Strange Sightings: The Dog at the Movies and the Bubbles in My Red Wine

We (humans) love predictability. Psychologists explain this preference in terms of schemata and stereotypes. We create mental short cuts and categories for ourselves so that we can act and respond quickly and efficiently...for our survival. When I go to the grocery store I expect to see the lettuce and the cucumbers to be in the same area. I expect this aisle to be labeled "produce." When I go out to dinner I expect that a waiter will come and offer water before taking my order. When I go to class I assume that there will be a place for me to sit and I expect that I will take notes.
When something occurs that disrupts our pre-conceived notions, what happens? We try to make sense of what we have encountered. We try to make it fit into our "categories." But if it doesn't, we can either disregard it, or learn to accept it.
Recently I went to the movies. Everything was very familiar. The theater was dim and screen was playing the pre-preview trivia. People were trying to find the best seats that were neither directly next to nor directly behind any of other patrons. Others had blocked off their territory with coats and bags. Yep, everything was very normal... very much in line with my movie theater schema. Then, all of a sudden I noticed the silhouette of a set of pointy ears. There, two rows ahead of me, was a little dog dressed in a fur lined parka, sitting contently on its owners lap. A DOG in the THEATER? I've lived in New York long enough to know that dogs are essentially the most fashionable accessory and have been accepted in more and more locations around the city. But the movie theater? This I had not seen. The dog must have been smuggled under a coat, or carried inside a bag. At first I was appalled, but then after I calmed down, I realized that this could be a preview of what's to come. What's next? Dog treats at the concession stand?
There are very good things about creating categories, making generalizations and using a schema to navigate the world. But when things surprise us, or even shock us, it is our ability to re-frame and be adaptable to change that ultimately helps us succeed and not just survive.
So now that I've told you my opinion on the matter, you should go out and buy yourself a bottle of Lambrusco. What does Lambrusco have to do with dogs in movie theaters? Well, you will most likely have a very disarming experience, like the one I had with the dog. You may have had many glasses of Champagne, Cava or Prosecco over the years, but have you had sparkling red wine?
I recently brought home a bottle of Lambrusco. I had had it a couple of times before, and both times it was so foreign that I didn't know what to make of it. At first I thought it was too much like grape juice - it wasn't as serious as a red wine "should" be. But on my most recent exploration, I decided that Lambrusco can be a great addition to your wine "cellar." It still has crisp refreshing qualities that you find in white sparkling wines, but it has a totally different profile. It's juicy, it has the slightest bit of tannins and great acidity. I tried it with Proscuitto and it was excellent. I tried it with peanuts (alla PB&J) and again it was good. I tried it with a quesadilla and it was still quite satisfying.
The moral of the story: try something new - bring home a bottle of Lambrusco... and if you have a little dog that needs constant love and attention, perhaps you should pick up a DVD while you are out as well.

Tasting Notes:
Medici Ermete Reggiano Assolo 2006 is from Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Lambrusco is the name of a grape as well as a wine, made primarily from the grape. There are 5 DOC's that produce Lambrusco. It does not have to be sparkling and is also made as a rose or white. But the best rated ones these days are "frizzante." This Lambrusco has a beautiful purple froth, and a deep red-purple color. It is dry, but does impart a slight sweet note. I immediately thought about Welch's grape juice... but it's better, more complex isn't cloying. $11.99

How many grapes does it take to make a bottle of your favorite wine?

This weekend Fletcher and I decided to make a meal that would pair well with the wine I had given him for his birthday. This wine happens to be the most expensive wine that I have ever purchased. Can you guess how much I paid? Well regardless of the actual price (you can cheat and scroll to the bottom if you're really dying to know), imagine the most expensive wine you have ever purchased or would purchase. For some of you that price may be a multiple of what I paid, for others, a fraction. What would you want to pair with that wine? We decided on something luxurious. Filet Mignon.

We had debated going to a specialty butcher shop, but we ended up at Citeralla, a gourmet grocery store where you can get a myriad of delicacies, but practically nothing that comes in a can, a box or anything usually found in the "frozen entree" section. Citeralla gave us two choices for our filets. We opted to get one piece of the very expensive grass fed Australian filet and another piece of the exorbitantly priced dry aged domestic filet. We took the little packages of meat home, gave them a good salt and pepper rub and then seared them on our special cast-iron grill pan. The room (otherwise known as our entire apartment) filled with smoke and delicious meat aromas. And we were once again reminded that we don't have a smoke alarm (don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm working on it this week).

The meat was cooked perfectly . The Australian filet was delicious, but the aged filet was the star. As we drank our magnificent wine and ate our tender morsels of meat I couldn't help but think about the fact that not only was I eating delicious filet mignon for dinner, but that I actually had two cows from two different continents on the same plate. This got me to think about how out of touch I am (we are) with where our food comes from and how it gets to us. Did you know that your Avocado could be from California, Mexico, the Dominican Republic or New Zealand?

Then I started to think about the wine in my glass. I knew it was from Italy - Valpolicella in fact. I knew that the grapes that made the wine were Corvina. I knew that the grapes were picked in 2002. I could infer the basic wine making techniques that were used to create this delicious juice, but I didn't really know what it took to make this fine wine.

It turns out that it takes between 600 and 800 grapes to make a bottle of wine. There are about 75 grapes to a cluster and a single grapevine can produce up to 40 clusters. Therefore, a single grape vine can potentially generate the equivalent of 5 bottles of wine.

So back to the very special wine... made from 9 or 10 clusters of very special grapes.
Tasting Notes:

2002 Marion Valpolicella Superiore. There was a clarity and silky lightness to the wine that made the intensity of the flavors quite surprising. At first I got a subtle hint of tar, but it faded away quickly into dark dried fruit. The sweetness of the fruit was not masked by the usual burn of alcohol. 800 grapes and 39.99 worth of deliciousness.

The "No Thank You Portion" - Giving food and wine a second, third and fourth try.

My former co-teacher once told our students about a rule that her family had about food. She said that when she was growing up, her parents made sure that their three daughters never said no to new or disliked food by instigating the "no thank you portion" rule. In her family, if you thought you weren't going to like the food being served you would still get a no thank you portion; just enough on your plate to give that undesirable item a try. This rule helped the girls expand their palates but also didn't let the prepared food go to waste on an abandoned plate.

My family had a similar policy, though it was never stated as an explicit rule. I was expected to give new food a chance, but I was never forced to eat anything I didn't like. In fact, I felt bad for my friends who had the "clean your plate" rule enforced in their families because as my parents explained it to me, food should never used as a punishment and children should be given the opportunity to learn when they are full. Portion control has clearly become an issue for a large percentage of American children.

My co-teacher and I were lucky that we had parents who tried to strike a balance between fostering open-mindedness and gratitude with autonomy and choice. As a result, I have a positive and healthy view of food and I will try anything (that is eaten by other people) at least once. Both my co-teacher and I tried to bring this attitude into the classroom. Over the three years that I was teaching I challenged my students to be adventurous and even daring eaters. I even went as far as scavenging through the Chinatown markets for packaged jellyfish. The kids responded with, "Chewy!" "It tastes like a rubber-band." "Yum, can I have some more?" In my experience, children are often more open minded than we give them credit for; its the adults who are harder to coax into being adventurous.

Adults can be just as picky about their wine as they are about their food. Too often I have hear, "I only drink white." "I only like full bodied red." "I hate buttery Chardonnay!" "I love California wine." "I prefer only old world wine." People get set in their wine drinking ways and go for the tried and true on every visit to the wine store. I do understand why people get in a wine-buying rut. After all, whether its $3 or $300 (gasp!), a bottle of wine is an investment. We want to know that we are going to be satisfied by what we have bought. But the problem with buying the same wine, whether its the same brand, same region or same grape varietal, is that you miss out on the adventure of trying a new wine on many occasions.

Unlike the "no thank you portion" a bottle of wine should be given, at least 4 chances:
1.Your first sips and first impression. Don't like it? Did you just brush your teeth? Just pull the bottle out of the fridge?
2.Give the wine a second chance in an hour. The air has mixed with the wine. The wine has changed temperatures and your tongue has had a chance to acclimate to the wine drinking conditions. Still don't like it?
3. Try it with food. Some wine is just meant to be drunk with food. It won't ever taste great without the fat, acid, flavor and texture that food adds. Still not a fan?
4. Leave the wine (cork in) overnight on your counter. Let it "relax" and give it time to "open up." No, I'm not talking about your recent date, I'm still talking about that questionable wine. Give your wine another chance on the second night. If you still don't like it, give yourself permission to let go of that bottle. But don't give up on the wine completely. You never know... After all you like asparagus and onions now don't you?

Tasting Notes:
Domaine Bernard Moreau Chassagne Montrachet Vieilles Vignes Rouge 2004
A place known for its incredible whites - how would this red hold up? First sip - not good. Second sip - still not good. Fletcher wouldn't drink it either. The second day - really really bad vinegar finish. I tried another bottle - not quite as bad. This wine is very high in acid, very low in fruit. In other words it was tart and also had a woody component. It was interesting, and did cut through the fat of our steak sandwiches. I think I'll have to give it another try... next year.

The guy named Brett, in the Barnyard with the loaf of Bread

When was the last time you played the game of Clue? You remember don't you? The one where one winner gets to shout, "It's Ms. Scarlet, in the dining room with the candlestick!" thereby declaring the suspect, location and weapon used in the "murder." Well, I present you with a new version of the classic game. This one is called: What is that Smell?

When I first began hanging around people who "know a lot about wine," I remember being told that this or that wine was "bready." I would then stick my nose in the glass and take a nice long whiff, hoping that I too would be able to smell that home-baked goodness. I certainly smelled a lot of something, but it wasn't bread, it was stink; a combination of horse manure and wet gym shoes. Where was the bread and how could my nose be so off? Maybe in passing by the south end of Central Park, I had inhaled just as a horse drawn carriage was passing, thereby allowing manure molecules to lodge themselves deep in my nasal passages. Alright, let's be honest; it had been weeks since I had last visited midtown or the park.

On another occasion I was sampling a particularly wild wine. The Olivier Cousin Anjou Pur Breton 2004 had actually been made from grapes that were grown on land that had been tilled by horses. The sommelier who happened to be sampling the wine with me said that it was too "bready" for his taste. I asked him to clarify and discovered that he was actually talking about that same funky horse poop meets dirty shoe smell that I had recognized in the previous wine. Well, apparently no one had told me that "bread" was both a delicious food item and an off-putting barnyard aroma.

I thought I had solved the puzzle until I mentioned the "bready" quality of Olivier Cousin's wine to another wine expert. He turned to me and said, do you mean "Brett?" Aha! I was given a very important piece of the puzzle. That soft "t" had sounded like a "d" to me.

Mystery solved: Brett stands for Brettanomyces, a unicellular fungus that can infect the wine. It causes that barnyard odor. It can also creates spicy and smoky smells. More often the "Bretty" quality can be found in old world wines. Brettanomyces is a problem, because if it is not controlled it can cause widespread contamination throughout a winery. However, many people actual enjoy and seek out bretty wines. Why would anyone want their wine to smell like horse manure you might ask? Well, think about it like cheese - where mold is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it makes you throw the cheese in the trash and sometimes it makes you pay $24 dollars a pound!

Tasting Notes:
2004 Olivier Cousin Anjou Pur Breton is a biodynamic wine made from Cabernet Franc. Its taste changes with each sip - one moment bursting fruit, the next horse manure, tabacco and tar. If you like rustic wine, you will like this one. It was a little too bretty for me. 17.99

A-E-I-O-U and sometimes why?... Unpacking Beaujolais one vowel at a time

Do you ever look at a word and think, "wow there are a lot of vowels in that word." Well, okay maybe not. But I can tell you that from being a first grade teacher for 3 years, it's a habit I just can't seem to break. Teaching children about vowels is an endlessly frustrating and hilarious task. But somehow by the end of the year, all the students know about those magical letters: a-e-i-o-u and sometimes y; the glue that allows us to make all kinds of words both big and small.

A bottle of Beaujolais is usually made out of the Gamay grape;

Except if you get a bottle of Beaujolais Blanc, which is made from Chardonnay and Aligote.

If you want something special, go for a Cru Beaujolais (the 10 top villages get this region).

Or you can try Beaujolais-Villages, a step up from the regular variety.

Unfortunately Beaujolais can be easily overlooked as a "simple" wine.

Why you should NOT go out and buy a bottle of Beaujolais- Nouveau* - Resist the gimmick and go for the good stuff. Plus you will be doing your part to reduce carbon emissions.

*A quick lesson on Beaujolais Nouveau: After the harvest the the grapes become wine through a process called carbonic maceration. This means that the grapes were left hole during the fermentation process. The juice in each grape ferments inside the skin. Because the skins were not smashed up in the mixture, the wine that results is not as tannic. It has a light fruity style. This wine is then bottled and sent around the world for the Beaujolais Release Day (the 3rd Thursday in November). I love rituals and I love celebrations, especially ones that involve wine, but this is one ritual that may need to be re-evaluated due to its negative environmental impact.


Tasting Notes:
2002, Louis Jadot, Chateau des Jacques Moulin-A-Vent
This is a delicious Beaujolais that is both fruity and woody. It has some richness to it that makes it taste a little like a Pinot Noir. It also still has good acidity and is great chilled down a bit.

2006 Jean Paul Brun, Beaujolais Blanc
This is a Chardonnay that exhibits bright sharp fruit flavors of apples and lemons. It's not buttery it is fresh.

What does wood do to wine?

Long ago wine was stored and transported in an amphora (a large ceramic container). Nowadays, with the exception of the rogue winemaker, the only places to find amphorae are museums. These days winemakers have many decisions about the vessel in which to ferment and store their wine. In fact, the choice of containers is actually an integral part of the art of making wine. And with increased technology, the choice has become far from simple. It's not just a question of whether to put the wine in metal or wood; there are many other factors to consider. As I set out to list the numerous decisions that face the winemaker, I started to hear a version of Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue fish in my head... only instead of fish we are talking about wood. So here is my Ode to Dr. Seuss; an attempt to explain the ever so complicated relationship between wine and wood. Read the following poem to get a sense of... oh the places wine can go (read it out-loud, find your teacher voice and really get into that sweet sing-song rhythm that you can remember your first grade teacher using during read-aloud time)

Wood and Wine - An Ode to Dr. Seuss

New wood, old wood,
French wood, bold wood
cheap barrels, true barrels
used barrels, new barrels
Oh where should all my wine go?

Wine in big barrels
Wine in small barrels
Wine in tall round oak barrels
I just don't know!

Short time, long time
sometime, no time
wood at the beginning or wood at the end
wood wants to be my wine's best friend


Oak makes wine smell like vanilla and taste like spice
Some people hate it and some think it's awfully nice
Oak in chips or oak in powder,
We could make a wine chowder!

Would you ever know,
how wood could be
wine's friend or foe?

Fluent readers - for a full length explaination on the use of oak in wine making go to Oak(wine).

Tasting Notes:
2001 Vina Salceda Reserva, Rioja
This wine is restrained, classy and complex. Served at "cellar temperature" it was deliciously flavored with vanilla, wood and subtle red fruits. It is a dry wine, with sturdy tannins and without the hot, high alcohol content that is prevalent in many new young wines. We drank it with mushroom risotto served in a roasted carnival squash and simply sauteed chicken with a white wine sauce.
The back of the label...
Vina Salceda, "founded in 1969, is located in Elciego, an area of Rioja with a privilged microclimate and soil. Vina Slceda Reserva has been made with selected, handpicked traditional Rioja grape varieties Tempranillo (90%) Graciano (5%) and Mazuelo (5%) from our own vineyards. Aged for 18 months in American oak barrels. Store at cellar temperatures and conditions. 20.99

Why is my tongue purple?

Last week I veered off of Walling Road and onto the fundraising/event planning path. It was quite a bumpy path and one that I hope I will not be heading down any time soon. Nonetheless, I was able to raise money for NYC kids and it appeared that all who attended had a good time. But in the weeks leading up to the event (Pong at Porky's: Play for Public Schools), I did a whole lot of stressing and not a lot of wine writing. So, this little anecdotes comes from a few days ago...
My parents were in town toward the end of September and purchased two bottles of wine for me - both at a reasonable cost and both red. Though they were from different continents and hemispheres, they were told that the two could be compared in a taste off (at least for value and flavor). Upon receiving these two gifts, I had every intention of cooking up a delicious meat sauce and hosting a small dinner party with one or two other couples. Of course, the days went by and things got more and more hectic as the day of the big event approached. I decided that instead of opening the two bottles simultaneously, I would just have to experience them on their own.
The 2006 El Seque Vinedos De Seque was opened. I was especially excited about this wine because I spent a semester in Alicante,,where it was produced, during my junior year. I poured a very judicious amount into my glass - there was just too much to do and I needed to be able to read for class, write and take notes, start research email guests and plan out the details of my party. I took a sip, swishing the wine as the wine pros do - all around my tongue to the back of my throat, in front of my teeth, coating my palate. I swallowed and tried again. This was certainly a big wine. After a few more sips my glass was gone and I went about my tackling my to do list.
About 15 minutes later I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked strange; something was wrong. I stared and realized that my lips had a strange hue to them. I smiled and my teeth had a slight blue cast. I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue... purple! My tongue was dyed a deep indigo. I had a sudden flashback to the days of devouring candy with names like "blue razzberry."

Now I know that it is quite common for people to get the red wine teeth (when your teeth lose their pearly white sheen and become a little gray). This was not the same thing. This was on a whole other level.... and I had only had a few sips! I was so preoccupied with the color of my tongue that I forgot the think about the flavors of the wine. I decided to wait until the next day to do another test. And of course the same thing happened. I have to wonder, what is it about this wine that made my tongue, my teeth and my lips take on a purple hue?

Tasting notes:
Strong, full bodied, well structured wine that was better on the 2nd day after opening. Slightly leathery, with good black/purple berry flavors. This wine is made from a blend of Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvingon, Syrah and Tempranillo. Did you know that Monastrell is more commonly known as Mouvedre? This wine would NOT be good for the following events: first dates, weddings, gallery openings, schmoozing parties, business dinners. It would however be fine to have on a night in, with a steak, a burger or lamb. $11.99

"Wineless in New York City"

I completed my task yesterday with considerable ease in large part because I brought along my friend Kellie, who needed to make her own wine purchase, and so I was able to live vicariously through her. We went to Astor Wine and Spirits for their Tasting Event with "Australian Phenom Grant Burge." I described this wine store in an earlier post, but I have had more thoughts on it since that original visit.

Upon my second visit to Astor Wine and Spirits I had a flash from the movie You've Got Mail. In the movie. Meg Ryan plays the owner of a small children's book store while her rival, Tom Hanks, is the owner of the big bad chain store, Fox Books. Suddenly I felt like I was in the Fox Books of New York Wine stores. It's big and bustling, and they even offer those discount cards that you can attach to your key chain like the Duane Reade or CVS cards. I have to wonder how this store has impacted the other smaller shops around the area. I for one appreciate some of the "chain-like" qualities, namely the affordability, selection and free tastings. On the other hand I really appreciate the intimacy of the "Mom and Pop" shop.

Anyway, let's get to the Phenom, Grant Burge and his wines. First of all the tasting was widely attended and the store provided REAL wine glasses. I was thoroughly impressed by this touch (though people like Gary - see yesterday's post, who wash out their glasses between pours with the wine itself (!) may not have been as impressed). Kellie and I got our glasses and approached the bar. We ended up getting to talk to several people including Mr. Phenom himself. He was actually quite approachable and I managed to come up with what I hoped was an appropriate question:
What is the life span of a vine and how does the grape/wine change as the grape ages? (Since his vines are very old)
His response: If the wines are tended to properly they can live for a very long time - over 100 years. The wine changes within the first 50 years of the vine's life, but not much after that. When the vine gets old, just like people, it loses a lot of its foliage and produces fewer grapes. The grapes are therefore exposed to the sun more and become more concentrated which give the wine blackish characteristics and intense flavor.


Old Man _Old Vine _____

Tasting Notes:
2005 Grant Burge "Barossa Vines" Shiraz, $11.99
My notes will be brief since I only had two small sips in a crowded store in which to evaluate the wine. Caramel/toffee nose, with smooth soft tannins. It was rich with a long finish and as Kellie said, good for winter time. It was not as spicy as other Shiraz that I've had. I would have bought it (it was on sale for $10) but then I would have failed my own test.

**Thanks for everyone who participated in my poll - a rather obvious question (4 out of 5 got it right and the 5th, I'm convinced was my mother trying to use reverse psychology). I wanted to get the Poll function up and running. Check out the new question!

Zweigelt, "I'm not ordinary; give me a job" wine

Yesterday I mentioned that I went to a wine shop in an attempt to get a job. I came away from the experience $50 dollars poorer and without a job. However, I'm not a quitter and I consider the $50 an investment in my future. I bought three wines (I set a $20 dollar cap instead of my usual $10 because there were no under $10 bottles for sale). I asked one of the sales people to give me an unusual wine - something that I've never had before. He handed me a bottle of 2006 Berger, Blauer Zweigelt wine from Austria. The important thing about this wine for me is not its uniqueness -which i will talk about in a minute. The important thing about this wine was that it gave me an opportunity to send a follow up email to the owner to say thank you and to also show him that I'm not just some ordinary girl looking for some ordinary old job. We'll see if it works.
Tasting notes:
Zweigelt (Zv-eye-gelt) is a cross between Blaufrankisch and St. Laurent. It is common in Austria and is a lighter red variety.
This particular wine comes in a stout 1 liter bottle. So for 14.99 you get 250 ml more. When I showed Fletcher he said it reminded him of a 40 (malt liquor) bottle. And sure enough underneath the outer foil was a beer bottle cap. The first taste was sharp, salty and vinegary. Not a good start. However, there were some cherry notes and other dried fruit flavors that came through. We each had a small glass and then put a rubber cork in it to save for the next night. Apparently the wine gets better after its been opened for a while.

ALAIA - "don't give up on me yet wine"

I'm back. I have delayed adding anything to this blog because I couldn't figure out how to format the page to my exact liking. But now I realize that's not the point. And in these past two months I've missed out in adding great wines, not so great wines and experiences to this memory-tracker.
I am having a glass of Dehesa de Rubiales, Alaia wine from Spain. It is my latest addition to my $10 and under list of favorites. I opened it a week ago, and today it is serving as my "don't give up on me yet wine." It's old and doesn't taste like it did on the day I opened it. Today it tastes like raisins and if I'm really trying to make a connection, I could say it kind of tastes like an Amarone della Valpolicella. But again, that would be stretching it.

I'm sipping my glass slowly because it is the middle of the afternoon and I'm not usually a day drinker. And I'm having it with a pesto pasta, not because they do anything for each other, but because it is also a leftover that I found in my fridge. But I'm hoping that my Alaia is going to soak into my core soon and remind me that I do love wine, and that I can in fact become a wine expert if I want to become one. I should explain that I just went to get a job at a wine shop and I was told that they are really looking for someone with wine experience. Well, how does one get experience with wine if everyone is looking for someone who already has experience? I know that I'm not the only one thinking this - it's not a new problem, but it is new for me because I rarely put myself out there; I'm too afraid of rejection.
So I'm giving my Alaia, seven days old and a mere 6.99 a chance, I'm hoping someone will give me a chance too.