Drink Matron

Category: Wine

Almost as long as there’s been beer, there’s been wine. The ancient Romans loved it, the middle ages Europeans perfected it, and we still love it today.

  • You’re drinking on Valentine’s Day anyway, might as well drink what I tell you

    You’re drinking on Valentine’s Day anyway, might as well drink what I tell you

    Valentine’s Day. A day of love or heartbreak, a day of happiness or sadness – no matter how you feel about this day, it can only lead to one thing – drinking.

    No, I don’t mean you should get blasted and cry into your beer, although maybe that’s what you’re into, and if so, just don’t drive or drink too much over your limit. I love you and care about what happens to you. What? No, sorry, I already have plans for Valentine’s Day.

    What I mean is that inevitably, Valentine’s Day leads to drinking. Whether that means beer and pizza with Netflix and chill, or wine at a fancy restaurant, there’s an element of boozing with your loving.

    The key, of course, is to find something great to drink with whatever you’re doing. I am here to recommend a handful of options so you can celebrate properly on this wonderful, terrible day.

    Wine

    sedaraWine is an essential component of Valentine’s. The best part about wine is that you can drink it no matter what you’re plans are. Dinner plans? I’ll have wine with that. Out for drinks? Try a wine bar. Staying in for dinner? Wine please. Galentine’s day? Umm, wine, obviously.

    I recently received a bottle of Donnafugata Sedåra 2014, a Sicilia Doc Rosso (for free, full disclosure) and I have to say, it impressed. Tart and fruity but gentle, it struck me as a versatile red for any occasion. In other words, no matter what your dinner plans – pizza, pasta, steak, or even barbecue – pour yourself a glass of this.

    I also believe it would pair very well with chocolate, so while you’re gazing into your lover’s eyes and shoving desserts like chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate truffles into each other’s mouths, wash it down with some Sedåra.

    But wait, what about hanging out with the girls? Yes, it will also work nicely for that. Your friends will be impressed that you have scored an Italian wine, and you will all enjoy the soft tannins and strawberry and plum notes.

    Donnafugata Sedåra 2014 is not only a great choice for all your needs on Valentine’s Day, it’s also affordable. Approximately $18 a bottle, it won’t break the bank, allowing you to impress your date with wine AND something sparkly (hint, hint, Adrian).

    Sparkling Wine

    Just get whatever you can afford, yeah? No seriously. Sometimes that expensive stuff isn’t as good (or is only as good) as the mid-range option, and unless one of you cares about labels, get whatever is best for you. (Or, if you want to be tricksy, make your own label with you and your lover’s name on it, and they’ll think it’s so sweet, they won’t care you bought a $5 brut from Walgreens. PS, don’t buy a $5 brut from Walgreens unless that’s all you can afford.)

    Beer

    I don’t know about you, but I say, pull out some stouts on V-day. There are so many different stouts available that you are bound to find one that works for you and whoever you’re spending time with on V-day. Chocolate stouts, coffee stouts, oatmeal, dry, imperial, sweet, and all the nitro stouts you can think of pair well with chocolate, girl’s night, guy’s night, red meat (is that the same as guy’s nights?), and just chilling at home or at the bar. It’s also cold. SO cold. What warms you up better than a lovely dark beer with a smooth finish? Not even the love of your life, no matter what day of the year.

    Cocktails

    What is more romantic than a classy old fashioned? I challenge you to find something better. An old fashioned is meant to be sipped, served with a cherry, and makes the drinker exude confidence. Enjoyed by both men and women, with any whiskey you choose (although Bulleit Rye is my personal favorite), it’s the perfect drink for any date, going out or staying in.

    Whatever you do, whatever you drink, try to have a nice time. Don’t overdo it, don’t over think it, and whatever you do, don’t take it too seriously. Cheers!

  • Bell’s Brewery gets into Wine

    On Monday, Bell’s Brewery announced that they would be adding three wines to Bell’s General Store and Eccentric Cafe – Great Northern White, Great Northern Red, and Great Northern Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine. Bottles will be available in 750ml, and Blanc de Blancs will also be available in 375ml bottles.

    Bell’s is working in conjunction with two wineries – Circa Estates Winery will produce Great Northern White and Great Northern Red, and L. Mawby will produce Blanc de Blancs. Circa Estates owner David Bell is the brother of Bell’s president, Larry Bell.

    Release dates for the wine have not yet been determined.

  • Is Sake Supposed to be Served Hot?

    Short Answer: Not necessarily.

    Long Answer: Sake has been a staple beverage in Japan for many hundreds of years.  Prior to the 20th century, sake was generally a much rougher, grainier drink and taste “flaws” were more apparent in the beverage.  Thus, warming a tokkuri of sake was considered the only way to serve it for the common man.  There were some sakagura that made a superior sake but it was reserved for the more affluent members of society.  As the fermentation process has evolved and been refined, on aggregate sake has become a cleaner, more delicate product.  Think about wine made from grapes.  They generally tell you to chill white wines prior to serving, but do you think that was the case prior to refrigeration?

    Throughout its existence, sake has been served at temperatures ranging from just above freezing (referred to as reishu) all the way to steaming hot (referred to as kanzake).  The warmer the sake is served, the more flavorful and drier the flavor will become, while chilling it will open up the bouquet of the sake as well as give it a crisper flavor.

    There are two major factors in deciding whether to heat, chill, or serve your sake at room temperature.  The first is food pairing.  Simple flavored foods like sushi or sashimi are paired well with kanzake as well as fatty and oily dishes (like hot pot dishes).  Particularly sharp flavored food, like sweet and sour dishes, are best paired with reishu.  If you aren’t drinking with food you can drink it either way!

    The second factor in deciding on a temperature is quality of the sake.  Higher quality sake have multi-leveled, very nuanced flavors that can be overpowered and lost when heated.  Heating these quality sakes would be like drowning filet mignon in ketchup.  Lower quality sake isn’t necessarily going to be bad, but I can attest that warming these sakes definitely improves the flavor (and makes your cheeks very red).

  • Boxed Wine: Tasty Treat or Just Plain Gross?

    I know what you’re thinking: Boxed wine sucks.  It’s poor quality, it tastes cheap and a little off, and plus it’s boxed wine.  Sadly, most of you that have been exposed to boxed wine have only experienced Franzia – The King of Boxed Wine.

    Franzia has been on the market since 1906 and after the process for producing box wine in 1965, Franzia was likely quick to follow this new trend.  Franzia is cheap and it tastes cheap.  It tastes like most mass produced, profit-driven wines taste.  But what if you could take the cheapness of Franzia and mix it with the quality of another brand of wine?  You can!  The trouble is that Franzia has pretty much ruined the market for anything in a box and so any store willing to stock boxed wine will opt for the safe bet.  Don’t blame them!  Boxed wine generally has a shorter shelf life than bottled wine so it is an ideal packaging for a wine you plan on drinking after you buy it instead of shelving it for a special occasion.  Unfortunately, this means you are going to be hard-pressed to find a boxed wine other than Franzia.

    I’ll admit, being wine-snobbish, I wasn’t really into venturing into boxed wine.  Since most boxed wine costs at least $5-10 more than a box of Franzia, I didn’t want to risk getting 3L of wine that I wasn’t going to enjoy drinking.  At the endorsement of Gary Vaynerchuk (or whoever was on the @dailygrape account at the time), I decided to swing by my local liquor store and give some boxed wine a whirl.  As I said before, it’s slim pickins when it comes to boxed wine.  You’ll be lucky if a store has anything other than Franzia.  Fortunately, my guy at the liquor store is a big fan of good boxed wine so they had one brand (four varieties) stocked: Bota Box.  I picked up a box of the Cabernet Sauvignon (the safest of safe bets) and took it home to ponder.  I’ll tell you, it was surprisingly good.  I was expecting mediocre wine in cheap packaging, but it was actually better than the everyday wine I typically drink, and it only cost me a few dollars more than the equivalent amount of that wine.  I’ve since tried other boxed wines from different companies and I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed with the quality of these products.

    So, I am impressed with the quality of the wine that’s put into the Bota Box, but there has to be a downside.  What is it about boxed wine that makes it so unappealing to the masses?  The only tangible downside to boxed wine is that the plastic bladder the wine is stored in is not actually hermetically sealed, meaning that the wine will eventually oxidize and spoil, giving it a shelf-life of roughly one year (give or take, depending on the manufacturer).  The manufacturer’s put a “Best By” date on the packaging and, from what I hear, you should abide by that date.

    Sadly, the majority of the popular distaste for boxed wine comes from our group perception of the product, which is incited by:

    • Our preconceived dislike of Franzia (I still equate Franzia with college drinking)
    • The advertising campaigns of bottled wine manufacturers, trying to get everyone to dislike boxed wine (they have actually made public statements saying that boxed wine gives cheap access to alcohol to alcoholics, subtly planting the idea that the only people that drink boxed wine are alcoholics).

    I stand by my statement before in that boxed wine is a fantastic and inexpensive alternative to your everyday wine.  If you’re like me and you like to have a glass of wine or two in the evening, then I suggest trying a boxed wine.  You’ll thank me.

    Side Note: As quality boxed wine grows in popularity, so do the varieties of styles and sizes.  You can actually purchase “single-serving” sizes of box wine.  I’ve seen these “juice boxes” ranging from 200mL to 500mL and they seem ideal for a nice little lunch by yourself, away from the office* or a small picnic.

    *I’m not condoning showing up to your place of employment bombed from the 4 wine juice-boxes you had at lunch.  250mL is a perfectly acceptable amount of wine to have with a meal (it’s like 2 glasses of wine).  If you get fired from your job for taking a nip during working hours DON’T BLAME ME!

  • What is the Difference Between Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux Wines?

    In case you didn’t know, Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine (and grape) that originated in the Bordeaux region of France. Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine, is made exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape, making it a pure varietal wine.

    Red Bordeaux is a blended wine from the Bordeaux region of France.  It consists of a blend of the juice from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carménère grapes, all grown in the region.

    So, in the simplest sense: Cabernet Sauvignon is a subset of Bordeaux wines that are made exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.  But this only applies to Cabernet Sauvignons produced in Bordeaux, otherwise it’s just another wine.