholic beverages, wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. While someone might well enjoy sipping Chardonnay as a cocktail—or, for that matter, nursing a martini during dinner—the wine glass is happiest beside the tip of the dinner knife. Good food and good wine make each other taste even better, and there is a considerable body of rules and theories for properly matching food and wine. Fortunately, there is little or no penalty for deviating from these rules, because, in reality, most well-made wine is perfectly enjoyable with most foods.

Wine is good for you . . . maybe. Medical research suggests that moderate wine consumption might have healthful benefits. While several studies on the French Paradox conclude that specific antioxidants in red grape skins may contribute to longevity, perhaps it is the joyous occasions with family and friends at which wine is normally consumed—as much as the wine itself—that fortifies your life force and, thus, lengthens your stay on Earth. There are limits to such benefits, of course, and more wine is definitely not better for you.

Aside from everything else, wine is also an intoxicant, and a breathalyzer does not distinguish between a driver impaired by whisky and an inebriated wine connoisseur. Wine is among nature’s most wonderful gifts to the human race, but it must be enjoyed in moderation. When consumed responsibly, wine is a source of profound happiness, yet, when drunk to excess, great wine is no less a destroyer of families and lives than cheap beer or rotgut whisky.

Great music can be transcribed or recorded, historic moments can be captured on film, and chemical reactions can be symbolized for posterity in equations. Every bottle of wine, however, offers a unique sensual experience that can only be memorialized in writing; for instance, a legendary wine such as Château Margaux 1900, while presently a decrepit shell of its former excellence, lives on in full glory in the elegant prose of professional wine scribes who have tasted this marvelous wine in its prime. And so the ability to translate a wine’s flavors and aromas accurately into meaningful words is of paramount importance in the wine business. Reading about wines— while sipping some, ideally—will not only give you a wine education, it will also make you more familiar with the world around you in many ways. Knowledge of wine also entails some familiarity with history, law, politics, economics, geology, geography, biology, chemistry, and religion, as all of these disciplines have had some influence on the wine we drink, as you will soon see when you read on in this book.

Part 1

Wine 101

Chapter 1

A Brief History of Wine

ACCORDING TO THE United States Internal Revenue Service, wine is considered a manufactured product rather than agricultural produce. However, wine as we know it today is a natural extension of the vine and the soil, much less a manufactured product than other alcoholic drinks such as cinnamon schnapps or malt liquor. The adult beverage industry regularly test markets new and contrived products with flashy labels and chemically tweaked flavor profiles. One year it might be dry beer, the next year spiked lemonade, and a single success can more than pay for dozens of flops.

Wine, however, is different. Wine as we know it was not suddenly invented in the way that these other novelty drinks were. As noted in this book's Introduction, wine is an almost naturally occurring product, one that has evolved over many centuries. That being said, winemaking has benefited from advances in technology over the years. Lengthy histories of wine and winemaking have little relevance to most wine drinkers, so let us look at just the highlights of the past seventy or so centuries—the events and developments in wine and winemaking that have had the most significant influences on the wine we drink today. This sort of historical framework will help you to better understand and enjoy wine.

The Origins of Wine

Winemaking got its start, in all likelihood, somewhere in the Middle East, perhaps 7,000 years ago. The Fertile Crescent—the cradle of civilization—extends from Egypt to present-day Iraq. It was in these rich river valleys that early humans stopped roaming long enough to cultivate crops, and the grape was a sugar-rich staple of their diet. Undoubtedly, grape fermentation first occurred accidentally at some point, when someone let the grapes lay around for too long, and the fruit split open. The wild yeast that grew on the grape skin performed its magic, and someone probably ate these grapes and became intoxicated. This probably happened a few times before anyone got the picture. With no understanding of fermentation or the nature of alcohol, it is no wonder that the ancients ascribed supernatural qualities to wine and included it in religious rituals, a tradition that still lives on today.

While wine production probably got its start in the cradle of civilization, it is important to note that this was the cradle of Western civilization; although other cultures were simultaneously developing in other parts of the world, traditions of viticulture (wine grape cultivation) never developed in the Far East or in the pre-Columbian Americas. Wild grapes indeed grow all over the world, but the Fertile Crescent had the right grapes for wine production: Vitis vinifera, the species native to the Caucasus mountain region to the north, which was probably brought south by seed to the fertile valleys. As Western civilization spread forth from the Middle East, so too did wine spread, first throughout the Mediterranean, and then through continental Europe. This is why wine today may be thought of as Eurocentric. While other cultures around the world have produced wine of some sort through the ages, fine wine became almost the exclusive dominion of Europe until the twentieth century, and virtually all of the newly developed wine regions in the world produce wine that harkens back to its European origins.

The Proliferation of Wine in the Ancient World

Grapes, and by extension the process of winemaking, spread to other areas as the ancient Mediterranean seafarers—first the Phoenicians and then the Greeks—brought the grapevine along in their travels and conquests. Beginning in 1400 B.C., they were responsible for the proliferation of vineyards throughout the Mediterranean basin. While the Greeks believed that the realm of the wine grape extended only as far north as did that of the fig and the olive, the Romans introduced viticulture steadily northward to its climatic limits in what is now Northern France and Germany during the first century A.D. We now know today that the finest wines are produced not in hot climates where the wine grape ripens without effort, but rather in cooler climates in which the grapes must struggle somewhat, where complete ripeness is achieved only after the full array of flavor components have had sufficient hang time to develop.

The Roman Influence

Well-aged wine was especially prized in ancient Rome. For the Romans to age some of their wines for twenty-five years, as some Roman writings suggest, they must have either perfected the airtight seal for their storage vessels or enjoyed the taste of oxidized wine. Although the Egyptians first developed glassware in 1500 B.C., the Romans developed the technique of glass blowing, and they produced rather intricate wine glasses and serving vessels. However, Roman glass was not strong enough for wine bottles, and so they used ceramic amphorae for storing wine.

Other European Contributions

As the Romans were busy making their contributions, the wine-loving Celts of North-Central Europe were known to be using wooden barrels at the time of Julius Caesar’s military campaign in Gaul around 50 B.C. The basic design of the wine barrel has changed little since ancient times: A bulge in the middle makes for easier rolling and handling; the dried staves swell slightly with wine to make a secure, air-tight seal; and the grain of the oak allows the wine to breathe slightly through its pores as it matures. This oaky presence is perhaps the most important legacy passed on from these early barrels. Oak adds a distinct flavor element to wine, a component that blends so naturally with wine’s other flavors that wine consumers have come to expect a degree of oakiness in even the least expensive wines on the market.

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476, Christian monasteries played an enormous role in the development of European wine. Their trial and error with different grape varieties in different soils, along with their meticulous record-keeping, is largely responsible for the development of winemaking traditions in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, which are now codified in law. This is why when you purchase a bottle of, say, Beaujolais, you know that it is made from 100 percent Gamay grapes. Centuries of experience has demonstrated that the Gamay grape is uniquely suited to the granite-rich soils in the Beaujolais region, and so no other red grape is permitted to be grown there. Strict regulation of grape varieties and other aspects of viticulture are common for quality wine in much of Europe, and this regulation is the cornerstone of most labeling law.

Winemaking Spreads to the New World

By the 1600s, European wine had become a highly refined product. The right grapes were planted in the right regions, and winemaking technique, though unscientific, benefited nonetheless from the previous millennium of trial and error. Meanwhile, the glass bottle, which had already been in existence for several centuries, and the cork stopper, known to the Greeks, finally got together in the seventeenth century. At this point, the combined technology of these two things made long-term wine storage possible. Soon thereafter it was discovered that certain red wines, such as Hermitage and Bordeaux, improved with patient cellaring in corked bottles.

Like the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans before them, European explorers to the new world brought their wine—and grapevines—along on their journeys. Although they found a new continent nearly covered with wild grapevines, the New-World fruit was a barely recognizable, distant cousin of Vitis vinifera. And so the Spanish, English, and French settlers attempted to grow the European vines in American soil. They found little success in the Eastern United States, where the harsh winters and native vine pests sabotaged their efforts. However, as the Spanish conquistadors ventured into what is now California, their imported Mission vines found a happy home in the loose, volcanic soils and the endless sunshine, and so Spanish missions in Southern California produced European-style wine, sacramental or otherwise, with ease.

Having failed to propagate European vinifera varieties, winemakers in the Northeast built a gigantic wine industry in the early 1800s based on native grape varieties (Vitis labrusca) and their crossings—Concord, Catawba, and Delaware were three of the most commonly planted varieties. By midcentury, New York and Ohio stood tall as the leading wine producing states in the new nation. Then somebody found a gold nugget in a river in California.

Beginning in 1848, the Californian gold rush brought half a million people to what became known as the Golden State. The gold rush ended by 1862, but the new residents found in North-Central California an agricultural Eden in which many different crops— including European grape varieties—could ripen to perfection. The mediocre Mission grape was eventually replaced by superior grape varieties transplanted from the finest wine regions in Europe, and it was soon obvious that it was easier to cultivate high-quality, European wine grapes in California than anywhere else in the world.

Meanwhile, Northeasterners were trying to figure out why these fancy imported vines couldn’t survive. The phylloxera vine louse attacks vine roots, eventually killing the grapevine. Because these pests are indigenous to the Northeastern United States, over time, native labrusca vines developed resistance to phylloxera. European vines, however, had no reason to develop such resistance and, therefore, easily succumbed to this deadly vine louse after a season or two. To make matters worse, native American vines were foolishly imported to Europe, complete with the phylloxera louse on their roots. The louse soon spread, and the defenseless vineyards of Europe were quickly destroyed wholesale; all but the most remote fell prey.

Because the worldwide wine industry had, by the middle 1800s, become so economically important, it is no wonder that the phyl-loxera scourge was so lavishly attacked and an answer so quickly found. The relatively simple solution was to graft vinifera vines onto labrusca rootstock, and this technique is practiced to this day. Amid the resulting widespread economic carnage, phylloxera had a curious (if comparatively minor) benefit—it caused talented winemakers to seek healthy vineyards elsewhere in order to ply their trade. The wine of the Rioja region in Spain, for instance, owes much to the influx