Exploring Wine (Part 1)

Wine has become my latest obsession. It started when my buddy showed me the wine cellar in his new house, and seeing that cellar got me interested enough to investigate the possibilities of building one in my basement. This turned out to be a lot more involved than I thought that it would be -- more on that in a future post -- but I realized in the process of researching the idea that I didn't know nearly as much about wine as I thought that I did.

As has proven to be the case with any number of things over the years, a lot of what I thought I knew came from my folks, who weren't nearly as educated about some of this stuff as they made an effort to seem back in the day. It's to the point now where I'm considering rebranding my infamous "cook book" as something else entirely, Things That I Wish My Father Had Taught Me. 

Inclusive of wine content, I might have something like 30K words floating around in various spots on my hard drive. I just need to start getting it together and massaging into some kind of cohesive whole. Imagine a book exploring wine, grilling, and other aspects of the finer things in life but done in the style of my memoir, and you can maybe get a sense of the vibe. 

I always think of this project as a lifestyle handbook for Firsties about to commission. But we'll see.

At Chamard Vineyards in Coastal Connecticut yesterday.

In any event, this post is an attempt to start getting some of my thoughts down on paper. It's the middle of football season, so I have literally a million other things that I need to be doing right now, but friends, it's the side-hustles that keep me sane. Bear with me for a few minutes. Besides, I am really enjoying this exploration of wines.

The biggest thing that my folks taught me about wine was this: a wine's price has next to nothing to do with its flavor or quality. 

If you hear a person say, “I just bought a $50 bottle of wine,” in general, you are listening to an idiot.

Alas, this bit of received wisdom lacks quite a bit of context. This starts with the simple reality that most European wines are not marketed by type but rather by region of origin. The more specific the region of origin, the higher the wine's price point. So yes. You can find a decent French table wine from Burgundy that is a blend from a dozen different wineries, all with their own standards and practices. It might even be great. However, this is kind of a crap-shoot. By contrast, when you buy a more expensive wine from a specific vineyard in a specific region, you're buying a known quantity based on years -- or decades or even centuries -- of experience and accumulated reputation. That costs, but it might be worth it depending on the occasion and your financial circumstances.

With all of that said, wine taste still remains one of my favorite ways to test rich people. Because, bottom line, most rich people think they are smart simply because they have money, and it can be hard to divine the truth absent context. However, we can learn a lot when we talk wine. There are great wines that are expensive, but anyone who buys expensive wine because it’s “better” is a fool with money. 

This attitude is much, much more common than you would think.

A few things drive the price points of wine. As noted above, vineyard and/or region of origin. Also age. In many cases, expensive wines cost more because you are paying for storage space while the wine mellows. Which is fine but also kind of subtle on the palate. Maybe worth it on occasion, but definitely not appropriate on a random Tuesday. Finally, there are taxes and logistics costs. Taxes especially can vary wildly, which is why you can often find good, relatively cheap French and Italian wines. Those countries don’t tax wine much, and they have vast experience blending wines to balance flavors and growing conditions. Other places have different laws and different practices.

Chamard Vineyards

Rows of grapes after harvest

Wine is grown where it’s warm but not too warm. You can draw a line across Europe. Above the line, folks drink beer because it’s easier to grow grains in cooler weather. Below the line, folks drink wine — because they can. 

Wine also exists on a spectrum — sweet to dry. Most folks, as their palates develop, go from sweet to dry in preference. I personally started drinking Rieslings in Germany during a trip section my cow year at West Point. The Rhine region of Germany specializes in dry Rieslings, but they still tend to be more aromatic -- and often sweeter -- than some other varieties. These days, though, I am much more apt to go with a dry Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir.

If you learn one thing from this post, learn this: wine gets rated on a point scale by various magazines and ratings agencies. Anything over 85 is good; anything over 90 is elite. You’ll see the ratings on little tabs called “shelf talkers” at your local store. The very easiest way to buy wine is to find a dry vintage that’s got 90+ points. This will always be worth your time, and you can almost always get away under $20 per bottle. That's how we do it most of the time, and it's a good way to approach wine as you're learning about your particular preferences by type and region.

Chamard is arguably most famous for their Cabernet Savignon,
but we preferred the Chardonnay and the Merlot.

In general, reds go with meats; white go with chicken or fish. This is based mostly on the robustness of the flavors and the overall viscosity of the wine. A heavier wine, like a Malbec or a Cabernet, can stand up to a side of beef. By comparison, you can drink a lighter vintage, like a Pinot Noir, with salmon or something similar. Oddly, the lighter wines also pair nicely with spicy foods. A light fish, like cod, demands a lighter wine — like a Pinot Grigio. 

We eat a lot of fish and drink a lot of Pinot at our house. This is not by accident. The lighter wines also require less aging, so you can usually find a relatively higher quality vintage at lower price points. I've only recently realized the extent to which this has affected our household tastes and tendencies, but we definitely tend towards the lighter wines as a matter of course.