Book Review: Wine Made Easy

At some point, everyone is a beginner. For those starting to appreciate wine, Wine Made Easy, edited by Susy Atkins, is a great start. Like one of those iconic yellow books for 'not so smart people', this book covers basic topics from the common types of grapes, popular wine regions, the different types of wine, and how to pair wine with meals. Each of the sections of the book cover important topics relevant to wines with no expectation of previous knowledge, making this a good starting point in learning more about wine.

Many of the popular grape varieties are listed and briefly described somewhere in this book. However, all of the grapes in the book are one of the old varieties of Vitis vinifera and do not include any New World grapes or hybrids between New and Old World varieties. Now whether the selection of grapes in the book is based solely on popularity or due to the old prejudices against New World grapes, its hard to miss that a great many grape varieties are not included the Delaware, the Niagara, Chambourcin, and Traminette.

Buying, storing, opening, and tasting wine are all important parts of the experience, and this book delivers a good overview of each of these steps. No book though, can teach you the full gambit of taste wine. A brief look at the Wikipedia entry of Wine tasting descriptors reveals just how complicated a wine can taste. Chemistry supports this view, as chemists have identified over 250 different chemical compounds in wine.

The unique part of this book is the chapter which covers how to read wine labels from the most popular wine making regions of France, Europe, and the New World. This chapter presents an interesting comparison between the various laws and practices of labels throughout the world. For our purposes here though, only the rules of the United States matter, which is covered briefly on one page.

Most wine is consumed not by itself, but with food as an appetizer, a dessert, or with a meal. That is why the topic of pairing wine is so common. This book covers far beyond the normal guidance of drinking red wines with red meat and white wines with white meat by breaking down which types of white wines go with which Pork with Cream and Mushrooms (a lightly oaked Chardonnay). If you serve wine for guests often at dinner parties, the tables in this section may be helpful, but with Google a click away and with many of the suggestions region specific, I'll stick to my method: choosing the wine I want to taste at the given moment.

The final section of the book covers the hazards and benefits to drinking wine. While there is around 10% of alcohol in a glass of wine (give or take a few percentage depending on the style of wine), most people can handle a glass of wine a day, though the World Health Organization recommends at least 2 alcohol free days a week. But, as research has shown through the 'J-shaped' curve, consuming a glass of wine a day can have many health benefits, including reducing risk for heart disease and by the antioxidants in red wine, can inhibit the growth of certain cancers. My personal viewpoint is that of the ancient Greeks and Romans: Ne quid nimis. Nothing in excess, or all things in moderation. An occasional glass, or the regular glass of wine is fine and can be healthy, but excessive drinking is harmful.

Overall, this book provides a great introduction of the world of wine. But, it is only that, an introduction. There are a great many other places where grapes and wine are grown and made, a great many other varieties of grapes and wine, and a great many other possible food pairings.

Wine Bottle Thermometers

While beer cans and bottles may come with special labels to indicate the correct temperature, but such a thing is rare on wine bottles. That doesn't mean there aren't thermometers to indicate the temperature of a bottle of wine, but they must be purchased separately. Just this week I found a few Kikkerland Wine Bottle Thermometers on sale at Target which indicate the temperate of the wine bottle and display the recommended temperature for different styles of wine.

This style is simple, but handy for those who might try different styles of wine. Its on the cheaper end, but the band is flexible to fit different sized wine bottles. It uses a chemical reaction to illuminate the temperature, as can be seen in the following picture:

For those who prefer a digital readout, there are many types of thermometers in this style as well. This Digital Wine Thermometer by Trudeau also contains a listing of recommended serving temperature for common styles and supports both Celsius and Fahrenheit. 

To best enjoy a glass of wine, its important that it is served at the right temperature. And whether you choose an analog or digital thermometer, either one can help ensure wine is served at the optimal temperature.

Know your Wine Terminology: French Hybrids

Since arriving in the New World, vine growers have struggled to grow European wines in America. Despite the favorable environment, native North American diseases such as black rot, Powdery Mildew and Downy Mildew would eventually destroy the vines. Other pests would also wrecked havoc on the vines, including aphids which eventually caused the the great wine blight in France. 

Over the years, many solutions to this problem have presented themselves. Some have tried to prevent or cure the diseases with little success. Others have made due with the native grape varieties such as Concorde, but the taste of American grapes can be off-putting to some. After the great wine blight in France, the idea of grafting a European variety to the roots of an American vine proved to be a popular way to fight the native diseases and pests. But another solution that has found more popularity in America than Europe is the creation of hybrid grape varieties.

Botanically, a hybrid is a man-made plant that contains varying combination of elements of the 2 parent plants. It takes many attempts to craft a hybrid, but the ultimate goal is to create a plant which retains the best qualities from both parents. In grapes, the goal is usually to create a new variety which is resistant to disease.

The so called French hybrids are just one category of hybrid grapes. They are such named because they were created in France, largely with the intention of improving the quality of vines in a specific region. The list of French hybrids include Baco Noir, Seyval Blanc, and Vidal Blanc. 

However, the French wine industry is very conservative in nature and has placed laws against the use of hybrid grapes. Despite their unpopularity in France and Europe, these grapes have found a place at home in North America and the Midwest, with Baco Noir, Seyval Blanc, and Vidal Blanc grown throughout the Midwest and beyond.

History of Midwest Wine: Harmony

In the southwestern corner of Indiana, along the Wabash river near its mouth to the Ohio river lies the small town of New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony is famous for the community planned by Robert Owen in 1825 that was an experiment to create a Utopia in the new world. After just a few years this experiment failed, serving as a warning to others who would attempt their hand at creating their own utopia.

But what is now known as New Harmony was first simply named Harmony. Founded in the summer of 1814, the Harmony Society moved from their Pennsylvania home (a town also called Harmony) to their selected sight on the Wabash river. These German immigrants, lacking room to expand in Pennsylvania and surrounded by neighbors who were suspicious of them, decided to move out west where they could have more land for their growing community. And with all the grape vines they planned to grow, they would need considerable land for them and other crops.

As noted last time, European grape varieties do not survive long in America where native diseases wipe out the vines in short order. Despite communicating with the vintners in Vevay and their warning to avoid European vines, the Germans were still determined to try, confident in their own skills as vine dressers and vintners. While the Harmonists had more success in Indiana growing grapes and making wine than their earlier attempts in Pennsylvania, the conditions were still inferior to those in Germany. The German immigrants received a second batch of vines from Germany, but by 1825, these and the initial bunch on 15 acres were in poor health.

While the Harmony wine makers were able to find a market up and down the Ohio river for their wine, they had far more success with their other industrial undertakings, including clothing and flour. In 1824, they left Harmony to resettle in Pennsylvania, giving up on their dream of making wine in the New World and refocusing on traditional goods. 

Today, wine making is but a distant memory in New Harmony, as the closest winery is about 40 miles to the east. But parts of the original settlement remain, as does parts of the New Harmony settlement for those wishing to view the relics to the utopian ideal.

What I'm Drinking: Oliver Winery Moscato

After drinking a couple spicy Traminettes from Easley Winery and Creekbend, I have gone to a more fruity, bright, floral wine in Oliver Winery's Moscato. While Traminette works well in a cold winter climate, the Moscato, with its tropical fruit flavors, would seem more at home relaxing outside on a warm summer day.

Oliver's Moscato, made from the grape Muscat Canelli, has a slight bubbly texture when opened. The color is clear and light, like dried summer straw. Despite being billed as a semi-sweet wine, I found it to be a quite sweet wine. Being so light colored, there were no tannins to give the wine richness. The wine has only slightly bitter taste. The alcohol level, though present, could not balance out the sweetness alone.

Muscat Canelli is known under a wide varieties of names for a simple reason: it is one of the oldest grapes used to make wine. Originating in Greece, it is quite common in Italy, where it is called Moscato (and thus where Olivery Winery takes the name from).

But despite the name, Oliver's Moscato may pair better with chicken or fish dishes with a more southwestern flare to play on its tropical undertones. 

In all, Moscato was a refreshing wine and contrasted greatly with my previous wines (link). In all, I would rate the Moscato a 75 out of 100. It is light, refreshing, and efferfescent, but a bit simple in flavors. Sweet is the dominate taste, and judging America's fondness for sweet foods (and my own), the sweetness of this wine will not turn people off.

Indiana Uplands American Viticultural Area

Much goes into making wine unique. One of the oldest held traditions is that a wine's region plays a key part in a wine's character. This is why one of the tasks of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is to define  Americal Viticultural Areas. There are over 200 AVAs defined, and as of March 7th, 2013, there will be one more AVA, the Indiana Uplands AVA. The Indiana Uplands will be the first AVA to belong solely to Indiana.

The Indiana Uplands AVA would include several counties and towns in south-central Indiana including Bloomington, Bedford, Paoli, French Lick, Tell City, and St. Meinrad. About a dozen wineries, including Oliver Winery (link), Butler Winery, and French Lick Winery are in this new AVA which stretches some 4,800 square miles with 150 acres dedicated to vineyards. The official document from the TTB details the Indiana Uplands area further.

There already exists an AVA in portions of Indiana along the Ohio River. The Ohio River Valley AVA includes parts of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Parts of this AVA will be realigned so that those portions of Indiana that belong to the Indiana Uplands AVA will no longer be in the Ohio River Valley AVA.

During the last ice age, Eastern Canada and the Northern portion of the Midwest were covered with glaciers. These glaciers stopped between I-70 and the Ohio river, leaving the Southern portion of Indiana and Ohio untouched. This gives Indiana Uplands a unique soil characteristic along with similar rainfall and temperature zones. These factors together make the wines in this region similar enough that the TTB created the Indiana Uplands AVA.

For more on the Indiana Uplands, see the notice from Inside Indiana Business and the Appellation America's site page for Indiana Uplands (note: this page is behind a paywall). There is also the Indiana Uplands Wine Trail which further lists and details the latest AVA

Midwest Wineries

I'm currently working on a new web page for my blog with a map of each and every winery that I can find in the Midwest along with links to each winery (of those that I can find). While I'm still tweaking everything, by viewing each of the websites, I had a general impression of the wines in the Midwest.

Of the wineries, there are three distinct groups: the highly professional wineries that push their wines on a large scale to compete with other mainstream wineries for retail space in grocery stores, the professional yet local wineries which do not have the retail muscle of other wineries but which have a professional retail space, and then there's the niche wineries, the wineries that appeal to a certain subset of the wine market, such as Gravity Wines in Michigan which appears to have a bit of a geek vibe going on with its Dinosaur and Star Trek inspired bottles.

Of the wineries, I get the impression that more than half fall into the middle category: they're not large enough to warrant an extensive distribution network, but not niche enough to appeal to a small segment of the population. (Though I suppose, in a way they do, as one has to go out of there way to find bottles from these wineries.) The rest are about evenly split between large scale operations and niche wineries.

But by my brief survey of the Midwest Winery websites, the wine options appear endless: old world style, new world style, sparkling, fruit wines, and even ice wines. All said, there's a large variety available in the Midwest's roughly 630 wineries!

Zombie Wine Accessories

In honor of the new Zombie movie, Warm Bodies (which my wife and I plan to see this weekend), here's a few Zombie wine accessories.

Wine can be poured into a decanter to separate sediment if present, to make the wine look nice, or give it a chance to breath. While a special bottle isn't necessary, a Zombie Decanter would make a nice addition for the Zombie fan.

If you're like me, you could always use another wine stopper, and this gruesome Zombie Arm Wine Stopper.

If you could use a new wine bottle holder, you couldn't go wrong with this drunken Zombie Wine bottle holder on eBay. 

As always, I love wine glass charms as they're cheap little accessories and on Etsy, there's a couple of different sets, including this one with such tag lines as "Caution: Zombies at Play". This set is made from silver instead and includes such charms saying "Zombies eat Brains" and "I heart Zombies".

If you'd prefer a way to label each person's wine glass for a party, these Zombie wine glass tags () are made from paper and could be labelled with the names of party guests.

If you prefer a more permanent zombie wine accessory, etsy also has this Hand painted Zombie Wine glass, or I should say a Zombie Juice glass.

Finally, there's this bottle of Zombie Zin Zinfandel, you know, to keep in stock in case the zombie apocalypse occurs.