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Because I indulged heavily in the stuff last night, I’ll let others do the eloquent speaking for me on the subject of this most beloved beverage:
“Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others…. This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.” –Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, Sermons and soda-water the day after.” –Lord Byron (1788–1824)
Being as this is such an expansive topic, I’ll try and stick to some facts and figure you may not know about wine. To learn more about the basics, check out this site or, you know, this ole standby.
• There are plenty of famous wine advocates besides Bacchus and Johnny “Wino Forever” Depp. In fact, one was a Founding Father. According Jay McInerney’s New York Times review of John Hailman’s Thomas Jefferson on Wine, “Jefferson was not only a connoisseur, but a proselytizer. He planted dozens of grape varieties at Monticello, and though he never succeeded in producing a vintage, he predicted that someday America would compete with France and Italy as a wine-producing nation. He believed wine was a healthier beverage than the whiskey and brandy that were consumed in such vast quantities in the colonies, and while in and out of office he pushed for lower import duties. ‘No nation is drunken where wine is cheap,’ he declared, ‘and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey.’” Jefferson even installed wine elevators that led directly to the wine cellar from his dinning room.
• Another famous oenophile is Robert M. Parker, Jr., who started the aptly-named Wine Advocate, which has made him one of the most influential wine critics in the world. His naming the 1982 Bordeaux as one of the greatest vintages ever led it to become one of the most expensive wines to date. However, regarding cheap wine, anyone who’s ever picked up a bottle (or three) of “Two Buck Chuck” might appreciate this article on Fred Franzia, “The Scourge of Napa Valley” (not to be confused with Franzia boxed wine).
• Of course, not all casual mentions of certain wines have led to positive outcomes. Merlot—once America’s most preferred wine—was suddenly made uncool by the movie Sideways, where lead character Miles is the merlot-hating, pinot-loving wine snob who uttered the famous line, “If anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any (expletive) merlot!” which led to an actual drop in sales of his most hated pedestrian wine.
• Speaking of sales, wine consumption in the US has steadily been rising since the 1930s (when raw data was first tracked), with occasional dips here and there. As of 2006, an average American is said to consume approximately 2.39 gallons of wine a year, with a total of 716 million gallons sipped, and occasionally gulped, nationwide.
• To cork or not to cork? That is the question at the heart of a new movement set on introducing screw caps to wine bottles instead of traditional corks. Read more about the debate here. If the idea of leaving the cork and corkscrew in the past unsettles you, find solace by perusing the Virtual Corkscrew Museum.
• Where would a discussion of wine be without a nod to the maybe-not-classy-but-sure-good invention of boxed wine? Developed by an Australian family winery in the 1960s, the concept of bagged wine, a modern version of the traditional European wine ‘bladder’ (a leather pouch that collapses as the wine is poured, keeping air out) was born. “The bag-in-a-box concept took off. In 1967 Penfold Wines and C H Malpas patented a plastic, airless flow-tap welded into a metallised plastic bag. This innovation allowed the bag to stay in the box and be tapped like a traditional wine cask, and that’s the version most popular today.”
OK Flossy readers … what are some suggestions you have for someone just getting into wine appreciation? What are your favorite (and most reasonably priced) wines? And finally, any good wine-related shenanigans to share?
Hungry for more? Venture into the Dietribes archive.
‘Dietribes’ appears every Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach. You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (31)
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i guess i am a wino. my friends own a wine bar not two miles from my house, so that helps/hinders. for those that can venture away from traditional zin, merlot, chard, and pinots, i would recommend a barbaresco or montepulciano for reds and a vihno verde for the whites. those three keep me happy.
as far as wine stories, on a tour of wineries a few years back we made rules about each person bringing a bottle to share in the car (my first limo ride). this led to more than a few of us being tanked by the time we had the last tasting at the third vineyard. i liked this one white but didn’t remember how to pronounce it. “throw in a bottle of that vig-o-neer,” got a few laughs on my butchering of vigonier.
posted by theYerg on 4-23-2008 at 9:52 am
I like riesling, although some people hate how sweet it is apparently. Red is my favorite, out of which pinot noir and chianti are both lovely to me. yum.
PS thanks again for understanding about this week, konbanwa from Japan!
posted by Johanna on 4-23-2008 at 10:03 am
Great post, keep up the good work! But really I want to thank you for the Johnny Depp pic, that was a nice surprise! *Sigh,* he’s so dreamy! :-D
posted by Amy on 4-23-2008 at 10:04 am
I recommend visiting http://www.winelibrarytv.com for a good introduction into wines. Gary Vaynerchuk has pretty broad appeal and is knowledgeable and fun to watch as well. Other than that, trust your own tastes, not the tastes of others. I stopped drinking wine after one bad experience only to rediscover it recently thanks to openness to give it a chance on my terms.
-Jeff
posted by Jeff on 4-23-2008 at 10:29 am
My favorite cheap wine is Double Dog Dare. I get is a Total Wine, a wine discount store, for $4 a bottle. It really is good. If I am going to make a calimocho or sangria I like Barefoot. I can get it at the Piggly Wiggly for $3.50. I also like Black Stone. Their wine can be found for under $20.
posted by stephW on 4-23-2008 at 10:32 am
I raise my glass and toast Fred Franzia. Here in Michigan, it cost $2.99/bottle. A tremendous table wine and works as a great introduction of wine to those who no not drink wine. I am particularly fond of his reds as I love to make Sangria. With the Chuck, I can afford to make it often as I refuse to use $12-$15 wine for the punch. Most fun from the Sangria was a Super Bowl party to which I took a gallon. Some of the guests used it to make slushies and, despite warnings of the potency, proceeded to get entirely slushed up.
posted by Tim on 4-23-2008 at 10:36 am
As someone that works in the wine industry, it’s nice to hear people talking about wine. The biggest thing about getting into wine is to drink to your tastes; everyone likes something different. There are 4600 or more wineries in the United States, at least one of them will make something for someone to like. Experimentation is the best way to get into wine, personally Barolos and Super Tuscans (sangiovese blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or other Bordeaux varietals) are among my favorite reds, apparently just like theYerg. As for whites, Chardonnay producers have been doing a lot of interesting things in Napa and Sonoma counties to get away from the prevailing style of the late 1990s where chards were big buttery, heavy wines and refining the style into a leaner, fruiter, crisper white. Additionally, Sideways was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to Merlot, while it hurt sales, it forced wineries to look at the Merlots they were making and selling and realize that they were not high quality wines in many cases. Because of this, many wineries dropped Merlot production and focused on making it as good of a wine as others they were selling. Sorry for the essay, it’s my passion.
Sean
posted by Sean on 4-23-2008 at 10:38 am
slap the bag!
posted by uhhuh on 4-23-2008 at 10:42 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there some irony in the Sideways character’s condemnation of Merlot? Wasn’t the wine he boasted of and drank (out of a styofoam cup) at the end of the movie a Merlot?
posted by Edward on 4-23-2008 at 10:53 am
If someone wants to get into wine appreciation, I would highly recommend finding a local wine festival. Here in New York (state, not the city), we have the Finger Lakes Wine Festival every year. It’s a great time and you get to sample literally hundreds of different wines from wineries in the region. If you aren’t lucky enough to live in an area where there are wineries, MOVE! Just kidding. Most metropolitan areas, and even some areas not so metropolitan have wine tastings. Check your local listings.
posted by Amy on 4-23-2008 at 10:54 am
One of my favorite (and low-priced) wines is the Menage a Trois Red by Folie a Deux Winery (though the White and Rose versions are nice as well)–so named because of their mixing of 3 different wines. The Red is a nice combination of Merlot, Zinfandel, and Cabernet.
And I must defend the box wine . . . I can’t help it, I grew up on the stuff!
posted by nutmeag on 4-23-2008 at 10:56 am
I like wine, but I can’t say that I know much about it. I got into wine in Austria and really grew to like white wine. Unfortunately, all I know is that I like Grüner Weltliner and it’s hard to come by over here.
However, while we’re on the subject of boxed wine, have you seen the little wine boxes? They come in like 4-packs. I saw them at Target once. They look like wine juice boxes and totally crack me up. I wondered (and still do) if they came with straws.
posted by Fruppi on 4-23-2008 at 10:57 am
Fruppi, the 4-packs do indeed come with little straws, so it’s like being a grown- up 4 year old, in other words completely awesome. But also, Gruner Veltliner is starting to find a niche in the US. I know of 4 or 5 wineries producing it, but finding imported Austrian ones is probably easier as the wineries making GV don’t make very much. Additionally, you may like some german or Alsatian rieslings, they are relatively comparable, though the wine from Alsace are probably a bit drier than the Austrian GV.
posted by Sean on 4-23-2008 at 11:15 am
One of my roommates is really into wine, so I’ve been learning about it lately just because she’s always buying something different. So far I have particularly enjoyed a Pinol from Spain… butI can’t remember the name of it. And I brought a bottle of Kim Crawford Arneis back from New Zealand a couple of months ago and it is an excellent summery white wine – perfect for the warming up weather we’ve been experiencing in Boston!
Also, I’m not above bringing those wine juice boxes to the movies. Might’ve been the only thing that made “Becoming Jane” tolerable.
posted by Adrienne on 4-23-2008 at 11:51 am
@Amy
When is this Finger Lakes Wine Festival of which you speak? I am moving to Ithaca in August. Gotta do something to ease the transition, right?
posted by kate on 4-23-2008 at 12:07 pm
The Finger Lakes Wine Festival is July 18-20th. Looks like you’ll miss it, but you should get someone to drive you up the west side of Cayuga Lake and you’ll hit a winery every few miles or so. You can taste a lot of wine for less than a few bucks, sometimes even free!
posted by Brent on 4-23-2008 at 12:20 pm
My favorite is a pineapple wine I found on a trip to Maui a few years ago. All their white wines are made with pineapple instead of grape. Sooooo goood!!!! They also make sparkling wine with the pineapples.
posted by Casey on 4-23-2008 at 1:12 pm
I have recently gotten into wine. Thanks for all the tips you guys have posted! I’ve found I like Pinot Noir quite a bit, but I still have lots to try!
posted by Krie on 4-23-2008 at 1:27 pm
Any cabernet sauvignon from the Marlboro region of New Zealand is two thumbs up in my book.
posted by Lelah on 4-23-2008 at 1:45 pm
@ Edward
the wine was a 1961 Château Cheval Blanc which is a Bordeaux blend. While this wine does indeed include merlot, I don’t believe it would be correct (or even legal) to call it “Merlot”
I believe the criticism in the movie comes from the fact there was such a glut of bad merlots on the market at the time. (In a bit of irony, I typically don’t buy Pinot Noir’s for the same reason: there are far more bad Pinots than good.) Then again, this was just a movie and Giamatti’s character likely just needed a relatively well known grape to hate.
@ Allison,
if you’re just getting into wine, don’t look for specific bottles. This is pointless and is only the representation of what someone else finds enjoyable.
the first thing to do is go to wine tastings where you can taste several different wines at a time. go as often as possible. over the course of time you will learn what you like and what you don’t. You will also be exposed to new wines and varietals you would never consider buying on your own.
secondly, keep a log. Over the course of a wine tasting (or a bottle) your memory will fade….. So write it down!
And if you really start getting into it, start tasting wines/varietals against each other. For example buy a California cab and a French Bordeaux (also a cab) and open them at the same time. Notice the different expressions of the same grape. You can try this for different varietals, vineyards, or vintages.
Finally, have fun.
posted by Florida on 4-23-2008 at 1:45 pm
I grew up in Napa (4th generation, my people were cattle farmers). You know what regular people who live in Napa tend to drink?
Franzia. Or Julio Gallo in the big jugs. Lately it’s been the big bottles of Yellow Tail out of Australia.
I honestly think Oregon wines are better than Napa wines. I really like drinking Oak Knoll.
Wine-related shenanigans: In high school, I did not drink. Neither did many of my friends, which meant we had to find other things to entertain ourselves. Napa has an obscenely strict 10pm curfew for minors, so we did a lot of running from cops.
However, one of our favorite things to do was to go up to the giant Crusher statue on Hwy 29 and roll down the giant grassy hill.
posted by Mary Sue on 4-23-2008 at 1:52 pm
My favorite inexpensive wine is Mirrasou’s Pinot Noir- $10 a bottle. Great post!
posted by Keri on 4-23-2008 at 2:29 pm
I really enjoy Ravenswood Red Zinfandel (Zinfendal is a grape, not a color of wine). The Vinters version (which means it’s all the grapes from all of their vineyards) will be about $10-$12 here and their specific vineyards (usually Lodi) is around $20 and up, depending on the year.
I’ll second the Kim Crawford vineyard. I love their Unoaked Chardonnay.
But I agree with everyone else. Go to wine tastings, you’ll learn what you like.
posted by Varuna on 4-23-2008 at 3:35 pm
I would probably have never started liking wine if my dad didn’t make it (wheatridgeinthenook.com). Even, then, I’m just starting to like whites, and I still find most reds pretty disgusting (even my dad’s).
Wine is great, but you may not have heard a famous quote about making wine: “It takes a lot of beer to make great wine.” If that particular quote didn’t already exist, my dad would have inspired it!
posted by Jennie on 4-23-2008 at 4:07 pm
Personally I’m a fan of Shiraz and Pino Noir. One of my favorite inexpensive wines is Rosemont Estates Shiraz. Try it…it’s delicious!
posted by CB on 4-23-2008 at 4:56 pm
Great post! I am a fan of the Mouton Cadet, a lower-priced Bordeaux available at Total Wine. At a higher price point try the Elyse wines, they are all spectacular. Also great: Alamos Catena Malbec, 7.99$ at Costco. If you’re trying to get into liking reds, Rioja is a good place to start and as for white, I second the love for viognier. Someone mentioned having trouble with pinot noir; I have found that only the more expensive ones from Oregon and Washington are worthwhile.
posted by sassymommy on 4-23-2008 at 5:05 pm
When I graduated High School the legal drinking age was 18. (yes, I’m old). In college the choice of wine was ‘bum wines’ like Thunderbird and MD 20/20. You may recognize the type, 99 cents a bottle. Even came with a twist off cap. Then after college the taste in wines was more in line with Boones Farm and other fruit wines like Sangria or Annie Green Springs. Now my choice usually goes to a really good burgundy or a sherry. To bad I can’t get them for .99!
posted by Owen on 4-23-2008 at 5:13 pm
2.39 gallons a year? Pshaw. If that’s true, then I met my yearly quota in the first two weeks of January. I guess I’m just an overachiever.
I’m a big fan of the Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. It’s a perfectly serviceable red, goes with everything, and at $12.99 a bottle, makes the wallet happy.
posted by Rachel on 4-23-2008 at 5:26 pm
I’m a big fan of Fetzer’s Gewurtztraminer. $10 a bottle and darned tasty.
posted by Camille on 4-23-2008 at 6:37 pm
i second the vote for gewurztraminer.
i also love robert mondavi’s johannesburg riesling for sipping on a hot day.
and coppola’s syrah-shiraz to go with pretty much anything grilled outdoors.
posted by tami on 4-24-2008 at 2:28 pm
The Mirrasou Pinot Noir *is* yummy.
Also, if you live in North Texas, I suggest you check out anything from Su Vino… everything is delicious and reasonably priced.
posted by Leonore on 4-25-2008 at 10:46 am