On Eater National, Talia Baiocchi interviews Noma wine director Pontus Elofsoon about his effort to carry natural wine and avoid Bordeaux. Apparently, at Noma, “you have a good chance of drinking wine with clumps.” A sound byte from Elofsoon: “Today a lot of producers are using the organic or biodynamic stamp as a quality stamp, which is wrong. There are a lot of shitty organic and biodynamic wines, so we’re looking for producers who are concerned not only with how the product is produced, but how it tastes.”
Lambrusco (a sparkling red Italian wine) is making a comeback, according to Eric Asimov for the New York Times. (His recent piece Wine’s Sweet Spot is a $20 Bill is also worth a read.) But don’t look now, someone who calls wine “staid” is introducing a new product: Spodee, a fortified red wine that’s meant to be the base for mixed drinks (such as red wine with cola). And here in Quebec, a winemaker is making wine out of…tomatoes?
Here’s a piece from someone who shares my distaste for red wines that are served too warm (although I can’t say I’ve ever gone so far as to put ice cubes in my wine). Last week, I was out for an al fresco dinner on one of Montreal’s crushingly humid evenings. Our dinner companions requested that I choose a light red from the list. I was rather nervous about the temperature of the wine, but I was in luck: the staff of Europea brought our delicious bottle of Clos Jordanne Pinot Noir from Niagara on ice, chilled down to the perfect temperature. Bliss. I guess I’m not alone, because the NYT blog has a piece about a restaurant that keeps a space for chilled red on their wine list.
For Newsweek, Alice Feiring looks at the underdog of Burgundy, the Hautes-Côtes. Bill Zacharkiw takes on the alcohol-level debate and discusses balance in wine. Not long ago he also explored what “might be the world’s most versatile grape,” Chenin Blanc, arguing that it doesn’t get the respect it should. I had the luck of sitting in on the tasting that informed that column, and I would have to agree. Heartily.
Mary Orlin (a.k.a. the Wine Fashionista) writes about the best German wines you’ve never heard of for The Huffington Post (and brings back memories of my trip through Franconia a few years ago–it was the first time I drank wine from those unusually-shaped bottles, and the first time I ate rabbit). Finally, if you’re looking for a bottle to bring to your next occasion, check out this handy (and slightly hilarious) flow chart: How to Choose a Bottle of Wine. And I love this use of wine crates as bedroom decor.
