Richman’s Rules

Alan Richman puzzles me. I loved him until reading “Alan Richman is a Douchebag” in Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw.

But I won’t deny that the food and wine critic’s work is often entertaining and educational. A friend passed along Richman’s recent column in GQ , “The Second Bottle” (September 2010), in which Richman explains just how to save face and win favor when selecting wines at a restaurant.

Richman provides a cheat-sheet for succeeding at the usual anxious-evoking job of choosing wine for the table. There are so many things to consider: palates, food, and price, just to name a few.

Richman offers a comprehensive strategy that is sure to make for a memorable night, and offers an array of choices and perfectly planned options. He suggests going for the less-traveled path: Chenin Blanc from South Africa or the Loire, Grüner Veltliner from Austria, or the German Müller-Catoir Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken Pfalz Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten. These are sure to impress, if not confuse.

He also recommends a few habits to avoid. Particularly, I like Richman’s assertions: never review the wine menu online before the dinner, the second bottle of wine must always differ from the first, and by the fourth bottle no one cares.

I’m an offender on two of the three counts. I’ve repeatedly cheated and checked out a restaurant’s offerings before arriving, particularly because I don’t want to be poring over a list in front of my company and thus being unsocial. Richman’s warning about reordering the same bottle of wine also resonates. I’ve done it before, mostly because it’s easy and my dining companion(s) have already expressed that they enjoy it. But he’s right. Whoever said safe was exciting or the best option?

It’s an unnerving task to order for others – no matter how much practice you’ve had. Yet, it’s reassuring to consider that if the role falls upon you, your guests most likely won’t know any better.

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Terroir or terror?

Terroir is a French word that refers to distinctive attributes coming from a vineyard location as a result of soil, climate, slope, etc. It is believed that the terroir gives a varietal a special and unique characteristics that make the pinot noir in the Willamette Valley taste different from that in Carneros, Central Otago and Burgundy.

I often view terroir as something favorable. There’s a reason why Rieslings from the Mosel Valley in Germany taste so incredible: the soil composition, the slope of the vineyards, and the influence the Mosel River has on the grapes as they grow.

However, sometimes there may be negative influences as well that detract or change the terroir. An interesting article in Thursday’s (4/1/2010) Wall Street Journal entitle “Sipping These Wines is Like Smoking And Drinking at the Same Time” points out that as a result of the wild fires in California, many of the 2008 pinots from the Anderson Valley have a smoky quality to them. Indeed, they portray the terroir of the vintage.

It’s proving a problem, and winemakers are trying different fining practices and filtration techniques to rid the wines of the “wet ashtray” character to no avail. As a result of the smoke taint, the wines are being substantially marked down, and some vintners are choosing to release only small quantities of their wine, or none at all.

I’m not sure how I’d feel about smokiness in my wine. It seems the smoked flavor would be better suited for beer. And there are beers that are smoked, such as Stone Smoked Porter, Imperial Smoked Porter and Church Key Holy Smoke Scotch Ale, which taste absolutely delicious.

If prices really are reduced, then I would say don’t dismiss the 2008 vintage without trying it first. Wine is exploration is all about keeping an open mind, after all.

Of course, I’m pretty certain that if I’m in the mood for something smoked, I’ll just pick up a Rogue Smoke Ale.

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The iterations of Riesling

Many people I speak with dismiss Riesling because they believe it is too sweet, or off dry. While there are certainly expressions of the grape that have more body and sweetness with ripe fruit flavors, not all come in that style.

Riesling, whether it is from Alsace, Austria, Australia or Germany, is a very aromatic grape, and due to its high natural acidity and low alcohol – usually between 7% and 11% – it produces an ideal wine for food pairing.

The bone dry Rieslings out of Alsace, Austria, the Finger Lake region in upstate New York and Eden Valley Australia have floral characteristics and minerality that pair nicely with fish dishes, including Japanese food and sushi, as well as vegetable dishes.

Yet, Germany probably accounts for the most diverse expressions of the grape and is the most vast producer of Riesling. Here the styles are broken down and categorized by body and sweetness, beginning with Kabinett, which are lightest in body and most dry, with crisp acidity and green apple and citrus fruit. Make sure that if you are looking for a completely dry wine that “trocken” appears after the Kabinett on the label, however; otherwise there will be some residual sugar detected.

The degrees of body and sweetness in German Riesling intensify as the styles move along the trajectory of Spatlese, Auslese Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese. Spatlese and Auslese, while made with ripe grapes and therefore taste quite sweet, can be perfect accompaniments to Szechuan, Hunan, and Cantonese cuisine.

One of the most impressive wine lists in New York City that I’ve come across for its Riesling inclusion is Hearth. The list is extensive, with a few pages devoted to the numerous expressions of the grape.

Wine shops are also stocking their shelves with more bottles of the juice. Though aged Rieslings will command a higher price tag, many of the 2007 and 2008 vintage will fall into the under-$20 category.

Let go of any preconceived thoughts you might have had and instead associate these words with Riesling: Diverse, ubiquitous, affordable, and delicious.

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Icing on the vine

There’s something to be said about the arduous task of producing delicious wine, particularly when there’s forces beyond human powers that play a vital role. In a bad vintage, a good winemaker can create a solid expression of a particular grape, such as a Pinot Noir or a Cabernet Sauvignon. However, Icewines require supreme conditions and that’s generally all up to nature to determine.

I’m just back from a weekend up in Buffalo, during which I had the opportunity to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake and sample some of the area’s Icewines. Ironically, temperatures were in the single-digits when I arrived, and the wind coming off of the lake was so biting that drinking anything with the word “ice” in the name initially seemed off putting. After a few samples I got over it.

The region is actually one of the finest for producing the sweet, dessert wine, thanks to contrasting hot summers and cold winters. It’s also commonly produced in Germany and Austria. Vidal is the most common of the varietals for making Icewine in Canada, but many vineyards are experimenting and trying other varietals, including Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

By law, Icewine must be produced by grapes under a deep freeze, of roughly 17 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 8 degrees Celsius. There’s a fine balance, however. A freeze that does not come quickly enough may cause the grapes to rot and the crop will be lost. Conversely, if the freeze is too severe, potentially no juice can be extracted.

My friend and I hit a few vineyards, including Inniskillin, which is regarded as one of the oldest and finest. The winery has produced a Vidal Icewine for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which was pretty standard, though I preferred the Riesling Icewine. It was well balanced and fragrant, quite like the grape itself.

Perhaps my favorite of the day was the Cabernet Franc from Hillebrand, which had amazing strawberry fruit and a nice, long finish. I splurged on a 375 ml bottle, which ran about $80.

That’s the thing about Icewines; due to the labor-intense process and small production, they are generally quite expensive. Yet, when the elements align, and a winemaker and nature unite to create a truly amazing product, it seems a small price to pay for greatness.

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