The Perception of Aging in Tuscany

Casolino Chianti Classico, 2008

Tonight I’m having friends over for a wine tasting.  I’m using one of the suggested wine tastings from my online class at Wine Spectator.  The challenge was to find a Chianti Classico and a Chianti Classico Reserva from the same producer.  Then I needed to find a Rosso di Montalcino and a Brunello di Montalcino from the same producer.  All four wines are predominantly made from the Sangiovese grape.  The Montalcinos are 100% Sangiovese.  The Chiantis can be a blend but must be at least 75% Sangiovese, and many are more than that.  So, we’ll be comparing the same grape from two different regions in Tuscany, and aged for different periods of time.  I know theoretically what the differences should be, but tonight I’ll taste and experience the differences, and reinforce in my sensing memory the knowledge I’ve gained from my Tuscan wine class.

I had to visit 5 different stores in order to find the required wines.  As I went from store to store I brought with me my manilla folder with all my wine information in it.  Something happened because of that file folder.  The customer service I received in each store was a little more attentive.  One sales person after greeting me in a mildly friendly  way, glanced at my file folder, and stood up a little straighter.  Then he asked with a bit more interest, ‘How are you today?’  I think if I’d told him to straighten his tie, he would have done it.  I suppose the various salespeople thought I was on official business, perhaps reviewing and reporting on the store.  It’s funny how a small thing like a folder can change person’s perception of a person, if only slightly.

Casisano Colombaio, 2008 Rosso di Montalcino

Of the two Chianti Classicos, the Riserva is required by Italian law to age for 24 months before it is released.  The other Chianti Classico only has to age for 12 months before release.  Likewise, the Brunello di Montalcino must be aged for 48 months before it can be released.  The Rosso is only aged for 12 months.  For any wine, the longer it’s aged, the softer the tannins become, and the more integrated all the elements of the wine become.  If it’s a good wine to begin with, aging will soften it, and give it added dimension and complexity.

The other day while I was working out at the gym, a group of senior citizens were gathered around a machine, getting instruction from a personal trainer on how to use the machine.  He passed out diagram sheets to his clients and they dispersed to other machines in the area.  I happened to be working out on the leg extender nearby.  He came up to me and began giving me instruction.  I asked, ‘Why are you telling me how to use this machine?’  He replied that he was helping all the people in the group.  I wanted to say to him, ‘I’m not with that group.  Can’t you tell?!  Those people are old!  I’m not!’  But instead I politely explained to him that I’ve been working out for over 20 years (probably for longer than he’d been alive,) and I did not need help, thank you anyway.  I’m still a bit offended by his misperception.  However, as I age, I realize that I’ll be mistaken for an old person with greater frequency.

Casisano Colombaio, 2004 Brunnello di Montalcino

Tonight my friends and I will taste the wines, and try to identify the flavors, aromas and elements of each one.  I have pre-conceived notions about them based on what I’ve read.  After we’ve analyzed and compared all four wines, we’ll mix up the glasses and see if we can identify which wine is which.  Without the labels to read, I wonder how our perceptions will change.  I hope at least that I can tell the newer wines from the two that have been well aged.

Perspective: the Great, the Mundane, and the Appreciative

Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon

I went to a wine tasting the other night with a group of friends.  We sampled several wines, but the one that stood out most was a Philip Togni 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Spring Mountain in Napa.  In it I tasted blackberry, cedar, smoke, chocolate, and earth.  After I circled all the flavors and aromas listed that I detected, I felt that there was something else in the wine that wasn’t listed on my tasting sheet.  I took another deep inhale, and  in the line for additional aromas I wrote W-O-W.  Just after I wrote that, my friend, Dana after sipping the wine said, ‘Wow!’  I laughed and said, ‘that’s what I tasted, too!’ as I showed her my description page.  We were both laughing when my husband came up from his wine and said, ‘Wow!’  We all had the same reaction to this wonderful wine.

Today in church my son played the flute.  Whenever he’s asked, he’s always willing to do it.  It’s something he really enjoys.  As we were sitting in the pew before he played, I noticed that he’d worn his sneakers, his hair was a little messy, and I suspected that he hadn’t brushed his teeth after breakfast this morning.  These are the things that ran through my mind when he was about to perform.

When the time came for Bob to go to the front of the church, the gentleman sitting in front of us leaned over and said to his wife, ‘Oh, good!  He’s going to play his flute.  He plays great!’  This gentleman also stopped Bob as he was returning to his seat after playing to shake his hand and say, ‘Thank you.  Great job.’  I don’t know the couple too well.  I do know that a few years ago they lost their teenage son suddenly and unexpectedly, something that seems to me, as it would to any parent, insurmountable.  Yet, here they are most every Sunday, friendly, warm, affable and genuinely appreciative.

There are moments when we see things in exactly the same way as the people that we are with.  Those moments are almost magical.  They are how we connect with one and other.  There are other moments when we see things very differently from those around us.  Sometimes when we see things through someone else’s perspective, we grow beyond ourselves.

A Toast to Technology

Ninetendo 3DS

I love technology for a number of reasons.  One has to do with my son.  At the beginning of the summer, my son asked me what chores he could do to earn extra money.  The new 3DS was out, and it was expensive!  ‘Chores, you say?  I think I can come up with something.’  For the past two months he’s been vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, dusting, and cleaning the bathrooms.  He’s even doing all the laundry and mowing the lawn.  This is turning out to be a very relaxing summer, for me anyway, and it’s all thanks to technology.

A great wine, a wine geek might say, will reflect the terroir and the grape.  Some believe the less intervention by humans, the better.  Maybe there’s some truth to that.  Wines can taste overly processed, with too much oak, or too much blending among variety and vineyards.  But I’d argue that without technology, Bordeaux wouldn’t be the beautiful, gravely terroir that it is today.  In the 1600′s the Dutch built drainage ditches in what was a wet marshland, but is now the Medoc.  Likewise, in the early 1900′s two brothers from California irrigated what was desert land in Australia.  That region is now known as Riverland, and it is the largest producer of grapes in South Australia.

Yellow Tail Shiraz

Yellow Tail Winery is located in Riverland, South Australia.  They make what Tyler Coleman, author of the book, Wine Politics , refers to  as a ‘gateway wine.’  It’s easy-drinking, consistent, and very inexpensive. It may lead to other more interesting wines.  The Shiraz I had the other night was smooth with some dirt and cherry flavors and a slightly chocolatey finish.  It’s not a  complex wine, nor does it reflect the terroir of its vineyard, as the grapes can come from all over South Australia.  But it’s very drinkable, and thanks to technology, widely available for about seven bucks a bottle.

The Lightness of Humor and Rosé

One day last May, my son and I were discussing the news story about Harold Camping and his prediction of the end of the world on May 21st. We were talking about why it’s sometimes quite easy to convince people of something. During the discussion my son said to, ‘Well, you know, Mom, you have to give people something to believe in. Then you have to keep them around so you can laugh at them.’ Perhaps he’s a bit cynical for a 15 year old, but I do appreciate his sense of humor.

Many of us are drawn to the quality of humor in people, in writing, in movies, and other arts. Yet, the arts that become the classics are humorless. I won’t say Dostoyevsky had no sense of humor, but I don’t recall laughing even once while reading The Brothers Karamazov. Likewise, I’ve never seen a tombstone that memorialized someone for his or her sense of humor. ‘Here lies Rachel. God, she was funny!’ It’s as if humor is a lesser quality, one we all enjoy and seek out, but never commemorate. Yet, how dull our daily lives would be without it.

Last night I tried a Finca Flichman Rosé called Misterio from Mendoza, Argentina. It was made from Malbec and Shiraz grapes, an even 50/50. The nose smelled fruity, the taste was raspberries with a lemon twist. The tannins anchored the wine, while the acidity kept it crisp and refreshing. It went beautifully with the roasted, wild-caught salmon made with Myers lemon olive oil and sea salt. Pink food with pink wine as they say.

A good, dry rosé on a warm summer evening can be absolutely delightful, crisp and refreshing. Yet, rosés will never be given the high numbers on wine ratings. They’re too light, simple and altogether un-ageworthy. Maybe it’s not what we remember for generations, but sometimes light and simple is what we need in our daily lives.