This is the weekly newspaper column.Optimism 1-4-2023New year. No matter if you look back on 2022 with a sigh of satisfaction or you are grovelingly thankful to survive another solar circumnavigation, time for optimism.If you make wine or enjoy wine, wine is an expression of optimism. Growers gaze across pruned vineyards stark and bare, maybe swaddled in snow, maybe resolutely defiant against the howls of winter. Still, optimism.There must be optimism or you would not be a grape grower. You are confident that in more years than not, after cold comes fledgling promises of spring. Each day dawns a minute earlier. The vineyard begins to awake—vines are optimistic.This is a reader-supported publication. Consider a paid subscription ($5/month) to access bonus material and complete archives. Opt out at any time.By April, the signs of life appear. Sap rises. Buds begin to break. Sure, dangers lurk—hail, late freezes—but this is time for optimism, optimism justified more often than not. After bud break, growers prune shoots to calibrate production. Reducing quantity of grapes increases quality because the vine optimistically concentrates more energy into the remaining clusters.Flowering follows. Grapevines produce “perfect flowers” because they pollinate themselves without the need of bees.Vine grape budsIn early summer, clusters appear. They begin as tiny, green bulbs. Clusters of optimism for the dramatic visual to come.Then, a miracle. The tiny green bulbs grow and change color. Vérasion (“verre-ray-shun”) is the most beautiful time of the year in a vineyard, the time growers optimistically anticipated the previous seven months. Green becomes purple, black, red, pink, yellow.As summer fades, grapes ripen, sugar levels rise. At the peak moment—optimistically with dry weather and adequate labor—comes the harvest. Then, on to the winery and another opportunity for optimism as skilled grape growers hand off to skilled winemakers.If you enjoy drinking wine, optimism goes without saying. Why would you buy a bottle of wine if you were not optimistic it would be a rewarding experience?With this effulgent homage to optimism to begin 2023, I leave you with a twist on an old Irish blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, and may the best bottle of wine you have ever enjoyed be the one you enjoy tonight.”Tasting notes:• Montes Limited Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2021—fruitiness in a softer take on sauv blanc. $9-12 Link to my review• Siduri Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2020—superb entry-level pour into world of Siduri pinot noir. $17-22. Link to my reviewLast round: My New Year’s resolution: Drink more of what you will give up for Lent a couple of months from now. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Start the year with wine good news 12-28-2022Let’s end this year and begin the next on a high note. A Japanese study found people over age 75 may benefit from a regular glass of wine.The study followed 1,226 men and women in Japan aged 75 to 87. Health professionals asked participants about their drinking patterns and measured cognitive function with a standard Japanese test used to assist in identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.Researchers recorded the types of alcoholic beverages the subjects consumed—beer, wine, whisky, Japanese rice spirits, and sake. Consumption was broken into four categories—none, less than one day per week, one-to-six days per week, and daily.Researchers found people who drank one-to-six times per week had significantly higher cognitive scores than those who did not drink and those who drank every day. The study also found—as have many similar studies—the strongest association for higher scores was for those who drank wine. Those who drank red wine scored the highest.Among alcoholic beverages, red wine has the most polyphenols, specifically resveratrol, which has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The study did not attempt to measure the amount of alcohol consumed, but did note most who participated in the study were moderate drinkers.Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. If your experience here pleases you, consider a paid subscription to access bonus material and complete archives. Opt out at any time.Researchers also noted—as have similar studies—that communication and interaction with others positively influences cognitive function. Wine, often consumed while having fun and interacting with others at a meal, thus can benefit cognition beyond its anti-inflammatory properties.Many factors influence cognition in older individuals. The good news takeaway from this study is that moderate consumption of red wine can help you to be brighter and happier in your golden years.That is a Happy New Year message for my fellow wine drinkers.Tasting notes• Acquesi Asti DOCG: Smooth, sweet, very fruity delight in the moscato d’Asti tradition. $13-17 Link to my review• La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2020: Consistent quality and value for a mass-produced wine. $16-20 Link to my review• Markus Molitor Riesling Brut Sekt NV: Excellent riesling sparkling—sekt is German term for quality sparkling wine. $18-20 Link to my review• Daou Vineyards Bodyguard Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County 2020: Opulent, lusty, almost decadently delicious. $33-39 Link to my review• Siduri Pinot Noir Anderson Valley 2020: Solid, lively, smooth, enchanting from a master of pinot noir. $35-40 Link to my reviewLast round: I know people who claim New Year’s is the only night they ever drank too much. Do I look like I just rode into town on a turnip truck? Give me a glass of wine.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Christmas summer 12-21-2022It is high summer in South America. Time to hit swimming pools and beaches while wishing everyone “Feliz Navidad!”Christmas traditions are remarkably similar around the world. The faithful celebrate the religious dimensions while others enjoy the secular elements of the series of end-of-year holidays. South Americans enjoy Christmas lights, poinsettias, and Christmas trees. Christmas Eve often includes fireworks, much like America’s Fourth of July.In the wine world of the Southern Hemisphere, December is the time for bud break, with all the terror and hopeful prayers that go with it. In Argentina this year the seasonal swing was not so good. Late frosts will substantially affect the 2022-2023 vintage.The events began with unusual early warmth. Zonda winds—warm, dry gusts that sweep down from the Andes—raised daytime temperatures into the low 90s. Then cold nighttime winds from the south blew in. The early morning of October 31—Halloween—was cold and it got worse during the day and into November 1. Some areas experienced freezing temperatures for eight hours.While late-season frosts are not unexpected in Argentina, this year’s episode was unusual for the duration of the freeze and the number of vineyards affected. Some fear this could be the worst late-freeze in the Argentine wine industry since 1992. Not surprisingly, vineyards further south suffered the most impact. Growers expect  a 20 percent reduction in yields in the lighter-hit vineyards, while other, more affected vineyards could see yields cut in half or more. Higher elevation vineyards may have suffered 100 percent impacts.Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. If your experience here pleases you, consider a paid subscription to access bonus material and complete archives. Opt out at any time.The true extent of the damage in Argentina will not be known until around Christmas. Vines are resilient and some will generate a second bud break. Still, as Christians celebrate the birth of a savior, at least some of the fervent prayers will be for the warm December and January sun to shine on the recovering vineyards.The weather appears kinder in Chile this year—their late frost problem was last year. Wine is an agricultural product. If you can’t take the bad with the good and roll with the punches, you are in the wrong profession.Tasting notes• Hampton Water South of France Rosé 2021: Nice rosé from Bon Jovi’s son, Jesse. More than a celebrity wine. $20-23. Link to my review• Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2016: Classic Dow’s quality; legendary vintage. $25-29. Link to my review• González Byass Viña AB Amontillado Sherry: Graceful, elegant 12-year-old wine; nicely balances ripping acidity, minerality, soft, smooth body. $17-20 (375 ML)Link to my reviewLast round: What famous playwright was terrified of Christmas? Noël CowardThank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Five key winemaking decisions 12-14-2022There are five terms you often will find in reports about wine. Understanding what they mean and how they affect wine can help you make choices. A quick review.• Harvest date. The day grapes are picked significantly influences wine. Grapes picked earlier will be higher in acidity, lower in alcohol, and sometimes have herbal or green flavors. They also can have more bitter tannin, but such wines also tend to age longer. Picking later in the harvest season can produce wines with lower acidity, higher alcohol and sweetness, and riper tannins.And then there is the effect of weather—wet weather just before and during harvest can negatively affect wine.• Maceration, cold soak, skin contact. Maceration is the amount of time the skins are in contact with the grape juice and particularly influences color. Cold soaking prevents the yeast from beginning fermentation, thus extracting color and fruit flavors and limiting bitter tannins.• Cool and hot fermentation. Cool fermentation—65-78 degrees—preserves fruit flavors and flower aromas. Hot fermentation—80-96 degrees—reduces fruit flavors and flower aromas and enhances earthiness.Punch down [Wollombi]• Pump over, punch down. As the name implies, in “pump over” juice is pumped from the bottom of the fermentation tank and poured on the “cap” of material at the top of the tank. The process increases wine intensity. In “punch down,” a special tool—somewhat resembles a ski pole or a potato masher on a long pole—is used to push down the material from the top into the juice below. It almost always is done by hand and creates wine with less intensity.• Oak, steel, concrete. Oak barrels add vanilla and other flavors to wine and increases exposure to oxygen, which decreases tannin. When wine ages for many years in oak, it acquires nutty flavors. Steel tanks add no flavors and limit oxygen, so it is most common in zesty whites, but also for reds sensitive to oxygen, such as garnacha. Concrete tanks—often shaped like eggs—are similar to stainless steel, but allow a bit more oxygen and a natural convection of juice, resulting in smoother wines.Tasting notes— Find links to my reviews in the text• Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2019: Fruit-forward, tasty, entry-level wine will pleasure many palates. $11-16 Link to my review• Hess Select California Rosé 2020: Delightful romp in red-fruit joy. $12 Link to my review• Calcu Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon 2021: Clean and refreshing with impressive complexity. $14-18 Link to my review• Golan Heights Winery Yarden Merlot, Galilee 2017: Mellow merlot with smooth tannins and soft acidity. $26-30 Link to my reviewLast round: Why are frogs always happy? They eat whatever bugs them. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Napa agonistes 12-7-2022Once upon a time Napa Valley was a place of pastoral legend. Blessed with the bucolic beauties of wooded knolls, forested slopes, springtime fields dappled with mustard flowers, summertime’s lush greenery, the valley aflame in reds and yellows come fall. The human presence was a smattering of vineyards and family-owned wineries, dairies, cattle ranches, walnut groves, plum-tree orchards.Today, most of that is only idyllic memory seen through the gauze of embellished nostalgia. Napa remains one of the world’s iconic wine regions, but it is a vastly different Napa. From around 40 wineries in the 1970s, there now are 1,700 wineries and raging fights over land and water use.The valley is just 30 miles long and five miles wide. Its two main roads, Highway 29 and Silverado Trail, have morphed from picturesque country lanes into miles-long traffic jams. In 1985, with its reputation swelling from the “Judgement of Paris” and the TV soap opera Falcon Crest, there were rumblings about how two million visitors a year threatened Napa’s charm.Stan ShebsToday, Napa draws four million visitors a year. Where wine tastings used to be free, they now cost up to $300. Where there once was a single hotel, now there is lodging everywhere. Expensive three-star restaurants seemingly sit on every corner. Once there were family farm houses, now “Château Egos” where people who made fortunes elsewhere pursue seigneurial fantasies.The sweeping fields of vines still yield world-class treasures. But nature also feels the agony of change. The sublime blazes of fall colors now compete with the blazes of wind-whipped wildfires. Water, a precious resource even in the pastoral past, now presents crisis with heavier use and lighter rain and snowfalls. Climate change threatens legendary grape varieties. Pinot noir is pulled for heat-friendly zinfandel and aglianico. Even some cabernet sauvignon—Napa’s signature, bedrock variety—may have to be replaced in warmer Napa niches.Change is inevitable. Pendulums swing. Napa survives, but not in the ways it was back in the old days.Tasting notes: There are links to the larger review in the copy.• Gamble Family Vineyards Rosé Napa Valley 2021: Red fruit-forward; built for those who are not fans of lighter style of rosé. $18-26 Link to my review• Stags’ Leap The Investor Napa Valley Red Wine 2018: Leans more towards elegance than raw Napa power. $42-55 Link to my review• Davis Estates Merlot, Napa Valley 2017: Coats your mouth with pleasuring fruit, soft tannins, hints of chocolate. $70 Link to my review• Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2019: Opulent, hedonistic pleasure. Napa cab that is affordable—in Napa cab terms. $110-130 Link to my reviewLast round: What kind of sandals do frogs wear? Open-toad. Wine time.If your experience here pleases you, consider a paid subscription to access bonus material and complete archives. Opt out at any time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine world disruption 11-30-2022The pandemic shook the wine world—as it did everything in the world. More to the point, it accelerated trends forever changing the wine landscape. Examples:• Bottles and corks are for wine. Cans are for beer. Cartons are for milk.Not anymore. Wine in cans is a booming trend, especially aimed at younger drinkers who want something convenient, often less quantity than a 750 ml bottle, something to toss in a napsack or slurp at pool or beach.Photo by Stokesirene / Creative CommonsAh, but at least wine doesn’t come in milk cartons. Well, yes it does for the same reasons it now comes in cans. In both instances, lighter weight and recyclable materials mean lower cost and more environmental responsibility.And boxed wine—actually a plastic bag inside a box—earned a niche in the wine firmament long ago. Except today you can find quality in a box. You can still buy the headache-engendering swill you over-indulged in at your cousin Vinnie’s bargain basement bash, but you also can get quality that will stay fresh for a month or more after opening.• Wine contains alcohol, right? No alcohol means grape juice. But low and no-alcohol wine now proliferate across all categories. Even Paris—epicenter of vin hauteur—has an entire store dedicated to low and no-alcohol wine options. Yes, Chicken Little, the sky is falling. Note: low and no alcohol wines help you avoid tomorrow regrets, but they are not necessarily low-calorie or low-carb. Every delight in life has a tax.• Nothing beats a good, local wine store. While true, finding one has become increasingly difficult. Supermarkets stock wine canyons with acceptable, if not unique or special, wines, and they are convenient when you are buying eggs and milk. But the real breakthrough has been the confidence wine buyers now have online. Often the online store and direct-to-consumer winery can deliver what your neighborhood wine shoppe used to deliver before the pandemic forced the avuncular proprietor to retire and begin the final assault on his wine cellar.Nothing stays the same in wine, or the rest of life for that matter. The pandemic just gave it a shove.Tasting notes:• Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserva Unoaked Chardonnay 2021 is a simple but very solid pure presentation of chardonnay. No oak to get in the way. $12-14. Link to my review• Les Sarrins Côtes de Provence Rosé 2021 is fresh, crisp, clean. Aromatic, light, fruity, fun. $20-30. Link to my reviewLast round: I’m writing a theatrical piece about puns. It is a play on words. Wine time.If your experience here pleases you, consider a paid subscription to gain access to bonus material and complete archives. Just $5 a month—less with the year plan. Opt out at any time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Paso Robles 11-23-2022When you think quality California wine, Napa and Sonoma leap to mind. Today, a sound argument can be made to include Paso Robles in the conversation.The region lies north of Santa Barbara County and south of the Monterey’s Santa Lucia Highlands—roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is inland from the ocean, giving it a warmer climate, but rolling hills and cooling breezes still penetrate, especially through the Templeton Gap located on the western edge of the Paso Robles AVA. It includes 40,000 vineyard acres producing more than 60 winegrape varieties.“Paso’s strength is in its diversity,” according to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. “We learned long ago our region doesn’t have to adhere to the old paradigm of being about one variety or style.”The Santa Lucia Mountain Range that defines the district’s western border has several gaps near the city of Templeton that pull cool, coastal air into the valley resulting in marine fog and lower temperatures. This significantly affects the grapes grown in the Templeton Gap and surrounding districts. The coastal climate flowing through Templeton Gap touches almost every district, and is a crucial feature of the AVA.Paso Robles wineries produced zinfandel beginning in the 1880s. Zin thrives in the region’s hot days and chilly nights, creating a softer and rounder zin than the more intensely flavored and higher alcohol versions found elsewhere. But the region is speckled with microclimates. Figuring out which grapes show best in which plots is the force behind Paso Robles ascendancy in the wine world firmament.That means that esoteric varieties like aglianico, counoise, and alicante boushet—hardly names that trip easily off American tongues—can make outstanding varietal wines that are just waiting to be the next big thing.Napa and Sonoma dominate front-of-mind awareness of cab and, to a slightly lesser extent, chardonnay and merlot. Doesn’t matter. Through merit, Paso asserts itself as one of the great wine regions for a panoply of varieties. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.Tasting notes:• Vina Robles Sauvignon Blanc Jardine Vineyard, Paso Robles 2021 is delightful and respectful to your palate, even with the expected sharp, bright acidity of sauv blanc. $15-20 Link to my review• Broken Earth Winery Limited Release Tannat, Paso Robles 2016 is powerful, bold; big tannins nicely integrated with very ripe, tasty fruit. $22-35 Link to my review• Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon Mountain Road Reserve, Paso Robles 2019 is smooth delight. Rich in flavor, long on the finish. $45-50 Link to my review Last round: Q: What is worse than raining cats & dogs? A: Hailing taxis.If your experience here pleases you, consider a paid subscription to gain access to bonus material and complete archives. Just $5 a month—less with the year plan. Opt out at any time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Thanksgiving 2022 11-16-2022Some people are intimidated by wine choices for the big Thanksgiving family feast. There is no reason for discombobulation.The Thanksgiving meal arguably is the easiest repast of the year for wine pairing. Typically there are so many different things to eat and so many different people to eat them, almost any wine will pair with something or someone.Suggestions, presented to help you prepare:• Start with sparkling. You don’t have to go the expensive Champagne route, unless you want to, but avoid the bottom shelf plonk that really is mediocre white wine injected with CO2.• If there is a starter course—fruits, fish, raw veggies, charcuterie—sauvignon blanc is an almost faultless choice. New Zealand makes the zingiest, but quality sauv blanc—sometimes described as “salad in a glass”—has many makers. You can pass on the sometimes pricey Pouilly Fumé or Sancerre, but also avoid the bottom shelf stuff.• If the centerpiece of the  festive feast is turkey, it is hard to go wrong with pinot noir. Washington and Oregon make delightful, often light and sophisticated pinots. California pinots tend to be heavier. Cheap, mass-produced pinot noirs tend to have as much as 25% non-pinot grapes, and the pinot grapes are not the best. Spend some money here, $20 or more. After all, this is the centerpiece of the event. Pinot noir also pairs well with ham, if that is your preferred protein.• If you go with beef, cabernet sauvignon, cab-merlot blends, and malbec are safe choices. Those wines also pair with lamb. Like the pinot, avoid the bottom shelf, spend more than $20. Don’t go, however, for three-figure pours. Your meal likely is a gastronomical marathon filled with boisterous family fun and bonhomie. Save the high-dollar reds for a more intimate, less hectic repast.• Dessert? Port. Rule of thumb: the wine must be sweeter than the dessert.Tasting notes:• Gruet Brut Rosé NV: Superb, accessible, correct pinot noir brute sparkling. $13-20• Siduri Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2020: Superb entry-level pour into delicious world of Siduri. Elegant, easy drinker. $17-22• Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2016: Easygoing, approachable, affordable. Legendary vintage. $25• Gary Farrell Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, Hallberg Vineyard 2018: Lilting delight from special vineyard. Excellent fruit, superb acidity, deft use of oak. $55-60Last round: I love how people claim Thanksgiving is the only day of the year they overeat. Give me a break. Give me a glass of wine. Wine time.If you are pleased with your experience here, please consider a paid subscription to support this effort and gain access to bonus material and archives. Just $5 a month—less with the year plan—and you can opt out at any time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Everyday, commodity wines 11-9-2022November and December are the heaviest wine-buying months of the year. People not into wine—or even alcohol—indulge during the harvest feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas and the bacchanalian excesses of New Year’s.Insufferable wine aficionados may glorify the virtues of a bottling of an obscure grape. Wine you can’t pronounce, much less purchase, unless your wealthy grandparent enrolled you in the allotment program. Okay, fine. That leaves the rest of us.We drink wine made in much larger batches—tens of thousands, even millions of bottles—costing from $10 to $30 and available at your local supermarket or wine store. There are brands that cut corners and bottle any juice they can buy by the tanker-truck, but there are scores of makers that create wines of substance made by real people dedicated to consistency and value. You have an excellent chance of enjoying one this holiday season.E. & J. Gallo—the world’s largest family-owned winery—offers many examples. So do Constellation Brands, Treasury Wine Estates, The Wine Group, and others. Their portfolios may contain labels where massive supply and cheapest are lodestars, but they also produce a plethora of delicious, drinkable, affordable, accessible wines. No reason to blush when you pour them at your holiday table.Mega winery or mom-and-pop enterprise, fundamentals are the same. Good fruit. Winery skills. Good wine. Jessica Tomei, vice president at Cupcake Vineyards, the largest brand in the U.S. in the $8-11 category, notes: “We have more efficiencies, but it is the same process—just at a larger scale. It’s still agriculture. We’re subjected to weather, drought, smoke—all the different things that are thrown at us during the season.”Mega-makers strive for consistency. With a nod to The Fantasticks—“Plant a radish. Get a radish. Never any doubt.” Nothing wrong with that. As the seasons of joy cascade upon us, don’t fret when you go safe and familiar for your family festival. All wine should be what you enjoy, not what what some snob tells you to enjoy. If you take away anything from my weekly efforts, let it be that.Tasting notes:• Valdo Floral Rosé Brut NV is a bright, delightful, substantial rosé. Easy drinker that invites you to take another sip, and—at 11.5% ABV—you can. $16-19 Link to my review• Bota Box Breeze Dry Rosé, California NV fresh red fruits in a low-alcohol, low carbs, refreshing boxed wine. $20-23 (three liters) Link to my reviewLast round: People who eat snails must not like fast food.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material and access to the full archives.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Cheap and sweet 11-2-2022The recent death of Fred “Two Buck Chuck” Franzia, gave me pause to think about what the average, non-wine-geek enjoys in an occasional glass.I wrote a column about Franzia back in 2009. The lead: “Fred Franzia drives fellow winemakers crazy mad. At the same time, he makes wine drinkers who value value wines crazy happy.”When a newspaper editor challenged me to write a wine column back in October 2008, the assignment was to inform people about wine and to write about wines the average person could find and afford. Fifteen years and more than 780 columns later, I still hearken to that original assignment.Staying grounded to the general public’s taste is a challenge. On the one hand, wine writers often drink wine every day, often from more than one bottle. For the most part, the wine comes free, sent by wineries with notes imploring us to review their wine. That puts us well away from the general public’s wine experience.We often are attracted to obscure varieties. There is just so much $15-25 cabs made in the international style you can drink and review without feeling you are trapped in a Groundhog Day loop. That is a far different experience from the person who drinks a cab once a week or so with their grilled steak.We also typically are drawn to drier, more “sophisticated” wines. I blame our palates, which is what lured us into being wine writers in the first place. Many popular wine brands taste sweet, bland, and confected to my palate. I fight the urge to label drinkers of those wines as rubes and my palate as superior.“The wine you like is good wine for you” has been a lodestar for this column for 15 years. I review cheap and sweet on occasion, and when I do I strive to appreciate it on its own terms.I do attempt to entice wine drinkers to expand their palates. I do endeavor to point out that cheaper wine is not necessarily bad wine. Nor is expensive wine necessarily good wine. There are plenty of over-priced pours that target “label drinkers” who hustle to impress others with their buying power rather than wine picking ability.Sweet and cheap or polished and deep, whatever you enjoy, enjoy.Last round: The other day I bought a thesaurus, but when I got home and opened it, all the pages were blank… I have no words to describe how angry I am.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material and access to the full archives.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine and Halloween candy 10-26-2022Every few years I recklessly throw caution and good judgment to the wind and confront pairing wine with Halloween candy. So here it goes.First, if you are a prudent person you will not pair wine with candy. But, heck, prudence is not a common virtue around Halloween, the first and most willfully foolish of the great harvest feasts of fall.M&Ms with their milk chocolate and extra smack of sugary coating will never do well with tannic wines. If you must, you can go with light, fruity, unoaked red. Gamay can work, sort of. So can sweet wines—white zinfandel, many Barefoot offerings. When you pile sugar upon sugar, however, consider low alcohol and responsible consumption or the real horror of Halloween will be your morning after.In some surveys, candy corn scores as the most-hated Halloween candy. If you are someone who does not detest the marzipan-like treat, think a sweet, sparkling riesling or sweeter, fruit-forward prosecco.If you are a little more discrete and go with Hershey’s Special Dark you have a plausible opportunity to enjoy. Special Dark lacks the sugar assault, so you can venture into the drier nether realms of your wine stash. A nice, fruity zinfandel will work, and you can even do a Halloween play with Seven Deadly Zins or other kitschy-named offering from California.A plausible opportunity exists with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and oloroso sherry. The oloroso nuttiness and some sweetness will balance with the peanut butter flavors and sweetness of the chocolate.If you do not have children who are empowered this one night to become extortionists roaming the neighborhood promising property damage if they are not paid off with cheap sugar confections, you can always enjoy the frivolity of a costume party and real wine pairings. Charcuterie boards work well with almost the entire panoply of wine. Answer the doorbell, pay off the moppets demanding tribute, practice moderation, and wake up the next morning to prepare for the next holiday, giving thanks you survived this one.Tasting notes:• Zenato Valpolicella Superiore DOC 2017: Ripe, rich, supple, very easy drinker. No big tannins or acidity, just a delicious red wine delight. $14. Link to my review• Angels & Cowboys Brut Rosé NV: Lively, fun sparkling. Creamy easy drinker with excellent acidity. Straightforward bubbly. $23-26. Link to my review• The Mill Keeper Cabernet Sauvignon NV: Smooth, easy-drinking 100% cab from esteemed, environmentally responsible Napa wine family. Vibrant, balanced. $32-38. Link to my reviewLast round: What do you call a medieval lamp? A knight light. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material and access to the full archives.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Champagne boom 10-19-2022As the leaves don new colors and the great harvest feasts and festivals approach, the demand for bubbly continues to increase. A soaring trend.In 2021, Champagne exports into the U.S. increased by 69% over 2020. Those are eye-popping numbers. And Champagne was just part of the story—prosecco sales increased 25%. Cava sales increased by only a small percentage, but that was built on years of increases. America—and the world—clearly has an increasing fondness for fizz.Earlier this year, the Comité Champagne, the organization representing independent Champagne producers and houses, announced the region had achieved record sales of 322 million bottles in 2021. This year the number is on target to be even higher. In the first half of 2022, Champagne sales were up 13.8% compared to the same period in 2021.The increased demand for sparkling wine is not new. Daniel Mettyear, the head of research at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis: “Sparkling wine has been enjoying a sustained period of long-term growth over a number of years, driven in large part by a shift away from exclusively celebratory occasions, towards more everyday consumption.” He notes that casual consumption significantly increased during Covid.To the great joy of winemakers, the bubbly trend appears driven by younger drinkers, a coveted cohort. Wine Intelligence research indicates half of sparkling wine drinkers are under 40 years old. In contrast, only 30% of still wine drinkers are under 40. Wine Intelligence data indicates younger consumers have turned to sparkling because social gatherings are more celebratory post-pandemic. Also, “sparkling wine offers easily-grasped categories, with delineated price brackets which make choices relatively easy: is it a Prosecco occasion or a Champagne occasion?”Increased demand provides a problem—strains on supply. Smaller wine shops have increased difficulty securing product. A Florida seller notes there are certain famous Champagnes you can no longer buy in her state as an independent retailer.A problem, certainly, but it would not be surprising to find sparkling wine producers popping corks in celebration.Tasting notes:• Gancia Prosecco Brut DOC: Light, lively sparkling that is easy on your wallet. $11-14 Link to my review• Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé NV: Delicious pleasure at pleasurable price. Cava. $13-15. Link to my review• Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée Extra Brut Champagne NV delivers elegance, balance, racy acidity, creamy mouthfeel. $50-60 Link to my reviewLast round: What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic and a dyslexic? Somebody who’s up all night wondering if there’s a dog.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Decanting 10-12-2022Decanting wine is a strategy you often find recommended. Here are some of the whys and whens.The main reason to decant wine is to expose the wine to oxygen. You also can decant wine if you want to avoid sediment in the bottle or to make a better presentation of the wine on your table, but exposure to oxygen is the principle reason for the effort.Oxygen exposure boosts wine’s aromatics. That is vital because smell is the major force behind your experience of wine. Oxygen exposure also affects wine texture, making it smoother and rounder in your mouth and reduces tannic bitterness, the other main elements of your wine experience. So decanting improves wine in the most important factors of your wine enjoyment.Young red wines are always candidates for decanting, but decanting can enhance white wines, rosé wines, and even sparkling wines. And decanting does not kill the bubbles in sparkling, BTW.In general, white, rosé, and sparkling wines should be decanted for around 15-20 minutes. You are looking for freshness in such wines and tannins are unlikely. You also decant for a shorter period than red wines because you do not want those wines, especially sparkling, to warm past their ideal drinking temperature.Red wines, particularly young and tannic reds, benefit from longer decanting. An hour or more is not uncommon, but you also can use decanting systems that include aeration elements to speed up the process. The point is to expose the wine to as much air as possible. Rule of thumb: the more tannic the wine, the longer the decanting time.Tannat, barolo, and Bordeaux and Napa-Sonoma blends—which can be the most tannic wines you can find when young—are prime candidates for longer decanting. Experiment. Decanting also helps blow away off-putting odors found in wines—barnyard in some Burgundies, for instance. Typically those odors are not flaws because the wine becomes lovely after exposure to air.Be careful when decanting older wines. When the bottle is 10 years old or older, extended decanting time can rob the older wine of its liveliness and complexity. The patience you exhibited by resisting opening it accomplished much of what decanting does for a younger wine. You usually decant older wines in order to eliminate the sediment that is much more likely to be found in older bottles.Last round: If you are attacked by a mob of clowns, go for the juggler. Wine time.Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber and receive bonus material and access to complete archives.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine metaphysics 10-5-2022Are wines made in the vineyard or the winery? The answer is both, but today more wine professionals say soil, grapes, and the skill of grape growers to deliver the personality of their acres is the essential component.This tracks with the debate about what makes people who they are: nature or nurture? In wine, if the grape grower delivers magnificent fruit to the winery, the wine maker can either mess everything up or allow the magnificent fruit to be bottled as magnificent wine. It is a team effort. Nature and nurture.At its core, wine reflects the soil where grapes grow. Reflects the grape variety. Reflects the weather. Reflects decisions made by skilled people who tend vines—by pruning, by choosing when grape clusters are harvested and which grape clusters are harvested. Vineyard management is an art, not a technical checklist.For quality wines, all these variables deliver the individual character of that vintage. There are tanker truck loads of wine made for mass consumption where juice from everywhere is blended into a commodity product—“Coca-Cola wine” is the derisive monicker. Such wines have their place—I review and enjoy them. You have, too. But, then, there are special wines.Special wines have a third element after soil and character—soul. Many wine makers insist you can taste the difference in wine made by happy people. This flows from families with generations of making wine on their special plot of Earth. It comes from well-treated winery workers, also often multiple generations. Joy begets joy begets special wine.I get it that some of you are rolling your eyes now. You reject voodoo biodynamic growers with their cow horns filled with manure and Zodiac-guided schedules. You reject treating workers with dignity and respect because they make better wine. You reject their belief that they consider their acres of Mother Earth and the vines that grow there are a sacred trust to be nurtured and preserved for the next generation. And the next. And the next. Okay. But then, when the smoke clears, there is their superior wine. It is what it is.When you pull cork on a quality wine, you taste the work of thousands of years, of thousands of fellow humans striving for excellence, striving to make this hour—this minute—special for you. Savor.Last round: Duck: “Do you have bread?” Wine server: “No.” Duck: “Do you have bread?” Wine server: “No! Ask me again and I will nail your beak to the floor.” Duck: “Do you have nails?” Wine server: “No!” Duck: “Do you have bread?”This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.What does chewy mean in wine? 9-28-2022What the heck do wine writers mean when they describe wine with adjectives like “chewy” or “crunchy” or “meaty”? Aren’t those words descriptive of chocolate brownies, raw carrots, and T-bone steaks, not an alcoholic liquid?Tannins cause the unexpected lingo. Tannins are a group of astringent, polyphenolic chemical compounds that bind to proteins and other organic compounds. The astringency causes a dry and puckery feeling when you drink red wine. You also taste tannins in tea and unripe fruit.The word comes from the Medieval Latin word for oak bark, which was used in tanning animal hides into leather. Wine tannins come from the skins, seeds, and stems of grapes, also from oak barrels.Oak bark photo by and © 2006 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 2.5 , via Wikimedia CommonsWhen you drink wine, the proteins in your saliva interact with tannins. In higher concentrations, tannins strip your mouth of water to create a dry mouthfeel, which creates an instinctive desire to chew. The binding of saliva proteins with tannins also creates a sensation of crunchiness or meatiness. And thus the wine descriptor terms.People usually associate tannins with wine and tea, but tannins are in noticeable concentrations in other common foods. Walnuts, almonds, and other whole nuts have tannins in their skins. Dark chocolate has tannins. Cinnamon, clove, and other whole spices have tannins. So do pomegranates and açaí berries.The jury is still out on wine tannins and migraine headaches. If you think tannins cause your migraines, you need to stop consuming foods with significant tannins, not just wine.If you embrace tannins in wine, tannat—Uruguay’s signature grape—and sagrantino from Central Italy are by far the most tannic wines. In descending order from those leaders come petite sirah, nebbiolo, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, and mourvèdre/monastrell.There are red wines that are low in tannin. They include barbera, bobal, bonarda, malbec, cabernet franc, carignan, cinsault, valpolicella, gamay, and pinot noir. Merlot is a medium-tannin grape, but it often is made in a low tannin style in the winery.Chew on and crunch this information to get to the meat of what you enjoy in wine.Tasting notes:• 19 Crimes Cabernet Sauvignon 2020: Simple, jammy introduction to red wine. $8-12. Link to my review• Tilia Estate Bonarda, Mendoza 2020: Tasty, affordable way to experience bonarda grape. $9-12. Link to my review• Robert Mondavi The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, To Kalon Vineyard 2017: Defines difference between good cab and exceptional cab. $150-175. Link to my reviewLast round: When do you go at red and stop at green? When you eat watermelon. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Fermentation vessels 9-21-2022Winemakers have a choice of fermentation vessels—wood, stainless steel, and concrete. What is the difference between them?While there are various variables, here is a general overview:• Wooden wine barrels have been used for at least 2,500 years. The barrel we know today likely was developed by the Celts around 350 BCE. The Romans copied and improved the design and put them in common use by the 3rd century.Wood barrels typically are made of oak, but can be made from other wood. French oak has a tighter grain and impacts wine less than American oak, which imparts more oak flavors. Barrels allow a small amount of oxygen to interact with the wine, a process called micro-oxygenation, and can add additional tannins. New or nearly-new barrels deliver flavors and aromas such as toast, spice, vanilla, cedar, and chocolate, dependent upon the “toasting” of the barrel with fire during manufacture.Oak effects become more muted after each use. Many winemakers use a mix of barrels to reduce the impact of new oak, and just to save money. Barrels can cost as much as $1,000 depending on size and wood source.• Stainless steel tanks can be impermeable to oxygen and can be temperature controlled. They are easy to clean and use for years. Winemakers who want to emphasize pure fruit flavors and crispness often use stainless steel for white and rosé wines.• Concrete fermenters—called “eggs” because of their shape—fall between wood and stainless steel in affecting wine. They are neutral vessels, so they do not add flavors, but many winemakers believe they soften a wine’s texture. Concrete allows a small amount of air to slowly mix in the wine, but less than oak. The egg shape promotes a gentle, natural circulation of the wine, mixing with the lees to add complexity. Thick concrete walls also reduce temperature fluctuations during fermentation.Since different vessels influence wine differently, some winemakers use up to all three to further refine their wine. The grape variety also influences the winemaker’s choice of fermentation vessel.Tasting notes:• Cantine Ermes Vento di Mare Pinot Grigio, Terre Siciliane IGT 2020: Light, zesty with enough acidity to make it bright and fresh. $9-12 Link to my review• Marichal Premium Sauvignon Blanc, Canelones, Uruguay 2021: Substantial SB from quality maker in South America’s third-largest wine-producing country. $13-14. Link to my review• Chehalem Inox Unoaked Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2021: Light, fresh. Good acidity, pure, tasty fruit. $20-25. Link to my reviewLast round: What do clouds wear under their shorts? Thunder pants. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine’s glass bottle blues 9-14-2022Winemakers are among the most conscientious stewards of the environment. When vineyards pass down for generations and some of your creations will not be consumed for decades, thinking long term and big picture becomes part of your DNA.Several studies show glass bottles account for the largest percentage of the wine industry’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Glass production involves a large amount of heat and energy. Bottles and packing material needed to protect bottles are heavy, driving up transportation costs both in dollars and pollution.Many wine bottles are a one-use item. Then they go to landfills where they will last for thousands of years. There is some recycling, but less than one-third of glass is recycled in the United States. Europe does better with around 75 percent. In many cases, however, recycling does not mean melting to make new glass. Much of “recycled” glass is crushed and used to make paving material.Schemes to buy back bottles and reuse them haven’t worked well so far. Even when people return bottles, cleaning the bottles—especially removing labels—is problematic.If you ignore environmental concerns, there remains the problem of cost. Wine bottle costs continue to spiral, increasing 20 percent in the last two years. Bottles from China, a major supplier for the U.S., face a 25 percent tariff. Many of Europe’s bottles were made in Ukraine. The Russian invasion virtually eliminated that source.Winemakers respond by exploring options. Cans are easier to recycle, but require significant energy to manufacture and limit aging to about 18 months. Bag-in-a-box wine is environmentally friendly and costs much less to transport, but does not work for aging wine. Plastic bottles and cartons like those used for milk and juice have a similar problem. The alternatives work for wine expected to be consumed young, but not when bottle age is essential. Barolo riserva, for instance, legally cannot be sold until four years of bottle aging and is best after 10 years.Glass wine bottles won’t go away. Reusing bottles and recycling more glass must be in the future, along with alternative packaging.Tasting notes:• Bota Box Breeze Dry Rosé, California: Fresh red fruits, low-alcohol, low carbs. $20-23 for 3 liters, equivalent to $5-6 a 750 ml bottle. Also comes in 1.5 ml box, 500 ml carton (similar to a juice carton). Containers are 100% recyclable. Link to my reviewLast round: What do you call a Frenchman in sandals? Phillipe Phloppe. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Bright side of wine crisis 9-7-2022Winemakers have a mandatory character trait: resiliency. They certainly have needed that trait in recent years while facing flattening wine sales, dramatic weather worries, global warming, Covid, rising production costs, and supply chain woes.Resilient winemakers actually see a sliver lining to all of this travail.Global wine consumption increased only by a disappointing four percent last year. Same time, value increased by 16 percent to $36.15 billion. There were only slightly more sales, but those who bought, bought significantly up. A silver lining for winemakers.Flip side, supply chain disruptions and inflation pinched profits. Glass for bottles has increased by 20 percent the past two years. Shipping costs soared—up to 300 percent—plus long delays in ports and shipping points. Bad thing for winemakers.Silver lining: many winemakers transition to more efficient packaging. Lighter bottles. Screw caps. Bonus silver lining—supply chain and port disruptions are abating.Extreme weather—drought, frost, hail, scorching temperatures—reduced production worldwide by one percent. Premium regions like Champagne, Bordeaux, and Beaujolais saw harvests plunge by 30 percent. Really bad for some winemakers.Silver lining: in recent years, winemakers fretted about over-production. There is wine from previous harvests to take care of supply for this year and likely another. And production did not decline, it just didn’t increase by much. Wine is worldwide. Plight in one region, plentitude in another.There is another movement that has been in motion for some years. Recent misery significantly encouraged the movement to organic, sustainable, biodynamic vine growing. The techniques which eliminate artificial chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides produce quality grapes and better wines. And winegrowers found they deliver significant savings, too. Several vineyards used natural fertilizers and weed control to cut costs in half or more. Better grapes, lower costs. That is a winning formula in testing times for resilient winemakers.Tasting notes:• Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Rosé 2020: People who think they don’t like wine will find this pleasantly appealing. $11-15. Link to my review• Goose Ridge Winery Revelation Rosé 2021: Refreshing, versatile. Clearly built as crowd-pleaser from elite Washington maker headed by women. $18-26. Link to my review• Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay, Chalk Hill Appellation 2020: Juicy, fruit-driven, lush, plush opulent example of classic Cali big fruit, butter, oak chard. $35-40. Link to my review• Adobe Road Carbon 2018: Elegant, pleasantly enjoyable, rich, easy drinking red blend led by petite sirah. $85. Link to my reviewLast round: OK, I may not be totally sane. I’ll give you that. But at least all of my personalities agree wine is amazing.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Pinot noir, chardonnay blends 8-31-2022Many great wines are blends. Red Bordeaux is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and a smattering of other reds. Southern Rhône GSM wines are grenache, syrah, mourvèdre blends. In whites, sauvignon blanc and semillon enjoy a classic marriage.When it comes to chardonnay and pinot noir, not nearly so much. In Burgundy, pinot noir and chardonnay cannot legally be blends. With exceptions, that is true elsewhere, even when it is not illegal.Ah, but always exceptions. Pinot noir and chardonnay are usually blended in Champagne. Champagne, however, is a distinctive style and method of making. It is the exception that highlights the rule.Sanford Winery La Rinconda VineyardAsk a pinot noir or chardonnay maker why they do not blend, and the answer almost always is “the grape is perfect just as it is.” Makers will insist their wines don’t have many—or any—holes to be filled with another variety. Pinot noir makers will snort that blending anything with their delicate, hard-to-grow grape lays waste to its structure and elegance.There is a caveat. Lower-end, mass-produced pinot noir, especially from California, often is blended with zinfandel or other abundant, cheaper varieties. That is not done to improve quality but to increase production—if 75 percent of the blend is pinot noir, you can call it pinot noir in the U.S. Needless to say, such wines do not employ the highest quality pinot noir grapes. And, needless to say, that is why they don’t taste like pure pinot noir.Another exception surprisingly comes from Beaujolais, a sub-region of Burgundy. There, pinot noir blends with gamay to create an entry-level wine: Coteaux Bourgignon, an appellation created in 2011. That wine often is made when there is a weak vintage of pinot noir.You also can find pinot noir and chardonnay as small additions to any number of wines, but this column is about varietally-labeled bottles.Higher-end pinot noir and chardonnay makers can have reputations as part of the snobbery coterie of the trade. They have no problem with that. They are not trying to blend in.Tasting notes:• Metz Road Riverview Vineyard Pinot Noir, Monterey 2019: Single-vineyard, supple, light and airy pinot. $30-35 Link to my review• Sanford Winery Estate Chardonnay, Sta. Rita Hills Appellation 2019: Rich, opulent pure chardonnay effort. $40-45 Link to my reviewLast round: Why are bacteria so bad at math? Because they multiply by dividing. It all adds up to wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Italian classification system 8-24-2022Buying wine can be intimidating. How do you know if the wine is any good without buying a bottle and tasting it? Wine critics may help, but not all wines have a current score and you may find descriptors are just gobbledygook.Several wine-producing countries have labeling systems to give consumers some insight into quality. Italy introduced its Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) in 1963 to give guidance.Italy’s system now has four categories. The first two indicate the geographic location where the wine was produced rather than indicating quality. Vino da Tavola (VdT)—“Table Wine”—indicates the fruit did not come from a specific region. Geografica Tipica (IGT)—“Indication of Geographical Typicality”—identifies wines produced in a specific region.Parmoleto DOCG vineyardTwo designations are intended to signify quality. Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)—“Controlled Designation of Origin”—is the second-highest quality standard. It can be attributed to almost every style of Italian wine, but winemakers must follow strict guidelines ranging from zoning laws to permitted varieties. There are more than 300 distinct DOCs in Italy, each with its own regulations.Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) is the highest Italian wine standard. It translates as “Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin.” Italy adopted DOCG in 1980 after complaints that too many DOC wines had variable quality. To earn DOCG status, the wine must undergo taste tests conducted by a government-sponsored and approved committee. There are just 74 DOCGs.Both DOC and DOCG exist in an additional classification: Denominazione d’Origine Protetta (DOP)—“Protected Designation of Origin.” These require specific production methods and quality standards. DOP does not apply only to wine but to many Italian foods—cheese, olive oil, prosciutto, tomatoes, and more.Finally, while DOCG and DOC indicate quality, there are DOC wines made with rules more strict than DOCG wines. So, some DOC wines can be higher in quality than some DOCG wines. Wine is not simple. Italian classifications assist, but you still have to buy the wine and taste it.Tasting notes:• Parmoleto Montecucco Sangiovese Riserva DOCG 2016: Rich, tart expression of sangiovese. Plenty of tasty, assertive red fruit. $19-25 Link to my review• Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco, Langhe DOC 2018: Vibrant and relaxed at the same time. Superb, serious wine at this price point. $22-25 Link to my review• Banfi Rosa Regale Asti Sparkling White Wine DOCG 2020: Honey-sweet with some crispness and moscato affability. Excellent for summer fun. $23 Link to my reviewLast round: It is so hot, my crayons are now watercolors. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Sparkling stemware 8-17-2022The proper Champagne or sparkling wine vessel is a pain in the glass. Wine professionals largely agree on what glass best presents the wine for tasting, but that is not the whole story.In many ways, the glass depends on the occasion. If it is a celebration pour—a wedding or other large group—a narrow flute may be the best call. Flutes emphasize the column of bubbles, which accentuates the visual experience, which counts among folks who would not drink wine if not for the occasion. As a bonus, flutes don’t hold a large quantity—a nice consideration if you are buying the bubbly.Image by brittaneu from PixabayFlute downside: the top is so small it reduces your aroma and flavor experience. Smelling is 80% of wine appreciation. Of course, depending on the quality of the bubbly you bought, dampening taste could be a feature rather than a flaw.Coupes are the other classic vessel. The famous legend is coupes are based on Marie Antoinette’s breast. Well, not likely, but whatever. The trouble with a coupe is the opposite of a flute: the opening is so wide aromas don’t concentrate and get lost. As with the flute, that can be a good thing depending on your banquet budget.OK, flutes flop and Marie-Antoinette-bosom-inspired glasses are a bust; what is the best glass for bubbly? It likely is a glass you already have—a white wine glass, a pinot noir tulip, a smaller red wine glass. You can go higher end from premium makers who sell sparkling-specific offerings. The key is they allow you to enjoy the bubbles and they concentrate the aromas so you can enjoy the brioche and almond notes of quality bubbly.If you sip bottom shelf sparkling that really is carbonated white plonk, a jelly glass will work fine. If you sip superior—especially if you savor especially superior—consider a glass that allows for complete appreciation. If you can afford the pour, don’t poor-boy the glass. Or use that wineglass you use every day. It will work fine.Tasting notes:• Luretta Principessa Blanc de Blancs Brut, NV: Delicate, refined expression of pure chardonnay from Italy. $14-22 Link to my review• Lanson Champagne Le Black Label Brut NV: Pleasantly complex, crisp; official champagne for The Championship, Wimbledon. $49-50 Link to my review• Sokol Blosser Blossom Ridge Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon 2017: Pretty much checks all the boxes. $64-72 Link to my reviewLast round: The best shoes for a pilot? Wing tips. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Most searched Napa wines 8-10-2022Napa is universally recognized as one of the world’s premier wine regions, and you pay to enjoy its exalted pours. How much and which wines get the most attention?Wine-Searcher maintains a daily updated online list of the world’s wines complete with pricing, scores, and links to reviews and maker websites. It is an invaluable tool I have used for years for prices in my tasting notes and reviews.Part of their reporting is the number of searches on their site for each wine. That presents a snapshot of what people care about. As you would expect, searches for Napa wines concentrate on big reds. Some 70 percent of all Napa wines listed on Wine-Searcher are cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or blends of the two.When it comes to searches, a whopping 92 percent are for cabernet sauvignon and its related blends. Searchers either are contemplating buying or enjoying the fantasy of what they would buy if they could buy. Here are the world’s most-searched Napa wines on Wine-Searcher along with an averaged score and price:1. Opus One. 94 points. $4122. Dominus Estate Christian Moueix. 95 points. $3273. Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. 97 points. $4,7654. Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. 91 points. $915. Harlan Estate. 96 points. $1,4486. Joseph Phelps Vineyards Insignia. 94 points. $2777. Caymus Vineyards Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. 93 points. $2148. Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon. 95 points. $9679. Silver Oak Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. 89 points. $14510. Shafer Vineyards Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon. 95 points. $342The order has been basically unchanged for several years. Opus One, Dominus, and Screaming Eagle remain unchallenged. This year, Caymus nudged ahead of Harlan. Caymus Special Selection moved up two places while Shafer dropped two.There was an interesting note. It still costs serious money to enjoy these Napa jewels, but there was a significant slowing of price increases. Opus One actually dropped in price from $416 to $412. Likely still not in your Tuesday pizza night budget, but interesting.Tasting notes:• Rabble Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2019: Rich, lush dark fruits; 100% Napa cab. $25-36 Link to my review• Rombauer Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot 2018: Bold, ripe-fruit, easy-drinking iteration of Napa merlot. $45-50 Link to my review• Charles Krug Peter Mondavi Family Reserve Generations, Napa Valley 2018: Delivers subtle elegance; 84% Napa cab. $60-75 Link to my reviewLast round: You know it is a hot summer when your electric bill is more than your house payment. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber and receive exclusive material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food systems, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Sauvignon Blanc summer 8-3-2022Sauvignon blanc is versatile all year, but it particularly shines in the scorching summer we endure this year.Its crisp acidity and tropical fruit flavors complement lighter dishes and salads. Sauv blanc often is called “salad in a glass.” Nicely chilled, sauv blanc easily is appreciated at the end of a triple-digit day.Sauv blanc is an uncomplicated wine with vines rambunctiously eager to please. When winegrowers neglect to prune, the wine can have little distinction. That was the case in the 1970s and 1980s when California growers went for quantity instead of quality. Sauv blanc rightly earned a reputation as a cheap jug wine/boxed wine.Led by Robert Mondavi, some winemakers knew sauv blanc could achieve more and attempted to create a market for “Fumé Blanc” or similar made-up marketing name. Unfortunately, many pursued an oaky style that did sauv blanc no flavor favors.Then New Zealanders found ways in vineyards and wineries to evoke more fruit expression, creating a style now imitated even in France. Marlborough, in the northern part of the southern island, began producing world-class pours in the 1980s—food-friendly wines with tongue-cutting acidity and vivid citrus fruits.Much of sauvignon blanc is made to drink young, often released shortly after harvest. That pleases winemakers—they get to turn juice into cash quickly. It also pleases a lot of consumers since you can easily get quality in the $12-18 range.If you want, however, you can go high-end. Screaming Eagle, Oakville makes a sauv blanc that sells for $5,900—down from $7,180 last year. In France, where wine names come from places and not the varietal, the French call it Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé. Sancerre is on left bank of the Loire River, Pouilly-Fumé on the right bank. Dagueneau Asteroide Pouilly-Fumé goes for $1,791 a bottle. Edmond Vatan Clos la Neore, Sanerre costs $494 a bottle.Tasting notes:• Concha y Toro Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc, Rapel River 2021: Congenial easy drinker rather than boisterous, assertive sauv blanc, but retains SB’s ability to enhance, complement food. $13-16 Link to my review• Wairau River Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2021: Delivers what you want and expect from a NZ sauv blanc. $15-20 Link to my review• Aperture Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020: Dollop of sémillon adds a subtle boost; whole-cluster pressing delivers depth, complexity. $40-45 Link to my reviewLast round: This summer has been so hot, when I turn on my sprinkler, steam comes out. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. To support my work and receive exclusive posts, please, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.Balanced Diet Original recipes, curated links about food, recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine capsules 7-27-2022What’s with the foil or plastic capsule at the top of a wine bottle covering the cork? More pointedly, what is the point of it in the 21st century?The capsule once had a purpose: to protect the cork from mold or nibbling critters in dark, dank wine cellars. Not really a problem today.Wine traditions die hard, and the capsule morphed into a marketing vehicle or was justified because wine bottles always had capsules. Today’s cellars are cleaner, rodent-free, and we drink most of our wine soon after purchase anyway.Capsules no longer serve a purpose beyond aesthetics and branding. One used, we put capsules in landfills or we leave them on bottles as potential contaminates at the recycling center. They are a cost to the winemaker and, thus, to the consumer. The fanciest capsules can add up to $4 to a bottle. Smaller wineries must rent special equipment to place the capsules on the bottle and pay an extra worker to handle the machine.Capsules are an unnecessary hassle to sommeliers and regular consumers. The dull “knife” on a corkscrew has a hard time with most capsules, which means every so often the knife does a better job cutting your thumb than it does slicing around the capsule.Happily, thanks to responsible winemakers, the capsule’s time is passing. When you encounter a bottle without a capsule, don’t imagine it to be an inferior wine. Instead, rejoice. You have encountered a forward-thinking maker who is putting money into the wine and not supererogatory packaging.Tasting notes:• 19 Crimes Martha’s Chard 2020: Summer fun wine and a bit more. $10-12 Link to my review• Ron Rubin Pam’s Unoaked Chardonnay 2020: Tasty fruit with hint of sweetness. $10-15 Link to my review• Gancia Prosecco Rosé DOC: Delight to the eye, both in the dramatic bottle and in the glass. Light delight. $13 Link to my review• Pommery Louis Pommery California Brut: Sips like Old World Champagne, but with a fruity California twist. $19-22 Link to my review• Stags’ Leap Viognier, Napa Valley 2018: Smooth, lovely, accurate presentation of pure viognier. $26-30 Link to my review• Pedernales Cellars Petite Sirah, Farmhouse Vineyards, Texas High Plains 2018: Rich, smooth, tasty, 100% petite sirah from exceptional Texas winery. $60 Link to my reviewLast round: Dear Math Quiz: Isn’t time you grew up and solved your own problems? Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. To support my work and receive exclusive material, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Chardonnay 7-20-2022The past 40 years have been a rollercoaster for chardonnay, the most popular wine in the United States.As Baby Boomers came of wine-drinking age in the 1970s and 1980s, consumption of chardonnay soared. Growers planted everywhere possible and produced as much as possible, which does not do chardonnay flavors any favors.In the winery, makers poured grapes into hard-squeeze presses to extract as much juice as possible, aimed for high alcohol, then attempted to cover up flaws with malolactic fermentation and cords of oak. Boomers bought it until their palates matured. Then came the ABC—“Anything But Chardonnay”—revolt.Fortunately, there were makers who knew how exquisite chardonnay can be and knew how to make it. As Boomers moved up financially, there was a market for their superior product. By the 21st century, chardonnay, especially in California, was embarked upon a golden age for the gold-colored liquid.Makers took inspiration from Burgundy, chardonnay’s lodestar. Vines were planted in cool-climate vineyards. Pruning focused on growing a few excellent bunches per plant rather than bunches of bunches. “Great wines are made in the vineyard, not the winery,” became the mantra.Grapes were picked at the peak balance of ripeness and acidity, and harvested in the cool of night and early morning to preserve those qualities. Grapes were lovingly treated. Individual berries were inspected, followed by gentle pressing. Skin contact was held to a minimum to reduce tannins.Fermentation occurred in temperature-controlled stainless steel, maybe in concrete eggs or oak barrels, or all three so discerning makers could blend. High alcohol was avoided to make the wine more food-friendly. Malolactic? Maybe. Over-done oak? No. Often wines were segregated into their single vineyards of origin to be so bottled and labeled.The goal was to allow grapes to reflect soil rather than flagrantly flaunt fruit aromas and flavors. The result is opulent, complex, refined, hedonistic pours. Chardonnay has come a long way, baby, from its ABC days.Tasting notes:• Siduri Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2019: The leading adjective to describe it is “subtle.” The fruit, as expected from Siduri’s stable of quality grape growers, is excellent. $25-30 Link to my review• The Mill Keeper Chardonnay, Napa Valley MV: Simply delightful and delightfully simple.  $28 Link to my review• Ettore Wine Chardonnay Zero, Mendocino 2018: Pure expression of Mendocino chardonnay. $32-42 Link to my reviewLast round: My dog used to chase people on a bike. It got so bad I had to take his bike away. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. To support my work and receive exclusive material, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Smaller wine containers 7-13-2022You demanded wine options. Winemakers heard you and new options—some might call them marketing gimmicks—are being created as fast as they can be dreamed up.Moving away from 750 ml bottles is a big trend. Wine now comes in once-rare sizes and materials: 375 ml (two pours), 187 ml (one pour) containers—and there are more sizes. They come in traditional glass bottles, plastic bottles, cans, pouches, and even tetra packs usually associated with milk and juice cartons.Imagination also goes into what goes into the containers. Wander + Ivy, for instance, markets wines created using certified organic grapes from family-owned wineries around the world. The 187 ml container is glass, the closure is plastic. They offer a chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon from California, a rosé from France, a red blend from Spain, and a pinot bianco from Italy. They sell in 8, 16, and 24-bottle sets at around $8.50 a bottle. Acceptable wine and pricey for the pour, but works if you are a one-glass person.Wander + Ivyjust enough (lower case name) is a similar play. Their wines come in 250 ml cans sold in six-packs, which is the equivalent of two standard bottles. Your choices include a red blend, a rosé, a chardonnay, and a brut sparkling. All from California. The cost is around $45 a six-pack.Bonterra offers 250 ml cans of their organically produced sparkling rosé, sparkling brut, sauvignon blanc, and rosé. All from California. The sparkling is sold in single cans for $5, the still wines in four-can packs for $18.Ubiquitous supermarket wine 19 Crimes offers four-packs of 187 ml plastic bottles of their red blend and their hard chardonnay for $10-12 a pack.All these deliver acceptable wine. You will not get sublime, but you will not get plonk. Several other brands are available—Private Beach (four 200 ml cans), Kim Crawford (two 500 ml cans), Domaine Chandon Brut Rosé (187 ml bottles), and Sofia (four 187 ml cans). For some wine drinkers, less is more.Tasting notes:• Sebastiani Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2020: Bright, lively, and refreshing. $14-17 Link to my review• Klinker Brick Bricks & Roses Rosé, Lodi 2021: Provence-style, but even lighter and airier. $15-19 Link to my review• Daou Vineyards Bodyguard 2019: Elegant, opulent, sophisticated, intense in color and flavor. $35-40 Link to my reviewLast round: The trouble with people who consider themselves “self-made” is they tend to worship their creator. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a paid subscriber and get bonus material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about ins and outs of entertaining at home plus witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to advice from the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Chilled red wines 7-6-2022NEWS FLASH: We are in the “Dog Days of Summer,” or “High Summer” as it was called in the Old South. Whatever you call the scorching time between early July and mid-August, it is time to chill your wines.That includes chilling red wines. Forget the myth that chilling reds means killing reds. Lighter, less alcoholic, less tannic, less oaky red wines do fine chilled. And, yes, you can even put an ice cube in your glass if you wish.Some chillable reds:• Cinsault’s delicate tannins and its strawberry and cherry flavors show well when chilled.• Gamay, best known for its use in Beaujolais. Chill its lighter-bodied iterations.• New World pinot noirs with lighter bodies and more fruit-forward approaches work well. Heavier pinot noirs, including lower-end, mass-produced pinots are not as suitable.• Zweigelt, Austria’s most-planted red, brings cherries and chocolate and soft tannins to the chilled red strategy.Zweigelt leaf and grapes. Photo by Bauer KarlYou likely have other favored lighter reds. Experiment. If you don’t like the red chilled, leave it alone and in this season of triple-digit days, it will warm up soon enough to be enjoyed in your air-conditioned abode.General tips:• Chilled reds should be between 50 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit.• Chill the bottle to your refrigerator’s temperature, then take it out an hour before serving.• Conversely, put the bottle in your refrigerator 30-45 minutes before serving.• Chill in a bucket of ice and water—ice alone is too slow. Add salt to the water speed things up even more.If you are not willing to warm to chilled reds, you can always fall back on chilled rosés and light, bright whites. There is no reason to eschew wine just because cows are producing evaporated milk and hot water is coming out of both your taps.Tasting notes:• Sokol Blosser Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Oregon 2021: Chill out with this chilled on a hot summer’s day. $17-25 Link to my review• Domaine de Cala Rosé, Coteaux Varois, Provence 2021: Restrained red fruits flirt with your palate rather than assault it; 60% cinsault. $19-21 Link to my review• McCay Cellars Rosé of Cinsault, Lodi Appellation 2019: Provence-style rosé from quality Lodi producer. Follows cinsault varietal profile very closely. $35 Link to my reviewLast round: It was so hot farmers fed their chickens ice so they wouldn’t lay boiled eggs. Wine time.This is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a paid subscriber and get bonus material.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about ins and outs of entertaining at home plus witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to advice from the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is a reader-supported publication. To receive exclusive posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This bonus material is offered to all subscribers as my July 4th gift to you.Hot dogs and July 4thToday is the 246th July 4th since the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Happy July 4th.I am going to visit food and beverage today, and I realize most of you have already made preparations, but the suggestions apply to any summertime gatherings. First, some thoughts on today.Since that first July 4th, our country has grown from 13 colonies with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with more than 330 million people.We enjoy a 24 trillion dollar economy, the largest and most robust on the planet.Advances in public health and health care have cut the childhood mortality rate from 45% to less than 1%. We live more than 35 years longer than our forebears in 1776.From rutted dirt roads, we have built some four million miles of paved roads and more than 5,000 public airports.Almost three million miles of power line electrify almost the entire country. Some 85% of households have access to broadband internet and 95% of households have at least one computer.In 1800, 95% of us lived in rural areas. Today 83% of us live in urban areas.A lot has changed and much of it for the better since courageous rebels decided they wanted control over their own affairs in 1776. That’s what we celebrate today.Now, on to celebration ideas.Wine suggestions for July 4th are fraught with pairing perils.The day is hot, the food is kitschy stuff like hot dogs laden with mustard and sauerkraut, throw in salty chips, grilled onions, and a watermelon. My prudent course is to recommend beer.But prudence did not win the American Revolution. Onward into wine-hot dog July 4th suggestions:• Sparkling wine. You already know sparkling goes with almost anything and is a party-starter. The bubbles and acidity will cut the frankfurter fattiness, while the citrus will play well with salty stuff. Pop some patriotic bubbly.• Gewürztraminer. The aromatic wine is a star in Alsace and Germany, areas known for sausage, so it’s a country-food pairing. More full-bodied than most whites, gewürtz’s apple and lychee fruit flavors can be a nice counterpoint to bratwurst’s brawn.• Rosé. There are a range of rosé plays, from white zin to sparkling rosé to still rosé. Avoid sweeter versions. Opt for drier rosés made from grenache or merlot or sangiovese. Savor the cherry and strawberry notes while you toast the red, white, and blue.• Riesling. Its gentle sweetness works with dogs, and its citric tang mellows mustard. Again, go for drier versions.• Oaked chardonnay. The chard-wiener pairing is only passable, but buttery oak and bread work well together, and—hey—the bun is half the hot dog experience, too.• Malbec. Malbec will not maul the hot dog’s flavors; cabs and shiraz will. Frankly, franks cannot stand up to monster tannins and jammy fruits. Malbec’s velvety, spicy black fruits and plums can run with the big dogs.Final note of caution: If your Fourth fling involves chili dogs, forget about wine. Chili dog fire will vanquish vino. Go beer or margarita. Or put the chili crock pot on a pickup’s tailgate for louts pulling beer can tabs, while the gentry savors finer things from a tasteful table.In the end, lift a toast to union and Old Glory. We fought a revolution so beer drinkers and wine drinkers could enjoy whatever they wanted without snob masters giving orders. It’s in the Constitution (Amendment 21).Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home plus witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to advice from the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Mendoza Argentina 6-29-2022If you drink Argentinean wine—who doesn’t, given its high quality and excellent QPR (quality-to-price ratio)—you likely have seen Mendoza on the label.Mendoza is Argentina’s largest wine region—75% of the country’s vineyards. It has the most wineries—more than 1,200. It is a world-class producer of malbec and cabernet sauvignon.Mendoza is a large province, 57,462 square miles, almost as large as Illinois. Located in central-western Argentina, the awe-inspiring, snow-capped Andes Mountains create a picturesque backdrop to its vineyards. They also play a crucial role in winemaking.The Andes create a rain shadow, preventing wet Pacific Ocean weather from reaching Argentina. Instead, moisture falls as snow on the mountains. That makes Mendoza one of the sunniest and driest wine-growing regions on Earth with less than nine inches of rainfall a year. About the same as the Gobi Desert.As a result, Mendoza is a virtual blank slate for growing wine vines. It is flat, sunny, and almost pest-free. Flatness means wine growers can use mechanical harvesters with ease—something vine growers in other areas, where vineyards are on the sides of mountains, can only drool over. With the labor shortage in the wine industry, this becomes even more important.Then there are the snow-capped mountains. Snowmelt rivers provide arid plains with water needed for life. For vines.Altitude is another God-given gift. Mendoza vineyards sit at 1,500-7,000 feet above sea level. That means more exposure to sunlight and UV during the day and a precipitous drop in temperature at night. A magic formula in winemaking. Heat and UV during the day drive ripeness. Cold at night engenders acidity. Great wines are a balance of ripeness and acidity.Mendoza produces more malbec than any other place in the world. It also produces cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and bonarda. These grapes beget the lush, bold flavors wine drinkers covet.Mendoza divides into five sub-regions: Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo, Uco Valley, San Rafael, and San Martin. There are nuanced differences in wines produced in each, but each is capable of producing outstanding wines.Clearly this is a subject far too vast for a short column, but if you are into red wine, you almost certainly are into wines made in Mendoza. If you are not into Mendoza wines, try some to taste what you are missing.Last round: When is a door not a door? When it is ajar. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Open bottle tips 6-22-2022A standard 750 ml wine bottle contains five 5-ounce pours. What do you do when you drink one or two pours and have left-over wine?There are solutions. First, let’s see what causes problems. Oxygen is a wine’s best friend until it turns into its worst enemy. We all are familiar with decanting and letting wine “breathe” to open up flavors, blow off certain odors, and soften tannins. But once a bottle is opened it is like starting a timer. When the buzzer sounds, your wine has turned to vinegar or is at least flat and lifeless.The amount of time wine can be exposed to air varies with the wine and with how it is handled.Tannins, acidity, sugar, oak, and sulfites all can work to prolong after-opening life. Sweet wines with high acidity—sweet riesling, for instance—fare better than high-alcohol, dry, low acidity wines. Thicker grape skins contribute to more body and structure and often have more tannins and oak exposure. Oaked chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon fare better after opening than pinot noir or grenache.Regardless of the grape, how you store left-over wine matters. Strategies:• Pour left-over wine into a smaller bottle. Save that small bottle your dessert wine came in and use it. Smaller bottle, less oxygen exposure.• Re-cork as tight as possible after the last pour.• Store the bottle in the refrigerator. Don’t leave it on the kitchen counter.• Invest in a Coravin preserver if you are someone who only drinks a glass or two every couple of days.There also are packaging solutions.• Boxed wine can store in a refrigerator for a month after opening. There are quality boxed wines today.• Canned wines are the new rage. They come in single-serve and two-serving sizes. There also are wines in glass or plastic bottles with similar amounts.Finally, all may not be lost if you left an open bottle on the counter. Give it a taste. If you enjoy it still, enjoy away. Good wine is whatever you think is good wine.Tasting notes:• McBride Sisters Collection Black Girl Magic Bubbly Rosé: Simple, slightly fizzy, fun wine. Two 375 ml cans, $14 Link to my review• Bonterra Rosé, California 2021: Treats you in so many ways with so many red grapes you are bound to enjoy at least some of them. $16 Link to my reviewLast round: I had a dream I was a car muffler last night. Man, I woke up exhausted. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to’s and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Father’s Day 6-15-2022When this wine column began more than 14 years ago, Father’s Day was not a topic. Men drank beer, women drank wine. That was just the way it was.Times changed—more likely the perception of the male-female divide was inaccurate. The first Father’s Day column did not appear until the fifth year. This marks the eighth time for a dad theme and is a compendium of past “wisdom.”Photo © Stephen Branley (cc-by-sa/2.0)• Whether dad really likes the wine you buy for him is not the most important part of your pour play on his day. He may forget the wine. He will not forget the love. Neither will you.Last round: Old Italian toast appropriate for dad—here’s to all who wish us well. And those who don’t can go to…• Wine-inspired gifts for Father’s Day tempt you to gather gimmicks destined for the “God only knows what it’s for” drawer. Please, resist that seduction.Last round: Dad says if you can’t fix it with wine, duct tape, or WD40, it ain’t worth fixing.• During this June of travel into the realm of rosé, a suggestion that may make you blush. Treat daddy to a bottle of rosé.Last round: Father’s Day toast—“May you live to be so old your best vintage wine is past its prime.”• An obvious Father’s Day move is to get a quality wine dad enjoys, and do not buy it on his credit card.Last round:  This family runs on three things: love, laughter, bottles of really good wine.• If dad prefers big, full reds, pull cork on wine that pairs with diet-busting fare like ribeyes and fully loaded baked potatoes. Fried onion rings, yeah, sure. We’ll get healthy tomorrow. Promise.Last round: Wisdom: If at first you don’t succeed, call dad. If he doesn’t have the answer, he will have enough wine to forget the question and you can ask mom for the answer.• Do not buy dad a wine-tasting kit that includes scorecards and bags for blind tastings. The only respectable use for such things is to re-gift to people you don’t like very much.Last round: Always have a good bottle of wine on hand for special occasions. You know, like Father’s Day. And Tuesday.• Suggestions on wine based on dad’s personality. One example: Pop survived your teenage years: Bordeaux blend. Quality bottle here will go far toward earning forgiveness for your childhood sins.Last round: Family. Where life begins. Love never ends. Wine is shared.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine container history 6-8-2022Wine containers have evolved for thousands of years. Let’s examine.Earthenware provided the earliest containers—amphora and kvevri are the most familiar. They still are in use today to make wine, especially in Italy, Georgia (the country), and Croatia.Sheep bladders—wineskins—were the equivalent of today’s wine bottle. They are referenced in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.The Romans appear to have invented the oak wine barrel. They were inspired by the Gauls, who used barrels to store and transport beer. The Roman breakthrough was to realize oak had an especially positive impact on wine.Old wine bottle (Auckland Museum)Glass wine bottles appeared in the 1600s. Early bottles had fat bottoms and short necks. Over time necks lengthened and bottoms slimmed. In 1821, Rickets of Bristol received a patent for a machine that could manufacture identically-sized bottles in roughly the shape we recognize today.While glass bottles still dominate, today wine also comes in a plastic bag in a box, in plastic bottles, in cans, and in aseptic packages.Cork sealing developed alongside glass bottles, but it wasn’t until the late 1700s someone invented a practical corkscrew. A renewable resource, cork is the bark of the cork oak that can be harvested about every nine years. Cork oaks can grow to be 60-feet high and 12-feet in circumference and live for 200 years.Cork oak tree, PortugalWhen the demand for wine soared late in the 20th century, over-stressed cork producers delivered some cork contaminated with TCA, producing “corked wine.” The cork industry is successfully addressing the problem, but the door had been opened to alternative closures. Today there are composite corks, synthetic corks, screw caps, and crown caps.Interesting tidbits:• Champagne bottles could explode when a follow-on fermentation occurred until the British developed stronger glass by using coal to achieve higher glass-making temperatures. The pressure inside a bottle of sparkling wine is about 90 psi—three times the pressure in your car tires.• The punt—that indentation in the base of the bottle—was there to add strength to the bottom of the bottle. With improved glass making, large punts are no longer necessary, but traditions die hard in the wine world.• The foil covering the top of the bottle once discouraged wine cellar vermin from eating the cork. Like the punt, no longer necessary, but traditions die hard in the wine world.Last round: You can’t run through a campsite. You can only ran, because it is past tents. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine and sports 6-1-2022In the antediluvian 20th century, you likely associated beer with sporting events and athletes. Today, in the bright, shining enlightenment of the 21st century, wine can claim its spot alongside beer as a sports libation. Beer guzzlers would demure—likely with a belch—but they would be wrong.Major sports venues have upgraded both their food and drink offerings. Wine is available by the cup and can. Higher-end wines are available by the bottle in luxury suites.Several major sports pros are associated with wine, and not just by slapping their name on a label. Basketball superstar Yao Ming is actively involved in Yao Family Wines. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been a part-owner of the Oregon-based A to Z Wineworks since 2006.Yao Ming in his fermentation roomFootball stars and coaches are winery owners. Drew Bledsoe owns Doubleback Cellars, Bledsoe Family Wines, and Bledsoe-McDaniels. John Elway owns 7Cellars. Former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Damon Huard own Passing Time. Super Bowl-winning coach Dick Vermeil owns Vermeil Wines. He sources grapes from a vineyard his grandfather picked as a vineyard laborer.Charles Woodson at his wineryFormer Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson co-owns Intercept and TwentyFour by Charles Woodson. TwentyFour is high-end Napa; Intercept is a more accessible line of Paso Robles wines.Race car driver Kevin Buckler—a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, plus another 99 professional victories—owns Adobe Road. As you might imagine, his wines have a racing tie: The 24, Shift, Redline, Apex.Dusty Baker, Greg Vaughn, and Tom Seaver are just some baseball star winery owners. Golf star winery owners include Ernie Els, Cristie Kerr, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam, Jan Stephenson, and Nick Faldo.Obviously, there are different motivations, but there is one somewhat general theme. Athletes understand vintage. Each year challenges you to make the most of what nature and happenstance present to you. Everything may go right, things may go wrong. In sports, in winemaking.Tasting notes:• A to Z Wineworks Bubbles Oregon Rosé Wine: Crisp, creamy with good acidity. Fun and whimsy here. Four-pack of 250 ml cans, $20 Link to my review• Adobe Road Apex Sonoma County Red Wine 2016: Delicious with complexity and depth. Drinks like a high-end Left Bank Bordeaux. $76-80 Link to my review• Yao Family Wines Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Yao Ming 2016: Bold, vibrant, toweringly delicious. This is major wine, with concomitant price. $85-100Last round: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? “Short.”Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.The case for swirling 5-25-2022The classic formula for wine tasting is the “five Ss.” See. Swirl. Sniff/smell. Sip. Savor. Let’s explore swirl.Swirling encourages aeration. When you expose wine to oxygen, aroma compounds attach themselves to evaporating alcohol and present you more aroma to experience and enjoy. The majority of tasting pleasure comes from aroma, not your taste buds, so this element is no small thing.Oxygen also helps soften harsh tannins, making them smoother and silkier. Swirling is particularly beneficial for younger, bolder red wines. In contrast, an older wine needs a very gentle swirl or it can become over-oxidized and lose life. One technique does not fit all in the wine swirl world.Oxygen induced by swirling can blow off unwanted aromas. Sulfites—occurring naturally during fermentation or added to stabilize the wine—can add a smell of rotten eggs or burnt match after some bottle age. Some wines, Burgundian pinot noir, for instance, can have barnyard odors upon first pour. Not to worry. Swirling almost always will waft away these issues.Swirling benefits the “see” element of the five Ss. Your wine may appear lighter after a few swirls, allowing you to have a sight experience beyond “deep ruby.”This being wine, there is a correct way to swirl. The bigger the glass, the more effective the swirl. Keep the base of the glass on the table and start slowly. Don’t overdo it. A few swirls, a minute or less, will do the trick. Continued swirling is not needed unless you have a difficult wine with particularly assertive tannins or obnoxious odors. Once swirled at the beginning of your tasting experience, the wine will continue to breathe and develop in the glass all by itself. Then it is time to indulge in the other four Ss.Tasting notes:• Primus The Blend, Apalta, Colchagua Valley 2018: Polished, fresh, fruity. Blend led by cab accompanied by carménère and a cadre of other reds. $18-20 Link to my review• Duca Di Salaparuta Suor Marchesa Passo delle Mule Nero d’Avola 2018: Good, affordable, easy-drinking presentation of Sicily’s most famous black grape. $19-25 Link to my review• Stoneledge Winery & Vineyard Malbec, Texas 2018: Hedonistic delight of ripe dark fruit running rampant in your mouth, pleasuring your palate. If you want to tussle with bodacious Texas wine, well here is your pour, partner. $50 Link to my reviewLast round: What do you call a priest who becomes a lawyer? A father-in-law. Wine time.Thank you for reading Gus Clemens on Wine. This post is public so feel free to share it.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Fruit wines 5-18-2022Almost all the wine we drink is made from various varieties of Vitis vinifera, a grape native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. There are more than 10,000 varieties of this genus of grape.But Vitis vinifera is not the only fruit that produces wine. Virtually any fruit can produce wine.Vitis labrusca is a grape native to eastern North America. Some wines are made with Vitis labrusca, but you likely know it better as Concord grape juice and Concord grape jelly.Concord grape jelly (Photo by Famartin)• Strawberry wine uses strawberries, water, lemon juice, yeast, and sugar. Sugar and water are key ingredients in most fruit wines. Sugar is needed because many fruit wines do not have enough natural sugar to support fermentation, but you can go light on the added sugar to produce a dry, low-alcohol wine. Strawberry wine aroma is distinct and agreeable, and the wine delivers a parade of pleasant flavors.• Plum wine is made from fermented plums in a way similar to how apples are used for cider. It is particularly associated with the north Cotswolds in south-central England.• Pineapple wine is a soft, dry wine with a strong pineapple bouquet. In Mexico, it is called tepache and has an alcohol content similar to beer. Pineapple wine also is popular in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries.• Pomegranate wine is commercially produced in Israel and marketed as Rimon. The Israeli wine is made from a special variety of pomegranates developed to deliver high levels of sugar for fermentation.• Dandelion wine uses dandelion petals, sugar, and—often—lemon juice. Most dandelion wine is homemade, but several U.S. wineries produce it as a commercial product.• Banana wine is made from ripe bananas that are mashed and then boiled for several hours to form a base of juice and pulp. The resulting mash is strained, sugar is added, and the juice boiled again. Fermentation lasts up to three weeks, then sterilized water is added to dilute the wine. It is particularly associated with Tanzania, the Philippines, and India.• Cherry wine is made using tart cherries and can be the basis of fortified wines and liqueurs. Michigan is the leading cherry wine state—it is the leading cherry-producing state after all.These are some of the most popular fruit wines. Other fruit wines are made with oranges, lychee, blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, cranberry, elderberry, gooseberry, raspberry, and mulberry. All you need is fruit juice, sugar, yeast, and time. Voilà! Wine.Last round: How do you impress a female baker? Send her flours. Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Top grapes by country 5-11-2022While most countries produce a variety of wines, they also have a signature export wine and grape variety. The University of Adelaide in Australia tracks this and presents the signature variety for the top 25 wine-producing countries.Here are the university’s findings. Some are obvious and easy. Some will be grapes or countries you did not expect or never encountered before.• Argentina: Malbec• Australia: Syrah• Austria: Grüner Veltliner• Brazil: Isabella• Bulgaria: Shiroka Melnishka; also called Melnishka• Canada: Seyval Blanc• Chile: Cabernet Sauvignon• Croatia: Graševina• Czech Republic: Grüner Veltliner• France: Merlot• Germany: Riesling• Greece: Savatiano• Hungary: Blaufränkisch• Italy: Sangiovese• Moldova: Moldova• New Zealand: Sauvignon Blanc• Portugal: Tempranillo• Romania: Feteasca Regala• Russia: Cabernet Sauvignon• Slovenia: Graševina• South Africa: Chenin Blanc.• Spain: Airén• Switzerland: Pinot Noir• United States: Chardonnay• Uruguay: TannatTasting notes:• Viu Manent Secreto Malbec, Valle de Colchagua, Chile 2019: Fulsome with rich, savory, dark fruit flavors. Good structure, balance. Superb QPR. $13-16 Link to my review• Aia Vecchia Lagone, Toscana 2018: Excellent, affordable introductory wine to world of Super Tuscan. $14-17 Link to my review• Talbott Vineyards Kali Hart Estate Grown Chardonnay 2019: Aggressively fruit-forward. Round, creamy. Pamela Anderson, not Audrey Hepburn. $14-18 Link to my review• L’Ecole No. 41 Semillon, Columbia Valley 2019: Top-tier libation for less than a Benjamin. Astonishing opportunity. Do not pass it up. $15-18 Link to my review• Acquiesce Grenache Blanc, Lodi 2020: Intense fruit flavors framed by good acidity and minerality. Eloquent expression of classic Rhône varietal with Lodi flair of ripe, tasty fruit. $28-30 Link to my review• Peju Province Winery Merlot, Napa Valley 2016: Robust merlot with bright flavors, assertive tannins. Merlot with character and attitude. Nice harmony of various flavor elements. $45-55 Link to my review• Farmhouse Vineyards Smōk & Miroirs NV: Bold expression of Texas mourvèdre. If you like red wine big and beef bold, this is worth the effort to secure it. $50 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, length. $55-58 Link to my review• Adobe Road Shift Red Wine 2019: Bottle with gear shift topper and five-speed shift plate gives pause this is more gimmick than good, but wine comes through in the clutch without having to downshift the evaluation. $55-65 Link to my reviewLast round: Before visiting the lions at the zoo, an English professor told to his students: “Make certain you understand the difference between your dinner and you’re dinner.” All students but one got it. That student didn’t make it out of the zoo.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Future of wine 5-4-2022As 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 ColangeloGino 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 reviewLast round: Where does an electrical plug shop? At an outlet mall, of course. Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Bordeaux blends 4-27-2022When people speak of red wine blends, Bordeaux invariably is in the conversation. Here is a quick primer on the region and its blends.The Bordeaux wine region is located in southwestern France, centered around the port city of Bordeaux. North of the city, the Dordogne and Garonne rivers join to create the Gironde estuary. With a vineyard area of around 300,000 acres, Bordeaux is the largest wine region in France.Bordeaux Rouge is almost always a blend of grape varieties, with strict rules covering the grapes. Permitted varieties include:• Merlot is the most-planted grape in Bordeaux. Merlot delivers generous cherry and plum flavors and soft, polished tannins.• Cabernet sauvignon is the second-most planted grape. It delivers black cherry and blackcurrant flavors and high tannins.• Cabernet Franc is the rarest primary variety. Its profile falls between merlot and cabernet sauvignon, which is understandable since it is the parent grape for both of those grapes.• Malbec is a blending grape. It brings blueberry and chocolate flavors to the party.• Carménère, now rare in Bordeaux, contributes red fruit and tobacco-like notes.• Petit verdot brings intense aromas of blueberry and violets and very deep color. Because of its intensity, it cannot be more than 10% of a blend.• Responding to climate change, Bordeaux recently added four hot-weather varieties to the permitted-grape list: touriga nacional, castet, marselan, and arinarnoa. As with petit verdot, these grapes cannot be more than 10% of a Bordeaux blend.Chateau Haut Brion-BillBl FlickrThere are three primary styles of Bordeaux wine.• Merlot is the lead grape for vineyards on the “right bank” of the Gironde. These are the most popular and most available. Expect a fruity style with smooth tannins. Aromas and flavors include black raspberry, blackcurrant, chocolate, tobacco, plum, lavender, and wet rock. It is common for cabernet franc to join merlot and cabernet sauvignon in a “right bank Bordeaux.”• Cabernet sauvignon is the lead grape for vineyards on the “left bank” of the Gironde. These are the most sought-after and expensive Bordeaux blends. Black cherry, blueberry, violet, tobacco, and crushed rock are primary characteristics. Left-bank Bordeauxs are tannic and usually require several years of cellaring.• While not as common, cabernet franc-led blends are on the increase. These blends present the rich, savory notes of cabernet sauvignon and the texture and smooth tannins of merlot.Last round: What rock group has four famous men that don’t sing? Mount Rushmore. Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Needed changes in the wine world 4-20-2022There 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.But there always is room for improvement. Suggestions:• Stop using monster bottles. Bottle weight and size does not affect wine quality. It does affect the environmental cost of producing, shipping, and disposing of the bottle. And—this is a personal peeve—such bottles often do not fit in wine racks or the shelves of wine refrigerators.• Use certified taint-free closures. Screw caps, composite corks, cans, wine boxes eliminate the threat of cork taint, but many people still consider cork the classic and best closure. OK, fine. Some cork companies now use processes to remove TCA (the cork-taint villain) and test individual corks. All cork closures should be certified taint free.• Continue to eliminate barriers to direct-to-consumer sales by wineries. Delaware, Mississippi, and Utah ban all winery-to-consumer direct shipping. In Rhode Island wineries cannot ship directly unless you first visit the winery. Ohio allows direct shipping only by wineries making less than 250,000 gallons per vintage. Nonsensical wine laws must go.• Make “reserve” and other terms meaningful. In the U.S., a winemaker can slap the term “reserve” on any old plonk. Other terms like “old vine” and “cuvée” are meaningful when used by conscientious winemakers, but the terms are not regulated. Unprincipled makers use them with impunity. The Tax & Trade Bureau—it regulates wine labels—should define the terms and require honesty on labels.• End excessive wine pricing in restaurants. I get it that restaurants make their margins through alcohol sales. “Customers eat you poor and drink you rich,” the old adage goes. But excessive markups have been shown to reduce on-premise wine sales. Applaud and patronize restaurateurs who opt for increasing the volume of wine they sell by selling at reasonable prices.Tasting notes:• Gnarly Head Wines Old Vine Zin Zinfandel, Lodi 2019: Home run value for those who like juicy, jammy, big red wine. $8-12 Link to my review• Domaine Bousquet Brut, Tupungato, Mendoza NV: Fresh, clean with bright acidity and charming fruit. $10-14 Link to my review• Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2018: Eloquent expression of Napa cab power and dark fruit at entry-level price. $36-46 Link to my reviewLast round: I thought about going on an all-almond-pecan-cashew diet. Then I realized that was just nuts. Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.White oak crisis 4-13-2022American white oak is unique to the United States, essential to bourbon production, important in wine production, and threatened.There is no snap-your-fingers solution. White oaks need 60-90 years to mature into trees suitable for barrel production. We may have as little as a 30-year supply.Jackie Zykan, master taster for Old Forester Bourbon, notes: “American white oak is synonymous with bourbon for me. Using a different kind of wood would change the flavor entirely. The wood has a high vanillin content, oak lactone, and wood sugars. Very different than other woods. It also helps give American bourbon its amber hue.”The wine industry uses white oak but is not as dependent upon it as the bourbon industry. American white oak tends to be more dense and less porous than French oak. American oak allows more of the tree to be used in barrel making. Compared to French oak, American white oak is higher in lactones and vanillin, which imparts sweeter flavors of vanilla and coconut. French oak has more tannins. Winemakers often finish their wines in a mixture of American and French oak for this reason.Winemakers can use English and Hungarian oak, Italian chestnut, stainless steel, concrete, and amphora to finish wine—albeit each with different results. The wine world is not in the panic of bourbon/whiskey world, but winemakers certainly are concerned.Both industries responded by forming the White Oak Initiative. While there are about 104 million acres of white oak forestland, some 75 percent of those trees are classified mature. Surveys show 60 percent of American white oak acreage has no white oak seedlings and 87 percent no white oak saplings. Other trees, mainly maple and beech, are taking over.Involved parties responded. Bulleit Frontier Whiskey pledged to plant one million white oak trees over the next five years. Beam Suntory, Brown-Forman, and Sazerac pledged to source 50 percent of their barrels from sustainably managed forests by 2035. All well and good, and we may dodge the barrel bullet. But it will be a near-run thing.Tasting notes:• Hammeken Cellars Gotas de Mar Albariño, Rias Baixas, Spain 2020: Excellent example of albariño made by a cutting-edge Spanish wine operation with wide distribution. It is light, dry, superb acidity. $18-22 Link to my review• Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Brut, Anderson Valley 2015: Deliciously complex special occasion wine. Elegant, luxurious, rich, polished. $47-65 Link to my reviewLast round: The broom was late for work. “I’m sorry, I over swept.” Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine sugar and calories 4-6-2022Perhaps you encountered the recent Cassandrian caterwauling of Neo-Prohibitionists about wine. Wine is loaded with sugar and calories and certain to cause health problems!A study cited by the Alcohol Health Alliance in the U.K. (a Neo-Prohibitionist group) noted guidelines recommend ingesting no more than 30 grams of free sugars a day. Horrors—sip two standard five-ounce glasses of a popular wine—Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato—and you have swallowed 27.6 grams of sugar. They also pontificated that two glasses of wine have more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger.Alarming stuff, no? The devil is in the details and illuminates how advocates will find and cherry-pick statistics to back up apocalyptic claims. Or make stuff up if they need to.Yes, Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato delivers sugar. But it is far from the norm. The U.K. group analyzed 30 wines. Seven—all sweet wines or fruit wines—contained more than 3.1 grams of sugar per ounce—15.5 grams in a five-ounce pour. Nineteen of the 30 wines contained less than two grams of sugar, eleven less than one gram. And those low-sugar wines were wines you likely drink: chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc.Yeah, but what about more calories than a McDonald’s burger? In the study, an average five-ounce glass of wine ranged from 75 to 139 calories. The average: 117 calories—234 calories for two standard pours. According to McDonald’s, their simplest hamburger contains 250 calories. A Big Mac contains 550 calories.Two glasses of wine deliver more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger? Even the Neo-Prohibitionists’ own data does not support their Chicken Little claim.It should be no surprise. The Neo-Prohibitionists goal is to frighten you away from drinking wine. Something to consider as you sip your next glass of the fruit of the vine.Tasting notes:• Alessandro di Camporeale Grillo Vigna di Mandranova, Sicilia DOC 2018: Flaunts grillo’s fresh fruitiness. Crisp with intriguing minerality-saline notes on the finale after the citrus and green apple first act. $13-16 Link to my review• Zenato Lugana di San Benedetto Bianco 2020: Excellent expression of trebbiano grape. Fresh, lively, appropriate acidity, polished, balanced, long finish. $14-20 Link to my review• L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot Columbia Valley 2018: Marvelous merlot effort by merlot maestro in Washington State. Soft, plush, palate-pleasing exemplar of excellence. $23-27 Link to my reviewLast round: I got angry when Mark plagiarized my wine review. I told him: “Mark, my words!”Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Removing red wine stains 3-30-2022If you drink red wine, inevitably you spill some of it. On your clothes. On your tablecloth, On your carpet.Take heart, red wine stains are not the heart-halting débâcle you imagine. Especially if you act quickly to remedy your ghastly gaffe. Some tips:• No matter what you spill it on, take swift action. Use a paper towel, clean cloth, or clean sponge to absorb as much wine as possible. Blot, do not scrub.• On light-colored clothes, mix equal parts of dishwashing detergent and hydrogen peroxide. Pour the mixture on the stain and let it soak. The stain should fade quickly. Then launder as you normally do.• On darker-colored clothes, cover the stain with white vinegar to neutralize the red and purple pigments. Rub in liquid detergent immediately after applying the vinegar. Launder in hot water.• Use bleach on white, bleachable fabrics. Soak the fabric in bleach for 5-10 minutes, check to see the stain is gone, then launder in hot water.• Boiling water can rescue your tablecloth. Boil water in a tea kettle. Put a large bowl in the sink, stretch the part with the stain over the bowl, keeping it taught with a rubber band or some other method. It is important for the fabric to be taut. Pour the boiling water directly on the stain with the pot about a foot above the taut cloth.• On carpet, cover the entire stain with salt until you cannot see the stain. Let the salt soak on the stain until the salt is dry. Vacuum up the salt.• Baking soda can work on both carpets and clothes. Liberally cover the stain with baking soda and add a small amount of water—just enough to smooth it out as a paste. Let the paste dry completely, then vacuum the carpet or launder the clothes or tablecloth.• There are several commercial products available with the usual plethora of promises. In online reviews, Chateau Spill Red Wine Stain Remover was a consistent winner.If red wine stains are a recurring vexation, consider drinking white wine.Tasting notes:• Beacon Hill Winery & Vineyard Riesling Beacon Hill Vineyard, Yamhill-Carlton 2019: Exuberantly ripe fruit inundates your palate, balanced by topflight acidity. $21-26 Link to my review• Marchesi Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015: Punch and power paired with elegance and easy drinkability. $30-40 Link to my reviewLast round: Pessimist: “My wine glass is half empty.” Optimist: “My wine glass is half full.” Realist: “My wine glass needs a refill, and you can leave the bottle here.”Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.U.S. wine statistics 3-23-2022Grape growing and winemaking are really big businesses in the United States. Some interesting facts:• The U.S. consumes more wine than any other country.• There are some 11,000 wineries in the United States.• There are wineries in every state.• With four wineries, Alaska has twice as many wineries as Mississippi.Hawaiian vineyard—Maui Wine Company• Hawaii has three main winery-vineyard operations. There is a designated American Viticultural Area (Ulupalakua AVA) on the island of Maui.• The U.S. has one million acres of grape-bearing land.• Grapes are the highest-value fruit crop in the U.S. Wine, table grapes, and raisins bring in more than $6.5 billion a year.• The U.S. produces more than 7.5 million tons of grapes every year.• The U.S. produces more than 900 million gallons of wine each year, 12% of worldwide production.• The U.S. is the fourth-largest wine producer in the world, behind Italy, France, and Spain.• The U.S. annually exports some $1.5 billion worth of wine. The top five markets for those exports are the European Union, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and China.• The top five wine-producing states are California, Washington, New York, Oregon, and Texas.• The top three states measured by the economic impact of wine are California, New York, and Texas.• The top five states measured by the number of wineries are California, Oregon, Washington, New York, and Texas.• Ten wine companies produce 75 percent of domestic wine sales.• Fifty wine companies produce 90 percent of domestic wine sales.• E&J Gallo is the world’s largest wine company. It sells some 100 million cases annually—1.2 billion bottles—almost one-third of all the U.S.-made wine sold in the U.S.• Gallo dominates its competitors. The number two maker, The Wine Group, sells 51 million cases—half of Gallo’s sales. The number three maker, Trinchero Family Estates, sells 20 million.• By comparison to Gallo, General Motors and Toyota combined control less than 15 percent of the U.S. car market. Amazon and Walmart account for less than 10 percent of the U.S. retail. You have to add GM, Toyota, Amazon, and Walmart together to match Gallo’s percentage of domination in its market.Last round: A Vicks VapoRub truck overturned on the highway. Amazingly, there was no congestion for eight hours. After enduring a joke like that, you earned at least one glass of wine.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Best wines for cooking 3-16-2022Wines 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 reviewLast round: Why should you never use “beef-stew” as a password? Because it is not stroganoff. Wine time.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite:  gusclemensonwine.comFacebook:  facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires.Balanced Diet by Charlotte Rutledge is a rotating selection of original recipes, curated links pertaining to the food system, and recipe reviews. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Wine-steak pairing 3-9-2022You do not have to be a wine cognoscente to know cabernet sauvignon plays well with the salty and fatty flavors of a rich, well-marbled steak. But, what if you want to go beyond that pairing?Grilled steaks—strip, rib-eye, hanger—certainly pair with cab, but so do syrah and merlot. Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas (both grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blends) are in the conversation. Syrah/shiraz is a bit lighter, but brings whiffs of smokiness to its role as another cab alternative.Rib-eye, T-bone, and porterhouse steaks win with zin. Zinfandel delivers acidity, tannins, spice, and grapey notes to complement the meat flavors. High alcohol can abet the bonhomie of the beef feast.Photo by SphilbrickLeaner cuts of meat like top sirloin or flank steaks enjoy pairing with malbec and its jammy, dark fruits, and chocolate elements. If you prefer filet or tenderloin—lighter cuts with less fat and more delicate cooking such as searing and/or oven roasting—then lighter reds enter the dinner drama: pinot noir, beaujolais, nebbiolo, sangiovese.As cuts get lighter with little or no fat like filet mignon, pairing with pinot noir certainly enters the pouring picture. A light, tasty cut such as New York strip, even with its marbling, works with gamay (Beaujolais). In both cases, the less assertive wines allow tender and delicious meat to play the lead in the meal.Finally, if you refrain from plunking down big bucks for meat and instead chow down on comfort food like meatloaf, circle back to big reds—cab, merlot, shiraz, malbec, cab franc, red blends. Beauty here is you can go with the more affordable examples of those wines, even ones that come in boxes, and still be proud of your pair.Tasting notes:• Galil Mountain Winery Merlot, Galilee, Israel 2018: Soft, easy drinker. Classic approachable merlot. $13-16 Link to my review• La Gioiosa Et Amorosa Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG NV: Vibrant, with just the touch of sweetness you want from a top-shelf prosecco. $16-22 Link to my review• Robert Hall Paso Red, Paso Robles 2017: Bold, rich, loaded with dark ripe fruit flavor and accompanying significant alcohol. $18-20 Link to my review• Westcave Cellars Vigneron Texas Hill Country Estate Red Wine 2018: Yet another demonstration of high-quality, well-made Texas wine. $50 Link to my review• Daou Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles Adelaida District 2018: Elegant and astonishingly smooth and approachable. $85-90 Link to my reviewLast round: The Swiss are so confident in their chances of victory they include a corkscrew in their army knife.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemensLinks worth exploringDiary of a Serial Hostess is a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. How-to's and advice from yours truly, the Serial Hostess.As We Eat is a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe

This is the weekly newspaper column.Cru Beaujolais 3-2-2022Beaujolais is a lovely French region sandwiched between Burgundy and Lyon. Last century, it was known for its kitschy, flash-in-the-pan plonk—Beaujolais nouveau. Today, it is known for being the next big thing in quality wine. Such are vino’s vicissitudes.Virtually all the 44,000 acres of Beaujolais vineyards are planted in gamay grapes. Gamay is a cross between pinot noir and gouais blanc, a progenitor of many varieties, including chardonnay. Gamay ripens two weeks earlier than pinot noir and is very vigorous. Those traits caused trouble in Burgundy. In 1395, the Duke of Burgundy Philippe the Bold outlawed gamay because it was a “very bad and disloyal plant.”Gamay growers moved south into Beaujolais where authorities were less supercilious and welcomed folks who could produce large quantities of light bodied, fruity wines.Gamay grapesGamay vines focus on making grapes rather than deepening roots, which means when stressed by lack of water gamay produces wines with high acidity. Acidity is a reason Beaujolis is the darling of food-pairing sommeliers. To tone down acidity, many Beaujolais wines are made using carbonic maceration where grapes ferment in a carbon dioxide-rich environment before crushing. Much of the juice ferments inside the grape.The result is a very fruit-forward wine with low tannins that is easy to drink soon after it is made. That spawned the Beaujolais nouveau craze at the end of the 20th century. Beaujolais nouveau can be sold just six weeks after harvest—officially beginning on the third Thursday of November.Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais NoveauThat marketing shenanigan clicked in the U.S. since it coincided with Thanksgiving. No hoity-toity hostess could pass up Beaujolais boasting at her dinner. In fact, minutes after release, some cases of Beaujolais nouveau were loaded on the Concorde to be whisked at supersonic speed to inflate the egos of New York City parvenus.Of course this went the way of all fads. Growers over-produced. Consumers recoiled. In 2001, more than 1.1 million cases of Beaujolais—most of it nouveau—had to be destroyed. Scandals blossomed—it is very hard for the French to pass up a good scandal. Beaujolais bombed.Give the French credit. They assessed and pivoted from quantity to quality. Today, Cru Beaujolais is in demand as an up-market, food-friendly wine any time of the year, not just Thanksgiving. And so it goes.Last round: What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Pair with red wine.Email: [email protected]: gusclemens.substack.comWebsite: gusclemensonwine.comFacebook: Gus Clemens on Wine facebook.com/GusClemensOnWine/posts/Twitter: @gusclemens This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe