Orange wine: a taste of the wild (yeast!)

When we first start getting to know something about wines, people presents us to 3 types: Reds, Whites and Rosés. However this is a simplification of a so much more colored world. Each of this colors has nuances, from pale to deep ones. And just to be more extreme, right now there is like a bunch of blue wine producers in the world, for example.

Some weeks ago I drunk for the first time in my life, an orange wine. That was an experience like the first time I had a lambic beer, but better, because nowadays I have much more developed taste buds. The orange wines are white ones made by red wine methods. Explaining: To produce a red wine we let the grapes with skin and pips, those give to the liquid the tannin, color and bitterness, while it is fermenting; and to produce white wines we take off peels and pips to the fermenting process, this is why those wines usually have neither tannins (just a little bit, sometimes), bitterness, nor color (kind a red ones). However the orange wines are usually made with white grapes, but the fermenting process takes skins and pips, inside a ceramic vessel, that is buried and let for four days to one year (sometimes). Then, the orange wines aren't exactly white ones, nor red ones, and definitely not rosé. They are a unique kind, fresh, but same time, so rich in flavors, with tannins, acidity, bitterness, taste like a lot of condiments (white pepper, coriander seeds, nutmeg), honey, citric fruits and there is that unmistakable taste of wild yeast.

Orange wines are not something new and technological, that's exactly the opposite. This kind of wines are ancient and now they are back because of hipsters and this culture of natural wines and organic food, all over the world. Italy and Slovenia have the most iconic orange wines, however since the 90's there are producers also in Spain and USA (Oregon) and more recently some others are producing, like: Argentina, Chile and South Africa.

In my opinion, a newbie should never start in the wine world by an orange wine, because they are too complex and may scare some people at first sight. Nevertheless I guess those people who use to say that they are "beer people" and they don't like wine, I would recommend to start in the wine world by an orange, because It's in the between of those two (wine and beer).

These wines would pair perfectly with spicy food and fatty ones. I already paired with a "pulpo a la parrilla" with spicy gravy and the smoked from the octopus with the spicy and well condimented gravy, were just perfect by similarity, with the wine; on another time I paired it with some "empanadas" (pasties filled with a meat stew) and was also delicious, because the tannins and acidity helped to make lighter the fatty of the food and the stew's condiments were complementary to the wine flavors.


I'm planning a visit to an orange wine producer, so soon I will probably post some more about this.

Check the temperature of your beer/wine

There are some "rules" about wine (or other beverages) serving temperature. Generally, on the label you'll find the information about the temperature that the beverage's creator identifies like the perfect one. I added in this post two tables with ideal wine and beer serving temperatures according to classical school, however as for those and other alcohol stuff, that's all relative.

For me, what works better is to find mine perfect serving temperature for each beverage, by tasting in different ones (around: 6℃; 11℃; 15℃; and 18℃). Then, it's possible to perceive distinct flavors in each temperature, so I can choose my favorites.


For example, in Brazil, there is a delicious beer called "Funky & Sour" from Tupiniquim brewery, the label says: serving temperature between 2˚C and 5˚C. However, "by rule" you should serve a sour beer between 4˚C and 10˚C. In fact, everything below 4˚C has no flavor at all, you drink just to cool off. And the lower the temperature the less the funky  flavors (the Brett ones!!) will appear. So of course, for those who doesn't like brettanomyces flavors (that delicious sourness!!) it's preferable to have a Funky & Sour at the label suggested temperature, for those who like brett flavors, perhaps should have it's by the rule, on a conservative way, try around 6˚C, but for those who absolutely LOVES brett like I do, I suggest to try around 9˚C.

Many weeks ago I posted a text about pairing food with beverages and how this subject  has been changed by years, concluding that in despite of the told "rules" of classical school of sommelierie, the preferences of the client are more important. And so, this works for serving temperature too. The job is to know which flavors will rise at each temperature and for different beverages. Then just adapt to the clients favorite tastes.

Another good example concerning to pleased the person who is drinking: a merlot is a wine to have between 15˚C and 18˚C, by rule, because is a red wine whose body is medium plus; this week I drank one from Carmen vineyard (Chile) at around 11˚C. The red plum flavor was lighter, as the alcohol sensation too, the tannins and acidity was a little bit higher and the cedar flavor was gone, but a leather taste has come up. That was a very hot day so that temperature of the wine was great to cool off and the new flavors of that wine wasn't bad, they were just different, this experience just made me know some other characteristics from an "old friend". And was perfect pairing with some homemade phyllo squares stuffed with goat cheese and black olives from Atacama Desert.


Sources: The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver; Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher; Wine Folly by Madeline Puckette; WSET books content.

Brettanomyces (Brett)

I love brettanomyces! (wine people must been having an infarct while reading this...)

It's very common to find brettanomyces on wines, that gives a taste of  leather, or something like a barn, some people may also like it, however in wine world, brett is, usually, considered as an defect.

Poor Brett!

But for those who like good beer, there is such a pleasure to find the bretts tastes on a beer. I love that brettanomyces flavor on lambics, geuzes, saisons and some farmhouse ales.


My first brett was with an oude geuze that I ordered at a picturesque restaurant in Brussels called "La fleur en papier doré". After 3 sips of that beer I was still wondering if I did like or didn't! But to be totally honest, the fault my not be from brett, because an geuze is a type of beer that have such complex flavors that you must have certain maturity in sense of taste to really enjoy it.

However didn't take any longer to take my heart. After that I became a "brettaholic", and for a while, all other beers just lost their sparkle. (funny story: my husband and I, went to a restaurant in Brussels and they hadn't beers with brettanomyces flavors, there was "just" Chimay, Kwak, Orval etc. then, my husband said to me "I'll have a Chimay, but I'm sad because this restaurant don't have good beer!". Whaaaaat??!!!! We were actually calling those fantastic beers "bad beers"?! LOL)

That funky flavor, a little bit acidic and bitter... Ohhh... That's just incredible!! That's a shame that same thing doesn't happen with wines.

Through the production of volatile phenol compounds, brett gives certain flavors to wine and beer. These compounds (in particular 4-ethylphenol [4-EP], 4-ethylguaiacol [4-EG] and 4- ethylcatechol [4-EC]), may give different flavors from wine style to wine style and that's why they give distinguished tastes in beer too.

So if you love wine AND beer just like I do, please, don't hate brett for its effects on wine, give it a chance, because she has her moments in both beer and wine.

Judging a wine (beer, food, or anything else...)

Generally, people judges food or beverages by their own preferences. However when you are a professional who works with different people and their spectrum of tastes, you just can't let your own favorite flavors dictates your standards.

So, if you want to proffer an impartial opinion about anything taste concerned, you probably should ask yourself: "How mature is my sense of taste?"

Many studies (some listed at the end of this text) reveals that our sense of taste develops through our life. There are 3 most important factors that determines our taste skills:

- genetic (number of taste buds; predisposition to like flavors that are in our culture, that our ancestors had been eating for centuries; those with cromossoms XY are more likelly to evolve sense of taste during life);

- life choices (all the exposure to flavors since birth, specially on the first 2 years of a baby, could determine wich flavors he'll prefer on his adult life; also, choices like to smoke, or to be a sedentary person, or to try new flavors; and some that aren't exactly life choices, for example use of medicins, drugs etc.)

- emotional connections (also known as "comfort food", that sort of flavors that make us remember childhood, our grandmas casseroles, or that special flavor of ice cream that you hadn't ever found again; other connections may not be so nostalgic, but a little bit about social pressure, as when you eat or drink something that you don't actually like just to share a moment with friends, family or your special someone, then after that you'll always remember of those people every time you eat or drink it.)

When we are born, ours favorite flavors are: fatty and sweet. Probably because they're calorie-dense, our nature makes us like energy junkies, so we have more chances to survive. And our brains are adaptable, when you expose yourself to new stimuli, it starts to assimilate and create data about that. In other words, if despite of that 3 factors you still have a infantile sense of taste, you can train your brain to start to enjoy certain more adult flavors, like bitter and acidic, by consuming those flavors with something fatty and/or sweet together, so your brain will associate the pleasure of your favorite flavors with those that you don't actually like, and will start to believe that you really like them too. Same thing about eating or drinking your hateful stuff when in the company of your beloved ones, give your brain a few chances and some time to process information and someday it will start to correlate the pleasure of the company with the taste of the food or beverage.

I, usually, express my opinion about food, wine and beer, by my own preferences, on my social media. Although, for example, on Vivino (app), I chose to give stars according to technical criteria. And when someone asks me about a wine or a beer and I don't know exactly this persons preferencies, I tend to classify by that technical criteria too:

1) Balance (floral, fruity, bitter, sweet, salty, acidic...)
2) Final Taste (how much time does it remains on the mouth)
3) Intensity (are the flavors intense? any flavor is overwhelm?)
4) Complexity (are the flavors rich? or are they simple?)
5) Expressivity (does the characteristics match to the style, type, region, elaboration process?)

Heritability of food preferences in young children
Flavor experiences during formula feeding are related to preferences during childhood
Early Influences on the Development of Food Preferences

my VIVINO profile

Sunday morning: time to drink a good trappist beer

Sunday morning, what do you usually do? Well, I usually have a late breakfast, sometimes I go for a walk, or maybe play video games with my husband. But on a beautiful Sunday morning from 2015, I did something different. I was in Belgium and I went to a Trappist monastery: Westmalle.


The monks there make a beer that you can only have there, its name is Westmalle Extra. They produce this beer just twice a year, for internal consumption, because during Lent they can't eat, but they can drink, so they make this "liquid bread" for themselves. It is a refreshing beer, with flavors like green fruit and apricot.

Nowadays you'll probably find Westmalle Extra in a bunch of places, however those are bottles bought directly at the monastery door and that people sells in their own pubs or stores. At the Westmalle restaurant (and store) it's possible to ask for a Extra too and the restaurant is in front of the abbey.

So, Sunday morning, the mass in the abbey is over, the restaurant opened, we entered, the waiter came and asked our order. A little bit embarrassed, we look around, all those senior couples arriving at the restaurant, coming from the mass, so we said almost whispering that we wanted two Extras.

We ordered the Extra not only because it is sort of exclusive, but mainly because it has just 4,8% alcohol and we were concerned about those seniors seeing us drinking beer that early hour of the day.

Minutes later, we looked around and the seniors were all drinking beer too. And not an  Extra! They were having Dubbels (7% alcohol) and Tripels (9,5% alcohol)! I know it's stupid and prejudiced to think that seniors shouldn't drink beer so early in the morning. But that was a self prejudice too, because I was judging ourselves (in my mind) by drinking at 10 am. And after all, that was just a silly thing, I'd learned a lot about life quality and happiness on that trip.

https://www.trappistwestmalle.be/en

A dinner with Pedigree

I found a Mâcon-Lugny (Maison Louis Latour) in a wine store here in Chile. That was a beautiful label, with all that controlled designation of origin stuff. That was so cool that I stayed just looking at the bottle for a while, thinking about its "life" story. And then a desperation came to me: how would I pair that wine? Should I just drink it without food? How could I find a perfect food to this beautiful wine full of story?! 

I remembered that usually Chardonnay has good pairing with blue cheese. So I went to the supermarket to look for the perfect blue cheese. There were lots of cheeses from all around the world, but I put my eyes on a french cheese and thought: "French wine + French cheese = that's the perfection I was looking for".

The initial idea was to make a pasta with blue cheese sauce. And it would work. Turns out that the perfect cheese was too perfect! At home when I was reading carefully the cheese label I realized that I bought a Roquefort with "appellation d'origine protégée". Then I started thinking about the "life" story of that incredible cheese too... And i just couldn't use that cheese to make a sauce. It was too noble for this!

I know it sounds stupid, but I grew up in a place without all these cool stuff with story. When this locations was already producing wines, cheese etc. in my country people was still walking naked, hunting for food and with pretty small crops!

The simple solution was just to enjoy things the way they were. I had some fruits (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and red currant), also some nuts (almonds, peanuts and pistachios). That was it: our dinner with pedigree.

Perfect indeed! (Chardonnay and blue cheese really are a great match! No need for super elaborate fancy plates)

Grapes Resurreccions in Chile

If you have ever been in Chile (since 90's), you probably had listened about how Carménère almost vanished from the world and was rediscovered in a Chilean vineyard in a Merlot plantation. If you didn't, that's OK, I'll tell this story on another day.

Apparently, Chile has this thing about make some grapes (and/or its wines) reborn.

Carignan, for example, is a highly productive wine grape that grows well even in deserts, and because of that was historically over-cropped, producing low quality bulk wine. However in the past few years it has resurrected as a quality wine in Languedoc-Roussillon (France), and specially in Central Chile.

Originally, Carignan is a Spanish grape. On warm climates has flavors like prune and blackberry, while on cool climates tastes more like strawberry or black currant. Nowadays Tunisia and Algeria are some of the biggest producers of  Carignan grapes, but usually those are for blends.

I confess, I had never tasted Carignan wine till came to live in Chile and by now it's one of my favorite wines.

Last "Dieciocho" (probably the most important holiday in Chile), I made a food and wine pairing that was just incredible. My husband and I made a "steak house pasta", and to drink I chose a Carignan from Undurraga vineyard. This Carignan was made with grapes from Maule region, coming of 2 subregions: Cauquenes and San Javier de Loncomilla. Maule region is located south of Santiago, San Javier de Loncomilla is on the center of this region (warmest) and Cauquenes is closest to the Pacific Ocean (coldest). Therefore this wine is very balanced, with black fruits flavors and also acidity and tannins medium plus.

The tannins and acidity "cutted" the fatty sensation of the food. The baking spices and cured meat flavors of the wine made a incredible pair by affinity with the "steak house pasta". In other words, that was a perfect match.