Palate Muscles
My colleagues and I taste a lot of wine week after week. A LOT. Whites, reds, roses, sparklers, New World, Old World, on and on…Typically, when I take appointments, I’m looking for something specific: I’ve got a spot for a new Alsace Riesling, or we need to bulk up our Greek section, or I’ll see that we have only one white from Puglia, so I’ll get a few suppliers together over a the course of the week to sample their wares with a view toward addressing a certain specific absence on our shelves.
And then there are the marathons. We may get together with a large supplier to look for some more “volumetric”, value items. These are often items that for whatever reason the supplier has had difficulty “disposing of”. Sometimes it’s a question of obscurity, sometimes it’s the case that the supplier payed too much for something, couldn’t sell it at that price, and is now “reducing to move”. In yet other cases, a distributor just needs some extra cash flow fast and is willing to sharpen the pencil on a few items to bolster his bank account.
It is most often in the preceeding situations that we sit down to a tableful of bottles (sometimes 50 or more!) and start ripping off capsules, pulling corks, splashing wine into glasses (and onto the table, the price lists, and a shirtsleeve or two as well). Sniff, visually examine, sip, swish, gurgle, spit…and again, and again, all the while the comments flying: “This smells like my new flip-flops” “Flabby” “If mandrills drank wine, this is what they’d love” “This wine rocks” “Which one is this again?” I know that this all sounds like some serious seat-of-the-pants flying, but we’re “pros”, and at the risk of sounding cocky, I think we get it right most of the time.
But the banter and the negotiation non-wine people can relate to. What truly baffles most folks is how we can discern ANYTHING at all after tasting about 10 or a dozen wines. I’m going to be very honest with you. In the beginning, the novice to beginner taster can’t. After the buyers make their decisions on what’s a keeper and what gets flung back into the deep blue sea of rejected wine, we taste EVERY staff member so they are very familiar with what they will be selling. And even when looking for that just one item to complete a section, we will solicit second and third opinions from the floor sales staff. We almost NEVER however ask these same wonderfully capable people to join us in our “marathon” tastings, and it comes down to just one thing: PALATE MUSCLES.
Now it’s not that some if not all of our staff couldn’t, after session after session of 5 ounce lifting, get their palates as buff and ripped as ours are, but if your not “there” yet, after a certain number of wines, you’re fundamentally useless - everything begins to run together and THAT’s how you make mistakes. Marathon greenhorns are often brought into these sessions without “voting rights” to begin the development…
So what actually happens? At what point CAN one accurately taste 50 wines in successsion? Well, it’s different for every person, and what actually happens in the palate/brain of that person is still a bit mysterious, but when you “arrive”, you know it. What once was a blur past “X” point, comes clearly into focus, and I must admit, it’s quite a gratifying feeling after a long period of hitting that wall. But let me also be perfectly clear here that at some point EVERYONE reaches palate fatigue - often the point at which you can swipe your finger across the inside of your cheek and roll off a later of mucous membrane that all those tannins have helped to liberate from the rest of your face…So the next time you’re feeling inclined to tell one of us “Hey, tough job” with tongue planted firmly in pampered cheek, think of this 
TOM CIOCCO-
The mixmaster
There are certain taboos pertaining to the consumption of wine: adding ice, saccharine or sugar, drinking from disposable plastic cups, etc. These are pretty clearly violent actions to take against our favorite drink, and most categorically reject them. But there are a few less commonly seen and less egregious wine taboos that might be worth revisiting…One such “taboo” is mixing different finished wines.
Now I guess that it’s pretty easy to understand why certain WINEMAKERS might take some umbrage at combining his or her “baby” with somebody else’s, but even among garden variety drinkers, albeit the more “snobby” ones, mixing two different wines is an abomination - lots of nattering on about obliterating terroir, the muddying of the characters of the wines, etc. Now fundamentally, I agree - in most cases, mixing two or more wines is an exercise in rapidly diminishing returns. In fact, I remember reading some years ago about a study that involved blending wine “at the table”, and the results obtained therefrom. The long and the short of the study (I actually can’t really remember the “long” part) is that when blending in perfectly equal proportions two different wines, “lesser” wines make “better” wines taste worse, and conversely, “better” wines did not significantly improve the “lesser” ones. Further, the sins committed by crap wines are actually more powerful than the graces bestowed on the drinker by better ones. So, even the blending of “better” wines in higher proportions with lower proportions of the “lesser” ones still does not allow the better wine to hide the flaws of the lesser one.
This being said, I have found occasions in which a couple of wines could indeed be “bartendered” together to positive effect. For example, two simple reds, one of which is too thin, the other of which is too flabby, when combined, can produce a more “balanced” though probably not strictly “better” drink. And, when one is entertaining the notion of doing the same with white wines, the task actually gets less problematic, though I’m not quite sure why. In fact, there is a wonderfully conceived wine called Vino della Pace (”The Wine of Peace, by the way - the link is to the homepage of the “producer” - click on “I Vini” - it’s all in Italian however…) that in the interest of promoting world peace, international brotherhood, and cooperation, combines scores of different white grape varieties from all over the world. The blend changes every year.
Now I’m going to let you in on a BIG secret - there are LOADS of “negociant” wines that most people assume are made from separately puchased lots of must (juice) that are vinified separately and then blended that are in fact just blends of FINISHED WINE! No joke. Now I’m not suggesting that you run out and pick up three or four bottles of your favorite wines with a view toward making your own personal “perfect” blend - it probably won’t come out that way - but in certain controlled or particular non-critical drinking situations, if you find yourself pouring a bit of Muscadet into a partial bottle of flabby Cali. Chard. to punch up the acid a notch, don’t sweat it. Even the “pros” do it.
TOM CIOCCO
Mercury up? Alcohol, down!
Man, it’s hot - nearly 100 degrees here in New Jersey today, and possibly even hotter where you are. And when you’re really parched there’s nothing more satisfying and healthy than cool water. But once you’ve fully hydrated your body, alcoholic beverages, drunk in moderate quantities, actually cool the body more efficiently than just plain water can…
I’m sure that no one has forgotten that beer and wine contain alcohol. And surely we all know the various effects that alcoholic beverages can have on the human body depending on the body in question, the beverage consumed, the amount of said beverage, etc. So aside from the more apparent and well documented effects of euphoria, drunkenness, and hangover, alcohol consumption has some lesser known, and less “visible” effects on the body. One of these is blood thinning. Drinking an alcoholic beverage actually has the effect of reducing the viscosity of the blood which has a mild overall cooling effect on the human body. Further, alcohol is also a vasodilator (a substance that causes the expansion of blood vessels), so as the relative volume of every blood vessel in the body expands slightly, this marginally but clearly increases their surface areas, thereby allowing that much more efficient wicking of heat away from the body. Finally, alcohol is not only metabolized and excreted via the urine but via the sweat glands as well, so the higher levels of alcohol (which evaporates more quickly and readily) in the the sweat also helps to cool the body.
So if all of these cooling effects are directly and proportionally related to the level of alcohol in a beverage, why not unscrew the governor and drink tumblers-full of vodka or even pure grain alcohol? Well, aside from the rapid and profound inebriation this would bestow on the subject, one countervailing action to the cooling effects that alcohol carries is dehydration. Basically, drinking too much alcohol in very hot weather erases all of the substance’s cooling effects by markedly dehydrating the drinker’s body. And clearly since water management is mother nature’s main cooling mechanism for the human body, neutralizing it is just stealing from Peter to pay Paul at best.
So here’s my drinky R/x for scorching Summer weather: First and foremost, drink plenty of water. But, if you want to drink alcoholic beverages stick with “light” things - beer, vinho verde, Txakoli, Prosecco, Sekt, dryish German rieslings, etc. Trying to keep the alcohol levels to 12%, or less is best. If you choose the right wine or beer, and you respect reasonable recommendations for quantities to be consumed, wine can play a small but notable role in keeping you cool in extremely hot weather.
TOM CIOCCO
Charbono - California’s least known “native” son
Zinfandel gets all the headlines - big scores, entire sections in wine shops, cleverly named tasting groups, and on and on. Even Petit Sirah has had its share of the spotlight with publications like the Pet Report and P.S., I love you. And them there’s poor little Charbono. No love. Sniff, sniff…
So let’s get to know Charbono. Charbono is a black-skinned variety that is found almost exclusively in Napa Valley, California. At present, there are only about 80 total acres of Charbono in all of California, and the number continues to slowly dwindle. Once upon a time (I’m talking about 1950s - 1960s here) even great, old California houses like Inglenook produced varietal Charbono bottlings. Sadly, now there are only a handful that do so.
The famous French Ampelographer Pierre Galet, upon inspecting some examples of Charbono in situ in Napa, was adamant that Charbono was none other than Dolcetto, one of Piedmont’s staple varieties. When the actual DNA profiling was completed, Mssr. Galet was proven to be incorrect. As it turns out, Charbono is identical with a nearly extinct Savoie (Alpine France) variety called Corbeau. Showing some measure of (erroneous) consistency, Galet had also believed that Corbeau was also identical with Dolcetto. The “Charbono” that grows in Piedmont, which is likely even rarer than “true” Charbono, has been proven to be another variety entirely, but one that was/is often cultivated side by side with actual Dolcetto vines, and with which it is often nearly indistinguishable - a fact that surely contributed to all of this intervarietal confusion…
In the glass, Charbono presents the drinker with a deep, saturated, purply wine. Charbono is most often said to possess aromas of blueberries and balck raspberries, violet and lilac, and brown spices, especially clove. Structurally, Charbono usually displays a good acid/tannin balance, though both elements are fairly elevated even if present in equal measure. The wines tend to be fairly dense texturally with flavors of new leather, tobacco, cocoa, and black currant. Charbono pairs well with flavorful, hearty foods like ragu’ sauces over egg pastas, grilled lamb chops, black beans, as well as dishes the contain mushrooms or olives.
Below is a link to the two Charbono wines we currently stock. As always, if you pick up one or both, please post your tasting notes here!
TOM CIOCCO
Burgers and Fries
It’s July 5th. If you are American, I hope that you all had a great holiday. If not, you were probably at work, and maybe didn’t get a chance to get that barbecue lit on the roof or out on the sidewalk near your job. I am, and I did, and in keeping with the slightly jingoistic nature of Indepenedence Day, my wife and I made perhaps the most American of meals, burgers and fries!
For as many variations as the hamburger has witnessed over its lifetime, I tend to cleave to a more “orthodox” interpretation of the unofficial American national dish. First, the meat. It’s GOTTA be beef (as if I had to say that). Second, the best burgs are made from COARSELY ground beef - usually an equal parts blend of chuck, sirloin, and round. Third, when forming the patties, keep them as loose as possible while still ensuring that the patty will not crumble. For me (and not just me by the way!) adding anything to the meat mixture (other than S&P, though I do this on each side of each burger before cooking) makes the thing something other than a humburger - no parsley, no cumin…even onion - adding these and a bevy of other things too can make for some good eatin’, but for me, packing ground beef with anything other than salt an pepper means that you have just read the roadside sign that says “You have just left Hamburgulania”.
The buns are a bit more controversial. Some folks will accept nothing other than the “traditional” soft, fluffy “hamburger buns”. Duly noted and understood, though it must be said that not all of these rolls are created equal, but the best of them are quite good for the application and certainly fit into the commodiously “comforting” column. Here in the eastern U.S. (and perhaps elsewhere) we have what we variously call “hard rolls” or “kaiser rolls” - they look like this. These also make excellent conveyances for a patty, though some find them too big, though its apologists just tell me to make a bigger burger…I’ve also tried what are essentially smallish, round “Italian bread” rolls, and though they are probably tastier than either the traditional hamburger bun or the kaiser roll, they’re just too tough and chewy, forcing one to literally tear each bite from the whole which inevitably causes severe garnish and condiment loss, and big mess to boot. Stick with one of the former breads say I…
Now we get into the REAL controversy…as I said above, if you like hot fudge and crushed peanuts on your burger, more power to you, but for me, there are only eleven (11) permissable garnishes and condiments for a hamburger. They are: ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, steak sauce, cheese, bacon (this one for me flirts with “unacceptable” - bacon RULES, but it’s just too strong to really play well with the rest of the guests in my opinion), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions (fried or raw) and pickles (I guess that this includes relish as well, but for us purists, it’s a case of brown shoes with a tuxedo). Hidebound? Rigid? Maybe, but somebody’s got to defend tradition, so it might as well be me (and you too perhaps). But all kidding aside, when you modify this, expand on that, and improve on the other, you might wind up with a darned tasty sandwich, but at some point you no longer have a “hamburger”, no?
So just a few words about the fries. Crisco is my fat of choice - if you haven’t tried it yet, do. Crisco was designed as a baking shortening, so it is mild enough to not clash with delicate tarts, cakes, pastries, etc. When used to fry potatoes, it greatly reduces the “heavy” fried taste that can come from using vegetable or corn oils. The last matter of spud biz here is the question “To peel or not to peel”? For me, either is fine - unpeeled is healthier and with a deeper, earthier taste. Unpeeled is a bit more elegant. When I don’t peel, I cut the taters into “steak fries” and when I do, matchsticks…how about you?
And so what to drink? Beer is NEVER a bad choice with a burger and fries, and some might feel that it is the ONLY acceptable alcoholic beverage to pair with Wimpy’s favorite bite, but since this is fundamentally a wine blog, and we all like wine, let’s talk wine pairings…The hamburger is not an easy match: you’re dealing with fairly rich meat that is often charred to some degree, topped with raw veggies, and sauces with both sweet and sour aspects. Not easy at all. But whether by design or just dumb luck, there is a quintessentially American wine that for me does the best job of bringing all of these disparate elements into line, and that wine is PETIT SIRAH! P.S.’s dark, brooding side hooks up beautifully with the char on the meat, and its rustic, gutsy, spikey tannins AND acids have enough brawn to stand up to the cocktail of ketchup, pickles, and onions (and it quite deftly plays the role of the “paints” for the canvas that are fried potatoes). Really though - no wine I’ve found does as much justice to the American classic of hamburgers and fries than Petit Sirah, and lord knows it doesn’t have to be the fourth of July to get these two together for a little fireworks…Below are some P.S.’s for YOUR next burger-flip.
TOM CIOCCO
