THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601180037
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THE HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
MY TRIP TO the grocery was poorly timed. The place was stuffed with people pushing cartfuls of winter storm provisions. The milk cooler was nearly empty and so were the bread shelves. Cat litter was sold out. The selection of red meat was disappointing.
But there was no traffic jam in Aisle 10. That's where the wine was, and there was plenty of it. I may believe wine is a necessity for the snowbound, but most of my neighbors clearly don't.
When I hear a snowstorm is coming, my hoarding instincts lean toward good red wine and candles. Potted meat on stale crackers can seem like fine cuisine if the wine is good, if the dinner table is candlelit and if the curtains are tied back to reveal snow falling outside.
The wines I like on these occasions are the big reds, the ones that cause us to sweat and get sleepy when we drink them during the summer. Their intensity is welcomed on a cold winter's night.
Here is a sampling of wines I enjoyed during the recent freeze:
Chateau Souverain 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Winemaker's Reserve ($15) - This is a full-bodied California cab. It has lots of blackberry fruit and finishes with an alcohol burn. Maybe it's not for sophisticates; there is nothing delicate about it. But I smiled when I first sipped it. I've had cabernet-based ports that didn't have the power of this wine.
Guenoc 1991 Petite Sirah North Coast ($12) - A jammy, spicy nose greets you, and the taste is true to the smell. A bit of tar adds complexity. The alcohol content is not high, but the wine is thick and tastes rich.
Sterling 1992 Merlot Napa Valley ($15) - A good merlot can wrap you in warmth, and this is a good merlot. There are no harsh tannins to detract from the young, ripe fruit. It would mate well with many foods, or is pleasant to sip after dinner by a fireplace.
Chateau Montrose 1986 St. Estephe ($40) - I've been hanging on to this Bordeaux for a while; it would be hard to find at a shop now, especially for the price I paid. I am fond of the full-bodied wines of St. Estephe, which tend to have abundant dark fruit. The '86 is a superb wine, as are the '89 and '90 from Montrose.
Pio Cesare 1990 Barolo Ornato ($50) - I'm a big fan of Barolos, which come from the Piedmont of Northern Italy and are made from nebbiolo grapes. I prefer producers, such as Pio Cesare, that have not abandoned traditional winemaking practices. In other words, I like my Barolos to have at least traces of the tar and leather and tobacco flavors that made them famous a century ago. This is a single-vineyard Barolo, which is a concession to modern practices, but the flavor has traditional depth and complexity. It drinks nicely now but will be better in a few years.
Quintarelli 1988 Valpolicella Classico Superiore ($20) - The typical wine drinker would be surprised to see a Valpolicella on a list of ``big'' reds. Most examples of this northern Italian wine are thin and astringent - and cheap. But this is an altogether different Valpolicella. It's made ripasso, which means that it spent a couple of weeks steeping on the skins of dried grapes that had been used to make the incredibly intense Amarone. So this is a ``baby'' Amarone, at less than half the price of the Quintarelli Amarone.
Ravenswood 1988 Zinfandel Sonoma Old Hill Vineyard ($18) - No ``big'' red list would be complete without a zinfandel. Ravenswood is a dependable producer and this wine was a treat. Zins are at their best when, like this one, they are full-bodied, but not overwhelmingly heavy in alcohol. This has the distinctive briary, dark berry and spicy flavors of zin and has gained a mellow finish from bottle aging.
Raymond 1992 Amberhill Cabernet Sauvignon California ($10) - No, this is not a ``big'' cabernet, but I've bought it recently discounted to $8 and it tasted so good on a recent snowy night that - well, nobody I know drinks expensive wine all the time. If you want a spicy cherry bang for your buck, this is the wine to search out. The 1993 Amberhill is also first rate, as were all the other Raymond wines I tasted in the past 12 months. MEMO: The Humble Steward is a biweekly feature of Sunday Flavor. Send
questions or comments to: The Humble Steward, Sunday Flavor, The
Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. If
possible, give complete label information when naming wines, and list
the vintage year. Please include your name and phone number. by CNB