Tulsa Food

My first couple of articles have focused on the great things that wine can give you. But what about the fundamentals? What are the tools one needs to actually enjoy what is in the bottle? For the experienced or most novice drinker the basics remain the same. Always.

Now, please understand I’m not a wine snob. I’ve enjoyed wines out of plastic cups. I drink mostly what would be termed value wines. I believe as long as you are enjoying your vino, all is good, especially with friends and family. But all that said, there is nothing wrong with maximizing what is in the bottle by following a few easy to remember principles and guidelines.

1. Attitude, Environment & Externals:

Attitude and understating your external environment are key elements. Wine is a social activity and the environment is always a factor in the overall sensory experience. Every wine tasting experience has a context and in most cases, these are factors you have limited control over. The people you are with, the place you are in, the lighting, aromas, your psychological state all play a part. Ever had a bottle somewhere and you just thought it was the best thing you’ve ever tasted, and then revisited it at another time and it was flat and somewhat of a let-down? It often happens if you had the wine over a romantic meal, or on vacation in a beautiful locale. Chances are psychology was just as important as the actual wine itself. Now, make no mistake. A wine on any given day is a snapshot. Wine is a living and breathing thing and it is rarely the same from one day to the next. It evolves, it has been handled and stored in different environment, and all of these factors play a part in how the wine ages and develops. Again, let’s be real and sensible. It’s not essential for wine to be stored at 55 degrees or close. There are plenty of wine experts all over Europe whose natural cellars range from 45-70+ degrees over the course of a year. Indeed, they argue, that like the seasons, some temperature variation aids in the aging process. So who really knows? As long as your wine doesn’t hit the 80s you will be fine. And then if it does heat damage takes some time to develop. So just drink up! But I digress. A wine on any given day is a snapshot of its progression from birth to slow decline, just as meeting you, or I, will be different from perhaps any other day in your life.

2. The Self:

This is actually fairly straight-forward and are rules to live by for any sensory experience. Try to have an open mind. Just because you don’t like a certain style of wine (or anything) go ahead and try it anyway. For example, I’m generally not keen on fruit beers. But only this weekend I enjoyed one and it totally floored me. Point proven. There are a lot of pre-conceived notions with wine. That Riesling is always sweet, (it isn’t) that Ports all taste the same, (they don’t) that all Chardonnays are heavily oaked (not true) and so on… Secondly, lay-off the perfume or cologne. Not only does it impinge on your ability to smell and savor, it is off-putting for most people trying to focus on their glass as well. If you have to wear your favorite fragrance, please go easy! And thirdly, if you smoke, try to avoid before and during a tasting. It goes back to point two, introducing a foreign aroma into an environment.

3. Physical Tools: Stemware, Serving Temperatures, Decanters & Stemware:

The most essential tool in a wine drinker’s arsenal is a good, clean glass. I cannot over-state this. You can drink the best wine in the world, but drink it from a lousy or dirty glass and it’s for naught. In the same way, if you have a good glass, it will enhance the wine experience. Always. Am I saying that the proper stemware will magically turn a bad bottle of wine into something delicious? Absolutely not, but it will indeed express the wine in it’s truest form, be it good, or bad. People laugh at me for having a case of glasses in my trunk (I admit, I’m a glass junkie), and that is overboard, but when I’m at a tasting, drinking great wine from a great glass while they are using small useless implements, guess who is laughing then? It’s not them.

I pretty much drink exclusively from glasses made by the Austrian manufacturer Riedel, but there are lots of other good stemware manufacturers out there and this is just my personal choice. Other good manufacturers are: Luigi Bormioli, Schott Zwiesel and Spiegelau. There are a number of reasons I use only Riedel. The most important, as well as them being attractive and fairly durable, is that they have very thin lips, which allows for the delivery of the wine to the front of the palate, rather than clumsily to the middle of the mouth. This really helps get the wine on the right track so to speak. There is a lot of discussion from both sides of the argument on the glass shape, the ‘tongue map’ as developed by Riedel, and whether glasses make a difference, far too much to get into in such a short article. I can only say, from my experience, they do. They really do. I’ve tasted the same wine from different Riedel glasses and they just taste different. Is it perception or reality? Again, I can only speak to what I’ve smelled and tasted. Is it the power of suggestion? Who knows. I’m no expert and I’m open to all possibilities.

I have over twenty different shaped glasses from Riedel for my sparkling, white, red and dessert wines. That’s a ridiculous amount and it’s too many! Each Riedel design is specifically been developed to enhance a single or small set of related grapes and I run the gamut in my love of them all. But it’s fin, indeed sensible to stick to two or three basic shapes. Obviously if you drink a lot of sparkling wine, it’s worth investing in those glasses. If you drink mostly reds, start with a good all-purpose red glass. Ditto for wines, or dessert or fortified wines.

My personal favorite all around glass is the Riedel Vinum XL Oregon Pinot Noir glass. You can enjoy any still table wine from this stem. It’s wide enough to release any and all aromas, and has a mouth that rims and tapers, which concentrates the flavors beautifully. Although I prefer Cabs, Zins and Syrah (Shiraz) from a taller, narrower glass, the Oregon still works well, and for everything else, especially Pinot and Chardonnay, and the aromatic white grapes, it is magnificent.

Once you’ve selected and purchased your stemware always bear in mind that when you remove a glass from a cabinet chances are it will look clean but will have those cabinet aromas that will diminish the wine, so always make sure you rinse with water, hot is best, and dry the glass down with a lint free cloth.
Serving Temperature

Another critical factor is serving temperature. Typically white wines are served too cool, and reds far too warm. A wine in the fridge for a few hours will be around 45 degrees. Whites are best in the 50-53 degrees range, which requires a good 30 minutes in the glass. Red wines, at ambient room temperature in Tulsa is likely to be in the mid-70s, far, far too warm. Red wines are best between 57-63 degrees, depending on the style. Indeed some reds, like Cru Beajoulais (not be confused with the Beaujalois Nouveau) are best if served with a little chill on them (making them great summer reds). A white served too cool with show muted aromas and flavors. In short, you are missing out on the complexity of the aromas and flavors. Reds served too warm are dominated by alcohol and any wood used in raising it. It will be blowsy and unfocused, instead of keen and and balanced when served correctly. Go ahead and experiment and see how a wine develops or degrades by at different temperatures. Believe me, experts served red wine blind-folded can be fooled into thinking they are drinking white. Literally wines at different temperatures are different wines.

Getting wine to temperature is easy. Pop a red in the freezer for fifteen minutes and that will be close enough. Coming from the fridge, sit in a warm bath of water for a few minutes (I always put leftover wine in the fridge. Just the cork. No need for anything else). For a white wine it’s best to come up to temperature and not down. So from the fridge is fine. For immediate results, again a warm bath. But I prefer to let it develop, nothing how it is when cold, and then change over thirty minutes with air and warmth. And if it gets too warm, an ice bucket or fridge will soon right that wrong.

To Decant?

A last, almost side-note is the use of decanters. I am a big fan. Most wines, especially young, benefit from a little air. For older wines, decanting is a process used to remove the sediment from the wine (sediment is a by-product of the wine making process and is bitter and not at all pleasant to imbibe). In a younger wine, decanting gives something young and tight the chance to open up and oxygenate, bring it on a little. Stimulate it. Advance the process. I also like to decant any whites under screw-cap. There is a process called reduction which takes place when screw-capped are used. It’s a great enclosure for eliminating cork taint (the most common cause of cork taint is the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) in the wine. Corked wine containing TCA has a very characteristic odor, which is best described as wet dog, basement aromas, or a moldy newspaper), but it does lead to the wine being closed down for about 30 minutes after being opened. It’s almost as if the wine has been strangled. So decanting the bottle and even pouring immediately back into the bottle is never a bad idea. It’s not essential, but every little bit helps right?!

Okay, I’m ready. Can I drink already??

Yes, go for it. I’m not going to go deep into the details of tasting and evaluating. That is enough material for another article. So swirl, smell, and drink. Swirl the wine around the glass, with a good 2-3 oz pour, to release the aromas into the glass (and also watch for the legs, essentially the alcohol level). Then smell. Stick your nose deep in the glass and breathe in deeply. Consider the aromas you are experiencing. Wood? Fruit? Earth? These are the three basic components. And then drink. Take a good mouthful, roll it around your mouth, and over your tongue. Let it envelop your entire mouth so you can taste the fruit, any earthiness, and any wood flavors, as well as the tannins (a puckering sensation on the sides of the mouth), and acid. The most important question is whether you like the wines. But if you want to go further here are some of the basics to consider. What are you tasting? Again, F.E.W. Fruit. Earth. Wood. Is it full-bodied? Lighter-bodied? Is the fruit, alcohol, tannin, and acids in check to produce a balanced wine? Is there a lingering finish, or does it finish short? Is there a bitter finish? Does it taste sweet but finish dry? There are many other considerations, but these are good ones to begin with.

Summary:

I hope you’ve all gotten something out of this short ‘how to’ drink wine guide. Remember, if wine out of a plastic cup is good enough for you, go for it, I might join you, but if you want to really maximize your glass of wine, be open to the experience, serve the wine at the appropriate temperature, invest in good stemware, and enjoy with great friends and family.

About the Tulsa Wine Club

Mark Stenner is the organizer of the Tulsa Wine Club, a local tasting group that meets once a month to sample wines. The tastings take place in private homes in the Tulsa metro area, and are casual and fun events. Participants of all age ranges enjoy 10-12 wines per event, served alongside the food each member contributes to the evening. They welcome anyone with an interest in wine, whether novice or expert. Mark believes in learning through osmosis, drinking wine and forming your own evaluation of your experience.

For information about the club, please email Mark at tulsawineclub@yahoo.com