This has to be one of the best values in wine recently. You can find Montepulciano priced from $5 to $10, with fancy ones up to $16. My favorites lie in the $8 to $10 dollar range. Like Chianti, these are light wines with good acid, which means that they are refreshing during hot weather, and that they pair well with food, especially Italian food with lots of tomatoes. I have even paired them with my dhal and curries, which are also rich in ripe tomato zest, when I don’t want to pair Indian food with Riesling or Gewürztraminer.
My favorite thing about these wines is that they are cheap, but well-balanced. To be specific, they are never too high in alcohol or hot, too sweet, too fruity, too bitter, or too tart. Plus they have just enough flavor to not overpower food, but you can drink them alone and really have fun with it, especially if you are the hostess of a budget-driven party.
When shopping for these wines, or excitingly telling others, it is important not to confuse them with Brunello di Montalcino or Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Both of these excellent wines come from around the Tuscany area and are made from the Sangiovese grape (Brunello is a synonym for Sangiovese). However Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is made from the Montepulciano grape in the Abruzzo region near the East Coast of central Italy, not in the famed town of Montepulciano.
These wines have been tested at my parties. After everyone has filled up on glass after glass of Montepulciano, ignoring a flabby, cheap Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, and they can no longer pronounce Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, I reveal that they have been drinking an $8 dollar wine. And then they say, they say….well they don’t really care, they are enjoying the night too much.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Wine Girl's Tolerance
The other day my boss and I were tasting wines with one of our favorite distributors/importers. He started to tease us about not spitting out the wine, which we normally do. “What, have you lost all your spit buckets?” he said, then looked at me, adding, jokingly, “She has to run a cash register later.”
I was immediately embarrassed, because unlike other salesmen, this was a figure in the wine world I had been looking forward to meeting. I replied light-heartily, if not ironically, “I’m trying to build my tolerance,” a clear joke seeing as how there were only three samples of wine to try.
“Dear, the only way to build your tolerance is to gain thirty pounds, and grow four inches,” he said as we shared a laugh and the last sample.
Later as I worked the sales floor and operated the cash register with perfect clarity, I was not laughing. Over and over a defensive mantra ran through my head, “Though shall not judge someone’s ability to lift or imbibe a case of wine based on size or gender.” While there is truth to what he said, I was still angry about people’s assumptions of my strength to carry wine, or to carry on when spitting is not always an option.
Some customers, women more so than men, are surprised that when they ask for help to their car with a case, I follow them, rather than asking a male co-worker. “Oh, honey, I didn’t mean you, are you sure you can lift that?” they ask. Duh, it’s my job!
Little do both parties know that I practice both yoga and drinking wine in my free time, as do many young women that I know, so watch out. The next time your wine tasting party erupts into a betting arm wrestling competition, it may be wine girl takes all.
I was immediately embarrassed, because unlike other salesmen, this was a figure in the wine world I had been looking forward to meeting. I replied light-heartily, if not ironically, “I’m trying to build my tolerance,” a clear joke seeing as how there were only three samples of wine to try.
“Dear, the only way to build your tolerance is to gain thirty pounds, and grow four inches,” he said as we shared a laugh and the last sample.
Later as I worked the sales floor and operated the cash register with perfect clarity, I was not laughing. Over and over a defensive mantra ran through my head, “Though shall not judge someone’s ability to lift or imbibe a case of wine based on size or gender.” While there is truth to what he said, I was still angry about people’s assumptions of my strength to carry wine, or to carry on when spitting is not always an option.
Some customers, women more so than men, are surprised that when they ask for help to their car with a case, I follow them, rather than asking a male co-worker. “Oh, honey, I didn’t mean you, are you sure you can lift that?” they ask. Duh, it’s my job!
Little do both parties know that I practice both yoga and drinking wine in my free time, as do many young women that I know, so watch out. The next time your wine tasting party erupts into a betting arm wrestling competition, it may be wine girl takes all.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
This summer people are pulling bottle after bottle of Sauvignon Blanc out of the cooler door. This grape variety normally shows vegetal qualities that clash with unjust trends for fruity, oaky, creamy wines that taste more like candy. But in France there is a history of great dry Sauvignon Blanc that wine drinkers throw back with ease on sticky summer nights. It is the main grape in the treasured white Bordeaux, and in the Loire Valley, as Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé it is refreshing, with mineral, citrus, and green pepper aromas.
Most New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Marlborough area on the South Island. This is the hot place for this sharp grape because it is not hot. The cooler climate means that the grapes take longer to ripen, but the intense sunshine ensures that the extra time on the vine is intensely scheduled with photosynthesis activity giving the grapes the juice they need to make wines with intense citrus and passionfruit flavors on a tangy acidic backbone. Like all SB there is a touch of green bell pepper that makes the wines taste complex, but masked are the gooseberry flavors. This is also otherwise known to wine tasters as cat pee, which is not a bad smell in the wine glass, trust me!
These are fun wines that are so aromatic that you don’t want to gulp them, you want to drink in the smell. Some mid-range producers that I have tried and loved are The Crossings, Kim Crawford, Tohu, and Shepard’s Ridge, just to name a few. But the other really consumer-friendly thing about theses powerful wines is that they are so consistent in quality that you don’t always need to know the producer. Just close your eyes and pick one, or since they are very affordable, pick two from different price ranges, and then let the sunshine and tropical fruits go to your head.
Most New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Marlborough area on the South Island. This is the hot place for this sharp grape because it is not hot. The cooler climate means that the grapes take longer to ripen, but the intense sunshine ensures that the extra time on the vine is intensely scheduled with photosynthesis activity giving the grapes the juice they need to make wines with intense citrus and passionfruit flavors on a tangy acidic backbone. Like all SB there is a touch of green bell pepper that makes the wines taste complex, but masked are the gooseberry flavors. This is also otherwise known to wine tasters as cat pee, which is not a bad smell in the wine glass, trust me!
These are fun wines that are so aromatic that you don’t want to gulp them, you want to drink in the smell. Some mid-range producers that I have tried and loved are The Crossings, Kim Crawford, Tohu, and Shepard’s Ridge, just to name a few. But the other really consumer-friendly thing about theses powerful wines is that they are so consistent in quality that you don’t always need to know the producer. Just close your eyes and pick one, or since they are very affordable, pick two from different price ranges, and then let the sunshine and tropical fruits go to your head.
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