A free flowing flood of thoughts during the WIne Classic
So... We got flooded, again. Fans blowing everywhere, and water poring out of light fixtures. Oh my what fun. Of course, this all happens just as I am getting ready for the Aspen Wine Classic.
While I famously no longer exhibit at the Wine Classic, I am exhibiting. Just a block east at my wife's store Stefan Kaelin, I am set up and pouring wine. I am doing a little component tasting, and signing books, so if you are in Aspen, stop on by.
A big part of this wine weekend is dining out, and while I may be missing out on the fun in the tents, I am availing myself of the Aspen restaurant scene.
Last night we enjoyed a little patio dining and a great bottle of wine. The service was wonderful, the food was... well, I am picky.
The wine was a Zinfandel from Howell Mountain. Twenty years ago Ridge Howell Mountain Zin was one of my favorites, but it is long gone.
It is great to see that other producers are starting to rediscover not only the marvelous Howell Mountain appellation, but Zinfandel in general.
The beauty of Zin is the abundance of fruit. The intense jammy flavors without a hint of tannin. At least that is what I like about it.
I recently tried another style of Zin that was it not to my taste. The producer, a younger son of a famous wine family, seems to think that what is missing in most Zinfandels is oak aging.
And so the wine was oaky and a bit tannic. What it was not, was jammy. The fruit was completely overwhelmed by the oak.
A common complaint at least out of this wine writer, is that too many wines taste more or less the same. Big and oaky is not my favorite descriptor for Chardonnay, and it is even less desirable, to my taste, in a Zin.
Save the big and oaky for Cab.
As I sit here writing this I have spread out before me six bottles of wine that have been purposely taken out of balance, to better recognize the components of wine. One of these bottles, and certainly a component of many wines, is oak.
Oak is a wine making flavor, not a flavor of the grape. This would seem obvious enough, and yet counting the number of oaky wines, it seems many prefer the buttery oaky flavors of wine making, over the fruity, tart flavors of the grape.
I think wine should taste like grapes, at least predominately. And not just any grape, the primary grape of the wine. The grape juice flavor of Concord grapes is not what I am after, but rather the complex subtle flavors that each grape variety offers.
Few grape varieties can stand up to the intense flavors of new oak. Fortunately new oak barrels are expensive and so until recently, oak was not too often over used.
Barrel alternatives have changed all that. I am on record of saying that barrel alternatives are not a bad thing, and I am not about to contradict myself here, but it is a matter of judicious use.
Over oak a wine, and it tastes like oak. Do it to a Zin, and I am liable to think it is a sin.
While I famously no longer exhibit at the Wine Classic, I am exhibiting. Just a block east at my wife's store Stefan Kaelin, I am set up and pouring wine. I am doing a little component tasting, and signing books, so if you are in Aspen, stop on by.
A big part of this wine weekend is dining out, and while I may be missing out on the fun in the tents, I am availing myself of the Aspen restaurant scene.
Last night we enjoyed a little patio dining and a great bottle of wine. The service was wonderful, the food was... well, I am picky.
The wine was a Zinfandel from Howell Mountain. Twenty years ago Ridge Howell Mountain Zin was one of my favorites, but it is long gone.
It is great to see that other producers are starting to rediscover not only the marvelous Howell Mountain appellation, but Zinfandel in general.
The beauty of Zin is the abundance of fruit. The intense jammy flavors without a hint of tannin. At least that is what I like about it.
I recently tried another style of Zin that was it not to my taste. The producer, a younger son of a famous wine family, seems to think that what is missing in most Zinfandels is oak aging.
And so the wine was oaky and a bit tannic. What it was not, was jammy. The fruit was completely overwhelmed by the oak.
A common complaint at least out of this wine writer, is that too many wines taste more or less the same. Big and oaky is not my favorite descriptor for Chardonnay, and it is even less desirable, to my taste, in a Zin.
Save the big and oaky for Cab.
As I sit here writing this I have spread out before me six bottles of wine that have been purposely taken out of balance, to better recognize the components of wine. One of these bottles, and certainly a component of many wines, is oak.
Oak is a wine making flavor, not a flavor of the grape. This would seem obvious enough, and yet counting the number of oaky wines, it seems many prefer the buttery oaky flavors of wine making, over the fruity, tart flavors of the grape.
I think wine should taste like grapes, at least predominately. And not just any grape, the primary grape of the wine. The grape juice flavor of Concord grapes is not what I am after, but rather the complex subtle flavors that each grape variety offers.
Few grape varieties can stand up to the intense flavors of new oak. Fortunately new oak barrels are expensive and so until recently, oak was not too often over used.
Barrel alternatives have changed all that. I am on record of saying that barrel alternatives are not a bad thing, and I am not about to contradict myself here, but it is a matter of judicious use.
Over oak a wine, and it tastes like oak. Do it to a Zin, and I am liable to think it is a sin.
posted by Wineguy at 11:37 AM
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