Category: Recent Columns

As it did to virtually every aspect of life, Covid-19 upended the wine world. But not in some of the ways you might think. Bullet points:

• Largely demolished in-person wine tasting at wineries, once a key source of revenue.

• Severely hurt restaurants and wine bars. Sommeliers lost their jobs. Wine inventories contracted. Businesses went out of business.

• Created worker and supply chain challenges for wineries. With safe, effective vaccines and the loosening of health-related mandates, those problems are declining. But the wine world of the past now is forever past. It was changing before Covid-19. The pandemic pushed it further along.

Gino Colangelo is the president and founder of Colangelo & Partners, a leading fine wine and spirits public relations agency with clients around the world. Recently, we discussed the future. Findings:

• Direct-to-consumer is here to stay and will grow. Wineries must engage in this selling platform.

• Restaurant wine and food to-go are here to stay and will grow. Restaurants must serve this market.

• Premiumization of wine is here to stay and will grow. While wine sales volume has been steady or even experienced a slight decline in recent years, sales of wine costing $15 or more increased. Winemakers sold fewer bottles, made more profit. Superior quality sells.

• Sustainability, eco-friendly grape growing, and fair treatment of both the land and the people who work on the land are important to an increasing number of wine buyers, especially younger buyers. The winery’s back story joins price and taste as a driver of sales.

• The wine industry must solve its Millennials problem. Millennials—a 72-79-million-person cohort now aged 25-40 years old—are drawn to beer, spirits, and spiked seltzers more than wine. Baby Boomers drink twice as much wine as Millennials. Boomer numbers are in decline. The wine industry must replace Boomers by engaging Millennials.

Tasting notes:

• Coen Malbec Classic 2019: Simple, smooth easy drinker. Will satisfy your palate rather than challenge it. $16-25 Link to my review

• Banshee Pinot Noir, Sonoma County 2019: Presents the elegant, ethereal side of pinot noir at a superb price point. $19-25 Link to my review

• Aperture Cellars Sonoma County Red Blend 2019: Breathtakingly excellent Bordeaux-style blend. If you can find it, buy it. Supple, silky, excellent depth and length. $55-58 Link to my review

• Pio Cesare Barolo Pio DOCG 2017: Excellent Barolo from a signature maker. Rich dark fruits framed by firm tannins and oak. $75-85 Link to my review

Last round: Where does an electrical plug shop? At an outlet mall, of course. Wine time.

There are many things right in the wine world. Historic quality and availability, increasing embrace of environmentally responsible farming and winemaking, to name some of the most important. Continue reading “Needed changes in the wine world 4-20-2022” →

American white oak is unique to the United States, essential to bourbon production, important in wine production, and threatened. Continue reading “White oak crisis 4-13-2022” →

If you drink red wine, inevitably you spill some of it. On your clothes. On your tablecloth. On your carpet. Continue reading “Removing red wine stains 3-30-2022” →

Grape growing and winemaking are really big businesses in the United States. Some interesting facts: Continue reading “U.S. wine statistics 3-23-2022” →

Wines pair with meals. Wines also pair with cooking meals.

Foundational understanding—bad wine is not good cooking wine. If you do not like the wine, why mess up a meal with the same bad wine? Sure, avoid using high quality wine in cooking, but that leaves an ocean of very drinkable, affordable, widely available wine to abet your gastronomic adventures.

For braises, stews, long-simmering sauces, add wine early in the simmer stage after you brown the meat and vegetables. There is an abundance of flavors in the juices in the pan. Add wine, garlic, and shallots, let it simmer—reduce—to create great sauces. Wine also is a marvelous marinade to tenderize and enhance flavors. Here are common wines and ideas for cooking pairing:

• Cabernet sauvignon as a marinade softens the meat and adds flavor at the same time. It is ideal for braising meats. When the braising is done, use the liquid left behind to make a glaze. Cab also works if you want to deglaze a pan. With its low sugar content, you will not have an issue with cab caramelizing in the pan.

• Merlot is ideal for pan sauces and reductions. Combine merlot with other ingredients like broth or spices, then simmer. When reduced, you will have a versatile, thick sauce for your meat dish.

• Pinot noir, with its lightness, goes best with lighter dishes, including chicken. Because of its lightness, pinot does well with dishes that ask for a lot of wine. It will tenderize the meat while not adding excess flavor. It also can be added to a hearty beef stew to generate elegance that flirts with decadence.

• Zinfandel. Not “white zinfandel”—we are talking about big, fruity, sometimes-jammy, often-high-alcohol zin. That zin easily will overpower lighter dishes, but it will work well with steaks such as ribeye, curries, burgers and other full-flavored meats.

• Boxed wine. We are not talking about louche plonk of your college days. Today, there are many respectable bag-in-a-box wines. They are more than quaffable and reasonably priced, which makes them ideal candidates for cooking wines. Tap into that resource.

Tasting notes:

• Baron Philippe de Rothschild Escudo Rojo Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile 2018: Polished, easily approachable. $15-18 Link to my review

• Ritual Pinot Noir, Casablanca Valley, Chile 2017: Wonderful pinot noir value. Good fruit, excellent acidity. $17-21 Link to my review

Last round: Why should you never use “beef-stew” as a password? Because it is not stroganoff. Wine time.