| Proper Serving Temperatures |
When does a wine give of it's best? When served at the proper temperature. This continues to be a vexing issue to many of us. When framing a service temperature guideline, on one side of the continuum, with wine served below 5oC the palate is aneasthetised and much above 18oC, all wines lose bouquet, freshness and definition. Here's a rough guide to the perfect tasting tempertures:
Ice wines / ice ciders ~ 6oC.
Simple sparkling wines [ cava, our Vidalescco, non-vintage Champagne ~ 8oC.
Fine sparkling/ vintage Champagne, including our Cuvee Peter Huff ~ 9oC.
Rich sweet whites [late harvest, classed growth French dessert wines, German auslese ~ 8oC to 10oC.
Rose [ Huff South bay vineyards ] ~ 9oC to 10oC.
Light to medium crisp, dry whites ~ 9oC to 11oC.
Fine or full dry whites ~ 10oC to 13oC.
Early drinking reds, light in tannin ~ 13oC to 15oC.
Medium-bodied reds ~ 16oC to 17oC.
Full mature reds ~ 17oC to 18oC.
Fortified wines
Dry...[ fino, manzanilla sherries ] ~ 8oC to 11oC.
Medium [amontillado, Madeira: verdelho or sercial. white port ] ~ 10oC to 12oC.
Sweet [tawny port, vintage port, cream sherry, Banyuls, Maury ] ~ 15oC to 16oC.
Cheers,
Brian
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| Keeping up with industry stories |
Three wine-related stories for eager oenophiles this past week. Firstly, British research firm ISWR conducted a study for Vinexpo, the biennial international wine and spirits trade show held in Bordeaux. It states that Canada's wine consumption has grown to 40 million cases and forecasts that our consumption will have grown six times faster than the world average in the span of ten years. We now rank as the world's fifth biggest wine importer by volume. Get the rest of the intriguing facts and figures. Go montrealgazette.com/health/Canada+wine+consumption or vinexpo.ca@sopexa.com For a second article of increasing interest, check out BBC News' web site for a report entitled "red alert over fake fraudsters". It details fabled first growth Chateau Margaux's initiatives in battling fraudulent/counterfeit bottles of their wines often sold at auction houses. Thirdly, reviewer Eric Asimov essays wine descriptions in an article entitled " wine in two words". Go to nytimes.com/2011/02/23/dining.
Cheers B,
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| Wine Edginess |
Ever had an "edgy" wine ?
That's the term correspondent Kristin Donnelly used in describing "cloudy, oddly hued and more savoury than fruity" wines in Food and Wine's February 2011 issue. They could be producers favouring ancient techniques such as aging wines in beeswax-coated earthenware pots, or amphorae dropped into holes in the ground up to their necks to keep them cool. One wine producer, Frank Cornelissen, whose estate lies near Sicily's Mt. Etna, ages his reds in apoxy-glazed amphorae to avoid tertiary aromas and flavours of toastedness found in oak barrels. Others cited are vinifying "orange" wines; white wines vinified in red wine fashion. The juice sits on the skins for extended periods, thereby adopting golden/orange/pink hues and a degree of tannin. The author writes of the venerable R. Lopez de Heredia Estate in Spain's Rioja even aging its roses in oak up to 10 years. Donnelly admits these "edgy" wines aren't always immediately appealing but says she's taken with the way they evolve as one smells and tastes them.
Worth trying, n'est ce pas ?
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| The often overlooked sense when it comes to wine |
The eyes do, indeed, set the table.When a wine is presented to you, your first impression is what you see. It`s the initial pit stop of the sensory choo-choo train, followed by smell [olfactory]. tactile [touch] and taste [gustatory]. Sight is at the bottom of your senses in that it is the least perceptive of the four senses we em ploy in evaluating wines, notwithstanding the sophistication of the human retina. Its 100 million rods and cones and its layers of neurons perform at least 10 billion calculations per second and every second 10 trillion particles of light pass through the pupils of your eyes.They are received by the rod and cone cells in the layers of the retina, and, stimulated by light, the nerve cells begin transmitting signals to the brain. Some experts suggest the human eye can distinguish 300,000 different colour judgments. In our daily life, however, we encounter a tiny fraction of this potential. Each wine has its own particular colour and a range of colours it will span during its lifetime. For the most part, wine colours originate from two sources: the skins of the grapes and the effect of oxidation. Other influences include climate, the soil, maturity of the fruit, the grape variety, the fermentation process, aging and oak barrel treatment. As the red wine train cugs along, the colours will reveal themselves in the following sequence: inky, purple [still wearing diapers], violet, red, ruby, garnet, mahogany, brick, orange, amber and brown. White wines, on the hand, become darker as they age: water-white, green-yellow, pale yellow, lemon, straw, gold, amber and brown [deceased]. What colour is your wine this evening ?
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| Are You a Super Taster? |
Ever wondered how you rate as a wine taster ?
Here's a do-it-at-home method culled from Jamie Goode's tome, " The Science of Wine ".
Here's what you will need: blue food colouring, a piece of paper with a hole punched in it, about 7mm. [about 1/2 inch } in diameter, or use a reinforcer for a ring-binder and a magnifying glass.
Swab some of the blue-food colouring onto the tip of your tongue. Your tongue will take up the dye, but the fungiform papillae, which are small round structures that house the taste-buds, will stay pink. Pop the piece of paper on the front portion of your tongue and count how many pink dots are inside the circle with the aid of the magnifying glass. Results : fewer than 15 papillae; non-taster, 15 to 35 papillae; taster and more than 35; super-taster.
Cheers,
Brian
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| New Year's Bubbles |
There are few things that
elicit more arousal in the mouth than the tactile pleasure of bubbles.
Sparkling wines bring both effervescence and flavour to any yuletide gathering. Look no further than our recently
released 2009 Vidalescco, a moscato-style offering available at the winery or
by ordering on our website.
Modestly priced at $ 19.95,
it can shine as an aperitif to stimulate the appetite or partner with
slightly smoky, salty or spicy hors d`oeuvres or complement sorbets or granites
to cleanse the palate midway
through an elaborate dinner. Looking for recipe suggestions ?
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Bacon-wrapped ginger
soy scallops
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Individual brie and fig strudels
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Bacon, cheddar and mushroom squares
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Smokes salmon, chevre
and dill squares
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Mini shrimp tacos
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Asiago and leek gougeres
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Shrimp and avocado
salsa on pita toasts
Happy New Year to you All!
Brian
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| Words of Wisdom |
From my standpoint, and, perhaps it`s a logical extension of being engaged in vino, wine and food are the most inevitable and accessible of pleasures. Permit me to say that they are a necessary component of life. Slightly overzealous ? .....no. I enjoy quoting an Italian proverb that seemingly sums it up: " one barrel of wine can work more miracles than a church full of saints." Kindly perish the thought should you harbour any suspicions that I may have a glass in hand as I write this. Any sayings or platitudes to back me up ?
Cheers,
Brian
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| Wine Prep for the Holidays |
Please consider two factors as you shop for wine to host your guests or savor in the company of your spouse or partner this yule tide season. Dare to be adventurous. As consumers, we tend not to stray outside what is familiar to us. Try seeking out less well-known wine/viticultural regions within the same price range. One helpful guide to ease the initial transition is to taste a varietal you particularly enjoy from a region previously unexplored. For example, a sauvignon blanc from Niagara instead of a Chilean sauvignon. Secondly, steer away from the "only for special occasion" syndrome. Yes, there's a time and place for every wine but treating it as dressing the dinner table with your best china or silverware is missing the point. That special occasion is now. Don't hoard. Only 4 % of global wine production is meant for cellaring.
My pairing suggestions today are for our Huff Estates 2008 South Bay Chardonnay;
- chipotle and maple pork tenderloin
- lemon tarragon veal stew with greens of spinach,sorrel and romaine
creamed mushrooms on toast
ENJOY!
Brian
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| Holiday Recipes |
This is the first of many of my suggested Holiday recipes and wine pairings! Please check in every few days to see the next offering. Hope you enjoy :)
- Brian Hanna
Veal Sacloppini with Lemon & Capers
Ingredients
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4 scaloppini (1/4 ? 1/2 inch thick)
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2 T olive oil
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2 T butter
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3-4 T flour
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1 lemon
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2 T capers, rinsed of brine
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2/3 ? 1 cup chicken broth
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optional: 1/3 cup white wine
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optional: 1 T butter
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KS&CP (kosher salt & course pepper)
Instructions:
Lightly coat
scallopini by dipping into and shaking off flour. Heat skillet over medium
high, pouring in 2 T oil and 2 T butter. When almost smoking, add scallopini
(two rounds is fine, as they won?t all fit at once, add more oil and butter if
needed). Cook one minute per side until browned, place under foil on plate to
keep warm. When finished cooking veal, using same pan, pour in broth and wine
and simmer until reduced by half (about 15 minutes). Off heat, stir in juice
from half a lemon (slice other half into wedges to serve on dinner plate), the
capers, 1 T of butter if using and KS&CP to taste. Pour over veal and
serve.
Perfect Huff wine to pair with this - 2009 Pinot Gris
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| Brian's First Blog! |
Hello Huff Readers!
My name is Brian Hanna and I am the in-house sommelier here at Huff Estates. If you have visited us here at the tasting bar or done a tour of our facility then there is a good chance that we have met. With the launch of our new site I am happy to say that this blog is a good way for me to keep in touch with all of you and I hope to hear back from many of you. This is my first blogging experience so I am going to keep it brief and look forward to your feedback!
If you were asked to name the five most memorable wines you have ever tasted, there would probably not be much in common among them. It could be that lively, crisp white you had in the hot tub or that seductive Cabernet at the chalet during last winter's ski vacation or perhaps that bright, jazzy tantalizingly tart Huff Estates rose you discovered at our tasting bar, but I'm willing to bet that in each instance, the surroundings, those around you, and the mood counted more than the quality of the wine itself. Wine is the common denominator that binds us and, to my mind, it is meant to be enjoyed daily as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Give us your thoughts on the sublime harmony or discordance of wine and food pairing that you would enjoy passing on to our fellow Huff readers. Describe your awakening wine experiences whether with friends, on vacation or even hosting themed dinners.
Santé,
Brian Hanna
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