|
|
What to Buy in the Specialty Wine ShopDec 30 '00 Write an essay on this topic.Most major metropolitan areas, and I would hope every state, has at least one shop that, rather than the usual assortment of best-selling beers, wines and liquors available at every other local store, goes out of its way to cater to the small market of true connoisseurs who are looking for alcoholic beverages which lack the mass-market appeal of Budweiser, Gallo and Colt 45. If you have discovered such a place, you may have been interested in trying some of its wares but intimidated by the barrage of unfamiliar labels. It's generally best not to choose blindly; fringe-market beers, wines and spirits cover a much broader range than their better-known competition. If you're interested in trying a vintage from before 1990, I suggest you do what I would and seek out the advice of an expert in well-aged wines. While specialty shops do tend to carry some of these venerable vintages, my interest and recommendations lie in more recently produced wines that are uncommon for reasons other than age. Happily, many of these are quite affordable. Mead One of the oldest wines known, mead is made not from the juice of grapes but with water and honey. As one might expect, this makes for a strong and intensely sweet product, with an unmistakeable, sometimes overpowering, honey flavour. Some meads are lighter-bodied than others, dipping to 8 or 9% alcohol by volume, but most fall in the 10-12% range. Many shops that wouldn't ordinarily stock mead make it available in December, which makes now a good time to try some. There are a number of small wineries around the world still producing, or reviving, mead varieties, but very few if any that are so well-known or well-regarded as to be much more likely to be available than others. So how to choose a mead? If there is more than one in your local shop, compare their colour and strength. Deeper golden meads tend to have the most honey flavour, while paler varieties may taste almost like a strong, sweet white (grape) wine. Which end of the spectrum to choose is largely a matter of taste. Once you've made your selection, mead can be served chilled (though it's best not ice-cold) or room temperature, or even mulled. It makes an excellent accompaniment to nuts, cheese, fruit or holiday cookies. Many also serve it in much the same way as, or alongside, eggnog. Depending on locale and available varieties, a bottle of mead can range in price from eight to twenty dollars. Muscat and Moscato These names can each refer to a wine made with muscat grapes and which, unlike most wines using the muscat and blending it to obscurity with other flavours, highlights the delectable flavour of these grapes. Hailing from Italy, the muscat grape is probably best known to American palates in the bubbly Asti Spumante. The muscat varietal has a long history but has become somewhat obscure in modern times. While muscats and moscatos continue to be produced in Italy, Spain, France, the United States, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere, it is a California vineyard, the Quady Winery, that has probably done the most to revive this delightful wine. There are two main ways muscats are crafted, one involving halting the fermentation process during aging, resulting in an intense, heady wine best served as a dessert wine. Quady produces a decadent black muscat called 'Elysium' using this process, a dark, almost literally black wine with deep amethyst highlights bursting with rich cherry and berry flavours. From the more common orange muscat grape come dessert wine 'Essensia' and table wine 'Electra' -- Quady is internationally recognised for the quality of their muscats, and the three receive awards every year. The orange muscat is so called because it produces a wine with a naturally orange colour as well as distinctly orange flavour in its vibrant mix of citrus, peach, ginger and honey. This hint of orange is common to all orange muscats (the original name of the grape in Italian referred to its orange-blossom scent), but in Quady's offerings it is so enhanced as to make many who try it suspect that actual orange flavouring has been added. These are all lively wines, the dessert varieties in particular overpowering to almost any meal, and not least because they are in fact strong: all three are approximately 14% alcohol by volume, stronger than typical table wines that weigh in at 4-8% and even most mead which tends to peak at 10 or 12%. Many other muscats are available, though the only one I've had the opportunity to sample is the 1995 Moscato produced by St. Supery Vineyards & Winery. A table wine, St. Supery's Moscato was 10% alcohol by volume in its 1995 vintage, but has been only 6-7% in recent years. Lighter and simpler even than Quady's Electra, this muscat varietal is closer to equally sweet and crisp, without its fire and, because of the grapes used, presenting a range of fruity and summer-flower flavours. A dessert muscat is, as its designation indicates, best served with or as a dessert, and decadent as most are, most suited to following a full, elegant meal. Black Elysium shines partnered with chocolate, berries or both, while Essensia's orange sets off pastries exceptionally well, particularly cream or nut confections. Muscat table wines are not for every meal but can be perfect for the right entree, such as game or gourmet fowl cooked with fruit. Prices range from $10-25 per bottle but in many cases (particularly with dessert muscats) this is a 375ml, not 750ml, bottle. Fortunately it's fairly easy to choose a muscat by seeing what awards it has won, both for the vintage under consideration and past years. Fruit Wines Forget Boone's Farm: if apples are made into alcoholic beverages, they're best suited to cider (either the sparkling, wine-like Breton style or the beer-type ciders of Scotland and North America) or applejack. Nor am I recommending grape wines with other fruit flavours added, as one vineyard or another seems to release a few of every eight to twelve years. A few small vineyards do produce a delightful array of wines actually fermented from the juices of other fruits. In Canada's Maritimes, New England and the Middle Atlantic, several such small vineyards produce pear, peach, strawberry, elderberry and elder flower wines, among others; many these are shipped out of their state or province of origin, but unfortunately they can be found only rarely. In particular an herb-seasoned strawberry "May" wine from New York state and several pear wines from Connecticut are excellent, though a cranberry-enhanced apple wine also from Connecticut is best avoided. From Europe I have seen a number of fruit wines, often not available from one year to the next from the same vineyard but most worth seeking out. The examples I have tasted -- raspberry and blackcurrant -- made superb dessert wines or aperitifs, and would most likely also have done well with a richly flavoured meat such as goose or rabbit. Because many of these imported fruit wines are made in the same way amateur vintners and lovers of dandelion wine produce their home-made batches, there is often quite a bit of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Most such bottles will be so labeled, and by storing the wine upright instead of in a rack and refraining from shaking its contents this should cause no problems. A bottle of fruit wine can range in price from $8-25, and different varieties are best enjoyed at different temperatures; check the label for serving directions.  |
| Read all comments (3)|Write your own comment |
|
Ads by Google
|
