Dover Canyon Winery

The Big Chill

When the weather is warm, we think nothing of chilling our white and rose' wines, but what about those reds?  How can we keep them at optimal serving temperature?

Chilling reduces the movement of volatile molecules in wine. In other words, it suppresses aroma and flavor temporarily. Also, the shock of a chilled beverage hitting the palate closes your senses to flavors. If you want a wine to show at it’s best, it should be about 50-52° when you serve it. If the bottle feels very cool to your palm, the temperature is perfect.

However, if it’s 80° outside and you take your bottle of fine red wine directly out to the table, it’s going to quickly become warm. Very warm. Therefore, it’s perfectly all right to chill wines slightly, both white and red, when you plan to dine outside in warm weather.

The Memory Garden

"How do you come up with all these aromas and flavors?" is a question I am frequently asked. 

Last fall, as I was barrel sampling the 2005 Alto Pomar--our grenache, syrah, and mourvedre blend from Alto Pomar Vineyard--a particular scent eluded me.  I knew I had encountered it before, but where?  I finally found it in the pantry of my "memory garden"--it was the yellow-ish green lace that is found on whole nutmeg cloves:  mace.

Based loosely on the concept of The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, I have created a memory garden that I visit when seeking the scents and flavors in a wine.

First, I visit the berry patch, with its tidy trellises of marionberries, blackberries and raspberries, flanked by rows of strawberries (three kinds) and ending in a sawdust-covered mound of blueberry bushes.  In a neglected corner, there is a straggly gooseberry bush, and in another corner is a water feature--a tiny pond filled with cranberries.

Wine and Health

Ah, the pleasures of life. Vegetables harvested from the garden, fresh cooked rice, tenderly basted meats, an alluring bottle of wine, and the glowing faces of friends and family.

Drinking wine does not in itself equal good health any more than living on twinkies or caffeine. But in a balanced, healthy lifestyle, wine is an enjoyable accompaniment to excellent cooking and special occasions.

The Wine Institute conducted a study which now reports that not only is wine good for the heart, "it can also help prevent the harmful effects of bacteria and aid digestion." The study goes on to note that "red and white wine efficiently wipe out bacteria responsible for food poisoning, dysentery and diarrhea."

New studies continue to search for the reasons behind The French Paradox. Phenolic compounds in wine such as catechin and quercetin have cancer-blocking properties, according to the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, and wine also contains heart-healthy compounds such as reservatrol.

Sulfites ~ Nothing to Sneeze At

"Do your wines contain sulfites? My friend is very allergic and she'll go into shock if she drinks wine containing sulfites."

That’s enough to scare me silly. All I need is to have a gasping, cyanotic customer on the floor. "Well, uh," I stammer, "then perhaps she'd better not have any, just in case." And I pull the glass back.

He hangs on to the glass. "So your wines do have sulfites, then?"

Sulfites, I explain, are a natural fruit by-product, actually found on the dusty skin of grapes before they are washed. Winemakers are allowed to use sulfur dioxide as a natural disinfectant and preservative. Sulfites are a natural by-product of the fermentation process and a necessary ingredient if wine is to age properly because they retard oxidation and microbial growth.

Many people believe it's the sulfites that give them headaches when they drink red wine. Although this may in some cases be true, it could be the tannin content which creates a histamine reaction. Tannin, an aldehydic substance naturally found in grape skins and seeds, is also a natural preservative, and is found in greater quantity in red wine. (Remember Boris Karloff as "The Mummy," craving his daily dose of tanna leaves?)

Red wines are macerated and fermented "on their skins" to extract color, flavor and tannin from the pigment-rich skins. As wines age, the tannin molecules connect in long strings, a sort of decomposition in the bottle. Therefore, we wine geeks say the tannins are "softer," or "earthy" in an older wine. Young wines with fresh tannins can taste very astringent. Compare it to eating a whole bunch of red table grapes. In spite of the wonderful juice inside, grape skins and seeds will leave a dry, abraded feeling on your tongue. People who are sensitive to products like nuts, tea leaves and cinnamon bark will often be sensitive to the woody taste of tannin as well.

Tannins in Wine

Wine is such a mysterious beverage. Wine geeks will sniff it, quaff it, swizzle it, and then come up with all these wild descriptors: cassis, meadow, leather, mushroom. Where do all these elusive aromas and flavors come from? Partly from the grape, partly from aging in oak, (partly from our imaginations), and partly from tannin.

Tannins are a group of chemicals that occur in the bark of many trees, cinnamon as an example, and in fruits, including grapes. Tannins are also present in black tea, and cause the astringent, drying effect that you experience after several cups of strong tea. You'll also notice a dry, sandpapery effect in your mouth after eating a whole bunch of table grapes. The tannins in grapes are a woody substance in the skin and seeds.

The pulp of a grape is mostly juice, as you can see when you slice a grape open, and the pulp is generally white or pale pink in color. This is why wine grapes are generally small and round. Most of a grape's flavor, and all of the pigment, comes from the skin and the fibrous layer directly under the skin.