WHINE # 29

Welcome Nancy Sullivan from Ontario to the Whine.

Sipping Wine:   Wine makes food taste better.  Food makes wine taste better.   Finding the right match between the food and the wine is one of those very pleasant challenges that we face almost daily.  In fact, food and wine are so united that in some cultures wine is not drunk without food.

The question is what does one drink prior to the arrival of the food.  In much of southern Europe the pre-dinner drink of choice is a bitter liqueur.  In Provence the preferred aperitif is Pastis, while in much of Italy the favourite apertivo is Campari.

Here in North America many have moved away from the pre-dinner cocktail or the single malt as the pre-dinner drink.  When the host asks “What can I get you to drink?” the response is frequently “red wine” or “white wine”.

What wine do you then serve pre-dinner, or any other time when the wine is to be sipped sans food?  Sparkling wine is always an excellent choice.  Starting the evening with a well-chilled Cava or a frigid Champagne is never a mistake.  Still whites are also a good choice.  Chablis would be my first choice in still whites.

All of this leads up to question “what is an appropriate red for the first wine, particularly prior to the arrival of any food?”  The answer should be easy to remember:  “Light and low in acidity”

A high acid wine such as a Tuscan Sangiovese may be wonderful when paired with a tomato-sauced pasta or with a perfect pizza.  By itself it will burn all the way down.   Similarly you should not start with a heavy tannic wine, such as an Australian or Californian Cabernet Sauvignon.  These wines will gradually taste better as you drink more.  Nonetheless, they are best kept for the meat course, when they will match perfectly with your medium-rare prime rib.

My choices for sipping wines are Merlot or Tempranillo.  Pinot Noir can also be a good choice, but before you offer a Pinot make certain it is a good one.  Cheap Pinot is rarely a hit, while an expensive Pinot is light and wonderfully complex.

They don’t drink wine in Yarmouth:   This item comes with a warning.  Although it is about ordering a bottle of wine, it is as much a political comment as it is a wine story.  Many of you readers don’t vote for the parties that I support, so you may not care about the way I tell this story.

Betty and I found ourselves in the Nova Scotian town of Yarmouth on a Monday evening.  We were staying in Meteghan River and we drove to Yarmouth looking for dinner.  In the past we had some great meals at an Austrian restaurant and more recently discovered a wonderful little bistro on the main drag.

As many of you know Yarmouth has recently fallen on hard times.  The final blow came when our newly elected provincial government cancelled the subsidy to the Yarmouth-Bar Harbour (Maine) ferry.  This ferry was the life blood of both the tourism and trucking industry.  This decision was made by the same politicians who dump millions into a foreign-owned railway that runs empty cars to Sydney on a daily basis.   Go figure!

Back to my story.  On arrival in Yarmouth we discovered that our Austrian restaurant is now closed on Mondays and Tuesday and that our Bistro has moved across the street and has become a pizza joint.

After travelling virtually every street looking for a restaurant that hadn’t gone out of business we ended down by the empty waterfront in a restaurant that is attached to a beautiful but closed hotel that went out of business when the ferry stopped.

Although the restaurant was soon to close we were greeted by a friendly waitress.  There was one other table occupied and a large group of men were in another room working on their hockey pool.

I asked if they had any house wine by the glass and our waitress said there was but she had no idea what it was.  Betty then asked if they had wine by the bottle and after responding positively the waitress went off to the bar to look.  After rooting around under the bar she said that she couldn’t find any red wine.  I noticed that there were three bottles above the bar mixed in with the hard liquors. 

I chose the dusty bottle of Merlot and returned to our table.  After struggling with the corkscrew the waitress apologized that she couldn’t get the cork out.   I offered to help and removed the foil and then extracted the cork.  The waitress was a tad embarrassed and commented that it must have been six months since anyone had ordered wine.  I guess the unemployed of Yarmouth simply can’t afford wine.

The Merlot was fine and it went well both with Betty’s hot lobster sandwich and with my Rappie Pie (Rapture in Acadian French).  By the way, Rappie Pie is a unique and wonderful dish that takes a few servings for one to learn to appreciate.  Try it the next time you are in an Acadian part of southern Nova Scotia.

We left Yarmouth feeling somewhat sad.  No wonder the government candidate ran a distant third in the last by-election.

Corkage Fee:  Now that Nova Scotian restaurants are obliged to allow customers to bring their own wine, the result has not been consumer friendly.  Many restaurants discourage the practice by establishing excessive fees ($25. or more).  Thus it was a pleasant surprise to find that the lovely Tulloch Inn on the banks of Lake Ainslee on Cape Breton Island charged no corkage fee at all.

Opimian Offering # 205:  This offering is exclusively from New Zealand and Australia.  As I find New Zealand reds to be astringent and as the whites here offered are a tad pricey, I have no recommendations.  As far as Australia goes my recommendations are all reds.  First the 6386 GMH Meritage is a wine that I have found to be well worth the price.  If you are unfamiliar with the term “Meritage” I suggest you scroll down to Whine # 17 and read the item there.

6306 96 Points should be an interesting wine for two reasons.  One it is claimed to be ready to drink and two, the often overly spicy Australian Shiraz has been softened with a small amount of Viognier.

Finally, I shall go out on a limb and recommend a wine I have not tried.  6319 Reserve Cabernet Sauvigon from Coonawarra should be a classic Cabernet.  Australian winemakers after all do know how to make Cabs.

Europe - 2011 - # 7

We are back home, but I thought I should add a couple of small, but pleasant anecdotes that ended our trip.

LAST NIGHT IN VIENNA:   Following a pleasant "good-bye" meal with the other travellers on the tour we went to a chamber concert held in a beautiful hall that at one time housed  the Austrian Stock Market.  The state chamber orchestra performed; the concertmaster playing a Strad.  Also on the program were two ballet dancers, a mezzo and a baritone.

In the second half the baritone sang a comic opera number that seemed vaguely familiar.  During the chorus he asked the audience to join in.  Betty and I had front row center seats and with a few glasses of weak Austrian wine in my gut I bellowed out in my best fake German.  The baritone quickly turned his head to stare at this exuberant tourist.  However, when he finished he walked to the edge of the stage and gave me a broad grin and a thumbs up.  Some of our travelling companions were quite impressed.

FLIGHT HOME:  The Dusseldorf to Toronto leg of the flight home was on Luftansa.  We were offered a choice of a Haut Medoc or a Ribera del Duero.  Betty and I both wisely choose the excellent Ribera and after each glass complemented the Steward on the fine wine.  When we deplaned the Steward presented us with an unopened bottle as a reminder of the flight.  Can't imagine Air Canada doing that.

DENTIST:    I now am on stronger antibiotics prior to a root canel, and other procedures which should happen in a couple of days.

Europe - 2011 - # 6

FROM BERLIN TO PRAGUE:   We enjoyed our 3 days in Germany; 2 in Berlin and a partial day in Dresden.  Germany is a country filled with drivers of Mercedes, reving their engines in the hopes that a pedestrian will step off the curb.

Berlin is a very interesting city with lots and lots of construction going on.  Some of the buildings are quite spectacular.  We did lots of walking as our hotel was in a perfect location in the centre of things.  We also enjoyed our 3 meals in German restaurants.  I noted, however, in all three that no German wines were on the menus (primarily South American wines with some French).  Although the Germans have trouble making wine, no one can fault them for their business sense.

DIFFICULT DAY:  Yesterday was a difficult day for me as I have developed an infected tooth, causing great pain.  Unfortunately it is a capped tooth that holds a crown.  Yesterday, was a long struggle and by evening I retreated to our room with a cocktail of a double doze of anti-biotics and 3 different pain killers donated by various people on the bus.  In the meantime, Betty enjoyed an evening out which everyone told me to involved dancing and singing.  In fact, several called her the "Dancing Queen"

This morning, the throbbing has settled and the swelling in my face now only looks like I was hit with a small baseball bat, rather than a great mace.  In any event I just managed a 6-hour tour of Prague including lunch on the river, with the obligatory Czech Pilsner.

PRAGUE:   We have seen many beautiful and interesting cities on this tour.  Pudapest is very memorable.  However, none of them compare to Prague.  The city is quite stunning; clearly the most beautiful capital that I have ever visited.  The palace, St. Vidas Catherdral, the list goes on and on.

Our tour, however, is near the end.  Tomorrow we drive back to Vienna and then fly home of Sunday.  I hope my dentist is in on Monday.

Europe - 2011 - # 5

WARSAW TO BERLIN:

WARSAW:  Although lacking in spectacular buildings Warsaw is quite lovely.  The really amazing thing is that almost the entire city has been rebuilt since WWII.  The most impressive is at the city centre where they rebuilt much of the old town as an exact replica of what was there before the war, using old photos and paintings as their guide.

We spent four days in Poland and were perogied out by the last night.  Fortunately, Len, an Australian mate from the bus tour took Betty and me and another guy out to dinner on our last night in Warsaw.  We went to a little French restaurant where we relished in frogs' legs, escargot, entrecote and all that other good French stuff.

LUNCH IN POZNAN:  Yesterday was a very long day (11 hours) on the bus as we drove from Warsaw to Berlin.  The road (which is the main route from Berlin to Moscow) is mostly under construction and there are 1000's of trucks clogging the highway in both directions.

At lunchtime we stopped at the Polish city of Poznan where we were dropped in the central city square and told we had 1 hour and 20 minutes to find lunch.  We were advised that the restaurants tended to be slow, so only to order soup or salad.

Betty and I quickly crossed the main square and headed down a side street.  I noticed a sign for "La Scala Ristorante" and as I had a pocket full of Zloties to spend before we left Poland I was not concerned by the prices.  We entered the very upscale restaurant and were escorted up a winding stairwell to a private balcony with a view of the narrow street. 

The waiter asked what we wanted something to drink and when we both asked for a glass of red wine he suggested a 1/2 bottle.  He then suggested chianti and when I agreed he brought a 1/2 bottle of very fine wine.  He then proceeded to extract the cork, place the cork on a silver plate for my inspection, taste the wine with much ceremony and then told us that we must wait 10 minutes for the wine to breathe before we could drink it.

We told him we had limited time and after 20 minutes or so our food arrived.  I was enjoying my clams baked in herbed mozzeralla when I noticed out the window a young woman who appeared to be wearing nothing more than an open jacket and panties.  She was accompanied by a young man with a large camera.  She then stepped into a slight alcove off the street opened her jacket, exposing her voluptuous body and took a pose against the wall.  I fear my clams were all but forgotten as I watched the rest of the photo shoot.

With seconds to spare we got out of the restaurant with only enough Zloties left for one last pee stop, and by running across the main square we got to the bus as it was preparing to leave.

BERLIN:  This morning we did a tour of some highlights ending at the Check Point Charlie Museum.  We now have a free afternoon for exploring before an evening ofGerman food, music, and beer, etc. 

Europe -2011 - # 4

EUROPE:  Europe is a continent of too many churches and not enough toilets.   In Western Europe the armies of tourists invade the empty cathedrals armed with Nikons and Minoltas.  However, in Eastern Europe the invaders must storm past the devote who are kneeling in the aisles.

POLAND:  We have four days in Poland, a flat agricultural country that appears to be very prosperous.  Apparently Poland is doing much better economically that much of Europe.  Although part of the EU they have maintained their own currency.

We are visiting two cities.  Krakow is the cultural capital of Poland and is very pleasant.  The old city was spared during WWII and is quite lovely.  Warsaw was 83% destroyed during the war but has rebuilt and is the business center.

RELIGION:  The Poles are very religious.  Yesterday we visited the site of the icon "The Black Madonna", which many Poles believe was painted by St. Luke.  Thousands make pilgramages to the icon where they believe that their prayers will be answered.  Many of them walk 100's of miles, doing the last mile on their knees.  In the Nave where the icon is shown, masses are held continuously.  Thus, our guide led us past literally 100's of worshippers during the mass itself.  We stepped around crying, and kneeling worshippers while holding our cameras above the masses to try to photograph the Madonna.  I felt a bit like Attila the Hun.

CUISINE:  Polish cuisine seems to include cauliflour, cabbage, boiled perogies and anything else lacking in colour.  Even the meat (pork) is white.  For those of us who are overweight Poland is a chance to fast.

AUSCHWITZ:  We visited Auschwitz and Birkenau yesterday.  In my slightlty tongue-in-cheek travel blog I think a description of theses places would be disrespectful.  Although we are all aware of the genocide that took place here, seeing the actual death chambers and other displays is a very emotional experience.

Europe - 2011 - # 4

HUNGARY TO POLAND:  We had two nice days in the old and beautiful city of Budapest.  Actually it is two cities.  Buda got its name when Attila the Hun's brother Buda captured the city in the 5th century.  Attila was so annoyed with his brother for naming the city after himself that Buda was challenged to a duel and Attila killed him.  However, the name stuck and Buda did not merge with Pest, the city on the other side of the Danube until the 19th century. 

The first night we had a dinner cruise on the Danube.  All of the spectacular buildings (churches, the palace, parliament) are along the river and lit up at night.  The next day we had a guided walking tour of Buda and in the afternoon we skipped the optional tour and did Pest on our own, with the help of public transportation.

The second evening was a highlight as we had dinner in a small winery outside the city.  In addition to tasting several good white wines and one red we ate a very good (not buffet) meal, starting with goulash soup.  It was explained that goulash should never be served with potatoes and that it is properly eaten as a soup.  Most of the group really enjoyed the evening and we ended with a semi-drunken sing-song in the bus on the way home.  Of course, there were people that complained that there were too many wines, that there was too much talk of wine and that they wished they had been served tea.  In a just world they would have been voted off the bus.

ECONOMIC MYSTERY:  In Budapest as well as in Zagreb and Ljubljana, we noticed that people drove nice cars, were well dressed and the apartment buildings appeared to be well kept.   Most things in stores seem to be at or slightly above Canadian prices.  Yet, the average wage is only about $ 800 per month.  Apartments cost between $ 80,000 and $ 800,000.  Something doesn't add up.

SLOVAKIA:  Yesterday on our way to Poland we drove across the small country of Slovakia (not to be confused with Slovenia), only stopping for lunch.  This beautiful mountainous country did appear to be very poor and we were told that the standard of living was well below that of neighbouring Hungary and hugely below that of Poland.

KRAKOW:  We arrived in Krakow just in time to take in an optional folklore dinner at a restaurant outside the city.  Here we drank, ate, drank, danced, and drank some more.  Our vodka glasses were never allowed to be empty.  I think I understand why Poles like to drink so much vodka; it makes it possible to face the cabbage rolls and perogies.  This evening was very special and aided by the fact that most of the tea drinkers chose to skip the evening and stay at the hotel.  (Betty's note:  Ron, "you're not going to get me up on that dance floor", was the first one up, once he was invited by the attractive Polish dancer.)

This morning there was an optional tour to a salt mine.  We chose to sleep in past the usual 6:00 a.m. wake-up call.  Now we are ready to explore what appears to be a very pleasant city.

Europe 2011 # 3

SLOVENIA-CROATIA-HUNGARY:  On Monday we left Slovenia after stopping for a visit to Ljubljana, the capital.  This is a lovely and very clean city of only about 300,000.  We started with a walking tour led by a local guide.  However, she seemed only interested in telling us about visits by the Pope and other important Catholics, so we were happy to escape and stop for lunch at a lovely cafe on the banks of the river.  Our waiter spoke accentless English and I asked him where he learned his English.  "In high school" was his response.  Later that evening we went into a pharmacy in Zagreb and Betty asked the pharmacist if she spoke English.  The woman was clearly insulted by such a stupid question.  What I am learning from this trip is that Shakespeare identified the wrong profession (lawyers) for extermination.  It should be officials from any departments of education (political or academic) in Canada.

ZAGREB:  Later on Monday we drove to the capital of Croatia.  This is also a nice, although unspectacular city of about 800,000.  Zagreb escaped the worst of the Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian war but the country is still recovering from a war that had 500,000 casualties.  As most of you may know the war was partly religious and partly economic and partly caused by centuries old hatreds.  Basically the Catholic Croatians fought with the Orthodox Serbians and the Orthodox Serbians fought with the Bosnians and people from Kosovo.

On Tuesday morning we did a walking tour of the city and then drove through the countryside to see Marshal Tito's birthplace (boring).  We then had lunch at a country restaurant set in a vineyard, and were served local specialties.  Perhaps the most interesting part of the meal was starting lunch with a large glass of honey brandy. 

THE OLD LAMPLIGHTER:  Those of you over 60 will remember the very romantic song "The old lamplighter".  Well in a small part of Zagreb's "upper town" the streets are still lit by gas streetlamps, and Betty and I spent some time tracking down the lamplighter.  We eventually found him.  Unfortunately he was young, unlike in the song, but he did at least have his girlfriend accompanying him as he walked the old streets lighting the lamps.  Later we had a nice meal in the center of the city accompanied by a spectacular wine (see below).

WINES OF CROATIA:  Croatia has a very good terroir but has suffered from communist rule and then the bitter war with the Serbs.   While in Croatia we had wine three times; once by buying a bottle at random in a corner store, and once as a house wine in the country restaurant.  Both of these wines were virtually undrinkable, but it is nice to know that there are wineries in the world that make wine as distasteful as many vintners in Nova Scotia.  However, Betty found an article on Croatian wine in a tourist magazine and it recommended that one should always order the Plavac Mali. The article suggested that the wine tasted something like Zinfandel.  In the restaurant last night I found a bottle (for about $ 30.) on the wine list.  It was absolutely superb and Betty supervised my pouring with great intensity.

BUDAPEST:  We just arrived in Budapest after driving across the flat farmland of much of Hungary.  We are now doing some laundry while waiting to join this evening's dinner cruise on the Danube.