Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Bolton The Pirate and Gnarly (and cheap) Zin

Fun Stuff:

The first time I saw Adam Samberg was in the movie Hot Rod, and I was not very impressed. The next time I saw, or at least the next time that I can remember, was when he did that fake music video "Dick in a Box" with Justin Timberlake. I laughed hard.

Since then I have been a pretty big fan of The Lonely Island Videos on SNL and YouTube. The last one I saw cracked me up. It features a semi-delusional Michael Bolton belting Bolton-style about how amazing captain Jack Sparrow is. Take a look:

Wine Stuff:

I used to dislike Zinfandel because I did not even know that red wine was made from the grape. I only knew about white Zinfandel, and that stuff is... hard to respect.

Well the day finally came (it's been a while now) when a good friend set me straight. I am writing this now to spread the word in case there are others out there with the same unjustified impression of Zin. Zinfandel makes some pretty good wine. If you like Malbec, or Cabernet Sauvignon, especially the BIG fruity versions that so often come out of California, you should give Zinfandel a chance.

Tonight I am drinking an inexpensive Zinfandel from from Gnarly Head. While it is cheap, and not the best Zin ever, it is a fairly good representation of what the grape usually tastes like. Big, fruity, jammy red fruit.

Now, if you decide you like the stuff, or you already know you like it, and you want to try my favorite, get a Zinfandel from Rombauer. I think they only make one, and it is amazing.

Happy Drinking
-PMo

Monday, May 23, 2011

Starting Fresh: Wine Color Vs Grape Color

I have been on hiatus from wine blogging for a long time. I apologize to the... One person who cares. I am assuming there is one, but I may be giving myself too much credit ;)

I have a new application on my iPad that makes posting to my blog easier and more fun. It's called Blogsy in case anyone is interested. I have only made one post so far using Blogsy (to another blog), but it seems to work well. Let's try it out.

Before I took my long vacation from updating this site, I put out a survey. While few people responded, it appears that those who did want to learn more about wine. I like to talk about wine, so my first new post will be an informational, and hopefully interesting, one. I chose a subject that many people know about, but about which just as many are confused.

Wine color

The first easy question is: Does red wine come from red (purple/black) grapes?
And the simple answer is: Yes.

The more interesting question is: Does all white wine come from white grapes?
As is so often the case in life, you might be surprised to learn that the answer is: No not necessarily.

Why is that?

The color of a red wine comes from being in contact with the grape skins.

The grape juice, regardless of the grape, is white. So if you want to produce a red wine, you need to let the juice mingle with the skins for a while. After the grapes are pressed, to produce a red wine, the skins are left in the vat with the juice. The skins form a cap that has to be "punched down" during the primary fermentation process. The "punch down" is the process of pushing the skins down into the juice to extract more color from them. This usually happens a couple times a day throughout primary fermentation. The amount of time that the pulp stays on the skins depends on the wine maker, but commonly the pulp and skins are not separated until primary fermentation is complete.

Okay, so that is how red wines get their color. Now back to white for a moment. What white wines are made from red or black grapes? One of the most common and popular is Champagne (the Champagne region is marked by the red splotches).

Champagne is made from Pinot noir (black), Chardonnay (white), and Pinot Meunier (black). As you might expect, the skins have to be separated from the pulp right after the grapes are pressed. That process, however, is not enough to reach the clarity of a fine champagne. So the wine is filtered. Many levels of filtration can be used in wine making. It is a simple process though. The more clarity you want the smaller the particles you need filter. So even different white wines from a single white grape can have differing levels of color.

Well that's my little lesson. I hope it was informative and interesting.

Happy Drinking,
-PMo