Tag Archives: whiskey

Women on Wine, for International Women’s Day!

You know that title doesn’t refer to women who subsist on our favorite adult beverage – you get that, right? (Although I admit, it might not be a bad idea…)

We’re talking about women’s thoughts on wine. Unless you’re a recluse with no connection to the outside world, no doubt you’re aware that today is International Women’s Day, when we celebrate the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of the female sex. You knew I couldn’t let the day end without passing along some women-wisdom.

wine, women

[Photo, “Wine Pasion,” by Gisela Giardino, courtesy of Flickr.com]

But rather than waxing on about our strengths or accomplishments – plenty of people are doing that today – I thought it would be fun to read what women say about wine.

It didn’t take long to discover, women have plenty to say. I found some great quotes – some funny, some sweet – and managed to narrow it down to a “top 10.” But first, my least favorite quote:

“I drink red wine on ice to water it down.” – Diane Keaton, actress

Yuck, right?

Without further ado, here are my Top 10 favorite wine quotes by (or about) women:

10.  “I’m like old wine. They don’t bring me out very often – but I’m well preserved.”           – Rose Kennedy, philanthropist and mother of President John F. Kennedy, 1890-1995

9.  “One of my most exciting Saturday nights was just me and a bottle of wine and a crochet book.”  – Jessica Pare, actress who played Megan Draper on the television show Mad Men

8.  “I suffer from CLAUSTROPHOBIA, a fear of closed spaces. For example, I’m petrified that the WINE store will be closed before I have time to get there!”  – Tanya Masse, author

7.  “Wino Forever.”  – actor Johnny Depp’s tattoo that formerly read, “Winona Forever”

6.  “What I do and what I dream include thee, as the wine must taste of its own grapes.”         –  Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet, 1806-1861

5.  “The wine – it made her limbs loose and liquid, made her feel that a hummingbird had taken the place of her heart.” – Jodi Picot, author

4.  “The lover drinks                                                                                                                                as the cup-bearer pours.                                                                                                                       The lover thinks                                                                                                                                     but the cup-bearer knows:                                                                                                                   love begets love.                                                                                                                                     Since this wine is love,                                                                                                                                                          then this cup is love,                                                                                                                                       then this tavern is love,                                                                                                                                  then this life is love.”  – Kaman Kojouri, Iranian author

3.  “If you love food and you love red wine and they put you in France, you’re in a good place and you’re in a bad place at the same time. You have to weigh yourself every day, and you have to have an alarm number. When you get to that number, you have to start putting it in reverse.”  – Salma Hayak, actress

2.  “Independence is a heady draught and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.” – Maya Angelou, poet, 1928-2014

1. “Wine and women make wise men dote and forsake God’s law and do wrong…However, the fault is not in the wine and often [emphasis mine] not in the woman. Even if you get drunk on the wine and through this greed you lapse into lechery, the wine is not to blame but you are…” – Anonymous, Dives and Pauper, a 15th-century commentary on The Ten Commandments.

Food (or drink) for thought!

Wine Lingo:  Since women love to hang together, today’s lingo is hang time = the time from veraison (that moment when grapes start changing color from green to yellow or red) and harvest. The longer the grapes hang, the deeper their richness and complexity, but if they hang for too long they overripen. No bueno.

Traverse City bourbon

Vino ‘View:  On International Women’s Day, I think we can admit that many (most?) of us are badasses who like the hard stuff now and then. You’ll notice that this bottle of Traverse City XXX Straight Bourbon (86 proof, $34.99 online) is half empty. That’s because I’ve been sipping, yes I have. Produced in northern Michigan by Traverse City Whiskey Co., this bourbon doesn’t bring the corn-sweetness one usually expects from bourbon, though I did get cornbread on the finish, and caramel – again without the sweetness, which is fine with me. It’s aged four years in American white oak, and the wood taste is strong but not smoky. There’s also vanilla, but it’s authentic-Mexican-cooking-vanilla, not vanilla ice cream flavor, and cinnamon. It’s good on its own, maybe with an ice cube, but you won’t feel much burn on the way down. 

[The Traverse City XXX Straight Bourbon was sent to BigSexyReds for review.]

Cheers, especially to you women who will speak out and make great choices this year – Brava!

Mary

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Are You a Seasonal Drinker?

Until April, you’ll find me burrowed under blankets with my winter tonic in hand. That could mean a Big Sexy Red – preferably at least 14 percent alcohol – but more often I reach for a more bracing drink: bourbon, rye, a nice sipping rum, brandy or grappa. Something distilled, please.

Me.rye.medium

Scientists say I’m not alone, but they don’t agree on the reason we change drinks with the seasons. Some claim seasonal drinking is triggered by changes in temperature and precipitation, others believe it’s a social curiosity.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report an early-winter pattern of over-indulging during the holiday season, then a pause when we make our New Year’s resolutions to cut back on the booze. They even have a name for it: the “January effect.” (The spirits industry probably doesn’t mind; they earn more than 25 percent of their profits between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.)

Another study found people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) sometimes drink more in winter as treatment for their sunshine deficiency, resulting in an alcohol-induced depression. One more possibility: there could be a genetic link between drinking and seasonality.

But you can’t broad-brush these findings. For instance, college students’ breath alcohol levels are reportedly higher in spring and winter – so why do they drink less in the fall, when you’d expect they would be kicking up their heels?

Apparently, location matters, too, but results still are puzzling. A study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation found that Swiss men drink more and cause more alcohol-related accidents on summer weekdays, but not on weekends. In Australia, drinkers cut back on beer in winter and drink more red and fortified wines. In fact, their red wine sales spike more than 33 percent between July and September when it’s winter in the southern hemisphere. I would expect a small increase in red-wine sales, but 33 percent?

If your “January effect” is about spirits, this also is flu season, and fans of the hard stuff know that one of the most soothing remedies is a simple hot toddy. Just steep two tea bags in a cup and a half of boiling water (about 5 minutes), then add lemon and honey. Pour two ounces of bourbon in a mug and pour the tea over it. You’ll feel better, just a little, in an hour.

Wine Lingo:  Solera system (used in producing the rums reviewed, below) = a fractional blending process that involves stacking casks of wine or spirits with the youngest at the top. Periodically, some of the newest wine is poured into the row of casks below it, while some of the wine from that cask is transferred to the next row down, and so on. Only wine from the oldest/bottom batch is bottled, and fresh wine replenishes the wine in the top batch so every bottle is a blend of old and new. The solera system traditionally is used in producing sherry and Madeira, but often with other wines and spirits as well.

Papa Pilar rum small

Vino ‘View:  If I didn’t tell you that Papa’s Pilar (86 proof; Dark $39.99, Blonde $29.99) was rum, you’d think you were sipping quality brandy. Sourced from various locations across the Caribbean and Central America, these rums are solera-blended and aged in sherry and Port casks. The dark version is full and smooth, tasting of plums, pecans, unsweetened chocolate and allspice, with a bit of dry sherry on the finish. The blonde is a tropical surprise; grapefruit competes with orange peel, cantaloupe mixes with lemon bar, and it’s another super-smooth number. I wouldn’t mix these rums even with a splash of water; the alcohol level isn’t so high that you’d need to dilute them. Add an ice cube and relish the refined taste.

[Papa’s Pilar Rums were sent to BigSexyReds for review.]

Cheers!

Mary

Raise a Glass to Grandma (and Gramps)!

Thanks to President Jimmy Carter, the first Sunday after Labor Day is dedicated to our parents’ parents – National Grandparents Day. The day was created by a West Virginia woman named Marian McQuade who, if you look up her photo online, bears an uncanny resemblance to Betty Crocker.

The poet Ogden Nash wrote, “When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” So how will you honor your elders tomorrow, September 11?

One website suggests visiting Grandma in a nursing home – pretty ageist, don’t you think? Most grandparents I know would rather spend the day hiking, or playing a game of softball with the grandkids. Mine weren’t quite that active by the time I came along, but I know they would have wanted the celebration to include alcohol.

chablis

Grandma Mihaly was a whiskey drinker – a shot with every meal. She had low blood sugar and said whiskey was better for her teeth than a candy bar. (Makes sense to me.)

My mom was a grandmother, too. For decades she drank “highballs,” usually Canadian Club and soda. But in the mid-1970s she and my dad visited Paris, their first trip across the pond, and Mom came home from that trip a wine drinker. From then on, she always asked for Chablis.

You don’t often hear people order “Chablis” in restaurants and clubs anymore. It’s more fashionable to ask for Chardonnay, which is the grape that makes Chablis.

It’s not as confusing as it sounds. Chablis is a small region in the northern part of Burgundy, France. If you live in Chablis and want to start a vineyard, the only grape you may grow is Chardonnay. (Yes, the French government tells vineyard owners which grapes  they’re allowed to grow, how many vines they may plant per acre, and a lot of other rules that winegrowers in the U.S. don’t have to follow.) Chablis produces some 32 million bottles a year, and you can expect all of it to be deliciously dry.

So, all “Chablis” from Burgundy is really Chardonnay. It tastes more crisp and light than the full-bodied, creamy Chardonnay from California, partly because the limestone soil in Chablis lends a steely minerality to the grapes. Not all wine labeled “Chablis” is produced in Burgundy, but it’s all Chardonnay, and almost all white wine from Burgundy is Chardonnay. (A small percentage of white from Burgundy is made with Aligoté, a less prominent grape variety.)

I guess that is slightly confusing. So let’s keep it simple: if you’re celebrating Grandparents Day, you might want to take the folks a nice bottle of Chardonnay – or Chablis, if they like their white wines a bit more racy. Pair it with goat cheese, maybe a wheel of goat cheese brie with apple wedges and almonds.

Wine Lingo of the Day:  Vitis vinifera = the grapes from which 99.9 percent of all wines in the world are made, according to The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. Vitis is the genus and vinifera is the species. Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and most other familiar grape varieties are vinifera; out of about 60 species of vitis, vinifera is the only one native to Europe.

Vino ‘View:  It was a warm evening this summer when I cracked a bottle of 2013 Broken Dreams  Chardonnay (13.5 percent alcohol, $18.99) from SLO Down Wines in Napa, so I was glad to discover it was a French-style Chard – meaning, it would have that lemony, mineral quality typical 

broken-dreams-chard-small

of French Chardonnays. It’s fruitier and lighter-bodied than most California Chards; aromas of banana and cantaloupe led the way to my tart, lemony first taste. After a few minutes the wine  mellowed to an orange zest taste with the slightest bread undertone, a pleasant surprise alongside the fruit I was tasting. Dinner with my wine was a salad – greens, chicken,  mandarin oranges and sliced almonds – a pairing that worked. Because of the weather, I was glad the wine didn’t have that thick, tongue-coating sensation, nor did it pretend to be a Sauvignon Blanc – but it is citrusy.

Cheers to you and your grandparents!

Mary

[Chablis photo: “Dauvissat” by D. Potera via Flickr; Broken Dreams photo provided by SLO Down Wines.]

Doughnuts and Wine – a Tasty Pairing!

You say doughnuts, I say donuts – especially today, because it’s National Doughnut Day.

We can feel good about indulging our collective sweet tooth, since it’s for a good cause and always has been: the holiday was created in 1938 by the Chicago branch of the Salvation Army to honor “Lassies” – women who distributed donuts to U.S. servicemen in World War I. The Salvation Army’s practical aim was to raise money to help needy families during the Great Depression.

But the day puts two decisions on the table: what kind of donut, and which wine to pair with it?

Krispy Kreme glazed donuts

The donut choice is a no-brainer. It must be glazed, from Krispy Kreme. No substitutes, please. Don’t show up at my door with bear claws, fritters, cronuts or other pretenders. I’m adding 400 calories to my day’s total – just enough, probably, to keep me from losing weight this week. So I need to be picky. I’m sure many of you will disagree with my choice (poor misguided souls) and you’re welcome to chew me out in the Comments section.

On the wine I’m willing to compromise. You’ll want to select a wine with at least a bit of sweetness (trust me on this; both the wine and the donut will taste like they were brought together by Divine Intervention). If you’re not accustomed to buying sweet wines, take the plunge and buy a quality bottle – a Vouvray, maybe, which will always have a bit of sweetness, or a floral, not-super-dry Rosé.

If you’re not in an experimental mood, reach for a Prosecco, Italy’s famous sparkling wine. Prosecco is made from a grape called Glera, which is a little sweeter than the grapes used in making Champagne. You can also buy Prosecco without bubbles, but it may not be easy to find.

My choice for this evening will be a glass of Sherry, often called “the whiskey of wines” for its bite and high alcohol content, which can reach 20 percent ABV or higher. I like the nutty, aromatic nature of Sherry. It’s not as thick in the mouth as Port, though I do enjoy a nice Port with dessert, too. Sherry styles could make another long blog post, but I probably will reach for a spicy Oloroso that I can sip like a fine Scotch.

However you accent your dessert tonight, go get a donut (or, if you prefer, a doughnut)! Krispy Kreme is giving away donuts today, no purchase required. Dunkin’ Donuts will give you a free donut if you purchase a drink, and if you buy half a dozen donuts at Giant Eagle, they’ll give you another half-dozen free of charge.

Wine Lingo of the Day: Spumante, Frizzante, Tranquillo = “Spumante” is Italian for “sparkling” and refers to bubbly wine, usually in discussions of Prosecco. “Frizzante” is semi-bubbly; you’ll see bubbles in the glass and feel them tingling on your tongue, but they don’t last. “Tranquillo” is still wine, with no bubbles at all.

Happy sipping and munching!

Mary

[Photo courtesy of Camknows via Flickr.com]